Gwen Frangs / Cambridge. UK / 13 February 2022
In Revelation 1:13 the apostle John says that he sees One like the Son of Man. It does not say that he sees the Son of Man:
12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
Revelations 1:12-16 NIV
It must be remembered that John was the beloved disciple. If he had seen Jesus in the vision, his reaction would have been different. They would probably have been hugging each other with joy. Instead John falls down in terror when he sees this Person, Who is like the Son of Man, but isn’t the Son of Man:
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
Revelation 1:17 NIV
This is because the Person that John sees is the Holy Spirit. We know that this is the Holy Spirit because we are told in Revelations 2 verses 1 and 7 that it is the Holy Spirit:
2 “To the angel[a] of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
Revelation 2:1 NIV
7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Revelation 2:7a NIV
Also, Revelation 2:12 says:
“To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.
Revelation 2:12 NIV
Ephesians 6:17 says that the sword belongs to the Holy Spirit:
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:17 NIV
In the Book of Revelation the Holy Spirit appears to John to reveal to him what is to come, just as Jesus said that He would do:
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
John 16:13 NIV
In Revelation 1 and 2 the apostle John is seeing the Holy Spirit as He was before He became incarnate as the Son of Man. He was seeing the Holy Spirit as He appeared in the Old Testament as El Shaddai, the Ancient of Days, the Word of God. He is seeing the Holy Spirit as Daniel saw Him in the Old Testament:
9 “As I looked,
“thrones were set in place,
Daniel 7:9-10 NIV
and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
and its wheels were all ablaze.
10 A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court was seated,
and the books were opened.
Not only does the apostle John see the Holy Spirit in Revelation, but he has more to say in his gospel about Jesus as the incarnate Holy Spirit than the other gospel writers.
In John 1, John says that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word is the person who appeared to Abraham in Genesis 15:
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,[a]
your very great reward.[b]”2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”
Genesis 15:1-5 NIV
We see that the Word of the Lord is a person because Genesis 15:5 says that ‘he‘ took Abram outside. In Exodus 6:3, we find out that the name of the Word of the Lord is El Shaddai and that God the Father is present within Him:
2 And God said to Moses, “I am Yahweh—‘the Lord.’ 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob in El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty’—but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them.
Exodus 6:2-3
Although commonly translated as God telling Moses that He appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai, this is not what the verse actually says. The correct translation of the verse says that He appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in El Shaddai. I have corrected the Interlinear translation above to read ‘in’ El Shaddai because the preposition on the word ‘el’ is בְּ which is the preposition ‘in’ in ancient Hebrew.
In Exodus 6:2-3 the preposition בְּ is attached to the beginning of the word אֵ֣ל forming the word בְּאֵ֣ל. The word אֵ֣ל is the ‘El’ of El Shaddai. If you look at the blue parts of speech under the original Hebrew text the preposition is listed as Prep-b. Prep-b, according to the Hebrew parsing, means ‘in’ (https://biblehub.com/hebrewparse.htm). It does not mean ‘as’ because כְּ is the preposition which means ‘as’ (8af3842462324e4d5443b28852f9368b3e9aa672.html). Therefore, the verse does not read:
….. I am Yahweh and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai…
Rather, the verse reads as:
….I am Yahweh and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob in El Shaddai…
Jesus confirmed this when He came to earth. He told His disciples that the Father was ‘in’ Him:
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me…
John 14:11a
In Genesis 48 Jacob speaks about El Shaddai, Who appeared to him at Luz (Genesis 48:3) and Who had helped him all of his life:
15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
“May the God before whom my fathers
Genesis 48:15-16
Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully,
the God who has been my shepherd
all my life to this day,
16 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm
—may he bless these boys.
May they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they increase greatly
on the earth.”
Therefore, we know that El Shaddai is an angel. In Isaiah 63, we are told that this Angel, within Whom the Father is present, is the Holy Spirit:
8 He said, “Surely they are my people,
Isaiah 63:8-10 NIV
children who will be true to me”;
and so he became their Savior.
9 In all their distress he too was distressed,
and the angel of his presence saved them.[a]
In his love and mercy he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them
all the days of old.
10 Yet they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit.
So he turned and became their enemy
and he himself fought against them.
God the Father used this Angel, the Holy Spirit, to create everything:
The Spirit of God has made me;
Job 33:4 NIV
the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
All creatures look to you
Psalm 104:27-30 NIV
to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
In John 1:1-3 we are told:
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and God was the Word. He was in the beginning with God. All things through Him came into being and without Him came into being not even one thing that has come into being.
John 1:1-3
It is clear that John is referring to the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, Who is spoken of at the beginning of the creation event in Genesis 1:2 and Who created everything. He cannot be speaking about Jesus, the Son of God, because Jesus was not present at the creation because He had not yet been begotten.
The Bible teaches that Jesus was ‘begotten’. If we look at the meaning of the word ‘begotten’ in https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3205.htm. You will see that the word is derived from the word meaning ‘to bear, bring forth, beget’. The word translated ‘begotten’ in Psalm 2:7 means that the Son of Man was begotten.
In Zechariah 3, the second last book of the Old Testament, the Father is speaking through the Holy Spirit about the Branch. In verse 8 Yahweh says: ‘I Am bringing forth My Servant the Branch….’ Zechariah 3:8. He is describing a future event. He is not describing something that had happened in the past prior to creation. The Son was begotten only at the beginning of the New Testament when Mary became pregnant with Him, as a result of the Holy Spirit overshadowing her. When the Holy Spirit took up residence in the body that the Father had prepared for Him, the Son was begotten:
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
Hebrews 10:5-7
but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’”[a]
The Son did not exist as a man prior to that point. The speaker in the verse makes it clear that He sees Himself as separate from the body that was prepared. In other words He is not the body. He is in the body. The speaker is the Holy Spirit. He is in the body because He is the Spirit of Christ. That is why John says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is saying that the Holy Spirit became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus, the Son of God, is the Holy Spirit incarnate.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus, the incarnate Holy Spirit, says: ‘before Abraham was, I Am’ (John 8:58).
He calls Himself the Holy One that had been set apart by God (John 10:36).
In John 14:18-20 Jesus identifies Himself as the Holy Spirit when He says:
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
John 14:18-20
In John 17:22-26 Jesus again identifies Himself as the Holy Spirit when He says:
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you[a] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
John 17:22-26
In the Gospel of John, Jesus describes Himself as being the Light of the world (John 8:12). Light can exist as both a particle and a wave. When the Holy Spirit became Jesus, He became different to what He was as the Holy Spirit because Jesus was also a man with a body of flesh which gave Him human emotions and made Him share in the difficulties of what it is to be a man. As Jesus, the Holy Spirit became fixed in the form of a man. He is the Word described by the apostle John Who is bearing witness in Heaven in 1 John 5:7. However, He also remains as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit now exists as both the Spirit and as Jesus, the Man.
The apostle John describes how Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into the disciples: ‘Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” ‘(John 20:22 CEV). Jesus was breathing a portion of Himself into the disciples. On the day of Pentecost they received the full measure. The apostle Paul called this a mystery:
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:24-27
It is clear from the Book of Revelation, the Gospel of John and the epistles of John, that the apostle John fully comprehended this mystery. There are scholars who doubt that the Book of Revelation was written by the apostle John. However, both the Book of Revelation and the Gospel of John reveal a deep understanding of Jesus Christ as the incarnate Holy Spirit, in a manner which brings me to the conclusion that both books were authored by the same person.
For an explanation regarding why Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit in the third person in the Gospel of John when He Himself was the Holy Spirit see (https://www.topicsinbiblicalstudies.com/jesus-speaks-of-himself-as-the-holy-spirit-in-john-14-and-15/).