Revelationchapter 4
11 verses · John, by tradition · AD 95 or 96 · Revelation
After this I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had previously heard speak to me like a trumpet was saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.”
Introduction
John, by tradition, Revelation, Revelation Overview.
This chapter was written by John, an exile on the island of Patmos, to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia. He had just set down the letters that told each congregation where it stood. Here the book changes its setting, from the churches on earth to the court of heaven. Its first hearers lived under an emperor who claimed worship, and many of them were poor and pressed. The chapter shows them who rules before any judgment is described. Listen for what the voices around the throne say, and for the reason they give. Read it with chapter 5 as one scene.
Context
- Who
- Congregations who had just been told, city by city, exactly where they stood, and now needed to see who was on the throne
- What
- A vision of the throne of God in heaven, surrounded by elders and living creatures who worship the Creator.
- Where
- Written on the island of Patmos, off the coast of Asia Minor, to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia.
- When
- About AD 95 under Domitian on the majority view, with a minority dating the book before AD 70 under Nero.
- Why
- To show churches under pressure that God rules from His throne before any of the judgments of the book begin.
Historical context
Everything in this chapter is court ceremonial, and the first readers knew court ceremonial. A Roman emperor or an eastern king sat enthroned, surrounded by a ring of lesser seats for advisers and client rulers, with attendants, acclamations, and the ritual removal of crowns before a superior. Subject kings really did lay their crowns before a Roman emperor.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
So the picture reads like a state audience: a throne, twenty-four elders on thrones around it in white with gold crowns, lightning and voices out of the throne, seven burning lamps, and a floor like a sea of glass.
The four living creatures full of eyes, each with a different face, are built out of Ezekiel's vision by the Chebar canal and Isaiah's seraphim in the temple. Their cry is Isaiah's: Holy, holy, holy.
The scene ends with the elders coming down off their thrones and putting their crowns on the floor, saying the one on the throne is worthy to receive glory and honor and power because He made everything. Roman emperors were routinely acclaimed as "worthy" and given divine honors. This is the same vocabulary, aimed somewhere else.
Significance
A believer in Ephesus or Pergamum could not get near the emperor, and the emperor's image was everywhere. This chapter took them into a throne room that made the imperial one look like a village council.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The order matters: before any seal is opened or any judgment falls, the churches are shown who is seated. Whatever comes in the rest of the book, it comes from that throne, and the crowns are being laid at the feet of the Creator, not the Caesar.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A Door Opened in Heaven: The Throne and the Glassy Sea
a door standing open in heaven: John sees a door standing open in heaven; the voice says Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things. The Greek meta tauta, after these things, repeats 1:19 and marks the turn from the seven letters to the visions.
Revelation 4:1
"After this, I beheld, and, lo, a door was opened in heaven." The new testament is announced as an open door in heaven. "And the first voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me, saying, Come up hither." Since the door is shown to be opened, it is manifest that previously it had been closed to men. And it was sufficiently and fully laid open when Christ ascended with His body to the Father into heaven.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Revelation 4:1
“After this - Greek, “After these things”; that is, after what he had seen, and after what he had been directed to record in the preceding chapters. How long after these things this occurred, he does not say - whether on the same day, or at some subsequent time; and conjecture would be useless. The scene, however, is changed. Instead of seeing the Saviour standing before him Rev. 1, the scene is transferred to heaven, and he is permitted to look in upon the throne of God, and upon the worshippers there.”
Revelation 4:1
“After this--Greek, "After these things," marking the opening of the next vision in the succession. Here is the transition from "the things which are" (Re 1:19), the existing state of the seven churches, as a type of the Church in general, in John's time, to "the things which shall be hereafter," namely, in relation to the time when John wrote.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 4:2-3
a throne standing in heaven: At once I was in the Spirit, as at 1:10, and John sees a throne standing in heaven, with someone seated on it. The One seated is described by stone, jasper and carnelian, and the rainbow around the throne recalls the covenant sign of Genesis 9:13.
Revelation 4:2
“And immediately I was in the Spirit - See the notes on Rev 1:10. He does not affirm that he was caught up into heaven, nor does he say what impression was on his own mind, if any, as to the place where he was; but he was at once absorbed in the contemplation of the visions before him.”
a rainbow that gleamed like an emerald: Wesley saw in the carnelian a sign of justice, and in the emerald a sign of favour to the good. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown saw the rainbow that encircled the throne as the covenant God gave to every living creature. Mercy encircled the throne with justice.
Revelation 4:3
“And he that sat was to look upon - Was in appearance; or, as I looked upon him, this seemed to be his appearance. He does not describe his form, but his splendor. Like a jasper - ἰάσπιδι iaspidi The jasper, properly, is “an opaque, impure variety of quartz, of red, yellow, and also of some dull colors, breaking with a smooth surface. It admits of a high polish, and is used for vases, seals, snuff-boxes, etc. When the colors are in stripes or bands, it is called striped jasper” (Dana, in Webster’s Dictionary).”
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 4:3
“The sardine stone, of a blood-red colour, may be an emblem of his justice, and the vengeance he was about to execute on his enemies. An emerald, being green, may betoken favour to the good; a rainbow, the everlasting covenant.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 4:3
“Here, however, the predominating color among the prismatic colors is green, the most refreshing of colors to look upon, and so symbolizing God's consolatory promises in Christ to His people amidst judgments on His foes. Moreover, the rainbow was the appointed token of God's covenant with all flesh, and His people in particular.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
ConnectionsGenesis 9:13
twenty-four elders dressed in white: Around the throne sit twenty-four elders dressed in white, with golden crowns on their heads. The number is read as the twelve tribes with the twelve apostles, as the saints of both Testaments, or as angelic elders.
Revelation 4:4
“Four and twenty elders - Perhaps this is in reference to the smaller Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, which was composed of twenty-three elders; or to the princes of the twenty-four courses of the Jewish priests which ministered at the tabernacle and the temple, at first appointed by David. Clothed in white raiment - The garments of the priests. On their heads crowns of gold - An emblem of their dignity.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 4:4
“Sitting - In general; but falling down when they worship. Clothed in white raiment - This and their golden crowns show, that they had already finished their course and taken their place among the citizens of heaven. They are never termed souls, and hence it is probable that they had glorified bodies already.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 4:4
"Elders" is the very term for the ministry both of the Old and New Testament, the Jewish and the catholic Gentile Church. The tabernacle was a "pattern" of the heavenly antitype; the holy place, a figure of HEAVEN ITSELF. Thus Jehovah's throne is represented by the mercy seat in the holiest, the Shekinah-cloud over it.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
flashes of lightning, and rumblings: From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder, as at Sinai in Exodus 19:16. The seven torches of fire are the seven Spirits of God, tying the scene to the greeting of 1:4 and the title of 3:1.
Revelation 4:5
“Behold the seven horns of the Lamb, the seven eyes of God -the seven eyes are the seven spirits of the Lamb; seven torches burning before the throne of God seven golden candlesticks, seven young sheep, the seven women in Isaiah, the seven churches in Paul, seven deacons, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven seals to the book, seven periods of seven days with which Pentecost is completed, the seven weeks in Daniel, also the forty-three weeks in Daniel; with Noah, seven of all clean things in the ark; seven revenges of Cain, seven years for a debt to be acquitted,…”
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Victorinus On the Creation of the Worldpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 4:5
“And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices - Expressive of the majesty and glory of Him that sat upon it. We are at once reminded by this representation of the sublime scene that occurred at Sinai Exo 19:16, where “there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud.” Compare Eze 1:13, Eze 1:24. So Milton: “Forth rushed with whirlwind sound. The chariot of Paternal Deity, Flahing thick flames.” “And from about him fierce effusion rolled. Of smoke, and lightning flame, and sparkles dire.” Par.”
something like a sea of glass: Before the throne lies something like a sea of glass, as clear as crystal. The King James calls the four living creatures beasts; the Greek zoa means living ones, a different word from therion, the beast of chapter 13.
Revelation 4:6
“And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal,.... By which is meant, not heaven, nor the souls of the blessed there, nor the multitude of the holy angels, nor the first converts to Christianity at Jerusalem; for those that got the victory over the beast are said to stand upon this sea, Rev 15:2, which these senses, especially the three last, will by no means admit of.”
4 more voices on this verse
Revelation 4:6
“Four beasts - Τεσσαρα ζωα· Four living creatures or four animals. The word beast is very improperly used here and elsewhere in this description. Wiclif first used it, and translators in general have followed him in this uncouth rendering. A beast before the throne of God in heaven sounds oddly.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Revelation 4:6
“It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the Church is scattered throughout all the world, and the "pillar and ground" of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life; it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing out immortality on every side, and vivifying men afresh.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book 3patristic
Revelation 4:6
“It stands solid, calm, and clear, God's judgments are called "a great deep" (Ps 36:6). In Re 15:2 it is a "sea of glass mingled with fire." Thus there is symbolized here the purificatory baptism of water and the Spirit of all who are made "kings and priests unto God." In Re 15:2 the baptism with the fire of trial is meant.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 4:6
“As in the temple there was a great vessel of brass filled with water, in which the priests were to wash when they went to minister before the Lord (and this was called a sea ), so in the gospel church the sea or laver for purification is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who cleanses from all sin, even from sanctuary-sins.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Four Living Creatures and Crowns Cast Down
Revelation 4:7-8
a lion: The creatures, like a lion, a calf, a man and an eagle, join the faces of Ezekiel 1:10 to the six wings of Isaiah 6:2. Day and night they cry Holy, Holy, Holy, the song of the seraphim in Isaiah 6:3.
Revelation 4:7
"The first living creature was like to a lion, and the second was like to a calf, and the third had a face like to a man, and the fourth was like to a flying eagle." And in that the living creatures are different in appearance, this is the reason: the living creature like to a lion designates Mark, in whom is heard the voice of the lion roaring in the desert. And in the figure of a man, Matthew strives to declareto us the genealogy of Mary, from whom Christ took flesh.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 4:7
“And the first - Just such were the four cherubim in Ezekiel, who supported the moving throne of God; whereas each of those that overshadowed the mercy-seat in the holy of holies had all these four faces: whence a late great man supposes them to have been emblematic of the Trinity, and the incarnation of the second Person. A flying eagle - That is, with wings expanded.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
The four living creatures sing the song of Isaiah 6:3, Holy, Holy, Holy, but stop before its last line about the glory filling the earth. In its place they give God's name through time, who was and is and is to come.
Revelation 4:8
“The four beasts had each of them six wings - I have already observed, in the preface to this book, that the phraseology is rabbinical; I might have added, and the imagery also. We have almost a counterpart of this description in Pirkey Elieser. chap. 4. I shall give the substance of this from Schoettgen. “Four troops of ministering angels praise the holy blessed God: the first is Michael, at the right hand; the next is Gabriel, at the left; the third is Uriel, before; and the fourth is Raphael, behind him.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Revelation 4:8
“There are two words in the original, very different from each other; both which we translate holy. The one means properly merciful; but the other, which occurs here, implies much more. This holiness is the sum of all praise, which is given to the almighty Creator, for all that he does and reveals concerning himself, till the new song brings with it new matter of glory.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 4:8
“For what is nearer [God] than the Cherubim or the Seraphim? And yet they, not even seeing Him, nor standing on their feet, nor even with bare, but as it were with veiled faces, offer their praises, with untiring lips doing nought else but glorify the divine and ineffable nature with the Trisagion.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · On Luke 10:22patristic
Revelation 4:8
"Of (from) Him, through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen." In Isa 6:3 there is added, "the whole EARTH is full of His glory." But in Revelation this is deferred until the glory of THE LORD fills the earth, His enemies having been destroyed [BENGEL].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 4:9-11
give glory, honor, and thanks: Whenever the creatures give glory, the twenty-four elders fall down, laying their crowns before the throne. Their hymn praises God as Creator, for You created all things, while chapter 5 answers it with a hymn to the Lamb as Redeemer.
Revelation 4:9
“And when those beasts give glory ... - As often as those living beings ascribe glory to God. They did this continually Rev 4:8; and, if the above explanation be correct, then the idea is that the ways and acts of God in his providential government are continually of such a nature as to honor him.”
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 4:9
“And when these things were doing, he says that all the elders fell down and adored the Lord; while the living creatures-that is, of course, the actions recorded in the Gospels and the teaching of the Lord-gave Him glory and honour.31 In that they had fulfilled the word that had been previously foretold by them, they worthily and with reason exult, feeling that they have ministered the mysteries and the word of the Lord.”
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
Revelation 4:9
A simultaneous giving of glory on the part of the beasts, and on the part of the elders. give--"shall give" in one oldest manuscript. for ever and ever--Greek, "unto the ages of the ages."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
They cast their crowns before the throne: Clarke saw here the lesser kings who cast their crowns before the throne of the one over them. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown saw the elders fall down and worship forever and ever, and give each golden crown back to Him. Worship belongs to the One seated there.
Revelation 4:10
“Greek, "shall fall down": implying that this ascription of praise shall be repeated onward to eternity. So also, "shall worship . . . shall cast their crowns," namely, in acknowledgment that all the merit of their crowns (not kingly diadems, but the crowns of conquerors) is due to Him.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 4:10
“Two different objects of worship, either co-ordinate or sub-ordinate, would confound the worship and divide the worshippers. It is unlawful to join in divine worship with those who either mistake or multiply the object. There is but one God, and he alone, as God, is worshipped by the church on earth and in heaven.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Revelation 4:10
“Cast their crowns before the throne - Acknowledge the infinite supremacy of God, and that they have derived their being and their blessings from him alone. This is an allusion to the custom of prostrations in the east, and to the homage of petty kings acknowledging the supremacy of the emperor.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
by Your will they exist: The elders praise God as Creator, for You created all things. The last clause holds two verbs, by Your will they exist and came to be, so the same will that made all things holds them.
Revelation 4:11
“And through thy will they were - They began to be. It is to the free, gracious and powerfully- working will of Him who cannot possibly need anything that all things owe their first existence. And are created - That is, continue in being ever since they were created.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 4:11
“With God to will is to effect: to determine is to perform. So in Ge 1:3, "Let there be light, and there was light": in Hebrew an expressive tautology, the same word and tense and letters being used for "let there be," and "there was," marking the simultaneity and identity of the will and the effect.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
How this psalm is built
The form: A vision of the throne room of heaven, marking the move from the things that are to the things that will be, as Jamieson, Fausset & Brown classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The word throne, ten times | The word throne stands ten times in the eleven verses, in every verse from 2 to 6 and again in verses 9 and 10. Verse 4 adds twenty-four other thrones around it. Every other figure in the chapter is placed by where it stands in relation to the throne.the site's count of the Berean text, the verses of Revelation 4 in the store, translation id 3, the Berean Standard Bible. | Revelation 4:2, Revelation 4:4, Revelation 4:5, Revelation 4:6, Revelation 4:10 |
| Ezekiel's creatures and Isaiah's seraphim | The four living creatures take their faces from the cherubim of Ezekiel 1:10, the lion, the ox, the man and the eagle. Their six wings and their cry of Holy, Holy, Holy come from the seraphim of Isaiah 6:2 and 3. John Wesley holds that these are the cherubim of Ezekiel, who carried the moving throne of God.John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755, on Revelation 4:7. | Revelation 4:6, Revelation 4:7, Revelation 4:8 |
| Sinai at the throne | Verse 5 sends lightning, rumblings and thunder out from the throne. Albert Barnes hears the scene at Sinai in Exodus 19:16, where thunder and lightning came on the mountain when the law was given. The same signs return in 8:5, 11:19 and 16:18.Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on Revelation 4:5. | Revelation 4:5 |
| Two songs to the Creator | The chapter holds two songs. The living creatures sing of God's holiness and of His being in three tenses in verse 8, and the elders sing of His worth as Creator in verse 11. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the last line by Genesis 1:3, where God's will and the thing made are one act.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Revelation 4:11. | Revelation 4:8, Revelation 4:11 |
How the chapter is built
5 more paragraphs on the patterns
Chapter 4 turns the book from the letters to the seven churches toward the visions of what must happen after these things. Chapter 3 ended with a promise to the one who overcomes, a seat with Christ on His throne in 3:21. Chapter 4 shows that throne. Verse 1 opens the door and calls John up. Verses 2 to 6 describe the throne and all that stands around it, and verses 6 to 8 describe the four living creatures and their song. Verses 9 to 11 bring the elders down in worship. The chapter hands chapter 5 a throne room and a Creator, and chapter 5 brings in the scroll and the Lamb.
The readings of the door and the elders
The open door of verse 1 is read in more than one way. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read it as the move from the things that are to the things that will be (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on Revelation 4:1). Victorinus of Pettau reads the open door as the new covenant, opened when Christ ascended with His body to the Father (Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John, on Revelation 4:1). The exposition note on verse 1 gives the site's futurist reading of the call to come up here. Albert Barnes, a historicist, reads the chapter as the throne of God's government over history (Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, on Revelation 4:7). The elders are read in three ways. John Wesley takes them as saints who have finished their course (Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on Revelation 4:4). Adam Clarke hears the twenty-four courses of priests (Commentary on the Bible, on Revelation 4:4). Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read them as the ministry of both Testaments (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on Revelation 4:4).
Where to go deeper
The book as a whole has its own page at /book/revelation, and the four ways of reading it are set out at /featured/four-schools-of-revelation. The throne scene has a feature page at /featured/the-throne-vision. The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures are listed as owed feature pages.
Keep studying
Studies15
Words12
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on Revelation 4:7; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Revelation 4:1 and Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John, on Revelation 4:1.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Ticonius, Commentary on the Apocalypse.