Rev 4:5-11 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. (6) And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. (7) And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. (8) And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. (9) And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, (10) The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, (11) Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Good morning to you, dear reader! With your cup of “something” in hand, let’s dive into the Word of God and see what’s in store in these verses! They excite me because we believers will be in attendance for this! We must understand that Westerners’ see things in a chronological order but Easterners see things in a circular fashion. The Bible is not in chronological order. A good example is that the book of Job is the oldest book in the Scriptures. Its location is toward the middle of the Bible itself. So as you see, it’s the same with the book of Revelation. It is, on the most part, chronological but there are parenthetical pauses (as we see here in chapters 4 and 5) as well as repeating topics in separate chapters. I hope that makes sense to you readers. I hope to make this understandable when we reach those verses. So let’s move on! 😃
Today’s verses open with John seeing seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. He tells us that these lamps are the seven Spirits of God. As you know, the number seven is the number of perfection. The seven Spirits represent God’s perfect Holy Spirit. Seven is also the number for completion and reveals the Spirit’s completeness in His ministry, according to Isaiah:
Isa 11:2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
In Isaiah’s verse, we see the Perfect Holy Spirit’s role: (1) shall rest upon him (2) wisdom (3) understanding (4) counsel (5) might (6) knowledge, and (7) the fear of the LORD! I’m so thankful Christ went to Heaven to prepare a place for us so that the Holy Spirit could come to help His Bride!!! This wonderful Holy Spirit (1) rests upon us (2) gives us wisdom through the Word (3) gives us understanding of the Word (4) provides us with counsel when we don’t know what to do (5) provides us strength to overcome temptation as well as the evils of this world (6) gives us knowledge of the Word when we need it, and (7) teaches us the fear of the LORD! I don’t know about you but I feel well equipped to be a child of the King, amen? We have all we need; the Holy Spirit equips us so we can handle whatever task the Lord gives to us! In today’s verses of chapter 4, the Father is on the throne, the Holy Spirit is before the throne and later Jesus will make His glorious entrance to open the scrolls! \o/ The beautiful Trinity!
Then John describes what he sees as a “sea of glass like unto crystal.” I once read that “finite human language cannot fully describe infinite things” and this is absolutely true! Most of the time where a body of water (as the sea here), it does not refer to actual water but to a “sea of people.” I can just imagine John wondering how he was going to pen what he saw. This is also true for the entire book of Revelation! John had to describe what he was seeing and hearing with words he knew! It would be like you and I trying to describe something that was going to happen a thousand years from now. What do you picture in your mind’s eye when you read this? I envision it as possibly the calming peace provided by God’s Word (not a tumultuous sea) – as well, the Word is living waters, amen? John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. It also reminded me of Psalm 23:2b he leadeth me beside the still waters. Or this could be referring to the sea of humanity that came to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sea of humanity appears “calm” because they have peace in their salvation. Furthermore, it is as a crystal, John says. I used to have a small Swarovski crystal pin that was absolutely beautiful. If I held it up to the sun, the rays would go through it and would reflect the sun off the walls with vibrant colors bouncing all over – it was so beautifully bright and shiny! I picture the Word of God illuminating in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. The Perfect Light, the Lord Jesus, could be a representation as well. Joh 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
How wonderful it will be to be in the presence of God at this point – the Lord will keep us safe from the great Tribulation that is coming upon the earth, just as God kept Noah and Lot safe (read Matthew 24 and Luke 17), even so will He do for the Church, His Bride! Just as a groom would not allow his beautiful bride to undergo beatings and persecutions, neither will the Lord Jesus allow His Bride to go through the great Tribulation! We are promised to be protected from God’s wrath in so many scriptures. One of these:
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Not only do we have this promise, but as we see here in Revelation 4, we will be with the Lord God Almighty sitting on the throne and we will be able to behold the beauty of Heaven! I can just imagine myself coming completely undone before my Lord!
Next, we see that John is trying to describe something quite bizarre! He sees four beasts and his description is unbelievable. I have quite an imagination, but even in my wildest dreams would I ever be able to picture this. These four beasts (lion, calf, man, and eagle) are very similar to the ones Ezekiel describes in chapter 10. These beasts have six wings, which we know are the seraphim. Their job is to continually go around the Throne of God singing: Holy, Holy, Holy!! Did you know that the word “holy” is the only word used in triplicate and it is used to describe God? Praise Him!
Verse 10 speaks of twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white raiment and having crowns of gold on their heads. Some believe the apostles are not included here because John is the one who is seeing these visions and he was an apostle. Others say it could be referring to the Old Testament priests who were in groups of 24 (1 Chronicle chapters 24 and 25). It may also be referring to the saints of the Old and New Testaments as they are all wearing crowns of gold. These crowns are not like Christ’s crown (a royal diadem). These crowns in Greek are “stephanos” and are more like the ones given to Olympic athletes, a lesser or inferior crown made of gold. Strong’s defines it as:
στέφανος
stephanos
stef’-an-osFrom an apparently primary “stepho” (to twine or wreathe); a chaplet (as a badge of royalty, a prize in the public games or a symbol of honor generally; but more conspicuous and elaborate than the simple fillet, G1238), literally or figuratively: – crown.
Strong’s Concordance
If you’ve ever done a study on the different crowns that a Christian can earn (during his/her ministry on earth) for Christ, you see that there are five crowns that can be earned:
- 1 Cor 9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. Our crown will never perish – it is eternal.
- 1 Thess 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? We will rejoice when the Lord comes for us! Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
- 2 Tim 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. The saved look forward to King Jesus’ coming! This crown is one of righteousness and there’s only one righteous One and that is the Lord Jesus. It’s by HIS righteousness we are saved!
- Jas 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. This crown is a reward for believers who love the Lord and endure the temptations of this world.
- 1 Pet 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. When the Lord appears, our chief Shepherd, we will receive a crown of glory! It reminds me of Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Amen and amen!
What will we do with these crowns, Christian? We will cast them at King Jesus’ feet and give them all back to Him! It is because of Him that we are included in this chapter, friend! Without His death, burial and resurrection, we would not be able to celebrate this holy and blessed event! We didn’t earn those crowns – He is rewarding US for something HE did! Those crowns belong to Him and only Him! There is no other King!
We end this chapter with praise and honor to the Lord our God! Only He is worthy to receive glory, honour, and power! The Creator of all things created all things for His good pleasure, and this is when we can tell Him face-to-face! I do not know if I’ll be able to do this without crying! I don’t know if I could even stand up to praise Him. I think I’ll be totally undone and on my face adoring Him and praising Him!
I have been reading Amir Tsarfati’s book entitled Revealing Revelation. In it, he gives a beautiful scenario of what we’ve covered in this post. I’ll quote it here:
It reminds me a bit of the flash mob fad of a few years ago. Someone would walk into a busy public place and begin singing loudly. Not many would pay her notice initially, but then out of the crowd two or three more would join in the song – possibly incorporating choreography. Then out of the crowd more and more would join until there was a large group of performers surrounded by admirers, most with their cell phones out recording the event.
The first groups have started the song, and the praise is building. Very soon, the performance is going to hit its crescendo as a special guest makes His appearance and brings down the house.
Revealing Revelation, page 82.
Jesus will make His appearance in chapter 5 and the Bride will finally meet her Groom face-to-face! Friend, if this doesn’t get you unglued, your “blesser” is broken, LOL! What will I do when I see Him? I would like to think that I could run to Him and hug Him because of all that He has done for me. Then again, meeting the Lord God Himself will probably overcome me and I’ll be laying flat on my face adoring Him! Either way, I’ll be safe in Heaven with my Lord and Saviour rejoicing with all the Saints!
If you are not born again, reader, your eternity will be quite different. It will be spent in a pitch black place filled with black fire (the hottest fire there is) and your body will burn without being consumed to ash. Your body will burn and burn for all eternity. 😥 If you’ve ever burned yourself on a hot iron or stove, you know how painful that small area of flesh can be. Now imagine your entire body burning and your flesh not melting away… second after second, minute after minute, day after day, millennia after millennia … without end! As if that’s not enough, you will be tormented by the demons who have been cast there as well. I don’t want anyone to go through this! I have a dear friend who played with matches when she was around 9 years old. She had been taught not to play with matches but she disobeyed her parents. She caught on fire and suffered severe burns on her arm. It took months for her to heal after many grafts. Her arm never looked the same afterwards. The trauma from this event has played havoc on her body and she developed several life long illnesses because of that one act of disobedience. But what is the same is that she relives that moment frequently and regrets her disobedience. Just as Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden for their one sin of disobedience, so will the unsaved be kept out of Heaven. It’s the same as dying without Christ as your Saviour. You will be in the Lake of Fire burning for all eternity and regretting every moment there that you rejected His salvation. My heart aches just thinking about it. But this is a choice that you made! You may not believe that God exists but what if you’re wrong? Do you really want to spend eternity in such pain and suffering, forever separated from God, with no chance of getting out of the Lake of Fire?
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Friend, it is no coincidence that God has placed you here for such a time as this so that you may be saved if you are not already. Please click here and the link will open up in a separate tab to You Can Be Born Again and Know It!