The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 76

5). Thc~e statements a.re not categorically made in the Apocalypse; but how steadily are tlwy tanght I The ver~· phrase, "living God," is foun,I in flev. vii. 2 (cf. xv. 7; iv. 9, 10; x. G). God is the Lifr-giv<'r, and" he who liveth for over and over." He is the Light ol the city of God, its Sun, its Glory. Bcrousr of his prosence "thern is no night thl're;· and "because the Lord God giveth thrm light." The l0ve of God to hie own ~en·ants, to those who nre snved, is reiterated throughout the visions in every kind of represent.Minn; even when the prophet is detailing the severity of the Divina judgments, he is represented a.s the Father of the Lamb; and the numerous references to his anger and wrath are always the manifestation of such emotions towards the enemies, persecutors ot' his Church. No passages in the entire Scripture are moro radiant th:tn those which portray the love of God to his own children (Rev. vii. 2, 3, 15-17 ; xxi. 3, 4, 6, 7). (c) Whereas the First Epistle (i. 9) declares God to he" faithful and just," in eh. xvii. 11, 25 our Lord addresses God as "the holy and righteous Father." 'l'he Apoca- lypse reiterates t be same idea, not only with its "thrice-holy cry" (Rev. iv. 8), but in most abundant phrase in Rev. xv. 3; xvi. 5, 7; xxi. 6. Similar comparisons may be made in proof of the common doctrine concerning the wisdom and truthfulness of God. (d) The internal relations of the Godhead are more abundantly set forth in the Gospel than in any other part of the Scripture. It is there that the "Logos" is spoken of as personally present wi: h and one with God; that the "Only Begotten of the Father" is represented as being in the bosom of the Father, as having a "glory with the Father before the world was." 'l'he self-conscious and God-conscious Chiist spPaks of himself as having" come down from heaven," as being" in heaven" while yet on ..artb, 1 and be a<lmits a d.. grce of reverence, homage, and praise which apostles and prophets and angels of God are studiously represrnted as disclaiming for themselves. Let the~e and other passages be compared with 1 John i.1-4, where the Christ is called "the Word of life," and" that eternal life which was with the Father, and has been manifested unto us," and the high and probable ascription to Jesus Christ of the great title, "This is the true God, and eternal Life." There is, on the other hand, no book of the New Testament which so emphatically adopts this great term in its fulness, viz. "the Logos of God," for the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. xix. 13). Nor can we doubt that "the Word of God" to which the author of the Apocalypse bore record (i. 2) is the same grand theme which identifies its author with the author of the Gospel and First Epistle (see also Rev. i. 9; cf. vi. 9; xx. 4). There are passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews which closely approach, but are by no me01.ns so explicit (Heb. iv. 12-14; see also 1 Cor. x. 9, taken in connection which Philo's reference of the object of this temp- tation as the Juryos). There is much to lead to the same conclusion, because the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the author of the Gospel identifies with the Aoro::s ::SAPi:! rENOMENO::S, the o.uthor of the Apocalypse calls the 'O Aoro::s TOT 0EOT (Hev. xix. 13). Jesus Christ, moreover, is placed by the latter as one of tl.Je integral elements whose relations with each other con- stitute the Godhead (Rev. i. 4-8), and he receives at hiti hands the highest designations that human language could frame to denote hie superlative dignity. He is "Alpha and Omea-a," the" Beginning and the End,"" the Holy and True,"" the Amen," "be that is alive for evermore," "the 'Apx~ of the creation of God," i.e. "the Piimal Source of the creation." The evangelist in numerous places represents our Lord as claiming for the Divine Pertionafay manifested in bis humanity as the Son, the Son of God, precisely the same honours and functions as those of the Father (eh. v. 17-26; viii. 19; x. 15; xvii. 1; cf. 1 John ii. 23). In the same way the a11thor of the Apocalypse represents the Lamb of God 11s receiving identical ascriptions of praise with those of God himself, or of him who livetb for ever and ever (Rev. vi. 16; xii. 10; xiv. 4; xxi. 22; v. 13; vii. 10). It is worthy of much attention that the writer of the Gospel records the great words, "I and the Father are one," and that" all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father;" and the writer of the Apocalypse represents o.ngels and men alike pe.ying this supreme homage (Rev. iv. 8-11; cf. v. 12, 13) to the Father and to the Lamb. 1 Though doul,t is thrown upon this text by some modern editors (aee Exposition, oh. iii.).  'rHE GOf'\PJ,jf, AUCJORDING TO ST. ,JOH~. lxxxiii