Well, I invite you to turn this morning to the book of Revelation, chapter 4, found on page 1220. Our reading will be 4 and 5 of Revelation as we consider the ascension of Christ. Revelation chapter 4. Let's hear and give our attention to the holy word of the Lord. "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, said, come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. At once, I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were 24 thrones, and seated on the thrones were 24 elders, clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashings of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder. And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal, and around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature like with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, holy, holy holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne saying, 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
"Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within on And on the back sealed with seven seals and i saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals
"And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood you ransom people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth
"Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying, with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and glory and honor and blessing And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne into the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever And the four living creatures said, amen and the elders fell down and worshiped."
And there will end the reading of God's word.
Well, what we are going to do for a few moments today is begin with uh the book of Acts on earth, and then we're going to go up into heaven. Doesn't that sound like fun today? We're going to go up into heaven for a little bit, but then you got to come back down to the earth, and I don't think you'll want to come. But we're going to do that today because that must have been the experience of the disciples that day the apostles that day in Acts chapter 1, when they asked the question, "Lord, are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" And he said to them, "It is not for you to know times and seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.
Where did he go? What did he go to do? The imagery in Acts is for some kind of extended period of time they're standing there gazing up into heaven. I'm sure they wanted to see. I'm sure they wanted to see what happened when he went into heaven. And why did he have to go into heaven? And what did all of that mean? What was the day like when Christ went through the clouds and went into heaven? For us. And why is that truth so important for us to confess? Why has the ascension of Christ been so important for the church to confess? And why does it often get so little treatment?
I think it is to the peril of the church that we don't have a better perspective of this. Might all the endless arguing over eschatology come to an end if we gave more attention to the ascension of Christ and what it means?
Well, the Lord knew in this life we would often be confused, that we would often be disoriented and overwhelmed with discouragement, and that the people of the Lord would lose focus. They would forget mission. They would be discouraged. That we would be constantly bombarded throughout history with temptation and persecution would seem to unravel what we have heard in the past, and we would always have this sense in life: what in the world makes sense down here? What in the world makes sense down here? Not much.
What is the remedy? And then I say, voila, Here's Revelation 4 and 5." That's the intention of this. This is the intention of Revelation 4 and 5: to provide a sort of remedy to that sense of disorientation and discouragement and frustration and loss of mission and all the things that derail the Christian in this present world, in this present evil age. Revelation 4 and 5 is intended to give us a fresh perspective on the whole thing. And that is the beauty of this, for what we see here.
If we could imagine those disciples that day, imagine if they had seen a door open in heaven. What was going on there? And that's what this is. It gives us a glimpse into heavenly glory for a minute. It gives us the glimpse we all want. The Lord is so good. We often say, "Well, we don't know much about what heaven is like." And that is absolutely true. But we are given bits and pieces so that we would understand the truth as we live through this age, having what we need to know for life and godliness.
It's meant to encourage the church. Because Revelation 2 and 3 were lawsuits against the church for a lot of failure of the church to do its mission faithfully. And the Lord was not happy with some of those churches. The Lord brings it down on some of those churches. But I think this is the sort of encouragement that was meant to follow the address to the churches, to strengthen the churches, to help the churches, to help Christians to have a really good view of history. to understand that that all of life is moving to a determined end by the lord and that somebody is indeed in control of all of this. Because that's not always what we feel.
And that's where I'll end: John is on the island of Patmos. Remember, he's here for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. He's been banished here. It was a Roman penal settlement under heavy persecution by Emperor Domitian. He had been sent to this prison camp. He's probably the last he we know He's the last of the apostles alive he's an old man at this point. And there he sits on the Lord's day on the on what we believe to be the christian sabbath He can't go to worship he uh he has no worship service. Where is his family? where's all his loved ones?
And as he's banished, John has given something very special. At this time, visions came to John. It certainly must not have felt at this moment like this could be the victorious Christian life, right? i "Jesus is reigning? Really? Rome is a beast. It's persecuting Christians. Here I am in an island sent here being persecuted in prison. This doesn't make any sense if Jesus is reigning."
Well, that's what the next chapters are meant to address.
In verse one of chapter four we begin by looking into this, which I have called a peek into heaven to see the ascension: and after this i looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice, which I heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this so the context of this is john in the midst of all of the struggles of this life which was meant to encourage the whole church throughout this present age between the ascension of christ and his return is that all of a sudden, as I was in great tribulation, he calls this great tribulation. You don't have to look for a specific period of tribulation to come; we're in it. We're in it in a period of great tribulation. Notice what happens. What's the first thing that happens?
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Notice here he says, "I was in the Spirit." John, "Come up here." And he looks up. He looks up and up in the heavens is an open door. And John says immediately, "I was in the Spirit."
Pause. Whatever he's about to say first will be the great significance of this vision. It's the entire focus of this vision. Everything will flow from what he is about to describe to us. "I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne set in heaven, and one sat on it."
Well, I think this is always meant to be an encouragement to us. It was meant to, in, whatever darkness we are in, in whatever challenge, when your head is down, it's always a call to look up. He lifts up our heads. There is a blue sky above us. There is light above us even when we don't see it. I mean, we're on Broadway right now. It doesn't look real good from Broadway's angle. But if you go up on one of these hills and you look up, it's magnificent, isn't it? Sometimes you need perspective.
I say to all of us: get out of the screen. Get out of the screen. De-screen your life. My wife is saying, "That's you right now. You de-screen your life."
He enters into this dimension of heaven. Of all the things that could have been shown to him, what is the first? "I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven." It's a throne.
Well, we don't, thankfully, have a throne for our president because they're presidents, right? But in this world, they understood the symbolism of the strength the throne represented for the king. it was the seat of a sovereign. In history, It was the seat of a deity, they thought. It signified royal power and dignity and utter sovereignty.
The first thing he sees is this throne. And notice it's not just a throne sort of hanging around up there; it's a throne set in heaven. it's it's It means to be established in heaven. This thing is a permanent throne.
It's in the midst of all of this tribulation on earth. John goes up and he looks up into heaven, and and what he sees is the boardroom of the universe. You know, if you ever thought, "I'd like to go in and see what goes on in the boardroom of the president"? Maybe we wouldn't, but here we do. This is the boardroom of the whole universe. It's the very place where all the decrees go out, the very place where all the decisions are made. It's a fixed throne.
And you can't miss the symbolism that the Bible's picking up. Revelation uses all the garb of the Old Testament. It's picking up from the Psalms. It's picking up from all we've learned about thrones throughout history. God is not moved. Nothing rattles him. Nothing escapes him. Imagine the calm that must have come over John at this moment And all the tribulation of life. And you all know it? Kind of the truth of something like Psalm 46 comes alive, doesn't it? God is in the midst. of her, of the city. God is in the midst. She shall not be moved. God shall help her just at The break of dawn. the nations raged, the kingdoms moved. He uttered his voice, the earth melts."
John, come up here for a minute. There is the Lord, sovereign, high and lifted up. His glory has filled the temple. And all of a sudden, whatever anxieties, whatever worries, whatever troubles had been in the heart of John are extinguished in a moment. That's the effect of the vision. That's the intention of the vision. All fears are calm.
And notice what John says: that before the throne was this sea. It was just a beautiful sea of crystal-like glass, calm, tranquil. You know, the Bible uses the imagery of the whole world being a turbulent sea. You can think of Jesus calming the waters with the disciples, or of the sea when they passed through the Egyptians coming and then it went over them, and it went calm. And this is the imagery.
Here is a glassy sea. It's complete glass. Think of the beauty of this, that everything that we experience on earth, the turbulence, the trial, the difficulty, the stress, the hardship, the sin, the wickedness, the attacks of the evil one. In heaven, it is completely tranquil. It is calm. There's a rainbow there, beautiful in color, over the sea.
The storm that John was in, that we are in, in the hardship of the present, the insurmountable problems that we think are happening here are not to so discourage us that we forget that in the midst of the turbulence that we are facing, God has done something. God is on his throne.
At the heart of the vision, what does John see? In verse 3, he says, "I saw someone sitting there. His appearance of Jasper and of Carnelian." He won't describe him. He won't describe him. He can't describe him. He just uses colors and imagery of the most beautiful stones, precious stones, of the one who is seated on the throne.
And all this is borrowed from the Old Testament. You think of Daniel 7: "And as I looked, thrones were in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was of fiery flames. Its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him. And thousands of thousands, which is just where this goes, served him. And ten thousands times ten thousands stood before him. And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one, now hold this thought, like the Son of Man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples and nations and languages should worship him. And his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed."
That's Daniel 7. Here it is: fulfillment.
Or you might take Ezekiel 1. He describes this glorious chariot on wheels. It has rims. And over this chariot was a throne. And on the throne was the likeness in appearance like a sapphire stone. And on the likeness of the throne was the likeness of appearance of a man high above it. "And from the appearance of his waist and upward, I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it. And from the appearance of his waist downward, I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord."
How do you describe this? Sinful eyes can't see it. Him and no one can see the Father unmediated. Think about it. This is why we need a meter We will only look in glory upon the Son in the beatific vision. You have the most beautiful imagery given that we can possibly be given to describe one sitting on the throne, the Ancient of Days.
And then John moves to the heavenly courtiers. He says in verse 6, "In the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back, one like a lion, the second like a calf, the third creature like the face of a man, the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. The four living creatures each had six wings, were full of eyes, and around—"
That's taken from Ezekiel 2. These are the cherubim. They're all around the throne. You know what angelic figures do? They do the will of God perfectly. Why do you think we are taught to pray, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"?
If you calve the vision of Ezekiel, all their wings are covering their feet because even in the presence of God, angels still have to cover their feet. And then they form a firewall all around the throne so that the lightnings and flashes and torches and radiation of the glory doesn't break out and consume anyone outside of that. It's a massive firewall. The Lord's on fire.
Isaiah says, "Remember, I saw the Lord in the year that King Uzziah died, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had wings. With two he covered his face, with two his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another saying, holy, holy holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.
They're all celebrating and worshiping God.
And the first great encouragement is to remind the church: there's something much greater going on right now than all the difficulties on this earth. All the turmoil that you're in, all the political tension and even persecution they were in think of what's going on in heaven. You're too small-minded. Amidst all the toil and struggle, John looks up, and here's the angels and cherubim and seraphim, seraphim and cherubim, bowing in worship.
And around the throne are 24 thrones, and I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white robes, and had crowns of gold in their hands. The elders have constantly been interpreted throughout history, and I think it's right, as a representation of the church on earth gathering to worship. You know that's happening. You don't realize that. That's what worship is. The work of the Holy Spirit is to lift us up so that we are represented by these elders who are actually bowing down right now in the presence and joining with the heavenly choirs and praising and worshiping God.
It kind of changes your sort of loose view about worship, doesn't it?
It's the intention. Worship means to bow down.
Well, chapter 5 now zeroes in on something really important. It's as if he takes the camera lens and right in on the throne. What's going on there?
"Then I saw, verse 1, in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll and written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals."
John sees in the hand of him sitting on the throne a scroll. And there's so much extensive writing on this scroll. There's writing on the front, and there's writing on the back, and it covers the front and the back of the scroll, and all of it, over it, are seven seals.
In the ancient world, you'd seal, as many dignitaries do, would be sealed with a wax seal and impressed with the author's insignia. Notice here we read that the letter, that the seals had to be broken. But the problem was no one could open the scroll. So the imagery is somebody would have to be able to break the seals, open the scroll, and understand and do what is written on the scroll.
And this is what we have communicated here: that God throughout all of history has communicated a will. He has a will, and God has requirements, and all of the promises and all of the decrees and everything with respect to the will of God and the whole world that He has made is represented, is written down on this scroll. The problem is the seals. From the next chapter, they are the judgments of God that are about to be unleashed on the world.
So somebody would have to have the ability to take the scroll, do the will of God, and have the ability to loose the seals on the scroll. And whoever would be able to do this would be able to have, as this will be filled out, all dominion and power forever and ever. Amen.
John sees the scroll. The Ancient of Days seated. And all of a sudden a powerful angel comes up. And he asks a question: "Who is able to open the scroll and to loose its seals? Is there anyone worthy to do it? Is there anyone able to do this?"
No angel could do it. Nobody could do it.
John says, "I heard that. And then the angel says, and no one the report is given, No one in heaven and on earth and under the earth was able to open the scroll and to look into it.
So verse 4: "I began to weep loudly because nobody was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it."
John breaks out into weeping. And amazingly, John is in a vision. The closest thing you could imagine to this, boys and girls, is like waking up in the middle of the night and you're crying because that dream was so real. And you're crying. But this is real. John has introduced the most pressing issue raised in all of heaven and earth. And he's weeping over the most important issue. No one can accomplish what's written on this scroll.
What a distressing question. And it was the question that permeated the entire Old Testament: "Who can stand before the Holy God of Israel?" And people are completely blind to this.
You know, let me just say how awful the predicament is. Peoples in this life before the one sitting on the throne. Everyone's at ease. Everyone's out busy eating and drinking. And they have no idea. How many people completely didn't even think about church today, to come and hear about the scroll? With no concern. Nobody concerned or worried about the judgments to come, which is the seals. No concern that they're completely in the dark, that God has written down a will, and unless that will can be done, only curse and woe come from the throne on the peoples of this world.
Now, John feels the weight of this. Think of the dread. No mediator. Can you imagine? What if I had no message today? What if I were a pastor What would we be doing today? No mediator, no forgiveness, no understanding. You would go through life with no help. with You could never pray or ever be heard because you can't come to the throne with boldness. You would never be loved. You would never know help. You would never know forgiveness. You would only know suffering and then rightly to face judgment under the wrath of God. Nothing but, as Hebrews says, the fearful expectation of judgment. No inheritance. Only hell to come.
"I'm weeping," says John. "No one's worthy. Unless there were just somebody who could come who was worthy."
And all of a sudden, one of the elders comes and says, "Wait, wait! Behold, there is one. It's the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. He prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seals."
"And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, this is, I saw a lamb standing, listen to this, as though it had been slain. With seven horns and seven eyes, all symbolic. You know Revelation's symbolic. You cannot just say, I read the scriptures literally You cannot read an apocalyptic book literally that way. Seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth, verse 7."
"And he went and he took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne."
So the lamb, verse 6, approaches the throne. Where is he coming from? John says he came from he rose from the sea. And it's the imagery of a warrior who came. And John, the angel says, "It's a lion. It's a victor, fulfilling everything that was needed." And notice here, he comes from the sea, and the imagery is he's making his way up to the throne. But John says, "I look at him, and you know what he looks like? Looks like he had been slain."
Wow. Wow. The angel says, "Stop weeping. Stop. Let me show you one. It's a lamb. Slain. He was the lamb led to the slaughter in the turbulent world for us."
John says, "I see something about him. Those horns symbolize strength. This figure is powerful. He conquered. And because of that, notice he comes and he takes the scroll."
And the imagery is he's taking his seat the right hand of God. What we have here is the vision of the ascension. From the turbulent sea, he ascends into heaven and calms the sea as he makes his way up to the front. And in the glassy sea of crystal, he appears and he walks up to the throne and he takes the scroll. And it's a declaration to all: it's a declaration to all. The will of God for the redemption of his people is accomplished. And he's seated.
And you see, beloved, this answers for us this morning our struggle as Christians, of why in this world we are often struggle correlating what we believe about Jesus Christ and His power and His Lordship when nothing on earth seems victorious. It's the ascension that's the answer.
What does our Lord want us to understand on earth right now? He wants us to live in full understanding of what's happening in the boardroom. This Jesus whom you believe, this Jesus whom you know, this Jesus whom you've trusted in and confessed, you? know what He did for you. he came down here and he died for you. And he defeated sin and death. And he's worthy to open the scrolls and loose its seals. What does that mean?
"Now I watch, this is chapter six, the lamb opened one of the seven seals and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, come, And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He has been given all authority and all power, and he is ruling, and he is judging the world."
That's the imagery now. Since he's worthy, and he is there for our good. And listen to this: "You were worthy. Notice the praise that breaks out. You were worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and you've redeemed us to God. Notice this. This is the whole gospel we confess. You've redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation and have made us priests and kings to our God and we shall reign where? On earth. We're reigning. We're reigning with him who's seated in heaven because the Lamb prevailed to do this for you."
"Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000, thousands of thousands. The whole vision ends here in worship saying, with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them I heard saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. And the elders, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down and worshiped him who lives forever and ever."
Well, let's bring this to a close.
Have you thought why the world is so turbulent? It's precisely because he's on the throne. He's judging the world. Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? And the king set themselves against the Lord, against the rulers, take counsel against the Lord and against his anointing, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart. Let us cast their cords from us." And what is he doing? "He who sits in the heaven shall laugh." It's like Calvin said, "This is the day of his laughter." This is the day of his laughter.
And I close with this thought: How does the ascension benefit you? I can just quote the Heidelberg for a minute. "First, he's your advocate in heaven before his Father. Second, we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that he, our head, will take us as members up to himself. Third, he sends us his spirit as a counter pledge by whose power we seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, and not the things that are on earth."
Okay, one minute. Back to Acts. Back to Acts.
"Why are you standing here looking up? Why are you standing here looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go up into heaven. So do what? You are my witnesses. You are my witnesses. Go, therefore. All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to me. I'm seated. Make disciples. Don't stand around anymore. Don't look up. You're sent on a mission. Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I commanded you."
This is about discipleship.
So in all of your discouragement and fret and fear and fog, he gave us a glimpse, a peek into heaven. And you can stop and study that today. But tomorrow, tomorrow we stop gazing and we go serve. And we love our neighbor. And we be about the discipleship that he calls us to be as his people, because he is ascended.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for your truth to us and for giving us in this great vision a peek into heaven, to see the ascension. Thank you for encouraging your church in struggle and all the difficulty on earth. Ultimately, we belong there, and that Jesus is coming again to take us to be with him. We need this encouragement. Oh, Lord, encourage our hearts and revitalize us in our mission as a church and the people of God, that we would be about what you call us to be. We are so grateful that Jesus Christ is ascended and seated on the throne, that the Holy Spirit has been sent to us, that we might seek for those things and pursue those things that matter the most.
We pray these things in jesus name. Amen.