Mar 17
19

Sermon: The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse: Revelation 6:1-8

Old Testament Reading: Zechariah 1:7-17; 6:1-8

The Old Testament reading for today is from Zechariah 1:7-17 and 6:1-8.  The prophet Zechariah ministered to the people of God in the 6th century B.C. after they returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylonian. Indeed, the return to Jerusalem must have been exhilarating. But after some time the people found themselves living in challenging situations. To put it simply, the heathen nations flourished while Judah struggled. It is not hard to imagine the question on the people’s minds – “where is our God?”, they wondered. “Has he abandoned us?” With that as the background, here now the reading of God’s word.

“On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, ‘I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ The angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.’ And they answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, ‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest.’ Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?’ And the Lord answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. Therefore, thus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. Cry out again, Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem’” (Zechariah 1:7–17, ESV).

“Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses—all of them strong. Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, ‘What are these, my lord?’ And the angel answered and said to me, ‘These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward the south country.’ When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and patrol the earth. And he said, ‘Go, patrol the earth.’ So they patrolled the earth. Then he cried to me, ‘Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country’” (Zechariah 6:1–8, ESV).

New Testament Reading: Revelation 6:1-8

The sermon text for today is Revelation 6:1-8. Before reading the text I would simply like to point out that the experience of the Christians living in 90 A.D. was not all that different from the situation of the people of Judah living in Jerusalem after returning from exile. In both instances the people of God had experienced a great act deliverance. In both instances the people of God had high hopes. And in both instanced the people of God struggled in this world, being assaulted by troubles from with and without. The question, therefore, was the same. Where is God in the midst of this? Notice that the vision shown to John shares much in common with the vision shown to Zechariah 600 years earlier.

“Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, ‘Come!’ And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come!’ And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come!’ And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!’ When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!’ And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:1-8, ESV).

Sermon

I would like to propose to you that all humans must find a way to make sense of the world around them. Some go about the business of making sense of the world casually and even unknowingly. Others approach the task with more of a deliberate intensity – we typically call these philosophers and theologians. But every one must do it. Everyone must, to one degree or another, make sense of the world. It would be very difficult for an person to function at all in the world without first making some sense of it.

This task is necessary both for the Christian and the non-Christian. Both must have a worldview. The same questions confront us all. What are we? Where did we come from? What is the purpose for our existence? Is this world all that there is? What is right and wrong and how do we know it? Is there a God? If so, what is he like and what is our obligation to him? What of the evil and suffering that we see in the world? How are we to understand that? And if there is a God how are we to understand his relationship to the evil and suffering that we see in the world?

Both the Christian and the non-Christian must wrestle with these questions but we go about finding the answers to them in very different ways.

The non-Christian looks to the stuff of this world as ultimately authoritative in his or her quest for truth. What exactly is given the place of supreme authority will differ from person to person. For some it is human reason – “I believe this or that because it makes rational sense to me!”, they say. For others it is emotion – “I feel like this is true”, they say. Others base their opinions upon experience. Others still upon scientific investigation.

The Christian, while not denying the usefulness of these things, understands the limitations of human reason, human emotion, human experience, and yes, even scientific investigation. It is outside the scope of this sermon to explain why these are inadequate to serve as our final authority for truth. For now I will simply say that they are inadequate because of our creatureliness, and more than that, our fallenness. We are limited creatures – we do not know all. And we are fallen creatures – we must remember that even what we do know is potentially distorted by our sin. We are, by nature and apart from Christ, twisted. And we tend to twist truth wherever it is found.

So the Christian looks, not to the things of this world as our highest authority for truth, but to God. God is truth! And we believe that this God has “at many times and in many ways… spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1–2, ESV). This God who is truth has determined to reveal himself to us. He has revealed himself to us in human history – he walked with Adam and Eve in the garden; he spoke to Abraham; he revealed himself to Moses and to Israel when he delivered them out of Egypt. Above all, he has revealed himself to us by sending the Christ, who is the eternal Word of God come in the flesh. God has reveled himself in human history, and he has appointed and anointed men to write the Scriptures which are an inspired record, interpretation, and application of those great historical events.

What does the Christian have, then, as his authority for truth? We have the word of God – the Holy Scriptures, Old Testament and New. It is to this authority that we submit our lives. We do not seek to establish an authority of our own, but rather to submit to God, to Christ, and to his word in all things.

Friends, the Holy Scriptures provide answers the worldview questions listed above. May I suggest to you that your mental health, and more than that, your maturity and stability in Christ depends, in large part, upon your worldview. The question is this: is your worldview Biblical? In other words, have you adopted God’s view of the world as your own? Have you submitted to God and to his word, or have you decided to remain independent from God to find your own way and to craft your own view of things. Here is the difference between the Christian and non-Christian, then. The Christian hears the word of God and surrenders to it. The non-Christian, upon hearing God’s word, recoils from it, and makes his own path.

Of all the worldview questions that I listed above I would imagine that the last two are the most difficult for the Christian to answer. I find that Christians tend to be relatively united in answering the questions, What are we? Where did we come from? What is the purpose for our existence? Is this world all that there is? What is right and wrong and how do we know it? Is there a God? If so, what is he like and what is our obligation to him? But I find that we are often divided when pressed to answer the question, how are we to understand the evil and suffering that we see in the world? And how are we to understand God’s relationship to the evil and suffering that we see? Indeed, the world is filled with suffering. The evils that we face in the world cannot be denied. The question is, how we are to understand these sufferings especially as they pertain to God. Where is he in relation to the suffering?

Is he the direct cause of it? Does he do the evil? Our Christianly impulse is to say, certainly not! We think of passages such as James 1:13 which says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13, ESV). Also 1 John 1:5, which says,“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5, ESV). By no means would we ever suggest that the Holy One is the author of sin.

Then should we say that he has nothing to do with suffering at all? Indeed, many who call themselves Christians today would take this view. “God has nothing to do with the sufferings experienced in this world”, they say.  That view seems attractive at first. It seems to protect God’s reputation. But the view cannot stand for it contradicts the clear teaching of scripture as well as our basic understanding of the nature of God.

Listen to what Isaiah 45:5-7 says:

“I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Isaiah 45:5–7, ESV).

Indeed the scriptures are clear from beginning to end that God is King over all. He is Lord Most High. Nothing stands outside of his sovereign control.  Here again the word of the Lord from the prophet Isaiah:

“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (Isaiah 46:8–10, ESV).

Indeed, our God is the one true God, the creator of heaven and earth, and he has decreed all things that have and shall come to pass.

Remember the scroll that John saw in God’s right hand as he was seated on the throne. What is it? What does it symbolize? It symbolizes the decree of God who is the King. Christ alone was found worthy to break the seals, and when he does what is reveled to us except that which God has decreed.

When I decree something, it might happen. When God decrees something, it happens.

Our confession beautifully summarizes the Bible’s teaching on the decree of God in chapter three, saying that “God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass…”

When did God decree? From all eternity, that is, before creation. And who counseled God to decree what he decreed? No one! He decreed “in himself” and “by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will”. His decree was freely made and it is unchangeable. And what does is it pertain to? Only the good that comes about in the world? No, but “all things, whatsoever comes to pass”. This is an accurate summary of what the Bible teaches on this subject.

The confession is careful to make qualifications though – qualifications which are also derived from Holy Scripture. Chapter three paragraph one continues, saying, “yet …is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree.”

The language of our confession is most helpful here. It brings out what the scriptures have to say on this subject. Though it is true that God has decreed all things, we must maintain that he is, at the same time, not the “author of sin” nor does he have “fellowship with any therein”. Nor does he “violate the will of his creatures”, but rather works in such a way that he brings about his purposes through the free choices of his creatures. He brings about his purposes, not always in a direct way, but often through second causes.

The language of permission is helpful here. God carries out his decrees, sometimes directly, but often through permission. He permits evil and even uses it to bring about his ultimate purposes and the supreme good.

Listen to the way that our confession summarizes the Bible’s teaching on this subject in chapter five paragraph four: “The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his providence, that his determinate counsel extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sinful actions both of angels and men; and that not by a bare permission, which also he most wisely and powerfully boundeth, and otherwise ordereth and governeth, in a manifold dispensation to his most holy ends; yet so, as the sinfulness of their acts proceedeth only from the creatures, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.”

God has decreed all things that will come to pass. This must include even the “first fall, and all other sinful actions both of angels and men”, but the sinfulness proceeds “only from the creatures, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.”

What then must we say about sin and God’s relationship to it? One, he is not the author of it nor does he take part in it. Two, he is certainly sovereign over it having decreed all things and providentially bringing all things to pass. Three, God does so through second causes, through means, and by way of permission. He has permitted sin and suffering. But notice the language of our confession. Chapter five paragraph four says that It is not by a “bear permission”. In other words, the permission is not meaningless or purposeless. Instead, God has permitted what he has for a reason.

If I had to choose only one text of scripture to illustrate these principles it would have to be Acts 2:22-25. There we have an account of Peter’s preaching after Pentecost, and he confronts those who crucified Christ in this way:

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:22–24, ESV).

Was there ever an act more sinful that the crucifixion of Christ? Was there ever suffering greater than his suffering? And yet even this happened “according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God”. But who committed the sin of crucifying the Christ. Did God sin? No, the creature sinned by willingly hanging the Christ to that tree. God decreed it, then, and permitted it. But was it a bear permission – a meaningless and purposeless permission? No, through the crucifixion of Christ God brought about much good indeed.

I do not claim to understand all of this. And I do not claim to have the ability to articulate the mechanics of it. Indeed, the issue is infinitely complex and beyond our ability to comprehend. It is mysterious to us. But the scriptures do reveal to us what we must and must not say. Though the particulars remain mysterious, we know where the boundaries are. God is not the author of sin, but neither is it outside his sovereign control. Sin, even the first fall and the sin of the crucifixion of Christ is to be understood as an outworking of the decree of God.

Your wondering what all of this has to do with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, aren’t you?

I would argue that what John saw upon the opening of the first four seals of Revelation 6 is a depiction of the principles that I just articulated to you especially as pertains to the tribulations experienced by God’s people in the world that come as a result of military conquest and political persecution.

In other words, what John saw when the first four seals were opened answers the question, how am I to understand the suffering that I see in this world that comes, even upon God’s people, by way of warring nations and persecuting powers?

Put yourself in Syria, friends. Imagine that you are a Christian there. Imagine being persecuted for your faith. Think of the devastation all around. Imagine your children thin and hungry. What would be the question on your mind? Would you not wonder where God is in the midst of it?

The answer that Revelation 6 gives is that he is on the throne. He is permitting and even using the sin and suffering to advance his purposes, bringing judgment upon his enemies and also refinement to him people.

Notice that John is still looking in upon the throne of God as described in chapters 4 and 5.

He see’s the the Lamb standing there before the throne and he brings to open the seals, one at a time. And when the seals are opened things begin to happen.

The first thing that happens when each of the first four seals are opened is that “one of the four living creatures [says] with a voice like thunder, ‘Come!’”. Remember that these four living creatures, strange in appearance, are angels who have to do with God’s activity to all four corners of the earth.

And when the creatures say “come” a horse appears with a rider, or riders, on it. John says, “And I looked, and behold, a white horse!” And then “out came another horse, bright red.”  And then,  “I looked, and behold, a black horse!” And the, “I looked, and behold, a pale horse!”

The description of these horses should, without a doubt, remind us of the visions that Zechariah saw as described in Zechariah chapters 1 and 6.

John describes each of these horses has a rider, or riders, on them. Th rider on the white horse “had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. “ The rider on the bright red horse “was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.” The rider on the black horse “had a pair of scales in his hand.” And John “heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!’” The riders on the pale horse were named “Death and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.”

Who or what do these horses and their riders represent?

It is interesting to note what do the dispensational pre-millennialists say? Warren Wiersbe claims that the rider of the white horse is Antichrist. Here is his explanation:

“Daniel states that there is a ‘prince that shall come,’ who will make a covenant with Israel to protect her from her enemies (Dan. 9:26–27). In other words, the future world dictator begins his career as a peacemaker! He will go from victory to victory and finally control the whole world.”

I disagree with Wiersbe, but I want you to see what he does here? First, he misinterprets Daniel 9 and expects his reader to assume that his view of that text is the correct one. In fact, it is better to see the reference in Daniel 9 to a “‘prince that shall come’ who will make a covenant” as referring to Christ. Ironically, Wiersbe says it refers to antichrist. After misinterpreting Daniel 9 he then imagines that the opening of the first seal describes something that will happen in our future. Where the text of Revelation teaches this, I still do not know. After making this to be only about the future he then forces his faulty interpretation of Daniel 9 upon the text of Revelation 6 and voila! you have the opening of the first seal now supporting the dispensational, pre-tribulational, pre-millennial scheme.

But clearly it is not Daniel 9 but Zechariah 1 and 6 that is behind this text. And what did the visions of Zechariah 1 and 6 communicate to their original audience? Were not the people of God who had returned from exile in Babylon struggling? Were they not facing persecution and poverty? The nations around them were at peace and were prospering, but they, God’s people, were pitifully poor and weak – they were persecuted and pressed down by their enemies. When Zechariah saw the vision of the colored horses and their riders who’s job it was to patrol the earth, what was the message? Was it not this – that God is Lord over all the earth – that he has the power to put down nations and to raise them up? Was not God saying the people of Israel, I am God and will accomplish all my purposes? Was not that the message communicated through Zechariah to the people of God in that day? Should we not assume, then, the same basic message is being communicated here in Revelation 6? Is not the church now being comforted by the fact that God is Lord Most High, that he sovereign over the nations of the earth. Though nation rise up against nation, and though political powers persecute, God’s purposes will prevail, for he has decreed and things, and is bring them to pass even today.

I hesitate to give an exact answer to the question, who do these horsemen represent? I’ve already quoted Wiersbe who presents the idea that the first horsemen represents the anti-Christ. He is certainly not the only one who hold to that view. Others say the first horsemen is Christ himself. Some say the riders are demonic and evil, others say they are good. To be quite honest, I don’t think that the horses and riders are meant to symbolize any one particular creature or person, but rather the idea that God is active in this world bringing about his purposes of judgment and redemption continuously. He is sovereign over all and brings about his purposes both directly and indirectly, through means, and by permitting both angels and men to do what they will do freely.

Clearly war and the effects of war are depicted here. The rider on the first horse conquers with sword. The rider on the second horse seems to depict civil war. The rider on the third horse depicts famine. A days worth of bread costs a days wage. The riders on the forth horse depict death and the grave, which is the result of the three listed before.

We have in the first four seals, therefore, a picture of what Christ said these last days would be like. He taught his disciples, saying,

“See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:4–14, ESV).

What Christ says directly in Matthew 24 is depicted in Revelation 6. The heavily scene also communicates this: in the midst of all, God is enthroned. These wars and famines happen because God has decreed it and has permitted it for reasons we cannot fully comprehend. Also, in his mercy he has limited the tribulation. Only a fourth of the earth is subjected to the tribulation in this period; and bread, oil and wine can still be had.

Conclusion

Friends, these first four seals not only depict how things will be in the future, perhaps even with greater intensity, but how they are now and how they have been. It is here from this heavenly vision  that the Christian who suffers is to draw encouragement. We are encouraged, not by the ridiculous notion that God has nothing to do with the suffering we see in the world, but that he is involved. Indeed he is working all things together for good, for those who love God and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28, ESV).

 

Posted in Sermons, Joe Anady, Posted by Joe. Comments Off on Sermon: The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse: Revelation 6:1-8

Mar 17
12

Sermon: Excommunication: The Process And It’s Implications: Matthew 18:15–20

NEW TESTAMENT READING: MATTHEW 18:15-20

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:15–20, ESV).

INTRODUCTION 

It should be clear to the members of Emmaus as to why we have broken from our study of the book of Revelation to consider again the topic of church discipline with special attention given to the issue of excommunication.

Three months ago we held a congregational meeting to, among other things, present one of our members to the church for discipline. Today we’ve called for another congregational meeting with the intent of bringing that discipline case to a conclusion by way of excommunication.

Brothers and sisters, excommunication is a very serious thing. It is a weighty matter, one that we do not take lightly. There is great power in the act of excommunication. When Christ spoke of the decision of the church to excommunicate he said,

“Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:18–20, ESV).

Please recognize that when a church excommunicates one of it’s members according to the command of Christ there is spiritual and heavenly power in it. Whatever we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (that is assuming that what we have bound and loosed has been bound and loosed according to the truth of God’s word, and not according to the inventions of man). There is great power in the act of excommunication, friends. How important it is, therefore, that we understand what excommunication is. And once we have understood it, how important it is that we wield this weapon with great precision, caution, and care.

Perhaps you have noticed that I have used the first person plural pronoun “we” a lot in this introduction. That is very intentional, for it is we the church who have the power to excommunicate. It is not we the elders alone; it is not we the elders and deacons alone; and it is not you the members alone; but we the church who have the power to excommunicate. It is the whole church – the officers and members together, each group doing their part – who has the power to excommunicate. How important is, therefore, that we understand what excommunication is. And, once we have understood it, how important it is that we wield this weapon with great precision, caution, and care.

So what is excommunication? Excommunication is the disciplinary action of a local church to remove one of its members from the membership on the basis of his or her stubborn disobedience to the commands of Christ, or divisive distortions of the doctrines of Christ. It is the end of the disciplinary process. It declares that although the person may profess Christ with his or her mouth, they have denied him by their way of life. Excommunication, therefore, puts to an end all of the benefits of Christian fellowship for the one excommunicated. It also puts and end the obligations of the Church as it pertains to the care of the persons soul.

Excommunication is the word that we use to describe what Christ stated in Matthew 18:17, saying, “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:17, ESV). To excommunicate is to put a person out of the church and into the world, for his or her unrepentant way of life has made it plain that that is where he or she belongs – in the world and not in the church.

Excommunication is the word that we use to describe what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:4-5. To the church in Corinth he wrote, “When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man [this proud and stubbornly unrepentant sinner] to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:4–5, ESV). To “deliver a man to Satan” is to put a man out of the church, which is the kingdom of God, and into the realm of Satan, namely the world. Notice that the goal of excommunication is “the destruction of the flesh”, that is, the destruction of his sinful way of life,  “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord”. The goal of excommunication is still repentance. Our prayer for the excommunicated one is, Lord save them. Bring them to repentance. May they repent, believe upon Christ, and walk according to his ways, bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.    

Excommunication is what the church must do if she is to obey the commands of scripture. Christ clearly commanded that put out from our midst the unrepentant sinner. Paul also says so. He states things most strongly in 1 Corinthians 5, which I have already made reference to. That chapter concludes with these words:

“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you’” (1 Corinthians 5:9–13, ESV).

That phrase, “purge the evil person from among you” is an interesting one. It is clearly an allusion to many Old Testament passages that warned Old Covenant Israel to get rid of the sinner, lest sin spread amongst the people of God. “Purge the evil from your midst”, or “purge the evil from Israel” is a phrase found, for example in Deuteronomy 13:5,17:7, 17:12, 21:2; 22:21, 22, 22:24 and Judges 20:13. How was Old Covenant, nationalistic Israel to purge the evil person from their midst? Not by excommunication, but by execution. When Paul uses the phrase “purge the evil person from among you” to sum up what he has to say about excommunication the clear implication is that what execution was to Old Covenant national and fleshly Israel, excommunication is to the New Covenant, multiethnic and spiritual Israel, that is, the church. The nation of Israel was to be vigilant in their pursuit and promotion of holiness. The most potent weapon in their fight against lawlessness was the sword. The church is also to pursue holiness.  See too is to “purge the evil person from among” her. But her weapon is not the sword, but the word and Spirit. She does not have the power to execute, but to excommunicate. “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:3–4, ESV). Excommunication is not a physical weapon, but a spiritual one. What we bind on earth is bound in heaven, Christ says. There is spiritual power in the act of excommunication when we agree with one another on earth in Christ’s name.

Here is the obvious principle communicated in each of these passages that seems to be ignored in so many of our churches today: Christ’s church is to pursue holiness. We are to pursue holiness individually, but also corporately. The object of the church should not be to grow big, but to grow in a way that is holy and true according to the scriptures. Those are two goals that are very different. They produce two very different kinds of churches. Holiness matters, friends. If it were so then how could Paul use such strong language, saying, “purge the evil person from among you”?

It is true, we are saved by grace! It is true, God has poured out his love upon us in Christ Jesus! It is true, we are not saved by the keeping of God’s law, but through faith in Christ alone. These are precious truths that we must remember and never forget! But we must also remember that we have been redeemed, not to serve self, but Christ. We are slaves, not to sin, but to Christ! The law no longer stands over us to condemn us, for Christ has obeyed the law for us. But that does not mean that we are lawless. No, God’s law is still to be followed. We are to keep it, not for salvation, but to the glory of God and for our good.

What did Christ say? “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, ESV). Christianity is not legalistic, but neither is it lawless!

Listen to the promise of the New Covenant from Jeremiah 31 and see that the New Covenant cannot be lawless:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:31–34, ESV).

The church is to pursue holiness, friends. The church is to be a disciplined organization – one that has standards for entrance, one that is active in the maintenance of it’s membership, and one that has the right of excommunication should those standards be violated in an unrepentant way. The standards are not man’s standards, but Christ’s – how important that principle is! But there are standards for membership in Christ’s church , namely faith in Christ and a way of life that is consistent with that profession of faith. The Christian life is to be marked by repentance. The Christian life is to be lived in obedience to God’s law, for it has been written on the Christians heart. The Christian is to pursue holiness in a disciplined way.

THE PROCESS

Matthew 18 is all about discipline. It’s all about the process by which holiness is to be pursued  within the church. And there is a clear progression to it. There is to be self discipline. After that, mutual discipline. After that church discipline. Then lastly, excommunication. If a church is committed to carrying out this process according to the way of Christ it will go a long way to advance her fight against sin.

Self Discipline

Notice, first of all, that Christians are to constantly discipline themselves. Here I am referring to the individual’s commitment to examine themselves according to the word, to confess particular sins as sin, and to turn from them. This is to happen moment by moment, day by day, Lord’s Day to Lord’s Day.

Look with me at Matthew 18:7:

“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire” (Matthew 18:7–9, ESV).

The language is exaggerated. Christ does not really want you to cut off or pluck out body parts. What’s the point? Identify sin (how can you do that if you do not have a law by which to examine yourself?). And once you have identified it, do what you need to do to overcome it.

Confess it as sin. Resolve to turn from it. Pray that the Lord give you victory. Go to the word of God for help. Go to your brothers and sisters for help. Go to your pastors for help. Remove the source of temptation, if possible. Do everything in your power and in full dependence upon Christ to fight against that sin. That is what Christ is calling you to do. The language is exaggerated in order to get your attention concerning the seriousness of the matter. Don’t play with sin. Turn from every sin quickly and fully. Examine your thoughts, words, and deed against the backdrop of God law, and repent whenever you are found to be in sin.

Christians are to constantly discipline themselves. If everyone did, there would never be church discipline nor excommunication.

Mutual Discipline

Sometimes mutual discipline is required. This is what Christ describes in Matthew 18:15:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses” (Matthew 18:15–16, ESV).

Notice that mutual discipline is to happen in two stages.

First, if a brother or sister sins and you know about it you are to go to them alone to them their fault. “Brother, you have sinned offended me with your words”, or “Sister, you are sinning and it is bringing shane to the name of Christ”, or “dear friend, you are sinning and it will lead to your destruction if you do not turn”. This is the kind of a face to face meeting that needs to take place first. Hopefully the brother or sister will listen and repent. If they do, you have gained them – you have been used by God to bring them back from their wandering.

If they do not listen you are to take one or two others along with you. The reasons for this should be obvious. One, the thought of gathering one or two others to confront the unrepentant one should make you pause to ask the question, is the person really sinning or am I just being petty? Do you see how that would be? When you bring one or two others along you are not only inviting them to inspect the one that you think is in sin, but also you. Maybe you are wrong. Maybe you have misunderstood. Maybe you don’t have the full story. Others can help you see more clearly if you are indeed in error. Two, if the person is indeed in sin that charge needs to be established by more than one witness.  The principle is stated in Deuteronomy 17:6: “On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness” (Deuteronomy 17:6, ESV). It was true in civil cases involving capital punishment in Israel, and it is true concerning discipline within the church. Charges must be “established by the evidence of two or three witnesses”.

This is mutual discipline. First, it is to happen one to one. Second, if there is no repentance one or two others are to be brought along to serve as witnesses. The standard by which we judge is God’s word, not the traditions of men. The goal is repentance. The motivation is love for God and Christ, his church, and the one who has been caught up in sin.

Church Discipline

If mutual discipline fails, church discipline is required. “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church”, Christ says (Matthew 18:17, ESV).

When Christ said “tell it to the church” he was anticipating the church that would be born after his death and resurrection and after Pentecost. The book of Acts tells us all about the founding of the church. The letters of Paul instruct us concerning the church. Clearly Jesus had in mind local congregations consisting of officers and members, that is, elders, deacons, and congregants.

If the mutual discipline does not bring about repentance the matter must be brought to the church. It is natural for the matter to be brought first to the elders of the church, since they are tasked with the leadership and shepherding of the flock, but they are to bring the matter to the body if indeed there is one on their members who is stubbornly unrepentant, living in a way contrary to the word of God. The matter is to be told to the whole church – not just the elders, not just some within the church, but the whole church. The church, having heard the matter, is to then call the unrepentant one to repentance with one voice.

Excommunication

“And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:17, ESV). Here is what we call excommunication.

Do you see, brothers and sisters, how serious the church is to be in it’s quest for purity?

None of us are perfect. If perfection were the standard for coming into the church and remaining in the church, there would be no church. None of us are perfect. But the the church is to be distinct from the world. The church is the assembly of the redeemed. The church is the bride of Christ. The church is the house of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit. The church is to marked by holiness. The church made up of those who have faith in Christ. And true faith produces obedience. True faith involves repentance.

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:9–12, ESV).

No one here is perfect. But if you are a member of Emmaus that means you have professed faith in Christ and it is expected that you will indeed walk with Christ in way that is consistent with your profession of faith. If you will not, then it is only right that we excommunicate in obedience to the scriptures.

IMPLICATIONS

So I have again outlined the discipline process for you. The church is to be a disciplined organization. If self discipline fails, there must be mutual discipline. If mutual discipline fails, there must be church discipline. If church discipline fails, there is no other option except to excommunicate.

Another way to think of discipline is in four stages. One, go to your brother or sister alone if he has sinned. Two, take one or two with you. Three, tell it to the church. Four, the church is to excommunicate if each of these stages fails to bring about repentance. Repentance at any stage would end the process. Repentance would require forgiveness from the one offended, and restoration of the repentant. No repentance requires excommunication. The hope after excommunication is that unrepentant one would repent and come to believe in Christ truly.

I would like to briefly draw your attention to some of the implications of texts like Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5. By “implications” I mean that although Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5 do not state these principles directly they must be so given what is clearly said.

First of all, these passages imply that the church is a local assembly made up of people who have professed faith in Christ and have willingly joined. Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5 command us to put a person out of the congregation if they fail to live out the Christians faith. But could you possibly put a person out of something that they have not willing joined? It would be strange, wouldn’t it, to receive a letter in the mail informing you that you had been kicked out of a club that you never joined? I think this is a problem for our Paedobaptist friends who make their children to be a part of the church at birth – they did not willingly join. It is also a problem for churches that are closely associated with a particular culture or state. There have been, and even are, places in the world where to be born into a particular country means to be born into a particular church. We say no. The church is local assembly made up of people who have professed faith in Christ and have willingly joined

Similarly, these passages also imply the need for local church membership. There must be some way for local churches to identify who is it that belongs to them. Who is a part of them? Who are the pastors responsible for? Who is subject to the discipline process that we have outlined above? For how could a church ever exercise church discipline, much less excommunication, without first knowing who it’s member are? I can’t even begin to imagine how this would work. If it is true that you can only put out those who have come in, then there must be a way to come in! This is what we call membership! It is the process by which those who profess faith in Christ join themselves to a local congregation. The membership process, whatever it looks like, must be clear, consistent, and deeply biblical.

A local church needs to know who it is that is joining them. Are they Christian? Do they understand and believe in the gospel? Are they living in a way that is consistent with their profession of faith? In other words, do they make a credible profession of faith? There is no way to know for sure, but we must try to receive true Christians! It would be awkward to carelessly receive members only to have to immediately intact discipline, don’t you agree?!

Also, the person joining needs to know what they are joining. They must ask, what are the beliefs of this church? What are the expectations? And of course the beliefs and the expectations of the church must not be unique from church to church – they must not be the inventions of man – but biblical. The local church is obligated to teach and defended God’s word, not their own. The local church is obligated to encourage a biblical way of life amongst it’s members. The pastors work is ministerial. The pastor is to serve Christ. He is to uphold God’s word within the church. We do not have the freedom to invent doctrines or to make laws. We only have the power to teach what has already been written and to uphold God’s laws. But the one joining the church must know these things. They must know what they are joining themselves to. The must join willingly and knowingly.

There are a lot of educators in my family. From time to time I’ll hear of a student who has been expelled from the school. But what happened before that child was expelled? Did they not first enroll in that school? Were the expectations of the school not first communicated to him? Did not the teacher go over the class rules on the first day of school? Certainly! For it was only after the repeated and willful breaking of those stated rules that the child was could be expelled. He joined willingly and knowingly, and he was removed having failed to uphold the standards of that institution.

Churches without formal membership are destined to be disorderly churches. They cannot excommunicate in obedience to the command of Christ for no one has ever joined! People attend those church, they do not join! You see the difference, don’t you? Friends, you do not go to church – you are the church! You are members of the body of Christ. The “pastors” of these churches without membership are destined to become, not pastors, but only preachers. People will come to listen to them, they do not expect to be shepherded by them, for they have not become a part of anything, they only attend something.

Actually, I would argue that most of the churches who say, “we don’t believe in formal membership” really do have a membership process, they just don’t know it. The fact that they are offended by what I just said proves it. “We do pastor”, they would say. “We do more than preach! We shepherd the flock!” Good! I’m glad that you do! But the fact that you say that you do proves that you have some way of determining who is with you and who is not. You do have a “membership process” then. But I would argue that your membership process is secret. It exists within the minds of the pastors and members. No one agrees upon what exactly it is but everyone agrees that at some point a person transitions from being a visiter to a member of that church. Where that line is is unclear, but there must be a line. Is it when the person fills out a communication card for the third time? Is it when they have come for a year? Is it when they begin to give? Who knows? What I do know is that a church that handles membership in this way will be disorderly and will rarely, if ever exercise discipline. How could they? The careless way in which members are brought in makes it nearly impossible to put them out with any sort of authority.

Let me emphasize the main point again before moving on. Local churches must have a way to answer the question, “who is a part of us?” That process should be clear, consistent, and deeply biblical. The standards for membership in the local church must be exactly the standards set forth in the scriptures – not less, and not more. Faith in Christ is required. Baptism is required. Living in a way consisted with your profession of faith is required. The membership process, what ever it looks like, is there to make sure these things are so in the life of the applicant. The process is also there  so that the applicant has an opportunity to really get to know the church, to understand it’s doctrine and it government.

Thirdly, these passages imply that local churches should respect one another in discipline cases. Here is what I mean by respect. I mean that if a person comes to them and it is discovered that they are under discipline or have been excommunicated from another church, that new church is obligated to either uphold the decision of the original church straight away or to investigate the discipline case themselves, if they feel there is reason to do so. Both of these actions would be respectful.

To say to the one under discipline – “you are not welcome here. Repent of your sin, go back to your church and make things right with them before moving on”,would obviously be respectful of the original congregations authority (authority given to them by Christ, mind you!). But if it seems to the new church as if discipline was not done properly at the original church, it would be respectful for the new church to investigate the matter. It would be right for them to say to the original church, “so and so has come to us. He says that you handled the discipline badly. Out of respect for you we are coming to you to investigate the claim. May we speak to those who witnessed the matter?” It may be that they uphold the decision or oppose it. But if they oppose it, they should really oppose it! They should make their decision having thoroughly investigated the matter. But to receive a person in who is under discipline or who has been excommunicated from another local church without any real consideration given to the decision of the original church is most disrespectful. Also, it puts that new church at risk and brings shame upon them and the name of Christ, for they have most likely received an unrepentant sinner into their midst. They have forgotten that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (1 Corinthians 5:6, ESV). In due time that unrepentant sinner will have his negative effect upon that new and undiscerning congregation. The cancer is now theirs to deal with.

Fourthly, these passages imply that both law and gospel are to be active within Christ’s church. The good news – the gospel – is that Christ has died for us and that we are forgiven of all our sins by his grace alone and through faith alone. Nothing we do can contribute to our salvation in any way. But that does not mean that the Christian life is a lawless one. God’s law has been written on our hearts, if we have truly been regenerated. We have been freed from sin and are now slaves of Christ. If we love him we will keep his commandments. Therefore, anyone who is says, “I love Christ”, while actively sinning in a stubborn and unrepentant way shows by his actions that he does not know Christ truly.

Fifthly and lastly, these passages imply the church is to be filled to the brim and overflowing with love and forgiveness.

There is has been so much talk today about discipline, confrontation, and even excommunication. These things are negative things when considered by themselves. But what motivates us to do it? Why would we even think about following the process that Christ and his Apostles have set forth? Is it not our love for God and Christ that compels us? Is it not our love for the church, which is the bride of Christ? And are we not moved by our love for one another? Why would we possibly take the time and invest the energy into this were it not because we love one another deeply? Trust me, there are easier ways to do church. I understand why people are tempted to go to a church rather than be a part of one. I know why pastors stop being pastors and become only preaches instead. Preaching is kind of enjoyable. It’s clean and somewhat of a glamorous task. Pastoring is hard and messy, especially when it comes to discipline. Why do it? Is it not because we love one another?

If we are going to confront sin in others we must be moved to do so by love, and we must stand ready to forgive. The hope is that the person will repent, and if they repent we must extend forgiveness! This means that we must have already forgiven them in the heart!

Peter understood this. After he heard Jesus teaching on discipline here is the question he asked: “‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times’” (Matthew 18:21–22, ESV), and then we have that powerful parable of the unforgiving servant.

How important it is that we be filled to the brim and overflowing with love and forgiveness. We may do church discipline, but we will not do it well if we are not moved by love standing ready to forgive should the one who has sinned repent.

Posted in Sermons, Joe Anady, Matthew 18:15-20, Posted by Joe. Comments Off on Sermon: Excommunication: The Process And It’s Implications: Matthew 18:15–20

Mar 17
5

Sermon: The Seven Seals, Broadly Considered: Revelation 6; 8:1-5


New Testament Reading: Revelation 6 8:1-5

“Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, ‘Come!’ And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come!’ And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come!’ And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!’ When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!’ And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’” (Revelation 6, ESV).

“When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake” (Revelation 8:1–5, ESV).

Introduction

Brothers and sisters, we have now come to another section in the book of Revelation. You are beginning to see just how structured the book is. In fact, I can’t think of another book of the Bible with more of an explicit and obvious structure than the book of Revelation. In particular you’re beginning to see just how important the number seven is to the organization of this book. Remember that in the opening chapter John saw a heavenly vision where Christ was seen walking in the midst of seven lampstands. These, we were told, represented seven churches. And then that heavenly vision of Christ walking in the midst of the seven lampstands gave way to chapters two and three which contain the letters written to those seven churches. Do you see that the seven churches were first symbolized by the seven lampstands, the general message being that Christ walks in the midst of his churches, and then much more was revealed to and about those seven churches in the seven letters that followed? Likewise, in chapters four and five, John records for us another heavenly vision. In the first part of this vision everything focuses upon God enthroned. After that Jesus the Christ takes center stage. This time he appeared, not as one like a son of man, but as a lamb that had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes. And remember that in this vision Christ was seen interacting with another object with seven parts to it. This time it is not a seven pronged lampstand, but a scroll with seven seals on. God had it in his right hand and gave it to Christ, for he alone was found worthy to open it. What does that scroll with seven seals symbolize? It symbolizes this general truth: that God has written a decree. He has a plan for human history. John was invited to come up in to heaven so that he might see “what must take place after this.” What are we to expect is written on the scroll front and back? Should we not expect that it is God’s decree concerning what “what must take place”, from John’s day forward? And if that is what is symbolized by the presence of the scroll sealed with seven seals in God’s right hand, what do you expect to happen next in the book of Revelation? Well, just as the sight of Jesus standing in the midst of the seven pronged lamp stand gave way to the revelation of the content of the letters to the seven churches, so too we should expect the sight of a scroll sealed with seven seals given to Christ to give way to the opening of those seals.

Indeed, that is what we have before us. Revelation 6 and 8:1-5 describe to us the opening of the seven seals, one after the next. With the breaking of each seal something new was revealed to John, and through John to us, concerning how things would go from that day forward. John was progressively shown the things that “must take place after this”, “this” being a reference to his day, and not ours.

We will devote at least three sermons to the seal cycle. Today I wish to overview the seal cycle, making general observations abut it. Next Sunday we will take a break from Revelation to consider a  topic that we need to address. In two weeks we will return to consider the first four seals in detail, for they go together. In three weeks Dr. Renihan will be preaching. And in four weeks we will come back to consider seals five through seven.

So the task today is to consider the entire seal cycle broadly, and to make some general observations about it, before closing with application. My hope is that we will leave here today with a clear understanding of what these seals signify in general. I have seven observations.

The Seal Cycle Is Intimately Connected To All That Has Come Before And All That Will Follow In The Book Of Revelation

First of all, it is important to recognize that the seal cycle is intimately connected to all that has come before it and all that will follow it in the book of Revelation.

In the introduction to this sermon I emphasized just how obvious the structure of the book of Revelation is. The book certainly consists of parts. Those parts are easy to identify, and it is important that we recognize them! But is also important that we recognize how the parts of the book of Revelation fit together to make up one whole and unified book. The book is highly structured, yes. But it is a unified book. It has one story to tell. It has one message to communicate. From beginning to end it proclaims this message to to the people of God: “Here is how things really are now in heaven! Here is how things will be on earth in the time between Christ’s first and second coming! And here is how it will be in the end! Now live accordingly. Walk faithfully in this world. Worship Christ. Serve Christ. Witness to Christ. Never turn back.” That is the message of the book of Revelation. It was as much for the people of God living in John’s day as it is for us today. Though the book consists of parts, the parts fit together to make up this unified whole.

The Christ who opens the seals is the Christ who received the scroll from the Father enthroned in heaven. This is the same Christ who addressed the seven church and who was seen walking in the midst of them in the opening vision. The whole book, therefore, is

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Revelation 1:1–3, ESV).

So, although it easy to recognize that we have now entered into a new section of the book of Revelation it is important to see that each section coheres with what has come before and what comes after. The vision of chapters four and five flow naturally into the breaking of the seals in chapters six and eight. And the breaking of the seventh seal will, as we will see, flow naturally into the sounding of seven trumpets, and so on and so forth. The book tells a story.

There Is No Indication In The Text That A Gap Of Time Stands Between Chapters Five And Six Of The Book Revelation

Secondly, we must recognize that there is no indication in the text that a gap of time stands between chapters five and six of the book Revelation. 

This observation should sound familiar to you. I made the same observation about the chronological relationship between chapters three and four of the book of Revelation when we began to study chapter four. Remember, there is no mention of a gap of time there either. In 4:1 John was invited to come up into the heavenly realm where he would be shown “what must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1, ESV). The plain and simple reading of the text should lead the reader to believe that John would be shown something of how things would go from his day forward. No gap of time was indicated.  In other words, the text does not say,  Come up here, and I will show you what must take place a long, long, time after this, but only “after this”, “this” being a reference to how things were in John’s day as described in the letters to the seven churches. There is no mention of a chronological gap separating the events described in chapters two and three from what is described 4:1 onward. I am simply noting that there is no mention of a chronological gap at beginning of the seal cycle either.

Why does this need to be said? Well, as you know, the popular interpretation of the book of Revelation today says that what is described in the seal cycle will come to pass only in our future. In other words, they the popular interpretation – the futurist interpretation – teaches that what the seals symbolize has not happened yet, but will someday. Notice that with this view a huge chronological gap is imagined and is inserted somewhere after Revelation chapter three? The thought is that chapters two and three were about how things were in John’s day, and then chapters four and onward, or perhaps six and onward, describe how things will go, not in the future from John’s vantage point, but in the future from ours. This means that a chronological gap of nearly 1,927 years has to be read into the text of Revelation.

Our interpretation is quite different from the futurist’s. It is that the seal cycle describes, not only what will happen at the very end time in the events connected with the return of Christ and the final judgment, but also how things will be in these last days – that is, in the days between Christ’s first and second comings. The New Testament is clear that the last days began with the first coming of the Christ. The writer to the Hebrews began his work with these words: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1–2, ESV). The book of Revelation is indeed about the last days, which are the days in-between Christ’s first and second coming’s. These are the days in which John and his original audience lived, and these are the days in which we live. In other words, the message communicated through the opening of the seven seals was just as pertinent to John and his original 90 A.D. audience as it is for you and me today. Indeed, the message communicated through the opening of the seven seals was just as pertinent to John and his original audience as it will be for the Christians who happen to be alive in the days immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. For, we have set before us here a depiction of how the world will be in these last days. In these last days we will hear of wars and rumors of wars, and then the end will come. Christ told us all about this directly. The seven seals of Revelation depict it.

There is no reason whatsoever to think that what is depicted to us through the breaking of the seven seals pertains only to events immediately preceding the end of time. The book of Revelation gives us no reason to think in this way, nor does any other place in scripture (no, not even the book of Daniel).

I could combat the futurist interpretation – and I do feel obligated to combat it, for I think it is a distortion of the text of scripture – by emphasizing again how the book of Revelation insists that the things portrayed in it would happen soon after its writing. Remember that John was repeatedly told that “the time is near”. I could also emphasize again how it was assumed that the audience who originally received the book of Revelation in 90 A.D. would be able to fully understand and apply this book to their own lives – not parts of the book, but the whole book from beginning to end. Remember the blessings pronounced upon the reader! “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3, ESV).  I could again stress that all indicators point, not to a chronological gap – as if a few things in the book of Revelation were pertinent to the churches to whom the book was addressed and other things will only pertain to people alive in our future – but to the assumption that the original audience would see and experience most of the things portrayed in this book, the obvious exception being the return of Christ and the consummation. But all of that has been said in previous sermons. For now I would simply challenge the futurist to show us where there is evidence of a chronological gap separating the events described in chapters one through three, or one through five, from the events described in the rest of the book.

I might pose the question a little differently to our futurist friends who are pre-tribulational pre-millennialists. To them I would say, where is the secret rapture that supposedly kicks off all of these future end times events? The truth of the matter is that this so called secret rapture nowhere to be found in the book of Revelation. Actually, it is nowhere to be found in the New Testament.  Don’t misunderstand – there will be a rapture, that is, the reassertion of the just and the unjust on the last day. But it will not be a secret rapture  – one only for Christians and then another for everyone else following seven years of tribulation. This theory is based upon a faulty reading of Daniel. The book of Daniel is then given priority over the book of Revelation. And then the book of Revelation is made to conform to what the pre-tribulational pre-millennialists think Daniel is saying. Things couldn’t be more backwards. As we saw last week Revelation advances and explains Daniel, and not the other way around. Revelation makes Daniel more clear, not the other way around. The difference of opinion that we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are futurists is obviously a hermeneutical one. We have the same Bible, but they are interpreting the New Testament in light of the Old. We firmly believe that the Old Testament should be interpreted in the light of the New. The fact the the book of Daniel concludes with things being sealed up, whereas Revelation begins with seals being opened supports this notion.

I understand that for those who are unfamiliar with all of the different views on the book and Revelation and the end times this what I have just said is about as clear as mud. Thank you for bearing with me. For those familiar with the debates, I hope this is helpful.

Here is the point: there is no indication in the text of Revelation that a gap of time stands between chapters three and four or five and six. The burden of proof, therefore, is upon the futurist. They must demonstrate their position from the text. It will not do to claim that their position is found in the blank spaces that separate chapters and verses.

Brother and sisters, the seal cycle describes, not only what will happen at the very end time in the events connected with the return of Christ and the final judgment, but also how things will be in these last days, both in heaven and on earth.

The Opening Of The First Four Seals Reveals That God Is Active In Executing His Judgments Upon The Earth Now In These Last Days

Thirdly, see that the opening of the first four seals reveals that God is active in executing his judgments upon the earth now in these last days.

We will return to the first four seals to consider them carefully in a couple of weeks, so I’ll keep my comments very brief. Notice three things about them for now.

One, notice that the horsemen are sent by God into all the earth. They go to do what they do at the decree of God. The are said to go when the seals are broken. Those seals were opened by Christ. And Christ received the scroll from God. Whatever the horsemen do they do because God sent them to do it.

Two, notice that when they go out they bring judgment upon the enemies of God in the form of military conquest, civil war, famine, plague and death. Here is the place where Christians – especially American Christians – need to pay attention. It is common, I think, for Christians to imagine that God is in control of some things, but has nothing all to do with the bad things that happen on earth. The book of Revelation, and indeed, the whole of scripture, says otherwise. God is sovereign over all things. Nothing comes to pass apart from his decree. He does not do or cause evil, but he does permit it and use it to bring about his ultimate purposes.

I do not have the time to demonstrate this principle from scripture today, not to address all of the questions that naturally arise out of this doctrine, but it is important that I state the principle generally here. Do you see that these horsemen go being sent by God? They go when the seals on God’s scroll are broken by Christ. The rider on the white horse was given a bow and a crown and came out conquering, and to conquer. The rider on the red horse was permitted to take peace from the earth and was given a great sword. The riders on the pale horse, “were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.”

The opening of the first four seals reveals that God is active in executing his judgments upon the earth now in these last days. He judges now in many ways. In particular the seal cycle is concerned to remind the Christian that when we hear of wars and rumors of wars, God is sovereign even over that.

Three, notice that what the horsemen do describes the current, and not merely future, state of affairs. Simply look at the world around you. Do you not see their activity in the world now? Look back upon history do you not see their activity in the world then? Actually, read your Old Testament and you will see evidence of their activity, but you’ll actually see the four horsemen. This concept is not new, but old. One of the ways that God brings his judgment upon a sinful people is by permitting one nation to raise up against another, or by allowing one people to turn in upon itself in war. God will sometimes use famine or plague to judge. This is not a pattern or principle unique to the time of the end, but one that has been common throughout human history.

In fact, the four horsemen that John saw in his vision were seen by the prophet Zechariah hundreds of years earlier in a vision shown to him. I will not read the passages today – we will reserve it for a future sermon – but Zechariah 6 is very significant. Ezekiel 14:12-23, and Deuteronomy 32:23-25 are also significant passages. Together they make it clear that God, even in the  Old Testament time, is active in executing his judgments upon the earth.

The opening of the first four seals reveals the fact that God is active in judging his enemies even now through the process of giving them over to war and the results of war, which are often famine and pestilence. To quote G.K. Beale, “Believers need to understand the dual role of these calamities so that they can accept them in a positive manner as tools of sanctification, yet also realizing that these same trials are punishments upon unbelievers.”

Do you see it, friends. It is a myth to think that Christians will be spared from tribulation. It is a myth. Read your Bibles better. Study history. Look at the world around you. How could you possibly believe that God’s people will be spared from tribulation? No, we will have trouble in this world. The trouble will work as a punishment upon the enemies of God, but will sanctify the one who belongs to Christ.

Do you remember the words of Christ in John 16:33? To his disciples he spoke these words: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, ESV). Christians will sometimes be caught up in tribulation – wars, famines, and plagues – but the Christian is to “have peace” in the midst of it and is to “take heart” knowing that Christ has overcome. He has “conquered” the world.

God’s Judgments Are Restrained For Now

The fourth general observation that I would like to make about the seven seals is that they communicate that God’s judgments are restrained for now.

Remember that in 6:8 when the fourth seal was broken and the riders on the pale horse were sent out “they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:8, ESV).

We’ve been in the book of Revelation long enough that you should know the answer to this question: should we take the fraction 1/4 literally? I think not. The idea is that though God is active in judgment in the world today his judgments are restrained for now. Someday his judgments will be unrestrained – he will judge fully and finally. Now, they are restrained. They are retained mercifully. They are restrained for the sake of God’s people and also so that the remaining elect might be brought it.

After the seven seals are opened, seven trumpets will be blown. And notice something about the seven trumpets. The first four of them also reveal God’s judgment upon the earth. We have recapitulation. What is portrayed by the seal cycle will be portrayed again in the trumpet cycle, but from a different vantage point. But notice that it is not “flat” recapitulation. Progression is communicated. For in the trumpet cycle a third of the earth is said to be affected. What is the meaning? Again, the meaning is that God’s judgement are restated, but there will be progression as history unfolds. Things will go, not from bad to good, but from bad to worse.

But it is important to recognize the clear message in both the seal and trumpet cycle:  God’s judgements are restrained for now.

Although The Saints Are Not Immune From Earthly Suffering, They Are Indeed Preserved

Fifthly, notice that although the saints are not immune from earthly suffering, they are indeed preserved.

It is the opening of the fifth seal that reveals this. There the focus shifts from earth to heaven. “When he opened the fifth seal, [John] saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne” (Revelation 6:9, ESV).

John saw the souls of Christians under the heavenly alter. Specifically, he saw the souls of those who had been slain for, or on account of, the word of God and for, or an account of, the witness they had born.

What is the basic and general message communicated in the opening of the fifth seal? It is twofold: One, this age is clearly an age in which Christians will experience suffering and tribulation. Christians will suffer trials and tribulation. Some will even be killed because they proclaim the word of God and witness to Christ.  Two, it is clear that to die on account of Christ is not really to die, but to live. Therefore, “we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6–8, ESV).

Chronological or Redemptive Historical Progression is Revealed WithIn The Seal Cycle

Sixthly, notice that chronological or redemptive historical progression is revealed within the seal cycle.

To put it another way, though there is no evidence of a gap of time coming in between the beginning of the seal cycle and what came before it (which would necessitate that the whole of the seal cycle be fulfilled only in the future) there is certainly evidence of chronological or redemptive historical progression within the seal cycle itself.

In other words, though the seal cycle is not relegated completely to the time of the end, it does take us to the time of the end. We should not push the seals to the end, but they will carry us there.

Seals six and seven clearly teach that the final and full judgment of judgment of God will come, and when it comes will come suddenly.

“When he opened the sixth seal, [John] looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand’” (Revelation 6:12–17, ESV)?

Sounds like the end to me.

The seventh seal picks up where the sixth leaves off and continues to portray judgement. There is said to be silence in heaven, which symbolizes the solemnity of judgment. And John also described, “peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake” (Revelation 8:5, ESV).These things appear in Revelation wherever the judgment of God is portrayed.

So, though there is no good reason to push the whole seal cycle off into the time of the end, seals six and seven do take us there. The seven seals portray in sweeping fashion how things will be in this world and in heaven in these last days on to the consummation. There is chronological or redemptive historical progression revealed within the seal cycle.

Delay Is Communicated

Seventhly, notice that delay is communicated within the seal cycle. The message is that God will indeed judge fully and finally, but the end is not yet. There will be a delay.

The principle of delay is communicated in two way. One, through explicit statements found within the text. And two, through the literary structure of the text.

First, let us consider the explicit statements.

Remember that when the fifth seal was opened John “saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.” The had a question for God. Actually, it’s the same question that a lot the saints on earth have. “They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’” How long until the final judgment? That was their question. And here is what they were told: “Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been” (Revelation 6:9–11, ESV). Delay. The end is not yet.

The scriptures give different reasons for the delay between Christ’s first and second comings. In Matthew 24:14 we hear Christ say, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14, ESV). What must happen before the end comes? The gospel must be preached throughout the whole world and to all nations. Paul, in Romans 11 is considering the history of redemption into two phases – a time focused upon the Jews (the Old Covenant) and a time focused upon the Gentile (under the New Covenant). He says “lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:25-26, ESV). According to Paul the true Israel of God is all who believe upon Christ from amongst the Jews and the Gentiles. According to him the end will come only after “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved.” So what must happen before the end comes? All of God’s elect, from both Jews and Gentiles, must come in, that is to say, come to faith and be saved. But in Revelation a different reason is given. Evidently there are a certain number of martyrs destined by God. When the last martyr dies, then the end will come. It is not as if the scriptures contradict one another. It is that each of these passages answer the question, “how long”, in a different way. The gospel must be preached in all the earth! All of God’s elect must be brought in! The number martyrs must be filled up! Then then end will come.

Delay is communicated with the words “rest a little longer” spoken to the souls of the saints in heaven. But it is also communicated by the structure of the book of Revelation. Did you notice something strange about the scripture reading today? To read about the breaking of all seven seals we had to skip chapter seven.

A literary gap exist between the sixth and seventh seal. Chapter seven is, what commentators have called, an interlude. Chapter seven describes in detail the sealing of the 144,000 on earth and then a great multitude in heaven from every tongue tribe and nation. I will explain that chapter in the months to come. For now, notice that there is an interlude – a delay in the literary structure – between seals six and seven.

The same feature is found in the trumpet cycle. The sixth and seven trumpets are separated by chapters ten and eleven which describe the recommissioning of John, and the ministry, martyrdom and resurrection of the two witnesses. I’ll explain that text later. For now, notice that there is an interlude – a delay in the literary structure – between trumpets six and seven.

In both cycles the reader, or the hearer, of the book of Revelation is rolling right along. It seems as if everything is going to be brought to a conclusion, but then there is an interlude. It gives the sense of delay.

Notice, though, that in the bowl cycle, there is no delay.  For the bowl cycle describes, not God’s limited and restrained judgment upon the earth, but the full and final judgment of God upon all the earth.  There is no interlude there. Things roll right along – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Why? Because these are the seven bowls filled with the wrath of God to be poured out fully and finally upon on the earth.

The seals and the trumpets communicate delay because they describe, not only the end, but also the sweep of redemptive history leading up to the end. They eventually describe the end, but before that they describe how things will be in heaven and on earth in these last days. The end will come, but it is not yet.

Conclusion 

By way of concussion I would like to show you just how similar the seal cycle is to the words of Jesus found in Matthew 24.

Jesus’ disciples asked him the same question that the souls of the martyrs asked God. How long will it be? When will the judgment come? Here is how he answered them:

“See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:4–14, ESV).

What Jesus spoke in Matthew 24, he depicts in the seven seals of Revelation 6 and 8.

Brothers and sisters, let us live according to these things.

Let us be at peace on this world, knowing that God is sovereign over all.

Let us see tribulation for what it is – judgment upon God’s enemies, but means of sanctification for his people.

Let us not fear death. For to die in Christ is to live.

And let is not avenge ourselves, knowing that God will indeed judge fully and finally in the end.

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19, ESV).

Posted in Sermons, Joe Anady, Revelation 6; 8:1-5, Posted by Joe. Comments Off on Sermon: The Seven Seals, Broadly Considered: Revelation 6; 8:1-5

Feb 17
26

Sermon: The Triumph of the Lamb: Revelation 5


Old Testament Reading: Ezekiel 2

“And he said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.’ And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. ‘But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.’ And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe” (Ezekiel 2, ESV).

New Testament Reading: Revelation 5

“Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’ And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’ Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped” (Revelation 5, ESV).

Introduction

Do you see, brothers and sisters, that Revelation 5 comes to focus upon Jesus the Christ? He takes center stage in the vision that was shown to John. He is the one symbolized by the lamb that John saw “between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders”. In chapter 4 everything focuses upon God enthroned. God is the one worshipped there. But in chapter 5 everything comes to focus upon Jesus the Christ who was slain, who is alive forevermore. He is the one worshipped here.

We learn three things about Jesus in this passage:

One, in all of God’s creation Christ alone was found worthy to open the scroll and to break it’s seals.

Two, in all of God’s creation Christ alone was found worthy to open the seals because he has accomplished our redemption having won the victory by his sacrificial death, triumphant resurrection, and victorious ascension to the Father’s right hand.

Three, in all of God’s creation Christ alone was found worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

We will return to each of these principles in a moment. For now, notice that Revelation 5 begins with a predicament.

John “saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And [John] saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and [John] began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it” (Revelation 5:1–4, ESV).

When we are told that John “saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll”,  we are to understand this to be an anthropomorphism. God does not really have a right hand, does he? When we ask or children the question, “What is God?”, we teach them to answer saying, “God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being…” (Baptist Catechism, 7). Our confession rightly says that God is “a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions”.  Jesus told us so when he said, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24, ESV). It is important to understand that whenever the scriptures use human characteristics (either physical or emotional) to describe God they are anthropomorphisms (or anthropopathisms). They are human characteristics being attributed to God, though God does not really possess those characteristics. Remember when God showed Moses his glory this is how he did it: He put him in a cleft of the rock, and covered him with his “hand” until he had passed by. Then he took away his “hand” so that Moses could see his “back”. Why? So that Moses would not see God’s “face”, “for man shall not see [God] and live” (see Exodus 33:20–23). Friends, God does not have a face, a hand, or a back. He is “a most pure spirit, invisible, without [a] body.” But these anthropomorphisms help us to better understand what happened with Moses. Did he see God? Yes he did! But did he see the fulness of God’s glory? No he did not. God shielded him from it with his “hand”; he only allowed Moses to see his “back”; God’s “face” was hidden from Moses, lest he be consumed by the fulness of the glory of God. These are human characteristics applied to God, who is not human, but divine. We must not take the anthropomorphisms literally, but we must understand that truths about God are being communicated by them in way that we can comprehend. When we read that John “saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll” we are not to think, God has hands!, but rather, God is enthroned in heaven as King, and he is issuing his decree by stretching forth his strong right hand, just as an earthly king would. That is what is happening here. John saw a vision of God enthroned, and God is now issuing forth his decree.

And what did John see in God’s right hand? He saw a scroll with writing on the front and back sealed with seven seals.

If we are familiar with the Old Testament the scroll that John mentions should bring a number of passages to mind, the foremost being Ezekiel chapter 2, which we have already read. There the prophet Ezekiel describes his commissioning. God sent him to proclaim the word of God to the people of Israel concerning, one, the judgment that would come upon them, given their rebelliousness, and two, the promise of God to preserve a remnant, given God’s faithfulness to his covenant (see Ezekiel 16:59ff. and 20:33ff., for example). So the message of the prophet was twofold. It was mainly bad news – destruction is coming – God will judge, given your rebelliousness. But there was also good news peppered throughout – God will preserve a remnant and restore, because he is faithful to his covenant promises. And how was the prophet commissioned to preach? Remember, it all started in Ezekiel 1 where we are told of the vision Ezekiel saw – a vision very similar to the one that John saw described to us beginning with Revelation 4. And then in chapter 2 of Ezekiel a scroll was given to the prophet. The scroll – just like the one described in Revelation 5 – had writing on the front and back “and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe” (Ezekiel 2:10, ESV). If we were to read on into Ezekiel 3 would would see that Ezekiel was then commanded to eat the scroll – he was to ingest it – to make it a part of himself – so that he might then proclaim it to the people. If we were to read the rest of Ezekiel we would then encounter the actual preaching of the prophet. We would read of the prophesies that he uttered in the coming years – prophesies that predicted both the destructions that would come upon rebellious Israel, and also prophesies that foretold of the preservation of a remnant for the sake of the establishment of God’s covenant. That is a summery of the book of Ezekiel.

Brothers and sisters, it is essential that we make the connection between Revelation 4 -5 and Ezekiel 1 and 2. The connection is obvious. And the connection helps us to know what to expect from the rest of the book of Revelation. Ezekiel chapters 1 and 2 set the stage for the rest of that book. There the heavenly vision and commissioning of the the prophet are described. And the rest of that book contains prophesies concerning judgment and also promises concerning the preservation of God’s elect. Most of those prophesies and promises were fulfilled as history unfolded leading up to the first coming of Christ. Here is the point: given the obvious similarities between Ezekiel 1 and 2 and Revelation 4 and 5, should we not expect, therefore, that the book of Revelation will also contain prophesies concerning judgment and promises concerning the preservation of God’s elect from the time of it’s writing up until the next monumental redemptive historical event, namely, the second coming of Christ? Indeed, that is what the rest of the book of Revelation will be about – the judgment of God’s enemies, the preservation of his people, and the fulfillment of his promises, up to the very end of time. That, my friends, is the king’s decree that is written on the front and the back of the scroll that John saw in God’s right hand.

Notice that this scroll was sealed with seven seals. It was common in the ancient would to seal important documents with a wax seal. The document would be rolled up. A bit of hot wax would be dropped onto the seam, and the author would impress the wax with an mark unique to him. The document would be then be delivered and the recipient would know whether or not the information was kept secure depending upon the condition of the seal. If the seal was broken then there was reason to believe that the scroll had been read by someone who should not have read it. The scroll in God’s right hand was sealed with seven seals, indicating that the information contained within was most sensitive.

If we are familiar with the Old Testament another passage should come to mind when we are told of the seals. We have already seen that a close relationship exists between the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation. I’ve pointed out (though I have not taken the time to demonstrate it to you) that the content of Daniel 7: 9-27 and Revelation 4-5 mirror one another. The vision of the son of man in Revelation 1 is based upon Daniel 7. The book of Daniel, like the book of Ezekiel, was written a long time before Jesus’ birth and it too contains many prophesies concerning what would happen in the days leading up to the birth of the Christ. But consider this: in Daniel chapter 12 we see that some things were revealed to the prophet concerning the very end of time –  concerning the resurrection and the final judgment. But the information given to Daniel was very limited. Listen to Daniel 12:1-4:

“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end” (Daniel 12:1–4, ESV).

What does this passage describe? It describes the great tribulation, the resurrection of the just and the unjust, the final judgment, and the eternal reward. It describes all of that, but very briefly. And Daniel is commanded to “shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end”. As the passage progress we see Daniel pressing the Lord for more information. “What will the outcome of these things be?”, he asks. Daniel was not given much more but was again told, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end” (Daniel 12:9, ESV). And in verse 13 he was again told, “go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:13, ESV). This is how the book of Daniel concludes.

So we have the book of Daniel written long before the birth of Christ. It contains many prophesies concerning what would happen in the days leading up to the birth of Christ. It also contains some prophesies that speak to what will happen at the end of time when Christ returns, but the information concerning that is very limited. Daniel, as he pressed for more information, was told “go your way”. “The words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end”. Daniel, “shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end”.

Think about it.  Think about how the book of Daniel, written in the 500’s B.C., is related to the book of Revelation. The book of Daniel concludes with information being withheld. Things are hidden. The book is sealed. But this is also where the book of Revelation picks up. John sees a vision of God enthroned. In his right hand is a scroll with seven seals on it. Those seals will be opened. The book of Revelation picks up where the book of Daniel left off. Revelation builds upon and advances Daniel.

Remember that John was a Jew. He was very well acquainted with the Old Testament. He knew Ezekiel and Daniel backwards and forwards. What do you think he expected, then, when he saw that scene unfold before his eyes? Without a doubt he thought, here it is! Here is the revelation that Daniel longed to see! Here is the decree concerning how things will go from this day forward. There’s the decree. It’s in the scroll, written front and back! Without a doubt that was his expectation. He expected to receive the message contained within the scroll just as Ezekiel did.  Also, remember the loud voice that John heard at the beginning of this vision. The Lord said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1, ESV). He must have been so excited to hear it – so eager to receive it. Without a doubt he would have instantaneously made all of these connections and would have been overwhelmed with joy at thought of seeing what Daniel and the other prophets longed to see, but were limited.

But a problem remains. The scroll was sealed with seven seals. The scroll, at this time, was as inaccessible to John as it was to Daniel. It was sealed – it was closed off to him.

It is no wonder, then, that John began to weep loudly after he saw “a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.” (Revelation 5:2–3, ESV). No one in all of God’s creation was found worthy. “No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.”

Here is where Christ enters the scene. And when he does we learn three things about him.

Christ Alone Was Found Worthy To Open The Scroll And To Break It’s Seals

First of all, we learn that in all of God’s creation, Christ alone was found worthy to open the scroll and to break it’s seals.

Listen to the announcement that one of the elders made to John in verses 5. He said,  “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals’” (Revelation 5:5, ESV).

This is obviously a reference to Jesus who is the Christ. And the way that Jesus is spoken of here is very significant.

He is called the “Lion of the tribe of Judah”. That is a majestic title, isn’t it? But was is the significance of it?

Remember that when Jacob, who was then called Israel, pronounced blessing upon his son’s near the end of his life he compared his son Judah to a lion and prophesied that a perpetual royal dynasty would come from him. He said,

“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (Genesis 49:8–10, ESV).

Jesus the Christ is the fulfillment of this prophesy. He is “Lion of the tribe of Judah”.

And he is also called the “Root of David”. This too is a regal title!

Remember that David was the best of Israel’s kings. And remember that it was prophesied that David’s dynasty would be everlasting – David would never lack a man on the throne (2 Samuel 7). But the people of Israel would eventually be defeated and taken into exile. It seemed as if the promise made to David concerning an everlasting kingdom was failing. But Isaiah the prophet prophesied that after the exile the day would come when a shoot would spring forth from the stump of Jesse (Jesse being the father of David, and another way of referring to David’s lineage). In others words, after the exile it looked as if the flourishing dynasty of David had been cut to the ground and destroyed. But Isaiah the prophet prophesied saying,

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit… In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10, ESV).

The dynasty of David seemed dead, like a tree cut to the ground with only a stump remaining. But the day would come, said the prophet, when life would spring forth from that stump and bear fruit, not only for the Jews, but for all nations.

Jesus the Christ is the fulfillment of this prophesy. He is the “Root of David”.

It is because of this that Jesus is the only one in all of God’s creation who is able to open the scroll and to break it’s seals. He is worthy because he is the Christ. He is more than a prophet. “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11, ESV).

Christ Alone Was Found Worthy To Open The Seals Because He Has Accomplished Our Redemption Having Won The Victory By His Sacrificial Death, Triumphant Resurrection, And Victorious Ascension To The Father’s Right Hand

Secondly, we learn that Christ alone was found worthy to open the seals because he has accomplished our redemption having won the victory by his sacrificial death, triumphant resurrection, and victorious ascension to the Father’s right hand.

In verse 5 one of the elders said to John, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5, ESV).

Jesus was able to open the scroll because he had conquered.

What did he conquered? The rest of the Revelation along with the rest of the scriptures make it clear as to what he conquered. He has conquered death. He has conquered Satan. Indeed, he has conquered all of the enemies of God fully and finally.

But how did do it? How did Jesus conquered these powerful foes?

What John describes next reveals it to us. Verse 6: “And between [in the midst of] the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6, ESV).

Now you expected this because you are familiar with the text of Revelation. But do you think this is what John expected to see? Or, if you imagine that this were the first time you had read Revelation, is this the image that you would expect to see – a lamb standing as though slain? I think not. After hearing the announcement, “weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered”, what do you expect to see? Something powerful, of course. Maybe something like what John described in chapter 1 where he saw,

“One like a son of man…the hairs of his head.. white, like white wool… His eyes… like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength” (Revelation 1:13–16, ESV).

You expect to see a powerful figure. But instead the one who has conquered appears as a sacrificed lamb. It’s a jarring transition.

What is the meaning of it? The meaning is this: Christ has conquered death, and Satan, and all of the enemies of God by giving himself up for for us as a willing sacrifice.

“He was in the form of God, [but] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5–8, ESV).

That is how “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered”.

Notice that he was slain, but now he is seen standing in heaven in the midst of the throne of God. How did he get there? Well, he rose from the dead and ascended to Father.

He has seven horns. Horns symbolize power. Christ has all power. Remember, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to [him]” (Matthew 28:18, ESV).

And he has seven eyes. The seven eyes symbolize Christ’s omniscience. He sees all. Remember how he spoke to each church saying,  “I know”. But the eyes are specifically said to represent “the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth”. Christ sees all things even to the ends of the earth, and he has also promised to send the Spirit to support his elect in every age.

In verses 7-10 John says, “And [the Lamb] went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth’” (Revelation 5:7–10, ESV).

There is a lot going on in this scene.

One, notice the transaction that took place between God and Christ. God gave the Lamb the scroll.

Two, notice that prayers were offered to Christ. The elders held “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” Remember, the elders are angels who represent God’s redeemed on the earth. The prayers of the saints we brought before Christ by them.

Three, notice that worship was given to Christ. “They sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth’”

Jesus was found worthy to open the seals because he is the redeemer of God’s elect.

He has “ransomed people”.  To ransom is to “to cause the release or freedom of someone by a means which proves costly to the individual causing the release—‘to redeem, to set free’”. We were slaves to sin and death. Christ has freed us by his blood, if we know him.

He has “ransomed people for God”. We have been freed so that we might belong to God.

He has “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” Do you remember Jesus high priestly prayer in John 17: Father “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word” (John 17:6, ESV).

By the way, the doctrine of limited atonement is clearly taught here. By his shed blood Christ ransomed, payed the price for, and set free, not all people, but people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

And what were these ransomed to do? To be “a kingdom and priests to… God, and… [to] reign on the earth.” We have been ransomed so that we might worship and serve God.

Why was Christ alone found worthy to open the seals? Because he has accomplished our redemption having won the victory by his sacrificial death, triumphant resurrection, and victorious ascension to the Father’s right hand. Only he is worthy to reveal and bring about the conclusion to the story in which he is the central figure and hero.

Christ Alone Was Found Worthy To Receive Power, Wealth, Wisdom, And Might, Honor, Glory And Blessing

Thirdly, notice that in all of God’s creation, Christ alone was found worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

Verses 11-14: “Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped” (Revelation 5:11–14, ESV).

This seen is the most majestic of all. John’s view grows far more expansive. Instead of focussing in upon the throne and the creatures surrounding the throne, all of God’s creation is brought into view. He sees thousands upon thousands of angels along with “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea.” And what are they doing? The are worshiping God and Christ.

Christ, they say, is worthy “to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” He is worthy to receive it because he has earned it by his obedient life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection.

It is only right that both God and Christ receive “blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.” Amen.

Application 

Let us consider a few possible points of application before we close.

First of all, I would ask you this: have you believed upon Christ Jesus? Have you confessed your sin? Have turned from it and looked to Christ in faith? Have you asked God to forgive you because of what Christ has done for you? Have you made Christ Lord? Do you see that Christ is the redeemer? If you do not belong to him then you belong to the enemy. We must look to Christ in faith if we hope to be saved.

Secondly, having believed upon Christ, have you made him the central thing in your life? Notice that in the heavenly realm God and Christ are central. They are worshipped and served there. They alone are considered worthy of praise. Such is not the case on earth. Man is made to be central in this realm. We worship and serve ourselves. We worship and serve the creation rather than the creator. But things should be very different among the redeemed. Our lives should follow the heavenly pattern, and not the worldly one. God and Christ should be central for us. And this mindset should be evident to all who look in upon us. Our lives should be different. Sadly, it is oftentimes hard to tell the difference between the one who names the name of Christ and non-Christian today. Worldliness is rampant within Christ’s visible church. It should not be so. We have been redeemed by Christ for God to live in his kingdom as priests, offering up acceptable worship to him.

Thirdly, are you living in this world according to the way of Christ? He conquered by laying his life down for others in humble submission to the Father. Do you bear the same characteristic? Are you humble before God and man? Have you died to self completely, living instead for God and for others? All of our remaining sin and corruption exists only because we have failed to put to death the flesh and to live according to the Spirit to the glory of God and for the good of our fellow man. Die to self, friend. Live to God. Pursue holiness. And as you do rejoice, for the Lamb, who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered for you and me and all who are in Christ Jesus in every place and in every age.

Posted in Sermons, Joe Anady, Revelation 5, Posted by Joe. Comments Off on Sermon: The Triumph of the Lamb: Revelation 5

Feb 17
19

Sermon: Heavenly Attendants: Revelation 4:4-11


Pre-Introduction

We took some time to read Ezekiel 1 last Sunday. It would be good to keep that text in mind as we again read Revelation 4, but I will not read it again for the sake of time. Remember especially the four living creatures that Ezekiel saw in the vision: “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. Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies” (Ezekiel 1:10–11, ESV).

Let us go again to Revelation 4. Last week we gave special attention to the inanimate things that John saw surrounding the glory of God in this vision. Today we will consider the living things: particularly the twenty-four elders, the four living creatures, and the seven spirits of God.

New Testament Reading: Revelation 4:1-11

“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 the 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 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.’” (Revelation 4:1–11, ESV)

Introduction

There are three principles that I would like to draw from the text of Revelation 4 today.

One, we must again remember that there exists a heavenly realm that lies beyond the earthly realm that we can perceive with our natural senses.

Two, notice that the heavenly realm is not a fallen realm. In this un-fallen heavenly realm the worship and service of God remains the unceasing and all consuming activity of every living thing.

Three, notice that this un-fallen heavenly realm interacts continuously with the fallen earthly realm in the application of both redemption and judgment.

There Exists A Heavenly Realm That Lies Beyond This Earthly Realm

Let us return briefly to the first principle: We must again remember that there exists a heavenly realm that lies beyond this earthly realm. We can perceive the earthly realm with our natural senses. The heavenly realm is made known to us only through special revelation. It is true that we might observe the natural world around us and reason from what we see that there must be a heavenly realm, but it is God’s word that reveals reveals it to us most clearly. Revelation chapter 4, along with many other passages in this book and elsewhere in scripture, reveals something to us about how things are in the heavenly realm. We are to see it, therefore, with eyes of faith, trusting in what God has revealed to us.

Friends, the fact that we cannot perceive the heavenly realm with our natural senses does not make it any less real than the earthly things that we can see, taste, touch, hear and smell. The heavenly is indeed real and true. This is one of the most fundamental truths revealed to us in the book of Revelation. The book was given so that the people of God might cultivate a heavenly mindset.

When I exhort you to cultivate a “heavenly mindset” I am not only encouraging the Christian to live this life in preparation for the world to come, but also to live this life being mindful of how things are now in the heavenly realm. Can you see the difference between those two principles?

It is common, I think, for Christians to hear the exhortation, “be heavenly minded”, but upon hearing it to think, “yes, I must live this life in preparation for heaven, which is something I will taste in the future, that is, in the life to come.” Indeed, my exhortation to cultivate a heavenly mindset involves that – store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, brothers and sisters, where neither moth nor rust destroy, nor do thieves break in and steal – but it involves more than that. Not only are we to live for the world to come – that is, in preparation for life in the new heavens and new earth – but we are also to live according to how things are now in heaven – that is, in the realm that exists now where God sits enthroned.

It is evident that we use the word heaven in two different ways. Actually, we use it in four different ways if we include the ways in which we use it to refer to features in the natural world. One, we sometimes refer to the realm where the birds and airplanes fly as “heaven”.  Two, we sometimes refer to the realm where the stars and planets reside as “heaven”. Three, we use the word “heaven” to refer to that realm where God and his heavenly attendants dwell now – that realm that lies beyond our natural perceptions. When the word heaven appears in scripture it is most often a reference to that “heaven” – the heaven that exists now where God is enthroned and where those who have died in Christ are in the spirit as they await the resurrection of the body on that last day.

Four, we sometimes refer to the place where those who have faith in Christ will dwell with God for all eternity, after the return of Christ, the resurrection, and final judgment, as “heaven”. In this fourth sense the word “heaven” is used to refer to a future reality. Really we ought to refer to this thing – the future, final, consummate “heaven” – as the “new heavens and the new earth” . That is how it is described in Revelation 21. For at the end of time the division between heaven and earth will be no more. God will be with us in a most immediate way. Heaven and earth will become one.

When I exhort you to cultivate a “heavenly mindset” I am not only saying, “live your life being mindful of and in preparation for the new heavens and new earth which have yet to come”, but also, “live your life today being mindful of how things are now in heaven, where God, his attendants, and those who have died in Christ are ruling and reigning.” This is the kind of heavenly mindset that we need to cultivate! We are to see the world in these terms: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth! He has has always been enthroned in heaven – heaven is his throne and earth its footstool – he is enthroned now, and ever will be. This is the truth communicated to us in Revelation 4.  Indeed, the whole book was given so that God’s people might cultivate a heavenly mindset and, therefore, live life well in this world.

You’ve noticed, I’m sure, that I do not often preach practical sermons, but rather ideological ones.

It is not that I do not know how to preach practical sermons. I do! I could give you 10 steps to a healthier marriage right now! And it is not as if I don’t understand how much people like sermons like that. I get it. People like them very much. They tend to be easy to listen to – easy to understand and apply. And it is not as if I think sermons should be impractical. By no means! We must apply God’s word to our lives! The word is to have a transformational effect upon us. We are to be changed by it. The end goal of the study of scripture is always obedience to scripture – we are to put into practice the things that we learn. The issue is this: sermons that are all about practice are hollow. They lack the substance needed to bring deep and lasting change our lives.

If our practice – our way of life – is going to change us in a deep and lasting way, we need to be confronted with the ideas that are communicated in the holy scriptures. We must know what those ideas are, come to see them as true, and then live our lives according to them. This is why I preach ideological sermons and not practical ones.

But ideological preaching (I’ve made up that term – I’m not using it in a technical sense) is far from impractical. In fact, preaching that begins by teaching the ideas of scripture it is far more practical than practical preaching is! It is practical in a deep and substantial way. Ideological preaching seeks to transformation the believers’ way of life – their practice – through the renewal of the heart and the mind. When the truths of holy scripture are understood in the mind and believed in the heart, they will indeed transform the practice of the Christian as the Holy Spirit works.

Do you want a better marriage, friends? Then cultivate a heavenly mindset.  You say, but that has nothing to do with marriage! I say, that has everything to do with marriage! True, husbands need to learn to live with their wives in a tender, considerate, and understanding way. True, husbands need to learn to speak kindly to their wives (look, I’m getting practical now). True, husbands must learn to take seriously their God given responsibility in the home as leaders within it. True, husbands should serve their wives, giving themselves up for them daily (what do we have now, four of ten secrets to a healthy marriage?). True, husbands must learn to humbly and sincerely repent before God and their wives when they have done wrong. All of these things are true, and they need to be applied practically from day to day (some men need to learn these truths and also how to apply them – practical instruction is indeed needed and is of some value).  But I am also convinced that a husband will not do any of these things (at least not for long) unless his mind and heart have been transformed by the word of God and the Holy Spirit.

Let me illustrate. I’ve notice that there is a growing interest in old traditional trades like blacksmithing. There’s a show on television called “Forged in Fire”, or something like that. I’ve noticed other series’ too with the same theme. I get the appeal of it. It’s enjoyable to watch a craftsmen work. It’s refreshing in our modern and industrial age to watch someone produce something beautiful or functional with their hands in an artistic and skillful way.

It seems to me that there are two qualities needed to be a truly skilled craftsmen; one internal quality and the other external. A craftsman, first of all, needs to have a knowledge of and a love for his craft. That is the internal quality needed. And secondly, the craftsmen needs to develop practical skills to work with his tools. That is the external quality needed. The knowledge and love for the craft reside internally within the heart and mind. The skills in working with the tools develop as the man learns to use his hands to effectively put into practice the knowledge and passion that resides within him.

Preaching that is obsessed with the practical but to the neglect of the ideological or theological can be compared to putting a hammer in an untrained child’s hands and setting him in front of anvil and forge. Can you picture him there? Does he have the tools of a craftsmen? Yes, you’ve given him the tools! But does he have the mind and heart of a craftsman. He does not.  He is yet untrained and unconverted. Without a doubt he will pretend to be a craftsmen for a time. He will play blacksmith. He’ll pound on a few things and make a real ruckus, but he will not produce anything of lasting value. He’ll quickly loose interest and move on to other childish things. Why? Because you’ve given him the tools but have not yet filled his mind with knowledge nor won his heart.

Friends, living a godly life is an art. To do it consistently well we must know what is true, believe what is true, and then live our lives accordingly.

I say all of this to encourage you not to grow weary as we consider passages of scripture that are intended to impact your way of life by, first of all, changing the way that you think. There will be times when the main points of the sermon will be, “do this, or do that” because the text of scripture is indeed compelling us to do something. But there will be other times when the main points will be “see this, remember that, think in this way, understand this, or believe that.” Friends, these ideological sermons, as I have called them, have the potential to be deeply practical if we would only believe these things deeply and labor to live accordingly.

Friends, remember that there exists a heavenly realm that lies beyond this earthly realm. God is enthroned there. He is the sovereign King of the universe, and he is judge. This truth should have a profound impact upon husbands and wives, parents and children, employers and employees, students and teachers, young and old. What could possibly impact our lives more than know that God sits enthroned in the heavenly realm?

This Heavenly Realm Is Not A Fallen Realm

The second principle to draw from Revelation 4 is this: notice that this heavenly realm is not a fallen realm. In this un-fallen heavenly realm the worship and service of God remains the unceasing and all consuming activity of every living thing.

Remember that chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation go together and they are peppered with accounts of praise. There are five songs sung in these two chapters. The first is found in 4:8. The praise is directed towards God and is sung by the four living creatures. The second is in 4:11. It also is directed towards God but is sung by the twenty-four elders. The third in 5:9-10 is directed towards Christ and is sung again by the twenty-four elders. The fourth song is found in 5:11-12. It is again directed towards Christ, but is sung by the four living creatures who are then joined by the twenty-four elders and “many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands” (Revelation 5:11, ESV). The fifth song is found in 5:13. John “heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped” (Revelation 5:13–14, ESV).

This heavenly realm is un-fallen. In this un-fallen heavenly realm the worship and service of God remains the unceasing and all consuming activity of every living thing.

You may be thinking to yourself, but wasn’t there a fall in this heavenly realm among the angels  before there was a fall in the earthly realm affecting all of humanity? Indeed there was. But the fallen angels were immediately expelled from this heavenly realm and condemned. 2 Peter 2:4 says, “For…God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment” (2 Peter 2:4, ESV). Do you see that no mercy was shown to the angels when they fell? There was and is no plan of redemption for them. There is no redemptive history to unfold. Heaven is not a realm that is fallen where the process of judgment and redemption is unfolding progressively. Earth is that way. Heaven is not. Only the elect angels belong and remain there.

When Paul exhorted the young pastor Timothy to rebuke the unruly in the church he did so by reminding him that heaven is watching. Listen to what he said: “As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality” (1 Timothy 5:20–21, ESV). Timothy was exhorted to do his job as a pastor being ever mindful of the fact that heaven is watching. And who is looking down upon us from this heavenly realm? God, Christ Jesus, and the elect angels are.

Everything is in perfect order in this heavenly realm. The worship and service of God remains the unceasing and all consuming activity of every living thing. Do you remember the sea of glass that John saw before God’s throne? That tranquil sea is, in part, symbolic of this very fact. There is no turmoil in heaven. God is enthroned there. He is worshiped and served as he ought to be. That will never end. The angels that are there are elect angels. They will not fall. They will serve him and worship him faithfully forever and ever.

Who are the twenty-four elders that John saw worshipping before the throne? The answer is that they are angels who stand for, represent, and serve God’s elect who are on earth in every age.

Notice the number of them. They are twenty-four in number. Remember that there were twelve tribes in Israel and twelve apostles. The number twenty-four is certainly meant to symbolize this group – all of God’s redeemed under both the Old and New Covenants.

Notice what they are called – elders. Typically, the title elder is used to refer to leaders who are human, and not angelic.

Notice how they are dressed. They are said to be wearing the garb that was promised to Christians who overcome in the letters to the churches. To the Christians in Smyrna, for example, Christ said, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10, ESV). And to the Christians in Sardis Christ said, “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels” (Revelation 3:5, ESV). Here these elders are said to be “clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads” (Revelation 4:4, ESV).

Notice where these elders are sitting. They are seated on thrones, ruling and reigning with God and with Christ. Is this not what Christ promised to the Christian who overcome? To the Laodiceans Christ said, “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:21, ESV).

All of these observations have led some to conclude that these twenty-four elders are not angels, but are in fact the souls of believers (perhaps leaders) who have died and are with the Lord in heaven now. I understand why they come to that position Indeed, there are many factors compelling us to identify the twenty-four elders with God’s people. The number of them, their title, how they are dressed, where they are said to be sitting, all compel us to identify these beings with God’s redeemed – the elect from every age – under the Old and New Covenants.

But it cannot be, for clearly these twenty-four elders are distinguished from redeemed humanity and are more closely identified with angels as the book of Revelation unfolds. I cannot demonstrate this to you now because of time constraints, but a simple word study that examines the usage of the word “elder” in the book of Revelation would prove the point. These are angelic beings. The twenty-four elders are, therefore, angels who stand for, represent, and serve God’s elect – God’s redeemed people on earth – in every age.

This idea that there are angels  – ministering spirits – that correspond to the redeemed on earth should not surprise us. Remember that every one of the letters written to the seven churches was addressed, not to he church itself, but “to the angel” of each particular church – “to the angel of the church in Ephesus write…”, and “to the angel of the church in Smyrna write…”, and so on. The writer to the Hebrews when speaking of angels says, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out [by God] to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation [the redeemed]” (Hebrews 1:14, ESV)? These are the angels that John saw in his vision represented by the twenty-four elders seated on the twenty-four thrones.

And who are the four living creatures that John saw worshipping before the throne? The answer is that they too are angels, but they represent all of creation and serve God in his interaction with the whole created world. So we have heavenly representation for the redeemed, and we have heavenly representation for all of creation.

If you pay attention to the activities of the four living creatures throughout the rest of the book of Revelation you will find that they are active in carrying out the judgments of God upon the whole earth. This can be seen in chapter 6 and also 15:7.

Notice the appearance of the creatures. John says they were,

“…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…” (Revelation 4:6–8, ESV)

The many eyes signify divine omniscience. God’s judgments are perfect because he sees all things with perfect clarity, even the intents of the heart. The living creatures administer God’s judgments justly because they do so according to the command of the omniscient God.

In the vision John saw that each of the four heavenly creatures had the face of an earthly creature – a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle. This also supports the idea that these living creatures represent and minister on behalf of God in his created world.

The faces of the animals also likely symbolize something of the qualities of God’s judgments. His judgments will come swiftly, like an eagle in flight; with power, like that of an ox; with fierceness, like that of a lion; and according to wisdom, like that of a man.

It is very important to notice that the four living creatures that John saw in his vision are both similar and dissimilar to the four living creatures that Ezekiel saw in his vision. The similarities are so numerous (same number of creatures, same faces, similar position before God’s throne) that you cannot deny that they make reference to the same thing. In other words, what John saw is what Ezekiel saw. But the dissimilarities keep us from making a serious interpretive error. In Ezekiel’s vision each creature had four faces, one of the animals faces on each side, the numbers of the wings differ, etc. It would be a mistake to assume that this is really what angels look like. It would be a mistake to assume that John and Ezekiel were taken up to heaven with a camera and they took a picture of how things look there. No, they saw visions of haven, and those visions were symbolic in nature. Angels really look like angels, and not oxen or eagles or lions or men. Jesus the Christ looks like Jesus the Christ, and not a lamb slain with seven horns and seven eyes (Revelation 5:6). This was a vision that John saw and the things that he saw were symbolic.

The elders and the living creatures represent angels. And their appearance communicates truth to us about the, namely, that in heaven there are angels who worship and serve God. Particularly they serve God by ministering to his redeemed (symbolized by the twenty-four elders) and also carrying out his judgments upon the earth (symbolized by the four living creatures.

Friends, you are seeing that interpreting the book of Revelation constantly well requires mental discipline. This is true for all interpreters, but especially for those of us who grew up with the futuristic and hyper-literalistic view of the book of Revelation.

Many of us grew up being taught that Revelation 4:1 and onward describes things that will happen yet in our future. I’ve tried to demonstrate that this is not at all true. The content of the book of Revelation is not organized chronologically from beginning to end, but rather it recapitulates, telling the story of God’s redemption and judgment over and over again from different vantage points. It is not mainly about the future, but it is about the past, present and future. I think I have demonstrated this effectively in past lectures and sermons, but if you are still unconvinced then I would simply ask you to explain why the birth of Christ is described in 12:1. I could ask you to explain many other instances of recapitulation, but this one seems to be most clear. The birth of Jesus Christ is described in the middle of the book of Revelation. The book is not mainly about the future, but it is about the past, present, and future. It is not organized chronologically, but it recapitulates again and again, painting a picture of how things will go in these “last days” (the time between Christ’s first and second comings). You might be growing tired of hearing me say this, but the repetition is needed lest we fall back into our futuristic mindset.

Also, many of us grew up being taught that we are to interpret the book of Revelation literally whenever possible. I’ve also tried to demonstrate that this is not true. The book is filled with symbolism. It’s genre is apocalyptic and prophetic. Much of the book is a record of visions that John was shown. Truthfully, if we interpret the book literally whenever possible then we will make the book to contradict itself. I might simply ask the question, what does Jesus look like now that he is in heaven? Does he look like the son of man described in Revelation 1 or the lamb that looked as though it had been slain in chapter 5. If what what John describes to us is to be taken literally, then we have a contradiction. It is far better to recognize that truths about our risen and ascended Lord are communicated to us in both chapter 1 and 5, but in a symbolic and nonliteral way.  Jesus does not really look like the figure in chapter 1 or 5. This is an obvious example, but I mention it to illustrate the principle.

Brothers and sisters, these visions are filled with symbolism. But please remember that to say something in the text of scripture is symbolic does not make it any less real or true. It simply means that we must get to the truth by properly interpreting the symbolism. Are there really angels in heaven? Yes! And do they represent us and minster to us on God’s behalf? Yes! How do we know that is real and true? Because of what John saw and the obvious symbolism contained within the vision. I suppose God could have simply said in a direct way, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation”, just as he did through the writer to the Hebrews. But we are not in Hebrews, we are in Revelation. And in Revelation truthes are not just explained to us, they are shown! And I, for one, am glad for it, because the images we see are vivid and bright and most descriptive. We simply need to develop mental discipline while we study this book being ever mindful of where we are – in the book of Revelation, which is prophetic and apocalyptic literature. It communicates truth in it’s own unique way.

Brothers and sisters, remember that the heavenly realm is not a fallen realm. In this un-fallen heavenly realm the worship and service of God remains the unceasing and all consuming activity of every living thing.

This Un-fallen Heavenly Realm Interacts Continuously With The Fallen Earthly Realm In The Application Of both Redemption And Judgment

And lastly notice that this un-fallen heavenly realm interacts continuously with the fallen earthly realm in the application of both redemption and judgment.

To put it another way, things are indeed perfect in the heavenly realm, but the way things are also reveals that things are far from perfect in the world in which we live.

Consider this, if there were no fall on earth – if man did not fall frm his state of innocence into a state of sin – would John have seen the ominous and threatening thunder and lighting of judgment preceding from the throne of God. No! There would have been nothing to judge. Would he have seen the rainbow of mercy? No. Mercy is need only because we have sinned. And would there have been need of angels who represent and support the redeemed? No, without the fall there would be no need for redemption. And what of the four creatures who will take part in calling forth the judgments of God? Though they would have existed as elect angels , the would not have that task, for there would have be nothing on earth to judge.  The point that I want to make is that the vision John saw in heaven reveals much to us, not only about how things are there, but also here.

You and I live in a fallen world. But it is not a forsaken world. It is a fallen and sinful realm, but it is a realm in which the God of heaven along with his heavenly attendants are at work. They are applying both redemption and judgment continuously and will do so until the new heavens and new earth are ushered in. God is active in redeeming a people for himself, and will support them and keep them to the end. God is also active in judgment. He judges now, and will judge finally in the end. Do you want to know what the book of Revelation is all about, friends? It is about that! It tells the story of redemption and judgment in a most colorful and vivid way.

Application

Let us apply these truths by way of conclusion.

One, know that heaven is not in turmoil. friends. God is is not frustrated or confused. That should bring peace to our lives as we sojourn in this chaotic world.

Two, take comfort in the fact that God is with us. His elect angels minster to his elect people. But notice one more feature in this vision. “Before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God” (Revelation 4:5, ESV). When we compare this passage to Zechariah 4 it is undeniable that this is a reference to the Holy Spirit. There is, in reality, one Holy Spirit and not seven. Then why the does the text say seven? It is symbolic, of course. True, seven is the number of perfection – the Holy Spirit is perfect in every way. But notice also that the number here corresponds to the number of churches addressed in this book. There are seven churches and seven spirits of God before the throne. The meaning is this – God is with all of his redeemed by the power of the Holy Spirit. You are not alone. Christ told his disciples,

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also… If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. ‘I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you’” (John 141-3; 5–18, ESV).

Three, let us order our lives here on earth according to what is real in heaven. In particular, let us gather faithfully to worship on the Lord’s day, which is the Christian Sabbath, knowing that when we do we join in with the heavenly chorus who worships God continuously. Our worship here on earth correspond to the worship in heaven. We show, though our keeping of the Christian Sabbath and by our worship of God, that we are, first of all, citizens of heaven who are sojourning here for a time.

Lastly, I would call all who can hear these words to repent and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Indeed, or sins make us worthy recipients only of God’s judgment. But through faith in Christ we have the forgives of sins.

Posted in Sermons, Joe Anady, Revelation 4:4-11, Posted by Joe. Comments Off on Sermon: Heavenly Attendants: Revelation 4:4-11

Feb 17
12

Sermon: Comfort To The People Of God; Terror To His Enemies: Revelation 4:4-11


Pre-Introduction

It was difficult for me to choose an Old Testament reading for today. As you know, I typically choose an Old Testament text that in some way corresponds to, or serves as a backdrop for, the New Testament passage that are studying in detail. I would do the reverse if we were studying through an Old Testament book.

Rarely do I have time to comment much on the Old Testament text that I read, but I read it, one, so that you know it is there, two, to demonstrate that there is an intimate relationship between the Old and New Testaments, and three, with the hopes that you will reflect more deeply upon the connection on your own, given that I do not always have the time to draw out all of the implications given that our time is short. My main objective is that you might see, quoting Augustine, that “the New Testament is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed”.

It was difficult for me to choose the Old Testament reading today, not because I could not find one, but because there are so many Old Testament passages pertinent to Revelation 4. Isaiah 6 comes to mind. So does Daniel 7. In fact, if you set Daniel 7:9-27 and Revelation chapters 4-5 side by side to compare them you’ll notice that the two texts mirror one another very closely when it comes to their subject matter (G. K. Beale demonstrates this effectively in his commentary on the book of Revelation). Zachariah 4 is also important. Also, what John describes to us in Revelation 4-5 concerning the vision that he saw in heaven should be compared to Israel’s experience at Mt. Sinai as described in Exodus 19-20 and 24.  We should also have in our minds the instructions that we’re given to Moses concerning the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus 25 and following. That tabernacle was built according to the pattern given to Moses by God. Everything about the tabernacle, and the temple after that, was designed to communicate in visual form truths about God who is enthroned in heaven, his relationship to man who dwells on earth, and the provisions that he has made for us to come to him. All of these passages and the concepts communicated in them should be on our minds as we consider Revelation chapters 4 and 5.

These passages should be on our minds, not just so that we can say, “look, this connects to that!”, but so that we might consider the connections. What is similar? What is different? It is in noticing the similarities and differences that we are helped in the proper interpretation and application of the text.

I say all of this to again make the point that Revelation is a frustrating book to preach through given its complexity. It is clear! But it is also complex. It is rich. We do not have the time to say all that could be said.

I’ve decided to read from Ezekiel 1 before reading Revelation 4. You’ll see why in a moment. The events described in Ezekiel 1 took place in 593 B.C., five years after the first group of exiles were taken from Israel to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Hear now the word of the Lord:

Old Testament Reading: Ezekiel 1

“In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there. As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. 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. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. 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. Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. And each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning. Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads. And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. And each creature had two wings covering its body. And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings. And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.” (Ezekiel 1, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Revelation 4:1-11

“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 the 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 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’” (Revelation 4:1–11, ESV).

Introduction 

Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4 have many things in common. Most fundamentally, they both describe heavenly visions shown to men – one a prophet, the other an apostle – who were ministering to the people of God living in exile. Israel was in exile, having been taken from their land to Babylon. The church always lives in exile, having no land of her own on this earth. We will live as sojourners until the Lord returns.

And what did the prophet and apostle see? Well, the most significant thing that they saw – the central figure in the visions shown to them – was God enthroned in heaven. This, friends, is what exiles and sojourners need to see. They must remember that God is enthroned! He is the Sovereign one. His purposes will not be thwarted. He will accomplish all his will. Though you might feel alone, though it may seem as if God’s purposes have been derailed, the Lord reigns! “For [he is] God, and there is no other; [he is] God, and there is none like [him], declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (Isaiah 46:9–10, ESV). Ezekiel and John saw God enthroned in heaven. It is imperative that God’s people cultivate a heavenly mindset while sojourning in this world.

But notice that in both Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4 it is not only the appearance of God that is described, but other things too. The men saw other creatures and other images around or beneath or before the throne of God. These are the things that I want to give attention to today. We’ve already established the central thing – God is enthroned. He is the central figure in the heavenly vision. Everything centers upon him. Everything surrounds him, or issues forth from him. More than that, every living thing worships and serves him. This is indeed the main thing to be recognized – God is central and supreme. But what about all that surrounds God in these visions? What is the significance of these things?

I’d like to devote two sermons to this. There is too much here to say it all in one. Today we will consider the inanimate things which surround God in this vision – that is to say, the things that are not alive – the throne, the flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, the rainbown, and the sea of glass. Next Lord’s Day we will consider the living things – the twenty-four elders, the four living creatures, and seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God.

Throne

We should remember that the first thing John saw after being caught up to heaven was a throne. It has already been said that the throne symbolizes God’s power. God is sovereign. He has power, not just over this nation or that, but over all things, for he is enthroned, not on earth, but in heaven. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool’ (Isaiah 66:1, ESV). He is the King of kings, and Lord of lords. Indeed, his sovereign power extents over all he has made. No one and no thing exists apart from him. He created all things and he rules all things. All of that was emphasized last week.

But it should also be recognized that the throne symbolizes judgment. Yes, God is the sovereign king. But more specifically, he is the king who will judge. Revelation 4 sets the stage for what will follow as the book of Revelation progresses. Here God is seen on the throne. In the rest of Revelation we see to God’s judgements.

For example, in 5:1 God’s throne is mentioned again. “Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals” (Revelation 5:1, ESV). The scroll, as we will see, contains, among other things, the judgments of God. God is enthroned in heaven as judge.

Consider also Revelation 6:12-17.  This passage describes what happens when the sixth seal on the scroll is opened.

“When he opened the sixth seal, [John] looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’ (Revelation 6:12–17, ESV).”

Clearly this is a description of the final judgment and it is “him who is seated on the throne” that judges.

Consider also Revelation 20:11-12:

“Then [John] saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done” (Revelation 20:11–12, ESV).

Again, the final judgment is described here but from a different vantage point than before. Here individuals are judged, and they are judged from the “great white throne”.

The throne of God is the centerpiece of the vision of Revelation chapters 4-5, and it will remain the centerpiece throughout the book of Revelation. We will constantly be brought back to the throne of God as we progress through this book. We will find that the throne is the place where God is seated. It is before the throne that heavenly creatures worship. It is also the place where the saints who have died worship – they find refuge and comfort there. And it is the place where God declares his judgments. Everything that happen in heaven and on earth happens because of the one who sits on the throne. Worship is directed to him, his servants proceed from him, and judgments are pronounced by him.

As I thought about the centrality of God’s throne in the book of Revelation I was stuck by the thought that this book has the ability to, at once, terrify and to bring comfort. Have you noticed that? Some read the book and tremble; others read it and rejoice. Here I am not contrasting the one who has interpreted the book properly with the one who has interpreted it improperly, leading the one to tremble and the other to rejoice – that does happen, but that’s not what I am talking about. Here I am talking about the fact that two individuals can read the book, interpret it properly, leading one to tremble and the other to rejoice. What makes the difference? The thing that distinguishes the one from the other, of course, is their relationship to God. When a person who has faith in Christ – who has been made right with God through Christ’s shed blood – considers this book, he is comforted by it. It brings assurance to the believers heart. It move the Christian to rejoice. But when a person who does not know Christ – who stands guilty before God and in his sin – considers this book, he trembles – or at least he should.

This phenomenon is especially true as it pertains to the thought of God’s throne. For the Christian, the thought of God enthroned in heaven rejoices the heart. God’s throne is, for the one who has faith in Christ, the throne of grace. It is there that our Father sits. We take comfort in the fact that he reigns supreme. And We the Christian also understands that God’s throne is a  throne of judgement, but not for us. For God’s judgment – his wrath – has already been poured out on Christ who has stood in our place. He bore our sins in his body in that tree. He took upon himself the wrath of God that we deserved. He atoned for our sins. He died as a propitiation, satisfying God’s wrath. So for the Christian the thought of God’s throne does not cause us to tremble, but to rejoice. He is sovereign, and he will judge his enemies and ours, making a things right in the end. But for the one who does not know Christ – for the one who stands before God guilty – the thought of God enthroned in heaven can only produce fear and trembling.

I wonder how it is for you? Do you have the “confidence [to] draw near to the throne of grace, that [you] may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, ESV) – a confidence rooted, not in your own works or merits, but in the work and merit of Christ alone? Do you take comfort in the thought of God enthroned? Are you compelled to worship at the thought of it? Or does the thought of God enthroned bring only a “fearful expectation of judgment” (Hebrews 10:27, ESV)?

The remedy to expectation of judgement is faith in Jesus who is the Christ.

Flashes of Lightning, Peals of Thunder 

First of all, John saw a vision of God sitting on a throne. But notice what he saw coming from the throne in verse 5. “From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder” (Revelation 4:5, ESV). Can you picture it?

I love to watch lightning and to hear thunder. I’ve spent some time in Chicago. And while there I saw some very powerful thunderstorms roll through the city. It’s awesome to behold. But I must confess, never have I been caught in a thunderstorm exposed. That would be most terrifying.

Thunder and lighting also symbolizes divine judgment. It’s an awesome thing to behold so long as you are in a safe and protected place, but to be under it and exposed is a most terrifying thought.

Let me show you how the vision of thunder and lightning issuing forth from the throne of God here in chapter four sets the stage for what will be revealed later on in the book of Revelation. It sets the stage for the judgment scenes that will follow.

Later in the book of Revelation we will witness the scroll that is in God’s right hand being opened. It has seven seals.  With the breaking of each seal more is revealed concerning God’s purposes concerning the salvation of his people and the judgment of his enemies. When the seventh seal was broken here is what John saw: “Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake” (Revelation 8:5, ESV). This is how the final judgment is described at the end of chapter 8 eight.

The seven seals then give way to the blowing of seven trumpets. Things recapitulate in this cycle. They also advance and intensify. And is with the blowing of the seventh trumpet that the final judgment is described again. Here is what John saw: “Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail” (Revelation 11:19, ESV).

Later in Revelation we will see seven bowl being poured our. Again things recapitulate. They also They also advance and greatly intensify.  Here is what John saw when the seventh bowl was poured out: “And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake” (Revelation 16:18, ESV).

So much can be said about how these texts relate to one another. They each describe the final judgement. The judgment clearly intensifies as we move from seal, to trumpet, to bowl cycles. More on all of that another time. For now, recognize that thunder and lighting symbolize the judgment of God.

It is a most terrible and frightening thing to come under God’s righteous judgment unprotected and exposed.

If you are in Christ Jesus – if you believe upon him – then you are shielded by him. He has stood over you to shield you from God’s wrath. He has bore your sins in his body on that tree. He has taken God’s wrath upon himself. He has covered you in his righteousness, so that you need not fear. In him you are shielded and clothed.

But if you are not in Christ by faith – if you are not shielded or clothed by him – then you stand before God unprotected and exposed. You will you stand before him as righteous judge in your own sin. His wrath will indeed be poured out upon you.

Next time a powerful thunderstorm rolls through town I want for you to think about all of this. As it approaches you I want for you to recognize the impulse you will naturally have to run for cover.  You’ll enjoy the storm, I’m sure. But you will enjoy it only because you are covered. And let that experience remind you of how it will be on the day of judgement. You’d better be covered by Christ, friends. You’d better be found in him, cleansed by his blood and clothed in his righteousness. You will not make it if you stand before God covered in your own filth, naked and exposed.

Rainbow

John saw God enthroned in heaven. “From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder”.  But he also saw a rainbow. This is what John describes at the end of verse three. “Around the throne was a rainbow”, he says.

What does the rainbow symbolize in the Bible? It symbolizes God’s mercy. It is the sign associated with the covenant that God made with Noah. After flooding the earth as an act of judgment upon humanity, and after bringing Noah and his family through that ordeal by the ark, which was a type of Christ, he put a rainbow in the clouds and promised Noah saying, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:21–22, ESV). God promised to show mercy to humanity so that his purposes of redemption could be accomplished.

When we read in Revelation 4:3 that John saw a rainbow in the appearance of an emerald around the throne of God, what are we to think? I like the way that G.K. Beale put it in his commentary. “The ‘rainbow’ implies, as probably also in Ezek. 1:28, that God’s actions of judgment portrayed in the following visions will be tempered with considerations of mercy.”

God, when acting in judgment upon the world will be considerate of and merciful to his people. Also, God is even merciful towards his enemies. His judgments are even now delayed and restrained. The book of Revelation makes much of this. When the seals are broken only a fourth of the earth is effected by the judgments. When the trumpets are blown, only a third of the earth is touched. It’s not until the bowls are poured out that all of creation comes under the judgment of God. All of this communicates restraint. God, in his mercy, is holding back judgment until that day.

God is now showing mercy to sinful men. Days and weeks and years pass by. The seasons come and go. Sinful men and women enjoy the blessings that God gives in this life, but most do not turn from their sins. They presume upon the kindness of God. They enjoy food and drink, but they mock God, saying, “Christ will never return! There will be no judgement.”

The words of Peter seem appropriate here. He warns,

“that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn” (2 Peter 3:2–12, ESV)!

Friends, God is showing mercy now. John saw around his throne, which is a throne of judgment,  “a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.” Do not abuse the kindness of the Lord. Repent and turn to him while there is still time.

Sea of Glass

Lastly, let us consider the sea of glass that John saw before the throne.  In verse 6 we read, “Before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.” What is this sea of glass?

When we compare Revelation 4 with Ezekiel 1 and also Exodus 24 it seem that this “sea of glass”, as John describes it, or the “expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal” represents the dividing point between the world as we know it and the heavenly realm that is invisible to us. When we look up we see the expanse of heaven above us. When God looks down he looks through this “sea of glass” upon us.

Also, get used to this idea: The sea (the ocean) is symbolic of evil and chaos, or that which is contrary to God’s purposes. This is true in the book of Revelation, but also in the rest of scripture.

In Genesis 1:1 we read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1–2, ESV). Before God brought the earth into shape by the word of his mouth it was covered by chaotic and uninhabitable waters. The waters were no place for human existence. God formed the earth into a place where man could dwell and have dominion.

When God brought the flood waters of judgment upon the earth in the days of Noah that primordial sea was allowed to return and to cover the land for a time.

When the people of Israel were brought out of Egypt what did they pass through? They passed through the Red Sea. God parted the waters for them, but the waters returned upon the Egyptians in judgment.

In Revelation 13 we will be introduced to the first of two beast who oppose the people of God. And what is that beast seen arising out of? The sea!

And at the end of the book of Revelation the new heavens and new earth are described to us. One of the characteristics of the new creation is that there is no sea. In Revelation 21:1 we read, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more” (Revelation 21:1, ESV). The thing symbolized by this reference to no more sea is that in the new creation there will be no more evil and, therefor, no more threat of judgement – evil and judgment are features of this this old creation, not of the new one.

Notice this about the sea that is before God’s throne: it is calm and tranquil, and it is crystal clear.

The meaning is this, I think. Our world is filled with chaos. But that chaos does not intrude upon the heavenly realm. All things are calm and tranquil before God. Also, he sees the with perfect clarity all that happens on earth as he looks down upon us.  This too should bring comfort to the child of God and make the unrepentant sinner tremble.

Application

So these four inanimate things have been considered: the throne, the thunder and lighting, the rainbow, and the sea of glass.

As we consider these symbols, what difference should it make in us?

First of all, the thought of judgement should move us to seek shelter in Christ while God is merciful.

Secondly, those who are in Christ should take comfort in the fact that God will judge. We do not rejoice that sinners will be judged – we pray that they would turn from their sins before it is too late – but there is comfort in knowing that God will set all things straight in the end.

Thirdly, for the Christian, the tranquility that exists before the throne of God should spill over into our lives so that we be at peace, though would around us be in turmoil. It is the reality that exists before our God that matters.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah” (Psalm 46, ESV).

Posted in Sermons, Revelation 4:4-11, Posted by Joe. Comments Off on Sermon: Comfort To The People Of God; Terror To His Enemies: Revelation 4:4-11

Feb 17
5

Sermon: Revelation 4:1-3: Behold, a Door Standing Open In Heaven


New Testament Reading: Revelation 4:1-3

“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 the appearance of an emerald” (Revelation 4:1–3, ESV).

Introduction

It was about a month ago that our family was driving through town late at night (I think it was probably 9:00 or 10:00) and I noticed that while almost all of the businesses were closed, the psychics and palm readers were open. Their “Open” signs really stood out shining brightly in the darkness. I would argue, of course, that those bright signs were a mirage, promising way more than they could deliver. I remember saying, “how many people go to these palm readers anyways, let alone at this hour of the night?” Well, apparently the answer is enough to keep these people in business, right?

Really, it does not surprise me. It is not uncommon for people to want to know something about the future. We humans are limited creatures. We are limited in more ways than I can list right now, one of them being that we do not know what the future holds. This limitation can make us feel very vulnerable. Some will even find themselves petrified – unable to act – when faced with a major life decision for fear that they will choose the “wrong path”. If only they could know the future, or at least something about the future, they could act with confidence. It is no wonder, then, that they are willing pay these charlatans to read read the palm or the cards or the stars or to consult the spirits on their behalf so that they might know something about the future to help discern which direction they should go.

A Christian would never to think to visit one of these establishments. It is not that we see the future with greater clarity than our fellow human beings, for we too are limited in our knowledge of the future. And it is not that we are immune to the feelings of vulnerability that sometimes overwhelm finite creatures living in an unpredictable world. The difference is that we look elsewhere for help.

We look to God. We trust in him. Really, we do not need to know the future for we know the One who has ordained all things and who has promised to bring his purposes to pass. We trust in him to bring about what is best, both for his glory and our good. We trust in him to sustain us through every season of life. The follower of Christ is comfortable with his finitude. He is at peace despite his limitations. He is content with not knowing the future. Why? Because he knows the One who knows all things, who has decreed all things, and who has all power to bring all things to his desired end, who’s name is Love.

Not only do we look to God himself and to the person of Christ, trusting in them, we also look to the word of God. God’s word does not reveal everything to us, but it does reveal enough. It reveals, among other things, who God is, so that we might trust in him. It also reveals how we are to live in this world so that we might obey. The Christian, then, is not to be consumed with speculations about the future. Instead, we are to trust and obey. You know the old hymn, Trust and Obey:

“When we walk with the Lord
in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

Friends, we do not need to know what tomorrow holds. Instead, we need to know the one who holds tomorrow in his hands. It is he that we are to trust and obey. This is this thing that Christians should be preoccupied with, not with speculations about the details of our future.

With that said, is should be recognized that God has not left us to wander in total darkness concerning our knowledge of the future. He has revealed something of himself to us so that we might trust in him. He has revealed his will for us so that we might obey him. And he has also revealed something about the future to us so that we might walk according to the light of that revelation. He has not revealed all things. But he has revealed some things so that we might live accordingly.

Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law”. There are two main principles communicated in this verse. One, this verse clearly states that some things are “secret” – only God knows them. He, in his infinite wisdom, has chosen not to reveal everything to us. The secret things are things that we sometimes wish we knew: When exactly will Christ return? Who will I marry? Which career path should I choose? Why did this bad thing happen to me – what good can possibly come of it? Etc. But we are to be content with not knowing. We are to trust God, and we are to obey what he has revealed. That is the second principle communicated in this verse. God, though he has not revealed all things, has revealed some things. The things that he has revealed “belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

These two principles are important for us to keep in mind as we continue our study of the book of Revelation. It is here in the book that God reveals to us some things about the future. We should be grateful for the light of this revelation. It should help us to trust in God and to obey him. We are to walk in the light of what has been revealed. But we must also be content to allow what God has kept secret to remain secret.

Brothers and sisters, the book of Revelation has been badly abused in our day. Actually, it has been tortured. It is has been tortured by futurist interpreters who interrogate it with the text of Revelation in one hand and the newspaper in the other. The futurists insist that Revelation say something specific about todays headlines – “What do you have to say about this?”, the futurist asks – but Revelation will not be pushed around. What is says, it says clearly. But it is also stubborn to say not a word more. It is the futurist interrogators who wind up flustered and frustrated, looking rather foolish in the end.

And so here is our objective: to allow the book of Revelation to speak where it speaks, and to allow the book to remain silent where it is silent. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law”.

So why all of this talk about the future today?

Well, we have come to the place in the book of Revelation where things begin to transition from a focus upon how things were in John’s day to how things will be from that day forward. Please know that I chose those words very carefully. I will repeat them: We have come to the place in the book of Revelation where things begin to transition from a focus upon how things were in John’s day to how things will be from that day forward.

Notice the words “after this” both at the beginning of verse one and also at the end. “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’” (Revelation 4:1, ESV). The words are the same in both the English and the Greek. In both occurrences the words obviously communicate something about sequence – first this, and then after this, that. But the two occurrences – the one at the beginning of the verse and the one at the end – refer to different things.

The first “after this” refers to the sequence of the visions that John received. First, he saw a vision of one like a son of man walking in the midst of seven lamp stands who commissioned him to write to the seven churches. After that he saw another vision. This new vision is described beginning in chapter four.

The first thing that John saw was a “door standing open in heaven”, but he also heard a voice. It was the same voice that he heard at the beginning that spoke to him like a trumpet. This is a reference back to chapter 1 verse 10 where John said, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying,’“Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea’” (Revelation 1:10–11, ESV).

Do you remember how last Sunday I made much of the idea that the whole of the book of Revelation was for the seven churches, and not just chapters one through three? I tried to demonstrate that the letters to the seven churches were intimately related to chapters four and five conceptually. The concepts communicated in chapters four and five correspond to the concepts communicated in chapters two and three. Chapters two and three say, “live in this way, Christian” and chapters four and five (indeed, the rest of the book of Revelation) say, and here is why you should – it will be worth it in the end!

Here we see a more concrete literary connection. In chapter one John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, [he] heard behind [him] a loud voice like a trumpet, saying, ‘Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches” (Revelation 1:10, ESV). Here in 4:1 John hears the same voice, and in 4:2 he is again said to be “in the Spirit” before describes the visions that follow. What is crystal clear is that the whole of the book of Revelation was addressed to the seven churches alive in 90A.D.. The whole thing was a for them, just as the whole thing is for us. The point I am making is that our interpretation of the book of Revelation must not violate its fundamental unity. It seems clear to me that the futurist interpretation violates the unity of the book by driving a huge chronological wedge in between the end of chapter three and the beginning of chapter 4.

Clearly, 4:1 marks the beginning of a new section in the book of Revelation. But it is equally clear that this new section goes along with the previous one. The first section says, “persevere, conquer, overcome, endure, even to the point of death.” The second section begins to say, “here is why it will be worth it.”

The second “after this” – the one at the end of verse one – refers to the sequence of history. The vision that John saw at first had to do with how things were in his day. Chapters two and three had to do with the condition of seven particular churches alive in 90 A.D. when he wrote. True, those churches represent all churches then and now, but the letters were written concerning how things were with them back then. In 4:1 the focus begins to shift to describe how things would be from that day forward. Christ spoke to John saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this”, that is to say, in the days to come and until the Lord returns.

The words “after this” at the end of 4:1 should remind us of what was said by Christ to John back in 1:19. Christ spoke to John saying, “Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this” (Revelation 1:19, ESV).The book of Revelation is indeed broken into two main parts. The letters to the seven churches described things as they were in John’s day, and chapters four and onward begin to describe how things would be from the time of John’s writing on to the end of time.

The futurists – that is to say, those who interpret the book of Revelation as if chapters four through twenty-two describe things that will happen yet in our future – make much of the words, “after this” both in 1:19 and also at the end of 4:1. The weight of their system rests heavily upon the word’s “after this”.  But it should be recognized that when they read the words “after this” they do not simply think, “after this”, but rather, “a long, long time after this”. Remember, their view is that almost 2,000 years of history come in between the events described in chapters two and three and the events described in chapters four through twenty-two. They do not read “after this”, but the imagine the text to be saying, “a long, long time after this.”

I’ve come to see this futurist view – which is the majority view today (or it is at least the most popular view) as incorrect for many reasons. I’ll mention only two reasons now.

One, this view reads into the text something that is not really there. True, 4:1 marks the transition from a focus upon how things were in John’s day, to a focus upon how things would be in the future, but the futurist makes the text to say more than it says when they cram their huge chronological gap into the text. The gap is not there – they force it into the text. The futurist position, which produces the pre-millennial position that is so popular today, has as its foundation the gaps in scripture. We might ask the futurist, “where do you find support for this idea that chapters four through twenty two describe things that will happen in our future, 2,000 years removed from the original audience?” They will have to admit that they see it in the gap between 3:22 and 4:1. Never does the text actually say it.

Two, I have come to reject the futurist interpretation because it ignores what is clearly stated in the text. I’ve already demonstrated that the chapters four and following are tightly linked to chapters one through three both literarily and contextually. But we should also remember the clear statements found in Revelation concerning the nearness of the events described in this book. Remember what was said in 1:3: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3, ESV). And the same truth is repeated near the end of the book where John was told in 22:10, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near” (Revelation 22:10, ESV). So the futurist reads into the text something that is not there while ignoring what the text clearly says. Most of the things described in the book of Revelation were near. And remember that they were near, not first of all to us, but to those who originally read the book in 90A.D. More could be said – indeed, more has been said in past sermons and lectures – but we must move on.

If I had more time I would also make a case against the preterist, partial-preterist, and historicist position.  The full preterist position is so wild that I don’t fear any of you falling for it. The historicist position is rather uncommon today – you’ll probably never encounter it. The partial-preterist position is not all that different from the one that I hold to – I would not be too concerned if you came to hold that position. I speak against the futurist position strongly because it is both very wrong and also very popular today.

I hold to what is called the idealist, or the modified idealist, position. To state it very simply, the idealist position admits that revelation 4:1, and the words “after this” at the end of 4:1, marks a major transition in the book of Revelation. Things begin to transition from a focus upon how things were in John’s day to how things will be from that day forward.  But we recognize that the rest of the book of Revelation will describe, not just the things that will happen at the very end of time – things yet in our future – but rather how things will be in the world in the whole time between Christ’s first and second coming. The thing that the book of Revelation primarily reveals is how things will be in the last days, which are the days between Christ’s first and second comings. Yes, the book tells us us about the future! But is said just as much to the 90A.D. Christians concerning their future, as it does to us concerning ours. Revelation reveals how things will go concerning the redemption of God’s people and the judgment of God’s enemies throughout the church age (that is the story contained within the scroll in God’s right hand that the Lamb was worth to open). It also reveals what will happen in the end – the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the judgment, and the ushering in of the new heavens and the new earth. Indeed, “after this” does have do with the chronology of history, but there is no gap there. The Christians who read the book in 90 A.D. saw and experienced the things revealed in this book, with the exception of the bodily return of Christ, the bodily resurrection of the dead, the final judgement, and the consummation of the new heavens and earth – the kingdom of God.

Here’s the thing I want you to take away from these introductory remarks (Yes, this was all introduction. I have three points for you, but they will be rather brief): I want for you to recognize that God has not left us in the dark concerning the future. He has revealed something to us concerning how things will go until Christ returns, and how things will go when and after he returns.  Really, this has been true from the beginning of time God has always been gracious to reveal something about the future to his creatures. It was true in the garden. It was true immediately after the fall. And it has been true throughout the history of redemption. God has given us warnings and promises and prophesy so that we might walk according to the light he has provided. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29, ESV). What a gift this is! He could have simply said, trust and obey! But he, in his mercy and grace, has revealed something to us concerning the reality of things now, the trajectory of human history, and things that will certainly happen in the end. What a gift it is!

Friends, we would be wise to believe what God has said concerning the future. We would also be wise to take comfort in what he has revealed and to walk according to that light. We would be fools if we didn’t.

If you knew that the stock market was going to crash tomorrow what would you do with your investments today? You’d be wise to sell! You’d be called a fool if you didn’t. Why? Because you knew what was going to happen but you failed act accordingly. In the same way, we would be fools if we failed to live our lives today in light of what God has revealed concerning tomorrow.

To believe what God has revealed concerning the future should move us to live accordingly, and it should also produce peace within our hearts along with steadfastness, faithfulness, consistency, and confidence in our way of life.

I mentioned last Sunday that Lindsay and I had gone to a Chinese New Years celebration with some of her co-workers the day before. I had no idea what to expect. I’d never been to one before. And so a few days before the event I ran into Mr. Wynn, Lindsay’s boss, and said, “tell me about this thing. When will it start? What will it cost? How should I dress?” I felt completely in the dark before that conversation. I had no idea what would happen. And so I felt uncertain concerning what I should do in preparation. When did we need to leave? How much money did I need to bring? How should I dress? Paul answered those questions for me. He did not attempt to describe the event in detail – I don’t know that it would have helped anyways. There are somethings that you just need to experience to understand them. But he told me what I needed to know. He gave me enough information to get me to the event prepared. It was interesting to note the psychological effect that that little bit of information had upon me. It set my heart at ease. It gave me confidence. It freed me to make good and wise decisions. I was able to go prepared. It was only after experiencing the event that I can say that I understand it, but I was given the information that needed to go with confidence and well prepared.

The book of Revelation does this for us when it comes to life in general. How exactly will things go in the end? God has not given us all the details – “Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36, ESV). But he has given us enough information so that we might walk with wisdom in this world. He has revealed enough so that we might walk confidently in this world, with steadfastness in our steps and peace in our hearts. He’s told us enough so that we might prepare.

So let us consider briefly the first three verses of Revelation four.

It is interesting to notice that chapters four and five of Revelation do not describe events that would happen in the future from John’s perspective, but rather how things already were when he wrote.

You might be thinking to yourself, “but that contradicts what has been said about the words ‘after this’ at the end of 4:1!” Listen again to what I said about 4:1. This is “the place in the book of Revelation where things begin to transition from a focus upon how things were in John’s day to how things will be from that day forward.”

Chapters four and five do not describe things that would happen in the future from John’s perspective – they set the stage for the unfolding of human history. In chapter four John describes his vision of God enthroned in heaven. When did that happen? Not in John’s future or ours, but long before that! If you know your Old Testament, Revelation chapter four will sound very familiar to you, for what John describes sounds a lot like what the prophets of old had seen. And chapter five comes to focus upon Jesus Christ who is seen at the Fathers right hand, appearing like a lamb that had been slain. He is the one who is found worthy to take the scroll from the Father and to break it’s seals, revealing it’s contents. When did that happen? Not in John’s future or ours, but when Christ ascended to the Father after his life, death, burial and resurrection. That happened some sixty years before John wrote. Notice the song that the twenty-four elders sang? “Worthy are you [Jesus] to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9, ESV).

The vision that John saw as it is described to us in chapters four an five reveals how things already were at the time of John’s writing. He was given a glimpse into the present heavenly reality of things. The Father was already enthroned, of course. And Christ was already at his right hand and found to be worthy to receive the scroll and open it because he had finished the work of redemption through his death on the cross. Chapters four an five reveal to us how things already were in heaven at the time of John’s writing – God was (and is) enthroned, and Christ was (and is) at his right hand and is found worthy to open the scroll because of his finished work on the cross.

What’s in that scroll? That’s the question. Well, the rest of Revelation will make that clear. When Christ begins to break the seals of the scroll – when he begins to open it (chapters 6-8:5) – we will see laid out before us God’s plans concerning the salvation of his people and the judgment of his enemies.

Do you see, then, that Revelation four and five do not describe things that would happen in John’s future, but things as they already were in heaven at the time that he wrote. Revelation 4:1is the place in the book of Revelation where things begin to transition from a focus upon how things were in John’s day to how things will be from that day forward. These two chapters function like a hinge. They set the stage for what will follow, namely, the unraveling of the scroll seen in God’s right hand which Christ alone is worthy to open. The unraveling of this scroll will, in turn, reveal how things will go concerning the salvation of God’s people and the judgment of his enemies from the time of Christ’s first coming on to the end. Chapters four and five present us with an invaluable picture of how things really are in heaven.( The same pattern can be observed in Daniel 2:27-45. The vision that Nebuchadnezzar saw was concern things that would happen “after this” (2:29;45) from Daniels perspective, but the vision and it’s interpretation begin by describing Nebuchadnezzar’s present reign.  (The same pattern can be observed in Daniel 2:27-45. The vision that Nebuchadnezzar saw was concern things that would happen “after this” (2:29;45) from Daniel’s perspective, but the vision and it’s interpretation begin by describing Nebuchadnezzar’s present reign.)

Three things are to be noticed:

There Exists A Heavenly Realm That Lies Beyond The Realm That We Can See

One, notice that there exists a heavenly realm that lies beyond the realm that we can see with our natural eyes or perceive with our senses.

Look again at 4:1 where John says,  “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” (Revelation 4:1, ESV).

John saw a door standing open in heaven. He was invited to by Christ to “come up” so that he might see what was to take place from that day forward. There exists a heavenly realm that lies beyond the realm that we can see with our natural eyes or perceive with our senses.

This idea is fundamental. It is a most basic feature of the biblical worldview.

Do you remember the first verse in the Bible? What does it say? “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, ESV). “Heavens” here is not a reference to the stars, but to the heavenly realm where God and his angelic hosts dwell. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”. Paul the Apostle says the same thing. Speaking of the Christ he says, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16, ESV). There exists a heavenly realm that lies beyond the realm that we can see with our natural eyes or perceive with our senses.

Knowing this changes everything. This world is not all that there is. We would be fools to live for the things of this world. We would be wise to live our lives on this earth being ever mindful of the heavenly reality. We are to be heavenly minded.

The non-believer is blind to the heavenly reality. He looks at this world and thinks to himself, “this is all there is”. It is no wonder, then. that he lives for the pleasures of this life. “What more is there!”, he says.

The Christians is aware of this heavenly reality, for God has revealed it. She looks at the world and thinks to herself, “this is not all there is.” It is no wonder, then, that she denies the desires of the flesh and lives for the world to come.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19–21, ESV).

Cultivate a heavenly mindset, friends. See what God has revealed to us, believe it, and live accordingly.

God Is Enthroned In The Heaven

Two, notice that God is enthroned in heaven.

What was the first thing that John saw in this vision after he was taken up into heaven? Verse 2: “At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne” (Revelation 4:2, ESV). God is in heaven, and he is enthroned.

What does a throne symbolize? It symbolizes power. God is the sovereign King. And he is sovereign, not over this nation or that, or over this thing or that, but over all things. Nothing is outside of his control. What happens on earth happens because he has decreed it. He brings what he has decreed to pass by his providential care, through either permission or action, either directly or indirectly.

Through Isaiah the prophet God said,

“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it” (Isaiah 46:9–11, ESV).

God is the King of Kings, and Lord of lords! He is God most high. He is sovereign over all things.

This is why Christ could speak to John as he did, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1, ESV). Christ can show John what must take place in the future because the future has been decreed by God and he will certainly bring it pass. It’s written in the scroll. It’s written in his book. He will accomplish it.

Brothers and sisters, develop your understanding of the sovereignty of God. Though it might at first perplex the mind, it will eventually bring comfort the heart. The world seems out of control. The events of history seem random, pointless, and unpredictable – from our vantage point they are! But has revealed to us that he is in heaven, and he is enthroned there. Nothing is outside of his control. Trust him and obey.

God Is Glorious Beyond Our Ability To Comprehend

Three, notice that God is glorious beyond our ability to comprehend.

Do you see how John describes the one who is seated on the throne? He struggles to find the words. Human language is poorly suited for the task of describing the divine. John uses the most beautiful things on earth to describe what he saw, saying, “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” (Revelation 4:3, ESV).

John did not see a man sitting there on the throne. God is not a man – he is not flesh and blood, but is a most pure spirit. The appearance of God was like precious stones – jasper, and carnelian – radiant in glory. Around the throne “was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.” What John saw was glorious.

Friends, we must learn to think thought about God that are true. We are prone to reduce him – to pretend that he is like us, or like the things of this earth. He is not. He is transcendent. He is the creator, we the creature. He is beyond us in every way, beyond our ability to fully describe or fully comprehend. What he has revealed to us about himself is true, but he not revealed himself exhaustively. Our minds cannot comprehend him.

Conclusion

My dear brothers and sisters, do you see how what John saw is of great value to us as we sojourn in this world? Do you see how encouraging this is for those suffering persecution, being threatened even with death? Do see how beneficial these revelations are to the one who is tempted to abandon Christ to live for the pleasures of this world? Don’t do it, friends! It’s not worth it. Stay true to God and to Christ! Remember that there is more to God’s creation that what you and I can see with our eyes. There is a heavenly realm. Store up your treasures there! And remember that God is enthroned in heaven. The things that we suffer in this world are not meaningless or lacking in purpose. God is working all things together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, ESV). And remember that God is glorious beyond compare. Nothing in this world can compare with him. Trust in Christ, friends, and worship God though him, for he indeed is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise.

 

Posted in Sermons, Joe Anady, Revelation 4:1-3, Posted by Joe. Comments Off on Sermon: Revelation 4:1-3: Behold, a Door Standing Open In Heaven

Jan 17
29

Sermon: Is It Worth It To Worship God And Christ In This World?: Revelation 4-5


Pre-Introduction

Brothers and sisters, today we are going to consider all of Revelation chapters four and five. We are going to take a step back from the text to consider it broadly, asking, what message does this whole section of the book of Revelation communicate? What is the main point of it? Next Sunday we will come back to 4:1 and begin to walk through the section slowly, giving attention to the details of the text.

If you remember, I took the same approach with Revelation chapters two and three and the letters to the seven churches. On November 6th I preached a sermon on all of Revelation chapters two and three. On November 13th we went back to 2:1 and devoted one sermon to each of the letters (with the exception of the letter to Laodicea – two sermons were devoted to that).

I hope you can understand why. The book of Revelation is clearly divided into sections. The letters to the seven churches hang together in chapters two and three. Chapters four and five hang together, as we will clearly see. As we progress through Revelation we will encounter seven seals, followed by seven trumpets, followed by seven bowls, and so on. Each of these sections are packed with important details that must be considered carefully. That takes time. And we only have 45-50 minutes together each week. We must walk through these sections slowly, then, devoting many sermons to each section. But it must also be remembered that these sections are sections that hang together. They each have a particular message to communicate. Just as it would be unwise to move too fast through each of these sections, so too there is a danger in moving to slow. If we move too slow – if we get too caught up with the details of the text – we run the risk of missing the main point. The old adage rings true: it is possible to miss the forest for the trees.

In fact, I would argue that many interpreters of the book of Revelation get hung up on this very thing. They fixate so intensely on the details of the text of Revelation that they loose sight of the big picture. And I would argue that it is the big picture thats is most clear. It is the big picture which serves to frame the pieces of the puzzle of Revelation so that we might know how to properly interpret the details of the text.

And so this will be my approach throughout our study of the book of Revelation. I will devote one sermon to the introduction of each large section, asking, what is the main thought? And then we will return to the beginning of that section to move through it slowly. Hopefully this approach will help us to step back from the details of the text from time to time in order to regain and maintain perspective.

I want to pose a question before I read Revelation chapters four and five to you. The question is this: what is the relationship between the letters to the seven churches, which we have been considering over the past coupe of months, and chapters four and five, which we are about to read? This is such an important question to consider. I will deal with this question from the text in a much more detailed way in the weeks to come, but for now I want to ask the question generally and conceptually: What is the relationship between the letters to the seven churches and chapters four and five? To put the question another way, what did the original recipients of this book think when they read the letters to the seven churches in chapters two and three and then began to read chapters four and five? The two sections are obviously different. There is clearly a transition at 4:1. But how do the two sections relate to one another? To put it yet another way, the original 90 A.D. audience certainly understood that chapters two and three of Revelation were for them, for they were directly addressed in those letters. But did they also read chapters four and five and say, “this is for us!” Or did chapters four and five seem confusing and foreign to them as if they were speaking of things mysterious and a long way off.

I think you know what I am getting at here. The futurist interpretation of Revelation which is so common today drives a wedge and inserts gap between the end of Revelation three and the beginning of Revelation four insisting that the two sections describe things that are separated by thousands of years. Revelation two and three, they claim, described how things were back then when those churches existed. Revelation four and on, they think, describes that which will happen in our future. According to this view the answer to the question, what is the relationship between the letters to the seven churches and chapters four and five? would be, not a whole lot. 

I will address this problem much more carefully in the weeks to come as we move more methodically through text. For now I simply want to you recognize the obvious conceptual connection that exists between the two sections. By “conceptual” I mean that the concepts communicated in the letters to the seven churches, and concepts communicated in chapters four and five fit together like puzzle pieces. They go hand in glove. They go together like peanut butter and jelly so that they when the original 90 A.D. readers moved from chapter three into chapter four they did not say, “what is this?”, but rather, “Oh, how good this is! Oh, how this feeds my soul!” Chapters four and onward of the book of Revelation are intimately related to all that was said in the letters to the seven churches in chapters two and three.

Friends, it is important for us to remember the concept that was communicated in the first few chapters of Revelation. Jesus Christ was seen walking in the midst of his churches, inspecting them. And he spoke to them both words of encouragement and words of warning. The consistent plea of Christ to the churches was that they would remain true to him in this world. They were to witnesses to the world concerning him. They were to worship him. They were to live in this world in obedience to Christ, denying the lusts of the flesh, refusing false teaching, and bearing up under persecution, even to the point of death. Christians are called to suffer for the sake of Christ. The Christians were called to endure, to bear up under the trouble, and to conquer – that is, to win the victory, or to overcome.

I want for you to really think about this. These were real people facing real temptations.

Imagine the Christian businessman living in Ephesus. He’s both a husband and father. And he is tempted to compromise in the faith for the sake of gain. If he would only offer up a pinch of incense on the alter and say, “Cesar is Lord” – if he would only go to the festivals of trade guilds and bend the knee to their gods – he would prosper. He could buy the bigger house, and feed and clothe his wife and children. But to refuse to compromise would mean poverty for he and his family. If he remained true to Christ – if  he made the worship of Christ his leading concern – he would not be able to buy nice clothes for his wife. His family might dwell in a very small home. They might even go hungry. Christ was calling him to endure, to overcome, to resist the temptation to compromise.

Think of the young Christian woman living in Smyrna. She has her whole life in front of her. She hopes to marry someday and to have children, but she is being threatened with imprisonment, and even death, on account of her faith in Christ. The only thing she needs to do is to deny Christ. If she would just say the words, “I recant” – if she would simply drop the whole Christianity thing – she would be free to pursue her dreams. But Christ says to her, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10, ESV).

Think of the young man in Thyatira. He is tempted by the teaching of Jezebel, for she does not say, “deny the flesh”, but rather, “indulge!” The young man is conflicted in his mind and heart. Christ says,  “Put to death… what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5–6, ESV). But Jezebel says, “what you do in the flesh does not really matter. Christ has forgiven all your sins. This world and the things of this world will pass away. Indulge, then! If you have an appetite for something, then feed it!”

These were real people being tempted in really significant ways. Christ, in the letters to the churches, says “endure; conquer; overcome.”

The question on each of their minds was certainly this: is it worth it? Is it worth it to follow hard after Christ and to suffer in this world? Is it worth it obey Christ but to watch my family go without? Is it worth it to worship Christ and to suffer in prison, even to the point of death? Is it worth it to constantly fight against the sinful appetites of my flesh and to obey Christ? Is it worth it?

Friends, you may not even realize it but you don’t do anything in this life without asking yourself the question, “is it worth it?” I’m sure that this happens on the subconscious level more often than not. And there are some things that we do out of habit having settled the question, “Is it worth it?” a long time ago. But we do what we do, and we refuse to do what we refuse to do, because, at some point, and at some level, we have wrestled with the question, “is it worth it?”

I might crave a cup of coffee. But I will only purchase a cup of coffee, or take the time to brew a cup of coffee, if I decide that it is worth it? Someone might offer me a slice of cake and in that moment I have to decide, is it worth it? Does the enjoyment of eating that cake outweigh what it costs me? I understand that this decision making process often happens very quickly and naturally so that we hardly even recognize it, but it is there. The wise person recognizes that every decision we make has ramifications. Every word that we speak, and every word that choose not to speak – every thought that we think, and every thought that we choose not to think – every thing that we do, and every thing that we decide not to do – has an impact upon our life and the lives of others – it costs something. We are to count the cost, aren’t we? The one who is wise asks, is intentional in asking the question, “is it worth it?”

But I’m sure that you can see that different people will answer the question, “is it worth it?” differently. One man when tempted with sexual immorality decides, “it is worth it!”, and runs with reckless abandon into the sin. But another man faced with the same temptation, says, “by no means would the temporary pleasure be worth it; it will cost far too much”, and so he refrains.

And what is it that differentiates the one from the other? Friends, it has everything to do with the mind and heart of the man. What does the man really think is true? What does he believe about God, and man, and the world in which we live? Does he fear the Lord? Does he love others or himself? Does he live for the glory of God or for his own pleasure. It is what he thinks in his mind and believes in his heart that will determine whether the man runs into sin or away from it.

The man who decides to run full speed into sexual immorality shows by his actions what is truly in his mind and heart. He sins because he thinks the sin to be worth it. He does not truly believe that it will cost him much, if anything at all. The momentary pleasure, in his estimation, is worth it. This man does not fear the Lord.

The man who decides to refrain from sexual immorality shows by his actions what is truly in his mind and heart. He refrains because he does not think the sin to be worth it. It will cost him too much. The momentary pleasure, in his estimation, is not worth it. Something, or someone, else is worthy of his obedience. This one has the fear of the Lord.

This is how human behavior works. I understand that most of our decisions feel more impulsive. But truth be told, we do what we do because our hearts and minds are bent in a particular direction.

We are not animals, friends. We do not act upon simple impulse or instinct. We have the ability to freely chose. And we chose what we chose from the mind and heart. We think, say, and do that which our view of the world leads us to think, say, and do. We are constantly asking the question, is it worth it? And we answer that question one way or the other based upon what we think about reality.

This is why the scriptures place so much importance upon the transformation of the mind in the process of sanctification. Our behavior changes only as our minds change. Paul say, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2, ESV). Our behaviors are changed when our minds change. The things that we think, say, and do flow from the mind and the heart. What we believe about reality – who God is, who we are, what this world is all about, and where all things are headed – will determine how it is that we live in this world. I heard it said by someone, “you are what you think.” This is true! We live according to what we think in the mind and believe in the heart.

I can’t remember why, but I was doing a word study on the word “repent” last week. Here is how the Greek lexicon Louw-Nida defines the Greek word, μετάνοια, which we translate as “repent”. To repent is “to change one’s way of life as the result of a complete change of thought and attitude with regard to sin and righteousness.” If we are to change our behavior to bring it into conformity to God’s will we must experience a metamorphosis of mind and heart.

An illustration came to mind as I was thinking about all of this. My wife is very disciplined with her diet, as some of you know. She impresses me very much. She is very careful and consistent to eat certain things and to not eat other things. The reason, though, is because she is thoroughly convinced that certain foods do damage to her body. She has a number of autoimmune problems.  And through study and also experience she has grown convinced that her body reacts very badly to certain kinds of food. She exhibits tremendous self control. She used to eat everything that I eat. She used to enjoy certain foods. But today she is disciplined to abstain even if the cravings are strong. Why? Because her mind has changed. She believes what she believes deeply. And her behavior proves it.

So what does all of this have to do with Revelation four and five?

Here is the point. These two chapters show us how things really are. God’s will is that we might see things as they truly are and believe it so deeply that we would live according to that reality. Revelation four and five (and the rest of Revelation, for that matter) peal back the curtains, as it were, to show us the heavenly reality. They show us how things really are with God and with Christ and with their plans and purposes in the world. The visions that are described here are meant, not to cause us to speculate about the future (when will Christ come and what exactly will it be like), but to renew our minds so that we would no longer conform to the world, but be transformed into the likeness of Christ. This is how the two sections – that is, the letters to the seven churches, and the visions of chapters four and five – relate to one another. The letters say, “worship Christ! Obey him! Do not compromise!” The visions of chapters four and five say, “and here is why it is worth it.”

As I read Revelation four and five I would ask that you pay special attention to what John hears in this vision. He sees many things. And what he sees is indeed very important. We will consider very carefully John’s description of all that he saw in the weeks to come. Today I want you to focus in upon John’s description of what he heard. Various figures in the vision speak. And what they have to say is very important. So listen to their words. And listen with the question that we have already posed in mind. Is it worth it to worship God and Christ in this world, though it may cost us everything? If we were to ask the question another way we might ask, who is it that is worthy of our worth-ship? I’m hoping that you notice the similarity between the words “worth”, “worthy”, and “worship”.

Let us give ourselves now to the reading of God’s holy, inspired, inerrant, and authoritative word.

New Testament Reading: Revelation 4-5

“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 the 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 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.’

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice,

‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?’

And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me,

‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,

‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’

And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped” (Revelation 4–5, ESV).

Introduction

I understand that as we read this text many questions arise. What are we to make of the description of God? Who do the twenty-four elders represent? What do the four strange creatures represent? What is God said to have seven Spirits? And what is the significance of the scroll found in God’s right hand? We will answer these questions in the weeks to come.

For now I want you to recognize the two obvious and unmistakable things being communicated in this text: One, God is worthy to be worshiped for he is our creator.  And two, Christ is worthy to be worshiped for he is our redeemer.

This is the thing that the Christians in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea needed to hear! They wondered, is it worth it follow Christ in this world? Is it worth it to suffer for his name? And here they have their answer: Yes it is worth it! For God and his Christ are worthy of worth-ship! For God is our creator and Christ is our redeemer. Friends, this is what you and I need to hear. We need to view our lives in the light of the glory of our Creator God and in light of Christ our redeemer, who has conquered for you and for me. We are to live our lives  – we are to think, say, and do all that we think, say, and do – being ever mindful of our God and of our Savior.

God Is Worthy To Be Worshiped For He Is Our Creator

Friends, God is worthy to be worshiped because he is our creator? The Christian is one who says, “it is worth it to give God worship – to obey him, to serve him, to praise his name, witnessing to his goodness – even if it cost us everything in this world, for he is our Creator.”

Where did John see God seated? On a throne! For he is the sovereign King. Nothing is outside of his control.

And do you see that he is radiant in glory? We will consider the description of God more carefully i the weeks to come, but surly you can see that he is radiant in glory. He is holy, all powerful and worthy of all praise.

And what do the four living creatures say to him? “Day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Revelation 4:8, ESV).

And what do the twenty-four elders say? They “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” (Revelation 4:10–11, ESV).

We will say so much more about all of this in the weeks to come. For now notice the obvious thing: Christians are encouraged to think, say, and do, that which they were exhorted to think, say, and do in chapters two and three of Revelation because of what they see and hear in chapter four.

It is worth it to live a life completely sold out for God because God sits enthroned in heaven, he is radiant in glory, he is holy, he is unchanging, he is your creator. You were made by him and for him. From him you came and to him you will return. If this is true then why would you think to live for anyone else, or for any other pleasure other than the pleasure of knowing and pleasing him? A proper view of God has a way a straightening out our lives, friends.

Christ Is Worthy To Be Worshiped For He Is Our Redeemer

And do you see secondly that Christ is worthy to be worshiped for he is our redeemer?

Chapter five opens with a predicament. God has a scroll in his right hand, but no one is worthy to open it. The scroll, as we will see, will reveal God’s plan of judgment and redemption. But here no one is found worthy to open it. John began to weep. But one of the elders spoke to John saying, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5, ESV). Jesus has conquered through his life, death, and resurrection.

When the lamb stepped forward to receive the scroll what did the twenty-four elders say? “They sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9, ESV).

And what did the four living creatures say? “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12, ESV).

After this John “heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped” (Revelation 5:13–14, ESV).

Friends, Christ is worthy to be worshiped because he is our redeemer. The Christian is one who says, “it is worth it to give Christ worship – to obey him, to serve him, to praise his name, witnessing to his goodness – even if it cost us everything in this world, for he is our redeemer.”

Conclusion

So I wonder, have you paused to ask the question, “is it worth it?” to live the way that you are living? Have you looked to God’s word with that question in mind? Have you examined your life in the light of God’s revelation of himself to us? Are you living your life to the glory of God, or for your own glory? Are you storing up treasures on earth or in heaven? Are you living for the fleeting pleasures of this world or are you pursuing the everlasting and all satisfying pleasure of knowing God and Christ?

Another way to ask the same question is to ask, “who is worthy of my worship?” We are made to worship, friends. We cannot help but worship. We worship every moment of every day. All of our thoughts, words, and deeds are an act of worship. They honor the person or the thing that we have deemed to be worthy . The question is not will we worship?, for it is inevitable that we will. The question is who will we worship? Who will we honor – who will we glorify – who will we serve in this life. Will we worship God and Christ, or self? Will we live for him, or the pleasures of this world. that is the question we must answer – who is worthy of our worship?

The answer is that God is worthy of our worship, for he is creator. And Christ is worthy of our worship, for he is our redeemer.  Certainly it is worth it to follow him all the days of our life even if it should cost us dearly in regard to the pleasures of this life.

Posted in Sermons, Revelation 4-5, Posted by Joe. Comments Off on Sermon: Is It Worth It To Worship God And Christ In This World?: Revelation 4-5

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"Him we proclaim,
warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
that we may present everyone mature in Christ."
(Colossians 1:28, ESV)

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