CHAPTER 4

(A.D. 96)

THE THRONE

¹After this I looked (represents the time after the Churches, or in other words after the Rapture), and, behold, a door was opened in Heaven (gives John the ability to see what is taking place there): and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me (is actually the Voice of Jesus, harking back to Rev. 1:10); which said, Come up hither, and I will show you things which must be hereafter (after the Rapture of the Church).

²And immediately I was in the Spirit (John saw these things in a Vision): and, behold, a Throne was set in Heaven, and One sat on the Throne (God the Father).

³And He Who 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. (This proclaims the Glory of God, which is beyond comprehension.)

⁴And round about the Throne were four and twenty seats (Thrones): and upon the seats I saw four and twenty Elders sitting (these men represent the entirety of the Work of God as it pertains to Believers, with, no doubt, a mixture of Prophets and Apostles), clothed in white raiment (represents the Righteousness of Christ); and they had on their heads crowns of gold (signifying authority).

⁵And out of the Throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices (whatever all of this is, it is constant): and there wereseven lamps of fire burning before the Throne, which are the Seven Spirits of God. (This represents the totality and universality of the Holy Spirit. The number Seven is Gods number, denoting perfection.)

LIVING CREATURES

⁶And before the Throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal (presents that which is perfectly transparent): and in the midst of the Throne, and round about the Throne, were four Beasts (living creatures) full of eyes before and behind. (This is introducing creatures we have no knowledge of and which are beyond comprehension, as so much in Heaven actually is.)

⁷And the first Beast (living creature)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. (These strange creatures are before the Throne constantly.)

⁸And the four Beasts (living creatures) had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within (signifying the revealing of their innermost nature and being): and they rest not day and night (proclaiming that these beings are spirit and not flesh), saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. (Using the threefold repetition calls attention to the infinite Holiness of God.)

HEAVENLY WORSHIP

⁹And when those Beasts (living creatures) give glory and honour and thanks to Him Who sat on the Throne, Who lives forever and ever (if these creatures can constantly give God Glory, and Honor, and Thanks, how can we who have known the glorious Redemption of our Lord do any less!),

¹⁰The four and twenty Elders fall down before Him Who sat on the Throne, and worship Him Who lives forever and ever (the action of the 24 Elders, who represent the Church of the Living God in Heaven, proclaims what the Church on Earth ought to be), and cast their crowns before the Throne, saying (presents the acknowledgment of their royal estate; it all comes from God!),

¹¹You are worthy, O Lord, to receive Glory and Honour and Power (unless the Lords worth is fully sensed by the worshiper, ones own unworthiness will never be realized): for You have created all things, and for Your pleasure they are and were created. (In effect, the praises of these 24 Elders tell us that the Creation, and that means every part of the Creation, is going to be completely restored, and all because of what Christ did at the Cross!)