Our Provider

Revelation 4:1-3 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in Heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once the Spirit took control of me. There in Heaven was a throne with someone sitting on it. 3 His face gleamed like such precious stones as jasper and carnelian, and all around the throne there was a rainbow the color of an emerald.”
 
SUDDENLY the scene shifts. “After this” means it’s time for something new. Jesus now wants to show John and his church – that’s all of us who confess Jesus – the future in the heavenly realm. Chapters 4-8 are one vision. These chapters reveal the Lord God’s powerful assurance that he rules on his throne. His purposes will be accomplished as his holy perfection triumphs over evil.
   Note first the Lord’s authority. When he says to John, “Come up.” John has no choice. He can’t say, “When I get time, Lord.” When God speaks, he wants to hear, “Yes, Lord.” Jesus spoke God’s declared will here. There is no changing or waiting on it. It must be done. Many times the Bible tells us God’s purpose happened immediately when he spoke it.
   And so the Spirit took control of John to accomplish what the Lord Jesus decreed. Here, the Lord’s purpose is to display his magnificent throne room. Forty times in Revelation you will read of God’s throne room. Jesus revealed God’s throne here for two reasons. First, the church needs to know the Lord God is greater than any earthly ruler. Think how we easily raise earthly splendor above God. Rome’s emperors, for example, sat on the world’s most beautiful thrones to indicate their god-like status. The Lord’s glorious, bejeweled throne visibly establishes the highest power of all.
   The world’s images of power and authority continually intrude into Jesus’ visible church on earth. Jesus must constantly remind us and demonstrate to us that God’s glory is above all we know here on earth.
   The second reason Jesus reveals the throne is to know the throne’s pure stones and wealth signify God’s perfection and provision. All we have comes from the earth he created. He has distributed his wealth throughout the world, so all people and nations may benefit from the natural resources. We must properly use them for our care. To waste or ignore God’s natural gifts is to neglect his creative authority.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for a view of Heaven’s holy throne room. I pray we understand your sovereign benevolence to rule your earth with ample provision for your people. Amen.