Be glorious. Whether it’s rounding the bend on a hike and you see the incredible stunning vista open up, or you’re surprised by a waterfall, or you hold a newly born baby, or you watch somebody overcome a deep personal adversity that makes us want to break out in praise. A song, song, a shout given, maybe just an awe-inspired sigh. And yet all these reasons, as good as they may be, pale in comparison to the vision that John was given. Ushered into the heavenly throne room, he sees the glorious one seated on a throne, and he has caught up in glorious worship that surrounds him. It’s my prayer that this morning we, too, will be able to see God rightly. Having understood the why, the how, and the who of worship, we, too, will grow in our own desire, thirst after opportunities to engage in glorious worship of our Holy heavenly Father. With that in mind, let us pray for the reading of God’s word. I’ll ask you to stand with your Bibles in hand. Let us pray. This flows out of Psalm 119, the section entitled None. Father, as We’ll see in a minute there are flaming fire, seven torches in front of that Holy Throne, and we are reminded that your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
Father, all of us who are members of a local church, we have taken an oath and we have sworn to conform it. Lord, help us to keep your righteous rules. Father, at times in our lives, we are severely afflicted, and so we ask that you would give us life according to your word. Lord, this morning, would you be pleased to accept our free will offering of praise and teach us your rules? Lord, you hold our life in your hand continually, and we ask that we may never forget your law. Though the wicked lay a snare for us, keep us from straying from your precepts. Lord, for your testimonies are our heritage forever. May they also be the joy of our heart that we would incline, you would incline our hearts to perform your statutes forever to the end. This we pray. Amen. Now, with your Bibles in hand, hear God’s holy and inerrant word. I should turn to it if I’m going to read it. Revelation 4. After this, I looked and behold a standing open in heaven, and the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.
‘ At once, I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carneleon, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. And around the were 24 thrones, and seated on the thrones were 24 elders, clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings, peels of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne, there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. The four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes around and within. And day and night, they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him, before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. And they cast down their crowns before the throne saying, ‘Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created? ‘ The word of the Lord. You may be seated. John opens our text this morning with that line, After this, I looked. It’s a context-setting phrase. The after this reminds us that this vision, this view into the heavenly throne room, this glimpse of the Almighty himself is not a random, isolated, disconnected event in John’s life, given to the church so that we can merely wonder what heaven may be like as we go about our lives and our busyness here on earth. Rather, the after this reminds us that the letters to the seven churches have been completed. They have gone through some challenging time and more is to come. Persecution and suffering are around the corner, and what they need is both consolation and encouragement to continue with the same awe, the same joy that they began or that we began our race or our walk with Christ in.
John, as he moves his forward, he reminds us of this truth, that there is no better place to look in times of trouble or suffering than to the throne of God. This vision that served as his consolation, that gave him courage, can be ours as well. Notice the invitation in verse one that John receives. A door standing open and a voice speaking like a trumpet. Come up here and I will show you what must take place after this. What must take place. This is determined. This is established. This will happen. Notice also the simple statement that the door was open. This opening was God’s work. He opens his heavens to reveal his plans. You can see that in the life of Ezekiel, the life of Peter with the sheet coming down, the life of Steven, just prior to his being stone. They all saw heaven opened and God revealing himself. John here is invited to come. This invitation appears to come from none other than Jesus himself. He was the one that John saw in chapter 1 in verse 17 with a voice like a trumpet. If you want to turn back there, you’ll notice this.
When John saw Jesus the first time, he fell as though dead at Jesus’s feet. Now, this is what happens in our lives the very first time we see God clearly. We see his glory and we see our sin and we say, like Isaiah, Woe is me, or like Paul on the road to Damascus, struck down by the glory of God’s light. And then in the text in Revelation 1 with John as dead at the feet of Jesus, we read that Jesus laid his hand on him and he said, Fear not. I am the first and the last, the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Jesus, beautifully, the one who had died, indeed, the one who was risen from the dead, reached down to John and raised him up. That’s what he does for us when we confess our sins. He reaches into our lives and lifts us up out of them. Now here in chapter 4, Jesus raises John even higher into the heavens, into the very throne room of God. Here, John, when he sees God clearly and he responds with all those around him in glorious worship.
Before we explore with John that room, it might be worth mentioning a couple grammatical points of the structure in our text. You may even notice, particularly the translation that you’re using, the change of tenses or progression of tenses as you move through the text. Verses one through three are primarily in the past tense. I saw, I heard, I was, there was, But then in the Greek, at least in verses four through eight, they’re predominantly in the present tense using verbless clauses to help us realize what was happening. Some of the English translations make it look like they’re in the past tense, but I can quote New Testament scholar Thomas Schreiner here. He says that what is happening here is the text is used to call attention to what is constantly happening in the throne room. For instance, they will fall, they will worship. I’ve got ahead of myself here, sorry. Then in verses 9 and 10, we switched to the future. We have past in one through three, present constantly happening in four through eight, and then the future in verses 9 and 10. They will fall, they will worship, they will throw. John seems to be weaving another strand into this apocalyptic revelation, showing one more way that God is true and eternal and timeless.
Verse 8 speaks to this, he who was and is and is to come. Verse 2 shows us, at once I was in the spirit. This is generally a marker in revelation. It’s a marker phrase to help us realize a new vision has begun. In this new vision, the first thing John tells us is, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. John regularly mentions thrones in his writings. In fact, of the 62 references to thrones in the New Testament, John leads the field with 47 uses. Matthew comes in a distant second with five. A Some scholars note that the reason John used such strong references is that his primary audience felt the pressure from the throne that Caesar sat on in Rome, and he wanted to remind his readers, There is a throne above all thrones. Now, John is granted the gift of seeing that throne. I wanted you to pause for just a minute and consider what What a gracious gift this would be for John. He’s currently a lonely, aged man in exile on Patmos. Robert Mounts notes, Nowhere in the literature of heavenly visions will one find a more inspiring presentation of the God who reigns supreme over all.
As John was nearing his life, end of his life in exile, it would have been easy to wonder, is it worth it? Will this keep going? And what a gift God gave him. It is God that John next describes. We’ll take a look at him in just a few minutes. But in our text, John sees other creatures as well. They were involved in glorious and dramatic worship of this God. Even before we look at what they were doing, I want us to wonder why. Why are they worshiping this God? God? I think that answer can be broken down into two parts. They worship God because of who he is and because of what he has done. Now, with God at one level, there really isn’t a difference between his nature and his actions in the sense that all his actions flow perfectly from his perfect nature. God loves because he is love. And It can still be beneficial to consider his nature and his works separately. Verse 8, which is the first hym in the Book of Revelation, gives us three reasons why to worship God, and all three speak to his nature. One, God is thrice holy.
A second reason to worship is God is the Lord God Almighty. Finally, God is eternal, who was, is, and is to come. In verse 11, the second him in our text, we’re given another good reason why, and this time it speaks to his actions. There you’ll read the heavenly creature’s answer in song, You are worthy of worship, that is, to receive glory and honor, for you created all things. These created beings then, they are worshiping God because they recognize and rejoice in the reality that this God, who they are in fellowship with and now in close proximity to, is the eternal and Almighty God who gave them their life and being. They are face to face with their creator, and they respond in glorious worship. Who are these creatures that John sees as worshippers? First, in verse 4, he notices 24 thrones that surround the one throne, and on those thrones are seated 24 elders. There is quite a bit of discussion and good disagreement about who these elders are. I think that two most likely answers are they are either glorified humans who represent the 12 tribes of Israel in the Old Testament and the 12 Apostles in the New Testament, or they are angelic beings who represent the same.
In either case, they are beings who represent the whole church, that is, all of God’s people. That they are robed in white shows the wholeness of believers in Christ, that they are robed with a gold sash shows the righteousness that have been given, the glory that God has given to man, that they are where a golden crown represents the reign and the rule. You can see of that in chapter 2, verse 10, chapter 3, verse 11, the rule of believers in Christ. With the 24 elders in verse 5, John also sees with his eyes and hears with his ears the flashes of lightning, crashing of thunder. And there John sees a picture of God’s power, of his Holiness, of his transcendence. And he is reminded of the encounter of Moses on Sinai. We’ll see in verse 6, the Crystal Sea. We’ll speak to that in a minute when we look at the one seated on the throne. But in verse 6, John introduces another set of creatures, the four creatures. Here we have the description of these four heavenly creatures that may hearken back to Ezequiel 1 and 10, Isaiah 6, and even Daniel 7.
Many scholars note that John used these texts as his source for this vision. But I think that seems to miss the simple point that it was Jesus, the risen one, Jesus, who had promised eternal life to all who would believe in him, to all who would trust in his perfect work on the cross for their forgiveness, that’s the Jesus who has invited John into the throne room. It’s the God who has also given visions to Ezequiel, Isaiah, and Daniel. I have no doubt that when John entered into the heavenlies and saw these creatures, he remembered his Bible and recalled the passages of Isaiah of Ezequiel in Daniel. But his source was the Holy spirit, giving him eyes to see and ears to hear. Now, if you take the time to look through these four mentioned visions, you will be surprised by both their similarity and scratch your head at some of the differences. You may wonder, why are the eyes mentioned in Ezequiel in whirling wheels, where here in our text, they are all around and within the four creatures. For that matter, you may wonder, where are the whirling wheels? There are many opportunities to ask of this text, and I promise you, of the chapters to come, all sorts of questions.
Frankly, as many questions as you have of revelation, you’ll find twice as many resources, some helpful, some not so helpful, to answer those questions. As you do that, here’s a couple of things to keep in mind. One, God’s word is perfect and without air. There are no actual contradictions in these various visions or anywhere else for that matter. You may not understand it, but the text is not wrong. Secondly, God is revealing himself to Daniel, Ezequiel, Isaiah, and John in very different circumstances in which they have differing needs. In Ezekiel, for instance, God’s people were on the move. One scholar says that as they were moving into captivity, there was a great wonder, Will God go with me? And so you have whirling wheels, God on the move. Whereas in our text, in John, on his last days, what his need would be is, Is there security and stability. And so in the throne room, the four creatures are set, firm. There is one seated in the throne, immoveable, and that gives him confidence and encouragement. The fixed focus of these creatures on the eternal God would be comforting. The third, if your questions and research are increasing your joy and delight in the Lord, keep studying.
But if you become aware that you are no longer looking at the one on the throne because you’re trying to figure out what did happen to two sets of wings, or trying to crack the numbers code with some complicated Bitcoin mining algorithm, you’ve lost the point. And so I would say, look to Jesus. That’s what these heavenly creatures are doing. These creatures, one with a face of a lion, the other an ox, the other an eagle, and the fourth a man. Most scholars agree represent all of God’s creation. They can see all of God’s creation. And eyes all around. There are four like the four corners of the winds, and they themselves, in some sense, are the chief representatives of God’s creation, chief in power or in strength or in wisdom or in Majesty. They and the 24 elders, in other words, representatives from all of God’s creation and all of God’s children, are united in worship. And notice how they worship. Verse 8, Day and night, they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy. First, with this recognition of perpetual worship, we also see the priority of worship. It is indeed their chief end to worship the God who is worthy of their worship.
Our Westminster Shorter Catechism reminds us that our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. There’s no doubt that these elders, these creatures, are truly delighting in this perpetual worship, which is a worship that Schreiner notes as, Begun in the present and will extend forever. Because worship will extend forever, we would be wise to reflect on whether our lives show this priority. As ask ourselves whether our hearts find this same joy. Do you wake up in the morning and look forward to the time whenever that is in your day, the time in the word or in prayer? Did you go to bed last night looking forward to gathering with God’s people in worship this morning? If the answers to questions like those bring a steady stream of no, never or rarely, Then you may ask yourselves a couple other questions. But this isn’t a matter of try harder and do more. It’s really a matter of the heart. Asking yourselves questions like, What am I looking at? What has my attention? What would be my priority? What is my chief end? And as you position your throne Throne, towards the heavenly throne, as you see God rightly, seeing both his nature and his works, hearing that invitation, worship results.
In our text, one of the results of worship is the breaking out into song. We noted that the first hym in the Book of Revelation is in verse 8. And regarding hymns, one scholar remarks that hymns often appear in the Book of Revelation at moments of peak dramatic tension. They also provide commentary at key places. For instance, in our text, the hymns reveal more about God, his nature and his action, than John’s description of God provides. Furthermore, our Hymn reminds us that in the midst of our suffering and struggles, whatever we’re going through in our own life, we are reminded of God’s goodness, his faithfulness, and his power. Her. Thomas Schreiner notes that hymns remind us that, The purpose of life is doxological, the giving of praise and glory and worship. Hymns draw our attention off of our and on to the Lamb who was slain and is enthroned. More about him in chapter 5 and following. Consider, for instance, our Hymns, even just this morning, the songs we If you want to turn back in your bulletin, just a couple of pages, the first song we sang, Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation.
That’s a pretty good summary of verses 8 and 11. Note the chorus and the eternal context of the next song, He will be. There we sing, worthy he has been, worthy he will be. That fits with our text. Or Psalm 126, showing the nations gathered to testify to the great things he has done, singing songs of joy. That’s a picture of the elders and the beast before that throne. I could go on, but the point is that God has given us a great gift in the singing of hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs. These remind us of his glory and bring us joy even in the midst of our struggle. I think it’s wise that we hear a brief We’re worried about our posture and our attitude in worship. Our current culture seems to lack a sense of awe. I mean, rocket launches now or a dime a dozen. It’s a far cry from that classic movie, October Sky. Also, if you can dream it, AI has already manufactured that artificial experience for you. It’s no wonder there is so little wonder. And yet in verse 5, it is clear that what John saw and heard would have been both wonderful and terrifying.
Lightning, thunder, rumblings, the seven torches of fire, these representing the Holy spirit, this vision that he had his response in worship, it ought to inform both our attitude towards worship and our posture towards God in worship, corporately, personally, and as a family. We might wonder if perhaps we’re a little too casual in how we approach God’s throne. Just questions to consider, questions of our hearts, because seated on that throne is the one that the 24 elders and the four creatures are directing their worship towards, and they cast their crowns. All authority that has been given to us has been given to us, and they give it right back to God, the giver. This the one we are called to worship. And John describes him as seated on that throne with the appearance of Jasper and Carneleon. These are two stones of varying colors. And that description doesn’t do very much for me. In fact, as John continues in his description, we realize that he’s not giving us really any details of God so much or of his features, so much as he’s given us an impression of color of light and of sound. Dennis Johnson, Pastor Lloyd’s already remarked on his thoughtful work, The Triumph of the Lamb.
He notes that John, Offers nothing that could be turned into forbidden worship. Another thought for our hearts. But in terms of color and light, we are given a feast for the eye. Jasper in the first century was a general term for a variety of precious stones, generally referring to a translucent, highly precious stone, perhaps a diamond. The carnelian is the blood-red stone. And the emerald here, it’s a rainbow like an emerald, a rainbow which would have given John the opportunity to recall God’s covenant promise and faithfulness to Noah, but it’s set in green. We have reds and greens and flashes like a diamond of color. The Jasper, the Carneillian, the Emeral, they’re all stone set in the high priest’s breastplate in Exodus 28. They’re also mentioned as extraordinary gifts to the king of Tire. John also sees God as light, the rainbow reflecting light and refracting it, the seven torches blazing the sea of crystal which would reflect and refract everything. Most commentators see that sea as the Holy Sea or the Bronze labor in the Holy place set before the Holy of Holies, creating, if you will, a little bit of space between us and him.
John is given this vision, and he’s given a vision of glorious light and sound and color. But in that light, sound and color are also reminders of God’s covenant faithfulness in the midst of the judgment of the flood with Noah, his Holiness and the gift of law to Moses, as well as the temple that shows both God’s Holiness and purity that cleanses us. And so these images then paired with hymns of praise that recall God’s nature and God’s work, this gives us a glorious glimpse of our savior Jesus Christ, the one who has lifted us up, who has forgiven our sins when we were down, who has promised that in him we will overcome the enemy. He has forgiven our debts incurred under the law. He has bridged that gap of that crystal sea by cleansing us. And he has promised that he will bring us through to the end where God is firmly seated. John saw that he was worthy of our praise. That is the vision that served as his consolation that gave him courage. And it can be ours as well. That door that was opened for John, we too are He’s invited each day to come back again to this text, to this scripture, back to the reality that God’s faithfulness will never end, that Christ’s mercies are new every morning, that as power reaches into the heavens and to the farthest seas.
Indeed, glorious is God in his faithfulness. Holy, holy, holy is he. Look to Jesus and worship. Let us pray. Father, indeed, you overwhelmed John with a vision of yourself twice so far in revelation. First, he fell down because he knew in his own strength he was undone. And you raised him up. Father, that’s a picture of the symbolic reality of when we see our sin, when we bring it before you, you forgive us and you raise us up and we become adopted sons and daughters of you, our high king. Here in this second site is the picture of us being raised even higher into glorious worship, into a reality of who you are. Lord, that we see you and that we respond to your goodness and to your glory in worship. That is the new natural response of the new creature. And Lord, we praise you for that. We ask that Lord, this week, as we go about our day, as we find ourselves distracted by those things that are competing to be our chief, and that you might remind us of your beauty. And that we would find ourselves looking for times to worship you in prayer and in your word, in our closet, with our family, and here with the people of God.
Lord, this we pray in Jesus’ name for his sake. Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.