Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty (Rev 4)

 

Rev 4:1-11
4: ⁸ Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,'¹ who was, and is, and is to come." 

Introduction: When Jesus was about to leave his disciples, the disciples were filled with doubt if Jesus was the Messiah or what Jesus was about to go was the right way. In such fear and uncertainty, Philip said to Jesus; John 14:8, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."  He felt that if he sees the father with Jesus, even if Jesus was going to die on the cross, he would believe Jesus and accept Him as the Lord and the coming Messiah.  I met a student who says that if he can see God then he would believe him.  Like this seeing God is so important to believe him and to know what he is doing.

In today’s passages, Jesus opened the door of heaven and showed John the heaven itself where God’s throne is.  Jesus’ intention was for John to know what must soon take place. As the first line of those events that should take place, Jesus showed John the throne room.

Jesus did this because Jesus thought that to know the throne of God is fundamental to understand the entire events that follow. It is because in this throne room, the basic principle of history is set and on this principle, the rest of history will pan out.  So in this perspective, let’s go and see the throne room of God.

1.      Jesus opened the door of heaven wide for John to see. (1)

Jesus showed John about what would happen to the seven churches in ch 2-3. Immediately after the message to the seven churches, John was moved up to heaven in spirit. There he saw a door wide open to heaven.  Jesus was willing to show John the throne room of God in its details.

John’s perspective: John was on the island of Patmos in exile. All the churches were under great pressure from the imperial cult of the Roman Empire as well as many pagan religions. They came in form of persecutions and hardships. Many of them, being unable to withstand the pressures from the world, gave in to the ideas of the world.  They adopted pagan ideas and welcomed the pleasures of the world. Jesus commended them for many good things that they did. But he also rebuked them of many things as well. They were told to persevere even to the point of death. Simply their lives were filled with many hardships and difficulties.  Here come very serious questions: If God is good and is for us, then why does he rescue us right now from all these hardships and troubles? Isn’t it good enough for us to suffer? Have we done what we could do and don’t we deserve God’s blessing now? Why do we have to suffer even to the point of death? Three stood up in their mind; worthiness, justified, good enough. All these will be answered when John sees the throne of God.

Jesus opened the door of heaven wide for John to see.

a.      Sinful men could not see God of holiness because of fear of death.

When God gave Israel the law of God at Mount Sinai, God came down in his glory for the first time in human history.  At that time God said this to Israel.

Exodus 19:21 and the LORD said to him, "Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the LORD and many of them perish.

Not only God forbid them to come closer to see him, but also the people of Israel were so fearful of God and said this:

Exodus 20:18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die."

Sometime after this, Moses asked God

Exodus 33:18 Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." Moses wanted to see God’s glory. God said this

19 And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." 21 Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen."

So seeing God is not a trivial matter. It is a very fearful thing to do and even may threaten our lives. It becomes too obvious in the life of Isaiah, the prophet. When Isaiah saw God sitting high exalted, he became so fearful and said this:

5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

Through these events it is quite clear that seeing God was a very fearful thing for any man. At this time, being led by Jesus John saw the details of heaven. Where God sits on his throne with all of his subjects. It is more detailed and comprehensive than any other revelations of God in the scripture.

In heaven Jesus will show John what must take place soon. Through knowing what happens in heaven, John will come to know what will take place on the earth in the coming years. Since it said that what must happen, this is not an idea but what shall take place with certainty.

As we put together these three things, serious questions and doubt that hang around the mind of John and the seven churches, unprecedented or extraordinary opportunity to see the inside of heaven, and what must take place soon, are closely tied together with necessity.

Jesus saw that necessity and opened the door of heaven so that John may see and the whole church may have firm confidence in God’s authority and power in fulfilling the coming history.

As we often share the common sentiments, raising a similar question to ourselves with the seven churches, it is necessary for us as well to know the throne and its surroundings. 

2.      The one sitting on the throne (2-3)

First John saw a throne and someone sitting on it. John did not describe who it was and how he looked. Simple the one sitting on it was beyond his description. He has the appearance of jasper and ruby. Jasper is a translucent stone. It is like a clear crystal. Ruby is a red stone. We can say that there was brilliance, crystal clear, and red. Simply it was a description of magnificent glory.

A rainbow shone like emerald green encircled the throne.  But Ezekiel saw a little differently Ezekiel (Ezek 1)

 26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli(blue), and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Ezekiel describes the glory of a figure like that of a man; obviously, it was the Son of man, Jesus, in his full glory with the Lord beside His throne. Except that this figure looks like a man, he shared many other characters like those of God who is sitting on the throne in heaven. The reason is that God and a figure like that of a man shares all the glory with God for He is God.  

There was the vault, the likeness of the glory of the Lord

·        above the vault what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli(blue colored stone

·        a figure like that of man

·        his waist up looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire

·        brilliant light surrounded him

·        like the appearance of a rainbow— radiance around him

Through Ezekiel we come to know more of God and His throne.  But as we noted, what John describe was much simpler and the emphasis on brilliance in glory with translucency and redness only.

We can summarize three things about the one sit on the throne:

·        brilliant color from crystal clear to red, and the detail of this is fire like glowing metal.

·        Rainbow-like radiance: Soon after the flood judgment on entire human races, God gave Noah a rainbow as a sign of the covenant; that covenant is not to destroy the human race with the flood again. So. the rainbow seems to reflect God’s grace. 

What does it mean? From translucency to red color may reflect God’s glory in his holiness. At the same time overarching the entire throne is the rainbow. This represents God’s grace and mercy. Putting all these together, we can say that God is the God of holiness and mercy. As we will move on to the figures of the throne room (entourages), we can find the details of God’s will.

3.      The throne room figures and events (4-7)

Before we go to each figure surrounding the throne, I like to underscore the importance of the structure of the passages from v 4-11.

a.      Twenty-four elders are introduced (4)

b.      The seven lamps and their relationship with the throne are described (5)

c.      What looked like a sea of glass in front of the throne (6a)

d.      Four living creatures and their praise to God (6b-9)

e.      Worship of the twenty-four elders (10-11)

As we noted here twenty-four elders were introduced first though they were the outmost area of the throne. The author sets their position in this way to indicate that they are the primary ‘observers or witnesses’ of the throne room events, i.e. what is happening between them and the throne of God. In the end, they are to respond to what they saw(v5-9). In that response, they are to express their feelings in v10-11. So what they express is the expression of the first-hand witness of what happens surrounding the throne. So in this way, the perspective of the twenty-four elders should be the perspective of John and then that of the church. This is simply by how the passages are structured but, also, John could simply identify himself with the elders. What they saw in front of their eyes before the throne of God is so important to know and understand God’s mighty power and his glory.

·        Twenty-four elders:

They wore white clothes and had golden crowns.  They are sitting on thrones. This means that they are like kings, those who have acquired such authority and honor as kings.  They wore clothes in white. Angels are white. But more likely white clothes symbolize their purity and holiness.  There are two opinions on who they are: One is that they are angels. The other is that they are glorified men. There are four reasons that lead us to believe that they are glorified men: a) in 5:11, there are described separately, angels and the elders. b) they wore crowns (stephanos—Rev 2:10; 3:11, which is rewarded for those who won the war—that are rewarded after their fight against enemies (the other word crown in Greek is diadema in Rev 12:3, symbolize the glorious identity of the person). c) they were not part of immediate auxiliaries of the throne-like the four living beings. Instead, they were audiences/partakers of the throne and sympathizers of John. Only when we take that they are not heavenly figures (i.e. angels), then we can reach a contextually correct understanding of the entire event of the throne room events.

·        The seven lamps:

These lamps are the first figures introduced. They are not the same as the lampstand in ch 1. These lamps are like huge torches. They are the seven spirits of God. Before the seven spirits of God, flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder came from the throne.  These intense activities seem to make a link between the throne and the seven spirits of God. This is the first action described before the throne.  

·        What looked like a sea of glass:

The sea has a vast and endless horizon in blue. Something like a sea of glass means that there is something so vast and so translucent filling the space. Ezekiel saw the same thing:  
22 Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. (Ezek 1:22)  It is like a vault. It is sparkling like crystal. It is very awesome. This is above the head of the four living creatures. It seems to be something that makes the boundary of the heaven, beyond which the four living creatures are. Two things are possible:  a. this makes the boundary of the throne itself and the four living creatures are just outside of this boundary, implying that the four living creatures are at the top of the world, just outside of heaven. b. These four creatures are flying outmost area just inside of the boundary of heaven. Considering the sequence of events, the first understanding may be correct.

·        Four living creatures: 

They might be called living beings instead of creatures. What I mean is that they are not animals that we know. They look like them. They are living beings, unlike any creatures that we know of.  One is like a lion, one like a man, one like an ox, one like an eagle. Each has six wings and many eyes. A lion is the fastest and ferocious animal among all beasts. Man is the most intelligent among all creation. Ox has the greatest strength among all grazing animals. Eagle is the most powerful bird. All these features of these four characterize their power, strength, and ability. All four work together with a common purpose.   They have six wings and can go anywhere. They have many eyes and see everything.  Nothing can escape from their sight. These, power, strength, coupled with an ability to move and anywhere and the ability to see all things are the characteristic of these living beings.  What’s their role?

What is their name? What is their role? In order to have some sense of what they do, we can look at a few other passages:

4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north--an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance, their form was human, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, 9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved. 10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. 12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.(Ezek 1)

In the context of bringing judgment on Israel’s violation of the covenant with God, God showed this vision of the four living creatures. Their look was described in more detail than what John saw.

They had great ability to move with speed and agility. They had immense power. They had features of bringing judgment such as burning coals of fire and like burning torches. They move about according to the leading of the spirit. If we sum up, these four living creatures will see and move swiftly for the purpose of bringing or imposing God’s judgment according to the guidance of the spirit of God. They are identified in Ezek 10:14 as Cherubim.

Ezekiel 10:14 Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.  

They are cherubim. It was first mentioned in Gen 3:24. This is the cherubim that guarded the way to the tree of life in the garden of Eden soon after the fall of man. These cherubim protected the Garden of Eden from intrusion by men of sin and rebellion.

It appears again in Exodus.

God told Israel to make two statues of cherubim on the top of the Ark of the Covenant. (Exo)God told Israel to make two cherubim sitting on top of the ark of God (mercy seat).  God told them that He would meet them in between the two cherubim.  (Exo 25:17-22; Num 7:89)

Here the word was given in the context of the question of how sinful men can meet the holy God. With their two wings overshadowing the top of the ark and their eyes looking down on the top of the mercy seat, these two cherubim are pictured as the defender of the ark of God. They are keeping eyes on God’s covenant whether it is violated or not. So God told Israel that God would meet Israel in between these two cherubim on the top of the mercy seat, which is the right above the Ten Commandments. Though this is placed in the holy of holies, God is not present or will not meet Israel any other place within the holy of holies but on this particular spot where two cherubim assure keeping God’s holiness intact. Though it is said in terms of place, actually that place is the place of God’s holiness and justice kept by the two cherubim.

This theme was actually played out at the time of Ezekiel. The main theme of Ezekiel is the coming judgment of Israel because of their violation of the covenant of God. At the beginning of the book, they appeared in the context of bringing judgment on Israel according to the covenant violation. When Israel failed to meet God of holiness on the top of the mercy seat, Israel was warned of the coming of judgment through the cherubim in order to implement God’s righteousness. So, the description of Cherubim was much in detail and a very fearful one. This is to indicate that the fearful nature of coming judgment on Israel for their failure to abide by God’s covenant.  The cherubim are the first order of angelic rank that protects God’s holiness, and His glory. This becomes clearer when we read how they praise God.

v8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,' who was, and is, and is to come."

Day and night, without ceasing, they recite holy, holy, holy. For these four Cherubim, God’s holiness is the most important thing. So they repeated three times. It signifies the importance of keeping and preserving the holiness of God. To protect and to preserve God’s holiness they will keep hawk eyes and move as swiftly as possible and do whatever it takes with power and strength.

God’s holiness is the most precious and the most important thing.  The four living creatures face directly the full force of that holiness and they, in response to that holiness of God, echoing that holiness by reciting day and night, Holy, holy, holy is God almighty. Their reciting is a warning to the all ungodliness and unholy activities of the world as well as God’s will to enforce or implement that holiness to the world.

What does it mean to John and the seven churches?

When God’s holiness set on the mount Horeb, Israel became so fearful that they let God talk to Moses, not to them.  Now John is seeing this in very close proximity with his two eyes. Not only he was not fearful of this scene but also John became the first one to see such a vivid scene of the throne and its awesome glory and power in such proximity and fullness.  These four creatures are most fearsome than anything that he ever saw.

Here there is a certainty that God will do what is good and just with his mighty power. He will do it to keep and to uphold his holiness and righteousness.  John was invited by Jesus to see this. He survived after seeing this glory. Also, he was not fearful of this and he was caught in wonder and amazement.

What does it mean to John? What does it mean to the seven churches?  What Jesus said to the seven church, commendations, warnings, and blessings, all will surely be accomplished by this God almighty. So coming of the judgment on the evildoers is certain and blessing for those who suffer is a sure thing. In a judgment on evil and saving the righteous, the prime goal of God is to uphold his holiness and his righteousness. Also, this assures them of salvation because John, being invited by Jesus, the one who redeemed the sin of John survived through God’s holiness.

It also reveals God's willingness to welcome all the church to this awesome throne room of God as he did to John. This is possible through Jesus’ invitation only!

Give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever.

This holiness is of the one who is to be from the beginning of creation to the end of creation. In no time and in no way this shall not be compromised. This is what the cherubim declare! This brings them certainty that God will come and restore all things according to His holiness. No sinner can bear that holiness!

4.      Worship of the twenty-four elders (9-11)

As we noted earlier, these elders were introduced ahead of any other figures (4). So far they kept silent and watched. Finally, they came to see the Cherubim’s praise of holiness. The words of Cherubim were resounding in their ears: Holy "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,' who was, and is, and is to come."

They have seen all these spectacular events with their own eyes. They could not sit still like deaf and dumb or dead men. They respond to what they saw. In their response, I like to note two things:

They fall down and worshipped him before the throne.

a.      Their worship is in accordance with what the Cherubim are saying.

The main theme of cherubim’s praise is God’s holiness.   Whenever Cherubim shout in praise, the elders responded with these words. It is a synchronizing response to the cherubim’s praise. Cherubim starts and the elders responded. In this way, the elders accept fully God’s holiness and were willing to honor his holiness. They commit themselves to God to uphold God’s holiness.
God is holy, holy, and holy. No one ever thinks otherwise. If one does so he or she will surely bear the consequences. This fear is seen in Israel and in Isaiah. We are to uphold his holiness as these twenty-four elders. If we remain in sin, we are denying God of Holiness. If we deny the grace of Christ then, we are denying God’s holiness.

b.     They worshiped him: How?

They lay their crowns before the throne and say: 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 were created and have their being."
Whatever they achieved in life, they laid it down because God’s zeal for His glory has achieved what they attained, the glory measure up to His glory. Knowing this, they put down their crowns. In essence, what they are, what they achieved, or accomplished is all of God’s grace and mercy. So they put down the crown and worshipped him; all is of, by and for God’s glory.

The theme of the worship:

11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, -God is the Lord for them because he is worthy. As we noted, there were many questions and doubts among the seven churches. Why did they go through so much suffering, why does God not rescue them right away? Have I done good enough? It all centers on the question of what or who is worthy.  Is God worthy as the only one Lord for you? Or am I worthy?  Is he the Lord over entire your being? They are declaring absolute Lordship of God on their lives. God only is worthy! He is the only Lord for all.

to receive glory, honor, and power,--how can they express the Lordship over their lives? They give glory, honor, and power to Him. God is the only one to receive glory. God is the only one to receive the honor. God is the only one to receive power over us. Despite all their sufferings and pains that they were going through, they were to give honor and glory to the Lord.  It is not what God is forcing us to give Him glory and honor but they are giving these willingly, joyfully because God is worthy in the depth of their hearts.   
What is the thing in us that resists giving honor and glory to God? This is antithetical to the minds of sinful men. At Shinar plain,

Genesis 11:4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

Also, this is antithetical to Satan’s (Rev 12:3) who put himself with a crown of glory. God is the only one that is worthy to receive glory, honor, and power. This means that they are seeing the ultimate victory over all ungodliness of this world by God almighty and he will implement God’s righteousness and holiness. In this, we are worthy in his eyes and we will be with him.

 for you created all things, and by your will, they were created and have their being." : God is the creator and sustainer of our lives. This is the fundamental truth and they are accepting these things.  We are his creation. We are his. Our lives are sustained by him. Every day is supported by God’s grace and mercy. All that we are going through is in God’s will because he created us.

The most powerful and the first rank of God’s angels, the four cherubim’s main theme is God’s holiness. They will move quickly and see all things and exert their power to keep and to implement God’s holiness to all creation. There is no exception. So all must comply and uphold God of holiness. This is the essential cause of our suffering and endurance even to the point of death. In this, God is right and just even in all our hardships and pains and sufferings.

All ungodly will face God’s judgment because they deny God’s holiness and uphold their goodness. It is a sure thing for them to be totally annihilated.  

For the believers as John could see the throne of God, they will all participate in God’s glory without fear. It is because Jesus purified our sins and enabled us to stand before the God of holiness. So, we are to uphold God’s holiness in and through our lives.

God is God of glory and of almighty power. We all must worship him with full honor and glory. It must be from the depth of our hearts. It must be willing with glad-hearted mind. God must be our Lord from our inmost thought.

Nothing on earth will shake us from this God and our faith in Him. Give thanks and praise to God our Lord, the creator of heaven and earth!

Overall, what John saw in the throne room was a true reality of the past, present, and shall be in coming ages. Here the world stands against God’s glory, honor, and power. Then how shall the world come to the Lord to give Him what is worthy of Him? God of all creation has set his plan and that plan will be unveiled in ch 5.