The Throne in Heaven
Notes
Transcript
If you have your Bibles , we will begin with Revelation 4:1-2
After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
I know that the last couple of sermons out of Revelation have been tough and the last one in particular was tough. I do believe that especially in times like this that we need tough messages. That we need to be convicted and because as Christians, we are called to live a different type of life. As we looked at , two weeks ago, I don’t ever want Jesus to think I was lukewarm about what I believe and this church certainly isn’t a lukewarm church. There is something very special happening in this church and has been for some time now.
Now we come to Chapter 4 of Revelation and we get a glimpse of the Throne of God, the Throne seated in Heaven. For all of the brokeness and the sin, our own and the worlds. We need to be reminded of the grace of God, we need to be reminded of how glorious the Lord is. We need this reminder that we keep moving toward the Living God. Even in the book of Revelations, one of the tougher books in the Bible, after we just had those tough messages, here is the grace of God, and these are found everywhere in the Bible.
Whenever I read passages in which we get glimpses into Heaven, I am just at awe, and I am reminded that God is the Lord and that He is all powerful and that He is always with us. After Jesus delivers those tough messages , John then gets to go up to Heaven. So at once He was taken up to Heaven as Jesus calls him up there.
And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.
These stones are very important, every thing is connected. One note if you are reading a different translation. Carnelian is a different word for ruby. It is the same stone but today we call them rubys. Jasper and Rubys were the first and the last of the 12 gemstones worn on the high priest’s breasts.
“Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions—the work of skilled hands. Make it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. It is to be square—a span long and a span wide—and folded double. Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. The first row shall be carnelian, chrysolite and beryl; the second row shall be turquoise, lapis lazuli and emerald; the third row shall be jacinth, agate and amethyst; the fourth row shall be topaz, onyx and jasper.
Mount them in gold filigree settings. There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes. “For the breastpiece make braided chains of pure gold, like a rope.
Everything in the Bible is an important and connected throughout the entire Biblical record. So on the throne in Heaven the same gems appear as in Exodus. The point of the priest plate was to give the High priest wisdom to make decisions. Those two gemstones are the first and the last. Jesus is the first and the last. God is in the details of everything. This is the God that we can trust and rely on for everything. There are approximately 1500 to 1600 years between the writing of Exodus and the writing of Revelation. yet this little detail is connected. It really is a miracle in mind and it is details like this that build my own faith and prove time and time again that this is the Word of God.
Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.
We come to one of the parts where especially with Revelation that some answers we are not going to know for sure. For example there are a lot of debates on who the 24 elders are.
However there are some possible clues that we can look at, as one major theory is that the 24 elders represent the church that was raptured. So this is another area where the English fails us. The word crown in this verse is different than the a crown that a ruler would wear. The Greek word for this kind of crown is stephanos. This was a crown given to the victors in the Greek games.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
So here Paul tells about competing in the games. He further tells us that we do get a crown that will last forever. So Paul is using the same verbaige as John in Revelation. Now we also look at the thrones, these thrones are different than the other thrones.
Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us;
Paul here echos the same sentiment as Revelation. So again whether this is the answer or not, I cannot say for certain. But there is a reason why there are 24 elders, this goes back again to the Law of Moses, and there were 24 orders of the priesthood in the Law of Moses, so again everything connects.
From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back.
So as we looked at the start of the we saw the seven lampstands already. These will play a very important role in the coming scriptures.
Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:“ ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”
Now we covered this verse already a few sermons ago, but this matches up with
Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Can you imagine what this must have been like for John to see. to see the throne of God and to see the seraphim calling day and night Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty.
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
The picture that we are getting right now is of the greatest worship service that will ever exist, here is what they say
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
He is worthy of all our praise because He is God and He created everything. I do not preach the way that I do because I want to be controversial or anything like that. If everyone forgets my name, I would be perfectly fine with that. My only goal in life is for as many people as possible to see this throne. It is a throne I very much want to be able to worship at for eternity.
The humble heart is God’s throne in regard to his gracious presence; and heaven is his throne as to his glorious presence.
Thomas Watson
All that we just covered, getting this glimpse into the throne room in Heaven and yet God lives in our hearts, this really just makes me sit back for a many and consider the grace of God. It is only by His grace we can be here, that He saved us and that one day we can be with Him in that throne room.
Let us pray
