His Majesty

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

HIS MAJESTY

Rev 4:3-6

3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

NIV

Although we could spend hours and hours with so many words it would be a book in our attempt to bring meaning to all the symbols of things that John describes, it would not serve as any life lesson. What we do not see, is a word describing the physical appearance of God. All we see is what we could say is showing his majesty. What we could say about the twenty-four elders is they may well be a representation of the whole church, that is the twelve patriarchs of the Old Testament, the twelve sons of Israel, or which is the twelve tribes of Israel. The other twelve could well be representations of the twelve Apostles of the New Testament. This would show us that God has the whole of mankind, the whole church surrounding him in worship as royalty themselves. It is the status God gives us who believe him and worship him. There is nothing but pure holy majesty that John shows us here. God is so holy, so pure, and so absolutely majestic. Flashes of lighting, rumblings and peals of thunder were coming from his throne.  How could any of us ever stand is such glory and magnificence without trembling with fear, almost to the point of death. But we also have the picture of this sea of glass, clear as crystal. This could tell us, unlike the waves and turmoil of our earthly seas, with crashing waves upon the shores, with storms that cause so much damage, this sea is like glass. There is a peace, a calm that lies before his throne and before him. Although God is so absolutely all power and might, because of Jesus we can stand before our God with calm and serenity in our hearts. We have nothing to fear from God. We can see his promise circling around him, this rainbow which he promised never to destroy all of mankind with a flood again. It is his covenant with man and all living creatures. We are living proof of that covenant and this rainbow is not just a half one as we see in the clouds, but a compete circle all around him. Everything about the presence of God is complete, especially his promises. But this also serves as a life lesson for all mankind, not just us believers, as all mankind can see the rainbows in the clouds after a rain. This reminds us that God saved Noah and his family in the ark, but the rest of mankind perished. Jesus is that ark, the cross is that ark, and there is an open door for anyone to enter into the safety of that cross. But Just as God closed that door of the ark, before the flood, he will also someday close that door of the cross before he destroys all the earth and those who refuse to enter in, will ultimately perish as well. How magnificent is our God? How merciful is our God? How loving and kind, full of forgiveness and grace he is that he built an ark of safety for anyone to enter into his kingdom through. Among all the raging of his power, lighting and thunder abounding, we can have a peace in our hearts because we stand in Jesus, we are in the ark of safety, we are at peace with God and he is at peace with us. Because we have overcome the prince of this world and accepted Jesus Christ as our lord and Savior, entering into his peace, we now will sit upon his throne with him and he will acknowledge our name before this almighty God the Father of us all. We will hear Jesus say, Father this is my beloved brother or sister, (please insert your name here). Someday we will be there in the presence of His Majesty.