In "You Can Understand the Bible," Dr. Robert Utley writes:
"Righteous are You" This is an allusion to Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32:0 (especially Revelation 16:5) or possibly Psalms 119:137.
"who are and who were" Notice that there is no future element as in Revelation 1:4, Revelation 1:8; Revelation 4:8, because there is no future time (cf. Revelation 11:17). This is the end! This is purposeful; note the threefold designation of Revelation 1:4. Time is no more! The end (i.e., Parousia) is revealed several times in Revelation, not just Revelation 19:0. Each of the seals, trumpets, and bowls ends with the Second Coming and culmination of history. This is why I Think the recapitulation theory for the interpretation of Revelation is best!
Utley received Doctor of Ministry (Major project in Historical-Grammatical Hermeneutics) Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL (according to this page) I should point out that some of the typos are probably due to the webpage from which I'm quoting Utley's material, as there obviously is not a "Deuteronomy 32:0," and one ought not cite Psalm 119 as "Psalms 119."
Utley offers a slightly different take on why there is "no future element" here, namely "because there is no future time ... This is the end! ... Time is no more!"
At Revelation 11:17, Utley writes:
Notice that the future aspect of this common description of God (except for some sixteenth century late minuscule Greek manuscripts) is left out because God has begun to reign. The last of these three chronological aspects will never be mentioned again in the book of the Revelation. The Kingdom has come (cf. Revelation 11:15-16)! This gives evidence that the recapitulation theory of the parallel relationship between the seals, trumpets, and bowls is true!
Notice his explanation here says that the kingdom has come. He could add that the King has come.
At Revelation 1:4, Utley writes:
"from Him who is and who was and who is to come" This is obviously a title for the unchanging Covenant God (cf. Psalms 102:7; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). Its grammatical form is awkward in Greek but may reflect an Aramaic background. The literal phrase is "from the One who is, from the One who was, and the One coming" (cf. Revelation 4:8). This phrase reflects the OT covenant title "I Am" (YHWH, cf. Exodus 3:14, see SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY at Revelation 1:8). This phrase is used for God the Father in Revelation 1:4 and 8, and of Jesus Christ in Revelation 1:17 and 18 (cf. Hebrews 13:8). The purposeful transfer of titles from YHWH to Jesus was one way the NT authors asserted the Deity of Jesus.
This threefold phrase of God as past, present, and future is modified in Revelation 11:17 and Revelation 16:5, which is the Second Coming at the end of the trumpets, to just the present and past because the future (end-time) has dawned.
The linked "Special topic" contains additional discussion of YHWH among other names of God.
Here Utley again suggests that it is the second coming that serves as the reason that "the coming one" is not included at Revelation 11:17 and Revelation 16:5.
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