Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm 45:6–9 (ESV)

6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; 7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; 8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.

From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad; 9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honour; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

Revelation 7:9–17 (ESV)

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, 12 saying, “Amen!

Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever!

Amen.” 13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”

14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.

They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.

17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Introduction

We have been given an insight into the glory of heaven with the vast multitude, the angels, the elders and the living creatures.

They are all before the throne of God, falling prostrate before the glorious lamb of God.

What a wonderful prospect it is it should fill our minds with joy as we anticipate the glory that will be ours.

Slide

365 Days with Calvin (21 August: Finding Blessing in Death (2 Corinthians 5:8))

Observe here that true faith begets not merely contempt of death but even desire for it.

On the other hand, a token of unbelief is when the dread of death predominates in us above the joy and consolation of hope.

True believers desire death, not as if they would by an importunate desire anticipate their Lord’s day, for they willingly retain footing in their earthly station so long as their Lord may see it good for them.

They would rather live to the glory of Christ and “die to themselves” (Rom.

14:7) than live for their own advantage.

The desire for death, of which Paul speaks, springs forth from faith.

It is not at all in variance with the will of God.

My Jesus I love thee -William Ralph Featherstone age 16 (1864)died age 27

Having seen the multitude we now consider the experience that is theirs .

Revelation 7:15–17 (ESV)

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.

17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Sheltered v15

Satisfied v16

Shepherded v17

Slide

1. Sheltered v15

Slide

Revelation 7:15 (ESV)

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

a.

Before the throne of God

rev7 15 “15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,

The clause “before the throne of God” implies that the saints have direct access to the one who occupies that throne.

Their relation to God is the same as it was in the Garden of Eden when God walked and talked with Adam and Eve.

Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001).

Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol.

20, p. 259).

Baker Book House.

rev22 1 “1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb”

rev22 3 “3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.”

Referenced over 40 times in revelation.

i. Authority

ii.

Rule

iii.

Dominion

b.

Serve in his Temple v15

Revelation 7:15 (ESV)

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

Especially significant is the continuous service God’s people render in his presence.

The word temple refers not to the structure of a building but rather to the Holy of Holies, which is the place where God dwells.

Some commentators see a conflict in this verse with Revelation 21:22, which reads that the new Jerusalem has no temple.

But John explains that “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple,” which means that because of the pervading presence of God and the Lamb the new Jerusalem is itself a sanctuary.

Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001).

Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol.

20, p. 259).

Baker Book House.

Once a year the high priest entered God’s sacred presence momentarily on the Day of Atonement, but the saints dwell in God’s presence not for a few minutes but forever.

They do not sprinkle the blood of a bull and a goat to be cleansed from sin, for they are sinless.

And no longer do they petition God for remission of sin, for they are cleansed.

Thus they serve him continually by praising and thanking him (22:3).

The saints in heaven know no division of day and night; John remarks, “And there will be no night there” (22:5).

Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001).

Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol.

20, p. 259).

Baker Book House.

c. Shelter v15

Revelation 7:15 (ESV)

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

NKJV And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.

“And he who is seated on the throne will spread his tent over them.”

This sentence seems to be a poetic description of God protecting his people.

The one seated on the throne is the phrase used to describe God, and the clause he will spread his tent over them is significant theologically.

Here is the divine promise that God grants his people security with his personal presence.

This is a teaching that permeates Scripture from Leviticus to Revelation: God’s desire to dwell with his people and to have them acknowledge him as their God Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001).

Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol.

20, p. 259).

Baker Book House.

Revelation 21:2–3 (ESV)

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

Slide

2. Satisfied v16

Slide

Revelation 7:16 (ESV)