Revelation Glasses: Seeing God on the Throne

``This is Jesus, the son of God who is fully God, all knowing, all seeing, all powerful, who became a man and became the lamb, who died to buy us, you and me, people of every nation, people, group, and language. Look around this room. We are those people. He died for us. This is the sacrifice it took. This is how much he loves us. This is the one who opened the throne so we can come to our God. [01:07:31] (33 seconds)  #JesusLambOfGod

And it is filled with this this imagery because like a political cartoon or a powerful piece of painting or art, a picture tells a thousand words. The visual the images in Revelation are like a gut punch to us to show us something that words really actually fail to truly describe to us. [00:56:54] (27 seconds)  #RevelationVisuals

Now, this is really God saying things are not always what they seem. Satan and demons do not come to us looking like the evil that they are. They wrap themselves in beauty, so we will want them. God wants us to understand Satan and demons are real. They are dangerous, and they are the engine behind all injustice, cruelty, and suffering in the evil world systems around us. [01:01:17] (34 seconds)  #BewareHiddenEvil

This image of our God on the throne tells us that no one and nothing is more powerful than our God. Even though we are small and powerless, weak, and have a terrible enemy who wants to hurt us, hold us in despair and hopelessness, he is literally no match for God. Our God is on his throne. Our God is in control. Our God is unlimited in time, space, knowledge and power. And our God loves us infinitely. [01:08:53] (38 seconds)  #GodsSovereignThrone

And it would be so easy hearing all this for us to fall into fear and despair, to grow apathetic and shut off, to just think we have to reign in and survive the best we can. But God does not want that for us. He wants us to have hope. And so, he has given us a book, Revelation for that hope in which he peels back the curtain to let us see what is going on underneath all of the visible realm. There is an invisible reality. [00:54:19] (35 seconds)  #HopeNotDespair

And when John tries to describe God, do you notice how he just can't do it? He has no words. Human words fail him. So he grasps, He tries to use like gemstones and the things of our earth, and he says he uses gemstones, a shining rainbow, to try to capture his beauty, his radiance, his glory. Our God is beyond description. He is dazzling. He is beautiful. He is glorious. He is majestic. [01:05:58] (31 seconds)  #GodBeyondWords

So, like God did in John's day, for John and all of his people, God gives us this image of him on the throne to lift our eyes from the darkness of the world to the glory of our God. Right now, if we could peel back, if we could peel it back, we would see in heaven, angels upon angels and people worshiping him. That's who we joined this morning when we worshiped. Nobody is more powerful than our God. Not Satan, No human power. Nothing. God is the one who's on the throne. [01:10:25] (49 seconds)  #EyesOnHeaven

And the throne in front of the throne, flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, speaking of God's incredible infinite power and holiness, reminding us he is the righteous judge over all creation and he has infinite power to overcome evil. And this beautiful rainbow encircling the throne, what does a rainbow make you think of? Noah. This reminds us that our God is powerful, but he is also incredibly merciful and gracious. [01:06:29] (35 seconds)  #ThronePowerAndGrace