Come Up Hither

 

Revelation 4:1-2:  “’Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.  And immediately I was in the spirit.”

 

            John was invited to “come up hither” by the “first voice which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet.” (RSV)  This refers to the voice mentioned in Revelation 1:10 when John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.”  We do not know whether or not John was raptured bodily to heaven, but we do know that he was “in the Spirit“.  The “I” of the Book of Revelation is John, not the Church.

            It was necessary for him to “come up hither” in order to see the things of the Spirit.  We should understand that “in the Spirit” it was the “Day of the Lord“; it does not necessarily mean it was the Sabbath in the natural.  By the same token, the things John saw, he saw “in the Spirit” not in the natural state of consciousness.

            It seems that many times the Lord called His prophets to a natural mountain in order to give them a new perspective on the world.  Moses was called to Sinai to receive the Law and to Nebo to view the promised land and to give Israel warning of the future trials.  Elijah also was called back to Sinai to hear the still small voice of the Lord.  Israel established its temple upon a mountain, Moriah, the mount of seeing. 

            Habakkuk was put in a watch-tower, high above the plains, that he might see the dangers that were approaching the nation and give them warning.  It was not the earthly military powers that posed the gravest danger to Israel, but their own spiritual weaknesses.  Habakkuk’s message was: “The just shall live by his faith.”  And: “The Lord is in His Holy Temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.”  By this message he turned their eyes away from the military defeat and the death of their king to the fact that God was not dead, the hosts of heaven still were marching on.

            The prophet must view the world from heaven’s perspective.  The prophet sees the heavens, while others only see a void.  To see the things of the Spirit, we must rise above the things of this world; to hear the testimony of Jesus Christ we must enter into Him by the Spirit.  To enter into the experience of the book of Revelation, we must “come up hither” along with John and the Angel.  We must enter, with John, into the knowledge of the Scriptures and the viewpoint of Christians of that day.

 

Jewels

 

Revelation 4: 2-3:  “And lo, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne!  And he who sat there appeared like jasper and carnelian, and round the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald.” (RSV)

            The Throne of God glows with the light of every beautiful gem. God gives this beauty also to those He loves, (Daniel 12:3; Matthew 13:43).

            For background, see in Ezekiel 28:12 something of the description of the beauty of the “Eden, the Garden of God.”  Although the lament is for the “king of Tyre,” it is his spiritual counterpart, satan himself that is described.  When he was in heaven, he was “full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” 

            But it is also said to him: “Thou sealest up the sum (KJV)”, or “You were the signet of perfection (RSV)”  This probably indicates that he was the one who had the authority to use the signet ring of God; “Every precious stone was your covering.” He could “authorize” anything by use of the “seal” which represented God’s Name, His Signature.  He could “seal up the sum“; that is, he could endorse the full extent of God’s blessings.  Satan was cast out of “Eden, the Garden of God,” because of his pride and he attempts now to counterfeit the wisdom, beauty and wealth that he once had.

            The power and authority of using the Name that was taken from satan has been given to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Mark 11:23-24, etc.)  The beautiful gems that are in “Eden, the Garden of God,” are now in the New Jerusalem, the Church, the Bride of Christ in Revelation 21:11-2l.

            God intended for His fleshly nation, Israel, to have the wealth and beauty of the jewels.  In Exodus 28:9-30 we read of the precious gems that were to be used in the breastplate and carried before the Lord by the High Priest.  Each tribe was engraved into the two onyx stones upon the shoulders of the High Priest, six names upon each onyx stone.  Then there were also twelve precious gems that had the names of the twelve sons, tribes, of Israel engraved into them separately.  These twelve stones represented their “signet ring” or signature, their “name” which the High Priest carried before the Lord.

            Over the course of their history, fleshly Israel lost this beautiful symbol of God’s presence and blessings and “dwelt many years without an ephod,” (Hosea 3:4).  In the time of Christ, Herod had tried to adorn the temple with “costly stones,” (Mark 13:1).  But these were only satan’s imitations, not the jewels of God.  In the image of Babylon, the Great, we see the ugliness of the jewels of the harlot, (Revelation 17:4).  It is in contrast to this that we see the jewels of the beautiful Bride, New Jerusalem, in 21:11-21.

            The twelve stones of the ephod are represented in New Jerusalem by the twelve gates of pearl which are engraved with the names of the twelve tribes, (21:12 and 21).  The authority of the twelve apostles is represented by the twelve foundation stones which are engraved with their names.  I believe it is these signet ring stones which form the foundation of the wall, (21:19-21).  Either they are these precious stones – imagine a gem 1500 miles long and wide serving as a foundation stone! – or they were inlaid with these precious stones.

            Note that this beautiful Bride now dwells in “Eden, the Garden of God.”  Satan has been cast out, chapter 20, and now the Garden is safe.  The Bride now dwells in the place that satan once enjoyed, having the “signet of perfection,” being full of “Wisdom” and “Perfect in Beauty,” “Zion, the Perfection of Beauty.”[1]

 

The Four “Beasts”

 

Revelation 4:6:  “And round the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind:”   (also vss 7-9: “Living ones” or “beasts” or “moving things”)

            These four figures are also mentioned in Revelation 5:6-14; 6:1, 3, 5-7; 7:11; 14:3; 15:7; 19:4.  The translation of this word as “beasts” is one of the most unfortunate, if not inaccurate, translations in the King James Version of the Bible.  The Greek word zoa, would have been better translated “moving things,” or “living ones” rather than “beasts,” for the figures portrayed in this passage are not hairy, dumb animals as is suggested by the word “beasts,” but rather celestial entities, elsewhere called by their name in the Hebrew Cherubim.

            These figures are first introduced by name when they were placed at the gate of the garden of Eden to protect the way to the Tree of Life.  In reference to the passage in Revelation, we understand that that is still their role.  They are not trying to keep Mankind from the Tree, but rather are trying to preserve the sanctity of it and to keep it from the contamination of sin.  (Revelation 1:7; 22:2, 14.)  This “Tree of Life” is, no doubt, the very Presence of God Almighty, the “Glory of the Lord.”

            The Lord chose to dwell “between the cherubim” over the mercy seat in the Temple in Jerusalem as He had in the tabernacle in the wilderness, (Exod. 25:17-22; Numbers 7:89; 1 Sam. 4:4; Psalm 80:1; 99:1).

            These figures are always in, around, or over the throne, and indeed may be a part of the throne.  In fact, it seems from 1 Samuel 4:4 and 2 Samuel 6:2 that the cherubim may be the very throne of God upon which He sits and upon which He rides.  The two cherubim of Exodus 25:18-22; 37:7 and Numbers 7:89 are made “of one piece with the mercy seat.”  However, these two cherubim are to “spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings,” thus they are an integral part of the throne.

            Not only were these cherubim a part of the throne of the Lord, but this ‘throne’ was also the chariot of God, (Psalms 18:11; 2 Samuel 22:11).  This becomes more evident when we study the referent passages from Ezekiel 1:4-18 and 10:1-22.  Ezekiel also saw these “living ones” (Ezek. 1:4-18).  They were emerging from a bright fiery cloud, moving like a flash of lightning.  Each of these “living ones” was beside a wondrous “wheel.”  They could go in any direction without turning.  These “wheels” contained the spirit of the “living ones,” which directed them.

            But the Rider of this chariot overshadowed the wonders of these “living ones” and the great chariot which they pulled.  He sat in a “firmament, shining like crystal.”  Above this “firmament” there was the likeness of a throne that appeared like sapphire and seated there was the likeness of a human form, the upper part of which was as gleaming bronze as if it enclosed a fire and the lower part of this Form appeared as fire with a brightness that created a rainbow effect all about it.  Ezekiel explains that this was the “likeness of the glory of the Lord.“ 

            The seraphim are very similar to the cherubim.  The word seraphim means ‘burning ones.’  This could simply be a description of the appearance of the cherubim for they are elsewhere pictured as fiery and their representation in the tabernacle and the Temple was made of burnished bronze which glowed like fire.  Isaiah 6:2-8 depicts these seraphim as similar to the cherubim.  They handle the holy fire from the altar.

            What are we looking at here?  In Ezekiel chapter ten, we see these same “living ones” and the same chariot wheels.  The Lord showing Ezekiel the sins of the city of Jerusalem, (Ezek. chapter 8), had preceded this appearance.  Then in chapter 9, the executioners were summoned but they were delayed until the righteous were marked in their foreheads by the “man clothed in linen.”  Then in chapter 10 the “man clothed in linen” is commanded to reach in between the “whirling wheels” and to take burning coals of fire to scatter over the city.

            After this, (RSV 10:8) “the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the house” (the Temple), and the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth. 

“And the glory of the God of Israel was over (or ‘upon’) them.  These were the living creatures that I saw underneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim.” (10:19 RSV).

 

            Ezekiel knew that these were the “chariot of the Lord and the horsemen thereof,” (2 Kings 2:12).  The “living ones” were the horsemen, (or power source), of the chariot of the Lord!  The Lord God was departing from the Temple riding upon this “chariot of the Lord.”

            The “living ones” in Revelation also are the throne and chariot of the Lord God which is now in the heavens.  It is no longer resident in the Holy of Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem but rather in the true Temple which is in heaven.

            But why are these “living ones” pictured as “beasts” in the Greek translation?  It is because that in the Greek culture the starry time-telling heavens were divided into sections which they described in terms of animals, “beasts.”  This lack of coherence between the Hebrew concepts of the heavens and the Greek concepts has resulted in obscuring the meaning of these passages.

“Four constellations of the [Greek] zodiac were given the same names as the four faces of the cherubim,  and in ancient times they marked the solstices and the equinoxes.  Rabbinical tradition assigns them to the standards of the divisions in the camp of Israel; the lion, Judah, on the east; the ox, Ephraim, west; a man, Reuben, south; the eagle, Dan, north.  Thus the standards, leading the Israelites, would indicate Israel as the earthly counterpart of the heavenly host, led by the cherubim” (ZPBD, 154).

            The Biblical view of the heavens is that the sun, moon and stars are for ‘othoth, (translated ‘signs,’ Genesis 1:14).  The word ‘owth is spelled with the first and last letters of the alphabet and could be read in English: “A and Z,” or in Greek “Alpha and Omega.”  It could well be interpreted ‘the letters of the alphabet.’  These letters are the ‘signs’ by which writing is possible.

            Thus all of the configurations of the stars, which we call ‘constellations,’ are groups of letters of the alphabet, or words, in the sense of the Hebrew Old Testament.  They are not the hairy ‘beasts’ of the Greek zodiac.

            These ‘words’ speak, as in Psalm 19:1-4.  This idea is inherent in the fact that The Spirit and The Word agree in One.  When we see these cherubim on an analogy with the constellations, we can grasp the significance of these Scriptures.  The cherubim are vehicles of the Spirit, Ezekiel 1:20-21, as is also the Word.

            When the Israelites encamped, their banners reflected the constellations of the heavens by which they could navigate and by which they could tell time.  True, there were those who were ignorant of their true spiritual nature and legitimate physical usage and so worshipped them as ‘gods’:

25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. (Amos 5)

 

            This passage is referred to also in Acts 7:43:

Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. (Acts 7:43)

            I submit that all forms of astrology are a corruption of the proper understanding of the Biblical use of the ‘signs’ of the heavens.

            These cherubim were “full of eyes before and behind,” (verse 6) and in verse 8 they are “full of eyes within.”  The figures seen by Ezekiel in 1:18 and 10:12 also were full of “eyes.”  The word “eyes” in the Greek is #3788 opthalmos, the eye. 

            The word used in Ezekiel is Hebrew #05869 `ayin.  In the Hebrew it also bears the meaning of ‘fountain.’  Several fountains or springs of water were named `ayin ___this, or that.  Some of its transferred meanings in the Hebrew are: ‘a visible surface of earth, Exodus 10:5, 15,’ or ‘appearance’ as in Leviticus 13:5; and ‘gleam, sparkle (of metal, jewels, etc.) as used in Ezekiel 1:4, 7, 16, 22, 27; 8:2; 10:9; Daniel 10:6.

            I believe the appearance of the cherubim was that of the myriad stars both large and small within a constellation, gleaming and sparkling as jewels.  This is what John saw around the throne, not hairy, dirty, unclean beasts.

            (See book of Enoch 39.12, and 13 for further reference to these ‘living ones.’

(See Commentary at 12:3 “The Dragon, the Serpent, Leviathan and Rahab”, and WS at 7:4, ‘Standard(s)’ and ‘Ensign (s)’).

 

Sea of Glass

 

Revelation 4:6:  “And before the throne there is as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.”

            The “sea of glass” is before the throne of God, (4:6).  When we see the multitude of the redeemed in 15:2-4 they are standing “on” (KJV, or “beside” RSV) the “sea of glass“, we know that they are before the throne of God.

            The “waters above the firmament,” (Gen. 1:6-7), was thought of as being contained by a large transparent glass bowl so to speak.  Children often have this impression of what we call the “sky.”  It is a natural impression from the appearance of things.  The phrase “sea of glass mingled with fire” may be in reference to this commonly held view of the skies as a sea, (or great bowl), mingled with the fiery lightnings, stars, meteors, etc.

            Note that the great vat used in the Old Testament temple ceremonies was called a ‘sea.’  (1 Kings 7:23, 39; 2 Kings 16:17; 25:13, 16; 2 Chronicles 4:2, 6.) It was a large container for holding water.  If the RSV translation is correct “beside the sea of glass“, then Revelation 4:6 probably refers to a vessel similar to those used in the temple ceremonies.  If the KJV translation is correct “on the sea of glass,” it probably refers to the idea of the sky as a great “sea,” containing, or holding back the waters above the firmament.

[1] These Jewels may have had further symbolic meanings: Bullinger, p. 687, speaks of the number ‘seven’ as representing, among other things, the notes of the music scale.  The scale as we now know it begins with ‘c’ goes through ‘g’ and back to ‘a-b’.  In this scheme of things: ‘c’ is the first note; ‘d’ the second; ‘e’ the third; ‘f’ the fourth; ‘g’ the fifth; ‘a’ the sixth; ‘b’ the seventh.

   He says that these notes also represent colors, so that if the notes do not harmonize the colors they represent will not either.  We know that the numbers of the Hebrew alphabet also represented letters.  If the stones of the New Jerusalem represent colors, then there is a possibility that a message could be transmitted by using the number of that color of stone.  This is probably a fruitless search at this time but may have served a purpose originally.