To: Donna Danna - Re: AN ANGEL THAT JOHN WANTED TO WORSHIP IN REV. 22:8-9 WAS A PROPHET

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/feb2011/donnad226.htm


I have only more questions than answers, as coincidentally I have been thinking on this same thing recently.


I am drawn back to the passage regarding the "voice from the throne" in Revelation 19:5, which says "Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!" Upon hearing this voice comes a loud response from a great multitude about the wedding and bride of the Lamb. Immediately after this the angel walking John through the vision tells him to write something about the wedding supper of the Lamb and then the angel adds "These are the true words of God". John then says that upon hearing this he bows at the feet of the angel to worship him, but the angel quickly protests against the worship because he says he is a fellow servant with John and the prophets (Rev. 22:9) and with his brothers and sisters (Rev. 19:10).


It may be that part of the key to understanding why John acted this way is because of the part of John’s revelation we are missing. I am referring to Revelation 10 where a mighty angel awesome in appearance with a rainbow over his head shouts, and when he shouts the seven thunders speak but John is told by a voice from heaven not to write what the seven thunders say. It is this angel who John writes is standing on the sea and on the land. This mighty angel also proclaims that the mystery of God will be accomplished when the seventh trumpet sounds. Could what we are missing from the seven thunders be the key to knowing how come John bows to worship the angel?


I was reading Psalm 89 not long ago, and I found myself thinking again about this angel John tried to bow and worship. To recap halfway into Psalm 89 God begins to speak about David. God says, “I have found my servant David; with my sacred oil I have anointed him...I will set his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers...He will call to me ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior’...and I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth...I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure...his throne will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.”


Now I have always assumed Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about David, but then I went back and read from Jesus in Revelation 22:16 where he says to John, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright morning star.” Two things strike me with this verse. First, Jesus personalizes this angel to himself. Second, Jesus claims he is the Root and the Offspring of David but not David himself?


So, I skip back a few pages to Revelation 11:19, which says as the seventh trumpet is sounded, “Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant.”


Remember how the Ark of the Covenant in the old testament is two Cherubim made of hammered gold, facing each other, their wings touching and how God sat enthroned over the Ark to speak to Moses? What if the Cherubim represent God’s covenant in heaven on the last day? What if one Cherubim represents the Son of God and the other Cherubim represents the Son of Man - a son God always intended to create for his own son Jesus during the last days. Remember the prophecy of Judah by his father Jacob, which says in Genesis 49:11, “He will tether his colt to the choicest branch.” Is this referring to a special union between Jesus and another, who is referred to as the branch, the choicest branch born of man according to the will of God?


It would certainly shed a different light on a great many verses. For instance, in Ezekiel 37:19 where God says he will join the stick of Joseph and the Israelites associated with him to the stick of Judah so that they become one in his hand. Then Zechariah 12:7, which distinguishes the dwellings of Judah being saved ahead of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants. That one is really confusing because David was from the tribe of Judah, so why would David and his people be made separate from his own tribe Judah?


I actually think I might have an answer for that one. Jesus was a Jew, whose earthly father and biological mother were from the line of Judah. The second Cherubim, the Son of Man, might be a Gentile, which would shed a different light on the verse in Isaiah 66:17-18 that says “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens [gardens are a reference to the Song of Solomon gardens here], following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs and other unclean things...they will meet their end together with the one they follow. And I, because of what they have planned and done will gather them...and they will see my glory.”


When Jesus says the Spirit and the bride say “Come” in Revelation 22:17. When he says to the one that overcomes that he will give that person authority over the nations and he rule them with an iron scepter and dash them to pieces like pottery in Revelation 2:26-27. When he says to the one who overcomes that he will give the right to sit down with him on his throne just as he overcame and sat down with his father on his throne in Revelation 3:21. Perhaps he is speaking of this one like David, who the Father will raise up in the last days to tear down the nations of the earth and show God’s miraculous and terrible wonders on the earth? Perhaps the Spirit and the bride are the two witnesses to come? Maybe speaking of heavenly things on earth to man requires one witness from heaven “the Spirit” and a witness from the earth “the Bride”? Perhaps this son of man will drink of the same cup the Lord Jesus, when his life is put to an end? [Reference to Habakkuk 2:16]


Revelation 12 refers to the Spirit giving birth to a male child, who will “rule the nations with an iron scepter”. Jesus says in Revelation 2:26-27 that to the one who overcomes he will give authority over the nations and “rule them with an iron scepter”. Psalm 89:27 says God will appoint David as his firstborn. Does this mean firstborn of His Spirit just as Jesus was the firstborn of the dead? Psalm 89 also refers to David’s throne enduring as long as the moon - the faithful witness in the sky. The moon is the faithful witness to the sun’s light; waning though it does throughout each month. So has the waning moon always symbolized this son of man God will raise up for his own Son in the last days - just as the sun has always represented his Son? When the scripture says the moon will be turned to blood in the last days is that a reference to this Son of Man being put to death?


If these things prove true with time then the Son of God would rule over David’s throne and be the head of all that was made to belong to David. This would keep with the knowledge that Jesus is the head of the church, as we all know to be true from the Word of God.


Lately I have been thinking about the visions of Daniel and Ezekiel, where they saw one like a son of man, who would not speak to them until they stood up or until they were lifted to their feet. Is this one like a son of man in their visions also protesting their bowing down like the angel in John’s vision? Are they all one in the same; a foreshadowing of a son of man to come?


The LORD has already set apart 24 thrones we read about in Revelation, and we assume the apostles are among those who sit on them. Actually, I realize we probably assume that all 24 of those thrones are seated by those we read about in the Bible and no one else since biblical times. But perhaps one who is last will be first and the first will be the last - made to be a servant of all? Bridegroom and Bride, Friends attending the Bridegroom, Friends attending the Bride? I read the other day that the name David means “Beloved”. A mystery to me it remains...