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.”
The emphasis throughout the chapter on the Creator God may have a deeper signifi cance than at first appears. It makes us think back to Genesis 1 where we read of the Spirit of God brooding on the face of the deep, bringing forth order out of chaos. Is this, then, the meaning of the vision? Is the God Who in the beginning commanded the light to shine out of darkness brooding over the chaos and turmoil of our world, calling forth a new creation that will serve and worship Him? Is this that we endure the birth pangs of the new order that is to be?
The significance of the door opened for saints under pressure is surely that their prayers and cries do not meet with a frigid silence from God, but 'enter in' to His presence, and that help comes down from heaven to sustain and deliver them. One is reminded of the experi ence of the martyr Stephen, when he saw the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Just as in Stephen's case Jesus was standing to welcome Stephen, so here John is given to know that there is an ever-ready Saviour at God's right hand, to wel come His faithful martyrs home to Himself, and to issue forth in His own time to vindicate His people and establish His Kingdom. More than once David prayed, 'Arise, O Lord', in time of trouble. In this vision we are given to see how ready our Saviour God is to do just that. The door is open, and He is coming to help and deliver!