The
Objection
In
the narrative from Revelation 5:5-7, the Pluralists clearly see two persons.
They see the person of the Lamb that takes the book from the hand of the person
on the throne. From this, then, it is argued that the Father and the Son are
two individuals/persons/entities/beings.
Modalism’s
Response
Our
understanding of this passage is that it is a vision. Notice the
description of the Lamb: The Revelator is describing an Ovis aries, not
another ‘person’ from the one on the throne. In John’s vision the animal had
seven eyes, seven horns, and mortal wounds in its body. John did not see two
persons in the sense of two human-looking forms. Notice the “Lamb”
comes from the “midst” of the throne. John is viewing the dual
nature of Jesus in action.
The
vision is of a slain lamb, with seven horns and seven eyes, taking the book
from the ONE sitting on the throne. John sees the “Throne of God and the
Lamb” (see on 22:3-4), and witnesses the sacrifice (i.e. the Lamb, i.e.,
the Son of Man) separating from His deity (in vision only) in order to receive
the book. The humanity of Jesus “prevailed” (v5) to take the book from His own
deity. This is but a vision of the two natures of Jesus, demonstrating the
victory of the “human” Christ over death and the kingdom of sin. In other
words: The victorious human Son of God (namely, the Son of Man)
prevailing, in glorious worthiness, to take the title deed of planet Earth from
the Ancient of Days. “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly,
that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and
Christ”—Acts 2:36.
Further,
proving this interpretation is Revelation 22:3-4—where we are shown the throne
of God and the Lamb—the same throne as here. In this location of the
Revelation, God and the Lamb are referenced with singular third person pronouns
(His and Him), God and the Lamb have but One throne, God and the Lamb have but
One face, and One name.
“and
there shall be no more curse: but the throne [singular] of God and of the Lamb
shall be in it; and his [singular pronoun for God and the Lamb] servants shall
serve him [God and the Lamb are called ‘him’ not ‘them]: 4 And they shall see
his face [God and the Lamb have but one face]; and his name [God and the Lamb
have but one name] shall be in their foreheads”—Revelation 22:3-4. (Jerry Hayes, Godhead
Theology: Modalism, The Original Orthodoxy [Texas City, Tex.: Seventh
Millennium Publications, 2015], 529-30)
