Revelation Chapter 4– John Karmelich

1. My title for Chapter 4 is: "A sneak peak at God’s throne room."

a) When you think about the bible, there are only a few things God asks you to accept by blind-faith. For example, God does not expect us to accept Jesus as a "given". The entire bible is a commentary on the role and necessity of Jesus. In terms of our relationship with God, the only thing He asks us to accept by faith is His existence and His own perfection.

i) For example, the bible does not say anything about God’s origin. God asks us to simply accept that fact He always has existed, exist now, and will exist forever.

ii) We must also accept by faith that God is perfect. If God was imperfect in any way, He cannot be trusted. If God were capable of lying, He could not be trusted. If God does not know all things, then He would be capable of making mistakes. That is why we believe God knows all things, past, present and future. At the same time, God cannot force us to love Him. If He did, then it would not be true love on our part, but just forced love or coerced love.

b) With all that said, the bible does not spend a lot of time describing heaven.

i) You can think of the bible as one big description of the "entrance requirements" to heaven. The bible goes out of its way to show evidence for the existence of a promised Messiah (Jesus), His purpose and His role and the fact that if we as humans believed He died for our sins, we make it into heaven.

ii) Which leads to the theme of this lesson: If God went to all of this time and trouble to describe how we are to get into heaven, you would think the bible would spend a lot more time and text describing heaven itself. That’s the rub. There is very little text in the bible about what heaven is like. You would think since God is so motivated to get us there, He would spend more time describing the place!

iii) A reason God spends so little time describing heaven is God wants us to focus on how much it cost Him for us to get there, and not focus on what Heaven is like.

a) Think about what God’s salvation cost Him: His only son. I can’t think of anything more painful in life than losing one’s only child. God wanted us to understand how much pain and love He was willing to go through just so He could spend an eternity with us.

2. Chapter 4 of Revelation is one of those rare occasions where heaven is actually described.

a) Chapter 4 focuses on God’s throne room. It may not be the only place in heaven, but it is the headquarters. In describing heaven, it would be the place to start. It’s the capital. ☺

b) Let’s start with an assumption about heaven: There is no time.

i) The first thing one must understand is there is no "time" in heaven. God created all things. Therefore, God created time. If God created time, He must exist outside of time as we know it. The classic example is watching a parade from a helicopter. From the ground, a parade may take an hour or more to watch. From a high helicopter, one can see the whole parade at once. In this world, we are "stuck in time" and can only see part of the parade at any one time. God can see the whole thing from start to finish. God intervenes in "our time" when He answers prayer and works through humans to accomplish His will.

c) The bible then teaches that all humans will live forever. When God created our souls, it is an everlasting being. Our bodies decay, but the soul lives forever. Whether or not we like those rules, one has to accept the fact one is going to live forever. If anything, it should motivate us to not only get into heaven, but also have lots of perks when we get there. ☺

d) OK, so why should I learn now what heaven is like? Can't I just find out when I get there and be surprised? Can't I just wait and get a ticket for a guided tour one day? ☺

i) One learns about heaven for the same reason one learns about God in the first place: If you love someone, you want to know everything about them, including where they live. God gives us the privilege of showing us His "throne room".

ii) One can also learn more about the nature of God by understanding His throne. The throne room, as described in this chapter, is full of word pictures of God, angelic beings and probably believers in God in our redeemed state.

3. OK, time for disclaimers. ☺

a) Chapter 4 through the end of the book begins the third section of Revelation. An outline for Revelation was given back in Chapter 1: "Write, therefore, what you have seen (Chapter 1), what is now (Chapters 2-3) and what will take place later (Chapters 4-22). (Revelation 1:19, NIV, parenthesis added).

i) What is "now" is the church age. The first words of Chapter 4 are "after these things". These "things" were the letters to the seven churches in Chapters 2-3.

b) There are many views on Revelation given by people who take their bible seriously.

i) I'm going to touch on some of the views and then of course, give my personal view, which I'm positive is correct. ☺

ii) For you bible scholars out there, when you disagree, first, take a deep breadth, walk around the block and then say the magic words, "I disagree". We all agree the text itself is God’s word. We should disagree "agreeably" on its meaning.

c) Revelation 4 through 22 was all future oriented to the writer John. He was using 1st Century language to describe things, which were probably difficult to describe.

i) The most common view among Evangelical Christians is that everything in Chapters 4 through 22 is 100% future to us to today.

ii) Another common view, especially among Catholic and Orthodox denominations is that much, but not all of Revelation Chapters 4 through (about) 19 is describing events that are future to John, but not to us.

iii) We'll tackle some of these views as we go. Know that they are out there.

d) The good news is you don't have to memorize every possible interpretation. One has to accept by faith that the text itself is the Word of God. Some of the broader applications cut across differences in interpretations and are the most important.

e) There are only 11 verses in this chapter. Still, we are working with word-pictures, images and references to elsewhere in the bible. Revelation is the only New Testament book that primarily works in word-pictures, as opposed to a straightforward, narrative text.

f) Remember the riddle, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Revelation is an elephant, and a big one at that! My goal is to "eat" Revelation in bite size chunks.

4. Chapter 4, Verse 1: After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven.

a) Let's recall some facts from Chapter 1: The writer is the apostle John, as in the writer of the Gospel of John. This is not John the Baptist. Revelation was most likely written about 60 years after Jesus resurrection. John was a prisoner for the crime of Christianity, and was banished to a penal colony on a Mediterranean island called Patmos.

i) Chapters 2 and 3 were Jesus dictating to John seven specific letters to seven specific churches. Each letter ended (or contained) a phrase saying in effect that all Christians need to hear what Jesus is saying to those seven churches.

ii) John wrote down this information about the 7 churches. We have an unspecified time gap after Chapters 2 and 3. The first words of Chapter 4 are "after this".

iii) John's been banished to this island. He's trusted in Jesus for about 60 years now. John hasn't seen Jesus since the resurrection. Now John gets this vision about the writing to seven churches. By the time he finishes writing and catches his breadth, he looked up and "saw a door standing open to heaven". That starts Chapter 4.

iv) What does this door look like? Did a wood door appear in the sky? How big were the doorknobs? ☺ The text doesn’t specify any more details.

b) In order to understand what is going on, let's contemplate some facts about Jesus after He was resurrected:

i) Paul says that when we are resurrected, we will somehow be like Jesus in our resurrected bodies (1st Corinthians 15:53).

ii) All of the Gospel stories of Jesus' appearance after the resurrection always involved Him eating something. Given that, Jesus has the power to eat in His resurrected body. I suspect we will do the same. I wonder if heaven has a waste disposal system. ☺ I believe the reason Jesus was eating after the resurrection was to show He was not some sort of ghost, but has a real resurrected body. It is a different type of body. It is "suited" for living in heaven as well as living on earth.

iii) In one of the stories about the resurrected Jesus, He appears in a locked room. (John 20:19). Somehow, our resurrected bodies can walk through solid walls, (assuming we're that much like Jesus) and then can visually appear to people.

iv) My personal view is our resurrected bodies exist in more than three dimensions. The world as we know it, only exists in three dimensions, plus we are locked in time in this lifetime. We can’t suddenly jump into the future or into the past.

v) Therefore, for a "door in heaven to open", somehow, another dimension(s) is revealed to John to show him this doorway. The bible gives hints every now and then that this hidden world we cannot see.

a) For example, " All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll;" (Isaiah 34:4 NIV). This verse implies there is more to life that what we can perceive.

b) Somehow, the world is more than we visually know it. If God created the world, He exists outside of that world. Every now and then, the bible has hints of this world being revealed to us. Verse 1 is one of those hints.

5. Verse 1, Second Sentence: And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.

a) OK, here’s John standing on the island of Patmos. He’s still mentally recovering from seeing Jesus and writing down notes which what would become chapters 1-3.

b) All of a sudden, John here’s a voice saying, "Come up here". My first thought might be, "OK, uh, do you have a ladder?" ☺ When we get to Verse 2, we’ll discover that God somehow transports John up into heaven. John is "raptured" up into heaven. More on "rupturing" when we get to Verse 2. What is important is that when God calls us to do something, (God said "come up here") He then makes a way to make it possible.

c) Next, how do we know who’s speaking to John? The verse starts by saying, "And the voice I had first heard speaking". Chapter 1 identifies that as Jesus. It wasn’t blunt, but it included the reference "I was dead…now alive" (Verse 18). Remember John saw Jesus after the resurrection. John knew what Jesus looked like, but John didn't recognize Jesus in Chapter 1 of Revelation, because Jesus' "look" was different. This vision of Jesus was different enough that Jesus said to John in Chapter 1, Verse 17 "Do not be afraid".

d) Back to this verse, there is a reference to the voice being like a trumpet. Imagine a trumpet noise that is distinct enough to say, "Come up here…" Why a trumpet?

i) There are many trumpet references in the bible. It is best compared to army bugler. The idea is to "sound the alarm" as something is about to happen.

e) Now comes the key part: The last part of the verse says "I (Jesus) will show you (John) what must take place after this". My first question would be "after what?"

i) The "after what" is a key point to Chapter 4, and the remainder of Revelation.

ii) The "after what" is the events after Chapters 2 and 3.

iii) Chapters 2 and 3 not only give "status reports" on seven churches, but also say that Jesus will judge these seven churches and also judge all Christian churches.

iv) Therefore, the big debate question is does "after this" refer to after the church era on earth ends? One can interpret "after this" to meaning after all the churches are in heaven with Jesus.

a) This view is the most popular with Evangelical Christians. It's not the only view, just the most popular. If you recall from the last few lessons, I talked about the theory that each church represented a different time era in church history. The opening words of Chapter 4, "after this", refers to after those church era's. Now we will read in Verse 2 of John "magically transported" into heaven. That is considered a picture of the rapture of the church. I’ll deal with that term in a few moments.

b) I should give some alternative views as well. Some believe "after this" refers to the time era after 90AD (more or less) when John wrote the Book of Revelation. This view, which is common among Catholic theologians believe most of Revelation covers the last 2,000-year history. It is as if Chapters 2-3 give a "status report" of the churches, and "after this" covers the last 2,000 years and counting of history. This view sees all the negative aspects of history as God’s judgment on the world.

c) There is another view that it is John-only in heaven in Chapter 4, and not the church. I’ll expand on this more in a moment. Right now, it occurred to me I’ve already written 3.5 pages and I’m still on Verse 1. ☺

6. Verse 2: At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

a) Remember in Verse 1, Jesus called from heaven down to John on earth and said, "Come up here". Before John had time to think about how he was going to get up there, we have the "at once" reference at the beginning of Verse 2. Somehow, someway, John was taken up into heaven so instantly, he never had time to think about how to get up there.

b) Since John was taken up so quickly, this is a good time to discuss the "rapture" theory.

i) The word "rapture" means to be taken up suddenly. It would be like an eagle suddenly swooping up its prey up in the sky and that prey had no idea. It would be like you sitting here reading this text and the next second you were in heaven. You had no idea how you got from Point A to Point B as it happened too fast.

ii) The word "rapture" is not in the bible. That word comes from the Latin. The Greek word "har-pad-zo" is translated (roughly) to "rapture" from Greek to Latin. That word is translated as underlined in the following New Testament verse.

a) "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." (1st Thessalonians 4:17 NIV)

iii) Here is another clue about the rapture: "In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." (1st Corinthians 15:52, NIV)

a) Notice in the 1st Corinthians verse the reference to the trumpet. John said Jesus voice was like a trumpet in Revelation 4:1. That is why many connect John’s sudden "rapture" to heaven with the rapture of the church.

iv) Christians vary as to when this rapture occurs. First, let me explain the "pre-tribulation view, which is a rapture prior to "The Great Tribulation":

a) The view is that the "Great Tribulation" covers a specific seven-year time span. We’ll discuss that more in later chapters.

b) The "pre-tribulation" view is that the church is raptured up into heaven before the start of the tribulation. The fact that John is up in heaven before all the Revelation-judgments start is an argument given for this view. This view is often abbreviated the "pre-trib(ulation)" view.

c) The "post-tribulation" view is that the church is raptured up into heaven after the end of this seven-year specific tribulation period. An argument for this view is that Jesus never says in the New Testament that He will come two times. Therefore, Jesus only comes for us once at the end of the seven-year tribulation. They see that as an argument that the Christian church must go through this tribulation period with everyone else living on the earth at this time. This is called "post-trib." for short.

v) Next, let’s discuss those who don’t believe in a literal 7-year tribulation period. They are called "amillennialists". Following the seven-year period comes a 1,000-year period where Jesus rules over the world. This is Chapter 20 of Revelation. Both the "pre-trib’s" and the "post-trib's" believe in a literal 1,000-year millennium.

a) In the Greek, if you put an "a" in front of a word, that word is changed to a negative. It is like when we put "non" in front of a word. For example, we may say, "That makes sense" or "That is nonsense". The three letters "non" changes a word to mean the opposite of the original term. The letter "a" in front of a Greek word has the same meaning.

b) The amillennial view is that the 1,000 year period is not literal, but figurative. There is no literal 1,000-year period. In this view, Jesus just comes back once for the church and everybody is in heaven. The description of the 1,000-year reign is a word-picture and not a literal event.

c) The amillennial view is that there is still a rapture of the church, but it is a single "wrap up" event. There is no literal seven year-tribulation and no literal 1,000-year millennium. There is just Jesus coming back to get the last bunch of saved Christians and life as we know it on earth, will end.

vi) Don’t know which view is right? Don’t worry, bible scholars have been debating this stuff for a long time. It’s a not a Christian requirement that one holds one particular view. Know that there are also variations of these major views.

c) Meanwhile, back to Verse 2: John was somehow caught up in heaven. The rest of the verse says the first thing He sees is "A throne in heaven with someone sitting on it."

i) I have no idea how big heaven is, but I do know that when John went up to heaven for this vision, he was taken to headquarters. This is God’s throne room.

ii) One thing to catch is that the person sitting on the throne is never described as God Himself. It is very much implied, but there is no verse that bluntly states, "This is God sitting on this throne". Either John didn’t want to state the obvious or he was so shocked by the vision, that he was busy describing what he saw as opposed to trying to interpret what he saw.

d) God once told Moses, "But," he (God) said, "You (Moses) cannot see my face, for no one may see me (God) and live." (Exodus 33:20 NIV). So how could John see God the Father and "still live"? One answer is that John’s sins were removed at the cross, and now John, along with you and me, has the privilege that Moses never had! A related idea is Moses couldn’t see God’s "face" as God was too big for Moses to comprehend. We’re not sure John, here in Revelation, saw "God’s face" either. My personal view is that we are going to spend eternity learning about God and grasping that comprehension!

i) How God is physically described is the topic of Verse 3.

7. Verse 3: And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian.

a) First, let’s say what God does not look like: He is not an old man with a grey beard!

b) Next, comprehend the literalness of all of this. There is a literal heaven. This is not a weird dream John had one day! John was transported to a literal throne in heaven.

c) God revealed these details about heaven so we know what the place would look like when we get there! It’s not a requirement for Christians to know this stuff, but it is a blessing to comprehend it.

d) Now, onto the big question: What did John mean by "jasper and carnelian"?

i) Let’s start with "jasper". We get a clue later in the Book of Revelation:

a) "It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal." (Revelation 21:11 NIV)

b) Whatever John meant by jasper, it is clear (i.e., colorless). Most believe it was a diamond, or more specifically, a diamond as reflected by the light.

c) Most commentators believe John wrote his 3 letters (1st, 2nd and 3rd John) after the book of Revelation. Notice how John described God the Father:

(1) "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." (1st John 1:5, NIV)

d) The idea of pure light is the idea of "perfection". God revealed Himself to John in a way to understand God’s perfect purity, free from any sin.

e) Notice this light is not a blinding light. In the next few verses, John was able to describe other things in the throne room. If this light was blinding, John could not describe anything else in that throne room.

ii) Next, we have the word "carnelian". Other bible translations say "sardius" (KJV, NKJV, NASB) or "ruby" (The Living Bible").

a) As best we can tell, this precious stone is red in color. Remember John was using first century language to describe what He saw. Somehow, the light coming from the throne was clear, and at the same time, had "red" like the light coming through a red ruby.

b) The most likely word-picture is that "red" refers to blood. In the Old Testament, the most sacred object, which represents the presence of God, "The Ark of Covenant" was sprinkled in blood to represent the shed blood for the forgiveness of sins.

c) Now picture the "white or clear light" of purity, and at the same time, it is covered with shed blood. That would best be described as light shining through perfect jewels as described above.

iii) So why not just say, "What came from the throne was white light with some red?" The answer is to understand how precious is jewelry. It is something special to behold and to admire. One must not forget that aspect of God.

8. Verse 3 (cont): A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.

a) The second thing John sees is what is encircled around the throne: A rainbow, resembling an emerald. For those who don’t know, an emerald in green in color.

i) Notice John didn’t describe the chair God was sitting on. We don’t even know that there was a chair! John somehow understood this was God’s throne room as the centerpiece of the room was this bright white light with shades of red.

b) Biblically speaking, when we think of rainbows, we think of the Noah’s ark story.

i) After the flood, God put a rainbow in the sky. God said the rainbow is a symbol of His promise He would never again destroy the world by a flood. (Genesis 9:13-16). The fact that you and I are here today proves that fact is correct.

ii) The only other biblical reference to a rainbow is the Old Testament Prophet Ezekiel when he saw God’s throne room. (Ref.: Ezekiel 1:28)

iii) OK, so why the rainbow? The important part of God’s promise to Noah is that no matter how sinful man becomes, God will not destroy flood the world again. It is symbolic of God keeping His promises to mankind. Even though we are unfaithful to God, He cannot break His promises to us!

c) Why did the rainbow resemble an emerald? Emeralds are green. When you think of "green", you think of the earth (land), at least the earth in springtime. Nature is primarily green in color. It is another way of God saying He won’t destroy all of nature again with a flood. We tend to forget that God is not only the God over humans but over all of nature itself. This rainbow promise is that God will never again destroy all of nature.

d) The point of the rainbow on the throne room is to remind us of God keeping His promises. Not just the flood promise, but also all His promises. If God is not perfectly trustworthy, we can’t trust in God’s promise of salvation through Jesus!

i) Another point of the rainbow will be evident in chapter five. A key issue of Chapter five is that no person could keep "their" commitment to God in that we have all sinned. The idea of the rainbow is that God is faithful to us even though humanity has been "unfaithful" (i.e., perfect in keeping God’s laws) to Him.

9. Verse 4: Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.

a) OK, after John describes God’s throne, the next thing John notices is 24 "other" thrones, presumably smaller thrones surrounding Gods’ throne.

b) Notice this vision in heaven is not just a "one-second-and-John’s-gone" vision. John had time to count 24 thrones around the main throne. My only point here is that this vision lasted for some time and was distinct enough that John could count to twenty-four!

c) On to the big question: Who are these twenty-four elders and why should I care? ☺

i) This is the reason I took the time to explain the rapture theory. One’s position on the twenty-four elders is pivotal to one’s view when the rapture takes place.

ii) Let’s start with what these 24 elders were wearing: They were dressed in white and gold crowns on their head. The white dress represents "purity" before God.

iii) If they represent Christians, consider the verse in Revelation that says, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:13b, NIV)

iv) Those who believe in the rapture prior to the seven-year tribulation (i.e., the events described in Revelation 6 through about 19) take the view that the 24 elders represent the church. If the 24 elders represent the church, they are in heaven "now", prior to Chapters 6-19. Somehow, someway, these 24 elders are the leaders of Christians who are in heaven.

v) Those who don’t believe the rapture happens prior to the tribulation believe these 24 elders represent angelic beings.

vi) Let me give you the argument for the 24 elders representing the church:

a) The Greek word for "elder" is "pres-boo'-ter-os" (Strong’s Dictionary), from which the Presbyterian denomination takes it name. It means "senior". This does not mean there are only 24 Presbyterians in heaven. ☺

b) If John wanted to call these "elders" angels, John would have used the term "angels". The words "angels" and "creatures" are used elsewhere in Revelation to describe angelic beings in heaven. In the New Testament, the word "elder" is used to describe an elderly church member. In the Old Testament, it only refers to the Jewish tribal leaders. Even John himself addressed his third epistle to a specific (human) church elder.

c) Back to the verse, these elders have "crowns". In Revelation 1:6 and 5:10, Christians are described as a "kingdom of priests". Well, kings need crowns. By the way, the word for our crowns is more like a victory crown. The idea is we achieve victory by our continual trust in Jesus for our sins.

d) Here are these elders dressed in white robes, and at the same time, have the crowns of victory. Putting this all together, the view is that elders represent the church leadership.

e) Does this mean that only the "top 24" Christians sit in this room? Don’t know. ☺ Remember that in heaven, there are more than three dimensions. It could be symbolic, representative or could be multitudes of Christians embodied or represented in these twenty-four elders.

vii) Now let me give you the argument for the 24 elders representing some sort of angelic beings:

a) The same way humans have free will, we will learn later in Revelation that angelic beings have free will. Some choose to follow Satan. We’ll get to that in Chapter 12 of Revelation. The bible speaks of demonic beings. We know that God created all angelic beings. Some of them followed Satan in his rebellion against God.

b) The view is these 24 elders represent the leadership of angelic beings who have victory in God over the demonic forces of the world.

c) We know that angelic beings are in "ranks". We get clues of that from Daniel and Revelation. These are the 24 leaders of those angelic ranks.

d) The argument is that no Christians deserve to be more special than any others than they deserve the role of "Top 24!" We are all sinners saved by the grace of God, and therefore the "24" represent angelic creatures.

d) OK, so why 24 thrones? Why not 12 thrones or 32.7 billion thrones? ☺

i) Some speculate it represents both the church and the redeemed of Israel. It represents the 12 apostles (with someone replacing Judas) and the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus told the apostles that they would be in 12 thrones judging the tribes of Israel (Ref.: Matthew 19:28). The other 12 thrones would be representing the tribes of Israel. When we get to the "New Jerusalem" in Revelation Chapter 21, there are references to both the 12 apostles and the 12 tribes.

ii) Another theory is that King David divided the Israelite priests into 24 divisions in 1st Chronicles Chapter 24. That pattern is represented here.

e) With all of that said, we’ll come back to these 24 elders in Verse 10. John gets back to describing other aspects of the throne room in Verse 5.

10. Verse 5: From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder.

a) OK, let’s recap what John saw so far in this chapter:

i) First John commented on God himself, compared to the light of bright jewels.

ii) Next, John commented on 24 smaller thrones around the main throne.

iii) Now here in Verse 5, John saw and heard lightning, rumbling and thunder.

a) One can’t see thunder, just hear it. It validates we can hear in heaven!

b) Stop and think: When you see thunder and lightening in the distance, what is our first thought? The answer is usually is, "a storm is coming". That is the case here. The "storm" is the judgment on the earth that begins in two chapters.

i) The sight of lightening and the sound of thunder draws our attention to that site. That’s the other idea of this sentence. It is God’s way of saying, "Look here!"

11.     &nbs