Omnipresence and the Throne.
“And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it. 3 The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones—like jasper and carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow.” – REV 4:2-3 NLT.
If you participated in the ZOOM on the importance of understanding the Hebrew sanctuary for interpreting the book of Revelation, you will remember how we discussed that God, who is omnipresent (everywhere at once), has chosen the Heavenly Sanctuary as the place where he reveals himself to His creation. The idea of a throne conjures up in our minds an ornate chair where a king sits. But how can you limit omnipresence to a chair? The Bible speaks to us in concepts we can understand. The throne tells us how God is the King and Ruler of the universe.
“To the one who overcomes I will give to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne” (Rev 3:21). Obviously, the throne of heaven is not an armchair! It is more like a couch, where two or more people can sit. Suddenly the New Testament texts about Jesus sitting down at the right hand of God made sense (Acts 2:33; Heb 1:3, 13; 8:1, etc.). In this text, Jesus receives everything that the throne represents and offers a future place there to those who overcome.
A careful reading of Revelation 4 makes it clear that “throne” is the keyword of the entire chapter. The word “throne” appears fourteen times in Revelation 4. It is the centre and focus of the scene. Everything that takes place in the heavenly throne room takes place in relation to the throne. These actions are signalled by a series of prepositions. Things happen “around” the throne, “upon” the throne, “out from” the throne, “before” the throne, “in the midst of” the throne, and “at the right side of” the throne. “Throne” is clearly the central word of this passage and the throne represents the central theme of everything that takes place in it.
What is a throne and what does it represent? A throne represents the right to rule. The person who sits on a throne has the right to rule over a piece of territory, a nation, or a group of some form. Since the throne is at the centre, the key issue of this passage is God’s right to rule and how that functions in heavenly places. Thus, the centrality of the throne here means this passage is a decisive development in the controversy between God and satan over the dominion of the universe. Revelation 4 and 5 portrays the crucial event in that war– the death of the Lamb and His resulting exaltation to the throne of God.
Chapter 4 is not describing a specific event but is giving us a general description of the throne room in heaven and what goes on in it on a regular basis.
In our text, for example, it doesn’t say that the throne was being set up; it simply says that “a throne was there in heaven.” When John comes on the scene, the throne is already there. There is nothing new taking place, what is new is that John is observing the scene. This scene looks a lot like the one in Daniel 7, but there is a difference. In Daniel 7 thrones “were being set up”– for the Judgement (Dan 7:9). There is a specific event in view. This is not the case in Revelation 4.
The general nature of this scene is even more obvious in Rev 4:9. There it tells us that “Whenever the living creatures give glory, honour, and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever.” The Greek grammar is a description of repetitive action, it is something that happens over and over again, it is not a specific time or event in either earth or heaven.
Is there a spiritual lesson for us here? Bowing down to the God of all creation must be a repetitive action. As we do this, we become more and more aware of God’s will and His ways, and our lives are never the same.