““The title “Lord of lords,” for example, was ascribed to the emperor; the acclamations of God and Christ as “worthy” (4:11; 5:9) echo the sorts of acclamations with which citizens greeted their emperor. And Zeus or Jupiter, the highest god whose power stood behind the emperor, was lauded with the formula “Zeus was, Zeus is, Zeus will be, O great Zeus!,” now taken over by John and transformed for the One God, “who was, and is, and is coming.” The shift (from “will be” to “is coming”) is significant: this God is on the way to encounter his creation and intervene once more in human affairs.””
