The Book of Revelation - Part 14

31 May 2026 · this lesson on the church site

Taught by Dr. Keith Palmer, Grace Bible Church, Granbury, Texas — from the church’s Sunday School series on Revelation. These are lightly edited transcripts of the audio, posted for personal study; the teaching and its content belong to Dr. Palmer and Grace Bible Church. Listen to the originals and find his notes on the church website. Transcribed from the audio by AI. Edited only where the audio was unclear (all edits marked with *). Errors are possible — the recording is the authority.

Returning to the Throne Room (00:00)

Well, you can find your way back to the book of Revelation. Again, if you're just joining us, we are going verse by verse through the book of Revelation. It's one of those wonderful and sort of scary books in your Bible. Wonderful because we're all intrigued by end times and what's going to happen, and the symbolism and the weirdity of it. Is that a word? Weirdity? Weird stuff. And it's awesome. And yet it's hard too, isn't it? It's a book that has symbolism and visions and imagery, and it's not as straightforward as one of the letters in the Bible or one of the Gospels, the historic parts. And so I'm going to try to navigate us through again today. This has been exciting for me, probably one of the harder studies, but it's fun. Every week I think of you guys as I'm studying, as I'm trying to figure stuff out and thinking, it's kind of like when you're the pit master and you've got a whole bunch of people coming over and you've got to serve the food. People are coming and you've got to bring the food. So I often say at Grace Bible Church it's easy to be a waiter because people like the food so much.

Where We Are in the Book (01:02)

So anyway, back to chapter 4. Again, what's happened? We've looked at the letters to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3. These are historic churches that Jesus had specific encouragement and admonition for. We saw those in those two chapters. And then John has moved now, as the vision shifts, to Revelation 4:1, where John says, "After these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I had heard like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me said, 'Come up here and I will show you.'" Now here's our phrase: what must take place after these things?

So let's just get oriented here and we'll jump back to chapter 4. I remember the basic outline there. We've seen the introduction. We've gone through the letters to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3. And now we're in the things that take place after, which is really going to take us all the way through the end of the book. I've given you a couple of different subpoints there so you can just kind of see the things to come. We're in that first section there in the throne room, which will occupy our attention in chapters 4 and 5.

The Book's Overall Structure (02:06)

Now, backing up to our diagram. I'm going to put this up every Sunday so that you will not get lost. This is your GPS navigation app so that you don't get confused in the book of Revelation. It's actually very logically laid out if you can kind of get your mind around it. Twenty-two chapters, a series of about 16-ish visions depending on how you count them. What we're going to see today, and I hope this will be helpful, is that the main section we're going to be in is the section we just started. It's this middle section. We'll circle back here and I'll give you more detail. But for now, we've finished the seven churches. We're in this little throne room section, vision number 2, starting in chapter 4. Then you'll see, starting in chapter 5, there's this book or scroll your Bible might say. That scroll with the seven seals is going to occupy most of the book, as you can see here. So this is the section you really need to pay attention to when you're reading through.

That's the part I want you to get familiar with in particular, because there are seven seals, seven trumpets, and then seven bowls. It's very intimidating to get bogged down in the details, but it's actually very logically laid out. Hopefully the visual will help you a little bit.

Reviewing Revelation 1:19 (03:11)

Okay, we'll come back to chapter 4 in the throne room, but by way of review, we've got to get a little bit of a running start today because we had to stop mid-chapter last time. Let's look at where we've been, and then we'll get to those sections later on in chapter 4 where we left off. Remember the outline. This is important, and you need to see Revelation 1:19, which we looked at last time, as something of an interpretive key to the book. In that verse, Jesus tells John, write down what you have seen. And then he gives us two categories: the things which are, and the things which will come after.

The way we're thinking about that is that the things that are most likely refer to chapters 2 and 3, because that was the present-day, contemporary situation with those seven churches. The things which take place after start in chapter 4 and take us through the end of the book. So Jesus actually gives us an outline. This is what I'm talking about when we say each week that we want to let the book help us interpret itself. Jesus here actually tells us how the book is to be outlined if we pay attention.

One of the things that gets us into a lot of trouble in the Bible is when we bring an outline or a structure and then impose it on the text and read it that way. That's not always unhelpful, but many times God builds an outline and a structure into the books of the Bible himself. That's why Pastor Terry and Pastor Tanner and I, and those of us who have had the privilege of studying the original languages, labor to translate these sections for you every week. It's not that we sit around going, "Oh, Greek is awesome, right?" It's that sometimes, if you don't do that, you miss things in the structure. So what we're trying to do is what we call exegesis: drawing out the meaning that God has put there. And yes, God puts an actual structure in these books as well. Sometimes it's obvious in English, sometimes it's not so obvious. But Revelation 1:19 is an example of what I've been talking about, where Jesus tells us exactly how this is going to go, and that gives us some structure and context.

Reading Revelation 4:2–11 (05:16)

So let me read the vision again, since it's so intriguing. John hears again that voice he heard for the first time in chapter 1: "Come up here and I will show you what must take place after these things." Revelation 4:2 says, "Immediately I was in the spirit, and behold a throne was standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne." Verse 3: "And he who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance. And around the throne were 24 thrones, and upon the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads. And out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the center and around the throne four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature was like a lion, and the second like a calf. The third had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures each one of them had six wings and are full of eyes around and within. And day and night they do not cease to say, 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.'"

Verse 9 continues: "And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 'Worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.'"

Present and Future in the Throne Room (08:21)

So John sees this door open in heaven. He hears that voice that sounded like a trumpet blast saying, "Come up here and I will show you the things which must take place after these things." Again, that goes right back to Revelation 1:19. We're transitioning now from the present to the future. You say, how far in the future? Do you remember what I told you last time? Does this start right away? Is it the distant future? What did I tell you? Oh, my class. You think it's summertime and you can just take time off from school? This is Sunday school, right? No, I remember I said you had to keep coming back, and I'll tell you that. So you're all back. I guess you did what I asked you to do. But we're going to let the book tell us when these things happen. There are things that unfold in these visions that will help us place the exact time frame. For now, we just keep reading.

Now, here's this vision of the throne room. John says, "I was in the spirit." That just means the Spirit allowed him to experience this vision, to see heaven. Did he go there? Was he on earth? We don't know. The Spirit has enabled him to see this vision and to experience what is about to happen. A throne standing in heaven, one sitting on the throne. He was like a jasper stone and a sardius. We talked about those precious stones last time; they show up in other places in the Old Testament, particularly Exodus, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. The rainbow around the throne reminds us of God's faithfulness, stretching back to Genesis 9 and the flood, and also to Ezekiel 1.

The Identity of the 24 Elders (09:23)

Around the throne we see 24 thrones, and upon those 24 thrones are 24 elders clothed in white garments. Do you remember we talked about the possible identities of these 24 elders? What were the options? Do you remember that part? What's that? Believers. These are probably believers. The options were:

Angels
Human beings

The white garments point to them being believers, since that's a feature of redeemed people in the book of Revelation. Also, the word elder, presbyteros, is never used of angels in the Bible, so that pushes us away from that view. And I think Revelation, well, we'll look at the next screen here. I do think the human-being view is supported if you peek ahead to Revelation 5:11, which we looked at last time. Revelation 5:11 seems to distinguish angels from the 24 elders, and that gives credibility to the idea that these are probably not angels. These are probably human beings, given the white garments and the distinction in 5:11.

So the 24 could represent the 12 tribes of Israel and also the 12 apostles. We had the question last week: are these the actual 12 sons of Israel? Are these the actual 12 apostles? Or are these just elders that represent them? We talked about it. If they were the actual apostles, is John seeing himself? That's intriguing. What we're probably thinking about here are 24 elders who represent those 12 tribes or those 12 apostles, rather than actually being them. Interesting footnote: were all of the 12 sons of Jacob believers? I'm hearing probably not, and I'm seeing shaking of heads. If you read Jacob's final words on his deathbed at the end of Genesis, the prophetic words he speaks over each one of his sons,

The Twenty-Four Elders (11:32)

Most of them are not flattering. And so these brothers, perhaps many of those brothers that represent the 12 tribes, some of them at least were probably not believers based on those prophecies, based on their life. How do they end their life? You know, with Joseph, and you remember that in Genesis 50. So again, we may not even have the 12 brothers that represent the 12 tribes. It's possible that some of them were not even regenerate.

So what we're thinking about here is probably the fact that these 24 elders represent the 12 tribes and the 12 apostles, meaning they're representing Israel and the church. It's also possible that they're just representing the church in general. And again, as we go along, hopefully one of those interpretations will crystallize for us. But those are kind of the possibilities.

The Four Living Creatures (12:35)

Now out from the throne come flashes of lightning. We sometimes see lightning and thunder in God's presence, as in Exodus on Mount Sinai and also in Ezekiel. The seven lamps of fire are the seven spirits of God. We talked about that. Remember, there's not seven Holy Spirits. There's one Holy Spirit. But the number seven emphasizes both his fullness, and it's also a reference to Zechariah and the fact that those seven letters went to seven churches, emphasizing the Spirit's individual work in the life of those churches. The sea of glass like crystal, this is just getting more and more intriguing.

And then there's kind of where we left off. We left off talking about the creatures, the living ones, literally what the text tells us there. John says, as he's looking at this vision, that there were four living creatures, four living ones. They were full of eyes in front and behind. Well, what do you think that represents? They have eyes in front and behind. They see things, don't they? They see things all around them.

Then John describes their appearance. One looked like a lion, one like a calf, one like a man, and one like a flying eagle.

And we spent some time in Ezekiel chapter one last time. Anybody go back to Ezekiel this last week and read that? Good.

Comparing Ezekiel and Revelation (13:41)

A couple of you did your homework assignment. The homework assignment was for you to compare the descriptions in Ezekiel with the description of the living creatures in Revelation 4. Did you guys do that? Okay, I'm going to put a QR code on the screen. You're going to scan it with your phone. You're going to take your quiz right now, okay? You think I'm kidding? Okay, I am kidding. Okay, but I will do that. My schoolteacher comes out in me sometimes. But no, I hope that you at least read and compare it. And that's part of the fun of Revelation: we're reading this, and if you've read the first 65 books in your Bible, you go, hey, we've seen some of this. It sounds really familiar. So talk to me about the similarities and the differences between Ezekiel and Revelation. Okay, make me proud.

Ezekiel's a... Yes. He's a wardrobe explanation of God.

Yeah, exactly. You agree with that? Brian was just saying Ezekiel was a much more complete description. You have a whole chapter, and then he comes back to it at other times in his book as well. So it's a much longer description, whereas John just gives us a brief description. Okay, what else?

Ezekiel gets way more close up. So you figure John's got the long lens and Ezekiel's got the portrait lens, and he's right there looking at things. That's true.
Ezekiel is kind of each of these creatures. He's seeing all four sides. John is seeing four creatures, but he's really only seeing one from this viewpoint. That's why he sees four. So Carl was just saying, Ezekiel gets to see all around the creatures, so he can see that each has four faces, whereas John seems to be fixed in relation to those four creatures. He only sees one of the four faces.

They're assuming these are the same creatures, which we think that they are, because there's enough congruity there. But yeah, John's not only able to see one side of the face there. That's correct. What else?

The Wheels (16:56)

The wheels with the eyes. Did you read about the wheels with the eyes? Talk to me about the wheels with the eyes. They only go straightforward. Yeah. Okay. So the wheels with the eyes only go straightforward. Talk to me about the transportation system that these creatures have at their disposal. You're looking at me like, do they Uber? Did you read Ezekiel? There are these wheels. Okay, I'm not going to do this for you. This is your assignment. So the wheels, and then tell me about them. What do they do? There are wheels inside the wheels. Yeah. They move like, we think of helicopter-type movement, right? They're always facing that one direction. What else? You're doing great. Keep going.

They have eyes too. The wheels have eyes. All-seeing. What else? The wheels are attached to the creatures, or the creatures are in them. Yeah. It's just kind of like, what is that connection? But yeah, the creatures are connected to the wheels in some way. And when the creatures move, the wheels move with them.

Keep going. You're doing great. How does what we're seeing in Ezekiel compare with what John is seeing? You can turn to Ezekiel. Turn to chapter one, remind yourself of it, and then we'll flip back and forth. What Ezekiel sees in chapter one and in other chapters compares with what John is seeing how? Carl said Ezekiel seems to have an ability to see all around, whereas John is more fixed, close up versus distant. What are some other differences and similarities we might see?

Yeah. The spirit of the creatures was in the wheels. Yeah. So there's some connection between the creatures themselves and the spirit of the creatures that's said to be in the wheels. And that, I think, gives some credibility that the wheels are not like, hey, that's my truck, and I jump in my truck. I know that this is a part of the creature in some way.

Wings and Reverence (18:14)

And wings. Okay. So here's a difference. John sees the creatures, and how many wings do they have? Six. Ezekiel sees the creatures, and how many wings do they have? Four. So Ezekiel says there's one pair that touches one another, and another pair does what? They cover their feet. And you'll see this. Remember, we saw this in Isaiah as well, in Isaiah 6, with the seraphim: the wings covering the feet. We see this a few times in the Bible. What is the significance of that?

I was supposed to do that. The wings covered the feet where they were.

That's right. Okay. So Roger's saying those wings, when they're in the presence of God, cover the feet. That's right. It's culturally significant, but it's true without the Bible that that's a way of showing reverence and honor for the Lord that they're in proximity to. In some cases, they're covering their eyes as well. That's a particular reminder of God's holiness. Even these angelic beings, these are not fallen angels. These are angelic beings that are good and righteous in the presence of God, but even they have to veil what's going on there, because the glory of God is that extreme.

So, okay, what else? Compare and contrast. Yeah, Mike. Their eyes are fixed, so their eyes are always on God in that way. Yes. Very good.

The Fire (20:26)

Isn't this fun? So we've got to read this. John doesn't say this, although there are some allusions to it. But the lamps of fire that John mentions, if you look at Ezekiel, let me just turn there real quick. You forget that there's something else going on here. So we're looking at Ezekiel 1. If you're not there already, Ezekiel 1:4:

Behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it. Now look at this. In the midst of something glowing metal in the midst of the fire, and within it there were figures resembling four living creatures.

So these living creatures are in the midst of the fire. Right? Maybe something like that. Did any of you guys use the AI? I think Roger sent me some pictures. Any of you guys mess around with that and throw it in there? How many of you want to put up a little figurine in your bathroom of one of these guys? Impress the guests. There's a horror movie in the bathroom! These are not creatures you want to deal with. You see why Adam and Eve didn't want to go back to Eden.

So they have the different faces, the wings, the fire, the eyes. And then if you put them in the context of the wheels, you have these wheels, one within the other, transporting these four living creatures. I don't think the living creatures in this description are nearly as impressive as they were in the other picture, but you see how they're attached to these wheels, and they move like a transport underneath the throne with the fire and the rainbow and all of that.

Anyway, should we do a contest for who comes up with the best graphics for this? Do we need to do that, Ryan? What do you think? Daisy should do it. So we'll do a contest. Whoever comes up with the best visual of the four living creatures will have some cool prize that I'll think of this week. But again, you get a sense that this is pretty serious. Now John's writing, the Spirit has taken him, he's seeing this, and you get the sense that he's just... It's overwhelming to him, and he's writing down what he's seeing in terms of these creatures.

Differences Between the Two Accounts (23:34)

Any other comparison or contrast between the two of them? Yes. Okay, that's right. So we actually get some description of what they're saying in Revelation, whereas Ezekiel just talks about it sounding like thunder. Yeah, very good. And so again, I think there's enough overlap that these are probably the same creatures, between the fact that John's obviously... Well, both Ezekiel and John are probably pretty overwhelmed when they're giving this description. John's sort of more in the middle of it than Ezekiel.

So there are some discrepancies. Is it possible that the creatures in Ezekiel actually have another pair of wings, but they are folded in because the wheels are being utilized? I mean, that's possible. Or maybe they're variants. Maybe there's a Revelation variant and an Ezekiel variant. Maybe there are dozens and dozens of variants. Who knows? But suffice it to say, these are pretty awesome creatures.

Recognizing What John Saw (24:38)

Okay, anything else you want to add to that in terms of comparison? Yes. I was just going to say, you've seen something that he's never seen before. You see Leica. Yeah. It's like somebody from the 16th... seeing an airplane and trying to describe what he's seeing. Yeah. Let's say he did something like a bear, something like a... Yeah. Yeah. And that's it. I appreciate it. I appreciate what John is seeing, something that no one has seen before. And so he's making these comparisons: it looks like a lion, it looks like the face of a man, they appear to have wings. So yeah.

And that's part of what helps us interpret Revelation: recognizing that John's just writing what he's seeing or what he's hearing. If we keep that in mind, that can help us avoid probably more extreme and more foolish interpretations of what's going on.

Ezekiel's Creatures and an Airliner (25:39)

I do this because I love you guys. I research this all week. I found a YouTube video on the identification of the living creatures in Ezekiel chapter 1. I thought, oh, that's interesting. I pulled it up and thought it was a joke. A couple of minutes in, it's just these airliners landing, and I'm thinking, why are we looking at airliners landing? I'm here for Ezekiel. Then all of a sudden they freeze frame on a picture and start describing parts of this 787 and trying to compare them to the creatures. They point to the little pods on the back of the wing that hide the flap mechanisms. What are those called? Pylons. So he's saying, look, there are four pylons, that's the four creatures. And I'm going, no.

He was doing this whole thing about trying to make it fit, and we don't want to go extreme like that, right? But what we do want to recognize is that John is trying to put into words what he's seeing. As best we can tell, we're getting something along these lines, and the wheels... we need to animate that, don't we? We need to totally animate that so we can see the translation and the work there. We'll come back to that.

Homework Assignment (26:49)

Good job, guys, on your homework. A lot of these places we need to stop and go back to the Old Testament and get that information back in our minds so we can make sense of this. By the way, what was the point of Ezekiel seeing those creatures? Do you need to know? You guys need another homework assignment, don't you? So maybe next week go back to Ezekiel, read the description, and try to answer the question: why was Ezekiel seeing those creatures? What's the significance for him and for the book? That will help us again with the book of Revelation.

Okay, let's come back to Revelation now. We see these flashes of lightning. We've talked about the description here, the six wings full of eyes around them.

The Cherubim and the Seraphim (27:50)

Remember Ezekiel 10:5, where Ezekiel identifies the four living creatures from chapter 1 as cherubim. You know that. We see them back in Genesis 3 when God sends Adam and Eve out of the garden and stations the cherubim. Remember that in Hebrew, the letters I and M on the end of words make them plural. Cherub or cherubim, seraph or seraphim. So when God says, "I station the cherubim there", there's more than one, and we see the same here. These are cherubim, and they have six wings, similar to the seraphim in Isaiah.

It's possible that the cherubim and the seraphim are actually the same creatures, or maybe there are different variants. Why would that be? Because the root words for seraph and cherub describe different aspects of the creatures themselves. So it's appropriate that a given human writer might call them something different based on what they think is the root cause: flaming ones, shining ones, things like that.

Okay, and day and night, as one of you said, they do not cease to say... this should sound familiar: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God the Almighty."

Holy, Holy, Holy (28:52)

In the Old Testament we have the term Yahweh of hosts, the Lord of hosts. That word host references God in his battle armor, in his commander-in-chief description, the armies of heaven, God coming with his war machine. John MacArthur's description of these four creatures is "heaven's war machine." So what are we seeing here with "holy, holy, holy"? What does that word holy mean, by the way, when we're talking about God? Kadash, kadash, kadash. What does that mean?

Set apart. The etymology is something that is set apart, right? The word holy has two main meanings:

It can mean set apart for a specific purpose. When we talk about being set apart from sin, we think of holiness as purity or sanctification. We think of the priests who cleansed different parts of the temple or the tabernacle, setting them apart for specific use.
It speaks to God's uniqueness. I like the term his otherness, his significance. This is really only used of God in this way.

When Isaiah sees this, and when these living creatures say "holy, holy, holy", they are declaring that there is no one like this God. He is other, other, other. He is unique, unique, unique. He is unlike anybody else, unlike anyone else, unlike anyone else. The threefold repetition is the Hebraic way of putting an exclamation point on something. We're emphasizing that.

Now look at this: "who was and who is and who is to come." That's a common description of God's eternality. He has always been around, eternity past, eternity present. We saw that description again back in chapter 1. It also coincides with the idea that John is saying, "I'm going to tell you what's going on, and I'm going to tell you what's coming after." God is uniquely qualified, since he has always been around from eternity to eternity, to tell us what's coming. What's coming? Okay.

Worship Around the Throne (30:54)

Let's come back here. When the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, we see that description in other places in the book of Revelation. We see a similar image in Daniel chapter 4, which we'll come back to. That's the description of him who lives forever and ever.

What do they do? The 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, worship him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne. We see similar descriptions again throughout the book: chapter 5, verses 8 and 14; chapter 7; chapter 11; chapter 19. This is not the only time we're going to see what these creatures and the elders do. Whenever John goes back to this throne room in his vision, we see them saying similar things. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." We see them bowing down. We see them engaging in worship. The elders cast their crowns before him and say, "Worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power."

Why God Is Worthy (31:57)

Now this is different. Why is God worthy? Because of who he is? Sure. Because he created everything. So the first chorus is that he is other, other, other, there's no one like him. And the whole earth is full of his kavod, his glory, his weight, his heaviness. And then here it's "worthy are you to receive that glory and honor and power." Why? Because he's the Creator. That's interesting.

I want you to think with me for a minute. I know I'm making you go back to school. That's why we're here. Why would these creatures and the elders emphasize God's role as Creator around the throne in this vision of heavenly worship? What do you think?

George: It establishes the rule and authority of God as ruler over all things.

Yeah. George is saying it establishes his authority as Creator and ruler, and that gives him the right to talk about all this and to rule over all this, his lordship. What do you think about that? I guess that's a great answer. If he's the Creator of all things, if he created time itself, and the earth and everything on it, and these creatures and all that, then he has the right to do what? To judge, to rule, to reign, to receive worship.

This is a good reminder. You're going to call me crazy here, but I really think this is a great place to start with people who have no idea who God is. You start with the reality that this God created all things. Why start there? Because the Bible starts there. It's not surprising that the Bible's first and last books, Genesis and Revelation, both deal with this. Genesis starts with creation, establishing God's right to rule, his authority, his lordship, his deservedness of our worship. Then all the way at the very end, the book of Revelation goes right back to that and says, "He's worthy because he's our Creator." He's establishing his authority quite literally from cover to cover in your Bible. That also uniquely qualifies him to say, "I'm going to tell you what's going to happen."

You're not wrong, George, when you said it establishes his authority, and one of you said "to judge." This declaration of worship is not just "wow, God, you're so neat." It's a declaration of his worth, his rule, his authority, and his lordship. It's a reminder that he created all things and that we are under his leadership and authority. Why? Because something is about to happen, and this something is going to carry us literally from now to the end of the book. It is established on God's rulership, his authority, and his right as our Creator to rule, to reign, and to judge.

Revelation 5:1 (36:13)

So they say, "Worthy are you." Now, is your seatbelt fastened? I'm going to ask you that a couple of times, because some of you like to take the seatbelt off prematurely. I know, I'm watching.

Go back to Revelation if you're still hanging out in Ezekiel. Let's pick it up in chapter 5, verse 1. Chapter 4 ends with "Worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created." How did God create all things? He said, "I want to do it." His will, and God's will, is what we call efficacious. That is, his will coupled with his power coupled with his wisdom. He can just speak, as in Psalm 104. He spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. God spoke it all into existence as a clear demonstration of his authority, his wisdom, and his power. "You created all things, because of your will they existed and were created." Deep breath.

Chapter 5, verse 1: "And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book, or your Bible might say a scroll, with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the book and break its seals?'" Notice the description here. Where did we hear that? The previous verse: "worthy are you." Get this. The chorus of the elders and the creatures has established that only God is worthy, and then this angel is going to say, "Who is worthy?" Remember that, because when we see the one who steps up to start breaking these seals, that's a clear indication that this one is God. Jesus is setting us up here in terms of this vision.

John sees this book in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, written inside and on the back, and sealed up with seven seals. And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. It makes you wonder, what happened?

Why Does John Weep? (39:23)

I mean, are there people trying? Creatures trying? Or is it just so obvious that this book is so significant that no one even tries? It could be a rhetorical question. Yeah, that's probably the right interpretation, right?

"Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or look into it."

Why does John break down crying when no one is found who was worthy to open this book? Just think for a minute. Why would he cry? It's kind of an interesting response. He thinks it needs to be opened. He was told to write down what he sees. Right. And if he thinks what he needs to know is provided there in this book...

Okay. It can't be opened. Yeah, so, yeah. It seems one... Yeah, so Jesus told him, write down what you see, and John's thinking, I've got to see what's inside the book. If I'm going to obey Jesus to write down... Yeah, that makes sense. But he weeps. And that reaction, guys, is supposed to make us stop and say, what is this book? What is this book? I love how you're thinking, George. Is that something to do with Daniel in the book? Okay, the book gets sealed up. Okay, so maybe there's some prophetic significance here. Does it have to do with our souls? Is it a book that has to do with our destiny, our souls? There's something about this book, and maybe John had insight we didn't have. Maybe it's just, I want to know because I want to write it, and I don't want the vision to end here. But he weeps. And it begs the question: what is this book?

Where the Answer Is Found (41:30)

Now, let's see how you've done. Whenever we come to a place in the book of Revelation when we want to know something, what do we do? You keep reading. Thank you. Roger gets a gold star for class today. You keep reading, because the answer is over the next 11 chapters. We're going to find out the contents of this book. Right now, John's weeping. John's able to open it, and we have this crisis. But there's something about this book that John thinks needs to be disclosed.

And yet what we're going to see, guys, and if you've been reading the book of Revelation, you know this, is that when the book is opened and when seal number one is broken, and then two, and then three, and then four, and then five, and then six, and then seven, where there's silence in heaven when the seventh seal is broken, and then the aftermath, the bowls, and what we see... and you know this: as the book unfolds, what we see is violence, destruction, and death upon the earth. That's what we see.

Now, is there hope laced into that? Absolutely there is. Praise the Lord there is. So we're not just completely discouraged. But when this book is opened, it unfolds seal after seal after seal after seal of destruction and violence and death and horror on the earth.

The Question to Ponder (42:34)

And the question I want you to ponder is, why is John so eager that it gets opened? I mean, if you knew that's what was in the book, you might keep that closed. But guys, there's a reason. There is a biblical reason. And I think in every single one of you, like it is in me, there's a longing for that book to be opened.

So John looks around, he's weeping. He wants this book to be opened. Yeah, yeah, we could be back to the book of life. Right. We'll see. We have to put it down. Keep reading, right? So we're going to look at these sections right here, these scrolls with the seven seals, the seven bowls, right? That's what we're going to look at in the coming weeks. And he says, who is worthy to take the book and break its seals? We'll find out next week.

Closing Prayer (43:35)

Father, thank you. What a wonderful, and just challenging, and amazing book this is. Why does John weep? Why does this book unfold violence and destruction? And why is heaven so eager that this book be opened? I pray that you'll help us to put this together in our minds as we see your plan unfold. And we give you glory today with the elders, with the living creatures. We declare your worth. We declare your praise. We declare your holiness, that you alone are God. And this scene from heaven reminds us of what our hearts ought to be on earth: that we would prize you and worship you and value you and pursue you and love you and serve you. So, Mike, this vision burned in our minds today, lead us to live differently this week. That these things would be in our hearts, and your praise and your glory would be on our lips, and it would drive how we live.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

* = the audio was unclear here and the words were reconstructed from context. Scripture read aloud is in red.

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