Mike Bickle emphasizes the profound reality of approaching God's throne in prayer and worship, highlighting that it is a real interaction with a majestic and loving Father. He draws from Revelation 4 to illustrate the beauty and power of God's presence, encouraging believers to approach the throne of grace with confidence, knowing they will receive mercy and help in their time of need. Bickle explains that understanding the beauty of God enhances our prayer life, making it more enjoyable and sustainable, as we focus on the facets of His beauty revealed in Scripture. He encourages meditation on Revelation 4, which depicts the splendor of God's throne and the honor bestowed upon His people, emphasizing that prayer is not merely a duty but a delightful relationship with God. Ultimately, Bickle invites believers to experience the infinite beauty of God, which will never be exhausted, even for eternity.

Well, when we pray, when we worship, we actually come before God's throne. Sometimes we lose sight of the fact we're actually appearing before the majesty of God. It's a real throne. It's a real person. The interaction is real. He feels it more than we do. Revelation chapter 4 is that amazing chapter of the Bible where the throne of God is described in the greatest detail anywhere in the Bible. But in Hebrews 4, it says, let us approach the Revelation 4 throne of grace. The Revelation 4 throne, the throne of majesty is a throne of grace. This is remarkable what he's saying. We approach it with confidence that we may find mercy. We receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Now, the thing that's so remarkable is that the throne of grace is the place of infinite power and infinite purity that have come together. And so our first thought would be around, I mean, the first thought that the world religions would have is that if you come before infinite power and infinite purity, you're going to get crushed. There's no way that it would be good for us to stand before one so pure, so powerful. But Hebrews 4 says, come with confidence. In your weakness, knowing you'll receive mercy, you won't be crushed, but you'll be helped. You won't find an adversary, but you will find a dear relationship, a father. Paragraph B, when we learn who we're actually talking to, it strengthens our prayer life in a dynamic way. I don't know of many chapters in the Bible that have had more impact on my personal prayer life than Revelation 4. It's at the very top of the list. We learn about who we're talking to because where he dwells is the ultimate place of beauty because it's like the analogy I use, it's like he had a blank whiteboard and he could put anything around his throne he wanted. So whatever he established around his throne in eternity past is a reflection of who he is and what he's like, what kind of person he is. And as I gaze on the beauty of God, just ever so faintly but in a real way, prayer becomes more enjoyable. Prayer becomes more sustainable because only enjoyable prayer is sustainable prayer. If prayer is only duty-bound or results-oriented, just to see something happen, which is good actually to see something happen. We believe that's the prayer of faith. But if it's only duty-bound or results-oriented, we won't sustain it. Paragraph C. I sometimes refer to Revelation 4, the scene around the throne is the beauty realm of God. It's the place where his beauty is most manifest in the whole created order right there at his throne. Whatever God chose to put there deliberately is an expression of who he is and how he feels. Look at Psalm 96, four things. Honor, majesty are before God, before his throne. Power or strength, an indescribable beauty is in his courtroom, his sanctuary. So not only does he have honor around the throne, that's where he dispenses his honor. To weaken broken people like us by the grace of God. It's the place where we connect, we receive, and we participate in the honor that God has and that God wants to give his own children. It's the place of indescribable majesty, terrifying beauty. The angels cover their face. The seraphim cover their face awestruck at what they see. They never ever grow accustomed to that vibrant, dynamic presence and reality of who God is. It's the place of strength, all power. Its source is that throne and the one who sits upon it. And it's the place of beauty. Paragraph D. Rather when you pray, instead of just speaking into the air, what I have found is that Revelation chapter 4 gives us the biblical description of where we can focus our mind when we pray. I like to speak and become more and more familiar with these facets that he revealed in his word because he wants us to know them. That's why they're in the written word. As I focus my attention on them, I declare them to the Lord and thank him for them and ask for understanding of them. I find my prayer life is greatly strengthened. Paragraph E. I want to encourage you to spend much time meditating on Revelation chapter 4. I did a series a few years ago, a 12-part series on the different facets of God's beauty implied in Revelation chapter 4. It's unlimited what is implied in that short chapter. I remember doing that 12-part series and loving it. Just every week I took one of the facets and developed it. It renewed and invigorated my own heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to escort you. He's the divine escort into the beauty of God. You can't go there on your own without an escort. The very being of God is the ultimate treasure hunt and the whole created order, though God being uncreated. The ultimate treasure hunt is the discovery of who God is. Beloved, a billion years from now we will still have fresh glimpses, fresh insights into his beauty and who he is. Let's look at the passage. Revelation chapter 4, paragraph F, verse 2. Behold, a throne set in heaven and one who sat upon the throne. Of course, that's the Father. Now notice verse 3. He who sat there, notice there's three colors, was like a jasper. That's a brilliant diamond-like radiance. He was like a sardis, a sardius stone. Sardius stone is a deep red gem like a ruby. So there's this brilliant diamond-like radiance and this deep red glory emanating out of his being and out of his throne. There was a rainbow around the throne and that rainbow, the dominant color of the rainbow was emerald green. I assume it had all the colors of the rainbow but the dominant color was emerald. Now those, this description is given to us for our edification so that we actually engage with the Lord according to this description. Verse 4. Then around the throne were 24 thrones. I don't know how it really is but I picture those 24 thrones like a semicircle before the, before the Father and His Son at His right hand. I don't know if it is that way but we'll find out in due time. And on those 24 thrones, again I imagine this semicircle looking at the face of God. I saw 24 elders. Now there's a debate, Bible commentators and scholars, are these elders angels or are they humans? And there's a good argument presented for both but I'm convinced they're humans. These are actually people that lived on the earth, redeemed and they're a representation of the kind of authority that God is willing to participate with His people with. These 24 elders, they were sitting on thrones. They're enthroned but not only enthroned, they're robed. They have white robes. But they're crowned. They have golden crowns upon their head. So they're enthroned, robed and crowned. And I believe that's a picture of where the redeemed are going forever. This is what's God's, what's on His heart. This is the partnership that He desires that His people would be ultimately, it's where it's going, enthroned, robed and crowned in His presence. Verse 5, then from the throne proceeded or emanated out of the throne lightning and thunder and voices. Other places in the book of Revelation it says sounds or noises, voices. I believe there's a whole array of sounds from beautiful voices to glorious and majestic sounds coming out of the throne. Very musical, very powerful in terms of what is heard and what is seen. Lightning, thunder and here it says voices. Other places in Revelation 11 and other places sounds and noises. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne. This gives us insight into the Holy Spirit's personality and His activity. He manifests Himself like seven lamps of fire. Now don't picture some little five foot lamp. You know I've seen pictures of artists, depictions of the throne. They have you know like a little five foot lamp, seven of them. I go I don't think so. Some translations the word they put here are seven torches. I picture these massive pillars of fire like with Moses in the wilderness in the Old Testament. A pillar of fire that reached from you know from the sky down to the earth. Massive. I picture these seven massive torches. These lamps of fire that are releasing the glory of God. They're before the throne. Also before the throne, verse 6, there's this sea of glass. It's crystal. It's like a diamond in its radiance. This massive sea. Now notice it's not a lake and not a pond. It's a massive sea. And this diamond like crystal radiance that reflects the whole glory of the throne is reflected on the sea. The rainbow. The jasper brilliance. The red sardius stone. The fire. All of this is reflected on the sea. We're going to find out in a few moments that the saints stand on the sea when they worship God. Again, get out of your mind it's a little lake or pond. This is massive. I think it's the convocation place. It's the gathering place of the redeemed. I mean there's probably going to be several billion saints in history and the great harvest at the end. And billions of angels. They all fit on the sea when they gather before the Father. Massive. Amazing. And then around the throne, again I don't know exactly, but I've always imagined it as these four living creatures because they have wings. They have three sets of wings. It says in Isaiah 6, the seraphim. And they cover their eyes because they're overwhelmed with the glory of God. But I imagine that they're flying around the throne and the very face of God. Flying around and being overwhelmed. And they cover their eyes because they're overwhelmed by new experiences and insights into the transcendent majesty of God. They are like a testimony all over the New Jerusalem that God's beauty continues to unfold forever. I mean you may be on that sea of glass, way out there on road three million. You may be in the New Jerusalem, far away, 1,500 miles over in some park somewhere. That's how it is. Streets and gardens. You'll be fellowshipping and you'll say, you know I wonder where this is going? And you'll look up. And there again, a billion times a billion, the seraphim are covering their eyes overwhelmed again. And we'll say wow. It's not even close to exhausting the beauty of who God is. We'll say oh it's still unhappy. It's still unfolding. My goodness. Well I guess that would be the time you would say, my God. Well look at the paragraph there. I mean the four paragraphs. Number one, the beauty of God's person. Verse three, how God looks and feels and acts. The beauty of God's people. Verse four, the redeemed, enthroned, robed and crowned. Number three, the beauty of God's power. His manifest power and glory, enlightening thunder, voices, sounds, music emanating out of His throne. Number four, the beauty of His manifest presence. The fire. The fire is on the lamps. The fire is on the living creatures, I believe with a careful attention to detail. When you compare Scripture with Scripture, these are not the cherubim like in Ezekiel 1, but they're the seraphim like in Isaiah 6. And the word seraphim means the burning ones. They are a constant testimony of being bright and shining lamps overwhelmed by new discoveries of God. And then of course there's the sea. We'll find out in a few moments in Revelation 15. The sea, though the saints are standing on it, the sea is filled with the fire of God. So we have the beauty of God's presence, His fire. Let's go to the top of page two. Let's look at each one of these four categories. I identify four categories. God's person, His people, His power and His presence. In each one of these four categories, there are three distinct elements in each one of them. And so there's 12 facets of His beauty that are highlighted at least. And you can identify it or organize it in other ways if you want. But I look at these 12 and I ask the Holy Spirit and use the Bible and say, Lord show me more about each one of these 12 facets of Your beauty. You know when King David said this one thing, all the days of my life I gaze on Your beauty. Well Revelation 4 is in a very significant passage of Scripture for people that want to gaze on beauty all the days of their life. And you know the days of your life aren't over when you get a resurrected body. All the days of your life means billions and billions and billions of years. You'll never be bored. You'll never come to the limit. You'll never exhaust the fascinating beauty of God. Never, ever. Well let's look at verse 3, the first category, the beauty of God's person. This is just a snapshot again for those that are really stirred up by this. I have on our website a 12 part series with notes on each one of these facets. Far more detailed than we'll just kind of give a hint tonight. Verse 3, He who sat there, that's the Father, was like a jasper, a sardius stone. And there was a rainbow around Him. And the dominant color was emerald green. So John saw the Father with this glorious jasper-like, again diamond-like radiance, this deep red sardius stone and emerald light radiating out of the throne and the being of God. The jasper diamond-like brilliance speaks of His splendor. I'm sure it speaks of much more than that. His red sardius glory speaks of His fiery desire, His perfect purity which is His perfect love. Purity, holiness and love are synonymous in the being of God. His emerald rainbow speaks of His mercy. Paragraph B, the jasper stone, how God looks. Revelation chapter 21 verse 11 gives us insight into what the ancient jasper stone was. Because the modern day jasper stone is different than the ancient one. The jasper stone was, Revelation 21 verse 11, was clear like crystal, a diamond-like radiance that it's shining light goes throughout the New Jerusalem. Paragraph 1, Jesus' face shines like the sun in its brilliance. The brilliance of Jesus' shining face like the sun is a, I believe, an expression of this jasper-like glory. Look at Psalm 104. God covers Himself with a garment of light. I don't exactly know what that means, but God covers His person. Again, this is beyond my understanding. It's out beyond the limits of what I grasp. He covers Himself with garments of light, with a garment of light, but that garment has that jasper-like diamond radiance, that sardius, the emerald, the colors of the rainbow. These are emanating out of Him. They're part of the garment. I think of the multicolored garment that Joseph had. Joseph was a type of Christ. That's another subject for another day, but the multicolored garment of light that God puts around Himself. Again, this is far beyond what we understand in our human limited intellect, but it's exciting. Paragraph C, the sardius stone. I think of this as depicting how God feels, His fiery desire. It's like a ruby red brightness. Moses might have seen this reality when he declared, for our God is a consuming fire. He saw something in the bush, in the burning bush, and declared, he saw something on the mountain when he met with God that God is a consuming fire. My guess is he saw something of that sardius glory emanating out of God's being. Now Jesus has the ultimate authority about God. He is God, and He came to reveal the Father. He says, the Father loves me. That's the intensity of how I love you. Then He went on, on John 17, 23, and said, in the way the Father loves me, that's how the Father loves you. So Jesus loves us like the Father loves Jesus, and the Father loves us like the Father loves Jesus. Beloved, He's a God of burning desire. Paragraph D, the emerald rainbow. How God acts. Well, the rainbow in Genesis chapter 9, from the lips of God, the rainbow is introduced in Scripture for the first time as a sign of the covenant. That God would show mercy. There was a token of the covenant, but the emphasis being mercy. That His judgment would not come in that way again. Ezekiel chapter 1, when Ezekiel had his encounter with the throne of God, he saw actually a man on the throne. He saw the pre-incarnate Christ. He says, the appearance. He's looking at the throne of this man. The appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament, and He said, it was like the appearance of a rainbow. The brightness all around this man's throne. There was this bright rainbow radiance emanating out of his throne. It was the likeness of the glory of God in a rainbow color. Beloved, there's that rainbow-like color, but it's the meaning of the rainbow, the mercy of God, surrounds the throne. Now again, I don't know that I have it right, but I picture this rainbow arcing over the throne of God. Now when I, you know, I've moved the furniture around a few times, but I have the rainbow arcing over the throne of God. I have the 24 elders sitting in front. It's like semi-circle. But Daniel 7, you can't forget Daniel 7 verse 10, out of the throne proceeds a river of fire. So I had to like separate the elders, 12 on one side, 12 on the other side, to make room for the river. I remember I found that river in Daniel 7. I went, whoa, I had to like make room for it. Then that river undoubtedly spills on to the sea of crystal filled with flaming fire, I assume coming from the river. Then I got the 24 living creatures flying around the face of God declaring, holy, holy, which means transcendent beauty, transcendent beauty. All of their days they're crying, God is holy. God's holiness is far more than His purity. His holiness, the word holy means other than. That's what the word holy means. God is not only other than sin, He is holy other than everything created. He's transcendent. He's in another realm. He's other than everything that's even good that's created. He's of another realm. When the seraphim say holy, they're not saying infinite purity. They're saying transcendent beauty, totally other than. In your love, your wisdom, your power, your purity, in every attribute, you're holy other than is what they're saying. Look at paragraph one, the rainbow of mercy. David said in Psalm 145 verse 9, His mercies are over everything. I think of that rainbow of mercy over His throne. Therefore, all of God's decrees, all of His plans, all of His judgments, they all flow out of His throne that's covered with mercy, the covenant rainbow. Even God's judgments flow out of His mercy to remove everything that hinders love. The song most repeated in the Bible, what do you think the song most repeated in all the Bible? Well, you have it right here. The Lord is good. His mercy endures forever. I'm assuming because it's the most repeated song by far in the Bible, that becomes one of the premier songs. I don't think it's one song with one melody. I'm guessing there's infinite a number of versions of that song sang forever. I think it's more of a category of songs, not just one song. Forever. Worthy is the Lamb. Your mercy endures. Your mercy endures my failure. Your mercy endures the generations billions of years from now. It never ever runs out. It endures. God's mercy outruns your sin. It outruns your failure. It outruns time itself. It endures. That's one of the premier themes of the songs around the throne. Again, I don't think it's one song with one melody, but multitudes of expressions of this song forever. The more that we ride here on this age, the better related to God is good. The devil is a liar. God is good. His plans are good. His judgments are good. His decrees are good. His commandments are good. He's good. The devil's a liar. He wants to pervert all of this. His mercy outruns all of our failure and outruns all the generations of time. Top of page three. The beauty of God's people. We're going to the second category now. Verse four. We just looked at the beauty of God's person. The beauty of God's people. Sitting around the throne are 24 thrones. Again, I believe these are the redeemed. We see the exaltation of the saints. This reveals his desire for partnership with his people. He doesn't need partnership with us. He desires it. He's a father. At the core of his being, he is a father. At the core of who Jesus is, he is a bridegroom king. God feels and thinks like a father. Jesus feels and he reasons like a bridegroom in partnership with his people. He's a bridegroom king. Well, around the throne are 24 elders. They're enthroned. They're sitting. They're robed. They're clothed in white robes. Totally pure, priestly garments. And they have golden crowns upon their head. Paragraph B. They're enthroned. Now, I think these 24 are literal 24 believers. It's my opinion. We'll know for sure when we get there. But they are showing God's desire for multitudes of believers to participate in his reign and his rule. Jesus said it in the verse right before Revelation 1. The verse right before, Revelation 4. The verse right before. Jesus declares, I will grant you to sit with me on my throne. And then he opened up the realm of the throne of God. And John saw the throne. Then Jesus said, I want you to sit with me on my throne. In the very next verse, the Spirit opens up the realm of God's throne to John. And I believe the context is that Jesus is saying this is how far redemption is going. God's salvation so cleanses and exalts his former enemies. They reign with him forever. Beloved, that's another order of love. He so cleanses and so exalts his former enemies. Those who had no interest in him at all, even those who knew of him and received of him, but then cast him aside when they pleased. He goes, I'm going to show you my cleansing and power. I'm going to still break in and prepare you and raise you up and you'll participate with me forever. It's remarkable. Paragraph D, crowned. Now there's two Greek words for crowned in the New Testament. We have it there in paragraph E. One speaks of the crown of a ruler and the other the crown of a victor like the Olympic games. What he's talking about here, the word is the crown of the victor. In other words, they're wearing their love for the Lord in eternity on their heads. This is not just the crown of ruling. They are ruling, but the word that's used is the crown, you know the Olympics, they give the gold medal. Now this isn't people competing with one another. This is people running the race and just fulfilling the will of God in their life and the Lord, his rewards, his crowns are not something we earn, but there's not enough goodness we could do to earn a golden crown forever. I mean, how many nice words can you say to somebody and humble yourself and serve some people in secret? I mean, to get a golden crown forever. Some people say, well, you don't want to earn your rewards. I go, you couldn't. You can't earn a golden crown by being nice to somebody in secret. I mean, that's, but even the smallest thing, he rewards because he wants us to know how he feels about the way we loved him in this age. Eternal rewards is Jesus's statement, his extravagance about how he feels about the way you loved him in this age. I mean, he's so wealthy. He's so kind. He's so extravagant is that he rewards you and you wear the expressions of your love and how he felt about the way you loved him. Beloved, it's worth it. The devil comes and says, well, it's not worth it. I tell you it's worth it to press in, to resist, to cast off. Paragraph F. I mean, in this enthroned, robed, and crowned expression of the grace of God, the beauty of God, Jesus, I mean, the description of Jesus in Isaiah 61, he gives his people beauty for ashes. The very beauty he possesses is the beauty he imparts to his people. The crown, the robe, the throne, and all that's involved, your dwelling place, your resurrected body, your garments, so many things will express the beauty. The very beauty that Jesus possesses is the beauty that he imparts through redemption. It's a remarkable. Roman numeral four, beauty of God's power. His power is manifested in lightning, thunder, voices. Again, in Revelation 11, it puts noises, and it's not noises, verse voices. I mean, it's all part of the beautiful sounds coming out of the throne of God and surrounding the throne of God. These, this power is glorious. I put terrifying in its beauty. Again, the seraphim are so overwhelmed with his beauty, they hide their eyes, not because they don't agree with it. It's overwhelming, and when you plug in 110 unit to a billion volts, something weird happens. Paragraph B, I think of the lightning flashes that come out of the throne regularly, lightning. This is real. This is symbolic and figurative, and I don't certainly understand, but just a less than one percent of what these things mean, but I think of the lightning flashes that come out of his throne as speaking of that life and energy of the impartation of the spirit, constantly energizing the redeemed and the whole of created order coming out of his throne, lightning. I mean, unending, continuously. I think of, in our, in this age, I think of, I pray, go, Lord, let the lightning of God touch me. I pray for people. I go, I whisper. I don't want to make them afraid. I go, Lord, let the lightning of God. One guy goes, glory. Another guy goes, ah, you know, he completely misunderstands. I think of the lightning of God striking people by the Holy Spirit. It's coming out of his throne. It's by the Spirit. It's, I mean, it's, it's demonstrations of the Spirit's power likened to lightning. I have no doubt that around the throne it looks like lightning, but it's still a ministry of the Holy Spirit. You know, the example I have here in Acts 10, when Cornelius, an unbelieving Gentile, he brings his whole family together, and Peter comes in Acts 10, and it says in Acts 10, verse 44, while Peter's talking, here's these unbelieving Gentiles, the whole household of Cornelius. Boom! The power of God hits them all. I said, Lord, the lightning of God, let it strike. When they were in the upper room, remember when they were in the upper room? Acts chapter 2, it says, fire rested on each one of the 120. I think of that as like the lightning of God touching that room. I pray, Lord, let your lightning touch my heart, to me and through me, etc. Top of page 4. The thunder. I think the thunder speaks of the message. I mean, God has many messages. When you study thunder in the book of Revelation, and even through the Bible, related to the being of God, often it's related to God's voice or it's related to a message. I mean, do a whole study on it. To me it's convincing. Revelation 10, it said the seven thunders, they uttered their voices. They had messages. So when I worship, I'll be before the Lord and I'll have this scene of the throne of God and I'll say, Lord, let the lightning of God touch my heart and thunder reverberate in my being the Word of the Lord. I don't just mean some arbitrary, random word, but I mean just the, Jesus, you love me like the Father loves you. I mean just a Bible verse you're familiar with. Let it reverberate in me like thunder, God. Paragraph D, the voices. God's royal court is filled with beautiful voices. You know, Jesus is the ultimate songwriter. You know, they talk about, the Bible talks about David being the sweet psalmist of Israel. Well, the greater David is a lot better singer than natural David. Jesus is an excellent singer, great musician. He can play every instrument. Great songwriter. Really amazing lyrics. And out of the being in the throne of God comes forth this musical dimension of the all-powerful, all-loving, all-wise, all-creative God. When it says voices, there's so much related to this. It's like the Holy Spirit says, I'll give you one word and if you're interested, pursue me and I'll teach you all about it from Genesis to Revelation, each one of these words. It's like Revelation 4 is just a hint for the hungry. It's like a table of contents. Whichever one you're interested in, begin to pursue me and ask me to show it to you. I don't mean once, just you know for a moment or two, but I mean over the years. Say, Lord, I want every one of these to be unpacked in my own heart and experience. Paragraph 5. Roman numeral 5. The beauty of God's manifest presence. Verse 5. Seven lamps burning before the throne. It's the Holy Spirit, or the seven expressions of the Holy Spirit. I don't know that there's only seven, but I, I think that depicts of the full expression of, of God, of the Spirit of God. But also before the throne, so there's these lamps, they're before the throne. Also before the throne, there's a sea of glass. Again, this diamond-like radiance crystal reflecting the whole glory of the throne. And also around the throne are these four living creatures. And in the Bible, the four living creatures, some of them are called seraphim and some are called cherubim. And there's distinctions, and that's not a germane to what we're talking about right now. Except for I believe that these are seraphim, and the word seraphim means the burning ones. And I think these are about the fire of God. These creatures, the first was like a lion, the second like a calf or an ox, the third a man, and the fourth an eagle. Night and day they never stop crying out, holy transcendent beauty, transcendent beauty. Isaiah 6 says, they cover their eyes overwhelmed with fresh discoveries of not just the infinite purity, but the transcendent beauty. His totally other than-ness. That's what holy means. Paragraph B, the lamps. Again, I mentioned it earlier. I don't see this little five-foot lamps or something. I see them like the pillar of fire that led the three million people. It says there's 600 men, I mean 600,000 men of Israel. That was over 20. And so then all the women and children, that's where I get the number three million, just an estimated number. But there was one pillar. I think these pillars or these torches, these lamps are massive. I mean the sea is so big that billions of saints and angels can gather together in the fire of God. I'm imagining these lamps, these torches. I don't have a clue how big, but I don't think of them as 10 feet high. I think of them like a hundred miles high. I mean they're massive. And I think of in Genesis 1, it says the spirit hovered over the face of the whole earth. The spirit was brooding, hovering. I'm imagining these seven lamps, these torches, these vast. I mean, I don't know how big they are. But I see them hovering and brooding over the crystal sea, like fire releasing the glory of God when the saints gather. Fire releases light and heat. It enlightens those in darkness. It tenderizes and ignites. And I got a few things written there. This is just a little snapshot. Paragraph C, the sea of glass. Look at Revelation 15. I saw something like a sea of glass, but it's mingled with fire. Again, this vast sea. Not little. In Revelation 7, verse 10, there's a river of fire coming out of the throne, and right in front of the throne is the sea. And those seven torches, those massive lamps are, I'm assuming, this is my version of it, they're hovering, brooding, because that's what the Holy Spirit does. He broods over the earth, moving, releasing power. But look, there's people standing on that sea. I think of that sea as the grand conference center of the New Jerusalem, the convening place where we gather. And again, in Acts chapter 2, I mentioned it already, in Acts chapter 2, verse 3, in the upper room, 120 of them, the fire fell on the 120. It says that the fire rested on each one of them. Like Peter looked at John and said, John, look, the fire's on you. He goes, it's on you too. I think of that as just a little down payment of when the whole body is on the sea of glass and the fire is on them. And the living creatures, again, we went through all of this, their testimonies, their statements of the diversity of God. The lion speaks of different faces of God in redemption. The warrior with courage, the oxen, the servant with perseverance, the man, the dignity, the eagle, the soaring in the spirit. These are pictures of someone fully alive in the spirit, experiencing the fullness of God. And they're depicting this image of God's diversity, even in His relationship with His people, and the fact that God is inexhaustible in His beauty. They're overwhelmed forever, and they never ever cease saying, holy, holy, transcendent beauty. So, beloved, you come before the throne. Infinite power, infinite purity, confidence, even in your weakness. Get mercy. He's not to crush you. He's to beckon you. Come more. Come closer. Get help. He goes, I want to help you. I'm not an adversary. I am your Father. Come. Get help. It's called prayer. It's called worship. This is what we do. It's not the only thing we do, but it's core to what we do. Father, we just come before you now, and we just ask you, release the fire of the Holy Spirit, even right now. Lord, I ask you for the fire of the Holy Spirit. Lord, as you gave a token in the upper room, to the hundred and twenty, as you'll give the fullness on that sea one day, I ask that even now, fire. Lord, as we gaze before you, that emerald rainbow around your throne, the seraphim declaring your beauty, the twenty-four elders around you, the river of fire flowing from you, the saints on the sea of glass. That's where we are right now. We're seated in heavenly places. When we're praying right now, we're on that sea, spiritually speaking, seated in heavenly places. That's where we are when we say, Father, we love you. Father, I ask for your glory now. I ask you to break in in your power. Lord, we just wait upon you. Ignite our hearts. Tenderize, melt our cold hearts. Tenderize my heart, Lord. I need help. I need mercy. I need more help, Lord. Tenderize us. Tenderize me tonight. Lord, release the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The Lord's giving some of you right now, as you're thinking, an idea's coming in your head. Some of you, he says, I'm giving you a hint. I'm inspiring you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will give you a new beginning. Yes, this is for you. Yes, I will escort you. Yes, I know you're struggling, but I'm here to help. I'm here to fascinate. I'm here to invigorate. Some of you, just a phrase is coming here and there in your mind. The Holy Spirit says, I'm wooing you. I'm whispering to you. Amen and amen. When you go have your coffee, talk about this. I'm kidding. Bless you. 15 minutes. Come back to worship for 10, then we'll come right to the book of Daniel. Don't let me die right now, because if I die right now, I'm not going to be with you forever.