Advent Devotion for December 18, 2019 from Apostles By-the-Sea - Episode 18

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

 

Revelation 4:1-8

¹ After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ² At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! ³ And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. ⁴ Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. ⁵ Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; ⁶ and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal. Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: ⁷ the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. ⁸ And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,

“Holy, holy, holy,

the Lord God the Almighty,

   who was and is and is to come.”

 

Reflection:

The imagery of John’s vision in Revelation is vivid yet unusual, and it might be easy to get so focused on this amazing and wonderful vision that we miss the detail that the four living creatures are singing a song. This is not a song of lament, but a song of joy to the Lord who is holy. The threefold repetition of “holy, holy, holy” (which indicates a perfection of holiness) mirrors the threefold joy of the Past (Christ “was”, the Present (Christ “is”), and the Future (Christ “is yet to come”). We don’t have to wait until Christ returns to sing this song, but when he does return, we’ll join our voices with the whole host of heaven in the most amazing chorus ever heard, singing “holy, holy, holy”!