Chapter 4 of Revelation

Chapter 4 of Revelation opens with John standing before a door that opens in heaven. When you look at this and Daniel chapter 7 vision of heaven they seem similar. Daniel saw thrones and a large throne in the middle of them. John not only sees the thrones, but he tells you how many there are and who is sitting on them. John says that there are 24 thrones and the people sitting on them are dressed in white and wear crowns of gold. John calls these people elders, these are people because they wear white and have gold crowns; angels are not described in this way. If John sees these men in heaven and before the main throne of God they would have to be dead. Moses found out that no one can look on God and live. Now this brings us to John, how is it possible for him to be observing this scene? If you look back at verse 2 of chapter 4, you will see that he is in the Spirit and in this state he can observe heaven without dying. Looking at verse 3, John describes who he sees. The NIV says that his appearance of jasper and carnelian, these colors jasper is a clear stone usually represented as a diamond. The carnelian is a red stone like a ruby. A rainbow resembling an emerald encircled the throne, a greenish tint. The throne has flashes of lightning and rumblings of thunder. This vision is similar to what Ezekiel saw in his vision. Unlike Ezekiel's vision the four creatures appear to be different. In Ezekiel's vision, the four creatures had the four faces only. John says that these creatures are complete, one a lion, the second an ox, the third had a face like a man; the fourth was like an eagle in flight. Each of the creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. They fell down before God and worshiped Him.