The Throne Room of Heaven
1 After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet v said, “Come up here, w and I will show you what must take place after this.” x
2 Immediately I was in the Spirit, y and there was a throne in heaven z and someone was seated on it. 3 The one seated there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian stone. a A rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald surrounded the throne. b
4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones sat twenty- four elders c dressed in white clothes, d with golden crowns on their heads. e
5 Flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder came from the throne. f Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. g 6 Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne. h
Four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back were around the throne on each side. 7 The first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like an ox; the third living creature had a face like a man; and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. i 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings; j they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night k they never stop, saying,
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God, the Almighty,
who was, who is, and who is to come. l
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one seated on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, m 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before the one seated on the throne n and worship the one who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne and say,
11 Our Lord and God,
you are worthy o to receive
glory and honor and power, p
because you have created all things, q
and by your will
they exist and were created.
4:1. The first thing John sees is the open door to the gates of the heavenly temple (cf. 11:19; 15:5), and his spirit is immediately swept up into the inner sanctuary, where the throne of God resides (7:15). The blowing of a temple trumpet usually heralds the next part of a Jewish liturgy (cf. Lv 23:24), and so the familiar “voice . . . like a trumpet” that commissioned John as a scribe in his first vision (1:10) now issues a new call to worship. A heavenly liturgy of epic proportions begins.
4:2–6a. The object of worship is the Lord God Almighty in his full glory. In the throne-chariot epiphany traditions of Ezk 1–2; Is 6; Dn 7, and later Jewish apocalypses, God appears as a divine ruler seated on his heavenly throne (4:2) whose glorious splendor is depicted with the most luminous terms possible. Semiprecious stones like jasper and carnelian are worn like a tunic by God, and a rainbow of emerald surrounds him (4:3; cf. Ex 28:13; Ezk 1:16, 26–28; 28:13). Reminiscent of the Sinai theophany, where God appears before Israel in the form of a storm cloud (Ex 19:17–18), flashes of lightning and peals of thunder roar from the throne (4:5a; cf. Ezk 1:13–14). The flaming torches from the menorah in the temple are the seven spirits, or the Holy Spirit (Rv 1:4; cf. Is 11:2–3), whose light burns constantly and whose presence sustains the churches (4:5b). A sea of glasslike crystal covers the temple floor (4:6a). The sea is a symbol of chaos and sin in the OT (Ps 74:13–17), but its calm state before the throne means that chaos has clearly been subdued by God (cf. Ezk 1:22; Gn 1:8).
4:6b–8. In the second concentric circle (moving toward the center) are the four living creatures with six wings that resemble the cherubim of Ezk 1:4–25, with the faces of a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle (4:6b–7). The four angelic beings embody the entire created order from the four corners of the earth (7:1; 20:8): land animals, birds, human beings, and the like. The eyes of the cherubim “around and inside” signify divine omniscience and their role as agents of God’s will (4:8a). In an endless chorus, they sing a hymn resembling the one sung by the seraphim of Isaiah (4:8b; cf. Is 6:3); thus the reader is reminded that God is wholly separate from us and that only out of his mercy does the Creator meddle in the lives of sinful human beings.
4:9–11. The twenty-four elders join the litany of the four cherubim with their own acts of worship. They fall prostrate and throw down their laurels before the enthroned one (4:9–10). In the ancient world, it was a common ritual for magistrates to surrender their crowns to pay homage to the emperor. Here the elders offer their crowns not to Caesar but to the Creator. In a hymn of their own, the elders proclaim that true power belongs to “our Lord and God” (4:11).