INTRODUCTION
Revelation is a difficult book. We can’t deny that. The fact that it’s difficult might put us off reading it. But as well as being difficult, many Christians don’t like Revelation’s message. Among other things, it talks about tribulation and wrath and judgment. Other parts of the Bible talk about those things but Revelation talks about them a lot. So, as one commentator wrote, ‘It remains largely unread.’
Actually, there are some parts of Revelation which we’re OK with. The first few chapters, where Jesus writes letters to the churches, are all right. And the last chapter, when Jesus has established a new heaven and earth, is all right too. It’s mostly the middle chapters that we don’t like. They’re the hard parts. And those are the chapters we’ll be looking at! I’m calling this series ‘Revelation: the Hard Parts’.
You may be thinking ‘Oh, dear!’ But please don’t think that. It’s good for us to look at these parts. Revelation tells us that there will be persecution. There will be battles. The church will suffer. We don’t look forward to such things. But any normal person wants to know when a storm is coming. It’s now hurricane season in the Caribbean. Do you suppose a ship’s captain wouldn’t want to know if a hurricane is heading his way? Of course he wants to know.
But Revelation doesn’t simply warn us that a hurricane is heading our way. It tells us what will happen. It assures us that God is sovereign. That Christ is king and will come again and establish his kingdom of peace. That Satan will be completely defeated. That God’s people will be preserved. That justice will be served. And that there will be a feast!
So, yes, a hurricane is heading our way. We should prepare. But we don’t need to fear it.
THE STORY SO FAR
We’re going to start our series at Revelation 4. But let’s have a quick catch up with what has happened so far.
In Revelation 1, John has a revelation of Jesus. Jesus is walking among seven lampstands. John is told that ‘the seven lampstands are the seven churches.’ Note that John isn’t told: ‘The seven lampstands are seven churches.’ Seven out of hundreds. They are THE seven churches. Seven is the number of completeness and perfection. So ‘THE seven churches’ means not only the seven historic churches – Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum and so on – but the church as a whole all through history.
In Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus sends letters to the seven churches. He gives them his assessment of how they are. Two were OK; five had problems. Remember, we can take Jesus’ letter to the seven historic churches as being addressed to the whole church. Rosebery Park is one of them.
REVELATION 4: THE THRONE ROOM
We have our cast. Now, John is given a vision about ‘what must take place after this.’ Note the ‘after this.’ Most of Revelation is about what happens in the future from John’s perspective. It isn’t about things happening in John’s time.
Act 1, Scene 1 is a court scene. We see a throne in heaven. The one seated on the throne has the appearance of jasper and carnelian. Around the throne is a rainbow that has the appearance of an emerald. Jasper can be various colours but it’s usually red. Carnelian is reddish-brown or orange. Emerald is green. Just so you have an idea of the colour scheme! I don’t know how to understand all this but it’s clearly glorious.
Around the throne are twenty-four elders. They’re clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. This is a royal court rather than a law court, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a law court. When we had kings, the king heard cases. We see flashes of lightning and hear rumblings and peals of thunder.
There are also four living creatures. One commentator [Mounce] describes them as worship leaders. I like that. They say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty.’ Actually, a number of Bible translations say that they sing those words. If they are singing then this is perhaps the first of seven hymns in Revelation.
It’s an awesome sight and, in view of what is to come, it’s very appropriate that the four living creatures are emphasising God’s holiness.
But what is happening in this scene? Are we simply seeing the normal, day-to-day activity of God’s court in heaven? Or is something else happening on this occasion?
The prophet Daniel helps us a lot. In Daniel 7, Daniel relates a vision he had. He says this:
“As I looked,
thrones were placed,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
its wheels were burning fire …
the court sat in judgement,
and the books were opened.”
Then Daniel sees someone approach the throne:
“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him…”
Daniel wanted to know what all this was about. Someone in his vision explains. He talks about various kingdoms and eventually a kingdom that would prevail over the saints – for a time…
“until the Ancient of Days came, and judgement was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.”
Later, Daniel tells us that a king will oppress the saints…
“and they shall be given into his hand
for a time, times, and half a time.
But the court shall sit in judgement,
and his dominion shall be taken away,
to be consumed and destroyed to the end” [Daniel 7:9, 10b, 13-14, 22, 25b-26].
I hope you’re getting the idea. There’s God the Father, on his throne. Jesus approaches him and is given dominion and glory and a kingdom. But there will also be conflict. A kingdom, and specifically a king, will oppress God’s people “until the Ancient of Days came, and judgement was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.”
God’s people are oppressed, persecuted and quite simply, defeated. BUT THEN, THERE IS JUDGMENT. After that, the saints will possess the kingdom. Is this what’s happening here? The throne is surrounded by living creatures who are all busy praising and worshipping God. Praising and worshipping God is a great attitude to be in when you have to make a judgment! But so far, there’s no judgment.
REVELATION 5: THE SCROLL
If we go on to Chapter 5, John sees a scroll. What could this scroll be? In Revelation, John regularly quotes from Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah. Each of them either wrote a scroll or was given a scroll, and they were all scrolls of judgment. Given what happens as the seals of this scroll are opened, it’s clear that this scroll is a scroll of judgment.
There’s the scroll. But what does it say? There’s high drama. No one can be found to open the scroll. John is on the edge of his seat! He’s in tears!
Daniel, in his vision, saw someone like a son of man who came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. Where is he in John's vision? Now, he appears. John tells us:
‘And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb… [Revelation 5:5-6].
Jesus has appeared! John tells us, ‘And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne’ [Revelation 5:7].
I hope this is clear. There is a point in time when God will pronounce judgment. Jesus alone is found to be worthy to open the scroll of God’s judgment because Jesus alone has taken God’s judgment on himself. The scroll is not opened all at once. But as it is opened, things start to get distinctly uncomfortable for the people of the earth.
We will start to look at God’s judgment in the next talk, in two weeks’ time. When will this judgment take place? Or has it already taken place? John was given a vision of ‘what must take place after this.’ It was a vision of something that was IN THE FUTURE FROM JOHN’S PERSPECTIVE. Let’s suppose John was writing in 90 A.D. Then his vision could have been of something that would take place in 91 A.D. or any time after that. I can’t see any events in world history that correspond to what Revelation describes. So, I think that this court scene either hasn’t happened yet, or it has happened recently and we’re starting to see the result.
Is this something we can look forward to, be excited about? Absolutely! Let me give you three reasons why we should see this as a positive thing.
GOD IS GLORIFIED
My sense is that many Christians and churches are embarrassed about the idea that God will judge. For some reason they think that it’s unbecoming of God to judge. But the truth is the exact opposite. When you see a leader of any sort making the hard, but right decision, you’re impressed. Similarly, God is glorified when he acts as a righteous judge. When God’s people see that God’s last and most terrible round of judgment is about to start, they praise God, saying:
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!” [Revelation 15:3b].
WE ARE SAVED
Not only is God glorified when he judges, God’s judgment is A Very Good Thing for God’s people. Here in the UK I don’t think we are very conscious of oppressors. We don’t have too many oppressors. But in other parts of the world, Christians face a lot of oppression.
Here in the UK, if you ask a Christian, ‘How are you saved?’ he or she would probably say, ‘I’m saved from sin by the blood of Jesus.’ But there is another kind of salvation we need. We need to be saved from oppression. That happens by God’s judgment on oppressors. God’s plan of salvation for mankind cannot be completed without judgment.
JUSTICE IS DONE
If we hear that some crime has been committed, I think most of us would want the person who has committed the crime to be caught and face justice. It’s distressing when we see that a wrong has been done and nothing is done. People in everyday life want justice to be done. That is true of God’s people too. In Revelation 6, we read that ‘the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne ... cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”’
They want justice. They want to be avenged. That’s God’s job. We know, from what we’ve been looking at today, that God will do it.
So, in Revelation 4, we see God’s court convening. In Revelation 5, the scroll indicates that judgment has been given. In John’s vision those events were in HIS future. I don’t know if the court has convened and if Jesus, the Lamb, has taken the scroll and is starting to open it. I think it’s possible, but it may still be in the future. But either way, the prospect of that judgment is something to be happy about. God is glorified in judging. Justice will be done. And the culmination of the judgment will be the inauguration of a new heaven and a new earth – which we, as God’s people, will be citizens of.
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 4 September, 2022 a.m. service
