Kurios ho Theos ho pantokrator. Who is the Lord, God Omnipotent? It is He Who is `King of kings and Lord of lords' (Rev. 19:16). What is His name, is it known? Yes, and no:
`He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself' yet `His name is called The Word of God' (Rev. 19:12,13).
He Who takes to Himself His great power and reigns is Christ which Revelation 11 follows by saying `Thy wrath is come' (Rev. 11:18). At the time of judgment, this is declared to be `the wrath of the LAMB' (Rev. 6:16).
Returning once again to Revelation 4, we noted that the title `Which was, and is, and is to come' is given (Rev. 4:8). In chapter 1 this title is assumed by Christ (Rev. 1:8), and is used again in chapter 11. Here however a somewhat remarkable feature demands attention. All the critical texts and the Revised Version read `Which art and Which wast', omitting the words `and Which art to come' for the glorious reason, He is seen here as having come. The name Jehovah was assumed by the Invisible God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, `This is My name unto the age, and this is My memorial unto all generations' (Exod. 3:15). This is not correctly translated by the title `Eternal' for `the age' and `generations' are within the limits of time. The glory of the name Jehovah is that it will be fulfilled, and pass away, even as it is the glory of the office of Priest, and at long last, even `The Son also Himself' shall be subject unto Him that did put all things under Him `That God', not Elohim, nor Jehovah, nor El Shaddai, nor the Father, nor the Son, nor the Holy Spirit, but God in a sense hither to unrevealed and uncomprehended by man, shall then `be all in all' (1 Cor. 15:28)! The Son takes back the glory that was His before the world was, the Son ascends the throne of Deity, the Mediatorial kingdom being finished and the purpose of the ages achieved, all the self-limitations and voluntary humiliation which Creation and Redemption imposed, being no longer necessary, the day of Redemption being reached, reconciliation being complete, God will then reveal why creation was called into being; why it was necessary for The Image, The Form, The Word to be assumed; why the relation of Father and Son came in with the Gospel; how it is that no name or collection of names can ever set forth the Infinite; how the `Persons' of the Godhead were assumptions of Deity until seeing through a `glass darkly' gives place to sight.
In Acts 17:27 the apostle Paul, speaking of the Creator, said `That haply they might feel after Him and find Him'. `Feel after Him'. This expression uses the Greek word pselaphao `HANDLE Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have' (Luke 24:39). `That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes; which we have looked upon, and our hands have HANDLED, of the Word of Life, for the life was manifested' (1 John 1:1,2). Christ in resurrection, the One Who `In the beginning' created all things, Who `from the beginning' in resurrection was `manifested unto us', was preached by Paul to the philosophers at Athens. They, in the dim light of their philosophy, `groped' (as the word is translated in the Old Testament Isa. 59:10), but the disciples of the Saviour had actually `touched' or `felt' Him (as the first occurrence of the word is translated in Genesis 27:12).
While the Articles of Religion rightly speak of the `One living and true God, without body, parts or passions', we must not allow this man-made article to rob us of the testimony of the Scriptures, that He Who created heavens and earth, could be `handled' by those who beheld Him in the flesh. Why should God say `before Me there was no God FORMED, neither shall there be after Me' (Isa. 43:10)? This cannot refer exclusively to the making of idols, for millions of `gods' have been `formed' since Isaiah uttered these words. Israel were chosen to be `Jehovah's witnesses', were called upon to know and believe and to understand `that I am He'. `I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Saviour' (Isa. 43:10,11). These words refer to the Son of God, Who in fulness of time was literally and actually `formed'. The word translated `to form', the Hebrew word yatsar is used by Jeremiah of the forming of a child in the womb (Jer. 1:5), even as in Isaiah 44:24. In the same chapter that contains the words `no God formed', Israel is said to be `formed' (Isa. 43:1,7,21). These are the words with which the Holy Ghost teacheth (1 Cor. 2:13). Idolatry is the usurpation of the prerogative of Christ, Who is the Image of the Invisible God (Isa. 44:10). Calvin looks upon the words `Before Me there was no God formed' as a kind of irony, but in the selfsame chapters that reveal that `The Word' and `The Image of the Invisible God', is the Creator of heaven and earth we read that, `in the BODY OF HIS FLESH' He wrought out our redemption (Col. 1:22), and in the next chapter we are assured that `In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead BODILY' (2:9).
It will, we trust, be evident that Creation is nowhere ascribed to `The Father' but is everywhere ascribed to Him, Who being God, became Man; Who is declared to be the Only begotten Son; Who was God manifest in the flesh, Jehovah, He that was, and is, and is to come, the Almighty, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. When the moment comes, which is depicted in Revelation eleven, `The mystery of God' shall be finished.
pp. 50-52 Is God A Person Charles H. Welch
