Revelation 4

Last updated
Revelation 4
←  chapter 3
chapter 5  →
Uncial 0169 Ap 3,12-4,1.jpg
Revelation 3:19-4:3 on Uncial 0169 from the fourth century.
Book Book of Revelation
Category Apocalypse
Christian Bible part New Testament
Order in the Christian part27

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, [1] [2] but the precise identity of the author remains a point of academic debate. [3] This chapter contains an inaugural vision of heaven, portraying the throne room of heaven, [4] and the heavenly worship which the writer observes there. [5] [6]

Contents

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 11 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are among others: [7] [lower-alpha 1]

Old Testament references

God on the Throne

God's sovereignty over all things is symbolized by the throne, which visions are found both in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament prophetic tradition (cf. 1 Kings 22:19—23) as well as in some Jewish apocalypses, and in this chapter (echoing Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1) is seen as "already fully acknowledged in heaven, and therefore as the true reality which must in the end prevail on earth". [6] Taken up into heaven, John can see that "God's throne is the ultimate reality behind all earthly appearances". [6]

Verse 1

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven.
And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." [10]

"After these things" refers back to "the entire vision in Revelation 1:10 to Revelation 3:22". [11]

Verse 8

The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:
“Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!” [12]

Verse 11

"You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created." [15]

The depiction of God's sovereignty starts with him as the 'Creator of all things', then as 'Redeemer' to restore his universal sovereignty on earth (Revelation 5), with the expectation to renew his whole creation in the end (Revelation 21:5). [14]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Book of Revelation is missing from Codex Vaticanus. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 13</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 13 is the thirteenth 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. The author records visions of two beasts or monsters which he saw while "standing on the seashore", the monster from the sea and the monster from the land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 1</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 1 is the first 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 is a point of academic debate. This chapter contains the prologue of the book, followed by the vision and commission of John.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 12</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 12 is the twelfth 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 the accounts about the woman, the dragon, and the child, followed by the war between Michael and the dragon, then the appearance of the monster from the sea. William Robertson Nicoll, a Scottish Free Church minister, suggests that in this chapter the writer has created a Christianised version of a Jewish source which "described the birth of the Messiah in terms borrowed from ... cosmological myths [such as] that of the conflict between the sun-god and the dragon of darkness and the deep".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 6</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 6 is the sixth 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 describes the opening of the first six of the seven seals. The opening of the seventh seal is recorded in chapter 8. Four horses and their riders, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, emerge as the first four seals are opened.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 3</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 3 is the third 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 messages to the churches of Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea, three of the seven churches of Asia located in modern-day Turkey, continuing from the messages for the other four churches which appear in chapter 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 5</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 5 is the fifth 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 the inaugural vision of the lamb on the throne in heaven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 7</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 7 is the seventh 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. Chapter 6 to Chapter 8:5 record the opening of the Seven Seals. This chapter contains the writer's vision of "the Four Angels of the Four Winds", the sealing of the 144,000 and the "Praise of the Great Multitude of the Redeemed". The passage in this chapter is 'an intercalation in the numbered series of seven'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 8</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 8 is the eighth 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 9</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 9 is the ninth 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. In this chapter, the next two angels' trumpets are sounded, following the sounding of the first four trumpets in chapter 8. These two trumpets and the final trumpet, sounded in chapter 11, are sometimes called the "woe trumpets".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 11</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 11 is the eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Revelation of Jesus Christ shown to 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 the accounts related to the sounding of the "Seventh Trumpet".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 10</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 10 is the tenth 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 and the first part of the next chapter report two episodes which intervene between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 14</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 14 is the fourteenth 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 the accounts of the lamb with 144,000 followers, the three angelic messages and the voice from heaven, as well as the harvest of the earth and the vintage of the earth. The Three Angels' messages in verses 6 to 12 form a central feature of the teaching and mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church: "“Make disciples of Jesus Christ who live as His loving witnesses and proclaim to all people the everlasting gospel of the Three Angels’ Messages in preparation for His soon return".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 15</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 15 is the fifteenth 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 includes the hymn of Moses and the Lamb and introduces the seven angels who appear with seven plagues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 17</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse to 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 describes the judgment of the Whore of Babylon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 18</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 18 is the eighteenth 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 describes the fall of Babylon the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 20</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 20 is the twentieth 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 the notable account of the "Millennium" and the judgment of the dead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 19</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 19 is the nineteenth 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. In this chapter, heaven exults over the fall of Babylon the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 21</span> Chapter of the New Testament

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 the Bride.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revelation 22</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 22 is the twenty-second and final chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse of John, and the final chapter of the New Testament and of the Christian Bible. The book is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle. This chapter contains the accounts of the throne of God in the New Jerusalem, the conversation between John and the Angel and the epilogue of the book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezekiel 43</span> Book of Ezekiel, chapter 43

Ezekiel 43 is the forty-third chapter of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet/priest Ezekiel, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Chapters 40-48 give the ideal picture of a new temple. This chapter contains Ezekiel's vision of the glory of God returning into the temple, Ezekiel 43:1-6; God promises to dwell there, if the people will put away their sins, Ezekiel 43:7-9; to incite them to repentance, the prophet shows them the model and law of the house, Ezekiel 43:10-12; the measures of the altar, Ezekiel 43:13-17; the ordinances thereof, Ezekiel 43:18-27.

References

  1. ↑ Davids, Peter H (1982). I Howard Marshall and W Ward Gasque (ed.). New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle of James (Repr. ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans. ISBN   0802823882.
  2. ↑ Evans, Craig A (2005). Bible Knowledge Background Commentary: John, Hebrews-Revelation. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Victor. ISBN   0781442281.
  3. ↑ F. L. Cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 45
  4. ↑ Revelation 4:1–11: New King James Version
  5. ↑ Revelation 4:1–11: New Revised Standard Version
  6. 1 2 3 Bauckham 2007, p. 1292.
  7. ↑ Elliott, J. K. "Revelations from the apparatus criticus of the Book of Revelation: How Textual Criticism Can Help Historians." Union Seminary Quarterly Review 63, no. 3-4 (2012): 1-23.
  8. ↑ Claremont Coptic Encyclopaedia, Codex Vaticanus, accessed 29 September 2018
  9. ↑ "Biblical concordances of Revelation 4 in the 1611 King James Bible".
  10. ↑ Revelation 4:1 NKJV
  11. ↑ Meyer, H. A. W., Meyer's NT Commentary on Revelation 4, accessed 15 October 2018
  12. ↑ Revelation 4:8 NKJV
  13. ↑ Bauckham 2007, pp. 1292–1293.
  14. 1 2 Bauckham 2007, p. 1293.
  15. ↑ Revelation 4:11 NKJV

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.