Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

Revelation 4: THE THINGS WHICH WILL BE: THE FUTURE RAPTURE
Blue Arrow- means “You Are Here”

Revelation 1:19 Write the things which you have seen (past – chapter 1), and the things which are (present – chapters 2 & 3), and the things which will take place after this (future – chapters 4-22).

See Intro to the book of Revelation

Revelation 4

The Throne Room of Heaven

Revelation 4:¹ After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

• To meet God in the air is a “Rapture”.
  
  I Corinthians 15:52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
  
  I Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Revelation 4:² Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.

• John the Beloved is taken into a spiritual dimension, the place of God’s dwelling.
• Immediately: In the twinkling of an eye?

Revelation 4:3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.

Revelation 4:4 Around the throne were twenty-four elders, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.

Revelation 4:5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices.

• Lightnings, thunderings, and voices, indicate the presence of God, including the Return of Jesus.

Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Revelation 4:6 Before the throne there was (something like) a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.

Revelation 4:7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf (ox), the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

• The four living creatures represent the four faces of God. Four is the number of stability.
• 

Revelation 4:⁸ The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes (understanding) around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

“Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was (past) and is (present) and is to come (future) !”

• ►”Who was and is and is to come!” The One who lives in the present eternally.
• ►The Word “Holy” means “separated (from sin) and sacred”.
• ►Holy is pronounced three times for the Trinity: Once for the Father, once for the Son, and once for the Spirit.
• ►The meaning of the number 6: Six is the number of man. Jesus, who is a “Seven” became man, a “Six” so that man, a “Six” can become a “Seven”.
• ►The symbolism of “wings” indicate “supernatural oversight”. For example: The leopard in Daniel’s vision had four heads and four wings. The four heads were four of Alexander’s generals. God had his supernatural oversight in the four wars of the successors to Alexander the Great’s kingdom which were symbolized by the four wings on the leopard. By all natural accounts, Antigonus and his son Demetrius should have taken Alexander’s kingdom, having won the wars “of the seas”. Demetrius was crowned as Alexander’s successor until something amazing happened, which I will call supernatural; Four men came together who had all been under Alexander’s authority and split his territory among themselves having united as one and in tandem, each one crowing themselves immediately following the crowning of Demetrius, over their agreed upon territories, with the result of creating confusion and enabling the four to turn the tables on Antigonus. Out of these four will come the future Antichrist with a Syrian ancestry.

A Reference Verse for the Four Faces are also found in Ezekiel:

• Ezekiel 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle.
• Ezekiel 10:14 Each one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub (ox), the second face the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
  • Note: Cherubs were drawn as an ox with wings. In the first temple they were illustrated as such:
  • 

Revelation 4:9-10 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.”

• Remember: Jesus is the Creator from the beginning.
  
  Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.