In this enlightening episode, we delve into the heart of Revelation, exploring the imagery and messages found within chapter 4. From the powerful voice of God that shakes the heavens to the awe-inspiring vision of the throne surrounded by cherubim, this discussion will renew your faith and understanding of divine sovereignty. Be inspired by the praise and adoration offered to the Lord Almighty, grasp the relevance of these ancient texts today, and understand what it means to truly worship the Creator who is worthy of all honor and glory.
You know, every now and then someone comes up to me and said, you know, I heard last night the voice of the Lord speaking to me. We might be a little loose with this. I happen to believe the Lord does speak to us. But I think we better be careful about thinking that he has chosen to talk to you on planet Earth. If I were you, I would pray that he speaks softly. Because in Psalm 29 it says that his voice splits rocks and causes earthquakes only to hear the voice of the Lord. Obliteration time. We’re talking blasting you off the planet if he just says hello. Amen.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
This is Hope for Today with Bible teacher David Hawking. And on today’s program, we’re back in heaven’s throne room. Revelation 4, verses 1 through 11 have opened the door. We’ve heard the rushing voice. And now in day three of David’s message, the throne of God, we come face to face with the living creatures. Six wings of whirring worship. And the 24 elders… casting their crowns at jesus’s feet now this isn’t just a vision it’s a high definition glimpse of eternal worship open your bible to revelation chapter 4 verses 1 through 11 and stay with us as david continues this journey into the very presence of god as we see it in revelation First, let me tell you about a free resource we have for you that’s encouraging thousands. It’s called Meditations in the Psalms. This is a daily online devotional written by David Hawking, and it’s been so wonderful to hear from a number of you who are reading this daily devotional. on the website. You know, if you’re hungry for a fresh word from the Lord, or maybe you just need to reset your focus each morning with truth that sticks, you’ll love this resource. Again, Meditations in the Psalms. You can read each daily devotional in the Psalms for free at DavidHawking.org. Just go to the homepage, scroll down a bit, and click on Meditations in the Psalms, and you’ll see that day’s devotional. And here’s David.
SPEAKER 04 :
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? Revelation 4, verse 5. We’ve looked so far at the place where the throne of God is located, the person who sat on that throne and the people who sit on thrones around the throne. The fourth thing, just to notice briefly, are the proclamations that come out of the throne. Look at verse 5. Out of the throne proceedeth lightnings and thunderings and voices. Boy, that’s some throne, isn’t it? Look at Revelation 8, verse 5. Revelation 8, verse 5. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it upon the earth, and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake. There it is again. Look at chapter 11, verse 19. The throne of God is really something. What shoots out from it are lightning flashes, loud thunderings and rumblings and loud voices and coming out of the throne of God. Revelation 11, 19, the temple of God was opened in heaven. There was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant, and there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail. God is giving us dramatic presentations of his mighty power and authority and sovereignty. Chapter 16, verse 17 and 18. This is during the seven last plagues. Verse 17, the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, It is finished. It is done. We’re now going to set up the kingdom of God on earth. But look at verse 18. And there were voices and thunders and lightnings, a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great. When God speaks and proclaims something, it’s really a marvelous demonstration. There’s a lot of evidence in the Bible of God’s proclamations from the throne and these thunderings and lightnings and voices. You have it even in the book of Job. In Job chapter 37, I’ll just read it for you. It says, Hear attentively the noise of his voice, the sound that goeth out of his mouth. He directed it under the whole heaven, his lightning under the ends of the earth. After it a voice roareth, He thundereth with the voice of His excellency, and He will not restrain them when His voice is heard. God thundereth marvelously with His voice, and great things doeth He which we cannot comprehend. Talk about the greatness of God Almighty. In Psalm 18, look at verse 13. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the highest gave his voice, hailstones, coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows and scattered them, and he shot out lightnings and vanquished them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. You know, we have such a weak and inadequate view of God. And the way some of us treat this word. Who do we think we are? This is the word of the living God. Made, written, for all writing is God-breathed. So that we can be able to stand the impact of the voice of the Lord God. No wonder the Bible urges us in James to be doers of the word and not auditors only and to bow down literally to the perfect law of liberty. To get on our knees and submit ourselves to the authority of God Almighty. It is his word. And if God had not protected us by putting it in written form, if God had not protected us when Jesus came by taking on a corporeal substance, God would become man. All of us would be wiped out by the glory of his presence and certainly our eardrums exploding with the power of his voice. And yet some of us think we can do whatever we want to do and we don’t need to listen to this book. Can you imagine what John felt after being up there in heaven and seeing this dramatic display of the power and authority and sovereignty of God Almighty? No wonder these disciples turned the world upside down. Back to chapter 4, Revelation, verse 5. The fifth thing I’d have you notice is the position of the seven angels. Now they are in the book of Revelation all the time. They blow the trumpets. They pour out the bowls of wrath. They’re ready before God. And God describes them in verse 4 when he says there are seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. We don’t need to guess what the lamps are. It says which are the seven spirits of God. The seven spirits of God are the seven angels of God. Go back to chapter 1 verse 4. It says that the message to John came from the seven spirits who are before his throne. Very clear. Chapter 2, verse 1, he holds the seven stars in his right hand. Chapter 3, verse 1, it says, he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. Look how God gives you the clue as to what it is all the time. In addition to chapter 5, verse 6, we have chapter 8, verse 2, which says, I saw the seven angels who stood before God. Who are the seven spirits who stand before God? Who are the seven lamps of fire before the throne? They are the seven angels that are throughout the book of Revelation who stand ready for his angels, our ministering spirits, sent forth into all the earth by God to execute his plans, and it represents God’s sovereign control once again. Number six. Will you notice the presence of four beasts around the throne? In verses six to nine. Four beasts are around the throne. The Greek word is from our word zoology. It’s living ones. Sometimes the translations are living creatures. Who are these beasts? Interesting, they’re mentioned ten times in Revelation. Revelation. And they’re mentioned 12 times in the first 10 chapters of Ezekiel. And in Ezekiel 10, verse 20, it calls them cherubim. These are cherubim angels. Apparently have a responsibility and a position higher than the other angels. These four angels are around the throne. They apparently are worship leaders in heaven. Because every time they do something in worship, everybody else follows. They are going to lead us in worship. We are going to have around the throne of God four cherubim. Spectacular in appearance. You can read about it in Ezekiel. Amazing. In fact, here in Revelation we’re told that their appearance is like lion, a calf, or an ox, a man, and an eagle. Do you catch that in verse 7? What is that all about? Well, that’s a quotation from the book of Ezekiel. Now, there are many arguments about what this means. For instance, some people say angels have these characteristics. They act like a lion at times and like an ox at times, like a man at times and like an eagle at times. There’s another view that says it pictures Jesus Christ in the four Gospels. I’m just quoting it to you. It’s a good man. He loves the Lord, but that’s what he saw. Another one says, no, it illustrates the attributes of God. He’s like a lion, an ox, a man, an eagle. Now, all these are very interesting, but they don’t satisfy the heart of a student who wants to know the Word of God. You know what I mean? It’s like making things up to kind of connect them together. I believe the Bible indicates a lot more than that. It is a lot clearer than that. I suggest to you that it reminds us of the encampment of Israel around the holy place of God. That the four cherubim around the throne of God with this appearance are representing that God’s people, God wants around him. And they are the representatives of that. And I’ll tell you why. Because Judah, who’s the first in line on one side of the encampment, is of course pictured by the lion. On the other side, the first one is Ephraim and it’s pictured by an ox. Reuben is on the third side, the first in the order, and is represented by man. And on the fourth and final one, we have Dan who is represented by the eagle. How interestingly that the entire encampment of Israel is pictured by the characteristics of the four cherubim that are around the throne of God. Now that makes more sense to me. They each have six wings. That reminds us of Isaiah 6, 1 and 2. When it says in verse 8, they are full of eyes within and they rest not day or night. They say, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. That’s a quotation from Isaiah chapter six, verse three. I saw the Lord, Isaiah said, in the day that King Uzziah died, a good king, but he made some mistakes. In the last 16 years of his life, he was a leper and his son Jotham had to reign as a co-regent. And every time people would come in the court, Uzziah had to say, unclean, unclean. And Isaiah said, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. The posts of the door shook at the voice of him that cried. And the angels of seraphim with six wings, they cried, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. And he cried out, he said, I’m unclean, and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips. Then one of the angels took off of the tongs of the altar a live coal and placed it on my tongue and said to Isaiah, This hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. The Lord said, Isaiah, who will go for us? And Isaiah said, here am I, send me. Now that story is taken and put here in Revelation 4, I think for a very powerful reason. Here these angels, like in Isaiah 6, are proclaiming the holiness of God, and the reaction that all of us should have reading it, as we examine the throne of God and His holiness, the angels proclaiming His holiness, we should understand once again, the problem of our sin and our depravity. We should be like the lepers cry, unclean, unclean. And until God takes a live coal from off the altar, the altar of sacrifice where the animal is killed for atonement, Jesus died in our place. The only thing that could cleanse us, the only thing that could give us access into the presence of God is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen, Christians? It’s the only way. By a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through his flesh, representing the veil of the temple, we now, through Christ, can go right into the holy presence of God. We do that every day when we get on our knees and pray. Thank the Lord we have direct access. It’s a wonderful, wonderful passage. By the way, they say, Lord God Almighty. I just want to quickly refer you to that. Lord God Almighty. That’s used five times in the book of Revelation. The words the Almighty appears 44 times in the Bible, 31 of them in Job, and only once in the New Testament. Almighty God appears three times, once in Revelation 19 verse 15. But the simple word Almighty in Greek, Pantokrator, was used by Romans. The Almighty. All, Pontos, Krator, mighty, powerful one. The Romans had a position like that. It’s used ten times and nine of them are in the book of Revelation. When you look at God’s final description of himself, he is described as the almighty. There is no one more powerful than God. And Revelation will show that fact beyond a shadow of a doubt. One last thing. Will you notice the praise which the 24 elders give to the one who sits on the throne? Verse 10 and 11. Back it up to verse 9. When the living creatures or beasts give glory. Notice they’re the worship leaders. Whenever they do it. Whenever is the word in Greek. It means that any time they do it, evidently they do it frequently. And whenever they do it, everybody else responds. What do the 24 elders do? Remember they represent us in heaven. What are we going to do? The Bible says the 4 and 20 elders fall down. before him who 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. The way they react reminds me of the pride and arrogance that dominates our culture. What do they do? They fall down and worship. It says they cast their crowns before him. Everything that God rewarded us, all the rewards for being faithful to him, and every cup of cold water will receive a reward. God will never forget what we’ve done, and he’ll reward us. Praise the Lord when he says, I come quickly. My reward is with me. Be encouraged, faithful pilgrim. I’ll reward you. But in that moment, when you see the glory of God, what will you do? You’ll take all those crowns and throw them at his feet. You’ll realize then what we’ve only talked about and sung about here. That he alone is worthy. None of the glory belongs to us. Nothing. No good have I. Nothing I bring to him. It’s all because of him. Thou art worthy. Thou and thou alone. Not unto us that the psalmist give glory, but unto thy name alone. In that moment, we will understand what we do not understand now. Both by what he deserves and why he deserves it. Two basic reasons. His power, he created all things. And his pleasure, he can do whatever he wants. I was designed to please God, not myself. I was designed to give him glory no matter what happens. Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, do all to the glory of God. I’ll tell you what some of us need to do because of our arrogance and sin. We need to get right with the Lord right now. We need to confess our sin and repent of it and bow in our hearts before the Lord and thank him for his wonderful grace and faithfulness and mercy. For we can be saved because of his son, Jesus, lowering himself to become a man like you and me to die on a cross and pay the price that we should have paid. What a savior. What a gospel. We’d like to take you to heaven with us. Would you like to go?
SPEAKER 03 :
If you want to know how to go to heaven or be born again, or to really get saved, you need to go to the Bible. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Wow! Have you put your trust in the only one who can save you from sin, death, and hell? He’s the one, not a church, not an organization, not a bunch of works that you might do to please God. No, it’s the work of God that we believe on His Son. He has paid for our sin with His own precious blood. That’s what the crucifixion was all about. And the grave couldn’t hold him. The third day he rose again. He’s alive. He ascended into heaven, and he’s coming back for those who have put their trust in him. Why not open your heart to him right now? Just say, Lord, I confess my sin to you, and I believe that our Lord Yeshua, Jesus, he died for my sin and paid for it completely. I can’t pay for it. He can. And He will forgive me if I open my heart to Him. So I do that right now. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER 02 :
God bless you. Friend, if you just gave your heart to Jesus Christ, if you just prayed along with David, well, congratulations and welcome to the family of God. We’d love to send you a free booklet by David called What Is Christianity? and a Bible study by mail. That’s also free to help you get started in your new life with Jesus. Call 875-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Bible by the numbers 24253, and we’ll send these resources to you. Again, these are free if you’re a new believer in Jesus Christ, or if you’re not yet a Christian, but you want to know more about what it means to be a Christian according to God’s Word. And for everyone listening, before David returns to close out our time in just a moment, Matt Hawking is here and we’re going to share a resource with you. A way to say thanks for your most generous donation of $20 or more and this book. I think you’re going to find it very helpful in understanding why this world seems to be declining, declining so rapidly.
SPEAKER 01 :
Matt? True freedom is inseparable from recognizing God’s absolute sovereignty and his righteous standards. Today, however, we face an alarming crisis. Like so many nations, we are drifting far from biblical moorings. There’s an onslaught of news showing the erosion of morality and the abandonment of God’s absolute truth. For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out broken cisterns that can hold no water. That’s Jeremiah 2.13. But Matt…
SPEAKER 02 :
There is still hope. Amen. Our Lord graciously invites us to repentance, humility, and back to righteousness.
SPEAKER 01 :
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7.14 You know, this is a critical moment for spiritual renewal. To rekindle our dedication to God’s eternal commandments.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, to once again shine brightly as a beacon of righteousness. That is it. That is it. Well, we strongly encourage folks to get a copy of your dad’s book, David Hawking’s book, Whatever Happened to Morality? This month, we’ll send it to you as our thanks for your gift donation of $20 in support of Hope for Today’s Ministries.
SPEAKER 01 :
It provides timeless biblical guidance on reclaiming our spiritual heritage and shares hope for getting back on the path back to God and His everlasting truth.
SPEAKER 02 :
Whatever happened to morality? Our thanks for your gift donation, $20 or more this month. To get your copy of Whatever Happened to Morality? by making a donation of $20 or more, call 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. You can also make a contribution by online at our website, davidhawking.org. And when you do, you can ask for that book. And if you’d simply like to send a donation all by itself, whatever amount you choose, whatever God lays on your heart, please visit davidhawking.org or call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And again, Bible by the numbers 24253. Or send your gift by mail to hopefortoday.org. Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, BC, V2S8P1. And thank you for praying and giving as God might direct. And here’s David.
SPEAKER 03 :
To say that this is a great chapter in chapter 4 of Revelation is like the underestimated statement of the year. It’s talking about worshiping our Heavenly Father. And the four and twenty elders, which we believe represents a church in heaven after the rapture, they fall down and worship Him. that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, and say, Thou art worthy, O Lord. Well, I hope that you also know that we have a website, davidhawking.org, and you can pick up a broadcast that you might have missed. God bless you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, next time it’s our popular monthly question and answer program where we dive into some of the most challenging questions David’s received over the years. And it’s always an enlightening time. So invite a friend to listen with you as we bring you the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, and answers to your questions right here on Hope for Today. Hope for Today
In this enlightening episode, we delve into the heart of Revelation, exploring the imagery and messages found within chapter 4. From the powerful voice of God that shakes the heavens to the awe-inspiring vision of the throne surrounded by cherubim, this discussion will renew your faith and understanding of divine sovereignty. Be inspired by the praise and adoration offered to the Lord Almighty, grasp the relevance of these ancient texts today, and understand what it means to truly worship the Creator who is worthy of all honor and glory.
