We heard the good news preached from Revelation chapters 4-5 that the throne of God is the reference point for all of reality. In John’s vision of the throne room, we see that it is Jesus who has brought God’s people into God’s presence by His death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit works in us to help us view every aspect of our lives in reference to God enthroned above all things.
John’s vision of the throne room seems to have engaged all of his senses, and he records it in a way that awakens our senses and stirs our imaginations so that we can almost feel ourselves to be in the place where John stood. As you read the following, try to imagine the light, color, sound, and atmosphere surrounding God’s throne:
At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald...From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal (chapter 4:2-3, 4-6).
What sights and colors are there in God’s throne room as John describes it?
What sounds does John hear?
Can you imagine what smells he might have smelled?
How might John have felt as he took all of this into his senses?
Especially for children: Do you remember when God first sent the rainbow after Noah’s family and the animals came out of the ark? God said that the rainbow was a sign of his promise to always love and care for his people and his creation. Why do you think God’s throne has a rainbow around it?
Pray: Thank you, Father God, for your faithfulness to your creation. We find great comfort in knowing that you always finish what you’ve started. Help us to enjoy and appreciate the world and the people around us, always giving you praise for the goodness of what we see. Thank you for this vision of your throne room and the promise that the things sin has broken in your beautiful world will one day be made right in your presence, all because of Jesus.
In chapter 5, we see Jesus, who takes God’s will for all of creation into his hands and is able to carry it out perfectly. Those who witness this in the throne room begin to sing what John calls a “new song.” By the second verse, multitudes of angels have joined in with loud voices, and by the last verse, every living thing in all of creation is singing the song together. Wouldn’t you like to hear that song? Amazingly, John has recorded the lyrics for us:
Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!
To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!
chapter 5:9-10, 12, 13-14
One of the threads of God’s story that we can trace through all of the scriptures is “He has done it.” Jesus is an actual Savior who accomplished victory over sin, evil, and their effects by his life, death and resurrection. This song is filled with news of the things that Jesus has done. As you read back over this song, take some time to name the works of Jesus that are celebrated in it.
Especially for children: What are some things that you love about Jesus?
Pray: Holy Father, we spend much of our lives seeking power, wealth, wisdom, strength and honor for ourselves from all kinds of things. We fasten these expectations to our work, our hobbies, our education, our relationships and the result is crushing. Thank you for this song that re-orients us to hope in Jesus instead of in ourselves. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! (Psalm 115:1).
There are few works of music more acclaimed, beloved, or written about than John Coltrane’s 1965 recording A Love Supreme. An excerpt from the album’s liner notes is printed as an epigraph to Tim Keller’s book on faith and vocation, Every Good Endeavor, and later in the book, Keller goes on to describe the four-part album as “a thirty-two minute outpouring of praise to God.”
When I try to imagine what the music of this throne-room song might sound like, it’s the melodic and explosive joy of this composition that comes to mind. If you have time to listen through to the end of the first movement (linked above) you’ll get to hear Coltrane’s own voice giving language to the four-note bass line which gives the album it’s title.
As you listen, think about what it means to place every aspect of our lives in the joyful context of God’s throne room. Coltrane is very much in line with John’s vision when he musically asserts that the bass line of reality is “A Love Supreme.”
Can you think of areas of your life where you lack appropriate confidence or appropriate humility?
How might you connect your thoughts and feelings about this part of your life with Jesus’ supreme and life-giving love for you?
For children and adults: How do you feel when you remember that Jesus loves you so much that He left His Father’s throne room to pursue you and has brought you back to live with Him there forever?
Pray: Lord Jesus, your love is supreme in beauty and in power, and it is the joy of all creation. Thank you for leaving your throne in heaven to pursue us while we were rebelling against you. You withheld nothing of yourself, giving even your body and your blood to meet our deepest need and unite us to yourself forever. Please win our hearts by the beauty of your love and work the pattern of your cross and resurrection into our lives and our relationships.
Next week we will continue reading and thinking about the book of Revelation, remembering that God always finishes what he started. Finish this time of reflection by prayerfully reading over the following verses, asking that Jesus will be glorified as his people hear and live according to his word:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (chapter 7:9-12).