The Sovereign God of History - 14

Well, this morning we have come to one of the great chapters in the Bible, Chapter 4 of the Book of the Revelation.

And while I speak of great chapters of the Bible, your mind perhaps runs to Romans Chapter 8, John Chapter 3, Isaiah Chapter 53, Hebrews Chapter 11, perhaps the four Christological passages of the New Testament, Matthew Chapter 1, and they're easy to remember because they're all Chapter 1, Matthew Chapter 1, Colossians Chapter 1, Hebrews Chapter 1, and John Chapter 1, those great passages that set Christ before us. What makes Revelation 4 great is that it is here, along with Revelation Chapter 5, that we have the most informative, extensive, and the most detailed description of heaven found anywhere in the Bible. John is transported to heaven in the Spirit and he's given a vision of the glories and the splendor of heaven. And he is permitted to give a detailed description of what he saw and what he heard and what he experienced.

Now, this is not the ordinary common everyday experience. There's only one other person in the New Testament who also was taken to heaven, that being the Apostle Paul, and likewise in a vision. He was transported, he says, into the third heaven. He says in 2 Corinthians Chapter 12 and verse 4, but unlike John, he was forbidden to speak of what he saw and what he heard. So, you may have been taken a bit back when I said this is one of the great chapters of the Bible, and you may have thought, well, I never thought of Revelation 4 as one of the great, well, perhaps you do now, and now you know why. If we want to know what heaven is like, we better go to the Word of God and not go to the bestseller rack at the Christian bookstore and read about people who claim to have died and gone to heaven and saw this and saw that. It's amazing to read some of those books and what people recount to have experienced and compare it with what we find in the Word of God.

It can be a bit troubling. Well, several weeks ago, and perhaps maybe a month ago by now, I came to a settled peace about moving ahead in our study of Revelation, and I did not come to that settled peace very quickly nor easily. But I've committed myself, as God wills in the coming weeks and months, and God tarries His coming, to preach through the book of Revelation. Much prayer and many considerations led to this decision, your encouragements, your desire to hear an exposition of the book.

So this morning, in a way that's very out of the ordinary, I want to give a rather extended introduction and lay some groundwork and some markers and just some things that I think we need to keep in mind in order for this study to be helpful and profitable. I want to bring an orientation and set before you a mindset and remind you of some things that I trust will keep us anchored and focused so that our study together will be blessed of God and profitable and fruitful. The first thing, go back to the beginning of the book of the Revelation. The first thing that we need to be reminded of and keep ourselves anchored to is that this book is about the revelation of Jesus Christ. Notice the first words of chapter 1, verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The entire book is written to unveil, to reveal, to display the person and work of Jesus Christ. And we do not, in our study, in our trek through the book of Revelation, we do not want to lose sight of Him. Revelation is the revealing of what Jesus Christ has accomplished. And folks, He will save His people from their sins.

He will. And He'll bring it all to a glorious consummation. And we'll see that as we move through the book of the Revelation. Revelation must not be disconnected from the rest of Scripture. It is a part of the whole. It is a part of the great drama of redemption.

You know this. The Bible is a history book. And when you take the words history, it is His story. It is the history of God's dealings with humanity. And it's a four-part story. We can summarize the entire Bible under these four headings.

There is what? Creation, there is rebellion, there is redemption, and there is finally restoration. And our focus in the book of the Revelation is on restoration. God is moving all things in history toward a climax. God always finishes what He starts. And God is working toward a determined end. That is the restoration of a broken world marred by sin and rebellion.

Sometimes we lose sight of the big picture. And we are so focused on the individual benefits that come to us in Christ that we forget that Jesus really did accomplish something through His death and His resurrection. And the rest of history is the unfolding, the revealing of what Jesus Christ has accomplished. And there is a great restoration coming wherein dwelleth perfect righteousness. Sometimes we fail to realize that even creation will be redeemed. That there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

And all things are marching toward that predetermined end. I want to assure you and maintain, I promise you that I will attempt to maintain a posture of humility as we proceed. I'm more than gripped by the reality that I do not have all the answers.

We will encounter some very perplexing things that will be hard for us to understand. And I will refrain, for the most part, of being dogmatic. There are places where it will be appropriate to be dogmatic, and I will be.

But in those places where great men, brilliant men, men much more studied, much more learned, much more brilliant than I am, have studied and come to different conclusions. It demands that we keep a humble posture. We must resist the temptation, and I'm asking you to resist the temptation to have your guard up.

You say, well, what do you mean? Well, to be sitting there and having your guard up and you're waiting for me to say something that you disagree with. And with that, you will fill up my inbox with your refutation. And I'm not, I don't mind receiving your emails and I don't mind discussing things with you, but listen.

None of us have arrived. None of us have perfect knowledge. When you begin to understand that great men, and I am talking the pillars of the church across history, have disagreed about eschatology, alright, we're not going to have unanimity. We're not all going to agree. We're not all going to see everything the same.

And it's just the way it is. It's a little uncommon for me to ask a question, but I'm going to ask a question and get your response. Because I'm curious. And after tonight I'll be preaching on Sunday night and I won't get the opportunity to ask you and get your response.

I want to do it this morning. And that is, how many of you in your exposure to the subject of eschatology, that is the study of end times, have been exposed to the premillennial, pretribulation position? How many of you have been schooled, learned, sat under a study of eschatology of a different persuasion?

Well that's encouraging, a few of you. We will seek to honor one great hermeneutical principle. Many other hermeneutical principles, but one that stands out because of what we're going to do here this morning in Revelation chapter 4, and that is letting scripture interpret scripture. You're going to see things, you're going to, images and symbols and pictures and you're going to, what in the world, these four living creatures with eyes before and behind.

If you're just left to your own imagination, can you imagine what you could come up with? But we have the benefit of returning to other places in scripture and finding what those creatures are. That tells us. So we're going to try and honor that tried and true hermeneutical principle. We will, I will, avoid as much as possible imposing a system of theology on the text, and instead look to know the meaning of the text, free as much as possible from my and your theological presupposition. Now that's easy to say and it's really hard to do, because we bring a perspective, whether we realize it and acknowledge it or whether we don't. And it's going to be hard for some of us, because we have come to settled positions on eschatology by reading and learning from other people, from reading books and from perhaps a Sunday school teacher or pastor of some other place. And there will be this consternation in us to hold on to what we've been taught and resist changing our minds simply because, well that's what I've always been told, that's what so and so taught me, and it'll feel almost like a betrayal. Like, well if I change my mind, I see something different, I'll feel like I've betrayed this person or this person that taught me that I've loved and so on and so forth.

Now listen to me. If that person is no longer here, is in heaven and in glory, I'm going to tell you what they'll want for you. They'll want you to know the truth as it is in Jesus. Okay?

That will trump every other desire. That will be far more important to them than your loyalty to what they taught you. Now I'm not saying what they taught you was right or wrong, I'm just simply saying that we must understand that we hold on to things very, very tenaciously because, well, I've believed this for 35 years.

How could it be any different? And perhaps it will help us to think about how some of us came to our understanding of the doctrines of grace. We had to overcome a lot. We had to overcome thoughts like, well wait a minute, you mean to tell me that the vast majority of people that I know who claim to be Christians are wrong about this? Now how could that possibly be? I grew up in a good church, I heard it, and it was always, you know, the things you had to overcome in your mind?

Yes, hard. Let me remind you of something else, that whatever study Bible you have, whether it is a Reformation study Bible, whether it is a MacArthur study Bible, as good as those study notes might be, they are not inspired. The only thing inspired between the leather cover of your Bible or whatever cover is made of is the Word of God. Sometimes we're reading the notes along with our study Bible and we think, well, that's got to be the truth, that's got to be it.

Well, those are words put there by men. And I promise you, I can have one study Bible here and another study Bible here and they very much disagree in the study notes. Somebody's not right. Perhaps they're both not right.

Okay? And again, it just calls for humiliation, humbleness, teachableness. Revelation is a picture book. It's full of symbolic language and images. It is not a code book.

What do I mean by that? It is not a code book. It is not a code book where those who are the smartest can crack the code and tell you and everyone else the secret meaning. Now, my fear is that the book of Revelation has been treated that way, that it is a secret code and there are a few people that have the secret code and they go around the country and they hold prophecy seminars. And people flock to those seminars because, well, they've got the code. They can unlock the mystery. I know what the book of the Revelation means now.

Well, how do we need to be careful with that? The book of the Revelation is assigned the genre of prophecy. And you know your Bible is made up of various genres.

There's historical narrative and there's the wisdom literatures and then there's poetry. There's the gospels. Then there's the epistles that explain the gospel. And then there are portions of the Word of God that are designated the genre of prophecy. Daniel, here Ezekiel, here in the book of the Revelation. Now, Revelation is prophecy.

That does not mean that it is future in the entirety of its book. Jesus gives instruction to John in chapter 1 in verse 19 about what he is to do with what he hears and sees. And this is what we find in Revelation 1 verse 19. This is Jesus telling John, the apostle, write the things which you have seen, past tense, and the things which are, present tense, and the things which will take place after this, future tense. So anybody who tells you that the book of Revelation is entirely future is not telling you the truth. Because there are things here that are present, there are things here that are past, and there are things, and a lot of the things are yet future. Be careful of those who tell you that the book of the Revelation is mainly history. Most of what you read has already taken place.

I believe that to be wrong as well. Not to say that there aren't some things that are already taking place because that's what Jesus told John. Write the things which you have seen and the things which are.

So there's some things that are given to John that he's to record that are past tense, even from his perspective. So in summary, the book of the Revelation encompasses reality from the perspective of the past, the present, and the future. Now I say reality. I don't know what comes to your mind when you think of vision. Sometimes we think, well, if someone has a vision that it's kind of mixed with their imagination, and how trustworthy is it, and how real is it. Listen, the visions that are recorded for us here are reality. This is more real than anything that we know and can experience in this life.

This is reality. It is inspired text. What John is privileged to see and hear and experience by way of vision is recorded for us, and it's inspired by God, and it's for our benefit. Let's be reminded of one more thing that is written in chapter one in verse three. It says, blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the time is near.

Did you hear that? There is blessing promised and meant for those who read this book and for those who hear the words of this prophecy. So in other words, this is supposed to bless you.

This study that we have embarked on and are going to continue on is meant and intended to bless you. It is not meant to produce fear in you. It is not meant to make you argumentative. It is not meant to divide us and be some test of fellowship.

If you don't see it my way, I don't want anything to do with you. Now listen, if blessing is promised to those who read it and those who hear it, what blessing do you think? Now it's not written here, but I'm just thinking, do you think God has a blessing reserved for those who study it and trust the Holy Spirit to illuminate their minds that they might understand it or write?

I think yes. When Mark Webb was here for our Spring Bible Conference, we were talking and he was asking me about my preaching, and I told him where I was and where I was going, and he said, oh boy, you're a courageous man. You're going where angels fear to tread. And he related the conversation that he had with a man who was of the premillennial dispensational view, and in a casual conversation he said to the man, you do know that in Revelation chapter 4 and verse 1 that it was John who was called up, not the church that was called up? And he said, the man got hot under the collar. And that was the end of the conversation. And I said, that's sad. Because we're going to look at that in a moment, and I'm just going to show you what it says. So, the subject here, the subject of eschatology is very polarizing.

And it has the potential to create heat and division. And I'm not interested in that. I'm really not. And if we come to the book of the Revelation and you say, you know what, I have as many questions as I had before, I do know this and I learned this and that, that may be where we come down. I've never done what I'm doing.

I've read lots of material, lots of books, took classes in Bible college and seminary, but I've never preached through the book of the Revelation. So, it's an adventure for me. And again, I promise you that I will work hard, I will pray, I will study, I will depend on God, and we'll see where this study takes us. Because there's no way I could tell you where it's going to lead us.

That took me 20 minutes. And I knew it would. So, I want to take the last 25 minutes to turn you to the text of scripture, Revelation chapter 4. Notice with me the opening words of verse 1. It says, after these things. After these things, we will look and take note of those words as we make our way through the book. They mark transitions. This is marking a new vision that John receives. And if you're interested and you're taking notes, I'll give you those other references where those same words are found. You see it, not exactly these words, but in Revelation 1 verse 9, chapter 4 verse 1, chapter 7 verse 9, chapter 15 verse 5, chapter 18 verse 1, chapter 19 verse 1.

Those are the ones that I've identified in my study. You remember the first vision that John had? He was privileged to see and record his vision of the glorified Christ. And that begins in chapter 1 and verse 9. And what follows are the vision, what follows the vision are the words of Christ to John.

My Bible's red letter from, well there's a few words, chapter 1 verse 8, chapter 1 verse 11, but beginning at chapter 1 verse 17 in the middle, all the way to the end of chapter 3, my Bible is red letter. These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. The revelation that John received came directly from Jesus Christ.

So we're at a transition point. Here's another vision. And John is going to receive revelation, but he's now going to receive revelation through a vision. So what I want you to see is the first thing that John saw.

It says, after these things I looked and behold, what did he see? A door. He saw a door. What do you notice about the door? What are we told about the door? Is the door open or closed? It's an open door. And where does that door lead?

It leads to heaven. Behold, a door standing open in heaven. Notice secondly with me what he heard.

What did he hear? He says, I looked and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me. Now those words had to remind John of what preceded the first vision he had. Back in chapter 1 in verse 9, these are John's words. I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and get this, and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet sang.

Same thing there. Same thing in Revelation 4. Like a trumpet speaking with me. So he heard.

I think John had to draw the conclusion. This is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to me. I've heard this before. A trumpet speaking with me saying, what did he, what does it say? Notice the third thing in this opening verse. Here is a personal singular summons. A personal singular summons directed to John.

Come up here. That's the summons. And what seems to be implied was that John was just, there was some hesitancy in him.

This is out of the ordinary. He's standing there before this open door that leads to heaven, and he doesn't know what to do. How many of you came upon a place, and there's an open door, and you say, is that meant for me to go through?

Do I stay out? Do I, you know. That's what's going on with John. And he's just summoned, come up here. Now I'm emphasizing the personal singular nature of the summons for a reason. In my very early days as a Christian, and I mean early days, months, I'd been a Christian for months. And in the church back home on a Sunday night, there was a study launched on the book of the Revelation. And I was told and taught that here is where the church is called out. Here is where the rapture of the church takes place, and everything that follows is future.

And everything that follows, chapter 4 and verse 1, is moving toward God unleashing His wrath on an unbelieving, wicked world. Have you been taught that, by the way? Have you read that?

Have you believed that? Remember my warning. But what was my warning?

One of the warnings was, be careful of taking a system of theology and imposing it on the text and making the text say what you want it to say, because I'm just asking you to look at that and help me. If I'm missing something, you talk to me afterwards. Oh, the church is right there. The church is being called away.

Come up here, church! If that's what you see, help me see it. Because that is directed singularly to John.

Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this. Now listen to what John MacArthur says in his commentary. Quote, some see in this command a reference to the rapture of the church. However, this verse does not describe the church ascending in heaven in resurrection glorification, but John going to heaven to receive revelation. End of quote.

So says John MacArthur. John is summoned to come up here. And for what purpose? For what purpose? Well, we're told what purpose.

I will show you things which must take place after this. So what John saw and was privileged to see and has recorded for us was future from where? From his vantage point. I'm going to ask a lot of questions in this study, and many of the questions that I ask I'm not going to answer, because they're meant to probe your thinking and get you thinking.

Here's my question. We are two millennium removed from John's encounter. Is what he describes still future from our vantage point? Or is it a present reality? Well, you say before I can answer that, I have to hear what he saw.

OK, fair enough. What is the first thing he saw? The first thing he saw in verse two, he says, immediately I was in the spirit and behold, a throne. The first thing John saw when he entered through that door into heaven was a throne. And he saw more than a throne, but he saw a throne. And what else did he see beside the throne? He saw somebody sitting on the throne. I was in the spirit and behold, a throne set in heaven and one sat on the throne. Question, is that future or is that a present reality? Is that something that the church is hoping for, anticipating, looking for, longing for, or is that a present reality? Is there a throne in heaven?

Yes. Is it occupied or unoccupied? It's occupied.

And it's occupied by whom? God. Alright? This is reality, folks.

This is reality. Every son and daughter of God, there will come a day if Jesus tarries his coming that we will close our eyes in death here. And we will open our eyes there and we will see what John sees. I understand a little bit about why Paul was told, why Paul says, I can't talk about what I saw. He may have been saying I don't have words to describe what I saw. It's too overwhelming for me to describe.

I don't know. But when you begin to get your mind around what's going on here in chapter 4 and chapter 5, we've been by the bedside of loved ones and they begin to sometimes say things like, I see this and I see that. And if they're conscious and we can converse with them, we say, well, what do you see?

Tell me more. And what John experienced is in some respects what we will experience. John's body was still on the island of Patmos, okay? But his spirit was transported to heaven and he saw this in vision. So he had an out-of-body experience.

Now what are we made of? We're constituted with body and soul. So when we die, our body stays here, our soul leaves. And I've got to believe that there's a bit of a transition that takes place here between the being here and being there. You say, well, help me with that. Well, the Bible tells us that though the outer man be wasting away, the inner man is being renewed day by day.

Alright? And when we leave this world, we have been trying to understand God and the things of God through a veil, by faith. But when we leave this world, faith is going to give way to what? Sight. And I wonder if in those hours prior to the departure of our spirit to heaven, whether there isn't a beginning of clarification with our ability to see. That the things that were cloudy and misty and behind shadows in this life, the clouds begin to dissipate and we begin to see. And you hear people say, oh, I see this and I see that.

I wonder if that's what's going on. Now, John said this didn't happen over a period of time. This happened immediately. He says in verse two, immediately, I was in the spirit and behold, a throne in heaven and one sat on the throne. I want you to see a vital connection between what he said about the future and the one who sits on the throne.

You say, well, wait a minute. What did he say about the future? This is what he said about the future. He heard the voice of Jesus say, come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this.

That's what he was told about the future. And then the next thing he sees is a throne in heaven occupied by the sovereign God. Now, God's throne dominates chapters four and five. In fact, it dominates the whole book of the Revelation. 38 times in the book, there is a reference to God's throne.

17 of those times, it's in chapters four and five. Why does God start here? Why does God show John the throne? Why is that the first thing he sees?

Now, answering why questions often is difficult because you're trying to get to the mode of questions. And again, we're moving in the area of speculation, but I don't think I'm doing too much speculation by answering that question. You see, John's not the only one who saw the Lord on his throne.

Think with me. Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah says, in the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple.

Okay, Isaiah chapter six. There was a crisis going on in the nation. The king had died. Who's going to take his place?

Are things going to completely unravel? That's what was going on. Ezekiel chapter one, similar experience. He saw this vision, similar language. Where was Ezekiel when he records this? Well, I don't know where he was when he recorded it, but where was he when he had this experience, this vision? He was in Babylon. He was in Babylon.

Ezekiel, I think, needed reminded, he needed comforted, he needed encouraged by the fact that God is sovereign, that God is ruling from his throne, not just in Jerusalem, but right there in Babylon. And for John, who was living under the shadow of the Roman Empire, persecution and trouble and tumult had come. The other apostles have died. Many had died to martyr's death. Paul had been martyred. Peter, according to church history, had been crucified upside down.

Here, John himself is exiled on the island of Patmos. And what must have been going through his mind? Well, he'd been given revelation. John had been told in Revelation chapter two and verse 13 in the letter to the church at Pergamos that Satan has a throne. And perhaps the question in his mind was, well, who's in charge? Is Satan in charge on his throne or is God in charge on his throne?

Whose throne is dictating the events of history? That's a good question. What does he need to know? What does he need to be reminded of? What do we need to know?

What do we need to be reminded of? This reality that all things are governed by the Lord who's sitting on this throne. He is not just a figurehead. He is not there passively. He is ruling. And he is dictating and he is determining the course of history.

Notice again what he was told. Come up here and I will show you things which what? Might happen?

Could happen? I will show you things which must take place after this. Now how can anyone foretell and determine and be that dogmatic? I'm going to tell you what must happen in the future. Well, only the one who rules over history. History is not the record of what may happen or what could happen, but what has happened and what must happen because there's a God who's superintending all of history. It's governed. History is governed. Your personal history is governed by the eternal decrees and purposes of the sovereign God.

So at the center of this scene that John is privileged to see by way of vision, at the center of it all is a throne and one sitting on the throne. And that's necessary because what's going to happen is there's judgment. Now there's been a lot of things that have happened from John's perspective. There's been persecution.

There's been trials. There's been tribulation, but there's judgment coming. There's wrath coming. We're going to see the seals open. We're going to see the bowls and God's wrath poured out from those bowls.

But guess what? Every time that's made mention of it all comes from the throne of God. God is ordering. God is dispensing according to his decree.

So you're going to say you're going to laugh when I say this. So the first great thing we see, the first, now I've said a lot of things, but the first great thing we see here is the sovereign God over history. John is going to describe for us what is transpiring around the throne. We've read it.

I don't have time to revisit it. There's dazzling brilliance of light refracting and reflecting off these precious stones. And they speak of the splendor and the majesty and the Shekinah glory of God.

There are 24 thrones that he sees and 24 elders sitting on those thrones. And we say, well, who in the world are they? And it's amazing. You read commentaries how people will wax eloquently. Well, it means this and it means that.

What did I say? We're going to let scripture interpret scripture, right? So here's what it says. Verse 4, around the throne were 24 thrones and on the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting in white robes and they had crowns of gold on their heads.

They are sitting clothed in white robes. That speaks of imputed righteousness. Crowns. That sounds like something that is granted to the redeemed. But listen to Revelation chapter 21 in reference to that, that helps us explain what's going on here. John's describing the great city of God coming down out of heaven. And he says concerning that great city, verse 12, she had a great and high wall with 12 gates and 12 angels at the gates and names written on them which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel.

Three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. The foundation stones of this great city of God, the names of the 12 apostles. On the gates, the names of the 12 tribes of Israel.

12 and 12 make 24. I believe that's who is being referred to. Here is the church, the redeemed church representative of all the ages. Old Covenant, New Covenant, all that were redeemed, all who were saved under the Old Covenant, who were looking, anticipating the promise, hoping in the promise of a Messiah. And then there is the New Testament Covenant community looking back and believing what Jesus has done. And together they make up the one church. So here is the redeemed church, John's privilege to see around the throne.

I thought it was so ironic last night. I'd been studying this all week thinking about rainbows because around this throne it says, around the throne, verse 3, and he who sat on the throne was like Jasper and Sarge's stone in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald, a rainbow. Last night in our community there was a rainbow and I thought, wow, what a reminder. What is the rainbow?

The rainbow was given by God as a sign to Noah in his covenant with Noah that he would never ever destroy the earth by flood. It's a promise of God's covenant faithfulness to his people. Well, we don't have time to go further here and talk about the four living creatures, and that's the good thing about expositional preaching that we'll pick up where we leave off. But if God deemed this the most important thing to reveal to John in the situation John was in, at his age, exiled on the island, no doubt thinking about life and his experience and what had happened with those that he knew and loved and cared about, the Lord Jesus and the other apostles and what's going on in the church and what he had told, get ready for persecution, it's coming, it's here. If that's what John needed, do you think that's what we need today? Do we need reminded that God is sovereign, that he's on his throne, that he's ordering all things after the counsel of his own will? That God is for us and he's not against us. Sometimes in life when things get hard and troubles come and we begin to wonder, God, this is hard, where are you, what are you doing? And if we can keep in our minds that God's already proved his love for us, he gave his son to die for us, he's redeemed us, he's made us his own, and he's ordering all things and what he's doing is for our good. Well, that'll help us keep our bearings and keep our moorings. And this is the reference point we need in life.

And let me close by saying this. I don't know what your reference point is in life. I don't know where you're getting your satisfaction, I don't know where your identity, what it's tied to, whether it's your job, whether it's your accomplishments, whether it's your family, whether it's your belongings, whatever, it's your position at work, whatever it is. If your reference point isn't this, if you don't understand you've been created for this, what is the chief aim of man? It is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. And if that's not your reference point, if your life isn't being built upon that, I promise you any other reference point will disappoint you.

It will disappoint you because it won't satisfy. God has put a hole in your heart that only he can satisfy. So we've got to get our life oriented around this. This can't just be, well, it's the thing I do on Sunday. I've got life to do on Monday through Saturday and get our clothes on and get cleaned up and get to church and then leave after Sunday and go do our... No, no, this is what life should be about. Because this is what life is going to be about for all eternity.

This is what we'll be doing. Because what are those 24 elders doing later on in the chapter? What are those four created beings?

And again, I'll just say this and then we'll close. Because I don't want to create you to be like, oh boy, what in the world are those created beings? One head like a lion and a lamb and a calf and like a man. Go back to Ezekiel chapter 1. You'll read language in Ezekiel chapter 1 and Ezekiel chapter 10 that mirror what John experienced. And Ezekiel will tell you what these four living creatures are. They are the cherubim of God, created beings, created to guard the throne of God, created to worship God. So here we are around this throne and if you can get this picture, this is what John saw.

John saw at the center a throne and him who sat on the throne. Around that throne are four living creatures, the cherubim of God. What are they doing there? They're angels, they're messengers, they're guardians, they aid in worship. So here they are, a concentric circle around the throne and then around that is another circle. And around that are 24 thrones and 24 elders and what are they all doing? What are they doing at the end of the chapter? Verse 8, the four living creatures each having six wings were full eyes around within and do not rest day and night saying holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.

What about the 24 elders? They fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying you are worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and power and you created all things and by your will they exist and were created. That's the chief end of man, that's what we've been created for, to worship God. And it shouldn't surprise us that when we get a glimpse into heaven and we have somebody telling us what heaven is like, this is what it is, this is what we'll be doing.

So it shouldn't be all that surprising why this is so, so, so satisfying here. You say why do I love going to church? Why do I love singing the hymns? Why do I love entering into worship? Because that's what you were created for. God has put his life in you. God has created you for this. It's wonderful isn't it?

Yes. And I think I was able to avoid anything overly controversial. My goal was to lift your heart and soul and worship and praise and adoration and say God you are awesome! You are worthy! I can't wait to join the millions upon millions around the throne and enter into what they're doing.

But we're here for now. So let me pray and we will sing. Father how we thank you for your word and how riveting it is and how soul exuberating it is. Lord we pray that you would fill our hearts with joy and desire. Refuel and fan the flames of our devotion to you. That we might long for this and engage in it when the opportunity is given here on this earth even with clouded eyes and faith that's stained with doubt and fear and hearts that are still struggling with sin and competing desires. Oh God what will it be like in heaven freed from all the hindrances of this world to be in your presence and to offer you the worship that's due unto you. Lord by your spirit help us even as we close this service and prayer to do that very thing with an eye toward, with a hope toward, with an anticipation toward that day when we will join those we know, those we love, those who are gathered around your throne and we will do with them what they are presently doing. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.