Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Standing before God’s Awesome Throne

Transcript

Standing before God’s Awesome Throne · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: As our choir sang Isaac Watt's great piece, it was
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Speaker 1: a reminder to me of what a magnificent pen the
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Speaker 1: man had as he composed so many of the songs
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Speaker 1: that the church has sung for centuries. He lived in
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Speaker 1: the latter quarter of the 17th and the first half
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Speaker 1: of the 18th century, and his works live on. As
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Speaker 1: I recall, we have 13 of his hymns in our hymnal.
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Speaker 1: they would be familiar to most of you who have
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Speaker 1: been raised in and around the church. Always solid in
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Speaker 1: theology and magnificent reminders of the greatness of our God.
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Speaker 1: Speaking of that, the passage we're looking at in Revelation
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Speaker 1: chapter 4 is one of the classic references in all
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Speaker 1: the Bible to heaven. And we'll be focusing on John's
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Speaker 1: experience when the Lord invited him to come up there
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Speaker 1: and to record what he saw. If you have a
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Speaker 1: Bible handy or if someone near you has one and
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Speaker 1: you forgot to bring yours, please look on as I
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Speaker 1: read for you this fourth chapter of the Revelation. After
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Speaker 1: these things I looked and behold a door standing open
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Speaker 1: in heaven and the first voice which I had heard
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Speaker 1: like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, come
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Speaker 1: up here and I will show you what must take
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Speaker 1: place after these things. Immediately I was in the spirit
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Speaker 1: and behold, a throne was standing in heaven and one
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Speaker 1: sitting on the throne. He who was sitting was like
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Speaker 1: a Jasper stone and a Sardius in appearance. And there
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Speaker 1: was a rainbow around the throne and like an emerald
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Speaker 1: in appearance. Around the throne were 24 thrones, and upon
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Speaker 1: the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white
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Speaker 1: garments and golden crowns on their heads. Out from the
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Speaker 1: throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder,
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Speaker 1: And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,
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Speaker 1: which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne,
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Speaker 1: there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal.
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Speaker 1: And in the center and around the throne, four living creatures,
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Speaker 1: full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature
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Speaker 1: was like a lion, and the second creature like a cat.
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Speaker 1: And the third creature had a face like that of
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Speaker 1: a man. And the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.
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Speaker 1: And the four living creatures, each one of them having
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Speaker 1: six wings, are full of eyes around and within. And
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Speaker 1: day and night they do not cease to say, Holy, holy,
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Speaker 1: holy is the Lord God. the Almighty, who was and
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Speaker 1: who is and who is to come. And when the
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Speaker 1: living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him
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Speaker 1: who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever
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Speaker 1: and ever, the 24 elders will fall down before him
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Speaker 1: who sits on the throne and will worship him who
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Speaker 1: lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns before
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Speaker 1: the throne, saying, Worthy are you, our Lord and our God,
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Speaker 1: to receive glory and honor and power. For you created
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Speaker 1: all things and because of your will they existed and
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Speaker 1: were created. Isn't that magnificent writing? In your worship folder
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Speaker 1: you will find an outline that we will follow for
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Speaker 1: the teaching on these 11 verses of Revelation 4, invite
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Speaker 1: you to place that right here as a mark. We'll
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Speaker 1: return to that in a few moments. Our Father, we
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Speaker 1: sit before you in quietness and in awesome awareness. that
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Speaker 1: your angels witness our worship as they learn from the redeemed.
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Speaker 1: For when we tell our story, they will fold their wings,
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Speaker 1: for angels never felt the joy that our salvation brings.
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Speaker 1: Though not winged, our Father, we are worshipers nevertheless. Though
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Speaker 1: we have only a pair of eyes, and are surrounded
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Speaker 1: by the unseen host who never miss a thing. We
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Speaker 1: do pause acknowledging your right to rule over us. This
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Speaker 1: is about your pleasure and not ours. This is about
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Speaker 1: your plan, not ours. It is not about our health
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Speaker 1: or happiness. It is not about our selfish dreams and desires,
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Speaker 1: though we are consumed by them at times. This is
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Speaker 1: about you, and this world is about your plan and
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Speaker 1: what pleases you. And when we see life from that perspective,
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Speaker 1: what a difference it makes, our Father. Thank you for
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Speaker 1: revealing in these many chapters of this magnificent, in some
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Speaker 1: ways incomprehensible book, the truth concerning the future. Give us
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Speaker 1: comfort in it, knowing that the redeemed will be relieved
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Speaker 1: from the fears of that judgment yet to come. For
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Speaker 1: our judgment is behind us, having found our place in Christ,
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Speaker 1: who was judged on our behalf. However, I do pray
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Speaker 1: for those who've never come to Christ, that their restlessness
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Speaker 1: will never cease, that their worry and disturbance concerning life
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Speaker 1: will never go away until they have found the peace
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Speaker 1: that can only be found through faith in the one
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Speaker 1: who hung and died for them on the cross. We
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Speaker 1: acknowledge our Father that the one who will reign where
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Speaker 1: the sun doth its successive journeys run is the one
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Speaker 1: who has paid the penalty completely For our transgressions. He
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Speaker 1: was wounded for them. He was bruised. For our iniquities.
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Speaker 1: We are humbled to thank our father that. Having lived
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Speaker 1: as we have lived unto ourselves. That you would find
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Speaker 1: in your grace room. To bring us blessing. To give
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Speaker 1: us health. To keep us alive. To protect us from harm.
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Speaker 1: To provide a job. give us an occupation, to allow
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Speaker 1: us a roof over our heads and clothing for our
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Speaker 1: bodies and food for our stomachs. Thank you, Father, that
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Speaker 1: joy really begins and ends with you. And only when
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Speaker 1: we see ourselves in you can we know what lasting
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Speaker 1: joy is about. Now, Father, use these few moments we're
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Speaker 1: together to correct our perspective and our understanding. Broaden us
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Speaker 1: beyond the confines of this world gripped in its gravity
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Speaker 1: and take us beyond the loss and the grief of
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Speaker 1: those who have passed on and get us to the
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Speaker 1: place where we're able to see your plan is unfolding
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Speaker 1: right on time and as you would have it. We
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Speaker 1: now have the joy, our Father, of recognizing those who
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Speaker 1: helped keep us free. on this holiday weekend. And we
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Speaker 1: pause with grateful thanks to acknowledge the brave people who
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Speaker 1: stormed the shorelines and stood in our defense and paid
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Speaker 1: the ultimate price because freedom is certainly not free. We
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Speaker 1: thank you for those men and women who are statesmen
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Speaker 1: and women today who serve our country, those who are
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Speaker 1: in government, those who serve in the city and in
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Speaker 1: the county and the state. Thank you for those who
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Speaker 1: understand servant-hearted leadership. Your representatives, our Father, we pray that
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Speaker 1: you'd watch over them and watch over our nation, especially
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Speaker 1: on this Memorial Day weekend. Now, our Father, we pray
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Speaker 1: that your your people, as gifts are provided for your work,
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Speaker 1: will respond as you have led, that you will find favor.
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Speaker 1: in the motive as well as the act, and even
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Speaker 1: in the amount that is given. May all of it
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Speaker 1: be only for your glory. For we ask it in
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Speaker 1: the name of our awesome, magnificent, and risen Savior, Christ.
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Speaker 1: And all God's people said, Amen. What thoughts flood your
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Speaker 1: mind when you think of heaven? Stop for a moment
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Speaker 1: and just try to imagine it. It's funny, isn't it?
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Speaker 1: It's almost amusing how when we try to picture heaven,
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Speaker 1: we can only think of someplace that would be even
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Speaker 1: more comfortable than Earth is comfortable. Or if we have
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Speaker 1: a thousand dollars here, we'll have ten million dollars there.
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Speaker 1: Or if the pillow is soft here, it'll be fluffy
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Speaker 1: and big and wonderful there. And if the music is
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Speaker 1: nice here, it will just be magnificent there. And on
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Speaker 1: and on we go. We are so earthbound that and
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Speaker 1: committed to such a earth perspective without even realizing it,
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Speaker 1: that everything we have to even imagine must somehow be
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Speaker 1: compared to the way we have it now. Except there,
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Speaker 1: it will just be a whole lot better. Several years ago,
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Speaker 1: Cynthia and I were recipients of a wonderful phone call.
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Speaker 1: A man we had really developed a friendship with and
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Speaker 1: He happened to be the owner of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
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Speaker 1: And he said, I wonder if you would be willing
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Speaker 1: to accept our invitation. We'd like to fly to where
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Speaker 1: you live and pick you up and take you to
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Speaker 1: our hotel in Maui. We said, let's pray about it. Yes, we'll...
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Speaker 1: To quote Cynthia, you pray while I pack, okay? So
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Speaker 1: in a nanosecond we were already putting on Hawaiian shirts
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Speaker 1: and getting ready for the flight. To make it even better,
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Speaker 1: we found out that he also, they had also invited
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Speaker 1: our longtime friends from Dallas Seminary, Howie and Gene Hendricks,
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Speaker 1: to go along. So we were going to be there,
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Speaker 1: no schedule, no responsibility, no speaking, no preaching, just hanging out.
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Speaker 1: for five days, six days. And one afternoon, as the
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Speaker 1: ladies were probably out shopping, I forget what they were doing,
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Speaker 1: but while Howie and I were together, we were walking
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Speaker 1: along the corridor of that beautiful windswept north section of
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Speaker 1: Maui in that Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and breezes were blowing and
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Speaker 1: prevailing winds, and Suddenly, walking up to us was one
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Speaker 1: of the maids who said, is there anything I can
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Speaker 1: do to help you? Is there anything you need? And
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Speaker 1: we said, no, we're just trying to find our way
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Speaker 1: to our room. She said, my pleasure. So she walked away.
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Speaker 1: We hadn't gone five or six more feet, and a
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Speaker 1: waiter walked up and said, could I get you something
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Speaker 1: cool to drink or maybe some coffee? Could I show
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Speaker 1: you a table? We said, no, thanks. We're fine. My pleasure,
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Speaker 1: he said. And About 10 or 15 steps further, another
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Speaker 1: one walked out and said, we're so glad to see
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Speaker 1: you here, you guests. Yes, we are. Oh, wonderful. Can
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Speaker 1: I show you to your room? No. We've got the
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Speaker 1: key here, and we'll find it. My pleasure. And we
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Speaker 1: got to our room, and Howie looked at me, and
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Speaker 1: he said, is this heaven? Or are we in heaven?
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Speaker 1: I mean. And I said something dumb like, if it isn't,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to be disappointed when we get there. That's
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Speaker 1: just the way we are, isn't it? I got to
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Speaker 1: my study this morning here at the church and I
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Speaker 1: found a little box that I'd never seen before. Someone
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Speaker 1: made their way in and left me a box. It
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Speaker 1: says heaven. No taste, like no taste on earth. And
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Speaker 1: I thought, boy, heaven in a box. So I opened
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Speaker 1: the box and Ooh, cigar box. And I thought, well,
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Speaker 1: maybe Cynthia dropped by. No, I'm teasing, I'm teasing. And
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Speaker 1: on the bottom of the box, it says, smoking may
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Speaker 1: cause lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy.
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Speaker 1: Even though it's hand-rolled in the Dominican Republic by Heavenly
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Speaker 1: Cigar Company. Interesting. That ain't heaven. Maui, Hawaii, Ritz-Carlton ain't heaven.
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Speaker 1: Nothing on this earth, nothing is anything even like heaven. Nothing.
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Speaker 1: You and I could spend the next decade with nothing
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Speaker 1: but imaginary thoughts about this paradise of God and we
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Speaker 1: would come up so short it would be wasting our time.
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Speaker 1: even to imagine it. Why? Because when you move from
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Speaker 1: the realm of the seen to the unseen, from the
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Speaker 1: self-gratifying pleasures of now on this earth, from the creature
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Speaker 1: comforts and the tangible benefits and the enjoyments and ecstatic
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Speaker 1: pleasures that we have on this earth, we can't grasp
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Speaker 1: A world without 24-hour cycles, days and nights. No gravity.
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Speaker 1: No sun. No moon. No stars. No night. No day.
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Speaker 1: No seas. Nothing that we call the familiar will be
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Speaker 1: that in that unfamiliar, resplendent, glorious place. The word for
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Speaker 1: it is incomprehensible. A.W. Tozer, fine writer, in his book,
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Speaker 1: The Knowledge of the Holy, addresses the incomprehensibility of God.
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Speaker 1: We learn by using what we already know as a
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Speaker 1: bridge over which we pass to the unknown. It is
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Speaker 1: not possible for the mind to crash suddenly past the
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Speaker 1: familiar into the totally unfamiliar. Even the most vigorous and
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Speaker 1: daring mind is unable to create something out of nothing
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Speaker 1: by a spontaneous act of imagination. He continues, the effort
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Speaker 1: of inspired men to express the ineffable has placed a
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Speaker 1: great strain upon both thought and language in the Holy Scriptures.
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Speaker 1: these being often a revelation of a world above nature.
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Speaker 1: The writers are compelled to use a great many like
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Speaker 1: words to make themselves understood. When the Spirit would acquaint
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Speaker 1: us with something that lies beyond the field of our knowledge,
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Speaker 1: he tells us that this thing is like something we
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Speaker 1: already know, but he is always careful to phrase his
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Speaker 1: description differently So as to save us from slavish literalism.
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Speaker 1: Splendid way to put it. We come to a section
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Speaker 1: of scripture in Revelation 4. And no matter how careful
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Speaker 1: of the preacher may be. No matter how many hours
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Speaker 1: he may have spent pouring over this passage of scripture.
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Speaker 1: We all... Come away from it wishing we could describe
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Speaker 1: it better. Understand it more. Enter into its truths more
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Speaker 1: deliberately and realistically. Here is John isolated on an island
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Speaker 1: in the Aegean Sea. The island of Patmos with its
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Speaker 1: old rugged rocks. Transported suddenly from earth to To a
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Speaker 1: glorious non-earth setting. Where he is told to write. To
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Speaker 1: write about things that are revealed to him. And one
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Speaker 1: can only imagine something of the frustration as he tried
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Speaker 1: to put into words. Terms that could describe this remarkable
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Speaker 1: scene that unfolded before him. Before we look at the
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Speaker 1: fourth chapter, let's take a glance at the inspired outline
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Speaker 1: of the book itself in chapter 1, verse 19. I
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Speaker 1: want you to see first about where we are in
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Speaker 1: the book of Revelation. Some Bible books outline themselves. Acts 1,
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Speaker 1: 8 is an outline of the book of Acts. Acts. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
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Speaker 1: and the remotest part of the earth. That's the book
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Speaker 1: of Acts. When you get to Revelation, it's got an
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Speaker 1: outline that the Spirit gave us in chapter 1, verse 19.
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Speaker 1: Where John is told by the Lord Jesus to write
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Speaker 1: the things which you have seen. And we looked at
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Speaker 1: those in chapter 1. He saw the things that the
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Speaker 1: Lord revealed to him. And then he said, I want
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Speaker 1: you to write about the things which are. And that's
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Speaker 1: chapters 2 and 3. The churches that are named and
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Speaker 1: appraised by the Lord of the church. From Ephesus all
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Speaker 1: the way to Laodicea. We did that cycle of churches.
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Speaker 1: And they are representative of the churches that would be
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Speaker 1: on this earth. For the period of time before future
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Speaker 1: events would start. And we're in the midst of that
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Speaker 1: era right now. And then he adds. And then write
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Speaker 1: the things which will take place after these things. Look
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Speaker 1: at the little word will. The things that will take place.
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Speaker 1: Beginning at chapter 4, all the way through chapter 22,
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Speaker 1: we're looking at the things yet future. Never forget that. Never.
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Speaker 1: From chapter 4 through chapter 22, it's all future. Future.
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Speaker 1: future from any day in which we have lived, future
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Speaker 1: from any era that's ever come to pass on this earth.
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Speaker 1: Everything is as it will be. And it is mapped
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Speaker 1: out rather carefully for us, including the judgments that will
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Speaker 1: fall on this earth, including even the heavenly scene that
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Speaker 1: we're looking at in chapter 4. So with John, we
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Speaker 1: are traveling over unfamiliar territory, quite frankly. I'll do my
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Speaker 1: best to clarify what it's saying, but there will be
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Speaker 1: times I'll have to admit I'm at a loss to
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Speaker 1: do this any better. I can't describe it any more
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Speaker 1: than I have. We have what John has seen, chapter 1.
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Speaker 1: We have what was, chapters 2 and 3. And now
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Speaker 1: we move into the things that will be after these things.
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Speaker 1: By the way, see the last few words at chapter 1,
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Speaker 1: verse 19. things which will take place after these things.
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Speaker 1: The Greek says metatauta, metatauta. The very same two words
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Speaker 1: appear at the beginning of chapter four, verse one, metatauta,
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Speaker 1: after these things. And the end of verse one, metatauta,
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Speaker 1: same thing right there, after these things. So it seems
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Speaker 1: as though John is announcing in his writing, we have
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Speaker 1: now come to the things that will be after these
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Speaker 1: other things have occurred. Everything in chapters 1, 2, and
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Speaker 1: 3 fall in the category, everything falls in the category
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Speaker 1: of history, the past, or the present. When you get
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Speaker 1: to chapter 4, we're moving into the future. John Walvoord states,
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Speaker 1: chapters 4 and 5 are the introduction and background of
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Speaker 1: the tremendous sweep of prophetic events predicted in the rest
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Speaker 1: of the book. Now, where are we going with the writer?
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Speaker 1: We are being escorted by John into the future. A
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Speaker 1: film was made that humored a lot of us years
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Speaker 1: ago called... What was it? The past? The future? Back
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Speaker 1: to the future. These films changed my life. I just
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Speaker 1: can't even remember the names of them. Back to the future.
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Speaker 1: And you look back in time even though you were
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Speaker 1: at the present time and everything was suddenly reversed and
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Speaker 1: it was another era yesteryear. Now we're looking far ahead
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Speaker 1: to the future and it's also going to be just
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Speaker 1: as strange, in fact far more strange because we have
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Speaker 1: nothing surrounding us that will really clarified in any kind
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Speaker 1: of detail. So we're looking far into the future when
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Speaker 1: we get to chapter 4. Immediately, John is invited into heaven.
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Speaker 1: It begins with seeing a door, hearing a voice, and
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Speaker 1: then listening to what the voice says. Verse 1. After
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Speaker 1: these things, I looked, and behold, a door. Now stop.
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Speaker 1: you're thinking of a door, aren't you? Everybody's got doors
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Speaker 1: in their houses. Every building has a door, so you're thinking,
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Speaker 1: stop there. It is an entrance. There isn't like a
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Speaker 1: knob and a key and a hinge or hinges. It's
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Speaker 1: an entrance. It's a moving from earth to heaven, and
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Speaker 1: the only way John could describe it as a door
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Speaker 1: is a term like we're familiar with, an entrance. A
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Speaker 1: way of going from here into there. So he sees
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Speaker 1: a door, an opening, and it's standing open in heaven.
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Speaker 1: And the first voice which I had heard was like
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Speaker 1: the sound of a trumpet speaking with me. So he
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Speaker 1: hears the voice. He heard it, chapter 1, verse 10,
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Speaker 1: when it spoke like a trumpet. And it was identified
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Speaker 1: in the verses that followed, you may remember, as the
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ. So it is Christ who is alive,
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Speaker 1: who is serving, if you will, as an escort to
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Speaker 1: show John into the portals beyond. And the same voice
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Speaker 1: comes again and invites him, come up here and I
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Speaker 1: will show you what must take place after these things.
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Speaker 1: Come up here. Let's pause and understand the heavens. Let's
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Speaker 1: keep it simple. Let's use the Jewish mentality as the
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Speaker 1: scriptures are that in their roots. The first heaven is
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Speaker 1: the atmospheric heavens. That's from where you heard the thunder
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Speaker 1: last night. You saw the lightning last night. You hear
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Speaker 1: the rain. That's where birds and planes fly. That's where
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Speaker 1: clouds form. It's called our atmospheric heavens. That's the first
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Speaker 1: If you go beyond our atmosphere, you move into the
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Speaker 1: second heaven, which is the world of the planets. The sun,
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Speaker 1: the moon, the stars, the stellar spaces. The planetary heavens
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Speaker 1: would be the heavens studied by astronomers with gigantic telescopes
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Speaker 1: that peer as far as they can into that realm
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Speaker 1: that is so distant from us. The third heaven, according
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Speaker 1: to 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul was caught up and
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Speaker 1: heard from the living God, that's the heaven where John is.
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Speaker 1: This is the dwelling realm of the Almighty. This is
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Speaker 1: beyond and above and through everything that is familiar, and
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Speaker 1: it opens and expands. Far beyond anything we could imagine.
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Speaker 1: The Hebrew word is Hashemayim. It is the first verse
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Speaker 1: of the Hebrew Bible and it describes he made Hashemayim
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Speaker 1: the vastness of the heavens and the earth. But this
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Speaker 1: is beyond the realm of what he has made. This
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Speaker 1: is his dwelling place. John is invited to move from
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Speaker 1: earth into the awesome throne room of the Almighty God.
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Speaker 1: Come up here. I will show you what must take place.
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Speaker 1: Immediately I was in the spirit. He says that earlier
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Speaker 1: in the book, and it seems best to understand that
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Speaker 1: as a state of spiritual ecstasy. It appears in chapter 1,
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Speaker 1: verse 10, when he was first introduced to the speaker
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Speaker 1: of the voice and now again he is in this
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Speaker 1: ecstatic realm. Let me pause to clarify that before the
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Speaker 1: Bible was complete when there were revelations yet to be
28:43
Speaker 1: set forth the Lord would communicate those revelations in supernatural manner.
28:50
Speaker 1: He would do so through visions through dreams often As
28:54
Speaker 1: people were in an ecstatic state. He would do that
29:00
Speaker 1: through prophets. Who would speak without error. And the way
29:04
Speaker 1: you knew he was a true prophet. Is that he
29:05
Speaker 1: spoke without mistake. He spoke ex cathedra. Sometimes he would
29:12
Speaker 1: reveal it through his own words. As he would literally
29:15
Speaker 1: and audibly speak from heaven. As happens here. When he
29:19
Speaker 1: says to John. Come up and join me. I want
29:23
Speaker 1: to show you things to come. So John is here.
29:28
Speaker 1: By the way, that doesn't go on anymore, okay? Don't
29:33
Speaker 1: go home and eat a big meal and think maybe
29:37
Speaker 1: as you dream this afternoon you'll find out. your future
29:41
Speaker 1: or you go to somebody that says they can read
29:43
Speaker 1: your future it's nonsense astrology is nonsense much of it
29:50
Speaker 1: anti-biblical what you are to know is revealed in the
29:54
Speaker 1: scriptures if you need to know more he has ways
29:57
Speaker 1: of doing that as well Now in John's day, since
30:01
Speaker 1: the scriptures were incomplete, he's doing it in this audible manner.
30:05
Speaker 1: And John says immediately, I was in the spirit and behold,
30:10
Speaker 1: a throne. Standing in heaven. Stop. You're thinking of a
30:16
Speaker 1: piece of furniture. I understand. Because the only throne we
30:21
Speaker 1: have ever seen is a big, big, elegant seat. Big chairs.
30:30
Speaker 1: With arms and stuff on it. And people sitting in
30:36
Speaker 1: it with stuff on them. And it's all about stuff.
30:42
Speaker 1: This is not about stuff. This is about the ethereal, invisible,
30:49
Speaker 1: ineffable world of the unseen. But the only way John
30:54
Speaker 1: knows to describe the enthronement of the Almighty is to
30:59
Speaker 1: use words we can grasp. So he's sitting on the throne.
31:04
Speaker 1: He is literally occupying the sovereign place of rulership and permanent,
31:11
Speaker 1: unshakable authority. John sees the one who is the living God.
31:18
Speaker 1: At least he sees the light. brilliant light shining from him,
31:23
Speaker 1: as we're going to read, and he senses this awesome
31:27
Speaker 1: presence of the throne room, we call it. The living
31:33
Speaker 1: God is enthroned. Psalm 115, 3. Our God is in
31:39
Speaker 1: the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. Daniel 4, 35.
31:45
Speaker 1: All the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing. And
31:49
Speaker 1: he does according to his will in the in the
31:52
Speaker 1: army of heaven, the host of heaven, and among the
31:54
Speaker 1: inhabitants of the earth, and no one can ward off
31:57
Speaker 1: his hand or say to him, what are you doing?
32:01
Speaker 1: Those are verses that describe the sovereign work and power
32:07
Speaker 1: and majesty of our God. Awesome God. My copy of
32:16
Speaker 1: the Sports Illustrated came this week, and on the front
32:19
Speaker 1: was a picture of Serena, who is the number one
32:25
Speaker 1: tennis player among the women today. And there's one word
32:28
Speaker 1: they wrote on the front cover, big inch and a
32:32
Speaker 1: half word, awesome. I thought, nope, she's a good tennis player.
32:37
Speaker 1: She's far from awesome. If she won twice as many
32:41
Speaker 1: games in half the time, she'd still not be awesome.
32:45
Speaker 1: Only one is awesome. And that's the one John can
32:49
Speaker 1: hardly describe enough. In words that he could put into writing.
32:56
Speaker 1: He saw the one on the throne sitting. And he
32:59
Speaker 1: who was sitting was like. Here's our word. Notice in
33:02
Speaker 1: verse 3. Suddenly he's got to use terms that can
33:06
Speaker 1: help us understand this incomprehensible appearance. Sitting was like a
33:15
Speaker 1: jasper stone. Could have been rendered diamond. It's a brilliant
33:21
Speaker 1: crystal clear. Beautiful under light flashing stone. And he adds.
33:29
Speaker 1: And a sardius in appearance. A little less familiar. It's
33:32
Speaker 1: a brilliantly red stone. And there was a rainbow around
33:37
Speaker 1: the throne. Like. Here's another. Like an emerald in appearance.
33:42
Speaker 1: This green that we're familiar with. Among the emeralds. Perhaps
33:46
Speaker 1: there was a brilliant. clear, bright, white like light, mixed
33:51
Speaker 1: with red, mixed with green, and it was like a halo,
33:55
Speaker 1: like a rainbow over all that he saw. William Chalmers
34:00
Speaker 1: Smith wrote it this way, Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
34:06
Speaker 1: in light, inaccessible, hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious,
34:11
Speaker 1: the ancient of days, almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.
34:18
Speaker 1: Light that could not even be described except with the
34:23
Speaker 1: use of familiar brilliant stones that to us are not
34:27
Speaker 1: only priceless, but they are dazzling in beauty. Well, all
34:37
Speaker 1: of a sudden John looks deeper and sees around the
34:41
Speaker 1: throne 24 other thrones. Watch closely. I saw 24 elders
34:53
Speaker 1: sitting clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads.
35:03
Speaker 1: This is still future. This is all yet future. Not
35:06
Speaker 1: yet taken place. These are things that will take place.
35:10
Speaker 1: And he sees people. And they are somehow reigning with
35:16
Speaker 1: this reigning one, this enthroned one, sitting on their own
35:21
Speaker 1: lesser significant thrones and they are crowned. They are called
35:26
Speaker 1: first presbyteros. We get our word presbytery from that same
35:31
Speaker 1: word translated elders in 1 Timothy 3 when describing the
35:36
Speaker 1: role of the officers of the highest office of a church.
35:41
Speaker 1: And here they are not Guiding the affairs of the church,
35:45
Speaker 1: these are people who are presbyteros, sitting clothed in white.
35:51
Speaker 1: It's a picture of purity. Purity and having golden crowns
35:58
Speaker 1: on their heads. Crowns. In the New Testament, there are
36:03
Speaker 1: only two kinds of crowns that are mentioned. The first
36:07
Speaker 1: are called the diadema crowns. D-I-A-D-E-M-A, diadema. We get our
36:12
Speaker 1: word diadem from it, obviously. That's the monarch's crown, jeweled, beautiful,
36:19
Speaker 1: attractive monarch's crown that often is passed from one generation
36:25
Speaker 1: to the next as the blue bloods are born into
36:28
Speaker 1: the family and take over the throne of the country.
36:32
Speaker 1: They are crowned with a diadema. The other crown is
36:36
Speaker 1: a diadem. less impressive crown. It's usually of plaited leaves
36:42
Speaker 1: and ivy. And you've seen pictures of them on coins
36:47
Speaker 1: where sometime individuals would be given these crowns after an
36:54
Speaker 1: athletic event. As they would stand before the bema, the step,
36:59
Speaker 1: or the judgment seat, and the judge would place over
37:02
Speaker 1: their head or on their heads the stephanos, Our name
37:07
Speaker 1: Stephen comes from that name for that crown. If you
37:11
Speaker 1: named your son Stephen, good name. He's called crown, or
37:16
Speaker 1: that's what the term means. Not even an English word.
37:20
Speaker 1: Stephanos is the plaited crown that comes from achievement, accomplishment, reward.
37:29
Speaker 1: This is the Stephanos crown. These elders are sitting on
37:33
Speaker 1: these thrones, clothed in white garments, and they have golden crowns, Stephanos,
37:40
Speaker 1: on their heads. So John sees them, and immediately the
37:46
Speaker 1: question is, who are they? Who are they? Well, as
37:49
Speaker 1: you can imagine, pages of commentaries have been written where
37:54
Speaker 1: everybody's guessing because you're never told. I mean, where are
38:00
Speaker 1: the 24 elders identified? You keep looking, and it's not there.
38:04
Speaker 1: I've looked. because I wanted to be the first one
38:07
Speaker 1: to know so I could tell all of you. But
38:10
Speaker 1: nobody knows their identity. The best we can say is
38:17
Speaker 1: that these are representatives of rewarded believers chosen by the
38:23
Speaker 1: Almighty to reign alongside Him in this position of wonderful responsibility.
38:32
Speaker 1: And the responsibilities we'll get into later on, but they
38:35
Speaker 1: are They are co-people of the redeemed who come from
38:41
Speaker 1: no doubt this age who have passed into the Lord's
38:46
Speaker 1: presence either through death or at the rapture of the
38:48
Speaker 1: church when we are taken off this earth before the
38:51
Speaker 1: judgment hits. And these are selected by the Lord himself.
38:55
Speaker 1: Why 24? Well, some have said there were 12 apostles
39:01
Speaker 1: and there were 12 tribes. So it represents Jew and
39:04
Speaker 1: as well the old testament jews as well as the
39:07
Speaker 1: new testament believers in the church we don't know that
39:10
Speaker 1: it's a nice guess that adds up to 24 makes
39:14
Speaker 1: sense but we don't know uh just leave it at
39:17
Speaker 1: 24 why do you have to know you know what
39:21
Speaker 1: if there were 28 would that make you go oh
39:22
Speaker 1: i'm not going to believe the bible anymore 28 of those. No,
39:26
Speaker 1: it doesn't. It's just 24 of them. Let's leave the
39:30
Speaker 1: mystery with him who chooses the numbers and chooses the
39:34
Speaker 1: ones who ought to be there. Are you going to
39:36
Speaker 1: be one of them? Or am I going to be
39:37
Speaker 1: one of them? I have no idea. I don't know
39:40
Speaker 1: how they're selected. I just know they're there and that
39:45
Speaker 1: they're in a setting that is awesome to them, as
39:49
Speaker 1: you'll see in a moment. They have been given crowns
39:52
Speaker 1: as rewards, no doubt, for their life on this earth.
39:55
Speaker 1: I get that from Stephanos, the crown of achievement or
40:01
Speaker 1: reward or blessing. And so they have these crowns. Now,
40:04
Speaker 1: suddenly he looks back and he sees out from the
40:07
Speaker 1: throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.
40:13
Speaker 1: And you don't need any description of that, do you?
40:15
Speaker 1: We were awakened last night with I mean, it looked
40:19
Speaker 1: like people were taking flash pictures of Cynthia and me
40:21
Speaker 1: in bed. I mean, it's like, and I'm thinking, good night,
40:27
Speaker 1: what's happened here? And the thunder is, it's like, good night. Now,
40:34
Speaker 1: what's interesting is we had some folks who stayed overnight
40:37
Speaker 1: in a camper out here in our parking lot. And
40:40
Speaker 1: they came in this morning like, It was really some
40:44
Speaker 1: kind of night, you Texans have here. Well, it happens
40:48
Speaker 1: all the time. They said, we were laying there in
40:50
Speaker 1: bed thinking, here we are in this tin box, the
40:52
Speaker 1: highest thing on this parking lot. John hears thunder. John
40:59
Speaker 1: sees lightning. And there were peals of thunder and the
41:06
Speaker 1: lamps of fire burning before the throne. It's not lampstands.
41:10
Speaker 1: These are torches lit. These are torches that represent, it seems,
41:16
Speaker 1: a picture of the fierceness of some kind. And the
41:23
Speaker 1: seven spirits of God, another reference as we went to
41:26
Speaker 1: earlier of the Holy Spirit. Before the throne was something
41:30
Speaker 1: like a sea of glass. Don't draw a sea of glass.
41:37
Speaker 1: It's like a sea of glass. Meaning what? Well, one
41:43
Speaker 1: man puts it this way. There are three things that
41:46
Speaker 1: this sea, like shining glass, symbolizes. Preciousness, dazzling purity, immense distance.
41:53
Speaker 1: The throne of God was in the immense distance as
41:56
Speaker 1: if at the other side of a great sea. One
42:00
Speaker 1: of the characteristics of the writing of John is the
42:02
Speaker 1: reverence which, even in the heavenly places, never dares to
42:06
Speaker 1: be familiar with God, but paints its picture in terms
42:10
Speaker 1: of light. And distance. It's like. Out there. And it's
42:21
Speaker 1: something like a sea of glass. Like crystal in the
42:23
Speaker 1: center around the throne. For. Living creatures. Not elders. These
42:32
Speaker 1: are now. Zao. Z-A-O is the word. It means life.
42:39
Speaker 1: Living ones. Creature isn't even a term. They. That's been
42:42
Speaker 1: added so we can see it as some entity full
42:46
Speaker 1: of eyes in front and behind. Now, when you draw
42:50
Speaker 1: your picture, don't put eyes all over it. You're just
42:53
Speaker 1: going to immediately think of eyes that are battened all over.
42:55
Speaker 1: I've seen charts. You've got eyes everywhere. I mean, eyes
42:59
Speaker 1: all over, in the back, in the front, hands, eyes, arms, armpits, eyes, everywhere. Relax.
43:08
Speaker 1: This is an all-seeing picture. Missing nothing, ever-present appearance of
43:17
Speaker 1: angelic creatures. Why aren't the others angels? Well, angels are
43:22
Speaker 1: never numbered, and angels are never enthroned. So we know
43:26
Speaker 1: these others, elders to be human beings, glorified, representatives of
43:31
Speaker 1: the redeemed, and these living creatures, since they're full of eyes,
43:35
Speaker 1: missing nothing, And look at how he describes them. First
43:39
Speaker 1: was like a lion, and the second like a calf
43:42
Speaker 1: or an ox. And the third creature had a face
43:45
Speaker 1: like a man, and the fourth creature was like a
43:49
Speaker 1: flying eagle. Like, like, like, like. I'm going to wear
43:53
Speaker 1: you out on this, but once you learn that, you'll
43:56
Speaker 1: keep from making silly mistakes. One isn't a man, and
44:03
Speaker 1: the other a lion, and the other one an eagle,
44:06
Speaker 1: the beak, or ox. It's been said these four creatures
44:13
Speaker 1: represent the highest level of their category in either strength
44:18
Speaker 1: or wisdom. Interesting. Maybe these were the upper echelon representatives
44:23
Speaker 1: of the angelic creatures. There are four of them. And
44:27
Speaker 1: look at what they do. Here's why we say they're angels.
44:29
Speaker 1: The four living creatures, each one of them, It doesn't
44:33
Speaker 1: say had like six wings. It says they had six wings.
44:36
Speaker 1: So you can take that one, take it to the bank.
44:39
Speaker 1: They had six wings, full of eyes around and within
44:43
Speaker 1: day and night. They do not cease to say, holy, holy,
44:49
Speaker 1: holy is the Lord God, the almighty, who was and
44:52
Speaker 1: who is and who is to come. You get the
44:56
Speaker 1: word ceaseless? They do not cease to say, holy, holy, holy,
45:02
Speaker 1: Is the Lord God almighty. Hold your place and look at.
45:07
Speaker 1: Isaiah 6. You see them. Identified as the seraphim. Studying
45:15
Speaker 1: about angels is fascinating. And it could keep us. Keep
45:18
Speaker 1: us busy all afternoon. And never even come near. To
45:22
Speaker 1: exhausting the subject. These creatures are multi-winged. All seeing. And.
45:31
Speaker 1: whom Isaiah the prophet identifies in chapter 6, verse 1.
45:36
Speaker 1: I saw the Lord, the year of King Uzziah's death,
45:40
Speaker 1: I saw the Lord sitting on the throne, lofty and exalted,
45:43
Speaker 1: with the train of his robe filling the temple. Seraphim,
45:46
Speaker 1: it's the plural of seraphs, which means red or burning.
45:51
Speaker 1: These burning like creatures, the plural, stood above him, each
45:55
Speaker 1: having six wings. With two he covered his face, with
45:58
Speaker 1: two he covered his feet, and with Two he flew,
46:02
Speaker 1: and one called out to another. This is an antiphonal sound.
46:05
Speaker 1: If you ever sung in large choirs, you sometimes sing
46:08
Speaker 1: in antiphonal voice. One will sing on this side, the
46:11
Speaker 1: other will answer on that side. One will sing his part,
46:13
Speaker 1: the other will sing that part. Then you'll sing together,
46:16
Speaker 1: and then this group will sing, and then that group
46:18
Speaker 1: will answer. That's the way this was happening. Holy, holy,
46:21
Speaker 1: holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is
46:23
Speaker 1: full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold
46:26
Speaker 1: trembled at the voice of him who called out. And
46:29
Speaker 1: back to revelation four, we've got the same type setting,
46:33
Speaker 1: these six winged creatures who are all seeing, and they
46:37
Speaker 1: do not cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the
46:40
Speaker 1: Lord God, the almighty. Say that with me. Okay. Holy, holy,
46:45
Speaker 1: holy is the Lord God almighty. Do it again. Holy, holy,
46:50
Speaker 1: holy is the Lord God almighty. Okay. Now we're going
46:54
Speaker 1: to do this in two voices.
46:56
Speaker 2: Okay.
46:57
Speaker 1: This group over here, including you in the box seats,
46:59
Speaker 1: are going to be the first ones, and then the
47:01
Speaker 1: others of you are going to answer, holy, holy, holy
47:04
Speaker 1: is the Lord God Almighty. Let's kind of outdo each other, okay?
47:08
Speaker 1: Nice and... Okay, here we go. Holy, holy, holy is the... Holy, holy,
47:14
Speaker 1: holy is... Holy, holy, holy is the Lord... Holy, holy, holy...
47:20
Speaker 1: That's it! That's it! Stop or be taken up! Wonderful. Magnificent.
47:29
Speaker 1: But we just don't have very many voices. We just
47:32
Speaker 1: have 1,500 or so that are doing this together. These
47:36
Speaker 1: four are doing it and there are a myriad of angels.
47:39
Speaker 1: Maybe these four led them all in it. But the
47:41
Speaker 1: point is they ceaselessly give praise to him who is
47:45
Speaker 1: worthy of honor and glory and blessing and majesty. And
47:50
Speaker 1: we fiddle around on this earth worried about our plans
47:53
Speaker 1: and our disappointments and And our future. And our money.
47:58
Speaker 1: And our hopes. And our dreams. When the final analysis.
48:03
Speaker 1: All of that fades. You think John right now is
48:07
Speaker 1: worried about supper on Patmos? You think John is standing
48:11
Speaker 1: there thinking. Did I close the door in my cave
48:14
Speaker 1: before I left? Or did I leave that thing? I
48:17
Speaker 1: got the key to that. None of that matters. None
48:20
Speaker 1: of that is significant. All about the almighty heavenly power.
48:25
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father and the elders and the angels shouting and
48:30
Speaker 1: praising in antiphonal voice. These living creatures giving glory and
48:35
Speaker 1: honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne.
48:37
Speaker 1: To him who lives forever and ever. And look at
48:40
Speaker 1: the four. Look at the twenty and four elders. Watch them.
48:43
Speaker 1: The 24 elders will fall down before him. This is
48:49
Speaker 1: yet future. They're sitting alongside and around and when the
48:53
Speaker 1: sound comes and they're hearing it and they're caught up
48:57
Speaker 1: in it, they fall down before him who is the
49:01
Speaker 1: awesome God. And they cast their Stephanus before the throne.
49:06
Speaker 1: They put their crowns before the throne. That would be
49:09
Speaker 1: a magnificent moment to witness. As we who may be
49:13
Speaker 1: rewarded with a crown or two will realize this is
49:16
Speaker 1: not about me. This is not about remembering my work.
49:20
Speaker 1: This is all about my God who gave me breath
49:22
Speaker 1: in my lungs and a voice to speak and thoughts
49:25
Speaker 1: to think and a direction to go. It's all about
49:29
Speaker 1: my God. And they themselves will cast those crowns before
49:34
Speaker 1: the throne and they join in with the voices of
49:37
Speaker 1: those saying, holy, holy. They say, worthy are you, our
49:41
Speaker 1: Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power.
49:45
Speaker 1: For you created all things. And because of your will,
49:49
Speaker 1: they existed and were created. Amen? Amen. That's exactly the
49:55
Speaker 1: way it is. It's all for his glory, for his purpose.
50:00
Speaker 1: That's why we were created. That's why we've been made.
50:03
Speaker 1: That's why we live. That's why we exist at this
50:07
Speaker 1: very moment. That's part of his plan for our death.
50:11
Speaker 1: Even our deaths. Our births. Our deaths. Our achievements. Our disappointments.
50:16
Speaker 1: Our marriages. Our failures. Our going on with life. Whatever
50:21
Speaker 1: it may include. It is all about the one. who
50:23
Speaker 1: is worthy to receive glory and honor and praise. You see,
50:27
Speaker 1: when you get a hold of prophetic truth, it is
50:31
Speaker 1: amazing how it reduces the significance of your everyday worries.
50:35
Speaker 1: It's amazing what it does to you. Suddenly you can't
50:38
Speaker 1: even remember what it was. You kind of feel lost
50:41
Speaker 1: without that worry that you've been nurturing for several days
50:44
Speaker 1: now and you came in with. And suddenly you're caught
50:47
Speaker 1: up in this scene and you're with the throng who
50:51
Speaker 1: are worshiping And so with John. And so with us.
51:00
Speaker 1: When Handel was asked how he could write the Messiah,
51:03
Speaker 1: he had a simple answer. I saw the heavens opened
51:07
Speaker 1: and God upon his great throne. He was there. And
51:13
Speaker 1: I couldn't not write it. If you read the story,
51:16
Speaker 1: he could hardly eat or sleep as he wrote it.
51:19
Speaker 1: He couldn't write fast enough. One man says there's something
51:24
Speaker 1: very interesting here. John makes no attempt to describe God
51:27
Speaker 1: in any human shape. He rigorously shuns anthropomorphic details. He
51:32
Speaker 1: describes God in the flashing of gem colors. That's our God.
51:40
Speaker 1: That's who we worship. That's who we meet when we die.
51:45
Speaker 1: That's who we serve. The one to whom we sing.
51:51
Speaker 1: Why we live. He's what we're all about. I think
51:59
Speaker 1: there are three timeless truths that live right on through this.
52:03
Speaker 1: And I don't want this to end. We're in the
52:06
Speaker 1: middle of an oratorio, a symphony of praise in these
52:09
Speaker 1: majestic movements. And the Lord God is the paramount theme
52:14
Speaker 1: of the symphony. And yet I've got to stop here.
52:17
Speaker 1: We'll take over next time. We'll come back to it.
52:21
Speaker 1: But let me give you these three thoughts. For those
52:24
Speaker 1: who tend to ignore the future, there are end time
52:29
Speaker 1: events that must take place. Verse 1, I will show
52:34
Speaker 1: you what must take place. For those who tend to
52:38
Speaker 1: ignore the future, there are end time events that must
52:43
Speaker 1: take place. By the way, they will take precedence over
52:47
Speaker 1: everything else. God's wheels grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.
52:55
Speaker 1: He will have his way in your life, in my life.
53:03
Speaker 1: These future events must take place. Here's a second group.
53:10
Speaker 1: For those who tend to oversimplify what's ahead, most of
53:15
Speaker 1: the scenes are borderline incomprehensible. For those who tend to
53:21
Speaker 1: oversimplify what's ahead, most of the scenes are borderline incomprehensible.
53:30
Speaker 1: The things we consider elegant and magnificent and impressive pale
53:35
Speaker 1: into insignificance. You know what? I'll be honest with you.
53:39
Speaker 1: Having been there, I've got to tell you, the Ritz-Carlton
53:42
Speaker 1: on Maui just doesn't quite seem all that it was
53:45
Speaker 1: cracked up to be. I'd like to go there and
53:48
Speaker 1: prove that again, but that's... That seems right now, seems
53:53
Speaker 1: the right thing to say. Right thought. The best we
53:58
Speaker 1: have to offer pales into shadows in comparison to the
54:02
Speaker 1: smallest detail of what is yet ahead of us. Here's
54:08
Speaker 1: the third. For those who tend to think life is
54:12
Speaker 1: all about me, need only be reminded in the final
54:18
Speaker 1: analysis it's all about God. It's all about God. For
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Speaker 1: those who tend to think life is all about me,
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Speaker 1: need only to be reminded in the final analysis, you
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Speaker 1: know what? I can't find your name in here. And
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Speaker 1: you can't find mine. And I can't find my godly grandfather.
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Speaker 1: And I can't find one president of the United States.
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Speaker 1: And I can't find one king of England or queen.
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Speaker 1: I cannot find one entertainer. I cannot find one earthly event.
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Speaker 1: Because I am now with John as you are on
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Speaker 1: the edge of the awesome presence of God. After his death,
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Speaker 1: Billy Sunday's Bible was found by a friend, and in
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Speaker 1: that Bible there appeared a magnificent piece that I'm not
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Speaker 1: sure Sunday had ever read. I read it to you now.
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Speaker 1: 29 years ago, with the Holy Spirit as my guide,
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Speaker 1: I entered at the portico of Genesis, walked down the
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Speaker 1: corridor of the Old Testament art galleries where pictures of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Isaac, Jacob,
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Speaker 1: and Daniel hung on the wall. I passed into the
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Speaker 1: music room of the Psalms where the Spirit sweeps the
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Speaker 1: keyboard of nature until it seems that every reed and
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Speaker 1: pipe in God's great organ responds to the harp of David,
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Speaker 1: the sweet singer of Israel. I entered the chamber of
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Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes where the voice of the preachers, Was heard. And
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Speaker 1: into the conservatory. Of Sharon. And the lily of the valley.
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Speaker 1: Where sweet spices filled. And perfumed my life. I entered
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Speaker 1: the business office. Of the Proverbs. And on. Into the
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Speaker 1: observatory of the prophets. Where I saw telescopes. Of various sizes.
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Speaker 1: Pointing to far off events. Concentrating on the. Bright and
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Speaker 1: morning stars. which was to rise above the moonlit hills
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Speaker 1: of Judea for our salvation and redemption. I then entered
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Speaker 1: the audience room of the King of Kings, catching a
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Speaker 1: vision of him written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
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Speaker 1: and thence into the correspondence room where Paul, Peter, James,
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Speaker 1: and John were writing their epistles. I stepped then into
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Speaker 1: the throne room, Of the revelation. For tower the glittering peaks.
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Speaker 1: Where sits the king of kings. Upon his throne. Of glory.
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Speaker 1: With healing of nations in his hand. And I cried out.
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Speaker 1: All hail the power. Of Jesus name. Let angels prostrate fall.
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Speaker 1: Bring forth the royal diadem. And crown him. Lord of all.
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Speaker 1: Our Father, we praise your holy name and we bow
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Speaker 1: before your holy presence and we give ourselves afresh and
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Speaker 1: anew to your holy purpose. Be honored and magnified and
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Speaker 1: glorified through our lives and through our lips. May we
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Speaker 1: in every word and deed bring greater glory to your name.
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Speaker 1: the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus.
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Speaker 1: For we ask it in Christ's name. Everybody said, Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, Standing Before God's Awesome Throne, was copyrighted
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Speaker 2: in 2003, 2006, and 2024. And the sound recording was
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Speaker 2: copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights
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Speaker 2: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
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Speaker 2: is strictly prohibited.