Revelation 4:1

Revelation chapter 4 and we're reading verse 1. The words of John, after this I looked and behold the 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 show thee things which must be hereafter. That's all that we're going to read. We may refer to a few other verses in the book of the Revelation shortly.

I want you to notice that the verse that I have read presents a very crucial moment in the book of Revelation. A crucial moment because of events that have been recorded in the first three chapters and then what is to follow. So this particular verse represents a pivotal moment in the book of the Revelation.

We're going to notice a season passed and that is presented in this verse by the words after this or after these things. And then a sight that John draws our attention to. He says I beheld.

And then a sound that reaches his ear and so he refers to a voice and then finally a summons that is given to John and just the words come up hither. And so a season passed, a sight, a sound and a summons from this one verse in the book of the Revelation. And so the season passed.

This might seem rather simplistic I suppose. When I make the statement that the first four chapters in the book of Revelation are chronological. All of the chapters and the verses in the book of Revelation are not chronological.

By chronological I mean they follow one after the other. So chapter 2 follows chapter 1, chapter 3, chapter 2 and now we have come to chapter 4. And so when John says after this or after these things, he's making reference particularly to chapters 2 and 3 of the book of the Revelation. In other words John is indicating that the events that are suggested or that take place in the first three chapters of the book are events that have concluded.

And so that means we take a very quick look at these seven churches that are recorded in chapters 2 and 3. In chapters 2 and 3 those seven assemblies commencing with Ephesus and ending with Laodicea are literal assemblies that were upon earth in John's day. John was well familiar with the circumstances of each of those assemblies. And so the details that are presented in the two chapters are details that are known to John.

John was familiar that in Ephesus they had left their first love. And likely with Ephesus John would have been some connection with Ephesus. Historically we are told that he spent his last days at Ephesus.

He is here on the Isle of Patmos. He's banished by the Roman power government for his testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ. And on this Isle of Patmos he is perhaps by himself.

No one would dare take a little journey across a little body of water to try to rescue him because that would mean certain death. So there was no need for a guard to be with John on the Isle of Patmos, likely by himself. He's an agent man on this island and likely into his early 90s.

And by himself he hears a voice and he turns to see the voice. And the voice is going to remind John then of the events that have taken place already in chapters two and three. And so again they are literal assemblies.

But then they could be looked at in another way in view of the reward for the overcomer. And so for each of the seven there is an overcomer. I would take it that the overcomer is not in a general way an overcomer, but is a an overcomer who overcomes the difficulties in the various assemblies.

And so for example in Ephesus the overcomer overcomes the condition of first love. Coming on to the last assembly, Laodicea, the overcomer overcomes the worldly conditions and the lukewarm conditions that are in Laodicea. So there's a reward for the overcomer.

But these seven can be looked at in another way. And the way that I would probably be more inclined to look at them because of my background as a history teacher. And so these seven represent an overall picture of the Day of Grace.

And so standing in the shoes of John, he's looking down the corridors of time and he's being given a an overall view of what lies before him in the future. And so commencing with the assembly at Ephesus, the apostolic period. Now I'm not going over all of them this this afternoon.

And but coming to Smyrna, he's occupied with the sufferings of the believers under the Roman Empire and then Pergamos, the inroads of the world in a period following Smyrna. The last four run concurrently to the end of the age. And so they are found what they represent are found in the world today.

And so Thyatira represents Catholicism. Sardis represents the Protestant Reformation coming out of Thyatira. And Philadelphia beautifully represents gathering unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We come to Laodicea. But they all run concurrently. They are all found in the world at this present moment.

And so John is told here, after these things, after this. And so what John has been reminded of is what we might refer to as the church period. And the church period here has come to an end, has come to a conclusion.

The moment has come when the period of time that we are living in is going to end. And John is looking through the corridors of time and he's being brought to that particular moment when there's going to be a great conclusion. And so that's why we have indicated that this is a crucial statement.

This brings us to the end of the period of time that we are living in. It brings us to the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come. Sometimes you hear a statement that is coined likely years ago.

And some statements that you hear, you question a little. And so sometimes we hear that the Bible has more to say about hell than it does about heaven. I have a little question mark over that.

Because we are now facing, when we come to Revelation chapter 4, two chapters. All of chapter 4, all of chapter 5, that is going to take us into heaven. And so John now is a little indication of believers in the day that we're living in.

And now he's on the Isle of Patmos. And it says that John is looking up. You notice that John is not looking at the circumstances that surround him.

Sometimes that's difficult for us to do, isn't it? To rise above the circumstances that we find ourselves in. And John's circumstances are very difficult. Now, but just at this moment, in John's experience on this Isle of Patmos, he's not occupied with his own circumstances.

He has risen above those. John is not occupied here with the circumstances in the seven assemblies that he would be well familiar with. He knows that the priestly judge has given his assessment of each of those assemblies.

You'll notice when you come to Revelation chapters 2 and 3 that the Lord is in the midst of the seven. That is, he is not in the midst relative to Matthew 18 and 20. And we love Matthew 18 and 20, but that's not what is here.

He is in the midst of seven assemblies. And insofar as those seven are responding to the Lordship of Christ and responding to him, then there will be similarities between the seven. But when there is departure from Christ, there's differences that enter in.

And so the priestly judge, for he's presented that way in chapter 1, gives his assessment of each of these assemblies. And so now we have come then to John here looking up. And he's not occupied with the faults and failures of believers.

He's not occupied with signs. We're going to touch the rapture here in just a moment. And so signs are not occupying John.

When you come to Matthew chapter 24, you have a chapter of signs. And I think if you count and read through that chapter, you'll find that there are 22 signs in Matthew chapter 24, and none of them are signs for the rapture. There are no signs for the rapture.

We're not looking for signs. Matthew chapter 25, which follows chapter 24, is not the rapture. And so when we come to what we have here, it's John's not looking at signs or none.

Nothing needs to be fulfilled. Nothing needs to be completed until the Lord comes. The Lord could come at any moment.

No signs for him coming. And so now John here says that it says that he is looking up. And he's looking up with expectation.

And he's looking up with anticipation. And that should be our attitude at the present moment. There should be an expectation in our soul, and there should be a looking up.

John looked up on another occasion. You remember in Acts chapter 1, when the Lord Jesus led them out as to the slopes of the Mount of Olives, and he gave them his parting words. And that his hands are uplifted in blessing.

And then those men saw a remarkable sight. They saw a man whose feet left earth, and they saw him commence a journey upward. Those men were fascinated by what they saw.

Their eyes were riveted on him. When the angel had to tell them, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up so? This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go up into heaven. And I would take that to be the rapture.

I would take that his return to earth in Acts chapter 1. His feet are going to come back to the earth to the same place that he left when he ascended. But here John again is looking up, and John says behold. Now that word behold uniquely is John's word.

And so when you come to the gospel record, John uses the word behold five times in his gospel. But in the book of the Revelation, you'll find that John uses the word 20 times. And whenever John uses that word, he wants to draw your attention to a remarkable sight.

He wants you to notice something that is unusual, something that's remarkable. He will give us the words of Pilate on one occasion, behold the man. Remarkable sight, the Lord Jesus.

We've kind of remembered that this morning, standing before those Roman soldiers and then coming out to be presented to the rabble crowd. And Pilate says, behold the man. And John records those words because he wants to draw your attention to the sight.

And so here, one of the many times that John uses the word behold, he says as he looked up, behold, a door was opened in heaven. Sometimes I think I could have read a little title over John, the apostle of the open door, because John is occupied with open doors. He gives us the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter 10, behold, I am the door.

By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. And then he gives us the words again in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 8 relative to Philadelphia. I have set before thee an open door.

There's a tremendous significance of that relative to the assembly at Philadelphia. And then he's going to give us another behold relative to Laodicea. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

That's not a gospel verse, so it could be used in the gospel, I suppose. But when he stands at the door knock, he's at the door of Laodicea. Any man hear my voice, it becomes a personal, individual thing.

And open the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me. And now John has an open door. And he looks up, and he's allowed for a moment to see into heaven.

You remember another man? He doesn't specifically tell us his name, but the context would indicate who it was. A man who was called up to paradise and saw things that were unspeakable. It would seem very clear that when you read the following verses, that was Paul.

That's 1st Corinthians chapter 12. And so now John is looking up, and as this door is open, John looks into heaven. And he sees heavenly sights.

I want you to notice one thing that impressed John here. We heard this morning a number of details about the Lord Jesus Christ. We heard about the stone's cast.

We heard about the reed. We heard about the feet of Christ. Well, John is going to draw our attention for a moment to something else about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me just ask you now, when you think of the Savior, what are some of the details? Some of the things that you are looking forward to when you see the Savior. You might say, well, I'm looking forward to see His face. Well, we're told in this book of Revelation, they shall see His face.

But a moment, when we look upon the face of Christ. A brother passed away. A sister passed away.

Our way. I knew them quite well when I got the word that she had passed away. They had to take her husband to the hospital.

He's an Egypt brother. I made my way to the hospital, sat down beside him, and for a half an hour we discussed the face of Christ. What it must be for his wife to be in the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and to look at the face of the Savior.

We know this morning that we were occupied a little with that face. I was so marred by sinful man. That face that was hardly recognizable.

I was thinking this morning in worship of those two men who took that linen napkin to wrap it around the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those two men saw that face closer than anyone else had saw the details of that face after men had put their marks of brutality upon it. We're going to see His face.

But there's something else that's going to impress us. And it impresses John here. And John speaks here about the voice of Christ.

Hear his voice. I'm looking forward or longing for that moment when the Savior is going to speak. And we're going to hear his voice.

And you wonder sometimes what is the voice going to sound like? What is it going to be when we hear his voice? And as John looks up to heaven here, John is occupied with his voice. He hears his voice here. You'll notice that he says in chapter 1 in verse 12, and we have read it here in the verse that we have read, that his voice is like a trumpet.

It almost seems that John is trying to get words to describe this voice. He says, like a trumpet. I don't have a musical ear.

I don't play a musical instrument. But I have taken classes of students up our way to a large building in the city of Toronto called Massey Hall. Massey Hall is the most unusual building, not like this building, because the center core of Massey Hall is hollow.

And then there are rows of seats, tiers of seats all around. They used to have the conference in Toronto at Massey Hall. They tell me that they didn't need this microphone, that the acoustics are so good in Massey Hall that one of the speakers could stand on the podium on the ground floor and could be heard way up in the last tier.

I think about the third one high. Well, we had to take classes of students to Massey Hall to hear the symphony orchestra. Now, I don't go to hear symphony orchestra, but I had to escort students to hear the symphony orchestra.

And so they demonstrated all of the instruments of the orchestra. Well, that orchestra was playing a crescendo, and then all of a sudden, that was the conductor hitting the podium with his baton, is it? And the orchestra suddenly stopped. And the ear of the orchestra, of the conductor, knew that that little piccolo, little tiny instrument, with all of the sound of that orchestra, that the piccolo was not in tune.

Of course, they were demonstrating the instruments of the orchestra, but the ear of the conductor picked up that tune. I'm going to pick a tune up. And it's going to sound like a trumpet.

Not like an earthly trumpet. And so John says here that his voice was like a trumpet, was a trumpet sound. And then when you come to chapter 1 in verse 12, it says that John turned to see the voice.

We noticed in the Bible reading of Blue River that there are two titles to the Lord Jesus that John gives us. They are John's unique titles. And so John describes him as the word.

That's a title. And then John describes him as the voice. And so the word and the voice go together.

It is the voice that articulates the word. And so John says here, or in chapter 1 in verse 12, he turned to see the voice. And then John tells us in chapter 1 in verse 10 that the voice that he heard was a great voice.

Talk about various people upon this earth having a great voice, but there's no voice like this. There's a voice that you've never heard. There's a voice that John says is a trumpet.

He says it's a great voice. And there's going to come a moment when we're going to hear the Lord speak. And John says a great voice.

But John has another description of that voice. In chapter 1 in verse 15, John says it was a sound of many waters. And so John is describing the voice of Christ, the voice that we're going to listen to.

And I believe the voice that we're going to listen to eternally. It's a great voice. It's a sound of a trumpet.

It's the voice of many waters. That is, waters in deep flood. Likely the closest place that you could come on this earth to hear something like John describes here, a great voice, the voice as of many waters, waters in deep flood.

I suppose likely that most people here have been to Niagara Falls. There is a pathway that will take you down the embankment down to the very edge of the Niagara River. And when you get down to the edge of the Niagara River, that water is going through the gorge, makes a loud sound.

That's kind of what John is comparing it to here, but even greater in John's comparison. He says the sound of many waters, the power, the majesty, the beauty, the might of a voice that we're going to hear. And John says the voice is going to speak, and it's going to issue a command.

And the command to John, John hears it here, and the command is, come up hither. And if you look at the the word in the Greek language that is used, it's one word, abinio. That could be translated ascend.

I wonder when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven, the voice of the archangel, trumpet of God, that could be trumpet like voice. And that mighty shout is given. And I wonder if this is what he's going to shout, whether we have it recorded here, whether that that voice of Christ, that trumpet like voice, that voice like many waters, that great voice is going to reach the ear of every believer.

And the command is going to be ascend, come up hither. We're going to rise from this earth to meet the Lord in the air. Is that something that fills our soul with anticipation? Does that fill our soul with expectation? That's an expectation, that's a longing that will separate us from this poor world, to spend our moments here in expectation, waiting for the moment that we're going to hear that shout, and we're going to rise from this earth to meet him.

We're told that the dead in Christ shall rise first. That causes no difficulty to each of us, does it? I'm speaking to those who know him. Those believers that were herded into the arena, to the forum at Rome, and then the lions were turned on them, and their bodies were consumed by the lions or torn to pieces.

They're going to rise when the voice shouts ascend. Those who have gone down in the ships of this earth to the sea and their bodies have been carried to the four corners of the earth, it's going to be no difficulty, is it? For the one who created the heavens and the earth to give a mighty shout. And every individual who died in Christ is going to be raised, summoned from the grave, or wherever their body is, is going to be summoned.

They shall rise first to meet the Lord in the air. And then those of us who are alive and remain, and it may be today, are going to rise with them to meet the Lord. When it says in 1st Corinthians chapter 15, about in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, I would take it that that's not so much how quickly the Lord is going to come, but how quickly this body of clay is going to be fashioned like unto his own body of glory.

In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, this body will be changed and we'll be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. The summons ascend. It is likely that every one of us, at least those of us who are older, maybe really younger person, people not, but it's likely that every one of us at some time or other have stood in the cemetery and we have buried a loved one with a confidence that that person was saved.

I stood in the cemetery a year ago and the little family, well known to me, was gathered around the grave cold January afternoon and I drew their attention to the number of stones in that cemetery that each represented a grave and I mentioned to them that likely in many of those, hopefully there were Christians buried in that cemetery, but likely there were many of those graves that the family gathered around that grave and as they were looking at that casket of that loved one that's going to be buried in weeping and tears, they were saying their last goodbye. This was the parting of the ways. They had no hope beyond that grave and I reminded those that were surrounding me in that cemetery that afternoon that we're not here to say goodbye.

We're here to lay away in earth the body of a loved one who spent the years of his life giving absolute proof in that life his love for the Lord Jesus Christ and that he was saved and as we are gathered around here it's just for a moment to say good night because joy cometh in the morning. In the morning we are anticipating that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come. Read the rest of Revelation chapter 4 and you're ushered into heavenly scenes.

Carries on into chapter 5 and when that summons is given and we arise from this earth, let me say the word again, abidio, ascend. We're going to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to be with him eternally.

What a moment not only to see him, not only to look upon that face, but to fall at his feet and the story repeats and the lover of sinners at door and to hear his voice. Could you just think for a moment, just pause, that for an eternity to see the face of Christ and for an eternity to hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ might be, might be today that the shout will reach our ear and will be summoned away from this earth and he and I together entering those bright courts above, he and I together sharing all the Father's love.