Revelation 4: King of the Hill

Revelation 4: The King of the Hill

Revelation 4: King of the Hill

There was a game we played when we were kids, and not to brag but I was pretty good at it. No this is not a football story. About a half mile from our house in Arlington they built a Kmart. They had to do a lot of dirt work and beside the new building was a pile of dirt that was 100 ft high (at least it seemed that high to me, probably more like 10 ft). We would choose someone to be ‘it’ and they would climb all the way up to the top of the hill and there proclaim themselves to be the “king of the hill”. The object was for those down below to unseat the king. Sometimes we could rush the king one at a time and sometimes we would attack in a mass multi-front assault. Either way the king was in constant battle to maintain his kingdom at the top of the hill. Like I said I was pretty good at the game so I never got picked to be it. I always had to fight to be king and after I was king I had to fight to maintain my position. I never had loyal subjects singing my praises and adoring my reign over them. Today we are going to be looking at Revelation 4:1-11, the entire chapter. We will be getting our first look into the heavenly throne room. This is John’s second vision and to be honest the vision runs from chapter 4 through chapter 16 but I’m not going to try that. When we look into the throne room we will see that there is a King on the throne and no one is going to unseat Him and all will praise Him. Let’s pray then we will get into God’s word.

Let’s go ahead and read our passage for this morning then we will break it down a little. Revelation 4:1-11 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: 11“You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”[1]

In chapter 1 John had a vision in which He saw Jesus (One like the Son of Man) walking among the golden lampstands (His church) and holding the seven stars (His messengers). And in the vision John is given a command to write everything he sees and hears. After that Jesus dictates seven separate letters to seven individual churches. Here in chapter 4 John says that the first vision is over, he has written the letters and now a new vision is beginning (After these things). John says that he looked up and the heavens were opened to him. That happens a few other times in the New Testament; Jesus’ baptism, when Stephen was stoned and when Peter had his vision of the sheet coming down from heaven. Here it says that it appeared as if a door had opened and the voice he had heard before, the voice that sounded like a loud trumpet and many waters in chapter 1 speaks to him and some would call it an invitation but I call it a command was given for him to come up through the door. He makes it clear that this is a vision by saying that he was immediately in the Spirit. I do not know what went on with John’s body during this time but this was without a doubt a spiritual vision. “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” There are two things I want to point out here. First: Some scholars have attempted to say that when John is called through the door in heaven it is symbolic of the rapture, the taking out of the church spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4. This is not a discussion of when the rapture will or will not occur but this verse; this call for John to go up, spiritually ascend to view the throne room of God is not a proof text for the rapture because the language (come up) is clearly singular not plural. John is receiving a vision and it is only him being called to see it not a call of the church to glory. Second: The things that “must take place after this” is not what we will see in this chapter. That will come later on in this second vision. What we will see is what is going on right now, in John’s case in real time. In a spiritual sense John is seeing what is going on in heaven in real time. Jesus has pulled back the veil, opened the door and allowed a corporeal being, a human, to see the spiritual. John is seeing things as they truly are without the veil of flesh that blinds us due to sin.

Revelation 4:2-3 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. There is a story, I don’t know if it is true or not, it is probably just a story but it goes like this; One Sunday morning in Sunday School the teacher asked the kids what God was like. They had their discussion and later on during the art time little Johnny sat with his crayons and colored pencils coloring away, doing his very best artwork. The teacher asked little Johnny what he was drawing, to which he answered; “I’m drawing God.” The teacher, wanting to be biblically correct said; “ but Johnny, no one knows what God looks like.” To which Johnny wisely responded; “Now they will.” This young boy was doing his best to provide the world with a picture of God. John was in the throne room of heaven. He doesn’t bother with describing the throne but he did try to describe the One on the throne, and the best he could do was colors. He did His best to draw god for us. Try it yourself, verbally describe what glory looks like. Describe for us what majesty looks like, what omnipotence or holiness looks like. Try easier words like goodness or mercy or grace, what do they look like, not what are the action, what do they look like? The point is John saw God in all of His holy attributes and his words failed him. It is almost as if he gave up and said “It’s like a rainbow surrounding Him it is so beautiful and awesome!” Ezekiel did just about the same thing in Ezekiel 1:26-28 26 And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. 27 Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.[2] Little Johnny tried, Ezekiel the prophet tried and John the revelator tried but still all we know about the appearance of God is that it is awesome and somewhat indescribable.

So John turns his attention from the One who is seated on the main throne to 24 other thrones with 24 elders clothed in white with gold crowns on their heads seated on them. There have been a lot written concerning these 24 elders. Some believe they are part of the angelic entourage of God, and they could be. Some draw a parallel between these 24 and the 24 orders of the Aaronic priesthood in 1 Chronicles 24:4 that David established and they could be. But I think we established last week that the seven churches that this revelation is written to is representative of all the church, and that the Revelation is written to help Christ’s church throughout all the ages and with that being the case I think there is a better explanation. Remember, much of what we find in the Revelation is representative or symbolic; seven lampstands are symbolic of the seven churches, seven stars are symbolic of the messengers to the seven churches, seven Spirits the completeness of the Holy Spirit. With that in mind let’s look at the other possibility. You don’t find many 24’s in Scripture but you do find some 12’s. How many tribes of Israel are there? How many Apostles of Jesus are there? There are 12 tribes of Israel and there are 12 Apostles. Even I can do that math. These 12 elders are not literally the 12 sons of Israel or literally the 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ. I believe the 24 elders are representative of all the redeemed of humanity, the Old Covenant saints represented by the 12 tribes of Israel and the New Covenant saints represented by the 12 Apostles. I have other reasons for believing that the 24 elders represent the redeemed of God through the ages other than the addition of 12 and 12. Revelation 2:10 Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.[3] Revelation 2:26-27 says that those who overcome will reign with Him. Revelation 3:4-5 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.[4] Revelation 3:11 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.[5] Revelation 3:18 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed,[6] Revelation 3:21 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.[7] What do we see here? Those who are the redeemed, who overcome, will be dressed in white robes, will have gold crowns and I believe in Revelation 4 we see that they will be seated with Christ on the throne of His Father.

Here comes the tricky part. How can this be? The church, all the redeemed of God are not in heaven yet. This interpretation has been objected to on the grounds that the church will not be seated, white-robed and crowned, in the presence of God in heaven until after judgment day; and since that day is not described till much later in the book, and at this stage the church is not yet triumphant, but still militant, or struggling here in the earth then this interpretation cannot be correct. However in Ephesians 2:6 Paul states that Christ has raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The order in which events are shown to John may not be—in some cases cannot be—the order in which they happen historically. Paul tells us in Philippians 3:20-21 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.[8] That is the wonder and the frustration of the already but not yet nature of the believer. We already are seated in the throne room of God, with white robes of righteousness and crowns of victory but we are still here working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

John sees the glory of God, the redeemed of God around His throne and now it intensifies with thunder and lightning and voices and the Holy Spirit shows Himself as burning lamps or torches burning before the throne of God. I think that Jesus now has John’s attention. If John were not in the Spirit then his body would be on sensory overload. All the sight and sound and when you get to chapter 5, still the throne room in heaven, there is also the smell of the prayers of the saints. But we are not through with chapter 4 yet.

Revelation 4:6-8 6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”

To be honest I could not find any commentators who really had anything significant to say about the “sea of glass, like crystal” that was before the throne. So I’ll just give you my opinion. I think it is just another picture of the grandeur and beauty of the throne room of God. All the colors of the rainbow surrounding the throne along with the lightning all being reflected by the ‘glass’ floor must have been breath taking. The best my feeble mind can conjure up is a disco ball. But I know it is better than that. As for the living creatures, or as the KJV says living beasts, much has been written and much of what has been written is conjecture, guess work at best. But the description John gives us is very similar to the description Ezekiel gives of four beasts in Ezekiel 1. They are not exact, there is a difference in the number of wings and all four faces are on each of the creatures in Ezekiel but the similarities are close enough to believe that John and Ezekiel are describing the same beings. Neither John nor Ezekiel saw a flying calf, a flying lion, a flying man or even a 4 or 6 winged eagle. These creatures are a part of God’s angelic creation who appear to tend to the throne room whose purpose is to guard (eyes all around) and worship and lead worship of God Almighty. There are only two times in Scripture that angelic beings cry out “holy, holy, holy”. The first is found in Isaiah 6:3 where the seraphim (angelic beings with six wings) cried out, ‘holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts. The whole earth is filled with His glory.’ Though these are obviously actual creatures it seems to me that they represent all of God’s creation. And Psalm 150 says that all of His creation praises Him: Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord![9] Here these 4 creatures praise God continually (day and night) for His eternal nature and His power. And when they do that it brings on even more praise.

Revelation 4:9-11 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: 11“You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”[10] When the 4 beasts praise Him for His eternal nature and His power and give Him thanks then the redeemed of God praise Him for what He did with His power. He created everything out of nothing. This is what many have termed the song of creation. In chapter 5 we will hear a new song; the song of the Lamb. This one in chapter 4 is the song of creation the song of the Lamb is the song of the new creation. But that is next time. All the creative power of Genesis 1 is expressed in this passage. He created and by Him we exist. This reminds me of Colossians 1:16-17 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. [11]Because of His eternal nature and power which He used to create His universe and to sustain His universe then He is worthy to receive glory, honor and power. This is what the redeemed of all the ages say, that is what the overcomers say, and that is what His church says. HE IS WORTHY!

There are 4 applications I want to share with you then we will close. 1. Trust your future to the one sitting on heaven’s throne. 2. God is holy and we must never question His holiness. 3. God’s creation worships Him and we must grow in our worship since He alone is worthy of our worship. 4. He must not only sit on the throne of heaven but He must sit on the throne of our lives.

Our God is not the king of the hill constantly having to do battle to keep His kingdom. He is on His throne. He created His kingdom, He maintains His kingdom and He reigns over His kingdom. Satan who would desire His throne was defeated on the cross and at the resurrection of Christ. Let the redeemed of God bless His name. Let’s pray.

[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 4:1–11). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[2] The New King James Version. (1982). (Eze 1:26–28). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[3] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 2:10). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[4] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 3:4–5). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[5] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 3:11). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[6] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 3:18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[7] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 3:21). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[8] The New King James Version. (1982). (Php 3:20–21). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[9] The New King James Version. (1982). (Ps 150:1–6). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[10] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 4:1–11). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[11] The New King James Version. (1982). (Col 1:16–17). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.