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The book of Revelation, and it's actually called the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter 4. As you turn there, let me make some notes, let me make some comments as you turn there about this glorious book.
First of all, unlike most of the books of the Bible, Revelation contains its own title. It is THE Revelation of Jesus Christ. The word Revelation in Greek means apocalypse. Apocalypse actually means an uncovering, unveiling, a disclosure.
In all of its uses, Revelation refers to something, or should I say someone, that was once hidden, but is now visible, has now been revealed. And who in this book reveals or unveils more than anyone else?
It is the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ, risen in all of His power and His glory. He's the message. Jesus Christ is the message. He is the gospel. This book is awesome. Jesus Christ, who is now glorified, and He's seated at the right hand of God the Father in power.
This is a book also that is not only gives us a description of the last day prophecies, which so many people focus on, which is important, but it also gives us a description clearly of how heaven opens up and we catch a glimpse of heaven, and God, and Christ, and most important, true worship.
True worship before a holy triune God. Now that's what lights the sparks in my heart, the fires in my heart, is the worship that comes out of this book. It's incredible. Revelation is mostly about worship.
And we can learn more about worship in this wonderful book than any other book, really. All the books of the Bible are important, of course, but worship really is a climax in this book. Leonard Ravenhill said this, and I use this quite often, but he said, this is a book of majesty, Revelation is a book of mystery, and it's also a book of misery.
The majesty that belongs only to God and the misery that will come upon all the wicked before the great white throne judgment is revealed in this book, and it will happen. And the victory that belongs only to the Lord Jesus Christ with all of His saints through all the ages, world without end.
And so now we come to this wonderful chapter. We see worship before the throne of God, before the throne of heaven. And I like to title this message in this two-part series from Revelation 4, Worship Before the Throne of God.
Revelation chapter 4, beginning at verse 1, we'll be reading through the end of the chapter, verse 11. Hear the word of the living God. After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.
Immediately I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and one sitting on the throne. And he who was sitting was like a jasper stone, and a sardis in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.
Around the throne were 24 thrones, and upon the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white garments, golden crowns on their heads. And out from the throne come flashes of lightning, and sounds, and peals of thunder.
And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the center, and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.
And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature was like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man. And the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within, and day and night they do not cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God the Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.
And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, and to Him who lives forever and ever, and the 24 elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and we will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and we'll cast their crowns before the throne saying, Worthy are you, O our Lord, our God, to receive glory and honor and power.
For you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created. Let's bow in prayer and ask God's help in this hour, our Father and our God. God, I would pray that you would help us as we look into this wonderful, marvelous Word from the pages of Holy Scripture.
God, we tremble before Thy Word, and as we approach the throne of grace, the majesty in the heavens, we say with the triumphant church, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was, and who is, and who is to come.
Hallowed be Thy name. Teach us, O Lord, to worship You, I pray, by Your Spirit, to worship You in spirit and in truth. Lord, we need help in this area. Lord, help us to worship You acceptably and in the beauty of Your holiness, and only through the precious, precious blood of Christ, Your Son, can we even approach Your holy throne and walk and tread carefully in Your holy courts.
So, Father, I pray we need Thee. Thank You for Your blessed Holy Spirit that truly teaches us the truth, because He is the Spirit of truth. Give us, O God, the ability and help us to worship You that is acceptable and pleasing in Your sight.
Lord, may not one of us leave here different. May we all be changed. May we all be different as we leave, changed more into the glory and the image of You. So, Lord, I pray to mold us and make us and break us, and use us for Your glory.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Amen.
Praise God.
Praise God. Thank you, my friend. You're welcome to stay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Within the Bible, the Word of God, 66 inspired books.
Don't you love it?
66 books. 39 in the Old Testament. 27 in the New Testament. There were only a select few of holy men of God, moved by the Spirit of God, moved by the Holy Ghost. The Scripture says they were permitted to see visions of another world.
Visions of things to come. A glorious vision of the Most High God. Glorious visions. Otherworldly. So holy. So holy, beloved, that they found it difficult to express in human language what they saw. Those that God selected were just a few to see these things.
As you well know, a lot of people feel like the revelations of God continue, but when the Apostle John closed out the book, in this book, Revelation, in chapter 22, and I'll read it. And when he said this, he who testifies to these things says, yes, I'm coming quickly.
Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
And at that amen, the revelation was closed. There's nothing that could be added to it, nothing that could be subtracted from it. That is the revelation, and this is the revelation that God has given to us.
So, if you think anyone can add any other revelations to it, they're false. They're absolutely false. But here, in the Word of God, as you read through the Old Testament, the New Testament, there was a selective few, and we call them prophets.
Prophets of old.
Daniel.
Let me just name a few.
Isaiah. Ezekiel.
These men were given, by the Spirit of God, great and glorious privilege to behold the God of heaven. Something that is so wonderful, so glorious to gaze at, that it caused them to be changed. In the New Testament, there were only two writers of Holy Scripture.
And I say the writers, there were others that saw heaven, like Stephen, we'll be looking at that, but got a glimpse into heaven before he went there, and Christ was standing. Standing at the right hand of God the Father.
But, here we see chosen men that beheld the majesty of the universe. One of those men, in the New Testament, I mentioned some in the Old, but one of the men in the Old Testament, as you well know, was the Apostle Paul.
Paul caught a glimpse of Jesus Christ, of course, on the road to Damascus. Christ came after him and converted him. He was a terrorist. And he was changed from Saul to Paul. One of the greatest men of God that ever lived.
Gave us most of the New Testament. He was transported by the Spirit of God to the third heaven, the Scripture says, to paradise, the very abode of God, where he was forbidden to speak of what he saw there.
2 Corinthians 12, verse 4 says this, He was caught up, caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. Think of that. Where a man was not permitted to speak.
Now, namely because of the vision he had, it was for him alone. Because of the thorn in the flesh he had. And God came to him and comforted him and gave him grace that was sufficient for his thorn. Whatever that thorn may be.
But even if he could express, he would have found it very difficult to put it in human language. The other man who was chosen by God is our writer by the Holy Spirit in this wonderful book of the Revelation.
He also gave us 1st and 2nd and 3rd John and also the Gospel of John. He did a lot of writing, didn't he? But this book here is remarkable. He saw the majesty in heaven. It was Apostle John. And John was permitted to give a detailed description of the vision of God and everything that was to take place in the future.
And you think of this.
This is way over 2 ,000 years ago. Roughly 2 ,000 years ago. Revelation's here. Revelation chapter 4 and 5 gives to us by the Spirit of God something that is completely, I like to say, otherworldly. It's not of this world.
It's another world. It's foreign to everybody in this world. And unless you're born of the Spirit of God, we cannot even grasp or perceive of what is being said in this script and the Word of God. So actually within the two chapters, these two chapters, chapters 4 and 5, the Apostle John records to us a second vision that he saw.
It's a second vision. I say that because the first vision was that of the glorified Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation chapter 1 in verses 12 through 17. The Bible, the Word of God, refers to that. Now, Scripture also tells us about heaven a great deal, mostly and mainly in this book.
But overall in the entire Bible, over 500 times, heaven is referred to. Heaven is referred to. Think of that, 500 times. That's our home as a born-again child of God. This world's not our home.
We're passing through.
This is a very short span from the cradle to the grave, and then you have eternity. Eternity. This is our eternal home. Scripture calls it the new Jerusalem, heaven, the city of God. It's a holy place prepared for holy people by a holy God.
And I'm telling you, if we're not made holy, there's no going there. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. That's what Scripture says. Now, it doesn't mean that I wrestle up all the holiness and good works that I can to get there.
We know we're saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're saved by Christ alone. And then, from the point of justification, then sanctification begins. And from that point until we die or go home to be with the Lord, if He comes, there is a process of sanctification, of making us holy.
And that's what the Scripture talks about. Most people don't want to hear about holiness, but I'm telling you, that's what the walk of the Christian is all about, is holiness. And Revelation speaks a great deal of it.
Heaven's a holy place prepared for holy people. Now, Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Paul all recorded the descriptions of the throne of God, but it was the Apostle John who gives us more and mostly an informative and detailed description of heaven and the throne.
Beloved, this is our eternal home that we're looking at. Think of this. It's almost like you open up the pages of Scripture and it takes you out of the temporary here and puts us right into the eternal abode of where God is.
That's how eternity is in this book. Every time we open up this Bible, as Watson said, it should be like a love letter to us. God's love letter to us. But it's more than just theology. It's all about God.
It's all about what God is doing in His big panorama and the big picture of what is taking place. Now, this is about our eternal home. So we catch a small glimpse and hear even the privilege to preview the gaze of heaven and our God and to see what is happening there.
Now, and it's all because of the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ, of His shed blood, that He shed His precious blood and He bought it for us that we have the privilege to come and see such things. And only the children of the living God will appreciate what is said in these pages.
So here we are carried far beyond the mundane, aren't we? Above this passing temporary world, this world that's going to pass away. He that does the will of God abides forever. We're taken into the eternal realm to behold the throne of God.
So today, by God's help, we're going to look at the first six verses. We'll try to get through six verses. Chapter 4, Lord willing. Next Lord's Day, we'll continue from verse 6 to 11. So here we gaze into the very throne room of heaven.
I like what R .C. Sproul said. And this was in our last session. He said, we actually have the privilege to eavesdrop here, to see what God is doing and to eavesdrop. I like that. R .C. Sproul said that.
Well, my outline is very simple. I'll give it to you, but we're going to go through it as we unpack the Scriptures here by God's help. But my outline consists, first of all, we look at a throne in verse 2a.
And secondly, we will look at one sitting on the throne in verse 2b. Next, we will look at around the throne in verse 3. Verse 4, around the throne again. And then in verse 5, out from the throne. And then in verse 6, we will look at before the throne.
Before the throne. So you notice, everything is focused on the throne of God. The throne of God. So chapter 4 of Revelation gives to us by the Holy Spirit of God through the Apostle John detailed descriptions of seeing the very throne of God.
Let's begin. Let's look at the first verse. The Scripture says in verse 1 of chapter 4, After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, notice what he says, like the sound of a trumpet, speaking with me, and said,.
Come up here,.
And I will show you what must take place after these things. Now, I want you to notice with me a phrase that's used twice here. After these things. That's very important. Why is it important? It's used once at the beginning of verse 1.
It's repeated again at the end of verse 1. After these things. Now, I must ask the question. What things? What things is he referring to? That's important, isn't it? Well, to get the context of what he's saying about the things after these things, after the things he saw and heard in chapters 1, 2, and 3.
All the chapters, the previous chapters in the book of Revelation. So this awesome vision of the glorified Jesus Christ is in chapter 1. That's what he's referring to. The first vision that he saw of Jesus Christ.
And you know the apostle John. This was the man that leaned his head on the breast of Jesus. And yet, after Christ appears to him in this vision, he falls down before him like a paralyzed man. This is the apostle John.
And how much more should we bow before this great King of glory? And then the giving of the seven letters he speaks of and for the seven churches in Asia Minor. And in chapters 2 and 3 he speaks of. So the first occurrence in the phrase after these things in verse 1a relates to John's personal chronology which is really God's chronology.
Therefore, the phrase after these things is used throughout Revelation to mark a beginning of a new vision. Now you could look this up, but each of these beginning of new visions is found in Revelation 4 .1, Revelation 7 verse 9, Revelation 15 .5, Revelation 18 .1, Revelation 19 .1.
I looked all those up and you could see each time it says after these things, after these things, there's a fresh vision that's given. There's a fresh revelation that's given. So there's transitions that's taken place throughout this book.
So the second occurrence of after these things relates to God's chronology. God's chronology. Meaning its use marks an important transition in the book of Revelation. So John moved by the Holy Spirit after these things.
I looked.
And then he says, to his astonishment, indicated by the exclamation there,.
Behold, look.
In other words, behold. You see that word a lot.
Behold.
It's like John the Baptist says, behold the Lamb of God.
Behold. Behold.
That's a very important word because it's saying, look. Have your eyes wide open. Look. And then he says, a door was standing open in heaven. And that word standing is not necessarily in the original Greek here, but a door open in heaven.
Ezekiel 1 .1. The prophet Ezekiel had a similar vision.
He says,.
As I was by the river Shebar, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. And as I mentioned briefly about Stephen in Acts chapter 7 verse 56, before Stephen was stoned to death, as he was being stoned to death, I should say, and before he died and departed from his body, in verse 56,.
It says this,.
And look. He said, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
Standing. Hmm.
That already opened door admitted the apostle John right into the third heaven. Right into the third heaven. The first heaven being the earth's atmosphere, as we well know. We go outside here and we can see the first heaven, right?
We can see the clouds, we see the blue sky when it's on a clear sunny day. That's the first heaven. But there's a second heaven. It's the interplanetary, interstellar space. The stars, the moon, the galaxy that goes on.
That's the second heavens. But what it's talking about here is glorious. It's the third and final heaven.
The most glorious of all.
This is where God's manifest presence is. This is where His Shekinah glory is. This is where the throne is. And where God's city is. It was the third heaven to which Jesus Christ ascended on high as He left this world and this is where He went.
After His resurrection where He had been since seated at the right hand of God, the Father in power and glory. And one day He's going to leave that place and come back and He's going to strike nations down with the word of His power.
And He's going to come back, beloved, King of kings and Lord of lords. And that is spoken of in Revelation 19. But the first voice John heard was a familiar voice. God's sheep knows the shepherd's voice, right?
But how did He put it? He says, It was like the sound of a trumpet.
It's interesting, isn't it?
It's spoken to Him in the first vision. You know, in Revelation 1 .10 actually says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice. Notice He says, You'll see the word like a lot.
Like the sound of a trumpet. He describes it the same way in Revelation 1 .10. This voice was none other than the voice of the risen, exalted, glorified Lord Jesus Christ. His voice is likened, likened to the sound of a trumpet.
Why does He say trumpet? Because if you ever hear the sound of a trumpet, there's a powerful, commanding, authoritative quantity about a trumpet blast. And the trumpets back then were a lot different than the trumpets we have today of brass.
They would blow almost like they were a ram's horn or a trumpet sound.
But it was powerful.
It would just echo out. And that's what He was saying. His voice was powerful. It was commanding. It was so strong. And the word like. I like this word and I read this from A .W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy and he's so right about this.
You see this quite often through the scriptures and when the prophets of old and the apostles saw something in heaven that was too glorious,.
They said it's like.
That's the best way they could describe it. It's the best way that they could describe the glorious things. In other words, what they saw was so glorious and what they heard was so powerful. It was unimaginable.
So they say like. It's the best way that they can just bring it to us in our language, right? So in description of the heavenly things, John uses these symbols. Now, let's look at the symbols. There's a lot of symbols in Revelation.
We don't need to get bogged down here. But if we understand the literal from the symbols, it would help us. However, everything is not all the way symbolic. But there is a lot of symbols in Revelation.
As in the parables of Jesus, many of the details are merely descriptive and they were not necessarily intended to carry, I guess you could say, a special significance of their own. But here also we should keep in mind the nature of symbolism.
The nature of symbolism. This is so important because it would help us. The nature of symbol is the symbol is always less than the reality.
Don't you think of that?
The symbol is always less than the reality. The reality is far greater. So like Jesus spoke here, speaking of heaven, the reality of heaven is far greater than the description that we have of it. It's far greater.
Think of that.
And the same goes for when Jesus spoke about hell. Where the worm never dies. Where the fire is never quenched. See, those are symbols. And He speaks of Gehenna. And of course Christ knew exactly how to bring about an illustration about the reality of hell.
And they would be walking along around Gehenna,.
The garbage heap,.
Where bodies would be placed up and the sun would take the bodies. And you know as well as I do,.
It's awful.
The bodies would bloat. You see animals like this on the side of the road. The sun and the heat would get to them. And then there would be combustion, gases.
And then the combustions would come up.
And gases and fire would light. Well, Jesus would take that and He would say, hell is far worse than that. The symbol. But the reality is far greater.
Than the symbol.
Charles Spurgeon said this, It is very little that we can know of the future state. But we can be quite sure that we know as much as is good for us. We ought to be as content with that which is not revealed as with that which is revealed.
If God wills us not to know it, we ought to be satisfied not to know it.
Depend on it, He said.
He has told us all about heaven that is necessary to bring us there.
Isn't that great?
And if He had revealed more, it would have served rather for the gratification of our curiosity than for the increase of our grace.
Can I get an amen right there? I'm telling you, that is so true. Deuteronomy 29, 29. Amen, Ms. Lillian. There are things that are revealed to us as for the sons of men. But the secret things belong to the Lord.
Jesus calls John.
He says this,.
Come up here. Come up here. It's never come with me.
Come up here. Up. Up.
Oh, high and lifted up. And what did He say? I will show you what must take place after these things. All the features of chapter 4 can be outlined about describing the throne. John tells us who is on the throne, what is going on around the throne, what stands before the throne, who is in the center of the throne, and around about the throne, and what is directed towards the throne, and what comes out from the throne.
It's all about the throne. Well, let's look at verse 2.
Immediately I was in the Spirit. Now, there's no way He can come up hither unless the Spirit of God can take Him. It's almost like you see Him down here and Christ is up there and He says, Come up hither.
And then He says, Immediately I was in the Spirit. The Spirit of God. He could not do this within Himself. It was the Holy Spirit of God that had to take Him up. Behold, a throne was standing in heaven.
Standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne. The Puritan Matthew Henry says this on this text, He saw a throne set in heaven, the seat of honor and authority and judgment. Heaven is the throne of God.
There He resides in glory and then He gives laws to the church and to the whole world. And all earthly thrones are under the jurisdiction of this throne that is set in heaven. That's that Matthew Henry.
Beloved, this throne is in heaven. And can I say this? As I was studying this, this throne is just not another piece of furniture. This is just not another piece of furniture. It's a symbol of God's sovereign rule and power as King of glory and authority, beloved.
According to Revelation 21 -22, the heavenly temple is not the actual building. Now people say, well, hold on. There are symbolisms in Revelation.
Let's look at it.
Revelation 21 -22 says the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are in the temple. But the use here of the term temple symbolizes God's holy presence. It's a symbol of the presence of Yahweh, the presence of Almighty God standing.
The throne actually was said to be set in heaven.
I love that, don't you? It's set.
It's standing in heaven because God's sovereign rule is fixed. It's not going anywhere. I'm telling you. We can bank on this.
It's fixed.
It's permanent. And it's unshakable. It's unmovable. And nothing's going to move God from His throne. It's a vision of God's unmovable throne that reveals that God is permanent. It says that God's unchanging and in complete control of the universe in which He created.
And what we see about today, we think, a lot of people say,.
Where's God? Where's God?
Why isn't God in this?
God's in it. God's in it.
He's in control. He rules this universe.
He's in power.
He upholds all the way. The writer of Hebrews says, He upholds everything by the word of His power. And you know, Calvin says, if God were to just speak and just allow the earth to go out of tilt.
Just a fraction,.
Everything would go in chaos. And God could allow it to happen. And God would be orchestrating it. Nothing that happens that happens under the control of God.
We believe in God's sovereignty, don't we? In everything that happens. And because that gives us great comfort. Spurgeon said that I can lay my head at night on the pillar of God's sovereignty that I can rest on that.
That God is in absolute control. Now, in a similar way here, Isaiah the prophet, we know in Isaiah 6, we looked at that a few weeks ago, right? It encourages us and it comforted Isaiah.
As well as us.
In the time of Israel's history that Isaiah had the vision that Uzziah died. The king Uzziah died. But then it says, I saw the Lord. And He was high. And He was lifted up. And He saw the throne. He saw the same thing that John saw.
The same glorious vision. Well, let's go next. Next is we see that not only we see a throne, we see one on the throne. There's a throne.
That's good, isn't it?
But there's something better. The throne is not empty. He just didn't see a piece of furniture there. He saw someone great on that throne.
Verse 2.
Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, one sitting on the throne. Again, Matthew Henry says in this text. This is the following portion of what I just shared with you.
Henry says he saw a glorious one upon the throne. And this throne was not empty. There was one in it who filled it. And that was God. He saw God. He saw Christ, the risen, glorified Christ. And then Henry goes on to say, who is described by these things that are most pleasant and precious in our world?
End quote. Well, unlike its use in the book of Hebrews, you know, where it depicts Christ.
In posture of rest,.
The term here in the text as sitting or sat here indicates a posture of reigning.
He reigns.
There is a place that he's resting upon the throne, but here, in this context, he reigns. Our God reigns, beloved. The thought is not resting because the work of redemption has been accomplished, but reigning in power and glory because judgment, if you read through Revelation, is about to take place.
John MacArthur said this, the divine war machine is cranking up. And this is what we see. We see this. The divine war machine is cranking up. And I'm telling you right now, as we're having worship and this service and God's people is meeting everywhere in heaven,.
The war machine is cranking up.
God's fury is going to be unleashed and all of His wrath and power upon planet Earth, beloved. It's coming. Though John does not name the one sitting on the throne, it's very obvious who He is. He's the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
In Kings 22, verse 19, I think it's 1 Kings, the prophet Micaiah also saw Him in His glorious throne. The Scripture says, I saw the Lord, Yahweh, sitting on His throne and all the hosts, that means the armies of the heavens, standing by Him on His right and on His left.
All the armies, on His left and on His right. So God reigns over all the nations, doesn't He? The psalmist, Psalm 47, 8, God reigns over the nations, over the nations.
Isaiah says,.
The nations are like a drop in the bucket to God. God sits on His holy throne, reigning in power, reigning in glory. Our God's in control today. Well, let's look at verse 3. What do we see here? Around the throne, around the throne.
Look at verse 3. And He who was sitting, I'm sorry, and He was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardis in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance. Like an emerald in appearance.
Now we see a rainbow. John moves away from the description of the throne and the one that's on the throne to describe what was around the throne. Now we're going around the throne, folks. John noted first that there is a rainbow around the throne.
Now, I'm telling you, you know judgment is on the horizon when you've got people by the scores taking the symbol of the rainbow and using it for gay pride, of wicked immorality, and homosexuality,.
And lesbianism.
But what does the rainbow really indicate?
It is God's covenant. It is God's faithfulness.
In appearance, it was like the appearance like an emerald. The emerald was the green. It's like an emerald green. Green was a dominant color and it's a dominant color in heaven. This shows us many splendid facets of the glory of God.
Heaven is,.
You see the crystal, everything's like crystal clear in the facets. And you know why God made it that way? Now, we know this because of the book of Revelation. I'm not just throwing this out. This is from the Scriptures.
Because the glory of God glistens and bounces off all the facets of everything that is emerald, jasper, stones, all on that glorious city from the throne. And by the way, if you look at it, the throne is like at the height, like a pyramid at the top.
And God is at the top. Christ is at the top of this great city. And His glory shines. I don't need the sun there. The glory of God shines. And His glory bounces off everywhere. Glistening. Have you ever seen the facets of a rainbow, the prisons and that?
It's glorious.
Well, that's the way heaven is. It's an appearance like an emerald. So, this shows us the many splendid facets of God. According to Genesis 9, verses 13 -17, the rainbow symbolizes God's covenant, but it symbolizes His faithfulness.
It symbolizes His mercy, His tender mercies,.
His compassion,.
And His grace. Rainbow is not a symbol of gay pride. Now, some people say, are they intentionally doing that?
I don't know.
But whatever the case, Satan definitely knows, because he hates God. The rainbow provides a comforting balance of the fiery flashings of judgment around the throne of God. You ever thought about that?
John MacArthur says this in his commentary. Quote,. His wrath never operates at the expense of His faithfulness. His judgments never abrogate His promises. God's power and holiness would cause us to live in abject terror, were it not for His faithfulness and mercy.
That's good.
You see,.
God is a God of wrath, but He's also a God of mercy.
You know, we have to see it like that.
And, of course, that's the way God is. And God's attributes are unchanging. One does not override the other. The only thing that is raised to the third degree is His holiness. Because, of course, they don't say that angels and these creatures don't say, mercy, mercy, mercy, love, love, love.
No. They say, holy, holy, holy. Because everything about God is holy. His mercy is holy. His love is holy.
His justice is holy. His wrath is holy. His righteousness is holy.
Everything about God is holy.
But here,.
We see faithfulness. We see mercy. But there's judgment coming.
Let's look.
Look at verse 4. Around the throne were 24 thrones. Upon the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads. Now, who are these 24 elders? There's a lot of debate and commentators on this.
Who's the 24 elders? Many would interpret here an order of angelic beings. But that's not what the view of Scripture takes. Scripture actually says the 24 elders is that reign with Christ. Nowhere in Scripture do angels sit on thrones.
Right?
You don't see that. Angels are not given thrones. Nor are they pictured ruling or reigning. Isn't it amazing that the saints have this privilege? That we're going to be like kings and priests ruling and reigning with Christ?
And even the angels of heaven.
Don't have that privilege.
You know, the elders represent the people of God. The people of God. Especially in the Old Testament and the New Testament, 24 courses of priesthood, 24, the number, represented all the priests. According to 1 Chronicles 24, and the 12 tribes and the 12 apostles represent all the faithful.
Then, here we see the white garments.
Don't you love that?
The white garment symbolizes the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's an imputed righteousness to the believers at salvation. That's the clothing of righteousness. His righteousness. Because our righteousness is filthy rags.
This is what the believers in Christ are dressed in. We have to have another righteousness. A pure righteousness to live in heaven. Or to be accepted before a holy God. That's the heart of the gospel, is justification by faith.
Christ promised the believers at Sardis, listen to this, that they would be clothed in white garments in Revelation 3, 5. Our Lord advised even the apostate Laodiceans to buy from Me white garments so that you may be clothed, so that you may clothe yourself.
Revelation 3, 18. That's what it says there. And in Revelation 19, 8, the marriage supper of the Lamb. His bride will clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean. The elders wore golden, they also wore golden crowns on their heads.
Golden crowns. You know, I think that's where the hymn crowning with many crowns comes from. Crowns are never promised to angels. Crowns speak of victor's crown, worn by those who competed and won the victory through life's hardships and trials and persecutions.
Jesus our Lord promised such a crown to the loyal believers that would be faithful.
And smyrna.
He said in Revelation 2, 10, Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. Paul says this, Apostle Paul speaks of it, everyone who competes in the games, exercises self-control in all things.
Not some things,.
All things.
Paul said, and they do it to receive a what? A perishable wreath, a perishable crown. And then he says, but we an imperishable. A crown that would never fade. That's 1 Corinthians 9, 25. Paul wrote also, that the imperishable crown again, he spoke in 2 Timothy 4, 8, saying in the future, in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day and not only to me, but also to all those who love His appearing.
James wrote of the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1, 12. Peter also said, spoke of this unfading crown of glory. Praise God.
Well,.
This gives us insight into this verse. Matthew Henry says here, he saw the 24 elders seated about the throne, not empty, but filled with 4 or 20 elders, presbyters representing very probably the whole church of God, both in the Old and New Testament state.
Not the ministers of the church, but rather the representatives of the people. Their sitting denotes their honor, rest, and satisfaction. Henry goes on to say, their sitting about the throne signifies the relation to God, their nearness to Him, the sight and enjoyment they have of Him.
They are clothed in white raiment, the righteousness of the saints, both imputed and inherit. They had on their heads crowns of gold, significant, signifying the honor and authority given to them by God and the glory they have with Him.
All these may, in a lower sense, be applied to the gospel church on earth, but it is worshiping assemblies and, in a higher sense, to the church triumphant in heaven. End quote.
What next?
Let's go to verse 5. This is powerful. Out from the throne, out from the throne, come flashes of lightning, sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
Now, we see here something awesome, don't we? This is something powerful. It's something flowing out from God's throne and His holy presence. And, by the way, the Scripture says it's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
God is a consuming fire. The Scripture says terrifying. Symbolized by the throne, John saw a precursor, beloved, of the firestorm that's about to take place out from the throne of God's holy divine fury about to burst forth in all of its blazing glory upon a sinful, wicked world.
Beloved, it's going to happen. Revelation 8 and 5. Listen to these verses. Revelation 8 and 5. The angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth. And there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
Revelation 11, 19. And the temple of God, which is in heaven, opened and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. And here were flashes of lightning, sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
Revelation 16, 18. There were flashes of lightning, sounds and peals of thunder. Notice that. Lightning, sounds and peals of thunder. And there was a great earthquake such as had never been since man came upon the earth.
So great an earthquake was it and so mighty, the scripture says.
This is powerful.
Doesn't that kind of make you tremble there? When you hear what God is going to pour forth on this earth? Beloved, the flashes of lightning, the sounds and the peals of thunder are associated always with the holy presence of God.
God's holy presence. You see this in Exodus 19, 16 at the Mount Sinai when God descended upon the mountain. The whole mountain shook. Peals of thunder, lightning, and people heard the voice of God audibly.
And they said,.
Don't have Moses speak to us. We don't want God speaking to us.
Or we're going to die.
They literally thought they were going to die. God shook that mountain. Beloved, a mountain is nothing to God. He can shake the earth. He can shake the universe. John saw a preview of the divine wrath.
We don't hear enough about this but this is what we're saved from. God saves us from His wrath. He saw the precursor, the preview of the divine wrath that God described here in chapter 6 all the way to chapter 19.
Well, let's go on. Verse 5b to verse 6. And there was seven lamps of fire burning before the throne of God which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was something like a sea of glass like crystal in center or the middle around the throne four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind and saw these awful terrifying creatures worshiping God.
God made them specifically to worship Him day and night. That's how much God loves worship. God is deserving of all glory and for all eternity He made these creatures to worship. And this is what this series is going to be all about.
It's our worship to God that God has redeemed us to love Him and to worship Him and praise Him. Oh, beloved.
Why would we hold back.
In not worshiping a God that's so great that has come stooped down and taken us and redeemed us? Oh, beloved, it's so great. As the apostle John looked at this scene there's two things he saw. Notice with me in verse 5b there was the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of God.
And then first he sees these seven lamps of burning fire burning before the throne. What does that mean? Well, unlike the lampstands mentioned in chapter 1 in verse 12 and 13 these were like outdoor torches giving off not a soft glow but a gentle light which we do see the Holy Spirit as gentle as a dove and He is gentle as a dove but here there's a fire.
Now there's a reason for that because God the Holy Spirit is in operation of unleashing wrath on this earth. And that's what he says. The phrase describes the seven spirits of God. Don't let that throw you off.
What does it mean? Again, there's symbolism here and it basically means it's a seven-fold representation of the Spirit of God. And the key verse is Isaiah 11 .2. Isaiah 11 .2 speaks of God is the Spirit.
Wisdom, one. Listen to this. Wisdom, two. Understanding, three. Counsel, four. Strength, five. Knowledge, six. Reverence, seven.
Deity.
There you have it. There's a seven-fold representation so that's what it speaks of of the Holy Spirit and those many faceted attributes there. The counsel, wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, reverence, fear, deity.
Zechariah speaks of the Holy Spirit's power in Revelation 1 .4 of grace and peace but here in Revelation 4 it speaks of fiery judgment. Fiery judgment. So the torches in the Bible are also associated with war.
We don't have time to go into this but you can read this in Judges 7, 16 through 20.
The torches.
Gideon.
War.
Nahum, chapter 2, 3 and 4. So John's vision of the throne here depicts God as ready to make war on the sinful, rebellious mankind and the Holy Spirit is the war torch.
He's the war torch.
The comforter of those who love Christ but will be the consumer of all who reject Him. Verse 6, And before the throne there was something like a sea of glass like crystal. Revelation 21 .1 says this, And then I saw a new heaven and a new earth and the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there is no longer any sea.
So here, actually, keep in mind when he says it's like a sea. He's not saying, oh I saw the sea. He says it's like a sea.
So what he really saw was this.
Revelation 4, 6. Before the throne there was something like a sea of glass like crystal. Remember that word like is your key. He could describe it as best he could. It's metaphorical speaking of what John saw.
He saw the pavement before the throne of God. A vast pavement like crystal. Clear as crystal. This is heaven's floor. This is the flooring. You know it's glorious. God speaks all this into existence for His glory.
Forever and ever. For us, for His people to live there and to behold such wonders. Nothing's going to be boring about heaven, you know. Before God's throne stretching out like a great glistening sea reflecting the majestic splendor and the glory of God and God's shining Shekinah glory bounces off all over the city.
Shining everywhere. God's heaven, God's glory.
That's what it's about.
It's about God's glory. And redeemed sinners, here we are. Redeemed by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus and here we have this privilege. This is our home. God's glory is the focal point. And we worship Him for He is worthy of glory and honor and power and thanksgiving.
Well there's an application the Christian is.
To give glory in life.
To worship our triune God. You know the application would be this. I think Psalm 2, 11 and 12 fits perfectly here. Worship the Lord with reverence. Fear. Rejoice with trembling. One translation says do homage.
That means kiss the Son. That means worship the Son. Give submission to the Son. That He not become angry and you perish in the way. For His wrath may soon be kindled. And then it says something wonderful.
How blessed are all who take refuge in Him. We take our refuge through Jesus, don't we?
Through Christ.
Through the blood of His cross.
Hide us. Hide us.
We're actually saved by God, in God,.
Hidden from God.
Isn't that glorious? Do homage to the Son. Kiss the Son. That's symbolic. You know what that means? Give allegiance to Him. To His Lordship. Submit to His Lordship and be obedient to His Word. I think the next application would be Colossians 3, chapter 3, 1 through 4.
I think about this most all the time. Lord, help me to renew my mind that I'm not distracted, but my mind is focused on worshiping God through this sin-filled world. But also I battle with my own heart of the distractions that come my way.
And it says this. Paul says, Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above. Not on the earth.
Where Christ is,.
Seated at the right hand of God. And then he said, not only you seek, you set.
Make it fixed.
Set your mind on things above. Not on the things that are on the earth. And then he says this. For you have died. Have you died with Christ? You have died. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also be revealed with Him in glory.
Oh beloved.
Let me close with Thomas Watson here.
This is so good.
I've been reading through the Body of Divinity. Mr. Lillian, everybody else who's read through it knows what I'm talking about here.
It's great.
Because this man constantly just pours the Scriptures through there. He allows the Scripture to interpret Scripture. That's the best interpreter, isn't it? That's the Holy Spirit gives us the truth. He says this in the Body of Divinity.
A good Christian is like the sun, which not only sends forth heat, but goes in circuit around the world.
Thus, he who glorifies God.
Has not only his affections heated with the love of God, but he goes his circuit too. He moves vigorously in the sphere of obedience. And that's exactly what Brother Keith talked about this morning. It's our obedience to the Word of God.
Are we obedient.
And faithful to the Word of God? What does Scripture say? 1 Corinthians 10 .1 Whatever you eat or drink, whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Everything in our life, if we work, whatever we do, we should do it to the glory of God.
One more from Watson. The glory of God is like a silver thread which must run through all of our actions.
Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank You for this time that we've had together to worship You, Lord. Lord, how we desire to love You more.
And Lord, our love.
And our affection given to You is showed by our obedience and our actions. You said it in Your Word, Lord. The doers of the Word and not hearers only. Lord, we deceive ourselves when we hear this Word and not obey it.
Lord, help us live out this wonderful life throughout, before You, before the face of You, O Lord. And that we would be pleasing to You in everything that we do. And as Scripture says, may we give unto the Lord glory due to Your name.
And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.