June 2: Revelation 4
Deuteronomy 6; Psalm 89; Isaiah 34; Revelation 4
John structures Revelation by noting when he was “in the Spirit.” This is the second time (2); the first preceded the letters to the churches (1:10). Thus a new movement in Revelation begins, this time in the throne room of God.
The description is both vivid and incomplete. How do you describe God? A rainbow surrounds the room (3). The rainbow first pictures God’s covenant of mercy with mankind after the flood (Genesis 9). The second is in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 1:28), when he sees God wrapped in a rainbow, much like John’s vision here.
From the throne emanates both a storm (5) and a glassy, peaceful sea (6). This God is neither tame nor out of control. He sends forth lightning and thunder, and He tames the wild sea. He is God, on His throne, above every other throne.
In a book with so many fantastic and difficult images, the point of this first image is as obvious as it is overlooked: that God is on His throne, over every other throne, now, whenever and wherever you read this. Thus the angelic beings surround Him in their hierarchies in ceaseless praise (6-11).
I write this in June - “Pride Month” - when homosexuals and “woke” companies parade and celebrate their immoralities under a rainbow flag. Yet another will soon come under another rainbow (10:1): this time not to celebrate immorality, but to vanquish it. Stand firm, Christian, in this hope.