As I have mentioned in my previous message - "The Church Age - Part 3," the Church in Laodicea signifies the Church Age from the 1900s to the time of the Great Tribulation. This is the last Church on earth. This Church will be the Bride of Christ. But, this does not mean that the entire Church will be the Bride. There are conditions to be fulfilled. In order to understand the Rapture we need to understand God's purpose of redemption for Israel and for the Church.
God's purpose of redemption for Israel and for the Church
Exodus 19 contains a message God gave to Moses for the children of Israel after He had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt, brought them out by tremendous miracles and brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai and from there He proposed to enter a Covenant with them. Let us look at some verses.
"You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, the you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people, for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:4 - 6, NKJV, emphasis added).
When God said to Israel, "I brought you to Myself," He was telling the children of Israel His primary purpose of their redemption, i.e. to bring His chosen to himself! Notice that God first revealed His primary objective before He went on to outline the rest of His purpose - the details of His Covenant and the conditions attached to His Covenant (read the rest of Exodus).
Notice that the words spoken by God are not merely relevant to Israel after their redemption out of Egypt, but they are not less relevant to the Church today. I believe that most of the Jews have never discovered the purpose of their redemption, not even today. The Scripture says because of their unbelief and rejection of God, salvation came to the Gentiles (Romans 11).
Since Israel failed to understand the purpose of their redemption, God simply restated the same purpose for the Church of Jesus Christ, consisting both the Jewish and Gentile believers.
Peter said (to the believers), "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, ..." (1 Peter 2:9).
Therefore, God's primary purpose in redemption is always this - to bring His people (Israel and the Church) to Himself. Anything else is secondary.
The Bride of Christ
Now, God's purpose of bringing His people to Himself is to prepare a Bride for His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5 gives a picture of Christ's love for the Church.
Paul said: "Husbands love your wives, just as Chrsit also loved the Church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25 - 27, emphasis added).
The Bride is being prepared, "with the washing of the water of the Word." Therefore, without upholding the truth of God's Word, the Church will not be cleased and so is not fit to be the Bride. The Church cannot be cleansed by any other means - like observing Church doctrine, Church custom, Church tradition, and doctrines of men (even men graduated from Bible Colleges), because more often than not, these are contrary to the Word of God and therefore tarnish the Church! The Church that is not cleansed by the Word will not be holy; she will be full of spots and wrinkle and full of blemishes and therefore fails to be the Bride.
After the preparation of the Bride (the glorious Church), Jesus' ultimate purpose for His Church is to bring her to the Father's house for the marriage of the Lamb:
Jesus said: "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2, 3, emphasis added).
1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15 give a picture of what will happen. A day will come when all true Christians will be caught up bodily and alive to meet the Lord in the air (please read my earlier message - "Imminent Pre-trebulation Rapture." This is what John means when he said in John 14:3 - "I will come again and receive you to Myself."
I believe the first event in heaven after our Lord takes us there, will be the Judgement Seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 3:12 - 15). This is not a judgment for condemnation but a judgment for reward. We must all give an account to our Lord for every action or failure to act, for every idle word and secret thought. After this the Groom will want to spend some time with His Bride, the now glorified Church in the Father's house.
In Christ's days the Jewish bride was taken to the father's house where the two were in seclusion for seven days (one week). Christ must have had that custom in mind when He promised to take His Bride to His Father's house. During these seven years (the 70th week of years in Daniel's prophecy - Daniel 9:24 - 27) the earth is going through the Great Tribulation period under the reign of the Antichrist! But, at precisely the same time in heaven, the marriage supper of the Lamb is being prepared (Rev. 19:7, 8)! The Bride of Christ escapes the wrath of the Antichrist. That is the way God protects His Church, fulfilling what Jesus said to Peter, "The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). He brings His Church to Himself! On the other hand, the gates of Hades shall prevail against the "church" that is left behind under the reign of the Antichrist. In fact the Antichrist together with his false prophet and his "elders" and "pastors" will be sitting at their gates - the gates of Hades!
The Rapture of the Church
In Revelation 1:19 John was told to write three things - "The things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this." (Please read my earlier message - The Church Age - Part 1). "The things which you have seen," correspons to the Chapter 1 of the book of Revelation. "The things which are," corresponds to the period of Churches (the Church Age) in Chapter 2 and 3. "The things which will take place after this," corresponds to the remaining Chapters (Chapter 4 to Chapter 22) which deal with things that will unfold at the end of the Church Age. So far we have looked at the first two of those things. Now, beginning with Revelation 4, we consider the third - "The things which will take place after this." This message deals with some of the things which will take place. This involves the Rapture of the of the Church to heaven into the very presence of the Throne of God. After this, we shall study The Great Tribulation.
The Throne Room in Heaven (Rev. 4:1 - 11)
John wrote, "After these things I looked, and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, 'Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this'" (Rev. 4:1, emphasis added).
The panorama John now viewed had changed from earth to heaven. Only a short time before, Jesus stood in the midst of the golden candlesticks and spoke to the seven Churches. That scene disappeared, and when and awesome gate of heaven was flung open, a voice like a trumpet said, "Come up here." God will likewise use a trumpet sound when He calls the Church to meet Him in the air (read 1 Thess. 4:16, 17).
John was the last surviving apostle. His ascending to heaven pictures the Church at the end of the age that has prepared oil, being filled with the Holy Spirit (read Matt. 25:1 - 13), and with other conditions fulfilled, is taken up into heaven as the Bride of Christ.
It won't be long before that same voice will be heard by your ears and mine, and we also shall be taken up to heaven. As a door opened when John looked up, so a door in heaven will open for us, and we shall also ascend.
One Who was stting on the Throne (Rev. 4:2, 3)
As john looked into heaven, he first saw omeone sitting on a throne (Rev. 4:2). The center of heaven is the Throne of God, and on it are the Father, the Son and the Spirit. John thus described the figure of God the Father on the Throne - "And he who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald" (Rev. 4:3).
Jasper signifies the inscrutable divinity and holiness of God. The ruby-colored sardius stone signifies righteous judgment. When John first saw God, he felt not only the infinite divinity and holiness of God but also His sternness of righteous judgment, John's heart might well have trembled with awesome fear.
The rainbow around the throne resembled an emerald. When we see a rainbow from the earth, it looks like a half-circle. But when we see it from an airplane in the sky, it looks like a complete circle. The sight must have filled John's trembling heart with joy.
The origin of the rainbow goes back to the days of Noah. When Noah sacrificed animals after the flood, God made a covenant with him, saying He would not judge the world again with a flood (Gen. 9:11). As a sign of this covenant, God made a rainbow to appear in the clouds.
Thus, a rainbow resembling an emerald and surrounding the Throne means that God, in spite of His infinite divinity and holiness, has already accepted a sacrifice for our sins. That offering is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who died on the cross of Calvary. By accepting Jesus' sacrifice, God made another covenant between Himself and mankind - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
Twenty-four elders around the Throne (Rev. 4:4)
After John saw Him who sat on the Throne, he also saw twenty-four thrones surrounding the Throne. Twenty-four elders, with crowns of gold on their head, sat on those thrones.
John promised the Laodicean Church: "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne" (Rev. 3:21). Those who overcome will ascend to heaven and sit on the Throne that even angels cannot come near.
What do the twenty-four thones signify? I believe they represent the twelve tribes of Israel in the Old Testament and the twelve disciples of Jesus in the New Testment. Altogether the twenty-four thrones represent the saints who were saved in both Old and New Testament times.
The twenty-four elders were human beings. Angels cannot have an office such as elders, neither does God give them golden crowns. Such crowns are given only to those who have been saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
The Throne (Rev. 4:5, 6)
John also saw "lightnings, thunderings, and voices proceeded out of the Throne" (Rev. 4:5). What comes after a flash of lightning and peals of thunder in a summer storm? A shower. God is ready to rain judgment (The Great Tribulation) upon this earth like a summer shower. But He is postponing His judgment until His children are taken away to heaven and seated with Him.
John also saw "... seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God" (Rev. 4:5). This image shows the Holy Spirit on the Throne in heaven, having returned there with Church.
In front of the throne was "a sea of glass, like crystal" (Rev. 4:6). This can be interpreted to mean the true Church after the Rapture. The description, "like crystal" indicates calmness and serenity. That means all our tears, cares and trouble will no longer exist.
The four living creatures or beasts (Rev. 4:7)
Next John saw four living reatures around the Throne of God. The first was like a lion and the second like a calf; the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle (Rev. 4:7).
Isaiah saw a similar vision. He wrote of seraphim standing above a throne (read Isaiah 6:2, 3).
Ezekiel also saw four living creatures in his vision (read Ezekiel 1:5 - 12).
What were the four living creatures in Revelation 4? They were cherubim, the angels that guard the holiness at His Throne. The first was like a lion. That symbolizes Jesus' coming as the King of the Jew, as Matthew's Gospel describes Him. The second creature was like a calf (ox), which signifies Jesus who works, as Mark's Gospel describes Him. The third creature was like a man, and Luke's Gospel describes Jesus as the Son of man. He had a complete human nature, being born of the Virgin Mary. The fourth creature was like an eagle which represents the divinity of God. John's Gospel emphasizes John was the divine Son of God.
Thus, the four living creatures standing around the Throne all symbolize the Person of Jesus Christ.
Worship (Rev. 4:8 - 11)
What comes next is a scene of worship. First the four living creatures worship God day and night, never resting. They ceaselessly say, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is to come" (Rev. 4:8).
When the living creatures give glory to God, the twenty-four elders also fall down and worship Him. They cast their crowns before the Throne and saying, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created" (Rev. 4:11).
This is the scene of heavenly worship which includes us, the heavenly glorified Church - "A sea of glass!"
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