Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

John's spiritual experience after he received the Lord's letters to the seven churches of Asia was to prepare him for what is about to occur.

True spiritual worship is perhaps one of the greatest needs in our individual lives and in our churches.

There is a constant emphasis today on witnessing for Christ and working for Christ, but not enough is said about worshiping Him.

To worship means “to ascribe worth” (see ; ).

It means to use all that we are and have to praise God for all that He is and does.

Heaven is a place of worship, and God’s people shall worship Him throughout all eternity.

Perhaps it would be good for us to get in practice now!

A study of will certainly help us better understand how to worship God and give Him the glory that He deserves.

[Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 581.]

True spiritual worship is perhaps one of the greatest needs in our individual lives and in our churches.

There is a constant emphasis today on witnessing for Christ and working for Christ, but not enough is said about worshiping Him.

To worship means “to ascribe worth” (see ; ).

It means to use all that we are and have to praise God for all that He is and does.

Heaven is a place of worship, and God’s people shall worship Him throughout all eternity.

Perhaps it would be good for us to get in practice now!

A study of will certainly help us better understand how to worship God and give Him the glory that He deserves.

[Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 581.]

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 581.]

Main Thought: Being in the presence of God spiritually will move you to adore Him personally.

To find fulfillment in God's realm (creation), you must first become filled with awe over God's reality (Almighty).

Main Thought: Being in the presence of God spiritually will move you to adore Him personally.

Sub-intro:

Summary: Four Lessons from the Letters to the Seven Churches:

Summary: Four Lessons from the churches:

Summary: Four Lessons from the churches:

▪ Times have not changed much!

▪ Culture rubs off on the church.

▪ The Lord is more interested in our character than He is in our feverish works

▪ Christ is the Head of and in the midst of the churches, yet they push Him aside

Times have not changed much!

Culture rubs off on the church.

The Lord is more interested in our character than He is in our feverish works

Christ is the Head of and in the midst of the churches, yet they push Him aside

C. Jason Walker, Course Notes - Pensacola Theological Seminary | Commentary, n.d., .

Body:

I.

The Doorway to Heaven's Throneroom (Rev.

4:1).

“1 After this I looked,”

The Things Which Shall Be Hereafter ()- [Tribulation/ Millennium/ Future State]

Interpretive views of the Revelation:

Interpretive views of the Revelation

Preterist- fulfilled in 1st century

Historicist- conditions through the church age

Idealist- struggle between good and evil

Futurist- = future, literal events

A. Behold the Opened Door

A. Behold the Opened Door

“and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:”

B. The First Voice

“and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said,”

C. The Ascension of John

“Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”

NOTE - The Things Which Shall Be Hereafter ()- [Tribulation/ Millennium/ Future State]

a

The contents of the remainder of the Apokalupsis include revelatory truth about the Tribulation (4:1-19:21), the Millennium (20:1-15), and the Eternal State (21:1-22:5).

The next sequence of visions allowed John to observe the throne room in heaven which included the place of worship (), the emphasis on the book and the Lamb (), and the source from which the seven seal judgments fall ().

Obviously, the Lord’s inspired structure of the Book, following His outline, dictates the inspired interpretation for His Baptist church members to receive by faith (with spiritual ears []) and “observe” (cf.

).

[Thomas M. Strouse, To the Seven Churches: A Commentary on the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, Selected Works of Dr. Thomas M. Strouse (Bible Baptist Theological Press, 40 Country Squire Rd., Cromwell, CT 06461, 2013), 197.]

Thomas M. Strouse, To the Seven Churches: A Commentary on the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, Selected Works of Dr. Thomas M. Strouse (Bible Baptist Theological Press, 40 Country Squire Rd., Cromwell, CT 06461, 2013), 197.]

Interpretive views of the Revelation:

Preterist- fulfilled in 1st century

Historicist- conditions through the church age

Idealist- struggle between good and evil

Futurist- = future, literal events

NOTE - Consider this timely exegesis of verse one:

a

The abrupt ending of revelatory truth concerning the seven assemblies on earth,639 and the beginning of future events of the visions concerning heaven, require the reader to recognize that Christ unveiled teaching about “the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world” from which the Lord would keep the churches (cf.

).

Christ had already built His eschatology on as He revealed in , saying, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:).”

He taught that Daniel’s seventieth heptad was the Tribulation, yet to come, after the crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple ().640

The Apostle Paul had elaborated on eschatology with his teaching about the church age saints being “caught up” ...641 “to meet the Lord in the air” ... occurs thirteen times in the Greek NT and receives various renderings in the KJV such as to catch up (4x), to take by force (3x), to catch away (2x), to pluck (2x), to catch (1x), and to pull (1x).643

The Latin Vulgate rendering of a`rpa,zw is rapiemur (from rapio)644 giving the source to the English equivalent “rapture.”

Tyndale renders the verb as “shall be caught up” and the recent NET renders it “will be suddenly caught up.”

The churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea would have known about Paul’s Thessalonian teaching concerning the Rapture prior to the Day of the Lord () since he taught the same truths to all the churches (“as I teach every where in every church” []).

These churches would have recognized the parallels between Paul’s teaching and John’s vision.

The parallels are the following:

1.

The sudden conclusion of the local church age.

2. The sounding of the trumpet of the Lord (trump/trumpet).

3. The directional movement heavenward (caught up/come up).

4. The personal meeting with the Lord.645

The verse begins and ends with the same Greek expression meta tauta 646 (“after this…hereafter”).

This double syntactical feature gives the exegetical clue that the remainder of the Apokalupsis falls under the concluding point of the Lord’s structural outline (1:19).

John began the details of what he had seen (“I looked”)647 in his vision with the imperative “behold” (ivdou.).648

What the seer John saw was “a door opened in heaven” (...).

He employed the perfect passive participle ... from the verb ... (cf.

, [2x]), indicating Someone had opened the door and it was still open.

Furthermore, John stated that the open door was in “heaven,” using the singular noun for “heaven,” rather than the plural “heavens” (cf.

).649

This “heaven” is that to which Paul alluded concerning his out-of-body experience, saying, “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven” ().650

Others had the privilege to see the third heaven, such as Jacob (cf.

), Isaiah (cf.

), Ezekiel (cf.

), and Daniel (cf. ).

Several times in the life of Christ the heavens opened with the Father authenticating the Son’s ministry (cf.

; ).

With another one of his senses, the Apostle John “heard” ...651 “the first voice” ... which sounded as a talking trumpet.

The voice was that of the gloried Saviour which the writer had heard initially (cf.

).

The Lord’s words were accompanied with music “as a trumpet talking” ..., the apostle averred.

Since Hebrew is the heavenly (cf. ) and original language (vide ; ; ; ), and since the inscripturated OT text had musical accents for singing (e.g., [Heb.];

vide ), and since other musical instruments accompanied revelatory truth (cf.

[i.e., harps, psalteries, and cymbals]), it may be adduced that all heavenly language is in the form of melodious music with the Lord God and His creation singing one to another.652

Certainly, the immediate context with the five heavenly hymns, support this interpretation ().653