A glimpse of the Church Triumphant’s Glory

Sermon for Midweek of Oculi

Revelation 4:1-11

Now that we’ve heard what the Spirit says to the seven churches in Revelation, we move on to the rest of the Book of Revelation.

The Book of Revelation can be divided into seven sets of visions that the Apostle John saw. The first set of visions was the vision of the seven letters to the seven churches. Chapter 4 begins the next section, and it sets the scene, not only for the second set of visions, but really for the rest of the book. We’re going to keep coming back over and over again to this majestic scene of the throne room in heaven, which includes three notable features: the throne, the twenty-four elders, and the four living creatures. As we’ll see, this throne room in heaven represents the eternal glory of the Church Triumphant in the presence of God—a glory and peace which remains unchanged no matter what’s going on down here in the world.

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

John sees a door standing open in heaven. Then he’s invited to come up and look through the door, to see a glimpse of the hidden reality of the heavenly realm, what things are like on the other side of that invisible door. Now, heaven doesn’t literally have a door like your house has a door. But everything John sees throughout the Revelation is a symbol or a picture of some unseen reality. This is one of the easier symbols in the book. You can only see into what’s going on in the heavenly realm if God opens that door to you and invites you to look, as He once invited the prophet Isaiah to look in that famous vision of Isaiah 6, which has a few things in common with this vision.

Immediately I was in the Spirit. It’s capital S Spirit in the New King James, but I think lower case makes much more sense. In other words, John wasn’t transported bodily into heaven, but in his spirit, he was given the chance to see what God wanted Him to see in that spiritual realm. And behold, a throne set in heaven, and One who was seated on the throne.

This throne is a symbol of the authority and power of God as He governs the affairs of the world for the good of His Church. Behind the scenes of the harsh persecutions and other hardships that the Church was facing at the time of John—and at our present time—God rules. God reigns supreme as King over all. His throne isn’t threatened by anyone. His rule isn’t in danger.

Now the One seated on the throne can be God the Father. But it can just as well be the Son of Man. Either would fit with the context, and also with Daniel’s vision in chapter 7 of his book. Regardless, it’s God sitting on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. A jasper is a precious stone that comes in many colors, from reddish to bluish to greenish. A sardius is a reddish stone. People have tried to attach significance to those colors, but honestly, any attempt to attach significance to them is going to be pure speculation. Still, green is associated with life and growing things. Red is associated with blood. If the two colors are intended to tell us something about Christ, then the greenish jasper could represent the eternal life of Christ, even though He once shed His red blood on the cross. The “rainbow” that encircled the throne wasn’t the many-colored rainbow we’re familiar with, because this one looked like an emerald, which is always emerald green in color. In Scripture, the rainbow came up after the flood had destroyed the earth as a sign of God’s covenant not to destroy the earth again by a flood. This one, green like an emerald, could be showing us the eternal life that awaits believers after this world is destroyed.

The throne, and the One seated on it, are the first major feature of the heavenly throne room. Now we come to the second major feature: Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.

God doesn’t sit on His throne off in a corner somewhere, isolated and alone. His throne is surrounded by twenty-four other thrones, with elders sitting on them. Twelve and its multiples in Scripture is always associated with the Church. The twelve tribes of Israel, which comprised the entire Old Testament Church, were descended from the twelve sons of Jacob. And of course there were twelve apostles hand-picked by Jesus to become the foundation of His New Testament Church through their preaching. Jesus once said to the Twelve, Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. In the next chapter, the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures all praise Jesus because You have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.

So it seems clear that the twenty-four elders represent all the believers from the Old Testament and the New Testament combined, with robes made white by the blood of the Lamb so that they’re perfectly righteous and holy in God’s sight, and with crowns of gold on their heads, because they will reign with Christ, even as Paul says of all believers in 2 Timothy: If we endure, we shall reign with Him.

Then back to the throne: And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. That’s a picture of power and might, intended to frighten the enemies of the One who sits on the throne, while it holds no fear at all for any of those sitting around it.

Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. The Holy Spirit, with His perfect and varied gifts is always right there with the Father and the Son, always giving light to the minds of men, and always warming the hearts of believers with the fire of His love, so that we learn to love as God loves.

Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. I think the most Scripturally sound interpretation of this sea is that it represents the “sea” of Baptism. There was a “sea”—a very large basin of water—as a major part of the furnishings in the Old Testament temple, which is said, in the book of Hebrews, to be a sort of representation of the temple of God in heaven. That sea in the temple was for the ceremonial washing of priests. The believers in heaven first entered into God’s presence through the washing of Holy Baptism, where all the baptized were made into a royal priesthood. But those waters pictured in heaven are completely calm and undisturbed, because the believers there, who are all kings and priests, have no more need of being cleansed. There is no need for continual washings of the saints in heaven, as with the Old Testament priests, because all sin has been removed from them there.

Finally, we have the third major feature of the throne room in heaven: And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”

Four living creatures, or living “things,” literally. The strong tradition of the Church is to interpret these four as representing all the teachers or ministers of the Church, who have drawn their teaching from the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), which tell the story of the life of Christ, who was like a lion in His kingship, like a calf in His sacrifice, like a man with His wisdom and understanding, and like a flying eagle with His ascension into heaven. At the same time, the teachers themselves can be represented by those images. They are to be like a lion defending its cubs, like a calf as it labors, like a man in his wisdom and compassion, and like a flying eagle, preaching a doctrine that doesn’t come from the earth, but from heaven.

The words of the four living creatures are so reminiscent of the words of the Seraphim, the angels in Isaiah 6: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty! But it’s clear from chapter 5 that these four living creatures are people and not angels, because they sing, together with the 24 elders, that they were redeemed to God by the blood of the Lamb. But it makes perfect sense that believing men and the holy angels would praise God with the same words, because we’re all His creatures, and more than that, we all acknowledge Him as our good, gracious, and holy God.

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”

That fits with our interpretation of the four living creatures as the teachers of the Church, since they lead the way in praising God, and the 24 elders, that is, all believers, gladly follow their lead. Together, they worship the One who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, and they cast their crowns before Him, acknowledging that He is the one who made them kings. He is the King of kings who is worthy to receive all glory, honor, and power as the Creator of all things, just as, in the next chapter, the same ones will praise God as their Redeemer.

Remember this scene of the throne room in heaven. Picture it as well as you can from the words John recorded for us. Understand that the Lord God reigns, even though His reign is hidden from us. And rejoice in the fact that, on the other side of that invisible door, the Church Triumphant is right there, praising our God just as we will one day praise Him before His throne, in perfect triumph, peace, and glory! Amen.