The Lord and his Spirits
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(This chapter gives us an idea about the hierarchy of divine forces and their current influence on human history. These days the common purpose of these forces is destruction.)
After this I had a vision of a door standing open in heaven. (God is about to reveal something about the organization and purpose of his world.)
And the voice I had first heard talking to me like a trumpet (See 1:10.)
said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this." (2) Immediately the Spirit took control of me, (Bible prophets use this expression to describe an altered state of mind, where they get visions, see 1:10, 17:3, 21:10.)
and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. (The common principle directing all spirits, the boss of the spiritual world, known as the Lord God Almighty.)
(3) And the one who sat there looked like jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, surrounded the throne. (The rainbow is a mixture of all the elements other than earth: rain (water), the sun (fire) and air, see 10:1.)
(4) In a circle round the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and twenty-four elders were sitting there. (The 24 elders are spirits below God, lesser deities so to speak.)
They were dressed in white and had golden crowns on their heads. (5) From the throne came flashes of lightening, rumblings and claps of thunder. (The image of the thunderstorm symbolizes God's anger with humanity, see 6:13, 8:5, 11:19, 16:18, 18:21, Isaiah 2:10.)
Seven torches were burning in front of the throne. These are the seven spirits of God. (Spirits of destruction and punishment, their fiery nature is emphasized by the seven burning torches, see 5:6, 8:2.)
(6) There was something like a sea of glass, clear as crystal before the throne. (Crystal can hold a spiritual force. In this case it is the spirit of fire symbolizing destruction, see 15:2.)
In the middle around the throne were four living creatures covered with eyes in the front and at the back. (These 4 living creatures are the spirits of the four elements.)
(7) The first living creature looked like a lion, the second like an ox, (the element of earth, see 6:5,)
the third had a human face, (the element of water, see 6:1,)
the fourth was like a flying eagle. (the element of air, see 6:7. The order of the four elements in this verse reflect their status within the spiritual hierarchy: the lowest is fire and the highest is air. Normally one would expect a fish or a dolphin as the symbol for the element of water and not a "human face". In this verse the human face reflects the position of human beings within the elemental hierarchy: we come from the earth, but we also have a connection to the element of air through our intelligence and our souls.)
(8) Each of the four living creatures had six wings (Wings are a sign of the element of air meaning the spiritual nature of these creatures, 6 is the number of fire symbolizing their destructive effect.)
covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. (The eyes everywhere symbolize the universal presence and effects of these elemental spirits.)
Day and night they never stop saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who will come." (The four elements including the element of fire, known as the Devil, are tools of God.)
(9) Whenever the living creatures give praise, honour and thanks to the one who sits on the throne and lives for ever and ever, (10) the twenty-four elders fall down before him and worship the one who lives for ever and ever. They put their crowns before the throne and say: (11) "Our Lord and God, you deserve to receive praise and honour and power, for you created everything and through your will everything exists and was created." (The 24 elders are spirits below God, lesser deities so to speak. They are also servants of God.)