Revelation, Chapters 4 and 5
A Vision of the Heavenly Court and the Opening of the Sealed Book
The Heavenly Court Concept
An important concept that apocalyptic writings often use is that of the Heavenly Court. It is a concept derived from the vision reports and the oracles of the Hebrew prophets. George B. Caird, in his commentary on the Book of the Revelation, pp. 60-61, describes how this concept is used in that work:
“John sees [Revelation 4:1] an open door in heaven . . . and is transported from earth to heaven in a prophetic rapture. None of this would seem at all strange to readers of the Old Testament. In a prophetic trance Micaiah ben-Imlah had seen the Lord on His heavenly throne, surrounded by His angelic counselors, and consulting them about ways and means of making His purpose effective in earthly history (1 Kings 22:19 ff.). Amos had declared that the Lord of history would never put His secret plan into effect without revealing it to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). Jeremiah had given it as the criterion for distinguishing true prophecy from false that the true prophet ‘has stood in the council of the Lord’ (Jeremiah 23:18, 22).
“The Old Testament prophet, in fact, may be regarded as a privileged press-reporter admitted to sessions of the heavenly Privy Council, in order that he may subsequently publish to Israel what is God’s secret policy, and what part Israel is to play in implementing it. By the same token, John, believing that the Church faces an immediate life-and-death battle, which is not theirs alone, but God’s, is summoned to the control room at Supreme Headquarters.
“Imagine a room lined with maps, in which someone has placed clusters of little flags. A man in uniform is busy moving some of the flags from one position to another. It is wartime, and the flags represent units of a military command. The movement of flags may mean one of two things: [It may mean (1)] that changes have taken place on the battlefield, with which the map must be made to agree. Or [(2) it may mean] that an order is being issued for troop movements, and the flags are being moved to the new positions the units are expected to occupy. In the first case the movement of flags is descriptive symbolism, in the second case determinative symbolism.
“The strange and complex symbols of John’s vision are, like the flags in this parable, the pictorial counterpart of earthly realities; and these symbols too may be either determinative or descriptive. John sees some things happen in heaven because God has determined that equivalent events should shortly happen on earth. But other heavenly events take place . . . because earthly events have made them possible.” From George B. Caird in Harper’s/Black’s New Testament Commentaries, pp. 60-61.
The Heavenly Worship
4:1 After this I looked, and there in Heaven a door stood open! 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,[1] and there in Heaven stood a throne, with One seated on the throne! 3 And the One seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. 4 Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; 6 and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.
Around the throne, and 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 a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,
“Holy, holy, holy,
the Lord God the Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come.”
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the One Who is seated on the throne, Who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall before the One Who is seated on the throne and worship the One Who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,
11 “You are worthy, 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.”
4.1–5.14: Vision of the glory of God and of the Lamb.
4:1: The first voice, mentioned in Revelation 1:10.
Come up, John was exalted in spirit, as was Ezekiel, to behold visions of God (Ezekiel 3:12; 8:3; 11:1).
2: A throne, Ezekiel 1:26–28. This represents in symbol the sovereignty of God. In spite of the apparent victory of evil on earth, behind the shadows there is a throne. The last word is always with God. We may recall the great saying of Jeremiah (17:12): O glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, shrine of our sanctuary! The word throne occurs in almost every chapter of the Revelation, over forty times. It sounds throughout the book like the ground-bass of a great organ theme.
3: Notice the great reticence in describing the One sitting on the throne . . . like . . . . The glory of the Divine Presence is described in terms of precious gems. No shape of any kind is indicated, although in Revelation 5:1 “the right hand of the One seated on the throne” is mentioned. This almost complete absence of any description is in contrast to Daniel 7:9 with its “Ancient of Days” with hair like wool (a detail transferred to Jesus in Revelation 1:14), and Ezekiel 1:26, “and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above.” (NEB).
4: Twenty-four elders, probably angelic beings of the Heavenly Court. There is a possible clue to interpretation in Revelation 21:13-14. In the New Jerusalem there are two sets of twelve: the gates correspond to the twelve tribes of Israel and the foundation stones to the twelve apostles of the Lamb, i.e., the twelve patriarchs of the Old Testament and the twelve apostles of the New Testament.
5: Flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, expressive of the majesty of the Most High as seen in the great “theophany” (i.e., appearance of God) at Sinai (Exodus 19:16; cf. Revelation 11:19). Again there is mention of the Seven spirits of God, Revelation 1:4; 5:6.
6: A sea of glass suggests the distance between God and His creatures, even in Heaven. This reference may be explained by considering a larger question. Several times in the book mention is made of a Heavenly Temple; and since the present chapter is dominated by the thought of the throne, we may wonder how these two things are related. Does the imagery of Heaven change from a royal court to a Temple, and back again? This would not be impossible; both types of imagery are needed to bring out the full reality, and one fades into the other, as in a dream.
Isaiah tells us in chapter 6, "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of His robe filled the Temple." He thus combines in one picture the throne and the Temple. There was a sense in which the ark in the Holy of Holies of the earthly Temple was thought of as God’s throne. Psalm 80:1 speaks of God sitting upon the cherubim; and in the description of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, the precursor of the Temple, the place of the Divine Presence is above the “mercy seat,” the top of the ark between two cherubim (Exodus 25:22). John was very influenced by Isaiah’s vision. The “six wings” of Revelation 4:8 of the “living creatures” come straight from Isaiah 6:2. This strongly supports the view that in the Revelation the dwelling-place of God is pictured as a combination of Temple and royal court. This would be in agreement with Revelation 1:6, a passage that combines together the kingly and the priestly, as the people of God are referred to as kings and priests. This may also help us to interpret the sea mentioned here. In Solomon’s Temple there was outside an enormous bronze basin of water that was called a “sea” (1 Kings 7:23-26). And it may be that this sea of glass that John saw in the Heavenly Court corresponds to this.
The four living creatures are taken from Ezekiel’s vision in his first chapter, but the six wings come from the description of the seraphim in Isaiah 6. Ezekiel 1:10 speaks of the faces of the four living creatures that he saw, though in his interpretation each one of them had four faces. Thus, these angelic beings appear to representing humankind and all animals that God created (Ezekiel 1:5, 10). Full of eyes, likewise goes back to Ezekiel 10:12 and symbolize unceasing watchfulness.
8: Six wings . . . Holy, holy, holy. The song is reminiscent of the cry of the seraphim in Isaiah 6:2–3. This emphasis upon worship is characteristic of the Book of the Revelation. Again and again it bursts into song, and it may preserve for us here and there fragments of early Christian hymns. The song of the living creatures leads on to that of the twenty-four elders.
10: Cast their crowns, acknowledging that all power comes from God.
11: They existed in God’s mind from all eternity.
The Scroll and the Lamb
5:1 Then I saw in the right hand of the One seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed[2] with seven seals; 2 and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in Heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. 4 And I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the One Who was seated on the throne. 8 When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 They sing a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for You were slaughtered and by Your blood you ransomed for God
saints from[3] every tribe and language and people and nation;
10 You have made them to be a Kingdom and priests serving[4] our God,
and they will reign on earth.”
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 singing with full voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
13 Then I heard every creature in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing,
“To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might
forever and ever!”
14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.
In chapter 4 the emphasis was upon God as Creator. Now comes the theme of human redemption from sin. The presence of this Lamb as if it had been slaughtered speaks of the sovereignty of sacrifice and the victory of love. But the vision is also closely related to the following chapters. The sealed book that the Lamb is to open unfolds the secrets of God’s sovereignty in the present and the future and its contents are about to be unfolded.
5:1: A scroll, containing the fixed purposes of God for the present and the future (Ezekiel 2:9–10). In pre-Christian times there were few books with pages that could be turned (Latin name: codex). Writing was generally done upon single sheets, or, if this was insufficient, upon lengths of papyrus or parchment that could be rolled up into scrolls. It was customary to write on only one side, naturally the inner side, so that all the writing would be concealed when the papyrus was rolled up. But occasionally both sides were used, as here. Ezekiel, early in his ministry, was given a scroll with writing on the front and on the back, and written on it were words of lamentation and mourning and woe (Ezekiel 2:9-10). This scroll in Revelation 5 was sealed with seven seals, therefore both unalterable and unknown to others. It was sealed in such a way that the breaking of each seal meant that a further portion of the scroll could be read.
3–5: No created being is worthy to carry out God’s plan, only the Messianic King can do so. Christ is first announced as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David; compare Genesis 49:9–10; Isaiah 11:1, 10.
5:6–9: The Lamb . . . slaughtered, refers to Christ’s sacrificial death, by which God’s purposes contained in the scroll are accomplished. This is one of the most frequent titles applied to Jesus in this book (twenty-nine times), and it demands special attention. Jesus is called a Lamb in John 1:29, 36; and the same idea is implied in 1 Peter 1:19. For the Old Testament background of this term we should take into account the Passover lamb, and more importantly, the description of Yahweh’s servant in Isaiah 53:7, who was like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.
The Greek word used for Lamb throughout the Revelation is interesting. It is not the word used in the Greek text of John and 1 Peter, or even in the Greek Septuagint translation of Isaiah (amnos), but a synonym, arnion. There is a contrast in the Book of the Revelation between the Christ-figure, the Lamb, that appears here for the first time, and the anti-Christ figure that first appears in Revelation 11:7, that is referred to as the beast (Greek: therion). John may have preferred to use the word arnion because of the similar ending to therion as a means of heightening the contrast. In the last half of the book we will follow the struggle between the arnion and the therion.
Seven horns . . . seven eyes, plentitude of power and insight. This description suggests that the Lamb is actually both strong and all-knowing. The influence of Zechariah 4:10 (cf. 2 Chronicles 16:9) may be traced here. Originally the reference to “eyes of Yahweh” may have referred to the seven visible planets that wander across the heavens.
Seven spirits, Revelation 1:4. Probably the reference is simply to the completeness of the Holy Spirit of God, as expressed in Isaiah 11:2.
8: Golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. The prayers of the saints on earth are joined with the worship rendered to the Lamb by the heavenly creatures.
9–10: A new song, because Christ has inaugurated a new era (Revelation 14:3). The Lamb (Christ) is adored in terms similar to the adoration rendered to God (Revelation 4:11).
By Your blood you ransomed [literally, purchased] for God. The blood of Christ is a vivid way of referring to His death on the cross. The idea of purchase may seem strange at first. But anything that is obtained at great cost may be described as purchased. The idea is that by His death on the cross Jesus won people from all over the world to God’s service and secured them in such a way that they acknowledge that they belong to God. As Paul once put it, . . . you are not your own? For you were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a).
A Kingdom and priests, the vocation promised to Israel. As in Revelation 1:6 there is an echo of Exodus 19:6 (cf. Isaiah 61:6). Here this promise is extended to the Church (cf. 1 Peter 2:9).
11–12: The sevenfold praise of myriads in Heaven honoring the sacrificial Lamb. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered . . . ” This song in celebration of redemption answers to the song of creation at the end of the previous chapter, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, . . . ” In the Revelation the same kind of worship is offered to Christ as to God the Father.
13: Universal praise to the Creator and to the Redeemer as equal in majesty. First the elders sing (verses 8-10), then countless angels join in (verse 11), and finally every created thing in the universe brings the swelling song to a climax.
Before leaving this chapter we need to add a further note about its significance. When no one in all creation appeared who was able to open the scroll, John began to weep. He is frustrated, because until the scroll is opened, God’s purposes remain not merely unknown, but apparently also unaccomplished. John has been brought up on the messianic hope of the Old Testament that promised that one day God would assume His Kingly power and reign openly on earth, punishing the wicked and redressing the wrongs of His oppressed people. Especially in times of persecution God’s people had longed for that day to bring an end to their sufferings, but also to vindicate their faith.
But then John’s tears are checked by what he hears and sees. It is particularly unfortunate that in most editions and translations of the Revelation a paragraph break has been inserted between verses 5 and 6 of chapter 5, so that we often miss the full impact of the juxtaposition of images:
5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.” 6 Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
What John hears is couched in the traditional messianic imagery of the Old Testament; what John sees constitutes the most impressive rebirth of images he anywhere achieves. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is a title with an obviously violent ring, and the Root of David reminds us of the ideal King of Israel. But then John looks for the person who fulfills this description and what he sees is a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered! The Lamb is a symbol of self-sacrificing and redemptive love. By this one stroke of brilliant artistry John has given us the key to all of his use of the Old Testament. John constantly echoes the Old Testament writings (without actually quoting any of them), partly because this was the language that came most naturally to him, partly because of the powerful emotive effect of familiar associations, and partly no doubt because his vision had actually taken its form, though not its content, from the permanent furniture of his well-stocked mind.
It is as if John were saying that the Old Testament is indispensable to the understanding of the character and purpose of God, but it must be read in the light of the fuller illumination of Christ. It is almost as if John were saying at one point after another: “Wherever the Old Testament says ‘Lion,’ read ‘Lamb’.” Whenever the Old Testament speaks of the victory of the Messiah or the overthrow of the enemies of God, we are to remember that the Gospel recognizes no other way of achieving these ends than the way of the Cross. This conception of the Lamb on the throne of the universe is one of the most sublime in the Bible. It suggests that love is the strongest power in the world.
It must be admitted, however, that the rest of this book does not bring out in a consistent way the great truth of this vision. If only John had found some way of maintaining this principle throughout the book what a great work this would be, and how many misunderstandings of its messages could have been avoided! But in many ways in the coming chapters the appearances are that the final victory of God is finally envisaged as springing from sheer force. There are clues along the way that this is not actually the case, but they are hard to spot. I will note some of them when we get to them, however.
Based on the comments in the New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, New Revised Standard Version, ed. By Bruce M. Metzger, et. al., 1996 ed., and T. F. Glasson, The Revelation of John in the Cambridge Bible Commentary on the New English Bible, and G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, in the Harper’s/Black’s New Testament Commentaries series.
[1] Or, “in the spirit”
[2] Or “written on the inside and sealed on the back”
[3] Greek: “ransomed for God from”
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