Rev 19:13
“And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”
“καὶ περιβεβλημένος ἱμάτιον βεβαμμένον αἵματι, καὶ κέκληται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ.”
“kai peribeblēmenos imation bebammenon aimati kai kaleitai to onoma autou o logos tou theov”
Revelation is a very interesting book and a very difficult one to understand with clarity. Since Revelation was given to John in dream form, it is important to remember that it must be interpreted as such. There are four schools of interpretation on Revelation.
Each type of interpretation has specific viewpoints. One type tells us that everything in the book is based on past events that happened in the first and second century. Another is that the entire book is futuristic and that everything is about the End Times. A third view is that the book talks only about the history of the church (this was popular with the reformists because it was based on the idea that Revelation is actually an anti-Roman-Catholic book). The fourth view is that it is nothing more than a revelation of spiritual wars in the heavenly realm.
The truth is that Revelation is a combination of all four. There are historical parts, futuristic parts, spiritual warfare parts and some of it involves the church history. However, the lines dividing these variations are often difficult to see.
Θεοῦ and Θεὸς :
The first thing I want to point out is the Greek word translated as God. The word is written “Θεοῦ”, in English is should be written “Theov”. It is a variation of the word “Θεὸς”, which is written Theos. Both these variations are interpreted to “God”. These translations are accurate. (Theov is a genitive singular masculine and Theos is nominative singular masculine)
So what am I getting at? Well, we quickly need to look at John 1:1.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” John 1:1 (NKJV)
The first word translated to “God” in the above verse is “Θεὸς” (Theos), the second “God” is “Θεοῦ” (Theov). The Jehovah Witnesses, in their quest to un-deify Jesus translated the verse in the following manner:
“In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god” John 1:1 (NWT)
We have looked at this when we studied John 1:1, however, it is important to go through this again:
Theov can mean “a god” IF the rest of the context allows for it, however, in John 1:1 it does not, the Jehovah’s Witness Bible interpreted it wrong. If, in this context we change “Theov” to “a God” we move into polytheism, which Scripture is strictly against and there cannot be contradictions in God’s Word. There are no other gods, there is only one God. The more accurate meaning of Theov is roughly translated as “part of God”. In the context of John 1:1, there is no other option than the latter. The Word is as part of God as our words are part of us.
A Jehovah’s Witness will argue for hours that they have interpreted the word correctly, however, let us now look at the verse of this week…
If they argue that “Theov” must be interpreted as “a god”, then the NWT (New World Translation – The Jehovah Witnesses’ version of the Bible) should read:
“And he [was] clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of a God.” Rev 19:13
But they do not… They translate it as:
“and he is arrayed with an outer garment sprinkled with blood, and the name he is called is The Word of God” Rev 19:13
So why would they translate the one occurrence of “Theov” as “a god” and another as “God”? The truth is that Rev 19:13 does not, in their minds, try to deify Jesus and therefore they have no reason to mess around with the Scripture… It is clear that the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ interpretation of the Bible is not based on “truth”, as they claim, but rather on propaganda and the lies of the enemy.
The significance of “Θεοῦ”:Just as in John 1:1, the word “Θεοῦ”, in rough terms mean “a part of God”. In Revelation, John gives us a different view on Jesus and God the Father. In the book of John, he tried to tell us who the Word was (a part of God). Now he tries to widen our understanding even further. This time he refers to God the Father as “a part of God”. God the Father is God, but He is also part of the Trinity!
Our minds cannot possibly understand the Trinity entirely, but John manages to give us a good idea.
“and He was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood”
Theologians have different interpretations of this verse.
The first interpretation is that the blood the vesture is dipped in is the redemptive blood which was shed at the cross, the second is that this represents the blood of His enemies, or both.
One of the theories that seem to make the most sense is that the blood is due to the “treading on the winepress of the wrath of God” indicated in verse 15, as well as in Rev 14:19-20. This is all linked to the prophesy in Isaiah 63:1-7, which speaks of the winepress being trodden by the coming Christ and the blood stained His garments. According to Isaiah, this is a winepress of wrath and judgment. The sin (and therefore also sinners who do not repent) of the world has been trampled on in God’s fury in the day of His vengeance (Isaiah 63:1-7).
Again I have to point out error in the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ doctrine (I don’t mean to pick on them, but if Paul had the right to confront false doctrine then so do we). They believe that God is only a loving God and that when we die there will be no judgment or punishment. They believe that if we are not good enough (did not do enough good works – i.e. convert enough people to the Jehovah Witness cult), we will be separated forever from God, but there will be no pain or suffering. Many of them are shocked and taken aback when they read Scriptures like these. They just cannot understand that God could possibly have wrath, fury or vengeance… But all of these aspects are clearly within the Bible. God is loving, He proved that when He gave His only son, however, God must also judge sin, for no sinner can enter the Kingdom of Heaven and there is no “nice” way to judge sin. God hates sin and will destroy the sinner along with the sin if they do not repent and become born again. This might be a difficult subject to think about, but it is important. It is so important that Jesus was sacrificed so that we do not have to face God’s wrath!
What we do know is this: When the Lord returns, we do not want to be on the wrong side… We want to be on His side. We do not want to be the target of the fury of the Lord!
But How can we be on His side?
“and His name is called The Word Of God.”
In verse 12 it speaks about a name written that none knew but Himself. This clearly indicates that there are parts of the character of the eternal and limitless God that only God knows. Now it reveals what the world will call Him: The Word Of God.
The Word Of God will return to this world in judgment (2 Tim 4:1). The Kingdom of God will come, led by The Word Of God. There is so much to say about the Word Of God, but due to time constraints I cannot get into it. I would like to focus your attention on the term “Word Of God”. This is referring to the actual audible representation of God in a physical form! What Jesus says IS what God says… Think about that for a bit…
Now the big question is: When He returns, will you know Him only by “The Word Of God”, or will you know Him personally and call Him Jesus?
He will appear before all as The Word Of God, but those who have a personal relationship with their savior will be able to call Him by name. In which camp will you be? All we need to do in order to avoid the judgment and wrath of God is to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
So, if you have not yet made Jesus your Lord and Savior, why not do so now and get to know The Word Of God by name?
