1After these things, I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice I had heard spoke to me like a trumpet, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.”
2Immediately, I was in the Spirit. And there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
3The one sitting there looked like a jasper and a sardius stone. There was a rainbow around the throne that looked like an emerald.
4Around the throne were twenty-four other thrones. On these thrones sat twenty-four elders, dressed in white clothes, with gold crowns on their heads.
5Flashes of lightning, sounds, and thunder came from the throne. There were also seven burning lamps in front of the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
6In front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, as clear as crystal. In the center, and around the throne, were four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back.
7The first creature was like a lion, the second creature was like a calf, the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle.
8Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night they never stopped saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come!”
9Whenever these living creatures gave glory, honor, and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
10the twenty-four elders would fall down before the one sitting on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They would also throw their crowns in front of the throne, saying,
11“You are worthy, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive glory, honor, and power. For you created all things, and they exist and were created because you wanted them to!”