Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: In Revelation 3:8, the Lord Jesus said to the church of Philadelphia, "I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it." Welcome to Thru the Bible. Our teacher and founder Dr. J. Vernon McGee chose that verse as the motto of our ministry today. And God really has given us an open door to the whole world, and we're taking His word through that door in over 250 languages and growing. Only He could do this.

In this study, Dr. McGee takes a look at the four open doors in the book of Revelation. So as you grab your Bible, let's take a minute to hear directly from a couple of our fellow listeners. Take a listen.

Robin: Hi, I'm Robin from Stockton, Alabama. Thanks to my mother, I've been on the Bible Bus for about five trips. During those trips, I've learned something new every time, and I've been able to mature in Christ during that time. I would not have a knowledge of the whole Bible if not for Dr. McGee and TTB.

I am on the world prayer team and pray for the producers and staff of Thru the Bible. I enjoy the letters that are read. I'm amazed at how TTB is on Arabic TV, and I praise Jesus for Him getting out His word to the whole world. God bless Thru the Bible. And I listen every day on the app. Thank you.

James Earl: My name is James Earl. I'm from Michigan. I come from Ann Arbor. I started listening J. Vernon McGee back in 1975 when FM radio first started. I worked at a dealership. I was turning to another station—I'm a Black man. I was turning to a soul station. But I heard this man on 103.5 FM. I decided not to set the radio station in the car, so I moved on to another station.

But later on in life as I changed, I moved to different dealerships and I started setting J. Vernon McGee voice on every brand-new car that came out from 1975 to at least 2012 when I had my accident. I had a head-on collision. But I go through the Bible with J. Vernon McGee all the time. Sorry for taking so long with my story, but I'm a Black man and J. Vernon McGee proved to me God do not look at people color. Amen. Hallelujah.

Steve Schwetz: Well, Robin and James Earl, thank you both for sharing your stories. And what's your story? You know we'd love to hear it. You can drop us a note through our app, you can email biblebus@ttb.org, or write to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. Or in Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Or like Robin and James Earl, call 1-800-65-BIBLE anytime and leave a message.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for keeping the door open as Your word goes out. We pray, Lord, that many will hear Your invitation and respond in faith. In Jesus' name, amen. Here's Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Revelation 4 on Thru the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Friends, if you have found your place in the fourth chapter, the book of Revelation, we find that the scene now changes to heaven. And since He's speaking to the church, we assume the church is gone to heaven because it's no longer in the world. We don't see it anymore in the world. It has concluded its earthly career, and that is the division that John had said he was told to write the things which thou hast seen—the vision of the glorified Christ—the things that are—those are church things—and then the things that shall be after these things, *meta tauta*. That is, after the church things.

Now we've come to that because this verse opens with *meta tauta* and it closes with *meta tauta*. The first verse of chapter 4 here, and I'm reading it again in my translation. Important verse. After these things, *meta tauta*, I saw and behold a door set open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me and saying, "Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass after these things," *meta tauta*.

Couldn't miss it unless you just really wanted to, or you had a system of interpretation that this verse would be just a little embarrassing for you. "After these things" both opens and closes. And so it's very important and that repetition certainly lends great emphasis and importance to the phrase. Now, after the church things, the church has concluded its earthly career and we now have a scene that shifts from earth to heaven. And it's a radical change.

The word of God though describes these personages, activities in heaven as normally as it describes them on earth. There's no strain or involvement in superstition or mystery. The bridge over the great gulf is passed with ease and a reverent restraint. Only the Holy Spirit could describe things in heaven with as much ease as He describes things on earth.

What would have happened if a man had written this book? Well, you know the minute that he got you to heaven, he'd have the wildest sort of things to say. And you say, "How do you know that?" Well, read the books that are out today on this type of thing that try to describe the overworld and the underworld and the unseen world. They're rather startling, you see, rather amazing.

In fact, that's about the way you can determine what is false today is that type of approach, this awful obsession that even Christians have with demons and with the devil. I have no truck with that outfit at all. Somebody says, "Why haven't you written a book on it?" Well, at first, I have to be very frank and say I thought I would. And then when so many of them started coming out and they're all as wild as a March hare, they all deal with the sensational.

But you don't have that here. It's just we move to heaven and the scene is an awe-inspiring scene, but it lacks that which man would put here of course. Now, the important thing is here the church is not seen under the familiar name it had in the world but is now the priesthood of believers with the Great High Priest. The heavenly scenes and creatures greet us in this section before our attention is drawn to the earth.

We're at the beginning of the great tribulation. The four horsemen are to ride. Now, Christ is viewed here in His threefold office in these next two chapters of prophet, priest, and king. And He's worshipped as God because He is God. Now will you note, after these things. What things again? Church things. The church has concluded its earthly career, and we've moved into a new phase altogether.

Now John says, "I saw." That's the eye gate. He says, "I heard." That's the ear gate. This is still a television program we're looking at, you see. This is the first great television program. And we've had a wonderful treat in our day to television programs taken from the moon. But that's nothing. That's just like going out in our backyard and getting a picture. Now here is a television program from heaven.

I don't know why, but this ought to interest believers a great deal and not cause us to take off like a skyrocket in some wild sort of dreamy stuff. Heaven is a pretty real place, and there's a lot of reality there. And we ought not to get uptight over this scene now that's before us. Let's all just handle it in a normal way, but I can't help but get excited about it all.

He says, "I saw and I heard." What? A door that was set open. Now this is one of the four open doors in the book of Revelation. Back in the third chapter in verse eight, when He's speaking to the church in Philadelphia, you remember He says, "I've set before thee an open door." We believe that that's an open door to the word of God and an open door to getting out the word of God.

And that's the motto of the Thru the Bible program, that verse and the one that is before it. He openeth and no man shutteth. I tell you, He's a wonderful Savior today, and we hold to this verse. Then you have the open door of invitation that's in the third chapter here. We saw last time verse 20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will open the door"—that's the door to your heart.

Now, we have an open door to heaven here. And then when you get over to the 19th chapter, verse 11, of the book of Revelation, you're going to see a door open in heaven again. It's been open all the time. It wasn't open then; it just had been open. He says, "I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse; He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war."

Now, that's the door that is open and Christ comes out from there. And He comes out in the end of the great tribulation to put down all of the unrighteousness and rebellion against God and to establish His kingdom. Now, John did not see this door opening as the Authorized Version suggests. This door was open all the time, and it's the door through which believers have come to God for over 1,900 years.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me." And He also said, "I'm the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." The open door to heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He also is the one that comes to the door of your heart. That's a wonder and the glory of it all.

Now we enter in by faith. And in modern terminology, we might express it thus: faith puts us on the launching pad of the church, which is Christ, and at the rapture we go through the door like a guided missile. Not just shot out in space going nowhere, but if man can hit the target of the moon, I don't think the Lord Jesus will have any problem getting His church into heaven.

Now the invitation here is, "Come up hither." Now that's heaven's invitation to John, and it is an invitation that is to all of the fellowship that know Christ as Savior. John, you remember, said that in 1 John 1:3. He says, "That which we've seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His son, Jesus Christ."

Now He says here, "We heard it and we saw it and we declared it unto you." John says, "I'm letting you know this so you can have fellowship with Him also and one of these days you're going up through that open door." Now we have here the voice as of a trumpet speaking. Now, a trumpet doesn't talk, although these devotees of jazz talk about that Louis Armstrong's trumpet talks.

And they talk about what's the name of this fellow in New Orleans, Al Hirt, I think's his name, jazz king, and they say their trumpets talk. Well, these addicts on jazz can say that, but they just using a symbol. A trumpet never talks. Here His voice is like a trumpet. And that's the voice that Paul talked about in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 17.

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." May I say that that is a definite statement concerning the rapture.

When anybody tells you the word rapture's not in the Bible, the word "caught up" is *harpazo*, and it can mean caught up, and I like that better than any other. But it can mean rapture. It can mean to snatch up. And I think that Hal Lindsey today calls it the great snatch, the rapture. Now that's good for these young people today, I guess; that's their vocabulary.

But I don't go for that. I just like the word caught up, and it means rapture. And if you don't like the word rapture, then call it *harpazo*. That's what Paul called it. Won't mean anything to you, but just call it that. But that's what the word means: caught up. And His voice will be like a trumpet, and that pulled John up. It's going to pull you up someday, pull me up.

Verse 2, and He says, "Immediately I was in the spirit, and behold a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne." Now at once, this word immediately, at once, straightway, he says, I found myself in the spirit. In other words, that idea of being caught up—you remember that Paul spoke about in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

And a twinkling of an eye is pretty brief, and some psychologist has measured it. And he considers a twinkle not the going down of the eye, but the going up of the eyelid. Now that, my friend, is reducing it to a fine point, but it's 1/1,000 of a second. Now that's how quick it's going to be. Immediately, straightway, at once, he says, I found myself in the spirit.

In other words, the Holy Spirit is still leading and guiding him. And behold a throne set in heaven. It was already there. He sees it for the first time, and one sitting on the throne at once, you see. And he's in the spirit, and the Holy Spirit is guiding him into new truth here, showing him things to come. And a throne is set in heaven.

Now it gives us the place, directs our attention to the center of attraction that is there. The throne represents the universal sovereignty and rulership of God. It means that He's in control and that GHQ, headquarters of this universe, is in heaven. It's not in Washington or London or Moscow or any place down here.

May I say to you that this is the picture that we have in the word of God. And I'm just toy here with the idea whether I ought to turn and read several passages concerning this in the Old Testament. Let me just give one. Psalm 11:4: "The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men."

The throne in heaven. And everywhere you turn, in Psalm 110:1: "The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool." The throne of grace now becomes a throne of judgment. And that's another reason for me saying very definitely that the church has gone because if the church was still here, Christ has left the place of intercession and He's come now to the place of judgment.

That would be the wrong place for Him for the church. Now will you notice the picture that's given to us in verse 3: "And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone; there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like an emerald." All we see is color here, beautiful color like precious jewels.

And you don't get a picture of God at all. He just never's been photographed. And this is the picture, and our attention is directed to the one that's seated on the throne. Although He's God the Father, we should understand this is to be the throne of the triune God. And you have here God the Father is mentioned in verse 3: He that sat on the throne like unto jasper. We'll see more about that.

And God the Holy Spirit, He's already been mentioned and He'll be mentioned again in verse 5: "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. Seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God." And then God the Son. And I probably should then read verse 5 of the next chapter: "And one of the elders said unto me, 'Weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals thereof.'"

So what we have before us here is the Trinity here upon the throne. And John could distinguish no form of a person on the throne, only the brilliance and brightness of precious stones. Now the jasper stone, that is the stone that's identified in the breastplate of the high priest. It was first in the foundation of the New Jerusalem, as we shall see later on. It was first in the wall of the New Jerusalem. We'll see that later on.

It was a many-colored stone with purple predominating. Some identify it with the diamond. And by the way, it was in the breastplate of the high priest. And that represents little Benjamin, and he was the son of my right hand. And that's where Christ ascended and took His place at the right hand of God. What a picture we have here.

And then you have the next stone is the sardine stone, and that's the sixth stone in the foundation of the New Jerusalem. Pliny says it was discovered in Sardis, from which it derived its name. Sardine stone doesn't mean it came from a little fish; came from Sardis, and its color was a fiery red. The first stone sets forth the holiness of God, the second the wrath or judgment of God.

But the sardine stone also was the first in the breastplate, and it represented Reuben the firstborn. And may I say to you, Christ is the son, the firstborn from the dead. What a picture. And there's a rainbow. Now the Greek word is *iris*. It can mean also halo. With the rainbow here it's polychrome. Here is emerald which is green.

And after the judgment of the flood, the rainbow appeared as a reminder of God's covenant not to destroy the earth again with a flood. And it appears here before the judgment of the great tribulation as a reminder that a flood will not be used in judgment. Green is the color of the earth, and the suggestion is that of Habakkuk: in wrath remember mercy. And God will do that.

Now we are introduced to the 24 elders. Let me read verse 4: "Round about the throne were four and twenty seats," or thrones, "and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold." Now there's been a great deal of speculation as to who the elders are.

The word elders, *presbyteros*. And of course, the word Presbyterian comes from that. A little girl came home from Sunday school one day at a Presbyterian Sunday school, and the mother asked her what did they talk about. And she said, "Well, they talked about heaven." And so the mother said, "Well, what did they say about it?" "Well," said the teacher, "said that there were only 24 Presbyterians there."

Well, may I say to you friends, I doubt whether they're going to be 24 there or not because I was in that church a long time. But I ought not to say that because I know a lot of wonderful saints of God that were in that church, and they certainly were a blessing to my heart for many years. So I was just kidding when I said that.

But the 24 elders are representative. Elders are representatives. Israel had them. This was clearly understood by those people in that day. These are representative of the churches. They were appointed in the churches to rule and represent the entire church. That's in Titus 1:5. So I say it here categorically and really dogmatically, although I could go into all kinds of books and you can get all kinds of interpretations.

Here is the church in heaven. Now they're clothed in white raiment. That's the righteousness of Christ. And they got crowns of gold, and that indicates the church will rule with Christ and also they've received rewards. You see, that's when the judgment, the Bema judgment takes place. The judgment seat of Christ.

Verse 5: "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunders and voices; seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God." Now the tense here is present tense, and it's taking place right there and then. Lightnings and thunder, that always precedes a storm down in Texas. And I think that's what it means here, that judgment is coming.

And voices were heard, but it's not going to be judgment in a haphazard way. It will be directed by the one on the throne. And the seven spirits of God is a clear reference to the Holy Spirit. Verse 6: "You have the four living creatures. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal, and in the midst of the throne round about the throne were four beasts."

And they are not beasts but living creatures, four living creatures, full of eyes before and behind. Now the sea of glass denotes the appearance and not the material. This sea is before the throne of God, and it's another indication that the emphasis is not on mercy but on judgment. This sea represents the holiness and righteousness of God.

And we're told into the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. The placid sea indicates the position of rest to which the church has come. No longer is she the victim of the storms of life. No longer is she out there on the sea.

Now the four beasts are literally four living creatures. The Greek word is *zoa*. We get our word zoo from that. And the emphasis is not upon the bestial character but on the vital character. And they're full of eyes behind and all the way around. These speak of alertness and awareness. They're alive. And they resemble both the cherubim and seraphim.

The first beast was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had the face of a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. Now, I'll have to reserve that till next time, and we do expect to move right through chapters 4 and 5. And then we start with the riding of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: For resources that will help deepen your study of God's word, why don't you check out our app or visit ttb.org? And if you'd love hearing from Robin and James Earl, I know others would love to hear from you. So share your story on our voicemail line and maybe we'll play it here. That number again is 1-800-65-BIBLE. Well, I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'm going to meet you back here next time as we make our way through the Bible.

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