Various figures, both human and
angelic, may have thrones in heaven, but typically such thrones are spatially
distanced from God and his throne, clearly signifying God’s unique sovereignty.
(Ray M. Lozano, The Proskynesis of Jesus in the New Testament: A Study on
the Significance of Jesus as an Object of “Proskuneo” in the New Testament
Writings [Library of New Testament Studies 609; London: T&T Clark,
2020], 45)
See, for example, 1 En.
108:12; 2 En. 20:1-3 (J); T. Ab. 11-13 (A); T. Levi 3:4-8;
5:1; L.A.E. 15:3; 47:3; Rev 4; Ascen. Isa. 7:13-10:6; 11:32-33.
These few exceptional cases are less remarkable than is sometimes through. In 2
En. 24:1 (J), God invites Enoch to sit at his left hand but only
temporarily. Ultimately, he is made to stand before God forever (2 En.
67:2). In T. Job 33:3, with regards to Job’s heavenly throne, it is best
to understand η τουτου δοξα και η ευπρεπεια εκ δεξιων του πατρος as signifying that its glory and majesty comes from
the right hand of God (Bock, Blasphemy, 160). And in Ezek. Trag. 74-76,
it is clear from the context that Moses’s enthronement on God’s throne is meant
to be understood figuratively . . . The only two relevant contemporary
parallels to Jesus’s heavenly session alongside God are those of the Enochic
son of Man and divine Wisdom, who are both depicted as sharing a seat with God
on the divine “throne of glory” (1 En. 45:3; 51:3; 55:4; 61:8; 62:2-5;
69:29; Wis 9:4, 10; 1 En. 84:2-3[?]). (Ibid., 45 n. 49)
On Rev 3:21
. . . it is not without
significance that this throne-sharing idea is ultimately portrayed in different
ways for the various figures involved. For Christians, the fulfillment of this
text is met in 20:4 . . . there they reign with Jesus, but on multiple separate
thrones. For Jesus, on the other hand, the language of 3:21 is not loosened, as
can be seen in 22:1, 3 which speak of the one “throne of God and of the Lamb.”
Just as with the honor of προσκυνησις,
Christians do not share the honor of a throne in precisely the same way that
God and Jesus do. (Ibid, 165 n. 105)
