Revelation 4:1-11
1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."
2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.
3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.
4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.
5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.
7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.
8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:
"Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!"
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 "You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created."
One reason that the Book of Revelation is so mysterious to so many people is because they do not know their Old Testament. Much of the symbolism in Revelation is explained by referring to the types in the OT that John, a Jew, knew so very well.
As we come to Revelation chapter 4 and its vision of the Throne of God in heaven this key to understanding should become more evident as we find much of the interpretation of this chapter’s seven-part vision in our OT.
This key to understanding [OT types] Revelation should not be a surprise to anyone who has read Romans where Paul declares that the Gospel is what God promised “through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures”. [Romans 1:1-2]
And in Galatians where Paul writes, “… the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the nations [Gentiles] by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham….”
[Galatians 3:8]
In the first vision in the Book of Revelation the Lord Jesus Christ comes to the Apostle John, who is suffering persecution on the Isle of Patmos. You can imagine John looking out across the Aegean Sea toward Asia Minor where there were seven churches that he knew and loved. Now the risen Lord comes to John in a vision as Jesus stands amidst the Seven Churches in Asia which symbolize the state of the invisible Church.
The conditions in these seven visible churches that existed at the time of the writing of Revelation may be found in various degrees in churches from the time of John until the end of this present age.
There is Ephesus, strong in doctrine and busy in good works, but having left her first love. Smyrna is the martyr church that is told to expect more persecution. Pergamos has those in her number who hold the doctrine of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans [antinomianism]. Thyatira allows “Jezebel” to teach her heresy [sexual licence]. Sardis is dead. And Laodicea makes the Lord sick. Only Philadelphia is holding on to the end.
What can John feel after hearing such an assessment of the condition of the Church? But the Lord is a merciful God and John is about to see into heaven and see the truth of God.
Contrast the sad condition of the visible churches with the glorious condition of the universal Church as she worships at the Throne of God in heaven.
Chapters 4 & 5 of the book of Revelation teach ONE main lesson. Today we will examine chapter 4 and if the Lord wills, chapter 5 in the next message.
These two chapters describe the entire universe from the aspect of heaven. The purpose of this vision is to show us, in beautiful symbolism, that all things are governed by the One who sits on the Throne in Heaven. No matter what else we may learn from these two chapters we must see the absolute sovereignty of God and how that brings about true worship.
Sometimes preachers assume too much, e. g. I may assume that everyone knows what we mean by the “sovereignty of God.”
What exactly do we mean by the phrase the “sovereignty of God”?
We mean that God has made a sovereign choice to save a fixed number of people out of the fallen human race, each and every one of whom deserves to go to hell. The mercy of God is seen in that He saves any sinner!
This is God’s sovereign choice in election.
God did not choose to save someone because He looked out into the future and saw that they would choose Him. That is utter foolishness and a denial of what the Bible teaches about God’s sovereign choice in election.
What exactly do we mean by the phrase the sovereignty of God?
We mean that God the Holy Spirit takes the initiative and convicts a sinner of his guilt and only by grace grants repentance and faith and gives the spiritually dead sinner a new life in Christ Jesus.
What exactly do we mean by the phrase the sovereignty of God?
We mean that God not only saves sinners but that He keeps them by His grace in a life of obedience as He chastens them when they sin and as He sanctifies them He preserves them unto glory.
What exactly do we mean by the phrase the sovereignty of God?
We mean that God controls His creation by His divine providence or government.
We do not use terms such as “Mother Nature” and “Father Time.”
All things that have already happened were determined by God and everything that will happen is fixed in God’s eternal purpose.
All things: even our trials and tribulations are wrapped up in the secret decree and purpose of God who inhabits the throne of the universe.
That is what we mean by the phrase the sovereignty of God.
And those who are chosen by God, called, and justified are those who surround the throne of God in adoration and worship.
If your understanding of God is a Being that has surrendered His omnipotence and omniscience to the human race then you simply do not know the God of the Bible.
Those who would deny that God is sovereign say that God has willed not to be sovereign over all things, especially the free-will of man. A man can believe that proposition if he wants to but that is not what the Bible teaches.
Now I can believe that God is sovereign and that God is not learning anything because He has already determined every detail in the total history of His creation, past, present, and future, without needing to know the ultimate purpose in the events of life.
Where many people fail and deny that God is really God is because in their sinful pride they think that God is obligated to explain to them the reason for what happens. Not only do they want to know why but they want to know RIGHT NOW! I have had the sad experience of knowing men and women who were once “on fire” for God who quit God because of a sad circumstance that came providentially into their lives. To them God was not “fair”.
Personally I can submit to God who allows the wickedness of the followers of an insane religion to fly airplanes into tall buildings without needing to know His ultimate purpose.
But I am sure that at least a part of His purpose is to give America space to repent; but she has not done so. What will He allow next? Is America about to follow in the path of Assyria and Babylon and Greece and Rome?
At this point in my preparation for this message I went to my concordance to find a reference that showed the power of God over the nations of the earth; to raise them up and to take them down. More than 400 verses in the OT came up! Just take one:
Isaiah 40:15-17
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
So the point of Revelation chapters 4 & 5 is that God is ruling His creation from His throne in heaven, THAT IS THE POINT. This is why the Throne of God is seen before the trials and persecutions.
In chapter 4 we have the vision of the Throne of God in heaven.
In chapter 5 we have the vision of the Lamb of God.
We are dealing with symbols seen by John in visions. Surely no one imagines God the Father, who is pure Spirit and who inhabits eternity as sitting on a literal or physical throne somewhere “up yonder.”
I have been amused at Brother Walter Swain describing the athletes who point toward the sky when they score a touchdown or sack the quarterback. Brother Walter’s point is that why doesn’t the quarterback who threw the interception point to “god”? My question is how do they know God is “up”?
My dear friends who want to learn what the Bible teaches will you allow John to introduce some concepts of God to you as he approaches the Throne of God?
I will not be able to satisfy your curiosity about the many strange things that are recorded in the Book of Revelation, but I will come a lot closer to telling you what the Book of Revelation means than the futurists who say that these chapters are not for the Church at all.
1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."
After these things…. There is no gap of 2,000 years [or longer] between what has just been revealed to John. This is not a sequence of time but the order of the visions. After the things revealed in chapters 1 to 3, where Christ stands amidst the churches and reveals to John that He knows everything about these churches and as He commends them and except for two of them, He chastens them.
The heavens are opened.
Think about other times when heaven was opened.
Ezekiel saw visions of God.
“As I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God”.
Jacob saw a vision of God at Peniel.
When Jesus called Nathaniel He said:
“Hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man”. (John 1:52)
The Lord Himself was comforted when the heavens were opened.
Matthew 3:16-17
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.
17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Learn this. The natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit of God so they must be revealed to him. The opening of heaven always means the revealing of truth in a special way. For John it is prophecy regarding the Church as she must face tribulation and endure until the end. But as the Church endures through tribulation she has the sure knowledge that Jesus is victorious over the devil and his demons and that God is sovereign over His creation.
The vision is of a door that opens into heaven and allows John to see what is going on in heaven. The Apostle Paul was carried into heaven but he wrote that it was not lawful for him to describe what he saw. But John is told to write a book about it. What John is about to see is a vision of the Kingdom of God!
The Kingdom of God is no earthly kingdom in a tiny patch of real estate in Palestine. This is the entire universe. The Kingdom of God is the society of redeemed sinners who worship their Creator and sovereign Lord and John is told to write what saw and what he heard in a book that will comfort the Church as she suffers persecution. The Kingdom of God is the universal Church and that is what John is going to write about. Write about who her Master is and what is He doing to redeem His Church from sin?
Revelation is a book of symbols. The meaning of almost all of the symbols may be found in the OT. The reason so many men have missed the true interpretation of the Book of Revelation is because they have accepted the unscriptural declaration that the Church is not to be found in the OT. But it is the OT types that Christ uses to give encouragement to John and likewise to the Church.
… And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."
The OT history is rich with examples of how the trumpet was used to sound the alarm and to signal victory. John hears a voice like the sound of a trumpet saying:
"Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."
It is the voice of God speaking of that which MUST BE.
“God foreknows because He predestinates” thunders Luther! How else does God know the future so as to have it under His absolute control?
Read your Bibles carefully and notice the divine “must be” and the “in order that it might be fulfilled.”
In this vision John sees seven objects which we will endeavor to explain.
1) a throne; 2) a rainbow; 3) 24 thrones and 24 elders; 4) he sees lightnings and thunderings and voices; 5) seven Spirits of God; 6) a “sea”; and 7) four living creatures.
1)
The Throne of God
2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven,
and One sat on the throne.
John does not give any description of the divine Occupant of the throne. There is no form or shape to pure Spirit. God became a Man and was seen and handled by men. And Jesus is now a Man in heaven surrounded by the saints who have already passed into glory.
The essence of God is Spirit and no man has ever seen God.
John 14:8-10
8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
John describes the appearance of the Throne Occupant in terms of precious stones.
3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.
That the jasper here is the white jasper seems clear from the parallel passage in Rev. 21:11, “like a jasper stone, clear as crystal”. White is a symbol of holiness in Revelation as we see white robes, etc. So the jasper stone represents the dazzling holiness of God.
The sardius is a fiery red gem showing the judgment of God.
2)The Rainbow
Let’s go back to Ezekiel in the OT and read what the prophet described as the throne of God.
Ezekiel 1:26-28
26 And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.
27 Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around.
28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.
There are differences is the gems mentioned and yet the overall vision is the majesty and beauty of the One who sits on the throne.
When a vision of a rainbow is seen by Ezekiel and by John who does not connect the covenant promise of the first rainbow that ever appeared on earth?
Genesis 9:8-17
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying:
9 "And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you,
10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth.
11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
12 And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud;
15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
17 And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth."
The green of the emerald is the mid-range color of the spectrum of light in a rainbow.
The rainbow in the heavens is a reminder that God is a covenant God and His word endures forever.
“As Noah’s rainbow spread its beneficent promise over all who came with him out of the ark, and their descendants to the end of time, so the mystic rainbow of the throne of God spreads its soft and peaceful radiance over the entire range of that redemption procured in Christ at so great a cost.” CDA
3) Twenty-four thrones and twenty-four elders
4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.
Here is the Church of the OT and the Church of the NT always in unity because there is only one God and one way of salvation through faith in Christ.
Never buy into the proposition that God has ever dealt with or will in the future deal with the Jews in one fashion and the Gentiles in another manner.
We are dealing in symbols and the OT saints are represented by the 12 tribes of Israel. Paul makes it clear that there was never a generation of Jews of which it may be said that they were all believers in God.
“For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.” [Romans 9:6]
But the 12 tribes are symbolic of God’s elect Church in the OT economy.
Please reserve your questions about the difference in the twelve tribes named in chapter 7 and the twelve tribes in Genesis. There is an explanation that will teach us something about faithfulness.
In the NT there are 12 apostles who stand for the Church. We are dealing with symbols so put away your calculators as you Subtract Judas from the original twelve and add back Matthias to the eleven [Acts 1:26] and then add the Apostle Paul to get thirteen. Well whatever happened to Matthias? He is not mentioned again and Paul takes his place to get us back to twelve.
The thing to grasp here is that there were 12 patriarchs and 12 apostles and thus 24 elders. And the 24 elders represent the “whole house of Israel.”
Let me take an “aside” on the phrase, “whole house of Israel.”
Take your concordance and you will find about seven places in the OT where “whole house of Israel” is mentioned. In every place the distinction is the true Israel of God within Israel after the flesh.
Ezekiel was told to prophecy to the very dry bones and in Ezekiel 37:11:
Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
Is there any doubt that the dry bones that are given breath are anything other than regenerate men and women?
We will not go there now but in Revelation 21 we will find John putting the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles of the Lamb together to symbolize the bride of Christ in the New Jerusalem.
If there is any doubt that the 24 elders in Revelation 4 represent the “whole house of Israel” we only need to go to the next chapter.
Revelation 5:8-10
8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
9 And they sang a new song, saying:
"You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth."
4) Lightnings and thunderings and voices
5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices.
Lightnings and thunderings, in the Apocalypse, as elsewhere throughout Scripture, are symbolic of the divine judgments against the wicked.
In God’s providence He will bring equity to all men. Sin will be punished.
Has you sin been covered by the blood of Jesus Christ? Are you in a state of repentance? Do you trust in anything other than the righteousness of Jesus Christ?
Sin has been punished in Christ for all who put their faith in Him and sin will be punished in the persons of those who die in unbelief.
John 8:24
Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."
5) Seven Spirits of God
… Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
We have already seen in Rev 1:4 that John does not use the term Holy Spirit in the Apocalypse but rather the term of completeness; “the seven Spirits of God.”
“Likewise in Zechariah’s vision we have the one candlestick of gold, and its seven lamps fed directly from the two olive trees (the kingly and priestly offices of Christ) the whole being symbolic of the work of Christ in whom is manifested the fullness of the Godhead in the power of the sevenfold Spirit. Hence the lesson to the prophet, “Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts”. (Zech. 4:1-7) Thus would the Kingdom of Christ be realized.” CDA
There is no darkness where the light of God’s Spirit burns before the throne. The Holy Spirit is the only source of understanding of the “Light of the world” who is Jesus Christ. Everything else is lightnings, thunderings, and voices; the judgment of a thrice holy God.
6) The Sea of Glass
6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal.
We know where in the Bible another sea is presented. Go to the OT again to the articles in the temple and we find a sea of bronze.
1 Kings 7:23
And he made the Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.
The function of this sea was the ceremonial purification of the priests who served before the Ark of the Covenant in the temple.
Here in the heavenly temple is a sea of glass, like crystal, instead of a sea of bronze indicating the purity and holiness of everything that is in the presence of the One who occupies the throne in heaven.
It is not too much of a stretch of our thoughts to see the symbols of the Trinity:
The Father on the Throne;
The Holy Spirit in illuminating fire;
the Sea of Glass, symbolically washing with the Blood of Christ [Cf.7:14].
7) Four living creatures
And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within.
The KJV translates the Greek word “zoon” (dzo'-on) as “beasts” and the NKJV is “living creatures”. The word is a “live thing.” There is nothing in the animal world that corresponds to these four living creatures.
These “living creatures” are cherubim.
In Revelation 4 they represent all of creation as it worship the Creator.
And they do not rest day or night, saying:
"Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!"
Cherubim first appear to guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden.
Cherubim are part of the furniture in the Tabernacle and Temple as an image of them hovers over the Ark of the Covenant.
Psalm 18:10
And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
He flew upon the wings of the wind.
Ezekiel 10:1
And I looked, and there in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
Isaiah 6:1-3
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!"
“In Isaiah the figure becomes the seraphim, a word which has been considered to mean “Burning Ones”, but again, the derivation is uncertain. In a parallel passage in Psalm 104:3, a psalm which is descriptive of the mighty works of God in creation, the powers exhibited by the great Creator are in view, and may convey more than a hint of the meaning of the symbolism of the seraphim whose unceasing cry is “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory”, indicates their function which is to represent the praise of all creation, visible and invisible, to the glory of the Creator.” Charles D. Alexander [CDA]
Thus Psalm 104, verse 3, “He maketh the clouds his chariot and walketh upon the wings of the wind”.
“The cherubim are four in number, because that figure is the “number of creation”, denoting the universality of God’s dominion. The four aspects of the cherubim - LION, CALF, MAN and FLYING EAGLE - are representative of the four chief features of animate nature, denoting the majesty, strength, wisdom and providential care (Exodus 19:4 and Deut. 32:11-12) of the great Creator. In these forms they declare and proclaim the holiness of the Almighty and are therefore symbolic of the fact that Creation is a holy thing and that all God’s ways and purposes therein are absolute in holiness, righteousness and truth.” CDA
“We conclude therefore that the cherubim represent the energetic principles which lie behind or within all creation, animate and inanimate, visible and invisible, and which unanimously acclaim the divine wisdom, order, holiness and truth. Psalm 19 is the expression of this in the words, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world”. CDA
What Revelation 4 &5 are really all about is WORSHIP of God in truth.
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 "You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created."
John in a vision is brought into the presence of the throne of God in heaven. The purpose of this vision is for the assurance of the truth that God is sovereign and that all creation worships Him. Whatever does not worship God in “Spirit and in truth” will suffer eternal separation from the peace of God in a place called hell.
“Father Time” and “Mother Nature” have produced a bastard child and named it “Evolution”. American “higher” education has bowed down before the false god of evolution and put in on the throne and this blasphemous idol is faithfully worshiped in our schools and colleges.
But we have the word of God and we must not be ashamed to proclaim that God is the Creator and in redeemed creation there is only one song:
11 "You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created."
Amen
