and see something very similar happening to John that happened to Isaiah. I'm going to read chapter 4. And you watch really closely and see if you see similarities in what I read earlier from Isaiah and what you see here in chapter four of Revelation. Because I think the same thing's going on. Revelation chapter four. After this I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, that's Christ, first chapter, come up here and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the spirit and behold, a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian. Around the throne was a rainbow and it had the appearance of an emerald. And around the throne were 24 thrones. Sitting on the thrones were 24 Elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. And from the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, or the Holy Spirit, as we've seen. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature like a lion, and the second like an ox, and the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is, and who is to come. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will They existed and were created. Thus far, God's Word, let's pray. Lord, this is your Word for your church. Help me to preach it in the power of the Spirit. Help us to hear it as your Word in the power of the Spirit, to understand it, to embrace it, to see you high and lifted up. and reigning over all things and accomplishing your purpose, Lord. So bless me to preach your word. Bless us to hear your word. Lift high your son. Draw all kinds of people to yourself. Build your church. Give us a new and a fresh view of the book of Revelation and what's going on here. We give you all the praise and ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Some verses in the Bible confuse us, don't they? Rejoice in the Lord when everything's going well. When you're having no trouble. No, it says rejoice in the Lord always. On the good days and the bad days and everything in between. We read this one earlier. Did it say, count it all joy? and everything's fine and going well. It said count it all joy when life hurts. When trials come, when tests of your faith are present in your life. And how about this one? Paul in Romans chapter five, we rejoice in our health and ease. He said, we rejoice in our sufferings. I'm sure you can think of more places in Scripture that might confuse you. And if we isolate just parts of God's Word and then just look at our circumstances, we can become really confused, disillusioned, and more. But when we interpret those verses in the light of their true context both near and far under the reign of our God and in the context of His promises, they take on a different hue. We begin to see the fog clear. We begin to see hope restored. What makes the difference? Well, boil it all down to confidence in God's love, confidence in His reign over all things. Even though it doesn't look like it to us sometimes, there is an all-sufficient, all-powerful, all-wise, all-knowing, holy, loving, sovereign God on the throne of this universe. And He's ruling for us. He's ruling for us. He's ruling for His people and using His people. That doesn't mean He's making all His people comfortable all the time. He works many things through discomfort and trial. Makes us like Jesus. But He's ruling for us. Knowing this, we look to His grace and we find hope in the midst of the struggle of this world through His promises. See, the early church needed this reminder. We've seen the situation in the early church as we've looked in the book of Revelation. And you saw those letters to those seven churches, and you saw some success, and some failure, and some struggle, and some persecution, and many things. Some people even martyred, which can cause pain and confusion. What's going on? See, the church in the world is not often the popular kid on the block, but the persecuted, the rejected, the forsaken. And the church in the early church in John's day needed this reminder that God is on the throne, that he's ruling and reigning. all His and our enemies, that He's seeing to it that just as the gospel came to you, it is going through you and out to the world, and there will be a people around His throne The church needed to be reminded of God's reign and His promises so that they could walk through the veil of tears that is this life in hope and with purpose and with joy and in worship. And we today need this reminder. And it comes to us in brilliant glory through the revelation given to and through the Apostle John. See, we are in the midst of a study in the book of Revelation. How did we get here? Well, we started studying what we called voices of Revelation in the Old Testament. The major and minor prophets. And we saw that over and over and over in those books, you saw a message of judgment and hope. And then we decided to cap that study off with a study of the climax of Revelation and prophecy in the book of Revelation. And we see the same kind of thing going on in this book and we see the same message of judgment and hope for God's people. This book was written to and for the churches. You see that in chapter 1 and you see it in chapter 22. This book is all for the churches. That we might know how to live in this fallen world with our eyes fixed on Him on the throne. and have hope. We've finished the first vision. In chapter 1, 1 through 3, 22, the Son of Man and the seven churches. And now we're beginning the second vision today, which is the Lamb and the seven seals of God's scroll. That's 4, 1 through 8, 1. And today we're just going to look at the first two verses of chapter 4 and try to point out and figure out what's going on here in chapter 4. Why is this here? What's its purpose? What's it doing in the book? What is it doing for the church? What did it do for John? But the main point is the main point of the book of Revelation. It's the main point of all of Scripture. God is on the throne. God is on the throne. Therefore, you could say, interpret the trials of your life in light of His eternal, sovereign perspective. Glory is coming. And our sufferings are not worthy being compared to the glory that is coming, Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8. God is on the throne. So what is happening in Revelation chapter 4? I'm being shaped by this as I'm studying this. And I think some things came to light this week that I never saw before in the book of Revelation. What's going on in Revelation chapter 4 is the same thing that happened to Isaiah in chapter 6. You go read Ezekiel chapter 1, same thing that happened to him. When God was calling a prophet and giving him His message of judgment and hope for the people, for the nations, He would reveal Himself to him and His reign to them, and from that perspective, commission them to go. And isn't that what we saw in Isaiah chapter 6? God's commissioning of Isaiah You go read Ezekiel chapter 1, and these are visions. Remember that. They're symbolic visions. So they don't have to line up in every chot and tittle of every detail of what the colored angel's wings were. But Revelation 4 and Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1, they're all saying basically the same thing. Man is given a vision of God on his throne to set the stage for the message they will be given to deliver to the people, to the world. See, Isaiah had been given some background information in the first few chapters on Israel and Judah and what's going on there, and then the vision, and then it's followed by his message of judgment and hope in the rest of the book. It's the same thing here. There are many similarities in structure between Isaiah and Revelation. Those things I pointed out. There's a message of judgment and hope. They both end with the new heavens and the new earth. So see, Revelation chapter 4 sets the stage for the rest of the book. It's giving the church of that day and the church of this day. See, God didn't just say to John, come up here. Through John, we get to come up here. We get to get that view and receive that encouragement and receive that strength. Revelation chapter 4 sets the stage for the rest of the book. It gives the church a view of their current struggles in light of the fact that because God is on the throne, all is according to plan. He is making all things work together for His glory and our good. He will judge the world and save the church and no enemy can stop Him. Many enemies of His church we see in the book of Revelation. None of which will be successful. Because God is on the throne. So I hope that helps you situate chapter 4 within the book. And it kind of demystifies things. And we can see what God's doing here through this book. He's giving hope to His church. that they might live and thrive on mission. So look back at chapter four, if you will. Look at the very first two words there. This is point number two. Come up here. Verse four, one first verse after this. After this, that's going to take us all the way through the book. That's a little Greek phrase that is repeated all the way through the book. And it's not talking about after this chronological time as much as it's talking about after this I saw, I heard. It's narrating his journey through the visions in the book. If you've studied Revelation before, if you've studied 1 John before, if you've studied some of the writings of John before, you'll see that some cyclical nature to his writings. The same is true here. But this, after this, after this, after this, right here it introduces a new vision. But you see it over and over and it's a chronology of John's visions. But it begins here, a new series of visions. Look at it. After this I look and behold a door standing open in heaven. See, John has already heard the Son of Man, or Jesus, describe the things that are in the letters to the churches. And now his focus shifts to the future of the church and the forces that will assault her. What will life look like for the church between Christ's first and second comings? So we've seen these visions. There's seven visions, seven sections that we're going through, and they all are like different camera angles on the same event. We talked about that. And each section deals with the time in between Christ's first coming and His second coming. I know that stuff probably you've never heard before, but you can go back and listen to the first sermons as well if you want to catch up on that. But his focus is shifting. What will life look like for the church between Christ's first and second coming? And that's what we'll get as we go forward, but right now we're setting the stage. So look back in verse 1. He says, After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open. This is what Greg Beal calls a visionary threshold. It's not a literal door. John's not going to literally leave earth and go through a literal door into literal heaven. If you were looking at John, he would be on the Isle of Patmos. And that's where he would stay. But he's receiving a vision from the Lord. It's a visionary threshold. Just like Isaiah's vision and Ezekiel's vision and in other places. It's a visionary threshold through which John exits from the earthly realm into the presence of God to get a view of life. Remember our study in Ecclesiastes? He's going to get a view above the sun. He's going to be able to put all of this earthly circumstances in the context of this view above the sun, of this knowledge of God's reign over all things. He's going to set things in the proper context. He's going to see God's sovereign presence manifest in this vision. God on His throne ruling and reigning and restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. And He says this, And the first voice, which I heard speaking to me like a trumpet, you go back, you see that, that was Christ. We identified it there in chapter one, said, come up here and I will show you what must take place after this. So there's a divinely authoritative voice that summons John to God's throne via a vision. Remember, this is a vision. And it says, come up here. And that trumpet there, a lot of times, it's a metaphor for a sound that is unmistakable, attention-grabbing, authoritative, and it's a fitting image for this announcement of divine revelation. Come up here via vision. I'm giving you a vision of Me on the throne, and you must see this to make all of these circumstances that we've talked about in chapters 2 and 3, the seven churches, that make sense in the light of God's reign. And he says, I will show you, I will show you what must take place after this. And if we look back, if you look back in chapter 1 verse 19, when Jesus tells John what to write, he says, write the things that you have seen, that's his vision, what he's already seen, his vision of Christ, in the first part there of chapter 1. Those that are, that's chapters 2 and 3, where he picks 7 churches and writes letters to 7 churches. You may not have been here through the study, so there's more than 7 churches in that area. He picks 7, and the 7 is the number of completeness which represents the whole church. But the earthly situation of the church then, record that, and then the things that take place after this, those that are throughout what we call the church age and beyond. Remember, when he's talking to John here, it's from John's present, not ours. From John's day. John, this is what you've seen. This is how things are for the church. This is what I'm going to do from this day forward, throughout what we call the church age, or the gospel age if you prefer that, and beyond, all the way into the new heavens and the new earth which we see at the end of the book. You see, this is not, and I'll talk about that a little more later, but this, the end of chapter 3 and the first verse of chapter 4 is not the church flying off into glory. It's the church getting a view of their God reigning through what's revealed to John so that we have hope and purpose in the midst of the book. We'll talk a little bit more about that later. But something momentous is about to be revealed. He's called via vision up there and he's going to be shown some things. But it starts in one single place. which sets the stage for the subsequent visions that we'll talk about, that detail God's glory in His judgment and His redemptive plan. John in a vision, he indeed comes up there and he goes and sees. Look, point number two, the Lord is on His throne. Same thing Isaiah saw. And at once I was in the Spirit, same as chapter one, he's in a vision. And behold, a throne stood in heaven, and one seated on the throne. His body's still at Patmos, but he's receiving a vision of the Lord, and the Lord on His throne, and the Lord reigning. He's transported symbolically to a symbolic vision into the throne room of the King of Kings. and to the heart of the divine council chamber to hear God's plans and the message He has to deliver to God's people. I hope, as I read Isaiah 6, and I give you the homework to go read Ezekiel 1 and that kind of thing, I hope though between Isaiah 6 and chapter 4 of Revelation you saw the similarity of what's going on here. This is a prophetic commissioning, just like it was of Isaiah, just like it was of Ezekiel, it is here to John. And just as those texts detailed their visions of the Lord's throne, seeing His glory and receiving His word, It's this very Son of God that catches John up to receive the prophetic vision. He says immediately, at once, I was in the Spirit and what did he see? And we're going to talk more about this throne room situation as we go forward. I just didn't have time in one sermon to deal with all of that. But I think the fundamental thing is here for us today. At once I was in the Spirit and behold a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne. He is in awe as he receives the vision of God's throne room in heaven. I think if he was laying in a chair on the island of Patmos or sitting on a couch or if his eyes were closed at least his mouth would have been hanging open. Because this is a wow moment if there ever has been one. He sees the Lord on His throne. And there are going to be more details as we follow up. This is in line with the rest of Scriptures. Just a few Scriptures. Psalm 47, 7 and 8. Look at this. God is King of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm. God reigns over the nations. God sits on His holy throne. He's on the throne. How about Psalm 99, 1-3? The Lord reigns. Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned upon the cherubim. There's the angels again. Let the earth quake. The Lord is great in Zion. He is exalted over the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name. Holy is He. I mean, that's exactly what the angels are doing always around the throne. Holy, holy, holy and they never tire. Never tire of that continual constant worship around the throne of the God who is reigning. You better hope he's reigning. He cannot make one promise to you if he's not reigning. As R.C. Sproul said if there's one maverick molecule in the universe it could destroy the whole plan. God is on the throne. He is reigning. He is sovereign. He is holy. He's not up there before some wishing well tossing coins into it. He's on the throne. He's in control. He's bringing about His plan of redemption. He's bringing about the glory of the Father in and through the Son by the Holy Spirit. What do you think that means there? The Lord reigns. Same thing we're seeing here in Revelation. We saw in Isaiah 6. He's on the throne. He's reigning over His creation. He's not failing. He's spoken into existence. He's sustaining it by the Word of His power. He's governing it. Isn't that what Nebuchadnezzar found out? When he said, isn't this glorious Babylon that I have built? And he grazed with the cows for a while until he could say, his is the kingdom. His is the glory. He does as He wills among the inhabitants of heaven and on the earth. None can stay His hand. None can call Him into question. None can be His counselor. Who could counsel an infinitely holy and wise God? We try, don't we? We think we know better than He does sometimes. He's reigning. He's ruling. He's sustaining. He's governing. He will accomplish, Isaiah says later, all of His purpose. for His people and take us all the way home to the new heavens and the new earth. And if He's not sovereign and on the throne and reigning, He cannot promise you that. John sees Him on the throne. See, this is the only way we can have confidence in Romans 8, 28. And we know that for those who love God, His children, the ones He's brought to faith, all things work together for good. It doesn't say all things are good. It doesn't say all things are fun. It doesn't say all things are enjoyable. It doesn't say none of them will hurt. But He says, for those who love God, all things work together, or He is working all things together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. God on His throne is the primary message of Revelation. I've already said it. It's the primary message of the New Testament. It's the primary message of the Bible. But the word throne here occurs 62 times in the New Testament. 47 of them are in Revelation. 47 are in the book of Revelation. The book is dominated by the idea God is at the center of all things reigning on His throne. And there's a comfort to this message. Romans 8, 28 is true because He reigns. If He doesn't reign, He can't promise you that. If you have some weak, less than God who doesn't know what's going to happen and is just hoping for the best, number one, you don't have the true and living God. But number two, you have a God that can't promise you anything. And you don't have the God that the scriptures reveal. And that's the big problem. He's on His throne. He's reigning. He's accomplishing all of His purpose. He's taking His people all the way home to the new heavens and the new earth. He will judge sin, and He will save sinners, and do it all in a holy, righteous, just way. But this is a message of comfort for His church. Much of the church is going through hard times. Not just then. In case you hadn't been around very long. Life gets harder when you become a Christian in a lot of ways. No, that's not from any Osteen book. It's from the Bible. In this world you will have trouble, Jesus said, but be of good cheer for I have overcome it for you. He's reigning. Life is hard. More people have been martyred recently than ever before. We have so sheltered in in America. Life is hard for the church. Life might even seem to contradict what we've been told sometimes. They, just like us, definitely need John's report of these visions of the Lord sovereignly reigning over all things. We suffer many things in this life, even as God's people, and we need this reminder, God is on His throne. How can a martyr give his neck with confidence to the rope or to the sword? Because he's confident that Christ was raised from the dead, proving it all true, resting in the sovereign plan and purpose of God. This is the message we need on a daily basis to see God on His throne, reigning over His creation, accomplishing all of His purpose, taking His gospel to the ends of the earth, as we'll see later. If you do go read Ezekiel, you'll see in Ezekiel eating a scroll and you'll see John doing this later in the book as well, another similarity. John's being commissioned with a message of judgment and hope that will strengthen and comfort his church in the midst of the trials and struggles of this life to give his church confidence to walk with faith and not by sight and to be on mission no matter what it brings. That's what He's doing here. We'll take a pause from that and just take a couple of points of application. We'll come back to verse 3 next time, but today I just want us to just hear it echo, be reminded that He's on His throne, that He's reigning, that He's sovereign. But the first thing I wanted to talk about, there's a lot of, you may have, like me, You may have been raised and all you have ever heard about was what's called dispensational premillennialism. Christ is going to take His church out before the seven years of the Great Tribulation and then He's going to come back. There's all these timelines around the book of Revelation. That's just one view. And it's a relatively late view. Now there was premillennialism in the early church, but not that kind. Okay? But there's other views and better views, I think, of prophecy in general and of the book of Revelation. But some say, look here, some say, you see here in chapter 4, and again, I was raising around this stuff, many books, many movies, all this kind of stuff, come up here, and they see come up here as the rapture of the church. Let me point out something to you. If you didn't already have that theology in your head when you came and read the book of Revelation, you would never see that there. You would never see that there. Just like seeing the gap in Daniel chapter 9. God, think about what you've seen all through history. And like, think about before the Exodus. Israel was right there in Egypt through all of the judgments of God on Egypt. They even participated in some of them. But God shielded them from the more major ones and then took them out to the promised land. But He didn't take them out before He started judging Egypt. They were right there in the context, right? God's not taking His church out. Look at this verse. When it says, come up here, that's singular. John, you. It's not plural. John, you, just like Isaiah, just like Ezekiel, you come up via vision and see me on my throne. Come up here again. Singular. Later, John, in verse 2 and following, John reports what he saw and heard and delivers God's message. One of the things that people say, I heard this, in fact, I used to believe this. at one time. But people will say that you see the church in the book of Revelation up through the end of chapter 3 and then you don't see it anymore until chapter 22. And one of the reasons they say that is because the Greek word ekklesia translated church so many times in 2 and 3 is not up until chapter 22. Well what does that prove? Words like saints are in there. People are definitely believing and being persecuted and who are those people? You may not know this. That particular word, ecclesia, called out ones, does not appear in the book of Mark at all. The book of John, at all. The book of Luke, at all. First or second Peter, at all. Are those things about the church? Of course they are. There are other books. See, that's an argument from silence. It's a weak argument. It doesn't hold water when we go through and see the book of Revelation. And just like coming to see this, if you read, if you deem to do it again, go read Isaiah chapter 6, go read Revelation 4, go read Ezekiel 1. And again, I said, they're symbolic visions, so don't expect the colors of the angels' wings to match up in every place. But see the general story. God's on His throne. He's reigning. He's calling me to take a message to to people. Like I said, this book is bracketed. Jesus says, this is for the churches. This is for the church. This message is for the church. It's too much to go into. Like I said, words like saints and other descriptions do appear in the rest of the book. That seems like enough. It seems best to me. to see this text as John's prophetic commissioning like Isaiah and Ezekiel. There's too much similarity not to see it that way. And that the rest of this message is for his church living in a fallen world, needing this kind of encouragement, needing to see their God and his promises and his reign over his and the church's enemies, both restraining and conquering them and saving his people and taking them all the way. to the new heavens and the new earth. So I don't think chapter 4 verse 1 is talking about the rapture. Notice I said this before. I'm not saying no verses do talk about it. There is a catching up to Christ when he comes, but not here, in my opinion. I still love you if you still hold that view. But you really need to understand the other views well before you... That's not the only view, and the rest of them are not liberal, which some of us were taught in other notes. Secondly, on a personal note, we too are invited to come up here. We come up there through the message that was given to John, through the message that was given to Isaiah, through the one... We get to see through what God revealed to them, God on His throne. and reigning. And listen, we need to see that on a daily basis. We need to never forget that. He's God. He's reigning on His throne. He knows for us much of this life will be confusing and painful and trying. In fact, He told us so. In this world you will have trouble. But he also said, be of good cheer, didn't he? For I've overcome it. That's what we see in the book playing out, him overcoming it. It's a message for us. Through his word, he assures us that he is for us and with us. In fact, one of his names is what? Emmanuel. What does that mean? Translated, Matthew tells us, God with us. He's working all things together for our good and His glory and to take His salvation to the ends of the earth. Many, many other things could be said, but I'll only mention one more and I'll repeat it. He reigns for us. He reigns for us. He is reigning for us. He's interceding for you. He's watching over you. He's guiding and leading you. Every one of the days He wrote down in His book for you, you will have here. Go read Psalm 139. Every one of your days were written before there was one. You won't have one less and you won't have one more. And I can't tell you how many they are. Trust in Him and there enough. He reigns for us. How do I know? How do I know He's reigning for us? Because He makes me always comfortable, rich, prosperous. Well, you know that's not true. You've seen my truck. I like my truck. I'm happy with my truck. So you'd be happy with it. How do I know he's reigning for me? How do I know if you're if you're trusting in him? Now, when I say us, I'm talking about his church, those who are in Christ, those who are trusting in him. How do I know he's reigning for us? Thank you. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how I know. That was all according to plan. That His Son would come and live under His own law, and fulfill all righteousness, and raise the dead, and walk on the water, and train His disciples, and would be rejected by His own people, and crucified. And yet, the book of Acts tells us that is all according to plan. Why? Because He lived for His people, and fulfilled all righteousness. And then he died. And the wrath he suffered on that cross wasn't just Roman cruelty. Our sin and the penalty due our sin was poured out on him on that cross. And he drank that cup dry saying it is finished before he left the cross. Look to the cross. Look to Christ and you can know. That's how you know. Because life's going well and it doesn't always do that. I think John Owen had 11 kids and only one of them made it to adulthood. And then I think she died before he did. And yet look at all those books in my office. Look at all the stuff he wrote. Because he knew. He was trusting. Look to the cross and know the Son of God loves you. Look to the cross and know the Son of God is reigning for you. He lived for us. And kept His own law in thought, word and deed. Why? Because we have broken it. We are sinners who need a Savior. And I don't have to be clairvoyant to be able to say that over all of you. None of you have kept His law in thought, word, and deed. You need a Savior. Some of you have one. You're trusting in Christ. Some of you are still kind of trusting in yourself. And I warn you, that's dangerous. Because you have not kept His law in thought, word, and deed. You cannot stand before His throne in judgment and make it. Because He's not going to judge you by your neighbor, or your friend, or your cousin, or your uncle. He's going to judge you by His law. That's why Christ came to live for us, why he came to fulfill all righteousness. But he didn't just come to live. He came to die. Go read your Old Testament. You see the lambs and all the sacrifices in the Old Testament. That wasn't because God is mean and doesn't like animals. That was foreshadowing and picturing the true Lamb of God who would come, the Lord Jesus Christ, and who would sacrifice himself for his people. He says, I give my life for the sheep. No one takes my life from me. I lay it down. My own accord. The scripture says Christ died for our sins. That was all planned. It was all worked out in perfection. Christ achieved a perfect righteousness for His people. He achieved a perfect atonement for His people. And He was raised from the dead the third day proving it all true. It's okay, child's under conviction. We pray that, don't we? He lived for us. He died for us. He was raised. God loved the world in this way, John 3, 16, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever repents, turns from unbelief to faith, whoever turns from running from God to God, submission to God, who repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, shall not perish but have everlasting life. See, the Son of God was crushed for our sin on purpose, according to plan, underneath the rain, It's how I know God's reigning for us. It's how I know He loves us. Not our feelings, not our circumstances, not our trucks, although it's a great truck. Doesn't look like it, but it is. Look at Isaiah 53, 5, and 6. The gospel, 700 years before Christ ever lived, almost written like a newspaper account. Go read the rest of the chapter. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with His wounds we are healed. That is sin sickness healing. That is being delivered from sin and the wrath due sin. Oh, we like sheep had gone astray, we had turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. If He will do that for us, one, it proves He's reigning for us. Two, it also proves He will not withhold anything good from us that we really need. And since He has done that for us, His throne for us now is what's called a throne of grace in Hebrews, where His children run to and find mercy and help in their time of need. We can approach the throne with boldness because Christ has reconciled us to God and find help for our time of need. So we can run to His throne with great confidence of His love and of His grace and help and find help for life in this fallen, dark, rebellious world that is currently under His judgment. We live here to be light and salt to those who don't know Him. See, looking on God's throne produces that awe and confidence in our God that He will accomplish all of His will, both in this sinful world and in our lives. It allows us to lay our lives down for Him, to storm the gates of hell for Him, knowing that He is in control. So we fix our minds on Him and we are enabled therefore. Now, you heard me say those verses up front. Rejoice in the Lord always. Oh man. I'm looking to His throne through His cross. Rejoicing. Count it all joy when you fall into various difficulties. Knowing, go read that text again. Knowing that He's not only just with you, but He's producing good. Making you like Christ. even rejoice in your sufferings because nothing is wasted. It will all serve Him and His kingdom and His purposes. It will serve you in your growth and grace and even your faith growing through that hardship. He will cause all things to work together for the good of those who love Him because He is on His throne. R.C. Sproul says this, God is sovereign, period. That means he reigns, and because he reigns, we can rejoice. Our peace and our joy rest in the knowledge that he is control. And having that confidence We can go through life and join in with the cry of the angels. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Jesus Christ is Lord. Let's pray. Lord, open our hearts as You opened that door for John. Cause us to see and trust and worship You on Your throne more fully every day. Never forgetting that You reign. Never forgetting that You reign for us. Never forgetting that You love us. How do we know? We look to Christ. We see the Son of God crushed for us. The penalty paid and accepted proved true by the resurrection. Through the repentance and faith that you give us, we are united to your Son, cleansed and forgiven for all of our sins, and accepted as righteous in your sight, because Christ's righteousness clothes us, is imputed and credited to our record. We have great hope in the midst of great struggle, which is life in this world. Give us a new and fresh perspective of Your reign and may it produce in us a new rest of heart and soul and a new purpose of devotion to You and to Your Gospel to see it go to the ends of the earth. Lord, we praise You. You created all things. You are sustaining and governing all things. And You will take all things to Your purposed end. which is your glory through your son by your spirit in the saving of your people to dwell together forever in your new heavens and new earth. So again I pray convert those who don't know you strengthen those who do help us to get our eyes above the sun and therefore live below the sun in this world for your glory. Help us to both glorify and enjoy you because of your grace. It is in Jesus' holy name that I pray. Amen. Amen.