Mike Bickle emphasizes the beauty of God as revealed in His heavenly court, particularly through Revelation 4. He describes the perfection of God's beauty, which is expressed in His person, His royal court, and the honor and majesty that surrounds Him. Bickle highlights the significance of the 24 elders and the living creatures, illustrating how God's beauty is reflected in His relationship with humanity and the divine order. He encourages believers to engage with the beauty of God through worship and prayer, fostering a deeper understanding of His character and presence.

Man, you can be seated. Well, you have the notes. I'm assuming you know that, right? Who doesn't have the notes? Who needs them? I guess I don't have to do that each time. It's not like a Sunday morning gathering. Well, I want to give just a quick testimony about Friday night, meaning we're doing this robust, challenging, marathon run, 150 chapters, over three years. Now, everybody can't do that. But some of you, what I want you to do is just to be, a lot of you are doing it. And it doesn't mean if you are, you're the in crowd. And if you're not, you're not. It's not that kind of thing. Because some of the schedules are just really full. But I just want to hear just some of the things that you're thinking about it. Because as a movement and as a ministry, this is a critical part in the next 10, 20 years to unpack this reality. So just tell me what you're thinking about that. So I actually graduated three years ago. My name is Benjamin Robinson. I'm one of the TAs for this class and for Friday. With my wife. She's the real brains. Hannah, Hannah Robinson, our daughter, Eva. And so I actually graduated three years ago. And I remember hearing about these 150 chapters for years and years. And I've dug into a few here and there. But actually getting to, as a graduate, jumping in on Friday nights and seeing these chapters one at a time is actually for me connecting this class with the Friday class. I'm actually falling in love with the beauty of Jesus in the end times. And I actually haven't really connected that. And so for me, I've loved kind of bite-sized pieces of the 150. It's going to take us three years to get through them. And what I'm actually doing is I'm taking the week prior to take the chapter he's about to talk on and just spend a couple hours in the prayer room just to read it and meditate on it. So when I come Friday nights, my heart's tender. And I'm loving it. So you've been doing Isaiah 11 and 12? That's right, yeah. Friday is Isaiah 11 and 12. That's right, that's right. We know what they're going to sing on that day. I love that. Oh, so exciting. How about you, Caleb? Yeah, come on. So, yeah, my name's Caleb. This is my beautiful wife, Michelle. We're sophomores here. And I guess, personally, my testimony, we've been married just over two years. Well, she's beautiful, for one. I mean, yeah, she said yes. So as far as my experience with the Friday night class, we're going through the 150 chapters. And I see that as a daunting, like we're looking at three years. And I'm like, OK, this is going to be a long haul, but a marathon. And so I've, just as a believer, I've read through the book of Isaiah just, I mean, like maybe two or three times. I get to the end, and I'm just like, yes, I made it. What did I just learn from that? I don't know. I don't know what any of that meant. So as you're breaking it down, as we're just taking small chunks and making it practical to where we're living in this day and age, for me, I'm like, I mean, I got lights kind of going off. I'm like, thank you for explaining that. I understand that a little bit. I kind of feel like if you're a boat going through the water, I'm like a water skier. And I'm way in the back. And I'm just holding on, like trying to just get what, exactly, just trying to get what I can out of it. But little by little, like, and I really appreciate what you shared just the other night about that. Yeah, like this is not something we're going to get in a few weeks or a few days. But like just encouraging me to commit to, like, this might take some time, but I can do it. Yeah, so similar to Caleb, reading Isaiah, I don't really know what's going on. But now that we're taking this class, like, I read it beforehand. Like, I want to try to, like, spend more time in the prayer room or whatever. But when we go through it, I'm like, oh, OK, I get it now. Like, just breaking it down easier helps me understand it more. So I'm looking forward to learning more about just the end times in Isaiah, because I've never studied it before. So. Well, there are 66 chapters in Isaiah, and all of them aren't about the end times. So we're only taking the end time chapters. And when we're done with Isaiah, we're going to take the end time chapters of Jeremiah, which there's not so many. Then after that, the end time chapters in Ezekiel. Then after that, the end time chapters Daniel, then Hosea, then Joel, then Amos. And then Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, we're going straight through. We're doing the whole Bible. And so it's not really a study on Isaiah per se, but it's really just the end time parts of Isaiah. And again, a handful of you, you're thinking, I can't even think like that. I'm so busy, da, da, da. And I just want you to feel grace and peace about that. But I want you to know it exists, this whole course, because you can check into it later. It's online. It's archived. You could do it three years from now. You don't have to do it right now. But I just want everyone, I want this on everyone's radar. This is something that the body of Christ needs to know what the biblical narrative is as we're approaching that hour of history when everything is escalating. And I mean, the world is saying, what is going on? And there's different debates about what's going on. But we have the authoritative answer to what is going on. It's in the Bible. It's canonized. It's inspired scripture. And that's the only reliable source. That's why I'm just taking a moment. And I will every now and then just to talk about that for just a minute. Because whether you're engaging in it now or not, I want it on your radar to say, I can't do it now, but this is something I'm going to do one of these days. And that's a good beginning just to begin to make that resolution. OK, let's look at Revelation chapter 4. Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus. And Lord, we ask you, Lord, for the spirit of grace to touch us. And Holy Spirit, you know more about Jesus than anyone. And I'm asking you to let us see what you see and feel what you feel when you look at him. Just escort us into the beauty of this glorious man. In the name of Jesus, amen and amen. Well, session 4, we're going to look at the beauty of God in his heavenly court, his royal courtroom in the New Jerusalem. And we're going to look at first the perfection of his beauty. That's what the scripture calls it. Paragraph A, God's beauty is expressed obviously in God's person. And it's expressed in his heavenly court. You know, the kings of history put a lot of time and energy and finance into their court because their heavenly court reflects their power. It reflects their genius. It reflects their personality. It reflects their abilities as a nation. And so the great king of all kings, his royal court reflects his power, his brilliance, his genius, his abilities. And it gives a statement about him just like a royal court does in the natural. Well, his royal court, it says in Psalm 96, verse 6, that his royal court has honor and majesty in it, strength and beauty. Now, those are four important words. When it talks about honor, there's many implications. I'll just give you one or two. Anyone that's allowed in that court, it is a statement of highest honor that they even have access to enter into that court. So anyone there is honored by the very presence of being there. And there's a culture of honor. Everything in that court is in agreement with God and with goodness. The whole honor, the culture of that court is honor, honor, honor in every way. Well, there's majesty. God's majesty is revealed in his court more than any other place in creation. His majesty is revealed in that court in terms of the spectacular visuals, what I mean. His majesty is revealed most in what he's done in his people. But his majesty as a visual expression is revealed more in his court. His strength, his court is the epicenter of power and strength for the whole created order. So strength and power. The sun remains functional because of that court. Our bodies continue to work. The solar system operates because of the strength in that court. And in that court is the epicenter of all beauty. All beauty that exists in the creative order finds its origin in that court. Paragraph B, Psalm 50, out of Zion, the perfection of beauty. And that's talking about, in some ways, the temple and the Shekinah glory of God and the temple in Jerusalem. But that's depicting the perfection of beauty of God's royal court. And God's glory shines out of that court throughout the city, the new Jerusalem, and then on into the new heavens and the new earth, et cetera. Psalm 119 calls it the consummation of all perfection. And I believe he's talking about the very court of God. He says, I've seen it. And the word of God and the presence of God and the court of God all coming together in perfect union is the consummation of all beauty. So if we wanna discover beauty, we wanna see the perfection of it, we wanna take time looking at his court. Even though in this age, we have the roadmap of the word of God. God gave us in Revelation 4 some hints. And they're only hints, but they're hints that are worthy of taking and investing our time in. Look at paragraph C. Revelation 4 is the most detailed and important passage, I believe, on God's beauty. I call this chapter the beauty realm of God. Revelation 4 and 5, it's where God's beauty, it's the realm where everything is in the perfection of beauty. Now, Revelation 4 is describing the Father's throne. Now, this is the place where you just visited a moment ago when we were singing worship songs. This is the place that when you say, Lord, help me, this is where your prayer is received in the scene of Revelation 4. So I like to, I've spent a lot of time on this over the years. I like to take what the scripture says and picture it. We can't get it very clear, but I don't like speaking into the air. I like speaking to a person in a context, in a setting. And so I talk to the Father sitting on His throne, and I just take time and I worship, and I imagine the emerald rainbow around the throne and the lightning and thunder breaking forth from the throne and the four living creatures flying around the throne of God, the top of it, crying, holy, holy, holy, and a river of fire coming out and a sea of glass-like crystal in front of the throne. There's a sea of glass. It's not a lake, it's not a pond. It's a sea, it's a vast sea. And I believe that that's where the saints gather before the throne on that great sea. And when we worship, we're right there. And we're saying, Father, we love you with a son at the right hand, with myriads of angels, of 24 elders. That's the scene that we're approaching. And I have found that getting a little bit familiar, and I say a little bit familiar because we can only get a little familiar in this age, but I put a lot of time and thought on this chapter. And I call my mind to this scene over and over. When I'm in the prayer room or just any time when I'm talking to the Lord, I try to go to this scene, not just talk to God in space somewhere, but actually talk to Him that's on a throne. Now, I've identified four main categories. And each of these categories has three different themes. So four times three, there's 12 different themes that all reflect the beauty of God, the perfection of His beauty. His beauty is bigger than these 12 themes, but these are the biblical, Holy Spirit-inspired hints. And there's more in the Word on each one of these 12. And tonight, we're only giving an introduction. I spent, I remember some years ago, some 10 or 12 weeks, I think, just on these 12 themes where the rest of the Bible reflects that. These are magnificent. These are just little hints. I tell you, there's more in the Bible on these than you can imagine. And so this is like the ultimate treasure hunt. We're on a treasure hunt of the highest order. Holy Spirit, escort me. Holy Spirit, escort us in our journey in this age. As we get familiar with this scene, I don't wanna go there in the age to come and say, you know, I never thought about this. I'm sure it will be far greater than I ever imagined, but I wanna be familiar with this scene in as much as you can by faith at a distance, you know, just through the agency of the Word and the Spirit without being there in person. Well, let's read it. Verse two. Most of you are familiar with this, but I want you to highlight, I mean to, I'm gonna highlight the 12 different themes as we go. He said in verse 12, behold, a throne is set in heaven, and one who sat upon the throne, that's the father, very clearly the father. Verse three, now it describes what the father looks like, how he feels, and how he acts. There's hints to that in verse three. He who sat there, the father, is like a jasper stone. That's this brilliant crystal-like gem. But he's not only a brilliant crystal-like, diamond-like gem in appearance, this is the light that's emanating out of him. This is just the radiance that goes forth from his throne. There's a sardius stone. It looks like that, and a sardius stone is a deep red gem. And I believe that gives us hints as to how God feels. Not just how, it is a little bit of how he looks, but it's how he feels as well. And then there's a rainbow around the throne. And that rainbow, which has the normal colors of the rainbow, but in the midst of the normal colors of the rainbow, there's a emerald hue about the whole thing. And of course, we know that the rainbow speaks of that covenant of mercy. We'll look at that in a few moments. So it gives us an insight on how God acts. He acts in mercy. Over all of his judgments from his throne, he's tempered everything with mercy. Mercy is over the throne. The rainbow is around the throne. Long before the rainbow ever appeared in Noah's day, the rainbow was around the throne before creation. So when it appeared in Noah's day, it was a reflection of how God feels and how God acts towards the people who say yes to him. Verse four, then around the throne, there were 24 other thrones. I mean, we know a lot about God by who he puts near him and who he shares his authority with. That gives us incredible insight into what he's like. He has 24 elders, and these 24 elders are clothed in robes, white robes. And they're sitting on thrones, and they have crowns of gold on their head. And I believe these elders are the redeemed. Some commentators think they're the angels. It's kind of split. A bunch think they're angels. A bunch think they're redeemed, but I think they're redeemed for several reasons. I won't go into that right now. Then from the throne proceeds, excuse me, lightning, thunder, and voices. It's interesting, the parallel passage in Revelation 11 says thunder, lightning, and noises. So voices, noises, sounds. There's different words used in place of this in the parallel passages, which there's all kinds of music and all kinds of melodies and sounds and noises that are going forth. Verse five, and seven lamps of fire are burning before the throne. And these seven lamps, they speak of the Holy Spirit. They are manifestations of the Holy Spirit. It says the seven spirits of God because that's a reference to Isaiah 11, which happens to be the passage we're on this Friday. But anyway, it's seven spirits, which is the seven fold manifestation of the Holy Spirit. That's what that means from Isaiah chapter 11. But the Holy Spirit is manifesting his glory in seven lamps that are burning. Verse six, and before the throne, there's this vast sea. Again, don't think pond, don't think lake. Think a vast sea. And it's like crystal. It has this diamond-like crystal radiance to this sea. It's called a sea of glass-like crystal. We find out in chapter 15 of Revelation, it has fire mingled all the way through it. The fire of God is like, I'm just imagining it just dancing all over this vast sea. And that's where the saints gather with the fire of the Holy Spirit on them when they're worshiping Jesus. Oh, I can't wait. Then around the throne, and you can notice the words before the throne, around the throne. It says around the throne several different ways. There's four living creatures. I imagine them flying around the fathers at the top of the throne, crying out, holy, holy, holy. That's my opinion as to how they are around the throne in that sense. So we have here, paragraph one, we have the beauty of God's person in verse three. It gives us insights into how God looks, how he feels, how he acts. Then number two, we have the beauty of God's people. It's those that are enthroned, robed, and crowned, which is again, they're made beautiful by the beauty of God, but it's displaying God's beauty, the very fact that they're there, tells us a lot about the Father and the Son. Then number three, we have the beauty of God's power, the manifestations of lightning and thunder and music and voices and sounds. And I always slip in there. It's not in this passage, but it's another passage. I put fragrance because I think it's not only beautiful sounds and sights, I think the fragrances are diverse and powerful. But I'm just slipping it in there in Revelation four. It's not there, but it is in other passages. Okay, and then verse, I mean, number four is the beauty of God's presence, the manifestation of his fire. It's on the lamps, the fire is on the seraphim, which are the living creatures, and the fire is on the sea. So there's that fire presence of the Holy Spirit. Okay, let's look at Roman numeral two. Let's look at each one just a minute. We don't really have a lot of time to go into much detail on any of these. But again, it's a bit of a roadmap to kind of get you going into this journey of the beauty of God. It says in verse two and three, let's read it again, just to get our minds focused on this one facet here. Behold, a throne is set in heaven, and one who sat on the throne. And he who sat there was like a jasper. Again, a diamond-like, crystal-like brilliance is emanating out of the Father's throne. And a sardius stone, and there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald. There's, again, the colors of the rainbow, but the dominant, there's a dominant green emerald hue in the midst of the other colors. So paragraph A, God's beauty is seen in the many colors that emanate and radiate from his throne, including the brightness of diamonds, that's the jasper, the deep, fiery red glory of the sardius stone and the various colors of the rainbow with the emerald in the mix of it. Well, paragraph B, the dominant color design, if that's a right way to say it, of the New Jerusalem is jasper. There's, seemingly, there's more reference to jasper than any other color or design or visual in the city. And it's jasper, and here in Revelation chapter 21, it says the New Jerusalem, the light of the whole city, is like a jasper stone. And it defines it as a clear as a crystal or a diamond-like crystal, because the jasper stone in the ancient world was not a diamond with brilliance in it, but this jasper stone in Revelation is defined as a diamond-like, crystal-like radiance. Now, this gives us a little, just a hint as to how God looks. Emanating from his presence is this beautiful light of red and green and brightness emanating out of his throne. Psalm 104 tells us that God, describes God as being covered with garments of light. So he wraps himself with garments of light. Now, we know these lights, these colors are multicolored because we know the jasper, the rainbow, the green, the different colors around his throne. So we don't know the colors, all the colors, but I assume that it's a multicolored garment of light that God puts around himself. It says, I don't have this in the notes, 1 Timothy chapter six, verse 16, 1 Timothy 6, 16, it says God dwells in unapproachable light. He dwells in light that's unapproachable. And that's not a relational statement that it's unapproachable because God doesn't wanna relate. It's unapproachable because the intensity of the light is so intense that nobody has the capacity to be there without the agency of the grace of God. It'd be like 110 electrical unit being plugged into a billion volts. It's like it's unapproachable because it doesn't correspond. No part of creation is actually commensurate in its ability to absorb and to be in the fullness of God's presence without the mediation of the grace of God helping them along in the presence. But he's clothed with a garment of light. Let's look at top of page two. Well, the Sardius stone, again, it's a deep red gem. This gives us some insight, not only into how he looks, but how he feels. Because the deep red gem, I believe it speaks of his holy desires, his fiery love. It says in Deuteronomy chapter four that God is a consuming fire, and then it defines it, he's jealous. Now, as fallen creatures with sin in our mind and in darkness in our emotions, jealousy is normally bad. But jealousy, when the essence of your being is love, God is love, the very essence of who he is is love. So when God is jealous, it is a deeply engaged love. It's a fervent desire for his people. Now, that love, it magnifies and reveals his beauty. God's beauty is seen in his personality. I mean, more than anything, it's in his personality. It's not his visual, but the reality of his beauty is in who he is and what he does. His emotions, his character, which is very similar to his emotions, the fact that he's happy, the fact that he has pleasure. God, David said in Psalm 16, that in his presence is the fullness of joy. The very pleasures of God are around him forevermore. Pleasures are around his throne. So God's jealous, burning red heart is a heart fully engaged with holy love. It's holy, it's love, it's beautiful, it's wonderful, and you're the object of that fiery red heart of God that emanates from his character. Number one, God's affections, they include many things. There's a big subject. I mean, the way the father has affection for his son, that's part of that fiery desire. The way the son has affection for the father. I mean, that's a glorious part of his beauty, the way the Godhead relates. The way that the Godhead feels about us. I mean, can you imagine that Jesus said that, he says, I love you in the intensity that the father loves me. Beloved, that's fiery red desire. That's jealousy with no taint of negativity at all in it whatsoever. That's pure, focused, energized, engaged love right there. That Jesus loves you in the way the father loves him. And that full intensity. I mean, that's one of the most beautiful things about Jesus is the way he feels about broken people. I mean, we easily write off people that are broken and annoying, that get in our path, that are offensive. He says, no, that's not who I am. My heart is like a Sardius stone, burning red desire. And of course, the verse in Isaiah 62, he delights in his people. He doesn't just stamp our passport, you know, saved. He says, I actually delight in relating to you because I have deep desires. Paragraph two, understanding God's emotions. That's a bigger subject than this three minutes we're spending on it. It gives us the why behind the what. We know what God did, he created. We know what God did, he redeemed. He sent his son and the son came and the son died. We know what he did. We know what God does. He exercises his leadership over history. So we know what he does, but his emotions tell us why he doesn't. He uses his power and he manifests his wisdom out of burning desire. So his wisdom and his power flow out of a burning desire. Our God is a consuming fire. That's what I believe that the Sardius stone, it points to. Paragraph D, this gives us a little bit of insight to how he acts. He acts in tender mercy. In Revelation chapter nine, he said, I have set a rainbow in the cloud. It shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Here's what's remarkable. Verse 16, God says, I'll look at my rainbow and remember the covenant I have with the earth. The covenant I'll never destroy the earth with water. Well, God doesn't have to look far for the rainbow because the rainbow is over his throne. And the rainbow was around his throne long before it was in the sky in Noah's day. It was only in the sky in Noah's day because it existed prior, because Noah's rainbow was a reflection of a greater reality. But only our God would put a rainbow around his throne. I mean, that's, you know, because his throne room, this is a bit philosophical, but it was like the blank whiteboard. He could put anything on it he wanted in his royal court. And he goes, I want a rainbow over all the administrations of my throne and power. I want everything being released through the lens of the rainbow, of the mercy of God. He relates to his people with indescribable tenderness and kindness. He, if the people will say yes to him, if the people will say, I want your leadership and I want relationship and I'll take the free grace to have the relationship and to honor your leadership. He says, he will be, have infinite tenderness. His tenderness towards weak and broken people. You know, the song that is sang most in scripture, the song that is sang most in scripture. And maybe it's the song that sang most in heaven. I don't know. The Lord is good. His mercy endures forever. I give you a few passages. There's a whole lot more references to that than I had time and space on my hand out there. The Lord is good. That's the core reality of God. God is good. No matter what the devil says or what the dark emotions and mindsets of people, how they taint and they distort God's goodness. And his mercy endures. I love that word endures. It's not just his mercy covers. It's like there's an endurance. Our sin is strong, but his mercy endures. His mercy outruns our sin. And it endures and it outruns it forever. I mean, isn't this glorious? I love the rainbow around the throne. Moses cried out in Exodus 33, verse 18. I don't have the text there, but in Exodus 33, 18, Moses said, God, I wanna see your glory. And God promised, okay, I will. I'll show you my glory. And then in Exodus 34, the next chapter, he goes, here's my glory. I promised you a few moments ago, I'd show you my glory. Here it is. Here it is. I am merciful. That's my glory. I am gracious. I suffer long with people who reject me. Long suffering means because I suffer long, my heart is pained, but I don't give up. I suffer long with them. I abound in goodness. Moses, that's my glory. My glory isn't my muscles, how powerful I am that I can speak and create the universe. My glory is how I use my power. My glory isn't just that I'm stronger than everybody. My glory is I'm more tender than anybody. And I use total power to express perfect love. That's my glory right there. Because some people imagine the glory of God is his power, and that's part of his glory. But the glory is how he uses it. I mean, it's remarkable. He says it with his own lips. My glory is that I'm tender with mercy when I use my power. Roman number three. Let's look at the beauty of God's partners, who he puts near the throne, who he shares his authority and his government with. He didn't have to share his authority with anyone. He didn't need any of us to run his government. But who he puts near himself and who he shares his authority with tells us a lot about what he's like. And again, this is the beauty of God manifest in such a powerful way. Well, thank you. You gotta undo it for me. No. You wanna drink? Danka. Thank you. I appreciate that. I was supposed to bring it. I forgot it. Revelation chapter four. God's beauty is seen in the exaltation, the exalting of the saints. But the saints were at one time dirty and rebellious and complaining against God. It went nothing to do with him. It's not just he exalted the saints. It's who the saints were before they were saints. He exalted and he enthroned them. Then he robed them. Then he crowned them in his presence. Like, this is intense. The beauty of God is manifest in this, that there were 24 thrones. And on the thrones, I saw 24 elders. They were sitting. In other words, they're enthroned. They're in a place of government. They're not visiting. It's not a sightseeing moment, a temporary kind of visit to the throne. They're actually enthroned in a position of power that's long-term or permanent, but it's a part of God's beauty being manifest. And they were sitting. They're enthroned, so it's long-term or maybe permanent. You know, maybe they switch out after a couple million years. I don't know how it works. They were clothed in white robes, and they had crowns. The very presence of elders, that close to his presence, because all the angels want to get up close. And the fact that he brought broken human beings up near, close to himself, reveals his desire for partnership with people. And one of the reasons I believe that these are saints and not angels, because later in chapter 5, verse 8 and 9, they're crying, you know, saying, worthy is the Lamb, because you redeemed us. And angels aren't redeemed. So it says that the four living creatures and the elders are crying out the song, you redeemed us. Well, the angels aren't redeemed, and you caused us to reign on the earth. And the angels don't reign on the earth. The saints do. So that's in chapter 5, verse 8 and 9. But there's more to it than that. But there's, again, there's a different view. Some say that's all angels, but I don't know how the angels could claim redemption and claim ruling with Christ in the millennial kingdom, et cetera. Paragraph B, enthroned. That's not just the 24. They're a down payment of what God wants with his people. And to be clear that it's more than the 24 elders, he says in Revelation 3, this is just almost unthinkable. I remember the first time I read this some years ago, I just stared, you kind of read a verse when it doesn't hit you. And I'm sure I read it a bunch of times and it didn't hit me. But one time I looked at this, I go, Revelation 321, I grant you to sit with me on my throne. Oh, my goodness. I mean, that almost sounds like non-biblical, like Jesus. Sit with you on your throne. Whoa, that's not biblical. Well, yeah, it is. That's intense. You know, I think one of the reasons that Jesus is the one that said that, I don't think the apostles, I don't think they should have said it. I mean, they say we reign with him, but Jesus says, I'm going to say it more specific. You're going to sit with me on my throne. Now, it's not like a million people are going to all sit on one chair and, hey, scoot over, scoot over. That's not what it's about. But he's talking about expressions of the government of my throne. Beloved, sitting in a place of power? Think about how weak and broken and sinful you are. I promise you the prophets and the apostles were as weak and broken as you are. There's nobody that can stand in his presence and say, I should be sitting on a throne in your presence. Everybody is like, oh, Lord, I don't know. I mean, I love your grace, but this is intense. Beloved, this is your story. This is the God that we're serving. This is who we're worshiping. This is who the prayer movement is interacting with. This is who we're telling people about for the rest of our days until we meet the Lord. The fact that he exalts, I'm still at paragraph B, his former enemies, that they reign with him. This is the most beautiful use of power. I mean, what do you do to your former enemies? You execute them. But he says, no, I will forgive you, and I will not just forgive you. I'm going to bring you into the center of my government, and you're going to be really a part of it. This gives such dignity. I mean, it's unspeakable dignity that he gives to human beings. This is the beauty that's behind this. You know, we talk about somebody who's kind and generous, and we go, that's so beautiful. There's nobody that has the beauty of generosity and kindness like what is represented here in Revelation chapter 4. They're robed. Well, being robed speaks of the priestly ministry. And what's remarkable is that he not only trusts his former enemies to reign with him, but he trusts his former enemies to represent him and to communicate his glory. The priestly function is that the priest, they represent God to the rest of creation, and they're the vessel where his glory and power goes through them. God says, I'm going to actually make them representatives of me. That's how far redemption has gone. I look at that, and I go, Lord, this is beautiful. And they're crowned. Well, if you read Revelation chapter 3 and several other places, the crowns are an expression of the rewards that saints receive. Not all saints receive a crown. The crowns are given to those that have been faithful and persevering. No one's perfect. It's not sinless perfection. It's not doing it perfect. It's refusing to quit. At the end of the day, I believe that perseverance and being faithful to the end means refusing to quit. I don't think it's a testimony of how perfect the person ran the race. It's that when they stumbled in their sin, they got up, and with great sincerity, they said, no, they might stumble in the same sin again. They got up and they go, no, and they repent of it. They meant it. They're at war with it. They stumble again. They go, no. They repent of it. They're at war with it, and they just refuse to give up and give in and make that sin a pattern in their life. I think that's what perseverance is. I don't think perseverance means they never stumble. Discouragement comes. Despair comes. All these reasons to quit. I believe quitting is the number one temptation of the human family. I believe the whole human family, believer and unbeliever alike, are tempted to quit. Quit whatever they're pressing for. The whole earth is being tempted to quit, and in our case as believers, we have an assignment, but we also have a pursuit of Him, and the enemy wants us to quit the pursuit. He wants us to just settle down in depression, in despair, and camp out there and just indulge in self-pity the rest of our life, just the indulgence of, it's miserable, and I deserve to sit, and yet there's people that say, for the cause of love, I mean, I love just to indulge in my pity for a few years, but you know what? I love Him. I'm not going to, and so when they say they keep resisting their despair and they keep resisting their sin and they keep coming back, that's what I think is the perseverance where the crown comes in. It's not perfection. It's within the reach of everyone, but every believer doesn't have a crown. Roman numeral, I mean, at the top of page three here, Roman numeral four, but every believer can have one if they want one. It's within reach of every weak person. Just don't quit. Don't quit your sin and don't quit with your despair and bitterness. They treated you bad. Well, they're going to treat you bad again, and I talk to people. They go, hey, the church treats me bad. And I go, I've been treated bad by the church for 40 years. So what? And if I live 40 more years, I'll be mistreated 40 more years. Like forget it. Get over that. Settle it. That's really news to some people that broken people in the church treat them bad. Like, well, they're broken people outside the church treat you bad and broken people in the church treat you bad. Well, the world is better than the church. Well, not if you got a money deal with them. They'll treat you real bad if it's about money, I promise you. And so just settle it. You know, again, I've been a pastor for 40 years and been treated bad for 40 years. And I'm not going to let that be the narrative of my life. The narrative of my life is a beautiful God who likes me and He takes the little things I give Him and He moves Him. I'm in, man. I'm in till the end. Anyway, Romans 4. The beauty of God, the manifestations of His power. Flashes of lightning are releasing divine energy. I think of the lightning as impartation. Like the lightning of God, the power of God imparting to the saints or to all of the created order. It says that from the throne proceeds lightning, thunders, thunderings, and voices. Voices are, again, another, back in Revelation 11, the parallel passage, it says noises. Those noises are beautiful and majestic because they're coming out of the sanctuary that's filled with strength, honor, majesty, and beauty. Everything, every noise coming out of that sanctuary is beautiful and majestic. Terrifying sometimes, but it's terrifying beauty. It's awesome, awe-striking. It creates marvel and wonder in the sense of it being terrifying in its beauty. Paragraph B, lightning flashes. I believe, this is my opinion, they go forth continually. I mean, there's lightning flashes all over the earth somewhere. Lightning is going off somewhere right now. I don't know all the science of that, but I'm assuming lightning is proceeding from the throne nonstop. All over the city, it's breaking out, just like it's breaking out all over the earth. And again, I don't know all the science of lightning, but it's always thundering and lightning somewhere in the created order. And I think, how much more from the throne? And I think of the lightning as releasing God's energy, releasing God's light, releasing God's splendor, His beauty. I mean, lightning, when you look at it, unless it's coming right at you, it's really coming right at you. Well, it's too late. I mean, you duck, but I don't know how that works. But lightning is beautiful. You look at it, it's mesmerizing. You know, you look at it, it's like, wow. And again, I believe there's a release and impartation of energy and light and splendor. And the question I ask, and I think the answer's yes, but what if lightning strikes are happening all over the New Jerusalem, all over on the Sea of Glass, where there's a billion before the throne, a couple billion, and this lightning is striking, and God, oh, the spirit's hitting them, and boom, and there's fire all over the city. I mean, those worship gatherings are going to be anointed beyond anything you can imagine. I think there'll be, my guess is, there'll be personal and corporate encounters that are dramatic above the norm, because the norm encounters with God are going to be amazing, but I believe there's going to be those above-the-norm moments forever. You know, whatever the norm ends up being, there'll be the above-the-norm, and they will be dynamic and memorable, and those lightning is going to be proceeding from the throne. And man, I love to pray, and I say, Lord, let the lightning strike of God. Let it touch me, let it touch you. I prayed for the class tonight. Let the lightning of God touch you. You know, in that invisible way now in this age, just touch like lightning bolts of revelation come and hit hearts. Paragraph C, thunder. Now, in the Scripture, thunder, well, in the book of Revelation, often is associated with a message from God. Like here in Revelation 10, it says the seven thunders, they uttered their voice, and they were supposed to, John was supposed to write down the message that the thunders represented. In John 12, I don't have the verse here, John 12, verse 28 and 29, Jesus was right before his, he went to Jerusalem and died. He was talking about dying, about a seed that has to fall on the ground and die in John 12, and the Father broke out an audible voice and said, I'm going to be glorified in this. And it was thunderous voice, and one part of the people of the crowd said, God spoke. And another part of the crowd said, no, it was just thunder. So when God speaks a message, it's associated with thunder, even on the Mount of Sinai with Moses, the thunder and lightning was breaking off the mountain, and right afterwards, he got the Ten Commandments. And so thunder is associated with messaging. And so I believe that, again, I pray for myself, I pray for wherever I go to minister, when I pray for someone else, I just say, Lord, release the lightning and thunder. Whatever it means in this age, I mean the message would resonate through people, or the thunder of God would be released through them when they're singing or speaking or writing, the thunder of God would be released through them, or acting or media or art, whatever it is. Or Lord, release that lightning of God. I love to pray those prayers with that in mind. Paragraph D, voices. There's voices around the throne. Or noises, Revelation 11 says in the parallel passage. Sounds, songs, music, instruments. There's instruments in heaven. We find in the book of Revelation, the ones that are mentioned are the harp and the trumpet. So there's a string section. Don't think there's one type of harp. I'm imagining there's a thousand types of that string section harp. And the horn section trumpets, I'm imagining there's more diversity of trumpets than there is on the earth. There's more diversity of trumpets in heaven than there is on the earth. So we know we have the strings, and we know we have the horn sections, and we know that all kinds of music is coming forth. Because it doesn't say that's the limitation of it. But there's choirs, voices, noises, sounds. Again, I love to throw in fragrance in the midst of this. Okay, let's look at Roman numeral five. Okay, his presence. The presence of the spirit. This is in a different way. It's in fire. Because the fire is on the lamps, the fire is on the seraphim, which are the living creatures, and the fire is on the sea. Paragraph A, God's presence is manifest as fire. Now this fire is a manifestation of love and purity and power. I mean, it's purity. This is a fire that has the intensity of God's love and God's emotions behind it. Verse five, let's read it again, just for kind of re-focus on it again. The seven lamps of fire were burning before the thrones, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne, there's a sea of grass. So there's the fire before the throne, and there's the sea of grass before the throne. And then the four living creatures are around the throne. And the four living creatures, the first one's like a lion, the second one like a calf or an ox, depending on what's translation, the third one like a man, the fourth one like a flying eagle. God's beauty is seen on how the Holy Spirit imparts His presence to people, to strengthen them, to renew them, to beautify them, to anoint them. Let's look at each one of these just real fast here, real fast. First, there's the sea of glass. The saints gather on the sea of glass. Look at Revelation 15. Again, think of the Mediterranean Sea, but bigger. Don't think of a pond or lake. Think of a vast sea, a sea that could easily hold a couple billion saints through all of history and billions of angels. It's the convocation center. It's the gathering center. You know, just saying it in a funny way, it's the conference center, the worship conference center of the royal court is the sea of glass. It's where the saints in chapter 15 are standing there, but it's mingled with flaming fire. There's the Holy Spirit fire moving all over the sea. And it's the people that have, and they're singing, they have harps, they're making music before the Lord. Revelation, I mean, Daniel chapter 7, the famous throne scene in Daniel 7, Daniel adds something that John doesn't say in the book of Revelation. Daniel says there's a river of fire coming out of the throne. So I'm picturing the river of fire coming out of the throne onto the sea, and that river of fire is keeping the sea just filled with fire all over it, and the saints are there worshiping. Now, paragraph C, there are seven lamps of fire. Now, don't think of a little house lamp, you know, a little five- or ten-foot lamp here, you know, with a 500-watt light bulb. Don't think of that. When I think of these lamps, I think of a hundred miles high and a hundred miles wide, a ball of fire, because some translations call it torch. They are the heavenly version of the pillar of fire that was with Moses in the wilderness. So I think of a hundred miles by a hundred miles, or 500 miles, I mean, I don't know. I mean, just whatever number you want to put there. But don't think of a little house lamp. And I imagine that these, like the pillar of fire, it moved in the wilderness. And I'm imagining that whatever that pillar of fire was, it was an expression of this, but it wasn't as glorious in its size and magnitude of movement as the ones around the throne. So I'm imagining these seven. Here's my picture of it. I could be wrong. I'm sure I'll be satisfied any way it works. But here we are on the Sea of Glass, and there's, you know, one or a couple billion people there in the big citywide meetings. You know, I don't know that every worship gathering will have every person. I think there'll be all kinds of gatherings and meetings and all over that are diverse. But sometimes everybody comes, and those are like, whoa. And so there's the Sea of Glass. The river of fire is filling the Sea of Glass with new, fresh fire all the time. That's my picture of it, maybe different than that. And these seven lamps, again, make them 100 miles high by 100 miles. They're hovering and floating around the sea. They're moving like the ball of fire, and they're resting on different parts, and the people are, the Spirit of God's touching them like in power in an unusual way as they're worshiping. The Spirit's moving over there. They're looking at the whole fiery lamps over there. Well, they've got to be more dramatic than the pillars of fire. And I think what happened, I mean, on Moses' day, I think what happened in Acts chapter 2, verse 3, when it says the 120 are in the upper room, and the Spirit came like fire and rested on every one of them, I think they all go, that's amazing. I'm just guessing. You know, I'm making this up. One angel looks to the other and says, do you think that's amazing? Wait till they get to the Sea of Glass, and the Spirit rests upon the whole congregation, and those lamps are moving around. It's going to be far beyond 120 people in an upper room. That was a hint of a hint of a hint of where this thing is going. Paragraph D, the living creatures. They're seraphim. In the book of Revelation, they're called living creatures, but Isaiah 6, they're called seraphim. They're identified. And seraphim are different than cherubim, but they're so comparable to the seraphim in Isaiah 6 that that's why I have, my assumption is that the ones here in Revelation 4 are seraphim as well. And the word seraphim means the burning ones. That's what the name means. It's these living creatures that are before the Father. They're the closest to Him, and they cry night and day, and they're never, ever silent. And it's interesting that one has the face of a lion, the other a calf, a man, and an eagle. And these are the four different faces of God's beauty and redemption. Not that there's only four, but these are four that are distinct, and they're represented by the four Gospels. I don't have it written here, but it's kind of a, I mean, you hear this all the time. It's pretty easy to find the information on this. Matthew, the focus of Matthew is Jesus the king. And so Matthew reveals the lion, the king, the lion of the tribe of Judah. The Gospel of Matthew focuses on the king. Mark is Jesus the servant, and that would be the oxen. Luke is the humanity of Jesus. And there's so much about the face of Jesus in His humanity in Luke. And, of course, John is like the flying eagle, the deity of Jesus. And so those four faces are seamless in their unity together. They're not distinct. They overflow together. And those same four faces are in the creatures that are burning fire, like the burning ones around the throne. And I believe they're a picture of the different ways that we will relate to God and the ways we will serve God in the kingly focus, the servant focus, the humanity, I mean, the idea of relating and the human sense of relating heart to heart, and in the fact of the deity of the Holy Spirit's supernatural power. All of these different faces, I think, are being reflected around the throne. Paragraph E, when they're around the throne, you know the passage, Isaiah 6. Isaiah saw the Lord, and the seraphim, they cover their eyes. They're overwhelmed at the beauty of God. They're overwhelmed. It's like they see a glimpse, and with two of their wings, they cover their eyes. And after a while, they kind of come up for air, so to speak. That's not the best way to say it. And the power of that revelation has gone through them. And they come up for air, and they get another fresh look. And then they cover their eyes again, and they never exhaust the beauty of God. And Isaiah had the same experience. He says, I'm undone. I've seen the king. Well, these beings are like the evidence. They're like a prophetic statement in the whole of the New Jerusalem. God's beauty is never exhausted. I said this in our first session, that we could be, you know, laboring, reigning on the earth, or some part of the New Jerusalem, and sharing with one another, and saying, hey, tell me about your new revelation, the beauty of God. And he said, man, it keeps becoming new, and it gets deeper. And we look up at the very epicenter where the throne is, and the living creatures, they're covering their eyes yet again, a billion years later, overwhelmed. And we go, a prophetic statement. They've never exhausted the beauty of God. They're the closest. And it's fresh forever. That's who they are. It's like they're a prophetic statement, a witness for all of the redeemed family forever, and all the angels, that His beauty is inexhaustible forever. And then they cry, Holy, Holy, Holy. And I'll end with this. When they cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, paragraph one, holy means, the word holy means to be separate from something. Separate from something. That's the core idea. And separated from something, and separated to something, with the idea of being separated. Now God is separated from sin. So He's holy, in the sense He's pure. He's completely separated from sin. But that's not the totality of what holiness means. It doesn't just mean separate from sin. He's separated from everything created. He's separated from everything common. Meaning He's infinitely superior of another order. And so He's holy, not just in that He's separated from sin. He's holy that His glory and His essence is of another order that none of creation is. He's holy, meaning He's transcendent. And when they're crying, Holy, Holy, I don't think they're saying, separate from sin, separate from sin. I think they're saying, infinitely superior. Infinitely superior. Separated from everything created. In a wholly other order of beauty. Beauty. Beauty is what they're crying out forever and forever and forever. Amen. Well, let's stand for a moment. I'm going to pray over you, and then we're going to take a break.