1. "It's been said that there are two kinds of disappointments in life. The first is when you don't get what you want. And the second is when you do."

2. "The future is not meaningless. It's not anonymous and foreboding and empty as a yet unoccupied casket. No, the future is full and it's bright and it's for us because of His throne."

3. "The instinctive call that we all have that the right be done, that the good be done, that justice be done finally meets up with one who has none of our judicial incapacities and inadequacies. One who knows all of the facts without any trials, right down to the motives of the heart."

4. "When God judges, the only response is the silence of assent. And the songs of worship."

5. "John is told that there's going to be a lion, a mighty lion, the kind of thing you or I would think of should come along and open these seals. He would be strong enough. He would be mighty enough. So John just makes sense to him and he turns and he looks for the lion and what does he see? He sees a lamb."

6. "If you are a follower of the Lamb, no trouble which troubles you now will trouble you forever. No qualifications to that statement. No exceptions, period."

7. "Have you ever noticed that according to the Bible, God's relationship with his people begins in a garden and it ends where? In a city."

8. "At the center of our understanding of heaven is not gold streets and it's not pearl gates. It's not buildings of glass and Peter at a big desk at the gate. No, at the center of our understanding of heaven is the relationship that we have with God forever."

9. "Have you never felt that homesickness for a place you've never been before? That's what John writes about here."

10. "Domitian, the great emperor of Rome, is dead. The Roman emperors are gone as surely as the Babylonian emperors were before him. There is no more German fuhrer. Friends, all of the things that look so permanent in this life, every single one of them will vanish."

Observation Questions

1. In Revelation 4:8-11, what do the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders repeatedly say and do in response to the one seated on the throne?

2. According to Revelation 5:5-6, what did the elder tell John to expect to see, and what did John actually see standing at the center of the throne?

3. In Revelation 5:9-10, what specific reason is given for why the Lamb is worthy to take the scroll and open its seals?

4. According to Revelation 11:15-18, what happens when the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, and what do the twenty-four elders declare about God's actions?

5. In Revelation 21:3-4, what does the loud voice from the throne declare about God's dwelling place and the conditions that will no longer exist?

6. According to Revelation 22:3-5, what will God's servants do in the new city, and what will be the source of their light?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that John expected to see a lion but instead saw a slain Lamb standing on the throne? What does this reveal about how God accomplishes His purposes?

2. The sermon emphasizes that all the creatures around the throne exist to direct attention back to God. How does this pattern of worship challenge the way we often approach the book of Revelation?

3. How do the three series of judgments (seals, trumpets, and bowls) demonstrate both the certainty and the righteousness of God's judgment, and why would this message have been important for persecuted believers in John's day?

4. The sermon points out that the heavenly city is described as a 1,400-mile cube, echoing the dimensions of the Holy of Holies. What theological truth does this architectural detail communicate about believers' access to God in the new creation?

5. How does the progression from a throne (chapters 4-5) to storms of judgment (chapters 6-19) to the Lamb's salvation to the final city (chapters 21-22) reveal the comprehensive nature of God's plan for history?

Application Questions

1. The sermon notes that even when we get what we want in life, we experience disappointment because nothing is perfect. What specific thing are you currently hoping will satisfy you, and how does the vision of God on His throne reorient your expectations?

2. If God's judgment is certain, final, and right, how should this truth affect the way you respond when you see injustice in the world or experience wrongs that seem to go unaddressed?

3. The early believers were comforted by knowing that God—not Caesar—was truly sovereign. What person, institution, or circumstance in your life feels overwhelmingly powerful right now, and how can this vision of God's throne bring you confidence this week?

4. The sermon asked, "At your heart, more than any of those things, is this what you are waiting for—the Sovereign God to bring us into His presence forever?" What practical change could you make this week to cultivate a deeper longing for God's presence rather than temporary satisfactions?

5. Revelation 7:17 promises that "God will wipe every tear from their eyes." How might this future hope change the way you comfort a fellow believer who is currently suffering, and what specific person could you encourage with this truth?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Isaiah 6:1-8 — This passage parallels John's vision of God on His throne surrounded by creatures declaring "Holy, holy, holy," showing the continuity of God's majestic self-revelation throughout Scripture.

2. Hebrews 4:14-16 — The sermon directly quotes this passage to explain how the Lamb's sacrifice enables us to approach God's throne of grace with confidence.

3. Exodus 33:17-23 — This account of Moses being prevented from seeing God's face provides the background for understanding why Revelation 22:4's promise that believers "will see His face" is the climax of the Bible.

4. Daniel 7:9-14 — This vision of the Ancient of Days on His throne and one like a son of man receiving an everlasting kingdom provides Old Testament roots for Revelation's throne-room imagery.

5. Ezekiel 47:1-12 — This prophecy of living water flowing from the temple connects to Revelation's promise that the Lamb will lead His people to springs of living water and that the river of life flows from God's throne.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Mixed Heritage of Nations and the Universal Human Experience of Disappointment

II. The First Image: A Throne at the Center of History (Revelation 4-5)

III. The Second Image: Storms of Judgment (Revelation 6-19)

IV. The Third Image: A Lamb Who Was Slain (Revelation 5)

V. The Fourth Image: A City Where God Dwells with His People (Revelation 21-22)

VI. What Are You Waiting For?

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Detailed Sermon Outline

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

These are the words of Thomas Jefferson, which the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia approved. 219 years ago today, July the 2nd. They were publicly promulgated a couple of days later as the independence of these colonies from the crown of Great Britain. And from that time to this, this nation has gone on in search for liberty and truth and justice in various ways, some that are tremendous and others that have been questionable. And our nation is not alone in that.

Every nation has days in which they celebrate their national heritage. And every nation's national heritage is honestly before the Lord mixed. It's just the way it comes on this side of heaven. There are wonderful things, tremendous things that God has blessed this nation with. There are ways in which this nation has been and is now unfaithful.

And we can pretend otherwise, but that's the way it is and in our own souls we know it and we sense it. It's that way with all the parts of our lives, really. We see God's blessings and we know them, yet at the same time we're not satisfied. We realize everything isn't just as it should be. It's been said that there are two kinds of disappointments in life.

The first is when you don't get what you want. And the second is when you do.

It's true, isn't it? Even when we do get those things that we think we want so much in this life, we get them and we find that they're not perfect. They break, they have to be replaced, batteries not included. There's some kind of fine print about it, even in the best of things in this life. So people look to the future and they don't know whether to look at it with hope or with worry.

And that's where this last book of the Bible comes in, the book of Revelation. I have to admit, a famously confusing book. I could try to tell you that it's not such a difficult book. Like Mark Twain's comment about Wagner's music. It's not as bad as it sounds.

But you'll go on and read the book. And you'll find that there are all kinds of things in here that are difficult to understand. But you know, there are some things, and they're the most important things and the most basic things in this book that are not hard at all to understand. So what I want to do with you now is share with you briefly four images. Four arresting images which John sees in this vision.

So we'll look at chapters 4 and 5, and we'll skip to chapter 11, then back to chapter 5, and then we'll finish up with the great chapter 21 at the end. Alright, so we're going to be skipping around the book in order to find what this book tells us about the future. Well, first, at the very beginning of the book, we have in chapters 1 and 2 and 3 the initial vision of John and then the letters to the churches. In chapters 2 and 3. There will be a great sermon series sometime in the future.

Now, chapter 4 is where the vision really begins. In chapter 4 and 5, at the very beginning of this book, of the vision of this book, at the very heart of it, we find the first image that I want you to notice, a throne.

We see there in chapter 4, beginning at verse 2. At once I was in the Spirit, John writes, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and carnelian. A rainbow resembling an emerald encircled the throne. John goes on there in chapter 4 talking about the brilliance and the splendor of this throne.

Keep looking at it. Look at all the brilliant language that's used there about rainbow and flashes of lightning. Clear as crystal and glass, all the various jewels that are mentioned. All of this is to show the splendor of the one that's on this throne, that He is the King to end all kings, the one who dwells here. We're not to be distracted by trying to figure out what these various creatures are.

You see these first living creatures here in verse 7. They are described in verse 8, fairly bizarre looking it seems. Then verse 10, the 24 elders. The purpose of all of these creatures around the throne is not so that we can learn them and draw them in our Sunday school classes so that we won't be embarrassed someday when we finally circulate around the heavenly menagerie. No, the purpose of all of these is to draw our attention again and again back to the center, back to the one on the throne.

That's why all of these great creatures keep falling down. And they fall down toward the throne. They're casting all their honor and glory to the one on the throne. Oh, when Christians look at this book of Revelation and spill hundreds and hundreds of pages focusing on what these other creatures are, they're missing the point of the vision. The point is to throw all the glory and honor to the one who is on that throne, to God Almighty.

He is the focus. And so we read in the beginning of verse 8, day and night, these around the throne never stop saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and who is and who is to come. Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. And as if to draw a our attention away from themselves and back to God, it says, they lay their crowns before the throne and say, you, are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power for your created all things and by youy will they were created. So John's reaction when he first saw Jesus in chapter 1 is to fall down just like these elders have been.

And we see what happens in chapters 4 and 5 with this great scene of the throne The action then begins to happen when a scroll is brought in to the throne in chapter 5. Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll? But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.

And then one of the elders said to me, Do not weep. See the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. This scroll you find when you read it is a scroll of history. These are the judgments which come from the throne of God which will take up the rest of history.

So we see here that this God who is on the throne is the sovereign, not only of this throne room, but of all of history as he executes his decrees through this scroll. Well, this would have been vitally important for John and his readers to know. When these heavenly creatures John saw saying, you, are worthy, John was hearing those same words used that were used to worship the emperor of Rome. John was in exile because he wouldn't do that. John was in exile because he knew that that Yahweh alone was God and that He alone deserved His worship.

That the government was asking for a false worship. The whole civilized world at the time was giving homage to a mere human emperor. And John's vision was reminding those early believers that the God that they worshiped wasn't just the Lord of their individual hearts while the Roman ruler owned everything else. No, all creation this vision says pays homage to the Lord God, the Sovereign, who unlike the emperor Domitian was and is and is to come. Just when the circumstances perhaps had them beat down into practical hopelessness, John had this great vision that he was to share with all of the churches of the glory of God and of His greatness which would certainly breathe life into many a withering believer.

The Lord of their lives was the Lord of history, you sang. And it's important that we realize this, too, that the center of history, there's not randomness. There's not an impersonal chemical reaction. There is a throne. And on that throne, there is a sovereign God who rules the world.

So we're not called to trust in anything other than ultimately than that God. The world, all the people in it, aren't in the hand of Caesar. They're not in the hand of any government, but rather they're in the hand of the one who bought them with his blood. And if you're one of God's people this morning, trusting in the Lamb who was slain, then you know that this God, this one who's on the throne, is for us. And so the future is not meaningless.

It's not anonymous and foreboding and empty as a yet unoccupied casket. No, the future is full and it's bright and it's for us because of His throne. That's the first image. But now this vision of the serene majesty of God in His court surrounded by worshiping angelic beings gives way in chapter 6 to storms of judgment which issue from the heavenly courts as the Lamb breaks the seals on the scroll of God's decrees. And that really takes up most of the rest of the book.

From chapter 6 on through chapter 19 and 20, there are the judgments of God rolling out in repeated peals of thunder. And this is the image, the second image that I want us to notice in this book of a storm. It's very interesting. There are three series of judgments in this book. There are seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls.

Now, I haven't prepared a photocopy handout to give you to show you what they all are, but I think the basic idea that you need to get if you want to understand what these storms do in the book of Revelation is that the seals come first because that's as God is opening the decree of judgment. These seven seals. And then it's very interesting. When you get to the seven trumpets, it says God is sounding out this judgment over all of His creation. And then finally in the seven bowls, it's actually being poured out on the creation.

And so you find as you go through a funny combination of things getting more intense and yet the same thing's happening. So you can't read the book of Revelation with the assumption that if it's in chapter 17, it must be later in time than if it's in chapter 4.

No, that's not what the book's like. It gives you these three series of seven judgments, having many of the same things repeated, like the heaven and the earth flee away more than once in the book. But what you get, the idea you get as you read through, is that each time it's more intense. It's kind of like a spiral as we see the judgment of God on His humanity. It's as if John is screwing up the tension, the sense of anticipation.

So each one of these series of judgments begins with the heavenly court here in chapters 4 and 5. So you have the seven seals. And then chapter 8, you have the seven trumpets as these judgments are being proclaimed. And so it's presented in the measured, unerring procession toward the final judgment by God of His creation.

Now, when we think of this idea of judgment, this idea of storms, each one of these series of judgments has culminated in a tremendous storm. So we think of this idea of judgment, people today often have trouble with this. And I think I can understand why. Our justice is insufficient. Our justice is uncertain.

Our justice is often stopgapped.

Frankly, it's sometimes wrong. We don't always catch even those that we know are guilty. And when we do and they get out, they often repeat their crime. The judgments that are often handed down seem insufficient. And sometimes they are simply wrong.

In this world there is no perfect justice. At the root of it all, though, I think our hesitancy about justice to advocate punishment for wrong is because we're aware that we can be justly accused. Jesus said, Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. And all of us know deep in our hearts that if that's the case, none of us can cast any stones. But you see, there was one who said that.

Who was without sin. And he is the one for whom it is right that judgment be made. He is the one who is just who can actually mete out justice. So the instinctive call that we all have that the right be done, that the good be done, that justice be done finally meets up with one who has none of our judicial incapacities and inadequacies. One who knows all of the facts without any trials, right down to the motives of the heart.

One whom against no appeal can ever be raised and who is able to perfectly execute his judgments. And so if you turn to chapter 11 right at the end, just a few verses in chapter 11, beginning at verse 15, we see the culmination of one of these series of judgments.

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven which said, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. And the 24 elders who were seated on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name both small and great and for destroying those who destroy the earth. Then God's temple in heaven was opened and within his temple was seen the ark of the covenant and there came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder and earthquake and a great hail storm.

Friends as you read through the book of Revelation you find that God's judgment is certain. There's no power that can delay it or stop it. The message of this book is that God's judgment is certain. You'll also find that God's judgment is final. When He makes a judgment, it continues on forever and ever.

There is, as I say, no appeal from this judgment. When God judges, the only response is the silence of assent. And the songs of worship.

Also, when you read through this book honestly, you see the horror of God's judgment. There are images in this book again and again from supernatural prisons to the abyss to judgments and plagues and earthquakes and Hades and an eternal lake of fire that are all unimaginably horrible.

Some have even called these things unbearable, and I can certainly understand why.

But if they're true, we don't help anyone by trying to make them seem less horrible than they actually are. The vision of God that John had here shows us that God's judgment is horrible. But also it shows that God's judgment is right. Look there in verse 17 of chapter 11. We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.

The nations were angry and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead and for rewarding your servants and prophets, your saints, those who reverence your name, both small and great, and for destroying those who destroy the earth. There's no question of God's judgment being uncertain or ineffective.

Inadequate or wrong. No, God's judgment is complete. God's judgment is accurate. God's judgment is appropriate.

So we see a throne, we see a storm. Beginning though back in chapter 6, this dark picture that's full of judgments, as I say, is throughout the book, but it's broken at a few points by rays of light. And in those rays of light, what we see at the very center is the third arresting image of John's that I want you to notice. And that's the image of a lamb. A lamb.

Look in chapter 5 again. Remember John was weeping for wanting to know what was in this scroll, the scroll of history.

And one of the elders said to me in chapter 5 verse 5, Do not weep. See, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seals. Then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. John is told that there's going to be a lion, a mighty lion, the kind of thing you or I would think of should come along and open these seals.

He would be strong enough. He would be mighty enough. Lions are great creatures. Nations love to use them as symbols of national power. So John just makes sense to him and he turns and he looks for the lion and what does he see?

He sees a lamb. A lamb that was slain standing on the very throne of God. This lamb you see is God and he's on the throne and he's being worshiped as God. And what has this lamb done? Look at the song they sing in verse 9: you: are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

The Lamb was slain to purchase people from every tribe and language and people and nation.

You see, because the God that's on the throne is the Lamb, we can know as the writer to the Hebrews said that we do not have a God who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help him in our time of need. You see, this God who's high and lifted up on the throne that we see in the book of Revelation is not finally a God that we cannot approach. He's a God who is the Lamb who was slain for us. He appeals to us to approach him.

And because of this Lamb, we see that all of God's people will be safe. It's very interesting. In chapter 7, we have the 144,000 standing there. I'll talk to you about that afterwards if you'd like. But it's very interesting that after several chapters more of God's judgment in chapter 14, do you know how many redeemed there still are around this Lamb?

144,000. There are not 143,999. There has not one been lost. All of the people who have been purchased by this Lamb are safe through all the judgments that follow. This Lamb is the one who has saved His people, and He has saved all of them.

And so these people who are worshiping the Lamb in the book of Revelation hold victorious palm branches and they cry out praises to the Lamb for their safety, their salvation. So if you are a follower of the Lamb, no trouble. No trouble which troubles you now will trouble you forever. If you are a follower of the Lamb, no trouble which troubles you now will follow you forever. No qualifications to that statement.

No exceptions, period. He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them, says in chapter 7. Never again will they hunger. Never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them nor any scorching heat, for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe every tear from their eye.

And that brings us to the final arresting image in this book of Revelation. Have you ever noticed that according to the Bible, God's relationship with his people begins in a garden and it ends where? In a city. Not in a garden like we would think it would, but now the whole Bible ends up in a city. Turn to chapter 21.

Now those of us who were brought up in the country may have a slight prejudice against this. Cities are often not thought of as very attractive things. Those of us who live in cities know many of the trials. I remember reading of a contest in which the first prize was a week in Cleveland. And the second prize was two weeks in Cleveland.

That's the kind of image people have of cities. There have been very serious writers who think that cities, we can tell even from the Bible, are cursed of God. That's where the terrible sins happen. But isn't it amazing then that God ends up His creation in a city? And if you look here in chapter 21, it's a great city.

Death is replaced by life. Look at verse 4. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. Night is replaced by light. Corruption is replaced by purity.

All of the effects of the divine curse are replaced by God's blessing. But do you know what the chief good of that city will be? God Himself will be there. That's why there's language of all these different jewels here again. It's like we're back in the heavenly courtroom.

All this brilliance shows the presence of God. That's why this city has these funny measurements. Look in chapter 21 and verses 16 and 17. This city is a 1400 mile cube. Now what kind of city would be a 1400 mile cube?

Well, you see, to the Jewish readers who read this, when they think of a brilliant cube, do you know what they'll think of? The Holy of Holies. Where the priest, after offering sacrifice for his sin, could go once a year to represent the people. But do you see what's happening here now? This heavenly city at the end is the Holy of Holies, where God's presence is now with man.

And where we don't go in simply once a year through our priest, but where all of the Lamb's people go in forever to live with God. In his presence. So it says in verse 22, I did not see a temple in that city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. You see, finally, the effects of the fall are reversed. You have in these closing words of the Bible, the revoking of the curse from the fall.

It's finally done as God himself completes his merciful work of bringing the children of Adam back into fellowship with Himself. And in chapter 22, verse 4, you have the climax of the entire Bible. Chapter 22, verse 4, in those first few words, They will see His face. I don't know about you, but one of my favorite things about Christianity is not faith. I get very tired sometimes of believing without seeing.

I long to be able to live by sight. And do you know what I have here? Hope and a promise that someday I will do just that. They will see His face. The very face that Moses desired to see but was prevented from seeing.

The very face that person after person like Ezekiel in the Old Testament, when that presence approached, fell down.

Now here in this passage the presence of God is finally fully visibly with men.

Two images John uses in this book. He uses the city. There was a false city and it's given way to a true city. The true king has been revealed by his judging the one and taking up residence in the other. And the false lady and the true lady.

The true husband has revealed which one was the whore. And which one was the true bride? In chapter 19. And now in our passage here at the end, it's as if at a great wedding feast, the formal procession brings in the bride to her husband, and in this final section of the Bible, the wedding imagery is fulfilled. The wedding imagery stressed earlier maybe stresses that she is his only bride, the exclusivity.

But here it gives way to focusing on the intimacy. He will dwell with his people forever. And yet at the same time, it's a whole community. It's a city. It's not just one, but it's all of God's people together.

You see, at the center of our understanding of heaven is not gold streets and it's not Pearl Gates. It's not buildings of glass and Peter at a big desk at the gate. No, at the center of our understanding of heaven is the relationship that we have with God forever. All of his people. Together being with Him.

Now this is what we're waiting for. The message of the Book of Revelation is this: the Sovereign God is what we're waiting for. We're waiting for Him to execute His judgments and yet to save us through the blood of the Lamb and to bring us into His presence forever. Is this what you're waiting for? Is this what you're waiting for in your life?

I'm sure there are smaller things you're waiting for. You may be waiting for the service to get over. You may be waiting for communion because you haven't had communion in a while. You may be waiting for lunch or waiting for something you'll do on Tuesday on the mall. You may be waiting in a larger sense for retirement or you may be waiting for a check to come.

Oh, there are lots of things you may be waiting for. But at your heart, more than any of those things, is this what you are waiting for? The sovereign God to execute His judgments and yet to save us? Through the blood of the Lamb and to bring us into his presence forever. You see, though the future holds many other things, this is the one thing that it holds more than anything else for God's people.

The future is not meaningless and Anonymous and foreboding. It is for us because it is the future with God. And, friend, if you're waiting for anything else, I have to ask you, is your weight worth it? Domitian, the great emperor of Rome, is dead. The Roman emperors are gone as surely as the Babylonian emperors were before him.

There is no more German fuhrer. There is no more president and chief secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Friends, all of the things that look so permanent in this life, every single one of them will vanish. What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for the lamb who was slain to come and take his own.

That is the only thing that will last. That is the only thing that will endure. What else is it that would captivate your heart? What else is it that can rival that? Some of you may wish to add a few years to your life.

Some to take away a few years even. Some of you may want to find a spouse. Some of you may want to find a job. To live here, to travel there, to get this or that done. But what about these things that John has mentioned here?

What about these things that he's recorded? Do they elicit anything more from you than polite interest?

Have you never felt that homesickness for a place you've never been before? That's what John writes about here. Aquinas said that we need to know three things in order to be saved. What we ought to believe, what we ought to do, and what we ought to desire. To him who is thirsty, says the book of Revelation, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.

To him who is thirsty. Let's pray together.

Lord, we praise youe that yout are the great God that's revealed Himself so clearly in this vision of John's. We pray, Lord, that yout would forgive us in our hearts for the great concern we have about things so much less than Yourself. Pray, Lord, that yout would make us greatly concerned over great matters. I pray that you would show yourself to us to be the one who is high and lifted up on his throne, the one who will come in storms of judgment and yet who will save all who will turn and trust in the slain Lamb of God. Oh Lord, we do pray as the church in Revelation prays that you would come quickly, come quickly.

In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen.