The Portal
In Revelation 1, John explains how he was given his vision.
In Revelation 2-3, John reports what Jesus had to say to the 7 churches.
In Revelation 4 (today’s reading), the vision proper begins. Let’s look at it.
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.”
An apocalypse is an unveiling or a revealing, and here we have it happening: a door opens into heaven.
2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.
In his vision, John is taken into the heavenly throne room. Note that John never really names nor describes “the one seated on the throne.” Why is that? Because God is too holy to be described.
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.
John describes how the glory around God shines and shimmers like precious stones, but never describes God himself.
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.
Around God’s throne are the thrones of “twenty-four elders”. Who are they? They are some kind of angelic rulers—the divine council—whom God created to rule over parts of Creation. One of the major themes of the Bible is how God delegates authority. Even you and I have authority—we call it free will, and no one but I can use it. These angels are created beings to whom God has given authority. (We don’t really know much more than that.)
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, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.
All throughout the Bible, when people have an experience of God—the fancy word is a “theophany”—it’s like there is always thunder and lightning, and it’s not different here.
The number seven means fullness or completeness; the “seven spirits of God” is another way of saying the fullness of God’s Spirit, i.e., the Holy Spirit.
The glass sea reflects God’s glory. Remember that sea is the symbol of chaos and entropy (see my sermon from 10/11 for more on this), and in heaven it’s been turned into something beautiful that enhances the glory of God.
And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 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. 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!”
These mysterious four living creatures are found in Old Testament heavenly visions (e.g., Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1). They are some kind of heavenly creature that just praises God, and all the eyes around them mean that, from a heavenly perspective, there is nothing hidden.
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “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.”
How cool is that? These heavenly rulers—over what they are reigning the Bible doesn’t tell us (solar systems? universes? time? light?)—these angelic heavenly rulers are immensely powerful. In fact, later in the book, John will twice make the mistake of trying to worship an angelic messenger. These are powerful, glorious creatures. And yet that’s the point—they are creatures, not the Creator. And they get off their thrones and cast their crowns before the throne to show that any authority and glory they have is merely given to them by God. They are creatures, and so they worship the Creator.
We’ll see as the vision unfolds that one of the marks of the Beast is that it claims worship for itself, but only God is worthy of worship. This is one of the reasons John knows the Beast is evil.