Join us for an in-depth study of Revelation 4, where the Apostle John is invited into a vision of heaven’s throne. Discover the dazzling sights of jasper and emerald rainbows, and learn about the roles of the 24 elders and the living creatures. As we delve into this chapter, we explore the profound messages it offers about worship and the ultimate sovereignty of God. This discussion invites listeners to reflect on the majesty and holiness of our Creator through John’s powerful vision.
Our theme is the throne of God, and I’m going to give you another one of my reasons why I believe in the pre-tribulational rapture of the church. And I’m going to say a lot of things that will indicate my belief in the pre-tribulational rapture, but I’m going to give you a proof of the pre-tribulational rapture.
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What if you could step through an open door and come face to face with God himself? This is Hope for Today with Bible teacher David Hawking. And today we open up Revelation chapter 4, verses 1 through 11, where the Apostle John is invited into heaven’s throne room. You’ll see rainbows of glory you can’t imagine and hear worship so pure it shakes the universe. It’s a vision of power and majesty that demands our attention and ignites our worship. Open your Bible and join us for The Throne of God. Our lesson in Revelation 4, 1-11 begins in just a moment. First, we have David’s original sermon outlines and notes for each message in our current Revelation series.
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You know, these are great for following along through the series and then into the future when you want to review or share it with others. The Revelation series sermon notes pack is just ten dollars.
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That’s sermon notes for each message in the entire series, 48 messages altogether. And you can purchase or download at davidhawking.org or receive them by PDF CD when you call us.
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And then you can save and store all your learning in our current series with the Revelation Radio Series Message Pack. All 48 messages on MP3 format, download or MP3 CD. Special price this month, Jim, just?
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Just $30. Or on DVD, a special price this month for the DVD set, $50.
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Go to davidhocking.org or call 1-800-75-BIBLE. In Canada. at 1-888-75-BIBLE. And Bible by the Numbers is 242-53.
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And your resource purchase or your donation right now will help the future ministry of Hope for Today. Right now, here’s David with today’s study from God’s Holy Word.
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Chapter 4, beginning at verse 1. After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice that I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me, which said, Come up here, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones. And upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne was a sea of glass like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and round about the throne were four beasts or living ones or living creatures full of eyes before and behind.” And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf. And the third beast had a face like a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within. And they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him… that is seated or sits on the throne, who liveth forever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sits on the throne, and worship him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Amen? Is that good or what? The throne of God. Matthew 19.28 says that the Messiah will sit on the throne of his glory. The twelve apostles, we’re told, will sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Isaiah 9.7 says that the Messiah will sit on the throne of David. Amen? In Luke 1.32, it says that our Savior will sit on the throne of his father David, and it will be given to him by the Lord God. In Hebrews 4.16, it tells us that we are to come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Revelation 20 verse 12 speaks of a great white throne before which all unbelievers will be judged. The word throne appears 58 times in the New Testament, 43 of them in Revelation, and 14 of the 43 in chapter 4. I would say that Revelation is the throne book of the Bible, and chapter 4 is the throne chapter of the Bible. Fourteen times it mentions throne. Now I want to share seven things about this throne in heaven, the throne of God. And the first thing I want you to see is the place where the throne is located. It says, After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven. Then in verse 2, a throne was set in heaven. In Psalm 114, it says the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men. In Psalm 103, 19, it says the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, plural, and his kingdom ruleth over all. The throne is set in heaven. Now that’s a heaven where God dwells. We’re saying enter into the dwelling place of the Lord Most High. That’s what we’re doing. We’re entering the dwelling place of the Lord Most High. And the central feature of heaven is that there is a throne set in heaven. The first thing John sees is the throne. It is not the 24 elders. It is not the lamps of fire. It is not all the angels. It is not the heavenly city that’s being prepared that will come out of heaven. The first thing he sees is the throne of God. And that ought to tell us a great deal about our relationship to our God. There’s a number of things, in fact, about six of them that I want to share with you about the place where that throne is located. Heaven. Heaven. First of all, notice the sequence of events here. It says in verse 1, after this. And then at the end of the verse it says, I’ll show thee things which must be hereafter. The first phrase and the last phrase are exactly the same in Greek. After these things. Now turn back to chapter 1, verse 19. In chapter 1, verse 19, we had an outline of the book of Revelation. It said, write the things which… Thou hast seen. That would be the resurrected Christ recorded in verses 12 and following. Then write the things which are. The Bible says the things which are are the seven churches of Revelation. and then the things which shall be hereafter, or after these things. The end of verse 19 is the exact same phrase as chapter 4, verse 1, which tells every student of Revelation that the outline is chapter 1, vision of Christ, the things which thou hast seen. Chapter 2 and 3, the seven churches, the things which are, that exist in John’s day. And third, the things that will be after these things. So from chapter 4, verse 1 to the end of the book is after the history and the messages to the churches. So right away, I have a sensitivity to the fact that that the rapture of the church could very well be occurring at this moment. Because it’s after these things that all the future is mapped out, which includes the tribulation. After what things? After the things which are, which are the seven churches. So the church age exists, chapter 2 and 3, and then after this, we have the future and the tribulation. By implication, indirectly, we have a statement dealing with the rapture of the church. The sequence of events is very important. Number two, look at the seeing of these events. John says, I looked. Very important. I know it seems incidental just looking at it. Pardon the pun. But the Greek word is used 70 times in the book of Revelation. And each time it indicates that John is actually seeing these things. I do know that verse 1 demands that he was there. It says, I will show thee. Turn over to chapter 21, verse 10, and you’ll see the exact same phrase. I will show thee. In chapter 21, verse 10, we have the new Jerusalem, the heavenly city. And John was in the Spirit back in chapter 4, and here it says the same thing. He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem. I will show thee, and John just adds a footnote at the end of the book, and he showed me. The Lord is showing John. The angel who’s communicating the message is having John look at all of these things. He records that he saw things. Back to Revelation 4. Third, look at the words about the sound that he heard. He said, Go back to chapter 1, verse 10. In chapter 1, verse 10, it says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. Now John says, I heard. You know, 23 times, he says in Revelation, 23 times, I heard. 70 times, he says, he saw something. I looked or I beheld or I saw. Interesting. John wants us to know it really happened. He saw these things and he heard these things. There were loud sounds. God said, make a joyful noise. Make a joyful shout. God likes things loud. He likes them loud. And John says, I heard this and it was loud. He even uses adjectives to describe the sounds. What I’m trying to say is that I believe that John literally was there. The fourth thing I want you to see is the symbolism that’s implied here. In verse 1, it says, come up Here. Come up here. Now John, like us, is a member of the church age. And in… amazing symbolism. He is caught up. Now, all the words suggest he literally goes up to the dwelling place of the Most High. He is in the third heaven, the place where the throne of God is. He’s there. We’re talking going to heaven and seeing the throne of God open in heaven. Come up here. I believe that picture is the rapture of the church. 1 Thessalonians 4, 17. says it will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. It says a door was opened in heaven, inviting John to come up. A door is open. Go back to chapter 3, verse 8. In the message to the church at Philadelphia, it says, Behold, I’ve set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. The door was opened in heaven. Verse 20, behold, I stand at the door. That’s the door of your heart. And you’re to open that. So if you open the door of your heart to the Lord, he’s going to open the door of heaven itself for you to come through. Isn’t that neat? A door was opened in heaven. Now back to Revelation 4 again. And I want you to see the spirit in which John found himself. And here is our clue as to how this happened. Verse 2, immediately I was in the spirit. Go back to chapter 1, verse 10. He said, immediately I was in the spirit. Now when I see the definite article the in front of spirit, I usually think Holy Spirit. When I see our English translators put a capital S on spirit, I suppose I’m to conclude that it’s the Holy Spirit. but I don’t think so. First of all, the definite article is not in the Greek text at all. It’s just, I was in spirit. And normally that’s contrasted with in flesh. For instance, in John 4.24, God is spirit, and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And what he was contrasting was the external worship of the religious practices of the Samaritans. He was at the well talking to the Samaritan woman who said, well, we worship on this mountain. But Jesus was contrasting her outward observances with the true worship that’s in our spirit or inside of us. Spirit in contrast to the flesh. Inward in contrast to the outer man. Now in chapter 1, verse 10, John said, I was in, and my English again says the spirit, but there’s no the in the Greek text. I was in spirit. on the Lord’s day or the day of the Lord. That time that God spoke about by the ancient Hebrew prophets, the day of the Lord, the tribulation period. He said, I was in spirit at that day. God literally transferred him to that day. So it is a matter of timing, is it not? Now, I want you to understand, I don’t understand this. I really don’t, and I want to make sure that’s very clear. And I’ve studied it a great deal, but I do not understand it. But I want you to know I really believe it. I believe John was there. I believe he saw these things. He heard these things. He was literally in the throne room of heaven itself in front of the throne of God the Father. Can you believe it? I was in spirit is a matter of timing. Because according to chapter 1 verse 10, I was in spirit at the day of the Lord. Well, I believe the day of the Lord is initiated in chapter 4 verse 1. Come up here and I’ll show you things that will take place after this, dealing with the day of the Lord. And he was in spirit again. But it not only involves timing, it involves place or location. Let me give you an example. Turn to chapter 17 verse 3. In chapter 17, we have this remarkable vision of the woman who sits on the seven-headed beast. And in chapter 17, verse 3. We read this, So he carried me away in, and once again they put the definite article the there, but it’s not in the Greek text. He carried me away in spirit into the wilderness. So three times in the book we have this statement. Chapter 1, verse 10, I was in the spirit on the day of the Lord, the Lord’s day. Chapter 4, verse 2, I was in the spirit and a throne was set in heaven. Chapter 17, verse 3, he carried me away in spirit to a place in the wilderness. It involves timing and it involves location. God literally transferred John from the first century into a time that’s still future from our day now. He was there. He saw it. He says it 70 times that he saw it. He said it 23 times that he heard the sounds of it. He was there, folks. The sixth thing I want you to see is the sea of glass that was before the throne. As we examine the throne of God, the place where the throne is in heaven, there’s a sea of glass. It says that down in verse 6. It says before the throne, in front of the throne, there’s a sea of glass like crystal. In the scene that describes the final seven last plagues, it’s a scene that’s in heaven. And the temple of God is opened in heaven. In chapter 15, verse 2, it says, And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass, same words, mingled with fire. Here, obviously the judgments are coming. And them that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, these are the martyrs of the tribulation, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. They’re standing on this sea of glass that’s in front of the throne of God. Apparently God also has some sort of barrier like that to remind us of his holiness. No, I’m not making it up. Turn to Exodus chapter 24. Exodus chapter 24. So the scene in heaven of the throne of God, what we’re going to see one day, there’s a beautiful sea of glass. It’s like crystal crystal. Later in Revelation, it speaks of crystals being clear. You can see right through it. And you can imagine with the light of God himself and his own presence shining through that, the Lord only knows how thick it might be, the beautiful sight, dazzling sight that it must be, this whole sea of glass like a pavement in front of the throne. Well, look at what it says in Exodus 24, verse 10. when Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel were involved. It says, Interesting. Interesting. So many people believe that’s being referred to also in Revelation and reminded us that God has around him, in a visible demonstration to all of us, a beautiful pavement or sea of glass to demonstrate the holiness and the purity of God. I don’t know what it’s going to look like, but I have a feeling it will be so dazzling that we will understand holiness then much more than we do now. Do you remember at Mount Sinai, God drew a circle around that mount and the children of Israel and their animals were not allowed to cross over the line or they’d be killed instantaneously by God. God, once again, putting boundaries and limitations around his presence and indicating to God’s people that he is a holy God. He is separate from sin.
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And we’ll continue this message next time right here on Hope for Today with Bible teacher and author David Hawking. Now, David’s back in just a moment with some additional thoughts and reflection. So do stay with us. First of all, Matt’s here and we have a special resource that may just change the way you look at the current state of our world.
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Proverbs 1434, righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. 1 Timothy 1.8 adds, but we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. We need a moral and spiritual revival in the US, Canada, and more today, Jim.
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Well, this month we’re featuring your dad’s book, Whatever Happened to Morality? The Future Survival of America. Whatever Happened to Morality? What does David, what does your dad say? What does he tackle inside this book?
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Well, we start with the right to life. Okay. You know, how did our respect for life erode and what does God’s word say on the topic? Wow. The sanctity of marriage. Does scripture require that marriage is only between a man and woman? The value of children. How have modern societies sought to abandon but also corrupt kids? And restrict the role of parents. Right. Yeah. And a big one, pornography. The rapid proliferation of this scourge and its devastation. Homosexuality, is it a genetic result? Sexual disease and human survival? The death penalty? It’s all these. Is this biblical?
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Alcohol and drug abuse, Las Vegas and lotteries, all on the increase. And God’s word has warnings and wisdom for us. And then the last topic there. Religion and politics. Do they mix? Should they be kept apart? And certainly with today’s moral decay, is it too late for America?
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Yeah, and how do we stay focused and hopeful?
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Well, this month we have your dad’s book, Whatever Happened to Morality? It’s our way to say thanks for your most generous donation of $20 or more. With your contribution, you become a part of hope for today’s ministry. Yes, pray first and give as God moves your heart. To make your most generous donation of $20 or more and receive a copy of Whatever Happened to Morality, call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada, Bible by the numbers 24253, or go to DavidHawking.org. And while you’re on the website, grab David’s complete study notes for our current radio series in Revelation. All 48 messages are included, and we have this available as a printed set or as an instant download for just $10. There’s scripture references, cross-references, definitions, so much insight. It’s perfect for following along as David teaches. Again, call us or purchase and download at davidhawking.org. And please do know if God is speaking to your heart about partnering with Hope for Today, please don’t put it off. Pray for us first and then give as God might move your heart to do so. Your support isn’t just appreciated, it’s, well, it’s essential. Every gift, one time or monthly, helps us reach more people with God’s Word, offer free resources online, and stay on the air in cities all across the world. We hear from listeners daily whose lives are being changed through the Bible study that is heard on Hope for Today. And that’s possible because of folks like you. If you’d like to send a gift by mail, write to Hope for Today, Box 3927.com. Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S8P1. And by the way, when you write, be sure to include a note to tell us how the Lord is using this daily audio broadcast, this daily Bible study, to help you in your walk with Him. I can’t tell you how much your letters mean to all of us here. And, well, reach out today. We’d love to hear from you. As promised, once again, here’s David.
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Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed our beginning study of chapter 4, On the Throne of God, where John saw a door open in heaven, and a voice talking with him that said, Come up here, and I’ll show you things which must be hereafter, or after these things, meaning after chapter 2 and 3 on the seven churches. This is a scene in heaven. And on the throne is the Heavenly Father. And I just love this chapter. I hope you do, too. It is filled with admonitions to worship and worship the Lord. God bless you.
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Well, thank you, David. And if you missed any part of our journey today into Heaven’s throne room, well, you can catch every detail online at davidhawking.org. Just click on the radio tab to stream this broadcast on demand for a limited time. It’s a great way to pause, rewind, or even share these powerful visions with friends and family. Again, that’s davidhawking.org. Next time, we stay in Revelation chapter 4, where John’s vision intensifies. He sees the rainbow-encircled throne, the 24 elders casting their crowns at Jesus’ feet, and living creatures whose unceasing worship shakes heaven itself. It’s a glimpse of glory that will transform the way you see God’s majesty. Invite a friend to listen along with you, and do join us again next time on Hope for Today.
