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 show thee things which must be hereafter.
Heaven opened Chap. Rev 4:1-9
1. I looked ] Better, I beheld, and lo! as Rev 5:6; Rev 5:11 &c.; Dan 7:6; Dan 7:11 &c. The purport of the word is rather that he continued looking at what he had seen before, than that he looked in another direction. There is a transition: henceforth he goes to another point of view, and sees no more the Son of Man in the midst of the seven candlesticks: but the transition is not indicated in this word.
[ was ] opened ] The participle is used without any verb: he saw the door standing open, he did not see the fact of its opening.
[ was ] as it were ] Here the insertion of the verb is even more misleading. The true construction and sense is, “Behold a door set open in Heaven, and [behold] the first voice which I had heard, as of a trumpet [Rev 1:10 ] saying.”
which said ] The participle does not agree with the substantive “voice,” and perhaps we ought to render “one saying.”
hereafter ] Lit., after these things, as in Rev 1:19: i.e. after the state of things described in the Epistles to the Seven Churches. See note l.c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
After this – Greek, After these things; that is, after what he had seen, and after what he had been directed to record in the preceding chapters. How long after these things this occurred, he does not say – whether on the same day, or at some subsequent time; and conjecture would be useless. The scene, however, is changed. Instead of seeing the Saviour standing before him Rev. 1, the scene is transferred to heaven, and he is permitted to look in upon the throne of God, and upon the worshippers there.
I looked – Greek, I saw – eidon. Our word look would rather indicate purpose or intentions, as if he had designedly directed his attention to heaven, to see what could be discovered there. The meaning, however, is simply that he saw a new vision, without intimating whether there was any design on his part, and without saying how his thoughts came to be directed to heaven.
A door was opened – That is, there was apparently an opening in the sky like a door, so that he could look into heaven.
In heaven – Or, rather, in the expanse above – in the visible heavens as they appear to spread out over the earth. So Eze 1:1, The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. The Hebrews spoke of the sky above as a solid expanse; or as a curtain stretched out; or as an extended arch above the earth – describing it as it appears to the eye. In that expanse, or arch, the stars are set as gems (compare the notes on Isa 34:4); through apertures or windows in that expanse the rain comes down, Gen 7:11; and that is opened when a heavenly messenger comes down to the earth, Mat 3:16. Compare Luk 3:21; Act 7:56; Act 10:11. Of course, all this is figurative, but it is such language as all people naturally use. The simple meaning here is, that John had a vision of what is in heaven as if there had been such an opening made through the sky, and he had been permitted to look into the world above.
And the first voice which I heard – That is, the first sound which he heard was a command to come up and see the glories of that world. He afterward heard other sounds – the sounds of praise; but the first notes that fell on his ear were a direction to come up there and receive a revelation respecting future things. This does not seem to me to mean, as Prof. Stuart, Lord, and others suppose, that he now recognized the voice which had first, or formerly spoken to him Rev 1:10, but that this was the first in contradistinction from other voices which he afterward heard. It resembled the former voice in this, that it was like the sound of a trumpet, but besides that there does not seem to have been anything that would suggest to him that it came from the same source. It is certainly possible that the Greek would admit of that interpretation, but it is not the most obvious or probable.
Was as it were of a trumpet – It resembled the sound of a trumpet, Rev 1:10.
Talking with me – As of a trumpet that seemed to speak directly to me.
Which said – That is, the voice said.
Come up hither – To the place whence the voice seemed to proceed – heaven.
And I will show thee things which must be hereafter – Greek, after these things. The reference is to future events; and the meaning is, that there would be disclosed to him events that were to occur at some future period. There is no intimation here when they would occur, or what would be embraced in the period referred to. All that the words would properly convey would be, that there would be a disclosure of things that were to occur in some future time.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 4:1-11
Behold, a door was opened in heaven.
The open door
I. The open door.
1. The place where the open door was seen: In heaven. This implies several important things.
(1) The changed sphere of operation.
(a) The golden lampstands represented Churches, not in heaven, but on earth.
(b) The seven stars represented the pastors of those Churches.
(c) Now the seers attention is called from the condition of things on earth to a condition of things in heaven. This is fruitful of suggestion.
(2) That the door is represented as open is noticeable.
(a) That now, for the first time, heaven is to be laid open to saints on earth.
(b) That now these heavenly things, as here revealed, should be prayerfully pondered: an open door, ever inviting entrance.
(3) Though this is a vision of the heavenly world, the objects seen are symbols; the things symbolised are as real as heaven itself is real.
II. The invitation: Come up hither.
1. The authoritative character of the invitation. The speaker is no less than the risen Lord.
2. The distinguished honour of the invitation.
3. The gracious purpose of the invitation.
(1) These things contain the substance of the Divine purposes concerning the destiny both of the people and the enemies of God.
(2) These purposes had never been disclosed till now.
(3) They are purposes in which all Gods people should take a lively interest.
III. The seers transformation.
1. Its suddenness.
2. Its significance.
IV. The sublime vision. Practical lessons:
1. The great importance of the study of the laws of prophetic symbols.
2. The symbols of this chapter are not only interesting as throwing light on the place this chapter occupies in the prophetic scheme of this book, but they are also full of practical value.
(1) They should impress us profoundly with the-awe-inspiring presentation of the majesty, sovereignty, and holiness of God, whose name we should revere.
(2) They should deeply impress us with the Divine activity, and the multiplicity of Divine agents in the bringing about the Divine purposes concerning the children of men.
(3) They should impress us with the faithfulness of God, and the sure reward of those who love and serve Him on earth. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
A door opened in heaven
I. A door of intercourse between God and man. A door of intercourse was virtually opened in the covenant of grace, when the sacred persons of the Divine Trinity entered into solemn compact that the chosen should be redeemed, that an offering should be presented by which sin should be atoned for and Gods broken law should be vindicated. In that covenant council chamber where the sacred Three combined to plan the salvation, a door was virtually opened in heaven, and it was through that door that the saints who lived and died before the coming of Christ passed into their rest. But the door was actually and evidently opened when our Lord Jesus came down to the sons of men to sojourn in their flesh. There is no little comfort in the belief that heavens gates are opened, because then our prayers, broken-winged as they are, shall enter there. The ports of the glory-land are not blockaded; we have access by Jesus Christ unto the Father; and there is free trade with heaven for poor broken-hearted sinners.
II. A door of observation.
1. A door is opened in heaven whenever we are elevated by the help of Gods Spirit to high thoughts of the glory of God. Sometimes by investigating the works of nature we obtain a glimpse of the infinite. More often by beholding the grace and mercy revealed in Jesus Christ our hearts are warmed towards that blessed One who made us, who sustains us, who redeemed us, to whom we owe all things.
2. A door is opened in heaven whenever the meditative spirit is able to perceive Christ Jesus with some degree of clearness.
3. We sometimes get a door opened in heaven when we enjoy the work of the Holy Spirit in our souls.
4. A door is often opened in heaven in the joys of Christian worship. Yes, but if it be sweet to-day to mingle now with Christians in their praise and prayer, when we are so soon to separate and go our way, how passing sweet that place must be where the saints meet in eternal session of worship, the King ever with them, etc.
5. Another door is opened in heaven in the fellowship which we enjoy with the saints on earth.
6. A door has often been opened in heaven to us at the communion table. Astronomers select the best spots for observatories; they like elevated places which are free from traffic, so that their instruments may not quiver with the rumbling of wheels; they prefer also to be away from the smoke of manufacturing towns, that they may discern the orbs of heaven more clearly. Surely if any one place is fitter to be an observatory for a heaven-mind than another, it is the table of communion.
7. Another door that is opened in heaven is the delights of knowledge. The philosopher rejoices as he tracks some recondite law of nature to its source; but to hunt out a gospel truth, to track the real meaning of a text of Scripture, to get some fresh light upon one of the offices of the Redeemer, to see a precious type stand out with a fresh meaning, to get to know Him and the power of His resurrection experimentally; oh! this is happiness.
8. Another door of heaven may be found in the sweets of victory. I mean not the worlds victory, where there are garments rolled in blood, but I refer to victory over sin, self, and Satan.
III. A door of entrance. Christian, the message will soon come to thee, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. Soon, I say, that door will open; surely you do not want to postpone the day. What is there amiss between you and your Husband that you wish to tarry away from Him? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A door in heaven
I. The nearness of the heavenly world. We are at its door. Heaven is simply that which is heaved up. An uplifted life. We are always on the threshold of the pure, the noble, the blessed.
II. The possible revelation of heaven. It is not merely near and closed against us. It is near, and may be known. A door into it may be opened.
1. The Bible is such a door.
2. The death of good men is such a door.
3. The life of Christ is such a door.
4. Our own best experience is such a door. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Heaven near, though hidden
This passage derives intense interest from its position as well as from its terms; for it occurs at the close of one group of scenes and at the beginning of another. My text, then, forms the transition between the earthly and the heavenly pictures. There is something striking, surely, in this sudden contrast, for the former chapters contain the most emphatic references to this present life of conflict and of sadness. They speak to those whose dwelling is where Satans seat is; they speak of their labour and their patience, their tribulation and their poverty. Watch, repent, hold fast, overcome, are the solemn, stirring words urged repeatedly on those addressed. How well we can understand their position, for it is our own I Instructed by the glorified Son of Man, the apostle saw and wrote those things. But after this, he says, I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven, and through that open door he saw a sight how different. In place of the strife and tears and guilty stains which he saw before there was perfect splendour, sanctity, and bliss. He saw Gods throne with its rainbow emblem of mercy, etc. How complete the contrast between that world above and this world below, described before. I propose now to regard this transition passage as suggesting some relations between these two separated worlds.
I. The division between earth and heaven.
1. The fact that heaven and earth are divided by so wide a gulf seems to me cue of the strangest facts in our experience, though long habit prevents the strangeness from striking us so much. We should have expected the very opposite. Comparatively few cross the Atlantic to America, yet, though we may never see it, we require no act of faith to realise its existence and condition. But the world of heaven is so far removed beyond the range of our knowledge that we have need of faith to be convinced even that it exists. The material universe has been called the garment of God, and so far it reveals Him; but it hides Him too. Little can be said in explanation of our exclusion from all direct knowledge of the unseen world and God; but that little springs out of the very things which make it strange. If heaven were not invisible, if God sometimes appeared, the chief trial of our present life would be removed, and we should have perfect assurance instead of wavering faith. Our life, in fact, would cease to be the discipline which it is at present. His wisdom appoints that we walk by faith, not by sight; no wonder, then, that all the arrangements of our life are in keeping with this purpose. Moreover, to this separation of earth from heaven we may observe several analogies, e.g., as a thoughtful writer has pointed out, the material universe might have been one great plain allowing of the freest intercourse between its countless inhabitants, instead of which it is broken up into myriads of globes, divided from each other by abysses of space impassable to those who inhabit them. We are separated from the dwellers in Jupiter or Sirius (if such there are) as completely as we are separated from the dwellers in heaven. And note how the same policy is carried out even on earth. Two-thirds of the surface of our globe is water; vast oceans separate us from the inhabitants of America or Japan almost as entirely as if they lived on another planet. Nay, the majority of even English people are and will remain perfect strangers to us. Moreover, the periods of time contribute to this end as well as the expanse of space, for how entirely we are cut off from intercourse with those who lived in the past, and we are still more completely divided from future generations, and we come into contact with only a few of the people who are now living. Now these facts show that it is Gods will to break up His vast family into little groups, in order, perhaps, that each individual may, in comparative seclusion, be tried by the mystery of existence, instead of finding many of its problems solved by the combined experiences of all. All this is in keeping with the strange division between heaven and earth.
II. The connection between earth and heaven. One point of connection between the two, which at least helps to make heaven seem nearer to us, is that life in heaven, just as much as our life here, is proceeding now. We cannot see, indeed, that bright and holy world for which we yearn, as we should like to do, but there are those who do see it, who do enjoy it now. Their bliss is a present feeling arising from the presence of God now. Their endless life runs along a parallel course to our transient life. The present, which we call time, they call eternity. We cannot see them or hear of them, for there is a great division between earth and heaven, but there is a real connection, too, since those we love are present with the Lord, and are now receiving and returning the love of Christ, whom they see as He is. But there is a deeper lying connection between the two than this. We mourn over Gods absence from our earth, but what would earth be without Him? In Him we live, and move, and have our being. And the angels from whom we are so divided, Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation? So far from being independent of and forgotten by God, it is true rather that all we see and all we are was made and is upheld by Gods ever present power, and the ministrations of His angels. And if natures laws are Gods will, it may be said also that human history is the evolution of His providence. Individuals and nations, with all their wild and reckless freedom, do but accomplish what Gods hand and Gods counsel determined before to be done. We may trace this on the large scale when we note, in the Bible history, how Gods purposes have been wrought out by men, though we often cannot trace it in the narrow region of our own observations. But if God is present in the great, we may be sure He is present in the little, of which the great is made up. In history and in nature, too, we see effects, an endless tangled chain of them, but causes we do not see and cannot find out. Causes, forces, are beyond our reach, for there is a great division between earth and heaven. Ours is a God who hides Himself. But as we must believe that without these indiscoverable forces the universe would cease to be, so we believe that all depends upon the unseen God. Earth and heaven, then, are divided by a gulf we cannot pass, but the connection between the two is nothing short of complete dependence.
III. The door is set open between earth and heaven. The division is maintained between the two in order that our discipline may not cease. But sometimes the door is opened that our faith may not fail. That has happened at those sundry times and in divers manners when God spake unto the fathers by the prophets. And in later days there was a still more wonderful exception. The door was opened wider, and, attended by a train of angels singing glory in the highest, the Son of God passed through, and dwelt among us, and men beheld His glory. And whenever a Christian pilgrim reaches his journeys end, then, too, it may be said that the door between earth and heaven is set open to let the wanderer pass into his home. How close, then, heaven is to earth in spite of the separation, for at any moment the transit may be made. In yet another sense we may say that to us on earth a door is opened in heaven, and that is when we worship. The prayers and praises to which we give utterance on earth pass that strange division between earth and heaven which we cannot cross, and mingle with the nobler worship of the temple above, making us one with friends already there. (T. M. Herbert, M. A.)
The heavenly vision of the soul
I. The soul has the ability to perceive heavenly visions.
1. Man has the ability to look into the world around him–in nature, in society, in the nation.
2. Man has the ability to look into the world within him. It would be well for the moral life of men if they would enter more frequently into the chamber of the heart, and inspect the sentiments and energies reigning there.
3. Man has the ability to look into the world before him. This is his noblest ability. It brings into requisition the keen eye of a Divinely-enlightened soul. This vision is sublime, captivating, inspiring, elevating.
II. The soul has the opportunity to perceive heavenly visions. God allows man to gaze into the mysteries of the life above. Kings do not often give men free access to their presence-chamber. Here we see the love of God, in that: He reveals the unseen to the race; His wisdom in that He casts a little light upon the problems of futurity. This opportunity is the most frequently given:
1. To men in lonely sorrow (Rev 1:9, Eze 1:1). Men can see a long way through tears.
2. To men in humble duty (Mat 3:16).
3. To men in dying circumstances (Act 7:55).
III. The soul is called by many voices to rise to heavenly vision.
1. It is called by the voice of God as heard in Scripture; by the voice of Christ, whose earthly life was one continued gaze into heaven; by the Holy Spirit, who purifies the life of the soul that it may be capable of celestial vision.
2. The soul must ascend to heavenly vision. Elevated above flesh, above the world, above reason, even to faith.
IV. The soul obtains its truest knowledge of future destinies from its heavenly vision.
1. From the heavenly vision men learn that all human events are under the wise providence of God.
2. From the heavenly vision men learn wisely to estimate the passing events of life.
3. From the heavenly vision men learn calmly to wait the destinies of the future. Lessons:
(1) Learn in all things to look heavenward.
(2) Seek to rise morally to the level of heavenly vision.
(3) Learn to read history in the light of clear prophecy. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Heaven near
1. The reality of a heavenly world, and of its concern and connection with this. That world has its inhabitants, its plans and its purposes, its presences and its agencies, even like this. The subjects of its chief deliberations are the interests and the fortunes, the events and the destinies, of this lower world.
2. What an astonishment would it be to any one of us, to see that door into heaven suddenly opened! Oh, what a marvel, what a confusion, what a discomfiture, must it be to a worldly man or to a sinner to find at the moment of death that this thing which we have so long seen and handled, in which we have so long lived and moved, was not, after all, the whole or the chief part of that which is!
3. To Christian persons, to those, that is, who mourn for sin, and renounce and forsake it, and trust in Christ only, and pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to make them and keep them His, it ought to be and will be a real comfort to remember that just inside that door there is a heaven, and a throne set, and a God seated thereon, and a holy and loving council gathered, and plans under preparation for purposes of good to the poor struggling and suffering people below; and that round the throne is the covenant bow, promising evermore a clear shining after rain, and pledging the very faithfulness of God to their final rescue and deliverance.
4. Life and death, things present as well as things to come, accident and disease, want and age; yes, things more outward still, the bread and the water, the fire and the covering, the judgments of sword and famine and pestilence, the mercies of dew and rain and fruitful seasons; all are Gods, all are Christs; and if Gods, if Christs, then the Christians too (1Co 3:22-23). Oh, what an antidote to lifes cares, for those who can use it l It springs from the fact that creation itself, in all its parts, rational and irrational, has its representatives before the throne in heaven, and ascribes the glory, the honour, and the strength to Him who sits upon the throne.
5. But if the thought of the four living beings which typify creation has something of comfort for us in reference to the world above, how much more that of men of our own flesh and likeness, who are already clad in the robes of priesthood, and admitted to the sight of God and to the ministrations of the heavenly temple! That world is not all peopled with strange and unknown forms.
6. Are our faces and our feet set heavenwards? (Dean Vaughan.)
Heavenward
1. After the first vision, John gets a second, which shows that God continues and multiplies His favours on the godly, who make a good use thereof, and are desirous of more.
2. He looked, and was not disappointed; neither shall any be who looks up to God for grace, or growth of heavenly knowledge.
3. He could not see till a door was open to him; neither will we ever see heavenly mysteries till the Lord opens the door of our mind and heart (Luk 24:45; Act 16:14).
4. This and the other visions were seen in heaven; which shows that all that falls out on earth is first decreed in heaven, and the future to us is ever present to God.
5. The first voice that talked with John was as a trumpet; and so is the trumpet of the law the first voice that talks with a sinner for his conversion (Isa 58:1).
6. John is bidden come up thither; to show that the knowledge of heavenly things requires a heavenly and elevated mind.
7. This also shows that we should have Gods warrant for all our doings, and be bidden do what we do.
8. God only is able to foretell all future things, because He is omniscient, and determines the event thereof, which is a great comfort to His own elect; therefore it is said here, I will show thee, etc.
9. This also is for their warning, that trials and troubles must be; and also for the comfort, that their delivery must be, and shall be in like manner. (Wm. Guild, D. D.)
The vision of the throne
I. The time, and manner, in which this second vision was given to John.
1. The time. After this I looked. He looks up for a vision. He is prepared and looking for a further revelation. Those who have seen heavenly things once will look twice. Oh, how much nearer than we commonly imagine, faith borders upon sight, and the spiritual upon the heavenly state!
2. The manner in which the vision was brought under the notice of John.
(1) He saw a door open in heaven. He says not an open door merely, but a door that had been opened. It had not been always open. It had been once closed. A door opened in heaven signified to John that more of the counsels of heaven were about to be revealed. The door of the Church was closed against him, the door of ministerial usefulness was closed, the door of liberty, and every door of human hospitality, but a door was opened in heaven. In proportion as the people of God are precluded from the world, they have intercourse with heaven. They find readiness of access above, when hemmed in around; as water pressed on all sides rises in a fountain. To Isaiah visions were given in affliction, to Jeremiah in prison, to Ezekiel in captivity, to John in exile. This appearance to John may have been emblematical, in some degree, of renewed supplies of the Spirit of prophecy. In allusion to the manna which descended round the camp of the Israelites, God is said to have opened the doors of heaven. In Malachi you have these words: Prove hie now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing. Compare this with the heavens opened, and the Spirit descending upon Christ at His baptism, and the descent of the Spirit upon the apostles and.the primitive. Churches.
(2) John informs us of what he heard. The tones of this voice were encouraging to John, and expressive at once of its design.
(3) John tells us what he felt on this occasion. Heaven is first opened by God to sinful man. It is opened by His mercy, not by our prayers. We love Him because He first loved us. Having opened a door He invites us to come, and promises rich manifestations of His wisdom and grace to our souls. But how can we come to Him? How rise to the door of heaven? By the power that invites us. The invitation guarantees the ability to act, and the promise ensures success.
II. The first two objects in this vision. (G. Rogers.)
The vision of the throne
I. The opening of the scene.
II. The Divine throne.
1. The nature of the throne. There is a manifold throne attributed to God: there is a throne of grace and mercy, of glory and majesty, of dominion and sovereignty.
2. The properties of the throne. These are great and manifold. It is a throne high and lifted up; it is Divine, supreme, and universal; it is infinite, eternal, and immutable; it is from everlasting to everlasting; it is eternal in its date, and endless in duration; it has neither beginning nor end, succession nor change.
3. The position of the throne. It is set in heaven. The throne of judgment, the great white throne, is placed in the clouds; the throne of grace is erected in the Church; the throne of glory is placed within the vail; the throne of the universe is placed in the heavens (Isa 66:1).
4. The stability of the throne. It is established in the heavens. It is ordered and arranged, guarded and disposed by infinite wisdom and unerring skill. It is firmly fixed, stable, and immutable.
III. The possessor of the throne: One sat upon the throne. He sits on the throne, in a state of deep repose, undisturbed felicity, and eternal blessedness.
IV. The majesty of the throne. This is represented by two sacred emblems–sitting and similitude. He sat upon the throne, and He was to look upon like three sacred stones.
1. Here we behold the fulness of the Divine perfections. He is possessed of infinite, eternal, and immutable excellence–He is the source, the centre, and the sum of all worth and glory.
2. Here we behold the variety of Divine perfections: I am the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, etc.
3. Here we behold the unity of Divine perfection. All these perfections are displayed in Immanuel, who is the image of the invisible God.
V. The mercy of the throne.
1. The history of the rainbow is very remarkable. We first find it in the clouds; then established in the heavens, as the faithful witness of Gods eternal truth (Psa 89:39). It forms the glorious diadem of the angel of the covenant (Rev 10:1.); and in the verse before us it forms the gracious canopy of God the Fathers throne.
2. The rainbow round the throne was the blessed symbol of Gods glory and perfections; it was the token of His love, the emblem of His mercy, and the pledge of His faithfulness, His counsel and His covenant.
3. The position of the rainbow: The rainbow was round about the throne. It surrounds the seat of Divine majesty, above, below, and on every side. The majesty of Deity, the glories of the Godhead, and the splendours of the Trinity all beam benignantly through the rainbow of the covenant.
4. The likeness of the rainbow: It was in sight like unto an emerald. Amid the varied hues blended in the rainbow, green is the prevailing; and the colour of the emerald is a deep, living green.
(1) The comparison implies the beauty of the covenant. God beholds His people enrobed in all the beauties of the rainbow, and the deep, living loveliness of the glowing emerald.
(2) It also implies the riches of the covenant.
(3) It likewise supposes the perpetuity of the covenant. The rainbow, like the emerald, is ever fresh and green.
(4) The comparison teaches the unity and variety of the blessings of the covenant.
VI. The attendants on the throne.
1. Their names. They are called elders. This is the sign of their age, their honourable office, and dignified condition; their wisdom, experience, and venerable character.
2. The number of the elders: They are four and twenty. There is an enlargement of the Church implied in the number. He was then the God of Israel, but He is now the God of the whole earth.
3. Their posture and position: There were four and twenty seats. The saints sometimes stand; but here the elders sit, the emblem of dignity and undisturbed felicity, dominion and authority, rest and holy happiness, and their great reward.
4. Their glorious clothing: They were clothed in white raiment. White robes are beautiful, they are Zions loveliest garments–white robes are excellent, they form the best robe–white raiment is resplendent, it is both white and shining.
5. Their golden crowns: They had on their heads crowns of gold.
VII. The terrors of the throne. (James Young.)
The first voice as it were of a trumpet.
Trumpet voices talking with us
I. Revelations are made to us of great and solemn realities. What a world this would be if there were no voices from heaven, no Divine utterances, no spiritual revelations, to meet our needs and our questionings! We have a gospel not of figures but of facts, a gospel symbolised by the priest blowing the trumpet over the sacrifice, by the blast of the trumpet through the length and breadth of the land, ushering in the year of jubilee, by the great trumpet which was blown, that men in exile and ready to perish might return to their own land.
II. The revelations made to us are present and personal We hear a voice talking with us (Heb 1:1-2). The voice of Christ is reproduced in every believing and loving heart. His words do not die, they are still spirit and life. Revelation is not a dead, imprisoned truth, but a living fountain, the streams are as bright and pure as they were yesterday.
III. The revelations to which we listen are often trumpet-toned. Those voices have been trumpet-toned that have uttered great truths in this world; truths that yet live in it, speak in it, rule in it. Those voices have been trumpet-toned that have uttered the watchwords of liberty, that have raised the war-cry round which men have rallied, and which have stirred their souls like the blast of a trumpet. The voices that come to us in revelation are trumpet-toned, in their earnestness, in their importance. In our personal history there have been dispensations of Providence, that have been as the voice of a trumpet talking with us. How clear and distinct the voice that came to us in the season of sickness, in the hour of temptation, when death entered our home, etc. There is a sense in which we find it true, that the first voice we hear is as of a trumpet talking with us. We hear the awful words of the Divine law in the depths of our souls, and are convinced of our sinfulness and become conscious of our unrighteousness.
IV. These revelations conduce to our spirituality. Immediately I was in the Spirit. A man must be in the Spirit to see the glory that streams through the opened door in heaven, to see the throne and Him that sits on it, to see the sign of the covenant of peace, etc. If the windows of our hearts are opened towards Jerusalem, we shall sometimes see the light and glory of that golden city. The design of the sanctuary, of the Sabbath, of ordinances and sacraments, is our spirituality. (H. J. Bevis.)
Come up hither.–
An invitation to glory
I. The place to which we are invited–hither. Geographers, geologists, and travellers have described the earth, its islands, continents, mountains, rivers, plains, and products; but heaven is a domain beyond all merely scientific research. What we know of it is from revelation alone.
1. It will be a place exempt from ignorance. Seated there, we shall know as we are known; our views of things will not be as through a glass, darkly, but face to face, and in the highest sense we shall have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things.
2. It will be free from all kinds of evil.
(1) No slavery will be there. All its sons, of whatever clime, are freeborn. All are without shackle, brand, or chain. All walk at liberty.
(2) No sin will be there. The imagination will never conceive an unholy thought, the lips never utter a corrupt speech, nor the judgment, the conscience, the will stoop to an unholy action.
(3) No famine will be there. The bread is enough and to spare. The supply of fruit from the tree of life is constant and abundant.
(4) No tears, sorrows, pains, or death will be there.
3. Then there is nothing wanting to complete its happiness.
(1) There are great possessions.
(2) The society there is most blessed.
(3) The joys there are lasting.
(4) The life there is everlasting.
II. The invitation itself–come up hither.
1. There is a way to reach this place.
(1) What road to heaven is wrong?
(a) Sin is the wrong road.
(b) Self-righteousness is the wrong road.
(2) What road is right? In Virginia, in South America, and other parts, there are natural bridges of solid rock, whose stupendous arches join mountains together, and make a path firm and safe over the rolling rivers and dashing torrents beneath them. But there is no natural bridge to heaven. There was once, but man broke it down by sin. But there is still a path for man, formed by the Son of God–a path formed by His blood and righteousness. Along this path our pious fathers travelled and never found it give way, nor shall we. It is the path that leads from guilt to mercy, depravity to holiness, earth to glory.
2. Then the invitation also implies you cannot reach the place unless it be obeyed. Heaven in the gospel is set before men as an open door. It is not Christ that closes it, but unbelief. Let this be gone. (S. Fisher.)
Element of the ideal
The standpoint from which God views everything is vastly different from that which men commonly regard as their standpoint. God is for quality, clearness of vision and fundamental principles; man too often for mere quantity, haphazard vision, superficial estimates. God is ever seeking to draw man up to His level, man thinks to reduce the things of God to his convenient level, from which he hopes, without much trouble, or even thinking, to form some opinion or gain some knowledge of that which, in the deeper moments of his nature, he knows to be of vital and eternal importance. The higher the standards are the more must energy strive to reach them. It is a vastly different thing to brave the Matterhorn or Mont Blanc, or those gigantic mountains which rear their heads heavenward and lose their summits in the clouds. Climbing them means the hardest kind of toil and steadfast courage. Our standards determine the height of our aspirations, our aspirations press us on in the climbing and furnish the impetus to the outreach of our faith and courage, hut they must be fed by God, who leads us to His own standard and bids us look up and beyond, even beyond the material, into the realms of the spiritual, with a faith that does not shrink from the lessons such leadings bring. The question of questions is, Do we see, do we behold these high level truths of God? or have we so little interest in beholding that we skim them over, as we do the pages of a book that has proved uninteresting? John says, After this I looked and, behold. God can never do anything for a man who is blind, unless open his eyes; but God will not do anything for a man who wants to be blind. Looking shows desire. Beholding suggests power. John saw, and behold a door was opened in heaven and the first voice which he heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with him, which said, Come up hither and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. That seems to us to be a beautiful but exceptional sight. Picture Johns lonely exile life on Patmos. There did not seem to be much for him to live for, shut out and away from the busy work of life, and perhaps we have a theory that God was very gracious to him for that very reason. But such visions always come to souls that can see–long to see–and needing the blessing of such a vision. Whatever the outward life, the inner life is the condition of beholding. Lives need to be broadened and exalted. Heaven is not only to make life more tolerable, but life is to determine heaven. The vision came not to the place, but the soul, and was determined not by the meagreness of the surrounding, but by the condition of the heart-life of him who beheld. By every analysis we are to know, then, that life is not in itself either omnipotent, or satisfying, or self-sufficient, nor has it any high standard, nor is it enough to be merely practical–doing without seeing, deeds without visions. God gives us to see what we are, in order that we may see by the aid of this revelation what we may become. Ignorance is simply fatal to all progress and enlightenment. And immediately I was in the spirit, John says. The thought for us is this: the power that exalts life is of God and comes from above. Look above, then, though you walk the earth. Open your heart and mind and soul to the unseen realities of the eternal. Higher and higher we must go and grow, like the vine upon the trellis, abiding in the branch, lifting its myriad shoots towards the summer shining and the clear, pure air. From His standpoint, God will give us to see what must be hereafter. Our privilege is to hear Gods blessed invitation, Come up hither, higher, to higher altitudes, with waiting, expectant attitude. God help us to break the spell that keeps us down; God help us to unlock the bolts that shut us in; God help us to fling aside the shutters that keep us in the dimness; God help us to be as free as His truth makes us, and then, when we truly behold, how beautiful everything will grow. Just as the little child, long blind, having at last her sight restored, said to her mother, as she looked for the first time upon the beauty of nature, How beautiful! Why didnt you tell me how beautiful everything was! The element of the ideal must occupy a large place in our practical life if we are to grow at all strong, buoyant, and symmetrical. Visions are not mere air castles. Some one has said, All men who have shown our race how great things are possible have had their inspiration in dreaming of the impossible. The vision changes and goes on changing, adapting itself to our need and our life, but the reality always remains. Visions, therefore, are the wings which bear us upward and aloft. You do not have to teach a bird how to fly. The soul, saved by the power of the Divine Christ, rises because it can; it ascends because it has within it the irresistible yearning to do so, and faith and hope give impetus. This is the revelation which is constantly coming to your life, to my life. God help us, above all, to be in the Spirit, as in meditative quietness of life we steadfastly watch for and behold the visions that come to us. The cross and visions of the Christ are the inspiring themes of the Christian life. Life is truly potent, as we see its lines shaped according to the Cross of the Lord Jesus, as the symbol of our salvation and the standard of our service. Look and live, then live and look, is the whole of the Christian life. Let us not be satisfied with plodding, but let us be climbing. Let our lives take on daily newer beauty, the beauty of holiness, which is the adornment of righteousness. (C. E. Eberman.)
Soul elevation
Of course it was not the bodily senses of John that were thus addressed–not the body that was commanded to ascend. His outward eye saw not the material heavens open. Elevation of soul, then, is our subject. What is it? First, is it the elevation of sensuous excitement? The souls of all men have great variation of mood. Sometimes they are buoyant and sometimes sluggish. Such souls often soar aloft on the pinions of an excited imagination, but in their own fancy they indulge in a hind of spiritual reverie, and find a heaven for the hour upon the mountain heights of their own creation. But this is not what we mean by elevation of soul. Secondly, is it elevation of intellect? Is it the elevation which arises from study and culture? This is important, this is essential to soul elevation; but this is not it. Some of the greatest and most cultured intellects have often been found in alliance with souls deeply sunk in passion, depravity, and vice. It may be represented as consisting in three things:
1. An uplifting sense of the Divine favour.
2. An uplifting sense of moral right.
3. An uplifting sense of the spiritual world.
I. That soul elevation is attainable. The apostle saw a door open in heaven. Christ is this door. By His teaching, His death, and His ascension, He has opened the new and living way for man into the holy of holies.
1. He is the exclusive door for mans spiritual elevation.
2. He is the door for mans spiritual elevation, and mans only.
3. He is the door for mans spiritual elevation available only for him on earth.
II. That soul elevation is obligatory. Come up hither.
1. I hear this Divine command sounding in the starry firmament. The great universe is the domain of mind. Come up hither, immortal man, wing your flight from orb to orb, system to system; count our multitudes, mark our movements, gauge our dimensions, bathe in our brightness, rise beyond us, scale the wondrous heavens still far away, revel in the Infinite, be lost in God!
2. I hear the Divine command sounding through the biography of the sainted dead. Our nature speaks from heaven. There are the voices of the goodly fellowship of prophets and apostles, of the glorious army of martyrs and confessors, etc. There are the voices of our favourite authors, the sacred poet, the holy sage and the learned divine.
3. I hear this Divine command sounding through the gospel of Christ.
4. I hear this Divine command sounding in the depths of our higher nature. Reason and conscience unite in urging us to ascend, etc.
III. That soul elevation is desirable.
1. Mans happiness is greatly dependent upon bright prospects of the future.
2. Those bright prospects are secured by soul elevation. (Homilist.)
The upward call
Suppose that I had gone away from here for years, and came back to find my daughter living in some low, obscure place, bound out to hard labour. Suppose my son were in another place, half-clothed, half-fed, and suffering all manner of ill-treatment. And thus with all my children. What should I be likely to do? Should I not at once set about lifting them out of such situations, and getting them up where I was? I should say to them, Come up, my children; you were not born to live down there. Your place is where I am. Come up here to me; here is where you belong. Well, this is what God is doing to men. He has a few, a very few, children living in the high places of spiritual life–those regions of hope and love where He Himself dwells. Come up hither–come up into the region of warmth and love, where your Father dwells. You were not made to live down there. This is where you belong. Come up hither. (H. W. Beecher.)
Heaven our home
It is said of Anaxagoras, the philosopher, that one night when in the act of studying the stars, his countrymen came to confer upon him an inheritance, in token of their appreciation of his genius. His reply was, I wish it not–these heavens are my country. Can we say the same in a grander, Diviner sense?
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER IV.
John sees the throne of God in heaven surrounded by twenty-four
elders; and four living creatures, full of eyes; which all
join in giving glory to the Almighty, 1-11.
NOTES ON CHAP. IV.
Verse 1. A door was opened in heaven] This appears to have been a visible aperture in the sky over his head.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
After this; after I had the first vision, mentioned Rev 1:1-20, and had written what it was the pleasure of God I should write to the churches, in a book, perceiving the way God designed to reveal himself to me was by vision.
I looked; I looked again, hoping and being desirous to see something further as to the mind of God.
And, behold, a door was opened; I saw the heavens opened, as Mat 3:16; Act 7:56.
In heaven; he, doubtless, meaneth the third heavens. Such a vision, as to this particular, John had at Christs baptism, Mat 3:1-17, and Stephen when he was stoned. He also heard the voice of one speaking aloud to him, like the voice he heard, Rev 1:10;
which said, Come up hither, into heaven, the new Jerusalem which is above; as the old Jerusalem stood upon a hill, or rising ground, so as they who went thither are constantly said to go up, Isa 2:3; Act 11:2; Gal 1:17,18; 2:1.
And I will show thee things which must be hereafter; not which have been, (for to what purpose had that been)? But which shall happen hereafter both to my church and to her enemies: from which it appears, that God did not here show his prophet the destruction of Jerusalem, for that was already past, in the time of Titus Vespasian the Roman emperor, about the year 69, or 70, after the incarnation; this (as all confess) was in Domitians time, about the 11th or 12th year of his reign, about twenty-six or twenty-seven years after that was past, which makes the notion of two late annotators very strange.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. After thisGreek,“After these things,” marking the opening of the nextvision in the succession. Here is the transition from “thethings which are” (Re 1:19),the existing state of the seven churches, as a type of the Church ingeneral, in John’s time, to “the things which shall behereafter,” namely, in relation to the time when John wrote.
I lookedrather asGreek, “I saw” in vision; not as English Versionmeans, I directed my look that way.
wasOmit, as not beingin the Greek.
opened“standingopen”; not as though John saw it in the act of being opened.Compare Eze 1:1; Mat 3:16;Act 7:56; Act 10:11.But in those visions the heavens opened, disclosing the visions tothose below on earth. Whereas here, heaven, the temple of God,remains closed to those on earth, but John is transported in visionthrough an open door up into heaven, whence he can see things passingon earth or in heaven, according as the scenes of the several visionsrequire.
the first voice which Iheardthe voice which I heard at first, namely, in Re1:10; the former voice.
was as itwereOmit was, it not being in the Greek.“Behold” governs in sense both “a door,” &c.,and “the first voice,” &c.
Come up hitherthroughthe “open door.”
become to pass.
hereafterGreek,“after these things”: after the present time (Re1:19).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
After this I looked,…. After John had seen the vision of Christ, in the midst of the golden candlesticks, with seven stars in his right hand; after he was bid to write what he had seen, and what were, and should be hereafter; and after he had by order written the seven epistles to the seven churches, he looked about him to see what else he could, having his desires and expectations raised of seeing more, and other things, for the eye is never satisfied with seeing; though this is to be understood, not of looking with the eyes of his body, but with the eyes of his mind; of his beholding things in a visionary way, as the prophets did, whence they are called “seers”, and their prophecies “visions”: how long this was after the first vision is not certain, it may be but a few minutes; and it is to be observed, that as the first chapter of this book, with the vision in it, is the preface or introduction to the church prophecy delivered out in the seven epistles; so this and the following chapter, with the vision therein, contain the preface or introduction to the book prophecy exhibited in the opening of the seven seals of the sealed book:
and behold, a door [was] opened in heaven: not in a literal sense, as the heavens were opened at Christ’s baptism, and at Stephen’s martyrdom, but in a figurative sense; and the phrase is to be understood of a discovery of things that were, or were to be in the church of God, which in this book is oftentimes signified by “heaven”: and it must be conceived as done in a visionary way, just as Ezekiel, in the visions of God, was brought to Jerusalem, and the temple there, and in at a door was shown all the abominations committed in the court and temple; so John, in a visionary way, through an opened door, had a scene of things in the church presented to him, as follows:
and the first voice which I heard [was], as it were, of a trumpet talking with me; this voice is not called the first voice with respect to any other voices that were to follow; but it designs the former voice, the voice that John heard behind him, when he saw the first vision; and this, as that, was clear, loud, and sonorous as a trumpet, so that he thoroughly heard, and rightly understood what was said; it was the same Person that made the following representation of things as did then, even he who is the Alpha and the Omega, the Lord Jesus Christ, the author of the whole revelation; the “first” is left out in the Arabic version: the allusion is to the blowing of trumpets at the opening of the door of the temple;
“every day there were one and twenty soundings of a trumpet in the temple, three , “at the opening of the doors”, and nine at the daily morning sacrifice, and nine at the daily evening sacrifice f.”
And one of them was called the great door of the temple; and he that slew the daily sacrifice, did not slay till he heard the sound of that door when it was opened g; so here at the opening of the door in heaven, in the church, of which the temple was a type, the voice of the Son of God is heard as the sound of a trumpet, talking loudly and familiarly to John:
which said, come up hither; from the isle of Patmos, where he was, up to heaven; not into the third heaven, where Paul was caught up, but rather up into the Gospel church, the Jerusalem which is above; though this, as before, is to be understood in a visionary way, in like manner as Ezekiel was lifted up by the Spirit between the earth and the heavens; and so John, in a vision, was called up from Patmos into the air, where he had a representation of the church made unto him:
and I will show thee things which must be hereafter; in the world, in the Roman empire, and in the church of God, to the end of the world; not but that there were some things shown him, as before, in the church prophecy, which had been, and were, and which was done to give him a complete view of things from first to last: and these things were shown in the following visions of the seals, trumpets, and vials, and by the Lord Jesus Christ, who talked with him, and to whom this revelation was given to show unto his servants; and it was of things that “must” be, because determined and resolved upon in the unalterable purposes and decrees of God.
f Misn. Succa, c. 5. sect. 5. g Misn. Tamid, c. 3. sect. 7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Vision of Heaven. | A. D. 95. |
1 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 show thee things which must be hereafter. 2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 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. 7 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. 8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within–
We have here an account of a second vision with which the apostle John was favoured: After this, that is, not only “after I had seen the vision of Christ walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks,” but “after I had taken his messages from his mouth, and written and sent them to the several churches, according to his command, after this I had another vision.” Those who well improve the discoveries they have had of God already are prepared thereby for more, and may expect them. Observe,
I. The preparation made for the apostle’s having this vision.
1. A door was opened in heaven. Hence we learn, (1.) Whatever is transacted on earth is first designed and settled in heaven; there is the model of all the works of God; all of them are therefore before his eye, and he lets the inhabitants of heaven see as much of them as is fit for them. (2.) We can know nothing of future events but what God is pleased to discover to us; they are within the veil, till God opens the door. But, (3.) So far as God reveals his designs to us we may and ought to receive them, and not pretend to be wise above what is revealed.
2. To prepare John for the vision, a trumpet was sounded, and he was called up into heaven, to have a sight there of the things which were to be hereafter. He was called into the third heavens. (1.) There is a way opened into the holiest of all, into which the sons of God may enter by faith and holy affections now, in their spirits when they die, and in their whole persons at the last day. (2.) We must not intrude into the secret of God’s presence, but stay till we are called up to it.
3. To prepare for this vision, the apostle was in the Spirit. He was in a rapture, as before (ch. i. 10), whether in the body or out of the body we cannot tell; perhaps he himself could not; however all bodily actions and sensations were for a time suspended, and his spirit was possessed with the spirit of prophecy, and wholly under a divine influence. The more we abstract ourselves from all corporeal things the more fit we are for communion with God; the body is a veil, a cloud, and clog to the mind in its transactions with God. We should as it were forget it when we go in before the Lord in duty, and be willing to drop it, that we may go up to him in heaven. This was the apparatus to the vision. Now observe,
II. The vision itself. It begins with the strange sights that the apostle saw, and they were such as these:– 1. He saw a throne set in heaven, the seat of honour, and authority, and judgment. Heaven is the throne of God; there he resides in glory, and thence he gives laws to the church and to the whole world, and all earthly thrones are under the jurisdiction of this throne that is set in heaven. 2. He saw a glorious one upon the throne. This throne was not empty; there was one in it who filled it, and that was God, who is here described by those things that are most pleasant and precious in our world: His countenance was like a jasper and a sardine-stone; he is not described by any human features, so as to be represented by an image, but only by his transcendent brightness. This jasper is a transparent stone, which yet offers to the eye a variety of the most vivid colours, signifying the glorious perfections of God; the sardine-stone is red, signifying the justice of God, that essential attribute of which he never divests himself in favour of any, but gloriously exerts it in the government of the world, and especially of the church, through our Lord Jesus Christ. This attribute is displayed in pardoning as well as in punishing, in saving as well as in destroying sinners. 3. He saw a rainbow about the throne, like unto an emerald, v. 3. The rainbow was the seal and token of the covenant of the providence that God made with Noah and his posterity with him, and is a fit emblem of that covenant of promise that God has made with Christ as the head of the church, and all his people in him, which covenant is as the waters of Noah unto God, an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. This rainbow looked like the emerald; the most prevailing colour was a pleasant green, to show the reviving and refreshing nature of the new covenant. 4. He saw four-and-twenty seats round about the throne, not empty, but filled with four-and-twenty elders, presbyters, representing, very probably, the whole church of God, both in the Old-Testament and in the New-Testament state; not the ministers of the church, but rather the representatives of the people. Their sitting denotes their honour, rest, and satisfaction; their sitting about the throne signifies their relation to God, their nearness to him, the sight and enjoyment they have of him. They are clothed in white raiment, the righteousness of the saints, both imputed and inherent; they had on their heads crowns of gold, signifying the honour and authority given them of God, and the glory they have with him. All these may in a lower sense be applied to the gospel church on earth, in its worshipping assemblies; and, in the higher sense, to the church triumphant in heaven. 5. He perceived lightnings and voices proceeding out of the throne; that is, the awful declarations that God makes to his church of his sovereign will and pleasure. Thus he gave forth the law on mount Sinai; and the gospel has not less glory and authority than the law, though it be of a more spiritual nature. 6. He saw seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are explained to be the seven Spirits of God (v. 5), the various gifts, graces, and operations of the Spirit of God in the churches of Christ; these are all dispensed according to the will and pleasure of him who sits upon the throne. 7. He saw before the throne a sea of glass, like unto crystal. As in the temple there was a great vessel of brass filled with water, in which the priests were to wash when they went to minister before the Lord (and this was called a sea), so in the gospel church the sea or laver for purification is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who cleanses from all sin, even from sanctuary-sins. In this all those must be washed that are admitted into the gracious presence of God on earth or his glorious presence in heaven. 8. He saw four animals, living creatures, between the throne and the circle of elders (as seems most probable), standing between God and the people; these seem to signify the ministers of the gospel, not only because of this their situation nearer to God, and between him and the elders or representatives of the Christian people, and because fewer in number than the people, but as they are here described, (1.) By their many eyes, denoting sagacity, vigilance, and circumspection. (2.) By their lion-like courage, their great labour and diligence (in which they resemble the ox), their prudence and discretion becoming men, and their sublime affections and speculations, by which they mount up with wings like eagles towards heaven (v. 7), and these wings full of eyes within, to show that in all their meditations and ministrations they are to act with knowledge, and especially should be well acquainted with themselves and the state of their own souls, and see their own concern in the great doctrines and duties of religion, watching over their own souls as well as the souls of the people. (3.) By their continual employment, and that is, praising God, and not ceasing to do so night and day. The elders sit and are ministered unto; these stand and minister: they rest not night nor day. This now leads to the other part of the representation.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
After these things ( ). Change in the panorama, not chronology (Rev 7:1; Rev 7:9; Rev 15:5; Rev 18:1; Rev 19:1). This vision is of heaven, not of earth as was true of chapters Rev 4:1; Rev 4:2. The first vision of Christ and the messages to the seven churches began in 1:12f. This new vision of the throne in heaven (4:1-11) succeeds that to which it here alludes.
I saw (). Second aorist active indicative of .
Behold (). Exclamation of vivid emotion as John looked. No effect on the structure and nominative case (door) follows it.
Opened (). Perfect (triple reduplication) passive participle of as in 3:8 (door of opportunity) and 3:20 (door of the heart), here the door of revelation (Swete).
In heaven ( ). As in Ezek 1:1; Mark 1:10; John 1:51. In Revelation always in singular except 12:12.
The first ( ). Reference is to 1:10.
Speaking (). From , rather of 1:10 from , both agreeing with (trumpet).
Saying (). Present active participle of repeating the idea of , but in the nominative masculine singular construed with (feminine singular), construction according to sense because of the person behind the voice as in Rev 11:15; Rev 19:14.
Come up (). Short Koine form for (second aorist active imperative second person singular of ).
Hither (). Originally “here,” but vernacular use (John 6:25; John 10:27).
I will show (). Future active of in same sense in 1:1.
Hereafter ( ). Some editors (Westcott and Hort) connect these words with the beginning of verse 2.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
After this [ ] . Rev., literally, after these things. Not indicating a break in the ecstatic state of the seer, but only a succession of separate visions.
I looked [] . Rev., better, I saw. Not of the directing of attention, but of the simple reception of the vision.
A door was opened [ ] . Rev., rightly, omits was. A door set open. The A. V. implies that the seer witnessed the opening of the door. In Heaven. Compare Eze 1:1; Mt 3:16; Act 7:56; Act 10:11. In all these heaven itself is opened.
Was. Omit. Render, as Rev., “a voice as of a trumpet.”
A trumpet [] . See on Mt 24:31. Properly a war – trumpet, though the word was also used of a sacred trumpet, with the epithet iJera sacred.
Speaking – saying [ – ] . See on Mt 28:18. The former verb indicates the breaking of the silence, the latter the matter of the address.
Hereafter [ ] . Some editors connect these words with the succeeding verse, substituting them for kai and at the beginning of that verse, and rendering, “I will show thee the things which must come to pass. After these things straightway I was,” etc.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THINGS TO BE HEREAFTER Rev 4:1 through 22:21
Note: see also Introduction Revelation
1) “After this I looked,” (meta tauta eidon) “After these things I saw, (perceived);” after things he had seen and just related regarding himself, Jesus Christ, the church, the seven churches of Asia, and the church age then existing and progressing, that is to continue, until about the midst of the 70th week of Daniel’s time of prophecy, Dan 9:26-27; 2Th 2:3-12; Rev 11:1-4.
2) “And, behold, a door was opened in heaven,” (kai idou thura eneogmene en to ouranes) “And behold a door (entrance) had been opened in heaven; Rev 4:1 to Rev 5:14 are parenthetical heavenly disclosures, the first of seven visions of what was thereafter to occur, in future time, regarding 1) the church, 2) the Jew, and 3) the Gentile, three parties with whom all Revelation is involved, 1Co 10:32; Eph 3:21.
3) “And the first voice which I heard,” (kai he phone he prote hen ekousa) “And the First voice (in order) that I heard; the first of many voices that thereafter spoke to him during the Patmos visions and Revelations, Rev 1:9-10; Act 7:56.
4) “Was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; and which said, (hos salpingos lalouses met’ emou legon) “Was as a trumpet saying (speaking) with me,” progressively, as follows, announcing glory and triumph for the church, resurrection and redemption for all believers of all nations, and judgments to come upon Israel and the world.
5) “Come up hither,” (anaba hode) “Come up here,” to the central throne of heaven, for a vision and further instructions regarding things thereafter to occur relating to the church, Israel, and the Gentile World, 1Co 10:32.
6) “And I will shew thee things which must be,” (kai deikso soi ha dei genesthei) “And I will show to you things it behooves to occur; after the church age, especially during the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy, Dan 9:12.
7) “Hereafter,” (meta tauta) “After these things,” after the church age things, as discussed in Rev 1:1 to Rev 3:22.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE THRONE: THE SEALS: AND THE SEALED
Rev 4:1 to Rev 7:17
THE Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia, to which we have just given attention, cover and include, as we saw, the seven great periods of church history, which span the years intervening between Christs first appearance, to put away sins; and His Second Coming, which is to be without sin, unto salvation. After having earnestly considered the many and varying views taken by writers upon the Apocalypse, I am fully persuaded that the chapters four to seven relate solely to the same period of history, presenting the so-called secular side of that section of time whose sacred or church history is pictured in these seven Epistles.
Phillips Brooks referring to this very part of Revelation said, When we hear such a scene described in the few words of Johns poetic vision, I think we are met with a strange sort of difficulty. The great impression of the picture is so glorious that we are afraid to touch it with too curious fingers, to analyze its meaning and get at its truth. At the same time we feel sure that there is in it a precise and definitely shaped truth which is blurred to us by the very splendor of the poetry in which it is enveloped. We see on the one hand how often the whole significance of some of the noblest things in Scripture is lost and ruined by people who take hold of them with hard, prosaic hands. * * On the other hand, we see how many of the most sacred truths of revelation float always before many peoples eyes in a mere vague halo of mystical splendor, because they never come boldly up to them as Moses went up to the burning bush, to see what they are, and what are the laws by which they act. * * There is danger of mysticism and vagueness, if you leave the wonderful Bible images unexplained. There is danger of prosaic dullness and the loss of all their life and fire, if you elucidate them overmuch.
May we remark again, therefore, as we said in the series on the Seven Churches, that we cannot agree with those students who treat the whole Book of Revelation as a cryptograman uninterpretable cipher, a series of chapters past understanding; nor indeed can we run the whole race of those spiritualizing students who compel every sentence of the Apocalypse to mean things neither found on the surface nor brought up from its deepest recesses. Being confident, therefore, that each of these schools are wrong, we set up no claim of infallibility for our own interpretation, but rather put before you (for your consideration, to be eventually received or rejected, as you may please) what these chapters seem to us to teach.
We present these chapters under three suggestions:The Heavenly Scene, The Book of the Seals, and, The Sealed Servants.
THE HEAVENLY SCENE
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 lightings 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 (Rev 4:1-6).
This is wonderful imagery, and yet upon a little study, it falls into order, and is full of important suggestions.
To aid the understanding, think first of the throne and its appointments.
It is located in Heaven; it is circumscribed by the rainbow?; while twenty-four elders clothed in white raiment and wearing crowns of gold make up its immediate or center circle; and out of it proceed lightnings and thunderings and voices; while before it burn seven lamps whose brilliance illuminates the sea of glass tike unto crystal; and brings into bold outline the faces of four beasts The first like a lion; the second like a calf; the third like a man; the fourth like a flying eagle.
Inasmuch as John was content to pass this throne by without other comment than to show its setting, we may wisely do the same, and give our attention, for a few moments, to the Person on the throne.
And one sat on the throne.
And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone.
If you will take the pains to study the colors of these precious minerals you will find that the gold of the first, combined with the crimson of the second, will produce the effect profoundly like to that of a blaze of fire; and therein you have your symbol of God the Father. No form is assigned to the One who sat upon this throne, for no man can see God and live. But this appearance, as of fire, is the old figure by which Jehovah was pleased, from the first, to manifest Himself. To Moses He appeared in the flame of fire out of the midst of a bush (Exo 3:2); when David was singing the praises of that God who had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, he spoke of Him as one whose brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled (2Sa 22:13); and again Job says, Out of His mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out; while Habakkuk declares, burning coals went forth at His feet; Zechariah says of Jerusalem, The Lord will be unto her a wall of fire round about (Zec 2:5); and Paul writes in his Epistle to the Hebrews, For our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29).
The encircling rainbow again suggests the presence of God the Father.
It was Jehovah who had appointed this symbol of His covenant with Noah and his sons, saying,
This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth.
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
And I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth,
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth (Gen 9:12-17).
The lightnings and thunderings and voices are also eloquent in declaring the Person upon the throne. At Sinai He spake in the same way (Exo 19:16); and again, the Philistines were thundered upon with great thunder (1Sa 7:10); and again when Israel demanded a king, He made answer in the same expressions of displeasure (1Sa 12:17-18), The seven lampssymbols of His perfect wisdom and the undimmed light in which He liveswere long ago seen in the appointments of the Holy of Holies, where the seven lamps burned.
The suggestion of particular value to you and to me, in this wonderful scene, is in the combination of the rainbow with the lightnings and thunderings, the latter expressing judgment, while the former declares His mercy.
It may gratify our curiosity to know that God has His throne in the Heaven; it may excite in our breasts a reverence to understand that we cannot look upon His face, but must accept its symbol of fire instead; it may stimulate our studies to find that the seven lamps of the Old Testament are shining on in the last volume of the New; but it calms the troubled heart, and furnishes the basis of hope to the despairing spirit, to see that the God whose judgments are voiced in lightnings and thunderings, is also a God who maketh a covenant with His own, and flings out a rainbow to remind us forever of His unspeakable mercy toward those who have accepted the provisions of His salvation, as Noah received the appointments of the ark.
It is related that a German statesman, knowing himself to be upon his death-bed, sent for a Christian pastor and said, I am very ill, my friend, and expect to die. I should like you to converse with me on the subject of religion, but I enjoin you not to mention the Name of Jesus Christ. Be it so, replied the minister, I shall begin by speaking of the character of God. God is love, and then with much eloquence, he talked of that wonderful truth until he rose to go, and the Count pressed his hand and asked him to come again as shortly as possible. On his second visit he spoke to the sick man of Divine wisdom and power, and the man was even more pleased, pronouncing the pictures beautiful and sublime. But on his third visit he dwelt on the Holiness of God, saying that God was so holy He could not endure to look upon sin with any complacency; that while He loved the sinner, He hated the sin. When he rose to leave, the Count said, How can you leave me in this condition? If God be as just and holy as you say, I am a lost man! Stay. But the pastor quickly departed, praying that this conviction of lost might lead to the light. After a few days the pastor went back again, only to be met with the question, Are those things true? and to answer, I am sorry sir; but I can retract nothing of what I said to you of the judgments of God, and the impossibility of union between a Holy God and the sin-stained, rebellious man; not that there is nothing consoling to speak, but that you laid upon my lips a restriction, in that you deny me the privilege of speaking of Christ-Jesus.
Oh, said the dying man, then I made a mistake; speak to me; tell me if there is any way of salvation open to such an one as I am. Yes, answered the pastor, and forth from his New Testament he brought the precious truths of mercy in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth; and when the dying German saw how God could be reconciled to him in Christ Jesus, he accepted the sweet truth, and with child-like confidence, committed his soul into the hands of his Heavenly Father, as Stephen did when they stoned him.
To see the justice of God, and that alone, is merely to see the flashing of the lightning, and to hear the rolling of the thunders; but to see the mercy of our God, as expressed in Christ Jesus, is to see the rainbow of His covenant swinging clear around the throne, making a complete circle, symbol of the complete salvation proffered; it is to understand how a God of justice can yet save through His wonderful grace.
The beings about the throne, were the four and twenty elders clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold, and the four living creatures, full of eyes, before and behind. This picture is not without its significance; the lion symbol of courage; the calf-the very expression of patient service; the face as a manindicative always of intelligent action; the flying eagle signifying alacrity in obedience.
The Revised Version does not call these beasts, but creatures instead. Supernatural, heavenly creatures they were;full of eyes, behind and before, that they might therefore be watchful of Gods least motion, and obey the same with the heart of the lion, the patient endurance, of the ox, the intelligence of the man, and the swiftness of the eagle.
What else does it mean when it declares that these four living creatures had each of them, six wings, than that they were ready to fly in the service of God? What else does it mean when it says that they were full of eyes, but to watch to know His least and greatest will? What else does it mean when it says, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come, than that they never tire in executing His purposes, or singing His praises. Will you note the fact that they seem to be the leaders of the four and twenty elders, for when the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to Him that sitteth on the throne, to Him that liveth for ever and ever; then the four and twenty elders shall fall down before Him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship Him for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honour, and the power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they were, and were created (R. V.).
In the ancient houses of Israel, God appointed the order of twenty-four priests. Every Divine appointment, made in the earth, is Gods effort to reproduce some feature of Heaven; and it was because there were twenty-four elders, or arch-angels, about the throne of Jehovah in Heaven, that He appointed twenty four priests to service in the Temple, whither He descended to manifest His glory. And has it never occurred to you and to me that when we pray the Lords prayer, we are actually asking that the conditions of earth shall be so changed as to become a perfect duplicate of all the appointments of Heaven itself, and such indeed is the saints desire.
THE BOOK OF THE SEALS
The fifth and sixth chapters are given entirely to the Book of the seals.
It was an unopened Book. The challenge of the strong angel was, Who is worthy to open the Book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in Heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the Book, neither to look thereon,
That, then, was not the Book of Creation. The Sun in his glory has unlocked that book and let us behold its beauties; neither indeed was it the Book of Revelation, for it is not the office of the Son of Man to break the seals of that volume, but of the Holy Spirit, instead. Christ said of Him, When He, * * is come, He will guide you into all truth, He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you. Unquestionably it was the Book of redemption, the one volume to the unfolding of which Jesus Christ has laid His hand. This is additionally evidenced in the new song of the living creatures and the twenty-four elders, And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to take the Book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy Blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, * * and priests (Rev 5:9-10, R. V, ).
Going back into Jewish history you will learn that whenever an heir, for any reason, lost his inheritance, instruments of writing were made and copied, and one copy was sealed, and kept, in evidence of the fact that the inheritance had passed out of his hands and belonged to another. The sealed book, therefore, became the expression of an alienated inheritance, which could only be recovered by getting some one to buy it back, and the buyer was called the goel or redeemer, as you will recall in the Book of Ruth. That is the figure that is here employed. The inheritance of Gods people has been lost; the sealed scroll stands in evidence thereof, and the dishonored, disclaimed sons of earth are waiting the day when some brother shall arise who is able to buy it back and break those seals, bringing them into their inheritance again.
But in Heaven, as on earth, and under the earth, was found no one able to pay the price and redeem the inheritance. What a picture this of the utter bankruptcy of the human soul, and the utter impotency of all angelic and human hands to help us in the hour of our need. No wonder John wept much, and we would join with him in weeping, to-night, were it not for the fact that one of the elders said,
Weep not: behold, the lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome, to open the Book and the seven seals thereof.
And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, (symbol of power), and seven eyes (types of wisdom), which are the seven Spirits (numeral of perfection) of God, sent forth into all the earth.
And He came, and He taketh it out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne.
And when He had taken the Book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to take the Book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy Blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation (Rev 5:5-9, R. V.).
The Lamb alone could open it. In Him there was the power of the lion, which made possible a task too difficult for man; in Him there was the innocence of the lamb, whose spilt blood might sprinkle the mercy seat for the peoples sake. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, whose precious Blood paid the full price of our lost inheritance, and brought it back again within reach of every man of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.
Dr. Simpson says, It is related that once in the Roman Colosseum, the crowd was waiting, with the martyr in the midst of the arena, for a roaring Numidian lion to burst from its cage, and devour the defenceless saint, when suddenly, as a little piece of by-play for the amusement of the Roman crowd, the keeper led forth from its stable under the galleries, a little lamb, which stepped up and licked the hand of the martyr, while the crowd thundered out its surprise and applause.
Beloved, when the whole world looked upon the condemned sinner, expecting to see the Lion of the tribe of Judah, with burning eyes and immeasurable strength, fall upon him to tear him asunder, they saw instead, that same mighty One, assume the nature of the lamb and suffer Himself to be led as a sacrifice to the place of slaughter, that the very sinner who had offended Him and rebelled against His Father might escape the penalty of his own conduct, and come again to that inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
AN INTRODUCTORY THEOPHANY
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Rev. 4:1. Saw.Observed, not specially looked up. Opened.Set open. Trumpet.Rev. 1:10. Which said.The voice is put for the person speaking.
Rev. 4:2. In the spirit.Implying a rapt state of mind, absorbed wholly in the things now unfolded. Compare St. Peters trances, and St. Pauls visions. It is implied that he was caught up through the open door into heaven, and saw what was going on above. Compare the conception of Dantes poem. Throne.See 1Ki. 22:19. A similar description of the throne of God may be found in the book of Enoch, xiv. 1723. See also Ezekiel 1; Daniel 7. He who sat on the throne is not named (see Jewish reticence in relation to the sacred Name), but He is kept before us in the whole book, to remind us that the great world-drama moves forward ever under the eyes of the ruling One.
Rev. 4:3. Jasper.The ancient jasper was the translucent stone now known as chalcedony, a dark, opaque green (Exo. 28:20; Rev. 21:19). This colour is, however, unsuitable as a description here. In the later reference the jasper is spoken of as clear as crystal, and then the brightness of the jasper blends with the red glow of the sardius, which is a red carnelian, fiery in colour. Together the images denote the powerful splendour which beamed from Him who sat on the throne. Compare Eze. 1:26-27. Rainbow.Symbol of Divine mercy, beautiful in itself, and veiling the splendour. Emerald.Green. The iris is compared to it here, because the modified and mild colour of green apparently predominates in the rainbow. Ancients felt very strongly the relief given to the eye by looking at it.
Rev. 4:4. Elders.The representatives of Christs Church and peopleof those whom Christ calls His friends (Joh. 15:15). Two sets of twelve. The Christian Church of St. Johns day was a Jewish Christian Church. The two sections are represented in the one set of elders: not Jews and Christians as distinct bodies. White.Note the importance of this symbol of purity throughout the book. They are the glorified embodiment and representatives of the people of God. (Stuart prefers to explain the number by the division of the priesthood into twenty-four classes which David made.) Crowns.With the robes denoting their king-priestly character.
Rev. 4:5. Proceeded., continually proceed. See the associations of the giving of the Law on Sinai (Exodus 19). Thunder and lightning are our most impressive nature suggestions of the Divine majesty and power. By these are signified the instructions of Gods law, the encouragement of His promises, and the warnings of His judgments. Lamps of fire.I.e. seven resplendent, glorious beings, all radiant, like burning torches, or lamps. Or it may be a symbol of the Divine Spirit, whose sevenfold gifts are spoken of.
Rev. 4:6. Sea of glass.Figure from the sea that was in front of Solomons temple (1Ki. 7:23, etc.). This temple has a real sea in front of it. It is suggested that fickle, movable waters represent the unguided, unreasoning, and unprincipled thoughts of men. By analogy, the calm, glass-like sea represents those counsels of God, those purposes of righteousness and love, often fathomless, but never obscure, always the same, though sometimes glowing with holy anger, like unto crystal, resplendent and pellucid. The pavements, or, as we say, floors, of palaces and elegant houses of the East are constructed with expensive and splendid materials. Here the idea is that the pavements or floors are all of precious and diaphonous stones, appearing to him who should walk upon them pellucid, like the waters of the ocean. In the Koran, Belkis, the Queen of Sheba, is represented as supposing the pavement on which she walks in the audience-hall to be a sea (Moses Stuart). Four beasts.Living beings. Their position in relation to the throne is not clear. They were either the supports or ornamentation of the throne. Full of eyes.Teeming with. Easterns indicate greatness and variety of power by multiplying representations of the organ. (Curiously enough, the Fathers regard these beasts as representing the Four Gospels, which had no recognised existence in St. Johns day). Perhaps they represent animate nature. But it is more probable that, as they take precedence even of the crowned elders in their ceaseless worship, they represent redeemed humanity, Birks says: They seem to represent four distinct classes, each federally united among those blessed saints who occupy the foremost places in the kingdom of glory. For Stuarts view see Suggestive Notes.
Rev. 4:7. Four beings hold a primacy in the world: among created beings, man; among birds, the eagle; among cattle, the ox; among untamed animals, the lion. The characteristics of these four chiefs of creation unite to make a perfect picture of the spirit of true service, which should be brave as the lion, patient as the ox, aspiring as the eagle, intelligent as man. The number four is, in the Apocalypse, almost always associated with the earth.
Rev. 4:8. Six wings.Compare Isa. 6:1-4. Full of eyes.Compare Eze. 1:18; Eze. 10:12; Zec. 3:9. Multiplicity of eyes may symbolise vitality and vigilance. Within.This may mean, inside their wings; and these eyes were seen when the wings were spread. Almighty.Heb. in Isaiah, God of hosts.
Rev. 4:9-10. Beasts give glory.The idea of this and the following verse is, that when the redeemed Church realises the voice of creation in its worship, it reverently joins in the worship. All Thy works praise Thee in all places of Thy dominion, and Thy saints shall bless Thee. See the ascriptions of praise to Jehovah in 1Ch. 19:10-13; Psa. 96:2-3; Psa. 96:7-10. Cast their crowns.Alford compares Tacitus, Ann., XV. 29:3, 6, where Tiridates lays down his crown before the image of Nero, as a token of homage for his kingdom. The future tenses, shall worship, shall cast, indicate what is often and customarily done in heaven. Simcox suggests that the tenses in this book may be accommodated to the rules of Hebrew rather than of Greek grammar.
Thus concludes this magnificent exordium to the principal visions of the book. Chap. 5 is intimately connected with it, but it is rather to be regarded as a special proem to chap. 611, than as a proem to the book at large. The impressive nature of the scene presented in chap. 4 cannot but strike the mind of every intelligent reader. The holy seer was duly prepared, by such an august vision, for the disclosures which follow, and the mind of the reader can hardly fail to be prepared, also, to look for them with deep interest. It cannot escape even the most unobserving, how greatly this whole scene resembles the inaugural theophanies in Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1 (Stuart).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rev. 4:1-11
The Eternal Throne and its Surroundings.From the very first, and still, there will be found a side of peril in the very intensity with which the Lord Jesus Christ is presented to us. He may take our attention off from God, and seem to stand in front of Him. Our Lord Himself recognised this possible evil, during His earthly life. He might absorb too fully the interest of His disciples, and therefore we find Him, in His conversations with them, constantly putting His Father, as it were, in front of Himself. The apostles show precisely the same anxiety. They will not let the interest of men stay with Christ. He leads men to God. By Him they believe in God. Remembering how jealous the Jews were of the primary truth of the Divine unity, we can easily see that it would have been a fatal objection to Christianity if it could be reasonably shown that it put Christ in the place of God. Essentially Christ is God; but revelationally, and for particular purposes of manifestation, He is apprehended as the Son of God, and as Son, He must not be confused with the Father, or, in any sense, put in His place. This important distinction explains this introductory vision of the eternal glory of God. The seer has brought the Lord Jesus Christ vividly before us as the Living, White One. He is going to deal with the present activities of that Living One in the Church, and in the world in which His Church is set. He will be filling all our thoughts with Christ. But there must be no possibility of mistake, no possibility of our even seeming to put dishonour on God, or showing Him any slight, or failing to recognise His supreme relations with the actual, present work of Christ. So the vision of this chapter is given, and God is seen receiving the absolutely sole worship of the representatives of all creation, animal and human. He is God alone. Heaven is visioned as the sublime palace of the eternal King, and a door is set open so that we may enter the audience-chamber; and we may well be awed by the magnificence, the sublimity, of the scene.
I. The throne.To this much attention is given in Eastern Kingdoms. (For Solomons throne, see 1Ki. 10:18-20). The stability of this throne is even more impressive than its splendour. However shifting and changing may be the panorama of events recorded in this book, that throne remains the same. Heaven and earth may pass away. That throne abides. It cannot be moved, because righteousness and judgment are its habitation. Carefully observe that no attempt is ever made in Scripture to describe Him who sitteth on the eternal throne. He must ever simply be to us the I AM. Existenceuncaused, independent existence.
II. The supports of the throne.The four living creatures, as the representatives of all creation. The honour and dignity of God is the supreme concern of every living thing. His throne is upheld by their needs, which God alone can meet; by their trustings, which are its buttresses; and by their service in their spheres, which witnesses to their Master.
III. The front of the throne.Two ideas are suggested in connection with the sea of glass.
1. The shining pavement is like solidified water.
2. The brazen sea, in front of the temple, indicated the need for purity in all who came to worship. The former idea is the more probable one, and only a figure of magnificence is intended. Or the idea of waving sea, settled into glassy stillness, may suggest the sublime peace of Gods eternal presence. Where, beyond the voices, there is peace.
IV. The courtiers.Four and twenty elders. Officers were always in the royal presence at Eastern Courts, and these often represented the provinces of the country, or dependent nations. The elders stand for the Church as at present redeemed. The full chorus of creation rises now to God; but the full chorus of humanity does not rise yet. It is but the chorus of a portion.
V. The worship.The point to notice is, that Gods praise is begun by creation; taken up and ennobled by the redeemed Church, but perfected only when all are redeemed, and the completed Church can join the song of Nature, and so all the earth praise God.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Rev. 4:1. An Anticipative Triumph-Song.The fourth and fifth chapters are to be regarded as a song of triumph sung even before the contest begins, and conveying to us an assurance of what will be the issue. It will not be forgotten that this is elsewhere the manner of St. John. Before the great contest delineated in the fourth gospel, which begins at chap. 5, we have the victory of the Redeemer over Nicodemus, the woman of Samaria, and the Galilean nobleman. When speaking, in his first epistle, of the struggles of Christians with the world, St. John uses the words, And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith (Rev. 5:4). He does not speak of the weapons with which the Christian soldier prepares himself for the battle, but of the victory with which, as if it were his armour, he is, from the first, equipped. In other words, it is St. Johns manner of thought to sing his song of triumph before the fight begins, and that is exactly what he does in the fourth and fifth chapters of the Apocalypse.W. Milligan, D.D.
A Vision of the Glory of God.The fourth chapter is a vision of the glory of God. His throne is supported by four living creatures, and twenty-four elders fall down before it. These are the representatives of Nature and of the Church. The former represent the forces of nature, which, in the ancient religions, sat upon the throne, personified in the Pagan deities, but which, in the monotheism of the Bible, play a more modest part, and are employed in bearing up the throne of Godthat is to say, in establishing His kingdom. They are represented by the four living creatures which are supposed to be the chefs duvre of the animal creationthe lion, the bull, the eagle, and man. The twenty-four elders represent the Judo-Christian and the Gentile Church, twelve for each of these two moieties of the primitive Church, in conformity with the types of the twelve patriarchs, the twelve tribes, and the twelve apostles.F. Godet, D.D.
Rev. 4:3. The Rainbow Symbol.The discovery made of the Divine mercy in the covenant of grace refreshes the mind as the green relieves the eye from the fatigue and glare of other colours. In the arched iris spanning the Divine throne the ancient Church beheld an emblem of the Divine severity, blended with love; in it she saw the dark showers of His judgments, gilded by the bright beams of His mercy. The heavenly Bow spake to her of the Deluge, the shipwreck of the world for sin; it spake to her also of calm and sunshine after the storm.Wordsworth.
Being in the Spirit.He was in a rapture, as before (Rev. 1:10), whether in the body or out of the body we cannot tell; perhaps he himself could not: however, all bodily actions and sensations were for a time suspended, and his spirit was possessed with a spirit of prophecy, and wholly under a Divine influence. The more we abstract ourselves from all corporeal things the more fit we are for communion with God; the body is a veil, a cloud, and a clog to the mind in its transactions with God. We should, as it were, forget it when we go in before the Lord in duty, and be willing to drop it, that we may go up to Him in heaven.Matthew Henry.
Eastern Abstraction.It is well to remember that Easterns have a power of mental abstractionof separating themselves for a time from their bodieswhich is quite inconceivable to Westerns. Illustrate by the experiences of Yogis, Brahmans, Buddhists, and even Dervishes.
Rev. 4:6. The Throne and the Living Creatures.The whole imagery is to be conceived of thus: The throne on which the Divine Majesty is seated rests upon four living creatures, who form its animated and moving basis. Instead of being like the throne of earthly kings, i.e., resting upon inanimate and lifeless substances, its support is constituted of living, moving, rational creatures, ever watchful, and ever ready to move, as Ezekiel says, like a flash of lightning (Eze. 1:14). These living creatures are represented as endowed with forms which are symbolical and highly significant. They are full of eyes; i.e., they are ever wakeful and watchful, looking every way, seeing everything, and ready to move in any direction. They are, taken as a whole in respect to their ultimate design, symbolic of the all-pervading power, providence, and government, of God, who uses them as His instruments. The first has the appearance of a lion; and the lion is the king of wild beasts, and an image borrowed from him is indicative of power, strength, sway. The second is like to an ox; and this is the most valuable of tame beasts, and the image of patient and useful labour. The third has the face of a man; and this is indicative of reason and intelligence. The fourth is like to an eagle; and this indicates velocity, and far-sighted and penetrating vision. The special meaning of these symbols is not to be applied immediately, or directly, to the attributes of God Himself, but to be regarded as primarily indicative of powers possessed by the . Yet the thus constituted, are themselves symbolic of the attributes of the Godhead. These living bearers of the Almightys throne, as the author represents the matter, serve Him with great power, with patient obedience, with quickness of intelligence and reason, and with a rapidity and perspicacity which may indeed be compared to that of the eagle, but of which this king of birds is, after all, only a faint image. The same may in truth be said of all the other symbols; but then, imperfect as they are, they are the best which the natural world could afford, and are therefore chosen by the author with good reason. The ultimate meaning is: God is everywhere present, and executes His purposes by an agency powerful, wise, unremitted, and speedy whenever speed is required.Moses Stuart.
Rev. 4:8. The Unity of God.God is one. The unity of any being contains two ideas.
1. Oneness in number, whereby it is parted from all other beings without itself.
2. Oneness within itself, as opposed to every other compound.Bishop S. Wilberforce.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Strauss Comments
SECTION 11
Text Rev. 4:1-8
After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter. 2 Straightway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne; 3 and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon. 4 And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold. 5 And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; 6 and before the throne, as it were a sea of glass like unto crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. 7 And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures, having each one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and within: and they have no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.
Initial Questions Rev. 4:1-8
1.
Has there been a transition from earth (considering the seven churches of Asia) to heaven Rev. 4:1?
2.
What does it mean to be in the Spirit Rev. 4:2?
3.
Do you know the Old Testament source of the imagery of Rev. 4:4 ff? (See Ezekiel, chp. 1)
4.
Wherein the Old Testament do we find the thrice holy praise of God Rev. 4:8? (See Isaiah chp. Rev. 6:3)
Second Vision: Process of World Judgment Rev. 4:1 to Rev. 16:21
The Vision of the Throne in Heaven
Chp. Rev. 4:1-11
(First Section Rev. 4:1-8)
Rev. 4:1
After these things (meta tauga K.J. falsely translates after this) I saw. What is Johns point of reference when he says after these things? The immediate context would point to the vision concerning the seven churches in chapters two and three. The act of seeing (prophetic vision) provided John with the context of his vision.
It is very important to note the transition from earth, in the preceding two chapters, to heaven H. E. Dana calls this the beginning of the Drama of Redemption. (See his The Epistles and Apocalypse of John: Baptist Book Store, 1937, p. 112.) Chapter four sets the stage for the remainder of the book. Though we will not here enter into a technical discussion concerning the literary structure of the remaining sections of The Revelation, it is highly probable that the various scenes repeat the same things (i.e., from the general situation in Johns Day to the second coming of Christ) from differing perspectives. Chapter five strengthens the foundation of Chapter 4 by revealing the sovereignty of God through the ultimate victory of Christ.
Note: There is nothing in the literary structure of The Revelation which implies that it is a Drama re: Dana, op. cit., Ray Summers, Worthy is the Lamb, Broadman, Nashville, 1951; and Edward A. McDowell, The Meaning and Message of the Book of Revelation, Broad-man, 1951; but it might make the preaching and teaching of the book simpler, and therefore more accessible to the general Bible Student.
John saw a door having been opened (negmen per. pass. part) in heaven. (See Mat. 3:16, Acts 7 : where heaven is open A.V.) The 1901 translation implies that John witnessed the opening of the door, but he saw a door having been opened already before his vision.
Sermon Note: There are three important opened doors mentioned in The Revelation: (1) The door of opportunity Rev. 3:8; (2) Door of the heart Rev. 3:20; (3) the Door of Revelation Rev. 4:1. For good teaching see W. Barclay, The Revelation of John volume I St. Andrews Press, Edinburgh, 1962 pp. 189. This two volume set is a very inexpensive set of paper backs.
Note the transition in imagery from seeing to hearing. John declares that the first voice which I heard as of a trumpet speaking with me (this verb of speaking breaks the silence), saying (legn the second verb is the act of addressing John) come up (anaba- sing. 2 aor. imperative John was commanded to come up immediately) here, and I will show you things which must (dei necessary, must) occur after these things. Immediately I became (egenomn sing. 2 aor. middle voice John was in the Spirit in one immediate act) in (the not in text) spirit. (The King James and 1901 version place this clause with Rev. 4:2. It is concerned with the problem of verse divisions, and we need not discuss it further for our purposes here.)
Rev. 4:2
Johns vision placed him in the very Throne Room of the Universe. From here we are to have vouched safe to us the will and purpose of the Lord of history. We are here privileged to see the providential hand of the Living God in the things which pertain to earth until the coming again of Jesus Christ.
Before we begin our journey through these challenging pages of the Word of God, we must call attention to the many possible pitfalls and dangers. We must pay close attention to the specific words of the scriptures. We must avoid attempting to interpret the following material from some anti-biblical system of interpretation, such as Dispensationalism, Premillennialism, Post millennialism, etc.
Note: We shall speak critically of these systems of interpretation in a Special Study of this textbook. We would like to call your attention to one specific source of scandalous distortion, i.e., The Scofield Reference Bible, the new edition. This is the source of much very erroneous help in interpreting the Word of God. Another, more general source of error can be found in the legion of popular works on The Book of Revelation. There are so many of these that a list here would be very impractical. One must wisely queryif that is so, why another popular work such as the present volume? This present, popular work differs from the hundreds of other popular study aid commentaries in that the author strives to stick to an analysis of the specific declarations of the Postman of Patmos by striving to throw light on the text through a word and phrase study. There are two very good but by no means complete studies of the vital vocabulary and fearful phrases of The Revelation in A. T. Robertson, New Testament Word Studies, Broadman, Press, and Marvin Vincent, Word Studies in The New Testament, Eerdmans, 1946. These two older works, by two of the most competent Greek scholars of a past generation, can be used to great advantage, but there are so many words and phrases which they do not see fit to analyze, that further work along this line is called for. The present author believes this approach to be the safest way to begin studying this majestic work of divine symbolism, so as not to be led astray by the clear and distinct systems of interpretation mentioned above. The author is providing some additional bibliographical help so that the concerned student who so choses, can go on to another stage of analyzing this revealed word.
John said Look here (or behold) a throne was set (ekeito imperfect tense means that John did not witness the placing of the throne. It was already there when he saw a throne) in heaven, and one sitting on (epi) the throne (kathmenos present part., continuously setting).
Rev. 4:3
John begins to describe the one sitting on the throne of the universe. This description is, of course, in human language. And the one sitting was like an appearance to a jasper (iaspidi) stone. . . . It is most important that John sees no form for God in this vision (Exo. 24:10). This valuable stone was the first of the twelve stones placed in the foundation of the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:19). It was also used in the wall of the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev. 21:18). The stone was also used on the breastplate of the High priest (Exo. 28:20; Exo. 29:13). The imagery of this stone would therefore have been common knowledge in Johns age. And a sardius was the sixth stone in the foundation of the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:20) Its name is derived from its place of discovery Sardis. And there was a rainbow round the throne. . . . The rainbow imagery is used here and in chapter Rev. 10:1. (See Eze. 1:26; Eze. 1:28 for the phrase round the throne.) Like in appearance to an emerald. The beautiful imagery of this verse strove with the finest building blocks available in the human tongue to describe the throne room of the Lord of the heaven and earth. The materials which form the backbone of Johns description have been taken primarily from Isa. 6:1 f, Eze. 1:1 f, and Dan. 7:1 f. Though the imagery is Old Testament, we must never forget that Johns is a Christian and not a Jewish vision. John reaches into the past for his masterful imagery, in order that he might project far beyond the time of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, yea, even his own time, until the Messiah of the prophets and the saviour of John comes again.
Rev. 4:4
And round the throne were (verb added not in text) twenty-four thrones: and on the thrones I saw (added to translation not in the text) twenty-four Elders sitting (katkmenous present part., continuously sitting). Who were these twenty-four Elders? The number 24 occurs only in The Revelation and with respect to these Elders (see Rev. 4:4; Rev. 4:10; Rev. 5:8; Rev. 11:16; Rev. 19:4). The twenty-four Elders have no Old Testament counter part. Though there are many identifications suggested the present writer thinks that they are angelic beings who constantly worship God.
Note: See the brilliant discussion by the late Ned. B. Stonehouse in Paul Before the Areopagus, The Tyndale Press, 1957, chp. 4. The Elders and the Living-Beings in the Apocalypse, pp. 88108. Dr. Stonehouses (of the Westminster Theological Seminary) unexpected death robbed us what would have been the greatest conservative commentary on The Revelation.
The twenty-four Elders sitting having been clothed (peribeblemenous, perfect passive part. which means that act of clothing is complete and that the act of clothing was performed by someone else (passive voice)). (The prefix peri means that their garment was wrapped around them (see Rev. 3:5) in white garments and on their heads golden crowns (stephanous crowns of lesser persons than kings). The ordinary word for the crown of a king is diadema. The distinction between these two words lost some significance in later Greek, but in The Revelation the distinction seems to hold.
See Arndt and Gingrich, A Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, University of Chicago Press, 1952. Stephanos pp. 774; Diadema, p. 181.
Rev. 4:5
And out of the throne come forth (ekporeuoutai) present ind. the tense graphically changes to the present keeps on proceeding) lightenings and voices (sounds) and thunders (Exo. 19:16). This imagery can mean Gods judgment, strength, etc. And the seven lamps of fire are burning (kaiomenai present, passive, participle) before (in front of) the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Here the seven burning lamps are identified as (ha eisin which are) the seven spirits and these have already been discussed in chapter Rev. 1:4.
Rev. 4:6
The imagery of this verse plainly comes from Eze. 1:5-10; Eze. 10:5-20; and Isa. 6:2-3. We must not permit ourselves to become lost in the details of the imagery. John is describing The Throne room of the universe and chooses that great imagery of the prophets.
Rev. 4:7
John now identifies the four living creatures of Rev. 4:6. The first is like a lion, and the second living creature is like a calf, and the third living creature having the face like a man and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. Though the imagery cannot be identified with absolute certainty by anyone, I believe Swete provides the sanest statement The four forms suggest whatever is noblest, strongest, wisest, and swiftest in animate nature. Nature, including man, is represented before the Throne, taking its part in the fulfillment of the Divine will, and the worship of the Divine Majesty. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, op cit., p. 71, 72.
Rev. 4:8
This imagery comes from Isa. 6:1 ff. The four living creatures they have no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was; who is and the coming one. Isaiahs great vision in the Temple provided John with these powerful words.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Tomlinsons Comments
PART II
CHAPTER IV
THE VISION OF THE THRONE
Text (Rev. 4:1-11)
1 After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter. 2 Straightaway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne; 3 and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon. 4 And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold. 5 And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; 6 and before the throne, as it were a sea of glass like unto crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. 7 And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures, having each one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and within: and they have no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. 9 And when the living creatures shall give glory and honor and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne, to him that Iiveth for ever and ever, 10 the four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that Iiveth for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created.
INTRODUCTION
Beginning with this chapter we meet a tremendous change in the nature of the unfolding of the apocalypse. The chapter is filled with imagery of the most striking nature. The scene has changed entirely.
No longer does John see the Christ walking among the candlesticks, but in spirit he is permitted to look through a door opened in heaven and behold a throne! The throne is the central object of this scene, with all symbolism taking its place and significance with reference to that throne.
The entire symbolism here makes it very evident that the main purpose of this vision given John was to reveal the ascended and glorified Christ in the act of occupying His throne, at His Fathers right hand.
It was of this enthronement which Peter spoke on the day of Pentecost: This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Act. 2:32-36)
Beyond the shadow of a doubt, then, we have the uncovering of the transcendently glorious event fulfilling the prophecy, The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies Thy footstool, (Psa. 110:1),the event which the Spirit-endowed Peter proclaimed in his first sermon on the birthday of the church and later declared in his epistle, Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him. (1Pe. 3:22)
To this Paul adds his Spirit-filled testimony, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. (Eph. 1:19-21)
In the light of these scriptures it is crystal clear that the group of visions beginning here in the fourth chapter, and embracing the entire program of the seals and trumpets, has for its starting point the ascension of the risen Christ into heaven and His occupation of the throne, of which He only could be worthy, at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens.
This group of visions has then, to do with those events which began to occur from his coronation at Pentecost.
In the interpretation of the Book of Revelation, very much depends upon where we locate this vision of the throne and the book.
By the references we have mentioned, it is impossible therefore, without setting aside the plainest declarations of the scripture, to place the occupying by Christ of His throne on Gods right hand at any other time than upon His ascension into heaven.
Christ, himself connects this vision with the one preceding. In His letter to the church of the Laodicean period He said, Even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in His throne. (Rev. 3:21) The past tenses of the verbs used in this verse declare plainly that His occupation of His Fathers throne had already taken place when He appeared unto John in the vision on the isle of Patmos.
Rev. 4:1 After this, or these things, as in the Revised version, means, after the letters addressed to the seven churches, this new and startlingly different vision was given to John. While the fourth chapter begins a second prophetic portion, it is not itself prophetic, but introductory.
The first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking to me, seems to be the same voice of which we read in (Rev. 1:10) I was in the Spirit on the Lords Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.
That voice now summons John, evidently to pass through the open door, by saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.
But John, in the flesh, could not obey such a summons, so we read:
Rev. 4:2 And immediately, I was in the Spirit. Since the first vision of the seven-fold portrait of Christ came to John in the Spirit (Rev. 1:10-18) so this second vision of Christ, portrayed as now sitting on the throne, could only come to John in the Spirit.
The voice called to John to leave the realm of the natural man and enter the region of the supernatural. These words indicate that, between the first vision and the present series of visions, there was an interval in the which John was in his natural state.
This experience of John recalls such an experience by the apostle Paul. (In 2Co. 12:1-5) 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. Of such an one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
We must note this fact very carefully, that John, after his first vision left the spirit and reverted to his natural state and the second series of visions could not be given until he was caught up, as it were in the Spirit a second time.
We can never arrive at a true understanding of Revelation until we realize that the book does not give a regularly progressive unfolding of the future, but is divided into a number of visions, each complete in itself, and each beginning, not where the last one left off, but at some starting point, best suited to the series of events uncovered in that particular vision.
Behold a throne! introduces the special object of attention in this vision of the door opened in heaven. Truly, the throne is the central object of this scene. This becomes all the more evident when we note that in chapters four and five, the word throne occurs no less than seventeen times!
Thus, this rebellious earth has revealed to it, through the apocalypse, that there is a throne in heaven and that all things, both in heaven and on the earth are under Christs authority. Did not Christ declare upon His departure to occupy this throne, All power hath been given unto me in heaven and in earth? (Mat. 28:18)
Truly we must ever remind ourselves that this book is a revelation, or uncovering of Jesus Christ. His participation in the government of the universe is but dimly seen by the eyes of men. This fact is known, and can only be known by the medium of revelation.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the Christ. Christ, in the days of His flesh said, Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. (Joh. 16:13-14)
So John had to be caught up in the Spirit to have this revealing, by the Spirit, of the coroneted Christ.
Christ has given us here a symbolic presentation of his twofold work of creation and recreation or redemption. The symbolism of this vision reveals that redemption has been provided by the payment of the ransom pricethe blood of Christ hence He is presented as the Lamb that was slain in the fifth chapter, and by His own blood, He entered in once into the Holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb. 9:12)
But there still remained many things to be accomplished before the redemption of the purchased possession. (Eph. 1:14) Unto this day of redemption we have been sealed, said Paul, by the Holy Spirit of God. (Eph. 4:30)
Between those two phases of His work of redemptionthe payment of the purchase price by the Lamb of God who has shed His blood, and the taking of possession of the whole redeemed creation, is to be found the entire history of the dispensation of the Holy Spirit.
Revelation is the uncovering of the events between these two phases.
Rev. 4:3 Just as John had given us a seven-fold description of Christ walking among the candlesticks, before he uncovered the history of the seven church periods, so here he describes the Christ sitting upon the right hand of God, before he proceeds to uncover the events contained in the seven seals, and the seven trumpets.
He said, 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.
The three stones mentioned here are, of course symbols. Doubtless their meaning is found in their colors.
The jasper stone is mentioned again in Rev. 21:11 where it is described as a stone most precious and of dazzling brightness, clear as crystal. It portrayed the wondrous light of the Holy Jerusalem, and that light it declares is the glory of God. Evidently that is its meaning here. The jasper represented the glory of God.
The sardius is a dark red stone. Orpheus speaks of the blood colored sardius. How appropriate, since Christ is presented in the fifth chapter as the Lamb as it had been slain, that the blood-red sardius should appear in relation to the throne.
Since the rainbow is green in color like unto an emerald, it may indicate that the events that are about to be uncovered have to do with the earth, since green is the color of earth, as blue is the color heaven.
There was a rainbow round about the throne.
Much prominence is given to the rainbow by John. He was impressed by the fact that it was a complete circle. The rainbow we see on the storm cloud is incompletea half circle. This half rainbow is a token of the covenant God made with Noah and his sons, as well as with every living creature. (Gen. 9:8-17) This lengthy description in a book like Genesis noted for its brevity, testifies to its importance as a symbol.
The half circle rainbow was a token that the storm had already passed over the place where the beholders stand.
The complete, full-circle rainbow which encircles the throne of God is visible to those over whom the spiritual storms have passed, because the onlookers had the blood of their passover Lamb upon them. The storm of Gods judgment had already passed over the place where the redeemed stand and can never come again.
This complete rainbow is a token of Christs covenant made with every redeemed Christian.
Rev. 4:4-5 John saw twenty-four seats, or literally thrones. The central throne was encompassed by twenty-four lesser thrones. And upon these thrones he saw twenty-four elders sitting. Since these are so closely associated with the four living creatures, their identity will be better considered after an explanation of these four living creatures is given in verse six.
That they were clothed with white raiment speaks of their ineffable purity. In the fact that they were seated upon thrones and had on their heads crowns of gold, indicate they share the reign of Him whose throne they encircle. Since incense is a type of the prayers of saints (Rev. 5:8), it would seem that they are divine agents through whom the prayers of the saints reach God.
Such a function of divine being can be better understood when we recall that Daniel had his prayer delayed twenty-one days by the prince of the Kingdom of Persia. We read in (Dan. 10:12-13) Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
But the prince of the Kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days, but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me.
This brings to our minds Pauls declaration, For we wrestle not against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Eph. 6:12)
Evidently these are heavenly princes who have power with God in respect to our prayers. When Jacob wrestled successfully with the heavenly visitor until the breaking of day, the latter said unto Jacob, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and hath prevailed. (Gen. 32:28)
So these princes in Johns vision had power with God.
They undoubtedly belonged to the same class of heavenly intelligence as the four living creatures for the following reasons:
First, when the four living creatures gave glory to Him that sat on the throne, the twenty-four elders also worship Him. (Rev. 4:9-10)
Second, They have harps and vials full of odors the same as the four living creatures.
Third, When the four living creatures say, Amen, the twenty-four elders worship Him who is on the throne.
Fourth, When an innumerable company of the redeemed, praise God for salvation, the angels, elders and four living creatures are above the throne and not counted among the redeemed. (Rev. 7:9-12)
Fifth, They do not praise God for their own redemption. Lange on Revelation, Page 152, says the us of Rev. 5:9 is an interpolation. It has been found that the oldest Greek manuscripts give an entirely different meaning than the authorized version.
Tischendorf, Alford and Lange translate as follows:
Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made them unto our God kings and priests, and they shall reign on the earth.
They do not praise the Lamb for their own redemption, but for the redemption of the world.
Sixth, In Rev. 14:1-20 th Chapter, the Lamb has one hundred and forty and four thousand saints about Him, who sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the elders. (Rev. 14:1-3) Only the redeemed could sing that new song; the elders did not join in the singing.
So we see they are about the throne, associated with the angels, but not with the martyrs. They are always separated from those who praise God for redemption.
This distinction reveals their character. They belong to the heavenly intelligences, to the same class as the cherubim. They are princes of heaven, and not of men.
The number twenty-four is probably associated with the twenty-four courses of the priests of the temple, which was a pattern of things in the heavens. Here in this vision we are looking at the heavenly things themselves (Heb. 9:23) which no natural eye could behold.
The number twenty-four is the result of multiplying the factors of twelve and two. The spiritual theocracy of God is represented in the Old Testament by the heads or elders of the twelve tribes of Israel, and in the New Testament the Christocracy of the Kingdom is headed by the twelve apostles.
We are not looking at objects that bear any physical resemblance whatsoever to the heavenly things. For instance, there could be no physical likeness between the glorified Christ and A Lamb having seven horns and seven eyes.
What we are trying to do is to decipher a description written in hieroglyphics.
The seven lamps of fire are said to be the seven Spirits of God, which we found in the study of this symbol in the first chapter, represents the fullness of the Spirit as manifested in Christ.
Rev. 4:6-7 John saw four beasts, or to be exact, four living creatures. The term beasts applied to these beings is incorrect, particularly in view of the fact that the same term is used to portray the monsters of iniquity as seen in chapters thirteen, seventeen and nineteen. The Greek word in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation is a different term. The Greek word for beasts is entirely different.
The word used for the four creatures is Zoa, meaning living forms, or living ones.
We are now ready to decipher the hieroglyphic of Living Creatures. Shall we let the Bible be its own interpreter.
In the first chapter of Ezekiel, we find that the exiled prophet of the Old Testament dispensation saw, by the river Chebar of Babylon, the same beings that John portrayed in Revelation. While there were minor differences, the general features are identical. Both prophets, Ezekiel and John saw (1) four living creatures; both saw (2) four faces, like those of a man, a lion, an ox or calf, and a flying eagle. The living creatures, described by each prophet, are full of eyes, (3) each are winged. There are minor differences in the wings: John saw six wings, Ezekiel saw four wings and a pair of hands under the wings, making six members. Also the Seraphim of Isaiah sixth chapter had six wings. Finally, the same Greek term is used to represent the four living creatures of both Ezekiel and John. It follows then that if we can ascertain the meaning of the symbols beheld by Ezekiel and Isaiah, we shall thereby uncover the meaning of the same symbol in Revelation.
In the tenth chapter of Ezekiel, the prophet speaking of the heavenly beings that he beheld the second time, says in Eze. 10:22, and the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves. In Eze. 10:15, he also says these are the living creatures I saw by the river Chebar. In verse twenty, he says, I knew they were Cherubim.
Isaiah says they were seraphim. It is also interesting to note that in Isaiahs description he also saw the throne in heaven and Him that sat thereon, and above the throne were the seraphim, and he also mentions the door. (Isa. 6:1-4)
Therefore, we know positively that these four living creatures are cherubim, or seraphim, the highest order of the angelic hosts. We know very little about them, but they are always near the throne of God.
The cherubim were first seen at the gate of the garden of Eden (Gen. 3:24), guarding the way to the tree of life with a flaming sword.
In the tabernacle cherubim hovered over the mercy seat and were embroidered on the curtains. God is addressed in (1Sa. 4:4) as the one who dwells between the cherubim. His Shekinah glory, in the Holy of Holies, was manifested from between the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant, In Ezekiel the brightness of the Lord is represented as attending the cherubim. In Rev. 5:6, the Lamb stands in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures.
The forms seen by Ezekiel and John have a symbolic significance. It may be they have to do with both the material creation and the final redemption. (Rev. 4:7) Their combined make up embraces the resemblance of the man, the lion (chief of wild beasts), the ox (chief of tame beasts) and the eagle (chief of the air).
They indicate possibly, that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now . . . waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. (Rom. 8:22-23)
Rev. 4:8-10 They were full of eyes before and behind in order to be able to see all things, their wings were always in motion, indicating tireless activity and like Isaiahs four living creatures, so Johns four creatures utter the same Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.
They praise Him as the one which was, and is, and is to come, They proclaim Him as the self existent onethe I AM, and Rev. 4:9. They praise him as the eternal One.
Rev. 4:11 They ascribe all glory to Him as the Creator.
While the authorized version reads: And for thy pleasure they are and were created, the Revised Version says, Because of thy will they are, and were created. His will was the creative cause.
This well may be called the Oratorio of Creation.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) After this (better, these things) I looked (literally, I saw; not I looked, as though the prophet turned his gaze then towards it), and, behold a door was opened (or, set open) in heaven.He did not look and see a door opening; he saw, and lo! the door stood open. There are differences as well as similarities between this vision and others where glimpses into heaven were given to prophets and saints. In Ezekiels vision, and in the scene of Mat. 3:16 (comp, also Act. 7:56; Act. 10:11) the heavens divide; in this a door stands open. The way into the presence of God lies open (Heb. 10:19-20); all who have faith may enter; in the minds of such the thoughts of the heavenly will mingle with the sorrows of the earthly, and the calm of security will be theirs (Psa. 46:5). But the scenes of earths troubles will always be dispiriting to those who cannot reach the heavenly view-point.
And the first voice (or, behold, the first voice) which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; (even one) which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee (the) things which must be hereafter.The first voice here spoken of is the voice which the Apostle had heard in the opening vision (Rev. 1:10); he heard, and recognised that trumpet-like voice again. It is strange that any should have maintained that this is not the voice of Christ. It is admitted that it must be the same as the voice of Rev. 1:10; but it is said that the voice of Christ is heard afterwards (Rev. 1:15), not as a trumpet, but as the voice of many waters. The answer is simple; the voice of Christ has many tones; and the voice like a trumpet said, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. (See Rev. 1:10-13.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 4
THE OPENING HEAVENS AND THE OPENING DOOR ( Rev 4:1 ) 4:1 After this I saw, and, behold, a door in heaven was standing open, and there came to me the voice that I had heard before, speaking to me like the sound of a trumpet, and the speaker said: “Come up here, and I will show you the events which must follow these things.”
In Rev 2:1-29; Rev 3:1-22 we saw the Risen Christ walking amidst his churches upon earth. Now the scene changes to the court of heaven.
A door was opened in heaven for the seer. There are two possibilities here: (a) It may be that he is thought of as already being in heaven, and the door is opening into still more holy parts of heaven. (b) It is much more likely that the door is from earth to heaven. Primitive Jewish thought conceived of the sky as a vast solid dome, set like a roof upon a square flat earth; and the idea here is that beyond the dome of the sky there is heaven, and a door is opened in that dome to give the seer entry into heaven.
In the early chapters of the Revelation there are three of the most important doors in life.
(i) There is the door of opportunity. “Behold,” said the Risen Christ to the Church at Philadelphia, “I have set before you an open door” ( Rev 3:8). That was the door of the glorious opportunity by which the message of the gospel could be taken to the regions beyond. God sets before every man his own door of opportunity.
(ii) There is the door of the human heart. “Behold,” says the Risen Christ, “I stand at the door and knock ( Rev 3:20). At the door of every heart there comes the knock of the nail-pierced hand, and a man may open or refuse to open.
(iii) There is the door of revelation. “I saw a door in heaven standing open,” says the seer. God offers to every man the door which leads to the knowledge of God and of life eternal.
More than once the New Testament speaks of the heavens being opened; and it is of the greatest significance to see the object of that opening.
(i) There is the opening of the heavens for vision. “The heavens were opened and I saw visions of God” ( Eze 1:1). God sends to those who seek him the vision of himself and of his truth.
(ii) There is the opening for the descent of the Spirit. When Jesus was baptized by John, he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon himself ( Mar 1:10). When a man’s mind and soul seek upwards, the Spirit of God descends to meet them.
(iii) There is the opening for the revelation of the glory of Christ. It was the promise of Jesus to Nathanael that he would see the heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man ( Joh 1:51). Some day the heavens will open to disclose the glory of Christ; and inevitably that day will bring joy to those who have loved him and amazement and fear to those who have despised him.
THE THRONE OF GOD ( Rev 4:2-3 ) 4:2-3 Immediately, I fell under the influence of the Spirit; and, behold, a throne stood in heaven, and there was One seated on it. And he who was seated on the throne was like a jasper stone and a sardian to look at; and there was a rainbow circling round the throne, like an emerald to look at.
When the seer entered the door into heaven, he fell into an ecstasy.
In heaven he saw a throne and God on the throne. The throne of God is a common Old Testament picture. The prophet said: “I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him” ( 1Ki 22:19). The Psalmist has it: “God sits on his holy throne” ( Psa 47:8). Isaiah saw the Lord “sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” ( Isa 6:1). In the Revelation the throne of God is mentioned in every chapter except Rev 2:1-29, Rev 8:1-13 and Rev 9:1-21. The throne of God stands for the majesty of God. When Handel was asked how he had come to write the Messiah, his answer was: “I saw the heavens opened and God upon his great white throne.”
John saw One seated upon the throne. There is something very interesting here. John makes no attempt to describe God in any human shape. As Swete says, “He rigorously shuns anthropomorphic details.” He describes God in “the flashing of gem-like colours,” but he never mentions any kind of form. It is the Bible’s way to see God in terms of light. The Pastorals describe God as “dwelling in the light that no man can approach unto” ( 1Ti 6:16). And long before that the Psalmist had spoken of God who covers himself with light as a garment ( Psa 104:2).
John sees his vision in terms of the lights which flash from precious stones. We do not know what exactly these stones were. The three names here are the jasper, the sardian and the emerald. One thing is certain; these were typical of the most precious stones. Plato mentions the three of them together as representative of precious stones (Plato, Phaedo 111 E). They were part of the rich array of the King of Tyre ( Eze 28:13); they were among the precious stones on the breast-plate of the High Priest ( Exo 28:17); and they were among the stones which were the foundation of the Holy City ( Rev 21:19).
The jasper is nowadays a dull opaque stone, but in the ancient world it seems to have been a translucent rock crystal, through which the light would come with an almost unbearable scintillation. Some think that here it means a diamond, and this is not impossible. The sardian, so called because it was said to be found mainly near Sardis, was blood-red; it was a gem which was frequently used to have engravings incised on it and may correspond to the modern carnelian. The emerald is most likely the green emerald which we know.
The picture of the presence of God which John saw was like the blinding flash of a diamond in the sun, with the dazzling blood-red of the sardian; and there flashed through both the more restful green of the emerald, for in that way alone could the eye bear to look upon the sight.
It may well be that the jasper stands for the unbearable brightness of the purity of God; that the blood-red sardian stands for his avenging wrath; and that the gentle green of the emerald stands for his mercy by which alone we can meet his purity and his justice.
THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS ( Rev 4:4 ) 4:4 And in a circle round the throne I saw twenty-four thrones, and seated upon the thrones twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns upon their heads.
We now approach one of the difficult passages for which the Revelation is notorious. In it we meet twenty-four elders and then four living creatures; and we have to try to identify them.
We find the twenty-four elders frequently appearing in the Revelation. Let us set down the facts about them. They sit around the throne, clothed in white robes and wearing crowns ( Rev 4:4; Rev 14:3); they cast their crowns before the throne ( Rev 4:10); they continually worship and praise ( Rev 5:11; Rev 5:14; Rev 7:11; Rev 11:16; Rev 14:3; Rev 19:4); they bring to God the prayers of the saints ( Rev 5:8); one of them encourages the seer, when he is sad ( Rev 5:5); and one of them acts as interpreter of one of the visions ( Rev 7:13). We may note five lines of explanation.
(i) In the Old Testament there are indications of a kind of council surrounding God. The prophet sees God sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left ( 1Ki 22:19). In Job the sons of God come to meet with him ( Job 1:6; Job 2:1). Isaiah speaks of God reigning in glory–among his elders ( Isa 24:23). In the Genesis story of the garden, the accusation against Adam is that he has eaten of the fruit of the forbidden tree and become like one of us ( Gen 3:22). It may be that the idea of the elders has something to do with the idea of God’s council surrounding him.
(ii) When the Jews were in Babylon, they could not avoid coming into contact with Babylonian ideas. And it might well be that sometimes they incorporated Babylonian ideas into their own thinking, especially if there was some initial resemblance. The Babylonians had twenty-four star gods, for the worship of the stars was a part of Babylonian religion; and it has been suggested that these became in Jewish thought twenty-four angels who surrounded the throne of God, and that the elders stand for these.
(iii) We move on to explanations which we think are much more likely. There were so many priests in Israel that they could not possibly serve in the Temple at the one time and so they were divided into twenty-four different courses ( 1Ch 24:7-18). Each of these courses had its president, known as an elder of the priests. Sometimes these elders were called princes, or governors, of the house of God ( 1Ch 24:5). It is suggested that the twenty-four elders stand symbolically for the twenty-four courses of the priests. They present the prayers of the faithful to God ( Rev 5:8), and that is priestly work. The Levites were similarly divided into twenty-four courses for the work of the Temple and they praised God with harps and psalteries and cymbals ( 1Ch 25:6-31), and the elders also have their harps ( Rev 5:8). So the twenty-four elders may stand for the heavenly ideal of the earthly worship of the priests and Levites in the Temple.
(iv) It has been suggested that the twenty-four elders stand for the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles combined. In the new Jerusalem the names of the twelve patriarchs are on the twelve gates and the names of the twelve apostles are on the foundation stones of the wall.
(v) We think that the likeliest explanation is that the twenty-four elders are the symbolic representatives of the faithful people of God. Their white robes are the robes promised to the faithful ( Rev 3:4), and their crowns (stephanoi, G4735) are those promised to those who are faithful unto death ( Rev 2:10). The thrones are those which Jesus promised to those who forsook all and followed him ( Mat 19:27-29). The description of the twenty-four elders fits well with the promises made to the faithful.
The question will then be, “Why twenty-four?” The answer is because the Church is composed of Jews and Gentiles. There were originally twelve tribes, but now it is as if the tribes were doubled. Swete says that the twenty-four elders stand for the Church in its totality. We remember that this is a vision, not of what yet is, but of what shall be; and the twenty-four elders stand as representatives of the whole Church which one day in glory will worship in the presence of God himself.
AROUND THE THRONE ( Rev 4:5-6 a) 4:5-6a And flashes of lightning and voices and peals of thunder were coming forth from the throne. There were seven torches of fire burning before the throne, and these are the seven Spirits of God. And in front of the throne there was what I can only call a sea of glass like crystal.
John adds more details to his mysterious and awe-inspiring picture of heaven. The voices are the voices of the thunder; and thunder and lightning are often connected with the manifestation of God. In the vision of Ezekiel lightning comes out of the fiery haze around the throne ( Eze 1:13). The Psalmist tells how the voice of the thunder of God was heard in the heavens, and the lightnings lightened the world ( Psa 77:18). God sends his lightning to the ends of the earth ( Job 37:4). But what is primarily in the mind of John is the description of Mount Sinai as the people waited for the giving of the Law: “There were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast” ( Exo 19:16). John is using imagery which is regularly connected with the presence of God.
The seven torches are the seven Spirits of God. We have already met the seven Spirits before the throne ( Rev 1:4; Rev 3:1). There are scholars who see Babylonian influence here also. For the Babylonians the seven planets were also divine and within the presence of God; it would be natural to liken the planets to torches and it has been suggested that this imagery is Babylonian in origin.
The “glassy sea” has exercised a strange fascination over the minds of many people, including hymn-writers. The Greek does not say that there was a sea of glass but “as it were a sea of glass.” There was something which was beyond all description, but which could be likened only to a great sea of glass. Where did the seer get this picture?
(i) He may have got it from a conception in the most primitive thought of the Old Testament. We have already seen that the firmament is conceived of as a great solid dome arching over the earth. Beneath it is the earth, and above it the heaven. The creation story speaks of the waters under the firmament and the waters above the firmament ( Gen 1:7). The Psalmist calls upon the waters that are above the heavens to praise the Lord ( Psa 148:4). The belief was that above the firmament, perhaps as the kind of floor of heaven, there was a great sea. Further, it was on that sea that God had set his throne. The Psalmist says of God that he set the beams of his chambers upon the waters ( Psa 104:3).
(ii) It may be that John’s time in Patmos gave him the idea of this picture. Swete suggests that he saw a vast surface which flashed back the light, “like the Aegan Sea, when on summer days John looked upon it from the heights of Patmos.” John had often seen the sea like a sea of molten glass and maybe his picture was born from that.
(iii) There is a further possibility. According to the Koran (Sura 27) Solomon had in his palace a floor of glass so like a sea that, when the Queen of Sheba came to visit him, she picked up her skirts thinking she had to wade through water. It may be that John is thinking of the throne of God set in a glass-floored palace.
(iv) There is one other remote possibility. John says that the glassy sea was like crystal (krustallon, G2930) ; but krustallon could mean ice; and then the idea would be an expanse which shimmered like an ice-field. It is a magnificent picture, but it can hardly be the real picture because neither John nor his people would ever have seen such a scene, and it would have meant nothing to them.
There are three things that this sea like shining glass does symbolize.
(i) It symbolizes preciousness. In the ancient world glass was usually dull and semi-opaque, and glass as clear as crystal was as precious as gold. In Job 28:17 gold and glass are mentioned together as examples of precious things.
(ii) It symbolizes dazzling purity. The blinding light reflected from the glassy sea would be too much for the eyes to look upon, like the purity of God.
(iii) It symbolizes immense distance. The throne of God was in the immense distance, as if at the other side of a great sea. Swete writes of “the vast distance which, even in the case of one who stood in the door of heaven, intervened between himself and the throne of God.”
One of the greatest characteristics of the writing of the seer is the reverence which, even in the heavenly places, never dares to be familiar with God, but paints its picture in terms of light and distance.
THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES (1) ( Rev 4:6 b-8)
4:6b-8 And, between the throne and the elders, in a circle round the throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like an ox; the third living creature had what appeared to be a man’s face; the fourth living creature was like an eagle in flight. The four living creatures had each of them six wings; and around and within they were full of eyes. Night and day they never rested from saying:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.
Here we come to another of the symbolic problems of the Revelation. The four living creatures appear frequently in the heavenly scene: so let us begin by collecting what the Revelation itself says about them. They are always found near the throne and the Lamb ( Rev 4:6; Rev 5:6; Rev 14:4). They have six wings and they are full of eyes ( Rev 4:6; Rev 4:8). They are constantly engaged in praising and in worshipping God ( Rev 4:8; Rev 5:9; Rev 5:14; Rev 7:11; Rev 19:4). They have certain functions to perform. They invite the dreadful manifestations of the wrath of God to appear upon the scene ( Rev 6:1; Rev 6:7). One of them hands over the vials of the wrath of God ( Rev 15:7).
Although there are definite differences, there can be little doubt that we find the ancestors of these living creatures in the visions of Ezekiel. In Ezekiel’s vision the four living creatures each have four faces–the faces of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle; and they uphold the firmament ( Eze 1:6; Eze 1:10; Eze 1:22; Eze 1:26); the felloes of the wheels are full of eyes ( Eze 1:18). In Ezekiel we have all the details of the picture in the Revelation, although the details are differently allocated and arranged. In spite of the differences the family resemblance is clear.
In Ezekiel the four living creatures are definitely identified with the cherubim. (It is to be noted that -im is the Hebrew plural ending; cherubim is simply cherubs and seraphim is simply seraphs.) The identification is made in Eze 10:20; Eze 10:22. The cherubim were part of the decoration of Solomon’s Temple, in the place of prayer and on the walls ( 1Ki 6:23-30; 2Ch 3:7). They were represented on the hanging veil which shut off the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place ( Exo 26:31). There were two cherubim on the lid of the ark, called the mercy-seat; and they were so placed that they faced each other and their wings swept over to form a kind of canopy over the mercy-seat ( Exo 25:18-21). One of the commonest pictures of God is sitting between the cherubim, and it is thus that he is often addressed in prayer ( 2Ki 19:15; Psa 80:1; Psa 99:1; Isa 37:16). God is represented as flying on the cherubim and on the wings of the wind ( Psa 18:10). It is the cherubim who guard the way to the Garden when Adam and Eve have been banished from it ( Gen 3:24). In the later books written between the Testaments, such as Enoch, the cherubim are the guardians of the throne of God (Enoch 71:7).
From all this one thing emerges clearly–the cherubim are angelic beings who are close to God and the guardians of his throne.
(2) THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES ( Rev 4:6 b-8 continued) What do these four living creatures symbolize?
(i) They are clearly part of the imagery of heaven; and they are not figures whom the writer of the Revelation did not create, but whom he inherited from previous pictures. They may originally have come from Babylonian sources, and they may have stood for the four principal signs of the Zodiac and for the four winds coming from the four quarters of heaven. But the John who wrote the Revelation was not aware of that, and he used them simply as part of the imagery of heaven in which he had been brought up.
(ii) How did John himself think of the symbolism of these living creatures? We think that Swete offers the right explanation. The four living creatures stand for everything that is noblest, strongest, wisest and swiftest in nature. Each has the preeminence in his own particular sphere. The lion is supreme among beasts; the ox is supreme among cattle; the eagle is supreme among birds; and man is supreme among all creatures. The beasts represent all the greatness and the strength and the beauty of nature; here we see nature praising God. In the verses to follow we see the twenty-four elders praising God; and when we put the two pictures together we get the picture of both nature and man engaged in constant adoration of God. “The ceaseless activity of nature under the hand of God is a ceaseless tribute of praise.”
The idea of nature praising God is one which occurs in the Old Testament more than once. “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech and night to night declares knowledge” ( Psa 19:1-2). “Bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion” ( Psa 103:22). Psa 148:1-14 is a magnificent summons to the whole of nature to join in praising God.
There is a tremendous truth here. The basic idea behind this is that anything which is fulfilling the function for which it was created is praising God. One of the basic conceptions of Stoicism was that in everything there was a spark of God, scintilla. “God,” said Seneca, “is near you, with you, within you; a holy spirit sits within us.” As Gilbert Murray points out, the sceptics laughed at this and sought to make a fool of the whole idea. “What,” said the sceptic, “God in worms? God in dung beetles?” “Why not?” demanded the Stoic.
Cannot an earthworm serve God? Do you suppose that it is only a general who is a good soldier? Cannot the lowest private fight his best? Happy are you, if you are serving God and carrying out his purpose as faithfully as an earthworm. Whatever carries out the function for which it was created is thereby worshipping God.
This is a thought which opens out the most magnificent vistas. The humblest and the most unseen activity in the world can be the true worship of God. Work and worship literally become one. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever; and man carries out that function when he does what God sent him into the world to do. Work well done rises like a hymn of praise to God.
This means that the doctor on his rounds, the scientist in his laboratory, the teacher in his classroom, the musician at his music, the artist at his canvas, the shop assistant at his counter, the typist at her typewriter, the housewife in her kitchen–all who are doing the work of the world as it should be done are joining in a great act of worship.
THE SYMBOLISM OF THE LIVING CREATURES ( Rev 4:6 b-8 continued) It was not long before the early church found certain symbolisms in the living creatures, in particular of the four Gospels–a representation which is often to be found in stained-glass windows in churches.
The earliest and the fullest identification was made by Irenaeus about A.D. 170. He held that the four living creatures represented four aspects of the work of Jesus Christ, which in turn are represented in the four Gospels.
The lion symbolizes the powerful and effective working of the Son of God, his leadership and his royal power. The ox signifies the priestly side of his work, for it is the animal of sacrifice. The man symbolizes his incarnation. The eagle represents the gift of the Holy Spirit, hovering with his wings over the Church. John represents “the original, effective and glorious generation of the Son from the Father,” and tells how all things were made by him; and is, therefore, symbolized by the lion. Luke begins with the picture of Zacharias the priest, and tells the story of the fatted calf killed for the finding of the younger son; and is, therefore, symbolized by the ox. Matthew begins by giving us the human descent of Jesus and “The character of a humble and meek man is kept up throughout the whole gospel,” and is, therefore, symbolized by the man. Mark begins with a reference to the Spirit of prophecy coming down from on high upon men which “points to the winged aspect of the Gospel”; and, therefore, is symbolized by the eagle.
Irenaeus goes on to say that the fourfold form of the beasts represents the four principal covenants which God made with the human race. The first was made with Adam, prior to the flood. The second was made with Noah, after the flood. The third consisted of the giving of the Law to Moses. The fourth is that which renovates man in Christ, “raising and bearing men upon its wings into the heavenly kingdom.”
But, as we have said, there was a variety of different identifications.
The scheme of Athanasius was:
Matthew = the man Mark = the ox
Luke = the lion John = the eagle,
The scheme of Victorinus was:
Matthew = the man Mark = the lion
Luke = the ox John = the eagle
The scheme of Augustine was:
Matthew = the lion Mark = the man
Luke = the ox John = the eagle.
It may be said that on the whole Augustine’s identifications became the most commonly accepted, because they fit the facts. Matthew is best represented by the lion, because in it Jesus is depicted as the Lion of Judah, the One in whom all the expectations of the prophets came true. Mark. is best represented by the man, because it is the nearest approach to a factual report of the human life of Jesus. Luke is best represented by the ox, because it depicts Jesus as the sacrifice for all classes and conditions of men and women everywhere. John is best represented by the eagle, because of all birds it flies highest and is said to be the only living creature which can look straight into the sun; and John of all the gospels reaches the highest heights of thought.
THE SONG OF PRAISE ( Rev 4:6 b-8 continued)
4:6b-8 Night and day the living creatures never rested from their doxology of praise:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the Almighty, Who was, and Who is, and Who is to come.
Here is set out the sleepless praise of nature. “Man rests on the Sabbath, and in sleep, and in the end in death, but the course of nature is unbroken and unbroken in praise.” There is never any time when the world God made is not praising him.
As o’er each continent and island
The dawn leads on another day,
The voice of prayer is never silent,
Nor dies the strain of praise away.
The doxology seizes on three aspects of God.
(i) It praises him for his holiness (compare Isa 6:3). Again and again we have seen that the basic idea of holiness is difference. That is supremely true of God. He is different from men. Precisely there is the reason that we are moved to adoration of God. If he were simply a glorified human person, we could not praise. As the poet had it: “How could I praise, if such as I could understand” The very mystery of God moves us to awed admiration in his presence and to amazed love that that greatness should stoop so low for us men and for our salvation.
(ii) It praises his omnipotence. God is the Almighty. The people to whom the Revelation was written are under the threat of the Roman Empire, a power which no person or nation had ever successfully withstood. Think what it must have meant to be sure that behind them stood the Almighty. The very giving of that name to God affirms the certainty of the safety of the Christian; not a safety which meant release from trouble but which made a man secure in life and in death.
(iii) It praises his everlastingness. Empires might come and empires might go; God lasts for ever. Here is the triumphant affirmation that God endures unchanging amidst the enmity and the rebellion of men.
GOD, THE LORD AND CREATOR ( Rev 4:9-11 )
4:9-11 When the living creatures shall give glory and honour and thanksgiving to him who is seated on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders shall fall down before him who is seated on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, and say:
It is right, our Lord and God, that you should receive the glory and the honour and the power, for you have created all things, and through your will all things exist and have been created.
Here is the other section of the choir of thanksgiving. We have seen that the living creatures stand for nature in all its greatness and the twenty-four elders for the great united Church in Jesus Christ. So when the living creatures and the elders unite in praise, it symbolizes nature and the Church both praising God. There are commentators who have made difficulty here. In Rev 4:8 the praise of the living creatures is unceasing by day and night; in this passage the picture is of separate bursts of praise at each of which the elders fall down and worship. But surely to say that there is an inconsistency is unimaginative criticism; we do not look for a strict logic in the poetry of adoration.
John uses a picture which the ancient world would know well. The elders cast their crowns before the throne of God. In the ancient world that was the sign of complete submission. When one king surrendered to another, he cast his crown at the victor’s feet. Sometimes the Romans carried with them an image of their emperor and, when they had reduced a monarch to submission, there was a ceremony in which the vanquished one had to cast his crown before the emperor’s image. The picture looks on God as the conqueror of the souls of men; and on the Church as the body of people who have surrendered to him. There can be no Christianity without submission.
The doxology of the elders praises God on two counts.
(i) He is Lord and God. Here is something which would be even more meaningful to John’s people than it is to us. The phrase for Lord and God is: kurios ( G2962) kai (2532) theos ( G2316) ; and that was the official title of Domitian, the Roman Emperor. It was, indeed, because the Christians would not acknowledge that claim that they were persecuted and killed. Simply to call God Lord and God was a triumphant confession of faith, an assertion that he holds first place in all the universe.
(ii) God is Creator. It is through his will and purpose that all things existed even before creation and were in the end brought into actual being. Man has acquired many powers, but he does not possess the power to create. He can alter and rearrange; he can make things out of already existing materials; but only God can create something out of nothing. That great truth means that in the realest sense everything in the world belongs to God, and there is nothing a man can handle which God has not given to him.
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible
PART SECOND.
THE THEOPHANIC APOCALYPSE.
The Theophany in divine royal state, Rev 4:1-6.
The scene of the Apocalypse opens with a presentation of GOD enthroned, surrounded with his glorious Court of ministers, seated for the purpose of opening the predictive seals from which are presented the pictorial phases of the Messianic dispensation. He who as omnipresent fills all space, selects a point of manifestation, and puts on a semblance of finite personality in order to disclose a view of a special futurity. This is a throne, not of judgment but of REVELATION. Through the entire series of seals the dark side of future history is indeed symbolized; yet is this dark side gloriously contrasted with the bright side in chapter 7. So that the chapters of the seals and of the sealing namely, the sixth and seventh are to be read as one contrastive picture.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. After this Rather, after these things; that is, the revelations of the entire previous chapters. There has been a brief cessation of the state expressed by the phrase in the Spirit, Rev 1:10; which state is now resumed in Rev 4:2. In that interval the seer is merely susceptible to impressions from the spiritual world, but not receiving them until the door opened appears; the entering of which is becoming in the Spirit. This inspired visional state continues uninterrupted through Parts Second and Third.
Behold, a door was opened Rather, there was an opened door. The door was already open when the seer’s eye first rested upon it. It was the symbolic entrance into the heaven of symbolic exhibition. For the scope of that heaven see note to Rev 4:11. Dusterdieck denies that the door implies a temple, but rather God’s residential house. Our own view is, that the door implies that we in this physical world are outside, and that there is an inner, more real world, into which the spirit can be made to enter, where the limitations of sense and matter may be diminished and even fully removed, and the truths of eternity may be cognized. We attain this spiritual scene through the door of death: John entered it while in the body, yet being in the body he entered it only so far as to be capable of cognizance of truths through divinely-presented figures and sounds.
Dusterdieck thinks that there is a clear distinction made by St. John between the formula After these things I saw, and, And I saw; the former being the introduction of a new scene, the latter an additional phase or point of the same scene. The distinction, however, cannot be very broadly made. The former phrase is used in Rev 7:1; Rev 7:10, but at Rev 4:10 there is certainly a continuance of same scene. Same phrase at Rev 15:5; Rev 18:1. And I saw, is used Rev 5:1; Rev 5:6; Rev 5:11; Rev 6:1; Rev 6:5; Rev 6:8-9; Rev 6:12; Rev 8:2; Rev 8:13; Rev 9:1; Rev 10:1; Rev 13:11; Rev 14:6; Rev 14:14; Rev 15:1-2; Rev 17:6; Rev 19:11; Rev 19:17; Rev 19:19; Rev 20:1; Rev 20:4; Rev 20:11; Rev 21:1. Rev 13:1; Rev 17:3, introduce a new scene with, And I saw.
Behold the first voice which I heard Rather, Lo, the voice which I heard at first; namely, at Rev 1:10. The same unknown voice that introduced St. John to the Christophany, introduces him now to the Theophany.
Come up hither Ascend from the earth’s surface, at least in spiritual conception, and enter the scene of show.
Which must be A compound necessity is implied in this must be. They must be, partly because there will be free agents who will bring them into existence, and this is a dependent necessity, dependent on the free will of the agent possessing power to do otherwise. They must be, also, because the free nature of the agent and his free act being foreknown and assumed, the divine will has determined its own infinitely wise action in reference thereto. There is no absolute predestination in all this, except that divine predetermination to act wisely in view of the freedom. See notes on Romans 9.
Hereafter Literally, after these things; the these things differing from the these things in the first clause of the verse, and meaning the things of the present time.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Vision Of Heaven.
‘After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven. And the first voice which I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, “Come up here and I will show you the things that must happen hereafter”.’
‘After these things I saw’ – This was the next thing John saw chronologically but that does not mean that it followed what was in the previous vision chronologically in time. That must always be decided by the context. The phrase demonstrates the beginning of a totally new vision, confirmed by the statement of his being once again ‘in Spirit’ (Rev 4:2). This vision begins the outworking of God’s purposes in history from John’s days onwards as is clear from what follows.
‘And behold a door opened in Heaven’. John realises that he is to be allowed to enter Heaven in vision (compare 2Co 12:4 where Paul also was carried up into Paradise).
‘And the first voice that I heard was one of a trumpet speaking to me, saying ‘Come up here and I will show you the things which must occur hereafter’. The description suggests that this is the same voice as he had heard in Rev 1:10. But here there is no vision from the future. Having previously been carried forward to ‘the Lord’s day’ he is now back to his own day hearing the same Lord speaking to him and is to be allowed a vision of Heaven at the time of writing.
This raises the question as to how this relates to the first vision. The answer is that it is providing the context for what is to follow for the churches and for the world, leading up to His appearing in glory. His readers need to be aware of activities in Heaven, which will result in activities on earth, that will prepare for His coming. There is no suggestion that this vision is ‘on the Lord’s day’.
Some seek to relate it directly to the vision of the son of man coming with the clouds of Heaven into the presence of the ancient of days (Daniel 7), something fulfilled at the resurrection and ascension (Mat 28:18; Act 2:33; Act 7:55-56; Eph 1:20-21), as though it was the same event. But this must be considered extremely doubtful. While both are visions of Heaven and must therefore be expected to have certain similarities, there are no similarities as to the events that take place and the description of God is very different. Furthermore in Daniel 7 the son of man comes out of suffering and into the presence of God to receive a kingdom, while here He is already ‘in the midst of the throne’ (Rev 5:6) and about to control the destiny of the world with the aim of bringing things to their final conclusion. This scene therefore comes later than that in Daniel 7. God wants His people to know that what is about to come on them is part of that process. We must therefore view it as a separate occasion.
‘The things which must be hereafter’, that is, after that point in time. The coming events are to follow the time of John’s vision on the Isle of Patmos, which resulted in the letters to the seven churches. These are events which will ‘shortly happen’ following the revelation to the seven churches, and will be introductory to His coming. It will be an encouragement to John and his readers in the times of trouble ahead to recognise that what they are experiencing is part of the preparations for the end.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Throne of God Rev 4:1-11 gives us a glimpse of the throne of God and its surroundings. This passage of Scripture reveals the beauty of God’s throne, the four living creatures who minister to Him, and the twenty-four elders seated on smaller thrones. This scene is one of majestic glory and intense worship of God.
The Four Beasts before the Throne of God In Rev 4:6-11 John describes four beasts that stand before the throne of God. These four creatures are probably the same that Ezekiel saw in his vision, or similar heavenly creatures (Eze 1:5; Eze 1:10).
Eze 1:5, “Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures . And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.”
Eze 1:10, “As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man , and the face of a lion , on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle .”
We clearly see one of their offices described in this passage in Rev 4:1-11, where they as they serve as choir directors to lead all of God’s creatures in heavenly worship. We read in the opening chapters of the book of Ezekiel that they fly with their wings as they are sent for to set in motion the purposes and plans of God. The fact that they were “covered with eyes, in front and in back” ( NIV) can lead us to some speculation. We read in Rev 5:6 that the “Lamb who stood in the midst of this throne had seven horns and seven eyes, which represented the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. We know that Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that the light of the body is the eye (Mat 6:22-23). Thus, these eyes round about these four creatures, which so distinguish them from other creatures, in some way represent their spirits.
The Symbolism of the Four Beasts – The shapes of these four living creatures, or cherubim, standing around the throne of God, have led scholars to much speculation. I believe that their shapes symbolize the character, or person, of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as the twenty-four elders represent the saints of God.
“the first beast was like a lion” – The beast shaped like a lion symbolizes Jesus as the King of Kings, the highest office held by man. Matthews’s gospel is full of passages of Old Testament Scriptures proving that Jesus is the fulfillment of the coming Messiah and King of the Jews. Note:
1Ki 10:19-20, “The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.”
“the second beast like a calf” – The beast shaped like a calf represents the most expensive offering that an Israelite can bring from the flock. The calf symbolizes Jesus as the sacrifice for sins on the altar. Also, the book of Mark is a book of miracles, as Jesus ministers to the multitudes. It shows Jesus as a servant, who gives His life as a ransom for many.
Mar 10:45, “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many .”
Other passages of Scripture show this relationship of servant and sacrifice:
Php 2:6-8, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant , and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross .”
“the third beast had a face as a man” – The face of a man symbolizes the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Luke presents the human side of Jesus more than any other Gospel. Jesus partook of the role of a suffering servant, the lowest position that a man can hold.
“the fourth beast was like a flying eagle” – The eagle symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus Christ and His exalted position at the right hand of the Father. Note:
Pro 23:5, “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven .”
Thus, the story of redemption can been found within the shapes of these four living creatures.
Worship before the Throne of God: God’s Divine Attributes Manifested In Rev 4:8-11 John describes the process of worship before the throne of God. In this time of worship, the living creatures refer to His omnipotence by calling Him “Almighty.” They refer to His eternal nature as the “One who is and was and is coming.” John then refers to God’s eternal nature again by saying twice in Rev 4:9-10 “who lives forever.” Then the twenty-four elders worship Him by acknowledging Him as the Creator of all things. We find in Rom 1:20 a description of these same divine attributes when it says, “his eternal power and Godhead.” Thus, God’s divine power refers to Him as the Creator, who is Almighty. His Godhead refers to His eternal nature and the fact that He has chosen to oversee His creation. Thus, we see that these are the most prominent attributes that are manifested before the throne of God. Although creation declares them, as Paul says in Rom 1:19-20, they are most clearly seen in the presence of His throne.
Comparison of Heavenly Visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel to John’s Vision – Note the similar experience of Isaiah in Isa 6:1-4 and Ezekiel in Eze 1:1-28 to this vision of the throne of God in Revelation 4-5. They are similar in:
1. God’s throne
2. God’s occupation of the throne and His description
3. Description of surrounding creatures
4. Praise from creatures
Illustration – Rev 4:1 to Rev 5:14 reveals to us how God’s creatures worship Him. I remember one night when in a dream I was caught up in heavenly worship. I had been oppressed by some words that were said to me and was a little down. When I awoke after having been caught up with such heavenly worship, my spirit was revived again. The Lord was teaching me that we can stay strong in the Lord during the most difficult times in our lives by entering into worship. This heavenly worship will sustain us throughout eternity. It is the way that we have been created to exist.
Rev 4:1 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.
Rev 4:1
God had the door, through Jesus, open to us to worship Him and to know Him.
Rev 4:1 “and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me” – Comments – The voice of Jesus was an invitation to “come up hither.” (Rev 1:10-11) Then Jesus explains why He is calling John, saying, “I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”
Rev 1:10-11, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet , Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”
Rev 4:1 “I will shew thee things which must be hereafter”- Comments – Note that the heavenly, unseen reality controls the visible reality. Things on earth are not out of control. God has planned history to fulfill his purpose and His sovereign plan.
The phrase “which must be hereafter” that John uses in Rev 4:1 is literally translated in the Greek as “what things are necessary to be after these things (take place).” This phrase implies that the letters to the seven churches refer to a period of time that is to precede the Rapture of the Church. That is, chapter four tells of the events that are to take place “after” the events in the seven letters take place. Many scholars suggest that these seven letters refer to seven historical periods of Church history, which take place during the two thousand years from Christ’s first Coming until His Second Coming and the Rapture of the Church, which closes the Church Age. Scholars have picked particular events in Church history and matched them with the characteristics of the churches in the seven letters. The Church is to find its particular characteristics during each of the seven periods in history that match the churches described in these seven letters. I believe that there is a lot of weight to this proposal.
The things that will take place after the Church Age are written in the book with seven seals, first mentioned in Rev 5:1. When opened by the Lamb, this book will set in motion the events commonly referred to as the Great Tribulation Period.
Rev 4:2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Rev 4:2
Isa 6:1, “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.”
Why? God’s throne is the central focus in heaven, and should be our central focus on earth. So, what do you do on earth with God’s throne in focus? You also praise Him!
Rev 4:2 Comments – Note that the earth is under heavenly control. The heavens are not under earthly control.
Rev 4:1-2 Comments – John Is Caught Up into Heaven Hilton Sutton tells us that the description of John being caught up into Heaven in Rev 4:1-2 is symbolic of the rapture of the Church. [58] We find a similar description in 1Th 4:16-17 which describes the Rapture of the Church. At that time, we will hear the trumpet of God sound from Heaven and the saints will be caught up. John the apostle, likewise, heard the voice as the sound of a trumpet and was caught up into Heaven.
[58] Hilton Sutton, Revelation: God’s Grand Finale (Tulsa, Oklahoma, c1984), 67-7.
1Th 4:16-17, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Sutton compares Paul’s description of our translation at the time of the Rapture to John’s experience. Just as John was suddenly “in the Spirit” at the sound of the trumpet, so will we be “changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.”
1Co 15:51-52, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be change”
Another fact that suggests that the Rapture had just taken place is the fact that a countless number of people, described in Rev 4:6 as “a sea of glass like unto crystal,” are gathered around the Throne.
Sutton tells us that the importance of this event in Rev 4:1-2 is that it serves to represent the Rapture of the Church immediately before the seven-year Tribulation period. Both depict a swift and immediate translation from earth to heavenly. In this vision, John is being allowed to see what the Church is going to see prior to and during the tribulation period. For in the rest of the vision, John describes things from the perspective of a heavenly view of events on earth, and not as a person on earth who is partaking of these events.
Rev 4:3 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.
Rev 4:3
Gen 9:13, “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”
Rev 4:4 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.
Rev 4:4
Rev 5:9-10, “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”
We are eager to ask the question, “Why the number twenty-four?” Julius Oyet says, “The 24 elders signify or represent the twelve tribes of Israel in the Old Testament and the twelve apostles of Jesus in the New Testament. Therefore, altogether, the precious twenty-four seats represent the saints both of the Old and New Testament times, the nation of Israel as well as the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.” [59]
[59] Julius Peter Oyet, I Visited Heaven (Kampala, Uganda: Bezalel Design Studio, 1997), 60.
Hilton Sutton agrees, as do many other scholars. [60] In other words, all of God’s children will represented at the throne of God. Therefore, it appears that just as there are three people groups on earth, the Jews, the Gentiles and the Church (1Co 10:31), so will there now be two people groups represented in Heaven, the Jews and the Church. Yet, in God magnificent way, they will still be united together, although they will still be recognized as two distinct groups.
[60] Hilton Sutton, Revelation: God’s Grand Finale (Tulsa, Oklahoma, c1984), 70-1.
One office of these twenty-four elders is to offer the prayers of the saints up to God’s throne.
Rev 5:8, “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.”
Also, note the importance of these twenty-four people, who are referred to in Revelations 21. The names of the twelve tribes are written on the twelve gates of the heavenly city of Jerusalem and the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are written on the twelve foundations.
Rev 21:12-14, “And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”
Rev 4:5 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.
Rev 4:5
[61] Hilton Sutton, Revelation: God’s Grand Finale (Tulsa, Oklahoma, c1984), 30.
[62] Jesse Duplantis, Heaven Close Encounters of the God Kind (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Harrison House, 1996), 118-9.
Rev 1:4, “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;”
Scripture Reference – Note:
Psa 104:4, “Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire”
Rev 4:6 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.
Rev 4:6
Eph 5:27, “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
We see a “sea of glass mingled with fire” mentioned in Rev 15:2. This would represent the fire of the Holy Spirit that works to purify those who had been tested and tried with persecutions.
Rev 15:2, “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”
The fact that there are a countless group of God’s children around His throne further suggests that the Church has been raptured and taken to Heaven.
Rev 4:6 “and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind” Comments – John also saw four “beasts” in close proximity around the throne of God. The Greek text uses the word “living (ones).” The most pronounced aspect of their features was the fact that their eyes were located in the front and back of their heads.
Rev 4:7 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.
Rev 4:7
Rev 4:8 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.
Rev 4:8
[63] Jesse Duplantis, interviewed by Benny Hinn, This is Your Day (Irving, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California, July 16, 2002), television program.
In Rev 4:8 we see the eternal nature of Almighty God when the angels say, “which was, and is, and is to come.” By this statement they declare that He exists in the past, present and future.
Scripture Reference – Note a similar verse:
Isa 6:3, “And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Rev 4:9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
Rev 4:10 Rev 4:10
Rev 4:11 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 4:11
Job 38:4-7, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy ?”
Man was created for His pleasure:
Isa 43:7, “Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory , I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”
All creation was created for His praise and glory. Note Psalms 148-150.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Vision of Those Who Worship at the Throne of God In Rev 4:1 to Rev 5:14 John the apostle finds himself in the midst of a praise service. No one nor nothing, none of God’s creation, glories in God’s presence here. To know God in proper perspective is to praise Him, which is simply a commitment to, a confession of, the sovereign power and providence of God. Lack of praise is our failure to know and understand God’s sovereignty in our personal lives.
When we praise, we envelope ourselves in God’s throne room, and step out of bounds from the destruction of the devil, who is in this world running to and fro. Praise delivers us from the carnal-mind of doom and bondage to sin. We will note that all through the book of Revelations, the saints are not fighting the battles. God is fighting these battles as the church is praising the Lord and serving Him.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Throne of God Rev 4:1-11
2. The Lamb that was Slain Rev 5:1-14
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Vision of God’s Throne of Majesty and Glory. Rev 4:1-11
The throne and the seat of the elders:
v. 1. 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 show thee things which must be hereafter.
v. 2. And immediately I was in the spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.
v. 3. 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.
v. 4. 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.
v. 5. 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. The first vision of John was full of comfort for all believers, since it showed how faithfully the Lord watches over His Church, and that His concern for her will not cease until the great day of the revelation of His glory. But in the second vision the Lord dispenses comfort just as bountifully. John relates: After this I saw, and, behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard like a trumpet speaking with me, saying. It seems that after the transport and ecstasy of the first vision there was a slight pause, signifying that a new revelation was now forthcoming. John was again given the privilege to see some of the mysteries of God and of the future, and to transmit them to us. He did not open the door in heaven himself, but it was opened to him, because to him the Lord intended to vouchsafe this grace of revealing the future to him and of showing him the glory of the divine majesty. The voice like the sound of a trumpet which he had heard at the beginning of the first vision, chap. 1:10, was again in evidence, speaking to John and directing his actions: Come up here, and I shall show thee what is bound to happen after this. What John the seer saw and what he afterward described was not the outcome of his own speculation and inquiry, but the result of revelation only. He was called by God to approach and to be a witness, but not to enter.
The beginning of the vision: At once I was in the spirit; and, behold, a throne was placed in heaven, and One was sitting on the throne, and He that was sitting was in appearance like a jasper and sardius, and a rainbow encircling the throne in appearance like an emerald. The ecstasy which was worked by God, which, as it were, separated the mind from the body for the time being, took hold of John again and transported his spirit to the open door in heaven. The imagery of the vision, although expressed in the figures of speech which will best describe the marvelous atmospheric coloring of a gorgeous sunset sky, nevertheless merely indicates the greater glory which no human words can adequately portray. The first object that struck John was a magnificent throne placed in heaven. The name of Him that sat upon the throne is not mentioned, for His majesty transcends human conception and human language. It was the everlasting, almighty Lord, who has prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all, Psa 103:13. His appearance was such as to make Him resemble the precious stones jasper and sardius, the jasper being clear as crystal, to indicate the sublime beauty of God, and the sardius being a semitransparent, ruddy gem, to picture the unsearchable depths of His love. A rainbow, the symbol of God’s covenant with man, a reminder of His kindness and benevolence, encircled the throne. The peculiarity of this rainbow was this, that it was like an emerald, thus making the green stand out among the prismatic colors, as a symbol of God’s kindness and as a token of hope. Altogether, the majesty of this appearance is not one to terrify us, but to remind us of the covenant of grace which He made with us in Christ Jesus, which is shining before us as a beacon light unto eternal hope.
Although the Lord was the central figure in the picture. He had chosen others to share His glory: And round about the throne twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones twenty-four elders seated, clothed in white garments, and on their heads golden crowns. On the great day of the final revelation of God’s glory He shall select witnesses and partakers of this glory. As in the Old Testament twenty-four orders of priests had charge of the Temple-service, 1Ch 25:5-7, so the twenty-four elders in this picture are a type, they represent the royal priesthood of the believers. The Church of all times has its place with God, with the Father, in His immediate vicinity, in the most intimate fellowship with Him. The believers, as here represented by the twenty-four elders, are cleansed with the blood of Christ and clothed with the white garment of His righteousness. And as the reward of grace God has promised to them, and will eventually give them, golden crowns upon their heads, the immortal and unfading glory of heaven. This crown of glory will complete the accession of every believer to the kingship to which he has been an heir by faith.
The impression of awe, which is secondary in the entire description, is now stressed: And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and voices and thunders; and seven torches of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. It is the loving and merciful God that sits upon the throne of glory, but also the just and holy Lord. This is brought out by the description of the noises that John heard, like those of a fierce and terrifying thunderstorm. Flashes of lightning went out from the throne, and the shrieks and the loud blasts of the roaring storm and the peals and mutterings of thunder, all of which proclaimed aloud wrath and judgment and destruction, the almighty power of God in carrying out His sentences. At the same time, however, the lamps, or torches, of the sevenfold Spirit of God were quietly burning before the throne. The Spirit of God, working through the Gospel of the love of God in Christ, comes to us with His illuminating power, and gives us, and sustains in us, the light and the warmth of true spiritual life. Though God is terrible in His justice, yet the Pentecostal fire of His grace and love is a source of light and life to all that receive Christ Jesus as their Savior.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
This is the commencement of the second great division, which embraces Revelation 4-22:5, that in which the revelation, properly so called, takes place. Rev 4:1-11. and 5. contain the first of the seven visions, which is itself a prelude to the rest.
Rev 4:1
After this; or, after these things ( ). There is no good ground for supposing, as some do, that, after the events narrated in Rev 3:1-22., an interval occurred in the visions, during which St. John possibly wrote down the matter contained in the first three chapters. Nor is there any justification for assigning what follows to a time after this world. It would be pressing very far to make it apply to these present things of the world; and certainly need not mean “the things after this world.” The expression is used here in its ordinary, natural sense: “After having seen this, I saw,” etc.; introducing some new phase or variety of spectacle. I looked; or, I saw (). No fresh act of looking is signified. I saw in the Spirit, as formerly (Rev 1:10, Rev 1:12). And, behold, a door; or, and, behold, a door, and the first voice. Such is the construction of the Greek. Was opened in heaven; or, an open door, in heaven. St. John did not see the action of opening the door, but he saw a door which had been set open, through which he might gaze, and observe what passed within. Alford contrasts Eze 1:1; Mat 3:16; Act 7:56; Act 10:11, where “the heaven was opened;” and supposes that the seer is transported through the open door into heaven, from which position he sees heaven, and views all that happens on the earth. Victorinus aptly compares the open door to the gospel. And the first voice which I heard, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me. Omit the “was” which follows, as well as the colon which precedes, and repeat “a voice,” as in the Revised Version: And, behold, an open door in heaven, and the first voice which 1 heard, the voice which was, as it were, of a trumpet. The voice signified is not the first, but the former voice; viz. that already heard and described in Rev 1:10. The possessor of the voice is not indicated. Stier (‘Reden Jesu’) attributes the voice to Christ; but it seems rather that of an angel, or at any rate not that of Christ, whose voice in Rev 1:15 is described as “of many waters, “not as” of a trumpet.” Which said. The voice () becomes masculine (). Though whose voice is not stated, yet the vividness and reality of the vision causes the writer to speak of the voice as the personal being whom it signifies. Come up hither. That is in the Spiritfor the apostle “immediately was in the Spirit” (Rev 1:2). He was to receive a yet higher insight into spiritual things (cf. 2Co 12:2, where St. Paul was “caught up into the third heaven”). And I will show thee. It is not necessary, with Stier (see above on Rev 1:1), to infer that these words are Christ’s. Though from him all the revelation comes, he may well use the ministry of angels through whom to signify his will. Things which must be hereafter; or, the things which must happen hereafter. The things which it is right should happen, and which, therefore, must needs happen (). “Hereafter” ( ); as before in Rev 1:1, but in a somewhat more general and less definite senseat some time after this; but when precisely is not stated. The full stop may possibly be better placed before “hereafter;” in which case “hereafter” would introduce the following phrase, exactly as before in this verse. There is no “and;” , though in the Textus Receptus, is omitted in the best manuscripts.
Rev 4:2
And immediately I was in the Spirit. Omit “and” (see above), so that the passage may be rendered, After these things, immediately, I was in the Spirit; a new scene was opened out, as before (in Rev 4:1). St. John was already in the Spirit; but now receives a fresh outpouring of grace, enabling him to see yet more deeply into the mysteries of the kingdom of God. And, behold, a throne was set in heaven; or, a throne was situated (). There is no action of placing or setting up. Compare the vision of Ezekiel, “In the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne” (Eze 10:1), where the throne appears above the cherubim, in the position of the cloud of glory (cf. also Isa 6:1, Isa 6:2, where the seraphim are above). And one sat on the throne. Probably the Triune God, to whom the Trisagien in verse 8 is addressed. Some have thought that the Father is indicated, in contradistinction to the other Persons of the Holy Trinity, and that it is from him that the Son takes the book in Rev 5:8. But as Cornelius a Lapide remarks, “The Son as Man may well be said, especially in a sublime vision like this, to come to God.” The Person is not named, because
(1) the Name of God is incommunicable; it is the “new Name” (see on Rev 3:12); or
(2) because the seer describes only what is seen; or
(3) it is suppressed from a sense of reverence.
Rev 4:3
And he that sat was to look upon like, etc.; or, he that sat like in appearance (). The word is found in this verse and in two other places only in the New Testament, viz. in Act 2:17 (where it is part of a quotation from Joel) and in Rev 9:17. In the latter place the expression is , and the presence of the preposition, together with the article, seems to justify the rendering “in the vision.” In the Septuagint is frequently used to signify either “vision” or “appearance” (see 1Sa 3:1; Isa 1:1; Lam 2:9; Eze 7:13; Dan 1:17 and Dan 8:1; Oba 1:1; Nah 1:1; Hab 2:2; and many others, where it is “vision.” Also Jdg 13:6; Eze 1:5, Eze 1:13, Eze 1:26-28; Dan 8:15; Nah 2:4; 1Sa 16:12; and many others, where it is “appearance”). In the classics, signifies a “vision;” , “sight,” the power of seeing. A jasper and a sardine stone. The jasper was the last, and the sardius the first stone of the high priest’s breastplate (Exo 28:17). The jasper was the first, and the sardius the sixth of the foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21:19, Rev 21:20). Much doubt is attached to the whole subject of the precious stones of the Bible. The modern jasper is opaque, while it is evident that the jasper of the Revelation is remarkable for its translucent character (see Rev 21:11, “jasper stone. clear as crystal;” Rev 21:18, “The building of the wall of it was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass”). It is evident that the stone was characterized by purity and brilliancyfeatures which seem to point it out as the modern diamond. The varying colour, which, according to some authorities, the jasper possessed, is not inconsistent with this view. It is curious, too, that in Exo 28:18, the Hebrew , which in the Authorized Version is rendered “diamond,” is represented in the LXX. by ; while in Exo 28:20, the English “jasper,” is . The sardius was the carnelian, always red, though somewhat varying in shade. The name has been variously derived from
(1) the Persian sered, yellowish red;
(2) Sardis, as the first place of its discovery;
(3) while carnelian is connected with carneus, as being of the colour of raw flesh. But
(4) Skeat derives the word from cornu, a horn;
the term being thus an allusion to the semitransparent nature of the stone. The pure jasper, together with the red sardius, may fitly typify God’s purity and mercy together with his justice and judgment. And there was a rainbow round about the throne. The Greek , which is used here, is not found in the LXX.? where is invariably found, probably to avoid reference to a term which was so pre-eminently heathen. The rainbow is here, as always (see Gen 9:12, Gen 9:13), a token of God’s faithfulness in keeping his promises. It is, therefore, a fit sign of comfort to those persecuted Christians to whom, and for whose edification, this message was sent. In sight like unto an emerald. The is our modern green emerald. It was highly valued in Roman times. It was one of the stones of the high priest’s breastplate, and the fourth foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21:19). The description in this verse recalls Eze 1:23, “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.” Some have found a difficulty in the association of a rainbow with its varied colours, and the single green hue of the emerald. But of course it is the form only of the rainbow which is alluded to, not every quality which a rainbow may possess. A circular green appearance was seen round the throne, which perhaps may be described as a green halo. If the purity of the jasper (see above) be allowed to symbolize God’s purity and spirituality, and the sardine, man clothed with flesh, the green emerald may fitly represent God’s goodness displayed in nature.
Rev 4:4
And round about the throne were four and twenty seats. Throughout the vision no past tense is used. The vision represents the worship of heaven (so far as it can be presented to human understanding) as it continues eternally. Thrones seats. Render both by the same English word, as in the Revised Version. Some doubt is attached to the case of the first . , is found in B, P; and this makes the construction nominative after (cf. Rev 4:2); but , A, 34, 35, read , which causes to be understood. The point is immaterial, as the meaning is the same. And upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting. Omit “I saw” (see above). The number twenty-four, the double of twelve, represents the Churches of both the old and the new covenants. The elders are the heads or representatives of the body to which they belong (see Exo 19:7; Exo 24:1, and many others; see also the list of elders in Heb 11:1-40.). In the Christian Church the same distinction exists (see Act 14:23, “ordained them elders;” Act 20:17, St. Paul sent for the elders of Ephesus; Act 21:18, “The elders were present”). So hero the elders represent the saints of both the Old and New Testaments. Thus they offer “the prayers of the saints” (Rev 5:8). Christ, moreover, promised twelve thrones to his disciples (Luk 22:30) though not to the exclusion of the saints of old, for both are conjoined in Rev 21:12, Rev 21:14. In Rev 15:2, Rev 15:3, the victorious ones sing “the song of Moses and of the Lamb.” Other interpretations which have been advanced are
(1) that the twenty-four elders represent the great and minor prophets (St. Hippolytus);
(2) higher angelsthe celestial priesthood, as denoted by their white garments and the number twenty-four, the number of courses of the Levitical priesthood (Reuss);
(3) simply angels (Hoffmann);
(4) the elders of the Church at Jerusalem (Grotius);
(5) the doubled twelve signifies the accession of the Gentiles (Bleek, De Wette);
(6) the books of the Old Testament. then the Jewish Church, while the four living creatures denote the Gospels, that is, the Christian Church (Wordsworth). (For this last view, for which there is much to be said, see Wordsworth, in loc.) Clothed in white raiment; the natural garb of heaven, symbolical of purify. And they had on their heads crowns of gold (, not ). The crown of victory, not necessarily the kingly crown. Possibly a reference to the priestly crown (see on Rev 2:10). Trench and Vaughan, however, are of opinion that the crowns here denote the kingly condition of the saints. But Christians are nowhere in the New Testament described as “kings.”
Rev 4:5
And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thundering and voices. The present tense (see on Rev 4:4). The whole symbolical of the power and majesty of God, as of old he manifested his presence on Sinai. “There were thunders and lightnings and the voice of the trumpet” (Exo 19:16). And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. The Holy Spirit, represented in his sevenfold operation, by lamps, which illumine. The same idea is expressed under another figure in Rev 5:6, where the searching, enlightening power of the Holy Spirit is typified by seven eyes.
Rev 4:6
And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal. Sea of glass, or a glassy sea. The quality of “glassiness” may refer to the pure appearance of the sea; or it may mean that the sea was in consistency like unto glass; that is, solid and unyielding, so that there was nothing strange in the fact that it supported weights. In either case, the notion is repeated by parallelism in the next clause, “like unto crystal.” But the glassy sea may mean “a glass laver,” and bear no reference to what is usually called a sea. The brazen laver is described (1Ki 7:23) as a “molten sea.” St. John may therefore mean that before the throne of God was a laver of the purest material, just as the brazen laver was before the temple. One difficulty here presents itself, viz. that there would be no use for a laver in heaven, where all is pure, and the figure therefore appears a little incongruous. But as it stood before the throne, where all who came would have to pass by, it may fitly typify the waters of Baptism, passed by all Christians; and the figure would be aptly suggested to St. John by the furniture of the temple to which he has such constant allusions. And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne. This may mean either
(1) that, the throne being rectangular, the four living beings were in the middle of each side of the parallelogram; or
(2) while one was in front of the throne, the other three formed a semicircle round it, one being directly behind, and two towards the ends. Were four beasts; or, four living creatures (Revised Version); or, better still, four living beings (). The “beast” () of Rev 6:7; Rev 11:7, etc., must not be confounded with the “living ones” of this passage. The one quality connoted by the term here used is the possession of life. The question of the precise meaning and interpretation of the vision of “the living beings” is a difficult one, and much has been written concerning it. The vision is evidently connected with the appearances described in Isa 6:1-13. and Eze 1:1-28. and 10., and which are called in Isaiah “seraphim,” in Ezekiel “cherubim.” We are led, therefore, to inquire what mental ideas were pictured to the Jews under the symbolical forms of cherubim and seraphim. Cheyne shows that the name cherub is probably connected with kirubu, the winged ox god of the Assyrians, and with kurubu, the vulture or eagle (cf. the , the guardians of the treasures of the gods); and he infers that among heathen nations the mythic cherubim denote the cloud-masses which appear to guard the portals of the sky, and on which the sun-god issues at break of day. With regard to the seraphim, he compares the name of the fiery serpents(s’rafm) of Num 21:6, and concludes that the term was symbolical of the lightning, the weapon of the gods. Now, in Old Testament passages the cherubim and seraphim are always pictured as the attendants of God, and the workers of his purposes and judgmentsan idea which may readily have been assimilated by the Jews from the conceptions of their heathen neighbours. Thus cherubim with the flaming sword are placed at the entrance of the garden of Eden (Gen 3:24); Jehovah rode upon a cherub, and did fly (2Sa 22:11; Psa 18:10); he communes with his people from between the cherubim (Exo 25:22); he is the Shepherd of Israel, who dwells between the cherubim (Psa 80:1); the temple in Eze 41:18 is adorned with cherubim, as being the dwelling-place of God; they are the attendants of the glory of God in Eze 1:22-28; and the seraphim fill an analogous position (Isa 6:2). We may therefore infer that the appearance of the “living beings” implied the presence of some order of beings in attendance upon God, the workers of his will, and the manifestation of his glory. Again, the term used () and the characteristics of the appearance naturally and almost irresistibly lead us to interpret the form as one symbolical of life. The human face, the ox as the representative of domestic, and the lion of wild animals, and the eagle among birds, appear to be typical of the four most conspicuous orders of animal life. The ceaseless movements described in Eze 1:8 portray the same idea. The four living beings draw attention to the woes heaped upon created life (Rev 6:8). The eyes denote never-resting activity. We may therefore believe that the living beings are symbolical of all creation fulfilling its proper officewaiting upon God, fulfilling his will, and setting forth his glory. It is noteworthy that the human face, as distinct from the Church, which is represented by the four and twenty elders, appears to indicate the power of God to use, for his purposes and his glory, that part of mankind which has not been received into the Churchthe part which constitutes the “other sheep, not of this fold” (Joh 10:16). These representatives of created life worship God, and give (Eze 1:11), as a reason for ascribing glory and honour to him, the circumstance that “thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created.” The following are other interpretations:
(1) The living beings represent the four Gospels. This view is held by many ancient writers, though there are many variations in assigning to each Gospel its own representative. Victorinus considers the man to be a type of St. Matthew, who sets forth prominently the human nature of our Lord; the kingly lion is referred to St. Mark; the sacrificial ox to St. Luke; the aspiring eagle to St. John. Amongst the supporters of this interpretation (though varying in the precise applicability) are St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Athanasius, St. Irenaeus, St. Gregory, St. Ambrose, Andreas, Primasius, Bede, I. Williams, Wordsworth (for a lull exposition of this view, see Wordsworth, in loc.).
(2) The four great apostles: St. Peter, the lion; James the brother of the Lord, the ox; St. Matthew, the man; St. Paul, the eagle (Grotius).
(3) The Church of the New Testament; as the Church of the Old Testament was represented by the standards or four tribes (see Num 2:1-34.), on which these devices were emblazoned according to tradition (Mede).
(4) The four patriarchal Churches: the man, Alexandria, famed for learning; the lion, Jerusalem, “propter constantiam” (Act 5:29); the ox, Antioch, as “parata obedire mandatis apostolorum;” the eagle, Constantinople, remarkable for men “per contemplationem elevati, ut Grog. Naz.” (De Lyra and a Lapide).
(5) The four cardinal virtues (Arethas).
(6) The four elementsa view not materially differing from that first set forth above, bearing in mind the idea of the ancients that all creation was formed from the four elements.
(7) The four motive powers of the human soul: reason, anger, desire, conscience (a Lapide, quoting Grog. Naz.).
(8) The doctors of the Church (Vitringa).
(9) Four attributes of our Lord: his humanity, sacrificial life, his kingly nature, his perfect and spiritual nature soaring beyond all other men.
(10) The four orders: pastoral, diaconal, doctoral, contemplative, (Joachim).
(11) The four principal angels (a Lapide).
(12) Four apostolic virtues (Alcasar).
(13) The attributes of divinity: wisdom, power, omniscience, creation (Renan).
Full of eyes before and behind. From Isa 6:2, Isa 6:3 the idea of six wings is borrowed, and also the “Holy, holy, holy” from Eze 1:5, Eze 1:6; the four figures and four faces; and from Eze 10:12 the body full of eyes. The eyes denote unceasing activity. If the four living beings all faced towards the throne while standing on each side of it, St. John would see them in various positions, and observe the back as well as the front.
Rev 4:7
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. (Upon “beast” (), see on Rev 4:6. For the signification, see also above on Rev 4:6.) Whether there was any difference in the forms as a whole, or whether the difference consisted chiefly or solely in the thee, cannot be certainly known. Each being is symbolical of some class or some quality of which it is representative. (For the application, see on Rev 4:6.)
Rev 4:8
And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within. The stop should probably be after wings: are full of eyes about and within. In Isa 6:2 we have “six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.” These actions appear to indicate reverence, humility, obedience. The eyes denote ceaseless activity. And they rest not day and night, saying. In the Authorized Version “day and night” is attached to “rest not.” but probably should be taken with “saying,” for, if connected with the negative phrase, “nor” would be more likely to occur than “and.”
But the point is practically immaterial, since the sense of the passage is the same in both readings. These representatives of life display the characteristics of life in its fullest energy. They have no part in anything which savours of deathno stillness, rest, or sleep. Holy, holy, holy. The thrice-repeated “holy” has very generally been held to indicate the Trinity of the Godhead. Such is evidently the intention of the English Church in ordering this passage to be read in the Epistle for Trinity Sunday. This ascription of praise is often, though wrongly, spoken of as the “Trisagion.” Lord God Almighty. “Almighty” is , the “All-Ruler,” not , the “All-Powerful.” The former, as Bishop Pearson says, embraces the latter. Which was, and is, and is to come. This phrase is no doubt intended to attribute to God the quality of eternal existence. But it may also symbolize three aspects or departments of God’s dealings with mankind: the creation, which has been effected by the Father; the redemption, which is now occurring by the intercession of the Son; and the final perfect sanctification by the Holy Ghost.
Rev 4:9
And when those beasts give; or, and as often as the living belongs shall give. The expression has a frequentative force, and also points to a continued repetition of the act in the future; perhaps a contrast to the past, since before the redemption the Church, as being of the whole world, could not join in the adoration. Glory and honour and thanks. The Eucharistic hymn recognizes the glory and honour which are the inseparable attributes of God, and renders the thanks due to him from his creation. To him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever; or, to him sitting on the throne. The Triune God (see on Rev 4:2). “Who liveth forever and ever” declares that attribute which was ascribed to God, in the song of the living beings, by the words, “which was, and is, and is to come” (see on Rev 4:8).
Rev 4:10
The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth forever and ever. Shall fall, etc. The tenses are all future except the present “sitteth” and “liveth.” The four and twenty elders are the representatives of the universal Church (see on Rev 4:4). And cast their crowns before the throne, saying. Their crowns of victory, (see on Rev 2:10 and Rev 4:4).
Rev 4:11
Thou art worthy, O Lord; or, thou art worthy, our Lord and our God. In 13, the Syriac, Andreas, Arethas, Theodore-Stud., Arm., and many others, , “the holy one,” is added. To receive glory and honour and power ( , etc.). The presence of the article either
(1) denotes universality, and the expression is thus equivalent to “all glory,” “all honour,” “all power; or
(2) refers to the glory and honour mentioned in Rev 4:9. The former view seems more probable (cf. Rev 1:6). The Church is represented as ascribing to God all power (); that power which he exercises in its fulness in heaven, and which, though partially abrogated on earth, he will nevertheless again take up, as foretold in Rev 11:17. For thou hast created all things; or, for thou didst create all things ( )the universe. The representatives of creation thank God for their existence; the Church sees in his creation reason to ascribe power to him. Thus the reason for the doxology is given”because thou didst create.” And for thy pleasure; much better, as in the Revised Version, and because of thy will ( ). When God willed it, the universe had no existence; again, when he willed it, the universe came into being. They are, and were created; or, they were, and were created (Revised Version). There are three variations in the reading of this passage:
(1) is read in al40 fere Vulgate, Coptic, Syriac, Arethas, Primasius (in another version), anon-Augustine, Haymo;
(2) is read in S, P, 1, 7, 35, 49, 79, 87, 91, et al. et Andreas;
(3) is read in B, 14, 38, 51. “They were” signifies “they existed,” whereas before they were not in existence; “and were created” points to the manner of coming into existence and the Person to whom this existence was due. If be read, the meaning is the same. would simplify the sentence very much. It would then run: For thy pleasure, or, At thy will they were not existent, and again, at thy will they were created. But the weight of authority is against this reading.
HOMILETICS
Rev 4:1
Things which must be hereafter.
However nearly expositors may approximate in their interpretation of the Book of Revelation up to the close of the third chapter, yet, when the “things which must be hereafter” begin to be unfolded, they part company, and diverge into so many different paths and bypaths, that it will not be possible for us to trace out all of them. Nor is it desirable. Our purpose is a purely homiletic one, viz. to unfold the principles of the Divine method and government, so as to help those who minister to the instruction and building up of the people of God. In this section of the Commentary we do not intend to turn aside to discourse on individual texts, however attractive and beautiful they may be, but to open up the plan of God as it is laid down in the Apocalypse; yet not so as to minister to an idle and peering curiosity, but so as to inform the understanding, establish the faith, and animate the hope of believers. It has been our conviction now for twenty years (a conviction deepened by each successive study of this wondrous book) that if men will but note its silence as well as its speechwhat it withholds as well as what it unfoldsif they will refrain from filling in chasms that the book leaves, and will aim at seizing the principles involved, rather than at fixing details and dates of events, there is no book in the Word of God that will be found richer in spiritual food, or clearer in its heavenly light! There are several leading schemes of interpretation of the book. There is:
1. The preteritist; which regards the book as indicating events which have passed long ago; which closed with the destruction of the Jewish city, temple, and polity, and with the setting up of the Christian Churchit being “the holy city new Jerusalem.”
2. The extreme futurist. Whereas according to the first everything has happened which is here recorded, according to the second nothing has yet occurred. Even the seven Churches are seven Churches of Jews to be formed alter the first resurrection, and all that is in the rest of the book is to follow on from thence. Between these two extremes there are, however, three others; the greater number of interpreters belonging, in fact, to one or other of these three.
3. Some regard the book as virtually a progressive history, dating from the imprisonment of St. John in Patmos under the Emperor Domitian. In their view the seven seals, vials, and trumpets indicate a triple series of events which may be either consecutive or simultaneous. In both cases, however, the interpretation is adopted of “a day for a year.”
4. Others, again, regard the book as including a symbolic representation of things occurring on earth at the time of the apostle; and in addition thereto, a symbolic representation of events extending over twelve hundred and sixty days, which will usher in the coming of our Lord.
5. A fifth and rapidly increasing school of expositors adopt what is called (and rightly) the spiritual interpretation of the book; i.e. instead of fixing this or that earthquake, pestilence, or famine as the one specially referred to, they hold “that this book of sublimity contains a pictorial representation of events which commenced at the Christian era, and will run on to the end of the world.” So also Godet remarks, concerning the six seals, that they represent, each of them, not a particular event, but “the categories of the principal judgments by which God supports, throughout all time, the preaching of the gospel.” The spiritual interpretation is that to which for many years past we have felt ourselves shut up, and we are glad to find it adopted by Dr. Lee in his exposition. He says, “The imagery of the book describes, in accordance with the whole spirit of prophecy, the various conditions of the kingdom of God on earth, during its successive struggles with the prince of this world;” and again, “The ‘spiritual’ application is never exhausted, but merely receives additional illustrations as time rolls on, while the ‘historical’ system assumes that single events, as they come to pass in succession, exhibit the full accomplishment of the different predictions of the Apocalypse.” Hence, at this stage of our unfolding of the plan of the book, we would lay it down as the basis of our exposition that, without attempting (for reasons yet to be given) to indicate anything like an estimate of the time over which our dispensation has to run, we shall find in this book, from beginning to end, such a disclosure of the principles and methods of God’s working, in bringing about the second coming of the Lord, as may well fill us with holy awe, while we are contemplating the character of the scenes through which God’s Church must pass on her way to her destined glory! It will spare us much useless labour if we note what God has not said in this book, as well as what he has said; e.g.
(1) We have few definite marks of time. We have, of course, the point of commencement, viz. the exile of John in Patmos in the reign of Domitian, and we have also at the end the new Jerusalem in its glory; but for estimating the duration of the whole period, and for its division into periods of years, we have, practically, no data at all.
(2) We have few marks of place. We are not told whether the opening of this seal or that is to find its sphere of fulfilment over the Roman empire, or within the Jewish state, or over the wide world, or, if over a portion of it, what that portion is.
(3) Nor have we any marks to show us whether the seven seals, vials, and trumpets represent seven distinct series of events, or, if so, whether they are synchronous or consecutive, nor, in either case, over what time each one lasts, nor whether there is any space between one and the other; nor, if there be, how much it is. For aught we know, they may even lap over, one on to another. Now, when all these points are left open in the sacred Word, it seems to us to be going far beyond the limits of a proper reverence for God’s Word, to assign definitely this or that figure to this or that special event, time, and place, when the figure alone is employed, and neither time nor place indicated at all. If, e.g., there is a series of symbols indicative of famine, if this book says nothing as to where or when the famine is to be; and if, moreover, in this the Apocalypse agrees exactly with our Lord’s words, that there should be “famines in divers places” ere the end shall come, we cannot venture to say that it refers to this or that famine, but simply that on this globe, which is the Lord’s, and which is being prepared for his second coming, famine is one among the many incidents which our God foresees and controls, and which he will make subservient to the bringing-in of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. It may be urged by way of objection: “If so much is unsaid, and therefore uncertain, all is uncertain, and the book is useless.” Not so; there is very much that is fixed and clear; very much more, indeed, on the principle of interpretation for which we contend, than on any other; and not only so, but the value of the book is, to us, immeasurably greater. Let us, then, now lay down some definite propositions, which may prepare our way for the further unfolding of this book.
I. THERE IS IN THE ROOK A CLEAR GENERAL PLAN. Its keynote is, “Behold, I come quickly.” Its disclosures end with the inbringing of the new heavens and the new earth. Its historic starting point is the exile of the beloved apostle. Its conception is that all forces in nature, incidents in history, and movements of providence, are preparing the way of the Lord. The standpoint of the apostle is not earth, nor is it heaven. He is caught up in the Spirit. Looking down, he sees earth in trouble and storm; looking up, he sees heaven in glory and rest. And if we look behind the symbolic drapery of the book, we shall find in each paragraph or section some principle indicated which will give us a clue to the higher spiritual meaning of the whole. Historic incident is among things “seen and temporal;” principles are among things “unseen and eternal.” If we can seize hold of these, and thereby get some clearer view of the methods of God’s working, we shall look with a far more intelligent gaze on “the ways of God towards man.”
II. THE UNFOLDINGS OF THE BOOK AS TO THE CONFLICTS OF EARTH ARE A GREAT STAY TO OUR FAITH. Suppose we were without the Apocalypse: when we look over all the desolations of earth, and think of the slow progress Christianity makes, should we not be often ready to despair? But when the conflict in all its fierceness and wildness is set forth here, we can refer to our chart, and say, “We were told of it beforehand.” We understand the Master’s words, “Now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” Without this book “the events of Christian history would be to us shortsighted creatures a very serious and painful obstacle to faith; but by the help of this book these very events confirm our faith.”
III. THE ISSUE OF THE WHOLE IN THE GLORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM IS A STIMULUS TO OUR HOPE. However dark the passage, the end of it is light and glory. The King shall yet reveal himself as King of kings and Lord of lords. This is emphatically “the blessed hope.” It revives our courage by the way.
IV. CERTAINTY AS TO ISSUE, BUT UNCERTAINTY AS TO TIME, IS THE ONLY CONDITION OF OUR LIFE WHICH IS CONSISTENT WITH THE DUE PERFORMANCE OF EVERYDAY DUTY. To know the moment when the stop should be put on all things would paralyze human exertion. Not to know that “all is working for good” would be the death blow to our joy in the Lord. The blended certainty and uncertainty are the very best conditions for us, the most calculated to lead us to watch and pray that we may “be ready,” and may not be ashamed before Christ at his coming.
Verse 1-Rev 5:14
The opening vision: heaven; its throne; its inhabitants; its songs.
The fourth and fifth chapters of this book should be read together. They form a fitting introduction to the disclosures which follow. Before we have presented to us the series of visions which unfold to us the struggles of earth through which the Church must pass on her way to the end of the age, we have a glimpse of the heavenly world, its occupants, its songs, together with a sight of” him who is in the midst of the throne.” Ere the last great inspired prophecy is to be unrolled, the Apostle John has a glimpse of the seat of power in heaven. Ere he sees those scenes of mingled awe and terror which his pen will have to record, he is permitted to peer within the sacred courts above. He sees their glory, learns their thoughts, and hears their songs, as, from heights far, far above us, they survey the majesty of the great Three in One, and send up their songs of praise to their God, for what he is in the glory of his nature, and for the grandeur of his works in creation and redemption. Among the many noble sculptures of Thorwaldsen at Copenhagen, there is one of the Apostle John. His countenance is suffused with heavenly serenity. He is looking up to heaven. His tablet is before him. His pen is in his hand, but it is not touching the tablet, nor will the apostle venture on a word till it is given him from above. Exquisitely indeed has the sculptor caught the spirit of the beloved apostle as he awaits the revelation from on high. Let us, in arranging our homiletic exposition, follow the leadings of the narrative. We have
I. A GLIMPSE INTO THE UPPER WORLD. “A door was opened in heaven.” We need not look on this as if it were bare literalism. Yet, beyond all question, there are objective realities far greater than those which John beheld. From beginning to end of these visions we see heavenly objects set forth in earthly language, that we may be “raised from our dead selves to higher things,” and yet may not be bewildered and overwhelmed at the representation of a glory so far above us. Nor should we forget that, although this is the only book of the New Testament in which the heavenly world is set forth with anything of detail, yet the existence of that world is assumed by our Lord and his apostles throughout their teaching. This earth is not the only realm in which holy souls dwell, nor is the continuity of blessed life broken off as, one by one, they “go home.” There are, moreover, “angels, principalities, and powers;” and over the two spheres of being, angels and men, our Lord is the Preeminent One. Thus, though the Apostle John gives us some fresh detail, he by no means takes us into an unknown land. It is “the Father’s home.” A voice is heard. Read, not “the first voice which I heard,” but “I heard the first voice” (cf. Dean Alford, in loc.; Rev 1:10); i.e. the voice of him who is the Alpha and the Omega. From him the word comes, “Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.” To this call the apostle responded. He rose in the Spirit’s might, and, with piercing spiritual gaze, looked into heaven. In order for a vision to be intelligible, it is necessary that there should be one spot on which the eye can fasten, as a point of repose. Without this its glances would wander in painful unrest. There is a law corresponding to this in the mental constitution. In the study of any science whatever, minor matters have to be set in relation to some leading truth. It is so in theology. If religious truth is looked at as all detail, without anything like a centre, or like a vertebral column from which and to which the varied branchlets of truth diverge and converge, nothing will be rightly understood. So with the spiritual life. It requires its centre-point, which is Christ. If, moreover, in the vision before us, there were only a series of unconnected items, it would distract us. But it is not so. There is a centre. There is a throne, the seat of power and authority, from which all orders proceed, before which all creatures bow. A throne is set in heaven. Under this familiar symbol our God vouchsafes to set before us the truth that there is a point around which the universe revolves. A throne. Isaiah saw it; Ezekiel saw it; John sees it; and, with what is grouped around it, it gives us a glimpse of the glories of the heavenly world and of the dwellers there, and forms the background of the scenes of mingled mercy and judgment which are to be witnessed on earth.
1. There is One upon the thronethe eternal Father, glorious in his majesty.
2. Encircling the throne there is a rainbowthe symbol and sign of a covenant of peace. Majesty and mercy are met together. While in this low region of cloud things often look so dark and lowering that we are tempted to think earth’s chariot wheels are running wildly, could we but see things from that higher standpoint that saints and angels take above, we should see that the everlasting throne remained firm and true, and that the rainbow of peace was encircling it around!
3. Round about the throne there are four and twenty minor thrones. On these are four and twenty crowned elders; and from what is said of them in the ninth verse of the fifth chapter, we gather that they are representatives of God’s redeemed Church. Why twenty-four? No suggestion so much approves itself to us as the one that they represent the twelve patriarchs of the Old Testament and the twelve apostles of the New. The two Churches of the two economies are one in Christ. “They without us could not be made perfect.” These elders are seen clothed in white, in token of their purity; crowned with gold, to indicate their triumph.
4. Out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. What can these symbolize but the outgoings of Jehovah’s power, whereby from his throne forces go forth which cause the earth to tremble; that while before the throne there was the symbol of perpetual calm, yet from thence should come mighty powers that should shake terribly a sinful world. Here we have also seven lamps of fire. These are interpreted for us. “The seven Spirits of God” sent forth into all the earth. Here is the Holy Ghost set forth in all the sublime majesty of his sevenfold energy.
5. Before the throne. What is there? “A sea of glass like unto crystal.” All calmness there. “No mighty waves of turbulent roar.” “Jehovah sitteth above the waterfloods;” the tossing, angry waves of earthly revolutions affect not the perfect calm of the heavenly world! All is “ethereal purity and majestic repose.”
II. THE INHABITANTS OF HEAVEN ARE SEEN.
1. Angels are there (Rev 5:2, Rev 5:11).
2. The four and twenty elders are there (Rev 4:4; Rev 5:8, Rev 5:11).
3. Four living ones are there, in the midst of the scene, between the throne and the crystal sea: one like a lion; the second like a calf; the third having the face of a man; the fourth like a flying eagle.
In Ezekiel’s vision each one had four faces; here: each has one face, each one has six wings about him. So in Isaiah’s vision, with twain they covered their face, in holy awe; with twain they covered their feet, in token of humility; and with twain they flew, in token of obedience. Each one, moreover, is full of eyes before and behindthe symbol of the keen penetration of perfected intelligence. Surely we have, in these unusual forms, representations of the highest advance of creaturely existence; in which the several features of knowledge, excellence, and strength, which here are severed, are there joined in one. They worship before the throne. Worship and work mark the highest orders of created being as well as the lower.
4. Nor are these all. There is an innumerable host: “myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,” representing the vast company in the realm of life, where “they cannot die any more.”
5. We have yet to behold One around whom all the heavenly hosts gather in worship; but he comes in view as the Object of adoring song. He is “the Lamb as it had been slain.” His glory we shall view as we proceed to study
III. THE FIVE SONGS. Too seldom is the grand progression of song noticed, as recorded for us by the apostle.
1. First, the Trisagion, or song of praise to the thrice-holy God (verse 8). This song is sung by the four living ones. The higher orders of created existence, with their vast powers of spiritual discernment” full of eyes “see infinitely more glory in the great eternal God than we can with our feeble powers and in this land of shadow and of care. They adore him for what he is; the perfection of his holiness is the delight of their souls. A diseased eye dreads the light in which a healthy one rejoices. Sinful men dread God’s holiness; perfect beings find in it the inspiration of their praise.
2. Secondly, the song of creation. (Verses 10, 11.) It is not only what God is that fills holy beings with rapture, but also what God does. The work of his hands in creation fills them with delight. And the higher beings rise in the scale, the more delight will they have in aught that reveals God. An angel could see more of God in a blade of grass than an uncultured soul could do in a blazing star. “Thou createdst all things.” Whether they know what were the Divine methods of creation, we cannot say. The fact that God did all is that in which they glory; and also the fact that he did all by his own will, and for his own good pleasure. But the grand unfolding of heaven’s song is far from complete as yet. The theme is continued in the fifth chapter.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Rev 4:1-11
The high court of heaven.
If the portions of this book hitherto considered have had their difficulties, those on which we now enter are far more beset therewith. But the solemn sanctions given to the reading and study of this book send us, in spite of its difficulties, to the earnest examination of its sayings, certain that in them, even in the most mysterious of them, there lies a message from God to our souls. May he be pleased to make that message clear to us. This fourth chapter gives us the first part of the vision of what we have ventured to call “the high court of heaven.” The next chapter reveals more. But in this part note
I. THE VISION ITSELF. St. John begins his account of it with a “Behold.” And well may he do so. He repeats this when he sees the “throne” and him that sat upon it. Again in Rev 5:5, when he sees Jesus, the “Lamb as it had been slain.” And if in like manner this vision come to us, we shall be filled, as he was, with wonder, with adoration, and awe. St. John saw:
1. A door set open in heaven. The sky was parted asunder, and in the space between, as through a door, he witnessed what follows.
2. The throne and its Occupant. He could see no form or similitude, any more than Israel could when God came down on Mount Sinai (cf. this vision and that, Exo 19:1-25.). All that St. John saw was one “like unto a jasper stone and a sardius.” The pure, perfect, flashing whiteness, as of a diamond, but with the carnelian redness, the fiery gleams of the sardius (cf. the “sea of glass mingled with fire,” Rev 15:2). Such was the Being who sat upon the thronethat throne, probably, as that which Isaiah saw (Isa 6:1-13.), being “high and lifted up,” some stately structure befitting so august a court.
3. The rainbow, overarching the throne, the mild and beautiful green, emerald-like rays predominating amid its seven-hued splendour. Then:
4. The assessors of him that sat upon the throne. On either hand of the throne were twelve lesser thronestwenty-four in all; and upon them were seated twenty-four elders, clad in white robes, and with crowns of gold on their heads.
5. Then in the space before the throne were seen seven burning torches. Not lamps, like those that symbolized the seven Churches, and which were after the manner of the seven-branched lamp which stood in the holy place in the ancient temple; but these were torches rather than lamps, destined to stand the rude blasts of the outer air rather than to gleam in the sheltered seclusion of some sacred edifice.
6. Then further off, beyond that central space, was the “sea of glass,” like crystal. Clear, bright, reflecting the lights that shone upon it, but not tempest-tossed and agitated, unstable and ever restless, like that sea which day by day the exile in Patmos beheld barring his intercourse with those he loved, but calm and strong, firm and restful,such was this sea. Then, also in the central space, or probably hovering, one in front, one on either side, and another at the rear of the throne, were:
7. The four living ones. The “four beasts,” as, by the most melancholy of all mistranslations, the Authorized Version renders St. John’s words, appear here to occupy the same relation to the throne as did the cherubim which were upon the ark of God in the Jewish temple. Strange, mysterious, unrepresentable, and indescribable forms. As were the cherubim, so are these; their faces, their eyeswith which it is said they “teem,” so full of them are theyand their six wings, are all that we are told of; for the lion and ox-like aspect, the human and the eagle, tell of their faces rather than their forms, and do but, little to enable us to gain any true conception of what they were. Such were the mysterious beings whom St. John saw in immediate attendance on him who sat upon the throne; and as such, standing or moving around or hovering over the throne, we cannot certainly say which. And all the while there were heard, as “in Sinai in the holy place,” voices, thunderings, and lightnings, proceeding from the throne. Such was that part of the vision with which this chapter is occupied. As we proceed we find the scene is enlarged, and more Divine transactions take place thereon. But now note
II. THE MEANING OF THIS VISION. And:
1. The door set open in heaven. This tells, as did the vision of the ladder Jacob saw, of a way of communication opened up between earth and heaven.
2. The throne and its occupant. “The whole description is that of a council in the very act of being held. It is not to be taken as a description of the ordinary heavenly state, but of a special assembly gathered for a definite purpose” (cf. 1Ki 22:19). And this symbol, which mingles reservation with revelation, and conceals as much as it declares, bids us think of God in his majesty, glory, supremacy, and as incomprehensible. “Who by searching can find out God?” It is a vision of the great Godwe know that; but of his nature, substance, form, and image it, tells us nothing, nor was it intended that it should. But many precious and important truths concerning him it does tell. Of his awful glory, of his unsullied purity and spotless holiness, of the terror of his vengeance, of his interest in our concerns, of the worship and adoration of which he is worthy, and which he ever receives; of the character, condition, and service of those who dwell in his presence; of the ministers he employs; and much, more.
3. The fail,bow overarching the throne. This is the emblem (cf. Gen 9:12-16) of God’s gracious covenant which he hath established forevermore. And it told to St. John and to Christ’s Church everywhere that, awful, glorious, and terrible as our God is, all that he does, of whatsoever kind, is embraced within the mighty span of his all-o’erarching grace. The Church of Christ was to pass through some dreadful experiences, to endure fearful trials, and they are not ceased yet; but she was to look up and see that all God’s ways, works, and will were within not without, beneath not beyond, because and not in spite of, his all-embracing love. All were to find shelter, expanse, and explanation there. It was a blessed vision, and, unlike the ordinary rainbow, may it ever be seen by us, and its teaching believed.
4. The four and twenty elder’s. These represent the whole Church of the Firstborn, the blessed and holy ones whom God hath made kings and priests unto himself. Their white robes tell of their purity, their victory, their joy, as white robes ever do; and their golden crowns (cf. Exo 39:30), the peculiar possession of the priest of God, tell of their high and holy functions in the presence of God. The priest’s office was to intercede with God for man and with man for God, to heas was he, the great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christin sympathy alike with man and God, seeking to unite man to God, even as God was willing to unite himself with man. But seeing them there, associated with God, does it not tell that the holiest and most blessed of the saints know and approve of all he does? This is why the saint’s are so blessed, because they do so know God. They understand what he does, and why; and hence those dark facts of human life which so bewilder and distress us cause no distress to them; for they, whilst in deep love and sympathy with us who are left sorrowing here below, have come to know, as here they could not, and as we cannot, the loving and holy wisdom and the omnipotent grace which are working in and through all these things. If, then, those who know are of one mind with God in regard to them, surely we may learn therefrom to “trust and not be afraid.”
5. The torches of fire. These are said to be “the seven Spirits of God”the holy and perfect Spirit of God in the varied diversity of his operations (1Co 12:4). The witness of the Spirit as well as of the Church to the ways of God is shown. He too, as well as they, testify that God is holy in all his ways and righteous in all his works.
6. The sea of glass. If it were merely the sea that was seen here, we should regard it, as many do, as the symbol of the depth and extent of the judgments of God (cf. Psa 77:19). But it is a sea of glass, like crystal, and its clear calmness, its firm strength, its perfect stillnessfor we are told (Rev 15:2) that the redeemed “stand upon” itall this reminds us of the results of God’s holy rule. “Thou rulest the raging of the sea, the noise of their waves, and the tumults of the people” (Psa 89:9; Psa 65:7). Here, then, is another witness for God and his waysthe progress of peace on earth, concord amongst men; the orderly, quiet, and undisturbed life; the security and peace which are amongst the marked results of the progress of the kingdom of God in the world. Let the results of missionary enterprise amid savage peoples now civilized and at peace attest this.
7. The four living ones. The meaning of this part of the vision is not clear or certain. All manner of opinions have been held. We regard them as answering to the cherubim of the Old Testament, and they are apparently the representatives of those who stand nearest to God, and by whom he mainly carries on his work. Hence the chief ministers of the Church of Godprophets, priests, evangelists, and apostles. The ancient Church very generally regarded these “four living ones” as the representatives of the four evangelists, and in many a picture, poem, and sculpture this idea is portrayed. But we prefer to regard them as part of the symbol, and not the whole. And the different creatures which are selected for these four are the chiefs of their several kinds: the lion amongst beasts, the ox amongst cattle, the eagle amongst birds, and man amongst all. And these several creatures tell of the main qualifications for the ministry of God: courage and strength, as of the lion; patient perseverance in toil, as of the ox; soaring aspiration, “to mount up on wings as eagles,” heavenly mindedness; and intelligence and sympathy, as of the man. Ministers so qualified God chiefly uses in his great work. Their wings tell of incessant activity; their being “full of eyes,” of their continual vigilance and eager outlook on all sides, their careful watch and ward in the Divine service. Such are his ministers. It is said they represent the whole sentient creation of God. But we find them told of here as leaders of worship, as singing the song of the redeemed (Rev 5:9), with harps and golden censers “full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.” They say, “Thou hast made us kings and priests,” etc. Surely all this belongs more to human, redeemed ministries than to vague abstractions, such as “representatives of creation.” And if so, then such being the ministers of God is a further reason for the trust, the confidence, and the assured hope of the Church of God in all ages. And titan all are heard as well as seen, and that which we have is the Trisagion, the Ter-Sanctus, the “Holy, holy, holy,” which Isaiah heard when in the temple. He also saw the vision of the Lord of hosts. And the uplifting of this holy song serves as the signal for the yet fuller outburst of praise which the twenty-four elders, rising from their seats and reverently placing their crowns of gold at the Lord Jehovah’s feet, and prostrating themselves before his throne, render unto him that sitteth upon the throne, saying, “Worthy art thou,” etc. (verse 11). The vision is all of a piece. It strikes terror into the hearts of God’s adversaries, asto compare great things with smalldo the pomp and paraphernalia of an earthly tribunal strike terror into the heart of the criminal who is brought up to be tried, and probably condemned, at its bar; but fills with holy confidence the hearts of all God’s faithful people by the assurance of the holiness, the wisdom, the love, and might of him that ruleth over all, and in whose hands they and all things are.
III. ITS GENERAL INTENT AND PURPOSE. Beyond the immediate needs of the Church of St. John’s day, surely it is designed to teach us all:
1. The reality of the heavenly world. The seen and the temporal do not a little dim and often shut out altogether the sight of the unseen and eternal. It is difficult to realize. Hence whatever tends to bring to bear upon us “the powers of the world to come” cannot but be good. And this is one purpose of this vision.
2. Another is to awaken inquiry as to our own relation to the judgment of God. How shall we stand there, abashed and ashamed, or bold through the atoning sacrifice of Christ which we have believed and relied upon? How shall it be?
3. To excite desire and aspiration after participation in its blessedness. Hence the door is set open in heaven, that we may long to enter there, and resolve through Christ that we will. “What must it be to be there?”that is the aspiration which such a vision as this is intended to awaken, as God grant it may.S.C.
Rev 4:6
The cherubim.
“In the midst were four living ones full of eyes before and behind.” There can scarce be a doubt that these mysterious beings are the same as in the Old Testament are called “cherubim.” Who and what they were, and what they have to teach us, is an inquiry not without difficulty, but assuredly of much interest and profit. Let us, therefore
I. REVIEW THE SCRIPTURE NOTICES OF THE CHERUBIM. They are mentioned in connection:
1. With the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden. We read, “So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east end of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen 3:24). Now, from this passage we learn but little as to the nature of these exalted beingsonly that they were deemed worthy to occupy the place where alone perfect righteousness could dwell. But from the word rendered “to place,” which signifies rather “to place in a tabernacle,” and from expressions which we find in Rev 14:14-16, it seems as if this “place” wherein God had appointed the cherubim had become a sort of local tabernacle, and was called “the presence of the Lord,” from which Cain mourned that he was driven out; and so for a long time it remained, probably until the Deluge. For how else could the idea of the cherubim, so connected with that place, and apparently so familiar to the Jews, have continued in their minds? That it did so is shown by the fact that Bezaleel (Exo 31:1-18.), when he was bidden make cherubim of gold for the ark of God, knew exactly what he was to do. Here, as at Eden, they were where sinful man could not approach. Then the next mention of them is:
2. In connection with the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle (Exo 25:18-20). Such were the commands of him who, but a little while before, amid all the majesty and awe of Sinai, had commanded, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor any likeness of anything,” etc. (Exo 20:1-26.). This command was engraven upon stone, and placed within that very ark of the covenant upon which the golden cherubim stood. And Solomon, too, with apparently the full concurrence of David and of the priests of the Lord, substituted for these cherubim, or else added to them, two others of colossal size, whose wings, stretching overhead, filled the most holy place in his new and gorgeous temple (1Ki 6:23). Besides this, the figures of cherubim were multiplied in the varied forms of gold work and tapestry which were about the temple. Woven into curtains, placed as supports of the priests’ laver at the entrance of the sanctuary, they were found on all sides, although they certainly seemed like plain contradiction and disobedience to the law which forbade the making of all such images. But we have no clear idea what they were like. We are told only of their wings, their faces, and their posturenot anything more. And the command against graven images helps us, I think, to understand partly what they were not. For that command contemplates only objects, regarded as sacred, which might be used as idols and for worship. And these cherubim fulfilled the very letter as well as the spirit of the Law. They were unlike “anything in heaven above,” etc. If you seek to put together the various descriptions given of them in the Bible, you get an impossible combination, an unnatural union of bodily parts and organs, such as no known creature of God ever possessed. And still less were they designed to represent the supreme God. They were simply symbols divinely appointed, the meaning of which it is ours to discover. Then:
3. Isaiah’s and Ezekiel’s visions. (Isa 6:1-13.; Eze 1:10.) Ezekiel describes certain “living ones” that he saw in vision. In Rev 10:1-11. he sees again, but now in Jerusalem, these “living ones;” and he says, “This is the living one that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar, and I knew that they were the cherubim.” And then he proceeds (Rev 10:1-11.) to describe them. And:
4. In the vision of St. John. (Cf. Rev 4:6-9.) With slight modifications, it is evident that we have the same mysterious beings referred to. Therefore inquire
II. WHOM DO THEY REPRESENT? They are called “living ones,” and therefore not the mere elemental forces of nature. This has been argued from Psa 18:10, where it is written, “He rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.” But the swiftness of movement attributed to these beings, their many wings, so that Ezekiel compares their going to “a flash of lightning,” is sufficient to account for what we read in the psalm. But now, gathering together the scattered notices of them which we have reviewed, we learn:
1. They represent servants of God. Every passage that speaks of them shows this. In Eden; in the tabernacle and temple; in Isaiah’s vision in the temple, and in Ezekiel’s; so, too, in St. John’s.
2. Chief ministers of God. See how near they are to him, standing to represent him or in closest attendance upon him.
3. But human, not merely creatural and sentient. From the creature forms, or rather countenances, ascribed to these “living ones,” they have been regarded as representations of God’s sentient creation (of. homily on verses 1-11). But they worship God; they join in the song, “Worthy is the Lamb;” they are in sympathy with God’s servants here on earth, bearing golden censers “full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.” So, then, as they are chosen and chief amongst the servants of God, so also are they human. But:
4. Holy also. These “living ones” represent, not humanity as we see it, but as it shall be in the presence of God by and by. Their position in Eden, where no sin might be, and in the most holy place, and in closest attendance upon the throne and upon him that sat upon it,–all prove how holy, how sinless, they must be. And:
5. Redeemed. They could only be where they are in consequence of redemption. We know that sinful man was not allowed to enter Eden, whence he had been driven out, nor the most holy place, nor the presence of God. Therefore something must have been done, in and upon and for them. Moreover, their song, “Worthy is the Lamb” (Rev 5:12), and their standing on the mercy seat over the ark of the covenantthat mercy seat which was sprinkled with the blood of atonementshow that it is to redemption they, as we and all the saved, owe their all. And:
6. Perfected. See the creatural symbols, the lion, ox, etc. (cf. former homily), which tell of those qualities which go to make up the perfected character of the saints of Godcourage and submission, aspiration and thought. Of such service and servants do the cherubim, these “living ones,” tell.
III. THEIR MINISTRY TO MAN NOW. It is full of interest to observe the seasons when the visions of the cherubim were given. These occasions have all one common characteristicthey were when the way man had to take was very dark and drear. As when our first parents went forth from the blessed Eden to the thorns and thistles of the wilderness which was to be their future home. So, too, when “that great and terrible wilderness,” amid which the Israel of God had to wearily wander for so many years. And when Isaiah was called to his ministry of sorrow because of his people’s sin (Isa 6:9, Isa 6:10). And Ezekiel, when in the sore captivity at Babylon he strove to comfort and cheer the hearts of his countrymen. And St. John saw them in the midst of the tribulations and persecutions which befell the Church of his day. So that the ministry of the cherubim seems to have been, besides all else that it was, a ministry of consolation to troubled and sorrowful men. To tell them what and where one day they should surely be, whatever their hard lot may be now; that they should be redeemed, holy, in the presence of God, serving him day and night in his templeserving him, too, with perfect service, and he who “dwelt between the cherubim” should dwell among them forevermore. It was as a “Sursum corda” to the dejected, downcast children of God, bidding them be of good cheer and “hope in the Lord.” And this is the purpose of this revelation still.S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN
Rev 4:1-6
The Divine government symbolized.
In the forms of earth the formless heavenly things are representedthe Divine government which in our thoughts is so often restricted to the conditions of human government. It is needful to remind ourselves that when we have conceived the most lofty notions of the Divine rule, we are infinitely below the real and actual. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
I. THE THRONE SYMBOLICAL OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. A government by law and authority.
II. THE OCCUPANT OF THE THRONE, whom no man hath seen nor can see, represented as “like a jasper stone and a sardius,” symbolical of essential holiness and punitive justice. Symbols have but their limited teaching. Here the two aspects of the Divine Name represented which the circumstances of the Church neededpersecuted, suffering. The detente of the holy ones by the holy God; the punishment of the enemies of truth, who are enemies of all who love the truth. “I will repay, saith the Lord.”
III. THE DIVINE THRONE ENCOMPASSED BY SYMBOLS OF COVENANTED MERCY. “The rainbow””the symbol of grace returning after wrath.”
IV. THE DIVINE THRONE ENCIRCLED BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CHURCH.
1. The high honour to the Church.
2. Divine recognition of.
3. Utmost glory of: they sit on thronesfulfilment of many promises.
4. Their characterpurity, indicated by “white robes.”
5. Their kingly honour: “on their heads crowns of gold.”
6. The universality and unity of the Church represented in the “four and twenty ciders””the twelve tribes of Israel,” “the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”
V. THE SYMBOLS OF THREATENED JUDGMENTS PROCEEDING FROM THE THRONE are “lightnings, and voices, and thunders,” all effected by the manifold operations of the Holy Spirit of God”seven lamps of fire.”
VI. THE DEPTH AND PURITY OF THE DIVINE ADMINISTRATION SYMBOLIZED in “a glassy sea like unto crystal.” Thy judgments are a great deep.”
VII. To THE RIGHTEOUSNESS, JUSTICE, WISDOM BENIGNITY, OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT ALL CREATURE LIFE BEARS WITNESS. Thus the four living creatures.R.G.
Rev 4:6-8
The song of the living creatures.
Here is represented the praise of the Divine Name by the universal creature life. The highest, the cherubic forms, speak for all. It is a representative song. “All thy works praise thee, O God;” “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.”
I. THE SONG OF THE UNIVERSAL CREATURE–LIFE IS A CEASELESS SONG. “They have no rest day and night” That which is represented is that which should and which shall be. It is the ideal. Wicked man puts himself outside of the otherwise universal chorus; but he shall also be brought to sing. “Thou wilt make the wrath of man to praise thee.” Throughout the widespread universal life a never-ending song of praise ascends; angel and archangel, cherubim and seraphim, continually do cry. All creatures in their vast variety, their marvellous structure, their mutual service, praise him who gave them birth.
II. THE CREATURE‘S SONG CALLED FOR BY THE HOLINESS OF GOD. This the first, the chiefest attribute of the Divine Name. “His Name is holy.” In the creature’s elevation the essential holiness of God shall become the central light into the depths of which, with eager if with veiled eye, shall the holy ones seek to inquire. This the essential “beauty of the Lord.”
III. THE CREATURE‘S SONG CALLED FOR BY THE ETERNITY OF GOD. The Ever-living One is praised by every living one. Each, receiving his life from the Life, shall render back that life in ceaseless songs of praise. The unfathomable depth, the infinite beyond, the eternal past, true matter of praise to the creature: “which was, and is, and is to come.”
IV. THE CREATURE‘S SONG DEMANDED BY THE OMNIPOTENCE, THE ALL MIGHTINESS, OF GOD. The Lord God is the Almighty. To this high subject the limited, feeble creature rises as more and more he searches into the vast works of the Almighty hand which none can let or hinder.
V. THE SONG OF THE CREATURE, AS IS MOST MEET, IS A SONG OF PRAISE, the true praise being, not the attempted estimate of the Divine Name b v the creature mind, but the simple assertion of the Divine excellence: “Holy, holy, holy,” etc.R.G.
Rev 4:9-11
The Church’s song of praise.
The elders speak for all and appear for all. In them all are present. As is promised again and again, the Church surrounds the throne. It is the sign of the Church’s recognition and highest honour.
I. THE SUBJECT OF THE SONG. That of “the living creatures” is “the Lord God,” the Almighty, the Ever-living. The subject of the Church’s song is the creative power of God, in recognition of which “glory, honour, and power” are ascribed. It is the ground of hope for the final triumph of the Divine kingdom over the opposing kingdom of evil which is so soon to be brought into view.
II. The song is offered by the Church’s representatives; it symbolizes THE ENTIRE CHURCH REJOICING IN THE UNIVERSAL SONG OF PRAISE. “When the living creatures shall give glory.” The Church’s song of praise for redemption wilt presently be heard; but it is preceded, as is most meet, by praise to God “for his excellent greatness and for his mighty acts.”
III. The song is presented by the Church IN LOWLY PROSTRATION. Never do the songs of praise from the earth rise higher than when presented in the lowliest humility. Not only do the elders “fall down before him that sitteth on the throne,” but in recognition of his absolute supreme authority, they “cast their crowns before the throne.” In presence of the one Lord, all authority, all honour, all might, must be ignored.
IV. The matter of the song recognizes THE EXALTED WORTHINESS OF THE MOST HIGH, to whom pertains the highest “glory, honour, and power,” illustrated in the creation of all things.
V. The song terminates in AN ADORING ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE FINAL END OF CREATION. “Because of thy will.” “He spake, and they were created: he commanded, and they stood fast.” The “will” expresses the pleasure of God, and for his pleasure they are, and were created. The end of their being is not to be found in themselves, but in the Divine will. It is worthy. And as by the Divine will all things are, so all things will be made to serve that will, yea, even the rebellious elements in human life, for he will make the wrath of man to praise him.R.G.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Rev 4:1
Man’s higher sphere of being: (1) Humanly accessible.
“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 show thee things which must be hereafter.” Disrobe this chapter of its strange metaphorical costume, brush away all the symbols, and there appears a supermundane world, here called heavenman’s higher sphere of being; a world this, unseen by the outward eye, unheard by the outward ear, untouched by the tactile nerve, lying away altogether from our five senses. That such a world exists is, to say the least, highly probable, if not morally certain. Universal reason conducts to the belief in, and the universal heart yearns for, such a scene. He who is so thoroughly acquainted with the universe as to be incapable of a mistake, so inflexibly sincere as to be incapable of deception, has said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.” I may observe, in passing, that from the first verse of this chapter to the first verse of the eighth chapter inclusive forms an interesting paragraph of thought for suggestion. Now, this supermundane world, or man’s higher sphere of being, we have here presented in two aspectshumanly accessible and spiritually entered. Each of these we shall employ as the germ of a separate homily. In the text it appears as humanely accessible. Notice
I. THERE IS A DOOR TO ADMIT. “A door was opened in heaven.” What is the “door”? Christ says, “I am the Door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (Joh 10:9). He shall enter into this super-mundane world with absolute safety and abundant provision. He is “the Way.” Christ’s absolute moral excellence makes him the Door of admission to all that is pure, beautiful, and joyous in the universe. “Beholding as in a glass the flee of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory,” etc. Two things may be predicated about this door.
1. It is transparent. He who looks into Christ’s character looks into heaven. In his spirit we see the light that animates all heaven, and the principles that set all heaven to music. He who knows Christ experimentally knows heaven, and no other.
2. It is ample. Millions have passed through it, and millions more will to the end of time; thousands are passing through it, and all the men of coming generations will find it wide enough.
II. THERE IS A VOICE TO WELCOME. “And the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking [speaking] with me; which said [one saying], Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be [come to pass] hereafter.” Whither? Up the heights of the supersensuous universe, lying even beyond the stars. Thither in imagination we may ascend. Who, indeed, in the stillness of the night, has not heard as it were a “trumpet” coming down into his soul from those bright orbs which in teeming legions traverse the infinite fields above?
“Whoever gazed upon their shining, Nor turned to earth without repining, Nor longed for wings to fly away, And meet with them eternal day?”
“Come up hither,” they seem to say. Let not your minds be confined to your little, cloudy, stormy, perishing planet. Earth was only intended as the temporary home of your bodies, not the dwelling place of your souls. The great universe is the domain of mind. We roll and shine in our mighty spheres around you to win you away to the serene, the height, and the boundless. “Come up hither,” immortal man, wing your flight from orb to orb, system to system; count our multitudes, mark our movements, gauge our dimensions, breathe in our brightness, rise beyond us, scale the wondrous heavens still far away, revel in the Infinite, be lost in God. But the elevation to which we are called is not local, but moral. “Seek those things which are above.” What are they? Truth, rectitude, holiness, fellowship with the Infinite. Herein is true soul elevation. To this the “trumpet” bids us. Hear this trumpet from the infinite silences around you, from departing saints above you, from the depths of conscience within you, “come up hither.”
CONCLUSION. Are we morally ascending? Then we shall experience three things.
1. Increasing dominion over the world.
2. Constant growth in moral force.
3. Augmented interest in the spiritual domain.D.T.
Rev 4:2-11
Man’s higher sphere of being: (2) Spiritually entered.
“And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne,” etc. We need not suppose that the supermundane world appeared to John’s bodily eye in the forms in which it is here presented. It was a mental vision and nothing more, and a mental vision is often more real, more significant, more impressive, than a material. Commentators of this book have treated these objects as those which were addressed to the senses of the apostle, and have thus turned it into a wilderness of confusion; and preachers have used it to excite the imagination, stir the sensibilities, and stimulate the wildest and idlest speculations concerning a man’s higher sphere of being. The whole is a mental vision. We shall take the vision not as a symbolic puzzle, or even a metaphorical representation, but merely as an illustration of two things.
I. THE EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER of man’s higher sphere of being. All things here seem to be of a unique nature and order. An air of the wonderful spreads over all.
1. The general appearances are extraordinary. Observe the social appearances are extraordinary. Royalties abound. “A throne was set in heaven,” with one Occupant supreme, as brilliant in aspect as a precious stone. “He that sat was to look upon like a jasper [stone] and a sardine stone [sardius]: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald [to look upon].” Then there were other royalties and dignities seated round the central throne. “And round about the throne were four and twenty seats [thrones]: and upon the seats [thrones] I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed [arrayed] in white raiment [garments]; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.” Now, the social appearances of this world are nothing like this. Everywhere there is degradation, not dignity; heads encircled with poverty, sorrow, and care, not “crowns of gold.” Indeed, the great bulk of our social world do not even see the throne of the Supreme One in the heavens. They see the motion of the mere material machinery, or a scheme of what they call laws and forces, but not the One central and universal Ruler of all. Man’s higher sphere of being, socially, is widely different to this. In the higher one free moral agents are the ruling power, not blind forces. And then over all there is One, and but One over all, on the central throne. Again, the physical phenomena are extraordinary. “And out of the throne proceeded [proceed] lightnings and thunderings [thunders] and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” True, we have lightnings and thunders here occasionally, but articulate voices in the heavens we hear not, nor do we see torches of fire blazing before the throne. The firmament that spreads over the higher sphere of being will no doubt, in many respects, be very different to the heavens that encircle us. So, also, with the waters. “Before the throne there was [as it were] a sea of glass [a glassy sea] like unto crystal.” We have a sea here rolling in majesty round three parts of the globe, but it is not like glass or crystal, ever calm, sparkling, and clear; it is never at rest, often lashed into fury, and black with rage. How calm and clear will be our higher sphere, “a sea of glass,” mirroring the peacefulness and the glory of the Infinite! The living creatures also are extraordinary. “Round about the throne were four beasts [living creatures] full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast [creature] was like a lion, and the second beast [creature] like a calf, and the third beast [creature] had a face as [as of] a man, and the fourth beast [creature] was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts [living creatures] had each of them [having each one of them] six wings about him; and they were full [are full] of eyes within [and round about].” Although we have in this earth such beasts and birds and faces of man as here represented, a striking difference is indicated. They had “six wings” and were “full of eyes.” Whilst some have the courage of the lion, the patience of the ox, the towering tendency of the eagle, and the sympathy of the man, they are all endowed with transcendent organs of vision and powers of speedthey teem with eyes and wings. It is here suggested, thenI do not say that it is intended to be taught, for I am not gifted with the power to interpret such passagesthat man’s life in the higher sphere of being differs widely from the present. “Eye hath not seen,” etc.
2. The supreme service is extraordinary. What is the supreme service in that higher sphere? Worship. “And they rest not [have no rest] day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God [the] Almighty, which was, and [which] is, and [which] is to come. And when those beasts [the living creatures] give [shall give] glory and honour and thanks to him that sat [sitteth] on the throne, [to him] who liveth forever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall [shall fall] down before him that sat [sitteth] on the throne, and worship [shall worship] him that liveth forever and ever, and cast [shall cast] their crowns before the throne,” etc. The worship there is the one ruling, intense, unremitting service. It is anything but that here; business, pleasure, aggrandizement,these are the great and constant services of life. Real worship is indeed rare.
II. THE REAL ENTRANCE into man’s higher sphere of being. “Immediately [straightway] I was in the Spirit.” It is suggested that this higher life, this supermundane world, is entered by the Spirit. “Flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” There are two ways by which man can enter the invisible.
1. By the efforts of the imagination. The whole scene before us is evidently the product of the imagination. Extraordinary visions men often have in the stilly watches of the night, in the season of dreams. But imagination can act more accurately, if not more vividly, in the hour of consciousness and intellectual activity. Thus Milton beheld his heavens and his hells, his angels and his devils. We can all, by the force of imagination, penetrate the visible, the material, the tangible, withdraw the sublunary curtain and step into the world of spiritual wonders.
2. By the influx of a new spirit. It is not uncommon for men to come into possession of a new ruling spirit, and with a new spirit comes a new world. When the philosophic spirit enters a man (and it does so in the case of a few in every age and land), the man is ushered into a new world a world of high thoughts, invisible forms, and remedial forces. When the commercial spirit enters the rustic lout, he soon finds himself in a new worlda world of speculations and struggles, of losses and gains. When the parental spirit enters the soul, it is borne into a world before unseena world of solicitude, absorbing interests, pains and pleasures, sorrows and joys. When the genuinely religious spirit enters the soul, it enters this higher sphere of human lifethe world of brightness and beauty, the world of an “innumerable company of angels, the spirits of just men made Perfect,” etc: “And immediately [straightway] I was in the Spirit.” “Heaven lies about us in our infancy, and we have only to be in this spirit to realize it. The great Teacher taught that no man can see the kingdom of God, unless he comes into the possession of this spirit. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
CONCLUSION. Search not for an outward heaven, but rather search for that new spirit, that spirit of Christliness, that will let you into the heaven that lies about you and within you. Were the twelve hundred million men that tenant this earth today to come into possession of this spirit, they would arise on the morrow and exclaim, “Behold, a new heaven and a new earth!” Evermore the state of a man’s soul determines his universe. The ruling life within him measures out, builds up, and moulds the external.D.T.
Rev 4:10
Man in heaven.
“They cast their crowns before the throne.” Far am I from pretending to the power of explaining this book. There is ample scope here for the play of imagination. Here is a field which, under the culture of a vivid fancy, is capable of producing theories and speculations suited to every variety of taste, every grade of intellect, and every degree of culture. In this chapter John has a mental, Divine, and symbolical vision of heaven: the “door is opened,” and a voice commands him to ascend and enter. By “heaven,” of course, I do not mean heaven as a place, but as a state of the Christly soulthe heaven within, a subjective paradise. The text leads us to infer
I. THAT MAN IN THIS HEAVEN HAS REACHED THE HIGHEST DIGNITY. He has “crowns.” We are not to suppose, of course, that there are material crowns in heaven; these, whether formed of gold, or diamonds, or both, are the mere toys of earth; but crowns are used here as the emblem of the highest dignity. The earth has nothing higher to offer man than a crown; men have hazarded their lives and waded through seas of Blood to get a crown. Because of the importance which universal man attaches to a crown, it is employed to represent the dignity of men in heaven. This crown is called in the New Testament “a crown of righteousness.” Earthly crowns are often associated with iniquity; their history is one of violence and wrong. But the dignity reached by men in heaven will be “righteous”it will be in harmony with universal rectitude. There is no Being in the universe that can charge them with having reached their position by unjust means. It is called “a crown of life.” The crown which the visitors in the Grecian games obtained soon withered and died; the weaved garlands soon became dust. The crowns which sovereigns wear in more modern times are corruptible, the diamonds will grow dim. and. the gold will wear out; but the crown of man in heaven is “a crown of life.” It is not something pat on; it is the expression of his being. The crown is to the man what the blossom is to the tree, what the halo is to the sunsomething rising out of the beingthe fruit of his life. It is called “a crown of glory.” What is glory? Paul says, “There is one glory of the sun and another of the stars; and we may say there is one glory of the earth and one of the heavens. The things to which men attach the idea of glory are puerilities in the estimation of Heaven. Take the most magnificently attired sovereign of the world, surpassing all other monarchs of the earth in the pomp and pageantry of his movements, what is the glory of that poor mortal, on which the empty crowd stares with wonder? It is only the glory of a gaudy actor on the stage, garbed in the tawdry and tinselled robe, put on for the hour for popular effect. But this is a glory altogether different. It is the glory of an intellect in harmony with the truth, the glory of conscience in sympathy with the right, the glory of the soul centred in God. What is there so glorious as a noble soul? If this be the state of man in heaven:
1. Let us have faith in the improvability of our nature. When we look round upon society, and see the gross sensuality, the dishonesty, the profanity of men, we feel disposed to loathe our very species: but when we look to heaven, we feel that the worst are capable of improvementthat “dry bones can live.” “Such were some of you,” etc.
2. Let us be consoled under the departure by death of the good. “I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord;” “These are they which came out of great tribulation;” “Sorrow not as those that are without hope.”
3. Let us not judge of providence without taking into account the future as well as the present. “I reckon,” says the apostle, “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
II. THAT MAN IN THIS HEAVEN ASCRIBES THE DIGNITY HE HAS REACHED TO JESUS CHRIST. “They cast their crowns before the throne.” This implies:
1. A conviction that they owed all their honorers to Christ. Whence did they obtain their crowns?
2. A readiness to acknowledge their obligation. The greater our natures the more ready to acknowledge our obligation.
2. The surpassing glories of Christ. He is in the midst of the throne, and all ascribe their all to him. Napoleon I., after he had conquered empires, and planted his foot upon the neck of kingdoms, determined to be crowned emperor. To give pageantry and lustre to the occasion, he compelled the Pope of Rome to be present. In the act of coronation, the emperor refused to receive the crown from the pope; his proud spirit told him he had won it himself: he placed it upon his own brow, thus declaring to the spectators and the civilized world the fact that he was indebted to himself only for imperial power. How different this to our Cromwell, who in spirit towered high above all the Napoleons of history! After the crown of England had been offered to him by successive Parliaments, he refused it! Great souls are above crowns. All in this subjective heaven of goodness cast their “crowns” at the feet of Christ, and say, “Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.”D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Rev 4:1. After this I looked, &c. After these things I saw and beheld a door opened in heaven. Doddridge. After the vision in the former chapters, relating to the things which are, other visions succeed of the things which must be here-after. The scene is laid in heaven, and the scenery is drawn in allusion to the encampment of the children of Israel in the wilderness, Num 1:2 : The sounding of the trumpet probably alludes to the custom of the Jewish church, where, upon opening the gates of the temple, the priests sounded the trumpets, to call the Levites and stationary men to their attendance. God is represented (Rev 4:2-3.) sitting on his throne, as in the tabernacle or temple, much in the same manner as the prophet Ezekiel has described him, ch. Eze 1:26-28. Next to the tabernacle encamped the Priests and Levites; and next to the throne (Rev 4:4.) were four and twenty elders sitting, answering to the princes of the four and twenty courses of the Jewish priests; cloathed in white raiment, as emblems of their purity and sanctity; and having on their heads crowns of gold; for Christ hath made them kings and priests unto God, ch. Rev 5:10. 1Pe 2:9. Out of the throne proceeded lightnings, &c. Rev 4:5 the usual concomitants of the divine presence; and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, answering to the golden candlestick with seven lamps, which was before the most holy place in the tabernacle. There was also before the throne, Rev 4:6 a sea of glass like unto crystal, answering to the great molten sea or laver in the temple of Solomon; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, that is, before and behind the throne, and on each side of the throne, were four beasts, or rather four living creatures, ( ) representing the heads of the whole congregation in the four quarters of the world, and resembling the cherubim and seraphim in Ezekiel’s and Isaiah’s visions, (Eze 1:10; Eze 10:14. Isa 6:2-3.) or rather resembling the four standards or ensigns of the four divisions of tribes in the camp of Israel, according to the traditionary description of them bythe Jewish writers. The first living creature was like a lion, Rev 4:7 which was the standard of Judah, with the two other tribes in the eastern division. The second like a calf or ox, which was the standard of Ephraim, with the two other tribes in the western division. The third had a face as a man, which was the standard of Reuben, with the two other tribes in the southern division. And the fourth was like a flying eagle, which was the standard of Dan, with the two other tribes in the northern division. And this traditionarydescription agrees also with the four faces of the cherub, in Ezekiel’s vision. Of these living creatures, and of the elders, the constant employment is to celebrate, in hymns of praise and thanksgiving, the great and wonderful works of creation, grace, and providence, Rev 4:8-11.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 4:1 . . The formula marks the entrance of a new vision, and that, too, a greater or more important one, [1649] while the formula introduces the various individual features represented in the course of a larger main picture. [1650] The formula , Rev 13:1 and Rev 17:3 , stands at the beginning of an entirely new important division, and is therefore regular, because in both passages the opening of a new scene is indicated by the entire preceding verse, which in a measure prevents there the . But since by the the vision now following is distinguished from what is completed in Rev 3:22 , the referring back to the entire vision in Rev 1:10 to Rev 3:22 , it is in no way indicated that between Rev 3:22 and Rev 4:1 there is a space in which John was not “in the Spirit,” but in his ordinary consciousness, and perhaps penned the seven epistles. Thus Beng.: “John always comprehended one part after another in sight and hearing, and immediately wrote it.” Cf. also Aret., Grot., Calov., Hengstenb.; and, against the latter, Ebrard’s correct protest. Even De Wette, who nevertheless correctly acknowledges that John is already (Rev 4:1 ) “in Spirit,” viz., from Rev 1:10 , fixes the committing of the seven epistles to writing between Rev 3:22 and Rev 4:1 . But nowhere in the course of the entire revelation (Rev 1:10 to Rev 22:16 ) is any temporary return from the ecstatic condition to ordinary consciousness conceivable, and therefore a partial noting-down is nowhere possible. The , Rev 4:1 , undoubtedly indicates that the “being in Spirit” beginning with Rev 1:10 continues unbroken; [1651] and from Rev 4:1 to the close of the entire revelation, an interruption of the ecstatic consciousness can nowhere be admitted, since the vision which follows always is developed from that which precedes. [1652] There is only one “being in Spirit,” [1653] in which John beheld the entire revelation with all its changing, yet coherent, scenes.
. . . The opening of heaven [1654] is explained by means of a door , from the fact neither that heaven is regarded a firm arch, [1655] nor that John is to enter heaven, [1656] nor that heaven appears as a temple; [1657] but that heaven is the house, [1658] the palace of God (in which he is enthroned, Psa 11:4 ; Psa 18:7 ; Psa 29:9 ). [1659]
, . . . Not the voice of Christ, [1660] who indeed had spoken (chs. 2., 3.) [1661] after the first voice, [1662] but the voice first heard, which already (Rev 1:10 ) is no further defined, and here also cannot be further designated than as it is identical with the former.
. The construction “according to sense” [1663] is especially easy with the [1664] introducing the direct address. [1665]
. With respect to the form, cf. Act 12:7 ; Mar 15:30 (var.); Eph 5:17 . Winer, p. 76. John ascending to heaven and to the things there to be seen, through the door opened on this account, which he beheld in Rev 4:1 , is immediately present in spirit [1666] at the significant representation of that which is henceforth to happen. [1667] Klief., in violation of the context, asserts that a more elevated station is meant, from which John could look as well through the opened door into heaven, as also to a greater distance upon earth.
, . . . Thus the heavenly voice speaks, although the person to whom it belongs cannot be more definitely known, as in later visions, where, however, the same angel does not everywhere appear as interpreter, and “show,” because the voice sounds forth in the name of the personal God himself, who, nevertheless, is efficacious beneath the one who shows (Rev 1:1 ), and causes also the prophet to be in the Spirit (cf. Rev 4:2 ).
. Cf. Rev 1:1 .
, as Rev 1:19 .
[1649] Rev 7:1 ; Rev 7:9 , Rev 15:5 , Rev 18:1 .
[1650] Rev 5:1 ; Rev 5:6 ; Rev 5:11 , Rev 6:1 ; Rev 6:5 ; Rev 6:8-9 ; Rev 6:12 , Rev 8:2 ; Rev 8:13 , Rev 9:1 , Rev 10:1 , Rev 13:11 , Rev 14:6 ; Rev 14:14 , Rev 15:1-2 , Rev 17:6 , Rev 19:11 ; Rev 19:17 ; Rev 19:19 , Rev 20:1 ; Rev 20:4 ; Rev 20:11 , Rev 21:1 .
[1651] Rev 4:2 does not contradict this, if only we do not, like Hengstenb., identify the being “in Spirit” and “in heaven.”
[1652] Cf. Introduction, p. 12 sqq.
[1653] Rev 1:10 .
[1654] Cf. Eze 1:11 ; Mat 3:16 ; Act 10:11 .
[1655] Heinr.
[1656] De Wette. Cf. Grot.
[1657] Vitr., Zll.
[1658] Gen 28:17 .
[1659] Cf. Eichh.
[1660] Hengstenb., Klief., etc.
[1661] Cf. Rev 1:17 sqq.
[1662] Rev 1:10 .
[1663] Cf. Rev 4:8 ; Rev 11:15 ; Rev 19:14 ; Eph 4:18 ; Mar 9:26 . Winer, p. 489.
[1664] .
[1665] Cf., besides, Winer, p. 560.
[1666] Cf. Rev 4:2 .
[1667] Cf. , . . .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
SECTION SECOND
The Seven Seals
Rev 4:1 to Rev 6:17
A.IDEAL HEAVENLY WORLD-PICTURE CONCERNING THE SEVEN SEALS. STAND-POINT OF THE SEER IN HEAVEN. THE HEAVENLY WORLD AS THE ARCHETYPE AND FINAL GOAL OF THE EARTHLY WORLD
Rev 4:1 to Rev 5:14
a. Translation of the Seer to Heaven
1After this [these things] I looked [saw1], and, behold, a door was [om. was] opened [set open] in heaven: and the [that] first voice which I heard was [om. was] as it were of [om. it were of] a trumpet talking [speaking] with me; [,] which said [saying2], Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be here 2after [after these things]. And [om. And3] Immediately I was in the Spirit [spirit]
b. The Throne, the Sitter thereon, and His Government
And, behold, a throne was set [stood4] in heaven, and one sat on the throne [upon the throne5 one sitting]6 3And he that sat [the one sitting] was [om. was7] to look upon [in appearance] like a jasper and a [om. a] sardine stone: and there was [om. there was] a rainbow round about the throne, in sight [appearance] like unto 4[om. unto] an emerald. And round about the throne were [om. were] four and twenty [twenty-four8] seats [thrones]: and upon the seats [thrones] I saw [I saw]9 four and twenty [twenty-four8] elders sitting, clothed in white raiment [garments]; and they had [om. they had10] on their heads crowns of gold [golden crowns]. 5And out of the throne proceeded [go forth] lightnings and thunderings and voices [voices and thunders]:11 and there were [om. there were] seven lamps of fire burning 6before the throne,12 which are the13 seven Spirits of God. [;] And [and] before the throne there was [om. there was-ins. as it were] a sea of glass [glassy sea]14 like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were 7[om. were] four beasts [living-beings15] full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast [living-being] was [om. was] like a lion, and the second beast [living-being] like a calf [bullock16] and the third beast [living-being] had [having] a [the] face as17 [ins. of] a man, and the fourth beast [living-being] was [om. was] like a 8flying eagle. And the18 four beasts [living-beings] had each of them [each one of them having]19 six wings [ins. apiece20] about him [om. about him]21; and they were [om. they wereins. round about and within were]22 full of eyes within [om. within]: and they [om. they] rest [ins. they have] not [ins. by] day and [ins. by] night, saying, Holy, holy, holy,23 Lord God [ins. the] Almighty [or All-ruler24], which [who] 9was, and [ins. who] is, and [ins. who] is to come [cometh]. And when [whensoever] those [the] beasts [living beings] [ins. shall] give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat [sitteth] on [upon] the throne, who [to him that] liveth for ever and ever [into the ages of the ages], 10the four and twenty elders [ins. shall] fall down before him that sat [sitteth] on [upon] the throne, and [ins. shall] worship him that liveth for ever and ever [into the ages of the ages], and [ins. shall25] cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11Thou art worthy, O Lord [our Lord and God],26 to receive [take] [ins. the] glory and [ins. the] honor and [ins. the] power: for thou hast created [didst create] all things, and for thy pleasure [on account of thy will] they are [were27] and were created.
Rev 5:1-14
c. The Sealed Book of the Worlds Course. Lamentation and Comfort touching the Sealed Book with the Dark Enigmas of the Worlds History
1And I saw in [upon] the right hand of him that sat [sitteth] on [upon] the throne a book [scroll] written within and on the back [or, without28] side [om. side], sealed [ins. up] with seven seals. 2And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with [in29] a loud [great] voice, Who is [Isaiah 30] worthy to open the book [scroll], and to loose the seals thereof [of it]? 3And no man [one] in heaven, nor in [upon] earth, neither [nor] under the earth, was able to open the book [scroll], neither [nor even]31 to look thereon [upon it]. 4And I wept much,32 because no man [one] was found worthy to open and to read [om. and to read]33 the book [scroll], neither [nor even] to look thereon [upon it]. 5And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion [ins. that is]34 of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath [om. hath] prevailed [conquered] to open35 the book [scroll], and to loose [om. to loose]36 the seven seals thereof [of it].
d. The Lion as the Lamb
6And I beheld [saw], and, lo, [om., and, lo,]37 in the midst38 of the throne and of the four beasts [living-beings], and in the midst of the elders, stood [om. stood] a Lamb [ins. standing], as [ins. if39] it had been [om. it had been] slain, haying seven horns and seven eyes, which40 are the seven Spirits of God sent forth41 into all the earth. 7And he came and took the book [om. the book42] out of the right hand of him that sat [sitteth] upon the throne.
e. Worship of the Lamb
8And when he had taken the book [scroll], the four beasts [living-beings] and [ins. the] four and twenty [twenty-four] elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one [each] of them [of item] harps43 [a harp], and golden vials full of odours [incense],which are the prayers of [ins. the] saints. 9And they sung [sing] a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book [scroll], and to open the seals thereof [of it]: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed [didst buy] us [or om. us44] to God by [with] thy blood out of every kindred [tribe], and tongue, and people, and nation; 10And hast made [didst make] us [them45] unto our God46 kings [a kingdom47] and priests:48 and we [they] shall49 [or om. shall] reign on [upon or over]50 the earth. 11And I beheld, and I heard [or ins. as51] the [or a] voice of many angels round about [around52] the throne, and the beasts [living-beings], and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand [myriads of myriads], and thousands of thousands; 12Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was [hath been] slain to receive [take] [ins. the] power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. 13And every creature which [that] Isaiah 53 in heaven, and on [upon] the earth,54 and under the earth,55 and such as are in [upon56] the sea, and all [things57] that are in them, heard I saying, [ins. To him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb, be] Blessing [the blessing], and [ins. the] honor, and [ins. the] glory, and [ins. the] power [might], be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb [om. be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb] for ever and ever [into the ages of the ages]. 14And the four beasts [living-beings] said, Amen. And the four and twenty [om. four and twenty]58 elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever [om. him that liveth for ever and ever]59.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
[Preliminary Note On The Symbolism Of The Vision]
By the American Editor
[The questionWhat did the Apocalyptist behold?is one of great interest and importance. It is almost universally admitted, that he did not look upon the real Heaven and real angels. The scene he beheld was symbolic. But what is a symbol? What are the classes of symbols? What relation do they bear to the objects symbolized?
It is not designed in this note to discuss the whole subject of Symbolism. For this, the writer does not feel himself to be, at present, prepared; neither has he time or space for so great a work. He would, however, present certain views which may prove helpful to a more thorough appreciation and understanding of the Apocalypse than at present obtains, and which also may be of use as preparatory to that complete discussion of the entire subject, which, in the not distant future, must be made.
A Symbol may be defined to be a substantial (real or apparently real) sense image of some other object. Ordinarily, in the enumeration or classification of symbols, not only are substantial objects given, but also attributives (such as acts, effects, relations, etc.), and chronological periods and numbers. These latter, for scientific purposes, are better classed as symbolic attributives, periods and numbers, contemplating under the term Symbol only substantial (real or apparent) objects.
Symbols are of two essentially distinct classes, viz.: material and visional. The former are material things, such as the Tabernacle, the Mercy-Seat, the Candlestick, and the Cherubim of the Tabernacle, the Water of Baptism, and the Bread and Wine of the Lords Supper. Visional Symbols are those images, having the appearance of substantiality (simulacra), beheld in ecstatic vision. The latter were the objects beheld by the Apocalyptists (Daniel, Ezekiel, John), and concerning these alone is it designed, in the present note, particularly to treat. It is here proper to remark, however, that whilst scientific arrangements of these two classes of symbols based on their nature will be somewhat different, those based on a consideration of their relations to the ultimate objects represented will be precisely similar, as will appear.
As has just been hinted, Symbols may be classed on two essentially distinct principles: first, in respect of their nature; and, secondly, in respect of their relations to the ultimate objects symbolized.
The former, which, so far as the writer is aware, is the only classification that has been attempted, is exceedingly important; it is absolutely essential to a complete presentation of the subject of Symbolism. The following, adapted to meet the special views of the present writer, from Winthrops Essay on Prophetic Symbols, pp. 16 sqq. (and therein credited to Lords Theological and Literary Journal, Vol. III., pp. 688 sqq.), is presented for consideration.60
I. Living Conscious Agents.
1. Intelligent, (1) the , Rev 4:6; Rev 4:8-9; (2) Angels; (3) Men, etc.
2. Unintelligent, (1) Brutes; (2) Monster Animals.
II. Dead Bodies, such as the slain witnesses. Rev 11:8-11.
III. Natural Unconscious Agents or Objects; as the earth, the sun, the moon, stars, mountains, etc.
IV. Artificial Objects in Ordinary Use: as candlesticks, crowns, swords, harps, etc.
A still more important classification, however, is to be made in respect of the relations existing between the symbol and the ultimate object symbolized. The following, which does not profess to be more than tentative, is presented for consideration.
The symbols (simulacra) beheld by John and the other Apocalyptists are at once divisible into two classes: Immediate and Mediate. The former immediately represent the ultimate object contemplated, as the simulacra of Heaven, the Elders, the Angels; the latter represent the ultimate through the medium of some other object, as Christ is represented by the Simulacrum of a Lamb, and a church by that of a candlestick. This distinction is clearly implied in the narrative of John. Sometimes he wrote as though he directly beheld the ultimate objects; he saw Heaven, the Throne, and Him who sat thereon, and the Angels: and again he wrote, not as beholding the ultimate, but some object that represented it; he saw, not Jesus, not the Holy Spirit, but a Lamb representing the former, and Seven Lamps the latter. In the descriptive language of the Apocalyptist, the simulacra, which formed the common elements of the entire vision, were, so to speak, eliminated, and he wrote as though he directly beheld the things which the simulacra represented,sometimes the ultimate object, sometimes the intermediate object that denoted the ultimate. In the former case, the eliminated simulacra were immediate; in the latter, mediate. In reference to the latter class, we occasionally find the Seer interpreting the symbol as in Rev 1:20, The seven stars are (i. e. represent) the Angels, etc. This was not always done, because, generally, it was unnecessary, as in the case of the Lamb slain representing Christ. It was done, however, with sufficient frequency to indicate the law.
Immediate symbols are divisible into two orders, viz.: (1) Similar, where the form of the simulacrum corresponds with that of the ultimate, as where the simulacrum of a man symbolizes a man; (2) ideal, where the form is not an image of the form of the ultimate, but is an ideal image (not, however, a likeness of some other known object) expressive of the qualities of the ultimate, as the (probably) ideal simulacra of the angels.
Mediate symbols may be divided into three orders, viz.: (1) individual, where the simulacrum indicates an individual ultimate, as where the Lamb indicates Christ; (2) classical, where it indicates a class of individuals, substantial entities regarded as one whole, as where the simulacrum of a candlestick symbolized a church, and that of a woman, the universal Church; (3) aberrant, where the simulacrum (always apparently substantial) indicates as its ultimate, not a substantial, but an ideal entity, as where the simulacrum of a sword indicates justice; and that of a horseman, war or pestilence.
From the preceding classification we deduce five orders of symbols, which may be designated with sufficient clearness as follows: I. Immediate-similar; II. Immediate-ideal: III. Mediate-individual; IV. Classical; V. Aberrant.61
All the attributives of symbols (qualities, actions, relations to other symbols, etc.) are themselves symbolic, i. e. they represent some attributive of the ultimate object. They are of two kinds: Similar and Ideal. Similar, when some similar attributive is denoted, as where the walking, standing, speaking, of the symbol denotes that the individual symbolized walks, stands or speaks; Ideal, when something dissimilar is indicated. Thus the opening of the Seven Seals by the Lamb is Ideal; it denotes, not an actual opening of seals by Christ, but a disclosure of the previously concealed purposes of God. It may be observed that this division is analogous to the general divisions of the symbols themselves, given in the preceding foot-note. It may also be remarked that in the case of Classical and Aberrant Symbols, all the attributives are necessarily Ideal.
Numbers as applied to symbols, whilst they cannot properly be classed as attributives, have a like division. They are either Similar, denoting a like number as applied to the ultimate, or Ideal. Chronological periods may be in like manner divided.
One important fact in reference to Visional Symbolization should here be distinctly noted, as its non-recognition has resulted in much confusion. A simulacrum may immediately represent a Material symbol. Thus, for instance, in the real world, a throne is a real thing, even though it be at the same time a Material Symbol of established sovereignty. Now in the Visional symbolization of a palace and its furniture, the simulacrum of the throne would be an Immediate Symbol: it would designate a really existent substance. The throne in the palace would be a Material Aberrant symbol indicating sovereignty. The simulacrum of that throne would be a Visional Immediate symbol representing, primarily, a real throne. Such a Visional symbol, it should be remarked, would legitimately suggest that which the Material Symbol represented, and, under certain circumstances, might be designed to suggest it. From these observations it follows that a Visional Symbol may perform the double office (1) of immediately symbolizing a Material Symbol as a substance, and (2) of aberrantly representing that which the Material symbol was designed to set forth.
The effort will be made to apply the principles set forth in this Note in additional notes and comments throughout the remainder of the Commentary.E. R. C.]
SYNOPTICAL VIEW62
Chs. 4 and 5
The Seven Seals
The Vision of the Seven Seals embraces the history of the world,63 reposing upon the foundation of the Divine counsel and government. This history is represented in its constant gravitation toward the end. It is, on the one hand, in its fearful form, the riddle of all riddles, a book sealed seven-fold; but, on the other hand, unsealed by the Lamb of God, by Christ and the spirit of His cross, it appears as the foundation of the Churchs history, as the history of the Kingdom of God [Church]. Its Sovereign Ruler is the Rider on the white horse,64 behind Whom the other terrible horsemen must ride as esquires. It is thus dynamically governed by the Christian idea or, rather, the personal Christ; its object being the renewal of mankind by the connection of all human suffering with the redemptive crucial suffering of the Lamb. The Lamb, as It had been slain, is the central Personality, in the infinite life-giving operation of Its central suffering. As is the relation of the Logos to the world, of Christ to the human and spiritual world, so is the relation of Christs suffering to all the sufferings of humanity, down to the very depths of Sheol [Hades]. Accordingly, the vision, in respect of the celestial foundation which it constitutes, is the archetype of the worlds historynot its precursive counterpart, in accordance with Jewish ideas. See Dsterdieck, p. 211. The picture of the worlds history, again,especially its history in New Testament timesch. 6., is the foundation of external Church history, in respect of its eschatological bearings; whilst the Church, in respect of its inner relations as exhibited in the seven Churches, is the ideal prius65 of world-history. On the seven seals rest the seven trumpets; on these, the seven thunders, and against these last, the opposition of the seven-headed dragon rears itself, calling forth, in its turn, with its two seven-headed [?] Antichristian organs, the seven anger-vials of judgment; the vials of anger being, as the end of the old world, the preliminary condition of the new.
The effort to decide whether John beheld the whole series of visions in an unbroken succession, or whether prophetic sight ceased between the individual visions, and he set down by parcels that which he had seen only in part (Bengel and others), is the result of a rather literal conception of the Apocalypse. The latter view overlooks the grand unity of the vision in its totality, a unity which is even distinctly expressed in chap. 1. and without which the lively connection of the whole could be comprehended only through the assumption of immediate inspiration. On the other hand, the opposite theory ignores the freedom of the symbolic expression; in accordance with which the conception, given in its fundamental outlines on one Sunday, might be further developed in, with and amid its setting forth in writing, being continually accompanied by prophetic evidence.66
The sublime Heaven-scene of chs. 4 and 5., introduced by the words, , is the type of all subsequent Heaven-scenes. And like the rest, it is, as a Heaven-picture, the preliminary condition of the earth-picture; in the sense, that is, of an absolute Providence of the Personal Goda Providence overruling the progress and development of freedom in the world, in their human and demonic aspects, in the might of light and right (Urim and Thummim), in order to the carrying out of judgment to the victory of salvation.
Single Features of the Heaven-Scene
The Open Door in Heaven is the full unfolding of the Apocalyptic revelation even unto its deepest heavenly foundation. In the first stage of vision, Christ came to the Seer on earth, clarifying the condition of the Seven Churches, already historically familiar to John, into a type of all future fundamental forms of the Church. In this new stage of vision, Christ transports John to Heaven itself: this higher power of vision is signalized by the words: Immediately I was in the spirit.
The Throne of God needs no explanation: it denotes the absolute firmness of His government.67 He sits upon the Thronean expression of His glorious assurance of victory. He sits upon the Throne as the Unique One, the Mystery of mysteries; and yet recognizable as the exalted Personality. He is also more particularly characterized by His symbolic appearance. The jewels, as such, denote the most noble life, light and imperishability in one. If we suppose the sardius, as the carnelian, the flesh-colored stone, to be expressive, not of the divine penal righteousnessindicated by the hue of firebut of Gods eternal relation to humanity through Christ, it is probable, that the jasper is significant of the Divine Essence in the abstract, in its symbolical appearance everywhere manifest as essential light; and according to this, the diamond,68 and not the ordinary jasper, is undoubtedly intended.
The Rainbow, whose arch surrounds the Throne, is indicative of the fundamental tone of Gods government; judgment issuing in salvationcovenant faithfulness, an attribute previously expressed by the rainbow of Noah. Amongst the colors of this rainbow, emerald [green] is pre-eminent; and it is to this that it is likened [ch. Rev 4:3]; Divine promise demands human hope.
The Occupant of the Throne is immediately surrounded by the twenty-four Elders, the ideal representatives of the Old and New Testament Theocracy, human spiritual princes; in respect of their symbolical number;69 representing the ramifying foundations of the Old and the New Covenant in the adornment of their heavenly perfectionclothed in white raiment; and by their golden crownsthe sign of their imperishable royal freedom [and authority], won by surrender to Godattested in God as His heroes (Israel=combatant of God).
Before the Throne the whole governance of God is manifest. His alternate operations are lightnings, and voices, and thunders; lightnings of heavenly wonders, forming epochs on the earth; voices, in which the fundamental idea of these lightnings becomes manifest; and far-reverberating thunders, as periods of the rejuvenescence, extension and development of the Kingdom of God [Church].
These operations are conditioned, however, by the Seven flaming Lamps [Torches] before the Throne, the Seven Spirits of God, as Fundamental Forms of the personal and permanent Life-Revelation of God in His Logos or the eternal Christ, or as the Seven Fundamental Forms of the revelation of the Holy Spirit (see Isaiah 9)70
In pursuance of this manifestation of God, the ideal world is spread out before His Throne;a sea, clear like crystal; infinitely swelling and agitated life; yet in its appointedness harmonizing with the Divine willas in crystal life is fixed and transparent, like light; infinite liberty in infinite appointedness.
The foundation of the operations of God in the moral kingdom before the Throne are the four Life-forms (beasts) [Living-beings] about the Throne; the four Fundamental Forms of Divine Governance in the universal world generallyalso in the creatural world.71 For the number of the world is four; the number of the Kingdom of God is seven (see below, on the four beasts [Living-beings]). These Life-forms are full of eyes before and behind (as also within and without, see Rev 4:8). That is, the Divine Governance is a thoroughly conscious rule; an absolute looking back upon the foundations and events of life, an absolute looking forward to the aims of life and their preliminary conditions; a perfect insight into the profoundest vital causes, as well as a perfect outlook upon the uttermost vital phenomena. A figure of omniscience in its undying motion over the world, in the consciousness of the Divine Governance. The lion appears in this figure as the mighty governance which overcomes all things, the dynamical principle in its irresistible forth-breakings. The bullock or ox appears as the principle of all sacrifice in the world, the principle of suffering in the creatural life (monstrously perverted into a conflict for existence). The human face represents the principle of humanity, relatively pervading the whole world; this Life-form is expressive of the concentration of the infinite in a likeness of the most conditioned finite life. The flying eagle appears as that ideal tendency toward some central sun which not only pervades the planets and comets, but is expressed in the motion of our sun itself; that tendency which is the mystery of all motiona mystery manifested in its most peculiar essence in the higher tendency of the spirit-world toward the Sun of all life (I go to the Father). In a more general sense, however, motion is the property of all four Life-forms [Living-beings]. Each has six wings; for six is the number of restless activity in Heaven, of restless labor on earth, of restless self-frustration in the abyss. Hence it is said: the beasts [Living-beings] have no rest day and night. Their non-repose, however, consists in the festal work of glorifying God. They glorify Him as the thrice Holy One, Who preserves the purity of His own personality, and works unto purification in all His providential operations throughout the creatural and spiritual world. As the Holy One, He is the All-Ruler, Who repels every temptation to an impersonal line of conduct. And at the same time He is Jehovah (Who was, etc.), Whose covenant faithfulness aims in all ages at the establishment in love of a pure life-kingdom of personal beings.
Now follows the representation of an antiphony between the beasts [Living-beings] and the Elders. The beasts [Living-beings] have the initiative; for the adoration of the human spiritual princes, the Elders, rests upon the Fundamental Forms of the Divine rule in the world; that Divine Governance which actually redounds to the praise and glory and thanks of Him that sitteth upon the Throne, Who liveth for ever and ever. The Elders fall down before the Throne in humility and reverence, and worship; they cast their crowns at Gods feet as a sign that unto Him alone belongs honor, and utter their doxology. It agrees with the doxology of the beasts [Living-beings], with the exception that in the case of the Elders we have instead of , thanksgiving resolving itself into a glorification of the Divine almighty power. But the Elders further give the reason of their praise, and it is noteworthy that they speak of an ideal existence of things preceding the actual creation of them.
This vision of Gods glory in His government, of the world constitutes the general basis of the special vision of the worlds history. The history of the world is embraced in a book-roll [scroll] in the hand of God; the leaves of which are sealed with seven seals. The book [scroll] must, doubtless, contain seven leaves; otherwise all the seals would of necessity be loosed at once.72 At every new leaf of the roll, a fresh seal is encountered; but if the leaf be unrolled, it is found to be written upon both sides. Thus, in Gods sight, the history of the world is complete, like a book [scroll]. Its course is septenarious, for its design is holy. But it is a sealed book [scroll]; its whole contents are made up of perplexing and disturbing enigmas. And no being is able to unravel this fearful history, to throw light on the gloom-enwrapped fate of the world. None in the angelic world is able to do this, none in the human world, none in the world of departed souls. Not one can so much as try to look upon the book, to examine whether he can open it. The cry of the strong angel is not simply dramatic; it must be made evident that no spiritual power would have solved the riddle of the worlds history, if Christ had not solved it with His cross.
And I wept much, says the Seer. A simple yet sublime expression of the feeling and thought of what the worlds history would be, had not Christs cross and victory unveiled it.73 The weeping Seer is comforted by one of the Elders (for the redemption belongs to humanity), who points him to the glorious victory of Christ (Rev 5:5). The cross must, of course, be perfected in the resurrection; the Lamb that was apparently overcome must be manifested as the triumphant Lion, for only thus might He loose the seals of the worlds history. As the Lion of Judah, Christ possessed the lion nature in the highest sense, as the Master of self-denial and self-conquest (Gen 44:33-34); and the depths of His royal essence are expressed in the announcement that He is the Root of David, the truly real fundamental idea and fundamental impulse of Davidic glory in the centre of humanity.74 This Root is significant of the deepest human cause of life; this Lion denotes the most spiritually mighty human appearance. Then the new wondrous vision within a vision is prefaced by the words: I beheld, and lo!
In the midst of the Throne, i. e., directly in front of God, surrounded by the circle of beasts [Living-beings], and by the circle of Elders, there appears a Lamb, as it had been slainthe Man, with the lineaments of absolute patience and the traits of mortal sufferingsuffering surmounted, it is true, yet in its effects enduring forever. The attributes of the Lamb, symbolically defined, are seven horns, the sum of holy powers (Mat 28:18), and seven eyes, the seven Spirits or spiritual manifestations of the one Spirit of God, which are continually going forth from the Lamb into the world. This apparition comes and receives the book [scroll] from the right hand of God. Two things are indicated here: first, the self-presentation of the Lamb upon the summons of the angel; secondly, the fact that He is really to loose the seals. And hence the grand chorus of praise is not postponed until after His action. In reference to His work, the Elders need not await the doxology of the Divine powers of the world. A new song bursts forth from beasts [Living-beings] and Elders in one grand unison. This song relates to the new creation, the redemption. The redemption [Erlsung] is the loosing [Lsung] of all seals, and the Redeemer [Erlser] alone is worthy to perform this work. The beasts [Living-beings] and Elders base their praise upon the Redeemers death on the cross (slain), and the effects of that death. He thereby out of all peoples bought a people for God, the New Testament people of the peoples, making of them a Kingdom of Priests who, in dynamical operation, even now, in all their yielding, nay, by means of the same, reign on earth. This song of praise in the centre of the heavenly congregation, is echoed in a grand antiphony betwixt the angelic world, on the one hand, and the creatural world, on the other. The doxology of countless angel hosts, forming the remoter circle round the beasts [Living-beings] and Elders, comes first. Their homage is sevenfold, in harmony with the holy throng. The worship of the creatures is fourfold, in accordance with the number of the world. We have here an antiphonal song of praise from all beings, reminding us of Psalms 145.
In a didactical aspect, the song is expressive of the fact that the effect of Christs triumph pervades the entire world of spirits, on the one hand, as an extension of His glory (Ephesians 1; Philippians , 2.); and that, on the other, it ushers the whole creatural world into the process of glorification, to be consummated in the Palingenesia (Romans 8). The four Life-forms or beasts [Living-beings] can only say Amen to this, for therein is the effort of their governance fulfilled. But for the Elders; this blissful contemplation is an incentive to unutterable prostration and worship.
EXPLANATIONS IN DETAIL
Rev 4:1. Compare the introductory remarks by Dsterdieck, p. 211. Especially the distinction between the Jewish view of the heavenly preludes (a Divine council with the angels) and the Christian idea. Also the difference of the formulas: and .75
On the disputed question as to whether John always beheld and wrote down the visions separately, see above [p. 147]. The literal conception is pressed on either side.
[After these things.The reference here is to the order of the visions. It does not necessarily follow that the events symbolized were to be subsequent to those previously set forth.E. R. C.]
[I saw, not I looked, as in the E. V; not the directing of the Seers attention, which discovers the door to him, but the simple reception of the vision which is recorded. Alford.E. R. C.]
A door set open in Heaven.Explanations: Heaven is conceived of as a vault; as a Temple; as the Palace of God (Dsterd.). In accordance with the connection, however, the door here denotes the disclosure of the highest revelation, and, hence, the insight of John (De Wette). The voice is expressive of the heavenly inspiration and legitimation of this view. It distinguishes the real ecstasy of the Seer from an enthusiastic and fanatical exaltation.
[Set open.Observe here the perfect participle, the door had been opened and was standing open. The veil of the heavenly Holy of Holies had been removed by Christ (Heb 10:19-20), and Heaven was laid open to the view. Wordsworth.E. R. C.]
[The Apocalyptist saw Heaven, i. e., he saw an Immediate symbol thereof. As to the fact that Heaven is a place, there should he no doubt. It is, indeed, unquestionable that the term is sometimes employed to denote the sky, as in Mat 16:2-3, and sometimes so used as to be consistent with the idea of a mere state, but it is also again and again employed in the didactic Scripture, as indicating a glorious and blessed place, where God specially manifests His glory, to which the Saviour ascended after His resurrection, and which is to be His abode until His second appearing in glory. (Comp. Act 1:10-11; Act 3:21; Act 7:55-56; Rom 10:6; 2Co 12:2; 1Th 4:16, etc. See also the Excursus on Hades, p. 364). It can scarce be supposed, however, that the symbolic display of the vision took place in this central home, this Holy of Holies, of the universe. This supposition is not required, as some may suppose, by the language. It is manifest that, throughout the Book, the Seer employs similar expressions where the object of vision was not the thing described, but a simulacrum thereof, as in Rev 13:1, where he declares that he saw a beast rise up out of the sea. And still further, precisely the same form of expression is employed, Rev 21:1 (I saw a new Heaven and a new earth), when the real objects referred to were not, at the time of the vision, existentall that he could then have beheld were their simulacra.
But was the symbol similar or ideal? On this point it is impossible to speak with certainty; and, perhaps, it is improper in any degree to speculate. It may be remarked, however, that it by no means follows (as some seem to suppose) from the fact that the complex symbol beheld by John resembled the Tabernacle as to form and arrangement, that it must have been purely ideal. On the contrary, it is not improbable that the Tabernaclethe earthly dwelling-place of Jehovah, fashioned by Moses after the pattern shown him in the Mount (Exo 25:40; Exo 26:30)may have been a material symbol of the Heavenly Temple, not only Immediate, but, so far as the earthly can resemble the heavenly, similar.E. R. C.]
Rev 4:2. Immediately I was in the spirit,, without a conjunction, forcibly expresses the instantaneous translation of the Seer, thus denoting a high enhancement of the first stage of visionary sight. The text, therefore, forms a new step in comparison with the first I was in the spirit, Rev 1:10.76 The prototypes of this visionary celestial Throne-picture, 1Ki 22:19; Isaiah 6.; Ezekiel 1.; Dan 7:9, have been perverted by the Jews into monstrous allegories. See Dsterdieck, p. 214, the extract from the Pirke, R. Elieser, as given by Schttgen. A dextris ipsius est vita, a sinistris mors. This recalls a kindred idea of Miltons.
The is interpreted in a variety of ways (breadth of the Throne, Bengel; its resting upon the cherubim (!), Hengsten.) The fact of its establishment in the highest sense is doubtless enwrapped in the .77
Upon the Throne One sitting.Not an indefinite designation, but an expression of the loftiest mystery. The Jewish dread of uttering the name of Jehovah (Ewald and others) can hardly have any application here, since the Seer has several times given utterance to that name in a developed form. Herders explanation is irrelevant: the soul has no image, language no word whereby He may be called. According to Dsterdieck and some elder commentators, He who sits upon the Throne is not the Triune God, but the Father. This is a misapprehension of the symbolical nature of the distinctions. [May there not be an allusion here to a visible Manifestation of the Glory and Presence of Jehovah similar to the Shekinah, which, in the Tabernacle, beamed from the Mercy-seat (the Throne), from between the Cherubim? For comments on the Throne, see p. 147.E. R. C.].
Rev 4:3. Like a jasper stone.See the Introduction, pp. 20, 21 [and also p. 148]. The true jasper is sometimes greenish, sometimes of a reddish hue, but not and , as this jasper is described, Rev 21:11. Hence those exegetes who apprehend the word as expressive either of the ordinary jasper, or of a peculiar and unknown sort, are justly opposed by those who are of opinion that the diamond is intended. See Dsterdieck, pp. 216, 217. Compare likewise the various interpretations of the Stones as there given.
And a rainbow.It is a mooted question whether the iris is to be apprehended as a rainbow, or merely as a bow; whether it encircled the Throne vertically or horizontally. As the light of the sun is refracted in its journey toward the earth, so the refraction of absolute Light can be conceived of only in its direction toward the world, i. e., toward the Seer primarily. Yet the bow, as a bow, can appear only in a vertical form. Green, the color of promise, is a dominant color even in the real rainbow, and it is not without reason that Ebrard (p. 222) and others have apprehended it as forming an antithesis to the hues of the precious stones which denote attributes of the Divine Essence itself. It is not indicated, however, that this circular radiance has its origin in the lustre of the jewels. It is possessed of an independent symbolical meaning; the revelation of God in the world is always, conditionally, at the same time a concealment. A tempering of the Divine radiance (Zllig) lies in the colored appearance of the Divine manifestation, whether a pillar of fire, a pillar of cloud, or a cloud is the instrument of presenting the highest glory to the gaze of imperfect human beings. The bow can, of course, be no true rainbow, since the most sublime refraction of light is intended here; though it cannot be concluded that John had a distinct idea of a heavenly ether in contra-distinction to the grosser atmosphere of earth.
[The rainbow, composed by the joint influences of shower and sunshine, is an emblem of Divine severity, blended with Divine love; a symbol of the dark shower of Divine judgment illumined by the bright beams of Divine Mercy. Comp. the vision of Eze 1:28. The Bow is a record of the deluge, in which the world was drowned for sin, and speaks of sunshine after storm; and of the Divine Promise that the world should never more be destroyed by water; and yet it is also a silent memento of another judgment (see Gen 9:13-16, and 2Pe 3:7. Wordsworth. The iris is but the manifestation of the different hues which perfect light assumes when in connection with gross matter. Since perfect light is the highest symbol of the Divine Excellence, what so significant of that excellence in its relation to the creature world (disintegrated, so to speak, into what we style different attributes) as the many-colored rainbow? Alford is of opinion that the entire bow was greenthe shape, and not the prismatic coloring, being indicated by the term rainbow.E. R. C.]
Rev 4:4. Twenty-four thrones.According to De Wette, the twenty-four thrones must be conceived of as a few degrees lower than the Throne of God. If we bring earthly ideas in play here, a few degrees would not be sufficient to indicate the distinction, The definition of the twenty-four Elders is an index to the ecclesiastical and theological stand-points of the different exegetes; they have been interpreted as follows: cardinals (Lyra); priests (Alc.); pastors (Calov.); true heads of the Church, and pastors (Vitringa); the crown of the human race (Herder the humanist); angels (Hofmann)in accordance with an exaggerated Angelology. Rinck similarly; Old Testament dignities ([Wrden=dignitaries?] Beng.); New Testament martyrs (Eichhorn); half, representatives of teachers, half, representatives of hearers (Volkmar; not quite democratic enough, since the hearers must necessarily preponderate over the clergy). The number of the Elders being composed of twice twelve, Bleek and others have groundlessly regarded it as indicative of a twofold representation of Jewish and Gentile Christians. Ebrard justly remarks, in opposition to this view, that such a division has no Biblical foundation; whilst Dsterd., on the other hand, erroneously cites Rev 7:4; Rev 7:9, in support of the same opinion, though the real antithesis in the passage quoted isnot Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, butthe Church Militant, and the Church Triumphant. Yet Dsterdieck himself gives the preference to the preponderant interpretation of many commentators, according to whom the twenty-four Elders represent the Old and New Testament Church, or the Twelve Patriarchs of Israel, and the Twelve Apostles. De Wette shows a thorough misapprehension of the symbolism employed, in insisting upon the unworthiness of individual Patriarchs. And thus an adverse argument has been founded upon the names of the Twelve Apostles, Rev 21:14. In perfect analogy with this symbolism is the fact that the conquerors on the sea of glass sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. By this, as well as by the twenty-four Elders, the complete harmony of the Old and the New Covenant is expressed. The fact that Jehovah is immediately surrounded by Elders, entirely corresponds with the symbolical significance of the theocratic Presbytery. The Elders represent the purest, richest, and ripest spirits in their Divine likeness and their acquaintance with the counsel of God. In this idea originated the Talmudistic Judaistic accounts of the Elders before the Throne of God (see Hengst., p. 270; Dsterd., p. 219).
[Dsterdieok thus writes: The twenty-four Elders whom John sees sitting on the thrones which are placed around the Throne of God are the celestial representatives of the whole people of God, just as in Isa 24:23, Elders (Ancients) are conceived of as the earthly heads and representatives of the whole Church.78 This view, which is confirmed by a comparison of Deu 31:28 with 30, does not exclude, but confirms, the further idea that the representative Elders were also (individually) chief Rulers in the Kingdom of God. The idea of superiority in rule was distinctly recognized by Jesus (see the Excursus on the Basileia ii. 2 (4), p. 99). The fact that these Elders are Rulers is set forth by their sitting on thrones and wearing crowns (see below). The suggestion of Barnes in explanation of the number of the Elders is worthy of consideration, viz.: that it was in reference to the twenty-four courses of the Jewish Priesthood (see 1Ch 24:3-18). On this view the twenty-four Elders are not only Superior Kings, but the Chief Priests, the Heads of the priestly courses of the glorified Israel.79E. R. C.]
The white robes and golden crowns are not merely symbols of the martyrs or confessors in the narrower sense; they are expressive of perfect righteousness of life in its negative and positive aspects. [The crowns, doubtless, are significant of their kingly authority (see above; also additional comment on Rev 2:11)E. R. C.]
Rev 4:5. And out of the Throne go forth lightnings.[See Synoptical View, p. 148.E. R. C.] According to Dsterdieck, the lightnings, voices and thunders symbolize the omnipotence of God, especially that almighty power which is exercised in judgments (similarly Hengstenberg [also Alford and Barnes.E. R. C.]). This interpretation is connected with the one-sided apprehension of the precious stones as symbolizing the essence of God. This too special interpretation contrasts with the too general explanation of De Wette. In Rev 4:5 the mighty and vital influence of God over nature is represented; in Rev 4:6-8 nature itself, or the realm of the living, is symbolized in the four cherubim; in Rev 4:9-11, finally, the harmony of creation and redeemed humanity is represented; and thus God, in His living activity and reality, is exhibited (De Wette). Similarly Ebrard, who describes Gods Throne as a laboring, effervescent volcano.80
On theocratic ground the lightnings are still less a purely terrific conception than in the Scandinavian-Germanic mythology (the hammer of Thor). With reference to the lightnings of Sinai, comp. Deu 33:2-3. The Coming of the Son of Man shall be like a mighty flash of lightning. Thus the lightnings of the whole New Testament manifestation are for the defence of the faithful people of God, being terrible only to His foes, Zec 9:14. They are, therefore, wonders of revelation [Divine manifestation?E. R. C.].
The history of Christs Baptism and Transfiguration demonstrates that voices are a sequence, in definite ideas and truths, of Divine revelationsrevelations of salvation, in particular; in general, they are the first of the Divine forms of revelation. Even Gods voices, His revelation truths, have a judicial as well as an, evangelical side, Gen 3:10.
The last remark applies equally to the thunder. This denotes the grand effect of revelation [Divine manifestation] in judgment and deliverance. Thus the typical redemption of Israel was effected by a mighty thunder which, at the same time, brought down judgment on the head of Israels foes, Psa 77:18-19. Job finds his prostrating judgment, but also his reconciliation, in a grand thundering of God, chs. 3840. As thunder accompanied the giving of the Law, so the voice which answered Christs prayer in the Temple, the prayer with which He consecrated Himself to death for our redemption, was accompanied by a tone as of thunder. And the more tremendous the wrathful judgment announced in the thunder, according to Jer 25:30, the more distinct is its proclamation of a now redemption for the people of God; comp. Joe 2:11. As Elijah, like Moses, was an Old Testament son of thunder, ascending to Heaven in a fiery storm, so two of the greatest Apostles of the New Testament were sons of thunder. And how glorious is the description of the seven-fold thunder of God in Psalms 29., the festal thunder-Psalm! This, therefore, is the sense in which we apprehend the thunders of God; they are heavenly, uncheckable, redemptive revelations, accompanied by judgmentsin other words, reformations.
And seven Lamps [torches]81 of fire burning before the Throne.[See Synoptical View, p. 148.E. R. C.] We cannot refer the participle to the preceding ; for the Lights, as such, do not issue forth like lightnings, and the Spirits of God do not proceed from His Throne, but from Himself. By the Seven Spirits that, according to Revelation 1., stand between Jehovah and Christ, and, according to Rev 5:6, go forth into all lands, we understand the seven fundamental forms of the revelation of the Holy Ghost through Christ, according to Isa 11:1, or the seven archangelic forms of Christ.
[These seem to represent the Holy Spirit in His seven-fold working: in His enlightening and cheering as well as His purifying and consuming agency. So most Commentators.Alford. The idea of the seven-fold influences of the Holy Ghost is thus set forth in the ordination hymn of the Church of England:
Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
And lighten with celestial fire;
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
Who dost Thy seven-fold gifts impart.
It may here be remarked, that in the view of the Am. Ed, (see Preliminary Note, p. 145 sqq.) the simulacrum of the Seven Lamps constitute one (compound) Mediate-individual Symbol of the Holy Ghost; the division being significant of His manifold energies, and the seven-fold division, of the completeness, the perfection of those energies.E. R. C.]
According to De Wette, the Seven Spirits are significant of the Spirit of God as the principle of physical and spiritual life, through Whom the inner influence of God over nature and mankind operates. According to Ebrard, also, the Spirit of God, in all His distinct properties, is denoted, in so far as He rules over the creation. According to Hengstenberg, on the other hand, the fire being invariably used in the Apocalypse to designate the Divine wrath (? comp. Rev 15:2)here denotes the Spirit of God or of Christ with a limitation, i. e., in so far as His operations are productive of ruin, are punitive, destructive. To this view Dsterdieck justly opposes the remark, that the Apocalyptist is speaking of torches (). This word is doubtless expressive of the enlightening effect of Gods Spirit.
The contrast between the lightnings, voices, thunders, which issue forth from the Throne, and the lights which are stationary before it, has been explained by De Wette in a manifold way. He suggests the dogmatical distinction of manifestations and inspirations, the distinction between the evangelical history and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. The thunder slowly dies away in the great echoes of the worlds history; but the light [] becomes a morning star in the heartin the realm of the interior history of the Kingdom, therefore; and when the Spirit can complete His judgment as the Spirit, that judgment becomes a redemptive judgment.
Rev 4:6. Before the Throne as it were a glassy sea [sea of glass].[See Synoptical View, p. 148.E. R. C.] The meaning of this is easily gathered from the two items, sea and crystalnational life and transparent, spiritualized creaturality. Hence the interpretation of Aretius comes very near the point: ctus ecclesi triumphantis. Similarly Ebrard, p. 225. The interpretationssome of which are quite singularof this passage are also, in many respects, characteristic. We cite some of them: Baptism (the baptismal basin); the Holy Scriptures; the perishable world; the smooth and shining heavenly pavement; the atmosphere; or more abstract conceptions (certa dei voluntas, etc.). See Dsterdieck, p. 223. In Rev 15:2 the crystal brightness of this sea is mingled with fire, or the appearance of fire, either because the victors have, in many ways, passed through the fire, or because the victorious Church contains the principle of the fire of the universal judgment. Dsterdieck, referring to Rinck, maintains that the crystal-like sea is identical with the crystal-like river of Revelation 22.; but this view is untenable. The purity, transparency, spirituality of this sea is doubly asserted when it is declared to be both glassy and like crystal. According to Hengstenberg, the crystal sea is another image of the judgments of God. Opposed to the flood of human wickedness is the great flood, the broad ocean of Divine judgments.
[The following from Alford is worthy of highest consideration: Compare, by way of contrast, () () , the multitudinous and turbulent waters, Rev 17:1. In seeking the explanation of this, we must first track the image from its Old Testament earlier usage. (He compares Exo 24:10; Eze 1:22, and Job 37:10). If we are to follow these indices, the primary reference will be to the clear ether in which the Throne of God is upborne; and the intent of setting this space in front of the Throne will be to betoken its separation and insulation from the place where the Seer stood, and, indeed, from all else around it. The material and appearance of this pavement of the Throne seem chosen to indicate majestic repose and ethereal purity. It is the purity, calmness, and majesty of Gods rule which are signified by the figure. Wordsworth, who adopts the idea that the sea of glass was symbolical of the glorified Church, thus writes: Sea, in this Book, represents the element of tumult and confusion in this lower world (see Rev 13:1). But here, by way of contrast, there is in the heavenly Church a sea of glass, expressive of smoothness and brightness, and this heavenly sea is of crystal; declaring that the calm of Heaven is not like earthly seas, ruffled by winds, but is crystalized into an eternity of peace.
Here, it may be asked, may not the glassy sea be an Immediate symbol, indicating a real pavement in the real Heaven spreading out before the Throne; but at the same time aberrantly significant of the unapproachable grandeur of Him who sits upon the Throne, and (perhaps) of the peace, stability, and brightness of His rule? Similar questions might be asked in regard to other symbols, which generally are explained as merely Aberrant.E. R. C.]
In the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne four living-beings [Lange: life-forms].[See Synoptical View, p. 148; and also Additional Note on the Living-Beings, by the Am. Ed., p. 161 sq.] According to Eichhorn, Ewald I., and Hengstenberg, the hinder part (of the eagle, and the human figure, as well as the others?) of the four lay under the Throne, whilst the upper portion of them projected from beneath it and rose above it. An idea which, for the sake of its unsightliness, if on no other account, should not be imputed to John. According to Ebrard, the Throne is transparent, and the move within it and issue forth from it. (Duesterd.) Idem: One on each side of the Throne, and each in the middle of its respective side. If the Throne be significant of the Divine sovereign rule, the beasts [Living-beings], as individual Fundamental Forms of this government, must issue neither from the foot nor from the summit of the Throne, but from its mid-height, as from the centre of the Divine governance; see above. According to Bengel and Hengstenberg, the four beasts [Living-beings] are emblems of nature or the earth, or of the creation, according to Dsterd.82 According to Ebrard, they are the creative powers of God Himself, by means of which He exercises a sovereign sway throughout creation (like the lightnings, etc.). Against Ebrards interpretation of the beasts [Living-beings] as representatives of the fourfold powers of God, see Dsterdieck, p. 228. The contrast, moreover, is by no means clearly defined.
The germ of the representation of the four Fundamental Forms of Divine Providence is contained in Gen 3:24. It is a view which, in constant process of development, runs through the whole of the Sacred Writings; see Exo 25:18; Psa 18:10; (comp. Psa 104:4; Isa 6:2); Psa 99:1; Eze 1:10., etc. Riehm, De natura et notione Cheruborum, 1861. Lmmert, Die Cherubim der Heiligen Schrift, Jahrbb. fr deutsche Theologie, 12, 4, p. 587. The latter starts from the passage Heb 9:5, from the term Cherubim of glory. He beholds in the figure of the Cherubim symbolical representations of the sovereign glory of God, keeping His holy law, overthrowing all that is hostile to Him, but rescuing all that have His laws before their eyes. The explication of the beasts [Living-beings], p. 615, reminds us of Ebrards interpretation; it offers no inducement to us to depart from our own view as given above. We, therefore, regard the ox as expressive of the spirit of sacrifice; the lion as expressive of the spirit of irruptive victorious courage; the human figure as expressive of the spirit of human and humane sympathy; and the eagle as expressive of the spirit of ideality, of striving after the realization of the ideal (see Leben Jesu, I., p. 234; Dogmatik, 603).
Different interpretations: The four Evangelists (whose attributes they certainly are, but not their original symbols); the four cardinal virtues; the four patriarchal churches; the four greatest fathers of the Church; the four mysteries of faith, etc. The quaternary is manifestly the number of the world. The six wings likewise demand consideration; the eyes, all about, as well as within (directed inward); the restless motion, by day and by night, in eternal praise of the thrice Holy One. The senary of the wings is six in a good sense; restless activity which in its unity makes up the festal septenary (see Joh 5:17). The wings are symbolical of the absolute motion of the Divine governance toward higher and highest goals. The eyes represent the omniscient rule of Divine Providence, immanent in the life of the world, conscious on all sides. With an absolute round-look corresponds an absolute in-look, expressive of the contemplative concentration and unity of the Divine omniscience. According to Hengstenberg, the eyes are expressive of the permeation of the whole world by spirit; according to Dsterd., they are significant of wakefulness by day and night (of creatural beings?83); whilst the wings, as he thinks, denote the dependence and subjection of the creature. The praise continually offered by the four Life-forms, the Trisagion, reminds us of the song of praise of the Seraphim (Isaiah 6), though it does not follow from this that the Cherubim and the Seraphim should be identified, as Lmmert thinks. These two symbolical angelic groups are undoubtedly connected; yet they also form an antithesis (Psa 104:4). See Com. on Genesis, p. 241 sq. [Am. Ed.]). Their hymn is expressive of the fact that the governance of God, in all its forms, redounds to His praise; to the praise of the glory, the glorious personality of God, Who is Jehovah, in an involved84 expression (Who was etc.), and Lord of Hosts (Sabaoth), as the All-Ruler, in an involved expression also.
Rev 4:9-11. [See Synoptical View, p. 148 sqq.], With the representatives of the creation, the four beasts [Living-beings], the twenty-four Elders, the representatives of redeemed humanity, unite in the praise of God (comp. De Wette, Hengstenberg, Ebrard). The contrast here presented, however, is not that of creation and redemption; neither is a union of voices intended. On; the contrary, the actual eulogy of God in the Forms of His government, wakes the antiphony of praise on the heights of the human spirit-world. The future, , is declared by some commentators to be a pure future; whilst others apprehend it in a frequentative significationwhen they, or as often as they. [This latter view is adopted by Wordsworth, Alford, Barnes, etc. See Winer, 42, 5.E. R. C. ] The relation of priority, as pertaining to the song of praise of the Life-forms [Living-beings], is, however, also enwrapped in the term. They must strike the first notes. It is doubtless indicated, moreover, that there are particular epochs of praise.
Rev 4:9. Give is a genuine theocratic term: to return that which is beheld or experienced, to its Author, as a spiritual sacrifice.
Glory and honor.Dsterdieck: Recognition of the glory and honor peculiar to the Lord, whilst denotes directly, without metonymy, the thanks (Hengstenberg) offered by the creature. This under the supposition that the are creatures. If, however, they be Ground-forms of the Divine glory or in its governance, may denote the objective side of this governance over human souls, and its subjective side in human souls. Comp. the Doxologies, Rev 5:12-13; Rev 7:10; Rev 7:12; Rev 10:6.
To Him that sitteth upon the Throne.In face of all the terrors of the last times, the Spirit of this prophecy is not afraid that the Throne of God will ever totter. As God lives into the ons of the ons, i. e., into the great ons which are composed of lesser ons (analogue of the Heaven of Heavens), and lives absolutely, so He survives all enemies upon whom the first and second deaths shall prey.
Rev 4:10. The twenty-four Elders fall downcast [down] their crowns.An expression of enthusiastic reverence, prostration, self-abasement, in the recognition of the fact that to Him alone belongeth honor. [It is also expressive of their voluntary and grateful recognition of the fact that as Rulers they are subject to Himthat their authority is derived from, and continually dependent upon, Him.E. R. C.]
Rev 4:11. [Thou art worthy to take.The original signification of the word () is twofold; one, to take, the other, to receive (Liddell and Scott). Is not the fact that it was here used in the former of these senses, indicated by the exchange of for the of Rev 4:9? Jehovah receives the thanks which His creatures give; He takes the power that can be given Him by none. So far as and are concerned, there is an essential glory and honor which He takes and holds, and there is also an ascriptive glory and honor which His creatures may give and which He receives.E. R. C.]
The glory.The Elders say: . . ., because they are responding in a degree to Rev 4:8 (Bengel and Dsterd.) They seem antiphonally to translate the into ; why is this? Duesterdieck: The representatives of the creature must necessarily and justly return thanks, but the Elders looked upon the work of creation with a certain objectivity. See against this view Rev 11:17. Even thanksgiving is a given of God (da quod jubes).85 [See the preceding paragraph.E. R. C.]
[For Thou hast created all things ( =the all things, the universe).The Elders here assign the reason why they esteemed Jehovah worthy to take the glory, and the honor, and the power. , like the Hebrew , which in the LXX. it is often used to translate, has not the distinctive meaning, to create ex nihilo; in 1Co 11:9, for instance, it manifestly has the signification: to form out of previously existing substance. It may, however, be restricted to the former meaning by the context, and this is clearly the case in this present instanceto make the all things, must mean to create them. And that this is the meaning, is confirmed by the following sentence (see below)E. R. C.]
And on account of Thy will (not: by Thy will).[Because Thou didst will it, they were, i. e., they existed, as in contrast to their previous state of non-existence, and received it (existence) from Thee by a definite act of Thine, . Alford after Duesterd.E. R. C.] It is the teleologically higher conception that all things have come into being in order to the fulfillment and glorification of the Divine will (Rom 11:36). is generally regarded as synonymous with . Dsterdieck makes this distinction: they were, and thus it is that they werethey were created. Almost the same idea again! Nic. de Lyra ingeniously distinguishes the eternal counsel of God and the actual creation. Grotius, with equal ingenuity, distinguishes birth and regeneration. Taking creation and redemption together, the doxology says: for the fulfillment of Thy will, they finally were, and were created (received their shape and impress) with a view to this ultimate design (see Romans 9., comp. also Ebrard, p. 231).
Footnotes:
[1]Rev 4:1. [B*. gives .E. R. C.]
[2]Rev 4:1. Instead of [Rec., P. 3a.], read , [with .1 A. B*., Lach., Words., Alf., Treg., and Tisch.E. R. C.]
[3]Rev 4:2. The before is not firmly established, according to . A. [B*., etc.; P. gives it. Lach., Words., Alf., Treg., and Tisch., omit.E. R. C.]
[4]Rev 4:2. [The original is , the literal translation of which would be lay; the English idiom requires stood.E. R. C.]
[5]Rev 4:2. , comp. Dsterdieck, p. 209. [Rec., with P., gives ; . A. B*., Lach., Words., Alf., Treg., and Tisch., .E. R. C.]
[6]Rev 4:2. [This order is retained by the Latin and German Verss., Syr., It., Fr., S.,Daub., Woodh., Sharp., Treg., Kenr. (Alford). Dr. Lillie.E. R. C.]
[7]Rev 4:3. Against the , before [given by Rec., P. and Vulg.], Codd. . A. B*.
[8]Rev 4:4. Each time without . It is a perplexing question whether the second twenty-four is connected with the thrones or with the elders. The thrones, however, have their number from the eldersnot vice vers. The before the twenty-four elders [with B*.] would certainly be premature here. [The correct reading of this entire passage is exceedingly doubtful. The Rec. gives . All the authorities omit before in both instances, and also . In the first sentence Lach. and Tisch., with . and A., give , Words., Alf., Treg., with B*., give . Words., Tisch., and Treg., with B.*, give the second clause as the Rec., with the omission of and (Treg. and Tisch., also with P., omit the second ); Lach. and Alford, with A., read . . .. Cod. . omits all the words between and inclusive. In the judgment of the Am. Ed. the reading of . is to be preferred; in the face of the great critical authorities on the other side, however, he cannot venture to remove this clause from the text. The reading of Tregelles (which Lange supports) is adopted in the translation.E. R. C.]
[9]Rev 4:4. [All the recent editors reject on the authority of A. B., I recommend that this reading be followed, but, in order to mark the change of construction, would leave I saw in italics, as a supplement, extracted from the of Rev 4:2. See Win. 64, 3, 1. Dr. Lillies Notes, etc.E. R. C.]
[10]Rev 4:4. The before . . unfounded. [It is omitted by . A. B*. P., and critical authors generally.E. R. C.]
[11]Rev 4:5. [The order is given by Lach., Words., Alf., Treg., Tisch., in accordance with . A. B*. P.E. R. C.]
[12]Rev 4:5. [Alford brackets after , in accordance with B*. Lach., Treg., and Tisch., omit with 3a. A. P.E. R. C.]
[13]Rev 4:5. [Alford brackets in respect of its omission by B*.; Lach., Words., Treg., Tisch. give it with 3a. A. P. and Rec.E. R. C.]
[14]Rev 4:6. [The adjective is retained here by Latin and German Verss., Dt.; Wakef., Woodh., etc. (Comp. Horace, Carm. IV. 2, Vitreo . . Ponto; and Milton, P. L. VII. Rev 619: The clear hyaline, the glassy sea). Dr. Lillies Notes, etc.E. R. C.]
[15]Rev 4:6. [The E. V. beasts is the most unfortunate word that could he imagined. A far better one is that now generally adopted, living-creatures; the only objection to it being that when we come to Rev 4:9; Rev 4:11, we give the idea, in conjoining living-creatures and created (), of a close relation which is not found in the Greek. Alford.E. R. C.]
[16]Rev 4:7. [ is not necessarily to be pressed to its proper primary meaning, as indicating the young calf in distinction from the grown bullock; the LXX. use it for an ox generally, in Exo 22:1; Lev 22:23; also Exo 29:10, and Gen 12:16. Alford.E. R. C.]
[17]Rev 4:7. The reading , in accordance with A., etc. Cod. . reads otherwise still. [Cod. . reads: ; Wordsworth, with B.*, omits ; Alford brackets; Lach., Tisch., and Treg. read with A.E. R. C.]
[18]Rev 4:8. [B*. and Rec. omit .E. R. C.]
[19]Rev 4:8. The reading: . [Lachmann, as Lange, Alford, and Tisch., give , with A. P.; (B*. also gives , but omits ); Wordsworth follows the Rec., ; Tregelles, with . and Vulg., gives . Alf., Treg., and Tisch., with A., give ; Lach. and Words., with B*., ; . Rec. Vulg., . The readings of Treg. are adopted in the translation.E. R. C.]
[20]Rev 4:8. [For the force of , see Winer, 49. b.E. R. C.]
[21]Rev 4:8. [There is great difference amongst critical editors as to the connection of . Treg. agrees with Rec. in connecting it with the preceding ; Lach., Words., Alford, Lillie, Tisch., with Vulg. and Lange, connect with . Lillie thus supports the latter arrangement (Notes, etc.): (1) Assuming or and to be the true readings, the structure of the whole verse is simplified; (2), the other arrangement does not harmonize with the cherubic appearances before referred to, Rev 4:7; (3), and might have precluded the Seers minute observation of the other features (Rev 4:6-7), which first caught his eye; while, (4), the construction proposed is apparently required by the and of Rev 4:6; and, (5), is that adopted by Vulg., Fr., S.; Grot., Hamm., Beng., Sch., Wordsworth. Cod. B*. has, after , .E. R. C.]
[22]Rev 4:8. [For the unauthorized of the Rec., all the modern critical editors, with . A. B*. P., Vulg., etc., read E. R. C.]
[23]Rev 4:8. [The occurs nine times in B*., and eight times in 1.E. R. C.]
[24]Rev 4:8. [See Additional comment on Rev 1:8, p. 93.E. R. C.]
[25]Rev 4:10. [Lach., Words., Alf., Treg., Tisch. give () with **. A., Am., Fuld.; is given by *. B*.; Vulg. (Cl.) reads mittebant.E. R. C.]
[26]Rev 4:11. According to A. B*., etc. [Lach., Words., Alf., Treg., Tisch., with . A. B*., read (. prefixes , and B*. subjoins ); P. gives . Lange translates: our Lord and our God.E. R. C.]
[27]Rev 4:11. [The Rec. agrees with P. Lach., Words., Alf., Treg., Tisch., with . A. B*., give . B*. gives ; on this Alford remarks: The remarkable reading is worth notice, by reason of Thy will they were not, and were created, i. e., they were created out of nothing. But besides the preponderance of authority the other way, there is the double chance that may have arisen from the preceding (), and that it may have been an escape from the difficulty of .E. R. C.]
[28]Rev 5:1. The reading: . so far as the sense is concerned, the same as . [Lach., Words, Alf., Tregelles, Tisch., with . A., give ; is given by B*. P., Vulg., etc.; the reading: in , Origen, etc.E. R. C.]
[29]Rev 5:2. In accordance with A. B*. [.], etc., (). [So also Lach., Words., Alford, Treg., and Tisch.; Rec. with P., Vulg., etc., omits .E. R. C.]
[30]Rev 5:2. The after omitted, which throws a stronger emphasis on . [It is omitted by critical editors generally, in accordance with . A. P.. etc.; Rec., with Vulg., inserts it before , and B*. after that word.E. R. C.]
[31]Rev 5:3. [Wordsworth and Alford give three times; Lachmann and Tregelles give , , with A.; Tisch., with B*., gives thrice; and ., twice, omitting the intermediate. See also Winer, 55 b. (d.)E. R. C.]
[32]Rev 5:4. instead of , in accordance with B*. [], . [P.], etc.
[33]Rev 5:4. is omitted. [So Lach., Words., Alford, Treg., Tisch., with . B*. P., etc.E. R. C.]
[34]Rev 5:5. The is omitted. [So all the recent critical editors, with . A. B*. P., etc.E. R. C.]
[35]Rev 5:5. The reading , in accordance with A. [.] and many others, against [B*.].
[36]Rev 5:5. [Lach., Words., Alf., Treg., Tisch., with A. B*. P., Amiat., etc., omit , which is given by Rec., ., Vulg. (Cl.).E. R. C.]
[37]Rev 5:6. The clause , supported by B. [?], etc., is also supported by the context. The Seer wishes to prepare his readers for an unexpected, great and new vision. It seems most hazardous to erase the two words. [B*. does not support the clause. It is omitted by Lachmann, Wordsworth, Alford, Tregelles, Tisch., with . B*. P., etc. A. and Vulg. give it.E. R. C.]
[38]Rev 5:6. [Lange translates: the middle point. Alford translates: the midst, commenting: the words seem to indicate the middle point before the throne.E. R. C.]
[39]Rev 5:6. [For the translation as if, see Robinson under , B. a; Khner, 312, 6.E. R. C.]
[40]Rev 5:6. Unimportant variations, see in Dsterd. [. A. and Vulgate give ; Tischendorf, with B*., gives .E. R. C.]
[41]Rev 5:6. The reading has B., and the sense, in its favor. [So Wordsworth; Alford and Tischendorf read , with .; Lach. and Treg., , with A.E. R. C.]
[42]Rev 5:7. Without . [Lach., Alford, Tregelles, and Tisch., with . A., omit ; Wordsworth gives it; B*. gives .E. R. C.]
[43]Rev 5:8. [Modern editors, with . A. B*. P., give .E. R. C.]
[44]Rev 5:9. Against the insertion of are Cod. B. [?], etc. Still more opposed to it is the context, for would refer to the living-beings as well as to the elders. Hence we should read in Rev 4:10 also, in accordance with Codd. A. B., etc. [Lachmann, Wordsworth, Alford, and Tisch., with A., omit ; Tregelles, with . B*. P., Vulgate, etc., gives it. It is marked above as doubtful.E. R. C.]
[45]Rev 5:10. [Critical editors, with . A. B*., give .E. R. C.]
[46]Rev 5:10. , omitted by A., is probably connected with the foregoing variations. [Lachmann and Alford, with A., omit; Wordsworth, Tregelles, Tischendorf, with . B*. P., Vulg., etc., give the expression.E. R. C.]
[47]Rev 5:10. . [Lachmann, Alford, Tregelles, and Tisch., with . A., give ; Words., with B*., etc., reads .E. R. C.]
[48]Rev 5:10. [Cod. . reads .E. R. C.]
[49]Rev 5:10. . [Lachmann, Wordsworth, Alford, Tregelles, with A. B*., read as Lange. Tischendorf, with Cod. ., Amiat., Fuld., Tol., Harl., gives ; the Vulgate (Clem.) requires . The weight of ancient authority seems to me to be about equally divided between the present and the future forms; the condition of those who utter the song (in heaven), together with the promise to the saints of future authority upon and over the earth, in my judgment, require the future.E. R. C.]
[50]Rev 5:10. [For the force of with the gen., see Winer, 47, a.E. R. C.]
[51]Rev 5:11. [Tregelles and Tischendorf, with ., give before ; Lachmann and Wordsworth, with A. B*. (corr.), P., Vulgate, etc., omit; Alford brackets.E. R. C.]
[52]Rev 5:11. [Recent editors, . A. B*. P., Vulgate, etc., give .E. R. C.]
[53]Rev 5:13. Without . [Lachmann, Wordsworth, Alford, Tregelles, Tischendorf, with . A. B*., omit after (. ); Tregelles and Tischendorf omit it also after with .; Lachmann and Alford give it in the latter place with A. B*. P.; Wordsworth, with B*. P., reads .E. R. C.]
[54]Rev 5:13. [Recent editors, with . A. B*. P., etc., give .E. R. C.]
[55]Rev 5:13. [. omits , which is given by A. B*., Vulgate, etc.E. R. C.]
[56]Rev 5:13. [Recent editors give , with A. B*. P.; . and Vulg. give .E. R. C.]
[57]Rev 5:13. [Lachmann, Alford, Tregelles, Tischendorf, with . P., read ; Wordsworth and Lange read , with Vulgate; (Tregelles claims A. for , Alford cites it as reading ); B*. reads .E. R. C.]
[58]Rev 5:14. [ , which is supported by the Vulgate (Clem.), etc., is omitted by critical editors, with . A. B*. P., Amiat., Fuld., etc.E. R. C.]
[59]Rev 5:14. This addition is not based even upon minuscules.
[60][This table was prepared with special reference to Visional symbolization. It should be noted, however, that in form, it presents a classification, not of Visional Symbols themselves, but of the apparent elements thereof; by the Visional Symbol must be understood the simulacrum of the thing specified therein. With certain modifications the table may be regarded as presenting a classification of Material Symbols. These are of two distinct, though parallel, orders: the first, embracing those real existencies that are themselves employed as Symbolsas the lamb of sacrifice, the bread of the Lords Supper; the second, consisting of material images (of real or ideal existences) that are thus employedas the image of the flying fiery serpent, the Cherubim of the Tabernacle. The above table presents a complete classification of the first of these orders, in so far as it is a classification of real existencies that have been employed as Symbols; it bears to the second order a relation precisely similar to that which it bears to Visional Symbols.E. R. C.]
[61] [These orders may be more scientifically deduced as follows: There are four general respects in which every symbol is related to its ultimate object, viz.: as to (1) manner of representation, (2) correspondence of nature, (3) form, (4) number; and in each of these respects it must be related in one of two alternative modes. Its relation must be in view of (1) manner of representation, either Immediate or Mediate; (2) correspondence of nature, either Correspondent or Aberrant; (3) form, either Similar or Ideal; (4) number, either Individual or Classical. From a combination of these general divisions there would result, theoretically, sixteen distinct orders of symbols. Several of these, however, would be impossible of realization. Thus a symbol at once Aberrant (i. e. differing in nature from its object) and Natural (i. e. similar in form) is inconceivable. And of those that are possible of realization, several have no exemplification in the Scriptures. The five orders given above (all of which are exemplified in the Apocalypse) are here reproduced an enumeration of the general divisions to which each belongs being given in the parenthesis.
I. Immediate-similar (Immediate, Similar, Correspondent, Individual).
II. Immediate-ideal (Immediate, Ideal, Correspondent, Individual.
III. Mediate-individual (Mediate, Ideal, Correspondent, Individual).
IV. Classical (Mediate, Ideal, Correspondent, Classical).
V. Aberrant (Mediate, Ideal, Aberrant, Individual).E. R. C]
[62][Additional comments, save in a few special instances, are reserved for Explanations in Detail, on pp. 150 sqq.E. R. C.]
[63][If by world is meant the present on or dispensation, extending to the Second Advent and the complete establishment of the Basileia, this statement is manifestly true, since the seventh seal includes the trumpets and the vials. If, however, by world is contemplated the earth, as the scene of life and activity, the statement cannot be accepted. See Introduction by the American Ed. also Lange on Rev 1:1, p. 156E. R. C.]
[64][For other interpretations of the Rider on the white horse, see Comm. on Rev 6:2, p. 171.E. R. C.]
[65][Lange reproduces this term from the Latin. As there was no German word that could express his idea, it is hardly possible that an English term can be found.E. R. C.]
[66][It is somewhat difficult to determine from this passage what view Lange adopts. The most natural hypothesis seems to be that John beheld the visions like the unfoldings of a panorama (see the frequent recurrence of the phrase , Rev 4:1; Revelation 7; Rev 1:9; Rev 15:5; Rev 18:1; Rev 19:1, and similar expressions through the Book); and that he wrote as he beheld, or in the possible intervals of vision (see Rev 10:4, where it is recorded that after hearing the thunders, he was about to write, but was forbidden). The latter part of this hypothesis is not inconsistent with the idea that, after the completion of the entire vision, he wrote at leisure a full account of what he had seen and heard, on the basis of the notes he had previously taken.E. R. C.]
[67] [See Preliminary Note on p. 145 sqq., especially the concluding paragraph on p. 145.
[Is not this symbol, primarily, significant of a Throne in Heavensome glorious seat in the Heaven of Heavens where Jehovah specially manifests His glory? Secondarily, it is indicative not merely of the firmness of the Government of God, but of the fact thereof. The Thronethe visible seat of the Sovereignis the symbol of established government. On earth Jehovah now governs, and the fact becomes evident to those who wisely consider; but it is not patent: it is in measure hidden beneath the veil of what we style the laws of nature. In Heaven, however, it is immediately manifest that He upholds those laws, and governs in, and through, and above them.E. R. C.]
[68][So also Ebrard conjectures. Wordsworth thus writes: The Jasper (says Victorinus) is like water; the Sardine is like fire: and thus these stones seem to represent Gods Majesty and Justice as seen in His judgmentsthat of the flood, and that of the fire of Sodom and of the Last Bay. Or, rather, the union of these two colors; the one of a brilliant and lively hue; the other of a deeper, fiery and darker hue, may perhaps be designed to symbolize the union of Mercy and Glory, with Justice and Majesty in the Godhead, especially in the Gospel dispensation (Rom 3:26). Similarly there is a combination of brightness and fire in Ezekiels Vision (Eze 1:4), which also displays the Rainbow (Eze 1:28).E. R. C.]
[69][See additional comment under Rev 4:4, p.152.E. R.C.]
[70][See on Rev 1:4, p. 91E. R. C.]
[71][See on Rev 4:6, p.154E. R. C.]
[72]Not necessarily. A roll might receive seven seals on either of the flat ends, each seal holding together the edges of a number of the revolutions of the parchment. In such case all the seals would be visible, and any one might be broken without breaking the others. Of course, in the unrolling, the seal nearest to the circumference would have first to be broken, and so on toward the centre. Nor would there be any difficulty in reading such a roll, written within and without, if the writing were in transverse columns, from edge to edgethe entire scroll being turned (longitudinally) when the bottom edge was reached. In this case the portion read would have to be re-rolled in one hand, as the unread portion was unrolled in the other.E. R. C.]
[73][Does not the explanation take for granted that the Seer understood something of the future history before the unrolling? Alfords explanation, in which he agrees with Lyra, seems to he better: It had been promised to him, ch, Rev 4:1, that he should be shown future events; and now it seemed as if this promise were about to be frustrated by the lack of one worthy to open the Book, and his tears burst forth in the earnestness of disappointed desire after the fulfillment of the promise.E. R. C.]
[74][See on Rev 5:5, p.167E. R. C.]
[75] [The passages in Dsterdieck specially referred to are as follows:
On comparing the description, Revelation 4., with Rabbinical conceptions, such as More Nevoch., II.6; Non facit Deus quicquam, donec illud Intuitus fuerit in familia superiori, and Schir Haschirim R. fol. 93; Non facit Deus quicquam, nisi autea de eo consultaverit cum familia superiori (in Wetstein), we can not overlook the essential difference consisting in the fact that the Johannean view is a pure development of Old and New Testament fundamental truths, whilst the Rabbins had but a corruption of those truths (contrary to Wetst., Eichh., Heinr., Ew., el al.) For the familia superior, which is represented by the Rabbins as taking part in the council of God, has. according to John, but to worship God and to magnify the counsel together with the works of God; and the visions beheld by John, in which the things to come are prefigured to him, being in the spirit, are by no means that heavenly prelude of earthly events which the Rabbins conceive of (comp. Wetst.: Ex mente Judorum, qu in terris eventura sunt, in clo coram consessu angelorum prius manifestantur atque reprsentantur).
The formula marks the beginning of a new vision, and that a greater or more important one (chs. Rev 7:1; Rev 7:9; Rev 15:5; Rev 18:1), whilst the formula introduces the manifold individual features which present them selves in the course of a greater main picture (Rev 5:1; Rev 5:6; Rev 5:11; Rev 6:1; Rev 6:5; Rev 6:8-9; Rev 6:12; Rev 8:2; Rev 8:13, et al.)E. R. C.]
[76][See on Rev 1:10, p.103.E. R. C.]
[77][See foot-note, p. 147.E. R. C.]
[78][Dsterdieck also quotes, as bearing upon the passage cited from Isaiah, the following passages quoted by Schttg, and Hengst. from Tanchuma (fol. 48): Tempore futuro Deus S. B. gloriam senioribus tribuit. Dixerunt quoque Rabbini nostri: faciet sibi Deus S. B. consessum seniorum suorum. Also the following in reference to Dan 7:9 : Tempore futuro Deus S. B. sedebit et Angeli dabunt sellas magnatibus Israelis, et illi sedent. Et Deus S. B. sedet cum senioribus tanquam princeps senatus et judicabunt gentiles.E. R. C.]
[79] [In the Additional Comments above, the Am. Ed. has written as adopting the generally accepted view that the Elders belong to the glorified Church, He would, in this place, deferentially suggest for consideration another hypothesis. The evidence for the current view rests solely on the formerly accepted text of the doxology in which the Living-beings and the Elders are represented as uniting (Rev 5:10-11). Criticism has shown that, in this instance, the text of the Recepta is specially corrupt; it has established the fact, that the and of Rev 4:10 are corruptions of and (or ), and has rendered probable (certain in the opinion of Lange, Alford and Tischandorf) the further fact, that the of Rev 4:9 is an interpolation. It is well nigh certain (from textual criticism alone) that the doxology was raised in view of the general fact of redemption, and not of the personal redemption of those who united in itthat it affords no evidence that any who joined in its utterance were themselves the subjects of redemption. Apart from this doxology, there is no evidence that the Elders were in any way connected with the Church; on the contrary, all the indications of the Apocalypse are opposed to the idea. Although they are several times mentioned, it is never as representing the redeemed, as being amongst them, or as joining in their hallelujahs. When they are represented as sitting on thrones, the souls of the martyrscertainly the noblest portion of the redeemed, even if that throng were not intended to represent the whole body of the savedwere beneath the altar (comp. chs. Rev 4:4 with Rev 6:9). And where, if not amongst the martyrs, are the Princes of the glorified Israel to be sought? When the great multitude of the redeemed stood before the Throne and raised their hallelujah, the Elders stood, not with them, but with the Living-beings and the Angels, offering a separate worship and uniting in a separate hymn of praise (Rev 7:9-12). On this august occasion one of the Elders is represented as addressing the Seer, not as a representative of the glorified Host, but as a spectator of their glory; and as a mere spectator (he spoke of them, not of us), he gave information concerning their past and future history (Rev 7:13-17). In the doxology that burst forth from the Living-beings and the Elders immediately on the announcement of the complete establishment of the Kingdom of the Messiah on earth, there was no allusion to any personal participation in the rewards that should be bestowed on (human) prophets and saints (Rev 11:15-18). Again, when the Lamb at the head of the hundred and forty-four thousand stood on Mount Zion (where should the Princes of Israel have been but with that company?), the Elders and the Living-beings stood apart by the Throne, and before (not by) them the new song of the redeemed was sung (Rev 14:1-5).
The writer would ask, Do not these facts go far to confirm the independent conclusions of criticism as to the true text of the doxology in Rev 5:10-11? And do they not tend to establish the conclusion, that the Elders were not Princes or representatives of the glorified Church, but Princes of the heavenly hostsof unfallen spirits? And it may also be asked, if this view does not give a unity to this Heaven scene, and to all the scenes of the Apocalyptic visions, entirely lacking on the hypothesis generally accepted.E. R. C.]
[80][The following view of Wordsworth can hardly be accepted as a complete explanation: This adjunct (thunders) confirms the opinion that St. John is here speaking of Gods word. Thunder is the voice of God. St. John himself, as a preacher of Gods word, was named by Christ a son of thunder.E. R. C.]
[81][Seven torches of fire: in this Book does not mean a lamp (see Rev 8:10), but a torch (comp. Joh 18:3); and these seven torches or flambeaux of fire burning before the Throne are contrasted with the Star which fell as a torch from Heaven (Rev 8:10); comp. Wetstein I., p. 507; and Trench, Syn. N. T., p. 193. Wordsworth.E. R. C.]
[82] De Wette: These four creatures, as pre-eminent, the first two for strength, and the two others for knowledge, are representatives of all creatures (creaturesthat rest not day or night?).
[83][Yes. Comp. Rev 7:15, where the redeemed are represented as serving by day and by night (i. e., continually) in the Temple. To the blessed spirits, braced by the atmosphere of Heaven, perpetual service is perpetual rest.E. R. C.]
[84][Mathematically involved. E. R. C.]
[85][The prayer of Augustine (Confess., Lib. 10:29): Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis.E. R. C.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
SPECIAL DOCTRINO-ETHICAL AND HOMILETICAL NOTES (ADDENDUM)
Section Fourth
Second Grand Vision. Heaven-picture of the Seals. (Chs. 4, 5)
General.a. Translation of the Seer to Heaven. A vision within a vision, at the same time denoting a momentary translation into the light of the consummation.The import of Heaven in the whole of Sacred Writ, from Gen 1:1 throughout, is at once cosmical and spiritual. Heaven is, so to speak, the plastic symbol of religion, and especially of Christianity. Gods Kingdom, a Kingdom of Heaven.
b. The Throne, the Sitter thereon, and His Government. The Throne indescribable. The figure of the Enthroned One isand justlynot depicted, but only symbolized, approximately, by precious stones, having the hue of light and life.The rainbow, or the glory of the Godhead, visible, in the chromatic, seven-fold radiance of revelation, to the spirit-world.The twenty-four Elders on their thrones, or the elect in the lustre of perfect fellowship with God.The white robes of consummation.The ground-forms of Divine revelation: Lightnings, voices, thunders; see Exeg. Notes.The Seven Spirits of God, under the figure of eternally burning Lamps [Torches], symbols of the eternal living unity of light, life and love.The glassy sea and the four Life-forms; see Exeg. Notes.Gods governance under the figure of these Life-forms.The second doxology (Rev 4:11) a development of the first (Rev 1:6)an expression of the ever richer revelation of God.
c. The Sealed Book of the Course of the World. Lamentation and Consolation. The course of the world as a completed book, or the counsel of God. As a sealed book, or the nocturnal gloom of worldly history. As a terrible book, in the apparent impossibility of unsealing it. As a book full of wonders of salvation, destined to be opened by the Lion of Judah in His victory. Christ the Crucified and Risen One, the Opener, Explainer and Transfigurer [Erklrer und Verklrer] of the book with seven seals. The seals of guilt [Schuld=indebtedness to justice], of imputation of guilt, of judgment, of the curse, of death, of the fear of death, and of despairhow Christ looses them and resolves them all into deliverance and mercy, through His redemption. Even the Gospel is to the unenlightened world a dark book of fate, but through the enlightenment which proceeds from Christ, even the dark destiny of the world shall itself become a Gospel.
d. The Lion as the Lamb. The unity of Lion and Lamb, or the absolute victorious power of perfect love and suffering. Divine omnipotence and Divine endurance in their general unity as exhibited in the history of the world, and in their concentrated unity as exhibited in Christ. The Lamb, the centre of all life, (1) of the Throne of God, (2) of the four ground-forms of His governance, (3) of the chosen presbyters of the Old and the New Covenant.The symbolic appearance of the Lamb, see Exeg. Notes.As it had been slain, or the infinite import of the historic phase of Christ and Christianity. Christ has taken the office of solving the riddle of worldly history from the hand of the Father.
e. The Cultus of the Lamb. The third doxology, or the New Song: the type of Christian cultus. An antiphony between the beatified human world and the holy angel-world; a symphony of all good spirits and all creatures, to the praise of the Lamb and the glorification of the all-ruling God.
Special.[Chs. 45.] The great vision of the Providence of God.[Rev 4:2-3.] The power of Providence: God on His Throne; [Rev 4:4.] the aim of Providence: consummation of the spirit-world, represented by the twenty-four Elders; [Rev 4:5.] operations of Providence: manifestations of the Spirits of God; [Rev 4:6.] the work of Providence: the glassy sea, the billowy and yet transparent history of the world; [Rev 4:6-8.] the organs of Providence: the four Life-forms, or ground-forms of the Divine governance; [Rev 4:8-11.] gloriousness of Providence: its result a continuous doxology; [Rev 4:1] idea of Providence: the sealed book. [Rev 4:2-3.] Terrors and obscurities of the government of Divine Providence.[Rev 4:4.] The weeping geniuses of humanity.[Rev 4:5.] Weep not. How many times these words appear in the New Testament, like fear not, or be of good cheer, and similar heavenly words of encouragement.[Rev 4:5-6.] The light and all enlightening centre of Providence: Christ as the Lamb and the Lion.Christianity, or the Death and Resurrection of Christ in their infinite operation.The Redemption [Erlsung] as the solving [Lsung] of all riddles of worldly history, of humanity and of the world.The Elders, appearing, in their attributes, as heirs of perfect communion with God, as the trusted witnesses of His rule.A Presbytery of God: Christological idea of men who are in affinity with God. and who, through Christ, are elevated into the position of heirs of God.[Rev 4:8-11.] Third and completely developed doxology.Every delineation of the Lion is false, which does not, at the same time, permit the Lamb to be clearly recognized. Every delineation of the Lamb is false, behind which the Lion vanishes. Only the Spirit of Christ can grasp this great contrast as a living unity. As so entirely a unity, that the Lion were not without the Lambs nature, or the Lamb without the Lions nature.How Holy Scripture is reflected in the ideal Books which we meet with in the Apocalypse. There are few essential relations at the basis of the Bible which do not here appear in the form of Books.The Christian cultus, reposing in its truth upon the heavenly cultus of all beings.Sacred songs and new songs.All sacred songs are outgushes of the one celestial New Song.To the song of praise of creation and providence (Rev 4:11) is added the song of praise of redemption (Rev 5:9).The ground-form of worship an antiphony, in which spirits occupying different stand-points exchange their blessed views.The Amen in the synagogue and in Christian worship.
Starke: Quesnel: One who would know the mysteries of Heaven, must be free from earth.The Elders: This figure here, as in the whole of this vision, is taken from the Temple at Jerusalem, David having instituted twenty-four orders of priests; these held their councils in the outer court of the Temple, the High Priest sitting in the midst upon his seat, and the four and twenty priests or elders sitting in a half-circle around him and before him on their seats. (The Seer has himself, Revelation 21., suggested, as the import of the Elders, the twelve heads of the Tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles; the appointment of the orders [or courses] of priests, however, is itself connected with the original duodecenary.)The office of the Eldersnay, of all believersis to comfort the mourning from Gods Word and not to leave them without encouragement (Isa 40:1). He who would emphatically comfort another, must have sufficient grounds for his consolation to rest upon (Joh 16:33).
Thomas Newton, Dissertations on the Prophecies, London, Dove (p. 528): Most of the best commentators divide the Apocalypse or Revelation into two partsthe book, , sealed with seven seals, and the little book, , as it is called several times. But it happens, unluckily, that according to their division the lesser book is made to contain as much as, or more than, the larger; whereas, in truth, the little book is nothing more than a part of the sealed book, and is added as a codicil or appendix to it.
De Rougemont, La Rvlation (see p. 73): Le trne tait environn d un arc-en-ciel, qui avail la couleur de l mraude. L arc-en-ciel est le signe de l alliance de Dieu avec l humanit tout entire, issue de No, et il annonce ici que les rvlations subsquentes auront pour objet l histoire future des nations. L mraude est verte, et le vert est la couleur de l esprance.
H. W. Rinck (see p. 73): Die Zeichen der letzten Zeit.And I wept much, etc. John had a priestly heart, he was a fellow-partaker in the Kingdom of Christ (Rev 1:9); the Kingdom of God was more to him than his lifeIf I forget thee, let my right hand be forgotten (Psa 137:5 [G. V.]) was the key-note of his soul more truly than it was that of the Babylonish captivity;he longed for the establishment of Jesus Kingdom on earth more than did Daniel for the re-establishment of Jerusalem and Israel (Daniel 9). Such being his feelings, we can understand the tears that he wept because none was found worthy to open the Book of the Future.
Literature. Roffhack, Schpfung und Erlsung nach Offenb. 4 u. 5., Barmen, 1866.
[From M. Henry: Rev 4:1. Those who well improve the discoveries they have had of God already, are prepared thereby for more and may expect them.
Rev 4:8-9. Note here the object of adoration: 1. One God, the Lord God Almighty, unchangeable and everlasting; 2. Three Holies in this one God, the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Rev 4:10-11. Observe, 1. The Object of worshipthe same as in the preceding verses. 2. The acts of adoration: (1) They fell down before Him that sat on the Throne; they discovered the most profound humility, reverence, and godly fear. (2) They cast down their crowns, etc.; they gave God the glory of the holiness wherewith He had crowned their souls on earth, and the honor and happiness with which He crowns them in Heaven. (3) The words of adoration: Thou art worthy, etc.; a tacit acknowledgment that God was exalted far above all blessing and praise; He was worthy to receive glory, but they were not worthy to praise, nor able to do it according to His infinite excellences. 4. The ground and reason of their adoration, which is three-fold: (1) He is the Creator of all things, the first Cause. (2) He is the Preserver of all things, and His preservation is a continual creation. (3) He is the final Cause of all things; for Thy pleasure they are and were created.Rev 5:5-6. Christ is a Lion, to conquer Satan; a Lamb, to satisfy the justice of God.He appears with the marks of His sufferings upon Him, to show that He intercedes in heaven in the virtue of His satisfaction.
Rev 4:8-11. It is just matter of joy to all the world, to see that God does not deal with men in a way of absolute power and strict justice, but in a way of grace and mercy through the Redeemer. He governs the world, not merely as a Creator and Lawgiver, but as our God and Saviour.Here observe, 1. The object of worshipthe Lamb. It is the declared will of God that all men should honor the Son as they honor the Father; for He has the same nature. 2. Posture of the worshippersthey fell down before Him; gave Him not an inferior sort of worship, but the most profound adoration. 3. The instruments used in their adorationharps and vials; prayer and praise should always go together. 4. The matter of their song. (1) They acknowledge the infinite fitness and worthiness of the Lord Jesus for the great work of opening the decrees and executing the counsel and purposes of God; Thou art worthy, etc.; every way sufficient for the work and deserving of the honor. (2) They mention the grounds and reasons of this worthiness.
Rev 4:9. Christ has redeemed His people from the bondage of sin, guilt, and Satan; redeemed them to God; set them at liberty to serve Him and to enjoy Him.
Rev 4:10. He has highly exalted them. When the elect of God were made slaves by sin and Satan, in every nation of the world, Christ not only purchased their liberty for them, but the highest honor and preferment, making them kings, to rule over their own spirits, and to overcome the world and the evil one; and priests, giving them access to Himself, and liberty to offer up spiritual sacrifices. And they shall reign on the earth; they shall with Him judge the world at the great day.From The Comprehensive Commentary: Ch. 4. The Lord Jesus, having overcome the sharpness of death, hath opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers; and if we look unto Him by faith, and obediently attend to His voice, whilst He calls us to set our affections on things above, we shall, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, behold the glory of our reconciled God on His throne of grace; be encouraged by the engagements of His everlasting covenant, and draw nigh in humble boldness with our worship; notwithstanding the terrors of His justice, and the awful curses of His broken law. (Scott.)Rev 5:9. Redemption by the blood of Christ (mark it well, O my soul!) is the ground-work of the majestic, triumphant song of praise in heaven; and a disposition to join in it, our chief capacity for, and actual happiness in, time and eternity. (Adams.)From Vaughan: Chap. 4. We may learn hence the reality of a heavenly world, and of its concern and connection with this;facts full of confusion and discomfiture to the worldly and sinners, but of comfort and encouragement to the Christian.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
At this Chapter, we enter upon those Prophecies which relate to the Church of God, from the Ascension of Christ, going on through a regular Progression, to the Descension of Christ, at the great Day of God. John is here introduced into the Visions concerning those wonderful Events. He is led to behold the Throne of God, and the glorified Inhabitants of Heaven round the Throne.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
(1) 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. (2) And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. (3) 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.
Here is the opening of the second vision, with which John was favored. This Chapter appears to have been intended, as preparatory to what was to follow; not unlike the first. In the first Chapter, John had that glorious vision of the Person of his Lord. The next Chapter, Christ’s message began, to the Churches. So here, John hath in this Chapter, a solemn and glorious vision, of the parties concerned in what was to follow; and then, in the succeeding Chapter, the business for which the Apostle was favored with the vision.
There is here in this Chapter, a view of the Lord’s Church, with the Lord himself presiding over it. And one of the most solemn representations which can be. John begins it With observing, that after he had received from the Lord his messages to the seven Churches; and, perhaps, for ought we know to the contrary, delivered them.; he looked, and behold a door was opened in the heavens. By which is meant, that his spiritual faculties were called forth into exercise, and, looking up, he saw heaven opened to his view, as though he had beheld through it, this wonderful, and supernatural sight, which he hereafter describes. The first thing after looking up which attracted his attention was the sound of a voice, inviting him
to raise his affections above the earth to heaven; and a promise accompanied the invitation, that he that invited him would show him things which should be hereafter. And immediately John found himself, as he had upon the former vision, in the Spirit; meaning, under divine influences, See Rev 1:10 . Reader! pause, and do not fail to observe, how soon the Lord the Holy Ghost works upon the spirits of the people. No sooner had John heard the voice, but immediately he was in the Spirit.
The throne which John saw, and upon which One sat, hath been considered, as representing the Unity of the Divine Nature, in his threefold character or Persons. And the Jasper, Sardine, and Emerald stones, are supposed to be the representation of the Threefold nature of the Godhead. But it is observable, that though the brilliancy of these stones set forth the splendor of shining glory, yet no Personal appearance was seen. No man hath seen God at anytime, Joh 1:18 . In relation to the Rainbow round about the throne, there can be no question to whom this refers, because the Rainbow, from the very first Covenant of grace made with Noah, was declared by the Lord himself, to be the token of the everlasting Covenant. There are so many very blessed things connected with this token of the Rainbow, that I beg the Reader’s indulgence, to dwell upon the subject somewhat more particularly.
And, first. Let it be considered, how is the Rainbow formed? It is the effect from the sun’s beams upon the watery clouds. And Christ, the Sun of righteousness, forms, by his shining, the whole effects of the Covenant of grace, upon all that is cloudy, in our nature. So that Jesus is the true Rainbow, of which that beautiful arch, formed in the heavens, is but a type or shadow.
Secondly. As the Rainbow in nature, is held forth by the Lord, to be an everlasting memorial of God’s Covenant with the earth, that God will no more destroy the earth by a deluge: so Christ, the Rainbow in grace, is God’s memorial, and man’s confidence, that amidst all the deluge of sin, God will not destroy his people, for whom Jesus is the Covenant.
Thirdly. As the Rainbow in nature hath been in all ages the token of God’s Covenant for the, earth’s safety, when the Lord brings a cloud over the earth, and the bow is seen in the cloud; Gen 9:13-14 , so here, the throne of God which John saw, was encircled with the Bow, to intimate its everlasting abiding, like to the throne itself; being fixed of an everlasting green like an Emerald, to show its unfading nature, and its never-ceasing efficacy.
Fourthly. That this Rainbow was, and is Christ, is evident, for John saw Christ upon another occasion, as a mighty Angel come down from heaven, clothed with a rainbow, and his face was as it were the Sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, Rev 10:1 . So John had seen him before, Rev 1:15-16 . It is the peculiar prerogative of Christ, to shine as the sun upon his people, and to lift up the light of his countenance upon them.
Fifthly. John tells the Church in the fifth verse, that out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices. Perhaps these were meant to show, the many dispensations of the Lord, both to the Church, and to the world. But whatever dispensations come from the throne, they must all pass through the Rainbow, for the Rainbow was all round the throne, so that nothing could be manifested but through it. And this, very blessedly teacheth the Church, how everlastingly safe all Christ’s redeemed must be, since nothing can come to pass, but it must pass his hands. And on the other hand, how awful to his enemies, since Christ is in all dispensations, and nothing can escape him.
Lastly. While the Rainbow in the heavens shadows Christ, and is designed to point to him, for which purpose God hangs out the Bow, it doth but half resemble Christ, for it only forms an half circle in the beautiful Arch we behold. But Jesus encircles the whole throne. Neither is it possible for God to look any way to his people, but in him, and through him. Oh! the blessedness to behold the Lord Jehovah, by faith upon his throne; and that throne encircled with mercy, in the Person and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Elevation and Vision
Rev 4:1
It is a serious error to suppose that we can rightly apprehend the highest truths whilst we live on a low plane of thought and conduct, and yet it is a very common error. Those who grovel in the dust, nay, who wallow in the sensual mire, yet believe themselves competent to discuss the most solemn problems of existence and destiny: they conclude that the truths concerning God His existence, laws, government, revelation and purpose are apprehended and understood mentally like theories of mechanics and mathematics. It is a profound mistake.
I. To see eternal realities with open vision we must preserve a pure and sensitive soul. Recently in some experiments in colour photography it was attempted to reproduce the colours of the spectrum. The experiment succeeded so far as the bars of colour in the interval between the violet and the red were concerned: but the camera failed to represent the ultra hues, the film was not sufficiently sensitive to seize the hidden mystery of colour, and a couple of blotches alone witnessed to the existence of the unseen rays. Thus a coarsened soul in its dark misgivings bears witness to unseen things, yet it lacks the subtlety to discern and realise the glorious realities of the transcending universe. Our spirit must be uplifted by fellowship with God, made sensitive by purity, refined by love, kept steady by a great hope and confidence, or it cannot reflect and realise eternal verities. It is not so much by intellectual acuteness as by truth and purity in the inward parts that we lay hold of the things of God.
II. To apprehend justly and influentially eternal truths our life must be lofty in its spirit and aim. The real explanation of our dubiety and despair is not to be sought in our intellectual defects and limitations, but rather in the narrowness, egotism, and debasement of our thoughts, ideals, and strivings. We need to get on a higher plane of thinking, sympathy, and purpose. ‘Come up higher and I will show thee.’ Is not that the call of God to us? We are told that from the bottom of a pit the stars are visible at noonday, but to those who are content to dwell in the murky depths of low thinking, feeling, and action, the lights of the upper universe are lost in impenetrable obscuration. Character is the chief source of illumination; noble conduct best augments the inner light; life aspiring to high standards rather than logic divines the secrets of eternity.
W. L. Watkinson, The Ashes of Roses, p. 104.
References. IV. 1. H. S. Holland, Vital Values, p. 58. W. Morison, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliv. p. 379. J. Keble, Sermons for Ascension Day to Trinity Sunday, p. 354. W. H. Simcox, The Cessation of Prophecy, p. 82. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv. No. 887. IV. 1, 2. H. J. Bevis, Sermons, p. 155. IV. 2. Expositor (4th Series), vol. v. p. 124.
The Rainbow and the Throne
Rev 4:2-3
I want to dwell on the rainbow round the throne like to an emerald. Do you see any mystical meanings in that rainbow? I shall tell you what it suggests to me.
I. In the first place it speaks to me of this, that the permanent is encircled by the fleeting.
Whenever a Jew thought of the throne of God, he pictured one that was unchangeable. ‘Thy throne, O God, is an everlasting throne,’ was the common cry of psalmist and of prophet. Other thrones might pass into oblivion; other kingdoms flourish and decay. There was not a monarchy on any hand of Israel, but had risen and had fallen, like a star. But the throne of God, set in the high heaven, where a thousand years are as a day, that throne from all eternity had been, and to all eternity it would remain. Such was the throne which the Apostle saw, and round about it he descried a rainbow. It was engirdled with a thing of beauty, which shines for a moment, and in shining vanishes. The permanent was encircled by the transient. The eternal was set within the momentary. The sign and symbol of unchanging power was rooted in the heart of what was fleeting.
II. Another truth which is suggested here is that power is perfected in mercy. The rainbow has been symbolical of mercy, ever since the days of Noah and the flood. God made a covenant with Noah, you remember, that there should never be such a flood again. Never again, so long as earth endured, was there to fall such desolating judgment. And in token of that, God pointed to the bow, painted in all its beauty on the storm-cloud that rainbow was to be for ever the sign and sacrament that He was merciful.
III. The heavenly setting of mystery is hope.
As the Apostle gazed upon the throne, there was one thing that struck him to the heart. ‘Out of the throne came voices, thunderings and lightnings.’ Whose these voices were, he could not tell. What they were uttering, he did not know. Terrible messages pealed upon his ear, couched in some language he had never learned. And with these voices was the roll of thunder; and through it all, the flashing of the lightning; and John was awed, for in the throne of God he was face to face with unutterable mystery. Then he lifted his eyes, and lo, a rainbow, and yet it was different from earthly rainbows. It was not radiant with the seven colours that John had counted on the shore of Patmos. It was like an emerald what colour is an emerald? It was like an emerald; it was green. Around the throne, with its red flame of judgment, there was a rainbow, and the bow was green. Does that colour suggest anything to you? To me it brings the message of the Spring. You never hear a poet talk of dead green; but you often hear one talk of living green. It is the colour of the tender grass, and of the opening buds upon the trees. It is the colour of rest for weary eyes. It is the colour of hope for weary hearts.
G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, p. 317.
References. IV. 3. D. M. Pratt, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liii. p. 186. H. S. Seekings, Preacher’s Magazine, vol. xvii. p. 605. G. R. Fetherston, A Garden Eastward, p. 15.
Rev 4:4
‘In Brescia,’ says Prof. Villari, during the Lent of 1486, ‘Savonarola, with the Book of Revelation for his theme, found it easier to stir the sympathies of his hearers. His words were fervent, his tone commanding, and he spoke with a voice of thunder; reproving the people for their sins, denouncing the whole of Italy, and threatening all with the terrors of God’s wrath. He described the forms of the twenty-four elders, and represented one of them as rising to announce the future calamities of the Brescians. Their city, he declared, would fall a prey to raging foes; they would see rivers of blood in the streets; wives would be torn from their husbands, virgins ravished, children murdered before their mothers’ eyes; all would be terror and fire and bloodshed. His sermon ended with a general exhortation to repentance, inasmuch as the Lord would have mercy on the just. The mystic image of the elder made a deep impression on the people. The preacher’s voice seemed really to resound from the other world; and his threatening predictions awakened much alarm. During the sack of Brescia, in 1572, by the ferocious soldiery of Gaston de Foix, when, it is said, that about six thousand persons were put to the sword, the inhabitants remembered the elder of the Apocalypse and the Ferrarese preacher’s words’.
The whole state of man is a state of culture; and its flowering and completion may be described as Religion or Worship. There is always some religion, some hope and fear extended into the invisible from the blind boding which nails a horseshoe to the mast or the threshold, up to the song of the elders in the Apocalypse.
Emerson.
References. IV. 4, 10, 11. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii. p. 441. C. Anderson Scott, The Book of Revelation, p. 155. IV. 6, 7. A. P. Stanley, Sermons on Special Occasions, p. 291.
The Emblems of the Evangelists
Rev 4:6-8
These four beasts what are they? The devout fancy of the Christian Fathers regarded them as emblems of the four Evangelists St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John those supreme benefactors of the Christian Church who have bequeathed to all generations that priceless legacy, the story, from their several standpoints, of that Life of matchless love which was the revelation of the unseen God and Father. There is some variation in the application of the imagery, but I shall follow what seems to me the aptest and truest interpretation that of St. Augustine.
I. St. Matthew the Lion. Of course the key to this emblem is the old fancy that the lion is the King of the Beasts. And you see the appropriateness of the emblem?
St. Matthew wrote his Gospel as an appeal to unbelieving Israel in the dark days when that terrible, crushing disaster had befallen the nation the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus and the dispersion of the people over the face of the earth. When they were broken, scattered, and despairing, St. Matthew, the Jewish Evangelist, wrote his Gospel, not to upbraid them with their unbelief, but to make a last gracious appeal to them, and to prove to them, after the manner of demonstration which the Jewish mind appreciated, that the Lord Jesus, whom their fathers in their blindness had rejected, was none other than the King of Israel the Promised Saviour, the Holy Messiah, the Son of David’s royal house, whom the prophets had foretold, and whom, generation after generation, believing men had been dreaming of and praying for and longing after.
St. Matthew gathers up all the promises of God and all the hopes of His people, and shows how they are fulfilled and realised in the King and Saviour.
II. St. Mark the Man. And how apt this emblem is! St. Mark has no theological thesis, no apologetic purpose. He simply tells the story of our Lord’s ministry, and he never stops to point a moral or deduce a consequence.
If St Matthew depicts Jesus as the Son of David, the King of Israel, St. Mark depicts Him as the Son of Man, the prophetic Servant of the Lord: ‘Behold, My servant, whom I uphold, ‘Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles’.
III. St. Luke the Calf. And here is something puzzling. The calf is the sacrificial victim, and if there be any book in the New Testament which has nothing to say of sacrifices of victims and priests and altars and shedding of blood, it is the Gospel according to St. Luke. St Luke was a Greek, a physician of Antioch, and he knew nothing about Jewish typology and symbolism, and there is nothing about sacrifices in his Gospel. And yet those ancient mystics found his emblem in the calf.
It is certainly puzzling; but just consider it, and you will perceive the appropriateness of it. What is sacrifice? It is not a priest. It is not a victim. It is not a reeking altar. Oh, no! it is the giving of oneself for others. It is Love, and Love is the keynote of St. Luke’s Gospel.
His Gospel reveals him as a Christian gentleman with a chivalrous compassion for every feeble and defenceless thing. And that is sacrifice that, and not the priest or the bleeding victim or the crimson altar. And what makes the Sacrifice on Calvary is not the Cross, the nails, the spear; it is the Love which brought Jesus to that awful doom and moved Him to bear it all for our sinful sakes. And St. Luke’s is the sacrificial Gospel because it is the Gospel of the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
IV. St. John the Eagle. And this hardly needs explanation. There is a radical difference between St. John and the other Evangelists. The latter tell us about Jesus as He appeared among the children of men, and you discover by and by, as the story proceeds, that this Man was something more than a man, and you reach at last the conviction that He was God. But St John begins at the other end. Remember his immortal Prologue. He starts by saying: ‘Now here is what I am going to tell you about not the story of a human life but the story of a divine manifestation. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory.’ That is St. John’s starting-point; and the starting-point makes such a difference. He lifts us at once above Bethlehem. He never says a word about the inn or the manger: he carries us away up to the Throne of God and brings us down thence in company with the Incarnate Saviour.
It is like an eagle’s flight. I saw an eagle once in the Western Highlands. It had alighted in the neighbourhood of a shepherd’s flock, and he scared it away lest it should plunder his lambs, and it took wing and soared up into the blue sky, growing less and less until it seemed but a dim speck, scarce as big as a skylark. The old fable says that the eagle is the only creature whose eye can look undazzled on the blazing sun; and there could be no fitter emblem of St. John. He lifts us above the noise and strife of earth, and sets us amid the blaze of the heavenly glory.
David Smith, Man’s Need of God, p. 149.
References. IV. 6-8. H. S. Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. 1. p. 40. A. P. Stanley, Sermons on Special Occasions, p. 57.
Rev 4:7
‘In times of opposition,’ says Milton at the close of the Apology for Smectymnus, ‘when either against new heresies arising, or old corruptions to be reformed, this cool unpassionate mildness of positive wisdom is not enough to damp and astonish the proud resistance of carnal and false doctors, then (that I may have leave to soar awhile, as the poets use) Zeal, whose substance is ethereal arming in complete diamond, ascends his fiery chariot, drawn with two blazing meteors, figured like beasts, but of a higher breed than any the zodiac yields, resembling two of those four which Ezekiel and St. John saw; the one visaged like a lion, to express power, high authority, and indignation; the other, of countenance like a man, to cast derision and scorn upon perverse and fraudulent seducers; with these the invisible warrior, Zeal, shaking loosely the slack reins, drives over the heads of scarlet prelates, and such as are insolent to maintain traditions, bruising, their stiff necks under his flaming wheels.’
Rev 4:8
I assert for myself that I do not behold the outward creation, and that to me it is hindrance and not action. ‘What,’ it will be questioned, ‘when the sun rises, do you not see a disc of fire, somewhat like a guinea?’ ‘Oh, no, no! I see an innumerable company of the heavenly host crying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty. I question not my corporeal eye, any more than I would question a window, concerning a sight. I look through it, and not with it.’
William Blake.
References. IV. 8. F. St. John Corbett, The Preacher’s Year, p. 106. H. J. Bevis, Sermons, p. 165. R. W. Hiley, A Year’s Sermons, vol. i. p. 283. J. J. Blunt, Plain Sermons (3rd Series), p. 204. J. Keble, Sermons for Ascension Day to Trinity Sunday, p. 374. Bishop Wilberforce, Sermons, p. 231. H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. i. p. 1. J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons (9th Series), p. 112. IV. 9-11. C. Kingsley, The Good News of God, p. 325.
For an Exposition of chapter v. see A. B. Davidson’s Waiting Upon God, p. 351. V. 2. Bishop Gore, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liii. p. 384.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
VII
THE THRONE OF GRACE
Revelation 4-5
In the preceding chapters on Revelation 2-3, we have considered an earth scene of “the things that are” a most discouraging view. Now we consider a heaven scene of “the things that are” a most encouraging view.
The first thought is “the heavens opened.” Many people live and die without a vision of heaven. To them heaven is vague and far away, exercising no influence on their lives. Others, by faith, see things invisible. The Old Testament examples of the vision of heaven are worthy of study. The examples are many but I cite only three:
Jacob left home for the first time to be gone many years and never to see his mother again. Camping one night all alone with a stone for his pillow he dreamed that he saw a stairway reaching from earth to heaven on which angels descended and ascended. According to the New Testament this stairway was our Lord Jesus Christ restoring communication between heaven and earth. The vision converted Jacob and revolutionized his life. He called that place “the house of God and the Gate of Heaven.” That one experience of the sensible presence of God of heaven’s interest in the pilgrims of earth dissipated his loneliness and fear and never lost its power.
Again, in the discouraging year when King Uzziah died, Isaiah was cheered by a vision of the King who never dies. He saw heaven opened and the throne of eternal mercy the ministering angels all aflame with interest in earth’s, affairs. Yet again, Ezekiel, in the more discouraging times of the exile, had a glorious vision of the throne of grace and its circle of flaming wide-awake ministering angels. In the light of the vision exile changed to restoration and restoration to the spiritual eternal kingdom of God.
So here, Revelation 4-5, the heavens are opened to John, the exile on Patmos, and in the light of its vision, the discouraging earth view of the imperfect churches and pastors is swept away forever and in its stead, through panorama after panorama, he sees the ultimate triumph and universal prevalence of the kingdom of God.
At the outset let me assure you there is no reason for you to be dismayed at the symbolism of these chapters. The book is a revelation, not a hiding. It is not difficult to understand the leading thoughts and central facts underlying the imagery.
What, then, are the particulars of the vision? First of all he saw a throne. We know it to be the throne of grace by the rainbow arch above it.
On that throne, whether described by Isaiah, Ezekiel, or John, the Almighty is presented in an exceedingly reticent way. No man has seen God directly at any time, nor can see him. He said to Moses: “You saw no image.” So here the Father appears without form or shape vaguely seen as the brilliance of a jewel. But the thought is clear “The Lord God omnipotent reigneth let the earth rejoice.” Before the throne is a sea. In this and other apocalyptic books the sea represents the peoples or nations of the earth with this difference: As seen on earth Satan appears dominant over the sea of peoples. It is there storm-tossed (Dan 7:2-3 ), one beast (or nation) rising up after another. But before God in heaven, who overrules, that sea (of nations) becomes placid as a mirror. To him the nations are but drops of water in a bucket. He sees a representation of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit: “Seven lamps of fire which are the seven Spirits of God.” Seven is a perfect number meaning any number necessary, but here just seven to show that the Omnipresent Spirit is with each of the seven churches named in the preceding chapters. If a hundred churches on earth had been named, the symbolisms here would have been “one hundred lamps of fire which are the hundred Spirits of God.”
He saw the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, not as he was before the creation of the world, but as a Lamb that had been slain now alive to die no more.
So he saw all the Holy Trinity and each in a way to identify the throne as a throne of grace the Father and the rainbow a Spirit for every church the Son as a Lamb once slain but now alive.
He sees the Cherubim or “four living ones.” Do not follow the common version “four beasts” as if the Greek word were ” therion ” as in Rev 13:1 , but ” zoa ,” living ones. Now, as there is more confusion of mind concerning the Cherubim than perhaps any other thing it is my purpose to give you a clear conception of them gathered from the Scriptures alone.
1. The Cherubim of Eze 10:1-20 , are the same as “living ones” of Eze 1:5 , and Rev 4:6 , (Greek zoa ), and the same as the Seraphim of Isa 6:2 . Seraphim expresses merely the glowing flames or luminous quality of the Cherubim. It is human rhetoric or poetic license that makes them distinct orders of beings.
2. Their number is always and only four (Eze 1:5 ; Eze 10:10 ; Rev 4:6 ). But as from an east, west, north, or south angle of vision only two can be seen, so on the mercy seat an east view only two can be made visible. Hence the directions to Moses to make two (Exo 25:18 ).
3. The Cherubim are Angels, but angels of high honor and princely character always nearest the throne of God, as seen by Isaiah, Ezekiel, and John. That they are angels is evident from Psa 104:4 , correctly interpreted by Heb 1:7 . It is more evident from 1Pe 1:12 , referring to the posture of the Cherubim bending over and gazing down upon the mercy seat: “Which things angels desire to look into.” Hence also Cherubim were placed on a great veil that shrouded the most holy place as if endeavoring to peep through that veil and comprehend the mystery of Redemption.
4. They are not angels of wrath but always associated with, the throne of grace, as you may see by tracing the word through a concordance. Every manifestation of mercy exhibits them. God, intervening for fallen men, is always represented as sitting, or dwelling, or appearing, or speaking between or amonn the Cherubim. As the Shekinah, or sword-flame, he dwelt between the Cherubim, to keep open the way to the tree of life, when the throne of grace was established at the east of the district of Eden when man was expelled from paradise (Gen 3:24 ; see rendering in Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown), and there Abel found him and through atoning sacrifice and faith found his way back to the tree of life (Gen 4:4 , and Heb 11:4 ).
This precise idea of Genesis was embodied by divine directions to Moses in the construction of the mercy seat of the tabernacle (Exo 25:18-22 ; Exo 26:31 ; Exo 37:8 ).
Here, between the Cherubim, God’s voice was heard (Num 7:89 ). Here God dwelt (1Sa 1:24 ; 2Sa 6:2 ; Psa 80:1 ; Psa 99:1 ; Isa 37:16 ; Heb 9:5 ). And so in the Temple of Solomon (1Ki 6:23 ; 2Ki 19:15 ; 1Ch 13:6 ). And just so in Ezekiel’s ideal temple (Eze 41:18 ).
5. The four Cherubim, combined, constitute the chariot of God, moving on purposes of mercy (1Ch 28:18 ; Psa 18:10 ). In this chariot of fire Elijah ascended to heaven (2Ki 2:11 ). Compare the sarcasm of Isa 22:18 , on the death of Shebna. Doubtless also it was this angel chariot that met the beggar Lazarus at the depot of death and carried him away to banquet with Abraham in the kingdom of heaven (Luk 16:22 ). Hence, not without power, and certainly with instructed piety, the happy camp meeting Negroes of the South are accustomed to sing, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot!” If ever that fire chariot goes on a mission of wrath it is always, like the wrath of the Lamb, because of mercy despised (Isa 65:15 ). The heavenly realities which forecast these symbols for tabernacle and Temple in the visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and John certainly indicate the angelic interest and activity of the Cherubim in the plan, method, and work of salvation.
6. Each Cherub is symbolically represented with four faces, fronting east, south, west, and ‘north, to indicate their power to see, and their readiness to move in any direction without turning around. So, in the description of Ezekiel. To illustrate, the camp of Israel fronted four ways, three tribes on each of the four sides. In military maneuvers a battalion may form a hollow square, facing and fighting in four directions.
7. The different faces expressed the qualities of the Cherubim. The face of the man indicated intelligence, and sympathy with man; the face of the eagle indicated great powers of vision and flight; the face of the ox indicated endurance and strength; the face of the lion indicated courage. Thus, facing east you see the face of a man, and on one side you see the face of an eagle, and on the other side the face of an ox, and on the back view the face of a lion.
8. The highest number of wings actually named as in use at one time is six (Isa 6:2 ; Rev 4:8 ), yet there must have been two wings for each face eight altogether. The idea conveyed is that they are always ready to fly in the direction any face fronted without turning around. The number of wings seen at any time depended on circumstances, particularly on the angle of vision. Seen over the mercy seat, from an east front, only two faces and four wings are visible; seen at rest every wing is folded and none is visible (Eze 1:25 )
9. The wheels represent the means of movement on earth, as the wings represent the means of movement in the air. There was a wheel for each face (Eze 1:15 ). Now, as a pair of wings for each face indicated capacity and readiness to fly in the direction that face fronted, so the same idea is expressed in the earth motion by “a wheel within a wheel.” To grasp this thought, conceive of one tire of a wagon wheel pressed into another at right angles. Such a double wheel would not only stand of itself, but without turning could be rolled in four directions. With the exercise of a little ingenuity, you can make a double pasteboard wheel that embodies the idea.That is a wheel within a wheel. It can roll any one of four ways without turning. The same thought may be seen in the rollers to the legs of a table that enables you to push or pull in any direction without turning the table.
Ezekiel repeatedly presents this thought, that whether the Cherubim fly with wings, or glide on wheels, they never turn around. They always move straight forward, whether it be one Cherub or four. If the four be together, two faces and four wings and two wheels front every cardinal point of the compass, being ever ready to see, fly or glide north, east, south, or west without turning. In any element, land, sea, or air they are ever ready for sight or movement in four directions. An auto must turn round for a new direction, but the Cherubim moves straight forward the chariot of God never made a turn. Dr. J. R. Graves borrowed from Ezekiel’s Cherubim, i.e., “A wheel within a wheel,” his idea of Methodism, as set forth in his “Great Iron Wheel” but he utterly missed Ezekiel’s idea of the number of wheels and their relative size and position. Ezekiel’s wheel was double, each of the same size, and interfitted at right angles. Dr. Graves’ idea was one big wheel, a smaller one in that, and a still smaller in that, all fitted in laterally, and not at right angles and connected by spokes jointed into a central hub, the hub representing the bishops, the innermost wheel representing the presiding elders, the next wheel the preachers in charge and the outer wheel the class leaders and the whole wheel rolling over the members.
This symbolical idea of the Cherubim fitted for motion in any element is embodied somewhat in the airplane in the air it is a bird, in the water it is a boat, on land it is a wheeled wagon.
10. The leg of the Cherub had no knee and the foot no joints, to indicate that movement was purely volitional, no bending of knee or foot, no labored steps, but a gliding motion, like roller skates or other skates on ice. I have dreamed, more than once in my life, of possessing this volitional gliding movement either on the earth or in the air the will only acted. That is, I dreamed that Just by willing I could lift myself up and, without exertion or fatigue, could glide. Doubtless we will all possess this volitional power of movement in the better world. Our autos must carry an oil supply, and a crank for ignition, but in Ezekiel’s Cherubim “the Spirit” or motor power resided in the wheel (Eze 1:12 ; Eze 1:20 ), the power turned off or on by will, not mechanism.
11. Their swiftness of movement, whether on the land, or through the air, is compared to a flash of lightning (Eze 1:14 ). For instance, combined, the four Cherubim into a chariot which could go east to west and back again just by a mental movement. They could go forward and back again as quick as a flash of lightning appears and disappears.
12. The rims, or felloes, of the wheel, Ezekiel says, were very high and dreadful, and like the wings full of eyes to indicate vision in every direction, power of perception incalculably great. No man-made wheel was ever like this. The Ferris wheel at the Chicago Fair was a toy in comparison.
13. The appearance of the Cherubim in motion was exceedingly luminous Ezekiel says like coals of fire, or torches. The fire was exceedingly bright, radiating flashes of lightning (Eze 1:13 ). They constituted indeed a “chariot of fire.” And he says that the noise of their wings was like the roaring of an ocean storm like the voice of the Almighty or like the tumult of great armies.
14. Under each wing was the hand of a man (Eze 1:3 ). That is, each Cherub had two hands for each of the four faces. Hence the hand of one of the Cherubim touched the lips of Isaiah with a coal from the altar, cleansing and inspiring him to speak for God. And in the same way a hand of one of the Cherubim extended to Ezekiel a book of Revelation. These various organs of sight, motion, and touch expressed in a symbolic way the capacity of the Cherubim for varied activity, in the highest conception of motion, sight, touch, and light. Heathen mythology sought to express these extraordinary powers in the hundred eyes of Argus, the hundred hands of Briareus, the seven heads of the Hydra and the varied shapes of Proteus and the man-horse Centaur. Parables and symbols are far more expressive than literal speech.
15. The last thought: In the light of these scriptures concerning these Cherubim we confront some surprises in the way of interpretation. First, that art paints a cherub with the winged face of a baby. Second, that even such a theologian as Dr. Strong should deny any real existence to the Cherubim, making them only a symbolic representation of glorified humanity. See his article on the Cherubim in his “Philosophy and Religion.” This idea of the Cherubim representing glorified humanity is based on the doubtful reading in our lesson, the word “us,” Greek hemas , in Rev 5:9 , which makes the Cherubim sing a song declaring “Thou hast redeemed us with thy blood,” that is the way the Common Version reads. Of course, if the Cherubim are redeemed with the blood of Christ they cannot be angels. But the best manuscript authority leaves out that us so does your American Standard Revision of that verse. A still wilder interpretation makes the four Cherubim stand for animate creation as represented by man, ox, eagle, lion. Yet the wildest of all makes them mean the four continents Asia, Africa, Europe, and America. The Cherubim that John saw in this vision are represented as saying tirelessly, continuously: “Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.”
John saw twenty-four elders in priestly garb, seated on twenty-four thrones, each with a crown, a harp, and a bowl of incense (see Rev 4:4 ; Rev 4:10 ; Rev 5:8 ). The crown and throne indicate their royalty, the harp signifies their praise and the incense their prayers. The white robes and the offering of incense represent their priestly office. The number twenty-four represents the perpetuity of their service. David divided the priesthood into twenty-four courses, or reliefs, so that by successive rotation in service, the temple worship should be perpetual (see reference to Zacharias in Luk 1:8-9 ; Luk 1:23 ). The antitype is the universal priesthood of all Christians under the New Covenant: “Ye are to be a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices a royal priesthood” (1Pe 2:5 ; 1Pe 2:9 ). Or, as John has already expressed it in this book: “He made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto God” (Rev 1:6 ).
You must be careful to note that the adoration, praise, and prayers of Christ’s royal, New Testament priests are offered on earth. But John’s symbolism here is to show how these earth offerings reach heaven, and avail there. We know by experience, the adoring, praising, and praying down here, but we could not know without revelation the other end of the line, the reception accorded to and the profit arising from this earth service. The vision means: “I will show you your song and prayer entering heaven.” The adoration of the King-Christian on earth, when it gets to heaven, casts the crown of earthly royalty before God’s throne of grace and sings: “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 next thing that he sees is a sealed book, which the Father holds in his right hand. You are not to think of a book like the printed Bible. The books of that time were manuscripts of parchment and rolled around a staff. Suppose I had a long piece of parchment, each end fastened to a staff or roller, interspaced into seven sections, each section sealed up when rolled around the staff. Then there would be the other staff to which the last part of the roll would be attached, and when you read it you unroll it from one staff and roll it after reading around the other staff. What you have read would keep getting larger and larger, and what you had to read would keep getting smaller and smaller, and when you have emptied one staff and the other would be full.
John saw that this roll, or book, was written on both sides, every space covered, which signified that nothing more is to be added to it. It is complete. Now, the question is: What does that seven sealed roll mean? The rest of the book will show you that it is a disclosure of future events concerning the kingdom of God. God knew its contents, but it was sealed from human and angelic sight, and when the question was asked: “Who can break the seals and open this book?” neither man nor angel could respond. John wept at the thought. Then one of the Cherubim comforted him: “You need not weep, the Lion of Judah, the root of David, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Jesus Christ in his glory, can break these seals and open that roll.”
Now, it is the object of the book, from Rev 5 on, to forecast in symbolic imagery the salient points of our Lord’s kingdom. Both sides of the roll were covered with writing, every space was filled to indicate, as I suppose, the completeness of the revelation, so that at the end of the book it could be said that no man should add to it or take from it; it was complete. When it was announced that this Revelator would unseal that book, both Cherubim and Elders unite in singing this new song: “Worthy art thou to take the book and open the seals; for thou wast slain and died to purchase unto God with thy blood [not “us,” but] men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests, and they reign upon the earth.” That is, while he reigns in heaven, they reign on earth.
Now, when the twenty-four Elders, representing the perpetual priesthood of God’s people, and the four Cherubim sang that song, then the countless host of angels took it up. The number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand of thousands. “Worthy is the Lamb that has been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory.” Now, when the uncountable angels of God sang that song, there came an echo to the song (Rev 5:13 ), “and every created thing which is in the heaven and on the earth, and in the earth and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying: Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing and the honour and the glory and the dominion forever and ever.” This must be the thought of Paul: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, and not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain togther until now.” Which means that the earth, man’s habitat, cursed when man sinned (Gen 3:17 ), shall partake of man’s redemption, so that from the great flood of fire attending our Lord’s final advent, there shall emerge a new heaven and a new earth (2Pe 3:13 ; Rev 21:1 ).
QUESTIONS
1. What is the first thought of this revelation?
2. Cite Old Testament examples of the thought.
3. To most Christians how does heaven appear, and the consequent effect on their happiness, usefulness and life?
4. What was the power of hearing heavenly voices and seeing heavenly visions? Illustrate by Stephen.
5. What throne revealed in this vision, and what symbol indicates it?
6. In what-way is the Father revealed? The Spirit? The Son?
7. What do the Elders represent the meaning of the twenty-four meaning of “harp” of “incense” and is it a picture of adoration, praise, and prayer as offered on earth, or as reaching heaven?
THE CHERUBIM
8. The difference, if any, between Seraphim and Cherubim?
9. Prove from Eze 10 , that Cherubim and “living creatures” are the same.
10. Prove that the Cherubim are angels.
11. What was their number always?
12. Explain the symbolism of four faces, eight hands, eight wings, four wheels.
13. Illustrate a “wheel within a wheel.”
14. What use did J. R. Graves make of “a wheel within a wheel” and how did he misapply the imagery?
15. Meaning of the form of the several faces man., eagle, ox, lion?
16. Cite the passages proving that the four Cherubim combined constitute the chariot of God, and give instances of use.
17. Where the spirit or motor power, of the chariot, and compare with auto and airplane?
18. With what are the Cherubim always associated, and cite proof from the tabernacle the temple, and Ezekiel’s ideal temple?
19. What is the sealed book, and explain how the seven seals are applied, and how each seal in succession when broken would reveal only a part of the book?
20. What is the meaning of “sea” in this book, and explain why this sea seen in heaven is placid, and on earth disturbed?
21. Who governs the earth sea, and cite proof? (See Rev 12:17 ; Rev 13:1 ).
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
1 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.
Ver. 1. A door was opened in heaven ] That is, preparation was made for the manifestation of more heavenly mysteries.
Was as it were of a trumpet ] To reuse and raise up his attention. For it might fare with him as with a drowsy person, who though awaked, and set to work, is ready to sleep at it. Compare Zec 4:1 .
Come up hither ] Not by local motion, but by mental illumination.
I will show thee ] That thou mayest show the Church, that they have a most glorious and almighty deliverer.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1 11 .] THE VISION OF GOD’S PRESENCE IN HEAVEN. “Decrees respecting the fortunes of the future rest with God, and from Him comes the revelation of them through Jesus Christ. Hence the Revelation begins with the imparting to the Apostle, through Christ, of the vision of God’s presence.” De Wette.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1 .] After these things ( (or ) is a formula frequently occurring in this book, and no where indicating a break in the ecstatic state of the Seer, but only the succession of separate visions. Those are mistaken, e. g. Bengel, Hengstb., who imagine an interval, here and in the other places, during which the Seer wrote down that which had been previously revealed to him. The whole is conceived as imparted in one continuous revelation consisting of many parts. See below on Rev 4:2 ) I saw (not with the bodily eye, but with the eye of ecstatic vision, as throughout the book. He is throughout . It is not I looked , as in E. V.: not the directing of the Seer’s attention which discovers the door to him, but the simple reception of the vision which is recorded), and behold, a door set open (not, was opened ( ) as E. V., which gives the idea that the Seer witnessed the act of opening. For the same reason the word “ opened ” is objectionable, as it may be mistaken for the aor. neuter) in heaven (notice the difference between this vision and that in Eze 1:1 ; Mat 3:16 ; Act 7:56 ; Act 10:11 . In those, the heaven itself parts asunder, and discloses the vision to those below on earth: here the heaven, the house or palace of God (Psa 11:4 ; Psa 18:6 ; Psa 29:9 ), remains firmly shut to those on earth, but a door is opened, and the Seer is rapt in the Spirit through it. Henceforth usually he looks from the heaven down on the earth, seeing however both alike, and being present in either, as the localities of his various visions require), and the former voice (much confusion has been introduced here by rendering, as E. V., “ the first voice which ,” &c., giving the idea that means, first after the door was seen set open; whereas is the voice which I heard at first, viz. in ch. Rev 1:10 ) which I heard (aor. at the beginning) as of a trumpet speaking with me (viz. ch. Rev 1:10 . . . . ., is not predicative, “ was as ” as E. V. and Treg. The construction simply is “behold, a door and the voice ,” both and dependent on .
The voice is not that of Christ (as Stier, Reden Jesu viii. 93, 207 ff.: Reden der Engel, p. 242, and al.), but of some undefined heavenly being or angel. As Dsterd. observes, all we can say of it is that it is the same voice as that in ch. Rev 1:10 , which there, Rev 1:17 , is followed by that of our Lord, not , but , as stated by anticipation in Rev 1:15 ), saying (Heb. . The gender is placed, regardless of the ordinary concord, with reference to the thing signified: so in reff., and even sometimes in the classics; cf. Xen. Cyr. i. 2. 12, . See more examples in Winer), Come up hither (viz. through the opened door), and I will shew thee (it is surprising how Stier can allege the as a proof that the Lord Himself only can be speaking: cf. ch. Rev 21:9-10 , Rev 22:8-9 , which latter place is decisive against him) the things which must (of prophetic necessity: see reff.) take place after these things ( , the things now present: as in ch. Rev 1:19 , but the not being the same in the two cases. So that has very much the general meaning given by the “ hereafter ” of the E. V.).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 4:1 . introducing as usual in an independent clause (instead of a simple accus., Vit. ii. 8 f., 31, 173, 174, to which he reverts in Rev 4:4 ) some fresh and weighty revelation; lesser phases are heralded by the simpler . The phrase indicates a pause, which of course may have covered days as well as hours in the original experience of the seer, if we assume that his visions came in the order in which they are recorded. He is no longer in the island but up at the gates of heaven. In his trance, a heavenly voice comes after he has seen not heaven opened (the usual apocalyptic and ecstatic symbol, e.g. Act 10:11 = a vision, Rev 11:5 , Eze 1:1 , Mat 3:16 , Ap. Bar. xxii. 1) but a door set open (ready, opened) in the vault of the mysterious upper world which formed God’s house. Then follows the rapture (which in Rev 1:9 precedes the voice). The whole vision is composed by a man familiar with O.T. prophecy, in Semitic style: short clauses linked by the monotonous , with little or no attempt made at elaboration of any kind. Traits from the theophany of God as a monarch, surrounded by a triple circle ( cf. the triple circle surrounding Ahuramazda), are blended with traits drawn from the theophany in nature. The ordinary Jewish conception (Gfrrer, i. 365 f.) tended to regard God as the royal priest, to whom angels rendered ceaseless levitical praise and service ( cf. Revelation 4-5), or as a glorified rabbi whose angels act as interpreters of the heavenly mysteries for man ( cf. Rev 10 and apocalyptic literature in general with its angelic cicerones). In the seven heavens of Chagiga, 12b , the third is the place where “the millstones grind manna for the righteous” (Psa 78:23-24 , cf. Rev 2:17 ), whilst in the fourth are the heavenly Jerusalem ( cf. Rev 21:10 ) and the temple (Rev 15:5 f.) and the altar (Rev 8:3 f.) where the great prince Michael offers an offering, but in the fifth the ministering angels, who sing God’s praise by night, are silent by day to let Israel’s adoration rise to the Most High (see on Rev 4:8 ). ( cf. the common phrase, , of penetration into heavenly mysteries), from Exo 19:16 ; Exo 19:24 , . As in the O.T. the revelation is vouchsafed spontaneously, whereas in Iranian theology ( e.g. , in the Vendidd) “it is the wish of man, not the will of God, that is the first cause of the revelation” (Darmesteter, S. B. E. iv. p. lxxxv.). The seer does not enter the door till he is called; to know the divine will is the outcome of revelation, not of inquiry or speculative curiosity (similar idea in 1Co 2:9 f.). Enoch (xiv. 9 f.) also does not enter the palace of God with its fire-encircled walls, but sees through the open portals “a high throne, and from underneath the great throne came streams of flaming fire so that I could not look thereon. And the great Glory sat thereon and his raiment shone more brightly than the sun and was whiter than any snow.” He is finally called by God to approach but not to enter. Cf. Ap. Bar. Lev 11 , Test. Levi. v., “and the angel opened unto me the gates of heaven, and I saw the holy One, the Most High, seated on the throne”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Revelation Chapter 4
When John sent the epistles to the seven Asiatic churches, what, one may well ask, was there to fulfil the introductory chaps. 4 and 5? Those who look at the seven churches as only past have nothing to say that explains it: all is vague and jejune. Historical authorities are equally at fault. It is the grand and impressive opening of “the things which must take place after these,” that is, “after the things which are” (the sevenfold course of things ecclesiastical). The new things cannot begin till the existing things, however protracted, come to an end. The future is in contrast with the present state of things; but the world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ is not even announced till long after in Rev 11:15 , and even then much has to be done before it is established here below as in Rev 20:4 .
Chapters 4 and 5 therefore introduce an interval of the deepest interest, and of all importance to discriminate. From Rev 6 preparatory dealings of God with men generally (whether Israel or the nations), and with remnants out of both, follow the existing church period, and fill the transition that intervenes before the kingdom comes for the earth in power and glory. Hence we shall find conspicuous among other dates the well-known prophetic term of Daniel under its three forms of a time, times, and a half, of forty-two months, and of twelve hundred and sixty days. But what came to pass, after the letters were despatched to the seven churches in Asia, which accounts for this glorious preliminary vision in heaven which the prophet was caught up to behold? Does it not suppose the total passing away of that church state, which we all believe still to subsist? Does it not reveal, “after these things,” the action of God’s throne by judgments on the world, to put the Lord Jesus in possession of His long-promised inheritance of all things?
The church condition indeed is not, strictly speaking, the subject of prophecy, which deals with the world, and shows us divine judgments coming on its evil, when God is about to make room for glory according to His own mind. Such is the great theme of the book of Revelation. But inasmuch as there were Christian assemblies then, the Spirit of God is pleased to preface it with a most remarkable panoramic view of the church condition, as long as it should subsist before the Lord on the earth. We have seen this given with the most striking wisdom, so as to suit at the time of John, yet also as long as Christianity goes on, always applying and increasingly, not every part at once, but with sufficient light to give children of God full satisfaction as to the mind of the Lord. The churches delineated in these seven epistles are “the things that are,” a phrase which naturally lends itself to continuance. It is not prophecy; yet the letters of Christ afford, as time passes, divine light on the succeeding states Christendom assumes. Nevertheless the coming of the Lord remains thus in God’s wisdom the ever-present and constant hope of the Christian. So indeed the Lord took care to guard against misuse of His parabolic instruction.
Thus the change is immense as a whole, and the revealed details only the more disclose its true nature. There is no vision henceforth of the Son of Man in the midst of churches. No more are churches recognised when “the things which are about to take place after these” begin. Rev 22:16 is no exception; for this applies only in John’s day, or at most as long as the existing condition abides. It is only in the conclusory appeals of the book, and has nothing to do with the predicted things to succeed the present. Chapter 4 lets us see a quite new sight in heaven after the existing things terminate on earth.
“After these things I saw, and, behold, a door opened in the heaven, and the first voice which I heard as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must take place after these things. Immediately I became in Spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in the heaven, and upon the throne one sitting, and the sitter [was] in appearance like a stone jasper and sardius; and a rainbow round the throne in appearance like an emerald. And round the throne [were] twenty-four thrones, and upon the thrones [I saw] twenty-four elders sitting, clothed with white garments, and upon their heads golden crowns. And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders; and seven torches of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and before the throne as a sea of glass like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne [were] four living creatures full of eyes before and behind; and the first living creature like a lion, and the second living creature like a young ox, and the third living creature having the face as of a man, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, having each one of them respectively six wings, are full of eyes round and within; and they have no intermission day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord, the Almighty God, that was and that is, and that is to come. And when the living creatures shall give glory and honour and thanksgiving to him that sitteth upon the throne, that liveth unto the ages of the ages, the twenty-four elders shall fall before him that sitteth upon the throne, and shall do homage to him that liveth unto the ages of the ages, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honour and the power; because thou didst create all things, and for thy will they were, and were created.”
At the epoch where the chapter first applies, the day of the Lord is not come; but a vast change previous to it has taken place, and brought strange sights before the Seer. The scene is shifted from earth to heaven. It is no longer a question of the churches: they are over, and disappear. “After these things” the prophet saw; “and, behold, a door opened in the heaven,” and the first voice which he heard trumpet-like says, “Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must take place after these things” – a phrase which nowhere in the N.T. admits of the vague sense of “hereafter,” least of all in this part of the Revelation, where it is in manifest contrast with “the things which are.” A brief interval there may be, followed by the things which are about to take place, and must, “after these things” or the existing church status.
For such a sight immediately John became in Spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in the heaven, and upon the throne One sitting in appearance like stone of jasper and sardius. The same stones figure, especially the first, in the glories of the new Jerusalem (Rev 21 ), where we are helped by its crystallising character. This has induced some to imagine the diamond against all usage of the word. There is no room for such a fancy; for the aim is to show that the jasper here, like the gold – not only pure, but “like pure glass” – is above all nature in its symbolical application. If jasper be naturally semi-opaque, gold is so wholly. Here they are emphatically translucent. As the sardius is fiery red, jasper was not to oppose but strengthen the judicial appearance of His glory who sat the central object of the scene, not on the propitiatory or mercy-seat but upon the throne. He is about to judge the world in the way of providential chastisements with increasing severity, before He sends the Firstborn Heir of all things to bring in the kingdom.
God would judge; but a rainbow round the throne, in appearance like an emerald, indicated that though about to judge unsparingly, He remembered His covenant, not with Israel yet, still less His grace to the saints, but to creation on which many blows must soon fall. For as the issue creation was about to be delivered from the thraldom under which it-as yet groans, and shall be set free from corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. The kingdom of Christ will have it in full joy and peace, before the eternal day when all things are made new in the deepest sense.
Another notable object meets his eye: round the throne are twenty-four thrones, and upon the thrones twenty-four elders* sitting, arrayed in white garments, and upon their heads crowns of gold. Isaiah saw no such company in Isa 6 ; nor did Ezekiel in his opening chapter: Eze 1 or at any other time; nor does Stephen hint it in Act 7 ; nor Paul in 2Co 12 . Daniel indeed saw thrones set up (not “cast down”); but they were empty. John here and now saw them filled with four-and-twenty elders, the chiefs of the twenty-four courses of priesthood. They exercised priestly functions in Rev 5:8 . But they are a royal priesthood also; they wear crowns of gold and sit on thrones; and their garb is in accord. Can there be a doubt that they are the glorified saints?
* “Elders” seems a descriptive term eminently in keeping with the heavenly redeemed. For it is appropriated already in Heb 11 to the O.T. saints, who though they obtained witness through faith, did not receive the promise, God having foreseen, or provided, some better thing for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Here they are seen together made perfect; and assuredly, if the term is one of dignity, due to those who eschewed the wisdom of the age for the wisdom that comes from above, those who now have the mind of Christ by the Spirit may well be so called too. They are both elders in the sense of firstfruits of Christ before the great harvest that is to follow in a day to come.
Scripture, be it observed, never speaks thus of disembodied souls any more than of angels. The symbolic heads of the heavenly and royal priesthood are complete. From Rev 4 to 19, when the kingdom comes in power and the enemies are made Christ’s footstool, the number stands unchanged. From first to last are twenty-four elders: there is no addition; whereas, if the souls of saints separate from the body were meant, how many must have, from the day John saw them, been adding continually? The elders therefore represent not the unclothed who depart to be with Christ, but the full complement of those whose mortal was swallowed up by life, the saints of both O. and N. Tests. changed at Christ’s coming and caught up to be with Him in the Father’s house. His coming between Rev 3 and 4 falls in precisely with the existing facts and the vision of what follows. What else accounts for the disappearance of churches? What else explains the sight of the symbolic representatives in full of the saints destined to heavenly glory, who shall accompany Christ when He comes with His holy myriads to execute judgment against all the ungodly? (See Rev 19:14 .)
Some no doubt wonder that there is no vision of the translation of the saints to heaven, save perhaps mystically in Rev 12 , as we shall see. Joh 14 had clearly spoken of it; 1Th 4 and 5 had revealed the different characters of the Lord’s coming and of His day; and 2Th 2 had shown their true correlation, in correction of false teachers who sought to alarm by the rumour that the day was come, and in recall of the saints to the hope of His coming and gathering to Him above before that day of terror and judgment for the earth. Hence the sight of the twenty-four elders enthroned and crowned above must convey the clearest proof that Christ had come and taken His own to heaven ere this vision could be given.
Another consideration of no small force in confirming this remark is, that the judicial character of the Revelation excludes that wondrous act, which is one of sovereign grace, and entirely apart from vision of judgments, with parenthetic disclosures here and there of mercy in the midst of judgment. Here we find it not described but presupposed in the plainest way, and so strongly confirmed that any other hypothesis is fairly untenable.
It is not here the Father’s throne, nor the throne of the God of grace. Out of it proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. This is in no way its expression while God is occupied with the gospel of His grace, or now making known to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies through the church His all-various wisdom according to an eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord. It precisely suits the transition after the saints are caught up, and the world comes under God’s strokes, before the Lord shall be revealed from heaven with angels of His power in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those that know not God, and on those that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus, on Gentiles and on Jews, no church being mentioned on earth (compare 1Co 10:32 ).
Again the symbol of the Spirit’s action agrees with the change. It is not parted tongues as of fire sitting upon each one, in testimony to all mankind of a Saviour Lord and His work of redemption, but seven torches of fire burning before the throne, the fulness of consuming light and judgment on evil. Still less was it the Spirit descending as a dove and coming on the Lord Jesus here below. Each appearance was perfectly appropriate. So it is here for the judicial dealings of God about to take place in an apostate world.
“We have an altar,” says Heb 13:10 to the Christian Jews, “whereof they have no right to eat that serve the tabernacle.” But no altar is in this scene. It was no more needed by those who kind it fully, when the Jews lost it save in form: the saints were in heaven. It is made all the more striking, because the prophet did see before the throne as it were a glass sea like crystal (which glass at that time was far from like). Some have tried hard to divert this emblem from the molten sea for the priests to wash in, but in vain. For it is an allusive contrast of marked significance. Those taken to heaven and glorified wanted “the washing of water by the word” no more. It is a sea, not of water, but of glass (not the material of the vessel, but its contents). This declares that it is not purifying but fixed purity, which never could be true till the saints were all changed at Christ’s coming, as the symbol attests.
Next is seen a more difficult sign to read aright. “And in the midst of the throne and around the throne four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.” The chief creatures of earth and air (not of the sea), which were saved in Noah’s ark, furnished the forms; the lion, the young ox, the man, and the eagle. They were emblems of power, firmness, intelligence, and rapidity, though indeed Each one had six wings, that is, only short of perfection in movement. They were the cherubim, but distinguished strikingly from the manifestations to Ezekiel, and incorporating also the seraphic qualities seen by Isaiah. They were full of eyes, not only before and bellied but round and within; their perception was complete and intrinsic; and they have no cessation day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord, the Almighty God, that was and that is and that is to come. Thus do they celebrate the Holy One, and in His O.T. names of the Lord, the Almighty God, and Jehovah; for here it is so in all strictness, rather than as we read in Rev 1:4 and 8. “Our” God and Father is wholly absent; as even in chap. 1 the utmost approach was to Christ’s God and Father. For the three preliminary chapters (however full of divine profit, yet occupied with the judgment of the churches) are but the avenue, through the things seen and the things that are, to what was about to take place after these, the proper and strict prophecy of the book.
It is to be remarked that there is dead silence as to angels in our chapter, whereas they distinctly appear in Rev 5:2 , Rev 5:11 , Rev 5:12 . This suggests what solves the difficulty often and largely felt. For the living creatures in themselves present the attributes of providential power in the execution of judgment; but the comparison of the chapters points to change in its administration from the angels who are now the agents to the redeemed who are to be. Hence in Rev 4 the angels are merged as it were in the living creatures; in Rev 5 they are distinguished in view of Christ’s co-heirs, to whom and not to angels God will subject the inhabited earth to come (Heb 2 ). The rendering of “beasts” in this case is still more unhappy than the belittling of “thrones” into “seats.” It is quite a different word in Rev 6:8 literally, and elsewhere symbolically.
And beautiful it is to see that, as often observed, the elders sat unmoved on their thrones before the judicial display of God’s glory, and the signs of His displeasure in the lightnings and voices and thunders which went forth from His throne, with all other solemn tokens of coming judgment. But when the living creatures give glory and honour and thanksgiving to Him that sits on the throne, that lives for ever and ever, the elders fall and pay homage, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honour and the power; because thou didst create all the things, and for (or, on account of) thy will they were and were created. It was not only worship, but in full spiritual intelligence. Those that are a new creation in Christ enter into God’s rights as Creator; which earth’s inhabitants, and especially apostate Christians, are about to dispute and deny. Their zeal is in due season and character. For God’s will the whole was in being, as it was also created.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 4:1-11
1After 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.” 2Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. 3And 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. 4Around 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. 5Out 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; 6and 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. 7The 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. 8And 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.” 9And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10the 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, 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.”
Rev 4:1
NASB, NKJV”after these things I looked”
NRSV”after this I looked”
TEV”at this point I had another vision and saw”
NJB”then, in my vision, I saw”
This grammatical formula, with a slight variation, is also found in Rev 7:1; Rev 7:9; Rev 15:5; Rev 18:1 and possibly Rev 19:1. These is a series of visions. Most OT prophetic visions were covenantally conditioned, emphasizing the “if. . .then” of God’s covenant with Israel. Israel’s current faith determined her future fate. This is also true of John’s visions in the Revelation.
1. Jesus’ words to the seven churches are conditional. Their response to His warning determined their future.
2. The judgments of the seals and trumpets are also conditional. God wants unbelievers to repent and turn to Him.
As in the OT, God’s universal redemptive plan (cf. Gen 3:15; Gen 15:12-21; Gen 17:1-8, also note Act 2:23; Act 3:18; Act 4:28; Act 13:29) is unconditional based on His promises but also conditional (cf. Gen 12:1; Revelation 2-3) on human covenantal response . This universal redemptive plan is revealed in the heavenly scenes of chapters 4 and 5.
SPECIAL TOPIC: YHWH’s ETERNAL REDEMPTIVE PLAN
“a door standing open in heaven” This is a perfect passive participle, meaning that the door was opened by deity (passive voice) and remained open (perfect tense). This is another way of expressing God’s revelation of Himself to mankind. It is very similar to Rev 19:11; Eze 1:1; Mat 3:16; Joh 1:51 and Act 7:55-56. See Special Topic at Rev 3:7.
The word “heaven” is used more than 50 times in John’s writings and always in the singular except for one time in Rev 12:12. The exact meaning of this change, from the singular to the plural, is theologically uncertain. The rabbis discussed whether there were three or seven heavens (cf. 2Co 12:2). John focuses on one heaven, wherein God dwells; He chooses to let us see into His realm. Though there is chaos on earth, there will be none in heaven.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE HEAVENS AND THE THIRD HEAVEN
“and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet” A voice like a trumpet was mentioned in Rev 1:10 (see note). At first this implies Jesus speaking, but because chapters 4 & 5 are a literary unit and Jesus is not introduced until Rev 5:5; Rev 5:9-10; Rev 5:12-13, this probably refers to a revealing angel (very characteristic of apocalyptic literature). An angel’s voice and a trumpet blast are related in Paul’s description of the Second Coming (cf. 1Th 4:16).
“come up here” Dispensationalists have assumed that this is the secret rapture of the Church because of their presuppositional understanding of the book of the Revelation (all OT prophecies must be literally fulfilled; the church and Israel are totally separate; the church will be secretly raptured to heaven so that OT prophecies can be fulfilled to an earthly Israel). Often this interpretation is supported by an argument from silence, since the word “church” does not appear in Revelation after chapter 3 (except in Rev 22:10). However, there is nothing in the text to imply that anyone but John was called up to heaven.
Because of the “lightning” and “thunder” of Rev 4:5, this may be an allusion to Moses being called up (cf. Exo 19:20; Exo 19:24) on Mt. Sinai to receive God’s revelation (cf. Exodus 19-20, esp. Rev 19:16; Rev 19:19).
Also notice the mention of God’s voice like a loud trumpet in Exo 19:19 (see Special Topic: Horns Used in Israel at Rev 1:10).
“what must take place after these things” This phrase may be an allusion to Dan 2:29; Dan 2:45. If so, it refers to historical events in a series, not future events. Revelation is not things in the first century and things in a far distant future century, but events that:
1. recur in every age (cf. Mat 24:4-14)
2. reflect the whole period between Christ’s first coming and His second coming (the seven literary units of the book)
This phrase is similar to Rev 1:1. God’s word and will must (dei) come to pass. Here the time element (i.e., shortly) is left out, but the certainty remains. God will accomplish His redemptive plan!
Rev 4:2 “Immediately I was in the Spirit” John is described as being in the Spirit in Rev 1:10; Rev 17:3; Rev 21:10. This may be similar to what happened to Ezekiel in Eze 8:1-4; Eze 11:1, to Jesus in Mat 4:8; to Philip in Act 8:39-40, and to Paul in 2Co 12:1-2. Whether this is a spiritual trance or a physical transportation is uncertain.
“a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne” The term “throne” (thronos) is used over 47 times in this book. God’s reign is the central motif of this heavenly vision (chapters 4 & 5). The throne is a symbolic, apocalyptic way of showing that YHWH is in control of all history. God is a spiritual, eternal, personal spirit; He does not sit on a throne (see Special Topic at Rev 2:1)!
One purpose of the genres of prophecy and apocalyptic is God’s knowledge and control of future events. All history is known and purposeful (telos, cf. Mat 24:14; 1Co 15:24-28).
The throne is described as “was standing.” This imperfect tense can have two meanings: (1) it has always stood or (2) it was just set up. This may be an allusion to Dan 7:9, “thrones were set up.”
Rev 4:3 “He who was sitting was like” John is not going to describe the appearance of God because in Jewish thought, this was extremely inappropriate (cf. Exo 33:17-23; Isa 6:5). But he will describe the glory of God in the colors of three precious gems. Gems are also used in Eze 28:13 to describe heavenly (Garden of God) imagery.
NASB, NKJV,
NRSV, TEV”jasper”
NJB”diamond”
The exact color and name of gems is very uncertain in ancient literature. The names of gems and colors were changed from country to country and period to period. The jasper was the first stone found in the breastplate of the High Priest which is mentioned in Exo 28:17-21. This stone seems to be a clear stone. It will be connected with the “sea of glass” (cf. Rev 4:6; Rev 15:2; Rev 21:11; Rev 21:18; Rev 21:21). It may refer to our diamond.
NASB, NKJV”sardius”
NRSV, TEV”carnelian”
NJB”ruby”
The sardius was a blood red stone. It was the last stone on the breastplate of the High Priest. This may be an allusion to God as being the First and the Last with the emphasis on the Messianic tribe of Judah (the emerald rainbow). These two stones are listed in ancient writings as a summary of all jewels.
“and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance” The emerald is the stone for Judah on the breastplate of the High Priest. The emphasis of the rainbow has been greatly conjectured but there are two main theories.
1. Some see it as an allusion to Gen 9:16, where the rainbow is a symbol of God’s covenant protection and a sign that the storm is over; in the midst of judgment there was promise and mercy.
2. Others relate it to Eze 1:28, a symbol of the glory of YHWH.
Whether the rainbow is a sign of judgment or of covenant is uncertain, but it obviously was an unusual rainbow because it was green in color and not simply a refraction of normal light.
Rev 4:4 “Around the throne were twenty-four thrones” The reason for twenty-four thrones has been disputed.
1. some see it as connected with the orders of the Aaronic priesthood set up by David in 1Ch 24:7-19
2. others see it as an allusion to the heavenly council which is mentioned in 1Ki 22:19; Isa 24:23; Dan 7:9-10; Dan 7:26
3. still others see it as a combination of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles, which symbolizes the complete people of God (cf. Rev 21:12; Rev 21:14)
It is surprising that this number does not occur in Jewish intertestamental apocalyptic literature.
“twenty-four elders sitting” There has also been much debate about the identity of these elders. There are two major theories
1. They represent believers:
a. pictured as being clothed in white (cf. 1Co 9:25; 1Th 2:19; 2Ti 4:8; Jas 1:12; 1Pe 5:4)
b. angels are never said to wear crowns and sit on thrones (cf. Rev 4:4; Rev 4:10)
c. they are in lists which specifically include angels (cf. Rev 5:11)
d. Rev 5:9-10 in the Vulgate, Peshitta, and later the Textus Receptus includes the elders in the songs of redemption
2. They represent angels:
a. angels do wear white garments (cf. Mat 28:3; Joh 20:12; Mar 16:5; Act 1:10; Rev 15:6 and Dan 10:5-6)
b. these elders are always identified with the living creatures as in Rev 5:11; Rev 5:14, which seem to list three different orders of angels
c. one of the elders acts as a revealing angel (cf. Rev 5:5)
d. in Isa 24:23 the angels of God’s heavenly council are called “elders”
e. the textual evidence of Rev 5:10 implies that the elder does not include himself in the song of redeemed humanity
SPECIAL TOPIC: ELDER
“golden crowns” Nowhere in Scripture are angels said to wear crowns (even the powerful angel in Daniel 10). The demonic hordes from the abyss are described as wearing something similar to golden crowns in Rev 9:7.
Rev 4:5 “from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder” This is similar to Exo 19:16-19, which describes physical phenomena that surround the presence of God on Mt. Sinai. These phrases indicate God’s presence (cf. Rev 11:19) or His judgments (cf. Rev 8:5; Rev 16:18).
“seven lamps of fire” These appear to be seven separate lamps (torches), not one bowl with seven wicks (cf. Exo 25:37; Zec 4:2). They function in a way similar to all the other “sevens,” referring to the very presence of God.
“which are the seven spirits of God” This same phrase is used in Rev 1:4; Rev 3:1; Rev 5:6. It is often interpreted as a reference to the Holy Spirit based on Rev 1:4, but none of the other references confirm that interpretation. This phrase seems to be equated with the churches (seven stars, Rev 3:1; seven lamps, Rev 4:5) or with the omnipotence and omniscience of the Lamb (Rev 5:6). See Special Topic: The Seven Spirits at Rev 1:4.
Rev 4:6 “a sea of glass like crystal” There have been numerous theories about this phrase:
1. it refers to the laver in the Temple (cf. 1Ki 7:23; 2Ch 4:2-6)
2. it is related to the concept of the crystal sea found in Exo 24:9-10
3. it is part of the portable throne chariot of God in Eze 1:22; Eze 1:26; Eze 10:1
4. it is a symbol of separation from the holiness of God (cf. Rev 15:2).
This sea is removed in Rev 21:1, showing the curse (cf. Genesis 3) of mankind’s sin and separation has been removed. See note at Rev 21:1.
“four living creatures” These living creatures are described in Rev 4:6-8. They are a combination of the cherubim of Eze 1:5-10; Eze 10:1-17 and the seraphim of Isa 6:2-3. The numbers of wings and faces vary, but it is a composite picture of these human/animal/angels which surround the throne of God (cf. Rev 4:6; Rev 4:8-9; Rev 5:6; Rev 5:8; Rev 5:11; Rev 5:14; Rev 6:1; Rev 6:3; Rev 6:5; Rev 6:7; Rev 7:11; Rev 14:3; Rev 15:7; Rev 19:4).
SPECIAL TOPIC: CHERUBIM
“full of eyes in front and behind” This may refer to the eyes of each of the four faces or it may be a biblical metaphor of God’s omniscience (cf. Rev 4:8; Eze 1:18; Eze 10:12).
Rev 4:7 “lion. . .calf. . .man. . .eagle” This is an obvious allusion to Eze 1:6; Eze 1:10. In rabbinic literature these are listed as the strongest of the different orders of God’s creation. Irenaeus (A.D. 120-202) used these four different faces to describe the four Gospel writers (church tradition finally settled on John, eagle; Luke, human; Mark, ox; Matthew, lion) but this is too speculative and allegorical. These composite creatures are symbolic, not literal. Knowing the OT emphasis on maintaining God’s orders of creation, a composite human and animal creature would be Levitically unclean. This is not historical narrative of actual things and events, but a highly symbolic genre seeking to describe ultimate, spiritual truths; in this case God as the ever living One (Rev 4:8-9), the Holy One (Rev 4:8), and the creator of all things (Rev 4:11).
Rev 4:8 “holy, holy, holy” These living creatures are repeating the song of the seraphim in Isa 6:2-3. This is the first of many hymns that are found in the book of the Revelation (cf. Rev 4:8; Rev 4:11; Rev 5:9-10; Rev 5:12-13; Rev 7:12; Rev 11:17-18; Rev 12:10-12; Rev 15:3-4; Rev 16:5-7; Rev 18:2-8; Rev 19:1-3; Rev 19:6-7). Often the hymns are a means of interpreting the visions. Another symbol, like the sea of glass, it functions as a Hebrew superlative of the ultimate holiness of God.
“the Lord God, the Almighty” These were three of the OT titles for God (cf. Rev 1:8):
1. Lord = YHWH (cf. Exo 3:14; Psalms 103)
2. God = Elohim (cf. Psalms 104)
3. the Almighty = El Shaddai, the patriarchal name for God (cf. Exo 6:3)
See SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY at Rev 1:8.
“who was and who is and who is to come” This phrase is a recurrent title (cf. Rev 1:4; Rev 4:8; see full note at Rev 1:4). This is a play on God’s covenant name, YHWH, which comes from the verb “to be.” This same theme is repeated in Rev 4:9-10 in the phrase “to Him who lives forever and ever” (cf. Rev 10:6; Rev 15:7).
Rev 4:9-11 This is one sentence in Greek, which shows that ultimate worship is due Him who sits on the throne and lives forever (cf. Psalms 47; Dan 4:34; Dan 12:7). This may be an allusion to the angelic attendants called the heavenly council (cf. 1Ki 22:19; Job 1:6; Dan 7:10) or the Jewish “angels of presence” (i.e., Tob 12:15).
Rev 4:9 “the living creatures” These angelic beings are mentioned often in the book (cf. Rev 5:6; Rev 5:8; Rev 5:14; Rev 6:1; Rev 7:11; Rev 14:3; Rev 15:7; Rev 19:4).
Rev 4:10 “will cast their crowns before the throne” This is a symbol of their acknowledgment that God deserves all the praise and honor! Whatever was the reason for their having crowns, they recognized that the power was from God!
Rev 4:11 “You created all things” The elders and living creatures praise God as the Creator, Sustainer and Provider of all things. This is the theological emphasis of the name Elohim (cf. Genesis 1; Job 38-41; Psalms 104). This chapter uses the theological meaning of the two most used names for God to describe His actions. The progressive revelation of the NT makes it clear that Jesus was the Father’s agent of creation (cf. Joh 1:3; 1Co 8:6; Col 1:16 and Heb 1:2).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
After. App-104.
this = these things, as Rev 1:19.
looked. App-133.
behold. App-133.
was opened. i.e. already opened.
heaven. See Rev 3:12.
first. Greek.”former”. See Rev 1:10.
it were. Omit.
things = what things.
which. Omit.
be = come to pass.
hereafter = after (Greek. meta, above) these things.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1-11.] THE VISION OF GODS PRESENCE IN HEAVEN. Decrees respecting the fortunes of the future rest with God, and from Him comes the revelation of them through Jesus Christ. Hence the Revelation begins with the imparting to the Apostle, through Christ, of the vision of Gods presence. De Wette.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Revelation chapter four begins with the Greek word “meta autos”. And the first verse begins and ends with the same Greek words. The words literally from the Greek are “after these things”. So as we come to this phrase, “after these things,” our minds should flash back to chapter Rev 1:19 ,where the book of Revelation was divided into three basic divisions. “Write the things which you have seen, the things which are, and the things which will be after these things”, “meta autos”. So obviously we are coming into the third section of the book of Revelation, after these things. After what things?
Well, it seems to me that it would be quite apparent and obvious. It would be after the things that he was just talking about. And the things that he was just talking about were the things of the church; so, after the things of the church. For we had in chapters two and three, the messages of Jesus to the seven churches of Asia, which as we pointed out represent seven periods of church history.
So, after these things, the things of the church,
I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show you things which must be after these things ( Rev 4:1 ).
I believe that when the church has completed its purpose upon the earth and has finished its witness, or as Paul describes, “when the fullness of the gentiles is come in,” that the Lord is then going to catch away His church into heaven.
Paul said, “behold, I show you a mystery. We are not going to all sleep, but we are all going to be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. The trump of God shall sound, the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible.” First Thessalonians Rev 4:16-17 ,Paul said, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
So, I believe that the church is to be raptured. And I believe that the point of the rapture in the book of Revelation is in here in chapter Rev 4:1 . I believe that John was taken by the Spirit unto the day of the Lord and experienced through the Spirit the rapture of the church. When the Lord had completed His messages to the churches, then the call to John was “come up hither and I will show you things, which must be after these things, after the things of the church”.
So as we enter then into the fourth chapter, we enter into the post-church era upon the earth. We will be coming back to the earth in chapter six, but it is the post-church era, when God now judges the world for its ungodliness and unrighteousness and for its rejection of His Son. But the church, with John here in chapter four caught up into heaven,
And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat upon the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald ( Rev 4:2-3 ).
So the basic color that emanates from the throne is a green, along with the sardine red, along with the jasper which is a clear crystalline-type of a stone with a purple hue.
Now, Paul told us in Timothy that God dwells in a light that is unapproachable by man. And here in heaven, even in our glorified bodies, we only see the radiance of the glory of God as it emanates from His throne like a brilliant light, the predominant color being green, the rainbow about the throne like an emerald, green in color, with the sardine red color and the jasper stone in brilliance in coloring and light.
And round about the throne there were twenty-four lesser thrones: [thronus in Greek translated 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 ( Rev 4:4 ).
The twenty-four elders clothed in white raiment are representative of the church according to most Bible scholars. These twenty-four elders are representative. The fact that they are in white robes is the church is to be clothed in white robes, the righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus said to the church of Laodicea, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne”( Rev 3:21 ). The twenty-four lesser thrones. Now we see the heavenly scene sitting in white robes upon their thrones.
And out of the throne [that is the throne of God] there proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God ( Rev 4:5 ).
Now again it is important that we place in our mind the tabernacle that Moses built in the wilderness, because we are told in the book of Hebrews that the tabernacle was actually a model of heavenly things. If you want to know basically what heaven is going to look like, you can go back to the tabernacle and you can get an idea of what the throne of God is like in heaven.
And there in the tabernacle we remember when the priest came into the holy place on the left-hand side, there was the seven candlesticks coming out of the one base. And these seven golden candlesticks, we now know from the book of Revelation, are representative of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Holy Spirit there before the throne of God, the seven-fold work or the complete work of the Holy Spirit. We remember that in the Holy of Holies there was that Ark of the Covenant that Moses made covered with the gold lid, which was the mercy seat, upon which there was carved these golden cherubim with their wings touching the corners of the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle.
And so as we go on in the reading of the description here of heaven, we next come to these cherubim. These angelic beings created by God who seem to be the highest order of angelic beings.
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 living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second was like a calf, and the third had a face as a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle ( Rev 4:6-7 ).
Now, there are those Bible scholars that see in this the four phases of Christ as represented in the Gospels. The first, Matthew, presents Jesus as the lion of the tribe of the Judah. The lion, of course, is known as the king of the beast. The second, like a calf, as Mark presents Jesus as the suffering servant. The ox is considered the top of the domesticated animals. The third, like a man, as Luke presents Jesus as the Son of man, and man the crowning order of God’s creation. And the fourth, like an eagle, as John presents Jesus as the Son of the living God, and the eagle being the greatest of the flying foul.
These cherubim were first mentioned in the book of Genesis. When God drove Adam out of the garden after his sin, He put the cherubim at the gate of the garden lest man should return to the garden and eat of the tree of life and live forever in a sinful state. The cherubim are again mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, as in chapter one and in chapter ten. Ezekiel had a vision of the throne of God, which parallels the vision of John here in the book of Revelation. As Ezekiel saw the cherubim, each had the four faces, so on each side a face, and the faces of the ox, and the lion, and the man and the eagle in the vision that Ezekiel had. And for background you should probably read Ezekiel one and ten to find parallel passages to John’s vision here of the throne of God in heaven. And it is Ezekiel that names these creatures as the cherubim.
Now from the book of Ezekiel, also we know in the twenty-eighth chapter that that was the position that was once occupied by Satan. That the Lord speaks of him declaring that he was one of the anointed cherubs. So he had a place that was very close to God, for the cherubim are about the throne of God in their worship of God. And Ezekiel tells us that at one time Satan was one of these anointed cherub.
Again in a parallel passage Isaiah six, Isaiah also saw the throne of God. And when he got the vision of the throne of God, he said, “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips” ( Isa 6:5 ). And he saw a seraphim, which is probably in the order of the cherubim. Cherubim is only the plural of cherub. So you have heard of cherubs, so the plural of cherub is cherubim, as the plural of seraph is the seraphim. The “im” is a plural in the Hebrew.
So he saw the seraphim, who came to the altar of God with a live coal and touched his lips and said, “Now, are you clean.” But we find here in John’s vision of them that,
each of them had six wings; 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 ( Rev 4:8 ).
And so they are there around the throne of God declaring the holiness of the eternal God.
And when these living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, [the eternal God] 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 4:9-11 ).
And so here we see the first scene in heaven. And this will probably be one of the first scenes that you will observe in heaven as John did; the throne of God and the cherubim about the throne of God, and the worship of God as He sits upon the throne.
And then the response to the declaration of the holiness of God made by the cherubim are the twenty-four elders responding saying, “Thou art worthy to receive glory and honor and power.” Why? First of all, because You have created all things, not that You have allowed all things to evolve. You created all things. And not only that, but it is for Your pleasure they are and were created. Here is a statement of fact that is important for us to accept. I was created for God’s pleasure. That means I was not created for my own pleasure.
Thus, I should not seek to please myself, because then I am not answering the purpose of my existence. I should seek to please God; then I am answering the purpose of my existence. But the interesting thing is when I live to please God I find great pleasure myself. Therein is happiness. Therein is satisfaction. Therein is fulfillment when I live to please God. “If any man seeks to save his life, he is going to lose it, but if he loses his life for My sake,” Jesus said, “you will find it”( Mat 10:39 ). And to really find what living is all about, you have got to just live for His pleasure. Thus, you are answering the purpose of your existence and thus your life is fulfilling and rich.
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Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Rev 4:1. , after these things) In this passage there is a great division of interpretations into two paths. For the question arises, Whether the event of the seals began immediately after the writing of the book, or whether it is still altogether future? The celebrated D. Lange, besides others, maintains the latter opinion; the former is plainly shown even by the particle, after these things, repeated in this verse. The former expression (after these things) connects the vision [with what has preceded], the other connects with the same the result itself. After these things, that is, after those things, which ARE, which relate to the seven churches and their angels, must come to pass the things, which the Lord will now show. The past and the present and the future, Rev 1:19 (from which verse the expression, after these things, is here repeated), comprise the whole of the book which follows: and, as the past and the present are so joined together, that the present, in Rev 1:11, what thou seest, passes into the past, which thou sawest, Rev 1:20; and again the past, which thou sawest, passes into the present, are, are, in the same verse; so the present and the future immediately cohere, without any hiatus, and the connection between the past and the present is only subservient to the connection between the present and the future. Not only is there no trace of delay from the age of John until the last times, but delay is even openly excluded. Future things, the quick approach of which is evidently declared, Rev 1:1; Rev 22:6, are closely connected with the present by the expression, after these things.
D. Lange so explains the particle, after these things, that, according to the prophetical meaning of the seven epistles, after the lapse of the same number of periods of the Church, the seals are completed, etc. Comm. Apoc. f. 62, 73. I reply: I. We have refuted such a prophetical meaning of the seven epistles, in ch. Rev 2:1. II. If the historical meaning of the epistles is preserved, the particle, after these things, has its limits within the events of the churches in Asia; and this would be the case, even if these churches had a prophetical meaning affixed to them. III. If they were periods, they would not be interrupted by the destruction of the Whore and the Beast, as D. Lange imagines, but they would rather extend beyond the millennium and the short time of the loosing of Satan to the end of the world, together with the time of the Church itself being a wayfarer, the change in the condition of which he also makes too great in the millennium (see below, on ch. Rev 19:11, Rev 21:2), and thus they would run out beyond the seals, and trumpets, and vials. He says, that the CHIEF subject of the Apocalypse is the mystery of the last times, ch. Rev 10:7, Rev 11:15, and following verses. See Comm. Apoc., fol. 5; Hermen. Einl., p. 27. It easily happens, that when any truth is gladly received, it is too eagerly declared, and carried beyond its proper limits. Thus this celebrated man takes the millennium for the half-hour during which there was silence in the seventh seal, the former seals being thus very much crowded together, and all the trumpets being accommodated to this: then, having stated his opinion respecting the mystery of the last times, as the chief subject of the Apocalypse, he presently afterwards assumes, and continually takes it for granted, as though it were demonstrated: fol. 9, and 11 at the beginning. This is the hinge of the Apocalyptic system made up by this most celebrated commentator. But by such a method that CHIEF point is extended too much. That is no doubt the subject of the Apocalypse, from the passages quoted (since it is there set forth as such), thenceforward even to the end of the book: but the very words of the text extend the subject of the preceding chapters to a much wider range than he supposes. In them there is no beast, no whore: it is not until after ch. 10 that they come forth upon the stage, and that too after an interval. Wherefore the beginning of the judgments upon the antichristian enemies ought not to be reckoned from the seals themselves. See this treated at greater length on ch. Rev 6:2, Rev 11:15.
In the same place he so divides the chapters of the Apocalypse, that almost all are deferred to the future. We thus arrange them:-
Chap. 1. 2. 3. contain the Preparation.
4. 5. the Proposition.
6-9. are fulfilled, as is shown, without any violence.
10-14. are in course of fulfilment, and have been for some time, as is proved by suitable arguments.
15-19. exhibit things about to take place shortly.
20-22. look to things more distant.
Whoever has the power, let him subject to the most severe laws of DEMONSTRATION both his treatise and mine.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rev 4:1-3
PART SECOND: PREPARATORY VISIONS
Rev 4:1 to Rev 5:14
SECTION ONE: GOD SEEN IN HEAVEN
Rev 4:1-11
1. THE APPEARANCE OF GOD UPON HIS THRONE Rev 4:1-3
1 After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven,—“After these things” means after the things mentioned in the preceding chapters–the initial vision and the reception of seven letters. The words “I saw, and behold” introduce a new vision that was opening to John, which is fully described in the two chapters of this part of the book. The brief vision of 1:10-19 represents Christ as standing by John; in this the scene is transferred to heaven and John is permitted to view it through the door opened for that purpose. This is similar to the words of Ezekiel, “The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” (Eze 1:1.) Just how John was enabled to see things in heaven is not explained, but we know it was by the exercise of miraculous power in some way.
and the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter.–Some commentators understand that the “first voice that I heard” refers to the same voice mentioned in 1:10 that spake to John first. Others think it means that the first sound or speaking that he heard was a voice saying, “Come up hither.” The latter seems the more natural view. The essential point, however, is what the voice said. The promise to show what “must come to pass hereafter” is unmistakable proof that the things to be shown in the visions to follow would be events that would take place after the time the voice was speaking them. No other meaning for these words is possible. Some scholars join the word “hereafter” with the next verse, the meaning, as they view it, being that after the voice said “Come up hither” he was straightway in the Spirit. This would not change the meaning of verse 1; for things which “must come to pass” refer to things in the future.
2 Straightway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne;–Seeing the open door in heaven and hearing the voice, mentioned in verse 1, implies some degree of spiritual exaltation for John, but being “in the Spirit,” as expressed here, probably means that he was given such measure of spiritual enduement that he could fully see and describe the visions that passed before him. This is clear from the command to come up hither and he would be shown certain things that must come to pass. He was so deeply absorbed that the things before his mind appeared as if material objects. Such miraculous experiences are inexplicable to man; they are accepted as true by faith. Heaven is represented as a great room into which John looked through the open door. He saw a throne upon which a glorious being was sitting. Though not named, the description unquestionably refers to God.
3 and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon.–It is worthy of note that no personal description of God is attempted here or elsewhere by divine writers. No suggestion is given that might lead to images or idolatrous practices. The stones mentioned and the rainbow that circled about the throne were doubtless meant to show the divine majesty and royalty of God as the supreme Ruler of the universe. From such a description no one could make an image, yet the glorious splendor of God in heaven could be presented most impressively. Speculating as to what is signified by the stones mentioned is probably time wasted. The entire scene presents the indescribable majesty of God; nothing more was necessary in showing his position and power.
Commentary on Rev 4:1-3 by Foy E.Wallace
THE THRONE IN HEAVEN
The One on the throne-Rev 4:1-3.
1. A door was opened in heaven-Rev 4:1.
The word heaven here signifies the source of all revelation, being the place of Gods residence. (Dan 4:26; Joh 1:51; Joh 3:27; Rom 1:18; Gal 1:8; Heb 12:25; 1Pe 1:12; Mat 16:17) And from the heavenly throne proceeded these visions. It is the abode of God who is the God of heaven. (1Ki 8:30; Dan 2:28; Mat 5:45) It is there that God has his throne. (Isa 66:1; Psa 103:19; Psa 11:4) It is the seat of sovereignty, the symbol of regal authority, from which justice and judgment are dispensed. (Psa 89:14) Being thus the sign of royalty, throne is applied to the center of all divine authority. (Mat 19:28) Come up hither and I will show thee. The apocalypse in its complete composition proceeded from the one who sits on the throne. (Dan 2:47; Mat 11:27; Php 3:15; Joh 4:1)
2. A throne was set in heaven-Rev 4:2.
The throne was not there for this vision only, it was set, established as the throne of heaven. (Psa 119:89)
3. He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone-Rev 4:3.
Here was the figure of intense splendor. Jasper was an opaque species of different colors, subject to high polish. The New Testament use of the term jasper, here and elsewhere referred to a transparent gem, the diamond, or the translucent chalcedon. Sardine (or Sardius) was an ancient favorite of the engravers art, discovered in Asia Minor, of lasting beauty of color; it was a brilliant fleshred. But no physical or material substance can be made comparable to Gods person; at best it serves only as an emblem of the resplendent and exquisite grandeur and glory of his divine Being.
4. A rainbow round about the throne”-Rev 4:3.
The rainbow stands for a covenant– Gen 9:13-17 — and the emblem here is of the covenanted protection from the judgment of impending events; not escape from the suffering, but exemption from judgments, which would come upon the enemies of the church.
5. In sight like an emerald”-Rev 4:3.
The rainbow is a seven-color reflection. Its brilliance appears between the shining sun and the rain clouds. Here emerald in the bow is specified–a very precious gem, of deep green color-which is its real value, as the deepest colors were the prized. The word emerald had a root meaning of glowing. The emerald-green in the rainbow signified that through the grace of patience deliverance was vouchsafed.
Commentary on Rev 4:1-3 by Walter Scott
INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD OR PROPHETIC DIVISION OF THE APOCALYPSE.
SEVEN CHURCH MESSAGES.
The letters to the churches constitute the second division of the Apocalypse: “The things that are.” The Church on the earth existed in John’s day, and continues till now. That is the simple explanation of what the Seer beheld in symbol (Rev 1:20). Then the moral state of the Church, but in successive and partly concurrent stages of its history, is developed in seven messages (Rev 2:1-29; Rev 3:1-22). The epitome of Church history contained in these two chapters is invaluable. To have Heaven’s light thrown on the state of things during the whole of this Church period of nigh two thousand years is a mercy almost second to none. What lessons are here gathered up! How needful the warnings in a day of moral relaxation! How strengthening the promises in seasons of weakness!
These Church messages were first of local application, but the narrow and restricted sphere to which they first applied would not suit their breadth of instruction. The truths and principles therein unfolded have their application to the utmost bounds of the professing Church. They are applicable both to individuals and to churches.
The constitution, order, and discipline of the Church formed a special feature of Paul’s ministry. Luke in “The Acts” unfolds its history for fully thirty years, from Pentecost till the imprisonment of Paul in Rome. But it was reserved for the Seer of Patmos to further unfold that history from the close of the apostolic period till its loathsome rejection by the Lord.
THE FUTURIST AND HISTORICAL APPLICATION.
The prophetic part of the book commences with chapter 4 and closes with chapter 22: 5, and forms the third division: “The things that are about to be after these.” Prophetic action, however, does not begin till Rev 6:1-17, the heavenly scenes recorded in Rev 4:1-11; Rev 5:1-14 being clearly introductory to the first series of judgments detailed in chapter 6. There has been all along a conflict between good and evil, between light and darkness, and these respective principles have been governed by equally opposing powers, the Spirit of God and Satan. Hence we can easily understand a partial fulfilment in present and past ages. But while frankly allowing this, as also a past and present resemblance to many events in the prophetic part of the Apocalypse, yet we insist on their full, exhaustive, and complete fulfilment in the coming crisis of at least seven years. The futurist application is undoubtedly the right one. The historical application is always more or less conjectural, and one in which scarcely two of its exponents are agreed. Its principle of interpretation is untenable. History is made the interpreter of prophecy. This or that event is supposed to be indicated under Seal, Trumpet, or Vial. We have two serious objections to the presentist view of the prophecies contained in this book: first, by far the larger number of God’s people are poor and illiterate, and would be practically debarred from understanding them if a knowledge of history is essential thereto; second, prophecy according to this system is robbed of its present moral value, for how can that act on the soul which cannot be understood till after its fulfilment?
THE SAINTS CAUGHT UP BEFORE THE APOCALYPTIC JUDGMENTS.
Now between the close of Rev 3:1-22 and the opening of Rev 4:1-11, that is, between the second and third divisions of the book, the overcomers have been “caught up” and the mass “spued out,” but the Seer does not record these events: he takes them for granted. Paul unfolds by revelation, and in considerable detail, the translation of the saints of Old and New Testament times (1Th 4:15-17). We state three incontrovertible proofs that the Lord’s dead and living saints are caught up before the opening of the prophetic section of the Apocalypse (Rev 4:1-11).
(1) The Church is not on the earth during the period of the apocalyptic judgments, under which you find a body of Jews and Gentiles, but not the Church, which is composed of both. The word “Church” or its plural occurs about twenty times in the first three chapters, and it is neither named nor referred to in the rest of the book till Rev 22:17, which, of course, resumes the present state of things, and is in no sense part of the prophetic visions. What then is the unmistakable deduction from the fact that the Church is not on earth from Rev 4:1-11 till Rev 22:5? Why, that it is in Heaven. Where else could it be?
(2) The three divisions of the Apocalypse do not overlap, nor are they concurrent. The wording of the 19th verse of the first chapter is simplicity itself. “Write therefore what thou hast seen,” the vision of Christ just beheld by the Seer, “and the things that are,” the seven churches then existing, “and the things that are about to be after these,” when the Church is removed and the government of the world is in question. The Holy Ghost has Himself fixed the divisions of the book into a past, a present, and a future. “The things that are about to be after these” signifies that “the things that are” must have ceased. These divisions are successive. The third commences in Rev 4:1, “I will show thee the things,” prophetic visions, “which must take place after these things,” i.e., the Lord’s dealing with the churches on earth. One set of things succeeds another.
(3) The whole situation is changed. It is not the Lord in the midst of the candlesticks or churches on earth, but the throne set in Heaven. One great fact of vital importance to the understanding of the book is that the saints of God are witnessed in Heaven in chapter 4 and right on till Rev 19:1-21, when they accompany the Lord out of Heaven for the judgment of the world (Rev 4:11-11). All through the apocalyptic judgments, and before they commence, the heavenly body of saints is seen in Heaven. How did they get there? It can only be satisfactorily explained on the assumption that the Rapture of 1Th 4:1-18 had taken place. That event would necessarily close the Lord’s dealings with the Church, bring to an end “the things that are,” and pave the way for the new and prophetic state of which “the throne set in Heaven” is the fitting symbol. All this is simple and consistent, and seems to us graven on the surface of the book.
Rev 4:1
THE THRONE OF THE ETERNAL.
THE ENTIRE SITUATION CHANGED.
Rev 4:1 “After these things I saw, and behold a door opened in Heaven, and the first voice which I heard as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show thee the things which must take place after these things.” We have here an entire change in the situation. The Seer is caught up from earth to Heaven. Rev 2:1-29; Rev 3:1-22 trace the fortunes of the Church on earth. Rev 4:1-11; Rev 5:1-14 describe scenes and events in Heaven of incomparable majesty. The history of the Church has been written, the overcomers have been translated to meet the Lord in the air, and the guilty mass of mere Christian profession has been “spued out.” Thus the removal of the Church makes room for the subjects of prophecy to occupy their allotted place.
Rev 4:1 “After these things” marks a new commencement. The various Church states on earth are over. Prophetic scenes and visions are now to occupy the attention of the Seer. The words “after these things” intimate not only the sequence of the visions, but the events also which follow in natural order.
Rev 4:1 “A door opened in Heaven” signifies that Heaven must be entered if prophecy is to be understood. It is there where the sources of everlasting good are found, where the coming scene of millennial and eternal blessedness is arranged and duly planned, and where, too, the preparatory judgments have their source. “A door opened in Heaven” enabled the Seer to pass in. “Heaven opened” is for the saints to pass out (Rev 19:11).
Rev 4:1 “The first voice” does not refer to the first of a successive series, but is a plain reference to the voice of the Lord already heard (Rev 1:10). There the voice was heard on earth; here it speaks from Heaven. The trumpet voice summons John from earth to Heaven. Scenes in Heaven are to be disclosed, and it is only there they can be seen. Prophecy has its source in Heaven, and hence the Seer must make Heaven his standpoint if the prophetic visions about to pass before his rapt gaze are to be divinely understood. It is in Heaven that the prophetic plan is mapped out, and it is there, far above the mists and clouds of earth, and the wrangles, jealousies, and pride of man,where alone we can discern the mind of God as to the future. The moral lesson for each servant of God is a needful one.
Rev 4:2-3
MORAL COMPETENCY OF THE SEER THE THRONE AND THE SITTER THEREON
Rev 4:2-3 “Immediately I became in (the) Spirit; and behold a throne stood in the Heaven, and upon the throne One sitting, and He (that was) sitting like in appearance to a stone (of) jasper and a sardius, and a rainbow round the throne like in appearance to an emerald.” The divine summons “Come up here” brooks no delay. “Immediately I became in (the) Spirit.” The vision of Christ as Son of Man in transcendent glory in the midst of the seven golden lamps was a sight too much for mortal gaze. The Seer for the time being was under the absolute control of the Spirit; he lived and moved in another mode of existence. “He became in (the) Spirit” (Rev 1:10). But this cannot in the nature of things beprolonged. The state had lapsed. Now fresh visions, and of the future, are to be witnessed and written, so in full accord with their solemn character the Seer is again the vessel of the Spirit’s power. “I became in (the) Spirit.” The absence of the article before “Spirit” marks the state as a characteristic one. Visions of things in Heaven were witnessed by certain prophets on earth, but to the distinguished prophet of the New Testament alone were visions beheld in Heaven itself. To John only were these words addressed, “Come up here.” The moral competency of the Seer to behold and grasp the coming prophetic situation was not in himself, but in a power outside the domain of nature. The Spirit once again laid hold of the human vessel, and entirely occupied it. John for the time lived in a new mode and sphere of existence in which human weakness and frailty had no place. The Spirit filled and controlled him.
Rev 4:2 “Behold a throne stood in the Heaven.” This was the first sight beheld by the Seer in this new vision. The throne is the central subject in this heavenly scene. It is the sign and symbol of God’s universal government. It “stood in the Heaven.” The stability of that government is conveyed in the word “stood” or set; “the Heaven” fixes definitely and precisely the seat of royal authority. What a contrast to the tottering thrones of earth! Here, at the outset, is an intimation that Jehovah reigneth. The throne is our security and strength. It is, too, the great central fact in the universe. It is the pledge that the fiat of the Eternal shall compel obedience from every created being. It is the sign of order, of rule, of authority. The throne set in Heaven is in contrast to the mutability of all earthly governments.
The Sitter upon the throne is unnamed, but is described in general yet significant symbols. Two precious stones are named, the jasper and sardius, and by these the glory and majesty of God are reflected. His essential glory cannot,of course, be communicated even to the most exalted of creatures. God dwells in light unapproachable: “Whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1Ti 6:16). But whatcan be witnessed by creatures is displayed. The jasper and sardius are mentioned in the list of precious stones adorning the breastplate of the high priest of old (Exo 28:17-20,) the sardius being first named and the jasper last; they are also named amongst those to describe the glory of the typical king of Tyre (Eze 28:13), the sardius again coming first and the jasper sixth. We again meet with those precious stones in the description of the holy Jerusalem in governmental authority and glory towards the millennial world (Rev 21:19-20), the jasper first and the sardius sixth. Is there no significance in the fact that in these three lists of precious stones, the reflectors of God in grace, in creation, and in glory, the numerical order is changed? Is this a mere coincidence or the evidence of design in inspiration? Of the latter assuredly.The brilliancy of the jasper and the deep red hue of the sardius reflect the glory and surpassing splendour of God in so far as these could be displayed. The glory of God, too, as symbolised by the jasper is the light (Rev 21:11),the security (v. 18), and the foundation (v. 19) of the Church or bride in future governmental display.
The Seer next proceeds, “And a rainbow round the throne like in appearance to an emerald.”
The throne in vastness and majesty is one befitting the Lord of hosts. Encircled with a rainbow it is a witness that in the exercise of absolute sovereignty, of all-ruling power, God will graciously remember in covenant mercy His creatures. It is a sign to all in Heaven that God delights in goodness.
The complete, unbroken circle round the throne proclaims the truth, “His mercy endureth for ever.” The bow set in the cloud of old, with its prismatic colours and varied beauties, is the token of God’s covenant with the earth (Gen 9:9-17). It is rarely seen as a complete circle,but generally as an arch, or half-circle, and is God’s object lesson for the race, a public sign hung out in the heavens that all may see and learn that God is good, a lesson from God and of God to men. In the last notice of the rainbow it is seen over the head of the Lord when in power He asserts His claim to the earth. He will sweep the defiled scene with the besom of destruction, but even then the old appointed token of divine goodness reappears (Rev 10:1). Instead of the combination ofcolours to which we are accustomed in the rainbow the heavenly one over the throne is “like in appearance to an emerald.” The beautiful green, the characteristic color of the vegetable world, and the only one which never tires the eye, is the chosen color of the rainbow beheld by the Seer. The glorified saints will have constantly before their never-tiring gaze the rainbow in its entirety; the remembrance of God’s grace to the earth even when He is about to deal with the race in judgment.
Commentary on Rev 4:1-3 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 4:1. With this chapter we start into the symbolic part of this book. I urge the reader to turn back to the “General remarks” at the introduction of chapter 1, and carefully read through the paragraphs, especially for the purpose of being prepared to appreciate what will be said relative to the symbolic and literal features of the book. Bear in mind that literally .John is on the isle of Patmos and will be there all through the book. When the langauge seems to take him to some other place it is only figuratively so. When he speaks about going somewhere or of seeing something that we know is not actually out there on that isle, we must understand that he had a vision of such things and is only writing a description of what he sees. Door opened in heaven signifies that. John was to be admitted into the confidences of the Lord and be told things not known by other men. A voice like a trumpet indicates that it was strong and filled with the characteristic of authority. Things which must be hereafter has direct reference to events in the future. However, we should not forget the overall scope of his vision as stated in Rev 1:19. That passage says he was to write of things pertaining to the past, present and future. That explains why he here tells us of conditions then existing, which will be involved in many of the future events of the book.
Rev 4:2. In the spirit means the vision was opening up before him. The first thing he saw was a throne in heaven and the throne was not vacant; one sat on the throne. That indicated that heaven had an occupant who had authority to give rule over the earth as well as over other persons in heaven.
Rev 4:3. These precious stones are used to indicate the worth and also the brilliance of the one on the throne. The rainbow refers to the arched halo that is generally pictured over the head of one occupying a place of authority. Like unto an emerald. This is another precious stone that is used to signify the glory about the head of the person occupying the throne.
Commentary on Rev 4:1-3 by Burton Coffman
Rev 4:1
At this point in Revelation there begin the visions, in which are shown, under figures, the forces by which the life of the church is affected. “She is shown God and the Lamb, the devil, the beast, the false prophet, and the apostate city. Then she is shown the victory of Christ, and the eternal defeat of the powers of evil.”[1] However, Revelation 4 and Revelation 5 are introductory, forming a composite vision of the throne of God and of the Lamb (one throne, not two). “Actual predictions of future events do not begin until Revelation 6.”[2]
The student is quickly aware that some of the terminology of Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1, as well as of passages in Daniel, is used in this chapter, and throughout Revelation. But despite many of the striking symbols being employed, the vision here is distinctly different. This chapter, however, “is as much adapted to impress the mind as any of the others.”[3] The terminology John used here in describing what God revealed to him, although found in the Old Testament, is used in an independent manner. “We do not find even a single Old Testament quotation, but only adaptations and nothing more.”[4]
The sense of impending persecution which dominates the letters to the churches might well have tended to unnerve them; what better way to comfort them, therefore, than to point out the eternal glory of the throne of God and Christ. The throne of imperial Roman authority had become their enemy, but there was a higher authority. After all, the universe itself is under the control of God.
The most important thing that anyone can know about the universe is that there is a control center. It does not exist like some robot machine that has been wound up and left to run itself out. The throne of God and of Christ is the final and conclusive denial of the “chance theory,” regarding either creation or the continuity of the material universe.
Even more significantly, the enthroned authority is personal. The most important single fact that can be known about God lies right here. God is a person; and associated with him, indeed identified with him, is the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, also personal, and identified both with the Father and with mankind. It is lack of belief in a personal God that has devastated and destroyed religious faith to a great extent in the current era. William Buckley, many years editor of the National Review, and a personal friend of this writer, once published an article in his paper regarding the “Three `R’s of Religion,” identifying these as Revelation, Regeneration, and Responsibility, and relating all of these absolutely to belief in a personal God.
If one does not believe that God is personal, there can be no valid conception of regeneration. One cannot be born of some cosmic law; a person cannot be born of that which is impersonal; and, if God is not a person, there is no such thing as the new birth. No wonder it has dropped out of a lot of modernistic preaching by those who no longer believe in a personal God.
If one does not believe in a personal God, it is folly to speak of revelation. That is why so many do not believe the Bible to be God’s word. If there is no one, no person beyond our present life, then no one has spoken to anybody! Belief in a personal God underlies the basic conception of divine revelation.
If one does not believe in a personal God, there is, logically, no such thing as responsibility. If God is personal, one who knows the deeds of men, and who will require of every man ever born an account of his stewardship, then man is responsible for his actions and will inevitably suffer the penalty of disobeying divine law; but, if there is no personal God, then there is not anything in this universe any higher than a man. Once such a conception as that is received, it makes every man his own god. Whatever social pressures or governmental sanctions may be exercised in an attempt to restrain his unbridled impulses, he will have no regard for them whatever, except in the degree of intimidation they may have; but he will have no respect for them. He will proceed to do his own thing without regard either for God, whom he does not believe exists, or for man, who, as equal in every way to himself, he is not inclined to fear. If social scientists want to know what is happening to “the good life” in our times, the trouble lies right here. People no longer believe (at least in a great many cases) in a personal God.
The result of this exceedingly important break-down of faith in its most vital aspect will inevitably be the total destruction of any society stupid enough to encourage it. If people will not heed the lessons of Inspiration, at least they should pay some attention to the lessons of history:
The natural ethic is too weak to withstand the savagery that lurks under civilization, and emerges in our dreams, crimes, and wars … There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion.[5]
This observation was made by the greatest historian of this century; and while Durant himself professed not to believe in a personal and intelligent supreme Being, the admission cited in the above quotation is without meaning apart from the conception of a personal God. In fact, no real religion is possible without it.
And after these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show unto thee things which must come to pass hereafter.
After these things … This means, “after the visions of the preceding chapters.” John is not here speaking of “after the fulfillment of previous visions,” but of “after his having seen them.” The ancient myth of the whole world balanced on Atlas’ shoulder is no more preposterous than the proposition that everything in Revelation from this point to the end will not even commence to be fulfilled until after the so-called “rapture” at the coming of Christ – all of which is allegedly derived from this little adverbial phrase! “There is no justification for assigning what follows to a time after this world.”[6]
I saw, and behold a door opened in heaven … As Earle stated it, “He saw the door standing open; he did not see it opened.”[7] John’s use of the same figure for different purposes is apparent in this. The “open door” stands for opportunity, or the sinner’s entrance into heaven (Rev 3:8), the door of the human heart (Rev 3:20), and the gateway of heaven of itself, here.
And the first voice that I heard … This is usually understood as a reference to the voice of Christ himself (Rev 1:10 ff). “This does not refer to the first of a successive series, but is a plain reference to the voice of the Lord already heard.”[8] There the voice was heard on earth, but here it is heard from heaven. Some of the implications in these remarkable visions are difficult to conceive. For example, “Can Christ be conceived of as inviting the prophet to ascend and see him in heaven? Why not? Revelation will suggest that such questions should not be asked.”[9] We have just noted the multiple employment of “open door” as an expression of diverse realities, and there are countless other examples of the same thing throughout. Does the Lamb of God have seven horns (Rev 5:6)? The great scarlet-colored beast has ten horns (Rev 17:3)! As Beasley-Murray observed:
One who adapts Biblical images as freely as he has in this chapter should not be expected to preserve an undeviating consistency in his pictures. They are for kindling the imagination, not for transference to the drawing board.[10]
Consistency has been described as the vice of small minds, and there was certainly nothing small about the mind which lies behind Revelation. One very important key to understanding Revelation is in this. The interpretation of a figure in one passage does not necessarily bind the interpretation in another. “He makes no attempt at sustained metaphor or allegory.”[11] Revelation is simply not that kind of book.
Scholars have often complained about the grammar of Revelation. For example, “The word for voice in this passage is used first as feminine, and then as masculine.”[12] The inspired writer rose above the ordinary rules of grammar, because there was no other way of conveying the exact sense. His proper observance of grammatical rules elsewhere shows clearly that he knew them and understood them, thus his deviation here was meaningful and purposeful. This example is cited here as one of many in the book; and what is said here applies to the others. “The change to the masculine is simply because this befits the Person, one saying. To speak of grammatical irregularity is rather pedantic.”[13]
The things which must come to pass hereafter … Among the things to be “shown” in the following chapters are the Second Coming of Christ and the final judgment of the living and the dead. It is a critical mistake, therefore, to understand this prophecy as already having been fulfilled in its entirety. Moreover, there is an overwhelming impression that a certain progression of events in the direction of that final assize, and culminating it, was surely intended to be revealed by the prophet. Thus it is wrong to understand Revelation as merely an abstraction of principles operative in history. “The close connection of the judgments (seals, trumpets, and bowls) with the earth and what goes on in it compels a more concrete explanation of them than an abstract idealism will afford.”[14]
[1] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1077.
[2] Wilbur M. Smith, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 1064.
[3] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1961), p. 107.
[4] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 181.
[5] Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968), p. 51.
[6] A. Plummer, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 143.
[7] Ralph Earle, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 530.
[8] Walter Scott, Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, n.d.), p. 119.
[9] G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Greenwood, South Carolina: The Attic Press, 1974), p. 112.
[10] Ibid.
[11] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 61.
[12] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 143.
[13] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 168.
[14] Merrill C. Tenney, Interpreting Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957), p. 72.
Rev 4:2
Straightway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne;
Straightway I was in the Spirit … This seems to be out of place in the eyes of some, since John was already “in the Spirit” when he heard the voice out of heaven; but there were definite reasons for the statement here. The words “come up hither” in Rev 4:1 have often been interpreted as a reference to “the rapture,” in which all of the redeemed of earth (at the time) are caught up to heaven. Addressing himself to this misconception, Nee pointed out that all the theories of the “rapture” posit the resurrection of their bodies:
The rapture of the church is a bodily rapture, yet here it is in the Spirit (Rev 4:2). And thus this verse cannot be interpreted as referring to the rapture of the church.[15]
Thus, it is not hard to see why some object to the book as the sacred author composed it. After pointing out that “many commentators place the `rapture’ of the church between Revelation 3 and Revelation 4,” entailing the inconsistency that John had somehow missed it and had to be called up in Rev 4:1, Wilbur M. Smith stated that, “Inasmuch as the text itself is silent on such a subject, one questions the wisdom of even discussing it here.”[16]
And behold, there was a throne set in heaven … See chapter heading for further discussion of “The Throne of God.” From first to last, John’s vision is dominated by this symbol of divine sovereignty (the throne).”[17] It stands here at the head of all that John would reveal concerning the future; and, at last, when all is concluded, the throne alone will be all that is standing. Heaven and earth shall have disappeared, but the throne and its holy occupant are eternal. The word “throne” is used ten times in the eleven verses of this chapter, and “over forty times”[18] in Revelation.
There was set … This means, “There was situated in heaven a throne. There is no action of setting up or placing.”[19] God’s throne must not be understood as some kind of moveable headquarters, now appearing in one place, then in another. “The throne was not there for this vision only; it was set, established as the throne of heaven (Psa 103:19; Psa 119:89).”[20] “And one sitting upon the throne …” Again, reference is made to the discussion at the head of this chapter. The personality of the supreme and universal Authority is gloriously affirmed by this. And this is exceedingly important! Interpretations of details in this chapter can hardly be affirmed with any dogmatic certainty, but the great and overwhelming message of the throne with the Person of God himself upon it is impossible to miss. Being sure of this, one may well afford to hold judgment in abeyance concerning some of the details. As Lenski said:
Do not stress our conceptions of space and time in order to draw deductions from them, for they would be picayunely, childishly false … Symbols can only show the ineffable realities in a degree for beings that are still on earth.[21]
[15] Watchman Nee, “Come Lord Jesus” (New York: Christian Fellowship Publishers, 1976), p. 53.
[16] Wilbur M. Smith, op. cit., p. 1064.
[17] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 62.
[18] J. W. Roberts, The Revelation of John (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company, 1974), p. 56.
[19] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 144.
[20] Foy E. Wallace, Jr., The Book of Revelation (Nashville: Foy E. Wallace, Jr., Publications, 1966), p. 127.
[21] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 170.
Rev 4:3
and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon.
There is little that can be known positively about these symbols. Note that, “There is here no description of the Divine Being, so as to point out any similitude, shape, or dimensions.”[22] If there had been, people would probably have made idols of it and worshipped it. Regarding the stones here mentioned, we do not know exactly what they were, nor their color with any certainty.
The whole subject of the relation of precious stones named in the New Testament to those in the Old Testament, to those of classical antiquity, and of modern mineralogy is one of great obscurity.[23]
The jasper … Phillips’ New Testament translates this “diamond,” and many accept this.
The sardius … The New English Bible (1961) translates this carnelian, which Ladd identified as “a fiery red stone.”[24] Some suppose that the rainbow encircled the throne horizontally and that it derived from the prismatic character of the rock crystal (the glassy sea on which the throne reposed)[25] But what kind of rainbow could be described as “like an emerald to look upon”? This teases the imagination beyond reality. At any rate, taking the above as a good guess, we have the diamond, the ruby and the rainbow like an emerald, which three colors are supposed to represent God’s purity (the diamond), God’s wrath in judgment (the ruby), and God’s mercy (the rainbow like an emerald). At best, such interpretations are fanciful and rest upon inadequate foundations. It is true, of course, that the rainbow (Gen 9:12 ff) is indeed a symbol of God’s mercy and of his covenant with Noah that the earth would not again be destroyed by a flood, and that seed time and harvest, day and night, etc., would thenceforth continue as long as the earth stands. The fact of a rainbow encircling the throne of God recalls this, but the description of it injects a new element. Our comment here embraces references to such things because of the usual emphasis given to them in current, and even ancient, writings.
While admitting that, “It is doubtful if any symbolical meaning is intended by the choice of these stones,”[26] Ladd went on to point out that they were in different positions on the high priest’s breastplate (Exo 28:17 ff), and that they are numbered among the foundations of the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:19 ff).
[22] Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. VI (London: Carlton and Porter, 1829), p. 988.
[23] Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1919), p. 497.
[24] George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 72.
[25] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 113.
[26] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 73.
Commentary on Rev 4:1-3 by Manly Luscombe
As we enter into the description of the vision itself, here is a little outline that might help you.
Chapter 4Have faith in the power and dominion of God.
Chapter 5Keep your faith in the power and dominion of Jesus Christ.
Chapters 6-18Learn the wrath of God upon those who persecute His church.
Chapters 19-22See the final and complete victory of God and His church.
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. With chapter four begins the vision, the revelation, the moving picture in living color. John sees a door open in heaven – This door was not opening, it was open. The first voice – The first sound in this movie is the voice of God speaking to John. Come up here – Often the vision is brought down to the prophet. Here the prophet is invited up to heaven to see what is about to happen. Must take place – In the mind of God there is no difference in past, present and future. The future can be recorded in the past tense. The future is as certain (must take place) as the past.
2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. In the Spirit – John was in a spiritual frame of mind. He was open and ready to see and hear and record what God is willing to show him. See also Rev 1:10. Throne is set – God is on the throne. He is the all-powerful One. Here we are reminded that God is powerful and has all dominion. God is in control of what happens on earth. Regardless of what happens, good or bad as we view it, God is still on His throne. He is guiding history toward the climax He plans. He is in command. The symbol of a throne occurs more that 40 times in the book of Revelation.
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. Some have tried to figure out what each stone represents. I believe the message here is this – When you are in the presence of God – you are dazzled by the brilliance. Bright colors, precious stones, a rainbow – This is a picture of the impressive and stunning presence of God. Jasper and Sardus – These were stones worn by the High Priest under the Law of Moses. They are also part of the foundation of the New Jerusalem in chapter 20. Rainbow – Since the time of Noah, the rainbow is a covenant sign that God will keep His promises. God is faithful.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
This chapter introduces us to the Revelation of Christ in His government of all world affairs in which a most remarkable vision of the heavenly order is presented to us. Everything is seen as surrounding the throne. Four and twenty elders are seated round about that throne. In an inner circle are four living creatures, symbolically described as, the first like a lion, the second like an ox, the third as a man, and the fourth like a flying eagle. The whole interest centers in Him who sits on the throne. No suggestion of shape is given. The appearance is likened to that of two precious stones, jasper and sardius.
The seer gazing on the heavenly order saw and heard perfect worship. The first note was uttered by the living ones; in the high and holy exercise they have no rest day or night, they offer glory and honor to Him who occupies the throne. This ascription is followed by prostration before the throne as elders cast their crowns before Him who sits thereon.
So ends the vision of the essential heavenly order. The symbolism is majestic and sublime, and while there may be many differing interpretations, the fundamental truths are self-evident. At the center of everything is an occupied throne. Gathered around it are those who appreciate the character of the One enthroned, and submit themselves to His government. The light of that vision shone for the seer on all the darkness and the gloom which presently was to be revealed to him.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
A Throne Set in Heaven
Rev 4:1-11
The vision of the ascended Lord introduced the seven letters to the churches, so the visions of this and the next chapters introduce the seven seals. They resemble the frontispiece or illuminated capitals of the old missals. There is no form for the Divine Being. God is Spirit, and His glory can only be hinted at by appropriate imagery. His being should excite emotions in our spirit similar to those which these objects excite in our mind. The jasper with its transparent brilliance, the sardine or cornelian with its fiery red, the emerald with its refreshing beauty, are laid under contribution to describe what cannot be described. The throne bespeaks majestic authority and power. The worship of the elders reflects that of Israel and the Church, Rev 21:12; Rev 21:14; the thunder, Gods awful holiness; the seven lamps, the searching, cleansing purity of His Spirit; the glassy sea, the mystery of His ways; the four living creatures, the homage of creation.
Here is the song of creation, Rev 4:11. Originally all things did the will of God, and if creation is now subject to vanity, some day it will be delivered into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, and Gods will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. Notice that the will of God brought all things into existence, and that that will guarantees their ultimate redemption.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter Four The First Vision Of Heaven
As we turn from chapter 3 to chapter 4, the scenes are very different! We are no longer occupied with the professing church in the place of testimony, nor with events on the earth at all. A door is opened in Heaven, and escorted by John we are carried far above the shifting scenes of this poor world. We are permitted to gaze with awe-struck eyes on a scene of indescribable glory and to hear things kept secret from the foundation of the world. The opening verse begins the third great division of this book- the things which must be hereafter. It describes the stirring panorama of wonders, both heavenly and earthly, which must take place after the churchs history is ended. From the close of chapter 3, we never see the church on earth again through the rest of this solemn book. We read of saints, but they are distinct altogether from the church of the present dispensation. Israel comes into view and a great multitude of Gentiles saved out of the great tribulation; but there is no church, no body of Christ, no bride of the Lamb any more on the earth!
The Throne (Rev 4:1-3)
I believe that we must understand the rapture of 1Th 4:16-17 as transpiring between Revelation 3 and 4. The apostle is the symbol of this rapture. He sees the door opened in Heaven. His attention is turned from earth to glory. He is caught up in spirit, and far above all the mists of this world he sees a throne set in Heaven and someone sitting on it. He cannot even attempt to portray the likeness of this august being. He only tells us he beheld a presence whose glory was like a jasper and a sardius.
The jasper of the Revelation is not the opaque stone we know by that name. It is later described as clear as crystal (21:11). It is probably the diamond, the most brilliant of all the precious jewels. The other stone is blood-red and may really be the ruby. Thus the two together give the idea of glory and of sacrifice. Remembering that many of the first readers of the Revelation were converted Jews, we might ask what these stones would suggest to them. Surely every instructed Hebrew would instantly recall that they were the first and last stones in the breastplate of the high priest (Exo 28:17-21). These stones were engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel, arranged according to the births of the twelve patriarchs; so the ruby would suggest at once the name Reuben, Behold a Son, and the Jasper Benjamin, Son of my right hand. It is Christ enthroned, the Son about to reign in power who is before the seers vision. Around the throne a rainbow, like an emerald, the stone of Judah (Praise) is seen. This suggests the perpetuity of the Noahic covenant and Gods unchanging goodness, despite all mans failure, folly, and wickedness.
The Elders (Rev 4:4-5)
The fourth verse brings before us a sight never beheld in Heaven on any previous occasion: twenty-four thrones (not merely seats) surrounding the central throne and on them twenty-four elders seated with victors crowns (not diadems) on their heads, and clothed in priestly robes of purest white. Who are these favored ones gathered around the glorious central Being? I think their identity is clear if we compare Scripture with Scripture and distrust our own imagination, which can only lead us astray.
In 1 Chronicles 24, we read of something very similar; again I would remind you that many of Johns first readers were Hebrews, thoroughly familiar with the Old Testament. Every Jewish believer would remember the twenty-four elders appointed by King David to represent the entire Levitical priesthood. He divided the priests into twenty-four courses, each course to serve for two weeks at a time in the temple which Solomon was to build. The same arrangement was in force when our Lords forerunner was announced. Zacharias was of the course of Abiah, the eighth in order (Luk 1:5).
The thousands of priests could not all come together at one time; but when the twenty-four elders met in the temple precincts in Jerusalem, the whole priestly house was represented. I submit this is the explanation of the twenty-four elders in Heaven. They represent the whole heavenly priesthood-that is, all the redeemed who have died in the past or who will be living at the Lords return. In vision they were not seen as millions of saved worshipers, but just twenty-four elders symbolizing the entire company. The church of the present age and Old Testament saints are both included. All are priests. All worship. There were twelve patriarchs in Israel and twelve apostles introducing the new dispensation. The two together would give the complete twenty-four.
Then, observe that these persons are not angels. They are redeemed men who have overcome in the conflict with Satan and the world. They wear victors wreaths on their heads. Angels are never said to be crowned, nor have they known redemption.
There are two kinds of crowns mentioned in this book: the victors crown and the rulers diadem. The former is the word used here. It refers to the laurel or pine wreath placed on the victors head in the Greek games. It is the same word so often used in the New Testament regarding reward for service. Note carefully that no saints will ever be crowned until the apostle Paul receives that crown of righteousness which the Lord revealed to him as his reward. In 2Ti 4:8 he says: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love (or have loved) His appearing. The expression at that day refers to the day of Christ when He will come for His own, and they will all be confirmed before His judgment seat. He says: Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be (Rev 22:12). Surely it follows then that no rewards are given out until He returns for His saints. Therefore there can be no crowned elders in Heaven until after the rapture.
I believe this is a point of great importance today. Many are being troubled by the thought that perhaps the great tribulation, which is the subject of a large a part of the book of Revelation, has already begun. But all such fears are set at rest when the facts I have been emphasizing are kept in mind. I want to dwell a little on this in the next chapter, so I refrain from further comment now. Only I trust it is clear to all that the elders are the heavenly saints surrounding the Lord in glory, God the Son sitting on the central throne.
Lightnings, thunderings, and voices emanating from the throne make it clear that a dreadful storm is about to burst on that world below. As we go on in the study of the book, we will see more alarming conditions added from time to time as the scene becomes increasingly solemn.
Following out the symbolism of the tabernacle, seven lamps of fire are seen burning before the throne, as the seven-branched lampstand burned just outside the veil, before Gods throne on earth-the ark of old. These lamps are said to be the seven Spirits of God. As we have already seen (1:4) this figure illustrates not seven distinct Spirits, but the one Holy Spirit in the sevenfold plenitude of His power.
The Adoration (Rev 4:6-11)
The sea of glass of verse 6 calls to mind the sea of brass in Solomons temple, which like the laver, symbolized the Word of God. It contained the water used for priestly cleansing, and we are sanctified and cleansed by the washing of water by the word. But the sea in Revelation is not for cleansing, so it is like crystal and later we find the martyred tribulation-saints standing on it. It is the Word of God still, but no longer needed for cleansing because desert experiences are viewed here as forever passed. But the Word abides, stable and sure forevermore-a glassy sea filled with crystal. It is firm and glorious and on it the people of God can stand eternally.
It is well known that instead of four beasts surrounding the throne, a better translation would be four living ones. They are not beasts. The word is very different than that used in Revelation 13. They are not created beings, for they are in the midst of the throne, where only Deity can dwell. They are linked with it round about. They represent the attributes of the living God. The lion is the well-known symbol of divine majesty. The young ox symbolizes the divine strength graciously serving man. The face of a man indicates intelligence and purpose; it tells us that Deity is no mere blind force, nor is He simply the great first cause or impersonal law. The eagle suggests swiftness in detecting evil and executing judgment. The living creatures are six-winged and full of eyes suggesting incessant activity and omniscience. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good (Pro 15:3). The creatures cry, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come, (Rev 4:8) for all Gods attributes glorify the eternal Son.
The elders bow in worship at this announcement and cast their crowns at the feet of Him that sits on the throne. They adore Him as Creator, 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. A higher note is struck in chapter five, but the blessed truth is here proclaimed that He who died on the cross is worshiped by all the redeemed in Heaven. There can be no mistake as to the identity of the person on the throne. If John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1 are all carefully compared with this closing verse, it becomes perfectly clear that it is Christ Jesus, the Son who created all things. Without Him was nothing made. All things are by Him and for Him. So He it is who fills the throne and is the center of the worship here described.
In our day Christs glory as the eternal Son is so often denied. His true deity, His virgin birth, His sinless humanity are all alike flouted by apostate teachers as so much traditional lore to be rejected at will. How refreshing to the soul to turn from earth to Heaven and contemplate His glory as displayed there and the unhindered adoration of His own as they prostrate themselves before His throne. If He is not God, then Heaven will be filled with idolaters, for it is written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve (Mat 4:10).
But we need not for a moment enter such an if. He is God over all, blessed forever, and He is also man. God the Son in grace was born of the virgin, and it is He who fills the throne above. Nor will He ever abdicate that throne, even though He will soon descend to gather His own to Himself and to reign over all the earth as Son of man, sitting on the throne of His father David. Both thrones are His, for all glory belongs to Him by the Fathers firm decree. Thus all men will eventually honor the Son even as they honor the Father.
I add a further word as to the living creatures. In chapter 4 we see them linked especially with the throne. In chapter 5 they are most particularly linked with the elders. We have suggested that they represent the divine attributes. During the present age and before the Lamb takes the book of judgment these are largely seen in angelic ministry. But unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the [age] to come (Heb 2:5). In that day God will work through His redeemed ones; hence the living ones join in the new song, voicing the joy of the saints in whom the divine glory will be displayed. The living creatures of Ezekiels vision and the cherubim on the mercyseat tell the same story.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Rev 4:1
Heaven Near, though Hidden.
Note:-
I. The division between earth and heaven. The fact that earth and heaven are divided by so wide a gulf seems to me one of the strangest facts in our experience, though long habit prevents the strangeness from striking us so much. We should have expected the very opposite. Allowing that men are unfit to enter heaven, yet it would have seemed most natural that we should have had the full evidence about it which direct communication could have given. Comparatively few cross the Atlantic to America, yet, though we may never see it, we require no act of faith to realise its existence and condition; but the world of heaven, the home of God, is so far removed beyond the range of our knowledge that we have need of faith to be convinced even that it exists, of faith which, though based on reason, sometimes fails. If only we could identify heaven with some distant star, that would be a handle for our confidence as we caught its glimmer in the night; but even such a satisfaction is withheld. Where heaven is, where God is, even that God is, we cannot demonstrate by our reason. God has so cut us off in space, in our little island world, from the rest of His dominions that we cannot cross the ocean or read or hear of others reaching His eternal shore.
II. The connection between earth and heaven. One point of connection between the two which at least helps to make heaven seem nearer to us is that life in heaven, just as much as our life here, is proceeding now. We think of heaven too much as a future state; we should remember that to countless multitudes it is a present state. Heaven is not a dim and distant promised vision merely which God may not call into existence for unknown ages yet; heaven is an actual, living world, whose inhabitants are conscious at this moment of life and joy. Its worship is ascending now to God. His servants there are busy with their noble work; their bliss is a present feeling arising from the presence of God now.
III. The door is set open between earth and heaven. The division is maintained between the two in order that our discipline may not cease. But sometimes the door is opened that our faith may not fail. That has happened “in those sundry times and divers manners when God spake unto the fathers by the prophets.” The revelations they received of God and of man’s destiny were glimpses through a door opened in heaven, and were exceptions to the seclusion which God maintains; to them He broke the silence. A door was set open in heaven also when the Son of God passed through. And whenever a Christian pilgrim reaches his journey’s end, then, too, it may be said that the door between earth and heaven is set open to let the wanderer pass into his home.
T. M. Herbert, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 395.
References: Rev 4:1.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv., No. 887; H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, The Life of Duty, vol. ii., p. 1; Homilist, 2nd series, vol. ii., p. 367; A. P. Peabody, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 70; Talmage, Ibid., vol. xiv., p. 202.
Rev 4:2
The Revelation of the Triune God and its Diffusion.
I. The form which both Prophet and Apostle saw seated on the heavenly throne was of a clear, brilliant flame colour, partly red like the sardine, or, to use a modern term, the carnelian, and partly of the lighter hue of yellow amber. The truth symbolised in this appearance is thus set forth in plain terms by the Apostle to the Hebrews: “Our God is a consuming fire.” The first attribute under which God presents Himself to a soul which He proposes to renew and sanctify is that of transcendently clear and brilliant holiness; He will be known in the first instance as a God with whom moral evil cannot dwell, who cannot endure, in those who approach to Him, a single stain of impurity. We cannot but grant that, awful as the spotless perfection of the Divine character is to a sinner’s gaze, it is yet exceeding brilliant and glorious. The jasper and the sardine stone, although the infirm eye of man cannot bear to gaze upon them when they flash and kindle up in the sunlight, are yet of a hue exceedingly beautiful and brilliant.
II. It is the Mediator between God and man, even the Lord Jesus Christ, “which is our hope,” who is here symbolised to us under the lovely and appropriate emblem of an emerald rainbow. What sweet refreshment to the aching eyeballs to rest for a while upon an emerald green, the very colour which, when the power of sight is enfeebled, is calculated to preserve it! In the existence of light, the existence of the rainbow is involved; for what is the rainbow but light reflected from the raindrops? And what is the Lord Jesus, considered as a Divine Person incarnate, but God reflected in the infirm medium of a manhood pure as crystal?
III. “Seven lamps of fire burning before the throne.” Fire, we know, is a constant emblem of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is that Person in the Triune Jehovah whose office it is to sanctify the mind of man, not of one man, but of many, to abide in the Church, yet not in one local Church, but in all the branches of the Church universal. Contemplated in His office character as distinct from His essence, He is multiform; and to His multiformity the text certifies.
E. M. Goulburn, Occasional Sermons, p. 267.
Rev 4:3
The Throne and the Rainbow.
Look-
I. At this wonderful throne. Of course we understand such a thing to be the symbol of government, of the Divine government in the universe, for that Being on the seat of royalty is God. But what do the other emblems mean? The whole chapter seems to glitter with a blaze of precious jewels, some of them with strange names. (1) The exalted monarch is said to be like a jasper and a sardine stone. I find the soberest commentators agreed in declaring that what is here called jasper must be the diamond, and the sardine is only what we call a carnelian, that is, a flesh-coloured gem in hue, as the name signifies. And hence these expositors would have us believe that this personage, with a Divine brightness and a human expression, is none other than the Lamb in the midst of the throne. (2) The attendants. The very nobles are crowned, and wear royal raiment; their ordinary seats are thrones. (3) This vision teaches that earth can always and everywhere be seen from heaven. (4) Observe once more, this is an unimpeachable government. These living creatures are worshipping while watching.
II. The rainbow. This represents a covenant, as the other represented a rule. (1) The ancient covenant has in it the promise of the covenant of grace. (2) Its appearance just here in John’s vision is welcomed more for its graciousness than for its antiquity. (3) Observe how well this vision teaches us that God’s covenant is completed. This rainbow is a circlet; it goes around the throne. (4) The covenant is abiding; it will stand for ever. (5) This covenant is to each of us individual and personal.
III. Note the collocation of the two symbols. (1) God’s promise surrounds God’s majesty; (2) God’s grace surrounds God’s justice; (3) God’s love surrounds God’s power; (4) God’s glory surrounds God’s children.
C. S. Robinson, Sermons on Neglected Texts, p. 297.
Rev 4:3
I. The rainbow. We are all familiar with it as a natural phenomenon. (1) In the Bible history it proclaimed the fact of the Divine reconciliation; (2) it intimated that providence is administered under the reign of grace; (3) the grand purpose of the rainbow was to seal or ratify the covenant of God.
II. The position of the rainbow. The rainbow is round about the throne, not above, as dominating, or upon, as occupying, but round about, as encompassing the throne; and in this regard its position is as significantly instructive as it is itself. (1) It evidently carries us up to the Divine origin of the covenant; (2) it intimates that the Divine majesty rules in the covenant throughout; (3) it assures us that the covenant will never pass from the Divine remembrance.
III. The aspect of the rainbow, the natural rainbow round about the throne, here said to be in sight like unto an emerald. Observe why this rainbow has so much in it, not of heaven’s, but of earth’s, colour, not sky-blue, but emerald green. (1) It indicates that there is a refreshing beauty in the covenant which is never wearisome to look at; (2) it may be held to indicate that there is an essential unity in the covenant, whatever variety may circumstantially distinguish it; (3) the everlasting duration of the covenant may be said to be shadowed forth in the emerald aspect of the rainbow round about the throne. For the green of the emerald is as an unfading hue.
E. Thomson, Memorials of a Ministry, p. 208.
References: Rev 4:4, Rev 4:10, Rev 4:11.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii., No. 441; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 255.
Rev 4:8
New Year’s Day.
There is something exceedingly solemn in the opening of a new year. At such times more than others, when even the trifler is visited for an instant by serious thought, does the Christian love to trace the hand of God in the Church and in the world, to abstract himself from the whirl of business, and politics, and controversy, and calmly answer the important question, “Where am I, and whither tending?”
I. The words of the text form part of the ascription of praise uttered in heaven by the four living creatures, who symbolise, as I believe, the creation of God. They express a sense of the holiness and eternity of the Almighty, that He is essentially pure, and just, and merciful, and that His being and operations extend through past and present and to come. Now just such a sense of the holiness and providence of God befits us at the opening of another year of our lives. To have a firm persuasion that He is a pure, and just, and merciful Being, to trace His operations as such in this His world, is the most precious result of human knowledge and the highest triumph of the intellect of man. And as this view of the world is the highest result of wisdom, so is it likewise a cause of abundant consolation to the believer in Christ. It furnishes to him the comforting assurance that all things are working together for good, that the Lord reigneth, be the earth never so unquiet; and every onward step in the advancement of man, while it elates others with unbecoming pride, fills him with humble joy.
II. At present much of what God has done is unintelligible to us; more of what He is doing, seeing that we ourselves are a part of it, is hidden from us; and what He will do and bring on the world, who shall presume to say? But let us remember that to His people, those who in their hearts and lives serve and love Him, a day will come when, gifted with nobler faculties, breathing a purer air, and gazing with a keener vision, they will trace all His dealings with men in their completeness, and confess that He hath done all things well. Then the blurred and blotted map of the world’s history will be restored, the vacant regions of human memory filled up, every corner of darkness and mystery lit with the beams of the Sun of light and righteousness.
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. i., p. 1.
Rev 4:8
(with 1Jn 5:20)
Preached on Trinity Sunday.
To-day we are called upon to keep the festival of revelation. Every other great festival of our Church commemorates a fact through which God has been pleased to teach men something of His purpose of love; Trinity Sunday encourages us to reflect for a brief space on that final truth, most absolute, most elementary, most practical, which gives unity and stability to all knowledge. The view of the Divine nature which it offers for our devout contemplation is the charter of human faith.
I. The conception of the Triune God is not given to us first in an abstract form. The abstract statement is an interpretation of facts, a human interpretation of vital facts, an interpretation wrought out gradually in the first years of the Church, and still mastered gradually in our individual growth. We are required each, in some sense, to win for ourselves the inheritance which is given to us, if the inheritance is to be a blessing. We learn through the experience of history and life how God acts, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and by the very necessity of thought we are constrained to gather up these lessons into the simplest possible formula. So we come to recognise a Divine Trinity, which is not sterile, monotonous simplicity. We come to recognise One in whom is the fulness of all conceivable existence in the richest energy, One absolutely self-sufficient and perfect, One in whom love finds absolute consummation, One who is in Himself a living God, the fountain and the end of all life.
II. The conception of the Triune God illuminates the idea of creation. It enables us to gain firm hold of the truth that the learning which we observe under the condition of time answers to a Being beyond time; that history is the writing out at length of that which we may speak of as a Divine thought. The same conception illuminates the idea of the Incarnation. It enables us to see that the Incarnation in its essence is the crown of the Creation, and that man, being made capable of fellowship with God, has in his very constitution a promise of the fulfilment of his highest destiny.
III. This truth is not speculative, but practical. The Chris tian conception of God is the translation into the language of thought of the first Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. By our faith in these facts we confess that the Divine life has been united with human life. We confess, even if we do not distinctly realise the force of the confession, that the Divine life is the foundation and the end of human life. And we live, so far as life deserves the name, by this faith by which consciously or unconsciously we are stirred to toil and sustained in sacrifice.
Bishop Westcott, Oxford Review and Journal; May 24th, 1883.
References: Rev 4:8.-F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxiii., p. 357. Rev 4:10.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix., No. 1002; Homilist, 1st series, vol. vi., p. 425. Rev 4:10, Rev 4:11.-M. Dix, Sermons Doctrinal and Practical, p. 145; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 286. Rev 4:11.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 12. Rev 5:1-10.-Ibid., vol. i., p. 417. Rev 5:4, Rev 5:5.-A. James, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 21. Rev 5:5, Rev 5:6.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 414.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
III. THE THINGS WHICH ARE AFTER THESE, THE END OF THE AGE,
THE CONSUMMATION, AND FINAL MESSAGES (4-22)
CHAPTERS 4-5
1. The open door and the vision of the throne (Rev 4:1-3)
2. The twenty-four elders and the throne (Rev 4:4-5).
3. The four living creatures and the worship (Rev 4:6-11)
4. Who is worthy to open the book? (Rev 5:1-3)
5. The answer (Rev 5:4-5)
6. The vision of the Lamb (Rev 5:6-7)
7. Worship and praise (Rev 5:8-14)
Rev 4:1-3.
The scene changes suddenly. We are no longer on earth but are transported into heaven. The true Church is gone and the apostate Church, while still on earth to pass into the judgments of the great tribulation, is no longer owned by the Lord and, therefore, not mentioned. That is why the word church disappears entirely from the book after the third chapter. The open door and the voice which calls come up hither and Johns presence in glory in the spirit, clearly indicate symbolically the fulfillment of 1Th 4:15-17. That for which the faithful remnant waited, the blessed hope of the Church, has suddenly come to pass. The departure of the true Church from the earth will be as sudden as its beginning (Act 2:1-2).
Johns first vision in heaven is the established throne, the sign and symbol of the universal government of God. While thrones on earth begin to totter and to fall and mans day closes in the predicted upheavals, there is a throne which cannot be affected or disturbed. Yea, He who sitteth there and looks down upon earth and sees mans rebellion and madness laughs at them and holds them in derision (Psa 2:4). The occupant of the throne was to look upon like a jasper (rather the diamond) and a sardine stone. Our Lord and the glory of His person are symbolically represented in these stones. His glory in the brilliant stone, His redemption work in the blood-red sardine. The rainbow in emerald-green tells us that in the judgment about to come upon the earth mercy will also be remembered. It is the covenant sign. Though judgments come, yet mercy is in store for Israel and the earth.
Rev 4:4-5.
Who is represented by these twenty-four elders? They cannot be angels. Angels are never seated upon thrones (not seats, as in the Authorized Version), nor are they crowned, nor can they sing redemptions song as the elders do. There is only one possible meaning. They represent the redeemed, the saints in glory. They are priests (clothed in white) and they are kings (crowned); they are the royal priesthood in the presence of the throne. And why twenty-four? It points us back to the work David did for the temple. He appointed twenty-four courses of the priests (1Ch 24:1-31). Twice twelve would suggest the saints of the Old and New Testaments.
There were lightnings and voices and thunderings. This is repeatedly stated. See Rev 8:5; Rev 11:19; Rev 16:18. It is the symbol of Gods throne in its judicial aspect.
Rev 4:6-11.
The sea of glass is a reminder of the great laver in Solomons temple in which the priests had to wash. Now it is solidified because no more water is needed for the cleansing of the saints. The word beast should be changed to living creatures or living ones. They are not symbolical of the Church, or a special class of saints, but they are the same supernatural beings seen in the Old Testament and always in connection with the throne and the presence of Jehovah. They are the cherubim of Ezekiels great vision, chapters 1 and 10. Their constant cry, Holy, Holy, reminds us of the seraphim also (Isa 6:1-13). The worship here is the worship of Him who is the creator.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Chapter 16
CHRIST THE DOOR
‘After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven’
Rev 4:1-11
After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven. With wide-eyed wonder, John sees a door standing open in heaven. He knew the significance of that door. He was about to see visions of God (Eze 1:1). While he is looking at the door in astonishment, he hears the voice of his dear Savior, like the voice of a trumpet speaking clearly to him, Come up hither. The Son of God called John up to heaven!
There is a way of access to God! There is a door opened into the most holy place, by which sinners may approach and find acceptance with the most high God. That Way is Christ. That Door is Christ (Joh 10:9; Joh 14:6; Eph 2:18; Heb 10:19-20). We draw near to God by faith in the blood and righteousness of Christ. Salvation is ours when we come to God by faith in his dear Son (Heb 7:25). When the believer leaves this world, he is immediately with the Lord in heaven (2Co 5:1-9). And in the last day, we shall, in resurrection glory, enter into the presence of the Divine Majesty, there to abide forever (1Th 4:13-18). But the only Door by which sinful man can enter in is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said to John, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. That is to say, I will show you things which must happen in the future. But remember, this took place nearly two thousand years ago! These words do not imply that there is another dispensation of time yet to come. John himself tells us that this present gospel age, the time in which we are now living, is the last time (1Jn 2:18). These future things must come to pass because they were appointed and decreed by God in his eternal purpose of predestination.
And immediately I was in the spirit. Again, John’s soul was drawn away from his earthly surroundings and carnal cares. His heart was fixed on God. He ceased to see with his physical eyes and hear with his physical ears. He was in the spirit. With the eyes of his soul, he looked, and behold, a throne. John’s thoughts were focused on a throne. This throne is the theme of John’s second vision. All of chapters four and five are taken up with and consumed by this throne and its Occupant. The word throne is mentioned seventeen times in these two chapters. Remember, this is a spiritual vision. The throne is a symbol of sovereign power, authority, and dominion.
The message of this chapter is as clear as the noonday sun – All things are under the control of our God who sits upon the throne of universal dominion. This fourth chapter of Revelation does not merely give us a picture of heaven. It gives a picture of the entire universe from heaven’s viewpoint. And from heaven’s viewpoint, the only matters of importance are the throne of God and the people of God. In beautifully symbolic language, John shows us that all things are absolutely and totally governed by our God and Savior. In chapter 6, John will tell us about the many trials God’s people must endure upon the earth. But first we are assured that God is in control – Behold, a throne! No trial will be unbearable to a believer if he can but realize with assurance that our God is on his throne.
What did John see when he entered by the Door
The throne and the one who sits upon it (Rev 4:2-3; Rev 4:5-6; Psa 93:1-5; Psa 97:1)
God’s throne is set, fixed, and permanently established in heaven. Behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne (Rev 4:2). This throne is a symbol of power, dominion, and judgment. It is set, permanently fixed in heaven. That means that God has ruled, is ruling, and shall forever rule. His throne is immutably secure (Psa 93:2). The power and dominion of God’s throne reaches to all the ends of the earth. His dominion is everlasting and universal. It extends to all things (Dan 4:34-35; Dan 4:37; Isa 45:7; Isa 46:9-11).
The One who sits upon the throne is God. Tell me who is in control of the universe, and I will worship him, because the one who is in control of all things is God. Notice John’s words: One sat on the throne. He sat in the perfect ease and serenity of total sovereignty, because he is God. He will never give up his right to rule. None can ever overthrow, or even temporarily impede his rule (Psa 115:3; Psa 135:6). He was to look upon like jasper and a sardine stone. John is not describing God himself, for God cannot be described by anything physical (Exo 20:4). He is describing the majesty and glory which he saw radiating from the One who sat upon the throne. John does not give us an image of God. He does not use any human feature to describe the Almighty. He simply says that God is glorious to look upon. According to Matthew Henry, The jasper is a transparent stone, which offers to the eye a variety of the most vivid colors, signifying the glorious perfections of God. It is crystal clear (Rev 21:11), representing the perfect holiness of God. The sardine stone is blood red, representing the justice of God. God will never give up his holiness, justice, and truth. He is gloriously just in his government of the world, both in his saving grace and in his fearful judgments. God is just, both in pardoning sin and in punishing sin, both in the salvation of his elect and in the damnation of the unbelieving. He is a just God and a Savior (Isa 45:20-25).
And there was a rainbow about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. What glorious comfort! Round about the throne of this august God, there is a rainbow. The rainbow is a symbol to us that God, for Christ’s sake, will remember his covenant and be merciful to his people. He will never lift his omnipotent arm in anger against his covenant people, but only in mercy (Gen 9:13; Psa 89:28-34; Isa 54:7-10). And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices (Rev 4:5). Proceeding from the throne of the great God, we see the lightning bolts of Divine wrath, hear the thunderous terror of his holy law, and hear the sweet, tender voices of love, mercy, and grace in the gospel. The seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God, symbolize the eternal, wise, all-seeing Spirit of God. The number seven represents perfection. The Spirit of God, full of wisdom, light, and holiness, constantly burns like fire to consume his enemies and to refine his people. Our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29). And John saw before the throne a sea of glass like unto crystal (Rev 4:6). In the tabernacle and temple of the Old Testament there was a brazen laver filled with water in which the priests were required to wash themselves when they came to minister before the Lord (Exo 30:18; Exo 38:8; 1Ki 7:23). Symbolically, this sea of glass represents the blood of Christ, which is a fountain opened in which we must be washed before we can approach the throne of God.
Twenty-four elders and four beasts around the throne (Rev 4:4; Rev 4:6-8)
Around the throne of God, he saw twenty-four seats, smaller, subordinate thrones, and each of these seats were filled with the twenty-four elders sitting before God. They were all clothed with white garments, and they all wore crowns of pure gold on their heads. And round about the throne, between the throne of God and the twenty-four elders, John saw four beasts, or living creatures. Who are these people? The twenty-four elders represent the whole church of God. As the twelve patriarchs represent the whole church of the Old Testament and the twelve apostles represent the whole church of the New testament, these twenty-four elders represent all of God’s elect, the whole church of God, the Israel of God (Rev 21:12-14). Several things need to be observed about these twenty-four elders.
1. Every seat around the throne is filled. Not one of God’s elect will be missing in that great day when Christ presents his redeemed ones in glory.
2. All of these redeemed ones seated around the throne are wearing the garments of salvation. They are all clothed in the white raiment of Christ’s righteousness.
3. And every one of these twenty-four elders were wearing crowns of victory. The white garments represent our purity and priesthood in Christ. The crowns of pure gold represent our kingship, signifying that we are made kings as well as priests in Christ. John Gill says of these twenty-four elders, They now reign as kings over sin, satan, and the world, and have a kingdom of grace which shall never be removed; and they shall reign with Christ…to all eternity in heaven.
4. These redeemed ones from every corner of the earth do but enhance the glory of God their Savior. His throne represents his sovereignty. These twenty-four elders constantly render homage to him.
The four beasts, or living creatures, represent those men who preach the gospel of Christ to his church in all the successive ages of history (Rev 4:6-8). It is commonly assumed that these four living creatures are angelic, spirit beings. But that is a mistake. These four living creatures are said to be redeemed by the blood of Christ (Rev 5:8-11). The heavenly angels were not redeemed from sin, for they never sinned. These four living creatures represent all faithful gospel preachers throughout the ages. John tells us ten things about these living creatures as he saw them symbolically representing God’s servants.
1. There are four of them (Rev 4:6). God’s servants are sent into the four corners of the earth to preach the gospel for the gathering of his elect out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue.
2. They are living creatures. They have been made alive by the regenerating power and grace of the Holy Spirit, and go about their work of preaching the gospel with liveliness and fervency.
3. They stand between God and his people, not as priests, but as ambassadors. They receive their message from God and deliver it to his people, leading them in the worship of God.
4. These living creatures are full of eyes, before and behind. They are gifted with spiritual insight into the mysteries of the gospel, possessing that God given evangelical knowledge and wisdom necessary to minister to the needs of immortal souls. They have eyes before them to look into the Word of God and discern its meaning. And they have eyes behind them to observe how that all the sacrifices, types, prophecies, and promises of the Old Testament have their accomplishment in Christ.
5. The first beast had the features of a lion (Rev 4:7). God’s servants are not timid wimps. They are bold men.
6. The second living creature was like a calf. As the ox is an animal of labor, faithful gospel preachers labor diligently in the work of the ministry.
7. The third beast which John saw had the face of a man. God’s servants are men like those to whom they preach. They are tenderhearted and sympathetic with their fellow creatures. Like the Lord Jesus himself, they are touched with the feelings and infirmities of God’s saints in this world.
8. The fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. As the eagle is both wise and swift, that man who is called of God to the work of preaching the gospel is given wisdom in the Word and wisdom with men, and he is given a heart of readiness to do the will of God in publishing the everlasting gospel (Rom 1:15-17).
9. Like the seraphim Isaiah saw (Isa 6:2), each of these gospel messengers had six wings (Rev 4:8). With two, they might cover their faces in reverence before God. With two, they might cover their feet with humility, knowing themselves to be nothing else but sinners saved by grace. With two, they might swiftly fly to do the will of God.
10. And these four heralds of the gospel are constantly engaged in their glorious work (Rev 4:8). They are full of eyes within. They are ever looking within themselves, acknowledging their own sin and corruption by nature. And they have within themselves the testimony of the truth of God. That is to say, they preach to men only what they have proved to be true by experience. And they rest not day and night. Faithful gospel preachers give themselves entirely to the work of the ministry. They are wholly and wholeheartedly given to the work of preaching the gospel, crying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
John saw and heard the church in heaven worshipping before the throne of God (Rev 4:9-11)
Observing this blessed scene, we learn how to worship the living God. The beasts give glory and honor and thanks to God. It is the responsibility of gospel preachers to ascribe all glory, honor, and praise to the Lord our God and to him alone (Rev 4:9). The first message of evangelism is, Behold, your God. The second part of the message God has sent his servants to preach is, All flesh is grass. (Read Isa 40:1-11.). Man is nothing and Christ is everything. We ascribe all glory to the Father, our covenant keeping God, to the Son, our Divine Redeemer, and to the Spirit, our blessed Comforter. We give God the glory because he is God, because of his covenant mercy and grace bestowed upon us (Eph 1:3-14), and because of the salvation he has accomplished for poor sinners in Christ. The twenty-four elders fell down before him that sat on the throne. That is the posture of faith. It humbles itself before the throne of God’s august majesty and worships him.
These glorified saints, as they worshipped God, cast their crowns before the throne. It is not possible for a bowed head to wear a crown. All of God’s people cast their crowns at the foot of his throne. This symbolic gesture is very instructive. Taking the crown of honor off our heads and casting it before the throne of God our Savior, we declare that: (1.) We are what we are by the grace of God (1Co 15:10). Any crown we have, now or in heaven, we have received as the free gift of God’s grace. (2.) We are not worthy of the least honor before God. In all that we endeavor to do for our God, we recognize that we are but unprofitable servants. We have not begun to do even that which is our most reasonable duty. (3.) We cast our crowns at the feet of Christ our King acknowledging our subjection to him as our only and our rightful Lord. It is not possible to worship Christ, it is not possible to trust him, until he is acknowledged as Lord. The beginning of faith is voluntary submission to his sovereign dominion. All who bow before God’s throne, worship him and cast their crowns before his throne, delight to give him the glory and honor due unto his name, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. The everlasting praise of the triune God is a well-deserved praise. He is the Creator of all things and the end of all things (Pro 16:4; Rom 11:36). This great God, the Creator, Sustainer, and Disposer of all things, to whom all worship is due, is none other than Jesus Christ, our Savior (Col 1:16-17).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Come up hither
This call seems clearly to indicate the fulfilment of 1Th 4:14-17. The word “church” does not again occur in the Revelation till all is fulfilled.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
After: Rev 1:1 – Rev 3:22
a door: Exo 1:1, Mat 3:16, Mar 1:10, Luk 3:21, Act 7:56, Act 10:11
the first: Rev 1:10, Rev 16:17
Come: Rev 11:12, Exo 19:24, Exo 24:12, Exo 34:2, Exo 34:3
and I: Rev 1:19, Rev 22:6, Joh 16:13
Reciprocal: Gen 41:25 – God Gen 49:1 – Gather Exo 19:16 – voice Pro 25:7 – Come Isa 48:6 – showed Isa 58:1 – like Eze 1:1 – the heavens Dan 2:45 – the great Dan 9:22 – he informed Amo 3:7 – but Amo 7:4 – showed Joh 1:51 – Hereafter Act 7:55 – looked Rev 5:4 – because Rev 7:1 – after Rev 13:6 – and them Rev 14:1 – I looked Rev 17:1 – talked Rev 19:11 – heaven
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE VISION OF HEAVEN
Come up hither.
Rev 4:1
This is the first of a series of visions which St. John had in Patmosthe vision of the temple in heaven, the vision of the throne of God and the Lamb, the vision of the seven angels with the trumpets, the vision of the seven vials, of the last things, of the New Jerusalem coming from God out of heaven, St. John is here called to a view of the hierarchy of heaven watching over the Church below.
I. St. John summoned to a vision of heaven.
(a) The summons was given by Christ, Who alone has the keys of death and of Hades. This was an apocalyptic vision; soon Christ called His servant to the never-ending vision of heavens glory. How soon may it be said to us, Come up hither! Therefore should we look upon earth and earthly things from heaven as a coigne of vantage, ascending thither in the Spirit.
(b) The vision was seen by St. John in the Spirit. There was thus a higher condition of spiritual exaltation. In the Spirit we may see visions of heaven by the eye of faith that shall purify our life and fill it with meaning.
(c) The purpose of this vision was that St. John might know the things that should be hereafter. It was not knowledge of his own personal future, but of the future of Gods kingdom, and events in the world bearing on it. God alone knows all this, but we may know that all that happens on earth is most surely settled in heaven. All is ordered by a Sovereign Intelligence.
II. St. Johns vision of heaven.
(a) The sights he saw. There was a throne; there was the Enthroned One, and around this Enthroned One His accessors, the twenty-four elders; and the four living creatures. The lightnings come from the throne, and symbolise the justice of God in His law; the rainbow encircled the Enthroned One, and is an emblem of the mercy of God; the sea of glass was in front of Him that sat on the throne, symbolic of the undisturbed repose of the great Jehovah. He sitteth above the waterfloods; He sitteth King for ever.
(b) The songs he heard. There was the song of the four living beings, who cried, Holy, holy, holy, like the seraphim in the temple of Isaiah (6). What a song is this! To God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghostholy, holy, holya song ever repeated in the Christian Church on earth in the trisagion of the Holy Communion Office. There was also the song of the four and twenty elders.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
THE FIRST verse of chapter 4 is, we judge, a very important one. It introduces the unveiling of the things which must be hereafter; that is, according to Rev 1:19, the third section of the book. The vision now takes a fresh departure, and John sees a door opened in heaven and hears an authoritative call to come up into heavenly scenes. Being, as he tells us, in the Spirit, all that he experienced and saw had to him a vivid reality, and though a vision it conveys prophetic realities to us.
In the first place, then, Johns own position was changed. He left earthly scenes for heavenly, so that he might view thence the Divine dealings with the earth in judgment. This change has symbolic significance, we believe. Rev 3:1-22 ends with, the churches, and these two words do not occur again until Rev 22:16 is reached; that is, the churches do not appear right through the unfolding of the things which must be hereafter. The church as a whole is symbolized in Rev 19:7, and again in Rev 21:9, as the Lambs wife, but she is then manifestly in her heavenly seat. The catching up of John into heaven is symbolic of the rapture of the church, as detailed in 1Th 4:17, and from this point begins the vision of things that take place on earth after the church is gone.
Next, we notice that before John is permitted to view the governmental judgments of God on the earth, he is shown the secret spring of all. In the coming day of the Lord, men cannot fail to see and feel the judgments, but they will be in the dark as to whence all proceeds. Now we are not to be ignorant of this, and so this chapter and the next are occupied with Johns vision of the heavenly scenes and of the One in whom all judgment is vested. The record of what he saw furnishes us with a picture of the heavenly world in solemn session, preparatory to judicial action on earth.
Johns attention was claimed first by the central throne and by Him that sat on it. He did not see heaven as My Fathers house (Joh 14:2), the eternal home of the saints, but as the seat of authority and rule, and the Divine glory appeared to him as the rays of precious stones. Such stones reflect the light-the glory of God, which in itself is a light too bright for mortal eyes. The throne of judgment was, however, encircled by a rainbow, showing that in judgment God remembers His promise of mercy, as in Gen 9:13. Yet the rainbow was of a super-natural sort, of one colour, and that a tint not seen in the rainbows of our present world.
Then twenty-four lesser thrones encircled the central throne, and on these sat elders in the white raiment of priests, but crowned as kings. At once we perceive a resemblance to what Daniel saw some six centuries before, when he says, I beheld till the thrones were cast down, or rather, were set, and the Ancient of days did sit (Dan 7:9), and then not only did One like the Son of Man have the dominion but, the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom (Dan 7:18). So here there is a sight not only of God, the supreme Ruler, but of the complete kingdom of priests, who are to judge the world, according to 1Co 6:2. We identify the elders with the saints raised at the first resurrection, and their number corresponds with the 24 courses into which David divided the descendants of Aaron-the priestly family under the law. Twelve is the number of administration, and so 24 suits the priestly company, composed of both Old Testament and New Testament saints, now glorified together.
Verse Rev 4:5 declares that the throne is characterized not by grace but by judgment, yet judgment which is to be executed in the full light of the Spirit of God. In chapters 2 and 3 the churches were each a candlestick, or lampstand, and the Lord was He who had the seven Spirits of God. Now the seven Spirits of God burn as lamps before the throne, illuminating the course of the Divine judgments. The sea is there, not filled with water for cleansing, as once in front of the Temple, but of glass, speaking of a state of fixed purity, and in the midst and round about the throne, as supporting it, were four beasts, or living creatures. There are strong similarities to the living creatures of Eze 1:1-28, who later in that book are called cherubim. There are differences also: for instance, there only four wings are mentioned, whereas here there are six wings, agreeing rather with the seraphim of Isa 6:1-13.
The first mention of cherubim, in Gen 3:24, certainly conveys the impression that they were some kind of angelic being. On the other hand Eze 1:1-28 and Rev 4:1-11 and Rev 5:1-14 are records of visions granted to prophets, and the living creatures appear to be rather symbolic of Gods governmental actions in the sphere of creation. Gods ways have the strength of the lion, and endurance of the ox, the intelligence of a man, the swiftness and elevation of an eagle. The living creatures are also full of eyes, not only before and behind, but also within-they scrutinize all the future, and all the past, and the deep internal secrets of the ways of God. Hence they contribute to His praise, giving glory and honour and thanks to Him continually, declaring Him to be the thrice Holy, who lives for ever and ever. Thrice Holy, notice! Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.
As the living creatures give thanks the elders fall in worship, casting their crowns before the throne. They ascribed all glory, honour and power to the Lord on the ground of His creatorial work and supremacy, and thus very suitably they discrowned themselves. Since all things came into being for His pleasure, His judgments must now operate to rescue for His pleasure all that had been marred by sin. But something more than creating power and cleansing judgment is needed. That something chapter 5 brings before us, even the redeeming blood of Christ.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
The Throne Preparing for Judgment
Rev 4:1-11 and Rev 5:1-14
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
We are now approaching the second division of the Book of Revelation. Chapter three concludes the message to the Seven Churches. Chapter four begins “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in Heaven.”
It seems to us that we are now passing into the story of the Tribulation, in its beginnings-the first half of that time known as the Day of Jacob’s trouble.
1. We are living in a solemn hour. From thousands of pulpits the cry is being made, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!” Holy men, taught in the Scriptures, and filled with the Spirit of God, are calling upon the lost to repent, and to be made ready for the Advent of the Lord. just around the next shore line we see great clouds of judgment and wrath sweeping down upon a world that knows not God.
We thank God, however, that there is a rift in the cloud that seems to lighten the way to Glory. Up through that rift the saints will soon be called to go, inasmuch as God hath not appointed us unto wrath.
2. We are living in an expectant hour. The message which is being heralded from the pulpit is the expectant Hope of the pew. From every part of the world, with upturned faces, multitudes of saints are saying, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” What means this expectation? this yearning voiced by countless myriads of the choicest of God’s redeemed ones? Has the Lord put a yearning in their souls for naught? This cannot be. Surely the Coming One will soon come, and will not tarry!
3. We are living in an hour of dread. The whole Christ-rejecting world seems to be dreading that which lies ahead. The Bible puts it this way: “Men’s hearts failing them for fear.” There is a certain looking forward to the things which are about to come to pass. The world seems trembling over the crater of a great volcano awaiting its imminent eruption. There is not a statesman, nor a diplomat that is not fearful of the future. Sometimes they talk optimism, but they “feel” pessimism.
The nations are all of a tremble. The daily papers are read with a wonder as to what will happen next. Unrest is the spirit of the hour. The governments have been unable to cope with the depression which exists. Great numbers of people are ready to try any new thing that may show its head with a promise of better times,-the world has hysteria.
4. We are living in an hour of Jewish activity. God’s ancient people are experiencing a renaissance of old-time, historic, national hope. The fig tree is putting forth its leaves. The Jews are turning their faces toward Palestine. Many of them are beginning to look for a Messiah.
Little does Israel realise that they are hastening on their way to their greatest, and yet, final catastrophe. Into the vortex of sorrows they will soon plunge. God, however, will watch over them by day and by night, and. will bring them, finally, through many travails, into joy and peace forevermore.
5. We are living in an hour of the preparation far the reign of the antichrist. The world is becoming accustomed to federation and confederations. Amalgamations and alliances are the keynote of the hour. Colossal combines are the byword of commercialism. All of this is but a preparation for that time when no man can buy or sell without the mark of the beast and the. number of his name.
The world is so fraught with problems that seem impossible of solution that it is turning its face in hope that some one will arise that can lead mankind out of the labyrinth of their difficulty. Such a man, the antichrist will prove himself to be.
I. THE THRONE SET IN HEAVEN (Rev 4:2-3)
1. The throne set up. The throne of God is now in the third Heaven. It was from there that Christ came to this earth on His mission of redemption.
The throne of our verse, is a throne which is “set.” The word “set” suggests a new placing of a throne. The new placing is in the Heavens-not the third Heaven, but the Heaven which is immediately above the earth. The vision of this throne is emphasized in the Book of Daniel. Let us quote from the seventh chapter. “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit.” The expression “cast down” does not mean overthrown. They are brought into position. They came down and were set up as in the Book of Revelation,
2. The throne Sitter. Our verse says, “And One sat on the throne.” His appearance is described as follows: “And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone.”
In Daniel we read: “And the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool.” To some, all of this may seem to be no more than figurative and poetical; however, for our part, we believe that the Father will come to the air, and that the throne will be placed, and that He will sit upon the throne. The Ancient of Days is the Father. We will have more of this anon.
3. The throne environed. Around the throne there was a rainbow. This rainbow was not like other rainbows with the seven prismatic colors. It was in sight like unto an emerald. It was not a rainbow which was a semicircle, but a complete circle. It surrounded the throne.
In a little while we will see that the throne stands for judgments which are about to ensue upon the earth. The rainbow, however, gives promise that in wrath God will remember mercy. The rainbow given to Noah, and which we still see, is God’s pledge of assurance that the earth shall never again be destroyed by water. This rainbow is God’s promise of a new day for earth. The color of the rainbow was emerald, that is, green. Green stands for summer with its new life. It stands for the passing of the winter. Thank God that after the Tribulation comes the thousand-year reign of peace.
II. THE HOSTS ABOUT THE THRONE (Rev 4:4-6; Rev 5:11)
There are three groups gathered around the throne. The first, herein described, are the four and twenty elders. The second are the four living ones. The third is an innumerable company of angels.
1. The four and twenty elders. These are described in verse four. Let us observe them. The four and twenty elders may be a representative group of the redeemed. Of one thing we are sure, these elders have harps, and they hold golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. They sing a new song, saying, “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
2. The four living ones remind us of a similar four in Ezekiel’s vision. See Ezekiel chapters one and ten. They are God’s holy ones who are before the throne continually. They rest not day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.”
3. The many angels round about the throne. Their number is ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands. These angelic ones join with the others in giving praise to God.
We want you to try to get this wonderful vision of praise and of glory before your mind. Beginning with the throne and the One seated upon the throne, and the glory shining forth from the throne, we want to imagine the majestic scene:-The four and twenty elders, the four living ones, the innumerable hosts of angels. Now we want to hear them as they give loud acclaim 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.”
III. THE LIGHTNINGS AND THUNDERS FROM THE THRONE (Rev 4:5)
We now come to the verse which gives us the time setting of our scene. It is the time when God arises to send forth His wrath against those who rejected His Son, This is a solemn picture.
1. There remaineth a day of wrath. The Holy Spirit, in Romans, speaks of treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, Some may think that wrath will never fail. They are unmindful of the periods of judgment that have already swept over the horizon in days long past. The expulsion from Eden, the flood, the destruction of the tower of Babel, the destruction of Jerusalem, are all periods of Divine retribution.
2. The day of wrath will be one of sore trouble. One of the minor Prophets puts it this way: “A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread on the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.”
When Daniel described the throne, he was guided by the Spirit to say: “His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.”
IV. THE FOUR LIVING ONES (Rev 4:6-9)
We have already referred to the four living creatures which stand in the midst of the throne. Now we desire to go more into detail.
1. These living ones are called the four beasts. They are, in fact, four of God’s chief angels. They come to us now under the vision of four beasts, more accurately, four living ones, because they carry four particular likenesses.
The first is like a lion. Here is kingliness. This living one is representative of Christ is His Kingly aspect. The Gospel that counterparts this vision of Christ is the Gospel of Matthew.
The second is like a calf. Here is meekness, humility. This living one represents Christ in His humiliation-as He moved among men, a plodding servant. The second Gospel, Mark, stresses this characteristic of Christ.
The third is like a man. Here is the story of Christ made, flesh, and tabernacling among us, the God-man; God the Son, and Son of God. The Gospel that emphasizes this vision of Christ is Luke, The fourth is like a flying eagle. Here is Christ in His glorious Deity. He is now the One who declares God, manifests God, interprets God, for He was God. This is the message of the Book of John.
These four living ones are seen in Ezekiel with marvelous vision. They are also described, we believe, by the Spirit in Isa 6:1-13, under the vision of the seraphim who cry, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts.”
2. These four living ones are filled with praise. We have just mentioned Isaiah’s vision. In Revelation the living ones are seen as resting neither day nor night, as they say, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” These living ones continually give glory, and honor, and thanks unto God. We, in this man-glorying age, need to catch the spirit that sways these living ones. We should never cease to praise Him.
V. THE BOOK WITH SEVEN SEALS (Rev 5:1-5)
In the right hand of the Father, the Ancient of Days, the One who sat upon the throne, was a book. Let us read the description of this book. “A book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.”
1. This book holds a vital part In all that follows. As the breaking of its seals takes place, we discover much of what the book contains. Some have said it held the title deeds to Christ’s earth-inheritances. This may be so. But we prefer to say it held the judgments by which that inheritance was to be realized. The book was of tremendous import.
How are the kingdoms of the earth to become the Kingdoms of the Lord? This will be accomplished by the Lord when God speaks unto the nations in His wrath, and vexes them in His sore displeasure. It will come to pass when the Lord breaks them with a rod of iron, and dashes them in pieces as a potter’s vessel. The “book” contained the series of judgments by which Christ would accomplish that very thing.
2. This book at the first remained unopened. As John looked he discovered that “No man in Heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.” For this cause John wept much. Beloved, we may assure ourselves that the Church cannot bring in the Kingdom, and buy back unto Christ His sovereignty upon this earth. No man, and no set of men can oust Satan from his seat of authority and power among men. He is still the prince of the power of the air. the spirit that energizes the sons of disobedience. The world still owns his sway, and still lies in his lap.
3. The book was finally opened by Christ. John wept much, but he was comforted by the angel, who said, “Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” John turned to look to see this mighty Lion, and behold “in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain.” John looked for a lion and behold a Lamb, yea, a Lamb with the marks of slaughter.
VI. THE LAMB WHO TOOK THE BOOK AND BROKE ITS SEALS (Rev 5:6-9)
1. The vision of the Lion-Lamb. Christ was indeed, and He is now the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the “Mighty God.” He is a Lion because He is a Victor. He met principalities and powers and vanquished them, triumphing over them. When did He do this? It was when He came as the Lamb of God. He was Lion, yet He lived as Lamb. He was Almighty, yet He became the servant of all. He meekly took the bufferings of men, their shame and spittle. He went up the hill of Calvary, bearing His Cross; He went as a Lamb to the slaughter.
How did the Lion conquer? He conquered as a Lamb. He yielded Himself and His Person to the assaults of Satan, and of Satan-driven men, and then in the moment of His seeming defeat, He turned defeat and death into victory; death became the way of life, humiliation became the path to exaltation.
Thus John turned to see the Lion, and saw the Lamb-the Lamb as it had been slain. What do we understand in all of this? Simply stated it is that the One who will take from Satan his power and reign, is the One who met him at the Cross; and it will be by virtue of that Cross, on the merit of its atoning grace, that Christ will ultimately undo the works of the devil.
2. The praise of the Lamb. When John saw the Lamb, as He had been slain, taking the book he also saw Heaven break loose with praise. Then it was that the four living ones, and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors. Then they sang a new song, saying, “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.”
AN ILLUSTRATION
Sir Philip Gibbs tells of standing in Hungary on a state occasion. Bands were playing Hungarian marches. A little lady by his side said, “We shall never forget. Never! There are things we can never forgive. Never!’ We belong to a fighting race. This peace cannot last, We shall get our people back and our lands, if we have to fight with our fingernails.” Hungary now cannot fight. They are bankrupt But Gibbs says, “The hearts of the Hungarian people are filled with bitterness years after the war, In every street car, on the walls of every schools in restaurants and churches and dance-halls, over the fireplace in every Hungarian home, there is a map of the new Hungary with the lost territories in black, surrounded by a crown of thorns. Underneath is the question: Can it remain like this? And beneath that question is an answer: No. No. Never!” Gibbs, commenting on this, says, “If one day there is not a peaceable revision of these frontiers, there will be the tramp of marching men through many passes, and the flames of war will redden the sky above the hills of Hungary, with villages burning like torches, and people fleeing once more in terror, with revenge advancing upon them.”
“Unrest, political and economic, is everywhere-in Spain, Portugal, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Roumania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Arabia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Egypt, India, and so on throughout the Eastern and Western hemispheres.
“Japan, with an over-production of both goods and population is merely biding her time to consolidate her position in the Far East. In one way or another, by peace or war, the Japanese empire of the future will reach far into the Asiatic mainland.”-Simms.
Whether the above is all true or not-the general condition certainly does exist. The red horse of war still lives.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Rev 4:1. With this chapter we start into the symbolic part of this book. I urge the reader to turn back to the “General remarks” at the introduction of chapter 1, and carefully read through the paragraphs, especially for the purpose of being prepared to appreciate what will be said relative to the symbolic and literal features of the book. Bear in mind that literally .John is on the isle of Patmos and will be there all through the book. When the langauge seems to take him to some other place it is only figuratively so. When he speaks about going somewhere or of seeing something that we know is not actually out there on that isle, we must understand that he had a vision of such things and is only writing a description of what he sees. Door opened in heaven signifies that. John was to be admitted into the confidences of the Lord and be told things not known by other men. A voice like a trumpet indicates that it was strong and filled with the characteristic of authority. Things which must be hereafter has direct reference to events in the future. However, we should not forget the overall scope of his vision as stated in chapter 1:19. That passage says he was to write of things pertaining to the past, present and future. That explains why he here tells us of conditions then existing, which will be involved in many of the future events of the book.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Introduction.
THE APOCALYPSE OF THE
CONQUERING CHRIST
(CHAPTERS 4 TO 11)
With this section begins the Revelation proper, following the antecedent vision of Chapter 1 and the preliminary messages to the seven churches.
This section surrounds Christ as conqueror, in conflict of his Cause with the secular powers and Jewish authorities. The developments are gathered around the divine promise of Rev 1:7 –“Behold he cometh,” and Rev 22:7 –“Behold, I come quickly,” coupled with and corresponding to the closing prayer “even so, come Lord Jesus.” It signified the coming of the Lord in the immediate great events, which he would overrule to the triumph of his cause and the success of his kingdom– Rev 11:15.
The repetition of the promise to come must be interpreted in keeping with the non-literal character of the book; hence, not his personal coming, not the second coming advent, but in the various events, judgments and rewards– Rev 1:7, Rev 22:12.
The phrases “the coming of the Lord”; and “his coming”; and “son of man cometh”; have numerous connotations in the scriptures.
(1) It is used in reference to the first advent of Christ — Gen 49:10; Joh 6:14; Act 7:52; Mat 11:3; 2Pe 1:16.
(2) It is further used in reference to his second advent– Act 1:11; 1Co 11:26; 1Th 2:19; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 4:15; 1Th 5:23 and, hence in these passages to the end of time.
(3) It refers to his presence in the apostles– Joh 14:28; Joh 14:3; Mat 28:20, hence in these verses to inspiration, to his indwelling in them.
(4) It indicates the presence of Christ in the Christian — Joh 14:23; Rev 3:20.
(5) It designates the destruction of Jerusalem– Zec 14:1; Mat 24:3-30; Mat 26:64; Jas 5:7-8.
(6) It denotes the appearance of his kingdom– Mat 16:27-28; Mar 9:1-50 –his coming on Pentecost.
(7) It is applied to the death of a Christian– 1Co 1:7; 1Co 4:7.
(8) It is descriptive of the judgment day– Mat 15:31; 2Ti 4:1; 2Th 2:1; 1Pe 3:10; Jud 1:21.
(9) It is connected with the fulfillment of promises– Rom 9:9; Mal 3:2; Mal 4:5; Act 2:20; Act 15:16.
(10) It symbolizes events of both retribution and reward in the imagery of Rev 1:7 Rev 2:5 Rev 2:25 Rev 3:11 Rev 3:20 Rev 22:7 Rev 22:20.
From beginning to end the book abounds in imagery, full of puzzling enigmas, but notwithstanding the obscurities which give rise to conflicting interpretation, it nevertheless finds both application and fulfillment in the history of the first century period of persecution.
Albert Barnes remarked that he was unable to apply the symbols of Revelation until he had read Gibbon’s history of Rome. Philip Schaff said that the internal evidence is strongly in favor of the conclusion of many scholars who hold to the early date–between A.D. 60 to 70–before the destruction of Jerusalem, supporting the view that it was written under the Neroan period rather than the Domitian, being therefore descriptive of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, the downfall of Judaism and the dissolution of paganism and the heathen world by the expansion of Christianity.
The imagery therefore surrounds the ancient city of Jerusalem, not Rome. The inclusion of the Roman Empire into the symbols was collateral to the persecutions, the Roman emperors representing the secular power with which the destinies of Jerusalem and Judaism were affiliated in the political history. The contents of the book confirm this conclusion of an impressive number of scholars, and the past historical exegesis rather than the prophetical and continuous-historical theory is the only satisfactory application of its majestic and magnificent imagery.
It unrolls a sublime panorama of the victorious Christ, called the Lamb; and of his triumphant church, called the Bride–the Lamb’s bride. As a light shining in darkness, it was a book of hope and comfort to a church on the threshold of persecution, for amidst the ominous signs of calamity was also the omen of victory.
Convinced of and committed to this view, the author will follow this exegesis.
Verse 1.
THE THRONE IN HEAVEN
The One on the throne–Rev 4:1-3.
1. “A door was opened in heaven”–Rev 4:1.
The word heaven here signifies the source of all revelation, being the place of God’s residence. (Dan 4:26; Joh 1:51; Joh 3:27; Rom 1:18; Gal 1:8; Heb 12:25; 1Pe 1:12; Mat 16:17) And from the heavenly throne proceeded these visions. It is the abode of God who is “the God of heaven.” (1Ki 8:30; Dan 2:28; Mat 5:45) It is there that God has his throne. (Isa 66:1; Psa 103:19; Psa 11:4) It is the seat of sovereignty, the symbol of regal authority, from which justice and judgment are dispensed. (Psa 89:14) Being thus the sign of royalty, throne is applied to the center of all divine authority. (Mat 19:28) “Come up hither and I will show thee.” The apocalypse in its complete composition proceeded from the one who sits on the throne. (Dan 2:47; Mat 11:27; Php 3:15; Joh 4:1)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 4:1. After these things denotes succession of visions, not of time; and the rest of the verse is preparatory to the vision rather than strictly speaking a part of it. The apostle must be understood to be still in the spirit, for that is the state in which at chap. Rev 1:10 he hears the voice now again referred to. Two things are introduced to us by the word behold:(1) A door opened in heaven, not opening but open, so that there may be the freest intercourse between heaven and earth (comp. Eze 1:1; Joh 1:51); and that we, seeing into heaven, may understand what is to happen upon earth. Faith is the condition of true wisdom. (2) The voice, identified with that spoken of in chap. Rev 1:10 by being described in the same language. It is the same mysterious voice of judgment, therefore, as that heard there. The Seer is invited to ascend to the place whence the voice issued, and is told what will be shown him. The language describing what he is to see has already met us in chap. Rev 1:1; Rev 1:19; and it points to the fortunes of the Church throughout the whole period of her history down to the time of her glorification.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Division 2. (Rev 4:1-11; Rev 5:1-14; Rev 6:1-17; Rev 7:1-17; Rev 8:1-13; Rev 9:1-21; Rev 10:1-11; Rev 11:1-19; Rev 12:1-17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-20; Rev 15:1-8; Rev 16:1-21; Rev 17:1-18; Rev 18:1-24; Rev 19:1-21; Rev 20:1-15; Rev 21:1-27; Rev 22:1-21.)
Things that come to pass after these. The salvation of Israel and the earth.
We are but following the division of the book, which the Lord’s own words imply, into “the things that are,” and “the things that are about to be after these.” It is not “hereafter,” as in our common version; which might be indefinitely, at some future time. The words intimate a connection between the two parts of Revelation such as we should naturally suppose, at least if the epistles to the churches are in themselves prophetic. Even if it were not so, and the addresses simply had to do with existing churches of the time of the prophet, yet we should see no reason for any great break, although the coming to pass “after these” would, as such, naturally lose much of its significance. But if, as we may be well assured from the introduction to the whole book, all of it is a prophecy, and if we have found this confirmed in the application, as we surely have; if these addresses carry us down, therefore, until the coming of the Lord, which is more and more pressed upon us as we reach the end, then the things that follow:are, of course, things taking place after the removal of the Church, as already implied in the Lord’s promise to Philadelphia. What we must expect, therefore, if these things are so, is that entire change as to things on earth which would result from the Church being absent from it; which would mean the taking up afresh of Israel, and with Israel the earth once more.
The Church is heavenly. It is a gathering out of the world, which does not affect, at least savingly, the world as such. As we have seen, also, the Lord’s coming for His people is spoken of as the promise of the Morning Star, which does not bring the day to the earth, although it heralds the approach of it. We have but to look at the Old Testament prophecies in order to see that for the blessing of the earth Israel must be blessed, as Hosea distinctly says (Hos 2:14-23) that the Lord “will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her, and give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor” (the place of judgment) “for a door of hope; and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shall call Me Ishi” (my husband), “and shalt call Me no more Baali” (my lord); “for I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.” We see that this is absolute assurance of their being brought back into relationship with God abidingly, and into a nearer relationship than they have ever known before.
The prophet goes on: “And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto Me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord.” Nothing can possibly be more decisive than this is, and there follows the general blessing for the earth resultant: “And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto Me in the earth” (the application of that name Jezreel, which means “the seed of God,” or “God shall sow”); “and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not My people, Thou art My people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.” It is not possible, one would say, to pervert this in the way which has been so common -reading “the Church” instead of “Israel”; and this is the language of the Old Testament generally. Thus Isaiah says (chap. 27: 6): “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.” These are the promises which the apostle to the Gentiles has told us distinctly (Rom 9:3-4) belong to his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, (not Spirit) who are Israelites and they assure us not only of the conversion of Israel, but of their distinctly being reinstated in the place of peculiar blessing, and being made instrumental to the blessing of the whole earth. Thus Israel becomes Jezreel, “the seed of God.”
This, then, is the character of things that we must expect in the prophecies to follow this. The Church is no more seen upon earth, but we have, in a remarkable introduction to the things that follow, the picture of the redeemed in heaven occupying already their thrones as kings and priests to God, from whence we see them issuing in the nineteenth chapter, in the train of the white-horsed Rider; that is, accompanying Christ when He comes to the earth in judgment. The whole character of the intermediate time will be in harmony with this. The Church gone, there will only remain, as representing the one Christian profession, Babylon the Great, in full reality then “the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.”
Subdivision 1. (Rev 4:1-11; Rev 5:1-14; Rev 6:1-17; Rev 7:1-17; Rev 8:1-5.)
The sources of power.
The first subdivision carries us to the end of the opening of the seals, which therefore fully opens the book. All prior to this must therefore be of an introductory nature. The book is not fully open until every seal is broken. He who opens them is in heaven, the Object of all the worship there; and it is heaven that now manifestly rules upon earth. God, of course, has never given up His throne, and could not do so. Nevertheless, He has permitted things, apparently, to go on as if He knew nothing of what was doing there. According to the parable in the Gospel of Mark (Mar 4:26-29), “So is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. . . . But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” The change which takes place now indicates that the harvest of the earth is at hand. The power which governs all is distinctly shown as being in heaven. The evil may assume, and does assume, a more malignant character even than before, but there goes forth now judgment that is to arrest it, at the call of the cherubim, the executors of the government of God on earth.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
THE SEVEN SEALS
This section might also be entitled The things which shall be hereafter. It is assumed that the true church is not upon the earth at the beginning of chapter 4, but that the translation of 1Th 4:16-18 has taken place. Christendom is here, but the church is with the Lord in the air. To some this may seem a bold assumption, but not to those who have pursued the study of the earlier books in this commentary. To them it will appear natural and proper that the church should have been caught up before the judgments herein enumerated are poured forth. We cannot rehearse the proof of this, but it is significant that after chapter 3, the word church is not again found in this book. At the close of that chapter (v.21), Christ appears seated with His Father on His Throne, from thence expecting till his enemies be made his footstool (Heb 10:13). The call to John to come up hither (Rev 4:1), is also indicative of the fulfillment of 1Th 4:16-18, and, in a figure, set before us what will be true of the whole church in that day.
THE THRONE, THE LAMB AND THE BOOK
Coming to the text we have in chapters 4-5, the vision of the Throne, the Lamb and the Book, which constitutes an introduction to what follows. The vision of the Throne is limited to Rev 4:1-3, the enthroned elders verses 4 and 5, and the four living creatures (Rev 4:6-8 RV). It is commonly felt that the elders represent the glorified church, but there is no agreement as to the interpretation of the living creatures. It is notable however, that in this chapter both the elders and living creatures worship the Lord because of creation (Rev 5:9-11), and that redemption is not named until the next chapter. The seven sealed book (Rev 5:1-4), is the revelation of the judgments to follow and seems even to be identical with the judgments themselves. This last thought is suggested by what follows, when Christ in His kingly character comes forward and opens the book (Rev 5:5-7). It is He only who prevails to open the book either in the sense of making its contents known or bringing its judgments to pass. His adoration follows on the part of the living creatures and the elders (Rev 5:8-10), the angels (Rev 5:11-12), and the whole universe (Rev 5:12; Rev 5:14). Redemption is here praised, for it is as Redeemer of men that He has obtained this prerogative to judge men. Rev 5:9 should be read in the RV, which does not include the living creatures in redemption but limits it to men.
SIX SEALS OPENED
The introduction is followed by what Erdman calls the Progression, or advance movement of the narrative (chap. 6), in which the judgments are seen actually to take place. Come and see in each case should be limited to Come (RV), for the words are not a command to the seer, but to the judgment. He is not called upon to observe what is about to come, but that which is about to come is commanded to Come. The rider on the white horse (Rev 6:2) was identified with Christ in Synthetic Bible Studies, but the author now considers it more consistent to identify him with the man of sin, and at that particular period in his career when, at the beginning of Daniels seventieth week (Dan 9:24), he takes the power into his hands as the head of the federated nations of the Roman Empire. As the result of his rule peace is taken from the earth as symbolized by the red horse (Rev 6:3-4); famine follows the black horse (Rev 6:5-6), and pestilence and death over the fourth part of the earth (Rev 6:7-8). All this time there are faithful witnesses for Christ, who will not bow the knee to the impostor, and who suffer martyrdom in consequence (Rev 6:9-11). Their day of vengeance is coming, but not until their number is complete. The opening of the sixth seal brings this hour near (Rev 6:12-17). The student is requested to compare this chapter with Matthew 24, where the same period is covered prophetically, and the same events referred to.
SAVED REMNANTS
We now reach the first parenthesis mentioned in the first lesson (chap. 7). There is no progression in this parenthetical part although it is both retrospective and prospective in its application. It tells of certain sealed ones, and others, who were in the Great Tribulation and came out of it, and in that respect it is prospective; yet it points back to the fifth seal, in which respect it is retrospection. In other words, according to the law of recurrence with which we became familiar in the Old Testament, chapter 7 gives in detail what Rev 6:9-11 gave in outline; it tells who the martyrs are and figuratively, how they are preserved. There appears to be a saved remnant of .Jews (Rev 7:1-8), and also of Gentiles (Rev 7:9-17).
THE GREAT TRIBULATION
This is that period of unexampled trouble predicted in so many places in the Old Testament. It involves the whole earth (Rev 3:10), and yet distinctively applies to the Jews who in a national capacity will at this time have returned to Palestine, though still unconverted so far as their acceptance of their Messiah is concerned (Jer 30:7). Its duration is 3 1/2 years, or the last half of Daniels seventieth week (Dan 9:24-27). The man of sin will be in power (Mat 24:15; 1Th 2:4) for Satan will have come down to earth having great wrath (Rev 12:12; Rev 13:4-5). And yet it will be for some a time of salvation as chapter 7 shows, a salvation brought about by the suffering no doubt, and by the transcendant event of the churchs rapture which will have previously taken place. At the close of the tribulation Christ will come in glory with his saints, delivering Israel, judging the Gentile nations, destroying the man of sin, binding Satan, and introducing his millennial reign on the earth.
QUESTIONS
1. Where is the true church supposed to be at the beginning of this lesson?
2. Give some reasons for believing this.
3. What do chapters 4 and 5 constitute?
4. What does the seven-sealed book represent?
5. What word describes chapter 6?
6. With what earlier chapter in the New Testament is this compared?
7. What word describes chapter 7?
8. Name the two classes of saved ones in the Tribulation.
9. Define The Great Tribulation.
10. What great event follows that period?
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
As if St. John had said, After my first vision was over, being desirous farther to understand and know the mind of God, I looked upwards to heaven, from whence divine revelations come, and it was represented to me as if a door were opened into the third heavens; and I apprehended, that I heard that former voice, which spake to me in the first chapter, now speaking to me again, namely, the voice of Christ, sounding like a trumpet in my ear, and saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee, or give thee a clear representation of, things that shall be hereafter.
Where note, 1. That such a soul as has tasted the sweetness of communion with Christ, does long for the farther and fuller enjoyment of him. After this I looked: it was a gracious vision he had of Christ in the first chapter, but it did only whet his desires after more communion with him, and clearer manifestations from him.
Note, 2. That the knowledge which advances and improves a man’s understanding on earth, comes all from heaven, thither we must look up, and from thence seek, if we will know the things of God: I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 4:1. The former vision which John saw, contained in the foregoing chapters, represented the state of the church at the time when the vision was given, or the things that then were, (Rev 1:19,) and gave suitable directions to the churches, with their pastors, to encourage their faith and patience, and excite them to constancy and perseverance. Now the apostle records a second vision, in which the things were revealed to him that should be afterward, namely, to the end of time: or the things which were to come to pass, in successive order, from the time of the vision till the mystery of God should be finished. In order to raise the greater attention of the church, and to represent the certainty and great importance of the things revealed, both to the glory of God and the salvation of mankind, God himself is represented as seated on his heavenly throne, in the midst of his saints, and the whole general assembly of his church, and the glorious majesty and infinite perfections of God are set forth by very lively, expressive, and beautiful images, together with the high regard which the churches ought always to have for the counsels, designs, and dispensations of divine providence, declared and published in so solemn a manner.
After this That is, after I had seen the foregoing vision, and had written as I was directed, the seven letters to the seven churches, from the mouth of Christ; I looked Being directed so to do; and, behold, a door was opened in heaven So it appeared to me, and hereby I understood that other heavenly discoveries, such as had not been made before, were about to be communicated to me, and that I should obtain a further insight into the divine counsels. Other openings like that here spoken of are successively mentioned. Here a door is opened; afterward, the temple of God in heaven, Rev 11:19; Rev 15:5; and, at last, heaven itself is opened, Rev 19:11. By each of these openings, St. John gains a new and more extended prospect. He saw and heard, and then, it seems, immediately wrote down one part after another. By the particle and the several parts of the prophecy are usually connected: by the expression after these things, they are distinguished from each other, Rev 7:9; Rev 19:1; and by that expression, And after these things, they are both distinguished and connected, Rev 7:1; Rev 15:5; Rev 18:1. And the first voice which I heard Namely, that of Christ, (afterward he heard the voices of many others,) was as it were of a trumpet talking with me There may probably be an allusion here to the custom of the Jewish Church, in which, upon opening the gates of the temple, the priests sounded their trumpets to call the Levites and priests to attend to their several offices; which said, Come up hither Not in body, but in spirit, which was instantly done; and I will show thee things which must be hereafter To such things, then future, the whole subsequent prophecy refers.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Revelation Chapter 4
But we have to consider where the fourth chapter commences Gods ways. It does not follow necessarily that the assembly has been spued out of Christs mouth. It had been threatened; but the judgment on Sardis, or even on Thyatira, was not yet come. But it is after Christ has ceased to deal with the professing assembly as such, looking to it as His light-bearer before the world. What it may call itself still is not stated; He is not dealing with it. An open apostacy will come. Its date is not revealed; nor is it revealed as to the rapture. But I gather from 2Th 2:1-17, that the rapture will be before the apostacy. What we have stated then is, that it is after all dealing with the assemblies by Christ is closed that the subsequent dealings with the world in the Revelation begin. The assemblies are the things that are ; what follows, the things after these. Christ is not now seen walking in their midst; He is the Lamb in the midst of the throne. John is not occupied with seeing Him there, or sending messages to the assemblies, but is called up to heaven where all the ways of God are now carried on, and that towards the world, not the assembly. We have the throne too, not the long-robed priest. The kings and priests we read of in chapter 1 are now on high. Others may follow them; but they are in heavenly places, seated on thrones, or worshiping, or presenting their censers full of incense. On the other hand the Lord is not come to judge the world, but about to receive the inheritance. The saints then, who will be caught up to meet Christ, are seen only on high here; they belong to heaven, and are no longer dealt with on earth, but have their own place in heaven.
The connection between the two parts of the Apocalypse is this:-Christ, who was judging in the midst of the professing church, is now seen on high, opening the book of this worlds judgment, of which He is about to take the inheritance publicly. From this scene of judgment the saints are far. The apostles occupation with the assembly now ceases- an important point, for the Holy Spirit must be occupied with it as long as the saints are in it on earth;-and he is taken up to heaven, and there he sees and in covenant with creation, on a throne of government, with a rainbow round about it. The living creatures celebrate Him as the creator, the One for whom all things were created. The throne was not a throne of grace, but the signs of power and judgment broke forth from it; but around it those who represent the saints received at Christs coming, the kings and priests, are sitting on th rones in a circle round the throne. No altar of sacrifice is in view, as if it were a time of approach; the brazen laver has glass instead of water. It is a fixed accomplished holiness, not cleansing of feet. The elders are crowned, the number twenty-four recalling the courses of the priests. The seven Spirits of God are there in the temple, not Christs to wield for the assembly, or sent out into the world, but the perfections in attribute which characterise the actions of God in the world. This it is bears light now into the world.
Besides these, four living creatures are there in the circle of the throne itself and around the throne. They may be viewed as forming the throne, or apart from it, though connected with it as a centre. They have some of the characters of the cherubim, some of the seraphim, but somewhat different from both. They were full of eyes, before and behind, to see all things according to God, and willing having also six wings; perfect in inward perception, but given perception, and in the celerity of their motions. They embraced also the four species of creation in the ordered earth: man, cattle, beast of the field, fowl of the air: these symbolizing the powers or attributes of God, them selves worshiped by the heathen, here only the instruments of the throne. Him who sat on it the heathen knew not. The intelligence, firmness, power, rapidity of execution which belong to God were typified as elsewhere by them. They are symbols. Divers agents may be the instruments of their activity. But though there was the general analogy of the cherubim, judicial and governmental power, these had a peculiar character.
The cherubim in the temple had two wings, which formed the throne; they looked on the covenant, and at the same time, as of pure gold, were characterised by the divine righteousness of the throne to be approached. In Ezekiel they were the support of the firmament above which the God of Israel was: it was a throne of executive judgment. They were like burnished brass, and like fire-a symbol we have considered already. They had four wings: two to fly with, two to cover themselves. From Eze 10:1-22 it appears they were full of eyes (it is not said within) it was to govern what was outside, according to God, not divine intelligence within. In Isa 6:1-13 the seraphim (or burners) have six wings as here; they are above the throne, and cry as here, Holy, holy, holy! They, with a burning coal, cleansed the prophets lips; they were above the throne.
The symbols used here become clearer through these cases. The living creatures are in and around the throne; for it is a throne of executory judgment, with the attributes of cherubim united to it. But it is not, as in Israel, mere earth]y providential judgment, a whirlwind out of the north. There is before us the government of all the earth, and executory judgment according to the holiness of Gods nature. [10] There is not only full perception of all, but intrinsic perception morally. It is no seat of gold to be approached, as in the tabernacle. The intrinsic holiness of God is applied to judgment. He is making good His nature and character in all creation. Providence would be no longer a riddle. It was not complex attributes unsolved, so to speak, though applied in special circumstances; each act would have its character.
Here too remark, it is not, as in the first chapter, the God who is, though embracing past and future, God in Himself; but the God of ages, who was, and is, and is to come. Still He has all Old Testament names: Jehovah, Elohim, Shaddai. His attributes now celebrate His full name, as the Holy One who lives for ever and ever-has no passing power or being, like man at his best estate, vanity And the saints here fall down before the throne, bow themselves before His place in glory, and worship Him in His endless bei ng, and lay down their given glory before His supreme and proper glory, ascribing all glory to Him alone, as alone worthy of it; but here, according to the nature of the celebration of it, the Creator for whom all things are. In all changes these remained true.
It will be remarked here, that the living creatures only celebrate and declare; the elders worship with understanding. All through the Revelation the elders give their reason for worshiping. There is spiritual intelligence in them.
Further, remark, that when thunderings and lightnings and voices, the signs of terror in judgment, go forth from the throne, the throned elders remain unmoved; they are on thrones around when the throne of judgment is introduced. This is their place before God in respect of judgment. Whenever He takes judgment in hand this is their position. They are part of the glory-assessors of the throne from which its terror goes forth. When He that sits on it is celebrated, they are all activity, own all glory to be His, are prostrate on their faces, and cast their crowns before Him, more blessed in owning His glory, than in possessing their own. We do not find the Father here; it is Jehovah. And indeed should we ask in whom He is personally displayed, it would be, as always, in the Son; but it is in itself simply the Jehovah of the Old Testament here.
Footnotes for Revelation Chapter 4
10: For the judgment at the end, though governmental, closing earths history, was not mercy so (cherubic), but according to Gods holiness and nature (seraphic), particularly as in Isa 6:1-13, a known God in Israel.
Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament
CELESTIAL THEATER
PAUL speaks of the third heaven. The firmament enveloping this earth is the first heaven, the astronomical universe is the second heaven, and the home of glorified saints and angels, in the presence of God, is the third heaven. The Apostle John stands on the lonely isle. After a night of prayer, he lifts up his eyes, looks through a door opened in the firmament, and contemplates the wonders of the Apocalyptic visions. Now the panorama begins to evolve. He beholds the glorified Savior sitting on His throne in the firmament, encircled by a rainbow, the symbol of the Messianic covenant, whose wonderful fulfillment is so vividly adumbrated in these panoramic prophecies. Here we find many dark segments in the rainbow of Gods providence. In this vision, we see the unbroken circle.
So be patient. In the glorious beyond, every segment which in this life has been darkened with sorrow, bereavement, and affliction, will become luminous with splendor, never to grow dim.
The twenty-four elders, representing the twelve tribes of the Old and the twelve apostles of the New Dispensation, and aggregately the Church of all ages, as the recipients and custodians of the redemptive scheme, symbolized by the rainbow, sit upon thrones in the glorified presence, clothed in white robes, symbolic of entire sanctification, with crowns upon their heads, representative of the glorious victory achieved by the saints in the cleansing blood. The lightnings voices and thunders symbolize and proclaim the castigatory judgments of the Almighty against a fallen Church and a wicked world.
The seven lamps are the perfect fiery baptism of Gods people, the seven Spirits the Holy Ghost, and the sea of glass the imperturbable peace which reigns in the hearts of the wholly sanctified.
6. The four beasts should read four living creatures. I hope you will never read it beasts any more, as beast symbolizes carnality in the Bible, and these living creatures represent the glorified saints. The Greek word translated beast in this passage is zoo-on, from zaoo (to live), and simply means a living creature. The word translated beast in chapter 13 is theer, and always means a ferocious wild beast, like a lion or a bear, and is the constant symbol of human government, which always rules by brute force, while God rules in righteousness and love. These four living creatures typify sanctified humanity. One has the face of a lion, the other that of an ox; the third has the face of a flying eagle, and the fourth the countenance of a man. Thus the wonderful graces of full salvation, received in the experience of entire sanctification, make you courageous as a lion, suffering martyrdom in your tracks. You also have the perseverance of the old ox pulling at a gum stump all day; while you have the velocity of the flying eagle, hastening to the ends of the earth with the swiftness of the locomotive. Last year I traveled twenty-two thousand miles through Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, preaching and witnessing to this wonderful salvation. The human face emblematizes intelligence, as man is the most intelligent being on the earth. A good case of sanctification will give you more sense than anything else not the learning nor the shrewdness of the world, but the wisdom that comes down from God, and will make you wise unto salvation. These living creatures have six wings. With two they cover their faces; symbolic of humility, the fundamental Christian grace. With two they cover their feet; symbolic of purity, the climax of all the Christian graces. And with two they fly. Thus we have joyfully symbolized the perfection of Christian character. Humility is the indispensable foundation, and purity the glorious superstructure. Then we must go on eagles wings to the ends of the earth, proclaiming the wonders of full salvation, and rescuing the perishing.
8. Here we learn that the constant shout of the four living creatures before the throne of God is Holy, holy, holy. Since these living creatures emblematize restored humanity, it follows, as a logical sequence, that the saints of the Most High are forever to ring out the shout, Holy, holy, holy. Therefore, we would better get the experience, begin speedily, and become experts before we go hence.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
It is proper here to assist the reader with a key to the sublime visions about to open, which has been furnished by the profound study and observation of learned men in the churches of France, Germany, and England. The events of providence, in a succession of ages, have given holy men superior light in those studies, beyond what the fathers of the primitive church could possibly attain.
After consulting those authorities, many of whose names have already been mentioned in the introduction to this prophetic book, the following, with some variations, may be considered as an outline or syllabus of what they have suggested, in order to a clearer view of the several parts of which the vision and the prophecy consist.
1. The scenery of the vision is the temple of God opened in heaven. The book with seven seals contains the seven trumpets, developed on opening the seventh seal; and the seventh trumpet contains the seven vials.
2. The second vision is the throne of God, the Lamb, the sealed book, and the opening of the seven seals, from the fourth to the eighth chapter.
3. The third vision is that of seven angels with trumpets, the sound of which was followed with great changes in the church, and in the government of the world.
4. The fourth vision is appended to the third, and presents us with an angel, holding a long reed in his hand to measure the temple of God and its courts, and fixing the prophetic period, as to how long the courts should be trodden down of the gentiles. Dan 12:5-13. The Mahomedan desolations, and the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, are also foretold in chapter nine to eleven.
5. The fifth vision is very comprehensive; it is the war of the Lamb with the great red dragon, mentioned in the twelfth chapter. The beasts of the first and second order are represented in chapter thirteen and fourteen. This vision comprises the seven vials, and the judgment on the harlot church, followed with songs of victory, which will require several subdivisions, from chapter sixteen to eighteen. 6. The sixth vision comprises the binding of Satan, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment, as will appear in the twentieth chapter.
7. The seventh vision is that of the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven, which closes the two last chapters of this mysterious book.
Rev 4:1. A door was opened in heaven, by Christ, who has the keys of his kingdom, and the keys of death and of hell. The voice of a speaking trumpet called John to take his stand in the celestial kingdom, and see the hierarchy of heaven, watching over the church below.
Rev 4:3. He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone, which mystically designates the perfections of deity. A rainbow was round about the throne. All the colours of the iris are understood, but the green, as in the emerald, alone is named, the easiest colour for the eye to behold. This bow is a memorial of his covenant, as in Gen 9:13; and a revelation of God clothed in aspects of grace and love, as was presignified by his throne of glory, the mercyseat in the Hebrew tabernacle.
Rev 4:4. I saw four and twenty elders sitting. These represent, as many say, the twenty four courses of the priests, each of which had some one as their head; but these were not princes. The grand council of the Hebrews consisted of seventy elders; and as these in the order of nature were often aged and sick, the council of twenty three, with the highpriest at their head, made the twenty four elders. Such was the council before which the Lord of glory was arraigned.
Rev 4:5. Out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices, designating the conflicts which the gospel should excite, fighting against the rulers of the darkness of this world. And seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God, or the manifold operations of the Holy Spirit in the illumination and adornings of the church. These Spirits being the eyes of the Lamb, cannot be seven created angels, as in Rev 5:6.
Rev 4:6. A sea of glass, which the molten sea in the temple, containing three thousand baths, designated. This sea of glass, like the pavement of sapphire, the azure gem seen by Moses on the mount, refracted the uncreated glory. And round about the throne were four beasts. Fie, fie! oh Jerome, to call a seraph bestia, a beast. It should be, as in Ezekiel 1., living creatures.
Rev 4:8. Full of eyes within. Ezekiel says, the colour of a beryl, approaching that of burning coals. The word of Isaiah is seraphim, or burning ones, crying, Holy, holy, holy. The Hebrew grammarians call this song the super- superlative; the thrice holy Jehovah, the fountain of deity, Father, Son, and Spirit. We find five other songs in this book adapted to revelations of grace and justice in the government of the church: Rev 5:8; Rev 7:11-12; Rev 11:16-18; Rev 12:10-12; Rev 15:2-4.
Rev 4:9-11. When those four living creatures give glory to him that sits on the throne, the four and twenty elders fall down, and give glory, honour, and power to him who has not only made the heavens and the earth, but who created all this righteousness. The word holy, thrice repeated, is the same in the Spanish copies as in ours, and designates the adorable Trinity which fills the eternal throne.
REFLECTIONS.
Here opens at once the sublimest vision ever presented to the human mind, the throne, the Lamb, the seraphim, the elders, the sealed book. May we tread the hallowed scenes with sanctifying awe, and adore the wisdom of God, as providence shall unseal its counsel. John was in the Spirit. He was in a state of abstraction, and the passive organ of the Holy Ghost. The holy apostle during a sabbath was for the good of the church permitted to pass the bounds of mortals. He saw a throne, as Moses, as Isaiah, and as Daniel had seen before; but him that sat upon it he cannot describe. It was the Triune God of ineffable majesty.
The colour of the stones refracted the rays of Godhead, if I may so speak, as the highpriests breastplate was understood to refract the shekinah. The green jasper is named the first. Daniel saw thrones, and men sitting on them, but John saw the number of the elders twenty four, a number of perfection, to mark that Christs faithful servants shall share in his glory. The lightnings and thunderings betoken the preaching of the gospel, and the roaring of Christs judgments. The sea of glass was a most ineffable scene, reflecting back the uncreated glory on the high Olympiad of heaven; and the saints being washed by regeneration, must be pure as this sea, and the brightest ornament of heaven.
The four living creatures seem to fly with the chariot of the Lord through the heavens, and in the church; and the cherubim have ever accompanied the Messiah. Eze 1:10. Their attributes are represented by four of the most noble animals, but we have not sufficient evidence to refer these to the four evangelists. The beasts or cherubim, and the elders worshipping God in responses, as in Psa 24:7-10, and Isaiah 6., show that angels and saints are one in heaven, and that every new discovery of God is followed by new songs of applause and worship. Oh melody transporting! Oh worship unspeakable! The supreme of felicity, and surpassing all conception. And if this preparation for revelation be so sublime, what may we not expect, when the ultimate glory of the church shall be displayed?
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Revelation 4. The Vision of Heaven.In this chapter the real Apocalypse commences. A door is opened in heaven and the seer sees the throne of God, flashing like jewels, and surrounded by a rainbow. Twenty-four elders sit on thrones, and with four living beasts offer continual praise and worship to God. Much of the imagery is traditional, and derived from similar descriptions of heaven and the Divine majesty in OT; cf. Isa 6:1-4, Eze 12:4-28, Dan 7:9 f.
Rev 4:1. the first voice: that mentioned in Rev 1:10.
Rev 4:2. a throne: cf. Eze 1:26; Eze 1:28; Eze 10:1.
Rev 4:3. was like a jasper stone and a sardius: note the absence of any anthropomorphism. The Divine presence is described as a radiance of jewels. The seers eye is arrested by the flashing of gem-like colours, but he sees no form (Swete).jasper: cf. Rev 21:11, a stone most precious . . . clear as crystal. As this description does not apply to the modern jasper, many scholars think that the reference here is to the opal.sardius: probably our cornelian, a deep red stone.rainbow: from Eze 1:27. Some think that a green stone like the emerald is inappropriate, and suggest that the Greek word used here may refer to the rock-crystal.[But green is appropriate because of its restfulness to the eye, mitigating the dazzling brightness. Bleek aptly recalls Plinys statement that when the eyes are blinded by any other sight, the emerald restores them.A. S. P.]
Rev 4:4. four and twenty elders: some scholars think that the number is made up of the twelve Patriarchs and the twelve Apostles, who in their union signified the Church of the OT and the Church of the NT. Others regard them as representing the twenty-four courses of priests. The probability, however, is that they are angels of the highest rank. The evidence of Isa 24:23 and of Jewish apocalyptic literature proves that the term elder was often applied to angels (cf. Scott, Cent.B, p. 163).
Rev 4:6. a glassy sea: the conception of a celestial sea in heaven is found in Jewish literature, e.g. in the Book of the Secrets of Enoch and the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs. The seer, still looking through the window, sees between himself and the throne a vast surface, which flashes back the light that falls upon it, like the gean when in summer day he looked down upon it from the heights of Patmos. The whole of this paragraph may be regarded as a pictorial expansion of the conception of God dwelling in light unapproachable in 1Ti 6:16.four living creatures: cf. Eze 1:5, where the living creatures are identified with the cherubim. See also the account of the seraphim in Isaiah 6.full of eyes: cf. Eze 10:12.
Rev 4:7. In Ezek. each of the cherubim has four faces (lion, ox, man, eagle), in Rev. the living creatures have only one face each.
Rev 4:8. six wings: . . . Holy, holy, holy: a reminiscence of Isa 6:2 f.which was, etc.: cf. Rev 1:8.
Rev 4:9. The initiative of worship comes from the cherubim; it is at their instance that the other powers join in and take up the strain of praise.
Rev 4:11. See next note.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
A Door Opened in Heaven
From this point in Revelation the Church is never again seen on earth, but always in heaven or coming as the armies in heaven with her Lord to judge the earth (Rev 19:11-14). The indication of her being raptured to glory is seen in the first verse, for John himself plainly represents the Church, and a door is opened in heaven for him to enter. A number of times in Scripture we read of heaven being opened, always indicating a public event of great significance, but only here is mentioned a door opened in heaven, for this indicates the entrance of vast numbers of the redeemed, both Old Testament believers and those of the present-day Church of God. John is called by a trumpet voice to come up (cf. 1Co 15:52, l Thess. 4: 16), there to be shown “the things which must take place after this”-after the history of the seven assemblies. So too, from the height of heaven, the raptured saints will see all the spectacular events that follow on earth.
John must first witness the greatness of the glory of the living God, the Judge of all. He is immediately in the Spirit, his body having no place in this great revelation (v. 2). God is upon the throne, but God is only revealed in the person of His Son, as each symbol in verse 3 indicates. A jasper stone is clear and thus speaks of the clarity of pure, absolute truth seen in perfection in the Lord Jesus. The sardius stone is fiery red and indicates deep warmth of feeling, whether of love or of hatred of evil. How perfectly we see these in the Son of God and in His great sacrifice at Calvary!
We also see a rainbow about the throne. All of its divided colors speak of distinct beauties and glories of the God of creation. Yet it is said to look like an emerald which is green. This is the central color of the spectrum and speaks of the fruitful, refreshing principle of the grace of God. It is wonderful to be assured of this before God’s awesome work of judgment must begin (Isa 28:21). It is His great pleasure to do the work of pure grace as He has done in the salvation of countless numbers through the value of the sacrifice of His beloved Son. Judgment is His extraordinary or “unusual” work, that in which He has no pleasure, though it is a necessary work.
Around the throne are 24 thrones on which 24 “elders” are seated, clothed in white and crowned with golden crowns. These elders therefore, though in a lesser position, are reigning with the Lord. They are not angels, for only humans are called “elders” in Scripture. Being men of experience, elders are always in some sense representative (cf. Act 15:6). The number 24 divides naturally into two twelves, always indicating completeness in governmental administration. Two companies then must be indicated here. The only possible conclusion is that they represent the Old Testament and New Testament saints, each invested with a dignity that was not possible for them on earth. This is consistent with the fact that Revelation is a book that presents truth by pictures (Rev 1:1) which are often found and defined elsewhere in the Bible. Being crowned with golden crowns intimates that they have been rewarded for lives previously lived for the glory of God.
The lightnings, thunderings and voices proceeding from the throne (v. 5) emphasize the fact of sudden, awesome, inescapable judgment about to fall on the world of the ungodly. Yet this is balanced by the perfect discernment and calm deliberation indicated in the seven lamps of fire before the throne – the seven- fold power of the Spirit of God, as we have seen in Rev 1:4 and in Isa 11:2.
The sea of glass (in contrast to a sea of water) denotes an accomplished, fixed purity as will be the case for all saints in heaven (v. 6). Later we see a similar glass sea for those who triumph over the beast and his image (Rev 15:2), but there it is mingled with fire because of the fiery trial of their faith during the Tribulation.
In the midst of the throne and surrounding it are four living creatures. These cannot be angels, for no angel is in the midst of the throne of God. The Lamb is said to be there (Rev 5:6), for the Lamb is Himself God, and God’s glory is given to no other. The living creatures denote four distinct principles of God’s government-living, vital principles that are operative in all His works. The same four faces of verse 7 are also seen in the living creatures of Eze 1:1-28. The lion denotes sovereign power as seen in the aspect of Christ’s character as King in Matthew. The calf pictures service as seen in Mark’s portrayal of Him as God’s Servant. The face like that of a man denotes intelligence and understanding, as Luke presents Him. Finally, the eagle pictures a high, inscrutable character (Pro 30:18-19) as evidenced in the Lord Jesus in John’s Gospel of His great Godhead glory. All of these are connected with the throne of God in His governing and judging. In this is a wonderful fulness and perfect balance.
The six wings (v. 8) of each “creature” speak of speed of execution in marked contrast to men’s present-day protracted judicial decisions. Wings also speak of protection (Luk 13:34), for in God’s judgments there is a true shelter for those who really trust Him. Being full of eyes reminds us of the eyes in the rims of Ezekiel’s wheels (Eze 1:18). This teaches us that the eyes of the Lord are in every place, discerning perfectly every detail of every matter that He deals with. These four living principles of truth declare unceasingly the holiness of God, the Almighty, He who is supreme Ruler, past, present and future (v. 9). In this they are giving glory, honor and thanks to Him who occupies the throne of eternal glory, the eternally living One.
As they do this, the 24 elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, worshiping and casting down their crowns before Him (v. 10). These crowns are God’s gift by grace, and give no occasion for self-exaltation, but are seen as a fresh opportunity for exalting their Lord and God who alone is worthy to receive honor and glory and power. They here celebrate God’s glory as Creator (v.11), which confirms the fact of God being revealed in His blessed Son. It is His pleasure that delights them as regards all His creation, not their pleasure, though their pleasure is full when His pleasure is predominant. In Rev 5:1-14 we shall see that redemption, not creation, is the theme of their worship.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
3 The Throne (Revelation 4)
Amidst the ruin of the church in responsibility and the failure of those who have sought to answer to the Lord’s mind in a day of ruin, it is an immense comfort that there is a scene to which in faith we can turn where our affections may freely flow out and all our associations be pure and happy. Such a scene we have unrolled before us in Revelation 4 and 5.
Nothing could be darker or more dreary than the last phase of the professing church as depicted in the close of Revelation 3. There we find that which professes the Name of Christ on earth boasting in its riches, satisfied with its condition, and yet, not only indifferent to Christ, but actually rejecting Christ, so that Christ is found outside the door. As of old, the nation of Israel sealed its doom by rejecting their Messiah, and their house was left to them desolate; so to-day, Christendom is sealing its doom by rejecting Christ, and very soon will be spued out of His mouth. Such is the solemn picture of Revelation 3, the fulfilment of which we see developing all around us to-day.
In such a condition of things what a relief to the heart to pass in spirit into the scenes depicted in Revelation 4 and 5. In the opening of these chapters we have left earth with its door shut upon Christ to find a door opened into heaven to those who belong to Christ. It is no great hardship to have doors shut in our faces on earth if there is a door opened to us in heaven and an invitation to come hither and pass within the door. Passing within we leave behind the scene in which men make nothing of Christ to find ourselves in a scene where Christ is all in all.
To understand the Book of Revelation we must remember the threefold division given by the Lord to John as recorded in Rev 1:19, where the Apostle is told to “Write therefore what thou hast seen, and the things that are, and the things that are about to be after these” (N. Tr.). In the vision of Christ we have the first division – the things which John had seen. In the seven churches, presenting the whole church period, we have the second division – “The things that are.” From Revelation 4, and onward, we have the third division – “The things that are about to be after these things” – after the history of the church on earth is closed.
(V. 1) The first verse of this fresh section opens with the expression “after these things,” and again at the close of the verse we read of “the things which must take place after these things” (N. Tr.). Clearly, then, these words refer to the third division and bring us to the strictly prophetic part of the book.
It will help us to understand these prophecies if we keep before us the main subdivisions of this third portion of the Revelation. They appear to be as follows:
Firstly, Revelation 4 and 5, which are introductory, giving us a vision of things in heaven in order that we may learn the attitude of God towards events about to take place on earth, and telling us also the place of the saints of this age, and former ages, during these events.
Secondly, from Rev_6to11:18, we have a series of events, occurring in succession, covering the whole period between the rapture of the church and the appearing of Christ to establish His kingdom.
Thirdly, from Rev 11:19to19:10, we are instructed as to important details in relation to leaders and events during this period.
Fourthly, from Rev 19:11to21:8, the order of events is resumed from Rev 11:18, unfolding to us the future from the appearing of Christ, through millennial days on into the eternal state.
Fifthly, in Rev 21:9to22:5, we are again taken back to learn further details concerning the heavenly saints in relation to earth during the millennial age.
Returning to the consideration of the first subdivision, we notice that the great theme of Revelation 4 is the Throne of God, while Revelation 5 is occupied with the Book in which all these events are chronicled. We are thus to learn that behind all that takes place on earth there is the over-ruling throne of God, and that every event is according to the settled counsels of God.
When the corrupt professing church has shut the door to Christ on earth it will be found that there is an open door in heaven through which the true church, like John, can pass to be with Christ in heaven. The One who calls John from earth to heaven is identified with the One who first spoke to him of the seven churches. This we know is the Lord Himself. So will it be the Lord’s own voice that will call us to meet Him in the air.
The standpoint from which we view things will make a great difference as to the way in which we view them. We are invited, even as John, to pass in spirit into heavenly scenes and view all that is yet to take place on earth, from heaven’s point of view. We are partakers of the heavenly calling, and as heavenly men we are to view these coming events. If the heavenly calling of the church is not known, and the heavenly position not accepted, we shall fail in a right interpretation of these coming events by being occupied with, and distracted by, current events in the world around.
(Vv. 2, 3) The immediate result of the call was that John “was in the spirit.” Like Paul, when caught up to the third heaven, he was not conscious of the body. He was wholly absorbed by the great sights and themes of heaven. He was there as a witness to bear testimony to the church of all that as disclosed to him. Paul, when caught up to Paradise, “heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” John, on the contrary, is told to “write the things” which he saw, and “seal not the sayings of the prophecy” (Rev 1:19, Rev 22:10). The difference would seem to be that Paul sees the things that belong to the inner circle of the Father’s house, whereas John, while he truly conducts us into heavenly scenes, and tells us of heavenly things, yet it is of events in relation to earth. It is our happy privilege to profit by what John has written of the things he saw and heard. Thus in spirit we can pass into this heavenly scene, breathe its pure air, and feast our souls upon the things that speak of Christ. In all this great scene there is nothing to minister to the flesh or divert from Christ.
The first thing we see is a throne; moreover the throne is “set in heaven.” The throne is the emblem of rule and authority; the guarantee for order and blessing and security throughout the universe. The fall was in reality a challenge to the throne; sin is rebellion against the throne; infidelity is a denial of the existence of the throne; pride aspires to the throne, and the devil defies the throne. How blessed, then, after six thousand years of rebellion against the throne, to pass into heaven and find the throne “set in heaven,” unshaken, unmoved, and immovable; so that we may truly say that in this passage the great theme is the glory of the throne of God.
Even now the heavens do rule, though in a hidden way. Our great High Priest “has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens,” and from that throne He ever lives to make intercession for the saints as they pass through this world (Heb 7:25; Heb 8:1). For the believer the throne is a throne of grace. From the throne that John sees, judgment is about to proceed. To-day evil abounds, lawlessness prevails, and increasingly the world is marked by violence and corruption, and God suffers long with the evil to give men space for repentance, and to make known His grace. Nevertheless, faith knows that, behind all, the throne of God remains unmoved in heaven. The consciousness that God is behind all, and that His throne remains with all its grace available for the saints, with all its mighty power untouched by the evil of men, will keep the soul in the calm of heaven while walking amidst the unrest of earth.
Moreover, “One sat on the throne.” This glorious Person is not described, but precious stones are used as symbols to set forth His glory. We must remember that God is seen in connection with the throne. It is not the heart of the Father revealed by the Son who dwelt in the Father’s bosom that is before us, but the glory of God set forth in Christ on a throne in connection with the government of the universe. The precious stones are symbols setting forth the radiance of divine glory in government. It is seen in heaven though not yet manifest on earth. On earth we see the misgovernment of man and the longsuffering of God. Had the radiancy of the throne manifested itself upon a sinful world it would have involved judgment for all. The vision carries us beyond the day of grace to a time when the church will have been caught up to heaven, to be followed by the radiancy of the throne shining forth in judgment upon the earth.
Further, John sees “a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.” From Genesis 9 we know that the rainbow speaks of the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature upon the earth. It speaks of blessing for earth secured by divine promise, but of blessing after judgment. The rainbow comes after the storm, even as God’s promise of blessing follows when the judgment of the flood is past. The rainbow encircling the throne is the sure sign that beyond the judgment of the nations will be blessing for the earth.
(V. 4) Round about the throne John sees four and twenty thrones; and upon the thrones “four and twenty elders.” That the elders do not represent angelic beings is clear from the eleventh verse of the following chapter, where we find the angels described as a distinct company standing round the elders. The number twenty-four would seem to be an allusion to the twenty-four courses of the priesthood instituted by David for the “princes” or “governors of the sanctuary.” In David’s day they were invested with a royal and priestly character and represented the whole priesthood (1Ch 24:5). The saints of this day have the character of “a royal priesthood” to shew forth the praises of God (1Pe 2:9). Thus the elders would appear to symbolise the Old Testament saints as well as the assembly, in their completeness, associated with Christ in glory. Christ is seen upon His throne about to reign, and the saints are seen with Him in His reign – for He is enthroned and they too are enthroned. They are spoken of as “elders,” signifying spiritual maturity. No longer do they “know in part;” they are intelligent in the mind of heaven. They are not seen as departed spirits, but with bodies of glory clothed in white raiment, speaking of their priestly character (Exo 28:39-43). On their heads are “crowns of gold” speaking of their royal character. They have finished their earthly pilgrimage in which they suffered for Christ; now they are crowned to reign with Christ.
We have only to trace the allusions to the elders through the course of the Revelation to see how truly representative they are of the saints in glory:
Firstly, the elders are found in heaven associated with the throne before the judgments commence. They are not on earth; they do not pass through the judgments, nor are they, like the white-robed throng of saints described in Revelation 7, taken out of the great tribulation, but they are found in heaven before the judgments commence.
Secondly, they are a redeemed company as we learn from the following chapter (Rev 8:8-10).
Thirdly, they are a worshipping company as we learn from Rev 4:10; Rev 5:14; Rev 11:16, and Rev 19:4.
Fourthly, they are an intelligent company of saints, knowing the mind of heaven (Rev 5:5 and Rev 7:13-17).
(V. 5) The character of the throne is clearly indicated by the solemn statement that “out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices.” Lightnings and thunderings are the accompaniments of judgment, not the symbols of mercy and grace. To-day mercy flows from a throne of grace; in the millennial day a river of water, carrying blessing to the earth, will flow from the throne of God and the Lamb. In the solemn interval between the termination of the day of grace and the commencement of the Kingdom glory, the throne will be executing judgment upon the nations fitly symbolised by lightnings and thunderings.
Further, the apostle sees “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Here, surely, we have a symbolic presentation of the Spirit of God in His fulness, but presented in connection with the fire of judgment, reminding us that, as with Israel so with the world, God is going to purge away all filth “By the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning” (Isa 4:4). Those who to-day refuse the One who speaks in grace from heaven, will find in the day to come that “our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29).
(V. 6) Before the throne is “a sea of glass like unto crystal.” Before the sanctuary, in Solomon’s day, there was a sea of water for the use of the priests (1Ki 7:23-26). Here the sea has become glass like unto crystal, a symbol of the fixed and absolute purity of the throne. In heaven nothing that defiles can enter.
(Vv. 6-8) Lastly, the apostle sees in the midst of the throne and round about the throne “four living creatures.” They would appear to be symbols of the executors of the government of God. They are four in number, probably indicating the completeness of God’s government flowing out to every quarter of the globe. “Full of eyes” would symbolise the fulness of discernment in God’s government from which nothing is hid. The lion, the calf, the face as a man, and the flying eagle, may signify that the government of God will be characterised by strength, firmness, intelligence, and rapidity of administration. Unceasingly they say, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is, and is to come.” They testify that the government of God is holy, resistless in power, and unchangeable in character. The executors of the government of God will become the occasion of glory and thanksgiving to Him that sits upon the throne for ever and ever.
(Vv. 9, 10) Moreover the government of God will call forth the worship of the saints, who use the crowns that Christ has given them to own their perfect submission to Him. They cast their crowns before the throne and own the Lord is worthy to receive glory and honour and power, for He is the Creator of all, and for His pleasure all things are and were created. Sin has marred the fair creation, so that now the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain; but the saints in heaven, having the mind of the Lord, can discern that all the evil will be dealt with in judgment, so that once again God can take pleasure in His creation, even as of old, when the creation work was finished, “God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31).
Thus, as the prelude to the coming judgments, we are carried into heaven to see the throne of judgment in heaven unshaken by the wickedness of men; to see the glory of the One who sits upon the throne; to learn in the rainbow that all the promises of God for the blessing of the earth will follow the judgments of the throne, to learn that the saints of the previous ages, and the present period, will be safe in heaven before the judgments fall; to learn that the judgments of the throne will be carried out in the fulness of the Spirit according to the perfection of God’s government, and that as a result the Lord will be worshipped and praised as the Creator; and the whole creation, cleared of all evil, will once again be for His pleasure. Let us remember that these things are written that even now we may enter into them in faith, and thus be kept in perfect calm while yet in a world of turmoil.
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
4:1 After {1} 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.
(1) Hereafter follows the second part of this book, altogether prophetical foretelling those things which were to come, as was said in Rev 1:19 . This is divided into two histories: one common to the whole world, till Chapter 9 and another unique to the Church of God, till Chapter 22. These histories are said to be described in several books Rev 5:1; Rev 10:2 . Now this verse is a passage from the former part to this second: where it is said, that heaven was opened, that is, that heavenly things were unlocked and that a trumpet sounded in heaven, to stir up the apostle, and call him to the understanding of things to come. The first history has two parts: one the causes of things done and of this whole revelation in this next chapter, another of the acts done in the next four chapters. The principal causes according to the economy or dispensation of it, are two: One the beginning, which none can approach, that is, God the Father, of whom is spoken in this chapter. The other, the Son, who is the secondary cause, easy to be approached, in that he is God and man in one person; Rev 5:5-9 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
III. THE REVELATION OF THE FUTURE 4:1-22:5
John recorded the rest of this book to reveal those aspects of the future that God wanted His people to know (cf. Rev 1:19). He revealed the events in chapters 4-18 to enable the readers to understand events leading up to Jesus Christ’s second coming.
"The closest modern parallel to this mode of communication is the political cartoon, which has gained an established place in the popular press all over the world." [Note: Beasley-Murray, p. 16.]
Scholars have proposed many interpretations of the remaining chapters (4-22), but the ones that make most sense of the text are those that see them as predicting events yet future. This is the futuristic approach. Other approaches are the following. The idealist (or allegorical) approach sees these chapters as containing the story of the conflict between God and Satan in the present age with a symbolic presentation of God’s ultimate victory. The preterist approach sees these chapters as a picture of conflicts that took place in the early history of the church. Some preterist interpreters see these chapters as a symbolic revelation of God’s principles of dealing with humankind throughout history. The historical approach interprets these chapters as a history of the church from Jesus Christ’s first advent to His second advent. A major problem with the approaches just named is that their advocates do not agree with one another on the interpretation of individual passages. Only the futuristic approach has resulted in consistency in the interpretation of the major interpretive problems. [Note: See Carson and Moo, pp. 719-21.] This approach also has the support of Rev 1:19 that promises a revelation of things yet future.
Whereas chapters 4-18 present events culminating in Jesus Christ’s second coming, there are clues in the text that not everything in these chapters is in chronological order. I will point out these clues in the exposition to follow. There is also evidence in the text that as the time of Christ’s return approaches predicted events will occur more closely together. The revelation of these events becomes correspondingly fuller. Jesus’ second coming is the true climax of this section of the book and the true climax of history on planet earth.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Christ’s invitation 4:1
"These things" refers to the revelation of the messages to the seven churches (chs. 2-3; cf. Rev 1:19). After John had received these messages, he received a vision of heaven in which Jesus Christ invited him (cf. Rev 1:10; Rev 1:12-16) to enter heaven to receive a revelation of future events. John had been viewing Christ in authority over the churches and their messengers (Rev 1:10 to Rev 3:22), but now he would see a throne-room in heaven. "After these things I looked" is a clause that, with variations, introduces a new vision each time it occurs in Revelation (cf. Rev 7:1; Rev 7:9; Rev 15:5; Rev 18:1; Rev 19:1).
What John evidently saw in this vision was a door standing ajar (Gr. eneogmene) in the sky (cf. Eze 1:1). A voice, probably the glorified Christ’s (cf. Rev 1:10; Exo 19:20; Exo 19:24-25), bid him enter through the door into heaven. This is not an invitation for the church to enter heaven at the Rapture but an invitation for John to enter heaven in his vision. From that new vantage point he would receive new revelations (cf. Rom 10:6; 2Co 12:1-2). "Must" (dei) indicates that the events God was about to reveal will indeed happen. The word indicates divine necessity here as it does frequently in the Gospels, especially Luke’s Gospel (Luk 2:49; Luk 4:43; Luk 13:33; Luk 17:25; Luk 19:5; Luk 19:22; Luk 22:37; Luk 24:25-27; Luk 24:44-46; cf. Act 2:23-24).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER III.
ANTICIPATIONS OF THE CHURCHS VICTORY.
Rev 4:1-11; Rev 5:1-14.
WE have seen in considering the first chapter of the Apocalypse that the book as a whole is to be occupied with the Churchs struggle in the world; and in the second and third chapters the Church herself has been placed before us as she occupies her position upon the field of history. But the struggle has not yet begun, nor will it begin until we reach the sixth chapter. Rev. 4 and 5 are therefore still to be regarded as in a certain measure introductory. They form a separate – the third – section of the book; and the first questions that meet us in connection with them are, What is their relation to the main purpose of the author? What is their leading conception? and Why are they placed where they are?
In answering these questions, we are aided by the strictly parallel structure of the fourth Gospel. The Prologue of that book, contained in Joh 1:1-18, suggests the object which the writer has in view. The next section – Joh 1:19-20, Joh 2:1-11 – places before us the Redeemer whose glory he is to describe. The struggle of the Son of God with the world does not begin till we come to chap. 5. Between chap. 2:12 and chap. 4:54 there is thus a considerable interval, in which we have the cleansing of the Temple and the victory of Jesus over the unbelief of the Jew Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and the kings officer of Galilee, who was probably a Gentile. In this intervening space the leading thought seems to be that of victory, not indeed of victory in the struggle, but of victory which prepares us for it, and fills the mind with hope before it begins. In like manner the two chapters upon which we are about to enter are occupied with songs of victory. Catching their spirit, we shall boldly accompany the Church into the struggle which follows, and shall be animated by a joyful confidence that, whatever her outward fortunes, He that is with her is more than they that be with her enemies.* (*Comp. 2Ch 32:7-8)
While such is the general conception of the third and fourth chapters viewed as one, we have further to ask whether, subordinate to their united purpose, there is not a difference between them. Such a difference there appears to be; and words of our Lord in the fourth Gospel, spoken upon an occasion which had deeply impressed itself upon the mind of the Evangelist, may help us to determine what it is. In the fourteenth chapter of that Gospel Jesus encourages His Apostles as He sends them forth to fight His battle in the world. “Let not,” He says, “your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in Me.” The section of the Apocalypse upon which we are about to enter embraces a similar thought in both its parts. Chap. 4. conveys to the Church the assurance that He who is the ultimate source of all existence is on her side; chap. 5, that she may depend upon Christ and His redeeming work. The two chapters taken together are a cry to the Church from her glorified Head, before she enters; into the tribulation that awaits her, “Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in Me.”
“After these things I saw and, behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter. Straightway I was in the Spirit: and, behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and One sitting upon the throne; and He that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon. And round about the throne were four-and-twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four-and-twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments, and on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God (Rev 4:1-5).”
The first voice here spoken of is the voice of Rev 1:10 : “And I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet;” and it is well to remember that that voice introduced the vision of a Son of man who, while both King and Priest, was King and Priest in judgment. It is impossible to doubt that the sound of the same voice is intended to indicate the same thing here, and that the King whom we are about to behold is One who has “prepared His throne for judgment.”* (* Psa 9:7)
The Seer is introduced to a scene which we first recognize as the glorious audience-chamber of a great King. Everything as yet speaks of royalty, and of royal majesty, power, and judgment The jasper stone as we learn from a later passage of this book, in which it is said to be “clear as crystal,”1 was of a bright, sparkling whiteness; and it fitly represents the holiness of Him of whom the seraphim in Isaiah cry one to another, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts,”2 and who in this very chapter is celebrated by the unresting cherubim with the words, ” Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord, God, the Almighty, which was and which is and which is to come.” The sardius, again, was of a fiery red colour, and can denote nothing but the terror of the Almightys wrath. Out of the throne also – not merely out of the atmosphere surrounding it, but out of the throne itself – proceed lightnings and voices and thunders, always throughout the Apocalypse emblems of judgment; while the use of the word burn in other parts of the same book, and the fact that what the Seer beheld was not so much lamps as torches, leads to the belief that these torches as they burned before the throne sent out a blazing and fierce rather than a calm and soft light. It is true that the rainbow round about the throne points to the Divine covenant of grace and promise, and that its emerald greenness, absorbing, or at least throwing into the shade, its other and varied hues, tells with peculiar force of something on which the eye loves, and does not fear, to rest. But the mercy of God does not extinguish His righteousness and judgment. Different as such qualities may seem to be, they are combined in Him with whom the Church and the world have to do. In the New Testament not less than in the Old the Almighty reveals Himself in the awakening terrors of His wrath as well as in the winning gentleness of His love. St. Peter speaks of our Lord as not only the chief corner-stone laid in Zion, elect, precious, so that he that believeth on Him shall not be put to shame, but as a stone of stumbling and rock of offence;3 and when the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives us his loftiest description of the privileges of the Christian Church, he closes it with the words, “Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire.”4 So also here. Would we conceive of God aright, even after we have been brought into the full enjoyment of all the riches of His grace and love, we must think of Him as represented by the jasper and the sardius as well as by the emerald. (1 Rev 21:11; 2 Isa 6:3; 3 1Pe 2:6-8; 4 Heb 12:28-29)
The four-and-twenty elders occupying thrones (not seats) around the throne are to be regarded as representatives of the glorified Church; and the number, twice twelve, seems to be obtained by combining the number of the patriarchs of the Old Testament with that of the Apostles of the New.
The description of the heavenly scene is now continued:
“And before the throne, as it were a glassy sea like onto crystal and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, having each one of them six wings, are full of eyes roundabout and within; and they have no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord, God, the Almighty, which was and which is and which is to come (Rev 4:6-8).”
Up to this point we have been beholding a royal court; in the words now quoted the priestly element comes in. The glassy sea naturally leads the thoughts to the great brazen laver known as the brazen sea which stood in the court of Solomons temple between the altar and the sanctuary, and at which the priests cleansed themselves before entering upon the discharge of their duties within the precincts of Gods holy house. The resemblance is not indeed exact; and were it not for what follows, there might be little upon which to rest this supposition. We know, however, from many examples, that the Seer uses the figures of the Old Testament with great freedom; and as the Temple source of the living creatures next introduced to us cannot be mistaken, it becomes the more probable that the brazen sea of the same building, whatever be the actual meaning of the figure – a point that will meet us afterwards – suggests the “glassy sea.”
When we turn to the “living creatures,” there can be no doubt whatever that we are in the midst of Temple imagery. These, are the cherubim, two of which, fashioned in gold, were placed above the mercy-seat in the holy of holies, so that, inasmuch as that mercy-seat was regarded as peculiarly the throne of God, Israel was invited to think of its King as “sitting between the cherubim.”1 These figures, however, were not confined to that particular spot, nor were they fashioned only in that particular way, for the curtain and the veil which formed the sides of the Most Holy Place were wrought with cherubim of cunning work,2 so that one entering that sacred spot was surrounded by them. In the midst of the cherubim spoken of in these verses we are thus in the midst of Temple figures and of priestly thoughts. It is impossible here to trace the history of the cherubim throughout the Bible; and we must be content with referring to two points connected with them, of importance for the interpretation of this book: the representative nature of the figures and the aspect under which we are to see them.3 (1 Psa 99:1; 2 Exo 26:1; 3Comp. Bible Educator, vol. iii., p. 290, where the writer has discussed this subject at some length.)
As to the first of these, the human element in the cherubim is at once intelligible. It can be nothing but man; while the fact that they occupy so large a position in the most sacred division of the Tabernacle is sufficient to prove that man, so represented, is thought of as redeemed and brought to the highest stage of spiritual perfection. The other elements referred to certainly do not indicate either new qualities added to humanity, or an intensification of those already possessed by it, as if we might cherish the prospect of a time when the physical qualities of man shall equal in their strength those of the animals around him, when he shall possess the might of the lion, the power of the ox, and the swiftness of the eagle. They represent rather the different departments of nature as these are distributed into the animate and inanimate creation. Taking the “living creatures” together in all their parts, they are thus an emblem of man, associated on the one hand with the material creation, on the other with the various tribes of animals by which it is inhabited, but all redeemed, transfigured, perfected, delivered from the bondage of corruption, and brought into “the liberty of the glory of the children of God.”* They have a still wider and more comprehensive meaning than the “twenty-four elders,” the latter setting before us only the Church, but the former all creation, glorified. (* Rom 8:21)
The second point above mentioned – the aspect worn by the living creatures demands also a few remarks, for the view commonly entertained upon it seems to be erroneous. Misled by the mention of the calf, which is supposed to be the ox, and not the bull-calf, interpreters have allowed the mode in which they understood this particular to rule their interpretation of the others. It has been regarded as the emblem of endurance and of patient labour rather than of power and rage; while, following the same line of thought, the eagle has been treated as the king of birds soaring in the blue vault of heaven rather than as hastening (like the vulture) to his prey.1 The whole conception of the cherubim has thus been modified and shaped in the minds of men under a form altogether different from that in which it is really presented to us in Scripture. The cherubim of the Old Testament and the “living creatures” of the New are supposed to represent “majesty and peerless strength,” “patient and productive industry,” and “soaring energy and nimbleness of action.” In reality they rather represent qualities that strike terror into the hearts of men and suggest the idea of an irresistibly destructive force. With this view all that is elsewhere said of them corresponds. They are not simply spoken of as partakers of the favor of God. They are instruments in the execution of His wrath. When our first parents were driven from the garden of Eden, they were placed “at the east of the garden,” along with “a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”2 When we are introduced to them in Ezekiel, it is said that “their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches: 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.”3 Similar associations are connected with them throughout the Apocalypse. The opening of each of the first four seals, the four that deal with judgments upon the earth, is immediately followed by a voice, “as it were the noise of thunder,” from one of the four living creatures, saying, Come.4 One of them gives to the seven angels “seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God.”5 And after the destruction of Babylon, when her smoke is ascending up forever and ever, and the voice of much people in heaven calls for praise to Him who hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand, they “fall down and worship God that sitteth on the throne, saying, Amen; Hallelujah.”6 There can be little doubt, then, as to the meaning of these four living creatures. They are sharers of the Almightys holiness, and of that holiness in its more awful form, as a holiness that cannot look on sin but with abhorrence. They are the vicegerents of His kingdom. They are assessors by His side. Their aspect is not that of the sweetness associated with the word “cherub,” but that of sternness, indignant power, and judgment. Thus also it is that in the Tabernacle they looked toward the mercy-seat.7 By what they saw there they were restrained from executing wrath upon the guilty. That mercy-seat, sprinkled with the blood of atonement, told them of pardon and of a new life for the sinner. Their sternness was softened; mercy rejoiced over judgment; and the storm-wind upon which God flew swiftly, when “He rode upon a cherub, and did fly,”8 sank into a calm. (1 Job 9:26; 2 Gen 3:24; 3 Eze 1:13-14; 4 Rev 6:1; Rev 6:3; Rev 6:5; Rev 6:7; 5 Rev 15:7; 6 Rev 19:4; 7 Exo 25:20; 8 Psa 18:10)
The Seer has beheld the audience-chamber of the Godhead in itself. He has seen also the Divine Being who is there clothed with majesty, and those who wait upon Him. He next passes to another thought:
“And when the living creatures shall give glory and honour and thanks to Him that sitteth on the throne, to Him that liveth forever and ever, the four-and-twenty elders shall fall down before Him that sitteth on the throne; and shall worship Him that liveth forever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honour and the power: for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they were, and were created (Rev 4:9-11).”
In his beautiful comments upon the Revelation Isaac Williams says, “The four living creatures, or the Church of the redeemed, give thanksgiving to God for their redemption; and then the twenty-four elders fall down and attribute all glory to God alone, inasmuch as prophets, Apostles, and all the ministering priesthood, rejoicing in the salvation of the elect, attribute it not to their own instrumentality, but to God.” (The Apocalypse, with Notes and Reflections, p. 69). In thus interpreting the passage, however, that commentator can hardly be regarded as correct. It is true that the living creatures are the representatives of redeemed creation, and the twenty-four elders representatives of the glorified Church. But in the song of praise here put into their mouths they have not yet advanced to the thought of salvation. That is reserved for the next chapter. Here they think of creation, with all its wonders; of the heavens which declare Gods glory, and the firmament which shows forth His handiwork; of sun, and moon, and stars in their manifold and resplendent glories; of the mountains and the valleys; of the rivers and the fountains of waters; of the rich exuberance of vegetable life, which covers the earth with a gorgeous carpet of every hue; and of all those animals upon its surface which “run races in their mirth: “and for them they praise. To God all creatures owe their origin. In Him they live, and move, and have their being. Because of His will they were let the reading be considered and remembered: “were,” not “are” because of His will they were in His idea from eternity; and when the appointed moment came, they were created. Where fore let them praise. We are reminded of the Psalms of the Old Testament, though it is ours to put into their words a still deeper and richer meaning than they possessed when first uttered by the Psalmist: –
Praise ye the Lord.
Praise ye the Lord from the heavens:
Praise Him in the heights.
Praise ye Him, all His angels:
Praise ye Him, all His host.
Praise ye Him, sun and moon
Praise Him, all ye stars of light.
Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens,
And ye waters that be above the heavens.
Let them praise the name of the Lord:
For He commanded, and they were created
He hath also established them forever and ever:
He hath made a decree which shall not pass away.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
Ye dragons, and all deeps:
Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour;
Stormy wind fulfilling His word:
Mountains, and all hills;
Fruitful trees, and all cedars:
Beasts, and all cattle;
Creeping things, and flying fowl:
Kings of the earth, and all peoples;
Princes, and all judges of the earth:
Both young men, and maidens;
Old men, and children:
Let them praise the name of the Lord:
For His name alone is exalted;
His glory is above the earth and heaven.*
(* Psa 148:1-13)
Such then in Rev. 4. is the call addressed by the Seer to the Church before she enters upon her struggle. a call similar to that of Jesus to His disciples, “Believe in God.”
The fifth chapter continues the same general subject, but with a reference to Christ the Redeemer rather than God the Creator:
“And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a roll of a book written within and on the back, close sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, Who is worthy to open the roll, and to loose the seals thereof? And no one in the heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the roll, or to look thereon. And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the roll, or to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome to open the roll, and the seven seals thereof (Rev 5:1-5).”
We can easily form to ourselves a correct idea of the outward form of the symbol resorted to in these words. The same symbol is used by the prophet Ezekiel, and in circumstances in some respects precisely analogous to those of the Seer. Ezekiel had just beheld his first vision of the cherubim. “And when I looked,” he says, “behold, an hand was put forth unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; and He spread it before me; and it was written within and without.”* In both cases it is not a “book,” but a roll, like the sacred rolls of the synagogue, that is presented to the prophets eye, the difference being that in the Apocalypse we read of the roll being close sealed with seven seals. This addition is due to the higher, more sublime, and more momentous nature of the mysteries contained in it. That it is written within and on the back, so that there is no space for further writing, shows that it contains the whole counsel of God with regard to the subject of which it treats. It is the word of Him who is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last; and the seven seals are so fastened to the roll that one of them may be broken at a time, and no more of the contents disclosed than belonged to that particular seal. What also the contents of the roll are we learn from the contents of the seals as they are successively disclosed in the following chapters. As yet the Seer does not know them. He knows only that they are of the deepest interest and importance; and he looks anxiously around to see if anyone can be found who may break the seals and unfold their mysteries. No such person can be discovered either in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth. No one will even dare to look upon the roll; and the sorrow of the Seer was so deepened by this circumstance that he wept much. (* Eze 2:9-10)
At that moment one of the elders, the representatives of the glorified Church, advanced to cheer him with the tidings that what he so much desired shall be accomplished. One who had had a battle to fight and a victory to win had overcome, not only to look upon the roll, but to open it and to loose the seven seals thereof, so as to make its contents known. This was the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David. The description is taken partly from the law and partly from the prophets, for is not this “He of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write”?l; the former in the blessings pronounced by the dying patriarch Jacob upon his son Judah: “Judah is a lions whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?”2; the latter in such words as those of Isaiah, “And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a Branch out of his roots shall bear fruit;”3 while, in the language alike of the prophet and of the Seer, the words set forth the Messiah, not as the root out of which David sprang, but as a shoot which, springing from him, was to grow up into a strong and stately tree. In Him the conquering might of David, the man of war, and of Judah, “chosen to be the ruler,”4 comes forth with all the freshness of a new youth. He is “the mystery which hath been hid from all ages and generations, but now hath been manifested to the saints.”5 In Him “the darkness is passing away, and the true light already shineth.”6 “After two days will He revive us: on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him. And let us know, let us follow on to know, the Lord: His going forth is sure as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth.”7 Thus then was it now. Like Daniel of old, the Seer had wept in order that he might understand the vision; and the elder said to him, Weep not. (1 Joh 1:45; 2 Gen 49:9; 3 Isa 11:1; 4 1Ch 28:4 5 Col 1:26; 6 1Jn 2:8; 7 Hos 6:2-3)
The eagerly desired explanation follows:
“And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as though it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And He came, and He hath taken it out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne (Rev 5:6-7).”
A strange and unlooked-for spectacle is presented to the Seer. He had been told of a lion; and he beholds a lamb, nay not only a lamb, the emblem of patience and of innocence, but, as we learn from the use of the word slaughtered (not “slain,” as in both the Authorized and Revised Versions), a lamb for sacrifice, and that had been sacrificed. Nor can we doubt for a moment, when we call to mind the Gospel of St. John and its many points of analogy with the Apocalypse, what particular lamb it was. It was the Paschal Lamb, the Lamb beheld in our Lord by the Baptist when, pointing to Jesus as He walked, he said to his disciples, “Be hold the Lamb of God,”1 and again beheld by the writer of the fourth Gospel on the Cross, when in the fact that the soldiers broke not the legs of Jesus, as they broke those of the malefactors hanging on either side of Him, he traced the fulfillment of the Scripture, “A bone of Him shall not be broken.”2 This therefore was the true Lamb “that taketh away the sin of the world,” the Lamb that gives us His flesh to eat, so that in Him we may have eternal life.3 (1 Joh 1:36; 2 Joh 19:36; 3The point now spoken of has been doubted. A full discussion of it by the present writer will be found in The Expositor for July and August, 1877)
The Lamb has seven horns, the emblem of perfected strength, and seven eyes, which are explained to be the Spirit of God, sent forth in all His penetrating and searching power, so that none even in the very ends of the earth can escape His knowledge. Further the Lamb is standing as though it had been slaughtered, and there never has been a moments hesitation as to the interpretation of the figure. The words “as though” do not mean that the slaughtering had been only in appearance. It had been real. The Saviour, pierced with cruel wounds, “bowed His head” on Calvary, “and gave up His spirit.”1 “The first and the last and the Living One became dead,”2 and had been laid in the tomb in the garden. But He had risen from that tomb on the third morning; and, “behold, He is alive for evermore.”3 He had ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high; and there He “stands,” living and acting in all the plenitude of endless and incorruptible life. (1 Joh 19:30; 2 Rev 1:18; 3 Rev 1:18)
One thing more has to be noticed: that this Lamb is the central figure of the scene before us, in the midst of the throne and of the living creatures, and of the elders. To Him all the works of God, both in creation and redemption, turn. To Him the old covenant led; and the prophets who were raised up under it searched “what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them.”1 From Him the new covenant flowed, and those who under it are called to the know ledge of the truth recognize in Him their “all and in all.”2 The Lamb slaughtered, raised from the grave, ascended, being the impersonation of that Divine love which is the essence of the Divine nature, is the visible centre of the universe. He is “the image of the invisible God, the First-born of all creation: for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things have been created through Him, and unto Him: and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist And He is the Head of the Body, the Church: who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence. For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fullness dwell; and through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.”3 (1 1Pe 1:11; 2 Col 3:11; 3 Col 1:15-20)
Such is the Lamb; and He now comes, and hath taken the roll out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne. Let us note the words “hath taken.” It is not “took.” St. John sees the Lamb not only take the roll, but keep it. It is His, His as the Son, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; His by right of the victory He has won; His as the First-born of all creation and the Head of the Church. It is His to keep, and to unfold, and to execute, “who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”* (* Rom 9:5)
Therefore is He worthy of all praise, and to Him all praise is given: –
“And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four-and-twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation; and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests: and they reign over the earth (Rev 5:8-10).”
It is not necessary to dwell upon the figures that are here employed, the harp, as connected with the Temple service, being the natural emblem of praise, and the bowls full of incense the emblem of prayer. But it is of importance to observe the universality of the praises and the prayers referred to, for as the language used here of these men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, when they are said to have been made a kingdom and priests unto our God, is the same as that of Rev 1:6, we seem entitled to conclude that, even from its very earliest verses, the Apocalypse has the universal Church in view.
The song sung by this great multitude, including even the representatives of nature, now “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God,”* is wholly different from that of chap. 4. It is a new song, for it is the song of the “new creation;” and its burden, it will be observed, is not creation, but redemption by the blood of the Lamb, a redemption through which all partaking of it are raised to a higher glory and a fairer beauty than that enjoyed and exhibited before sin had as yet entered into the world, and when God saw that all that He had made was good. (* Rom 8:21)
The song was sung, but no sooner was it sung than it awoke a responsive strain from multitudes of which we have not yet heard: –
“And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders: and the number was ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands; saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory, and blessing (Rev 5:11-12).”
These are the angels, who are not within the throne, but round about the throne and the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders. Their place is not so near the throne, so near the Lamb. “For not unto angels did He subject the inhabited earth to come, whereof we speak.”1 He subjected it to man, to Him first of all who, having taken upon Him our human nature, and in that nature conquered, was “crowned with glory and honour,” but then also to the members of His Body, who shall in due time be exalted to a similar dignity and shall reign over the earth. Yet angels rejoice with man and with creation redeemed and purified. They “desire to look into”2 these things: “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”3 He who was God manifested in flesh “appeared” after His resurrection “to angels;”4 and, although they have not been purchased with the blood of the slaughtered Lamb, their hearts are filled with livelier ecstasy and their voices swell out into louder praise while the “manifold wisdom of God is made known” to them in their heavenly places.5 (1 Heb 2:5; 2 1Pe 1:12; 3 Luk 15:10; 4 1Ti 3:16; 5 Eph 3:10)
Even this is not all. There is a third stage in the ascending scale, a third circle formed for the widening song:
“And everything which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying, Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever (Rev 5:13).”
What a sublime conception have we here before us! The whole universe, from its remotest star to the things around us and beneath our feet, is one, one in feeling, in emotion, in expression; one in heart and voice. Nothing is said of evil. Nor is it thought of. It is in the hands of God, who will work out His sovereign purposes in His own good time and way. We have only to listen to the universal harmony, and to see that it move us to corresponding praise. It did so now: –
“And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped (Rev 5:14).”
The redeemed creation is once more singled out for special mention. At Rev 4:8; Rev 4:10, they began the song; now we return to them that they may close it. All creation, man included, cries, Amen. The glorified Church has her heart too full to speak. She can only fall down and worship.
The distinction between chap. 4 and chap. 5 must now be obvious, even while it is allowed that the same general thought is at the bottom of both chapters. In the one the Church when about to enter on her struggle has the call addressed to her: “Believe in God.” In the other that call is followed up by the glorified Redeemer: “Believe also in Me.”
Having listened to the call, there is no enemy that she need fear, and no trial from which she need shrink. She is already more than conqueror through Him that loved her. As we enter into the spirit of these chapters we cry, –
“God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change,
And though the mountains be moved in the heart of the seat;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge.”* (* Psa 46:1-7)