Reading through the Bible in a Year:  1 Corinthians 9-10

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Erik sent me a note that introduces the next section of scripture:  "I find that to be somewhat arbitrary. I prefer the interpretation which follows the outline presented in Revelation 1:19 - “Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall take place after these things." "The things you have seen" would be the vision of Christ in Rev. 1, "the things which are" would be the letters to the churches in Rev. 2-3, and "the things which shall take place after these things" are the prophetic events of Rev. 4-22. The letters in Rev. 2-3 reflect the "things which are." I therefore do not impose a prophetic interpretive scheme upon them. Applicationally, each of these churches may reflect aspects of Christ's evaluation of every church. The Laodicean church may well embody a description of aspects of what we anticipate about the bankrupt church of the Tribulation period, but that interpretation is without specific support in the text."

One thing to emphasize is that a new section of the story unfolds here.  Since the churches were not in a chronological order, the scene in chapter 4 is a scene in heaven and starts a new section of Revelation.  To try to continue the story is a mistake and draws away from the actual prophecy that is written. 

Rev. 4:1-4

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things." 2Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. 3And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. 4And around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.

The vision is set in heaven, the sounding of the trumpet indicates that news is in the air.  It brings to mind the herald in the watchtower announcing to the city that someone is coming.  The historical side of Revelation is now behind us, now we are dealing with strictly prophecy about the future.  As I struggle through the symbolic language and attempt to make sense out of it, I hope that you will bear with me and join me in the discussion. 

It is unknown as to whether John actually was having a vision, or was physically taken up to heaven, with God, both things are possible.  The words that he writes are words of a man attempting to describe something fantastic and beyond description.  Some hold that Chapters 4-5 are speaking of the church in heaven after the rapture and before the tribulation.  Perhaps though there is more involved.  The stones spoken of in verse 3 are similar to the twelve stones that were found on the breastplate of the priest in the Old Testament:

Exodus 28:17-21

"And you shall mount on it four rows of stones; the first row shall be a row of ruby, topaz and emerald; 18and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and a diamond; 19and the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst; 20and the fourth row a beryl and an onyx and a jasper; they shall be set in gold filigree. 21"And the stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel: twelve, according to their names; they shall be like the engravings of a seal, each according to his name for the twelve tribes.

Walvoord points out that the first stone "Jasper" represents the eldest tribe, Reuben, and the "sardius" stone represents the youngest tribe, Benjamin.  His contention is that the arrangement of the stones are indicative of the meanings of their names, Reuben meaning "behold the son", and Benjamin "the son of my right hand". 

The word for "rainbow" can also be translated as "halo", imagine a green halo surrounding the throne of God.  I wonder if the green symbolizes that the saints of God have drawn life from Him as He encourages us to in:

John 15:5

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

One other thing to note is that Jesus was sitting upon the throne in Heaven.  His work of redemption was done at the cross, He had redeemed the twelve tribes, and offered new life to them.  Jesus is the source and essence of life, it makes sense that He would be surrounded by a green halo.

Hebrews 8:1-6

Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2a minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 3For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. 4Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; 5who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, "See," He says, "that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain." 6But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

Jesus sat down on the throne because He had offered the final sacrifice.  He had completed the work, it was finished, His robe was dipped in blood, because He had sprinkled all nations from the cross.  Upon resurrection, He is the life and the light of men:

1 John 2:25

And this is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.

1 John 5:11-12

And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

Regarding the twenty four thrones and twenty four elders, there is a lot of speculation as to who they represent.  Some hold that they represent the church, I have a problem with that one because of the Jewishness of the symbols in verse three. 

Some hold that they represent 24 angels of great responsibility, that could be, but how would the angels have crowns of victory?  The crowns that are on their heads is from the Greek word meaning a crown of victory which was given after winning the Greek games, much like our Olympic medals.  The angels perform tremendous tasks, but do they fight the battles that would qualify them to earn a crown?  Paul spoke several times of Christians buffeting their bodies and training to fight a good fight.  Several times he indicated that living the Christian life was like competing in the Greek games. 

I think that it represents the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles representing the Church.  There is a marriage between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, equally represented from both sides.  Both the Old Testament Saints and the New Testament Saints lived spiritually because of Jesus' work on the cross.  The OT saints looked forward to the day when their Messiah would pay the final penalty for the sins that were covered by the blood of animals, and the NT saints look backward at the work of Jesus on the cross as He had died to pay the final penalty for our sin.  Both groups are washed white by the blood of the lamb, and both wear crowns of victory for fighting the spiritual battles which daily plague Christianity and Judaism.  Both groups draw life from the "One sitting upon the throne". 

I am going to close here, lots to think about, as I stated earlier, if you have anything to add, be sure to write in.  I will make note of it so that everyone hears your comments.

Father, as we study about redemption and about Jesus sitting upon the throne, open our eyes to salvation.  Open our eyes in this study so that we can understand the symbolic language of Revelation and draw understanding and application for our lives from it.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Mark 7-8

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

Rev. 4:5

And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;

The throne carried the tradition of lightening and thunder identifying God with the God of the Old Testament where Moses had received the ten commandments.  Awesome power was displayed on the mountain which kept the people in a state of constant fear as they waited for Moses to return. 

Exodus 19:16

So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.

We discussed the seven Spirits of God in Revelation 1:4, rather than rehash the discussion, look to the archives under Revelation 1.  This is also a reminder to the Jews that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament as was spoken of in Isaiah 11:2-3.

Rev. 4:6-11

and before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. 7And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. 8And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say,

"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come."

9And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11"Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created."

The atmosphere is that of worship of God.  The sea of glass is an interesting picture:

1 Kings 7:22-25

And on the top of the pillars was lily design. So the work of the pillars was finished.

23Now he made the sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference. 24And under its brim gourds went around encircling it ten to a cubit, completely surrounding the sea; the gourds were in two rows, cast with the rest. 25It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; and the sea was set on top of them, and all their rear parts turned inward.

The sea was a symbol of what was in heaven.  The water symbolized the Word of God in conjunction with the throne, it is a constant reminder of how we are washed clean by the Word.  Yet in this situation, the water is perfectly still because the saints have been cleansed and sanctified already.  It's work is finished, the daily washing of the word is finished completely.  Thinking about the actual physical properties of water for a moment, I have seen water deep in caves where the wind does not blow, and the water does not move in currents.  It is like glass, perfectly still, in the cave I was in they had to rig colored lights in order just to see the water.  With nothing disturbing it the water was perfectly still, waveless.  When all the saints go to heaven, the word has finished its work, sanctification is complete, the only thing left to do is to worship our God.

The creatures are difficult to interpret since we don't have any other references to them in the Scriptures.  The BKC has an interesting take on them:

“Many interpretations have been given of the four living creatures. As the Holy Spirit was seen symbolically in the seven lamps, probably the four living creatures symbolically represent the attributes of God including His omniscience and omnipresence (indicated by the creatures being full of eyes)—with the four animals bringing out other attributes of God: the lion indicating majesty and omnipotence; the ox, typical of faithful labor and patience; man, indicating intelligence; and the eagle, the greatest bird, representing supreme sovereignty. Another possible view is that they represent Christ as revealed in the four Gospels: in Matthew, the lion of the tribe of Judah; in Mark, the ox as the servant of Yahweh; in Luke, the incarnate human Jesus; and in John, the eagle as the divine Son of God. Another alternative is that the four living creatures are angels (cf. Isa. 6:2-3), who extol the attributes of God.”^[1]

One thing that struck me as I read through this is that the creatures did not bow down, rather they performed as if they were accustomed to spending time in the presence of God.  They performed their role of worship in a manner that is not bashful, coming boldly into the presence of God.  Either the creatures were symbolic of Jesus as Walvoord points out, or they were created to worship God.  Since there was never any sin in their lives, there is no forgiveness for them, they stand righteous before God on their own merit. 

The twenty four elders reacted just the opposite, they cast off their crowns as if they were worthless, falling on their faces before the throne.  Their righteousness is derived only through the blood of Jesus and from no act of their own.  Quite a contrast, bowing before God out of an awareness that without Him, they would be doomed to hell, knowing that they are worshipping God only by His grace.  The 24 elders knew what it meant to be born into sin, and they knew what it meant for Jesus to die for them.  Worship was a matter of bowing before the Lord and acknowledging that He is Lord and King.

Father, as we consider Your word today we want to praise You for the study of worship.  Enable us to understand more completely what true worship is all about, and that we will incorporate it into our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

All Scriptures are from the New American Standard Bible.