"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. And Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne." (vv.1-2)
Here in chapter 4, we begin the third and final section of the Book of Revelation as outlined for us in Revelation 1:19, “the things which shall take place hear after.” After what one might ask? After the bride of Christ is complete, after the last person is added to the kingdom, after God’s long-suffering with man has come to its end. At that moment, we will be immediately transformed “in the Spirit” (just as John is here), before His throne, and face to face with God.
Let that sink in for a moment. He has defeated death, He is alive, He is seated on His throne, and will bring us unto Himself transformed. Meaning, for us in our transformed bodies, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more struggles with our flesh. Why? Because “we shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2). In our text, and through out the rest of this book, John will go on to describe many things he saw in his vision while in the spirit. But, the first thing he describes for us is, “the throne" and "the One" seated upon it:
"And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald, and Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal” (vv.3-6).
Of all the symbolism in this chapter, what speaks the loudest to me is that God is on the throne, that He is in control, and worthy to receive all glory, honor, and praise, forever and ever. As the prophet Isaiah said after having a vision of the very throne of God, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5) and over the throne of God the glorious seraphim said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3).
It’s as if John is seeing the same thing that Isaiah saw but only describes it with different words. Two witnesses, testifying to the same thing, at very different times in history. The throne is definitely not empty!
The Truth: “But the Lord sits enthroned forever; He has established His throne for justice.” (Psalm 9:7)
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness” (Psalm 45:6)
“God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne” (Psalm 47:8).
