“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, ‘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.” Revelation 4:1-2 ESV
In a world where it seems we are being pushed in one direction or another…one political party over another…one social issue over another…one ethnicity against another, it still pales in comparison with the political world of John the Apostle’s day. And the gifts God gave Christian’s living in Rome in the late first century, are the same gifts He gives us today—a peak into heaven’s courts, a vision of the occupied throne, and an affirmation of His sovereignty when He says, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” He had told John the same thing in chapter 1-“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to His servants the things that must soon take place.” This “must”…this divine directive is an affirmation of His sovereignty.
In the midst of apparent chaos, the most comforting thing in these words is this, that God is not the God of “might’s” but “must’s”—not possibilities, but actualities. Everything He has planned must and will take place. There are no accidents, just providence. That being the case, we can trust our eternal God. He enables us through His Word and Spirit, through His Sacraments, through His church and through prayer to trust in the Lord with our whole heart.
For the rest of the book of Revelation Jesus reveals Himself to John as the God who is sovereign over all evil and joy, worry and worship, persecution and praise, kings and grasshoppers. Everything He has planned “must take place,” up till the Day of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, the eradication of evil, the wiping of every tear, and the Day He makes all-things-new.
This doesn’t make life easy, but it sure makes it good; it doesn’t make it stress-less, but it sure makes life peace-full. As we seek to begin this week and navigate through the struggles, afflictions, joys and celebrations that God brings into our lives, let us pray; Father, may we live so before you and others with our eyes filled with a vision of the occupied throne of heaven, and our gaze set on Jesus—the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Help us to praise and worship you as the ONLY ONE deserving of praise and honor and help us to trust you that we might serve you, loving you and our neighbor, as we at the same time long for that Day. In Jesus Holy name. Amen!
Here is one of the songs of Revelation put to music by Michael Card, Holy, Holy, Holy from Revelation 4:8.
God Bless y’all today.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
