Step on Up, Rev,4:1-4
Revelation 4:1-4 · Vern Peterman · Dec 30, 2001
Revelation (2001-03), No. 15
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262239252029

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Just a little bit of personal history that will lead into something, so bear with me. One of the men who was shepherding the church where I grew up had an interesting history. Prior to coming to the church where we were at there, he had been an assistant to Harry Ironside, a name that may be familiar. He was recommended by John Walvoord to come to this little church. And I mean little, because at that point in time I remember going to Sunday school and it was in the kitchen. because there wasn't any Sunday school room.

At any rate, his name, this was many years ago obviously, I'm not a spring chicken anymore. At any rate, and then also about 40 years ago, Ray Steadman was corresponding back and forth with Miles Stanford, so some of the connections there. Anyway, Ray Steadman was his name, and I recall at one point in time he told a story.

He went over to England and was Invited to speak at various churches there, and they had him on a schedule and He went around to each of the churches speaking and of course you know he doesn't just show up to speak he's there for whatever singing and other things are going on and at one church he noticed that they had this handout with the songs and One of the songs he noticed must have been entitled wrong it was supposed to be our God reigns But the title said our God resigned And that wasn't so good.

We'll be moving this morning into Revelation 4, the first four verses. And let me just tell you at the outset, this is about anything but God resigning. God is not resigning. As a matter of fact, what we're going to see is precisely the opposite. The Lord is kind of setting the stage here. Chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation, those two chapters together are kind of the heavenly platform for the rest of what is to take place for many chapters to come.

And for several reasons it's critical that we kind of get the right mindset and understanding as we go into the Tribulation Period. One of the key reasons for us focusing on this and not just zooming past it is because if we think of the Tribulation Period as all about something that's just happening on Earth, we will have missed the key point. The Tribulation Period springs from heaven itself, and the passage keeps going to the heavenly scene.

And that's why even before beginning anything on earth, we get two whole chapters talking about what's taking place in heaven. And let me tell you, right now, what's taking place in heaven is really what's critical, isn't it? We get our daily news and it focuses on what happens here on planet earth. But let me tell you, it's what's happening in heaven that counts.

So, let's focus on it. Taking a look here, Revelation 4, 1-4. Let me read through it to begin. After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things. Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and one sitting on the throne. And he who was sitting was like a jasper stone, and a sardius in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads." Now, is that puzzling or what? Well, not so much when we take a look at it. So let's take it bit by bit. First I want to step us through what brought us to this point.

As we've been celebrating here this time of year, Christ first came to earth as a babe. He grew and He ministered in Israel. He died and was buried, was resurrected, and ascended and seated. We who believe in Him are identified with Him in each of those things. Now at this point here in the last book of the Bible, the church has been raptured and been taken up to heaven to be with Christ. The church age has passed at this point in time, and the tribulation is about to begin. The stage is being set for judgment time against an unbelieving world. That's kind of the quick synopsis. That's what's happened in the last 2,000 years, okay?

And then some, whatever time up until this point. So let's take a deeper look into this passage one phrase at a time. The first thing He starts off with, after these things. And you know, it's real easy for us to look at it and say, I know what after these things means, and just go on, right? Let's not do that. There is great significance in this phrase, and we don't want to pass over it.

Now, one of the things we'll want to take a look at here, this repeats what's also on the first part of your handout. The phrase, after these things, turns out, shows up a whole bunch of times in the Bible. all these times you see here, and they're all listed on your handout as well.

It turns out the first place it shows up is in Genesis, where it shows up four times. Let me just read the first instance in Genesis 22. Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here I am. And he said, take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, of which I will tell you." So here's the first occurrence of this phrase, and it is significant, isn't it? This is the offering up of Isaac that he introduces with this phrase.

It turns out, as you go through Scripture, you'll find that it shows up at pivotal points. In Leviticus, we'll find the only Old Testament usage of this phrase that's for conditional consequence or consequences. That is, if the Israelites would not do what God said, then as a consequence, this next thing will happen.

And it goes like this in Leviticus 26.18, if also after these things, after all the things that I've laid out, you do not obey me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. Now, we find that the phrase is used nine times in the Old Testament, and then is used by John two times in the Gospel, and then is used three times in the Book of Acts, where it is employed twice by Paul and once by James. Every use of this phrase, Old Testament and New, is always by a Jew. It's a distinctly Jewish or Hebrew phrase.

Christ has already used it in speaking to John to give him an outline. Because remember he said, I want you to write about the things which were, the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. So that's where Christ first uses it. Now we're looking now at the second usage of that word. Therefore write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after these things. And John quotes Christ as using it in this phrase here. and he uses it twice.

Revelation 4, after these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I had heard like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me said come up here and I will show you what must take place after these things. John uses the phrase again and each time there is a tie between things which happen. And so we're going to see it shows up four more times in the book of Revelation and there's a pattern to it. This pattern reveals something, and that is that the after these things always happens kind of at a pivotal point in the scriptures.

Also, it is only used in referring to things that are future. It's never used in the context of the church or something of that sort. Always pointing into the future. Let's take a look at kind of summarizing what after these things is pointing to. For one thing, it shows time sequence. Time sequence. That's important because, in fact, there are those people who say the book of Revelation is just sort of a scrambled series of non-sequential things and there's really no time sequence involved. It shows time sequence because the word after these things is pointing back to something that took place before and then ahead to the thing which is about to take place. It shows that there is an intentional time sequence in the things that are in the Book of Revelation.

Next, it shows that there is a reality in the context of use. If he didn't use it, there might be a sense that this is all kind of make-believe, but he's talking about this is, because it's a historical time sequence series of words, it's pointing to this is real stuff. This is what actually is going to take place, because you notice it's all used in the future in the Book of Revelation. This is real stuff.

The next, it's for things that are basically reflecting a Hebrew pattern of speech. It is something that the Jews used exclusively. And this is John's typical way of writing and communicating things. And it's critical because everything here on out is very Jewish. The church is out of the scene, right? So, what is he going to do? He's going to talk very Jewish.

And it makes sense because tribulation is a time of certainly things happening globally, but a focus upon Israel. The millennium is the same kind of thing. It is a time where certainly it's global, but it focuses upon Israel. And so the usage of a very Hebrew term makes lots of sense. There's other reasons.

First, it's given as the last part of Christ's three-part outline in the book, and that is prophetic. It's looking ahead. The next, where we're just reading it in this passage, is prophetic again. It's pointing ahead. And then the next four usages are all in the future. Three in the Tribulation, one in the Millennium. Now, one of the things you notice, the usage of the phrase, after these things, is entirely systematic and consistent. It's always looking ahead to the future. Every single instance, no exceptions. So, let's take a look at the next phrase. I looked and behold. Sounds simple enough, right? But let's not slip over that too easily either.

This is a phrase, the Greek word adon is used. And when you look through the book of Revelation you'll find some places translated I looked, other places I saw, it's the same Greek word underneath, adon. And the total of those two is 50 times John says I saw or I looked. Basically, that's the translation of the Greek word adon. And I think there are some things to take a look at here rather than slip past it. He is reinforcing a message. You see, it's not just hearsay and it's not just make-believe.

John has already started off the book of Revelation certifying this is what actually took place. I'm telling you what I saw. And he's reinforcing that 50 times over as he goes through the book. This is actually what I saw. It is not second hand. It is not hearsay. I saw it. He reinforces it elsewhere and we'll see it with I heard. But it's the same eyewitness testimony. What you're seeing here is eyewitness testimony. Not just a made up story. Not just a myth. And that's why he keeps on using it. over four dozen times. And this is just one instance.

The next thing he uses the word behold. And we've already heard this seven times before, but we're not done. He's going to use it 17 times more before we're done. And remember the word behold is a single word intended to tell us take a mental picture. Okay? Focus. Hit the button. Take a mental picture. That's what he's telling you. Behold, look at what's happening. This is critical.

You know, we go through, you know, day in and day out, month in and month out, year in and year out, and there's a lot of things we just kind of forget. But one of the things you'll notice in your own life is there are certain things that you've taken a mental picture of, haven't you? You just, well, I'll never forget this. Remember, you know, you've said that yourself likely. And what happens is we just kind of, we kind of take a mental picture and we click and we remember that. And he's trying to tell us that exact same thing here. He says, what I'm about to tell you, what I'm showing you, don't forget this. Take a mental picture, go click, and don't lose it, because this is critical. This is important stuff.

Now, next he says, a door standing open in heaven. And this is amazing stuff. How many have seen a door standing open in heaven? That doesn't happen a whole lot, does it? is, behold, I saw a door standing open in heaven. Now, one of the things that this is telling me, since we know this is all prophetic from here on out, this door standing open, the door wasn't just happening to stand open, it was in the passive voice, so it actually means the door was made to stand open, and it wasn't him that did it. This is the Lord's doing that John saw this.

Now, you will see advertisements on the television for people who say, I can prophesy for you, and they charge you by the minute for it, right? Only God can reveal things, truly. Anybody else who's telling you they can is selling something, or worse. Only God can reveal things.

This door is not just sort of left standing open, it is made to stand open to John. It's God's accomplishment. Now, some folks have looked at this and they've said, well, this must be the rapture. And they'll look at passages like we looked at last week, 1 Thessalonians 4. And indeed, you know, there are some similarities. There's an entrance to heaven. There is a voice, similar to what you see here in this passage, being kind of like a shout. There is a voice that sounds like a trumpet, so there's something similar there.

There's an invitation to Christ, like, you know, Christ, come up here. But there are also some things that don't quite fit. First thing is only John gets the invitation, and the Greek verb is, you know, come up here, that's to him singularly, not a whole bunch of people. The Lord Jesus didn't descend from heaven with a shout to bring these people up either. There was a voice like a trumpet, but it didn't say it's the trumpet of God. And then also the very apparent purpose for John coming up is to have things revealed to him, including things on earth that I'm not entirely sure that the church will be that aware of.

But nonetheless, He is being told these things so that he can tell people what to take place after these things. So, I'm inclined not to look at this as a rapture passage. I see the rapture as already having taken place for reasons we talked about last week. And as we'll see as we continue to go through the book of Revelation, it becomes quite apparent.

The next thing, John says this, he writes, And the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking to me, Now, these phrases are designed to point us back to Revelation 1.10. You say, first voice? Well, it isn't the first in a series. He's pointing back to, this is the voice I heard at first.

So, Revelation 1.10, let's take a look at it here.

It says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet. See the similarity there? And the same phrase comes up as we go on in Revelation. In the Spirit, in the Spirit, a voice like the sound of a trumpet comes up each time.

And that's what he's referring back to. He's saying, that same voice that I heard back then, I heard it here too. I was in the same spiritual state of Revelation, and the sound of it was the same. I'm telling you, this is the same voice. That's what he's referring to. So when he says first, It's not like the first in a series, like a list of voices that you heard. He's pointing back to the one he heard at first. And the voice of Christ said, come up here and I will show you what must take place after these things. Now the Lord's purpose in having John ascend to the heavenly scene is to gain a heavenly perspective of what is to come.

You know, a heavenly perspective is real valuable, isn't it? What's about to take place here on Earth is going to be something that's going to be extremely unsettling. And someone who doesn't have a heavenly perspective of what's about to take place is going to be in trouble. But I would suggest to you that the same thing is true here and now on planet Earth. We need a heavenly perspective. That is precisely what we need. And it's precisely why we take a look at God's Word regularly, so that we get a heavenly perspective, the same kind of perspective that John is about to get here. The other thing here, I would submit to you that there are some critical perspectives that we must have if we're to thrive in the days to come, however long that be. One final thing to note, I will show you what must take place after these things. Notice that word?

Must take place. You see, these things that are about to take place are not a one possible consequence. It's not a, I'm going to do this if you don't do that. This is going to happen. It's a certainty. And it is most certainly not God's best guess. Right? This must take place. It will happen. It is necessary that it take place. It'll take place by God's intent, not because it's just everything gone awry or the world gone loose. Now, one other thing as he's inviting them to get this scene, life for the believer has to take place from a heavenly perspective.

Ephesians 2.6 tells us that we are already seated with Christ. That is our position if we've placed our trust in Him for salvation. Colossians 3, 1-4 exhorts us to put our minds on things above. So there's a sense in which what John is being asked to do here is very much what Scripture has been asking us to do all along. God wants us to have this heavenly perspective.

And the reason John isn't just invited to look at this scene and then just left you know, leaving us unknowing of what's going on, is that we need to have God's heavenly perspective, not just about what's happening now, but about what is going to take place. One other thing, John is about to describe, in narrative terms, the place that we have already been seated positionally in Christ. I guess one place you could you know, look at this and kind of get a sense of this is home. Welcome home, folks. Okay? The door is being opened verbally in writing for us here. Welcome home. Okay? He's giving us a glimpse of a place that when we get there we're going to say, of course, at last.

This is the perspective that he's taking us to here in these words. It's not just a book about what's going to happen in the future, but it is how and where I live by faith now. An important perspective for us to have. This is an incomparable and magnificent book. What John is about to see as he continues in Revelation is about to take place here on planet Earth, too.

There's no doubt about that. And it's not going to be some sort of a cosmic accident. It's not going to be just sort of nature gone awry or the nature of man gone to seed. It's going to be God's deliberate action against those who are refusing the grace and love and mercy that he's extended.

Finally, in verse 2 here, he says, And immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, funny, he keeps coming up with that, Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, and of course we've already talked about that, But he says, a throne was standing open in heaven.

Now, one of the things, we're going to jump ahead a little bit here in order to get the picture. This throne is something that I think we have to kind of get in our minds here. Because as we look on, and I've kind of highlighted some in the hopes that it will help see it. First, it says there is a throne. Next, it talks about Him who is on the throne. then it talks about beings and effects around the throne, then it talks about beings and effects before the throne, and then it talks about things that come from the throne. Do you see that?

It's the throne that is the center of activity and attention here. This throne is the place around which all heavenly activity centers. It's the reference point for all other beings and effects. In fact, the heavenly scene, what we're about to read here, would lose all significance entirely without the throne. It's the throne that serves as a center point so that all the rest of what's going on makes sense.

So let's not ignore that. It's a word that keeps showing up and keeps showing up. As a matter of fact, it's a word that's going to show up so many times, you're going to see the word throne three times more in the Book of Revelation than the entire New Testament put together. It's pivotal. We should not ignore it. You see, all other beings can have glory. God is glory and is the source of all glory. All other beings can have power, but God alone is power and is the source of all power.

See the difference there? An important distinction for us to make. One more thing about the throne before we leave that subject. The sense given in the Greek here is that the throne, when John is getting there, the throne had just been set. That's the sense. It's not like it's been there all this time. It had just been set. It's like it was just arriving, just being placed there as I walked into the room. That's the sense. See, this is a special judgment place. A special judgment for a special purpose that's about to take place. So this isn't a static thing. This is something just coming together as he's walking into the room. And verse 3 goes this way.

He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance. Now, at first you look at these descriptions of stones and you say, what is this? God looks like a rock? And so you might wonder. But really there's some significance here, so let's not overlook it. It makes a comparison. He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius stone.

Now to understand this scene, we need to look at the instructions. This is in Exodus 28. There's instructions for how to make the breastplate of judgment for the high priest. And just so we can kind of keep centrally focused here. Hopefully you can see that okay. But what this points out here is the Jews were made to make this breastplate of judgment. It was to go on the high priest. And you have a picture on your handout that shows the high priest with this breastplate. Judgment is, in fact, about what is to come upon the entire earth, isn't it? That is exactly why he set this up. Now, there's something else that comes up.

The Sardius stone, named after the city of Sardis that we've just studied, is also what we call a ruby, and the Jasper stone is also a reddish stone as well. These are the first and the last stones that Exodus 28 tells the Jews to put on the high priest's breastplate of judgment. And he told them to put those in the same order as the tribes, from the oldest son to the youngest son of Jacob. What it amounts to, the Sardius donor, the ruby, corresponds to Reuben, the first son. His name means Behold the Son. The last one, Jasper, corresponds to Benjamin, which means Son of my right hand.

Now, this is a picture similar to what you've got on your handout there. This is the High Priest. See, we've already heard in the book of Revelation the titles Alpha and Omega, First and the Last, And that was a way of describing among the people, if I bring the first item and the last item, that includes everything in between. And so these selections of stones are not accidental.

I believe they're actually giving us information about the Lord Himself, about what is about to take place, that this was indeed a breastplate of judgment. It also says that that what is about to take place on planet Earth is focused on Israel, okay? Thence he would use this picture of this breastplate of judgment that Israel would very well understand. And frankly, when the time comes, when they're in the middle of the tribulation period, Israel, some of them will begin to understand what this is pointing to. They'll see the significance. It's pointing to Israel because the church, as we looked at last week, the church is home. The church isn't there.

He's saying, as to judgment, Israel is now becoming the focus. Israel is now the one that I'm going to zero in on. Remember, we talked also about God has made promises. He's made promises to Israel. Those are going to be fulfilled. He says, my focus now is going to be on Israel.

Now, there are some, if you look in commentaries, you'll find some that will say, well, this stone means this or that, but they're really rather subjective and not tied back to scripture. And so I think that this makes more sense because it's biblically founded as opposed to just saying, oh, I think it means this or that quality of God. There's no way to connect that to scripture.

Then he says, and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. The two items that come out of the part of verse three are the rainbow and the emerald. Let's take a look at each one in turn. The rainbow was first mentioned in Genesis 9, where it reads in verses 12-16, God said, and this is the sign of the covenant which I am making with you, between you and me, and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations. I set my bow in the cloud. Three times he mentions this bow, this rainbow, and it's a part of God's covenant, God's promise, never to flood the earth again. This is the symbol of God's promise. Now, what is that but it is a pictorial symbol of God's mercy?

Even in the midst of the tribulation that's going to take place, we're going to see examples of God's mercy as well. And it's going to show up. Why do I say it's God's mercy? For one thing, When you read through that passage in Genesis 9, there is no evidence that God's arm is being twisted to be merciful. God didn't have to extend this promise, but He did out of His mercy. We're going to continue to see examples even as He executes the judgments of Revelation. There will be multiple evidences of His mercy in the midst of it.

Something else that comes out of this, God keeps His promises because He is the promise keeper. He's the one that keeps promises. A lot of times in our era, in our day and age, there's an appeal to believers to make and keep promises, but Scripture doesn't put it that way. Scripture instead lays it out, God's the promise keeper, and this bowl around the throne is just further evidence of that very thing. It's his character, because he is faithful, because he is true. That is about who God is.

If we were to look at Ezekiel 1.28, Ezekiel, like John, is entering the heavenly scene.

In Ezekiel 1.28, the first part of the verse says, As the appearance of the rainbow and the clouds on a rainy day, so is the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. So Ezekiel, when he looked at the heavenly scene, saw the exact same thing. Similar description is what John comes up with. It's consistent with God's mercy and God's covenant as the promise keeper.

And one other thing, notice, unlike, see this rainbow, it's pretty no doubt, but what we see here on planet Earth, typically from the Earth, is just parts of it. The indication from the passage here is that it goes all the way around. It encircles. And you may have seen that, like up in the air looking down over clouds, you notice that there's a circular rainbow, not just a part of a rainbow, an arch, like we see here, as pretty as it is.

And that's the description, the way it appears as you look at the passage there in Revelation. Then in verse 4, it says, around the throne, were 24 thrones, and upon the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads." Now, you need to know that the commentators on this have variously identified these 24 elders as either angels, Israel, Israel and the Church, or just the Church. Now that's a lot of variation in what this means. And you know what? All four of them aren't right. Not all at once. At least three of those are wrong.

After looking at the evidence, I'm quite convinced that these 24 elders, which, as we'll see, show up 12 times in Revelation, are representatives from the Church. Now, you have on the backside of your overhead, and I'll not go over every jot and tittle, but just want to go to certain points, You have the same content as what I have here. One of the things I think we want to notice is that the very things that John has just written about that describe these 24 elders are things that are each of them described about the church in one or two chapters right before this passage starts. And case in point here is The second one, the churches at Smyrna and Philadelphia were promised or encouraged about victor's crowns. Now these are Stephanos. That's different from the diadem, which is kind of a crown of royalty. These are victor's crowns.

And that's the exact same word he uses when he promises or encourages them about these victor crowns in Revelation 2.10 and 3.11, which is the messages to the churches. So prior context points to what these mean. And there are other indications there that I think are pretty firm and solid.

The next part of it, which shows up there, is in the same point here, in the first one, here is Revelation 3.21.

He's already talked to them about, you're going to be sitting on thrones. And he said, you overcomers, those in the church, right, are going to be sitting on thrones. Thronos, okay? And it's the exact same word that he uses here about these thrones that are round about the throne of the Lord.

So again, prior context has already placed it as being the church. And there are other reasons given there as well. And then again, and this is also on the back side of your handout, Here's the 24 elders, they're described as having white robes. And we just read in Revelation 3, 5, the overcomers in the church are promised what? To have white robes.

So I think the fact that, just as John writes here in verse 4, he brings up all the things that have been explicitly, just right in the chapters immediately before, laid out as being true of those in the church, This is an obvious indicator along with the other things that are listed there, and I'll leave it to you to look into those on your own.

But as we move through here, we're going to see the 24 elders are going to be talking about four different things. There are four main things that they praise the Lord about. One, in Revelation 4, as we'll see soon, they praise God for his creation. The second thing, they praise God for His redemption. That's Revelation 5, 9, and 10. Thirdly, they praise Him for His reigning. Revelation 11, 17. And then they praise Him for His judgment. Revelation 19, 4. These elders keep showing up and they keep praising the Lord for each of these things in sequence.

This is something I think important for us to take a look at. A lot of our modern mythology shows angel singing. You've seen Christmas cards and all kinds of pictures showing that. The truth is, if we look at scripture, there are a couple instances of angel singing, but the great majority of scriptures that talk about singing show it as the redeemed are singing. The redeemed are singing.

And that's what we see these elders doing. These elders are frequently shown as singing, and that's a pattern we're going to see again here. Now, it's not only fair, but probably a good idea to ask the question, why do we have exactly 24 elders? You see, these elders are described as being 24 five times in the book, from here all the way to the end, And, as we saw in here, they've also been given 24 thrones.

So that number is not one you want to just sidestep. It's there for a purpose. Some folks want to sidestep it because they say, well, I can't quite figure out why it's there, so they want to sidestep it. But let's not do that, okay? Let's not do that. Now, we have some things to help us.

First of all, there's actually very few places in Scripture where the number 24 shows up. That helps, doesn't it? That's awfully nice. First place is, and a lot of folks will do this, they'll take the number of tribes of Israel, and they'll take the number of disciples, original disciples, and they'll put those together, and they say, see, that's 24. So they'll take Israel, and they'll take the church, and put them together, and they say, see, now we've got 24. But I would submit to you that that's mixing apples and oranges. And there's one other problem that we pointed out in the overhead, and it's also in your handout, Israel has not been judged and not been resurrected yet. They're not here. They've got seven more years to wait before they even show up on the scene. So I would submit to you that that's probably not a good identification. So, now we only have one other choice. Isn't that good? That leaves us with...

Here's David in the Old Testament, 1 Chronicles 24. He went through and he said, I need to organize these priests. And so he set up 24 representatives of the priesthood, which was thousands of priests, he picked out 24 that served on a rotating basis. Every two weeks they would shift, and those 24 would meet and represent the whole group of priests.

And so, this is a good comparison, and here's why. These elders, excuse me, These elders, I believe, are representative of the entire church. And that makes good sense, and here's why. 1 Peter 2.9 says this, and he's speaking of the church.

Here's 1 Peter 2.9. Peter's writing about the church. He says, You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Royal, they've got the crown. A priesthood. He told them that, and that is exactly what these elders are in the position of doing.

Revelation 5.8 has the elders having these labors that they would use similar to what was used by the Old Testament priests. Now, we'll be seeing a lot more of these elders and a lot more of the throne.

And it's very important that we keep this in mind, because now we've stepped up into the heavenly scene. Right now we are, as these elders are described, right now we are positionally seated with Christ. Right now we are positionally there in the heavenly places.

This is describing it having become complete reality in narrative form. One of the things, of course, that Mike just announced is that his class will be going into talking about position and condition. What has taken place here, position and condition, are now one thing. There will no longer be a need to worry about, is our condition in line with our position? Because God will have taken care of that. He will have taken care of that in that we will have We will have our wills fixed and our place fixed. Our position will be eternally with Him, without question. And that's why the Lord has this appeal through Paul to the church at Colossae. He writes this, Colossians 3, verse 7.

Therefore, since you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is. seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, and that's going to happen, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry, And here's, I think, critical to the point that we're at now.

For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. You see how the parallel is here? They appeal to us. Set your minds on this scene we're just beginning to describe. Put your minds there, because the wrath of God will come. Future tense. But it's coming, and it's certain. It will come here on planet Earth, on the sons of disobedience. Not on that heavenly place where we're called upon to set our minds. Not on that heavenly place where the Lord has appealed to us to found our perspective. And in them you once walked when you were living in them. One last thing to point out to you here. Here's another word pattern. We showed last week some of the word patterns. Here's another word pattern that shows up.

We last week noticed that here's the word church that keeps showing up in the first three chapters of Revelation and all of a sudden disappears. And then at the same time that the church is no longer on earth, you notice that wrath keeps showing up throughout the tribulation period as we go into the chapters ahead. But the parallel pattern that goes right along with that is all of a sudden the elders show up in heaven and they continue on through the end of the tribulation period, all the way to the last chapter. And after that, they disappear.

And we'll see why that happens as well. But that also points up, there's a difficulty in identifying the elders for anyone who believes in a rapture after the tribulation has already begun. You see that? Because now I've got these elders, what am I going to do with these guys? They're showing up too early.

We have a hope, and as Paul puts it to Titus, this is our blessed hope. As we're reading into these verses in the weeks and months to come here, should the Lord allow that long, as we're reading in these verses, this is our hope. This is the place that we're called to live. not just waiting for it to occur and looking ahead and treading water until then, but as Paul has exhorted the Colossians, to set our minds there. It is from there that we live. It's from there that we have our perspective. It's from there that our thinking and our hopes begin.

Let's pray. Lord, we give you thanks. You've just laid out so many marvelous things for us. And we ask now, Lord, in this last Sunday of this year, we just ask that you would indeed set our minds on things above. That you would indeed give us a set of values and perspectives that would be founded and grounded in heaven, Lord. That we might indeed find our life there. and live there even as we're living here. We just pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.