Revelation 4

This is possibly the voice of the angel from Revelation 1:10 instead of Jesus from 1:17.

John seems to be describing the regal glory of God’s throne. Some scholars link John’s words to the prophecy of Ezekiel, which describes the “Son of man” as wearing similar regal clothes, studded with gems including red carnelian, jasper, and emerald (Ezekiel 28:13).

Literally “elders,” who weren’t necessarily older adults, but who held positions of authority in ancient Israel. Scholars can only guess who these people were. Among the many guesses: (1) Representatives of Israel and the church, with 12 from the dozen tribes of Israel and 12 of Jesus’s disciples. (2) Leaders of the 24 divisions of Israel’s musicians (1 Chronicles 25). (3) Christian martyrs. (4) Jewish leaders from Old Testament times.

See Revelation 3:1, which says the seven spirits may have been angels. Some Jewish writers in ancient times seemed to say angels were made of fire. Bible writers often describe angels as glowing. The angel that rolled aside the stone blocking the entrance into the tomb of Jesus “glowed like a burst of lightning. His clothes were snow white” (Matthew 28:3).

Ezekiel 1:22 reports a vision of God’s glory, with a sky gleaming like crystal.

Some scholars identify the four beings as cherubim who the prophet Ezekiel said carried God’s throne out of the Jerusalem Temple before the city fell to Babylonian invaders in 586 BC (Ezekiel 10:18-20). They had four faces, with eyes looking in all four directions. Some say the idea of creatures like this positioned near a throne sounds like the winged lions and sphinxes of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians. The images in John’s vision may have made more sense to him because he was familiar with these earlier and similar images.

In Ezekiel’s vision, each of the four beings had four faces: lion, bull, eagle, and human (Ezekiel 1:10).

Six wings are an upgrade from the four-winged beings Ezekiel reported (Ezekiel 1:8). But the descriptions match that of the six-winged beings called seraphim in Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah 6:2).

The lyrics of this chant are similar to the chant Isaiah heard during a vision when the Jewish people faced the threat of invaders: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts [heaven’s army], / The whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3, New American Standard Bible). We might think one “holy” is enough to get the point across that the Lord is one of a kind and compassionate and devoted to those he loves—and everything good that’s wrapped up in the word “holy.” But standing in the presence of the Lord in a place as glorious as heaven apparently warrants repeating the word a couple of times. John certainly writes as though he’s wowed by what he sees in this vision.

If John wrote Revelation in the AD 90s, as many speculate, these lyrics would have offended the reigning emperor, Domitian (ruled AD 81-96). A Roman historian named Suetonius (about AD 69-126) said Domitian ordered his governors known as procurators to sign their official letters in his name. Instead of writing “Sincerely yours,” they would have written in Latin that they were sending their letter in the name of “dominus et deus noster,” our lord and god. John, in Revelation, was reporting a vision that seemed to suggest Domitian had an inflated view of himself. The genuine Lord and God of John’s vision is the one whom Romans crucified but who is now sitting on a throne as an immortal deity.

This is an example of Hebrew poetry. English poetry often rhymes. But Hebrew poetry repeats ideas instead of sounds. One line might make a statement and the second line would repeat the idea. That’s what’s happening in the two closing lines in this four-line verse. The last line repeats the idea of the line before it.