Revelation 4:5-11
A Heavenly Perspective
Turn in your Bibles to…
Matt. 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
Matt. 6:20 “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Matt. 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Pray
Introduction
√ Heaven
We found in our study last week that heaven is a real place.
While that may not come as a surprise to the Christian, we need to understand that the concept of a literal place called heaven is almost unique amongst the religions of the world.
Ex. The religions of Man
Just to name a few of the religions that deny a literal heaven…
Christian Science
Unity
Spiritualism
New Age philosophy
T.M.
Hinduism
Hare Krishna
Buddhism
Bahai
Yet, the Bible speaks of heaven as a real place! Mentioned over 500 times in the pages of scripture.
In fact, Jesus Himself tells us plainly in John 14 that heaven is real, and that if it wasn’t – He would have told us so!
We found that the focus of heaven is God and His Throne. Last week we examined…
The Throne
He Who sits upon the Throne
What & who is around the Throne
What comes forth from the Throne
We continue our study this morning by looking at…
What is before the Throne
What we’ll be doing around the Throne
…and most importantly, how does one get into the Throne room in heaven?
Ap. God wants us to have a heart for heaven
As we read in our opening scripture in Matthew we need to have a heavenly perspective so that we might joyfully set our priorities in life according that which has eternal value.
Before the throne (vs. 5b-6a)
Rev 4:5b And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
√ Before the Throne
Finally an easy one! Here John gives us the interpretation of what he is seeing in the verse!
Before the throne he sees 7 lamps which he tells us are the…
“seven Spirits of God”
Understood to be a picture of the Holy Spirit (7-fold ministry – Isa. 11)
Typified in the Tabernacle by the lamp stand in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle - 7 lamps/branches that on one stand.
Ex. The copy and the real
Holy of Holies - The throne room of God
Menorah - 7 Lamps of Fire (Holy Spirit)
Bronze Sea - Sea of glass
Cherubim - 4 living creatures
over the mercy
seat
Priests - 24 elders
Brazen altar - Altar (Rev. 6:9)
Incense altar - Incense altar (Rev. 8:3-5)
Ark - Ark (Rev. 11:19)
Also, note that we find all 3 Persons of the Trinity in the Throne room of Heaven!
Father = on the throne (Rev. 4:3)
Son = in the midst of the throne (Rev. 5:6)
Spirit = before the throne (Rev. 4:5)
Which brings us to an important question…
…what is everyone else doing in heaven?
What we’ll do around the throne (v 8-11)
Rev 4:8 And 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!"
Rev 4:9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
Rev 4:10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
Rev 4:11 "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."
Or as the KJV reads…
“…and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
√ Praising the One on the Throne
We find the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures praising and worshiping God without ceasing!
We find them singing two hymns to God in which they....
Exalt His Name
Acknowledge Him as the Creator of all things
Ascribe to Him glory, honor & power
They demonstrate the sincerely of their worship by casting their crowns before His throne!
This is true worship.
Pay close attention to what true worship is, so that we might emulate it.
• Directed to God
• God is exalted - not man
• The worshippers sacrifice that which is most precious to them, their crowns
“crown” = stephanos - the victors crown!
Ex. Like giving your gold medal to your folks in recognition that we wouldn’t even be at the Olympics except that they brought us into the world
Ap. Worship in the Church today
One of the greatest tragedies in our Church age is that Christians have forgotten what true worship is and that it involves the giving of our very lives to Him - our Creator.
“Worship” is not defined by how it makes the worshiper feel, or by the style of music, or the quality of music.
That’s just the definition of a good concert.
True worship doesn’t require music because it’s a matter of the heart not the ear!
(Not to say that we shouldn’t strive to do our best musically - present our best to the King).
The point is that for much of the Body of Christ true worship seldom happens because individual Christians come to be entertained…
…instead of coming to give their best to God.
Ex. True worship – Gen. 22
When we look at the model in scripture we find that true worship always involves the giving of something to God. Thus, we find Isaac asking his father Abraham…
“We have the fire, the wood, but where is the sacrifice?”
The same could be asked of us this morning. As we look at our heart do we find that we’ve brought a sacrifice to God this morning?
Or have we just put on a good show – great fire – lots of wood…
…but no sacrifice?
God desires that our worship would involve the presenting of our very lives to Him this morning (Rom. 12:1).
Ex. True worship – song by Robin Mark
“Jesus, all for Jesus
All I am and have and ever hope to be
All of my ambitions hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands
For it is only in Your will that I am free
Jesus all for Jesus”
Friends, is that the expression of your heart?
If not, then you’re only making noise when you sing to the Lord – your not really worshipping Him.
May I suggest that sense we will spend our time in eternity worshipping our…
God
King
Savior
…our beloved Jesus who gave all that He could give that we might have eternal life, that we can experience a taste of heaven here on earth if we chose to worship Him as He deserves,
√ Heaven
So, we find that heaven is a place of…
Constant joyous worship (Rev. 4 & 19)
A place of indescribable beauty, splendor & majesty (Rev. 2-22)
It’s a place filled with God’s presence and defined by His Nature.
It’s the place where we are completely fulfilled because we’re doing that for which we were created (Rev. 4:11)
A place of real life (1 Tim. 4:8)
A place where we serve our King (Rev. 22:3)
A place of Glory (2 Cor. 4:17-18)
In short, the place we all long to be because we were meant to be there!
Ap. That leaves only one real question left unanswered - the most important question of all regarding heaven...
…how do we get there?
Close
√ How do we get to Heaven?
Look back to vs. 1
Rev 4:1 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."
By invitation only!
Jesus calls each one by name into His presence. Each of us accepts or rejects His invitation with our mind and our mouth.
We accept His invitation to Heaven when we believe in our heart that Jesus is the Son of God and that He was raised from the dead (Romans 10:8-13)
Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.
So we are saved and granted entrance into Heaven!
Ap. People get so bent about that. Think about it in human terms.
How far would you get if you stopped by the White House uninvited?
Now relate that to the King of Kings! Not to mention that you can’t just drive up to the gates of heaven.
You can’t even get to the gate without an invitation, let alone get in to the throne room!
So, Christian - we’ve been given this picture of heaven to remind us of our destination…
…to keep us focused on He who is on the throne and upon those things that are of eternal value.
Are you living your life with a heavenly perspective (Matt. 6:19-21)? Or an earthly one?
If you’re not a Christian this morning then your destination is not heaven. I invite you to change direction and accept God’s invitation to live with Him forever.