Before The Throne Of God

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to the book of Revelation, Chapter 4. Before we come together and hear God speak to us in His Word, let's pray and ask Him for insight into His Word and into our lives as well, that we might conform to the will that He reveals to us there. Let's pray. God our Father we come now to hear you speak to us in this wonderful book you've promised us blessings if we read it we now look to you and ask you to bless us as we study this passage we pray Father it might change our outlook we pray it might help us as we see what you have for us thank you now Father for the revelation of Jesus in your word.

Thank you for the revelation of your sovereignty and holiness here. Again, we pray that it would affect us, affect us deeply, that we might change, be transformed, and serve you. In the name of Jesus, we ask this. Amen. You sit in the plush seats waiting for the curtains to open, waiting for the excitement, the movement, and the music. You're not sure what's going to happen, but your anticipation mounts.

And then the curtains open, and it all begins. Right now, we're waiting for the curtain to open on the rest of the book of Revelation. The anticipation builds because we have an idea of what's coming. Plagues, death, the beast and the Antichrist taking the stage, martyrs, blood, fire, angels, dragons, trumpets, bowls, all kinds of fascinating and interesting things.

And then this morning the curtains open and, well, let's find out. You follow as I read Revelation chapter 4. After this I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, Come up here and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.

And he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald Around the throne were 24 thrones and seated on the thrones were 24 elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder. And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God.

And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within. and day and night they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before Him who is seated on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.

The curtain opens and we find ourselves in a temple before the throne of God. Now as the curtain opens, this act has two scenes. In the first scene, we see the council room of God with God on his throne, surrounded by creatures and elders. The second scene, chapter 5, introduces a lamb standing as though it had been slain. And so today we enter the throne room and the council chambers of God as we immerse ourselves in the first scene of this opening act of the book of Revelation.

John is summoned to the throne room by the Son of Man, who has a voice like a trumpet. Now you remember when we were in chapter 1, when he had his first vision, John was sitting there and he heard behind him the voice of one who sounded like a trumpet And it was the Son of Man or Jesus himself And John now in a vision sees that there is a door that has been opened It is in heaven. And so in this prophetic trance, as it were, a prophetic trance, I believe, because it says he is in the Spirit in a special way.

And what's described is what happened to many Old Testament prophets, particularly Ezekiel, where he is taken up by the Spirit. He is called up into heaven. So this idea of being called up into heaven is not, as some have indicated, the church being called up into heaven. It's the way of saying that someone has a prophetic vision. Many times, in the book of Ezekiel, for example, Ezekiel says this, lifted by the Spirit.

And so we have the same thing happening here. John is lifted by the Spirit into heaven, as it were, a prophet, through that open door into the heavenlies, and he immediately sees a throne. He has entered the temple of God in heaven and into the inner chamber, the throne room of the living God. This whole chapter with this revelation of God on the throne with angels singing of His holiness is reminiscent of what we see in Isaiah chapter 6, where Isaiah, as a prophet, has a vision of God high and lifted up in the temple sitting on a throne.

And so we are in a temple. And by the way, from that temple, we're going to see what happens. For throughout the book of Revelation, you realize there are certain indications that we are sitting in this temple watching what's going on and getting heaven's perspective on it. So we find ourselves in the temple of God. And from that perspective, Jesus, through John, reveals what must take place in the latter days.

Now that phrase we've noted before, if you remember from chapter 1, that same phrase, what must take place after this, was the shorthanded way of saying what must take place in the latter days. John adopts that from the prophet Daniel, where it's translating a phrase that says what must take place in the latter days. So now he's caught up into heaven, getting the heavenly perspective of all that's happened, that is happening and will happen from the ascension of Jesus to his coming again.

He seeing the real meaning of this age in which we live Now keep in mind that this is a vision It is not a photograph of the throne of God You must keep that in mind. If you were to die today and go to heaven, you would search high and low and you will not find a throne. Oh, there it is because I can see 24 people clothed in white and I can see four really weird creatures standing around the throne.

You won't find it, because this is not a photograph. This is a vision. This is what you call a theophany. A theophany is a vision of God, a revelation of God, a vision of God in picture form that represents the being and the actions of God. So when you read this, don't think that God is actually sitting on a throne and there are four weird creatures around it with 24 elders in white robes and crowns sitting around.

This is a vision intended to communicate to us in a symbolic way what God is like and what he's doing and what his actions mean. All right? Now, what does Jesus reveal to us here? What is it he wants you to see? He wants you to catch the vision of God's holy sovereignty. What must we understand?

Moving from these seven congregations, which represent all the churches of God in the entire age, what do congregations who are suffering persecution and resisting seduction, what is it that they must see? They've got to get a vision of God's holy sovereignty. That's the first thing that this book, as the curtains part, and we're ready to go into the rest of this book, and we're ready to see all the blood and the fire and the destruction and the pestilence and all the stuff that's in there, the first thing God wants you to see is his holy sovereignty.

That's what we have to understand. If we're going to understand the rest of the book, We have to understand that God is holy and sovereign. Do you think that the way you picture God affects the way you think about him? When you think of God as an old man sitting in heaven with a gray long beard, does that affect the way you think about God, that picture?

Does holy sovereignty immediately pop into your head? No. When people talk about God that way, the thing that pops into my head is an old man who's just looking down and wondering what's going to happen and wringing his hands. That's what comes into my mind. But that's not the vision John gives us. You see, our minds naturally think in terms of pictures and images.

And Jesus reveals to John a picture or a vision of God and his throne room in order for you to understand the nature of God, especially in light of what is happening on this earth. You see, we are congregations of his people struggling against persecution and seduction. What do we need to know about our God? What should we know concerning him given the state of our congregation?

What should we think of this God in light of all that's happening around us? What should we think of him? We need a vision of his holy sovereignty. Now it says that God is sitting on a throne. That throne stands apart from all earthly affairs, transcendent, independent of all human intrigues and schemes and events, and yet in control of all those affairs.

This becomes obvious in this book, given to us to help us to glorify God in the triumph of the Lamb. You see, all the judgments seen in the visions of this book, and this is very important, all the judgments that we're going to see from chapter 6 to the end, all of those judgments, as you read through this book, are going to proceed from this throne. They're going to come from this throne.

Every time we come to one of those things, we're going to see indicated to us periodically that they are emanating from this throne that we see in chapter 4. The war, the conquering, the death, the famine, the pestilence, the earthquakes, the destruction of Babylon, all of them originate from this throne. So this throne has to be in our minds if we're going to understand the book.

All of what happens in the rest of the book comes from this throne. And the God who sits on that throne is glorious in His holy sovereignty. The glory of God pulsates through this chapter You see the glory of His holiness and sovereignty magnified as you approach the throne Verse 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.

You are struck by an intense glowing green and reddish light as the light of God's glory shines through these precious stones. Now, there's not to be attributed to Jasper and Carnelian any kind of individual meaning. Those stones are used throughout the Old Testament in these theophanies of God, where God appears in these visions, and these stones, these precious stones, are often present.

There are more stones present than some of them, but it's the idea of God's glory. When we get to the end of the book, the glory of God in the New Jerusalem is seen in these stones. And as you read through the book, you find that these stones are not like regular stones. They're translucent. Light shines through them. And so what we have a picture here of, if we were there in this vision, we would see this glory of God and these green and reddish lights flowing, coming through these stones.

All right? And then you see, mixed in with His sovereignty, the glory of His mercy, as you see this green rainbow around the throne. This rainbow that's like emerald color, green. What's that all about? The rainbow reminds us of the glory of God in His mercy. What does the rainbow say to you?

Every time you look at a rainbow, what are you supposed to think? God said, I'm going to be merciful to all mankind and I will never destroy them again with a universal flood. That's what you're supposed to remember when you see the sign of God's covenant that He made with us through Noah in the rainbow. Well, now we have God bearing witness not just in the sky, but in His throne room about the fact that He is merciful.

And that when all of these things, all of these judgments come plummeting onto earth, when the seals are open, when the trumpets sound, when the bowls are poured out, we need to be reminded of this merciful God who's not just sovereign, but He's a God of mercy who will protect His people in the midst of all that They still going to experience most of all those things that we going to read about But God is going to be merciful He will deliver them, maybe some of them through death. But He will deliver and protect His people. He will be gracious to His people in the midst of all this that's going to happen.

And then the closer you get to the throne, the more heightened and intense becomes His glory. For now you see flashes of lightning, this rumbling, and you hear peals of thunder. Now this should remind you of something immediately. It should remind you of the children of Israel standing around Mount Sinai when God's heavenly court descended to the top of that mountain.

And there was smoke, and there was fire, and there was rumblings, and there was thunder, and all those things are happening. You see, God has not changed. He is still holy. He is still sovereign. And for us who dwell in the midst of persecution and seduction, we have to remember that God is still holy and sovereign. He remains unchanged.

He's like that day when He descended with His heavenly court to the top of Mount Sinai. And like the children of Israel, we need to stand in awe of Him. Because he's holy. And that's supposed to remind you of that. And then verse 5, his holy sovereignty finds expression through the agency of the Holy Spirit, who is described here in verse 5. There we go.

And before the throne were burning seven torches or seven lamps of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. Now remember, we saw this again in chapter 1. Three times through chapter 5, the Holy Spirit's going to come to us in seven parts, if you will. Here, we need to remember that seven indicates effectiveness, thoroughness, fullness, completeness. Now John has in mind the vision that Zechariah had in Zechariah chapter 4.

Without looking back there, you remember, In Zechariah 4, there is this lampstand. The menorah with seven right Seven flames on it that stood in the temple of God right On the left side of the tabernacle there was this menorah this light And in the vision that Zechariah has, that light is identified as the Holy Spirit of God who is to bring grace to Israel. And then in chapter 4, verse 10 of that vision of Zechariah, God says, these seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.

That is to say, as we look at this and we see these seven lamps burning before the throne, we are reminded that God the Spirit knows everything. No scheme, no event, no plan against His people escapes His gaze. God is sovereign. God is sovereign. His Spirit sees everything. There's nothing hidden from Him.

He knows it all. And then we find this in verse 6, that before the throne, as it were, underneath the throne, there is a sea as smooth as glass or ice, crystal. And that is the floor of God's throne. It reveals the peace of God's sovereignty. That is to say, there may be all kinds of things happening here. But you know what?

From heaven's perspective, everything's calm. Nothing upsets our God. Everything is calm. You see, the sea throughout the scriptures is associated with evil. All right? Now, some of you who are former Navy veterans probably can't imagine that.

I'll tell you what. I have never been outside of the sight of land. The thought terrifies me. All right? The thought absolutely terrifies me. When my son tells me how he's been fishing three, four, five, eight miles out, it's like, why would you do that? especially if a storm comes rolling through, right?

Some of you have been in that kind of situation where the seas are rolling. My friend Dave Durnland was up. worked in the engine room on a destroyer. And he tells me of sometimes the waves being so high that they would come down the stacks. I'm telling you what, I'd resign my commission tomorrow if I had waves coming down the stacks, right? The sea in the scripture, this chaotic sea is always associated with evil. the chaos of evil that happens.

For example, in Daniel 7. And by the way, Daniel 7 is kind of like the vision that stands behind this vision. All the elements in this vision you find in some form in Daniel chapter 7. But in Daniel chapter 7, verses 2 and 3, here's what we read. Daniel declared, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up out of the sea different from one another.

So out of the sea comes what? These beasts. Look at Revelation chapter 13. Revelation chapter 13 verse 1. Again, you hear the echoes of the Old Testament here. And I saw a beast rising out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its head.

Evil comes out of the sea. And then you look at chapter 15, verse 2 in this book. And I saw what appeared to be a what? Sea of glass. A calm sea. A sea of glass.

Completely smooth, mingled with fire. And also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. See, it's all calm now because they've conquered. They have conquered, so now the sea is calm. And then finally, get this. Fishermen and navy men, I don't know how you can get away from it, but here it is, Revelation 21, verse 1.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more The sea was no more No more evil coming out of the sea No more beasts coming out of the sea No chaos Everything is calm There's no more sin. So this speaks then of God's sovereignty and His control and the peace that reigns in heaven. There is no restless sea at the foot of God's throne.

Everything is calm. That's heaven's perspective. The devil has been defeated by Jesus, and even though he fights furiously, from heaven's perspective, he has been decisively defeated. There is nothing that will upset the court of God's heaven. It is a glass ceiling. That's the perspective we need to see when we see the sovereignty of God.

He will not be overcome by the chaos of evil represented by a turning, waving sea. Well, as you stand in that throne room, you become even more aware of God's holy sovereignty as you watch His heavenly attendance. As you watch the attendance in His courtroom, in His council chambers, in the throne room, as you watch His heavenly attendance, you see, you become even more aware of His holy sovereignty.

Circling the throne, you see 24 elders dressed in white and crowned in gold. Verse 4 and verses 9 and 10 there are mentioned. These 24 elders sitting in a circle around the throne, 24 thrones there with creatures dressed in white and crowned with gold. These symbolize God's people of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. 24 brings up the images near the end of the book where we see this 12-12 combination.

For example, turn to Revelation 21. Revelation 21. Now we're familiar with these passages, these latter passages. In Revelation 21, beginning in verse 10, And He carried me away in the Spirit, again, there's that being lifted again, that prophetic experience okay When you see that carried away in the Spirit or in the Spirit or called up to heaven you need to think prophetic prophetic things are going on that what god did with prophets all right let's go on and he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god having the glory of god its radiance like a most rare jewel like a jasper clear as crystal it had a great high wall note with with 12 gates, and at the 12 gates, 12 angels, and on the gates the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed.

On the east, three gates, on the north, three gates, on the south, three gates, on the west, three gates. And the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. So I believe that these 24 elders represent all the people of God from the Old Testament and the New Testament. representing Old Testament and New Testament saints.

These are the ones who remain faithful to God, who have repented of and remain faithful in the face of idolatry and compromise and lukewarmness and persecution and remain faithful in the midst of seduction. Because you remember, in chapters 2 and 3, we've seen then that those who what? Those who remain faithful, those who have the ears to hear and obey what the Spirit says.

And several times in chapters 2 and 3, what did we read? I will give to them what? Garments of white. All right? They will walk with me in garments of white. So we see these garments of white and we also see the crowns of gold.

Remember in chapter 2, God promised the crown of life. So here are these representatives of faithful saints. Now again, you say, are there more than 24? Am I part of the 24? It's a symbol. It's a vision of all the Old Testament and all the New Testament saints all now worshiping God in heaven.

And you enter the throne room and you see these faithful saints of God throwing themselves down on their faces and worshiping God. You know, I read a comment this week where one writer put it this way, we live in an age of cynicism and self Imagine what it means to throw yourself down on the floor face down in front of somebody What does that say Right? It says you are worthy.

You are worthy to receive all praise, glory, and honor. And so these faithful saints show us the sovereignty of God because as they bow down, it impresses us with this God is sovereign. For those who remain faithful recognize the holy sovereignty of God. They see it and they worship Him because of it. It speaks to us again of His holy sovereignty. Now, you walk now past that outer circle and you get closer to the throne and what you see are these four very strange creatures standing around the throne.

One in the front, one in the back, one on the right side, one on the left side. and you see these four standing there around the throne of God. Four rather strange creatures. Now, these strange creatures resemble the creatures of Ezekiel 1, right? You see the faces of a human. You see the face of an ox. You see the face of an eagle.

That's the one I'm missing here. And a lion. We saw those in Ezekiel 1. Although in Ezekiel 1, each creature had all four faces, here there are four creatures, each with an individual face. And you also hear echoes of Isaiah 6, because these creatures have six wings, which are like the seraphim in Isaiah 6, who have the six wings, right? With two they flew, with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, crying out what?

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. And so we hear echoes of that. These strange creatures are the guardians of the throne and the emissaries of God. They say guardians of the throne? God doesn't need anybody to guard them. I mean, even they say, Lord Almighty's got all the power.

What do you mean guardians of the throne? It's a vision. Remember, it represents something. And it represents that nothing unholy will get into the presence of God because God dwells then in unapproachable holiness. The idea is to be able to do that. give you the idea if you ever come close to the holy throne of God, one of these creatures is going to deal with you.

All right? Now these are the creatures that not only are the guardians of God's holiness, but they are his emissaries to carry out the judgments on the earth. Look over at chapter 6, verse 1. Chapter 6, verse 1. Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, Come! And then comes the white horse.

And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, Come! And then, of course, comes the red horse. Verse 5. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come! And then comes the black horse. Verse 7.

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, Come! and what come is the pale horse of death and Hades. So they are the ones then. They're the emissaries of his judgment. Look over at chapter 15, verse 7. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.

So these four creatures are the guardians and the emissaries. guardians of his holiest and emissaries of his judgment now their multitude of eyes and I don't know about you but I've been over this passage a number of times this week I still quite can't get it into my head what these look like even though I grew up with the charts all the way across the front but evidently they've got eyes all over the place front, back, side everywhere, they've got eyes everywhere What is that all about? Again, their multitude of eyes search the earth and they execute God's punishments only on those who truly deserve death. Now, what do these powerful supernatural creatures do?

Besides guarding the throne and becoming emissaries of God's judgment and seemingly to look like they know a lot, what do they do? they praise God. As these supernatural creatures give their praise to God we see with certainty that God is sovereign and holy and he deserves worship Now let me just say this. You are then convinced of God's sovereignty and holiness as you hear, not just see the heavenly attendance, but as you hear the praises of these heavenly attendants.

The four living creatures say this, last part of verse 8. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. God is holy in His sovereignty. Like Isaiah, we come face to face with the holiness of God. I want you to turn to Isaiah 6 because this also is rumbling in the background. Isaiah 6.

So God is holy. What does that have to do with the rest of the book of Revelation? Everything. If you turn back to Isaiah 6, this is the, if I can put it this way, the quintessential revelation of God's holiness. Here is where we see God in a vision again in His holiness. Verse 1, you follow along.

In the year the king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, or the Lord Almighty.

The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. Again, as we go through the book of Revelation, we're going to see the temple described periodically as filled with smoke. All right? Just like in this vision. And I saw, and I said, Woe is me!

For I am lost! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. and he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us Then I said here am I Send to me And he said go and say to this people keep on hearing but do not understand Keep on seeing but do not perceive Make the heart of this people dull and their eyes heavy and blind their eyes. Let's they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. Okay, that's a condition to go preach.

And he's saying, and by the way, as you preach, you know what your preaching is going to do? It's going to make them turn away from me. That's why Isaiah at this point says, how long? Then I said, how long, O Lord? Right? He said, until the cities lie waste without inhabitants, houses without people, the land is a desolate waste.

The Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. Though a tenth remain, and it will be burned again, like a tabor and thorn oak whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump. Now what's the point? The point is that the holiness of God is the wellspring of both atonement and judgment. It was the holiness of God that moved God for that angel then to take that tongs and take that coal and atone for Isaiah's sins.

It is the same holiness that brings judgment on those people. So it is the holiness of God in this book that brings salvation and both judgment on the earth and in heaven. And notice, He is the all-powerful God who stands above history and His eternity. This is the God who is sovereign over all history. He is the Lord Almighty, powerful, who was, who is, and who is to come.

Alright? He can and He will accomplish His purposes for both His people and for the rebels. He can and He will deliver His people and protect them in all that is going to befall the earth. And God's eternal reign, and here's the point, I think, the arrow to our hearts. God's eternal reign supersedes the temporary reign of all evil kings, all pseudo kings the beast and his followers and of all the wicked powers on earth God for me because God is eternal and powerful because he is sovereign and holy his eternal reign will supersede all the temporary reign of every pseudo-king that ever appears on the scene.

No one will ever stand against him because he is the Lord Almighty who was, who is, and who is to come. The elders tell us why God is so powerful and so sovereign. Verse 11, Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. All that you see on earth, all that you see revealed in the Scriptures that are in heaven.

Everything that you see has been created, has come into existence by the creative power of the Word of God. He said it and it came into being. Have you ever tried to build something that way? Have you ever opened up your car and say, Be fixed! Be fixed! ever happen to you yet? Go to the side of my house that needs to be scraped and painted again and instead of ladders and a ladder jack up there now, if all I could do was say, be painted!

And it would be like that. Do you have that power? That's the power of God. Except He created things out of nothing. Can you believe that? He said, light.

When there was no light, then it came into existence. That's the sovereignty of God. And by your will, they exist. Have you ever tried to fix your house? Have you ever tried to, by your will, say, I'm going to do this to my house, and you have inspectors come along and say, you can't do that. Yeah, but I say I'm going to do it, and they say, doesn't matter what you say, you do it, you're in jail, right?

Right? Your will doesn't count for beans when it comes against the county building authorities. And we're only talking... County authorities here. With God, we're talking about the entire universe. Okay, I want it to be this way.

And it is. Nothing's going to stop it. Doesn't it just bend your mind? It should if it doesn't. If it doesn't, you need to think a little more. It just bends your mind.

This is the sovereignty of God. Now this is what we need to see. And because of that, we ascribe all power, glory, and honor to him. Because he deserves it all. So why is this chapter here? That's the most important question.

Why is this chapter here? Because you know what we want to do? We want to sit in the theater. We want the curtains to open. We want to see those seals. We want to see the white horse and the red horse.

We want to see all that stuff. We want to see the blood. And we want to see the fire. And we want to see the earthquakes. It goes, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's all that's about.

The curtain doesn't open on that, does it? It opens on chapters 4 and 5. Why? Let's get to the good stuff. Let's just get to chapter 6 and really get moving. But that's not how the Spirit wrote the book, is it?

Why? Because you need to catch the heavenly perspective. You need to catch the reality of the heavenly perspective. That's why it opens with these two chapters. You see, here again, John is caught up into heaven, reminding us of the Old Testament prophets like Ezekiel. And like a prophet, he's summoned into the secret, heavenly council chambers of the Lord.

He's summoned into the very throne room of God. And in his prophetic role, he has to go back to God's people and communicate God's meaning on what's happening. See, we're not going to understand what happens in the rest of the book unless we get this down. Unless we understand God is sovereign and He's got to communicate God's hidden purposes to us and communicate to us our part in fulfilling them.

He's been ushered into the timeless dimension of truth and reality that explains everything that happens here. why do we need this perspective because the church as it exists on this planet needs to have this perspective as we exist on this planet we need to have this perspective Listen to William Hendrickson Here what he says The church is in the world. Accordingly, it suffers along with the world. Children of God do not escape the horrors of war, famine, and pestilence.

The church needs these tribulations. It needs both the direct antagonism of the world and participation in the common woes that pertain to this earthly life as a result of sin. The church too is sinful. It is in constant need of purification and sanctification. You know, when those seals are opened and we, as God's people, experience the seals, what do we need to know?

We need to know. That God is sovereign. That we're not going to escape. We're not going to escape the horrors of war and famine and pestilence. We're going to live through it too. But we need to understand that God is sovereign.

As the seals and the trumpets and the bowls bring about God's judgment on the earth, we need to remember that these come from the throne of our sovereign Father. That's why we're in this chapter. That's why we need to hear this. The church, as it suffers persecution, needs this heavenly perspective. Because God is sovereign in His omniscience, as represented by the Spirit and the eyes of the creature, we have hope.

You see, these aren't just bizarre pictures to engage our curiosity. They're to give us a view of God so that when we suffer persecution, we know God is acutely aware of every bit of it. His eyes are everywhere. Nothing escapes His detection. Nothing escapes His notice. God is sovereign in the midst of persecution and we need that heavenly perspective.

Because God is sovereign, untouched by our enemies, we know that we will finally be vindicated and rewarded even though we are presently no match for our oppressors. We're no match for them. And yet there is this one who sits on the throne, whose glory emanates from that throne who at his feet is a sea as calm as glass who is powerful who supersedes all of history When we go through persecution, we need that perspective.

We need that perspective. Listen. I mentioned this this morning to the Sunday school class, to the women's Sunday school class that just started this morning. For example, came out of Bethel College in Minneapolis, a Christian school, this thing called open theism. Ever heard of it? Some of you have.

Most of you haven't because there's no way I'd teach it in this church. Open theism is an attempt to preserve the so-called ultimate free will of man. Because some of these theologians were very smart. They said, you can't escape God determining everything if you say, God sees ahead and He knows what's going to happen, and He didn't elect you, He saw that you'd believe, and then He elected you, so you still have free will.

That doesn't solve the problem. You know why? Because if God sees that it's going to happen, it's going to happen certainly, right? It's going to happen certainly. There's no way it's not going to happen. So God seeing it means it's going to happen just that way.

So you're still in the same, you've still got the same problem. So these theologians said this, well, we can't have man not having a free will, so there's only one answer to that. You know what it is? God does not know the future. He does not know the decisions you're going to make in the future. He's not planned it.

He's not planned your decisions. He doesn't even know it. He doesn't know what's going to happen. It's spreading like wildfire through churches. God does not know what's going to happen in the future. and they have all kinds of explanations for the verses that we would go to and so forth and give us all kinds of reasons why those don't really say what they say.

But let me ask you something. How well are you going to do through persecution with that kind of theology? Do you think you're going to go through persecution well with that theology in your back pocket? You know what I would say? Only in America can that theology even thrive. only America with persecution is minimal today whenever come up with something like that that would never fly in China never fly in Azerbaijan there no hope in that You see we need this perspective that God is sovereign or we're not going to make it.

That's why we're in this chapter. That's why the curtain opens on this chapter. God is worthy. And note this, God is worthy of all praise because all creation, including our persecutors, exist only by His will. You realize that? You know, God can say, you're gone and you're dead, right?

Everything only exists by His will. And listen, you know what this chapter tells me? In the midst of persecution, what do we do? We must still worship. I don't know about you, but when I'm in pain, I can see this far. I can see two inches past my nose.

When I'm in pain, that's my universe. Is that true of you? Maybe I'm just a wimp. Remember last year at the NAC Annual Conference, my dear friend John Street was speaking in a plenary session. Now, okay, to speak in a plenary session, that means speaking to everybody at the same time. That's major leagues now, right? you're talking to everybody.

You don't just have a workshop now. You're major leagues. And my dear friend John had a plenary session, but at the same time I had a toothache. And last year I was sitting there looking at my friend John and saying to myself, oh please John, please wrap it up. Please don't go. Please, I hope this is your conclusion. when we're in pain we see this far past our nose right you know what this tells me there's something greater than my pain it is the worship of God who is holy and sovereign and in the midst of persecution I must be on my face before God and say God you are sovereign and everything exists by your will and you are the God who is almighty and who is and who who was and who is and who is to come.

I need to worship in the midst of pain. That's why we need this perspective. The church as it resists seduction needs this perspective. God is holy and we must not give in to the filth and the comfort that affluence and prosperity inevitably brings. When I am just willing to just lie back and be totally undisciplined and take in the comfort of this world, I need to see the rumblings and the flashes of lightning and the thunder of God's holiness and be reminded God has not changed.

He is still holy. We need to see that our sovereign God is holy. Well, my friends, then, John has brought us into God's throne room where we gain some needed perspective on the nature of God. we must see him as a holy sovereign we must grasp that heavenly perspective or we will wilt in the face of suffering or fall in the face of seduction God we pray that we would understand your character as it's revealed in this chapter.

We anticipate, Father, the second scene where the curtains open upon the Lamb who is on the throne appearing as if he is slain. Until then, impress upon our minds now that you are our God, our Father who is holy and sovereign. Father, as we even face the minute persecution that we might have this week, remind us that God is sovereign. As we are in the midst of the seduction that is so prevalent in our culture, we pray that we remember that God is holy.

Would you please, Lord, would you please impress that upon us? Don't let us walk out of here with thinking this was good to hear. Help us to walk out of here saying, I need to be transformed by that perspective. God, help us, we pray, to do that. In the name of Jesus, our Savior, amen.