You take your Bibles and turn to 2nd Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians. We started our study last week, A Traveler's Guide to Heaven. And the first thing that we have to in life when we make a trip somewhere is to figure out whether or not there is vacancy for us, whether or not we are going to be able to be able to go to where we're planning on going. And so in today's culture, you just make sure that there's hotels available and there's spots at the tourist attraction you may be going to. And so it is for us, last week we looked at the fact in John 14 that there is a vacancy being prepared for you in heaven, in the Father's house. There are many mansions, and we said that that's the idea, that there are many rooms, spaces for you. places for you to be at. And the way to get there is marked out fairly clearly. It's not a map that's confusing as sometimes your GPS can be. I was talking to my sister, they moved from down in Georgia up to Maryland, and she was decrying the fact as they went through Washington, D.C. and got north of D.C. just before Baltimore, and it's telling you, get in the left lane, and all of a sudden, five seconds later, cross over four lanes of traffic and get over to the right lane, and get off the exit here, get back on. You know, it was telling her this, and she's, you know, not very impressed with some of the traffic signals that she was getting. Well, when getting to heaven, it's pretty clear. There's an exclusive path to get there, and it's just simply this, and the Lord said, the way you know, and it's just simply this, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father. No one's getting to heaven but through Jesus Christ. He is the path for individuals to be there someday. But the question then comes up, what is the most important thing in heaven? And a lot of people talk about, you know, what does heaven include? And they're talking about the streets of gold and the structures that are there and things like that that we find recorded for us in the end of Revelation. But I would argue that the fact that the most important thing in heaven is not the things that we'll participate in and be a part of, it is that God is there. The problem with that is that we kind of have a casual view of God. Part of what heaven is going to be is us being awed by God and all of his unveiled glory, that we will be able to handle that. But as you go through, and we said that there is a culture that has started in the early 2000s, there's always been an interest in this, but really in the early 2000s until really about four or five years ago, there was a real interest in books that they called, and some have called heavenly tourism. Books of individuals who, for a few minutes, for an hour, for 90 minutes, for 30 minutes, were able to go up to heaven and see what was going on there. One of these was a book known as Heaven is for Real, and it is written by a man who claims to be an evangelical pastor, one who declares the gospel of Christ. He's from a generally small town environment in the Midwest, and he is of Pentecostal background. But what he did was that he told a story where his eldest son by the name, and this pastor's name is Pastor Burpo, his son was a young man known as Colton, who went in for appendicitis. His appendix nearly burst. And so four months after this medical crisis, there was something that happened in their household that led them on this whole trek of giving this book that gives a description of heaven. He simply said this, that about four months after the medical crisis, that Colton's mom was with him and asked him if he remembered being in the hospital, and he answered simply this, yes, I remember being in the hospital. That's where angels sang to me. The response was a breathless amazement. In fact, he was so out of proportion from statements that normally you get from four-year-olds. Most of them you're not impressed by. But he said this, time froze. My wife and I looked at each other, passing a silent message. Did he just say what I think he said? And they recounts the stories that they were easily and immediately convinced that Colton had indeed had some kind of out-of-body experience. Colton said that he went up out of his body, that he'd spoken with angels, had sat in Jesus's lap. And the way he knew he wasn't making it up was that he was able to tell us what we were doing in another part of the hospital. You were in a little room by yourself praying. Mommy was in a different room and she was praying and talking on the phone. That was what they were doing. And so they were amazed that this child who wasn't there had seen what they were doing. And so here this man, Todd Burpo, decided that he was going to learn from his son and he wrote this, if my son had really seen Jesus and angels, I wanted to become the student and not the teacher. So he recounts a number of things and he goes through and talks about his accounts of talking with his son and having him recall things that he saw in heaven and simply this, he asked in one conversation that took place after he started talking about heaven, And he goes, did anything else happen besides you going up to heaven and this? And his son told him this, that Jesus had a cousin. And that's what his son asked him. Did you know Jesus had a cousin? Jesus told me his cousin baptized him. Yes, you're right, the father responded. The Bible says Jesus' cousin's name is John. Mentally, I scolded myself. Don't offer information, just let him talk. I don't remember his name, Colton said happily, but he was really nice. Dad thinks, well, John the Baptist is nice. Just as I was processing the implications of my son's statement that he met John the Baptist, Colton spied a plastic horse among his toys, held it up for me to look at, and said, hey, Dad, did you know Jesus has a horse? A horse? Dad responded. Yeah, a rainbow horse. And I got to pet him. And it goes on and on like that. He talks about occasions where later on he begins to give some statements that he saw when he was in heaven for that very short period of time, he saw God in heaven, actually Jesus himself. And he could see his dad down on earth as he's preaching. And he could see that Jesus was shooting out lightning bolts whenever his dad was preaching and shooting these lightning bolts into him. And that was the Holy Spirit being poured into his dad was through these lightning bolts. Another occasion in talking about heaven, he was supposedly where the throne was at, and his dad asked Colton, the son, what the Holy Spirit looked like. Hmm, that's kind of a hard one. He's kind of blue. I mean, does Colton envision, as a pastor asked later, blue? Does Colton envision the Holy Spirit as Papa Smurf? He's describing a bluish cloud of haze. Blue, what is he talking about? At first, the pastor seemed to be pondering similar questions. I was trying to picture that, but Colton immediately changed the subject and no further explanation was given. So the Holy Spirit's blue. Now you have all these things and you find out that in many occasions there's kind of a lighthearted, kind of really casual attitude when it comes to being in the presence of God. That if you read your scriptures of individuals who had visions of heaven, they were allowed to see into heaven. that had visions of heaven, there is not a casualness, though there are some unusual things, there is not a casualness. In fact, there is a complete awe and a humility that goes on as the result of seeing what is in heaven and actually seeing the throne room of God, where God is, the central portion of heaven, that center part where everything flows out of as far as heaven is concerned. You find that individuals that saw these things were quite humbled by it. I mean, there may have been an issue of pride that could have creeped up for these individuals that had seen it, but what I wanna do this evening is just simply go through the several occasions of different individuals who were able to see God and see into heaven, okay? We're not talking just in casual thing here, saw God. No, that they saw God in heaven and what that experience was like. And I wanna start with one that is not normally one we would turn to in thinking about heaven and those kind of things when it comes to it. But in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, the apostle Paul is giving an account of himself seeing into heaven. In this passage, the apostle Paul is battling with individuals that are questioning his authority, questioning whether he's really an apostle, questioning really whether he's a servant of God. They've got all these questions that they're attacking him about, and so he's trying to defend his ministry in chapters 10 through 13. And you would think if someone wanted to claim to have some sort of position, they would claim special revelation and declare it. special visions that they had seen. Well, look in 2 Corinthians 12, and it starts this way. Paul is saying, it's not expedient for me, doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. And then he makes this statement. He doesn't even talk about himself initially here. Verse two, he says this, I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such-and-one was caught up to the third heaven. I need to stop here for a second, because when people read about this third heaven, they're going, three heavens, and where and how am I going to get past the first and second? Understand, when we're talking about the third heaven in this culture, there was an understanding that there were three heavens. The one that we walk in with the blue sky and all of that that you see, that's the first heaven. The second heaven is that great beyond where the stars were at for them, these wandering things at times. That's the second heaven. The third heaven is where God dwells. Okay, that's how to take that term. And so there are some people that go, well, heaven then is where God dwells is beyond the stars. And you're kind of going, hmm, maybe. We're talking about one who's not bound by time or eternity. He's not living in those things like, he's not bound by time, he lives in eternity. He's not bound by the things that we are in this life. So, you know, to think that he just happens to be beyond. Where is the third heaven? I don't know. That's not an answer for me. I know how to get there. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh in the Father but by me. No one gets to that third heaven except through Jesus Christ. But here you have the Apostle Paul simply saying this, that this man was caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man. Once again, he says, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell God knoweth. How that he was caught up into paradise. That's a term that is used to describe the Garden of Eden, the place where God was at on earth. We forget that that's what God intended, was this was the place that he was going to meet with his people. all the time that he had created this place for fellowship. And so that word paradise is used to describe what we know as the Garden of Eden. But then think about Jesus on the cross as he's talking to this man that's there, that's dying with him on the cross. And he's put his, we would say, his kind of confidence in Christ. He doesn't see him as a criminal like everybody else's, that he's done nothing worthy of punishment. And he just simply says this, Lord, remember me today. when you enter into the kingdom and Christ says this, today thou shall be with me in paradise. You're going to be with me in heaven, the place where God is at. And so when Paul uses this term, he's caught up into paradise. We're talking about heaven as we know it. And this one heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities." Now the Apostle Paul is making this statement. He's just kind of going about it. He's kind of saying, I know somebody that's like that, but you begin to understand he was the one that experienced this. God gave him a vision of glory. And he said, I myself will not glory in it. But if I decided I was going to glory, verse six, for though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth. But now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations that were given unto me, a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan above of me, lest I should be exalted above measure. See, for him, he had seen the glories of heaven, and he says, I heard things that are unspeakable. It was not lawful for him to speak. God said, you're not going to talk about those things. This vision is just merely for you. He was told this, that God then to keep him humble, because there might be occasions where a person would go, I saw God. Let me tell you about it. God kept him humble and he gave him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him continuously. What this was, we don't know. It was something probably to deal with his body. An affliction it seems like that this is, but we have no idea what it was. Constant issue physically that he had. Verse eight, for this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. And verse nine, he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness. And then the apostle Paul says, most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me, and then we go into this passage that talks about all the things that he went through in this life. You say, well, there's nothing there about heaven given to us other than this individual saw things that were unspeakable, not lawful for him to utter, but in this sense, there should be a humility, and you go, why? Because when you see the one that is enthroned, When you see His glory and power, the only reaction that you can have is humility and worship. That's the only thing that can happen. The Apostle Paul was given this reminder physically that he is going to be reminded of throughout his life, even though he had gotten a glimpse of heaven, he's got this reminder that he's not anybody. that he's not impressive. No, it's not. The God he serves is impressive, not he himself. And so for the apostle Paul, just saying this and starting with him is that he saw things, but God said, you're not gonna talk about it, and there was a humility afterwards that he had. But I wanna look at a second man who was able to see into glory, and I want you to turn over to Isaiah chapter six. And what we're going to find in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and in Revelation, that they're going to have visions with some very similar items in them. And when it comes to seeing things in heaven, it's really hard to describe them. Because as you read through, as we're going to in Isaiah and eventually Ezekiel, and then we look at the story in Revelation, they're gonna use a lot of words that include these things. Like, not in a teenage fashion. Like, meaning similar. Or as, because they could not come up with exact words to describe the things that they saw. It did not fit into human language very well. And so as we're going through here and beginning to see God, as those that had opportunity to see a vision of God in heaven, they're beginning to see things, they aren't really able to describe it very well. Their words don't come easily, and the phrases don't come easily, but they do attempt, because the Lord allows them to describe what's going on here, unlike the Apostle Paul. Isaiah 6, we have an occasion where it's a rather dramatic time in the history of Israel. Verse 1, it says this, in the year that King Uzziah died. King Uzziah was one of those kings that was a good king, though he was lifted up in pride on an occasion where he decided he was going to do the work of the priest, and so God struck him with leprosy. But for the most part, he was a good king. You have to realize that Isaiah was at a time where good kings and bad kings came up. Eventually you have Hezekiah who comes along, who's a good king, but eventually Isaiah dies at the hands of Manasseh being sawn in half. But this was a significant occasion early on in his ministry where this individual who seemingly loved God was leading the country dies. And so there may have been some manner of depression in his own life and discouragement in his own life that perhaps God won't be seen in the country because the leader is not one who's following God. But that's not what happened in the first verse in the year that King Uzziah died. I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. Okay, that's important because this is something you're going to see in all of these visions is that there's a throne where one rules from, where one has a power and authority. I saw a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple, his glory filled the temple. Above this throne stood the seraphims. Now, when you have that seraphims and cherubims, realize that that word seraphim is the plural, so you have, as we might say, seraphs, multiple ones of these individuals. I saw seraphs, seraphim, each had six wings. With Twain, he covered his face. With Twain, he covered his feet. And with Twain, he did fly. With two of them, he did fly. And you're going, well, what's going on here? You've got these angels that are in the presence of God. And what they're doing is they're covering themselves because they're really not worthy to be in the presence of God. They recognize that. And they have the other set of wings that move them around in the presence of this. And you get to hear what is being said Here's what's being said by these angels as they echo back and forth. One cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried and the house was filled with smoke. You get this statement of these angels that are powerful enough to shake things. You're gonna find as we get further along that they're gonna strive the sounds coming from the throne and the angels and their courses being like mighty rushing waters. There's a power in the sound, but they're making a statement, holy, holy, holy. What's going on there? Why are they saying this repeated statement of holy? Well, say this three times. If you said a word in Hebrew three times, you're saying there is no comparison. There's nothing like this one. This one is the holiest of all. And with God, when you have this statement, holy, holy, holy, it's not just simply that the angels are going about crying this, sinless, sinless, sinless. That is a term for holy that is sometimes used. And God is sinless. But the idea is this, is that he is unique. God is unlike everything else in creation. You go, why is that? Well, from the first point, He's not created. Every other thing, the angels are created. Everything else in the universe, created. But here you have the One who is the starter and the ender of all things and has no beginning and end. and He is there and the angels cry, this one is the unique one in all of the universe. He's holy. And then you have this echoing through, and I can just almost in some way imagine this, the sound is still echoing, and in Isaiah's mind and ears, he's seen this situation, and he's heard the sound, and the only thing he can do is respond this way. Look at verse five. It's not to say, wow, that's kinda neat. No, it's just simply this. Verse 5, then said I, woe is me, for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. I mean, for us as beings, created beings, and for these individuals, they were not, understand this, they were not sinless when they were seeing this vision of God. One day we'll be in the presence of God and sinless, so we'll be able to handle this a little bit better, but even the response here is, woe is me, for I am undone. I have no right and no right and privilege to be in the presence of God, and I'm a sinful man. and I dwell among sinful people, who am I to enter in and be able to see a little bit of the glimpse of the glory of God and be able to see this? You have the occasion here that verse 6, "...then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched thy lips, and thy iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." And you begin to understand that only God can take care of sin. I also heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me. When a person gets a vision of what God is like and understands that they are nothing in comparison to who he is, what is the response in worship? It's just to go and declare. who this God is, what He's like, and do service for Him. Like the angels who see God all the time, they're ever ministering and serving before Him as we're told in the Scriptures. They're doing this because they're able to see His glory and the response for them is just merely to serve and worship and praise and honor to serve this One who is the King of kings and Lord of lords. And so this is one of the first times in the scripture, about 700 years before Christ appears, that an individual has a vision of God and it's described this way of seeing God in heaven and having this description given to us. You have these angels who are seraphs, burning ones, and they're declaring certain things. And then you have these statements made by God, and it is, we might say, earth-shaking as far as the ability of the voice that cries from the throne there. And so that's Isaiah's vision of heaven. I want us to turn to one that I'm not going to spend a large amount of time on. You go, why not? Because it's really hard to explain exactly what's there, but you understand there is something far beyond in power and glory that is there. And it's a story of Ezekiel, and I want us to turn to Ezekiel chapter one. Ezekiel was a person of the Levite class who was a priest, and he was a captive in Babylon. And as you go through the book of Ezekiel, the book is about the glory of the Lord, the display of his power. And as you get into Ezekiel, you find the glory of the Lord departing from the temple, and it goes out to the Mount of Olives and goes up and ascends. And then at the end of the story, you find that it comes back down and enters into Jerusalem. The glory of God leaves the nation of Israel and then comes back. Ezekiel, one who is going to talk much about the glory of the Lord, to start off the book, sees a little bit of the glory of the Lord. In verse four, it says this, I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north. a great cloud and a fire enfolding in itself, this fire going inward. And a brightness was about it out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, the color that we might see coming out of fire, out of the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance. They had the likeness of a man. Everyone had four faces and everyone had four wings and their feet were straight feet. The sole of their feet was like the sole of calf's feet and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass. They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides, and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings were joined one to another, and they turned not when they went, and they went every one straight forward. And you're going, what's going on here? These four angels, are they together? Are they attached? I've seen so many descriptions of this. We don't really completely understand what's going on here. But you have these four creatures. They have multitudes of different faces that they have on them. They have different wings that are a part of what goes on. Verse nine, their wings are joined one to another. They turned out when they went. Everyone went straight forward. As to the likeness of their faces, they four had a face of a man, a face of a lion on the right side, and the four had a face of an ox on the left side, and the four also had the face of an eagle. So, you know, do they have four faces? Or does each angel that's there have a face and it faces a different direction? Not really described in detail that we can immediately understand. Verse 11, thus were their faces. Their rings were stretched upward, two wings, everyone were joined one to another. And two, they covered their, and here you have once again, this thing with the angels covering their body, this idea of humility. And they went, everyone, straight forward. Whither the spirit was to go, they went, and they turned not when they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like the burning coals of fire. I mean, they're bright like the flame of a fire, and like the appearance of lamps. And it went up and down among the living creatures, and fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And so it's not just even fire. You've got the brightness of these creatures as if it's a lightning storm, as far as their brightness. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. They have the ability to move places almost instantaneously. But that is, you're going, okay, impressive. Verse 15, now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like the color of beryl. They four had one likeness, their parents, and their work were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. And they went, and they went upon their four sides, and they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful, and their rings were full of eyes round about them four." You kind of have these wheels that the angels seem to be sitting on, and the wheels are in the wheels, and you have these eyes that are seemingly seeing everything. which is probably an indicator that the angels are doing the work that God can do automatically. They're going to and fro and seeing all sorts of things. And so you have this description of wheels within wheels and this, but then you have in verse number 22, And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads or above the heads of the living creature was as the color of the terrible crystal stretched forth over their heads above, where these angels are at. In this case, there's something stretching out flat. We might say like a crystal sea. And what you have is that verse 23, that under the firmament were their wings straight, one towards each other, and everyone had two, which were covered on his side, and everyone had two, which covered on that side of their bodies, and so the wings that they have, they're covering themselves. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of, once again, here you have the noise of great waters, the power of an ocean crashing against the shore, the sound of Niagara as you're standing next to it. That kind of power in the sound. As the voice of the Almighty, as the voice of speech, as the noise of the host, they went and stood and they let down their wings. In v. 25, there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads when they stood and had let down their wings. And here v. 26 is a description now of not the creatures that are in heaven there, it's of God that these creatures are serving and underneath and working for. Verse 26, and above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a, and here it is again, a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone. And upon this likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins upward and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire and it had a brightness round about him. And here you just see this throne, the person sitting on the throne, and then you see this individual that looks like a human being, but it's a fire that really describes what they look like. I saw where the appearance of fire and brightness roundabout in verse 28, as the appearance of the bow is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of brightness roundabout. So you have this one that's sitting on the sapphire throne, and he's like a flame of fire. And then the light that's radiating from it is all the colors of the rainbow flowing out of this. And so you have, when I saw it, look at the end there in verse 28. When I saw it, what was the response? Ezekiel said, I fell upon my face, and I heard the voice of the one that spake. And you get to chapter two, you have this message that's given to him that he's going to have to tell the nation of Israel and the nations. But as you read that, and I get questions about Ezekiel, and most people, when they get to Ezekiel one, they stop. Because they're like, wheels within wheels, angels with a bunch of wings, sapphire, what is going on here? Well, it's something, as you notice, like, as, likeness of, these type of things. Ezekiel's having a hard time explaining what he's seeing, but it's obviously a picture of what God is like. And it seems to oppose what you find in these books, a casual explanation of what God is like. that are sometimes used by individuals that claim they went to heaven. No, there is a sense of power and awe and glory. And the response here, Ezekiel, he falls on his face. That's the only response he has because he can't handle the glory and the power and the might that he's seeing. And so Ezekiel, his story about 200 years after Isaiah had his vision of glory. You begin to understand when you see God in all of his power, it is a moving experience calling you to humility in relation to the one with whom we have to do. You have one other occasion in Scripture, and there are other times where people saw God or visions of it, but one where an individual saw God, And that's in Revelation chapter four. So now we go to one who was a contemporary of Christ, and you read the story in Revelation, he actually gets a vision of Christ presently, and you read the description in chapter one, and you're going, is this Christ the way he is? And he's described as almost a flame of fire, but he looks like he's dressed like a priest, and his hair's white, and his eyes glow, and all of this, and you're kind of going, well, what's John trying to describe? Well, Jesus is showing up in his glorified state, not like John had seen him. here walking the earth, he's now seeing a display of the glory of Christ presently. And Christ then talks about the seven churches, and you go through all the seven churches that Christ is among, and he's saying, these are my churches presently, and I have to do with them. But then in Revelation 4, there's this shift to future events and future things that are going on. And in Revelation 4 in verse one, John says this, after this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was as it were a trumpet talking with me. Can you imagine someone with the voice of the power of a trumpet? And it said this, come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. Verse two, and I immediately was in the Spirit. Okay, he's got this vision, he's in the Spirit. The Spirit is allowing him to see this. And behold, here it is again. All these visions, I said, take notice. And behold, a throne was set in heaven and one sat on the throne. As you go through the book of Revelation, you might wanna do this sometime. This word throne is some 40 times in the book. Most times, any scripture passage, this book has the reference to the throne over and over and over again. This is a place where one rules from. One who commands authority and right. You see that come up time and time again. Verse 3, John sees this, and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone, multiple colors we're talking about here. And then there was a rainbow round about the throne. Okay, that sounds like what we had in Ezekiel, this kind of rainbow light, these different, and the way for him to describe it is this rainbowing out from the Lord. Rainbow round about the throne and the sight like unto an emerald. And so there seems to be kind of a greenish tint to all this coloring that goes along with this. But you say, what do these colors mean? It's just a lot of color. Verse four, and round about the throne were four and 20 seats. They're smaller places of ruling. And upon the seats I saw four and 20 elders sitting clothed in white raiment. They had on their heads crowns of gold. And so you have these individuals that most people think are representing the nation of Israel and representing Christians, two sets of 12. And you see there in verse number five, and out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings. Kind of reminds an individual of what it was when God came down upon earth at Mount Sinai. Remember what was there, the cloud and these lightnings and thunderings coming out of it? Well, this is what's proceeding out of the throne there, and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And you go, wait a second, are there seven spirits? That kind of sounds like a blue spirit again. No, there are seven spirits just representing the fact that the spirit is manifesting himself in many places, but yet is one. You think about this, the Spirit dwells in each one of us, and each one of us is the temple of the Holy Spirit, but it's not that there are a whole bunch of Holy Spirits. but he's represented in many places. And so you have this statement of seven spirits that are there, represented by these fires of lamps that are burning before the throne. Verse six, and before the throne, there was a sea of glass likened to crystal. This is what we saw in Ezekiel, this flat space like crystal that's there that spreads out before God. The myths of the throne, and let me back up a second. When it comes to the temple, Remember the place where the priest would come and there was this big, basically, pot that was there, but it was a large pot. In fact, it was massive in the time of Solomon. And what was the term they used for this? The sea. And remember that the temple is a picture of what goes on in heaven. The approach to God, and so even some have suggested the fact this idea of this water, the sea that's there in front of the temple is just picturing this is one of the things that a person sees when they come into the presence of God. But verse number six, you see this, and there was a throne, there was a sea of glass like into crystal, and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, the second beast like a calf, the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And you kind of go, wait a second, that sounds like those creatures we saw in Ezekiel. The description of them and the magnificent angels that are there, and you're going, okay, these are cherubim that are there, but they do something different. Verse eight, the four beasts each had of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within. Okay, that sounds like Ezekiel again, this idea of eyes being seen in them. And they rest not day and night saying, and here we have the statement from Isaiah, holy, holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. They kind of add to the message of what it means that God is holy and how He affects the universe that He lives in. And so you have these angels, in this case we would call them cherubim, or cherubs. I kind of get frustrated at times when I see paintings of angels and you've got these little babies with wings on them. And then you go, what does the Bible describe as far as cherubim? And you're like, frightening creatures of great power and magnitude. I think cherubim would be a little bit frustrated at that representation of them. But these cherubim now, you had the seraphs, these bright ones, which someone suggested maybe the seraphs are just a special branch of the cherubim, the cherubs that are there. But they're making the statement, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, this one is unique unlike anything else in the universe. There's no way to really describe Him because He is unique. And when this statement comes out, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on the throne who liveth forever and ever, here's the response. Verse 10, the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne and worship Him that liveth forever and ever. And they cast their crowns before the throne saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." And we could go on. But those things, just looking at the Scripture, not conjecturing, not making up things, you begin to see some of the center focus of what heaven's about, and it's that there is one that's there, God the Father, who is unique in the universe, that all of creation centers on, who is mighty and powerful in the sense that there is nothing that can stand against him because he is one who rules on a throne. on the center of the universe. And it's a reminder to us that so many times we put ourselves on the throne where God is at. We make our decisions. We make our own thoughts. We do our own thing. But no, there's really one that is the center of the universe as we know it, and that is God. And in all of His power, if we really had a vision of what God is like, there would be a humility on our part. We wouldn't think of ourselves and promote ourselves because we realize in the light of what God's like, we aren't even a flicker in comparison to Him. But yet this God that is so powerful and mighty, and that we will worship when we come into His presence, is on the other hand, as we talked about this morning, A God who loves us. A God who wants us there with Him, even though His display is beyond human comprehension, and really for our ability to handle, He's a God that's not just saying, I don't want you around. No, He is desiring for us to be there with Him. and not merely just to have us respond and worship to who He is and declare praise unto Him. There is the reason that He wants us there is because we talked about it earlier. He created mankind to what? Fellowship with Him. This God who is incredibly powerful and it displays that individual see of Him on His throne, there in heaven, brings us to awe, this is the very same God who is reminding us in Romans chapter eight that He will never be separated from us because of His love for us and that He, from eternity past, planned for us to be with Him and worked for us to be with Him and called us to salvation and made it so that we could not escape Him. And He justified us, gave us a righteousness that's not our own. And part of this glory you see in Revelation chapter five is that you have God the Father who's on the throne and then there's another one. There's an empty throne for a time. And then you see this one who's worthy to open a scroll and the statement is made, behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And you would expect to see on that throne a lion, and when you look there, it's a lamb as if it had been slain, representing Christ. And it is a wonderful thought to think that there's this God who's almighty and powerful in heaven, but yet at his right hand is this one who walked this earth and died. so that we could eventually be with Him in glory, enjoying these very things. And so for us this evening, what's the center focus of heaven when we get there? I mean, there's many other things that are going to happen, and we'll talk about those, but the center focus is for us just to see God in His glory, displayed in His glory. Not veiled like we see right now in our life, but see Him completely unveiled and see His glory. It will be something for us that will be, as it describes in Psalm 16, that there's joy in His presence forevermore. Just to be there and see Him and experience that would be enough for a hundred ages in this life. We'll enjoy that for eternity. And so, Heaven, that's the first thing I'm looking forward to, is seeing God in all of His glory. And we have some accounts of it, but to experience and see that myself, but yet to see God. who is not far and distant, but yet one who has called me to be a part of his home and his place. I'm unworthy, but God in his grace is gonna let me be there someday. Praise be to God. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for visions where you allowed certain individuals to see a display of your glory. Disciples for a very short period of time saw your glory there on the Mount of Transfiguration, and at different times, you allowed individuals to see the display of your power, your light, your power, and your voice, and who you are, and see all of these things. But Lord, we thank you for these glimpses of what you are like. And when we've been there for 1,000 years and a million years, we're gonna still find it difficult to describe exactly what you're like in all of your glory, because your glory is infinite. But we'll be able to enjoy displays of that time and time again. Lord, help us in seeing visions like this to be humble. We are nothing in this universe. We have nothing to impress. And yet you stooped down to rescue us in our own wanderings and sent your son from beside you to come into earth to die for people that were ungrateful and would not accept him. And you allowed your son to go through that to rescue us so that one day we can see you. and be part of that course that praises you in heaven, but more so that you're going to allow us to fellowship with you face to face. It's a privilege we don't deserve, but we look forward to it. So Lord, give us a desire in this life to communicate with you, take advantage of the opportunity to come before your throne of grace time and time again, and get a foretaste of glory divine in our fellowship with you on a regular time each day. So we love you, Lord. Thank you for your goodness, your greatness, your glory. And we thank you for your son who makes it possible for one day us to see that glory fully displayed. We thank you in his name. Amen.