Statesman63
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 | | Subject: Revelation Chapter 4 (Part 35) (Verses 5 – 6a) Thu Mar 26, 2015 10:13 pm | |
| Revelation Chapter 4 (Part 35) (Verses 5 – 6a)
We are currently getting a peak at God on His throne in Heaven. The beginning of 4:5 reads, “From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder.” God is awesome and majestic. He is all powerful. Try to picture lightning and loud peals of thunder coming not from clouds, but from God’s throne, and all of the believers are there to witness it. When Moses delivered the 10 Commandments to the Israelites, God made a similar appearance to them. Exodus 20:18-21 reads as follows:
When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” The people remained at a distance while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
Our passage in Revelation 4:5 will naturally be a scary event. God’s throne does not always have flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder around it. The lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder are there because God is about to express His wrath upon the face of the Earth towards all unbelievers. Since the Church is now in Heaven, the Holy Spirit who indwelled the believers is also now in Heaven and no longer on the Earth. Sinners today benefit for having the Holy Spirit in their midst. Even though the Holy Spirit is not in them, they are in a sense, sanctified for merely having the Holy Spirit on Earth. Such sanctification exists in the Bible where a saved person’s protection and blessing projects to the unsaved among them from just being in proximity. Genesis 39:5 reads, “From the time [Pharaoh] put [Joseph] in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph.” The mere presence of Joseph brought a blessing to the ungodly family around him. I hear what you are saying: “But that’s Old Testament.” Well, look at 1 Corinthians 7:14 in the New Testament. It reads, “For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his [believing] wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.” The mere presence of the believing spouse sanctifies the rest of an unbelieving family. Sanctification is not equivalent to salvation. Sanctification means that God has set the person apart to be holy; therefore His favor still rests on them. This is what the Holy Spirit does to a certain extent to the rest of the world until He is taken up to Heaven through the future Rapture. So we do not have to be afraid of a huge meteor striking the Earth and wiping us out (at least before the Rapture occurs) because the Holy Spirit is here.
Revelation 4:5 is the beginning of “the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those living on the Earth” that we read about in Revelation 3:10. Indeed we will see such judgments taking place. Revelation 8:5 reads, “Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the Earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.” Revelation 10:3 reads, “...the [mighty angel] gave a loud shout like the roar of a mighty lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke.” Revelation 11:19 states, “Then God’s temple in Heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of His covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.” And Revelation 16:18 says, “Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.” As God judges the world through His wrath at this time, He will be displaying His glory through the nature He created.
The second part of Revelation 4:5 reads, “Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.” We covered this back in Revelation 1:4, which reads, “...and from the seven spirits before his throne...” The seven spirits represent the Holy Spirit that indwelt every believer during the Day of Grace. The Holy Spirit is now in Heaven and no longer on Earth because He was raptured up with every believer.
Revelation 4:6 reads, “Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.” This seems to be describing the floor of God’s throne. Look at Exodus 24:9-10, which reads, “Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was something like pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.” When we have more than one person describing the same scene, often each description will be unique with different details even though it is the same event or scene. I believe that Moses and Aaron witnessed what John is describing as he is peeking inside of Heaven and sees the floor of God’s throne. It is clear like crystal, glass, or a clear sapphire. If you do a Google Images search of “sapphire” you will see what Moses and Aaron were trying to describe. The word “sea” here refers to something massive. In Ezekiel 1:22, the angelic creatures had to look up to see the floor of God because they were beneath it. It reads, “Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice, and awesome.” Revelation 15:2 states, “And I [John] saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast...” At this time, God’s throne-room floor will be mixed with the fire of His judgement and wrath. God is going to make the New Jerusalem on the New Earth resemble the current Heaven in many ways. The streets of the Kingdom city will resemble God’s current throne-room floor. Revelation 21:21 states, “The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.”
One side note I want to point out: Let’s compare two passages we covered in this study: Revelation 3:10 and that passage in Exodus 20:18-21. Note that both give a reason for God’s appearing. They both say “to test those who live on the Earth.” But of course, the test will be different in both cases. Moses said, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” Jesus said in Revelation 3:10, “I will keep [the Church] from the hour of the trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the Earth.” The test that Jesus is referring to will not include the Church. Converted believers will be there for only the first 3 and half years of the Tribulation. The second test is mostly for unbelievers where God is going to reveal the true heart and nature of those who have rejected Him. The test in Moses’ day was for God’s people to grow and mature spiritually. Ironically, both ultimately fail their respective tests, thus the need for a Messiah to come.
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