Sermon Tone Analysis

The Greatness of God’s Throne

Who is Worthy to go to the Throne of God?

FCF: The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles.

Pre-Introduction: What will rescue the Body of the Messiah from all of her troubles?

Read Together

Introduction: Though we have more knowledge our thoughts are of God are still too low, still too lukewarm.

In 1999, my mother-in-law let me borrow a book that would utterly destroy me, ruin me, and expose me for what I was.

The book was A.W. Tozer’s “Knowledge of the Holy.”

After I read the Preface, I was hooked.

the book itself, a mere 81 pages is small and easy to read but after I read it, I lie in bed next to my bride in a state of utter repentance and awareness of one of my greatest problems: not thinking highly enough about God.

Tozer said that “The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men.”

The low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of a

hundred lesser evils everywhere among us.

A whole new philosophy of the Christian

life has resulted from this one basic error in our religious thinking.

With our loss of the sense of majesty has come the further loss of religious awe and

consciousness of the divine Presence.

We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability

to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence.

Modern Christianity is simply not

producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience the life in the Spirit.

The words, “Be still, and know that I am God,” mean next to nothing to the selfconfident,

This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.

bustling worshipper in this middle period of the twentieth century.

This loss of the concept of majesty has come just when the forces of religion are making

dramatic gains and the churches are more prosperous than at any time within the past

several hundred years.

But the alarming thing is that our gains are mostly external and

Tozer said, “The low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us.”

our losses wholly internal; and since it is the quality of our religion that is affected by

internal conditions, it may be that our supposed gains are but losses spread over a wider

With our loss of the sense of majesty has come the further loss of religious awe and consciousness of the divine Presence.

We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence.

Modern Messianic Judaism is simply not producing the kind of disciple who can appreciate or experience the life in the Spirit.

field.

The words, “Be still, and know that I am God,” mean next to nothing to the self- confident, bustling worshipper in this current time.

According to Barna, the modern seeker wants community discovery, refreshing, concert like performance, and possibly a workout but what bothers me is not that modern seekers chose these categories but that the Barna Group did not include one image, not one graphic to say, “Are You Interested in the Majesty of God?”

So with this new information in hand by the new prophets of our age (the demographers and church growth specialist) an army of churches and messianic congregations re-orient every ministry around these categories and God’s majesty, honor, glory is shown the door based on what a “survey.”

This loss of the concept of majesty has come just when the forces of religion are making dramatic gains and congregations are more prosperous than at any time within the past several hundred years.

But the alarming thing is that our gains are mostly external and our losses wholly internal; and let us be careful about all of our boasts since, it may be that our supposed gains are but losses spread over a wider field.

That night over 20 years ago I kept hearing this one line over-and-over again, “The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles.

A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them.”

The answer to all the ills of the seven congregations, to all the ills of all of the history of Israel is a re-discovery of the Majesty of God.

It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right if your idea of God is too low, too earthly, too tamed down, watered down, not even worthy of being called “God thoughts”.

If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, to be the kind of congregation worthy of the title “overcomer,” we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is.

To do that, we must ask a dangerous question.

A question that I will answer in two parts, one part today and one part on Tuesday night at Yom Kippur.

Here is the question, “Who can ascend to the throne of God?”

The Bible

The Ascent (v. 1) - Only The Summoned Can Ascend -

Called to the Palace (1a) - You have to be invited to go through this door.

The Location of the Sky Palace

The Location of the Servant of Messiah

Called to See Providence (2b) - You have to accept the future is a set thing.

Called to See Providence (2b) - You have to accept the future is a set thing.

This is not a “peep-show” for curiosity.

It is for warning and comfort.

The Set Nature of the Future of Human History

Who can ascend?

One who is called by Yeshua to the sky palace.

But who can ascend to the throne of God? Too this question we must think deeply.

We must think majestically.

We must think humbly.

The Cosmic Throne (2-3, 5-6, 8b, 11) - Only The Sinless Can Approach

The Cosmic Palace – John is taken to God’s Sky Palace ()

Palace – John is taken to God’s Sky Palace (v. 2).

The Spirit is Required.

The Seated King on His Throne is See.

Remember, John is in a visionary state.

Everything that He is seeing is symbolic and represents reality.

He is not shown a strategy, nor a hyped up vision meant to engage the listeners.

He is shown...

The Cosmic King – God sees the Sovereign One who is immovable, unchanging covenant-keeping God of judgment and redemption(v.3,

5-6).

The God of All Glory 3a (v.

11, 9) - He is seated on His throne as the King.

Perfect Rest on His Throne (3a).

- 3x Says He is Seated.

Perfect Holiness (v.

8) -

Perfect Holiness (v.

8)

Perfect Life in Himself (v. 9) -

Perfectly Created All Things (v.

11) -

He is the God of all Glory because His Glory is matchless.

To ascend to this throne, you must be able to bear the weight of this glory.

You must match this glory and none can match His glory because His is not a glory that is a reflection of another’s His glory emerges from Himself.

The God of All Honor 3b-c - Covenant Keeping God of Israel and Nations

The God of All Honor 3b-c - Covenant Keeping God of Israel and Nations -

He Deserves Honor Because He Keeps Covenant with Israel 3b

Significantly, the jasper and the sardine stone are the first and last of these twelve stones (cf.

).

The Carnelian stone represented Reuben, the first of the tribes, since Reuben was the firstborn of Jacob.

The jasper stone represented Benjamin, the youngest of the twelve sons of Jacob.

In other words the two stones represented the first and the last and therefore may be regarded as including all the other stones in between, that is, the whole of the covenanted people.

Significantly, the jasper and the sardine stone are the first and last of these twelve stones (cf.

).

The Carnelian stone represented Reuben, the first of the tribes, since Reuben was the firstborn of Jacob.

The jasper stone represented Benjamin, the youngest of the twelve sons of Jacob.

In other words the two stones represented the first and the last and therefore may be regarded as including all the other stones in between, that is, the whole of the covenanted people.

Furthermore, the names Reuben and Benjamin have significance.

The word Reuben means “behold, a son.”

The word Benjamin means “son of my right hand.”

In both cases these terms seem to have a double meaning: first, the fact that though Messiah is the representative of Israel, He is also the Son of God.

Like Reuben, Messiah is the first begotten son.