AROUND THE THRONE (REVELATION 4-5)

 

          Around the Throne (2010, collage on canvas)

One point is abundantly clear in these two chapters – they center in every way around God's throne in heaven. This is reinforced by the observation that the word “throne” appears exactly 17 times in these chapters (omitting the two references to other “thrones”). That may not seem to be important to you except for the fact that John is the only author in the Bible who seems to attach a symbolic meaning to that particular number – the sum of two other numbers, ten and seven, which each convey the figurative meaning of perfection or completion. Reinforcing this contention is the appearance of “throne” another 17 times in Revelation outside of these two chapters.

The next thing to look at is the contexts in which these references in Rev. 4-5 appear. Thus, after the introduction of God's throne in 4:2, we have the following distribution:

“the one seated on (epi) the throne” – Revelation 4:2b, 9, 10a; 5:1, 7, 13

The Jerusalem Bible notes that “John is careful not to describe God anthropomorphically; he prefers to given an impression of light. The whole scene draws heavily on Ezk 1 and 10; cf. also Is 6.”

If these six mentions of God's throne are supplemented by the one reference to the elders seated on their thrones, then that equals seven times overall, perhaps symbolically indicating that the throne scene is incomplete without the presence of the 24 elders. These are generally understood as denoting the representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel plus the twelve apostles, in other words, all the saved of the Old and New Testament, respectively.

The fact that representatives of the saved of humanity are actually allowed to sit in God's presence is indeed amazing. This may be the fulfillment of Christ's words to the Twelve recorded in the Gospels (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30), telling them that they “will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” And even more amazing is Paul's pronouncement to the Corinthian church (I Cor. 6:2): “Do you not know that we [i.e. followers of Christ] are to judge angels?”

I should mention for the sake of completeness that not all commentators feel the 24 elders are human beings. Stonehouse, for example, treats them as a higher class of angels.

“around (kuklos) the throne” – Revelation 4:3, 4a, 6c; 5:11

Those things so positioned include a rainbow, the thrones of the elders, the four living creatures, and the angels. Since elsewhere in the Bible the number four represents God's creation, that may also be the meaning of these four passages with accompanying groups here. If so, then the rainbow might equal the physical universe, the elders (as explained above) those specially chosen of God, the four living creatures would stand for the epitome of animate creatures on earth, and the angels would naturally comprise all the heavenly creation.

“around (en meso) the throne” – Revelation 4:6b; 5:6

Designated by this slightly different Greek preposition are the position of the four living creatures and the Lamb. It is interesting that Christ is pictured as being close to the throne of God but not on it since at the conclusion of Revelation (v. 22:3) we are told of “the throne of God and of the Lamb” as if they jointly share it, or perhaps indicating that Father and Son will completely merge into one indistinguishable Unity at this time.

“from (ek) the throne” – Revelation 4:5a

Issuing from, or out of, the heavenly throne are flashes of lightning, peals of thunder, and a voice. Ford says, “This recalls the Sinai motif. The voice may refer to the voice of God which was said to be heard in several different languages...However, these phenomena are traditional accompaniments to theophany [i.e. an appearance of God to man].”

“in front of (enopion) the throne” – Revelation 4:5b, 6a; 10b

Finally, this prepositional phrase is used to indicate where the seven spirits of God and the sea of glass are located as well as where the elders cast their crowns. For an explanation of these, I will first rely on the comments of Beale: “The second half of v. 5 is clearly patterned after Zech. 4:2-3, 10, a vision of seven lamps followed by their interpretation (so also Rev. 1:12, 20), which associates the lamps with the Spirit of Yahweh (Zech. 4:6). Part of the wording from Ezek. 1:13 in v. 5a has given rise to the thought of Zechariah 4, since both have visionary imagery of 'lamps'. The meaning of the seven lamps' is developed in 5:6.”

As for the meaning of the sea of glass, Beale offers a number of possible interpretations with accompanying rationales for each, and he notes, “These are not incompatible options.” They include:

1. The laver in Solomon's temple (II Chronicles 4:2)

2. God's holy separateness and splendor in heaven (Metzger thus says, “A sea of glass suggests the distance between God and his creatures, even in heaven.”)

3. The heavenly analogue of the Red Sea (see Revelation 15:2-4)

4. God's taming of the chaotic forces and cosmic evil represented by the sea (see Revelation 15:2)

Finally, we have the somewhat unusual vision of the elders being given golden crowns but then turning around and casting these crowns at God's throne. Mounce says, “In casting down their crowns before the throne the elders acknowledge that their authority is a delegated authority. The honor given them is freely returned to the One who alone is worthy of universal honor.”

And Beasley-Murray helpfully clarifies one point by stating, “The thanksgiving of the living creatures, inspiring the renunciation by the twenty-four elders of their crowns is not the continual worship of v. 8 but adoration given in special crises.”