When I was a kid, my pastor did a whole series on the book of Revelation. There were charts and long explanation of the terrible surprises the end of the world held. I always thought of it as a very complex puzzle – figuring out which metaphor spoke of which country to come and how those countries would either conquer or be conquered. So I said to myself that, ‘It’s all going to work out in the end’ and forgot about it. Since the book was so laced with complex allusions and seemed to require a mastery of a diverse number of texts from others books, it seemed best left to the experts.
However, it turns out that the point of the
book of Revelation is not to give us a roadmap to future events. It certainly
does speak of the future, but primarily it tells us about the mind of God.
Chapters 4, 5 and 7 place us in God’s presence where we see Him seated on a
throne. Again and again the book of Revelation comes back to this place – a
room or site where at the centre this throne of God sits. He is surrounded by
powerful angels and magnificent creatures. From there He conducts the symphony
of Revelation. The purpose of the book is to show us that ultimately God is in
control of the world and that he will bring a victory over the pain and evil
powers by changing earth literally into heaven.
From this room we learn about God – not so
much that we learn a lot of complex theological concepts, but that we get to
sit in the room with John, and if we quiet ourselves we can feel what he felt
and experience some part of God. To understand the throne room is to understand
something about God.
The first thing that strikes you about the
throne room is that it is marked by power. John says that he hears thunder and
sees lightning in 4:5. Anyone who has lived in the country knows that feeling
of awe one gets from a thunderstorm. There is the ‘boom’ that comes from the
skies and rolls out through the miles, making you glad you were not right under
it. Something in that speaks of the greatness of the creator. Here John notes
that the thunder was not overtop of the room but actually proceeded from the
throne. That one detail alone would have made the apostle terrified to approach
the seat of this Being.
The second thing that strikes you about the
throne room is that it is marked by victory. Anyone who has suffered through an
injustice can tell you that life on earth isn’t fair and that they hope there
is some kind of reckoning. They might be powerless to right the wrong done them
but hope that God is not. As we read through Revelation we come to its famous
judgements made by the Lord against the world. They are not the random temper
tantrums of a two year-old but the measured judgements of an objective God.
These are followed by the great Day of Judgement at the end of the book.
No doubt these events are terrible and
vast, yet they assure us that God is not casually indifferent to the acts of
violence and various evils people commit or suffer from. The throne room is the
place where justice is dealt out against these wrongs and those who suffer are
remembered. When someone wrongs me I am tempted to hit back even harder but God
is the perfect judge.
Finally, the throne room is characterized
by worship. God isn’t the only inhabitant of the room. In fact it is filled
with a myriad of angels, stately humans called ‘elders’ and four mysterious
creatures. Perhaps spurred on by these sights of glory and power the
inhabitants call out continuous praises to God. Even though I have read the
book many times the worship of these creatures never fails to move me. They are
so stark and beautiful. I will include one here as a closing to the article.
May we come to the point where we can accept the awesome sights of the book and
sing with them.
Revelation 5:11-14 (NASB 95)
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,
12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,
12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.
By Jason Gayoway
