A look at the past: Christ and Israel
The throne in heaven
1 After this, I looked up to the wall of the sky and saw an open door. The voice which I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here and I will show you what will come in the future.”
2 Im mediately I was seized by the Spirit. There, in heaven, was a throne and one sitting on it.
3 He who sat there looked like jasper and carnelian and round the throne was a rainbow resembling an emerald.
4 In a circle around the throne are twenty-four thrones and seated on these are twenty-four elders, dressed in white clothes, with golden crowns on their heads.
5 Flashes of lightning come forth from the throne, with voices and thunderclaps. Seven flaming torches burn before the throne; these are the seven spirits of God.
6 Before the throne there is a platform, transparent like crystal. Around and beside the throne stand four living creatures, full of eyes, both in front and behind.
7 The first living creature is like a lion, the second like a bull, the third has the face of a man and the fourth looks like a flying eagle.
8 Each of the four living creatures has six wings full of eyes, all around as well as within; day and night they sing with out ceasing,
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God,
master of the universe,
who was, and is and is to come.
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to the One on the throne, he who lives for ever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him and worship the One who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns in front of the throne and say,
11 Our Lord and God, worthy are you
to receive glory, honor and power!
For you have created all things;
by your will they came to be and were made.
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Comments Revelation, Chapter 4
• 4.1 After these messages to the churches of Asian province, we have visions containing the meaning of history.
– In chapters 4 –11, John delivers the meaning of the history of Israel up to the preaching of the Gospel.
– In chapters 12– 21, he prepares us to understand the history we are living and the strug gles of the Church.
To begin with, we need to know where we are going and why we are struggling. Those without goals will soon be swept away by conflicting currents. Therefore, before developing his vision of history, John shows us the unchanging center in which things and events have their origin and to which they return.
A door opened in the sky (v. 1). This figure of speech had at the time a precise meaning: that of a vision granted to the pro phet (compare with: “He saw the heavens opened” (Mk 1:10).
In heaven was a throne, and one sitting on it. That invisible someone from whom light and life radiate is the divine Being contemplated in its source, that is, the Father. His face cannot be described, but all the elements of nature are used to express something of the divine Being: the imposing force of the storm, the fascinating power of fire, the purity and freshness of water.
The elders are the saints of the Old Testa ment who represent the faithful people (see Is 24:23). The four living creatures refer to angels. These are poetic images to express what is most noble, strong, wise and quick. Their eyes, always alert, are focused on the center of the divine Being and they spread God’s energies throughout the universe (see Ezk 1).
They sing without ceasing: Holy, Holy, Holy (v. 8). This is the first of the hymns found in Revelation. It is taken up from Is 6:3.
Master of the universe. The Greek text uses this expression to translate “Sabaoth.” We know that the “Lord Sabaoth” is the Lord of Hosts and this refers to the many visible and unseen beings and forces of Heaven and earth. At the center, where God is and from where all things come, everything will be gathered up in thanksgiving to the Father when the lives of mortal beings are over. What will we do in heaven? All will be admiration, praise and amazing discovery of God’s infinity.
Note how John describes God’s mystery here by using images from Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1. As to the four animals, Christian art used them to represent the four evangelists: Matthew as the man; Mark, the lion; Luke, the bull; and John as the eagle.