1 After this, I looked and saw a door that opened into heaven. Then the voice that had spoken to me at first and that sounded like a trumpet said, “Come up here! I will show you what must happen next.”
2 At once the Spirit took control of me, and there in heaven I saw a throne and someone sitting on it.
3 The one who was sitting there sparkled like precious stones of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne.
4 Twenty-four other thrones were in a circle around that throne. And on each of these thrones there was an elder dressed in white clothes and wearing a gold crown.
5 Flashes of lightning and roars of thunder came out from the throne in the centre of the circle. Seven torches, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning in front of the throne.
6 Also in front of the throne was something that looked like a glass sea, clear as crystal.Around the throne in the centre were four living creatures covered front and back with eyes.
7 The first creature was like a lion, the second one was like a bull, the third one had the face of a human, and the fourth was like a flying eagle.
8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings, and their bodies were covered with eyes. Day and night they never stopped singing,“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord,All-powerful Lord God,who was and isand is coming!”
9 The living creatures kept praising, honouring, and thanking the one who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever.
10 At the same time the twenty-four elders knelt down before the one sitting on the throne. And as they worshipped the one who lives for ever, they placed their crowns in front of the throne and said,
11 “Our Lord and God,you are worthyto receive glory,honour, and power.You created all things,and by your decision they areand were created.”