A Door Opens; The Vision Begins
REVELATION 4:1-6a
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.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 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. 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. 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.
In Revelation 1, John explains how he was given his vision.
In Revelation 2-3, John reports what Jesus has to say to each of the seven churches, respectively—it’s like a little note that Jesus has attached at the top of the main message of the vision.
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. Heaven is where God’s rule is perfectly realized. It is not yet like that on earth, and so the vision will explain how “the Kingdom will come on earth, as it is in heaven.”
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 mine, nor can anyone but you use yours. 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, 6a 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”—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. In the Biblical imagination the sea is the symbol of chaos and entropy, and in heaven it’s been turned into something beautiful that enhances the glory of God.