Alright, we're going to do a study together today, continuing what we've been pursuing on the theme of what life is like in heaven. If you'd like to join me, we're going to start reading in the book of Philippians, chapter 3. I'll read two verses, verse 20 and 21. While you're turning there, just to briefly catch up, if you haven't been with us for the teachings prior to this, we do have tapes available in the fellowship hall. We'd like to bless you with those. But what we've covered so far is, in our study on heaven the last few weeks, is some very basic and fundamental issues about heaven. Number one, heaven is a place. It's a real place. It's a created place. Heaven has not always existed. God created it at a specific moment in eternity, created it for a very specific purpose. The main purpose of which, as we're going to continue to pursue and unfold together, is that heaven was created to be, in a sense, God's headquarters for all of creation, for all of the universe, and for life here on earth, and for our lives in particular. We've seen that heaven is something like our life here in this world, but it's different, and it's significantly different. It's like life here only transformed and changed. What we're focusing on specifically is what heaven is like today. We are yet to study what heaven is going to be like in the eternal future, because as we've talked about, there are some changes in store for heaven itself. Heaven is going to be itself changed and transformed from its current circumstance. But we're not quite there yet. But in our study of what heaven is like today, we've identified that at the moment of death, when a righteous person, righteous being defined not as someone that's good in human terminology, but as someone who has a true and real spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus, a relationship that the Bible describes as salvation, when a person who is a saved person dies, their soul leaves their body and immediately goes to heaven. We've identified that that immediately means something significant for that person, in that they're described, their condition, their circumstance in heaven is described as one in which they are the spirits of the righteous made perfect. and that God makes a transforming change in the soul of a person that goes to be with the Lord that eliminates all elements of sin and all elements of what we know as the fall of man. All of the contaminating influences of life in this present world are eliminated at the moment that we go to be with the Lord in heaven. We've seen that heaven is, by its own circumstance, described using imagery of a city. When I say imagery, we're not meant to understand it as just, it's not really a city, it's just compared to one. Heaven really is a city, it's just a city unlike any of our cities. A city far greater than any of our cities. It's named, it's identified as the New Jerusalem, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that is above. All of which compare it to the current Jerusalem, but favorably in the sense that the current Jerusalem, I don't know how many of you have ever gone to visit Jerusalem as it is today, but really life in Jerusalem as it is today is no better than life as it is in Chatsworth today, or Canoga Park, or any other city on this earth. But life in the heavenly Jerusalem is of course far better, far greater, and far different than the current circumstance of life in the city today. We've identified though that there is a... and last week in our focus we saw that heaven is a walled city. I compared it to a gated exclusive community in our towns today, in that there's boundaries to heaven. It's not something that... Anyone can just choose by their own desire to go there, to enter in there. There's a single entry point to heaven at the gate. And that entry point, which is described through symbols all throughout the Old Testament and even on into the New Testament, that entry point is, of course, relationship to Christ himself and a certain kind of relationship, relationship on his terms, not relationship on our terms. And with all of that, that brings us up to what I want to focus on today. What I want to talk about today is the business of heaven. I mentioned last week that in defining heaven as a city, a city is defined by having certain basic social elements that take place within that city. One of those elements is it's a center of population, which is what we focused on last week. The second though is a city is generally a center of business. Cities are where business occurs, where business takes place. And there is business in heaven. It's not, of course, like business here. It's an entirely new kind of business, a higher kind of business, but it's real business. Let's start in Philippians chapter 3 and read from verse 20 and 21. Paul writes, For our citizenship is in heaven. from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Now, in these two verses in Paul describing heaven and what is occurring now and what will occur in heaven, he gives us really the tension that we live in. And we live in a kind of spiritual tension in that we live in a place in which, spiritually speaking, we have not yet experienced the fullness of what God has planned for us in heaven, and yet we're currently already experiencing some of the reality of heaven. So there is a transformation that's described in verse 21 that's going to happen in the future. We haven't experienced it yet. This is what we know is the great resurrection when our bodies will themselves be, our physical bodies will be transformed to be made perfectly suited vessels for the spiritual and soul changes that have already taken place within us. But in verse 20, Paul identifies a present reality for every Christian, everyone that truly knows the Lord. And that present reality is this, for our citizenship not will be in heaven someday at the end of our lives when the Lord returns. Someday when we get there, our citizenship is in heaven. But he's describing that we have a present experience of a certain kind of relationship to heaven. And that relationship is called citizenship. You know, we're all here citizens of the United States of America, and that implies that we have a certain relationship to the nation of which we are a part. And in the same way, we have a certain specific kind of relationship with heaven, and that is a relationship as citizens. Of course, one of the things that citizens do within the scope of their national affairs is they conduct business with one another. We're going to be conducting business in heaven when we get there. When our life comes to an end, we breathe our last breath here on this earth and the Lord takes us, transports our souls to heaven. We enter into glory. We enter in through the gates of his exclusive community. We enter into the heavenly city. We're going to be there and we're going to be doing, among other things, conducting business. And I don't know if you've ever necessarily even thought in those terms that there is such a thing as business in heaven and there is business to conduct and that we're going to be involved in that. I want to develop this a little bit this morning. So turn with me, if you would, to the book of Revelation now, chapter 14. Now, I don't know what you think of when I mention business in heaven. But one of the things in our attempt to define the nature of business is that business involves these aspects of work and occupations. And to say that there's business in heaven is to say that there is such a thing as occupations in heaven, and to say that there is such a thing as work in heaven. But if we identify that there's work in heaven, and trust me on this, and we'll look at this in detail today, there is work to do in heaven. But to say that, we have to first answer some questions that should be occurring to you. And that is, what about the biblical testimony that heaven is a state of rest? rather than a state of work. Let's read from Revelation 14, one of the passages that describes this, starting in verse 9. Now some of the material I'm going to read here is somewhat difficult because it's a revelation of events that we haven't really discussed together as a congregation in terms of looking in detail at this particular passage. I'm not going to focus on every detail in verses 9 through 13, but there is one particular thing that's described that directly relates to what I'm focused on this morning. Verse 9, Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or his hand, this is, of course, referring to the infamous mark of the beast issue in the book of Revelation. He will also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast in his image and whoever receives the mark of his name. Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow with them. Now, the promise of verse 13, when the Lord introduces this promise by saying right, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on that. necessarily includes all of us, meaning that this promise is directed to every believer in Christ from the moment this was written forward. And of course, we follow the writing of this passage, so this promise encompasses us. And the promise is this, yes, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them. So, in one sense, the condition of our lives in heaven is a condition of perpetual and continual rest. And it's rest from something very specific. It's not just rest in general. With the concept of rest, of course, I don't know what image immediately comes to your mind that I'm thinking in terms of, like the nap I'll probably be taking sometime this afternoon. And you may be, you know, doing something similar with your time this afternoon. We think in terms of, you know, sitting down and relaxing. We think in terms of laying down and closing our eyes and relaxing. And certainly there's an element in which when we're taking a nap or we're sitting down and relaxing after a hard day's work, that we're resting from our labors. And at that moment, we're not working at all. Now the question is this, not, is there rest in heaven, because this very clearly describes that there is rest in heaven, and a state of continuing and perpetual rest. But does that mean then, does it follow then, that if we're truly resting in heaven, that we will no longer, from then on, for all of eternity, never again do any work? And the short answer to that is, I hope not. Because here's the thing, I mean, I really enjoy my naps. I don't know if you enjoy your naps to the measure that I enjoy mine, but I really enjoy my naps. But I don't think I would enjoy my naps as much if the rest of my life here in this world was one long, extended, uninterrupted nap. And that's all the rest of my life was. Just a, you know, 20 year like Rip Van Winkle nap, where my whole life is just rested away. so to speak, because in that place of rest here on earth, of taking a nap or sitting down and relaxing from our labors, there is no productivity. There is nothing of any value accomplished. We rest in this world for what reason? Why do we rest? Why do we take naps? Yeah, we have a sense of physical need in order to recuperate for what purpose? To get back to work. to get some stuff accomplished. We don't rest as an end of itself. We don't rest for the sake of resting. We rest in order to work. So when this passage says, when these individuals get to heaven and they rest from their labors, Is it implying that they're resting as an end in itself? No, the whole focus here is the rest that they're experiencing from their past labors, their labors in this world. And our labors in this world are of a particular nature, a particular variety. Turn with me from Revelation now, all the way back to the beginning of the book, if you would, Genesis chapter 3. And I want to remind us of something very foundational and basic. I know you're familiar with this. But it's an important point of reminder. What is the nature of the work that we do now? And why do we work now? What part does work play in our life, in our purpose? In the book of Genesis chapter 3, we're going to read a portion of scripture which of course occurs, we're going to read from verse 17 through 19. This is an interaction between the Lord and Adam. It occurs in a specific context. The context is Adam has been created by God. He's been placed by God in the Garden of Eden. He's been placed there for a specific purpose. He's been given boundaries and guidelines for his life, and he's just violated them. and violated them in a very, very serious way. God has now arrived on the scene. He's confronted Adam in his violation, and now this is the conversation that unfolds. And it includes God's discipline, His judgment for Adam's violation, which implies very clearly that there's going to be some unfolding and ongoing consequences for his violation. And this is what the Lord says in 317 to Adam. Then to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat from it. Cursed is the ground because of you. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you. And you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Now, there are several important spiritual principles that are identified here in this passage, but I want to just focus on one. When Adam sinned in the garden, when he violated God's commandment and boundaries, and as the appointed head of the human race at this particular moment in history. In doing so, he affected life, not just for himself, but for his wife and for all the children he would ever bear, and their children's children, on down to us. But one of the major consequences of Adam's sin was it affected Adam's work. He's identified here, it's identified in verse 17 and in verse 19 by these two phrases. In toil you will eat of it. And that's of course, eat of the cursed ground. In toil you will eat of it. And then in verse 19, by the sweat of your face you will eat bread. So, the nature of Adam's work from this point forward, in all of history as we know it, is a nature of working with toil and with sweat. Both of those are images of work that's necessary to be done, and the necessity is he's not going to eat bread, he's not going to have bread to survive unless he toils, unless he sweats. So it's critical that he does toil and he does sweat, but the nature of the work itself is not a pleasant one. It's not a pleasurable one. It's something that contains within it the image of difficulty and hardship, but necessity at the same time. He doesn't have the option of just choosing, you know what, I don't like this concept of work in my life, I'm just not going to work. If Adam were to have chosen that, he wouldn't have eaten, and he would have starved to death. So to sustain his life, he has to work, but his work is by nature a work of toil, of hardship, of difficulty, and of sweat. Now, sometimes believers read this passage and conclude that this is the beginning of work in the Bible, in terms of God's purpose for mankind. This isn't the beginning of work, this is simply the change of the nature of work. Turn back just one chapter earlier, and let's remind each other of one other principle as God identifies the beginning of what we know as work. This is the first passage, the first word in scripture about man's work. And when I say man, I'm talking about mankind here. In Genesis 2, verse 15, it says, Then the Lord God, and this is prior to the fall, prior to the sin of Adam, Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. Now, what that clearly states is that when God made man, he made him as a worker. He made him to work. He made him in order to carry out two basic responsibilities in life. To cultivate the garden in which he was placed, and to keep it, or to guard it, to watch over it, to preserve it in the condition that it presently was. And the cultivation of it, of course, is to increase it and make it even more beautiful than it was prior to that. So what we have here is the idea that work starts before the fall. And then the fall happens, Adam sins, and it changes the nature of work. So that work is no longer an easy thing, it's a difficult thing. Work is no longer a particularly enjoyable thing, it's a thing of toil and hardship. What that implies is that prior to the fall, work was different. When God first placed Adam in the garden and gave him responsibility to cultivate the garden and to keep it, was that work that involved sweat? No. How was it that Adam could possibly work without sweating? Well, we don't know because we weren't there, we never experienced that. All we've ever known our entire life is work equals sweat, work equals toil. But Adam knew both experiences. He knew what it was like to work without toil and without sweat, and then later he knew what it was like, learned the hard way, what it was like to work with sweat and with toil. And just because we're aware of the possibility of two different kinds of work doesn't mean we have the option to just flip a switch and say, I'll go back to the way it was before Adam sinned. I'll take the work that wasn't toilsome, that wasn't sweat-type work. I'll take the pre-sin garden variety of work, please. That's not available to us as an option in our present life. All work right now is meant to be hard. Some of you who work, whether it's your responsibilities in the home or your responsibilities out of the home, and struggle at times with the difficulty of your work, understand this. You're supposed to. Your work is supposed to be hard. You're not supposed to particularly enjoy it. Does that mean that you should hate your work? No, not exactly, because there is an element in what you do that would have been there had Adam never sinned, because you are designed and created and made to work. But the toilsome aspect of it is not meant to be enjoyed. It's meant to be suffered through because it does one thing for us. It trains our hearts in the consequences of sin. It is meant to, every time we sweat a single drop of sweat in relationship to our work, we're meant to think back to the garden and what was lost, what was, in a sense, purchased in the wrong way by Adam's sin. Now, turn from there if you would, with me. back to the book of Revelation, chapter 7. What does this have to do with heaven? Well, I'm saying that there is, of course, rest in heaven, but what are we resting from? What we're resting from is we're resting from toilsome, sweaty work. It doesn't mean that we never work again in heaven. We will work in heaven, but we will work in a way that is more close to the kind of work that Adam was given before he ever sinned in the beginning. Now, it won't be exactly like that, because what we're talking about right now is life in heaven today, when our souls are transported in the presence of the Lord. And obviously, we're not going to be doing gardening, cultivating and keeping a garden in the same way that Adam was. But what will we be doing? As I said, believers sometimes struggle with this tension between these concepts of rest and work. I came across, as I was preparing this, an epitaph that was on a gravestone, or is on a gravestone, of a person's grave in England, and apparently this was a person that was identified as a loving mother. And I'm concluding from the epitaph that this was probably an overworked mother, alright? But this was her epitaph. This is what she wanted on her gravestone. Weep not for me, friend. Though death do us sever, I am going to do nothing forever and ever. Now that was apparently this woman's goal in eternity, which is, I've done all my work here in this world and suffered through the toil of motherhood, and all I'm looking forward to is, you know, an eternal nap, an eternal rest, an eternal ceasing of all activity. Mark Twain, very famous, of course, American author, in one of his works, he wrote this, and he had some issues with the biblical concepts of heaven. This is, let me read this quote here, he says, a man like you, and these are two characters in his story that are conversing to each other, a man like you that had been active and stirring all his life would go mad in six months in heaven where he hadn't anything else to do. And his concept, of course, was that heaven was simply this condition, this life experience where there was a ceasing of all activity. And in the story, the character that is being described here is one that did enjoy the activities of this present life. there would be some kind of spiritual insanity that would result once he reached heaven and was there for very long because he's just spiritually, eternally twiddling his thumbs and doing no discernible activity, nothing productive. So, what productive is there for us to do in heaven? Well, I mentioned the concept of occupations earlier. All of our work, generally speaking, flows along the lines of our occupations here in this present world. And there are many occupations that serve a very, very important purpose and function in our present society. And heaven has its own society. The heavenly city is a social organization. And there are occupations in heaven. It's just that some of the important occupations in our present world are going to be phased out and are not going to be part of the society of heaven. For instance, a very well-known and a very highly honored occupation in our society, that of a doctor, physician. People go to school for years and years to learn how to become an effective physician to treat the needs of human beings with various illnesses and sicknesses. How many doctors are there going to be in heaven? And that's kind of a trick question, of course, because there will be people who were doctors in heaven, but there will be no practicing physicians in heaven. How many lawyers will there be in heaven? Another trick question. You know, there will probably be a few that make it, but they won't be practicing law in heaven. Thankfully, you know, the Supreme Court of heaven will not have to listen to the kind of inane arguments that our present Supreme Court listens to on all kinds of different issues. Their practice of law is going to cease the moment they enter the gates, those that actually make it. Police officers, very important function here. How many police officers are going to be practicing their role in heaven as policemen? Well, because of course there's no sin any longer in heaven. The souls of the righteous made perfect. No violations of God's standards in heaven, therefore no one has to come along and hold anyone else accountable to those violations or punish them. They're identified, police officers, are identified in scripture in their role today as being God's servants that serve a very important purpose in our present society as executors of God's justice and God's judgment. That judgment will be passed in heaven. We will not experience the activity of police officers, firemen, of course. There is fire in heaven. But it's not the kind of fire that needs to be put out or can be put out. We're talking about, as the scripture reveals to us, that our God is a consuming fire. And the firemen that are there are going to be rejoicing in that fire rather than attempting to put that fire out. And there's all kinds of other occupations that are just going to be phased out. They won't have any significance any longer or any meaning. But there are some occupations that will continue in heaven. and continue in a sense of a transformed way, which will mean that whatever significance these occupations bear now, they will bear a transformed significance then. Starting in Revelation chapter 7, I'm going to lean on this one passage. It's not the only one that matters, but I'm going to lean on this one passage to identify and establish that there will continue to be work in heaven once we get there. Revelation 7, we'll read from verse 13. Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from? I said to him, My Lord, you know. And he said to me, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and They just twiddle their thumbs for all of eternity. No, they serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. They will no longer hunger, nor thirst anymore, nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to the springs of the water of life, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. One key phrase in verse 15, they serve him day and night in his temple. Now to serve implies work, it implies activity. And the phrase day and night, we understand what that is trying to convey to our hearts. It's not an issue that there is day and night in heaven, because there isn't day and night in heaven as we're going to see as we continue to pursue our study in the weeks to come. Heaven is a different kind of circumstance than the circumstance here in this world where there is such thing as day and night. But by using this phrase to describe a heavenly activity, what John the Revelator is actually conveying by the Spirit of God is that there's going to be continual service, perpetual service, unending service. Here, when we serve in whatever our capacity, whatever our occupation and function, We generally serve by day and rest by night. There are some that have unusual schedules and what we call the night shift, and they serve by night and rest by day. But one way or the other, there is no one in this present world, I don't care how hard of a worker you are, there is no one that serves 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year, year after year after year without resting. We all serve and then rest in cycles that is built into the nature of this present life. Then, they'll serve God day and night. Without rest, they will continually, perpetually serve Him. And when I say without rest, They will be continually at the same time, at the same moment, both resting and working. They're resting from their labors here in this present world, the kind of work that is toil, the kind of work that is sweat producing, the kind of work that's difficult and hard. Then, in the spiritual rest that comes only in the fullness of the presence of God, they will work. and they will serve day and night. And they're serving in a particular kind of occupation that's described here. It says they serve him day and night in his temple. Now we've talked before, and we haven't gone into great detail about this, but we've talked before about the reality that there is, in heaven, a temple of God that corresponds to the physical earthly temple and tabernacle that existed during the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, structures that were a tent structure and a stone structure and the scripture tells us that the temple in heaven corresponds to those things in the sense of greater and fuller and a more awesome kind of structure, a heavenly temple and the idea here is that the heavenly temple has activity within it And there is a particular kind of service, and that kind of service can only be defined by the occupation of who belongs in the temple of God, serving God. And we're given understanding about this, not just from this passage, but throughout the whole Old Covenant, when God describes the tabernacle and the temple, and the work, and there always was, always. day and night in the temple and tabernacle in the Old Testament from the moment that it was first inaugurated, the opening ceremonies of the tabernacle, and later the opening ceremonies of the temple, God made sure, and He did this by shifts, there was continual activity in His temple. The reason He did that was to convey the reality by symbolism of what is going on in heaven, that there is continual activity and work in heaven. And who was it that was, by occupation, qualified to serve in the temple and tabernacle in the Old Testament? The priesthood. Now, in the Old Testament, the priesthood was identified by tribal association. We know that there were 12 tribes of Israel. and that God selected one of those twelve tribes, the tribe of Levi, to serve him in a specific function. They were set aside from the other tribes. The Levites were called to be the ones that could enter into the tabernacle, enter into the temple, and do the various activities that corresponded to temple service. And for the rest of the Israelites, there were descriptions of what they did, but they were never allowed to actually go into the temple and see for themselves. Well, what does this have to do with us? Turn with me, if you would, to the book of 1 Peter, chapter 2. Because none of us are Levitical priests. None of us ever visited the tabernacle or the temple of the Old Covenant. and today there is no physical tabernacle or temple here on earth for us to serve in 1 Peter 2 we'll read Peter's description in verse 9 of our heavenly occupation. Now, this is one that he's describing as a present reality, and it is true that this is something that we presently are meant to experience, but the fullness of what he's describing won't be experienced until we actually go to be with the Lord in heaven. 1 Peter 2, verse 9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, of people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. What is our occupation in heaven? There's actually two different identifiers of our occupation in heaven that mean something, that we're meant to grab hold of as labels. We label occupations like police officer, like lawyer, like doctor. And by doing so, it gives boundary and definition to our labor, to our activity, to our work, our service. And in the same way God labels our heavenly occupation, and this is one of the only two, we'll look at the other one in just a moment, this is one of the only two occupations that for my studies I can see continue on in heaven. Meaning if you're currently an accountant, you'll go to heaven if you know the Lord, and in heaven will you do accounting? No. you're going to be occupied in an entirely, completely different way. But there is one occupation here that's identified that will continue, and that is the second phrase in verse 9, a royal priesthood identifies the occupation. of God's people, not only for our lives here in this present world, but in heaven. In Revelation 7, as we read, the souls in heaven are described as serving God day and night in His temple. They're serving Him as members of a royal priesthood. It's called a royal priesthood because it's meant to be distinguished from the Levitical priesthood. The royal priesthood of the New Covenant is greater than the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, only certain ones of those who had a right relationship with the Lord were allowed to participate in the temple service. In the New Covenant, all believers are part of this royal priesthood, and we will serve God in His heavenly temple. Now, we are in training for that right now. This is an occupation that's so significant, and the significance of it is borne by this one simple principle. We'll be doing this for eternity. forever and ever and ever. That means it's a pretty important job in God's perspective. But because it's so significant, God calls us to begin to prepare for it now. He calls us to train in our royal priesthood today. There are priesthood responsibilities and activities that God's people are called to practice now. to begin to grow into the ability to effectively minister before the throne of God and serve God in His holy temple and our spiritual activities today. Now, what kind of things do the royal priesthood do? What do they do in heaven? Well, let's turn first to Revelation chapter 4. What do priests do? Royal priests. I'm not talking about like Catholic priests or Orthodox priests or Episcopalian priests. I'm talking about royal priests. I'm talking about what we will be involved in doing in heaven. One of which is very simple, straightforward. We all understand this. We know this. But as a reminder, let's read from verse 1 of chapter 4. After these things I looked and behold the door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things. Immediately I was in the Spirit." Now what is revealed from this point forward in the book of Revelation are glimpses of what is taking place in the throne room of heaven. And the throne room of heaven is in the heart of the temple that's in heaven. Because as we've studied before, The throne of God, in its correspondence as far as location to the earthly temple and tabernacle of the Old Testament, the throne of God corresponded to the Ark of the Covenant of the Old Testament. And it refers to the place where God Himself is seated, and that's at the heart, the center, the focal point of all the temple activities. So everything that unfolds from here is all about those temple activities. Let's read on from here. Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and one sitting on the throne. And he who was sitting was like a jasper stone and sardius in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. And upon the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads. We'll come back to those elders in a moment, but let me just mention this, that these are specifically not angels seated on these 24 thrones. These are elders, which are human beings. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. These living creatures are, of course, a special category of angels that are known as cherubim. The first creature was like a lion, the second creature like a calf, the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature. was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them, having six wings, are full of eyes around and within, and day and night they do not cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come. What these creatures declare, it says they declare it day and night. Again, this is not to imply that there is such a thing as day or night in heaven. There is no change like that that takes place in heaven. But again, it's to imply perpetuity, that they never cease declaring these words, which we know is words of praise, words of worship. And when these special four living creatures, these cherubim angels, when these living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne and will worship Him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created." Now here it's identifying that the 24 elders, these human beings that are seated on 24 thrones, at a specific moment that unfolds in heaven, they get up off of their thrones that they were seated on, and they do something. What are they doing? What activity is being described here? They fall on their faces before the central throne, the primary throne, the throne of God in heaven, And they cast their crowns before the throne, and they begin to declare certain words of praise and worship to the one who sits on that throne. But why are they doing that? They're doing that in response to what they've just heard these four living creatures say. Now, we understand that the four living creatures are declaring, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come. But they don't declare that just once. And then that's it. We've now done our job. We've declared everything that can be declared about the holiness and majesty of God. Amen. The end. As soon as these four living creatures finish declaring this about God, what do they do next? They declare it again. And as soon as they're finished declaring it a second time, what do they do next? They declare it a third time. And then a fourth. And then a fifth. and then a ten gazillionth time. They never cease, day and night, to declare these certain core revelatory principles of who God is. But what I want us to catch is that every time they declare this about the one whom they are in closest proximity to as the guardians around God's throne, what do the 24 elders seated on their throne do responsibly? They join them in this same chorus, and fall down, getting up off of their seats, to fall on their faces, cast their crowns before the throne of God, and declare the glories and majesties of God in response to what these cherubim have just declared. And what do they do when they're done? I'm talking about the 24 elders. They're prostrate before the throne. They've just cast their crowns. The implication is, as soon as they're done, they pick their crowns up, they sit back down in their seats, they put their crowns back on, and they wait. What are they waiting for? The angels to finish their next declaration. And as soon as they do, what do the 24 elders do? They get up off their seats again and fall down on their faces before the throne and cast their crowns. Now, that may sound because I'm talking about something that's not just going to be, you know, short term work. This is something they're going to do. These particular 24 are going to do this. This is their job. This isn't described as something that everybody in heaven is doing. This is a special job that these 24 are given. And this may sound to you like, okay, well, I'd like to have that job for a day, a week, a month. And then give me something new, something fresh, something bigger, better, more exciting. There's nothing more exciting than this. There's nothing bigger, there's nothing fresher. Every single time they do this, it's not like, oh come on, do we have to do the prostration thing again? Didn't we just do that 10,000 times? Every time they do it, they are experiencing, because they're in closest proximity to the throne and the glory that's emanating from that throne, they're experiencing the freshest thing that can possibly ever be experienced. And they're not bored. They really aren't. We're just going to all have to trust the Lord on this. They're not bored. This is an awesome thing that they're experiencing. And they have this special, special role to do this. What about the rest of us? Turn to chapter 7. We're already in Revelation, turn to chapter 7, verse 9. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count from every nation, and all tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands. And they cry out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders, those are the elders that we've previously identified, and the four living creatures. And they fall on their faces before the throne and worship God saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Now, what do we do? We join in. If we're there, And if we're around that throne with them, we're not going to stand idly by, resting forever and ever. We are going to join in as a royal priesthood, and we're going to serve God and His temple in the most fundamental service that human beings were ever created to serve, and that is the service of worship. It's work to worship God. But this is not a toil work. This is not sweat work. Remember in the Old Testament, there's a little detail to describe how the Levitical priests were to conduct their service of worship within the tabernacle. And one of the things that God required of the Levitical priests was that they were required to wear certain kind of clothing, made from certain kind of fiber. And they were prohibited from wearing the wrong kind of fiber. in their clothing. And it's not just because God was being picky or, you know, concerned about fashion issues or anything of that nature. He's conveying certain spiritual principles. He told the Levitical priests, you cannot wear wool in your clothing when you serve me as my priesthood in my temple. Why? Why not wool? Wool, he said, causes you to sweat. And I don't want my priests, as they're serving me, to sweat. So he required them to wear linen garments, which did not produce sweat in their activity. This was the one job. In this present world, in the Old Covenant, we're given this job as a symbol of what God is aiming us for, for all of eternity. It's the one job that was an exception to the fall principle of the transformation of work from something enjoyable, something restful as you're working, to something that became a work of sweat and of toil. The role of the Levitical priest was to never sweat in the presence of God. And that's what we're called to as God's royal priesthood. We are going to be, and this isn't the only thing, we'll pick up with this next week, we're going to be conducting business for all of eternity. And the most fundamental business that you and I will be conducting is the business of worship. And there is nothing more important on the agenda of the society of heaven and our eternal future than conducting the business of worship, doing worship, serving God in the place of worship. Now, what does that tell us, practically speaking, about how important worship should be in our present agenda? There are many things you do with your life, good things, hard-working things, that honor God, bring glory to God, that are necessary for you to do to sustain your life and your family, but that you will never do again the moment your life ends. One job that you do now, that you're called to now as God's royal priesthood, that you will continue to do and do in a greater and transformed way is the work of worship. And yet what tends to happen for believers is worship just, you know, it's like one of those things we know that it's important, we know we ought to do it, but it, you know, it's not uppermost on our life's agenda in terms of things that we need to get accomplished. There are people in this room that are so responsible about your practical work here on this, in this earth, that you would never dare or dream to not fulfill some responsibility that you've been given to do. You're that responsible, and yet worship may not be that significant in your perspective or important. How do I know that? Well, at nine o'clock in the morning, when we start our congregational worship time, how many of you are actually here ready to go to work? How many? I mean, I'm not asking for hands because I don't want to embarrass the rest of you. But, you know, it's pretty sad, generally speaking, 9 o'clock Sunday morning, when Tim and the worship team fire up the first chords of our call to work, that there's just a handful of us that are usually here, ready to get to work. The rest of us kind of, you know, waddle in later, you know. We're here for church, and that's good, but I'm not missing the most important stuff. I'm just coming as I please. I'm not looking at it as a responsibility, a calling, a heavenly goal that I'm presently given the privilege to train for and to prepare for, but which will occupy all of my heart's attention once I'm actually there. And that is something I think that the Lord wants to address in each one of our hearts. Anyway, we'll stop here for today, and we'll pick up with the rest of the business of heaven, because we haven't identified everything we'll be doing in heaven. And let's pray and commit our study unto the Lord. Father God, as we sit here in your presence, You identify us as your people that are called to work, not just now, but for all of eternity. You identify us as your royal priesthood. You give us responsibility to worship you. You call us and are intending for us to grow in our ability to serve you in your temple, both now and for all of eternity. I pray, Father God, that you would use these words, this study, this short time of meditating together in these portions of your word to stir up within us a sense of the holy calling that you've given to us, the holy occupation that we enjoy now and will enjoy forever and ever and ever. And I pray that you would accomplish that for the sake of your own name and glory. And we thank you for that. Amen.