Revelation Ch 4 (Wednesday of the First Week of Advent)

After this I looked and there was a door that had been opened in heaven. The first voice that I had heard, which sounded like a trumpet, said to me, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in a Spirit-inspired trance and I saw a throne in heaven, and someone was seated on the throne. The one seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and surrounding the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald. Twenty-four thrones, with twenty-four elders seated upon them, surrounded the throne. The elders were dressed in white clothing and had gold crowns on their heads. From the throne came lightning, voices, and thunder. In front of the throne were seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God. Something like a glass sea, like crystal, was in front of the throne.

In the center, by the throne, were four living creatures encircling the throne. These creatures were covered with eyes on the front and on the back. The first living creature was like a lion. The second living creature was like an ox. The third living creature had a face like a human being. And the fourth living creature was like an eagle in flight. Each of the four living creatures had six wings, and each was covered all around and on the inside with eyes. They never rest day or night, but keep on saying,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,
    who was and is and is coming.”

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one seated on the throne, who lives forever and always, the twenty-four elders fall before the one seated on the throne. They worship the one who lives forever and always. They throw down their crowns before the throne and say,

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
        to receive glory and honor and power,
            because you created all things.
                It is by your will that they existed and were created.”

Commentary

A question arises that is essential for all of theology: What is the relation between time and eternity, not in creation, which is encompassed by time in virtue of its becoming, but in the eternal God Himself? Does time exist for eternity, and what is the character of this relation? The simplest and most widespread (although somewhat simplistic) opinion is that time simply does not exist for God, since His eternity makes time totally transparent and dissolves it. According to this view, time exists only for the creature, as a kind of illusion owing to the creature's limited condition; it does not exist for God, for whom there is only eternity. If thought through consistently, however, such a point of view leads to great difficulties. First of all, the entire Bible, as the divine tale about the relation of God to man, about God's economy, represents a total rejection of this point of view. The revelation of God to men and all of God's works in the world are portrayed in the Bible as occurring in time, both for God and for man.

In order to be considered true, the whole of the Christian religion must presuppose the reality of time, not only for the world, but also for God, with the one reality conditioning the other. Furthermore, in the biblical depiction and in the Christian belief that is based on it, God lives in the world and with the world, in an interrelationship. Not only does He act in the world, but He is also defined on the basis of the world: He "repents" (of the creation of the world), He is angry, joyful, and so on…. The reality of this world is established by God, and therefore the reality of the time of this world holds for God as well, for this reality is His proper work and also His proper selfpositing…. The idea of God's becoming God not for Himself but for the world together with the becoming of the world - this idea necessarily follows if one fully accepts the Christian revelation. (The Lamb of God)