(Daniel 7:9; Revelation 1:13-16)
A significant theme of the Book of Revelation is the image of the beast, the false image of a three-person god: a lion, a leopard, and a bear.
The first chapter of the Book of Revelation destroys this false doctrine by explaining the true relationship of Christ and God.
In verses 13–16, the Spirit of Christ appears:
• as one like the Son of Man; this explains that the Spirit of Christ was “manifest in the flesh”;
• as “the image of the invisible God,” the Ancient of Days, with “head and hair as white as wool,” in Daniel 7:9;
• as the body of Christ, the Rider on the White Horse, with “eyes a flame of fire” and “a sharp two-edged sword” from His mouth; and
• as the Archangel, “with a golden sash around His chest,” like the angels in Revelation 15.
The Spirit of Christ also speaks from these many manifestations:
• as the Son of man, saying “I was dead and behold, I am alive forever”;
• as the Word, the image of the invisible God, saying, “I am the First and the Last”;
• as the Body of Christ, with “the sound of many waters”; and
• as the Archangel, “with the seven stars in His hand.”
The apostle John’s explanation of Christ continues throughout the Book of Revelation. In Revelation 2 and 3, the Angel was called “the Spirit.” This Angel of God was the Spirit of Christ. In Revelation 3, John called Christ “the beginning of the creation of God.”