Revelation 4:1-3 God’s Throne in Heaven – Part 2

We concluded our last study with the scriptures which reveal that ‘heaven’ is the realm of the spirit where Christ and His Father dwell within us.

Psa 11:4  The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

Where exactly is “His holy temple, the Lord’s throne in heaven”?

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Where are “the heavenly things themselves” which were typified by the physical tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon?

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these [“the blood of bulls and goats”; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Act 2:16  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19  And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

It is only after our “Sun is turned into darkness and our moon is turned into blood;” only after we see that we are in darkness and are guilty of the blood of Christ, that God even begins His fiery judgments in our lives.

Christ rides on the wheels of the cherubims, and He comes on a cloud. These are all “the heavenly things themselves.”  The cherubims, the wheels with the cherubs and the cloud, are all but types and figures of the same thing. They are all figures of those who are Christ’s “witnesses of these things.” Look at where these ‘clouds’ are mentioned in scripture:

Dan 7:13  I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

Eze 1:4  And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
Eze 1:5  Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
Eze 1:6  And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
Eze 1:7  And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
Eze 1:10  As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

Eze 1:19  And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
Eze 1:20  Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither [was their] spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
Eze 1:21  When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
Eze 1:22  And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature [was] as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
Eze 1:23  And under the firmament [were] their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
Eze 1:24  And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
Eze 1:25  And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
Eze 1:26  And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
Eze 1:27  And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
Eze 1:28  As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so [was] the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

Now that we know where is heaven, we are also now aware that clouds signify Christ’s “cloud of witnesses… [or] the clouds of heaven” on which Ezekiel tells us Christ rides.

Luk 24:46  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
Luk 24:47  And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luk 24:48  And ye are witnesses of these things.

Act 5:32  And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

I ask again, “Where did Christ go when he ascended up? Where is He now?” We know He was received out of their sight in a cloud, and we know that he “ascended up into heaven.” So exactly where is He at this very moment? He told us all exactly where He would be upon His resurrection out from the dead. Here is where Christ is:

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

What a wonderful and comforting promise. What a privilege to know these spiritual truths, which are unknown, and completely foolish to, and despised by the natural man:

1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

What is the greatest gift God can give to any man? What is it that eyes cannot see and ears cannot hear that has been revealed to us by His spirit?

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Heb 8:1  Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
Heb 8:2  A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

It is made clear that this is all in down payment or “earnest” form only, but it is none the less true.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Being “sealed with the holy spirit of promise” makes us partakers of all the promises “in earnest.” Yet it is not “the redemption of the purchased possession.” The redemption of the purchased possession is the fullness of that promise. It is the gift of life in a body of spirit in a resurrection from among the dead. It is that for which we hope, and we are saved by hope.

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [the same] in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Conclusion

Rev 4:1  After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Rev 4:2  And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Rev 4:3  And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

We have seen that an ‘open door in heaven’ means an increased knowledge of the revelation of Jesus Christ in the heavens of our own hearts and minds. We saw that heaven is not a geographical location, but is a spiritual realm in which we already are, if we are “in Christ.” We saw that “being in the spirit” and “hearing a trumpet” are the same phrases used to introduce the great and terrible day of the Lord.

We have seen that the Lord’s day of…

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

… is John looking behind himself and seeing the judgments which already are upon the house of God and which are this revelation of Jesus Christ. We saw that the phrase “come up here” has no more to do with the physical direction of up versus down than the word heaven has to do with a geographical location above the earth. We have seen that the heavens are Bible-speak for the location of God’s dwelling and the location of God’s temple, and the location of God’s throne. We read with our own eyes “Know you not that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you.” We saw with our own eyes that Christ’s location after his resurrection and ascension is specifically “within you,” and that the “throne that was set in heaven” is within each of God’s elect who are willing to stand for Him and His Word against all the oppositions of science falsely so called.

Finally, we saw that all the glory of the “rainbow round about the throne” in both Ezekiel and in Revelation is the symbol associated with rulership in the heavens of our hearts and minds where the throne and temple, and the heavens all are.

Next week, Lord willing we will cover these verses:

Rev 4:4  And round about the throne [were] four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
Rev 4:5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and [there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Rev 4:6  And before the throne [there was] a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, [were] four beasts full of eyes before and behind.