Barriers down

When John joins the heavenly liturgy (Revelation 4), he sees three main items of temple furniture – the throne (4:2-5a), the lambs that are the seven Spirits (4:5b), and a sea of glass (4:6a). In the temple, these were all in separate rooms: The ark-throne in the Most Holy Place, the lamps in the Holy Place, and the sea in the court. In heaven, they are all part of a single throne-complex, since both the lamps and the sea are said to be “before the throne” (vv. 5-6).

There’s a message in that: The different temple zones were separated by doors and curtains, and they gave architectural embodiment to a divided world. Between the Gentile sea and the heavenly light of the Spirit was a closed door; between the lamp and the throne was a door that only one man could pass through each year. The heavenly sanctuary is a world reintegrated: The sea of nations is immediate to the throne and the lamp, “before the throne.” And since heaven is not just “up there” but “ahead,” John’s vision is one of the world to come, the world that comes to be after the world that then was is burned away.

It’s our world, now that the Spirit has been poured out and Jesus’ disciples have been sent out as fishermen in the Gentile sea. It’s our world, immediate to the oversight of the One like jasper and sardius who sits on the throne. The God who was once screened off in His house has brought the barriers down.