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Rev. 4:1 - 11 Come Up Here.

December 9, 2012 Series: Revelation

Topic: Sunday Eve. Bible Study Passage: Revelation 4:1–4:11

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Rev. 4:1-11  After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” 2Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. 3And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. 4Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.
5Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; 6and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. 7The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. 8And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say,
“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”
9And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”


Last week I told you I didn't have a clue what anything beyond the 7 churches was about.

Lucky for me, this book is written at a 3rd grade level.

Someone has done a study, and I wish I could find it a again, it was really interesting, but here's the conclusion; The Bible, on a scale of complexity of words and sentence structures and lengths, where a Dick and Jane first grade reader is a '1', and rediculous lawyer speak being a 10, the Bible you hold in your hands is about a 3 on that scale.

Don't be afraid of it.

Isa. 35:8 And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for others: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

God made His book so that fools could read and understand salvation. In fact fools may have an advantage. Sometimes being smart causes the pride that makes men stumble.

Chapters 4 and 5 should be 1 chapter. Together they comprise the most important information in the entire Bible.

I would say, chapter 5 is the most important chapter in all of the Bible. Chapter 4 is the foundation that chapter 5 stands on.

In chapter 5, The Lamb of God receives the title deed to the earth. But the earth is in rebellion. Satan is ruling and fallen men are in complete rebellion. So, youve got a deed to property that is inhabited by enemies who are in hostile takeover.

The taking back of that earth is what the rest of this book is about. Chapter 4; Sovereign God in control. The Almighty. The Creator. Chapter 5; Title deed to the earth given to the Lamb who is found Worthy Chapter 6 - 20 cataclysmic events that the earth has not seen since creation until now will take place as Jesus punishes His enemies and takes back this earth from Satan.

Then they will know that I Am God. Then they will know that I Am God. Then they will know that I Am God. Over and over and over we read that in the old testament and the new.

The world sits smug in it's secularism. Believing the rediculous non-scientific delusions about 'evolution'. Laughing at God.

Days are coming! Revelation 6 is quite literal. Mountains are going to melt like wax. A portal in heaven is going to be ripped open and men are going to cry out for the rocks to crush them. Then - they - will - know - that - I - Am - God.

That's where history has been going since the fall of man in the garden. Since Satan usurped man's rule on this earth. History has been taking us to these chapters! Fasten your seatbelts!

Roughly 1/3rd of the Bible is about the events surrounding Jesus taking back this earth from Satan. Actually, the entire Bible is about Jesus taking back this earth from Satan. From pre-history to post-history, from Alpha to Omega, that's the theme of the book.

1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”

Does John stutter? Is there an echo. After these things. He said it twice.

After what things? Let's go back to the outline He gives us in Vs. 19 of chapter one. 19“Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.

There it is again. After 'these' things. So in order of succession, things which you have seen, that's the vision of the Glorified Christ, things which are, that's the 7 churches, the church age until it is over, and the things which will take place after these things.

That's the rest of the book. Future things. After the church. He's said that 3 times now. Does anyone still need an apologetic about a pre-tribulation rapture. How many times does God have to say it?

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven

What is a 'door standing open in heaven'. Well, I found at least 2 other places where a door is opened into heaven. First, the word means door. A portal. An opening. Just like what you think it means.

In Ezekiel 1:1 a similar thing happens. Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

Ezekiel doesn't have much more luck describing what he saw, than John does.

But there's a second time a door into heaven opens up, and it's in Revelation chapter 6.

12I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

We can look into the heavens with telescopes. We just bought Jonah, our grandson a telescope. He can look at planets and the moon, and hopefully be in wonder at a God who can speak something too vast to measure into existence.

But behind that vastness, hidden from our view, is almighty God. And He can open a door any time He pleases. And so He does for John because we need a perspective to base the rest of the book on.

Is God really big enough to make all these things happen. Is He big enough to make mountains melt like wax, and to make stars fall from heaven? Is He big enough to kick Satan out?

When I got to this point, an old song came to mind. I thought it was George Beverly Shea who wrote and sang it, but it turns out it was Hank Snow.

How big is God, how big and wide, His vast domain. To try to tell, these lips can only start. He's big enough, to rule His mighty universe, yet small enough, to live within my heart.

1b. .....and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”

He says it was the same voice that I heard at first. The one from chapter one that sounds like a trumpet. That voice. And the voice said, come up here, and he DID.

Folks like to equate that 'come up here' with the rapture. That seems an unnecessary stretch to me. He's just said it all happens after these things, speaking of the church, for the 3rd time. We have the promise to the Philadelphians to be removed before the world is tested in cataclysm beyond what Noah experienced. And we never see the church again after the end of ch. 3 until the wedding in heaven.

Why do we need one more reference that frankly, we could be accused of playing a bit fast and loose with scripture making it mean what we want it to mean when it isn't very justifiable. I'd rather be honest with it. There are other better arguments for pre-trib rapture. This one is weak.

One thing is for certain. If there's a door open to heaven, and you hear a voice like a trumpet saying 'come up here' I hope your bags are packed and you've bought your Traveler's Checques, because, we be leavin'.

The reason John goes up is given. I will show you what must take place.

Jesus re-taking this world, that already belongs to Him, doesn't happen in a corner somewhere that no one notices. "What must take place" involves events not seen since the world was created until now! John gets a view.

But first, John gets to see the Almighty sitting on His throne;

Vss. 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. 3 And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.

A jasper stone is clear and glistening with sparkling color like a diamond. And a Sardius is what we would call a ruby. Clear, deep red, glistening. And an emerald rainbow. A bow of glory emmanating off the Royal One.

We don't know any more about what the almighty looks like than when John began. There's a reason for that. Paul took a trip to this room, and he simply said; eye hath not seen, neither hath ear heard, nor hath any mind imagined what God has prepared for us.

Our minds can only form ideas and concepts around things that are already seen and understood. We have to have basis. Yet Jesus, told John, write down the things you see. How! How do you describe the indescribable.

The description works! What I've learned from John is that there are no words or ideas to describe Almighty God. John saw him, and tried, feebly. He is indescribable. Our eyes have not seen neither have our ears heard, neither have our minds conceived of anything . . like . . the Ancient of Days.

4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.

Who are these? Elders are humans. Like us. Glorified, but humans. Thrones depicts worthiness. White garments depicts purity. Golden crowns depicts honor.

Jesus said: 27Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” 28And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Who are the other 12? Why 24 thrones? I don't know. Are they for heads of the 12 tribes of Israel? I don't know. Patriarch's? I don't know. Abraham and Moses and Elijah and Job? I don't know.

Maybe there's an 'elder rotation'. Dunno. It really doesn't say, and I abhor speculation. I've learned to be satisfied knowing what the Book says, and not speculating wildly on the rest. It keeps me out of trouble.

Vs.5 Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.

This throne is awesome. Unapproachable unless you are called there and made worthy by the Lamb.

And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;

We've talked about the seven Spirits of God before. For review; What or who are the seven spirits of God.

This is a mystery. We don't have very much information. But I can show you some other occurances where the 3rd person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is referenced as 7, the number of completion.

In Isaiah 11, the "Branch" is described thus;

1Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

2The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

In Zechariah 3:8,9 and 4:9 we have this reference; My servent, the branch.

8‘Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. 9‘For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

Then similarly in chapter 4 we have this;

8Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. 10“For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel—these are the eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth.

Then, finally in Revelation 5:6, this;

And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

So the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, and the seven eyes of the lamb standing as if slain, are the sevenfold Spirit of God. 2 persons of the trinity are present here in chapter 4. The third is introduced in chapter 5.

The lamb of God.

And think about the Holy Spirit of God. He is just as indescribable to us as the Ancient of days on the throne is. We don't fully understand, nor can we. That is the point.

Psalm 50:21 says; These things have you done, and I kept silence; you thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself: but I will rebuke you, and set them in order before your eyes.

If we learn anything at all in this glorious passage in Revelation 4, learn this. God is indescribably awesome. We don't understand. If you think you do; you have a low view of God. He is high and lifted up. Words fail to make us understand at all.

Here comes some more of those words in Vs. 6;

6 and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.

I'm sort of good with the sea of crystal. I think I'm picturing that glorious crystal clear flawless expanse with the throne in the center. But then we start in again with the four living creatures, and I'm more lost than ever.

7 The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.

A lion, a calf, a man, and an eagle. Ezekiel 1:10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.

Ezekiel also helps us to see that these are somehow the supports of the throne. It is suggested that these are symbolic. The lion of dominion. The Ox of strength. The man of intelligence. and the eagle of nobility and freedom and flight.

Vs. 8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within;

All knowing. All present. All powerful. Omniscient. Omnipresent. Omnipotent. He is everywhere, present. There is no place you can go that He is not there. His eyes see everything. He knows everything. He rules over everything. And not just now, but for eternity past, to eternity future.

and day and night they do not cease to say,
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.

He is holy. He is holy. He is holy. He is Lord. He is God. He is Almighty. He lives forever. He has always been. He IS. He will always be.

This is the God that the world has set on a shelf of curious antiquity and said thank you very much, that was ok for those primitive folks, but we are much brighter now and realize that the world and everything in it, made itself. We no longer need a god to explain where we came from, or tell us what we should do.

The 4 living creatures worship God continually. Day and night they do not cease to say; Holy Holy Holy.

Do you understand that's what we were created to do. To glorify God with every breath and enjoy Him forever. There is no greater joy than to worship God. It's hard for us to see that in our fallen state.

9 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.

This is pure worship of the Almighty.

I want you to notice some things in verse 11. Worthy are You. God is worthy of all worship. Continual worship. Why?

For You created ALL things. Nothing that is . . . is outside this verse. God created everything because it pleased Him to do so. He wills for everything in the universe to exist, and it does not exist without Him.

Do you not see what a slap in the face "evolution" in all of it's forms is to God. Evolution is Satan's final masterpiece. It completely undoes this verse.

If God is worthy of continuous worship because He created all things, evolution reverses that.

He didn't create all things.

He is not.

There is NO creator, and no one to worship except the crowning achievement of the most evolved things. US.

This just slaps at everything God is! Secularism, a society that has believed a completely idiotic lie, so that it can divorce itself from any kind of a God who has any kind of requirement for right and wrong.

Everything just happened by itself. There is no God. Men invented him. It's a big hoax. No worship. No sin. No hell. No eternality. No morals. No God.

This happened in our lifetimes. Maybe 100 years. 100 years ago, every wicked person on death row believed in God. There was no alternative. Pinch yourself. There you are. Where do you think you came from. Where do you think the world came from.

God of course. What alternate belief was there? People just accepted that there was a higher intelligence behind everything that is.

Not now. We have other explanations now. Evolution. DNA came from evolution. Everything that is reproduces like things by DNA and that just happened by 'chance'.

The world will believe anything to get rid of God who it hates. The democrats booed Him off their platform. The republicans understand that the only way they'll ever win another election is to rebuild an architecture with NO God.

In 20 years we've gone from 48% to 53% who believe there is NO God. It happened really fast. And that's just the threshold. A generation is well on it's way who will be 70 and 80% secular. No God. No creation. No worship. No sin. No rules. No worries.

Do you see how evolution and secularism strike right at the heart of worship.

“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

In 6,000 years of wickedness, no one ever dreamed of a world where the very idea of God and creation was summarily dismissed as antiquated rubbish.

This world is ripe for the events that begin to unfold in chapter 6. I don't know how the Almighty waits another minute. This world is fruit that is over ripe, spoiled on the vine, about to fall off the tree and explode into so much mush.

Amos 8:1Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. 2He said, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel. I will spare them no longer.

Like Israel, the world is ripe. Summer is over. Time is up.