In this sermon, the preacher focuses on Revelation chapter 4, which describes a vision of God on His throne in heaven. The vision portrays God as majestic, royal, and full of life. The four living creatures and the 24 elders represent the whole creation, praising God day and night. The sermon emphasizes the importance of recognizing that God is always on the throne, despite the fallen state of the world, and encourages believers to have hope and keep their love for God alive.

Will you please turn to the book of Revelation? Revelation chapter 4. We'll read the first five verses. Revelation chapter 4 verse 1. After these things I saw and behold a door open in heaven and the first voice which I heard as of a trumpet speaking with me saying come up here and I will show thee the things which must take place after these things. Immediately I became in the spirit and behold a throne stood in the heaven and upon the throne one sitting and he that was sitting like in appearance to a stone of jasper and asladius and a rainbow round the throne like in appearance to an amaroid and round the throne 24 thrones and on the thrones 24 elders sitting clothed with white garments and all their heads golden crowns and out of the throne go forth lightnings and voices and thunders and seven lamps of fire burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of God. Chapter 5 verse 1 and I saw on the right hand of him that sat upon the throne a book written within and on the back seal with seven seals and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals and no one was able in the heaven or upon the earth or underneath the earth to open the book or to regard it and I wept much because no one had be found worthy to open the book nor to regard it and one of the elders say to me do not weep behold the lion which is in the tribe of Judah the root of David has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals verse 6 and I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a lamb standing as flame having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God which are sent into all the earth and he came and took it out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne and when he took the book the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell before the lamb having each a harp and golden bowls full of incenses which are the prayers of the saints and they sing a new song saying thou art worthy to take the book and to open its seals because thou has been slain and has redeemed to God by thy blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and made them to our God kings and priests and they shall reign over the earth when we were together last time we mentioned that the book of the revelation is the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ as a matter of fact the whole Bible is the revelation of Jesus Christ but especially this last book it is called the revelation and the first verse of the first chapter states the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to show to his born but there is one thing that is in the very heart of God and this is the only thing that God is concerned with and he wants us to know and that is the revelation of his son Jesus Christ actually nothing really matters but the revelation of Jesus Christ if we have the revelation of Jesus Christ we have everything if we do not have the revelation of Jesus Christ no matter how much we have we have nothing it is the revelation of Jesus Christ and when God reveals his son then we see his son to God it is revelation to us it is vision so we mentioned that in this last book the book of Revelation there are a series of visions visions concerning Jesus Christ and last time when we were together we were on the first vision the first vision of the Lord Jesus as we find in the book of Revelation is recorded in chapter 1 John saw one like the Son of Man standing in the midst of seven golden lampstands this one who is like the Son of Man we know is our Lord Jesus the Risen Lord and the seven golden lampstands stand for the seven churches in Asia which represents all the Church of God throughout the ages and in this vision we see our Lord Jesus as the glorious head over his body and the body is the fullness of him who fills all and in all how we need to see our glorious head how glorious he is how full he is how he is full of righteousness how he is full of love how he is full of wisdom how he is full of power of authority how he is full of beauty and all that he is is meant for the body in other words as the head of his body he does desire to fill his body with what he is and then at the same time we find the one who is like the Son of Man in the midst of the seven golden lampstands is not only the glorious head over the body but he is also the high priest serving in the true sanctuary we do thank God that whatever he expects us to be he is the high priest who will supply that to us so this is the first vision that we need to see the relationship of our Lord Jesus who is in heaven today with his church on earth now and this relationship is the relationship of the head to the body of the high priest to the temple now this morning we would like to come to the second vision of our Lord Jesus in the Revelation and this second vision is found in Revelation chapter 4 and chapter 5 John said the heaven is open and he is in the spirit and there he sees something he said he saw a throne in the heaven now dear brothers and sisters if the heaven is open to us if we are in the spirit of rapture what will we see in heaven we will see in heaven the throne the throne of God on earth we see the cross but in heaven we see the throne if we do not see the throne in heaven it is because the heaven is not open to us if we do not see the throne in heaven it is because we are not in the spirit of rapture whoever is in the spirit of rapture and the heaven is really open to him in other words he has access to heaven he can see through into heaven and if he does he will invariably see one thing there and that is the throne of God no matter what happens on earth there is one thing in heaven that never changes and it is the throne of God when John saw in that vision the throne in heaven he saw it undisturbed yes in history there was the rebelling of the archangel in history there was the fall of man but whether there was the rebelling of the archangel all the fall of man it didn't change anything in heaven the throne of God is still there it never changes you remember the psalmist said in Psalm 45 verse 6 thy throne is forever and forever thy scepter is the scepter of righteousness the throne of God is in heaven on earth there is confusion on earth many things have happened but in heaven the throne is set forever and forever righteousness and justice are the foundation of the throne of God loving kindness and truth go before his face the throne of God is there in heaven and heaven rules over no matter what happens on earth heaven is above the earth heaven rules and over rules over the things upon the earth dear brothers and sisters there is one thing that we need to see and that is to see the throne of God oftentimes you know we are surrounded by things that happen on this earth we are occupied with those things that confront us in our immediate circumstance and we are also being disturbed by the things that are going on maybe in our city maybe in our state maybe in our country maybe in the world and when we are occupied by these things we lose sight of the throne of God sometimes we think that evil seems to have its way it seems as if Satan is truly the ruler of this earth but dear brothers and sisters this is the time that we need to have an open heaven we need to be in a spirit of rapture we need to see the throne of God and if we do then we will rise above our circumstances we will be delivered from all confusion and disturbance and disappointment and discouragement and we will be joined to that throne and because of that we will be able to be as kings and priests unto God the throne of God all power authority is there everything proceeds from that throne whatever happens on earth it is not outside of the power and authority of the throne of God and this is something that we must John saw the throne and one who sits upon the throne and we know the one who sits upon the throne is our God but of course no one can see God God is a spirit and no one can see God what John saw one who sits upon the throne he said was like in appearance to a stone of Jasper and of Sardis in other words John did not really see God because God could not be seen but John received an impression of God and that impression was like a stone of Jasper and of Sardis in other words God is here being presented to us in colors you you see colors and with that color you get an impression now the color of Jasper is blue like the heaven it is blue color and the color of Sardis is red and there is a rainbow all around the throne when we see a rainbow we usually see it maybe a half circle at most but here you'll find you see the rainbow all around the throne it is a full circle of the rainbow and of course we know a rainbow is a blending of all colors but in that blending of colors one color stands out because it is like an amaroid and we know the color of amaroid is green so dear brothers and sisters you see here beautiful colors there giving us an impression of the one who sits upon the throne blue heavenly color it speaks of being heavenly red royal color it speaks of royalty and green is the color of life green grass everything of life is it is in green in other words the impression that is given to us is our God is so heavenly so majestic royal and so full of life and it is like a stone a stone speaks of stability of permanency and being precious stone it give us the value of it in other words the impression that is created by this vision of God upon the throne is our God is full of value he is stable like a rock and he is so beautiful heavenly royal and full of life and this is the God who sits upon the throne now of course we know chapter 4 of the book of revelation is a description of the glory of the Creator and the glory of the Creator of course expands throughout the period of creation there you will find God on the throne reigning over his creation and the whole creation is represented by the four living creatures these four living creatures represent the whole creation before God and the 24 elders represent the government of God over his creation so in other words you find here a vision the vision of God on the throne ruling over his whole creation there is no interruption there is no intermission from the day that God created the whole creation he has been reigning over it without interruption and then you will find the seven spirits of God like the seven lamps of fire burning there and there was lightning and thunders in other words you will find the throne of God is very active you know it is not that after God created everything then he left the creation and let the creation work out its own way no after God created the universe after God created the creatures the whole creation he reigns and rules over his creation actively lightning thunders these all describe to us action and it is in the power and in the energy of the Holy Spirit now brothers and sisters I do want you to get such an impression because we are living in a very difficult time we are living at the end of the end days and because we are living in such a time so many things are happening on earth with such intensity and such speed and there is so much confusion and if we do not have such a vision of the throne of God and one who sits upon the throne who is actively reigning over his whole creation brothers and sisters our faith may fall apart we may lose hope and our love will get cold so it is of vital importance that we see the vision of the throne of God dear brothers and sisters ever since God created his creation he has been sitting on the throne he has been active in governing his creation he is reigning over his creation and this fact never changes do not be deceived by what appeared to you on earth but believe what God has revealed to you that God is on the throne and he does rule and reign over all this now even though in chapter 4 we do not see the whole creation or the angelic hosts singing praises unto God and yet we find they are represented by the 4 living creatures and the 24 elders so the 4 living creatures who represent the creation they cry out day and night holy holy holy Lord God almighty the whole creation is praising God the creator it never ceases it is true when you look into history the whole creation has entered into vanity and is now under the bondage of corruption the whole creation grows and yet dear brothers and sisters if you rise above appearance and get into reality if you are delivered from time and get into eternity what will you see you will see the whole creation as represented by the 4 living creatures they are praising God all the time without end not groaning but praising and while they are doing that the 4 24 elders worship God and they reveal the purpose of creation why is it that the whole creation is praising God because God has created them for his own pleasure it is for his pleasure that they are created in other words the purpose of creation is revealed the purpose of creation is to please God is to make God happy is to satisfy his heart the whole creation is not created for itself the whole creation is created for God and for God's satisfaction and this is the picture we see in revelation 4 but this is only part of the vision there is the other part that is shown to us in chapter 5 and you know in chapter 5 it seems as if something had happened you know in chapter 4 it did not give you any impression that anything had happened since the day that God created it seems that everything goes on according to God's purpose and nothing is really changed and thank God that is but then when you come to chapter 5 you notice that something has happened in other words in chapter 5 the spirit of God recognized that something had happened to creation there was the rebelling of the archangel there was the fall of man and after man fell into the hands of Satan Satan organized this world into a system to resist God Satan became the usurper of this world may I say he was the squatter he occupied as it were God's creation and he organized it into a world, a system to resist God but when chapter 5 opens you find John saw one sitting on the throne having a book a roll in his hand and that roll is written within and without and it is sealed with 7 seals and this roll as we know today is the title deed of the creation God created the whole creation and he holds the title deed in other words Satan may usurp all this earth and yet God has not given up his ownership do not think that because Satan seems to occupy this earth and usurp it that he owns it he does not the ownership is still in God's hand and now the declaration a strong angel declared and said who is worthy to take the book and to open the 7 seals in other words the ownership is in God's hand but God needs someone to execute his will God needs someone to bring the whole creation back to him as it was originally designed now that is the problem the problem is not with ownership God never gives up his ownership the problem is who is able to take the whole thing back and bring the whole creation into subjection to God's purpose and the one who is to do that has to be worthy has to be worthy so the proclamation goes out who is worthy to take the book and open the 7 seals there must be such a suspense because there was no one worthy in heaven or earth or under the earth there was no one worthy and when time began to fly there was such a suspense and there was no answer no one came forward John wept he wept much in other words he thought it was the whole creation was finished he was just out of God's hand now it is in the hand of Satan and it will not be recovered it will not be released so John wept much and then he was comforted by one of the elders and said do not weep there is one who is worthy and who is the worthy one the lion of the tribe of Judah and the root of David and at that moment John saw dear brothers and sisters John saw John saw one a lamb standing as newly slain and he came forward and took the rule out of the hand of the one who sits upon the throne he took it and when he did then praises burst out from the four living creatures and the elders they play the harp and they offer the incense which are the prayers of the saints Revelation chapter 5 is a scene of the ascension of our Lord Jesus you know in the book of Acts the Lord led his disciples to Mount Olive and there he was taken up they saw him going up and then a cloud took him they could not see him but they were still looking up because the cloud was going up and up and up and two men in white appeared and said men of Galilee why do you look up the one who has gone up in like manner he will come back so our Lord Jesus was ascended up to heaven but no one saw the scene of his ascension what happened when he arrived in heaven we know he arrived how do we know because on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was full full there was the evidence that he had arrived in heaven he was anointed and then the oil came down from the head to the very skirt of the garment but nobody saw the scene of his ascension and here in chapter 5 we are shown the scene of his ascension historically speaking chapter 5 gave us the scene of the ascension of our Lord Jesus why because he was there as a lamb newly slain not slain 2000 years ago but he was seen as a lamb newly slain it was only 40 days after his resurrection a lamb newly slain and when he ascended up to heaven what happened he took from God's hand that robe in other words he was made the heir of all things you remember Psalm 2 ask of me God said and I will give you the ends of the earth as your inheritance here you will find our Lord Jesus is the heir of all creation he received the ownership of all creation he is the heir of all things and now it is up to him to open the seal that is to say to execute the will of God to bring all things into subjection he is worthy why because he has overcome he has overcome sin he has overcome the flesh he has overcome the world he has overcome Satan who is the usurper of this world in other words on Calvary's cross he has won the victory there on Calvary's cross he has borne our sin the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world there on Calvary's cross he put away the old man our old man was crucified with him the flesh was dealt with there on the cross the world was crucified though the world crucified him and yet on the cross he crucified the world there on the cross he stripped Satan of his power and make a public show of him in triumph of the cross in other words here you will find in this land the only one in the whole universe who is worthy nobody has ever overcome sin nobody has ever overcome the flesh nobody has ever overcome the world nobody has ever overcome Satan but here you will find our Lord Jesus the conqueror on the cross he has overcome sin the flesh the world and Satan and because he has overcome he has the power to execute the will of God it is a matter of worthiness and the worthiness is based upon his overcoming dear brothers and sisters our Lord Jesus has already won the victory on Calvary's cross he is now crowned with glory and honor he is made the heir of all things and God he sits at the right hand of God waiting for his enemies to be his foes he will bring everything into subjection unto Christ and after that is done then he will give all things dear brothers and sisters the angel declares the Lion of the tribe of Judah he has overcome but when John saw he saw the Lamb the declaration is the Lion but the vision is the Lamb you know the Lion and the Lamb are two opposites the Lion speaks of majesty of strength of power the Lion will instill a sense of fear and awe into us the Lion will devour but the Lamb speaks of meekness and lowliness the Lamb will give us the impression of love the Lamb is to be sacrificed in other words the Lion and the Lamb are the two opposites and yet you find they are joined together in Christ the Lion power of our Lord Jesus is in his Lamb nature it is the Lamb in the midst of the throne you know when Solomon built his throne it is very interesting if you read the Old Testament you will find Solomon built his throne and when he built his throne his throne is lined with Lions why because Lion speaks of royalty of majesty and yet here you find the one who sits upon the throne is the Lamb the Lamb in the midst of the throne in other words his victory his power his overcoming is in his lowliness what is lowliness what is meekness Philippians 2 says he being equal with God and it is not something to be grasped at and yet he emptied himself he took upon himself the form of a born slave he took the likeness of a man and being in the likeness of a man he humbled himself even unto death unto obedience unto death and the death of the cross that is lowliness that is meekness lowliness and meekness means selfless and here you find our Lord Jesus he overcomes sin, flesh, the world and Satan because of his Lamb nature of his selflessness of his willing to empty himself of his being willing to humble himself even unto death his obedience to the Father because he sacrificed himself for the whole world that is where his strength his victory a Lamb in the midst of the throne chapter 5 is the picture of the glory of the Redeemer and of course so far as redemption is concerned man is in the very center of the redemptive work of God and that is the reason why you will find when the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures sing that new song it is a song of redemption in other words it is a song of how God has redeemed us out of every nation, every tribe, every people, every tongue and he has redeemed us and made us kings and priests unto God what a redemption that is but dear brothers and sisters being redeemed here you will find the saints begin to pray because the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures they offer up new senses which are the prayers of the saints in other words we who are redeemed we must begin to pray right away and it is because of the prayer of the church you find the whole creation is being restored in other words so far as the foundation is concerned it is already laid the foundation of victory Christ has already overcome every forces that hold back the creation from God's purpose Christ has broken all the powers that bind the creation he has already overcome and now it is left to the church to pray thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and as the church prays then the victory of Christ will be executed upon all things until all things are being brought into subject in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 23 Christ the head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all and in all in other words we are kings we are priests now do nothing that we will be priests and we will be kings in the millennium in the kingdom of God that is to come no brothers and sisters he has bought us washed us with his blood and he has made us we are kings and priests unto God today in what sense we are kings and priests unto God in the sense that being united with Christ we are priests who will pray we are kings who will rule in other words the victory of Christ shall bear upon all things through the cooperation I often say the work of the church today is the mopping up the victory is won and we are to go forth to mop up to apply the victory of Christ and to bring all things into subjection in Christ that is the tremendous work committed to the church that is the reason why the Lord said whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth shall be loosened in heaven kings and priests unto God and you know as you read chapter 5 immediately you find the angelic host and all creation began to sing the anthem it is as if all creation has been restored is already restored you know brothers and sisters when you look into history you have the past you have the present and you have the future but when you look into reality there is no past there is no future it is always present therefore you find even though it is the scene of the ascension of our Lord Jesus here you find the whole creation burst out in praises as if the whole creation has been restored historically we are waiting for the restoration of all things but spiritually it is all restored they are all singing every knee has already bowed every tongue has already confessed that Jesus is Lord oh wonderful how wonderful it is and dear brothers and sisters this is the vision that God wants us to see concerning our Lord Jesus to see the throne of God if we really see the throne of God the first effect upon us will be we will submit ourselves to God and his authority what is the use of talking about the throne of God if we are only thinking in terms of the world we will know his authority unless we ourselves first know the throne of God the throne of God that sits in heaven must be set in our hearts if the throne of God is not set in our hearts we do not see the throne of God in heaven the first effect of seeing the throne of God in heaven is we will bow before God and say Lord you set your throne in my heart and if we do then out of us will come forth the authority and the power of the throne of God do not expect that the authority and the power of God's throne will be manifested in and through us if we ourselves have not submitted to his authority but if we do then the throne of God will manifest its power and authority who is in the midst of the throne the Lamb in the midst of the throne brothers and sisters if ever we desire to be in touch with the throne we must have the life of the Lamb you know in our human mentality it is very difficult to connect these two things we cannot connect a lion with a lamb and if I may use an illustration you see before our Lord Jesus was crucified you remember John and James came with their mother I often laugh at it because it is such a maneuvering clever maneuvering and there you will find the mother of John and James three of them came to the Lord and said Lord whatever we ask give it to us sign a blank check and the Lord said what do you want well my son one sit on your right and one sit on your left in other words throne authority throne one sit on the right and one sit on the left and the Lord said can you be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with can you drink the cup that I am going to drink now without really knowing what they mean these two sons were too anxious for the throne and said yes we do and the Lord said yes you must but to sit on my right or left is not for me to give but for the father in other words we cannot connect the throne with baptism we cannot connect the throne with the cup because to us the throne and the baptism and the cup are two opposites if you are baptized if you drink the cup you are at the lowest end now if you sit on the throne you are on the highest end these are the two opposites but dear brothers and sisters what the Lord is trying to teach us is there is a lamb in the throne the lamb in the midst of the throne and what he is he also sets an example for us if we want to reach the throne we have to be like lamb not like lions oh the disciples strive for the throne like lions they devour each other no but lamb unless we have the spirit of the lamb manifested in our lives we are not in the midst of the throne our authority our power is in the spirit of Christ oh dear brothers and sisters may we catch that vision may we see the Lord in the midst of the throne may we see that God reigns may we see that our Lord Jesus has already overcome may we see that he is not executing the will of God concerning the whole creation and may we see our part in it it is through the church that God will bring all things into subjection and one day there will be restoration of all things in other words the whole creation will be restored to the original design of God created for his good pleasure praise God may we see it shall we pray our heavenly father we do pray that by thy Holy Spirit we will be given a vision of thy son as the lamb in the midst of the throne oh we may see that he has overcome he is the heir of all things he is worthy to open the book and he is executing thy will there is no question about the outcome but Lord we also ask thee as thou dost show us thy son our Lord Jesus as the lamb in the midst of the throne that thou would teach us the lesson that we need to learn oh that we may be filled with the spirit of the lamb that we may be in touch with thy throne and be given authority and power in working together with thee for the restoration of all things to the praise and glory of God in thy precious name amen