THE VISION OF A HEAVENLY COUNCIL

The next several chapters are given over to a series of visions of heaven and special events that will affect the faithful witnesses on earth. The scene in ch. 4 is the council room of God with twelve elders representing the people of God, Israel, and the twelve apostles of Christ standing near the divine throne.

Also in this room are seven lamps representing the seven churches and four living creatures – a lion, an ox, a man and an eagle. This latter group probably do not represent astrological figures. But they do have a direct relation to the seraphim of Isaiah 6:2 and the cherubim of Ezekiel 1:4-21. They function as leaders of the worship of the One seated on the throne and the Lamb.

Another important aspect of this scene is the sea of glass like crystal in front of the throne. Later in the book John himself interpreted this symbol (13:1) as the reservoir of evil out of which the monster (i.e. the Roman empire) arose. It is also the sea of evil through which the redeemed must pass in a new Exodus. In other words, evil and all that opposes the will of God will disappear as part of the temporal order when the new heaven and the new earth appear according to God’s design (21:1).

If nothing else, John is trying to dispel the common belief that evil, like God, is eternal. Hence the song of the host gathered in the heavenly throne room praises the holiness of God in such a way that all evil must vanish before it. All that exists is by divine creation, but God is not about to demolish creation as in the flood of Gen. 6-8. God will redeem it so that all creation will respond to God’s love in devout worship and service. The coming ordeal through which the faithful must pass is part of the whole process of redemption by which all of God’s creation will be brought under divine sovereignty.