Word of Salvation – Vol. 45 No.21 – June 2000
God on His Throne
Sermon by Rev L Douma
on Revelation 4
Scripture Readings: 2Corinthians 1:1-11
Confession & Assurance: Isaiah 6
Suggested Hymns: BoW 379; 103a; 514; 531
Beloved in the Lord.
In the Old Testament there is the story of Elisha and his servant who were surrounded at Dothan by a large force of Aramean soldiers. The servant in his panic said “Oh my lord, what shall we do?” To which Elisha replied (in effect), “that’s not an army, I’ll show you an army!” And he prayed that God would open the eyes of his servant (2 Kings 6:17). “Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills FULL OF HORSES AND CHARIOTS OF FIRE ALL AROUND ELISHA.”
John’s visions in Revelation serve much the same purpose for the church – for the seven churches John first wrote to back then, and still for us today. Revelation shows us how things really are from God’s perspective. It shows God on the throne, awesome and all powerful, and that His forces make those of the devils and the world pale into insignificance. For the church to maintain its hope in a world, where it is often seduced or persecuted, it, in faith, needs to see this big picture.
We can say the book of Revelation is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the letters to the seven churches. It includes the vison of Christ standing amongst the seven lampstands – that is, Jesus in the midst of His churches. It deals with the, then current, state of the churches John wrote this letter to. The second part of Revelation deals with all that “…must take place after this” (vs.1). And as we look at what is coming, we can sum it up by saying that it’s all about how the kingdom of Satan is being displaced by the kingdom of God, about how the old sinful way of fife will be replaced by a new and perfect life.
Now we must understand that Revelation is not simply history written beforehand. The letter does not follow a chronological order. You cannot think of it as a movie that moves forward with everything happening in historical order reaching the climax of the story. The idea is not so much to try and imagine the pictures as to understand the symbolism. The different scenes John “sees” keep coming back to the same key issue but with ever increasing force and an expansion of the main idea, until finally we see Christ establishing His kingdom forever.
There is a parallel noticeable between the first part of Revelation and this second part.
In the first vision John first of all saw Jesus – in awesome splendour – the snow white hair, His eyes like blazing fire, His feet like bronze glowing in a furnace, and a sharp double-edged sword coming from His mouth. That set the scene for the letters to the seven churches as the all-knowing, all powerful Jesus encourages and challenges His churches.
Now in this second part of the letter, before John is shown the actual battle between the two kingdoms, he is shown in chapters 4 & 5 who is completely in charge, who has the almighty power, who is unbeatable and therefore who will surely have the victory in this struggle that has been unfolding in our world’s history.
In verses 1 and 2 of our text we see that John was conscious of a change: “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this’. At once I was in the spirit.” So it seems after his first vision John returned to his natural state – he was not in a trance anymore. But now, later, he hears that same voice again and by the Spirit he is again in a trance and seeing this new vision. And this second vision has a change of scene. Before, John saw himself on earth with Jesus in amongst the church. But now he is called up to heaven.
He is told about things that “must take place”. The “must” is a divine “must”. It must happen because God says so. It must and it will happen because God is the almighty God whose will is always fulfilled, whose promises happen, because He is GOD. Nothing that is later revealed in Revelation can fail to happen because behind it all stands the unchangeable God with His unchanging will.
John enters ”in the Spirit” through the open door into heaven. The first thing that gets his attention is a throne. In fact, it is the central figure in the whole vision. It dominates everything. Everything else he sees is grouped around the throne. The throne in the Bible is symbolic of royal sovereignty and majesty. It stands for supreme power and judgment.
Now it’s interesting that John doesn’t say that it is God sitting on the throne. That comes out later in the chapter as God is worshipped. John simply speaks of “one who sat” there. He does not describe God, because no one has ever seen God and John couldn’t even begin to describe what God is like. What he does is to give a general impression – that God had the appearance of jasper and carnelian”, i.e., He had the magnificent appearance of precious stones. The carnelian is a bright red stone and represents God’s holiness and righteous anger against sin. The jasper was a bright crystal-white stone, like a diamond, indicating the purity and righteousness of God as well as His glory and victory.
Now around the throne John saw a “rainbow resembling an emerald.” Of course, when we think of the rainbow we think of Noah and God’s promise that never again would the world be destroyed as in the flood. So the rainbow symbolises God’s grace towards all His creation. It symbolises God’s faithfulness. The seasons come and go in their regularity because God is faithful to His Word. John sees it resembling an “emerald” which is green – the colour of hope. It is the symbol of nature renewing itself in the time of spring, the symbol of the new creation. So it all symbolises the hope of the coming day of the Lord when all will be made new and perfect. John says in verse 5: “From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder”. It reminds us of Mount Sinai where God appeared to Israel as its King and Law-giver. We remember how the people trembled in fear recognising the awesome majesty of God.
“Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing.” These are the seven Spirits of God and from chapter 1 we see that it refers to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ – the one who dwells in the church and joins us together and to Jesus as His body. It is the Spirit who empowers the church as He did on the day of Pentecost. It is the Spirit who gives us the courage and conviction and power to be God’s people in the world and to actively stand up for Jesus in the struggle with the world and the devil.
Verse 6: “Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.” In Revelation the sea refers to the nations of the world (17:15). But it is not now the restless sea, the rebelliousness of the nations. Now the sea is calm – the people from the nations who have been redeemed in Christ. The presence of God is no place for the rebellious human race. But those who have come in Christ have been forgiven, made new. The sea is “like a sea of glass, clear as crystal”. It is a symbol of splendour, transparency. Before God’s throne the new creation reflects the glory and holiness of God who sits on the throne. The sea is calm and clear because it is restful in the Shalom of God.
Now around the throne John sees twenty four different thrones. And sitting on those thrones are twenty four elders. This does not mean the elders as office bearers in our Reformed Churches but the Old Testament idea of the heads of tribes and families, the representatives of all God’s people. Twenty four is twice twelve – giving us the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles.
So the twenty four elders are the representatives of the church, of the people of God of all ages, both of the Old and New Testament times, of the Jews and the Gentiles. They sit on thrones and wear crowns of gold because they share the glory and dominion of Jesus Christ. The church has that glorious position because – as their white gowns show – they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, the believer shares in all that is Christ’s.
The vision is an indicator of what the church already is – as Paul writes in Ephesians, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms.” It’s also a vision of what lies ahead for the church – the glorious future when Jesus wins the final battle. But this vision is not just a hopeful thing. It is guaranteed, because from where God sits on the throne, it’s already done.
Finally, in this vision John sees the “four living creatures.” There are different interpretations as to what they stand for, especially in the details. But the best would be like this. John sees four of these living creatures around the throne. Four is the number that is symbolic of creation in all its fullness. Like the four winds of heaven and the four corners of the earth.
So the creatures, in their number, represent the entire creation. John tells us that in their appearance one looked like a lion, another like an ox, a man, and the last an eagle. They are the four royal representatives of all the living creatures – the animate powers of creation. The lion is the king of wild animals, the ox the strongest of domesticated animals, man the most intelligent of God’s creatures, the eagle the most majestic among birds. So they represent the powers of creation in their strength, courage, intelligence and majestic flight. The wings of the four creatures symbolises freedom and movement and also ascent and development.
Six is the number of the creation as it originally received its power from God. So the six wings of each creature indicate its ability to develop to its full extent and unhindered. When Christ comes again all creation will mount up with its six wings and reach its full potential to the glory of God. Now everything is cursed, broken. The environment is slowly being destroyed, as are the animals facing extinction. So much of the creation’s potential is hampered or destroyed by human rebellion. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8 that the whole creation is waiting “in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed”, the “whole creation has been groaning…”.
The reference to the wings being “covered with eyes all around, even under the wings”, does not mean that they can see everything and move in all directions. From Ezekiel we get the understanding that the eyes are the truth of God imbedded in nature. That is, creation reveals plainly its inmost nature and being. But as it does so all of creation reveals the truth of God, it reveals His eternal power and deity.
So by their very nature these creatures, symbolising the whole creation, ceaselessly sing the praises of God. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, who was and is and is to come”.
The purpose of all things is the glory of God. That’s why God created. And creation does it automatically-in its wonder and beauty and intricacy it reflects the glory and majesty of Him who sits on the throne.
With human beings it’s a bit different. We, too, are called to glorify God. But we do it thinkingly and consciously. We stand in the creation and see it reflecting God, we consciously note the wonder of the Creator. As the creation sings the praises of God, so we see it and join in with it. We see, in verses 9 and 10, that the twenty four elders, “whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to him who sits on the throne and lives for ever and ever, they fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship Him…” They sing, “You are worthy, our lord and our God to receive all glory and honour and power, for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being.”
There is a magnificent harmony here – the harmony of creation and human beings – no longer at odds destroying each other. No more hailstorms or floods or tornadoes or earthquakes or drought. No more war and devastation, pollution, no more extinction of animals or abuse of fellow human beings. The earth and the people of God will live in harmony, together being obedient to the Word of God, together worshipping God.
This is the vision Jesus gives to the church. Sin and the power of Satan are still around us. Even in our own personal lives we have a battle between good and evil, right and wrong. When we watch the news and continually see places of war, or the devastating hurricanes or earthquakes, we wonder: where is God? But John shows us that with the eyes of faith we must look up to heaven. He gives us a glimpse into the throne room and shows us who is in charge. He shows us that He who is on the side of the church is far more powerful than all the forces of sin and evil. He shows us what “must come”. And it will – for God is on the throne, Christ has gained the victory (Christ has not been seen yet – He comes in chapter 5). Revelation reveals the struggle that is to come. But it also assures the church, as it goes through the battle, what will come to the faithful.
Amen.