During a holiday trip through Peru, my wife and I visited the old Inca ruins. There we encountered a “throne” hewed into the rock which had two seats beside each other, one broader and one smaller.

Spontaneously, we decided to take our seats in these kingly seats (that was not forbidden), my wife on the smaller and I one the broader seat, and we let our pictures be taken.  We felt like kings.

Such a two seater (Latin: bisellium) was a common given in history, when two gods were represented together: Zeus and Hera, the Caesaar Augustus worshipped as a god and the goddess Roma, Hades and Persephone.  Those who share such a throne are equal in honour.

God on His throne⤒🔗

In the book Revelation, the godly throne plays an important role.  The vision of the so-called throne room follows immediately after the vision of the glorified Christ and the letters presented to the seven churches.  Through an open door, John can see into heaven.  A voice invites him to do that and he is, at once, in the Spirit.  What does he see?  “A throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne.” (Rev. 4:2)  It appears that this is the holy God who is seated on this throne.  He is the center of worship.

The scene with a heavenly throne with the one who in all peace is seated on it, must, figuratively, be burned into the retinas of the reader, as the tumultuous happenings described further on in the book, are fulfilled.  The message is clear: regardless of what happens in the world, the Almighty precedes all this and stands above all this.  Our God is in control.

Through John’s eyes, we see the heavenly reality of God’s kingship as it is sung about in many psalms: the LORD is king – His throne endures and is established on right and justice.

In the vision of the throne room, ultimately the throne and especially the One seated on it, are central.  This vision then also ends with worship from all of creation directed to Him who sits on the throne.  Throughout the further developments in the book of Revelation, the picture of the One who is seated on the throne regularly comes back to the reader or listener.  Thus He is addressed by people in thankful adoration or in utter despair.  Seated on His imposing throne, God declares the final judgment, while, from the throne, He also personally testifies, when the New Jerusalem comes into sight, “I am making all things new”. (Rev. 6:16;  7:10,15; 19:4; 20:11; 21:5)

And the lamb←⤒🔗

In the middle, in front of the throne, John sees a Lamb, that looked as if it had been slain, not in a sitting position, but standing (Rev. 5:6; 7:17; Acts 7:56) The wound in the neck from being slaughtered is still visible, but the Lamb has survived death.  He is presented as offering and as victor at the same time, a surprising combination.  This Lamb receives a heavily sealed book roll from the right hand of the One who is seated on the throne.  He is the only one in the world who is allowed to open this scroll because He has obtained the victory after a bloody battle.

Because of that, worship is brought from all of creation to the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb. (Rev. 5:13)  Revelation continues in this manner.  John is shown a multitude of peoples that can not be counted from all lands and nations; they stand before the throne and before the Lamb, loudly calling, ‘Salvation comes from our God who is seated on the throne and from the Lamb’. (Rev. 7:9,10)  And the one hundred and forty-four thousand form the firs-tfruits of humanity to be offered up to God and to the Lamb. (Rev. 14:4)

God’s sublimity does not mean that He has separated Himself from what happens on this earth.  The Lamb embodies the connection between heaven and earth.  God and the glorified Christ are very close and more and more form a duality in the book of Revelation.  This happens in front of the backdrop of Psalm 110:1: “The LORD said to my Lord; ‘Sit at my right hand…’.” (a much-quoted text in the New Testament)

In the city of light←⤒🔗

At the end of the book, when the New Jerusalem has visually come into sight, John tells us what he misses in the future city of God:

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.  And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.Rev. 21:22,23

The second part of this text goes back to a prophecy from Isaiah.  At is said about Zion that, in the future, it will be a city of light.  “The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light, but the LORD will be your everlasting light and your God will be your glory” (Isaiah 60:19)  But while Isaiah announces a source of light, Revelation has a duplication in its formulation: the glory of God will shine and the Lamb is her lamp, and that, while Christ has been called the light in the Bible, but not a lamp.  This can be explained from the Hebrew parallelism in the prophecy in Isaiah:; “the LORD will give you light, God will be your glory”.

This double formulation, when it speaks about the Eternal One, frees the way, in the book of Revelation, in chapter 21, to announce the duality which has meanwhile become known, God and the Lamb beside each other, through which parallelism is changed to chiasm (repetition with inversion):  “the glory of God shines over her and her lamp is the Lamb.”

Yet the Lamb is not an independent source of light: God and the Lamb belong to each other and complement each other.  The lamp of God is a cultic object from the tent of meeting and from the temple.  There it was required that the light should burn day and night. (Leviticus 24:1-4)  In the city without a temple, the light of God’s presence together with the Lamb as lamp forms the permanent source of light.  The new Jerusalem becomes a city of light, while, in the sinful city of Babylon, as punishment, the light is extinguished. (Rev. 18:23)

Throne with two seats←⤒🔗

At the throne in the future city, according to Rev. 22:1-5, all life springs forth.  It appears to be a throne with two seats, namely, of God and of the Lamb.  The glorified Christ (the sacrificed lamb who overcame death) stands on the same level as the Eternal One.  Therefore He is introduced as heavenly co-regent on a bisellium (ancient Roman seat of honour for two persons).  God and the Lamb are seated on one life-giving double throne in the new Jerusalem, and in this position, they will rule together over the new heaven and the new earth.

In the vision of the dragon and the woman the ascent by the Son to the throne was already indicated.  Immediately, when the woman has delivered her child, the dragon wants to devour her newborn son.  But then the child is immediately carried away “to God and to his throne”. (Rev. 12:5)

Lord and God←⤒🔗

Possibly Revelation 4:11, where the Almighty on the throne is addressed as “our Lord and God” contains a bit of imperial politic.  In his book Roman Caesars, Suetonius writes about Domitian who rules from 81-96AD: “With similar great pride, he began an official piece of writing which he dictated in the name of his procurators in this way: Our Lord and God (Latin: dominus et deus noster) commands that the following must happen.”  From that moment there was an unbreakable rule that he could not be addressed by anyone in word or writing in any other way. (13:1-2 translated by D. den Hengst)  Although Caesar Domitian had to make an edict to be titled in this way, in the book of Revelation this happens spontaneously for the Almighty.  No one can doubt who is the true Lord and God.

A throne full of victors←⤒🔗

We read a personal promise about sitting on the throne at the conclusion of the letter to Laodicea, the last of the seven letters of offering in the book of Revelation.

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.  Rev. 3:21

Here the glorified Christ is speaking, encouraging the Christian congregation in her battle.  To his twelve disciples He has promised that they would be allowed to reign with Him in His kingdom; they would be allowed to take their seats on their own thrones, next to His. (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30)  The promise that He gives in this text goes a step further.  The heavenly throne offers much more room, even for ordinary people.  It become a shared throne.

Compare this throne scene with a podium for a contest.  The professional winner who has conquered a shared first place invites all his fans (who have already, for years, tried to imitate him) to share this place of honour with him.  In this way, the podium, at the honour ceremony, is full of winners.

The great Victor thus promises to share his seat with every believer who endures during persecution.  As long as you are fighting in my power, you can not ‘forget to win”, an expression used nowadays in mock jargon.  As a minor victor, in time, you may participate in the lordship of Jesus Christ over the whole world (Rev. 20:4,6; 22:5), who Himself, together with His Father is seated on the throne.  Then you really are immeasurably blessed.

Beginning and Ending←⤒🔗

That God and the glorified Christ stand on the same plane is apparent when, as well in the beginning as in the end of the book of Revelation, both are brought in, speaking.  Both present themselves as the Alfa and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.  These self appellations remind us of the comfort for the oppressed presented in the book of Isaiah, namely that the unique God of Israel spans world history. (Isaiah 41:4; 43:10; 44:6)  Christians also, in situations of oppression, may hold fast to this conviction, augmented with the insight that precisely the same is valid for the glorified Christ.  Still the self-appellation, “I am the One who is, who was, and who is to come” (reminds us of “I am who I am” of Ex. 3:14) remains reserved for the Almighty.

God in the beginning: “I am the alpha and the omega (the beginning and the end)” says God, the Lord, “I am who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8)

The glorified Christ in the beginning: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.  But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last: (Rev. 1;17)

God at the end: “And he (the Almighty) said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” (Rev. 21:6)

The glorified Christ at the end: “I (he continues to be the speaker from vs. 10-16) am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end”. (Rev. 22:13)