Revelation 4:1

After these things — As if he had said, After I had written these letters from the mouth of the Lord. By the particle and, the several parts of this prophecy are usually connected: by the expression, after these things, they are distinguished from each other, Revelation 7:9; Revelation 19:1. By that expression, and after these things, they are distinguished, and yet connected, Revelation 7:1; Revelation 15:5; Revelation 18:1. St. John always saw and heard, and then immediately wrote down one part after another: and one part is constantly divided from another by some one of these expressions. I saw — Here begins the relation of the main vision, which is connected throughout; as it appears from "the throne, and him that sitteth thereon;" "the Lamb;" (who hitherto has appeared in the form of a man;) " the four living creatures;" and " the four and twenty elders," represented from this place to the end. From this place, it is absolutely necessary to keep in mind the genuine order of the texts, as it stands in the preceding table. A door opened in heaven — Several of these openings are successively mentioned. Here a door is opened; afterward, "the temple of God in heaven," Revelation 11:19; Revelation 15:5; and, at last, "heaven" itself, Revelation 19:11. By each of these St. John gains a new and more extended prospect. And the first voice which I had heard — Namely, that of Christ: afterward, he heard the voices of many others. Said, Come up hither — Not in body, but in spirit; which was immediately done.