When we go to an art museum and look at a great painting, we are sometimes confused as to what the artist was trying to accomplish with his work. This is especially true of abstract art. In our image overloaded society, we seldom take the time to really take in a picture. However, there is a way to increase our appreciation of much fine art and many great photographs. It works for music too, though it is harder, at least for me.
When you see a painting of something you can describe in terms of your own experience: a landscape, a party, a home, even a portrait or a still life - put yourself in the painting. Imagine that you are standing on the hillside with the hunter feeling the breeze in the trees and smelling the damp earth, hearing the call of the birds. Imagine you are meeting the person in the portrait and ask yourself what your visual first impressions of the person might be. Imagine you are smelling the flowers and the fruit and seeing the reflections of the light in an actual vase ... what is casting the shadow? A masterpiece is a picture that inspires this reaction unconsciously, even from the casual observer. The painter's subject, style or talent catches us off guard and draws us in without our immediately knowing why or even realizing it.
Revelation 4 inspires that kind of involvement. It is pure description. It is meant to draw the reader in, and inspire her to imagine being there like John. It engages the senses and draws focus to the most important thing in the portrait ... God.
In the First Testament, God is described as having two thrones, one on Earth and the other in Heaven. His earthly throne is the Ark of the Covenant and God is described as being enthroned above the Cherubim who adorned the top of the Ark. So, any time a person went to the Tabernacle or, later, the Temple, they were approaching the Throne Room of God. They were acknowledging Him as their ultimate King.
However, God is also described as being enthroned in the heavens. John's view of the throne room of God in the heavens fits with other views that are mentioned in the Bible. Four prophets
• Micaiah
• Isaiah
• Ezekiel (twice)
• Daniel
Details found in John's description are found in other places too, sometimes with more detail, sometimes with less. Sometimes it looks like the person seeing the vision saw details in slightly different ways. However, the visions are remarkably consistent but not identical, telling us that rather than copying each other, they were describing the same sight. The variations actually serve to authenticate the vision, since different people will notice and emphasize different details. However, the generally common elements to the visions include:
• Creatures
• Fire
• Water / Clarity
• Radiance
• Court "attendants"
A person might wonder what they should get out of these descriptions. The answer is "yes"
You should get "wonder" out of them.
These prophets were assaulted with these visions. "Blessed" seems like the wrong word, because in every case, the visionary seems highly moved and even disturbed at what he has seen. This is clear because of the extremities to which they are pushed to describe it:
• The value of rare gems
• The brilliance of lightning
• The beauty of rainbows
• The pure clarity of crystal clear water
• Impressiveness that compels worship
• A retinue of the powerful and the arresting
When a human being is confronted by the physical presence of God, his words fail. He is pushed to find the superlatives in everything he knows in order to paint the picture. John prepares us for the effect the vision had on him by setting us up to walk with him through a door. When we get inside we see
The central image, that of God Himself
Though one prophet describes him as having a generally human shape, nobody tries to pin down details of His appearance. We walk away from John's description of God with an indistinct sense of awe and beauty. For the most part, He is not described in human terms for appearance, but in terms that suggest a kind of elemental energy.
Jasper is a gemstone often associated with the supernatural. Sometimes it is green, sometimes red, sometimes multicolored with yellow and brown. Carnelians are red, but translucent. Other prophets see God as being like a fire, or molten metal. He is always associated with vivid radiance. The idea is not heat and destruction, but a hard clear light. If you can picture a being of dazzling, rare beauty you are beginning to get the idea.
In the Bible, Jesus is said to represent the physical form of God. In human terms, He is as close as we can come. But when the prophets try to describe the pure spiritual essence of God's appearance, it is only vaguely human. For the most part, it defies representation. Just try painting a picture or carving an idol to represent a God that comes across as almost pure light.
The throne, God's immediate surroundings
Once again we are left to imagine. I love the intersection of two seemingly contradictory descriptions of the radiance around His throne. An emerald rainbow. The basic descriptive truth of rainbows is that they are made up of a spectrum of colors. The basic descriptive truth of emerald is that it is translucent green. I am fascinated by this description. What does it mean? The only sensible answer I can come up with is that a clear emerald green arch stretched over the throne like a rainbow. Perhaps it is not only shaped like a rainbow, but as elusively visible as one also ... if you move, you see it or you don't depending on the angle and the light.
Fire and fury surround Him. His rule is a place of fear and trembling. Most modern American commentators like to interpret the word "fear" to mean "reverent respect." That's great, and I believe the tag applies. However, I can't shake the fact that every translation in the world still translates the word "fear". The lightning, fire, thunder and loud voices surrounding God's throne inspire more than reverence and respect ... they shake the viewer and remind Him that being here means being not just enlightened, but purified and refined. A lack of reverence or submission means death. This person on the throne is nobody to be trifled with.
The seven lamps before Him are a reference to the churches mentioned in chapters 2 and 3. It is not just the celestial beasts and the elders of history who are in the presence of God. The existing churches also have a presence before Him: their light and life feeding on the oil of the Holy Spirit within them. He is not only the God of the spirits and the dead ... He is the God of the living.
The sea like glass is a picture of purity and calm. God is associated with this peaceful water that gives life. In contrast to the percussive fire and fury, this sea lies still. In spite of God's power, He remains the God of life, cleansing and peace. I cannot shake the description of Aslan in this regard:
He is not safe
But He is good
The enthroned elders
There are 24 other thrones here. Jesus assured the apostles that they would rule with Him in heaven, and that accounts for half of the thrones. The twelve tribes of Israel also account for much of what is happening in Revelation, so it is reasonable to think that they account for the other 12. This raises all kinds of questions:
• What about the 12th apostle?
• Does this mean all the tribal patriarchs were worthy?
• In what capacity do these spiritual leaders rule?
The answer is, "hard to say." However, it is beside the point. An emperor in the Ancient Near East surrounded himself with his kings as representatives of their specific lands and to increase his own glory.
President Lincoln was, in some people's opinions, our most powerful president - able to hold the nation together in the face of civil war and to do so as he simultaneously strengthened the issue of abolition that led to it. What many people today don't realize is that he did this with a cabinet full of rivals. He did not just win the Republican nomination for his second term of office, he did so by incorporating his opponents into his cabinet. Four of his cabinet members, full of infighting and personal ambition, were given their positions to seal the Republican nomination for Lincoln. The president had to win not just a war in the trenches, but against his own political enemies within his administration which was constantly undercutting and straining the cohesion of national policy. It is a tribute to his power that President Lincoln could keep a lid on this boiling pot while at the same time solving our nation's most critical historical crisis.
The glory of a leader is made more obvious when he can gather about him and lead other powerful leaders. The people surrounding God changed the world ... He changed them.
The Creatures
These are not regular angels (if anything about an angel can be described as "regular"). These four beasts, Cherubs or Saraphs are always associated with God's throne. They are like a part of it. Their job is to praise God and to do His immediate bidding. Their faces are images of strength: man, lion, ox, eagle. Their wings are a power of presence - an ability to move, to be in a place or another place, multiplied. Their many eyes are a power of insight and knowledge.
The renaissance image of cherubs as naked baby angels is completely strange to this image of otherworldly power. These escorts of God's throne are not cute ... anything but. They have a power of command that compels the other kings surrounding the throne to fall on their faces before God when they lift up His praise. Their pronouncement is so essentially true that the simple expression of it moves even the most powerful people in history to worship Him and present Him with their crowns - thus declaring His superiority.
And look at the declarations:
• Holy, Holy, Holy
• Lord God Almighty
• Who was and is and is to come
• Him who sits on the throne for ever and ever
• Worthy to receive glory and honor and power
• Creator of all things
• Sustainer of all things
The words describing God draw us to think of ultimate things.
• What kind of King do we serve?
• How powerful is He?
• Is He worth my attention?
• Where do things start?
• How do they persist?
If the elders and the creatures show us anything, it is that God is far above all that we could expect of a god. He is beyond any physical statue or artifact that people worship. He is not limited to a single function or facet of the divine. He will not fade away with the failing belief of people. I have an unescapable relationship to Him as my creator.
What is John trying to say?
I don't think John has a direct point in this passage, not in terms of something He would like to see us do regarding what he has said. He is simply describing what he saw. However, what he saw was an amazing display of beauty, power, and majesty. In the few moments he describes, God commands John's attention, but also the worship of everything in His presence. This God
• of fire and water
• of sound and fury
• of clarity and stillness
• of men and angels
• of wealth and thrones
• of life and death
• of matter and energy
• of light and stone
by His very existence and by the far-reaching effect of His being deserves the acknowledgment and worship of everything in existence. When we become aware of Him, we must worship Him.
• We must sing with the creatures
• We must submit with the elders
• And with John we must be overwhelmed with His awesome presence.
This is a portrait of your God sitting in command of the universe. He is not subject to our imaginations or our preconceptions. He is ... and that is all, thus His name
I am what I am
The mistake of religion even within the Christian religion is the idea that the experience and the Word we have can be understood in mere human terms. It cannot. Both are translations into human terms of something that is profoundly more, essentially other. God is transcending not just a gap of time and space or spirit and matter, but of the nature of being.
You are encouraged to read Revelation 4 again, in private, very slowly, trying as you go to picture the sights and "hear" the sounds John experienced. Not only is it impossible to do, it has the effect of revealing to us just how little we understand about God ... more so, how little we are even able to understand without His intervention.
And worship
With the creatures and the elders, take the opportunity now and often to be overwhelmed by His greatness and humble yourself before Him.
