Well, we come this evening to Revelation, Chapter four.
And we have said, or as I said just before coming to this, we've
heard the message to the seven churches.
And really, whenever you look at that message and you think of
what it said, it was always looking to Jesus to forgive the believers
when they had slipped, but also knowing that Jesus will keep
them as they're faithful to him, and he will sustain them going
through the most troubled moments in their lives.
Now, most sermon series on Revelation stop at this point.
You will be surprised by the number of preachers who will not
go beyond Revelation 3.
And I don't simply mean in this island, I mean right across
the world, because they deem that the remaining 19 chapters are
too difficult to understand.
Well, I encourage you not to think like that.
Revelation is a glorious book.
It's filled with wonderful truths that we must know as we live
in these last days.
We must also understand that Revelation is not a book of sections.
And by this I mean that just because we finish thinking about
the churches, then that's that bit done with.
The message of Revelation flows from these letters to the churches,
from the earth, to a new perspective of what heaven.
Is and what is in it.
And that's all based on what we've heard.
Because when you break down what each has said to the seven churches
and thereby to the Church Universal, you will see it is spreading
wide what the church faces.
And actually, as we go through this series, as much as I encourage
you to read the Book of Revelation, I would always call you
back to what is said in chapters two and three to the seven
churches, because they are the foundation and what they're enduring
and what the church is enduring today for what comes next.
So really, these 19 chapters remaining in.
Revelation are hinged on Revelation 2 and Revelation 3, where
the perspective is taken from the earth and it is taken to heaven.
Let me begin by asking you a question.
What is the most impressive thing you have seen?
What have you looked at and just been in complete awe and wonder
of what's in front of you?
It might be that you've gone to some of the greatest cities in
the world and you've been impressed by the buildings that are
there.
They've been magnificent structures that you're just in often,
how did they do that?
Or it might be in a museum where particularly you see displays
of natural history that just amaze you of the size of animals
that we don't get to be beside, or mammals or creatures of
the sea.
And we see them there in their bones and we're going, wow, just
how big that is and how good God was in his creation.
One of the places that I hope one day will amaze me with its impressive
size and sound is Victor Falls on the border between Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
I've never had the opportunity to visit it, but it is on my bucket
list.
And I've seen photographs just like this one and I've seen videos
of the sheer drop of the falls and the roaring sound and get this,
of the 3,000 cubic meters per second of water that flow over it.
Now, if that means nothing to you, join the club.
But it's an impressive amount of water.
In fact, it was on this date today, the 16th of November, in 1855,
that missionary explorer David Livingstone first discovered these
falls, what locals called smoke that thundered, and named it
after the reigning.
Monarch of the day, Queen Victoria.
Now, most of us have never seen this impressive site up front
and up close, nor have we heard the sound of that 3,000 cubic
meters per second of water going over it.
So maybe we need to think of some things that amaze us and cause
us to stand with awe closer to home.
For those looking to the west in the morning, you get to see the
true beauty and awesomeness of the Mourne Mountains every day as
the rising sun quite literally makes those mountains and sing.
For those of us facing east, we see the beauty of that sunrise
each morning as we pull back our curtains and we're in awe at
the goodness and the glory of God, because these are impressive
every time we see them and remind us of the glory of God.
Other than boasting about Jesus Christ, there's only one other
thing I boast about, and that is the minister's room in.
Anna Long, because from it you can see the glory of the Mourn Mountains.
And as I come out to preach.
Morning and evening, well, not this evening, it's too dark.
But it does my heart good to know that the God who created these
mountains is indeed the God who continues to care for us, to
protect us, and to keep us until the end.
This is what Revelation 4 is about.
Revelation 4 is a curtain being pulled back on the throne room
of heaven as we see the Lord seated on his throne.
And John begins by describing it like this in verse one.
After this I looked.
So after the seven letters to the seven churches have been given
to him, he then looks and behold a door standing open in heaven.
And the first voice which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet
said, come up here and I will.
Show you what must take place after this.
That's a wonderful invitation to be taken up into heaven through
that open door to see this curtain revealed.
Well, John is invited to come and see in the words what must take
place in these last days.
And we've been introduced to the open door before, remember, to
the church in Philadelphia.
Jesus says this in Revelation 3, verse 7.
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write the words of
the Holy One, the true One, who has the key of David, who opens
and no one will shut.
Who shuts and no one opens.
Access to the heavenly realms is held by the risen Lord Jesus.
He opens the door so his people can enter.
And when they do, they are brought into the most marvelous of
sights.
And as John enters, we are told in verse two, at once, I was
in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven with one seated
the throne.
Now, being in the spirit here tells us that John was about to receive
revelation from God as a prophet or as an apostle would.
It's a phrase that is familiar in both the Old Testament and in
the Acts, the apostles, that either the prophet or the apostle
was in the spirit.
And after that, we read that they received a message from the
Lord.
And so the Spirit here to John is about to disclose to him the things
of God.
And in the midst of everything else that John saw, what stood out
most at the center of everything, because he tells us this
first was a throne.
And not just a throne, but an occupied throne.
There's someone seated in it.
And in the heart of ultimate reality, we.
We see along with John what is most important and what really matters.
And, you know, as we move from the earth into heaven, that's not
a bad way to consider what else we'll read in Revelation over
these next 19 chapters.
Because to see the one sitting on the throne is what really matters,
to know him as the one that whatever we'll face in the next chapters,
he is still the one who is on the throne.
And when someone is on the throne, they are ruling and they
are reigning.
So as much as you go back and read the letters to the churches,
don't forget who is the one who.
Has authority over all.
Because what's being communicated here in the knowledge
of those seven churches is we see what the suffering Christians
of John's day needed to see.
We see what struggling believers of every age have needed
to see that God is on the throne of the universe.
Now, remember, as John wrote from Patmos, the Emperor Domitian
sat on the Roman throne, demanding that he be addressed as
Lord and God, which meant that those who called Jesus, Lord and
God were being severely persecuted and were even been put
to death.
The Roman throne was a source of fear.
The Roman throne was a source of anxiety for John's readers.
It was a source of unparalleled suffering.
Looking now at this throne, we are told of one sitting and ruling.
And the description is given to us in verse three, that it had
the appearance of precious jewels.
How different from that Roman throne, because John does.
He describes the throne using imagery and symbolism because no
one can see and nor can anyone describe God as He actually is.
For his glory is beyond human capacities.
The stones mentioned are Jasper and carnelian and a rainbow,
like an emerald.
Now, the rainbow should automatically transport us back to
Genesis chapter 9 and should remind us that God uses a rainbow
as the sign of his covenant promise to Noah.
And that covenant promise was that he wouldn't destroy the earth
by water again.
So to see a rainbow here now in the throne room of heaven, is
to be reminded of God's mercy and judgment, but also of his covenantal
faithfulness to his people.
Now, the stones that we've mentioned, Jasper, carnelian and
emerald, they tell us of the Lord Jesus, beauty of his glory and
his wealth.
And these are stones found in the ephod of the High Priest.
They're stones that are found in the Garden of Eden.
And they're stones that we will discover that will be found
in the promised New Jerusalem later in Revelation.
It is the prophet Ezekiel who we have to go back to, who mentions
them first in this way in chapter one, using them to describe
the unparalleled and indescribable beauty and glory of
God.
But John just doesn't look at the throne.
His attention is drawn to either side of the throne.
And at either side of the throne he sees 24 other thrones.
These thrones are also occupied and have seated on them
24 elders.
Now, each elder is clothed in white garments.
And again we were introduced to white garments in the letter to
Laodicea as an image of what repentant sinners remember.
Laodicea was neither.
It was a church that needed Jesus.
And so we have an image here of what repentance sinners receive
as they come to Christ for sure life in him through faith.
And these elders have golden crowns on their heads.
So as the curtain is rolled back to the glorious hope that eternity
is.
Who are these 24 elders?
Well, it may be that we're meant to think of the 12 patriarchs
plus the 12 apostles, so that they would represent the totality
of redeemed humanity from both the old and the New Covenant communities
of faith.
And what unites them is the source of their garments and the
source of their crowns.
They are all dressed in the righteousness of Christ given to
them when they responded to the Gospel in repentance and faith,
and are wearing the crown that Jesus promised to all who are faithful
unto death.
In Revelation chapter 2 and verse 10, you know they dared not,
in fact they could not enter the presence of God with the filthy
rags of their own righteousness.
They have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and given a robe of
righteousness by him.
And so dressed for Jesus.
And by Jesus they are ruling with Him.
But as John looks at either side of this throne and sees the
24 other thrones, the scene shifts for us just a little in verse
five, because adding to what John, John sees, he now hears verse
five and the first part of verse six show us that radiating
from the throne of this beautiful, glorious, majestic king
is the sound of his perfect justice.
That's what the peals of thunder are whenever we hear those
in Scripture, it is God's judgment.
And so the seven spirits that are mentioned again, they are the
agents who carry out his decrees.
But with the noise and the power and the authority.
Look at what's going on around the throne in verse six.
And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like
crystal.
Even though this is the throne of the risen Lord Jesus, where yes,
we see his glory, we see his beauty, we see his majesty, but we
also hear the sound of his perfect justice, there is still yet
a calm restfulness that reflects and reverberates the perfections
of the One seated on the throne throughout.
The entirety of heaven.
This picture of heaven shows us that heaven is not exactly like
many people have pictured it.
It certainly isn't like the way so many people who claim to have
died, visited heaven and come back have described it, because their
descriptions are usually strongly human cent and very short
sighted.
But John gives us heaven as it is.
This is the heaven of total perfection.
And this tells us that we as human beings tend to think of ourselves
as the center of everything.
We believe that everything revolves around us.
Now I need to burst that bubble and say that this world doesn't
revolve around us.
All of human history revolves around the one seated on the throne,
the risen Lord Jesus.
It is to him we are to look, and it is to him that we are to submit,
to know him as the One who calls us to follow Him.
So that we too can enter the open door and his and hear his gentle
invitation to come and see and know heaven as our eternal home.
Isn't it wonderful that there is a.
Glorious invitation to come and to see?
But as we know, as we have seen with the seven churches, as
we know is the heart of the gospel.
In our sinful state, we cannot enter.
Yes, the Lord Jesus is the One who has the key of David, who opens
the door and none shall close it.
But he is also the One who can close the door.
Because not everyone may enter in.
It is only those found in Jesus who may enter.
And the problem for us is if we think the world revolves around
us, then we will not enter, because we need to look to the One
who is our Creator and our Sustainer.
We need to look to the One on the throne, for all of the.
Universe revolves around Him.
So as we think of who we are as humanity, as we think of our own
lives and what we think of ourselves and how we live and how
we work, is life actually more about me?
Is life actually more about my voice rather than the voice of the
risen Lord Jesus?
Am I living for this world, even though I want to live for the
other one?
But actually, in reality, this world has more of a hold, like many
of the churches that are written to.
The challenge is to repent.
Revive thy work, O Lord, as the hymn that we just sang said,
and make Thy people hear.
You see, this work is still to be done.
If we think that the world revolves around us, then that door
into heaven and that invitation to come and see.
Will not be ours.
We will be turned away and cast into the lake of fire.
Which is it?
If you hold yourself in high regard, well, then you're not holding
the one who sits on the throne in his proper place.
But if we do, then the gates or the door will be open and.
We'Ll have this invitation to enter in.
But John tells us of more around the throne, because what John
now describes in verses 7 to 11 is a wonderful celebration of
worship in heaven, because around the throne are four living
creatures.
Now, these creatures are described as having eyes in front
and behind, and they have the appearance, or in John's words, they
are like or share the likeness of a lion, an ox and an eagle in
flight, and one like the face of a man, or having the face of a
man.
Now, the creatures chosen here are fascinating because we all can
identify with them.
For the lion is, as we say, king of the beasts.
Oxen are the most powerful domesticated animals.
Human beings are the crown of creation.
And eagles are the most majestic of birds.
And so we need to go back into the Old Testament, because John is
drawing on Ezekiel's vision of the cherubim that Ezekiel speaks
off in chapters one and ten, though he doesn't explicitly tell
us at this moment that the four living creatures are the cherubim.
But they do act as both Ezekiel and also Isaiah in Isaiah
6 Tell us of the cherubim and seraphim acting as these creatures
do now.
Because what we read there is.
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are
full of eyes all around and within and day and night.
They never cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,
who.
Was and is and is to come.
Here we see the reverence that is before the throne of God.
Like in Isaiah, the six wings cover their body.
Isaiah says they cover their faces and their feet.
But here we see them covered because of the awesome holiness of
God.
They fly because they're devoted to God's service, flying
to carry out his will and his directions.
And John draws on the cherubim in Ezekiel again, chapters one and
ten, telling us of their vigilance in guarding God's throne.
That's why they have eyes to see as they guard the throne of God.
And this is truly an awesome sight.
And as they serve, so they sing, they worship.
And their worship is an echo of what the Lord Almighty said of
himself in chapter one and verse eight.
He said, I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and was and.
Who is to come?
The Almighty.
I think this is beautiful how revelation.
Is opened to us by what already has been told.
We see these images in the Old Testament books that maybe we don't
read yet.
These major prophets point us to what the reality is and have warned
us.
Of what the reality is.
But so too has the Lord God Almighty.
He has told us what we are to sing of him.
And in verses 10 and 11, John gives us commentary as to what happens
when the living creatures worship God.
We are told then that it is the turn of the 24 elders, as he
says, to fall down and worship him.
And as an act of worship, they cast their crowns before him, demonstrating
their submission to his rule, to his authority.
Remember, they're sitting on thrones with crowns.
They are ruling and reigning with Christ.
But they know their place.
They submit to the risen Lord Jesus, and they too sing praise of
him in verse 11.
There worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor
and power.
For you created all things, and by.
Your will they existed and were created.
This praise of God is telling the suffering church, under pressure
from Rome and Jewish opposition, that God is the sovereign
creator of all things and therefore deserves their worship,
their thanks and their praise.
Worship must be given not to the emperor or to the beast, but
to God alone.
The churches in Revelation are to hallow God's name on earth, just
as it is hallowed in heaven by the 24 elders and the four living
creatures.
And so, as we conclude tonight, this is our hope and this
is our challenge.
You see, the devil is at work in pulling down the church.
He will do everything he can.
Sometimes that comes from external factors, but he is at most
time using God's own people to discourage each other and to speak
ill of the bride of Christ.
In these moments when we feel the attacks of the evil one, we must
look to the risen Lord Jesus.
As the curtain of heaven is pulled back and we see the most marvelous
of sights, we see Jesus on the throne.
We must not forget God, as the circumstances of life overwhelm us,
because Revelation 4 lifts our eyes to the most important being
in the universe and calls us to behold our God.
And be assured this God will remain on his throne forever.
Despite the evil in the world.
God reigns and God rules.
When we see God seated on his throne, we realize he is indescribably
majestic, lovely and awesome.
And we confess that the Lord we worship is infinitely holy.
Now, none of us is worthy to stand in his presence.
And hence there is a great gulf between us and God.
And that gulf can only be crossed through the risen Lord Jesus,
who's sitting on the throne.
And that's what John says in First John 2:1:2.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that
you may not sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but
also for the sins of the world.
And again, isn't it amazing?
John writes this in a letter to the churches.
And then he goes into this vision of revelation that is received
that he receives.
And what he has said to the churches, he is now seeing before
him that there is only one way by which we may enter through the
door and into heaven.
And it is by the advocate, it is by the one who is the propitiation
for our sins.
It is Jesus Christ, the righteous.
This is the God that we have seen tonight, who through his Son
invites us to look and behold the open door in heaven.
As he invites us in, will you enter and will you know Christ as
your Savior, trusting in him alone for the forgiveness of your
sins and the salvation your soul.
Because this is a wonderful invitation.
And so maybe we are, if we're honest with ourselves, maybe we are
some of those members of the churches.
Maybe we have fallen away.
Maybe we're living more like the world.
Than we are as God would want us.
He invites us to come and buy.
From him holy garments that are white, to receive a crown of
glory and to enter in.
It's not too late to come to the Lord fully and completely, to
know him and take hope.
Take hope that this vision that we're giving tonight is our
reality, that the universe revolves around the one seated on
the throne.
Be courageous because he has overcome evil.
And he will reign forever and ever and ever.
Take this to heart and know him deeply this night.
Let's pray.
Our Father God, thank you for this glorious hope in the risen Lord
Jesus.
Father, thank you for what it means to see him on the throne, to
know he is ruling and reigning, that the world doesn't
revolve around us, but around Him.
So may we get on board with that, realizing that there's only
one person who can welcome us into heaven.
And it is because he died for us on Calvary's cross and rose again
so that we would know his authority over death and the grave.
So Father, may we know you more this night as we look ever to
you in Jesus name, Amen.