Revelation Chapter 4

Revelation 4:1

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." (ESV)

First we see a single door that is open in heaven and is probably the door referenced to the church of Philadelphia; “Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.” It seems He has set this door open so that THIS CHURCH would be able to enter in and be kept from the trials that are to come. It would be easy for us to assume that this door being open represents this curtain; “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” Assuming this would cause us to confuse the symbols here and neglect those for whom the door was written. It is also very important to note that this door is not for everyone and not everyone will get to walk through it.

John did get to hear the voice of Jesus again, for it was him who originally spoke like a trumpet, telling him to come up here. Jesus was no doubt in heaven when He was speaking and beckoned John to come in order that he might have more to write to us about than just the seven letters to the churches. The words "must take place" are powerful in that these things will happen, no matter what. There is no other way around it, we must go through it in order to receive what was promised. These things written afterward have in many cases already been spoken about through the prophets in the old testament. As gentiles we overlook them because we mostly believe that the tribulation is indeed for the Jews and unbelievers and we do not really play any significant role until we get to Revelation 19, but nothing could be further from the truth. Buckle up for the ride, it’s about to get bumpy!

ref: Revelation 3:8; Matthew 27:50-51

Revelation 4:2

At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. (ESV)

For a small verse it says a lot that needs visualization that my words cannot convey. Jesus told John to come up here and at once he was in the Spirit. What he witnessed was what has most (especially in the western world) perceive to be false. There is a throne in heaven and there is One seated on it. In that simple statement you could spend countless hours on the web and in person trying to convince people that such a scene exists (I know, I’ve done it). God sits on His throne. He needs nothing else; not all the animals and plants on earth, not you nor I, not the angels in heaven, the 24 elders, nor anything else that has been or will be made. He is God all by Himself so He is worthy to have a throne, even if it was just Him. Soon we will learn about the happenings surrounding His throne but for today just bask in the simple fact that there is a throne in Heaven, and the one true God sits upon it. If nothing else in all the bible was written, this would be enough.

Revelation 4:3

And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. (ESV)

To describe the God of all creation in relationship to created things is a task, that I think John would agree with, is one that doesn’t do Him justice. None the less we find ourselves here in the presence of the Almighty with the appearance of jasper and carnelian (sardius). A conversation about what the LORD actually looks like would yield little fruit I think so we will focus mainly on the symbolism of what was seen. When skilled workers were to make the breastplate of judgement for Aaron’s sons; there were 12 stones representing the 12 sons of Jacob, the first stone in the row was sardius and the last was jasper. So with that it would be hard not to imagine He was showing John that He remains in the first and the last spot of judgement. Interestingly enough the name of the first son of Jacob was Reuben, meaning: behold, a son. The last son of Jacob was Benjamin meaning: son of my right hand. It is not uncommon for the Father to lift up His son on the breastplate of judgement especially since He is the righteous judge. So if this breastplate and stones are pointing to the Son, why do we see here that the Father has the appearance of these stones? Well Jesus once said; “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

And around the throne was a rainbow. The rainbow has significant meaning in the word of God especially since we’ve been talking about the breastplate of judgement that the high priest was to wear. Now I would guess that when rainbows are asked about to a lot of Christians then most would have a recollection of the rainbow being put in the sky after the flood; but why was it put there? Answer that for yourself before you go any further. Was the answer that God put it in the sky so that when we see it we might be reminded that He will never kill everyone with a flood again? Was I close?..if so please comment below with your answer and if the real answer changes how you see God. So God says; “When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth." When the bow is seen, “I will remember”, and again; “I will see it and remember”. The rainbow is there for God to remember that He will not flood the earth and kill almost all life with water again. We benefit from the bow, for a time, but it is His reminder not ours. Now is that something He is going to forget? No. But when we see it I think we would be better served not to think we should remember His promise; but that He is remembering this particular promise. I once heard a lady explaining the rainbow to a new believer that it was set there that we would remember that God loves us and won’t destroy the earth again. Now that statement is only partially true. I wonder if we would become better Christians if every time we saw the bow in the sky we would think; “I need to be better because God, at this very second, is remembering not to destroy me...with water.” If we were acting righteously then He wouldn’t have to constantly be remembering not to destroy us. The rainbow should be a constant reminder of His power and our need to repent but we have instead used it for a banner to commit sin. We have clothed ourselves in a shadow of His actual covenant and that has given us false hope. When we see the rainbow it should cause knee bowing and fervent prayers of forgiveness and mercy. But the key in all this is the water. Jesus Himself said, "I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze!” Heaven and earth will indeed pass away as we will discover but it just won’t happen with a flood of water but rather “like a flood of water”. So God has this rainbow around the throne; a constant reminder, in His very midst, of His promise of which He will keep...every.single.word. But be careful not to add words to His mouth because He has no obligation to keep those!

ref: Exodus 28:15-21; John 14:9; Genesis 9:13-17; Luke 12:49

Revelation 4:4

Around the throne were twenty- four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty- four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. (ESV)

Around the throne of God we see 24 thrones with 24 elders sitting on the thrones. The identity of these elders is difficult to pin down, even with scripture, and they are mainly unknown. We can make inferences to who they might be and who they might not be according to scripture and what scholars believe. Some believe that they are angels but that idea is dismissed mainly due to the fact they are clothed in white (which is representative in Revelation to righteousness) AND wearing golden crowns (this word crown here is generally the victor’s crown and not the other types of crowns some others will be wearing). Also every other time in Revelation, angels are specifically called out and most have very specific roles. In addition later it says: “Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands” Here we see different beings, the living creatures, elders, and angels. So it is widely believed that these are actual humans that are seen sitting here in Heaven so that will be the avenue we explore. Now some think that these thrones are the seats of the disciples and apostles but that can pretty easily be dismissed since most of the apostles were disciples so there would be no need for 24 thrones. Some say that these are representative of the raptured church at large. While they may be elders over the entire church, there is no biblical evidence that represent the raptured church just as there is no evidence for a heavenly rapture. As stated they may be elders over the church or perhaps elders over Israel itself. There is no real way to know until we witness them but I do want to submit that there is a chance we might’ve met them already. Earlier when Jesus was speaking to the church of Philadelphia He commented that He has set before them an open door which no one can shut and that He will keep them from the hour of trial that will test the whole earth. This was a promise made exclusively to this church because they were already patiently enduring. They will be given crowns and is said they will be made pillars in the temple of Jesus’ God. Well John has already seen this open door in heaven and now he sees people that have crowns and have been set up in the very temple of God. Are these those that conquered from the church of Philadelphia?..I can’t say 100%. Perhaps it is a totally different group of people but this seems a lot more plausible than trying to fit these elders into some sort of rapture saga.

ref: Revelation 5:11

Revelation 4:5

From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of- thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, (ESV)

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." If ever there could be a shadow of the new testament with the old, this is it. We would be wise to heed Moses’ words as we move through Revelation. Do not fear, for God has come to test you. He did not come to call us away before the testing begins but to make us aware that the fear of Him may cause us not to sin. Do not fear...that the fear of Him may be before you… I think Moses was telling them not to fear death but Him who is beyond death. Anyway we see flashes of lightning and peals of thunder coming from where God is stationed in both scenes. An interesting study lies within the end of the book of Job, where God begins to question Job about the magnitude of His and His Son’s greatness. At one point He says; “Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go

and say to you, 'Here we are'?” You see, God can do that. We are not told of any rhyme or reason why all this lightning shows up before Moses and John and even Job for that matter other than the fact that He alone is God and He needs to show us in this way that He alone is Lord of all, even from all the lightning that had previously not existed.

In the midst of all this lightning and rumbling are the seven spirits of God represented by seven burning torches. God as a flaming torch oddly enough should not be something that is foreign to us. When God was making the covenant with Abram, Abram had cut up the animals in two and placed them opposite one another. Abram then fell asleep and a dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. After nightfall a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the cut up sacrifices. This was a covenant made by God and sealed by the sacrifice of the animals and the passing through of His Spirit. This same Spirit has made several promises; this one being one of the most important along with when He promised the Israelites in the wilderness that they would NEVER enter His rest. As this scene still stands in heaven it is still available for some to enter that rest as long as we endure to the end and do not become godless like Esau and sell our portion of the inheritance for a few morsels of worldly enjoyment.

ref: Exodus 20:18-20; Job 38:35; Genesis 15

Revelation 4:6

and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: (ESV)

Before the throne of God there was something like a sea of glass. John uses this phrase "like a sea of glass" and then kind of leaves us hanging as to what that is. Does that mean that the floor is likened to transparent crystal? It is difficult to say. A lot of scholars stay pretty vague on this because it is not cut and dry what John happened to witness here but I would think that something more than a transparent floor is before the throne. One of the most interesting commentaries I’ve read about it however said that the term sea, especially in Revelation, many times refers to the wickedness or sinfulness of man. If that is what this is talking about it is interesting to note this wickedness of man is very clear before the Lord. Several verses that lend to this teaching of the sea of unrighteousness are: Isaiah 57:20, Luke 21:25, James 1:6, and Jude 1:13. The sea also has significance in the book of Revelation with Leviathan coming out of the sea and then later we see seemingly this same sea of glass mingled with fire possibly representing a cleansing of saints. I don’t know for certain that all of this is concrete but is definitely interesting to contemplate.

On each side of the throne there are four living creatures full of eyes in front and back. We will discuss this in a later teaching but for now I will comment on the fact that these creatures are always seen as living which I think has significance. It would be easy enough to say that there are four creatures but the fact they are living represents that they are indeed from God and do His will.

ref: Revelation 15:2

Revelation 4:7

the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. (ESV)

There are many different interpretations of what these beings are and what exactly they represent. One describes them as being supreme over their particular lot in creation: lion-untamed beast, ox-cattle, eagle-birds, man-over all the earth. Another says they tie into the earth being set apart in 4s: seasons, directions (North, ect), elements, etc. Still another ties them into attributes we should strive to possess: brave as the lion, patient as the ox, aspiring as the eagle, intelligent as man. Now some or all of these could be correct but I try to be careful from making presumptions as they may cause a false doctrine and also lends itself into forcing things in scripture to “fit”. These creatures resemble very closely if not entirely of the beings seen in Ezekiel’s vision. These creatures most certainly are involved in praising God and later play a part in the actions of the seals being opened. We will continue to discuss them in later lessons, but one significant attribute is that these creatures, whatever they are or represent, are living beings. They do not represent something that is without life and are spoken of in Revelation every time as living.

ref: Ezekiel 1:10, 10:13

Revelation 4:8

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" (ESV)

Here is a difference from the living creature Ezekiel saw in his vision. The creature has six wings here while Ezekiel only mentioned four wings. It is possible that those creature did have six and he only referenced four or that these might be a different set of living creatures. The term for the angels with four wings is cherub or the plural cherubim. These are the angels Ezekiel saw and also the angels that were set outside the garden of Eden to keep humans out. They are also the ones displayed above the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant and also built of wood inside the temple that Solomon built. The angels with six wings are known as seraph or plural seraphim and these were seen in a vision described in Isaiah. Now the creatures can be either one of them but most lean toward them being totally separate set of beings since their descriptions match neither exactly. These creatures have eyes all around allowing them to look upon everything.

'Day and night they never cease to say' is a term not to mean that all they do is say this and never stop but they say it unceasingly or they need no rest from saying it. They are able to be found saying it at any time. I only mention this in relationship to a little later we will find them doing and saying other things so their day and night are not consumed in saying this one line only. Now having said that, if this was the case they would be justified in it. God is indeed worthy for this to be said of him constantly without ceasing. The line that is said is, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" The word holy reiterated three times for extra emphasis is sacred. A most sacred and perfect God and said in succession to emphasize his perfectness. Lord, the short definition of this is the owner of a thing; in this case everything. He reigns supreme and can do with His creation what He deems fit for any and all of it. God meaning divine ruler and judge. So not only does He himself own everything He is able to make rulings and judgements toward that which He owns. Almighty meaning most powerful. So now we know He owns everything, ruling and judging it righteously, and is powerful enough to carry out those rulings and judgements that He has decreed. You can’t get around Him. He is everything said here and much, much more. They go on to further proclaim His sovereignty in all of time. He is the one who was, before time began for us. The one who is, right now and in every stage man has known. And who is to come in the stages we have yet to understand and experience and even beyond that. He is the unchanging in all of time. We say things like that but when we begin breaking scripture down to what we actually believe, we think He changes quite a bit. We are about to embark on some powerful judgements about which He is powerful enough to carry out and if we don’t see Him as unchanging our theology will suffer. The most significant of these (changes) is that He must show mercy to every believer and the horrifying things we are about to encounter can not and will not be for us. He has already stated; “If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” It’s already written down before it happens, we just have to trust that if He is Almighty enough to bring these things forth under His Godly control; then He is Almighty enough to continue in being Lord over us.

ref: Ezekiel 1:11, 10:14-15; Genesis 3:24; Exodus 25:17-18, 1 Kings 6:23-28; Isaiah 6:2-3

Revelation 4:9-10

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty- four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. (ESV)

These creatures give God glory and honor and thanks by saying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" Scripture is not clear if this is the only way they give honor but it mentions this so that’s where we’ll focus. When they say this the 24 elders fall down before Him who is seated. We stated earlier that the creatures, though consistently saying this are not necessarily constantly saying it. Another reason we know this is that when this glory goes forth they fall prostrate. If they were constantly doing this they would stay prostrate, which God is most assuredly worthy of; but earlier we saw them seated on the thrones, so we know this is not necessarily a minute by minute act. It is also noteworthy to notice how this glory and honor goes forth. I think we have shackled ourselves in the way that we send praise to God. We believe that if it is not spoken in a prayer, especially a public one, or sung in a song then it possibly won’t be able to bring Him glory. That is not what we see here though; these creatures are merely proclaiming His glory and thats good enough to send the elders into worship before the Lord. Outside of the Psalms there are very few songs that are sung through the bible and yet God received honor and glory. We have given a very high place to music involved in the worship of God that is not seen anywhere in scripture and this has given way to a few generations of Christians that find themselves emotional about God but have very little of His word in them. I think we would be mistaken to think that the same words that we can speak, once put to music will make God any more satisfied with us. One last thought; the elders fall down and worship Him who lives forever and ever. Now obviously the one sitting on the throne existed before the elders and the creatures and everything else we know and see but it is fun to contemplate how long this scene has been going on, if it has indeed already began. Assuming it has been going on for a while and will most likely continue, it astonishes me that it doesn’t seem like its gotten old to them. Can you imagine that the very glory and splendor of God is enough to cause over and over again, day in and day out, without ceasing, one to fall prostrate before God to give him the honor He rightfully deserves? Praise be to the Lord God Almighty indeed!

Revelation 4:10-11

They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things,

and by your will they existed and were created." (ESV)

As stated before these crowns are victor’s crowns implying that the elders have done something to deserve these crowns. But at the very mentioning of the holiness of God they throw their crowns before the one seated on the throne. Everything pales in comparison to the glory of God. They go on to state His worthiness to receive their crowns and any and everything that can be given. The created goes on to give honor to the creator of all things. It is by His will that they existed and were created. Have you ever thought of the extent of how powerful His will is? Everything exists because of His will. We witness a lot of things go down in the bible and His will holds them all together. Later we witness the destruction of evil and Jesus trampling in the winepress of this God Almighty and we have to wonder why He wouldn’t just will them out of existence. If they exist because of His will they surely can not exist because of that same will. It is a beautiful thing that God, having created all things, allow the created to choose to acknowledge Him. It’s crazy that something He created can come to realize that they were indeed created and He is worthy to receive glory and honor and power, whether or not He had created us at all. Praise be to God!