Chapters 4 and 5 prepared John, and they prepare the reader, for the outpouring of judgments on the earth that follow. They present the place from which these judgments originate and the Person from whom they come. Before revealing the judgments God will send on the earth (chs. 6-18), He gave John a second vision (cf. 1:10-3:22). This vision revealed what will take place in heaven (chs. 4-5) following the Rapture and the judgment seat of Christ (1 Pet. 4:17-18). He did this to enable the readers to view coming earthly events from a heavenly perspective.
One writer proposed that God revealed the whole heavenly court scene in chapters 4-5 as a cosmic temple similar to Israel's Old Testament temple. The court scene describes a divine council in session. In it God decides the worthiness of the Lamb to receive the covenant inheritance, symbolized by the seven-sealed scroll, by a process of investigative judgment.195
"Chapters 4-5 may be viewed as the fulcrum of the Revelation. In relation to what has gone before they provide a fuller understanding of him who dominates the letters to the churches. In relation to the rest of the book they serve the double purpose of initiating the series of judgments which lead to the final advent and descent of the city of God to earth, and of supplying the form for the series of messianic judgments (the seven seals) which immediately follow. In this respect these chapters constitute the pivot of the structure which holds the book together, for the rest of the visions dovetail into this main structure. Yet the vision of chapters 4-5 is also a self-contained whole, serving a highly important function regarding the message of the book. It reveals the ground of assurance that God's gracious purpose for the universe will come to pass, and so it is dominated by praise and adoration."196
"No part of the Scripture is more calculated to evoke worship than these two chapters of John's prophecy."197
