Yeah, my message is over. Not really.
Through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus. I’ve learned to depend on His Word. Now, I hope, brothers and sisters, that is a song that we’re able to sing all of our lives—that one that really always touches our heart when we sing it:
Through it all,
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus;
Through it all,
I’ve learned to depend on His Word.
Now we’re going to be sharing from His Word this morning. His Word is important, my brothers and sisters. It’s not an educational word that I hope to bring—something that we learn and try to think about or memorize—but a word that is full of the Holy Spirit, because only then can it truly mean anything.
Brothers and sisters, let us come back to that solid foundation in our lives. If we have drifted away, trusting somewhat in ourselves and neglecting His Word, may we come back this morning to Him and His Word.
Well, as you know, I’ve been sharing out of the Book of Revelation. Actually, the messages that we’ve had—a long series on the house of God—that’s really Chapter 2 of the Book of Revelation. But as we begin this morning, I’d like to open with a few Scriptures. It will be a slight review.
Revelation 1:3
For the time is at hand.
The time is at hand.
Revelation 1:13
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto a son of man.
In the midst of the seven candlesticks, One like unto a Son of Man.
Revelation 3:21-22
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
To him that overcomes, I will grant to sit with Me in My throne.
Revelation 4:1-2
After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter.
Straightway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and One sitting upon the throne.
Behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat upon the throne.
I cannot impress upon you too much, brothers and sisters, that the time is at hand. Hallelujah! Our Lord Jesus Christ—though, as we look at the world situation, it would not appear that our Lord would be coming anytime soon—actually, the world situation tells us that He is coming soon, and that He soon will come back in the clouds, beginning His parousia, His return to the earth, as He puts His feet on the Mount of Olives.
Brothers and sisters, the time is at hand. I cannot emphasize that too much. We are living in a critical hour, a most transitional time, maybe in the history of the whole world, in the fact that soon we will transition from the church age and the age of grace into the kingdom age.
A new age where the King will come—our Lord Jesus Christ, Ruler of the universe. He will come and rule in Jerusalem for a thousand years. No sin. Brothers and sisters, what a time it will be when finally we have One who is truly worthy to be King, sitting on the throne on this earth. Hallelujah! The time is near.
Lord, you know, when I was a child—and I became a Christian at twelve—I would read about these things. I did not read Revelation much; it was too terrifying, frankly. But the thought of the Lord’s soon return was, to me, a far-off thing. But it is no longer that way. It seems like it might be any hour, and it can be.
This Revelation, this book—I have mentioned it before—it is the apocalypse. It is the unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ in His fullness. It is the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ, and God wants us to see this unveiling in this hour before our Lord returns, that we might be prepared.
It is an unveiling not only of our Lord Jesus Christ, but of His heart; an unveiling of God’s heart; an unveiling of what His purpose is and how He will bring that purpose into being. It is all in this book.
It is an amazing book. It is full of many events, many things that may be disturbing as you read them. But hopefully, as we share from His Word, we will find out that these are just birth pains.
In Genesis, we have the beginning of God’s purpose revealed, and in Revelation we see the ending. We see it fulfilled and completed.
We began in Chapter 1, and we saw, first, the King of glory. This One John saw, whom he had never seen quite this way before—though he knew our Lord Jesus very well—he had never seen the King of glory. And John tries his best to show us who this King is.
This One with hair white as wool, full of wisdom. Brothers and sisters, oh, how wise man thinks he is, but it has only brought him into darkness. But here is real wisdom. Our real wisdom is in heaven, not found on this earth.
He has a white robe down to His feet, full of righteousness. Righteousness, brothers and sisters. Sometimes we toy around with sin in our lives, but our Lord is full of righteousness, and He desires us to be like Him.
He has a golden breastplate guarding His heart. It is love—the golden breastplate of love. That is why you and I today have been spared from destruction: because of the love of God.
Flaming eyes, full of discernment. And what they see that is not of Christ, they burn it up. Feet of brass, judging everything. Full of power and might, with the sharp two-edged sword out of His mouth, discerning and able to divide soul from spirit—what is of man from what is of God in your life.
Brothers and sisters, the Word divides—the sword of the Spirit. It says His countenance was brilliant. He is light. There is no darkness at all, no flaw. Pure. He is the Almighty. He is the King.
It says He was dead. It wants to emphasize that He went into death, but He is alive. Brothers and sisters, sometimes in our daily lives we go through things as if our Lord Jesus is dead. He is alive. He is with you. He wants you to interact with Him. He wants to be your King.
Is He your King? Is this King your King? Righteousness, light, love, righteousness—is this your King?
Brothers and sisters, we know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. We know Him as the Lamb of God. But how critical it is in this vast hour that He becomes King in our lives.
But the King is not just looking at and evaluating us as individuals. Here we find Him in the midst of the churches. He is evaluating His church.
It is so critical to see that in this opening scene from John the Apostle: we find this Lord, this King, in the midst of His churches—the seven churches in Asia Minor.
Brothers and sisters, I would propose that He is there, and He is trying to show us that this is His heart. This is where His heart is: to see His church built without spot or wrinkle. It is His future bride, and He is concerned for her because she is not ready.
It is to be, so to speak, His queen. But she is not ready. He looks, and He admonishes her that she needs to be ready. And He finds some very critical flaws in this one that is to be His bride.
The primary one, and the first one, is first love. Now, a lot of times when we think of first love, we think of that infatuation we had as teenagers. Well, it so happened in my life that my infatuation turned into some real love of forty-seven years. Actually, I dated her five years before that.
But the point I am making is, I am not talking about that infatuation, that excited period, and all of that. I am talking about real love. Now, brothers and sisters, what is it? What is this first love?
It is a love that holds Jesus Christ first in your heart and first in the church’s heart. He is first. He is her consideration. There is no rival in her heart to Christ. She has a single eye. There is no one else, nothing else, that she is interested in.
There is no self-love in this love. There is no consideration for self, only for Him. Oh, how far we are from first love—not only in our individual lives, but certainly in the church, to be His bride. No self-consideration.
Brothers and sisters, can you ever say that you went through half a day without self-consideration? It is not in our human nature. This first love is not what comes naturally. It only comes from the Lord Himself. It is from His life in you.
You do have first love. It is there. That is what needs to be primary in our lives. First love has one concern: it is for the Lord Jesus and for His purpose, and for what is on His heart. That is what is on her heart.
When I think of first love, I think of Mary Magdalene. She was the one who was delivered of seven evil spirits by the Lord. She loved the Lord. She had sinned much, she was forgiven much, and she loved much.
Brothers and sisters, sometimes we do not live, of course, a life that our sister Mary Magdalene lived. But if you really get down to what is in our heart, we are no better conditioned than she was. But the Lord has forgiven much, and He is to be loved much.
I have always found it interesting that after the Lord arose from the dead, the first person He appeared to was Mary Magdalene—not the apostles, not even John, but Mary Magdalene.
She had risen early that morning and gone to the grave. She saw that the tomb was empty, and she went back and told Peter and John. They immediately arose, went, and looked. They did not see anyone in the tomb. It was empty. And they went back.
But Mary lingered. Her heart was not comforted. Where was her Lord? Where had they taken His body? You see, Mary Magdalene could not live without Him. Her heart could not be consoled. It was first love—first love so evident.
Oh, how the Lord responds to first love, brothers and sisters. He could not refrain Himself. He even told her, “I have not yet ascended unto the Father,” but He appeared to her. Of course, she did not recognize Him immediately, but as soon as He said, “Mary,” she recognized His voice.
First love—the Lord responds to first love. And that is what He wants in His church. Oh, brothers and sisters, it is not human at all. The love Mary had was something she had because she had such a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord is speaking to His church: “He that hath an ear, let him hear.” He ends with that in every church He speaks to: “He that hath an ear, let him hear.”
Brothers and sisters, unfortunately, not everyone is going to respond. But He wants us all to respond. He calls out to all: “I want you to hear Me. I do not want you to hear Me with your mind. I want you to hear Me with your heart.”
Because if you hear Him with your heart, you will respond. The Holy Spirit will touch you, and you will be able to respond. There will be first love there. But if you only hear what I am saying with your mind this morning, you will not. You will go your own way.
“Return to Me with a whole heart,” I think, is His call. Return to Me with your heart, your mind, and your soul. It is not enough to have our heart stirred, brothers and sisters. There needs to be response—giving of our mind to Him.
Do you know how much we let roll through our minds that is unpleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ? We should reject those things. They are not worthy of Him. He says, “Give Me your soul—your being, who you are. Give it to Me. Respond with your whole being. I do not want just an acknowledgment. I want you.”
If we will respond, we will overcome. We can overcome all that is holding us back this morning if we will just turn to Him.
Brothers and sisters, let me say it this way: the Lord Jesus always has first love toward you and toward me. He is just looking for that response in like kind. If you hear, respond, and you will overcome.
And what does the Lord say? What did I read this morning?
He that overcometh, I will grant to sit with Me in My throne.
Can you think of that? Can you imagine that? In the age to come—this age that I think will come soon—if we can just return to Him with that first love and respond to His heart and desires, He says, “I want you with Me.” Not just individuals, but as that corporate bride: “I want you to be with Me on the throne.”
That should humble us, not make us proud—that such a One as He would have such high regard for such as we.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord is calling: “He that hath an ear.” He has been calling ever since He rose from the grave. He has been patient. He has been longsuffering. And He is waiting—waiting and waiting and waiting—until His bride is ready.
I want you to know this. I have said it many times before: it is the passion of His heart. If you truly have a passion for the Lord Jesus Christ, you will have a passion for what His passion is. And His passion is the church and fulfilling God’s will.
Are we concerned as He is concerned? He is concerned about this. Right in these opening chapters, He is in the midst of the seven churches, and He is concerned.
I think if we are truly concerned as He is concerned, we will be actively engaged. Our brother spoke on that a couple of weeks ago. Are we bringing life into the church? Are we bringing life into our times together? Are we bringing life to one another as we go through issues and problems in life?
I think of the Lord’s table. You know, unfortunately, it is so easy for it to be just a thing we do each Sunday morning. It is what we call tradition. If it becomes a tradition in our hearts—if it becomes something we can take or leave—there is a problem.
There is a problem because it is not tradition. It is not just something we do. It is a sharing of life. We come together to share the life of Christ with one another at His table, and He provides the food for that sharing: His body and His blood.
His body broken for you; His blood shed for you. Brothers and sisters, when we come, we should be actively engaged. We should be here with prepared hearts—not with something necessarily prepared to say, but with our hearts prepared before the Lord.
Consider the verses that have been sent. Consider Him. As we begin to share, the Holy Spirit lights on different things, and you are there, you are ready, and you can share the life that the Lord has given to you with all of us. We are feasting at His table together. Anything less than that is tradition.
It is open, and it is very personal. I want you to know that. This table is a very personal thing, but yet it is an open sharing of what is so personal with us. The Lord wants us to encourage one another at the table.
I think of prayer. Are we concerned enough that we have burden in our heart—burden to pray, burden for intercession? I am not just talking about our personal problems. Of course, we are burdened about our personal problems, and we do take them to the Lord, and we should.
I am not trying to discourage that at all. He is interested in everything about your life. So, yes, please bring them all. But the Lord has some things on His heart that are eternal—things that He wants to accomplish to bring about His full purpose and the glory to His Son that He desires to bring to Him. That requires intercessory prayer.
And brothers and sisters, that is what Wednesday night is mainly about. It is about the Lord’s will in heaven being done on earth. There are big things moving in this earth: nations, peoples, great resistance from the enemy. These things need to be prayed about, taken care of.
It is interesting that the Lord limits Himself, brothers and sisters, to man. He is God. He is eternal. He can speak and it is done. He can speak and make something out of nothing. But yet, in His plan for man, He wants to share it all with you and me. Therefore, He waits for an intercessor.
Remember in the Old Testament, He said He looked for an intercessor, and He could not find one. So sad. It is becoming that way today, I am afraid, once again. We are so busy with the cares of life.
Brothers and sisters, let us be honest: the cares of life consume us. We do not want them to, but they do. The enemy’s tactics—it says it straight out—are that in the last days, his main tactic is just to wear you out.
And you just do not feel up to gathering for intercessory prayer, or the table, or going to a brother or sister in need to help or send an encouraging word. You are just tired, and you have so much on your plate. I understand that. I understand.
You know what that means? If we are going to be a house of prayer, we are going to have to stand for prayer. That makes sense. We have to stand and say, “Lord, I know there is going to be great resistance to my even gathering for the table, gathering to have prayer. There is going to be great resistance.”
“And I want to stand with You, in Your name, Lord, and under Your blood. I want to stand against all the enemy’s devices to wear me out.”
Now, I will tell you a personal experience. I have had times when I felt so tired. Wednesday night is when I feel the tiredness. I can come in here, and my dear brothers will see me—I get off a little early—laying back on that couch in there, and I am tired.
But as we come in here and begin to pray, with a little time of worship beforehand, the Lord quickens me. He quickens me. I have been standing. I say, “Lord, You know I need Your quickening, Lord, and I need You to clear the way that I can be there tonight.”
I found it very interesting—another personal experience. Oh, golly, it was way back, way back in those early days. The Lord was trying to teach me something about prayer and about the power of His blood.
When I would come to prayer meeting, as soon as I hit the bridge, I would get sick—nauseated. Every time, I would get nauseated. I turned back a few times.
Then the Lord just showed me, “Jerry, it is the enemy. You are not just tired. You are not really sick. It is the enemy.” Boy, was that an awakening.
So then I was standing. I would stand and say, “Lord, I take Your blood over me tonight. I am going.” I would feel nauseated, and then when I hit the bridge, it would go away.
That does not happen anymore. But the Lord used that to teach me a tremendous lesson. Prayer meeting was not going to happen for me if I did not stand.
So I would encourage us all: intercession, sometimes I believe, is thought of as optional and dependent on our circumstances. You have to fight to get here if you really want to. That is what I mean about being concerned, brothers and sisters—not yielding to our adversary to keep us from it.
In the government of God, God has determined that before He moves, He is going to wait on an intercession. Ever since He went back to that throne as a Man—triumphed as a Man, and went back to that throne—He determined, for your and my sake, in order for us to grow and mature in Christ, that He was going to wait for an intercession.
Now, intercession means that we do have to know what God’s will is in heaven. We have to seek the Lord. We have to be prepared: “Lord, what is on Your heart? Lord, what is burdening Your heart?”
That burden begins to come to our heart, and we try to share that burden on Wednesday nights—what we sense is the burden of the Lord. But we need burden in order to pray, and that only comes from the throne of God. It is the Holy Spirit that will burden you.
But that is what an intercessor does: he finds the will of God, and then he begins to pray until God moves. That is intercession.
How serious is God about this? As you read further in Revelation, you get into Chapter 5. Our Lord Jesus is preparing to open the seals. But if you look, you will see that the prayers of the saints are first poured out before the seals are opened. He is waiting on corporate prayer.
This sense of concern—there needs to be a sense of concern. I will share another little story with you about what I am trying to get at.
When I was growing up and going off to school, Mom would always wake me up. “Jerry, it is time to get up. Jerry, you are not going to make it. Jerry, you have got to eat before you go. Jerry, Jerry, Jerry.”
And I would groan and grumble and roll out of bed. I would finally get up and go to school. Now, the fact is, if Mom had not done that, I would not have gone. But it was important to my mother that I go to school.
I went to school, but I did not have the sense of the importance of school at that time. Now I understand. But then I was just obeying my mom, which was a good thing to do. But, brothers and sisters, I have to confess: if she had not gotten me out of that bed, I would have missed it.
You see, she had the concern, and I left the concern with my mother.
When I went to college, things changed. I did not have Mom there saying, “Get up,” and my roommate certainly was not going to get me up. He wanted to sleep too. But making it to class finally became my concern.
Concern. You see, I had the concern. I was in college, and I needed to make it to class because, boy, I tell you what, they would start dropping a letter grade for every class you missed. I mean, they were brutal. They did not diddly-daddle around.
Interestingly enough, I took a course in psychology, and the psychology teacher said, “I do not care how many classes you miss. You just pass the test at the end.”
Well, you know, we thought that was great. But if you did not go to class, you were not going to learn it, and you were not going to pass that test. So the point he was trying to make was: the responsibility is yours. It was a good point that he made. Some took advantage of that, and they did not pass. But I made it to class.
I was in my third year of college—well, actually, my senior year. I had failed a class: electromagnetic fields and waves. I could not even spell it, much less learn anything. I said, “Man, I will never get out of college.”
I remember I went back to Mount Olive, and my dad was a hardworking man. That is one thing I really appreciate about my dad. He had done many things in his life. At this point, he had opened a little one-man body shop. When your car gets banged up, you take it in. That is tough work.
I will never forget: I went back and shared with Dad, “Dad, I am not doing too well.” He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Son, that is okay. You can come and work with me.”
I got concerned. I took responsibility, and I graduated. But it was a wake-up call. It was a wake-up call.
Engaged. Participating. Brothers and sisters, we cannot afford to be spectators in the house of God. We need to be participators.
I want to share with you a saying. It is not biblical, but it is one of my favorites. It is from Theodore Roosevelt—the history teachers will know it—“The Man in the Arena.” I will just share the first part of it, and I think this is so applicable to the church.
We have so many people looking on: “This is wrong. That is wrong.” But they are not really in it. They do not really have that concern. Well, listen to this:
It is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.
I think that is tremendous. It really makes the point. Are we critics, bystanders, so to speak? Or are we in the arena?
It is on the Lord’s heart. It is the passion of His heart.
When you begin to consider it, if you read the rest of Revelation, there is a lot to be done. First, God is going to call out a remnant. Then, out of that remnant will come forth out of the church a man-child. When he is birthed, he will go to the throne, and it will begin a war in heaven. Satan will be cast down, and the Lord will return in the clouds.
Eventually, He will stand on the Mount of Olives and deliver the nation of Israel from being destroyed by the nations that surround her. The millennium will begin, and God will then begin to fulfill all His promises made to the nation of Israel. All that have been unfulfilled will be fulfilled.
They will become the leading nation on earth. Creation itself, which is under a curse at this point, will be delivered from the curse of death. It says that the wolf will lie down with the lamb, and the lion will eat straw. That is the millennium period.
And, brothers and sisters, before all this happens, there is great, tremendous resistance from the adversary. We are experiencing some of that right now. There is tremendous reaction from the adversary for the Lord not to come, for Him not to have that remnant, for Him not to bring forth the man-child.
Tremendous, tremendous activity is going on. It is going on in the atmosphere. It is going on in our economies. It is going on in the lawlessness that you see in your very back door. Brothers and sisters, it is all happening, and it will get more and more intense as the days go on.
Finally, the enemy will be released. He has been chained for a thousand years. There will be that one last rebellion, and the Lord will wipe it all out with just the breath of His mouth. You will see the bride coming down as the New Jerusalem, then the great white throne judgment, and a new heaven and a new earth.
Oh, there is a lot to be praying about, brothers and sisters—a lot to be engaged about.
How will all of this be done? And this is finally getting to what is truly on my heart this morning. How is God going to bring us through, brothers and sisters? How is God going to deal with this church that, rather than seeming to get better and better with fewer and fewer flaws, has more and more flaws?
Revelation 4:1-2. I want to read it again.
John had seen the King of glory. He had seen the King evaluating the churches. He had seen the condition of the churches. And now we come to Chapter 4, verse 1:
After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven.
And the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.
And immediately I was in the Spirit: and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat upon the throne.
Brothers and sisters, John is on the Isle of Patmos. He has been taken and exiled because of his testimony of Jesus, because of his work among the churches. What was going to happen to those seven churches?
Everything was pretty desperate. Then he sees the Lord evaluating His church, and he probably becomes even more discouraged. Then he sees a door—not just any door. It was a doorway into heaven itself.
And the trumpet voice says, “Come up hither.” Now, I am not sure if this was a request or a command, but I kind of think it was more of a request: “Come up here. You need to see something, John.”
So John, in the Spirit, rises. And what does he see? Brothers and sisters, the most amazing thing: he sees the throne of God. This tells him something immediately. This tells him that the throne is in control, that God’s purpose will be fulfilled.
Everywhere there is chaos, even in John’s time. In today’s time, there is chaos. Man has failed. Israel has failed. The church has failed. The nations are raging against anything that is of Christ.
From our vantage point, brothers and sisters, often in our lives do we not get this sense of hopelessness? Particularly if we look at our lives and where we are, what we are going through, or the fellowship we have together—the thing that is so precious to the Lord—in such disarray at times, divided at times, not one at times.
From our vantage point, brothers and sisters, it does not look good. Things are getting worse and worse.
What is God doing with John? Brothers and sisters, He is giving John a new vantage point—a new point of vantage from which to see things. He says, “You need to come to the throne. You need to see from the throne’s vantage point, because things are coming along. Things are being worked out according to My will and purpose, John. You need a new vantage point.”
Ephesians 1:20-22
God raised Christ from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this age, but also in that which is to come:
and He put all things in subjection under His feet.
Brothers and sisters, Christ has been raised and seated at the right hand of God on high in the heavenlies above. It says He has dominion not only in the age to come, but now—in this age, in this hour, in this moment in your life. He has dominion, brothers and sisters.
The throne is in charge. The throne rules.
How much we need this vantage point. God wants you and me to know this morning, brothers and sisters. I do not know what your life condition is, where you are in Christ, or the things that the enemy may have done to keep you back from Christ, discourage you, and disillusion you. You may even be offended with the Lord or the church.
But He says, “The throne rules.” The throne is in control. There may be testings. There may be trials. There may be great circumstances against you, great disappointments in your life, unmentionable things that happen. But the throne rules. He wants us to know that this morning.
Brothers and sisters, if we continue to go through this earthly life every morning with our earthly perspective of things—groaning, as I do often, about conditions and things—we will become discouraged. We will be disappointed. We may become offended, disillusioned, overwhelmed, and hopeless.
We may give up. We may not endure to the end. The Lord, in His Word, encourages us: “You need to endure these things to the end.” And how are you going to do that? You need the correct vantage point. You need to see the throne, brothers and sisters. You need that perspective.
Just a glimpse of the throne will change your life. Oh, that we could just be lifted up in the Spirit and see that it is finished in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, the Word says we have been raised up in Christ and seated in heavenly places. Do you believe that? Have you experienced being seated in heavenly places? It is really taking time to be before the Lord and seeing from the vantage point of the throne.
I will end in a few seconds, but when Stephen was stoned—you remember the story of Stephen—the Jews brought him forth and made false accusations against him, saying he wanted to overthrow everything.
Stephen goes through the whole history of the people of Israel and finally comes to Christ. They could not stand it anymore. It says they gnashed at him with their teeth. They were so angry. Then they took him out and started to stone him.
As they did, it says that Stephen looked up. He looked up. And you remember what he saw? He saw Jesus Christ standing at the throne. That was what he saw, brothers and sisters: a new vantage point.
He saw Christ standing at the throne. The throne is in control. The throne rules.
Oh, that is such a precious thing. We know our Lord Jesus has been seated upon the throne because of the finished work. But brothers and sisters, here He is standing. He is concerned. He is concerned about what is going on. He is concerned about Stephen.
Stephen sees Him there. Stephen gets a new vantage point. He is no longer a victim of evil; he is a conqueror. He has done God’s work. He has spoken God’s Word. It has resulted in anger and death—his death—but his death was a triumphant death, brothers and sisters.
You want to know where our brother Stephen is? Look in the fifth seal. Those who have been martyred for Christ are under the altar—that special group who gave up their physical life on earth, not only their spiritual life, but their physical life on earth.
And brothers and sisters, when they begin to call out for vengeance for their shed blood, things will change drastically on this earth. But that is where Stephen is today.
But I want you to know, the point I am trying to make is that there is a new vantage point. Brothers and sisters, from an earthly point of view, from the disciples’ point of view, when our Lord Jesus Christ went to Calvary’s cross, it looked like evil was prevailing.
He was being nailed to the cross. He was being crucified, and He died on the cross. They were discouraged and despondent. Their view was that of the earth.
But, brothers and sisters, He rose from the dead, and He went to the throne. That is the throne’s view of Calvary. The throne’s view of Calvary was a great triumph over evil and over Satan. It actually freed you from the enemy, sin, and death.
The throne is in control. The throne rules.
Brothers and sisters, there is a rule for the throne, and that rule of the throne is that the throne rules. The rule of the throne is that the throne rules over everything.
Is it not time to look up? Allow the Spirit to lift you to a new vantage point in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That has been my heart this morning, brothers and sisters. We do need to have a passion for the things our Lord is passionate about—for His house, for one another, to be actively engaged. But there is so much against us, so much resistance. It looks like the enemy is winning.
But please, look up. Look to the throne. The throne rules.
Some of us experience tragedies and great disappointments. I know Paul said he was pressed out of measure. What kept him, brothers and sisters? It was the vantage point of the throne.
I think when we get into these situations, we need to go back to the Lord and say, “Lord, lift me up to the throne. Let me see from Your vantage point.”
As we leave today, I have one thought. I know we are busy, and when you get home, you have probably got things already planned. But I suggest that you take a little time. Probably all week long, you have been looking at things from an earthly point of view.
Take some time, and in the Spirit, allow yourself to be lifted to the throne. See that the throne rules. See that the throne is in control.
Brothers and sisters, it will change so much your outlook. It will change so much the reality of what the Lord can do in your life, because once you see that the throne rules, the throne rules.
Do you see what I am saying? Until we see that the throne rules, we are kind of hung up. Things are hung up. We will not pray. We will not look to the Lord. But once we see that the throne rules, then the throne rules. It moves. It becomes active.
So I would like to encourage us all to go home, take some time, and be with the Lord. Get a new vantage point.
John is at the throne. Immediately, he is captured with the fact that behind the scenes, behind all that has been going on—all the activities in the church in Asia, his being exiled to the Isle of Patmos—there is the throne.
Isn’t it strange, brothers and sisters, that from an earthly point of view, John being exiled to the Isle of Patmos was a tragedy? He could no longer serve among the churches, and they needed this brother.
But the throne rules. The throne knew that it needed to give this Book of Revelation to God’s people—not only for the churches in Asia at that time, but for time to come. For these two thousand years, the church would need this Word.
And He needed it to come through John. John was the only vessel prepared to receive this Word and be able to share it. The throne ruled. Earth did not.
Brothers and sisters, we just cannot evaluate circumstances in our lives by our own reasoning. We need to go to the throne. Next time, we will see more of what John saw at the throne.
Lord, we come back to You today. Oh Lord, I thank You that we do not have to remain earthbound. Lord, that in the Spirit we can rise up. We can get a glimpse of that throne. We can get a glimpse of the Lamb upon the throne.
And Lord, that refreshes our heart, strengthens our spirit, and causes heaven to move. Oh Lord Jesus, grant us that we will not forget this little lesson: the rule of the throne is that the throne rules.
Lord, be gracious to us. Move our hearts in these days. Let us not be satisfied. Let us not be lax. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.