Devotions with Dre Episode 29: Book of Revelation Part 10: A Heavenly Scene

Welcome back to the podcast. Today we’re beginning to look at the next big section of Revelation: chapters 4-19. Today we’re going to look at the first part of that which is the description of Heaven in chapters 4-5. This will take several episodes. Today will be focused on Revelation 4:1-6.

Part 1 the heavenly setting (rev 4:1-6)

"Rev 4-5 records glimpses into Christ's glory. Here we see into the throne room of heaven... John shows us heaven before showing us earth so that we will not be frightened by future events." Life Application Study Bible

So first go read Revelation chapters 4-5. I will read it in the message paraphrase and then from the Amplified Bible…

Like I mentioned, this is the beginning of the next, very large, section of Rev. ("Act 2" of the Revelation of Jesus). Apocalyptic literature tells us what will be, but also teaches us more about the present, like what's happening in Heaven right now.

Let me tell you about a dream I had: Sunday June 30 I snoozed my alarm, and God gave me a dream to wake me up. I drifted back to sleep, dreamed I had a key and was trying to open a double door but my tiredness was keeping me from opening it i was fumbling. Then I heard a line from the song we were opening with that day which was "Your presence is an open door." Then, I saw a visual of the double doors of the chapel opening. Next I was reminded of this verse in Rev. That was all enough to get me out of bed to get there early and prayer walk!

Our first hyperlink back to the Old Testament is to Ezek 1:1 "...the heavens opened and I saw visions of God."

The voice heard in Rev 4:1 - This is Christ's voice, the same trumpety voice you can read about in chapter 1 that announced the start of the seven letters.

Regarding "Come up here" - have you ever sensed or felt Jesus calling you to come to Him? I've had times in my life where the gentle compelling call of Christ was tangible and unmistakable. The fact that He invites us to learn from Him, that he desires to share mysteries and revelations with us!

"What will take place after this" is a phrase we first saw in 1:19 : "write what you have seen, what is now, and what will take place later" ... so John is clarifying that chapter 4 begins the "what will take place later" portion. Rev 4-19 are about the great tribulation, aka the messianic woes.

4:2 "at once I was in the Spirit" (he said this already in 1:10, you will also see it 2 more times in 17:3 and 21:10) ... some Bible scholars suggest this is a trance state (yes there are examples of trances in the Bible), some describe it as out-of-body, others as a vision while staying in the body, still others hold space for the possibility that he was physically moved, seeing heaven while staying embodied during the experience. Eugene Peterson paraphrases it as "in deep worship."

Evan Wickham says "in the Spirit" is "trusting what God's doing, trusting God's Spirit, willing to cooperate with God's movements, and to surrender his own desires if need be."

I don’t have a strong stance but I feel like there are two or three kinds of visions for sure. The visions I've had are where I SEE in the spirit but my soul is still in my body. I have some Christian friends who have been taken out of their body and brought to different locations on earth, or to heaven, then put back. This happened to the apostle Paul, Ezekiel, and others. I’ve heard stories about trances from Christians as well.

If I had to guess, John is probably there, meaning at least his soul location during this is in heaven, more-so than in his body; that’s just the impression I get.

4:2b "a throne stood in Heaven, with One seated on it" - That’s the same throne and same God on it as witnessed in Ezekiel 1:26, Isaiah 6.

This throne is the focal point of the vision; everything else is centered around the throne - the fact that God sits on a throne means He rules and reigns and judges.

Michael Heiser asserts that in this part of Revelation the author John is using a genre called "the covenant lawsuit genre."

This occurs a lot in the Hebrew scriptures. He says, in his Naked Bible Podcast episode on this chapter, "There's a pretty solid consensus of scholarship...that Revelation 4-5 is a Divine Council scene that utilizes features of the covenant lawsuit genre from the Old Testament."

(By "Divine Council" he means the heavenly hosts, the pantheon of gods, the divine beings who run the cosmos. you can read more on that at TheDivineCouncil.com)

So, this is a heavenly courtroom situation, and YHWH is the Judge.

Rev 4-5 is modeled after Daniel 7:9-14, which is also a heavenly courtroom (and many other parts of rev echo Daniel almost verbatim).

4:3a "He Who sat there had the appearance of a jasper stone and a sardius stone..."

Jasper was crystalline, like diamond, and sardius was red like blood or fire - so it could mean those things. these two stones are also the FIRST and LAST gems in the high priest's breastplate! Exodus 39.

Later, in Rev 21, we get to see the new heavenly city shine with this same jasper brightness!

4:3b "encircling the throne was a rainbow that looked like [the color of] an emerald…"

This might be a reference to God's ongoing promise and covenant with humankind - God's ever-green commitment to sustain us.

If so, the throne with the rainbow around it could be the balance of absolute sovereignty and power with committed love and care.

The presence of this rainbow near the throne is also, no doubt, a hyperlink to Ezekiel 1:28: "Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him."

(We'll address v4 the elders next time).

Rev 4:5a "From the throne came flashes of lightning and peals of thunder." God is the creator and source, and the power that emanates from Him is unmatched; He can squelch all destruction and death. He holds Kingship and Majesty and power. Gentle, confident power. When you get close to God you’re only getting a glimpse, a touch, but in His grace He’s not unleashing all of who He is in His power and might. Because in our current state we wouldn’t be able to handle it.

5b "In front of the throne seven lamps were blazing, these are the Seven Spirits of God.” Also known as the seven-fold Spirit of God. Most say this is the perfect Holy Spirit of God. You’ll notice later that the Lamb has seven eyes as well - you don’t need more than seven, in Biblical numerology it represents perfection.

v6 "Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal" - we describe calm water like this too. So many say this means the opposite of chaos (which is represented in the Bible by tumultuous waters). The waters of chaos have been stilled - flat and glassy because the peace of God reigns in this place.

This is the picture of Heaven that John is seeing in Rev 4. An amazing setup! The kind of thing we need - a clear understanding of how He rules and reigns in Heaven SO that we can then have a proper perspective as things go down on this earth.

I pray that this exploration of scripture has increased your wonder at King Jesus and His Kingdom, and reminded you to join the worship and adoration that's always going on in Heaven around the throne; that's exactly what we'll examine more of next time :)