The Radiating Revelation of God through People: 1. Patriarchs

After God's radiating revelation in and through Creation, the next consecutive circle of God’s radiating formative revelation comes through his chosen spokespersons to his covenant people, recorded in the Scriptures. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads (Rev. 4:4 NIV).

After God spoke the world into being, he spoke to and through his chosen spokespersons. This may be the symbolism of the twenty-four elders. The Word of God was first spoken to and then through his chosen spokespersons, bringing clarity to the vague natural revelation of creation. It can be demonstrated that this “special revelation” in history came to and through six primary kinds of “witnesses.” These six formative witnesses were patriarchs, a lawgiver, judges, prophets, wise ones, and apostles. Their testimony was recorded in the written Word of God (the Bible). Each of these types of “preachers” led God’s covenant people by first listening to the content of God’s Word themselves, understanding it, and then declaring it to their contemporary generation in their language, culture, and history.

God first formed and spoke directly to and through the patriarchs. He walked in the garden with Adam (Gen. 3:8). He conversed with Noah and Abraham (Gen. 6:13, 12:1). He treated these men and their families with distinction. He uniquely interacted with them, establishing and defining his covenant with them and their lineage. God initiated, through his active speech (his Word), revealing to and through these consecrated men (and their families) his specific will and character. They were called into covenant with God and then called to be the leading figures of humanity, as mediators between man and God. It can be argued that their primary role was to listen to God’s Word and to help others pay attention to him. Through them, God formed a people for himself.

The Radiating, Revealing Word in Creation

Beginning with creation, God has initiated his formative revelation to the world by speaking his Word. His interaction with the world and his people comes at his command. At creation he spoke his Word into the void and the cosmos leaped into being (Ps. 33:6-9, 2 Pet. 3:5). His Word commands and sustains the natural forces (Ps. 104:7, Ps. 119:89-90, Heb. 1:3). In the very fabric of this created cosmos, his essence is “manifested” (Rom. 1:19 NIV). He first revealed himself through what he has created. It can be argued that, in his "Revelation", John is describing the revealing creation, represented by the wild creature (lion), the domesticated creature (ox), the human creature (man), and the creature of the heavens (eagle). These are seen at the center, around the throne, looking both ways, to the throne and out to the cosmos, worshipping and speaking (paying attention to the center and proclaiming out to the cosmos):
"In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come” (Rev. 4:6-8 NIV)."

Leading God’s People to Pay Attention to God’s Word

Any theological foundation for a framework of understanding the essential primacy of Christian leaders to lead from the centrality of the texts of Christian, Holy Scripture must be founded on and found in the revealed Word. There are many places one could look within God’s written Word to find a framework for this picture of setting proper attention on the radiating centrality of God’s initiating revelation rather than on human initiative. One excellent text to use is the concluding book of the canon of the Bible. The picture of God at the center, radiating his revelation out from that center to the outer edges of the cosmos, can be perceived in the picture John gives in Revelation. Chapters four and five apocalyptically describe the expanding circles of God’s personal, revealing initiative being manifested.
              
It can be argued that John, writing “on the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10 NIV), is imagining himself worshipping with members of his seven congregations on Sunday, listening to God’s Word. He reminds them of their common bond and center; the Lord Jesus who is the Word made visible (Rev. 1:7-8). After he turns “to see the voice that was speaking” (Rev. 1:12 NIV), he writes to each of his seven congregations the revealing Word from God, ending each revelation with the charge, “he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22 NIV).            
            
One theory of the pattern of the whole letter of John’s Revelation argues that the seventh revelation introduces the next cycle in the series of revelations. Before the common refrain (“he who has an ear...”) comes at the end of the revelation to the church in Laodicea, John introduces the picture of the “open door” (Rev. 3:20 NIV). Jesus says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne" (Rev. 3:30-21 NIV).
            
The reference to the seven golden lamp stands (Rev. 1:12-13) evokes the intimate and immediate presence of God in the holy place of the Tabernacle (Ex. 25:37-40). It can be argued that John sees his seven congregations as the instruments of light before the great light of the throne of God. John’s little, scattered congregations can be seen, like all members of God’s covenant, worshipping people, as always before the throne of God, receiving his revealing Word.
            
Who can enter into the centre of God’s holy throne, his intimate presence? The answer is: The one who “hears my voice and opens the door” (Rev. 3:20 NIV). How is his voice heard and how is that door opened? John immediately answers this question. The next thing John describes is “a door standing open in heaven” (Rev. 4:1 NIV). God opens that door. He says, “Come up here and I will show you what must take place after this” (Rev. 4:1 NIV). God initiates the very possibility of a relationship with him. It is an invitation to commune with the very community of God. The triune God (the Spirit, the Word, and the One on the throne) invites John into his presence to experience relationship with him. John writes,
I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it (Rev. 4:1-2 NIV).

This is the regular experience of the community of God’s covenant people who come together to listen to the Word of God “on the Lord’s day.” John goes on to describe the regular experience of relationship with God through worship and God’s revelation. God says, “I will show you what is to happen next” (Rev. 4:2 NIV). John then describes a picture of what happens “next,” every time Christians assemble to pay attention to the radiating Word of God.
            
The Church is centered on the revealing, living God, not on herself or on her individual members. Like concentric circles, God’s revealing Word radiates outward. John sees “a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it” (Rev. 4:2 NIV). This is the central person of God who is on his throne. From this center, God reveals himself to the cosmos that he has created and that he sustains through his Word. He has “the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne” (Rev. 4:3 NIV). Like the gleam of precious jewels, God’s light is refracted out from his encircled center.