4 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and round the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Round the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.
And round the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honour and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
Another equally valid and relevant interpretation of the vision is that it gives us an assur ance of what even now is true, that God is on the Throne now, and that all the events of the world are in His hand. Above all the turmoil, torment and tribulation of the world there tow ers the Throne of God. The Lord Omnipotent is King! Now, the conception that lies behind this idea is a very daring one. For the picture presented here is of two seemingly contradictory sets of facts. On the one hand, the travail of the people of God, their persecution by evil men, their suffering and even their death, and on the other the claim that God is sovereign and in control. How can this be? How could He be sovereign with these things happening? The an swer is: 'All things work together for good to them that love God'. Someone has said, 'Life at its worst is not the enemy of faith, but its opportunity, and through faith will become the pathway to a blessedness for which there are no words'. Paul says, 'Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory' (2 Corinthians 4:17). The truth expressed here is that, no matter what may come upon us, God will turn it to good, make capital out of it, and make it contribute to our ultimate glory. A right attitude to all the suffering and travail ('he that overcometh') will mean its transfiguration into the sovereign purposes of God. The monsters that have arisen in world history in any age, rage by His sovereign permission!