In the book of Revelation, chapter one discloses Christ to us in His
majesty and glory, as the Ancient of Days, the First and the Last, the
living One, who once died but is now alive forevermore. In chapter
five, we see Him as the Lamb in the midst of the throne of God,
receiving the book of the divine counsels from the hand of God, and
sharing with Him the praise of all creation: “Blessing and honor and
glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the
Lamb forever and ever.” (5:13) When heaven is opened and the Lord comes
forth with the armies of heaven as the mighty Victor, chapter 19, upon
His head are many crowns. He is the Faithful and True, the accomplisher
of all God’s purposes, who is to lay at His Father’s feet an eternally
ransomed creation. Three times in this chapter is His name spoken of:
“He had a name written that no man knew but He Himself” (19:12),
suggesting that ineffable name of the Eternal Son. His name is also
called “the Word of God” (13), the revealer of God. He is also King of
kings and Lord of lords (16), the Prince of the kings of the earth. As
our eye rests upon the glories of the heavenly city, God’s dwelling
place forever, the throne that is there is the throne of God and of the
Lamb. The light of heaven, the lamp from which God’s glory is
displayed, is the Lamb. Thus God and the Lamb are forever associated
together.
This association of God the Father and His Son is confirmation of the
strongest character of the equality of the divine persons. When Paul
opens his epistles with the salutation, “Grace be unto you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” he puts the Father and
the Son side by side. Could we associate an angel or a man with God the
Father? Could we say, Grace and peace from God the Father and Isaiah or
Jeremiah or the apostles or the noble army of martyrs? No, into that
holy fellowship of the divine family, none can intrude.