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Welcome to Lesson 10. This lesson will cover Chapter 4. I want to remind you of the outline
in Revelation 1:19. In Chapter 1, it was Jesus as He was. In Chapter – the second section,
the things which are, we covered in Chapters 2 and 3, the seven churches. In the third
section are the things to come, which are Chapters 4 to 22.
Now, in Chapters 4 and 5, we are going to get a glimpse of heaven and what it will look
like. Now, we have to remember that John the apostle is on Patmos. He's getting this revelation
from Jesus Christ, and we've come to Chapters 2 and 3 and the seven churches.
And in the first verse, it says, "After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing
open in heaven." Well, after what things? Well, after Chapters 2 and 3 in the church
age, we are in the last church age now, and we don't know the time that it will be completed.
In Revelation 3:20, Jesus said, "I stand at the door and knock." If you open the door
of your heart to Him, He will open the door for you.
1b: "And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me saying, 'Come
up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.'" Well, what's
he talking about here? He's talking about the event we know as the Rapture. He hears
the trumpet of the Lord. And we've talked about the first trumpet of God in Revelation
– I'm sorry – Exodus Chapter 20 when Jesus gathered the people at the mountain.
This second trumpet of God is what speaks in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 through 18. "For the
Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of an archangel, and
the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And thus, we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another in these words."
This scripture can be a stumbling block for some people. They say, "Wait a minute! When
God comes back, He's coming on the earth, proclaim and establish His kingdom." But when
you look at Verse 17, it says that, "We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." So, in this event, Jesus is not
coming all the way back to earth. He's meeting us halfway in the sky. Later on in Chapter
20 is when He'll come back to earth.
Now you may not fully understand this, but a Jewish man and woman would understand. There's
a show called "A Wedding Story". Well, this is a Jewish wedding story and directly relates
to this description of this event. When the two people became engaged to be married, the
time of the wedding was not set. The man went back to his father's house, and he began to
build an addition to the house where he and his bride would live.
You remember that Jesus said, "I go to my Father's place, and I build for you many mansions."
And the Father would be the one who would announce the time of the wedding. Sounds familiar?
Even Jesus said that neither He nor anyone knows the time or the hour that the Lord would
come back.
So the man is busy working along working on his addition. Now, the bride will be wondering
when this wedding is going to happen. Can you imagine a bride today not knowing when
the wedding is going to be? So, she's sending out scouts to look and see how close the house
is being readied to be lived in, and this could be the signs of the times, a possibility
of the wedding is getting closer. She wouldn't know for sure because why? Only the father
knew. This bride would always have to be ready to be her best, just like we who believe that
Christ can come back at any moment. It purifies us to be our best.
The father says, "Okay, it's time for the wedding." And usually, it was in the middle
of the night. And the men would light torches and start shouting that the wedding is ready,
and the bride would hear and quickly her bridesmaids would get her dress on. And they would meet
in the middle of the streets and have this wedding halfway in the streets, and they would
have this marriage period. They would go back to the house, and for seven days or a week,
they would just be in love with each other, spend time with each other on a honeymoon.
And you might say, "Well, that's no honeymoon." Well, back then, not to be in the fields for
seven days, that's a honeymoon. And food was brought to them and all their needs were taken
care of.
And as we know in the Bible, seven days is a week and a week in the Bible represents
seven years. And when we go up into heaven, we're going to have this seven year – seven
year marriage/honeymoon with God, getting to know Him, loving Him.
John 3:29 says, "The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom
waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice.
That joy is mine, and it is now complete." And when we go up and meet Him in the air,
we are complete and there will be a seven year period just like during the Jewish wedding
that we will get to know Him before we return. Meanwhile, down on earth, a lot of bad stuff
is going to happen.
And so finally when it was time after the seven days, they would come out together and
they would have the wedding feast. And this is a picture of what Jesus is going to do
with us. When He eventually comes back in Chapter 20 to rule and reign, we will have
spent time with Him, getting to know Him, and we're coming back with Him.
Verse 2: "Immediately, I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven and one
sat on the throne." He goes up, and He is in the Spirit. And when this happens to us,
we will be like Him – no more body, counting calories, exercise, or disease. This will
be giving the people, the seven churches, and a glimpse of heaven and to let them know
that earth is not really important. The real focus is heaven. And His throne is permanent.
The throne is set, which means it's anchored. It does not waver. On earth, everything is
opposite. Everything is always changing, wavering, and new things.
In Jeremiah 17:12, it says, "A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place for
sanctuary." What a beautiful scripture. And even Jesus said in the New Testament in John
14:13 to 15, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty but whoever drinks the water
I give him will never be thirsty. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a
spring of water welling up to eternal life." You see, its heaven, heaven, heaven. That's
what matters. So we picture His permanence.
Now, in Verse 3, it will give us a picture of His love for us. "And he who sat there
was like jasper and a Sardis stone in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne
in appearance like an emerald." Jasper is like a diamond to us, and Sardis is blood
red – it will be like a ruby today – showing His pureness and His sacrifice for us, the
diamond being the brilliance of God, for in 1 John 5, it says that He is light.
This is a message we have heard from Him and declare to you God is light. In Him, there
is no darkness. He also says in 1 John 4:8, "Whoever does not love does not know God because
God is love." And with both these descriptions, the Sardis stone is blood red, saying, "I
love you so much. I died on the cross for you." He's the lamb that was slain for the
foundation of the earth, dying for each individual sin, and He died for us, not just as a group,
and this will be a reminder of the people He was pasturing. You might be asking, "Why
aren't we being detected?" Remember the people in Sardis that were being killed by the Romans.
They'd be like us sometimes and be asking, "Lord, where are you?" And God is letting
them know God is on the throne and He's real.
Here, we have all kinds of problems. It may be as small as a toothache or if you have
a terminal disease. When we get to heaven, this throne of grace, everything will be taken
away, and we will be at peace with His love and grace.
There was a covenant with Noah, and He used a rainbow, and Noah made it through the storm.
And there's going to be a storm in Chapter 6 through 19. Noah found grace from God, and
that's why he made it. He's saying there is a throne of grace waiting for us. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord, and grace is not earned. It is all glory and honor to God.
Hebrews 4:16: "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
2 Peter 3:18: "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him
is the glory both now and forever. Amen."
Verse 4: "Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones they saw twenty-four
elders sitting clothed in white robes, and they had crowns of gold on their heads." The
twenty-four elders – who are these guys? They're the twelve apostles and twelve sons
of the tribe of Israel. We know this because in Matthew 19:28, "So Jesus said to them,
'Assuredly I say to you, in the regeneration when the Son of Man sits on the throne of
His glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel.
And in Revelation 22, the New Jerusalem and the tall gates have the twelve names of the
patriarch saints and on the foundation are the names of the apostles. That applies to
us – you and me – we want to be strong in our faith and useful."What do elders do?"
They are men and woman of authority and service. They point John to Jesus. They speak to him
in spiritual discussion like we should with people here. And they help out hurting people.
The pattern of the Tabernacle, which is in heaven and provides forgiveness and where
the blood is shed, will be described in the next verse. Verse 5: "And from the throne,
we're seeing lightning, thundering, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the
throne, which are the seven spirits of God." – are seven-fold work of the Spirit of God,
seven aspects of the Holy Spirit, which we talked about in Isaiah 11:2. Even though there's
thundering and lightning coming from the throne, there's peace because in Verse 6, it says,
"And before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal."
My brother Bruce used to water ski. He had a friend, Skip, I think, or Chip. And they
would love to see this. They would go to Crystal Lake and Coconut Creek. This is showing that
there was peace before the throne, and when we come to Him now, we cast our cares upon
Him to get that peace.
For Philippians 4:6 through 8 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace
of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus."
Now, in the next verses, we're talking about heaven, and there's going to be things described
that may scare some people. But I'm going to use a description of something that people
are familiar with, and I'm going to describe it like no one has ever seen it before.
[Music until 20:06]
Well, if you didn't figure it out when I'm showing the picture, and it's a space shuttle.
And now, if you go back and look over you might get it. So this is what John is describing
as heaven. And here in 6 and 7 is the throne where we will praise.
In 6, it says, "In the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures
full of eyes in front and back."
Verse 7: "The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a
calf, the third living creature had the face like a man, and the fourth living creature
was like a flying eagle. In Ezekiel Chapter 1, each of these beasts is described, and
they have four faces. The eyes all over these creatures, they see before, behind, and within.
Verse 8: "The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around
and within, and they do not rest day or night saying: 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,'
who was and is to come." But why three holies? It's because of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit.
Verse 9: "Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits
on the throne, which lives forever and ever."
Verse 10: "The twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship
Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne and say: 'You
are worthy, our Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for you've created all things,
and by you will they exist and were created.'"
Now, these beasts – they sound scary. We cannot picture them, but when we get to heaven
it's going to be cool. When you read the four Gospels, you might get a picture. For Matthew
pictures Jesus as a lion and the king of the Jews. The Book of Mark, He's the oxen, the
servant and the worker. The Book of Luke, Jesus is a man in this humanity. In the Book
of John, the eagle shows Jesus. In His deity. He flees the highest and is the only animal
that can look directly into the sun. It has a special eyelid that lets it do it.
And these four pictures are part of the four faces of these creatures. The eyes within
speak of intelligence. The four faces are the beauty and fullness of understanding of
Jesus. They bow down. "Holy" means "perfect, without blemish". They're not programmed to
say it. They get up again and they're blown away constantly, just like if you watch the
space shuttle go off and you go, "Wow!" These creatures – they get up and look up and
they see Jesus and they go, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth,
worthy to be praised." And they bow down and they get their breath and they look up again
and, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." They can't stop because they're just blown
away. And this is good news for today in whatever situation. I am in.
For the Lord says, "I'm always here. Listen to me." Studying the Bible is not for knowledge,
but it is to get to know Him. When we realize that heaven is real, we could take what goes
on here on earth less seriously. We are set free. Others who look for satisfaction will
never be satisfied, just as we grow up, we transform, and we transform into the Spirit.
All of this will make sense.