God’s Plan to Purify Israel – Part 1
Daniel 11:2-35
August 7, 2016

We had a week off from our study of Daniel last Sunday night,
As we fellowshipped as a church body,
But tonight we desire to dive back into our study.

IF YOU’LL REMEMBER
• Daniel had been reading Jeremiah 29 and learned that God had decreed 70 years of captivity in Babylon in order to cause Israel to once again seek Him.

• Daniel read that and realized that they were 67 years into the captivity and had still yet to seek God the way He intended so that is precisely what Daniel set out to do.

• Daniel 9 records this prayer of seeking and repentance from Daniel and it was a thing of beauty.

• At the end of Daniel 9 we find that God desired to give a little more insight to Daniel regarding the things he sought, so God sent Gabriel to Daniel with a sobering message.

And it was basically this:
While 70 years will be enough to cause Israel to become monotheistic and once again seek God, it will not be enough to fully accomplish God’s total purpose for them.

God’s total desire for Israel is 6 fold.
According to Daniel 9:24 His desire is to:
• “finish the transgression”
• “make an end of sin”
• “make atonement for iniquity”
• “bring in everlasting righteousness”
• “seal up vision and prophecy”
• “anoint the most holy place”

If you will remember it will take more than 70 years to bring that about.
It will in fact take 70 – 7’s or 70 weeks (490 years)

• And God revealed to Daniel how from the time that a decree would be issued to rebuild Jerusalem it would be 483 years until the Messiah would be cut off, and we saw how it was to the day.

• And then God told Daniel that 7 more years were needed to complete the process.

During this final week God spoke of coming ruler who will deceive Israel.
Daniel 9:27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

And we know that Daniel had set his heart to try and understand all these things, but on his own he could not.

That led us to chapter 10 where we learned all that must take place for us to understand the great plan of God.

We saw Gabriel’s explanation as to what it took for this vision to get to Daniel.
• How Daniel was incapable on his own.
• How even when the revelation came Daniel couldn’t handle it.
• How Gabriel literally had to fight through the enemy to get the revelation here.
• And how Daniel didn’t feel worthy to proclaim such a thing.

But now we actually get to the vision itself.
This is God’s explanation to Daniel about what things are coming.

Now, I want us to stretch our brains here for a second
And realize something.

1) FOR DANIEL ALL OF THESE EVENTS ARE IN THE FUTURE
For us, many of them are in the past, but they are all future for Daniel.

2) FOR GOD ALL OF THESE EVENTS ARE IN THE PAST

That’s probably not the best way to say it,
But I simply want you to understand that
God sees the end from the beginning.

God is not confined by time as we are.
He does not see things in the scope of past, present, and future.

God simply sees all things.
To Him all these things are completed, done, finished.

That is one of the reasons we focus so much on the sovereignty of God and reject so forcefully these notions of free will.

It is NOT as though God is watching from heaven
Just waiting to see how everything will play out.
God has already decreed how things are going to play out.

He already knows, He has already set it.
As far as He is concerned, it is already done.

There is no alternate ending here that might be produced
If people don’t follow His plan.

FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE IT’S ALL DONE.
And it helps us to understand that
When studying prophetic things like this chapter.

Perhaps you remember that famous passage from Isaiah 9.
Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

We’ve talked about that and likened it to looking at a mountain range.
Isaiah could see all the peaks,
But he had difficulty seeing the valleys that separated them.

In fact Peter wrote:
1 Peter 1:10-11 “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”

They just couldn’t figure it all out.
• To Isaiah the coming of the child and the reign of the child were both certain,
even though they are happening at least 2,000 years apart.

• But the God who revealed that truth was just as certain about the first as He
was the second.

To God, the reign of Christ is just as sure as the birth of Christ.
They are both a done deal,
God sees them both as decreed and completed.

WHAT AM I GETTING AT?

Everything Daniel here sees is future,
So he has to choose whether or not to believe any of it.

But to us, most of what we are about to read is history,
It already happened.

So our tendency is to agree with the history and then wonder about the prophecy as if to say, “Will this happen?”

But the God who gave the revelation saw it all as completed.
That means that just as the first events of this chapter occurred,
It is just as certain that the last events of this chapter will occur.

For the God who revealed them
Is not in the middle of them still trying to work them out.

From His perspective it’s all history, even that which hasn’t been written.
So when we read chapters like this,
Let them be set in your mind that these events will occur.

In this chapter God is giving us a history lesson.
Some of it has been written, some of it hasn’t, but it is all decreed.
It is certain.

You will see that for those events that have already occurred
There is such a precise accuracy regarding them that skeptics have said
There is no way Daniel could have written this.

That accuracy only strengthens our resolve that
The events that are still future to us will occur
With the exact same precise accuracy.

Two main points.
#1 THE PAST HISTORY OF ISRAEL
Daniel 11:2-35

Now I remind you that all this occurred after Daniel’s time.
He’s just recording a revelation.

But for us this is all now past history.
What I want to do is give you the names and events that actually occurred alongside Daniel’s vision of what will occur and show you how accurate all these things were.

It stands to reveal to us that God is not predicting future events.
God is revealing events that to Him already are.

And let me show you how good God is at it.
It all begins here in verse 2.

(2) “And now I will tell you the truth. Behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire against the realm of Greece.”

• Daniel saw three more kings arising and then a fourth which would spread his wings farther than the previous 3 and who ultimately be the one to provoke the nation of Greece.

• As Daniel wrote this Cyrus was on the throne of Persia.
• In 530BC – Cyrus’s son Cambyses would reign.
• In 522 BC – Pseudo-Smerdis would reign.
• In 521 BC – Darius I Hystaspes would reign.
• The 4th king would be Xerxes (Ahasuerus to Esther) who would reign in 485BC and would go to war with Greece.

It all happened.
(3) “And a mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases.”

• This mighty king would be from Greece and his name was Alexander the Great.
• From 334-330BC Alexander conquered Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and Persia
• He did whatever he wanted

(4) “But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to others besides them.”

Daniel saw this great king at the height of his power falling and having his kingdom split up 4 ways and not to his own descendants.

• Alexander died of Malaria in 323BC at the age of 32.
• His kingdom was divided among 4 generals.
• Seleucus would reign in the North (Syria & Mesopotamia)
• Ptolemy would reign in the South (Egypt, also Israel)
• Lysimacus would reign in the East (Thrace & Asia Minor)
• Cassander would reign in the West (Macedonia & Greece)

(5) “Then the king of the South will grow strong, along with one of his princes who will gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion; his domain will be a great dominion indeed.”

The “king of the South” here was Ptolemy I Soter who controlled Egypt

“one of his princes” (referring to Alexander) was the king of the North Seleucus I Nicater

• So the focus of Daniel is on the Seleucid and Ptolemy empires who were the King of the South (Ptolemies) and the King of the North (Seleucids).
• Daniel isn’t so focused on the East and the West.

(6) “After some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to carry out a peaceful arrangement. But she will not retain her position of power, nor will he remain with his power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who sired her as well as he who supported her in those times.”

We first read “After some years”, and that is true.
• Ptolemy I Soter died in 285BC and his son Ptolemy II Philadelphias would reign as the new King of the South.
• Seleucus I Nicator was murdered in 281BC and His son Antiochus I Soter reigned for a while and eventually his son Antiochus II Theos took the throne in the North.

So now in the South (Egypt) we have Ptolemy II
And in the North (Syria) we have Antiochus II
And these two men were bitter enemies.
Daniel saw that these two kingdoms would try to form and alliance through marriage.
• He saw that “the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North…but she will not retain her position of power”

• In order to forge peace Ptolemy II offered his daughter Berenice to Antiochus II and he accepted.
• The only problem was Antiochus II was already married to a woman named Laodice, but he divorced her so that he might marry Berenice and thus forge peace.

• But Daniel saw that “she will not retain her position of power”. That is to say the alliance wouldn’t work.

• Laodice proved to be a scorned wife who had Berenice killed.
• Laodice then returned to Antiochus II, but she poisoned him.
• Laodice then put her son Seleucus II Callinicus on the throne of the kingdom of the North.

So the peace talks didn’t work
And now public relations are worse than ever.

The daughter of the king of the South has been murdered
And her murderer’s son is now sitting on the throne.
You can feel the hostility building.

(7-8) “But one of the descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and display great strength. “Also their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold he will take into captivity to Egypt, and he on his part will refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years.”

“But one of the descendants of her line (Berenice) will arise in his place, and he will come against their army”

• Eventually Berenice’s brother took the throne in the South. His name was Ptolemy III Eueregetes became king.
• He set out to avenge his sister’s murder and invade the North.
• He won the battle, killed Laodice, looted Syria, and returned to Egypt with great spoil.
• After this, he considered the score settled and refrained “from attacking the king of the North for some years.”

But you know that the king of the North might see things differently
Since it his mother who has just been killed.

(9) “Then the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land.”

• So Seleucus II decided to invade the South to avenge his mother, but he fell off of his horse and died and thus was returned to his own land.
So the matter is still unresolved.
And you can guess what his sons would decide to do.

(10) “His sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through, that he may again wage war up to his very fortress.”

• Selecus II (North) had two sons.
• The first was Seleucus III and he left the king of the South alone. He sought to enlarge his kingdom by attacking Asia Minor (East), but he was killed by conspirators in Asia.
• His brother then became king who was Antiochus III and he hadn’t gotten over the death of his grandmother Laodice so he attacked the South once again.
• Antiochus III was victorious and he drove the king of the South back all the way to the southern border of Israel.

• That means that the land of Israel now dwells inside the border of the Northern Kingdom of the Seleucids. What is more Israel is really the strategic battle ground.

The South (Egypt, Ptolemies) had it and lost it and wants it back.
The North (Syria, Seleucids) just conquered and wish to keep it.

So, you guessed it, there is a battle coming.

(11-13) “The king of the South will be enraged and go forth and fight with the king of the North. Then the latter will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be given into the hand of the former. “When the multitude is carried away, his heart will be lifted up, and he will cause tens of thousands to fall; yet he will not prevail. “For the king of the North will again raise a greater multitude than the former, and after an interval of some years he will press on with a great army and much equipment.”

• The king of the South is now Ptolemy IV and went back to war with Antiocus III.
• And Ptolemy IV puts up a good fight and holds off Antiochus III for quite a while killing “tens of thousands”.
• But ultimately Antiochus III will raise another great army and win the battle.
• It was a strategic victory for Antiochus III and throws all the momentum to his side.

Now Israel sensed what was happening,
And all the while wanted independence.

• And their thought was to help Antiochus III overthrow Ptolemy IV and then claim their freedom.

(14) “Now in those times many will rise up against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down.”

• Israel joined with Antiochus III hoping to gain freedom, but that plan didn’t work.
• Instead of giving Israel autonomy they became under the rule of Antiochus III.

Antiochus III saw the addition of Israel to his forces as making him that much stronger and did not want to give them up.

(15-16) “Then the king of the North will come, cast up a siege ramp and capture a well-fortified city; and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand. “But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to withstand him; he will also stay for a time in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.”

• Antiochus III attacked and defeated Sidon which was a “well-fortified city”
• He established himself as ruler in Israel and did “as he pleases”

• Antiochus III (North) now saw a chance to conquer all the three other kingdoms and once again unite the old empire that was last ruled by Alexander the Great.

• With the king of the South now crippled Antiochus hatched a plan to take the south by intrigue and then seek to conquer the East and the West.

His plan was once again an alliance of marriage.

(17) “He will set his face to come with the power of his whole kingdom, bringing with him a proposal of peace which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it. But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side.”

• Antiochus III’s plan was to give his daughter to Ptolemy V.
• This was supposed to be an alliance of peace, but the plan was for his daughter to betray Ptolemy V to her father.
• But you know how daughters can be. Instead she fell in love in Ptolemy V and chose “not to take a stand for [her father] or be on his side.”
• Antiochus III’s plan to take the south was thwarted.

• Scorned by this Antiochus turned his face to attack the other two kingdoms in the East and the West. (He still plans to reunite Alexander’s former kingdom)

(18-19) “Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many. But a commander will put a stop to his scorn against him; moreover, he will repay him for his scorn. “So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more.”

• Antiochus III attacked Asian Minor and Greece, but there was a problem.
• There was a new world empire emerging called Rome and Greece and Rome had become allies.
• When Antiochus III attacked Greece, they called for Rome and Cornelius Scipio of Rome came and fought off Antiochus III.
• Antiochus III returned home without fulfilling his dream and ultimately died in his home land being killed by some of his own subjects after raiding a local temple to Jupiter.
So now Antiochus III is dead
And all his war efforts had thrown his kingdom into recession.

His son Seleucus IV Philopater became king.

(20) “Then in his place one will arise who will send an oppressor through the Jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.”

• Seleucus IV sought to restore financial stability to his kingdom by (among other things) looting the temple at Jerusalem.
• But with money in hand Seleucus was poisoned by his treasurer who apparently saw the opportunity for riches.

Now the throne in the north was once again vacant
(21-22) “In his place a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue. “The overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered, and also the prince of the covenant.”

• Next in line for the throne should have been Seleucus IV’s son, but another king wormed his way in.
• Antiochus IV (you know him as Antiochus Epiphenes) turned an invading army away in battle and rode that fame all the way to the throne. Thus he seized “the kingdom by intrigue”
• One of his first acts was to depose Onias III who was high priest in Israel thus he “shattered…the prince of the covenant.”

Antiochus Epiphenes was a horrific ruler as it related to Israel.

(23-24) “After an alliance is made with him he will practice deception, and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people. “In a time of tranquility he will enter the richest parts of the realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors; he will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time.”

• Antiochus IV (Epihanes) ascended to great power through a tactic you and I know as socialism.
• He literally robbed the rich and distributed it to the poor and won himself great fame and popularity in his kingdom.

He took this new found power
And once again decided to go to war with the South.

(25-27) “He will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South with a large army; so the king of the South will mobilize an extremely large and mighty army for war; but he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him. “Those who eat his choice food will destroy him, and his army will overflow, but many will fall down slain. “As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on evil, and they will speak lies to each other at the same table; but it will not succeed, for the end is still to come at the appointed time.”

• Antiochus IV defeated the south, but only because the King of the South was betrayed in battle by men who had been bought off by Antiochus Epiphanes.
• With the battle over both kings sat down for peace talks and treaty talks but both were lying and neither honored their promises.

But Antiochus would return home rich and arrogant.

(28) “Then he will return to his land with much plunder; but his heart will be set against the holy covenant, and he will take action and then return to his own land.”

• Rich after the battle and feeling his oats, Antiochus returned home and even slapped around Israel on his way.
• He didn’t like the welcome he received from Israel as he passed through.

(29) “At the appointed time he will return and come into the South, but this last time it will not turn out the way it did before.”

• 2 years later Antiochus IV decided to invade the South again, expecting this time to conquer them.
• But this time it didn’t work like before.

(30) “For ships of Kittim will come against him; therefore he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant.”

• Remembering how Rome had helped against his father, the Jews reached out to Rome again who this time came and stopped Antiochus IV from invading the South.

• It is said that Popillius Laenus the Roman general told Antiochus to stop what he was doing.
• Antiochus asked for time to make a decision.
• Laenus drew a circle around Antiochus in the sand with his sword and told him to make a decision before he left the circle.
• Antiochus had no choice but to consent or go to war with Rome.
• He was defeated, humiliated, and enraged at the Jews.
• Furthermore he caught wind that the Jews had celebrated his supposed death in battle, and he was ready to repay them.

(31-32) “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. “By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.”

• Antiochus IV Epiphanes came back to Israel and unleashed fury.
• He killed men, women, and children.
• He desecrated the temple
• He erected and altar of Zeus
• And he commanded that on the 25th of every month a pig had to be sacrificed on the altar in honor of his birthday.
• He also rewarded Jews who forsook the covenant and worshiped Zeus (and many apostate Jews did)

This was a dark time for Israel which Daniel said would occur.
Daniel 8:13-14 “Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, “How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?” He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.”

Daniel 8:23-25 “In the latter period of their rule, When the transgressors have run their course, A king will arise, Insolent and skilled in intrigue. “His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree And prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people. “And through his shrewdness He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; And he will magnify himself in his heart, And he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency.”

It was a dark time.

(33-35) “Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days. “Now when they fall they will be granted a little help, and many will join with them in hypocrisy. “Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.”

• Many did indeed “fall by the sword and by flame”

This however did lead to a revolt.
• Mattathias was a priest in Israel who had 5 sons.
• He revolted and fled with his sons to the mountains.
• One of his sons was named Judas Maccabeaus (Maccabean Revolt) and he would later refurbish the temple.
• Antiochus IV would die in 163 BC from a bowel disease and in utter insanity.

• But during this dark period many would die although “granted a little help”.
• That is what we call “dying grace”
• Some would “join with them in hypocrisy”, that is they fought for the Maccabease, but they weren’t loyal to God.

• The entire purpose was to “refine, purge and make them pure until the end time.”

God would use this period as a great time of refining for Israel.
This was a horrific time of desolation and hardship for Israel,
But it did purify them in their worship.

Incidentally that helps you understand some of what you see taking place in New Testament times.

Ever hear of a group of people called The Pharisees?
• They were the blue collar patriots who arose out of this time.
• They didn’t necessarily love God, but they certainly became passionate about Israel.

Beyond that, do you remember even as the church began how there were native Hebrew Jews and then Hellenistic Jews?

Remember how some of the widows were being overlooked?

There was a division there because the native Hebrews had stood against the Greek influence from men like Antiochus IV and the Hellenistic Jews had adopted much of this Greek culture.

Can you see now why there was such a division between the two?
One pictured the other as traitors and not pure Israelite loyalists.

Perhaps you better understand that time now.

BUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO GRASP IS THIS:
• To Daniel this was all in the future.
• To God this was all decreed.

And it all happened with absolute accuracy.

 

OUR SPIRITUAL HERITAGE

Wednesday Nights Beginning September 7th – 7:00pm @ FBC Spur

Many Christians know little about the history of the church. As a result, they’re missing a testament to God’s steadfastness over the centuries. In this monumental study series, Dr. W. Robert Godfrey sheds crucial light on church history, demonstrating God’s promise to build and preserve His church so that “the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). Across seventy-three messages, learn why having a working knowledge of church history remains relevant for our personal lives today, and for the church as a whole.

Each study consists of a 23 minute video lesson and comes with an accompaniment study guide to help you grasp and hold on to all the information regarding the history and formation of the church.

If you’ve ever been interested in church history, this is the course for you!!!

 

The Sovereign God of Heaven – Part 3
Revelation 4:1-11 (5-11)
July 31, 2016

As you know we are studying through the book of Revelation
And for the last couple of weeks we have traveled with John
Up into the throne room of heaven.

We are now glimpsing the end.

God is showing John “what must take place after these things”
Which is a reference to the church age.

God begins by giving John a view of heaven.
Since the only authoritative and accurate views of heaven are those which come to us from Scripture, we certainly love this one since it is by far the most extensive.

And as we have been looking at chapter 4 we quickly learned that
One thing dominated John’s gaze as he looked at heaven.
That one initial thing was the throne.

(2) “Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven”

John has then begun to describe all that he sees in relation to this throne.
• “on the throne”
• “around the throne”
• “from the throne”
• “before the throne”
• “in the center and around the throne”

The throne is the reminder to us
Of the ultimate sovereign authority of God.

We are reminded that He is in absolute control of all things.
Nothing happens outside of His sovereign control.

HIS SOVEREIGNTY INCLUDES:
• Everything regarding the systems of creation
• Everything regarding the reign and fall of kings and governments
• Everything regarding the birth, death, and geographical limits of man
• Everything regarding who has understanding and discernment
• Everything regarding salvation and the dispensing of grace
• Everything regarding the enemy and the limits of his activity
• Everything regarding the future and the determined end of all things

GOD IS IN CONTROL.

But also by looking at this throne we are establishing our theology
On the person and nature of God.
John didn’t see an empty throne, John saw “One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting on the throne was like as jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.”

He also saw that “Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.”

These realities begin to paint a wonderful picture for us
Regarding the nature of God.

• His appearance as “jasper stone and a sardius” are tremendous pictures
of His glorious nature and even of His holy wrath.

• We talked about how the “sardius” was a ruby and so in this glorious
refraction John saw a red hugh. Ezekiel said it was like molten metal or fire.

And we are reminded that our God is “a consuming fire”.
He is not to be messed with.

We read Psalms 2 about how all the nations took their stand in order to throw God’s authority off and God merely laughed from the heavens.

His answer was that they had better show discernment
And submit to God’s authoritative King.

We also saw the “rainbow around the throne” and remembered that the rainbow is a symbol of God’s faithfulness.

It was the bow He put in the heavens to remind earth and heaven that He will never again destroy the earth with water.

Also a picture of God’s faithfulness were the “twenty-four thrones” which surrounded His throne.

These we discerned could be no one other than the raptured church,
Who are only present in heaven because of God’s great faithfulness.

• He is the One who has kept them from stumbling.
• He is the One who has protected them for this time.
• He is the One who held them in His hand.

And so thus far when we gaze into heaven
We are overcome with three tremendous realities.

• The Authority of God
• The Glory of God (mixed with wrath)
• The Faithfulness of God to accomplish all that He purposes

This morning we wish to move on looking at this vision.
We have seen the throne, on the throne, and around the throne
#4 FROM THE THRONE
Revelation 4:5a

And here we read: “Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.”

Of all the things John heard and saw,
This one is probably the EASIEST to understand.
This literally speaks of TERROR.

While that is easy to understand, it is difficult for most people to swallow.
If I tell you this morning that God is a God of terror,
Many of you would scoff and say, “NO!”

Many would argue: “God is gracious and loving and accepting and He only wants my fellowship and companionship. There is nothing terrible in Him. There is nothing in Him that causes terror. There is no reason to be afraid of God.”

Are you sure?
• I wonder then why Scripture speaks so much of “The fear of the Lord”.
• I wonder why His servants routinely hit the ground in trembling at His presence.

When God was making His covenant with Abraham:
Genesis 15:12 “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.”

When God called Israel out of Egypt and they came to Sinai:
Hebrews 12:18-21 “For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command, “IF EVEN A BEAST TOUCHES THE MOUNTAIN, IT WILL BE STONED.” And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “I AM FULL OF FEAR and trembling.”

THAT’S NOT ALL
When God was sending Israel into the Promised Land:
Exodus 23:27 “I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.”

Micah even promised that the coming Day of the Lord would be described like this:
Malachi 4:5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.”

It is actually this terror that is about to be released upon the earth. Isaiah prophesied:
Isaiah 2:10 “Enter the rock and hide in the dust From the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty.”

Look at:
Revelation 6:15-17 “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

If God is not a God of terror, I’m curious about passages like:
1 Peter 1:17 “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;”

Hebrews 4:1 “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.”

Hebrews 10:31 “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

There has always been a holy terror regarding God.
And please understand this.
HE IS NOT APPROACHABLE!

Which is what made this promise in Hebrews so amazing:
Hebrews 10:19-22 “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Jesus makes it possible for us to approach the throne.
Jesus makes it possible for us to draw near to God.

But God’s presence is literally terrifying.

And that is certainly signified here.
It is a picture of His divine judgment.
• On the throne is glory
• Around the throne is faithfulness
• From the throne comes judgment

TURN TO: Psalms 18:1-19
It was the terror of the Lord which was unleased on his enemies.
Judgment comes from the throne of God.

David was prophetically speaking of the coming deliverance for all Israel.
He will return with fury and terrible judgment.
From the throne comes judgment.

#5 BEFORE THE THRONE
Revelation 4:5a-6a

“And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal;”

So first we see “seven lamps of fire”

And we already know that this represents the Holy Spirit in His fullness
He is “the seven Spirits of God”
(We learned that back in chapter 1.)

Isaiah 11:2 “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.”

We know that this is a picture of the Holy Spirit in His fullness.

When you read about the Holy Spirit in His fullness
All His attributes speak of accurate judgment.

“wisdom” “understanding” “counsel” “knowledge”

It is a picture of Perfect Understanding, Perfect Discernment,
Perfect Judgment in all things.

Now hold on to that for just a second.

Because John also says, (6) “and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal.”

John is not the only one to have seen this sight.

In Ezekiel’s vision:
Ezekiel 1:22-25 “Now over the heads of the living beings there was something like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal, spread out over their heads. Under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward the other; each one also had two wings covering its body on the one side and on the other. I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant waters as they went, like the voice of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army camp; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. And there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.”

In the Old Testament we read:
Exodus 24:9-10 “Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.”

From both of those accounts we find that this “sea of glass”
Wasn’t just BEFORE the throne, but was in fact BENEATH the throne.

We are talking about then THE FOUNDATION of God’s throne.
We are talking about what God’s throne stands upon.
Psalms 89:14 “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.”

Psalms 97:1-6 “The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; Let the many islands be glad. Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Fire goes before Him And burns up His adversaries round about. His lightnings lit up the world; The earth saw and trembled. The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare His righteousness, And all the peoples have seen His glory.”

Not only are we dealing with what is “before” the throne,
But literally what is the foundation of His throne.

And that fits perfectly with what we just saw regarding the Holy Spirit.

God’s throne rests upon perfect “wisdom”, perfect “understanding”, perfect “counsel”, perfect “strength”, perfect “knowledge”.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

AND THAT IS A VERY ENCOURAGING REMINDER TO US.
We live in a day where we see people in authority
Without any of those qualities.

People without wisdom or counsel or knowledge or strength
Or righteousness or justice.

WE LIVE IN A WORLD OF CORRUPTED AUTHORITY.

BUT NOT THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY
Every judgment He makes; every verdict He renders
Is absolutely right and just.

The wrath and terror that is coming from His throne
Are absolutely justified and right.

He is not acting carelessly or uninformed or out of corruption.
God’s judgments are true and righteous and perfect.

What a glory to see that the foundation of all that God does
Is done in perfect wisdom and righteousness.

So now let’s ZOOM BACK and take a quick look at the God we are seeing in the heavens.
• He is a God of AUTHORITY
• He is a God of GLORY AND WRATH
• He is a God of FAITHFULNESS
• He is a God of JUDGMENT AND TERROR
• He is a God of WISDOM AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

These are the attributes that overcome John as he sees heaven.
And realities like this help us understand then
What the Psalmist meant when he wrote:
Psalms 15 “O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend; In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honors those who fear the LORD; He swears to his own hurt and does not change; He does not put out his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.”

Do you see now why the Psalmist wrote such things?
We are not talking about a softy, ignorant, complacent, apathetic, tolerant, push-over God.

He is filled with wrath and glory and justice and faithfulness
And if you ever plan to stand before Him,
You had better be righteous
Because the wicked will not stand before Him.

Psalms 1:4-6 “The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.”

Psalms 5:4-7 “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You.”

Do you understand that?

It certainly then emphasizes the necessity of
Being clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Mankind is utterly foolish to assume they can stand before this Holy God
Apart from the imputed righteousness of Christ.
You’d be a fool to try and draw near to God without Christ.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

That verse takes on new meaning in view of the One John saw in heaven.

JOHN SAW ONE WHO IS HOLY.
That’s really the key word here.
You can take all of those other attributes we just discovered
And to sum them up in one word, that word is: HOLY.

And that makes what we see next fit so perfectly.

The Throne, On The Throne, Around The Throne, From The Throne, Before The Throne
#6 NEAR THE THRONE
Revelation 4:6b-11

After having sort of panned the camera out and saw the big picture,
John now begins to zoom back in.

“and in the center and around the throne”

John says he saw, “four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within;”

WOW, WHAT IN THE WORLD?
I don’t want to spend a ton of time here because these creatures are not the focus, but they do in fact teach us such a valuable lesson.

If you were to turn and read Ezekiel 1 you would see these creatures again.
• Ezekiel 1 we see God’s throne on the move.
• I’ve always likened it to a war chariot, which is certainly fitting to the message of Ezekiel, where Ezekiel literally sees God’s glory depart on that chariot from Israel.
• But Ezekiel sees these same creatures with a few slight differences.
• Ezekiel says they all four have all four faces on all four sides.
• And in Ezekiel 10 he calls them “cherubim”

This is important because throughout Scripture
Cherubim are the protectors of the holiness of God.

• When Adam and Even were removed from the garden it was a cherubim who was stationed at the gate with a flaming sword.
• It was cherubim who literally spread over the mercy seat in the holy of holies.
• Just by way of reference, Ezekiel 28:11-19 describes Satan and his fall from heaven. Of him God said in verse 14, “You were the anointed cherub who covers” (or literally, “who guards”)

Cherubim are guardians of the holy.

Now, were we don’t want to bog down
Is in attempting to understand what their appearance means.
There have been multitudes of people guess as to what the four faces represented.

I’ve heard they represent Christ.
Lion = King, Ox = Sacrifice, Man = Man, Eagle = God
I’ve heard they represent the four gospel accounts in the same way.

Some say they represent
Power – lion, Service – ox, Intellect – man, Glory – eagle
And on and on and on
I do know that according to Jewish history when the 12 tribes of Israel broke into their 4 formations.
• Reuben was one head and flew the banner of a man.
• Dan was a head and flew the banner of an eagle.
• Ephraim was a head and flew the banner of an ox.
• Judah was a head and flew the banner of a lion.

But even then I don’t know why.
So we’ll just leave them at that
Until some day when we understand things more fully.

We do see however that they each have “six wings”
THIS IMPLIES ACCESS.
They are not omnipresent, but they can go anywhere they desire to go.

We see that they are “full of eyes around and within”
This implies perception.
They are not omniscient, but they can see whatever they desire to see.

And yet when dealing with creatures
Who can be anywhere they want to be
And see anything they want to see
We only find them near the throne of God.

“and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”

• They can be anywhere they want to be and they surround the throne of God.
• They can see anything they want to see and they surround the throne of God.
• They can do anything they want to do and all they do is worship.

All they do 24-7-365 is proclaim the Excellency of God.
They never tire, they never quit, they never go on break,
They worship “day and night” and they “do not cease” in their worship.

Do you know why they never stop worshiping?
Because they never leave the presence of God and they never cease to see Him as He is.

WORSHIP IS NEAR THE THRONE OF GOD.

Worship is the automatic response
To gazing upon the glory of God
It is the proper response, it is the only response,
It cannot be helped.

• We fail to worship because we fail to draw near to God.
• We fail to worship because we set our gaze on other things.

Why do you suppose that the natural result to being filled with the Spirit is that (according to Ephesians 5) we speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs?

It is because worship is the natural response
To having drawn near to God.

You may not realize it but failure to worship God (like when we gather at church like today) Is not only the most unbelievable form of arrogance,
But it is also quite a condemning testimony for yourself.

If you go through life or attend church without participating in worship,
You might as well hang a sign around your neck that says,
“I’m not close to God.”

Because everyone and everything that is close to God worships God.
Psalms 84:4 “How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You.”

Psalms 29:3-9 “The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, The LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful, The voice of the LORD is majestic. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, And Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everything says, “Glory!”

THESE CREATURES NEVER STOP WORSHIPING.

And incidentally their song is so important.
“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY”

Did you know that this is the only attribute of God that is 3 times repeated like this in Scripture?
• You never hear God called “love, love, love” or “mercy, mercy, mercy”.
• But He is called “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY”

And that is certainly true based on who we saw on the throne isn’t it?
They worship because of His authority, His faithfulness, His glory, His wrath,
His judgment, His righteousness, His justice, His wisdom.
THEY CONTINUALLY DECLARE WHO GOD IS.

Look at what else they say.
They call Him “THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY”

“ALMIGHTY” is an amazing term.
I heard it defined as “Power equal to one’s will”
Think about that. You can have a will for all sorts of things to happen,
But you don’t have the power to put it into play.

God has power equal to His will.
There is nothing that He desires that He can’t do.

Psalms 115:3 “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”

That is an amazing truth about our God.

They also call Him “WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”

That speaks of His transcendence.
• We talked about this last Sunday night.
• You and I dwell in the dimension of time and space. It is a box that we cannot
escape.

But God is not limited by such things.
He transcends time, He transcends space.

And the creatures, who are themselves created,
Recognize that God is beyond them in all things.

It is non-stop worship near the throne.

AND CAN WE MAKE ANOTHER OBSERVATION HERE?
Their worship is absolutely contagious.

(9-11) “And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

In fact the worship is just going to keep escalating on through chapter 5.
The song gets bigger and so does the choir.
The worship is contagious.

And once the raptured church hears the cherubim sing
They instantly fall on their face, cast their victor’s crowns before Him (that’s all they have to give)
And join in the song of worship.

“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power [authority]; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

They are sensing what God is about to do.
They are sensing that God is about to redeem creation.

Romans 8:18-21 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

• Paul said that creation itself groans waiting to be redeemed from the curse
• Here we find that heaven senses that the time is close.

The twenty-four elders instantly begin to sing that
God alone is the rightful ruler of creation.

Remember Satan is presently referred to as the “god of this world” and “the prince of the power of the air”, but heaven knows those are temporary titles.

God alone is worthy of the praise of creation.
• He alone “created all things”
• It is because of His “will they existed, and were created.”

Interesting too to note that while the earth seems confused
About how the earth appeared, speaking of things like evolution,
HEAVEN ISN’T CONFUSED AT ALL.

The heavens know how this all started.

And they worship God because they can sense that
GOD IS ABOUT TO REDEEM ALL THINGS BACK TO HIMSELF.

• You’ll see in chapter 5 that God is in fact holding a sealed up book in His
hand.
• It is the title deed to the earth, and the enthusiasm of heaven is beginning to
erupt as they sense what God is about to do.

And worship breaks out!

LET ME SHOW YOU SOMETHING YOU DON’T SEE IN HEAVEN.
Do you see even the slightest hint of panic in heaven?

Psalms 2:1-9 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'”

Psalms 37:12-13 “The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming.”

There is no panic in heaven, only worship.

That is certainly the expectation from all of creation,
Both of those in heaven and those still on earth.

The world has a tainted view of who God is.
We hear so much bad theology and bad doctrine about God and what He is like.

John saw Him! He saw Him!
And John was overcome by
• His sovereign authority,
• His magnificent glory,
• His faithfulness,
• His terrible wrath,
• His wisdom and justice.

And all of heaven is literally overwhelmed by His holiness
And divine ability to do whatever He pleases.

Do not get sucked in to the common notions that
He is a God who is fine regarding sin and sinners. He is not!

He is a holy and terrifying God of wrath and judgment and perfect justice.

AND PEOPLE ARE SHOCKED BY THIS!
BUT LISTEN:
The remarkable revelation is NOT that God is holy and judges sin.
The remarkable revelation is that this Holy God
Chose to offer pardon to unworthy sinners.
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

This God of holiness and wrath was yet willing to justify sinners
Through the horrible death of His own Son.

• Do you see the necessity of the cross?
• Do you see the beauty of what Christ did for us?
• Do you see the exclusivity of the cross and why there is no other way?

We now as wretched sinners
Can come before the throne of this holy and terrifying God,
And Scripture says we can go there boldly or with confidence
Because of what Christ has accomplished for us.

(Incidentally that is the theme and point of chapter 5)

• How could there be any other response aside from worship?
• How could there be any other response aside from awestruck wonder and gratitude?

Worship this Holy God who deserves it.
Worship the Lamb who died on our behalf.

And regardless of what this world throws at you,
Don’t fret it, don’t worry.
We have a sovereign God who reigns in the heavens.

A Behind The Scenes Look at Daniel’s Revelation
Daniel 10:1-11:1
July 24, 2016

If you’ve been studying Daniel with us
You know that Daniel has certainly be singled out by God
As a conduit through which He would reveal much of His sovereign plan.

• We saw God use Daniel to reveal His sovereign authority even over pagan nations and Gentile kingdoms.
• We have seen God use Daniel to also begin to reveal His plans for Israel, both near and far.
• And beginning in chapter 11 God will give His most extensive and detailed revelation to Daniel yet.

But before the book jumps into that revelation we first come to chapter 10
Before we are given the revelation,
We first are given a Behind The Scenes look at the revelation.

And the MAIN THING we learn is it is a tremendous privilege
That we would ever possess any of the revelation of God.

Perhaps you’ve never thought about it before,
But it is worth contemplating it for a moment.
John MacArthur did a good job explaining this to our youth at camp,
And it is certainly something you should consider as well.

Namely that God exists in a dimension that is beyond you and me.
• We exist in the dimension of time and space; we are trapped in it.
• God exists outside of that dimension. He is not limited by either.

So to really simplify it, we live inside the box, God lives outside of it.
That means that it is NOT possible for you or I
To ever go and gain knowledge of God.

We’ve heard stories of various religious pilgrimages that people have gone on seeking enlightenment and understanding.
• Someone may travel to the depths of the oceans looking for understanding…
• Someone may travel through the realms of space looking for answers…
• Some have sought enlightenment through pain and deprivation…
• Some have looked for understanding through mind altering drugs…

People have gone on all sorts of pilgrimages looking for knowledge.

But it is not possible that you and I could ever travel far enough, deep enough, high enough, inward enough, or outward enough
To ever gain 1 peck of a knowledge of God.

He exists outside of our box.
The only possible way that we could ever gain knowledge of God
Is if God chooses to reveal Himself to us.
The only way we could know anything of God is if God chooses to speak into our world.

SO THINK FOR A MOMENT ABOUT THE VALUE OF DIVINE REVELATION
Think of what a tremendous treasure it is to us
For God to shine light into our darkness.

THIS IS HUGE!
• It is remarkable that God would choose to make Himself known.
• It is remarkable that God would choose to reveal a piece of His sovereign plan.
• It is remarkable that God would choose to reveal His holy standards.

He certainly didn’t have to, but He has chosen to break into our world
And reveal to us His divine truth.

This reality has led writers of Scripture to make statements like:
Psalms 19:7-11 “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.”

Psalms 139:17 “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”

Psalms 119:72 “The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.”

The fact that God would break through into our dark and silent world and reveal His truth to us is nothing short of remarkable and wonderful.

And we are talking of course about the infinite value of sacred Scripture.
Hebrews 1:1-2 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”

In the Old Testament God spoke in various ways to various people.
In the New Testament God spoke to us in Christ.

Jesus was the final word of God.
In Him the revelation was complete.
God appointed the apostles to record this message of Christ,
And in Him the message of God was finished.

Revelation 22:18-19 “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”
With that statement God put an end to all new revelation.

Jude said:
Jude 3 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.”

“the faith” Jude speaks of was the written and revealed word of God which came through the apostles and it was “once for all handed down to the saints.”

There is no more.

I only bring that up because we have had a minor issue in our church over the course of the last month regarding the idea of ongoing revelation.
According to Scripture these are NOT occurring.

I do get bothered by talk of the “ongoing personal revelations from God”

For not only are they false,
But they’re only effect is to reduce man’s dependency
Upon the true revelation of God, which is Scripture.

Ezekiel was livid with them:
Ezekiel 13:3-9 “Thus says the Lord GOD, “Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. “O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins. “You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the LORD. “They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, ‘The LORD declares,’ when the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. “Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘The LORD declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken?”‘” Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord GOD. “So My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will have no place in the council of My people, nor will they be written down in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel, that you may know that I am the Lord GOD.”

Jeremiah had these would be prophets pegged early:
Jeremiah 23:25-32 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ “How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? “The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the LORD. “Is not My word like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock? “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who steal My words from each other. “Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD.

• There have always been those who claim to speak for God who do not.
• There have always been those who have claimed to hear from God when they did not.

And the devastating effect of these visions and revelations is that
They lead people away from the true revelation of God
Which is the Scripture.

And leading people away from a dependency of Scripture
Neither honors God nor benefits the people.

It was during the days of the Reformation (16th century)
• That the church of God was rescued from the dark ages
• Regardless of who you read or study regarding that period, the catalyst for
the reformation was crystal clear.

Men began to examine and understand Scripture.

That is why in the old city of Geneva, where John Calvin preached
• There is a walking park and the center piece of the park is giant wall of
marble which is called “The Reformation Wall”.
• It is a tribute to the heroes of the reformation of the 16th century.
• In the top of the wall is a motto chiseled which says: POST TENEBRAS LUX

It means “after darkness light”

It referred to the time of the dark ages when the Scriptures were only recorded and preached in Latin (which common people did not speak) and therefore did not understand.

It was the dark ages because people did not have access to God’s Word.
But through the reformation, God began to once again reveal His word.

God did not speak new revelation,
He merely used amazing men to bring the revelation of Scripture
Back to the people and with it came revival or light.
One of their cries was SOLA SCRIPTURA or “Scripture Alone”

They had no interest in church tradition or hierarchy
They had no interest in new or private revelation.

In fact Martin Luther said, “Whenever you hear anyone boast that he has something by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and it has no basis in God’s Word, no matter what it may be, tell him that this is the work of the devil.” (Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, vol 23, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan (St. Louis: Concordia, 1959), 173-174

Furthermore Luther stated, “Whatever does not have its origin in the Scriptures is surely from the devil himself.” (Luther’s Works, vol.36, 144)

These men understood the tremendous value that is Scripture
They saw Scripture alone as the true revelation of God
And had no need nor desire for any other revelation.

And this is what we are talking about here tonight:
THE VALUE OF GOD’S REVELATION TO US.
• How precious it is that God would break the silence and the ignorance and the darkness and would choose to speak!
• How precious it is that God would choose to reveal to us His perfect word!

• How awful it would be to not have that revelation.

Amos 8:11-12 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD. “People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it.”

What a horrific day that would be!
God’s revealed truth of Scripture is extremely valuable!

TONIGHT I WANT TO SHOW WHY IT IS SO VALUABLE
AND ALSO HOW YOU AND I SHOULD TREASURE IT.

We see this in Daniel chapter 10.

There are two main points we will look at tonight.
#1 THE DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING GOD’S REVELATION
Daniel 10:1-17

Verse 1 is simply and introductory verse to the chapter
Which helps us understand the point.

(1) “In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision.”

Revealed in that verse are two remarkable occurrences.
1) “a message was revealed to Daniel”
2) “he understood the message”

It is in fact remarkable that “a message was revealed to Daniel”
Especially when you understand how difficult it is for this to happen.

One of the ways WE APPRAISE VALUE even in our culture
Is through the idea of how hard something is to come by.
If something is rare or difficult to obtain its value only increases.

This reality will help you understand
Why God’s revealed truth in Scripture is so valuable.

Let me show you why it was so hard for Daniel to receive this message.
The writer actually reveals 4 massive obstacles.
1) THE INABILITY OF MAN TO DISCERN IT (2-3)

That is to say, that even if God were to speak,
There is no way man would be able to comprehend it.

We certainly find that truth here with Daniel.
(2-3) “In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.”

• Daniel has been in “mourning for three entire weeks”
• He is actually in a state of fasting.
• No “tasty food”, No “meat”, No “wine”, No “ointment”

Daniel is not fasting in order to manipulate God to speak,
Rather Daniel is in a state of fasting
Because he can’t understand what God is saying.

Fasting occurs when the spiritual takes precedent over the physical.
Daniel isn’t eating because food is not what he wants.

What does he want?
Look at verse 12
(12) “Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.”

What did Daniel not have that he wanted? “understanding”

Do you not remember what God just showed Daniel back in chapter 9?
Daniel 9:24-27 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

Daniel wants to understand God’s truth, but there is a problem.
HE CAN’T

• It didn’t matter how humble he was…
• It didn’t matter how educated he was…
• It didn’t matter how deprived he was…
Daniel could not understand what God was doing.

And this true not just for Daniel, but for humanity in general.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Paul said:
Romans 11:34 “For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? NASU

1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

That simply means that on his own
Man can’t understand the things of God.

That is one of the things that makes God’s revelation
So difficult and so valuable.

MAN CAN’T OBTAIN IT ON HIS OWN.

We learn from Daniel that the only way man can gain understanding is to petition God for it, and hope that God is merciful and desires to reveal Himself.

Proverbs 2:1-6 “My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

That is what Daniel is doing.
He is seeking God for understanding.

We will see that God is going to honor that request and send a revelation.
But that leads to a second problem.

There is a second obstacle that makes it difficult:
2) THE UNWORTHINESS OF MAN TO POSSESS IT (4-9)

Daniel has been crying out for understanding
And God is merciful and determines to send a revelation.

That revelation is found in verses 4-9.
(if you’re paying attention on Sunday mornings you should know who this is)

This is Jesus!
It’s the same way John saw him in Revelation 1:12-16
God sends Jesus to Daniel and Jesus even begins to speak.

BUT DID YOU CATCH THE PROBLEM?
No one could handle it!
• Certainly not the men with Daniel, they didn’t even see Jesus, and they took off.
• And Daniel couldn’t even handle it.

(9) “But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.”

When it doesn’t frustrate me, I actually get a little amused at people
Who claim all these revelations from Jesus in their lives.

I had a guy at camp tell me, “I’m one of those people Jesus regularly comes and speaks to.”

WOW! Even John the apostle, Ezekiel and Daniel couldn’t handle that!
They all fell on their face like dead men.

Isaiah said:
Isaiah 6:5 “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

Peter told Jesus on the fishing boat, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

Adam hid, Zacharias became deaf

It’s remarkable to me that so many today claim these special revelations from God when Scripture made it clear that this was no minor thing.

MAN (even the best of them throughout Scripture) IS NOT WORTHY to receive revelation from God, and those that did knew it!

NOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT JESUS SAID TO DANIEL?
Me neither! Daniel couldn’t handle it.

• In fact, God is going to send an angel to Daniel to try and help him receive the revelation and most of the chapter is spent with this angel trying to reassure Daniel that it will be ok.

(READ VERSES 10-11)

And then the angel will try again in verse 14, but Daniel still can’t handle it.
(READ VERSES 15-17)

Are you getting the point?

That is the difficulty of God’s revelation.
Man can’t obtain it on his own, and even when God chooses to give it,
Sinful man can’t handle it!

This is no minor thing!

There is a third barrier to us receiving the revelation of God.
3) THE OPPOSITION OF SATAN TO HINDER IT (10-14)

Here we are given the answer to the 3 week delay.
• God was willing to speak in instant regard to Daniel’s request, but there was a spiritual war occurring that would could not see.

• And when the angel finally calmed Daniel down enough to get him back on his feet he explained to him about the delay.

(12-14) “Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. “Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.”

We will talk about this more as we get into the book of Revelation, and because time is short, I don’t want to dwell here forever, but here is what you should know.

“the prince of the kingdom of Persia” is not Cyrus.
It is a demonic presence who has been assigned to Cyrus.

Satan has assigned a demon to him
To seek to sway him against the working of God’s people.

• Remember Cyrus is the one who sent them back.
• If you’ll read Ezra 4 you’ll discern that Satan is seeking to stop the rebuilding of the temple.
• There is also a demon working on Cyrus.

That does not mean he is possessed (though some world rulers are),
It means there is a continual evil influence seeking to direct him.

This helps us understand why Paul was so adamant in 1 Timothy 2
That we pray for our leaders and for those in authority.
Satan is at constant work seeking to influence the leaders of this world.

After all, Ephesians 6 reminds us that he is the prince of the power of the air and our battle is not against flesh and blood but instead is against him.

Here we find that God has dispatched His angel
To war against that demonic presence.
This is the spiritual warfare in the heavenlies.

And this angel was dispatched by God to come and reveal the truth to Daniel, but that demonic presence was fighting against him.

Why?
Because Satan hates the truth!
• He tries to block the truth
• He tries to distort the truth
• He tries to dilute the truth

• During the time of the reformation men like William Tyndale were killed simply for trying to translate the Bible into the English language.

• He also sends false prophets to distort the truth and malign the Scriptures saying it means what it does not mean.

• And even in our day he floods the air waves with countless false prophecies and spiritual words to dilute the truth and take the focus of man off of Scripture.

This is one of the things that made receiving God’s word so difficult.
Satan is fighting against it.

A passage that sheds great insight on this reality is:
1 Thessalonians 2:13-18 “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while — in person, not in spirit — were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. For we wanted to come to you — I, Paul, more than once — and yet Satan hindered us.”

That passage reminds us of the infinite value of the word of God
Which accomplishes its work in people’s lives.

But Paul said Satan was hindering them from preaching it.
Did he mean Satan put up an invisible force field or something?

No, it was the Jews whom Paul said in verse 16 were “hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved;”

Satan was using the Jews to hinder Paul
From spreading the revelation of God.

Do you understand how privileged you are to have the Scripture?
• It came to you when you could not obtain it on your own.
• It came to you who were not worthy to receive it.
• It came to you in spite of demonic efforts to stop it.

And there is a 4th barrier.
4) THE WEAKNESS OF MAN TO PROCLAIM IT (15-17)

Even if a man is so fortunate to actually receive the word of God,
It is extremely difficult for that man to spread it to anyone else
For who is he that he should be entrusted with the revelation of God?

That is what Daniel said.
In verse 14 the angel tried to give him the revelation again and once again Daniel fell on his face and became speechless.

The angel started touching Daniel’s lips trying to get Daniel to speak
And Daniel said, “I can’t!”

(16-17) “O my lord, as a result of the vision anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength. “For how can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, there remains just now no strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me.”

We aren’t talking about insignificant words here,
We are talking about the weighted words of God.
Daniel said, “Who am I to speak such things?”

Exodus 3:11 “But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”

And that is another thing that makes God’s word so precious.
Even when a man receives it,
It is a tremendous weight that he should go and proclaim it.
Indeed, on his own he can’t!

And this is what makes chapters 11 & 12 so remarkable.

WE HAVE THERE RECORDED THE TRUTH OF GOD.
• It came to a man who could not obtain it.
• It came to a man who was not worthy to receive it.
• It came to a man despite the devil’s attempt to block it.
• And that man was able to proclaim it despite his inability to do so.

And that’s just two chapters in the Bible!
DO YOU SEE HOW VALUABLE THE SCRIPTURE IS?
AND HOW REMARKABLE IT IS THAT YOU EVEN HAVE IT?

Think about that next time you are tempted to disregard the word of God.
• Think about that next time someone tries to give you a new word as though this one is insufficient.
• Think about that next time you seek to offer up some advice or counsel that does not include God’s word.

If you have God’s word you are blessed
Because getting it from God to you is a very difficult thing.

The Difficulty of Obtaining God’s Revelation
#2 THE DUTY OF HAVING OBTAINED GOD’S REVELATION
Daniel 10:18-11:1

This won’t take long, I know we’re out of time,
But the point here is so true and powerful we can’t miss it.

First the angel strengthens Daniel.
He gives him the ability to speak.

Liken this to Acts 1:8
Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

It is supernatural power which is enabling Daniel
To do what he was not strong enough to do on his own.

And after giving Daniel strength notice what the angel says:
(20) “Do you understand why I came to you?”

That is to say, “Do you understand why you are being given this revelation?”

The angel then says, “I’m leaving”
I have to go back and fight “the prince of Persia”,
That’s my job, no one else does it with me.

In chapter 11:1 he says that has been job since Darius the Mede took over.

My job is to fight spiritual battles in the heavenly places.
“Do you understand why I came to you?”

Because your job is to proclaim the vision!

Do you see that?
Angels aren’t the evangelists, we are.

Angels are fulfilling their own mission from God.
Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”

They are fighting spiritual battles.
Our job is to faithful declare
That remarkable revelation which has been entrusted to us.

Romans 1:14-16 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

1 Corinthians 9:16-17 “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.”

1 Timothy 6:20-21 “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” — which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”

What a reminder: YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESSES!

God did not go through the trouble of
Getting His perfect revelation to you
So that you could ignore it, disregard it, add to it, or bury it away.

God went through the trouble of getting His perfect revelation to you so that you would treasure it and proclaim it everywhere!

That is what the angel wants Daniel to understand.

(1) “In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision.”

• God has chosen to reveal His truth to weak and unworthy men,
• He has accomplished that purpose despite the efforts of the enemy.
• God has strengthened those weak men that they might go and proclaim that truth to all creation.

That is what is behind the scenes
Of every revelation from God contained in Scripture.

Next time we’ll look at what Daniel’s specific revelation was.

The Sovereign God of Heaven – Part 2
Revelation 4:1-11 (2-4)
July 24, 2016

As you know we have now entered
A new segment of the book of the Revelation.

(1) “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”

As we talked about last week this vision pertains to
The things that “must take place after these things.”

That is regarding the things mentioned in chapters 2 & 3, namely the church age.

Last week we saw the redemptive plan of God regarding Israel.
Sunday night we saw Daniel’s prophecy regarding the 70 weeks.

And we learned that the purpose of these last days
Is to complete what is lacking in the nation of Israel.

The angel Gabriel told Daniel:
Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”

None of those things has happened yet for Israel.
• They have not finished their transgression
• They have not put an end to their sin
• Their sin has not been atoned for
• Their righteousness has not been established
• All of their promises have not been fulfilled
• And God’s holy place is not sanctified in their hearts

Namely because all of those things occur in a person’s life
When they trust in Christ.
Israel failed to do that.

And according to the timeline given to Daniel,
Israel is still 7 years away from that reality.

Gabriel told Daniel it would take 70 – 7’s (490 years) to bring that about.
• 483 years have passed and then the pendulum of God’s clock was paused as Israel was broken off.

• Once the time of the Gentiles is over, the pendulum will begin to swing again and Israel will be 7 years away from her final and perfect redemption.

IN REVELATION 4 WE BEGIN THE VISION OF THAT TIME.
We are transported into heaven with John to see exactly what God will do
In order to fully redeem Israel back to Himself.
It is a most amazing reality, and it begins with a trip to heaven.

And as we said last week, this account is the only authorized
Account of heaven that God has ordained for us to have.

I’m not particularly interested in “90 Minutes in Heaven” or “Heaven is For Real”,
In fact I don’t even believe those accounts.

Christ was pretty clear to John at the end of this book:
Revelation 22:18-19 “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”

I don’t know what else you could call those accounts but
A DIRECT VIOLATION OF THAT WARNING.

This account is the only authorized and authoritative vision of heaven
That Christ intended for us to have.

Now John is going to see much more than just heaven,
BUT HEAVEN IS THE MAIN FOCUS OF CHAPTERS 4 AND 5.

And in heaven there are two things that specifically stand out to John.
• In chapter 4 it is THE SOVEREIGN THRONE
• In chapter 5 it is THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB

No talk of past friends and relatives…
No fascination with the size of his mansion…
No focus on the golf courses or mountain lakes of heaven…
John is captivated by the throne and by the lamb.

AND THIS IS WHAT WE BEGAN TO LOOK AT LAST WEEK.

We started examining chapter 4, and the focal point is obvious.
• Vs. 2 “and behold, a throne”
• Vs. 2 “and One sitting on the throne.”
• Vs. 3 “around the throne”
• Vs. 4 “around the throne”
• Vs. 5 “out from the throne”
• Vs. 5 “before the throne”
• Vs. 6 “before the throne”
• Vs. 7 “in the center and around the throne”

It’s obvious to us what caught the attention of John, it was the throne.

And indeed that was our first point last week.
#1 A THRONE
Revelation 4:1-2a

The point is that there stands One who is in full sovereign control.

God is in charge working His full sovereign plan out to perfection.
• There is no higher throne
• There is no more authoritative throne
• None can stop His judgments
• None can question His authority

TURN TO: PSALMS 2
This is a remarkable chapter to us
Regarding the sovereign authority and unlimited power of God.

• The Psalm literally begins with those who would do their part to literally break
the yoke of God around their necks. They want no part of submission to God.

Notice God’s response to their full scale rebellion:
(4) “He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.”

• Despite all their conspiring and all their cooperation they can’t even cause God
to take their threat seriously.

God isn’t concerned in the least, because He has already decreed who will rule this world and it is His Son.
Read 4-9

And that reality then leads to a great piece of advice from God
To those earthly kings who thought so highly of themselves.

(10-12) “Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

See the very appearance of the a throne in the heavens
Demands the submission of all who come before it.

• God is not seated on a PEDESTAL for you to evaluate Him.
• God is not seated behind a COUNTER for you to question Him.
• God is not seated at a DESK for you to counsel Him.
God is seated on a throne that you may obey Him.

Romans 9:20 “…who are you, O man, who answers back to God?”

Romans 11:33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
But perhaps the most powerful picture of the majesty and sovereignty of God comes in the 38th chapter of Job.

TURN TO: JOB 38
(Read the chapter)

• Of course you know this revelation was given to Job in response to the pride
with which he came before God.
• Job questioned whether or not God was just,
• God reminded Job that such accusations where not for him to make.

God reigns upon the throne.
He is God.

We are carried before the throne of God for 1 purpose;
Namely that we might acknowledge Him as God.

Think of what Jesus told His disciples as He taught them to pray:
Matthew 6:9-10 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”

That prayer comes from the heart of One
Who understands that God reigns upon His throne.

God is in control.
And as we said last week that is a comforting thought to know.
Regardless of all the uncertainties that seem to consume our world, one thing remains the same and that is the throne which John saw fixed in the heavens.

So right off the bat John said, “behold, a throne was standing in heaven,”

A Throne
#2 ON THE THRONE
Revelation 4:2b-3a

“and One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance;”

Here we are certainly confronted with the reality that the throne of heaven DOES NOT SIT VACANT.
• We know that God is on His throne.
• We know that it is He who rules all things.
• We know that He is in sovereign control.

But here we also focus on THE APPEARANCE OF
This “One sitting on the throne.”

WHAT TYPE OF PERSON IS SITTING ON THE THRONE?
(we certainly care about such things)

(3a) “And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance;”

And He describes the One on the throne as “like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance;”

• A “jasper” was a diamond which is the costliest of stones and certainly the most brilliant.
• A “sardius” was a ruby.

So John describes Him as a sort of red brilliance.

Ezekiel 1:27 “Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him.”

Ezekiel is obviously looking at the same thing,
But his descriptors are a little different.

Ezekiel doesn’t compare Him to a red glowing stone, but rather to “glowing metal that looked like fire all around with it”

Ezekiel 1:4 “As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.”

Daniel 7:9 “I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire.”

There again are flames and fire and sparkling and dazzling brilliance.

Certainly it implies perfection, but
It also seems to imply divine WRATH or consuming HOLINESS.

TURN TO: HEBREWS 12:18-29
Hopefully this passage will come back to your memory since it hasn’t been that long since we studied it together.

The writer of Hebrews is laying out for the reader
THE DANGER OF NEGLECTING OR REJECTING THE GOD OF HEAVEN.

And he begins by reminding them of the day when Moses and the children of Israel approached Mt. Sinai.

(VERSES 18-21)
• It was a terrible sight at that mountain, and that was just an earthly mountain
that God descended upon.

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that
This is different from the mountain we approach.
(VERSES 22-24)
They went to an earthly mountain, we are approaching a heavenly one, where God dwells.

And then comes the warning.
(VERSES 25-29)

• You should not “refuse Him who is speaking”.
• Namely because (29) “our God is a consuming fire.”

It coincides with what the writer of Hebrews said previously:
Hebrews 10:31 “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

It is an analogy of judgment,
But it certainly fits the revelation that John receives here.

When John sees God on His throne,
He sees God in full glory and as a consuming fire.

JOHN IS SEEING THE GLORY OF GOD.

Ezekiel 1:28b “…Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.”

Ezekiel said, it is the glory.
• It is what Moses could not look at.
• It is what drove the priests out of the temple.
• It is what sent Isaiah reeling in fear.

Isaiah 6:1-5 “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

When Isaiah saw this sight he was terrified and literally overcome with his sinfulness.
He just knew he was about to be judged.

That is the One John sees on the throne of heaven.
It is God in all His glory, and it is not necessarily a comforting image.
• He is a God of pure holiness and consuming fire.
• He is not One to be messed with or provoked.
• He is not One to be refused or ignored.
• He is not One that you should offend or ridicule.

JOB FOUND THAT OUT THE HARD WAY.
He is holy God filled with glory and splendor and divine wrath and power.
He is in fact a consuming fire.
And this is whom John saw “on the throne”

So John was caught up to heaven and he saw a throne and on the throne was glory.
#3 AROUND THE THRONE
Revelation 4:3b-4

“and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.”

So now we are sort of panning the camera out
And we see what is around the throne.

And it begins with “a rainbow around the throne”

• Only it’s not like a normal rainbow that we would instantly think of,
• This one is “like an emerald in appearance”
• Which of course implies it had more a green tone than that of all the colors.

But a rainbow is consistent with the other visions
Ezekiel 1:28 “As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.”

Ezekiel saw it too, only Ezekiel doesn’t seem to focus on the green hue.

What are we to make of this?

I think certainly we could see it is simply a refraction
That is coming off of the glory of God.
God’s glory is so brilliant and majestic that
It literally throws off a rainbow like refraction all around it.

But I do think it is more than that.
We know about the rainbow and its purpose.

Genesis 9:11-17 “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. “It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. “When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Long before the gay and lesbian community tried to hijack the rainbow to be the symbol of their sin, God reminded us what the true purpose and significance of the rainbow is.

It is a sign of covenant God made with humanity.
• It is a two-way reminder.
• We look upon it and remember that God will never again flood the earth,
• And God is able to look upon it and remember the promise He made.

The rainbow then becomes a symbol of God’s faithfulness.
It is the sign of a covenant or a promise He made with humanity
And it is a reminder that He will never break that covenant.

And I don’t think it’s far-fetched at all to say that
God’s throne is surrounded with faithfulness.

He is the One who always rules and reigns in perfect faithfulness.
• He is incorruptible
• He cannot lie
• He does not break His word
• He is faithful to do what He said

His faithfulness literally reflects off of Him in the form of a rainbow.

But a rainbow is not all we see here.
(4) “Around the throne are twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.”

Who are they?

Some have quickly said that they are the 12 apostles and the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel.

That is problematic since nothing in the text indicates that they are two groups of 12. That is to say there is no indication given that we are to split these groups into two.

• Furthermore we have extreme difficulty saying that any of these 12 are part of
Israel since it is during the time of the tribulation that Israel is going to be saved.

• In fact in a couple of chapters we are going to see the 144,000 each
sealed from Israel to prepare for their ministry.

Calling them the apostles and the tribes simply does not fit.

Some have said that they are simply angels.

Again that is problematic since the angels are specifically referenced in chapter 5.
Furthermore these 24 are sitting on thrones
• And we have no indication in Scripture of angels resting or ruling. Hebrews 1 calls them ministering spirits, literally servants of believers.

Another problem there is that
These 24 have “golden crowns on their heads.”

“crowns” here is STEPHANOS which is the overcomers crown.
It is the victor’s crown.

Paul said:
1 Corinthians 9:25 “Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”

“wreath” there is STEPHANOS

This is a crown given to those who overcome their struggle against sin.
• But this is not a struggle with the angels.
• They are not those who would have had to overcome so as to be crowned before the throne with the overcomer’s crown.

To see these as Israel or Angels or even the apostles is quite a stretch.

SO WHO ARE THEY?
Well, the fact that there are 24 of them is significant.

John MacArthur noted this:
“There were twenty-four elders appointed by David to represent the Levitical priesthood, that’s in 1 Chronicles 24, interestingly enough. There were twenty-four elders appoint by David and they were to represent the twenty-four courses of priests. Furthermore, according to the next chapter, 1 Chronicles chapter 25, there were twenty-four divisions of singers in the temple. Twenty-four patriarchs listed, twenty-four elders representing the priesthood, twenty-four singers representing the musicians in the temple. Twenty-four then is an interesting number that seems to speak of completion. It seems to speak about a representative group. All of the priests were represented by the twenty-four. All of the Messianic genealogy was represented in the twenty-four. All of the musicians were represented in the twenty-four. We could conclude then that twenty-four can be a representative number. So whoever these twenty-four are, they represent a larger group.” (Sited in A Sermon by John MacArthur on www.gty.org. Sermon Title “A Trip to Heaven, Part 2” Code: 66-17)

So the question is, WHO DO THESE REPRESENT?

I think it has to be representative of the church.
• They are sitting on thrones.
• They are clothed in white garments.
• They are awarded the victor’s crown.

And all of those realities are consistent with the church.

These CAN’T BE TRIBULATION BELIEVERS since the tribulation hasn’t even started yet, and they are actually introduced in chapter 7.

These are already in heaven, before the tribulation, and they already have their thrones, their robes, and their crowns.

And let’s remember some of the promises that
Christ made to the church back in chapters 2 & 3.

Revelation 2:26-27 “’He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON,AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father;”

Revelation 3:21 “’He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

Both of those speak of people who overcome and reign with Christ.

Certainly we are aware that Christ is the One who clothes His bride in white garments.
Revelation 3:18 “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.”

Or even the promise Christ made to Philadelphia:
Revelation 3:10 “Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

I do think it’s well within reason to see these 24
As representatives of the church.

• They have overcome and been given their crown.
• They have trusted in Christ and been clothed in His righteousness.
• They have endured to the end and are sitting on thrones with Christ.

Now, I know some of you are already putting the pieces together (most likely many of you were last week already) and are ready to say:
“SO DOES THIS MEAN THE CHURCH SKIPS THE TRIBULATION?”

• And those of you who have studied this with me for a while know that this was an issue that I wrestled with for a while.

• Namely because the timing of the rapture is not listed anywhere in Scripture so trying to nail down the timing is extremely difficult.

However there are several indications that
The church will in fact be home before the tribulation begins.

ONE is the fact that all we are seeing here occurs “after these things”
SECOND is that the church never appears in Revelation again.
THIRD is the appearance of the 24 elders already in heaven.

• It seems very fitting that these 24 represent the raptured church.
• That the fullness of the Gentiles has now come in
• The pendulum of God’s timing has once again started swinging.

Now, if that is the case, what are we to take from this?
We are looking at what is “around the throne”

We already saw a rainbow which indicated God’s faithfulness.

But understand if this is in fact the church, and we believe it is,
Then that is ALSO AN INDICATOR OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS.

Consider statements like these:
John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

Or the prayer of Jesus:
John 17:11 “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.”

Or listen to this:
Romans 8:31-39 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Or
1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Or
Jude 24-25 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

Do you know why these 24 are able to gather around the throne?
Because God was faithful to His promise to keep them from stumbling.
There is only one reason why the church will arrive in heaven victorious
And that is because God has caused them to do so.

• He has been faithful to never leave them nor forsake them.
• He has been faithful to complete what He started.
• He has been faithful to bring them safely home.
• He has been faithful to anchor them through the storm.
• He has interceded over every sin
• He has carried through every trial
• He has empowered through every persecution

They have made it safely home because God is faithful.

Both the rainbow and the elders around the throne are reminders of God’s faithfulness.
• He accomplishes His purposes
• He keeps His word
• He does what He intends

And as we are carried into heaven we see a throne.
On the throne we see glory
Around the throne we see faithfulness

GOD CAN AND WILL DO ALL THAT HE INTENDS.
He has accomplished His purposes and now comes the end.

IT DOES MY HEART GOOD to know that when given a vision of the end,
I know where I’ll be.
I’ll be among the saints gathered around the throne
All because Jesus kept His promise to never leave me or forsake me.

It is in fact an encouraging reminder.

“How firm a foundation you saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent word. What more can He say than to you He hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

Fear not He is with us oh be not dismayed, for He is our God our sustainer and strength. He’ll be our defender and cause us to stand, upheld by His merciful, almighty hand. How firm our foundation, how sure our salvation, and we will not be shaken, Jesus firm foundation.

The soul that is trusting in Jesus as Lord, will press on enduring the darkest of storms, and though even hell should endeavor to shake, He’ll never no never no never forsake. He’ll never no never no never forsake. How firm our foundation, how sure our salvation, and we will not be shaken, Jesus firm foundation.

Age to age He stands, faithful to the end. All may fade away, but He will remain, He will remain. How firm our foundation, how sure our salvation, and we will not be shaken, Jesus firm foundation.”