The Elders Around the Throne

Transcript

GR 1517
02/08/09
The Elders around the Throne
Revelation 4:4
Gil Rugh

We're studying the book of Revelation together, so turn in your Bibles to Revelation 4. We as God's people have a glorious destiny, the future for us is splendor upon splendor, wonder upon wonder, glory upon glory. And we get just a glimpse into the future as we come to the book of the Revelation.

It's divided into three major divisions, remember. Chapter 1 verse 19 divides the book into the past, which is chapter 1; the present, which is the time of the churches, chapters 2-3; and the future, which is chapter 4-22, the end of the book. The majority of the book is taken up with judgments, the judgment that will be poured out upon the earth in chapters 6-19. Because of the sin and rebellion of man, God will bring His judgment upon a sin-cursed earth. During that time He will also be working to bring the nation Israel to bow before Him and acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah and as their Savior. You know the book of Revelation is a book about judgment. Many people are uncomfortable talking about God's wrath, God's anger, God's judgment. They don't like to think of a God like this, they like to think of a God who is loving, kind. Not He gets angry and deals in vengeance. But God deals in vengeance. Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Indeed He is a God of love and mercy and kindness, those things, but that's not all He is. And the book of Revelation unfolds in great detail something of the awesome wrath of God that will culminate in the lake of fire which burns forever and ever in the ages of the ages. We see that when we get to the Great White Throne judgment in Revelation 20.

You know people like to think of God being a grandparent. You know what a grandparent is like—tolerant, indulgent. I remember telling my dad when our kids were home and young, Dad, don't do that with the kids. You're spoiling them. Dad, you never let me get away with that. He'd just smile. Now I'm a grandparent and I'm smiling. But sometimes we get the idea that this is what we like God to be like, that grandfatherly figure in the heaven, just sitting back there tolerant, understanding, easygoing, overlooking things. And none of us are perfect, but some day He'll just welcome us all to heaven. That's probably a general view of God among many people. But it's not the biblical view of God.

And so to prepare us for what is going to take place in the pouring out of the fierceness of God's wrath upon this earth, before He brings glory to a redeemed creation, we get a glimpse of God as He truly is in Rev 4-5. He is seen to be a God of great holiness, complete holiness, worshiped and served by His creation.

So when we came into chapter 4, and we've just looked at the opening verses here, in verse 2 John was summoned to experience the vision of God in heaven. And what does he see as soon as he passes through the open door into heaven? A throne was standing in heaven and One sitting on the throne. And immediately we are reminded, there is One who is absolutely sovereign over all. The Old Testament tells us, heaven rules, God rules, He sits enthroned in heaven. And a reminder He is sovereign over everything, everything that is about to unfold on this earth that is going to result in the death, not of thousands, not of millions, but of billions of people on the earth. That is now going to culminate with people cast into the lake of fire forever and ever. And the smoke of their torment rises into the ages of the ages, endless torment. Comes under the direction of this sovereign God.

He rules in the affairs of this world today. We have to go back to the book of Daniel as a reminder, Daniel 4. We'll just limit our comments on this to Daniel 4. But when you see God enthroned in heaven and this is the first thing John beholds, it is setting the stage and preparing us for what is about to take place. He is sovereignly in charge, and that is just as true today as it will be in these coming events. He is moving everything according to His purposes and His plans. So regarding earthly rulers, verse 17. You may have some of these verses marked in your Bibles, if you don't, you should. They are good reminders. The sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers, the decision is a command of the Holy Ones. Now note this, in order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind. He sits enthroned in heaven, every other ruler is a minor ruler. The Most High rules over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whom He wishes. That's why we submit ourselves to governing authorities, as Paul develops in Romans 13. Every governing authority has been established and appointed by God, from the minor rulers to the major rulers. God is working His purposes, and that includes the fact He sets over it the lowliest of men, the basest of men. So we ought to understand that. He is in charge.

Down in verse 25, the end of the verse, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes. Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of the mighty Babylonian Empire, but he had to come to learn, you don't really rule absolutely, God has placed you on the throne. Just like that God will remove you from the throne and turn you into a wild beast eating grass. Verse 26, your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is heaven that rules. The God who sits enthroned in heaven, in other words, rules over all. The end of verse 31, just this quick, sovereignty has been removed from you. The most powerful ruler on earth, sovereignty has been removed, he becomes like a wild animal eating grass. Any question that the sovereign God rules? That the greatest empire with the most powerful ruler is in place because God has placed him there. The end of verse 32, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind. He bestows it upon whomever He wishes. Are we getting the point? God doesn't repeat Himself because He has forgotten what He said, He repeats Himself so that we get the point of what He is saying. So Nebuchadnezzar learned after seven years of insanity when God graciously restores his mind. He says in verse 34, I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants on earth. We'll see this as we look further into the throne room of heaven. He does His will in heaven, all the creatures of heaven acknowledge His authority. Those on earth fight against it, but the reality does not change. And among the inhabitants on earth no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, what have you done. No one questions the sovereign God. He is in absolute charge, complete authority.

Down in verse 37, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true, His ways just and He is able to humble those who walk in pride. I look forward to meeting Nebuchadnezzar in heaven. He has seen himself as he really is, repented and acknowledges the true and living God as the only God, the One who must be obeyed.

Come back to Revelation 4. So where we see God enthroned in heaven, we are reminded that we are coming before the God who rules over all. We are about to see His purposes for bringing His creation to its appointed conclusion in preparation for the reign of His Son. So every disaster, every punishment, every judgment comes from the hand of the sovereign God who rules over all. He must mete out justice. Remember Abraham asked God in Genesis 18:25, shall not the judge of all the earth do justice. And He must, He will. And justice requires that He deal with sin, deal with the rebellion of ungodly people.

So because we anticipate the coming judgments, they all come from a sovereign God and they are fitting punishment for those who have rebelled against God. We'll see something of His holiness, the honor that is His that must be given Him. We have a hard time coming to grips with a God of judgment with an eternal hell, because we have no concept of a God of complete holiness and purity and the awfulness of sin as an offense against this God. So a low view of God and a high view of man is a total distorted view of reality.

In Revelation 4 we've seen God the Father seated on the throne in heaven. The description here, verse 3, He who was sitting was like a jasper stone. We noted that would be similar to our modern diamond, not our modern jasper. That was a crystal clear stone like our diamond, not like the modern jasper stone. That emphasized His holiness, will come to the fore repeatedly. Verse 3 goes on, He was like a sardius in appearance, that blood red color stone. That emphasizes His justice. There is a rainbow around the throne in verse 3. We saw the rainbow emphasized His mercy, going back to the days of Noah. The rainbow appeared in the days of Noah and it was a reminder of God's mercy, that He wouldn't destroy the world in a flood. And even in these awful judgments, bringing destruction on billions and ultimate hell for many, there is mercy and there will be salvation. And people will be saved during this time. And the climax of the book of Revelation is not the judgments, the climax of the book of Revelation is the glory of the eternal kingdom. And all the fulfillment of promises that God has made to those who love.

There is lightning and thunder in verse 5, out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. His glory, His power, particularly in the book of Revelation in judgment. You see the throne here? John the beloved disciple is invited into heaven and he sees God, the awesome God. You see something of His holiness, His justice, His mercy, His power and glory, the judgment He will bring. The sea of glass in verse 6, before the throne there was something like a sea of glass like crystal. We noted that sea of glass is to emphasize God's separateness from His creation. He is God, we are not. And He is separate, distinct, because He is God. Everything else has been created by Him.

Now John sees certain beings around the throne and they are divided into three distinct groups. We looked at God on the throne in the descriptions we've already briefly summarized again. We now need to look at the different beings around the throne. There are three distinct groups. First there are the twenty-four elders, verse 4, around the throne were twenty-four thrones and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting. That's the first group, the twenty-four elders. The second group, the end of verse 5, and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. So the second group, you can call them groups or individuals, depends on what we're ............ We'll look at them. The seven spirits of God. Then the third group of living beings are the four living creatures, the end of verse 6. In the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. And he goes on with this description down through in verse 8. We'll look at that in more detail as we come to that.

We want to concentrate our attention, we've looked at the throne and its description. Now let's look at these living beings and who they are. We'll pick up beginning in verse 4 with the twenty-four elders. And note the description of them. First there are twenty-four of them, they are sitting on twenty-four thrones. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. So you have the throne of God, now around the throne you have twenty-four thrones. And upon the throne are sitting twenty-four elders. They are clothed in white garments and they have golden crowns on their heads. So we have twenty-four elders, they are seated on twenty-four thrones, they are clothed in white garments and they have golden crowns on their heads.

Now if you've studied much in Revelation you know there is much discussion about the identity of the twenty-four elders. There are two basic views, we are going to limit ourselves to that and only concentrate on one, the one I believe is the most probable. There is a view that these are a group of angelic beings so they represent a certain class of angelic beings, like the cherubim or the seraphim, another group of angelic beings in heaven. The other view is that they are representative of the redeemed, and I think that they represent the redeemed is the better view. And my understanding is that they represent the church. Some divide these and say they represent twelve from Israel, the twelve tribes of Israel and twelve representing the church, like the twelve apostles. The problem I have with that, among others, and we haven't gone into this but we will in the future, is that Israel has not yet been resurrected and received resurrected bodies. I just mentioned that between chapters 3 and 4 the rapture of the church occurs, where the church is removed from the earth and caught up to meet Christ in the air, taken to heaven where it is judged and rewarded and prepared to return with Christ at the end of the seven-year tribulation. We'll talk more in detail about that between chapters 5 and 6. In order of events it occurs between chapters 3 and 4, but it will enable us to tie things together in a more complete package when we get ready to go into chapter 6. But Israel will not be resurrected in glorified bodies, judged, rewarded and enthroned until after the 70th week of Daniel. So we'll have to wait until we get to chapter 20 for the resurrection of Israel.

I think what we have here is the church represented, the church which is on earth now and was dealt with in chapter 2 and 3 will be removed from the earth and will be heaven. And I think the twenty-four elders are representative of the church following the rapture of the church. If you're not familiar with the rapture of the church, we'll talk about that before we get into chapter 6.

All right let me give you some of the reasons why. 1. The description of the elders fits the promises given to the overcomers in the churches in chapters 2 and 3. And as I go through these reasons I'm aware there are overlaps, but repetition I hope will be helpful. You'll note they are described as being in white garments in chapter 4 verse 4, they are clothed in white garments. Come back to Revelation 3, the message to the church at Sardis. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments. That's a promise to the overcomer in the churches. They will be clothed in white garments. Down in verse 18 in addressing the church at Laodicea, I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothes yourself. So the white garments are connected with promises or invitations given to the churches that we've just looked at.

They are also wearing crowns, these twenty-four elders, back in chapter 4 verse 4. They have golden crowns on their heads, the end of verse 4. Go back to chapter 3 verse 11, the message to the church at Philadelphia. I am coming quickly, hold fast what you have so that no one will take your crown. So you just have these messages given to the churches, now you have the description of the elders that pick up from what was said to the churches. It's a natural connection.

Third in this first point that they fit the promises given to the churches, these elders are seated on thrones. There were twenty-four thrones and upon the thrones twenty-four elders. Look in chapter 3 verse 21, he who overcomes, I will grant him to sit down with Me on My throne. Means they share the authority of Christ. That would fit with them now being enthroned. Why would we be enthroned? Because our Savior will rule and reign and we will rule and reign with Him. Back up to chapter 2 verse 26 in the message to the church at Thyatira, he who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron and so on. So we share the authority of Christ, we rule and reign with Him. And so I take it the picture of the church enthroned would fit that. So that connection with what was said to the churches.

Now we go back and pick up some of this with the second point in more detail. First the white garments, that's my second major point—white garments are worn by the twenty-four elders. White garments are worn by the redeemed in the book of Revelation. So not only is it connected with the churches, but they are worn by the redeemed. We'll go back and repeat a little bit of what we did. In chapter 3 verse 5 we looked at, be clothed in white garments. And we looked at verse 18, they buy white garments from Christ. Now jump over to chapter 19, now we're all the way to the end of the seven-year period that runs from chapter 6 to chapter 19. In Revelation 19 we are prepared for the return of Christ from heaven with His bride, the church. And in Revelation 19:7, let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. We'll talk more about that and the significance of that has occurred. And His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And he says blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. So you see here the church, the bride of Christ returning from heaven and they are clothed in fine linen, bright and clean, these white garments. That's not the way the angels are described, particularly in the book of Revelation.

A third point, the crowns that they are wearing, back in Revelation 4:4. The golden crowns on their heads. They are the crowns of victors. In Greek two of the Greek words for crown, the stephanos crown, we get the name Stephanie from stephanos. It's a victor's crown. Sometimes translated wreath because the crown of thorns Christ wore was a stephanos, it was a crown given for some reason, accomplishment. The diadem is the crown of accomplishment, the stephanos was given when you won a victory in the Greek games, for example. So here they are wearing the stephanos, the crown of a victor rather than of a sovereign. And these are usually associated with the redeemed, not only in the book of Revelation, but in the scripture as well. In Revelation 2:10, to the church at Smyrna he tells them, be faithful unto death and I will give you the stephanos of life, the crown of life, stephanos. So when you get to chapter 4 and you see the elders wearing a stephanos, who was promised a stephanos? Well it goes back to the churches.

Again, chapter 3 verse 11, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have so that no one will take your stephanos, our crown. To the church at Philadelphia. Again, the connection. We've just come out of chapters 2 and 3 with what is said to the churches and now you see these twenty-four elders enthroned in heaven and the connection between what was said to the churches, it seems to be a natural connection.

Come back to I Corinthians 9, this is what is also said to the churches through other passages in the New Testament as well. The church is promised the stephanos. Verse 25, everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable stephanos. You see here it is translated a wreath because that's what they got when they won in the Greek athletic games. You know you see it in the pictures and the movies, looks like vines woven together. Formed the stephanos. Indicated they won the victory. It wasn't the value of the crown, it was what it symbolized and represented. So they do it to receive a perishable stephanos, but we are looking toward an imperishable stephanos. So the promise to us.

In I Thessalonians 2:19, for who is our hope or joy or stephanos of exaltation, crown of exaltation. Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? You are our glory and joy. II Timothy 4:7, Paul at the end of his life. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the stephanos of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day. And not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing. See a promise is held out to believers in the church—the stephanos. James 1:12, blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved he will receive the stephanos of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. I Peter 5:4, and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfolding stephanos of glory. So then we come and in this heavenly scene, the church having been raptured into the presence of the Lord in glory, the twenty-four elders crowned with stephanos. Now what was promised repeatedly? The stephanos, the stephanos. I take it that connects it to the church and its rewards.

The fourth thing about these twenty-four elders, they are sitting on thrones. We noted this would depict authority, rulership, and that's consistent with what is promised to believers in the church. We looked at the connection in Revelation 2:26, 3:21, the promises given to the church. Come over to Revelation 20:6, blessed and holy. Now we've come to the millennium, the thousand years. The thousand years is the first phase of the eternal kingdom. It's not all there is to the kingdom, it's just the beginning. We'll talk about the significance of it when we get to chapter 20. Those who are part of the first resurrection will be part of the kingdom that Christ will establish on earth. Verse 6, blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection. The first resurrection is a quality of resurrection, it includes all of the redeemed. Whenever they are resurrected and receive their glorified bodies, all the redeemed will have been resurrected by this time and they are part of the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. That's what it means to sit on the throne, right? One sitting on the throne is a ruler. God is enthroned in heaven because He rules over all. We are represented by the twenty-four elders, pictured sitting on thrones. Why? We are those who are appointed to rule and reign with Him.

Come back to I Corinthians 6, one passage outside of the book of Revelation we will look at. Look at verse 1, this is about lawsuits. Does anyone of you when he has a case against his neighbor dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? In other words any disputes among believers should not have to go to unbelievers for resolution. We say, well maybe believers aren't trained or equipped. Well look at this. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? We will sit with that authority to make decisions and render verdicts. The saints will judge the world, anticipating when we reign with Christ in the kingdom. If the world is to be judged by you, are you not confident to constitute the smallest law courts? You understand the authority we will have in the kingdom Christ will establish? The little decisions we have to make now are nothing. Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life. So would you have people who are of no account in the church to render decisions between believers? That's an insult to God, it's an affront to God. It should be resolved, we should recognize that. The point here, we're going to judge angels in the sense they will be under our authority and act on our behalf. We will be over them in the coming kingdom.

Now the focus of our rule is what will take place in the coming kingdom, but the church has been raptured from the earth, brought into the presence of the Lord, judged and evaluated and rewarded. What are we being prepared for? To rule and reign with Him, right? It's the promises we've looked at. So would you not expect to see the church represented as enthroned in anticipation of the time when we will act on behalf of heaven and our Lord who will be King over all. So it fits sitting on thrones, the authority that is given to us. And you see already we should be exercising the right kind of authority, even among ourselves as believers in anticipation of that time. No wonder then when you see the church brought into heaven, it's enthroned.

One last thing, the title elders, back in Revelation 4. He sees twenty-four thrones and twenty-four elders sitting on the thrones. The elders, the Greek word is presbuteros. We get the word Presbyterian from it. Presbyterians have elder government, government by elders, structure of elders. We pick it up from this. The Greek word is presbuteros. We just carry it over into English, presbuteros is plural for elders. It's normally applied to men in scripture. In fact there is only one possible reference in all the Bible where elders refers to anything other than men and that's in Isaiah 24:23.

So go to Isaiah 24:23, then the moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed. For the Lord of Hosts will reign on Mt. Zion and in Jerusalem. I think it is a terrible affront to God that some people just do away with these promises and say, it's not literal, it's spiritual, it's figurative. And His glory will be before His elders. The discussion is this is elders here, what are they referring to? Well if you're going to take every other reference to elders, we'd say it's referring to men. Well can it be connected to the elders in Revelation? I take it we're referring to the elders referred to there and we will see His glory on that occasion.

The other references all refer to men. We come to the New Testament in Acts 14, just going to look through this to refresh your mind. Who are the elders? We have elders in our church. Why? The background is of course in the New Testament. Elders, bishops, pastors, we don't have time to go through the connection. But you can see these words are used in such a way interchangeably, you're referring to the same individual. Down through church history they broke these out so you had bishops different than pastors, sometimes different than elders. But in the New Testament the terms are used interchangeably. We're just looking at where the word presbuteros is used. Acts 14:23, Paul is establishing churches so here we have what he is doing, what he does when he establishes churches. When they had appointed elders for them in every church, they prayed with fasting and commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. So you see he establishes a church, he appoints elders, who have responsibility for the oversight of the church.

Acts 15:2, and when Paul and Barnabbas had great dissension and debate with them, this is with Judaizers who had infiltrated the church, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabbas and others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue. They are the authorities for the church, the apostles and elders. Down in verse 6, the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. Down in verse 22, it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to render the decision. Over in Acts 20:17, from Miletus Paul sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. The plurality of elders who were responsible for the oversight of the church at Ephesus. Acts 21:18, the following day Paul went with us to James and all the elders were present.

And we don't have time to continue on, but you see the elders is the normal word for leaders in the various churches. So I would take it when we come now to the book of Revelation, we've just come out of extended messages to the various local churches and now we are ushered into heaven and we see the twenty-four elders. Oh, I wonder what the elders are. Well, what have they been through the New Testament? What have we been talking about? The book of Revelation is addressed to the seven churches, so what would I think of when I think of the twenty-four elders? I wonder what they are. Who is the letter addressed to? The seven churches or the elders in relation to the churches. It seems to be the connection.

Why twenty-four? Well the fact that there are only twenty-four, obviously if the rapture occurred today there would be more than twenty-four believers from the church just from this local body. Why only twenty-four? Where are the rest of us? Waiting to bump somebody off a throne? Obviously the twenty-four is a representative group and probably does find its background in the Old Testament.

Come back to I Chronicles 23. Remember in the Old Testament there were thousands of priests, Levitical priests. Verse 3, the Levites were numbered, and the Levites, that's the priestly family, priestly tribe. The Levites were numbered from 30 years old and upward, you had to be 30 years old to be eligible to serve as a priest in Israel. Their number by consensus of men was 38,000. Then they break down into different responsibilities. Well that's a lot of men. Now all 38,000 can't be serving, making sacrifices and so on in the tabernacle and then in the temple. So you come over to chapter 24 verse 4, since more chief men were found from the descendants of Eleazer than the descendants of Ithamar. Now we're coming down in the line of Aaron, we're not going back into the context here because we're just interested in the number. They divided them thus: there were sixteen heads of the father's households of the descendants of Eleazar and eight of the descendants of Ithamar. So you see what they've done is they have divided the priesthood, and according to the size of these two leading families here, into twenty-four orders or courses, twenty-four groups, if I could use that number. Then over in chapter 25 beginning with verse 9, they cast the lots and you can look down through verse 31 and you see when you come to verse 31 there are the twenty-four. So what you've done is they divide the thousands of priests in Israel, 38,000 at the count in chapter 23, into twenty-four orders, courses, groups, divisions. And then out of these each one will be represented by a priest, and they have some rotation that goes on. But when these twenty-four are together, they represent the whole priesthood, the whole order. I take it when we come to the twenty-four elders here, that's a representative number and represents all of us as believers, believer/priests. We serve under our priest Melchizedek, Melchizedekian priesthood of Christ. We serve as believer/priests. I don't think this means that the twenty-four elders refer to Israel, but the representative number, twenty-four standing, representing all of us as believer/priests would account for why there are twenty-four representing the whole church.

Okay, we're going to stop here. Let me just remind you of the points, we will pick up with the other beings around the throne, which are very interesting beings. They are angelic orders of beings with the one group and the Holy Spirit of God visually represented there as well. Just a few things for us to remind ourselves of. The church has a glorious destiny. You think about it. John is ushered through the door, comes in before the throne of God and there around the very throne of God is the church gathered. What an awesome destiny, enthroned in heaven. You know we ought to ever keep before us the glory that God has prepared for us. We get so drawn down in times of trouble, in times of difficulty, things in the world maybe not going well. And it just absorbs us, just wants to suck us down. It's like I'm all caught up in it. Just think we're going to be sitting enthroned around the throne of God in heaven, what's that going to be like? What about my retirement fund? What about this, what about that? These things aren’t even going to be on my mind. I'll say, why did I even care, I mean, what's the difference? You know what Paul was trying to say in I Corinthians 6? We're going to rule, you're going to judge angels and you can't even make the decision between two believers who have a disagreement? What in the world is wrong with you? You know we get all caught down, and this is so important that ........... And we blow it all out of proportion, we lose sight of who we are as the children of God and what He has planned for us. So enthroned. Not just in heaven, around the throne. We see the exalted position given to us.

Clothed in white garments. We were reminded in chapter 19, those are our righteous acts. We will come to be judged before the Bema seat of Christ and rewarded. And that reward will be manifest. These are the righteousnesses, our righteous deeds. Crowned with golden crowns because we are overcomers. Rewarded by Him, what really matters. We say, oh these are golden crowns. The crowns that were given were those perishable wreaths, but we have an imperishable crown. The rewards given to us, will endure eternally.

I have to be careful to keep my perspective here. This world is not my home, I'm just passing through, the song says. You know, how easily I forget that and things here become so important. You know the Bible constantly reminds us, Peter does at the end of his second letter, keep in mind, everything here is going to be burned up. None of it matters. You know what really matters, our faithful service to Christ. That's what we anticipate. Glory. Are you discouraged? Are you disillusioned? Don't you get down when you look around and see what is happening? Don't you wonder why? No. We know who we are, we know where we're going, we know what He has promised. We have even gotten a glimpse. Oh if only I could look into heaven and see. Here we do. You'd think that would radically change my perspective every day I get up, I'm thinking of what He has prepared for me, where I'm going. What I'm doing today only has significance in light of the fact I'm doing it for His glory, I'm doing it to please Him, I'm doing it because He has given me an opportunity to serve Him in this sin-cursed world. Not because this world is my home, not because I belong here, not because the things of this life make any difference to me. What matters to me as a child of God is that I am a child of God, I belong to the One enthroned in heaven. And perhaps very soon I will be enthroned in His very presence, clothed in white, crowned in gold. You don't need to worry about inflation, deflation, market up, market down, my net worth, even my health. It's all put in perspective. It all prepares us for what God will unfold in yet future passages.

Let's pray together. Lord, what a wonderful God you are and what a wonderful salvation you have given us in Christ. You have given us everything, even the things we have not yet experienced or entered into are ours. They are part of the inheritance you have promised us, they are ours for certain. Lord, how privileged we are to live day by day in light of a sure eternity, knowing that we belong to you the sovereign God who rules over all, knowing that every detail, every step of our lives is directed by you. Lord, how the consuming passion of life should be for us, to please you, to honor you in the best of times and in the worst of times. One thing doesn't change, we live for you, we honor you by our obedience and by our faithfulness. Lord, may even our glimpse into heaven, the glories of heaven and the wonder that we will be there help put things into perspective for us, even as we look forward to the week before us. Thank you for such a wonderful Savior, such a complete salvation. We pray in Christ's name, amen.