UNDERSTANDING THE BOOK OF REVELATION:Chapter 4

[DrFrank]

Unless you have a strong aversion to news reports,this thought must have crossed your mind recently:OH NO! THESE MUST BE THE BIBLE PREDICTED "LAST DAYS"!! Hey you sure are perceptive !!! With the firm belief that we are now entering into the Tribulation period,I am publishing a series of studies of the Book of Revelation,that difficult to understand road map that shows exactly where we are headed,using the easy to understand Contemporary English Version (CEV) Bible that has been created by the American Bible Society.I will then add insights in capitol letters which will provide explanations and historical background information for the words you have just read, which will be in agreement with leading biblical commentaries,in order to at long last make the startling predictions made in this important and fascinating book comprehensible. I will occasionally make changes in the CEV words if I detect variance from the meaning found in the King James Bible.

REVELATION 4


1After this , I looked and saw a door that opened into heaven. Then the voice that had spoken to me at first (REFERS TO THE VOICE OF JESUS THAT WAS FIRST REPORTED IN REVELATION 1:10) and that sounded like a trumpet said, "Come up here! I will show you what must happen next." (THIS IS THOUGHT TO REFER TO WHAT WILL OCCUR AFTER THE RAPTURE)2.Right then the (HOLY) Spirit took control of me, and there in heaven I saw (IN A GOD-SENT VISION) a throne and One (GOD) sitting on it. 3.The One who was sitting there sparkled like precious stones of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne.4.Twenty-four other thrones were in a circle around that throne. And on each of these thrones there was an elder dressed in white clothes and wearing a gold crown. (THIS SIGNIFIED THAT THEY HAD BEEN GIVEN AUTHORITY BY GOD) 5.Flashes of lightning and roars of thunder and voices came out from the throne in the center of the circle. Seven torches, which are the seven spirits of God,(THIS REFERS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS SEVEN QUALITIES) were burning in front of the throne. 6.Also in front of the throne was something that looked like a glass sea (THIS REFLECTS THE NATURE OF HEAVEN,IT LOOKS JUST LIKE A CALM SEA WITHOUT WAVES.SORRY NO "GAY PRIDE" DEMONSTRATIONS ALLOWED UP HERE! ) clear as crystal.Around the throne in the center were four living creatures covered front and back with eyes.(SEE THE NOTE BELOW) 7.The first creature was like a lion, the second one was like a bull, the third one had the face of a human, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8.Each of the four living creatures had six wings, and their bodies were covered with eyes within.(IT HAS BEEN DIFFICULT TO TRANSLATE THESE WORDS.THEY ARE THOUGHT TO MEAN THAT THEIR INNER THOUGHTS WERE REVEALED) Day and night they never rested, singing

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord,
the all-powerful God,
who was and is
and is coming!" (THIS IS THOUGHT TO REFER TO JESUS' RETURN TO EARTH)

9.The living creatures kept praising, honoring, and thanking the one who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever. 10.At the same time the twenty-four elders (OF THE CHURCH IN HEAVEN) knelt down before the One (GOD) sitting on the throne. And as they worshiped the One who lives forever, they placed their crowns in front of the throne (ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THEIR SPIRITUAL NATURE WAS GIVEN TO THEM BY GOD) and said,11"Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory, honor, and power. You created all things, and by your decision they are and were created."(BECAUSE OF THE CONTINUAL PRAISE OF GOD AND JESUS IN HEAVEN THE INHABITANTS COME TO RECOGNIZE THEIR OWN UNWORTHINESS AND DEPENDENCE UPON JESUS RATHER THAN UPON THEIR OWN BEHAVIOR FOR THEIR SALVATION;A NECESSARY LESSON FOR THOSE GRANTED SALVATION !)

 

[veteran]

Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

John's spirit was caught up by vision to see God's Throne in Heaven. In Isaiah 4, the prophet Isaiah also had a vision like John here. Isaiah feared that he had died, knowing there was no way to see such a sight without having died. Yet Isaiah did not die, nor was he raptured. In 2 Cor.12, Apostle Paul mentioned one who survived that was "caught up" to Paradise, to the third Heaven, and heard unspeakable words not lawful to utter. John is still on the Isle of Patmos in prison when he was given to see these visions.

3 And He That sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

The next chapter of Rev.5 gives more info about these 24 elders appearing before God's Throne. Note here they already are given "white raiment" and "crowns of gold." The rewards to the saints are not handed out by Christ until His return and thousand years reign of Rev.20 (see end of Rev.11 also). So this is not a pre-trib rapture; this is a future forward view after Christ's return.

5 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.

Ezekiel was also given by vision to see these four beasts surrounding God's Throne (Ezek.1). These beasts are 'zoon' in the Greek. These protect God's Throne day and night.

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.
(KJV)

When the four beasts give glory and honour and thanks to God, the elders also bow before Him to worship and cast their crowns before the throne to show His rule over them. God only is worthy of such praise, no man is.

 

[veteran]

Correction in my previous post about Isaiah 4. It is Isaiah 6 where God's prophet Isaiah was given to see His throne and thought he'd died, not Isaiah 4.