(Isaiah 6:8; 44:6; 48:16; Revelation 1:8, 17)
Revelation 1 demonstrates the meaning of Christ as the Word.
The Word is the Spirit of Christ, the speaker and image of the invisible God.
Isaiah saw the coming Messiah, the Lord of Hosts, who said to Him, “Who shall go for Us.”1Isaiah 6:8 The “Us” was explained in Isaiah 48:16, as “the Lord God and His Spirit sent me.” The Aramaic Targum translated this as “the Lord God and His Word sent me.”
The Word was the Spirit who spoke in Revelation 2 and 3, saying, “Hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.”2Rev 2:7 etc The early Church clearly understood that the Spirit who spoke in Revelation 2 and 3 was the Word. We can see this in the writing of Irenaeus, who described the Word’s rebuke of the Nicolaitans in Revelation 2.
In Revelation 1:8, the Word said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, who was, and who is to come.” Here, the Spirit of Christ as the Word speaks for the invisible God, just as He did in the Old Testament.
In verse 17, the Spirit of Christ says, “I am the First and the Last.”
This brings us back to the Book of Isaiah, where the Spirit of Christ was clearly identified as the Word—the speaker for the invisible God:
“Thus says Yihvah, He WILL BE, the King of Israel,
And its Redeemer, He WILL Be of the Armies,
‘I am the first and the last;
Besides Me there is no God.’”3Isaiah 44:6
The King of the Jews was the name that Pilate put above Jesus’ cross. Thus, Jesus Christ, the Word, told the Jews, “When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that I AM.”4John 8:28 Jesus was the promised “He WILL BE,” the King of Israel and its Redeemer.
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