What heavenly creatures have to do with you? | Revelation 4:1-11

I wonder if you have thought about how weird this whole thing looks because we just stood up and sang to an invisible God. For many people in this room, that feels totally normal. But if you think about it, to people who don’t know or don’t care, it’s like you’re singing songs to your imaginary friend. It really is. Worship actually looks weird. And yet, everybody worships. It’s this strange thing. When you get talking to someone long enough, you’ll always find out that there is something or someone that has first position in their life. There’s always some big rock in their life around which everything else is oriented. It could be themselves. It could be money. It could be a family member. It could be a goal or an ambition. It could be the success of a small business. It doesn’t matter.

David Foster Wallace was a brilliant novelist in the 1990s and he once gave a graduation address to a US college in the early 2000s. In it, he said there is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. We all live for something. We all live with something as the big rock at the center of our life. It could be yourself, could be your family, could be your business, could be your artistic achievement, could be God. Whatever it is for you, that’s the question I want to ask you. What is it for you? What is the one thing that if you lost that, you would lose everything?

Because in chapters four and five of Revelation, John is taken up to heaven to experience a world of worship. Why does God take John up to the throne room in heaven? The basic reality is that John needs to see things from heaven’s perspective. We need to see things from heaven’s perspective.

We Need to See Things From Heaven’s Perspective

Revelation is what is called apocalyptic literature. In our culture, that word has come to mean catastrophe. If the Daily Telegraph puts “apocalypse” on its front page, you’re almost certain to see either an earthquake or something on fire behind that headline. That’s just what we do with the word apocalypse. We think it means catastrophe. It does not mean that in Greek. In Greek, the word apocalypse means revelation. That’s why we call it apocalyptic literature. It’s when something is unveiled which you couldn’t previously see. An apocalypse is when God pulls back the curtain and what was previously hidden is now apparent.

We need to see things from heaven’s perspective. The reason that we need to see things from heaven’s perspective, and the reason that John needed to see things from heaven’s perspective, is that when he wrote this book, on the surface, things looked pretty grim for Christians in his day. John has been exiled to an island called Patmos and the churches he writes to are either compromising or suffering. In simple terms, John lives in a world where not everything is the way it’s supposed to be. Things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be. Things are out of whack. Things are not functioning properly in terms of godliness and in terms of God being at the center of all things.

From the vantage point of heaven, you actually see things better. That’s the whole claim of the book of Revelation. That is why John is taken up, because what we see in heaven is the way things are supposed to be. No longer seeing just the earthly perspective where things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be, but now seeing the way things are supposed to be. Look with me at chapter 4, verse 2. The very first thing John sees is a throne.

"After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.' At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it."
Revelation 4:1-2

God is rarely pictured in the book of Revelation directly, but what is pictured is the throne. Nearly 40 times, God is defined in the book as the one who sits upon the throne. It’s a cracking definition because your God is whoever sits upon the throne of your heart. You can mouth words of worship. You can label something God, but if you want to tell me who is really God in your life, it is whoever sits upon the throne of your heart. Whoever’s in first position. The first thing that John sees is someone seated on a throne.

Everything Else in Heaven Is Centered on That Throne

The second thing John sees is that everything else in heaven is centered on that throne. Look with me at verse four. “Twenty-four thrones surrounded him and 24 elders sat on them. They were all clothed in white and had gold crowns on their heads.” Then two verses later in verse 6, “In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass sparkling like crystal. In the center and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes front and back. The first of these living beings was like a lion. The second was like an ox. The third had a human face. The fourth was like an eagle in flight. Each of these living beings had six wings. And their wings were covered all over with eyes inside and out. Day and night they keep on saying…” We’ll get to what they say in just a moment.

If the idea of a throne feels weird to you, here’s another way to think about it. What’s at the center of your life? If it sounds weird for me to ask who’s on the throne of your heart, then just ask what’s at the center of your life. Because what you notice in heaven is that not only is He the one who is seated upon the throne, but everyone else is centered on Him. That’s what is pictured here. The throne is the thing at the center. We will eventually find out who these strange creatures are. Don’t worry, I’ll get there. But the first thing I want you to pay attention to is look at where they’re facing: towards God. What do people see when they see you? Which way is your life facing? Because when John sees these heavenly beings, these living beings, as you look at them, your eyes are drawn to Him. I’ll say that again. As you look at them, your eyes are drawn to Him. That’s the definition of what they’re doing. Which way is your life facing?

Who or What Are These Heavenly Creaturely Things?

It still begs the question, who or what are these heavenly creaturely things? These living beings, as they’re called. This will be a minute, but it’ll be okay. First, let’s just talk about the four living creatures. It says for us, one living being has the face of a lion, the other living being has the face of an ox, the third has a face like a human, and the fourth like an eagle in flight. My suggestion to you would be that these creatures represent the whole of creation and in particular the whole of the animate creation. That’s because each of them function as the head of a category within the Jewish mind. The lion is the king of the wild animals, the ox is the king of the domesticated animals, the eagle is the king of the birds, and humans are the royalty over all of creation. If you put them all together, they represent all of the animate creation. All of the things in God’s creation which have breath and have voice. This is a picture of how creation is supposed to be.

We have in the psalms these psalms that call, “let everything that has breath praise the Lord,” and this is the fulfillment of that psalm. They’re doing what the psalmist always wanted. I think that is a good explanation of what those four living beings are. What about the 24 elders? My best suggestion would be that they represent God’s people in some way. That’s because in the book of Revelation, the number 12 is often associated with God’s people, the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 apostles. These elders are dressed like royalty. God’s people are often described in royal terms. Israel is described as a kingdom of priests. The church similarly is called a royal priesthood. Even in this passage as we go on into chapter 5, it talks about Jesus has made us to be a kingdom and priests for him.

With the 24 elders again, it’s not their identity that’s as crucial as what they are doing. In verse 11, it says they lay down their crowns in God’s presence. Whatever else these elders are, they are worshippers. Somebody often wants to come to me and sit there and go, “Mark, I need to know exactly who these elders are, otherwise you’re not really doing your job.” My feeling is, folks, that even if I don’t know who they are, I won’t go wrong if I join what they do, because that’s the focus. That’s the focus of the book. All of a sudden, John has been transported to a world where worshiping God is the most normal thing you could do. It’s no longer weird to worship in this place. In fact, you feel weird if you don’t join in. Often on earth, worship feels weird. But here in this world, worship is normal.

The Songs Carry the Story

Why does God want to show John heaven? Why does he want to show us this heavenly vision? Here, Revelation is like a good musical. I don’t know if you know musicals very well, but I live in a household with two women particularly who absolutely adore musicals, and that’s sometimes helpful to my life, and sometimes not helpful to my life. If you ever watch musicals as much as I have watched musicals, sometimes against my will, you’ll know this: the songs carry the story. The songs are really crucial in musicals. The songs explain things. Here’s a moment where I have to be humble and admit that God appears to also like this particular feature of musicals because it’s exactly how it works in the book of Revelation. The hymns actually carry the story. The songs carry the story.

Here in chapter 4, both the living creatures and the 24 elders sing songs. In both cases, the lyrics really matter.

What Do the Living Creatures Sing?

We need to go to their song first because it’s the one that leads the worship, so to speak. That’s where I finished my reading a little bit earlier. Verse 8, I’m going to pick it up when they start singing. “Day after day, night after night, they keep on saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.’” Holy is one of those words that Christians use, but when you go for a definition, minds go blank. You know what I’m saying? We just say “holy” and everyone goes, “What does that mean?” And you’re like, “Good question. Not quite sure.”

Here’s one way of thinking about it. It comes from a guy called J. I. Packer. He says, “When scripture calls God holy, the word signifies everything about God that sets him apart from us and makes him an object of awe, adoration, and dread to us.” How do you say that God is better? God is above and God is different from anything else in all of life. Holy is your word. It’s a way of talking about that utter, brilliant, stunning uniqueness of God that sets him apart from all things.

They sing that God is holy and then they also sing that God is almighty. I want to say that it actually takes a lot of faith to truly say God is all-powerful. Think about what these churches were going through. Smyrna was suffering. Laodicea wasn’t. Smyrna was poor. Laodicea is rich. But in both of those scenarios, saying God is in control hits hard. It hits hard because in one case, one group of people is actually saying we’re trusting in our riches and our wealth. In the other case, a bunch of people are sitting there going, “I want to hope God comes through because we’re feeling really weak right now.” In one sense, we all need to hear this, no matter what our present situation is. Whether we’re trusting in our assets or whether we’re sitting there believing that there’s no change that is possible because we seem to have no power in this world. To say that God is the true power in the universe is a profound statement of faith. It means to no longer trust in my riches. But it also means to not fall into despair when my circumstances are poor. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God the Almighty.”

But the song does not stop there. They keep singing with this line. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God the Almighty, the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.” We know this tune if you’ve been around churches for a long time. Some of you might know this tune. We know these lyrics because hundreds of years ago, a guy called Reginald Heber wrote a great hymn called “Holy, Holy, Holy.” It goes like this. I’m not going to sing it for you because I love you. It says, “Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee, which wert and art and evermore shalt be.”

Personally, I don’t think we use the word “wert” enough anymore, and we should bring it back, but that’s not what I want to focus on. This is a brilliant statement from Reginald Heber. That is a great song. I want you to keep singing it. I want you to hear me saying that I think Reginald Heber did a great job writing this. But he actually is not quoting the living creatures fully correctly there. Yes, shots fired. Because what Reginald Heber is making is a statement about God’s eternity: “which wert and art and evermore shalt be.” But the living creatures sing he who was and who is. But for the final bit, they don’t say who evermore shall be. They call God the one who is to come. For all the English teachers out there, I noticed the verb changes. The verb is different. It’s different in English. It’s different in Greek. They’re not just saying God will keep existing in the future, even though they believe that. What they’re saying is God is coming.

When you say that God is coming or God is about to arrive in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, whenever you say that about God, what you’re saying is he’s going to arrive to bring judgment and salvation. Psalm 96 says, “Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice. Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise. Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy. Let the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord. For he is coming. He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice and the nations with his truth.” What the living creatures are actually singing is that the God who exists for eternity is also going to come to bring judgment and salvation. He’s going to come to bring his rule upon the earth. When you sing this song with the living creatures, the Revelation 4 one, you keep your heart from being dominated by the present. When you sing that song, you keep your heart from being dominated by the present.

This is one of the gifts that the book of Revelation gives to us. By talking about the future, it gives you perspective on the present. Because whether you’re suffering or succeeding right now, in both suffering and success you can become hyper-focused on the present. You can think this is the way it will always be. But if God is coming, then whatever is happening to me now is not the end of the story. It is not. That’s what they’re singing. If God is coming, then what is happening to me now is not the end of the story.

The 24 Elders Join In

As they lead that song as four living beings, the 24 elders decide to join in. “Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives, notice, forever and ever. Now we are talking about eternity. The 24 elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne. The one who lives forever and ever. And 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 they exist because you created what you pleased.’”

Why are these 24 elders singing this song back? Why is God coming to earth to bring judgment and salvation? Why does it say that God is coming and wants to actually do something? The song of the elders tells us because they are saying, “God, this is your world. You made it. You sustain it. And if this is your world, you are not going to abandon it to sin and evil.” That’s why he’s coming. He’s coming because the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. Therefore, he is going to come in judgment and salvation.

Last week I said all of this book is about living life in the present in light of the future. Here is the certain fact about the future that you need to orient your life: the creator is coming to redeem and transform his world. He is. That is the certain fact. All the other bits are just almost minor details other than that crucial fact. Again, I want to reiterate, don’t give your heart to a present which is temporary. Don’t live with just now in mind. Because from our perspective here on earth, it’s so clear things are not the way they’re supposed to be. On earth, worship looks weird. On earth, the poor get trampled. On earth, God is ignored. On earth, righteousness isn’t popular. That is why you need heaven’s perspective. Because in that heavenly throne room, you see how things are going to be and are meant to be. Everything is centered on the glory and the presence of God. The point of all of this is that what is true in heaven will become true on earth. What is true in heaven will become true on earth. Sin will not win in the end. Idols will not last. Injustice doesn’t get the final word. You don’t have to center your life on temporary things. The day is coming when worship will be normal. The day is coming when justice and righteousness will reign. We can orient our hearts towards that future. What is true in heaven will become true on earth. Revelation is like a long letter to say to us, “Christian, live your life in light of that future. Live your life in light of that future.”

How Is What Is True in Heaven Going to Become True on Earth?

The question might come into your mind, how is that going to happen? How is what is true in heaven going to become true on earth? That’s where chapter five comes in. We didn’t read chapter 5, but I’m going to quickly go through chapter 5 with you because it pairs together with chapter 4 in a single unit, if you like. Let me read it for you starting at verse one.

"Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll. And it was sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel who shouted with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to break the seals on the scroll and open it?'"
Revelation 5:1-2

That scroll is the plan of how God’s saving rule is going to come from heaven to earth. But to begin with, what the verses following show is that no one is worthy to open that scroll.

"But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it. Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it."
Revelation 5:3-4

Then the hero arrives in chapter 5. This is how it reads.

"But one of the 24 elders said to me, 'Stop weeping. Look, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David's throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.' Then I saw a lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered. But it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the 24 elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth."
Revelation 5:5-6

The Lion and the Lamb

This is such an important picture in the book of Revelation. I want you to notice a fascinating thing about this little set of verses. It happens here with hearing and seeing. What happens is that John hears about a lion, but when he turns to look, he sees a lamb, a slain lamb. What does it do to your brain when you’re expecting to see a lion and you turn around and see a sheep, and a sheep that’s been sacrificed? How much does it mess with your head that you’re expecting a warrior and instead you see a sacrifice? Is Jesus the lion or the lamb? The crucial thing to understand is he’s both. He’s a lamb-like lion or a lion-like lamb. Take your pick.

Jesus conquers by giving his life away in service to others. That is how God makes things right. This is the way that God takes the world from broken to whole. This is the way that God changes things from evil to good. This is the way that God moves things from injustice to true freedom through Christ. Look at how the song adds a new verse once the lamb takes the scroll. He takes the scroll in verse 7. “He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne.” Then in verse 9, you see the results of what happens because he takes the scroll.

The New Song of Redemption

Here I’m going to put the verses on the screen, and I think I snuck in the NIV here as a complete accident. I’m really sorry. I’m going to read it from the NIV, but it’s fairly close to your NLT.

"You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
Revelation 5:9-10 (NIV)

What’s so crucial here is that the reason Jesus chooses the path of sacrifice is that it’s only through the cross that God can share his victory with sinners. Jesus could immediately eliminate evil and injustice and sin all just simply by asserting his power. It’s just that if he just came in sovereign power, he’d have to eliminate me because I’m part of the problem. I’m part of the problem of sin, the problem of evil, the problem of injustice in this world. If all Jesus cared about was displaying his power and not also his love, he’d have to eliminate me. Jesus brings God’s rule by offering us forgiveness and restoration through his death.

That’s why the victory song is not just simply about power, but it’s also about the fact of people being purchased and redeemed. In another part of the Bible, the Gospel of John, it says Jesus came into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. Here’s the point. In chapter 4, we see a song or hear a song that says God is going to make things right. That God is coming. That he’s not just going to let his world fall apart. He will intervene. But then in chapter five it says that intervention has already started in Jesus. God is making things right already because of what Jesus did in the cross and in his resurrection. God didn’t come first in judgment. He came first with grace and forgiveness and the offer for any one of us to be made new.

The book of revelation is saying to us, judgment will eventually come. The rest of the book is going to give us lots and lots of details of that judgment. God is going to do that judgment and make things right. God must eventually remove sin and evil. God must eventually eliminate all of those things that are opposed to him. But God’s first move isn’t judgment. God’s first move is to give you the gift of his son so that you can be forgiven and no longer fear his judgment. God’s first move is love before judgment. Not that they’re opposed, but in order for us to be able to be with him forever. God moves first in love so that we may not fear his judgment.

Conclusion

The question of chapters 4 and 5 is this: What sits at the center of your life? What sits at the center of your life? Because the way things are now is not the way things are always going to be. The conviction that I have as I read these words is that I don’t want to center my life on temporary joys. When I worship God in the present, when I experience the worship of God’s people wherever I am in this world, when I orient my life each morning and each day to honor God and to place him at the center of my life, I want my heart to become realigned, to focus on the future when everything will be made new and the little experiences of imperfect worship that I have right now will be perfected, and this will be the most normal possible thing for me to do.

Oh, there is a name. His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus.