Hartland Winter Convocation 2019: That, Knowing the Time

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Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Giancarlo De Miranda

The Relevance of Revelation 4 and 5

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you again for the Sabbath day, and we thank you for bringing us together as your people to listen to your voice.

And now that we come before you to worship you, We pray that you accept us through the righteousness of Christ, that you cleanse us and we are going to open up your word and we have the expectation to hear your voice speaking to our hearts.

So please Lord, send the Holy Spirit to each 1 of us.

Guide us into all truth, for we pray in Jesus' name.

Let's open up our Bibles there to Revelation chapter 4.

And as we are going to see, these 2 chapters reveal the throne of God and the sanctuary.

And it shows many, many descriptions of the throne of God and what is around the throne of God, like for instance who is set on the throne of God and then introduces someone else coming to the throne of God, also shows that there is a rainbow round about the throne of God And there are some living creatures there, 24 elders, and I'd like to say that if we contemplate the throne of God and we understand that these 2 chapters, we can help but to have the same attitude that these living creatures, the 24 elders, and all the hosts of the angels did, which was to bow down in reverence and worship the 1 sitting on the throne of God and the Lamb that was slain.

And these 2 chapters, they are so powerful, and there is so much to study.

But I hope this morning you will be inspired to continue to study these 2 chapters.

I'm going to cover a portion of the chapters, but as I said, there are precious lessons there that you can continue to dig and to learn.

Now, here in Revelation chapter 4, let me introduce you to this chapter.

We find a vision and in this vision there is a door in heaven.

Let's read Revelation chapter 4 and verse 1 if you have your Bibles.

It says, after these I looked and behold, a, what's the next word there?

So we can see here that John has a vision and this vision is about heaven and he sees a door there open in heaven.

And I would like to suggest to you that this door is the door of the sanctuary, okay?

More specifically, the door of the holy place of the sanctuary, the first compartment of the heavenly sanctuary.

And we can get to this conclusion as we analyze what John saw once he came to the door.

Let's read, if you have your Bibles there, verse 2.

It helped us to see and locate ourselves in this vision.

In verse 2 it says, and immediately I was in the spirit or in vision and behold, a, what's the next word now?

A throne was set in heaven and 1 sat on the throne.

So here, you know, it begins to give the idea that this is a vision of the sanctuary because as John was taken into vision, what did he see when he was there at the door?

And we know in Scriptures that the throne of God is located in His sanctuary.

If you come down with me to verse 5, it becomes even more specific.

In Verse 5, the Scripture says, and out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices and there were 7 lamps of fire burning before the throne.

Just using your knowledge of the Bible, when the Bible says that there were 7 lamps of fire, that reminds you of what in the sanctuary?

Yes, the 7 candlesticks and that have 7 lamps burning, 7 lamps of fire burning there.

And so, now we come to the conclusion that it's not only the sanctuary that we are seeing here but also the compartment is the holy place of the sanctuary.

Now notice this passage from the Spirit of Prophecy.

It says, the holy places of the sanctuary in heaven are represented by the 2 apartments in the sanctuary on earth, which was a copy of the 1 in heaven.

Then he goes on to say, as envisioned, the apostle John was granted a view of the temple of God in the heaven.

He beheld there 7 lamps, she's quoting Revelation chapter 4 and verse 5, of fire burning before the throne.

And then she goes on to say, here the prophet was permitted to behold the what?

The first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven.

And he saw there that the 7 lamps of fire and the golden altar represented by the golden candlesticks and the altar of incense in the sanctuary on earth.

That comes from the Great Controversy page 414 and 415.

Now that we located ourselves, that's what's happening over here.

John receives a vision of the sanctuary, the holy place, he sees the throne of God there, and let's continue here in this vision.

Now, I want to tell you the time frame that we are looking at here in chapter 4, And I want to suggest that this is AD 31, okay, prior to the ascension of Christ.

And we know that because in verse 2, how many sit on the throne?

Let's read verse 2, okay, again, and I want you to tell me how many are there in the throne.

The Bible says, and immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and how many?

And that 1 is none other than God the Father.

We know that because in the context, Jesus Christ comes only after in chapter 5.

Revelation chapter 5 is, it really should be just 1 chapter.

It was divided in chapter 4 and chapter 5, but in reality it's the same vision.

And in chapter 5, in verse 1, it continues to describe the 1 sitting on the throne and says, And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within, and on the backside sealed with 7 seals.

And then in verse 6 It says, and I beheld a low in the midst of the throne and of the 4 beasts and in the midst of the elders stood who was introduced there in the holy place?

And he came, that's the lamb, and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

So we clearly see that the 1 sitting on the throne is not Jesus because Jesus is the lamb that came to the 1 sitting on the throne and grabbed the book from his hand.

Okay, so here we have, going back to chapter 4, a vision of God the Father sitting on the throne.

And have you noticed how God the Father is described in this vision in chapter 4?

I want you to see that in the symbolic language, in prophetic language, verse 3, going back to Chapter 4 now, in verse 3, the Bible says, "...and he that sat was looked upon like a..." What's the next word there?

"...a jasper and a sardine stone, and there was a rainbow round about the throne." So let's start right here.

So God the Father is described as 2 different kinds of stones.

So, of course, These are only symbols that remind us of characteristics of God.

In the Bible, Jasper, I'll just give you this reference in case you want, we don't need to go there.

In Revelation 21 verse 11, The jasper in the book of Revelation is crystal clear as water, representing purity and transparency.

So this is to say that the 1 sitting on the throne is transparent and is pure and just.

And sardine is the color red representing the sacrifice that God was willing to make in order to save humanity.

In other words, the color red is a symbol of God's mercy.

So right there, the 1 sitting on the throne has this combination of transparency, of justice, and mercy.

This is a representation of the character of the Father.

But in verse 3, it also says that round about the throne had what?

And I want you to see the description of this rainbow here in verse 3 again.

We can go to the latter portion of chapter 4 and verse 3.

It says, a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

Now let's try to understand this rainbow here, and I want to suggest to you that this language here and this symbol that we find here is also full of meaning that help us to understand more the 1 sitting on the throne and the lamb that will come to sit on the throne also.

Now, when is the first time we see in the Bible a rainbow?

If you wanna keep your Bible, see in Revelation marked, and let's go to the book of Genesis all the way to the account of the flood and what took place after in Genesis chapter 9, okay?

And I want you to see the first time that God gave a rainbow and what that represented so we can try to understand the symbolism of a rainbow to God.

So here in Genesis chapter 9, Let's read verse 13.

The Bible says here, I do set my bow, that's after the flood, okay, that's the covenant that God made with humanity.

It says, I do set my bow in the cloud And it shall be for a token of, what's the next word everyone there?

The Relevance of Revelation 4 and 5

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