What does it mean in Revelation where it talks about God's name, Jesus' name and the name of new Jerusalem being written on the foreheads of the conquerors/144,000?

by slimboyfat 13 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  Narkissos

  Very interesting topic actually.

  One important and fascinating aspect of the Revelation "of John" is its complex relationship with the religious and literary movement we call "Johannism" (reflected the Gospel and epistles "of John"); in a major sense it is diametrically opposite at least to the Fourth Gospel inasmuch as it promotes a futuristic eschatology, whereas the thrust of the latter is realised eschatology. But this should not conceal the many verbal and conceptual features they have in common -- they may have developed in the same region (Asia Minor) after all. There are indeed a number of similitudes in the allusions to (and re-interpretations of) the divine name among other things. And the extension of the Deity (which the name stands for) through Christ to the elect, which is an essential feature of Johannism, is indeed perceptible in many images of Revelation.

  That is interesting about the number of the adjective(?) conceptually allowing for name or names in 14:1.

  Actually a verb, passive participle perfect of graphô.

  Are there any good reasons for deciding between seeing that as deliberate or unintended ambiguity on the part of the author?

  I don't know, but I'm not sure it really matters.

  The phrase “The One who is and who was and who is coming” (literally, "the being and the was [sic] and the coming," a school case of solecism) is widely understood as a development of the interpretation of Yhwh in Exodus 3 (LXX, ho ôn, "the being"), which distinguishes itself from similar Jewish formulae by the substitution of "coming" to "will be" in the last term -- the "coming one" being precisely a Messianic title, think for instance of John the Baptist's question to Jesus, are you 'the coming one'?

  The main thing JWs (and perhaps you) do not understand about this topic is, imo: it is precisely when the name Yhwh gradually vanishes from current usage (starting with the shift to monotheism, when it loses its normal polytheistic function, i.e. distinguishing a god from other gods) that it becomes available for interpretation (starting from Exodus 3). The less it is literally used the more it can mean; "the name of God" becomes an empty placeholder, a signifier without a concrete signifié in everyday usage, which all sort of theology and mysticism (and also, sometimes, esoterism and magic) rushes in to occupy.
• 

  jwfacts

  Is it really credible to believe they talked and wrote so much about the divine name without ever actually uttering it or writing it themselves? I think there is a better explanation of the available evidence... that the divine name was originally in the early Christian texts.

  I don't really see that as being the case. Constant reference to the Divine Name could allow it to become a term in its own right. particularly when considering the concern the Jews held for taking the Lord's name (YHWH) in vain.
• 

  Earnest

  “I am the Al´pha and the O·me´ga,” says Jehovah God, “the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.”

  I really like the thought that God's name was lying, hidden, in Revelation 1:8 waiting until the time arrived for it to be translated into English and be revealed. Seriously, though, you are quite correct that some scholars (Austin Farrer, David Aune, Richard Bauckham, McDonough) maintain that Revelation 1:8 ("I am [ego eimi] the Alpha and the Omega") is a cryptic reference to IAW, with ego eimi being (pun intended) equivalent to the Greek iota.

  An interesting question that Frank Shaw raises is whether there were some Christians [including the writer of the Apocalypse] who wished to reclaim the divine name as part of their theological world.

  As it seems that it was written after the destruction of the Second Temple and at a time when Christianity had already spread from its Jewish roots and embraced the Gentile world, the rather Semitic form of Greek used in Revelation supports this hypothesis.
• 

  Pistoff

  Only the author/authors and/or redactors know what they had in mind; I am pretty sure that it is nothing like what we think.

  P