back to indexWed Bible Study - Revelation Lesson 6
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Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege that we have to come in search of word. 00:00:22.000 |
We pray that as we jump into the study of Revelation that you would give us insight, 00:00:28.140 |
the things that are easier to understand, help us Lord God to be eager to learn and 00:00:34.000 |
The things that are a bit more difficult, help us to be patient and do the homework 00:00:40.460 |
And even in our confusion, Father God, I pray that you would sanctify our hearts. 00:00:47.360 |
Help us know the Bible better as we search your word. 00:00:54.560 |
All right, so before we get started, again, we're starting off, up to this point it's 00:01:03.080 |
You know, the only maybe discussion that we may have had is, are the Book of Revelation, 00:01:09.560 |
the seven different churches of the Book of Revelation in the first two chapters, three 00:01:20.120 |
And obviously there's some questions there, but it's pretty straightforward. 00:01:23.080 |
Those are literal churches that existed historically or some backgrounds, or he's talking to a 00:01:32.760 |
What we're looking at starting from chapter four is going to open up a can of worms. 00:01:36.840 |
And so when we think about Book of Revelation, we're usually thinking about chapter four 00:01:42.280 |
All the different visions that are come up, like where does it apply? 00:01:46.120 |
And so before we get into it, just as an encouragement, I found that, you know, studying through the 00:01:54.160 |
Bible, obviously there are certain books that are much harder to understand than other books. 00:01:59.560 |
Leviticus is one of those books, Numbers, Ezekiel, Lamentations, some parts of Daniel 00:02:06.440 |
But I found that some of the most rewarding studies are always in these books and not 00:02:12.240 |
simply because you find some new things that you didn't know before, but it'll force you 00:02:21.480 |
It'll force you to look at other passages that are difficult places. 00:02:24.800 |
And so it will help you to understand how these things are connected to each other. 00:02:30.920 |
So oftentimes you can study the Book of Ephesians and never study any other book but Ephesians. 00:02:36.120 |
So of course you can gain a lot from that, but these prophetic books, it really wasn't 00:02:46.520 |
You have to study parts of Daniel, parts of Isaiah. 00:02:49.960 |
And so it helps us to connect the dots so that we can get a broader understanding of 00:02:57.160 |
So we know that God's salvation history, that it's preparation for Christ and then the rest 00:03:05.160 |
of human history from New Testament, the Gospels and on, it kind of points us back to Christ. 00:03:11.080 |
But the specifics of how it's going to be revealed, the specifics of how all of these 00:03:15.800 |
things are going to unravel, in particular in history, this is where these prophetic 00:03:25.840 |
And it kind of makes things that were kind of, again, it's not crystal clear, but it 00:03:32.600 |
kind of gives you a much clearer picture of the application of how this is going to happen. 00:03:38.400 |
So it forces us to see the Bible in a completely different light that we may not normally look 00:03:43.480 |
So the benefit of studying something like a book like this, where even if you don't 00:03:47.320 |
come out saying like, "Oh, I'm still confused," the benefit of it is you'll understand the 00:03:51.320 |
Bible a lot better than if you haven't done the homework. 00:03:58.600 |
And chapter four actually is a new section that's going to open up and prepare us for 00:04:06.260 |
Chapter six and on, there are a series of seven different judgments that are coming. 00:04:12.360 |
There's the trumpet, the seal judgment, and there's the bowl judgment, and then what did 00:04:23.960 |
But there's a series of seven different, three sets of seven judgments that are coming. 00:04:28.880 |
And so what we're going to be looking at in chapter four and five is preparation for those 00:04:35.720 |
And that's where all the stuff of the white horse and black horse and authority of the 00:04:39.840 |
heavens being wiped away, that's that section. 00:04:43.320 |
That section between chapter six and 16 is where the heavy prophecies are going to come 00:04:51.920 |
But we're going to hopefully get into that and dig into that a little bit further. 00:05:01.720 |
All right, so chapter four and five, they record seven different scenes just in these 00:05:18.040 |
And when I say seven different scenes, just kind of imagine if you were trying to do a 00:05:21.960 |
skit of these two chapters, you have to have seven different things that you have to present. 00:05:29.320 |
And so chapter four will present two of them. 00:05:32.120 |
And in chapter five, we will see five separate scenes, separate things that he sees. 00:05:36.720 |
So we're going to break it up into these seven scenes. 00:05:38.800 |
Today we're going to be dealing with two of them. 00:05:41.920 |
The seven of them, we don't have to go through all of them, but today we're going to be going 00:05:44.880 |
through the open door to heaven that John is given a glimpse of. 00:05:50.360 |
And these are all things that it says that it must happen before the other judgments 00:05:55.360 |
And then we're going to see the vision of the throne of God and the description of that. 00:06:00.400 |
And then the seal scrolls, and then the worthy lamb. 00:06:04.240 |
So we'll get to that when we get to chapter five. 00:06:06.080 |
But today we're going to be dealing with one and two. 00:06:10.560 |
The previous section that we looked at, chapter one, two, and three, it mainly dealt with 00:06:18.360 |
Today's section and then the section on, it's the door to heaven is opened up and John is 00:06:24.560 |
given a glimpse to reveal what's happening in heaven. 00:06:28.200 |
So completely flipped where we've been studying what God was seeing on earth, and now we're 00:06:34.920 |
going to be studying what John is seeing up in heaven. 00:06:39.440 |
And so chapter four and on is what God is revealing to John. 00:06:43.880 |
And so it's not something specifically happening on earth. 00:06:47.600 |
These are things that are going to play out, and then ultimately it's going to play out 00:06:56.040 |
So beginning section one, where the vision of the open door, and it opens by saying that 00:07:03.440 |
the same voice of the trumpet that led or spoke to John in chapter one is the same voice 00:07:11.240 |
So obviously it's talking about Christ, and some people ask the question is if he's talking 00:07:16.480 |
about first voice, is the second voice different? 00:07:18.760 |
And I believe it's for the purpose of emphasis that it is the same person, meaning clearly 00:07:24.480 |
So chapter four and on is also Jesus kind of playing the tour guide to John, revealing 00:07:30.280 |
to him that this is what's happening and he's speaking to him. 00:07:41.800 |
The same vision, if you can turn your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter one, I want to encourage 00:07:48.760 |
you as you guys are studying through some of these prophecies, we're going to be jumping 00:07:51.520 |
back and forth to Ezekiel and sometimes the book of Daniel, but I want you to see for 00:07:55.560 |
yourself what is happening in the book of Ezekiel. 00:07:59.800 |
Because the same vision, it's not identical, but it seems like what Ezekiel was seeing 00:08:10.360 |
Not same, there's certain parts of the visions that are a bit different. 00:08:18.000 |
But there's no way that if you read Ezekiel chapter one and you read Revelation chapter 00:08:21.760 |
four that you're not going to be able to see the similarities between these two things. 00:08:25.720 |
And it seems like that it's pointing to the same thing. 00:08:28.960 |
So I'm going to read a portion of this just for point of reference, and then as we continue 00:08:34.280 |
to study we're going to be jumping back and forth to the book of Ezekiel just to kind 00:08:37.920 |
of show the parallel between these two visions. 00:08:40.520 |
Starting from verse four, it says, "As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of 00:08:45.200 |
the north and great cloud with brightness around it and fire flashing forth continually 00:08:49.800 |
and in the midst of the fire as it was gleaming metal. 00:08:53.100 |
And from the midst of it came likeness of four living creatures." 00:08:57.000 |
Probably if you read Revelation before you came, you already know that four living creatures 00:09:01.160 |
are mentioned in the book of Revelation chapter four. 00:09:03.960 |
And this was the appearance they had of human likeness, but each had four faces and each 00:09:10.920 |
Now the description of the faces are the same, but description of each of the creatures, 00:09:17.840 |
if you haven't noticed, I'll point out later, it is different. 00:09:22.160 |
And I actually have a picture of this so it can kind of give you a visual. 00:09:26.360 |
Their legs were straight and the soles of their feet were like the sole of the calf's 00:09:29.960 |
foot and they sparkled like burnished bronze under their wings of their four sides. 00:09:34.920 |
They had human hands and their four had the faces of their wings thus and it goes on and 00:09:40.160 |
So there's no way that you can read chapter four and read Ezekiel chapter one and not 00:09:45.840 |
In fact, Daniel has bits and pieces of this as well, but it's not as extensive as it is 00:09:52.000 |
So clearly what John is seeing, maybe he has a different angle or maybe he's seeing a different 00:09:57.360 |
portion of the throne of God, but it seems like John and Ezekiel is seeing the same throne 00:10:11.080 |
And the voice that is speaking to John here is also mentioned that it was like a voice 00:10:14.900 |
of trumpet and we mentioned that the first time that this came out, that the trumpet 00:10:19.220 |
is used for the purpose of gaining attention typically in times of war or to gather the 00:10:24.960 |
people or have a sense of urgency to or to announce something very important. 00:10:29.280 |
So when John hears the voice like a trumpet, it is not a soft whisper. 00:10:33.600 |
It is not something that Jesus is speaking in a gentle voice. 00:10:38.600 |
He's saying, "Thus saith the Lord," he's coming with authority and with a sense of urgency. 00:10:46.600 |
So the scene two of the throne of God, I chose the picture that in my mind depicted as accurately 00:10:56.920 |
Obviously it's not as detailed and you probably can't see it, but I could have chosen other 00:11:00.580 |
pictures that were more, I don't know, maybe clearer to see, but I think this one captures 00:11:08.560 |
See how all the elders, 24 elders are bowing down in worship. 00:11:21.480 |
So we don't know exactly if this is exactly what John saw, but according to the description, 00:11:27.640 |
there's actually quite a few artists who try to depict this and I'm imagining when I'm 00:11:32.880 |
reading it, this is the scene that I see, right? 00:11:37.240 |
So just soak this in so you get an impression in your head. 00:11:40.320 |
So as we're talking about it, you have a visual in your head. 00:11:42.960 |
So if you're a visual learner, hopefully this will help. 00:11:49.840 |
So scene two, where we begin starting from verse two through 11. 00:11:55.080 |
So scene one is the calling, "Hey, John come and look at the open door and we're going 00:11:59.680 |
to give you a glimpse into heaven to show you what must take place before the seal judgments 00:12:06.840 |
And so in scene two, John is looking in and scene one, he sees the door. 00:12:12.520 |
Scene two, he's looking in, he's seeing the throne of God. 00:12:17.320 |
So John, it says, is taken in the spirit because he is now taken into the heavenly realm rather 00:12:24.120 |
Now, the reason why I jotted this down is because we discussed that John, when he heard 00:12:30.520 |
from Christ about what was happening, he was in the spirit. 00:12:35.440 |
Again, this is just a thought that I had that possibly the reason why John was taken up 00:12:41.880 |
in the spirit was because Jesus was bringing him to a spiritual realm to show something 00:12:50.320 |
Where Jesus came and took on human form to communicate with us at our level, but when 00:12:55.400 |
these prophetic things are going on, John is taken up to the heavenly level, so that's 00:13:05.400 |
So he gets a glimpse into heaven, but typically when we think of the image of heaven, when 00:13:15.080 |
we think of the image of heaven, how many of you think of just open grass? 00:13:34.640 |
Every scene that we see where they get a glimpse of heaven, they see the throne, right? 00:13:41.080 |
The vision that we're seeing here is not unique to John. 00:13:46.400 |
Isaiah sees a vision when he sees heaven, he sees a vision of God on his throne. 00:14:00.020 |
So when heavens are opened up and the kingdom of heaven is shown or demonstrated, in almost 00:14:07.280 |
every scene, the scene that they see is God on his throne and the angels in worship. 00:14:14.600 |
Now I don't know if we get to heaven, if that's the first thing we're going to see. 00:14:21.720 |
Now I say, well, you got billions of people, you know, we're going to be so far, we're 00:14:26.520 |
You know, you may argue all of that, but I think there's a reason why every time the 00:14:33.340 |
curtain to God's kingdom is open, that the first thing and the most primary thing that 00:14:41.380 |
And you probably heard that term, if, you know, if Christ was not, if Jesus was not 00:14:49.700 |
Heaven is heaven is because that's his dwelling place. 00:14:54.860 |
So it would only make sense that if you're going over to somebody's house, the first 00:14:58.360 |
thing that you're going to see in that house is that somebody that you came to see, right? 00:15:03.300 |
And that's why I really feel like, you know, Jonathan Edwards describes perfectly, you 00:15:09.820 |
know, what is the greatest evidence of true salvation is that there is an affection for 00:15:19.220 |
Because it's the affection for Christ, which is what causes you to repent, to draw near 00:15:23.960 |
to him, desire to be sanctified, come to church, serve one another, and long for his second 00:15:29.740 |
So Jonathan Edwards says we can fake passion for Christ. 00:15:37.880 |
But in the end, all of that stuff can be fake. 00:15:39.680 |
But at the core of genuine salvation, there's always affection for Christ, right? 00:15:45.060 |
So it's interesting that, again, that when John is shown heaven, first thing that he 00:15:52.220 |
sees is the same picture that all the other prophets sees is God's throne and all the 00:15:58.300 |
creatures that surround him is worshiping him day in and day out. 00:16:03.060 |
And most likely when we get to heaven, that's going to be our, what we're going to be doing, 00:16:09.060 |
So if you don't find life in worshiping God, heaven is not a place that you're going to 00:16:16.700 |
And those of you guys, I think, you know, most, all of you, if not most of you are going 00:16:20.620 |
to understand exactly what I'm talking about. 00:16:22.780 |
If you're a Christian, you're probably, your testimony is probably, you know, similar or 00:16:28.220 |
The greatest ecstasy that I've ever experienced was always in the context of real worship 00:16:38.660 |
That's when I feel the greatest fellowship or meaning in life and purpose, where I feel 00:16:45.580 |
And so heaven is a place that's described where all the creatures are worshiping him 00:16:56.260 |
Maybe there are mentions there, but those are just props. 00:17:00.260 |
The main dish is going to be what he's seeing here, the throne of God. 00:17:06.440 |
In fact, this theme is probably one of the main themes of the book of Revelation. 00:17:11.300 |
The term throne of God is mentioned, I forgot how many, it's like 200 some times in the 00:17:17.340 |
whole Bible, and it's mentioned 45 times in Revelations alone. 00:17:22.660 |
So you can understand why in first and second Kings that the term throne of God would be 00:17:28.600 |
Or the term throne would be mentioned 32 times. 00:17:30.780 |
So in the book of Revelation alone, it's 45 times. 00:17:34.140 |
So in the book of New Testament, for every four times that the term throne of God is 00:17:43.180 |
mentioned, two-thirds of it is found in the book of Revelation. 00:17:48.740 |
Two-thirds of the mention of the throne of God is in the book of Revelation. 00:17:51.700 |
So we can say in summary that one of the main themes of the book of Revelation is about 00:18:01.140 |
So if somebody asks you, "What is Revelation about?" 00:18:08.380 |
That all of history, all of history, all of salvation, everything that Christ has done, 00:18:13.900 |
ultimately it's going to culminate into this scene. 00:18:17.280 |
That what John is seeing, that at one point when he comes to redeem us, we see only in 00:18:22.860 |
part, we're going to see him as he is, that it's going to ultimately lead to this scene. 00:18:38.340 |
In fact, if you read through the book of Psalm, when God is mentioned repeatedly, over and 00:18:44.540 |
over again, he's mentioned as the one who's sitting on his throne. 00:18:51.020 |
Today we think of God, we think of him with his, what do you call it, with his tunic wrapped 00:18:59.700 |
around his belt, on his knees, washing his disciples' feet. 00:19:03.380 |
And that's typically the scene that we see of Christ, or him crucified on the cross is 00:19:08.820 |
But when the Bible describes Christ over and over again, or God the Father, he's the one 00:19:14.340 |
who is exalted, he's the king who is being worshipped. 00:19:18.220 |
And that's the same picture that we see also in the book of Revelation. 00:19:21.660 |
That the Christ that we worship, that everything that he has done has led to this. 00:19:26.900 |
So like it says in Philippians chapter 2, he had the same equality with God, and then 00:19:32.740 |
he humbled himself, and because he humbled himself, what did God do? 00:19:36.260 |
He exalted him to the highest place, name above all names. 00:19:40.560 |
That every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord. 00:19:44.860 |
So that's the scene that we see in heaven, and that's the most common description that 00:19:57.740 |
The three stones that are mentioned in the throne, no one knows for sure. 00:20:04.540 |
Every commentary that you read, it has some variation of it, so no one knows exactly for 00:20:09.500 |
sure, but there are some who will guess and say that Jasper, at least in that time, represented 00:20:46.180 |
The rainbow that it describes, obviously the first thing that we think of is the promise 00:20:51.020 |
that God makes to Noah and his descendants that he would not judge the world the same 00:20:59.380 |
So in the midst of his majesty and thunder and all of this stuff, he says one of the 00:21:04.660 |
things that they see is the rainbow, and rainbow is a reminder of the covenant that 00:21:09.380 |
he makes, that he would be faithful and merciful to his people. 00:21:22.420 |
Again, there's a lot of debate as to who these 24 elders are, but most commentators are in 00:21:30.380 |
Again, this is not a fact, but it's just an educated guess, that it symbolizes all 00:21:36.940 |
That some think that maybe it was 12 angels and then 12 tribes of Israel put together 00:21:42.980 |
Some people think that just the number 24 is symbolizing of totality of all mankind. 00:21:48.320 |
But in the end, the conclusion, however you come up with 24, the common conclusion is 00:21:53.180 |
that these 24 elders basically represents all of creation. 00:21:57.940 |
And their primary task, when they are mentioned over and over again, they're prostrated in 00:22:08.460 |
So when John sees this vision of the throne of God, the scene that he sees are his creation 00:22:17.060 |
And again, the word for worship, proskuneo, literally means to prostrate oneself. 00:22:22.900 |
That this is not just casual, you know, raising of hands and singing some songs. 00:22:27.620 |
This is where you're in the presence of this glory and you can't help but to fall down 00:22:38.460 |
And that's the word that is commonly used in the Bible to describe worship, to be prostrated. 00:22:44.020 |
And so these 24 elders are 24/7, is around the throne constantly giving worship to God. 00:22:54.480 |
And adoration and praise, like what comes out of their mouth in those passages that 00:23:14.260 |
So let me take a minute here before we move on to the other side, and I'm going to reiterate. 00:23:21.180 |
When you think about the picture of heaven, like what makes you want to go to heaven? 00:23:34.000 |
Every once in a while somebody will say, kind of jokingly, but not really, like, "I don't 00:23:38.600 |
want Jesus to come before I get married, because I want to experience marriage." 00:23:42.320 |
You know, so, you know, like I'm longing for marriage first and then Jesus, right? 00:23:47.720 |
And I know, you know, sometimes we're joking and sometimes we're not. 00:23:51.000 |
But what is it about heaven, not what you should be thinking about, not what I said 00:24:03.560 |
When I go to heaven, I really am looking forward to this. 00:24:07.840 |
And obviously, if you have loved ones that you lost, I mean, that's probably one of the 00:24:13.000 |
first things that you're going to be thinking about. 00:24:18.840 |
If you're suffering of any kind, probably thinking, like, "Hey, no more suffering, 00:24:24.120 |
we go there, we don't have to be separated from loved ones, and, you know, there's no 00:24:30.040 |
This rat race that you and I have to live just to make ends meet, right? 00:24:41.120 |
But the primary thing that the Scripture says the activity that you and I are going to be 00:24:46.480 |
engaged in is eternal worship, because that's what God created us to do, to be His image 00:24:53.440 |
So when sin came into the world, mankind dies. 00:25:03.560 |
That's what it says in Romans chapter 3, 23, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory 00:25:08.880 |
So when God restores us into eternal life, He's restoring us to be able to be His image 00:25:19.080 |
Because you and I are still in this flesh, we do a poor job, right? 00:25:22.760 |
We reflect, but part of sanctification is to reflect better, right, who He is. 00:25:28.580 |
So one day when we are finally delivered from this sinful flesh and we're in our glorified 00:25:32.560 |
bodies, we're going to be in heaven reflecting His glory the way we were meant to. 00:25:44.420 |
If giving glory to God is not attractive while you live here, I don't think that gets turned 00:25:54.840 |
I don't think at some point in your rapture between here and heaven, all of a sudden you 00:26:00.120 |
gain this affection for Christ that you didn't have here. 00:26:04.520 |
I think this affection that you had here is going to be intensified. 00:26:08.480 |
I think the longing to be in His presence is going to be intensified. 00:26:13.000 |
The ecstasy that you felt at any level of being in the presence of His glory is going 00:26:20.920 |
So oftentimes we make a picture of heaven of, "Oh, it'd be great," kind of like, you 00:26:26.840 |
know, if you visit a new place, right, that you've never seen, you've only seen pictures, 00:26:30.960 |
"Oh, it'd be great if I visited Machu Picchu or if I visited or ate this," and you fantasize 00:26:39.360 |
And so you create this in His head and then you create this longing in your heart because 00:26:45.420 |
But the thing that you've imagined in your head, is it the reality? 00:26:49.840 |
The heaven that you've imagined in your head, is it what the Scripture says what heaven 00:26:57.040 |
Because the primary and the central activity that the Scripture teaches us about heaven 00:27:04.680 |
What these creatures and what these elders are doing is what we're going to be doing. 00:27:08.640 |
We're going to be joining them and it's going to be for eternity. 00:27:10.840 |
It's not going to be Sunday morning for two hours, right? 00:27:15.460 |
So a Christian is somebody who has seen and has gotten a glimpse of the glory of the gospel 00:27:21.440 |
of Jesus Christ and you are longing for more of it, right? 00:27:28.980 |
Salvation is having our eyes open to see something beautiful and wanting more of it, right? 00:27:39.160 |
If that's our end goal, if the end goal of human history, if the end goal of Christ's 00:27:43.720 |
suffering, if the end goal of persecution and all of that is to lead us to that scene, 00:27:48.320 |
what John is seeing in heaven, what good is it to bring people to church, to fall in love 00:27:55.120 |
with church, with people, with all these different activities, if ultimately we're not bringing 00:28:02.920 |
So the primary thing of the church is to bring them to love Christ because this is where 00:28:08.880 |
We can't promise them to take them somewhere else and then sign a bait and switch later, 00:28:15.880 |
So this scene that we're studying is not just a vision of some prophetic something 00:28:22.560 |
So hopefully as we're studying at least the next, you know, chapter four and chapter five, 00:28:27.600 |
that you're getting a glimpse of your future home, right? 00:28:32.240 |
You're getting a glimpse of your future home. 00:28:34.000 |
So I hope that you can study with that kind of curiosity to really ask, what does this 00:28:40.040 |
And I'll let you know when I actually get up there, okay? 00:28:46.920 |
It says that he sees and hears a thunder and lightning around the throne. 00:28:55.520 |
Each time the thunder and lightning is mentioned in chapter eight, 11, and 16, it is at the 00:29:01.320 |
conclusion at the seven judgments that are coming, right? 00:29:06.280 |
It's almost kind of like a crescendo at the end where, you know, you kind of hear the 00:29:12.540 |
And then when it comes to then it kind of builds up and then it ends with a boom. 00:29:18.800 |
He sees the heaven and that's what he sees and hears. 00:29:22.640 |
Basically it represents God's majesty and that's what we see, right? 00:29:25.840 |
And that's what Moses saw in Exodus chapter 19, 16. 00:29:31.060 |
When God draws near to him, he heard thunder and lightning. 00:29:34.460 |
And so in every instance where thunder and lightning is mentioned, it's at the end conclusion 00:29:39.380 |
of these judgments that are coming upon the earth and it concludes with God's mighty presence, 00:29:46.600 |
So it's kind of like an exclamation mark and that's what John is seeing up in heaven. 00:29:56.840 |
Again, we don't know exactly what it is, but it is mentioned again in Ezekiel chapter 122 00:30:04.220 |
and basically it says, "Over the heads of the living creatures there was a likeness 00:30:07.020 |
of an expanse shining like all inspiring crystals spread out above their heads." 00:30:12.800 |
So in this passage, we don't have any specific descriptions, but in Ezekiel, it kind of describes 00:30:18.960 |
this ocean or Sea of Glass as an expanse between God and the person who's seeing God. 00:30:28.540 |
At least that's the way it's being described. 00:30:30.280 |
So possibly that's what John is seeing, right? 00:30:33.760 |
That God's glory, that's as closest that we'll ever get, but there's still a distinction 00:30:44.720 |
There's so many better pictures than this, but the reason why I chose this is because 00:30:54.640 |
And if you see the details, it's pretty ugly. 00:31:02.120 |
But you read Revelations, that's what it says, right? 00:31:05.600 |
And if you look at it, here's the head of a lion, ox, human being, and an eagle. 00:31:13.120 |
And in this picture, they have six wings, right? 00:31:17.680 |
I don't know if you can see all of them, but each of them independently have six wings, 00:31:23.880 |
Now there's a description similar to this in Ezekiel, right? 00:31:29.600 |
Probably when we're reading through it, you're paying attention, but the distinction is, 00:31:34.120 |
if you look at the vision in Ezekiel, it says it has four creatures and they have four wings, 00:31:39.680 |
and each of them, each one of them have, you know, the Revelation has, each one has, one 00:31:45.720 |
has a head of a human being, one has a head of an ox, one has a head of an eagle, and 00:31:55.360 |
So in one creature, it has all four heads, okay? 00:32:00.160 |
So again, you know, we can look at that and say, well, it's similar but not the same. 00:32:06.100 |
So obviously, these are not the same creatures, but the creature that does seem like that 00:32:11.560 |
is most similar to what we're seeing in Revelation chapter 4 is seen in Isaiah chapter 6. 00:32:16.360 |
Again, Isaiah chapter 6 doesn't have a lot of details, but it does describe the creature 00:32:21.520 |
and has six wings and it seems closer to chapter 4, okay? 00:32:38.520 |
And if you want to clear a better picture, look at, go Google it. 00:32:42.960 |
But again, the reason I chose this is because it has, I feel like it has all the details 00:32:47.020 |
in place, you know, and some of them, they didn't draw the eyes right, some of them, 00:32:53.040 |
you can't see the wings, some of them, like, you can see two but not the other two, but 00:32:57.160 |
this one has all four of them and it has all the details, okay? 00:33:07.060 |
So the four living creatures are very prominent in the visions. 00:33:11.260 |
They will appear several times throughout the book of Revelation, right? 00:33:16.900 |
And those are the passages that you'll see them in. 00:33:23.460 |
And there are a lot of similarities between the vision in Ezekiel and some of the differences 00:33:28.580 |
where, again, I just mentioned, Ezekiel's vision has four faces on each creature, they 00:33:34.580 |
have four wings, and then if you keep reading, there's a lot of similarities and things that 00:33:41.020 |
And those are just the most prominent things. 00:33:48.620 |
The vision is probably closer to the one in Isaiah, okay? 00:34:05.900 |
So if you remember the vision in Isaiah, where Isaiah sees the throne of God and it says, 00:34:12.660 |
"Above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings, with two he covered his face, and with 00:34:24.620 |
two he covered his feet, and with two he flew, and one called to another and said, 'Holy, 00:34:29.460 |
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.'" 00:34:32.660 |
He doesn't say the exact same thing, but that phrase, "Holy, holy, holy," is being cried 00:34:37.860 |
out by the same creatures mentioned in Isaiah 6 as the ones that we are looking at today. 00:34:55.540 |
Now one of the opinions of the food these four creatures are, again, there's a lot of 00:35:03.340 |
I just put Robert H. Mounds, he's the New International Commentary, and he basically 00:35:12.780 |
says they are living creatures in an exalted order of angelic meaning, meaning that these 00:35:19.660 |
And that's why they are the closest to God's throne, and they serve as basically choir 00:35:26.380 |
But if you notice, that whenever they begin to worship and cry out, the other 24 elders 00:35:35.860 |
So they're the ones who initiate, they're basically the worship leaders, and they're 00:35:42.740 |
And everybody else is on the outside, they initiate and everybody follows. 00:35:46.420 |
And so again, the guess is that they are the highest order of the angels, at least that's 00:35:57.740 |
They have eyes all over, and that's what makes the pictures almost kind of seem mythic. 00:36:04.220 |
And whenever you talk about the eyes being everywhere, it's talking about alertness and 00:36:08.340 |
knowledge, all seeing, that we don't know if they're omniscient, but they definitely 00:36:20.780 |
How many of you have heard or have been taught before that these four creatures represent 00:36:39.540 |
I took a book of revelation class in undergrad at Biola, and this was the view that was taught 00:36:45.860 |
to me, that each of these creatures represent the four gospels. 00:36:49.580 |
In fact, some of the commentaries will actually argue this. 00:37:00.940 |
I don't think that's what it is, because I don't think there's enough evidence to point 00:37:05.320 |
to that, but can you see why they would say that these four things point to the four gospels? 00:37:15.900 |
You got the man, you got the lion, you have the ox, and you have the eagle. 00:37:21.460 |
Think about the four gospels, the emphasis and the unique characteristics of each of 00:37:56.020 |
Do you remember when Pastor Alex taught this? 00:38:02.660 |
He called it a gospel, this gospel, goal gospel. 00:38:09.480 |
He called it the goal gospel because it has the record of the most miracles of Jesus. 00:38:14.460 |
He's constantly, miracle after miracle, he's doing things. 00:38:33.760 |
And so the book of Luke, what is emphasized in the book of Luke? 00:38:49.020 |
It has the most detailed record of Christ's childhood when he's suffering on the cross. 00:38:55.620 |
There's a greatest description of his suffering and the spear coming into his side and blood 00:39:04.140 |
So it has, again, it's written by a doctor and so it has the most descriptions about 00:39:10.380 |
So Luke's gospel is known for emphasis on his humanity, right? 00:39:27.500 |
Each one of those gospels do represent these things. 00:39:30.260 |
So you can see why some of the people were trying to translate this. 00:39:35.380 |
So you could see the connection between it, but other than what I just said, there's no 00:39:50.020 |
But at the least, we know that these are choir directors and they seem to be higher above 00:39:56.460 |
other angels because they are at their nearest at the throne of God. 00:40:05.420 |
And then we also see that in the book of Isaiah. 00:40:14.300 |
Probably the best way to understand these four creatures is that each one of them represents 00:40:19.620 |
the top or the best in each field, where man being the caretaker of creation, lion being 00:40:24.220 |
the king of the wild, ox being the strongest of the domesticated animals, eagles as the 00:40:30.240 |
So of all the creation, it is the most exalted, right? 00:40:34.580 |
And that's probably, and if you go beyond that, maybe you can connect it to the gospel, 00:40:39.140 |
but I think that in and of itself, like what do these animals, each one of them, collectively, 00:40:48.780 |
So it's kind of like saying that God is, you know, king of kings and lord of lords. 00:40:53.220 |
And each of these creatures represent the top of the food chain, in essence. 00:41:03.460 |
And again, it may signify the swiftness to carry out the will of God. 00:41:09.780 |
He rode on a cherub and flew, he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. 00:41:19.840 |
You understand why, like as I mentioned in the beginning, when you're studying apocalyptic 00:41:24.220 |
writings, it forces you to try to find meaning in other places, like how did God use the 00:41:29.220 |
term wing or, you know, different eyes and these animals. 00:41:34.180 |
And so it forces you to kind of look at certain thematic things that are mentioned in the 00:41:38.540 |
Bible that you may not have really thought about before, but when you see it repeated 00:41:42.380 |
over and over again, you kind of say, oh, there is a connection, right? 00:41:47.540 |
The number three, typically you won't think much about it, right? 00:41:51.080 |
When you're just saying, oh, he was resurrected on the third day, were two or three witnesses, 00:41:56.080 |
And over and over again, you see the number three, when you study it in isolation, you 00:42:01.000 |
But when you think of it in the connection to the whole Bible, there's a clear theme, 00:42:05.960 |
the number three, the number of confirmation, or you see the number seven is repeated over 00:42:10.880 |
and over again for a number of completion, right? 00:42:13.940 |
So when we look at some of these things, when it talks about eyes, right, obviously it's 00:42:18.160 |
talking about omniscience, to be able to see all things, wings, right? 00:42:22.120 |
To be the ability to move back and forth, to be obedient as a messenger, right? 00:42:30.080 |
And finally, the creature's primary duty was to worship day and night, crying, "Holy, 00:42:41.600 |
The language in the end part is slightly different than what we see in the book of Isaiah, but 00:42:47.220 |
basically in essence, it's the same, those same three terms, "Holy, holy, holy," right? 00:42:54.160 |
So before I conclude, I'm going to take a minute to think about that, right? 00:42:58.180 |
So when we think of heaven, and this is the end conclusion of where God has taken us. 00:43:04.140 |
When he comes to redeem his church and he says, "In my Father's house, there are many 00:43:07.280 |
houses, and I go to prepare a place for you," that this is what he's preparing, right? 00:43:13.360 |
He's preparing a place for us to join in this worship. 00:43:17.200 |
And when John gets a glimpse of heaven, he opens the door for him to see what is happening 00:43:24.960 |
in heaven and that this is happening in eternity. 00:43:28.640 |
What he hears is, first he hears the thundering, right? 00:43:32.200 |
He sees this picture of these precious stones, and he begins to hear the worship, and it's 00:43:41.280 |
kind of in unison, going back and forth, where these creatures are circling around the throne, 00:43:48.200 |
And every time they do that, the 24 elders in unison would take off their crown, right? 00:43:53.500 |
Each one of the 12 also have their own throne. 00:43:56.040 |
If you remember, when they respond in worship, they take off their crown, they get off their 00:44:00.800 |
throne, they bow down, prostrate, and in worship. 00:44:04.320 |
Part of the reason why they think that the 24 elders represent us is because the scripture 00:44:07.600 |
tells us that we will also be co-heirs, we will be rulers with Christ, and we will have 00:44:13.120 |
the crown of life and crown of glory given to us when we're there. 00:44:16.160 |
And that's part of the reason why they think that the 24 elders represent us. 00:44:21.020 |
But in worship, they take off their crown, they come off their throne, and they bow down, 00:44:26.600 |
And this is repeated twice in the book of Isaiah and in the book of Revelation. 00:44:33.000 |
So whenever you see anything that's repeated more than once, you know it's for the purpose 00:44:38.360 |
So when you hear, no other attribute of God is mentioned three times. 00:44:43.060 |
But this attribute of holiness, not only is it mentioned three times, it's mentioned twice 00:44:49.180 |
And when these two men of God sees the vision of the throne, the primary scene that they 00:44:54.440 |
see is a holy, holy, holy God where people are prostrated in awe and in worship. 00:45:03.240 |
So as human beings, as children of God who've been saved from an empty way of life, and 00:45:10.480 |
now He desires us to be sanctified, the process of living, the process of us going from once 00:45:18.780 |
being dead and now we are alive, and then we are coming to life, and then we will be 00:45:26.360 |
alive finally when we're up in heaven, like ultimately. 00:45:29.600 |
The process of sanctification is the process of living, the process of drawing closer to 00:45:37.840 |
That's what sanctification ultimately is, is getting a greater and greater glimpse of 00:45:42.680 |
His glory, which in turn causes us to be better worshipers. 00:45:55.000 |
All of it is ultimately to get a better glimpse of His glory. 00:46:00.180 |
So a Christian who is bored with His glory is going to be bored in heaven. 00:46:13.540 |
Because all of it is meant to bring us to this. 00:46:17.500 |
So I do you no service if I attract you or keep you coming by anything other than a greater 00:46:31.700 |
Because the more you see of this, the more you desire of this, the more you will experience 00:46:35.500 |
the life that Jesus promised, not something I can artificially give to you, to create, 00:46:43.340 |
But in the end, true life is found in Christ and Christ alone. 00:46:47.540 |
So what I want to encourage our church this afternoon is think about this picture that 00:46:56.020 |
has been vividly drawn for us in Revelation chapter 4. 00:47:00.700 |
That this is not some strange picture of mythology. 00:47:03.740 |
This is not, even though we don't know exactly, I mean, He's writing down for us what He 00:47:11.980 |
We don't know if that's the exact picture that we're going to see. 00:47:14.460 |
But the principles that we see from this vision is definitely applicable to us. 00:47:20.980 |
We are taking step by step headed toward this scene where we're going to be joining them 00:47:30.160 |
And I hope that you can just really have that imprinted in your mind so that anything that 00:47:36.100 |
causes you to trivialize this is harmful to you, is actually doing great damage to your 00:47:45.500 |
And anything, even suffering and difficulty, that causes you to long more for this is the 00:47:55.820 |
So as we take time to fellowship, the discussion questions that I have is related to this vision. 00:48:03.480 |
How has your imagination of heaven changed from when you first became a Christian to 00:48:09.260 |
Maybe some of you guys may remember when you weren't a Christian or when you were a young 00:48:14.820 |
Now that you've had some time to study the Word of God, maybe even some of the things 00:48:17.740 |
that you saw this week, how does that change your view of heaven? 00:48:22.040 |
What aspect of corporate worship do you look forward to each week? 00:48:24.900 |
What aspect of private worship do you enjoy the most? 00:48:27.940 |
If worship is the central activity of a Christian now and in future, what is it about that that 00:48:37.660 |
What is something that you can practically do to help you prepare for corporate worship 00:48:42.780 |
And again, this is something that we try to encourage you week after week. 00:48:47.460 |
There's a huge difference between attending worship and giving worship. 00:48:55.340 |
There's a huge difference between attending worship and giving worship. 00:48:59.000 |
You can attend worship every single week and never truly worship God. 00:49:04.340 |
Showing up and sitting down and listening to sermon and giving your money isn't worship, 00:49:09.380 |
Jesus said he's not looking for people who are going to worship in this mountain or that 00:49:13.180 |
mountain or this amount or this church or at this time or sing these songs. 00:49:17.740 |
He said true worship is something that you choose to give. 00:49:26.900 |
But there's a huge difference between somebody who's come to give worship to God. 00:49:31.860 |
So the question is, how do you prepare for corporate worship? 00:49:35.980 |
If that's the central thing that you've been saved for, not so that you can keep breathing 00:49:41.380 |
when you die, but so that what you lost at the fall can be restored, that you can be 00:49:46.220 |
his image bearer and you can be true worshipers. 00:49:49.900 |
If that's the central thing that he created, that he saved us for, how central is it in 00:49:59.340 |
Four, how does or should the knowledge of God's holiness affect the way we approach worship? 00:50:04.420 |
Again, that question is a much larger question than just Sunday worship, but the way we live. 00:50:10.580 |
How does his character of holy, holy holiness, other than the fact that Christ absorbed our 00:50:15.140 |
penalty, the fact that the God that dwells in us, right? 00:50:20.380 |
The Holy Spirit that is holy, holy, holy makes a dwelling in us. 00:50:27.480 |
How does that affect the way you make judgments? 00:50:28.880 |
How do you discern what is right and wrong based upon his character? 00:50:35.600 |
So when we think about that this attribute is mentioned three times and it's mentioned 00:50:41.420 |
in two separate places, and heaven is a place where it's primarily for the purpose of worship, 00:50:51.160 |
So let me invite you guys to be in your small groups. 00:50:54.160 |
I'm going to pray for us and then you guys can take some time in your small groups. 00:50:59.880 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening and we thank you, Father God, for giving us 00:51:06.200 |
a glimpse of where we're headed and what is happening, Lord God, in your throne. 00:51:14.020 |
That even though we may not clearly understand some of the descriptions and what is taking 00:51:19.720 |
place, we know, Father God, that you are more than deserving of all that we have to worship 00:51:27.280 |
you with our mouths, our lives, our finances, our time. 00:51:33.160 |
Help us, Lord, to examine our lives and that your word would judge the thoughts and intentions 00:51:39.400 |
of our heart, that we would not simply coast along in religiousness, but we would be careful 00:51:49.240 |
So I pray that you would bless our small group time, that we would be open, and that things 00:51:54.560 |
we share would be iron sharpening iron for one another.