8th Sunday after Pentecost                 

Revelation 4:1-11

After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! 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.”

At once, I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! And, the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God, and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and back: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. And, the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,

“Holy, holy, holy,

the Lord God the Almighty,

    who was and is and is to come.”

And, whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,

    to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

    and by your will they existed and were created.”

The Heavenly Throne Room

The lectionary brings us to our second week with the Book of Revelation, and now things are starting to get interesting. Last week, we had the introduction, with John sending greetings to the seven churches in Asia. But now, he’s having a vision of the heavenly throne room, and he sees these strange and powerful creatures around the throne singing, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”

The description of these living beings is startling. There are four of them. One looks like a lion; another looks like an ox. There’s a third one that looks like a flying eagle, and the fourth with the face of a human, no mention of what the body looks like. Each of these creatures has six wings, and each of these creatures is covered with eyes. The text says on the inside as well, but I’m not sure how John could know that, unless he’s talking about the insides of their mouths, which is something that I don’t really want to think about. I kind of wish it was closer to Halloween, because these living creatures sound like monsters.

Reading this with our modern-day sensibilities, it’s hard to know what to make of this scene. I remember reading Revelation when I was a child, and the images like this scared me. There were some nights when I couldn’t stop thinking about the things I had read, and I had a hard time falling asleep. It didn’t even occur to me that these “living beings” might be a metaphor for something. Even now, my initial thought with this text was to wonder if there was any way to depict these creatures in a way that would be faithful to their description, but also in a way that would fit with what we would consider to be acceptable, or maybe even beautiful, according to our modern-day aesthetics. I have to keep reminding myself that, like any other part of the Bible, we need to look beyond what is present at face value to the meaning behind the text. There is a deeper meaning to all of the biblical texts, perhaps even more so with the Book of Revelation, because of how it is written.

Revelation is written with a language of symbols that the readers of that time would have understood. There are meanings behind the imagery and the numbers that just aren’t part of the language and culture that we have now in 2025, in the United States of America. But, the assumption of the writer, way back when this was written, is that the readers or the listeners would have understood this language of symbols. It’s like today, if someone were to say, that they plead the fifth, we would all understand that means they are deciding to not answer a question. There is a very good chance that five-hundred years from now, someone reading the phrase “I plead the fifth” would have no idea what that means, or even what it’s referring to. Even today, people in other English-speaking countries don’t know what that means, because it’s specific to our culture, and our way of life.

There are a lot of these that we use all the time. They’re so common we don’t even think twice about them. I’m gonna need your John Hancock. Let’s go the whole nine yards. It’s just kind of the way language works. So, when John says there’s a lion, an ox, a human, and an eagle, all of them covered with eyes and with six wings, it’s possible that he’s being literal. But, these images were part of the symbol language of that time and place, so even if he is being literal, there is a deeper meaning to what he is writing here.

So, let’s break this down into what scholars believe the writer was trying to convey through this symbol language. In this type of writing, the number four was used to signify the world. There are four “living beings” here, the lion, the ox, the human, and the eagle. And, with the types of beings depicted here, a wild animal, a domesticated one, a bird, and a human being, representing the created order that we see in Genesis, we see that the writer is including all of the living beings in the world in this vision. So, we have the number four, and the four types of animals, all representing the world. But, they all have six wings, and six is the number of imperfection. So, John is saying that there is something wrong with the world. The world is not perfect. And yet, eyes are the symbol of knowledge, and these creatures are covered with eyes. So, although they may be imperfect, they are seeking knowledge, and they see the throne, and they can see the perfection that is seated there.

The twenty-four elders represent the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles, who sing before the throne, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.”

This vison that John is having of the heavenly throne room is a vision of what is to come, a promise that even though things are imperfect right now, here on earth, perfection is waiting for us in the divine presence of our Creator God.

There is a lot of destruction in the Book of Revelation; that is a big reason of why it can be so scary to read. But, this scene is the outcome of all of that, the outcome of all things. The vision here in this heavenly throne room is the promise of what is to come. In this throne room, we have peace and harmony. In this throne room, the lion is singing with the ox, and there is no war.

I walked in the Pride Parade yesterday, and it was such a joyous, loving, exciting, wonderful time. So many people from the community were there, and even more people from Bozeman, and Billings, and Missoula. And, everyone was happy, and there were flags and streamers and rainbows everywhere. But, the reason Pride celebrations exist is because queer people have to push back against hatred and inequality. If hatred and inequality didn’t exist, then there would be no reason for Pride.

So, maybe Pride is a glimpse into the heavenly throne room, where everyone loves each other, celebrating life and singing, and there is no hatred and there is no inequality. It’s a vision of the future…a vision of rainbows…a vision of safety and community and belonging. Because, there is no reason that we have to wait until the end of the world to see the heavenly throne room.

I love talking about the in-breaking of the realm of God into our world, because I don’t think we have to wait until we die, or until the end of world, to see God in our midst. We are imperfect, the world is imperfect, but the Holy Spirit is among us, and she is perfect. When we had the ping-pong fundraisers here to help our refugee neighbors, that was a glimpse of the heavenly throne room. When we gather together after church for refreshments and fellowship, that is a glimpse of the heavenly throne room. When we celebrate communion together, at a table where everyone is welcome, where God’s grace is freely given to all who want to receive it, that is a glimpse of the heavenly throne room.

Our lives are filled with conflict of so many different kinds, which we will always have to struggle with. That is simply the reality of the world that we live in. There will always be something: health, work, finances, politics, relationships, life is struggle. In a world where we see so much destruction every day, where war happens every day, I think what we can take from this passage is hope. Life will not always be bad; death and destruction will not last forever. It cannot, because God is a Creator, and God commands all things. The God that we worship is the God of Life! We have been promised a future of hope and joy and resurrection. There will always be bad days, but there will always be good days, too. There will times to laugh and celebrate. There will be times for joy and singing and dancing. No matter how bad things get, we know that peace, and perfection, and harmony are ultimately what is waiting for us.

And, there will be times when we will catch a glimpse of the heavenly throne room, the in-breaking of God’s realm here on earth. And, we don’t have to passively wait to see it. We are the ones who come together after the service for fellowship. We are the ones who put together a ping-pong fundraiser for our refugee neighbors. We are the ones who organize Pride gatherings every year all over the world to celebrate diversity, acceptance, and inclusion.

And, we are the ones who come to the table to share in the sacred rite of communion with Jesus, who gave his life for us…the sacrament that joins us to the Creator, and to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and all of our siblings in Christ throughout the world and throughout all of time, for all of eternity, so that we too will one day see that heavenly throne room. Because, you are eternal, and you are powerful, and you carry the love of God inside of you, which gives you the ability to do incredible things. Amen.

~ Rev. Charles Wei