“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold,
a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. ” - Rev 4:1-3 (KJV)
The same trumpet like voice that introduced the apostle to the resurrected Christ in Rev 1:10, now announces the beginning of a new section of the prophecy.
“Come up” and see the things which must be “hereafter”. If you recall, the book opened with – “Write THEREFORE (in the better translations) the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter” (Rev 1:19). If we are now to see the “hereafter things”, logically, the church things must be “the things which are”. That makes sense because the apostle would have known about the seven churches that Christ was addressing. What about the things which “thou hast seen”? This refers to the vision that he saw of Christ, the candlesticks, and the stars
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Before we move into the next section in detail, let us be mindful of some principles as we read further.
- #1 - Our God, the Spirit, and Christ are well versed in human language. Every word, jot, and tittle, is there by design, and if He has chosen to make His message known to His people, it will be in terms that they can understand, and not in esoteric symbols only for the initiated. " For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. " - Deut 30:11-14
- #2 - From 1, we are to interpret the Word, as it is written, literally, EXCEPT for where symbolism is indicated. You will note that the apostle is functioning pretty much like a spiritual video camera, where He is faithfully recording all that he is seeing, without embellishment. Some of the things he is seeing (e.g. sword emerging from Christ’s mouth) are spiritual pictures, some are symbolic (candlesticks and stars), but please note, where things are symbolic (mystery is the word), they are clearly explained by our Lord Himself (candlesticks = churches, stars = angels/messengers). This is a principle we will see repeated throughout this book, and it helps us to not spiritualize everything we read, but process it as it was meant to be understood.
- #3 - We are to examine the things we see with the rest of scripture, as they may already have been explained there. We have some examples in this weeks’ text, which we will illustrate now.
The apostle sees an open door, is asked to “come up hither”, and he is immediately transported to heaven.
Did he literally go there?
The apostle Paul tells us – “It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. “ – 2 Co 12:1-4 He is speaking of himself, but even personally experiencing a vision of paradise, did not know whether that was an in-body, or out-of-body experience! Very similar to what is happening to the apostle John! The Spirit is able to move us to see what He wants us to see.
Here’s another example, this time from the book of Ezekiel – “And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me. Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber. And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. “ – (Eze 8:1-3) Here we don’t see a door, but the form of a hand, lifting up the prophet and transporting him in the Spirit to Jerusalem from Babylon.
Lastly, in the book of Acts, we find this – “And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.” – Acts 8:39-40. Philip was physically transported from the desert between Jerusalem and Gaza to Azotus.
So what do you think happened to the apostle John? We have at three examples (Paul,Ezekiel, Philip) that lead us to believe that he was indeed transported -by the Spirit- to the throne room of Heaven, physically or spiritually is moot! As a sentient being, he was definitely having an experience, characterized by light and sound.
Some commentators (Dispensational Theology) have reasoned that this verse signifies the rapture of the church before the great tribulation. We have a trumpet, an open door, and a command to come up!
Let us be careful to note, however, that this invitation is specifically to the apostle (who is already in that state) for showing him the purpose of showing him what will come after (and we are vicariously, along for the "ride", when we read it) – the Church age, or the church “things”, just as Paul and Ezekiel were given revelations. Read literally, and simply, John was given a vision, we are also privileged to witness! We willaddress the rapture at the appropriate time…but at this time, it should be evident as to what is being meant here, and this is NOT it!
Rev Chapter 4 gives us a vision of the throne room of Heaven, and we see many wonderful things there, but we are not to give our own interpretation of what we see, rather we are to look for scripture to let us know whether these things are literal or not.
- We see a vision of the Almighty & His throne, which is completely consistent with other scripture :
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- ... "And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone".. and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald .... and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: (Rev 4)
- And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. (Exo : 24:10)
- "As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him." — Daniel 7:9–10
- And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. " - Ezekiel 1:25-28
- I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. Isa 6:2
A flaming presence, too brilliant to look at, and a throne. It is always surrounded by a rainbow, and always companied by 6 winged seraphim, of whom we also now have a very detailed description.
2. The seraphim.
Compare the vision that the prophet Ezekiel had in Eze 1:4-28, with Isaiah and John . Ezekiel and Isaiah see them flying, John at rest! You will instantly see the similarities – in Ezekiel, the creatures are in motion carrying the throne, their four faces (lion, ox/calf, eagle, man) are seen, and they are accompanied on "wheels covered with eyes". These could be the additional two wings, that we in motion when Ezekiel saw them!
In Ezekiels vision - " Every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.... ... Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies." ... "As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning."
As to the "wheels"/"wings"... "Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. "
In Revelation 4:6-8, we see those same beasts AT REST, facing in 4 directions (presenting one face to the apostle), and the wheels are invisible – only the eyes covering them are seen. Ezekiel sees them as having 4 wings, whereas the apostle sees 6. Even the throne, the rainbow around it, the appearance of the One on it are similar.
Commentators liken these 4 faces of the beasts (or the beasts themselves) to the four Gospel writers, or the work of Christ as king (lion), servant (ox), human (man), eagle (high). We submit that there is no need to spiritualize the representation of these creatures to represent anything other than the bearers of the throne of God Almighty, created by Him, and man, the lion, the ox, and the eagle are honored by being represented there. Here are aliens if you ever wanted to see one.
3.The work of The Elders & the Beasts
"And they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. ”
The beasts and elders job is to praise God day and night, forever! WHENEVER the beasts give glory, the Elders echo it !!
We are privileged to be partakers of the apostles experience – let us look in awe and wonder at what we are being shown, as it reveals to us things that have been hidden from the beginning of Creation!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
