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Rev 4 – Part 1 – God’s Throne In Heaven

Rev 4:3  And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

Introduction

Once again, we must constantly be vigilant against the pulls of our flesh to attempt to make this a prophesy that is concerned with chronological outward events. “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:” is not telling us that that a door was opened in heaven after the message to the church of Laodicea was delivered, in the day when John first wrote these words. Nor does it mean that this “door… in heaven” will be opened after a ‘Laodicean church era’ has come and gone, just before Christ’s return to rule this earth for one thousand years. These words we are reading are one and all the words of Christ addressed specifically not only to the symbolic “seven churches in Asia,” but also to “he that hath and ear to hear,” and to “who ever is given to read, hear and keep the things written therein” in every generation since these words were first written.

These words are the words of Christ, and like Him they are, were, and will be true.

Rev 1:4  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace [ be] unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

Christ “is, was, and is to come,” which is simply a repetition of what our Lord has already told us of His words in Mat 24:

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things [ these words of Christ] be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

“This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” in Matthew, and “keep those thing which are written therein” in Revelation, are both the words of Christ which “shall never pass away,” but will be kept by all who read and hear all the things John saw.

Rev 4:1  After this I looked, and, behold, a 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 shew thee things which must be hereafter.

We know that the open door is Christ. He has just told us so:

Joh 10:7  Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
Joh 10:8  All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
Joh 10:9  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

We are saved by going through “the door.” There is no other way. Christ and His words judge us and give us life. That is what “I am the door” means. Any time we see the words ‘door,’ or ‘open door,’ we are being told that our knowledge of Christ is about to be increased exponentially, because He will be both judging us and supping with us. Both increase our knowledge of our Lord:

Jas 5:9  Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
Rev 3:8  I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Judgment begins first at the house of God. It is God’s own people with whom He sups and who He judges and cleanses first. That judgment does not even begin until we have come to see that everything we have just read and which we have been given ears to hear about the seven churches of Asia, is within each of us. It is all within “He that hath and ear to hear” that he is to keep all the things of which John bare record, all the things written therein… the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” This has been the case for God’s elect in every generation since the day Christ was raised from the dead and came on the day of Pentecost to live His life of dying daily in the lives of all of His elect. We must first recognize that we are guilty of thinking of ourselves as rich and increased with goods, having need of nothing, when in reality all the problems found in all seven of the churches of Asia, are within us and in reality we are miserable and poor and blind and naked:

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

If we do not first see that we are to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, including all the words addressed to the seven churches of Asia, then we will never “Look and behold a door opened in heaven.” So we read, “After this [ revelation of the spiritual condition of the seven churches of Asia within me] I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven.” So where did John go to in order to see what was beyond that open door in heaven?

What and where is heaven? Where did John go when he saw this open door? When Nicodemus came to Christ by night, he confessed that the Jewish leaders knew that Christ was a teacher sent from heaven. Here is that discourse between Christ and Nicodemus. It is at the end of this discourse that we learn so much about where John went to see beyond that open door to heaven and to see what and where is heaven:

Joh 3:1  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Joh 3:2  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [ of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Joh 3:9  Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
Joh 3:10  Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
Joh 3:11  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
Joh 3:12  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

Here is where Christ tells us of heavenly things. He tells Nicodemus and he tells us of heavenly things, and we all, at first, believe not:

Joh 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

I used to believe that the words “even the Son of Man which is in heaven,” was a parenthetical statement which the apostle John had inserted as he was writing this gospel after the fact. As we are about to see, the scriptures actually reveal that such is not the case at all. Christ has just revealed to Nicodemus and to all of us that He had “come down from heaven” and yet, at the same time, He “is in heaven.” How can one be “down from heaven,” and at the same time “be in heaven.” The answer to that question is that Christ was in heaven in the same way that we, as His elect, are even now “seated with him in the heavens” while we are still on this earth and are yet in these bodies of sinful flesh. How can that be? Here is how that is in the spirit:

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly [ places] in Christ Jesus:

Christ was living a “raised up life” and was “made to sit together with His Father in the heavens” of His own heart and mind. The word ‘places’ is in brackets because it is not in the Greek. The Greek simply says “made us sit together in the heavens in Christ Jesus.”

What this all demonstrates is that ‘heaven’ is not a geographical location which God must occupy in order to have a realm which He controls. ‘Heaven’ is a spiritual realm in which all the struggles of life are fought. It is in the heavens that we both lose and win all battles which seem to us to be so physical. Am I saying there is no physical element to this struggle? Absolutely not. “You sold me into Egypt” was true just as sure as it was Christ Himself who told Moses that He would feed Israel with “bread from heaven.” But there is a much greater truth. That truth is so much greater than the physical truth that it can actually be said that the physical is not the truth at all, and yet that is not a contradiction any more that it is a contradiction to say that life comes only through death. Let’s let the scriptures themselves demonstrate how the appearance of truth in the the physical realm is actually denied by the overwhelming superior truth that is the spiritual realm. We will look first at the story of Joseph and his brothers. Did Joseph’s brothers sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt? What do the scriptures say. The scriptures actually say Yes, and No.

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet [ there are] five years, in the which [ there shall] neither [ be] earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Twice Joseph causes his brothers to give an accounting of what had been done: “Whom you sold into Egypt… You sold me hither…” Then he turns right around and says “… it was not you that sent me hither, but God.” Which is the truth? Both are true and both are necessary, but the spiritual is the superior Truth, which is so superior that it actually denies the physical appearances. “It was not you that sent me here, but God.”

Now look at these words of the Lord Himself:

Exo 16:4  Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

There it is straight from the mouth of the same Lord who said “destroy everything that breatheth.”

Deu 20:16  But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

But what does this same ‘Lord’ say in the “time of reformation?”

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

… and this:

Joh 6:30  They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
Joh 6:31  Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Joh 6:34  Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
Joh 6:35  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

“I will rain bread from heaven for you… Moses gave them not that bread from heaven…” Which is the truth? Once again, both are true, but the physical truth is so inferior to the spiritual that the physical physical must be denied when compared to the spiritual. “Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven… I am the bread of life.”

Do we wrestle against our flesh? It sure seems that we are struggling against the flesh:

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

But what is the superior spiritual truth of this matter? Once again, the spiritual truth denies what appears to be true in the physical realm:

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [ places].

Is Paul contradicting what he has told us in Gal 5:19? No, he certainly is not. Paul is not contradicting himself any more than Joseph contradicts himself when he explains to his brothers that they did indeed sell him into Egypt, but it wasn’t really them who sent him there but God. Paul is not contradicting himself any more than Christ tells Moses that He is feeding Israel with bread from heaven but then tells us it is not really bread from heaven. Physical bread is not the real bread, and physical heavens are not where God really dwells. God dwells in the realm of the spirit. As such God is everywhere at the same time. In Christ we, too, are at this very moment both “made to sit with Him in the heavens, [ and at the same time] come down from heaven,” inasmuch as we are all “God’s offspring.”

Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Going back to Eph 6:12 we need to note that the word ‘places’ is in brackets simply because it is not in the Greek. The Greek reads simply that “we wrestle… against spiritual wickedness in the heavens.” So we can now understand why “the heavenly things themselves must be purified with better things than… the blood of calves and goats.”

Heb 9:6  Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.
Heb 9:7  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Heb 9:8  The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifes t, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9  Which [ was] a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;

“The way into the holiest of all” was the way into the heart and mind of “him that did the service… as pertaining to the conscience.” The blood that cleansed the tabernacle was “the blood that he offered for himself and for the sins of the people”. The true altars, and temple that are in need of being purified in the true heavens, are the conscience of him that does the service. Both ‘the blood of animals and the holiest place of all’ were but “a figure for the time then present of the real temple and altar that must be cleansed. That true temple is the conscience and heart and mind of God’s people,” and all of the temple ordinances were but a type of that reality which stood as “a figure for the time then present… until the time of reformation,” the time of the coming of Christ.

Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption [ for us].
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

What again was the physical temple with all of its physical ordinances?

Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; .

What are the true heavens and the true temple in the true heavens into which Christ enters when He destroys the man of sin within us and takes His rightful position as the king of our hearts and minds and sits on the throne of our hearts, in the heavens of which the tabernacle of Moses was but a type?

1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for [ that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these [“the blood of calves and goats” v. 19] ; but the heavenly things themselve s with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

What are “the heavenly things themselves?” Where is “heaven itself?” Where is “the temple of God?” ‘The heavenly things themselves’ are the true things which were purified by the blood of Christ, which things the blood of calves and goats could never purify, and “the heaven itself” is the place into which Christ entered after His death and resurrection. That is where “the presence of God is, and that is where “Christ has entered and appeared for us.” That is “the temple of God.”

Where is that place? Is it really on another planet? Is heaven just another physical planet with physical streets of physical gold and big beautiful physical mansions? Is that what is meant by “a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands?”

Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

No, “a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands” is a spiritual temple, where God dwells and “into whose presence Christ has entered for us.” So where is heaven? What is this “greater and more perfect tabernacle in the heavens themselves, in which God dwells and into whose presence Christ has entered for us?” There is really no room for speculation or for doubt. We are told where God dwells. We are told where and what is His temple, and this is where Christ ascended upon His resurrection from among the dead:

Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

That is ‘the dwelling place’ of God in the heavens. That is the “greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands.” That is “the temple of God.” Paul repeats this in his epistles to the Corinthians:

2Ch 36:15  And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
2Co 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of [ this] tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

“I will dwell in them.” Where does God dwell?

Psa 103:19  The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

Psa 115:3  But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
Psa 123:1 <A Song of degrees.> Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.

So where did Christ go when he “ascended into the heavens and a cloud received Him out of their sight?”

Act 1:9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

Why was Christ taken “out of their sight?” It was because they were “yet carnal,” and were yet unable to see the deep things of the spirit. Those in whom Christ dwells know and can see clearly exactly where He is, and they know what is the “cloud” that keeps Him “out of the sight” of those who are yet unable to see either Christ or the cloud that hides Him from those who are still of this world and unable to see the things of the spirit.

Here is that cloud that received Christ out of the sight of His “yet carnal” disciples.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

“The race that is set before us” is the same thing as “the Lord’s day” or “the day of the Lord.” It is all the day of judgment in which we now live:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Rev 4:1  After this I looked, and, behold, a 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 shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Rev 4:2  And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Rev 4:3  And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

This is all “in spirit… on the Lord’s day, ” and again John hears “a voice as it were a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up here and I will show you things which must be hereafter.”  We covered in depth the meaning of the being “in the spirit on the Lord’s day” in chapter 1 verse 10. The scriptures make it clear that what the open door in heaven reveals to us is as much about the day of judgment into which we are entering as our knowledge of the revelation of Jesus Christ is about to be increased exponentially. We will not go back over all the verses which we have already covered, which make this point very clear, but we will reference these two verses:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [ it] first [ begin] at us, what shall the end [ be] of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

The “open door in heaven,” and the “judgment that begins at the house of God,” are one and the same. They are the “great and terrible day of the Lord” to which Peter referred on the day of Pentecost:

Act 2:16  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19  And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

It is only after our “Sun is turned into darkness and our moon is turned into blood;” only after we see that we are in darkness and are guilty of the blood of Christ, that God even begins His fiery judgments in our lives.

Christ rides on the wheels of the cherubims, and he comes on a cloud. These are all “the heavenly things themselves.”  The cherubims, the wheels with the cherubs and the cloud, are all but types and figures of one and the same thing. They are all  figures of those who are Christ’s “witnesses of these things:” Look at where these ‘clouds’ are mentioned in scripture:

Dan 7:13  I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
Eze 1:4  And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
Eze 1:5  Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
Eze 1:6  And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
Eze 1:7  And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
Eze 1:10  As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
Eze 1:19  And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
Eze 1:20  Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither [ was their] spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
Eze 1:21  When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
Eze 1:22  And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature [ was] as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
Eze 1:23  And under the firmament [ were] their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
Eze 1:24  And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
Eze 1:25  And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
Eze 1:26  And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
Eze 1:27  And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
Eze 1:28  As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so [ was] the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

Now that we know where is heaven, we are also now aware that clouds signify Christ’s “cloud of witnesses… [ or] the clouds of heaven” on which Ezekiel tells us Christ rides.

Luk 24:46  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
Luk 24:47  And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luk 24:48  And ye are witnesses of these things.
Act 5:32  And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

I ask again, Where did Christ go when he “ascended up? Where is He now?  We know He was received out of their sight in a cloud, and we know that he “ascended up into heaven.” So exactly where is He at this very moment? He told us all exactly where He would be upon His resurrection out from the dead. Here is where Christ is:

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

What a wonderful and comforting promise. What a privilege to know these spiritual truths, which are unknown, and completely foolish to, and despised by the natural man:

1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

And what is the greatest gift which God can give to any man? What is it that eyes cannot see and ears cannot hear that has been revealed to us by His spirit?”

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Heb 8:1  Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
Heb 8:2  A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

It is made clear that this is all in down payment or “earnest” form only, but it is none the less true.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Being “sealed with the holy spirit of promise” makes us partakers of all the promises “in earnest”. Yet it is not “the redemption of the purchased possession.” ‘The redemption of the purchased possession’ is the fullness of that promise. It is the gift of life in a body of spirit in a resurrection from among the dead. It is that for which we hope, and we are saved by hope.

Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [ him], that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [ are] not worthy [ to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [ the same] in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Conclusion

Rev 4:1  After this I looked, and, behold, a 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 shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Rev 4:2  And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Rev 4:3  And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

We have seen that an ‘open door in heaven’ means an increased knowledge of the revelation of Jesus Christ in the heavens of our own hearts and minds. We saw that heaven is not a geographical location, but is a spiritual realm in which we already are, if we are “in Christ.” We saw that “being in the spirit” and “hearing a trumpet” are the same phrases used to introduce the great and terrible day of the Lord.

We have seen that the Lord’s day of…

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

… is John looking behind himself and seeing the judgments which already are upon the house of God and which are this revelation of Jesus Christ. We saw that the phrase “come up here” has no more to do with the  physical direction of up versus down than the word heaven has to do with a geographical location above the earth. We have seen that the heavens are Bible- speak for the location of God’s dwelling and the location of God’s temple, and the location of God’s throne. We read with our own eyes “Know you not that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you.” We saw with our own eyes that Christ’s location after his resurrection and ascension is specifically “within you,” and that the “throne that was set in heaven” is within each of God’s elect who are willing to stand for Him and His Word against all the oppositions of science falsely so called.

Finally we saw that all the glory of the “rainbow round about the throne” in both Ezekiel and in Revelation is the symbol associated with rulership in the heavens of our hearts and minds where the throne and temple, and the heavens all are.

Next week, Lord willing we will cover these verses:

Rev 4:4  And round about the throne [ were] four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
Rev 4:5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and [ there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Rev 4:6  And before the throne [ there was] a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, [ were] four beasts full of eyes before and behind.