Rev 4
Revelation • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Intro:
I started needing glasses in High School
And I really didn’t want them but I was having some trouble seeing so reluctantly decided that I will wear glasses
And I remember literally the first time I put the glasses on it was like I had this huge AH-HA moment!
I remember looking out the window of the optometrist office and I saw individual leafs on trees again and I was just blown away…
Having my mom drive me home from getting my glasses I felt like a dog that has their head out the window…I was just looking at things I had seen a thousand times before…But they were crisper and cleaner and just better…
I had gotten so used to blurry vision that I thought that this is just the way the world is supposed to look
Spiritually sometimes things get blurry don’t they?
God I am going though a tough time…Are you still here?
God I had thought that by now in my life I would have found the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with, have you forgotten about me?
Lord I just dont feel like I have been spiritually on fire for a long time….
And what I want to submit to you today that as we get into Revelation 4-5 its like getting a new set of glasses and all the sudden everything becomes clear again
That as we go to the text we should have our eyes opened to a new reality of what God is doing and the way that God operates
So Lets recap: Because if you are new and just jumping in to the book of Revelation then there is some stuff that you just need to know:
For the last 7 weeks we have been reading this book together and asking the question of what Jesus wants to teach us out of it
In Chapter 1:
John, who is a pastor is exiled to the island of Patmos is worshiping God all by himself and he hears this voice that is so loud he says its like a trumpet
And then he sees this majestic vision of Jesus
We called it the cosmic Jesus…
John Sees Jesus standing before him in Glory literally holding the universe in his hands
And that has to be a new set of glasses for John…Like he knew Jesus when he lived on earth…Has saw miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus…But Now…Jesus is standing before him holding every thread of the universe…
And Jesus has a message for the churches, 7 of them in particular
Some of the churches he gives a good report and praises them but sadly, many of the churches he says look your supposed to look like me but instead you look like your culture! REPENT!
I’m knocking on the door!
Reading the 7 churches has been humbling, Because how often do we do the very thing that Jesus says don’t do?
How often are we Lukewarm?
How often do we neglect evangelism?
How often do we engage with culture in such a way that we join with the sin of culture?
And these were all issues brought up in the seven churches
And in the midst of all of these churches, there were 2 churches who recieved nothing but praise, Why? Because they were willing to pay the price of faithfulness to Jesus
Often times they were excluded from the economy and the society because they refused to compromise themselves morally
So today…If you used to watch the old Monty Python Sketches sometimes they would say
And now for something completely different
In church sometimes people stand for the scripture reading and sometimes they dont, the practice actually comes from the Book of Nehemiah, when the Priest Ezra finds the book of the law he reads it to the people and they all stand out of respect for the Lord…
Now each week I do two or three verses at a time so I dont ask you to stand but today I want to read chapter 4 in its entirety so would you please stand with me for the reading of God’s word:
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 twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four 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 twenty-four 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.”
All of the sudden we go from the 7 churches…God’s complaint
When we look at Revelation 4, what we will get is a picture of real reality! And it gives us a new frame of reference….
See these two chapters Rev 4 and we will look at 5 for next week because I think its a perfect Easter Text will give us a new set of glasses in which to look at our own world
You literally look at the world differently…
Every color…every leaf….every face and each line on those faces…
So lets break it down now
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.”
After this: John is saying, after the first vision of Jesus standing in front of me and giving messages for the 7 churches…John is saying we are in a new vision here!
And there before me was a door standing open in heaven: There are a few things I want to point out here:
When we read very modern translations we miss a command that is in here, in the original Greek in this sentence there is the word and “Look” or “Behold”…and it makes sense for them to write it in English like they did…But this is the most common command in revelation..
To look at what God is doing! Why? He wants us to have a vision of reality! Of what is going on!
The chief conviction of the book of revelation is, there is more to reality than meets the eye! So look!
I think it is also important to note that the most frequent command in the book of revelation is to “Look” and the second most frequent command is, “Fear not.”
The only way to not live in crippling fear is to look at what God is doing, to look at the true reality of who he is and how he is operating in the world!
So we cant just re-orient our vision…We have to re-orient reality…John is standing on a rocky island, worshiping God on one Sunday…when a door to heaven is opened…
Jesus doesn’t come down, grab him by the hair and whisk him to some far off place called heaven…there is simply a door that is opened with an invitation!
Heaven is never far off, God is closer than the air I breathe. (Rev 4:1)
Heaven is never far off, God is closer than the air I breathe. (Rev 4:1)
New Testament Scholar George Carid says, ”Heaven is a part of the universe…but a part which is entered by the opening of spiritual eyes rather than an external form of transit”
I read this story about a dad who was comforting his son who had terminal cancer…The little boy would eventually die…But the dad was trying to explain heaven to him and he pulled the curtain in between him and his son and he was like, this is where heaven is son, its not far off it so close!
Then let’s look at what’s next:
At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.
This must have lifted the spirits of John…There is a throne! There is a control room…and someone is there..
For John it must have felt like things were slipping out of control…maybe like evil was winning…
In 57Ad the emperor Nero had begun feeding Christians to the lions…
The Emperor Nero would also host lavish dinner parties in his garden that were lit with burning Christians…
Peter and Paul were crucified during that period..
By 95AD the Emperor Domitian (DO-ME-SHAN) had what he called his “reign of terror” and [had more than 40,000 Christians killed
In this time Timothy was beat to death and John was exiled to Patmos to rot…on this hot rocky island…
The laws in Rome made it impossible to basically buy or sell because you had to show that you worshiped the emperor…
So just this verse right here that John writes down…
Its like John’s world is falling apart
And lets be honest, its not just John’s world
We are entangled in Ukraine, Europe might be sending troops to the boarder of Belarus and Ukraine, The world is descending on Israel and Palestine, Moscow just had its biggest terror attack maybe in its history
it seems like everyone is just expecting something to happen in the world
Its not in the mainstream news yet but a major boarder conflict is heating up between Azerbaijan and Armenia AKA Russia and Turkey
In our own country we have chaos on our southern boarder
I mean today you might be like..>What is going on in the world, is it spinning out of control?
Without the set of glasses that LOOK! There is someone on the throne you might melt into fear about the state of the world right now.
You next fill in is this:
There is a throne on heaven and it is occupied!
There is a throne on heaven and it is occupied!
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.
Jasper would have been clear, like glass, but not the glass that was available in 96AD…This would have been crisp and clear…Symbolizing that Jesus is revealing..
And Ruby which depending on where you got it would have had radiant red and yellow colors…Symbolizing the beauty majesty and radiance of the person on the throne
There was a rainbow behind the throne…Symbolizing not just the beauty and radiance but also the covenant that God made with his people to never destroy the world again..
All of this to say, the one on the throne is lovely and dazzling, beyond even expression…
Lets keep moving:
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.
You know what, it would be the cleanest to say that the 24 Elders are the 12tribes of Israel plus the 12 apostles,
But when it comes to the book of Revelation we have to remember there are always a number of theories and the one that I think best takes into account both the old and new testament and the entire book of revelation is that the number 24 is a symbol and not a statistic…
Its not the literal 12 tribes or the literal 12 apostles…Remember John is an apostle so one of those chairs would have to be empty
It is symbolic of the People of Israel and the new Israel…Followers of Jesus
It is God’s divine counsel.
Made up of the people of God
The people of God get to be in the throne room! Isn’t that amazing! And they have crowns of Gold symbolizing authority and power!
What I always find amazing is that God is God, he doesn't need a divine counsel, but God loves relationship so he chooses to empower people and work though them
It also means if the number 24 is not literal and I dont think it is…That there is a spot for anyone who believes there!
God has created us as eternal creatures with a great purpose in his vast universe. (Rev 4:4)
God has created us as eternal creatures with a great purpose in his vast universe. (Rev 4:4)
Eternal in that we live forever with God and a purpose in that he has work for us not just here but in Heaven as co rulers with the king!
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,
This language takes us back to Mt. Saini when Moses was summoned up the mountain…In fact Exodus 19:16-19
That God is so mighty and so powerful that in his presence there is lighting and thunder and in front of his throne, before God there are 7 lampstands 7 spirits?
What does this mean?
We have already read that the 7 lampstands are the church...The church is always before the throne of God…We are always on his mind!
The lampstands would have had fire…fire symbolizes refining and purification…
The 7 spirits is a Jewish way of saying the complete spirit of God.
Completely available
Completely there
Completely complete!
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:
See Jewish readers would have gotten this…
Just as in Solomon’s temple there was a body of water before the Holy of Holies…The symbolism was that God is lord over the whole earth!
There is another way of looking at this verse. …But the “sea” in Jewish mythology was a place of chaos…In mythology it is where evil reigns…
It is why in the book of Jonah, when the sea was turned up, to the Jewish mind, Jonah knew it was him that he had disobeyed the lord…
So the sea of Glass before the throne, is almost a way of saying, there is no chaos before the throne room of God, evil’s days are numbered, evil has power but can not fully reign!
You have to remember what happened back in Genesis 1 as well…In the beginning the earth was formless and empty…Those words in Hebrew are Tohu & Bohu
They are the twin forces of chaos…
So in the beginning of the bible it basically says In the beginning there was chaotic water but then the Spirit of God was hovering over the water
And it was the spirit of God who brought structure and form to God’s creation
In the heavenly throne room there is no chaos (Rev 4:6)
In the heavenly throne room there is no chaos (Rev 4:6)
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 twenty-four 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.”
So here we see various old Testament References…from Isaiah and Ezekiel…But what I think is so amazing and important about this is that what is happening all around the throne all the time is worship!
As if Worship is the only rational response for being in thins kind of Glory…
Now in this text there are these odd creatures…But what John is doing is quoting places like Ezekiel 1 and Daniel 7 because he wants you to know that this is a throne room scene!
There are all of these off creatures…in fact is says 4 creatures that were worshiping and did you catch the descriptions
They were covered with eyes?
Like a lion, like an ox, face of a man, like a flying eagle…
This is a Jewish Apocalypse: Where there are animals that have special significance..
What they are saying is that the number 4 is the number of natural completeness
…the 4 corners of the earth, the 4 winds…
So what this verse is saying is that all of creation cannot help but to worship the king…
And what’s with the eyes? That is a way of saying that the throne room of heaven is all seeing…has all wisdom!
And every living creature….all the people of God bow down before the throne and the one sitting on it
And they sing things like
“‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.”
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
The songs that were sung in Rev 4 vs the imperial Hymn
Scholars have done a great deal of research on Imperial’s him, these were songs that were sung to the emperor at official events, the words that were used were
· Holy One
· Glory
· Salvation Belongs to You
· Authority
· Worthy to receive power
· Righteous are your judgments
· Our Lord and God of the earth, lord of the world
What John is trying to show us is where real power is! It is not in the hands of the Empire…It is not in the hands of the state. Real power comes from the throne room of God
Today is Palm Sunday. The day in which Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on a donkey and Joyfully the people lined the streets and shouted Hosanna, Hosanna
Hosanna is an Aramaic expression of praise and Joy…
It would have meant something to the equivalency of
"Praise God and his Messiah, we are saved."
It was an understanding that Jesus is king, and now in the book of Revelation we are on the other end of that and we see that Jesus is actually seated on his throne as king!
Three implications to Rev 4
We are Welcomed in: Heaven is close at hand…and we are invited in…”come up here”
We are Welcomed in: Heaven is close at hand…and we are invited in…”come up here”
Do you get it, it is not just that John was welcomed into view heaven…We are welcomed into the very life of God. He has all creation surrounding him…
Heaven is close at hand
And when John gets a glimpse inside heaven, what he notices is that all of heaven can not help but to worship Jesus
Its like there is a weight to glory….Just being around the Holy…There is a weight to it
Maybe holiness story? Christmas O Holy Night
When Jesus says that he is the son of God in the garden then the soldiers fell back because of the weight of glory or the weight of the divine revelation causes us not to stand
When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
The soldiers couldn't stand the weight of glory.
One drop of a million When God speaks to your soul
The weight of holiness
We have a glimmer of worship here
In Order to worship you have to lay your crown down
What does it mean for people to lay down their crowns?
Because we are welcomed we have to change our perspective:
Because we are welcomed we have to change our perspective:
DO you wear Revelation 4 Glasses?
DO you wear Revelation 4 Glasses?
Or do you wear worldly glasses
Or do you wear worldly glasses
Here is what I mean…Man the world is a mess…Its going to hell in a hand-basket
Everything is breaking or broken! what a horrible mess!
Or…The throne is occupied! There is someone seated on it!
Once we witness what happens in heaven, the only logical response is to surrender your crown
Once we witness what happens in heaven, the only logical response is to surrender your crown
We have to join in the cry of Hosanna…The songs of the 24 elders declaring that God is holy… I want you to get something about worship…
When the 24 elders worshiped God, what did they do? They took off their symbol of power and authority…they laid down their crowns and they put them in front of the throne!
What we do every week is enter into a worship service that has been happening for millennia…
Worship doesn’t begin at 10:00 on Sundays
Worship is a constant reality around the throne room of God.
Do you need to lay down the crown of your preferences today?
Crown of Money
Crown of Title
Crown of your education
Your own self perception
Crown of fatherhood or motherhood
Maybe the crown you need to lay down today is the one of surrender to Jesus….You’ve been on the fence…But is so hard because life has been about you for so long
I want to tell you today…If thats you, there is a greater reality at play…There is one on the throne and he knows you by name…He loves you…
You just need to lay down your crown!