REVELATION 4-5 REVELATION REFRESHER SERIES PART 22021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 4-5 Revelation Refresher Series Part 2

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 2021.

Well, as we work our way through the Revelation Refresher series, we want to give opportunity for there to be some questions asked and answers given. And we're not really sure if there's going to be questions or if there's going to be answers either. But starting out tonight, we did have one question come in this week, and it was from this guy, Richard Dominguez.

And I don't know much about him except for I hear that he's a really good-looking guy, all the way from Corona, California. And so he asked the question, are the angels of the seven churches actually angelic beings or human leaders?

And so the question relates to Revelation chapter 1 through 3 as Jesus addresses the seven churches and he writes to the angel of the church. He addresses the angel of the churches in Revelation.

chapter 1, verse 20, he talks about the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and then he addresses each church individually in chapters 2 and 3. And so the question is, what does that mean? What is the Lord talking about there as he refers to angels? And the two options that you mentioned, Rick, are the two main views on this subject. And

The first view is that there are angelic beings that essentially are assigned to each church. Of these seven churches, and perhaps to every church that exists throughout history, is the idea and the concept similar to the idea of a guardian angel for a person.

And so perhaps there is a guardian angel for a church. And so that is one perspective, that it is an actual angelic being, like you might think of the angel Gabriel or what you might typically understand as an angel. The second view, though, is that the angels here are not meant to be literal supernatural angels, but instead is referring to a human leader or the pastor of the church, the pastor of each church.

Now, this is one of those things, and we see this a lot in the book of Revelation, where we have a lot of information and we can come to conclusions, but a lot of times the scripture itself does not actually declare or define precisely what these things are. And so here in Revelation, it doesn't further explain what Jesus intended as he addresses the angel of each church. And so it leaves room for discussion. It

It leaves room for differing opinions about it, and that's okay. And we can have different ideas in approaching this thing. Now, the word angel literally just means messenger. And so it could be applied to humans, or it could be applied to angelic beings as we would typically think of them.

My personal take on this is that these angels are the pastors of the church or the primary leader of the church. And that's the person that God is addressing to communicate his message to the church. If you think about the, you know, the idea here, as he addresses the angel of the church of Ephesus in chapter two, verse one, there's a message that the Lord is communicating to this angel, which is addressing the church.

And so following the next step, well, how would the church receive that message if the Lord is addressing it to the angel?

And if John is the one who's going to be delivering this message, Jesus instructs him to write these things down so that he can send it to the churches, then how is John delivering this message to that angelic being? And then on the other side of that, how would that angelic being be communicating that message to the church? As you look through the New Testament, there is no instruction for us as a church to hear from or to seek out messages from angels.

And so it just doesn't really fit with the narrative and the context of the New Testament for this to be referring to angelic beings. At least that's my perspective. But the leaders of the church or the primary leader of the church fits perfectly. And we see that instruction given throughout the scripture that there are to be those who are in the church who are ordained and established to be able to communicate the message of the Lord to the church.

And so it fits perfectly with that concept and what we do see taught throughout the New Testament. And so in my perspective, it seems to make the most sense to understand this as the leader of the church that Jesus is addressing. A quick example, if you want to look at it with the word for angel, angel.

used to refer to a human messenger, you can look up Luke chapter 7 verse 24. And it's the occasion where John the Baptist was in prison and he sends a few of his guys to Jesus to ask him if he's the one that they're waiting for or if they should wait for another. And as Jesus answers them, he sends them away. And it tells us in Luke 7 24, when the messengers of John had departed. And that word messengers is the word angel.

It's the word translated angel. And so these were not supernatural beings like the angel Gabriel. These were human messengers from John the Baptist, but it's the word that would be used for that type of role. And so the messenger to the church seems to best fit the human leader that God has raised up.

and anointed and gifted to be able to communicate his message to the church. And so there's my two cents on that. And if you want to think about it some more, you can explore that. And if you want to talk about it some more, we can talk about it as well.

Well, we're going to move on now to Revelation chapter 4 and 5 for our study tonight. And so let's begin, first of all, by reading just the first few verses of chapter 4. Revelation chapter 4 verse 1 says, After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.

Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. 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.

Here as we head into chapter 4, it's a real departure from what we saw in the first three chapters. As we spent a lot of time last week in chapters 2 and 3 in the letters to the churches, now moving into chapter 4 verse 1, we can see there's a transition that's happening. And John here is being transported into heaven. And as he enters into the throne room of God, he enters into that heavenly scene where

it must have been incredible for him to behold. Now he does the best that he can to describe it. And he uses a lot of colors. He uses different gems. He uses different things to try to illustrate and communicate what it is that he's seeing. But of course, it's limited to his vocabulary. It's limited to our language. And it's not exactly the things that

he's not able to describe it precisely and exactly the way that he saw it. It's kind of like if you were to take a picture of a beautiful place, and then you take that picture back, and you're trying to tell your friends and family, you know, about this place and how amazing it was, and so you're showing them the picture. But as you do that, you're realizing, man, the picture just doesn't do it justice. It

I mean, it captures it somewhat, but it's not the full experience. And you're trying to communicate that to your friends and family. In a similar way, John is seeking to kind of capture this vision that the Lord is giving him. And it's limited to his ability to communicate it. And so he's doing his best. And so we're trying to catch a glimpse of the heavenly scene here and the throne room of God along with John the Apostle.

Now, verse 1 starts out saying, after these things. And it clues us in, it cues us again to go back to Revelation chapter 1, verse 19, which has for us an outline of the book of Revelation. In Revelation 1.19, Jesus says, "...write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this."

And so here we have this threefold outline of the book of Revelation, the things which you have seen, and that points to Revelation chapter 1 and John's vision of Jesus. The things which are points us to chapters 2 and 3 and the letters to the seven churches, the things that are present now in the church age. But then there's the future things. And as we study these things tonight, these are the things that are still yet future for us.

the things that will take place after this or after these things. And this same word is used now in chapter 4 verse 1 twice. It's after these things he looked and then the Lord tells him, I'm going to show you the things which must take place after this. And so repeating it twice here in this verse to give us that clear indication. Now we're moving forward into future events. And

And so John is not only transported into heaven at this point, but he's transported into the future. And he's going to get a glimpse of the things that are on the agenda for the Lord, the prophetic elements that are still to come, even as we study these things tonight. Now, because of that, because we're now in heaven, because we're now in the future, because, you know, we're looking at this prophetic book, there's going to be in the

in the weeks to come. Lots of pictures, symbols, shadows, all of these things that are representative of actual events and real things, but also, as I was sharing a moment ago, not precisely exactly what things are, but the shadow, the form of those things. And so, again, there's going to be many opportunities

opportunities for there to be discussion about different ideas in some of these things. And so you'll probably hear me say things like, so it seems that, you know, or it appears to me, and there'll be a lot of times where I'll be sharing my personal perspective about these things more so than I usually would in the scriptures, because I much rather point to a verse and say this is exactly what it is

But there are also those occasions in scripture where we have to take the information the Lord has given to us and use our best judgment to understand what is going on. Now, there's a lot of opportunity for us to perhaps have different opinions and discuss these things. But I would remind us that it's important that most of these things are not things worth dividing over. And we don't have to be upset with each other. We don't have to win an argument. We don't have to convince everybody our perspective is right. But

We can have fellowship and understand these things from different angles and perspectives as we consider it from each other's view. And so some interesting things to look at, again, tonight as well as in the chapters to come. Well, so we're going to look at chapter 4 and 5 tonight. Here's the outline now for Revelation chapter 4. The key verse of the chapter is verse 1. After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven."

And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this. And so this is John now hearing the voice of the Lord, and he's going to be in the presence of the Lord for the remainder of this vision as the Lord unfolds the mystery of what is to come for him.

Looking at the outline, we see verses 1 through 3, behold, a throne in heaven and one sat on the throne. Then in verses 4 and 5, around the throne were 24 thrones and 24 elders on those thrones. In verse 6 through 8, he also saw four living creatures. And then in verses 9 through 11, we see the 24 elders worship him who lives forever and ever.

Now we're going to dive into some of the things that are happening here in chapter 4 in a moment, but I think it's appropriate at this point to take a few moments and talk about the rapture of the church here as we begin Revelation chapter 4.

The rapture of the church is an event that's taught in the scripture. It's a future event where the church will be supernaturally removed from the earth, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and then to always be with the Lord from there on out. Two primary passages, if you want to do some reading about this and consider it, you can take a good look at 1 Thessalonians 4.

as well as 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Now, we're not going to try to go through and prove the rapture and get into all of those details, but I think it's appropriate to consider here because it looks like verse 1 really gives us a time frame for the rapture of the church and gives us some perspective on when that takes place. Again, in verse 1, he says, "...after these things, immediately following the addressing of the churches."

The seven churches in chapters 2 and 3, as we talked about last week, refer to these literal seven churches that existed in John's day. But also there's the possibility that these seven churches really represent the church as a whole worldwide and throughout history. And there is what is described as or defined as the church age, which is the time where God is primarily working to reach the earth through the church.

And originally God's plan was for the nation of Israel to be his representative to the world. But that was paused when Jesus came because they rejected Jesus. And so believers in Jesus now are the representatives of the Lord to the world.

But then there will be a resuming of the Lord working in the nation of Israel. And this is all referring to the 70 weeks of Daniel from Daniel chapter 9. Another passage that we're not going to get into detail about tonight.

But you can check that out and see those 70 weeks of Daniel. 69 of those seven-year periods have been fulfilled. There's one more seven-year period that has yet to be fulfilled. And so when the church age comes to an end, then there will come this final week of Daniel, the 70th week of Daniel, and the Lord will unfold all of his plans for the nation in that time.

And so the conclusion of the church age really fits well with the end of chapter 3. As the Lord has done all of his addressing to the churches there, and then now after this, John enters into the throne room of heaven. It's interesting to compare 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and Revelation chapter 4 in some of the similarities that we're looking at.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, it tells us 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. 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.

And as you look at the concepts and some of the elements of that passage and the things that are described, there's perhaps some parallels there in Revelation 4, verses 1 and 2. The voice...

Found in both passages, the trumpet found in both passages, the idea of going up is found in both passages, and then being in the presence of the Lord is found in both passages. And so perhaps the Lord is giving us a hint here and showing us a good indication of where the rapture of the church fits into the book of

Revelation. The church age is complete, and so then the rapture takes place, the church is in heaven, and now the rest of the events are about to be taking place and unfolding before John's eyes or before the church's eyes. Now we talked about this a little bit last week as we looked at the church age and all of these different letters that Jesus was writing to the different churches. And

And I'm not going to get into and rehash those things. So if you missed it,

We have the teaching available on the website, and you can go back and get into those things. We also have, even further back, back in 2010 and 2011, we went through, like, in-depth all of these letters to the seven churches, and so you can find those. And then also, I just noticed that Pastor Aaron Eichelberger of Calvary Leander, a good friend of ours, one who was sent out of our fellowship there in Texas, was

He's working his way through the book of Revelation right now. I think he's like three or four teachings into it, and he's going through the letters one at a time as well. So I would encourage you to check those out if you want to dig in more deeply. But looking at the time frame, and again, looking at these letters to the churches as perhaps an overview of all of church history, including up to the future end of the church age at the rapture of the church or the tribulation period,

The last four letters to these churches kind of indicate, and there's some, you know, things here that are not exactly clear, and so again, this is some possible things, but it seems to indicate that these last four churches exist up into the tribulation period. And so I wanted to share with you briefly a

the verses which seem to indicate that. So first of all, the church of Thyatira in Revelation chapter 2 verse 22, Jesus gives the church a strong warning and he says, And so writing to this church, Jesus says,

Unless you repent, unless you turn back, there will be the entering into great tribulation. Perhaps a hint there of the tribulation period and a church that, if it does not repent, will experience the full tribulation. Well, then the next church is, what is it? Sardis. In Revelation 3, verse 3 says,

Writing to that church, Jesus says, Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.

Now, this idea of coming upon them as a thief is one that is used often of the return of the Lord and the rapture of the church. 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul talks about the Lord coming as a thief in the night. Jesus talks about coming as a thief in the night, and there's some discussion about whether that's referring

referring to the rapture or the second coming. But again, it seems to indicate that surprise. And so it would indicate the rapture of the church more than the second coming. And so you can play around with those thoughts in your head if you'd like to. Moving on to chapter 3, verse 10 now, as Jesus writes to the church of Philadelphia,

And so here Jesus describes an hour of trial that the whole world will experience, but the church of Philadelphia, the faithful church, they will not experience it because they have been faithful. And so here Jesus describes an hour of trial that the whole world will experience, but the church of Philadelphia, the faithful church, they will not experience it because they have been faithful. And so here Jesus describes an hour of trial that the whole world will experience,

And so God will keep them from it. He will preserve them. He will remove them from this hour of trial that will come upon the whole earth. And so many would refer to the Church of Philadelphia as the raptured church because they are kept from the trial that will come upon the whole earth.

Well, the final letter to Laodicea, Jesus writes to them in Revelation 3, verse 16, so then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Now that one's not as clear as some of the others as far as referencing the rapture of the church, but it definitely fits

in that idea of, you know, here comes the rapture, but this church, because of their condition and their heart, they're not included in that. And so they would enter into the tribulation period because they're neither cold nor hot. And so Jesus says he'll vomit them out of his mouth. And so some interesting things to consider and some important things to consider because, well, as the church, right, we want to be

included in the rapture of the church, but here is four letters to four churches from Jesus and, you know,

three out of four aren't included in the rapture, and one of them is. Now, he also refers to, in writing to the churches, individuals in the midst of churches that would overcome and would receive the reward and blessing. So it's not that 75% of churches or Christians are not going to be raptured. That's not the picture. But the point is that there is a need for us to be faithful to the Lord and be ready for His return.

Now, along with that, I think there's some important things to consider when you think about the timing of the rapture. And so I'm going to share briefly some reasons to believe that the rapture happens before the tribulation. And again, I'm not going to get into all of the details here, but giving you some of the information so that you can dive into these things on your own and perhaps understand these things a little bit better.

So the first reason to believe that the rapture happens before the tribulation is one thing that we just looked at in Revelation 3, verse 10, where the Lord promised Philadelphia that they wouldn't experience the trial that the rest of the world would experience. And so looking at the rapture as the catching up

of the Lord as the escape from that trial and then the tribulation period will take place there upon the earth. It fits the pattern and example that we see we just read from Noah in the book of Genesis and many other examples that we could consider as well. And so it's consistent with the way that God has worked and the promise to escape.

Well, the after this, I mentioned that in Revelation 4, verse 1. Mentioned twice here in verse 1 to highlight that, to catch our mind on it, and to understand these aren't the things that are, but these are the things that will take place after the writings to the churches are complete. Another reason to consider is that

We find the church mentioned in chapters 4 and 5. We'll talk about that tonight. And then in verse 19. But during the tribulation period, chapters 6 through 18, the church is not mentioned at all throughout the book of Revelation.

Now, if you were to take any one of these things by itself, it would not be, you know, a strong case for the idea that the rapture happens before the tribulation period. But as you look at the whole counsel of the scriptures, then it builds this case and it gives us this truth that we can rest upon. Moving on, the fourth thing is that there is no specific time for the rapture of the church.

Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5, no one knows the day or the hour. And as the world cries out peace and safety, then suddenly destruction will come upon them. And so he says, you have no need that I should write to you about times and seasons because nobody knows the day or the hour. It comes as a thief in the night.

And that's significant because as we enter into the tribulation period, specific time frames are set and specific counts of days are set. It's a seven-year period. And so there's certain events that are going to happen exactly at the end of the seven years. And that would not be the case. It would not adequately describe the rapture if those time frames are in place because then we would know the day and the hour.

Well, another look at Thessalonians, and we see here number five, is that we are not appointed to wrath. 1 Thessalonians 5.9 tells us that God did not appoint us to wrath. And that's significant because the tribulation period is a time of wrath. The wrath of God, the wrath of the Lamb. We'll see that clearly in Revelation 6.

We also see, Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5.11, The rapture of the church and those things, Paul says, that's something to use to bring comfort to each other.

Now, if the rapture of the church happens at the end of the tribulation, and so, you know, take heart, we just have to suffer more than the world has ever suffered before, you know, and then we'll be raptured, then, you know, that's a different kind of message and not quite the comfort that perhaps we would want to receive. And so comforting one another hints at and speaks to the rapture of the church taking place before the tribulation period. Well, then you have the departure in 2 Thessalonians 2.

Many people throughout time, throughout history have looked at this and considered it and understood Paul talking about an apostasy, a falling away from the faith.

But as you look at 2 Thessalonians 2, there is instead an alternate understanding where it is a clear reference to the rapture. Unless the departure comes first.

And then the man of sin is revealed, and then the son of perdition comes on the scene. Now, I've taught through this before, and so you can look that up if you want to dive deeper into that. Pastor Brian Broderson has some good teachings on this as well. 2 Thessalonians 2, considering the departure as opposed to the apostasy.

Well, the final thing is from Jesus in Luke chapter 21, verse 36. He says, watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

Jesus encouraged us to pray that we would be counted worthy to escape. As he talked about those future events and the judgment that would come, he says to his followers, hey, pray that you would be counted worthy to escape, that you would not enter into those things and experience those things, but instead that you would escape or be raptured before the tribulation happens. So some good things to consider. Again, the

these are things that we can discuss and think about and take courage in and study, but also things that we can have different opinions on. And that's okay. And that's no problem. And if you want to talk more about that, I'd love to have that conversation with you as well. All right. So going back to Revelation chapter 4 now. I know I spent a lot of time in that, but these are some important things for us to consider.

The first three verses, we're looking at the throne in heaven, and then the one who sits on the throne. There's this transition now where John is

on Patmos, and remember Jesus sneaks up behind him and scares him, right? Well, now he's now caught up into heaven, and there he's in the presence of the Father as the King of kings and Lord of lords, the creator of the heavens and the earth, sits upon that heavenly throne.

And as you look at this scene, you can see that heaven is centered around the throne. All these different elements that are described here in this chapter are described in relationship to where it is in relationship to the throne.

And so it's centered around the throne. It's mentioned 12 times here in Revelation chapter four, talking about the throne of God. Heaven will be all about God. He will be the center of it, the core of it, and that's what's going to make heaven, heaven. Not the clouds, not the harps, not even the family members that we'll be reunited with. The thing that will make heaven, heaven is

is God, and it will be centered around him. The description in verse 3 is good. It says, he who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone. Now, a jasper describes a stone that is clear as crystal, and so maybe you would describe that as a diamond or something like that. And then a sardius stone is a deep, deep red. And so here is the one on the throne, like, notice the word like,

So he's trying to be descriptive, trying to help us visualize what he's seeing, but he's not able to precisely declare this vision of the Lord that he's seeing. So like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald. So he's doing the best that he can. He's not able to tell us exactly, but he gives us some visuals and some things to picture.

Now, I don't think that I'm, you know, very great at trying to paint a picture with my words. So I found this picture that someone made to kind of capture what perhaps this was like for John as he experienced it. And so you can see the picture.

The light, you can see the colors, the emerald rainbow. You can see the four living creatures and the 24 elders there. The flames of fire, then the presence of the throne. All of these things are elements that John is describing here. And hopefully that gives you like a little bit of a visual to picture and think about and consider these things.

Now there's a lot of similarities as you look at this to what Isaiah experienced and what Ezekiel experienced. In Isaiah chapter 6...

He sees the Lord high and lifted up. He sees the throne room of God. In Ezekiel chapter 1 and 10, he has a vision of the Lord. And there's a lot of similar parallels. And so if you're curious about the presence of the Lord in that way, you might want to check out those chapters and consider what those prophets experienced. But he goes on in verses 4 and 5 to say that around the throne were 24 thrones.

And so God is at the center, and then around him is another set of thrones, now 24 thrones, it says in verse 4. And on those thrones were 24 elders. They were clothed in white robes. They had crowns of gold on their heads. And this raises a question. Who are these 24 elders? Some look at this and understand them to be some type of particular angel, and

As I look at this chapter and the next chapter, I would not consider these to be angelic beings. It doesn't seem to fit some of the things that are described of them and some of the things that they're active in. And so most people believe that these 24 elders are the church, either representatives of the church or just a picture to say all of the church was there.

Others, one other opinion about this, would look at this and say it's not, I mean, it is the church, but it's a combination of the church and the Old Testament saints. And so you can think about the 12 tribes, right? And so there's 12 thrones and 12 elders from Israel, and then there's 12 thrones and 12 elders from the church, the believers in Jesus after the crucifixion and resurrection.

And so that last one is the one that I personally lean towards. This is a picture of all believers that are there in the presence of God and represented by these 24 elders.

That becomes more clear in Revelation chapter 5. And that is one thing to note, that a lot of times in the scriptures, God will introduce something without a lot of explanation, and then he'll explain it a little bit more in detail or give some more clues about the identity of, you know, who he's introducing or what he's introducing in the chapters to come. And so we'll see a little bit more about this in Revelation chapter 5 in these 24 elders.

Again, the most important part of heaven is that it centers around the throne. These 24 elders are circling the throne. And as we consider these things, as exciting as they are, the most important thing is that we will be with Jesus. We will be there in his presence in the throne room of God.

Well, also in this scene, in verses six through eight, John describes four living creatures. Look at verse six and seven. It says,

Now these four living creatures present some more discussion topics. There's a lot of ideas about these four living creatures, but they parallel what Ezekiel experienced and described as or referred to as the cherubim in Ezekiel chapter 1 and Ezekiel chapter 10.

Perhaps they also parallel what Isaiah experienced and described as seraphim in Isaiah chapter 6. And so cherubim, seraphim, sometimes people try to make really precise definitions of all the different angelic beings and orders. But I don't particularly do that because I don't think that we have enough information to really precisely detail all of those things.

But we can understand from this, these are angelic beings, probably the highest order of angelic beings, because these are those that are closest to God. And so they are in the very presence of God and continually in that position. Now, these four living creatures, John describes them as having faces of different kinds. One has the face of a lion.

One has the face of a calf, one has the face of a man, and the other has a face of an eagle.

And that's where it gets really interesting because there's some parallels to consider. Again, these same faces can be seen in the vision of Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 1 and Ezekiel chapter 10. And so you see those clear connections. But there's some possible parallels. And here we're entering into some things that are not exactly clear and precisely proven, but interesting to consider and entertain.

These four faces perhaps represent and speak of the four different gospels, or there's a relationship between these four faces and the four gospels.

It's often been noted over the years that the four Gospels, each one really has a particular emphasis of Jesus that is being presented throughout the writing. And so you look at Matthew and you can see the Messiahship of Jesus being presented as he presents Jesus as the Savior that has been promised, particularly to Jewish people.

As you look at the book of Mark, you can see that he wasn't really focused on establishing Jesus as the Messiah. He really presented Jesus more as a servant. He was more interested in communicating the things Jesus did and the work that he accomplished.

Luke, as you read through his gospel, you'll notice a lot of reference to the humanity of Jesus and some of the particular things about, you know, his body and his fleshly experience. Fleshly in a physical sense, not in a sinful sense. But his experience on earth as a human being is really highlighted and emphasized in Luke.

And then John, as you read through John, really focuses on the deity of Jesus and the fact that Jesus is God. And so those are things that can be observed and you can read through the gospels and see those things.

But as you compare these four gospels to these four living creatures, you could kind of line up some of these to each other. And so the lion of the tribe of Judah, a reference to Jesus as the Messiah. And so one of the faces is the face of a lion. And so perhaps there's a correlation there and a connection between those two.

The servant gospel, the gospel of Mark, really works well as the calf, as the beast of burden, the ox that would be part of the plowing and part of the work that would be going on. Of course, the humanity emphasized in Luke is well represented by the face of the man. And then the deity of Jesus represented by the eagle.

And some people go into a great explanation why that makes perfect sense. I could just say, well, okay, that's the last one and it fits. So that's good enough for me. You know, none of these things are, you know, our salvation is not dependent upon them. But they're interesting things, fascinating things to see that perhaps God has built into these accounts for us to consider. Another parallel that's similar is the tabernacle.

Back in the book of Numbers, it tells us that the children of Israel would camp and they would have their banners that would have an emblem on it. There was an emblem with a banner that would be for each tribe of Israel. And yet the tribes would also be gathered together. And so there would be groups of three tribes around each side of the tabernacle.

And so here's a quick look at what that might look like. And you might be familiar with this in considering the camp of the children of Israel, perhaps forming the shape of a cross because of the census that took place and the way that God describes them camping east and west and north and south of the tabernacle, that their position and their quantity would make up the form of a cross.

but each one would have a representative tribe that would camp immediately in front of the tabernacle.

and each one of these, of course, had emblems, and according to Jewish tradition, it lines up perfectly. Again, these things are not found in the scripture. We can't point to them and prove them precisely, but the tribe of Judah had a lion as its emblem. The tribe of Dan had an eagle as its emblem. The tribe of Ephraim had an ox or a calf as its emblem, and then the tribe of Reuben had a man as its emblem, and so...

Perhaps some interesting parallels to the throne room of God there in the camp of Israel, as well as the Gospels, as well as Revelation chapter 4, Ezekiel chapter 1, and Ezekiel chapter 10. Now, again, these things are fun to speculate about and to consider, important things to play around with in our minds, but the most important thing about these four living creatures is found in verse 8.

It says, They do not rest day or night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Their job, these four living creatures, are declaring the holiness of God continually. They're in awe of and speaking about and calling all creation to worship God who is holy, holy, holy, who was and

and is, and is to come. The eternal God, always existent, exists now, and will always exist. The eternality of God, the holiness of God, the all-powerfulness of God, the Lord God Almighty. Here these four living creatures are declaring the qualities of God, the holiness of God, the power of God, and the fact that he is eternal. And as these creatures are

and declaring these things, we'll see as we continue on in chapter five, all of heaven worship along with them. And so they're, in a sense, worship leaders. As we go on in verse nine through 11 here, as looking at these 24 elders, it says, whenever the, verse nine says, whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever.

And so as these four living creatures cry out, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Now the 24 elders bow down before him. And they cast their crowns, the crowns.

The worship group, you know, casting crowns. It gets that concept from here. It's the casting of the crowns before the Lord. And the reason is declared in verse 11. For you created all things. Here, these creatures are acknowledging that God is the creator and that he is the sustainer. By your will, they exist and were created. God created.

is the creator. Now, the more that we can believe and live according to these things right now, the more that we can worship God like this right now, the better off we will be. And that's one of the reasons why it's important to read through these things and understand them. This is the reality and this is the truth of who God is and the rightful place of all creation, including you and me.

for you and I to cast our crowns. That is to surrender ourselves completely and submit ourselves to the Lord. All of our victories, all of our pride, all of, you know, what we accomplish is not us accomplishing. It's him accomplishing things in us. And so we cast our crowns before him. We fall down before him and we say, you are worthy. I'm not worthy.

I'm not deserving of credit or praise, glory, honor, and power. You're the creator. You're the sustainer. God, you alone are worthy. And so that's what we see the scene unfold now in worship. And you're going to continue to see that worship very present now as we head into chapter 5 and look at the events continuing to unfold. Revelation chapter 5, now the key verse is verse 5.

But one of the elders said to me, do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. And so here we see in chapter five, a few things take place. In verses one through four, John says, I saw a scroll sealed with seven seals. And then in verses five through seven, he sees the lion of Judah that has prevailed to loose the seven seals.

And then in verses 8 through 14, we see many angels, the 24 elders, and the four living creatures all bow down together to worship him who lives forever. And so the first part here, verses 1 through 4, the scroll sealed with seven seals. Verse 1 says, Now this scroll with seven seals says,

Here's a graphic to kind of illustrate that for you, a scroll that has these wax seals that are sealed. This was a typical way for them to seal legal documents and keep them safe and preserved. And as you look at this, you can kind of imagine there in the throne room of God, in his hand is this scroll, probably much nicer, you know, less...

graphic-y and cartoony than this one, but there is this scroll that has these seals upon it. Now, as we fast forward into chapter 6, we're going to see the opening of the seals. And as each one is opened, then different types of judgment are happening upon the earth. And so there's some great significance to this scroll and the opening of these seven seals.

Again, it raises some questions about what exactly is happening here. What is this scroll? Some look at this and understand that it is a recording of all of these things that John is about to see in this vision. And so it's the unfolding of this that he is really recording in this scroll.

The typical viewpoint that you'll probably be most familiar with is that this scroll is a title deed to the earth or to the world. And there's some interesting things about that. We'll talk about that a little bit more in just a moment. But this call goes out in verse 2. A strong angel proclaims with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?

And it tells us clearly in verse 3, nobody in heaven, on earth, under the earth was able to open the scroll or to even look at it. And it causes John to weep. He doesn't tell us the significance of the scroll, but he at this point understands the significance of the scroll. And because no one is able to open it, he weeps, it says, much. He's really weeping profusely.

To a great degree now, they're in the presence of the Lord because nobody is found worthy to open the scroll or to look at it. Now, that fits really well with the idea that this scroll is a title deed of the earth. And it would help perhaps to understand a little bit of the ownership of the earth and the laws of redemption that God established in Leviticus chapter 25.

For the nation of Israel, God said, there's to be some built-in redemption rights to every real estate transaction. That the land was not to be sold permanently, but it was much more like a lease that was to happen. And there was always to be the opportunity for someone to purchase back the land that they had sold.

And so there was these laws, these rules that God built in so that if you became poor and had to sell your property, well, you would be able to do that and deal with your financial situation, but there would also be the opportunity to come back and reacquire that inheritance that you had received.

And if you were too poor to redeem the property at the end of the time or along the way, then God built into the law the opportunity for your near relative, your next of kin essentially, your kinsman redeemer is the biblical term for it. They would be able to come in and purchase that on your behalf and bring that property back into your family name and your family line.

Well, there's some parallels to those laws and to what took place with earth and this world since creation. Of course, God is the owner of creation in the sense that he created it. But we also see in Genesis chapter 1 that God gave the earth to mankind and he said, have dominion over it. But then there was the issue of sin and man enslaved himself.

Paul tells us in Romans 6, verse 16, do you not know that whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one slave whom you obey. And so there's this idea that man by committing sin enslaved himself to sin and forfeited his right to the earth that God had created and given to him.

When Adam sinned, he became bankrupt spiritually. He became a slave and he forfeited the earth to Satan. It's important to note that we never know how far impacting our sins are.

Because Adam sinned there and it's affected him and his family, but not just him and his family, but every human who has ever existed beyond that. And that's something interesting to keep in mind for ourselves, to keep us from engaging in sin because of these huge consequences and long-lasting consequences to sin. But because of our enslavement to sin, well, we cannot buy ourselves free, right?

We don't have the means to, we don't have the resources to buy ourselves free. We cannot, you know, produce righteousness to be free. And so we are unworthy. And so the search, the universal search goes out. Is there anybody who's worthy, anybody ever who has ever lived, who is worthy to take the scroll? No, we're all unworthy because of sin.

As a result of our enslavement to sin, Satan is referred to by the Lord and a couple times in the scripture as the god of this age, the ruler of this world. In the temptation of Jesus in Matthew chapter 4, Satan takes Jesus to a high place and shows him all the nations of the earth and says, I can give this to you if you bow down and worship me. And Jesus doesn't dispute the claim of

He resists the temptation, of course, but not because the claim was not legit, but because, well, the Lord says you're to worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

And so it does appear that Satan has usurped the authority over this earth. He kind of has, you know, kind of set up camp and is, what's, I'm trying to think of the term. What is that term? You know, when you go into a property that's not your own and you live there in place and there's nobody here to give me the word. So,

You can message me later about it and I'll remember what it is. But anyways, so man has enslaved himself and Satan has taken ownership of this world. But then Jesus came and redeemed man. He became man, first of all, so that he could be related to us, so that he could fit the role of the kinsman redeemer. And so we have this redemption of man, but yet we don't have the reclaiming yet of

to the earth, the reclaiming of his right to the earth. And that will take place, but we don't see it unfolding just yet. And so a lost estate in Israel, according to God's laws, could be redeemed by a kinsman redeemer. And so we see an example of this in the book of Ruth with Boaz, and you can read through that account and get some insight there. But understanding that although Jesus has paid the price for redemption, he's not claimed his right yet.

Hebrews 2, verse 8 tells us,

He left nothing that's not put under him, but now we do not yet see all things put under him. The Father has given Jesus authority over all things, but the author of Hebrews says, but we don't quite see that yet. And so that's what we're seeing here, is the title deed to the earth is about to be opened. It's there in the hand of the Father now.

Nobody is worthy to open it. John weeps bitterly because that would mean that man is lost in sin and doomed to hell with the enemy, with Satan.

And so he weeps much until verses 5 through 7, an angel comes and tells him, one of the elders actually, I'm sorry, in verse 5 says, And so although there was the search throughout all heaven and earth and no one was found, yet there was one who is worthy.

And his name is Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah, but also known as the Lamb of God. In verse 6, I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah.

He is also the lamb that was slain. And the lamb is a reference to Jesus that John uses a lot here in the book of Revelation. 28 times he refers to Jesus as the lamb. Now this brings up a question. Will we see Jesus with scars because he sees the lamb as though it had been slain?

And so it causes us to wonder, some to speculate, and there's some discussion to have about it. Some say yes, some say no, some say yes for a little bit, and then not, and you can kind of wrestle with those things or play with those things in your mind. I think an interesting perspective is that Jesus will bear his scars until he claims his full inheritance in the opening of the scroll with seven seals.

And that's a possibility. It has no proof or, you know, it's just an idea that sounds nice. And so it sounds nice. But there's the potential. There's the possibility that Jesus will bear the scars. There's the possibility and potential that he won't. The scripture doesn't tell us for sure one way or the other.

It describes him having seven horns and seven eyes, and we typically understand horns representing authority or power, and so representing the all-authority that Jesus has and the all-knowing condition or part of his character.

Well, then in verses 8 through 14, again, we find the worship continuing. Many angels, the 24 elders, the four living creatures worship him who lives forever and ever. Verse 8, when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures, the 24 elders fell down before him, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And so,

The heavenly scene there all just enters into worship again when he takes the throne. It's such a significant event. Again, everybody stops what they're doing and they just worship the lamb. They fell down before the lamb. Now this is an interesting point because if Jesus was not God, then worshiping him would be idolatry. But they fall down before the lamb in worship. And they sing a new song in verse 9.

Now, this is the reference to the 24 elders falling down before the lamb. Now, these 24 elders sing this song. And I would ask you to think about this. What group can sing this song? Verse nine, they sing a new song saying, "'You are worthy to take the scroll "'and to open its seals, 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.'"

So this group has some interesting characteristics. They are redeemed by the Lamb's blood.

Now, what group in all of creation is redeemed by the blood of the Lamb? Again, this is one of the reasons why we look at this and we understand the 24 elders is a reference to the church. Now, the nation of Israel, as well as the church, can be included under these things. And so, again, looking at the 24 elders as the church and Israel combined as the bride of Christ. And we will be there in heaven with Him.

Notice he says, out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. So it's not just a reference to the nation of Israel alone, but it's a group of people that come from all ends of the earth. Every tribe, tongue, people, and nation redeemed by the Lamb's blood is there in the throne room worshiping. Verse 11, and then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels, the living creatures, the elders. The number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands said,

saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who is slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. It goes on to talk about every creature in heaven and on earth joining in to this worship, recognizing the worthiness of the Lord, the worthiness of God.

the Lamb. And again, as we look at these things, I would say the more that we can believe and live according to these testimonies, the more we can worship God like this right now, the better off we will be because that's the reality. We will worship before him in that day, in that way. And so let us recognize the worth of the Lord, the worthiness of God. Well, that

Really wraps up our time together here in Revelation chapter 4 and 5. As always, there's so much more that we could discuss and consider. And, you know, it's fascinating things and enjoyable things to look at. And so I hope you enjoyed it. We covered a lot tonight. The throne room of God, the rapture of the church, the scroll, you know, redemption laws, all of these different things.

But if there was something I didn't hit on that you have questions about, I would encourage you to check out our website. We have a link in the menu now to the Revelation Refresher series, and I'll be happy to respond to questions related to these things, as well as the chapters to come. We'll be looking at next week, Revelation chapter 6, 7, and 8, and following along with the opening of the seven seals. And so here we see the seal introduced, or the scroll with seven seals, and

Now, next week, we'll look at the opening of those seals and all of the events that unfold on earth during that time. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the great reminders of what will be taking place in heaven. And Lord, that's reality. And so I pray that you would help us, Lord, to fix our eyes on the things above, to fix our eyes on the things that are true and real. Lord, that we would worship you. Lord, that we would be mindful of how worthy you are

how much you deserve all of our strength, all of our praise, all of our energy, all that we can offer you because you are the creator, you are the sustainer, and we are absolutely nothing without you. And so Lord, bring us back to that right place, understanding you, your place, and understanding how much we need you. Help us to worship you with all of our hearts. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

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