Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

Remember back in 1:19, Jesus gave John the basic outline for the Book of Revelation when He told John to write in three sections:

1. “What you have seen” (the description of John’s vision - chapter 1)
2. “What is now” (the letters describing the current state of the churches - chapters 2-3)
3. “What will take place later” (what the future holds - the rest of the prophecies in the book)

In this week’s text, the same voice told John that we’re now entering Section 3: Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this (4:1).

Thus we begin what some would consider the more difficult part of studying Revelation. Really, it is more difficult in the sense that it takes more time, effort, and attention span to understand what we’re learning. The letters to the churches were brief, focused, and pretty clear. What follows, though, covers 1900+ years of prophecy encouched in heavy symbolism.

At this point it’s good for us to remember the promise made to us in chapter 1:

Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take it heart what is written in it” (1:3).

So let’s dig in, and let’s take it to heart, and let’s be blessed along the way!

Speaking of symbolism, I want to comment on that briefly. Generally speaking, there are three basic views about symbolism in Revelation.

1. Some look at everything in Revelation as symbolic, yes everything. For instance, some will start by viewing the whole book not as prophetic of end times but as symbolic of the eternal relationship between God and man, good and evil. Some will look at the seven letters to the churches as symbolic of seven periods in church history (and the seventh letter usually symbolizes the current state of the church). Many see John being caught up to heaven in our current chapter as symbolic of the rapture of the church, with John being representative of the whole church. Etc.
2. Some feel they should interpret the entire book of Revelation in a purely literal way. To be honest, I have trouble understanding how they can stick to that viewpoint — there is simply too much surrealism in Revelation. I’m sure I’m not representing this viewpoint very well in this paragraph and would be interested in someone commenting on it that is of the literalist school of thought. Either way, the Greek of Revelation 1:1 tells us pretty plainly that “He sent it by His angel to His servant John in symbols (semaino, σεμαινο).” [It's unfortunate that the NIV and some other modern translations leave this out. The King James and American Standard Versions, for all their faults, translate that verse much more accurately]
3. Then there is the “come on folks, let’s be reasonable about this!” approach, which is where I am. Revelation should be interpreted literally and simply wherever possible. There’s no reason to see the letters to the churches as symbolic when it makes perfect sense for them to be literal. There’s no reason to make John symbolic of the church when it makes sense to see it as John himself. Those examples don’t need or require symbolism. Now, lampstands and dragons and six-winged creatures with eyes all over and a woman sitting on a beast with a cup full of blood — that’s another story altogether. We do need to deal with symbolism, too.

How do we know what the symbols mean? Well, when you see a cross in a church you think of more than two pieces of wood. When you see a donkey or an elephant in a political context, you know they represent more than the animals themselves. When you see a “swoosh” in an advertisement, you know it represents a shoe company.

First century cultures had their own symbols just like ours does. Their cultures were bent much more toward religion and philosophy and literature than we are, and they had a whole lot of religious symbolism at their disposal.

God made interpretation somewhat easy for the original readers by drawing on symbols they already understood. Many of those symbols are drawn from the Bible itself, especially in the Old Testament. So, to understand the symbols we need to combine common sense, Bible knowledge and the knowledge of scholars who study those ancient cultures.

The “things that must take place” include:

1. Satanic spirits will desperately try to frustrate God’s purposes by destroying His people
2. God will destroy evil and death, which are the powers of Satan

Conflict will take place on earth, but Revelation reminds us that earthly conflict and evil are merely visible symptoms of the constant battle going on in the spiritual world between the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God .

The battles will become intense and, humanly speaking, they will seem nearly intolerable. But Revelation reminds us that God is on His throne and is in control of the universe. He will not allow the battle to go beyond what may be allowed for His saving plan.

In chapter 1, John heard a voice behind him (1:10) which he “turned” to see (1:12).

John now sees a door in front of him in heaven and is invited to come “come up” (4:1). He was immediately “in the Spirit” (4:2), a phrase he also used in 1:9.

Everything we studied so far was on earth; What we study in this lesson is in heaven, and we’ll encounter a scene changes between heaven and earth throughout Revelation. Sometimes this is explicitly stated (as here in 4:1-2), but other times you must simply infer it from the context.

John will remain in heaven in this vision through ch. 9, then he’ll return to earth (10:1) until he goes to heaven again 11:13 - except that in 11:15-19 the vision is in heaven. In chapter 12 John seems to be on earth again, and in late chapter 14 he seems to be in heaven again.

Some interpreters see John here as symbolic of the whole church, his invitation to go up to heaven as symbolic of the rapture, the voice that was speaking to him “like a trumpet” as representative of the trumpet heard at the Second Coming (1Th 4:16), and the twenty four elders in 4:4 as representative of the raptured church.  This is central to the argument among “pre-trib” interpreters, who believe the church will be caught up to heaven before the tribulation period so that the church doesn’t experience tribulation.

My question is simply, “why?” Why would we interpret this plain scene symbolically? Nowhere else in all of scripture is that idea supported, and it’s a big stretch to find it here. I’m inclined to think the idea was devised to provide hope to people who feel Christians shouldn’t experience hardship.

And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. (4:3)

Jasper and carnelian are types of quartz. Jasper is usually clear and carnelian is usually fiery red.

The rainbow “encircled the throne” of God.  If you’ve ever seen a rainbow while flying on an airplane, you’ve seen what’s called a “glory rainbow” or “360 rainbow.” The rain has to be below your plane for you to see the full circle. It’s amazing! I’ve experienced this just once, flying from Columbus, OH to San Diego, CA. I was awestruck.

The emerald green rainbow encircling the throne of God no doubt came from His light and the storm that emanated from the throne (4:5). Clear jasper is likely used to describe God’s holiness, fiery-red carnelian likely describes God’s fierce judgment, and the emerald green rainbow likely describes His mercy (the rainbow can also symbolize mercy), but these are pretty vague. They simply help to build the picture of God on His throne.

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. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. (4:4-5)

Identifying the 24 other thrones and the 24 elders on them is a little challenging. Some have understood the elders to represent the perfected church in heaven — 12 patriarchs of the tribes of Israel (the Old Testament church) and the 12 apostles (the New Testament church).

This position is often held by those who think John being caught up to heaven represents the rapture of the church. However, there are problems with this interpretation.

• Nothing in the context suggests it
• In 5:8 the same elders are shown offering bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. But the church is “the saints.” So how could they be offering up the church’s prayers if they are the church itself? This same service (offering up prayers of the saints) is performed by an angel later on (8:3)
• In 5:9 the elders praise God for redeeming men - the wording of which seems to set them apart from the redeemed (or they would have said “redeemed us”). Note that in the KJV it does read “redeemed us” but that is incorrect. Nearly every other translation has it as “redeemed men,” which is accurate to the Greek.

So who are the elders, then?

Their function was to fall down in front of the throne and worship God, laying (more accurately, “throwing”) their crowns in front of the throne and adoring the creator (4:10-11). I believe the twenty four elders are simply a body of spirits or angels who help God rule the universe. We learn about this special class of spirits in the Bible:

• Paul describes “the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Eph 3:10)
• Psalm 89:7 says “In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him“
• Isaiah 24:23 prophetically describes how God “will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously”
• The prophet Micaiah saw “the LORD sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left” (1Ki 22:19). Two verses later one from this host of heaven is called “a spirit,” and that spirit goes out to carry out God’s rule for mankind
• Finally, Rev 7:9-11 draws a picture of the redeemed, plus angels and the four living creatures. A similar picture is given in 19:1-4.

These 24 elders, I believe, are spirits that surround the throne of God and help Him to carry out His rule. The number 24 is not significant in the rest of the book of Revelation nor in the rest of the Bible, so no symbolic importance should be given to the number.

Next lesson we will wrap up chapter 4 and begin studying more of this heavenly scene in chapter 5.