Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
07/07/2019 P.M.
Better Understanding God’s Sovereign Nature
Revelation 4.1-11
Well…Tonight… We… Along with John… Are gonna go into HEAVEN’S THRONE ROOM… From there we’re gonna see things from a different perspective.
You see… One can’t read Revelation Chapters Four, Five and Six without sensing that…
• God is Sovereign and Holy…
• That he is in control…
• and that He is deserving of Worship!
At the same time… We see something else… We see that there is much more to this world than we might have first thought.
We are now in Heaven… And our eyes have been opened… We’ve been fitted with glasses that can see the Spirit World.
We’re seeing things as they really are…. And we realize that God has created…Not One…But two worlds…
• One that is seen…
• One that is normally unseen.
In this room… We are able to see Spirit Beings that are normally not seen…
• We see God on His Throne…
• We see the Seven Spirits of God…
• We see the spirits of twenty-four Human Beings sitting on thrones…
• Living Creatures covered with eyes…
• The number of these Spirit Beings are beyond our comprehension…
• Just the angels alone number beyond our ability to count… Thousands-upon-thousands… Ten-thousand-times-ten-thousand…Myriads-and-myriads.
This text is not giving us a number… But is saying they are beyond numbering.
• We see Jesus… The Lamb of God… Slain for the sins of mankind.
• Then we are told that this Spirit World does not just occupy the Throne Room… They can be found… On the earth… Under the earth… On the sea… Under the sea… And in the air.
Here it is church… This Spirit World is doing one thing in these chapters… What is it??... Do You See it??... Theyare worshiping God and The Lamb.
Listen!...Does this tell us something?... Anything?... Does this reality… This new perspective…Tell us what our seen world should be dong?... I believe it does!!
OK…Let’s set this scene aside… Allow it to soak… As we do something else…
As Jeff has pointed out last week… This is not the only time we are privileged to look into such a gathering of Spirit Beings in this unseen world.
At least four other times in Scripture… The curtain has been pulled back allowing us to look into this unseen World…
• The first is in Genesis chapter one… In the creation sequence…
• Another in the Book of Job…
• We see Isaiah visiting the Temple…Like us, His eyes are opened to this spirit world…
• Paul mentions that he was privileged to visit this Third Heaven World… But doesn’t give us any details of his visit… Except to say that he saw and heard inexpressible things he was not permitted to tell.
His Thorn-in-the-flesh served as a constant reminder that he was not to share details of surpassing great revelation.
What we want to do tonight is…
To visit each of these Spirit World encounters…
Seeing what we can learn about the Sovereign Nature of God…
When we speak of the sovereignty of God… We are saying that there is nothing…absolutely nothing… That happens in the universe that is outside of God’s influence and authority… God’s rulership is universal!!
Tonight…We’ll learn that… Sovereignty means that God has power and authority over…nature… earthly Kings & Kingdoms… History… angels… and demons… Even Satan must have God’s permission before he can act.
As King-of-Kings and Lord-of-Lords… god has no limitations… NONE!
Psalm 103.19 affirms His sovereignty… The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all things.
Come…Let’s see what we can learn…
First… We visit the Creation scene….
God is Sovereign because… He is… Immortal… eternal… Everlasting.
In the beginning God…
I want us to see that God is more than just eternal.
We humans approach life linearly… There’s a beginning and end… But God had… No Beginning… No End… He appears to exist in a circle without beginning or end.
Revelation declares Him both… The Alpha and the Omega… The beginning and the end. God is from everlasting-to-everlasting.
Psalm 90… Verse 2 declares… Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
God is sovereign because He is omnipotent.
The name for God here is Elohim… It’s used over 2300 times throughout the Bible.
It’s a plural noun… Usually speaking of the trinity.
The root word speaks of Power and strength… Elohim is the almighty… The all-powerful One… In the beginning God… (Elohim)… created the Heavens and the Earth.
God did not create with some extended laborious work of… Months…Years… Centuries.
It appears that He speaks the universe into existence… God said… And it happened!
There was something here in the beginning.… But it was a… Dark…Formless… Empty… Nothingness… Chaos.
God speaks… By His Almighty Word… This chaos is transformed into a… Peaceful… Organized… Harmonious… Good… Holy… Blessed… Creation.
Listen to these Scriptures…
Jeremiah 32.17… Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you.
Psalm 33 & 148… By the WORD of the Lord were the heavens made… Their starry host by the BREATH of His mouth… For He SPOKE… And it come to be… He COMMANDED… And it stood firm. Let us praise the name of the Lord, forever and ever.
John 1.3… All things were created through Him and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.
Colossians 1.16… For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
This creation scene speaks of the Heavenly Host.
And God said… Let us make man in our own image… In our own likeness.
We usually think… God is speaking to the other personalities of the Trinity…Jesus and the Holy Spirit… I don’t think so!
Because the word for God here is Elohim… Which is plural… Which would have included the Godhead… Father… Son… Spirit…Then God… Elohim… Must have been speaking to someone else... Who??...
Church… I believe He’s speaking to the Heavenly Host… The same Host…The same Spirit World… We see gathered in Revelation chapters four and five.
You see… Just like us… These spirit beings have…
• A Soul that lives forever…
• They have a conscience…A moral sensitivity…
• They have a will… They can choose to worship and obey God or disobey Him… You recall some chose to disobey… Satan and His angels.
• Humans are like God in the fact that We can create…
Interesting isn’t it that one of the ways we are created in His image… In His likeness is that we too have the ability to create another individual…In our image… Our Likeness.
In fact Genesis 1.28 commands us to do so… Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
Let’s move now to the Book of Job…
Here we learn that God is sovereign over the spirit world and humankind.
Job chapter one tells us that…
• The Heavenly Host…
• The Spirit World…
• The Sons of God…
Came to present themselves before the Lord.
Evidently… God has expectations of this spirit world…They came to present… Their work… Their behavior… Their worship… Before the Lord.
Evidently God judges the faithfulness of the spirit world… As He does Humankind.
We see that Satan coming with these other spirit beings… He’s doing what he does best… He comes accusing God and His people… In this case Job.
The Book of Job tells us that Satan is responsible for all kinds of evil and harm in our world.
However…We learn that God is sovereign over Satan…
He can be and is limited by God.
First Corinthians 10.13 affirms this… No trials… No temptations has seized you except what is common to man. God is faithful… He will not let you be tried beyond what you can bear. But with each trial and temptation… He will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Next we visit the Temple with Isaiah.
The text tells us that the occasion of Isaiah’s visit is that King Uzziah has died and Isaiah comes to the temple to consult with God on how to deal with this crisis.
Here Isaiah sees God… on a throne… high and lifted up…
I think this is Isaiah’s way of saying I saw God as Sovereign.
God is sovereign because of His Omniscience and omnipresence…
Isaiah says… The train of His robe filled the temple
Omnipresence and Omniscience mean that God is everywhere and anywhere He chooses to be at any time or all the time… Knowing everything.
• God sees us… Knows everything about us… Even knows our every thought.
• He’s present here in this assembly tonight... Right now!!
He knows… Is acutely aware…Of what we are thinking… Whether we are into this lesson or if our minds are on something else.
• God knows the number of our days… The number of hairs on our head…
• He is aware of every sparrow that falls.
• He is at work in all facets of the universe… That includes in your life and mine!
Jeremiah 23.23 & 24 has God asking in rhetoric… Am I a God who is near… And not a God far off?... Or… Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?... Do I not fill heaven and earth?
Proverbs 15.3… The eyes of the Lord are everywhere… Watching both the wicked and the good.
We understand that God is sovereign because of His Holiness.
Interestingly enough… It’s at this point that we’re introduced to another of God’s Spirit World… seraphim… Six winged flying creatures… The Hebrew means fiery Ones.
Their ministry before the throne is to call out to one another saying… Holy…Holy… Holy… Is the Lord of host.
God’s holiness speaks of his absolute set-apart nature.
• God is different… Totally different…
• He is above earthly defilement… Above sin…
• Beyond human understanding…Human comprehension.
• God cannot be explained in human terms…
At the Burning Bush… Moses asked… Who are you?… God said… I AM that I am…
I recently attended a Hebrew Class at the University of the South…Where the Professor said… God was simply saying…
• I am unexplainable…
• I am so set-apart…
• So different…
• So holy…
That there are no human terms or titles that can explain Me.
She went on to say… Our vocabulary does not contain adequate… Words…Terms… To explain God.
For instance…
Hosea 11.9 says God is above all. He is free from mortal imperfections and failures.
First Samuel 2.2 declares… No one is like Him… No one is as holy as our God.
Isaiah 55.8 has God saying… My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Church… I’ve gotta ask… Are we awestruck with God’s holiness?…Are we?... REALLY?
Let’s examine some famous people we know… And who we trust… Who all of a sudden came to the realization of God’s absolute holiness… And see how they responded… READY?...
Moses fell to his face when he realized who was speaking from the burning bush.
Job becomes angry at God because of his loss and suffering... So... He demands an answer to his circumstances... Then God shows up... And we hear Job say in 42.6... I abhor myself... I repent in dust and ashes... I speak no more
Remember Habakkuk?... Habakkuk is a witness to Nebuchadnezzar’s carrying off the young princes of Judah in 605A.D. He sees all kinds of injustices taking place, so he stands on his watchtower... Saying... God, I don’t like what I am seeing down here. There is injustice all over the place and GOD you are responsible for it. I’m going to sit right here on this wall until I hear from you... Until you come and explain yourself… Explain why this is happening… And what you’re going to do about it.
And then God shows up and Habakkuk says in 3.16... My lip quivered... My belly trembled... My bones were filled with rottenness.
The Apostles of Jesus caught a glimpse of His HOLINESS... The boat was sinking in the Sea of Galilee... Master, Master, don’t you care, we’re going to drown!... Jesus awoke and says three words... Peace be still... And suddenly the winds stopped… the sea was calm.
Do you know what the Bible says next?... And they feared exceedingly... They were sore afraid... Saying what manner of man is this?
You see... These disciples saw something akin to what Isaiah saw... And... When compared to His absolute holiness... They were nothing.
Interesting isn’t it… That the text indicates that these men were more fearful of His Holiness than they were of the raging sea… More fearful of His absolute set-apartness…Than death by drowning.
Indeed... He is different... Totally different... Even nature… The elements obeyed Him.
They had been fishing all night without any luck. Jesus comes suggesting they try fishing on the other side of the boat. They did... And the net fills with fish to the point of breaking... The boat begins to sink. Remember what Peter said in Luke 5.8... Depart from me... For I am a sinful man.
What are you seeing Peter...
•The awesome HOLINESS...
•The absolute set-apartness of God.
Saul... Later to be Paul... Experienced this same phenomenon as Isaiah.
When God showed up… Isaiah fell to his face crying… Lord send me!... Use Me!
Paul said… Lord, what would you have me do?
Church...Can I say this and you not become upset with me?...
• No wonder these men became great people of faith.
• No wonder they obeyed God’s call...
• No wonder they gave their life completely to Jesus.
• No wonder they went into all the world with the Gospel.
• No wonder they said... Here am I send me... Use me...
Because they saw God and his Absolute Holiness.
I submit tonight that when we see god for who He really is… we too will become… different people… changed people… AMEN?
And.. And… Those of us who have not seen Him may be religious… But we are not changed folk.
So...The question tonight is obvious isn’t it?...
• Have we seen Jesus?...
• Do we see Him Right NOW?...
• Perhaps more to the point,,, do we want to see hIm???...
• Do we understand his absolute sovereign nature… And what that means for us?
Church...When we really see Him as did these others…
• We will find courage to face our future… Whatever it may bring…
• And we will be moved to say... Here am I Lord… send me?… Use me?…
• We’ll be asking… Lord What would you have me do?... What would you want me to become?
Listen… I don’t know what God would have you do tonight… But you do… You do!!!
• Will we put it off…
• Will we turn our back on God one more time?…
• Or will we obey…Becoming His child by faith and obedience?
Listen… Regardless of our sin failures… God in His Sovereignty is ready to forgive and save…As we sing together.