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Fall Asleep to The Throne Room of God _ What Isaiah_ Ezekiel_ Daniel _ John SAW When Heaven Opened · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: Close your eyes to night, we journey to a place
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  Speaker 1: where very few have ever stood, a place so sacred,
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  Speaker 1: so overwhelming, that those who glimpsed it could barely find
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  Speaker 1: words to describe what they saw. Isaiah fainted, Ezekiel trembled,
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  Speaker 1: Daniel collapsed, John fell as though dead. This was not
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  Speaker 1: a dream, This was not imagination. This was the throne
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  Speaker 1: room of Almighty God. Four men, four different centuries, four
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  Speaker 1: visions that all pointed to the same eternal truth. Heaven
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  Speaker 1: is real, and at its center sits a throne of
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  Speaker 1: unimaginable glory. To night. You don't need to open your eyes,
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  Speaker 1: you don't need to see. Just listen, let your mind rest,
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  Speaker 1: let your heart be still, And, as the prophets once did,
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  Speaker 1: let us step together through the veil, past the clouds,
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  Speaker 1: beyond the stars, into the very presence of the one
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  Speaker 1: who holds all creation in his hands. This is not
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  Speaker 1: just their story. This is an invitation, an invitation to
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  Speaker 1: see what they saw, to feel what they felt, and
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  Speaker 1: to rest in the peace of knowing that the God
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  Speaker 1: on that throne is watching over you right now, even
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  Speaker 1: as you sleep. Let us begin chapter one, the Call.
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  Speaker 1: When Heaven breaks through, there are moments in history when
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  Speaker 1: Heaven leans down and touches earth. Moments when the veil
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  Speaker 1: between the seen and unseen grows thin, and a human
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  Speaker 1: soul is granted the rarest of all gifts a glimpse
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  Speaker 1: into the throne room of God. These moments do not
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  Speaker 1: come during times of comfort. They do not arrive when
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  Speaker 1: life is easy, when faith is strong, or when the
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  Speaker 1: heart is at peace. No, they come when everything is
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  Speaker 1: falling apart, when darkness presses in, when hope feels distant,
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  Speaker 1: when the soul cries out, where are you God? And
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  Speaker 1: that is when he answers, not always with words, not
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  Speaker 1: always with comfort, but sometimes with a vision so powerful,
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  Speaker 1: so overwhelming, that the one who sees it is never
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  Speaker 1: the same again. To night, we walk alongside four men
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  Speaker 1: who experienced this, Four prophets, separated by centuries, yet bound
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  Speaker 1: together by one sacred encounter. They saw the throne of God.
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah lived in the year seven hundred and forty before Christ.
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  Speaker 1: He was a prophet in the Kingdom of Judah, a
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  Speaker 1: land blessed by God, yet slowly turning its back on him.
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  Speaker 1: The people still worshiped in the temple, They still offered
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  Speaker 1: sacrifices they still spoke the name of the Lord, but
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  Speaker 1: their hearts were far away. Isaiah had been calling them back,
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  Speaker 1: pleading with them, warning them, but few listened. And then
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  Speaker 1: in the year King Uziah died, everything changed. Whosiah had
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  Speaker 1: been a strong king, a good king. Under his reign,
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  Speaker 1: Judah had prospered. The walls were secure, the people were fed.
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  Speaker 1: But when he died, the nation trembled. Fear swept through
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  Speaker 1: the streets. Who would protect them now? Who would lead them? Isaiah,
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  Speaker 1: grieving and uncertain, went to the temple. Perhaps he went
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  Speaker 1: to pray, Perhaps he went to mourn. Perhaps he simply
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  Speaker 1: went to be near the presence of God, and that
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  Speaker 1: is when heaven opened. Ezekiel lived one hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 1: years later, in the year five hundred and ninety three,
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  Speaker 1: before Christ. But he was not in Judah. He was
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  Speaker 1: not in Jerusalem. He was far from home, far from
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  Speaker 1: the Temple, far from everything he had ever known. He
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  Speaker 1: was in Babylon, a captive, an exile. The city of
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem had fallen, The Temple, the House of God, had
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  Speaker 1: been burned to the ground. The Ark of the Covenant,
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  Speaker 1: the sacred dwelling place of God's presence, had vanished, and
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  Speaker 1: the people of God were dragged in chains to a
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  Speaker 1: foreign land, forced to serve foreign gods. Ezekiel sat by
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  Speaker 1: the river Chebah, among the other exiles. The water flowed
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  Speaker 1: quietly beside him, but inside his soul was drowning. Everything
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  Speaker 1: he believed in was gone, The promises of God seemed broken,
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  Speaker 1: the covenant seemed forgotten, and then from the north a
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  Speaker 1: storm began to rise. Daniel was also in Babylon, but
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  Speaker 1: decades later, in the year five hundred and fifty three,
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  Speaker 1: before Christ, he had been taken captive as a young man,
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  Speaker 1: torn from his family, stripped of his name, and forced
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  Speaker 1: to serve in the palace of the king who had
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  Speaker 1: destroyed his homeland. Yet Daniel did not abandon his faith.
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  Speaker 1: Every day he prayed, every night, he trusted, and God
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  Speaker 1: blessed him with wisdom beyond his years. But even Daniel,
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  Speaker 1: the faithful one, the beloved of God, struggled with fear.
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  Speaker 1: He had seen visions of empires rising and falling. He
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  Speaker 1: had seen the future of nations written in dreams, and
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  Speaker 1: he knew that the worst was yet to come. One night,
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  Speaker 1: as he lay down to sleep, his mind heavy with questions,
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  Speaker 1: God gave him a vision that shook him to his care.
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  Speaker 1: John lived seven hundred years after Isaiah, in the year
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  Speaker 1: ninety after Christ. He was the last of the Apostles,
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  Speaker 1: the last living witness who had walked with Jesus, talked
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  Speaker 1: with him, eaten with him, and seen him rise from
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  Speaker 1: the dead. But now John was alone. Peter was gone,
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  Speaker 1: Paul was gone, James Andrew, Matthew, all of them had
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  Speaker 1: been killed for their faith. The early Church was scattered.
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  Speaker 1: Believers were being hunted, tortured, thron to lions in Roman arenas.
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  Speaker 1: The emperor demanded to be worshiped as a God, and
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  Speaker 1: those who refused were branded as traitors. John himself had
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  Speaker 1: been arrested, beaten, and exiled to a barren island called Patmos,
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  Speaker 1: a small, rocky prison surrounded by the sea, far from
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  Speaker 1: the people he loved, far from the churches he had served.
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  Speaker 1: It was the Lord's Day, Sunday, the day when believers
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  Speaker 1: gathered to worship. But John had no congregation. He had
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  Speaker 1: no companions, only the wind, the waves, and the silence
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  Speaker 1: of exile. And then behind him he heard a voice,
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  Speaker 1: a voice like a trumpet, loud, clear, commanding, come up here.
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  Speaker 1: Why did God choose these four men, Why did he
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  Speaker 1: open heaven to them and not to others. The answer
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  Speaker 1: is this. They were not the strongest, they were not
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  Speaker 1: the holiest. They were not the most powerful or the
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  Speaker 1: most perfect. They were broken. Isaiah was grieving, Ezekiel was exiled,
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  Speaker 1: Daniel was afraid, John was alone. And yet in their brokenness,
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  Speaker 1: they were exactly where God needed them to be. Because
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  Speaker 1: the throne room of God is not for the proud.
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  Speaker 1: It is not for those who think they have it altogether.
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  Speaker 1: It is for those who know they are nothing without Him,
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  Speaker 1: for those who cry out in the darkness and wait
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  Speaker 1: trembling for the light. And when the light comes, it
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  Speaker 1: does not come gently. It comes like fire, like thunder,
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  Speaker 1: like a flood of glory that crashes over the soul
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  Speaker 1: and leaves it gasping, trembling undone. Each of these men
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  Speaker 1: saw something different, yet each of them saw the same truth.
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, seated on
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  Speaker 1: a thro surrounded by angels who cried, Holy, Holy, Holy.
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  Speaker 1: Ezekiel saw a storm of fire and lightning, a chariot
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  Speaker 1: of living creatures, and wheels within wheels, and above it
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  Speaker 1: all a throne of sapphire blue. Daniel saw the Ancient
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  Speaker 1: of days clothed in white, his throne, a blazing fire,
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  Speaker 1: ten thousand times ten thousand angels standing before him. John
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  Speaker 1: saw a door open in heaven, and beyond it a
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  Speaker 1: throne surrounded by a rainbow, with twenty four elders casting
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  Speaker 1: their crowns, and four living creatures singing without ceasing. Different visions,
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  Speaker 1: different symbols, but all of them pointing to one reality.
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  Speaker 1: God is on his throne, not far away, not absent,
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  Speaker 1: not silent. He is there right now, Write this moment,
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  Speaker 1: seated in perfect authority, perfect holiness, perfect peace, and nothing
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  Speaker 1: no empire, no king, no damon, no darkness can shake
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  Speaker 1: that throne to night. As you listen, you are not
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  Speaker 1: just hearing a story. You are stepping into the same
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  Speaker 1: sacred space where Isaiah stood, where Ezekiel knelt, where Daniel collapsed,
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  Speaker 1: where John fell as though dead. You may not see
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  Speaker 1: it with your eyes, you may not feel the ground
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  Speaker 1: tremble beneath you. But the throne is still there. The
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  Speaker 1: angels are still singing, the light is still shining. And
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  Speaker 1: the God who called those four men is the same
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  Speaker 1: God who watches over you to night. So rest be still.
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  Speaker 1: Let the noise of the world fade away, because we
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  Speaker 1: are about to enter the Throne room. And once you
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  Speaker 1: have seen it, even in your mind's eye, even through
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  Speaker 1: the words of those who went before, you, will never
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  Speaker 1: be the same. Let us go now together and see
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  Speaker 1: what they saw. In the year King Usiah died, Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: entered the temple. The air was thick with incense, the
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  Speaker 1: light was dim, His heart was heavy, and then everything changed.
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  Speaker 1: He looked up, and the throne room of Heaven opened
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  Speaker 1: before his eyes. Chapter two, Isaiah's first glimpse the year
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  Speaker 1: King Usiah died. The temple was quiet that day. The
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  Speaker 1: great stone walls rose high above Isaiah's head, covered in
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  Speaker 1: gold that flickered in the light of oil lamps. The
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  Speaker 1: smell of burning incense drifted through the air, sweet and heavy,
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  Speaker 1: like a prayer made visible outside. The people of Jerusalem mourned.
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  Speaker 1: King Usiah was dead. The man who had ruled for
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  Speaker 1: fifty two years, who had brought prosperity and peace, was gone,
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  Speaker 1: and Isaiah, standing alone in that sacred space, felt the
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  Speaker 1: weight of it all pressing down on him. He had
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  Speaker 1: served as a prophet for years, calling the people back
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  Speaker 1: to God, but they would not listen. They had grown comfortable.
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  Speaker 1: They worshiped, yes, they brought their offerings, yes, but their
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  Speaker 1: hearts were far away. They had forgotten what it meant
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  Speaker 1: to tremble before the Holy One. Isaiah felt it too,
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  Speaker 1: the distance, the doubt, the quiet fear that maybe, just
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  Speaker 1: maybe God had grown distant as well. And then as
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  Speaker 1: he stood there in the stillness, something shifted. The air
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  Speaker 1: grew warmer, the light grew brighter, and Isaiah felt his
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  Speaker 1: knees begin to weaken, as though the ground beneath him
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  Speaker 1: had started to dissolve. He looked up and he saw
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. Not in a dream, not in a vision
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  Speaker 1: that felt distant or symbolic. Isaiah saw him right there, present, real, overwhelming.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord was sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,
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  Speaker 1: so high that Isaiah could not see where it began
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  Speaker 1: or where it ended. It rose above the temple, above
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  Speaker 1: the clouds, above the very sky itself, and the train
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  Speaker 1: of his robe, the flowing edge of his garment, filled
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  Speaker 1: the entire temple. Imagine that the hem of his robe
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  Speaker 1: alone was so vast, so magnificent, that it swept through
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  Speaker 1: the corridors, over the altar, past the walls, filling every
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  Speaker 1: corner with the weight of his presence. Isaiah could not move,
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  Speaker 1: he could barely breathe. Above the throne, he saw them,
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  Speaker 1: the seraphim. These were not ordinary angels. They were beings
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  Speaker 1: of fire, radiant and terrible, created for one purpose, to
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  Speaker 1: stand in the presence of God and worship him without ceasing.
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  Speaker 1: Each seraph had six wings. With two wings, they covered
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  Speaker 1: their faces, not because they were ashamed, but because even
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  Speaker 1: they sinless and holy, could not look directly upon the
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  Speaker 1: face of God. His glory was too pure, too blazing,
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  Speaker 1: too utterly beyond comprehension. With two wings, they covered their feet,
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  Speaker 1: a sign of humility, a gesture of reverence. Even in
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  Speaker 1: the presence of the throne. They did not stand proudly.
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  Speaker 1: They bowed low, acknowledging that they too were created beings
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  Speaker 1: before the creator of all. And with two wings they flew,
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  Speaker 1: not frantically, but gracefully, moving through the light and the fire,
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  Speaker 1: as though the very air around the throne was alive
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  Speaker 1: with holiness. And they called to one another back and forth.
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  Speaker 1: Their voices rang out like thunder, like the crashing of
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  Speaker 1: a great waterfall, like the deepest note of a choir
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  Speaker 1: that has been singing since the beginning of time. Holy, Holy,
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  Speaker 1: Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is
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  Speaker 1: full of His glory, Holy, Holy, Holy, not once, not twice,
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  Speaker 1: but three times. This was not repetition for the sake
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  Speaker 1: of rhythm. This was the highest form of emphasis in
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  Speaker 1: the Hebrew language. To say something three times was to
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  Speaker 1: declare it as the ultimate truth, the absolute reality, the
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  Speaker 1: foundation upon which everything else rests. God is holy, not
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  Speaker 1: just good, not just powerful, not just loving. Holy, set apart, pure, perfect,
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  Speaker 1: untouched by sin, by decay, by the brokenness that fills
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  Speaker 1: the world. And the Seraphim knew it. They had stood
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  Speaker 1: before him since the day they were made, and still,
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  Speaker 1: after countless ages, they could not stop proclaiming it Holy, Holy, Holy.
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  Speaker 1: As they sang, the foundations of the temple began to shake.
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  Speaker 1: The door posts trembled, the stone beneath Isaiah's feet shifted.
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  Speaker 1: It was as though the very earth could not hold
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  Speaker 1: still in the presence of such glory. And smoke filled
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  Speaker 1: the temple, not the smoke of fire that destroys, but
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  Speaker 1: the smoke of God's presence, thick, glowing like a cloud
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  Speaker 1: of light, that both concealed and revealed him. At the
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  Speaker 1: same time, Isaiah stood there trembling, his heart pounding in
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  Speaker 1: his chest. And then, for the first time, he truly
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  Speaker 1: saw himself, not as a prophet, not as a man
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  Speaker 1: of words or wisdom, but as what he really was,
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  Speaker 1: a sinner, broken, unclean, unworthy. He cried out, his voice cracking,
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  Speaker 1: barely able to form the words, woe is me, for
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  Speaker 1: I am lost, For I am a man of unclean lips,
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  Speaker 1: and I dwell in the midst of a people of
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  Speaker 1: unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the
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  Speaker 1: Lord of hosts. Woe is me. I am undone, I
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  Speaker 1: am finished, I am nothing. Isaiah had spent his life
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  Speaker 1: calling others to repentance. He had pointed out the sins
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  Speaker 1: of kings, of priests, of the people. He had spoken boldly, confidently, righteously.
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  Speaker 1: But now standing before the throne, all of that confidence
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  Speaker 1: melted away. He saw the holiness of God, and in
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  Speaker 1: that light he saw the stain on his own soul,
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  Speaker 1: the words he had spoken in anger, the pride he
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  Speaker 1: had carried in his heart, the moments when he had
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  Speaker 1: claimed to speak for God but had really been speaking
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  Speaker 1: for himself. He was not just humbled, he was shattered,
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  Speaker 1: and yet even in that moment of total despair, God
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  Speaker 1: did not leave him. There, one of the Seraphim flew
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  Speaker 1: toward him. In his hand, he carried a burning coal,
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  Speaker 1: taken with tongs from the altar, the altar where sacrifices
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  Speaker 1: were made, where blood was poured out, where sin was
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  Speaker 1: atoned for. The seraph came close, so close that Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: could feel the heat of the coal, glowing red and white,
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  Speaker 1: radiating a fire that should have consumed him. And then, gently, tenderly,
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  Speaker 1: the seraph touched the coal to Isaiah's lips. It did
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  Speaker 1: not burn him, it did not destroy him. It purified him.
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  Speaker 1: The seraph said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your
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  Speaker 1: guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. In
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  Speaker 1: that instant, everything changed. The weight lifted, the shame dissolved,
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  Speaker 1: the fear gave way to peace. Isaiah had seen the throne,
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  Speaker 1: he had seen the holiness of God. He had seen
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  Speaker 1: his own unworthiness, and yet he had also seen mercy.
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  Speaker 1: The coal from the was not just a symbol. It
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  Speaker 1: was a picture of what God has always done for
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  Speaker 1: his people. He does not leave us in our sin.
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  Speaker 1: He does not turn away in disgust. He reaches down
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  Speaker 1: with fire and grace, and he cleanses us, not because
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  Speaker 1: we deserve it, but because he is holy, and his
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  Speaker 1: holiness is not just terrifying, it is also kind. Then
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall
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  Speaker 1: I send? And who will go for us? And Isiah,
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  Speaker 1: who moments before had been crying out in despair, now
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  Speaker 1: stood tall and said, here I am send me. He
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  Speaker 1: did not ask where, he did not ask why. He
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  Speaker 1: did not ask for qualifications or guarantees. He had seen
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  Speaker 1: the throne, he had been cleansed by the fire, and
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  Speaker 1: now nothing else mattered. The God of all creation had
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  Speaker 1: called his name, and that was enough to night. As
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  Speaker 1: you listen to this story, perhaps you feel the way
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah felt before the cold touched his lips. Perhaps you
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  Speaker 1: feel unworthy, unclean, broken by the mistakes you have made,
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  Speaker 1: the words you have spoken, the thoughts you have harbored
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  Speaker 1: in the quiet of your heart. If so hear this,
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  Speaker 1: the throne is still there. The seraphim are still singing,
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  Speaker 1: and the God who reached down to Isaiah is reaching
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  Speaker 1: down to you. You do not have to be perfect,
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  Speaker 1: You do not have to have it altogether. You only
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  Speaker 1: have to be willing, willing to look up, willing to see,
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  Speaker 1: willing to let the fire touch your lips, and cleanse
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  Speaker 1: what needs to be made clean. And when you do,
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  Speaker 1: you will hear the same voice Isaiah heard, whom shall
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  Speaker 1: I send? And you too will be able to say,
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  Speaker 1: here I am. But Isaiah's vision was not the only one.
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  Speaker 1: Centuries later, another a man would see the throne, not
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  Speaker 1: in a temple, not in the heart of Jerusalem, but
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  Speaker 1: in a foreign land, by the bank of a river
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  Speaker 1: in the middle of exile. His name was Ezekiel, and
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  Speaker 1: what he saw would change the way humanity understood the
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  Speaker 1: glory of God forever. Chapter three, Ezekiel's Vision, The Wheels
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  Speaker 1: and the Creatures. The year was five hundred and ninety
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  Speaker 1: three before Christ. The Kingdom of Judah had fallen Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: The Holy city lay in ruins. The Temple, the place
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  Speaker 1: where God's presence had dwelt among his people, had been
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  Speaker 1: burned to the ground. The Ark of the Covenant, the
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  Speaker 1: most sacred object in all of Israel, had vanished, and
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  Speaker 1: the people of God, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: had been dragged in chains to a foreign land, Babylon,
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  Speaker 1: a land of towering zigurats and false gods, a land
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  Speaker 1: where the king declared himself divine and demanded to be worshiped,
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  Speaker 1: a land where the language, the customs, the very air
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  Speaker 1: itself felt strange and hostile. Ezekiel was one of those exiles.
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  Speaker 1: He had been a priest, a man trained to serve
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  Speaker 1: in the temple, to offer sacrifices, to stand before the
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  Speaker 1: altar and intercede for the people. But now there was
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  Speaker 1: no temple. There was no altar, there was no priesthood.
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  Speaker 1: There was only the river, the River Cheba, a slow
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  Speaker 1: winding canal that cut through the flat lands of Babylon.
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  Speaker 1: The exiles gathered there, sometimes sitting on its banks, staring
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  Speaker 1: at the water, remembering the land they had lost. Ezekiel
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  Speaker 1: sat there often. He was thirty years old, the age
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  Speaker 1: when a priest would normally begin his full service in
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  Speaker 1: the temple. But there was no temple, no service, no future,
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  Speaker 1: only reef and silence and the unbearable weight of God's
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  Speaker 1: apparent absence. And then, one day, as Ezekiel sat by
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  Speaker 1: the river, the heavens opened. He looked to the north,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: and he saw it a storm, but This was not
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: an ordinary storm. This was a windstorm like nothing he
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: had ever witnessed. It came roaring toward him, massive and unstoppable,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: churning the sky into darkness. And within the storm there
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: was fire, not the fire of lightning, not the fire
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: of destruction, but a fire that blazed with its own light,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: a fire that seemed to fold in on itself, flashing
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: and flickering with colors. Ezekiel did not even have words
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: for bronze, amber, gold, white, red, blue, all of them
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: swirling together, radiating outward, pulsing like a living heartbeat. And
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: in the center of the fire he saw them, four
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: living creatures. They were like nothing on earth. Each one
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: had the form of a man standing upright. But they
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: were not human. They were something far greater, something that
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: existed on the edge of comprehension, too glorious to be
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: contained in a single shape. Each creature had four faces.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: The face of a man looking forward with wisdom and intelligence.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: The face of a lion, fierce and regal, radiating strength
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: and kingship. The face of an ox humble and steady,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the symbol of service and sacrifice. The face of an eagle,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: sharp and swift, soaring above all earthly limitations, embodying the divine,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: four faces, four directions, so that no matter where they turned,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: they could see everything. Nothing was hidden from them, nothing
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: escaped their gaze. Their legs were straight, not bent like
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: human legs, but strong and upright. Their feet gleamed like
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: burnished bronze, polished and radiant, as though they walked on
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: ground made of light itself. And beneath their wings, yes,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: they had wings. Ezekiel saw something that made his breath
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: catch hands, human hands reaching out from beneath the wings,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: as though these beings, for all their power and glory,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: still carried the capacity to touch, to hold, to act
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: with intention and care. They moved in perfect unity. When
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: one went forward, they all went forward. They did not
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: turn when they moved, They simply went, each one facing
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: the direction it needed to go, moving as though they
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: were one body, with four faces, four wills, perfectly aligned,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: and their wings, oh, their wings. When they moved, the
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: sound was like the roar of many waters, like the
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: crash of ocean waves against stone, like the voice of
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: the Almighty himself thundering through the heavens. And when they stopped,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: they lowered their wings in silence, perfect obedience, perfect reverence.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: But that was not all Ezekiel saw. Beside each of
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: the four creatures was a wheel. Not a wheel made
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: by human hands, not something carved from wood or forged
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: from metal. This was something far stranger, far more wondrous.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: The wheels were tall, taller than a man, tall enough
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: that Ezekiel had to crane his neck to see the
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: top of them. And their rims. Oh, the rims were
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: full of eyes, eyes all around, hundreds of them, thousands
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: of them, eyes that blinked and watched and saw everything,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the eyes of God. Nothing hidden, nothing unseen, every thought,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: every action, every secret whisper, but in the dark, scene known,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: held in the gaze of the one who knows all things.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: And the wheels were not like any wheel Ezekiel had
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: ever seen before. They were set at right angles to
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: each other, one wheel intersecting another, so that they could
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: move in any direction without turning forward, backward, left, right, up, down.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: They moved wherever the spirit wanted to go, and wherever
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: the living creatures went, the wheels went with them, not
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: because they were being pulled, not because they were following,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: but because the same spirit that moved the creatures also
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: moved the wheels. They were one, one purpose, one will,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: one perfect, glorious, unstoppable movement. Ezekiel stood there, trembling, his
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: eyes wide, his heart pounding, and then he looked up.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Above the heads of the creatures, there was something like
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: a vault, a dome, an expanse that stretched out over them,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: gleaming like crystal, shimmering like ice, but not cold, alive, radiant,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: as though the very sky itself had been polished to perfection.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: And above the expanse there was a throne. The throne
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: was made of something like sapphire, deep blue, the color
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: of the heavens at twilight, the color of water, so
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: pure it reflects the light of the sun. And on
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: the throne there was a figure, a figure with the
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: appearance of a man. But this was not a man,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: not as Ezekiel understood it. This was something far beyond.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: From the waist up, the figure glowed like gleaming metal,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: like bronze, heated in a furnace, radiating light and fire.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: From the waist down, the same fire blazed, as though
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: the throne itself was seated in a sea of flame.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: And all around, encircling the throne, there was a radiance,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: a brightness, a glow that Ezekiel could only describe one way,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: like a rainbow, like the rainbow that appears in the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: clouds on a rainy day when the sun breaks through
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: and light bends into color. It was the appearance of
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: the lightness, of the glory of the Lord. Ezekiel could
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: not stand. He fell face down, his body pressed against
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: the ground, his mind reeling, his soul overwhelmed. He had
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: been a priest, he had studied the scriptures. He had
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: known intellectually that God was great, that God was powerful,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: that God was holy. But knowing it and seeing it
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: are two entirely different things. This was not the God
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: of the philosophers, not the distant, abstract idea of a
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: higher power. This was the God of fire and wheels
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: and eyes and wings, the God who moves through creation
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: with perfect authority, perfect knowledge, perfect will, The God who
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: sees everything, who knows everything, who is present everywhere, the
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: God who, even in exile, even in Babylon, even when
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: the temple was gone and the people were scattered, was
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: still on his throne. And then Ezekiel heard a voice.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: It came from above the expanse, above the throne like
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: the sound of many waters, deep and resonant and full
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: of power. Son of Man, stand on your feet, and
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: I will speak with you. And as the voice spoke,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: the spirit entered into Ezekiel and set him on his feet.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: He did not stand by his own strength. He could not,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: but the Spirit lifted him, held him, gave him the
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: strength to stand in the presence of the glory he
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: had just witnessed. And God said to him, I am
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: of rebels who have turned away from me. They will
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: not listen to you, they will reject you. But you
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: will speak my words, whether they hear or refuse to hear,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: for they are a rebellious house. Ezekiel stood there, still trembling,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: still overwhelmed. But now he understood. The throne was not
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: in Jerusalem. The throne was not in the Temple. The
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: throne was not bound to any one place. The throne
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: was wherever God was. And God was here in Babylon,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: among the exiles, in the place where they thought He
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: had abandoned them. He had never left. He had only
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: been waiting, waiting for someone to look up, waiting for
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: someone to see and Ezekiel had seen tonight. Perhaps you
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: feel like Ezekiel felt before the vision came. Perhaps you
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: feel forgotten, abandoned, as though the promises you want believed
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: have crumbled into dust. Perhaps the place you once called
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: home is gone, The people you once trusted are scattered,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: the future you once imagined has faded into nothing. If
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: so hear this, the Throne is still there. The wheels
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: are still turning, the creatures are still moving, the eyes
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: are still watching. And the God who appeared to Ezekiel
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: in the middle of exile is the same God who
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: is with you tonight in the middle of yours. You
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: are not forgotten, You are not abandoned. The spirit that
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: lifted Ezekiel to his feet is the same spirit that
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: holds you now. So rest, be still, and know that
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: even when everything around you falls apart, the Throne remains unshakable, unmovable, eternal.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: But Ezekiel's vision was not the last. Decades later, in
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: that same land of Babylon, another man would see the throne.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: His name was Daniel, and what he saw would reveal
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: not just the glory of God, but the judgment of
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: nations and the coming of a king Unlike any the
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: world had ever known. Let us walk with him now
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: into the night. Visions of Daniel, Chapter four, Daniel's Night Visions,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: The Ancient of Days. The night was quiet in Babylon.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Daniel lay on his bed, his eyes open, staring at
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: the ceiling. Sleep would not come. His mind was heavy
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: with questions, with visions he had seen before, with the
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: weight of knowing too much and understanding too little. He
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: was an old man now, his hair had turned gray,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: his hands, once strong, now trembled slightly when he wrote.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: He had spent most of his life in this foreign land,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: serving kings who did not know his God, interpreting dreams
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: for rulers who worshiped idols of gold and stone. Yet
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: through it all, Daniel had remained faithful. Every day, three
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: times a day, he opened his windows toward Jerusalem and prayed,
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: even when it was forbidden, even when it cost him everything,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: even when he was thrown into a den of lions
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: and left to die. But God had shut the mouths
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: of the lions. God had preserved him. God had never
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: abandoned him, And tonight God was about to show him
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: something that would shake the foundations of history itself. As
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Daniel lay there his eyes began to grow heavy, not
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: with ordinary sleep, but with something deeper, something that felt
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: like being pulled beneath the surface of a great ocean,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: where the noise of the world fades and only the
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: currents of eternity remain. And then he saw it a vision,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: not a dream, but a vision, clear, vivid, overwhelming. He
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: saw the sea, the great sea, churning and roiling, its
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: waves crashing against one another, dark and endless. And from
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: the sea four great beasts emerged. The first was like
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: a lion, but with wings like an eagle, majestic and terrible.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: It rose from the water, roaring, shaking the foam from
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: its mane, and as Daniel watched, its wings were torn off,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: and it was made to stand on two feet like
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: a man. A heart of flesh was given to it.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: The second beast was like a bear, raised up on
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: one side, with three ribs in its mouth. It was slow,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: lumbering but unstoppable, devouring everything in its path. The third
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: was like a leopard, but with four wings and four heads, swift, cunning,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: moving faster than the eye could follow, spreading its dominion
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: across the earth. And the fourth beast, oh, the fourth beast,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: was unlike anything Anuel had ever seen. It was terrifying, dreadful,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: exceedingly strong. It had teeth of iron and claws of bronze.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: It devoured and crushed and trampled everything beneath its feet,
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: and on its head were ten horns. Daniel watched in
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: horror as the beasts raged across the earth, tearing, destroying,
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: claiming dominion over nations and peoples. And then everything changed.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Thrones were placed, not one throne, thrones plural, set in position,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: arranged in perfect order, as though a great court were
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: being convened, a court room where the fate of the
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: world would be decided. And then Daniel saw him, the
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Ancient of days. He took his seat. His clothing was
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: white as snow, not the white of cloth, but the
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: white of absolute purity, the kind of white that makes
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: everything else look dim and stained by comparison. His hair
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: was like pure wool, soft, radiant, glowing with a light
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: that seemed to come from within. And his throne, oh,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: his throne was flames of fire, not metaphorical fire, not
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: symbolic fire, real fire, blazing, roaring alive. The throne itself
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: burned with a holy flame that never consumed, never diminished,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: never went out, And the wheels of the throne, yes
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: it had wheels, just as Ezekiel had seen, were burning fire.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: This was not a throne that stood still. This was
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: a throne that moved, a throne that could go anywhere,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: see anything, judge everything. No corner of creation could hide
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: from it. A river flowed out from before him, a
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: river of fire, molten, brilliant, pouring forth like a waterfall
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: of light, cascading down from the throne, flowing outward in
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: every direction. This was not the fire of destruction. This
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: was the fire of holiness, the fire that refines, the
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: fire that purifies, the fire that reveals the truth of
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: all things. And standing before the throne, serving him, were
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: thousands upon thousands, ten thousand times ten thousand angels, seraphim, cherubim,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: beings of light and power and glory, all of them
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: facing the throne, all of them bowing, all of them
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: ready to do his will. The sheer number of them
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: was beyond comprehension. If you tried to count them, you
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: would spend a thousand lifetimes and never finish. They filled
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: the heavens, They surrounded the throne in endless ranks, an
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: army of holiness, a host of worship, And in the silence,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: the books were opened, not one book, books plural, great volumes, heavy, ancient,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: containing every deed, every word, every thought ever spoken or
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: conceived since the beginning of time. Nothing was forgotten, nothing
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: was overlooked, every secret whispered in the dark, every act
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: of kindness done in silence, every moment of cruelty hidden
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: behind closed doors. It was all written down. And now,
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: in the presence of the ancient of days, the books
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: were opened, and the judgment began. Daniel watched as the
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: fourth Beast, the most terrible of all, was slain, its
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: body destroyed, its dominion, taken away, cast into the fire.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: The other beasts were allowed to live for a time.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: Their lives prolonged for a season, but their power was
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: stripped away. They could no longer rule, they could no
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: longer destroy, because a new king was coming. And then
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: Daniel saw him coming with the clouds of heaven, one
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: like a son of man, not a beast, not a monster,
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: not a creature of terror and destruction, a son of man,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: human in form, but radiating a glory that no mere
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: human could possess. He came before the ancient of days,
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: and he was presented before him, and to him was
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: given dominion and glory, and a kingdom that all peoples, nations,
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: dominion which shall not pass away. His kingdom is one
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: that shall not be destroyed. Daniel stared, his heart pounding,
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: his mind, racing, Who was this, this son of man
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: who came on the clouds, This one who stood before
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: the throne and was given all authority, all power, all glory.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: The angel standing beside Danil answered his unspoken question. This
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: is the one whom the Most High has chosen, the
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: one who will come in the latter days to judge
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: the living and the dead, the one who will crush
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: the kingdoms of this world and establish a kingdom that
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: will never end. Daniel understood this was the Messiah, the
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: anointed One, the king who had been promised since the beginning,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: since the garden, since the first whisper of hope spoken
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: to a broken world. He would not come as a
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: warrior with chariots and swords. He would not come as
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: a conqueror with armies and banners. He would come as
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: a son of man, humble, gentle born into the very
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: world he had created, walking among the people he loved,
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: bearing their sorrows, carrying their sins. And yet he would
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: also come on the clouds in glory, in power, in
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: the fullness of his divine majesty, the lamb and the lion,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: the servant and the King, the one who died and
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the one who lives forever. When the vision ended, Daniel
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: lay there trembling. His strength was gone, his face had
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: turned pale. He could barely move. The weight of what
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: he had seen was too much for any human soul
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: to bear. But he did not forget. He wrote it down,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: every detail, every word, every image, burned into his memory
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: like fire on parchment, because he knew that one day
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: the world would need to remember. One day, when the
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: kingdoms of Earth raged and the nations trembled, when darkness
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: seemed to cover everything and hope seemed lost. One day
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: they would need to know the Ancient of days is
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: still on his throne, The books are still being written,
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: and the Son of Man is still coming, not to destroy,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: but to reign to night. As you hear this story,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: perhaps you feel the way Daniel felt, surrounded by powers
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: you cannot control, watching empires rise and fall, seeing wickedness triumph,
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: and righteousness trampled under foot. If so hear this, the
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: throne has not moved, The Ancient of days is still seated,
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: the river of fire is still flowing. The books are
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: still open. And every act of injustice, every cry of
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: the oppressed, every moment of suffering, it is all seen,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: It is all known, it is all recorded. And one
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: day the judgment will come not from the beasts, not
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: from the empires, but from the one who sits on
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: the throne of fire. And when he judges, he will
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: judge with perfect righteousness, perfect mercy, perfect truth. So rest
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: to night, knowing that no matter how dark the world becomes,
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: the light has already won. The Son of Man is
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: coming on the clouds, and his kingdom will have no end.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: But there was one more vision, one more glimpse into
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: the throne room, one more man who would see what
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: Daniel saw and more. His name was John, and his
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: vision would bring together everything the prophets had seen before him,
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: weaving them into a tapestry of glory that would guide
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: the Church through every trial, every persecution, every dark night
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: of the soul. Let us step with him now through
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: the door that opened in Heaven. Chapter five, John on Patmos,
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: A door opened in Heaven. The island of Patmos was
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: not a place any one wanted to be. It was small,
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: rocky barren a prison without walls, surrounded by the endless
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: blue of the Aegean Sea. The Roman Empire sent people
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: there when they wanted them forgotten, exiled, erased from memory.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: And that is where John was. John the beloved Disciple,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: the one who had laid his head on Jesus's chest
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: at the Last Supper, the one who had stood at
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: the foot of the cross when all the others had fled,
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: the one who had seen the empty tomb, who had
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: watched Jesus ascend into heaven, who had received the Holy
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: Spirit at Pentecost, John the last living witness. All the
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: others were gone now, Peter crucified upside down in Rome,
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: Paul beheaded on the Ostian Way, James struck down by
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: the sword in Jerusalem. One by one, the apostles had
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: given their lives for the Gospel, and now John was alone.
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: He was old, his hands were wrinkled, his back bent
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: with age. But his faith had not wavered, not once,
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: not even when the emperor demanded to be worshiped as
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: a god, not even when believers were thrown to lions,
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: not even when he himself was arrested, beaten, and cast
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: away to this desolate island. He had lost everything, his freedom,
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: his friends, his homeland, but he had not lost Jesus.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: It was the Lord's Day, Sunday, the day when Christians
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: gathered to break bread, to sing, to remember the resurrection.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: But John had no congregation, no companions, only the sound
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: of waves crashing against stone, only the wind whispering through
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: the rocks, only the loneliness of exile. He stood on
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: the shore, looking out at the sea, and he prayed.
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: And then behind him he heard it a voice, loud
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: as a trumpet, clear as a bell, powerful and commanding.
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: Write what you see in a book and send it
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: to the seven churches. John spun around his heart rate,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: and there standing before him was a figure like a
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: son of man, clothed in a long robe with a
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: golden sash around his chest. His head and his hair
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: were white like wool, white as snow. His eyes were
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: like flames of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: refined in a furnace. And his voice Oh, his voice
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: was like the roar of many waters. John knew that voice.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: It was the voice that had once called him by
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: the Sea of Galilee, the voice that had said follow me,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: the voice that had calmed the storm and raised the dead,
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: and spoke the world into being. It was Jesus. But
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: this was not the Jesus John had walked with on
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: dusty roads. This was not the humble carpenter from Nazareth.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: This was the risen Christ, the glorified King, the Alpha
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: and the Omega, the one who was dead and is
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: alive for evermore. Fell at his feet as though dead,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: and Jesus placed his right hand on him and said,
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: fear not, I am the first and the last and
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: for evermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades.
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: And then Jesus said something that would change everything. Come
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: up here, and I will show you what must take
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: place after this. At once John was in the spirit.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: He did not know if his body was still standing
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: on the shore of Patmos, or if he had been
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: transported in some other way. All he knew was that
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: everything around him had changed. He was no longer on earth,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: he was standing before a door, a door in heaven.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: It was open, wide, open. Light poured out from within,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: brilliant and warm, like the first rays of dawn breaking
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: through the night. And beyond the door, John saw it,
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: the throne. It rose before him, majestic and glorious, impossible
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: to describe in words, yet impossible to forget. On the
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: throne sat one whose appearance was like jasper and Carnelian
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: precious stones, radiant, shimmering with color and light. Not like
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: a man, but like the essence of beauty itself, condensed
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: into a form that could barely be perceived. And around
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: the throne there was a rainbow, not the faint arc
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: of color that appears after a rain storm, but a
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: full circle, a halo, a ring of light that encircled
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: the throne in every direction, glowing with the soft green
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: of emerald. It was the sign of the Covenant, the
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: promise God made to Noah, the promise that he would
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: never again destroy the earth with water, the promise that
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: mercy endures, that grace triumphs, that even in judgment, God
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: remembers his love. Around the throne were twenty four thrones,
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: and seated on them were twenty four elders. They were
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: clothed in white garments, pure and radiant, the clothing of
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: those who have been washed clean. And on their heads
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: were golden crowns, glittering in the light of the throne.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: Who were they? Some have said they were the twelve
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: Patriarchs of Israel and the twelve Apostles, the Old Covenant
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: and the New, the Promise and the Fulfillment. Others have
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: said they were angelic beings created to serve and worship
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: in the presence of God. But whoever they were, they
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: did not sit proudly. They did not cling to their crowns,
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: They did not claim the glory for themselves. Again and
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: again they rose from their thrones, cast their crowns before
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: the throne of God, and cried out, worthy, are you
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: For you created all things, and by your will they
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: exis and were created. They understood the truth that all
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: of creation must one day learn everything. We have, everything
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: we are, everything we will ever be. It all comes
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: from Him, and the only proper response is to lay
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: it all down at his feet. From the throne came
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, not distant, not faint,
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: but near immediate, the very voice of God himself, speaking
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: in power and authority. And before the throne were seven
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: torches of fire, burning, blazing, never going out. These John
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: knew were the seven spirits of God, the fullness of
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, the complete and perfect presence of God,
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: shining forth in light and fire. No corner of creation
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: could hide from that light, No darkness could resist it,
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: no shadow could stand before it. Before the throne, there
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: was something like a sea of glass, clear as crystal,
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: perfectly still. Not a ripple, not a wave, not a
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: single disturbance. This was not the chaotic sea that Daniel
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: had seen, where beasts rose up and raged. This was peace,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: perfect peace, the kind of peace that comes when every
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: storm has been calmed, every war has ended, every tear
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: has been wiped away. John stared at it, mesmerized. He
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: had spent his life on the shores of Galilee, where
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: the water was always moving, always changing. But this sea
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: was different. It was eternal stillness, eternal rest, the place
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: where the soul finally ceases its striving and simply abides
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: in the presence of God. And around the throne on
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: each side were four living creatures. John's breath caught in
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: his throat. He had heard of them, is he Keel
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: had seen them, Isaiah had glimpsed them, But now here
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: they were before his very eyes. The first was like
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: a lion, majestic, powerful, the king of all beasts. The
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: second was like an ox, strong, steady, the servant who
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: bears the burden. The third had the face of a man, wise, compassionate,
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: the image of God himself. And the fourth was like
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: an eagle in flight, swift, soaring free. Each of them
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: had six wings, and around and within they were full
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: of eyes, eyes everywhere on their wings, on their bodies, watching, seeing, knowing.
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: Nothing escaped their gaze, not a single thought, not a
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: single deed, not a single moment of time passed, present
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: or future. They saw it all, and they never stopped singing,
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: day and night without ceasing. They cried out, Holy, Holy, Holy,
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: is to come, the same song Isaiah had heard, the
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: same song that had shaken the foundations of the Temple,
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: the same song that would echo through eternity, never growing old,
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: never losing its power, because the Holiness of God is
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: not something that can be exhausted. It is infinite, unending,
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: and every time it is proclaimed it is as fresh
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: and true as the first time it was spoken. And
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: whenever the living creatures gave glory and honor and thanks
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: to Him who was seated on the throne, the twenty
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: four elders fell down and worshiped. They cast their crowns
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: before the throne. They bowed their faces to the ground,
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: and they sang, worthy, are you our Lord and God,
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: to receive glory and honor and power. This was the
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: rhythm of heaven, worship without end, glory given without reservation,
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: love poured out without hesitation. John stood there, overwhelmed, his
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: knees weak, his eyes filled with tears. He had spent
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: his life preaching about this. He had written letters to
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: churches reminding them that Jesus was Lord, that Heaven was real,
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: that the Kingdom of God was coming. But now he
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: was not preaching, He was not teaching, He was seeing,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: and it was more glorious, more overwhelming, more beautiful than
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: any words could ever capture. Tonight, as you hear this story,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: know that the door is still open, the throne is
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: still there, the elders are still casting their crowns. The
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: living creatures are still singing, the sea of glass is
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: still reflecting the light of God's glory. And one day
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: you too will stand before or that throne, not to
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: be judged in fear, not to be cast away in shame,
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: but to be welcomed home, to join the song, to
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: lay down your burdens, to cast your own crown, whatever
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: it may be, at the feet of the one who
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: gave you everything, and you will finally understand what John
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: understood that day on Patmos, that no matter how lonely
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: this world feels, no matter how broken or lost or
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: forgotten you may seem, you are never alone, because the
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: door is open and the voice is still calling come
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: up here. But who were these living creatures, these beings
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: of fire and eyes and wings? Why did they surround
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: the throne? What did their four faces mean? Let us
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: look closer now and see the guardians of the Throne?
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: Chapter six, The Living Creatures Guardians of the Throne. There
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: are beings in heaven have stood before the Throne of
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: God since before time began. They were not created yesterday,
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: They were not fashioned in recent memory. They have been there,
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: standing watch, singing praise guarding the holiness of the Almighty,
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: since the very first moment light broke forth and the
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: morning stars sang together. They are called the living creatures
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: in Hebrew. They are called coyote in Greek Zoa, but
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: the name matters less than what they represent. They are
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: the closest beings to the Throne, the inner most circle,
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: the ones who dwell perpetually in the blazing light of
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: God's presence, never turning away, never resting, never ceasing in
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: their worship. Isaiah saw them and called them seraphim, the
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: burning ones. Ezekiel saw them and called them living creatures,
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: each with four faces and four wings. John saw them
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: again on patmos, circling the throne, covered with eyes, singing
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: the same ancient song. Different visions, different names, but the
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: same truth. These are the guardians of the Throne, the
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: keepers of holiness, the ones who stand between the infinite
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: glory of God and the rest of creation, reminding all
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: who approach that the one who sits upon the throne
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: is unlike anything else that exists. He is holy. Each
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: of the four living creatures has a face, and each
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: face carries a meaning so deep, so profound, that theologians
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: have spent centuries meditating on them, and still have not
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: exhausted their depth. The first face is that of a lion.
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: The lion is the king of beasts, strong, fearless, majestic.
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: When a lion roars, the whole jungle falls silent. When
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: a lion walks, even the mightiest creatures step aside. The
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: lion represents the kingship of God, his sovereignty, his authority
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: over all creation. He is the ruler of heaven and Earth,
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: the one before whom every knee will bow and every
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: tongue confess. But the lion also represents Christ, the lion
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: of the tribe of Judah, the one who conquered death,
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: who rose from the grave, who reigns forever at the
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: right hand of the Father. The lion does not ask
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: for permission. The lion does not negotiate. The lion simply
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: is powerful, unshakable, eternal. The second face is that of
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: an ox. The ox is not glamorous. It is not
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: praised for its beauty or its speed. But it is strong,
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: it is steady, and it serves. The ox pulls the plow,
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: it bears the yoke. It works the fields from dawn
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: until dusk, never complaining, never stopping doing the hard, humble
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: work that makes life possible. The ox represents the servanthood
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: of Christ, the one who came not to be served,
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: but to serve, the one who washed the feet of
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: his disciples, the one who carried the cross, the one
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: who laid down his life as a sacrifice for the
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: sins of the world. In heaven, glory and humility are
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: not opposites, they are woven together. The king is also
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: the servant, the lion is also the lamb, and the
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: living creatures standing before the throne carry both faces, because
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: God himself is both mighty and meek, powerful and compassionate,
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: just and merciful. The third face is that of a man,
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: the face of humanity, the face of wisdom, the face
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: of understanding. Of all the creatures God made, only man
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: was formed in his image. Only man was given the
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: breath of life directly from the mouth of God. Only
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: man was entrusted with the care of creation, the naming
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: of the animals, the stewardship of the earth. The face
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: of the man represents the humanity of Christ, the Word
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: made flesh, the one who was fully God and fully man,
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: the one who walked where we walk, felt what we feel,
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: wept when we weep, and yet remained without sin. He
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: is not a distant, untouchable deity. He is Immanuel God
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: with us, the one who knows what it means to
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: be human, because He chose to become one of us.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: And so the living creatures carry the face of a man,
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: reminding us that the God on the throne is not
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: cold or indifferent. He is near, He is knowable, He
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: is love. The fourth face is that of an eagle.
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: The eagle soars higher than any other bird. It builds
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: its nest on the highest cliffs, far above the reach
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: of predators. Its eyes are sharper than any creature on earth.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: It can see a rabbit moving in the grass from
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: two miles away. The eagle represents the divinity of Christ,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: the one who is above all, over all, transcendent and eternal,
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: the one who sees everything, knows everything, holds everything in
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: the palm of his hand. While the ox keeps its
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: feet on the ground, The eagle soars in the heavens
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: while the man walks among us. The eagle reminds us
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: that God is also far above us, beyond our understanding,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: infinite in his majesty. The eagle is swift when it dives,
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: it moves faster than the wind, and so it represents
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: the speed and power of God's will. When he speaks,
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: it is done when he commands. The universe obeys four faces,
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: four truths, four aspects of the one eternal, unchanging God.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: Lion his kingship, Ox, his servanthood, Man, his compassion, eagle
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: his divinity. Together they form a complete picture, a revelation
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: of who God is in his fullness, not just powerful,
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: not just loving, not just near, not just far, but
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: all of these at once, perfectly balanced, perfectly whole. And
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: the living creatures standing before the throne carry all four faces,
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: so that no one who looks at them can forget.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: God is not simple. He is not one dimensional. He
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: cannot be reduced to a single attribute or a single image.
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: He is the lion and the lamb, the King and
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: the servant, the God of heaven and the friend of sinners.
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: The living creatures have six wings. Isaiah saw this, he
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: wrote it down carefully. With two wings they cover their faces,
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: With two they cover their feet, and with two they fly.
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: Why cover their faces, because even they sinless and holy
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: cannot look directly upon the full, unveiled glory of God.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: His light is too pure, his holiness too intense. To
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: gaze upon him without covering would be to be consumed.
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: So they cover their faces, not out of fear, but
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: out of reverence, out of worship, out of the humble
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: acknowledgment that even the highest of created beings is still
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: a creature before the Creator. Why cover their feet, because
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: in the presence of God, even the angels recognize their
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: own unworthiness. In ancient cultures, the feet were considered the lowest,
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: most humble part of the body. To cover the feet
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: was to say, I am not worthy to stand here.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: I am only here by your grace. The living creatures
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: do not parade their glory, They do not boast of
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: their position. They do not draw attention to themselves. They
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: cover what is theirs and reveal only what belongs to Him.
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: And with two wings, they fly not away from the throne,
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: but around it, circling, moving in perfect harmony with one another,
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: never colliding, never faltering, always in rhythm with the will
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: of God. And they are full of eyes, eyes in front,
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: eyes behind, eyes on their wings, eyes within thousands of eyes,
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: tens of thousands all of them open, all of them
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: seeing what do they see? Everything, every thought ever conceived,
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: every word ever spoken, every deed ever done, in light
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: or in darkness, in public or in secret. The eyes
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: of the living creatures are the eyes of God himself,
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: reflected in his servants. They are the reminder that nothing
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: is hidden, nothing is forgotten, nothing escapes the gaze of
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: the one who knows all things. For some this is
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: a terrifying thought, to know that every moment of your
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: life has been seen, recorded, held in the memory of heaven.
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: But for others it is the greatest comfort imaginable, Because
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: if God sees everything, then he also sees your tears,
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: He sees your struggles. He sees the battles you fight
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: in silence, the pain you carry alone, the love you
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: give when no one else is watching. He sees, He knows,
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: and he does not forget. And the living creatures never stop,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: singing day and night without ceasing. They cry out, Holy, Holy, Holy,
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: is to come. They do not grow tired, they do
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: not grow bored. They do not need rest, because they
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: are caught up in something far greater than themselves. They
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: are participating in the eternal worship of Heaven, the song
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: that has been sung since before the foundation of the world,
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: the song that will continue long after the earth has
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: passed away. Holy, Holy, Holy, not once, not twice, but
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: three times. Because the holiness of God is not just
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: a single attribute. It is the essence of who he is.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: It is the foundation of everything else. His love is
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: holy love, His justice is holy justice, His mercy is
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: holy mercy. Everything he does flows from his holiness, and
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: so the living creatures never stop declaring it. They do
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: not sing about his power alone, though he is all powerful.
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: They do not sing about his wisdom alone, though he
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: knows all things. They sing about his holiness because that
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: is the root, that is the source, that is the
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: thing that makes God God. To night, as you hear
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: about these living creatures, perhaps you wonder what it would
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: be like to stand where they stand, to see what
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: they see, to sing what they sing. And the truth is,
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: one day you will not as a living creature, not
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: as an angel, but as a redeemed child of God.
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: You will stand before that throne. You will see those faces,
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: you will hear that song, and you will join in.
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: Not because you have to, not because you are forced,
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: but because in that moment you will finally understand what
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: the living creatures have always known. That there is nothing
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: more beautiful, nothing more fulfilling, nothing more right than to
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: worship the one who made you, the lion, the ox,
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: the man, the eagle, the King, the servant, the Savior,
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: the Almighty, the one who was and is and is
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: to come, Holy, Holy, Holy. But the living creatures are
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: not the only mystery surrounding the throne. Beneath them, around them,
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: moving with them, are the wheels, the wheels within wheels,
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: the eyes on the rims, the movement that never stops.
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: What are they? What do they mean? Let us look
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: now with Ezekiel and see the wheels of God Chapter seven,
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: The wheels and the eyes, the mobility of God. When
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: Ezekiel saw the living creatures by the river Chebah, he
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: saw something else, something that left him speechless, something so strange,
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: so wondrous, that even after he wrote it down, people
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: have struggled for centuries to understand what he was describing.
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: He saw wheels. Not ordinary wheels, not wheels made of
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: wood or iron, carved by human hands and fitted to chariots.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: These were wheels of another kind, Wheels that moved with
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: a life of their own, Wheels that seemed to exist
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 1: on the edge of reality, half in this world and
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: half in another. Ezekiel wrote, as I looked at the
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth, beside
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: each of the four living creatures. Four wheels, one beside
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: each creature, touching the ground, yet not bound by it.
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: And the appearance of the wheels and their construction was
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: like the gleaming of beryl. They shimmered, they glowed, They
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: caught the light and reflected it in ways that made
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: them look almost alive. But it was not their appearance
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: that amazed Ezekiel. It was their structure. Their construction was
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: as if one wheel were within another, a wheel within
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: a wheel. Imagine it a wheel standing upright, spinning on
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: its axis, and within it another wheel set at a
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: right angle, spinning in a different direction. Two wheels intersecting,
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: moving independently, yet moving together. This meant they could go
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: in any direction without turning forward, backward, left, right, up, down.
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: There was no need to pivot, no need to adjust,
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: no need to change course. Wherever the spirit wanted to go.
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: The wheels went instantly, effortlessly, perfectly. This was not a
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: chariot in the ordinary sense. This was something far greater.
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: This was the Throne of God, mobile and sovereign, able
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: to move through all of creation without limitation, without hindrance,
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: without delay. And on the rims of the wheels is
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: e Keel saw something that made his breath catch in
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: his throat. Eyes and their rims were tall and awesome,
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: And the rims of all four were full of eyes
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: all around, not a few eyes, not scattered here and there,
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: but full of eyes covering the entire surface, hundreds of them,
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: thousands of them, ball watching, all seeing, all aware. The
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: wheels were not blind machines grinding forward without thought or purpose.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: They were conscious, They were aware, They were filled with
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: the knowledge of God himself. They saw everything, every corner
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: of the earth, every heart of man, every hidden motive,
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: every secret sin, every unspoken prayer. Nothing escaped their gaze.
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: Why wheels, Why did God choose to reveal himself in
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: this way? Why not a throne that simply floated, or
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: a chariot pulled by horses, or any of the other
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: images human minds might expect. Because the wheels are a
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: picture of something deeper, something that speaks to the very
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: nature of God himself. God is not stationary. He is
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: not confined to one place, one temple, one land. He
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: is not trapped behind walls of stone or limited by
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: the boundaries of nations. He moves. He moves through history,
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: He moves through the lives of his people. He moves
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: in judgment and in mercy, in power and in grace.
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: And wherever he moves, his presence is complete. His knowledge
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: is total. His will is sovereign. The wheels represent the
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: providence of God, the way he governs all things, the
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: way he orchestrates, the rise and fall of kingdoms, the
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: turning of seasons, the beating of every heart. Nothing happens
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: by accident, nothing happens outside his sight. The wheels are
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: always turning, the eyes are always watching, and the spirit
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: is always guiding. Ezekiel also noticed something else, something that
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: filled him with awe. When the living creatures went, the
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: wheels went beside them, And when the living creatures rose
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: from the earth, the wheels rose. The wheels and the
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: creatures moved together. Not because one was pulling the other,
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: not because one was controlling the other, but because the
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: same spirit was in both of them. Wherever the spirit
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: with them, For the spirit of the living creatures was
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: in the wheels. This is unity, perfect, seamless, unbreakable unity.
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: The creatures did not move and then drag the wheels along.
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: The wheels did not spin ahead and force the creatures
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: to follow. They moved as one because they were one,
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: bound together by the Spirit of God, moving in perfect
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: harmony with his will. This is the way Heaven operates,
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: not through force, not through coercion, not through one part
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: dominating another, but through willing submission, through love, through the
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: joyful surrender of every created thing to the purpose for
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: which it was made. In Jewish tradition, there is a
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: branch of mystical teaching called Merkaba mysticism. The word Merkabar
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: means chariot, and it refers specifically to the vision Ezekiel
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: saw by the river Chebarh. For centuries, rabbis studied this vision,
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: meditating on its meaning, debating its implications. Some were afraid
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: of it. They said it was too holy, too dangerous,
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: too overwhelming for ordinary people to contemplate. They taught that
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: only the wisest, the most mature, the most spiritually prepared
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: should be allowed to study the Merkaba, because to gaze
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: too deeply into the mysteries of God's throne was to
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: risk being consumed by the glory. And yet Ezekiel was
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: not a scholar, He was not a mystic trained in
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: secret wisdom. He was a young priest sitting by a
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: river in exile, far from home, far from hope, and
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: God showed it to him anyway, because the throne is
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: not just for the spiritual elite. It is not reserved
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: for those who have studied long enough, or prayed hard enough,
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: or achieved some level of enlightenment. The throne is for
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: anyone who is willing to look up. The wheels also
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: teach us something about the sovereignty of God. When we
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: look at the world, we see chaos. We see wars
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: and famines and plagues. We see injustice and suffering and cruelty.
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: We see things that seem random, meaningless, out of control.
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: But the wheels remind us that nothing thing is out
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: of control. God is not pacing back and forth in
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: heaven wringing his hands, wondering what to do next. He
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: is not surprised by the news. He is not caught
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: off guard by the rise of empires or the fall
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: of kings. He sees it all, he knows it all,
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: and he is moving through it all, guiding history toward
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: the purpose he ordained before the foundation of the world.
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: The wheels are always turning, the eyes are always watching,
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: and the spirit is always in control. There is a
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: story told of a man who, in his grief, cried
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: out to God and said, where are you? Why do
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: you not stop the suffering? Why do you not act?
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: And in his heart he heard a voice whisper, back,
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: I am here. I have always been here. The wheels
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: have never stopped turning. You only see one moment. I
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: see all of eternity. Trust me. That is the message
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: of the wheels. Not that God is distant, not that
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: he is uninvolved, but that He is working in ways
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: we cannot always see, moving through circumstances we cannot always understand,
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: bringing about a purpose that will one day be revealed
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: in its fullness. And when it is revealed, when the
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: final page of history is turned and the last chapter
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: is written, we will look back and see the wheels.
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: We will see how every moment, every trial, every tear,
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: was part of a greater plan, a plan written in
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: the eyes of the wheels, a plan known by the
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: Spirit who guides them. And we will fall on our
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: faces and worship, just as Ezekiel did, because we will
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: finally understand God was never absent. God was never silent.
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: He was always moving, always watching, always guiding. The wheels
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: never stopped to night. As you rest, let them truth
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: settle into your soul. The wheels are still turning, the
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: eyes are still watching, the Spirit is still guiding. Whatever
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: you are facing, whatever storm is raging in your life,
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: whatever darkness presses in around you. Know this, God is
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: not standing still. He is moving, and he is moving
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: toward you, not away. The throne is not fixed in
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: one place. It is wherever he is, and He is
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: with you, right now, right here, in this moment. The
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: wheels are beside you, the eyes see you, the Spirit
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: knows your name, and nothing, nothing in all creation, can
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: stop the movement of God's will in your life. So rest,
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: be still and trust the wheels. They know where they
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: are going. But there is another image in the throne
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: room that speaks of peace, of stillness, of the place
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: where all the chaos of earth finally comes to rest.
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: It is the sea of glass, clear, calm, unmoving. Let
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: us walk to its edge now and see what it means.
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: Chapter eight, The Sea of Glass Perfect Peace Before the Throne.
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: In the Book of Revelation, John saw something that no
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: other prophet had described before. Before the Throne of God.
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: Stretching out in every direction, was a sea. But this
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: was not like any sea on Earth. It was not
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: the raging ocean that tossed ships and swallowed sailors. It
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: was not the dark, churning deep that Daniel saw from
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: which beasts rose up to devour and destroy. This sea
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: was different, John wrote, Before the Throne there was, as
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: it were, a sea of glass like crystal, a sea
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: of glass, perfectly still, perfectly clear, perfectly calm, a single wave,
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: not a single ripple, not a single disturbance. It stretched
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: out like a vast, smooth mirror, reflecting the light of
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: the Throne, the glory of God, the radiance of Heaven itself.
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: And as John stood there gazing at it, he understood
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: something profound. This was the picture of perfect peace. Throughout scripture,
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: the sea is often a symbol of chaos, of turmoil,
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: of the forces that oppose God and threaten his creation.
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: In Genesis, before God spoke light into existence, the earth
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: was formless and void, and darkness covered the face of
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: the deep. The waters were there, wild and unordered, waiting
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: for the voice of God to bring them into submission.
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: In the Psalms, David wrote of the seas roaring, the
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: waves crashing, the floods lifting up their voice. And yet
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: God is above it, all mightier than the thunder of
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: many waters, raining in perfect sovereignty. In the Gospels, the
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: disciples were terrified when a storm arose on the Sea
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: of Galilee. The waves beat against the boat, the wind howled,
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: and they thought they would drown. But Jesus stood up,
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: rebuked the wind and the waves, and said, peace be still,
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: And immediately the sea became calm. That is what John
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: saw before the throne, the sea that had been stilled,
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: the chaos that had been silenced, the storm that had
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: been commanded to cease. This sea of glass represents the
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: final triumph of God's peace over all the turmoil of creation.
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: In heaven. There is no more storm, no more chaos,
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: no more fear, no more uncertainty. Everything is still, everything
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: is clear, everything is at rest, and the stillness is
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: not the stillness of death. It is the stillness of completion,
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: the stillness of a heart that has finally found its home,
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: the stillness of a soul that no longer strives because
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: it has been brought into the presence of the one
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: who is peace itself. The sea is also described as
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: being like crystal, transparent, pure, flawless. On Earth, water is
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: often murky. You cannot see through it, you cannot see
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: what lies beneath. There is always something hidden, something unknown,
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: something lurking in the depths. But in Heaven there is
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: no murkiness, no shadows, no hidden things. Everything is revealed,
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: everything is known, everything is brought into the light. And
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: yet there is no shame in that light, no fear,
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: no condemnation, because those who stand on the sea of
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: Glass have been washed clean, they have been made pure,
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: they have been clothed in white robes, and their sins
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: have been cast as far as the east is from
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: the west. The crystal sea reflects not their failures, but
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: their redemption, not their past but their future. Not what
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: they were, but what God has made them to be.
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: There is another passage in Revelation where John mentions the
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: sea of glass. It comes later in chapter fifteen, he writes,
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: and I saw what appeared to be a sea of
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: glass mingled with fire, and those who had conquered the
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: beast and its image and the number of its name,
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: in their hands. These are the ones who endured, the
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: ones who suffered, the ones who were persecuted, rejected, cast out,
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: and even killed for their faith. The world hated them,
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: the enemy pursued them. They had every reason to give up,
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: to turn back, to say this is too hard, I
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: cannot go on. But they did not give up. They
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: held fast. They kept their eyes on the throne. And
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: now they stand on the sea of glass, not beneath it,
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: drowning in the waves, not beside it, watching from a distance,
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: but on it, walking on the surface, standing firm. They
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: have conquered not by their own strength, but by the
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: And now they sing, with harps in their hands. They
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty.
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: Just and true are your ways, O King of the Nations.
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: Do you remember the story of the Israelites crossing the
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: Red Sea. They had been slaves in Egypt for four
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: hundred years, beaten, oppressed, forgotten. But God heard their cries.
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: He sent Moses to deliver them, and when Pharaoh refused
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: to let them go, God sent plagues upon the land.
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: Finally Pharaoh relented. The people were set free, but then
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: he changed his mind. He gathered his army and chased
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: after them, determined to bring them back into bondage. The
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: Israelites stood at the edge of the sea. Behind them
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: the chariots of Egypt. Before them the deep waters. There
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: was no way forward, no way back, no escape. And
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: then Moses lifted his staff and God divided the sea.
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: The waters stood up like walls on either side, and
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: the people walked through on dry ground. They walked through
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: the chaos, they walked through the deep, and they came
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: out on the other side free. And when they reached
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: the far shore, they looked back and saw the sea
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: close over the Egyptian army. The enemy was defeated. The
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: battle was over. They were safe, and they sang. Miriam
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: went out after her with tambourines and dancing, and they
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: sang sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: The Sea of Glass is the fulfillment of that story.
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: Just as the Israelites walked through the Red Sea and
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: came out free, so too will every believer one day
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: walk through the trials of this life and come out
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: standing on the Sea of glass. The chaos will be
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: behind them, the storm will be over, the battle will
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: be won, and they will sing. Not because life was easy,
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: not because they never suffered, but because they made it through.
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: They endured, they held fast, and now they stand on
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: solid ground, on the crystal sea, on the unshakable foundation
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: of God's eternal peace. In the Book of Revelation, near
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: the very end, John writes, then I saw a new
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: Heaven and a new Earth. For the first heaven and
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: the first Earth had passed away, and the sea was
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: no more. The sea was no more. Why Because the sea,
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: in all its symbolism, represented chaos, danger, separation. It was
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: the thing that divided lands, that threatened ships, that swallowed lives.
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: But in the new Creation, there is no more chaos,
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: no more separation, no more threat only the sea of glass,
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: the stillness, the peace, the crystal clear reflection of God's glory.
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: And we will walk on it, not with fear but
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: with joy, not with trembling, but with songs of praise,
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: because the one who once said peace be still to
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: the storm on Galilee will have spoken that same piece
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: over all creation, and it will never be disturbed again. Tonight,
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: as you close your eyes, imagine yourself standing at the
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: edge of that sea. You have walked through many storms,
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: you have faced many waves. You have felt the wind
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: beat against your face and wondered if you would make
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: it through. But you are still here, still breathing, still standing,
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: And one day the storm will be over, the waves
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: will be stilled, and you will step on to the
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: sea of glass. You will look around and see the throne.
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: You will see the light. You will see the faces
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: of those you love, those who have gone before, those
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: who are waiting for you on the other side, and
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: you will realize that every tear was worth it, every
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: trial had a purpose, Every storm was leading you here
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: to this place, to this peace, to this perfect, unshakable rest.
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: So tonight, Red be still and know that the sea
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: of Glass is waiting, and you will stand on it
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: one day with a song in your heart and the
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: light of God reflected in your eyes. But the throne
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: room holds more wonders. Still around the throne, seated on
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: smaller thrones, are twenty four figures clothed in white. They
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: are called the Elders, and they too have a story
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: to tell. Let us turn now and see who they
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: are and what their worship reveals. Chapter nine, The twenty
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: four Elders and the seven Lamps Heaven's worship. Around the
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: Throne of God, John saw something remarkable. Twenty four other thrones,
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 1: smaller than the great throne at the center, but thrones
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 1: none the less, seats of authority, seats of honor, And
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: on each throne sat an elder. They were clothed in
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: white robes, pure and radiant, the garments of those who
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: have been made righteous, who have been washed clean, who
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: stand in the presence of God without shame or stain.
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: And on their heads were crowns of gold, not crowns
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: of iron or bronze, Not the crowns of earthly kings
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: worn by those who ruled through conquest and violence, but
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: crowns of gold, the symbol of reward. The symbol of
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: honor bestowed by God himself upon those who have remained faithful.
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: John counted them twenty four. Who were they? Some have
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: believed they represent the twelve Tribes of Israel and the
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: twelve Apostles, the Old Covenant and the New, the faithful
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: of every age, gathered together in the presence of God.
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: Others have said they are angelic beings, created to serve
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 1: and worship, to stand before the throne and proclaim the
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: glory of the most High. Still others believe they are
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: the redeemed of humanity, the first fruits of all, who
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: will one day stand before the throne, clothed in white,
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: crowned with gold, singing the praises of the Lamb. The
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: scripture does not tell us definitively, and perhaps that is intentional.
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: Perhaps the mystery is part of the message, because whoever
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: they are, they do one thing that reveals the heart
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: of Heaven. They worship again and again throughout John's vision.
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: The twenty four elders fall down before the throne. They
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: do not sit proudly on their thrones, admiring their crowns,
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: congratulating themselves on their position. No, they rise, they step down.
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: They move toward the throne, and they cast their crowns
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: before him. One by one. The golden crowns, the symbols
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: of their honor, their reward, their achievement, are laid at
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: the feet of the one who gave them everything, and
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: they cry out, worthy, are you our Lord and God,
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: to receive glory and honor and power. For you created
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: all things, and by your will they existed and were created.
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: This is the rhythm of heaven. Not self promotion, not
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: self glory, not the grasping for recognition or the hoarding
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: of honor, but the continual, joyful giving of everything back
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: to God. Because they understand something that the world does not.
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: Every good gift comes from above. Every breath, every talent,
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: every moment of grace, every crown earned through faithfulness, it
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: all comes from Him, and the only fitting response is
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: to give it back, not reluctantly, not resentfully, but with
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: overflowing joy, because they have discovered the great secret of
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: the universe that worship is not a burden, it is
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: a release. It is the soul doing what it was
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: made to do. The crowns are called stephanos in Greek.
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: These are not the heavy jeweled diadems of monarchs. They
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: are the wreaths, the victory crowns given to athletes who
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: have run the race and finished well. Paul wrote about this.
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: He said, I have fought the good fight. I have
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: that day. The crown is real, the reward is real.
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: God does not forget, He does not overlook every act
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: of faithfulness, every sacrifice made in secret, every moment of
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: endurance when no one was watching. He sees it all,
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: and he rewards it. But here is the beauty of heaven.
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: When we receive the crown, we do not keep it
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: for ourselves. We lay it down, We cast it before
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: the throne. We say, this is not mine. This belongs
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: to you. Everything I am, everything I have ever done
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: that was good or true or lasting, it was only
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: because of your grace. So take the crown, take the glory,
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: take it all before the throne. John also saw seven
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: torches of fire burning, seven lamps blazing bright, never going out,
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: and he understood what they were. These are the seven
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: spirits of God, the Sevenfold Spirit, the fullness of the
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, the perfect, complete presence of God, illuminating everything,
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: filling everything, empowering everything. Seven is the number of completion
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 1: of perfection. In scripture, it appears again and again seven
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: days of creation, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven churches, and
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: here before the throne seven flame himbs, not dim, not flickering,
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: but blazing with the fire of God himself. The Holy
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: Spirit is often symbolized by fire in scripture. When the
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: Spirit descended at Pentecost, he came as tongues of fire
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: resting on the heads of the disciples. When Moses stood
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: before the burning bush, it was the presence of God
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: in fire that spoke to him. When Elijah prayed on
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: Mount Carmel, fire fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice.
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: Fire purifies, fire illuminates, fire in powers. And here in
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: the Throne Room, the seven lamps burn continually, sending light
• 1:35:41
  Speaker 1: into every corner of heaven and earth. There is no
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: darkness that can resist that light, no shadow that can
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: remain in its presence. The seven spirits of God see everything,
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: know everything, convict everything, comfort everything. They are the eyes
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: of the Lord, ranging throughout the whole earth. They are
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: the breath of God, giving life to all who believe.
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: They are the flame of holiness, purifying the hearts of
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: the faithful. In the Old Testament, there was a lamp
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: stand in the tabernacle, the Menorah. It had seven branches,
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: and on each branch was a lamp that burned continually.
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: It was the priest's duty to tend the lamps, to
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 1: trim the wicks, to refill the oil, to make sure
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 1: the light never went out. The lamp stand was a
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: symbol of God's presence among his people. As long as
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: the light burned, they knew He was with them. But
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 1: that lamp stand was only a shadow, a picture, a
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: pointer to something greater. The true lampstand is here in
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 1: Heaven before the Throne, burning with the fire of the
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit himself, and it will never go out. Later
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: in Revelation, John sees the seven's spirits of God again,
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: but this time they are described differently. He sees a
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: lamb standing as though it had been slain, and the
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: lamb has seven horns and seven eyes, which are the
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 1: The lamb is Jesus, the one who was crucified, who died,
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: who rose again, who reigns forever, And the seven Spirits
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: are his eyes, his presence, his power, reaching into every
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 1: corner of creation. This means that wherever you are, the
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: Spirit of God is there, watching, guiding, comforting, convicting. You
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: are never outside his reach, You are never beyond his sight,
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: You are never forgotten. The seven lamps are burning, and
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: their light reaches you even now, even in the darkest night.
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: The twenty four Elders and the seven Spirits worked together
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: in perfect harmony. The elders worship the Spirit in powers.
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: The elders cast their crowns. The Spirit reveals the glory
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: of the one who sits on the throne, and all
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 1: of it, every moment, every song, every act of reverence
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: is directed toward the same purpose, to magnify the name
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: of the Lord, not to magnify themselves, not to draw
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: attention to their own wisdom or holiness or accomplishments, but
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: to point every eye, every heart, every thought toward the
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: one who is worthy. Worthy are you, our Lord and
• 1:38:38
  Speaker 1: God to receive glory and honor and power. Tonight, as
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: you hear this, perhaps you are carrying a burden. Perhaps
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: you have been striving, working, trying to earn something, trying
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: to prove something, trying to hold on to something. If
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: so hear this, one day you will stand before the throne,
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: and whatever you have achieved, whatever crown you have earned,
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 1: whatever honor you have received, you will cast it down,
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: not because you have to, not because someone is forcing you,
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: but because in that moment you will finally understand it
• 1:39:17
  Speaker 1: was never about the crown. It was always about the King,
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: and the joy of laying your crown at his feet
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 1: will be greater than any joy you have ever known.
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: So to night practice, lay it down, your pride, your fear,
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: your need to be recognized, your need to be right.
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: Lay it down before him. Let the seven lamps burn
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 1: away everything that is not of him. Let the Spirit
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 1: purify your heart. And one day, when you stand before
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: the throne, you will not hesitate, you will not hold back.
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: You will cast your crown before him with joy, and
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: you will sing with the elders, with the living creatures,
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 1: with all the hosts of heaven. Worthy are you, our Lord,
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: And God worthy are you. But there is more around
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 1: the throne. Above the throne, encircling it, like a promise,
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: is something that speaks of both beauty and power. A
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: rainbow and thunder. Let us turn our eyes there now
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: and see what they mean. Chapter ten, The Rainbow and
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: the thunder, beauty and power. Around the Throne of God,
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: John saw something that made his heart both tremble and
• 1:40:34
  Speaker 1: rejoice at the same time. A rainbow, he wrote. Around
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: an emerald. Not the faint arc of color that appears
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: after a rainstorm, stretching from horizon to horizon, but a
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: full circle, a complete halo, a ring of radiant light
• 1:40:55
  Speaker 1: glowing with the deep, rich green of emerald, encircling the
• 1:40:59
  Speaker 1: throne on every side. It was not broken, it was
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: not incomplete. It was whole, and it carried a message
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: that humanity desperately needed to hear. The rainbow first appeared
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: in the Book of Genesis after the flood. For forty
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: days and forty nights, rain had poured from the heavens.
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: The waters covered the earth. Every living thing that walked
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: on dry land perished. Only Noah and his family and
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: the animals in the ark were saved. When the waters
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: finally receded, Noah stepped out on to the earth. He
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: built an altar. He offered a sacrifice to the Lord,
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 1: and God made a covenant with him. I establish my
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: cut off by the waters of the flood, and never
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 1: And as a sign of that covenant, God set a
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 1: rainbow in the clouds. When I bring clouds over the
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: will remember my covenant. The rainbow is a promise, a reminder,
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: a sign that God's mercy endures, that his faithfulness is everlasting,
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: that even in judgment, he remembers compassion. And now in heaven,
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 1: John sees that same rainbow, not in the clouds, but
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 1: around the throne itself. This means that the mercy of
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 1: God is not temporary. It is not conditional. It is
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: not something that appears and disappears like the weather. It
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: is eternal. It is woven into the very fabric of
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: who God is. It surrounds his throne, it defines his rain.
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: God is just, yes, God is holy, yes, God judges sin. Yes.
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: But he is also merciful. He is also compassionate. He
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: is also slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 1: The rainbow around the throne is the reminder that no
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 1: matter how fierce the judgment, no matter how terrible the wrath,
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 1: mercy is always there. Mercy triumphs over judgment. The color
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: of the rainbow is described as emerald, a deep, rich green,
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: the color of life, the color of growth, the color
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 1: of spring after a long winter. Green is the color
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: of hope. When the world seems dead, when the ground
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: is barren, when nothing seems to be growing, green appears
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 1: a blade of grass, a leaf on a tree, a
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 1: sign that life is returning. The emerald rainbow around the
• 1:43:42
  Speaker 1: throne is the declaration that God is the God of life,
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: not death, not destruction, not the end. He is the
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: God who brings spring after winter, who brings hope after despair,
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: who brings resurrection after crucifixion. And that hope is not distant,
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: it is not far away, It is right there, circling
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 1: the throne, ever present, ever glowing, ever reminding us that
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: His love never fails. But the throne room is not
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: only a place of beauty, it is also a place
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: of power. John wrote from the throne came flashes of
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 1: lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder. This was not
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: a gentle, quiet throne. This was not the throne of
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: a distant, passive deity who watches from afar and does nothing.
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 1: This was the throne of the Almighty, the creator of
• 1:44:36
  Speaker 1: heaven and earth, the one whose voice shakes mountains and
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: split cedars. The thunder and lightning were the voice of
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 1: God himself. In Psalm twenty nine, David wrote about the
• 1:44:47
  Speaker 1: voice of the Lord. The voice of the Lord is
• 1:44:50
  Speaker 1: over the waters. The God of Glory thunders, the Lord
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 1: over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful.
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 1: The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 1: voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. The Lord breaks
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: the cedars of Lebanon. The voice of the Lord flashes
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: the wilderness. When God speaks, creation responds, Mountains tremble, sees, roar,
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 1: forests bow. His voice is not a whisper that can
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 1: be ignored. It is thunder, it is lightning. It is
• 1:45:29
  Speaker 1: power that cannot be resisted. And yet that same voice
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 1: also speaks tenderly. It calls the lost sheep by name.
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: It whispers peace to the troubled heart. It says, come
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: to me, all who are weary, and I will give
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: you rest. The thunder and the rainbow, the power and
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: the mercy, the judgment and the grace. They are not opposites.
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 1: They are not at war with each other. They are
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 1: both part of who God is. He is the God
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: who struck Egypt with plagues, but who also led his
• 1:46:04
  Speaker 1: people through the sea on dry ground. He is the
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 1: God who consumed the sacrifice on Mount Carmel with fire,
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: but who also whispered to Elijah in a still small voice.
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 1: He is the God who will one day judge the
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: earth with righteousness, but who also gave his only son,
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 1: so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but
• 1:46:25
  Speaker 1: have eternal life. Thunder and rainbow, justice and mercy, holiness
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: and love, all of it held together in perfect balance
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: around the throne of the Almighty. When John saw the throne,
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: he did not see only one side of God. He
• 1:46:43
  Speaker 1: saw the fullness, the completeness, the truth that God is
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 1: both fierce and gentle, both powerful and kind. And that
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 1: is the God we worship, not a god we can manipulate,
• 1:46:56
  Speaker 1: not a god we can control, Not a God who
• 1:47:00
  Speaker 1: bends to our will or fits into our expectations, but
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: a God who is who he is, unchanging, unshakable, perfect
• 1:47:10
  Speaker 1: in every way, and around his throne, the rainbow glows
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 1: not as a denial of his justice, but as a
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: promise that his justice is always tempered with mercy, that
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 1: when he judges, he does so with a broken heart,
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 1: That when he disciplines, it is because he loves, that
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 1: when he allows suffering, it is never without purpose. The
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: rainbow is the reminder that, no matter how dark the storm,
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: no matter how loud the thunder, God has not forgotten
• 1:47:40
  Speaker 1: his promise. He is faithful, he is true, and his
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 1: mercy endures forever to night. As you listen, you may
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 1: feel as though you are standing in a storm. The
• 1:47:52
  Speaker 1: thunder may be roaring around you, the lightning may be
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 1: flashing in your life. But look up, look beyond the storm,
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: look to the throne. The rainbow is still there. The
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: promise is still true, the mercy is still present. God
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: has not abandoned you, He has not forgotten you, He
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 1: has not turned away. The same God who sent the
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 1: flood also sent the rainbow. The same God who speaks
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 1: in thunder also whispers in the wind, And he is
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: with you now. In the storm, in the darkness, in
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 1: the fear, He is there, and his mercy is surrounding
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: you like an emerald rainbow, unbroken and eternal. So rest
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: be still and trust the God of the rainbow and
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 1: the thunder. He will bring you through. We have seen
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: the throne. We have seen the creatures, the wheels, the
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: sea of glass, the elders, the lamps, the rainbow, the thunder.
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 1: But now we must ask what happens when a human
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 1: being stands before all of this? What happens when the
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: glory of God is revealed and a mortal soul is
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: caught in its light. Let us turn now to the
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 1: prophets themselves, to their response to the moment when they fell,
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: Chapter eleven. When prophets fall, the human response to divine glory.
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 1: There is a pattern in scripture, a pattern that repeats itself.
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 1: Every time a human being encounters the full unveiled glory
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: of God. They fall, not because they choose to, not
• 1:49:35
  Speaker 1: because it is part of a ritual or a tradition,
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: but because they cannot stand. Their legs give way, their
• 1:49:43
  Speaker 1: strength vanishes, their breath catches in their throat, and they collapse.
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: Isaiah fell Ezekiel fell, Daniel fell, John fell, four men,
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: four different centuries, four visions of the throne, and all
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: of them, every single one, fell to the ground as
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: though dead. Isaiah was standing in the temple when the
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 1: vision came. He saw the Lord high and lifted up
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: the train of his robe, filling the sanctuary. The seraphim
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: were crying out, Holy, Holy, Holy. The foundations shook, the
• 1:50:22
  Speaker 1: smoke filled the air, and Isaiah, the prophet, who had
• 1:50:26
  Speaker 1: spent years speaking boldly to kings and nations, calling out sin,
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 1: proclaiming judgment, standing firm in his faith, Isaiah broke. He
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 1: cried out, woe is me, for I am lost. For
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 1: in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
• 1:50:48
  Speaker 1: Woe is me, I am undone, I am finished. It
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: was not the cry of a man who had lost
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 1: his faith. It was the cry of a man who,
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: for the first time, truly understood what holiness meant. He
• 1:51:02
  Speaker 1: had thought he was righteous, he had thought he was good,
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 1: He had thought he was qualified to speak for God.
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 1: But now standing before the Throne, he saw the truth.
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 1: He saw the infinite gap between himself and the one
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 1: who sat in glory. He saw the stain on his
• 1:51:19
  Speaker 1: own soul, the pride in his own heart, the impurity
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 1: in his own words, and he fell. Ezekiel was sitting
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: by the river Chebar when the storm came. He saw
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: the living creatures, the wheels, the throne of sapphire, the
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 1: figure of fire and light. And when he saw the
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 1: lightness of the glory of the Lord, he fell on
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 1: his face. He did not bow gracefully, he did not
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: kneel with composure. He fell like a tree cut down
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: at the roots, like a man struck by lightning. He
• 1:51:53
  Speaker 1: could not move, he could not speak, he could barely breathe.
• 1:51:58
  Speaker 1: The glory was too much. The weight of it pressed
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: down on him, crushing every ounce of pride, every shred
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: of self sufficiency, every illusion of strength. And there he
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 1: lay face down in the dirt until the spirit entered
• 1:52:13
  Speaker 1: into him and set him on his feet. He could
• 1:52:16
  Speaker 1: not stand on his own, but the Spirit lifted him,
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: held him, gave him the strength to bear what no
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 1: human was meant to bear. Daniel was lying on his
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 1: bed when the vision of the Ancient of Days came
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 1: to him he saw the thrones placed, he saw the
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 1: river of fire, he saw the ten thousand times ten
• 1:52:37
  Speaker 1: thousand angels standing before the throne. And when the vision ended,
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 1: Daniel wrote I Daniel was overcome and lay sick for
• 1:52:46
  Speaker 1: some days. Then I rose and went about the king's business.
• 1:52:50
  Speaker 1: But I was appalled by the vision and did not
• 1:52:53
  Speaker 1: understand it. The vision left him physically ill. His strength
• 1:52:57
  Speaker 1: was gone, his face turned pale. He could not eat,
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 1: he could not function. For days, he lay there trembling,
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: trying to process what he had seen, trying to reconcile
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 1: the smallness of man with the greatness of God. And
• 1:53:14
  Speaker 1: even after he recovered, even after he returned to his duties,
• 1:53:18
  Speaker 1: the memory of the vision haunted him. It changed him.
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 1: It broke something in him that could never be repaired.
• 1:53:26
  Speaker 1: But it also built something new, a deeper reverence, a
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 1: greater humility, a truer understanding of who God is. John
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 1: was on the island of Patmos when he heard the
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 1: voice like a trumpet. He turned and saw the risen Christ,
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 1: eyes like fire, feet like bronze, voice like many waters,
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: and John, the beloved Disciple, the one who had laid
• 1:53:51
  Speaker 1: his head on Jesus's chest, the one who had walked
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: with him for three years. John fell at his feet
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 1: as though dead. He did not faint from exhaustion, He
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: did not collapse from fear alone. He fell because the
• 1:54:04
  Speaker 1: glory of the risen Christ was more than any human
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 1: body could endure. This was not the Jesus he had
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 1: known in Galilee. This was not the humble carpenter who
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 1: washed feet and blessed children. This was the Lord of
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 1: heaven and earth, the Alpha and the Omega, the one
• 1:54:22
  Speaker 1: who holds the keys of death and hell. And John
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: could not stand before him. Why does this happen? Why
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 1: do the prophets fall? Because glory reveals. When you stand
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 1: in the presence of perfect holiness, you see yourself as
• 1:54:39
  Speaker 1: you truly are, not as you wish to be, not
• 1:54:42
  Speaker 1: as you pretend to be, but as you are. Every floor,
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 1: every weakness, every hidden sin, every selfish motive, every proud thought,
• 1:54:55
  Speaker 1: it all comes to light, and the weight of that
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 1: revelation is crushing. Isaiah saw his unclean lips, Ezekiel saw
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 1: his smallness. Daniel saw his mortality, John saw his unworthiness.
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 1: They all saw the same thing. That they were not enough,
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 1: that they could never be enough, that The gap between
• 1:55:17
  Speaker 1: them and God was infinite, unbridgable, impossible to cross, and
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 1: they fell. But here is the beauty of the story.
• 1:55:25
  Speaker 1: Here is the part that makes the falling not a
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: tragedy but a triumph. God did not leave them there.
• 1:55:32
  Speaker 1: When Isaiah fell, as Serah flew to him with a
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: burning coal and touched his lips. Your guilt is taken
• 1:55:39
  Speaker 1: away and your sin atoned for. When Ezekiel fell, the
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 1: spirit entered into him and set him on his feet.
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: Son of Man, stand up, and I will speak with you.
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 1: When Daniel fell, an angel came and touched him and said, O,
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 1: man greatly loved, fear not. Peace be with you. Be
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 1: strong and of good courage. When John fell, Jesus placed
• 1:56:05
  Speaker 1: his right hand on him and said, fear not. I
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 1: am the first and the last and the living one.
• 1:56:12
  Speaker 1: Every time the pattern is the same. The prophet sees
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 1: the glory, the prophet falls, and then God reaches down.
• 1:56:23
  Speaker 1: He does not rebuke them for falling. He does not
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 1: scold them for their weakness. He does not say, why
• 1:56:29
  Speaker 1: are you on the ground, Get up and be strong. No,
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 1: he meets them where they are, He touches them, He
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 1: speaks to them, He lifts them, because that is who
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 1: God is. He does not demand that we be strong
• 1:56:45
  Speaker 1: before we come to him. He does not require perfection
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: before he accepts us. He knows we cannot stand, he
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 1: knows we will fall, and he comes down to meet
• 1:56:56
  Speaker 1: us in our weakness. This is the message of the Gospel.
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 1: We have all fallen. We have all seen, in one
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 1: way or another, the holiness of God and the stain
• 1:57:07
  Speaker 1: on our own souls. We have all cried out, like Isaiah,
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 1: woe is me, I am undone. But God does not
• 1:57:16
  Speaker 1: leave us in the dust. He sent his son, the
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 1: one who stood before the throne from the beginning, the
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 1: one who was with God and was God. And he
• 1:57:26
  Speaker 1: came down. He took on flesh, he walked among us,
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: He felt what we feel, He bore what we could
• 1:57:34
  Speaker 1: not bear. And on the cross he fell not because
• 1:57:39
  Speaker 1: he was weak, not because he was overcome, but because
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 1: he chose to. He fell so that we could stand.
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 1: He took the weight of our sin, our shame, our unworthiness.
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: He carried it to the grave, and then he rose.
• 1:57:56
  Speaker 1: And now when we fall before the throne, trembling, broken, overwhelmed,
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 1: he reaches down. He places his hand on us. He
• 1:58:05
  Speaker 1: speaks our name, he says, do not be afraid. I
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: am with you. You are mine, and he lifts us
• 1:58:14
  Speaker 1: to our feet to night. Perhaps you feel like one
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 1: of the prophets. Perhaps you have seen in some small
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 1: way the glory of God and you have realized how
• 1:58:26
  Speaker 1: far you are from him. Perhaps you have fallen. Perhaps
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 1: you are still on the ground, wondering if you will
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: ever be able to stand again. If so, hear this.
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 1: He is reaching for you right now, right here, in
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 1: this moment. He is not waiting for you to get strong.
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 1: He is not waiting for you to clean yourself up.
• 1:58:47
  Speaker 1: He is not waiting for you to be good enough.
• 1:58:50
  Speaker 1: He is reaching for you now, just as you are broken, weak, fallen,
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 1: and he will lift you. He will speak to you.
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 1: He will say the words you need to hear. Fear not,
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: I am with you. You are mine. So rest, be
• 1:59:09
  Speaker 1: still and let him lift you. Because the God of
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: the Throne is also the god who bends down to
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 1: touch the ones who have fallen, and he will never
• 1:59:19
  Speaker 1: leave you on the ground. We have walked through the
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 1: visions of the prophets. We have seen the Throne, the creatures,
• 1:59:27
  Speaker 1: the wheels, the sea, the elders, the rainbow, the thunder.
• 1:59:32
  Speaker 1: We have watched the prophets fall and be lifted again.
• 1:59:36
  Speaker 1: And now we come to the end, to the promise,
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 1: to the invitation that is offered to every soul who
• 1:59:43
  Speaker 1: hears this story. One day the door will open for you,
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 1: and you will hear the voice say, come up here.
• 1:59:50
  Speaker 1: Let us end our journey to night with that promise.
• 1:59:55
  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve. One day you will see the promise of Revelation.
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter four, verse one. There is a verse in the
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: Book of Revelation that has echoed through the centuries, a
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 1: verse that has brought comfort to the suffering, hope to
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 1: the weary, and courage to the afraid. It is found
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 1: in chapter four, verse one. After this, I looked and
• 2:00:18
  Speaker 1: behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first
• 2:00:22
  Speaker 1: voice which I had heard, speaking to me like a trumpet,
• 2:00:25
  Speaker 1: said come up here, and I will show you what
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 1: must take place after this. Come up here. Three simple words,
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 1: but they carry a promise that reaches across time, across space,
• 2:00:37
  Speaker 1: across every barrier that separates Earth from Heaven. One day
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 1: the door will open, and you will hear that voice,
• 2:00:45
  Speaker 1: and you will be invited to come up. John heard it. First,
• 2:00:50
  Speaker 1: he was alone on the island of Patmos, far from home,
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 1: far from friends, far from everything he loved. But the
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: door opened, the voice called, and in an instant he
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 1: was no longer on earth. He was standing before the
• 2:01:05
  Speaker 1: throne of God. He saw what Isaiah saw, what Ezekiel saw,
• 2:01:10
  Speaker 1: what Daniel saw. But this time it was not just
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 1: a vision for one prophet. It was a vision for
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: all of us. Because John wrote it down, he preserved it,
• 2:01:21
  Speaker 1: he passed it on so that every generation, every believer,
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: every heart longing for home, would know the door is real,
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 1: the throne is real, and the invitation is real. Think
• 2:01:36
  Speaker 1: of all we have seen to night. We have seen
• 2:01:39
  Speaker 1: the throne high and lifted up, radiant with the glory
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 1: of Jasper and Carnelian, surrounded by the emerald rainbow of
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 1: God's mercy. We have seen the four living creatures, each
• 2:01:51
  Speaker 1: with four faces, covered with eyes, singing Holy, Holy, Holy,
• 2:01:56
  Speaker 1: without ceasing, day and night. We have seen the wheels
• 2:02:00
  Speaker 1: within wheels full of eyes, moving wherever the spirit wills,
• 2:02:05
  Speaker 1: turning but never faltering, seeing everything, knowing everything. We have
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 1: seen the sea of glass, clear as crystal, perfectly still
• 2:02:14
  Speaker 1: reflecting the light of heaven, the place where the storm
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 1: finally ends and peace begins. We have seen the twenty
• 2:02:21
  Speaker 1: four Elders, clothed in white, crowned with gold, casting their
• 2:02:26
  Speaker 1: crowns before the throne and crying, worthy are you, our
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 1: Lord and God. We have seen the seven lamps of
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 1: fire burning with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, illuminating
• 2:02:38
  Speaker 1: every corner of creation. We have heard the thunder and
• 2:02:42
  Speaker 1: seen the lightning, the voice of God himself, powerful and majestic,
• 2:02:46
  Speaker 1: shaking the foundations of heaven and earth. And we have
• 2:02:49
  Speaker 1: watched the prophets fall overwhelmed by the glory, only to
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 1: be lifted again by the hand of God. All of
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 1: this is real. All of this is happening right now,
• 2:03:02
  Speaker 1: at this very moment. The throne is not a symbol.
• 2:03:05
  Speaker 1: The creatures are not metaphors. The sea of glass is
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 1: not a poetic invention. They are there in heaven just
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 1: as John described them, just as Isaiah and Ezekiel and
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 1: Daniel saw them. And one day you will see them too.
• 2:03:23
  Speaker 1: When will that day come? We do not know. No
• 2:03:26
  Speaker 1: one knows, not the angels, not the prophets. Only the
• 2:03:31
  Speaker 1: Father knows the day and the hour. But we know this,
• 2:03:35
  Speaker 1: The day is coming. For some, it will come when
• 2:03:38
  Speaker 1: they close their eyes for the last time on this
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 1: earth and open them in the presence of God. For others,
• 2:03:45
  Speaker 1: it will come when the trumpet sounds, when the sky
• 2:03:48
  Speaker 1: splits open, when the Son of Man returns on the
• 2:03:51
  Speaker 1: clouds with power and great glory. But however it comes,
• 2:03:56
  Speaker 1: whenever it comes, the door will open, the voice will call,
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: and you will hear it. Come up here. What will
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 1: it be like? You will not walk slowly, you will
• 2:04:08
  Speaker 1: not climb stairs, You will not pass through layers of
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 1: atmosphere and space. In an instant, faster than thought, you
• 2:04:17
  Speaker 1: will be there. The first thing you will feel is
• 2:04:20
  Speaker 1: the light, not harsh, not blinding, but warm, radiant, alive.
• 2:04:28
  Speaker 1: It will wash over you like a wave, and every shadow,
• 2:04:32
  Speaker 1: every fear, every doubt you ever carried, will dissolve in
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 1: its presence. And then you will see it the throne.
• 2:04:41
  Speaker 1: It will be more glorious than anything you imagined, more
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 1: beautiful than any painting, any description, any vision you ever
• 2:04:50
  Speaker 1: had in your mind, And seated on the throne will
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 1: be the one you have longed for all your life,
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 1: the one you prayed to in the darkness, the one
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 1: you trusted when everything else failed. The one who held
• 2:05:03
  Speaker 1: you when you were broken and lifted you when you fell.
• 2:05:06
  Speaker 1: You will see his face, and you will know beyond
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 1: all doubt that you are home. Around the throne, you
• 2:05:14
  Speaker 1: will see them, the living creatures, the elders, the angels,
• 2:05:20
  Speaker 1: the countless multitude of those who have gone before. And
• 2:05:24
  Speaker 1: they will be singing. Oh how they will be singing, Holy, Holy, Holy,
• 2:05:30
  Speaker 1: is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and
• 2:05:33
  Speaker 1: is to come. And for the first time you will
• 2:05:36
  Speaker 1: understand the song, not just with your mind, but with
• 2:05:40
  Speaker 1: your whole being. You will understand what holiness means, what
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 1: glory means, what worship means. And your voice will join theirs,
• 2:05:51
  Speaker 1: not because you have to, not because someone told you to,
• 2:05:55
  Speaker 1: but because you cannot help it, because in that moment
• 2:05:59
  Speaker 1: you will fight be doing what you were made to do.
• 2:06:02
  Speaker 1: You were made to worship, You were made to stand
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 1: before the throne. You were made to reflect the glory
• 2:06:09
  Speaker 1: of God and to delight in His presence forever. And
• 2:06:13
  Speaker 1: now at last you are home. You will step on
• 2:06:17
  Speaker 1: to the sea of glass. Your feet will touch its surface,
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 1: and it will hold you firm, unshakable, clear. You will
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 1: look down and see your reflection, but it will not
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 1: be the reflection you remember. The brokenness will be gone,
• 2:06:35
  Speaker 1: the weariness will be gone, the scars, the shame, the
• 2:06:39
  Speaker 1: weight of a thousand failures gone. You will see yourself
• 2:06:43
  Speaker 1: as God has always seen you, radiant, pure, whole, clothed
• 2:06:49
  Speaker 1: in white, crowned with glory, a child of the King.
• 2:06:53
  Speaker 1: And you will weep not from sorrow but from joy,
• 2:06:58
  Speaker 1: because you will finally understand. You were never meant to
• 2:07:02
  Speaker 1: carry all that weight. You were never meant to live
• 2:07:05
  Speaker 1: in fear. You were never meant to wonder if you
• 2:07:08
  Speaker 1: were loved. You were always his from the beginning.
• 2:07:12
  Speaker 2: And now you are home.
• 2:07:15
  Speaker 1: The twenty four Elders will rise from their thrones and
• 2:07:18
  Speaker 1: they will look at you with smiles that shine like
• 2:07:21
  Speaker 1: the sun, and they will say, welcome, We have been
• 2:07:26
  Speaker 1: waiting for you, and you will realize that you are
• 2:07:29
  Speaker 1: not alone. You never were. Every prayer you prayed was heard,
• 2:07:34
  Speaker 1: every tear you shed was seen, every step you took
• 2:07:38
  Speaker 1: in faith was recorded. And now the one who saw
• 2:07:42
  Speaker 1: it all is inviting you to cast your crown before him.
• 2:07:46
  Speaker 1: You will hold it in your hands, the crown of life,
• 2:07:49
  Speaker 1: the crown of righteousness, the crown he promised to all
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 1: who love him, and you will lay it at his feet,
• 2:07:55
  Speaker 1: not because he demands it, but because you want to,
• 2:07:59
  Speaker 1: Because in that moment, you will understand that everything you
• 2:08:02
  Speaker 1: ever were, everything you ever accomplished, everything good that ever
• 2:08:06
  Speaker 1: came from your life, it all came from him, and
• 2:08:09
  Speaker 1: the only thing you want to do is give it back.
• 2:08:12
  Speaker 1: And then you will hear his voice, not the voice
• 2:08:16
  Speaker 1: of thunder, not the voice of judgment, but the voice
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 1: of love. He will call you by name, the name
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 1: he gave you before the foundation of the world, the
• 2:08:27
  Speaker 1: name written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and he
• 2:08:30
  Speaker 1: will say, well done, good and faithful servant, Enter into
• 2:08:35
  Speaker 1: the joy of your Master, and you will fall at
• 2:08:38
  Speaker 1: his feet, not in fear, not in shame, but in worship.
• 2:08:44
  Speaker 1: And he will reach down, just as he reached down
• 2:08:47
  Speaker 1: for Isaiah, for Ezekiel, for Daniel, for John. He will
• 2:08:52
  Speaker 1: place his hand on you, and he will lift you
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 1: to your feet, and you will stand before the throne,
• 2:08:58
  Speaker 1: not as a servant cawing in fear, but as a
• 2:09:02
  Speaker 1: child welcomed home by the father who has loved you
• 2:09:05
  Speaker 1: from the beginning. Tonight, as you close your eyes and
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 1: drift into sleep, Hold on to this truth. The door
• 2:09:13
  Speaker 1: is real, the throne is real, the invitation is real,
• 2:09:18
  Speaker 1: and one day you will hear the voice. Come up here.
• 2:09:23
  Speaker 1: Until that day comes, live your life in the light
• 2:09:26
  Speaker 1: of that promise. Live as one who knows where you
• 2:09:30
  Speaker 1: are going, Live as one who knows who is waiting
• 2:09:34
  Speaker 1: for you. Live with courage because the throne is unshakable,
• 2:09:39
  Speaker 1: Live with hope because the door is open. Live with
• 2:09:44
  Speaker 1: love because the one who sits on the throne gave
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 1: everything for you. And when the storms of life rage
• 2:09:50
  Speaker 1: around you, when the thunder rolls and the lightning flashes,
• 2:09:54
  Speaker 1: remember the rainbow, Remember the promise, Remember the mercy that
• 2:09:59
  Speaker 1: surrounds the throne. God has not forgotten you, He has
• 2:10:03
  Speaker 1: not abandoned you. He is preparing a place for you.
• 2:10:07
  Speaker 1: And one day, when your journey is complete, when your
• 2:10:11
  Speaker 1: race is finished, when your faith has endured to the end,
• 2:10:15
  Speaker 1: the door will open, the voice will call, and you
• 2:10:19
  Speaker 1: will step through into the light, into the glory, into
• 2:10:24
  Speaker 1: the presence of the one who made you, who saved you,
• 2:10:27
  Speaker 1: who loves you, and you will be home forever.
• 2:10:34
  Speaker 2: Heavenly Father, as we lay down to night, we thank
• 2:10:38
  Speaker 2: you for the glimpse you have given us into your
• 2:10:40
  Speaker 2: throne room. Thank you for the prophets who saw and
• 2:10:43
  Speaker 2: wrote down what they saw so that we too might believe.
• 2:10:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you for the promise that one day we will
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 2: stand before you, not in fear, not in shame, but
• 2:10:56
  Speaker 2: as your beloved children welcomed home. And till that day comes,
• 2:11:01
  Speaker 2: watch over us, guard our hearts, strengthen our faith when
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 2: we are weary. Remind us of the sea of glass,
• 2:11:11
  Speaker 2: when we are afraid, remind us of the rainbow. When
• 2:11:14
  Speaker 2: we feel alone. Remind us that your throne never moves
• 2:11:19
  Speaker 2: and your love never fails. We rest in you tonight.
• 2:11:23
  Speaker 2: We trust in you. We place ourselves in your hands,
• 2:11:28
  Speaker 2: and we wait with hope for the day when we
• 2:11:31
  Speaker 2: will hear your voice say, come up here, in the
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 2: name of Jesus the Lamb upon the throne, we pray. Amen.
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 2: Rest Now, the throne is watching over you, and the
• 2:11:44
  Speaker 2: door is waiting. Good night,