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The episodes are the weekly sermons from 922 Ministries (St. Peter and The CORE) of Appleton, Wisconsin.
Good morning again, once, brothers and sisters, those joining us online as we delve into the book of Revelation - endless praise - and our first message in that series this morning.
Have you ever thought about the influence that world rulers have in our lives? Whether you think about it or not, or you do think about it, it's true. For example, one leader in our world decides to invade another country. That country's leader decides to attack the refineries that give us gas. And what happens to us? Even if we think about it or not, we pay more at the gas pump.
And my point in sharing this is that leaders in our world today want more power, and they want to project influence. They want to make a name for themselves, a legacy, and they want to influence the lives of other people.
It's pretty much been that way since the history and the history of the world. You can look at any culture, any country, and much of the history is about wars that took place, about a dynasty, about a king and queen, about someone wanting to be the royals, whether we're talking about China or the Mayans, right? There are those who want to be leaders. That was even true in the Old Testament. Read first and second Samuel, first and second Kings, first and second Chronicles, and especially the northern ten tribes.
There were two nations. Remember that? The ten tribes of Israel. There is bloodshed and assassinations and king after king, all simply because that person wanted the throne and wanted to be the leader. And that is true of our world today, whether that is on a local level or a national or global scale. Generally speaking, men and women want to be leaders and to possess power in some way.
This morning, as we come to revelation, we see a throne that is unlike any king or queen or royal in this world. It's unlike a throne we've ever seen. It is the Lord of lords and King of kings who rules not only our little planet earth, but the universe. The disciple John wrote these words, and even though they are complex, they meant very much to those early christians as they read them.
And they made, and they make a great deal. They mean a great deal to us in our lives today. And today I'm going to tell you why. Before we jump into the pool of revelation, maybe a little background is helpful for a little bit. And I'm just going to tell you now with my sermon today.It's not going to be my normal 15 minutes sermon, just telling you right now.
But to understand the background under which revelation was written, it was written by a man named John. He's a disciple of Jesus. He was part of that inner circle, Peter, James and John. And John penned quite a bit in the New Testament. In fact, he has the gospel of John, over half of which talks about Maundy Thursday evening. John writes three letters right in front of Revelation: first, second, and third John, that he writes. And of course, the Revelation. And John was the disciple who was near and dear to Jesus, the disciple that Jesus loved.
And when John writes and receives the revelation, he has been banished. He has been exiled to an island called Patmos in the Aegean Sea. He cannot leave there, although he can write, but he is there because he was a Christian and he was a leader, and he needed encouragement from God. And so God gives this vision. It's also helpful to understand the structure and the background of revelation.
Revelation probably written about 90 to 95 AD or so. And when John penned these words, he did it in somewhat of a cyclical manner. In fact, before reading Revelation, you should read First John, because in First John, John talks about a subject, we'll just take love, comes back to it. You should love one another. Jesus loves, you love one another. And if you've ever read his letter, it's like, John, I get it. I got it the first time. But he's cyclical. And as Americans, we like point A, point B, point C, conclusion. Okay, I got it. But that's not how John writes.
When we get into Revelation, there are seven, seven visions within revelation. And each vision covers the time period of the New Testament, the time that we live in now. And each vision gives us a little bit different perspective on the struggle that christians will have, how they overcome, and finally eternity with Jesus. And so John, in revelation, again, repetition is the mother of learning; our approach to revelation.
Now, you know this. You look at our world today and there are a hundred interpretations of Revelation, and there is some really crazy stuff out there and really frightening stuff out there. But as we approach Revelation, for me and for our pastoral staff, and even in Christianity, there is more of a movement to view Revelation as a picture book, that it is symbolic.
And just as we look at a picture, we don't go, oh, my goodness, in this picture of nature, there's a little bird down in the corner. Wow, look at that. We want to look at the whole picture, because the picture together conveys something, and the visions in Revelation convey the same. Each vision conveys certain truth that God wanted his people to know and to take comfort in.
A third thing for background, who John is writing to. Now, if you read the first three chapters of Revelation, seven congregations in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, when you read those first three chapters. John talks about their strengths and their weaknesses, and this is how you can serve God. He warns them, but on a greater scale. It was also meant for christians around the mediterranean world.
Understand, when John writes revelation, he's an old man, probably in his nineties, and it was written about 90 to 95 AD. That means that Christianity had already been around for 60 years. Now, over that 60 years, there had been persecutions that had taken place.
For example, 64 AD, a man named Nero comes to power. And there are reasons why parents do not name their young baby boys Nero, because the guy was a terror. He persecuted christians. He threw them in the coliseum to fight gladiators and to be eaten by wild animals. They were crucified. They were burned at the stake.That happened to christians during that time period.
A couple years later, there was another Roman emperor named Domitian. Same thing. And so for christians, when they received the revelation and saw what was taking place, they understood the trial and the tribulation, because families were losing property, their children, people were suffering and dying in horrific ways. There was grief and there was loss, and there were plenty of questions, like, “Is being a Christian really worth it?”
Those are the Christians in the early years who received the Revelation. And God, through John and the Holy Spirit, provided encouragement. And he provides encouragement today, brothers and sisters, that is so vital and important for each and every one of us in our walk of faith.
And so we delve into chapter four of revelation. I'm going to start at verse two. “At once, I was in the spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.” In verse five, “from the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder. And in front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God” for the Holy Spirit. “And also in front of the throne, there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.”
The contrast. We don't see Jesus as a helpless baby in Bethlehem. We don't see our Lord Jesus asleep in a boat because he is exhausted and worn out. We don't see Jesus as a bloodied man hanging on the cross, but we see him in glory on his heavenly throne, and he has overcome and he is victorious. And we see an awesome picture of the God man.
But it is a picture that we've seen before. In the Old Testament when God rescued the Israelite people and brought them out into the desert. This is how he appeared to them. This is the book of Exodus.
“On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning with thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire, and the smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace. And the whole mountain trembled violently.”
We see another picture of God, the book of Job. Job suffered loss. There was difficulty, there was trouble, and toward the end of it, Job. Job kind of lost his patience and said, I want my day in court with the living God. And this is what we are told. “The Lord answered Job out of the storm.” God comes to him with his glory, lightning and thunder and the cloud and rumbling to say, who are you, job, to question me? And the conversation goes on. In these words, we see the Lord of Lord and the King of king who reigns and understand why he's there.
Earlier, I talked about the wars that take place in any country in history, even in our own. But there was a battle that took place that was even greater. The temptation in the desert. The assault of Satan on Jesus on the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And his death? But Jesus overcame that battle. He won, was victorious, rose from the grave, eternal life, and now rules. And he won, and he is victorious. And that is something that means so very, very much to us.
Think of those early christians for a moment. Were they seeing much as far as victory or success in their lives? Not much. They worshiped within their homes, somewhat secretly, to avoid persecution. They were imprisoned, being killed. In human terms, do we call that victory? I don't think we do. And yet John, in his Revelation, says, Christians look upward. This is who your savior Jesus is. He is victorious and he is ruling for you.
Can I just say, I think we like victories as well, as human beings. I have noticed in our community and culture that when certain professional sports teams win, people are happy, and the next day they're happy. And the opposite is also true as well. But we love victories. Grandparents love going to their kids or grandkids, sports events, and seeing junior or the misses, you know, hit the ball or, you know, all sorts. We love victories.
Can I share one from my personal life? God gave me the blessing and the challenge of coaching soccer for 15 years with four of my sons. And we had a lot of success over the years in different ways. But one memory stands out in my mind.
One year with my son Jackson. He's my fourth child, third son, and we had a pretty good team that year, and we played another team three times during the regular season, and we tied them every time. They could not beat us. We could not beat them. It was time for the tournament.
Then at the end of the season, and the adrenaline was going and the tournament started and we worked our way up through the brackets. We met in the championship and the game started. We scored 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 goals. They scored none. And then in the second half of the game, a miracle happened in New Mexico.
A rain shower came over and there was lightning, and they called off the game and it poured down rain. And these little kids are jumping up and down in the field in the rain, hugging each other because there was victory. And the parents are in the stand cheering. And then my assistant coach, who's a big guy, picks me up and squeezes me like… But it was victory. And we love that in our life, don't we?
And this is the first why it is so very critical and important for us, because sometimes we don't feel so victorious, right? There are those days and times when we wake up and there's just some emotional matter that's hanging on us. There is that person at work, there is that health situation. There is the financial thing I'm dealing with. There is that pet sin in my life that I can't seem to overcome.
And some days I just don't feel very victorious. And so God gives to us, brothers and sisters, the Revelation to say that your Jesus, true God and true man was victorious. His victory is your victory. And that is our first takeaway as we look at chapter four and see this vision of heaven: The throne means victory.
But, my friends, there are other truths that we're going to see that this picture conveys to us as well. When we look at chapter four.
“In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face of a man, the fourth like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night, they never stopped saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.’”
Can I just say, we've seen these creatures before. Some short explanation. The eyes would indicate to us, symbolic, that they see a great deal of what's going on in the world. They're not omnipresent, they don't know everything God does, but they are aware. And they are aware of the deeds that God has done. They can see.
And the wings, not only to serve God, to be around his throne, but they are holy and powerful creatures. And they take two wings to cover their eyes. They had glory, but Jesus glory was even greater.
And we see the faces of the lion, the man, the bear, the eagle. Why? Because they are, excuse me, not bear, ox. Because they are powerful creatures. We have the saying in our world, you mess with the bull, right? Powerful creatures. And we have seen them before in scripture as well. In fact, the book of Isaiah, this is what we are told, chapter six.
“The Lord, high and exalted, seated on the throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings, with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, with two they were flying. And they were saying to each other: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory.’ And at the sound of their voices, the doorpost and the threshold shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.”
God shows us the angels, a special angel, cherubim or seraphim, around the throne of God, which talk about God's power. Again to those early christians, were they experiencing God's power? There was so much loss. They didn't know what the next moment, the next day would bring. For them, there was the unexpected. What about their business? What about their children?
Do you realize that in the New Testament church, the tradition of sponsors began? I mean, we have our godparents, we have our sponsors today when we do baptisms over here, but kind of symbolic. Maybe I get them a gift when they get confirmed, or maybe I send a card for birthdays, but that's about it.
But the early church parents, christian parents, did not know whether they would be alive long. Would they be imprisoned? What would happen? And so they would choose another family, godly christian parents, to take their children if they were killed or martyred, they did not always know what was going to happen.
And so John gives them this picture of power to say God is in control. He is leading and guiding. He's going to bring you through the tribulation and trouble of, of this life, is going to take you to glory, power.
Brothers and sisters, that means so much to us as well, because you realize that we like our power, too. We do. Maybe a couple weeks ago, like me, you had your power go out in your household because of a winter storm. And when we lose power, we can get a little excited, especially if you're like me and you have sump pumps in your basement that are filling up.
That'll get your adrenaline going right.
But we like power. We like power in our power tools. The lithium ion, 20 volts cordless drill. Oh, yeah, I'll take one of those. We love power in our vehicles, certain vehicles today on the road, the lamborghinis, 800, 1200 horsepower, insane amount of power. We like power in our sports. He's a power back, you know, like running, football power. We are a culture, we are a country. We are a world that is addicted and intoxicated with power in all of its various forms.
We are. But here, John shows us the ultimate power. The Lord of lords and the King of kings. And just like those early christians, we have those times as well when we wonder, God, where is your power? Where is it?
I have suffered this loss in life. I thought I had this plan in place. It didn't work out. There was this expectation that I thought was going to be good, but it turned out to be only a disappointment. We can take inventory of our lives and sometimes we wonder, God, where is your power? Because of the way that things are.
And brothers and sisters, this is our second important why. Why is the revelation important? Because our takeaway is this: The throne means power. Not only victory, but power. And to be reminded that in our walk of faith as christians.
And there is a third and final that John shares with us in his revelation, verse four. And following:
“Surrounding the throne, there were 24 thrones. And seated on them were 24 elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and 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. They lay down their crowns before him and say: “You are worthy, Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will, they were created and have their being.”
Again, a word of explanation. Numbers in Revelation are symbolic. In our world today, again with Revelation, there are certain christians, church bodies, evangelists, who take the numbers literally. They are symbolic.
And we have one of those numbers before us today, the number twelve. Symbolic for the church, capital C, like all believers of all time, that that church, what we call the Holy Christian Church. And there are other numbers, like the number seven. We read about the seven spirits. The number seven is connected to the Holy Spirit, to the gospel message, to the proclamation of the gospel. And then there's the number half of seven, three and a half. The opposite, rebellion against God. We see that in the book of Revelation. And finally the number ten. A complete period of time.
We have before us the number twelve, the 24 elders. It is a reminder or symbolizes all believers. Twelve for the twelve tribes of Israel: Old Testament. New Testament, Twelve disciples, New Testament believers. So when that day comes and God calls us from this life, don't expect to go up to heaven and be there and go, oh, yeah, there's those 24 guys with the crowns. They won't be there.
But it is symbolic to show God's people that all believers are there. They make it. Jesus said to a man on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise. And so for those christians who were living and watching their loved ones being exterminated, to know that Jesus was waiting, that there was a place of glory, to look at the white robes, to know that it is a place of perfection. To see the gold crowns and to understand it represented luxury. To be in that place where there is no more pain or sorrow, but only glory. What an encouragement to them in their walk of faith.
And it is for us as well. Some of you have heard me talk about this. We have our dash. In front of our dash there's a number, and behind our dash there's a number. And that is the day that God calls us from this life. And this is the third reason why it is so important, because God shows us what awaits.
To be encouraged by that and to say, however good this life is, with God's many blessings, guess what? They don't compare to the blessings in God. And maybe if this life has been full of disappointment and difficulty and sorrow and pain, guess what? No more of that in heaven. No more sorrow or pain working. All those things are gone. No more sin.
And Jesus shows us that at the cross he forgives, he loves. His grace showers down upon you, brothers and sisters, and says, welcome to your heavenly home forever and ever. And the praises of God ring. And that is our third and final takeaway as we look at chapter four: that we praise God forever and ever.
Brothers and sisters, this is our encouragement and this is our peace for us. And so as we, as we continue in this series, I pray that it is enlightening, that it is strengthening for you, that it helps you in your walk of faith. And interestingly enough, for me personally, Pastor Tim gave me the opening message. And in five weeks, I also get the closing message.
So I'm looking forward to that as well. So with that, let's close with the word of prayer.