Revelation chapter 4. I'm taking
the title from what is said in verse 8. Revelation 4 verse 8. Lord God Almighty. That sums up and is a good description
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord of heaven and earth. Lord
over all things. And He is God. He's my Lord. As Thomas said of the resurrected
Lord, when He fell down before His feet, He said, My Lord and
my God. Lord, God, Almighty. Boy, I love those three words,
don't you? Lord. We confess He's Lord. He's our
Lord. God. He's God our Savior. He's God who is God. And of course,
if that be true, He's the Almighty. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He is Lord God Almighty. He does according to His will
in the army of heaven among the habitants of this earth and none
can stay His hand or say unto Him, Lord, what are you doing? He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. Whatsoever the Lord please, that's
what He did in heaven and earth, sea, and all deep places. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Lord God Almighty. He's my God. He's my Lord. He's my Savior. We can say with
David, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? Now what a fit and proper title
for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord God, our Savior,
who is almighty to save. He's almighty to save, none can
stay His hand. He's almighty to save, beside
Him there is no other. He said, I am God, beside me,
and in the book of Isaiah, remember, we've read it and read it and
read it. He said, I am God, beside me there is no other. The only
just God and Savior. Now look unto me and be saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God and there is no other. No other salvation but that which
is totally accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. I love this
prophecy in Daniel 9 concerning the coming work of the Redeemer. He came to finish transgression,
to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness. That's everything He's done for
us. Put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. That's what we see
in this revelation. We see the victory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's a vision of Him. Lord, be
Thou my vision. Last week we talked about the
throne of God and the Lord Jesus Christ occupying the throne. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down on the right hand of the throne of God, occupying
the throne and the glory surrounding the throne. And today we continue
in verse 6 to learn more about the throne of our Almighty God
and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are around the throne
and what those around the throne are doing. What are they doing? What are the saints of God doing
right now in glory around that throne? Worship, worship, worship. It starts here, but it will never
end there. Before the throne, look at verse
6. Before the throne, now, this is the throne like no other throne.
This is the throne of God. God's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
occupy this throne, and before this throne there was a sea of
glass, like unto crystal. crystal. And in the midst of
the throne and around about the throne, there were these four
beasts. And it can be rendered living
creatures, four living creatures. They were full of eyes, eyes
of faith, eyes and insight who have the revelation of God before
them and behind them to see the beauty and glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now this sea of glass, This sea
of glass, again, these are things that are symbolic, that are teaching
us a lesson. This sea of glass, notice it's
a sea of not, you think of the seas, you think of the waves,
and in a hurricane you see the power of those waves, and this
is a sea like glass. This is a level, flat, calm surface,
like until crystal clear. Crystal clear, you can see right
through that water being so clean and so clear. Now, I see two
things here in this, and there's much more, but these two things
I want us to look at. the Lord Jesus Christ as He sits
upon the throne in undisputed as the King of kings and Lord
of lords in the providence of God, the sea of this world and
this creation is not up and down and in turmoil and all these
things going on. That's the way we see it. But
before the throne of God, everything is calm. Everything is certain
and sure as he has decreed all things. Now, think of this story.
Remember when the disciples were out on the Sea of Galilee, and
there was a great storm came up, and the Lord Jesus Christ
was in the ship with them. He's over there sleeping. And
the ship starts taking on water. And the ship starts to sink.
And someone said, hey Peter, you better go wake him up. We're
in trouble. So they go over and wake the
Lord up. He sends this wind. He sends this storm. And he arose
and said, oh, ye of little faith. And he rebuked the wind, and
there was a great what? Calm. And they said, what kind
of man is this? that can speak and calm the wind
and waves. In the kingdom of God, everything
is calm. Everything is under the absolute,
undisputed reign and rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's calm. He's not upset. He's not worried
about what the Russians are going to do, or what the Ukrainians
are going to do. He's not worried about the virus.
It's his virus. He sends it. God controls all things. The second thing I see in this
sea of glass is this. In the tabernacle and in the
temple, before the Holy of Holies was this laver, this great, it's
called a sea, a basin. And the priests would go in there
before they go into the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement,
they'd go in there and they would wash in this basin, in this sea,
this labor. And then they go in. That's a
picture of our cleansing by the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. His blood cleanses us from all
our sin. I think of this scripture in
Micah 7. He will turn again. He will have compassion on us.
He will subdue our iniquity and will cast all their sin into
the depths of the sea. And that's what he's done. He's
taken all of our sin and put them out of sight in this sea. This sea of God. One old preacher
said this, by that sea is meant the gospel compared to a sea
for the deep things of God or the deep mysteries of God. We
read this in Scripture, but God has revealed them unto us by
His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things,
the deep things of God, the deep mysteries of God, clear as crystal,
the clearness and clarity, the evidence of God's gospel truth,
fixed and certain and sure in Christ Jesus. Before the throne,
there was this sea of glass like under crystal. And in the midst
of this throne and around about this throne, there were four
beasts or four living creatures full of eyes before and eyes
behind. Now, we're going to see later
on in this book, we're going to see some other beasts, the
beasts that rise up out of the sea. picture and symbolic of
Satan himself. When you read that word beast
back in, I think it's chapter 13, it refers to a wild, raging,
ferocious beast. But if you look this word up
here, beast, in verse 6, it simply says a living creature. Not one
that's wild and ferocious and untamed. This is a living creature
made alive by the power of God. And here's what this is a symbol
of. It's a symbol of God's servants. God's servants sent to preach
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Four beasts, four living
creatures who represent the ministers of the gospel. There are four
of them. They're sent to preach the gospel
in the four corners of the world. He said, go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. They're full of eyes
before and behind. They're gifted with spiritual
insight. They've been given eyes to see
the blessed truth of the gospel. They see Christ revealed. In the book revealed, we see
the Lord Jesus Christ. They have eyes before them and
eyes behind them. They're full of eyes. They see,
in the Word of God, Old Testament types and pictures of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and they preach what they see. Our Lord said
of Isaiah, when Isaiah saw His glory, he spake of Him. Isaiah
said, here I am, Lord, send me. I've seen Your glory. I'm going
to tell others of Your glory. So, those four beasts, we're
going to see them again in our study through the Revelation.
They are the living creatures raised up by the power of God
and sent forth to preach the gospel. It gives a description
of them in verse seven. These beasts, the first one was
like a lion, the second like an ox or oxen, the third beast,
the living creature had a face of a man, and the fourth living
creature like a flying eagle. And again, I think these are
fit descriptions of those who were called and sent to preach
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the first thing
it says here, of them he bowed like a lion, like a lion. When you think of a lion, you
think of the, I guess the lion in the animal kingdom is called
what, the king of the jungle? There's no one that can match.
But when you think of a lion in the jungle, you think of someone,
an animal that's bold, that's not intimidated by anyone. These living creatures, these
servants sent of God, are bold and courageous to preach the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're not weak, timid wimps. God's servants preach with boldness. They're not intimidated by the
criticism of men. I'm dead to what this world says.
It doesn't matter if they criticize me or applaud me. It doesn't
change the message. Christ crucified. If we preach
to please men, we're not the servants of Christ. So God's
servants are sent with boldness to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The second description of them
It says here they're not only like a lion, but they're like
a calf here, but the word is ox or oxen. Now, as I said earlier,
I love to study the history of this country and how all those
pioneers got in a covered wagon drawn by oxen, six months, six
months, from St. Joe, Missouri all the way out
to Oregon. Six months, six months walking. Their wagons were drawn by oxen. They didn't take white stallion
horses. they took oxen, and the reason
they took oxen, they were laborious. They would pull that wagon, sometimes
that wagon would weigh over a ton, and they'd pull that wagon, that
load, all those many thousands and thousands of miles. Those sent of God to preach the
Gospel, they are laborers in the Word, in the ministry. They
faithfully proclaim the Word of God. They faithfully preach
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They labor in the ministry. Oh, it's a labor of love, but
it is a laborer. They preach the Gospel faithfully,
always, continually. And then thirdly, it says of
them, like a lion, like an ox, a living creature that had a
face of a man. Now that tells us something about
the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm a man just like you. I'm a sinful creature just like
you. I'm a weak, impotent creature. I'm not sufficient of myself. Our sufficiency is of God. A
face like a man. God uses sinners, saved by the
grace of God, to proclaim the good news of the Gospel to others.
As I've often said to you, preaching is one beggar telling another
beggar where he found bread. Bread, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is the bread of life. Look to Him. Go to Him. We have,
we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves,
your servant for Christ's sake. We have this treasure in an earthen
vessel, that the excellency may be of God and not of us. I don't
want you to glory in any preacher. with glory in Christ whom they
preach. That's the difference. A face
like a man, like an oxen, a servant of the Lord. And then the fourth
description of the servants who preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, they have wings like an eagle. Like an eagle. Several years ago we were camping
on the upper Green River in western Wyoming. And we thought it was
such a special, special camping spot because number one, it was
free. It was free. And we pulled up
there and it was right next, it was right on the Green River.
It's what they call dispersed camping. It's free. And we pulled
up there on that river, right on the Green River, where we
were going to do some fishing that week. And we didn't notice
for a while, but just across the river, there was a big, tall
tree with a nest in it. And there was two eagles. There
were two eagles who were nesting in that. And we would just look,
sit there, and how they'd spread their wings and just fly and
fly, swift, swift to fly. And here's the point. This is
a fit description, flying eagles, a fit description of God's preachers
who are swift to tell the truth. They're always ready and willing
and able by the grace of God to preach the gospel of God.
As Paul said, as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel
to you who are at Rome. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that's blessed to hear it and believe it. What did Isaiah say? Lord, here am I. Send me. Send me with this gospel. Send
me with this message. Now look at verse 8. Revelation
4 verse 8. The four beasts had each of them
six wings about him. They were full of eyes within,
and they rest not day and night, because they were always laboring
in the Word, preaching the gospel. And here's their message. God
loves everybody. That's not the message. In all
the preaching in the book of Acts, and we studied verse by
verse by verse, every verse, every word in the book of Acts,
didn't we? We've been through the book of Acts three times.
In all the preaching of Paul and Peter and Barnabas and Silas
and the others, how many times did they say, smile, God loves
you? Zero. How many times do we read
in the book of Acts the word L-O-V-E? None. Not one time. So our message
is, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was and is and
is to come. What do God's preachers preach?
They preach God reigneth. How beautiful are those that
feed upon the mountains of those who bring the good tidings of
good things that say, Behold, the Lord reigneth. Remember? He reigns in salvation. He reigns
in all things. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. The servants of God, the preachers
of the gospel, each of them have six wings. Now again, this is
symbolic language. similar to what we read in Isaiah
chapter 6, verse 1, 2, and 3. What does this tell us about
gospel ministers? Well, with two wings they cover
their face in reverence before God. We say holy and reverent
is His name. With two wings they cover their
feet in humility, unworthy of the least of God's mercies. You
remember what Paul said, I'm less than the least of all the
saints, O wretched man that I am. He said, I'm the chief of sinners.
We cover our feet in humility. And then it says in the revelation
over in Isaiah 6, with two wings, they use them to fly where God
sends them. Remember when Saul of Tarsus,
in his madness, in his religious madness, he hated God, he hated
the Lord Jesus Christ, hated them who called upon the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was going to stamp out the
name of Jesus Christ. Not only in Jerusalem, but he
obtained special permission to go all the way north into Syria.
He was going to stamp out the name of Jesus Christ. Guess what
happened? He met the Lord Jesus Christ
on the road, and God unhorsed him. You know what happens when
you get unhorsed, don't you? You get bucked off in the dust.
He put his face in the dust because he met the Sovereign Lord, and
he said, What would you have me to do?" He said, you go and
you preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saul of Tarsus
became, we know, the Apostle Paul. It says here, they had
eyes, they were full of eyes within. They look within themselves,
they see nothing there but their own sin and corruption. They
have within them the testimony and witness of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And they preach Christ to others. They preach what they know. You
know, it's pretty hard to tell what you don't know, isn't it?
You ever tried that? To tell what you don't know?
It's impossible. God's servants tell what they
know. I know God is God. I know the
Lord Jesus Christ is God our Savior. I know the Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished salvation by his sacrifice unto death. I know the Lord Jesus Christ
saved sinners by his purpose and grace given to us in the
Lord Jesus Christ. They have eyes to see the beauty
and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and they rest not Faithful gospel
preachers give themselves entirely to the promotion and preaching
of the gospel and to the work of the ministry. They are busy
about doing the Father's will, preaching Christ. Paul, when
he sits on death row, writing back to Timothy, His young servant
in the gospel ministry, he said, I charge you before God and the
Lord Jesus Christ, preach the Word. Preach the Word, be instant,
in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine. Preach the Word. Preach Christ
who is the Word, the living Word, the true Word. All through the
book of Acts, everywhere they went, what did they do? And daily
in the temple and in every house they cease not to teach and preach,
what? Jesus Christ. Paul said, I'm
determined we preach not ourselves but Christ the Lord and ourselves,
your servant for Christ's sake, determined to preach the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him crucified alone. And their message is,
Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. Now why does it say three times,
holy, holy, holy? Why didn't it say just two times?
Why not four times? Why not five? Each description
of the blessed Trinity, God the Father is holy. The Lord Jesus
Christ is holy. God the Holy Spirit is holy. These three are one. One. They work together with one purpose. One purpose. Our message is salvation in and
by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything about God
is holy. This is a central character of
God Almighty. Brother Mahan was telling us
a story one time that he was in an ordination service and
they were ordaining a young man to the ministry. And one of the
old ministers asked the young preacher a question, said, young
man, what is the central attribute and character of God Almighty?
And the young man thought for a minute, well, God is merciful. The old man said, yes, that's
true. The young candidate said, well, God is gracious. Yes, that
is true. The young minister again said,
well, God is love. Well, yes, the scriptures do
declare God is love. But he said, you missed the central
main character of God, God's holy. Everything about His love,
His mercy, His grace, it is holy love. It is holy mercy. It is holy grace. It has to be
that way because God Himself is holy. He's too holy to look
upon sin with favor. God is holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Almighty. He's the only just God and Savior. That's our message. He's holy,
holy, holy. How long has he been that way? From everlasting to everlasting
thou art God. Look what it says, which was,
the last part of verse 8, which was and is and is to come, which
was In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. And then it says, and is, and
is, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. In the fullness
of time, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the
law. Was and is. And He is to come. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming
back. He is on His way. We studied
over here in Revelation 1, verse 7, it says, Behold, He cometh
with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which
pierced Him. All kingdoms of the earth shall wail because
of Him. Even so, Amen. I'm Alpha, Omega, the beginning,
the ending, the Lord, saith the Lord, which is, which was, and
is to come, the Almighty God. The Almighty God. In the book of Acts, when the
Lord ascended to glory, Those two angels said to the
apostles, you men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall
so come in like manner as you've seen him go into heaven. He's coming back. He said, if
I go away to prepare a place for you, I'll go away and come
again and receive you unto myself. Now, look at verse 9. And when
those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on
the throne, who liveth forever and ever, the four and twenty
elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and what did
they do? They worshiped Him. So when this
gospel message is preached by the gospel preachers of God,
when they give all their honor and glory and thanks to the Lord
alone, who accomplished salvation, is always determined, dependent,
and accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, who ever lived
to intercede for us. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him, saying He ever lived to intercede
for us. He's the mediator right now.
He's the advocate right now. He's our intercessor for us right
now. Look, the response of that is
this. The church of God, the 420 elders, that is symbolic
of all God's elect from all ages, when glory and honor and thanksgiving
is given unto the Lord, they fall down before Him on the throne
and they worship Him. God seeketh such to worship Him
in spirit and in truth. They worship Him who is on the
throne, who lives forever and ever, and they cast their crowns
before the throne. When the gospel is preached,
all the elect of God worship Him in their heart, and they
give Him all the honor and glory. And these crowns here are crowns
of grace. The crowns here are not crowns
of rewards. People all the time in religious
circles talk about how many stars you're going to have in your
crown in heaven. It's according to your works.
You're going to be rewarded. You're going to have more crowns,
more stars in your crown. That's Tommy Rod. That's Tomfoolery. These crowns here, he talks about
the crown of life, the crown of righteousness, and the crown
of hope are crowns of His grace. not rewards, grace. But we cast these crowns of His
grace back to the one who gave them to us at His feet, saying,
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory honor and power for thou
has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were
created for his pleasure everything works for his pleasure we give him as sinners saved
by the grace of God we bow in submission giving Him all the
honor and glory, saying, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Right across the page in chapter
5 verse 9, they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take
the book. to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, people,
and nation has made us kings and priests and we shall reign
on the earth and I beheld and heard the voice of angels round
about the throne and the beast and the elders and a number of
them with ten thousand times and thousands and thousands Chapter
5 verse 12, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that
was slain to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory,
and blessing. Who's worthy? He's worthy. He's worthy of all honor, glory,
and power. All honor, all glory, and all
power. Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are
and were created. Let me give you this in closing.
One verse, two verses. For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in the earth, visible, invisible,
whether they be thrones, whether they be thrones or dominions,
principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and
for Him. And He's before all things, and
by Him all things consist. Held together. The only reason
this world exists as it is right now, the only reason it exists is because it's for His glory,
His pleasure, His purpose. His purpose. For thy pleasure
they are and were created.