What did John see? Revelation 4:1 - some notes

Today I'm sharing a few notes on Revelation 4. 

Many of these notes are generated with an eye towards references in mind. When reading Revelation, much of the language that is used by John to describe what he saw in his vision hearkens back to Old Testament and New Testament language. 

Revelation 4:1

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

There are a few things to examine right away in this first verse. We notice that the messages from Jesus to the seven historic churches are now concluded. The church will often be mentioned through symbolism euphemisms, and word pictures. However, none of the seven historic churches will be mentioned by name for the remainder of the book of Revelation. This then begins a new "scene" or section of Revelation. As we looked at a few discussions ago, the number 7 often acts as a transition or focal piece. Revelation wasn't originally written with chapter and verse divisions. Literarily groupings, stories, and word-pictures often functioned as methods of organization within a communicated message. Seven historic messages to seven historic churches function as a focus of a section of Revelation (Namely 1:11 through 3:22). Now the focus will shift from messages from Jesus to seven historic churches through the transcriber John, to a vision given to John.  

A photo of Arch Rock on Mackinaw Island

"I looked"

Whatever takes place in this next section it is marked through visual and audible experiences by John. We can read the first part of 4:1 this way "After this [receiving the seven messages for the seven historic churches] I looked [There was something to see]". This should put us in the frame of mind of visions, prophets, and those who have encountered great unveilings by God. We soon find that there are all sorts of OT passages (and a few NT passages as well) which rush to mind. 

Isaiah the prophet, when he was commissioned by God, saw something which forever changed his life. In Isaiah 6:1 we're told: 

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple." 

Isaiah gives us a time marker - the year that King Uzziah died. In that year (potentially 742-739 BC depending on various dating theories) Isaiah says that he saw something: "I saw". The vision and mission given to Isaiah then continues through 6:13 (more on that later). 

Ezekiel the prophet, when he was commissioned by God, looked and saw something which forever changed his life. In Ezekiel 1:1 we're told:

"In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God." 

Ezekiel gives a historical time marker, when he was 30 and when he was in Exile (sometime after 587 BC and before 538 BC, I won't get more specific here for sake of time). It was at this time he "saw visions of God" (more on what he saw later). 

Jacob the patriarch, when he was promised a blessing by God, looked in his sleep and saw something which would change his life forever. In Genesis 28:10-13 we're told:

"10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying."

Genesis tells us of the specific time (during Jacob's travels before arriving at his uncle Laben's) and place (apart from his father's household land and on the way to a foreign place). It is in this time and place that Jacob dreamt and saw something. What he saw was something otherworldly, something that was very different from the usual visual panorama of the land (more on what he saw later). 

All of these references and connections should be floating in our mind as we read Revelation 4. Other potential references as well are when God's glory passed by so that Moses could see his back (Exodus 33:12-23), Jeremiah's call by God (Jeremiah 1), Samuel's call by God (1 Samuel 3:1-21). When the Lord reveals something to his people, he often does so through a vision in which a servant, commissioned by God looks and sees. John, inspired by the Holy Spirit in Revelation 4:1 says, "After this, I looked". What should we expect to come next? 

What did Isaiah see? He saw the Lord high and lifted up, seated on a throne (Isaiah 6:1). What did Ezekiel see? He saw heaven opened and visions of God (Ezekiel 1:1). What did Jacob see? He saw a stairway reaching to heaven, above the stairway stood the Lord God (Genesis 28:12-13). What did John see? "a door standing open in heaven" (Revelation 4:1). While each of these people used by God had very different tasks given them, and though they lived at very different times (Jacob and John separated by about two thousand years) they saw the same God. All of these visions speak of God in a position of authority and nobility. All of the messages given by God were to be taken seriously. The messengers speaking of these visions were not communicating their own ideas, thoughts, or suggestions for life advice. Those who had seen these things were speaking as representatives of God Almighty. Their visions all were given by the same God, who revealed to them great promises, terrible judgements, specific calls to action and tremendous hope. 

With all this packed into this little phrase "I looked" we ought to attune our minds to the prophets of old, the majesty of God, and a particular message issued from God to his people through his messenger (in this case, John). 

"The voice I had first heard"

After stating that he looked and saw, John then heard something "And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet" (Revelation 4:1). A few questions arise as soon as we read this combination of phrases. Whose voice is this? Which voices could it be? Which voice was the first one John heard? What does it mean for someone to speak like a trumpet? Is there significance or reference points to trumpets? 

The voice speaking can be easily tracked by following John's own account as recorded in Revelation. In Revelation 1:10 we are told of the first voice to speak to John: 

"On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet"

If you are reading from a Red-Letter Bible, then no doubt 1:11 is mostly in red. These are no doubt the words of the resurrected Lord Jesus. The task for John was to write and record messages (1:11). Jesus is further described and identified by John in 1:12-16. The first voice that John heard speaking like a trumpet is the resurrected Lord Jesus. It was Jesus who spoke to John in chapter 1, and who gave him messages for the seven historic churches. In chapter 4, after the messages to the seven churches have concluded, it is Jesus who now gives John a new task. 

Since John continues to bring up how this voice is "like a trumpet" our minds ought to consider other references to trumpets in scripture. With more than 70 references in the Old Testament alone, we will not be able to exhaustively look at all these instances. The first reference to a trumpet is found in Exodus 19:16. After the people of ancient Israel had been delivered by God out of slavery in Egypt they were led by God through Moses to a mountain called "Sinai" (Exodus 19:18). For a few days the people prepared to meet with God there at the mountain through their representative Moses. Moses would go up the mountain, while the people were to refrain from even touching the base of the mountain (Exodus 19:10-13). 

It is in this uncommon and special meeting place that the people looked and saw and heard a great many frightening things including loud trumpet blasts: 

16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. (Exodus 19:16-19)

From the first few instances of loud trumpet sounds we can make an association of loud trumpets, and God's presence. God's declarations, and expectations are also to be associated with loud trumpet sounds as the conversation between Moses and God was had within this context (Exodus 19:19). God's declared Word is therefore associated with trumpets. 

Other Old Testament "clusters" of trumpet references are found in the battle of Jericho (14 times trumpets are mentioned in Joshua 6), the Judges battles of deliverance (9 times in Judges 3, 6, and 7 are trumpets mentioned), the coronation of kingship (2 Samuel 15:10, 1 Kings 1, 2 Kings 9:13) and prophetic warnings of invasion and prophetic promises of deliverance (See Isaiah 18:3, 27:13, 58:1, Jeremiah 4:5, 19, 21, 6:1, 17, 42:14, 51:27, Ezekiel 33:3-6, Hosea 5:8, 8:1, Joel 2:1, 15, Amos 2:2, 3:6, Zephaniah 1:16, 9:14). A few New Testament references of Trumpets are Matthew 24:31, 1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:19 and Hebrews 12:19. 

John heard this loud voice like a trumpet. This was none other than the voice of the Son of God, the God Man Jesus Christ. This Jesus had won the ultimate battle of deliverance (he held the keys of death and hades Rev 1:18). Jesus had delivered his people from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God (Revelation 1:5-6). Jesus was coronated with kingship in his ascension to the Father as all things were put under his feet (kingly language from Psalm 8 and 1 Corinthians 15:27). Jesus had given prophetic warnings of the coming invasion (70 A.D.) in his Olivet discourse and prophetic promises of deliverance (Matthew 24-25). 

All of this (and no doubt more) is wrapped up in this little phrase "I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet" (Revelation 4:1). When this Jesus speaks, his people should listen to his word. When this Jesus sends a messenger (in this case, John), his people should listen to his messenger. 

We read in Revelation 4:1 of a transitional focus, from the seven messages to the seven churches, to a new focus, on what John would be shown by Jesus. This transition should not act as a hard separation (although many commentators and preachers are guilty of this) as though Revelation chapters 1-3 are one book, and Revelation 4-22 are another book. Instead, this Revelation is one unveiling by Jesus, to John, for the benefit of God's people. We have not exited the "practical and applicable" part of Revelation by ending chapter 3. We have not entered the "super-mystical-ultra-confusing-mega-unknowable" part of Revelation by beginning chapter 4. The whole of Revelation was to be received, for the benefit of an original first century audience, and then shared for the future benefit of future subsequent audiences. 

The majesty of what John saw and heard continues in chapter 4 and beyond. The majesty of WHO John saw and heard continues in chapter 4 and beyond: 

4:2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

Who was sitting on this throne? What is the significance of this throne? What is the proper response to this One on the throne? We will consider some of these things in the next discussion.