Revelation 4: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

John sees an open door in the sky and is called up to see what must happen after this. He describes a throne with someone seated on it, ringed by a rainbow, and around it twenty-four elders on thrones and four living creatures covered with eyes. The creatures never stop calling God holy, and whenever they do, the elders fall down, throw their crowns before the throne, and say God is worthy because he created all things.

Claim by Claim

1. 4:1
   • After this John looked.
   • A door was opened in heaven.
   • The first voice John had heard was like a trumpet speaking with him.
   • The voice said to come up there.
   • The voice said it would show John things which must be hereafter.
2. 4:2
   • Immediately John was in the spirit.
   • A throne was set in heaven.
   • One sat on the throne.
3. 4:3
   • The one who sat was in appearance like a jasper stone and a carnelian stone.
   • A rainbow was around the throne.
   • The rainbow was in appearance like an emerald.
4. 4:4
   • Around the throne were twenty-four thrones.
   • John saw twenty-four elders sitting on those thrones.
   • The elders were clothed in white garments.
   • The elders had crowns of gold on their heads.
5. 4:5
   • Out of the throne proceeded lightnings.
   • Out of the throne proceeded thunderings.
   • Out of the throne proceeded voices.
   • Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne.
   • The seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God.
6. 4:6
   • Before the throne was something like a sea of glass.
   • The sea of glass was like crystal.
   • Four living creatures were in the midst of the throne and around the throne.
   • The four living creatures were full of eyes in front and behind.
7. 4:7
   • The first living creature was like a lion.
   • The second living creature was like a calf.
   • The third living creature had a face like a man's.
   • The fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.
8. 4:8
   • Each of the four living creatures had six wings.
   • The living creatures were full of eyes around and within.
   • The living creatures do not rest day and night.
   • The living creatures say: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.
   • The living creatures say that he was, and is, and is to come.
9. 4:9
   • The living creatures give glory to him that sat on the throne.
   • The living creatures give honor to him that sat on the throne.
   • The living creatures give thanks to him that sat on the throne.
   • He that sat on the throne lives for ever and ever.
10. 4:10
    • When the living creatures do this, the twenty-four elders fall down before him that sat on the throne.
    • The twenty-four elders worship him that lives for ever and ever.
    • The twenty-four elders cast their crowns before the throne.
    • The elders speak as they do this.
11. 4:11
    • The elders say the Lord is worthy to receive glory.
    • The elders say the Lord is worthy to receive honor.
    • The elders say the Lord is worthy to receive power.
    • The elders say the Lord created all things.
    • The elders say that for the Lord's pleasure all things are and were created.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

4:1

The Greek word behind "heaven" here, ouranos, means both the physical sky and the dwelling place of God; the vision begins with a door in the sky overhead. "Shew" is simply the older spelling of show, and "hereafter" means after these things, not at some vague later date.

4:2

"In the spirit" describes a visionary state rather than travel: the writer says the same thing at 1:10, 17:3 and 21:10, each time marking the start of a new scene he is shown. Whether the phrase means his own spirit or the Spirit of God is left open by the Greek, and translators differ. "A throne was set" in 1611 English means a throne stood there, not that someone set it up.

4:3

The KJV "sardine stone" is the stone now usually called carnelian or sard, a deep blood-red gem. Ancient jasper was not the opaque stone sold under that name today; the word covered translucent quartzes, and some ancient writers describe it as clear or green. The verse gives colors and light, not a face: nothing is said about what the figure on the throne looked like.

4:4

"Elders," Greek presbyteroi, was the ordinary word for the senior men who governed a synagogue or a congregation, so the image is of a ruling council seated around a king. The crowns are stephanoi, the wreath awarded to a victor or worn at a feast, not the diadem that marks a reigning monarch; Greek has a separate word for that, used later in this book. "Raiment" is clothing, and "four and twenty" is the older way of saying twenty-four.

4:5

In the Bible the number seven often stood for something whole and complete. "Seven Spirits" is a way of saying God's Spirit, full and complete.

4:6

The KJV calls these four "beasts," but the Greek word means "living creatures." It does not mean wild or dangerous animals.

4:7

A calf here is a young bull or ox, the strongest animal on a farm. Lion, ox, man, and eagle were often named as the greatest of their kinds.

4:8

In Hebrew, repeating a word was how you said "most of all." Saying "holy" three times means holy beyond anything else. Holy means set apart, completely unlike anything else.

4:9

Glory means the greatness someone has, and giving glory means saying out loud how great that person is.

4:10

Laying your crown in front of someone was how a smaller king showed a greater king was over him. It meant giving up your own claim to rule.

4:11

The KJV says "for thy pleasure they are and were created." "Pleasure" here means will or decision, not enjoyment.