Eternity: Heaven (Revelation 4)

Hello, friends.

This is Pastor Creighton.

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The second lesson is from the book of Revelation, chapter four.

After this I looked, and behold, a door 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 Carnelian.

And around the throne was a rainbow that had appearance of an emerald.

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads.

From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals 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 the face of a man, and 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.

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 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.

The word of the Lord, thanks be to God.

Behold, a door standing open in heaven.

And John writes, day and night, heavenly creatures never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

So let's pray.

Most merciful Father, you are radiant and dazzling in your glory, and you invite us to behold your presence by your Holy Spirit.

Father in heaven, we pray that you would gather our hearts even right now.

That your word would renew and transform us from one degree of glory to the next.

That in our lives, that in our communities, things on earth may be a little bit more as they are in heaven.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Well, please be seated.

The uh comedian and uh talk show host Conan O'Brien shares an experience he had uh when he was quite young, uh, being taught at a Catholic school.

Let's say he was no older than six years old or so.

He was coloring whatever picture he was coloring at the time, while uh a nun who was his teacher was explaining to him from the catechism what heaven is, what heaven's all about.

And I think with a mind to connect with the six-year-old, try and communicate something meaningful, but maybe in not the best way, the nun was trying to convey just how wonderful heaven is.

At his right hand there are pleasures forevermore, right?

And so she asks Conan, what do you really like to do?

And Conan recalls that maybe he was living in the moment in a particular way that only a six-year-old can, but he says, I really like to color, and that makes sense.

And the nun says, Well, heaven is a lot like coloring forever, with the best markers on the best pictures, with the best paper, you know, forever and ever.

And Conan says, I sort of thought about it for a second, and even as a six-year-old, he says, I sort of thought, wow, heaven sounds really boring.

Because he's like, even as a six-year-old, I'm like, yeah, coloring's fun, but like there's a lot of other fun things to do too.

And if I color too long, I'm for sure going to get bored, right?

Have we ever had that thought about heaven?

Is heaven just gonna be really boring?

It can be the best thing we've ever experienced, but it's the only thing we experience, it's just gonna be really boring.

And that's something like uh if anyone's seen the recent sitcom The Good Place, which is just one of my favorites, whether or not it should be is another question, but it's just so good.

It portrays the afterlife, you know, this good place, so to speak, as something so banal, so routine, just full of frozen yogurt everywhere.

And uh, and and there really seems to be, I mean, the the only break, so to speak, are these misadventures that the characters have getting kind of in and out of trouble, right?

I mean, if heaven is something that's boring or banal, maybe it seems like something that would be more confining than anything else.

Maybe we start to track with um the great hymnist uh John Lennon, and he is a hymnist, when he writes, imagine there's no heaven, right?

What does he say?

It's easy if you can.

It's easy if you try, that's right.

Only sky.

Imagine all the people living for today.

But he's making an important point, right?

If we live with our heads stuck in the clouds, we will never learn to appreciate the moment.

At least that's what he's trying to convey.

Do you think that that's true?

See, we're tracking with this series on eternity, looking at where the Christian life is headed.

The Christian life is not an aimless cycle, it's a journey.

It has the destination.

Last week we saw that that destination arrives at the marriage supper of the Lamb, where God wants to share his glory, his life, his triune love with us forever and ever, and he's gathering us as a groom gathers a bride into this beautiful union that we're purposed for.

The Christian life is a pilgrimage to this moment, this heavenly moment.

And today we want to understand what heaven is all about.

The Bible is really rather unapologetic about the existence of heaven.

It's not really, it's not really interested in making arguments for us moderns who might struggle whether or not this is something that's credible or believable.

It just says that heaven is, as clearly as it says that God is.

In fact, Genesis 1.1 begins by saying that God created the heavens and the earth.

And that's a pretty bold statement.

God created the heavens and the earth.

That takes time to unpack.

But we should also make a note right there that if we're tracking this word heaven through Scripture, there's a few different ways that heaven is used.

In Genesis 1.1 is an example where heaven doesn't necessarily communicate what we think of heaven, which is to say the place where uh the saints go when we pass, but it's it's talking about uh it's talking about the space above us in our cosmology.

It's talking about the sky or the celestial bodies that God is forming.

There's a first and second heaven, so to speak, in the material celestial universe that we occupy, and so too there's a third heaven that St.

Paul describes in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, a place where God's glory is fully realized, fully manifest, where he dwells with his saints.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

And we glimpse this through Scripture.

Throughout the Old Testament, there's glimpses that there's something of the place of the dead, the place where souls go when they pass, and there's some kind of distinction between those who die in right relationship with the Lord and those who die without a right relationship with the Lord.

We're gonna unpack that more next week as we look at the doctrine of hell together.

But heaven gives us glimpses, or pardon me, the Bible gives us glimpses of heaven.

And we might be surprised by that.

The Bible is not giving us a full systematic theology, so to speak, of heaven, but it is giving us true statements, true things to cling to and hold on to, even if the resolution is a little unclear, even if it's a little bit of a low-resolution picture, it's a true picture of heaven.

And there are things we can say on the authority of God's word that are definite about heaven.

So the challenge with this series, a series on eternity, is neither saying too much, going places where the Bible doesn't exactly clarify, and the danger also is saying too little, as if the Bible says nothing to us about what eternity is or is like.

So we're gonna try and walk this tightrope together today and through this series.

The Bible may give us glimpses of heaven.

It may not give us the all the answers to all the questions we might have about heaven, but what it says is important.

And what it says might challenge some of our presuppositions or some of our kind of popular and focused notions about what heaven is like.

And if you've watched The Good Place, you know that we still have a lot of popular and focus notions about what heaven is like.

So the Bible is concerned, first and foremost, with what makes heaven heaven.

The Bible is concerned with the heart of heaven.

Maybe it doesn't give us all the details we'd like about heaven, but it does tell us what's at the center of heaven, what makes heaven heaven.

And here's what I want to suggest it has to say.

Heaven is where God's glory, where his divine life, are most fully realized and are most fully shared.

Heaven is where God's glory and his divine life are most fully realized and are most fully shared.

It's where God's glory, his triune love, is just put on full display.

And I think when we take a survey of what the Bible has to say about heaven, Old Testament and New Testament, I think we have to arrive at Revelation chapter 4 and recognize something of a summit of this mountain.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

We're getting a glimpse from the mountaintop, just a little bit further through the eyes of St.

John, who's writing this letter, and it is a letter, while he's in exile on the island of Patmos, kind of off the in the Mediterranean Sea, I believe it's in the Mediterranean Sea, but anywho, John is writing to Christians experiencing fierce persecution.

Christians who are fleeing from the government because they're being fed to lions and impaled on stakes and being used as torches at Caesar's little get-togethers and garden parties.

I think over 40,000 Christians were put to death under Emperor Diocletian, who's the emperor at this moment.

So John is writing to desperate Christians, but he's writing about a great hope.

He wants to direct the hearts and minds of Christians to what makes heaven heaven.

God's glory and his divine life are promised to us.

And this is the promise to us here, new song.

God wants to share his glory and his divine life with you, not just in future tense, by the way, but presently.

He wants to draw you into his heavenly life.

Let's have a look at Revelation chapter 4.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

Let's have a look at what it has to say about heaven.

Let's let it direct our hearts and our minds and our sanctified imaginations towards this glorious day, this glorious happening.

I think Revelation 4 says at least three things about heaven.

I think it says that heaven is heaven because, number one, God reigns there.

I think it says heaven is heaven because angels dwell there.

And I think it says heaven is heaven because saints worship there.

God reigns, angels dwell, and saints worship.

Here is where God's glory and divine life are most fully realized and shared.

It's the great mystery we're getting caught up in.

Okay, so heaven is heaven because God reigns there.

First off, we might ask the question well, I thought God is sort of everywhere.

Why do we talk about God is in heaven when it's, you know, we also just as quickly talk about the fact that God is omnipresent.

He is He is everywhere, He's with us even now, and that's very true.

We might want to think of an example like, well, let's say a monarch, right?

Let's think of our King Charles.

We have a monarch who is the head of our state here in Canada, but doesn't live in Canada.

It's still very much King Charles' realm.

We'd be wrong to say it isn't, but he dwells in England across the pond, so to speak, right?

So here, maybe King Charles' reign is realized in a more full way in his presence in England, but his reign is still real and felt here in Canada.

Okay, if that doesn't clarify it, let me quote from uh someone who might.

This is from Jonathan Edwards, who's one of the great preacher pastors in centuries past.

He says, Heaven is the palace or presence chamber of this supreme being who is both the cause and source of all holy love.

God, indeed, with respect to his essence, is everywhere.

He fills heaven and earth.

But yet it is said on some accounts, more especially to be in some places rather than others.

God's presence is made manifest in a special way to his people Israel, and in Jerusalem, and in the Holy of Holies at the center of the temple.

Edwards goes on to say that heaven is his dwelling place above all other dwelling places in the universe.

This is where God's glory is most fully realized.

This is the very heart of his reign in heaven and on earth.

And that's why in Revelation chapter 4 we see a throne.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

Verse 1, John says, After this I looked, and behold, the door standing open in heaven.

John's being given a glimpse into heavenly happenings here.

And at the first voice, which I heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.

John is glimpsing something that is future tense, but I don't think, strictly speaking, it's only going to happen in the future.

John is seeing heavenly worship as it plays out in eternity before God, even something that's happening presently, I think, in a way.

At once John says, 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 Carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.

John is giving witness to God's glorious presence reigning and ruling in the center of this heavenly realm.

The Lord reigns, is what the psalmist says in Psalm 93, and John knows that to be true.

Now, Revelation is a book that is full of symbolism and imagery.

So we have to be careful not to not to become so wooden and literalistic in our interpretation that we miss the point that John is making here.

I don't think John is saying that God literally has a body that looks like Jasper and Carnelian, these very dazzling and precious stones.

I think what John is trying to communicate is that God's glory rains from heaven and it is dazzling beyond words.

It is radiant, it is illuminating.

It's stunning.

We can't fully express that that's the case.

And around the throne was a rainbow which reminds us of God's covenant promise, not to destroy the earth, but instead to redeem it.

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads.

We're going to talk about them in a moment.

From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which were the seven spirits of God.

Okay, a couple things going on here.

This throne is pretty awesome.

It is terrific in the truest sense of that word.

Lightning and thunder are peeling off from it.

Being in God's presence is an awesome, overwhelming thing.

And before the throne are burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God.

If we track through Revelation, we'll first encounter these seven spirits in chapter one.

And I don't think it's to suggest that God has seven holy spirits, but rather these seven spirits are a way for John to communicate the fullness of the Holy Spirit, imparting his sevenfold gifts.

This uh one um biblical scholar named Daryl Johnson says that this is this is where the Spirit is uh completely there, completely available, and completely complete.

This is the fullness of God's holy presence in front of his throne, burning as it were like fire.

And before the throne it says that there was a sea of glass, like crystal.

And that's an interesting image.

It's not a chaotic sea, it's not a rippling sea, it's a sea like glass.

In the uh Old Testament temple, on your way into the uh holy place, you would encounter a large washing basin.

It'd be used for cleansing.

It's understood that there needs to be cleansing for sinful and impure human beings before we enter into God's holy presence.

And this prefigures baptism in the New Testament, which is a washing not just of dirt, but an appeal to God for new life raised in Christ.

I can't help but think here is the very throne room from which God reigns and rules, and around it is a sea like glass.

To approach the throne is to be baptized in a real way.

It's to encounter the grace of God in this water, to be made new in him.

This is why uh Eugene Peterson can write that the crystal sea is a baptismal font.

He says in early Christian centuries the usual places of worship were homes, and in the Roman style of a host house building, there was always a place for washing at the entrance.

As Christians came and worshipped in these homes, they used the wash basin as a baptistry.

Baptism was and is entrance into the worshiping community of Christians.

And that's true now, and that's true for all eternity.

So for those of us who are baptized, what an amazing privilege it is to be caught up, as it were, into the very throne room of God.

Here we are, worshiping in his holy presence.

So heaven is heaven because God reigns there in glory.

He is making himself fully manifest and sharing his divine life.

And friends, I can't help but think this is great assurance for those of us who knows the we know the tossings and turnings of an uncertainties of life.

We know there's one sitting on the throne above it all, one who reigns and rules, one who is for us.

That doesn't answer all our questions.

It certainly doesn't answer all of John's uh questions or all of John's audience's questions.

He's writing to persecuted Christians.

Even if he doesn't answer all the reasons why, it assures us that there is one sitting on the throne, that there is one with a plan, that there is one who is for us, and he reigns and rules above all things, and we've been brought into his holy presence, as it were, through our baptism, by grace, through faith.

Heaven is heaven because God reigns there in glory.

Heaven is heaven because angels dwell there as well.

We encounter some heavenly creatures in verses six to eight here.

I do think they're heavenly creatures.

I don't know exactly what to make of these creatures, because that's a pretty wild description, isn't it?

I don't know exactly to make of these creatures.

It could be, in some sense, creation being gathered up in front of the Lord, but I do think compared with Isaiah chapter 6, we're describing heavenly beings.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

We're using wild imagery to describe their power and their majesty.

These are the in the ancient world, these four creatures that are named were considered the four most powerful creatures in all of creation.

So we're trying to bear witness to the fact that there's power in the Lord's throne.

There is power magnifying his name around the throne, on each side of the throne, these four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind, which is to say they there isn't anything that they can't behold.

Everything is laid bare in front of them as the Lord's servants.

He describes the first living creature like a lion, the second like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.

The four living creatures, each with six wings and full of eyes, all around and within, day and night never cease to proclaim, never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is to come.

These heavenly creatures with six wings that correspond to Isaiah's vision of heaven in Isaiah six.

And we see in Isaiah 6 that two wings cover their feet because this is holy ground, and two wings cover their eyes because we can't behold the full, unmediated glory of our amazing God.

Here are these heavenly creatures making a proclamation that God is thrice holy.

He was and he is and he is to come.

See, on the one hand, we're kind of tempted to read something like that, and maybe we're thinking, really?

Angels?

I sort of thought we progressed beyond angels.

I sort of thought we left childish things behind us.

And sometimes, friends, I have to confess, my image of an angel is a very childish thing indeed.

I still picture to this day a Philadelphia cream cheese commercial.

When I think of angels, I think of feathers flying everywhere.

That is not what the Bible presents to us as the reality of angels and angelic beings.

Angels are spiritual beings who themselves are not corporeal.

They live in this spiritual world that God has occupied.

And if there is a God and if he's created heaven and earth, it seems reasonable to think that if there's a spiritual realm, there's probably spiritual beings who occupy that realm.

And those creatures that are loyal to God and loyal to Christ are these angels that serve and proclaim in his presence.

And so the Bible says that angels serve as messengers and heralds and soldiers.

They have intelligence and emotions and will.

But it's important for us to note that angels are not, they aren't humans who have graduated to a higher plane.

Because sometimes I'll hear it said, and sometimes it's a very kind-hearted thing to say, but maybe it's a funeral or maybe it's a time of grief, and someone will say, Well, I think heaven needed another angel.

And that is a kind-hearted thing to say, I get it.

And sometimes in these moments of grief, I don't just want to crack down on theology.

But we need to be careful here.

Because in nowhere in God's word does it say to us that human beings become angels.

They're a different species altogether.

They're heavenly creatures, spiritual beings.

We get to worship with them in heaven, but we don't become angels.

The idea of salvation and throughout Scripture for us human beings is that we become more fully human, not something that's not human.

We become the most human we can be in the new life we share in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So here we are in the presence of angels, but we don't become angels.

So that means we ought to be a little careful about superstitions that can involve angels.

Paul writes a little bit about this in Colossians chapter 2.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

He cautions Christians against the worship of angels, a sort of obsession or a sort of preoccupation with angels.

And in fact, later on in Revelation in chapter 22, John's going to be so overwhelmed that he drops down in front of an angel to offer it worship, and the angel says, knock it off.

I'm a servant of the Lord, just like you.

Direct your worship to the Lord alone.

Angels are fellow servants of the Lord with us, of a different species, but we're gathered together into his holy presence.

Heaven is heaven because angels dwell there, and because in heaven their proclamation is made most fully known, most fully manifest.

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

This is made real in heaven.

So in our prayers, and in our spiritual life, we can take confidence in the ministry of angels.

One of my favorite prayers to pray at bedtime comes from the Anglican Offeless of Compline.

It goes like this: visit this place, O Lord, and drive far from it all the snares of the enemy.

Let your holy angels dwell with us to preserve us in peace, and let your blessing be upon us always through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The ministry of angels can hearten us, can remind us that the Lord is for us to protect us and preserve us and to gather us into this heavenly moment.

Heaven is heaven because God reigns there, because angels dwell there, and finally heaven is heaven because saints dwell there as well.

This is where I want us to land.

We've met the saints in verse 4.

Elders have been mentioned, 24 elders sitting on 24 thrones, and the math there is not accidental, but highly symbolic.

We think of the 12 patriarchs of Israel, the 12 tribes, each represented by a patriarch, and maybe we think of the 12 apostles of the New Testament, a reconstituted Israel, a renewed people of God.

I can't help but think that the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles is not an accident.

But here we add them together and find 24.

We find the fullness of the people of God represented, Old Testament and New Testament, Old Covenant and New Covenant, all being gathered together to reign with God on the throne.

That's an amazing thing, that God doesn't just have a throne and put himself above all his creations, but he invites these saints to come and sit on, occupy thrones with him.

He wants Christians to reign and rule with him, which is exactly what the Apostle Paul says about salvation in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 6.

Ephesians 2:6

So here we are in the heavenly throne room, meeting these twelve patriarchs and twelve apostles, meant to represent all of the people of God in whom we're included, standing before the throne.

What are they up to?

The twenty-four 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.

It's amazing to think that the elders are here not to glory in their own crowns, not to glory in their own thrones, but here they are before the throne casting their crowns, as it were.

And if they're casting the crowns before the throne, and in front of the throne there's a glassy sea, then it's reasonable to think that these crowns are sinking to the bottom of the sea.

They're willing to drown their own glory, as it were, to behold this heavenly glory.

See, saints are those, if nothing else, who find their worthiness in the overwhelming worth of the Lord God who reigns from the throne.

See, we all trust in something, I think, to make us worthy for significance, for meaning, for purpose.

We all have a crown that we want to bear on our head.

And the journey of sainthood is to take that crown, that glory we've put on our own self, and cast it before the Lord to behold his overwhelming glory, to behold the worth that he counts towards us.

And friends, he counts us of great worth, of overwhelming worth to himself.

Revelation chapter 5 will tell us about a lamb who sits on this throne as well, and this lamb looks as though it's been slain.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

It's no mystery as to what this lamb represents.

This is our Lord Jesus.

And why has he been slain?

He's been slain as an atonement for sin upon the cross.

We were of such great worth to the overwhelmingly worthy God that he was willing to die for us, that by his resurrection we can have hope of a new and heavenly life.

This is the Lamb who sits on the throne, who says, You are worthy.

And so in John chapter 14, we can read that Jesus goes to prepare a place for us.

John 14 · chapter mention

Last week we talked about the betrothal imagery in the marriage supper, that a glass of wine was offered from bridegroom to a bride, and when it was accepted, they were betrothed.

Well, what would happen immediately after that first glass of wine and before the second at the wedding ceremony itself is the groom would go away, and he'd go away to his father's house, and he'd add an extension on that house.

Keep in mind this is not the day and age where you just moved out in the country and started your own thing.

He goes back to his father's house and he literally adds a room to that house, and that is going to be the room that he and his bride occupy together.

So what does Jesus say?

I'm gonna go and prepare not a mansion for you, by the way, but a room for you in my father's house.

There's many rooms.

And I'm inviting my people to come and enjoy the everlasting union with me forever in the place that I've prepared for you.

See, the hope of heaven is something we can grab onto, not because of our own aspirations, not because we're trying really, really hard to be the best saints we can, but because in Christ He has made that promise to us that through faith, this is our hope.

He will come to gather us, and he will come again to make his home with us forever.

He alone is the way, the truth, and the life.

We have only to trust in him for the hope of heaven.

See, friends, heaven is heaven because the saints worship there.

We have been gathered by God to share in his glory and his divine life forevermore.

Saints, I'm I'm really, there are so many people I'm looking forward to seeing in heaven.

There are people I miss.

And one of them is a dear brother we've been grieving these last number of weeks.

And I look forward to seeing folks like him again.

And these are these are moments worth looking forward to.

But will make it all the better is that having embraced, having shouted for joy at the reunion, we'll together turn and go to the throne together.

To go to the one who is worthy, the one who has prepared a place for us, the one who loves us, the one who has invited us to this heavenly hope.

Heaven is heaven.

Because this is where God's glory and divine life are shared with us.

So, friends, in weeks to come we're going to explore this hope of heaven even further.

Because this hope of heaven renews creation itself, it renews and resurrects our bodies.

But here we are with the hope of everlasting life in Christ.

We have only to put our trust in Him.

So, right now, saints, let's let's live with a holy longing, a holy anticipation of that day to come.

And let's join our voices with angels and with archangels and all the company of heaven who forever sing to the glory of God's name.

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

Amen.

Thank you for listening today.

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