Prepared for Orange Country Christian Evangelical Church, Sunday Service.
Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Greetings to the man of God, Pastor Roland, who invited me to come and share the word. Welcome those who have come to worship God today in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. My name is Evangelist Don Chang and I praise God for letting me be here to share the word with you all. God has been using me as an interim preacher for churches without a pastor and an international evangelist through streaming video Preaching in places such as Pakistan, India and South Africa. May God bless you this morning with a fruitful listening of the word.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel so bombarded with the negativity that is going on in this world. If one wants to feel as if the world is falling apart, opening up the newspaper is a good way to do it. Turning on the news channel will bring about feelings of disappointment and disturbance as the whole world seems to be in strife. This strife isn’t just within countries, but also between them. Macro to micro, we see the practice of evil and what seems to be the lack of the glory of God.
In this state of despair and discouragement, I want to remind you of this verse.
Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
This morning,
I will show you what is true.
I will show you what is honorable, what is just, what is pure, what is lovely and what is commendable.
I will bring you to a place of excellence and worthy of praise.
Today, I want to take your mind away from the dealings of the world.
I want to take your mind away from the discouraging state of the world as shown in the news.
I want to take your mind away from looking upon the happenings on earth.
I want to take your mind to what it happening in heaven.
I want to take your mind to a glorious place in heaven that is true and eternal.
The throne of God.
I won’t do this by fancifying the scripture, but being faithful to what is revealed in scripture, unraveling the glory that awaits us in the new heavens and new earth.
As we look into scripture, it will reveal to us that there have been several prophets and apostle that have been given the indescribable grace and awesome experience to find themselves before the throne of God.
The prophet Isaiah, prophet Moses, prophet Jehoshaphat and the Apostle John have recorded accounts of visions in which they saw throne of God. The beautiful thing about the descriptions from these four different people from four different times is that their descriptions are in synergy with one another. They go hand in hand as the fingers join together. Some describing in more detail, but none of the them contradict each other. In fact, I’m convinced that all three saw the same throne of God.
As a base for taking our minds to the throne of God, we will be reading
through Isaiah. From there, we will see more detail, elaboration and confirmation from the book of Exodus, 1 Kings and Revelations.
At this time I would like to invite up our scripture reader to read Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord in the book of Isaiah Chapter 6 verses 1 through 7.
6 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Thank you for reading the scripture for us.
I will now ask the Heavenly Father for the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the anointing of this message.
Heavenly Father,
You are awesome. You are glorious. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts.
We thank you for being here with us and enabling us to worship you in Spirit and Truth by faith in your son Jesus Christ.
Awaken our slumbering spirits.
Encourage our discouraged hearts.
Anoint this message with power, authority and passion for your Glory.
In the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we pray amen.
“I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.”
As we look up to the throne of God, there is no one on the seat other than the Lord himself. There is none who was able to overthrow him, there is none who was able to conquer him. In the beginning, until now, and forever more, there is only one seated on the Throne. He who sits upon the throne is our God, the Lord, the Father. There is no need to be humble, yet he is not proud. He is who He is and He is seated high and lifted up.
The Apostle John described the one sitting on the throne.
“He who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow with an appearance of an emerald.” Revelations 4:3 ESV.
As much as I love the ESV, I found the NLT and NIV to give more imagery.
“The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones-like jasper and carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow.” Revelations 4:3 NLT
“And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.”
At the throne of God, God himself was as brilliant as the sparkle of gemstones – jasper, carnelian and ruby.
These gemstones are all a deep red and burgundy color. This is the color that the Father reveals himself on the throne. Around the throne was a glow of the likeness of an emerald circling as a rainbow. Emeralds are deep green and clear as diamonds.
God isn’t a gemstone, nor is he made of gemstones. These are descriptions of the glow that comes from him as there is no other way to describe the brilliance, glimmer and glory which comes from the Father.
Isaiah then describes the Lords attire.
“The train of his robe filled the temple.”
There is something like this in weddings. The bride will wear a wedding dress train. Some trains are short, some encircle, some long, but the longest is the royal train. The train is so long, it requires the assistance of flower girls to get around.
Our Lord upon the heavenly throne, His train is so long, It fills the entire temple. It fills every room, every chamber. It sweeps through every corridor, every level and everywhere. The train of his robe is a sight of royalty and infinite glory. It’s all consuming. Keep this image of the train of his robe as it will be elaborated later.
In Exodus 24:10 Moses saw a glimpse of the throne and he wrote, “Under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.”
Again, there is nothing in the world that can describe the splendor of heaven except through these humble gemstones. Moses tells us at the throne of God, under his feet, the pavement is clear and the likeness of sapphire stone. Sapphire stone is deep blue and sparkles. It is considered a crystal.
John too described this very same phenomenon. In Revelations 4:6, “And before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.”
He described it as a sea of glass. A sparking blue ocean. This is in synergy with Moses description of sapphire stone and clearness. Hallelujah! A confirmation of the vision of the Throne.
The prophet Jehoshaphat describes in 1 Kings 22:19, “I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by his right hand and on his left.”
The Lord isn’t sitting on the throne alone, there are hosts of heaven surrounding him.
Isaiah describes it this way, “Above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings: the two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”
We understand Seraphims to be of the highest rank of Angels. Seraphim means “The burning one.” As they are in the presence of God, so close to Him, they are burning, yet not in ashes. The closest imagery we have in the bible is that of the burning bush. It was burning with the glory of God, yet it wasn’t consumed.
The glow and brilliance isn’t just visual, but it’s glory radiates heat as of fire.
John goes into further detail of what these “The burning ones” look like.
“And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within.”
The four seraphim, burning in the presence of God, one looks like a lion, another an ox, another a face of man and another like an eagle in flight. Hallelujah. And just as Isiah described, they have six wings. Two cover their face, two covers their feet and two are used to fly. They are flying above the throne.
John then describes what was around the throne, to the left and right, “Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads.”
As you now envision the four seraphim above the throne of God and twenty-four thrones around the throne of God, we will get a glimpse on what is happening in Heaven this very moment.
Isaiah and the Apostle Paul heard the words of the seraphim.
Isaiah heard these words, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
John heard these words, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty; who was and is and is to come!”
Brothers and Sisters, I want to now take us back to the beginning of this message where we saw the train of his robe as it filled the temple. The train of his robe fills not only the temple, the train of his robe fills the whole earth! The whole earth is full of his glory!
The world tells us, God is not here.
God tells us, Isaiah 7:14 – I am here.
The world tell us, God lost control.
God tells us, Exodus 3:14 – I am who I am. I am on the throne.
The world tells us, God is powerless.
God tells us, Deuteronomy 4:24 – I am an all-consuming fire.
John tells us what happens when the seraphim declare the Holiness and Majesty of God.
Revelations 4:9-10“And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before One seated on the throne, and they worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our LORD and GOD, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
When the world tells us, God isn’t in control.
God tells us, I created all things and by my will they existed and were created.
While God is being glorified day and night for eternity in the presence of the Seraphim and 24 Elders, there is something awe-inspiring, bone-chilling and frightening when God himself speaks.
It says, “And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.”
When the Lord GOD, seated on the throne, speaks, the foundations of the thresholds of heaven shakes. When God speaks, even heaven cannot contain it’s glory. Even heaven cannot withhold it’s sound, it reverberates and shakes the foundations and the house was filled with smoke.
When God speaks in a still small voice.
When God speaks in the cool of the wind.
When God speaks through the prophets.
When God speaks through the bible.
When God speaks through his messenger.
When God speaks, the FOUNDATIONS OF HEAVEN SHAKES.
Now, as we not only envision, but understand rightly what is happening at the throne of God at this very moment. Look at how Isaiah reacts to this great vision.
“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Moreso that the awe of what is happening,
We recognize that we don’t belong here. We don’t belong here, because we are men and women of unclean lips. We are men and women of unclean hearts. We are men and women of unholiness. We are men and women, who have sinned against such a glorious God.
Then, one of the seraphim flew to Isaiah and with a burning coal that he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched Isaiahs’ lips and said, “Behold this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sins atoned for.”
This is a glimpse of what the blood of Jesus Christ will do for the elect whose names are written down in the book of Life. This is a glimpse of what repentance and faith in Jesus Christ looks like.
As we look upon the throne room of God, we realize that we are sinners and unholy before the all consuming fire. If God we’re to consume us without the blood of Jesus Christ, we would be obliterated.
But as God has willed from the beginning, His desire is to be with us. His love never ended. His love never failed.
As I read this, remember the foundations of thresholds’ are shaking.
Revelations 21:3-4, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, or crying, nor praying anymore, for the former things has passed away.’”
Glory to God.
And he who is seated on the throne said, “Behold I am making all things new.”
I want to leave you with the words of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior from the end of the book of Revelations.
“Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen and Amen.
Come, Lord Jesus, Come soon!