Revelation 4

v1-7: “We can know nothing of future events except what God wishes to reveal to us.” When “God reveals his purposes to us, we may and should accept them, and not claim to be wise above what is revealed.” John sees in heaven a throne, where God “resides in glory, and from there he gives laws to the church and to the whole world.” Around the throne were the twenty four elders, “representing the whole church of God, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament age.” The elders are seated around the throne, showing the “honour, rest, and satisfaction” of God’s people in heaven, and “their relationship with God, their closeness to him,” and “the sight and enjoyment they have of him.”

v8-11: The song of heaven “will greatly delight” the ears of God’s people. In heaven, there is only one object of worship, the Lord God Almighty. “He alone is to be worshipped as God by the church on earth and in heaven.” He is to be worshipped because “He is the Creator of all things, the primary Cause, and no one except the Creator of all things should be adored.” He is to be worshipped because “He is the preserver of all things… All beings except God are dependent on the will and power of God, and no dependent being must be set up as an object of religious worship.” He is to be worshipped because “He is the final cause of all things, the end for which they were created.”