Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 1 Study # 7
February 25, 2024
Broadlands, Louisiana
(Download Audio)
Thesis: The continuing vision in
Revelation 4:5 is indicative of powerful illumination of the reality of the loud revelation particularly in view of the judgments that are to come in this seventieth week of Daniel.
Introduction: In our last study we considered the identity of the twenty-four who sit upon lesser thrones around the exalted throne. We saw that they were wearing the garments of "reward" and that they have on their heads crowns of "reward". These two elements of their garments indicate a group who have already passed through the evaluative judgment we know as "The Judgment Seat of Christ" to which Paul alluded in
2 Corinthians 5:10.
Since the twelve apostles of Jesus were promised by Him to occupy twelve thrones to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28), it is highly likely that twelve of these twenty-four thrones fit that promise of Jesus. The remaining twelve are, apparently, to be distributed to twelve more men who have passed through the Judgment Seat and found to be qualified to take part in this "rule" of heaven.
Now, this evening we are going to consider the imagery of what "proceeds" from the High Throne of Heaven: lightnings, voices, and thunders. This imagery is repeated several times in this Revelation through John (Revelation 4:5; 8:5; 11:19; and 16:18), so that it must have some particular significance.
- I. This Chapter Is The Ultimate Background For All That Follows.
- A. It is a vision of The Heaven as the initial presentation of the realm of Heaven (with its characteristics and significances) in respect to "what must take place after these things..." (4:1).
- B. The relationship of "being in the spirit" to the summons to Heaven.
- C. What John saw...
- 1. The "First" issue: he saw a throne...
- 2. The "Second" Issue: he describes the One sitting upon the "Throne of Heaven".
- 3. The "Third" Issue: the emerald "iris".
- 4. The "Fourth" Issue: the twenty-four thrones.
- 5. The "Fifth" Issue: "out of the throne proceed..."
- a. This "out from the throne" returns to God the Father as The Ultimate Sovereign.
- b. The "proceeding".
- 1) Present Tense, Plural Number, Indicative Mood.
- 2) The use of "ekporeuomai" by John in this book.
- a) The first item proceeding in The Revelation is the "sharp, two-edged sword" as it proceeds from the mouth of the vision of Jesus: 1:16.
- b) The reference before us in this study presents the items proceeding out of the throne: 4:5.
- c) In 9:17-18, it is "fire" and "smoke" and "brimstone" that comes out of the mouths of the horses of the 200,000,000 that kill a third of mankind.
- d) In 11:5, it is "fire" that proceeds out of the mouths of the two witnesses that devours their enemies.
- e) In 16:14, it is three spirits of demons who come out of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet to "proceed" to the kings of the entire world to gather armies of Armageddon for "the war of the great day of God, the Almighty".
- f) In 19:15, we are returned to the "proceeding of the "sharp sword" out of the mouth of "The Word of God" Who treads the wine-press of the fierce wrath of God ... the King of kings and Lord of lords.
- g) And the last reference is 22:1 where we are told of a "river of Life" that is "proceeding" from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
- 3) The items "proceeding from the throne" are directly linked to Exodus 19:16. ("thunder", "flashes of lightning", and "a very loud trumpet" that kept getting louder and louder -- verse 19).
- a) "Lightnings" (or "brightnesses").
- (1) "Lightning" in The Revelation after 4:5.
- (a) We have "lightnings" in 8:5 that result from the casting of fire to the earth by the angel who offers up the "prayers of the saints" to God (which prayers have much to do with "Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth").
- (b) We have "lightnings" in 11:19 that erupt in "the temple of God" when said temple is opened and the ark of the covenant appears.
- (c) The final reference to "lightnings" is 16:18 following the angelic announcement, "It is done", and the prophecies of Armageddon are fulfilled.
- (2) It seems that "lightnings" are representative of a certain "attitude of God" when significant events call it forth. It is a fearful "attitude", and it focuses upon "flashes of bright illumination" that may well signal a link to Psalm 77:6-10 where the major question is whether God's enormous hostility toward evil has eradicated His "promise" -- which would be a breakdown of His integrity.
- b) "Sounds" (or "voices").
- (1) "Sounds" in The Revelation. There are 45 texts in this record that have "sounds" in them, beginning in 1:10 where the "sound" is that of a "voice".
- (2) "Sounds" in The Revelation that are in conjunction with "lightnings" and/or "thunders".
- (a) This association is found in 4:5, 8:5; 11:19; and 16:18 (i.e., in every text in The Revelation where "lightnings" are mentioned).
- (b) When this association is "sounds/voices" and "thunder", there are nine texts ("lightning" is not present in six of the nine: 6:1; 10:3; 10:4; 14:2; 16:18; and 19:6).
- (3) The issue of loud "sounds/voices" is unlike the lightnings and thunders in that the "sound/voice" is not always directly associated with the "attitude" that comes across when those other two are mentioned. The "sounds/voices" are indicative of, perhaps, revelation that is not being given the attention that it needs to have.
- c) "Thunders".
- (1) "Thunders" are never mentioned without an association with either "lightnings" or "sounds" or both (there are 9 references to "thunder").
- (2) In 10:3-4, the "thunders" are similar to the "seals" and "bowls" in that they represent divine judgments; however, these are "sealed" so that they are not allowed to fall upon the men of the earth.
- (3) The strong implication, then, is that the "thunder", like the "lightning", represents an "attitude of God", fearsome in its implications. The thunders are indications of "judgment" as in Luke 9:54.
- 4) A possible implication is that the three "proceedings" in 4:5 are representative of three attributes of The God Of Israel that "rumble and flash" in view of the coming "Day of the Wrath of God Almighty".
- a) Lightnings. The first of these three may well be "Integrity" (linked to Psalm 77:8 and following) where brilliant flashes of light (lightnings) "lit up the world" (77:18) so that the "meditation" and "musing" of 77:12 is given "sharply revealed insight" (77:10 reveals that Asaph understood the root of his doubts in "grief" so that he moved away from his considerations of the possibility of God "withdrawing His compassion" (77:9).
- b) A second of these three may well be "Omnipotence" (The Almighty; a concept Asaph mentioned in 77:13-15) as a "sound"/"voice" that called forth the idea of a "very loud trumpet" that is first mentioned in Revelation 1:10 and is associated with the command to write to the seven churches. It was the "Word" that created all that was created without exception, as the "voice" of God, the Almighty Executor of Power. And, Revelation 19:6 directly ties the "voice" to the "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns" of a vast multitude.
- c) A third of these three may well be the "Justice of God" (wrath, linked to "thunders" at the point of Revelation 10:3-4).
