Hey Pastor John!
I have a Revelation question. Sometimes it is hard to hear and catch everything while reading during the meeting because I may be in and out of the room with the kids, so you may have already hashed this out.
I just finished reading through the first four chapters again, and a couple of things struck me and made me confused as to whether it is referring to God or the Son. In 1:4, your translation shows a capital Him referring to God: “To the seven Assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come….”
And also, in 1:8, there is a small-caps Lord as being “the alpha and omega”. I always thought those two phrases were talking about the Son because in 1:17, it seems the Son is saying he is the “first and last”. Isn’t that what “alpha and omega” means?
Then in chapter 4:10-11, there are capital “H’s” referring to God, but then small lettered “Lord” saying he created everything. Is that not the Son? Why are there capitals beforehand? I’d like to get it all straight in my head of who is who and who did what… I thought I knew. Thanks!
Leah
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Hi Leah.
Thank you for the questions.
(1) The phrase in 1:4, “who is, and who was, and who is to come”, refers only to the Father.
(2) After much discussion, we decided that in 1:8, the Father was speaking through the Son at that moment, saying to these Greek believers the same truth about Himself (in words they would understand) that He once said to Israel (Isa. 41:4, 44:6). That is why we have it punctuated like this: “I am ‘the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, the One who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
(3) “The One seated on the throne in heaven” always refers to the Father. The small-lettered “Lord” was a typo. I am glad you noticed it, and it has been fixed.
Hope that makes everything clear.
Pastor John