Laodicea closes the history of the professing church on earth. The true church, the body of Christ, has been caught up to meet the Lord in the air and is safely lodged in the Father’s house. As Chapter 4 opens, then, the scene moves from earth to heaven. John is instructed “come up here and I will show thee the things which must take place after these things.” This expression “after these things” introduces verse one as well as closes it. “After these things” means after the church period, and consequently the time of the opening judgments on the earth and the great tribulation. The change makes it clear that the church will not pass through the tribulation but be raptured first.
To explain the rapture the “liberal” pulpits of Christendom will be blaring forth a Satanic lie of some sort, to explain what has happened. It may even be they will feel that now the hindrances have been providentially removed they can look forward to a time of human progress—yea, even “peace and safety”—not knowing that “sudden destruction” will overtake them (see 1 Thess. 5:3). “His Holiness” of the Vatican will have propagated a stupefying potion for “the faithful,” which they will be duty bound to accept. The saints in glory will have nothing to do with all this. When Noah’s day of preaching to a godless world was over, he went into the ark and “the Lord shut him in” (Gen. 7:16). There was a window ‘above’ in the ark so Noah and his family could look up, but not around them. What a moment long looked for it will be for us, when we have done with earth and the door of heaven is opened to us so we may enter into those precious things seen by John in the vision. We will now look at what is given in Chapter 4.
Jesus had opened a door of service to the church in Philadelphia. Now He opens a door in heaven, saying “come up hither.” This is what we are waiting for. “No heart can think, no tongue can tell, what joy ‘twill be with Christ to dwell.” We read of certain Greeks who came up to worship at the feast of the passover, who said to Philip—“sir, we would see Jesus” (John 12:21). We also would see Jesus, and our desire will be gratified. Arrived there, we will not look “on the crown He giveth, but on His pierced hand—the Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel’s land.” John is called away from earth to heaven where the Lord would show him in visions and revelations the things which must take place “after these things.” John was immediately found in the Spirit, and no doubt like Paul in similar circumstances (see 2 Cor. 12) was not conscious of being in the body or out of it. The conspicuous object in the heavenly scene was the throne, and the One who sat on it.
He was to look upon like a jasper and sardius stone. Jasper is connected with that glory of God which He is pleased to extend to His saints. In the twenty first chapter of Revelation we are given a picture of the church as she will be in heaven during the millennial glory of Christ. It is given under the figure of a city whose wall was of jasper. The first foundation of the city too was jasper. In John 17:22 we read “the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them.” This explains the jasper glory of God. The sardius stone also is found in the foundations of the Holy City. Both the jasper and the sardius stones were in the breastplate of the High Priest of Israel. An emerald colored rainbow was round about the throne. The rainbow was God’s covenant with Noah not to destroy the earth again with a flood (Gen. 9:8-17). So we see that if God is about to mete out judgments to an ungodly world, He will remember mercy in the midst of them. Round about the throne are twenty four elders. They are priests as well as kings. The figure is taken from 1 Chronicles 24 where King David of Israel gathered up the heads of the priestly family into twenty four heads and appointed them their service, which continued to the days of the Lord’s first advent. From the first chapter of Luke we learn that Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, “executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course.” We may therefore conclude that both Old and New Testament saints are represented here. Of old time we read “Moses and Aaron among his priests” (Psa. 99:6). In New Testament times Peter addresses Christians as “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). The white garments and crowns of gold fit the position of the saints above as kings and priests.
The Throne of God and its Attendants
Lightnings and thunderings proceed from the throne. God is about to deal with the earth. The seven lamps of fire and the seven Spirits of God speak of the perfection of the judgments and the plenitude of power to carry them out. While this scene unfolds we shall be in perfect peace—“the joy of His love ever nigh, and the peace which His presence shall crown.” Before the throne a solid sea of crystal glass—unalloyed purity.
The use of the word “beasts” in this chapter and the following one, in some translations of the Bible, is most inappropriate. In Daniel 7 the four Gentile powers are described in the vision as “four great beasts.” In Revelation 13 the head of the revived Roman Empire, and the Antichrist, are both correctly described as “Beasts.” The word “beasts” is suitable language for such, but “living creatures” is the correct translation in the passage we are considering. We see here four of these “living creatures” in the midst of, and round about, the throne. They are closely connected with the throne, which is not surprising, inasmuch as no throne is maintained without its attendant ministers, and the throne of the Almighty is no exception. This is a very interesting subject. From Old Testament scriptures we learn of cherubim and seraphim. They are both connected with the throne and service of God.
When man was driven from Eden, cherubim and a flaming sword kept the way of the tree of life. In the tabernacle in the wilderness we see “the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat” (Heb. 9:5). It is worthy of note that in the tabernacle the faces of the cherubim on the mercy seat looked one to another—“toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be” (Ex. 25:20). They looked down, one might say, into the Ark, wherein were placed the two tables of stone, God’s law, written with His own finger, looking onward to the time when Christ would come to bear the curse of a broken law. In Solomon’s temple, built when the kingdom was established, the faces of the cherubim were inward, or “toward the house” (2 Chron. 3:13). In a word, these two aspects of the faces of the cherubim bring to mind those words of our Savior—“I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straightened until it be accomplished” (Luke 12:50). “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory” (Luke 24:26). Cherubim were also woven into the curtain of the tabernacle, and the veil which separated the holy place from the holiest of all—typical of the Son of Man to whom the Father has committed all judgment. In the first chapter of Ezekiel we read of “the living creatures” which are called cherubim in the tenth chapter. They are very definitely connected with the carrying out of God’s judgments in the earth. The living creatures described in Ezekiel have in their faces the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle. As to the seraphim we will refer to them briefly in Isaiah 6 where they cry “holy, holy, holy; is the Lord of Hosts.” It is my impression that the cherubim are connected with the throne for execution of judgments, the seraphim for worship.
Returning to Revelation 4, we find the features of the living creatures in Ezekiel 1 more prominently set forth. In Revelation 4 the first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third like a man, the fourth like a flying eagle. In the lion we see majestic strength, in the calf patient endurance and stability, in the man intelligence, in the eagle swiftness in executing judgment. From verse 8 it appears that the living creatures combine both cherubic and seraphic features. They each have six wings like the seraphim in Isaiah 6, and their cry of “holy, holy, holy . . .” is the same as given there. But in Revelation 4:8 an important feature is added—“round and within they are full of eyes.” And truly “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth” (2 Chron. 16:9). The living creatures are seen taking the lead in giving glory, honor, and thanks, to Him that sat on the throne, whereupon the saints fall down before the throne and worship. This I apprehend to be a much higher privilege than that enjoyed by the living creatures. The saints are intelligent in the mind of God. They had been taught by Him while on earth. Now in possession of their highest blessings, they instinctively cast their crowns before the throne. This is good and right. We should not have a crown but for the grace of our God towards us. Later on we shall see the twenty-four elders in a fuller outflow of praise and worship, as befits them. Here, as befits the presence of Him who sits on the throne, they give Him His rightful place as a Creator God to whom glory, honor, and power belong.
Before leaving Chapter 4 perhaps I might state that as to the cherubim especially, and the seraphim, they may be looked upon as symbols, yet symbols of what God is working in the earth by means of instruments raised up for the purpose. Only one instance will be quoted as an example—“thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of Heaven given me, and He hath charged me to build Him an house in Jerusalem” (2 Chron. 36:23).