Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Each year newspapers report a tragically high number of cases of abused and neglected children.

Reading these stories—where children are treated like an afterthought at best, an obstacle at worst—can cause us to simultaneously weep and rage, “How could anyone do this to a child?

How could anyone love a drug more than a baby?

How could anyone have such fundamentally messed-up priorities?”

At the very heart of these questions is a sense that it is a great evil to devalue the most valuable things in the world—people.

To care more for a night out of lust-filled diversion or an illegal substance than the life of a child is a terrible thing.

Yet how often have we failed to treasure and value the Lord?

How often do we elevate unworthy objects of worship over the God of the universe?

The worship happens in surprising places - we sometimes elevate sports:

In the fall of 2011, the Arkansas Razorbacks traveled to play the Louisiana State University Tigers with a possible trip to the national championship game on the line.

Louisiana’s home stadium, often called “Death Valley,” is a tough place for visiting teams to play because of the enthusiasm and passion of the crowd.

At this particular game, one announcer spoke more truth than he knew when he said, “Make no mistake, worship happens here.”

We worship many things in our culture, but there is only one true God who alone is worthy of worship.

Only God, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, is worthy of worship

Transition:

Some of us have probably heard the saying: “those who are heavenly minded are of no earthly good.”

But chapter 4 of Revelation shows us that just the opposite is true.

Jesus has just finished giving the seven messages to the seven churches and now John is transported spiritually into the presence of God, where he is given a vision.

Here’s how John describes his experience:

Scripture Reading:

Revelation 4:1–11

This chapter is a clear division from what preceded and what will come.

And before we go further, we should be reminded of the general three fold division of the book as it appeared in Rev 1:19

“The things that you have seen”—the vision of the glorified Christ in chapter 1.

“Those [things] that are”—the conditions of the Church(es) on earth possibly to include from Pentecost to the Rapture as seen in the letters to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3.

“Those [things] that are to take place after”—the future events to take place after the Church has apparently been taken out of the picture as recorded in chapters 4 through 22.

In chapters 2 and 3 we saw the Risen Christ walking amidst His churches upon earth.

Now the scene changes to the courts of heaven.

With this passage, John’s writing transition’s from the letters to the churches to the vision of heaven.

He begins with a vision of YHWH Himself.

Today we are leaving “Those [things] that are” and beginning “Those [things] that are to take place after”

From 4:1 to the end of the book all the events very likely follow the rapture of the Church.

How do I know?

Because Jesus spent the last two chapters talking directly to the churches and now starts a conspicuous silence about the church.

Also, by this time God will have completed His purpose for His Church and the Church will have completed her mission on earth.

In fact, the word “church” does not appear again in the book until the end, where the glorified Lord speaks to the churches in Chapter 22:16.

If the rest is what the church is to endure, it is odd that not another mention of the church would be made.

We are now living somewhere toward the close of the second period designated by the phrase, “the things which are,” awaiting our Lord’s coming to rapture the Church to Himself.

Thus we are about to view the thrilling panorama of wonders which are to take place after the church’s mission on earth has ended and she is caught up to being with Christ, “Those [things] that are to take place after this”

YHWH has never relinquished His sovereignty and majesty, thus we are reminded of God’s power and authority of which the throne is a symbol.

Presently, during this Age of grace, God’s throne is one of grace and mercy where sinners and saints may come boldly to “obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

But the throne in Revelation 4 appears to become a fierce throne of Judgement.

This would make sense after the rapture of the saints, when the present dispensation has ended and a new dispensation of judgment will begin.

Transition:

The very first thing that John sees in his vision will become the focus of the developing prophetic revelation that is about to be played out in the rest of the book:

I. Who YHWH Is (vv.

1-2)

As John sits there in exile on a rock pile called Patmos, Jesus opens up his eyes and allows John to see what is occurring right there and then in another dimension which is every bit as real as his physical surroundings.

John begins with the phrase “after this”.

It is a clue and phrase that he will use five more times in Revelation.

Although he uses that phrase to indicate what he is shown next in his visions, it does not necessarily indicate that the events he is about to describe occur next chronologically—which is also key to grasping proper interpretation.

Jesus is the ONE who opens heaven’s doors and leads us in, YHWH is up there waiting patiently for us.

“and behold, a throne stood in heaven”

The throne will become the focus of the rest of the book.

According to one commentator, John refers to the throne directly 47 times and uses other related terms 77 times.

Certainly everything in this vision revolves around that throne.

The great danger that we face from this point forward in Revelation is that we’ll take our focus off the throne and get distracted with all that is going on around the throne.

That is a danger that we must guard against even this morning as we look at some of the details of John’s vision.

There are obviously many things in the Book of Revelation that remain at least somewhat of a mystery and about which there is far from universal agreement concerning what those things represent and their significance.

My commitment to you is that I will strive to never draw conclusions that go beyond what the Bible text itself reveals to us.

But that certainly doesn’t insure that we might not still disagree about some of the details.

In fact, I would expect that to occur from time to time since I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers.

However, the important thing is that we don’t focus on any such differences to the point that they distract us from the main message of the book as a whole and of the passage we study each week.

So I ask you to join me in keeping our main focus on the throne and the One and only One who sits on it — YHWH.

Not only is there a throne, but there is…

“One seated on the throne”

Although it may not be evident from what we observe in this world there is a sovereign God seated on His throne – a fact that we can only know for sure by looking through the glasses of this chapter.

And in this chapter, we are given a beautiful picture of the majesty and glory of YHWH.

Transition:

So, as John is basking in the majesty of YHWH, he then moves to the Glory of YHWH’s appearance

II.

What YHWH Looks Like (vv.

3-7)

YHWH is described here is interesting!

You will notice that John described God as having the appearance of jasper and carnelian.

This brilliant picture of the glory of God, one we’ll see again from John near the end of Revelation when the New Jerusalem is described, also uses the picture of jewels and even jasper again:

[[Revelation 21:11]]

It is interesting that John does not describe God using human characteristics, but rather pictures Him using precious stones that were known for their ability to reflect and magnify light.

We’re reminded here of how the Psalmist describes God:

Psalm 104:2

“around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald”

what?? how does a rainbow look like an emerald?

We need to keep in mind here that John, in his vision, is seeing things that are completely unlike anything he has ever seen before.

So he must describe the indescribable using the best pictures that he can think of.

So we need to be careful not to try to make too much of the details here, which will tend to draw us away from the grandeur and majesty of what John is describing for us.

That's wonderful!

who are the twenty-four elders, and why do they have their own throne in heaven?

good questions!

I’m glad you asked!

Angels or Angelic beings that represent all the saints?

Old Testament saints?

The 12 patriarchs representing the Old Testament saints plus the 12 apostles representing the New Testament saints!

Representatives of the church?

I can’t tell you with absolute certainty who these 24 elders are, but I think that what we can do is to explore the text itself and let the text allow us to make some valid conclusions about their identity.

First, at least up to this point in Revelation, whenever some object or person is intended to be a symbolic representation of something else, it is clearly identified as a symbol.

For instance, Jesus identified the seven lampstands as symbolizing the seven churches and the seven stars as representing the seven angels of the churches.

Since the elders are never identified as representing anything else, it seems unlikely that they would be representative of the church - either Old Testament or New Testament saints or some combination thereof.

In fact, when we get to Revelation 7, we’ll clearly see that the 24 elders and the redeemed saints are two separate groups.

Secondly, it seems unlikely that the 12 apostles were part of the group of 24 elders since John would have been among them and would have recognized the other 11, There is no indication at all that this is the case here.

Thirdly, as we’ll see later in Revelation, individual elders function apart from the group and address John in both chapters 5 and 7.

In chapter 7, John even addresses the elder as “Lord” and is not rebuked, which indicates that the elders had some authoritative role.