Revelation 4:1-3 Prelude of Praise

Rev. 4:1   After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”  2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.  3 And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. 

What does John see after receiving the messages to the seven churches? Where is the door standing open? Who is speaking? What does the speaker say that he will show John? (4:1)

·      John sees a door standing open.

·      The open door is in heaven.

·      John identifies the speaker as “the first voice which I had heard, like of a trumpet speaking with me. . .” (4:1). The first voice John heard was of Jesus. (cf. Rev 1:10-16)

·      “. . . I will show you what must take place after these things” (4:1).

How quickly is John in the Spirit? What does John behold? Who is sitting on the throne?  (4:2)

·      Immediately (4:2).

·      John beholds: “a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne” (4:2).

·      Yahweh is the “One sitting on the throne” (4:2).

Describe the One Who was sitting. Describe what is around the throne. (4:3)

·      The appearance of Yahweh was ­ “. . . like a jasper stone and a sardius” (4:3a).

o   Jasper Stone (ἴασπις) – “jasper, a precious stone found in various colors, mostly reddish, sometimes green . . . brown, blue, yellow, and white. In antiquity the name was not limited to the variety of quartz now called jasper, but could designate any opaque precious stone . . . ” (BDAG, 465).

o   Sardius (σάρδιον) – “A reddish precious stone, carnelian, sard(ias)” (BDAG, 913).

·      There was “a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance” (4:3).

What do you learn about God from Rev 4:1-3?

Yahweh is the One Who sits on a rainbow-encircled throne in heaven, and His appearance is like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance.

How could this truth transform your life?

Approach the throne of God with reverence for His divine nature and eternal power.

Yahweh Adonai, LORD God Almighty, the One Who is sitting on the throne in heaven, Your brilliance framed by a rainbow, Eternal God, Mighty King of Creation, clothed in splendor and majesty, like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance, highly exalted and wholly distinct from all that is common to man. You are omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. You know the beginning and the end. From age to age, You watch over Your word to fulfill it. All that You plan, You do. All that You purpose cannot be thwarted. What is to come must come, for Your will is absolute, Your power is eternal,  and Your Word endures forever. Glory to Your Name on high. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.