Gooding, David: 5 - Revelation and the Tabernacle

Now I understand that for this evening's session we have visitors with us, and we welcome you again if you have not already been welcomed. We are delighted to see you. Just let me explain for the benefit of you visitors that we had a lecturer here this afternoon that worked everybody intolerably hard and intolerably long, it will say. He made as an excuse that he had to do this in order to keep the program in proportion and running somewhere near according to schedule. But now tonight, the lecture we have tonight is going to be better than that, and in compensation for the other fellow this afternoon, he's going to cut short this lecture tonight and give people the rest that they deserve. But tonight we come to study the second major section in the book of the Revelation. And because of the time we spent on our surveys at the beginning of our studies, we have no need to remind ourselves this evening that the second major section of the book of the Revelation is a vision of the throne of God. At least that is how it begins. You should have now in your hand a sheet numbered five five at the bottom right hand corner that gives a brief analysis and layout of the material of this second section of the book of the Revelation. Now I ask if you all have a copy, for if you do not yet have a copy, then we can supply one. Please put up your hand if you lack a copy. It will help both me and you if I can be sure that you have a copy of page five of the notes of our current series of studies. As you'll see then from the sheet of notes, and there are some over here, uh, that are still needing some copies. As you will see from those notes, there are in this second section of the book of the Revelation four major parts, just as there were four major parts to the first section of the book. The four major parts to section 2 are first chapter four, a description of the throne of God. Then comes chapter five, the worthiness of the Lamb to execute the judgments of God upon earth. That is followed by chapter six, wherein the Lamb takes the book and opens its seals, and with the opening of the seals, judgments are let loose upon the earth, and they come to their climax for the moment at the opening of the sixth seal. The seventh seal does not follow immediately. Instead, there comes part four of this section that presents us with two groups of saved people. The salvation that is there described as being the part they enjoy is, of course, two aspects of salvation that are particularly geared to what has been the topic of the judgments. The first group are the one hundred and forty four thousand out of the twelve tribes of Israel, and they are sealed with a mark so that none of the judgments that hurt other people shall hurt them. They are sealed as God's protected property and thus guarantee immunity from the judgments. The second group are an uncountable multitude. They come out of the Great Tribulation, and they cry salvation to our God who sits on the throne. So alongside the one hundred and forty four thousand who are sealed, we now have to put the uncountable number who are saved. Two examples of salvation in the context of these particular judgments of God. And we shall find similarly elsewhere, because the God of the Bible, the God of judgment, is a most magnificent God. Judgment, as he explains somewhere in the Old Testament, is his strange work. He does it because his character is such as he must do it, and could not refrain from judgment on times without denying his character, and he cannot deny himself. But scarce will he allow himself to speak of the judgments that must necessarily come, but with divine impatience, he hastens to describe the great multitude that he will save in spite of his judgment. For this is the God that sent his son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Because we are not occupying ourselves with a systematic construct of eschatology in these studies, we shall not trouble much at this stage of our work to define who those separate companies are. That is a task for the systematic theologian, and in spite of working you hard all this week, when I finished, I've only laid the beginnings of a foundation of the study of this book. It will be for the learned systematic theologians to build on top, to knock away what foundation has been mislaid, of course, and to put in a better foundation and then construct the edifice upon it. But we are at the elementary stage, and our task now is to account for the fact that this second section of the book of the Revelation has these four major sections. Of course, it resembles in some part section one. You will notice, if you care to look back to sheet number three, so sheet number, uh, uh, uh, um, let me see where we are, sheet number three, yes. That the first section is composed of four major parts. And in section one, there is a series of seven, namely the seven churches. They also are in some sense a series of judgment, a topic that we dwelt on at great length this afternoon. This was Christ coming to his seven churches and appraising them, judging them. Section two has a series of seven. They are series of judgments. You'll notice that they fall in a different position in therefore from what the series of judgments in section one occupied. The series of judgments in section one come at the end in position four. In section two, the series of seven judgments come in part three. That is a formal observation. You may forget it for the moment. It will serve use, uh, as a something of use in our further studies. All the six sections of the book of the Revelation have a major series of seven things. And it will be an interesting and in the end instructive study to notice this formal pattern of the layout of the material of this book of the Revelation. We shall find that some in the series, some of the sections, follow the same pattern as section two. We shall follow, find another one, other ones that do not, and that will lead us to inquire about the significance of the formal arrangement of the material. But tonight we can forget those things and concentrate on part one of section two, i- in which John, uh, hears a voice op- behind him, sees a door open in heaven, is taken up within that door and given to see the throne of God. The chapter four then is given over to a description of the throne of God. And our task tonight is to try, by God's help, to understand what that description is telling us. What is the significance of the fact that God, before he sets loose these judgments, bids us view his throne? I should have thought there is an easy answer to that question. The judgments that are about to fall and are recorded as the seals are opened, as the trumpets are blown, as the bowls of God's wrath are poured out upon the earth, are solemn and serious almost beyond description. We shall eventually find that as the bowls of God's wrath are poured out, which complete the wrath of God, men and women of flesh and blood like ourselves, gnaw their tongues for very pain, and blaspheme God that sits on the throne, who has power to do such things to frail mortal men. We would be hard men and women, wouldn't we, and hard of heart, if we didn't at least begin to understand why they blaspheme God. How many a man and woman has said to himself, I can't believe there's a God in heaven. I can't believe that old Bible. I don't think a God of love would ever punish anybody. Before those judgments come, before they are even described, God brings us up by proxy through John into his very throne room and says, let me show you the throne from which these judgments will come. What kind of a throne is it? At once, surely we perceive that the description of the throne given us here is not given us so that we should be able to get out our s- our sly rulers and inch tapes and measure some physical object of heavenly furniture. The throne of God here described is quite plainly a symbol of his government. What kind of a government is it? What kind of a God is he that would eventually send such judgments upon men. The throne is now described, first of all, that it has an occupant. Straightway I was in the spirit, says John, and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne. The throne was occupied, and all appearances to the contrary has never been unoccupied. It is occupied still. And he that sat upon the throne was like to look upon as a jasper stone and a sardius. So God in all his glory is now described. And those precious stones, just as they refract the light and show their charming, precious colors, so are you now to see the marvelously beautiful colors of the character of him who sits upon the throne. What are we to make of the description? We must ask the same question now of this vision as we asked of the vision of the Son of Man in section one. Is it perhaps that you have here the throne of God described in language that is deliberately mystical, meant rather to evoke feelings in your hearts of awe and mysticism and wonder? Is it described deliberately in terms that go beyond our rational comprehension, so that being unable to make any rational sense of them, we say, well, that's what the vision was meant to do, to take us beyond our little puny understandings, to observe the fact that there is a God who is beyond us, whose ways are past finding out, and then say to our souls, be still, my soul, whether you understand or not, bow to the almighty power of God. Would we be on the wrong track by trying to analyze the description that is here given? Well, anyhow, we might be, mightn't we? But, um, I mean, you see, the thing is so tempting to do, isn't it, what? Because as you read the description, you will observe emerging a very clear pattern. The throne is described in its relation to other certain things in the heavenly presence, in terms of geometry. And if we now read together the geometrical description of these relationships that are given, we shall see that there develops a simple but significant pattern, and here we may start. You see, in verse three, the second half of the verse says, there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon, and round about the throne there were four and twenty thrones, and upon those thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments and on their heads crowns of gold. And you will notice in the very ordering of those phrases the emergence of a pattern. It is a chiasm, as the literary experts like to call it. First, the rainbow round about the throne, and round about the throne, thrones. The very order is a chiasm. First the rainbow, then the preposition round about, and then another preposition round about, and then these twenty four thrones. Also occupied. Then in verse five, a different preposition, and out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And that stands by itself and is not repeated. After that, there comes another pair, and there were seven lamps of fire, meaning torches, burning torches, burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne, as it were a glassy sea like unto crystal. You notice the same pattern, it's another chiasm. Seven burning torches before the throne, and before the throne, a sea, as it were, of glass. The second pair matching the first pair in the very ordering of the words. And then comes the next observation, and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. The preposition used here seems to be a double one, in the midst of the throne and round about the throne. We are probably to envisage the throne that John saw as being mounted on the backs of these living creatures. You will remember in Solomon's temple, Solomon was instructed to build a great laver in the court, a huge bowl of water, and that was mounted on the backs of oxen. They had their hindquarters inwards, underneath, of course, the laver, towards the center, so they were in the midst. Their heads poked out round the edge, you see. They were in the mid, and they were round about the laver. It probably makes best sense to understand this double preposition in that manner here. The throne of God is seen upheld and resting on the backs of these four living creatures. Their heads are visible, poking out from the center around the sides of the throne. This would accord, would it not, with the vision of the throne that was given to Ezekiel and recorded in the first chapter of his prophecy, where again the living creatures, which are the cherubim, of course, under their other name, where the cherubim supported the throne of God in Ezekiel's vision, as they do here in John's vision. Now this fourth element of the description now stands by itself. The pattern is simple, but repeated. Two things, and then one single thing. Another two things, and then one single observation. The fact that there is a pattern, and the fact that there are other things here beside the throne of God, tempt us to think, do they not, that there must be significance in this description that would be open to our attempts at logical understanding. And the first thing we are to notice then are this pair. There was the rainbow round about the throne. That could mean that if this throne was in heaven, the Greek preposition round about, kuklothen, would indicate that the rainbow here went right round it in full circle round the throne, though it need not do so if the throne was envisaged as standing flat on, on a piece of ground or something. So there was the rainbow round about the throne, and presumably that rainbow did what all rainbows do. It stood in the vertical plane around the throne. And then round about the throne, there were twenty four thrones with elders sitting on them. And it is most reasonable to assume that those thrones were not in the vertical position, but in the horizontal. And if that is so, we have the throne of God surrounded vertically by the rainbow, surrounded horizontally by the twenty four thrones, and that's setting up two planes, two circles that in this sense put a limit to the throne of God, in that everything that proceeds out of that throne must pass through those two planes. You will excuse me if I use the term limit, for some people would think that trespass, that hovered on the blasphemous. Surely they say the throne of the Almighty God is not limited by anything. He does what he likes. Well, he does, but what he likes limits him. Because the first thing we see is the rainbow round the throne. And we have only to remember the first occasion when mention is made of the rainbow and what its function was, to see a delightful thing about the throne of Almighty God. For the rainbow was given as God's covenant to mankind and to Noah. When Noah came out of the ark, and all that harrowing experience of being held up on the waters as the waters of the deep, the fountains of the deep were broken up, and the deluge of the waters from above the firmament were let loose on Noah's ark. And after that judgment, and the destruction of the earth that then was under the judgments of God, and after Noah had come out, then God made his covenant with Noah and said, I will put my bow in the cloud. When you see it, it shall be a reminder to you that I will never again destroy the earth with water. God does what he likes, of course he does, but what he likes has limited him. The rainbow tells us this at least, that God has put this limit to his judgment, that he will never again destroy the earth with water. And his promise to know that seed time and harvest should not fail has been, in the sense, the general sense that God meant it, been preserved to this present time. This, as we shall eventually see, is the Creator's throne. And we think of the mercies of the Creator, in spite of the mounting wickedness of men, Earth really has remained stable. I know if you refine your instruments of measurement, you'll see the Earth wobbles a bit now and again, dear old Earth, as it goes on its circle around the sun, Dorothy, but on the whole it remains stable, and there's been summer and there's been harvest, and human life has been still possible. The throne whose occupant, being almighty, has limited his judgment. We'll say that's a rather minor conf- comfort to us, isn't it, if you're now going to tell us that one day God will deluge the world with all other kinds of judgment and in the end destroy it by fire. The fact that he's not going to destroy it by water anymore, what comfort is that to us? Oh, but then I have a good excuse for telling you something else. Oh, the magnificence of him who sits upon this throne, for there is another profounder and most marvelous sense in which he has limited his just judgment. Oh, hear the word again that his holy son repeated to us when he was here on earth. He who shall one day occupy this throne and in God's name execute judgment on all mankind. When heaven and earth flee away from his face and cannot abide the look of his face, for he is the final judge. Then hear the words that he uttered. He who hears my word and believeth on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Almighty power, by deliberately limiting itself. And you know, my brothers, my sisters, the cost of the limitation. It was not that God compromised his justice, but his love found a way that God incarnate might bear the judgment that he himself and his righteousness imposed, bearing it for us, give us his forgiveness and assure us we shall never come into judgment. Oh, what a God he is. And if the judgments eventually come, who shall find fault with God that they suffer them, when they might have been sheltered by the atoning blood of Christ? Ah, but they were not only, uh, the rainbow round about the throne in the vertical plane. In the horizontal plane, round about the throne, there were thrones, about twenty four of them, in in in fact. They were occupied, if you please. Can you believe it? Must we not go and ask John to revise his vision a little and say, John, you can't have got that bit right. Well, weren't you setting out to describe the throne of Almighty God? Isn't his throne, by definition, solitary and stands alone? What do you mean, John? The roundabout the throne of the Almighty, there were other thrones. And if there were, what on earth were they there for, or what in heaven? Were there real thrones? And these people s- sitting on them. They've got crowns on their heads, so you say. Hm. But how could that mean anything? Surely the central throne has the say, the first say, and the last say, and all the says in between. Could these, whoever they are sitting upon these thrones, do anything worth doing? And what shall we make of it? This is an astounding thing when you first see it, isn't it? And tells us volumes about the nature of God's government. That though he had every right to sit upon a solitary throne without another throne in sight, he shares his government with others. We'll say, now, Mr. Preacher, we've been waiting for this moment. We have a question for you. Who are the elders? We've been told that the elders are, and what do you say? Ah, but I'm not falling into that trap. I'm not going to tell you. I don't answer the difficult questions, I only answer the simple ones. If the Holy Spirit had been pleased to put a label on them and tell me who they were, I would have told you, and unbegrudgingly. But the Holy Spirit has not seen fit to tell us who they are, and you are entitled to your infor- informed guess, and I to mine. But what we are told, that we should take notice of. We are not told who they are, we're told what they are. We have a little perversity sometimes in the studying of scripture, don't we? We're not content with what we are told, we want to know what we're not told. And investigating what we're not told, we fail to notice what we are told. These twenty four thrones are occupied by elders. And the very term, of course, itself suggests creatures. God is never referred to as an elder, is he? You don't compare his age with other people's. His age knows no comparison. He is the eternal. He is the ancient of days. He's not just a little bit older than some people. The term elder would point to the fact that logic tells us must be that they must be creatures. There is twenty four of them, there must be, mustn't they? Is this a fact? Because if it's a fact, it's almost incredible that the throne, the Almighty who sits on his central throne, has of himself designed that he should share his government with his creatures. I thought God Almighty was an omnipotent tyrant, did whatever he liked. Well, he does whatever he likes. But what he liked was... to share his government with his creatures. How's that? It's already apparent he's no dictator, isn't he? And it's true to life anyway. Sometimes it's a little frighteningly true to life. You parents, for instance. God doesn't come down from his throne in heaven and bring up your children for you, does he? He puts on your shoulders the responsibility of educating, governing, controlling those children, doesn't he? And that is a massive responsibility, surely, because, at least in their early days, you stand to them as though you were God. Your judgment is the final court of appeal, yours the ultimate power. Oh, happy are you and happy are they, if your government truly reflects the heart of the God who sits upon his creator's throne. What a responsibility. The sober New Testament epistles are witness to this, that in higher ranks than we can possibly understand, in the heavenly places, God has delegated government of the universe to what he calls principalities, mights, powers, and dominions. And all of the names that are used to describe these elevated creatures indicate that they were created for the purpose of governing along with God and governing his universe. Hm. And I could tell you more, if you'd believe it. There's a very strong rumor going around that one of these days, you who tonight sit before me, may well find yourself sitting on a throne beside the blessed Christ himself and the Son of God. For the gospel is this, that not only has God promised through his Son that we miserable sinners who have repented and trusted his Son shall not come into judgment. But God, in his immeasurable magnificence and generosity, has said that if we suffer with his son, we shall reign with him. To him that overcometh, says the Lord, I will give to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down on my father's throne. The thing gets more incredible as you go along, doesn't it? Can it be true? We tiny little creatures, and designed by God that even when we fell, there would be a way of forgiveness and of escaping judgment, and then, if you please, be elevated to share the government of the universe with Christ. And if that be true, I've got some questions to ask about these, uh, uh, twenty four elders on these urns. Uh, you say, yes, now perhaps at last you'll tell us who they are. No, no, no, no, I'm not going to tell you who they are, but I want to know something about them. They are pictured as having white robes, symbol of personal perfect righteousness. Their government is going to be just, and they've got gold crowns on their heads. Their government is of the highest quality. I can't take it in, really. Do you think they're real? I mean, or is this just propaganda and show? You know, God, uh, when he comes to show himself to the world, says, look, I don't come to decisions by myself, you know, I have all these twenty four elders here. But in reality, he makes the decision and they have no choice. Are they a bunch of yes men? That can't do anything other than say yes, whether they think it's right or wrong? They can't be yes men, can they? Why can't they? Because that would be a slander on the very character of God. He made us, oh, I hesitate to say it in the presence of the systematic theologians of some school, but he made us with the free will. He made us with the ability to say yes or to say no to God himself. But when he puts his redeemed upon their throne with his son, he won't secure their compliance with his central demands by removing their s- their, uh, free will, will he? And herein is the glory of it. The judgments that come out of that central throne will not only be limited by the rainbow of God's mercy. They will be limited by the fact that they must pass through and obtain the free consent of these creatures of God surrounding his throne. I'm coming perilously near now to telling you who they are, but I won't. But you'll see, you'll say, will, will, will humans have a say, a real say in the government of God? Oh yes, of course they will, because the principle has been established. The Father, said our blessed Lord Jesus, judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son. Because he is, you say, ah, because he is the Son of God. No, no, because he is the Son of man. Judgment will be, as we say in English, by peer. Mankind will be judged by a man and redeemed fellow men. Paul writing to that rickety old church at Corinth. Let me be careful what I say of them, I got to meet some of them in glory, but you know they were a funny crowd, weren't they? And chiding some of their excesses, Paul says this. Why do you wrong each other in your business matters? Why do you have ugly lawsuits among yourselves before the heathen? Have you forgotten that the church shall judge the world, and the church shall judge angels? Oh, my brothers, my sisters, can you read it and not be moved to the depths of your very being? If this be true, it reveals a God fantastic in his generosity and wonder. No tyrant he. When John saw this throne, moreover, it was no longer silent. The question why the throne has been and will yet be silent in face of evil is one of the great problems of Holy Scripture. Now John is pointing to a time when the throne is no longer silent, and out of it, he said, proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. Appropriate enough for the throne of a creator who's now beginning to make impression on the world that there was a throne, and it was about to act. But before it acts, here come another pair. And it says that there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, and before the throne, as it were, a glassy sea like unto crystal. The second pair. These things are not said to be around the throne. A different local preposition is used to indicate their local relationship to the throne, and then, of course, to go beyond that to the moral and spiritual relationship. And first there were seven torches, lamps not in the sense of oil lamps, but in the sense of torches. When the ancients went abroad at night, they got a long piece of wood, of pine wood or something, and wrapped some rag around it and stuck it in oil and lit it, and it blazed away through the darkness of the night and then had to be replenished, and they took a jar of oil beside them to replenish their torches with. There were seven torches then burning, torches of fire burning before the throne, and before the throne, the sea of glass. We can understand it physically, but what is the significance at the deeper level of the preposition before? What were they there before the throne to do? What did they signify? What did they mean? Well, we could take a helpful example from, say, Solomon's throne. Like many another potentate in the Middle East, he had a throne built when he came to power. And when you came to visit him, if you ever did, if you were some, uh, king, queen or other from, uh, Sheba or elsewhere, and you came to visit to King Solomon, you weren't introduced into his bathroom. You were told to wait until his majesty climbed up the steps of this gorgeous throne, sat there on, and then you were allowed to come near. And as you came near, before the throne, before Solomon's throne, there were lions. Ooh, and they weren't the pussycat lions you see outside some Chinese buildings, they were real lions, in stone, of course, with their jaws open, ready to devour you. Why do you suppose Solomon had lions, even if they were imitation lions, before his throne. And of course, they put everybody who came near the throne in the right frame of mind. Mm. Or if Solomon didn't, some of the ancient kings did, uh, like old, uh, Darius, for instance. They not only had imitation lions before their throne, they kept a den of real lions. And you better take notice of the stone lions before their throne, because if you misbehaved and displeased His Majesty, you might be thrown to the real lions for the benefit of their health and to serve as their breakfast. Lions before the throne were an exhibition, a reminder of the power of the throne. And here is Almighty God, and he has a throne, such as John can see in his vision. And he's got things standing before it. That'll impress people with his power, won't it? What's he got? You'll say, well, a dozen lions, perhaps. Well, can we think of anything more ferocious? A few African buffaloes, perhaps, or a tiger or two, or an amalgam of all the beasts standing before the throne, just to impress you with his power. No, he hasn't got that. What has he got then? Oh, tortures? Hmm. Hmm. So I don't think much of that then. That isn't a very impressive throne to come at. I mean, you see an old torch anytime you go out in the night air in the city of Jerusalem. I mean, there are a few torches. How many did you say? Seven torches in... Well, that's not much, is it? Where's the power in that? This was meant to be a symbol of power. Well, of course, they were blazing. The effect was, of course, to create a tremendous pool of light as you came near the throne. Torches designed to dispel the darkness, you see. But I want to tell you, there is a power of darkness, isn't there? This throne is not that. This is the throne, the power of light. We must take the power of darkness seriously, must we not? We once were in its grip, and how devilish that power is. Our Lord used the expression when the party came to arrest him in the garden, and the devilish cunning of the whole business showed the fearful and sinister power of darkness. It wasn't merely that, uh, Judas, being a dis- apostle, had deserted the Lord and betray- was now betraying him to his enemies. It was that the Jewish authorities, well knowing that Jesus was not a political activist, came under cover of darkness with a band of soldiers to make out that they caught him at some nefarious political activity, that he was a political subversive, and they could catch him in the act and arrest him for it, and haul him before Pilate and accuse him of being a political activist against the government and having sentenced, have him sentenced to death. That's what, in fact, they tried, didn't they? I was daily with you in the temple, said Christ. Why didn't you arrest me then, gentlemen? Well, they didn't do it in daylight because the crowds hang- hung upon the teaching of Christ, and the authorities could not have arrested him in daytime, and they did it under cover of darkness. And there was worse. One of o- Christ's own disciples, beloved of the Lord, who loved his master more than any, thinking he did the Lord a service, when the arresting party came clean, counter now to our Lord's command, took out his sword. To use the sword. To fight the arresting party. And to prevent the Lord's arrest. And nearly played into the very hands of Satan. Oh, if that had started a battle, that was what Satan would have wanted, that Jesus Christ was a mere politician like the rest of them, a guerrilla warfare leader. And they caught him at it, and when the authorities came to arrest him, he tried to resist by violence. What a misrepresentation of God and God's throne that would have been, wouldn't it? Our Lord summed up the whole situation. He said, but this is your hour and the power of darkness. And it almost makes you tremble to think of it as you look back, doesn't it? You were in it once, my brother. You were deceived by it once, my sister. Thank God, God has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his son, into his, now listen to Peter's terminology, into his most marvelous light. God doesn't get his power over his creatures by keeping them in the dark. He doesn't do it in science, does he? Some people have thought that science is wicked. You shouldn't go probing around in nature. Why shouldn't you? You can put the old atom in your whatever it is you put it in, your cyclotron, and push it about and bang it and hit it hard and split it up and whatever you do to it. You can examine a molecule under your microscope, and however deep you look, you won't come across a big notice as that notice that says, don't go any further, trespassers will be prosecuted. No. God wants you to know. He's not afraid you discover anything. God has no skeletons in his cupboard, you know. He rules by truth and light. You just imagine the fearful state of affairs that ruled in many countries in the Middle Ages, when there were those who, in the very name of God, took the Bible away from the people and said it wasn't safe to read, and they mustn't read it, and they retained their strength by keeping people in the dark. That's not God, is it? This is the power of light. His most marvelous light. And the best light of all is him himself, for God is light, and him, in him is there no darkness at all. And the reason why men blaspheme him and don't trust him is that they have fallen victim to the satanic lie, and they are in darkness, and they don't see God as God really is. There were not only seven lamps before the throne, but before the throne there was a sea as of glass. So pure it was and transparent, and yet at the same time there were no waves upon its surface, for it was calm, like glass. What was it there for, and what was it anyway? Some people have said that this sea before the throne of God was an emblematic expression, reminding people of the seas of this planet of ours, their endless churning, God alone is able to calm. So it is said in the prophets, the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, no rest either to the wicked. On the other hand, God is, it's said of God that he stills, he subdues the raging of the sea and brings it to a calm. And that this sea before the throne of God is an emblem to remind us that God is in control of all the powers of nature. And if does it mean so, it is lovely, isn't it? Oh, it reminds me of that occasion when a little boat pulled out on the Sea of Galilee, and in it were twelve disciples and one tired savior. And the storm arose and threatened to sink the boat to the bottom, and the disciples came in alarm, and they said, Lord, carest thou not that we perish? But he arose and said, peace be still. And the wind dropped, and the waves subsided. That story is not told us to, to tell us and guarantee that no boat up in which a Christian rides will ever go to the bottom. It's not there to tell us that no aeroplane in which a missionary flies to his field will ever crash. I'm afraid some will. Some boats will sink. Some will be killed by lightning and storm and volcano. The story is there to tell us that there is one who is in control of nature. And if the boat had sunk on that lake of Galilee that night, it wouldn't have sunk because the Lord was asleep and didn't know it. What nature does, she does in the end by his permission. He controls the physical power. There's more to it, isn't there, than controlling physical powers. For in the tabernacle of old, and then in the temple, in the court, as you have seen now many times, there stood a laver. In Solomon's temple, there stood a laver. It was so huge, standing on the backs of oxen, that they called it the sea. That, as we know, was not merely an emblem to tell us that God the Creator controls the seas and the forces of nature. It was to remind us of another and a greater force. For if it takes divine power to control the storms of the sea, what think you it takes to control the unruly, rebellious nature of mankind gone astray. Do you believe God can do it? It is but a small thing for the Almighty to control the sea. It has no will of its own. But I can tell you this, there's no hope of a paradise if you and I are to be in it, or anybody else, unless God has a power that can control the rebel and bring peace, because it brings purity. There is such a power. The seven lamps were emblematic of the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth, emblematic of him who brooded over the darkness of the deep in the days before creation. The labor is emblematic of him, who is the blessed Holy Spirit, who performs the work of regeneration and purifies filthy sinners like we. Will do so until no stain remains. God can see his own face mirrored in the purity of our hearts. And then finally, there were four living creatures. They were in the midst and round about the throne, supporting it. As I said earlier, like the cherubim that were seen by Ezekiel in his vision of the throne of God. Many times over in scripture, where you will read descriptions of the throne of God, there you will find the living creatures called by their other name sometimes cherubim, but cherubim are living creatures, and living creatures are cherubim. You say, tell me who they are. Why will you persist in asking questions like that? Uh, how can I tell you who they are? I can tell you what they are. Well, you say, what are they? They're living creatures. You say, that's not telling us much. It's telling you an enormous lot. They're living. They're alive. Just contemplate them for a moment. One had the face of an ox, and one had the face of a lion, and another had the face of an eagle, and one had the face of a man. All those different forms of life, life, life, life, everywhere you looked. Life, not one monotonous old kind, but life. You know, I've sometimes wished I was a lion. You know, that feeling of strength and majesty with a beautiful mane round my head instead of a few thin hairs, you'll see, and all that, and a weakling like I am, a real lion. Ooh, it would be nice, wouldn't it? But apparently you can't be a man and a lion as well in that sense. I've not often wanted to be an ox, except that when the burdens of life have grown great and that, you know, I'm feeling I'm pulling a bigger load than I ought to be, and then I wish I had the strength of an ox, you'll say. I would get more intelligence than an ox, but nah, his endurance and his strength I admire, yeah. And eagles, oh, I confess to you, whatever the psychologists say, and they say some funny things about people who, who, who, who have dreams like that, but I wish I could fly sometimes. Be lovely, wouldn't it? Would you like to glide? Oh, to mount up, not to be held up in the traffic jams, but to despise a lot of them, and take to the hills and glide majestically on the wind. Oh, I'd love to be an eagle. And here I am, just a pedestrian human. What a God of, God of life God is. Staggers the imagination, doesn't he? From ants to antelopes, from monkeys to angels, butterflies to crocodiles, teeming with life. As this throne. You say, but it's going to issue judgments. I know it is. Do you know why the judgments will come? It's because life itself, the sheer maintenance of life in the universe will eventually demand that all perverse things that defile life and cripple life and destroy life shall be done away with. God will destroy them that destroy the earth. God is for life. So what they doing underneath his throne, anyway? Well, I mustn't be dogmatic. Nothing that I've said tonight should be taken in the realm of dogmatism. This is imagery, isn't it? But how do you suppose God governs anyway? Contemplate the matter. When God wants a tree to bear apples, it doesn't send a note down from the heavenly civil service, you will, by central command economy, grow some apples this year, you apple tree. No, of course not. He gets trees to grow apples by giving them apple life. Yes. And you know, when it comes to the higher level, God has issued his laws, of course, and his rules, regulations, his holy law given from Mount Sinai. In the end, good as it was and holy as it was, that ancient covenant proved inadequate, and another scheme had to take its place. And Paul describes it thus, what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sin and and for sin condemns sin in the flesh, so that the spirit of life in Christ Jesus set me free from the law of sin and. The way God proposes to govern us, his people, is not ultimately by a series of rules and regulations, though we need their external guidance. It is by writing his laws on our hearts, giving us the very life and therefore the very nature of God. Yes, the symbols mean something, my brothers, my sisters. And if they mean anything near what we have thought they meant this evening, it is understandable that before the judgments of God emanate from that throne and come upon this world, God, or allow him to do it, should be keen to show you what the true facts are about the nature of his throne and the kind of government it is and the kind of God he is. There's no hiding of the fact that he is the creator. And you see the four living creatures. Give thanks to him that liveth forever and ever. It's understandable that they do so, is it not? They are alive, vibrant with life. Knowing they get it from him who sits on the throne, who lives. They worship him who is the fountain source of all life, and of their life in particular. Thus does life find the reason for its existence and the meaningfulness of life. We are, as the philosophers say, contingent creatures. We didn't invent ourselves. Our life is derived from him who lives forever and ever. And the satisfaction in living is to know that we come from him, and then that we were made for him. When the four and twenty elders shall fall down, we'll see, to for him that sits on the throne and worship him, and cast their crowns before the throne, this is what they say: Worthy art thou, O Lord our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were and were created. If there is no God creator, then life, in spite of all its wonder, is ultimately meaningless. And all will be found to be vanity. And as the scientists, the physicists, and the cosmologists tell us, one day, however remote the future is, the Earth and the universe will crumble to nothingness and be no more. The meaning of life depends on this fact that we being derived creatures, derived lives, learn to live to fulfill the purpose for which we were designed. And what purpose is that? Thou art worthy to receive the honor, glory, and dominion, because for thy will, by thy will were all things made, and for thy pleasure they are. And if you have enjoyed life, on what possible ground would you de- reject the very reason that God here proclaims for why you should serve him? We were made to do his will. The trouble with our world is not that we have all got up in the morning and murdered our mothers-in-law before breakfast, or engaged in outrageous crime. There are worse things than that. Being made by God to do God's will, we have, for the most part, very politely gone, each one, to his own way. Hence the chaos of our world. Let it be advertised again that God isn't going to wait forever and put up forever with the chaos caused by human self-will and rebellion and perversity. God has big plans on hand for the redevelopment of the universe, such that it one day shall serve his pleasure in everything it does. I wonder that he has not already started the plans, but then that would first demand the demolition of much that is now before God could begin to create again. Who shall be found able? Who shall be found worthy to conduct, to conduct the demolition. And the answer to that is to be given in our studies tomorrow. Shall we pray? O God, we feel like little children playing on the nursery floor with things that are wonderful but go beyond our understanding. Once more, we bless thee for the assurance of thy word that these are the true sayings of God. And we bless thee that though now we see through a mirror darkly and not yet face to face, yet what we see by thy grace lifts our hearts in adoration and praise and wonder before thy throne. And we bless thee, who have known the bitterness of our waywardness of heart and the folly of our rebellion and the sorrow it brings. We praise thee for thy throne, for thy power, and for thy love, and for thy redeeming grace. And we thank thee, for we believe it even if we cannot understand it, for thy tremendous generosity, that thou hast one day guaranteed that we shall share the throne of thy son with him. So we thank thee for this day. The impressions thou hast made upon our hearts by thy spirit, nail them there, we do beseech thee, that in the days to come we may remember them, we may go about our created tasks with glory of praise in our hearts, thanksgiving and gratitude to thee and to thy son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, in whose name we offer thee our evening worship. Amen.