Lesson 13: The Throne in Heaven

Revelation 4:5-11
5 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,
6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.
7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who is seated on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Around the throne is a sea of glass like crystal. This would be like a reflecting pool we see around many great architectures here on Earth - there to magnify or multiply the beauty of what we see. It is simply a great, shining floor on which we will be able to stand or bow to worship Him. This sea would also magnify the lightning and thunder coming from God’s throne.

Fire, in the Bible, is a picture of God’s holiness.


The next verse describes four living creatures. These are cherubim, as we see from descriptions in the Old Testament, especially in Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10. The four faces of these mighty beings are symbols of their abilities: the lion speaks of great power and strength. The calf or ox speaks of lowly service. The face of a man speaks of beings that are rational and intelligent. The eagle with its wings speaks of swiftness to accomplish God’s commands. The faces full of eyes mean that they have great knowledge and understanding; nothing escapes their scrutiny. These powerful beings acknowledge God as being supreme and separate from all He has created. Again we see the reference to past, present, and future - all eternity is involved in this song of praise.

Verses 9-11 describe the worship celebration when we meet Jesus before the throne of God for the first time. This writer once sang in a choir of over 8000 voices in a sports stadium filled with over 75 thousand people. The sound of voices around me were so strong I could not hear my voice in my own head. The sound of those thousands of voices simply lifted the anthems we sang higher than I ever thought human voices could go. Yet in all that sound we could hear the voice of the one who led us! How much greater will be that choir of millions as we join in one song of praise to Jesus Christ on that day we first see Him face to face! Job 38:7 reminds us of another time when such a choir sang - but this was angels shouting for joy at the creation of the earth. Later, in Revelation 14, we will read about certain songs we believers will sing which the angels will not sing with us - the songs of Jesus’ mercy and grace by which He saved us.