It is true that picturing angelic
beings on heavenly thrones was common enough in Israel’s sacred literature
(Ezek 1.26-28; Dan 8.9; 11Q17 5 8; Rev 4.4; 11.6; 20.4; Apoc. Zeph. A; 3
En. 16; Ascen. Isa. 7.18-33; 8.7-10), and there were types of angel
veneration known to Chrisitan authors (Col 2.18). Yet there was a concern that
an enthroned angel could potentially become a second deity and compromise
monotheism. For example, in one strand of Jewish tradition, the angel Metatron
was seated on a heavenly throne like the throne of glory (3 En.
10.1), which caused Rabbi Elisha ben Avuya (disrespectfully called “Aher” for
“other”) to wrongly believe that Metatron was a second power in heaven, for
which Metatron was scourged to remove any doubt about the heavenly hierarchy (3
En. 16.5; b.ḥag. 15a).
However, John’s apocalypse shows no such aversion to the co-regency and worship
of the exalted Jesus because, despite his angelomorphic traits, Jesus does not
belong to the angelic orders. (Michael F. Bird, Jesus Among the Gods: Early
Christology in Greco-Roman World [Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press,
2022], 267-68)
