Sermon By Rev. Dr Steve Voorwinde

Rev4-5

THE KINGDOM, THE POWER, AND THE GLORY

Scripture Reading: Revelation 4-5

Introduction

When I was a uni. student, I had a Christian friend who once made a bold pronouncement, “I never think of heaven. That’s something for old ladies to worry about.” I could see what he was driving at. He wanted a robust, relevant, and practical faith. He wanted a faith that would make a difference in the here and now. The last thing he wanted was the airy-fairy “pie in the sky when you die” kind of faith.

Over the years I have discovered that my friend seems to have a lot of sympathisers. In the ministry I would sometimes ask the rather forthright question, “Are you looking forward to heaven?” I had wrongly assumed that most Christians would answer that question with a resounding “Yes!” But it turned out that the only Christians who gave that kind of answer were those who were very old, those who were chronically ill, and those who had mental health issues. I won’t ask you for a show of hands this morning, but I do wonder how many of you here are sincerely longing for heaven.

You see, your desire for heaven will profoundly affect the way you live on earth. And you don’t have to be as old as me for that to happen. This is not just a message for seniors, the over 65’s, it’s a message for everybody – the young, the old, and everyone in between.

 A strong belief in heaven will actually make your faith robust, relevant, and practical. That’s where this sermon will be heading this morning. A faith that doesn’t include heaven is a defective faith, an unhealthy faith. A faith that is healthy and strong will be fed and motivated by a deep desire for heaven.

To demonstrate this point, I want to give you a glimpse of heaven. And there’s no better way of doing that than by having a close look at Revelation 4-5. These have to be among the most beautiful chapters in the Bible.

To work our way through these celestial chapters, I want you to imagine yourself in three roles:

1. You are going to be a talented artist.
2. You are going to be the director of a huge philharmonic orchestra.
3. You will be a humble worshipper.

1. So, firstly, imagine yourself as a very talented artist.

 

1. Picture yourself suddenly being endowed with all the artistic genius of a Michelangelo, or Rembrandt, or Claude Monet. You have been set a huge assignment. You have before you a vast canvas, and on that canvas you have been asked to paint the scene of heaven that we have in Revelation 4 & 5.

Where and how would you begin? You would start with your pencil or crayon or piece of charcoal and do a rough outline of what you wanted to paint:

2. You would start right at the centre of your canvas and there you would draw a square. Then around that square you would draw four concentric circles. The first circle would be right around the square. The second circle would be a little further out. The third would be much further out, and the fourth should reach almost to the edge of your canvas. All of this should be simple enough for an artistic genius like yourself. You don’t need a compass or a CAD program on your computer. With your talent, you can draw the most perfect circles freehand.

3. But now your work is going to become a little more challenging, because what do the square and the four concentric circles represent? So, we check out our information in Revelation 4 & 5 and this is what we find:

• The square at the very centre is the throne of God.
• The first circle represents the four living creatures.
• The second is the 24 elders.
• The third circle represents the angels.
• The fourth is for all the other creatures, every other living being in all creation.

That broad outline that you have just sketched in your mind is the picture we are given of heaven – the throne at the centre, then the four living creatures, then the 24 elders, then the angels, and finally every other creature.

4. But now for us expert artists, the time has come to put some of the details into the general sketch that we have so far, and this will require a lot of talent and a lot of imagination.

• Again, we begin with the throne. This presents a challenge for even the most skilled artist. The one seated on the throne “had the appearance of jasper and carnelian” (4:3). This doesn’t give away very much. The writer is very circumspect in the way he describes God. What is the appearance of jasper and carnelian? Let’s start with jasper. For this I had to turn to the very best dictionary of New Testament Greek in my possession, and this is what it says about jasper: “a precious stone found in various colors, mostly reddish, but sometimes green . . . brown, blue, yellow and white” (BDAG) For the artist in us, that doesn’t help very much. But on the upside, it encourages our creativity. This is no paint-by-number exercise. Your jasper can be reddish, green, brown, blue, yellow, or white! Or maybe it’s a mixture of all or at least some of these. So, take your pick. You can let your creative juices flow with this one.

Thankfully, the dictionary gives little choice when it comes to carnelian. It is simply “a reddish precious stone.” It has also been called a sardius or a sardine stone or simply a ruby. With the appearance of jasper and carnelian, try to imagine the splendour radiating from the One seated on the throne.

But there’s still more to see here. Verse 3 continues: “and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.” Now here’s something we earthlings can relate to – emerald. Why is Ireland known as “the Emerald Isle”? Because it’s so green! So we get the picture. The throne and the one seated on it are surrounded by a rainbow that is a bright and shining and radiant green.

So here we artists have a big challenge. How do you capture on canvas emerald green, carnelian red, and multi-coloured jasper? By asking this question, we have stumbled across a deeper truth. You can’t paint God! No matter how great your artistic talent might be, you can’t depict him. You can’t even imagine him in your mind’s eye. And if we read carefully, John couldn’t describe him in writing either. Notice how he says that the one seated on the throne “had the appearance of jasper and carnelian.” The same is true of the rainbow around the throne. It had “the appearance of an emerald” (4:3). John’s words are not descriptive. They are suggestive. Anything more than that would be idolatry. John was a Jew and he wasn’t about to break the second commandment! John’s words are suggestive rather than precise. They tease the imagination. Your painting should do the same.

• Then immediately around that throne are the four living creatures. Each is full of eyes in front and behind. The one looks like a lion, another like an ox. The third has a face like that of a man, and the fourth is like a flying eagle. This imagery is drawn from chapters one and ten of Ezekiel, where the prophet has a similar vision of the cherubim. Each of the living creatures also has six wings like the seraphim of Isaiah 6, and like the seraphim they sing, “Holy, holy, holy” (Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8). These heavenly beings therefore combine into one, features of the cherubim and seraphim of the Old Testament. That’s why they are in the immediate presence of God.

• Then we come to the next group, which is much easier for us to picture – the 24 elders. Each sits on a throne, is clothed in white, and wears a golden crown.

• Around them in the next circle are the angels. They number “myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands” (5:11). We all know what a thousand is, but what about a myriad? In ancient Greek it was the highest number there was, and it was only 10,000. Today we can go as high as a googolplex. That’s 10 to the power of 100, times ten to the power of ten. Or, to put it differently, a googolplex is equal to 10 raised to the power of a googol. And a googol is 1 followed by 100 zeroes. How’s that for the rate of inflation over the last 2,000 years! We also know that 1,000 x 1,000 = 1 million. That would make 10,000 x 10,000  = 100 million. But it’s no use trying to figure out the exact number of angels because these numbers are all in the plural. It’s “myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.” It’s a number we can’t calculate, and it would be a total we can’t even imagine. Perhaps today we would have to use a made-up number. We might say there were a zillion angels.

• And then on the outer circle there is every other creature “in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea” (5:13). None is omitted. None is overlooked. All of nature is included – all the birds of the sky, all the fish in the sea, all the land animals and every human being will unite in bringing praise to God and the Lamb. All you artists out there, how are you going to fit all that in your grand painting? Just as well you are working on a very large canvas!

5. Now as we stand back and look at our colourful canvas and check it against Revelation 4 & 5, we find a few important figures are still missing:

• Before the throne are the seven torches of fire representing the seven spirits of God, who in turn are symbolic of the Holy Spirit.

• Also before the throne is the sea of crystal.

• Then, most importantly, there is the Lamb that looks as though it had been slain. Yet that slain looking Lamb is standing. But where is the Lamb standing? According to the ESV, from which we read earlier, he is standing “between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders” (5:6). I don’t know about you, but that leaves me baffled as to exactly where the Lamb is standing. In our masterpieces I don’t know where I would put this Lamb. The NIV is much clearer, and also closer to the original, when it says that the Lamb was “standing in the centre of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.” That makes much better sense. He is standing in the middle of the throne!

But wait a minute! Isn’t Someone already seated on that throne? How is that supposed to work? And what does it do to our paintings? Artistically, this is impossible. But theologically, it’s brilliant! Remember, a few moments ago, we considered that Someone seated on the throne. There was an artistic problem then too. But as we dealt with that, we discovered that God is indescribable. John recounts his vision in such a way that this divine attribute is preserved.

Here he pictures an even greater theological truth. Both God and the Lamb are on the throne. But now, guess what! So is the Holy Spirit! How do we know that? Because the Lamb has “seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (5:6). And what is meant by “the seven spirits of God”? We have already seen that this is a reference to the Holy Spirit (4:5). What a beautiful picture of the Trinity John presents us with! At first it seems like there is only one Person on the throne, but on closer inspection there are three. And of course, you can’t paint the Trinity any more than you can paint the invisible God!

But now let’s come back for a moment to the Lamb. Its appearance is unusual. It looks as though it has been slain, and it has seven horns and seven eyes. As such it symbolises the crucified and glorified Christ. Because he was crucified and slain, because of his saving work, he is worthy to take the scroll out of the right hand of him who sits on the throne. He is able to open the scroll and break its seals. In other words, he is able to reveal God’s eternal plan and also to put into effect.

That is why the Lamb can go to the throne and take the scroll. From now on that throne becomes the throne of God and of the Lamb. The ascended Christ has received authority to rule the universe according to God’s eternal decree. God governs the universe through the Lamb. His is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.

6. Can you see it now in your mind’s eye – that masterpiece that no artist in the world could ever hope to paint? Can you begin to imagine it – the Bible’s picture of heaven: the throne, the four living creatures, the elders, the angels and all creation? How vast and how majestic it all is!

1. But we haven’t finished yet. From the art of painting, we must now turn to the art of music. Now you can clean up your paints. You can let your canvas dry. You can put all your art materials away. Remember, you are not only artistically talented, you are also an extremely gifted musician. Now I want you to imagine yourself as the director of an enormous philharmonic orchestra.

 

1. Those creatures that we have painted must now come to life. And as they come to life, we hear them sing. We begin to hear the music of heaven. A wave of praise begins at the throne and from there it goes out into all creation. All of creation becomes one majestic choir singing the praises of God.

2. But before anyone sings, there is this almighty heavenly prelude to all the songs that follow. “From the throne came . . . rumblings and peals of thunder” (4:5). God himself directs these celestial choirs and orders the music to begin. That’s to remind you that, in spite of all your musical talent, you are just an underling, no more than a junior music director.

3. The first you direct are those closest to the throne – the four living creatures. Night and day they never stop singing: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come” (4:8).

4. As they keep singing, you point to the 24 elders to join in. They fall down before the throne and worship together as they sing:

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,

                  To receive glory, and honour and power,

For you created all things,

                  And by your will they existed and were created” (4:11).

Here in chapter 4, the living creatures and the elders worship the Creator for his might and for his holiness.

5. Then in chapter 5, when the Lamb has taken the scroll from the One sitting on the throne, the living creatures and the elders join their voices together again. In a new song to the Redeemer, they praise him for the salvation of his people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And so, now you direct both groups to sing:

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

                  And to open its seals,

For you were slain and by your blood

                  You ransomed people for God

From every tribe and language and people and nation,

                  And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

And they shall reign for ever and ever” (5:11, 12).

6. Then the living creatures and the elders are joined by the voices of myriads and myriads of angels. So, as the director, you bring them in and they also sing in a loud voice to the Redeemer:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

                  To receive power and wealth and wisdom, and might,

And glory and honour and blessing” (5:12).

7. Finally, you reach out to the rest of creation to join in the praise of the Creator and Redeemer:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

                  Be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!” (5:13).

8. You will notice that the praise begins around the throne and then it goes out in ever expanding circles till it encompasses all of creation. Then it returns to the throne when the living creatures say, “Amen!” and the elders fall down and worship God.

And why do they do it? Because his is the kingdom and the power and the glory!

As a junior director of these heavenly choirs, you could now bow out. But you don’t. You too bow down before the throne of God and the Lamb!

1. Now let’s change gears once again. You have been working your imagination really hard, and that’s always a good thing when you read the Book of Revelation. You have imagined yourself as a master artist, and you have pictured yourself as the director of heavenly choirs. But now I want to bring you back from the heights of heaven. From the scene before the throne, I want to bring you back to earth with a pretty hard thud. You are sitting back in your pew again. You are not a talented artist or a gifted musician anymore. You are just a humble worshipper sitting in a church pew on a wintery Sunday morning in Geelong.

You are just a humble worshipper, but you are not the same person you were an hour ago. After contemplating John’s vision of heaven, you are a different person. Or at least you should be! You can’t go to heaven and back, without it changing you, without it having a major impact on the way you live in this world. It should shape your thinking and your attitudes in at least two areas:

• It should shape how you think and feel about yourself.
• It should shape your attitude to the world around you.

In other words, your belief in heaven should have both an individual and a global impact. It shapes how you see yourself and how you see the world.

1. Let’s first think about how it impacts the way we see ourselves:

• Revelation 4&5 make one basic point. At the centre of the universe, there stands the throne of God and of the Lamb.
• The sun is not the centre of the universe.
• The earth is not the centre of the universe.
• I am not the centre of the universe, and neither are you.
• God is the centre of the universe, because that throne is the throne of God and the Lamb. And all the songs of praise from men and women and angels, and from every creature under heaven, is directed to that throne.

It is the tendency of our sin to lose that perspective. It either forgets or denies that there is nothing more important in the universe than giving glory to God. And how are we doing at that? The society around us doesn’t encourage it very much. Back in the 1970’s I think it was, people began to call that period the “me-decade.”

When the decade was over, the theme continued, but now it became the “me-generation.” Advertisers jumped on the bandwagon too. They would spruik their products by telling potential customers, “You deserve it.” And why do you deserve it? Because “the most important person in the world is you!” And the best personal quality you can have is a good dose of self-esteem. The more you have, the more successful you will be. Never mind that a lot of hardened criminals feel pretty good about themselves. They can have healthy self-esteem too!

So every influence around us stokes our natural tendency to put ourselves, rather than God, at the centre of our universe. We glorify ourselves rather than God. But our chapters in Revelation confront that sinful tendency head-on:

• The four living creatures don’t glorify themselves; they glorify God.
• The 24 elders don’t glorify themselves; they glorify God.
• The myriads upon myriads of angels don’t glorify themselves; they glorify God.
• All those creatures in heaven and earth and under the earth and in the sea don’t glorify themselves; they glorify God.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught his disciples the same lesson. The prayer starts with “hallowed be thy name.” It ends with “for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory.” When I say the Lord’s Prayer, then I am prepared to give all the glory to God, and keep none of it for myself.

Now isn’t that a good test of Christian maturity? Ask yourself how pleased you are, or how displeased you are, if God is praised but you are not. And how pleased or displeased are you, if you are praised but God is not?

Mature Christians are those who are content not to have the glory given to them, but it troubles them if people are not glorifying God.

Brothers and sisters, friends, self-glory and ego can be such dangers in the life and work of the church. They can stalk us in whatever we do. Even the most beautiful things that we try to do for God can be tainted by our own vanity:

• That act of kindness to a neighbour,
• That word of witness to a friend,
• That word of wise advice to a colleague at work,
• Yes, even that inspiring sermon at church.

All of these can be infected by the virus of self-glory and ego, rather than be driven by a sincere desire for the glory of God. I have even heard of cases of people leaving a church because they did not receive the credit, that they thought they deserved.

How different was the reaction of the Puritan preacher, Richard Baxter. As he lay on his deathbed, visitors would come and praise him for his books. To this he would whisper, “I was but a pen in God’s hand, and what praise is due to a pen?”

That’s to be the mentality of every Christian, to develop the skill of giving the glory to God. In heaven we’ll be doing it all the time. In John’s vision, all the praise was directed to God and to the Lamb. Not one creature received any praise – not the elders, not the angels, no one. Let us learn to be happy glorifying God, because in heaven we’ll be doing it for all eternity.

2. Having this vision of heaven that we have seen and heard in Revelation 4-5 should not only affect the way we see ourselves, but also the way we view the world. And by “the world” I mean the world as it is currently, such as the geo-political world, the natural world, and the world of economics.

What do you think of the world right now, as it is today? For example, how do you feel about the war in the Middle East? What do you make of the war between Russia and Ukraine? What do you think of the rising tensions in the South China Sea? Do all these events worry you, scare you, or even terrify you? Or do you prefer simply to ignore them, to banish them from your mind?

And what about the natural disasters that have been affecting Australia? Think back to the Black Summer of 2019-20, of the year of Covid that came straight afterwards, and the floods in Queensland, NSW, and right here in Victoria over the last two or three years? Was all of this due to climate change and if so, what kind of a world are we leaving to our children and grandchildren?

And what could the economic impact be of all this? Are we heading for economic disaster? Are your attitudes to these things any different to those of the non-Christians around you? When you look at this present world, are you filled with fear, hopelessness, anger, or despair? Or is there another way of seeing these things?

Our passage says there is. Who is on the throne? Is it Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin or Xi Xing Ping? Are they the centre of the universe? Are they holding the scroll with the seven seals? Have they opened even one of those seven seals? If not, then shouldn’t that change our perspective on the world as it is today? If it is God who is on the throne, and if it is Jesus who has the book of human destiny in his hands, and if he is the One who breaks its seals, that should change our attitude completely! Shouldn’t it?

Jesus alone is the one who breaks the seven seals. Jesus, the Lamb that was slain, is given sovereignty over human history. He is also the Lamb with seven horns, a symbol of power. He will rule the earth according to God’s plan. And what does that look like? What happens when Jesus breaks those seals? For that we have to read on into chapter 6, where the four horsemen of the Apocalypse ride onto the stage of history. Look at what happens when the first four seals are opened:

• The first rider comes in on a white horse. In Revelation the colour white does not always stand for purity. Here it stands for conquest. And so, the horseman rides in, “conquering and to conquer” (6:2). He is given a crown, but his conquests have terrible consequences.
• These consequences begin with the arrival of a bright red horse. This rider “was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that men should slay one another, and he was given a great sword” (6:4).
• This paves the way for the third horseman who rides on a black horse. This rider brings famine and galloping inflation. Even the basics for survival are sold at sky high prices. These are the consequences of conquest and war.
• Then comes the fourth horseman. He rides a pale horse. The rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. This is the final consequence of conquest, war, and famine. They lead to death, and they take their victims to the realm of the dead.

These four horsemen are frightening figures. They represent all those down the ages who have lusted for power and who have left misery and destruction in their wake. We see the same happening in the world today. Our time is no exception to what has happened all through history. But as Christians we have the profound comfort that behind all this misery and tragedy and devastation, it is God who holds the scroll, and it is Jesus who opens its seals. God and the Lamb are sovereign over history. They permit those four riders to do what they do. But nothing is outside of their divine control.

Conclusion

All this horrible history has a holy purpose. Christ now rules in the midst of his enemies, and those enemies must face the fierce and fearsome justice of God. As Christ rules, he preserves his church and works everything for the good of his people. And one day he will bring all of history to a glorious conclusion. And then all will know without a doubt that his is “the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.”