The Chief End of Man - Revelation 4:6-11

Alright, if you have your Bibles, let's turn to Revelation chapter 4.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

Revelation chapter 4.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

And we have been studying Revelation chapter 4 for a few weeks now.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

And just to kind of reorient ourselves to what's going on,

God has given us a vision of His throne room in order to remind us of His sovereign rule

over all things and to comfort us with the reality of the trying times that lie ahead.

That even though those times are coming, we can trust God because He's sovereign and He rules over all.

And we were saying that no matter how out of control life seems to be, God is always in control.

And now as we get into the later part of this vision, so we're getting towards the very end of this vision now in chapter 4,

we begin to see some really interesting creatures and these creatures are engaged in the most important act that anyone can engage in.

It's the purpose for which we were all created.

And that's the question that a lot of people wonder about, isn't it?

What's the purpose of life?

Why are we all here?

Those are questions maybe you've considered before.

And we pose it again.

What's the purpose of life?

Why are we all here?

To glorify God? Okay, yeah, yeah, that's good.

So I love the way that the Westminster Confession of Faith phrases it.

They say, what is the chief and highest end of man?

And they say, man's chief and highest end is to glorify God and fully to enjoy Him forever.

And I love that last part, don't you?

It's not just we're going to glorify God because it's what we're supposed to do,

it's because what we have to do, but the chief and highest end of man is to glorify God and fully to enjoy Him forever, because He is good.

And so we actually see that that's the purpose for which we were all created.

There is no greater purpose, there is no greater aim,

there is no greater end of mankind than to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

When we understand that, you begin to understand what this last section of this vision is all about.

The whole point of like verses 6-11 is that we should glorify God at all times because He is worthy of glory at all times.

We should glorify God at all times because He is worthy of glory at all times.

And as we study the last section of this vision, we're going to observe the heavenly host and hopefully learn from them.

So as we're getting into the Bible here, have your Bible's open, Revelation 4.

We're coming again to the throne room and we see some interesting creatures engaging in the world's most important act.

Starting in verse 6, this is what we read.

And before the throne, there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal.

And we talked about that last time we were together.

You remember that throughout the Bible, the sea is representative of the birthplace of evil and chaos and disorder.

And we tracked that theme throughout Scripture.

And so the fact that it's now a sea of glass, it means that the sea has been calmed.

There is no more evil before God. There is no more disorder.

There is no more chaos because God is one of the victories.

So just remind yourselves of that.

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 is like a lion. The second living creature is like an ox.

The third living creature with the face of a man.

The fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all 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.

Now those are some interesting creatures, right?

We have finally got, we're finally getting into like the weird parts of Revelation, right?

These are the parts that everybody, they're all curious about.

Because so far it's just been, hey, I know what your church is doing.

Stop it or I'm coming and I'm going to destroy it.

And now we're starting to get into, I've got a vision and there's some weird creatures up there.

And they're full of eyes and they kind of look like a lion and maybe like an eagle and all this kind of stuff.

And eyes are literally surrounding them all over and they've got wings.

What do you do with that?

Why on earth?

Is that even described there?

Like what is going on?

And so there are some interesting things about these creatures.

This isn't the first time they appear in Scripture.

We see something like them in Ezekiel chapter one, verses five through six.

So Ezekiel chapter one, verses five through six.

This is what the Bible says.

And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures.

And this was their appearance.

They had a human likeness, but each had four faces and each of them had four wings.

Now it's not until verse 10 that we actually hear and read the descriptions of what those faces look like.

So Ezekiel one, 10.

And as for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face.

The four had the face of a lion on the right side.

The four had the face of an ox on the left side.

And the four had the face of an eagle.

So these creatures in Ezekiel, they are essentially the same ones that we're reading about in Revelation,

only with very slight minor differences.

In Ezekiel later on in chapter 10, these creatures are going to be described as cherubim.

What are cherubim?

Burning ones.

Okay, let's put it in like everyday church language.

What are they?

They're angels.

They're a class of angels.

They're angelic beings.

And the ones here in Revelation chapter 4, they're not necessarily described as cherubim,

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

but it's obvious that these creatures here in Revelation chapter 4, they are part of the angelic order.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

And not only that, there's a very good chance that they are of the highest angelic order.

Now where would we get that?

Very good chance that they're of the highest angelic order.

Any ideas where we might get that?

Isaiah?

Potentially?

Okay, any other suggestions?

Well notice how they're described here.

This is very important, okay?

The Bible does not say here in these verses that these angels are the creatures they are likened to.

Did you pick up on that?

It never says they are these creatures.

They say they are like these creatures.

That word like is a very crucial word there.

In other words, when John is receiving this vision from the Lord and he is trying to comprehend what he's seen,

he's not seeing a lion and an eagle and an ox and a human.

He is seeing some angelic being that in some way bears likeness to what we would know as those type of creatures here on earth.

Does that make sense?

In some way they are in the same likeness of each other.

And notice which creatures they're likened to.

We see that there is a lion, there's an ox,

there's a human and there is an eagle.

Why those?

All are very strong, okay?

Anything else?

What's the nickname for a lion?

The king of the jungle.

What about an ox?

What do you think of when you think of an ox?

Strong, powerful.

It's the strongest domesticated animal that there is.

What does the Bible say about humans?

Creating God's image.

So we are literally the highest of God's creation.

What about an eagle?

What do you think of when you think of an eagle?

Majestic.

You think of birds, there's no greater bird than an eagle, right?

And so think about what you have here.

These four creatures are representative of the highest order of God's creation here on earth.

What do you have in a lion?

You have the highest wild animal, right?

What's higher and more majestic than a wild life than a lion?

You're not really going to find anything.

What about an ox?

You're not the highest domesticated animal, correct?

The most powerful.

You think about a human.

It's the highest of God's creation here on earth.

You think about an eagle.

It's the highest of all birds.

So what you have here are categories of God's creation here on earth,

and each one of these represents the highest one within those categories,

and these angelic beings are likened to the highest order of God's creation here on earth.

In other words, these angelic beings are in some way representative of the highest order of angels,

not only because they're likened to this, but they are the closest ones to the throne of God.

Are they not?

Not everybody gets to just be right there at the throne of God all the time,

and yet we read in Revelation 4 that these creatures are around the throne,

right there in the presence of the Lord.

And so it's very likely a way of saying that these four living creatures around the throne

are of the highest order of angels since they alone get to be so close to God and His throne.

But these creatures, they're not just similar to the cherubim that we read about in Ezekiel 1 and in chapter 10.

They're also like the seraphim from Isaiah 6.

Do you all remember that? Gene just referenced that a second ago.

Gene, that's what you were referencing, right?

Yeah.

Okay, so Isaiah 6, we have the seraphim,

and this is what we read in those verses, Isaiah 6, 2-3.

Above him stood the seraphim.

Each had six wings with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And one called to another and said,

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of His glory.

So notice the similarities there.

Both of these creatures in both chapters, they have all these wings,

and they have all these eyes, and the wings are covering the eyes in Isaiah 6.

And both start off by saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.

Now, Isaiah says, Lord of hosts, Revelation says, Lord God Almighty,

Revelation says, who was and is and is to come,

Isaiah says, the whole earth is filled with His glory.

And so you see that these creatures are also described as having eyes all around them.

Now, this is really important, okay?

What genre are we reading?

Do you remember, we had a whole long discussion about this.

What is the genre of Revelation?

Apocalyptic.

What are some key features of apocalyptic literature?

We said it was highly symbolic, right?

It's like a picture book, right?

It's not meant to be a puzzle book.

It's meant to be a picture book where you see these pictures

and you kind of get the idea of the story.

And so apocalyptic literature uses symbols.

It uses pictures to try to convey an idea or a message.

So should we think about angelic beings that are literally covered with eyes all around them?

Maybe. That's possible.

Many people interpret it that way.

What would be the purpose of having so many eyes?

To see everything?

You see things and where are they?

And so the eyes are all around them, but where are these creatures?

The throne of God.

And so why would they need all of these eyes around the throne of God?

Yes. Very good.

So, hey, that's good. That's perfect.

So yeah, I think it could be a way of conveying an idea

that these angelic beings are being vigilant and diligent to watch over the throne of God

and in some way to protect the throne of God.

Now, obviously God does not need protection in any way, shape or form,

but they are willing to do that role if that is what is required of them.

And so they are keeping constant watch over the throne of God.

They're not looking directly at God because the Bible says that they're covering their eyes

because the glory of God would absolutely just burn you up like that, right?

And so maybe they are having literal eyes all over them, but I don't think that's the case.

I think it's a way to convey the idea that they are being watchful over the throne of God

and being vigilant in their responsibilities.

And notice what it says here of these living creatures.

It says, day and night, they never cease to say,

Holy, holy, holy, as the Lord God Almighty who was and is, and is to come.

Now, that threefold repetition is really important there, right?

I mean, repetition is always important in the Bible.

You have to write Bible study technique, you're reading the Bible.

Anytime a word is repeated, circle the word.

That's what I do in my Bible because you'll start seeing all those circles and you go,

Oh wait, I bet that's the main idea of this passage.

We've mentioned clean like six times.

I bet this passage has to do with something with cleanliness or something like that,

or God cleansing us.

So here we have, Holy, holy, holy.

It's interesting that the Bible never says that God is love, love, love,

God is kind, kind, kind, or God is gracious, gracious, gracious,

or God is merciful, merciful, merciful.

Of course, he is those things, right?

But none of them get the threefold repetition.

The only thing of God that gets the threefold repetition in Scripture is the holiness of God.

And yet, is it not the holiness of God that is probably the attribute of God that is most neglected today?

We want to talk about God's love.

We want to talk about His forgiveness.

We want to talk about His kindness and His mercy and His grace and all these things.

And again, those things are wonderful.

They are important.

We should talk about them.

But the attribute of God that throughout Scripture garners the most attention and has the most impact on people

is the holiness of God.

He's too holy to even look at.

When you come into His presence, He told Moses,

take your sandals off, you're standing on holy ground.

When Isaiah saw the great vision of God and the holiness of God, the glory of God before him,

he said, what was me?

Because I'm a man of unclean lips, I dwell amongst the people of unclean lips.

My eyes have seen the Lord.

The holiness of God is what impacts people more than anything else in Scripture.

And yet, we entirely neglect it today.

His holiness is what sets Him apart from everything else.

His holiness that shows that He is entirely separate from everything else.

His holiness warrants respect and honor and reverence because God is entirely other.

He is not like us.

And so often we try to make Him out to be like He is like us, don't we?

Treat Him as if He is just another human, He's just another man.

And His holiness is what separates Him, sets Him apart.

And so these living creatures day and night, they never cease to praise Him

and declare His holiness and glory to all of heaven.

But I want you to just focus on that, don't miss that.

There is never a moment in which these living creatures fail to praise and glorify God.

Night and day, they never cease.

Night and day, understand that.

All the time, they never cease to praise and glorify God.

Now is that the same for us?

Night and day, we're a people who never fail to praise and glorify God, right?

When do we most praise and glorify God?

When things are going well.

When life is good.

When life is easy.

When tragedies don't happen and it's just smooth sailing and we're like,

man, if we could just keep this up, this is great.

I didn't know life could be this good.

God, if you could just keep it like this, that would be fantastic.

But then what happens?

Life.

Life happens and tragedy does happen.

Suffering happens.

Horde ships come.

Where's the praise and the glory and the honor then?

Is it the first thing that we do?

Is it the natural response of our hearts?

Or do we just try to endure and get through that time and get through the time when we no longer feel pain

and suffering and heartache anymore and then once we're on the other side of it,

then we'll praise God again because then He's worthy of it again.

Is that not what we do?

Is God's worth dependent on our circumstances?

Then why do we act like it is?

If His worthiness to be praised and honored and glorified is not dependent upon our circumstances,

then why do we only praise Him and glorify Him and honor Him when things are going good for us?

Part of the human condition, that's right brother.

Yeah, Horatia Spafford. Yes sir.

Almost his wife too, but she made it.

Yeah, so y'all remember that story? Yeah.

That's right.

When Sorrow is like C. Billow's role and he's right over the spot where his daughters drowned at sea

and in the midst of that pain, he recognizes that even though there was a tragedy,

that tragedy is not indicative of God's character, that God never changes.

Our circumstances, they will change and they will change often.

Will they not? God never changes.

And if He is worthy to be praised on our best days and He never changes,

what does that mean about on our worst days?

He's just as worthy to be praised and honored and glorified.

And that's ultimately what these living creatures are reminding us of.

That's part of the reason God gives this vision to John and now to us is to show us

that God is worthy to be praised at all times regardless of our circumstances.

I mean that was kind of our VBS thing like two, three weeks ago now.

Was it two weeks here? Time's crazy.

But I mean when life is wild, when life is scary, when life changes, when life is sad,

when life is good, God is good.

That's right. God is good.

And so that's the whole idea behind showing us.

It's not just to depict what's actually going on in heaven because this is going on.

This is a reality. This is going on even right now as we talk about it, which is surreal to think about.

As we are talking about these creatures, they are in the midst of saying,

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.

And it's showing us that if living creatures who were not made in the image of God

never cease to praise Him and glorify Him, then don't you think those who are made in His likeness

should be the ones to praise and glorify Him?

They look like eagles and lions and ox and one looks like a human, maybe?

We are literally made in His image.

And yet we tie His worthiness to be praised to our earthly, temporary circumstances.

God is greater than our circumstances.

And I want you to notice just very quickly that praising the Lord is what all the heavenly hosts do.

I mean, look at verses 9-11 very quickly.

And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who seated on the throne,

who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before Him who is seated on the throne

and worship Him who lives forever and ever, they cast 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.

Now notice how the 24 elders, they join into the praise.

Remember we talked about them last time that we were studying Revelation chapter 4

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

saying that the 24 elders are probably representative of the entire people of God

because you had 12 tribes of Israel, you had 12 apostles of Jesus,

and so it is representative of the old covenant people, new covenant people

joined together to encompass the entire people of God.

And notice what it says, it's so interesting.

It says, Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to God,

what happens, the 24 elders join in.

Well what did we just read about the four living creatures?

All the time they never cease day and night to praise the Lord

and so whenever they do that, all the time, the 24 elders join in.

So what are the 24 elders doing?

All the time praising the Lord, giving Him honor and glory.

And so you see that the entire heavenly host are constantly praising the Lord

and declaring that He is worthy, worthy to receive glory and honor and power.

The question is why?

Did you notice what the verse said?

You're worthy to receive glory and honor and power because you created all things.

That's right.

God alone created all things and they came into existence for no other reason

than the fact that He willed them into existence.

God is the only being who has ever created anything from nothing,

no pre-existing material and without the aid of anything else.

You know people talk about humans creating things all the time.

When we create things, we just use things that are already here.

A bunch of pre-existing material.

Humans, when we create things, we're essentially just finding new ways to put things together.

Here's two things I didn't think could go together. Now they're here.

So that's me creating something, right?

Not with God.

There was nothing and then God said, let there be light.

And guess what happened?

There was light. Why?

Because God literally just said, let there be light and it responded even though it didn't exist.

I mean we can't even comprehend this.

This is power that we can't even imagine or understand.

No human being has ever created something from nothing.

No angelic being has ever created something from nothing.

No cosmological forces, according to our scientists, they would think otherwise,

but no cosmological forces have ever created something from nothing.

Only God can do that.

And when He says for something to be done, it is done.

I mean still to this day, our universe is still expanding.

We know that, right?

How amazing is it that God literally says, let there be light,

let there be all these different things, He speaks the universe into existence,

and since He didn't say to stop, it's still going.

Since He spoke the words, it has not stopped.

It has just kept going because God never said, okay, you're good.

He said that to the seat, you can come this far and no further.

So our universe continues to obey God. I'm just going to keep going out that way

because God said to exist, so I'm going to expand.

This is power that we can't even imagine.

And so when the angelic beings see this happen, and imagine being there when this happened.

According to the book of Job, and you can reference this also in Psalms,

there's a good likelihood God had already created all the angelic beings

and the heavenly host before He created the earth,

and maybe what we know is the sky, which I would have called the heavens and things like that,

because they were praising Him as He was creating these things.

And so imagine being there when God decides, I'm going to create a universe,

and He, they're like, well, I don't even know what that is, God, what is that?

And then He says, okay, watch this, let there be light,

and all of a sudden they see light, and what in the world just happened?

And He says, okay, watch this, here's going to be sky, birds, animals, all these creatures.

They've never even seen before, and He's not moving a muscle,

He's just speaking, and these things happen.

What would you do?

I'd praise Him and glorify Him too, if He could just say something and it appears,

and it just listens to Him, and things do that because He wills them into existence.

Of course He is worthy of our praise and our honor and our glory.

And I want you to notice how they respond as they're praising the Lord.

Notice what it says.

It specifically says that they cast their crowns before the throne of God.

They cast their crowns before the throne of God.

It's an act that signifies a few things.

The first thing that it signifies is humility.

Why would it signify humility?

Okay, yeah, that's good.

Recognize from where the crown comes from?

He's more worthy, yeah, that's good too.

Basically they're saying, any glory we might have is nothing compared to God.

Any power we might have, it's nothing compared to God.

Any authority we might have is nothing compared to God.

In humility they relinquish all claims to any significance and they lay it before God.

And then not only that, it's an act of submission.

Not only are they humbling themselves before the Lord, they are submitting themselves to the Lord.

They're sovereign rule and reign because what does a crown normally signify?

Royalty, what else?

What comes with a crown?

Power, what else?

Authority, dominion, kingship or queenship, rule.

And they take those crowns and they cast them before the throne of God.

They're giving up all claims to rule and authority and they are submitting themselves to God's rule and God's authority.

They're saying essentially, it's not my way, it's not how I would have things, I'm submitting myself to your way and to your will.

And so this scene reminds us that if the 24 elders represent the entire people of God are consisting of people from both covenants,

they humble themselves before God, they submit themselves before God, shouldn't we do the same here and now?

You see, it's only when we're confronted with the reality of God's holiness and the glory of God that we realize that we are nothing before God.

What is our glory compared to the glory of God?

It's like ants.

Yeah, it looks like ants.

That's right, I mean that's the idea here is what is our glory compared to the glory of God?

What is our power compared to the power of God?

What is our beauty compared to the beauty of God?

Our majesty, our authority, our claims to dominion and all these other things.

What are they compared to God?

They are nothing before God and we are as nothing before Him.

And listen to me, the fact that He would even take notice of us, let alone sacrifice His only Son,

for us should not only confound us, but it should prompt eternal praise for the Lord.

I mean we're less than ants.

The Bible says we are dirt and we're going to return to dirt.

What is a bunch of dirt to say to God, you should take notice of me?

And yet not only does He take notice of us, but He sends His only Son to suffer and die for us.

That is a God who is worthy of our praise and our honor.

He is worthy of glory at all times.

And so that's what this scene in heaven is reminding us of.

When you look at these angelic beings, yes, it's cool to think about,

why do they have these faces?

Why do they have all these eyes?

Why do they have all these wings?

Don't get lost in the details and miss the forest, right?

Don't focus on the bark of one tree.

Look at the beauty of the forest.

Because what this is telling us here is not only does God have sovereign power and rule and authority,

so you can trust Him at all times, but it's saying that regardless of your circumstances,

regardless of if you're suffering or hurting, if you're going through trials,

whether life is good or scary or changes or anything else,

God is worthy of our praise and glory at all times.

That is the purpose for which we are created, to glorify Him in fully to enjoy Him forever.

And if we waste our lives seeking these things that are nothing before God,

power, glory, dominion, authority, all those kind of things that are as nothing before Him,

you will waste your life.

The only way to have a full, abundant life, a meaningful life,

and to live to that purpose for which God created you is to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.

Alright, Joseph, you're the man of the hour.