"After this I looked…" (4:1)

It is a phrase (sometimes rendered, "after this I saw…") that we will see again as we study this book (7:1, 9; 15:5; 18:1; 19:1). It is important for us to realize that John is not signaling a particular chronology of the future by this statement, as though what happens next will be subsequent to whatever happened in the previous section or chapter. Rather, John is merely telling us the order in which he received these visions. Since the visions will repeat themselves, a failure to appreciate this point will lead us astray. Having heard that Jesus reigns over the church in the letters he writes to the seven churches of chapters 2 and 3, John is now given a sight of Jesus reigning in glorious triumph.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, Merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Reginald Heber’s hymn still evokes what is central to our understanding of God.   Full of biblical allusions to Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 as it is, it should be one of the church’s most well-known hymns.

The scene now changes from the closed door in Laodicea to an open one that leads to heaven; the mention of a throne (3:21) now leads to a glimpse of one. From the poverty stricken state of the church below, John’s gaze is taken upwards to things as they truly are; the upward glance is often the signal of a new perspective on things. God is in control of providence. The church may be languishing; Satan may be doing his worst; but God is reigning on high. Two issues change the perspective: location and time.

As for location, we are taken up to ‘heaven’ (4:1), not the life hereafter so much as the life here and now, but from a different perspective.  As Paul would remind the Ephesians that they are ‘blessed’ and ‘seated’ with Christ ‘in the heavenly realms’ (Eph. 1:3; 2:6), so John is reminded of a greater reality than that which can be seen and touched. The opening of heaven is a characteristic apocalyptic phenomenon, preparing us for the giving of new (or perhaps forgotten) revelation. How much the church needs to heed it! There is a reality which transcends that which we can see with our physical eyes.

As for time, John is shown ‘what must take place after this’ (4:1), a reference which appears to include within it the whole of history from John’s time to ours and beyond.  Since John has already used this phrase already in 1:19, it is reasonable to conclude that its repetition here is signaling a parallel vision: what we see in chapter 4 is true at the same time as what is seen in the previous chapters.   Jesus is reigning as He writes to the seven churches.  Encapsulated in a single vision is the future of the church and the world. This is not Science Fiction, but Biblical reality: God has the whole world (and the church) in His hands!  ‘A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary’ (Jer. 17:12).

Chapters 4 and 5 belong together for they establish the same truth, actually, truths: that God is sovereign, and that God is to be worshipped.  Both of these truths are, of course, complementary; they belong together as shoes do upon feet, but fallen mankind has neglected both, and the church has often failed to see the connection between the two.   ‘If God is not sovereign, then God is not God’ the saying goes; and how right it is!  From the start, God showed himself as Creator, sovereignly making all things out of nothing, bringing everything that has existence into being by the Word of His mouth.  The story of the Bible is the story of mankind ignoring His kingship, coveting other lords to rule over him, ones that could be manipulated and cajoled to do whatever man desired. Worship, consequently, was misplaced: man has worshipped creatures rather than the Creator (Rom. 1).

In one vision, Revelation now brings into focus the One who truly rules the world. There is a 'throne in heaven with someone sitting on it’ (4:2). It is the kind of vision that Bible readers will have noticed before. In particular, it shows some similarities to the vision of God in Ezekiel 1, with its throne and rainbow. God’s dazzling light is portrayed by being bedecked with precious jewels. Several Old Testament images come together: a rainbow whose beauty is a sign of God’s covenant mercy to a fallen world (4:3; Gen 9:13). Stones (jasper, carnelian, and emerald; 4:3) anticipate an entire list of precious stones in chapter 21 (vv. 19-20). The rainbow also reminds us of its appearance after the flood as a sign of God’s mercy to Noah and his family. In some respects, together with the precious stones, it anticipates the new creation.

God’s throne is surrounded by twenty-four thrones on which sit twenty-four elders (4:4). The number, twenty four, is a way of portraying both the twelve tribes of Israel and twelve apostles of the New Testament era¾ a representation of the church. These "elders" are probably angels representing Old and New Testament saints. Some have seen them as representatives of the twenty-four orders of priests in the Old Testament (c.f. 1 Chron 24:4). What is being shown is of greatest significance. The saints of the Old Testament period, together with those who have died thus far in the New, are not only alive; they are reigning! To saints concerned about loved ones who have been martyred¾ many of the first readers of Revelation were concerned about their friends and relatives who had died in this way¾ this vision could only have come as wonderful news.

The ‘flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder’ (4:5; c.f. 8:5; 11:19; 16:18) are reminiscent of Sinai and the giving of the Law (Exod. 19:16).   Before the throne are seven lamps (c.f. Zech 4:2-3, 10) which are interpreted as "seven spirits of God" (c.f. Zech 4:6).  In the next chapter, a further explanation is given describing these seven spirits as the "seven horns and seven eyes" of the slain Lamb "standing in the center of the throne" (5:6). The Zechariah passages help us understand that what is in view here is that the Lamb (Jesus) sees and knows what is taking place on earth (eyes) and is able to do something about it (horns).  By the "seven spirits" (i.e. the Holy Spirit¾ "ZMy Spirit" [Zech 4:6]), God exercises His sovereignty in the earth. The Holy Spirit carries out God’s plan and purpose.

The "sea of glass" (4:6, note that it ‘looked like’ a sea of glass, John is having difficulty describing everything that he saw) brings back memories of the laver of water in the temple used for ceremonial washings, a symbol that continues in new Testament times in baptism. The portrait of heaven in Revelation is modeled after the temple (7:15; 11:19; 14:15, 17; 15:5-16:1; 16:17), and here we are being given a symbolic portrait of their "cleansed" inhabitants. "Nothing impure will ever enter it…" (21:27).  Some have seen in the "sea of glass" an allusion to the Red Sea, and the power of God that calmed it and brought it into submission; an allusion here, then, of cosmic power.

God in Almighty. His power and majesty are beyond human grasp. He is the Creator of everything that has existence; by the Word of his power he brought what is into being. It is a truth that is designed to encourage as much as intimidates. For languishing churches such as these depicted in Asia Minor, facing the onslaughts of Satan, in a wicked an hostile world, the knowledge that God is far superior is of great value. God’s sovereignty is the guarantee of providence.  ‘The Lord reigns’ (Psa. 93:1). He is the Creator of all that is: ‘by your will they were created and have their being’ (4:11).

God is great, in the sense that He is exalted. When the twenty four elders join in the worship of God later in the chapter (4:10), they fall down before Him, expressing awe and submissiveness. God is incomprehensible. His ways are not our ways; His thoughts, not our thoughts (Isa. ).  Augustine: What was God doing before He created the world?   Making hell for people who ask questions like that was his reply.  Blunt, but effective!  There is a mystery, Calvin would point out over and over again, about the nature of God that should make us fear Him in a spirit of reverence and humility.   Genuine worshippers wish to blot themselves out of the picture, so that God may become everything. The four living creatures are said to have six wings, as though ready to fly in whatever direction God commands: worship must always yield in service.  It was Paul’s conclusion to his Systematic treatment of the application of redemption: ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God —this is your spiritual act of worship’ (Rom. 12:1).

God is near. The Bible word ‘glory’ (4:11) is often rendered as a term expressive of God’s deity. But that is to miss a vital Biblical truth. God’s glory is his nature and power shown forth (cf. Jn. 2:13). When god is said the receive glory, it indicates God being worshiped as God; he is being given the honour that is due to him.

God is eternal. God ‘was, and is, and is to come’ (4:8; cf. 1:8). In contrast to ourselves, the four creatures exalt the eternity of God’s existence.  Unlike the creation, there is neither beginning nor end to the existence of God.

Worship is being taken up with God.  It is giving him the praise and adoration that is due to his name. The more we know of God, the more childlike our faith will become. We cannot know too much, nor can this truth ever be over-emphasized. Even John was to get it wrong, worshipping an angel rather God. ‘"Worship God!"’ the angel said to him (19:10).

An important feature of their worship is the allusion to God as "the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come" (4:8). Echoes of God’s revealed name as the "I AM WHO I AM" given to Moses (Exod 3:14), also capable of being rendered "I WILL BE WHO I WIL BE", and identified as "LORD" (Exod 3:15), God’s covenant name Yahweh (or Jehovah). The worship of heaven is the worship of Yahweh, Israel’s Covenant LORD. He will be identified as Jesus in the chapter 5, as he has been already (1:8). This is the staggering claim of New Testament revelation: "Jesus Christ is LORD (Yahweh, or Jehovah)" (Phil 2:11). He is given glory (4:9), and worshiped (4:10).

Such a depiction of God, of course, could seriously call into question God’s mercy. How can a sinner ever find his way into God’s presence without the recoil of justice barring them?  Such is the problem depicted in the opening of the fifth chapter. A "scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals" (5:1) is viewed suggesting a comprehensive knowledge of things. The NIV adoption of "scroll" may be right: scrolls written on both sides and sealed in such a way that its contents were successively revealed as each separate seal was broken were known in the first century.  Some have drawn the connection of similarity with certain wills or testaments, the contents of which were preserved against alteration by seals. The fact that John uses the verb "to open" rather than ""unroll" in verse 2, may suggests a book, rather than a scroll, but the consensus has been for the scroll.

What is needed, of course, is a Redeemer, a Mediator, one who can represent God before man, and man before God. The one who unlocks the seals is the Mediator. John makes clear his sovereignty by representing him as standing "in the center of the throne" (5:6).  The sovereignty of God is the sovereignty of Christ. At the very point where we have seen the Father in chapter 4, we see the Son in chapter 5.  Christ occupies the same position, rules over creation with the same authority as the God of chapter. He is the focus of all attention, the one with whom every other is enthralled. The paeans of praise rise to Him as they do to God Himself, for there is no distinction: the church, the angels, the whole of creation sing His praise and offer Him worship.  And why?   Because a kingdom has been given to Him. The Lamb is worthy to open the scroll because he purchased men by his blood.  In appearance He looks as though He has been slain (5:9).  He has made us a kingdom for God (5:10).

Several things seem to come to the surface:

The very existence of a Mediator is something for celebration. The natural reaction to the sight of a sealed scroll was to weep. But God has found a way both to be just and the justifier of the one who believes in Jesus (Rom. 3:26).

There is an ambivalence in the very nature of the Mediator: He is both a Lion (5:5) and a Lamb (5:6), He stands in the very center of the throne (5:6) and appears slain (5:6,9,12). He is both God and man. To Him belongs sovereignty and dependence. He is both invincible and mortal.

The kingdom (5:10) which he makes from ‘every tribe and language and people and nation’ (5:9) is one given to Him as the Mediator. He reigns in the interests of this kingdom which He has won on the basis of the redemption which He won on earth. One day, He will surrender this kingdom to the Father (1 Cor. 15:28).

The imagery is suggestive of the fact that Christ, in His exalted condition, still bears the marks of His suffering (5:6). The pre-ascension body of Jesus was in a temporary, transitional state, and explains in part the inability of the disciples to recognize Him (Mary, for one, thought him to be the gardener [John 20:15]!).   Whatever changes mark His ascension, whatever Paul may mean when he describes the resurrected body as ‘glorious’ (Phil. 3:21), it does not mean that He has lost the marks of His humanity, and certainly not those marks which identify His role as the suffering Servant.

The worship described here is that of the ransomed church. Its praise is mixed with that of angels, "numbering thousands upon thousands" (5:11). Angelic worship, though unfallen and not themselves part of the redemptive community mentioned in 5:9-10, nevertheless join in the acclamation of Christ.

First, the corporate ‘Amen’ (5:14). There is something affirming about the ‘Amen’.  It is an audible response to the truthfulness of all that has been said.  According to Justin Martyr, describing mid-second century worship, the "Amen" punctuated the worship. Epeuphémei he called them, "shout in applause."  It is the title already given to Jesus (3:14; cf. Isa 65:16).   It is the affirmation that God’s "Yes" means "Yes!" and His "No" means "No!" (cf. 2 Cor. 1:20).  The church tried using the Greek aleuthinos for a while, but the word means "that which is not false" and didn’t ring true. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, much used in the first century, had favoured genoito for the Old Testament "Amen" but its ‘would that it were so’ also rang hollow.  So, the church has reverted to saying ‘Amen’ like Hebrew saints did, and Jesus so often added as verifiers to his famous outpourings of truth.

Secondly, praying (5:9).  No gathering for worship can avoid the suppliants cry to God. Prayers are like "incense" their aroma rising into the nostrils of God like a sweet smelling aroma (cf. 5:8).