Session 8 – A Study in Revelation; Rev: 4, 5: Mark Lanier, 03/10/24

Revelation Lesson 8
===

[00:00:00] Today I get to, to deal with Revelation and I'm excited to. So here, here are the ways we're gonna spring into, to this lesson today. First, we're gonna clean up the letters to the churches, 'cause we left two of them untalked about, and that's not fair. There were seven churches written to, and we've only covered five.

But we're gonna do it rather quickly. Then we're gonna talk about two different ways to read Revelation Doesn't mean we're gonna deal with it exhaustively, but we will talk about two different ways because I wanna start sowing some seed in your brain. It'll become more important as we go through the book.

And then the third thing we're gonna do is look at the [00:01:00] Revelation worship scene in chapters four and five that Brent was referencing. So let's start by cleaning up the letters to the churches. Now, I've got here today our daughter, Sarah, and this young fellow next to her, uh, who is, uh, captured her heart Or whatever they do now when they're engaged.

But, uh, uh, her fiancé Jack is in town as well. Uh, uh, Sarah lives in Austin. Jack right now is up in Chicago, but they've not been in this class. Now, we've also got, just like catty-cornered, Wampus from them, is Dale Hearn, who's over there not smiling because Baylor got whooped by Texas Tech last-- yesterday in basketball.

And so he's not, not happy. But I got away giving a little bit of review with giving no review. And so here's what I'm gonna do. One minute. One minute. Coach, set the timer. [00:02:00] And go. In the biblical era, there were lots of different people who wrote literature that we today call a genre, a group of apocalyptic writings, and these were books that had different features.

They had symbolism, peculiar use of numbers, visions and dreams, talked about a coming cataclysm, an age to come. Angels and demons are all over the place, and the peculiar use of numbers is especially relevant in what we're dealing with here. And I wanna give you one, two, three numbers, four numbers that are relevant.

Heaven, spiritual, three. It's a divine number. Earthly, physical, four. It's an earthly number. If you take all things that are spiritual and all things that are physical and combine them, you get seven, which is a complete number. Or you can multiply them and get twelve, which is a complete number. [00:03:00] This book uses numbers like that like crazy.

Doesn't mean it's al- not also sometimes a true seven, but it's still a s- a, a significant seven. So we have the letters to the seven churches. Those seven churches, by picking out seven, Revelation is speaking to all churches of all time. It's the complete church. That's it. That's my minute. How close was I?

One nineteen. One nineteen. Booyah.

John's on the island of Patmos when he's writing, and we've covered the letter to the church at Ephesus, the church at Smyrna, the church at, uh, uh, Thyatira, the church at Pergamum, uh, Sardis, and now we're down to the church at Philadelphia. The church at Philade- That's the wrong Philadelphia. The church at Philadelphia Another ancient [00:04:00] ruin, an, an ancient church, a wonderful place.

Here's what the letter has to say. "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write." You, you might be saying, "What's Philadelphia mean?" It means brotherly love The, in Greek it's Philadelphia

"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David.'" Now, in all of these letters, remember, when Jesus self-identifies, he self-identifies with something that's relevant to why the letter is being written. So here he is-- Jesus identifies as the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

The key of David we can read about in Isaiah [00:05:00] 22:22. So much of Revelation gets its meaning, and all of these symbols get their meaning from Old Testament passages. So Revelation 22:22

God talks about, um He says, um, "And I will place on his shoulder," this is the Lord talking, "the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut. He shall shut, and none shall open." Does that look familiar? Key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens. Sort of makes you think he's using Isaiah, doesn't it?

"He shall open, and none shall shut. He shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place. He will become a throne of [00:06:00] honor to his father's house. They'll hang on him the honor, the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel from the cups to all the flagons."

So that's who Jesus is writing here. I put Matthew 16:19 up here because there's also that reference where Jesus talks to Peter about keys and the way they can open and shut, but Jesus is also talking there, I think, in reference to the same type of Isaiah passage. So who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, shuts and no one will open.

"I know your works. Behold, I've set before you an open door." He's got the keys Which no one is able to shut. He opens it, it's open. He shuts it, he shuts it. He has the key of David. I know that you have but little power, and yet you've kept my [00:07:00] word and not denied my name. Jesus is speaking words of encouragement and con- and commendation.

Not condemnation, commendation. He says, "Look, I've got an open door in front of you and nobody can shut it. I'm the one with the key of David, and I'm gonna make those of the synagogue of Satan, those who say they're Jews but are not, those who lie, I'm gonna make them come and bow down before your feet.

They'll learn that I have loved you." So there must have been some persecution from some of the Jewish Quarter against the Jewish Quarter that are believer Christians. And the, the, the word here from Jesus is, is he, "Don't worry, the door's not getting shut on you. I've got the key. I'll keep the door open, and they're gonna learn that I've loved [00:08:00] you."

Jesus is looking for all people to come to faith. He continues in verse 10, Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that's coming on the world to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown.

To the one who conquers, I'm gonna make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Now, some people don't like to read Revelation with symbolism, but you've really got no choice here. I've never met anyone who thinks that God's gonna take one of his saints and turn them into a pillar. [00:09:00] I mean, some people might use that to say they wanna be stoned, but Did that for Brent.

Um, I'll make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it. I'll write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. Do you remember Psalm 27:4? Psalm 27 is a great Psalm, and this passage just shouts that Psalm to me.

Psalm 27:4

That psalm begins, "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. [00:10:00] Of whom shall I be afraid?"

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and my foes, it's they who stumble. Though an army encamp against me, my heart won't fear. War arise against me, I will be confident. One thing I've asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and inquire in His temple.

That's what God is saying. That's what Jesus is saying He's got for the people that survive, that, that, that conquer. I'll make him a pillar in the temple. He'll never leave the temple. Never shall he go out of it. They'll have that blessing of the Psalms. And he who has an ear should hear what the Spirit says to the churches.[00:11:00]

And that's that letter. Now, we could spend more time in these, but we don't have a lot of time to spend 'cause we gotta get to four and five. So let's go to Pergamum. Uh, n-- uh, I'm sorry, Laodicea, last stop down at the bottom. Laodicea, the ruins are still there. You can go see them. It was a rich town. I'm talking moola, moola, moola.

I'm talking do re mi. I'm talking the big bucks. I'm talking nice 20,000 people amphitheaters that will last for 2,000 years. I'm talking the River Oaks of the Middle East- ... where the hoity-toity live. If you are watching this and you live in River Oaks, and you say, "Well, I'm not hoity-toity," uh, sorry, didn't mean to offend anybody.

If you're watching this and you don't know where River Oaks is, that's where the [00:12:00] hoity-toity live- ... in Houston

So to these hoity-toities community, the rich community, says the following, "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation." If anybody knows what's what in terms of this world, it's the one who's the beginning of God's creation.

By the way, Laodicea existed near these hot springs that were deemed to be medicinal. But the hot springs with the minerals would be carried into town, and people didn't drink out of the s-springs by the time they got to town because they were lukewarm and, and the chemicals with the lukewarm water would gag you.

So they had to heat it up. They were gonna cook it before they could drink from it. But they were medicinal springs. [00:13:00] They'd go outside of town. So the beginning of God's creation, which was responsible for the springs and everything else, writes and says, "I know your works. You're not cold. You're not hot.

Oh, I wish you were either hot or cold." I mean, can you imagine how good cold can be? Or if you're a coffee drinker, I've met a lot of people who like iced coffee, and I've met a lot of people who like hot coffee. I've never met anybody, never met anybody that says, "Uh, can I have some lukewarm coffee?" Jesus says, "Because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

How easy is it? You know, what does lukewarm mean in a spiritual way? It means you're too much of a Christian to have fun in the world, and you're too much in the [00:14:00] world to have fun as a Christian. It's just in that riding the middle of the fence, which is not a comfortable ride And, and, and Jesus is saying, "Come on.

Do you realize what you're doing with your life?" You get one shot in this world and in this life. There is not a rewind button where you can hit the rewind button and say, "I wanna go back. I wanna change that." When it's done, it's done. That's right. I cannot fix tomorrow... I mean, yesterday. I can live and change different tomorrow, but yesterday, I'm stuck with it.

Now, there's forgiveness in Jesus. Amen. Thank you, Lord. But I can't rewrite what has happened. All I can do is work from here. And Jesus says, "Don't be lukewarm. Let's change your ways." Says, "You say, 'Well, I'm rich. I'm the [00:15:00] hoity-toity. I live in the River Oaks of the Middle East. I've prospered. I don't need anything.'

And you don't realize when you say you're rich, when you say you've prospered, when you say you don't need anything, you're missing the fact that what you really are is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked." And to quote Eminem Gotta snap back to reality. Whoops, there goes gravity. Um, gotta snap back to reality.

Come on. Don't go strutting around thinking you're a king when you're a pawn Don't start thinking you're something you're not. It ain't about you anyway. And because you're [00:16:00] lukewarm and you're not hot and you're not cold, I'm just gonna spit you out. This is something I'm gonna do. By the way, the word will here, as David Capes will tell you, is mellow It means this is about to happen.

I'm about to do this. I'm about to spit you out of my mouth. So I wanna give you a little piece of advice, Jesus says. "I counsel you, buy from me gold." You wanna be rich? Buy from me gold that's been refined by fire Fire melts the gold and you can scrape the impurities off. Live your life in a way where difficulties and troubles are stuff that they make you purer.

Get the white garments from Jesus that have been washed by his blood so you can clothe yourself. That covers up the shame of your nakedness. This [00:17:00] is what fixes your yesterday. This is what anoints your eyes with salve so you can see Isn't that beautiful? We gotta read Isaiah 55. I'm sorry, and if I don't get through everything, Hank's told me it doesn't matter, just fix it next time Okay, Hank, we're doing it.

I mean, I could skip Isaiah 55 right now But you need it. I need it. It's what's here. Look at Isaiah 55 Don't lo- get, buy this gold refined by fire. Get your white clothes from me. Cover the shame of your nakedness. Get the salve for your eyes Come everyone who's thirsty, come to the waters. If you don't have money, you can come by and eat.[00:18:00]

You can get wine and milk without money, without price. Why are you spending your money for that which isn't bread? Why are you working so hard for what doesn't satisfy? Listen diligently to me. Eat what's good and delight yourselves in rich food. He's not talking there about cheesecake. He's talking about spiritual food.

He's not talking about get ready to get tanked. He's talking about the spirit of wine, the Holy Spirit Incline your ear. Where am I? There it is. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live. I'll make an everlasting covenant with my sure love for David. I've made him a witness to his people, a leader and a commander.

You'll call a nation you didn't know. A nation you didn't know will run out to you. [00:19:00] Seek the Lord while he may be found. He's about to spit you out of your mouth, out of his mouth. Seek him while he may be found. Call upon him. Forsake your way. Let the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts. Return to the Lord that he may have compassion.

Return to our God that he'll abundantly pardon and forgive. God's thoughts aren't ours. His ways aren't ours. His heavens are higher than the earth, and so are his ways higher than our thoughts. As the rain and the f- snow come down from heaven and don't return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, so shall be the words of the Lord that re- go out of his mouth.

It will accomplish that for which he's purposed, and people will go out in joy. They'll be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills will break forth before them in singing, and the trees will clap their hands. That's how to be rich. [00:20:00] That's where it comes from. And yes, there's discipline in the process, and yes, it's not easy.

That's why it's refined by g- like gold in fire. Jesus says it. He says, "Those whom I love, I reprove. I discipline. Be zealous and repent." You get on fire for Jesus the way you're on fire for other things that don't count, and watch him just blaze the world around you even as he purifies you. He says, "I'm standing at the door.

I'm knocking. If you hear this, open that door. I will come in. I will eat with you." It's gonna be the best food you've ever had in your life. It's gonna be the best drink you've ever had in your life, and it comes with full joy

Jesus said the same thing. He quotes [00:21:00] this same idea in John 14:23, and it ends with, "The one who conquers, I'll grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I've also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Now, that cleans up and finishes those letters.

Let's talk about two ways to read Revelation. Okay? New subject. If you tuned out, tune back in. If you wanna-- If you tuned in, don't tune out. This is short. There are two ways, two basic ways to read the Book of Revelation in serious study. One is what I call timeline reading. We know timelines. Timeline, there's a timeline.

And these people read Revelation where it starts with basically the time of [00:22:00] writing and it just goes to the end of days. And so you got 22 chapters of Revelation, and you're trying to sort through them and put them on the timeline. And if you're living today in 2024, you're asking the question, "Where are we on the timeline in Revelation?

Are we here? Are we there? Are we in chapter 12 or are we in chapter 20? Where are we?" That's timeline reading. We do that with a novel. Uh, we're going on, on, on a, a little trip and, um, I downloaded on my Kindle seven novels. Seven because it's a complete number, and I wanted to read every novel there is.

Seven novels. See, I was at my university the other day, Lipscomb, and I went in the bookstore 'cause I [00:23:00] always wanna see if they carry any of my books. They don't

I'm sure they've sold out of them. Um

Actually, I didn't look. But at the checkout stand, they have these little bookmarks that have on them recommended books by the staff there at the library. And so they have bookmarks for mysteries. They have bookmarks for science fiction. They have bookmarks for all these different genres. They do not have one for apocalyptic literature, but they have one for all these other genres.

So I got... I like mysteries, so I got the mystery one. Thought I'll download those seven books. I'll tell you what I think about them, but I'll promise you right now, I'll bet all of them are timeline reading. They might have a flashback occasionally, but they're gonna be basically timeline. My mom ruined the world for my granddaughters, or her granddaughters, my daughters, who came to me one day [00:24:00] aghast.

Gracie: "Did you know Mimi reads the last chapter of every book first?"

I said, "Yeah." "No, I'm serious, Dad. She does. That's, that's horrible, isn't it?" I said, "Well, I mean, she's, she's an adult. She can read them the way she wants." "Well, she says it's 'cause she wants to know how it ends so she can read into the ending." I said, "Well, are you gonna start doing that?" "No. No. It just doesn't seem right, Dad.

If they wanted you to do that, they'd have written the last chapter first." I said, "Well, that'd sure throw Mom for a loop." Um, time of writing to the end of days, that's one way to read it. There's a second way to read Revelation And this way, if we throw a timeline up there, is what I'm gonna call vignette reading.

Idea being that there are vignettes, visions, [00:25:00] stories, and those vignettes will start, and they'll go, and then they'll end And then there'll be another vision, another vignette, another story. And it'll start, and it'll go, and it'll end. And it covers the same territory the first one did, but from a different perspective.

May go a little bit longer. Then you get another one, and another one, and another one That way of reading is reading Revelation the same way we read the Book of Daniel. Because Daniel's a collection of visions, and those visions in Daniel are not-- Daniel, you don't start with chapter one verse one and go to the end on a timeline.

Those visions are ones that you follow. One, and then another, and then another, and they're repeating each other, but from another [00:26:00] perspective to a different audience. And we'll talk about that a lot more in the future because we're gonna start getting into the visions. And the question becomes, is this a vision that's in a timeline straight to the end, or is this a vignette?

And then when we get to another vignette, all of a sudden it'll start making sense to us. Two ways to read Revelation. Final point for today. Let's look at the worship scene, or at least as much of it as we've got a chance to this morning. Now, this is in chapters four and five, and these chapters are to be read together, not in isolation.

I gotta give you a warning. We've got symbols, we've got images, but not all of the images are symbols. This is like Greg and I were talking about with a play or a movie. This is, you know-- When you read a play, you can go back and read, uh, [00:27:00] you can go back and read old plays. But when you read a play, it'll not just give you the dialogue, it'll give you staging instructions.

It'll describe the set. So and so enters from stage right through a door into a room where there's a solitary table with two chairs and a dead plant in the corner. And in comes this person bemoaning to themselves, "Woe is me. I am like unto a dead plant." Now, the dead plant may have some symbolism, but the table may not.

It's all part of the image. And so when we're reading this, we've gotta remember not everything is a symbol. And if you're looking to turn everything into a symbol, you're probably overreading it to some degree. And then you're in danger because you [00:28:00] tend to take what you already believe and try to find it in the text instead of letting the text tell you what you ought to believe.

Okay? When we do this, the core for us is don't lose focus of the message. Do not lose track of what Revelation is saying in its overarching scheme because we're down in the weeds too far. If I were to isolate two compelling messages throughout the book, core messages comforting the church in its struggle against the forces of evil.

That is a repeat slide and so is this one. Christ wins over the dragon, Satan, and his minions. Those core themes you're gonna see even as we start looking at these chapters of Revelation. So let's put it up there. Revelation four one, "After this..." We don't know when that is, but we're getting an [00:29:00] impression.

Here's a vision. Here's a vignette. "After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet," that's a reference back to chapter one, "said, 'Come on up, and I'll show you what must take place...'" Whoops. Go back. "'What must take place after this.'"

Must is one of my favorite Greek words. It's three simple letters, delta, epsilon, iota. One of my favorite Greek words. It means what must. Must. Jesus uses it when he says, "He must die." Wasn't optional, not a maybe, not a odd are. [00:30:00] Means it must. So this is what must take place after this, and then at once he's in the Spirit.

"Behold, there's a throne in heaven, and someone seated on the throne." It's-- Spoiler alert, it's God the Father. God the Father, as in Ten Commandments. Commandment number one, you don't have an image of me

Same God the Father who said to Moses when Moses said, "I'd like to see you." "Can't see me and live."

John will not describe what God the Father looks like. We don't get an image. We get emanations At once I'm in the spirit, a throne stood in heaven, one seated on the throne. Let me tell you the way it appeared. Not long hair, [00:31:00] short hair, nothing like that. It had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. So you could sort of see coming out from it jasper.

We're not too sure on which, uh, fine gems these are. Some indication the jasper could actually be diamonds. Doesn't matter because the symbolism I don't think is in-- I think we'd be reading into what it is. It's the fact that the, the one on the throne is not being described, but his emanations, what appears coming out from him is.

Coming out from him is fine jewels, jasper and carnelian, and then around the throne's a rainbow that has the appearance of an emerald. And then around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, and they're clothed in white garments. They've got golden crowns on their heads.

Different people, different opinions. I think the best consensus is twelve, [00:32:00] a complete number, right? Three times four, twelve, plus twelve, a complete number. Twelve tribes of Israel are represented, twelve of the Old Covenant. Twelve apostles are represented, twelve of the New Covenant. The twenty-four elders are the two covenants together.

People of the Old Covenant, people of the New Covenant. If you think about passages like Ephesians two fifteen

My, uh, Ephesians 2:15 is great book. I mean, great passage. You'll recognize it. Christ is our peace, Paul says. Christ is our peace. He has abolished the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, the old covenant, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the [00:33:00] two, so making peace, peace between Jew and Gentile.

We've now got the 24 together. I was talking to my brother Larry Lipton before, uh, church today, and he was talking about growing up Jewish and, and that his mother, in her mind's eyes, the Christians were the Goyim. They were the other people. There's a difference. And so you've got Larry who's merging the two with many other Jewish believers,

and that's right in the sense that, that God has put together. He's joined old and new covenant together here. So you've got around the throne, you've got the 24 elders clothed in white garments. They've got golden crowns on their head. Now from the throne come flashes of lightning. You get rumblings. You get peals of thunder.

These are sound effects And before the throne are seven burning torches of fire, [00:34:00] which are the seven spirits of God. We're gonna come back to this and explain some of this, but let's keep going. And before the throne is like a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.

I don't know if you're getting this image or not But here's the image. You got a throne

And God the Father's on the throne. And coming out from that throne, you got jasper

And coming out from that throne, you've got carnelian

And coming out from that throne, it's surrounded by an emerald rainbow[00:35:00]

And around that, you've got 24 elders

And you've got four creatures

Full of eyes and wings within and without. The first creature looks like

A lion, the second like a ox, the third like a face of a man, the fourth like an eagle in flight. And we g- we'll get to this later as we have time, but these are-- seem to be the cherubim that are referenced in Ezekiel But you've got that picture. That's what he sees. You got it? Why is that important? [00:36:00] For a long time, the learned people in the world were something that we call Geocentric

Geo from the Greek word ge, which means

earth. Geology is study of earth. And they thought the earth was in the center of the universe, and everything rotated around the earth. That's geocentric. Spoiler alert, it's wrong

Geocentric is not correct physics

Then people thought, "Well, we're heliocentric." Helio being sun. Everything rotates around the sun Spoiler alert, that's not right either. [00:37:00] Our solar system rotates around the sun, but we're part of a galaxy that's spinning around the center of the galaxy. And the galaxy itself is just one of an unknown number of galaxies.

So now you can look at the Smithsonian on the universe, and they've got this Smithsonian idea of the universe being mapped out from its inception at the Big Bang to its current formation as we've gotten out to where we are. And when we see-- look back in the sky, we're looking back in time because it's taken time for that light to get here And that's wrong too.

Revelation tells you the truth, and the truth of the matter is all that there is, all of the cosmos, all of the thoughts of human beings, [00:38:00] everything there is rotates around God. Amen. God is in the center of all space, all time, all there is, all ideas, the past, the present, the future. It is theocentric

Why does that matter? Because you and I have an issue in this life, and that's how to live And Revelation is teaching us that the reality is God's in the center of everything. Do we wanna acknowledge that as we live? Or do we wanna live as if the world's rotating around us or something else? So the description continues.

The four living creatures, each of them have six wings. They're full of [00:39:00] eyes all around. Within day and night, they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." This is a passage that reminds the reader of Ezekiel 10. Ezekiel had visions of angels, and in Ezekiel 10 verse 20, a really important passage of the cherubim

In Ezekiel 10, foundational passage. He sees these creatures. This is the cherubim, by the way, who have lifted up the throne of God and mounted from the earth with it. They went out from the temple, the presence of the Lord did, over the cherubim. And then in verse 20, "These are the living creatures that I saw underneath the God of Israel by the canal."

That's where he was, by the canal. [00:40:00] "I knew they were cherubim, angels. Each had four faces. Each had four wings instead of six. Underneath their wings, the likeness of human hands. As for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen, and each was straightforward." The description of them is the lion and the ox.

Now, somebody's gonna say, "Well, if those are the same, why is it four wings instead of six?" Because each of those numbers have a symbolic meaning. It's not describing the actual... You know, it's not that, hey, between the time Ezekiel saw the cherubim and the time John saw them, they grew two more wings. By now, they probably got 10, 12.

No. Four is a completely earthly number, and these were the cherubim working on Earth, and they had four wings to take them to the four corners of the earth. Six. What's six? [00:41:00] Six is an interesting number in Revelation and in apocalyptic literature. Remember, seven is a perfect number, right?

What is six? Six is something that looks perfect. It's almost perfect, but it ain't perfect

And that can even take on an evil shape if it's a six, six, six Give the impression it's the Christ, the seven seven seven, God, the divine. But it's not. These angelic beings, John wants no mistaking the fact that they are not God. They are not perfect. They are not the complete. They've got six [00:42:00] wings. They are singing to the perfect one.

They are singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come." They are singing the threes to the holy one, the full one. Holy, holy, holy, that's a three, is the Lord God Almighty, that's a three, who was and is and is to come, that's a three. How many threes are there? Three. One, two, three, all with threes.

Perfect divine praise coming from beings that are not themselves divine. That's what we have. And whenever these living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and lives forever and ever... Look at the threes. They give glory, honor, and thanks [00:43:00] to him who's seated on the throne, lives forever and ever.

Could've just said forever. They want it in threes. Whenever they're doing this, which is all the time, the 24 elders fall down before him who's seated on the throne, and they worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns down before the throne. And they're saying, uh, uh, that's the complete.

They're saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor, and power. For you created all things. By your will they existed and were created." Look at this. Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.

Three lines of praise to the divine one. [00:44:00] And within each of the three lines of praise, you, our Lord, our God. You, the one on the throne, our Lord, our God. Three attributes of praise. To receive glory, honor, and power. Three attributes of praise. Because you created all things. By your will they existed. They were created.

You say, "Well, that's saying the same thing twice." Doesn't matter. They wanna say it three times in some way. And some commentators will read that and say, "Well, it's because they existed first in his brain, and then he brought them into being." I, I don't know. I just know they wanted three Three threes.

Because they're trying to comfort the church in its struggles against the forces of evil. And it's good to know that God's on the center of the throne. And it's good to know that every creature is gonna give Him praise and glory. And it's good to know that He gets ultimate praise and glory as the true divine one[00:45:00]

William Hendrickson said this: "Whenever in history the church is faithful to its calling and bears testimony concerning the truth, tribulation is bound to follow." Even in our country, you choose to live a holy life before God, sometimes it's gonna bring you tribulation You choose to keep your word on something that's important to keep your word, not everybody's gonna be happy with you

apart even from this fact. The church is in the world, so we're gonna suffer with the world. There's a hurricane. It's gonna hit the church, and it's gonna hit the non-church. We got that suffering, too. And isn't it comforting to know as we struggle that during these trials and tribulations, we should be able to see God on His throne, the center of [00:46:00] everything?

Which rolls us as we continue this play, this, this movie, this vision. "I saw in the right hand of him who seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals." Now, that's a bizarro scroll. See, scrolls were made mostly out of papyrus and... Not all. I mean, some made out of parchment, too.

But the tendency was always to just write on one side because the way the, the, the stuff was laid, it was easier to write on one side. So you wrote within a scroll. You didn't write on the outside. A few scrolls get written on the outside

Eso then means within, and, um, opus then means behind, on, on the backside. [00:47:00] So David Cates would tell you there's a word for scrolls written on the front and back. If they've got writing within and opus then on the back, they are called opistographs. So he sees an opistograph. Now, this scroll has God's plans for history I'll get into more detail of how we know that later.

But the scroll has got seven seals on it, and it's God's plan in history. The Almighty Divine One has a scroll with His plans for history. And a mighty angel says, "Who's worthy to open this scroll and break its seals?" In other words, who's worthy to reveal God's plans? Who's worthy to carry them out? Give me somebody worthy to open up the scroll and reveal [00:48:00] God's will, God's plans, and then carry it out.

And no, well, no-- look at the play. No one in heaven or on Earth or under the Earth is able to open it. They can't look into it. And John starts crying like a baby. Nobody's found worthy to open it or look into it. And yes, he's crying like a baby. How tragic would it be if God's will were not able to be carried out?

Then one of the elders who knew Ms. Carolyn said, "Stop crying. Weep no more. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, He's conquered. He's able, He's qualified, He's competent to open the seals. He can reveal God's plans, and He can carry them out. [00:49:00] He's a lion, the Lion of Judah." And so he looks, and between the thrones he sees a lamb

The lion is a lamb. The Lion of Judah is a lamb, and what's more, it's standing, but it's standing looking like it's been killed

A lamb standing as though it's been slain We've read our Bibles. I'm gonna pick back up here in two weeks, God willing, and we're gonna talk about Genesis 22, and we're gonna talk about Exodus 12, but I wanna leave you with something It's got seven horns. Horns in apocalyptic writing all over the place, from Daniel to all those other books.

Horns represent dominion and kingdoms So he's got seven. What does that mean? [00:50:00] Oh, yes. That means he's got all the power. He's got seven eyes. Eyes are your ability to see and know. What does seven mean? Yeah. It means he's got all knowledge. Seven spirits. The spirit goes out, the winds. Seven, perfect. He is all present.

He's everywhere. He's omnipotent, he's omniscient, and he's omnipresent. God is all of those things. Okay, well we-- Look, I know who's preaching the next hour. I've listened to some... We're not missing anything, so let's just stay in here for another hour and we'll finish this up. No, that won't do. All right, we're gonna pick back up Hank's Rules.

We're gonna pick back up here next time. Um, oh, we got a lot to cover, but not too much. I mean, we made it a pretty good way. [00:51:00] Oh, man. Oh, this is gonna be good. Like, why is the lamb worthy? There are-- How many reasons do you think he gives? Seven. Seven or three, both good. Um, actually, but you're right. It does three, and then it'll do seven in a minute.

So you, you got it. Y'all got it, man. You're all over this thing. Oops. Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. Hold on. It's just not going fast as I'd like it to. We gotta get the points for home so Dale doesn't write me up. Okay, points for home. Ah, here we go. Here we go. Number one I don't know what you're going through in your life.

I don't know what's a wreck in your life, but I want you to do something for me. I want you to take comfort because the Lord reigns. Let the people tremble. He sits enthroned upon the cherubim. Let the earth quake. Whatever you're going through in this life, God reigns

Number two. So what are you worried about? Trust it to Him, 'cause then[00:52:00]

there's a throne in heaven and there's someone seated on that throne, and everything revolves around Him All space, all time, all that there is. And the third point for home you won't get until you come back because it's pray. Verse eight we didn't get to, but it talks about how there are golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints that rise up before God.

Our prayers make a difference. Take your life to God. You will not be disappointed. Let me close with a blessing. Father, we bless your holy, holy name, and by that, Father, we are proclaiming the great things you have done. You are the center of the universe. You're the center of our hearts. You're the center of our lives.

You are what makes sense of everything that there is. You are the solution to what is [00:53:00] broken. You are the wisdom to what is foolish

You are all powerful, you are all knowing, and you are ever present And we worship you through Jesus Christ, the lion slain as a lamb. Amen