第四章

1 此後，我觀看，見天上有門開了。我初次聽見好像吹號的聲音，對我說：「你上到這裏來，我要將以後必成的事指示你。」2 我立刻被聖靈感動，見有一個寶座安置在天上，又有一位坐在寶座上。3 看那坐著的，好像碧玉和紅寶石；又有虹圍著寶座，好像綠寶石。4 寶座的周圍又有二十四個座位；其上坐著二十四位長老，身穿白衣，頭上戴著金冠冕。5 有閃電、聲音、雷轟從寶座中發出；又有七盞火燈在寶座前點著；這七燈就是神的七靈。6 寶座前好像一個玻璃海，如同水晶。寶座中和寶座周圍有四個活物，前後遍體都滿了眼睛。7 第一個活物像獅子，第二個像牛犢，第三個臉面像人，第四個像飛鷹。8 四活物各有六個翅膀，遍體內外都滿了眼睛。他們晝夜不住地說：聖哉！聖哉！聖哉！主神是昔在、今在、以後永在的全能者。9 每逢四活物將榮耀、尊貴、感謝歸給那坐在寶座上、活到永永遠遠者的時候，10 那二十四位長老就俯伏在坐寶座的面前敬拜那活到永永遠遠的，又把他們的冠冕放在寶座前，說：11 我們的主，我們的神，你是配得榮耀、尊貴、權柄的；因為你創造了萬物，並且萬物是因你的旨意被創造而有的。

 

默想：

1. 開聲將本段經文讀兩遍，揣摩一下在天上所發生的情景。
2. 再一次慢慢地讀這段經文，閉上眼睛，想像一下所描述的景況：碧玉、紅寶石、綠寶石，閃電、聲音、雷轟，火燈、玻璃海……。是否能體會當時的輝煌莊嚴的情景？若我當時在場，會有何感覺？
3. 仔細聆聽四活物的吟誦：「聖哉！聖哉！聖哉！」思想，神的聖潔對我有什麼意義，然後加入他們的崇拜中，一同吟誦：「聖哉！聖哉！聖哉！」
4. 思想今天我能用什麼方式來敬拜神：一篇詩、一首歌、一幅畫、一個能榮耀神的行動……？

 

禱告與筆錄：

繼續安靜在神面前，與神對話，並聆聽祂對我說的話。將心中的思想（心得），或是與神的禱告，記錄在「靈程筆記簿」上面。

 

Chapter4

¹After this 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.” ²At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. ³And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. ⁴Surrounding 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. ⁵From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. ⁶Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back……⁸……Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” ⁹Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:    ¹¹“You are worthy, our Lord and God,     to receive glory and honor and power,     for you created all things,        and by your will they were created        and have their being.”

Meditation

1. Read the passage aloud 2 times and get a feel for what is happening in heaven.
2. Read the passage again slowly. Close eyes and imagine what is described here: the amber and the emerald, the thunder and the lightning, the torch and the sea …. Get a sense the awe of the place. What does it feel like to be there?
3. Listen to the chanting of the Four Animals: “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Think about what God’s holiness means to me and join in their worship and chant: “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
4. Think about one way that I would worship God today – a poem, a song, a painting, a specific act that can honor God ….

Prayer & Journaling:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what he wants to tell me.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in the 2012 “Spiritual Journal” book.