Sermon Tone Analysis

“Between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

And they sang a new song, saying,

‘Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.’

“Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!’

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!’

And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’

and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

[1]

My longsuffering wife is mystified that our daughters inherited my strange sense of humour.

Among my treasured possessions are several books of cartoons by Berkeley Breathed; they were Christmas gifts from my eldest daughter.

Though the book was published over two decades ago, I still laugh heartily at Opus’ antics in “The Last Basselope.”

For years, Rochelle gave me collections of “Calvin and Hobbs” cartoons and “Far Side” cartoons.

For years, she was faithful to send me “Far Side” calendars, each of which provided me with daily opportunities for hearty laughter.

The Far Side calendars were published for far too brief a period, Gary Larsen now being retired.

His cartoons often reflected a popular view of Heaven.

One gift from my youngest daughter was a tee shirt with a cartoon emblazoned on the front.

The cartoon is captioned: “Life on Cloud Eight.”

In that particular cartoon, a couple, seated in easy chairs, is seen floating on a cloud.

Above them is yet another cloud, music wafting from an unseen location within or atop the upper cloud and raucous laughter emanating from the same unseen location.

The wife is saying to the husband, “You know, George, this isn’t so bad—but the folks up above sure seem to live it up.”

Our heavenly home is frequently caricatured.

It envisions people floating around on clouds, wearing bathrobes and plucking harps.

Nothing could be further from the reality presented in the Word.

Such inaccurate representations of our eternal service should perhaps be expected.

Those who reject the Word would not be expected to appeal to the revelation of God, and those who attest to the veracity of the Word are often unaware of what God has to say about Heaven.

We should ask ourselves, “What will we do in Heaven?” Asking such a question, we rightly anticipate that the answer will be found in the Book of Revelation.

Consulting the Word of God, we discover that we will be eternally occupied in Heaven.

However, unlike our situation here on earth, we will not tire of our work, for it will no longer be characterised as toil.

In order to explore more thoroughly this great, fulfilling occupation of the saints in glory, join me in study of John’s writings.

WHO WILL BE IN HEAVEN — Understand that the Apocalypse describes the course of human history.

The key to the Book is provided in REVELATION 1:19.

There, the Risen Son of God commands the exiled Apostle, “Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.”

Thus, the book is divided into the things that John has witnessed [REVELATION 1:1-20], a summary account of the Age of Grace [REVELATION 2:1-3:22], and a synopsis of the Great Tribulation that ushers in eternity with a brief glimpse of our eternal home [REVELATION 4:1-22:21].

In chapters two and three, John summarises this present Church Age, also known as the Age of Grace, that period between the Cross of Calvary and the removal of the saints from the world.

I note that CHAPTER FOUR begins with the words “after this”—metà taûta.

Throughout the remainder of the book, these words serve to alert the reader to a transition in the narrative.

Seven times, John shifts our attention from events that he is describing so that we can consider what is happening elsewhere.

As an example of this transition, in CHAPTER 1:19, the Risen Son of God tells John that he is to write of what will take place soon—“after this.”

In other words, John is to provide a review of the entire Church Age through the missives to the seven churches, which he does by the literary device of the letters.

Then, having reviewed the course of the Church Age, John transitions again in REVELATION 4:1 when he writes, “After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven!

And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’”

John has been reviewing the Age of the Church, but it is coming to an end and his focus switches to events in Heaven following the Rapture of the Church.

On earth, the Great Tribulation is beginning as the Lamb of God begins to unleash judgement on the unbelieving world.

However, our focus for this message, and John’s focus for the next two chapters, is Heaven itself, and especially who is there and what is happening there.

In Heaven, we are first introduced to One seated on a glorious emerald throne [REVELATION 4:2, 3].

This is the Father, whose appearance beggars human tongue; John is reduced to speaking of colour as he attempts to describe the beauty of what is seen.

He is incapable of telling us anything beyond the radiant beauty of His Person.

Before the throne burn “seven torches of fire” [REVELATION 4:5], describing, according to John, the seven-fold Spirit of God.

Shortly, he will introduce the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah [REVELATION 5:5 ff.].

On the basis of these verses, we may be confident that the Triune God will be fully known to us in Heaven.

In Heaven, we are also introduced to countless angels.

The Apostle witnesses “myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands” of angels surrounding the emerald throne [REVELATION 5:11].

Language is impoverished by the number of angels; so, John is unable to calculate the number of angels attending the throne of the Father; therefore, he simply says there are “countless thousands plus thousands of thousands” [HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE].

He presents four living creatures, cherubim, that he sees attending the Father on His beautiful, emerald throne [REVELATION 4:6b-8].

Ezekiel had described these angels, or angels that are akin to them, as the ones that he first saw as his prophecy began [EZEKIEL 1:4-14].

He identified them as cherubs [EZEKIEL 10:15]; these are likely the heavenly attendants John also saw.

There is one other group that John sees in Heaven—the redeemed of the earth.

John writes of “twenty-four elders” [REVELATION 4:4].

These elders represent the saved—the redeemed of the ages.

Why do I say that John saw the redeemed of the ages?

These elders cannot be angels since throughout this book these elders are always distinguished from the angels.

For instance, whenever God receives praise throughout the book, John is careful to say that the angels who praise Him, or to state that the four living creatures praise Him or to inform us that the twenty-four elders praise Him.

In REVELATION 5:11 these three groups are carefully and deliberately distinguished from each other.

Also, angels are never numbered.

There are “myriads” and “thousands,” but the angels are never numbered.

Though God knows the angels and calls them by name [ISAIAH 40:26], He does not number them.

In contradistinction to that lack of enumeration, the elders are numbered, leading us to understand that God knows the number of those who are His.

God always treats His people as individuals; He knows the number of those who are to be saved; He also knows the name of each one who is redeemed.

If you are a Christians, you are saved as an individual; and though you will unite with all the redeemed of the ages to glorify the Saviour, yet you are privileged to praise Him now as a redeemed individual.

God tallies the number of the individuals who were saved at Pentecost and in the days following [ACTS 2:41; 4:4].

He enumerated the tribes of Israel [NUMBERS 1:2 ff.].

He carefully counted the fish that He gave as a gift to disheartened disciples [JOHN 21:11].

Numbers are important to God, and especially important is the count of the saved.

However, though God knows the number of the redeemed, He nevertheless treats each saved person individually.

Let me pause for a moment to speak directly to this congregation.

Numbers are important to God; but in the midst of numbers, we must never lose sight of the individual.

We should make every effort to fill the House of the Lord with people, rejoicing in the vast assemblage of those who come to worship and to learn of the Saviour.

However, even as we fill the House, we must never forget that as we count individuals, individuals count.

It is for this reason that in the third of John’s brief letters he urges Gaius to “greet the friends by name” [3 JOHN 15, HCSB].

Again in Revelation, the elders are clothed in white garments, indicating their redeemed status.

The Master promised the Church in Sardis that the “one who conquers will be clothed … in white garments” [REVELATION 3:5].

The elders are also portrayed as wearing golden crowns “on their heads” [REVELATION 4:4].

You are perhaps aware that in the Greek tongue there are two words that may be translated into English by the word “crown.”

One of those words is the word diádēma, from which we obtain the English word “diadem.”

This word speaks of the crown of a ruler.

The other word, stephános, refers to the crown that a victor wins.

Christians are never promised a diádēma, but we are repeatedly promised that we shall receive a stephános.

Each of the twenty-four elders wears a stephános, signifying that they have been adjudged victorious.

To reinforce the identification of the twenty-four elders as the saved of the ages, consider that the song they sing ascribes praise to the Lamb of God because He “ransomed people for God,” making them rulers and priests to God [REVELATION 5:9, 10].

We are left to understand that at one time, these twenty-four elders were sinful people, but now the Lamb of God has redeemed them and thus they are praising God before His throne.

Why are there twenty-four elders?

Why not thirteen, or thirty-six?

I believe the answer to that question lies in the significance of numbers.

There were twelve patriarchs of Israel, and there were twelve Apostles.