Sermon Transcript

0:00:14.0

Well, like a curious, brown monkey named George, most of us are inquisitive beings, aren’t we?  We love to look, kind of, behind the scenes into things we think are a bit mysterious and even majestic.  I think that’s why people will stand in line for hours outside of the White House to get a tour of the White House in Washington, D.C., or maybe to go to Buckingham Palace in London just to catch a glimpse of something that is mysterious to us.  A glimpse of something that is majestic to us.  Now, curiosity is also what sparks our interest in the future, isn’t it, and in what the Bible says about the future.  But, friends, if Bible prophecy does nothing more than tweak our curiosity, then we’ve missed the eternal purpose of Bible prophecy and the purpose for which God pulls back the veil and gives us a glimpse into the future.  I believe there are at least three reasons why He does that.  The first is to purify believers, to purify the body of Christ.  The second is to provoke unbelievers.  And the third is to prepare the entire world for the return of His son and our savior, the soon return of Jesus Christ, which is the predominant theme of the book of Revelation.  Now, Revelation 4 begins with a curious and, I would even say, breathtaking glimpse into something mysterious and certainly majestic.  It’s a glimpse of the Church, the future Church in heavenly worship.  Why I do say the Church in heaven worship?  Well, because even though the book of Revelation does not explicitly teach an event in future Bible history known as the rapture of the Church, it’s inferred in these chapters.  It’s inferred here.  The inference is that suddenly millions of people disappear from planet earth and are suddenly found in heaven in this heavenly worship experience.  And John begins the transition from chapters 1, 2, and 3 to a significant shift in the book of Revelation in chapter 4.  And he begins it this way in verse 1.  He says, “After this.”  After what?  After the seven letters to the seven churches, which we said in weeks past represent the flow of church history in seven distinct and consecutive periods of time.  “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven.  And the voice,”—a familiar voice now to John—“the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come up here.’”  That’s rapture language.  “‘Come up here, John.  And I will show you what must take place after this.’”

0:03:04.4

You may remember back in chapter 1, Jesus kind of gave John an outline for the book of Revelation.  And if you’re into outlines and orderly thinking, this helps you.  It helps me certainly, where Jesus says it John, “Write, therefore, the things that you have seen.”  That was his vision of Jesus in John 1.  Then the things that are.  That was the letter to the seven churches, seven actual, physical, real-to-life churches in real time, in real space, in real history from John’s perspective.  The things that are.  And now in chapter 4 and forward Jesus turns John’s attention to those things that now must take place.  And John is standing before a door, heaven’s door.  How ironic it is that chapter 3 ends with Jesus standing at the door of the lukewarm church knocking on that door and calling out to the inhabitants of the Church, to His bride, saying, “Let me in.  Let me in.”  And now in chapter 4 John is standing before a door, only it’s heaven’s door.  And the door is flung wide open and he’s invited in.  And he gets to experience a heavenly worship service that is mysterious.  And it’s majestic, because God is there.  And there is a shift, a major shift that takes place in the flow of biblical thought here from chapters 4 and forward.  You see, I believe that the next event on God’s prophetic calendar is indeed the rapture of the Church.  If the only place where we can make an argument for that is the book of Revelation, then that event would stand on shaky ground because it’s not explicitly taught.  It’s inferred.  But you’ve got to go back to some other passages of scripture like 1 Thessalonians 4, John 14.  And I’ll even add 1 Corinthians 15, where an event known as the rapture is mentioned and, in the twinkling of an eye, the disappearance of millions of believers from planet earth.  I believe that’s inferred from chapter 3 to chapter 4, where now John is caught up into this heavenly worship experience where the raptured Church is now experiencing worship in heaven.  So if you’re thinking of the flow of thought in Revelation up to this time…and I know the book of Revelation can be a bit intimidating and a bit confusing, but outlines kind of help if you’re an orderly thinker.  Chapter 1, we have the vision of Jesus like we’ve never seen Him before, glorified and resurrected.  This is not the Jesus of Bethlehem.  This is the Jesus who ascended to the Father.  And He is glorified, and He is resurrected.  In chapters 2 and 3 we have the seven letters to the seven churches, actual churches in real time, in real space, in real history.  But also representative, we might say, of the flow of church history in seven periods leading up to the next event on God’s prophetic calendar.  Then in chapters 4 and 5, the Church in heavenly worship.  Chapters 6 through 18 in the book of Revelation detail the Tribulation period, also known in the Old Testament as Jacob’s trouble.  Remember, the Tribulation on earth is God giving His attention back to the nation of Israel.  So it’s Jacob’s trouble.  It’s Daniel’s 70^th week.  And all of the language, all of the symbols that are used in chapters 6 through 18 relate to God’s dealing with Israel in the Old Testament.  And so a lot of the symbolism of Revelation…if you go back into the Old Testament you can get clues as to what these things meant.  Because God is focusing His attention on the nation of Israel again during that seven-year period of time.  And this points again to a shift in God’s prophetic plan from chapters 16 and forward.  And then 19 through the end of the book is the second coming of Christ, the eternal state, the new heaven, the new earth, and all of that.  So you’ve got, kind of, an outline in your head and the flow of prophetic though here in the book of Revelation.  I don’t know if that helps you, but it helps me kind of bet my arms around this incredible and mysterious book.

0:07:18.2

Now, back to chapter 4.  The Spirit of God transports John into the presence of God, into the awesome, holy, magnificent presence of God.  And it’s a stunning scene for John, fraught with mystery and majesty at the same time.  It kind of reminds me of the first time I got a West Wing tour of the White House.  You know, you can go to Washington, D.C., and get an East Wing tour.  That’s kind of the tourists’ tour.  But you need a member of Congress to approve a West Wing tour and at a time when the President isn’t in the Oval Office or anywhere near the White House.  He’s got to be traveling somewhere.  And when we arrived in Washington many, many years ago, somebody made a few phone calls and said, “Hey, you know, you want to go see the West Wing?”  We said, “Sure, we’d love to.”  Cathryn and I and the kids went over to the White House.  And you go on this guided tour in small little groups.  And the whole West Wing is a lot smaller than it seems, just a narrow, kind of, office building.  And the Oval Office isn’t as big as it appears on television.  But when we got to that space, it was roped off.  You couldn’t go inside.  But I remember peeking my head around the corner and seeing that famous Resolute Desk behind which the President of the United States sits.  And I would have to multiply my sense of awesomeness at that time.  I’d have to multiply it a million times over to capture the sense of what John felt when he stood at heaven’s door.  The door flings open and he catches a glimpse of what he says is a throne that stood in heaven.  And if you read on a little bit further in chapter 4, it says there is a sea of glass between the throne and anybody around the throne.  Scholars have tried to make all kinds of things related to this sea glass, saying, well, it means this or it means that.  We’re really not told any particular meaning behind the sea of glass, but I do notice a couple of things.  It creates some distance, kind of like that rope between my tour group and the Oval Office.  There was such awesomeness and such magnificence and majesty around the throne that there was a sea of glass between anybody who gets near the throne of God and the throne itself.  And it’s also a sea of glass.  There are no tempestuous waves here.  The suggestion is that all is calm.  Yes, while the Church is worshipping in heaven, while great apocalyptic events are happening on earth, God is seated on His throne.  All is calm around Him.  He’s not ringing His hands in worry.  What seemingly is going wildly out of control on earth, no, heaven has it sovereignly under control.  It’s a sea of glass all around the throne.  And worship that is taking place in so many places around it.

0:10:12.4

Now, John pauses three times in the book of Revelation to give us a glimpse of worship in heaven.  Once in chapter 4, again in chapter 5, and then again in chapter 7.  Again, while apocalyptic things are happening on the earth below, a tribulation that the world has never experienced before, there’s worship happening in heaven.  Again, in my understanding of the flow of biblical thoughts and events, the Church is raptured.  The Church is experiencing worship.  And later we’ll talk about the judgment seat of Christ that is taking place simultaneously to all that is happening on planet earth during that seven years of tribulation.  But John gives us this glimpse of worship in heaven three different times.  And, boy, it’s mysterious.  There’s a lot happening around the throne of God.  And let’s talk about some of it.  First of all, we see the holy trinity there.  The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.  One God who expresses Himself in three distinct persons and personality.  John says, “I saw one seated on the throne,” most likely a reference to God the Father, who planned our salvation.  And then he sees off in the distance a lamb, as it were, that was slain.  A lamb that looks like a lion, and a lion that looks like a lamb.  This is no doubt a reference to the second member of the trinity, God the Son who purchased our salvation on the cross.  And then there is another reference to the seven spirits of God.  We bumped into that in chapter 1.  This a reference, not to seven Holy Spirits, but to one Holy Spirit with a sevenfold ministry throughout the earth.  Cross reference Isaiah 14 on that.  But all of them are present here in heaven—the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.  This is a holy trinity worship, we might say.  Now, the Bible says nobody is actually seeing God with their own eyes.  And so John reaches for all kinds of ways to describe what he sees here.  And he says in verse 3 that, “He who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian.”  Now, jasper and carnelian were the first and last stones in the breastplate of the high priest in the Old Testament.  Keep that in mind.  Because when we unpack the mystery of the 24 elders, that’s gonna be important as a way of pointing to the priesthood of the believers or the Church itself.  There’s this beautiful expression of carnelian and jasper as it emanates from the throne.  And then John says, “Around the throne there was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.”  A full, complete rainbow.  Wouldn’t you love to see something like that?  There have been a couple times in my life where I’ve seen a rainbow that just took my breath away.  One time I was in Buena Vista, Colorado, the beautiful place.  And after a springtime rain, this rainbow just arced across the Colorado mountains.  What we see is half of a rainbow, right?  As beautiful and as majestic as that is on planet earth, in heaven the rainbow goes all around.  It’s a complete circle.  And it’s a reminder, if nothing else, that everything in heaven is complete.  What we have on earth, what we experience on earth is incomplete.  It kind of reminds me of what the apostle Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians.  1 Corinthians 13:12, “Now I know in part, then I shall know fully even as I have been fully known.”  The rainbow reminds us of that.  Everything in heaven is complete.  And all of our knowledge, all of our understanding, all of our experiences.  We look through a glass darkly in this world, don’t we?  Puzzling reflections of a mirror, one translation of scripture says.  That’s how we view life and eternity from our human and earthly perspective.  But in heaven everything is full.  Everything is complete.  Our knowledge, our understanding, even the beauty that we experience.

0:14:23.9

And then we come to this reference to 24 thrones and 24 elders that are seated on these thrones.  What is that all about?  These are some mysterious beings that we have to kind of understand—who they are, why are they there, and how are we to understand this.  Well, scholars throughout the ages have been kind of mixed on their interpretation here.  Some say they’re angels.  Others say that the 24 elders represent the saints from all the ages, Old Testament and New Testament, the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles.  Well, the math works there, but it might be a little bit a stretch to apply the number 24 that way.  Still another group says that this represents the Church.  Now, in the Old Testament…again, a lot of times you interpret the book of Revelation and the symbolism of it by reaching back into the Old Testament and finding some clues.  In the Old Testament there was a body of elders, 24 of them, that represented the entirety of the body of priests that served the house of Israel.  And I think this is probably a reference to that.  And in the same way that those 24 priest in the Old Testament represented an entire body of priests that served the house of Israel, these 24 elders probably are singularly representing the Church in its entirety.  And that’s where I land in an interpretive way, that these 24 elders are best a representation of the Church, the Church, the raptured Church of Jesus Christ in heavenly worship.  Why else do I say that?  Well, because it goes on to tell us that these 24 elders are clothes in white garments, a reference to the fact that they have experienced forgiveness.  They have experienced redemption, something that angels never experienced by the way.  Peter tells us that angels look into our experience with the grace of God and with redemption and forgiveness…they look into it with curiosity.  But they are not participants in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as we are.  So the fact that these elders are clothed in white garments, they can’t be angels.  It, again, points to the Church, the saints who have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.  And it also tells us that they’re wearing golden crowns, a very interesting reference here.

0:17:03.8

Now, in the Bible and in the Greek New Testament there are two words that can be translated crowns, two specific kinds of crowns with distinct Greek words that are applied to it.  One is called the diadem.  The crown that is the diadem is the one that a sovereign king or a ruler will wear.  The other is the stephanos.  And it comes from the Greek games.  If you remember the victor’s crown, that wreath of leaves that the athlete would wear who won the athletic contest.  That’s known as the stephanos or the victor’s crown.  So in the book of Revelation Jesus wears the diadem, the sovereign king, the ruling king.  Believers in Jesus Christ who have won the victory, who have overcome through faith in Jesus Christ, they wear the stephanos.  Guess what crown the 24 elders are wearing?  They're wearing the stephanos.  Okay?  Another indication this is probably believers who have come to faith in Jesus Christ and, in the language of Revelation, have overcome.  They are the overcomers.  They are the victors.  And so for a lot of reasons I don’t believe this points to angels.  It doesn’t necessarily point to all the saints of all the ages, Old Testament and New Testament.  It point primarily to the Church.  Why is the Church in heaven?  Again, we just infer this from the book of Revelation.  But from chapter 3 to chapter 4 we find the Church represented by these 24 elders.  Where?  Not on earth, but in heaven.  And interestingly enough…this is an argument from silence.  I understand that.  But from chapters 6 through to rest of chapter 18 and further, there is no mention of the Church.  While all the description of the Tribulation period, Daniel’s 70^th week, Jacob’s trouble, all of that, there’s no reference to the Church with (0:19:00.1) anything that is going on on planet earth during that apocalyptic period of time.  Why?  Because the Church is in heaven worshipping God and also going through something we know as the judgment seat of Christ.

0:19:16.3

Now, there are two judgments in the Bible.  One is a final judgment.  You can go all the way to the end of the book of Revelation 20, and you’ll run into something known as the Great White Throne Judgment.  This is a judgment at the end of the age, just before the eternal state all of that, where unbelievers will be resurrected and will stand before the Great White Throne of God and be judged for their unbelief.  This is also the time that the scripture tells us that God will cast both death and Hades and the inhabitants of those places into the lake of fire, a reference to hell itself.  That’s for unbelievers, the Great White Throne Judgment.  But there is a judgment (0:20:00.1) for believers known as the judgment seat of Christ.  And this is not to judge our worthiness to enter heaven or not.  That’s already been determined at the cross of Christ.  This is not to condemn us.  This is to reward us based on faithful service to Lord Jesus Christ since we’ve placed our faith and trust in Him.  It’s the believer’s day of reward.  And the Bible tells us in a couple of different places, 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 9, even Romans 14, that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, we must all—listen to this—we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.  This is not a day where you can call in sick.  This is not a day where you can say, “No, I’m on vacation today.  Don’t want to be there for the judgment.”  All right?  But think of this a little bit like a high school graduation.  Everybody graduates.  Everybody who is there at the judgment seat of Christ gets into heaven, not because of their good works, but because of the work of Jesus on the cross.  Because of their faith and trust in Him.  That’s already been determined.  But like a high school graduation, some graduate with honors, some just graduate.  You understand what I’m talking about there?  Yeah, got a little laugh.  Yeah, some of you do.  Some of you graduate just by the hair of your chinny chin chin.  But it’s still a day of celebration, right?  Because you get the diploma in your hands.  And that’s the way it is with the judgment seat of Christ.  If we had time we could go to 1 Corinthians 3 where Paul says our works as we serve the Lord will be tested and tried to determine whether they are gold, silver and precious stone, or whether they burn up like wood, hay and stubble.  And there may be some surprises on that day.  There may be some surprises on that day.  People that you thought were faithful servants.  Pastors you maybe thought were faithful servants of the Lord, but their hearts were not right or whatever.  And with those laser-like eyes that only the great Judge of the earth can see, He judges those works.  And rewards are handed out.  These are the golden crowns that the 24 elders wear.  They’re pictured in chapter 4 as having already gone through this believer’s day of reward, this judgment seat of Christ.  They're now wearing their crowns.  So some will be rewarded wonderfully.  And, believe me, it’s not just the people who are visible on the church platform.  Again, maybe there will be some surprises on that day.  And maybe the person who faithfully serves over here in a non-descript sort of way…and God rewards that person.

0:22:56.5

The study of biblical and heavenly rewards is a fascinating one in scripture.  And in a day where, you know, everybody gets a trophy—you know, that sort of goofy stuff—no, some people do and some people don’t.  Even in heaven.  Now, heaven will be heaven for anyone who is there by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  It’ll be more heavenly for some who faithfully served and who received, well, at least one of five crowns, specific crowns that are mentioned in the New Testament.  Let me just highlight them real quickly.  The first is the crown of life.  This is for those who are faithful in managing the trials and the temptations of life.  James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial.  For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”  Another one is temptation crown of glory.  This is for Christian leaders who serve with humility and with faithfulness.  1 Peter 5:2-4 says, “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercise oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”  Great words for pastors and ministry leaders and deacons and elders and anybody in a leadership position in the Church to listen to how we are to lead.  But then it goes on to say, “And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”  It’s one of those golden crowns worn by the 24 worshipping elders.  Next is the crown of rejoicing.  This is for those who lead others to faith in Jesus Christ.  This is a crown for soul winners in the body of Christ.  1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 Paul talks about his relationship to the Thessalonians.  He says, “You are our joy, our hope, our crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming.  Is it not you?  For you are our glory and crown.”  He saw those that he led to faith in Jesus Christ as his crown of glory in heaven.  There is a fourth crown.  This is called the crown of righteousness.  It’s for those that finish well and wait with longing for the return of Jesus Christ.  2 Timothy 4:8 says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day.  And not only to me, but,” listen to this, “but also to all who have loved His appearing.”  Are you waiting with a sense of anticipation for the coming of Jesus Christ?  Do you love His appearing?  Or are you kind of quietly saying, “You know, Lord, I’ve got a good thing going on on this earth.  Can you just hold off just a little bit?  I’m enjoying myself too much.”  No, there is a crown of righteousness waiting for those who can’t wait for Jesus to come back, who’d love His appearing, and pray, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

0:26:00.6

And then, last, there’s the imperishable crown.  And this is for those that exercise spiritual discipline and self-control in the Christian life.  1 Corinthians 9:25-27, the apostle Paul gets very personal.  And he writes these words.  He says, “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.  They do it to receive a perishable wreath.”  Remember the stephanos made of leaves in the Greek games?  He’s got that in mind here.  He says, “But we receive an imperishable crown.”  He goes on to say, “So I do not run aimlessly.  I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and I keep it under control.”  And old translation says, “I buffet my body and make it my slave.”  Somebody once said, “Yeah, I buffet my body too.  Every day.”  That’s not what’s in mind here.  No buffet.  No buffet.  He says, “Lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified.”  Not that you’d lose your salvation, but Paul feared, having made it to the games, that he might hear the words, “You’re disqualified.  You lose, not your salvation, your heavenly reward.”  That’s why on the judgment day for believers at the judgment seat of Christ, God hasn’t wiped away all tears yet.  He does that later.  There might be some tears during this time.  There might be some people who well up, realizing the lost opportunities, the lack of self-discipline to live the Christian life well and to live it successfully.  And that heavenly reward slips away from them.  Now, do you notice what these 24 elders do with their crowns?  Look again in verses 10 and 11.  “The twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever.  They lay their crowns before the throne and say, ‘You are worthy, oh Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’”  When they received their rewards, they don’t walk around like proud peacocks in heaven with their crowns, you know.  None of that.  No, they take their crowns, and they cast it before the throne.  And they sings, “Worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lord God Almighty.”  It’s a powerful scene, powerful scene.

0:28:57.3

Now, in chapter 5, the worship experience just heightens.  And I want you look with me in verse 8 and following.  It says, “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.”  Let me just stop right there.  That sounds really mysterious, doesn’t it?  God has some bowls of incense that represent the prayers of the saints.  If that doesn’t motivate your prayer life, I don’t know what will.  God keeps a record of our tears, the Bible says.  And He keeps a record of our prayers.  And in some kind of mysterious way, heaven obligates itself to the prayers of the saints.  Yes, God is sovereign, but He won’t do anything but in response to the prayers of His people.  And the 24 elders are holding these golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.  “And they sang a new song.”  Yeah, there’s gonna be new music in heaven.  I hope not every good song has to have been written 400 years ago.  No, there’s some new music that is wonderful, to lead us in times of worship.  And there’s a new song that is sun in heaven.  And they say, ‘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 honor 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 honor and glory and might forever and ever!’  And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.  You know what’s happening here?  First, the Church praises and worships God, then the 24 elders cast their crowns before Him.  And they cry out in a new song, followed by the angels, the four living creatures, which I don’t have time to go into today.  But the four living creatures, yes, are probably angels, the worship leaders of a larger choir of angels described as thousands up on thousands, myriads upon myriads.  In other words, an innumerable number of angels joined the chorus of worship in heaven.  And then by verse 13 every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea joins in in this worship experience.

0:31:49.1

By the way, what do you think of Jesus?  What’s your opinion of Him?  Is it formed by people who say, “Yeah, that Jesus, He was a good moral man and taught some lofty ideals and that’s about the extent of it.”  Or are you listening to what the angels say of Jesus, the angels who know Him best?  Oh, yeah, when the Church worships Jesus, the world kind of turns away.  But when the angels, who have been with Him for a lot longer and have proximity to Him…they know Him like the world doesn’t.  And they say things about Him the world never will.  Like, “You are worthy, Jesus, of honor and glory and power and wealth and wisdom and might.  It all belongs to you.”  Oh, there have been despots and dictators and world leaders that have tried to steal a little bit of that from time to time.  And God in his sovereignty allows that for a period of time.  But every one that rises up He brings down.  The only One who is worthy of all honor and glory and wisdom and wealth and power is the lamb who looks like a lion and the lion who looks like a lamb.  The One who, as it were, was slain for you and for me.  And the One who is coming again.  Ultimately, every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea joins in the worship experience.  Friends, you and I were created for worship.  If you get nothing else from Revelation 4 and 5, just know, we were created for worship.  We will worship something or someone, and too often in place of the One who alone is worthy of our worship.

0:33:40.4

Last night, we huddled up as a family and we watched a Hollywood movie, one of those On Demand things from our cable company, called “Concussion”.  And it’s all about that debate in the NFL about the violence of the game and how it relates to head trauma and future neurological problems.  If you haven’t seen some of this in the news, oh my.  The NFL is on their back feet, kind of like the tobacco companies were when people were making the link between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer.  The tobacco companies denied it for a long time.  The NFL is denying the connection here.  But there is a pathologist who published his research.  And, boy, he’s just stirring up a hornet’s nest in the NFL because some fear that that game may go away one day.  As parents say, “No, I’m not gonna let little Johnny, you know, smash heads like two rams, you know.”  You don’t know what the impact is one day.  I played football in high school.  That explains everything, all right.  That explains everything.  But in the movie there is one of the characters who is associated with the NFL.  And he’s waxing eloquently about the splendor and the majesty and the beauty of the game.  And he gets all frothed up.  And he says, “And that day that used to belong to the church now belongs to the NFL.”  And, you know, he’s got a point.  In some people’s world, that’s true.  We just can’t help worshiping something or someone.  Oh, it’s not thousands upon thousands and myriads and myriads of angels in the stands.  No, it’s people like you and me, created in the image of God, who fill stadiums all across this land on the Lord’s day and ascribe worth and glory, gridiron glory to the gods on the playing field there.  You say, “Pastor, you’re overplaying it a little bit.”  Am I?  Am I really overplaying it?  Again, we’re created for worship.  We will worship something or someone.  And whether it’s a team or a player or a sport.  I mean, some people get so frothed up by their fantasy football team, they sound like the angels in heaven when they’re talking about Jesus.  It may be a sporting event.  It may be an entertainment thing or some other thing that you enjoy.  Worship is when we ascribe worth and glory and honor and praise and wisdom and wealth to the One who alone in this universe is worthy of it.  And that’s Jesus Christ.  But as people who were created in the image of God and created to worship Him, if you don’t worship Jesus, something else will slip into that space and become the object of your worship.  It may not be a football team.  It may be that person you look at in the mirror.  You say, “I’m the object of my worship.”

0:37:12.8

Friends, let’s let Revelation 4 and 5, this vision of the Church in heavenly worship, prepare our hearts now for what we will do completely and perfectly in heaven.  And that is to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.  Read again what the Church sings.  Read what the angels say.  Read what every creature under heaven and on earth and in the sea and under the earth will eventually say.  Because the Bible says every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.  That day is coming, friends.  And as John prays later in the book of Revelation, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”  Amen?  Let’s pray together.

0:38:04.4

Father, thank You so much for this time in Your Word.  Thank You for giving us a glimpse behind the scenes into something that is so mysterious and so majestic to us.  Something that we as human beings have a difficult time understanding and grasping.  But, Lord, may this glimpse just sync up in our hearts in a way that we learn to worship You and ascribe true value and worth to the things that really do matter in life.  And that is our relationship with You.  I pray for anybody here today who maybe has said, “You know, I don’t know what it means to worship Jesus.  In fact, if the truth were known, I worship my football team or my job or my new house or my new car, my entertainment, my recreation, anything that I give the most of my time and attention to.”  That’s the object of our worship.  And maybe today is that day where they realize, “No, I was created uniquely in the image of God to worship His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is worthy of all honor and glory and power and wisdom and wealth.”  Because that lion became a lamb who died on the cross and paid the penalty for our sins and rose again from the dead.  And that lamb is coming back like a lion.  He’s coming back one day.  The question is, are you prepared for it?  Have you met the lion who became a lamb?  Are you prepared for that lamb to return as a lion?  He’s coming again.  He promised He would.  And the Church has prayed for 2000 years, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”  Father, we echo that prayer today.  But would You give us one more moment for some to come to faith in Christ and to put their trust in Him?  Thank You for the cross.  Thank You for this One who appears, as it were, to have been slain.  Who humbled himself enough to be on that cross and to die for our sins and was raised in great glory and honor and is seated on high.  We worship Him today, Father, as best as we know how.  And help us to do that even better in the future.  I pray in Jesus’ name and for His sake, amen.

0:41:18.1