John’s vision of God resembles those witnessed by three biblical prophets who preceded him: Isaiah (Isa 6:1–8), Ezekiel (Ezek 1–2), and Daniel (Dan 7:9–27). God’s throne in heaven resembles Israel’s tabernacle and temple - according to Exodus, the earthly structures were built according to the pattern of God’s temple in heaven (Exod 26:30; Heb 8:5).
John’s visions of heavenly worship in Revelation inspired the liturgy of the early Church. Since Christian worship is a participation in the liturgy of heaven, it is not surprising that the heavenly worship depicted in Revelation has exercised an immense influence on Christian liturgy and hymnody.
4:1
John sees an open door to heaven, indicating that God is making his heavenly dwelling accessible to the prophet.
Simultaneously, John hears the same voice he heard before（1:10）- the voice of the risen Lord.
“Come up here”.
Jesus tells John he will show him what must happen afterwards.
This phrase signal a new section of the book after the seven oracles that pertain to “what is happening” (following the program of 1:19); these words also indicate that the purpose of John’s entry into heaven is to receive divine revelation.
The content of that revelation is contained in a sealed scroll that John will see in chapter 5, but whose contents he will not learn until chapter 10.
4:2–3
At once, John tells us, “I was in the Spirit”. In Revelation the phrase “I was in the Spirit” occurs three other times to indicate special moments of prophetic revelation (1:10; 17:3; 21:10).
Revelation mentions God’s throne forty times - a symbol of divine sovereignty. God’s throne will remain while the old heaven and earth have disappeared (20:11).
John’s vision of God seated on the throne resembles Ezekiel’s vision into the opened heavens (1:1, 26–28). However, unlike Ezekiel (1:26–27), John does not attempt to describe the figure sitting on the throne, except by comparison with precious jewels and light. These precious stones seen together portray the impressive value and beauty of what they describe (see Ex 28:17–18; 39:10–13; Ezek 28:13; Rev 21:11, 18–20).
Around the throne was a halo, or “rainbow,” as in Ezek 1:28, brilliant as an emerald, typically green in color.
Notice the usage of the words: “like” and “in appearance”.
The vision reveals the majesty and splendor and beauty of God, who “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Tim 6:16).
4:4
Around the throne John sees twenty-four other thrones on which twenty-four elders sat. The twenty-four elders represent the entire people of God—those of the Old and the New Covenants—in worship before God’s throne.
Revelation refers to these “elders” exactly twelve times. In Scripture the number twelve symbolizes the people of God. The gates of the new Jerusalem are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the foundations of the city are inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles (21:12–14), suggesting that the twenty-four elders represent all God’s people.
But some indicates that they may symbolise a heavenly order of priestly ministers in heaven like the twenty-four Levitical orders of 1 Chronicles 24:4; 25:9–31.
In Revelation, these elders worship, help lead antiphonal praises (5:8; 11:16; 19:4), and offer to God the prayers of his people as incense (5:8). All of these are priestly functions.
Their white garments indicate holiness fitting to ministers in God’s heavenly room.
Their gold crowns, like their thrones, show that they share in God’s kingly rule (like the martyrs and saints in 20:4).
The elders thus epitomize the fullness of the dignity that Christ has bestowed on God’s people as “a kingdom, priests for his God and Father” (1:6).
And there are those who favour the opinion that these elders are a council of heavenly beings who surround God’s throne, as angelic representatives of God’s people (as seen, e.g., in 1 Kgs 22:19; Job 1:6; Ps 89:7; Dan 7:9–10; possibly Isa 24:23). But, it seems more likely that John understands them as human representatives of God’s people already reigning with Christ (20:4).
It is characteristic of human beings rather than angels to sit on thrones and wear crowns. Also, the term “elder” (Greek presbyteros, from which “priest” is derived) is not used in the Bible of angels, but was familiar to John and his readers as the office of the church leaders, the presbyters, who presided at their liturgies.
The idea of worship led by presbyters at the front and surrounded by angels would have seemed entirely appropriate and familiar to early Christians, who understood that their Eucharistic celebrations were a participation in the worship of heaven (Heb 10:19–22; 12:12).
4:5–6a
In Scripture, lightning and thunder often accompany a theophany, a manifestation of God (see Ex 19:16; 2 Sam 22:14–15; Ezek 1:13).
In Revelation, these particular divine portents recur with escalating intensity at the climax of each series of divine interventions—at the seventh seal (8:5), the seventh trumpet (11:19), and the seventh bowl (16:18).
The seven flaming torches that burned in front of the throne recall the flames atop the seven-branched lampstand, the menorah, that stood in the sanctuary of the temple in Jerusalem.
John’s mention of the seven spirits of God recalls Zechariah’s vision of seven lamps of a menorah fed by a single bowl of oil (Zech 4:2). The seven lamps represent the divine Spirit and “the eyes of the LORD that range over the whole earth” (4:10b; see also v. 6). God sees and acts in the world by means of his omnipresent Spirit.
“The sea of glass like crystal” in front of the throne probably alludes both to the large bronze basin of water, called the “sea,” in Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 7:23–26) and to the waters above the “dome” (Gen 1:7), the firmament that covers the earth and on which God’s throne rests in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezek 1:26).
From below, the dome is visible as the sky, the translucent boundary between earth and heaven that shines with God’s splendor (Ps 19:2).
The opening verses of this vision evoke awe and wonder at the majesty of God. They help John’s readers realize that this is a revelatory moment like that of Moses and the elders of Israel at Sinai (Exod 24:10), like that of Ezekiel (1:26–28).
John is gazing on God in his heavenly throne room.
4:6b–7
The four living creatures resemble the four living creatures, called “cherubim,” (Ezek 1:13–15, 19–22; 10:1–22). In the Old Testament the cherubim are angelic beings who guarded the garden of Eden after the fall (Gen 3:24) and whose images were placed above the ark of the covenant, inside the holy of holies of the tabernacle and temple (Exod 25:18–22).
In Ezekiel’s visions these creatures have wheels with eyes all around, are animated by the Spirit of God, and move in unison as the Lord’s flying chariot.
Here in John’s vision the four living creatures also are covered with eyes in front and in back, indicating vigilance and boundless awareness of everything taking place in creation, but they remain stationed by God’s throne, lead the praises of heaven, and in the heavenly liturgy announce important divine interventions on earth (6:1, 3, 5–7; 15:7).
Instead of each creature having four faces (Ezek 1:10), here the angelic beings differ from one another, each having a single face, that of a lion, a calf (or “ox”), a human being, or an eagle. No explicit explanation can be provided as to its meaning.
The living creatures that John sees also resemble the seraphim that Isaiah the prophet saw in his temple vision (Is 6:1–4). However, John’s four creatures differ from Ezekiel’s cherubim and from Isaiah’s seraphim. This fact indicates that the exalted beings closest to God cannot be depicted adequately in any one vision or in any single formulation of words.
4:8
The living creatures in Revelation never stop exclaiming “Holy, holy, holy”. When applied to God the word “holy” means totally other, different, transcendent. The strangeness of the four living creatures and everything else offers a faint suggestion of how totally “other” and beyond our imagination God is. Along with the word “love,” the word “holy” is the most accurate way to describe God.
To proclaim him as thrice-holy indicates he is holy in the superlative degree and hints at the trinity of Persons. The creatures call him the Lord God almighty, God’s most solemn title, pronounced seven times in Revelation.
The four living creatures proclaim God as eternal with the words twice used to describe God at the beginning of the book (1:4, 8): “who was, and who is, and who is to come” (see Ex 3:14). The final phrase focuses on God as the one who will intervene decisively in history to bring salvation.
4:9–11
This perpetual exclamation of praise by the four living creatures who represent creation elicits a liturgical response from the twenty-four elders. They prostrate themselves and worship him. Their bodily action expresses honor and submission to the maximum degree; they offer the kind of adoration that belongs to God alone. Their words proclaim God’s eternity: he is the one who lives for ever and ever.
Another gesture and more praise addressed to God complete the liturgical action: the twenty-four elders throw down their crowns before the throne. Although they are themselves exalted figures who sit on thrones and wear golden crowns, the elders humble themselves before God and declare his unique worthiness to receive glory and honor and power.
God is praised as the author of everything that exists: for you created all things. Everything depends on his gracious will, by which all persons, animals, and things came to be and were created.