The Name manifested in Glory

The Spirit-word, through Prophets, hath testified: “YAHWEH-Elohim, of hosts; YAHWEH, his memorial” (Hos. xii. 5). “YAHWEH, my Elohim; all the saints shall come in with thee” (Zech. xiv. 5). Eur., Vol. II.

The announcement of this prophecy leads to the consideration of those symbolic representations of that Spirit-name, revealed in vision to the apostle John. Through “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants, things which must shortly come to pass; he sent and signified it by his angel, unto his servant John” (Rev. i.).

After the salutation of John to the seven Ecclesias that were in Asia, he calls the reader’s attention to the second coming of the Anointed One: “Behold, he is coming with the clouds” (ver. 7). Moses prophesied concerning this coming, when he said: “There is none like theAil of Yeshurun, riding heavens in thy help, and in his Majesty of clouds” (Deut. xxxiii.). The clouds here signified, are those multitudes mentioned in the beginning of his prophecy, as he saith: “Yahweh came from Sinai,”—“He shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints.” “Enoch,” also, prophesied of the same, saying: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints” (Jude ver. 14). In the vision of His coming that appeared to the prophet Daniel,—“thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him” (Dan. vii. 10).

The “Annunciation,” contained in ver. 8, tells who the Royal personage is that is coming. Introducing Himself, He saith: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is coming,—the Almighty.” Into “the day of the Lord,” when He shall come “in power and great glory,” the apostle John was carried in spirit; and heard still further annunciation concerning Him: as He said, “I was in spirit, in the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the First, and the Last.” The Eternal Spirit, through the prophet, had long before announced himself as the First and the Last. In Isaiah it is thus written: “Thus saith Yahweh, king of Israel, and his Redeemer YahwehTz’vahoth (or He who will be of hosts, that is, ‘COMMANDER’ of them” (ch. lv. 4). “I THE FIRST One, and I THE LAST One: and without me no Elohim” (Isa. xliv. 6). Eur., Vol I. “The First One”; the Father-Spirit,—“Ail.” “The Last One”; He who is called “the Beginning of the Creation of the Deity.” In Him are comprehended those styled the “Last Ones”: In the words of Isaiah, as the Spirit saith: “Who hath wrought and done this, naming the generations from the beginning?—to which inquiry the Eternal Spirit answers:”ANI-Yahweh, I who will be: THE FIRST One, and with the Last Ones: I—He” (Isa. xli. 4).

This multitudinous manifestation of the Name of Yahweh, is the subject of various symbolic representations in the Apocalypse. Exhibiting the perfected Unity and oneness of the whole mystical Body of Christ, when it shall be united with its glorious Head. In whom the divine name has been first manifested in the flesh, perfected in the Spirit and glorified.

The first vision, seen by the “beloved apostle,” is described as “One like to a Son of man, clothed to the feet, and girded about the breast with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow: and his eyes as a flame of fire: his feet like unto fine brass, as if they had been glowing in a furnace: and his voice, as the sound of many waters.” “Many waters” in this book of symbols, is defined to be “Peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues” (ch. xvii.).

To the prophet Daniel there appeared in vision a similitude, representative of the same multitudinous Unity, as that revealed to the apostle John. He describes “the voice of his words,” as “like the voice of a multitude” (ch. x.). To the prophet Ezekiel, his vision of the “Cherubim” symbolized the same mighty host. “The noise of their wings,” when in motion, he compared to “the noise of great waters: as the voice of Mighty Ones, the voice of speech” (ch. i.). The symbolism of these glorious visions is shown to prefigure that glorious company, referred to in other portions of the Apocalypse. In ch. vii. it is seen as “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds, and people and tongues, that stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.”

While the multitude represented, are still awaiting the time of glorification, the Son of man Himself, who is the Central figure,—in whom the goodness, the glory, and the life are concentered,—is, and was, at the time when the Revelation was given, in the state of glorified, immortal, and incorruptible existence. The messages which Christ sent to the seven Ecclesias that were in Asia in the days of John the Revelator, expressing His judgment concerning their spiritual state, and giving them exhortation and warning, are also for the guidance of all saints, who may have lived in succeeding ages, down to the present day.

Considering the vision of the Son of man described in chapter i. the eye of faith takes primary note of his apparel. The brilliant array is significant of the character and office pertaining to the Son of man, and to the multitude represented in Him. It is stated concerning the Spirit-man, whom Daniel beheld, that He was “clothed with linen.” John simply says He “was clothed to the feet.” “The fine linen,” is “the righteousness of saints” (Rev. xix.)—The righteousness which they derive from being in Christ. The holy garments worn by the priests under the law, when they ministered in the holy places, were of fine linen. The fine linen garment, then, is seen to be emblematic of the priestly office also. The “golden girdle” has been shown to be representative of “Faith perfected by trial.” “When he hath tried me,” saith Job, “I shall come forth as gold.” In the Spirit’s imagery of Psalm xlv., the golden qualities of the faithful are referred to. Addressing the King, the Spirit saith: “Upon thy right hand, the Queen in fine gold of Ophir.” … “The King’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold: She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework.” This figurative description is illustrative of the relationship which is to exist between Christ, as “the King,” and the glorified multitude who will bear His Name in the future Age:—“the Bride.”

The moral and spiritual qualities, that have adorned the “hidden man of the heart,” are the first things that are brought to view in the symbolic array of the Son of man, in multitudinous manifestation. Hence, these are the first things dealt with by the Spirit, in His messages to the “Ecclesias.” In harmony with this, the teaching of Christ and the apostles, concerning the order of things, in the future day of judgment, is revealed in plain testimony. The first things to be dealt with, at the coming of the Anointed, will be the spiritual condition of the household of faith. The result of the Master’s inspection, will appear in the approval or disapproval which He will dispense to every one, “according to his works.”

Other symbols presented in the vision of ch. i. prefigure certain other things pertaining to the glorious mission and work of Christ, when He shall come in power and great glory. They are described in detail in the works on the Apocalypse.