A GLIMPSE INTO HEAVEN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in Heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in Heaven with someone sitting on it. And the One who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.

Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.

From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

Revelation 4:1-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Imagine that you were John for a moment.

Not only did he get to write one of the four Gospels, detailing the life, death, and resurrection of God’s one and only Son Jesus, the Savior of the world, but then he was chosen by Jesus to write down everything he would see and/or be told, an effort that would become what we know as the Book of Revelation, the final book in our Holy Bible.

What an incredible, blessed opportunity, privilege, and responsibility that Jesus entrusted to him!

Today, we begin our study of Revelation, chapter 4 and find things moving on from the seven letters Jesus dictated to John which would be sent to targeted churches in the Roman province of Asia. As the chapter opens, we find John sharing an amazing vision, one that gives a glimpse into the very kingdom of Heaven. Look again at his words here:

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in Heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in Heaven with someone sitting on it. And the One who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.

Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.

From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. Vv.1-6

Here, we find John seeing an open door in Heaven before being summoned to go to it and see what was within. The “voice” that John hears “speaking to” him “like a trumpet” was none other than the same voice that addressed him in chapter one, a voice he identified as the very voice of Jesus.

At the moment John was told to come, we read where he was “at once in the Spirit” which brought him before a “throne in Heaven” with “someone sitting on it in splendor and majesty, giving “the appearance of jasper and ruby”. John also saw “a rainbow that shone like an emerald” but not that it wasn’t arching as one would expect but rather encircling the throne. There were also “seven lamps” which were “blazing”, representative of the ‘seven spirits of God”. This was actually representative of the singular Holy Spirit but highlights the seven ways the Holy Spirit would aid the Messiah as found in the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, verse 2. There, we find the prophet saying this:

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and He will delight in the fear of the Lord.

Here, we learn the seven things the Holy Spirit would bring to Jesus:

1. The Spirit of the Lord.

2. The Spirit of wisdom.

3. The Spirit of understanding.

4. The Spirit of counsel.

5. The Spirit of might.

6. The Spirit of knowledge.

7. The fear of the Lord which Jesus would delight in.

The number seven symbolizes perfection and completeness in the Bible and here we are reminded that Jesus had everything He needed in the Holy Spirit, just as we do as His followers.

And as if this wasn’t amazing enough, we read where there was what appeared to be a “sea of glass” that was as “clear as crystal” in front of God’s throne, a throne which emitted “flashes of lightning” and ‘pearls of thunder”.

How would we describe seeing God sitting on his throne?

We would do the best we can to put something so incredible into words and this is exactly what we find John trying to do as he shares this vision.

Before we finish this unbelievable glimpse into Heaven, it’s important to note that the throne of God wasn’t the only throne present for John shares that there were “twenty-four” others that surrounded God’s with a gold crowned elder in white clothes sitting on each.  

While some have believed these 24 elders were angels, the Greek word used here is only used in the Bible to refer to men and so these elders were men who were elevated to the highest level of rule and reign in Heaven, a place equivalent to Jesus Himself. There is some thought then that these 24 elders actually represent the church itself and there’s some credence to that for sure for at the end of the letter to the church in Laodicia, you’ll remember Jesus saying this:

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on My throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with My Father on His throne. Revelation 3:21

Without John recording his vision in the Book of Revelation, in full obedience to Jesus’ command, we wouldn’t have this blessed glimpse behind the door of Heaven, a place where God resides and reigns, a place of beauty, splendor, and majesty beyond what any of us could describe. Thank goodness, John did his best to do so.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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