What happened around God's throne
What happened around God’s throne
Revelation 4:4-11
4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits [a] of God. 6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 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,’ [b]
who was, and is, and is to come.”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever . 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.”
1. Revelation 4:4
“Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.”
i. twenty-four elders
All these twenty-four elders represent all God’s children. That is, they represent all the saints in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
ii. “had crowns of gold on their heads”
The 24 elders sitting on the 24 thrones ‘sitting with golden crowns’ shows that they are the ones who have appeared at the judgment of Jesus and have been crowned.
2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
All of us who have laid the foundation of Christ, build lives that bring honor and glory to God on that foundation, and deserve to be rewarded in the judgment mentioned above.
iii. ‘clothed in white’
Revelation 19:7-8
“Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has prepared herself.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”
The fact that the twenty-four elders wear white robes shows that they are saints who have been washed clean and justified by the blood of Jesus.
In the next section we will talk about the ‘7 lamps lit before the throne’.