Revelation 4: The Realization of Who God Is

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

Revelation 4:1-2 (NIV)

Caught up through an open door

Think about where John was: alone, marooned on the island of Patmos. Little did he know he was about to take a trip to heaven. In a single moment, the Lord changed everything. John saw a door standing open in heaven — he had no idea how he would get there, but the Spirit of God took him through that door, and he beheld a throne with Someone seated on it.

I bring it up that way to say something simple: that kind of encounter can happen to you. We should carry an expectation to meet with God, for these things happen to those who are in relationship with the Lord.

And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 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. 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 of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

Revelation 4:3-6 (NIV)

A vision of what is real — right now

The reason I feel compelled to read this is so that we would be envisioned with this reality — so that God’s Word would create vision in our hearts for what is real regarding heaven, God’s throne, and what goes on there. And I believe it is going on right now. Right now there is a sea of glass. Right now there are twenty-four thrones with elders seated on them, dressed in white, wearing crowns. Right now there is a rainbow encircling the throne. This means nothing to the world, but to us it is a very big deal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back… 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, who was, and is, and is to come.”

Revelation 4:6-8 (NIV)

They are saying it right now. They never stop. Someone might ask, “Why does heaven have to be this way?” Because this is how God wants it. This is His design, His plan. Unlike the earth, it does not matter there what anyone else wants; what matters is what God wants. And for us, that threefold cry has meaning: He is the God who was, because we have history with Him; the God who is, because we know He is with us now; and the God who is to come, which we have yet to experience and long for.

The realization that produces worship

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 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: “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.”

Revelation 4:9-11 (NIV)

Of all the things they could say in that moment, this is what they say. The creatures give glory; the elders fall down and lay their crowns before the throne. Why? “For you created all things, and by your will they were created.” It is a realization — that He is God and they are created beings; that they exist because God determined they should; that whatever life, joy, blessing, and goodness they experience is because the Lord caused them to have their being.

I believe this is the realization everyone who truly knows God eventually comes to. We worship because we grasp that we exist, that we are blessed, and that we experience goodness and glory entirely because of who He is. This is a realization of God for who God is, and of ourselves for who we are — and it is powerful.

It is a good place to camp out. A good place to be sobered up — to recognize who God is and who you are, what God has done, and how you are blessed by what He has done. That is why they worship in heaven: they are overwhelmed by the majesty, the greatness, the goodness, the power, and the will of Almighty God. And I should be right there along with them, able to say: Amen. You are worthy, Lord. You alone. Nobody else is worthy — only You, to receive glory and honor and power. That is also a way of declaring our allegiance, our faithfulness, and our love for Him.

The wonderful thing about dwelling on this detail is that it creates a vision in our hearts for what is real — for what God has done and is doing. And the expectation is that we will all be there one day, in that throne room, worshiping, amazed, beside ourselves at the splendor.

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