June 5: Revelation 4:1-11

Transported into heaven, John sees a magnificent throne with an even more magnificent King seated there. The passage is thick with imagery, and here we need to observe two things. First, we need to keep in mind that prophetic and apocalyptic literature has a dreamlike quality to it. For example, if we take things only literally then it’s hard to imagine how John knew the living creatures had eyes inside their bodies (4:8) unless they showed him somehow, which is creepy. But perhaps you’ve experienced this—sometimes in dreams you have access to knowledge you haven’t witnessed (like in verse 8 where John seems to know that these creatures never cease to give praise, even though he just got to heaven).

That’s not to say that all the things John sees here are metaphorical or purely spiritual. On the whole, we should read these visions as if this is exactly what John saw—to not do so risks over-spiritualizing the text, makes us wonder why John would write about stuff he maybe didn’t actually see, and leaves us trying to guess the symbolism of every minute detail. However, we should also assume that John had access to at least some spiritual/metaphorical content, like the creatures having eyeballs inside them, and that these details have something plain and simple to tell us (ex. the creatures, being supernaturally perceptive, witness things in heaven and earth continually and react by calling God holy).

The second thing we need to observe is this, that John describes things in the heavenly with some caveats, like a rainbow that had “the appearance of emerald.”(4:3) This is reminiscent of Isaiah and Ezekiel’s visions (ex. Eze. 1:28), and the reticence could indicate that John was seeing things he had a hard time explaining. However, this also likely reflects a classic, Jewish hesitancy towards describing God. For example, in Isaiah 6, Isaiah sees the throne of God in the Temple, and all he describes is the train of God’s robe. God is so holy, so transcendent, that Isaiah couldn’t even look at him or describe him.

Here John is doing the same thing—note that he only describes the appearance of the One on the throne (4:3, like brilliant, precious jewels) and, in 5:1, his hand. This should add volumes to our understanding of the worshipful nature of the text. Here we have God’s throne, surrounded by supernatural living creatures (cf. Isaiah 6:3) and twenty-four elders (likely the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles) who all never cease to worship God. Which, it’s worth saying that more important than the identity and appearance of the creatures and elders is their activity: ceaseless praise and worship of God. They point to his holiness (4:8) and his works in creation (4:11) as the full criteria to prove his worth in receiving unending praise from his creation.

As a sidebar, next week we’ll see the real ramifications of all this when Jesus shows up in 5:6, because the throne-room attendees will praise him the same way, a bold declaration for the deity of Jesus and the significance of his work in saving his people.