Pesachim 54a enumerates the seven things which
were created before the world: the Torah, repentance, the Garden of Eden,
Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, the temple, and the name of the Messiah. All
these elements appear in our apocalypse. Ch. 4 contains the Throne of Glory and
implicitly the heavenly temple. That these seven things were created before the
world indicates that they are prerequisites for the orderly progress of mankind
upon the earth. “The Torah, the supreme source of instruction; the concept of
repentance, in recognition that ‘to err is human,’ and hence, if man falls, the
opportunity to rise again; the Garden of Eden and the Gehenna, symbolizing
reward and punishment; the Throne of Glory and the temple, indicated that the
goal of Creation is that the Kingdom of God (represented by the temple) shall
be established on earth, as it is in heaven: and finally, the name of the
Messiah, i.e. the assurance that God’s purpose will ultimately be achieved” (Pesachim 54a, Epstein, p. 265, n. 11).
This epitomizes the message of Revelation. (J. Massyngberde
Ford, Revelation: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary [AYB 38; New
Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 81)
