Chapter 4
The fourth chapter begins with John being called up to see a vision from God. If you notice, the third chapter ends with a wonderful promise from Christ that whomever overcomes, they will be able to sit with Christ and God at his throne. Then, verse one of chapter four says that Heaven was opened. God knew that before John could understand the vision he was getting ready to show him, he had to be in the Spirit. We know this because verse 2 says that immediately, John was in the Spirit. This is what confuses me about most interpretations of this chapter. For some reason, people think they can read this carnally, and get the true meaning! If John had to be in the Spirit to see it, don’t you think that we should as well? Many will say, “you spiritualize it too much.” How can this be though when Romans 8:6 says, To be carnally minded is death? No where in the bible does it say to be less spiritual, just less carnal. If you read on, Paul wrote, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. So once again, it is a prerequisite to be in the Spirit, or you will miss the vision of God.
There is a lot of confusion on what this heaven is. In order to get that, you have to see the things that are there. As soon as John got in the Spirit, he saw a throne. There was no denying it. It was evident that it was a throne. What do we know about the throne. One sat on it. Everyone will agree that this is God sitting on the throne. Look back into the Old testament. We know that God’s throne was represented in the holy of holies, by the mercy seat on top of the ark of the covenant. There was only one person that was allowed to enter into the presence of the throne of God, and that was the high priest. In the new testament, the throne room is accessible to all who come God’s way. The bible says in Hebrews 4:16, Let us now therefore come boldly unto the THRONE of grace. Before Christ, it was covered, but by Christ it was unveiled. A revelation is the revealing of something that was at one time covered. This is not the heaven that is prepared for the saints of God, but this is the heavenly place that Paul wrote of in Ephesians 2:6! That heavenly place is the kingdom of God. The bible says in Luke 17:20, 21, that the kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. God and his throne are in his kingdom! Where is that? In his people. 2 Corinthians 6:16 says, for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will DWELL IN THEM. Ephesians 2:21 says, In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God.
Just to add on to that, the bible says in Psalms 97:2, Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. When you think of a throne, you think of judgment. Where is judgment taking place? 1 Peter 4:17 says, For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God. When the gospel was preached in the power to my soul, judgment set up and I stood before the throne of the almighty God. And I didn’t have to go far for that to happen, just to the house of God. The born again believers are that house.
So far we have seen a throne, and one sitting on the throne. Skip down to verse 5 The bible says that out of the throne, was seven lamps of fire burning. Then he explains that they are the Spirit of God. 1 John 5:7 says There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. So we have the Father and the Holy Ghost, but where is the Son? Some would have you to believe that he is not here. Revelation 1:12, 13 John says that he was in the midst of the seven candlesticks, or the Church. In Revelation 2:1, he proclaims himself to be in the midst of the Church. Where is he? If you recall the tenth chapter of St John’s gospel Jesus began to speak to a multitude of people and give them a parable. He said, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbed up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The people didn’t understand what Christ was trying to tell them, so he was a little more plain in his speech in John 10:9 when he said, I am the DOOR: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Now look at Revelation 4:1 again. After this I looked, and, behold, a DOOR WAS OPENED IN HEAVEN. Wow. He was the one that gave us access, so he had to be there. Romans 5:1,2 says, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace! Where is grace? In the throne room! Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, AND FIND GRACE, to help in time of need.
Again, this is not the heaven as we know it. John is not looking into the future, but he is looking backward to what Christ has already done. In verse number 3, John says the one seated on throne was to look upon as Jasper and Sardine stone. There is no coincidence that these two stones were used, nor the order that they were in. The sardine stone was blood red in color, speaking of the cross and the blood that was to be spilled there for the remission of sin. The jasper stone was clear, and pure speaking of the finished plan of God. Pointed to the resurrection of Christ, and the establishing of the kingdom, fulfilling the old testament prophecy.
Both of these stone were placed on the breastplate of the High Priest according to the blueprint in Exodus 28:17-21. There were to be four rows of stones. Three in each row, equaling 12 stones. Each stone was to represent one of the tribes of Israel, starting with the first born, all the way to the last child. The first stone was the sardine stone, represented by Reuben. The last stone was the jasper, represented by Benjamin. As the High Priest would get ready to enter the holy of holies, he would go to put on the breastplate. I believe that he would look at the twelve stones, and first see the sardine stone, and look forward to the shedding of blood of the Messiah. Lastly, he would see the jasper stone, and see the finished product, and the cessation of the ritual he was about to take part in. Here in Revelation, John is not looking ahead, but he is looking backward. Therefore he first sees the jasper stone, or the finished product, and then past that, the sardine stone and the cross! That makes perfect sense. The spirit was showing John things which must be hereafter. He was showing John that after the cross, the law no longer prevails, but grace is hereafter!
To go a little further with that, verse three speaks of the covenant. The bible says round about the throne was a rainbow. Some may wonder why a rainbow. If you think about it, its pretty simple. Even the smallest child knows what a rainbow represents. it’s a token of an Old Testament Covenant that God will not destroy the earth by water again. Another thing that I get from the rainbow is what it takes to achieve one. We know that two things must be present for there to be a rainbow. One is a storm. Without a storm, it is impossible to have a rainbow. The second thing required is the sun. It can storm all day, but without the sun rising through the clouds of the storm, there is no rainbow. This becomes important in understanding the 24 elders.
John’s attention is quickly changed from a rainbow round about the throne, to twenty and four elders round about the throne. Keep this in mind, and we’ll return to that shortly. First I want to identify the 24. We are given three key pieces of information in verse 4. First they were seated. There work was completed. Also, they were not seated on thrones as many have said, but seats. There is not a misinterpretation here. In verse number 2, John saw a throne. He obviously knows what a throne looks like. He also said there was ONE seated on the throne. Then he says 24 elders seated on 24 seats. I think we should take John for what he said. Second the 24 were over comers. We know this because they were seated with God around his throne, and wearing white raiment. Revelation 3:21 and 3:5 will back up that statement. We know from 1 John 5:5, 6 that he that overcomes, is that person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, and has came by the water and blood. I believe that the 24 elders were seen to show John the New Covenant that God has with man, and must be hereafter! God first showed him a picture of an old covenant, and then quickly it was dismissed by the overshadowing of the new covenant. The 24 elders are the new testament rainbow. It took two things to get this rainbow. The first is a storm. When Jesus Christ walked up Calvary and gave his life’s blood for you and I, that was the biggest storm the world has ever seen. But that wasn’t enough to produce this new testament rainbow. Three days later, in the middle of the biggest storm, the sun burst through the storm clouds, as Christ arose from the grave!
John’s vision continues as he see’s four beasts in the midst of the throne of God. There is also much debate on who the beasts are. The majority says that these beasts are angels. I have to disagree with that. In Revelation 5:2, 11; 7:1, 2 and 10:1, John is very certain that he saw angels. If he had seen four angels, I believe that he would have said so. But he didn’t. Because of their character, many say that they are the four faces of Christ, therefore they are Christ. I do not totally disagree, but there is still a better explanation. The other thought that I have seen or heard, is that they are the four Gospels. The four beasts are the characters of Christ depicted in the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are the three major explanations that I have seen or heard, but there is not biblical evidence for any of them.
Turn your bible to Revelation 7, and read 9-14. John beheld a number here out of every nation, kindred, people and tongue. All would agree that this is the Church. Those that come out of great tribulation, and have been washed in the blood of the lamb. That being established, turn back to Revelation 5:8-10. It reads, And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. These four beasts are not angels, or Christ or the Gospels, but they old testament saints of God that through his death, burial and resurrection, were resurrected with Christ, and redeemed by his blood! When you and I get born again, we become these beasts!
Now, we can again examine the thoughts of the four beasts being Christ. We know that Christ is the Lion, Calf, the man and the Eagle. John is seeing Christ here. He’s just seeing Christ in the Church. When the world looks at the Church, the better see God in our lives. This is the banner that we are holding up.
In Numbers 2, God tells Moses to number the children of Israel and to divide them into four camps. He tells him that there will be three tribes in each of the four camps, and that there will be a head or leader over each camp. Each leader shall raise his banner or standard up to show where his camp is. The four camps are to camp round about the house of God. One north of the camp, one south, one east, and one west. A camp on each side. On the east side was to be the banner of Judah. We know that the banner of Judah is the lion. As Jacob was dying, he called in his sons and blessed them. When he spoke of Judah in Genesis 49:8-9 he said, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
On the south side, the banner over this camp was to be Rueben’s banner. Reuben was the first born of Jacob. In Genesis 49, Jacob tells Rueben that he’s his might and beginnings of his strength. Rueben banner was that of a man. On the west side was to be Ephraim’s banner. Hosea 10:11 describes Ephraim, by saying Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught. We can see his banner as being the calf.
The last camp was on the west side, and was to be the banner of Dan. Jewish history states that Dan’s banner was an eagle. I have researched the bible, and was unable to find anywhere that it spoke of Dan as an eagle. What I did find, was Genesis 49:16. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. I believe that Dan’s banner was not an eagle, but a serpent. When we read of the serpent, we think of the garden of Eden, when the serpent beguiled Adam and Eve into partaking of the tree of knowledge. There, the serpent was cursed for all of its days. Here, when Israel would come to worship, as they would look around, they would see the lion, the calf and the man, but also saw the serpent. I feel when they saw it, they were reminded of the curse they were under. The curse of the law. All the things that they did, no matter how well they did them, there was always a reminder of sin. In Revelation 7, Dan is no longer mentioned with the twelve tribes of Israel. He was removed and the Levites were put back in. When Christ bought and paid for the Church on Calvary, the curse of the law was removed! Galatians 3:13 says Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. When the curse was removed, the serpent was removed. There was no longer a need for the Levites to be the mediator between us and God, so they were put back in, representing the exalted eagle! The lion, calf, man and eagle are the banners that the world should see in us.
It is also said that the four beasts represent the four gospels. I believe that it part true. They are the four gospels in the Church. Not only should people see Christ in us, they should see his world coming out of us! In Psalms 119, David said he would hide God’s word in his heart. How then can the world see his word in us, if it is hid in our hearts? Matthew 12:34 answers that by saying, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. If the gospels are in you and I, the world will see it.
Ezekiel also saw a similar vision that John saw. There are a lot of differences between the two. I won’t go into to what and why, but do understand that Ezekiel was looking ahead to something that had not happened, and John was seeing something that had. One thing I did want to discuss about Ezekiel’s vision, is in Ezekiel 1:13. He said, As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps. The four beasts looked to Ezekiel as lamps. That has some significance to Revelation 4:5. Look at what it says. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. John saw lamps as well. They were the Spirit of God. When Ezekiel saw the four beasts, did he liken them to the Spirit of God? Yes! When the world looks at our banners, they should see Christ, his word, and the Holy Spirit. It should be evident that the Spirit is present and leading our lives.
There are many other things that we could speak about the four beasts. We could talk of their continual worship or the fact that there are 24 total wings between them. But the last thing is notice where they were dwelling. They were in the midst of the throne of God. The Church should always be found in God’s presence. The only way we can get there is to come before God clean and pure. Habakkuk 1:13 says that God is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Before the priests in the Old testament could approach God, they had to wash in the water at the laver. It is no different today, only our laver is different then theirs. Ephesians 5:25, 26 says, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. Our laver is the precious word of God. In Revelation 4, the water was the sea of glass before the throne.
The fourth chapter is concluded by the four beasts and the 24 elders worshiping God. We will see in Revelation, that praising is one of the major functions of the four beasts and the 24 elders. As we look at the Church world today, worship of God has decreased in most congregations. We must do as they did, and set aside our crowns, and worship.
