The dead will be raised incorruptible. And we shall be changed. We'll receive our glorified bodies. A glorified nature. No longer hounded by sin and self.
No longer hounded... by carnality. but Christ-like. Glorification. Folllows.
Well, there's justification, salvation, sanctification, the development of that salvation, and glorification, the end. of the whole cycle when we are in heaven with the Lord. Uh This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation chapter 4 as he begins a brand new message called the church in heaven. Revelation chapter 4. No time for funny business, a lot of information here. We need to get right to it.
The church in heaven. And by church, I mean the true believers not just Churchgoers. Or Not merely churchgoers. After these things I looked, verse 1, Revelation 4, and behold a door. Standing open.
in heaven and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me. saying, Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this. immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. After the church age, which we are now living in, there are things called dispensations, periods of time where God works a certain way. within humanity.
There is the age, for example, before Noah. The age of the patriarchs, the age of the law being given by Moses.
Well, we're now in the church age. and this will continue until the rapture. And I'm going to approach this chapter that way.
So The Great Tribulation, that period starts. Once the rapture happens, ending the church age, that then issues in the next dispensation known as the Great Church. Tribulation. And the church is last mentioned as the ecclesia. Chapter 3 We won't get that word again for the church until chapter 22, and that's just a summary.
The idea is the church is missing. From this great tribulation period that's going to take place between. Chapters 6 through 18. How come the church is not mentioned? You're not here.
He's been raptured. The false church, the apostate church, they remain. But the true church is gone. And in other books of the New Testament, the ecclesia is used to refer to the New Testament believers. And when they assemble together, that forms the church.
They're in heaven. We're in heaven at that time. And we are joining those who Were saints before the church, like Moses and Enoch and Noah and all the other believers, and we'll see that symbolized as we move through.
So how are the believers referred to during this time in history when the church is gone?
Well, if that Greek word ecclesia is not used, what is? Hagios. The Saints Those separated to God. We will come across that word. after chapter five, but uh it ends in chapters four and five.
Worship on earth takes on a new and undisclosed type of worship though active in Jerusalem when Christ returns. John gets to see When all these believers, the general assembly of believers, are together in heaven. And this fourth chapter begins The predictive prophecies. Of The book of Revelation. During this great tribulation period, there will be new converts.
that will come that will emerge out of this period of chaos on earth under Antichrist, and they of course will be persecuted. There will be the new converts of Jews, the 144,000. They will survive the great tribulation and they will be untouched. And then there will be new converts after Christ returns in the millennial age. But this is a time of Jacob's trouble, this tribulation that is coming, such as the world has never seen.
So let's look at a condensed outline. We covered this earlier, but it merits a review. In Revelation chapter 1, verse 19, Jesus said to John, Write. the things which you have seen, that's past. And The things which are.
That's chapters 2 and 3 now. The things that were going on in the days of John, in his life.
So you have the things that have passed in chapter 1, chapters 2 and 3, the things which presently are. And then he says. And the things which will take place after this. After what?
Well, after that second and third chapter, Where Christ addresses the churches. The things that take place after the church age. That's how. We come up with that. Not only me, there are others that share this view.
And there are some good Bible commentators and devout Christians born again. That are um Have their doubts about this approach, and that's okay. The church is still surviving, still strong, even though they're wrong. I looked and behold a door opened in heaven.
Well, John is the last one to see into heaven of all the writers that we have in Scripture.
Well, before him Moses got to see. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Stephen got to see into heaven, a brief moment. And then he got to heaven. And then of course Paul.
So the predictive work begins. And what John saw in these two chapters, four and five, did not take place in his lifetime. Chronologically, there's still future. What he sees in chapters 4 and 5 has not yet happened. It is predictive.
It is prophetic. We have no problem with that, we who are believers. Everything he's describing that he sees in these two chapters is outside the realm of normal experience. It is very spiritual. And we last saw the Lord standing at a closed door.
Knocking. promising to bless. Anyone who would answer that door, and of course, metaphorically, there's an application to the heart that is closed to him, and he knocks at the door of the heart, and whoever opens that door to him will be blessed.
Well, now we see another open door, this time an open door, and it is in heaven. And the invitation is to come up. And to see. To see what? The future.
God's plan for humanity. What he saw was not His loved ones. was not a bright light. He didn't see him. It wasn't visceral.
It wasn't emotional. There may have been emotions involved. But it was not about John. What he saw was not for personal thrill or amusement. Or to show off to others, but it was to enrich believers.
We get that idea. Many places in Scripture, but one of the most famous is Ephesians 4: for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ. And if you adhere to those, I think when we adhere to that Verse from Ephesians 4:12, we tend to decrease. And Christ tends to increase. And when we don't adhere to that formula, we begin to uh assert ourselves.
Look for others to conform to or respect. Our way of doing things. He continues, and the first voice which I heard was like. A trumpet speaking with me.
Now the voice is Christ. It says the first voice. And it was like a trumpet, it was a blast, and that is significant. Remember, we're dealing with. A lot of symbols as we go through.
this the book of Revelation. John represents Christians of the church age.
Now going into heaven. Allowed to see Christians, he is in heaven. after this age. In Revelation chapter 1, he mentions, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice of a trumpet.
Well, there too, in chapter 1, it was the Lord Jesus speaking to him, as is right here in Chapter 1. Uh chapter 4.
So the scene here in heaven The church has been told to come here, to come up. 1 Corinthians 15. We shall not all die.
Now, the word is sleep, it's a euphemism for dying. And Paul writes, we shall not all sleep, die. But we shall all be changed. Or how can we all not? Die, but be changed.
Well, that's the rapture of the church. That is the snatching away of believers, is a miraculous event. He continues, Paul does, in a moment. in the twinkling of an eye. At the last trumpet, well, there's that connecting word to the voice like a trumpet.
He continues, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound. and the dead will be raised, incorruptible. And we shall be changed. We'll receive our glorified bodies. A glorified nature.
No longer hounded by sin and self. No longer hounded by carnality. but Christ-like. Glorification. Folllows.
Well, there's justification, salvation, sanctification, the development of that salvation, and glorification, the end. of the whole cycle when we are in heaven with the Lord. as the trumpet call of Christ summons John to heaven. The trumpet call will summon the entire remaining church, true believers. Right before The great tribulation period begins.
So, Revelation 4 and 5 reveals the church in heaven after the rapture.
Now, I know I'm repeating myself, but it is because whenever I speak on end times things, I say something, and someone will ask me a question, and I'm saying to myself, I just spoke that. I just preached on that. That very line that I'm going to repeat to you, I don't say it like that. But it's a lot of information, so sometimes you've got to repeat it, and I think that will help.
So while Revelation chapter six through eighteen is going on. Chapter 4 and 5. parts of it. Are taking place for the righteous.
So we return now to the text in verse. One, where John says the voice like a trumpet said to him, Come up here. Where Christ is, of course.
Now, as Sodom could not burn until believers were removed. The great tribulation will not begin until Existing believers are removed. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
Now, to get most out of Revelation, you have got to have. familiarity with both Old and New Testament, Scripture, especially end time verses, and here's one from Thessalonians. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout. with the voice of an archangel. And with the trumpet of God, there's that buzzword again.
And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together.
Now that. Greek word is a single word for caught up. Harpazzo. The Latin word for that is raptus, from which we get rapture.
So when the Jehovah's Witnesses or somebody says, well, the word rapture is not in the scripture, technically and untechnically, they're wrong. It is right there. We shall be caught up. A rapture by any other name is just as much a rapture. Caught up together, oh, pardon me, and it also means harpazo, means to snatch away.
It's not this gradual metamorphosis or evolution of events. It is a revolution. It is a rapid event. Caught up together. That's everybody in the believing church.
With them. in the clouds to meet The Lord in the air. And thus shall We always be with the Lord. It's a final event. For the church will always be there.
God will not withdraw from his church, but he will withdraw his church. He said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And so they come up here. is a command. And it is the church ascending into heaven.
And the same language will be used of the two witnesses after they have been murdered. and left dead on the streets They too will come up. They will get up and they will go up. And we'll get to that in chapter 11. And I will show you things which must take place after this.
After what?
The church age in chapters 2 and 3, where he just left. Remember, when Christ gave the letter, there were no chapter divisions. It just flowed. And the last uh the The last section dealt with were the church, the antecedent. And so after the church age, that's how we get to these teachings, these doctrines, this particular doctrine of the rapture.
Now, again, there are Christians that are going to heaven who do not believe in the rapture of the church, or they put the church rapture sometime in the middle of the Revelation. I I don't think that fits biblically. And I'm not going to waste any more time on what they think. I'll spend it on what I uh believe corrects them. Uh an anyway, and I will show you things which must take place after this.
Explicitly telling us this is future.
So when I say to you, John is talking about predictive prophecy. This is the future now.
Well, where did you get that?
Well, that's where I got it, right there. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Verse 7. Tells us what is holding back everything from entering into this next dispensation, this next period of time. What is keeping Antichrist from coming into power and the church from being taken off of earth?
Well, it's the Holy Spirit, 2 Thessalonians 2:7. Only He, and that pronoun is. The Holy Spirit, who now restrains, will do so until he is taken out of the way. Until he withdraws the restraint. Because, of course, he's equal with God, he's never going to leave his creation.
But the idea is, again, he will not. Uh leave the church, he will withdraw it. He says here, well, he said to the churches, he said, I will give to you if they were obedient. And here he's saying to John, I will show you. And that leads to this chronological outline of things past.
Present, the churches. and the future. Uh From chapter 4 and 5 forward.
Now, verse 2: Immediately I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven. When one sat on the throne. That one, of course, is God. They're singular, but they're triune. And from Beginning with verse two, Now he is in heaven.
He is in the Spirit. It is not natural, and he indicates that. We look back at chapter 1, verses 10, 13. And I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And what you see right in a book.
And send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Progamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea.
Well, they're going to get that as we have gotten it also. The Holy Spirit. is purposely preserved these things For believers, for assembly of believers. The church. And behold, a throne set in heaven, of all the things in heaven to see.
All the spectacular stuff to catch the eye. The angels, the cherubs, the seraphim, the lightnings, the thunderings, the seven lamps that he's going to see. Of all those things, the first thing to catch his eye is the throne of God. And that's how it should always be for us. No matter what we go through, it is the throne of God, it is the presence and the power.
and the fact, the truth of God. The word Throne shows up fourteen times in these eleven verses. There's an emphasis. Placed on the throne of God as it should be. And the one who sat on the throne, of course, is God Himself, God Almighty.
The seat of God is the sanctuary of God. There's more to a throne than a seat. It is the authority. Whether God is sitting on that throne, that seat, or if he's moving about. Wherever he is, is the throne of God.
It is the sanctuary of God. And the prophets had things to say about this sanctuary of God, Jeremiah 17:12, a glorious, high throne. From the beginning, Is the place of our sanctuary? And Jeremiah prophesied in a time when people didn't like him. Yet his eyes were always on the throne of God.
And for him, that was the sanctuary, that was the safe and holy place. Jeremiah declared that sanctuary is to be found in the throne room of God. Our blessings are found under God's rule. not our imagination. I know I referenced a Um book that I think may lead to heresy, if not it is heresy.
Imagining the God of heaven. We don't imagine the God of heaven. That is idolatry. We receive revelation, not imagination. And words are supposed to mean something, and preachers and writers of Christian material need to think about the words they use before they say them.
Now, I've never messed up. I've always spoken perfectly, so I'm condescending to those who are saddled with error. Of course I'm being silly. Uh But it takes effort to would be silly about myself. Anyway, verse 45.
Of Psalm. Wait, let me go back. I'm just testing you. Psalm 45 verse 6. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of your kingdom. The scepter is the power. It's the ability. He's not a figurehead. He's not a mascot.
He's God Almighty, and he's not there to do my will. He is not. A genie in the Bible. He is the creator. He is holy and sovereign and compared to him I'm not even a speck.
And yet he loves me. and suffered and died on a cross To demonstrate in that while we were still sinners, Christ Jesus died for us, it tells us in Romans chapter 5. Continuing, verse 4. And he who sat there. Was like a Jasper and a Sardis stone in appearance.
And there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like emerald.
Well, that's not a rainbow. Yeah it is. How God revealed himself to John. not how he always reveals himself to his servants. Ezekiel also describes Yahweh's glory, but in a different way.
In Ezekiel 1, Isaiah the prophet. Described the throne room of God in Isaiah 6. Moses describes the divine presence of God with precious stones in Exodus 24. The visions do not need to be reconciled. It doesn't have to they don't have to be identical.
God shows Himself this way. When He wants to make a certain statement, He shows Himself another way. I do not wear the identical outfit each Sunday or each Wednesday, and you've noticed. Why would we expect God to wear the same outfit each time? There's no contradiction.
There's no loss of truth in any of this. It is for the Christian to scrutinize the moment. Find out what as best we can. What is going on, and why is God manifesting Himself in this particular way? But there's no contradiction because Ezekiel saw something different from John, and vice versa, though they all have similar elements.
And that's only going to develop as we go through this, and that's why I'm bringing it up. The manifestations of God is not limited to matching visions.
Well, your vision didn't match my vision. Ezekiel said, You know, this is what I saw. And John would say, Man, I saw some similar stuff, but I also saw. And all of it will be true. Upon the ephod of the high priest were twelve stones.
one representing each of the tribes of Israel. The first stone was Sardis. The last stone was Jasper. He is the alpha and the omega. He's the beginning and the end.
And if you have a Bible knowledge, these things begin to connect right away, effortlessly. And you can look that up to fact check me on, not now.
Well, Exodus 28 and Exodus 39.
So, the significance would then be that God's people are upon the heart of the high priest Jesus Christ, God the Son. That is one of the significant findings that I think come out of this. The brilliance of the new Jerusalem also. Has Jasper associated with it, and it says that it's clear as crystal. Um This has been Cross Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston.
This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreference radio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello.
