The throne of God is the reigning centre of God in the Abrahamic religions: primarily Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The throne is said by various holy books to reside beyond the Seventh Heaven which is called Araboth (Hebrew : עֲרָבוֹת‘ărāḇōṯ) in Judaism. [1]
Micaiah (1 Kings 22:19), Isaiah (Isaiah 6), Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1) [2] and Daniel (Daniel 7:9) all speak of God's throne, although some philosophers, such as Saʿadiah Gaon and Maimonides, interpreted such mention of a "throne" as allegory. [3]
The heavenly throne room or throne room of God is a more detailed presentation of the throne, into the representation of throne room or divine court.
Micaiah's extended prophecy (1 Kings 22:19) is the first detailed depiction of a heavenly throne room in Judaism.
Zechariah 3 depicts a vision of the heavenly throne room where Satan and the Angel of the Lord contend over Joshua the High Priest in the time of his grandson Eliashib the High Priest. Many Christians consider this a literal event,[ citation needed ] others such as Goulder (1998) view the vision as symbolic of crisis on earth, such as opposition from Sanballat the Horonite. [4]
In Isaiah 6, Isaiah sees the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train (robe) filled the temple. Above the throne stood the Seraphim (angelic beings), and each one had 6 wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And the Seraphim were calling out to one another, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts" (Some translations title it, 'Lord of heavens armies', or 'Lord Almighty'). Their voices shook the temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
In the apocryphal Book of Wisdom, the prayer offered by Solomon asking God for wisdom calls for him to be "sent from the throne of your glory". [5]
The concept of a heavenly throne occurs in three Dead Sea Scroll texts. Later speculation on the throne of God became a theme of Merkabah mysticism. [6]
In the New Testament, the Throne of God (Ancient Greek : ὁ θρόνος τοῦ θεοῦ, romanized: ho thronos tou Theou) is talked about in several forms, [7] including Heaven as the Throne of God, the Throne of David, the Throne of Glory, the Throne of Grace and many more. [7] The New Testament continues Jewish identification of heaven itself as the "throne of God", [8] but also locates the throne of God as "in heaven" and having a secondary seat at the right hand of God for the Session of Christ. [9]
The Book of Revelation describes the Seven Spirits of God which surround the throne, and its author wishes his readers in the Seven Asian churches to be blessed with grace from God, from the seven who are before God's throne, and from Jesus Christ in Heaven. He states that in front of the throne there appears to be "a sea of glass, clear as crystal", and that the throne is surrounded by a lion, an ox, a man, and a flying eagle; each with six wings and covered with eyes, who constantly cry "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come" repeatedly. It is also said that "out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices". [10]
According to the British academic, Islam Issa, in Islamic theology, it is the largest of creations. [11] The vast majority of Islamic scholars, including Sunnis (Ash'aris, Maturidis, and Sufis), Mu'tazilis, and Shi'is (Twelvers and Isma'ilis) believe the Throne (Arabic : العرشal-'Arsh) is a symbol of God's power and authority and not as a dwelling place for Himself [12] [13] [14] while some Islamic sects, such as the Karramis and the Salafis/Wahhabis, believe that God has created it as a place of dwelling. [15] [16] [17] The Quran depicts the angels as carrying the throne of God and praising his glory, similar to Old Testament images. The Ayat al-Kursi (often glossed as "Verse of the footstool") is a verse from Al-Baqara, the second sura of the Quran.
" Ezekiel 1:26 " in the 1901 American Standard Bible. " Revelations Chapter 4 " in the New Testament.
The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books in the Christian Bible, where it follows Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to the book itself, it records six visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during the 22 years from 593 to 571 BC, although it is the product of a long and complex history and does not necessarily preserve the very words of the prophet.
Apocalypse is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In it a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imagery drawn from the Jewish Bible, cosmological and (pessimistic) historical surveys, the division of time into periods, esoteric numerology, and claims of ecstasy and inspiration. Almost all are written under pseudonyms, claiming as author a venerated hero from previous centuries, as with the Book of Daniel, composed during the 2nd century BCE but bearing the name of the legendary Daniel from the 6th century BCE.
A cherub (; pl.: cherubim; Hebrew: כְּרוּב kərūḇ, pl. כְּרוּבִים kərūḇīm, are one of the unearthly beings in Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of the Garden of Eden.
A seraph is a celestial or heavenly being originating in Ancient Judaism. The term plays a role in subsequent Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Biblical cosmology is the account of the universe and its laws in the Bible. The Bible was formed over many centuries, involving many authors, and reflects shifting patterns of religious belief; consequently, its cosmology is not always consistent. Nor do the biblical texts necessarily represent the beliefs of all Jews or Christians at the time they were put into writing: the majority of the texts making up the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament in particular represent the beliefs of only a small segment of the ancient Israelite community, the members of a late Judean religious tradition centered in Jerusalem and devoted to the exclusive worship of Yahweh.
The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" but does not include the term "Kingdom of God".
In Christianity, angels are the messengers of God.
Apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post-Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians. Apocalypse is a Greek word meaning "revelation", "an unveiling or unfolding of things not previously known and which could not be known apart from the unveiling".
The living creatures, living beings, or hayyot are a class of heavenly beings in Jewish mythology. They are described in the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the heavenly chariot in the first and tenth chapters of the Book of Ezekiel. References to the sacred creatures recur in texts of Second Temple Judaism, in rabbinical merkabah ("chariot") literature, in the Book of Revelation in the Christian New Testament, and in the Zohar.
Merkabah or Merkavahmysticism is a school of early Jewish mysticism, c. 100 BCE – 1000 CE, centered on visions such as those found in Ezekiel 1 or in the hekhalot literature, concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces and the Throne of God.
In the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible, New Jerusalem is Ezekiel's prophetic vision of a city centered on the rebuilt Holy Temple, the Third Temple, to be established in Jerusalem, which would be the capital of the Messianic Kingdom, the meeting place of the twelve tribes of Israel, during the Messianic era. The prophecy is recorded by Ezekiel as having been received on Yom Kippur of the year 3372 of the Hebrew calendar.
The ophanim, alternatively spelled auphanim or ofanim, and also called galgalim, refer to the wheels seen in Ezekiel's vision of the chariot in Ezekiel 1:15–21. One of the Dead Sea scrolls (4Q405) construes them as angels; late sections of the Book of Enoch portray them as a class of celestial beings who never sleep, but guard the throne of God. In Christian angelology, they are one of the choirs (classes) of angels, and are also identified as Thrones.
In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Book of Life is the book in which God records, or will record, the names of every person who is destined for Heaven and the world to come. According to the Talmud, it is opened on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, as is its analog for the wicked, the Book of the Dead. For this reason, extra mention is made for the Book of Life during amidah recitations during the High Holy Days, the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.
Islamic holy books are certain religious scriptures that are viewed by Muslims as having valid divine significance, in that they were authored by God (Allah) through a variety of prophets and messengers, including those who predate the Quran. Among the group of religious texts considered to be valid revelations, the three that are mentioned by name in the Quran are the Tawrat, received by prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel; the Zabur (Psalms), received by David; and the Injeel, received by Jesus. Additionally, the Quran mentions God's revealing of the Scrolls of Abraham and the Scrolls of Moses.
Prophets in Islam are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers, those who transmit divine revelation, most of them through the interaction of an angel. Muslims believe that many prophets existed, including many not mentioned in the Quran. The Quran states: "And for every community there is a messenger." Belief in the Islamic prophets is one of the six articles of the Islamic faith.
Discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls near Qumran, Israel, were fragments of a scroll which describes New Jerusalem in minute detail. The New Jerusalem Scroll appears to contain an apocalyptic vision, an eschatological vision of the city and the temple, although, being fragmented, it is hard to categorize. Written in Aramaic, the text describes a vast city, rectangular in shape, with twelve gates and encircled by a long wall. Similar descriptions appear in Revelation 21–22 and comparison to the Temple Scroll shows many similarities despite no direct literary links between the two.
Revelation 4 is the fourth chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle, but the precise identity of the author remains a point of academic debate. This chapter contains an inaugural vision of heaven, portraying the throne room of heaven, and the heavenly worship which the writer observes there.
Revelation 21 is the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. This chapter contains the accounts of "the new heaven and the new earth", followed by the appearance of the New Jerusalem, "prepared as a bride".
Zechariah 3 is the third of the 14 chapters in the Book of Zechariah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Zechariah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. The chapter contains the vision of Joshua, the high priest, being cleansed before God. It is a part of a section consisting of Zechariah 1–8.
Al-ʽArsh is the throne of God in Islamic theology. It is believed to be the largest of all the creations of God.