Shattering! Awesome! Breathtaking! God’s magnificent throne suspended over the Earth. This is our picture in Revelation chapter four and it will continue until the Seven Years of the Great Tribulation concludes. Our Great Heavenly Father is not an absent landlord, but the Present Sovereign that is about to reclaim His lost possession. Satan has been the god of this earth for six thousand years, but the time to cast out the usurper is at hand. The entire earth is trembling with earthquakes, volcanoes, and storms. Even the birds and animals are in great consternation and dying like flies.
My friends, it’s almost over! I believe that this overwhelming scene is not up in God’s “Celestial City” but in the open heavens. The judgmental process is both purifying and redemptive and the Father sets His Throne above this earth to direct the proceedings. This heavenly picture will not move back to the Grand Temple until the redemption of this earth is finished; yet, the Pearly White City will be directly above the Father’s Throne and visible from this earth. The great expanse between this earth and heaven will have vanished and the whole earth will be Heaven’s backyard. Satan’s final stand on earth will be seen in contrast to the glory of our God and His Son, Jesus Christ. It will only be by Lucifer’s profound subtlety that multitudes will still follow him to hell. The last contest before the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ will be in full array.
Revelation chapter four is the visible drama that John looks upon in full view. He is in the Spirit or it would not be possible for his flesh to behold. The Throne of God is the central scene and theme. The Throne is named twelve times in this one chapter and thirty-nine times in the entire Book of Revelation. The drama begins like this, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald” (Revelation 4:1-3).
Around this throne the next important scene is the raptured saints set on thrones that are called “seats.” The word John used was “thronos,” a seat attributed to kings. The throne for the Father was singular but the word for the saints’ thrones is plural. Only the Father has a rainbow over His head and He — not His throne — “was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone.” In both the scene of the Father and the scene of the Saints, the emphasis is not on the thrones but on those seated on them. Even the saints, now called Elders, are “clothed in white raiment and they had on their heads crowns of gold.”
From this point to the last chapter of Revelation, the Throne is named and visible over and over. In every case it is not the Throne He is seated upon, but the Sovereign Father seated on the Throne is identified by this Revelation. In chapter six after the sixth of the Seven Seals is opened, the wicked have seen enough to start hiding from the scene hovering over the earth. This picture that John saw as he “beheld” or actually saw it like a drama was breathtaking,“And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:14-16).
This wicked crowd is clearly tormented by the holiness in the face of God and the face of Jesus Christ. This future revelation will be the return of the fear of God to this earth. The church world has excused sin until “Christians” are perfectly willing to call themselves “saved sinners.” When the Father becomes visible on His throne above this earth, that kind of religion will vanish like a puff of smoke.
In chapter seven the throne is still central to the scene. Tribulation saints martyred by Satan’s inquisitors will be caught up to stand before the “Throne.” These saints do not sit as elders or as the Bride of Christ but as victors out of the Great Tribulation. John saw them in this unfolding drama presentation. He said, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” (Revelation 7:9).
John was privileged to witness the scene of Satan’s last moments in the great expanse of Heaven. With the Throne of God visible for all creation to witness, Satan has a short future. Please keep in mind that John is witnessing this with his own eyes, but, clearly under a great anointing of the Holy Ghost. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7-9).
The victorious 144,000 chosen of Israel are seen before the Throne of the Father in chapter fourteen. In chapter sixteen an unclean spirit begins to gather the vast army to fight for the Antichrist at Armageddon. Here again, the Father’s Throne comes into view and His voice rings out in triumph. “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done” (Revelation 16:17).
At this moment the Father’s voice is heard, “It is done,”and the Throne of God is apparently located back in the Temple of the “Celestial City.” The Battle of Armegeddon is the mopping up operation of the Seven Years of Great Tribulation.
In chapter nineteen — with the end in view — this great company of Elders is worshipping around the Throne saying, “Amen; Alleluia” (Revelation 19:4b). Then, we see the “Marriage Supper,” Satan cast out into the Bottomless Pit, the One Thousand Year reign of Jesus Christ, and the White Throne Judgment of the wicked dead, where all will hear the Father as He sits on His Throne saying, “Behold, I make all things new. . .” (Revelation 21:5b). I’ve got to be there.
Joseph R. Chambers
jrc@pawcreek.org