Crowns of gold on their heads

“Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.” (Revelation 4:4)

 

John the Apostle saw the worship of the heavenly kingdom through the fantasy in his prayer. We live in faith looking forward to the new Heaven, after the end of present history. That’s a practical situation going on now and in the future. So the Heaven in spirit is a world that we can always enjoy in our lives forever. What God is going to do in the world is to save through Christ the Son of God and to realize the kingdom of the Lord. To enter the Heaven in the future on the history depends on how the present life of the Heaven is achieved in Christ’s salvation.

 

Some people who are religious in life try to focus their salvation and the kingdom of God on the future. From the perspective of the description in the 4th chapter of Revelation, they are so wrapped up in fantastic images that they are showing an impractical attitude of faith. Not only is it wrong not to expect the Heaven of historic future, but it is also a big problem to cry out for the Heaven, neglecting practical life of this Heaven. I am giving this explanation in order to guard against the misinterpretation of those who are dealing with the Revelation of John. How many books and lectures are there, on the Bible the Revelation to be accepted very carefully!

There were these three characters of the twenty-four elders, seven spirits, four creatures, on the throne of the heavenly kingdom. The one who sits on the throne is God the Lord, who created and rules all things in the universe. The twenty-four elders are the representatives of the redeemed, who are like the seventy people of the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish decision-making authority. The priests of the descendants of Aaron in the Old Testament made twenty-four turns, and they went into the sanctuary one by one to help the high priest, according to the orders of Jehovah, in Chronicles 24:19. Like that, the twenty-four elders are representative of all the people who are obeying Christ the High Priest. The seven spirits in Revelation 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6, as the Spirit of God, represent the image of the fully active Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom, of brightness, of strategy, of talent, of knowledge, of awe, of faith, as the Spirit who comes from God the Father and the Son of God, in Isaiah 11:2. The Spirit makes the saved man perfect. Each of the four creatures looks like a lion, a calf, a man, and an eagle. And their different shapes symbolically represent different missions. They played the leading role in front of the twenty-four elders, as the men like Abraham, Enoch, Moses and Elijah in the Old Testament. When they gave glory, honor, and thanks to Him on his throne, the twenty-four elders worshiped along the four creatures. The four are symbolic creatures, so we can’t define who they are or what they are. But that is what they looked like ὅμοιον λέοντι, ὅμοιον μόσχῳ, τὸ πρόσωπον ὡς ἀνθρώπου, ὅμοιον ἀετῷ πετομένῳ in Greek the original text. Like a brave lion, a pure sacrificial calf, a man of God’s image, an eagle of spirit, we should praise the glory of God forever as their merits, expressing God’s righteousness with the power of faith and with pure sacrifice.

Each of the four creatures had six wings, and there were eyes in and around them. It was same to the six wings of Seraphim Isaiah the prophet saw in the fantasy. Seraphim, a kind of angel or similar angel, has six wings, escorted God and praised Him. Of the six wings of Seraphim, two covered their faces, two covered their feet, and two acted as flying, in Isaiah 6:2. Just as Moses hid his face in the presence of the holy and complete God, you the creature must cover your squalor and you only have to play your part in the Holy Spirit, according to the order to take off the shoes on the holy place. Meanwhile, twenty-four elders were seen sitting around the throne, dressed in white and wearing gold crown on their heads.

 

The first purpose of man is to please God and to have pleasure because of Him. People of Christ should have heavenly life even while they are living on the earth. Because they were saved through Christ and became clean people in spirit. The white clothes signify the fact that was purified in the blood of Christ. And the crown of gold marks glory and royal authority. The glorious people of Christ must exercise their rightful reign toward the world.

 

(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on Dec 15th 2019)