And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. -- Revelation 4:2 (KJV)
An old man in exile hears a voice like a trumpet say “Come up hither,” and steps into the most crowded room in Scripture. Jasper and sardine stone. A rainbow the color of an emerald. Lightnings and thunderings and voices. Seven lamps of fire. A sea of glass. Four living creatures covered front and back with eyes. Twenty-four elders in white with gold on their heads.
Then read how John lays it out. The rainbow, round about the throne. The four and twenty seats, round about the throne. Lightnings out of the throne. Seven lamps before it. A sea of glass before it. The creatures in the midst of it. Almost nothing in the room is described on its own terms. Every item in it gets its position from one chair.
The Crowns Go Down
The elders are the only ones there holding rank of their own — gold on their heads, seats to sit in. And each time the living creatures give glory, the twenty-four come down off those seats, fall on their faces, and put the crowns on the floor.
Not once, with a ceremony to mark it. John keeps the scene in the present tense — they fall, they worship, they cast — as often as the glory is given. Whatever authority they hold, they keep handing it back toward the chair.
The Reason Attached
Their song comes with its reason built in: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
Worthy because He made it. That covers everything that exists whether or not it agrees, and it is the ground the chapter stands on. Later this week a second reason gets added to the song, and that one costs Him something.
Meanwhile there is a week in front of you, and probably one thing in it you have been carrying as though the seat were empty. Not denied — carried. Held, because some part of you suspects that if you set it down nothing else will.
John's first sentence about heaven has no scenery in it at all. One sat on the throne. He has not stood up.
