Take a moment to read Revelation 4 before reading the devotional below.
Be sure to read the whole chapter of Revelation 4 before you read this devotional. When the passages are too long I don’t copy and paste it here, but if you read my words and not the Bible it’s harming your spiritual life.
In today’s passage we get a vision of heaven. I’m not interested in using this devotional series to figure out what’s literal or figurative or what every symbol means. There are plenty of scholars who have done that and I’d encourage you to dig deeper if it interests you. For our purposes, I want to notice the bigger picture. Who is God and what is his kingdom like? Two key themes I notice in today’s chapter: diversity and worship.
John can barely put words to what he is seeing. Twenty-four thrones, twenty-four elders, and four living creatures that are unlike anything we’ve ever seen. What I see in that is images of diversity. The richness of diversity in God’s kingdom extends far beyond even human diversity to include even creatures we have never seen before. And what is this diverse group doing? Worshiping God. Bowing at the feet of Jesus. Will heaven be a constant worship concert? I doubt it, since the Bible talks about worship in all kinds of ways that don’t involve singing. However, it is interesting to see this diverse kingdom united in worship. Perhaps that picture could serve us even here and now.