Sermon Tone Analysis

Revelation 5:6-14

Heaven — Who is There and What Happens There?

 

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]

Much to the consternation of my longsuffering wife, our daughters—Susan and Rochelle—share my strange sense of humour.

Among my treasured possessions are several books of cartoons by Berkeley Breathed given to me as Christmas gifts by Susan.

I still laugh heartily at Opus’ antics in “The Last Basselope,” though the book was published almost fifteen years ago.

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

She was faithful for years to send me “Far Side” calendars that provided me with daily laughter.

The Far Side calendars were published for far too brief a period; Gary Larsen now being retired from the demand of daily humour.

On occasion, his cartoons reflected the popular view of Heaven.

One cartoon often brings a smile to my face, in part because Rochelle gave me a tee shirt with the 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 the 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.”

There exists a mental image of Heaven that has become common in much of modern life; that image has been perpetuated as a caricature.

It envisions people floating around on clouds, dressed in bathrobes and strumming on harps.

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

Perhaps this inaccurate representation of our eternal service should not be unexpected.

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

Who is in Heaven — Understand that the Apocalypse describes the course of human history.

An outline of 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.

The Book is divided, therefore, 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 [*Revelation 4:1-22:21*].

In chapters two and three, John summarises the Church Age, the Age of Grace, that period of time between the Cross of Calvary and the Removal of the Church from the world.

You will note that *Chapter Four* begins with the words after this—*/metà taûta/*.

Throughout the remainder of the book, these words 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 the language, reducing John to speaking of colour, of beauty.

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*], a description John identifies as the seven-fold Spirit of God.

Momentarily, John will introduce us to the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah [*Revelation 5:5 **ff.*].

Therefore, we are 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, and so John is unable to calculate the number of angels attending the throne of the Father; therefore, he reverts to simply saying there were countless thousands plus thousands of thousands [*hcsb*].

There are four living creatures, cherubim, that John sees attending the Father on His beautiful, emerald throne [*Revelation 4:6**b-8*].

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

Ezekiel identifies them as */cherubs/* [*Ezekiel 10:15*].

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/*?

First, these are not angels since these elders are always distinguished from the angels.

For instance, whenever God receives praise throughout the book, John is careful to say that it is the angels who praise Him or the four living creatures who praise Him or to inform us that it is the twenty-four elders who 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 not numbered for our sake.

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.

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

God tallies the number of those 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 counts the redeemed, He still treats each of us 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.

This is the reason John urges Gaius to greet the friends by name [*3 John 15*, *hcsb*].

Moreover, these 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 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 a */stephános/*.

The twenty-four elders each wear a */stephános/*, signifying that they are victorious.

To reinforce this 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 priest 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?