Today's passage: Revelation 4

My wife and I are pretty simple people.  Many Christians seem to greatly enjoy the study of Revelation, but for both of us, much of it remains shrouded in mystery.  Revelation 4 is the start of John's second vision in this book.  Imagine that you were trying to describe something to someone who had never shared that experience.  How would one describe the greatest sunset you have witnessed to someone who had never been outside?  Sure, you could describe the colors, the sounds, and even the feel of the cooling air with the transition from day to night, but could your words really do it justice?  When I read the evocative imagery of Revelation 4, I get a sense that words could not adequately describe what he experienced.  When you boil it down, it is a vision of eternal worship of God.  The depiction given of the one who sits on the throne eludes being a physical description in ways we can easily imagine or relate to known images.  But yet, we do get a solid understanding that this being is surrounded by kings and fantastic creatures in perpetual worship.

On reading John's description of the ongoing worship, I and many others feel compelled to discover deeper unwritten meanings behind the imagery.  For example I have heard that those seated in the 24 smaller thrones surrounding the central one represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles.  It's an interesting thought.  Is it correct?  I have no idea.  Perhaps even John did not know the meaning of all that he described.  If I were to look at the inner workings of a beehive, I could describe the behavior I see, but I could not give any reasonable explanation of how the various bees know what they should do, or how they coordinate and communicate.  If I cannot fully comprehend the behavior of some relatively simple creatures, how can I understand this glimpse into the inner workings surrounding God's throne?  While it is entertaining to try to understand this vision deeper, I feel safe in saying that I will likely never feel that I have absolute knowledge of what is depicted.  I do not wish to imply that others cannot find deeper meaning through intense study and reflection on Revelation 4.  There is much I freely admit to not knowing, and perhaps in time my impression will change.  However, today what I get from this vision in Revelation 4 as it applies to my life is fairly straightforward and fairly concrete.  It is to simply to worship God joyfully, respectfully and without end.