Revelation chapter 4, and that took us a little while to get out. We're going to go ahead and take the offering while you're turning. Thank you, Cecil. That's the only way I'm going to remember that. If you just stand up and start moving, it'll work. Just come right on down. The offering tonight, of course, if you didn't get a chance to give on Sunday, I hope that you will give and be able to meet the needs that we have, get the gospel out. Father, bless this offering. We give it to you because we love you and I pray that it would go and meet the needs, Lord. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. So Revelation chapter 4, we're going to look at. And Cecil, do you have any more of those? Are there any sheets left over? Did you pass them all out? Everything's gone? Well, actually, you should have a lesson 9, a lesson 8 from last week. We're not even going to look at it except I promised you that I'd get it to you. Remember I had I had Phil Winfield problems last week, which meant I know nothing about the computer and I messed it up and I lost it and all that stuff. And so I went and did it all over again. And so I didn't leave a lot of blanks. I think I filled them all in for you. A lot of information there. If it doesn't make any sense, well, just study it yourself. You'll come up with something. So but tonight you need to look at that sheet that said lesson number nine. And we're going to talk about that door in heaven and lesson number nine. the door in heaven. We're going to talk about going into the throne room, right into the Lord's presence, is exactly what John did. Now, I want to review the basic outline of the book of Revelation. The basic outline of the book of Revelation. Now, what chapter, what verse, that we've been over this now, what chapter, what verse gives us the basic outline of the whole book of Revelation? Who knows what it is? Chapter what? It's right on that sheet. If you're reading your sheet, it's right in front of you. Chapter 1, verse 19, it says, Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these. And so, the book of Revelation kind of breaks down like this. Chapter 1 are the things which you have seen. Speaking to John. And in chapter 1, he got a good glimpse of Jesus himself. He was on the Isle of Patmos. He had been put there for the testimony of the Word of God because he would not recant. And while he was there, the Lord visited him on the Lord's Day. He heard a voice that sounded like many rushing waters. And that was chapter 1. And so those are the things he had seen. And then we looked at chapters 2 through 3. That's the next part. Those are the things which are. And the things are actually churches. And he writes 7 letters to 7 churches which we looked at and which we're going to just fly through here just for a moment to hit the highlights of. The things which you have seen, chapter 1. The things which are, chapter 2 and 3. And now then, even though all of the book of Revelation is in the prophetic category, now you really get into the real prophetic part of the book of Revelation, beginning in chapter 4 and going through chapter 22, even to the end of the chapter, but specifically chapter 22 and verse number 5. But before we leave chapters 2 and 3, I want to sum up these permanent principles that we can count on concerning God's view of all churches. And in the prophetic sense, we've talked about how we believe that these particular churches, though existent in the time that John was writing, they also point ahead to eras or time periods of church history. We finished up last week with the church at Laodicea, which was concurrent with the church of Philadelphia. They kind of ran in the same time period. One church, the Philadelphian church, was looking at its open door and taking advantage of it. It was a missionary church. And then the other church, the Laodicean church, well, they were just lukewarm, fat, sassy, and satisfied. They had what they wanted. They had their buildings. They had their programs. They had everything. And they didn't need anything. They were lukewarm, and the Lord was upset with them. So, before we leave these churches, it's important for us to remember some main and permanent principles that we can learn. The first thing is, I don't know if you have to write these down, I can't remember whether I left blanks or not, but Jesus is inspecting His churches. Jesus is inspecting His churches. All seven of them. He said that He was inspecting them. Revelation 1.12 is your verse. It says, Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed and a robe to the feet, girded across his chest with a golden sash." And we talked about that those lampstands represented the churches, and I didn't have to come up with that on my own, because chapter 1 in verse 20 says, as for the mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels or messengers of the churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. So the first thing is Jesus is inspecting His churches. He's walking among them. He is circulating in the church. Even tonight as we sit here, the Lord knows the sincerity of our own hearts. He circulates among us. He's in us. He's beside us. He's walking. He is among His churches. And of course, He is here tonight. He knows what's going on. Not only is He inspecting His churches, but He's commanding. The second thing, general principle, always true, Jesus is commanding His churches, He's in control of them. Revelation 120, I just read it, the seven stars that you saw, are in His right hand. And so the stars and the churches, or the lampstands and the stars which represent the churches, and the messenger, which we've talked about being the pastor or pastors of the church, those messengers are in His hands, the churches are in His hands, and if they're in His hands, then He's going to be able to do with it whatever He will. And now we found out in one of these churches that not only was the church not in his hand, but he wasn't even in the church. He was outside the church and was knocking, trying to get in. And we talked about that last week. So he is inspecting his churches. He's commanding his churches. Something else is Jesus knows all about his churches. He knows all about his churches. He knows all about them. He knows all about the people. He knows all about every individual. It says there in these, in all seven cases to every church, Those verses that you have written, chapter 2, verse 2, 9, 13, and 19. Chapter 3, verse 1, 8, and 15. He says, I know your deeds. I know your deeds. I know what you've done. I know what you're doing. I know what you're going to do. He knows. And Jesus knows what's going on. So He's inspecting, commanding. He knows about them. And then Jesus knows that He knows those that are His and those that are listening in the churches. And He uses that phrase that we talked about. He that has an ear, let him Here, some folks never hear the voice of the Lord because they're not His. Some folks hear the voice of the Lord when they are His, but they turn Him off. They turn Him off like you turn off a hot water faucet. They turn Him off like you turn off a light switch. The Lord motivates. The Lord encourages. The Lord says, why don't you change your lifestyle? Why don't you live for Me? Why don't you serve Me? Why don't you speak to that person about the Lord? Why don't you help your neighbor? And the Spirit speaks to us, but because of fear or because of indifference, we just turn Him off. So we quench the Spirit. And then some of us just plain old out grieve the Holy Spirit. We talked about that. We do that by just not living the way that He wants us to and allowing sin to take root in our lives and start creeping up. And so He knows what we're doing. He knows who's listening. Then there were those seven churches. To the church at Ephesus, an overriding truth that we can always remember. is that to serve God without love is worthless. Let me do that again. Excuse me. I've got something in my throat. To serve God without love is worthless. Now, we studied love for eight weeks here one year in the fall, and we talked about love, and there's a chapter in the Bible that we looked at that says something about love. What chapter is that? 1 Corinthians 13. And it says, I can give my body, I can give all my money, I can, I mean, I can know everything, I can give everything, I can sacrifice everything, I can, I can, I can do everything there is to do to serve other people and help other people. But if I don't have what? Love. Then I am just a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. And so to serve God heartily without love is worthless. And that's the lesson from Ephesus. He said, You don't love me anymore. You're serving me. You're mechanical. You're doing all these things, but you don't love me. And then at Smyrna, there was an overriding message, and that is the world can only take the riches of this world out of our hands, but not the riches of the world to come. It can't take that out of our future. And the reason I say that is because the church at Smyrna was the church that was the persecuted church. And they were literally having things of this world and the world itself taken right out of their hands, the riches of this world. They were very poor and very persecuted. But they couldn't take the riches of the world to come. And then there was the city and the church at Pergamos. And this church, if there's anything we learned there, it's that doctrine without discipline brings ruin. This was the church that decided that the church was going to marry the government, marry the world, and the world got in the church. And so they became undisciplined, and all kinds of sin rose up in their church. And then after the church at Pergamos, which was a church married to the world, then there was Thyatira. That's the church that became the idolatrous church. But this church at Thyatira, there was a woman there named Jezebel. And what we learned from that is that deep secrets that are deeper than the secrets of the Bible, that the Bible reveals are not from heaven, but they're from hell. And so this woman Jezebel went about teaching all kinds of things. She laid stumbling block before the people. She taught them that sexual sin was wonderful. And that she had deeper meaning, and she had deeper truths, and those deep truths were coming from really down deep. They weren't coming from heaven, they were coming from hell. And that's what we learn from that church. And so there's nothing deeper than the Word of God. That ought to get every one of our attention tonight. And that is that the Bible has said it so many times, and we talk about it, but sometimes we're just not listening. The Bible is the measure of all preaching, of all teaching. The Bible is the measure of every ministry, of everything that's going on. How does it square with the revealed Word of God? It doesn't matter how successful they are, how big they are. That's not it. You square things with what does God say. What has He said? And that's very, very important. So we move on from Thyatira to the church at Sardis. And here is a church. By the way, one other little thought there, I don't know if you have it written there, is this church, if you remember, it was specifically said that they tolerated that woman, Jezebel. And so you could say that this church, in one sense, was a tolerant church. Now just stop and think about what I just said. This church was a tolerant church. She had new doctrines. They had new truth. They had deeper truth than what was the revealed truth of the Word of God. And so they were tolerating Jezebel and the doctrine that she was teaching. There's a lot of churches today that have bought into the new tolerance, just tolerate everything. We're just tolerant. We just receive everybody. It's not about, it's none of that. We just want to be love, love, love. You know, loving God is very, very important, but you can't love Him without loving His truth. And the truth of God's Word is so very, very clear. And so from there we go to Sardis. And Sardis is a church that was striving for a reputation instead of striving to follow Christ. They had a reputation that they were alive, but they were dead. And so they were striving for something. Philadelphia, we've spent a lot of time on these two churches. When Jesus opens a door, no man can shut it. And when Jesus closes a door, nobody can open it. And we've talked about that being the missionary church with an open door. And then Laodicea, we looked at it last week. Wrap it up by saying God prefers the undecided or fully decided over he that vacillates between two decisions. He prefers the totally cold or the totally hot. But not that person that's just lukewarm, that's just indifferent. And so we talk about the laodicean church. Well, let's move into the next section here. Things which will be after these. This is the third section of the book. By far the longest section. We have 11 verses to read tonight. Follow along in your Bible as I read aloud. Revelation chapter 4 and verse 1. After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I 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, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and one sitting on the throne." If you want to say it this way, John has an out-of-body experience here. How many of you have heard people talking about out-of-body experiences? John had one. He had an out-of-body experience. 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 a sardius, or a sardis stone, in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald, in appearance. And around the throne were twenty-four thrones. And upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments. and golden crowns on their heads. And from the throne proceed 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, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. And in the center and around the throne four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had the 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 Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou didst create all things. and because of thy will they existed and were created." We move from an earthly scene to a heavenly scene. We move from what's going on in the churches to what is going to be going on in heaven. We move from a place of problems, difficulties, and activities and attitudes to straighten out to a place where everything is exactly according to the will of God. There is a prayer that we pray or that we model our prayers after. We call it the Lord's Prayer. Actually, it's better named the model prayer. Sunday, coming this Sunday, we're going to look at the Lord's Prayer, which is John 17. It's the prayer that the Lord prayed. But this, the model prayer that we talk about, has a part in it. And you know what it says. It says, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Revelation chapter 4, we get a sneak peek at how things are and will be in heaven, and what they're going to be like. And John had an out-of-body experience. John, who is being revealed all of these things by the Jesus Christ Himself, is called up into heaven in His Spirit, and he's able to see these things. And so I want you to notice with me some very important information here in verse number 1. After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. It's an open door. It's interesting that we leave off in chapter 3 at the end of the chapter with the church whose door is closed to whom? Jesus. Well, there's going to come a time on this earth when finally mankind and even religion itself is going to close the door to Jesus Christ. And about the time that the door closes to Jesus on earth, Jesus is going to open the door in heaven and say, just come on up here because there's no place for you down there anymore. I'm fixing to do something. That's totally different. It's an open door. It's important to note that at this point, John is no longer on earth, but he's in the heavens looking down at the earth. The door is open there, and in heaven, everything he sees, he's going to see from a heavenly point of view. And I want you to understand that everything that John writes from this point all the way through to the end of the book, he is going to be writing from a heavenly perspective. He is going to be writing in the Spirit as He looks at it from heaven. Now, He's going to see things on earth, and He's going to describe things on earth, but He personally has been given an invitation to come up to heaven and to come through an open door. It reminds me to go back and remember the Philadelphia church where it says, if Jesus opens a door, nobody can shut it, and if Jesus shuts a door, nobody can open it. Reminds me of the ark if you remember in the Old Testament whenever the ark was built the Bible says that at that Noah and his sons and their wives and the animals went in and who shut the door who shut the door God shut the door well God shut the door and then God told them when they could open it here in the church at Philadelphia it was a church to whom Jesus said when I open the door nobody can shut it when I shut the door nobody can open it And so here we have an open door in heaven. And there's a lot of people that would like to shut that door. Satan himself would love to shut the door to heaven and the free entrance into heaven through the grace of God and through the blood of Jesus. He'd like to shut that. He'd like to do it through discouraging people. He would like to do it through false doctrine. He would like to do it through division in Christianity. He'd like to do it many ways. But even with all of that, When Jesus opens a door, nobody can shut it. So there was a door open in heaven. And then there's something else. The very next thing it says, a door was standing open in heaven and the first voice which I 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. So he heard the voice, a voice like the sound of a trumpet. Now let's see where else he heard a voice. Look back at Revelation chapter 1 and verse number 10. The very first time that he heard anybody speak and he heard, he was in the Spirit once again, but he was on earth. Chapter 1 verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a what? Trumpet. So guess who he's talking, guess who he's hearing in heaven? He's hearing Jesus. And who did he hear in Revelation chapter 1? He heard Jesus. And so now then he's going to hear this voice and the voice is going to sound like a trumpet. And what I love about this whole thing, he says, and the first voice I heard was the voice of a trumpet. Guess who the first voice was? Everybody says Peter's going to be at the door and let everybody in. Nuh-uh. Let me tell you who the first voice you're going to hear when you get to heaven is. It's going to be welcome. It's going to be from Jesus Himself. He's going to say, come on in. Because He is the voice of the trumpet. He is the one that speaks that nobody can speak louder. He's the one with the sound of the mighty rushing waters. And when He speaks, then you can't help but listen. And He gave Him a command. It's interesting here. He said, The first voice I heard was like the sound of a trumpet. He spoke to me and he said, come up here. That is very, very significant. I want you to know that from this point in the book of Revelation, from chapter 4 and verse 1, something is going to be very interestingly and conspicuously absent from the pages of the book of Revelation until you get to chapter 19. Does anybody beside Warren Jernstedt know what that is here tonight? What's going to be missing starting right here? The church. Did we talk a lot about churches from chapter 1 to 3? I mean, we were able to just church this and church that, and I know my churches, and I know your deeds, and I'm walking among the churches, and I'm holding on to the churches, and I've got the messengers of the churches, and they ain't. It's just churches, churches, churches, churches. Mysteriously, chapter 4, verse 1, churches are no more. They disappear. Now, what is going to go on here, it's interesting that we are going to be introduced here in a couple of chapters to the opening of what the Bible calls, and what God calls, the Great Tribulation Period. And the Tribulation Period is going to be a time, the Old Testament talks about, a time of Jacob's trouble. It's as if Satan has run out of people to persecute. There are no Christians out there, there's just none of them out there for him to persecute, so he turns all of his efforts against the only good people he can find. And he finds a few good people, a few of the remnant there that are among the Jews, some of them that now understand because the rapture has happened and because they're going to see the lightning and they're going to see the Lord and the abomination of desolation. They're going to know something's up. They're going to know it was true. They're going to go back and restudy the Old Testament. They're going to finally open the New Testament. Some of them are going to start getting saved. In fact, not just a few. They're going to start getting saved in mass. Paul even said, so then all Israel will be saved in chapter 11 of the book of Romans. And so it's going to be a mass thing that's going to happen. And that tribulation period is going to be an attack of Satan on the Jews. Well, why aren't you attacking anybody else? Where's the rest of the Christians? Well, they're gone. Let me just go on here. It's a command to rise. And so everything he sees is from a heavenly view and it's significant that the word church or any reference to it, though it was prevalent in chapter 1 to 3, completely disappears from the book of Revelation until you get to chapter 19 and verse number 7, with the marriage supper of the Lamb. And when you get to the marriage supper of the Lamb, you're going to find some people there who are dressed in white raiment, who've made their own garments, their own wedding garments white, and they are there. And so in this prophetic chronology of the book, this event, chapter 4, verse 1, and the come up here, is a type or a foreshadow of the church itself being taken out and taken into heaven. One of two things has happened, absolutely without a shadow of a doubt. One of two things has happened because there's nothing to be said for the church during this time. One of them might be that the church has been wiped out by Satan through persecution. How many of you believe that's possible, that the church can be wiped out through persecution? Is that possible? Yes or no? No. I'm going to let you know what Matthew chapter 16 verse 18 says. On this rock I will build my church and the gates of what? Hell will not prevail, prevent, stop or hinder. I love that verse. That has got to be one of my favorite verses. Every time we get back in the offices and the pastors get on our knees and pray and the elders get on our knees and pray and we get to thinking about the future and what God would have us do here and sometimes we get discouraged and we look, man, we got You know what, we've got too much month at the end of the money, and boy, I'm telling you, I wish the offerings were higher, and we'd like to do this, and we'd like to do that. But then we just stop and think. You know what, this is the Lord's church, and He is the one that made a prediction and a promise. The prediction and the promise is, just move forward, charge ahead, because the gates of hell itself cannot prevent, stop, prevail, or do anything to hinder the advancement of the church. Aren't you glad to be a part of a winning team? All right, let's give the Lord a hand tonight. Amen. The Lord's the winner. I mean, you know what? You can't stop what the Lord is doing. So the first thing we know is that Satan does not destroy the church through persecution. So something else happens. The other thing that happens is the church may have been taken out through what the Bible calls the rapture. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 51. The Bible doesn't actually call it rapture. It calls it the snatching away or the catching away. 1 Corinthians 15.51, just write that reference down if you don't have it. 1 Thessalonians 4, in verse 16, says that the voice of the archangel and the sound of the trumpet, that the Lord is going to call up those that are dead in Christ, they're going to rise first, and then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together to be with the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's the promise. He said that there's going to be a trumpet call. 1 Corinthians 15.51, we're all going to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the trumpet of God. and we're going to be called up into the Lord's presence. So that's the other option. One, Satan has won. He eliminated the church and now he turns on Israel. Or, two, God kept His promise and He takes the church out. And the reason we don't see the church from chapter 4 through chapter 19, verse 7, the reason we don't see it is because the church is busy. You say, Pastor, where's the church during this time? What's going on? What's happening to the people? I mean, are they just, I mean, Doesn't it make God's family real big and isn't it going to include the Jews and all those kinds of things, even those that get saved during the tribulation period? What happens to the church? Well, there are two great judgments that are going to happen at the end. And you hear us talk about this quite often. We preach, and I fear sometimes we don't take enough time to differentiate and let you know that Christians will be judged. Did you know that? I think there's a lot of us that think that, well, the day I ask Jesus to come into my heart and save me from my sin, that that was the end of it, I will never be judged again, I'm on my road to heaven, so yip, hip, hip, hooray, go out and do anything I want, live it up, dig in, have fun, you know, just eat, drink, and be merry, because it doesn't matter, I'm on my road to heaven anyway. Well, too bad that we believe that, because the Bible says, Romans chapter 14, verse 12, Paul himself said, So then every one of us... Who's Paul? When he says us, do you think he's including himself? Yes. So then every one of us will give an account of himself to God for the deeds done in the body, whether good or evil. We're going to receive those things. And so there's a judgment. It's called the bema seat. It is the judgment seat of Christ. There are several passages we could go look at tonight, but I just want to say quickly, there is a place where Christians Work is going to be judged. You remember, I used the verse on Sunday. I said, so then all of our works are going to be judged, they're going to be put through the fire. There's going to be gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, and stubble. Every man's work will be tried according to what sort it is. And if it comes out, we will have reward, but if not, we will suffer loss, yet we will be saved, yet so as by fire. I talked about that Sunday. These passages of Scriptures are very important. You know why? Because while the earth is going to go through a period of terrible tribulation, Christians are going to be receiving rewards. They're going to be, I believe, at a place where they're going to be sitting, and their works are going to be judged, and some are going to be greatly rewarded for their faithfulness, not for their talent, not for how much they gave. No, no, no. The Lord is going to reward us for our faithfulness. He's going to reward us for Christian suffering. He's going to reward us for our testimony and many other things. Then, those things we thought were so important, we're not going to be rewarded at all for them. They're just going to burn up, be gone, and there we'll be. I'm going to get to this passage of Scripture, but it fits so well right now. It says in Revelation chapter 19, verse 7, 8, 9, it says that all of the saints that are going to be there at the marriage supper of the Lamb are going to be robed in garments of white, which are the righteous deeds of the saints. How would you like to go to a big marriage supper and be naked? Ooh, that's tough, isn't it? Think about that. The righteous deeds of the saints. That is the wedding garment. That's what we wear when we go to this marriage supper of the Lamb. And so that's what's going to be happening during this period. I want you to see in chapter 2, the very first part, immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne. was standing in heaven. Look at your sheet. There was a throne and the throne was standing. Now that doesn't mean it was standing on end or standing on one leg. No, what it means is that it was not thrown down. It was a throne. It represents its authority. It is a throne, a sovereign throne, and it stands. Its authority is permanent. It's a throne and it's standing in heaven. And so there is a throne, and that throne is in heaven, and it is standing there, and it is not going to be thrown down or torn down, the authority of God himself. It's interesting that this is an out-of-body experience. And when people today frivolously talk about their out-of-body experiences, it's interesting what they say they saw. You know, they saw Aunt Betsy, and they saw this, and they saw that, and they saw You know, they saw the little lost dog that they had when they were so many years old, and they talk about this frivolity, and they talk about these things, and then they talk about, you know, the lights that they saw, and they talk about the beautiful scenery that they saw, and the mountains that they saw. But I want to tell you something. Whenever John had his out-of-body experience, what did he see? He saw the authority, the sovereignty, and the grandeur, greatness, and glory of God. When he had an out-of-body experience, you know what he saw? He saw that God really was in heaven, on his throne, and everything was okay. That's what he saw. He saw the throne standing. He saw that it was there. It wasn't moved. And so there was a throne, and the throne was standing. And then something else. He saw somebody on the throne. Look at that verse 2. One was sitting on the throne, and he who was sitting was like a jasper stone in the sardis and appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. So what did he do? He saw one was seated on the throne. There was one sitting there. Listen, if you remember, we studied this in Daniel chapter 7, verse 9. It said that Daniel was looking in his vision. He said, I kept looking until a throne... And the Ancient of Days took His seat, and His vesture was white like snow, and the hair of His head pure like wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire, a river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him. Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him. The courts set, and the books were opened." So we have this throne. And we have one sitting on the throne. Now, to sit down is not, when you're talking about somebody that's sitting there or is set, it doesn't mean that they're relaxing. This is not the idea of God's on His throne and He's just, everything's cool, He's relaxing, you know, He's having a drink of water. No, that's not what this is about. His throne is set and He is sitting on the throne, which means He is in His place of authority and the judge is fixing, preparing at this moment to begin His judgment. You know what happens in chapter 6? That's where the judgment of this world and those rejecters of the truth, it all begins in chapter 6. And so we're seeing the preparation for that. So John goes, he looks, there's a throne. And there's one seated on the throne. All things are ready. And so, here's one is seated. Then there's something else. The one who is seated is also shining. The one that's seated is shining. And the word there, he said he looked like Jasper. And he looked like Sardis in appearance. Now, it takes a little digging to get out of this what is really going on there. Jasper stone is a brilliant, clear stone, a multifaceted stone, and we would probably not call it jasper, we would call it a diamond. And so it is a clear, a brilliant, a stone that casts light. It's a giant stone, and of course this one seated on the throne He looks like Jasper. In other words, he looks like multifaceted light coming out from all directions. Well, the Bible says very clearly that God dwells in unapproachable what? Light? Isn't that what the Bible says? It says that God is the Father of what? Light? And from Him there is no shadow of turning? And so this Jasper, this diamond, this crystallite, this completely transparent person, God is seated there, and then there's something else, and his throne, his person also looks like Sardis stone. A few years ago, I was robbed in Peru of a very, I don't talk about this much, but I'm not a big jewelry wearer. I don't wear necklaces. I don't have earrings. I don't have studs. I don't have any idea why people do those kinds of things, but anyway. I don't have earrings, necklaces, I don't do all that kind of stuff. I got this ring right here, which is the covenant of promise that I have with this little lady sitting right back here, who's the most wonderful person on the planet sitting right there. And then I have a watch. This is a Timex Indigo, cost $39.95, JCPenney. And I have that right there and this right here, but I did have one ring that I bought specifically because it was a Sardonyx ring. And it reminded me of several passages of Scripture, and sardonyx is just a blood red, deep red color, not ruby, not a clear stone, but a stone that I had, and I wore it, and I got it robbed in Peru. And you know what sardonyx was about? It's the red righteousness, the first stone, the stone that was clear, transparent, and bright, speaking of God's holiness, and that red stone speaking of His righteous judgment. So we look into this situation, we see this person that's sitting there, and he's ready to judge, and he is total truth, total clarity, total see-through, and he can see through us, and light is coming out. And in addition, all around his throne, we read it in the Old Testament, this red fire of judgment and flame is all there. So it's all there, you got that. There's something else that's really interesting here. This stone, the Jasper stone, If you would go back and study in the book of Leviticus, you'd find out that that is the first stone that was on the vestment that the high priest wore, and the sardonyx, or the sarda stone, was the last stone. The jasper stone stood for the firstborn son of Jacob, and his name was Reuben. Reuben means a son. The last stone In the bottom row is the sardonic stone, and the last son that was born was Benjamin. Benjamin means the son at my right hand. So, Reuben was his firstborn. Who is Jesus? He's the firstborn from the dead. And who is the son of his right hand? Who's seated at the right hand of the Father? Jesus. Isn't it beautiful? I mean, there's so many things about that. But it's this jasper stone and the sardonic stone. And as John is looking, that's what he sees. He sees this blazing light coming out. And then the glow of the red around him, he says, wow, that looks like jasper. And it looks like sardonics. And so this shining one is sitting there. And who is this one? He is the sovereign one, typified by that sardonic stone, a fiery red stone, speaking of righteousness and judgment. Now, here's what we've seen. We've seen that there's a throne. And then we've seen that there is one sitting on the throne, and now then we're going to look at what is around the throne. Very interesting how this progresses. There's some things around the throne. It says in verse 3, "...he who was sitting on the throne was like a jasper stone, and a sardus in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne, and an emerald in appearance." There was a rainbow around the throne. And so, on the throne, there is a throne, there's someone on the throne who is the Ancient of Days, and then around the throne there is a rainbow. Now, I want you to get the significance of all of this. You know, God is holy. God is righteous. God is going to judge. But what does the rainbow speak of in the Old Testament? Now, you guys are going to put your thinking hat on. What did the rainbow speak of? Right there. Promise? Promise what? It was a covenant, wasn't it? There was a rainbow that was put in the sky. He said, behold, I put my rainbow in the sky. It's a covenant with me that summer, spring, winter, and fall will never end till the end of time, and I will never what? I will never destroy the earth again by flood. He didn't say he wouldn't destroy it by fire. He said, but he would not destroy it again by water. And he put the rainbow in the sky. So what was the rainbow? The rainbow was a covenant of promise It was a covenant of grace. It was a covenant of mercy. Now folks, stop and look what's happening in this passage. When he looked at the man sitting, this one sitting on the throne there, he saw fire coming out. He saw unapproachable light sitting there, this diamond-like, crystal-like, light-casting figure that nobody was able to approach, but as he also looked, A rainbow was around the throne. Now, there's no such thing as a complete circle rainbow right now, but there is a complete circle rainbow in heaven, and that rainbow, this emerald rainbow, this green rainbow, goes all the way around the throne, and in the middle, right there with His holiness and His righteousness, is His grace and His mercy and truth, all in the same spot. God's got a grace. It's so wonderful. You say, why was it green? Well, it was green because it speaks of life. The Lord gives us life and that's where life is rooted. He is life. And of course, it speaks of faithfulness, mercy and grace. There was something else that was around the throne. What were they? There were 24 more thrones. 24 more thrones. Look and see what it says. And around the throne were 24 thrones. And upon the thrones, I saw 24 elders sitting clothed in white garments and golden crowns from crowns on their head. So what else is there? Well, we've got a throne. We've got one sitting on the throne. Then we've got things around the throne. Around the throne, we've got this emerald rainbow with a promise of mercy and peace and grace. And then we've got 24 elders sitting there. And they're sitting there on these thrones. White, robed, seated and crowned elders. Somebody said, well, they must be angels. No, they're not angels. They're people. Why 24? Because 24 is the whole representation of the redeemed. Some say that these people there are angels, but the word elder is never applied to an angel anywhere in Scripture. For that matter, for any celestial being, for any kind of being other than a person, who has been given that title to serve the Lord in the churches. The angels do not receive crowns, nor do they occupy thrones. There's not a single shred of evidence in the Bible that any angel ever receives a crown, not even an archangel, nor does he occupy a throne. Never. The angels also never wear crowns, and they're also not victors, because this crown that they are wearing is not a diadem, which is the crown of a ruler, This crown is the crown of a victor, one who has gone through the persecution and has overcome. And so these are a victor's crown. And so it seems that these people represent elders who are also representative of many more people. They are representative, I believe, of the union of Old Testament Israel and the church at that point after the rapture. I believe that the Jews and the Gentiles, the twelve, remember we've even made a reference here to the Jasper Stone and to the Sardonic Stone, those twelve elders of the Old Testament, which would have been the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles in the New Testament, representing the unity and union. It's interesting that the Lord said that He hath made one of both Jew and Gentile. There's no woman, there's no man, there's no Gentile, there's no Jew. He's made them all one. And here we see them all And so we have 24 of them that are seated there. And the crowns, what are they about? They are the Stephano. They are the crown of a victor. One who has suffered. Perhaps a martyr's crown. And then, notice the progression here. It's so interesting. There's a throne. There's one seated on the throne. Then there are things around the throne. And now then, verse 5, there's something coming from the throne. Look and see what it says in verse 5. And from the throne, proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder." Lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. That's what's coming out of the throne. You say, wow, that looks like a very scary place. Reminds me of what was going on in the Old Testament there in Exodus chapter 19 and verse 16. 19 and 16 says, so it came about on the third day, this is when Moses and Aaron and all the children of Israel are at Mount Sinai. They're waiting to receive the law. And it says, so it came about on the third day when it was morning that there was thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a loud trumpet sound so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. It's interesting that when the law was given, there was lightning and there was thunder and there was shaking. Here we come to heaven and the judgment is fixing to start and so the law broken And judged is also going to be judged. He warned them. He said, when He gave the law, there was lightning, there was thunder, and there was shaking. Now then, when He judges those that have broken the law, there's going to be lightning, and there's going to be thunder, and there's going to be shaking. It speaks of His authority and speaks of His power. So there's something coming from the throne. Alright, we've got a throne. We've got somebody sitting on the throne. We've got things around the throne. We've got something happening coming from the throne. And now then, we've got something else. We've got something before the throne. I'm just following the verses just the way they say in the Bible here. Look what it says in verse 5. And from the throne proceed flashes of lightnings and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning, where? Before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. First, let's look and see that there were seven lamps that were standing there. Seven fiery lamps. Here's three suggestions of what these might be. These fiery lamps may represent the ministry of Jesus Christ Himself. Listen to this. It says here that, "...then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And he will delight in the fear of the Lord, and he will not judge by what his eyes see, nor make a decision by what he hears. Sevenfold ministry of the Lord Jesus, perhaps. Or it could be the sevenfold ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does seven things in Scripture, and it states it over and over. He restrains. The Bible knows that He is restraining the wicked one right now. That's the reason that the wicked one doesn't take over and we're still in the world. He is restraining the Antichrist and the spirit of the Antichrist in the world. He's restraining. He's convicting of sin. He's regenerating the unregenerate. He is sealing those that have believed. He is baptizing the believers into the body of Christ. He is indwelling them with His presence and He is filling them for work. Seven things that the Spirit of God does. Then also, there's one other possibility that perhaps may be the most accurate for this study, and that is Revelation chapter 8 and verse number 1. It says here, And when he broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God. What is an angel? The Bible says in Hebrews that angels are ministering what? Spirits. And it says, These are the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censer. And much incense was given to him, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and he threw it to the earth. And there followed peals of thunder, there it is, and sounds of lightning, and an earthquake. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them." Seven ministering spirits. So here we have in Revelation chapter 4, we've got the seven spirits. Now we know that seven is the number of completion. It may mean that the complete Spirit of God was before them. It may mean the ministry of Jesus. It may mean the Holy Spirit Himself and the seven works that He does in the world. It may mean all of these things. But I know that the ministering spirits, which are angels, have seven trumpets that they're going to blow during the tribulation period. And it seems to me that they're standing there waiting, ready for the Lord's call to go out and to bring judgment on this world. You say, well, Pastor, this book just talks about judgment, judgment, judgment. I mean, is God like that? He just likes to judge? Listen, we've been living in a time of mercy and a time of grace and peace I want you to know that the name of Jesus and the blood of Jesus and the love of Jesus and the gifts of eternal life have been, is being, and will be trampled under the feet of men mocked and made fun of. And you do not know what the wrath of a lamb would be. Because lambs show no wrath. Jesus is the lamb of God who came meek and mild and ready to offer himself like a sacrifice for sinners. There is coming that day when that lamb who has been mistreated, mocked, made fun of. He's going to change from the lamb of God to the lion of God. And it's going to be a completely different story. And so judgment is going to come. So there are fiery lamps before the throne. There's something else. There's a crystal sea before the throne. When Solomon made his temple, he made a big lavery. It was five cubits high or about 18 inches times 5, however many that is. And it was 10 cubits across, about 180 inches. It was a big, big thing. And it was a sea where they had to come and wash their hands. All the priests, when they came into the temple, had to wash and clean up. And that's where they went. It was a brazen altar. But in heaven, there's no brazen altar. crystallite, crystal scene where you don't have to come and wash anymore because there's no sin there anymore. There's something else that's very interesting. Exodus 24, 9. Moses and Aaron got a glimpse of this. It says in Exodus 24, 9 that they were going to go up before the Lord. It said, Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel. And under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire. as clear as the sky itself. So this transparent road, transparent city, transparent place with light coming forth is what John was seeing. He was seeing the throne in a sea of glass or crystal. Somebody said, well, I thought there weren't going to be any sea in heaven. Well, there's not going to be the kind that divides, but there is going to be this pure, crystal, calm, peaceful, no ripples, no storms, no difficulties, just an absolute still sea in heaven. How many of you have been through stormy seas in your life? Raise your hand up. No more stormy seas in heaven. It's going to be a crystal sea, completely at peace before the throne of God. In and around the throne, and my time's gone, I've got to get this in real quick. In and around the throne there were four living creatures. It says that in verse 6, that in the center and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and 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 something. And we're going to look at it. And so around the throne, there are four living creatures. They're full of eyes. You can't sneak up on them. They can see from behind. My mother was like that. She wasn't a living creature. She was my mother. But she had eyes everywhere. She knew everything that was happening all the time. But these four living creatures were full of eyes. They knew everything that was going on. They could report. They could report to Him that was seated on the throne about anything, all the time, day or night. They could tell Him exactly what was going on. You know why? Because they were full of eyes. The Bible says the eye of the Lord is in every place, beholding what? The evil and the good. He sees everything. He doesn't need a beast to see it either. But He made them, and they're full of eyes, and they can report. And so they're there. And they have faces as well. They have faces of distinction. They're like a lion. They're like a calf. They're like a man. They're like an eagle. Matthew saw Jesus as the king or the lion. Mark saw Jesus as the servant, like the calf or the ox. Luke saw Jesus as the Son of Man, like a man. And John saw Jesus as the Son of God and the representation was the eagle. The best passage to get a real good view of what visions of God would be in the Bible is Ezekiel chapter 1 verses 4 through 25. Just go and read it. That's where he had the vision of the wheels within the wheels, and they were terrible. That's what it says. There were wheels within the wheels, and there was the sound of wings, and these beasts were in attendance. Oh, it was unbelievable what you can see there in that passage. And then Isaiah chapter 6 verse 2 talks about this same thing. There, if you remember, Isaiah went into the temple of the Lord, and he saw the Lord high and lifted up, and His train, or that is His following, filled the temple. And he was in that temple, and there were those four beasts again. They were called cherubim in one place, and they were seraphim in another place. Here they're called living creatures. I don't know if these are different ones, but they're very similar in any event. And it took, in the book of Isaiah and here, it took two wings to cover their faces, it took two wings to cover their feet, and it took two wings to hover for service. Isn't that interesting? They had two of them to cover their face because they weren't worthy to look. and see in the face of God. They had two wings to cover their feet because they were going to and fro in all of Europe and they were bringing back the filth and the slime and they didn't want them to see their feet. So they covered their feet and they covered their faces because they weren't worthy, but with two other wings they were hovering. They were ready for service. And so these beasts, these living creatures were like that. Now finally there's something else. There's something going on toward the throne. Now do you get the progression here? Here's what's going on in this passage. There's a throne. There's one that's seated on the throne. There's things around the throne. There are things and people. There's something coming from the throne. There are those that are moving in and out among the throne and all around the throne. Those are these beasts. And now then there's something that's going to happen going on toward the throne. Notice that in heaven everything's going on about, around, for, and because of what? He that is seated on the throne. Do you get the picture? That's why I did it this way. Everything in heaven is around the throne, for the throne, toward the throne, from the throne, because of the throne, because of that person that's seated there. You get the idea that he's going to be worshipped in heaven? Well, that's what's going on toward the throne. Look at this, it says here, it says, "...and the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings and full of eyes around and within, day and night do not cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. I don't have time to develop all of this. But the beastly quartet worship toward the throne. Why? Because He is holy. Why do they worship? They say He's almighty. They worship because He's powerful. It says here, who was and who is and who is to come. They worship Him because He's eternal. They worship Him. He's holy, He's powerful, and He's everlasting. Then something else happens. The beastly quartet worships, and then the elders join in to the worship. Look what they give Him. It says in verse 9, And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, then something happens. 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, And I'll read that in a minute, but here's what happens. These living creatures start to say, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. You're the Almighty. You're from everlasting. You are holy. The Father is holy. The Son is holy. The Spirit is holy. You're just holy. And they're just saying, holy, holy, holy. It just keeps going. And so when they do that, these 24 elders, they can't keep their seat. Can I say something to you? You cannot keep your seat in the presence of holiness. And they fell on their faces. And what did they give him? Well, they gave him their humility. They got down. You know what happens in every case? Whenever people met Jesus and found out who he really was, they had to get down. You know what happens when people really know who God is? You give him your humility. You know what's wrong with Christianity today? You know what's wrong with the United States of America and its churches, its pastors? You know what's wrong with Christianity in the Western Hemisphere? We have a bunch of pastors that are strutting around like peacocks in front of the throne of God instead of falling on their faces in front of His throne. You know what else they did? They bowed down. Then something else they did is they gave Him their glory. You say, what does that mean? Remember those crowns that they had on their head? What did they do with those crowns? Well, first of all, they got down prostrate before Him. They gave Him their humility. And then they gave Him their glory. They took their crown and they threw it down there. And they joined in the chorus. And what did they do? They gave Him their humility. They gave Him their glory. And they gave Him their praise. And why did they do it? It says why they did it. It says in verse 11, Worthy art thou, O Lord, in our God, to receive glory and honor and power. Worthy was what you said to a conqueror. Worthy is what you said to one whose kingdom was going to keep on going. Worthy is what you said to a Roman emperor after he'd gone out and conquered and he came back. And you would say, your kingdom is worthy. Your soldiers are worthy. Your campaign was worthy. We give you worth. It has honor. It has glory. And we just give you worth, Caesar, because you've gone out and conquered. Do you know what these elders are doing? Old Testament saints? New Testament saints, everybody, they're getting down and they're saying, oh my, in Your presence all we can do is fall down prostrate. In Your presence all we can do is lay down our glory. And why do we do that? Because you are worthy. Because why else? Look what it says, thou didst create all things. They said you're worthy because you're the conqueror and you're worthy because you're the Creator. You are worthy and we're going to worship you because you created every single thing. And they gave him, they said he was worthy, they said he made everything. And then something really interesting. In the King James it says, because he made everything for his own pleasure. Here it says, by his own will. Both are accurate. By his will he made all things, and when things were made by him, they're nothing but good. And he said it over and over. He said, and God saw the end of the first and second and third and fourth day, and behold, it was very what? Good. It brought him pleasure. There's something I want you to see, and it's sort of jumping ahead. The beastly quartet, the quartet of beasts begins the worship. The elders join into the worship. Then I want you to jump over to chapter 5 and verse 8. It says, when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp. So we're going to add harp music to what's going on in heaven. So we've got beasts that are singing and praising. And we've got elders that are on their faces, having thrown their crowns, that are singing and praising. And now those elders pick up harps and they begin to play their harps. And then it says, and they sang a new song. And what did they sing? There it goes. Worthy art thou and thou hast... And it goes on in verse number 11, I looked and I heard the voice of... Many angels around the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders, and the number of them was myriads of myriads. So what do we have? We've got the living beast, four of them, and now then we've got twenty-four elders, and now then we've got harps, and now then we've got myriads and myriads of angels that are there in His presence. So you see what's happening here? For those of you that do not like Christian music, you've got a problem. Then, if that's not enough, Verse 13, And every created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things in him, heard I saying, to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb be blessing, and honor, and glory, and dominion for ever and ever. And I love verse 14. It says, And the four living creatures just kept saying, Amen. Amen. Amen. They just kept on. Amen. So be it. So be it. That's right. Let it be. Let it be. Let Him be given all the glory. So what happens? We've got the beastly quartet starts it. And then the 24 elders join. And then the And then they pick up harps and begin to play. And then myriads of angels, 10,000 times 10,000, the book of Daniel says. They're in attendance and myriads are there. And the angels begin to sing and play. And then all of creation. The trees of the field can clap their hands. And all of those things that we read throughout the Bible, every single thing, everything that hath breath, let it praise the Lord. And at that point, like it or not, want to or not, and they will by then. Every molecule and atom and every bit and particle in all of this creation at that point is going to praise Him. If you'd look at your little sheet there, I think you have a song on the back of it. I want you to stand with me and we're done when we sing it.