The Throne Room

There is one book of the Bible that really makes me want to write music and that is: Revelation. To me, it brings to mind such colorful and dramatic images unlike almost any other book in the Bible. One of my favorite images is in Revelation 4 - the description of God’s throne room in heaven.

John’s description of God’s throne room is placed early on in the book(after the letters to the seven churches but before any of the end times events take place). I think the Lord is using the description of Himself in His throne room to set the stage for all the events to come. Before He tells us what will happen in the end times, He wants to use this image to show us why we can trust Him to orchestrate the last days of our existence.

The first part of Revelation 4 describes the Lord, His throne, and the surrounding area. The Lord is described as having the appearance of jasper and carnelian stones. As you might expect, these stones are very precious: jasper is often associated with God’s glory and carnelian was very popular in ancient times. In addition, verse 5 says that ‘Flashes of lightning and rumblings of thunder came from the throne…” These indicate God’s power and the beauty of that power. Lastly, the throne has an emerald rainbow above it and the area in front of the throne is like a sea of crystal-clear glass. Interestingly, the only other place in the Bible where glass is mentioned is Revelation 21:18 - the description of the Holy City. Glass was very rare in ancient times and glass that was completely clear and unblemished was almost impossible to acquire. Thus, it makes sense that such a material would be equated with God. In other words, this description of God and His throne room show us that God is so unique(there is no one like Him) and so beautiful in His majesty that He is of immeasurable worth.

Those worshipping the Lord in this scene also give us insight into the Lord’s character. There are two groups worshipping the Lord: the four living creatures and the 24 elders. The living creatures are probably cherubim and seraphim and the animals that they resemble are symbolic of different attributes of God. For instance, the lion represents God’s sovereign rule and the man represents God’s omniscience. The fact that the creatures have eyes all over them is also a clue - it represents God’s ability to see everything. The other group of worshippers are the 24 elders. They are the people who have accepted Christ’s gift of salvation and are now in heaven awaiting the new earth. Meanwhile, they are bowing down before the Lord and throwing their crowns, their reward for lives lived for the Lord(not that salvation is by works, not at all), at the feet of the Lord. It’s as if they are saying, “Lord, You are so amazing and so worthy of worship that we want to give back the amazing rewards You gave us because You are so much better!

Lastly, the worshippers words highlight some of the most important of God’s attributes. Verse 8 says of the living creatures: “…Day and night they never stop, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is, and Who is coming.” They are praising God’s perfect morality, His omnipotence, and His eternal existence. The 24 elders offer similar praise in verse 11: “Our Lord and God, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, and because You have created all things, and because of Your will they exist and were created.” The elders are telling the Lord why He is worthy of the utmost glory, honor, and power. Simply put, God is the origin of life, it was His will to create life, and by His power He created life and will continue to sustain it.

To summarize Revelation 4, God is unique, beautiful, of infinite worth, our Sovereign King, omniscient(all knowing), sees everything, more worthy of worship than anything else in our lives, morally perfect, all-powerful, eternally existent, the author and origin of life, and the sustainer of life. Think of the person in your life who you trust and depend on the most. Does this person have any of these attributes of God? No, they are only human, like all of us. Imagine, then, how much more you can trust our Almighty God! Do you think you can trust Him to orchestrate the last days of the earth and the life that He created? I think so! Praise the Lord!

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