Revelation 04: Jesus Reigns Supreme

Have you ever felt intimidated by the Book of Revelation? You're not alone. Many believers approach this final book of Scripture with hesitation, overwhelmed by complex symbols and apocalyptic imagery. But what if I told you the message at its heart is beautifully simple?

In this episode of Bible Breakdown, we dive into Revelation 4, where John receives a breathtaking vision of heaven's throne room. The scene is both awe-inspiring and strange – a throne encircled by an emerald rainbow, 24 elders casting golden crowns, four living creatures covered with eyes, and a crystal sea stretching before the throne. But beneath these vivid descriptions lies a powerful message for both the persecuted early church and modern believers: Jesus reigns supreme over every earthly authority.

We unpack how John's vision would have resonated with Christians facing Roman emperor worship and persecution. While earthly rulers demanded allegiance, John reveals a heavenly throne room where even the highest celestial beings bow in worship before the true King. This wasn't abstract theology for the seven churches of Asia Minor – it was practical encouragement that despite their suffering, God remained sovereign.

Understanding Revelation requires reading it "literarily" rather than always literally. By recognizing John's use of Old Testament imagery and apocalyptic symbolism, we unlock a message not of fear but of hope. The throne room vision invites us to lift our gaze above current struggles and join in the eternal worship already happening in heaven. Whether you've avoided Revelation or studied it extensively, this episode will help you see its central message with fresh eyes: Jesus wins.

Ready to experience Revelation without fear? Listen now, and discover how this powerful vision can transform your perspective on whatever challenges you face today. Then join our Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook to continue the conversation!

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:48 Introduction to Revelation 4
• 2:22 Understanding Apocalyptic Literature
• 5:25 The Heavenly Throne Room Description
• 9:42 Significance of the 24 Elders
• 11:11 Our True King Reigns Supreme
• 13:13 Closing Prayer and Reflection

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Revelation Chapter 4, and today's title is Jesus Reigns Supreme man Jesus Reigns Supreme. I've been looking forward so much to talk about this chapter because it is beautiful and creepy all at the same time, but we're going to do it together in Jesus' name. So if you've got your Bibles, why don't you open up with me to Revelation, chapter 4. While you're doing that, as always, make sure you take just a moment like share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast and make sure, if there's ever been a book of the Bible, you want to go to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook.

Speaker 1: 1:02

This is the one, because there's just way too much information that we cannot get to, so we're not even going to try, but we're going to get there together. It's going to be amazing and my hope is you never look at the book of Revelation again, because I know that for a lot of people, they stay away from the book of Revelation because when they hear some people talk about it, they're just diving into all these charts and maps and things and stuff and there's a place for all that. But the simple beauty of the book of Revelation is that Jesus wins. That's the title. If you really get it down to nothing else, jesus wins you'll be all right. If someone ever asks you what is the book of Revelation all about, if you just say Jesus wins, you're there. Everything else is great and it's wonderful, but it's a revelation about Jesus and about him winning, and that's one of the things I love about the book of Revelation is it is intended primarily to be a book of encouragement, and that's what we're doing. We're focusing on the encouraging aspect of the book of Revelation, and so my hope is that you never fear reading this book ever again. Are you going to have trouble understanding it? Of course, but we put it back into the first century context to which it was written.

Speaker 1: 2:07

There were these seven churches, and you remember I was talking about this. There were seven churches, all in the Asia Minor area, and in that area they were receiving persecution from Rome, from Jerusalem, from each other, all this kind of stuff. There's just all these things, and emperor worship is going on and all this stuff. And in the middle of it, john oversaw these seven churches and while he is on the Isle of Patmos, he actually receives a vision, and the vision was of the victorious Jesus. And he writes back to them and he's saying man guys, I know we're experiencing all of this, but you got to see what I saw, I got to tell you about it and he tells them about all this wonderful stuff. But you got to see what I saw, I got to tell you about it and he tells them about all this wonderful stuff. And so, in chapter 2 and chapter 3, jesus gives all seven of these churches a quick message to say hey, listen, I see what you're doing, make sure you course correct, in the right places and the right times, because, man, it's important. And Jesus sees it all and he calls to us. And then, in chapter 4, we're going to read about how Jesus now is exalted. And so, from this moment on, john's vision is going from Jesus talking to the seven churches to where he's talking about both things that are happening and things that are going to happen. And this is where I'm going to tell you, this is where everything changes.

Speaker 1: 3:26

Now you remember we've talked about a lot over the course of this podcast that our job as Bible readers is to read the Bible literarily, not always literally. Now, what I mean by literarily is we read in the type of literature that it's talking about, so and like when Paul's writing the Church of Philippi, it is what's called a didactic letter, and that is where he is writing practically to another church. When we're reading the four gospels, we're reading a narrative where he's writing and explaining what happens. Also in the book of Acts. Well, in the book of Isaiah, ezekiel, jeremiah, it is what's called apocalyptic literature and that is almost like a form of poetry where it's using symbols, allusions, metaphors, all these things to describe practical things. So it's a form of trying to do that.

Speaker 1: 4:16

And so that's where we're going to get into a lot of Old Testament imagery, and I think that is why a lot of people get the book of Revelation so messed up. It's because in the first two and three chapters well, really two chapters, two and three it's didactic. He's speaking directly to them. Well, then he switches and he's talking metaphorically about a lot of these things, and so a lot of times people think he's still being very specific and in some areas he's being very metaphorical and you have to understand the old Testament to do that. So we're going to now switch the way we're understanding this, to be more metaphorical, so that we can understand what Jesus is saying.

Speaker 1: 4:52

So here we go, let's read this, let's see what God's word has to say. And this is beautiful because he's talking about the throne room of God. Revelation 4, verse 1, says this. Then, as I looked this is John talking I saw a door standing open in heaven and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. And the voice said come up here and I will show you what must happen after this. And instantly I was in the spirit and I saw the throne in heaven and someone sitting on it.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Here we go, verse three. And the one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones, like Jasper and Carnelian, and the glow of an emerald circled around the throne like a rainbow. So what he's saying around the rainbow, around the throne was like this green rainbow all around. It's beautiful. And it circled the throne, 24 thrones surrounded them and the 24 elders sat on them. They were all clothed with white and had gold crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes and lightnings and rumblings of thunder, just like in Exodus 19 when the glory of the Lord came on the mountains called Sinai, and in front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. Each of these were the sevenfold spirits of God. You can see that in Exodus 25 and Zechariah 4. In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal, and in the center, around the throne, were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back.

Speaker 1: 6:28

As we said before, that's creepy. Here they are, let's see what these look like. The first of these living beings was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third was like a human face and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. And each of these living beings had six wings and with their wings they covered all over their eyes, inside and out. Day after day, night after night, they kept on saying. Day after day, night after night, they kept on saying Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, god Almighty, the one who was, the one who is and the one who is to come. And whenever the living beings gave glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, all 24 elders fell down and worshipped as the one sitting on the throne and the one who lives forever and ever, and they lay their crowns before the throne and they said you are worthy, o Lord, our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and they exist because you created what you pleased. Wow. So there's so much going on there.

Speaker 1: 7:38

I'm going to try to explain some of this Now. First of all, what happens is is, john went up to heaven, and when he went up to heaven he saw a heavenly throne room and you imagine, the throne room was beautiful, and he said that between him and the throne was what he called a sea of glass. And since the Bible says the streets are paved with gold, we could think that maybe this was gold, but it was so pure that it was almost transparent, you could almost see through it, and you could probably see the foundation stones under it, which the Bible speaks in other places of being different colors. And so it sparkled in a kind of way, and it said that there was an emerald kind of circle around it that looked like a rainbow, and then out of the throne were lightnings and thunders and all that stuff. That looks just like what happened when the glory of the Lord fell in Exodus, chapter 19.

Speaker 1: 8:30

And then the Bible said that there were 24 elders, and there's many people who try to explain what 24 elders are. They think maybe it's the 12 tribes of Israel in the Old Testament, and then it's the 12 apostles in the New Testament, and we don't know for sure. However, the things we do know are two things. Number one is that there were 12 divisions of priests in 1 Chronicles, 24. And so we think maybe, actually, it could also be John, alluding to the Old Testament and saying these were those who worship at the throne of God.

Speaker 1: 8:59

What is also very interesting is is, since John is using earthly things to describe heavenly things, that in the throne room of the emperor, he had advisors who would sit there and would advise the king and would tell the king what to do. But what's amazing is in the picture that John is painting, he's saying there are those who sit among the king, but they don't advise the king. They bow down and worship the king, and so what he is doing is he is saying again Jesus reigns supreme. There's nobody that's equal to him. And then it says there are four living creatures. Now, because we just got through reading the book of Exodus excuse me, ezekiel, together. If you remember, in Ezekiel, chapter one, he actually describes these four living creatures, and so what John is doing is he is borrowing from that to say these heavenly beings that are gathered around the throne, they were here and they were creepy, they were very, very weird, and so, in other words, it was saying that they see all, they know all, yet their eyes are constantly fixed on the throne and they are saying holy, holy, holy is the Lord, god almighty, who was, who is and who is to come. And he's saying that's what was going on. And he was saying no matter.

Speaker 1: 10:12

And what I love about this is remember he is writing this to seven churches who are dealing with persecution. They're dealing with emperor worship, and all these people are saying that the emperor is the greatest and the emperor's got all this. And what John is saying? Actually, our king also has a throne. Only his throne sits high above all rulers and dominions and powers, and our king has people in his throne room, but those people bow before him. And our king has living creatures who worship him day and night, and every time they do all bow before our king. And so what he is saying is he is saying, yes, they have a king, but you ain't seen our king yet, and he reigns supreme. And so can I tell you, if you would find yourself, maybe, like the seven churches, and you find yourself suffering and struggling, can I tell you our King reigns supreme and he reigns over all things, and so never be discouraged. It's okay to be disappointed, but don't don't be discouraged, because our King reigns and our King says one day we get to go join him and be with him, we get to join in with all those people who've gone before and we get to say holy, holy, holy is the Lord, god almighty.

Speaker 1: 11:25

And what an interesting thought to think that. What, if? What? Would it look like today If you took just a moment and you close your eyes and you tried to imagine what it looked like, to look before you and see at the end of a long hallway where there's a floor full of gold that is so clear it's almost transparent, and you see the foundation stones of the Lord of the great city All across the hallway. You see this massive throne and in the throne, from the throne come lightnings and thunderings and voices, and the glory of God is filling the temple. It looks like an emerald rainbow and that there are elders who are worshiping, there are angels who are worshiping, and for a moment you get to step into that environment. And what it looked like.

Speaker 1: 12:11

If you took a moment today and you thought about that and you joined that heavenly chorus, what if you said God, holy, holy, holy is the Lord, god Almighty, the one who was the one, who is and who is to come and, just for a moment, enter into that eternal worship that we get to join one day. Let's pray together right now, god. Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that your coming is soon and until then, we can start worshiping you now and remember that you are above all. Your throne is supreme. We celebrate you today in Jesus name. We pray amen. You know what God's word says. In Revelation 1, verse 7. He says look, he comes with the clouds of heaven and everyone will see him. My prayer is that you will see God more every single day. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Revelation, chapter five.