The Throne Room

Imagine looking up at the sky, and seeing a door. Not a cloud. A door. Standing open. And from the other side, a voice like a trumpet says, come up here.

John is still on the island of Patmos. He has just written down Jesus' messages to seven churches on earth, small churches, some faithful, some struggling, some facing danger. Rome seemed all-powerful. Its emperor sat on a great throne, and many people were told to honour him like a god. But now John is shown something else. He is invited to see who is really on the throne of the universe. After this I looked, John writes, and behold, a door was opened in heaven.

Come up hither, the voice says, and I will show you what must happen after this. At once, John is in the Spirit. And there before him is a throne, with someone sitting on it. John does not describe God's face. Instead he describes light and colour. The one on the throne shone like jasper and carnelian, precious stones glowing red and clear. And all around the throne was a rainbow, shining like an emerald, green and bright. Around the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on them sat twenty-four elders, dressed in white, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder. Seven lamps of fire were burning before it. And in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, clear as crystal, calm and still.

Then John sees four living creatures around the throne, full of eyes in front and behind. The first was like a lion. The second like a calf, or young ox. The third had a face like a man. The fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of them had six wings. The wildest, the strongest, the wisest and the swiftest of creatures, all gathered around God. And they never stop. Day and night, they sing. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to the one on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, something wonderful happens. The twenty-four elders get up from their thrones. They fall down before him. And they take off their golden crowns, and lay them before the throne. Their crowns are not for keeping. They are for giving back. And they sing. 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. Everything that exists, every star, every lion, every eagle, every person, exists because God made it. And so all of creation is gathered here, around his throne, in praise. To churches who felt small and afraid, this was the view from heaven. The throne is not empty. And it does not belong to Rome.

John's vision echoes two older prophets. About eight hundred years earlier, Isaiah saw the Lord in the temple and heard the seraphim calling, holy, holy, holy. And Ezekiel saw living creatures with the faces of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. John's words have been sung ever since. The well-known hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, by the English bishop Reginald Heber, published in eighteen twenty-six, is drawn from this chapter.

The throne room. You'll find it in Revelation chapter four. A door open in heaven, a rainbow like emerald, and every creature singing holy, holy, holy. So here is a question to carry with you. What is one thing God has made that makes you want to praise him today?