Revelation 4: The Throne Room

[SPEAKER_01]: How many doors have you walked through today so far?

[SPEAKER_01]: Think about that with me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Probably your bedroom door, bathroom door, walked out to the car through the garage door, we go through doors all the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we don't really notice them.

[SPEAKER_01]: They let us in and out and came in the doors.

[SPEAKER_01]: To the building here and doors into the auditorium, some doors are a little more important or meaningful.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some doors will listen to some emotion.

[SPEAKER_01]: you open in the restaurant door and you're going in for dinner with a bunch of friends that's a really really good time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some of you moms of college student moms and dads of college students that bedroom door that your college student isn't behind is kind of sad now because they're off the school.

[SPEAKER_01]: So doors are important to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are some famous doors that have some meaning you might recognize.

[SPEAKER_01]: This one is 10 Downing Street.

[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of important stuff has happened behind that door throughout the years.

[SPEAKER_01]: Our gates of paradise in Florence, Italy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then there's the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then the door at all Saints Church in Vittenburg, Germany where Martin Luther.

[SPEAKER_01]: They pulled the 95 thesis that launched the Protestant Reformation.

[SPEAKER_01]: Doors are really important for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now we're jumping back into Revelation chapter four today, and it begins with a door.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's why we're talking about doors as we get started.

[SPEAKER_01]: So open your Bibles.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you have them to Revelation chapter four,

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is the door to ultimate reality.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is what God is wanting John to see.

[SPEAKER_01]: John, when John, the apostles having his vision, looking through the door into heaven, he discovers the ultimate reality that changes how we see everything else in life.

[SPEAKER_01]: God is on the throne for John's readers and for us today, this is of ultimate importance, because on our side of the door,

[SPEAKER_01]: On our side of the door, the world looks really chaotic.

[SPEAKER_01]: Governments rise and fall, people suffer, evil sometimes wins, churches struggle, Christians are persecuted.

[SPEAKER_01]: We need to see

[SPEAKER_01]: What's happening on the other side of the door?

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what John is invited to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Several weeks ago, we launched the series covering the book of Revelation.

[SPEAKER_01]: We got to the end of chapter three.

[SPEAKER_01]: We took a break and looked at Jonah's story.

[SPEAKER_01]: We ended that last week.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now we're back and John picks up following the messages to the churches and the first three chapters of Revelation.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now the vision recorded in chapter four

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's fitting that it starts with a door, a passageway.

[SPEAKER_01]: Gonna look at three main movements in this vision.

[SPEAKER_01]: The first is that the door opens, and God invites John to see reality.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at verse one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before, spoke to me like a trumpet blast.

[SPEAKER_01]: The voice said, come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, the phrase of this opening verse in Revelation 4 takes us back to similar visions in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, in the prophecy of Zikil in the Old Testament.

[SPEAKER_01]: Daniel chapter 6, or 7 verse 6, says, after this I looked and behold another like a leopard with four wings, a bird on its back and the beast had four heads and dominion was given to it.

Daniel 6 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of lofty image of creatures that don't seem to be creatures like we see

[SPEAKER_01]: So this is an introduction to a new section in Revelation.

[SPEAKER_01]: Many scholars say this vision, kind of this vision in the one coupled with it next week in chapter five, really are foundational for the rest of the prophecy of Revelation.

[SPEAKER_01]: The same voice that John heard in chapter one, the voice like a trumpet blast.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now summons John to come and see what's behind this portal

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, our vocabulary about heaven is interesting.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it typically, we talk in common vernacular in the church of heaven being a place we go when we die.

[SPEAKER_01]: And almost like it's the place we go like we go to the beach revocation or we go to the mountains.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's this geographic destination that we go to.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the Bible teaches that, but it misses kind of the fall meaning of heaven when we just think of it as a place we go when we die.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because the Bible, while it teaches that believers who die are with Christ, Philippians, chapter one, second Corinthians, chapter five, that's not the end of the biblical story.

[SPEAKER_01]: The hope we have is after we die and go to be with Christ, we'll be resurrected one day and the new heaven and new earth and live with God forever after he restores things.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible does use heaven though to talk about the physical part of the universe, the canopy,

[SPEAKER_01]: solar system, the atmosphere, the heavens, the Bible says, that's heaven, but there's not all that the Bible describes as heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: Another distinct use of the word heaven is of the dwelling place of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you see how that when those get conflated, the dwelling place of God and placed beyond the stars.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that's where heaven is.

[SPEAKER_01]: God lives

[SPEAKER_01]: past Pluto somewhere, and so that gets conflated that way.

[SPEAKER_01]: What we need to realize is heaven most often is described as the dwelling place of God, not necessarily as a place we go, that dwelling place of God is his supreme transcendence, his glory.

[SPEAKER_01]: John saw this, heard this voice of a trumpet summoning him to the presence, to the place where God

[SPEAKER_01]: exists in all of his glory, in all of his power, in all of his sovereignty.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a glimpse into the throne room of God, a glimpse into the heavenly council.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's worth pausing and reflecting on our own experience with God, and the doorway that's available to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: So much of our life experience as followers of Jesus is about God being present here with us right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: We even pray that He would guide us and protect us and heal us and encourage us and He would move us and He would motivate us and He would be with us and He would do all of these things, help our ministries to be effective.

[SPEAKER_01]: We sing about God coming here, the Holy Spirit coming upon us, and flooding us with His presence, and so much of what we talk about when we speak of God is God come here.

[SPEAKER_01]: And like many things in the Christian life, that's not incorrect, but it is incomplete.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not incorrect, but it isn't complete.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because theologians talk about God's immanence and his transcendence, or tooth theological terms.

[SPEAKER_01]: His immanence speaks of God, God's presence in all of creation.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no place, no conversation, no decision, no disability, no emotion, no fear.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no place in all of creation

[SPEAKER_01]: That's his imminent.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's why it's right to say, God is with us.

[SPEAKER_01]: God guide us by your Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_01]: God is everywhere among us.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no place we can go or things we can think about that don't have God at their center.

[SPEAKER_01]: But his transcendence on the other hand points to the otherness of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Where immanence is God, He's among us, transcendence is His holiness, His sovereignty, His immutability, His immortality, His otherness.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's used sometimes to examine, it's good for us to examine our lives and ask, how are we entering into that level of transformation, discernment, humility and repentance that are found?

[SPEAKER_01]: Now when we ask God to come and do something among us, but when we say, God, would you let me see beyond that door to your holiness and glory change me by your presence?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's the transcendence and the holiness of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: a level of transformation, we don't find it in any other pursuit.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, we don't expect to duplicate John's vision just as John had it in Revelation chapter four, but through John's vision, God gives us a chance to see what John saw and that truth is revealed for us today and it's revealed for us and for the whole church as reality.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's something real and tangible about what's going on here.

[SPEAKER_01]: The reality of heaven as the dwelling place of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: The place where His glory and honor and power are worship 24, seven, all the time by everybody and every element of all creation focuses on Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's that place.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if we minimize or neglect that place, we end up putting our spiritual lives just as a practical day today.

[SPEAKER_01]: God help me to do this kind of life.

[SPEAKER_01]: Think through your activities this past week.

[SPEAKER_01]: What concerns did you have?

[SPEAKER_01]: And what did you do to address those concerns?

[SPEAKER_01]: Where was God in those concerns?

[SPEAKER_01]: Where was He at the center of everything?

[SPEAKER_01]: As good as things might be like our hobbies and our activities and our jobs, none of them have the glory power and transcendence to fully satisfy and fully redeem our soul.

[SPEAKER_01]: Heaven as the dwelling place of God is the most important truth that we can know today.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it is as real as the car that you drove to church in today.

[SPEAKER_01]: And as real as the pew you're sitting on today, that there's a place called heaven where

[SPEAKER_01]: The second movement is into the throne room.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everything revolves around God's throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's start reading a verse two.

[SPEAKER_01]: Instantly I was in the spirit and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it.

[SPEAKER_01]: The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones, like Jasper and Karnelian, and the glow of an emerald circle in circled his throne, like a rainbow, 24 throne surrounded him and 24 elders sat on them.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were all clothed in white and had gold crowns on their heads.

[SPEAKER_01]: From the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder,

[SPEAKER_01]: And in front of the throne, where seven torches with burning flames, this is the seven-fold spirit of God, and in front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass sparkling like crystal.

[SPEAKER_01]: This vision is reminiscent of the vision in the prophecy of Ezekiel in the Old Testament, with all the forces of nature combining with the living creatures, presenting a depiction of the throne room of God, where he gets all of the glory and all the honor for who he is.

[SPEAKER_01]: John, by the way, mentions throne 17 times in Revelation 4 and 5, throne is referenced 17 times in Revelation 4 and 5, 38 times in the rest of the prophecy of Revelation.

[SPEAKER_01]: 38 times in the rest of Revelation, 17 times in these two chapters.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we need to make an asterisk there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Throne is a really, really important theme as we go through the rest of the study in Revelation.

[SPEAKER_01]: In spite of all the troubling turmoil that God's people are gonna go through that John's gonna outline in his visions here, the author wants us to be very clear right up front about who is ultimately in control.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's important for us, too, because we live in a world where everything revolves around selfish pursuits and political powers and natural disasters and pleasure and material wealth and it's good to be reminded that everything in heaven and earth revolves, not around my life and my calendar and my priorities and my pleasure, but around God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everything revolves around God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Revelation is going to show us beasts and dragons and plagues and Babylon and persecution and judgment and incredible cosmic conflict.

[SPEAKER_01]: But before we get into all that, God wanted to do this vision for John with John to make sure all of the readers know before we get into all that chaos, God wants us to know he's in control.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's going to stay in control throughout everything that God is going to take

[SPEAKER_01]: The three stones that are mentioned in verse three are also mentioned in Ezekiel 28.

[SPEAKER_01]: They point to the protection found in the Lord and that chapter where they're included in the ornamentation of the breastplate to the priests.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't need to use the modern geological classifications to figure and sort through all this.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't even know if the details of every little element in this story are really what we're supposed to do to try to figure out how to draw a picture

[SPEAKER_01]: We need to recognize the beauty and radiance refracted in all of these things.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like all the superlative things of this world put together, all the things that are beautiful, all the things that show beauty and glory and honor and value and worth.

[SPEAKER_01]: We put all those together and they point us to God and it's not like all those things do it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's all the language we have in our language false short.

[SPEAKER_01]: to speak to the glory and honor and power and sovereignty of the one who sits on the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: The glowing emerald that circles the throne like a rainbow is really amazing.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like the rainbow circles the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everything, everything happens around the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing that happens that isn't focused on this throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: This emerald rainbow around the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: Clearly, an illusion as rainbows always are in Scripture to the no way covenant in Genesis chapter nine where God promises never to destroy the earth in a worldwide flood.

[SPEAKER_01]: In this, we find new hope and redemption.

[SPEAKER_01]: So even in the throne room of God,

[SPEAKER_01]: his covenant mercy surrounds his throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even in his sovereignty, even in his power, his covenant mercy surrounds his throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a sense of the holiness, impurity, and separateness of God, and a hint to the God of love who's going to restore things to himself according to his purposes.

[SPEAKER_01]: 24-throne, circle the throne, it says where the elders were seated, closed with white and ground with gold crowns.

[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing in this vision, nothing in this chapter, explains to us who these elders are or what they represent.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll start with that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there's a lot of speculation, and some of it is better than others about who these elders are and what they were representing in this vision.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some have said maybe angels, Old Testament Saints, and Jellic representatives, patriarchs, apostles.

[SPEAKER_01]: Many scholars believe they symbolize, and I think this is in my assessment and study.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's something about these elders that are representative of the people of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: We can't say specifically, some of even said there are 24 of them, so maybe it's the 12 tribes of Israel and the Old Testament and 12 apostles and the New Testament, so it's the Old Testament people of God and New Testament people have got maybe, but clearly there's something about these elders are representative of the people of God throughout all time.

[SPEAKER_01]: fair to say, especially when we get to later parts of this chapter, this vision of the heavenly realm where God is central is circled by worshipers, something that we should be reminded of every time we walk into these doors.

[SPEAKER_01]: This hour we spend every week here.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not primarily to help you be a better man or woman to be a better mom or dad, to be a better employee for the next seven days.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not primarily to comfort you in the areas where life is hard.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't gather primarily to get something from God.

[SPEAKER_01]: We gather because God is worthy to get something from us.

[SPEAKER_01]: We gather because God alone is worthy of all the praise

[SPEAKER_01]: First five tells us that lightning and thunder went forth from the throne, and seven torches stood before the throne signifying the sevenfold spirit of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Which doesn't mean seven Holy spirits.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a way to talk about the Holy Spirit's completeness.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, John, in this vision, is this pulling all the superlative language we can find.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we're exhausted when we try to describe the God that we are worshiping here, precious stones, rainbows, lightning thunder, fire, crystal, all of it falls short of the glory of this God, who's sitting on the throne behind the door.

[SPEAKER_01]: Revelation 4, let's look at verses 6 to 8, the first part of verse 8.

[SPEAKER_01]: In the center and around the throne, where four living beings, each covered with eyes and front and back, the first of these living beings was a lie, and the second was an ox, the third at a human face, and the fourth was like an eagle inflate.

[SPEAKER_01]: Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes inside and out.

[SPEAKER_01]: The four living beings covered with eyes, one with lion, one like an ox, another human face, another flying eagle, six wings covered with eyes, likely if the elders stand for somehow represent all of the people of God throughout all time, it's thought that these references represent all of the creatures and the rest of the rest of creation.

[SPEAKER_01]: that is also around the throne, pointing to how holy and sovereign and worth being worshiped God is who sits on the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: In these verses, all the living beings were performing the function that all creation including you and I were meant to fulfill.

[SPEAKER_01]: Romans chapter eight teaches us that all creation is suffering under the curse of the fall and yearning, yearning for that day of renewal when everything is put right.

[SPEAKER_01]: All things have been created to praise God for his holiness and creation wants to do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everything in this heavenly vision, there's not an element in the room, not an atom in this room that's not focused on the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing.

[SPEAKER_01]: that is distracted, everything is focused on his power, his sovereignty, his ascendancy.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's at the center of every thought, action, expression, and element.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that true of our lives?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is it even close to being true of our lives?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do our jobs, our families, or educational pursuits, or financial investments, or choices in education, conversations, attitudes, decisions, calendars?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do they reflect the centrality of the God who's on the throne and who alone deserves all the worship and all the attention and all the credit for everything that has ever done?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do we do that?

[SPEAKER_01]: We can apply this in our church life and it can be uncomfortable, but we don't mind uncomfortable.

[SPEAKER_01]: So does everything we do in church and doing ministry for God revolve around him?

[SPEAKER_01]: We bow our heads when we pray.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's just a habit.

[SPEAKER_01]: or do we really bow because we're humbling ourselves in some kind of a posture, and there's a physicality about worship here, where there's a bowing because I'm recognizing and I'm reminding my own heart and mind about the holiness of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: Or here's one, 50 years ago, in this kind of church kind of churchware, 50 years ago it would have been unthinkable to clap after songs, wouldn't it?

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we just don't do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Clip after someone sings in church.

[SPEAKER_01]: What if I'm unthinkable?

[SPEAKER_01]: And by the way, I'm not saying right or wrong.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just, again, let's be uncomfortable together.

[SPEAKER_01]: So these people really, really worked hard to put together this worship set for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they come and they play.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when we clap and applaud at the end of a song, is it because,

[SPEAKER_01]: You guys nailed that song, and I feel so good right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: Or is it because what an amazing God?

[SPEAKER_01]: What an amazing God.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just saw, I just experienced through what happened here.

[SPEAKER_01]: I tell you, that's their goal.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's their goal.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not that other kind of motivations are bad in it of themselves, but they're not primary.

[SPEAKER_01]: not primary.

[SPEAKER_01]: We want to do well.

[SPEAKER_01]: But in everything, what about in the way we do ministry, our small groups?

[SPEAKER_01]: What about our kids' connection ministry?

[SPEAKER_01]: What about this generosity initiative that we're doing right now?

[SPEAKER_00]: Five years.

[SPEAKER_00]: How can we know that God?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: And break it down into anything in your life or anything in our church, where is God at the center?

[SPEAKER_01]: And yes, we're busy about all kinds of things.

[SPEAKER_01]: And of course, we need to be, and again, they're not all those other activities, they're not bad in none of themselves.

[SPEAKER_01]: But this is a, this is the central question that should drive us who call ourselves followers of God, is he central in everything that we do, enough about that?

[SPEAKER_01]: The next movement is heaven worships.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everything exists for God's glory.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at verse the second part of verse eight on to verse 11.

[SPEAKER_01]: Day after day and night after night, they keep on saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the God Almighty.

[SPEAKER_01]: The one who always was who is and who is still to come.

[SPEAKER_01]: Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down in worship, the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever,

[SPEAKER_01]: and they lay their crowns before the throne and they say, you are worthy, oh Lord, our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and they exist because you created what you pleased.

[SPEAKER_01]: Their praise and their worship is ceaseless.

[SPEAKER_01]: Ceaseless.

[SPEAKER_01]: Still going on.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're not getting tired.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're just continuing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Every element in heaven is ceaselessly worshiping the one who sits on the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: Day after day, night after night their cry is holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

[SPEAKER_01]: Repetition is always important.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's important in common speech for us, too.

[SPEAKER_01]: We might say, after a real

[SPEAKER_01]: Three times is very unusual and something we should take note of.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible applies many significant descriptors to God.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's Spirit, God is love, God is light, God is gracious, God is mighty, God is faithful, God is just, but we can't find the verse that says, God is love, love, love.

[SPEAKER_01]: We can't find the verse that says, God's mercy, mercy, mercy.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we find a few verses that say, He's holy, holy, holy.

[SPEAKER_01]: We put his holiness at a place far above all of us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it actually invades all of the other characteristics of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just that holiness stands alongside of God's other characteristics.

[SPEAKER_01]: God's love is a holy love.

[SPEAKER_01]: God's justice is a holy justice.

[SPEAKER_01]: God's mercy is a holy mercy.

[SPEAKER_01]: His power is a holy power.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everything that God does is holy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Theologically, this has been called the trisogion from the Greek word trisogias, which means thrice holy.

[SPEAKER_01]: In some of you, if you know your Old Testament prophets, you're already thinking, hey, that's familiar to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Isaiah chapter six.

[SPEAKER_01]: versus one through four.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was in the year that King Yusaya died, and I saw the Lord, he was sitting lofty on a throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: The train of his robe filled the temple, attending to him were mighty seraph in each having six wings, with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew, and they were calling out to each other, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven's armies, the whole earth.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's filled with his glory.

[SPEAKER_01]: Their voices shook the temple to its foundation,

[SPEAKER_01]: And Isaiah's response to being ushered into that realm where God sits on his throne was to declare it's all over, I am doomed, I am doomed, I'm such a sinful man.

[SPEAKER_01]: At that moment, God's presence reveals his brokenness.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what going through that door does, isn't it?

[SPEAKER_01]: When you go through that door, when you peek in that door and you see the holiness of God, you see the majesty of God, you see a sovereignty in his power,

[SPEAKER_01]: is infinite love, makes us feel very small, makes us feel very small.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is illustrated in John's vision in verses 9 and 10 when in response to the living beings, those 12 elders who are circling on their own thrones, facing the throne of God, giving honor and glory to the one sitting on the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: They fell down and worshiped.

[SPEAKER_01]: They took the crowns that they were like, and they lay them down at the throne of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: In an act of worship, everything they had goes to Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't do a lot of physical kind of worship around here.

[SPEAKER_01]: We tend to sit still.

[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of other cultures don't do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're active and moving.

[SPEAKER_01]: We need to think about that and quietness of your worship or later when we're closing our service.

[SPEAKER_01]: What's got calling us to do?

[SPEAKER_01]: How do we follow the example of these elders who are doing this as an example for us to give to God those things that he has given to us

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a reminder that everything we have, every power, achievement, success, reward, all the wealth we have, the intellect, the jobs, everything is ultimately due to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's been given to us by His mercy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And there's songs to clear that God alone is worthy to receive glory, honor, and power.

[SPEAKER_01]: Glory, honor, and power.

[SPEAKER_01]: Glory points to God's majestic beauty to His moral and ethical perfection.

[SPEAKER_01]: Romans chapter 3, verse 23 says, sin is to fall short of God's glory.

Romans 3:23

[SPEAKER_01]: To give honor to someone is to show respect for their authority and their worthiness.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we give honor to someone in keeping with the respect and the worthiness that they have.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if I've just a little bit of worthiness, then I get a little bit of respect that it tends to be consistent with that.

[SPEAKER_01]: The more authority that you have, the more honor is due to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the Bible says, we're to give honor to a lot of people.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're to give honor to the parents.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're to give honor to elected officials in our government.

[SPEAKER_01]: But we're to give them that honor in keeping with the authority that they have.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when it says, give honor to God, he's the only one that gets all of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because he's the only one who adds all of the authority, all of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: of John's prophecy, heard this, and they had a context that they were living in, which was of imperial Roman power.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Romans had powers, everywhere they went, they were reminded of who they were instructed to give their respect to.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it was the Roman gods, it was the Roman Emperor, it was the Roman officials, over and over again.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're said, Rome is where you need to give your respect and honor.

[SPEAKER_01]: And revelation pulls back the curtain.

[SPEAKER_01]: And in this chapter, this vision, they learn that Rome does not occupy the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: God occupies the throne, Caesar doesn't occupy the throne, God occupies the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever else we might put in that place in our own lives, doesn't occupy the throne, God occupies the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: Power is the third element in the elder song.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a...

[SPEAKER_01]: This attribute is particularly tied to the next race.

[SPEAKER_01]: Power because you created all things and they exist because you created what you please.

[SPEAKER_01]: God is almighty.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the one who created all life.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the one who governs and sustains things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Listen to these words regarding God's power from David's prayer in 1 Chronicles, chapter 29.

1 Chronicles 29 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everything in the heavens and the earth is yours, O Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is your kingdom.

[SPEAKER_01]: We adore you as the one who is over all things.

[SPEAKER_01]: Wealth and honor come from you alone for you rule over everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: Power and might are in your hand at your discretion.

[SPEAKER_01]: People are made great and given strengths.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not amazing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I got where I am because I worked hard, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: I got where I am.

[SPEAKER_01]: Good, well.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some level, but this says, no, actually God is the one who puts people where they are, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And the big picture, God is the one who orchestrates who is empower, who's not empowered.

[SPEAKER_01]: And all of this again is pointing us to this centrality of worship.

[SPEAKER_01]: This vision is foundational for the rest of Revelation.

[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like I've said that many times that we have to understand.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is setting us up for quite a ride as we go through the rest of the book of Revelation.

[SPEAKER_01]: The culmination of this age is the ushering end of the new heaven and the new earth, which is the path from here to there is not a really smooth path.

[SPEAKER_01]: The path from here to there is one of two-mult turmoil, suffering, unpredictability, and the anchor for John's readers and the anchor for us today is looking into that doorway and seeing the realm and gaining that perspective where God is still on His throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are a lot of references to doors and gates and curtains, entryways like doors and the Bible, a lot of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: The temple, oh, Jesus in John chapter 10, said, I'm the door, or gate talking about door for sheep.

John 10 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus said, I'm the door.

[SPEAKER_01]: And in the temple, had a curtain, a large curtain that separated,

[SPEAKER_01]: The Holy of Holies were God's presence, dwelt from the rest of the temple where everybody else was.

[SPEAKER_01]: A door.

[SPEAKER_01]: Three of the four gospels include the story of Christ's crucifixion that when he died that curtain, that door that separated, the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was torn in two.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the barrier was split open, so that men and women who were excluded were now granted access through Jesus Christ to the very throne room of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: The God on his throne is not merely powerful.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's holy, holy, holy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Isaiah saw his holiness and cried, I'm doomed.

[SPEAKER_01]: How do sinful people like us approach his throne?

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't force the door open.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't push the door open.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't bang on the door till he gets tired of us and lets us in.

[SPEAKER_01]: We go in because Jesus opened the door for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: When Jesus died, that curtain was ripped into,

[SPEAKER_01]: And through his body and his blood, Christ opened the door for the presence of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: That means that the throne room that should terrify guilty sinners has become a throne room of mercy and grace for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And when we go to that place, when we enter into that throne room of God, spiritually right now, one day will enter physically into that throne room.

[SPEAKER_01]: We celebrate that.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't approach because we're worthy, we approach because the Lamb is worthy.

[SPEAKER_01]: One of my favorite quotes about God's holiness is from Oswald Chambers, when we preach the love of God, there's a danger of forgetting that the Bible reveals not, first the love of God, but the intense blazing holiness of God, with his love at the center of that holiness.

[SPEAKER_01]: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

[SPEAKER_01]: What's your response to this vision and the throne room of God?

[SPEAKER_01]: and to the unceasing worship that goes on in this throne room.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you need to be more mindful of the doorway to heaven that's available to you in Christ?

[SPEAKER_01]: Where you encounter God's holiness and majesty?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you need to acknowledge the sin and rebellion and selfishness in your life and humbly bow before the one who's worthy?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you need to daily remind yourself that it's the holiness of God that your anchor for the challenges, the struggles, the temptations that you might experience?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you need the encouragement of knowing that day and night?

[SPEAKER_01]: There's an unending worship celebration in heaven that we can peer into and wear a part of from afar right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: The door is open for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: The door is open.

[SPEAKER_01]: When anxiety tells you everything's out of control, the door is open.

[SPEAKER_01]: When suffering makes you wonder whether God's forgotten you, the door is open, look to the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: When the news makes it seems like evil is winning in the world is that hopeless, the door is open, look to the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: When temptation promises you something better than obedience promises you, look to the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: When success whispers that you deserve the credit for this, follow the example of the elders

[SPEAKER_01]: When death reminds you that this world is not what it should be, the door is open, look at going to the throne.

[SPEAKER_01]: So right now, while we sit in this room, heaven is not silent, around God's throne, the song is never stopped.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's still going on, holy, holy, holy, one day by the grace of Jesus Christ, we're going to join that chorus, not as spectators, but as redeemed, worshipers who've laid every crown before him.

[SPEAKER_01]: Today, we're going to do that a little bit.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to have the Lord suffer.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to think some more songs here.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to respond in worship to God.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to invite the servers to come to the tables.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to observe the Lord's supper in a different way than we normally would.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, I said this passage, this vision speaks of a physicality and worship that we normally don't do.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we didn't think we could just like pass a tray of communion today and sit still.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're not going to let you sit still.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to do something different.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have stations set up.

[SPEAKER_01]: with bread and juice and after I explain what we're going to do and I pray you're invited when you're ready to get up from where you are and come to one of the tables where there's some bread that's broken apart you take a piece of bread and dip it in the juice you could take that right there you could go find a place.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, we don't kneel a lot around here.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have knelers in the pew.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to kneel in praise somewhere, kneel in praise somewhere, if you want to sit and pray, if you want to stand and praise God do, do what you want to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you could take communion at the table.

[SPEAKER_01]: You could find a place.

[SPEAKER_01]: You could take it back to your seat.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you prefer the two cups with juice in a wafer, we have those at the tables in the back along with the bread and the juice.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if you prefer that, you can go to those tables.

[SPEAKER_01]: So after I pray, I'll just invite you to come and worship, worship God for sinning is Son Jesus to die for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're a follower of Jesus, whether you go to church here or not, you're welcome to come.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you know Jesus is your savior, come and take this meal with us.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't, you can sit where you are and just let these met the message of the glory of God sink into your heart and into your soul.

[SPEAKER_01]: By the way, in the balcony, there are also our both the cups and the bread and the juice to dip in.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, after I pray, you know, welcome to come to the tables when you're ready, and you have to come right away.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can take time.

[SPEAKER_01]: We can have lines.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're just going to take some time and worship God for the rest of the service through the Lord's supper and through singing some songs of worship to Him.

[SPEAKER_01]: Join me in prayer, and then you're welcome to come.

[SPEAKER_01]: Heavenly Father, we join with the celestial chorus today to use everything in our being to magnify your holiness and power.

[SPEAKER_01]: What we read about in this vision is every element in the throne room is centered on you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the best we can for the remaining minutes of this service, we want everything to be centered on you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because you're the God who sent His Son to die for us.

[SPEAKER_01]: to give us access to this throne room.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for opening the door to heaven for us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: As we remember him now by observing the last meal he had with his disciples, we humbly asked that you forgive us for our sins, for the thoughts, words, and actions that we engage in so readily that do not honor you.

[SPEAKER_01]: May we know more of your holiness and your power to live as you've called us and be empowered for your glory.

[SPEAKER_01]: Through this communion, we declare that you are holy, holy, holy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Come when you're ready.