Revelation Chapter 4 Commentary

Revelation 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. 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: and they rest not day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” 9 And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, 10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 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.” 

Here in chapter four we begin to experience more striking visions.  Specifically, we are introduced to some heavenly creations, symbols, creatures, people, angels, periods of time, and/or kingdoms that have a special designation for the believers in the seven churches.  With regard to the nature of these visions, or the state of mind of John, there have, of course been innumerable opinions. 

Some believe John is describing something that is merely representational and that there is a great mistake to assign literalness to them and that John was to merely pass them on to those who, blessed with the Spirit, could discern what they mean. Others believe that they are literal creatures that exist in heaven around the throne of God.  And then some think John had inadvertently taken some Island mushrooms and was experiencing a hallucination. I suppose it all depends on your world view of scripture.  But this is what we know from what he has said:

(1.) John, in a devout frame of mind, claims that the visions were given to Him of God. 

 (2.) The representations were supernatural, meaning they were above the realm of what is natural to us and they were disclosed to him through a means that was not natural – he was somehow out of his body and seeing things with his natural rods and cones.

(3.) The things he saw had an aspect of reality, and he describes them using naturally occurring themes  - but again, we cannot forget that in describing them he used phrases that they were “like unto this or that,” and he did not say, “and I saw an eagle or a lion or a bear.”

We also note that John does not attempt to explain them – he just tells us what they were like.  In fact, he never comes forward to explain their symbolism – if there is any symbolism that should be assigned to them.  I personally wonder if he knew what any of this stuff meant – of course we suggest that we know what it all means, right?  But the receiver of the actual vision does not tell us (which is interesting).

We might liken John and what he saw to a child being taken under the sea in a submarine and shown all the plant and animal life there – something he has never seen before. He might be able to describe everything in general but the specifics and actual purpose and place of each item would have escaped him.

(4.) Nevertheless, the things he saw did have a strong sense of being real – otherwise what would be the purpose of his writing about them.

The visions which open John experiencing what theologians call a theophany, or he sees a representation of God.  As Jesus says, no man has seen God at any time so we must attribute what John “saw” to it being a vision – which would be him no more seeing God than if we had a dream where we “see” God sitting on a throne – in the end, we haven’t seen God, we have only had a dream where God is depicted.  Same with John – as a man he has not seen God. 

Instead John is “invited up” through a door into heaven and is then permitted to look into heaven, and to have a view of the throne of God, and of the worship scene there. A door is opened in heaven so that he could look in and see what is beyond.  Now where what he saw is constantly going on throughout eternity or what he saw was applicable to what God wanted John to see at that time and age we can’t tell.  All we know is this is what he says he saw:

• the throne of God
• and him who sits on the throne
• angelic and human worshippers there
• lightnings around the throne
• thunder's roar
• a rainbow that encompasses the throne
• and hears the songs of the worshippers. 

Now, I think it is important for us to consider two visions experienced in the Old Testament that have some similarities to what John sees here.  The first is in Isaiah and the second in Ezekiel. Isaiah’s vision is located in Isaiah 6 and reads:

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.  2 Above it stood the Seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

The Ezekiel vision is a bit longer and it is found in the first chapter of that book saying:

Ezekiel 1:4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 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. 6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. 7 And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass. 8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. 9 Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. 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. 11 Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. 12 And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went. 13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. 15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. 18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. 19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the color of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. 23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies. 24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. 25 And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings. 26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. 28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

We are going to do a comparison of these passages with each other to see the similarities (and there are some) and the differences once we get into the text. It seems that both Isaiah and Ezekiel were solemnly inaugurated to their call early on and these visions served a purpose in this – so it might have also been with John who was prophetically revealing things “to be,” as the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel did.