Revelation 4:1-5

The Throne in Heaven

1After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.




4:1-3 - This verse is nearly universally cited by those who read the concept of a rapture into the Bible due to the command to come up here. They will also claim that it is significant that the word "church" is not used from this point on until the end of the Revelation. Just because the word does not appear does not mean that the concept of the church is not rife through the chapters of the Revelation. John uses the word "church" to refer only to specific congregations not the entire body of Christ, which is the subject of the rest of the book. Those wishing to read a rapture into this verse, particularly, are forcing into the text something that is simply not there. The only one called up is John to receive the vision that comprises the remainder of Revelation. John ascends up to heaven to witness a worship service on the" Lord’s Day." This is an image of the ascension of the Church into heaven every Sunday where we join in the communion of the saints (Heb. 12:22-23).

As stated earlier, being in the Spirit is technical prophetic language. The critical event in the formation of a prophet was a personal encounter with the Spirit. The prophet emerged as a man who then reflected the divine glory of God. Being caught up in the Spirit was to be caught up in the divine assembly. The true prophet had stood before God and been transformed. Those under the New Covenant now have this once rare privilege. Surely Moses’ desire was fulfilled with the coming of the New Covenant: "I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them" (Numbers 11:29). The rapture theory is based largely on a misunderstanding of the ascension of the church. The first ascension for the Church takes place positionally with Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:20). The progressive ascension of the church takes place when we worship Christ each week (Heb. 12:22-24). The individual Christian will ascend spiritually at death (Rev. 20:4), and bodily at the consummation of all things (1 Cor. 15:50-55; 1 Thess. 4:17).

John is caught up in the Spirit and is about to see things from the perspective of Christ himself, who is on His throne in heaven. John sees a rainbow (literally "bow") that encircled the throne. The three stones mentioned, jasper, carnelian, and emerald represented three of the twelve tribes of Israel that were on the breastplate of the high priest (Ex. 28:17-19). They were also among the stones mentioned in the imagery used in describing the Garden of Eden (Ezek. 28:13). John’s vision here is quite similar with Ezekiel’s description of his vision (Ezek. 1:26-28) which lets us know that John was seeing the same true, heavenly Temple that Ezekiel saw.

4:4 - John reports that surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. There has been much speculation as to what this passage means, but it seems best to interpret this as a representation of the Church. The term elders indicate that these twenty-four beings represent the Church. They are seated on thrones and we have already been told that Christians are reigning with Christ (Rev. 1:6), that they wear crowns (Rev. 2:10; 3:11); that they have been granted authority with Him over the nations (Rev. 2:26-27), that apostates will bow before them (Rev. 3:9), and that they are seated with Christ on His throne (Rev. 3:21). Another indicator that this is referring to the Church is that twenty-four is a multiple of twelve, which is a number associated with the people of God. Thus, this is a double-portion of twelve. It is also true that in the Old Testament there were twenty-four divisions of priests (1 Chron. 24) and twenty-four divisions of singers in the Temple (1 Chron. 25). These were the leaders of worship of God’s people for over a thousand years. What John is communicating is the royal priesthood of the Church. The elders sit on thrones as kings, and number twenty-four as priests.

4:5 - John sees the typical phenomena that accompanies the presence of God and the glory cloud (Ex. 19:16-19), as he sees flashes of lighting and peels of rumbling thunder. Before the throne, John sees the seven lamps which represent the seven-fold Spirit in the completeness of His activity.