Revelation - Part 4

Notes
Transcript

The One on the Throne

Revelation 4:1–3 ESV
1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.
So, the question is, who is sitting on the throne? We are Oneness, so we know why there is only one on the throne. We also know why there is only one throne.
Notice that it does not say there are 3 thrones.
You won’t find that anywhere in scripture
You also don’t find 3 sitting on the Throne.
There is one throne, and one on the Throne.
so, who is it, that is on the Throne?
I think, it is important to notice that for this entire chapter, John doesn’t say who it is… he just says, “one on the throne”, or “him on the throne” and so forth. Every other vision like this says YHWH is on the throne, or God is on the throne, but John is being intentionally obscure. This is because he is wanting to let the punch line build up. We expect it to be God the Father, or YHWH. But who is it really?
Revelation 4:1 ESV
1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
First, take note of where this throne is… Heaven.
John says I looked through an open door to heaven.
and heard a voice calling me to his throne.
Who is the one on the throne?
1 Kings 22:19 ESV
19 And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left;
Isaiah 66:1 ESV
1 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?
Matthew 5:34–35 ESV
34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
So, Jesus confirms that Heaven is YHWH’s throne, and does so again in chapter 23.22
Matthew 23:22 ESV
22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
Who is sitting on the throne?
So, far, we know that it is no other that YHWH himself.
Even Jesus backs this up.
So, the one sitting on the Throne is YHWH, or God the Father… right?
This is right. It is God the Father… but let’s look closely at who the Father is.
Revelation 4:1 ESV
1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
Now, we have established that the throne is in Heaven.
And that throne belongs to God alone.
And the very next sentence says that John heard a voice speaking to him
and it was the first voice he heard, earlier in this vision
The one that spoke like a trumpet.
Who is that speaking?
Revelation 1:10 ESV
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet
Revelation 1:12–13 (ESV)
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me…
13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man…
So, the voice like the trumpet that talk to John first, was Jesus.
So, now, we have this throne in Heaven,
Which we established is clearly the throne of YHWH,
but it is the voice of Jesus speaking to John like a trumpet,
telling him to come up to the throne room.
And what does John see when he follows the voice of Jesus to the throne?
Revelation 4:2 ESV
2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.
One seated on the throne
Not two, but one
And who called John up there?
Jesus.
Don’t you see, Jesus is YHWH
John saw Jesus among the 7 lampstands in chapter one
Those are the churches
He knew Jesus was in the churches
But now John realizes that Jesus is also the One on the Throne in Heaven.
Zechariah 14:9 (ESV)
9 And the YHWH will be king over all the earth. On that day the YHWH will be one and his name one.
What’s His name?
Jesus.
He is the only one on the throne.
He didn’t replace the Father
Jesus is the Father
John 14:8–9 ESV
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Jesus tried to tell his disciples on earth who He was,
but then John saw it for himself in heaven
When he sees Jesus sitting on the throne reserved for YHWH alone.
Revelation 4:3 ESV
3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.
He had the appearance of jasper and carnelian.
these are gemstones.
Now, Jasper comes in many colors, but, we’ll see in a second that John tells us that Jasper is clear like crystal.
However, Carnelian is only red, or a reddish orange.
Revelation 21:11 ESV
11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
Here’s a picture I found of clear Jasper.
Now, in the Old testament, the priest wore an ephod with 12 stones
One stone to represent each tribe of Isreal.
The first and last stone on the ephod was a Carnelian and a Jasper stone.
The First and the last, appears as the first and the last rocks.
I thought that was interesting.
Now, depending on which translation you read, some call that first stone the sardius stone, but in Hebrew is the Carnelian.
Speaking of the Carnelian,
We mentioned its color.
It is a deep red color,
Kinda reminds you of blood if you asked me.
Clear jasper and blood red, what does that remind you of?
We read it Sunday actually.
Isaiah 1:18 ESV
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
If we don’t think the voice of a trumpet identifies the one on the throne as Jesus,
Surely the blood red stone is a dead giveaway.
Revelation 4:3 ESV
3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.
So, Jesus appears as clear Jasper, and blood read Carnelian,
But he is surrounded by a rainbow with the appearance of an emerald.
Now, we know what rainbows look like.
They have green in them, but they are not entirely emerald.
Emerald is a beautiful green color.
Probably my favorite color.
And that isn’t what rainbows look like
When you study the Greek word here, translated as “rainbow”
It only appears in the Bible twice,
Both in Revelation
The word literally means a circle of light.
And it could look more like a halo than a rainbow.
So, I don’t think the correct visual is a rainbow, but more of a halo that has an emerald color.
The emerald was the 4 stone in the ephod the Priest wore
And each stone represented the 12 sons of Isreal
And the 4th stone is the Emerald
And the 4th son of Isreal was Judah
So, to me, this Emerald halo around Jesus symbolized his ties to the royal linage of the tribe of Judah.
It is a display of His royalty
his ties to David the King after God’s own heart
Revelation 4:4 ESV
4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.
Who are the 24 elders?
They all have Thrones, and they are sitting in a circle around THE throne that Jesus is sitting on.
They are clothed in white, representing their holiness
And crowned with gold, representing their victory
But who are they?
The easiest assumption is that they are the 12 sons of Isreal,
and the 12 Apostles
Of course Judas wouldn’t be there
Matthias replaced him
But this also means that Paul wouldn’t have a seat there
I personally find that hard to imagine
But Paul would probably like it that way
I know I would gladly give up my seat to literally anyone if one of those thrones were mine.
Matthew 19:28 ESV
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Well, this verse helps us out a lot
First, we find out we are correct in assuming the One on the Throne is Jesus.
Second, we find out that Jesus has planned to let them all sit on 12 thrones of their own.
So, we have half the equation pretty much figured out.
Who are the other 12 elders?
Again, it makes sense that it would be the 12 sons of Jacob,
but the more I think about it, I’m not so sure.
Would we really put Rueben on one of those seats, and not Paul?
Would we put Benjamin, or Dan, or Simeon on there ahead of James the brother of Jesus?
Let’s take stock of everything we can know about these 24 elders:
They sit around the throne, clothed in white robes and wearing crowns, (4:4)
they cast their crowns before the throne (4:10);
Revelation 4:10–11 ESV
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
they continually worshipping Jesus.
Revelation 5:14 ESV
14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Revelation 7:11 ESV
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
Revelation 11:16 ESV
16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,
Revelation 19:4 ESV
4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”
they bring to Jesus the prayers of the saints (5:8);
Revelation 5:8 ESV
8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
one of them encourages the John, when he is sad (5:5);
Revelation 5:5 ESV
5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
and one of them acts as interpreter of one of the visions for John (7:13).
Revelation 7:13–14 ESV
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
The Revelation of John, Volume 1 (The Twenty-Four Elders (Revelation 4:4))
One explanation which I think is much more likely to fit. In the OT There were so many priests in Israel that they could not possibly serve in the Temple at the one time, and so they were divided into twenty-four different courses (1 Chronicles 24:7–18). Each of these courses had its leader, known as an elder of the priests. Sometimes these elders were called officers, or governors, of the house of God (1 Chronicles 24:5). It is suggested that the twenty-four elders stand symbolically for the twenty-four courses or teams of the priests. The elders present the prayers of the faithful to God (Revelation 5:8), and that is priestly work. The Levites who were divided into twenty-four courses for the work of the Temple in the OT, they praised God with harps and lyres and cymbals (1 Chronicles 25:6–31); and the elders also have their harps (Revelation 5:8) and they are also praising and worshiping God the entire book of Revelation as we have shown. So the twenty-four elders may stand for the heavenly version of the earthly worship of the priests and Levites in the Temple.
However, we don’t have levites serving as priest in the NT.
The Bible says that we are all part of a royal priesthood now,
and Jesus is our High Priest.
So, If these 24 elders are representing priests,
they cannot be Levitical priests
It must be the church.
Since Jesus replace the High Priest
It only makes sense that the church has replaced the priesthood.
Not just any priesthood, but a royal one.
Which explains the crowns the elders are wearing.
1 Peter 2:9 ESV
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
One other note, is that Ezekiel saw 25 beings surrounding the throne in his vision.
It is believed that those 25 represented the 24 teams of Levites, and the high priest.
This coincides with the explaination of John’s vision
because the high priest is Jesus.
So, Ezekiel saw the 25, plus God who is on the throne
And John saw 24, plus Jesus, the High Priest, who is on the throne.
Ok, back to the text.
Revelation 4:5 ESV
5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,
The lightning, rumblings, and thunder are explained in chapter 8. We briefly discussed this last week when we talked about the 7 Spirits of God. If you missed that explaination, the short version is that the 7 Spirits of God are 7 angels, and we will see them blow 7 trumpets starting in chapter 8.
Revelation 4:6 ESV
6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind:
First off, here in verse 6, we have a description of the floor.
John says it is like a sea of glass, like crystal.
This is his best attempt to explain the flooring of Heaven.
Later, we find that John says the floor is like transparent gold.
So, evidently, the floor is clear, smooth, and vast. Like nothing we’ve ever seen on Earth.
If we had a clear floor, we would see dirt below it.
If we covered the dirt with something, then we’d see that.
So, in Heaven, there isn’t any dirt
The Bible calls it a “clean city”.
I’m looking forward to seeing that.
Verse 6, then continues on by telling us about these 4 living creatures.
John doesn’t know what to call them
and based on the description, I don’t either.
They have eyes, plural, all over the front and back of themselves.
Revelation 4:7–8 ESV
7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
So, they look somewhat like animals that John has seen on earth, but not exactly since he says “like”.
Also, because he says they have more than one set of eyes. None of these earthly creatures have more than one set of eyes.
If we look back at Ezekiel’s vision of Heaven, we do see some similarly described creatures.
He saw four living creatures
The difference is that he says they each have four faces, but the face are the same as John describes
Except Ezekiel doesn’t mention anything about a bunch of eyes on the creatures, but rather, the eyes were on the wheels the creatures had.
In both visions, the creatures are like nothing we’ve ever seen.
I can’t imagine seeing this, and trying to explain it to someone else.
All through Revelation, these 4 creatures are involved in worship of God.
Do they symbolize anything important?
Many have suggested they symnolize God’s attributes.
The best parts of each of these creatures
The authority of the lion, the intelligence of the man, the strength of the ox, the height or vision or speed of the eagle. The amount of eyes to denote omniscience.
Nothing excepts his eyes.
This is possible
Barnes says they represent God’s divine government.
Some say they are just angels, but strange looking ones.
Ezekiel calls them angels
Ezekiel 10:20 ESV
20 These were the living creatures that I saw underneath the God of Israel by the Chebar canal; and I knew that they were cherubim.
One suggestion by William Barclay is that the creatures represent the preeminece of God. Each creature is the noblest, strongest, wisest, and swiftest in nature.
The Revelation of John, Volume 1 The Four Living Creatures (2) (Revelation 4:6b–8 Contd)

Each creature has the pre-eminence in its own particular sphere. The lion is supreme among beasts; the ox is supreme among cattle; the eagle is supreme among birds; and a human being is supreme among all creatures. The beasts represent all the greatness and the strength and the beauty of nature; here we see nature praising God

One early Christian named Irenaeus, believed the 4 creatures represented the 4 Gospels. Later Christians picked up this idea and ran with it, and even assigned certain creatures to certain Gospels.
After, all my study on this topic, I can safely say that I don’t know what they represent. However, I do think they are angels, and that they are the same creatures that Ezekiel saw. I also think that they are meant to worship God, like all creation, and if they do represent nature, then it does make the most sense to me that they represent nature worshiping God. Most pagans worship nature, but in truth, nature worships God…
Revelation 4:8 ESV
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
And here, we can see that these creatures never take a break from worshipping God. Night and day they just cry holy, holy, holy is the Lord god Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.
Now, we are certain that Jesus is the Almighty God who was, and is, and is to come, because we know He is the one on the throne in this chapter.
Revelation 4:9–11 ESV
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Verse 9 says whenever the 4 creatures worship God, and verse 8 says they never cease to worship God, so basically, there is the episode on replay over and over again of these 4 angels that seem to represent the best parts of creation, who cry holy, holy, holy, and then the 24 elders who represent the church all fall down and worship Jesus too, and they throw their crowns down, they cry “worthy…
Notice, it says, for you create all things… this is why I think the 4 living creatures are a representation of the best parts of creation… because the praise that is given is because of creation.
One day, we will join together in that song…
One day, we will cast our crowns at his feet.
One day, we won’t have to worry about losing loved ones, pain, suffering, anxiety, or disease.
One day, we will see Jesus, in all his glory
Shining like the sun.
And we’re going to cry holy, holy, holy.
Worthy is the lamb to be praised.
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