Book of Revelation - Ch. 4, Vs. 1-4 (06/16/2018)

I'd like, as a group of Sunday School students sitting here, to welcome you back from the land of North Carolina. And he speaks Cherokee now fluently, and he's back. I am.

I visited all my relatives that were anxious enough to see me to come by. I didn't go to see any of them. But there's just too many. I saw my brother and my sister and my mom. She has a little onset of Alzheimer's.

So sometimes she recognized me and sometimes she didn't. But you know there's two kinds of people with Alzheimer's. There's people that have Alzheimer's and they become mean. And there's people that have Alzheimer's and they become sweet.

And that's my mother. She is just so sweet and lovely. Even if she didn't know who she was talking, you could say, I love you, and she'd say, I love you too. And it was a great experience. But I'm glad to be back.

The Opening of Revelation 4 and the Transition from the Churches to Heaven

We were looking at the Book of Revelation. And we had finished the first three chapters. And this morning we're going to look at the first part of Chapter 4. It's going to take at least two weeks on Chapter 4.

But we'll get a bit along the way. There will be some questions that come up. After this, I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet, talking with me, which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.

And immediately I was in the Spirit. And behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round about the throne, and sat like unto an emerald.

And about the throne were four and twenty elders. I'm sorry, four and twenty seats. And upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment. And they had on their heads crowns of gold.

And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass, like unto crystal.

And in the midst of the throne and round about the throne were four beasts, full of eyes before and behind. I'd like to make a quick look first at verse five. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices.

And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which were the seven spirits of God. The Great Tribulation is about to begin. Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for this place where we may come together to study your Holy Word, guided in our understanding by the Holy Spirit, which will take us to things that you wish us to hear and help us to understand those things you wish us to understand.

Thank you for sending us your Son to redeem us from all of our unrighteousness. Thank you for giving us this place and this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So it begins. After this, I looked and behold, a door was open in heaven.

And there's the total church of Jesus and its struggle on the earth. We have now finished chapter three. We have read all the letters. The letters are going to be sent out to all the churches. Now the scene shifts from the church on the earth itself.

On the earth, it shifts to heaven. Before we go any further, I'd like to consider two questions or one question. To whom are the final 19 chapters of Revelation written? We've read the first three. We know that the first three are written to the entirety of the church.

We know that because Jesus Himself told us. In Revelation 3, verse 22, He says, and He does this in every one of the letters. He says, He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Not singular, but plural. Implying all of Jesus' churches. But the question remains, what about the rest of the book? What about chapters 4 through 22? Does that part of the book have anything to say to today's church?

If not, why would it be in there, right? We'll take the position that the entire church, the entire book of Revelation, speaks to the entire church. That is to say, it contains blessings for all who read it and hear it.

Remember in Revelation 1, chapter 3, it said, Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. Okay?

I'm going to ask one last time. Maybe one last time. At least one other time. Who can hear the words written in this book? Those that have an ear to hear. Who has an ear to hear? Those that God has enabled to hear because He gave them ears to hear.

We'll go more into that in detail, and we're going to get to a passage in Isaiah. That is interesting, dealing with who can hear and who can't hear, but we'll do that in just a moment. So, After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven.

And the first voice which I heard was as it were a trumpet talking with me, which says, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. Now, many, or at least some, and this includes myself at least the last time I studied Revelation, see this as a command, see this command as a reference to the rapture of the church.

Now, if that's so, that would put the rapture three and a half years into Daniel's seven weeks of years because the Great Tribulation does not begin at the middle of the seven year period. The first three and a half years are years of peace.

The last three and a half years are the time of Jacob's trouble, the Great Tribulation. So, if you see this as a reference to the rapture of the church, then you see the church being raptured at the three and a half year mark, or you are a mid-trib person.

Last time through, I was pretty certain that I was a mid-trib person. And I'll just say this, now I'm not quite as sure as I was then. There is a problem with this command as being a command for the rapture.

It does not describe the church ascending to heaven. What does it describe? John going up into heaven. It's a call for John. It's not a call for the church. It describes John going to heaven to receive a revelation.

And he finishes up by saying, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. Future things. Maybe future to us. Maybe current to us. But certainly future to John. These are things that he had not yet seen, but that he had told he would see, and that he had given instructions to record.

In Revelation 1 .10 it says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning of the end. Now, I don't know whether I asked you earlier or not I meant to.

Who is speaking in Revelation 1? Well, Alpha and Omega. The first and the last. That's who's speaking. It's Jesus that is speaking to John. And what does he say? What thou seest, write in a book. And send it.

Send what? The book. To the seven churches which are in Asia. And then he lists them. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadephia, and Thaleidasida. Now, he didn't just say, write down what I want to cite to you in the form of a letter to each of the seven churches.

That's included, but that's not all. What is all? What thou seest. Write in a book. Everything that he writes, including the dictation of the letters from Jesus to his seven churches. Send those to all the churches and send everything else in this book to the churches.

And I turned to see the voice that spake with me and being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man. Now, it's appropriate that the first thing that John saw was Jesus surrounded by a representation of his church.

Now, I said that that way on purpose. I didn't say that John saw Jesus surrounded by his churches. I said, Jesus surrounded by a representation of his churches. Now, what does Jesus do? He dictates letters to each of the seven churches that he just mentioned.

And then, we are at the beginning of chapter four. And after this, after he received the dictation of all the letters and wrote them down, after this, I looked and behold a door was open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was it were of a trumpet which talking with me which says, Come up hither and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.

Now, remember, John has been instructed to write down everything he sees and send all of it, including the seven letters, to each of the churches. That goes a long way to answering the question posed earlier.

To whom is the last 18 chapters of Revelation written? To the people that he sent the letter to. And that's his church. It's written to his church. The entire book of Revelation is written to the church.

Yes, sir. I think so. Yes. Well, it would include Jerusalem, but that was not one of the ones that were named. It would not include Rome, which Paul wrote a letter to. There's a lot of churches that it would not include.

But there are a lot of scholars that say this seven is like the number of completion. And so that seven in some ways represents the entirety of the church body. And I think that's what you were getting at.

Is that right? Yeah, I think it's to all of the churches. Now for what he saw. Let's look at what he saw. Well, before we look at what he saw, I'm going to say this. The Bible refers to heaven more than 500 times.

And there are many descriptions of it. Yet John's description here in chapters 4 and 5 is the most complete and informative of all the Scripture. That scene centers on the throne of God and forms the prologue for the future historical events.

What events? The Great Tribulation, the Millennial Kingdom, and the Eternal State. All of which unfold in chapters 6 through 12. So chapter 6 through 12 is going to be the unfolding of all of the rest of time.

The Bible records accounts of two people who were actually taken to heaven in visions. As well as others who had visions of heaven. Now can somebody give me the names of the two people who were actually taken to heaven?

Okay, Enoch and Elijah were taken to Abraham's bosom. They were not taken to heaven, they were taken to Abraham's bosom. But they were taken up without dying. And I think that's what you were getting at.

A person that was taken, I'll give you a hint. Okay, that was not the one I was going to give you. Paul is one, who is the other one? The one we're reading about. John. John and maybe Paul. John for certain and maybe Paul.

We'll get to that in just a second. And there are others who had a vision of heaven. Now some people that had a vision of heaven. Did you say Stephen? Stephen had a vision of heaven. Paul had a vision of heaven in which he may have actually been in heaven.

He doesn't know for sure. God knows. Who else? Isaiah. Ezekiel. Those are the four we're going to deal with today. We're going to look at what each had to say about the experience. Now here is 2 Corinthians 12.

2 Corinthians 12. Beginning in verse 2. Won't take you long to know because it's written by Paul. I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago. What a modest guy. Whether in the body I cannot tell. Or whether out of the body I cannot tell.

God knoweth. Such a one caught up. Now that word is harpazo. And that means to snatch away or to snatch out. So he was snatched out. Caught up. Caught away. Harpazo. If we were Latin we would say raptured.

Rapturo. Caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man. Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell. God knoweth. How he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words. Which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

I want to read that again. I knew such a man whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell. God knoweth. How he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words. Which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Now without casting any aspersions I want to say this. When you hear or read about someone. Who claims to have visited heaven. And is returned to describe it. You might well do to consider that not even the great apostle Paul.

Was allowed to describe what he saw there. Now we'll go to the next person. Anybody got a comment or want to say anything? Me too. Now there is one person that went to heaven. And was ordered to tell what he saw.

And who was that? John. He was instructed to tell what he saw. Daniel saw some stuff. And he said you can't tell it. The books are closed. But John was told it and he said tell it. We're going to get to Isaiah who saw some things.

He wasn't in heaven he just looked into heaven. And he was given some things to say. I left you off Mr. Huber. Did you have a question? Or we got it. Okay. Yes, yes. Yes and that will be talked about later in Revelation.

When it says they'll be out in the wilderness. And they'll say here he is and there he is. Don't believe it. Because they don't know. Yes. So we're going to get a description from someone who has been instructed to tell us.

But Paul was not the one. He was not permitted to tell what he saw there. The Apostle John had the privilege of visiting heaven. Unlike Paul, John was permitted to give an account. In fact he gave two accounts.

He gave an account of heaven while he was still on the earth. And he gave a second account from what he saw when he was in heaven. But he was in heaven seeing heaven. And he was instructed to write down what he saw and send it to the churches.

Now the first account that John gave was his description of the glorified Jesus Christ. John at that time was still on the Isle of Patmos. I'm going to read it to you. Revelation 1 chapter 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day.

And I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying I am Alpha and Omega. The first and the last. What thou seest write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia. And then he lists churches.

We just read that a minute ago. Now where was he? He was on the Isle of Patmos in the Spirit on the Lord's day. And he saw this vision. We're not to chapter 4 yet. What happens in chapter 4? He says I heard a voice saying come up hither.

Now he is no longer on the earth. So what comes after 3 is finished is what he saw while he was in heaven. That's in what I have called the second account of John. I think it was physical vision. I think he was in the body.

Paul said he didn't know whether he was in the Spirit or not. I don't think John said that exactly. He did say he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. So it might have been spiritual. So he turned to see the voice that spake with me.

And being turned, he saw the seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as the flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass as they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters.

And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun that shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

And he lay his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. Now who's talking? It's Jesus talking. And have the keys to hell and to death.

Write these things which thou hast seen. Direct instruction from the Lord. The things which are. The things which you're seeing right now. And the things which shall be hereafter. Things that are going to come in the future.

Things that were. Things that are. And things that are going to be in the future. And then he talks about the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels of the churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

So where were the churches at the time John has this vision? John is still on the Isle of Patmos. The churches are still in Asia Minor and in Rome and scattered throughout the world. But representations of the church were in heaven.

The golden candlesticks were in heaven. That's where he saw it. He saw the representation in heaven, and he was told to send the representations, all that he saw, to those letters which were in existence at the time in Asia.

That's right. That's right. But the candlesticks are representations of the church, not the church itself. Yes. Because parts of every one of those churches exist in every church that ever existed. In every church, even a church as small as this one.

There are characteristics of each of the churches. The characteristic of the Ephesian church, strong on doctrine, short on love. Well, I like to think that we're strong on doctrine and long on love here.

But that's what I like to think. Somebody outside may say, well, they're strong on doctrine, but they sure do miss out on love. Now, what does God say? Here's what I know for sure. Every church saw itself as something different than what God saw it.

Every church saw itself differently than God saw it. The Laodiceans thought they had it made. They thought they had everything, and God said, they have nothing. The Church of Philadelphia thought they had nothing, and God said, you have everything.

So, no church saw themselves as God saw them. I don't think we see ourselves as God sees us. Hopefully, he sees us more Philadelphia and less Laodicean. Yes, sir. Can be what? Proud. Can be proud as a whole?

Yes. If we're perfect. I certainly think we can be blinded by our pride. And we don't see ourselves as others see us. That would make a good line in a poem. I think I would channel Bobby Burns and tell him to write that to a louse.

You heard the poem. He was at church, and there was this really proud lady in front of him, just like a lady in every form. She thought she was just the top of the world, and what he was watching was a louse crawling up and back, and so he wrote a poem about to a louse.

And he says, oh, what power to give us to see ourselves as others see us. It would for many a blunder free us in foolish notion. But we don't have that. Just to tell you, I've read poems sometime in my life.

So, where were the church at the time John has this vision? The churches were on earth, but a representation of the church, the seven candlesticks, were in heaven. Now, there are others that had visions of heaven.

Visions they were allowed to share, but they had not been caught up. It was the vision only that they shared. The first account of John's vision was not unlike the accounts of Isaac, Isaiah, and Ezekiel.

He was on the earth. The account was of heaven. He was allowed to recount the vision as were they. We're going to look a minute, for a minute, at Isaiah and his vision. And, let's see, what time is it?

Oh, we're doing okay. Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1. Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. And his train filled the temple.

Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto the other and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved at the sound of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Who did he see? He saw Jesus on his throne in heaven. Verse 6. Then one of the seraphims, then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar.

I think that's interesting that the angel had to pick it up with a set of tongs. And he lay it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged.

I also heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. Now, a new person is going to speak. And he said, who's he? That's Jesus. Then he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not.

See ye indeed, but perceive not. What's he going to tell the people? You're going to hear, but you're not going to understand. You're going to see, but you're not going to perceive. Make the heart of this people fat, make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and convert and be healed.

And then I said, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord hath removed men far away, and there will be a great forsakening in the midst of the land.

I'm going to stop there for just a minute, and kind of sum up what has been said now. The cold has been placed on his tongue. He has been said, Thy sins have been purged for me. You go and tell the people some things, but they're going to hear what you say, but they're not going to understand.

They're going to see what you show them, but they're not going to perceive what you mean. Why not? Because I am going to make it impossible for them to do so. I'm going to make their ears heavy, and I'm going to shut their eyes.

To what purpose? To keep them from being saved. Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and convert and be healed. Yes, sir. That's right. They gave him an answer.

Yes, sir. I didn't get the last comment. Well, you know what? You know what my real answer is? I don't think they even understood that part. I think they thought that they totally understood everything.

I think they were just like the Laodiceans. They thought they were like perfect. Now, they're going to find out pretty quickly that they're not when the enemy comes and takes them and drags them off to Babylon, but that's not yet.

How long? Until the cities be wasted, and the houses be without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord hath removed them far away, and there will be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

Now, here is a verse I have no idea what it means, but I'm going to read it anyhow. I have an idea what part of it means. The first part of verse 13 means there will be a remnant that does understand.

That's the part that I do understand. But yet in it shall be a tenth, a portion, a remnant, and it shall return, and it shall be eaten as a teal tree, and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

And I've got three question marks for that, because I have no idea what that means. If any of you guys know, tell me. Yes, sir. Yes? Okay. And their substance for Israel and the life that the Lord gave them is substance for them.

I like that. That's why I... I'll put that... If I ever do this again, I'll put that in the next one. And then people will think that it was all my idea, and Brother David will raise his head and say, No.

I had to correct you here. No, you didn't have to correct me. You only had to explain to me. And I think that's great. Either way, I can be corrected as well. So... Yeah, and that is the greatness of the Bible and the Scripture and fellowship.

And that's why we're asked to meet together and discuss Scripture so that we can help one another. Yes, sir. That is. And I want to have another question at the very end today that I don't understand either.

And I tried to... I'm sorry. John King. Okay, John King, this one will be yours when we get to it. Or anybody that's got an answer. I do not have an answer. But it doesn't really interfere with anything.

We're going to compare Isaiah's description to descriptions given by Paul and John. Okay, what are the differences? First of all, Paul did not give a description. Second, the location. Paul was in heaven.

Maybe. Remember, I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago. Whether in the body, I cannot tell. Or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth such a one caught up to the third heaven. John was on the earth for the first vision.

But he was in heaven for the rest. Isaiah. Where was Isaiah? He was on the earth. Now, we're going to go back and look at Revelation again. I'm going to quickly read. After this, I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven.

And the first voice which I heard was, as it were, a trumpet talking with me, which says, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

Now, where was John now? He's in heaven. He's just been called, Come up hither. And now he is in heaven. What did he see? And how did he feel about what he saw? Well, he was in astonishment. You know that because he says, Behold.

What did he do? He saw a door standing open in heaven. There are other places where we hear doors open in heaven. In Ezekiel and in Acts. That already opened door admitted John into the third heaven. Now, what are the three heavens?

The first heaven is the earth's atmosphere. We know about that. They did. The second heaven is the interstellar space above the atmosphere going up into the stars and beyond all the stars. We know that.

They did. The third heaven, the very throne room of God. That's where God exists. That's where it is that we see what we think of when we say the word heaven. When we say heaven, we don't think of the air.

We don't think of the atmosphere. We think of God's home. It's the very same heaven that Christ ascended to after his resurrection. And where he's been seated at the right hand of God. It's the same heaven Ezekiel saw open in his vision when he was among the captives by the river Shibar.

It was the same heaven which Stephen saw Christ standing on the right hand of God. I'm going to read that because there's a couple of interesting things here. One that was pointed out to me this morning.

But he being... This is Acts 7 verse 55. Acts 7 verse 55. The word he here is Stephen. It will be clear in just a second. But he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.

So he's looking into heaven and he sees Jesus standing on the right hand of God. This is after the resurrection, right? This is after the resurrection. Jesus is gone and he's in heaven. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.

Then they cried out with a loud voice. Who are the they? They're the people around him that are getting ready to stone him just as soon as they get him outside the town. And they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears.

They don't want to hear that. And ran upon him with one accord and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses lay down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying...

Now, I started reading that and it almost gives you the wrong concept. They stoned Stephen. While they were stoning Stephen, Stephen was calling upon God saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice.

Now, here's something that was pointed out to me and I've read it and read it and read it. And I saw it every time. But it says, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. That's what Jesus said. That's what Jesus said when he was on the cross dying.

That's right. And here's Stephen saying the same thing. Lord, receive my spirit. Jesus said, I yield my spirit. Stephen couldn't say that. They took his spirit from him. But he said, Jesus, receive my spirit.

And he cried out with a loud voice. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. That's a euphemism for dying. Well, I think he died. But I think he went right straight up to heaven.

It's noteworthy that although Paul did not see the heavens open here, what did Paul hear here? The only thing Paul heard now was Stephen saying, Behold, there's an open door and I see Jesus in front of him.

And Paul consented to their stoning of him. Because he was blaspheming, isn't it? He did subsequently hear from heaven on his way to Damascus. He saw a light and he heard a voice. And the voice said, It's hard to kick against the prick, isn't it, Paul?

He eventually even did visit heaven. Maybe. At least in spirit. Or in flesh. I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth.

Such a one caught up into the third heaven. That was Paul's vision. Yes, sir. Well, now, we talked about that this morning. Diane is not ready to go to church yet. She's having some back issues. But we did the lesson this morning.

And there's two possibilities. Either he was unable to explain what it was, or that was part of his being told, You can't talk about this. John. Oh, the vision that Peter had Yes. He went to heaven. We don't know whether he went to heaven bodily or spiritually.

Is that right? He didn't know. And they put him back. And I think that's probably the way it was. But I think part of it may also have been Yes. They left him for dead, too. And then he got up and walked away.

That's right. But when Paul came back, he was instructed not to tell anything that he saw because these things you can't tell. They are unspeakable words. I think so, too. And that was Paul. Now we're going to go back to John.

From now on, for the remainder of the book, John's vantage point is heaven. John is in heaven for the rest of his book after this midway, early on in chapter 4. Now for John's description. I'm just going to read it again, starting.

Come up, hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. Immediately I was in the Spirit. Now John had no doubt of what he is. John said, I was in the Spirit. And behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat upon the throne.

And he that set it was to look upon like a jasper, probably in pure quartzite or sardine stone, probably garnet, maybe a ruby. Maybe jasper might have been a diamond. Diamond, in pure quartzite, garnet, maybe a ruby.

And there was a rainbow about the throne in the sight, like unto an emerald. What color is an emerald? Green. Any other cases of rainbows in the Bible? Can anybody tell me the first mention of a rainbow in the Bible?