Immediately I was in the Spirit Even in a higher degree than before. “This phrase,” says Doddridge, “signifies to be under a strong and supernatural impulse, caused by the miraculous operation of the Spirit of God acting on the imagination, in such a manner as to open extraordinary scenes, which had not any exact external archetype. And it is much illustrated by the view presented to Ezekiel, when he sat in his house among the elders of the people, (Ezekiel 8:1,) who probably saw nothing but the prophet himself, as one who was in a trance or ecstasy, or whose thoughts were so attentively fixed as to be insensible of what passed around him. We are not therefore to imagine that the person sitting on the throne, or the four animals, or the four and twenty elders, were real beings existing in nature, though they represented, in a figurative manner, things that did really exist. And, though it is possible that aerial scenes might, by divine or angelic power, have been formed, I think it much more probable that all that passed was purely in the imagination of St. John. This will keep us, in our interpretation, clear of a thousand difficulties, not to say absurdities, which would follow from a contrary supposition, namely, that there is in heaven an animal in the form of a lamb, to represent Christ, and that there are such living creatures as here described; and that God himself appears in a human form,” &c.
Behold, a throne was set in heaven Representing that of the blessed God; and one sat on the throne Of a majestic form and appearance, and arrayed in robes of glory as a king, governor, and judge. Here is described God, the Almighty, the Father of heaven, in his majesty, glory, and dominion.