The writer, G. K. Chesterton,
once wrote that it is better to live in the valley than on the mountain
top. On the mountain top we look down
and everything seems small, but in the valley, we look up and we feel
small. Studying Revelation makes us feel
small as we see the magnificence of our eternal God. It gives us the right perspective to live by!
The readers of Revelation, in the
Roman province of Asia Minor, and John, who receives this revelation, need to
see the mountain of God. They were being
put under pressure by the Emperor Domition, who was a cruel man who burned
Christians at the stake, threw them to lions and tied them between two wild
horses so that they would be torn in two.
So, God gives John a glimpse
behind the scenes. Things are not as
they seem. Whatever your current
situation, remember that there is an unseen reality. It may not seem like it, but God is on the
throne.
What an invitation John
receives! 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”’
(4:1). John is being invited to take a
look at the command centre of all history.
Do you want a look?
It is not the Caesar who reigns,
our God reigns (4)
John sees one seated on a
throne. The idea of the throne is at the
centre of this chapter (mentioned fourteen times) and of the whole book of
Revelation (mentioned forty-six times).
Our God reigns.
But who is this God who controls
history?
He is beautiful—he had the
appearance of jasper and ruby (3a). God
has a beauty that glows. It glows out of
his character. It is inner beauty.
He is merciful—around his throne
is a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald (3b). The rainbow is a reminder of the promise God
made to humankind after the Genesis flood.
Even though people were wicked, God promised that he would not send
another flood to wipe them out. There is
a lot in the book of revelation about judgement, but we don’t understand the
nature of our God if we don’t see that he longs to show people mercy.
He is gracious—there are
twenty-four elders surrounding the throne, they are sitting on thrones, dressed
in white and have crowns on their heads (4).
These twenty-four elders probably represent all of God’s people. The number twenty-four is thought to be made
from the twelve tribes of the Old Testament and the Twelve apostles of the
new. They are washed in white because
their sins have been cleansed. The only
people that God accepts as his people are sinful people, but he does not leave
us in our sin. He washes us in the blood
of the lamb (Revelation 7:14). They have
crowns on their heads, because although in our natural state we can do nothing
to please God, in grace God gives us a new heart to live for him and he sees
every little thing we do for him and he stores up heavenly reward. We have thrones in heaven for in some way
that goes beyond my understanding, we will reign with him (Revelation 20:6).
He is just—from the throne comes
thunder and lightening (5). If God did
not judge wickedness, he would not be a good God. If he looked at human wickedness and was not
angered, he would neither be holy nor loving.
He would simply be indifferent.
He would look at the wrong done against you and simply shrug his
shoulders and say, ‘so what’. In our
hearts we know that we want a God of justice.
Who of us, as a child didn’t scream, ‘it’s not fair!’? We are wired for justice to be done. We are rightly angry when judges pass down
sentences that are overly lenient. The
only problem with our thirst for justice to be done, is that it causes us to
confront the wickedness that we see in our own heart. We will see the answer to that in the next
chapter.
He is perfect—there are these
four creatures around the throne. Each
has a different face, and each face speaks of a different characteristic of
God. The face of a lion speaks of
royalty—our God is the King of all kings.
The face of the Ox speaks of strength—and this mighty God has done
battle to rescue us from the slavery of sin.
The face of man speaks of wisdom—his great wisdom being shown through
the cross of Christ. The face of the
eagle shows his ability to react swiftly.
The four living creatures cry out
day and night, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and
is to come’ (8). The twenty-four elders
lay their crowns before his throne and say: ‘You are worthy our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your
will they were created, and have their being’ (11).
They cast their crowns before
them. Who are we to think anything of
ourselves when we think of the God of the universe? By his will you were created and have their
being—who are people to say that God is irrelevant, he is the one who gives us
our every breath?
I want my friends to come to
Jesus because I believe that life is meaningless without him. I want my friends to come to Jesus because I
don’t want them to experience the punishment our sins deserve. We should also want to see them come to Jesus
because we long for them to praise God as they ought. Jesus taught us to pray, ‘your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven’. In heaven
people delight to praise God, we long to see that replicated on earth.
Just one more thing to notice
before we move on to chapter five.
Notice that there is a sea of glass, like crystal. When is a sea as still as glass? When all is quite and still. Down on earth God’s people were facing many
storms, but in heaven all is calm. Our
life may be up in the air, but God is in control. You may be hated for your faith, but God has
not fallen off his throne. You may be
going through turmoil, but God can be trusted.
Caesar is not Lord, Jesus is Lord (5)
The focus of chapter five is on a
lamb and a scroll with seven seals. This
scroll is a legal document. It is full,
having been written on both sides. This
is God’s will for the world written down.
In chapter six and seven, as each seal is opened and more of the scroll
is read, events take place in the world.
This scroll contains God’s plan for the salvation and judgement of the
world.
But there is a problem! There is no-one worthy to break the scrolls
and open the scroll. Does this mean
God’s will for the world will not come to be?
What will happen to God’s plan of salvation and judgement? John begins to weep. But then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do
not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, the root of David, has triumphed.
He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals’ (5).
The lion of the tribe of Judah
refers to a prophecy made in Genesis, when Jacob spoke over his son Judah and
said, ‘the sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from
between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of
the nations shall be his’ (Genesis 49:10).
Jesus was the promised king from the tribe of Judah, like king David,
but he is not only a descendant of the great king, but he is the root of
David—he is the one David called Lord (Matthew 22:45).
John looks to see a lion and
instead he saw a lamb. Then I saw a
lamb looking like it was slain, standing at the centre of the throne, encircled
by the four living creatures and the elders (6). The title of lamb for Jesus is mentioned
twenty-eight times in Revelation. Jesus
is the Passover lamb whose blood was shed to rescue his people from
slavery. He is the one of whom John
said, ‘behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ He is the suffering servant spoken of in
Isaiah 53, who was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He is the lamb spoken of by the prophet
Jeremiah, who said, ‘I had been like a gentle lamb led to the laughter’
(Jeremiah 11:19).
This lamb, Jesus, is looking like
it had been slain. We are going to spend
all eternity thinking of how Jesus suffered and died for us on the cross. This is an unusual lamb—he has seven horns
and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth
(6). Jesus will execute God’s plan for
all of history with complete knowledge (as seen through those eyes) and endowed
with the Holy Spirit.
Look at the golden bowls of
incense that the elders are holding.
These are the prayers of God’s people.
What an incentive to praise and pray our God. When we cry out to him in love it produces an
aroma in heaven!
The four living creatures and the
twenty four elders sing: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and open its
seals, because you were slain and with your blood your purchased for God people
from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them a kingdom of priests to serve
our God and they will reign on earth’ (9-10).
I once heard a church minster complain about ‘bloody songs’, he didn’t
like all those old hymns about the blood of the lamb. But we praise the lamb who was slain.
Then the elders are surrounded by
a multitude of angels that no one could count, and they are saying: ‘Worthy is
the lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and
honour and glory and praise’ (12). Then
John heard every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on
the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to
the Lamb, be praise and honour and glory and power for ever and ever!’ The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and
the elders fell down and worshipped!’
Before we wrap us, just one final
thing to note about chapter five. Jesus
is the object of worship. That is
significant. In the last chapter of
Revelation John gets caught up in wonder at all that he has seen. He falls down to worship the angel who was
delivering this message to him. The
angel says, ‘Don’t do that! I am a
fellow servant...Worship God!’ (Revelation 22:9). The Jehovah’s Witnesses say that Jesus was
not God, but the archangel Michael. Only
God is to be worshipped. Jesus is
worshipped in heaven. Jesus is God the
Son the second person of what we call the Trinity.
Conclusion
When life feels like chaos, we
must place ourselves in the valley and see the mountain. We must see that we are small, and that God
is big. We must see that the sea is calm
in heaven. The lamb has been his slain,
and so God has taken care of our biggest fears around dead, sin and hell. Jesus is on control and he has proven his
trustworthiness.
That is what John needed to hear
as he worked in the quarries on the island of Patmos, where he had been exiled
for his faith, in his old age. That is
what the churches in Asia Minor needed to remember, as the suffered under the
rue of Domition. This is what we need to
remember, no matter what we are facing.
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