Chapter 4 is a “swing chapter” that can be viewed as a climax to the letters to the churches and a preview of the seven seals that will follow. The letters to the churches had ended with very brief anticipations of ultimate glory; chapter 4 gives us the full vision of heavenly glory. But the chapter is also our entrance into the heavenly scenes that will follow. Symbolism is the basic mode, with interspersed *lyric hymns of praise. We should not try to visualize the details