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227 Chapter 14 The Lamb (Not the Man) on the Divine Throne Charles A. Gieschen The climatic scene of the Book of Revelation is the introduction and worship of the Lamb during the divine throne scene that culminates in the universal worship of both “the one who is seated upon the throne and the lamb” (Rev 5:5-14).1 Many scholars have noted the startling reversal of expectations between the introduction of Christ as “the Lion of tribe of Judah, the Root of David” (5:5) and his subsequent appearance as “a lamb standing as one who had been slaughtered” (5:6). Richard Bauckham, for example, makes this emphatic statement: “The key to John’s vision of the slaughtered Lamb (5:6) is to recognize the contrast between what he hears (5:5) and what he sees (5:6).”2 Without discounting the remarkable contrast between these messianic titles that are heard—especially “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”— and the Lamb who is then seen, one purpose of this study is to demonstrate that the primary reason the image of the slaughtered-yetstanding lamb is so jarring is because those who are reading or hearing this apocalypse expect that they will soon see the very impressive “likeness of a son of man” on the throne, who was seen by John earlier in his visionary experience (1:12–3:21).3 The real shock, then, is seeing a lamb on the throne instead of the man. Furthermore, although scholars have offered several reasons for this visionary experience of Christ as the lamb, most have not emphasized that this unexpected depiction of Christ also has high congruence with the experience of Christ in the paschal feast of Eucharistic worship.4 The first words of the Book of Revelation explicitly identify the visionary experience that follows as the “apocalypse of Jesus Christ” ( 70Apoka&luyij 70Ihsou= Xristou=). Previous scholarship on the Christology of Revelation has confirmed that two primary depictions of Jesus are prevalent in several scenes of this apocalypse: he appears as either the glorious man or the exalted lamb, with the later portrait being dominant.5 In addition to explaining why the depiction of Christ as a lamb is so unexpected, this study will also demonstrate that lamb Christology, especially the central scene in Revelation 5, functions in a complementary manner with the angelomorphic Christology found in other scenes in order to present Jesus Christ both as the visible form of YHWH who appeared to prophets in the past and as the flesh and blood man who has conquered Satan through his faithful witness and sacrificial death.6 To express this in other words, the glorified man scenes provide the reader/hearer with a Christology that depicts the risen Christ in continuity with previous theophanies of YHWH, while the exalted lamb scenes provide a Christology that accents Jesus’ humanity, atoning sacrificial death, resurrection victory, and authoritative status as universal ruler. The Man on the Divine Throne Theophanic traditions in the Hebrew Bible testify that YHWH appeared to the patriarchs and prophets on various occasions in the form of a man.7 Several of these are experiences where YHWH appears as a man on earth; a prominent example is YHWH and two angels appearing to Abram at the Oaks of Mamre in Genesis 18. In a few literary traditions, however, select individuals see YHWH enthroned in the heavenly realm. Such traditions are also present in the noncanonical apocalyptic literature of Second Temple Judaism.8 Although the textual evidence is by no means uniform, YHWH is depicted in some of these texts as a man sitting on the divine throne, even though his visible form is sometimes identified as “the Glory of YHWH.” The prominent examples of these appearances of YHWH enthroned will be presented below in order to substantiate that the Book of Revelation is, indeed, striking because it does not follow this dominant pattern of presenting the form of YHWH as a man seated upon the divine throne. Because the theophany at Sinai in Exodus 24:9-11 does not describe in any manner the actual appearance of YHWH on the throne, the call of Isaiah is the foundational text for the theophanic pattern of YHWH appearing as a man seated upon the divine throne: “I saw the Lord [h)r)w] sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isa 6:1). The prophet’s reply in text of Isaiah reflects...

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