Today, I am going to be going through Revelation Chapter 4. Let’s start with Revelation chapter 4:1, and this verse states: After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. Now, a lot of people believe that this is the verse that is speaking about the rapture. Specifically the part of the verse that states: …come up hither… The person speaking in this verse of course is John, and the person saying come up hither my belief starts here → is an angel and this I understand and believe this because in Revelation 1:1-2 it states: 1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw ← my belief stops here. So, if in fact it was an angel speaking directly to John, how can some Christians believe that this verse is speaking to the body of Christ? Also, if you look at what Revelation 11:12 states: And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. This verse is speaking about the two witnesses. Does the phrase come up hither imply a rapture here again? I think not. This verse is only speaking to the two witnesses as Revelation 4:1 was speaking only to John.
The next interesting verse is Revelation 4:4 which states: And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. The question is usually asked who are these 24 elders? My belief starts here → I personally believe that twelve of the elders are the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. The other twelve elders are the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ. In all honesty I don’t believe that it really matters nor does it change the testimony of Jesus Christ. It is not imperative to our salvation that we know who the twenty-four elders are. It’s something that we Christians can think about, and have a discussions about. I may be right, or I may be wrong. In the grand scheme of things this little tidbit does not weigh much. The only thing we know for sure is that there are twenty-four elders in heaven. The other key idea that we need to keep in our minds is that John is seeing a vision of what is happening, and he is describing what he is seeing in those visions. We know that John is seeing a vision because in Revelation 4:2 John states: And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Revelation 4:5 states: And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. The verse prompts people to ask what are the seven spirits of God? The answer is found in Isaiah 11:2 which states: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. The other part of the answer is found in Isaiah 4:4 which states: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. So, the seven spirits of God are:
- Spirit of wisdom
- Spirit of understanding
- Spirit of counsel
- Spirit of might
- Spirit of knowledge
- Spirit of judgement
- Spirit of burning
Maybe, after this project I may do a post about the significance of these seven spirits of God. In Revelation 4:7-8 it states: 7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle 8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. These are beings that are in the service of Almighty God Jesus. There may be a significance as to the appearance described by John, but that also may be a post for the future. This concludes Revelation Chapter 4. I wanted to thank all of my readers, may the Lord Jesus Christ bless you. Please stay tuned for Revelation Chapter 5, and as always you can follow me on twitter:
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