Revelation 4

Revelation 4:1-11

THE THRONE: THE SEALS: AND THE SEALED Revelation 4:1 to Revelation 7:17THE Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia, to which we have just given attention, cover and include, as we saw, the seven great periods of church history, which span the years intervening between Christ’s first appearance, to put away sins; and His Second Coming, which is to be without sin, unto salvation. After having earnestly considered the many and varying views taken by writers upon the Apocalypse, I am fully persuaded that the chapters four to seven relate solely to the same period of history, presenting the so-called secular side of that section of time whose sacred or church history is pictured in these seven Epistles.Phillips Brooks referring to this very part of Revelation said, “When we hear such a scene described in the few words of John’s poetic vision, I think we are met with a strange sort of difficulty. The great impression of the picture is so glorious that we are afraid to touch it with too curious fingers, to analyze its meaning and get at its truth. At the same time we feel sure that there is in it a precise and definitely shaped truth which is blurred to us by the very splendor of the poetry in which it is enveloped. We see on the one hand how often the whole significance of some of the noblest things in Scripture is lost and ruined by people who take hold of them with hard, prosaic hands. * * On the other hand, we see how many of the most sacred truths of revelation float always before many people’s eyes in a mere vague halo of mystical splendor, because they never come boldly up to them as Moses went up to the burning bush, to see what they are, and what are the laws by which they act. * * There is danger of mysticism and vagueness, if you leave the wonderful Bible images unexplained. There is danger of prosaic dullness and the loss of all their life and fire, if you elucidate them overmuch.”May we remark again, therefore, as we said in the series on the Seven Churches, that we cannot agree with those students who treat the whole Book of Revelation as a cryptogram—an uninterpretable cipher, a series of chapters past understanding; nor indeed can we run the whole race of those spiritualizing students who compel every sentence of the Apocalypse to mean things neither found on the surface nor brought up from its deepest recesses. Being confident, therefore, that each of these schools are wrong, we set up no claim of infallibility for our own interpretation, but rather put before you (for your consideration, to be eventually received or rejected, as you may please) what these chapters seem to us to teach.We present these chapters under three suggestions:—The Heavenly Scene, The Book of the Seals, and, The Sealed Servants.THE SCENE “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in Heaven; and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. “And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne Was set in Heaven, and One sat on the throne. “And He that sat was to look upon like, a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. “And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. “And out of the throne proceeded lightings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne” (Revelation 4:1-6). This is wonderful imagery, and yet upon a little study, it falls into order, and is full of important suggestions.To aid the understanding, think first of the throne and its appointments.It is located “in Heaven”; it is circumscribed by the “rainbow?’; while twenty-four elders “clothed in white raiment” and wearing “crowns of gold” make up its immediate or center circle; and out of it proceed “lightnings and thunderings and voices”; while before it burn “seven lamps” whose brilliance illuminates the “sea of glass tike unto crystal”; and brings into bold outline the faces of “four beasts’’— The first like a “lion”; the second like a “calf”; the third like a “man”; the fourth like a “flying eagle”.Inasmuch as John was content to pass this throne by without other comment than to show its setting, we may wisely do the same, and give our attention, for a few moments, to the Person on the throne.“And one sat on the throne. “And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone”. If you will take the pains to study the colors of these precious minerals you will find that the gold of the first, combined with the crimson of the second, will produce the effect profoundly like to that of a blaze of fire; and therein you have your symbol of God the Father. No form is assigned to the One who sat upon this throne, for no man can see God and live. But this appearance, as of fire, is the old figure by which Jehovah was pleased, from the first, to manifest Himself. To Moses He appeared in the “flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (Exodus 3:2); when David was singing the praises of that God who had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, he spoke of Him as one whose “brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled” (2 Samuel 22:13); and again Job says, “Out of His mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out”; while Habakkuk declares, “burning coals went forth at His feet”; Zechariah says of Jerusalem, “The Lord will be unto her a wall of fire round about” (Zechariah 2:5); and Paul writes in his Epistle to the Hebrews, “For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).The encircling “rainbow” again suggests the presence of God the Father.It was Jehovah who had appointed this symbol of His covenant with Noah and his sons, saying, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: “I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. “And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: “And I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. “And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth, “And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth” (Genesis 9:12-17). The “lightnings and thunderings and voices” are also eloquent in declaring the Person upon the throne. At Sinai He spake in the same way (Exodus 19:16); and again, the Philistines were thundered upon with great thunder (1 Samuel 7:10); and again when Israel demanded a king, He made answer in the same expressions of displeasure (1 Samuel 12:17-18), The seven lamps—symbols of His perfect wisdom and the undimmed light in which He lives—were long ago seen in the appointments of the Holy of Holies, where “the seven lamps burned”.The suggestion of particular value to you and to me, in this wonderful scene, is in the combination of the rainbow with the lightnings and thunderings, —the latter expressing judgment, while the former declares His mercy.It may gratify our curiosity to know that God has His throne in the Heaven; it may excite in our breasts a reverence to understand that we cannot look upon His face, but must accept its symbol of fire instead; it may stimulate our studies to find that the seven lamps of the Old Testament are shining on in the last volume of the New; but it calms the troubled heart, and furnishes the basis of hope to the despairing spirit, to see that the God whose judgments are voiced in lightnings and thunderings, is also a God who maketh a covenant with His own, and flings out a rainbow to remind us forever of His unspeakable mercy toward those who have accepted the provisions of His salvation, as Noah received the appointments of the ark.It is related that a German statesman, knowing himself to be upon his death-bed, sent for a Christian pastor and said, “I am very ill, my friend, and expect to die. I should like you to converse with me on the subject of religion, but I enjoin you not to mention the Name of Jesus Christ.” “Be it so,” replied the minister, “I shall begin by speaking of the character of God. ‘God is love,’ and then with much eloquence, he talked of that wonderful truth until he rose to go, and the Count pressed his hand and asked him to come again as shortly as possible. On his second visit he spoke to the sick man of Divine wisdom and power, and the man was even more pleased, pronouncing the pictures beautiful and sublime. But on his third visit he dwelt on the Holiness of God, saying that God was so holy He could not endure to look upon sin with any complacency; that while He loved the sinner, He hated the sin. When he rose to leave, the Count said, “How can you leave me in this condition?

If God be as just and holy as you say, I am a lost man! Stay.” But the pastor quickly departed, praying that this conviction of “lost” might lead to the light.

After a few days the pastor went back again, only to be met with the question, “Are those things true?” and to answer, “I am sorry sir; but I can retract nothing of what I said to you of the judgments of God, and the impossibility of union between a Holy God and the sin-stained, rebellious man; not that there is nothing consoling to speak, but that you laid upon my lips a restriction, in that you deny me the privilege of speaking of Christ-Jesus.”“Oh,” said the dying man, “then I made a mistake; speak to me; tell me if there is any way of salvation open to such an one as I am.” “Yes,” answered the pastor, and forth from his New Testament he brought the precious truths of mercy in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth; and when the dying German saw how God could be reconciled to him in Christ Jesus, he accepted the sweet truth, and with child-like confidence, committed his soul into the hands of his Heavenly Father, as Stephen did when they stoned him.To see the justice of God, and that alone, is merely to see the flashing of the lightning, and to hear the rolling of the thunders; but to see the mercy of our God, as expressed in Christ Jesus, is to see the rainbow of His covenant swinging clear around the throne, making a complete circle, symbol of the complete salvation proffered; it is to understand how a God of justice can yet save through His wonderful grace.The beings about the throne, were “the four and twenty elders” “clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold”, and the four living creatures, “full of eyes, before and behind”. This picture is not without its significance; the “lion”— symbol of courage; the “calf”-—the very expression of patient service; the “face as a man”—indicative always of intelligent action; the “flying eagle”— signifying alacrity in obedience.The Revised Version does not call these beasts, but creatures instead. Supernatural, heavenly creatures they were;—full of eyes, behind and before, that they might therefore be watchful of God’s least motion, and obey the same with the heart of the lion, the patient endurance, of the ox, the intelligence of the man, and the swiftness of the eagle.What else does it mean when it declares that these four living creatures had each of them, six wings, than that they were ready to fly in the service of God? What else does it mean when it says that they were full of eyes, but to watch to know His least and greatest will? What else does it mean when it says, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come”, than that they never tire in executing His purposes, or singing His praises. Will you note the fact that they seem to be the leaders of the four and twenty elders, for when the living creatures give “glory and honour and thanks to Him that sitteth on the throne, to Him that liveth for ever and ever”; then the four and twenty elders shall fall down before Him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship Him for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honour, and the power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they were, and were created” (R.

V.).In the ancient houses of Israel, God appointed the order of twenty-four priests. Every Divine appointment, made in the earth, is God’s effort to reproduce some feature of Heaven; and it was because there were twenty-four elders, or arch-angels, about the throne of Jehovah in Heaven, that He appointed twenty four priests to service in the Temple, whither He descended to manifest His glory.

And has it never occurred to you and to me that when we pray the Lord’s prayer, we are actually asking that the conditions of earth shall be so changed as to become a perfect duplicate of all the appointments of Heaven itself, and such indeed is the saint’s desire.THE BOOK OF THE SEALS The fifth and sixth chapters are given entirely to the Book of the seals.It was an unopened Book. The challenge of the strong angel was, “Who is worthy to open the Book, and to loose the seals thereof”? “And no man in Heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the Book, neither to look thereon”, That, then, was not the Book of Creation. The Sun in his glory has unlocked that book and let us behold its beauties; neither indeed was it the Book of Revelation, for it is not the office of the Son of Man to break the seals of that volume, but of the Holy Spirit, instead. Christ said of Him, “When He, * * is come, He will guide you into all truth”, “He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you”. Unquestionably it was the Book of redemption, the one volume to the unfolding of which Jesus Christ has laid His hand. This is additionally evidenced in the new song of the living creatures and the twenty-four elders, “And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to take the Book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy Blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, * * and priests” .Going back into Jewish history you will learn that whenever an heir, for any reason, lost his inheritance, instruments of writing were made and copied, and one copy was sealed, and kept, in evidence of the fact that the inheritance had passed out of his hands and belonged to another.

The sealed book, therefore, became the expression of an alienated inheritance, which could only be recovered by getting some one to buy it back, and the buyer was called the “goel” or redeemer, as you will recall in the Book of Ruth. That is the figure that is here employed. The inheritance of God’s people has been lost; the sealed scroll stands in evidence thereof, and the dishonored, disclaimed sons of earth are waiting the day when some brother shall arise who is able to buy it back and break those seals, bringing them into their inheritance again.But in Heaven, as on earth, and under the earth, was found no one able to pay the price and redeem the inheritance. What a picture this of the utter bankruptcy of the human soul, and the utter impotency of all angelic and human hands to help us in the hour of our need. No wonder John wept much, and we would join with him in weeping, to-night, were it not for the fact that one of the elders said, “Weep not: behold, the lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome, to open the Book and the seven seals thereof. “And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, (symbol of power), and seven eyes (types of wisdom), which are the seven Spirits (numeral of perfection) of God, sent forth into all the earth. “And He came, and He taketh it out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne. “And when He had taken the Book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. “And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to take the Book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with Thy Blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:5-9, R. V.). The Lamb alone could open it. In Him there was the power of the lion, which made possible a task too difficult for man; in Him there was the innocence of the lamb, whose spilt blood might sprinkle the mercy seat for the people’s sake. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, whose precious Blood paid the full price of our lost inheritance, and brought it back again within reach of every man of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.Dr. Simpson says, “It is related that once in the Roman Colosseum, the crowd was waiting, with the martyr in the midst of the arena, for a roaring Numidian lion to burst from its cage, and devour the defenceless saint, when suddenly, as a little piece of by-play for the amusement of the Roman crowd, the keeper led forth from its stable under the galleries, a little lamb, which stepped up and licked the hand of the martyr, while the crowd thundered out its surprise and applause.”Beloved, when the whole world looked upon the condemned sinner, expecting to see the Lion of the tribe of Judah, with burning eyes and immeasurable strength, fall upon him to tear him asunder, they saw instead, that same mighty One, assume the nature of the lamb and suffer Himself to be led as a sacrifice to the place of slaughter, that the very sinner who had offended Him and rebelled against His Father might escape the penalty of his own conduct, and come again to that inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away.