Eyes Without and Within

Revelations 4

This is a beautiful chapter of worship at the throne of God. John has been taken up in the spirit to the throne room of God, and this chapter describes what he sees. It’s an awesome display, with thunderings and lightenings, and voices proceeding from the throne of God. Yet, despite all of this, a sea of glass, like crystal, is before the throne. Even in the midst of God’s power and splendor, a sea will be perfectly still, because with God, there is perfect peace.

I want to focus on the four creatures. Verse 8 says “The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within.”

These creatures are before the throne of God and in the presence of God, and they have “eyes around and within.”

This should be our vision when we are in the presence of God (and we should always strive to be in His presence). Eyes around and within. In our world, we have two physical eyes which look out, and with them we find it easy to see others, to criticize, to judge, and to be disappointed with the visage of the world in which we live – but this is the world’s way of seeing; it should not be ours.

As Christians, we should have eyes which look out, but we should also have eyes which look in. How often do we, in the presence of God, truly seek to look with eyes within – at our selves, our shortcomings, and our level of purity and commitment to the one and only living God.

Isaiah 6:5Isaiah 6:5 (NKJV)
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” shows how Isaiah saw himself and realized his own sin (and, the sin of his people) when he was brought into the presence of God. It also shows God’s willingness to purify us as we come before Him.

Once Isaiah had been touched with the coal, and his lips cleansed, he went from “woe is me” to “Here am I! Send me.”

The creatures at the throne of God, “do not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!’”

And this is how it should be with us…

In the presence of God, we will have true, full vision – vision of God, and vision all around, and vision within. And with that vision, our response should be two fold while on earth. First, we should forever proclaim “holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” giving “glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne.” Second, we should cry out, “Here am I! Send me.”

I can’t state that in my life I regularly have such purity of vision. I’m sure few of us can. This just shows us that we aren’t there yet. But if we are seeking God, He will transform us, and our vision will become like those who are in His presence, and we will indeed be changed, from Glory to Glory, on the road to Christlikeness (2 Corinthians 3:182 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.).