Right Hand

John describes the angel’s position in Revelation 10 in great detail. The angel straddles land and sea, but for some reason John  thinks it important to record that the angels right foot is on the sea and left foot on the land. 

Assuming that the shoreline in question is the Mediterranean shore of Israel, that means that the angel is facing south, toward Egypt. The angel is portrayed as being in the position of the Lord’s throne, which is in the “far north” and looks south (Psalm 48:2). If we picture the universe as a sphere, the Lord’s throne is at the uppermost pole.

No doubt more could be said about this southerly orientation, but here I want to muse on what that means for the position of the angel’s hand. As the angel takes his oath, he assumes an oath posture by raising his right hand (10:5). the right hand is the hand to raise when taking an oath, but given the position of the angel, it also means he raises the hand that is toward the west. What might that mean?

If we take our cues from the tabernacle and temple, the west is the direction of the most holy place, the ark, the Lord’s throne. If the celestial throne is in the far north facing south, then the ark-throne is at Yahweh’s right hand. In the cosmology of ancient Israel, it seems that Yahweh has two thrones, at least once the tabernacle is set up: One for Yahweh and one at His right hand for His Name. The Christological import of that doesn’t need to be spelled out.

The angel’s right-hand oath is about the completion of the mystery of God, which in context involves the recreating work of the Creator of heaven, earth, and sea (vv. 6-7). By taking the oath with a hand toward the ark-throne, the angel is pointing to the direction from which the new creation comes: From His northern throne, Yahweh dispatches the king at His right hand, His eternal Name, to complete the mystery and renew creation.

West is, in natural terms, the direction of sunset, of the end of the days, and thus a natural symbol of eschatology. The angel’s oath is an oath about ends, about the finishing of things. As an oath about the end of days, it is appropriately taken with a hand extended to the end of day.