Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
If the troubles of your earthly life make it hard
to imagine what your heavenly life will be like, enjoy
the vivid picture painted for you in the Book of Revelation.
Today on Turning Point, doctor David Jeremiah returns to the
fourth chapter and the peak it provides into the throne
room of Heaven, rich in all the details you have
(00:26):
to look forward to to conclude his message, a look
into Heaven.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Here's David, and thank you so much for joining us.
This is Turning Point, and we're studying a series we've
called Escape the Coming Night because that was the name
of the contemporary commentary that we wrote to explain the
verses of the Book of Revelation. That commentary, that book
is still available if you would like to order it.
(00:52):
You can get that book from our website David Jeremiah
dot Org. We are still in the fourth chapter of
the Book of Revelation. We will turn again to the
first eleven verses in just a moment, as we take
another look into Heaven. If you are a follower of
Turning Point, as many of you are, you look forward
to each new month for us to announce our resource
(01:15):
for the month. Many of you collect these and order
them every month, and you're blessed by them because you
have them available to you. This month is no different.
It is a beautiful, brand new devotional book called Sixty
Days of Prophecies The Truth behind End Time Warnings. The
book is one hundred and forty four pages and each
(01:36):
day you'll learn about a specific prophecy. You'll learn how
that prophecy relates to the world today. You'll take scripture
away from every study that will help you apply what
you've learned. And this is yours for a gift of
any size to Turning Point. During the month of May,
when you write your check and you send it to
(01:56):
Turning Point, just please say send me the Sixty Days
of Prophecies and we'll have it in the mail to
you just as soon as possible. And here we go
to Finnish ump our discussion of looking to Heaven from
Revelation four one through eleven.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Now, the four and twenty elders seated upon the twenty
four thrones do not represent the angels. They are not
the twelve tribes of Israel with two representatives from each tribe.
They are not the twelve Apostles and the twelve tribes
of Israel. I believe I know who they are, and
I'm not any smarter than anybody else who wants to
(02:36):
study the Bible. Let's see if we can figure out
who are the twenty four elders. I think we can
know who they are by three things. First of all,
we can tell who they are by the praise that
is on their lips. The Bible says in chapter five
that the twenty four elders are going to sing. Let's
look at their song. Chapter five, verses eight and nine.
Here's another hymn that is in this book. And when
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he had taken the book, the four beasts and the
four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb, having
every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors,
which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung
a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the
book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast
slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood
(03:21):
out of every kindred and tongue, and people and nation,
and had made unto us our God, kings and priests.
And we shall reign on the earth Who's that talking
about there can only be one identity. Those are the believers.
The four and twenty elders in heaven are representing the
entire church on this earth. They are the representatives of
the Church in heaven. And John sees them. That's the
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four and twenty elders. We know that by the praise
that is on their lips. We know it. Secondly, by
the clothes that are on their back. Watch what are
they wearing? The scripture says, the four and twenty elders
are sitting clothed in white raiment. Who is clothed in
white raiment in heaven are the angels? No, the only
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people who are clothed in white raiment in heaven are
believers who have been translated into heaven through the power
of God. Revelation Chapter nineteen, verses seven and eight says this,
let us speak glad and rejoice and give honor to him.
For the marriage of the Lamb is come. And his wife,
who is the wife of the lamb, that's the church.
(04:24):
His wife hath made herself ready, and to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in final linen, clean
and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness says
of the saints, who's dressed up in fine linen in heaven?
Nobody but the Church of Jesus Christ that I'm aware of.
We know who this is by the praise that it's
on their lips, and by the clothes that are on
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their back. And we know thirdly who this is by
the crown that's on their head. Notice, the Bible says
that the twenty four elders are seated around the throne
on twenty four thrones, and there is a crown of
gold on their head. In the Bible, there are two
words for crowns. There is, first of all, the word diadem,
and that is a crown, which signals some kind of
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sovereign thing. That's what you put on a king when
you give a king a crown, that's a diadem. But
the crown that is in view here is a word.
That is the word stephanus. It's a word which means
a victor's crown. It's the kind of crown you get
in the Olympic Games at the end of a race,
when you have run the race and you have won
the award, and they give you the special victor's crown.
(05:32):
So the crown in Revelation four is not a diadem
given to a king. It's a stephanus given to a
person who is victorious, and it signifies the rewards given
to the saints at the judgment seat of Christ immediately
after they get to heaven. Are these the angels? Absolutely not.
The angels haven't been rewarded. Are these the tribulation saints?
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Absolutely not? They haven't been rewarded yet. Who are the
only people in heaven in chapter four who have been
rewarded with crowns? The Church of Jesus Christ. So who
are the twenty four elders? They're representatives of the Church
of Jesus Christ, seated on thrones around the throne of God.
The throne is encircled by a rainbow, and seated around
the throne. Are these representatives of the church all right? Now?
(06:17):
Notice number four sounding forth from the throne are lightnings
and thunders and voices. This is getting to be an
awesome picture. Verse five of chapter four says this and
out of the throne preceded lightnings and thunderings and voices.
What is that? Do you know what I discovered when
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I studied the scripture? I discovered an interesting thing. What
is the throne to which we appeal, right now? Is
it the throne of thunderings and lightnings and voices? Let
us come boldly before the throne of what grace? Aren't
you glad? You don't have to come before the throne
of thunderings and lightnings and voices. They have to do that,
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you bet they did. You know, when you see thunderings
and lightnings and voices before, you see it here, you
see it on Mount SINII, when the law is being
given and the whole dispensation of law is being instituted.
And the Bible says that that account of the giving
of the law on Mount SIGNII was accompanied by thunderings
and voices and lightnings. Then we come to the end
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of the law and we institute the day of Grace,
and we don't have the throne of thunderings and voices
and lightnings anymore. We have the throne of grace, thank God.
But all of a sudden, the day of Grace is over.
The Church is translated to heaven. The throne of God
in Heaven is the throne and the scene of judgment
that's about to break forth on this earth. And now
we're back to the throne of judgment, and thunderings and
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lightnings and voices. And you will find that over and
over again in the Book of Revelation. If you have
your bibles open, let me just show you how clearly
this is presented in the scripture. Look at chapter eight,
verse five. And the Angel took the censer and filled
it with fire of the altar and cast it into
the earth. And there were voices and thunderings and lightnings,
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and an earthquake, the Tribulation on Earth ten and verse three.
And he cried with a loud voice as when a
lion roarth. And when he cried, seven thunderers uttered their voice.
Chapter eleven, verse nineteen. And the temple of God was
opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple
the ark of the Testament. And there were lightnings and
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voices and thunderings, and an earthquake and great hail. Chapter sixteen,
verse eighteen. And there were voices and thunders and lightnings,
and there was a great earthquake, such as was not
since men were upon the earth. So mightily an earthquake
and so great. What are the voices of thundering and
lightning that emanate from the throne of God in heaven.
(08:49):
When John saw through the open door and he saw
it Christ, and he saw the triugh God on the throne,
circled by a rainbow, and out of that throne were
coming these awesome sounds and sights. They were a reminder
to John that God was about to judge this world
for their rejection of his son, Jesus Christ. And those
who have not rejected his son are in heaven with him,
(09:11):
so they'll not be a part of the judgment. Coming
out of the throne are these awesome sights. Notice number
five in heaven related to the throne. Spread out before
the throne is the sea of glass. Notice at the
end of the fifth verse of chapter four we read
and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,
which are the seventh spirits. Out of the throne preceded lightnings, thunderings,
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and voices. And before the throne was the sea of
glass likened a crystal. Now, I to honestly tell you,
I'm not sure what this is. It is not possible
to absolutely identify the sea of glass, but this is clear.
It is often associated with the throne of God in heaven.
Let me just quote a couple of passages for you.
Exodus twenty four to ten. And they saw the God
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of Israel, and there was under his feet, as it were,
a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were,
the body of Heaven in its clearness, the kind of
sea of glass under the throne of God. It is
possible that this is the same material under the throne
of God with which the streets of the heavenly city
are paved. Listen to Revelation twenty one to twenty one.
(10:20):
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Every several gate
was of one pearl, and the street of the city
was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. So all
around the throne in Heaven, it's almost like it is
to keep people from getting too close to the throne.
It's sort of like the ether that separates the rest
(10:41):
of the people from drawing too close to this awesome God.
Around the throne. Spread out before the throne is this
crystal glass that separates the throne from the rest of
the inhabitants in heaven. One of the expositors that I
have read, Alfred, has said it this way. He said,
the primary reference here is to the clear ether in
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which the throne of God is upborn, and the intent
of setting the space in front of the throne will
be to be token its separation and insolation from the
place where the seer John stood, and indeed from all
else who are about it. It's kind of like an
awesome separation, because you don't want to get too close
to that throne where there's thundering and lightning and voices. Now,
(11:24):
notice in the passage number six that standing in the
midst of the throne are the four living creatures Verses
six through eight. And in the midst of the throne,
and round about the throne where the four beasts full
of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was
like a lion, and the second beast was like a calf,
and the third beast had a face as a man,
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and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And
the four beasts had each of them six wings about him,
and they were full of eyes within, and they rest
not day and night. Now, who in the world are
the four beasts? Literally, the word beast is a bad translation.
It's the word zoe on, which means living creatures. They
weren't beasts like animal beasts, but they were special living creatures,
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and there were four of them. Now, let's get the
picture clearly in our mind. John has just looked through
the door in heaven and he sees this beautiful throne.
And on the throne is the Triune God. And around
the throne is an emerald rainbow. And seated on the
twenty four seats around the throne are the representatives of
the Church now translated into heaven. And out of the
throne is lightning and thunder about to emanate to judge
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the world. Now, all of a sudden, he sees four
new people that he hasn't seen before, four new personalities,
the four living creatures. Now, I want to show you
how exciting it is to study the Bible and use
the Bible as its interpretation. Turning your Bibles holding your
place in revelation to the book of Ezekiel in the
Old Testament Ezekiel chapter one. I think I know who
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the four living creatures are. I believe I found it
out by studying the Bible, Ezekiel chapter one. Now Ezekiel
is going to have the same kind of a vision
into Heaven that John is having. Ezekiel saw his vision
years and years before John did. His vision into heaven
was hundreds of years before John ever lived. But notice
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he sees many of the same things through the open
door in heaven that John sees. And we're going to
see now what this is all about. Ezekiel, Chapter one.
And it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in
the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month,
as I was among the captives by the river keybar,
that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
What does that sound like? It sounds like what we're
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reading here in Revelation, doesn't The heavens has been open,
and Ezekiel saw visions of God. All right, now jump
down to verse four. And I looked, and behold, a
whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and
a fire and folding itself, and a brightness was about it.
And out of the midst thereof as the color of amber,
out of the midst of the fire. Also out of
the midst thereof came the lightness of watch this four
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living creatures. Well, I know where they came from, and
this was their appearance. They had the lightness of a man,
and everyone had four faces, and everyone had four wings,
and their feet were straight feet, and it goes on
to describe them. The description of the beasts in Ezekiel
one is a little different than the description in Revelation
chapter four. But we're dealing here with the same picture
(14:14):
Ezekiel saw when he looked up into heaven that John
saw when he looked through the door in heaven and
was in heaven before God. All right, now, what do
these have to do with the vision? Turn over in
your bibles again in the Book of Ezekiel to the
tenth chapter, and in Ezekiel chapter ten, verses fourteen through seventeen.
(14:34):
Ezekiel will tell us who these four living creatures are.
And I don't think there's any difference between the four
living creatures in Ezekiel and the four living creatures in Revelation.
Here's who they are, are you ready, Ezekiel chapter ten,
verses fourteen through seventeen. And every one these creatures had
four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub,
and the second face was the face of a man,
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and the third face of a lion, and the fourth
the face of an eagle. Watch this and the cherubam
were lifted up. This is the living creature that I
saw by the river Keybar. Who are the Cherubim? What
is the Cherubim? Who is a class? It's an angel.
The two kinds of angels, Cherubams and Seraphims, and the
(15:17):
cheru beams of Ezekiel chapter ten, match up to the
living creatures of Ezekiel chapter one, and I believe they
are the identification of the four living creatures in Heaven
that John saw standing in the midst of the throne,
standing in the midst of the throne as angelic protection
for God himself, just as God set the Cherubam in
(15:38):
the Seraphim before the garden of Eden's door in the
Old Testament, in the Book of Genesis. So who is
this that is standing in the midst of the throne?
The angels now back up for a moment. John sees
through the open door. Now he's in heaven. What does
he see in heaven? He sees there an awesome throne,
and on the throne the Triune God, and circling this
(15:58):
awesome throne agreed rainbow, and seated in order around the
throne representatives of the Church, the four twenty Elders, And
out of the throne comes thundering and lightning and voices,
and all around the throne is this glass like substance
that separates the throne from the other creatures. But standing
in the midst of the throne are four angelic beings
(16:23):
who are about to enter in to the judgment of
the world. You say, Pastor Jeremiah, what are these four
living creatures do? All right? As I heard somebody say,
I'm going to give you a day in the life
of an angel, all right, just one day. And I
just want to say, real quickly, in the Book of Revelation,
here's what's going to happen. You got your bibles open
to the sixth chapter of the Book of Revelation. Here's
(16:45):
what they're going to do, all right. And I saw
when the lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard,
as it were the noise of thunder, one of the
four living creatures saying, come and see. The first living
creature opened the first seal, verse three of the same chapter.
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard
the second beast say, come and see. If you go
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down through this chapter, you will see that the four
living creatures are involved in the execution of judgment. On
this earth during the tribulation. They are now standing with
God in heaven, and the lightning and the thunder and
the voices are heard, and God is about to dispatch
these four living creatures to this earth to carry out
the judgment upon this earth, which it so righteously deserves.
(17:31):
So the four living creatures are angels that do specific
things for God. The first thing they do is they
execute judgment. But you know what else they do, They
lead in worship. This seems kind of strange that those
two things go together. But you see, they're going to
execute judgment on earth, but you know what they're going
to do in heaven. They are going to be involved
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in one of the great scenes in heaven, and that
is singing to the One on the throne. The seventh
thing that happens related to the throne in heaven is
singing to the One on the throne. Are the creatures
and the elders. And I want to just read the
last few verses of the fourth chapter. And when those beasts,
those four living creatures, those angelic beings standing in the
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midst of the throne, give glory and honor and thanks
to God that sat on the throne who liveth forever
and ever. Then the four and the twenty elders fall
down before him that sat on the throne, and worship
him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns
before the throne, saying, thou art worthy, o Lord, to
receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created
(18:34):
all things, and for thy pleasure they are and they
were created. Here is a heavenly antifanal choir, and John
gets to see it. He's watching this awesome scene of judgment.
Notice that the theme of their praise is basically the
creatorship of Jesus Christ. I wish I could create in
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my mind the awesomeness of the scene. John, seeing all
of the threatenings and the thunderings and the lightnings, and
all of a sudden, as if captured by the majesty
of it, the angels begin to say, Holy, Holy, Holy
Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
And when the representatives of the church heard, the angels
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say that they couldn't contain themselves any longer, and they
fell down on their knees, and they took the crowns
that they had been given off of their heads, and
they threw them at the feet of God and of Christ.
And they said, thou art worthy, o Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are, and they were created.
(19:39):
I hear people say, once in a while, will you
to no sense of working for a crown, because you're
not going to have it anyway. It's going to belong
to the Lord. I've heard people say that. I've even
heard people say, you don't want to work for a reward.
You know, there are five crowns offered to the believer
in the New Testament, and the Bible says, we're going
to get to wear those for a little bit. We'll
have those crowns on our head. But we'll be walking
around in heaven as the now represented by the twenty
(20:01):
four Elders, and all of a sudden, the angels are
going to break forth. They won't be able to contain
it anymore, and they'll start shouting Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty, and it will trigger something in the church's heart,
and they'll run to the throne of God and fall
down on their knees and to begin to worship the
Lord who redeemed them, and the only act of worship
that they can give to the Lord is to take
(20:22):
the crown that has been given to them off of
their head and to throw it at the feet of
Jesus and say, Lord, I give you this as an
act of my worship to you for all you've done
for me. I don't know about you, folks, but I
don't intend to be left out at that moment. By
the grace of God. I don't want to look up
and have nothing to give him. I want to have
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something to give him in worship, well, worship in heaven.
Let me just sort of bring all of this to
a conclusion by pointing out something that's very interesting. Did
you know that the angels praise God differently than the
elders do. Did you know that the angels are the
(21:06):
four living creatures. They glorify God sort of in a declaration.
Notice the two little paragraphs in your Bible. In verse eight,
the angels say, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, which
was and is and is to come. That's watch this now,
(21:27):
that's third person praise. The angels are talking about who
God is. They're just saying He's almighty, he is and
he was and he is to come. That's who God is.
That's third person praise. Watch what happens when the church
gets involved, represented by the four and twenty Elders. Thou
art worthy, Oh God, Literally, you, o Lord, are worthy
(21:52):
to receive glory and honor and power, for you have
created all things, and for your pleasure they are and
were created. What happens there's an intimacy in the worship
of the Church that the angels cannot participate in. The
angels cannot worship God the way we do. I think
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understand that you remember what it says over in the
Book of Peter. It says that the angels, Oh, let
me just read it to you first, Peter, listen to
this verse unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves,
but unto us, they did minister the things which are
now reported unto you by them that have preached the
(22:32):
Gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven.
Watch this. Now they have preached the Gospel unto you
by the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven, the Gospel
unto you. Here's the end of the verse, which things
the angels desire to look into. They don't know anything
about redemption. They have never had their sins washed away.
(22:54):
There was only the group of angels that denied the Lord,
and they were cast out of heaven. But we're redeemed
creatures and we worship God intelligently because we know that
He sent Christ into this world to give us blood
for us that we might be redeemed. And we wouldn't
be in heaven if it weren't for that, and we
know it. So when it comes our turn to worship,
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it's not enough for us to talk about who God
is in the third person. We got to fall on
our faces and say, the Lord, you are worthy, You
are deserving. Lord, you are the one I've been preaching
over the years the value of second person praise. There
is an intimacy in second person praise that goes beyond
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talking about who God is describing what He is like.
Second person praise is praise directed directly to God himself.
Only the redeemed can do that. If you haven't been redeemed,
you don't know anything about it.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Well, friends, we thank you for listening today and for
being reminded from the scripture, especially of the practical nature
of the Book of Revelation. It's not just about the future,
by and by, it's about what happens to us today
as we get exposed to this truth and begin to
internalize these messages. Tomorrow we're going to talk about the
(24:13):
title Deed to the Earth from the fifth chapter of Revelation.
We're moving right along as we take these chapters and
verses one in a time. I'm so glad that you've
joined us today. I want to remind you again that
Turning Point will be going to Alaska and New England
this fall. Alaska in July and New England in October.
(24:35):
Both of these are conference cruises. You can get all
the information about them from our website, and I hope
you will choose to go with us to one or
both of these. We would love to have you, and
we'll see you again next time right here on this
good station.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
The message you just heard originated from Shadow Mountain Community
Church and David Jeremiah, the senior pastor. Your words of
encouragement are so appreciated. Right now, please write us at
Turning Point PO Box thirty eight thirty eight, San Diego, California,
nine two one sixty three. Visit our website at Davidjeremiah
dot org, Slash Radio, or call eight hundred ninety four
(25:18):
seven nineteen ninety three ask for your copy of David's
timely new book, Sixty Days of Prophecies, The Truth behind
Endtime Warnings. It's yours for a gift of any amount.
You can also view over twelve hundred of doctor Jeremiah
sermons on any screen anytime you like on our Turning
Point Plus streaming service. For a monthly gift of any amount,
(25:42):
visit Turningpoint plus dot org for details. This is David
Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series
Escape the Coming Night on Turning Point with Doctor David
Jeremiah
If the troubles of your earthly life make it hard
to imagine what your heavenly life will be like, enjoy
the vivid picture painted for you in the Book of Revelation.
Today on Turning Point, doctor David Jeremiah returns to the
fourth chapter and the peak it provides into the throne
room of Heaven, rich in all the details you have
(00:26):
to look forward to to conclude his message, a look
into Heaven.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Here's David, and thank you so much for joining us.
This is Turning Point, and we're studying a series we've
called Escape the Coming Night because that was the name
of the contemporary commentary that we wrote to explain the
verses of the Book of Revelation. That commentary, that book
is still available if you would like to order it.
(00:52):
You can get that book from our website David Jeremiah
dot Org. We are still in the fourth chapter of
the Book of Revelation. We will turn again to the
first eleven verses in just a moment, as we take
another look into Heaven. If you are a follower of
Turning Point, as many of you are, you look forward
to each new month for us to announce our resource
(01:15):
for the month. Many of you collect these and order
them every month, and you're blessed by them because you
have them available to you. This month is no different.
It is a beautiful, brand new devotional book called Sixty
Days of Prophecies The Truth behind End Time Warnings. The
book is one hundred and forty four pages and each
(01:36):
day you'll learn about a specific prophecy. You'll learn how
that prophecy relates to the world today. You'll take scripture
away from every study that will help you apply what
you've learned. And this is yours for a gift of
any size to Turning Point. During the month of May,
when you write your check and you send it to
(01:56):
Turning Point, just please say send me the Sixty Days
of Prophecies and we'll have it in the mail to
you just as soon as possible. And here we go
to Finnish ump our discussion of looking to Heaven from
Revelation four one through eleven.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Now, the four and twenty elders seated upon the twenty
four thrones do not represent the angels. They are not
the twelve tribes of Israel with two representatives from each tribe.
They are not the twelve Apostles and the twelve tribes
of Israel. I believe I know who they are, and
I'm not any smarter than anybody else who wants to
(02:36):
study the Bible. Let's see if we can figure out
who are the twenty four elders. I think we can
know who they are by three things. First of all,
we can tell who they are by the praise that
is on their lips. The Bible says in chapter five
that the twenty four elders are going to sing. Let's
look at their song. Chapter five, verses eight and nine.
Here's another hymn that is in this book. And when
(02:58):
he had taken the book, the four beasts and the
four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb, having
every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors,
which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung
a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the
book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast
slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood
(03:21):
out of every kindred and tongue, and people and nation,
and had made unto us our God, kings and priests.
And we shall reign on the earth Who's that talking
about there can only be one identity. Those are the believers.
The four and twenty elders in heaven are representing the
entire church on this earth. They are the representatives of
the Church in heaven. And John sees them. That's the
(03:43):
four and twenty elders. We know that by the praise
that is on their lips. We know it. Secondly, by
the clothes that are on their back. Watch what are
they wearing? The scripture says, the four and twenty elders
are sitting clothed in white raiment. Who is clothed in
white raiment in heaven are the angels? No, the only
(04:03):
people who are clothed in white raiment in heaven are
believers who have been translated into heaven through the power
of God. Revelation Chapter nineteen, verses seven and eight says this,
let us speak glad and rejoice and give honor to him.
For the marriage of the Lamb is come. And his wife,
who is the wife of the lamb, that's the church.
(04:24):
His wife hath made herself ready, and to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in final linen, clean
and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness says
of the saints, who's dressed up in fine linen in heaven?
Nobody but the Church of Jesus Christ that I'm aware of.
We know who this is by the praise that it's
on their lips, and by the clothes that are on
(04:47):
their back. And we know thirdly who this is by
the crown that's on their head. Notice, the Bible says
that the twenty four elders are seated around the throne
on twenty four thrones, and there is a crown of
gold on their head. In the Bible, there are two
words for crowns. There is, first of all, the word diadem,
and that is a crown, which signals some kind of
(05:10):
sovereign thing. That's what you put on a king when
you give a king a crown, that's a diadem. But
the crown that is in view here is a word.
That is the word stephanus. It's a word which means
a victor's crown. It's the kind of crown you get
in the Olympic Games at the end of a race,
when you have run the race and you have won
the award, and they give you the special victor's crown.
(05:32):
So the crown in Revelation four is not a diadem
given to a king. It's a stephanus given to a
person who is victorious, and it signifies the rewards given
to the saints at the judgment seat of Christ immediately
after they get to heaven. Are these the angels? Absolutely not.
The angels haven't been rewarded. Are these the tribulation saints?
(05:53):
Absolutely not? They haven't been rewarded yet. Who are the
only people in heaven in chapter four who have been
rewarded with crowns? The Church of Jesus Christ. So who
are the twenty four elders? They're representatives of the Church
of Jesus Christ, seated on thrones around the throne of God.
The throne is encircled by a rainbow, and seated around
the throne. Are these representatives of the church all right? Now?
(06:17):
Notice number four sounding forth from the throne are lightnings
and thunders and voices. This is getting to be an
awesome picture. Verse five of chapter four says this and
out of the throne preceded lightnings and thunderings and voices.
What is that? Do you know what I discovered when
(06:40):
I studied the scripture? I discovered an interesting thing. What
is the throne to which we appeal, right now? Is
it the throne of thunderings and lightnings and voices? Let
us come boldly before the throne of what grace? Aren't
you glad? You don't have to come before the throne
of thunderings and lightnings and voices. They have to do that,
(07:01):
you bet they did. You know, when you see thunderings
and lightnings and voices before, you see it here, you
see it on Mount SINII, when the law is being
given and the whole dispensation of law is being instituted.
And the Bible says that that account of the giving
of the law on Mount SIGNII was accompanied by thunderings
and voices and lightnings. Then we come to the end
(07:22):
of the law and we institute the day of Grace,
and we don't have the throne of thunderings and voices
and lightnings anymore. We have the throne of grace, thank God.
But all of a sudden, the day of Grace is over.
The Church is translated to heaven. The throne of God
in Heaven is the throne and the scene of judgment
that's about to break forth on this earth. And now
we're back to the throne of judgment, and thunderings and
(07:44):
lightnings and voices. And you will find that over and
over again in the Book of Revelation. If you have
your bibles open, let me just show you how clearly
this is presented in the scripture. Look at chapter eight,
verse five. And the Angel took the censer and filled
it with fire of the altar and cast it into
the earth. And there were voices and thunderings and lightnings,
(08:07):
and an earthquake, the Tribulation on Earth ten and verse three.
And he cried with a loud voice as when a
lion roarth. And when he cried, seven thunderers uttered their voice.
Chapter eleven, verse nineteen. And the temple of God was
opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple
the ark of the Testament. And there were lightnings and
(08:29):
voices and thunderings, and an earthquake and great hail. Chapter sixteen,
verse eighteen. And there were voices and thunders and lightnings,
and there was a great earthquake, such as was not
since men were upon the earth. So mightily an earthquake
and so great. What are the voices of thundering and
lightning that emanate from the throne of God in heaven.
(08:49):
When John saw through the open door and he saw
it Christ, and he saw the triugh God on the throne,
circled by a rainbow, and out of that throne were
coming these awesome sounds and sights. They were a reminder
to John that God was about to judge this world
for their rejection of his son, Jesus Christ. And those
who have not rejected his son are in heaven with him,
(09:11):
so they'll not be a part of the judgment. Coming
out of the throne are these awesome sights. Notice number
five in heaven related to the throne. Spread out before
the throne is the sea of glass. Notice at the
end of the fifth verse of chapter four we read
and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,
which are the seventh spirits. Out of the throne preceded lightnings, thunderings,
(09:34):
and voices. And before the throne was the sea of
glass likened a crystal. Now, I to honestly tell you,
I'm not sure what this is. It is not possible
to absolutely identify the sea of glass, but this is clear.
It is often associated with the throne of God in heaven.
Let me just quote a couple of passages for you.
Exodus twenty four to ten. And they saw the God
(09:58):
of Israel, and there was under his feet, as it were,
a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were,
the body of Heaven in its clearness, the kind of
sea of glass under the throne of God. It is
possible that this is the same material under the throne
of God with which the streets of the heavenly city
are paved. Listen to Revelation twenty one to twenty one.
(10:20):
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Every several gate
was of one pearl, and the street of the city
was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. So all
around the throne in Heaven, it's almost like it is
to keep people from getting too close to the throne.
It's sort of like the ether that separates the rest
(10:41):
of the people from drawing too close to this awesome God.
Around the throne. Spread out before the throne is this
crystal glass that separates the throne from the rest of
the inhabitants in heaven. One of the expositors that I
have read, Alfred, has said it this way. He said,
the primary reference here is to the clear ether in
(11:02):
which the throne of God is upborn, and the intent
of setting the space in front of the throne will
be to be token its separation and insolation from the
place where the seer John stood, and indeed from all
else who are about it. It's kind of like an
awesome separation, because you don't want to get too close
to that throne where there's thundering and lightning and voices. Now,
(11:24):
notice in the passage number six that standing in the
midst of the throne are the four living creatures Verses
six through eight. And in the midst of the throne,
and round about the throne where the four beasts full
of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was
like a lion, and the second beast was like a calf,
and the third beast had a face as a man,
(11:45):
and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And
the four beasts had each of them six wings about him,
and they were full of eyes within, and they rest
not day and night. Now, who in the world are
the four beasts? Literally, the word beast is a bad translation.
It's the word zoe on, which means living creatures. They
weren't beasts like animal beasts, but they were special living creatures,
(12:06):
and there were four of them. Now, let's get the
picture clearly in our mind. John has just looked through
the door in heaven and he sees this beautiful throne.
And on the throne is the Triune God. And around
the throne is an emerald rainbow. And seated on the
twenty four seats around the throne are the representatives of
the Church now translated into heaven. And out of the
throne is lightning and thunder about to emanate to judge
(12:28):
the world. Now, all of a sudden, he sees four
new people that he hasn't seen before, four new personalities,
the four living creatures. Now, I want to show you
how exciting it is to study the Bible and use
the Bible as its interpretation. Turning your Bibles holding your
place in revelation to the book of Ezekiel in the
Old Testament Ezekiel chapter one. I think I know who
(12:50):
the four living creatures are. I believe I found it
out by studying the Bible, Ezekiel chapter one. Now Ezekiel
is going to have the same kind of a vision
into Heaven that John is having. Ezekiel saw his vision
years and years before John did. His vision into heaven
was hundreds of years before John ever lived. But notice
(13:10):
he sees many of the same things through the open
door in heaven that John sees. And we're going to
see now what this is all about. Ezekiel, Chapter one.
And it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in
the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month,
as I was among the captives by the river keybar,
that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
What does that sound like? It sounds like what we're
(13:32):
reading here in Revelation, doesn't The heavens has been open,
and Ezekiel saw visions of God. All right, now jump
down to verse four. And I looked, and behold, a
whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and
a fire and folding itself, and a brightness was about it.
And out of the midst thereof as the color of amber,
out of the midst of the fire. Also out of
the midst thereof came the lightness of watch this four
(13:53):
living creatures. Well, I know where they came from, and
this was their appearance. They had the lightness of a man,
and everyone had four faces, and everyone had four wings,
and their feet were straight feet, and it goes on
to describe them. The description of the beasts in Ezekiel
one is a little different than the description in Revelation
chapter four. But we're dealing here with the same picture
(14:14):
Ezekiel saw when he looked up into heaven that John
saw when he looked through the door in heaven and
was in heaven before God. All right, now, what do
these have to do with the vision? Turn over in
your bibles again in the Book of Ezekiel to the
tenth chapter, and in Ezekiel chapter ten, verses fourteen through seventeen.
(14:34):
Ezekiel will tell us who these four living creatures are.
And I don't think there's any difference between the four
living creatures in Ezekiel and the four living creatures in Revelation.
Here's who they are, are you ready, Ezekiel chapter ten,
verses fourteen through seventeen. And every one these creatures had
four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub,
and the second face was the face of a man,
(14:56):
and the third face of a lion, and the fourth
the face of an eagle. Watch this and the cherubam
were lifted up. This is the living creature that I
saw by the river Keybar. Who are the Cherubim? What
is the Cherubim? Who is a class? It's an angel.
The two kinds of angels, Cherubams and Seraphims, and the
(15:17):
cheru beams of Ezekiel chapter ten, match up to the
living creatures of Ezekiel chapter one, and I believe they
are the identification of the four living creatures in Heaven
that John saw standing in the midst of the throne,
standing in the midst of the throne as angelic protection
for God himself, just as God set the Cherubam in
(15:38):
the Seraphim before the garden of Eden's door in the
Old Testament, in the Book of Genesis. So who is
this that is standing in the midst of the throne?
The angels now back up for a moment. John sees
through the open door. Now he's in heaven. What does
he see in heaven? He sees there an awesome throne,
and on the throne the Triune God, and circling this
(15:58):
awesome throne agreed rainbow, and seated in order around the
throne representatives of the Church, the four twenty Elders, And
out of the throne comes thundering and lightning and voices,
and all around the throne is this glass like substance
that separates the throne from the other creatures. But standing
in the midst of the throne are four angelic beings
(16:23):
who are about to enter in to the judgment of
the world. You say, Pastor Jeremiah, what are these four
living creatures do? All right? As I heard somebody say,
I'm going to give you a day in the life
of an angel, all right, just one day. And I
just want to say, real quickly, in the Book of Revelation,
here's what's going to happen. You got your bibles open
to the sixth chapter of the Book of Revelation. Here's
(16:45):
what they're going to do, all right. And I saw
when the lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard,
as it were the noise of thunder, one of the
four living creatures saying, come and see. The first living
creature opened the first seal, verse three of the same chapter.
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard
the second beast say, come and see. If you go
(17:07):
down through this chapter, you will see that the four
living creatures are involved in the execution of judgment. On
this earth during the tribulation. They are now standing with
God in heaven, and the lightning and the thunder and
the voices are heard, and God is about to dispatch
these four living creatures to this earth to carry out
the judgment upon this earth, which it so righteously deserves.
(17:31):
So the four living creatures are angels that do specific
things for God. The first thing they do is they
execute judgment. But you know what else they do, They
lead in worship. This seems kind of strange that those
two things go together. But you see, they're going to
execute judgment on earth, but you know what they're going
to do in heaven. They are going to be involved
(17:52):
in one of the great scenes in heaven, and that
is singing to the One on the throne. The seventh
thing that happens related to the throne in heaven is
singing to the One on the throne. Are the creatures
and the elders. And I want to just read the
last few verses of the fourth chapter. And when those beasts,
those four living creatures, those angelic beings standing in the
(18:14):
midst of the throne, give glory and honor and thanks
to God that sat on the throne who liveth forever
and ever. Then the four and the twenty elders fall
down before him that sat on the throne, and worship
him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns
before the throne, saying, thou art worthy, o Lord, to
receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created
(18:34):
all things, and for thy pleasure they are and they
were created. Here is a heavenly antifanal choir, and John
gets to see it. He's watching this awesome scene of judgment.
Notice that the theme of their praise is basically the
creatorship of Jesus Christ. I wish I could create in
(18:56):
my mind the awesomeness of the scene. John, seeing all
of the threatenings and the thunderings and the lightnings, and
all of a sudden, as if captured by the majesty
of it, the angels begin to say, Holy, Holy, Holy
Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
And when the representatives of the church heard, the angels
(19:16):
say that they couldn't contain themselves any longer, and they
fell down on their knees, and they took the crowns
that they had been given off of their heads, and
they threw them at the feet of God and of Christ.
And they said, thou art worthy, o Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are, and they were created.
(19:39):
I hear people say, once in a while, will you
to no sense of working for a crown, because you're
not going to have it anyway. It's going to belong
to the Lord. I've heard people say that. I've even
heard people say, you don't want to work for a reward.
You know, there are five crowns offered to the believer
in the New Testament, and the Bible says, we're going
to get to wear those for a little bit. We'll
have those crowns on our head. But we'll be walking
around in heaven as the now represented by the twenty
(20:01):
four Elders, and all of a sudden, the angels are
going to break forth. They won't be able to contain
it anymore, and they'll start shouting Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty, and it will trigger something in the church's heart,
and they'll run to the throne of God and fall
down on their knees and to begin to worship the
Lord who redeemed them, and the only act of worship
that they can give to the Lord is to take
(20:22):
the crown that has been given to them off of
their head and to throw it at the feet of
Jesus and say, Lord, I give you this as an
act of my worship to you for all you've done
for me. I don't know about you, folks, but I
don't intend to be left out at that moment. By
the grace of God. I don't want to look up
and have nothing to give him. I want to have
(20:44):
something to give him in worship, well, worship in heaven.
Let me just sort of bring all of this to
a conclusion by pointing out something that's very interesting. Did
you know that the angels praise God differently than the
elders do. Did you know that the angels are the
(21:06):
four living creatures. They glorify God sort of in a declaration.
Notice the two little paragraphs in your Bible. In verse eight,
the angels say, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, which
was and is and is to come. That's watch this now,
(21:27):
that's third person praise. The angels are talking about who
God is. They're just saying He's almighty, he is and
he was and he is to come. That's who God is.
That's third person praise. Watch what happens when the church
gets involved, represented by the four and twenty Elders. Thou
art worthy, Oh God, Literally, you, o Lord, are worthy
(21:52):
to receive glory and honor and power, for you have
created all things, and for your pleasure they are and
were created. What happens there's an intimacy in the worship
of the Church that the angels cannot participate in. The
angels cannot worship God the way we do. I think
(22:12):
understand that you remember what it says over in the
Book of Peter. It says that the angels, Oh, let
me just read it to you first, Peter, listen to
this verse unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves,
but unto us, they did minister the things which are
now reported unto you by them that have preached the
(22:32):
Gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven.
Watch this. Now they have preached the Gospel unto you
by the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven, the Gospel
unto you. Here's the end of the verse, which things
the angels desire to look into. They don't know anything
about redemption. They have never had their sins washed away.
(22:54):
There was only the group of angels that denied the Lord,
and they were cast out of heaven. But we're redeemed
creatures and we worship God intelligently because we know that
He sent Christ into this world to give us blood
for us that we might be redeemed. And we wouldn't
be in heaven if it weren't for that, and we
know it. So when it comes our turn to worship,
(23:14):
it's not enough for us to talk about who God
is in the third person. We got to fall on
our faces and say, the Lord, you are worthy, You
are deserving. Lord, you are the one I've been preaching
over the years the value of second person praise. There
is an intimacy in second person praise that goes beyond
(23:34):
talking about who God is describing what He is like.
Second person praise is praise directed directly to God himself.
Only the redeemed can do that. If you haven't been redeemed,
you don't know anything about it.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Well, friends, we thank you for listening today and for
being reminded from the scripture, especially of the practical nature
of the Book of Revelation. It's not just about the future,
by and by, it's about what happens to us today
as we get exposed to this truth and begin to
internalize these messages. Tomorrow we're going to talk about the
(24:13):
title Deed to the Earth from the fifth chapter of Revelation.
We're moving right along as we take these chapters and
verses one in a time. I'm so glad that you've
joined us today. I want to remind you again that
Turning Point will be going to Alaska and New England
this fall. Alaska in July and New England in October.
(24:35):
Both of these are conference cruises. You can get all
the information about them from our website, and I hope
you will choose to go with us to one or
both of these. We would love to have you, and
we'll see you again next time right here on this
good station.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
The message you just heard originated from Shadow Mountain Community
Church and David Jeremiah, the senior pastor. Your words of
encouragement are so appreciated. Right now, please write us at
Turning Point PO Box thirty eight thirty eight, San Diego, California,
nine two one sixty three. Visit our website at Davidjeremiah
dot org, Slash Radio, or call eight hundred ninety four
(25:18):
seven nineteen ninety three ask for your copy of David's
timely new book, Sixty Days of Prophecies, The Truth behind
Endtime Warnings. It's yours for a gift of any amount.
You can also view over twelve hundred of doctor Jeremiah
sermons on any screen anytime you like on our Turning
Point Plus streaming service. For a monthly gift of any amount,
(25:42):
visit Turningpoint plus dot org for details. This is David
Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series
Escape the Coming Night on Turning Point with Doctor David
Jeremiah
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