The Apocalypse: Crowns Down — Q&A

The throne room of God defies explanation. What does all the imagery convey? Spend a few more minutes meditating on Revelation 4 and such questions as: What are the seven lamps and the seven spirits of God? Or if being mesmerized by the glory of God catalyzes worship, how did Satan fall? And what does "holy, holy, holy" really mean?

Transcript

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Welcome to From the Cutting Room Floor, a podcast devoted to picking up some of the scraps that uh didn't make the cut on Sunday for any number of reasons. Uh, but it's a wonderful opportunity to talk about some of those things. There's some good uh good material that is often left behind that preachers have to leave behind. And so this little podcast is an opportunity to talk about some of those things. Uh we were in Revelation 4 yesterday, the throne room of God. Incredible, incredible picture of the superlativeness of God, which is, I think, what's behind the Tris Hagion. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The word holy means separate or set apart, but uh in some ways the word holy is an adjective for God. Uh, and when a word is um thrice repeated, it's often for the point of emphasis. And so I think a big part of that declaration in Revelation 4 is highlighting the superlativeness of God. God is not a superhuman, he's not even a human, he's a different species of being altogether, and one that the human language struggles to describe. A couple of details here in this passage, and um one of them is towards the beginning. It talks about the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. You'll note that this is a repeat of chapter one, the seven spirits of God. And I noted there that this is talking about the Holy Spirit, or more precisely, the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit. How are we getting there? Well, we've got to remember that the number seven, again, is not just about quantity. Numbers are not just about quantity in Revelation. In fact, some cases it's not even primarily about quantity. It's numbers are making a qualitative statement. The seven churches, is it just those seven? No, the word seven in the Bible is the number of completion, totality, nothing is missing. You got seven churches is Jesus' message to the seven churches, messages to just those seven churches. No, the word seven would suggest it is Jesus' message to the church, capital C, the global church in every age, the complete message to the church, the nothing is missing message to the church. And so, when applied to the seven spirits of God, it is the spirit, the nothing is missing spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. Why seven? Why put it this way? Well, you could say, I mean, mathematically, you can work it out and say one spirit for every church. Seven spirits of God, seven churches, one spirit for every church. Or if seven churches represents the comprehensive global church, then it's the spirit of God, the spirit of God, dwelling in and among his church, his global church. So uh, in some ways, I think this is talking about um the omnipresence of the spirit, the dwelling of the spirit within the church. You know, obviously the lamp stands from chapter one where the churches, here it's seven lamps are the spirits of God. Uh, lamp stands are different than seven lamps, but there is nonetheless an interconnectedness between the church and the spirit of God. Uh, the presence of God in the world is both through the spirit of God and through the church. You know, the church is the body of Christ, and so the church is meant to image Christ, or you could say to be the presence of Christ uh in the world. So there is, I think, an interconnectedness between the church and the spirit that is meant there in um uh in the relationship that that we're seeing in Revelation 4 between the seven lamps being the spirit of God and seven lampstands being the church. Um somebody submitted an interesting question. Uh says this the sermon today seemed to say that if we just saw God in his glory on his throne, then we would drop all of our idols and sin and revel in him. The question is, how did Satan and other angels see God in his glory and on his throne and still reject him? It's a great question. And it's one we don't have a lot of information about. We are talking here about the primordial fall of Satan. The primordial fall of Satan. And the fact is, the scriptures don't give us a whole lot of detail about that. Um even though it's, you know, it's a little um, there are differences of opinion on whether or not Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 are describing the fall of Satan. Not everybody believes that, some do, but if we say it does, uh then we can say pride was the reason for the fall of Satan. He wanted God's throne. Um, but we're not given much else uh about it. So I think we have to rem we have to retain some room for mystery where the Bible doesn't give us a whole lot to go off of. Certainly we need to mine the scriptures for all they're worth. Uh, but once we've done that and we come out on the other side and realize there isn't a whole lot about this, um, we just need to do a Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong to the Lord. Um, I could surmise some things, I could throw some ideas out there. Um, you know, I do believe, and we're gonna get to this in a couple weeks, that God did decree both the fall of Satan and the first sin, though he himself did not commit it. He stands behind good and evil asymmetrically. Um, and we'll get to that um in a few weeks. But um uh, you know, how is it that Satan could and the angels could see God in all his glory and still reject him? There's a mystery to that question. I would add a couple of things to that though. First of all, um uh right now uh human beings, and by the way, let me let me just back up just a minute here. Uh there is a J curve in terms of the glory, in terms of creatures um taking in of the glory of God. Because there's a related question to this. Sometimes I've been asked over the years, if Adam and Eve failed and they got kicked out of the garden, how do we know we won't fail in the new heavens and the new earth? And my response to that is is while there are a lot of similarities between Eden and the New Jerusalem, there are some things that are very different. And the permanency of the new heavens and the new earth is one of those things. So, so the the the plot line of the Bible is actually shaped like a J. It's going to end better than it began. It's gonna end better than it began, and the reason it's gonna end better than it began is because of the work of Christ. Uh, well, we're gonna see that too in in the book of Revelation. Um, and so for us, you know, one day being in the new heavens and the new earth, taking in the glory of God, how will we know we're not gonna fall? Because there is a change, there is something different that has happened since the primordial fall of Satan, since the fall of Adam and Eve, and that is the work of Christ. Uh, so there is a there is a, I'm not gonna say there's an there's a change in the intrinsic glory of God necessarily, there is a change, I think, in the extrinsic glory of God that is due to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. And by extrinsic glory of God, I mean um how we take in, how creatures take in, how we receive, how we perceive the glory of God. That has changed. That is now even more remarkable now than it was um uh before uh creation, certainly before the work of Christ. Um so there's uh in in some ways the picture we're given in Revelation 4 and 5 is even more glorious, maybe, than the picture that Satan and the angels had uh before the creation of the world. Um and so there's more to behold there in a sense. Um, you know, the the uh the fall of Satan in um uh Ezekiel uh 28, Isaiah 14 is uh doesn't give us a whole lot to go on. Um you can say, well, they were in the glory of God, they saw the glory of God, yes, yes, yes, yes, but there still is a mystery to me as to how they ended up where they did. Um, and we have to retain some of that. There's just some things we don't we don't know. I, you know, I I do believe and I really do hold to a high view of God, the sovereignty of God. Uh, none of that caught him by surprise. In fact, I will go further and say everything has worked out according to his plan. Um, and uh um so we can rest in that. And and how that can help make sense of it, uh, I'm gonna explain it. April 26th is gonna be a big Sunday for us when I take um uh take a glaring look at this. One other thing I want to mention in Revelation 4. Um, you know, we get to this place at the end of the chapter. The 24 elders take off their crowns, they lay them before the one who sits on the throne, and they say, You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. Um, the reason that God is worthy in this text uh to receive glory, honor, and power from us, for us to ascribe that to him, to express that to him, is that he has created all things and sustains all things. The focus in Revelation 4 is on God the Father and His creation and preservation of the universe. Yes, his superlativeness, the uniqueness of his transcendency, his sovereignty, um, but in in creation. Now we're gonna get to Revelation 5. And this the emphasis is gonna shift. Revelation 4 is like the stage and a setting to a theatrical play. Revelation 5 is like the drama that unfolds on it, and the scene is gonna shift from the throne room where the creator and sustainer of the universe sits to a slain lamb. Revelation 4 and 5 cannot be decoupled, they belong together. Chapter 4 has an emphasis on the superlativeness of God as creator and sustainer of the universe. The emphasis in chapter 5 is going to be on what the Lamb has accomplished, and because of what the Lamb has accomplished, what he's able to do. And it is stunning and striking. Well, those are some extra notes from the cutting room floor on Revelation 4. I'm glad you're listening. I hope it's meaningful to you to dig just a little bit deeper, provide a little more things to think about, and Lord willing that the Lord uses those truths to change us and shape us and make us devoted followers of Christ and wholehearted worshipers of Him. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time.