Revelation 4 - The Unshaken Throne

Bethel Baptist Church

Unveiled Hope: The Reigning Christ of Revelation • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago • Presented 4 years ago • 39:50

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If we could see the throne room of Heaven, we would fear no earthly persecution

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Introduction

When I looked out the window that morning, I knew our luck had run out. My boss had been involved in some pretty high-level espionage over the past several weeks—passing classified information on Syrian troop movements to the commander of our forces in the region. I still have no idea where he was getting his intel; all I knew is that he had enabled our troops to neatly avoid several enemy ambushes. He either had some kind of inside information from the Syrian camp, or else he was a very lucky guesser.

Only, like I said—this morning, our luck ran out. Somewhere along the line the Syrian commander had caught wind of his name and location, because when I woke up this morning and looked out the window of our rented room, I saw a massive Syrian strike force had completely cut off the city—infantry, cavalry, and even several light-armored mobile strike units—all deployed to catch the two of us!

I turned from the window and saw the boss standing there—I’ll never forget the look on his face! I could barely keep my knees from giving out under me, I was so scared—there was no way we were getting out of this alive. As long as the Syrian commander had proof we were dead, he didn’t care what happened to us—we weren’t going to live long enough to see a holding cell.

But you wouldn’t have known that to look at the boss. He was as cool as a cucumber—he looked over my shoulder at that massive army like it was a gentle herd of deer grazing on the hillside! I wanted to grab him by the shoulder and shake some sense into him—but instead I stepped in front of his gaze and said, “What are we going to do? There is exactly zero chance we’re getting out of this city alive! They’re going to have every single exit under surveillance, and if they start a house-to-house search, there’s no way we’re going to be able to escape them!”

And he says to me, “Don’t be afraid—there are more of us than there are of them!” I just about lost it right then and there, I don’t mind telling you. I was looking at a gruesome and painful death within hours, and the boss has completely gone round the bend—he’s lost it! And then he prayed: “O YHWH, please open his eyes that he may see!” And I just turned and looked out the window.

If I live to be a thousand, I will never forget what I saw! Thousands and thousands of troops, cavalry and chariots—far more than the Syrian strike force—blazing with a terrible brightness and glory that looked like it could sweep down and burn every one of them to a crisp in an instant! That’s why the boss was so calm, cool and collected when he was looking out the window! He didn’t see the Syrian king’s army at all—he saw the armies of YHWH Sabaoth—the LORD of Hosts!

You can read that story from the life of the Old Testament prophet Elisha in 2 Kings Chapter 6. And I wanted to re-tell it in a first-person narrative this morning because I believe that in many ways we are in the same kind of situation as Elisha’s servant. We may not be to the point where the military is being sent to take us into custody, but we can see it from here! From mayors threatening to revoke occupancy permits of churches that continue to meet, to the church in Mississippi that was burned to the ground by an arsonist because they were suing to stay open during the lockdown, to Harvard professor Steven Pinker, who tweeted that evangelical Christians are to blame for spreading the coronavirus because their “malignant delusion” about the resurrection makes them careless—the stage is being carefully set for a level of persecution and backlash against Christians in this country, the likes of which none of us have ever seen.

And in the face of that overwhelming animosity and opposition from the media, our own fellow citizens, and even our own government, we may very well feel as overwhelmed and helpless as Elisha’s servant there in 2 Kings. But just like him, if we could have our eyes opened to the spiritual reality behind all of this opposition, we would not have any reason to fear.

And that is why we need Revelation 4—because

If we could see into the throne room of Heaven, we would fear no earthly persecution.

The Christians of the Seven Churches that John was writing this letter to were all facing increasing threats of discrimination, persecution, imprisonment and even death. They lived in the midst of the fearsome might of the Roman Empire—an empire that had lasted for hundreds of years by their day, and which would last for hundreds more. Everywhere they looked they were surrounded by the symbols of Rome’s power, and were becoming increasingly aware that they were being targeted by the Empire for their seditious beliefs (Christians refused to join in the Imperial cult that worshipped Caesar as divine, recognizing only Jesus Christ as the true God-Man). They needed to see that no matter how they might be threatened by the Roman government, there was nothing that would threaten God’s reign—and in that, they could find refuge!

The first thing that we see in this description is that, no matter what happens with the kingdoms of this earth,

I. God’s Throne still stands (vv. 1-6)

Look at verse 2:

Revelation 4:2 ESV

At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.

Now, at first glance, there is so much going on in this passage that it’s hard to make sense of it all, isn’t it? Thrones and crowns and living creatures with heads of lions and eagles, lightnings and flashes of thunder, angels with six wings and covered with eyes—it’s overwhelming to read. And I think that’s part of what John is driving at here—he wants his readers to be floored by the frightening splendor and roaring thunder and piercing brightness of it all. The throne room of heaven is an overwhelming place for mere mortals!

But as you read through this description, you start to see a lot of connections with Old Testament descriptions of the throne room of God. The angels crying out “Holy, holy, holy!” comes from Isaiah 6, the living creatures with heads of a lion, bull, eagle and man comes from Ezekiel 1, and the thrones set up all around God’s throne comes from Daniel 7 (which we’ve already seen a few times earlier).

And here’s the thing: Each of those visions took place during a great crisis in Israel’s history—each of those prophets received their vision of God’s throne during a crisis, but

No crisis ever breaks it

Isaiah saw his vision of the LORD on the throne “the year King Uzziah died”—when the kingdom was in turmoil over the death of a righteous king. Ezekiel and Daniel saw their visions of the Ancient of Days while the people were in the midst of the Babylonian Captivity. But none of those crises ever even touched the throne room of heaven!

God’s reign is never disturbed by the fall of any empire or the collapse of any economy or the election of any Democrat (or Republican!) president! His throne has endured through the rise and fall of every empire, the devastation and carnage of every war, the threats and ragings of every pipsqueak tyrant and petty potentate that ever strutted across the world stage! When you see that God’s throne stands and no crisis ever breaks it, you can stand in the midst of any upheaval or crisis of this world!

In verse 6 we read that “before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal”. This may be a reference to the “bronze sea” in Solomon’s temple, where the priests would wash themselves in order to be purified to enter the temple courts. But bear in mind as well that throughout the Scriptures, the sea is always a picture of untameable chaos, upheaval and danger. But here in the throne room of heaven, all of that chaos has been utterly conquered! The sea is as calm and smooth as crystal glass—completely at peace before the throne of God!

God’s throne still stands—no crisis ever breaks it. And because His throne still stands,

None of His promises will ever be broken

Look at verse 3 for a moment:

Revelation 4:3 ESV

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.

Do you see it? What does a rainbow signify? God’s promise to Noah and all His descendants in Genesis 9:13 that He would “Set his bow in the clouds” as a seal of His promise that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood. Thousands of years ago God made that promise—and here in the throne room of heaven the seal of that promise still endures! Surely this is a sign to us that if God has the power to keep that promise—and certainly He has!—then He has the power to keep every promise He has ever made to you! God’s throne still stands, Christian—and when you have a vision of the throne room of Heaven, you have nothing to fear from any earthly persecution! God’s rule over your life cannot be threatened, and His promises in your life cannot be broken!

When John looked into the throne room of Heaven, he saw that God’s throne still stands. And in the following verses we see that

II. God’s holiness still stands (vv. 6-8)

as well. Look at verses 7-8:

Revelation 4:6–8 ESV

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!”

Remember that Isaiah came into this same throne room some 800 years before John did—and those creatures had not stopped proclaiming the holiness of God in all that time!

See here, Christian, that God’s holines

Will never change

Day and night, over and over, twenty-four seven, those magnificent creatures never stop crying out Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD! In Isaiah they cried out “the whole earth is full of His glory”—and here they cry out “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” In other words, God will never change in His holiness! He was holy, He is holy, and He will be holy! His holiness did not change in the 800 years between Isaiah’s time and John’s time, and it has not changed in the twenty one centuries since! Every moment of the past two thousand years the holiness of the LORD God Almighty has not changed one iota!

God’s holiness will never change, and His holiness

Will never be challenged

No matter how desperately the petty tyrants of this world want to erase God’s holiness or change it or bend it or twist it and tell you that you are “on the wrong side of history” because you hold to His revealed righteousness and holiness--His holiness is the same yesterday, today and forever! It’s not a matter of “your” truth versus “my” truth, or “your” standards versus “my” standards—it is God’s standards of righteousness and holiness that matter!

There are a lot of different interpretations of what is signified by the creatures with the head of a lion or an ox or an eagle or a man in these verses. One rabbinic tradition from ancient times says that these four creatures between them represent all of living creation: The lion is the king of the wild beasts, the ox is the king of domesticated animals, the eagle is the king of all the birds, and man is the high king over all of them. If that is the case, then these verses are a picture of all of God’s created order confessing His holiness.

Remember that the churches that received this letter were living in the midst of Roman power—and that power was represented by an eagle. Our own nation has consciously adopted a lot of Romanesque images and architecture as symbols of enduring power and rulership—including the eagle itself! John’s readers would have found a great deal of encouragement in the sight of a mighty creature with a face like a Roman eagle crying out in praise of the holiness of God!

The next time you pull a quarter out of your pocket, look at the tails side and imagine the eagle there crying out, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” Or the next time you see the elephant of the Republican party, remember that its king, the lion, is in heaven proclaiming the holiness of God! And the Democrat donkey’s king, the ox, is doing the same thing! And the talking heads on TV or the politicians in government or Harvard professors all spewing their ridicule and hatred on followers of Jesus Christ—the living creature with the face of a man is constantly praising the holiness of God! And someday they will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!

When you have a vision of the throne room of heaven, you will have no fear of earthly persecution—God’s throne still stands, God’s holiness still stands, and

III. God’s authority still stands (vv. 9-11)

Look at verses 9-11:

Revelation 4:9–11 ESV

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.”

First of all, God’s authority still stands

Over all earthly power

Historians tell us that at the time that John wrote this letter, the Imperial Cult of Rome was beginning to become more and more blasphemous. Whenever Caesar appeared in public procession, the traditional response of the crowd was to cry out “Worthy are you, Caesar!” And by the time of Emperor Domitian, the outright worship of Caesar as divine had taken hold, to the point where the people would cry out “Worthy are you, Caesar our Lord and our god!”

So imagine how John’s first readers felt to hear the song of Heaven, “Worthy are You, our LORD and God! God’s authority still stands over every earthly power—over every king who sets himself up as God, over every politician who tries to grab more power and glory and honor for himself through political maneuvering or self-centered boasting. There is no earthly ruler who deserves the glory and honor and power that belongs to God Himself! His authority stands over all earthly power and

Over all heavenly powers

as well. Before mankind falls down to worship, the heavenly creatures lead the way—”cherubim and seraphim, falling down before Thee”. There is no principality or power or ruler over this present darkness of the world, no angel or demon that will not—either now or someday—fall down in utter obedience and reverence before the throne of God Almighty!

We get a glimpse here of something that will turn out to be a major feature of the book of Revelation—the heavenly creatures fall down in worship, and then the twenty four elders follow their lead. The focus of Revelation is on what happens in the throne room of heaven, and how those actions are manifested on earth—worship takes place in heaven, and the effects of that worship are seen on earth. This is part of what Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Unlike Las Vegas, “what happens in Heaven doesn’t stay in Heaven!” Seals are opened in heaven, and pestilence breaks out on earth. Trumpets are blown in heaven and a third of the earth is burned up in hail and fire. There is much more to be said about all of that, but for now it is enough that we see here in these verses that power and glory and honor belong to God alone—and all of creation confesses it!

If you have a vision of the throne room of heaven, you have no fear of any earthly persecution, any runaway government tyranny, any hatred or ridicule from academic or media elites. God’s throne still stands, His holiness still stands, His authority still stands—and because of that

IV. God’s people will stand

In all of the Old Testament imagery John relates in this chapter, he adds a detail that Isaiah or Daniel or Ezekiel didn’t see. Look at verse 4:

Revelation 4:4 ESV

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.

Daniel saw “thrones” in his vision, but he didn’t see who was on the thrones. There are a few different interpretations of who these elders are, but the majority report seems to be that they represent the Old Testament saints (represented by the twelve tribes of Israel) and the New Testament saints (represented by the twelve Apostles), for a total of 24. They have been given thrones and they wear crowns—they are

Reigning with Him

in heaven! Here is your hope, Christian! Now you are ridiculed, cast down, threatened by the pipsqueak tyrants of the kingdoms of this fallen world who grasp and strain to take more and more power away from you, who want to hem you in, limit your freedoms, threaten your liberty to worship. But the day is coming when you will reign with Christ in the throne room of heaven! You may be cast down by the petty politicians of our crumbling government today, but some day you will cast your crown before the Ruler of All Creation, praising Him as the only one worthy to receive glory, honor and power! Endure this darkness now, Christian, and someday you will reign with Christ! (2 Timothy 2:12)!

Look to the throne room of heaven here in this chapter, and see the security you have to stand

Righteous in Him

The one who sits on the throne, it says in verse 3, “had the appearance of jasper and carnelian”. Carnelian (or sardius, in the KJV) was the first gem in the first row of the Old Testament high priest’s breastplate (Exodus 28:17), and jasper was the last stone in the last row (Exodus 28:20). The imagery here reminds us that our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, has offered His own blood to wash away our sins, and we are righteous in Him! We noted earlier that the “crystal sea” in verse 6 could represent the stillness and calmness of the chaotic and untameable seas in the presence of God’s unshakeable reign, but there may also be a symbol here of the great bronze sea that stood in Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 7:23-25). If that’s the case, then the message is clear—we have been washed and purified in the presence of God! Beloved, here in this world for a time you may suffer under evil, but look here at the throne room of heaven and take comfort that you will never suffer for evil! You are righteous in Christ!

Because God’s throne stands forever, God’s people will stand—reigning with Him, righteous in Him, and

Secure in Him

His promises cannot fail! There is no one that can pluck you out of His hand! No Syrian king can break through the wall of angelic soliders that encompass you, no governor can decree that you be torn away from Christ’s love, no Congress can pass a law to cancel your identity as a child of the Living God, no executive order can abrogate the eternal decree of the Ancient of Days that you belong to Him, and none of His promises to save you can ever fail!

Now you suffer under the treachery and betrayal of a government that never made a promise to you that it didn’t break—you’ve been kicked around and double-crossed and let down and manipulated and threatened and fined over and over again by out-of-control bureaucrats and power-hungry politicians who only want to use you to advance their own careers. But you serve a God who always keeps His promises! Including the promise that you will always have access to this throne room at any time, day or night!

Way back in verse 1 of Revelation 4, John looked and saw “a door standing open in heaven!” That door to the throne room of heaven was opened for you by Jesus Christ—He is the only way, the only truth, the only life, and no one comes to the throne room of the Heavenly Father except through Christ! Your confidence to enter that holy place comes only by the blood of Jesus Christ,

Hebrews 10:20 ESV

by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,

The only way to have a vision of the throne room of heaven is to look through Jesus Christ! So stand in Him today, clothed in the white robes of His own righteousness, secure in His promises to you, so that whatever darkness or treachery or danger or persecution or threat may come your way in the coming months, you will see past those forces arrayed against you and fix your eyes on your reigning and ruling Savior, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

Why is it important to note that each of the Old Testament visions of the throne room of God took place during times of crisis in Israel’s history? How does this vision of God’s throne address the upheaval of our world today?

In John’s vision of the throne, the seraphim cry out that the LORD is the one “who was, and is, and is to come” (Rev. 4:8). What does this teach us about the eternal nature of God’s holiness? How does this help us respond to the notion that our morality has to change with the current trends?

One of the major themes of the book of Revelation that we will be exploring is the idea that the worship that takes place in heaven affects what happens on earth. How does the phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” challenge the way that you worship?

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