Revelation Chapter 4
In this chapter John experiences something that he calls being in the Spirit and being invited to experience heaven. This is a different experience than what he described in chapter 1 when the angel of God came to John to bear witness to John. Chapter 4 seems to indicate that the spirit of John was literally in the throne room of God. John uses symbols to describe heavenly things. But not everything is symbolic. The symbols themselves are not important, just as the symbols in the parables Jesus taught, but the reality of heaven certainly is very important.
Revelation 4 introduces us to the place that God’s judgement will come from, the throne of God. John is invited by Jesus to come up to heaven. John hears sounds very much like the wording of the sounds that will be heard at the calling up of the saints in I Thessalonians 4:16 known as the rapture. In his vision John hears a voice with a commanding sound like a trumpet. In this chapter, nor in any of the chapters (5-19) that contain the Lord’s future judgement upon the earth, is the word church mentioned. The church has already been taken up.
Let's Reflect
1. As John went through an open door into heaven, he was immediately struck by the beauty of the throne room. He tried to describe it to us, but there is a sense that he did not have the right words to describe it. He first notes that there is someone seated on the throne. The throne is not empty. He mentions colors in trying to describe the one on the throne, jasper and carnelian. He also talks about something that is of many colors that surround the throne that was bright like an emerald, what was it?
2. There were 24 other thrones around the throne of God where elders were seated. We know that these were not angels even though angels can be clothed in white, but they also had something on their heads that angels do not have, what was on their heads? The Bible does not tell us who these elders are, but Bible scholars speculate they are some of the names we read about in the Bible.
3. It is important to note the power that is coming from the throne of God. This power John describes as flashes of lightning, rumblings and thunder. And in front of the throne is a visible sign of the part of the trinity know as God the Holy Spirit. What did John see there? You will note that John sees seven of them as seven is the perfect number of God. You probably noticed that as we read chapters 1-3 the number seven was repeated often.
4. What did John describe in front of the throne in verse 6?
5. The next section describes the four living creatures better known as cherubim. Some Bibles, including the King James Version, will call them beasts. The words living creatures better suits my thinking as well because John is trying to describe creatures that are extremely beautiful and that worship God, day and night. For a better understanding of what cherubim look like, read Ezekiel 1 where we find the Old Testament prophet had a similar experience as John – the opportunity to see in a vision, things not of this earth. Ezekiel describes the cherubim as having four sides with a different face on each side. We mothers love to joke that we have two sides because when raising our children we have eyes in the back of our heads. But the cherubim have four different faces and they also have many eyes. When John looks on these four cherubim, he sees a different face of the different side of each. Meaning on one cherub he saw the face of the lion, but on another he saw the face of an eagle, and the other he saw the face of an ox, and the fourth the face of a man. But all four of these creatures had these same four different faces. How many wings does John say they each had?
Another description of the cherubim is found in Ezekiel 10:20-22. We also learn that Satan was once one of these beautiful creatures before his fall. This is found in Ezekiel 28:14-15.
6. What do the cherubim do continually day and night in heaven?
7. The worship of the 24 elders is prompted by the cherubim. All of them worship God, day and night also, since that is what the cherubim do. What does the Bible say that they do when they worship Jesus on the throne? This shows us that we all exist to give glory and honor to God. This pleases Him and this is our true purpose!
