THOUGHTS ON THE REVELATION.
By Uriah Smith
Verse 1. After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven; and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. In the first three chapters we have the vision of the Son of man. John gives a description of his person, and writes the words he heard from him. But this chapter opens with a new scene which has reference to the heavenly sanctuary. A door is opened in heaven, and John hears a trumpet-voice saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. Compare with chap. i, 1. The presentation of future events is the great object of the book of Revelation. Verses 2-5. And immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats; and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices; and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. In chap. i, 10, John says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. He was in vision on that day. Again he says, chap. iv, 2, And immediately I was in the Spirit. Hence we conclude that chap. iv commences a second vision. The illuminating influence of the Holy Spirit came upon John gradually. He first sees a door opened in heaven, then hears a trumpet voice, then immediately, in close connection, is lost to all earthly things, being wrapped in a vision of things in heaven. He entered the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, and saw the throne of God, and describes the appearance of him that sat upon it. Before the throne of God were seven burning lamps of fire. The candlestick, with its seven burning lamps, was in the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary. Ex. xxv, 31, 32; xxvi, 35; xxxvii, 17-23; xl, 24; Lev. xxiv, 4; Num. iv, 9; viii, 2; 1 Chron. xxviii, 15; 2 Chron. iv, 20; xiii, 11. These burning lamps in the earthly and in the heavenly sanctuaries, during both dispensations, represent the Holy Spirit in all its operations, here called the seven Spirits of God. The four and twenty elders, we conclude, were selected from the multitude of captives, of the good and holy of past ages held captives by death, but raised from the dead at the resurrection of Christ, Matt. xxvii, 52, 53, and taken up to heaven at his ascension. Eph. iv, 8, margin. This multitude were raised for some wise purpose, and they doubtless have an important part to act. And the fact that the four and twenty elders are represented in chap. v, 8, as every one of them having golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints, may justify the conclusion that they are assistants in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Wesley, speaking of the four and twenty elders, says: "Clothed in white raiment] This, and their golden crowns, show that they had already finished their course, and taken their places among the citizens of heaven. They are never termed souls, and hence it is probable that they had glorified bodies already. Compare Matt. xxvii, 52." Verses 6-11. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 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. In reference to the word beasts, A. Barnes says: "This is a very unhappy translation, as the word beasts by no means conveys a correct idea of the original word. The Greek word—ζώον—means properly a living thing; and it is thus indeed applied to animals, or to the living creation; but the notion of their being living things, or living creatures, should be retained in the translation. Prof. Stewart renders it living creatures."—Barnes' Notes. Scott, in the Comprehensive Commentary, says: "It is indisputably manifest that the four living creatures join in, or rather lead, the worship of the Lamb, as having redeemed them to God; and this proves beyond controversy, that part of the redeemed church is meant by this emblem; and not angels, whose worship is next described, but in language evidently different." The four living creatures, with the four and twenty elders, probably embrace all those who rose with Christ, and ascended up to heaven with him. These resurrected saints were upon the sea of glass. And we see no reason why the sea of glass should not be as literal and tangible as the redeemed beings upon it. This may be the very foundation of the Sanctuary and City, and may even extend as a border round about the City. It is here called a sea of glass like unto crystal. Chap. xv, 2. And I saw a sea of glass mingled with fire. Chap. xxi, 21. And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. These are the beautiful figures which represent the foundation of the Sanctuary and the City, where beings redeemed from the grave stand, and where the overcomers of chap. xv, 2, will soon stand, having the harps of God.