Revelation 4:1-13
Saturday, 3 September 2022
Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” -Revelation 4:1
Apostle John witnesses here, about the door he saw opened and a direct invitation to ascend into heaven in spirit so as to hear and see the scenes in heaven and the things to come through the ages. Praise God Almighty, He still keeps the door opened as part of His invitation to all of us. Let us also go through the word of God as revealed here to understand the things that are not seen by our naked eye. But with our spirit we can understand the meaning of all these.
An open invitation
God keeps the door open. Jesus said "… I am the gate for the sheep," (John 10:7). It is very important that we enter through the right gate to reach the right place. God gave us the blessed assurance of eternity; as we enter through the right gate- Jesus Himself. A word of caution here: on earth there are other similar type of doors kept open to trap many and many are deceived. So it is our duty to check and appropriate it for ourselves that we have entered through the right door.
Let us look into what John had seen:
His voice
God chooses to keep His divine distinction in all the ways He relates to us, so that we will not be carried away by anything seemingly spiritual and mysterious. He knows our nature - that we are curious people and will easily fall prey to the deceptions if we are not guided correctly. That is why the Lord Himself said: .., and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (John 10:3) As we hear His sweet voice, our soul longs for Him, with the warmth of love.
His Spirit
Let us pause and observe, Holy Spirit Himself is the very person, who is lifting up John in spirit to show the things in heaven. We can only trust God, to keep us from falling into the hands of false spirits, who will lure us away from God. We need to always check the spirit before we go ahead further. .., do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world... (1 John 4:1-2)
His Throne
His very throne represents His sovereign authority over all. He rules everything and He has the master plan for everything. As a child of God, He has rule over your very life here and after. He controls everything. So after acknowledging and understanding Him, it is for us to submit to His rule. The throne is not empty but God Himself is sitting on the throne. Is He in the throne room of your heart, ruling everything that belongs to you?
His Covenant
The next thing witnessed by John is the rainbow, which is symbolic of the covenant God made with Noah. It is nothing but a shadow of the New Testament covenant made through Jesus Christ. How wonderful to notice, as soon as we enter the very presence of God, we see the covenant relationship we have with God. This brings in peace and assurance of our inheritance we have in God.
His People
He is surrounded by His own. Twenty four elders represents the saints of the old and new testament. What an assurance have we to see the place He has allocated for His beloved and how they gladly keep on worshipping the living God. How good is heaven that is opened for us as our very inheritance. Receive it in full and take hold of it by looking unto Him alone as we pass through this earthly wilderness to reach the shores of eternity.
View on: “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who……. has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)