17. IS, WAS, IS TO COME*

 

This phrase is found in five references:  Revelation 1:4, 8; 4:8; 11:17; 16:5.

 

Revelation 1:4: “Him which is and which was and which is to come.”

1:8: “The Lord which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

4:8: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come.”

11:17: “O Lord God Almighty, which art and wast and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.”

16:5: “Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.”

 

Read: Revelation 1:4-8.

 

I. “IS”: Hebrews 11:6: “For without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that HE IS, and that HE IS a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

 

II. “WAS”: Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

 

            A. Read: John 1:1-14.  The WORD, GOD, and JESUS, a Unity in Trinity, or a Trinity in Unity, WAS in the beginning, and currently exist, IS, and will forever be COMING.

 

III. “IS TO COME”: 1Timothy 1:17: “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

 

            A. ETERNAL: “Forever and ever”.  Revelation 1:6: “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

 

            [We will deal more extensively with this later under “Alpha and Omega”, Revelation 1:8.]

 

            B. IMMORTAL: Not like the Greek and pagan gods who supposedly died and rose again every year.  Jesus flesh died, but His Spirit did not.  [1Peter 3:18-20; 4:6.]

 

            Read: Revelation 1:18: “I AM He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I AM alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

 

            Revelation 2:8, to the Church at Smyrna: “These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive.”

 

            C. INVISIBLE: to the natural eye, but seen by the spirit.

 

                        1. Adam and Eve walked and talked with God in the Garden of Eden.

 

                        Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and 70 Elders saw God: Exodus 24:9-11.  Moses also saw and communed with God on another occasion: Exodus 33:11, 18, 20-23.

 

                        2. Others saw God in visions.*  We will study more of this in a later lesson: “Visions of God” in Revelation Light.

 

III. ALMIGHTY:* This descriptive word is found in 9 references: 1:8; 4:8; 11:17 (KJV); 15:3; 16:7; 16:14; 19:6 (‘Ominipotent’ KJV); 19:15; 21:22.

 

            This translates the Hebrew El Shaddai, Greek Pantokrator.

 

IV. JEHOVAH/YAHWEH:* 

 

            The phrase “Was, Is, and Is to Come” identifies Christ as the Great I AM of Exodus 3:13-15.  The divine Name is a verb of existence hard to translate: Yahweh – “I AM that I AM”, or “I AM He Who creates”, or “Being, I Cause to Be”.

 

            In Judaism the name YAHWEH is called ‘the quadrilateral name’ for in Hebrew it contains four letters and was considered by the Rabbis as being too holy to pronounce. 

 

            1. “WAS, IS, AND IS TO COME” = THE NAME YAHWEH, (JEHOVAH).  Exodus 3:13-15 RSV: Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” (14) God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”  And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”  (15) God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”

 

            The force of the name YAHWEH is that of infinity brought into the present moment.  The eternally existent God, eternity past and eternity future, is brought into the present finite moment. 

 

            The people of God are a unity, a family, with those who lived in the past and those who will come in the future.  In Joshua 24: 16-18, the people identified with the past generations whom God brought out of Egypt, “we”, “us”.  Ephesians 3:15 speaks of “the whole family in heaven and earth”. 

 

Hebrews 12:1 speaks of our being surrounded with “so great a cloud of witnesses” speaking of those who had kept the faith in all ages.

 

Read: John 17:20-26, Jesus’ prayer for our unity.

 

            Because of this unity, in Christ we can vicariously experience His life, death and resurrection.

  

HANDOUT: The Names of God in the Old Testament, “Jesus Christ – Joshua-Mezhiah – The Anointed Savior”.

 

 

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