The Throne, the Scroll, and the Lamb
Revelation 4–5
The throne, the twenty-four elders, the four living creatures, the sealed scroll, the Lion of Judah, and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
This is the moment where the apocalypse becomes liturgical and cosmic. It reveals that the End is governed from the throne, and that the one worthy to open history is not a conqueror in ordinary form but the slain Lamb.
The Throne in Heaven After this I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had previously heard speak to me like a trumpet was saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.” At once I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne standing in heaven, with someone seated on it. 3The One seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow that gleamed like an emerald encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on these thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white, with golden crowns on their heads.
From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder. Before the throne burned seven torches of fire. These are the seven spiritsa of God. 6And before the throne was something like a sea of glass, as clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, covered with eyes in front and back. 7The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. 8And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before the One seated on the throne, and they worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things; by Your will they exist and were created.”