| Trinity Sunday , 2001
Revelation 4:1-11 The Throne of God
As many of you know, The Lord of the Rings trilogy is scheduled for movie release by the end of the year. Let us hope that the movies are as good as the books. Toward the end of the first book the company of nine have arrived in enemy territory. The Hobbit Frodo has been chosen by the Council to ruin the ring at Mordor, a dangerous and vital mission. Aragorn has informed Frodo about the mountain throne called Amon Hen, the Hill of Sight. The person who sits in the chair of Amon Hen is able to view Middle Earth in its entirety. Before continuing on to Mordor, Frodo decides to climb Amon Hen by himself in order to survey the landscape. Tolkien writes:
"Soon he came out alone on the summit of Amon Hen, and halted, gasping for breath. He saw as through a mist a wide flat circle, paved with mighty flagstones, and surrounded with a crumbling battlement; and in the middle, set upon four carven pillars, was a high seat, reached by a stair of many steps. Up he went and sat upon the ancient chair, feeling like a lost child that had clambered upon the throne of mountain-kings."
From the seat of Amon Hen Frodo took in the total panorama of Middle Earth. Eastward he looked, Northward he looked, west and south. Everywhere he gazed he saw the signs of war. The Misty Mountains were crawling like anthills: orcs were issuing out of a thousand holes The land of the Beornings was aflame; a cloud was over Moria; smoke rose on the borders of Lorien. Horsemen were galloping on the grass of Rohan; wolves poured from Isengard. From the havens of Harad ships of war put out to sea; and out of the East Men were moving endlessly; swordsmen, spearmen, bowmen upon horses, chariots of chieftains and laden wains. All the power of the Dark Lord was in motion. In effect, the ranks of the enemy were terrifying. Frodo could see that his quest would be next to impossible.
In our Bible reading from Revelation, St. John also goes up to get a view. However, the picture that he obtains is that of heaven, not earth. John's vision is what we want to examine on this Trinity Sunday. Revelation 4 may be a tough passage to understand, but it is a rich and rewarding one, too. Beginning now at Revelation 4:1:
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."
The first thing John notices is a door, a door standing open in the vault of heaven. A door into heaven is an important concept. It means that life on earth is not a closed system, our souls and destinies are not confined merely to the here and now. Once John steps over that threshold, what kind of dimension would he enter? Who would he see? What would he experience? He'll shortly find out.
A trumpet voice bids John enter. Some trumpeters can play a solo so well that it sounds like they are speaking. The heavenly trumpeter tells John, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." "After this" does not mean that from now on everything is future: John has moved into heaven where past, present and future exist as one whole. To pass through that door is to pass from time into eternity.
Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.
How are we to understand that John was "in the Spirit"? In chapter one, verse ten we are told that he was "in the Spirit on the Lord's Day." The Lord's Day is Sunday. This is a helpful clue: it was Sunday; John was in the Spirit; he was immediately set in heaven. What does it mean? It most likely indicates that John suddenly flew up to heaven during the special worship of Sunday. During the liturgy the Holy Spirit raised him to see the glory and majesty of God's heavenly presence.
What is the object that most attracts John's attention? The throne. Everything in heaven revolves around the throne. Why would John find the throne so captivating? Because the One sitting on the divine throne would have greater power than all those who sit on human thrones. This would be significant for the Church of John's day. The infant Christian Church that St. John was addressing, probably in AD 64, was a beaten and beleaguered one. First of all persecution fell upon the believers from the enraged Jewish leaders of Jerusalem. We know about that. A majority of the Pharisees simply hated the growth of the Church and wanted to see Christianity obliterated. Secondly, the Emperor Nero had just burned down a major part of Rome and had blamed it on the Christians. Later in Revelation, John designates Nero the Beast because of his persecution and slaughter of the believers. His number is 666 (Rev. 13:18). The atrocities instigated by Nero in Rome threatened to expand all over the empire. It seemed in the mind of the Church that the seats of worldly dominion were entirely against her; that political power was about to crush her. The Church needed the encouragement to overcome the persecution, and that is the aim of Revelation.
God sees the anguish of the Church and grants St. John a vision of His throne in Heaven. John is reminded who is really in control. He is assured that it is God Omnipotent who exercises authority over all earthly affairs. A right understanding of the world must begin from a right understanding of the centrality of God's throne. Earth is not governed by chance, but by God's sovereign will and purpose.
The throne buoys St. John's spirit. It suggests the precious truth that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). All things work for our good because they are part of God's plan. History is merely the working out of God's agenda. When the pain and suffering that you endure grows cruel and meaningless, a view of God's heavenly throne can help. Our Heavenly Father is all-powerful, wise and loving. You may never be able to perfectly comprehend the evil and pain you face, but the reality of God's providence may enable you to confront those things in a new and more positive way. You may be able to wrench some kind of good out of your trials. Jesus agonized and died on the cross, yet God brought good out of it: our salvation. Some of you know Joni Erickson Tada. She was paralyzed in a diving accident, but God used that tragedy to transform her into a saint.
About three years ago a married couple was driving here to attend worship, and a car ran a red light, slamming into them. The wife broke a collarbone and several ribs. She was laid up for months. What a terribly senseless thing it seemed. However, in the course of taking x-rays of the broken ribs the doctors discovered a large tumor in her abdomen. It could have been deadly. It was removed in time. There is always something good that we can extract from our failures and afflictions. God is on the throne!
And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.
Notice the colors of the precious stones. From the throne emanates the crystal white scintillations of a jasper stone interfused with the blood red flashing of a sardian stone. One step removed from the throne and surrounding it John sees a rainbow dominated by the green tones of an emerald. The blinding red and white remind us of the awful majesty and intense holiness of God, while the green hued encircling rainbow suggests the Lord's mercy and love.
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.
Who are the twenty-four elders? What do they stand for? There are so many opinions that it is hard to be dogmatic. Most likely they stand for the Church in its totality. Simple math does it: twelve tribes of Israel plus twelve apostles of Christ equals twenty-four. What's more, if the twenty-four elders stand for the Church, and we are members of the Church, then they represent us. How is that so since they are in heaven and we on earth?
A couple weeks ago we examined the doctrine of the ascension of the saints. We looked at the verses in Ephesians that promise us that God has already "blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 1:3); and further that He has already "raised us up together [with Christ], and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:5-6). In other words, in a spiritual sense we already sit on thrones in heaven, we already rule heaven and earth together with Christ, we are already priests and kings unto God the Father. We sit in heavenly places because those are the places God purposed to put us "before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4). The twenty-four elders that John sees in heaven reinforces this teaching that Christians have already ascended with Christ into heaven and sit on royal thrones. If you are one of the redeemed, God sees you in and with Christ Jesus, raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven. You are one of the twenty-four elders. You and I reign now with the Lord.
And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
We cannot examine all the details here, but how about the "seven lamps of fire, which are the seven Spirits of God"? What are we to make of them? The seven lamps are a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Some may object, "How do you get the Holy Spirit out of seven lamps? That's too farfetched!" Perhaps so, but we have to remember that John is striving to describe things stupendous.
You have heard of the ancient Egyptian writing called hieroglyphs. The Egyptians wrote out their ideas pictorially. Sometimes the concept was quite remote from the picture. For example one hieroglyph I saw in the encyclopedia looked like a flat narrow rectangle with a circle on top. What did it mean? Several things: it could mean a sunset as the sun dips on the horizon, it could mean a piece of cake on a mat which usually settled a dispute. The Egyptians resolved differences by placing a slice of cake on a mat in front of the person whom they had offended. Eventually, the flat rectangle with a circle sitting on it came to mean peace and rest.
In like manner, John is using word pictures to describe the inexpressible. Thus, the seven lamps and seven Spirits of God signify the Holy Spirit. Later on in Revelation 5:6 John tells us, "in the midst of the thronestood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes" This must be Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Again a sheep with seven horns and seven eyes is not to be taken literally. Such a picture is a symbol of the grace and wisdom of the ascended Lord.
John observed God the Father on the throne. Close by he beheld the Holy Spirit and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This sums up our Trinitarian faith. The Church calls us on this Trinity Sunday to contemplate the Triune God in all His glory. John's vision includes God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Scriptures teach us that Heaven is the Land of the Trinity. God is every bit as much One as He is Three, and every bit as much Three as He is One.
Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:
"Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!"
What about the four living creatures? One was a lion, one was a calf, one was a man, and the last was an eagle. What could the four creatures represent? It appears probable that they symbolize nature. The lion is supreme among wild animals; the ox is supreme among domesticated animals; the eagle is supreme among birds; and man is supreme among all created things. The four living creatures represent all the greatness and the strength and the beauty of the wide world; here we see nature praising God. This harmonizes with other things we know about heaven. We know that the New Heavens and New Earth will be a total and global restoration of Eden. We know that the curse will be reversed and a garden paradise will fill the earth. The Psalmist says, "Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills be joyful before the Lord." The prophet Isaiah assures us that, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling togetherFor the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea (Psalm 98:8; Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:17-25).
The fact that nature gives God the glory should not be surprising. The Heavenly Father not only created the earth and all that exists, He sustains it, and it is His purpose to redeem it. Therefore all creation praises the Almighty Creator, singing in effect, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!" Let us finish the chapter reading Revelation 4:9-11:
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
"You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created."
Here the liturgy of thanksgiving resumes with, "You are worthy, O Lord." We have seen that the living creatures stand for nature in all its greatness, and the twenty-four elders represent the universal Church in Jesus Christ. So when the living creatures and the elders unite in praise, it symbolizes nature and the Church both praising God. [I am indebted to following commentaries on Revelation: William Barclay, Robert Mounce, Philip Mauro, David Chilton, F.D. Maurice, J. P. M. Sweet.]
Let us consider a couple more implications of John's observation. First of all and most importantly, we get a glimpse of the beatific vision. After death God lifts us to heaven if we have faith in Christ. In our glorified resurrection bodies we will have the privilege to see the Lamb upon His throne. We will have the pleasure of contemplating that majestic picture that John describes for us in Revelation, indeed, we will join that happy throng in the great liturgy to the Lord. That will probably be our practice for a time, though not perpetually. Heaven is not static; it is dynamic. There will be growth and development throughout the universe for all eternity. Without a doubt, the throne of the blessed Trinity will always be the center.
Secondly, the vision of Revelation teaches us something about worship. It seems that God is most pleased when our earthly worship matches that of heaven. What we do here in the Church is an attempt to replicate the heavenly dance of the angels and creatures above. The twenty-four elders are dressed in white robes as we are vested today. The elders fall down before God's throne, we kneel before His majesty. The living creatures and elders forget themselves in adoration, and we strive for self-forgetfulness. In heaven everyone participates in the praises and responses; we all participate in the liturgy. In heaven there are set prayers and praises, we too use set Prayer Book language. The liturgy of heaven dazzles with love and beauty; we also attempt to beautify the worship. In a hundred ways the liturgy of heaven sets the pattern for our worship on earth.
On this Trinity Sunday let us be driven to desire the heavenly vision. The Lord on His throne was the scene that inspired Handel to compose the Hallelujah Chorus. "King of kings, Lord of lords, And He shall reign for ever and ever." Seek God on His throne when your heart is tormented, when you feel life has no purpose, when you long for harmony, when you yearn for joy. Return to Sermons |
