"The Glory of Heavenly Distinction" Revelation 4:8-11

Introduction

As we come to our final text in this series of the doctrine of the holiness of God we are once again brought into the throne room of God and given a description of the worship that is taking place in the presence of God.

I say “once again” because when we began this series in Isaiah 6 several weeks ago, we saw something similar to what John is describing here in Revelation 4:8-11.

And this scene is being revealed to John as a point of reference to the things that God is getting ready to take place upon the earth in the last days. This is a context that we would always do good to remember Christian because it helps us to keep events on the earth in check with God’s heavenly purpose.

And John describes a glorious revelation of the distinction that belongs to God alone and there are 4 creatures that are described in such a way as to represent all created beings in existence. And they are making an ongoing Declaration of the Transcendence of God in verse 8. Look back at your text to verse 8.

I. A Declaration of Transcendence (8).

A. These 4-Living creatures have six wings with eyes in front and back of their heads. And each having a distinct face, one having a face of a lion, one with the face of an ox, one with the face of a man and the other with the face of an eagle.

And it appears that they are declaring in an ongoing manner the distinction of God in His transcendence.

God’s transcendence denotes the idea of “God as being over and beyond the created order and superior to it in every way” (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, pg. 118).

B. Notice that they begin with the 3-fold emphasis of the holiness of the Lord God Almighty. This 3-fold emphasis on the holiness of God is similar to what we saw in Isaiah 6:3. And remember that John 12:41 tells us that this is when Isaiah saw Christ in all His glory.

As the Lord God Almighty He is the supreme sovereign who exercises omnipotent power in His being. He is unlimited in His dominion and power. And they describe Him as the one who was and is and is to come!

This tells us that He not only transcends all dominion but all aspects of time in relation to eternity.

The holiness of God denotes that He is separate and distinct from His creation. Holiness is His chief attribute and all the other attributes that He possesses are contextualized by His holiness in their perfections.

For instance, His love is not ever exercised in such a way as to contradict or violate His holiness. God’s attributes are held by Him and exercised in absolute perfection.

He can only be Holy in the possession and expression of His attributes in absolute perfection. Absolute perfection can not change without changing into something less than what is absolute perfection.

This is a hard thing for us to keep in mind because we change all the time. Sometimes humans change for the good and sometimes we change for the bad.

But God doesn’t change in His character, nature and being. He is the only being who is Holy and perfect who rules sovereignly over all things.

This is what moves the 24-Elders in the throne room to be moved into a display of submissive worship before God as they Declare His Preeminence in verses 9-11. Look back at your text:

II. A Declaration of Preeminence (9-11).

A. So who are these 24-Elders who are moved to worship by casting their crowns before the throne of God?

Most scholars believe that they are representative of the church through all the ages. 12 Patriarchs from the Old Testament and the 12 Apostles from the New Testament who are currently before Christ on His throne and are giving Him praise by their act of casting their crowns before Him.

The crowns represent all their achievements and significance as the redeemed of God. And they take those crowns off and cast them before the throne of God.

B. Then comes the declaration of the infinite worth and value of God: Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,…

These are not creatures in heaven who were created for the single purpose of declaring praise to God as in verse 8. Theses are men who have been redeemed from the earth who are declaring His preeminence. Preeminence is dealing with the superior nature of God. And yes it is closely associated with God’s transcendence but here it is contextualized differently than in verse 8.

Verse 8 declares in light of the character and being of God but, here in verse 11 the declaration is contextualized by the expressed display of God’s creation.

Notice: 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.

So the 24 Elders who have been redeemed from the earth are ascribing supreme worth and value to our Lord and God. And they are also declaring the absolute legitimacy of the Lord’s reception of praise due to His glory, honor and power because of His willful expression of all of creation.

C. Whenever we see text like this in the Bible we struggle for the application so often because we see text like these and the doctrine of the holiness of God as being big theological ideas that are not necessarily practically relevant to our lives.

It is kind of like we have a litmus test for such things where we say to ourselves something like, well this is good to know doctrinally but how does it apply to me in my immediate life on earth?

I am becoming increasingly convinced that such questions in light of such grand theological truths about God are revealing something that is deeply ingrained in our thinking and in our nature.

The real question we should be asking is how does my life and the things I deem to be important and of superior value apply to the eternal plan and purpose of God?

I once bought a telescope at a yard sale and Terri rolled her eyes and was like, why did you by that thing?

I told her that I wanted to show the girls the moon close up and I wanted them to be able to see the stars up closer. And they would look through and see the moon and I would preach little sermons to them about God’s design and creativity in His creation.

But when you do this you always have to look through the right end of the telescope for it to work. You look through the big end it make big things seem smaller than they actually are. Looking through the small end makes already big things seem bigger.

Christian seeing God bigger is threatening to our perception of self rule. The question is not how is God relevant to me and my perceived purpose and plans but the real question is how am I relevant to Him and His eternal purpose and plan.

Questions about ultimate meaning and purpose or questions about identity in our existence cannot be answered in an objective and absolute way from the subjectivity of the self.

There is only one absolute and eternal being with an absolute distinction of existence of being holy, holy, holy and who is absolute in omnipotent power and dominion, who transcends time and eternity and all things outside of Him owe their existence and allegiance to Him.

Conclusion:

All of creation obeys Him, the sun, the moon, the planets, the stars in their divine order and design follow Him. The birds of the air and the insects in the ground, the atomic particles and cell formations and the mechanical designs that make them function as they were created to do, all follow Him.

But man, created in His image, endowed with the ability to be creative and personally relational with one another; Man who is able to reflect to a degree the communicable attributes of God Himself to a lesser degree than God but still able as a reflection of the divine image; only man dares to contemplate his rebellion and to act on it in defiance of the Holy and Sovereign God of the Universe.

Unbeliever

Believer- Let’s Pray!