The strong Angel swears, takes an oath, and swears by the Name of the Creator of Heaven and earth. Does the Son swear by the Name of the Father who created all things by the Son,1 or is this rather a special angel, clothed with the authority of Christ? Or is it Christ Himself? The riddle seems unsolvable!
We come across swearing with a hand raised early on in the Bible. Abram said to the king of Sodom: “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of Heaven and earth”2 and the Authorised Version says: “I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the Most High God, the possessor of Heaven and earth.”3 Even the Lord Himself swears—by His own Name.4 In Hebrews 6:13-17 we read: “When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath.” “And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for a heritage: I am the Lord.”5 The man clothed in linen in Daniel 12:7 even lifts both his hands to Heaven and swears by Him who lives forever. So the Lord Himself swears too6 therefore, and the strong Angel could therefore be Christ. The Lord says: “I lift My hand to Heaven and solemnly swear: As surely as I live forever…”7
The strong Angel not only swears by Him who is alive for ever and ever,8 but also by Him who created Heaven and earth and in whom the Universe has its (continued) existence until the present day. “In Him we live and move and have our being.”9 “In Him all things hold together.”10 He is in control. If He decides that earth should cease to exist, that will happen. If He decides that time is up, that there is to be no more delay, it will be so. Does the Angel mean to say that time as such ceases to exist? That would contradict Scripture and what follows in the Book of Revelation. Moreover, whether eternity is to be thought of as without time is an open question, without any basis in Scripture. The thought is rather that of everlasting time, time without an end. God is a God of Creation, of history, of the ages. Scripture does distinguish between different times, periods of time, eras—this age and the age to come.11 The ‘age to come’ is about to begin, to finally set in. The Kingdom is coming. There is no more time, no more delay, no more opportunity for repentance, because the time for that has come to an end. If you have not repented by this time – even today – you have missed another opportunity to change. You have missed another window of grace. The life of the ‘age to come’ is quickly approaching. Then the righteous dead will become “the children of the resurrection.”12 How close we have come here to that last, final moment. There is still a warning going on, however! Only a short while, and then it will happen. The seventh angel will very shortly blow his trumpet and the time will then have come for the dead to be judged and rewarded.13 The Kingship for the world will then have come to the Lord and His Messiah14 This will be only a short while from now…
• The more that is revealed about this other, strong Angel, the more it becomes clear who this Angel is. Apparently, the text appears to refer to the Angel of the Lord, who is called ‘Lord’ in the Old Testament.
• Expositors consider him to be Christ before His incarnation, the eternal Word of God, the eternal Torah. He always appears in relationship to Israel and the Covenant that God has made with them and also in His dealings with the other offspring of Abraham: Ishmael.15 Although Ismael is not the son of the Promise, but the son of the flesh. Isaac is the son of the Promise.
Bible References:
1.John 1:1–3 and 14; Colossians 1:15–20; Hebrews 1:1–2 2.Genesis 14:22 NIV 3.Genesis 14:22 KJV 4.Jeremiah 51:14 5.Exodus 6:8 (AV), see also Deuteronomy 32:40 (AV) and Psalm 105:7–11, the oath to Israel 6.See Deuteronomy 1:8, 34–35, 7:8; Joshua 1:6; Psalm 89:4–5, 110:4; Isaiah 14:24; Jeremiah 51:14 7.Deuteronomy 32:40 8.Comp. Revelation 1:18 with Revelation 4:9–10 and 15:7; this applies to the Father and the Son 9.Acts 17:28 10.Colossians 1:17 11.Matthew 12:32; Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30; Ephesians 1:21; Hebrews 6:5 12.Luke 20:34–36 13.Revelation 11:18 14.Revelation 11:15 15.See Genesis 16:7–16; 17:17-27; 22:9–19; 25:1-11; Exodus 3:2; Numbers 22; Judges 2:1–5, 5:23, 6:11–24, 13; 2 Kings 1:3 and 15, 19:35; Psalm 34:8, 35:5–6; Isaiah 37:36; Zechariah 1:7–17, 3, 12:8; see also 1 Kings 19:7; 1 Chronicles 21:11–30. For the Angel of God, see Genesis 21:17, 31:11, 48:16; Exodus 14:19; Isaiah 63:9; Malachi 3:1
