The popular concept of heaven is that it is a fluffy place where saints sit around all day on white clouds playing small golden harps, or walking around the streets of gold looking for old friends. This is unfortunate; unfortunate because it does not come from the Word of God and because such a concept is quickly rejected by many in the educated world. Nevertheless, there exists a place designated by the name heaven in the Scriptures, in which the presence of God is focused. That it exists within the framework of the time-space continuum we call our universe is doubtful, and yet, given the fact that we are not even sure how many dimensions there are to the space-time continuum, nor how far it extends, it might well be here in our universe.
There exists a place, a throne room, more immense, more majestic than any that have ever or will ever be found on this planet. In that throne room, there is a throne upon which the LORD God Almighty, Creator of the Universe and all that exists within it, sits. He sits, He who is called YHVH or Jehovah, the great "I AM," who alone exists independent of all else, who has no material form, yet chooses to appear in such form for the benefit of His creation. Few mortals have ever been granted the miraculous privilege of witnessing this place. Those that were, Isaiah and Ezekiel and possibly the apostle Paul, fainted in awe, speechless at the sight.
The apostle John too was summoned to see this sight, to reveal it to the children of God as they await that glorious day when their Lord, in that very throne room, will be crowned sovereign over all creation.
Revelation 4:1-11
| 4:1 | After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things." |
| 4:2 | Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. |
| 4:3 | And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. |
| 4:4 | Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. |
| 4:5 | Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; |
| 4:6 | and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. |
| 4:7 | The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. |
| 4:8 | And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME." |
| 4:9 | And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, |
| 4:10 | the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, |
| 4:11 | Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created." |
The Introduction
Verse 1 of chapter 4 is a transition verse in that it takes us from the letters to the seven churches (The Things Which Are) to what follows, the revelation of events that would take place during the Tribulation Period (The Things Which Shall Be After These Things). After the messages that our Lord directed to go to the seven churches, John saw and heard something. He saw a door opened in heaven. We have no details as to what this door looked like. It is simply a portal to a time and place yet future to John's day. If the letters to the churches, in addition to being messages to seven literal churches in that day, are also prophetic of the various stages in the church age as is likely, then what follows is also yet future to us today. The voice John heard was loud, like a blaring trumpet. It called him to come up here, that is, enter the door, then told him that he, the speaker, would show him what would happen after these things, that is, after the things or events in chapters 2 and 3 or the Age of the Church.
John is an excellent picture of the believers living at the end of the age of the church. They are called to come up to heaven, to witness what was about to take place there. The church is pictured as the bride of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Jewish culture of the day in which John lived, a groom would make all the preparations for the wedding. On the day of the wedding, he would go to the bride's house and take her away to his home, where the wedding ceremony would take place. Our groom, Jesus Christ the Lord, is now away. He is preparing a place for us. The day will come when He will return and take the bride, the church, away. This event is the rapture. It is inconceivable that this would occur after His coronation ceremony, that the bride would miss the most incredible ceremony our universe will ever witness! Just as John is commanded to come up and witness this, so too the church will be commanded to appear before the Creator of all on the day on which His Son, our Lord, is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords!
That John was not physically transported through time and space is evident by the statement in verse 2 that immediately he was in the Spirit. Whether this refers to the Holy Spirit, as is the opinion of the editors of the NASV, or that he was in spirit, with reference to his human spirit, is debatable. If it refers to the Holy Spirit, then the Spirit of God enabled him in some fashion to see and hear the events that would take place in the future. One must remember that God Himself exists independently of space and time. These are constructs He created. He sees all times and places at once; all times are to Him as the present is to us. There would be no problem for Him to enable John to view the future. If it refers to John's human spirit, then John's human spirit, which also is not confined to the four dimensions of space and time, is transported to this future place and time.
The One on the Throne
What John saw first was the throne in the throne room and the person who sat upon that throne. The throne and its occupant are the central focus of this immense and glorious heavenly cathedral. This is the same throne room seen by Isaiah and Ezekiel. The same four living beings appear. There are some differences in the descriptions of the throne room and these beings in these three accounts, but that is to be expected. Any investigator will testify that one should expect this in the testimony of different witnesses to a single event, place or object, for each is viewing these from a different perspective or time, focusing on different details and using different language to describe what has been witnessed in a unique way. When the testimony is almost identical, word for word, investigators begin to suspect that there has been collaboration between the witnesses and a common story agreed upon. John, Isaiah and Ezekiel each witnessed this place at different times, focused upon its different aspects and described it in the language and vocabulary that each used. It is certain that John was aware of both Isaiah's and Ezekiel's accounts, and yet his account still differs in some respects. If he were creating a fictional account of something he had not genuinely witnessed, it would be expected that he would follow the accounts of these two Old Testament prophets very closely. That his account varies in details tells us he was describing what he himself had witnessed.
John sees the throne and the person seated on that throne. John only tells us he saw a throne, but he does not describe it. From Isaiah's account in Isaiah 6:1-8, we know that it is lofty and exalted. From Ezekiel's account in Chapter 1, verse 26 of his book, we learn that it was lapis lazuli in color. In human cultures, the throne was often raised above the level of the court to indicate that the person sitting on that throne was exalted over any other in the throne room. The higher the throne, the more exalted its occupant. The throne on which the creator of the heavens and earth appears for the benefit of His creation is higher and raised above any other throne. The One seated upon it is exalted above any created being, above any king, emperor, dictator, president and the like. He alone is the supreme authority of all creation, for He is the creator of it all.
John describes the person on the throne as appearing red in color, the color of jasper or sardius. Ezekiel describes this one like a glowing metal, a yellowish or reddish color of metal heated in a forge. Both testify that there was a radiance, an aura about the throne like an arc of a rainbow. Again the description of light radiating from the throne and the person on the throne is an indication, to human eyes, of the glory of the person and his position. Again, it must be noted that no one in all creation has more glory than this one.
The Twenty-four Elders
John's focus now shifts to what else is in this throne room. First, he sees that around and below the one throne, there are other thrones, twenty-four in number. Furthermore, seated upon these thrones are, as John describes it, twenty-four elders. They are dressed in white robes and are crowned with golden crowns. John does not identify them further than this. Who then are these elders? We are not told here; however, several observations may be made.
First, these are probably human. That John describes them as elders and not as angels or other creatures tells us this. Second, they are rulers in positions of authority before God. This we know from their designation as elders and from the statement that they were crowned. This is not a description of an angel. Third, in Matthew 19:28 we are told:
| "And Jesus said to them, 'Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' " |
It is a reasonable guess then that the twelve disciples who would sit, during the Kingdom, upon thrones and have authority over the tribes of Israel are to be included among these twenty-four elders.
Yet, who are the other twelve among these twenty-four? At this point, reasonable guesses become a bit more speculative. Nevertheless, the following seems likely. If half of these elders are the twelve apostles who will sit in authority each over one of the tribes of Israel, it is probable that the remaining twelve also have similar positions of authority over the other peoples who will also come under Messiah's rule during the Kingdom period, specifically the Gentile nations. Do these then include the other apostles such as Paul? While I do not know with any certainty, I suspect that it does.
Whoever these twenty-four may be, it appears certain that they represent the human authority, who will rule with our Lord after He assumes His position of King of kings and Lord of lords. They, too, have not yet taken their rightful place on earth but await the installation of their Lord as High King and His return to earth to rule.
The Seven Lamps of Fire
Now John's attention is turned away from these twenty-four elders to the central throne, for there are flashes of lightning and the sound of thunder. These intense electrical discharges or something similar to them is again a picture of the great power and might of the being that sits on this throne.
Verse 5 of chapter 4 also tells us that there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne that are, John tells us, the seven Spirits of God. This is the third time we have run into this description of the Holy Spirit. It was found in 1:4 and again in 3:1. It is to be found again in 5:4, and there are two probable Old Testament references in Zechariah 3:9 and 4:10.
To review what we covered about this reference to the Spirit of God, it should be stated that many have attempted to explain this in various ways, most often using the number seven in the sense of completion or perfection. The seven spirits of God would then mean the complete and perfect Spirit of God. It seems much more likely that we simply do not yet know what this means. We certainly do not know all there is to know about God's person. It may well be that the Holy Spirit of God is a seven-part person in some way. Just as there were mysteries in the Old Testament, that is, things hidden and not understood by those of that day; so also it is only reasonable to assume that there are some mysteries for us today that will be revealed when the right time has come. Whatever else it means, it is saying that in the great throne room of heaven as the coronation ceremony of the King of kings and Lord of lords is about to begin, God, the Father, is present in the person of the one upon the throne, high and lifted up, and in the person of the Holy Spirit, represented by these seven lamps of fire burning before the throne.
The Four Living Beings
As John's gaze wanders from the throne and these seven lamps of fire, he sees that the floor of the courtroom extends out like a sea of glass or crystal. Centered around the throne on this vast expanse of floor, John sees four extraordinary living beings. These are so different from anything with which John is familiar that he is unable to give them a name; all he can do is describe them. Isaiah and Ezekiel also describe these same beings in their visions of this throne room. Again there are differences in these descriptions, resulting from a couple of factors.
First, the differences are consistent with the fact that the descriptions were given by different men at different points in history. Each saw what he saw and described what he had seen. None of them saw the same details; none were attempting to give what we would today consider a definitive scientific description.
Second, these beings are angelic beings, which are not limited to the dimensions of time and space, as are we. How they appear to us might differ in these separate appearances. Moreover, it seems that such angelic beings can choose to appear in various ways. If so, we should not be surprised that there might be differences.
From Isaiah's account, we know that these are seraphim or angelic beings. Ezekiel states that they had somewhat of a human form. They fly; both Isaiah and John noted that these beings each had six wings while Ezekiel only sees four. Ezekiel notes that each one has four faces: John apparently only sees a single face of each one of the four. The faces resemble a bull or a calf, a lion, a man and an eagle. John states, along with Ezekiel, that these beings were full of eyes. We can only guess what this means. The statement is so general that every reader no doubt has a different mental picture of exactly how these creatures appeared. In any case, this is not the typical image we have of an angel. These beings are a picture of terrifying strength and power. They appear whenever we see a glimpse of the throne room of God. One of their functions is to declare the holiness of God. Isaiah declares these beings call out, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." John states, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come." They seem to ceaselessly praise the Creator as He sits on His throne.
The Worship
As they praise God, the twenty-four elders join in casting their crowns before the throne and saying, "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created." They praise God as the creator of all things. This action of praising the LORD God as creator ought to stand and cry out to us today, for our world has already swallowed the great lie of Satan that is evolution. This lie is clothed in what is called science, and we have been taught from birth that science is truth. It is generally accepted today that the universe and life in it were not created but evolved over a span of billions of years. If that is so, if it is true, then there is no creator, then there is no God. But it is a lie, promulgated by the father of lies. The Creator, the God of all there is, does indeed exist. He sits on His throne, high and lifted up, and the day is fast approaching when He will call His creation to account.
After the introduction in verse one, we see first the One on the throne. While God is not flesh and blood, a material being, He appears as such for the benefit of His creation. And He appears in power and majesty. His throne is above all other thrones, outshining all others exceeding all others in size and glory. Our gaze then falls on the attendants. First the twenty-four elders, then we see the seven lamps of fire, representing the presence of the Spirit of God. Lastly, we see the angelic attendants, the four living beings, awesome and terrifying. Moreover, all in attendance praise Him, acknowledging His might and rule as the creator of all.
The very sight of this drove Ezekiel to his knees, face down. Isaiah declared he was undone at the sight. We must have a similar vision of our God as we live our lives from day to day. Not one which incapacitates us, but one which reminds us where the true power of the universe lies. It is with the Creator, the Lord of all. We may bow and defer before earthly rulers and potentates, impressed with their power and might, their strength and wisdom, yet they are nothing before the One on the throne. All earthly power fades into nothingness before Him. This is the one whom we must serve and no other.
There exists a place, a throne room, more immense, more majestic than any that have ever or will ever be found on this planet. In that throne room, there is a throne upon which the LORD God Almighty, Creator of the Universe and all that exists within it, sits. He sits, He who is called YHVH or Jehovah, the great "I AM," who alone exists independent of all else, who has no material form, yet chooses to appear in such form for the benefit of His creation. Few mortals have ever been granted the miraculous privilege of witnessing this place. However, we shall be there standing before Him as we witness the coronation ceremony of His Son, Jesus Christ our Savior as King of kings and Lord of lords. Are you prepared to be there on that day?
