Revelation 4:1-11 – The Center of the Universe
I commented on this passage about four months ago, in December, as part of my series on prayer in the Bible. While I don’t normally like to revisit a Bible text this soon, coming back to it again like this allows me to explore some of the themes in this passage in more depth.
On the remote chance that you don’t remember the December comments or that you didn’t read them, first a quick summary. This description of the “throne room” of heaven reveals the power of praise. In fact, it is at the heart of the entire universe, as God is at the center of concentric circles of praise. Closest to the throne are the four “living creatures,” who represent the created order. Next are the twenty-four elders, who are the leaders of the people of God (the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles). As we’ll see in Chapter 5, the circles around the throne continue to expand to include the angels in heaven and all of creation, including us. When we’re worshiping, we’re taking our place in the circles of praise that surround God at the center of the universe.
Now for some more details in this passage that will help us appreciate its meaning better.
First, we need to consider how John got to see what’s happening at the center of the universe. Up to this point in the book, he’s had a vision of Jesus, who gave him messages for the churches he served. But now Jesus invites him to go up into the heavenly realms to experience the spiritual aspects of the created order. From his vantage point there, John sees what’s going on from a completely different perspective from the one he’s had in the past (and the one we usually have), and it takes up most of the book of Revelation for him to describe it. But the first, most important, thing for him to experience and describe is what goes on in the presence of God. Most readers and commentators on Revelation focus on the frightening and fantastic beings and events that it describes, starting generally at Chapter 6. But in my opinion, Chapters 4 and 5 are the most important part of John’s vision, because they describe what’s happening at the center of it all, in the very presence of God.
John got there by the invitation of Jesus (the one who first spoke to him in 1:10). The only way any of us can come into God’s presence is through the work and the invitation of Jesus (John 14:6: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”). And it is the Spirit who carries John there, just as the Spirit draws us to God through means such as Scripture, prayer, and the church. Although John doesn’t name Him explicitly, we can assume that the One seated on the throne is the Father, thus including all three Persons of the Trinity. However, as we’ll see in 5:6 and other places, the identity of the three Persons gets hard to keep separate. That’s appropriate, I’d say.
John’s description of the throne of heaven, and of the One seated on it, gives us seven aspects of God, expressed in symbolic form.
1. The one on the throne has the appearance of precious gems. God is precious and valuable. Too often we value the blessings we receive from God more than we value him, like a greedy child who likes the goodies that his parents give him, but doesn’t care about the parents themselves.
2. The throne is encircled by a rainbow, the first image of God’s grace and of his first covenant with humanity (Genesis 9:12-16). God is gracious. We often think of God as a judge who watches and evaluates our every move. We’ll see God’s role as judge later (20:11-15), but this is something that God does, it’s not something that He is. Grace is more important than judgment.
3. The twenty-four elders surround the throne. As I’ve already mentioned, they are the leaders of the people of God and represent us there. God includes us. We’re not some afterthought, relegated to a far corner of heaven somewhere. He values and includes us. At times we may be tempted to think that God merely tolerates us. But he delights in us. What amazing love!
4. The elders are wearing white robes, are wearing crowns, and are seated on thrones. Through the gracious work of Christ, they are holy and pure, and they are honored. The multitude of God’s people that we’ll meet in Chapter 7 are also wearing white robes, and I’ll go out on a limb and claim that they are also honored. After all, Romans 8:16-17 tells us that we’ll be co-heirs with Christ). The only way we can become pure and holy is for God to give it to us. For him to give it to us, he has to have it himself.
5. Thunder rolls from the throne, and lightning flashes from it. It’s the power of God, as Exodus 19 also describes. Some religious scholars think that Israelite worship of the Lord began with an understanding of Him as the storm god. I certainly won’t go that far, but the fact that these scholars suggest it demonstrates that in the Old Testament, they find a lot of descriptions of God’s power expressed in storm images. For the ancient peoples, thunderstorms were one of the most powerful forces that they encountered. Their power, and all power, comes from God. We’re not worshiping a Lord who is safely cooped up in a church or in a remote place called heaven. He is active and powerful. You’d best pay attention to him!
6. There are seven lampstands surrounding the throne. John tells us that they are spirit of God. Exodus 25 and 2 Chronicles 4 tell us about the golden lampstands that were part of the tabernacle and the temple, where God was present with his people. In fact, the light of the lamps came to be recognized as a symbol of that presence, and tending to the lampstands was a critical aspect of temple worship. That’s the key to the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, by the way. The despotic emperor Antiochus Ephiphanes had desecrated the temple and extinguished the lampstands. After a successful revolt the temple was rededicated and the lamps relight. This is also, by the way, why we light the candles in the front of the church before worship: to represent God’s presence with us as we worship him. So, just as the elders represent our place in God’s presence, the lampstands symbolize God’s presence with us. We are never alone.
7. The throne stands before a clear, crystal-like sea of glass. This should remind us of the story of creation that we find in Genesis 1. When Solomon built his temple, he include a giant basin called the Sea (1 Kings 7:23-25), to remind the worshipers of this as well. In ancient cosmology, the dry earth exists in between two bodies of water. The water below is the ocean, which is visible in the places where the land stops. The water above is in the heavens, and occasionally leaks down on us as rain. The earth can exist in this space between the waters because of the sustaining power of God (Noah’s flood happened when God decided to collapse the waters together). The fact that the heavenly waters are below the throne indicates that God is above the heavenly waters, and in fact controls them. God sustains all of creation. Sometimes we think of creation as something that God did back at the beginning, and now the world is going along its merry course by its own devices. Not true. Creation is a continuing process which allows us to continue to exist. We depend upon God for every moment of our existence.
I touched on a description of the four living creatures before. But just as a reminder, they embody the best of God’s creation (we also see them in Ezekiel’s vision in Ezek. 1). First, they are living. As Jesus said, God is the God of the living (Mark 12:27). What he creates is alive, dynamic, and vital (even if some parts of creation like mountains and the planets are literally alive). The creatures are covered with eyes, to demonstrate their knowledge, insight, perception, and discernment (have you ever noticed how many words that describe knowledge or wisdom are related to vision?). This isn’t a surveillance “Big Brother is watching you” kind of vision, but the kind of insight that sees through deceit and false appearance to perceive what’s real.
The first creature is like a lion: noble, impressive, even regal.
The second creature is like an ox: strong, solid, and useful.
The third is a human: wise and intelligent. Notice that the human isn’t the first or the last creature, but somewhere in the middle. A bit of humility is warranted for us; we’re not the pinnacle of creation, although we are made in God’s image. Given the ambiguous nature of humanity, I think our wisdom and intelligence is a double edged sword: perhaps “cunning” would be a better way to express it. By the way, the Ewe people of Ghana and Togo, whom I work with, call Europeans and Americans “yevu.” From the way the word’s been described to me, I think “cunning” is the best way to translate it. On the one hand, it’s a recognition of the technological savvy of Westerners. But it also recognizes the way that colonialists have stuck it to the Africans.
The fourth creature is like an eagle: swift, keen vision, and able to rise above it all.
The main thing that the living creatures and the elders do around God’s throne is lift up their praise to Him. As John describes it, the praise never lets those poor elders take a break. The living creatures never stop lifting up their praise to God (v. 8). And every time they do, the elders fall down on the ground and lay down their crowns in worship (vv. 9-10). Verse 10, by the way, is the inspiration for that line in the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy:” “Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.”
I was starting to feel bad for these elders who never get a rest. And some people wonder if life in heaven is really going to be all that great, if all we’re going to be doing is worshiping all the time. When we think this, we’re losing sight of what worship is all about. Maybe that’s because our understanding of worship has been clouded by the fact that far too often “worship” means getting up on a Sunday morning when we’d rather sleep in, and listening to a long boring sermon and singing creaky old hymns while wearing uncomfortable dress clothes and sitting on hard wooden pews. Yes: far too often our worship activities fall short of the excitement and wonder that they should have. A better way to think of what life is like for those elders, and what it will be for us, is to think of other activities that get us excited. Here are three examples:
1. Do you remember the line in advertisements for Monster Truck Jams? “We’ll sell you the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge!”
2. Have you ever wondered why they put seats in places like Heinz Field and the Petersen Event Center? The fans are always on their feet! At Pitt basketball games, the student section is always on their feet, hopping up and down.
3. When I think of some of my favorite concerts that I’ve been to, I was on my feet the whole time, enjoying the music. I’ve never been in a mosh pit, but that would be the extreme version of this.
So, in each of these examples, people are on their feet because they’re excited. There may not be as much alcohol and vandalism, but the level of excitement in heaven around God’s throne will be more like Pittsburgh’s celebration of the Superbowl victory than a stodgy Sunday morning service. But even more! Yeah, football’s great. But if we truly understand who God is, as John’s description tries to present it, all of eternity won’t be long enough to contain our excited praise of Him.
On the remote chance that you don’t remember the December comments or that you didn’t read them, first a quick summary. This description of the “throne room” of heaven reveals the power of praise. In fact, it is at the heart of the entire universe, as God is at the center of concentric circles of praise. Closest to the throne are the four “living creatures,” who represent the created order. Next are the twenty-four elders, who are the leaders of the people of God (the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles). As we’ll see in Chapter 5, the circles around the throne continue to expand to include the angels in heaven and all of creation, including us. When we’re worshiping, we’re taking our place in the circles of praise that surround God at the center of the universe.
Now for some more details in this passage that will help us appreciate its meaning better.
First, we need to consider how John got to see what’s happening at the center of the universe. Up to this point in the book, he’s had a vision of Jesus, who gave him messages for the churches he served. But now Jesus invites him to go up into the heavenly realms to experience the spiritual aspects of the created order. From his vantage point there, John sees what’s going on from a completely different perspective from the one he’s had in the past (and the one we usually have), and it takes up most of the book of Revelation for him to describe it. But the first, most important, thing for him to experience and describe is what goes on in the presence of God. Most readers and commentators on Revelation focus on the frightening and fantastic beings and events that it describes, starting generally at Chapter 6. But in my opinion, Chapters 4 and 5 are the most important part of John’s vision, because they describe what’s happening at the center of it all, in the very presence of God.
John got there by the invitation of Jesus (the one who first spoke to him in 1:10). The only way any of us can come into God’s presence is through the work and the invitation of Jesus (John 14:6: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”). And it is the Spirit who carries John there, just as the Spirit draws us to God through means such as Scripture, prayer, and the church. Although John doesn’t name Him explicitly, we can assume that the One seated on the throne is the Father, thus including all three Persons of the Trinity. However, as we’ll see in 5:6 and other places, the identity of the three Persons gets hard to keep separate. That’s appropriate, I’d say.
John’s description of the throne of heaven, and of the One seated on it, gives us seven aspects of God, expressed in symbolic form.
1. The one on the throne has the appearance of precious gems. God is precious and valuable. Too often we value the blessings we receive from God more than we value him, like a greedy child who likes the goodies that his parents give him, but doesn’t care about the parents themselves.
2. The throne is encircled by a rainbow, the first image of God’s grace and of his first covenant with humanity (Genesis 9:12-16). God is gracious. We often think of God as a judge who watches and evaluates our every move. We’ll see God’s role as judge later (20:11-15), but this is something that God does, it’s not something that He is. Grace is more important than judgment.
3. The twenty-four elders surround the throne. As I’ve already mentioned, they are the leaders of the people of God and represent us there. God includes us. We’re not some afterthought, relegated to a far corner of heaven somewhere. He values and includes us. At times we may be tempted to think that God merely tolerates us. But he delights in us. What amazing love!
4. The elders are wearing white robes, are wearing crowns, and are seated on thrones. Through the gracious work of Christ, they are holy and pure, and they are honored. The multitude of God’s people that we’ll meet in Chapter 7 are also wearing white robes, and I’ll go out on a limb and claim that they are also honored. After all, Romans 8:16-17 tells us that we’ll be co-heirs with Christ). The only way we can become pure and holy is for God to give it to us. For him to give it to us, he has to have it himself.
5. Thunder rolls from the throne, and lightning flashes from it. It’s the power of God, as Exodus 19 also describes. Some religious scholars think that Israelite worship of the Lord began with an understanding of Him as the storm god. I certainly won’t go that far, but the fact that these scholars suggest it demonstrates that in the Old Testament, they find a lot of descriptions of God’s power expressed in storm images. For the ancient peoples, thunderstorms were one of the most powerful forces that they encountered. Their power, and all power, comes from God. We’re not worshiping a Lord who is safely cooped up in a church or in a remote place called heaven. He is active and powerful. You’d best pay attention to him!
6. There are seven lampstands surrounding the throne. John tells us that they are spirit of God. Exodus 25 and 2 Chronicles 4 tell us about the golden lampstands that were part of the tabernacle and the temple, where God was present with his people. In fact, the light of the lamps came to be recognized as a symbol of that presence, and tending to the lampstands was a critical aspect of temple worship. That’s the key to the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, by the way. The despotic emperor Antiochus Ephiphanes had desecrated the temple and extinguished the lampstands. After a successful revolt the temple was rededicated and the lamps relight. This is also, by the way, why we light the candles in the front of the church before worship: to represent God’s presence with us as we worship him. So, just as the elders represent our place in God’s presence, the lampstands symbolize God’s presence with us. We are never alone.
7. The throne stands before a clear, crystal-like sea of glass. This should remind us of the story of creation that we find in Genesis 1. When Solomon built his temple, he include a giant basin called the Sea (1 Kings 7:23-25), to remind the worshipers of this as well. In ancient cosmology, the dry earth exists in between two bodies of water. The water below is the ocean, which is visible in the places where the land stops. The water above is in the heavens, and occasionally leaks down on us as rain. The earth can exist in this space between the waters because of the sustaining power of God (Noah’s flood happened when God decided to collapse the waters together). The fact that the heavenly waters are below the throne indicates that God is above the heavenly waters, and in fact controls them. God sustains all of creation. Sometimes we think of creation as something that God did back at the beginning, and now the world is going along its merry course by its own devices. Not true. Creation is a continuing process which allows us to continue to exist. We depend upon God for every moment of our existence.
I touched on a description of the four living creatures before. But just as a reminder, they embody the best of God’s creation (we also see them in Ezekiel’s vision in Ezek. 1). First, they are living. As Jesus said, God is the God of the living (Mark 12:27). What he creates is alive, dynamic, and vital (even if some parts of creation like mountains and the planets are literally alive). The creatures are covered with eyes, to demonstrate their knowledge, insight, perception, and discernment (have you ever noticed how many words that describe knowledge or wisdom are related to vision?). This isn’t a surveillance “Big Brother is watching you” kind of vision, but the kind of insight that sees through deceit and false appearance to perceive what’s real.
The first creature is like a lion: noble, impressive, even regal.
The second creature is like an ox: strong, solid, and useful.
The third is a human: wise and intelligent. Notice that the human isn’t the first or the last creature, but somewhere in the middle. A bit of humility is warranted for us; we’re not the pinnacle of creation, although we are made in God’s image. Given the ambiguous nature of humanity, I think our wisdom and intelligence is a double edged sword: perhaps “cunning” would be a better way to express it. By the way, the Ewe people of Ghana and Togo, whom I work with, call Europeans and Americans “yevu.” From the way the word’s been described to me, I think “cunning” is the best way to translate it. On the one hand, it’s a recognition of the technological savvy of Westerners. But it also recognizes the way that colonialists have stuck it to the Africans.
The fourth creature is like an eagle: swift, keen vision, and able to rise above it all.
The main thing that the living creatures and the elders do around God’s throne is lift up their praise to Him. As John describes it, the praise never lets those poor elders take a break. The living creatures never stop lifting up their praise to God (v. 8). And every time they do, the elders fall down on the ground and lay down their crowns in worship (vv. 9-10). Verse 10, by the way, is the inspiration for that line in the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy:” “Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.”
I was starting to feel bad for these elders who never get a rest. And some people wonder if life in heaven is really going to be all that great, if all we’re going to be doing is worshiping all the time. When we think this, we’re losing sight of what worship is all about. Maybe that’s because our understanding of worship has been clouded by the fact that far too often “worship” means getting up on a Sunday morning when we’d rather sleep in, and listening to a long boring sermon and singing creaky old hymns while wearing uncomfortable dress clothes and sitting on hard wooden pews. Yes: far too often our worship activities fall short of the excitement and wonder that they should have. A better way to think of what life is like for those elders, and what it will be for us, is to think of other activities that get us excited. Here are three examples:
1. Do you remember the line in advertisements for Monster Truck Jams? “We’ll sell you the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge!”
2. Have you ever wondered why they put seats in places like Heinz Field and the Petersen Event Center? The fans are always on their feet! At Pitt basketball games, the student section is always on their feet, hopping up and down.
3. When I think of some of my favorite concerts that I’ve been to, I was on my feet the whole time, enjoying the music. I’ve never been in a mosh pit, but that would be the extreme version of this.
So, in each of these examples, people are on their feet because they’re excited. There may not be as much alcohol and vandalism, but the level of excitement in heaven around God’s throne will be more like Pittsburgh’s celebration of the Superbowl victory than a stodgy Sunday morning service. But even more! Yeah, football’s great. But if we truly understand who God is, as John’s description tries to present it, all of eternity won’t be long enough to contain our excited praise of Him.
posted by Rev. Peter de Vries, Old Union Presbyterian Church @ 10:36 AM
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