The Third Vision of Revelation

If you’ve been following along with the Revelation series, you will recall how I explained John’s visions in my previous articles. He is given three visions that form the content of the Book of Revelation. The first vision entails who Jesus is, the second is a message to the Church. The third vision is listed as the one that “must happen soon” afterwards (Revelation 4:2). This third vision compromises the rest of Revelation, chapters 4-22.

The Throne

The important thing to understand as we go forward is that a great majority of this vision is apocalyptic literature. John is seeing a prophetic vision; therefore, he is using language that the prophets before him used to describe the glory of heaven and the throne of God. It is also important to realize that the beginning of this vision parallels the book of Ezekiel.

In Revelation 4:2-3, for example, John has a vision of the throne of God. He describes God’s majesty like precious stones, saying, “At once I was caught up in spirit. A throne was there in heaven, and on the throne sat one whose appearance sparkled like jasper and carnelian. Around the throne was a halo as brilliant as an emerald.” Earlier prophets described God’s excellence by comparing the throne to sparkling gemstones, such as Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel 10.

The Four Living Creatures

Similarly, the imagery of the four living creatures in Revelation 4:6-8 is reminiscent of Ezekiel 1. There are certain similar characteristics the angels have. First, four of them are near the throne. The number 4 is usually used in scripture to represent the four corners of the earth: north, east, south, and west (Psalm 78:26).

By encompassing all four, the general message is that the four corners represent the whole world or all people of all nations. They are beneath God’s throne in Ezekiel because the Lord has dominion over the nations. Referring to Jesus, Daniel 7:14 says, “He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed.”

Symbols of Christ

Next, the same angels are described as having interesting features. The “head” of each angel is a composite of the heads of a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle. Since the days of the early Church, doctors like Jerome and Augustine saw in the four creatures symbols of the four evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Furthermore, the evangelists describe Christ in each their respective gospels with these four different characteristics. Matthew, for example, uses the genealogy of a man to describe Christ. In Mark, Christ was introduced with a roar in the wild like that of a lion. Luke’s introduction begins with a calf, and John’s gospel compares Christ’s divinity to an eagle flying over the waters.

St. Jerome, likewise, compares the four animals to Christ’s mission and ministry. He compared the man to Christ’s Incarnation, the lion to His ministry, the calf to His sacrifice, and the eagle to His Resurrection (St. Jerome, Preface to the Commentary on Matthew).

The Lamb and the Scrolls

Revelation 5 depicts Christ as a lamb opening a scroll with seven seals. In order to understand this properly, we need to look at historical facts about scrolls in the same era of ancient history.

In the century that Revelation is thought to have been written, the Roman jurist Gaius wrote his legal treatise, called the Institutes. In the second book of the Institutes, Gaius wrote:

Wills are not altogether inoperative either when originally informal or when though at first made in proper form they were subsequently rescinded or revoked; for if the seals of seven witnesses are attached, the testamentary heir is entitled to demand possession in accordance with the will. (Gaius, Institutes, Vol. 2, 147).

With this contextual knowledge relevant to the time period, it’s safe to draw the conclusion that the scroll with the seven seals in Revelation 5 speaks of a divine Son inheriting all that the Father gives Him by doing His divine will.

The Seven Seals: 1-4

Revelation 6 lists the first four seals as four horsemen. The first horse is white, and its rider is given a crown and a bow. Typically, leaders or war heroes are described as riding white horses. Some people interpret this first horseman as Christ since He is seen elsewhere in Revelation riding a white horse (Revelation 19).

However, in Revelation 19 Christ carries a sword, but this horseman has a bow. A better interpretation is that this is another leader who is not Christ. This especially makes sense when considering which horses follow. When the second seal is opened, a red horse representing blood and war follows. This horseman removes peace from the earth.

The third seal is opened revealing the black horse of famine. Next, the fourth seal is opened and the fourth horseman is revealed to be sickness and death. Oftentimes when judgement is brought on a nation, it follows this pattern sequentially: false leader, war, famine, illness, and death.

The Seven Seals: 5-7

The fifth seal reveals the souls of persecuted Christians underneath an altar begging God for justice in their cause. This image is followed by the sixth seal which uses symbolic language of destruction to speak of God’s judgement upon a nation. For instance, Joel 3:4 notes, “The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, at the coming of the Day of the LORD, the great and terrible day.”

The sixth seal also describes the sky being ripped open like a scroll, and the mountains being transplanted. Isaiah 34:4 uses similar language to describe God’s judgement on the nations, saying, “The heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and all their host shall wither away, as the leaf wilts on the vine, or as the fig withers on the tree.”

Silence and Seven Trumpets

The seventh seal is opened at the very beginning of Chapter 8. Following the opening of the seal there is silence, followed by the seven archangels receiving trumpets.

The prophets used the imagery of “silence in heaven” followed by the blowing of trumpets to refer to God’s judgement. Zephaniah 1:7 says, “Silence in the presence of the Lord GOD! for near is the day of the LORD, Yes, the LORD has prepared a slaughter feast, he has consecrated his guests.” Verse 16 of that same chapter says “a day of trumpet blasts and battle alarm against fortified cities, against battlements on high.”

Speaking of which, Revelation 8 and 9 list seven trumpets that reveal seven plagues. The plagues are mirrored after the plagues of Egypt. Revelation 8:7 describes hail coming down. This is a clear reference to Exodus 9:23, which says, “When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent forth hail and peals of thunder. Lightning flashed toward the earth, and the LORD rained down hail upon the land of Egypt”.

In conclusion

In the next and final part of the Revelation series, we will touch on chapters 10-22. We will discuss the mark of the beast, the two witnesses, Babylon the Great, Mary, the Church, and the final judgement. Although Revelation details many past events, some events are still current and some in the future.