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NASB | Revelation 4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Revelation 4:1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a [war] trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things." |
Bible Question: God has impressed my mind with this verse of Scripture from Rev 3:8 "Behold, I have set before you an open door . . ." Is this the same open door in Rev 4:1? What is this "open door?" |
Bible Answer: Mommapbs, Adding to Nolan's comments. I think this is an interesting look through the heavenly church door into the Heavenly worship.It is the Church where the martyrs and faithful departed attend. John had his vision on The Lord's Day. And essentially what he was seeing especially in chapter 4 is worship. There is all kinds of imagery there associated with the worship at the Temple in Jerusalem: priests, incense, altar. These are also reflected in the worship of present day churches with liurgical styles of worship. Temple worship was patterned after heavenly worship, since it was established by revelation from God. Here are a few points to ponder form a Bible study I have used. "The Liturgy of the Creation The focus in Revelation 4, say many scholars, is on the world as God made it and the world as God renewed it after Noah's flood. The imagery draws from the Genesis account of Paradise and mentions jasper and carnelian (precious stones associated with Paradise) and a rainbow (the sign of the covenant with Noah) surrounding the throne. Also recalling the covenant with Noah are the "living creatures" that evoke not only the human race but the rest of creation as well. And this carries an added meaning because the living creatures are also probably drawn from the zodiac and therefore refer us to the cosmic powers arrayed around the throne of God. This is not an endorsement of astrology or of the occult any more than calling the Lord God "a sun and a shield" identifies the worship of Yahweh with sun worship. Rather, it is to see in the order of the heavens an image of the order of Heaven. For John, as for all biblical writers, creation is sacred, but creation is not God. That is why the twenty-four elders in verse 10 praise God as worthy to receive glory and honor and power for a very specific reason: "For thou didst create all things, and by thy will they existed and were created." And that is also why the imagery that fills this heavenly scene is related to the imagery associated with the Temple at Jerusalem (lampstands, priests, a "sea" like the immense Bronze Sea that stood outside the Temple). For the ancient Jews, like all ancients, regarded their Temple as a microcosm of creation. In other words, what is in view in Revelation 4 is God as Creator, which will lead in the next chapter to the praise of God as Redeemer. In this chapter we are also drawn to look, not only at earth, but at the many levels of creation not visible to the naked eye, what Scripture elsewhere refers to as the powers and principalities, the thrones, dominations, and various superhuman and supernatural creatures whose existence is presupposed in Scripture (see Romans 8:38-39 and Ephesians 6:12). So, in Revelation 4, we are presented with the old creation renewed and included in the covenant with Christ who sits enthroned in its midst." from Catholic Scripture Study by Scot Hahn, Jeff cavins , Mark Shea, Gayle Somers published on the web by catholicexchange.com Emmaus |