Rev. 4:1, "After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice, which I heard, was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."
"After these things", What things? After the warnings to the seven churches. So now John has shifted from current events to the future. Pre-tribbers or at least most of them, say that this is where the rapture of the church takes place. They base that on the statement that, "a door was open in heaven" and the voice he (John) heard said, "come up here." They take the phrase "come up here" to mean that Jesus is referring to the rapture of the church. People, every pre-tribulationist that I have ever read say that we are to interpret the word of God literally, historically and in context. They disdain what began in about the third century under Origin, who devised what is known as the allegorical method of interpreting scripture. This method states that the words don't mean what they say, but are to be spiritualized to communicate some truth other than the literal statement that is made. In about the fourth century it was Augustine, who took Origin's allegorical method of interpretation and introduced "amillennumism." This term means that there will be no literal, physical, tangible earthly kingdom of Jesus on the earth. He did that by allegorizing the scripture and saying that you don't interpret it literally, historically, grammatically or contextually. This method says that heaven doesn't mean heaven, Jerusalem doesn't mean Jerusalem, the Jew doesn't mean the Jew, so they ascribe a different meaning to the text, All pre-tribbers that I have studied agree that this is a distortion of the Word of God and you should not allegorize scripture.
I therefore, find it inconsistent to the highest possible degree for men who despise that method of interpretation to come to this verse, where (John) sees an open door in heaven and hears a voice saying "come up here" in order to get the perspective to write the things that he is going to write in chapter four and following, to interpret that to mean the rapture of the church. There is nothing directly or indirectly in the context to remotely infer that the rapture takes place here. It simply isn't there and if you are going to put it there then you ought to throw your bible away, because it is not an accurate guide for anything, you can make it say whatever you want it to say.
The door that is standing open in heaven is the door to prophetic revelation and asking John to come up was so that he could receive a heavenly perspective of things which must take place on earth.
Rev. 4:2, "Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne."
The "I" referred to here is John (not the church) and he was immediately in the Spirit, this is exactly as we saw it in chapter one, he was in this esthetic condition, a heightened spiritual sensitivity in order to see and understand so he could write the things he was describing. John was seeing through his spiritual eyes because his physical eyes simply could not understand what had to be written. The one who sat on the throne is identified in verse eight as God, who is described not in form but in terms of brilliance and glory.
Rev. 4:3, "And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald."
What John sees here is a clear manifestation of who God is in His brilliance and glory, radiating red and translucent white and this was emanating from Him who sat on the throne and around this throne he sees an emerald or greenish circle or glow.
Rev. 4:4, "Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads."
Here we have the throne, and around the throne are 24 smaller thrones and on these thrones are 24 elders. If you have done any study on the book of Revelation you know that a big debate exists over the question, who are the elders? I will not state emphatically who they are, but, I will state emphatically who they are not. They are not the church! The reason pretribulationist identify these elders as being the representatives of the church, is that they are seen wearing "crowns" supposedly received at the bema seat. Therefore they reason, because the elders wearing their crowns are seen around the throne before the first seal is open (Rev. 4:4), the church, they maintain, had already been raptured and judged before the seventieth week commences. The elders' crowns (4:4,10) are taken to be the bema-seat rewards and thus supposedly prove that the bema-seat judgment must have already taken place. But as the passage in (Rev. 11:18) clearly states, that judgment occurs after the seventh trumpet, which just as clearly occurs after the seventieth week, making that interpretation impossible. Well, who are they? Some say they are Old Testament saints, others say they are angels, let me throw this at you for what it is worth. If you were to read (1 Cron. 24:7-19), you will see that there twenty-four orders of the Levitical Priesthood, this is the only other scripture that has twenty-four in it. More importantly if you will take a look at (Isaiah 24:23), which is talking about the day of the Lord when God annihilate Israel's enemies. This verse tells us that the Lord will reign before His elders gloriously. So we see a reference to the fact that the glory of God when it is dealing with the last days is before His elders and we see these twenty-four elders mentioned in the fourth chapter of Revelation, and we see that there were twenty-four elders that were part of the priesthood that brought sacrifices to God. Is there any correlation between this? I don't know, but I can say that they are not the church because the crowns they are wearing did not come from the bema-seat judgment.
Rev. 4:5, "And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God."
The lightnings, thunderings, and voices may be a display of the awesomeness of God's power in reference to the judgment that God will shortly cause to happen at His day of the Lord wrath. The seven Spirits of God, as we dealt with earlier, is probably the Holy Spirit at work.
Rev. 4:6,7,8.
6, Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.
7, The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.
8, The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"
The sea of glass like crystal highlights both the magnificence and holiness of God.
Who are the four living creatures? There is only one reference in scripture that parallels this passage. Turn with me to (Isaiah 6:1-7), "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory! And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because 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. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged."
These angelic beings here, surround the throne have six wings, and are saying, "holy, holy, holy, is the Lord. Is it possible that these beings of Revelation and Isaiah are one and the same? If so, then these four living creatures are seraphims, high ranking celestial beings whose primary function is worship. The root word in the Greek translated seraphim means to burn and the burning here has nothing to do with destruction, but it has to do with purification and refinement. Scholars say, that because of the way seraphims are used here, they are guarding and praising the holiness of God all the time, and when Isaiah wants to come before God, the seraphim goes and purifies and refines him with a hot coal so that he is presentable to stand before God. They being full of eyes symbolize unceasing watchfulness in protecting the holiness of God by purifying whoever wishes to come before God. This is very important when you realize that these creatures surround the throne of God and play a critical part in the events that occur before the return of Christ. In fact the events that they participate in and cause to happen are the events of the purification of a compromising, weak church going into the last days that we were warned about in Rev. chapters two and three. The only events that they oversee involve the events that are meant to purify the church.
1 Peter 4:12, refers to this, "Beloved do not think it strange, concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you." That word "try" means to test your quality as a Christian. This fiery trial that comes upon you to test you is the same thing we saw in the letters to the seven churches, see Rev. 3:10.
1 Peter 4:13,14,16,17,18, "but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?"
"If the righteous scarcely be saved", where else but in the seventieth week of Daniel will we know anything of the true believers in the compromising church being scarcely saved. If this is so for the righteous, what are the ungodly and the sinner to face! Remember we said, that the theme of Revelation is the return of Christ and it covers all the events up to that time (the judgment of the household of faith) and all the events after that time (the day of the Lords wrath is upon the wicked). At His coming, (2 Peter 2:9) tells us what is going to happen, " then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of testing and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment." The overwhelming theme with regard to these seven churches is found in, 1 John 2:28, "And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming."
If His coming is a secret rapture that is going to take the Christians by surprise, how can they be ashamed and shrink back at His coming? How are we going to have confidence? By being pure and holy and obedient to Him now and until He comes, if we refuse to be faithful to Him now, we will be put to the test during the seventieth week of Daniel in order to be purified and to come forth as gold. Turn to Matt. 24:9, "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake." This tribulation is a part of the testing overseen by the seraphim, and whoever it is going through the testing, is going through it on account of God's name, so who else cant it be but the church. Matt. 24:10,11,12, "And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold."
Christ knew, that the church, as we know it, which is anything that names the name of Christ, that would go into the last days would be a weak anemic church for the most part. Therefore the reason for the purification of the church by the seraphim is to see what you are made out of, so that when you are presented before God you will not shrink back in shame. The church going into the seventieth week is not worthy, but the church that stands before God at His coming will be purified and made worthy. So it is important to understand the role of God's agent, (the seraphim) plays in purifying the church. As we have seen and will continue to see the injunction to be worthy, be worthy. Christ says in (Luke 21:36) "Pray that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things." It is the blood that makes us ready for the rapture, it is prayer that will cause us to be obedient and faithful, which will give us the protection of God during the testing period. We will see the activities of these four creatures when we get to (chapter six) as they begin to permit things to happen to bring about the purification of the church.
Rev. 4:9,10,11.
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created."
Remember what Paul said to the church at Rome, "all things are of Him, all things are through Him, all things are to Him to whom be glory forever and ever, amen." All things are of Him, He is the creator; all things are through Him, He is the sustainer; all things are to Him, He is the consummator. Think about it, all things have their origin, movement and completion in Him. Because He is the creator of all things, by virtue of that creatorship He is to be worshiped and adored. This scene is pictured as we see the twenty-four elders casting their crowns at His feet.
One thing you should realize when studying the word of God is, because there are divisions or breaks caused by chapters, that does not mean that there is always a new thought or a new thing or a different subject to be addressed. You must not let the dividing of God's word into chapters interrupt the context or flow of what is being said.
What is being talked about in chapter four is the same scene that continues to be described in chapter five, so don't allow the chapter divisions to interrupt the continuity of thought.
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