Revelation 4 - Worship Transforms (notes)

Revelation 4 - Worship Transforms

The Lord Jesus Christ Wants us to know that if anyone has the answers to the problems in our world it is the believer or a member of the church. If we are going to experience Heaven on earth we must learn the truths in Revelation that transforms. Worship is a transformational principle.

Worship

• Is something I can do anytime, anywhere, all the time whether I am in church or not. My wife plays worship kids CDs for our grandson all the time at home, in the car or here in her office. She did it when our children were little. One of the greatest parenting skills every parent can do is to create an atmosphere or worship at home.
• Is what everyone of us can teach our children to do. This is one of the great Christian disciplines. Bringing God’s presence into our homes will invite God’s presence into our homes, into the hearts and minds of our children and their friends when they come over.

Revelation 4 :1

• The Throne in Heaven
• 1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in Heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
• John is transported right into the presence of God here.

Man Has Tried

For thousands of years to look into the supernatural realm but has failed if God has not been the center of our worship.

Jesus Christ has to be the center of any worship experience.

In every generation since Jesus came people have been taking trips to heaven.

Little children, Muslim terrorists, are seeing Jesus today are being transformed.

Key To Revelation
Rev. 1:3

• Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
• If there is anything the church in our culture needs to practice is being in the Spirit. Paul said to walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

We Can Walk

• Free of sin by walking in the Spirit. We don’t have to sin, we don’t have to fail or fall, even with all the evil around us we can stay in the Spirit.
• When we worship God in the Spirit we can live in the spirit and live free of sin and failure. We will succeed in life, personally, in our family, in our job or business, in ministry.

John Is Transported to Heaven

Relation 4:2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in Heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.

Testimonies

• Colton Burpo and Akiane Kramarik are two children who have been transported into God’s presence and both saw Jesus and He looked the same. One is a PK and the other the daughter of an atheist.
• They both saw amazing colors (a rainbow) that they never saw on earth. There are colors in Heaven that we don’t have on earth. John saw those colors.

The Throne of God

• Is filled with color, light, activity.
• 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.
• Some believe that the 24 elders are members of the church. A court in Heaven that carries out what God says. The church has been given the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Matt. 16:18

Jesus Has Given

Us the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven to declare lawful and to declare unlawful on earth as it is in Heaven, in the court of the universe where the 24 elders of the church are. We need to stop living below the Heavenly standard of living that Jesus has provided for us to live in. Stop living like a pauper when you are a king.

Jesus Has Given Us The Keys To The Kingdom of Heaven

Mat. 16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.

God’s Throne Is Dazzling

5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. The throne of God is big, it is dazzling, it is bright with the glory of God (and all the amazing colors of a rainbow). and it is full of the holiness of God but it is also accessible to every child of God. It is full of sight and sounds that demonstrate that God is not wimpy or small but All Powerful and majestic and full of brilliance.

The seven lights are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Seven is the number of completion so the Holy Spirit is the complete revelation of the awesomeness of God. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

The Sea of Glass

What is the sea of glass? Some say that the gold in Heaven is so pure that it looks like glass so this could be a huge courtyard in front of the throne of God where people can come and be before the throne of God and see the court of Heaven and the glory of God’s presence. But this isn’t all there is around the throne of God, read on.

The Sea of Glass

10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. 12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the Spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. 14 The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.

The Glory of God

Ezekiel 1 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal,

5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human,

6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, 9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.

The Presence of God

15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. 18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.

Worship Is What Heaven Is

If you read Ezekiel's account of the glory of God in the first chapter you see something very close to what John saw. The lion is the king of the animal kingdom on earth, the eagle the king of the bird kingdom. The ox is a worker, type of Jesus who has completed the work of redemption so we don’t have to work ourselves into heaven. The man is a type of humanity in God or God in humanity like Jesus the God-Man.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

Worship Is Our Life

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.”

Heaven, Worship & Authority

We talked about the court in Heaven and the power and authority they have in making decisions for what happens on earth but look at what they do when worship starts. They stop what they are doing and they cast their crowns before the throne of God and worship God. This means that it is not our position that we have that is important but our position in worship that is important.

We need to worship Jesus without being ashamed, inhibited or intimidated.

Heaven, Worship & Authority

We must be like the court of Heaven and cast our crowns before the throne of God and fall on our face before Him and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. The church must put worship as one of its highest priorities. We must put it above evangelism, outreach, feeding the hungry, praying for the sick or anything else. We must put the Word of God before us and read what Heaven is like and learn to worship like Jesus wants us to.