主信实的跟随者

Title: Faithful Followers
Date: 05 February 2023
Preacher: Rev Enoch Keong

Introduction
What we have this morning is a bible passage which in my opinion, might not even need a sermon to get what it is trying to say to us. But simply to read it slowly and let the effects that it aims to generates comes at us and impacts us

We will still unpack the passage because it’s sermon time after all. But I have this to say. The short passage is a bit like what we find at the start of a musical or concert. At first there’s only a beam of light shining on the curtain that is drawn, then we hear music played softly and slowly, then more and brighter lights are thrown on the curtain that remains drawn, then we hear the music builds up, then comes the drum roll, and in a flash the curtain splits apart, the performance launch in full power. And we the audience are simply carried along by the performance and absorbed into it. That’s how the passage is to me.

Let read it together, and see if we might share similar impressions of this passage. Should we? Ready? Let’s go.

1After 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.” 2At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”

9And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”

I.
I wanted us to read the passage and feel the drama therein, because this passage should be felt and appreciated more than explained and understood. The passage is impactful, yet a perplexing enough to reject any definitive explanation. Hence to take it in as a whole, be challenged and carried along by it would be more helpful than to dissect and study one by one the individual details.

And just to name just 2 elements that I find perplexing, John mentions a multi-colored rainbow looking like an emerald, which is a gem stone of a single color. The logic doesn’t flow - perplexing. And then there’s the 4 living creatures with eyes all over their bodies. Can someone here draw them for me? I have problem picturing them. Turn to the commentaries, and we are sure to find different groups of commentators giving different suggestions on what the objects, natural phenomena and characters found in passage symbolize or signify.

So my suggestion, if it suits you, do not spend that much time, trying to decode the details. The thing to do would be ask, what are the functions of these descriptions?

Pastor Siow Hwee reminded us in his sermon on Revelation 1, that many of these descriptions are to be interpreted by consulting the Old Testament. Let’s try it out on the rainbow and the emerald. What we need not do would be to ask, why does the rainbow only have one single color. Check against the Old Testament. We will find that rainbow had been put up in the sky by God as a reminder of the covenant he made with Noah after the flood (Gen 9:13-17). Rainbow therefore points to a covenantal God who keeps promises and shall not fail his people. Rainbow also recalls the glory of God that Ezekiel saw in a vision. Hence, the bright green emerald could suggest that God’s glory reflecting brightly (Eze 1:28), like how the emerald reflects lights. The same probably goes the jasper, carnelian and the sea of glass. In short, each object tells us something about the one sitting on the throne. The same again goes for the natural phenomena and characters.

And when we put together the combined effects generated by all the descriptions, we are given the understanding that God is the God who is mighty to save, will judge and eradicate evil, is transcendent and deserves whole-hearted worship.

To send this message across loud and clear is the purpose of this chapter. John therefore uses images that will would puzzle, shock and astonish the readers, to make sure that the message not only gets across, but will sink in and stick in the readers’ hearts.

So, perplexing as it may be, chapter 4 is not the start of writings that sounds heavenly on the one hand, yet causing readers to scratch head for centuries over issues such as a single-color rainbow. Chapter 4, together with chapter 5 forms one unit. Revelation is one long and continuous message, and this unit connects what has been said with the content to follow. The past 2 chapters name the 7 churches and highlight their suffering. The hardship will not go on forever, God will judge the ones who caused the suffering in time and grant relieve. The judgements John describes with seals, trumpets and bowls starting from chapter 6 onward.

But John knows the ones who were undergoing suffering, were also questioning their faith. The would have had questions such as, “Will judgments ever come about?” “Would the God whom they worship be powerful enough, determined enough to see things through?”

Chapter 4 and 5 is where John’s aims to allay such fears and doubts. He assures them with the vision of the throne room in heaven, where he saw God and the Lamb in their glory and power. He tells them about the throne that is so much grander and so much more glorious compared to the throne rooms of the Roman rulers. With such a picture he hopes that his reader would see that God is indeed powerful and determine to bring judgement unto the wicked and to see things through. It shall be so, for the one he saw, is the God who is mighty to safe, will judge and eradicate evil, and is transcendent and deserves whole-hearted worship will.

God is mighty to save will not be apparent till we read chapter 5, the second part of the unit. There the slain yet risen Lamb come onto the scene. The presence of the Lamb goes to show that God is powerful and has conquered death. And that Jesus will bring to completion his work of salvation.

That God will judge and eradicate evil deserve a little explanation. Verse 5 mentions, “5From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder…” We watch movies and shows, don’t we? Whenever we come to a scene where there’s lighting, rumblings and thunder, we know we have come to some critical moments in the story. Something very similar is going on in Revelations. These natural phenomena are seen and heard in this chapter to indicate God’s holiness. These phenomena also appear at other critical moments in the book: at the opening of the seventh seal (8:5), the sounding of the seventh trumpet (11:19) and the pouring out of the seventh bowl (16:18), the last of each series. In other words, God shall certainly bring about the judgment n his holiness.

God is transcendent and deserves whole-hearted worship is clear from the verses itself. But some clarification might still be needed here. Many Christians believe John to be talking here about how life will be when we reach heaven, that we will be worshipping God day and night accompanied by the harp. Friends, that is a misconception to be discarded. What John describes is the present reality he sees, not how heaven will look like ultimately. Or if you like, it is a parallel reality, running alongside the reality we know. Where God almighty and the slain Lamb keep watch over affairs in the world, and shall right the wrongs done to his people. God is in charge behind the scene, in other words. As to how the ‘ultimate’ heaven might looks like, a better indication would be the last 2 chapters of the book. We read therein streets of gold to walk on and fruits to be harvested and eaten, sounds like a truly flourishing place to live flourishing lives.

And so with this picture of God’s throne room, John assures his readers and urges them to let the vision of the throne room guide them as they face life challenges.

II.
Is the throne room an assurance only for persecuted churches? No, because God’s throne room is not set up in heaven because of the persecution of the 7 churches. The throne room is there all the time. It had always been there, is just there, simply there, still there, forever will be there. And that should make every difference to the way we live life.

John wants the suffering Christians to know that the center of life is not the suffering and needs, the sadness and happiness in life. But the rightful center of life should the parallel reality John is pointing to, that God on his throne is leading the world, leading you, leading me. And we are urged to examine every aspect of life in light of the throne room.

And in case we think that only the persecuted churches would deserve God’s special attention, to have John to write a letter to them. Then I would say I disagree to such a sentiment. There are so many persecuted Christians under the sun, past and present, still there is only one version of Revelation ever written – for all who has ears.

One more thing. When faced with challenges, we tend feel small, helpless and insignificant. We may even think that God is no longer watching over us. The passage we are reading counter such perspective, it was to persecuted Christians who felt small, helpless and insignificant whom John is sending the message.

God is always watching out for us, and continues call us to his faithful followers.

To be God’s faithful followers may not be that easy. So, allow me to suggest 3 handles based on the passage.

First, worship God unceasingly. To be honest, I have never quite understood the purpose of unceasing worship till I am preparing for this morning’s sharing. As one commentator points out, the reason is found in a small word in verse 11, the word ‘for’. The word ‘for’ points to the capacity to reason and to reflect, to know what is going on. We are made to worship. To worship unceasingly is then acknowledge what we know we are made for, and to do it. And when we worship, we look towards the throne room of God, and we are both reminded and made strong to be faithful followers. Perhaps we can use an old song, sing it often, to help us along,

Seek ye first the kingdom of God
And His righteousness;
And all these things shall be added unto you.
Hallelu, Hallelujah

The third line in the lyrics leads us to the second handle. We are told in verse 10 that the elders cast their crowns before the throne. These elders, offer not only words of praise, but their own glory. Although we don’t wear a crown and walk around, but I guess we all have things we consider to be our crown, our glory and we go places and people with them. Perhaps it’s our freedom, our family, our achievements, talents, smartness, youthfulness and looks.

As to the elders, the throw their glory before the throne, an action to say that they value God more.

I got to hear about someone like this last weekend. Elder Huang Thiay Seng was called home to the Lord last week. As pastor of the East Zone, I led the night service. The service was kinda long, but it wasn’t me that caused the service to be that long. It was so because there were 4 eulogies. I didn’t invite that many to share, but each of them wanted come forward to share. There were 2 things about Elder Huang mentioned repeatedly in the sharing. One, Elder Huang had done a whole lot, for Jubilee and other churches, for the company he worked with and for his family. Second, he was super low key as a person. Can we see similarities between our elder and the elders who are casting their crowns? Crown, not so important. Glory, not so important. What is more important is God, the worship of God, and others being blessed.

Friends, let’s train ourselves to do likewise, to throw down our glory so that God be glorified. When we don't hold on to our own glory, we will have more room to hold on to God, and his glory

If worship unceasingly is what we do towards God. And casting our glory is what we train ourselves to do. Then the third handle is what God does for us.

Let’s focus for another minute on the four living creatures. I really have no idea how to picture them, so please draw for me if we are able to imagine creatures with eyes over the entire body. Eyes are for seeing. So eyes all over the body means seeing every corner and at all times. In other words, the mind-boggling description of the creatures is to say that God’s vigilance over creation is unseizing. The 7 churches should know that God is watching over them unceasingly. The same goes for you and for me.

Friend, we may wonder how can that be true, since God is transcendent, s so high up and so far away. But transcendent should be understood as high above all, and absolutely different from all others. We are all finite beings, God is not like us, he is infinite. He is therefore able to do what you and I are not able to. He is able to be with everyone at all times.

So, be sure of this. God knows and God care. And if so, let’s us always trust in the God who watches over us. May the throne room we read about this morning help us to do all 3.

华语崇拜视频链接：https://youtu.be/z2M9EhjAZqE
Bilingual Service Video Link: https://youtu.be/yFvWH2HeqLQ