A View of Holy God on His Heavenly Throne

A VIEW OF HOLY GOD ON HIS HEAVENLY THRONE Spring Valley Mennonite; January 13, 2019; Revelation 4 In recent years Christian booksellers have flooded the market with numerous accounts of visits to heaven, usually in terms of “near-death” experiences. Since such accounts are claims of personal experiences, they are impossible to disprove or to validate. Such is the nature of a personal testimony: I cannot say, “No, that didn’t happen to you.” On the other hand, since it was personal, it cannot be proved that it did happen either. But when those experiences are compared with what the Bible tells us about heaven, we find reason for skepticism. Most of these accounts miss the breathtaking glory of God which dominates each biblical account of heavenly visits. In the fourth chapter of Revelation we have John’s account of a genuine visit to heaven. Exiled on the Isle of Patmos, the Apostle John is given a vision, which first revealed the Lord Jesus in His resurrected glory. The Lord then gave messages to seven churches in Asia Minor, these seven churches representative of seven periods in church history. In Chapter 1, verse 19, the Lord tells John to “Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall take place after these things.” Chapter 4 begins the third portion of Jesus’ revelation to John. We have come to the things which will take place after the Age of the Church, those things which were recorded in the seven letters to the churches. The scene changes in chapter 4 as John is transported in his vision to heaven, to view the magnificent and awesome throne of God. Turn to Revelation chapter 4 and follow along as we explore this amazing scene! Read Revelation 4:1-3 I. THE ONE SITTING ON THE THRONE John was invited to “come up here”. In biblical terms, heaven is always portrayed as “up”. For instance, Jesus ascended—went up—into heaven. He often is described as “coming down” to earth. Heaven is a physical place, it is more than the home of spirits. Jesus in His resurrected body is there presently. After the Rapture, we all will be there in physical form, in our resurrected bodies. I Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.” The scene John saw was heaven after the Rapture of the Saints, which I will discuss in more detail a bit later. John first saw an open door leading to the throne of God. It was John who recorded Jesus’ words “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved.” Because of Jesus, John had access to heaven, as do we. The door to heaven is open to anyone who trusts Jesus as His sacrifice and sin-bearer. No unforgiven person can enter heaven. John heard the same voice as he recorded in chapter 1, the voice of the Lord Jesus, a voice of invitation; a voice like a loud trumpet which could not be ignored! The Lord wanted John to see and record what was going to happen in the future, and He did so by transporting John thousands of years into the future to observe the end of the Age, Daniel’s seventieth week, the Tribulation Period, the Millennial Kingdom which follows that seven years, and the eternal state which will follow the Millennium. God has revealed the future to us. Are you interested? Then pay attention! To the original first century persecuted believers living in the Roman Empire, this letter was to encourage them that the future was bright and secure; evil would not dominate the earth forever, but there would be a time when Justice would be served on earth and evil would be judged and eradicated. This letter serves the same purpose for us. No matter how prevalent evil seems to be, God is in control and Satan’s time is limited. All the cares and worries of life fade away as we view the Sovereign, all-powerful God seated on His throne. There are three main visions of God on His throne recorded in the Bible, in addition to this vision, Isaiah and Ezekiel each had visions of the Throne. Paul also was given that privilege, but all he was permitted to say was that he “heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.” These earlier visions inform this scene in heaven. Ezekiel’s vision seems to most resemble John’s vision; listen to Ezekiel chapter 1:26-28: “Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli (which is an intense blue color) in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. (Ezek. 1:26–28)1 As we examine this Throne scene, we must realize that our focus should remain on the One sitting on the throne, and as beautiful as it is, we should not get carried away by what is surrounding the Throne. And God is John’s focus in verse three: We can only imagine the magnificence of the glory of God on His Throne! John describes God in terms of the most beautiful and intense colors he could imagine: He described it in terms he understood: God appeared in the vibrant sparkle of a transparent Jasper stone, and a glowing Sardius. The Jasper is elsewhere described as “clear as crystal”, and the Sardius is blood red. Some commentators have compared this to a many faceted diamond and a glowing ruby. Around the throne was an emerald green rainbow, also noted by Ezekiel. It was a magnificent sight, almost indescribably beautiful, emphasizing the glory of our heavenly Father! II. THE TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS SURROUNDING THE THRONE Read verse 4. Around God’s Throne were 24 thrones, occupied by 24 “Elders”. The thrones indicate authority to reign. Jesus had promised in Revelation 3:21: “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.” Who are these Elders? Note they are sitting, clothed in white, and wearing crowns. Some have supposed they are angelic beings, but angels are never said to be crowned with the crown of a victor, which is the particular type of crown described. Two Greek words are used in the New Testament to describe crowns: the crown of a ruler was a “diadem”, while the crown of a victor, like the winner of a race is “stephanos”. The crown of a victor is the one worn by these Elders. The clear implication is that these crowns have been awarded to those who have finished a contest victoriously. We recall the words of Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7-8: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.” Angels are never pictured as sitting in God’s presence, or wearing victor’s crowns, or sitting on thrones, nor attired with the white robes of righteousness given to those having passed judgment. I believe these 24 Elders are resurrected representatives of the raptured church! You see, the Rapture of the Church occurs in the interval between chapter 3 and chapter 4. With John, we are viewing heaven right after the Rapture and right before the beginning of the Tribulation Period. We are looking into the future. It is exciting to think that in our future we also will be in heaven, watching this scene unfold! It is highly significant that the church, so prominent in the first three chapters, is never mentioned in chapters 4-18 of Revelation. This is because the focus of those chapters is what is happening on earth, and the church is no longer there! There are several reasons to conclude that the Rapture has occurred before this scene in heaven. This scene we are observing immediately precedes the beginning of the Day of the Lord, the Tribulation Period. Some of the reasons I believe the Rapture has already happened prior to this scene are: • (First) The clear biblical doctrine of the Immanency of Christ’s Return: Jesus told His disciples in Luke 12:40, “You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.” Consider this: If Jesus will not return for the church until after the Tribulation Period, as some believe, believers will always have a seven-year warning, Christ’s return would be at an expected time, which would conflict with what the Lord told His disciples.. Scripture is clear that the church is to be ready for Jesus’ return at any time. • (Secondly) We are promised to be delivered from the wrath of God in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, where we are told “to wait for His Son from heaven, who He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.” Jesus will return before the Tribulation to deliver us from the wrath about to be poured out on the earth. Jesus promises the church of Philadelphia, in Revelation 3:10, “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 upon the earth.” Clearly, this “hour of testing” refers to the Tribulation Period. • (A third reason for holding to the truth of a Pre-Tribulational Rapture): The 24 Elders representing the church are seen as being present in heaven throughout the Tribulation Period of chapters 6-19, namely in chapter 11, 14, and 19. • Finally, as John Walvoord notes, after chapter 4, “Jews and Gentiles are spoken of separately as individuals who are saved or unsaved.” These individuals are not spoken of a being part of the universal church. They are in a special category of Tribulation saints. Let’s turn our attention to: III. THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES Read vv. 5-8. The activity around the throne is described as electrifying with flashes of lightning, peals of thunder and “sounds”. These are the ominous sounds of impending divine judgment. This causes us to recall the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai, where thunder and lightning and loud trumpet sounds created a fearsome spectacle! There is nothing calm and placid about the Holy Throne of God, especially as God prepares to pour out His wrath on the earth! Seven lamps of fire burn before the Throne, speaking of the Holy Spirit in His complete and perfect existence, seven having the Scriptural meaning of perfection. The Holy Spirit, normally not visible, at times takes on various forms, like the dove at Jesus’ baptism, the tongues of fire on the Day of Pentecost, and here as seven lamps of fire. The best explanation I could find of the “sea of glass” is in John MacArthur’s commentary: “Also in front of God’s throne was something like a sea of glass like crystal. That sea is metaphorical, since there is no sea in heaven (21:1). What John saw at the base of the throne was a vast pavement of glass, shining brilliantly like sparkling crystal. Exodus 24:10 records a similar scene when Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel “saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself”. Heaven is not a shadowy world of mists and indistinct apparitions. It is a world of dazzlingly brilliant light, refracting and shining as through jewels and crystal in a manner beyond our ability to describe or imagine (cf. Rev. 21:10–11, 18).2 This brings us to the incredible description of the four living beings “in the center and around the throne”. This means they were within the inner circle, close to the throne. Ezekiel gives a more complete description of these magnificent beings; they had the shape of a man, but have four faces: that of a man, a calf or bull, a lion and an eagle. They have multiple wings, and they are in constant motion around the throne. Mac Arthur notes: “Both Ezekiel’s description and that in Revelation 4 describe what could be called the divine war machine ready to unleash judgment.3 We later find these ones involved in initiating judgment on the earth. Ezekiel 10:15 identifies these heavenly creatures as an exalted order of angels called cherubim, whose duties are often associated with God’s holy power. It was one of these cherubim who guarded the entrance of the garden of Eden against the re-entry of Adam and Eve. Two carved cherubim were above the Ark of the Covenant symbolically guarding the holiness of God. Lucifer, before his fall, was the “anointed cherub who covers” with the duty of attending God’s throne, as stated in Ezekiel 28:14. Continually they cry out bearing witness to the holiness of God, giving glory and honor and thanks to the eternal God. When they cry out, the 24 Elders fall before the throne with the words, “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created.” Read 4:9-11 The scene in heaven fittingly ends with a chorus of praise and worship of God. We will be examining chapter 5 next week but note how the chorus of praise grows: it begins with a quartet of praise from the four living beings, then is joined by the voices of the 24 Elders. In 5:8, harps are added to the vocal praise. In 5:11, the rest of the angels add their voices, and finally in 5:13 all created beings in the universe join in this mighty chorus of praise. The Four living beings begin with praising God’s holiness: holy, holy, holy—the holiness of God is the only attribute of God exalted to the third power. In Isaiah 6 we observe the same thing. There is something extremely important to note from this whole chapter and scene in heaven, and it is seen in the words of the Cherubim: The purpose of God giving us this introductory chapter before describing the future is to emphasize that God is completely and entirely holy. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Holiness is the summation of all God is. He is utterly and completely separated from every form of evil. Throughout the judgment poured out on the earth, we are to realize that God hates sin and evil, and unless one is rescued by the atoning work of Jesus, the full wrath of God will fall. Until this coming time, God has refrained from a worldwide judgment on all sinners as they deserve. But sin has a consequence, sin will be judged. Either one claims the mercy and grace offered through Jesus, or one will fall under the just wrath of Holy God. In the future time of Tribulation, opportunities to respond to God’s grace will be limited as the whole world will feel the full fury of God’s wrath. MacArthur concludes, “So terrifying will that time be that unrepentant sinners will cry “to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (6:16–17).4 The coming Tribulation Period is God’s righteous response to a world that totally rejects His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It truly is the End of the World as we know it. We must be prepared.