The last letter in Chapter 3 declares: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (vs. 20).  Chapter 4 opens with John seeing an open door. God’s grace and empowering is available to all. We simply need to knock and the door will be opened to us.
     John sees God’s throne room. Chapter 4 provides the first of several views of God’s throne in the Revelation, so it is important to take note of who is present at the throne in each view. Here John sees:

1. God the Father sitting on the throne, surrounded by an emerald rainbow. The color green symbolizes life.
2. There are also four living beings in the midst of the throne. They are created spiritual beings who serve God.
3. Seven lamps of fire burn before the throne, which are the seven-fold aspects of God’s Spirit as represented in the lampstand (menorah).
4. Around the throne are 24 elders seated, clothed in white robes (symbolizing righteousness), with crowns of gold on their heads. They are the priestly representatives of the Old Testament saints.

    They are present here because of what occurred when Jesus descended into Sheol (the place of the dead) before He ascended to Heaven. He preached to the godly Old Testament people in Abraham’s Bosom, a separate compartment in Sheol.
     They could not yet go to heaven immediately when they died because Jesus had not yet died to atone for mankind’s sin. After the resurrection, Jesus first descended into Abraham’s Bosom for this vital preaching assignment, Jesus was able to take those who believed in Him to Heaven when He ascended. Though they were captive for a time by death, He could then give the gift of His sacrificial life to them (Eph. 4:8).
       No wonder that from the throne proceed lightnings, thunderings, and voices. These are the high praises to God, the declarations of His will and power. Note this unique sound, for we shall hear it again and again in the Revelation.
        END-TIME LESSON: This part of the introduction is bringing us up to speed as to what happened after the crucifixion. Jesus had come out of the grave but had not yet ascended, which is why Mary could not touch Him when she met Him at the tomb. Therefore, Chapter 4 is showing us a past event.
       By showing us this initial view of God’s throne room in the 3rd Heaven, we can see how God’s plan of redemption unfolds over the last Days from Heaven’s perspective. By noting who is present with each view in the Revelation, we can pinpoint what we are seeing in terms of God’s prophetic timetable.
          Hebrews 12:22-24 provides the final framework for identifying the people we see each time we are given a view of the throne room throughout the Revelation. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”

• Of course we see God, the Judge of all on the throne.
• The innumerable company of angels is represented by the four living beings (spiritual beings) in the midst of the throne.
• We see Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, the Lamb of God, who willingly laid down His life at the cross, making it possible for fallen mankind to be reconciled back to God.
• The Old Testament saints, the new believers from the Old Covenant, are the “spirits of just men made perfect,” compliments of Jesus preaching the good news of the New Covenant to them.

     Yet we don’t see any mention of the general assembly, the church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven in this first view. At least, not yet. Stay tuned.

       The apostle John often referred to himself as the beloved disciple. He must have had a deep revelation of the power of Christ’s sacrificial love. In 1 John 4:17 he wrote: “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the Day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” Notice this is our position in Christ now while we are still on earth. In God’s sight, every believer is a new creation, not an old sinner (Rom. 3:20-26). We still sin, but those sins are forgiven and forgotten (Is. 43:25; Heb. 10:14-18).
          This is why we are to walk in the reality of who we are in Christ in our reborn spirit—what the Bible calls walking by the spirit and not by the flesh. The point of the love letters in Rev. 3 & 4 is to remind us that we are to overcome through the power of Christ’s finished work on the cross. We are to be overcomers, even now in our daily lives.
          Born in the flesh, Jesus operated on this earth in an earthly body, subject to all the temptations of this world. He had to resist sin just as we do. How? By speaking and walking according to God’s Word, as He did when Satan tempted Him immediately after His anointing at His baptism. He not only overcame the power of sin, He overcame the power of death.
          Every person has the sin nature by virtue of being born from Adam. By grace every believer is saved and their sins are forgiven (Rom. 5:12-19). We simply believe and receive. It is not about our works or lack thereof that determine our position in Christ; it is His finished work on our behalf!
          As we believe, we are to speak (Rom. 4:18; 2 Cor. 4:13). In the natural, we may see this as lying because we know we are not totally walking according to His Word. But that is looking only at the natural. We are no longer just natural beings, we are supernatural beings because the Holy Spirit abides in every believer. This is how faith works: if it is in His Word, then that is what we already have in Christ even though we are not living it fully yet (2 Cor. 3:17-18) .
          END-TIME LESSON: The bottom line is that as the Church we have not yet perfected our walk according to God’s Kingdom ways.  We all deal with issues that result from living in a fallen world that chooses to know evil. We all have residual darkened areas (habits of the flesh) that need to be transformed by the power of God’s Word (Rom. 12:1-2). This is why the focus of the letters here is the promises to the overcomers—those who, like Jesus, shall be resurrected at the appointed Day, the dawn of the 7th great Day, the Day of the Lord. At the appointed time, we shall be fully perfected in Christ!

       Prior to this Revelation vision, John wrote that even though we are children of God, “it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 Jn. 3:2). Thanks to this vision, we now have a glimpse of what we will be like in our glorified bodies!
        Jesus promised His disciples that He would be with them always, even until the end of the age (Mt. 28:20). Yet we know He ascended to Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us (Heb. 7:25). How, then, is He with us? Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We continue His earthly ministry, being empowered by the gifts of the Spirit. We have direct access to His power and anointing, for He has revealed His Word to us (Mt. 10:1, 7-8).
        “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). To the extent that we pursue God’s truths in His Word, and renew our minds accordingly, we are transformed bit by bit into our Lord’s image.
         Chapters 2 and 3 of the Revelation contain letters addressed to the various churches in Asia Minor that John oversaw. Each passage reveals some aspect of Christ. Each passage contains a promise to overcomers. Each passage addresses a common shortfall in our journey of being transformed by His Word. In a sense, they are generic letters, much like the other New Testament epistles. They were meant to be read by all believers, as a reminder of what we face while we exist in this world, even though we are actually citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20).
        Just as Jesus prayed in His priestly prayer in John 17, we are not isolated from the world. We are to keep ourselves from the evil one (resisting Satan). We should realize we are not of this world, even as Jesus is not of this world. We are to be sanctified by His truth, for God’s Word is truth. This is how we become better ambassadors and witnesses for Christ during our earthly calling (2 Cor. 5:20).
         The point here is not to get so caught up in the specific historical conditions during John’s time that are described in the 7 letters. These two chapters are not meant to be a court case, judging what the churches were doing right or wrong necessarily. Instead, they describe the human condition of the Church on the earth but not yet fully perfected at the resurrection. They remind us that sin can mar our witness.
         The primary point to be understood is the hope of our calling—what we shall experience when we are gathered together, the Head and the Body united as one new Man. Our focus should be the promises, for we shall overcome death through resurrection, even as Jesus did! Eph. 1:12 reminds us “that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.”
        What are we promised as overcomers? To eat from the Tree of Life forever. We shall not be hurt by the second death (eternal damnation). We shall eat of the hidden manna. We shall receive a white stone with a new, personalized name. We shall be given power over the nations as part of the heavenly court. We shall be given the morning star—Christ Jesus as our beloved. We shall be clothed in white garments of righteousness. Can I get an “Amen” here?
         And that’s not all. Our name shall not be blotted out from the Book of Life. Our Lord Jesus shall confess our name before the Father and all the angels. We shall be made a pillar in the temple of God; it shall be our eternal dwelling place. The name of God shall be written on us, along with the name of the city (the heavenly Jerusalem) and Jesus’ new name. It shall be granted to us to sit with Jesus on the throne. It doesn’t get any better than that!
         END-TIME LESSON: When our Bridegroom comes to gather us to Him, we shall be completely transformed and sanctified, not only in our spirit, but also in our soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23). This is the hope of our calling. Then and only then will we walk in the light of His Word perfectly. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:9-10). We will shine like stars in His hands (Rev. 1:16)!
       This is the comfort of His coming. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” (1 Thess. 4:16-18, emphasis added).
      God’s Word is both timeless and timely! We are meant to understand His times and seasons so we know what we are to do (1 Chron. 12:32).

     John reminds us of our position in Christ, in addition to being the many brethren who shall be resurrected like Jesus. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (Rev. 1:5-6). The phrase “kings and priests” is meant to connect us to two important passages.
    The first is 1 Pet. 2:9. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (emphasis added).
      The other is Heb. 6:17-20, emphasis added. “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath,  that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,  where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
      The context of the Hebrew passage is the hope of our calling—eternal life in Jesus, being fully conformed to His image, and reigning with Christ as joint-heirs (Rom. 8:17).  Joined forever to Him, we are of the same order—kings and priests.
      The vision also reminds us of what we have in Christ. As the second person of the Godhead, Jesus embodies the 7-fold (complete) ministry of the Spirit as depicted in the menorah: The Branch/Vine, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, and the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord (Is. 11:1-2). The fear of the Lord refers to acknowledging His perfectness and the infallibility of His Word, rather than trusting in our own abilities.
       When Jesus appeared to His disciples in the upper room after His resurrection, He told them to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit to empower them to continue His earthly ministry. He also reminded them of their time-related commission to preach the Gospel. That had to be their primary concern, not the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. That would come at the appointed time in God’s prophetic great Week of the plan of redemption.
      They had struggled when He told them He would be crucified and then resurrected. That didn’t fit their idea of a Savior and King. They knew prophecy said the kingdom would be restored to the Jews. How and when would this happen then? Eventually, they would come to understand God’s plan and the appointed time for the restoration, thanks to the Holy Spirit’s ministry in bringing everything Jesus taught them to their remembrance.
      Acts 1:9-11 reveals what happened next. “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” The disciples saw Jesus literally ascend to Heaven in a cloud of glory!
      Rev. 1:7 affirms that He will return the same way. “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.”
        END-TIME LESSON: All the world will see Jesus literally coming in clouds of glory, the light of which will instantly dissolve the thick darkness that is the final sign before He comes again. It will look as if the heavens above the earth are rolled up like a scroll, revealing the spiritual realm and God’s 3rd Heaven as the 7th and Last Day dawns.
       All the people on earth, including the Jews, will see Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father, then stand, and then come to gather His Church to Him and take us back to Father’s House in the 3rd Heaven, the place of all authority, both in heaven and on the earth.
        All the people will see a glorious cavalcade of fiery chariots driven by angels coming to take His Church back to be with Him forever! You see, the primary purpose of the rapture is to seat us with Christ as the immortal government of heaven. This must happen before the judgments of God’s wrath are released because we are not appointed to experience this wrath (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9). As kings and priests unto our God, we release the judgments through our ruling declarations as God ordained them. This isn’t escapism, this is reigning!
        So here we have removed several major stumbling blocks in our end-time path. One unscriptural block is that there is no rapture or literal coming. Don’t fall for it. Another major block obstructing our path is that there is a secret coming of Christ. Yet God’s Word specifically says every eye sees Him. A secret coming was added in order to accommodate us being raised with Him, but then having to come  back to earth to reign with Him down here.. Don’t fall for this; it is another false view that will be cleared up in this Revelation. Let’s stick with God’s Word!