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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.8 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 4:2-8
As I’ve worked to hone the technique of “visual exegesis,” I’ve found that its actually more difficult to illustrate sections of scripture that are heavy in visual language versus the more conceptual passages that you might find in the epistles, etc. This is because the goal of visual exegesis is to visually say the meaning of the text. I’m not content simply to draw a picture of a scene (for instance, Jesus feeding the 5,000 or walking on the water, or Paul preaching in Athens), rather I want to draw the heart, the meaning, the main point of the text….just as a pastor isn’t content simply to read a passage of the Bible and then sit down, he wants to expound on it, to draw out its meaning and then to apply it to his people.
So, since this is a very visual text, I needed to spend some time thinking about what the main point of it was so that I could illustrate that. And as I considered it, it seems pretty clear that the central point is the majesty, authority, and glory of the Universal King. YHWH is KING over all things, exalted above all authorities, enthroned in regal splendor, and adored by all creation. This text is establishing for us the authority of the one who will draw history to its conclusion (also, the emphasis of throne-imagery here helps us to recognize the divinity of Christ who approaches the throne, opens the seal, and then sits down on said throne….receiving all praise, glory and honor that the Father receives.).
I tried a few different ways of focusing on the throne itself, but it just seemed to fall terribly short of what was intended….how was I to depict the surpassing glory of the enthroned YHWH? That is when I thought of making the focus not the throne, but the affect of God’s glory on His angelic attendants. I wanted to try to show the bright shadow of His beauty reflected in the myriad eyes of the four living creatures, and the elders and John and his guide.
My hope is that this picture would take the viewer’s imagination by the hand and invite them to consider the glory, the majesty, the power, and the authority of the one–hidden from our view–who sits enthroned in heaven….whose beauty thrills and overwhelms the angels and elders and all of creation……and then let us consider that the radiance of God’s glory, the Son, lowered Himself to death in love for our sake. We have an awesome God of love!
