01.04. CHAPTER 4.
CHAPTER 4.
Revelation 4:1. “After this [these things] I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven” [having been and being opened. Perfect participle], (See Ezekiel 1:1.) We now come to the third division of the Book of Revelation.
See Revelation 1:19. First division: “Write the things which thou hast seen.” The opening vision of the first chapter—one like unto the Son of Man, in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.
Second division: “And the things which are.” The present state of things in the churches— “the mystery of the seven golden lampstands,” as seen by John in spirit in resurrection rest, looking back on the Church’s earthly history.
Third division: “And the things which are about to be after these things.” After the Church’s earthly history is completed.
“After these things I looked.”
After John had been shown, in vision and in symbol, the failure of the Church’s testimony on earth, he looks out for what is to follow, and Seeing nothing around him, he looks up. “And, behold.” That word “behold” calls special attention to what follows. “Behold, a door opened in heaven.” Not then opened, but “having been and being opened” (perfect participle). When everything has failed on earth, then is the time to look up. So, in John 14:1-31, Christ having foretold, in the thirteenth chapter, the failure of all His disciples, and even Peter’s denial of Him, goes on to direct His disciples upwards to His Father’s house, its many mansions, and the special place lie is gone to prepare.
“Heaven opened,” not closed; no cherubim with flaming sword guarding its entrance. This is the third door to which our attention is drawn in these chapters. First, the open door of testimony for those who have kept the word, and have not denied the name of the holy, true, and sovereign Lord (Revelation 3:8). Then the closed door of party bigotry, with Christ outside (Revelation 3:20). Here, “a door opened in heaven.” Not then opened. When Jesus expired on Calvary’s cross, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain, then the way into the holiest was made manifest; and to faith it is open still.
“And the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said [saying], ‘Come up hither.’” A trumpet note, giving no uncertain sound to the instructed ear; not plain ordinary language, but rich symbolic teaching. And John 21:21-23 may give us the signification of it. Jesus, in answer to the inquiry of Peter, says of this self-same John who wrote the Book of Revelation, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” By this the other brethren understood that that disciple should not die. But Jesus said not, “He shall not die,” but, “If I will that he tarry till I come.” These are no random words. There was deep significancy in them. And I believe this vision in the fourth of Revelation is the interpretation of them; just as the vision of the transfiguration, as interpreted by Peter in his epistle, was the fulfilment of the promise of some standing there not tasting death until they had seen the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.
It has been often asked, “Where do we see the Church caught up in the Book of Revelation?” I answer, “Here.” Not stated in plain language—that would have been out of character with the structure of the book, which is symbolic—but representatively in the person of John, and in fulfilment of the symbolic language of the Lord Jesus to him.
Here, too, I discover in symbol “the voice of the archangel and the trump of God,” of 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18 :
“And I will show thee things which must be hereafter [after these things].”
Compare Revelation 1:19 : “The things which are about to be after these things.” Things which cannot take place during the present dispensation, while the Comforter is here, but which must come to pass when the present Church history is completed.
Revelation 4:2. “And immediately I was [or became] in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set [imperfect tense] in heaven, and one sat [sitting] on the throne.”
John hears the trumpet call, and immediately in spirit he is caught up. Even so, “Behold,” says the apostle, “I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). So likewise in spirit we must hear the voice of the heavenly Bridegroom saying, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away” (Sol. Song of Solomon 2:10), if we would see the things which are coming.
We must not seek to interpret these coming things by transactions during the present dispensation, as many do. We must not treat as untrue or irrelevant the word of the Lord Jesus before His ascension: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power” (Acts 1:7). But as having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, in spirit obey the call, “Come up hither,” and, taking in spirit our place with Christ in the heavenlies, look back on the Church’s earthly history, as symbolised by the seven golden lampstands, interpreted by the Lord’s seven addresses, and then look forward to the things which must be after these things, as shown in vision in the succeeding chapters.
“And, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne.” This is the second “Behold” in the chapter. A throne established in the heavens. One characteristic of heaven is the throne. “Heaven,” says God, “is My throne, and the earth is My footstool.” Heaven is the centre of authority, and the centre of power to the universe.
There is but one will in heaven. Angels never consult their own will, or plan their own pathway. “They do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word.” One will regulates all without jar or discord.
I suspect the first discord caused in heaven was by Satan’s having a will of his own, a counter will. And this discord he introduced into this world by tempting our first parents to have and to exercise a will of their own, instead of carrying out the will of Him who said, “Thou shalt not.”
It is the independent will of man which fills the world with discord, and peoples the bottomless pit with millions of miserable souls.
God has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. “He willeth not the death of the sinner.” “He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” How comes it, then, that the broad road is thronged from age to age? Because man has a will of his own. He is not willing to come to Christ that he might have life.
What is conversion? What is salvation? What is eternal life? Letting God have His own will with us. That is it.
Why are all in heaven so eternally secure, happy, and blessed? Because there is a throne set in heaven, and One sitting upon it. No wonder the Lord Jesus put that marvellous prayer into the mouth of His disciples: “Thy will be done also on the earth, as it is in heaven.” When this prayer is answered it will be “heaven begun below.” The starry heavens move on in unbroken harmony. “Not one faileth.” This world, it would seem, is the only province in the universe in which God’s will is not fulfilled—the only part of the vast machinery which is out of gear. Man has a will of his own.
“And one sitting on the throne.” There is not only sovereignty, but a Sovereign. Not only one will, but One whose will is law; and that law the law of love. So that each can say, “Oh, how love I Thy law! Yea, Thy law is within my heart.”
Those who go in for democracy, chartism, equal rights, what they call liberty, are really going in for the most terrible tyranny—the tyranny of an independent, unsubject will. These are not the politics of heaven, but of hell. Satan is the god of this world, but I know not that he will be a prince in hell. I do not know that they will allow him to domineer over them there. They may stand up for equal rights. One ingredient of hell’s torment will probably be every one having a will of their own; but if there should be a despot there, his dominion will not be of love, but of fear.
Revelation 4:3. “And He that sat [sitteth, or the sitter. Present participle with the article] was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone.”
Precious stones in Scripture are emblematic of various excellences of character, various perfections. The jasper is a precious stone of various colours—cerulean, purple, green, &c.—intermingled.
It suggests to us the various excellences, attributes, and perfections of Him that sitteth on the throne, blended together and harmonised —the glory and adaptation of Him that sitteth there. The sardine stone is the colour of blood. God is not only a Being of Divine perfections harmoniously blended—a God of grace, love, wisdom, and power—but He is a God that taketh vengeance, of strict inflexible justice, a consuming fire; and the blood-red sardine stone may remind us of this. And the time of the vision is the season of the seals, trumpets, and vials.
“And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.” In wrath God remembers mercy. The rainbow is the divinely constituted sign of covenant mercy founded on accepted sacrifice (Genesis 8:1-22). In the rainbow the three primitive colours are blended and harmonised, beginning with the blue and ending with the red, with the yellow in the centre, and in their beauteous combinations completing the perfect seven. So in God’s covenant-keeping goodness every Divine perfection is harmonised and displayed.
“A rainbow round about the throne.” The circle which now appears broken, as seen from an earthly standpoint, completed. What God does we know not now, but we shall know hereafter. The whole circle then will appear complete, the mysteries of His providence will be solved, everlasting love having worked out in time on earth the purposes which will result in everlasting glory in heaven.
“In sight like unto an emerald.” The prevailing tint is green— the characteristic of the earth. So these purposes of God have especial reference to this world. The cross was set up on earth; on earth the blood of God’s spotless Lamb was shed, and in the cross God’s plans and purposes centre, and the blood of the everlasting covenant confirms them. On this earth, in Eden, the will of God was set aside. In Gethsemane the Son of Man surrendered His own will, and accepted the will of God, saying “Father, not My will, but Thine, be done.” In the millennial period the kingdom of God will be established on earth. And when the new heavens and the new earth shall appear, the will of God will be done on earth even as it is done in heaven; and because of the scenes once transacted upon it, this earth will be an object of peculiar interest to the universe throughout eternity.
Revelation 4:4. “And round about the throne were four and twenty seats [thrones]: and upon the seats [thrones] I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment [garments]; and they had on their heads [victors’] crowns of gold.” This is a vision of the “kingdom of God,” for God is supreme; it is also the “kingdom of the heavens,” for others are associated with Him in the administration of the kingdom. In Daniel 4:26, we have the expression “The heavens do rule;” and in Daniel 7:18, “The saints of the Most High [or of the heavenlies] shall take the kingdom.” This is the “kingdom of the heavens,” as so called in the Gospel by Matthew alone. The term “kingdom of God” shows God to be supreme. The conviction I have come to, after many years’ consideration and investigation of the subject, is, that these four and twenty elders are the symbolic representatives of the saints of the former dispensation, from Adam and Abel to Pentecost, similar to the elders of the eleventh of Hebrews, who by faith obtained a good report, and, that they might obtain a better resurrection, were faithful unto death, and gained the victor’s crown; who also, in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, are described as the “spirits of just men made perfect,” in distinction from the “church of the firstborn.” Their robes are white through the blood of the Lamb, and on their brows are seen the victor’s wreath, for they have fought the fight, and have finished their course, and have now sat down.
Revelation 4:5. “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices.” The aspect of the throne during this intervening period between the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him, and His manifestation to the world—the last week of Daniel’s seventy weeks of years—takes the Sinai character. This is the time when “God’s judgments are on the earth”—the time of the seals, trumpets, and vials.
“And seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” In place of the seven golden lampstands around the Son of Man, we have now seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. The Spirit of God is no longer seen as maintaining spiritual testimony in the churches on earth to the truth of God and of Christ. He is here seen in all His Divine perfection and sovereignty, and in His transcendent holiness and vehement jealousy for truth. The Comforter has completed His mission. The bride has been wooed and won. The Divine Eliezer [“God my helper”] has conducted the spiritual
Rebekali across the desert, and presented her to the heavenly Isaac, the beloved Son who has been obedient unto death and was raised again, and who has come forth to meet her.
Revelation 4:6. “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal.” In the tabernacle and the temple we have the patterns of things in the heavens; in these apocalyptic visions we have the heavenly things themselves. This sea of glass corresponds with the laver of the tabernacle, and the brazen sea of Solomon’s temple. But it is no longer the provision of water for the putting away of the defilement of the wilderness or of the land, but that which represents the fixed purity of heaven, the holiness which becomes the presence of God. Holiness has its settled home there. In the temple of Ezekiel there is neither laver or brazen sea mentioned, but living water issuing from under the threshold which flows round on the south side of the altar, the place occupied by the brazen sea in Solomon’s temple; flowing forth on the east, widening and deepening in its flow, diffusing life and fertility in its course. An emblem of life in the Spirit which needs no purification, for the Spirit of God is holy, and the life which He communicates is divinely pure. In Revelation 22:1 this living water is seen proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
“And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts [living ones], full of eyes before and behind.”
There are three positions in connection with the throne of God pointed out in Revelation. First, “before the throne” (Revelation 7:1-17). “After these things I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” A position of peculiar honour, a dignity which Gabriel delights to mention as the highest honour to which an angel could aspire: “I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God” (Luke 1:19).
Second, “round about the throne” (Revelation 4:4). Not simply “before”—it comprehends that—but “round about,” giving the idea of closer association, more intimate connection. Not simply standing to serve, but sitting on thrones, and -sharing in the reign. The position of the raised saints of the former dispensation. But here, in Revelation 4:6, we have a position of still greater privilege— “in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne.” Not only sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and sharing it with the saints of the heavenlies; not only privilege, honour, blessedness, but union with Him who is there.
Union with whom? See Revelation 5:6 : “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four living ones, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain.”
These living ones not only stand before the throne and serve, as redeemed unto God by the blood of the Lamb—not only sit on thrones as the elders—they are one with the Lamb in the midst of the throne, “members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones,” raised up together and made to sit together in Him and with Him in the heavens. For when God “raised Him from the dead, and set Him on His own right hand in the heavenlies,” He “gave Him to be head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” The elders who obtained a good report through faith looked for a city which hath foundations, and a heavenly inheritance, and they have now in the time of the vision been put in full possession; but the perfection of the kingdom was not reached when the four and twenty elders were seated on their thrones, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. And this better thing is the Church of the living God in its oneness with the Lamb in the midst of the throne.
“Four living ones,” as instinct with Divine, spiritual, and eternal life. “Full of eyes before and behind,” that is, full of intelligence of things coming and past.
These living ones remind us of the cherubim described in Ezekiel 1:1-28 : The leading thought, I believe, connected with the cherubim is the agency which God employs for the communication of His mind, the performance of His will, and the manifestation of His glory—first, angelic, as at the east of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24); then purely spiritual and divine, as on the propitiatory of the ark (Exodus 25:18); then the whole company of the redeemed in glory, as shown by the larger cherubim in Solomon’s temple, of olive wood, covered with gold, typical of the spiritual and raised bodies of the saints in glory; then prophetic agency, as seen in Ezekiel 1:1-28, &c.; but here, in the four living ones of the Apocalypse, the Church of the firstborn written in heaven, the members of the body of Christ in resurrection glory in association with the Lamb.
Revelation 4:7. “And the first beast [living one] was like a lion.” The emblem of strength, majesty, courage, and magnanimity.
“And the second beast [living one] like a calf.” The emblem of patient continuance in service and subjection. In Ezekiel it is the ox, here the calf, suggesting the thought of eternal youth for an eternity of service.
“And the third beast [living one] had [having] a [the] face as a man.” The emblem of intelligence and sympathy.
“And the fourth beast [living one] was like a flying eagle.” The eagle is noted for its piercing vision and powerful wing—the prophetic character.
Revelation 4:8. “And the four beasts [living ones] had each of them six wings about him.” The uses of these are explained in Isaiah 6 :, speaking of the seraphim, or burning ones: “With twain he covered his face”—the token of reverence; “with twain he covered his feet”—the token of humility; “and with twain he did fly”—activity in service.
“And they were full of eyes within.” Not only having a knowledge of the past and future, as in verse 6, but also internal spiritual intelligence, knowing as they are known.
“And they rest not day and night saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord [Jehovah] God Almighty, which was [ever was], and is [ever is], and is to come [which ever is to come].’” Untiring, unceasing service, worship, praise, to the everlasting, holy, and almighty triune God.
Revelation 4:9-10. “And when those beasts [living ones] give glory and honour and thanks to Him that sat [sitteth] on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat [sitteth] on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever.”
Next to the Lamb in the midst of the assembly, with whom the song originates (Psalms 22:22), are the leaders of the chorus of the skies, the church of the firstborn; then the four and twenty elders, representing the redeemed from Abel to Pentecost; and then the “great congregation” (Psalms 22:25)—that is, the heavenly hosts, take up the strain in ever widening circles, till the unlimited universe is filled with Jehovah’s praise.
“And cast their crowns [victors’ crowns] before the throne, saying,
Revelation 4:11. “Thou art worthy, O Lord [Jehovah] to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure [or because of Thy will] they are and were created.” A beautiful and expressive action, signifying “Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name be the glory.” A noble ascription of praise. As with God originated creation at the first, so with Him also originated the purpose to head up all things in Christ, whereby the stability and blessedness of creation is secured for all eternity.