REVIEW
 
So, we are continuing our series today that is based on the Book of Revelation entitled “The Revelation.” I call it the Revelation because who it reveals to us is the only one true revelation, Jesus Christ. 
 
Yes, many believe that this last Book of the Bible is a book “revealing” many different things, but the truth is that it is primarily meant to reveal to us one thing, the Truth Himself. Therefore, when we read this Book through this lens—that it is actually good news and not bad news—it will produce hope instead of dread.   
 
So, a couple of weeks ago, we looked at the seven golden lampstands—those seven churches of Asia Minor that Jesus had the apostle John write letters to. And while we did not spend a fraction of the time we could have spent studying Jesus’ words to these seven churches described in Revelation chapters 2-3, we did look at what I called seven pillars contained in these seven letters to the churches. These were seven things that we see repeated and emphasized in these seven letters that not only related to the church then, but to the church of today as well.
 
Now some of these seven things were encouraging words and others were corrections. But we saw that even though five of these churches were corrected for many things, John did not see a couple of golden lampstands and then the other five were silver, bronze, etc. No, he saw seven golden churches—showing us that even though some churches and their members are “tarnished” with sin, flaws, and failures, they were still gold—the most precious commodity in the kingdom of God. Amen! 
 
Then, last week, we moved on to Revelation chapter 4 & 5 and looked at the transition of this Book. We saw that “after these things” the apostle John looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. So, we saw from this that the veil has been rent! Now we can enter into His most holy place by the precious blood of the Lamb! And it is from this spiritual place that not only we can worship Him, but where we can see things from His perspective better.   
 
Which is exactly what the Lord invited John to do—to “come up hither” and see the things which would take place after this. I made the point that I believe this statement is extremely important in leading into the things John saw and wrote down for us. Why? It is because everything the Lord showed him that was to take place was from “up there.” In other words, it was from heaven’s perspective, not an earthly, carnal perspective.
 
I stated last week that it is for this reason that I believe much of the things we have written in the Book of Revelation between chapters 4 & 22 are written from a spiritual perspective and are not necessarily describing to us literal events. So, in my opinion, for people to spend their time trying to make all of these things fit into the worldly events we will experience might not be exactly correct.
 
But the main point the Holy Spirit made to us was that we all should have more of a heavenly perspective on things. I believe this is even more important for the days we are currently living in because all of the things we are experiencing in this world right now and the things that lie ahead require a spiritual perspective to where we can see what is really happening, and for us not to get swept away with the issues of this world.
 
Church, we need to “come up hither” too and become more spiritually minded concerning these things because when we do, a new perspective of the Revelation will occur: We will have hope replace the fear! We will have excitement substituted for dread! And we will have joy overcome the anxiety!       
 
Then in the second verse of Revelation chapter 4, John began explaining what he saw. So, we learned that what John saw first is what we need to see first in our lives—the throne and the One who is seated on it! In other words, we need to see what the highest authority is and who is He who is seated in that seat of ultimate authority—and we can see that it is El Elyon Himself!
 
You see, church, no matter what happens on this earth. No matter how bad things get. The Lord God Almighty will always remain on the throne! He doesn’t fall off! He doesn’t change. He doesn’t deviate from His consistent rule and victory over all! That’s only us who does that—and the way we can keep ourselves from doing so is by opening our spiritual eyes to see the truth that God indeed is the King of kings and Lord of lords and He reigns forevermore! 
 
So, I believe it is important for us to know the first thing the apostle John saw when he came up hither. It wasn’t the dragon. It wasn’t the beast. It wasn’t the plagues, the bowls of wrath, or the judgments. No, it wasn’t all of the bad things that are to come upon the earth; it was the throne of God that he saw first.
 
You see, living down here on the earth, it is easy to keep our mind stayed on things of the earth. In other words, it is easy to focus on the curse, the death, and all of the things the god of this world is doing. But I believe we are called to elevate our way of thinking and see things, not from an earthly perspective, but from a heavenly perspective.
 
But then we read that what John saw happening around the throne of God was lost in the sound of heaven—that is, the Father was being praised and glorified by the various hosts of heaven! But we noticed that these words they were saying were not verses to songs. They were simple statements that praised and glorified Father God. 
 
But we learned that this is not just what ought to be done in heaven; we learned that what is done in heaven ought to be done on the earth too: Jesus taught us to pray like so— “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9-10). So, if we are to pray for things to be done here on the earth like they are done in heaven, then don’t you suppose we ought to be declaring the things that they do in heaven? Absolutely!
 
But aside from the praise of God the Father, do you know one of the primary things you and I are going to see in heaven? Worship of the Lamb of God! This is what we saw in Revelation chapter 5. Church, this is what they are declaring over and over in heaven—that Jesus is the One who is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. And if we have heaven’s perspective, this is what we are going to be both seeing and declaring. The Lamb is worthy! Therefore, it’s what we ought to be doing here on the earth as well.   
 
So, we ended in John chapter 12 where Isaiah’s vision of the Lord being high and lifted up in Isaiah chapter 11 is quoted. And we learned that it was seeing the Lord high and lifted up which changed Isaiah’s perspective on things. Therefore, we learned that we too ought to be lifting Christ Jesus up like they do in heaven.
 
But this is the point that I believe the Holy Spirit wants emphasized today—when we lift up and exalt Jesus on this earth through magnifying His Lordship and celebrating His salvation, all of heaven is drawn to that. He is the King of God’s kingdom and whenever and wherever the King is praised, heaven will be there to participate. Oh, glory to God!
 
Church, it is all about the Lamb. He is the Theme of heaven. He is the Song of heaven. He is the only Way to heaven. It’s all about Him. Jesus alone is worthy!
 
THE GREAT TRIBULATION
 
So now let’s move in the Book of Revelation where I will give you an overview of chapters 6-11: That means that today, we are going to cover a plethora of verses in the Book of Revelation, but again, we are not going to go verse by verse through them with me attempting to give you my explanation. I’ll leave that to the so-called eschatology experts because there are a lot of books that one can read, videos they can watch, and information on the internet to get into all of that if you care to. But what I feel the Lord would have us emphasize out of these chapters today will again be the attitude you and I should have towards these things.
 
You see, all of the things covered in Revelation 6-11 are what many consider to be part of the “Great Tribulation”—which is commonly believed to be a future seven-year period of time when God will finalize His judgment on the unbelieving world.
 
Now there are a lot of opinions out there regarding these things like whether the church will be here for this “Tribulation” or if we will be raptured before then. I don’t believe the Holy Spirit would have me give you my opinion on those things. Rather, I believe He would have us to focus our attention on being prepared for whatever might happen, not being able to correctly interpret the things that are going to happen. Amen?
 
So, that is what we are going to learn today: We are going to learn how we can be ready for not only the “Great Tribulation” that is going to come upon the earth, but also how we can be prepared for the other little tribulations that you and I face in our lives today.
 
But let me give you a quick overview of the things covered in these chapters of Revelation:
 
In Revelation 6:1-8:6, we have the opening of the Seven Seals from the Scroll the Lamb taken from the hand of God (See chapter 5). And these seven seals are a series of end-time judgments that are released on the earth. They include what are commonly known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse and the 144,000 Jews who receive their Messiah during this time-period. 
 
Then in Revelation 8:7-11:19, we have the Seven Trumpets which will be sounded by the seven angels. These events are characterized by more plagues coming upon the earth in the Last Days—which will include unprecedented natural disasters.
 
But I want you to notice that after the sounding of the fourth trumpet that John looked, and heard an angel flying through heaven saying with a loud voice, “Woe, wow, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” (Revelation 8:13). Now I would venture to say that those three woes he gave were for the three remaining trumpet blasts—which will include some terrifying things.
 
But this is what I want you to see in today’s message: While these are certainly “Woes,” they are only a “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth.” Guess who this is NOT referring to? The children of God! Glory to God, we are not the earth’s inhabitants—for while we are in the world, we are not of the world. Our citizenship is now in heaven!
 
So, to the world, yes, these are “Woes.” But to us, there is a completely different perspective to be had. We’ve got awesome things to look forward to even in the midst of these judgments—things that accompany salvation.
 
For example, there are many who read Hebrews chapter 6 and focus only on the part that talks about if one falls away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God (See Hebrews 6:4-8). Woe, they say, but keep reading … Hebrews 6:9 goes on to say, “But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.”
 
So, my point is, why do we tend towards the alarming, negative things and not ever get to this verse? In other words, why do we focus on the “Woes” when we’ve got the “Wows”!?! It’s just human tendency to see the glass as half empty and focus on the negatives.   
 
This is why we see in Revelation chapter 9 that when these locusts that come up from the bottomless pit with faces of men and tails like scorpions, they will not be given power to harm those who have the seal of God on their foreheads (See Revelation 9:4). So, my point is, even though there will be terrifying things to come upon the earth, that doesn’t mean the people of God have to be touched by it! We are redeemed from the wrath of God and His judgments on the world! Amen! (We will look further into that in a moment, but first …)
 
Now there are some things we are redeemed from, but other things that we aren’t. Sure, we are redeemed from natural things such as sickness, disease, and poverty. We are also redeemed from our sins, transgressions, and iniquities. But a couple thing that we are not redeemed from is persecution and the potential of dying for our faith.
 
You see, Jesus promised us that in the world, we will have tribulation (See John 16:33). Now the word “tribulation” simply describes a tight, heavy, and pressure situation. So, what Jesus was saying was, that as long as we are in this world, there will be tight, heavy, and pressure situations. And why? Because Satan is the god of this world, and he has control over the vast majority of people on the planet. Therefore, until that day when Jesus returns and His enemies are put under His feet, we will be harassed and persecuted by the enemy of our soul and by his representatives.  
 
However, guess what else we are redeemed from—the wrath of God. Yes, everyone who is born again, washed in the blood, and makes Jesus their personal Lord and Savior, is redeemed from the wrath to come! That much is the truth!
 
Let me take you over to some verses in First Thessalonians that teaches us this and also shows us about the attitude the church ought to have concerning these things:
 
First Thessalonians 5:1-11 says, “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”
 
Now, first of all, notice in verse 8 the truth that I believe we should put our faith and hope in when it comes to all of these things: Paul said, “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
 
Oh, praise God! This should greatly comfort and edify us in many ways! For one, God has not appointed His children to His anger and wrath. In other words, He will never be angry with us (as we regularly remind ourselves here @ HPC). Hallelujah! 
 
Now the word “appoint” comes from the Greek word tithemi which means to “set, put or lay.” So, basically Paul was saying that God has not “positioned” His people for the wrath to come. But guess what He has “put” us here for—to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ!
 
Now some take this to mean that we will be raptured before the Great Tribulation comes upon the earth. And that might be exactly how He does it. But it could also mean that even when the fire is going on around us, we come out of it without even the smell of smoke. Amen!
 
So, whether we are here through the Great Tribulation to come or we at some point at the beginning of these birth pangs are taken off the earth, the bottom line is that our lot is salvation, deliverance, and protection! Period. Amen!
 
You see, as the apostle Paul goes on to say, Jesus died for us! So, whether we are awake or sleeping, whether we are here or not, we are promised that we should live together with Him. Like Paul says in verse 11, these are the words that we are to comfort and edify one another with! And I’m here today to do just that, church! 
 
Now notice back in verse 1, Paul told this church that concerning the times and the seasons, they had no need that he should write them. That’s the way I feel about these things too—that concerning all the questions like what’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen, etc.—you have no need that I teach you. Why? Because as Paul goes on to say in the following verse— “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night…” Notice Paul said that we know this perfectly, not just partially. So, we know completely that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. You know, this is something that is crystal clear about the last days that so many fail to emphasize—that Jesus is returning!
 
I wonder why everyone wants to spend all their time interpreting the events of Revelation when the thing that we see repeated time and time again in the Scriptures is Jesus’ Second Coming. Now again, whether one believes this is before the Great Tribulation, in the middle of it, or at the end of it, that’s irrelevant. My mentality has always been and always will be—just be ready for whatever happens, not necessarily try to understand what’s going to happen. And that is what Jesus constantly taught us and what the early church evidently echoed—that He is coming again soon and very soon!
 
But there is another truth about His Second Coming we need to understand and that is that His day will come like a thief would come in the middle of the night—that is, when those in the world are not expecting Him to.
 
So, what that teaches me is that trying to interpret the times and seasons might not be the best use of our time. What we should do, however, is live our lives ready by being sober, awake, and watching. 
 
Now there is a place for knowing the times and the seasons. Otherwise, we would not have been given the information we have by Jesus, Daniel, John, and even Paul here when he said in verse 3— “When they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them…” And the fact is, this information is vital to being able to weather the storms when they do come.
 
TIME TO DO THE MATH
 
A good example of this is found in James chapter 1: In the beginning of his letter, Pastor James says, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (James 1:2). Now the word “count” there is an accounting term. It means to conclude, the calculate, to consider. So, what this teaches me is that when I fall into various trials, I need to sit down, gather myself, and “do the math.”
 
You see, it is easy to let our emotions take control when we are going through an alarming situation, but here we see that we need to be “logical” from a spiritual perspective. Instead of flipping out about the bad things going on around me, I can gather myself and “add up” all the information Jesus has given me about situations like this. For example, my response might be: “Ah, Jesus told me not to think it strange concerning things like this happening in my life. In fact, He told me that they are opportunities to please God—for without faith it is impossible to please God. So, that means that with more faith (i.e. having to walk less by sight, feelings, etc.) I can please Him more. That means if I rejoice now, if I praise Him now, and if I worship Him now by faith, I can bring a bigger smile to His face. So, let’s do it!” What did I just do? I just “counted it all joy.”
 
Then in verse 3, James told us one of the main reasons we can count it all joy: He said, “knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”
 
So, notice what James uses as motivation for us counting it all joy when problems come into our lives. It is not looking ahead to our victory & deliverance from the problem. He essentially said, “We are to count it all joy knowing that it is producing patience in us!” In other words, James was using the spiritual benefits of character being built in us and virtues being developed in us as the motivation for us rejoicing in the midst of life’s difficulties. How awesome is that!?!
 
Now, again, this is something where we are going to have to settle ourselves down and prayerfully consider how we think about these trials & tribulations and what our response ought to be. If we respond emotionally, we will usually be led astray. We’ve got to “count” things.   
 
Then notice what Pastor James says next in verse 4 – “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
 
You see, I see this verse as like a picture of pregnancy: The patience being developed in us through these trials is like the baby. But like it is with pregnancy, the baby needs the time to grow and develop in the womb. So, we need to let the patience have her perfect work in us in order that we may be truly perfect and complete.
 
Now I know we don’t want to stay in the trials and tribulations any longer than we have to, but this verse makes it clear that there are certain spiritual benefits to carrying it out full term. Amen? Imagine what a monstrosity it would be if a woman were to conceive a child one day and then go into labor the next day!?! She wouldn’t have had time to “count” it all joy, would she?
 
Likewise, we need time to make all the mental and spiritual calculations necessary to be perfect and complete to where we are lacking nothing. Amen or oh me? 
 
BABY, IT’S ON THE WAY!
 
But back in First Thessalonians 5:3, notice how Paul describes these destructive times that are to come— “as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.” This is an analogy that we see used by the Master Himself. Let’s look at …
 
In Matthew 24:4-8, Jesus answered His disciple’s question about what will be the signs of the end-times and the end of the world as we know it. He said, “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
 
Now when you look up the word “sorrows” it describes these birth pangs (i.e. the pain of childbirth). Now in the verses preceding, Jesus describes false-Christs, wars, rumors of wars, famines, plagues, and pestilences (See verses 5-7). These are things He called the beginning of labor pains at childbirth. So, let’s run with this for a moment—for in the mouth of these two witnesses—the apostle Paul and the Lord Jesus—we can see that these end time events are likened to labor pains upon a pregnant woman.
 
When a woman discovers she is pregnant, is this generally a time of depression and discouragement? I understand that sometimes that could be the initial reaction because the man and woman were not trying to have a child. But when a couple is trying to have a baby and they find out they are going to have one, they rejoice! Then, after carrying the child through the three trimesters, there is obviously discomfort for the woman. She might have morning sickness. Her belly makes things less comfortable. And whatever else goes on. But then, when those birth pangs begin, things become real!
 
Of course, those contractions start gradually and pretty far apart (15 or 20 minutes). But then once they start getting closer together, like say 5 minutes, she is encouraged to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Then, when they get to around 2 minutes apart, baby is almost here!
 
Now I know that it is not comfortable to give birth to a child and many women consider it to be the worst physical pain they’ve ever experienced. But I have never heard a woman who has gone through this say that they wish they would have never become pregnant after holding that baby in her arms. Likewise, I know the end times will hold many painful contractions, but we need to always be mindful that they are simply a part of the process of the birth of something beautiful! That is something to rejoice in! 
 
Now whether or not the church are the “Sons” of God who will purely be spectators to the labor pains the woman goes through or if we are the “bride” of Christ who will experience these birth pangs first hand, what we do know is that neither the man nor the woman ought to let the contractions that will come upon the earth be their focal point. As it is with childbirth in the natural, the process is not the focal point. The fact that the little bundle of joy is on the way is where the focus is at! Therefore, like Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, all who are Christ’s ought to be willing to endure said birth pangs for the joy that is set before us. And what is that joy? It is the birth of the new heavens and the new earth where only righteousness dwells and we will rule and reign with Him forever and ever! Glory to Jesus!  
 
Now another interesting point is that in the process of childbirth, something else is supposed to happen. The woman’s water needs to break which, of course, speeds up the process of the delivery. Well, I see this water breaking as another great sign of the last days—for we are promised the outpouring of the latter rain in those days! Glory to God!
 
How many of you know that out of our belly will flow rivers of living water, and this is the promise of the Holy Spirit being poured out in abundance over the whole earth! Glory! These are exciting times we are living in, saints!   
 
All this points to the fact that you and I ought to be “expecting” (i.e. hope) because, oh “baby,” do we have something to look forward to! Amen?
 
So, the point I want to leave you with today is the encouragement that it is not for us to eat from these bowls of wrath—for we are not appointed to God’s wrath! Our lot is salvation and all that goes with it. So, whether we are here, or we are gone, we need not fear these birth pangs that are coming upon the earth.
 
In fact, these plagues that we read about in Revelation are reminiscent of the plagues that came upon Egypt (which was a type of the world), but guess who was protected from the plagues even though they dwelt in the land of the Egyptians? God’s people in the Land of Goshen!
 
Glory to God, church! We live in Goshen—which is that proverbial secret place of the Most High where we dwell under the shadow of the Almighty (See Psalm 91:1). So, no matter how hot the fires of judgment get here on the earth, know that you do not have to get burned by it.
 
Just apply the Blood of the Lamb to your doorpost and trust God to protect you for the destruction that will come upon Egypt around you! 

​REVIEW
 
So, we are on a new series right now based on the Book of Revelation, which I have entitled “The Revelation.” The reason I call it this is because this final Book of the Bible is not called “Revelations” even though most people refer to it that way. No, the apostle John calls it— “the Revelation of Jesus Christ.”
 
And so in part one of this series, we spent the entire time seeing that this Book is not the Book of Revelations, such as a revelation of the antichrist, a revelation of the tribulation, the revelation of judgment, etc., etc., etc. No, this Book of the Bible’s purpose and intent is to reveal to us one thing—namely, one Person—and His name is Jesus Christ!
 
Therefore, when we read this Book through the lens that it is actually good news and not bad news, it will produce a different emotional response in us. Like we saw in Revelation 1:3, it will make us happy when we read and hear the words contained in it, not fearful and confused. 
 
So, we started out studying the “End Times” in a way we may never have heard it before. We got excited about the things that lie ahead! We started out rejoicing in the things the Lord has told us were on the horizon! We did this because we emphasized Who this Book reveals to us—JESUS!
 
For example, we learned that Jesus is the “apocalypse!” Now this word generally terrifies people because they only associate it with the doom, the judgment, and the woes that are coming on the earth at the end. But the word “apocalypse” is simply the word for “Revelation” in that it comes from the Greek word apokalypsis. So, while the picture that has been painted of the apocalypse is smeared with doom, gloom, destruction, and judgment, technically it doesn’t “reveal” that to us. No, the apocalypse is “the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
 
In fact, we learned that Jesus Christ is the revelation, not just in this final Book of the Bible, but all throughout the Scriptures because He is the Word. Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and that includes end-time prophecy.
 
So, last week, we looked at the seven golden lampstands—those seven churches of Asia Minor that Jesus had the apostle John write letters to. And while we did not spend a fraction of the time we could have spent studying Jesus’ words to these seven churches, we did look at what I called seven pillars contained in these seven letters to the churches. This was seven things that we see repeated and emphasized in these seven letters that not only related to the church then, but to the church of today as well.
Now some of these seven things were encouraging words and others were corrections. But we saw that even though five of these churches were corrected for many things, John did not see a couple of golden lampstands and then the other five were silver, bronze, etc. No, he saw seven golden churches—showing us that even though some churches and their members are “tarnished” with sin, flaws, and failures, they were still gold—the most precious commodity in the kingdom of God. Amen! 
 
But the fact is we covered seven very important things that the church today needs to be reminded of and emphasize. If you missed last week’s message, I encourage you to go to our website and listen to it and get a hold of the video and watch it. There is bound to be at least one of those pillars that the Holy Spirit will encourage you to apply to your life so your spiritual house can stay solid and strong. 
 
WE HAVE AN OPEN DOOR!
 
Now, this week, I want us to pick up in Revelation chapter 4 where we have a transition. We see that “after these things” the apostle John looked and saw a door standing open in heaven:
 
This illustrates to me something awesome: I see it as a metaphor that the door to heaven is indeed open for the Lord’s church. Yes, we have access with boldness into the Holiest and can enter into His presence whenever we want, however much we want! Glory to God!
 
So, look at this more as an invitation for you rather than just what the apostle John experienced. The door to God’s presence along with seeing His kingdom come and His will be done is always open and available to us.
 
And let me remind you, this is not a physical place. We don’t have to wait until we come to church or go to some other religious institution to experience heaven on earth. No, our “closet” or “secret place” is wherever we decide to make it.
 
Jesus taught the woman at the well this lesson when she brought up the subject of where one ought to worship. Was it on this mountain or was it only in Jerusalem? Jesus clarified that the hour was coming—and now is—when men and women would not need to go to a physical place to worship God. They only need to worship in spirit and in truth! (See John 4:21-24). In other words, the true worshippers that God seeks now don’t have to go to a physical place to do so like “in church”; now they simply worship in Spirit and in truth. Glory be to God!
 
That means we only need get into the spirit like John did (Revelation 1:10). That’s where God is, and that’s where we can go too! In fact, that is where we must go in order to truly worship Him effectively.  
 
Church, the veil has been rent! Now we can enter into His most holy place by the precious blood of the Lamb! And it is from this spiritual place that not only we can worship Him, but where we can see things from His perspective better. Let’s take a deeper look into that …   
 
COME UP HITHER!
 
Then John heard a voice like a trumpet say to him, “Come up here (KJV- Come up hither), and I will show you things which must take place after this.” I believe this statement is extremely important in leading into the things John saw and wrote down for us. Why? It is because everything the Lord showed him that was to take place was from “up there.” In other words, it was from heaven’s perspective, not an earthly, carnal perspective.
 
It is for this reason that I believe much of the things we have written in the Book of Revelation between chapters 4 & 22 are written from a spiritual perspective and are not necessarily describing to us literal events. So, in my opinion, for people to spend their time trying to make all of these things fit into the worldly events we will experience might not be exactly correct.
 
But here is an important point for us: How many of you know that we all should have more of a heavenly perspective on things? I believe this is even more important for the days we are currently living in because all of the things we are experiencing in this world right now and the things that lie ahead require a spiritual perspective to where we can see what is really happening, and for us not to get swept away with the issues of this world.
 
Church, we need to understand that there is a spiritual world that is even more real than this physical world. In fact, the spiritual world parented this physical world we live in. A great example of this is in the story of Elisha and his servant in Second Kings 6:14-17:
 
In this story, Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the king’s army, and the servant feared, asking the prophet what they were going to do. And Elisha answered and said to his servant— “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them!” Then Elisha prayed and asked the Lord to open the eyes of the young man that he may see what he saw, and the Lord opened his eyes to see the mountain being full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
 
You see, fear gripped the young man when he looked only through his natural eyes. But when his spiritual eyes were opened to see what was happening in the spirit realm around them, he was seeing from “up there.” Saints, that’s how we ought to look at everything! We must look at things “in the spirit” and from “up hither.” This is where we can live on a higher plain than the vast majority of this world because we are seeing things as they truly are.  
 
And I believe that is exactly what so many have failed to do in regard to this subject we are covering right now. They have only looked at the Book of Revelation through a carnal, natural perspective and in doing so, it has sparked fear and anxiety in their hearts.
 
Church, we need to “come up hither” too and become more spiritually minded concerning these things because when we do, a new perspective of the Revelation will occur: We will have hope replace the fear! We will have excitement substituted for dread! And we will have joy overcome the anxiety!       
 
THE THRONE ROOM OF GOD
 
So, we see in Revelation 4:1 that the Lord called John up to enter that door of heaven so that He could show him things from that spiritual perspective …
 
Then in verse 2, John began explaining what he saw: He said, “Immediately I was in the Spirit…” Now this is opposed to being in the flesh, right? You see, if we are in the flesh, we won’t see these spiritual realities. Our senses will be dominated by natural, carnal things. We will be moved by what we see instead of what we should be seeing—for we are called to look at things that are unseen instead of only looking at what we can see (“See” Second Corinthians 4:18).
 
And let me tell you how one can more readily be “in the Spirit” than “in the flesh”: As Jesus said in the Garden on the eve of His crucifixion— “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation—for the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41).
 
You see, the watching is simply being willing to keep our spiritual antenna up and the praying is us staying connected to the spirit. If we do this regularly, we can get out of a flesh dominated life and get into the spirit where we can see things from a totally different perspective. Amen? 
 
Then notice what the first thing John describes that he saw when he entered this open door of heaven— “…and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.” Oh, glory to God, what John saw first is what we need to see first in our lives—the throne and the One who is seated on it! In other words, we need to see what the highest authority is and who is He who is seated in that seat of ultimate authority—and we can see that it is El Elyon Himself!
 
You see, church, no matter what happens on this earth. No matter how bad things get. The Lord God Almighty will always remain on the throne! He doesn’t fall off! He doesn’t change. He doesn’t deviate from His consistent rule and victory over all! That’s only us who does that—and the way we can keep ourselves from doing so is by opening our spiritual eyes to see the truth that God indeed is the King of kings and Lord of lords and He reigns forevermore! 
 
So, I believe it is important for us to know the first thing the apostle John saw when he came up hither. It wasn’t the dragon. It wasn’t the beast. It wasn’t the plagues, the bowls of wrath, or the judgments. No, it wasn’t all of the bad things that are to come upon the earth; it was the throne of God that he saw first.
 
This illustrates something to me: What is the first thing we see when we look in this Book of the Bible? Is it the things that generate fear or is it the glorious beauty of who Jesus is? I believe the latter is to be true for all of us.
 
You see, living down here on the earth, it is easy to keep our mind stayed on things of the earth. In other words, it is easy to focus on the curse, the death, and all of the things the god of this world is doing. But I believe we are called to elevate our way of thinking and see things, not from an earthly perspective, but from a heavenly perspective.
 
I’m going to tell you—I watch the way people have flipped out about this pandemic and other things, and I wonder—what are they are going to do if humongous hornets with the faces of men come up out of the earth and start stinging people? You know, that’s one of the things Revelation tells us is going to happen. Now like I said earlier, those things might just be the spiritual influence behind the natural things that will take place on the earth at that time, but my point is, these things we’ve experienced in 2020—although certainly inconvenient and probably as bad as any year most of us have had in our lives—is nothing compared to things others have lived through and others will live through. In other words, it could also be worse. But guess what else is true? It could all be better too! Yes, we could choose to view things from our place seated at the right hand of God.
 
Church, it is easy to look at all the bad things going on in the world and even try to spiritualize it by saying, “Oh, look at all the people dying and going to hell today!” Well, you can look at that two ways: You can either choose to focus on all the negative things the devil is doing or you can choose to focus on those who are getting saved, healed, blessed, etc. You know, that’s actually happening today as well, right? I know this good news doesn’t generally capture the headlines, but it is happening, nonetheless. Jesus even told us that the angels rejoice over the one sinner who repents rather than in ninety-nine which need no repentance (See Luke 15:10). And he never says anything about angels weeping over those who don’t repent; just that they are joyful when someone does.
 
So, that’s the mentality I believe we ought to possess all the time—rejoicing to see God’s kingdom increase and prosper instead of letting what’s going on in the kingdom of darkness steal our joy from us.     
 
You see, the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (I know you can go to some churches and that doesn’t seem to be true, but it actually is😉), but it’s righteousness, peace, and joy (See Romans 14:17). That means that in God’s kingdom three of the predominant virtues you will find are these—righteousness, peace, and joy. So, there is no depression or anxiety in heaven, only joy and peace. Therefore, if we are living our lives in the kingdom of God, then there is no room for any of these negative emotions and ways of thinking.  
 
Church, I believe there is an open door in the kingdom of heaven for us to live in its victory. But it’s going to take us “coming up hither” and living from heaven’s perspective.
 
THE SOUND OF HEAVEN
 
And as the apostle John goes on to describe in verses 3-7, heaven is amazing, containing things which are difficult to imagine! But what I want us to now look at is one specific thing that John saw happening in heaven.
 
In verse 8, he explained how these four living creatures that he saw and described in verse 7 did not rest day or night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” And then John went on to say in verses 9-11— “Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: ‘You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.’”
 
So, what John saw happening around the throne of God was lost in the sound of heaven—that is, the Father was being praised and glorified by the various hosts of heaven! But I want you to notice that these words they were saying were not verses to songs. They were simple statements that praised and glorified Father God. 
 
You know, sometimes I feel that we let the praise God desires be inhibited by our apparent lack of ability to sing well. We say things like— “Well, I cannot carry a tune like so and so.” But, again, they were making simple statements declaring things about the Father, not necessarily singing songs to Him.
 
I’m guessing we all should be doing this. Why? How many of you know that Jesus taught us to pray like so— “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9-10)? So, if we are to pray for things to be done here on the earth like they are done in heaven, then don’t you suppose we ought to be declaring the things that they do in heaven? Absolutely!
 
Now I know that not every word we say or song we sing needs to be verse for verse what we read here in Revelation. There certainly is the place for psalms, hymns and spiritual songs too, where we declare other things. But I also believe it is clear that heaven sounds like this. Therefore, this ought to be a part of our verbiage too.  
 
WORTHY IS THE LAMB
 
But do you want to know one of the primary things you and I are going to see in heaven is this—that the Lamb of God alone is worthy! This is what we see in Revelation chapter 5 …
 
Following the worship of God by the four beasts and twenty-four elders, in this chapter, we now have our concentration placed upon the sealed scroll that is in the right hand of God. This scroll represents the eternal inheritance that is awaiting the saints of God and God’s redemptive plan for us to obtain it. The seven seals represent the events that must take place before the saints can receive that redemption & inheritance.
 
So, a search begins for one who is worthy to receive this scroll, break the seals and reveal its contents.  And no angel nor man is found worthy to open it, and the situation seems hopeless. But then, the Lamb—which we know to be the Lord Jesus Christ—comes onto the scene and, rightfully, takes the scroll from God’s hand. John is shown that the Lamb is the only One that is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll.
 
And what we see in the remaining part of this chapter is the praise & worship that is given to the worthy Lamb of God where they said the following things:
 
Verses 9-10: And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”
 
Verse 12: saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
 
Verse 13: … I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
 
Church, this is what they are declaring over and over in heaven—that Jesus is the One who is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. And if we have heaven’s perspective, this is what we are going to be both seeing and declaring. The Lamb is worthy!  
 
Like we’ve seen in the Book of Revelation, it all points to the Lamb of God and how He alone deserves all the glory, all the worship, and all the praise!
 
IS IT JUST THUNDER?
 
Now, finally, I want us to go over to John chapter 12—because I believe it illustrates to us many of these things we’ve been learning here today: In John 12:28-41, we have an interesting event in the ministry of Jesus:
 
In verse 28, Jesus turned His voice towards His Father and said, “Father, glorify your name.” Then we are told that a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” Now this was not God speaking just to Jesus—for we see in verse 29 that the people who stood by and heard it thought it had thundered. But others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.”
 
So, what was it about this audible voice of God that caused some to think it was just normal thunder and others thought it was angel? Well, it had nothing to do with the audible voice; it had to do with the ears of the people present. So, what this shows us that what we perceive is based on what we have ears to hear. So, if we are predominately carnal, we might take something that is spiritual and only perceive it carnally. For example, the Bible teaches us that oftentimes we entertain angels unaware, but that doesn’t mean we have to be unaware. It’s just that we get swept along with the physical, natural, and carnal things of this world and our spiritual ears and eyes are not open to hearing and perceiving the spiritual things that are going on around us.
 
I’ll give you a great example of this: you can have two different people attend a worship service, and one person experiences the presence of God and are on their knees weeping before Him, but the other person is bored, twiddling their thumbs, and experiences nothing. How is that possible? It shows us that it’s not just on the ministers to usher us into the presence of God. We have to enter in ourselves.
 
Now, sure, there are times when His manifest presence is so obvious that just about everyone in the room will experience it, but this is not the common experience. Most of the times we are not going to be overwhelmed with His presence to where He is breaking through all the things we bring to church with us. We must press in and give Him our undivided attention and all of our hearts. This is when we will be the ones who perceive His presence and can experience the supernatural.
 
Another good example is with the preaching in church: I have ministered many times to large groups of people and while the majority of them are like— “Eh, that was alright. I enjoyed that.”—and then they go on their way never letting that truth impact them, there are others who come to me saying, “That changed my life! It was awesome! I’ll never be the same.” Both of these examples of people heard the same message, and one is changed forever, and the other is no different. What’s the difference? The hearts of the people.    
 
Now skipping ahead to verses 37-41, we see John addressing this very thing:  
 
We are told that although Jesus had done so many signs before the people, they still did not believe in Him. And the reason why is because they couldn’t—for Isaiah said prophetically, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” Then John goes on to say in verse 41, “These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.”
 
SEEING THE LORD HIGH & LIFTED UP
 
So, I want us to go back where Isaiah saw His glory—because I believe it shows us how one’s eyes can be opened and how their hearts can understand: In Isaiah chapter 6, we have Isaiah’s testimony of his experience where He saw the Lord’s glory similarly to how the apostle John saw it in Revelation.
 
In Isaiah 6:1-4, we read: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!’ And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.”
 
Notice how this sounds very similar to John’s Revelation: He saw the Lord sitting on His throne and he saw angelic being who were also singing similar praises to God saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
 
Now that last phrase is interesting—because is the whole earth really filled with His glory? To the natural eye, it doesn’t seem to be because we see the curse, sin and death filling the earth. But again, it depends on what perspective we are viewing the earth from. If we look at the earth from an earthly perspective, we will tend to only see negative things. But if we look at it from heaven’s perspective, we can see the glory of God filling the earth! Hallelujah!   
 
And guess what this experience did? It made him very aware of his own unrighteousness and inadequacies.
 
Verses 5-7 tell us the following— “So I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.’”
 
So, can you guess why the Lord’s people were hearing but not truly understanding, why they were seeing, but not really perceiving? It was because they had not had Isaiah’s experience.
 
You see, when you and I see the Lord high and lifted up, it will change our perspective. Then we will be able to truly hear His voice. Then we will be able to truly see what we need to perceive. It is these spiritual experiences that make things we read in the Bible true in our hearts.  
 
But, again, it was seeing the Lord high and lifted up which changed Isaiah’s perspective on things. And I believe that when we choose to enter that open door of heaven and begin seeing things from a heavenly perspective, we will see things like Isaiah did—the glory of the Lord filling the earth and our need to no longer fall short of that glory.
 
As Jesus also said in John 12:31-32, if He be lifted up, He will draw all men unto Himself. Now I believe these verses have multiple meanings. I believe it means that people will come when He is exalted. I also believe it means that when He was lifted up on that Cross, that He drew all sin and the judgment for that sin upon Himself.
 
But this is the point that I believe the Holy Spirit wants emphasized today—when we lift up and exalt Jesus on this earth through magnifying His Lordship and celebrating His salvation, all of heaven is drawn to that. He is the King of God’s kingdom and whenever and wherever the King is praised, heaven will be there to participate. Oh, glory to God!
 
Church, it is all about the Lamb. He is the Theme of heaven. He is the Song of heaven. He is the only Way to heaven. It’s all about Him. Jesus alone is worthy!