Revelation 4 - Introduction

IV.

In this chapter we pass from the sufferings and temptations of the churches below to the unsullied glory above. The vision of the Almighty here described is thought to be interposed here to remind us that all decrees respecting the future “rest with God, and come from Him through Jesus Christ.” This is no doubt true; but there is another reason. From the world below, and the struggling churches, we are brought to sec the Eternal who is ruling over all. A vision like this must dwarf our sense of life’s sorrows and temptations, and is a fit preparation for the scenes of conflict, failure, and persecution, which are about to be unfolded. Whatever painful sights the seer is called upon to behold, this vision of Him who rules “over all from the beginning” will remain in the background as the constant witness that in all the changes and chances of this mortal life, in all the vicissitudes of the Church’s history, God is her refuge; therefore she will not be moved though the earth be removed. It is the vision of eternal strength so often vouchsafed to the sad. As to Ezekiel “among the captives by the river of Chebar” (Ezekiel 1:1), and to Isaiah mourning over the gloom which was settling on Judah (Isaiah 6:1); so now to the exile in Patmos, and through him to all who, in their life-conflict; need “everlasting consolation and good hope.” “You see how distress and solitude and sorrow favour communications between a man and his God.”