Read with Me
Revelation 4:1-3 (NET)
After these things I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here so that I can show you what must happen after these things.” Immediately I was in the Spirit, and a throne was standing in heaven with someone seated on it! And the one seated on it was like jasper and carnelian in appearance, and a rainbow looking like it was made of emerald encircled the throne.
Listen with Me
After the risen and glorified Jesus dictated notes to each of the seven Churches in Asia, John’s eyes are directed upward by the sound of the same voice coming from over his head. As he lifts his gaze, he is stunned to see a door opened into heaven. At that moment, he realized that he was “in the Spirit”. In other words, what was happening was a vision, something that was really happening, but not on the physical realm.
The voice seemed to be coming from inside the door, and called out an invitation, not just “come,” but to “come up”. This does not indicate that heaven is “up” from the earth, as some have been taught. Instead, it is at a higher level, on the spiritual plane rather than in some location in the physical realm.
Some have argued that since Jesus ascended into heaven that heaven is “up” from the earth. The question would have to be asked, “Up from where?” Up from Europe is clearly in the opposite direction as up from Australia. Jesus’ rising, as well as the door opened into heaven above John’s head would be better understood as “away from the earth” as opposed to simply “up”. And not just physically away, but existing on another level of existence entirely.
John didn’t have to move physically through the door into heaven. The moment he agreed to the invitation, he found himself in God’s throne room. He was stunned by what he saw. The first thing he saw was the throne with someone sitting on it, someone whom he recognized at once was the almighty God Himself.
John proceeded to write down a description of what he was seeing, but words immediately failed him. He was trying to use mere human words to describe heavenly glories, and weak similes were all he could muster.
The one seated on the throne was likened to the gemstones jasper and carnelian, both of which are most commonly a warm reddish brown color and translucent in thin sections. This is similar to Ezekiel’s description of the One that was on the platform above the heads of the living creatures (Ezekiel 1:26-28), where the emphasis was on the amber-colored glow of the figure on the throne, as if He was full of fire, or even made of fire. And like Ezekiel who saw the being on the heavenly throne surrounded by a brilliant rainbow, John saw what he described as a brilliant halo of light encircling the throne emphasizing the bright green tone, like that of an emerald.
John did not try to describe the form of the one seated on the throne except in the most general of terms. What he saw was simply beyond human words. The limited picture that he did paint was one of breathtaking light and exquisite glory.
Pray with Me
Father, You Yourself warned the Israelites to never try to depict You, since You are indescribable. Even in this vision that John saw he seemed to realize that he was seeing only a small fraction of Your true glory, like someone looking at a solar eclipse with the dark lenses that only allow a small percentage of the light to pass through. But even that small glimpse was beyond his ability to describe. Lord, what a privilege it is to serve You, the almighty God who lives in unapproachable light, and to be known personally by You as your child. Thank you, Lord! Amen.