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Revelation chapter 4, look how it begins. The title for the sermon this morning is, A Door Was Opened in Heaven. So when it comes to the book of Revelation, we now enter into heaven, we start seeing things from a heavenly perspective. Of course chapters 1, 2 and 3, John was still on the Isle of Patmos, he had received a vision of the Lord, but now he actually goes into heaven himself. And it continues there, it says, 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 show thee things which must be hereafter. Okay, just two thoughts that I want to take from the first verse here. The voice that speaks to him, that says, Come up hither, it says, it was as it were of a trumpet talking with me. And so who could be saying these words to the Apostle John? Well, if you come back with me to chapter 1, please, Revelation chapter 1 and verse number 10, Revelation chapter 1 and verse number 10, Revelation chapter 1 verse number 10, it says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. And then what's that voice saying? Verse number 11, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And so of course, that's Jesus Christ speaking and when he sees Christ in his glorified form, he says that his voice is of as of a trumpet. And so I do believe when we get to chapter 4, now, maybe in your Bibles, maybe chapter 1, it's in red letters, a lot of Bibles, when they have Jesus Christ speaking, it's in red letters. But just remember, when the Bible was written, there was no red letters. It was all the same ink. And so you kind of left up to the publisher to put in the colour red for you to identify, Oh, is that Jesus speaking or not speaking? But in my Bible anyway, that I've got at home and I got to Revelation chapter 4, I believe it's Jesus Christ speaking again, come up here. And I will show the show the things which must be hereafter. I still believe that Jesus Christ speaking, but it's not not coloured red in my Bible. I don't know if it's probably the same as yours. Okay. But anyway, I'm just gonna show you who it is that speaking. And the other reason I believe it's Jesus is because it says, And I will show the things which must be hereafter. And again, come back with me to Revelation chapter 1, verse number 19. Revelation 119, Jesus Christ says these words to John, Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. And so it makes sense. It's Jesus Christ saying, Hey, I want you to write these things. He's now saying, look, now come up here and I will show you the things that will be hereafter. And so what we have as solid evidence here by the Word of God, chapter 4 is the beginning of the things which must be hereafter. Chapter 4 is the beginning of future events from John's perspective. And yes, I also believe from our perspective still here in 2023, the events that we're reading about from chapter 4 and onwards are future things. Meaning that chapter 1, 2, and 3 were not things which were hereafter. Does that make sense? Chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 can't be the things which are hereafter. Can't be future events because chapter 4 begins. Now I'm going to show you the things which be hereafter. Okay. Now why make that an emphasis? Because I had an email from a friend. I'm sure he means well. That said to me, well, I believe chapters 1, 2, and 3 are all future events. It's all about future things. But then we go to chapter 4. No, now it's about future things, right? And so that, that, that, that destroys that kind of idea. There's the other idea that chapters 2 and chapter 3, when we talk about the seven churches, you know, there are many prophecy preachers in many Baptist churches that will say to you, these churches aren't literal churches, or they might say they're literal churches, but that they represent periods of time in John's future. But if there are periods of time in John's future, then that would be hereafter as well, chapters 2 and 3. Okay. Well, no, you know, chapter 4 confirms for us, you know, chapter 4 is the beginning of the things that are future for John the apostle. Okay. And what we saw earlier in Revelation 1 19, it says, write the things which there has seen, which would be chapter 1, he saw Jesus and then he's given the instruction to write. And then it says, and the things which are, that's present tense. So that's chapters 2 and 3, again, confirming that the churches that he wrote to were present tense churches in the time of John. And then chapter 4, the things which be hereafter. I feel like when you read verse number 1, like chapter 4, like that should be clear, right? Like you read that go, well, that's obvious, but it's so strange that there are doctrines that undermine that very verse. Like I just spoke to you, right? The idea is that the previous chapters might already be future events to be for, like from, from John's perspective. And it's like, why you might ask yourself the question, why do people teach that when you've got such a clear verse that chapter 4 is the things about hereafter. It's, and you need to, I want you to, I want you to be a smart church. Like I really, and I'm not saying I'm a smart preacher. I'm not saying I'm like this hyper intelligent person or anything like that. I just have like, all I've got is a fear of God. And I go, Lord, you just say what you have to say. And I don't want to add anything more than what you've already said. That's just my approach. But you've, and look, I say to preachers, they even stand behind this pulpit. All I want to do is tell us what God said. That's all I want. Okay. You don't have to come up with imaginations and ideas and try to fill gaps. And look, in this Revelation series, I'm going to try to fill some gaps, but I'm going to make it very clear when it's my thoughts, my ideas, versus what God just clearly lays out. I don't like preaching when we have the ideas and the imaginations of preachers, where you can't even figure out, is that what you just think? Or is that what God said? I don't like that. I want you to know, look, what God says is 100% true. And what man thinks and imagines could be true. Don't know, interesting, good to talk about, it's fun to have conversations about, but we don't really know unless God plainly says it in his scriptures. So you've got people that would rather listen to a method of interpretation, whether that's dispensationalism, you know, they'd rather read the commentary books, they'd rather look at the study Bibles and read what people wrote in those study Bibles, versus what God just clearly says. Okay. And that's a dangerous place to be when you're prioritizing the word of man over the word of God. Because at that point, I don't think anything you're going to say from there from there on is going to be accurate. Right? Because I can't even tell what the difference is between the word of man and word of God. Okay, let's get going there. Verse number two. He says, And immediately I was in the spirits. And behold, a throne was set in heaven, and once sat on the throne. So he's in where he's in the spirits. Okay. His body is not in heaven. His spirit now is in heaven. His body is still on the Isle of Patmos. Okay. But now he's experiencing what heaven is in the future in the spirit. Okay. So he gets this amazing revelation from God. And you know, he's not the only one who has gone to be in the spirit when you read about, you know, or men who have entered the throne of God, as they were still bodily on the earth. He's not the only one. And you know, you read about Isaiah and Ezekiel having the times when they just stood before the throne of God and they've been overwhelmed by that. So another thing I want to show you, keep your finger there. Come with me to 2 Corinthians. Come with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number one. Keep your finger there in Revelation 4. But come with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number one. Now remember, I told you guys that the book of Revelation is the book which reveals. That's why it's called Revelation. Okay. And it's not meant to be this misunderstood, hard to comprehend book, right? It's meant to give us further light. And when you have that further light from the book of Revelation, you can better understand things that have gone before. So for example, in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number one. This is Paul speaking. He says, it is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. So Paul is saying, look, I've also received visions and revelations from God. Okay. Then he says this in verse number two. We're not spending too much time on this. He's speaking about himself in the third person. Okay. He's speaking about himself in the third person. He says in verse number two. I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell. God knoweth such and one caught up to the third heaven. What's the third heaven? The first heaven is our atmosphere where the planes go, right? The second heaven is space, outer space, where the planets and the stars are. The third heaven is where God's throne is. Okay. So there's a man caught up into the third heaven. He says in verse number three. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knows. You can see that Paul's having a hard time. Like, was I in the body or was I not? I don't know, but God knows. And then he says, verse number four, how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. So you can see there that paradise is the third heaven. Okay. When Jesus Christ said to the thief on the cross, they are happy with me in paradise. He was speaking about the third heaven, being there with the thief on the cross. But I want you to notice that Paul has a hard time understanding whether he was in the body or out of the body. But now that you've read the book of Revelation, immediately I was in the Spirit. Spirit, we know the answer that Paul didn't know, right? Well, no, Paul, you were in the Spirit. You hadn't gone up to heaven bodily, you know, right? Your body was still on the earth, but spiritually you were in heaven. And you know, even Paul was having a hard time comprehending everything that he heard that he saw there in heaven. Something else I want to show you, you're in second Corinthians. Come with me to first Corinthians chapter 15. First Corinthians chapter 15, another bad teaching. Like, look, I love my pre-trib brethren. I want that to be clear, crystal clear. Okay, I love my pre-trib brethren. And I think it's more valuable to be walking with the Lord as a pre-tribber than being a post-tribber, not walking with the Lord. Okay, it's our walk with the Lord. Okay, that brings us fellowship, right? Knowledge and wisdom and love and service gives us stability in life. That's our walk with the Lord that matters, okay? So I want you to understand, look, I appreciate them, okay? But, and they know the rapture is such an important, you know, teaching of the end times. But you ask them, show me the pre-trib rapture in the book of Revelation. Surely it must be there. And then we're like, well, here it is. Revelation 4, you know, verse 1. Come up here, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit. So they say, see, before all the ideas of the tribulation and the wrath of God and all of that, before any of that happens, you see that there's a rapture that takes place. John is caught up. And that represents everybody being caught up. That's what they teach. Again, is that what God's word says? Or is that just what they're adding to God's word to say that? It's not what God's word says, okay? You have a single person. That's not the rapture. The rapture is all believers. Yes, he's caught up. Yeah, okay, you got that bit. But the rapture is a bodily resurrection. New bodies with Jesus Christ in heaven. John is in the spirit. His body is still on the earth. So I mean, how you get these parallels and teach, well, that's the rapture of the church. What in the world? Wouldn't John write, and with me came all the saints of the earth or something like that? And then you, okay, I can see where you're coming from. But 1 Corinthians 15, please 51, 1 Corinthians 15, 51. And this is the passage of the rapture. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound. Hey, not a voice as a trumpet, but it says a trumpet shall sound, an actual trumpet shall sound. Okay, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. New bodies, a changed body. And then we're going to be with Jesus Christ in heaven. So again, the teaching, that's the preacher of rapture. I don't know what to say. It's embarrassing, really. Like, I find it embarrassing to take verses like this and just, well, you know, we just got to find a bold verse that says it's before the tribulation, and they'll just come up with whatever. Instead of just teaching what really it's about, like what it's just clearly about, what God just clearly says. Let's go back to Revelation 4 verse 3. Revelation 4 verse 3. So now it's before the throne of God. He's in heaven. He's in the spirit. And he said in verse number 3, And he that sat, 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. So I mean, colors and brightness and lights is coming from the throne. And what I find most interesting about the throne here, is that there was a rainbow around about the throne. I find that really interesting, because we know why the rainbow came into the picture. We know why God allowed the rainbow to be an object that could be seen, at least from the earth, okay? And if you want, you can come with me. Keep your finger, come with me to Genesis chapter 9, if you want. Come with me to Genesis chapter 9. Now, one thing that I'm going to be doing as we keep going through the book of Revelation, we're going to be looking a lot at the book of Genesis, okay? Because a lot of what Genesis begins, revelation ends. A lot of the concepts that Genesis brings up, revelation answers, okay? And so in Genesis chapter 9, verse number 12, Genesis chapter 9 and verse number 12, and of course this is after the great flood of Noah. Noah and his family are the only human beings that survive, and the animals that are on the ark with him. Then they get off the ark and in Genesis 9, 12, and God said, this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. I just set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth and it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow shall be seen in the cloud and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow is the symbolism of the covenant that God makes with man and all creatures. He goes, I will never destroy you again with a flood. He will destroy again but not with a flood, okay? But the fact that then there's a rainbow on his throne must tell me that God needs a constant reminder of this covenant because the wickedness on the earth is great and it is constant. Like do you really think in the time of Noah that that wickedness has not been repeated over history in history? I believe it's been repeated multiple times and look you know when it comes to history in man's you know the wickedness of man there are periods where there is great wickedness and there are periods that people somehow you know maybe with the word of God you know have some level of personal righteousness and the generations go back you know there's this constant ebb and flow on the earth but generally speaking there's a downward trajectory right that we're going in and we know when Christ comes back it's like the days of Noah once again okay so that level of wickedness is going to be on the earth once again at least in the future but we have God with this constant reminder on his throne okay I'm not going to destroy them all right I'm not going to wipe out all flesh okay just constant reminder and I think you know when we see a rainbow in the clouds I think it's a beautiful thing like it's amazing when you see that rainbow go wow that's God's covenant that he made all the way back with Noah it's just a reminder how much God loves us you know he's long-suffering he could destroy us but he gave us time to hear the gospel and be saved and he's given the rest of the world time to hear the gospel to be saved and it's so sad that you know the the gay lesbian LGBT community has taken that symbol for themselves but even then it's a corrupted symbol isn't it because as far as I know the rainbow is supposed to have seven colors and their rainbow has six colors the number of a man six I don't know is there some symbolism there with the mark of the beast I don't know I'm not going to say that but you know it's it's a it's a corrupted symbol they've taken because again that symbol represents that God will not destroy right but we know when it comes to this their wickedness God did destroy Sodom and Gomorrah okay God rained down not a flood he rained down fire and brimstone upon that wicked city for their wicked sins but they have that that that symbol the symbol of the rainbow to signify well we're not going to be destroyed yes they will be destroyed by God they will be destroyed okay if not today most definitely in the lake of fire revelation chapter four please revelation chapter four verse number four revelation four four 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 okay so we see that before God's throne there are 24 more seats 24 elders sitting at those seats so there must be pretty important people to be seated around the throne of God and also they're people that are already in heaven right they're already placed there in heaven we see that they're introduced as elders elders and we see that they're clothed in white raiment now come back with me to revelation three revelation chapter three in verse number five revelation of the free verse number five which reads he that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment so I don't think it's a coincidence that the elders here then also clothed in this white raiment which tells me that they are believers they are they are human beings that walk the earth they got saved and now they're in heaven right they've passed on in life they're in heaven and they're seated around that throne now another interesting thing is the fact that it's 24 all right say why 24 you know what's the significance of that I do again I do believe there's a significance now when it comes to these 24 elders they're not named are they okay I want to show you the difference between what God's word says and then what I'm about to say okay I want to make that clear okay 24 elders now the next thing that I'm going to show you if I preach this dogmatically and I say thus saith the Lord I'm a false prophet okay if I do something like that okay and so this I'm trying to get you guys to understand okay when it comes to teaching God's word we have to be careful but we have been given a brain we've been given a mind we've been given the ability to reason to think to to pray and to be led by the Holy Spirit and so I'm going to give you who I believe these 24 elders are now they could be any body I suppose they could be any well they're they are elders so of course if you want to take it from a New Testament perspective the word elder is interchangeable with pastors and bishops so yeah these could be just random you know 24 pastors of the New Testament that have served God faithfully you know they've been numbered amongst the best and they get to sit there with God near his throne so that that could be the reality but again I think the number 24 has a significance and if I can just remind you of what that significance might be and this is my teaching or my thoughts okay I could be wrong all right but let me let's go to actually let's not go keep it in there come with me to numbers come with me in the Old Testament come with me to the book of numbers the book of numbers all right very quickly because I've already introduced this idea we know that at the end of the book of Revelation God creates a new heaven and a new earth and heavenly Jerusalem descends from heaven right onto the earth and you may recall that that heavenly Jerusalem is a place for all believers of all time Old Testament New Testament saints okay doesn't matter okay and the reason we know that it's for all is because there are 12 gates in that city and those 12 gates are named by each one of each of the 12 tribes of Israel okay each of those gates represents Old Testament Israel and we also know that the city has 12 foundations and those 12 foundations are named after the apostles of the lamb the 12 apostles that Jesus Christ had so when I think of the number 24 well I've got the city that represents all believers 12 gates 12 foundations with names that God has given us okay so I'm thinking okay this represents Old and New Testament my thoughts okay now we know who the 12 apostles of the lamb were okay because Jesus Christ chose them individually and this is another important part Jesus Christ chose those apostles himself okay and so what about Judas Iscariot well in the book of Acts chapter one he gets replaced by Matthias okay his apostleship gets transferred over to Matthias some people think it might be Paul that takes over that it doesn't really matter okay but who could be who could be okay the 12 that represent the Old Testament if they represent every tribe okay that's named there are the 12 gates well in Numbers chapter one in verse number one Numbers chapter one verse number one it says and the Lord spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tabernacle of the congregation on the first day of the second month in the second year after they would come out of the land of Egypt saying take you the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel after their families by the house of their fathers with the number of their names every male by their poles so the reason it's called Numbers this book is because God tells Moses look let's number the people okay let's number the tribes the families how many there are over the age of 20 etc we'll see about this in verse number three he goes from 20 years old and upward and all that are able to go forth to war in Israel thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies now that's a big task but God then equips Moses with different with men that will help them in this process okay because then he says in verse number four and with you there shall be a man of every tribe every one head of the house of his fathers so this is God telling Moses he doesn't tell Moses okay you choose the men God chooses these men okay it says in verse number five and these are the names of the men that shall stand with you of the tribe of Reuben, Eliza the son of Shadduah, of Simeon, Shelemuel of the son of Zerushalai, of Judah nation the son of Amenadab, I'm not going to keep going okay in your own time you can have a look each tribe is given one specific man to help them in this process and then in verse drop down to verse number 16 about these men it says these were the renowned of the congregation princes of the tribes of their fathers heads of thousands in Israel so these aren't just random people of each tribe okay they're well renowned they're well respected right they've got authority they're looked up to and these 12 men of each tribe chosen by God to help Moses in this process so if someone was put a gun to my head give me the names of those 24 elders I'll give the names of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ that were chosen by God and I'll give you these 12 names chosen by God once again to help Moses in numbering the tribes now if you don't believe that we are best buddies okay that's not the word of God it's just my thoughts I just want to make that clear because as we go for revelation I'm going to share my thoughts but I always want you to remember what you need to prioritize is God's word I'm just giving you some ideas some thoughts it's fun to study God's bible it's fun to think it's fun to you know to meditate on different things and and have conversations and things of the like but what we must always stand on is what the bible just clearly states okay okay verse number five back to Revelation chapter four verse number five Revelation chapter four verse number five and so just in conclusion the reason we've gone for that just to show you that I think think that these 24 seats just represent once again old testament the new testament saints okay reflected by these great men that were used by God at different points in time all right verse number five 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 I spoke about the seven spirits of God I believe in chapter one but what's interesting coming out of God's throne lightnings thunderings voices what this reminds me of is when God was on mount Sinai and he gave you know most of the commandments and before he gave him the commandments right the the children of Israel come before mount Sinai and they're so afraid to go before God and God starts to speak to them and they're too afraid to hear the voice of God and there's thunderings there's lightnings and it's all going on and they're just being so they're so afraid and what we see on God's throne again lightnings thunderings but another interesting thing that we see here is voices now again what might these voices be I believe I know what they what it is but just something to consider come with me to Revelation chapter 8 come with me to Revelation chapter 8 and verse number five Revelation chapter 8 and verse number five what could these voices be we know what lightnings and thunderings are I guess it's just the glory the power of God you know coming out of that throne and then what are these voices so Revelation chapter 8 and verse number five this is when God starts to pour out his wrath okay he gives the seven angels the seven trumpets and God begins to pour out his wrath on the earth but it says just before that in Revelation 8 5 it says and the angel took the sensor and filled it with fire of the altar and cast it into the earth look at this and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings so we had all those qualities coming from God's throne but now we have an earthquake okay but voices thunderings and lightnings now he's filled his sensor with the fire from the altar that's before God's throne backtrack to verse number three verse number three it says and another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden sensor so we saw that and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it look at this with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne and the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God and out of the angel's hand okay so the incense that's coming from the smoke you know are the prayers you know been uh uh symbolized by this smoke that's coming forth you know from the fire of the altar and in that golden sensor and the incense before God's throne and so I do believe that those voices represents the the prayers of the saints to me that would make sense God's on his throne and he's listening to our prayers you know he's listening to the voices of those that are calling upon him and uh so you know again just by comparing those two scriptures I believe we can come to that conclusion of those voices represent revelation of the four versus six revelation of the four versus six 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 okay so you know I can't even a sea of glass I mean I know what a sea is but we're talking about a sea of glass like unto crystal I mean right it's just there uh you know before God's throne and then we're introduced to other beings there four beasts but these beasts you know when you read the word beast in the bible it's primarily speaking of an animal like the word animal is not in your king james bible when God wants to use the word animal he used the words beast okay and it doesn't surprise me that God would choose the word beast to describe the antichrist because it truly is an animal right the idea that you know a beast is more than you know we're not just thinking of of a of a normal human being are we when you think of the beast especially look the fact that they're full of eyes before and behind these creatures just have eyes all over their bodies all right now keep that in mind because we're going to look at that in a moment but look at verse number seven look how these beasts are uh described verse number seven and the first beast was like a lion like it's not a lion but it's like a lion right when john is looking at it like the closest way that i can resemble this for you reader it's like a lion okay and the second beast like a calf and the third beast he looks at it goes had a face as a man they all look different don't they so this one looks like almost a man like his face anyway we don't know what the rest of the body kind of is all right and then it says the fourth beast was like a flying eagle all right so again you can see why god used the word beasts to describe these creatures but this is what they all have in common even though they look different verse number eight says and the four beasts had each of them six wings about him and they were full of eyes within so again it's their bodies are full of eyes and within and they rest not day and night saying holy holy holy lord god almighty which was and is and is to come that's all they do that's their job they don't rest day or night this is non-stop right if you go to if you were to be caught up in the spirit to god's throne you'd see these four beasts holy holy holy lord god almighty just constantly just praising god you know worshiping god that's their job to just be giving god constant praise i think the praise that we hear it we've imagined potentially in heaven is just would be amazing majestic beautiful not resting day or night and you know what if we want to be just that slice of heaven on this earth you know i want you to when we sing our hymns guys when we sing our songs just so you know what i can sing like these beasts at least i can lift up my voice i've been given a voice i can say oh look we don't know how sweet their voices sound all we know is what they're saying you can look you say i'm not a good singer i don't care if you're not a good singer you can say the words you can have a heart that pleases god that praises god i don't care what you sound like lift your voices up okay and god will receive it i want our church to be a little bit like this sounding like this i don't know you know look i'll give you an idea what this sounds like in a moment but what we see again what they have in common are the six wings they all have six wings each and they're full of eyes now come with me to the book of isaiah isaiah please keep your finger there come with me to isaiah chapter six isaiah chapter six i had mentioned that isaiah himself was caught up into heaven at some point in his ministry and we read about this in isaiah six isaiah six and verse number one isaiah chapter six and verse number one i'll give you a moment to turn there isaiah chapter six and verse number one above reads you were covering the face with twain he covered his feet and with twain he did fly and one cried unto another and said holy holy holy is a lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory look that they serve they're praising god in the time of isaiah and then even john when he's looking at the future they're still praising god holy holy whole and i don't know if each of these holies might represent the triune nature of god holy holy holy is a lord of hosts the holer is full of his glory and look look how they praise god verse number four look at the look at the response it says and the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried and the house was filled with smoke he goes as they're praising god it's all shaken like they're singing so much and so so loudly like you know have you ever you know had a like a sub woofer or something going off like it's like what is that sound what's that shaking yeah they've got like sub woofer mouths these guys right you know holy holy holy everything's just like whoa everything's shaking that's how much they're praising god say pastor we're singing so loud look let's just try to get to the point where everything's shaken okay and then like we're we're at a good volume at that point okay you don't need to get louder than that let's just try to get to the point where we can just shake this place you know praising god with his glory they can see we're introduced to what they're referred to here in isaiah these are known as the seraphim okay seraph singular seraphim as plural now if you can come with me also come with me to ezekiel chapter 10 ezekiel chapter 10 what i want to do this period because you know this chapter revelation is not very long but what i want to show you are just some different beings in heaven okay and for you to have an idea when you come across these passages to be able to differentiate one from another come with me to ezekiel chapter 10 ezekiel chapter 10 verse number 20 ezekiel chapter 10 and verse number 20 so the the seraphim aren't mentioned all that much in the bible they're mentioned there in isaiah and then we know from revelation oh it's the same creatures okay but the creature that's mentioned most often in the bible as far as the heavenly hosts are the cherubim okay and in ezekiel chapter 10 verse number 20 he says this is the living creature that i saw under the god of israel by the river of keba and i knew that they were the cherubims it's not seraphim these are cherubims okay so denny describes the cherubim a little bit here verse 21 he says and everyone had four faces a piece so these creatures they've got four faces each each of them have four faces at least the seraphim i believe had one face from what i can gather but these ones have four faces and knowing that it says and everyone four wings and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings so the cherubim have four wings the seraphim have six wings so that you can see the different creatures and again he refers to them as creatures here right in the book of revelation beasts and creatures the idea is that they're not human okay they're they're a they're a you know similar i guess to an animal as it were but we know they can speak we know they can sing right they're not dumb as we would think of an animal on this earth so when we talk about angels in heaven and i've been asked pastor can you one day preach on angels okay so let's talk about angels it's a it's a it's a tough one because often we would call these seraphim and cherubim as angels but i looked up every reference and they never caught angels they're called beasts or creatures they're in heaven the heavenly host look and if you call them angels i don't think there's anything wrong with that when we think of angels we think of a very in heaven basically they're the angels okay but then we also in the book of revelation coming to revelation 22 revelation 22 verse number eight again cherubim and seraphim are not referenced as angels anywhere in the bible as far as i could tell now is again is there anything wrong with that i don't think so potentially god may refer to them as angels as a general sense but again they're not specified specifically as these two creatures okay but in revelation 22 verse number eight revelation 22 verse 8 we see another angel here or another person as it were in heaven revelation 22 8 it says and i john saw these things and heard them and when i had heard and seen i fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things so he's he's speaking and being shown things by an angel but then he says in verse number nine so he falls at the feet to worship the angel right then say he unto me see thou do it not for i am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book worship god so this angel says look don't worship me worship god i'm just one of the prophets i'm one of the brothers right so here we have an angel that's just a normal human being you know someone that has lived before john someone that's been a prophet of god all right just a human being who's gone to be in heaven and god utilizes him to help john understand what he's seen in heaven so you can see once again that angel can reference just a normal human being and as we've gone through revelation one two three we saw that the the pastors of the churches are referred to as angels okay because again the word angel just means messenger that's all okay another person that's referred to as an angel in the old testament is jesus christ himself okay again does that mean jesus is some created being of course not it's just that he was he's a messenger okay and he was used in the you know early days in genesis to come as an angel of the lord that's a that's a deep topic in of itself so then the question becomes okay so we've got the cherubim the seraphim they're beasts now we have an angel identified and it's just a normal human being that's been a prophet that's served god that's gone that's passed on is living on the earth does that mean then all the angels as we know them with human forms are they just passed away human beings that that could be the question that people might have right they just passed away human beings and i can see why you might think that but i don't believe that's true i do believe there are angels in heaven that are not human beings like us born from it you know flesh but they're not animals or creatures as it were they're very humanoid okay and i'll just give you an example of this if you come with me to um you're in revelations they'll come with me to revelation chapter 12 revelation chapter 12 please revelation chapter 12 and while you're turning to revelation chapter 12 there's an angel that comes to mary right when she was to give birth of christ when she was a virgin that would fall pregnant of course and in while you turn into revelation 12 i'll read to you from luke 126 it says and in the sixth month the angel gabriel was sent from god unto a city of galilea named lazareth okay so we have an angel and we're given his name the name of gabriel okay we also are aware of the archangel michael okay so we know the names of certain angels that god uses to bring a message but in revelation 12 7 revelation chapter 12 is number seven it says and there was war in heaven i want you to notice this michael michael's the archangel michael and his angels fought against the dragon that's satan and the dragon fought with sorry fought and his angels so satan has angels fallen angels and michael the archangel has angels okay so as an as the archangel he has authority he's like the captain he's referred to as the prince when he comes to the book of daniel okay he's got authority over a group of angels okay and i thought the life of me can't reconcile that being just human being saved by the blood of of christ because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world like there's no battle when we're in the spirit right when we're walking righteously we're in the spirit of god there really is satan cannot tempt you okay satan tempts our flesh our carnal nature that's where satan has victory but when it comes to our spiritual warfare if we're fighting spiritually satan has no chance okay because first of all we've already overcome the earth and again greater is he that is in you than he that is on the earth okay so we see that there is a group of angels that are involved in spiritual warfare with satan's angels all right and this is not the only time that we're introduced to this warfare come with me to daniel chapter 10 daniel chapter 10 and verse number five daniel chapter 10 verse number five daniel chapter 10 and verse number five so this is just brings us to daniel who has been praying to the lord and there's seemingly a delay in his answer to prayer and why you know i'm not going to go into all of it but he ends up getting his answer to prayer okay and it says here in daniel 10 5 then i lifted up mine eyes and looked and behold a certain man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with fine gold of upaz so he sees this man okay and then he says in verse number six his body also was like the barrel and his face as the appearance of lightning okay so this man's face is shining and his eyes as lamps of fire and his arms and his feet like in color of polished brass and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude okay it almost sounds like the description of christ in the book of revelation okay but again i mentioned that that's christ's glorified appearance but seems like these men also have the ability to have a glorified appearance right now this is not speaking of jesus christ okay because he says in verse number 13 uh i won't get into all the story right now but verse 13 says but the prince of the kingdom of persia withstood me one and 20 days for 21 days but lo michael that's michael the archangel again one of the chief priests a princess sorry came to help me and i remained there with the kings of persia so it says look i've come to give you a message daniel but i started to fight with the prince of persia now not literally the man but spiritually like the spiritual power behind that prince right he's been with we've stood from going to down there's a battle taking place and he goes but but michael helped me okay and we again we saw michael there in revelation 12 okay michael and his angels so he says it's a man okay but i want you to then notice what he says in verse 16 daniel chapter 10 verse 16 later on because daniel's overwhelmed by the appearance he's like he's he says like he's weak he can barely lift himself up okay by by what he's seen his vision and in daniel 10 16 he says and behold one like the similitude of the sons of men he's touched my lips now he says look it's it's he's like the similitude it is not one of the sons of men but he's similar right he's similar to that it's like a like a simulation all right and then it says um uh and then i opened my mouth and spake and said unto him that stood before me of oh my lord by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me and i have retained no strength for how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord for as of me straightway they remain no strength in me neither is their breath left in me and then look at verse 18 then there came again and touched me one like like the appearance of a man and he strengthened me so it appears it seems to me as i'm going through this then that there are angels that are human looking similitude likeness like a man okay that then will interact with human beings on this personal level i believe gabriel was one of those michael the archangel and so if these ever appeared they just look like normal human beings they won't look like they have four faces and six wings and eyes all over their body you know they just look like normal human beings okay but they're michael's angels okay they're not human beings as we as we are today okay now another reason i believe i can confirm that is coming to the book of hebrews coming to hebrews chapter one hebrews chapter one hebrew i hope you don't mind going to this a little bit deeper because i've for many years i've been thinking about the angels and you know gathering my thoughts as best as i can as we turn to hebrews chapter one i'm going to read to you from matthew 24 about the end times about the coming of christ and something interesting that christ says about that day in matthew 24 36 it says but of that day and hour knoweth no man so no man knows then he says no not the angels of heaven but my father only so it sounds like the angels and we know the cherubim and seraphim aren't given that title but someone that can look like a human being is given like gabriel for example can be given that title of an angel okay so it says no man knoweth then he says neither the angels that are in heaven so it sounds like to me if you just said look no man know if that would cover the angels the fact that he's referring to him as another group tells me there are humanoid angels like abriel like like the one that he's speaking to like uh like that daniel was speaking to like uh michael the archangel etc like separate groups but then you got matthew sorry hebrew chapter one which you turn to hebrew chapter one and look at verse number five so if angels are just human beings that have passed away and gone to heaven then verse number five wouldn't make sense because in hebrews 1 5 it says for unto which of the angels said he at any time thou at my son this day have i begotten thee and again i will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son so this is saying like a rhetorical question that is never said to the angels that you're my son and i'm your father but he has said that about me when i got saved i'm a son of god and he became my father okay i have that confirmed for me multiple times in the scriptures so that's true for me okay but it's not true for the angels and again people like gabriel like michael the archangel these things these beings okay that we're given some name they're not sons of god they're not children of god god is not their father okay they're not part of god's family but the moment you're saved because you're in christ jesus the son of god you are made the people of god and he becomes our father not only that look at verse number 13 hebrews 1 13 but to which of the angels said he at any time so it's about the angels sit on my right hand until i make thine enemies thy footstool so he's comparing angels to jesus but then he says this in verse number 14 about the angels are they not all ministering spirits so the angels are what all they're all ministering spirits what does that mean sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation so they're not heirs of salvation they're not humans that got saved i'm talking about this class of angels right but the angels that we read about gabriel michael the archangel etc those angels they're ministering spirits to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation which is us okay so i hope just by comparing some scriptures here again this is not my opinion now i'm just trying to confirm various ways that at least we can see at least you know four different groups of angels in heaven seraphim cherubim angels that are ministering spirits and angels that are just human beings that have passed away to gone gone to be with the lord okay all right i hope that if you have any further questions afterwards feel free to ask me after the service okay back to revelation chapter four please revelation chapter four revelation of the four verse number nine revelation of the four verse number nine okay back to the seraphim verse number nine and when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne who liveth forever and ever the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worship him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne sane i love this so as the seraphim are praising god holy holy holy you know what the 24 elders get involved they start to praise god they start to worship god i mean this like i love it when when that when we sing so well here i love to hear your voices could you imagine heaven with all the heavenly hosts everyone getting involved why can you imagine the volume the praise the majesty your voice is just wow like you know it's like a drop in the ocean but it's going to be so powerful and i love how they're just praising god constantly and brethren we need to just this is look he's the god of the of the living we need to praise god we need to praise him not just at church praise him in the morning when you wake up praise him with your family sing songs together you know sometimes people ask me how do you get your kids to sit still at church i mean it's not easy but you teach them how to sit still at home how do you get your kids to sing at church you get your kids to sing at home like whatever you want them to do at church you go instruct them at home it's you know and look we don't want church to be this sort of like that's where we go and praise god which we do we go to praise god but we go to praise god with the congregation but when he comes to praise and worshiping god we should say to us look that's something we have to be doing all the time any occasion all right one thing i want to do is i do a lot of driving especially to airports and i usually have some podcast or some maybe i'll listen to one of my old sermons to go you know pick up all my mistakes and all that kind of stuff and but maybe i should just put on some music and just just uh just built it out to the lord in the in or i'm praying you know in the car but maybe that's something else i can introduce to my schedule as i'm just driving along just put on some christian music some hymns that i'm very familiar with some songs i'm familiar with and just just belt it out to god i know he's i know he's pleased i know that's in fact look at verse 11 what are they saying thou art worthy oh lord to receive glory and honor and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created all things that includes you and me you say why was i created what's the meaning of life to give god pleasure that's what we say right for thy pleasure they are and were created brethren you were created for the pleasure of god one more passage come with me to colossians chapter one colossians chapter one doesn't that make you feel special important valuable to god you've been created for his pleasure say pastor i feel lost in life i don't know what to do i don't know what you know i don't know what jobs to get i don't know where to you know what to do with my life just how about you please god let's start there because that's why you're created someone might seem successful in the world and and seemingly have it all together but are they pleasing god if they're not pleasing god they're not even fulfilling their primary purpose if you don't know what to do with your life right now well just you know what start just pleasing god and i assure you you please god you worship him you serve him you praise him you give him all glory and honor and power and you lift up his name i promise he's going to be so pleased he's going to give you everything else that you're looking for in life because you're putting him first you're putting him first in your life colossians 1 16 just reinforces this truth once again colossians 1 16 speaking of jesus specifically here for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are enough visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him what's the meaning of life to please god and to be for him for his use for his service verse number 17 and he is before all things and by him all things consist in other words he didn't just create us he's still holding on to his creation if he if jesus let go of it it'll fall apart that's when the big bang would happen if jesus christ let's go of his creation that's when it'll big bang right when the balloon would burst no by him all things consist and verse 19 for he is the head of the body of the church amen i want jesus christ to be the head of his church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence in all things he comes first that's the meaning of life put god first put jesus first what i'm meant to do with my life put jesus first please him yeah in the church yeah the church jesus first in the church obviously but then in all things at home jesus first on your weekend jesus first in your hobbies jesus first in your relationships jesus first yeah anything you do in life jesus comes first whatever it is all things all things i need to buy a car put jesus first what am i going to eat today put jesus first do all things for jesus okay and one sure way is just to praise him you know get familiar with our songs get familiar with our hymns let's lift our volume brother oliver's not happy more more he wants his place to shake i like that we want to shake we want the doorpost to shake by the volume that's coming from this church anyway our lord god is deserving of all worship and praise let's pray