"4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.5 Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; 6 and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind."
Far too often God is depicted as a God who created the world and then
operates with a hands off approach. I assure you, that God is not
asleep on the throne. He has not taken a vacation. God is on the throne and He is aware acutely of
what is going on. God is active and is in complete control.
Therefore, we are to be struck by the glory of the Lord. We need to understand what He asks of His people
since He is the Almighty God. He demands submissiveness from us, a
yielding heart that trembles at the very words of God and desires to
obey.
As Christians, we affirm our belief in the sovereignty of God, however, when our faith is
challenged in times of natural upheaval, national disaster, or personal
affliction. Pain and poverty, disease and death, sorrow and suffering, it tends to cause us to ponder seriously about God as creator and
controller of the world of which we are a part. There are times, it is simply not always easy to
believe that God is in control. Many civilizations have risen and fallen. Great leaders of nations have
reigned and have been dethroned. And all the while, God alone has been in
control. In other words, He has been doing what He wanted to do, when He wanted to do it, in the
way He wanted to do it, for the purpose He wanted to accomplish, and
using whomever He pleases.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, we as always, thank You for Your Word and for the grace of such a revelation. Thank You for reminding us that You are sovereign, that nothing occurs in our lives that has not been masterfully planned by You. Lord, as things upon the earth seem to be spiraling out of control, quiet our hearts, as we cast our cares upon You. We pray that Your presence would take the place of the stress and struggles that we face, and that in You, we would find peace. Lord, we have see your fury and we’re in awe of it. Even though these visions are frightening, we choose to trust You and to rest in You. And that You will never forget Your promise to those who love you.
So, as we rejoice in the hope of being in Your presence, that glorious day, when we are caught up to meet you in the clouds, our hearts sorrow for those who yet lost and have no hope. We pray that You would soften their hearts, open their eyes to see and their ears to hear the truth. May the come to Christ with a contrite and repentant heart, seeking forgiveness. May it be for Christ's sake and for Your glory.
In Christ' precious name we ask and pray.
Amen
Today's Message: A Picture Of Things To Come - Part 2
As we continue in our study of Revelation chapter 4, our fascinating visit to the heavenly throne, we pick up John's stunning vision in verse 4.
Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say,
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come."
And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
"Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."
Beyond our atmospheric heaven, there is what we call the second heaven, or planetary heaven, which consists of the stars, moon, planets, and of course, the sun. Somewhere beyond that is infinite space and above that, there is the third heaven, which is the dwelling place of God. Scripture is very clear that nothing can contain God, because He is too infinite, He is too glorious. In heaven, there is a temple, the temple isn't a building, it is a person. God is His own temple in which His own throne exists. In the temple, is the infinite presence of God Himself and the Lamb. So, you see, then, the immensity of God.
In chapters 4 and 5, the central theme is the throne room in heaven, the presence of God
and the Lamb, and they set the stage for the scene the judgment, which as we will see begins to unfold
in chapter 6. If you will remember, the first thing we saw in verse 3, was there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. Now, we move from the throne where God was sitting to what is around the throne.And, in verse 4, John indicates that beyond the emerald rainbow is another circle around the throne. Let's read verse 4.
"Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads." Here, we see that there isn’t just one throne, in which God is sitting, in His shining,
brilliant, diamond-ruby glory, but there are some other thrones. This is very interesting to note, because this means that somebody has been elevated.
We know that Christ has been exalted. And, in chapters 2 and 3 there was a promise given to the church that we would reign with Christ. That we would sit on His throne as He sits on the Father’s throne. So, here we have the throne of God and Christ, and also there are twenty-four other thrones. It appears that there is some sort of shared reigning taking place, a shared leadership. Some have speculated that these are angels, but nowhere in the Scripture do we see angels reigning or ruling.
In the Old Testament genealogy and the line of the promised seed in
Genesis, there are twenty-four names in the patriarchs. The patriarchal
list from Adam to Pharez, which represents the messianic line has
twenty-four names. You will also remember that there were twenty-four elders appointed by David to represent the Levitical priesthood. Twenty-four seems to speak of completion and represent a larger group.
Some have speculated that they represent Old Testament saints.However, the problem with that is, at the time of this vision, Israel has not yet been saved. The tribulation has not yet begun, 144 thousand haven’t been sealed, the
witness hasn’t been given, and Israel has not looked on Him whom they have
pierced. Israel as a nation has not yet been redeemed.
Others have said "Well, maybe it’s the tribulation saints." The problem is that they haven’t been converted yet, either. Those who are redeemed and saved that come out of the tribulation period, will sing songs of praise along with the twenty-four elders.
In the New Testament when you read the word "elder," it fits the church. It is the common New Testament word for the leaders of the church. And, if you have a elevated, crowned, exalted, glorified church in heaven, there had to have been a rapture. This then becomes one of the important
texts to look at when trying to understand a pre-tribulational rapture.It is then, reasonable to me to conclude, that what you have here, is twenty-four elders representing the church, the
church, then, having been caught up to heaven is there while the
tribulation goes on, from which the church watches tribulation saints
coming to glory.
So, we can conclude, then, that whoever these twenty-four elders are that are
sitting on these thrones, they have some sort of a shared leadership with Christ. By the way, these twenty-four elders are mentioned twenty-four times in Revelation. The word "elder" is the word "presbuteros," the same word in the New Testament used
to refer to the leaders in the church. There is on no occasion in
Scripture where the term elder, whether in the Greek or the Hebrew is a reference to angels. It is used to speak of men. Whoever these twenty-four elders are, they have sat down, they have entered into some kind of rest.
We then see that these elders are clothed in white garments, the clothing of the saints. It is the garment of righteousness, as it were, imputed to them by
faith. They have become overcomers by faith in Christ and been granted
that garment. And they are wearing golden crowns, crowns of gold on
their heads. The crowns are similar to those given victors in Greek
games, or stephanos, the crown of the one who won the victory. These are stephanos, always the overcomers crown. This is in contrast with the crown of a sovereign ruler, or diadēma of the king. The crowns appear to indicate that these elders had
been judged and rewarded. As a footnote, crowns are never promised to angels on any occasion in Scripture.
In chapter 2, verse 10 "Be faithful unto death and I’ll give you the stephanos of life." Crowns are for the one who went through struggle and came through triumphant overcomers.
Then, in verse 5 "Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God."
The already impressive scene of heaven is enhanced by flashes of lightning, sounds and peals of thunder. These powerful elements are depicting the infinite power and awesomeness and majesty of the Lord God. The point is God is in a mood of judgment, and coming out of Him is fury. This is merely a preview of what’s going to come upon the earth and tear up the entire world. It the fury of God. The prophetic firestorm of righteous and fury about to come from the holy throne on a sinful world. It represents the divine power and glory of God. God presence can be manifested in awe inspiring ways.
Then, in the middle of verse 5, "And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." These are best understood as representing the sevenfold ministry or character of the Holy Spirit. These are fierce, blazing torches. In Nahum chapter 2, these torches are associated with war. Read Judges 7. God is ready to make war and the Holy Spirit is His war torch.
With God the Father seated on the throne and the Holy Spirit represented
by the seven blazing torches, the stage is then set for the revelation of
Christ Himself as the slain Lamb.The fiery fury of the Holy Spirit is associated with the flashing light
and the thunderous peals of the throne of God. The Holy Spirit, known to us as the Comforter, then becomes the Consumer. Rest assured, He will consume
you if you do not know Christ.
Now, we come to verse 6, where appeared another amazing sight. "And before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind."
Revelation 21 says there’s no sea in heaven. So, John is not speaking of a sea, he is speaking with the symbolism that are available to him. At the very base of the throne is huge crystal glass, stretching out, glistening, refracting through
every imaginable prism that it could possibly contain the light of God’s
glory and bouncing it throughout the infinite universe. This transparent sea may well be emphasizing God’s all-seeing, all-knowing vision,
indicating that nothing hinders God’s viewing of His universe.
It does, however, suggests the great distance between John and the throne.
So, there is God in all His glory, ready to pour out His fury. He is
splendorous and glorious, beautiful, majestic, sovereign, powerful and
holy and filled with righteous wrath. Now, there are two more very fascinating points, in and around the throne and toward the throne.
And, we'll look at that next time.
In Closing..
Today, with the advance of technology, we have the TV and radio, equipped with Doppler radar to warn us when
severe storms are approaching, but in years gone by, they had to rely on the
sound of thunder and the visible sign of lightning. John heard
lightning and thunder coming from the throne of God. This signifies that
a terrible firestorm of judgement is on its way!
I imagine those in John’s day crying out, "Something terrible is going to happen! Why
doesn’t God do something?" To which John is replying, "God is doing something. He is getting ready to pour out a fierce storm
of judgement upon the peoples of the earth." Tragically, this will be the unpleasant reality for many people. I am here today to offer the good news. Its not too late. If you feel a tug on your heart, Christ is summoning you.
The good news is that "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus
is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and
with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says,
‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no
distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all,
bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will be saved."
To all who will hear these words, the Lord, Jesus Christ extends His invitation. I pray you will chose to take advantage of it.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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