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I’m going to invite you this morning to Revelation, chapter four is where we’re at together today. If you want to know the rest of the announcements, you’re going to have to check those out on your own. But I want to dive into Revelation chapter four as we get ready to move into a new a new place in the book of Revelation. If you remember in chapter one, verse 18 and 19, in Revelation, it tells us in that book that Revelation is written really in under two categories. One is what is, what is, and then what is to come, right? In Revelation, the first three chapters is dealing with what is in chapter four on is dealing with what is to come. I want you to know, as we get ready to dive into this chapter today, I want to I want to do a little bit more teaching than so much as preaching, just so we can get familiar with what apocalyptic literature is, because Revelation chapter two and three, you kind of get a break from from apocalyptic literature as we’re dealing with what is. And then in chapter four, you move into more of what an apocalyptic style of literature is like. And I told you when you read this book, people go off the rails in reading this book because they fail to hold what theologians would say is a consistent hermeneutic throughout the book, which is kind of a nerdy way of saying they don’t apply the same interpretation rules throughout the entire book, and that’s what gets you into danger.
And what I mean is, oftentimes when we read the Bible, we are quick to jump to conclusions on application. We’ll read a passage and we’ll immediately want to make some application. And that’s easier to do in certain literary genres than others, right? When you’re reading an epistle, sometimes it’s it’s easier just to jump straight to the application, but you miss something when you just jump to application without first doing proper interpretation. And that is anytime a book of the Bible is written, it was always written to the people there and then before it was written to us in the here and now. Even when you deal with an epistle, right. The letters of the New Testament when when the epistles are being written, let’s say, for example, an epistle like one that the Apostle Paul wrote, the Apostle Paul, when he writes an epistle, is dealing with a problem in the early church. Typically he’s usually addressing a problem, and it’s not until you understand the issue at hand that you can fully understand and appreciate what Paul is saying in the letter, and then make proper application to your life, right? So dealing with the there and then becomes important as you make the application to the here and now. Now the beauty of God’s Word is that it’s timeless.
So it’s relevant for God’s people throughout all time periods. Right. And when you get to the book of Revelation, this is especially true now Revelation is known as apocalyptic literature. And the place that you get in danger when you jump to application before interpretation is we typically when we go off the rails, when we read Revelation and we try to relate it to something in the 21st century without understanding how a Jewish mind would understand it in the first century. And when you read Revelation, what’s important to do is keep a consistent hermeneutic throughout the book. And and what typically happens is people will read Revelation and see something that might relate to the 21st century and make that application. Then they’ll read another part and they’ll think, that sounds crazy. I have no idea what that means, and just kind of leave that alone. And what’s important is if you decide the book of Revelation is to be taken literally in every verse, or the book of Revelation should be taken literally. You need to apply that to every verse. And if you think it needs to be taken figuratively, you need to figure out how that works for every verse. And when you get in, you get in danger. When you start jumping back and forth between figurative and literal. Oh, this one’s literal, but all that one’s not literal. And then it leads you to all sorts of weird conclusions.
Right. And so this morning, I want us to walk through the book of Revelation, and I want us to see how apocalyptic literature lays itself out for us, because this book has been relevant for God’s church throughout all time. Right. And so what does this mean for us today? It was written to the people there and then at the first century. But what does it mean for us today? And if you remember chapter two. Chapter three, we looked at the seven churches of the Book of Revelation was written to. And in those seven churches we recognize God picked seven churches, because seven is the number of completeness. And those seven churches represent all of God’s people throughout history. So this is all of God’s churches kind of represented from these seven churches. And when we read about these seven churches, let me just remind you some of the things that we learned. Church of Ephesus I’m going to give you one point from each church. Ephesus was a church that left their first love. Revelation 2:4. Smyrna was was the church was about to be killed for their faith. Revelation 2:10. Pergamum was tempted by false teaching. Revelation 2:14. Thyatira was was tolerating false teaching and sexual sexual immorality, Revelation 2:20. Sardis, this church was dead on the inside. Philadelphia was being persecuted in Revelation 3. Laodicea was a lukewarm church in Revelation 3:16.
And the question is, you read all of these churches and you see the different places they’re at. You kind of get to this place. You say, okay, so what? What does this mean for me? What does it mean for them? How in the world do you move forward? Like God kind of peeled back the curtain on the state of all these churches and gave us a little diary entry of things that were going well for the churches, things that weren’t, and encouraging them to follow him. But as they got to the conclusion of each of those churches, we should be asking ourselves, what does that mean for us? And maybe more specifically, in light of challenges we might experience in life, because he’s dealing with a first century church that’s facing persecution. So. So what do we do in light of all of that? It reminds me of a story in in the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 33. In fact, when Moses was called to lead the children of Israel, if you know anything about the life of Moses and Moses for 40 years spent his life growing up under Pharaoh’s authority in Pharaoh’s household, he was raised like royalty, and one day he sees an Egyptian soldier attacking his own people, the Jewish people. Even though he was adopted into Pharaoh’s family, he sees an Egyptian soldier attacking his own people. He rises up against this Egyptian soldier and strikes that soldier down and kills him.
And Pharaoh finds out. And Moses, when he realizes Pharaoh knows, he runs and goes into hiding, and he spends the next 40 years of his life as a shepherd. At 80 years old, he’s called to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt as slaves. And there’s all these miraculous events that take place. But here, when you get to Exodus 33, Moses finds himself now in a position where he needs to move forward with the, the, the Hebrew people. They’ve been set free from slavery. And now he’s got to guide him. And in that position, you might wonder if you were Moses, what would you do? Or maybe more specifically, what would you ask of God? And God took you back to Egypt to set the the Hebrew people free. And now you’ve got to transition into that new place in life, leading them forward. What would you do and what would you ask of God? You can think from Moses’s past. He’s experienced the good life. Maybe he could say to God, okay, now that we’ve defeated Pharaoh and his army, God, why don’t you just send us back to Egypt and I’ll just take control of that? And and I’ll just live, you know, as my my life was in the first 40 years. Or as he thinks about moving forward. Okay. God, we’ve gotten through all the hard stuff now. Make everything easy.
Right? Why don’t you give me a kingdom to rule? You know, a nice little castle and and some of these Hebrew people can can serve me. And, you know, we can lead them into to better things, but make my life comfortable again. Maybe that would be his prayer. You know, it’s interesting when you look in Exodus chapter 33, what Moses actually asks God for. It says in Exodus 33 verse 15 and he said to him, if your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. And in verse 18 he says this to the Lord, Please show me your glory. God, please show me your glory. In fact, Moses’s prayer when you’re seeing this is not about what he can get as far as an earthly monetary gain, but realizing that the greatest prize he could ever have is the presence of God wherever he goes. And recognizing the greatness of this God as he continues to move forward. And so, so Moses’s prayer for the Lord is, is not this this creature comfort in an earthly sense, but to to be sober minded, to the recognition of God in his life? God, I don’t want to go anywhere unless it be with you. And I want all of my days to be marked really by the glory of who you are. God, show me your glory. And when you when you dive into the book of Revelation, especially as you get to chapter four, this is exactly what God is saying to the church.
He’s dealing with the greatness of God’s glory. Let me just be honest. When we come to a chapter like this, the understanding of this is paramount to what you do as a believer in this world, that in light of anything that could carry weight in your life, that the glory of God would be preeminent, that you would realize the the sacredness of what it is to know God. That God would even want to reveal himself to you. And in revealing himself what you begin to discover, you’re going to see in Revelation four and Revelation five. Revelation four is dealing with his glory, but it’s showing you in Revelation five how how tangible it becomes to the point that he’s willing to die for you. And God goes to the cross for you and for me. And when we begin to let that take priority in our lives, the ability to know the creator of all things and and the weight of his glory, that that would take precedent on me, then that is what leads us to do great things for God. That not only that God can be made known, but he was made known in such a personal way to the point he became flesh and gave his life for me. In fact, when you look throughout the Bible, even in the church history, the thing that compelled God’s people to move forward is a glimpse at the greatness of who this God was and how personal this God became, that we could know him and live for him in this world.
That that that glorious God desires to to connect to us. And when you look at Revelation four, it’s reminding us that as our hearts might be restless in the struggle of life, the King is not in doubt and his kingdom is not in jeopardy. And so as we look at this chapter, this we’re going to talk about is two steps everyone should take in troubled times. In fact, I would say it’s more than just simply two steps. It’s two places to plant your feet. No matter where you go in life. If you could just plant your feet on these two foundations, this will guide you no matter what the circumstances are, where God might lead you. And this is exactly what Moses is praying in Exodus 33. God, show me your glory. I want to recognize that no matter what I’m going through in life, that despite the circumstance, the one sustaining thing that will carry me through it all is not circumstantial in this world, but rather it’s you, God. God, help me be sober to the gift that it is to know you and all of your power and authority. And so these are these are two places to to plant ourselves as we think about moving forward as God’s people.
And so let me give you point number one. The first place we plant ourselves is this. We’ve said this already is to focus on God’s glory. To focus on God’s glory. Our our composure as believers should reflect God’s posture and condition in heaven. Meaning, if we’re following a God today who was worried about the future, then we should be in a bit of panic ourselves, right? Like if you were to ever look at God and one of the authors of the New Testament was like, hold on a second, I feel this divine revelation of of God’s throne room. And then they started articulating to you, God is really worried about tomorrow. Like that should that should probably send us all into a panic, right? But but if we get this, this picture of God in this posture of of peace and in stability and control, it helps soothe and calm the heart no matter the circumstances you’re going through, because you know, the one that you’re trusting in. So we should sort of take our our posture, our composure from the one that we’re following who is in control of all things. What I’m saying is Revelation chapter four is written for those whose inner inner spirit animal is a Chihuahua, right? Like, you know the the you know how a Chihuahua responds to everything, right? Like it’s just they’re just in full panic all the time, right? That’s that’s this is what Revelation four is that your heart would be calmed with the glory of who God is, and then that you would let that lead you, not the circumstances of the world around you.
In fact, when you read Revelation chapter four, when we’re getting into the part of this is what’s to come. I think what’s important to know as you read Revelation chapter four is really Revelation four is pulling back the curtain to show the posture of God throughout all of eternity. This is not so much a passage of time sequence as it is the authority of his presence made known in to his people throughout all of time. Right? So it’s helping our heart be calm next to a God who is in control and recognizing that this God wants to reveal his glory to you. And so Revelation chapter four, verse one, we should dive into. It says this. After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the voice which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. And at once I was in the spirit. And behold, a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne. When you when you see this picture as John starts to describe it for us, here’s something important I want you to know about this.
Um, sometimes there will become popular in our culture today, a story that someone has written where someone’s had this near-death experience. They they died, but they didn’t really die. They ended up coming back to life. But but in those moments that no one really knows where they were. Somewhere between heaven and earth, you know, in this spiritual state, they saw a vision, right? And then they write a book and it becomes a bestseller. And they tell you what heaven’s going to be like, and it goes on and on, right? I’m not going to tell you those things aren’t true, but, but, but, but what I want you to see in this, in this passage in Revelation four, is, is very similar to what Isaiah writes in Isaiah chapter six. It’s very similar to what Ezekiel writes in Ezekiel chapter one, and even what Moses records in Exodus 19. Each of those passages they’re describing for us coming into the celestial presence of God. And with every one of these experiences that are written for us in Scripture, the focal point of all of it is the throne room of God, right? And and you know, when you read other stories about people going to heaven and what their experiences are like, you can decide whether they’re true or not. But I often find the description they give is very different than what you find in the Old and New Testament, that any any eternity.
What is described more than anything else by far, is just being in the presence of God before his throne. In fact, in Revelation chapter four. The word throne is mentioned 14 times, and you see everything that’s described in in heaven pointing to this throne, because the throne is the focal piece. It goes on throughout the Book of Revelation and mentions the idea of throne over 25 times in this book. But John is saying to us, he’s he’s caught up before the throne of God. In fact, he uses this caught up as being caught up with, with a trumpet. And and we could use this word, he’s being raptured, right? He’s being taken up into into God’s presence. Now, let me just say this, and I need to say this and move on. For some of you that have been raised in certain Christian traditions, you might be familiar with the idea of a rapture. Right? And there’s this this belief that Jesus is going to return and before his second coming, that the God’s people will be raptured into his presence. Right? And Jesus will bring his judgment. And we’ll look at some of this throughout the book of Revelation. But but people will come to Revelation four and say, okay, if you believe in a rapture, the God’s people are going to be called up. This is where it happens. And they give you a couple reasons for it. Okay.
And let me just say it’s worth considering, okay. Whether you think it’s true or not, it’s worth considering. And here’s why. First, there’s this trumpet sound. And when God’s people are quote raptured, if you read in first Thessalonians verse four or chapter four, verses 13 to 18, there is this picture of the sound of a trumpet, and God’s people are called up into God’s presence. Right. They’re raptured. And then in first Corinthians chapter 15, verse 52, it tells us everything will change in the twinkling of an eye. The the sound of a trumpet. Right. And so it carries this idea that we could be raptured into God’s presence. And then and then they’ll go on and say this. And the reason, you know, the rapture takes place here, and this is where I think it gets dangerous. They’ll say, well, if you read the first three chapters of Revelation. It talks about the church, the church, the church. And then when you read from Revelation chapter four and on, it never mentions the word church again. And so the reason for that is because here in chapter four, the first couple of verses, the church has been raptured and which I would say maybe that’s possible and it’s worth considering. I don’t think that that’s accurate, but it’s worth considering, right? It doesn’t mean I don’t believe in a rapture. Okay, just hold on. We’ll we’ll get to that in chapters ahead. Okay.
But but I don’t think that’s what it’s talking about in this passage. And let me give you a few reasons. One is we’re only talking about John here, not an entire church throughout history. Right? It’s just John who’s caught up. And just because it mentions a trumpet doesn’t mean it’s a rapture trumpet, because when you go throughout the Old Testament, you find that a common way God is heard when he is sharing with his people is through the sound of a trumpet. Exodus 19. When God speaks to Moses on Mount Sinai, God and Moses describes God’s voice as the sound of a trumpet. And so what it’s saying by describing a trumpet is not that the rapture is taking place here, but what it’s saying to us is God’s very personal presence is being made known. This is how intimate this this situation is. And just because the word church isn’t used from this point on doesn’t mean God’s people aren’t described. In fact, as we go further into Revelation, I’ll show you some pictures of how God’s people are being talked about just because the word rapture, isn’t it? Excuse me? Just because the word church isn’t used doesn’t mean the church isn’t there. In fact, in apocalyptic literature, I think it would be expected that the church is described in a different way than just the word church. It’s used with Hebrew imagery. But but what John is saying here, here’s what he wants us to recognize.
You enter Chihuahuas. He’s saying to you, I want you to know how important this moment is. It’s it’s the glory of God made known in your heart that transforms your life, that leads you to follow him. And it’s not just his glory, but also his glorious presence promised to be with you wherever you go. You’re never going to do great things for God until one you recognize how great he is. And in addition to that, how much he cares for you personally. And this is this is what John desires the readers to understand, not just how great God is, but how intimate he becomes in his glory towards you. As if to pose the question, why would someone so glorious even take a moment to to even have any concern with my life? And I want you to discover in this chapter is that God is intimately concerned with your life. And let me let me move on. It says in verse three, and he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were 24 thrones. Seated on the throne were 24 elders, clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. Let me say a few things about this one. We’re going to talk about rainbow rainbows and what that means in a couple of verses from now.
But I want you to see first the description given about God the Father. This is talking about God the Father and His glory. And when it describes God, notice it doesn’t tell. It doesn’t give him any physical human form. This is true of God the Father throughout the Old and New Testament. God the father is never described in physical body form in the Bible. Um, the only one that takes on a physical body form out of the Trinity is is Jesus. Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us, and the reason Jesus took on flesh is so that he could be a sufficient sacrifice for you and for me. How could he cover our sin lest he be like us? And so therefore he takes a payment for us by becoming like us, by becoming flesh. But here describes the the father in this appearance. He’s radiating with these these jewels, this image from the throne. And it describes it describes God in this way. He’s sort of this, this presence of the father is there, but not a physical body form. In fact, when you look throughout the Bible, you find, as it describes, God the Father over and over again. It tells us he doesn’t have a physical body form. Um. Colossians 115 Jesus is the image of the invisible God. So it’s telling us Jesus becomes God in the flesh. He takes on the flesh. But God the Father is is invisible.
God in first Timothy 117 to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God in first Timothy 616, God who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. Or in John four verse 24 tells you, God is spirit. Luke 24 verse 39, A spirit has no flesh and bones. So. So here you see God the Father in a form. But what’s what’s powerful about this form is, is the the way that John describes it as jasper or carnelian. Some translations will say sardius, which comes from the same gemstone. But this, this idea of jasper and carnelian are not just two gems just pulled out of out of a hat. And this is a very intentional representation of God on this throne. Jasper and carnelian. And the reason I say that is when when you study in the Old Testament, the the importance of jewels to God’s people, God picked particular jewels to represent each of the tribes of Israel. In fact, when the high priest would go to the temple before the Lord, he would. He would wear on his chest a plate of each of those jewels that represented each of the 12 tribes of Israel. And if you know anything about the the priests in the Old Testament, the the priests represented the people to God. It was the opposite of the prophet. The prophet represented God to the people.
But here the the priest would wear the representation of all of God’s people as he would come before God’s throne in the temple representing those people. And when you would look at the the garment that the priest would wear this plate on his chest. What’s interesting is the first tribe mentioned on the very top corner is the tribe of Reuben, and in the very last tribe, on the very bottom left is the tribe of Benjamin. And those two jewels on those plates, starting with Reuben, is Jasper, and then Benjamin is carnelian. And so what is acknowledging is when God is sitting on his throne, and what John sees on that throne are those two radiating jewels. Those jewels sort of encapsulate all of God’s people. So constantly before God’s throne is the thought of his people resting on his heart. And so when you think about the greatness of who God is and all of his glory, as his glory is radiating in heaven even right now, what’s on God’s heart and mind are you and me God’s concern for for your life and mine? And he goes on and not only describes those jewels, but remember he referred to these 24 elders in verse four, and I’ll let you know. There’s a little bit of a discussion over what these 24 elders represent. People want it to be a very specific thing. What are these 24 elders and some of them speculated, is it talking about angels? Is this talking about people? And I want to tell you, the people that think it’s talking about angels are wrong.
And the ones that are thinking, it’s talking about people, they’re right. And the reason I say that is when you when you read about these 24 elders, it describes their attire, right? They’ve got these these these crowns and these white garments. And when you read throughout Scripture, you discover that the crown and these garments are, are painted as a picture of, of God’s people that belong to the Lord. Um, the angels never receive rewards. It’s only God’s people that receive rewards. So you have these crowns and and these this, this robe before God. And when you study the idea of 24 throughout the Bible in First Chronicles chapter 24 and 25, you’ll see King David divides the temple workers, the priests, into groups of 2424 people at a time would would do the officiating in the temple. And then David also created a choir of 24 priestly singers. And then when you get to the New Testament in Revelation 21:12-14, what you discover in Revelation 21 is that there’s this mention in verse 12 of the 12 tribes of Israel. And at the same time, verse 14, there’s a mention of the 12 apostles and the New Testament. And what this, this 24 represents is the picture of Old and New Testament, all of God’s people, throughout all time, worshiping before the Lord and his presence.
And these images that are used here in this, this passage is this one of white robe, and the crown is the picture of what the priest would wear only in royalty, which is exactly the way Peter describes God’s people in first Peter chapter two, verse nine. He says, you are a royal priesthood, a people for God’s own possession. So here you see at the throne room of God and all of his glory. And what’s closest to the Lord in all of this is his concern for you and for me. So as you see his great glory and you wonder, okay, what’s my future hold? What are the things going to be like? And you get in that place of anxiety and panic. And John just wants to peel back the curtain and, and just say, let’s just consider the greatness of who God is, because it’s the glory of God that compels the people of God to do great things for God. And Isaiah chapter six, one of those passages, that famous passage where Isaiah is called before the Lord and God says, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And Isaiah says to God, here am I, Lord, send me. In verse nine and ten of Isaiah six, but we discover the whole reason that Isaiah steps out for the Lord is because at the very beginning of chapter six.
It describes this great throne room of God and the angels around, singing Holy, holy, holy, and the foundations of heaven shaking. And then one of the angels comes down with a tongue from off the altar, and touches Isaiah’s lips and says, your sins have been forgiven. It’s not only seeing the greatness of God, but the grace of God made known in his life. The personal representation of the Lord coming down to Isaiah and forgiving him. That Isaiah then finds the the strength to even desire to want to go out and serve the Lord. But having seen his glory and having known his grace. Isaiah steps out to do great things for God. And so it goes on. And verse five, it says this. For from the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder. And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. Revelation chapter four, verse five here is taking the same description as Moses on Mount Sinai. When God came down in Exodus 19, Moses sees the flashes of lightning and the rumblings and peals of thunder. And you can maybe imagine what this would be like if you’ve ever been caught in a terrible storm. This is this is to the thousandth degree of that. What is going to happen to you in this chaos? This is this would be an insane moment to to be in the center of it.
But but one of the things it says in the midst of this, there’s the seven torches which is represented of the Holy Spirit. The power of God’s Spirit is there. So all of God, in this great force and power being made known to John. But then it goes on and says in verse six, but in the midst of that powerful moment, the sea was calm. And that’s the opposite of what you would expect in a storm, isn’t it? If you’ve ever been in a tropical storm or a hurricane, I know as a kid I lived on the ocean for a while. I got to go through a few of those, and the last thing that you would expect is a calm sea. But here in this passage, the sea is like crystal. I don’t know if you’ve ever you ever been to a large body of water when the wind isn’t blowing and just seeing? Could you imagine it’s going to the ocean and not seeing a wave at all? That would be so weird. But this is, this is this grabs John’s attention that here he is in the midst of this chaos, all of God’s power and the sea is calm. Why is the sea calm? You know, for the Hebrew people, the sea always represented this place of chaos.
Water was this place of chaos. And in the Bible, when, when, when all of creation began. In Genesis chapter one, first two verses, the book of Genesis says, And God created the earth, but the earth was formed, and without void, and and water covered the deep, and there is chaos over the earth. And here’s the earth without form and void, and saying it’s not serving its purpose, but water and chaos are or covering the earth. And out of the chaos, God brings order. He creates the land. He makes all of creation. But unfortunately, humanity didn’t want to walk with the Lord. And in that sin enters the world and chaos comes back. And what you discover when you get to the passages like Genesis chapter six is in Noah’s day, it was the flood, the chaos that destroyed everything. Or in the book of Exodus chapter 14, when the children of Israel run away from Egypt, they come to the Red sea and Pharaoh is pursuing them with his army to kill them. And here they find themselves with their backs against the sea, thinking they’re just going to die. And it takes God parting the waters to bring order out of the chaos, or the children of Israel when they’re wandering in the in the wilderness for 40 years, they they need to go to the Promised Land. That’s where God called them. But they can’t cross the waters because there’s no way to get across the Jordan.
And so they’re they’re stuck in this place of chaos. And it’s not until in Joshua chapter three that God parts the waters that they’re able to walk into the Promised Land, but when they get to the Promised Land, they’re still not faithful to the Lord. In fact, when you get to Matthew chapter three, there is this individual who comes forward known as John the Baptist. And John the Baptist calls them back to the Jordan River because he knows they’ve never lived for the purpose for which they were called in the Lord. So he calls them back to the rivers to be repentant and be baptized, to make the way for for the Messiah who is to come so they could faithfully follow him. It’s chaos over and over again. And then when you get to Revelation 21, here’s what’s interesting. Revelation 21, it says this. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And look at this. And the sea was no more. What is it saying? That God is the one who removes the chaos? And when we’re talking about God’s glory in this passage, it’s reminding us as as God’s people, and we spend too much time looking at the world around us and too little time looking at the God above us. It’s our failure to recognize the greatness of who he is that leads us to make a lot of stupid decisions in our lives.
But when we recognize not only the glory of who he is, but how much he cares for you and for me, that’s what leads our heart not only to worship, but to, but to also do great things for the Lord. In fact, William Carey, the great missionary, said it like this expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God. I would make the argument that any anyone that ever did anything great for the Lord in this world never did so without first recognizing the glory of who he is and what that means for them in light of who he is. That God would want to be known in a personal way like God didn’t. God didn’t have to bother with us at all, but the fact that he did gives us the opportunity to to know him and and respond not in our strength, but rather his, because he’s in control. I mean, you see this by the sea that remains calm. I don’t think there’s any better picture that that reminds us of the tension within the human soul than than the story of Matthew 14. If you remember in that passage of Scripture, this is the part of in the Bible where Jesus’s disciples are out on the boat and they look out and they think there’s a ghost walking on the water.
And then Jesus calls Peter to step out of the boat and to walk out to him. And Peter steps out and starts walking on the water. And then all of a sudden it’s like he remembers, oh, no, I’m walking on water, right? And he begins to panic because it’s when he takes his eyes off the Lord before him that he starts looking at the waves around him, and he begins to sink, and it takes the strength of the Lord to rescue him. In Matthew chapter 14, verse 33, this is after the Lord pulls him out of the boat, and it says, then those who were in the boat worshiped him and saying, truly you are the Son of God. So it’s in that moment they began to really they see his glory, and he rescues Peter and they’re both in the back on the boat again. They begin to to recognize there’s something to this guy. And in so doing, worship him. Which gives me point number two as we understand God’s glory. Point number two, in your notes, keep your heart engaged in genuine worship. Keep your heart engaged in genuine worship. You know, we failed to move forward with the Lord because we focused too little on his greatness and too much on ourselves. But it’s it’s a heart of worship that reminds us of the greatness of who God is. And worship. Worship is just more. It’s more than something you do.
Sometimes we talk. When we talk about worship, people might ask the question, well, how do you worship God? And and usually this is where we begin a laundry list. You know, how do you worship people say things like, well, you got to read your Bible and you got to pray. And I guess you should probably go to church and maybe be a part of a small group. Or we just list different things that you should do and those things in themselves, they’re not wrong, right? But I want you to know those things aren’t worship. Those are rather tools for worship. And there’s a difference in that. Just because you pick up the Bible and read the Bible doesn’t mean you’re worshiping. You might be reading the Bible, but but you can. You can read the Bible and never truly have a heart of worship. Same, same thing is true with prayer. You wake up and pray because, well, you feel like you’re supposed to pray and that’s just what you do, but never truly worship. Yeah, if I gave you a definition of worship, I’d say this worship is a mindful surrender to God in every pursuit of our heart. It is a mindful surrender to God in every pursuit of our hearts. So that means no matter what you’re doing, the posture of your life is bent towards something. It’s going to honor something. The question is, what are you honoring with your life? What are you chasing after? What’s important to you? And in Revelation chapter four is wanting to help us understand the weightiness of who God is so that our heart would truly worship what it was created to worship.
Right. So, so worship for us is is a mindful surrender to God in every pursuit of our heart. Which means it could be when you read God’s Word and you should, but it could also be when you’re doing something kind for someone around you, or because you because you know who God is and and you know, in knowing God, God’s given you tremendous worth. And not only is he giving you worth, he’s giving worth to people around you, intrinsic worth by making him in their image. And so the way you treat other people can be a reflection of your worship before the Lord. The posture of your heart can remain constant in a state of worship. Not basically, not not focused primarily on what you’re doing, but why you’re doing it. And in Revelation, it goes on and says this I need to end this quickly, but it says. And around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures, full of eyes, in front of and behind. The living creatures like a lion and a creature like an ox. And there’s a creature on the face of a man and a creature like an eagle and flying.
It’s just weird, right? Like around God’s throne, there are these four angels, and they have these different faces. And sometimes they have all of those faces at the same time. Remembers what? It just matters what passage of the Bible you’re reading. What on earth is John trying to tell us and why the world is it just four, right? Like, why not more? Why not less? Why does it have to be four? Well, in the Jewish mind, four is represented of the four corners of the world. And the Jews, when they would describe the earth, they would really describe it as flat and having an end to it. And there were four corners. They saw it much like a square. And so by picking four, he’s representing the ends of the earth and then picking these particular animals. These animals represent all of God’s creatures that he made. The lion represents the wild animals. The ox represents the farm animals, the eagle represents the air, animals and humanity represents everything else that gets left out of that. And so each of these animals represent all of God’s creation. And their eyes are saying to the ends of the earth, God sees it all. So these creatures have all these eyes looking at everything. And he’s saying that this is representative of all of God’s creatures seeing everything. So this is this is the totality of God in control of all of human life.
Now, you may ask the question, when I talk about these creatures, how do I really know that that’s what it represents? Well, just so you know, I’m not making it up. If you go back to the book of Genesis, chapter nine, verse ten, you start to see those images drawn forth in Scripture. In Genesis chapter nine is right after the Noah flood when Noah’s getting off the boat. And this is when God has this, this moment of setting up his covenant with Noah, saying he will never flood the earth again. But he says in chapter nine, verse ten, and with every living creature that is with you talking about man, which we just read. The birds represented as an eagle, the livestock as an as an ox, as a farm animal, and every beast, lion of the earth with you. As many as came out of the ark. So you see in this every living creature he’s saying to you in verse ten, represented in these four creatures. And then in verse 13, I have set my bow. Here’s the idea of a rainbow, which you read in Revelation four and the cloud, and shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. Here’s what’s interesting. You know, every once in a while we can see a rainbow here on earth.
But before God’s throne, that rainbow is there constantly, and around his throne is a representation of all of his creation. You want to know what God’s concerned about and all of his glory and the calmness of the sea. It’s the heart of what he has created, and the crown of his creation is you and me in verse 8 to 11. It goes on and describes the angels. And I need to just give you a summary of this. The angels cry, holy, holy, holy. And and then it goes on at the very bottom there in verse 11. You see humanity, the 24 elders saying, worthy are you, Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and by you they all existed and were created. So here you see the angels worshiping God in his, in his character. But then you see humanity worshiping God in His creation. So that what is reflecting is the angels are before his throne and they see him in his holy character. But here on earth we see the evidence of who God is and the beauty of his creation. But in either case, to recognize the greatness of who God is and the fact that God has become so personally concerned with your life should inspire our hearts to surrender to him and to to live for his purposes in this world.
When you take a moment to to ponder this passage. God didn’t reveal himself just to reveal himself, but he reveals himself to us. So we recognize his authority and the importance of his authority in our and in our lives. He. He calms the sea. He calms the sea of our hearts. And not only does he he calm the sea, but he reminds us that you, you forever remain on his heart through the idea of the the jasper and the carnelian that as he sits on his throne, his thoughts are are towards you. And it’s important for us to remember that this all powerful God is the same God that dwells in his people wherever we go. The Bible tells you in first Corinthians 316 and 619 that you are the temple of God, the presence of God made known. So as you read about the power of this God over all things, is to recognize that same powerful God dwells within us. The problem with our hearts as human beings is that we too quickly forget it. In fact, we struggle like Peter on the water, and we easily take our eyes off from the importance for which we are created in him. Which leads me to this last illustration. And I’ll be done. But there’s a man by the name of Robert Robinson. He lived in the middle of the 18th century, in the 1700s, and he had a difficult life. His.
His dad left the family when he was just a child. And and shortly after he left the family. His dad passed away, and he was raised by a single mother in poverty. And. And he chose a life that was a difficult path. He ran with a group of troublemakers. And when he was in his teenage years, later teenage years, he had an opportunity to go listen to George Whitefield preach. Only he didn’t go to listen to George Whitefield preach, to hear him talk about God. He wanted to go with his friends in order to make fun of the man while he spoke to the crowd, but when he went to hear George Whitefield, God captivated his heart with the truth of God’s message, and he surrendered his life to the Lord in 1755. And then he went on to write a hymn that described who he was before the Lord, and the struggle of his own Christian walk. And the song he wrote is called Come Thou Fount, and in verse, verse two or stanza two of that, that that song he says. Prone. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God of love. Here’s my heart, Lord. Take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. You know, Robert Robinson, one of the things that’s known about his life is that his walk with Jesus was not consistent. He struggled, and he wrote about it in this stanza.
God, I’m so prone to wander. But it was this one moment in his life where he was on a carriage ride with a few people, and he climbed into this carriage, sort of taken a taxi to his next location. And when he gets into the carriage, there’s a woman in the carriage holding his hymn Come Thou Fount. But she didn’t know who he was, And she turned to this particular line, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. And she just asked him, as a stranger, what do you think of this passage? And in those moments, Robert Robinson broke down and he acknowledged that that was him, that he had lost his way and he forgot the greatness of who God was. And he thanked that lady for reminding him of those words that he had written years before. And God used that moment to grab his attention. And hopefully Revelation chapter four doesn’t have to go to that extreme for us, but it’s a reminder to all of us as we desire to live for God’s glory in this world, the greatness of the one that we serve. Because it’s not until our hearts are captivated by his glory that will take our eyes off the problems around us and look at the greatness of God above us.