Enthronement

The verb “sit” (kathemai) is used thirty-three times in Revelation, often explicitly with the connotation of enthronement. A dozen or more times God is said to be the “One seated” (4:2-3, 9-10; 5:1, 7, 13; 6:16; 7:10, 15; 19:4; 20:11; 21:5), and twice John sees twenty-four elders enthroned around the throne (4:4; 11:16). The harlot is also “sitting” on a beast and on the waters (17:1, 3), boasting that she sits as a queen forever (18:7). We might extend the enthronement motif to the various scenes of riders, who are “enthroned” in their saddles (6:2, 4, 5, 8; 9:17; 19:11, 18-19, 21).

The uses of the verb are arranged in a significant, recognizable, if not perfectly symmetrical pattern. There are two large clusters of references to the enthroned God: 10 times in chapters 4-6, and another three times in chapters 19-21. That means between between “He who sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them” (7:15) and “the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne” (19:4), we neither see the enthroned God nor hear about His enthronement. The last time we see elders enthroned is 11:16. 

That is partly due to the fact that our attention is directed to happenings on earth – the dragon is thrown down, the beasts attack the saints, the harlot city is destroyed. But it is not only that. The throne vision disappears between chapters 7 and 19, the enthronement of God is contested. In the middle of Revelation, we see the drama of a series of coup attempts.

That is especially the case in chapter 17, which contains five uses of the verb, all applied to the harlot. The first four uses of the verb are arranged in a neat chiasm:

A. Harlot enthroned on the waters, 17:1

B. Harlot enthroned on the beast, 17:3

B’. Explanation of the beast on which the harlot sits, 17:9

A’. Explanation of waters on which the harlot sits, 17:15

The fifth use of the verb is in 18:7, the harlot’s Ozymandian boast about her eternal kingdom, which occurs just as her kingdom begins to collapse.

Only after the harlot falls does talk about the “One sitting on the throne” return, in the praise of heaven over the judgment of the harlot (19:1-4). Once the harlot has fallen, the enthronement of the Enthroned One is evident. The kingdom of God comes when God displays His glory and power in judging the Babylon.

There is another thread going here as well. In 20:4, thrones appear (as they did in chapter 4), but “they sat” on them. Here the enthroned are those who have been beheaded before of their witness to Jesus and the word of God. After 11:16, we no longer see elders enthroned in heaven; the beheaded saints have taken their place. This too is a dimension of the coming of the kingdom, for until the martyrs are not only vindicated in judgment but exalted to thrones, the kingdom has not fully come.

John highlights the critical character of the saints’ enthronement by using a different verb for sitting – kathizo. The variation of terminology italicizes the message of 20:4: This is the enthronement that finally answers to the contests for enthronement that run through the center of Revelation. The more unusual verb is is used in 20:4 also to create an echo with 3:21, the only other place where the verb is used in Revelation: “He who overcomes, I will grant him to sit down with Me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” That promise is fulfilled by the enthronement of martyrs in 20:4.