Revelation Chapter 4/Commentary

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Revelation Chapter 4

4:1 “After these things”: This phrase is used to introduce new and emphatic points in the letter (7:1,9; 15:5; 18:1; 19:1; 20:3). Following the information that Jesus gave to the seven churches in chapters 2-3, John is now given information on another subject. 4:1 “I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven”: This is the third door we encounter in this book. We have seen the door of opportunity (3:8), the door into the human heart (3:20), and now a door opened to admit John via a vision into heaven. Thank God there is a way into heaven, not only for John to record this vision, but also for all Christians to enter one day (Philippians 3:20). Harkrider notes that chapters 4 and 5 present the sovereignty of God who is on His throne and whose righteous rule is vindicated by what Jesus did on the cross. Through it may sometimes appear that the wicked rule, all things are actually under God’s dominion. 4:1 “And the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me”: This may refer to the same unidentified speaker mentioned in 1:10. “With the clarion ring of a trumpet John was beckoned to come see” (Harkrider p. 63). 4:1 “Come up here”: At this point some Premillinnialists seek to argue that John’s transportation into heaven may be viewed as a type of the rapture of the church, and the mention of a voice like a trumpet here may recall the language of the supposed rapture passages in 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Admittedly this is a terrible twisting of the above passage and the passages mentioned in the previous paragraph. Such a view fails to realize that God has used trumpets to announce all sorts of things besides the Second Coming. In addition, we already have seen one use of the trumpet in 1:10 (does this indicate a double-rapture?) And chapters 8-11 record the sounding of no less than seven more trumpets, are there to be nine raptures?

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