The Heavenly Throne

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! 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.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”

(Revelation 4:1-8, ESV)

John gave a picture of the churches from the time after Christ's first advent in chapters 2 and 3. Now the angel replays the history of the church from the perspective of the heavenly throne room. The angel tells John, "I will show you what must take place after this." -- meaning this is the next vision rather than what takes place next or after in the time sequence of Revelation 2-3.

Each of the images describe God metaphorically. God is not a jasper, but is like a jasper in his purity. The jasper is described as clear and quite possibly we know it as a diamond. The carnelian is red which shows God's avenging wrath. A rainbow frames God's throne, and the principle color is emerald green -- which color associated most frequently in ancient times with the rainbow. The rainbow brings to mind God's grace and mercy. This picture of God is not merely a "Jesus meek and mild" picture. God is not simply reduced to one adjective, but many perfect attributes in his being and personality. God is at once pure, wrathful, gracious and merciful. Not a politically correct God, nor a tame God we can control.

Before God are elders who fall down and worship him. We don't know who these elders are, but their number, twenty-four, is a pair of two twelves, which symbolically point to the whole of humanity, both Old Testament and New Testament, that worship God. There are twelve elders that represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve elders that represent the twelve apostles that are the foundation of the post advent church. Their purity is shown in the white garments, their crowns show victory and joy before the throne of God.

Lightning, thunder proceed from the throne of God, showing his righteous power that will avenge his people. The Holy Spirit is present at God's throne. There is a sea in front of God. The sea was the source of demonic power to ancient Israel -- but the sea is tamed by God, made perfect and glass like. God is in perfect control.

Four creatures fly around the throne of God. Their descriptions draw from the major animal groups of the ancient world. The number four is associated with the earth and the created order (the four compass points, the four corners of the world, etc.). The creatures are covered with eyes indicating they see everything in God's creation and sing praise to God.

This image of heaven, with God reigning, is quite a contrast to how things appear to us on earth. God is reigning and all of God's attributes are involved in his rule. God's power, wrath, grace, purity -- all are perfectly involved in his rule, and heaven declares his holiness and glory.

In my daily life I often forget how God is reigning -- in fact I confess that I do not even at my best moments appreciate how God does rule and reign. I am influenced by my mercurial moods throughout the day, by my personal petty successes and failures, only dimly aware the God is reigning in such splendor. What a lifetime we can spend in refining our delight in God's glory, because on this side of heaven we only see in part.

My prayer is to more fully contemplate the glory of God in his splendor, to more glorify God, and more fully enjoy him forever. Our God reigns!

Laodicea

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (Revelation 3:14-22, ESV)

Laodicea was a prosperous city in Asia Minor, now modern day Turkey. The city had an important black wool trade along with other businesses that took in large amounts of money. It was about 12 miles west of Colossae and 5 miles south of Hierapolis. It was founded over three hundred years previously by Antiochus II Theos in 261-253 BC. The people of the city were hard working, self reliant, and were very successful on their own. This is evident because in 60 AD Laodicea was completely destroyed by a strong earthquake. Tacitus reports in his history how Laodicea refused aide from the Romans to rebuild and rebuilt their city entirely by their own means. The people worked hard, prospered, and were not dependent on anyone. The city was not only known for its businesses, but it was also a cultural, scientific and sports center. It had temples, theaters, and a stadium that was the envy of the region. It also had an aqueduct, which carried water from hot mineral springs five miles south of the city. The disadvantage of this aqueduct arrangement was that the water tasted tepid, unlike to hot springs of nearby Hierapolis, or the clear cold water of Colossae. Laodicea had a renowned medical academy and had many well known doctors, including an ophthalmologist. The church in Laodicea was a microcosm of the city. The members were wealthy, prosperous and able contributers to the city's economy and life.

As Christ looks at this prosperous city and church, what does he see? The description of Laodicea is ironic. Physically it is prosperous, energetic; it builds great wealth. Spiritually it is poor. The church is neither energetically for Christ nor against Christ. They are as bland as their tepid water. Economically they are rich, but spiritually they are poor. They neglect their heavenly treasures. While their knowledge of medicine is great and they are famed for they knowledge of eyes, they are blind.

It is interesting how Christ describes himself to this church. This gives us a clue what the Laodicean church is lacking. Christ calls himself the "amen," "the faithful and true witness," and "the beginning of God's creation." In other words, Christ's words are absolutely true, unchanging, throughout all of time from the beginning to the end. The unstated contrast is that the Laodicean church does not unflinchingly hold to the truth and to Christ.

But the church is not lost. Christ tells them how to find their way. They need to buy their gold from Christ along with his white garments. The white garments are the garments made by Christ's death which pays and covers the nakedness of their own unrighteousness. The gold is the Christ's righteousness that is given to the believer who has nothing to offer for herself.

How do you get these garments and gold? The very fact that Christ is reproving them is evidence that he loves them and has not given up on them. Christ is knocking at their door of their lives. They are to open their life to Christ and he will dine with them. Eating and feasting is a happy activity where they will share in the delights of knowing Christ. Those that dine with Christ will be the ones who conquer. They will sit with Christ and the Father at the throne of grace. But note, they will conquer as Christ conquered. Christ conquered through perseverance and death. This is not a conquering the world generally expects. It is an ironic conquering -- losing their life to find it.

I live in a wealthy part of my city, state, country and world. In fact, most who are reading this blog have the material wealth that resulted in the education and access to technology to read this blog. For each of us, it is tempting to build upon our wealth, either in things, such as houses, cars, household goods, media, etc. and rely on that for our well being and happiness. We are the envy of the materially impoverished world. We are the envy of kings in centuries past by the comforts and plenty we have at our disposal. Yet are we truly spiritually rich? Are you dining with Christ, intimately and faithfully sharing your life with him? Are you conquering through self denial and ready to die for Christ and his people? If not, listen to Christ's knocking at your life. If Christ is reproving you for your life and you hear his knocking, know that Christ's discipline of you is evidence of his deep and tender love for you. Open your life to him and dine with him. He will give you the white garment that covers your sinful, naked life, and gold you'll be able to store in heaven.

Take time to read about the other churches in Revelation 2 and 3. These also give insight to all of us today.

Golden Lampstands

John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:4-6, ESV)

Literal, figurative, historical, recapitulating themes from the past into the present and the future, apocalyptic, symbolic, poetic, agony, triumph, irony. These words and more describe the Book of Revelation.

Literal and historical. The seven churches in Asia Minor are literal. The satellite thumbnail photo on the left shows the location of the seven churches when John wrote Revelation.

Figurative and symbolic. Numbers in our culture are abstract and sterile. We assign a singular meaning to numbers, they are only used to count something. Not so in ancient times. The number seven in the ancient near east is symbolic of completeness. There are seven days to a complete week. The complete creation in Genesis took seven days. Seven year cycles figure into the Old Testament years of Jubilee. Revelation is replete with sevens, threes, fours, as well as other numbers. When you encounter a number in Revelation, ask what does that number signify? What is its personality? How is it used in Revelation? How was it used elsewhere in the Bible? In ancient culture?


Seven is historical and figurative, full of meaning. The seven churches are literal historical churches. They have praiseworthy features, blemishes, and failure. These seven churches stand for all the churches throughout history. These are the churches since Christ's first coming until Christ's second coming in glory and power. These churches hearken back to Israel, to Abraham, even to Adam and Eve. John is writing to the individual churches of the period and John is writing to churches collectively, throughout all the centuries. John is not only writing to the churches but also to Christians that individually make up the church.

John tells the seven churches, and those who comprise them that they have grace and peace from God. We often forget the magnitude of this news. Each person deserves God's wrath because we each choose to be our own god. Looking deeply into ourselves reveals all sorts of ugly hatred towards others and God, what the Bible refers to as sin. The condition is universal. But those who belong to Christ have grace and are at peace with God. They are freed from their sins through Christ's death which is the basis of our being at peace with God. This is great news!

There is more great news. God the Father reigns from his throne, Jesus has conquered death. Jesus is identified as being the first born, which implies those that belong to him will follow in his steps. Further, Jesus rules the kings and nations of the earth. Revelation teaches that no matter what we see in the world, Christ is ruling over the kings of the world. Not only that -- Christ's people rule also. This is not a rule where the Christians take over Washington DC and enforce God's law over all the people. This ruling is far different from that. Further, all who belong to Christ are intermediaries between God and the human race, which is referred to as being priests.

God is ruling now. Christ has conquered death. God has already established his kingdom on earth. Those who belong to Christ live in God kingdom as priests. We have been given great grace. How can this be? Cancer, war and oppression mark this world. Revelation tells how this happens. We will see how God reigns and how his people conquer.

The Seven Churches

John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:4-6, ESV)

Literal, figurative, historical, recapitulating themes from the past into the present and the future, apocalyptic, symbolic, poetic, agony, triumph, irony. These words and more describe the Book of Revelation.

Literal and historical. The seven churches in Asia Minor are literal. The satellite thumbnail photo on the left shows the location of the seven churches when John wrote Revelation.

Figurative and symbolic. Numbers in our culture are abstract and sterile. We assign a singular meaning to numbers, they are only used to count something. Not so in ancient times. The number seven in the ancient near east is symbolic of completeness. There are seven days to a complete week. The complete creation in Genesis took seven days. Seven year cycles figure into the Old Testament years of Jubilee. Revelation is replete with sevens, threes, fours, as well as other numbers. When you encounter a number in Revelation, ask what does that number signify? What is its personality? How is it used in Revelation? How was it used elsewhere in the Bible? In ancient culture?


Seven is historical and figurative, full of meaning. The seven churches are literal historical churches. They have praiseworthy features, blemishes, and failure. These seven churches stand for all the churches throughout history. These are the churches since Christ's first coming until Christ's second coming in glory and power. These churches hearken back to Israel, to Abraham, even to Adam and Eve. John is writing to the individual churches of the period and John is writing to churches collectively, throughout all the centuries. John is not only writing to the churches but also to Christians that individually make up the church.

John tells the seven churches, and those who comprise them that they have grace and peace from God. We often forget the magnitude of this news. Each person deserves God's wrath because we each choose to be our own god. Looking deeply into ourselves reveals all sorts of ugly hatred towards others and God, what the Bible refers to as sin. The condition is universal. But those who belong to Christ have grace and are at peace with God. They are freed from their sins through Christ's death which is the basis of our being at peace with God. This is great news!

There is more great news. God the Father reigns from his throne, Jesus has conquered death. Jesus is identified as being the first born, which implies those that belong to him will follow in his steps. Further, Jesus rules the kings and nations of the earth. Revelation teaches that no matter what we see in the world, Christ is ruling over the kings of the world. Not only that -- Christ's people rule also. This is not a rule where the Christians take over Washington DC and enforce God's law over all the people. This ruling is far different from that. Further, all who belong to Christ are intermediaries between God and the human race, which is referred to as being priests.

God is ruling now. Christ has conquered death. God has already established his kingdom on earth. Those who belong to Christ live in God kingdom as priests. We have been given great grace. How can this be? Cancer, war and oppression mark this world. Revelation tells how this happens. We will see how God reigns and how his people conquer.

Revelation Advent

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John ... (Revelation 1:1, ESV)

The advent season is upon us. Four years ago I blogged a Book of Revelation advent series for each day in December leading up to Christmas. I am going to do a revised edition of that advent series.

The Book of Revelation has long been a controversial book. Early church historian Eusebius (263 - 339 AD) listed it as a disputed book. Martin Luther initially thought that Revelation was "neither apostolic nor prophetic" (see Luther's Treatment of the 'Disputed Books' of the New Testament). John Calvin thought that Revelation was to be included in the canon of the Bible, but Revelation was the only book in the Bible he did not write a commentary on. You can decide whether the Book of Revelation should be included in the Bible or not. Personally, I think it should be included.

Authorship has been somewhat controversial. The earliest traditions is that the disciple of Jesus, John the Apostle, is the author. For this series I will simply assume that the Apostle John is the author.

The date when the Book of Revelation was written is also somewhat controversial. The earliest traditions place it at around 95 AD. Some scholars suggest at date around 60 AD based in the internal composition and topics of Revelation with respect to the events of the Roman Empire and the fall of Jerusalem. I will take a neutral position on the date, either date fits with what I will be writing about. Either date also fits with John the Apostle as the author because early tradition notes that John was the last surviving disciple of Jesus, living to 100 AD.

Interpreting the Book of Revelation is very controversial. The traditional way the church interpreted Revelation from at least the 400's has been set aside in popular Christian culture by an approach that was developed in the 1800's by John Nelson Darby. One version of Darby's approach was popularized by the Left Behind series of Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. I will opt for the older traditional interpretation.

Christians divide the Bible into two major sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament covers at period describing creation to about 400 BC, 400 years before the birth of Jesus. The New Testament covers a much shorter span, roughly 1 AD (give or take a few years), to the death and resurrection of Jesus (around 33 AD), to the start of the church over the next few decades. The Old Testament had a reoccurring theme of looking to the last days, when the Messiah would come and rule. The New Testament writes about the beginning of the last days, which began when Jesus was born as a baby in Bethlehem, and especially showed itself when Jesus died, rose again, and ascended into Heaven.

The apostle John in the Book of Revelation wrote about events that would soon take place. The churches in Asia Minor were about to face strong persecution under Rome. The church since Jesus' first coming faced both great success and horrific persecution. Through all this, John writes that the people of God will persevere to victory. It is not a victory by conventional standards. It is an ironic victory where believers overcome through endurance, suffering, perseverance, and even death. But God will win, and all believers win through Christ.

As we open the Book of Revelation keep in mind we are living in the last days. Christ has broken into the world in his first advent and is ruling. The effects of his rule are seen everywhere, if you know where to look. Before Christ's first coming the knowledge of God was largely limited to Israel. But after Christ's first coming the gospel has gone into the entire world.

This advent series will select various passages that give a flavor of the entire book of Revelation, climaxing at the ushering in of the new heavens and earth, the eternal kingdom of God where all God's people will see him face to face.

Gene for Pedophilia?

Gene for pedophilia? Some Italian researchers claim to have discovered a gene that causes pedophilia. I think a lot of geneticists would balk at the claim that a gene causes a behavior. But there is in the popular media a lot of claims for genes for various behaviors.

There is an often misunderstood theological concept called "original sin" -- which simply means all humans are bent to do wrong things because that is inherent in our nature. Just because a behavioral tendency identified in someone's genes, such as a pedophilia, does not mean they are free to live that tendency, even if it gives them a sense of pleasure and fulfillment in that activity. There is a greater good to resist, using the help of friends and others.

Ultimately, because of our bent to do wrong, we fail at doing the right things we should. There is a cost to failure. 2000 years ago Christ lived a perfect life and died for our failure. Those who put their trust in and alligence to Christ have this cost cancelled and have a new life given by Christ.

Turing Test for the Imago Dei

Last month was the British mathematician Alan Turing's 100th birthday. If you are a geek or techie, you undoubtedly came across the many of the biographies and legacies of Turing. One interesting thought experiment associated with Turing is the the Turing Test, a test of a machine to exhibit human intelligence and behavior. The test consists of a judge, a human, and a machine that is designed to perform just like a human. Each of the participants are separated from each other. If the judge cannot reliably identify the machine from the human, the machine will have passed the test.

There is an interesting program developed in 1966 by Joseph Weizenbaum called Eliza. Eliza simulates the behaviour of a Rogerian psychotherapist. Some who have played Eliza were fooled into thinking they were interacting with a human. I have provided a Google Gadgets edition of Eliza below for you to play with. It is supposed to work best with Firefox. Alas, this does not work with Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer.

After playing long enough with Eliza, most people are able to see it is a computer program. I think people these days are more computer savvy than in 1966 and so are not so easily fooled.

The previous post I discussed the theological aspects of intelligent extraterrestrial life. I asked the question of if it is possible for rational intelligent life not to exhibit the "image of God" -- or what theologians say in Latin, the Imago Dei. I said that the Imago Dei consists of rationality, the ability to correctly think, an immortal soul (an essence that carries on even when the physical body dies), knowledge of God, righteousness (moral integrity towards other intelligent life), and holiness (the right relationship towards God). Humans have fallen and thus do not exhibit perfect righteousness nor perfect holiness. In fact, these areas are seriously broken. For some, such as Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, the image was shattered to the point of being gone. For other Protestant Reformers, the image was severely marred but not completely eradicated.

The question I want to explore now is this: Can a Turing test be done for the Imago Dei?

The most difficult part would be the detecting the immortal soul. Ignoring that for now, how would a judge go about asking questions to a machine to determine if it was a human who possessed the Imago Dei? Alan Turing, an atheist, would probably dismiss the question or say this is part of the human nature. But suppose we came across extraterrestrial intelligent life, is there a way to test if it had the Imago Dei? It would probably center around the sense of right and wrong, moral values, if it had those. It might not consist of asking whether the intelligent life believed in God and loved God. While that is a good question, human atheists are thought to have the Imago Dei and would answer they do not believe in God.

What do you think?