Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 4-8.

I usually prefer to write about how the passage gives us lessons on how we should live our lives, but today’s passage is full of symbolism which I want to write about.  The first is “the seven spirits of God”, which the translators’ notes suggest could be translated as “the sevenfold Spirit of God.”  Personally, I think the latter is a more accurate translation of the writer’s meaning.  I mentioned that in passing yesterday.  Today I am going to go a little more in-depth. So, why would the Holy Spirit be referred to as “the sevenfold Spirit”?  The number seven in the Bible refers to completion, perfection, and/or fulfillment.  In the case of the Holy Spirit, all three meanings apply.  The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, brings perfection, completion, and fulfillment.  He is also all three of those things.  Next I want to note that the Sevenfold Spirit was in front of the throne upon which God the Father sat.  However, the Lamb which was slain, which was also the Lion of Judah, had seven horns and seven eyes which were also the Sevenfold Spirit of God.  In this passage about John’s vision the Holy Spirit was with both the Father and with  the Son.  My point here is that, despite what some say, the Bible does indeed present the idea of the Trinity, God in Three Persons.

When I started I thought I would write about some other things, but I am going to stop here.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 4-8.

I am going to start with things which stood out to me from the start of this passage and we will see where we go from there.  I want to start by writing about the four living creatures.  They resemble the four living creatures from Ezekiel to a casual reading.  However a closer look shows that John describes them differently than Ezekiel.  In Ezekiel, each of the living creatures has four different faces.  Whereas in Revelation, each living creature has a single face, different from that of the others.  In Ezekiel each of the living creatures has four wings, while in Revelation they each have six wings.  On the other hand, the four faces are the same: human, lion, ox, and eagle.  Reading the description here I think it is clear that we are supposed to associate the four living creatures with the four living creatures in Ezekiel.  I am not sure we are to see them as the same creatures, but I don’t necessarily think they are different.  What I think is clear is that John was influenced by Ezekiel in the way he described his vision.  The next thing I wanted to write about is the twenty-four elders John writes about.  Every time I read this I wonder about the significance of the number twenty-four.  Are there twenty-four elders because twelve for the Old Covenant and twelve for the New Covenant?  Is there some other significance to there being twenty-four elders?  I was unable to find anything where someone gave a clear indication of the meaning for there being twenty-four elders.  However, I want to make note that the twenty-four elders held “bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.”  I rarely think about the significance of the incense offering in the Law of Moses, but if we think about how important incense was in Temple worship, it gives us a greater understanding of the importance of prayer.  Our prayers are the incense which the elders offer before God for all eternity.  Prayer is our offering to God.  Which suggests that we should pray more than we do.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 4-8.

Once again I come to a passage where I am unsure what all I am going to write.  I will start by noting that The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is The Lamb.  I want to note that John writes that no one on earth, or in heaven, or under the earth was found worthy to open the scroll, but then the Lion of the tribe of Judah triumphed and was able to do so.  He triumphed as the Lion, but opened the scroll as the Lamb.  Jesus went to His victory as a dominating king of beasts, a Lion, but obtained His victory as a sacrifice, as a Lamb.  This represents one of the most important points about Christianity: God’s power is expressed in weakness.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 4-8.

Yesterday I wrote that it is important that we pay attention to the symbolism in the Book of Revelation.  Today, my first thought was, “Why are there 24 elders?”  I tried to do an Internet search to see what others had thought and all I found were people discussing WHO those elders were.  While I can understand some people wondering who they were, I don’t think that who they are is important (if it was, John would have given us more information about that).  So, I then looked up what significance the number twenty-four has elsewhere in the Bible.  I found that David had divided those responsible for music in the Temple into twenty-four divisions and that the priesthood had also been divided into twenty-four divisions.  It also occurred to me that twenty-four is twice twelve.  Twelve being the number of tribes of Israel and the number of Apostles whom Jesus called while He was on earth.  Which leads me to conclude that the twenty-four elders appeared in this vision to remind us of the importance of worshiping God (the twenty-four divisions of musicians and twenty-four divisions of priests led the people of Israel in worship).

Then we have the scroll sealed with seven seals.  Now seven is the number of divine perfection.  Which explains why only the Lamb was worthy to open the scroll, because only the Lamb shared in divine perfection. Seven also carries the idea of completion.  The Children of Israel marched around Jericho for six days, then on the seventh day they marched around Jericho seven times with priests blowing on seven trumpets.  So, when the seventh seal was opened, revealing the completion of God’s plans for this world, seven trumpets were blown.  When the seventh trumpet was blown it indicated the completion of God’s perfect plan (although we do not get to that point in today’s passage).

So, let us worship God as His perfect plan moves to its perfect completion.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 4-8.

When I read this passage, I always feel like I should write something about the opening scene of John’s vision…OK, now I have something to write.  Chapter 4 is not exactly the opening scene, but in some ways everything which comes before this is like the credits portion at the beginning of a movie, or maybe like a “short” before the movie begins.  Chapter 4 sets the mood/stage for the rest of this letter.  Then we get to the scroll being presented.  I am not quite sure of the symbolism, but it seems to me to present the idea that the scroll remained sealed throughout history until after Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Then things changed and the scroll could be unsealed, by Jesus.  The change was not just that the scroll could be opened, the “ceremony” taking place in Heaven before God’s throne changed as well.  This is one of those things which I have trouble fully working my head around because I also believe that the place described here exists outside of time.

Next we come to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  I am sure I have written this before, but the Four Horsemen do not ride out together.  Instead, they ride out one at a time.  I am not sure how we are intended to understand this, but here is what I see.  First, a conqueror rides out, intent on conquest.  We are not given any idea how much of the world he conquers.  He is followed by war and violence.  A quick look at history reveals to us that war all over the world follows a conqueror, whether it results immediately after the conqueror rise up, or after the conqueror dies and war breaks out to fill the vacuum left behind.  The nest Rider is Famine, which always follows war.  Interestingly, John’s description of Famine speaks of inflation as part of it (he mentions the high price of grain).  The final Rider is Death, which comes by way of violence, starvation, and disease.  Again, those are all things which follow after what comes before.  What I am unsure of about this passage is whether the Four Riders represent a singular time above and beyond what we see repeated throughout history, or just a reflection of how these things work.

I want to highlight that the Book of Revelation emphasizes that we should recognize that when times look dark it is a sign that the Lord will return soon.  All events move things towards fulfilling God’s plan.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 4-8.

I do not believe that I have ever noticed before that in his vision of Heaven and the opening of the scroll John once again presents the idea that Jesus is both separate from God and God ( a central idea of the doctrine of Trinity).  So, John tells us that the twenty-four elders periodically bowed down to the one sitting on the throne (God the Father) and say “You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power.”  Then, when the Lamb (Jesus) comes forward and is given the scroll they bow down to Him and say, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”  Notice how similar these two statements are.

I know I have mentioned this in previous years, but I think it is worth highlighting again.  The four horsemen mentioned in this passage do not ride out together.  Each of them rode forth before the next one was summoned after the breaking of the next seal.  I have some thoughts about the meaning of each of the four horsemen and how they are related to each other, but that is not the direction I want to go today with this blog.  I want to instead focus on the delay between each seal being broken.  Each seal is broken, then something happens before the next seal is broken.  It would be easy to read this as happening in quick succession, but I believe we are intended to perceive a delay between each seal.  I think this becomes most clear after the breaking of the sixth seal when one angel shouts for those holding back the winds to wait until those who serve God have been marked.  Those who serve God will be marked and protected when God pours out His judgement upon the earth.  One last point I want to make: reading this it would be easy to feel like the seven trumpets which are blown after the seventh seal is broken are separated by as much time as each of the previous seals.  However, I believe that each of the seals were broken with a significant pause in between for what happens after them, while the seven trumpets are blown in relatively quick succession.