Study of Revelation and End Times wk 16
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The Throne Room of Heaven wk 16
The Throne Room of Heaven wk 16
The last time we meet for this study we looked at the rapture and the end of the church age, as the letters to the churches ended, and John was taken up to heaven.
John is writing the Book of Revelation as a prisoner on the lonely island of Patmos.
He had just been instructed to write to the church of Laodicea at the end of their letter in Revelation 3:20-21
20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
As John was recording these words to the Laodiceans, a door was suddenly opened into heaven, and he was taken into the presence of God.
We are going to look at the entirety of this chapter then we will dig through it.
1 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.”
2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.
3 And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.
4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.
5 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;
6 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.
7 The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.
8 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.”
9 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
I. What a Heavenly Scene?
I. What a Heavenly Scene?
What are we seeing is a heavenly scene, and John is in the third heaven.
According to Scripture, there are three heavens, in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, Paul states that he knows a man who was caught up to the third heaven.
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—
4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.
So what are the three heavens?
The first heaven is the sky - that is our atmosphere and clouds.
11 “But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,
35 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them,
The Second heaven is outer space - all that lies beyond earth, which includes the stars, the sun, the moon, planets, and the galaxies.
3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises
And the moon will not shed its light.
The third heaven is the dwelling place of God Himself.
30 “Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive.
27 Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people; and their voice was heard and their prayer came to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.
1 To You I lift up my eyes,
O You who are enthroned in the heavens!
In 2 Corinthians it is believed that Paul was referring to himself when speaking of this man that went up to the third heaven, and it was not two separate experiences, but just one, verse two and verse four are describing the same experience.
Caught up to the third heaven, and caught up to Paradise are the same place, and we know this as we see in Revelation 2:7
7 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’
There is a story of an Russian astronaut in the early years of space exploration that went into space, who looked out the window and reported to say, he didn’t see God.
Well that is because he was in the second heaven, not the third.
If he had taken off his space suit for just a moment, he would have seen God face to face.
So where is the third heaven, if the first heaven is all around us, and the second is outer space, where lies the third heaven, it is where God dwells.
Is it beyond the galaxies? If so, can we develop a telescope to see it, no, because physical distance is not the problem.
I think the third heaven is maybe closer than we realize.
I believe it is all around us, just unseen.
Let me explain, and back that up with Scripture.
See three is a story that I love about Elisha and his servant that had fled the king of Aram, because God gave Elisha the knowledge of where the Arameans would be camped, and Elisha sent word to the King of Israel so that they could stay clear of the camp.
Well Elisha and his servant fled to Dothan, and that is not Dothan, Alabama Mrs. Jannie.
We see this story in 2 Kings 6:15-17
15 Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Elisha then asked God to blind the Aramean soldiers and Elisha lead them to Samaria where the Samarians captured them.
Through this story we see that God’s dwelling place, the third heaven could very well be around us, it can be wherever God desires it to be.
Whatever it is or wherever it is, the third heaven is the dwelling place of God Himself.
And John found himself caught up in that glorious scene.
II. Who is in the Storm?
II. Who is in the Storm?
5 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;
These are all symbols of judgment in the Scriptures.
From the safety of Heaven, John can see that a storm is brewing on Earth.
That storm will be unfolding in the Great Tribulation, but believers will be safe in God’s arms, in the sanctuary of Heaven.
Didn’t Jesus promise that?
Remember what He said to the church at Philadelphia in Revelation 3:10
10 ‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
The church, the bride of Jesus Christ, will not go through the Great Tribulation.
We will have tribulations, yes, and Jesus told us that.
But we will not be on Earth to face the outpouring of God’s wrath on a world that has rejected His Son.
We will see the tribulation storm on Earth from the vantage point of Heaven, or to some extent we will have a perspective of what is happening on earth.
As there is some Scriptures that we have some perspective of things going on still on earth, but for the most part we are more concerned with God.
I believe we will know more in heaven in our glorified state than we know on earth.
I think we will have memories and be aware of earthly doings, but with God’s perspective on it all.
III. When in Heaven?
III. When in Heaven?
8 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.”
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
Awestruck, John watched what was going on around him in heaven, trying to take it all in.
He saw magnificent angelic creatures worshiping.
He saw the twenty-four elders falling down in worship.
He heard their worship cries and songs and wrote down the lyrics.
Heaven will be all about worship. And why not?
Why shouldn’t we engage in unbridled worship?
All of our questions will be answered.
All of our pain will be removed.
All of our tears will be dried.
So we will be worshiping.
For some that sounds a little boring - as though heaven will be one long church service.
Not at all.
Yes, we will be worshiping, but we will be doing much more than that.
We also will be busy doing God’s work, moving through the new heavens and the new earth.
3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;
15 “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.
Heaven is also a place of rest, but I don’t know about you, but I can only rest for so long.
You and I have been put on this earth to glorify God, not to just please ourselves.
Heaven will be a place of rest, certainly.
But it will be far from boring.
We can’t even begin to conceive of the activities and opportunities the Lord has lined up for us.
Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2:9
9 but just as it is written,
“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
IV. Why Walk with God?
IV. Why Walk with God?
1 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.”
Both the Bible and events in our contemporary world point to a soon return of Jesus Christ for His own.
So what are we supposed to do until then?
When a California pastor predicted the day of Jesus’ return, people did some pretty crazy things.
Some divorced their mates.
Others ran up huge credit card bills, believing they would never have to pay them back.
But that is not how God wants us to respond.
Remember Enoch? What did he do?
He walked with God.
What does it mean to walk with God?
Walking speaks of effort, regular motion, and consistency.
The Bible doesn’t say that Enoch sprinted with God.
They simply walked together through life, one step at a time.
And the Bible says that we are to do the same.
The apostle Paul said in Galatians 5:16
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
He also said in Colossians 2:6-7
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
Enoch walked with God, and that is my goal in life too.
In the Old Testament book of Amos, we read in Amos 3:3
3 Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment?
In other words, if we are going to walk together, then let’s walk together.
I usually walk fast, which presents a problem when I walk with Donetta, because her pace is a bit slower then mine.
The idea of walking together is that we need to accommodate our pace to one another.
And it’s the same in our walk with God.
We shouldn’t lack behind Him or run ahead of Him.
We let Him set the pace.
Sometimes He might say, step it up a bit, Christ.
I have got something for you to accomplish. Stay with Me.
That’s the goal: staying with Him and living in harmony with Him.
The verse in Amos from the KJV, says this Amos 3:3
3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
The Hebrew word for appointment or agreed there implies a meeting at a fixed place at a fixed time.
Can you imagine being late for an appointment with God?
Have you ever made time in your schedule to meet with someone, and they come strolling in 15 minutes late?
You know they make up those excuses, or maybe they don’t.
I hate being late for anything.
I love the saying, Early is on time, on time is late, and late is never acceptable.
Can you imagine being late - or not showing up - for an appointment with God?
When you think about who He is and what He had done for us, maybe the best idea would be showing up fifteen minutes early.
The lesson here is to set and keep an appointment with God every day of your life.
Start the day in the Word of God, listen to His Holy Spirit.
Start the day in prayer, spreading out your schedule before Him, seeking His counsel, and giving Him thanksgiving and praise.
Think of Him.
Focus on Him.
Commit your life to Him afresh each and every day.
This is what it means to walk in harmony with God.
Then make a point to be fifteen minutes early to each of your appointments you have during the day, as you never know what God may use you for at that appointment or may have waiting at that appointment.
Pray asking God use me today, use me to share your love, use me to be a blessing to others, to share your good news.
And if this is the day I go to heaven, fine.
If it is tomorrow, great.
If it is thirty years from now, that is up to Him, and it is not my concern, it is all in His timing.
One day, when our life n earth ends and we enter eternity, every one of us will have a face-to-face meeting with our Creator.
You might think you know when that day is or imagine that you have a pretty good idea.
But you don’t.
Only God does.
So always be ready.