We move into an exploration of the incredible events in The Book of Ezekiel, glimpsing into God’s throne room and uncovering some of the most important characteristics of God Himself. We look at the universal and prophetic truths of the elders, the white robes, and the throne itself. Though there is a lot of imagery in Ezekiel, the central message is God’s sovereignty, power, and control over all things, through every circumstance – both exile and return.
Transcription:
Review
We’re going to continue our study in Exile and Return. We did Jeremiah in one lesson. We looked at how Jeremiah was given a message where he gave a charge just like in a courtroom. Here’s what you’ve done wrong. And a verdict. And the verdict was death by exile. And then he said that the purpose of this is for your restoration. I have a great hope for you.
And the basic problem was that they were trusting the wrong thing; and when we trust the wrong thing, we do the wrong things. It’s a really challenging message.
But this whole idea of exile and return, while very historical in the sense of the Jewish nation, we looked at all the different books in the Bible that are related to this Babylonian exile, and it’s most of the minor prophets, and the major prophets are all involved as well.
And we saw that this Babylonian exile is a picture of kind of the whole history of the creation, that there was Eden and there was the world and there was sin. Adam and Eve trusted the wrong things; and, as a result, they made a bad choice, and the result of that is death.
Brandon reminded me that Socrates was offered the choice between hemlock and exile, and he chose hemlock because exile is a form of death. When you’re exiled, you’re separated out from that which you care for, and it’s the connections that we have that really bring life, and when we sever those connections, that’s a form of death. So this exile is a form of death. The wages of sin is death.
And we now are suffering from that and all creation. The whole creation is groaning because everything’s not as it should be. And so this Babylonian exile is a picture of the whole human race. We are now in exile, but God is doing it all for our own blessing, and there’s a restoration coming.
Introduction
Today I’m going to start Ezekiel. Now I’m not going to do Ezekiel in one sitting like we did Jeremiah and Lamentations. I want to spend some time on Ezekiel.
Ezekiel is a really fascinating book, and we’re going to do the first few chapters of Ezekiel today. And these first few chapters of Ezekiel, if you go do some searching, it won’t take you long to find out that these first few chapters are the sci-fi chapters. This is where the UFO advocates go in the Bible to find UFOs. And you’ll see why as we go into it.
But I’m going to do these first three chapters of Ezekiel in a broader context.
One of our participants here asked me to do a study on the throne room of God. And, so, what we’re going to do is look at this throne room because it shows up in this first chapter of Ezekiel, and we’re going to look at both Ezekiel and Daniel, as well as some other things in this context of throne room.
So, today, what I’m going to do is look at the attributes of this throne of God, and then I’m going to look at some characters, characteristics, and messages associated with the scenes that we see with the throne of God. And we’re going to look at that through interaction with several characters: the elders, the living creature, the person Ezekiel, this dream of Daniel, and then the new earth. So that’s what that’s what we’re going to do today.
The attributes of God’s throne
First the attributes of this throne of God.
The room and the throne don’t limit God
One of the things that I discovered early on in my study was that this notion of room that we tend to gravitate to doesn’t really fit. There are instances where someone has a vision of God sitting on the throne in the temple. And there are statements where God’s sitting in the temple.
But this idea of room is probably too limiting. To the extent that there’s a room, it seems to be like C. S. Lewis’s barn, where it’s bigger on the inside than on the outside.
We shall start with this: Isaiah 66:1. I’m going to blow through most of these, but I’ll tell you the verse if you want to look there.
Isaiah 66:1 says this:
“Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
So heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool. So put in your mind all of heaven. How big is the cosmos, the universe? How far does it go? And now have God sit there and put his feet on the earth. That’s big, right?
And the point here is not so much the throne. You know, God is not someone to be limited by a particular chair. The idea here is the sovereignty of God.
You know, the throne wasn’t a limiting factor for a potentate. The throne was a symbol of the potentate’s power and a place from which he did business. What kind of business would a potentate do from his throne?
He would rule.
What he would rule how? What kind of things would you do?
Dispensing justice.
Dispensing justice. So you have an interaction with people because there’s a dispute, and you’ll pronounce a sentence, which would be something that you would do from the throne. Why? Why would you use the throne for that? Well, you have to have a meeting place, and these throne rooms usually are constructed in order to make a statement. And the statement is my power is something you cannot overcome. That the basic idea of these things. So it’s more symbolic.
So, t’s not so much a room as it is the rooms and everything else is inside this place of God.
The earth’s water comes from the throne
You know, we make a room in order to keep the weather out, mainly, right? Isn’t that why we have a room? What we’re going to see here is this throne room creates weather. There’s weather happening from the throne! We make a room in order to keep the water out, and we’re going to go to this throne room, and the water source for the whole world is coming out of it. So it’s just a little bit of a different picture than what we’re used to, which since we’re talking about God, it’s not that particularly surprising.
A lot of angels are there
The second attribute is from Revelation 5. And the thing that I found interesting in Revelation 5 is that you’re at the throne of God and there are angels there, and there are 10,000 times 10,000 angels, which if you do the math is a hundred million. And I don’t think, necessarily, that’s actually a census, like you say tonight’s attendance is 58,000 people or whatever. It’s basically the idea that there are a whole lot of people there, more than you could count quickly.
To the extent that there’s space there, it’s got to be big enough for a hundred million beings.
So the idea is it’s the centrality of the rule of God and his interaction with his creation.
The throne is in heaven
Another attribute from Psalm 11:4 is that his throne is in heaven, which is what we’re used to thinking about. The Lord’s throne is in heaven, and he’s in his holy temple, it says.
The throne is forever
Another attribute from Psalm 45:6. It says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. So this idea here is that God’s throne doesn’t end. It’s not like different administrations in the United States and one guy comes into power and then another guy comes into power. Or different kingdoms. One king comes into power and another king comes into power. God is always in power.
Psalm 47:8 says,
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on His holy throne.
Well this, of course, is the subject of most movies, it seems like. There’s somebody trying to take over the world. Some mad scientist or some evil person, and there’s some superhero that’s going to keep them from doing it.
Or who is it? Sauron. Sauron is going to take over the world, and Gandalf is standing in his way.
Or the evil emperor is going to take over the universe and the Jedi are standing in their way. Because this is the goal of one who would take power, one who would ascend to the most high, Satan. That’s what he wants to do is displace God, and the basic tendency we have as people is to rule. And the question is, whose method are you going to take? Are you going to take Satan’s method and do it through coercion and suppression? Or are you going to take God’s method and do it through serving? That’s the basic dilemma of humanity.
God rules the whole world
Well, God is reigning over all the earth. From Psalm 89:14 it says,
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
God is the ruler over all the universe, and he does it with justice and righteousness.
You know every tyrant, every dictatorship, makes this claim. Hitler made this claim. Hugo Chavez made this claim. Communism makes this claim.
Islam makes this claim. What does Islam claim? What’s the righteousness and justice that they claim? They’re going to rid the world of the evil Satan, of materialism and corruption; and institute order and holiness and godliness. That’s their claim.
Communism. What’s their claim? They’re going to rid the world of capitalism and the oppression of capitalists holding workers down, extracting work from them, and keeping it for themselves instead of sharing it.
And the coercion will only last for a short time, and then we’ll bring in peace and harmony. It’s always this way.
Well, they’re making this claim because this is God. This is the way it is. And they’re trying to supplant God. But he truly is the one who has a foundation of righteousness and justice.
The throne has always existed
Psalm 93:2 says, your throne is from everlasting. So not only does it last forever, it’s always been. It’s nothing new.
It’s David’s throne
We also see in Isaiah and in Hebrews 12 that Jesus’ throne will be the throne of David, and it’s going to last forever. So there’s a sense in which there’s this heavenly throne, and it’s going to merge with the throne of David. We’ll see that in the new earth here a little later.
It’s a place of worship
As we go through these scenes that we’re going to do next with these different characters, what I think we’re going to see is that this throne of God is a place of worship, singing, Handel’s Messiah particularly, judgment, truth, an awesome presence. People’s senses are completely engaged when they get in this throne room. Their emotions are completely titillated, and they’re overwhelmed.
As we go through these scenes that we’re going to do next with these different characters, what I think we’re going to see is that this throne of God is a place of worship, singing, Handel’s Messiah particularly, judgment, truth, an awesome presence. People’s senses are completely engaged when they get in this throne room. Their emotions are completely titillated, and they’re overwhelmed.
It’s beautiful
Beauty. It’s a thing of great beauty. It’s a thing of grandeur.
As we go through these scenes that we’re going to do next with these different characters, what I think we’re going to see is that this throne of God is a place of worship, singing, Handel’s Messiah particularly, judgment, truth, an awesome presence. People’s senses are completely engaged when they get in this throne room. Their emotions are completely titillated, and they’re overwhelmed.
Characters around the throne
And it’s a place with living things, some of them quite bizarre, which to me is a whole lot of fun.
So that’s some of the attributes of this throne of God. Now let’s look at some of these characters. Let’s look at Revelation 4. This is one of the visions of the throne of God. Revelation 4.
After these things I looked—This is the Apostle John, of course— and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.
And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.
And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal—
As we go through these scenes that we’re going to do next with these different characters, what I think we’re going to see is that this throne of God is a place of worship, singing, Handel’s Messiah particularly, judgment, truth, an awesome presence. People’s senses are completely engaged when they get in this throne room. Their emotions are completely titillated, and they’re overwhelmed.
The Elders
So we meet these elders here, and there’s two particular characteristics about the elders. What are the two things you find most notable that it tells us about them? White robes and golden crowns.
And, of course, you hear about these guys fairly often, and there is a presumption that we will be like them, which is supportable.
Look at Revelation 3:5, just a couple pages back. He who overcomes—this overcome remember is this word nikao from the word Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. An overcomer is somebody who’s won. Someone who has completed victorious.
And in the letter to the Laodiceans, Jesus says, “To him who overcomes as I overcame,” so it doesn’t really apply to becoming a Christian. That’s not overcoming. Jesus didn’t become a Christian. Jesus is God.
What Jesus overcame and was victorious in is overcoming temptation and finishing his life in obedience to God.
As we go through these scenes that we’re going to do next with these different characters, what I think we’re going to see is that this throne of God is a place of worship, singing, Handel’s Messiah particularly, judgment, truth, an awesome presence. People’s senses are completely engaged when they get in this throne room. Their emotions are completely titillated, and they’re overwhelmed.
White robes
He who overcomes—this is a reward passage, 3:5— shall be clothed in white garments—just like these elders— and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
So this is a reward for faithfulness, for overcoming.
Look at 3:18. It says, I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed.
Now in this judgment, this judgment seat of Christ that we’ve talked about, the throne is where we see judgment. And, you know, there’s wood and hay and stubble, and things get burned up. And 1 Corinthians tells us that some people will escape themselves, though as through fire.
Well one of the other things that can happen at the Bema seat is nakedness. Don’t you have a lot of things that you’ve either done or thought that you just really would not want to be on the Jumbotron at the Dallas Cowboys game? Yeah, me too.
Well, there’s a way to cover all that up. And you cover it up with this white garment; which, as we go through and look at it, it’s something that is a reward for faithful deeds and righteous deeds. It seems that that’s something the elders have that we can also have.
Crowns
We can also look at crowns. Crowns are something we can also participate in, as well. Let’s look at 2 Timothy 4:8. 2 Timothy 4:8 says this: Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day—
Now Paul doesn’t say this anywhere else in his letters. He says things like, “I don’t want to be disqualified. I’m running the race to win. I haven’t made it yet.” He’s saying this here because he’s done. He’s about to go and be martyred, and he knows it. And he says, “I made it. I did it. I made it faithful to the end. There’s laid up for me the crown of righteousness.”
How do you get the crown of righteousness? Well, he will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Do you do things that you say, “Boy, I wish God would just appear and do this with me and watch me do this?” Yeah, I’m sure you do. Do you do some things where you think, “I hope God’s not watching right now”?
Well, I think this is the idea. Do we live our lives in such a way that God is tangibly with us, and we just can’t wait for him to show up?
There’s another crown that we can get in James 1. You notice that this is a crown that goes to all, that Paul said. James 1:12. Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved—when he has overcome, when he’s won the race— he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
So if you love God, what do you do? Yeah, you obey him. So doing what God says, walking in his ways, gives us the crown of life.
So here’s a couple of crowns we can get.
You’re familiar with 1 Corinthians 9 that says you run the race to win the crown, and it’s something that doesn’t perish. You know, the Olympians run to get something that doesn’t have an endless life. You pursue something that has an endless life.
It matters how you get your reward
So we see the throne room. We have these elders here, and they have these rewards. Of course, you know, rewards in and of themselves are not particularly of any note. You can go probably to a pawn shop somewhere and buy a Super Bowl ring or an Olympic medal. It won’t mean much. It’s just a trinket. The medal means something when it’s given and imparted to the person who actually had the achievement in the presence of other witnesses by a great authority.
If you were endowed with an Olympic medal for being the fastest human in the world, Mark, and it was given to you by Chubby’s Barbecue, it probably wouldn’t mean a lot, right? It might be funny. But if the International Olympic Committee gives it to you, they’re only going to give it to you if you earned it, right? So that’s the basic idea here.
That’s something that happens in the throne room.
Creatures around the throne
Now it starts to get a little weird. Let’s go back to Revelation 4.
If I sing this song, what comes in your mind? [singing] Star Wars. What’s happening? The bar scene with all the crazy creatures, right? Why do you know that just right off the tip of your fingers? You’ve seen it too many times, and it’s the funnest part of the whole movie, right? Don’t you love that part? Why do we love that part? I think it’s because that’s where we’re headed. There’s going to be a lot of crazy creatures to meet in heaven. And I’m looking forward to it.
Four living creatures
Let’s meet one of them. Revelation 4:6. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.
The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.
The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:
“Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!”
There’s a song about that.
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
“You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.”
These are some strange creatures. Let’s go meet them again in Ezekiel.
