Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro: Today is Palm Sunday when Jesus entered Jerusalem.

He starts his final week in his pre-resurrection, human body.

This time next week we will celebrate the Risen Lord and the work completed on the cross and from the grave.

As Jesus entered the city, (ESV): 37“the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”

40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out”

The people who wanted a king so bad that God gave them Saul at first and now they have been waiting for the king to return, have now recognized that the king has come riding into His city.

Not everyone realized that one thing Jesus was going to do was place the kingship of Israel and the world back to God, who is the earths rightful ruler.

Every ruler needs or has a throne to rule from.

The Bible gives us a few glimpses into the throne room, in Isaiah and Ezekiel but John Gives us a wonderful picture of what God’s throne room look like.

Read verses:

Main Point: God is on the throne ruling His Kingdom

I. Oh, the People You will Meet

Explanation: there is a lot of vivid imagery and what may be taken as figurative language in Apocalyptic literature.

We see similar language or types of descriptions in portions of the prophets like Ezekiel and Isaiah that detail the end times or in this case, God’s throne room.

The first thing we see is a door opening to heaven.

This is a real place.

It is God’s home; it is the believer’s future home.

The scene in the book moves from Earth to heaven.

John has moved for the remainder of the book to Heaven because Jesus is showing him what must take place.

The first person described in Heaven is God.

John says he is the One sitting on the throne.

That is it.

the word the One. and he was sitting was like jasper stone and a sardius or carnelian stone in appearance.

Jasper is some kind of “translucent rock crystal or perhaps even a diamond[1]Carnelian or sardius, they are synonyms.

These stones are very orangey, red, almost blood red.

If a person is made out of the it may give them the appearance of being made of fire.

So you have this being who is fire red in the middle of the room.

The sparkling beauty of such a vision would be sufficient to impress any viewer with the impressive royalty of the One who sat on the throne.

Walter Scott says of this theophany, “His essential glory cannot, of course, be communicated even to the most exalted of creatures.

God dwells in light unapproachable: ‘Whom no man hath seen, nor can see’ ().

But what can be witnessed by creatures is displayed.”[2]

Around the throne are 24 elders sitting on thrones clothed in white, with golden crowns on their heads.

Its not clear if these thrones are encircling God or arrayed in a semicircle or if they are just in close proximity but they can be seen.

They white represents their purity.

These may be idea from James and John when they were talking to Jesus about their place in heaven.

After this person John kind of looks behind or perhaps his eyes are drawn behind the throne to the next strange and wonderous beings, the four living creatures in verse 6.

One looks like a lion, one looks like a calf, one looks like a man, and the fourth has the face of an eagle.

All of them “had six wings, full of eyes around” (v. 6).

This matches with as well in the description the prophet gives.

This seems like a truly terrifying, yet awesome sight.

These beings are somewhat recognizable, but yet they are completely fantastical like something out of a JRR Tolkien novel.

John must have shuddered when he wrote this and then reread it.

their function though is to worship God singing Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty.

Illustration:

Application: God is worshipped by the people surrounding His throne

We don’t have to wait until then to worship Him.

After the final days and we are taken to heaven, we will send our days worshipping heaven.

Is this going to be a 24/7 event?

Or an on the hour every hour thing or just Sunday’s and Wednesdays?

We don’t know but it sounds pretty continuous.

says He [God] is your praise.

He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen” (ESV).

This is referring to what the Israelites have seen during the exodus, but that even pales in comparison to what John has described what his eyes have seen.

encourages us to “Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD!

For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers” (ESV).

In John, Jesus is talking to the woman at the well, and in verse 21, Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know.

We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.

23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.[g]

Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him.

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ).

“When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”

Christ Connection: Here Jesus tells an outsider that he is the messiah and he has come to bring everyone who believes (the true worshippers) into worship to the Father.

This is what Jesus arrival in Jerusalem sets up.

This is what His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave provides for us.

It allows us who repent and believe the opportunity to know where we are spending our eternity and how, in some part we will spend it.

Transition: John uses visual imagery not only to describe people, but also objects in the room.

II.

And The Sights You will See

Explanation: John draws the reader’s or hearer’s attention to the throne first, in verse 2. John says he was in the spirit and Behold a throne was standing in heaven.

which is in the center of the room and is really at the center of the book.

Because from this throne God makes all the decisions.

A. Thrones Represent the majesty and authority of a King.

Whenever you watch movies that have kings there is almost always a scene of the king sitting on his throne.

Many times, the throne is used as a synonym for position of king itself.

People say they are claiming the throne.

Wars have been fought over thrones because many times there was no clear claim to the title of King or queen and so it had to be taken by force.

Satan wanted to take over the throne from God or at least be in charge of all the angels not just a third of them.

We try to over throw God when we want to do what we want instead of doing what God wants us to do.

B. Surrounding the throne is rainbow, Lightning, and floor that is as a sea of glass like crystal.

These accounts line up with Old Testament accounts from and which says Something like a throne with the appearance of lapis lazuli was above the expanse over their heads.

On the throne, high above, was someone who looked like a human.

27 From what seemed to be his waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire enclosing it all around.

From what seemed to be his waist down, I also saw what looked like fire.

There was a brilliant light all around him.

28 The appearance of the brilliant light all around was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day.

This was the appearance of the likeness of the Lord’s glory.

When I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.

(CSB).

John gives us a description that is so vivid because seeing the sea especially when the sun is shining on it and how it looks is awe inspiring.

C. Seven Fires

These seven fires or torches represent the Holy Spirit, so in the scene we have God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, the Trinity all in the same room.

This is partially illustrative in a sense to show us that they are three distinct persons, but they are all of the same essence, they are all God.

Application point: You can rest knowing that God is on the Judgment Seat

We do not have to act like Satan and be unhappy with what God has given us and we are not qualified to make the Judgments and Decisions that God has to make.

It is easy to criticize our leaders when we are in our living room.

It is quite another thing to have to actually process the information and decide what to do with it.