REVELATION 4 CAUGHT UP INTO HEAVEN2010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 4 Caught Up Into Heaven

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2010.

Here in Revelation chapter 4, we're starting the final section of the book of Revelation. In chapter 1 verse 19, Jesus gave us an outline of the book of Revelation. He tells John to write down the things which he had seen. That's the first part of the book of Revelation. It's chapter 1, where John writes down and records to us this vision that he has of Jesus there on the island of Patmos.

Well, then Jesus tells him in chapter 1 verse 19 to write down the things which are, the present, the things in regards to the church. And we find that in chapters 2 and 3, where Jesus has John write seven letters to Cephas,

7 different churches and speaking to those churches in regards to their need, in regards to the things that God wants to speak to them. It's areas of repentance and encouragement, promises of eternity for those who overcome. And we've spent the past few weeks studying those and it's been a powerful and refreshing time as God has been challenging our hearts.

Well, those are the things that are. It's the church age. It's the time of the church which continues to the present.

But now as we go forward in the book of Revelation, we're looking towards the future. We're looking towards those things that have not yet come to pass. Those things that have not yet been fulfilled, but we are hoping and expecting that they will be fulfilled in the very near future. And so the third section of the book of Revelation, Jesus tells John to write down the things which will take place.

These are the things that are going to happen. They've not happened yet, even as we study this portion this morning. And yet, they are going to happen very soon.

And so in preparation for studying these things, God has been taking us through the churches and challenging our hearts and getting us ready to understand what He's about to do, to understand what He's about to accomplish in the earth as well as in heaven, and to prepare us for these events to actually unfold. It's for us to understand and be prepared for the studying of it, but also for them being fulfilled as we will watch them take place again in the very near future.

Well, what are these future things? What are the things that will take place? As we look at chapter 4 this morning, we'll be dealing a little bit with the rapture of the church. That's what we're looking forward to. That's the next event that we are holding on to, knowing that this is going to happen at any time, at any moment.

And once the church is out of the way after the rapture has taken place, then what's going to happen is the earth is going to go through seven years of tribulation.

Seven years like this world has never seen of death and devastation and disease. Catastrophic events will be taking place. The Antichrist will be on the scene really ruling the world and the world will be under the influence and control of Satan for that seven years as God is pouring out His wrath upon the earth.

But that seven-year period comes to an end when Jesus Christ returns. He will return at the Battle of Armageddon, defeat the armies that turn against Him at that point, and He will establish a kingdom here on the earth for 1,000 years. We call it the Millennial Kingdom, where He rules and He reigns here on the earth for 1,000 years.

And during that time, Satan is bound in the bottomless pit. And so righteousness reigns upon the earth for that time that Christ is reigning.

At the end of that thousand years though, Satan will be released for a short time and he will lead one final rebellion against God. He will come up against Jerusalem, but of course he will not be victorious and God will defeat that rebellion that Satan leads or that Satan spurs up. And that will bring in Judgment Day. At that time, Satan and his demons will be cast into the lake of fire

Revelation chapter 20 verse 15 also tells us that whoever's name is not written in the book of life at that time will be cast into the lake of fire as well. It's the final judgment for those who have rejected God and have not believed in Him. After that takes place,

Revelation chapter 21 tells us that God will create a new heavens and a new earth, a new Jerusalem as well. And he speaks to us there in the final closing chapters of Revelation about eternity and what he has in store for us. He really doesn't tell us every detail and all the things that we would like to know perhaps, but he gives us insights and a little sneak peek about the things that are going to take place for the rest of eternity and the things that we can look forward to. And so,

And so these are the things which must shortly take place. They're going to happen. They're going to happen pretty much at any moment. They're going to happen suddenly as God's plan unfolds. The prophetic timeline unfolds before us about the things that he said he's going to accomplish.

And so as we look at chapter 4 this morning, we're looking at the beginning of this. We'll be talking about the rapture and we'll be looking at the heavenly scene and what's in store for us in heaven. And as we do, I would ask you to consider, are you ready to be caught up into heaven? Are you ready to be there? Are you ready to get there? Are you ready to be in the presence of God for eternity?

Paul encourages us in Colossians chapter 3 to set our minds on the things that are above and not on the things that are on earth. To fix our minds on the things of heaven and the things of eternity. He says where Christ is.

He says our minds need to be focused on where Jesus is. And where is Jesus? He is in heaven. And so as we consider these things, prepare yourself and set your mind on these things as we look at heaven this morning.

Fix your mind on it. Let it captivate your heart. Meditate on these things and look forward to them because this is where our minds are supposed to be. This is what is supposed to captivate our hearts. The things that God has in store for us for the rest of eternity. This is where our mind belongs. We're not to be so focused on the things of this earth, but we're to be focused on the things above.

We were just singing a few moments ago the song that says, Jesus, you are all this heart is living for. And if that is truly the state of your heart, if that is truly a description of you and your place in life right now, that you are living completely for Jesus, that your heart is completely for Him, then you are prepared and then you are ready to

for eternity with God. You're ready for heaven because that's what it's going to be about. As we'll see today in chapter 4, it's all about Jesus. It centers around God. And so if He is all that our heart is living for, then we are ready. We're prepared and we're preparing ourselves for that time that we get to be with Him. Well, as we look at heaven, there's three points I'd like to share with you this morning. Three things I'd like to highlight from our passage. The first point is that heaven is

Heaven's door is open, or we'll be looking at heaven's open door. Verse 1 says,

John, as he goes on describing for us this revelation that he received, this vision from God, this experience that he went through, he now looks up into the sky and he sees an open door. And here in verse 1 and 2, what we're really seeing is the Apostle John being caught up into heaven.

And he becomes an example for us, really, of the rapture of the church. He experienced a preview of the rapture of the church as he sees this open door in heaven. And then he tells us in verse 2, he is immediately brought into the presence of God. He was caught up. He was snatched away into the presence of God.

And so he says there in verse 1, after these things, after the things that he's just been talking about in chapters 1, 2, and 3, after the past things, the vision of Jesus, the present things, the time of the church, now he's looking forward to the future. And after Jesus revealed all these things to him and wrote the letters through him, now he's taking him into the throne room of God, into heaven.

Apparently, chapter 1, 2, and 3, the vision that takes place, John is there on Patmos. He says Jesus was behind him and he sees this vision of Jesus and then Jesus tells him what to write. But now for the rest of the events and the rest of the things that are going to be written in Revelation, Jesus takes him up into heaven to show him those things which are going to happen. And so he looks up and behold, wow!

Check this out. There's a door standing open in heaven. There's an open door in heaven. He looks up and he sees into the throne room. He sees God inviting him into his presence. And again, we see here a beautiful picture of the rapture of the church. Now, the word rapture is something we use to refer to an event that the Bible describes where the church is caught up to be with Jesus in heaven.

It tells us in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 that the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. And then in verse 17 of 1 Thessalonians 4, He says, Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

There in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul describes for us the rapture of the church where we are caught up to be with the Lord forever after that point. And so we're caught up to meet the Lord in the air. That word caught up, it's harpazo in the Greek, it's rapto in the Latin, and that's where we get the word rapture from. And so it's...

It's a catching away, a snatching away, a quick seizing and that's what's going to happen. One day in the near future, we believe that Christians around the world will instantly be gone, will be caught up to be with the Lord. And once the church is out of the way, once the church is raptured, then the events of the tribulation, the appearance of the Antichrist,

all of that will unfold as we talked about last week. And if you weren't here last week for the overview of God's prophetic timeline, I do encourage you to get the CD after service or go on the website and either watch or listen to the message from last week and get a good visual, a good picture on the prophetic timeline and the order of events as they will unfold.

But the rapture of the church is something the Bible teaches. And what we see here in John is a preview of that happening to him. He tells us that he hears a voice like a trumpet. He says it's like it was the first voice that he heard. And he heard this back in chapter 1, verse 10 and 11.

There he tells us in 10 and 11 that Jesus stood behind him and he heard behind him a loud voice as of a trumpet and Jesus was saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. And so this same voice, Jesus is speaking to him and what Jesus says to John at this point is, come up here. He's inviting him up. He's calling him up into heaven. He's

Got the open door. The door is open. Jesus is waiting and he says, Get up here, John. It's time for you to see what's going to come next. It's time for me to show you the things that are going to happen after the church age. After the time of the church has come to an end. And so now he's going to be revealing and that's what the rest of the book of Revelation will be about. Those future events as Jesus reveals them to John. At this point, the church age will be complete.

The fullness of the Gentiles will have come in. Those who are going to believe in Jesus Christ will have believed and the church will be taken out of the way and then the rest of God's prophetic timeline will be unfolding. Verse 2, he says, "...immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven, and one sat on the throne."

And so he hears this voice say, come up here. And then he says, immediately I was in the Spirit and behold a throne set in heaven. Immediately he was taken into the presence of God. Immediately he was in the throne room of God. Instantly he was there in the presence of Jesus.

Now consider all of these elements. There is an open door. There's a voice like a trumpet that says, come up here. And then immediately he's in heaven. And again, we see this parallel with the rapture of the church. It happened immediately, instantaneously.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 51 and 52, he says, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.

Notice what he says. He says, there's a mystery that I'm sharing. He says, we're not all going to sleep. Not every one of us is going to die physically. Some of us are going to go...

into heaven through the rapture. Now sometimes, well not sometimes, but some of us will go into heaven by death. Our body will cease to function. Our life on this earth will end. But it's not the end of our life. We will then enter into eternity with God that way. But Paul says not all of us will enter into eternity that way. Some of us will enter in in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

And the dead will be raised and we shall be changed and will be transformed instantaneously at the rapture of the church. And so he says, immediately I was in the Spirit and I was there in the throne room of God. He was taken up instantly. Paul says, it's in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Are you ready for that? Are you ready to be caught up, snatched away, just boom! The next second, the next instant, you're there in the presence of God.

You know, Jesus told us to be watching and to be ready. The door of heaven is open as we see here in verse 1. But it's not open for everyone. It's open for those who are prepared. Not everybody gets to heaven. And that's a sad truth. And it's not because God doesn't want everyone to be in heaven. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3 that that's not His will that people would perish.

But He's given us the choice, the opportunity to choose to be with Him for eternity or to not be with Him for eternity. And that's the choice that we have to make. And so the door is open for those who choose God, for those who choose to be with Him, for those who choose to follow Him. And He calls those who choose to follow Him to be ready. You remember in Matthew chapter 25, the parable Jesus told of the ten virgins.

There was five who were prepared and five who were not prepared. And they were waiting for the bridegroom. It was a wedding ceremony that was going on and they were waiting for the bridegroom. And as soon as the bridegroom came, they were going to be able to go in and to celebrate the wedding with the bridegroom.

But as they were waiting for the bridegroom to come, the five who were prepared, they were ready, they were set. But the five who were unprepared, they ran out of oil in their lamps. And so they had to go and try to find oil or buy oil at the market. And while they were gone, the bridegroom came. And so those five who were prepared went in and were able to celebrate the feast. The door was open for them. But then those five who were not prepared, they come back after

After they get their oil from the market and they come and now the door is closed. The gate is closed and they knock on the door but they're not allowed in. The door is open for those who are prepared. Jesus said at the end of that parable in Matthew 25, 13, He says, Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

The moral of the story, the moral of the parable, the point that Jesus is telling us is to watch and to be ready because we don't know the time. We need to be ready because He could come back at any moment, at any instant. And we need to be prepared. We need to be watching. We need to be ready because He's coming back soon. And so there's an open door into heaven. God's inviting us up. He's inviting us to spend eternity with Him.

but it's for those who are prepared, those who are walking with him, and those who are ready for his return. Well, the second point we look at and see here in our passage today is that heaven is centered around the throne. Look at verse 3. He says, And he who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald.

Now as we go through the next couple of verses, you'll notice that everything is described by its relationship to the throne. It's placed there in the heavenly scene by where it is in relationship to the throne. And so you'll see it's around the throne or before the throne or coming from the throne. Everything is based upon its relationship to

to the throne. We see John reference the throne 12 times here in this short number of verses. It's really focusing on the throne of God. And so he's there caught up into heaven. He's standing before the throne. He sees the throne of God and everything he describes is based upon or centered around the throne of God. Heaven is centered around the throne and that's something important for us to consider.

Notice as he's describing this scene, he uses the word like quite a few times. And the reason why he uses the word like, it's not that he's a valley girl and like, you know, he just likes to say like. John is describing this heavenly scene and he's not able to tell us exactly what he is seeing. Because, you know, heaven would not be heaven if we could describe it exactly with words.

our limited vocabulary, with our limited imagination and comprehension, that would be a very, very limited eternity and a very limited heaven. But what John is seeing is beyond his ability to describe...

It's beyond our imaginations to comprehend, beyond our vocabulary to be able to capture the thoughts and the things that are going on. And so he's using the word like to kind of give us some visuals, to kind of give us some parallels, to give us a little bit of an understanding and a preview of what he is seeing and what's in store for us. But it's not exactly these things when he uses the word like.

And so he describes the one who's on the throne as like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance. He describes him like these stones. And so he's looking at the Heavenly Father. He's looking at the presence of God, the throne of God, and he's looking at the presence of God.

He doesn't describe, you know, some type of figure. He doesn't tell us, you know, how many toes or fingers he has or what color hair he has. As he sees the throne of the Heavenly Father, the only thing he's really able to describe is light and color. There's this brilliant light and these amazing colors that are coming forth from the throne of God. And so the one who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone.

These stones seem to have some important significance in God's throne room, in God's eternal plan. We'll talk a little bit about that. But the jasper stone is described for us in Revelation chapter 21 verse 11 as being clear as crystal.

Other commentators and scholars describe it as being clear but kind of having a purple tint to it. And so it's this clear stone and he sees the throne room and he sees this clear light, this bright clear maybe with shades of purple, this light coming forth from the father on the throne.

But he also describes him as being like a sardius stone. Now a sardius stone was a deep red stone. It was like, maybe you would describe it as like a blood red, just like a very deep red. And so there's this brilliant, this white, this purple, this red light that's coming forth from the throne. Now these stones were also present on the breastplate of

the high priest in the Old Testament. If you remember back in Exodus chapter 28 where God is laying out all of the designs and everything for the high priest's garments and he gives him the things for the breastplate and he says there's to be 12 stones on the breastplate of the high priest, one for each of the tribes of Israel and

And the first stone on that breastplate was a sardius stone, that deep red stone that is being described here. The last stone on that breastplate was the jasper stone, that clearest crystal stone that John is referring to here in verse 3. And so these colors, these stones have some important significance. We don't fully understand what that is and what it fully means today.

But we do understand it's something that is important to God. In fact, even the New Jerusalem that is described in Revelation chapter 21 is described having a foundation. And these stones are part of the foundation of the New Jerusalem that God creates. And so there's importance here and significance as far as the colors that are being used and the light that is coming forth from the throne.

And so you kind of visualize, you kind of picture what John is seeing here as this bright white, this purple, this red that's coming through. Also he says there's an emerald rainbow, a green rainbow all around the throne. And it's interesting that Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6, verse 16, that God dwells in unapproachable light. That's really what we see here. John is there and he's trying to describe the process

throne room of God and all he can do is describe him as the lights and the colors that are coming forth from him and I was looking around I found a picture it's not exact but a picture of an artist rendering of this scene here in Revelation chapter 4 and I

I show it to you so hopefully, you know, maybe it helps give you a little bit of a visual. This is not exactly, you know, the way it is. You know, like when you go on vacation and you take a picture of something amazing and you bring it home and you show your family, you show your friends and you're like, man, it just doesn't do it justice. Well, in the same way, this doesn't do heaven justice. But maybe, you know, it's helpful to give you a little bit of a visual and understanding. And so you see the brightness, the colors,

And then you also see the other elements that we'll be talking about, the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures and the things that are going on there. As we consider these things, understand this is going to be awesome. This is where you and I will be one day and it's going to be incredible as we enter into heaven. Now as you think about these things, what is it that excites you? What is it that you are looking forward to in heaven?

Yesterday I was able to participate in, well, they did a surprise party for Vicky Chavez and it was a great time. It's interesting because, you know, we know them, they're part of the church family, but

You know, we didn't grow up together or anything like that, but it was amazing just to be a part of the joy and the laughter. You know, they were just sharing and doing a lot of things. It was just really an incredible time, a wonderful time. You know, they were making everybody cry, but it wasn't as sad. You know, it was just tears of joy because you're just

overwhelmed with emotion, overwhelmed with the goodness of God. There was just so much laughter and all the guys were pretending like they weren't crying and, you know, kind of burying their face and being quiet and stuff like that, just like we do. You know, when you think of heaven, is that what you get excited about? You know, the idea of spending eternity with those that you love, spending eternity with perhaps...

Those who have gone before us, those that are waiting for you there, is that what excites you? Is that what captivates you? Is that what really gets you going about heaven? That you can't wait to be there because of the people that will be there and the people that you will get to spend eternity with.

Or perhaps as you look forward to heaven, maybe you're just like, I'm just glad I'm not going to go to hell. Maybe understanding the sin and the judgment, maybe understanding the life I've lived and the things that I've done, that it's just a miracle, it's amazing. Heaven, just not going to hell is heaven enough for me. Not receiving the judgment that I deserve. Or maybe some of you, you look forward to heaven and you think,

The best thing about heaven that I can think of is I'm going to be out of this body. Some of us younger people, we don't really understand that yet, but I'm told this is what happens. You're tired of it breaking down. You're tired of the sickness. You've gone through difficult things physically. There's just death and disease. And you just can't wait to be out of this body and to have the new body that God has promised to you.

Maybe that's what you look forward to. And you know, heaven is all of those things and more. Not only do we get to spend time with those that we love and meet up with those who have gone before us, not only do we get to escape the judgment of hell that we deserve, not only do we get a new body that God has prepared for us, but the most awesome part of heaven is

is that it centers around the throne. The most awesome part of heaven is that we will be with God, that we will be with Jesus, that He will be there and we'll be in His midst, that we'll be caught up to be with Him and forever we will be with the Lord. And so as we look at these things and consider these things, understand we can't comprehend the fullness of what God has in store for us.

But the most incredible thing is that we're going to be with Him for the rest of eternity. Amazing. Incredible for us to consider. Verse 4. He says, "...around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes, and they had crowns of gold on their heads."

And so now here he describes, again, around the throne, making reference to where they are in relationship to the throne, to where God is. And he says there's these 24 thrones that are around God's throne. And on these thrones are 24 elders. And notice what's happening. They're sitting there, they're clothed in white robes, and they have crowns of gold on their heads. Who are these 24 elders? It's a question that's often asked.

Scholars, commentators, they all discuss and debate it. There's basically three main perspectives or opinions on who these 24 elders are. The first perspective or the first thought is that these 24 elders are angels of some particular type, some special creation of angelic beings that are there.

I don't believe that there's a good case for that, and we'll talk about that in just a moment. The second perspective is that these 24 elders are the church. Either they're 24 representatives of the church as a whole, or symbolically they represent the entire church, all believers being there in the throne room of God before the presence of God.

The third perspective is kind of similar. It's a combination of the church as well as Old Testament saints.

And so, you know, the number 24, you get 12 apostles and then the 12 tribes of Israel. And so these 24 thrones, these 24 elders represent not only the church, but also the Old Testament saints who were taken by Jesus into heaven at his ascension. And so there's these understandings. And personally, I believe it's the church, but I don't mind including the Old Testament saints. I think that fits pretty well. And

And one of the main reasons for that is in Revelation chapter 5, which we'll look at next week. But in verse 9 and 10 of Revelation 5, they record for us, John records for us, a song that the 24 elders sing.

And the 24 elders sing a song to God saying, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth. And so I think that cancels out angels right away because angels are not redeemed to God by Jesus's blood. That's humans. That's you and I. That's the church.

And so these 24 elders somehow represent us, represent the body of Christ, represent perhaps the Old Testament saints as well that are there before the presence of God. Those who have been redeemed to God by the blood of Jesus Christ. And notice they say, "...out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation." Again, that's the church.

The church is without boundaries, without borders. There's no certain class socially. There's no certain nationality. It's out of every tribe, tongue, people and nation that the church is comprised. And so in the same way, these 24 elders are the church or representatives of the church or the church being there symbolically.

And so there's these 24 angels, and notice again, they're clothed in white robes. Now that's something that is promised to believers. That's something that's promised to the church. It's being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. It speaks to us of a cleansing, of purification, of sanctification that God has promised to us.

Also notice that they have crowns of gold. Now these crowns of gold speak of reward. There's two types of crowns that are used in the Greek language. The one type is a crown of authority, a crown a king or a prince would wear. It's a sign of authority or rulership.

But then there's also the victor's crown. And the victor's crown was something that was rewarded like an Olympic type meet or an athletic event. It was a reward or an award for being victorious. And this is the word that's used when he talks about these crowns of gold that are on the heads of the 24 elders.

And so remember Jesus gave promises to the church, those that would overcome. And so these are the rewards that they're receiving. These crowns represent the reward that they've received. It's a representation of the victory that was accomplished in Jesus Christ by these 24 elders.

It's interesting to me that in Isaiah chapter 6, Ezekiel chapter 1, Ezekiel chapter 10, we have a very similar description of heaven and the throne room of God by Isaiah and Ezekiel. And you can look at those and there's lots of parallels, lots of comparison, the living creatures, the colors, so on and so forth. But the passages in Isaiah and Ezekiel do not include the 24 elders, right?

Why? Well, because they weren't there yet. Where is this happening? This is happening after verses 1 and 2 where the church is raptured and caught up to be in the presence of God. And so here they are because the church is now in heaven. The church is out of the earth, out of the world, and now is in the presence of God. And so now we see these 24 elders in the throne room.

of God, representing the church there in the presence of God. And so this is where we are. This is what's in store for us. This is what God has for us. We will be in the presence of God and we will be part of his eternal plan. You know, sometimes when we talk about heaven or think about heaven, you know, maybe you've had the thought, well, that sounds kind of boring, you know, like

Worshipping God, okay, that's cool, I enjoy that. But, you know, after 10,000 years, it might get kind of boring. You know, I might have said all those words one too many times. And will that really be that exciting? You know, after eternity, that's a long time. And we can kind of think, what are we going to do? Sit around on clouds and twiddle our thumbs and play harps? And, you know, what's really going to be happening? Well, understand, as the elders are there in the presence of God, we're not just sitting around and waiting forever. We're part of God's eternal presence.

eternal plan. Now think about it this way. In this life, we have much joy, right? There's lots of things that are just incredible. Those of you with children, I mean, you know, the joy that you find our grandchildren, the joy that's there. There's things in life that are meaningful, that are worthwhile, that just mean the world to you and have such significance. Don't think for a

We will be part of things that have significance, that are worthwhile, that are meaningful, that have joy. There's going to be so much in store for us in eternity. It's not going to be less than this life. This life is a small little sample preview of what God has in store for us without the pain and without all the effects of sin. He's got incredible things in store for us.

Consider the promises that Jesus gave to the seven churches that we looked at for the past few weeks. He promised to each one that if they overcame, there would be some type of reward. And that reward was always something relating to eternity. In Revelation 2, verse 7, he says that the one who overcomes will eat from the tree of life.

And so we know as a part of eternity, we will be able to eat from the tree of life. We will have everlasting life. That we will have life eternal and life abundant. Our life is going to be awesomely overflowing, more than we can imagine. In Revelation chapter 2 verse 11, he tells us that the one who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.

We will not be hurt by the second death. That's the judgment that's referred to at the end of Revelation where those who have not believed in God are cast into the lake of fire. And so not only do we have life, but we will not be judged for our sin. We will not be judged for the things that we have done against God. In Revelation 2, verse 17, he tells us that the one who overcomes will be able to eat of the hidden manna and will receive a white stone and a new name.

Now this speaks to us of the hidden things in God. There's amazing things that God is going to reveal to us of Himself. We're going to get to be a part of Jesus and His eternal work. Not only that, but He has some new things in store for us. A white stone which is referencing our acceptance. We'll be accepted into the presence of God and we'll have a new name, a new character, a new work that God's going to be doing in us.

He's not going to do away with our personalities. It's not like we're going to be all the things that we've done on earth and everything that we are is just going to be no more. He's going to use who we are and who He's created us to be as part of a new work that He will be accomplishing in heaven.

In Revelation 2.26, He tells us that those who overcome will have power over the nations. There's going to be authority. There's going to be responsibility. What are the nations? What kind of responsibilities? What are the authorities? We don't know any of that. But what we do know is that those who overcome will have power over the nations. Again, God has things in store for us that we don't even know a hint about. We can't even begin to imagine. But it's going to be worthwhile. It's going to be meaningful.

Those who overcome will have power over the nations. Revelation 3.5, he says, those who overcome will be clothed in white and will have their name confessed before the Father. Again, clothed in white, speaking of the righteousness of Christ. But not only that, but our names will be confessed before the Father. We will be presented to the Father. We'll have access to God the Father. We'll be in His presence. We'll get to be with God.

Revelation 3.12, he tells us those who overcome will be a pillar in the temple of God. And God will write on us his name and the name of the city of God and Jesus' name as well. Again, we're going to be a pillar of God's temple. Again, a part of his work, a part of his plan. Substance. There's going to be a substantial part of who we are. We'll be part of what God is doing for the rest of eternity. He has some amazing things in store for us.

And finally, in Revelation 3.21, he says, To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne. We will be granted to sit with Jesus on his throne. Remember what Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4? We'll be caught up to be with the Lord and then we will be forever with the Lord. When he's on his throne, we're there with him. We're in his presence. We'll always be with Jesus. Heaven is going to be beyond our wildest dreams.

Our lives here have meaning. There's things that are worthwhile. There's things that bring us joy. Heaven will be much more so. Worthwhile, meaningful, and joyful. Verse 5, And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

And so as he goes on to describe this scene, now he says, from the throne, notice again, it's centering around the throne. And from the throne are coming lightnings and thunderings and voices. And so he's seeing God, he's seeing this brilliant light, these brilliant colors, these 24 elders. And then now there's these flashings of lightnings, this deep rumbling of thunder, these voices that are going on. And then in front of the throne, he sees seven lamps that are burning with fire.

The seven lamps, he says, are a reference to the Holy Spirit. Now, not seven different Holy Spirits, but the complete working of the Holy Spirit. And we talked about that and dealt with that back in Revelation chapter 1 verse 4. And for lack of time, I'd refer you back to that study to look more into the seven Spirits of God and how that represents the Holy Spirit.

But he sees these seven flames of God representing the Holy Spirit. And so you have this incredible scene. There's this noise. There's this light. There's this color that's going on. And there he is in the presence of God. In verse 6 he says, Before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.

And so also, again in relationship to the throne, right in front of the throne, before the throne, was this sea of glass like crystal. Kind of reminds us, perhaps if you're thinking about the Old Testament, the tabernacle or the temple, and they had the laver that would be right out in front of the temple where the priests would wash themselves, this

The sea, as it was referred to, here in front of the presence of God is the sea of glass like crystal. Now, it's not like a sea where you would wash yourself because we're cleansed. We're in white robes already. But it's this sea that represents for us or that is presented to us by the laver or the sea of the tabernacle and the temple. But also there in the midst of the throne and around the throne, he says, are four living creatures.

Now, these four living creatures are pretty interesting. We see them several times throughout the scriptures. Again, Isaiah has a vision of the throne room of God in Isaiah chapter 6, and he describes these living creatures and he attributes to them the name of seraphim.

Ezekiel has a similar vision as he sees the throne of God and he describes similar, you know, same characteristics. He describes and names them as cherubim there in Ezekiel chapter 1 and Ezekiel chapter 10. And so every time we see that the heavenly scene and the throne room of God, we see these living creatures, although they're called different things by Ezekiel and Isaiah, but

It's the same description as you compare. And so these are angelic beings that are there in the presence of God. Probably the highest order of angelic beings because they're the ones that are closest to God right there in His presence, right in the midst of the throne. And again, you see here how everything is centered around the throne. That...

The Father is on the throne. That before the throne is the Holy Spirit and the sea of glass. From the throne are coming lightnings and thunderings and voices. All around the throne is this emerald rainbow and the 24 elders as well as the four living creatures. Everything is described in its relationship to the throne.

And that is what makes heaven awesome. Everything is going to be about God because He's amazing and He is worthy of everything to center around Him. And so heaven will be centered around the throne, something we should consider in our lives today to center our lives around the throne of God. Well, the third point that I'll highlight for you this morning is that heaven is full of worship. Look at verse 7.

He says, the first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. Verse 8, the four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within, and they do not rest day or night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And so as he's describing the scene and the living creatures,

He describes each one individually and again he uses the word like. This is not an exact representation of what was going on or what he saw but similar to this. So the living creature, one of them was like a lion or had a face like a lion. The second one was like a calf or like an ox.

The third one was like a man or had the face like a man. And then the fourth one was like a flying eagle. And so it kind of gives us, you know, a little bit of a visual, gives us a little bit of a picture. Again, this parallels with what we see in Ezekiel chapter 1 and chapter 10.

There's also some interesting parallels with each of these types of living creatures and the Gospels, the four Gospels, and you can relate them to the four living creatures. And then also back in the Old Testament when the children of Israel were camped around the tabernacle where the presence of God was,

They were camped under certain banners of certain tribes. And it's interesting that according to Jewish history, Jewish records, that the four banners that they were camped around on the four different sides of the tabernacle matched this, the lion, the calf, the man, and the eagle. They were camped under those banners on all four sides of

of the tabernacle in the wilderness. And so there's a lot of parallels here and there's a lot of things that we don't fully understand but they're woven throughout and I think when we get there we'll understand, we'll be like, oh, that's what John was talking about. Wow, that's amazing. And so there's these four living creatures...

Kind of strange for us to picture. We don't quite get it. But what are they there for? What do they do? Well, apparently they're there and they exist solely to worship God. Because he tells us in verse 8, they do not rest night or day. And what do they do? Day and night? Not resting? They proclaim the holiness of God saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Picture that for a moment.

They don't rest day or night. Continually, repeatedly, they are proclaiming, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. God is worthy of continual worship and praise. He is worthy because He is holy, because He is Lord God Almighty, because He was and is and is to come.

He is the everlasting God. Here we see a reference to the triune nature of God because He says, Holy, Holy, Holy. A reference to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. They're holy because they are God. But also, it speaks to us about the absolute holiness of God. It's repeated three times to amplify, to emphasize He is holy. Now the word holy means to be set apart.

And the idea here is that God is set apart, not just that He doesn't sin, that's not the extent of holiness, but that He is far beyond everything else. There's nothing that compares to Him. You know, we try to picture God, we try to imagine God, we try to get to know God, and we have, you know, some type of concept about God. But the fact that He is holy...

The fact that He is set apart means that what we can grasp of God is not even close to the fullness of who He is. That He is so far beyond what we could picture or what we could think or what we could know.

Because He's nothing we know. We base what we know upon God on what He reveals to us and what we know and what we learn from the world around us and from each other. And we're kind of like, oh yeah, God's probably like Carlos. He likes to drink coffee and that kind of thing. We base our understanding of God upon what we know. But He is set apart. He's far beyond what we know. We think we know a little bit about love and God's love, but

But He's holy. He's set apart. He does not love like any other love that we could know or imagine. We think we know about His character, but that's based upon what we understand here in this life. But God is set apart. He is far beyond, when we think about His goodness, far beyond what we know and understand to be goodness. He's far greater than we could imagine. And so He's holy, holy, holy,

Far above. You remember God said, His ways are higher than our ways, as high as the heavens are above the earth. Infinitely, right? That's how far set apart He is. He's not just a little bit set apart. We can kind of look across the chasm and say, Oh, I see. I understand God. No. He's infinitely superior to us. Far beyond what we know. Far beyond what we can understand. He is set apart. Completely unlike anything else.

Not only that, but He's Lord God Almighty. He has all power. He has all authority. He reigns on high. And He's eternally existent. He was and is and is to come. Speaks of the eternal nature of God that He is the Creator. He really is the center of the universe. The center of all existence. And so these angels don't rest night or day because He's worthy of this constant praise and adoration.

Verse 9, he goes on to say,

You see, heaven is full of worship. Not only are there these four living creatures who are saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. But as they worship God, as they declare His holiness, as they give Him glory and honor and thanks, it tells us in verse 9, then the 24 elders, again, that's representing us, that's the church, we fall down before Him who sits on the throne.

We fall down before God and worship Him. Not only do we fall down on the ground and worship Him, but we take off our crowns and we cast them before the throne. Why? Because He is worthy. You see, the angels are there proclaiming God's holiness. They're worshiping Him. And then we join in worshiping Him by giving back to Him the reward that He has given to us. Again, this crown is the crown of victory.

God gives us a crown of victory for overcoming as He promised. But as we worship God, as we're there in His presence, you know what we realize? We realize that

I don't deserve this. It's not because I'm great that I'm here. It's not because I'm so wonderful that I was victorious. God, you made me victorious. And you accomplished it there at the cross. And you filled me with your spirit to accomplish your work. These are your rewards, God. This is what you've done. I'm the product of your work. Not the other way around. I don't deserve this crown. And so they cast their crowns before the throne because we recognize at that point, we realize, we understand that

It's not about us. We're not worthy. He is worthy. And so that's why the 24 elders, we the church, we cry out there in verse 11, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For You created all things and by Your will they exist and were created. So we cry out to the Lord because He's worthy. Because He's worthy. We call out to Him. We cry out to Him. We worship Him. And we cast our crowns before Him.

Why? Well, because He created all things. He's the Creator. You know, you exist because God wills you to exist. He created you. That's enough to worship Him for the rest of eternity. Because we exist because of Him. You know, in heaven, we will still exist because of Him. We will not be self-sufficient. Okay, we don't need God anymore. No. We will always exist because He wills us to exist. He's worthy of our praise.

He gives us life. He holds us together. He is worthy. The song they sing is, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. How do you give God glory? How can God receive glory? When God's almighty and He's on the throne. Consider, when God created us, He gave us free will. He gave us the power of choice. He gave us a piece of His glory.

He gave us and gifted us with abilities and talents. How do we give God glory? By laying down our own glory. We can't add to His glory. He's already got it all. But what we can do is we can take the glory that He's given to us and we can cast our crown before the throne. We can lay ourselves down and recognize, Lord, it's You. You've done it. We humble ourselves before Him.

in order for Him to receive glory. How do we give God honor? Again, by laying down our own. This is applicable not just for eternity, but for right now. How do you give God glory and honor in your life? Listen, don't take the credit for your life. Don't take the credit for what God does in your life. Don't take the credit for your accomplishments or your talents or your abilities or how wonderful you are. Lay yourself down. Give Him honor and glory and power.

How do we give God power when He's all-powerful? Well, listen, He's granted to you a piece of authority, even if that authority only extends to your own self. He's given you authority over yourself. You give God power. He receives power when you give your power to Him, when you surrender to Him, when you lay down yourself at His feet in submission to Him.

And so that's what we're going to do and that's what we need to be doing right now. Surrendering to Him. Obeying Him. Because He is worthy. He is worthy. You know, God created us. We belong to Him. We are His. And maybe you don't like that. Maybe that's not very exciting to you. Maybe that's not something that you take pleasure in. But it's the truth. And whether you like it or not, God is your creator and you exist for His will. I exist for His pleasure.

And I will never, ever be satisfied until I come to grips with that and surrender to Him and follow Him with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength. Because that's what I was created for. And that's what you were created for. And as we look forward into heaven, as we look forward to eternity, that's what it's going to be, a full realization and understanding that He is worthy. And so we're going to be worshipping Him. And sometimes you might think, you know, again, well, that just sounds like

I'm just going to be seeing that over and over and over again. That doesn't sound like much of eternity. I'd rather be partying with my friends in hell. First of all, you won't be partying with anybody if you're in hell. That's torment. That's terrible. You don't want to go there. But secondly, I relate to it this way, and maybe I'm the only one, but I'll try to share that with you anyways. You know, last week we were at the beach for the baptisms, and we had a bonfire, and there's something about a bonfire at the beach that just captivates me. It's like,

having the wind and the waves in the background, and I just get zoned in on the fire that's going on. I just, I can't look away from it. I kind of felt bad. People were coming up next to me and wanted to talk and stuff, and I'm just like, trying to pay attention, trying to be good, but I'm just captivated by this fire, and I just can't look away. It's just, it captivates me. And it doesn't matter how many times I've seen a bonfire at the beach. I mean, how many times have we been there? How many times have we done it? Over and over and over. But every time it's like...

In the same way, maybe not in the same way, in a similar way, we're going to come back over and over again, overwhelmed with amazement at God's worthiness, at God's goodness, at His mercy, at His graciousness. We're going to be amazed and blown away continually for the rest of eternity because that's how good God is and that's how amazing He is to us. And so it doesn't matter how many times we sing that song, it's not going to be enough.

We're going to be overwhelmed with a desire. It's not going to be like, sing it again. We're like, okay, I'll sing it again. We're going to be overwhelmed like we can't contain it. Wow, God, you are worthy. You're amazing. You're our creator. And we love you. That's what heaven's going to be like. And you know, it's a perfect time for us, a great time for us to partake of communion together as we consider these things. Because what makes it all possible is

is what Jesus Christ did for us upon the cross. The worship team is going to come up and prepare. The ushers are going to get ready. As they do, would you consider that for a moment? Jesus gave us communion as a reminder of what he accomplished for us. He gave us the cup which represents his blood that was shed that our sins could be forgiven, that we would not receive the judgment that's due to us.

He also gave us the bread as a reminder, as a symbol of His body that was broken, representing to us that the power of sin and the power of death has been broken and that we can live eternally with God. He gave us these things as reminders because He wants us to remember what He did for us and that it's only possible by faith in Him. We saw in the beginning that the door into heaven was open.

And that door is Jesus Christ. In John chapter 10 verse 9, Jesus says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and he will go out and in and find pasture. Jesus says, I'm the door. I'm the way, the truth and the life. I'm your entrance into eternity. And so as we come together for communion this morning, it's a great opportunity for us.

to remember who He is and what He's done for us and why He's worthy and why we have this hope of heaven. It's because of what He accomplished for us there at the cross. This morning as we prepare to partake, if you are with us, if you're listening to this and you do not have that hope of heaven, if you have not made Jesus Christ your Savior and Lord, if you've never been born again,

That door to heaven is not open because the only way to enter in is through Jesus Christ. And so I want to give you that opportunity this morning to enter in through Jesus, to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, to turn from your sin and to follow Him by believing in the work that He accomplished for us and paying the price for my sin and your sin there upon the cross.

And if that's you, if you want to make that profession of faith, if you want to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, whether it's for the first time or maybe you've walked away and you're coming back to Him, then what I would encourage you to do is as they pass out the bread and the cup, you take a portion as well.

Now if that's not your heart, if that's not your desire, don't partake. Paul tells us to partake in that way is to partake judgment to ourselves because we recognize what Jesus did but we reject it and we say, I don't want no part of that.

So don't partake if that's not your heart. But if that's your heart, if that's your desire, then I invite you, I encourage you, let's partake together. Let's remember what Jesus Christ did for us and let's receive the finished work upon the cross and the hope of eternity that He has set before us. We're going to be worshipping Him forever. So let's practice right now, okay? Let's worship the Lord together. As they pass out the bread and the cup, hold your portions, we'll partake together at the end of the psalm.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.