Holy, Holy, Holy!
John's Description of Heaven in Revelation 4
Audio Version!
Growing up in Southern Baptist churches in the South in the 60s and 70s meant that the Sunday morning worship service was very predictable (as it is today in a very different way).
No matter what, we sang the Doxology, usually before or after the offering, and we sang hymns, lots of them.
And the Baptist Hymnal—either the 1956 edition or the 1975 edition (I still have the latter)—had “Holy, Holy, Holy” as the first hymn.
The singing of this great Trinitarian hymn with its majestic imagery and theology, the robust tune, the organ resounding with all the stops pulled, the music leader standing tall behind the pulpit and directing a dignified 4/4 tempo backed by robe-clad choir, and the strong congregational unison, was almost the quintessential expression of true worship.
And we sang it so often that I had it memorized by some point.
What I did not realize at the time was that the hymn used Revelation 4 as the inspiration for the first line and the entire second verse:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty …
Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
Who wert, and art, and evermore shall be.
Over the years, I discovered that many hymns and worship songs come straight from Revelation, but this one in particular holds a place in my heart of memories growing up.
As we make our way through the book, I will try to remind you of those hymns and worship songs that are based on or come straight from Revelation.
John’s (First) Vision of Heaven
Before I give my translation of Revelation 4:2–11, I would encourage to read it aloud. Better yet, listen to the audio version and close your eyes as I read it. Let the words of John become a vision for you.
Immediately I was in spirit and look a throne was there in the heaven and on the throne a sitting one and the one sitting like in appearance to jasper and carnelian stone and a rainbow all around the throne like in appearance to emerald and all around the throne twenty-four thrones and on the thrones twenty-four elders sitting clothed with white robes and on their heads gold crowns and from the throne went out lightnings and sounds and thunders and seven torches of fire burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of God and before the throne like a sea of glass like crystal and in the midst of the throne and in a circle around the throne four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind and the first living creature like a lion and the second living creature like an ox and the third living creature having the face like a human and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle and the four living creatures each one of them having six wings spread around and from within they are full of eyes and they never have pause day and night saying “holy holy holy Lord God Almighty Who was and Who is and Who is coming” and whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the One sitting on the throne Who lives unto the ages of ages, the twenty-four elders are falling before the One sitting on the throne and they are worshipping the One who lives unto the ages of ages and they are casting their crowns before the throne saying, “Worthy are You our Lord and God to receive the glory and the honer and the power because You created all things and through Your will they were also created.” Revelation 4:2–11.
What a sentence!
Yes, in Greek it is one long run-on sentence.
Yes, that is exactly what John intended—and the sentence keeps going into chapter 5!
To make this vision as vivid as possible John wrote in this run-on style called parataxis with “and” after “and” after “and.”
He described with his words what endless worship is.
Very likely John gave no indication of punctuation as he wrote, though interpreters in the centuries afterward placed dots to express minor (.) medium (.) or major (.) breaks (I’ll put the punctuated version in the Observations section).
John began the apocalyptic core of Revelation with a narrative of his experience filled with setting and characters—the vast expanse of the heavens (the crystal sea, the rainbow), the vivid centerpiece of the throne and the One sitting on the throne, and the retinue of creatures attending to the One on the throne.
There is also action of continual and eternal acts of worship, but no plot of any sort till chapter 5.
John simply wrote down what he saw and heard. He made no commentary on what it meant with one exception.
The vision as written was intended to be self-evidently what he experienced.
This chapter is only the first installment of what John will describe of this worship, but already there is the sense that we as believers are invited to join in singing “holy, holy, holy …” and to cast our crowns and say “Worthy are You …”
That brings to mind another great hymn: “Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne …”
Our fundamental calling in this life and the next is to worship God!
(continued)
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Symbols and connections
But something deeper is going on—something familiar but different.
What John saw is what he saw, but also more than what he saw.
When we read this vision account we are faced with numbers (four, seven, twenty-four), winged creatures (lion, ox, human, eagle), elders in white robes, torches, a rainbow, a crystal sea, gemstones, and a throne.
Regarding numbers, John already used seven: seven spirits, lampstands, stars, angels and churches.
Now we add the numbers four and twenty four and another seven, seven torches—which John now said symbolized the seven spirits before the throne of God (see 1:4).
All of these numbers and sights are there in themselves, but with just a bit of reflection on the Old Testament, they are also connected to other experiences described by OT prophets before John which John himself was aware of.
Revelation is infused with allusions to the Old Testament from beginning to end, no more than right here. Ezekiel’s vision of God in Ezekiel 1 is certainly the closest, even though distinct.
So here is a list of what I detect as symbolic or allusive of the Old Testament (please do consult commentaries for other options).
1. Numbers:
—Seven is the number of wholeness, completeness or perfection and flows out of the seven days of creation in Genesis 1 and 2.
—Four is the number representing the physical world (such as the four rivers in Genesis 2)—the four living creatures together represent all living things. We will also see the number four later in Revelation.
—Twenty-four is a combination of two twelves. Twelve in its various forms (12, 24, 144,000) refers to the people of God in Revelation.
—Other numbers will crop up in Revelation and I will treat them as they come.
2. Throne:
A throne was the place of the king, but in Isaiah’s vision, Yahweh sat on a throne: “I saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1) and in Isaiah 66: “Thus says Yahweh: the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.”
Then in Ezekiel 1:26: “And above the expanse above their heads something like the appearance of a sapphire stone like a throne and above the likeness of the throne something like a man upon it.”
John’s vision was slightly different but remarkably the same.
Then we read in Daniel 7:9: “I was looking until thrones were placed and the Ancient of days sat on his throne … his throne was surrounded by wheels of flaming fire.”
3. Rainbow:
Ezekiel 1:28 described the appearance of a bow around the throne: “Like the appearance of a bow in the clouds in the day of rain, thus was the appearance of the brightness all around.” The bow could also symbolize the promise of God to Noah.
4. The elders:
—The twenty-four elders on twenty-four thrones (the thrones in Daniel 7:9?) likely represent the twelve tribes of Israel plus the twelve apostles (there are certainly other viewpoints!).
Some interesting theological questions come to mind here on the relationship of Israel and the Church, so we will keep this combination in mind as we go through Revelation.
—Their white robes symbolize purity and redemption.
—Their crowns which they continuously cast are the works of God He worked in them.
5. Seven torches: John tells us what these are, the seven spirits before the throne of God. In a previous post I commented that the seven spirits represent the Holy Spirit (as many interpreters argue).
But in a conference before Thanksgiving, I heard a prominent Revelation scholar (David DeSilva—who I respect highly) argue that these were the seven “Angels of the Presence.” David Aune (Word Biblical Commentary) also holds this view and sees these as the seven archangels—and the seven angels that John spoke of in Revelation 8:2.
These scholars have a compelling argument!
6. Sea of glass: Once again Ezekiel 1:22 speaks of an expanse of crystal.
7. The four living creatures:
—These hybrid creatures are full of eyes, have six wings each and distinct faces, and sing “Holy, holy holy …”
—Each characteristic connects to something in the Old Testament visions of God.
—Isaiah 6:2–3 has the following: “Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
—Then there is Ezekiel 1:5–10: “And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle” (ESV).
—In Revelation the description is of four distinct living beings with multiple eyes (see Ezekiel 1:18), wings, and a particular face.
The connection with the Old Testament passages in Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1 suggest angelic beings (cherubim/seraphim), but particularly connected to earthly ones.
Together these winged angelic beings represent God’s creation—wild animals (lion), domesticated animals (ox), humans (human face), and birds (eagle flying)—all attending the throne of God and worshipping Him continually.
—Just of interest, by the late second century, these creatures were associated with the four Gospels: Matthew (human), Mark (lion), Luke (ox), and John (eagle). Many illuminated manuscripts continued this tradition in their illustrations for each gospel.
8. Gemstones: Three gemstones are named—iaspis or jasper, a composite stone that can be several colors, sardion which is the reddish stone carnelian, and smaragdinos or emerald.
Here in chapter four they simply add color to the splendor of the throne and rainbow.
These three and others show up in Revelation 21:19–21 as the adornment for the wall foundations of the New Jerusalem.
9. Sounds: lightning, sounds, and thunder are all connected with the heavenly power of God and repeatedly occur in Revelation.
As we go through Revelation there will be many more sights and sounds that need reflection and explanation, but we already see some patterns here, especially allusions to the Old Testament.
(cont.)
Description as communication
How could abstract words possibly accomplish what John has done in this chapter?
They couldn’t.
Only the descriptive, the colorful, the vast, the appeal to images—similar to what we know but unlike our lived physical reality, distinct but related to familiar texts from the Old Testament—could convey to John’s readers what he experienced and wanted us to experience with him.
That experience was of the awesome, fearful, infinite, majestic, powerful, brilliant sight of the God of the universe, far beyond the confines of this earthly existence who alone is worthy of our worship.
O worship the King, all glorious above
And gratefully sing His wonderful love
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.
Thanks for reading. See you later.
Observations on the Greek Text
1. Punctuation. The earliest manuscripts of Revelation contain very little punctuation (like the rest of the NT). Occasional spaces or blank lines appear, but little of what we think of as punctuation like commas and periods.
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