Come on.
This song was on my heart this morning because we have been dealing with the throne: “Holy, holy, holy.” You know, that is the resonant sound of those gathered around the throne.
This morning we come, though we are on earth, with the privilege and honor, because of the blood of the Lamb, to come before the throne and enter His presence. Oh, I wish we would take more advantage of that. But we are grateful this morning.
We are going to be sharing once again from the book of Revelation. This morning we will be in Revelation 4, using the King James. If we could turn to Revelation 4.
We are going to read the whole chapter.
After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:
and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me;
which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.And immediately I was in the spirit:
and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone:
and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.And round about the throne were four and twenty seats:
and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment;
and they had on their heads crowns of gold.And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices:
and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne,
which are the seven Spirits of God.And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal:
and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne,
were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.And the first beast was like a lion,
and the second beast like a calf,
and the third beast had a face as a man,
and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him;
and they were full of eyes within:
and they rest not day and night, saying,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
which was, and is, and is to come.And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to Him that sat on the throne,
who liveth for ever and ever,
the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne,
and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever,
and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power:
for Thou hast created all things,
and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.
Now, if we could turn to the book of Hebrews—Hebrews 12:22.
But ye are come unto mount Sion,
and unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels.
You have come to the city of the living God. Now, Hebrews 11:6:
But without faith it is impossible to please Him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Now, Lord Jesus, as I have looked into this book, Lord, I am amazed at what You have given to us. You have opened heaven to us. You have opened the throne to us. You have given us a glimpse of this great King.
Oh, how we worship Thee this morning, Lord. We come back to Thee, and we do refrain, “Holy, holy, holy.” Lord, we ask that Your Holy Spirit would anoint what we share today and what we hear, that, Lord, we could hear correctly and that we could respond, Lord, in the grace of God to Your Word.
Now, Lord Jesus, that sharp two-edged sword came out of Your mouth. Divide asunder soul and spirit. Do so today as we are before Thee. Lord, we do want to see this One who sits upon the throne this morning—not with our mind, but, Lord, by the Spirit that captures our heart. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Last week I shared from Revelation, and I began with the first verse of chapter 4, where John had seen the King of kings. The King of kings was in the midst of the seven churches, examining His future bride, and He found that she was not ready. He shared all of this with John.
I am sure John, on one hand, was amazed and thrilled. It says that he fell on his face before this One as if he had no breath. Yet, on the other hand, after he saw all the flaws that were in this future bride, I am sure he was very concerned. He should have been.
Then the Lord opens the door into heaven and says, “John, come up here. John, you need another perspective. You have seen the reality. You have seen what she really is. Now I need to give you another perspective, John. You need to come to the throne.”
“You need to see, John, that the throne rules. The rule of the throne is that the throne rules. You need to realize that the throne rules, John—not only in your life, but in the life of the church. And I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will not go back on My Word. I want to show you, John, how all of this is going to be fulfilled. John, the throne rules.”
Now, brothers and sisters, my encouragement last week was for us to really take time before the Lord, get before the throne, and receive that new vantage point in our lives and in the life of the assembly here.
Obviously, we see the flaws. We see them in one another, and sometimes we become very discouraged with ourselves and with other brothers and sisters. We need that vantage point to see that, regardless of all of this, the Lord is on the throne, and the Lord rules in sovereignty. He rules.
Brothers and sisters, I think, as Christians, it is absolutely critical to our healthy Christian spiritual life to really know that the Lord rules. The throne rules. Without that foundation, you will have a wobbly life.
You need that foundation because, in times of trials and troubles and the overwhelming seas that at times flood our lives, we need to know that the throne rules. Well, that was my encouragement last week.
John goes up. He sees the throne, and in Revelation 4:2 it says, “A throne was set in heaven, and One sat upon the throne.” One sat upon the throne. This is God. God is on His throne in heaven.
What I wanted to emphasize—the reason I read the verses from Hebrews about the living God—is that it is the living God, brothers and sisters, who is on the throne. The Word says that we must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
This morning I want to challenge us with this issue of the living God who is on the throne. It is emphasized quite a bit in the Word. When you come across God in the Old and New Testaments, many times it is emphasized by saying, “the living God.”
When Peter was challenged about who the Lord was—when the Lord asked Peter, “Who am I?”—he said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
God is alive, and God is real. But is He real to us? There can be an acknowledgment of God. There are many who will acknowledge God. There are many trying to get Him out of their lives, but they still acknowledge that there is a God. There can be recognition of God. But is He the living God to you?
Brothers and sisters, for Him to become a living God in your life, you have to have a living relationship. He cannot be a doctrinal God, just One that you kind of believe in.
The emphasis is on living. The psalmist in Psalm 84 says, “My soul longeth for the living God.”
You know, I was at Chick-fil-A. I go there—I have mentioned this before. When I am off on Thursdays and Fridays, most mornings I go there, get my senior drink, which is free, and get a little chicken, egg, and cheese burrito. Sometimes, when I can splurge, I get the biscuit because it is loaded with butter.
Anyway, one of the reasons I go there is that most of the staff there are Christians. It is obvious when you walk into the place. I can sense it in the atmosphere, and I like to be there.
Often I go there and get in a booth in the back. Early in the morning there are not that many people there, and I can just really be before the Lord. A lot of times my messages come when I am sitting there. It is amazing.
But anyway, I was there the other day, and Jacob—his name is Jacob; I think he is about thirty years old—often they will inquire, “What are you reading today? What are you doing today?” They will come back and ask.
Jacob did. He said, “Amen”—he calls me Amen. The reason is that when they ask your name for the order, I say, “Amen.” But anyway, he said, “Amen, what are you reading today?”
I said, “You know, what is on my heart is the living God.” He said, “Brother, I did not know there was a living God until I was twenty-four years old. I lived twenty-four years of my life without the living God in my life. But today He lives. I speak to Him every day.”
You know, that was quite an encouragement to my heart. This young fellow—he is about thirty, and most of them are young there—that was an encouragement. The living God. He knew the living God, he believed Him, and he went to the living God every day.
Brothers and sisters, I think most of us here believe that He is. We believe in God. The next question is, do we believe Him? We believe in God, but do we believe Him? Do we really believe Him?
He is the sovereign One upon the throne of all creation, and, more personally, the throne of your life. Do we believe Him?
I think for the younger ones, sometimes we believe because perhaps we see our parents’ love for the Lord, and we say, “Well, there must be a God,” and things like that. We have that acknowledgment, that recognition, but there needs to come a day in your life when, through Jesus Christ our Lord, you meet the living God.
There has to be that day. We must believe He is. And it goes on to say that we must believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Now, when we go to God and seek Him, are we diligently seeking Him? I think the word diligently was obviously added there because being casual in our relationship with God does not bring forth any fruit. It is those who diligently seek Him.
“My soul longeth for the living God.” Diligently. We believe in Him, but we should believe Him.
So our brother John sees the throne. The throne rules. He sees One seated on the throne, and it is the living God—the God that he believed in, the God that he talked to every day, the God that he depended on, the God that took care of him. He is on the throne.
Then he sees the lightnings. It says there are lightnings, thunders, and voices coming from the throne. Brothers and sisters, what we see here in the book of Revelation is God’s operations center.
God’s operations center—the center of all His operations and all His activities. They are all directed from this throne. It is His governmental seat, the place of His government.
Today, if you want to see where the government of the city of Richmond is carried out, you go to Ninth and Broad Street, to that marble building. It is about eleven stories high. I used to work there for about five years.
There is a lot of activity there, actually, even though there are government workers there. I am sorry if you are a government worker. I was one for thirty years, so I can talk about it.
There is a lot of activity—people coming and going, getting deeds registered, trying to get permits. There is just a lot going on there. Social services are down there. Everything in the city actually emanates from that building at Ninth and Broad Street.
Here we see the whole creation—God’s whole and entire creation—being administered from this operations center of the throne in heaven. Nothing escapes the attention of the One on the throne. He has all authority and power to execute and do anything that He wants to. He speaks, and His orders are carried out.
You see the seven lamps of fire before the throne. It mentions, with the thunderings and lightnings, the seven lamps of fire. It goes on to say that they are the seven Spirits of God. It is the Holy Spirit.
Seven aspects of the Holy Spirit are given in Galatians 5:22. We are not going to look at that. But anyway, it is the Holy Spirit. The Lord God gives the orders, and the Holy Spirit sees that they are carried out in the power and might of God Himself.
He looks at all matters. He discerns the will of God, and He sees that it is carried out. I was reminded of Genesis 1, when the Lord God looked upon the earth, and it was in darkness and chaos because of the enemy’s work.
The Lord looked, and it displeased Him. It was not His heart, and He needed a place for man. But the enemy had moved in to take it over, and it was darkness.
You remember how it says that the Holy Spirit hovered over the darkness. The Holy Spirit was aware, noticing it, and bringing it before the throne. God spoke. He said, “Let there be light,” and the Holy Spirit lit it up.
That is the throne. That is what we are seeing here. All governmental action comes from the throne.
This is God. This is the God who is your God. He has authority over all things. His throne does rule.
Now, what is our response to God’s government? We love His redemption. What is our response to His governmental authority in our lives?
The Holy Spirit is in your life. He is in you to carry out God’s will in your life. He is there. He is the power to carry out God’s love. He is in your life; He is in you.
Often we go through our Christian life in great weakness because we do not know the One who lives within. It is the Holy Spirit who has all the power to carry out God’s will in your life.
So we do need to know God’s governmental authority. We need to come to the living God. We need to believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. If you do not, you never go there. You never carry the things to God that need to be carried before the throne.
We are thankful that the government of this creation is in the hands of God.
I just want us to consider this morning that we need to submit our lives to this One. Oh, brothers and sisters, just think about what He has done. You have the life of Christ in you, the Holy Spirit, to carry out God’s will.
I think often we look at our weaknesses rather than believing in what God has done. Oh, may we be given a heart of belief. Lord, help our unbelief.
Then he sees the rainbow. He notices the rainbow round about the throne, and it is emerald in color. Of course, the rainbow has many colors, but this color of green seems to stand out. Green is the color of the earth. It means the earth, and there is a covenant rainbow around this earth.
Could we look at Genesis 9:13-15? Y’all will remember this story, I know.
I do set My bow in the cloud,
and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth.And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth,
that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
and I will remember My covenant,
which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh;
and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
God has entered into a covenant with all His created beings in the earth. The judgment will not again be by flood. He will not do it by flood. There will be judgment, but not by flood.
The emphasis I see here is that this rainbow represents a covenant-keeping God. He keeps His covenant. Covenant is an Old Testament word for what we would refer to today as a contract.
We know about contracts today. Everything has to be written and signed; otherwise, it is not recognized. Well, the amazing thing about God’s covenant is that it is written here for us to know about. But, brothers and sisters, God gave His Word. It was a contract with the creation, and He keeps His Word.
This covenant is God’s covenant—God’s contract. He never goes back on it. Every time we see a rainbow, we should remember that our God is a covenant-keeping God.
Scientifically, a rainbow is the sun shining through raindroplets. The raindroplets are like little prisms, and they break the light into its various colors. Actually, you can see what white light is made of when you see a rainbow.
In other words, I think God is saying, “I made a contract with this universe, and you will know Who I am and what I am.” The rainbow reminds you that God is trying to reveal Himself to you.
Because, brothers and sisters, if you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a contract with God. He has made a contract with you, and the contract is for your soul.
I know there are all these movies about Satan making contracts with people for their souls. But you need to know that God has made a contract for your soul.
Now, you need to know, if you have not already—and I think most people know here—that our souls were without God. Our souls did not belong to God, even though He is our Creator. The enemy came in and took possession of man’s soul. That is why man sins. His very nature is in us when we are born; that is the sin nature.
So we are actually slaves. We are not free like we think we are. The Lord Jesus Christ comes in, and He purchases your soul with His blood.
He has made a contract. That contract stands before God and stands before us. That contract is signed in the blood of Jesus Christ because, as we prayed about and testified to this morning, it is the blood of the Lamb that is our salvation.
The contract God has with you is signed in the blood of Christ. You are His forever. You cannot be taken from His hand. You are saved from eternal destruction because He has made this contract with you. You are made a son of God.
Imagine. You may be a son or daughter of your parents, but when this contract is made with you for your soul, you become God’s possession—not merely a possession to be used. You become a son.
A son. He takes you as a son. That is the power of the blood, brother and sister. Not only do you become a son; it says you will be a joint heir with Jesus.
All Jesus is to inherit—all things in all the nations—and it says that you will be a joint heir with Christ because of this contract between you and God and the Lamb. You will come into God’s full purpose because of this contract.
Now, obviously, we can fail, and we can be disappointing. But this failure will not break the contract. It might slow down the intended effects of this contract—for you to be presented before Him without flaw, without sin—but He is going to see that it is done.
It is a contract that cannot be broken because God stands behind it. The throne stands behind this contract. Praise the Lord.
Not only has He made a contract with you and me, but actually He has made a contract with the earth. That is what this Noahic covenant is. It goes on to say there will always be four seasons and all.
You remember the Scripture that says the whole earth groans in travail, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. God has made a contract, and He says, “One day, all the results of sin I will deal with and apply because of Calvary, and I will make it real on this earth in the millennium.”
I mentioned last time the animal creation, which has a wildness in it now. It will be taken from them. It says the lion will eat straw instead of other animals. The wolf and the lamb will lie down together. A babe will be able to sit on an adder’s nest—a poisonous snake.
In other words, the bondage that the whole creation is under because of the sin of man will be broken. It is a contract that He has made, and that millennium period is not too far away.
This is our God. This is the One John saw upon the throne. He begins to describe this One on the throne, and he begins with the jasper and sardine stone.
Now, people who study this deeply say that this jasper stone is not the jasper we know today. Actually, most likely it is the diamond—what we know as the diamond ring, which all brides cherish.
What is it that makes diamonds so special, other than the way they are created in the earth through great pressure? It is their brilliance. It is the brilliance of the diamond. It takes light, refracts it, magnifies it, and reflects it out. It is beautiful. It is so brilliant.
So the light John sees is a brilliant light. The diamond reflects the light of the glory of God Himself. It is His glory being reflected, and he sees it in brilliance, as a diamond brilliantly shining.
I remember the story of Moses. The people had sinned, and all the judgment had come upon them. Then Moses came and said, “I cannot go on. I need to see Your glory.”
God said, “You cannot see My face; you will perish.” But God was merciful. He said, “Get in the cleft.” There was a cleft in a rock—a little open space in the rock, a crack large enough for him to get in.
He said, “What I am going to do is pass by you. You will be able to see My back, and I will put My hand out to help shield the brilliance of the light, that you might see My glory.” God did that.
Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that you have been hidden in the cleft of the rock. The mighty Rock, Jesus Christ, was cleft for you and me. There is a cleft in that Rock, and He has placed us there. We are in the cleft of the Rock.
I love that old song: “He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock.” We are there, and because we are there, we can see the glory of God. It is because of Christ, because He was cleft for you and you have been hidden there.
The sardine stone is blood red, and it is pretty obvious what that means. It is the blood of Christ. When John looks at God, he sees the brilliance, and he sees this redness—this red glow—the blood of Christ.
Our God is a Redeemer. He does not give up. He is the Redeemer of creation through His Son, Jesus Christ.
As I thought about this, I said, “John is looking at God. What is he seeing? He is trying to describe to us.” I believe God was revealing His heart to John—Who He is, His very essence.
What is God’s heart? What occupies His heart, saints? Tell me. Jesus Christ. That is His heart.
What did Christ say? “I am the light of the world.” I am the light of the world. In Him is life, and His life is the light of men that lights men’s souls. He is the light.
I think when we look at God’s heart, we see Christ. It is reflected in brilliant glory. That is why there is glory there: because Christ fills His heart. There is this glory of the light reflecting Christ.
Then there is that sardine stone. Who is the Redeemer? Redemption is in God’s heart, but the Redeemer is there, and it is Jesus Christ who shed His blood for all mankind.
When John saw God—brothers, this is just my interpretation—but I really think what was coming out in such brilliance was Christ and the work of Christ: Christ, the diamond, the brilliance, the glory of the light of Christ, His nature and character; and then the blood, that redemptive work, the work of Calvary’s cross, the finished work that we talked about this morning.
I think he sees God’s heart.
Then there are the twenty-four elders. They already have crowns, and in Revelation 5 you see that they hold bowls that have the prayers of the saints.
Again, this is open to interpretation, but most likely these are heads of the angelic powers before the throne—created beings. Lucifer was a created being. He was an angel, apparently number one. Then he fell because he desired the place of Christ, and he was ejected from heaven.
Brothers and sisters, I think probably, when we look at this picture in Revelation 4, all of His creation comes into view, and His angels are the first creation.
Secondly, he sees four living creatures. Amazingly enough, one has the face of a lion, one the face of a calf, one has the face of a man, and one has a face like that of an eagle.
This is representative of His creation: the animals, including man. Man and the animal creation—they are all under the throne. They are all His. They are all in subjection to Him.
Actually, if you go back to Ezekiel in the Old Testament, he saw the cherubim, and they had these faces too. They were crying out, “Glory! Glory of God! Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!”
These creatures have wings like the seraphim had, and they were always crying out, “Holy, holy, holy.” So we have the holiness and glory of God in view as we look at the throne.
His holiness, brothers and sisters—holiness means that God is totally unique, totally other than anything else. As Brother Sparks said, He is holy; none is like unto Him.
He is glorious—all the glory of His being. All of creation, all of His creation, is intended to declare the glory of God. That is part of the responsibility of creation: to reveal the glory of God and stand for His holiness, to stand that God is utterly unique and to be reverenced.
Psalm 19:1 says:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth His handywork.
The heavens. Do you ever go out at night and look at the heavens? Sometimes we get out of our cars, go in the house, and never really look at the stars. Y’all look at them. Pay attention to them a little while.
Why? Because it says they reveal the glory of God. The firmament reveals His glory—the glorious God who just spoke, and all these multitudes that cannot even be counted, of stars and galaxies and universes, came into being. They reveal His glory.
Romans 1:20 says:
For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made,
even His eternal power and Godhead.
A lot of people say they do not believe in God. But here God responds to man and says, “Look, I have already done enough in My creation to show you that there is a God, and that God is on the throne.”
If you choose not to recognize that, it is pride. You have missed it. Then it goes on to say, “You are without excuse.”
I can just imagine many unbelievers coming before the great white throne judgment, saying, “Well, I am sorry. I just did not believe in You. I had no reason to. I was surrounded with terrible circumstances. Look at the world. It was full of lawlessness and all the evil.”
God will say, “No excuse. You have no excuse. What you did not see was My glory. You could have looked into the heavens and the stars and realized there has got to be a God. You should have looked at creation and all of its beauty, even though it is flawed, and realized that there is a God.”
Without excuse. The glory of God and the holiness of God—when John looks at the throne, glory and holiness.
If we really see the throne, if we really see God and see His heart, what does it do to us? I think it should humble us. I think it should put us on our knees before Almighty God. You have gotten a glimpse of the throne and Who He is.
It is amazing. It says that the creatures could not hold back. Creation could not hold back. The four beasts could not hold back. No one could hold back, and they burst out into praise, saying, “Thou art worthy. Thou art worthy, Lord. Everything was created for You and for Your pleasure. Thou art worthy.”
Now, brothers and sisters, a lot of times our praise is, “Thou art worthy, Lord, because You have redeemed us.” But here we are before the throne of creation, and the emphasis is, “O Lord, Thou art worthy because You are the Creator.”
Do you see what I am trying to drive at here? God is worthy simply because He is the Creator. He is the God of the universe, and we should bow down, recognizing His authority and His power.
Let us look at Revelation 5 for a minute. We will probably run over just a few minutes this morning. Revelation 5, verse 1:
And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne
a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice,
Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth,
was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.And I wept much,
because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book,
neither to look thereon.
John’s attention is directed to something in God’s hand. What is in God’s hand? A book—a scroll is more accurate—and it has seven seals on it.
Now, if we remember, kings used to have wax seals. When they would write a letter, they would roll up the letter or the scroll and seal it with wax so that it would be sealed.
The seal was unique, and it always represented the one who was writing the letter. It identified who it was from. It identified who owned this thing. It was a particular seal.
Here we see seven seals. God has sealed it with seven seals. They represent Him. He has the scroll; He has the book. It could only be opened by one.
That was true in the old days too. Once that thing was sealed, nobody else was supposed to open it except the one it was intended for. Only one person could really be qualified to open it. If somebody opened it unauthorized, they were punished. It had consequences.
Only one would be qualified to open that seal. So what is this scroll with the seven seals? Brothers and sisters, we propose that it is the deed to the universe.
In other words, God owns the universe. This is a declaration that He owns the universe. It is the deed to the creation.
Remember that God has told His Son, “You will inherit the nations.” As you look into the book of Revelation, you see that Christ is gaining His inheritance. That is what the book is about. He is gaining His inheritance.
He gains the nations, and they will be judged—the sheep and the goats. You see that He gains the nation of Israel as a testimony upon this earth, as an inheritance. They will be a lead nation during the millennium. We also see at the very end that He will obtain His bride.
This is what God has promised, and this is what this book, this scroll with the seven seals, is all about. It reveals God’s plan—God’s way in which everything will be brought back into submission to Him, and He will then, in turn, give it to Christ as His inheritance.
As each seal is opened, there is tremendous movement. Things happen toward God’s intended end. I remember the first four seals, the four horsemen of the apocalypse: pestilence, famine, false prophets. Things happen when He opens these seals.
What I want us to consider this morning is that God is the originator of this document. He is the owner.
Now, brothers and sisters, in our lives personally, and in what we see going on in the world today, we might think that Satan is actually the owner. It sure appears that way.
It seems like all mankind has come tremendously under his influence, and all the world is under him. In fact, he offered it to the Lord Jesus Christ as his own. He said, “I will give it to You.” The Lord knew better than that.
The Word of God says he is the prince of this world. But it does not belong to him. It is true that all mankind has fallen short in sin and comes short of the glory of God. But, brothers and sisters, Satan lays claim to that ground, but it is not his. He is not the owner.
A brother once shared something that stuck with me: Satan is actually a squatter.
I worked in public housing for many years. When somebody vacated, we had to board it up and later go back in, clean it up, repaint it, and get it ready for the next tenant.
We went through a period where we had a lot of vacancies, and we could not turn them around fast enough. You know what happened? Some people began to move into those places unauthorized.
They would actually build fires in the floor. Of course, we had to bring the police and move them out. In other words, they were squatters. They were claiming it as their own. They had taken over.
That is what Satan is. He is a squatter. He is not an owner. The deed book has God’s seal, not Satan’s. It is His, and now God is ready to start opening those seals.
But it is interesting: not anyone could open those seals. Remember, the seal is put on there so that only the right person can open it—only the receiver.
The book goes on to say that to open this seal, you have to be worthy to open it. You have to be counted worthy. You have to be qualified to open the seal.
It goes on to say that a diligent search is made. Now, we just read through this very quickly, but this morning I want us to consider very earnestly what this is saying.
It says a search was made. Heaven was searched, the earth was searched, and under the earth was searched. They looked among all the angels. No one was qualified.
Think of these twenty-four elders there—angels. Think of Michael the archangel, how faithful he was to serve God. Not qualified.
Then they searched all living mankind at that time. John was there. John was one of the apostles. He was the only one who was at the cross of Calvary and saw the actual crucifixion. He had such a heart for God.
John was not qualified. Even though he had been lifted up there by God’s hand into heaven, he was not qualified.
The dead were searched. I thought about Abraham. Oh, how God spoke to Abraham and called him out to become a people and a nation, a testimony for God on His earth. Abraham was faithful to do that. He did have a few flaws, but he was faithful. But he was not chosen.
I think of Moses, who led the people out of bondage in Egypt back toward the promised land. For forty years he was with them, trying to get them ready. What a man of God. But he was not qualified.
I think of David. Even God said, “He is a man after My heart.” But David was not qualified. David had some flaws, we know.
Daniel—oh, it says Daniel was greatly beloved. The angel came to Daniel and said, “You are greatly beloved.” Man, what a statement from God. We do not see any flaws in Daniel’s life, but Daniel was not chosen.
None of the apostles who had given their lives for the Lord Jesus Christ and His testimony were chosen. I think of Peter. Peter was the tough guy, I always think—a leader. He faltered, but the Lord restored him, and how amazingly the Lord used Peter after His resurrection. But Peter was not chosen.
I think of Paul. Paul was one who was actually lifted to the third heaven. He had been there, seen things that he could not even report. They were so marvelous. But he was not chosen.
Brothers and sisters, this was not a casual search. I think God had this diligent search made in order to emphasize how important—how important—this deed book is to Him, and how important it is that Christ receive His inheritance.
It was not a casual search. Actually, the book of Revelation has been opened to us. Do you know who it is written to? It says it is written to bondservants—not just servants, but bondservants.
They are those who have given their hearts to Him for His service: to serve Him because they love Him; to serve Him because they want His will to be done; to serve Him not for their own sake, but for His sake.
There was no greater bondservant than our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that the Lord opened it, do we not? No greater bondservant than our Lord Jesus Christ.
But after the search was made, no one was found worthy. Think of that.
Now, we know the story, so this makes it a little difficult to understand the impact this had on John. They had made this diligent search, and John was anxiously awaiting to see who would be worthy to open the book.
Then the announcement was made: “No one is worthy.” It says he wept. He wept much. He cried. No one was worthy.
You see, John’s heart was so close to God, and he was concerned about God’s concern. He was concerned: what is going to happen if nobody can open this book? Everything stops here. We are not going to come to the completion of God’s will in what He wants. What He began in eternity will end here.
Would it all end here? John’s heart was broken. He was a broken man. He was brokenhearted, not because of himself, but because he was so concerned for God and God’s purpose and what God wanted. It broke his heart.
Now, brothers and sisters, think about some incident in your life that broke your heart. You know, when your heart is broken, you are never quite the same. It is not that you cannot come over it and actually become better because of it, but a broken heart is quite a thing.
A broken heart. And he wept. He wept much. He was concerned about God’s concern. He was overwhelmed.
John did not say, “Oh, I am so sorry. I was looking forward to seeing what was going to happen, and I am not going to be able to see it now.”
Many look into this book of prophecy, trying to get all the events straight and everything worked out in their minds. They are curious. But, brothers and sisters, that is not the purpose of prophecy.
Revelation says the spirit of prophecy is Jesus Christ. In other words, it is a revelation of Jesus Christ. That is what He is after: to see Christ.
John did not say, “I am so sorry, Lord. The book is not going to be opened. I would have liked to know.” That was not John. John was weeping. He was really concerned.
Neither did John say to the Lord, “Lord, I am sorry that the book is not going to be opened. I know You are disappointed, but when You can find somebody, how about calling me back up to look at it?” Now, I am being facetious, but I am trying to make the point.
John’s response was not a casual response. It broke his heart. He was concerned about God’s concern.
It is a heart issue. I want to end with that this morning, brothers and sisters. It is a heart issue.
It depends on how close you are to God as to how we react to God opening these seals. As we go into some of these openings of the seals, we need to consider what is on God’s heart.
We need to become concerned about God’s concern because He is opening the seals. He is looking for that bride. He is looking for Israel to become that testimony upon the earth, and that He will possess the nations. Now, are we concerned about that?
Are we concerned about a bigger television, a better car, a larger house? I do not know—getting our kids through college. Some of them can be very legitimate concerns in our lives, things that we should be concerned about.
But, brothers and sisters, there is one concern that should be on our hearts. When we see these seals being delayed, the opening of the seals is only being delayed because we are not ready.
It should concern us—not concern for ourselves, but for Him and for what He wants. It is being delayed. The seals are being delayed because of us. We think right now that we are between that fifth and sixth seal. The seals are being delayed.
John is brokenhearted. The search is made. No one is found worthy. Is it going to end there? That was what was on John’s heart. Is it all going to end here?
Well, next time we will see more.
Lord, we just come to You this morning. We are grateful that You, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, have allowed us to enter the throne room, Lord—to be able to come before the throne of God, to be able to get a glimpse of the throne, a glimpse of the Creator, a glimpse of the One who has the deed to the earth.
Lord Jesus, we are thankful. We are thankful that we are Yours. We have been bought by the blood of Christ.
Lord, as we look into this Word, I pray that You will be able to really get to our hearts. Lord, when we talk about church life, when we talk about the house of God, Lord, these are all a part of what is happening when these seals are opening: Your bride being made ready.
Lord, I just pray that it will touch our hearts, that we need not be busy about many things, but one thing. Oh, touch our hearts, lest we go our own ways. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.