Rev. Zelwyn Heide, pastor at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Hannover, ND and Zion Lutheran Church in New Salem, ND, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Revelation 4:1-11.
After John finishes writing the seven letters to the seven churches, Jesus calls him to come through an open door into God’s throne room. There, John witnesses the heavenly perspective of the events on earth through the lens of the worship before God’s throne. God the Father sits on the heavenly throne in all His brilliant glory. The rainbow around His throne is a sign of His faithfulness to His people of every generation. The twenty-four elders are around God’s throne representing the whole Church of both the Old and New Testaments. Along with the four living creatures who stand watch around God’s throne, they all worship the Lord for who He is as the eternal and almighty God. The glory that God gave to His Church is given back to Him in praise for His work of creating and sustaining all things. This scene of heavenly worship brings comfort to Christians in the midst of persecution, to know that God truly reigns over all and is worthy of all worship.
“Come Lord Jesus!” is a series on Sharper Iron that goes through the Revelation given to St. John. Although some look at Revelation with fear, it is a book of supreme hope in our crucified, risen, and ascended Lord. The book of Revelation gives a heavenly perspective on our earthly circumstances so that the Church in every generation is challenged, comforted, and assured of final victory through Jesus Christ.
Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen.
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Revelation 4:1-11
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. 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[a] and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 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!”
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.”
Footnotes
- Revelation 4:5 Or voices, or sounds
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. esv.org
