Revelation 4:2-4 NLT,NIV,ESV

The high court of heaven. If the portions of this book hitherto considered have had their difficulties, those on which we now enter are far more beset therewith. But the solemn sanctions given to the reading and study of this book send us, in spite of its difficulties, to the earnest examination of its sayings, certain that in them, even in the most mysterious of them, there lies a message from God to our souls. May he be pleased to make that message clear to us. This fourth chapter gives... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 4:2

And immediately I was in the Spirit . Omit "and" (see above), so that the passage may be rendered, After these things, immediately, I was in the Spirit; a new scene was opened out, as before (in Revelation 4:1 ). St. John was already in the Spirit; but now receives a fresh outpouring of grace, enabling him to see yet more deeply into the mysteries of the kingdom of God. And, behold, a throne was set in heaven; or, a throne was situated ( ἔκειτο ). There is no action of placing or... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 4:2-11

Man's higher sphere of being: (2) Spiritually entered. "And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne," etc. We need not suppose that the supermundane world appeared to John's bodily eye in the forms in which it is here presented. It was a mental vision and nothing more, and a mental vision is often more real, more significant, more impressive, than a material. Commentators of this book have treated these objects as those which... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 4:3

And he that sat was to look upon like , etc.; or, he that sat like in appearance ( δράσει ). The word ὅρασις is found in this verse and in two other places only in the New Testament, viz. in Acts 2:17 (where it is part of a quotation from Joel) and in Revelation 9:17 . In the latter place the expression is ἐν τῇ ὁράσει , and the presence of the preposition, together with the article, seems to justify the rendering "in the vision." In the Septuagint ὅρασις is... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 4:4

And round about the throne were four and twenty seats . Throughout the vision no past tense is used. The vision represents the worship of heaven (so far as it can be presented to human understanding) as it continues eternally. Thrones … seats. Render both by the same English word, as in the Revised Version. Some doubt is attached to the case of the first θρόνοι. θρόνοι , is found in B, P and this makes the construction nominative after ἰδού (cf. Revelation 4:2 ); but א , A,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Revelation 4:2

And immediately I was in the Spirit - See the notes on Revelation 1:10. He does not affirm that he was caught up into heaven, nor does he say what impression was on his own mind, if any, as to the place where he was; but he was at once absorbed in the contemplation of the visions before him. He was doubtless still in Patmos, and these things were made to pass before his mind as a reality; that is, they appeared as real to him as if he saw them, and they were in fact a real symbolical... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Revelation 4:3

And he that sat was to look upon - Was in appearance; or, as I looked upon him, this seemed to be his appearance. He does not describe his form, but his splendor.Like a jasper - ἰάσπιδι iaspidi The jasper, properly, is “an opaque, impure variety of quartz, of red, yellow, and also of some dull colors, breaking with a smooth surface. It admits of a high polish, and is used for vases, seals, snuff-boxes, etc. When the colors are in stripes or bands, it is called striped jasper” (Dana, in... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Revelation 4:4

And round about the throne were four and twenty seats - Or rather, “thrones” - θρόνοι thronoi - the same word being used as what is rendered “throne” - θρόνος thronos. The word, indeed, properly denotes a seat, but it came to be employed to denote particularly the seat on which a monarch sat, and is properly translated thus in Revelation 4:2-3. So it is rendered in Matthew 5:34; Matthew 19:28; Matthew 23:22; Matthew 25:31; Luke 1:32; and uniformly elsewhere in the New Testament (53 places in... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Revelation 4:2

Revelation 4:2. Immediately I was in the Spirit Even in a higher degree than before. “This phrase,” says Doddridge, “signifies to be under a strong and supernatural impulse, caused by the miraculous operation of the Spirit of God acting on the imagination, in such a manner as to open extraordinary scenes, which had not any exact external archetype. And it is much illustrated by the view presented to Ezekiel, when he sat in his house among the elders of the people, (Ezekiel 8:1,) who... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 4:1-11

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 4:1-11

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 4:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 4:2-11

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 4:3

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 4:4

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Revelation 4:2

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Revelation 4:3

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Revelation 4:4

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Revelation 4:2

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