Around the Throne

Revelation 4:1–11 NKJV

1 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.”

A Glimpse of Majesty

A Reminder of God’s Promises

When God gave instructions for the making of the high priest’s breastplate, it was to have twelve stones on it. Two of those twelve stones were jasper and carnelian (Exodus 28:17, 18, LXX). Evidently God commanded these stones to be on the high priest’s breastplate because they reflect his own glory, as John sees in 4:3. John probably uses these terms to describe what he saw because his mind was saturated with Biblical terms and images. When Isaiah prophesied that the Lord would rebuild Jerusalem, he said he would build its buttresses with jasper (Isaiah 54:12, LXX). The city will show forth the glory of God. And there seems to be a connection between carnelian and jasper and the Garden of Eden in Ezekiel 28:13; so we can see that the Garden also reflected the glory of God. Revelation 21:11 describes the bride, the wife of the Lamb, the new Jerusalem, as “having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal,” and carnelian is one of the twelve stones, with jasper, on its foundations (cf. 21:18–20). The new Jerusalem will reflect God’s glory. What becomes clear from this survey of p 144 other places where we see these stones in the Bible, jasper and carnelian, is that they are characteristic of the glory of God.

James M. Hamilton Jr., Preaching the Word: Revelation—The Spirit Speaks to the Churches, ed. R. Kent Hughes (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 143–144.

A Declaration of Worship