Gazing on the Beauty Realm of God – Revelation Chapter 4
Intro.: Last week we talked about the battle for our gaze and how the enemy wants to direct our eyes and attention to the “lesser” things. Today I want to focus on what we have to look at with our spiritual eyes. Early in John 5, Jesus spoke of His equality with the Father in nature, power and authority. And in vs. 35 He says that John is a “lamp that was burning and shining”. God is raising up burning and shining lamps of His glory. How do we get this fire lit? By gazing and beholding the fiery majesty of the God who is ablaze with stunning glory. READ TEXT
I. He Who was sitting on the Throne – vs. 3
A. Ref.:Exodus 28:17-20 Priest’s breastplate
1. The 1st stone in the priest’s breastplate was a Sardius
a. Sardius refers to Reuben and is a blood red stone
b. Reuben: 1st born son, Jesus: 1st born of many brethren
c. Stone color is a clear reference to the blood of Christ
d. Derived from 2 Hebrew words meaning “behold the Son”
2. The last stone in the priest’s breastplate was a Jasper
a. Jasper refers to Benjamin and is a clear stone
b. Benjamin: last son of Israel, Jesus: the 1st & the last
c. This was a clear stone, speaking of total victory
d. Derived from 2 Hebrew words meaning ’the son of my
right hand’...or, ’the son of my power.’
B. Why the reverse order?
1. OT saints looked forward to the Lamb & then His rule
2. John was looking back from eternity & saw first the rule
II. The 24 Elders – vs. 4
A. Who are they?
1. The 12 disciples and the 12 sons of Israel?
2. Celestial/angelic beings?
3. The 24 priestly descendents of Aaron?
B. They are WORSHIPPERS – Rev. 4:10; 5:8-9
1. They are continuously beholding the beauty of God
III. The Throne – vs. 5
A. …from the throne proceed flashes of lightning…
B. …voices and peals of thunder… (much like Mt. Sinai)
C. 7 lamps of fire burning before the throne…
1. …which are the seven spirits of God – Isaiah 11:2
a. The Spirit of the Lord: life-giving spirit
b. The Spirit of wisdom
c. The Spirit of understanding
d. The Spirit of counsel: gives direction
e. The Spirit of might: strength builder
f. The Spirit of knowledge
g. The fear of the Lord: reverent terror / unrestrained worship
IV. The Four Living Creatures
A. They are full of eyes – eyes everywhere!!!
B. They have one responsibility…
1. To gaze at God – that’s it!
2. This is the only thing that they have done for all of eternity
NOTE: This is an example and direction for us. The creatures that were closest to God were those that were continually gazing on God. The more we focus on the Lord, the closer we will be drawn to Him.
C. These creatures are called “Seraphim”
1. Seraphim literally means: “burning ones”
2. They are set ablaze by gazing upon the consuming fire God
D. Out of continual “encounter” they declare… READ: vs. 10
NOTE: We sometimes get tired of a worship song after we have sung it for a few weeks or months. These worshipping creatures have sung the same song for millions of years and it is still fresh and alive to them because they are consumed with gazing on the beauty of God and declaring His glory continually
NOTE: The beauty of God hits the seraphim with such force that they cannot cease studying and praising the revelation of God
Concl.: John responded to the call of Rev. 4:1 to, “Come up here…”
The Lord is calling to us to “come up here” and know the Father’s heart. We can either pray from earth to heaven or from heaven to earth. I want to pray from inside the Father’s heart. This can only happen when we are captivated by His glory as a result of gazing into the “beauty realm”.
