Kingdom Bible Studies.
"From The Candlestick To The Throne" series (Book Three) covering the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Seven Churches of Asia in the book of Revelation, chapters 4:1 thru 5:11.
“After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven…” (Rev. 4:1).
John the Revelator, as he entered upon the marvelous visions recorded in the book of Revelation, saw a door opened in heaven and heard a voice as of a trumpet speaking with him, saying, “Come up hither, and I will show thee things…” John saw a door opened in heaven. When he passed through the door he beheld a throne. God gives definitions in His Word. He tells us exactly what certain things are — if we have ears to hear. One of the definitions is found in Acts 7:49. “Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool.” HEAVEN IS MY THRONE! The Greek word for heaven is ouranos. It is a word appearing in the New Testament 275 times. And the meaning of the word is “elevation, height, exaltation, eminence.” Therefore we have exactly the same thought if we say, “My throne is elevation, height, exaltation, and eminence.” That, my beloved, is the central idea of heaven in the New Testament! “Ouranos” is not a place. It is the height, the very pinnacle of glory and eminence and exaltation and majesty and authority and power over all God’s limitless domain! This authority is in and by the Spirit, for God is Spirit, and does not sit upon a physical throne!
We will understand a great spiritual truth when clearly we see that the higher one goes in God’s heavens, the higher one ascends into the realms of the Spirit, the greater the intensity of the throne of power and glory! Those who dwell in the lower heavens of spiritual experience and union with God have a little spiritual authority and power. The higher the heaven, the more lofty and exalted the realm of the Spirit, the greater the power of God’s throne! Heaven is His throne! Heaven is height, elevation, exaltation, eminence. The higher the heavenly exaltation, the greater the power and authority of the throne. Can you not see the mystery? Christ has ascended to the highest heaven and therefore has been given all power and all authority in all the heavens and in all the earth! And this very Christ is now the door — the “star gate” into the throne zone! The door is standing open, dear one, and a mighty voice bids you to “come up hither” to the throne zone!
Heaven is not a mansion over the hilltop, nor the gratifying of the needs and desires of this vessel of clay. It is not that which will bring creature comfort. It is not a state of carnal creature enjoyment and rest. Get the idea of golden streets, gold bathtubs, and gurgling streams of water out of your mind! There is no such thing materially in heaven! The celestial realm is something infinitely higher. It is eminence, power, majesty, glory, righteousness, peace that passes understanding and joy unspeakable and full of glory! It is becoming the same kind of a Being as the One who made the worlds (Jn. 10:34-36; I Jn. 3:2), and will bring, not inactive rest with fluttering wings and strumming harps, which in a few short hours even becomes exceedingly tiresome, but activity and accomplishments far surpassing that of earth’s limitation! As Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (Jn. 5:17). It includes kingship and priesthood over God’s eternal and infinite domain. It is dominion and power and redemptive and creative influence far above that which earth can contemplate or even imagine.
But John, with illumined eye, saw beyond the outer world, and distinctly saw a throne and One who sat upon it. When our eye looks through the glass of revelation, it sees a throne too. The higher we go in God, the more powerful that throne. We feel more and more the influence of that throne and its dominion in our lives. It is the throne of God, the dominion of God by the might of His Spirit within and by the power of the mind of Christ.
"COME UP HITHER"!
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