Read & explore together
Worship of the Creator
This vision centres on God’s throne and the worship offered there. Its images are vivid and unusual, yet the passage itself makes the main point clear: God is worthy of praise for who he is and because he created all things.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
These verses describe what comes from the throne and what is placed before and around it. The passage names lightnings, sounds, thunders, seven lamps of fire, a glass-like sea, four living creatures and twenty-four elders. The focus then moves to their ongoing words and actions of worship before the One on the throne.
Revelation 4:5–11Main takeaway
This passage teaches that God is worthy of worship because he is holy, eternal, almighty and the Creator of all things.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Signs around the throneOut of the throne come lightnings, sounds and thunders, giving the scene weight and majesty.
Explanation
Out of the throne come lightnings, sounds and thunders, giving the scene weight and majesty. Before the throne are seven lamps of fire, and the passage identifies them as the seven Spirits of God. Attention is fixed first on the throne and what surrounds it.
02The living creatures around the throneBefore the throne is something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle and around the throne are four living creatures, full of eyes before and behind.
Explanation
Before the throne is something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle and around the throne are four living creatures, full of eyes before and behind. Their appearances are described by comparisons: like a lion, a calf, a man and a flying eagle.
03Their unceasing cry of praiseEach living creature has six wings and is full of eyes around and within. Day and night they do not rest from saying, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!'
Explanation
Each living creature has six wings and is full of eyes around and within. Day and night they do not rest from saying, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!' Their words praise God’s holiness, power and eternal being.
04The elders worship the CreatorWhen the living creatures give glory, honour and thanks to the One on the throne, the twenty-four elders fall down and worship him who lives forever and ever.
Explanation
When the living creatures give glory, honour and thanks to the One on the throne, the twenty-four elders fall down and worship him who lives forever and ever. They throw their crowns before the throne as part of their worship, then declare that the Lord and God is worthy because he created all things.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01Which words in the passage tell you why God is worshipped?
Look at both the living creatures’ song and the elders’ words for titles and reasons such as 'holy', 'the Almighty' and 'you created all things'.
02What do the twenty-four elders do when worship rises before the throne?
Notice their two actions in the vision: they fall down before the One on the throne and they throw their crowns before the throne.
03Which phrases show that the vision uses comparisons to describe what is seen?
Watch for wording such as 'something like a sea of glass', 'similar to crystal' and creatures described as 'like' a lion, calf, man and eagle.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Revelation 4:5–11
5Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders. There were seven lamps of fire burning before his throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
6Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.
7The first creature was like a lion, the second creature like a calf, the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle.
8The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!”
9When the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever,
10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying,
11“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed and were created!”