Apocalypse of Zephaniah 6:11

Pseudepigrapha

9 And when I saw him, I was afraid of him so that all the parts of my body were loosened and I fell upon my face. 10 I was unable to stand, and I prayed before the Lord Almighty, “Thou wilt save me from this distress. Thou art the one who saved Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Thou saved Susanna from the hand of the elders of injustice. Thou saved the three holy men, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, from the furnace of burning fire. I beg you to save me from this distress.” 11 Then I arose and stood, and I saw a great angel standing before me with his face shining like the rays of the sun in its glory since his face is like that which is perfected in its glory. 12 And he was girded as if a golden girdle were upon his breast. His feet were like bronze which is melted in a fire. 13 And when I saw him, I rejoiced, for I thought that the Lord Almighty had come to visit me. 14 I fell upon my face, and I worshiped him. 15 He said to me, “Take heed. Worship me not. I am not the Lord Almighty, but am the great angel, Eremiel, who is over the abyss and Hades, the one in which all of the souls are imprisoned from the end of the Flood, which came upon the earth, until this day.”

Revelation 1:13

New Testament

12 I turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, and when I did so, I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet, and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest. 14 His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the sun shining at full strength. 17 When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, 18 and the one who lives! I was dead, but look, now I am alive—forever and ever—and I hold the keys of death and of Hades!

 Notes and References

"... The worship of angels aligned with God is also vigorously rejected in some Jewish and Jewish-Christian documents which do so within the narrative context of an angelophanic encounter. The passages listed below (where possi­ble, with approximate dates of the writing) consist of prohibitions directed against a seer's revering reaction to the presence of an angelic figure ... In addition there are passages in the New Testament, as well as in later Jew­ish and Christian writings which, though not always in an angelophanic setting, may well have been formally influenced by this "refusal tradition." Here we may especially note Mark 10:17-18 and parallels ("Good Teacher..."; "Do not call me good; nobody is good except one, God"); Acts 10:25 (Peter's rejection of Cornelius' prostration); History of the Rechabites 5:3b-6:3 (a mild reprimand of Zosimus' posture); Joseph and Aseneth 14:9-11 (implicit re­jection of Aseneth's fearful reaction) and 15:11-12 (esp. the longer recen­sion; refusal to divulge name after Aseneth declares her intention to praise the angelic figure) ..."

Stuckenbruck, Loren T. Angel Veneration and Christology: A Study in Early Judaism and in the Christology of the Apocalypse of John (pp. 75-76) Baylor University Press, 1995

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.