Philippians 2:10-11 ESV
Revelation Chapter 4
The Throne of Heaven, 24 Elders, 4 Living Creatures
In Revelation chapter 4, John describes God's Heavenly throne and divine council meeting with 24 elders and 4 living creatures around the throne. Revelation chapter 4 and 5 are arranged following and Old Testament literary genre known as the prophetic lawsuit, where prophets would confront Israel's leadership with their violations of God's covenants and issue warnings to repent or face divine consequences.
Old Testament example of prophetic lawsuit in Revelation chapter 4
The OT book of Micah has an excellent example of a prophetic lawsuit, also known as a covenant lawsuit.
Micah 6:1-2 English Standard Version
The Indictment of the Lord
6 Hear what the Lord says: Arise, "plead your case" before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, you mountains, the "indictment" of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an "indictment" against his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”
What Does the Lord Require? 6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
God is presented as prosceutor, judge and jury, bringing an indictment against his people for covenant violations. Often presented as a heavenly courtroom scene, with God's divine council as witness to the indictment, who participate in deliberations and assist in carrying out the sentence against the guilty.
Revelation chapter 4 and 5 are also a similar prophetic lawsuit. They set the stage for Revelation's coming judgments against rebellious spiritual beings, unbelievers, sin and death.
Sometimes these prophetic law suits includes scenes from a heavenly courtroom with God on His throne and the divine council gathered around him.
1 Kings 22:19-23 ESV
19 And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; 20 and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ 23 Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you.”
These prophetic lawsuits are also presented in narative form, simply indicating God holding court, surrounded by His divine council.
Psalm 82 ESV
Rescue the Weak and Needy
A Psalm of Asaph.
82 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: 2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah 3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!
Psalm 82 is a divine council meeting, indicting the "sons of God" created heavenly spiritual beings, assigned to guide and protect the seventy nations of Genesis chapter 10 in carrying out God's command to Noah and his descendants to multiply and scatter, filling the earth with their descendants and the word of God.
Instead, they enticed Noah and his descendants to "build a name for themselves" by building the Tower of Babel. This disobedience is described in Genesis 11.
Revelation Chapter 4 and 5 Depicts
Divine council scenes deciding the fate of the world,
vindication of believers and judgment of the wicked
Revelation chapter 4 and 5 depict a series of divine council meetings using features of the Old Testament covenant lawsuit literary genre. The divine council of heaven, with God at its head, meets to decide the fate of the world, vindication of believers and judgment of the wicked. Revelation chapter 4 onward, constitutes a series of council-decreed judgments, culminating in the final judgment at the great white throne in Revelation chapter 20.
Revelation 20:11-15 ESV
Judgment Before the Great White Throne
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation Chapter 4
Revelation chapter 4:1-3 ESV
The Throne in Heaven
4 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.
Verse 1, "After this," refers back to Revelation Chapter 1:10, meaning after "the things that are," the conditions of the seven churches. Now John's vision is showing the things that will happen "after" the time of John's writing of the Revelation.
Revelation 1:19 ESV
19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
Verse 1, "A door standing open," not opening, but already open. John is transported, in a vision, through the open door, so that he can see things happening on earth and in heaven.
Verse 1, "Like a trumpet", not a trumpet, but a metaphor describing that God is about to speak, in keeping with the theophanies of the Exodus, where the sound like a trumpet was so loud, everyone and everything trembled, a metaphor for, God Himself is about to speak. Often the metaphors used were a very loud trumpet and the roaring of many maters in like a very large water fall, conveying the strength and power of God's voice.
Exodus 19:16-19 ESV
16 On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.
Verse 2-3, John sees the heavently throne of God the Father seated on it (see Revelation 4:8-9). The precious and semi-precious stone imagery is John's human ability to describe the immense worth and grandeur of a throne worthy of the One who sits on it. The emerald colored rainbow suggests a covenant to those who conquer. The heavenly throne is adorned by His spiritual attendants, metaphors used in the Old Testament to convey the mind blowing grandeur of an encounter with God the Father seated on His heavenly throne. John had no language to truly express what he saw. Ezekiel likewise, had no knowledge of a language to accurately describe what he saw, using precious stones as the most valuable things he knew.
Isaiah 6:1-6 ESV
Isaiah's Vision of the Lord
6 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Ezekiel 1:26-28 ESV
26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
Revelation Chapter 4:4-5
Revelation 4:4-5 ESV
4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,
Verses 4-5, There is no consensus of scholarly definition for the 24 elders surrounding the throne of God. There does seem to be a consesus that it doesn't really matter, what or who precisely, these 24 elders are.
Because, they are glorified, divine members of God's divine council, which would include the possibility of the 24 being, glorified believers, celestial beings and divine created beings.
In the New Jerusalem and New Heavens, the above are all part of God's divine council.
Revelation Chapter 4:6-8
Four living creatures
Revelation 4:6-8 ESV
6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.
And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
Revelation chapter 4:6-8, at first glance, seem to be describing cherubim from Ezekiel 1, except, each of the four living creatures in Revelation chapter 4 have six wings. The cherub in Ezekiel Chapter 1, have four wings.
Ezekiel 10:5-14 ESV
5 And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
6 And when he commanded the man clothed in linen, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he went in and stood beside a wheel. 7 And a cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out. 8 The cherubim appeared to have the form of a human hand under their wings.9 And I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one beside each cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was like sparkling beryl. 10 And as for their appearance, the four had the same likeness, as if a wheel were within a wheel. 11 When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went, but in whatever direction the front wheel faced, the others followed without turning as they went. 12 And their whole body, their rims, and their spokes, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around—the wheels that the four of them had. 13 As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing “the whirling wheels.” 14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was a human face, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
The six wings of the four living creatures in Revelation Chapter 4:8, is drawn from Isaiah 6:1-3 and its seraphim.
Isaiah 6:1-3 ESV
Isaiah's Vision of the Lord
6 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
John has combined the descriptions, or, since both Ezekiel and John depict cherubim filled with eyes. John uses a description of the wheels, or rims, in Ezekiel 1:17-18 and applies it to the four living creatures of Revelation 4:6-8.
Ezekiel 1:17-18 ESV
17 When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. 18 And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.
In either case, the Old Testament imagery is astral, related to stars and constellations, and, or, spiritual beings in the spiritual realm.
Merkabah, God's heavenly throne chariot
Eyes all around give an important interpretive clue to the meaning of Ezekiel's vision and how John uses that vision in Revelation chapter 4.
The Hebrew word, translated as, eyes, was used in Ezekiel 1:4,7,16 translated as gleaming or sparkling, words used in the ancient near eastern world, to describe stars.
The four faces, in Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4 correspond to the four cardinal directions, North, East, South, West.
The ancients called stars, eyes, and the phrase full of eyes corresponed to constellations.
Ezekiel sees all four constellations moving at once, meaning, his vantage point was high above the entire cosmos. From his vantage point, the movement of the four constellations
Ezekiel is describing the heavenly throne chariot of God the Father. The Hebrew often translated as chariot, is merkabah.
In the ancient near eastern world of Babylon, where Ezekiel and his fellow Israelites were in exile, merkabahs were surrounded and supported by cherubim. These cherubim are naturally part of the visual sky.
Seen from Ezekiel's vantage point, high above the cosmos, the movement of the four constellations would have appeared and "wheels within a wheel.
Wheels within a wheel, is symbollically describing the stars and constellations in their courses.
Stars and constellations mark time. The messaging of Ezekiel had a specific purpose and aim, to his fellow exiled Israelites.
Eziekiel's visions proclaim, to the captives from Judah exiled in Babylon, that the heavenly king who controls the cycles of time and history is not Marduk, the chief diety of Babylon at the time, but rather Yahweh, the God of Israel.
Its true, that that God's people were in exile, but God the Father, was still on His throne and in complete control of human destiny.
John's four living creatures, in Revelation chapter 4, are full of eyes, letting his readers know that he is repurposing Ezekiel's vision. God is in control of time and history.
He and His divine council are about to make that quite clear as they render final judgment at the end of days.
Revelation chapter 4:9-11
Revelation 4:9-11 ESV
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
The chorus of the four living creatures swells as the twenty four elders fall down and cast their crowns before the throne offering worship and submission to God's authority. The elders extol God the Father as worthy of threefold tribute, glory, honor and power.
Because He exerts His sovereign will in creating and sustaining all things.
God doesn't receive power, in the sense that, in His impotence He could recieve more power, but rather in the sense that the power of His creatures is used to honor Him.
The praises of God the Father, for His eternal perfection and creative achievement are a prelude to a "new song" which will laud God and the Lamb for redemption, the climatic display of Their divine worthiness, as Revelation chapter 4 ends and Revelation chapter 5 begin.