Having stopped the mouths of our catechists, we may briefly consi- der the text itself. 1. That by this expression, "Who is, and who was, and who is to come," the apostle expresses that name of God, Ehejeh ['^v'?^], Exod. iii. 14, which, as the rabbins say, is of all seasons, and expressive of all times, is evident. To which add that other name of God, " Almighty," and it cannot at all be questioned but that he who is intended in these words is " the only true God." 2. That the words are here used of Jesus Christ is so undeniable from the context that his adversaries thought good not once to mention it. Verse 7, his coming is described to be in glory: " Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him;" whereupon him- self immediately adds the w^ords of this testimony, " I am Alpha and Omega." For, (1.) They are words spoken to John by him who gave him the Revelation, which was Jesus Christ, verse 1. (2.) They are the words of him that speaks on to John, which was Jesus Christ, verse 18. (3.) Jesus Christ twice in this chapter afterward gives
prteteritum, proesens, et futurum comprchendit. Sed quod crassum errorem hunc de- tegit, est quod Apoc. i. 4, 5, legimus, Gratia volis, et pax, ab eo qui est, et qui erat, et qui futtirus est; et a srptcm spiritibus qui sunt ante faciem tlironi ejus; et a Jesu Christo, qui est testis fidelis. E quo testimonio apparet, JesUm Christum ab eo qui est, qui erat, et qui futuvus est, vel, ut illi credunt, venturus, esse longe alium."
' "Ew; lav tXt}ri u dvoxiirai. Gen. xllx. 10. "21 fT o lp;;^<ifitvi>i, Matt. xi. 3.
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himself the same title, verse 11, "I am Alpha and Omega;'' and verse 1 7, " I am the first and the last." But who is he ? " I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I live for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death," verse 18. He gave the Revelation, he is described, he speaks all always, he gives himself the same title twice again in this chapter.
But our catechists think they have taken a course to prevent all this, and therefore have avoided the consideration of the words as they are placed, chap. i. 8, considering the same words in chap. iv. 8, where they want some of the circumstances which in this place give light to their application. They are not there spoken by any one that ascribes them to himself, but by others are ascribed " to him that sitteth upon the throne;" who cry (as the seraphims, Isa. vi. 3), " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." But yet there wants not evidence to evince that these words belong immediately in this place also to Jesus Christ; for, — 1. They are the name, as we have seen, whereby not long before he revealed himself. 2. They are spoken of " him who sitteth upon the throne" in the midst of the Christian churches here represented. And if Christ be not intended in these words, there is no mention of his presence in his church, in that solemn representation of its as- sembly, although he promised to be in the " midst " of his " to the end of the world." 3. The honour that is here ascribed to him that is spoken of is because he is at.iog, " worthy," as the same is assigned to the Lamb by the same persons in the same words, chap. v. 12. So that in both these places it is Jesus Christ who is described: " He is, he was, he is to come" (or, as another place expresses it, " The same yesterday, to-day, and for ever"), " the Lord God Almighty."
I shall not need to add any thing to what Grotius hath observed on these places. He holds with our catechists, and ascribes these titles and expressions to God in contradistinction to Jesus Christ, and gives in some observations to explain them : but for the reason of his exposition, wherein he knew that he dissented from the most of Christians, we have ovbs ypv, so that I have nothing to do but to reject his authority; which, upon the experience I have of his design, I can most freely do.
Proceed we to the next testimony, which is Acts xx. 28, " Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." He who purchased the church with his blood is God ; but it was Jesus Christ Avho purchased his church Avith his blood, Eph. v. 25-27, Tit. ii. 1 4, Heb. ix. 14: therefore he is God.
Q. What dost thou answer to this ?
A. I answer, the name of" God" is not necessarily in this place referred to Christ, but it may be referred to God the Father, whose blood the apostles call that which Christ shed, in that kind of speaking, and for that cause, with which God, and
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for which cause the prophet says, " He who toucheth you toucheth the apple of the eye of God himself." For the great conjunction that is between Father and Son, although in essence they are altogether diverse, is the reason why the blood of Christ is called the blood of God the Father himself, especially if it be considered as shed for us ; for Christ is the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the ■world, whence the blood shed to that purpose may be called the blood of God himself. Nor is it to be passed by in silence, that in the Syriac edition, in the place of God, Christ is read.'