Chris Edwards
Series: Revelation
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 21st September 2014
Passage: Revelation 4:1-5:14
00:00:00 --> 00:00:01 Well, keep your Bibles open.
00:00:01 --> 00:00:04 And how many people have heard my sermon already?
00:00:06 --> 00:00:06 Right.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:10 Well, you'll be able to see whether it's the same now as it was earlier in the day.
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 And you should have all the answers to all the questions I'll ask as we go through.
00:00:16 --> 00:00:17 Let me pray.
00:00:19 --> 00:00:20 Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:27 But boy, this bit, it starts what is a very complicated series of passages and chapters
00:00:27 --> 00:00:32 with images that we can't quite get in our head,
00:00:33 --> 00:00:37 with ideas that we find difficult to resolve.
00:00:38 --> 00:00:40 So I pray you'll help us with these two chapters
00:00:40 --> 00:00:45 that we might see and hear you speaking to us.
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 That in our imagination and in our minds,
00:00:48 --> 00:00:52 we might be able to draw together the things that you're showing us
00:00:52 --> 00:00:56 so that despite what this world is like and what this world does,
00:00:56 --> 00:01:00 we might find our hope and our rest in you.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:01 Amen.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:09 Well, chapter 4 and 5 in Revelation is really the beginning of a vision.
00:01:10 --> 00:01:15 Chapters 1, 2 and 3, although they are the beginning of the Revelation,
00:01:15 --> 00:01:19 that is, the vision that John is given begins at the beginning.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:26 But what happens in those early chapters is there are a series of letters written and delivered
00:01:26 --> 00:01:32 to the churches in a place called Asia Minor, which is basically Turkey, modern-day Turkey.
00:01:33 --> 00:01:37 And the cities, the seven towns that are named and identified and that get letters,
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 the seven of those, you can still go there today.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:48 But what's really interesting is of the six churches, sorry, of the seven churches that got the letters,
00:01:49 --> 00:01:50 six are gone.
00:01:51 --> 00:01:51 They're not there anymore.
00:01:52 --> 00:01:56 What's really interesting is as you read through the seven letters,
00:01:56 --> 00:02:01 you'll find each of them is warned that if they don't repent and change their ways,
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 then the candle, the lamp will be taken from them.
00:02:04 --> 00:02:09 Only one is sort of commended by Jesus.
00:02:09 --> 00:02:09 And guess what?
00:02:10 --> 00:02:18 That one is the one that's still a church today, surrounded by mosques in a highly Islamic part of Turkey
00:02:18 --> 00:02:24 where it's encircled completely.
00:02:25 --> 00:02:29 But the church still meets and Christians still gather today, 2 years later.
00:02:29 --> 00:02:30 Isn't that something?
00:02:31 --> 00:02:32 It's a point that's often missed.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:36 I don't know whether you've talked about it in your sermon series so far,
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 but six of those seven churches don't exist anymore.
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 They're just tourist sites and archaeological digs.
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 They lived, they existed in a world which was tough.
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 They existed in a world which was dominated by Rome.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:53 They existed in a world where if you were Christian, you were persecuted.
00:02:53 --> 00:02:58 If you tried to do business as a Christian, you would find it very, very difficult.
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 You would have to pay additional taxes.
00:03:00 --> 00:03:05 The Jews and the Christians both had to pay an additional tax to Caesar.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:09 But Christians started, by the time these letters were being received,
00:03:10 --> 00:03:14 started to gain a little bit more of the persecution than even the Jews.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:21 And so the Christian church was being attacked, not only in Rome, but right across the empire.
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 And certainly in Turkey.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:30 And so the people that first received this letter, I imagine would have been thinking,
00:03:30 --> 00:03:31 is it worth it?
00:03:32 --> 00:03:32 Is it true?
00:03:33 --> 00:03:34 When is he coming back?
00:03:34 --> 00:03:35 Is he coming back?
00:03:35 --> 00:03:40 We've been told that Jesus who rose from the dead and is alive again,
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 will come back and wrap it all up.
00:03:42 --> 00:03:43 So where is he?
00:03:44 --> 00:03:45 Is he coming?
00:03:45 --> 00:03:46 When will he come?
00:03:46 --> 00:03:51 And so this letter, this message, this revelation is given to them
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 as a kind of an encouragement to keep going.
00:03:54 --> 00:03:55 Don't give in.
00:03:55 --> 00:03:56 He is coming.
00:03:56 --> 00:04:01 And what's really interesting about chapters 4 and 5 is they start at a high point.
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 There's real hope in these chapters.
00:04:04 --> 00:04:10 The God of all history, the God of all creation, the God who did everything, all of this stuff,
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 he is in charge.
00:04:12 --> 00:04:13 He has authority and power.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 And all dominion belongs to him.
00:04:16 --> 00:04:24 Because hang on to your hats in chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20.
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 Because it's going to get hairy.
00:04:28 --> 00:04:32 And you go to chapter 6, you'll see the saints under the altar who've been slain,
00:04:33 --> 00:04:34 crying out, how long?
00:04:34 --> 00:04:35 How long?
00:04:35 --> 00:04:36 How long?
00:04:36 --> 00:04:37 When is it going to end?
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 And the answer comes, soon, but not yet.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:41 Just wait.
00:04:41 --> 00:04:42 Just wait.
00:04:43 --> 00:04:47 Because not all of those who will die like you did have died yet.
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 It's like, if I was hearing that, you'd be thinking, what?
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 You mean more of us are going to die and be martyred?
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 And the answer comes, yes.
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 And there's going to be terrible persecution.
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 There's going to be awful things happen in the world.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 The world is going to get dislocated.
00:05:04 --> 00:05:05 There'll be earthquakes.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:06 People will suffer.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:11 But not only that, there are going to be spiritual explosions that will wipe out many.
00:05:12 --> 00:05:12 Really?
00:05:12 --> 00:05:13 Yes, really.
00:05:13 --> 00:05:20 And so you can see, when John reveals this, how good is God to say, listen, this is the
00:05:20 --> 00:05:21 starting point.
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 The starting point is that I am in control of all of that.
00:05:26 --> 00:05:30 Nothing is going to happen that is not in my will.
00:05:31 --> 00:05:35 And nothing will take place for which I don't have a purpose.
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 It will be a rough ride.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:38 But guess what?
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 That is sin and the impact of sin in this world.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:49 Do not for one moment think that it's only a benign kind of naughtiness that you have.
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 It is cataclysmic.
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 It's broken us.
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 And what I have to do to bring us back together, just watch.
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 Just watch this space.
00:06:02 --> 00:06:07 For the Jesus you believe in is the Jesus who will save you from your sin.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:08 And that's the only way.
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 That is the only way to be saved from what's coming.
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 So you look in chapter 4 and it says there in the first couple of verses,
00:06:16 --> 00:06:17 after this, I looked.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:18 And John says,
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 Before me was a door standing open in heaven.
00:06:21 --> 00:06:27 It's as if the heavens get ripped apart and God's hands are holding it there and says,
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 Okay, John, pop up and have a look through here.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 And so he lifts his head up and he looks around.
00:06:33 --> 00:06:37 And there he is, not just on the outskirts of the suburbs of heaven,
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 but in the throne room of God.
00:06:40 --> 00:06:41 There he is.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 This voice calls out like a trumpet.
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 Come up here and I'll show you what must take place after this.
00:06:48 --> 00:06:49 At once I was in the Spirit.
00:06:49 --> 00:07:00 So you know from what he's saying that what you're about to see is not something that we normally see.
00:07:00 --> 00:07:05 That is, it's not like watching a bird fly past or watching a car drive past.
00:07:05 --> 00:07:06 It's not that kind of seeing.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08 You're seeing me.
00:07:08 --> 00:07:08 I'm seeing you.
00:07:08 --> 00:07:09 It's not like that.
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 It's a vision that he's given.
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 But it's not like our visions either.
00:07:15 --> 00:07:16 It's not like our dreams.
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 My dreams, they're crazy.
00:07:18 --> 00:07:19 What are your dreams like?
00:07:19 --> 00:07:20 Do they ever make sense?
00:07:20 --> 00:07:24 Do you ever get frustrated when you get up having had a very real dream?
00:07:25 --> 00:07:26 It felt like it was so real.
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 And then as you explain it to someone, you realize this is crazy.
00:07:30 --> 00:07:31 This makes no sense.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:33 There is no logical connection.
00:07:33 --> 00:07:37 I can see people smiling because you know your dream, right?
00:07:37 --> 00:07:38 Yeah.
00:07:38 --> 00:07:41 Well, that's not what this is either because John is awake.
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 He's having the dream, the vision, but he's awake.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:49 And so he's invited up.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:50 What did he see?
00:07:50 --> 00:07:51 What did John see?
00:07:52 --> 00:07:59 Well, John looks in to this throne room and he has what he calls his apocalypse.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 It really is the word for reveal, a revelation.
00:08:02 --> 00:08:07 It all gets peeled back so that he gets to understand and see what's happening.
00:08:08 --> 00:08:15 And so in this vision, what he sees is God sitting on the throne.
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 In chapter four, there he is.
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 There is one on the throne.
00:08:21 --> 00:08:22 One on the throne.
00:08:23 --> 00:08:23 One.
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 God has won on the throne.
00:08:27 --> 00:08:31 And yet, as he goes on, you'll discover there's someone in the middle of the throne.
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 Well, on his lap.
00:08:34 --> 00:08:35 How does that work?
00:08:36 --> 00:08:44 What John has revealed to him is that the God who is on the throne is the God who is Father,
00:08:44 --> 00:08:45 Son, and Spirit in one.
00:08:45 --> 00:08:50 And so just as he begins to describe that, how do you describe?
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 Here it is, boys and girls.
00:08:52 --> 00:08:53 We're going to find out what God looks like.
00:08:54 --> 00:08:55 He goes into these colors.
00:08:56 --> 00:09:00 He describes a rainbow that's emerald that's around the throne.
00:09:00 --> 00:09:05 And then he describes this one on the throne who's like Jasper.
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 Well, Jasper, did anybody Google it during the day just to test me?
00:09:10 --> 00:09:11 I invited you this morning.
00:09:11 --> 00:09:11 No?
00:09:11 --> 00:09:18 You can safely go Google, then images, Jasper, and you'll see it ranges from orange to green.
00:09:18 --> 00:09:23 And it's kind of like a diamond in that it gets all this sort of clarity and stuff.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 It's an amazing stone.
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 That's the stone that he, like, that's what God's like.
00:09:30 --> 00:09:39 Not like a rock, but that he's just a range of colors and incredible in luster.
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 But also deep red.
00:09:42 --> 00:09:44 Deep red, like a ruby.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:55 See, John chooses things that we will understand to describe the incredible majesty of a God we can never imagine.
00:09:56 --> 00:09:57 I'm okay with that.
00:09:57 --> 00:09:58 Are you okay with that?
00:09:58 --> 00:10:07 I figure that if this God could make a universe with more stars, planets, and universes, then we can count.
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 He can put them there and name them.
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 He can put them there and sustain them.
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 He can put them there and use them.
00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 Then I figure he's probably a little bit cleverer than me.
00:10:18 --> 00:10:24 Yesterday, I put up some sun-tuff roofing stuff just in a deck at the back of our house.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 And it rained last night.
00:10:27 --> 00:10:31 And although I thought I'd secured it so that it would be waterproof, it's not.
00:10:32 --> 00:10:32 I've discovered.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 I can't even put up sun-tuff.
00:10:35 --> 00:10:40 How could I ever imagine a God who could suspend a galaxy?
00:10:42 --> 00:10:43 Do you really think you can work him out?
00:10:43 --> 00:10:56 Do you really think the guys who write the books, like Richard Dawkins, who was so arrogant as to say God is a fairy tale, could ever work him out through their human philosophy?
00:10:57 --> 00:10:57 Never.
00:10:58 --> 00:10:59 Never.
00:11:00 --> 00:11:01 This vision shows us.
00:11:02 --> 00:11:03 Well, listen to the words.
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 Before me is a throne with someone sitting on it.
00:11:06 --> 00:11:21 The throne is a symbol of rule, jasper, a symbol of value, of beauty, carnelian, deep red.
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 But there's so many Old Testament images here as well.
00:11:24 --> 00:11:28 The rainbow is a reminder of God's faithfulness.
00:11:28 --> 00:11:32 He promised he would never flood the world again after the ark.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34 He never has.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 His word holds.
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 If he says it, he will do it.
00:11:40 --> 00:11:41 He will keep it.
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 He is entirely faithful.
00:11:43 --> 00:11:44 Entirely faithful.
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 And so as John looks, he's reminded of that.
00:11:48 --> 00:11:55 But not only that, around this throne, there's also these flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, which is just like Exodus 19.
00:11:55 --> 00:12:02 When the Ten Commandments were about to be given and God came down to speak to the people, to talk to Moses.
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 What was it like if you're looking up at the top of the mountain?
00:12:06 --> 00:12:07 Thunder and lightning.
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 Go back and have a look at Exodus 19.
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 That's what John sees in the throne room.
00:12:12 --> 00:12:13 Can you imagine it?
00:12:13 --> 00:12:16 A rainbow and thunder and lightning on this throne.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:17 There's so much happening.
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 But then around the throne are seven blazing torches.
00:12:21 --> 00:12:25 Now seven, the number seven is going to come up again as you keep going through Revelation.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 Number seven is the number for completion.
00:12:29 --> 00:12:29 It's done.
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 And it harks back to Genesis 2.
00:12:32 --> 00:12:33 How many days in the week?
00:12:35 --> 00:12:38 Yeah, six to make it and one for rest.
00:12:39 --> 00:12:40 You know why?
00:12:40 --> 00:12:48 Because God had completed creation on the, oh, seventh day was the day when he rested.
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 Because it was done.
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 All that had to be done was completed.
00:12:54 --> 00:12:58 Seven is the number of completion or perfection, of fulfillment.
00:12:59 --> 00:13:04 It's why later in this book, and you'll come across the beast with the number 666.
00:13:04 --> 00:13:07 I remember back in the 80s when bank card was introduced.
00:13:08 --> 00:13:12 So many people who want to get all the detail out of Revelation and turn it into something,
00:13:12 --> 00:13:15 said, look at the symbol, the logo for the bank card.
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 But it's three B's inside each other.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 But really it's the number 6.
00:13:19 --> 00:13:20 And then again, 6.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:21 6.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 But I'm preaching to an audience that's never even seen a bank card logo, right?
00:13:25 --> 00:13:31 For those of us who remember the bank card logo, it wasn't the sign of the beast.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:36 The sign of the beast is that he's not God.
00:13:38 --> 00:13:38 666.
00:13:38 --> 00:13:38 666.
00:13:39 --> 00:13:40 It's really close to 7.
00:13:41 --> 00:13:42 But it's not.
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 He tries to be 6 once.
00:13:46 --> 00:13:47 He tries to get to 7.
00:13:47 --> 00:13:47 He doesn't make it.
00:13:47 --> 00:13:48 So he's 6 again.
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 He tries to get to 7 again.
00:13:50 --> 00:13:50 And he doesn't.
00:13:51 --> 00:13:51 He's 6.
00:13:52 --> 00:13:52 666.
00:13:53 --> 00:13:54 He's not God.
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 He tries to be, but he's not.
00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 He has the appearance of God, but he's not.
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 And around the throne are these seven lamps.
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 There's no more light needed.
00:14:06 --> 00:14:10 This is all the light you need to perceive and understand the truth.
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 This is the light of God emanating out.
00:14:13 --> 00:14:14 And it's done by the Spirit.
00:14:15 --> 00:14:17 The Spirit is the one who will enlighten you.
00:14:18 --> 00:14:18 Wow.
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 See what John's doing here?
00:14:20 --> 00:14:26 God the Father on the throne has the Spirit sending the truth out to the world, to everybody,
00:14:26 --> 00:14:32 so that they can know, and then we get a glimpse of the one who is in the middle of the throne.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:34 Not sitting on God's lap.
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 He's actually in the center.
00:14:36 --> 00:14:37 On the throne.
00:14:38 --> 00:14:39 With the...
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 John, this vision is crazy.
00:14:42 --> 00:14:43 What were you drinking?
00:14:44 --> 00:14:44 Nothing.
00:14:45 --> 00:14:51 This is from God, so that we will understand where he is, who's in charge, and what it is.
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 So, it is an image.
00:14:54 --> 00:14:59 The next thing you see are the 24 elders who are around the throne,
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 representing the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles,
00:15:03 --> 00:15:06 the redeemed of the Old Testament with the redeemed of the New Testament.
00:15:07 --> 00:15:08 We'll all be there.
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 And they've got crowns on their heads, and they're sitting on thrones,
00:15:11 --> 00:15:15 which is fulfillment of the promise that God gave to people,
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 that you will be involved in my kingdom.
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 You will rule with me.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 They've got little crowns to prove it, because a crown is a sign.
00:15:23 --> 00:15:24 I'm in charge.
00:15:24 --> 00:15:24 I'm the ruler.
00:15:25 --> 00:15:26 That's what it means.
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 And then there are these four living creatures.
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 Watch over the next few chapters how many times four is mentioned.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 Four is the number that says it's everything that's been made.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:38 The four corners of the earth.
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 Did you know there are no corners to the earth?
00:15:42 --> 00:15:43 You've heard that expression, right?
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 Yeah, well, get a photo from the moon or something.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:47 You'll see the world is a ball.
00:15:47 --> 00:15:49 It's round.
00:15:50 --> 00:15:51 And balls don't have corners.
00:15:52 --> 00:15:56 So that expression, well, it comes from this.
00:15:56 --> 00:16:01 It actually comes from the idea of the four different things that are happening constantly.
00:16:01 --> 00:16:05 And that covers the whole of the created world, the one that we live on, the globe that we stand on.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 And the four living creatures that are here represented are a lion.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:22 And this is the most noble, the royal, all the royalty of earth, all the nobility of earth, all those famous and capable ones who are noble.
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 Not many in Australia, I don't think, but there you go.
00:16:26 --> 00:16:27 Then there's the ox.
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 We still use the expression strong as an ox, right?
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 An ox represents strength.
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 The strongest people that have ever existed.
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 The strongest ones of the world ever.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:47 And then there's man who carries the image of God made in the garden as the one who would bear the image as God's co-regent.
00:16:47 --> 00:16:51 He says, all of this I've put in submission under you.
00:16:51 --> 00:16:52 You look after it.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:53 It's your job.
00:16:53 --> 00:16:54 That's your responsibility.
00:16:55 --> 00:16:56 And then there's an eagle.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:02 The eagle is the creature which flies highest and fastest in all of creation.
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 Have you ever been around any Anglican churches?
00:17:05 --> 00:17:06 We're doing that a lot lately.
00:17:06 --> 00:17:13 And we find, you haven't got one, but in many churches, the bookshelf for the Bible is, guess what?
00:17:14 --> 00:17:15 It's an eagle.
00:17:16 --> 00:17:21 And I remember saying to Donald Robinson when he was Archbishop, he said, you could ask any question.
00:17:21 --> 00:17:27 I think he was meaning for us to ask him questions about doctrine or the New Testament or some of those wise things that we were learning.
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 And I said, yeah, I've got a question.
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 How come the eagle is in so many churches?
00:17:31 --> 00:17:38 Like, who chose the eagle and not, I don't know, a chook or some other bird of dignity and nobility?
00:17:39 --> 00:17:40 He said, oh, really?
00:17:40 --> 00:17:41 Do you not understand?
00:17:41 --> 00:17:42 I said, no.
00:17:43 --> 00:17:44 And I looked around my year group.
00:17:44 --> 00:17:45 None of us understood.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:50 So he said, the eagle flies higher than any other creature.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 In all of creation, none go higher.
00:17:53 --> 00:17:54 And what's above the eagle?
00:17:55 --> 00:17:56 The Word of God.
00:17:56 --> 00:17:59 The Word of God is sovereign over everything.
00:17:59 --> 00:18:00 So that's why we have eagles in churches.
00:18:01 --> 00:18:04 A little bit of trivia that I didn't tell anybody at any of the other services today.
00:18:06 --> 00:18:07 So glad you came tonight.
00:18:07 --> 00:18:13 But he's the eagle that represents the greatest, fastest in all of creation.
00:18:14 --> 00:18:17 And all of these things in all of creation come together.
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 Now, does it really, is this really what happens?
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 I mean, does God really sit on a throne?
00:18:23 --> 00:18:23 No.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:28 Is he literally translucent and going from green to orange?
00:18:29 --> 00:18:29 No.
00:18:29 --> 00:18:30 Is he deep red?
00:18:30 --> 00:18:31 No.
00:18:32 --> 00:18:32 Is he a ruler?
00:18:32 --> 00:18:33 Yes.
00:18:34 --> 00:18:35 Is he beyond description?
00:18:36 --> 00:18:36 Yes.
00:18:37 --> 00:18:38 Should he be worshipped?
00:18:38 --> 00:18:39 Absolutely.
00:18:40 --> 00:18:40 Absolutely.
00:18:41 --> 00:18:42 Do you worship him?
00:18:43 --> 00:18:44 Because you know what?
00:18:44 --> 00:18:48 In heaven, all these beasts worship him.
00:18:48 --> 00:18:52 It actually says, if you heard the description, that they're covered in eyes.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:56 Now, how does an eagle fly if it's covered in eyes?
00:18:56 --> 00:18:57 Like, I can't work that one out.
00:18:58 --> 00:18:59 But again, this is imagery.
00:19:00 --> 00:19:01 We're not being given a photograph.
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 We're being given a painting.
00:19:03 --> 00:19:07 You know those paintings like Monet did and even Frederick McCubbin.
00:19:07 --> 00:19:08 We went to Melbourne.
00:19:08 --> 00:19:14 The Australian Gallery down there, the National Gallery in Melbourne, has got all these fantastic paintings.
00:19:14 --> 00:19:15 And one of them I knew really well.
00:19:15 --> 00:19:16 It's in three panels.
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 And it's a story in the panels of early settlers.
00:19:20 --> 00:19:25 And in the first one, there's a photo, a painting, not photo, a painting of the couple arriving in the bush.
00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 And then in the middle, he's building the house.
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 And she's in the background sort of doing the washing or whatever.
00:19:31 --> 00:19:34 And then in the last one, she's sitting beside his grave.
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 And it's kind of that sad story that, wow, that's what happened.
00:19:38 --> 00:19:40 And it's a beautiful, do you know the painting I'm talking about?
00:19:40 --> 00:19:40 You see it?
00:19:41 --> 00:19:46 What's amazing, if you go up close to it and you see her sitting with her hands on her lap, there's no fingers.
00:19:47 --> 00:19:50 You stand back, fair dinkum, you think that there's fingers there.
00:19:50 --> 00:19:53 You go up close and there's no nose in there.
00:19:53 --> 00:19:56 All that is just sort of blobs of colour.
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 You stand back and it all comes together.
00:19:58 --> 00:20:00 That's what John's doing here.
00:20:00 --> 00:20:04 He's using images to give us an idea.
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 Words so that we can understand.
00:20:07 --> 00:20:13 And he's written it in a way so that people who are being discouraged, who are facing persecution, could cope.
00:20:13 --> 00:20:21 They were being reminded by him in this incredibly pastoral message that God cares for them.
00:20:21 --> 00:20:23 He knows the trouble that they're in.
00:20:24 --> 00:20:25 He knows what they're going through.
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 And he wants them to know he is in charge.
00:20:29 --> 00:20:29 He is sovereign.
00:20:29 --> 00:20:30 He is almighty.
00:20:31 --> 00:20:37 And all these creatures have eyes all over them so that they will have insight and understanding.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:40 And what do they do, these ones with insight and understanding?
00:20:40 --> 00:20:45 They cry out, holy, holy, holy, three times.
00:20:46 --> 00:20:49 And if you're here this morning, you'll know what the three times means.
00:20:50 --> 00:20:54 I'll tell you again for those who won't, because you're hanging out to find out why, right?
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 In English, we would say big, bigger, biggest.
00:20:59 --> 00:21:05 But in Hebrew and Sanskrit and Aramaic and many other ancient languages, even some modern languages,
00:21:05 --> 00:21:08 the way you give emphasis is you repeat it.
00:21:08 --> 00:21:15 So you would say, for someone who is absolutely, extremely holy, holy, holy.
00:21:15 --> 00:21:18 For someone who is really rich, they're rich, rich.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 For someone who is really strong, strong, strong.
00:21:21 --> 00:21:24 For God, he's holy, holy, holy.
00:21:24 --> 00:21:29 Now, as soon as you would say that, people who spoke that language would go, what?
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 How could you be holy, holy, holy?
00:21:32 --> 00:21:35 That's holiness that's beyond.
00:21:36 --> 00:21:37 That's exactly right.
00:21:37 --> 00:21:44 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 Who was in eternity past.
00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 Who is in the present day.
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 And who is to come.
00:21:52 --> 00:21:52 The future.
00:21:53 --> 00:21:56 This is the God of all history, of all time.
00:21:57 --> 00:21:58 Notice the three times?
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 Was, is, is to come.
00:22:00 --> 00:22:08 The stress that he's making here to understand that this one is the one forever.
00:22:09 --> 00:22:13 And they take off their crowns and they throw them down.
00:22:14 --> 00:22:19 Because they're saying, the power and authority that I have, it's nothing compared to your power.
00:22:20 --> 00:22:22 I'm no one compared to you.
00:22:22 --> 00:22:26 And so they bow down and they worship to their Lord and God.
00:22:27 --> 00:22:31 Paul Barnett, who's written a book on this, says you've got to consider those words, Lord and God.
00:22:31 --> 00:22:35 Because these people lived at a time when the emperor who was ruling them, Domitian,
00:22:36 --> 00:22:39 he insisted on everyone calling him Lord and God.
00:22:41 --> 00:22:45 It sort of pales compared to Team Australia, which is what Tony Abbott's come up with.
00:22:45 --> 00:22:51 And I'm glad because I don't think I could call Tony Abbott, Captain Abbott.
00:22:52 --> 00:22:53 You know, you, Captain Abbott.
00:22:55 --> 00:22:59 Domitian, however, said you will call me Lord and God or else you will die.
00:22:59 --> 00:23:00 You have to worship me.
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03 And if you believe in another God, that's fine.
00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 So long as your other God is under me.
00:23:07 --> 00:23:09 For I am Lord God Almighty.
00:23:09 --> 00:23:10 Lord and God.
00:23:12 --> 00:23:14 It's no different to what's happening in Iraq.
00:23:14 --> 00:23:20 Where Christians are being told, if you don't say Allah is the only God,
00:23:21 --> 00:23:22 you'll cut your head off.
00:23:23 --> 00:23:26 If you pay a tax, you can remain a Christian.
00:23:27 --> 00:23:30 And you know what happened as soon as some of the Christians paid that tax?
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 Their wives were taken and raped and their children were taken.
00:23:37 --> 00:23:40 What's happening today is no different to what was happening in Rome.
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 Look how far we've come in 21 centuries.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:45 Isn't it pathetic?
00:23:47 --> 00:23:47 Isn't it hopeless?
00:23:49 --> 00:23:50 This is our world.
00:23:50 --> 00:23:52 It's a broken and divided world.
00:23:52 --> 00:23:53 And we need a Savior.
00:23:54 --> 00:23:59 And Revelation 4 and 5 is saying to us, there is a Savior.
00:23:59 --> 00:24:00 He is on the throne.
00:24:01 --> 00:24:02 And this is who he is.
00:24:03 --> 00:24:04 He is a lamb.
00:24:05 --> 00:24:06 He's a lamb.
00:24:06 --> 00:24:07 Well, I want a Savior.
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 I want someone with claws and a bit of punch.
00:24:10 --> 00:24:11 And what do we get?
00:24:11 --> 00:24:12 A lamb.
00:24:13 --> 00:24:16 A little later in Revelation, you're going to hear about the wrath of a lamb.
00:24:16 --> 00:24:17 Have you ever seen a cranky lamb?
00:24:19 --> 00:24:19 Really?
00:24:19 --> 00:24:19 Really?
00:24:19 --> 00:24:27 But the lamb is not only a lamb, which is cute and cuddly and soft and furry, of woolly.
00:24:28 --> 00:24:29 This lamb has been killed.
00:24:31 --> 00:24:33 Of course we know who that is, don't we?
00:24:33 --> 00:24:39 In fact, as soon as I say the lamb of God, there's an image you already know, isn't it?
00:24:40 --> 00:24:47 It's an image you understand that Jesus had to be sacrificed just as a lamb was sacrificed at each Passover.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:48 Why?
00:24:49 --> 00:24:51 Because our sins needed to be covered with blood.
00:24:53 --> 00:24:56 Someone's blood has to be shed for what you've done.
00:24:56 --> 00:24:57 Someone's blood has to be covered with blood.
00:24:57 --> 00:24:58 Here's the choice.
00:24:58 --> 00:25:01 Yours or someone else's.
00:25:01 --> 00:25:02 We lived for many years in Adelaide.
00:25:03 --> 00:25:06 And in Adelaide, I used to ride my bike to work every day in the city.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:08 So the church was in the middle of Adelaide.
00:25:08 --> 00:25:10 And our house was out in the suburbs.
00:25:10 --> 00:25:13 And I used to enjoy riding in, riding out, riding in, riding out.
00:25:13 --> 00:25:17 And one day, I left my helmet in my office as I was riding home.
00:25:17 --> 00:25:18 I don't know why.
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19 The helmet wasn't there.
00:25:20 --> 00:25:26 But you only have to go on a little bit of North Terrace before you get on the cycle track all the way to my home.
00:25:26 --> 00:25:28 So I jumped on my bike.
00:25:28 --> 00:25:33 I was going up North Terrace, about to hang a left onto the cycle track, when a policeman went behind me.
00:25:34 --> 00:25:36 Yeah, that was just in case you were drifting off.
00:25:37 --> 00:25:38 And pulled me over.
00:25:39 --> 00:25:40 Can you imagine that?
00:25:40 --> 00:25:44 I'm only about 100 yards from the church where I work, where everybody's coming in, going out.
00:25:44 --> 00:25:46 Red and blue lights flashing.
00:25:47 --> 00:25:48 And there's Chris standing there with his bike.
00:25:49 --> 00:25:52 And so this young guy, why did he have to be young?
00:25:52 --> 00:25:53 Got out and he came over and he said to me,
00:25:54 --> 00:25:55 I notice you've forgotten something.
00:25:56 --> 00:25:56 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:25:57 --> 00:25:57 I forgot my helmet.
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 Come on, hurry up.
00:25:58 --> 00:25:58 I've got to go.
00:25:59 --> 00:26:05 He said, well, can you explain to me why you don't think you need to wear a helmet when everybody else in the state does?
00:26:06 --> 00:26:07 I said, I know I need to wear the helmet.
00:26:07 --> 00:26:08 I'm sorry, I forgot my helmet.
00:26:09 --> 00:26:10 I must have left it in the office or at home.
00:26:11 --> 00:26:12 I'm not really sure.
00:26:12 --> 00:26:17 He said, well, there's a fine in South Australia for not wearing it.
00:26:17 --> 00:26:18 It gets the book out.
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20 I'm thinking, please just book me.
00:26:20 --> 00:26:22 I don't want anyone from church to see me.
00:26:24 --> 00:26:25 And so he gave me a fine.
00:26:25 --> 00:26:28 I quickly put it in my pocket and then he let my tires down.
00:26:29 --> 00:26:32 So I had to walk the bike home all the way.
00:26:33 --> 00:26:34 I got home.
00:26:34 --> 00:26:37 I was really happy and in a godly frame of mind.
00:26:38 --> 00:26:39 So Christian.
00:26:39 --> 00:26:41 And Belinda, my wife, said, what's wrong with you?
00:26:41 --> 00:26:43 I let my tires on.
00:26:43 --> 00:26:45 I forgot my helmet and got this fine.
00:26:46 --> 00:26:47 And she said, how much is it?
00:26:47 --> 00:26:48 I said, I don't even know.
00:26:48 --> 00:26:49 I didn't even look.
00:26:49 --> 00:26:50 I pulled it out.
00:26:51 --> 00:26:56 And the top of the notice took my eye more than the bottom, which is where the dollar sign was.
00:26:57 --> 00:26:59 And at the top, you know what it says in South Australia when you get a ticket?
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 Expiation notice.
00:27:03 --> 00:27:03 Expiation notice.
00:27:04 --> 00:27:07 And I looked at that and I went, how good is this?
00:27:07 --> 00:27:10 This is going to be a sermon illustration for the rest of my life.
00:27:11 --> 00:27:12 It was only 25 bucks too.
00:27:13 --> 00:27:16 But the expiation notice, you know what that means?
00:27:16 --> 00:27:17 I went to church next Sunday.
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 I said, I got given an expiation notice.
00:27:19 --> 00:27:20 And some people, they're going, here, we saw you.
00:27:22 --> 00:27:27 Expiation notice means, brothers and sisters, I've got this fine that has to be paid.
00:27:28 --> 00:27:29 And anyone can pay it.
00:27:30 --> 00:27:32 So who wants to step forward and pay it for me?
00:27:33 --> 00:27:33 No one did.
00:27:34 --> 00:27:35 But here's the thing.
00:27:35 --> 00:27:38 Jesus is our expiation for our sins.
00:27:39 --> 00:27:42 The sins that we have committed, the things that we have done wrong,
00:27:43 --> 00:27:48 Jesus says, I willingly paid for on the cross.
00:27:49 --> 00:27:50 Everything.
00:27:51 --> 00:27:52 Wiped out.
00:27:53 --> 00:27:54 Forgiven.
00:27:55 --> 00:27:55 Done away.
00:27:57 --> 00:27:58 Chris Edwards.
00:27:59 --> 00:28:02 Your fine has been paid.
00:28:02 --> 00:28:04 Isn't that brilliant?
00:28:05 --> 00:28:08 That's why all the living creatures bow down to him.
00:28:08 --> 00:28:15 That's why the lamb is the one we need to focus on, especially as you see chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15.
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 All the way through.
00:28:17 --> 00:28:19 Where things get worse and worse.
00:28:20 --> 00:28:20 Remember this.
00:28:21 --> 00:28:23 The lamb is on the throne.
00:28:24 --> 00:28:26 He's taken away the sin of the world.
00:28:26 --> 00:28:27 And you can be forgiven.
00:28:28 --> 00:28:30 And you get to chapters 20 and 21.
00:28:30 --> 00:28:30 And guess what?
00:28:32 --> 00:28:38 There is an incredible wedding where God brings us together forever.
00:28:39 --> 00:28:40 Don't you want to be there?
00:28:41 --> 00:28:42 That's the wedding I want to go to.
00:28:42 --> 00:28:44 That's the wedding I'm going to be at.
00:28:44 --> 00:28:47 And it's the first wedding I will be at where I am the bride.
00:28:48 --> 00:28:49 How cool is that?
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 The ugliest bride ever.
00:28:53 --> 00:28:55 But in God's eyes, beautiful.
00:28:55 --> 00:28:57 What an incredible gift.
00:28:57 --> 00:28:57 Let's pray.
00:28:57 --> 00:29:04 Heavenly Father, we thank you that in your love and mercy, you paid the price we can't pay.
00:29:05 --> 00:29:08 You forgave us the sin that we have committed.
00:29:09 --> 00:29:17 And you've given us this word to assure us that you've got it all in your hand now and forever.
00:29:18 --> 00:29:18 Amen.