Revelation

Lesson 4

Revelation 4:1 through 8:1

Comments, Questions and Discussions

COMMENTS

This lesson begins the visions, scenes, the revelations that John SAW. We will not try to identify every things that was seen. We will endeavor to identify the more significant if the more significant can be determined. Some things are defined in someway which will help our understanding. Some things will be general considerations. In the visions, it is my opinion that each thing seen does not necessarily have some hidden meaning but may point to an event or circumstance already recorded. I have often said that to understand Revelation, one must have an understanding of the rest of the Bible. Almost all if not every event John witnesses, draws from or can reference an event or circumstance somewhere else in the Bible. In these lessons we'll take each scene as it comes and try to draw some meaningful understanding of the passage. We will be studying together. Ask questions and search for answers.

Chapter 4 - The Throne Scene.

No doubt this reflects back to the throne scene in Ezekiel chapter 1. There are some minor differences in the creatures. No wheels within wheels; however, a lot of similarities and definitely a throne scene. The scene could well recall the purpose of Ezekiel's encounter. Notice what the Lord told him and consider John's mission regarding what must shortly take place.

Ezekiel 2:1-3:1

And He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you." 2 Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me. 3 And He said to me: "Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. 4 "For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, `Thus says the Lord God.' 5 "As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse -- for they are a rebellious house -- yet they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 " And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house. 7 "You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. 8 "But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you." 9 Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10 Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe. 3:1 Moreover He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel."

4:1 - "a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."

What John was receiving came from heaven. He was told "Come up here."

What Ezekiel received, he received on earth.

Now "the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was upon him there" - Ezekiel 1:3.

One almost has to recall Jesus' question to the Jews, "The baptism of John was it from heaven or men?" To be summoned to the throne, in my mind at least, places the message on a higher plane.

4:4 - 24 elders

Most commentators that I have read place the 24 elders as representing the 12 tribes of Israel and the Church, 12 from each. Note they are sitting on thrones and were wearing white robes and golden crowns. Whoever these elders were/are they are seen also in 5:8, 5:14, 7:11, 11:16 and 19:4. In each appearance, they worship God or the Lamb and are part of the throne entourage. The most definitive statement is their song in 5:9-10.

• They were redeemed by the blood of Christ.
• They were from every tribe and tongue and people and nation
• They were kings and priests
• They were (future tense) to reign on earth.

4:6 - the sea of glass

This is also seen in 15:2 and I think the sea referred to in 21:1, (There was no more sea.) is the same sea. It signifies man's separation from God, separated but accessible through prayer. Christ came to remove the separation and this was accomplished by his victory as recorded in chapters 18-19. Chapter 21, verse 1 says: "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea." I think that the sea was not there because the separation was not there. Those, who are part of the new heavens and new earth have been reconciled to God and therefore are not separated.

4:6-8 -- The four beasts

Note the comparison of the Beasts between Ezekiel and Revelation/ Both John and Ezekiel had a special mission. four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. -- Rev 4:6-8

10 As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. 11 Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies. Ezekiel 1:10-11

5:1 - The sealed scroll.

Seven seals indicates completness, fullness. The scroll was sealed with 7 seals. There were "the 7 spirits of God" before the throne. The number 7 is symbolic and should not be taken literally. The scroll of Ezekiel was not sealed and had to be eaten. John eats a book in Rev. 10:9.

What Daniel did not understand was sealed until the time of the end (Daniel 12:9). In Daniel 8:26, Daniel is told to seal up the vision. In 12:4 he is told to seal the book. I know of no other sealed testimony of God to which Revelation could refer. What was long in the future for Daniel, had come when John saw the revelation. The seals could now be opened. The time of the end was near and it was associated with the soon to be coming of Jesus. If this reasoning is sound, (It definitely ties the scriptures together.) Then Revelation must deal with the end on which Daniel was not allowed to dwell.

5:5-7 The lamb, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David to open the seals.

The lamb is mentioned first and at once Isaiah 53:7 comes to mind,

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.

The background probably begins with Isaac, however, as he travels up to Mount Moriah to be sacrificed by Abraham. Isaac asks about a sacrifice and is told the Lord will provide the lamb for the burnt offering -- Genesis 22:8.

The thought continues with the lion of the tribe of Judah. Genesis 49:9-10 is the beginning background of this thought. .

Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

Adam Clark has a good prospective on "until Shiloh comes" which covers a number of pages. Basically he points out that Shiloh refers to one sent. Which of course is Jesus.

The theme is continued with the "root of David". Now we all know the root comes first or is what the rest grows from. In Revelation 22:16, Jesus says, "I am the Root and the Offspring of David." Isaiah 11:10 says:

10 "And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious." Remember Jesse was David's father.

The opening of the seals then will reveal the completion of the plan which was foreshadowed by the offering of Isaac, a type of Christ, the prophecy of Jacob as father of Israel and finally the root of David which shows the royal lineage and Christ's authority as king over the kingdom being established according to Daniel's prophecy of the everlasting kingdom.

There, then is no doubt that Christ is referred to here. Jesus as the completion of all things, is certainly capable of revealing the end. Only he could open the seals which would reveal the awaited time, the time of the end. Daniel sealed the prophecy which was a long way off, Christ opened the seals because the fulfillment was near. From Daniel to Revelation was 670 years or so. That was a long time, Daniel was told seal the vision. Now the time is short and Christ is open the seals. Figure it out -- When did Rome fall? 476 or so? Was that in the realm of these prophecies? Can 470 years be considered a short time in comparison to 670 years which is described as a long time. Does 200 years off the total make it short. Maybe shorter but not short by any stretch of one's imagination.

"And the vision of the evenings and mornings Which was told is true; Therefore seal up the vision, For it refers to many days in the future." Daniel 8:26

5:10 "And we shall reign on the earth."

No doubt this phrase has been misused. There are some important things that the passage does not say.

• It doesn't say what is to be reigned over. The context says the reign is in God's service and is a result of redemption.
• It doesn't say reign over the earth.
• It doesn't mention a period of time.
• It doesn't say where on Earth. Now some take the earth to refer to the land or area. It probably doesn't refer to the inhabited globe, because they would not have had this concept at this time.

How many have considered the future tense here? The question that I see is whether this is the condition at the time John saw the vision or is it at a time depicted by the vision. I believe it reflects the time in which John saw the vision, which was shortly before Jerusalem's destruction. John is awaiting the opening of the seals. The scrolls contained the revelation. What John sees before they are opened depicts his current place in time and history. The reign on earth would come after the completing of the things which were about to be revealed, I believe this included the events leading up and the destruction of Jerusalem. The elder scene was anticipating what was about to be revealed. The seals were about to be opened by the Lamb that was slain to redeem them out of every tribe, tongue, people and nation -- Remember the seals can now be removed because the time is short.

5:13 - Every creature . . .

In the scene placed before him, John sees and hears, it says he heard all the creatures, "in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them." That's pretty much everybody. This shows who should be praising God and who should honor the Lamb and be thankful for the blessings He provides - and that's everybody. At the time John saw the vision, the lamb had not yet been revealed in the sense of His promised coming in judgment against Jerusalem. Christ's coming separated the followers of Christ and the followers of Judaism. His coming revealed His church and His kingdom as the kingdom of God. His coming completed and perfected the "law and the prophets" (Matthew 5:17-18). It was this coming that was anticipated by John's readers as they longed to know what the sealed scroll would reveal.

6:1 - the Lamb opened one of the seals -

It's important to realize here that the Lamb had already been slain. He had come to the earth, preached the kingdom of God and had died to bring in the last days of Judaism and the beginning of his church and kingdom. You may remember in your study of Daniel, at the time of the end, that something was to end and something was to begin. Perhaps the vision John is about to see begins with the last days which Peter specified in Acts 2.

6:2 - a white horse -

The rider maybe Christ, but what is signified is the building to Christ's church. If we consider the record of what began on that Pentecost recorded in Acts 2, we can easily see the symbolism. Christ had been raised victorious to sit on the David's throne. His apostles are beginning their mission to preach the gospel to the world directed by the Holy Spirit as promised to them by Christ - John 14:26. It was their mission to build His church, Ephesians 2:20, which was and is the unshakable kingdom, Hebrews 12:28.

6:4 - a red horse -

This is what happened when the Gospel was preached, just as Jesus said it would. "I did not come to bring peace but a sword." (Matthew 10:34)

6:5 - a black horse -

Distress is depicted here. It was through such difficult times as famine and need that the Christians were bound closer together. Famine came, many suffered, Christians survived. The hardships of Israel grew even worse as time went on and they became so arrogant in their pursuit of nationalism and a kingdom of this world. According to Josephus, they even destroyed their own food supply in internal fighting during the battle with Rome. Quite a contrast between Christian and Jew is seen here. Such pestilence in the homeland and which possibly affected those in other lands was a sign/warning that a change was necessary.

6:6 - do not harm the oil and wine

Perhaps this refers to Christians who, as noted above, took care of each other, or since oil and wine are both products, perhaps it refers to the results of preaching the gospel. When the gospel was preached, it divided families, raised hostilities in the hearts of unconverted Jews against Christians, and was viewed (at first) indifferently by the unconverted Greeks. These undesirable happenings were not however final results of preaching the Gospel.

If the famine is literal, the Christians were spared. If it represents spiritual happenings, then the results of preaching the gospel were preserved. Either fits into the historical events of that period of building.

6:8 - a pale horse -

During the period of the initial preaching of the gospel, many died. They died before Christ came as He had promised. Some who died were numbered with the faithful, some were not. I understand Death here as the penalty for sin and Hades for the place of the physically dead. From this standpoint we can see that spiritual death was in close connection with physical death. Hades was not necessarily a bad place to be, it was a place/time of waiting. The rider of the pale horse was named Death and Hades followed him. For those who died physically while dead spiritually, the wait was not good. As noted later in Revelation, Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire because of judgment. Those who were still in sin and had died physically would be cast into the lake of fire for their everlasting destruction.

We might also consider that some would fall away from the faith, this might be brought on by any of the calamities mentioned, "with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth." Christians faced all of these in the first century. If we take these symbolically, then we can see that each of the following produced calamities among the Christians.

The preaching of the gospel, the sword,

Hunger because they would not listen to the Word, with which they could be filled,

Death which was caused by sin, maybe many fell away, and

The "brute beasts" referenced by Peter and Jude who caused havoc among the Lord's people

6:9 - the souls slain for the Word of God and the testimony they held.

These slain souls are not limited to that time in the first century, remember at this time those who "had not received the promises" (Hebrews 11:39-40) were also waiting. Jesus words, no doubt the reference here, are found in Matthew 23:34-36.

"Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 "that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 "Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation"

6:11 - rest until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

This rest period is well in line with Jesus' teaching that he came not to bring peace but a sword and that His servants would be killed. It is also well in line with what we find happening in the pages of Acts and referred to in other letters.

6:12 great earthquake, blackened sun, moon like blood

In Joel's prophecy he says:

Joel 2:30-31 "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

Peter quotes this prophecy and calls it the last days. In Revelation here we have the sixth of seven seals being opened and seven implies completion. This is about the end, completion of something. Remember again Daniel's prophecy and that something was to end and something to begin.

The time and destruction is further identified as John equates the happenings to a fig tree and stars falling from heaven in verse 13. This is the same language that Jesus used to describe the destruction of Jerusalem - Matthew 24:29. Note what Luke 23:27-30 says:

"And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. 28 But Jesus, turning to them, said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 "For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, `Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!' 30 "Then they will begin `to say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!"

While the language is also typical of judgment scenes against nations as found in prophetical writings (Hosea 10:8, Isaiah 2:9), Jerusalem's destruction is in the context of the passage. If someone is going to take the late date, they need to show a judgment against a nation that took place shortly after the late date. Was it Rome? No! Was it the Roman Catholic Church? No! The late date just simply does not fit the scenes that John is witnessing.

7:4 144000 sealed of all the tribes of Israel.

This is the complete number of Jews who would be part of the new kingdom. It included both those who waited for Christ and those who would hear, believe and obey the teaching of the apostles. That they were sealed indicates the firmness of their place.

7:9 - a multitude that no one could number of all nations.

These who came out of the great tribulation. Jesus speaks of great tribulation that the world had never known before - Matthew 24:21 Those who want to say that this great tribulation did not take place, need to read the Master's words. Here, in this passage in the Greek, the article is before great and tribulation.

Tribulation doesn't necessarily mean physical death. It could, but a greater danger is spiritual death. There was never a period in which the Plan Of God was challenged more than in the 40 year period from Pentecost to Jerusalem's destruction. People were in essence defying God to his face. The parable of the landowner, Matthew 21:33-41, who sent his servants who were beaten, killed and stoned. He sent more servants who were also beaten, killed and stoned and finally he sent his son, who they knew was the heir and they killed him hoping to seize the inheritance.

As the time for the destruction of Jerusalem drew near, the faith of the Christians was greatly tested. God had sent his son who was rejected and those who rejected him put pressure on Christians to renounce Christ. According to the parable, they knew he was the Son of

God. As the time drew near, these defiers of God were asking, "Where is the promise of his coming?" (II Peter 3:4) They lied even telling the Thessolonians that Christ had already come - II Thessalonians 2:1-2. The entire book of Hebrews was written to prevent the defection.

Yes the faith and God's plan was severely tried. Could this be the great tribulation. Those who fell away lost their spiritual lives. Others chose to remain faithful, but it was difficult and many of them lost their physical lives. These are those under the altar who were slain for their testimony. In this verse, however, it is those who came out of the great tribulation who are singled out. They are those who overcame. Remember the statement to each church, "To him (or he) who overcomes, I will . . ."

As the first series of visions draws to a conclusion we find that those who overcome would be blessed. In this first session we have gone from the picture of the conquering Christ to the final reward of those who followed him. This is period that Revelation is about. It is about the waiting period for His return just as he promised. Until He came, the plan of God was not complete; and the prophecies were not fulfilled. Until He came, the Lord's church was in the building stage and awaited its completion. The final victory was awaited when Christ, in his kingdom would set His rule from heaven itself and would share the throne with God the father. He would reign for all eternity forgiving the sins of mankind.

7:17 - God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

It's sort of like connect the dots. We can identify similar points in time as we look at the expressions. This one is found again in 21:4. If you don't understand the persecution, you cannot understand the joy. In chapter 21 we find an added phrase, "There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." The earthly order of Jewish worship was completed. The could never say again, "Where is the promise of his coming." How could one apostatize into Judaism if it was finished?

Another reason for great joy was the forgiveness of sins, which was also now complete. The former state, where death reigned was complete. It was finished, death was thrown into the lake of fire. Christ would (now is) always be there (here) to forgive sins of all who obey his everlasting gospel. Sin is the greatest calamity to befall mankind. Until we realize this great calamity, we cannot understand the significance of "no more tears."

8:1 Silence in heaven for about half and hour.

I think that this shows the completion of all things. Everything has been completed, reconciled, brought to fruition, fulfilled - all of those things. There is nothing more to say. Daniel's 70 week prophecy speaks of seal up vision and prophecy (Daniel 9:24) That time came when the end came. (Daniel 12:13) The Gospel had been revealed, all things were restored, Acts 3:21. After that time and from that time on, we now have the blessings as we live for Christ on earth and then finally receive our new spiritual body when our time here is complete.

REVELATION LESSON 4 REVELATION 4:1 THROUGH 8:1 QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS

1. Who are the 24 elders and who do they represent. See 5:8-10

2. Describe the scroll and what was the significance of opening the seals?

              What does the number 7 indicate?

3. Any thoughts on the seven lamps which are seven spirits and the sea of glass?

4. Why was the lamb worthy to open the seals and why does this indicate a waiting period?

5. Describe the scene as each seal was opened and place each scene into a historical context.

6. What is the significance of the sealing of the tribes of Israel?

              Who is the multitude that no one can number?

7. What will God do for them?

8. What is the significance of the silence?