I think most of you, if not all
of you, have probably heard the illustration of a tapestry. If you look at a tapestry that's
being weaved or woven or whatever they say, and if you look at
the bottom of the tapestry, And you see all kinds of a mixture
of colored threads that maybe show no pattern whatsoever, and
you can't make any sense of it. It's just a mixture of colors.
If you look up at the bottom of the tapestry, and what happens
if you go to the top and look down, At the top of the tapestry,
when it's finished especially, you see how all that mixture
and confusion of colors come together to make a pattern, a
picture, or some kind of an image that makes sense now, and you
see how beautiful it is. Well, that's what we have beginning
here in Revelation 4. This is the beginning vision
that God gives to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. The
first vision, you remember, was mainly as the opening showing
who was giving him this vision, and you see the glorified Christ
on his throne in control, but then you see the letters to and
that's the church here on earth where the truth is preached going
through the trials and the tribulations and a few triumphs even here
on this physical world as the church is under attack from within
and from without again going through these things now sometimes
even if you look at like a church like the church at Laodicea the
very last one It almost seems like it's defeated, it doesn't.
Even though he makes sure that we understand, even in that first
vision, that God is in control, God is on the throne, and victory
is assured because of what Christ has accomplished to save us from
our sins. But it's still everyday lives
here on this earth. A lot of times we get so frustrated,
don't we? And it seems like Anarchy that
everything's out of control, and we wonder Lord. What's going
on? Why this why that? and we'll
do that won't we and But he assures us that everything you know it
kind of reminds me of Hebrews chapter 2 where it talks about
how ever It's under the feet of Christ And what that means
is he's in control he's working on Council of his own will But
he says, but we don't see everything under his control. When we look
at everyday life, Satan attacking, the world going, as they say,
to hell in a handbasket, and even our own inner struggles,
we don't see it with our physical eye. We don't see it realized
yet. But he goes on to say in Hebrews 2, he says, but we see
Jesus. And what it's talking about is
we Christ has accomplished what he set out to do, and he hasn't
stopped. He's still accomplishing that.
So understand, in the first vision, we see the church struggling
here on earth. But in the next vision, this
second vision, which lasts from chapter 4 to chapter 7, what
we see here is a view of the church from the throne of God. And that's the title of the lesson.
There are two lessons in chapter four here, and that's what they're
both entitled, part one and part two, A View from the Throne of
God. This is a view of how it all
looks from God's sovereign throne. Now, he gives that to John and
to the church, including us, for our comfort. In other words,
as we struggle, as we go through the disappointments of this life,
as we're attacked, As we go through the sorrow and the sadness, sometimes
joys, here's what we're assured of. This is the way everything
looks from God's throne. And look at how he begins it.
Look at verse 1. He says, after this first vision, John said,
I looked and behold, a door was opened in heaven. Now you know
what that door is. That's the way into heaven. And
that way is Christ. Christ crucified, risen. That
way is the blood of the Lamb. That way is the righteousness
of Christ imputed. He is the way to God. You see,
that's the difference between Christianity and other religions.
Buddha, in his religion, he shows people the way. Muhammad shows
people the way. Christ is the way. That's the
difference. Show us the way, but the way
is Him. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father, but by Him. Over in the book of Hebrews
chapter four, it talks about worshiping God, and praying to
God, and praising God. And it's all based upon the fact
that we have a high priest who has literally, in verse 14 there
of Hebrews four, passed through into the heavens. He went unto
the Lord. And He is the way to God. The way to God is not our works,
not our wills, not our obedience, not our charity. The way to the
Lord is Christ and His righteousness alone. He said, I am the door. And this door was opened. There's
free access here. There's no hindrance. The first
voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with
me. That's the sounding of a trumpet.
And he said, here's what the trumpet said. In other words,
this is the clarion call of the trumpet that has a message. It's
not just a sound. And that's why he said it was
talking to me. Now this is a vision. And he said, this sound the trumpet
made, we don't know how it came to John and how John heard it,
but this is how it's put in the scripture. It says, the trumpet
talking with me, which said, come up here, come up hither,
that means come up here, and I will show you the things that
must be hereafter. I'm going to show you the things
that are going to transpire throughout this age, the New Testament age. And I love that. I compare that or contrast that
with the old covenant law, stay away. You remember when God spoke
to Moses and Moses came back down and he said, now don't anybody,
if an animal crosses this line thrusting through with a spear
or an arrow, stay away. And that's what the law says. speaking to a sinner, here's
the message of that law, stay away. But when we see Christ,
God in His blood and righteousness, the message is come up here.
And that means fellowship with God. John described it in 1 John
1, our fellowship is with the Father and the Son through the
Spirit. Peter spoke of it when he talked
about how we are witnesses of God, which promises, by the way,
are sure and certain in Christ. We are made partakers of the
truth. That's what he said in Peter
1.4. Meaning that we're brought into fellowship, that's what
the word partaker means, with the deity, with the nature of
the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How are we brought
into fellowship with the divine nature? Through Christ. In Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Well look
at verse 2, he says, and immediately I was in the Spirit. John being
full of the Spirit of God, being consumed with the Spirit, the
Spirit was the one who brought him into all that. In fact, I
really believe the word spirit there should be capitalized.
That's one of the biggest debates about New Testament translation. is the letter S. Should the word
spirit be capitalized, meaning the person of the Holy Spirit,
or should it be the little s, meaning the spirit that we have,
based on the Holy Spirit giving us new life. You remember in
Ezekiel 36, where he said, I'll put a new spirit within you.
That's spiritual life, that's the new birth. And I believe
the spirit here should be capitalized. I was in the spirit, the Holy
Spirit, And now let me say this now, you can disagree with that
if you want, and we're not going to fall out on that issue. Because if he says I was in the
spirit, that to me would be John saying, I'm thinking under the
power of this vision in a spiritual way. I'm totally thinking spiritually
here. So either way, but I believe
it's the Holy Spirit who John was consumed with, who took him
up, and he says, verse two, and behold, a throne was set in heaven,
and one sat on the throne. So here's the vision from the
throne. We're not looking up at the bottom of the tapestry,
in other words. We're looking down at how everything
comes together to form a beautiful pattern in the providence and
the power of God. And that's the thing. Here's
where we look up at the tapestry and we see all things, but we're
confused, maybe. We look down at the tapestry
and we see how all things work together for good to them that
love God, who are the called according to his purpose. And
so this is a view from the throne. And, you know, this has always
been the case. I mean, this is nothing new,
especially. Even the psalmist, I've got listed
several times in the Psalms, and one time in 1 Chronicles,
where it's emphasized in times of trouble that we need to understand
the Lord reigneth. God's in control. I'll never
forget, I was flipping around on TV. You know what, I'm just
about to the point where I'm going to stop flipping around
on TV. But anyway, sometimes I get some good material to preach
against, but I heard a preacher, you know, he's one of these health
and wealth money men, you know, send me a thousand, you'll get
ten thousand, and all that kind of thing. And he made this statement. He said, you know, many Christians
have been lied to about this. He said, they've been told that
God's in control. He said, but God is not in control. Well, let me ask you a question.
If God is not in control, who is? And if nobody is, then what
is that? That's anarchy. So that's, to
me, that would be a basis for discouragement. If God's not
in control, well, God is in control. Whether I'm feeling good or feeling
bad, whether I'm in prosperity or adversity, God is in control. And that's what he's saying.
Here's the view from the throne. Look at verse 3. Now, he begins
to use some of the symbolic language here. And I don't want to overburden
you with a lot of detail, but I do want you to know that nothing
is in this Bible by accident. It's all here for a purpose.
And a lot of times when you read various commentators or word
studies, things like that, you'll see people will translate these
things in different ways. But let me just show you the
overview now of what this means. He mentions verse 3. Now look
at it. He that sat on the throne was
to look upon like a jasper, that's a stone, that's a precious stone,
and a sardine stone. That's not sardine, it's sardine. In some translations, the sardine
stone is called a carnelian. And you can look that up as far
as what those different stones are. But a lot of times they'll
come in different colors. You'll see a stone that may be
in various colors. And so he says, the one who's
on this throne To look upon this one is like looking at a jasper
stone and a sardine stone. And then he says there was a
rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald.
Alright? And what he's describing in that
verse is the glorious nature and character of God as symbolized
in those stones and that rainbow showing how God can be both a
just God and a Savior. That's what he's talking about.
This Jasper stone, now if you study Jasper stones, you'll find
they come in many colors, but I believe this Jasper stone is
the same as recorded in Revelation 21. Over in Revelation 21 and
verse 11, listen how the Jasper stone is described here. He's
talking about the glory of God here in Revelation 21, 11. I've got this marked in your
lesson too. And it says, having the glory of God, and her light
was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, and
it says clear as crystal. So this jasper stone, no matter
how you translate it, it was a clear stone. Clear as crystal. And what does that symbolize? It symbolizes the holiness, the
justice, the majesty of God. That's what he's talking about.
God is holy. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. And this Jasper
stone, whether you can argue whether it was the same one or
not, but the Jasper stone was the very last stone on the breastplate
of the high priest. And you can read about that in
Exodus 28. But I've got all these things,
these scriptures marked in your list. It represented the tribe
of Benjamin. And what did Jacob call Benjamin
in Genesis 35? He said, the son of my right
hand. So where are you going to see
the glory of the holiness of God in the son of his right hand,
clear as crystal? That's Christ. That's another
picture of Christ. That's what he's talking about.
And it represents Christ, it being the last stone in the breastplate
of the high priest of Israel, it represents the end, meaning
the finishing, the culmination. In other words, this is the culmination
of the holiness of God. Christ is. He's the finishing
of all things. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. He's the one who finished the
work of redemption, and that leads us to the sardine stone,
or the carnelian stone. Either one, it was blood red.
And what does that symbolize? It symbolizes the justice of
God, and it can go one of two ways. For the wicked, it means
justice in eternal damnation. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. But for the redeemed, what does
it mean? That we're redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ who took our punishment for us, who took our
eternal damnation unto himself as he was made sin. So you put
it all together, and what do you have? God is just to justify
the ungodly through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
is the righteousness of God imputed to us. This is how God can be
just and justified. This is the Shekinah glory of
God right here. And that's a comfort because
knowing not only that God's in control of all things, but that
He can be just in justifying sinners like us through the blood
of Christ. He's holy, but He's also merciful. He's just, but He's also gracious. He's righteous and truthful,
but he's also a loving God. And that's what this symbolizes.
And then you have the rainbow. Now you know what the rainbow
symbolizes. Back in Noah's day, you reach
back to Noah's ark, and God set the rainbow in the clouds as
a physical sign of his covenant with Noah not to destroy the
world again by flood. And so it became a symbol of
the mercy of God. and that many colors of the rainbow,
the many faceted glory and nature of God as symbolized in Christ,
the mercy of God. And so what that is, and I thought
about this, you know, it kind of makes you sick, doesn't it,
that our world today, they've turned the rainbow into something
abominable. It made me sick when I saw the
White House lit up in rainbow fashion there when the Supreme
Court took it upon themselves to, instead of being the court,
to try to be the supreme ruler. And that's what they actually
tried to do when they passed that law about homosexual marriage.
And then they've turned the rainbow into sun. But you know what that
shouldn't surprise us because man takes everything that was
meant to glorify God and he turns it into something sinful and
wicked and an abomination. Romans chapter 1 tells us all
about it, doesn't it? That's what he does. But this
rainbow here symbolizes the mercy of God and it encircles the throne
here. That's interesting, and this
rainbow encircles the throne. Look at it in verse three. There
was a rainbow round about the throne, and the rainbow in sight
was likened to an emerald. Now an emerald is green. When
the Bible, what does green symbolize? It symbolizes life. You know, just like the leaves
on the tree when they turn green. When they turn brown, it's death.
It's like the lush grass, you know, when it comes out after
the winter. It's green and it's a new beginning.
And so what you have here is a symbol of healing, a symbol
of life from the dead that is based upon the fact that God
is just to justify the ungodly by his grace through Jesus Christ.
That's what all that symbolizes. That's something, isn't it? All
spiritual and eternal life for sinners comes to us through Jesus
Christ. Now look at verse 4. It says,
In round about the throne were four and twenty seats. And upon
the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white
raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold. 4 and 20,
what's 4 and 20? You know numbers are something
in the Bible. I think a lot of people get bogged
down in what they call Hebrew numerology, biblical numerology. I think a lot of people take
it too far. You can go do a web search on
biblical numerology and you'll find so many. Different views
and ideas some go into great detail some some of them take
it into the realm of superstition And I think that's a shame But
as I said before God didn't put anything here by accident It
means something. What is the number 24? It's a
multiple of the number 12. What does the number 12? What
is it always? represented in the Bible Govern, here's the
way we'll put it, governmental perfection. That's what it represents. God's government in its completion,
in its fullness, all right, filled up, finished, completed. That's what it means. Well, what
does the Bible say about God's government? Now, what are we
talking about? We know God's sovereign over the whole world.
We know that even the wicked are going to bow to the claims
of the sovereign king of the universe, aren't they? Every
knee's gonna bow. Every tongue's gonna confess.
But what's this talking about God's government? It's talking
about God's kingdom of grace. God's government. And what does
the Bible tell us about God's government? Isaiah chapter nine.
Remember in verses 6 and 7 where it talks about his name shall
be wonderful? It says the government shall
be upon his shoulder. That's Christ. And what is he
talking about here? 12 and 12. Why 24? Why not just
12? Well, he's talking about the
Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament you had
12 patriarchs. They represent the complete fulfillment
of God's electing grace in the salvation of his people. Twelve
tribes of Israel. Twelve names on the breastplate.
of the high priest. Twelve names on his, what are
those, amulets, I guess they call them, on the shoulder. He
had six here and six here. And when the high priest went
into the holiest of all with the blood of the Lamb, who did
he represent? Those twelve names. That's God's
perfect God. That was a symbol. That was a
type. And so, twelve represents the complete number of God's
elect in the Old Testament. Well, in the New Testament, you
had twelve apostles. And the scripture says that our
faith is based upon the truth that was set forth by God through
the prophets and the apostles. And they represent the complete
government of God's grace in the New Testament. What we have
here, we have the whole church completed around the throne. And they're seated around the
throne. Four and twenty elders sitting. They're clothed with
white raiment. Is there any doubt in anybody's
mind what that represents? That's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. That's what that is. And I've
got script, we could, oh, we could go through the Bible, couldn't
we? And go all the way back to Genesis three, God slaying an
animal, giving them coats of skin, that's Christ and his righteousness. That's what he's talking about.
That's the righteousness in which we stand before God, holy and
righteous. And it's the product of his obedience
unto death as he was made sin for us and as we're made the
righteousness of God in him. So what is he saying? He's talking
about how we are eternally secure before the throne of God in Christ. He says in verse 4, they had
on their heads crowns of gold. What's he talking about? Well,
that's the authority and the power that we have. It's not
our own, but we represent the king of kings. We're ambassadors
for Christ. So our word, when we speak the
word of God, has that kind of authority. Now some say, well,
you know, in the scripture it says that we're made kings and
priests. And some say, well, that should
be translated a kingdom of priests. Well, think about it this way.
We are a kingdom of priests. The scripture says that. It means
we have free access to God through our high priest, Jesus Christ.
We can come under the throne of grace through the blood of
Jesus Christ. But we also have that authority.
These seats that they're in, some people describe them as
thrones, but they're lesser thrones. The word would indicate that.
They're lesser thrones. In other words, We're not reigning
and ruling in and of ourselves, but we have the authority of
the one who does reign and rule over the whole universe. So that
again, when we speak, we speak the word of God. And so look
at, and that's what these crowns are. And another thing too, people
talk about crowns. Well, none of the crowns in scripture,
I've got a, I think I've put down several of them. Yeah, but
anyway, we've got a crown of righteousness, we've got a crown
of glory, we've got a crown of life. That's not crowns we earn
by our works. Those are crowns that are given
to us by virtue of our union with Christ. And later on, we'll
talk about that, you know, how he says they throw those crowns
at his feet. You know, some people say, well, we earn our rewards,
but when we get to heaven, we throw whatever we earn at his. Listen, in fact, I think somebody
asked that question, called me and asked that question, somebody
from Arkansas called me and asked me about this, about rewards.
Do you know the Bible never uses the word rewards plural in referring
to any blessings or benefits that the saved received? It uses the word reward singular. Now it does use the word rewards,
but that's always in other context. But when it comes to the blessings
that we as the people of God, standing in the perfect righteousness
of Christ, we don't earn our rewards. Paul wrote it this way in Romans
four, if the reward, if it's something that we work for, it's
not of grace, it's of debt, you see. We're not in a position
to earn anything from God. That's what I'm saying. Christ
earned it all. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And that's the way
it is. But we do have a reward. And
it's the reward of grace. And we do wear crowns. Crown
of righteousness. Not of our own making. Not of
our own earning. Crown of life. Where does spiritual
life come from? Where does everlasting life come
from? It comes from Christ. His death. His burial, His resurrection. We do have a crown of glory,
not because we've earned our way into glory. And I hear people
talking about, well, you know, in fact, I heard a preacher say
one time, he said, I don't want to live in a little cabin in
the corner of glory land, I want a mansion. That's why he was
working hard. Well, I'm sorry. Christ told
his disciples, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And the thing
about mansions and all that, that's all symbolic language
concerning the reward of God's grace and the inheritance that
we have. And that's another thing, it's called an inheritance. You
don't earn an inheritance. Well, look at verse five. This
is the last one we'll do today, and then we'll pick up at verse
six next week. He says, out of the throne proceeded lightnings
and thunderings and voices. Now those lightnings and thunderings
and voices, that represents the authority, the power, the majesty
that comes in the word of God. And this is the power of God,
the sovereignty of God, the judgment of God. It shows us that many
of our forefathers in this country were wrong. that God is actively
engaged in the affairs of this world as he works all things
after the counsel of his own will. And these lightnings and
thunderings and voices represents his wrath against all sin and
upon the wicked. But it also is a voice of power
and authority for the salvation of his people. And look at verse
5, it says, There were seven lamps of fire burning before
the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Now that takes
you back to the Old Testament of the candlesticks in the holy
place. which represent the light of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as set forth
in its completeness by the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the
gospel. Remember, we talked about the seven spirits of God. Seven
is the number of the finished work, the completion of a work.
All right? Perfect work of God. And this
is the complete work of the Holy Spirit to reveal both the judgment
of God against all sin, the authority of God's judgment, he that believeth
not shall be damned. That's what the scripture says.
And the authority of God in the salvation and preservation of
his people. And what's happening here is
he's showing that during this time in the New Covenant age, As we see things sort of falling
apart here on earth under the judgment of God's wrath, and
we talk about how things getting worse and worse, all right, God's
still calling his people. He's gonna save his people from
their sins. And we don't ever have to be discouraged about
that. Whether there's 10 here or 10,000, God is going to save
his people. He's going to bring his sheep
into the fold. Christ, God chose them. Christ redeemed them. The
Holy Spirit's going to call them. And they're going to be brought
into this kingdom by the glory of God and by the authority and
power of God because the gospel is the power of God and the salvation
to everyone that believes. All right.