Before the Throne Pt 1

Good evening, everyone. Would you all stand with me for this first song? I want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel this evening, and we welcome those of you online that have joined us.

Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity again to come and worship in song and study your word. Father, bless our service tonight. Be glorified, Lord. Oh, we thank you so much for your love and your grace, your mercy, and your sovereignty, Lord. You're so good to us. You're so good to us all the time. We thank you for that, Lord.

Thank you for working in us, both the will and do of your good pleasure, strengthening us, Lord, with your mind. We give you praise. You never leave us nor forsake us, Lord. And we thank you for that.

Thanks. Now we ask, Lord, for your blessing on the time of teaching. Tonight, Pastor Ryan, with the power of your Holy Spirit, to bring forth your understanding and all that needs to be there to bring forth your understanding to cause it to be that which we understand tonight. We give you praise and thanks in Jesus' name. Amen? The Lord bless y'all. Good evening.

If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Revelation, chapter 4. Revelation, chapter 4. Tonight, we move into the last section, which is going to occupy most of the book, the last section of the book of Revelation. You may remember that in chapter 1, when John had his revelation, of Jesus, when he saw Jesus speaking to him there, the Lord had told him, write these things down.

Write down the things which you have seen. That was the vision of chapter 1. Write the things which are, which speaks of the church age that was referred to in chapters 2 and 3. And then, write the things which shall take place after these things, speaking of the church age. And so, as we come to chapter 4, we move into the after these things portion. And chapters 4 and 5,

both are going to be John in heaven. As a matter of fact, I've entitled the next two weeks as Before the Throne. So, tonight's title is Before the Throne Part 1 because the throne is what is going to be the centerpiece of everything that John refers to in chapters 4 and 5. And so, as we take a look at chapter 4, there's three things that we're going to see.

We're going to see John in heaven. We're going to see the throne. And then, we're going to see the worship. And so, we pick up in chapter 4, verse 1, and this is what it says. After these things, I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place

after these things. Immediately, I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven. And one sitting on the throne. Chapter 4 starts off with the phrase, after these things. In the Greek, that's the words, metatauta. It's the exact same Greek words that were used when the outline was given to us in chapter 1 of the things which are, or the things which you've seen,

the things which are, and the things which must take place after these things. This indicates to us that the things that John is about to refer to in chapters 4 through 22 of the book of Revelation are all future events. Future for John, but future for us as well, because these are things we've not seen unfold yet. That's the futuristic view that I really feel like is the best view to take with the book of Revelation.

And so, as he says these things, we realize what we've wrapped up is what's known as the church age. We talked about that a little bit over the last couple of weeks, that what we're living in right now is known as the church age where God is pouring out his Holy Spirit on the church, a church which is a mixture mainly of Gentiles, but has some Jewish remnant involved with it. But when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, when that last Gentile gets saved, then the church will be removed and these things will begin to take place. And so he says, after these things, I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven.

There's an interesting play on words here because chapter two, or excuse me, chapter three ended with the message to the church in Laodicea. Do you remember the very last thing that Jesus said to the church in Laodicea? Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And if anyone hears and will open, I will come into him and sup with him and he with me. Well, now we start in chapter four

with a door in heaven being opened. Interesting, isn't it? That if we're willing to answer the door to allow Jesus in, then the door to heaven will be opened to us. And so chapter four starts off like this. And it says, and the first voice, which I heard like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me says, come up here and I will show you what must take place after these things.

He said, I heard a voice and the voice sounded like a trumpet, literally a trumpet that is blown to go to war. It's a loud sound that he hears. And this voice that sounds like a trumpet tells him to come up here. It says immediately I was in the spirit. This indicates to us that John's not sure whether he was bodily in heaven or just spiritually in heaven. It reminds us of what Paul had to say

when he had his vision of heaven there in second Corinthians, where Paul says, whether it was in the body or out of the body, I'm not really sure. All I know is it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Sort of the same instance that takes place here with John. And he says, immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne. Now, before we move on to describe the throne,

I think it's important to point something out to us because most scholars that believe in the futuristic view, they see the rapture taking place. They see the rapture taking place right here. You see a voice that sounded like a, did you catch that? It sounded like a trumpet John heard. And when John heard the voice that sounded like a trumpet, do you remember what the voice said?

It said, come up here, come, come up, come up here. And then instantly he was in heaven. It should remind you of something. As a matter of fact, hold your finger here and go over to first Thessalonians chapter four.

And once you look down, in verses 16 and 17.

Oh, what the, hey, let's start in verse 13 for the fun of it. I just looked at it. I'm like, yeah, let's do that. It says, but we do not want you to be uninformed brethren about those who are asleep so that you will not grieve as the rest who have no hope. For we believe, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. This is where we really pay attention. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout and 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 will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. That phrase caught up in the Greek is the word comfort. The word harpazo, when translated into the Latin, it's the word rapturos, which is where we get our word rapture from. Everybody always says there's, well, the word rapture is never used in the Bible, but that's okay because the theme is used in the Bible.

The idea is used in the Bible. Just like the word Trinity is never used in the Bible and yet it's written all over the pages of the Bible without the word actually being used. And what we see here in this very beginning of chapter four is we see John symbolically, symbolically being called up to heaven with the sound of a voice that sounded like a trumpet and immediately he was in heaven. Interestingly, the word church is referred to 19 times in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation.

It is not used again for the rest of the book of Revelation. Now, if we were to use the same logic and say, Ryan, you just said that the word rapture is never used. So does that matter? Well, if the word church weren't used in the first three, three chapters of the book of Revelation, then we can go, okay, you're stretching it, but it is the word church is used over and over again in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation.

And then all of a sudden the church is just, well, gone. Almost like the church isn't on earth for the other things that take place in chapters four through 19 of the book of Revelation. You see, this is one of the places where we get this idea that the church is now being, going to be caught up into the air to meet the Lord. And to be with him forever. And isn't it wonderful that Paul included that last verse

in chapter four of first Thessalonians, where he said, therefore comfort one another with these words. The greatest comfort that we can continue to give to each other is the knowledge that this place is not our home. I don't know how many times I can continue to repeat this to myself, as well as to you all with the upheaval that we see in our world right now, with the upheaval that we see in our world right now, with the chaos that we see in our world and in our nation right now, to be reminded that this place is not our home. I was listening to a radio talk show because I'm old and that's what I do now.

I was listening to a radio talk show today. And the guy that was the commentator on this radio talk show goes, I have never in my entire life seen the chaos that we see in the world right now. And I thought, isn't that kind of amazing that we've never seen this kind of chaos like we've seen right now? Why is that amazing? Well, because we know that when the church is gone

and we'll see this in revelation that there will be this peace treaty that takes place and everybody will go, oh, look at this amazing man who's brought peace to a world that's in chaos until he reveals himself to be that antichrist. You see, the world won't be prepared for an antichrist if the entire world's not in chaos. But what we're gonna see is it's okay that the world is in chaos because there's a God who's still in control. And so John, it's taken up into heaven and immediately verse two, it says, I was in the spirit.

And the first thing that he sees is the thing that he will spend most of the rest of the next two chapters describing. And that is the throne. It says, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne. And he who is sitting was like a Jasper stone and a Sardius in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald.

An appearance around the throne were 24 thrones. And upon the thrones, I saw 24 elders sitting clothed in white garments and gold crowns on their head. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of burning, a fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne,

there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. The first was like a lion. The second, like a calf. The third had a face like that of a man. And the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings are full of eyes around and within.

Do what? Right? That's an amazing scene that John sees there, right? The first thing that he sees is a throne. It's interesting because, what we're going to see unfold in the preceding chapters is God's judgment upon an unbelieving world. And it will be from the very throne of God that this judgment will come. That's why the very first thing that John sees in heaven is a throne.

A throne is a place or a seat of authority. It speaks of a supreme ruler. And it's kind of interesting, isn't it? Because what does the world oftentimes not want? They don't want a supreme ruler. We don't want someone who's going to tell us what to do. Or the other end of it is that we want to turn a man into a supreme ruler, which is why we've been able to have

some of the dictators in our world that we've been able to have because they've stood up and with powerful language said, if you follow me, I have a plan. And therefore people follow them. But here we see this throne, this place where a supreme ruler is going to sit and this one, who is going to have ultimate authority. And then I love the next phrase that's used.

And one sitting on the throne. Can we all for just a moment, find ourselves resting in the fact that there is one who is sitting on the throne? Because with the chaos that we see in the world where it feels like everybody wants control, but nobody wants to lead. In a world where it feels like everything continues, to fall apart, we can still know that there is one who is sitting on the throne.

And John's going to do the best that he can to describe what he sees, but the glory and the grandeur of God is going to be so great that all he can do is describe it in colors and in forms and in shadows to the best of his ability. Because the one who is sitting on the throne is none other than the very creator of the heavens and the earth, the very sovereign God, the very one who rules and reigns, sovereignly over the world. And while it may feel like God's very much not in control right now, he very much is. And is putting everything together the way that he intends for it to be.

Just like he has been since the foundation of the world. He says, I saw a throne. And there was one who is sitting on the throne. And take a look at how he describes the one who is sitting on the throne. And he who is sitting on the throne was like a jasmine, a jasper stone, and sardius in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance.

See what I mean? Whatever he sees up there is so glorious that all he can start using is stones and colors to try to describe what he sees. He says, first of all, he was like a jasper stone. Actually, some translate that as more like a diamond. The jasper later on is described in, later on in chapter 21 of the book of Revelation as being crystal clear like a diamond.

Many say that this, this speaks of that glorious light that shined when Jesus rose from the dead. That glorious light that blinded all of the Roman soldiers. But it's also not only described as one that is a bright light, but it's also described as a sardius stone. You know, the sardius stone is red in appearance. And isn't it amazing? The glory of God and the beauty of his light

and yet the red of the blood that was shed for us. The one who was sitting on the throne. And then he describes what was around the throne. Did you pay attention to what was around the throne? It says it was a rainbow. Does a rainbow make you think of anything? In our world today, the rainbow means something very different, doesn't it? Isn't it amazing how much of a counterfeit Satan is?

That he has taken that which was to be a promise of God's faithfulness and has turned it into a sign of immorality. That he's taken that which to be as a promise of God's covenant and turned it into something that would absolutely be a slap in the face of God. But here's the thing. God will not be mocked. And so around the throne, there is this rainbow. And isn't that a beautiful thought?

It reminds us of the flood. Remember what happened after the flood? Noah came off of the ark after God had judged the world. After he had judged the world because of their unfaithfulness. And God made a promise to Noah. He says, bow in the sky so that you will know that I will never flood the entire earth again like I did ever. And do you know what? God has a 100% rating of keeping that promise.

You say, Ryan, there's floods sometimes. Yes, but not global floods because God made a promise. And from the very throne where the judgment of God is going to flow, we're also reminded that God's judgment is tempered by his covenant. That God's judgment is tempered by his truth. And we're reminded of the faithfulness of God. But did you take note of what color that rainbow was?

It says it was emerald. Emerald is a greenish color. And green often makes us think of plant life, right? Brand new life. And we're reminded that along with God's judgment, it's always tempered by his mercies, which are, remember, new with every morning. Refresh with every morning. And so he sees this throne. He sees the appearance of the one sitting on the throne.

He sees what's around the throne or what's surrounding the throne. But then we see 24 lesser thrones. Notice what it says. Around the throne were 24 thrones. And upon the thrones, I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their head. So surrounding this throne, picture it, if you will, a bright light, that's on the throne, that's very white in nature,

but also red in nature. And there's a green rainbow that surrounds it. And around the throne, picture, if you will, surrounding it were these 24 lesser thrones. And seated on these 24 lesser thrones, John simply describes them as the 24 elders. These 24 elders have two distinctive marks about them. Number one, they are clothed in white robes. Number two, they're wearing crowns on their heads.

So do you know what question you should ask yourself right now? Who are the 24 elders? You and every Bible scholar ever has asked themselves that question. And there's a lot of different opinions. Let me give you two or three of the main opinions that are given. Some believe that these elders that are surrounding the throne are a mixture of the patriarchs and the apostles.

The 12 patriarchs, the 12 sons of Jacob, and the 12 apostles making up those 24 elders. Some people believe that the 24 elders, the 24 elders sitting around the throne are actually angels that are surrounding the throne. Some people believe that the 24 elders sitting around the throne represent the church because 24 is a complete assembly. Therefore, it represents the complete assembly of the church.

So which is it? I have no idea. Remember when we started Revelation, I said, sometimes I'm going to tell you, I have no idea. You know why? Because no one has any idea. Everybody has some thoughts. Are those thoughts correct? I don't know. I suppose if one of them was correct, everybody else is wrong and everybody's convinced that they're right. So where can we land on this

to know exactly what it means? Well, this is where I've landed on this. It is a representation of the faithful followers of God. The faithful followers of God that are surrounding the throne. And here's why I think that number one, they're clothed in white robes. Being clothed in white robes always speaks of the righteousness of Christ. So whether it's the patriarchs and the apostles

clothed in the righteousness of Christ, whether it's the church clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And the second thing that we see is that they have these golden crowns on their heads. Now there's two different words. I think we've talked about this before. There's two different Greek words for crowns. One is the crown of a king. The other is a victor's crown.

The crown that someone would receive when they have one or two crowns. One, a race in the Olympics. That's the crown that's being spoken of. Here's the victor's crown. And we know that believers are gonna be given a crown. Remember Jesus even said that in his letters to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give him a crown. And so I believe that these just simply represent

the faithful followers of God. And that's all the information that we have. That's all the information that we really need right now, according to Jesus. He says, I saw these 24 thrones and they were wearing golden crowns on their heads. And I said, I saw these 24 thrones and they were wearing golden crowns on their heads. Because in just a moment, I'm gonna tell you why

I care less about who they are and I care more about what they do. But the next thing that we see is out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. It says out from the throne, verse five, come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.

This is very reminiscent of a scene that we've actually seen, not that long ago in our study in scripture. And that was when we were in the book of Exodus. Do you remember when they were at Mount Sinai and God descended to give them the 10 commandments? Do you remember the events that took place? There was flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.

Why? Because first of all, it displayed the great glory of God. Number two, we're reminded that with the law comes judgment. That with that law comes judgment. And from the very throne of God is gonna come the, the judgment and glory of God. And then also in front of the throne, out from the throne are the seven lamps that are burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

That's seven fold complete work of the Holy Spirit that's there around the throne. And then it goes on to say in verse six, and before the throne, there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. If you remember, correctly, when we studied the tabernacle, there was a particular implement of the tabernacle that sat right in front of it. And it was known as the bronze laver.

The bronze laver was full of water. And we said that that bronze laver full of water is where they would, where the priests would wash themselves before they would enter into the temple. And what is water oftentimes synonymous with? It's oftentimes synonymous with the word of God. After all, Paul told us that we should wash our wives, wash each other as with water,

with the word. We're reminded of the fact that surrounding the throne of God is none other than the whole council of the word of God. But other commentators pointed something out that I thought was kind of interesting because what they pointed out is this. Before their throne, there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. In other words, it was completely calm and flat and clear.

And what they pointed out was this. That sea, that was completely calm, reminds us of the peace of God. Because the closer you get to the presence of God, the more that you experience the peace of God. Many of us are living our lives in turmoil, oftentimes because we've stopped getting into the presence of God. Oftentimes because we find ourselves drifting further and further

from the very throne of God, when the best place that we can find peace is as close as we can be to the presence of God. And so there was a sea all around it. And in the center and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature was like a lion. The second creature like a calf. The third creature had a face like that of a man.

And the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. Oh, here we come again with another one of these difficult places. The four living creatures. Because as we see them described, we probably ask ourselves, who are the four living creatures? Well, let's deal with the description of them first, shall we? They're somewhat grotesque looking. Would you agree? Can you imagine seeing something?

Because in just a moment, they're going to be described having six wings and they've got eyes everywhere. They literally picture six wings just covered with eyes, faces covered with eyes. They have eyes all the way around them. That's sort of a startling thought, is it not? It gives this idea of being all seeing, right? They can see everything. But then each of them is described

just a little bit different. These four living creatures, or if you have the old King James, it calls them the four beasts. Living creatures is a much better way to put it. These four living creatures each have a little bit of a different face. Did you take note of that? One looks just like a lion. One looks just like a calf. One looks just like a man and one looks just like an eagle.

Now, if you've done any Old Testament study at all or perhaps, gone through any portion of the Old Testament, particularly the prophetic writings, perhaps this has jogged a thought in your mind from the book of Ezekiel. As a matter of fact, if you want to get your first picture of these four living creatures, you might write these references down. Ezekiel chapter one and Ezekiel chapter 10. Because Ezekiel is given the vision of these exact same creatures.

Remember how we said that revelation would tie together all of the portions of scripture? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? That's exactly what takes place. So we see that these four living creatures described first in Ezekiel are now standing around the throne of God. And so the question, of course, comes up, who are these living creatures?

Well, there's, again, several different ideas. The first idea is that we see that these four living creatures are very representative of something that we've already seen in scripture. If you remember back to our study in the book of Numbers. Matter of fact, just for reference, let's take right down Numbers 2. Because in Numbers chapter 2, we see the camp of the Israelites laid out.

And it's laid out like a plus sign or like a cross, if you will. And three tribes on each of the four sides of the camp are supposed to camp with the tabernacle right in the middle. Do you remember that each of those four sides was to have a banner? One of the banners was a lion. One of the banners was an ox. One of the banners was a man. And one of the banners was an eagle.

So some people see the nation of Israel surrounding the throne. Some people see the fourfold representation or the fourfold ministry of the gospel. This is the one I sort of lean towards a little bit because it is kind of interesting. Because you may not be aware, each of the gospels presents Jesus in a little bit of a different way. We talked about that a little bit

in the beginning of our study of the book of Matthew. Matthew presents Jesus as the king or the lion who is the king of the jungle, right? Mark presents Jesus as the servant or the ox or calf, if you will. Luke presents Jesus, the man. Matter of fact, when Pontius Pilate stands before the nation of Israel, he says, behold, the man, right? And so that's how Luke presents him.

And of course, John presents Jesus in his glory as one coming from eternity, like an eagle soaring in the skies, right? And so some people see that this is the fourfold ministry of the gospel presenting Jesus Christ to us. And then some people see that these are simply angelic beings. Which is it? I'm not real sure. Again, a lot of people have a lot of ideas.

I think that there's some things that we should pay attention to. Surely God meant for us to pay attention to the fact that the banners that the nation of Israel traveled under are the same as these four living creatures. Because remember, the tabernacle is a representation of heaven. Perhaps God intended for us to understand that Jesus is presented in these different ways.

And therefore, these four creatures remind us of the work of Jesus Christ in these four different ways. And perhaps these are just angelic beings that are praising God. But much like the 24 elders, I am less concerned because scripture seems to be less concerned to actually tell us who these creatures are. Much like the 24 elders, I'm less concerned with who they are.

And I'm more concerned with what they do. Because what John has just presented to us is an amazing scene in heaven. For just a moment, I want you to think about how overwhelmed John was at this point in time. First of all, everything that he's seen, what writing down the things which he had first seen in chapter one, the letters to the churches, because remember, John's a pastor.

And as a pastor, when you hear churches being, called out for their sin, whether they're your church or not, it still hurts you as a pastor. I can attest to that personally. And now he's got up into heaven and he sees things that he's describing to the best of his ability. But quite frankly, he's really doesn't have words for it. So he's using the frail words that he has

to describe the awe-inspiring scene that lies there in front of him. And as he's watching this scene unfold, as he's watching the throne and he sees the 24 elders and he says, he sees these four living creatures, he takes note of the action that they all take part in. Says in verse eight, and the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings that are full of eyes around and within. And day and night, they do not cease to say, holy, holy, holy.

It's the Lord God, the almighty who was and who is and who is to come. When the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever and ever. And we'll cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy are you our Lord and our God. To receive glory and honor and power for you created all things.

And because of your will, they existed and were created. See what I mean here? I'm less concerned with whether or not I can systematically or unequivocally identify to you who the 24 elders are. I can tell you the different ideas that people have, but I think we sometimes get lost in the weeds. We've missed the point of what John sees in heaven. John's less concerned with the 24 elders

and who they are. And he's more concerned with the 24 elders and what they're doing. John's less concerned with who the four living creatures are. Otherwise he would have told us who they are. He's more concerned with what the four living creatures are doing. And I think we should pay attention to that because we should be concerned with what the 24 elders and what the four living creatures are doing

because they are all before God worshiping. I think John Corson put it best. When he said the program of heaven is worship. That's the thing that we're going to do. That's the thing that our lives are intended to do is to worship the king. And so let's look at what they do. First of all, I want you to take note of the fact that it says day and night. They do not cease to say.

As a matter of fact, this section is called the worship. Sorry, I got geeked up. I forget to tell you what's on the board. It says day and night. They do not cease to say. I want you to think about that. These four living creatures. Okay. My affected by Disney mind has a little bit of a hard time with this because I just picture like the mouth of a lion constantly singing all day long.

Right? Like that's what I picture when I see the four living creatures, like this lion who has got the mane of a lion and he's singing out. Holy, holy, holy. Right? And then you see the man there's over there like reflecting like, holy, holy, holy. And then you look over at the calf. It's like, holy. Holy. And then, and then you look and there's the eagle and he's like,

holy, right? I don't know how all that worked, but that's what my Disney mind does with this whole thing. Day and night. They don't cease. Maybe that's why John couldn't tell us who they were. He's like, I don't know. I was too caught up with the fact that there's an eagle singing. Day and night. They don't cease. Isn't that a neat reminder for us? What occupies your mind throughout the day?

Don't get me wrong. You got a job and you got to pay attention to your job. I don't want you to misunderstand me here. Some of y'all work with heavy equipment and you need to make sure that you're paying attention because you can be like, holy, holy, holy crap. I just cut his arm off, right? So we got to pay attention to things, but there is still a heartfelt understanding

that everything that I do is worship unto the Lord because day and night, they don't cease. Listen, I've worked jobs where I have to focus like that, where my job is not to study God's word all day. And I have found that the best way that I can be effective in my job is to have a heart that is worshiping the Lord. That is praising God for the job that I have.

That is praising God for how he's providing for me. That is praising God for the fact that he has given me new life and the ability to do the things that I do. I know that if that's what my heart is set on, that I'm going to be a much more pleasant person to work with than anything else. What occupies your mind throughout the day? Because day and night, these four living creatures

don't cease to say these things. The first thing that they do is they cry out, holy. Holy, holy. Why three times? Well, first of all, because in the Hebrew language, repetition brings about strength. Repetition brings about the force of what you're saying. So to continue to repeat, holy, holy, holy, is bringing out the force of just how holy, bringing out the strength of just how holy God is.

But I thought about something else too. And I don't know that I can prove this biblically, although I feel like, I think it goes along the context of scripture because we know that God is a triune Godhead. And we're reminded that it is the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. And so these four living creatures who are constantly before the throne of God, where the seven spirits of God are there.

And we're going to find that in the midst of the throne is the very son of God, the lamb of God who has been slain. But these four living creatures are crying out, holy, holy, holy. And then it goes on to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. Do you guys remember how we define the word almighty? It's okay. I didn't either until I read it again. The word almighty is defined as he who has his hand on everything.

Doesn't that just bring about a little bit of peace in your heart? He, he who has his hand on everything. Listen, I don't always see it in the moment, I don't always see God's hand on things in the moment, because what I see in the moment is things are not going right. But when I look back, when I can look back on what has happened in my life, I see God's hand on it.

I was like, son of a gun. I never even saw that coming. God knew what he was doing that whole time. I always like to use the story of how I came to, came back to faith in Jesus Christ. You know, I was a knucklehead high school kid that all of a sudden started walking off into all the things of the world and had no desire to walk with Jesus. Had no desire to follow the things of Jesus.

And all the rest of the youth group that I was a part of had gone to young Christians weekend for the weekend. And I was stuck in our city. You know why I was stuck in our city? Because I had to take the stupid ACT. Well, I had started doing some part-time work at a Prairie View Christian camp and Melody Bowen had been trying to get me to be her dishwasher.

And I was like, you know, I don't want to wash dishes. Dishes are disgusting. It was the one chore I hated more than anything else. In my house. And so when she was like, will you be my dishwasher? I was like, no. Right. And so, and so, uh, they started having to come out and do like groundskeeping stuff. Cause that's what I like to do. And she said, Hey, you're,

you're stuck in town this weekend. The Calvary Chapel women's retreat is this weekend. Why don't you be my dishwasher? I was like, fine.

I had no idea at the time that the reason why God had me stay here to take the ACT. And start washing dishes at that camp. Is because it would be at that women's retreat, which by the way, this is why I've always felt called to women's ministry. That's a joke. I'm sorry. At that women's retreat, when I was washing dishes, that's when I gave my heart back to Jesus.

And at the time I was like, this is dumb. Why am I stuck here in our city? While my friends are out having fun. And now looking back, I'm like, because that was the hand of God. God's hand was on all of that. I just didn't see it. It's, and now just like these four living creatures, I'm like, man, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty because his hands on everything.

And then it goes on to say who was and who is, and who is to come. I don't know why, but that phrase stuck out to me this time. It always sticks out to me because it speaks of the eternal nature of God. And we praise him because he's holy. He set apart. He's other than us. He's other than all of the sin. Like our minds can even fully, grasp how holy God is.

They praise him because he's the almighty God whose hand is on everything, orchestrating all of the events of humanity. But he's also the eternal God who was, he's the God of eternity past the God who is to come. He's the God of eternity future, but he's also the God of the present. He's the God who is, and I don't know about you, but sometimes I have an easy time believing that he's the God who was.

And sometimes I have a really easy time believing that he's the God who is to come. But every now and then, I have a hard time believing he's the God who is, but he's the God who's present with me right now in everything that's going on. And whatever's happening in my life, he is the God who is, and is the ever present God in everything that I go through in every circumstance in my life. It's like God just reminded me today.

I'm the God who's here. Yes, I'm the God of the past. Yes, I'm the God of the future, but I'm the God of today. And I want you to notice what takes place after this first night. And when the living creatures give honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever. I just, I love the, we'll get into what the 24 elders do in just a second,

but I want to point out how John describes the one that the 24 or that these four living creatures praise. It says when they give thanks to him who first of all sits on the throne, listen, brothers and sisters, we cannot overstate the fact that God is on the throne because on almost a continual basis, I forget that God is on the throne and nothing that's happening in the world is catching him by surprise. And nothing that's happening in my life is catching him by surprise because he's the God who's on the throne. But then he describes him a second way, the God who lives forever and ever, right?

Reminds me of the sandlot for ever. Because we serve a living God and it gives us the living hope. He says when they give honor to him, the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns before the throne. And before we get into what they say, I want you to think about this. Let's follow the logic of what he just told us here.

How often do the four living creatures praise God day and night? What do the four or what do the 24 elders do every time that the four living creatures praise God? They bow down and they throw a crown at his feet. You know what that indicates to me? These 24 elders are constantly doing what? Bowing down and throwing their crown at the feet of Jesus. Almost kind of indicates that's a really big part of what's going to take place,

right? Worship is going to be a really big part of what takes place. There was a custom in, in Rome when somebody achieved something great, like a victor's crown like that, that they would come and they would stand before the emperor. Kind of like when you win the NBA championship now and you get to go to the white house, unless you're Steph Curry and Donald Trump's the president.

Other than that, that's usually what happens is you, as you go do that and you meet the president, right? And all those kinds of things. Well, that's what would happen. They would take their crown and they would throw it at the feet of the emperor and then he would give it back to them. But that was their way of saying, this was for, for you. Well, it's the same idea that's presented to us here of what these 24 elders do.

They bow down at the feet of Jesus and they throw their crown as if to say, this was all for you. Everything I did was for you. And then as they throw their crowns at his feet, apparently all the time, I want you to notice how they praise the Lord. It says, worthy are you, our Lord and our God to receive glory and, and honor and power for you created all things because of your will.

They existed and were created. I want to break down these four phrases that they use. It says, first of all, worthy are you Lord? That word worthy means to have weight value or worth saying you have such great value. They're saying, worthy are you, oh Lord, our God. And what is he worthy of? He is worthy to receive glory and honor and power. They start off by saying,

Lord, you are so worthy. But then they move on to this second phrase because they begin describing the great worthiness of the Lord. Why? Because you created all things. Told you guys on Sunday that I get to go meet with a group of high school kids every Friday morning right now. And I'm really enjoying it. The ones that show up for this early morning thing are just,

they're a great group of kids and I'm really enjoying being there with them. And I was talking to him about creation. I said, you know, the fact that God created the heavens and the earth, you know, I have this philosophy that Genesis chapter one, verse one is the most important verse in the Bible. Because if you can believe that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, you can believe anything else that the Bible has to say.

And it also proves to us that God is all knowing that God is all powerful and that God is the eternal God. It proves those things to us because he is the one who literally spoke the world. Into existence. And who knew that Genesis chapter one, verse one would be the basis for us praising God for all of eternity. Worthy are you Lord? Why for you have created all things.

We're doing this devotion with our girls last night. And it's out of Colossians chapter one, verses 16 and 17, where it says that by him, all things were created, whether things on heaven, things on earth, principalities, powers, rulers, and all those kinds of things, all things were created by him and all things were created for him. And he is before all things. And so we were talking about what have you, and the question that we were to ask is what have you been in all of?

And of course I'm talking to a 14 year old and a 10 year old. So we have to jog their brains just a little bit. And I know I've shared this before, but Nora's going, I don't know. I said, Nora, I remember what you were always in all of. And she said, what's that? I said, when you were about two years old, I would take you outside at night and you were in all of the sky.

First thing she'd say, she'd look up at the sky and she'd go, daddy, look just like that because she was so in all of the stars. And I wonder when the last time was that you allowed yourself to be overwhelmed by the creation of God to the point where you cried out, worthy are you Lord of all power and honor and glory because you have created all things. Well, they go on from there to say, for you created all things. And because of your will, they existed.

And because of your will, they were created. I want to point those two things out to you because of your will, they were created. In other words, everything that was created was because is because God was like, I want that. I want that. I want to be here. That is what I want. But the thing that really sticks out to me is the second one because of you, they exist.

I got to tell you, I really appreciate the old King James translation of this verse. Can I read it to you real quick? It says this, thou art worthy. Oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for thou has created all things. And for, for thy pleasure, they are and were created. You see, one of those other lessons that I taught the kids at the high school is the same

lesson that I have taught my girls. And that's that you were created for a purpose. And the purpose that you were created for is to know your savior. You were created for the pleasure of God. In other words, he meant to do it. You ever thought about that? So many people feel like their life is an accident. Oh, well, I just accidentally ended up here. No, you didn't accidentally end up here.

God created you on purpose. He knew exactly what he was doing when he created you. I remember being in Bible college and Romaine came down and taught a, he didn't teach a class to us. He was doing a men's retreat. If you don't know who Romaine is, Romaine was Chuck's bulldog, right? Chuck Smith is the pastor. He's the super nice guy. Romaine was the one that handled church discipline.

And he was just a little bit shorter than me, but he was an old drill sergeant. And he was a very gruff guy, intimidating just to look at even as old as he was when I met him. And I remember a group of us Bible college kids were hanging out and he said, you guys are part of the conference. And I said, no, sir, we're just Bible college kids. And he looked at me and he said,

don't you ever say that again? And I was like, me and all my buddies are standing there. Like, of course I was the one that said it. He said, don't you ever say that again? I said, okay. He goes, don't you ever say, don't you ever say, don't you ever say the worst about yourself. You're a child of God created in the image of God. And he did it on purpose. Don't ever call yourself just a Bible college student again.

That has stuck with me to this day because you were created for God's pleasure. And he did it on purpose. You're not a mistake. You're not an accident. You were his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works for his pleasure. You are and were created. Amen. Boy, the scene in heaven is pretty cool so far, isn't it? Just wait till chapter five. It's going to get even better.

It's going to get even better. Would you bow with me? Father, we thank you so much for the time that we've had in your word. And Lord, I thank you for who you are. Father, there may be unanswered questions, but one thing remains the same. Worthy are you Lord to receive the power and the honor and the glory because you created all things. Because of you, they were created and because of you,

they exist and Lord, we praise you for that tonight. Father, would you work in as a heart of worship? Father, would you keep our eyes focused on you? Help us to see you more clearly in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.