“It is
characteristic of faith that it not merely desires the perfect but desires the
perfect as a work and gift of God. A heaven that was not illumined by the light
of God, and not a place for closest embrace of Him, would be less than heaven.
God as builder and maker thereof has put the better part of Himself into his
work. Therefore those who enter the city are in God. The thought is none other
than that of the seer in the Apocalypse:
“I saw no
temple therein: for the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are the temple
thereof. And that city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine
upon it, for the glory of God lightens it, and the throne of God and the Lamb
are therein: and his servants shall do Him service, and they shall see his
face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.” G. Vos [see Revelation chapters 21 &
22]
“…and the
throne of God and the Lamb are therein: and his servants shall do Him service…”
When we read the Scriptures, including Revelation, one of the questions we
should ask is, “What does this look like in my life today?” The first questions,
of course, are, “Where is Jesus Christ in what I’m reading? Where is the
Father? How is the Holy Spirit speaking to me through this passage?”
What does the
throne of God and the Lamb look like in my life today? What about your life? What
does the image of a throne say to you? What do you see regarding the throne of
God and the Lamb in Rev. 22:1 – 4?
What do you see
in the great throne room scene of Revelation chapters 4 and 5? Is there a theme
that holds the complexity and mystery of these chapters together? In Revelation
22 we see the river of life flowing from the throne, do we see anything issuing
from the throne in chapter 5? (We might consider meditating on chapters 4 and 5
for a week or two, the same with chapters 21 and 22 – how might Christ speak to
us through these great scenes?).
Consider that when
John is moved into the heavens (Rev. 4:1) he finds himself in the throne room,
and that the revelation, the unveiling, culminates in the Throne of God and the
Lamb coming into manifestation on the earth as the Holy City descends from
heaven in chapters 21 and 22. All that we see in chapters 6 – 20 is subject to
the Throne of chapters 4 and 5, and 21 and 22. How might this truth inform the
way we read and respond to chapters 6 – 20? How might it inform what we
emphasize in chapters 6 – 20? How might it inform how we view our world today?
We will return
to the throne of God and the Lamb in the next post.
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