Revelation 4

Daily Devotion in Revelation 4

artwork from a 1611 KJV.

Daily Nugget:. Rapture

Next to the coming to the Earth of Jesus, His death, resurrection, and plan of salvation, this chapter tells of an event that is one of the most anticipated promises given to believers. Every Christian from the time of the first church anxiously awaited the event described in this verse.

Revelation 4:1 describes the long-awaited rapture!
“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.” Revelation 4:1-2

The rapture is when God says, “Enough” of rampant sin and takes his church (saved people), living and dead, out of this earth (I Thessalonians 4:16-18). After the church is removed, all the prophecies concerning God’s wrathful judgment upon the residents of the Earth will begin. For the living child of God, from this point on in the book of Revelation, all that happens on this Earth will not involve him, as he will be raptured to Heaven! Amen and Amen!

Although Revelation is a record of what John saw and heard revealed to Him by Jesus, it gives us an understanding of what will happen on that day. It is believed that verse one is when the rapture happens because:

It says, “After this …”. After what? After the seven church ages are completed (Rev. 2-3). The last church age, as compared to the church of Laodicea, pictures perfectly how most churches have become today. It is when God sees the last person has gotten saved that He ends the church ages and starts a new era, a time of His judgments!

“… a door was opened in heaven …” A door is a means to pass from one place to another. This “door” moves the dead and living in Christ from this Earth to the next “room,” the “room” where God is!
In Revelation 3:20, the door was where Jesus was last standing. He allowed all an opportunity to trust Him as Saviour one more time during the indifferent, Laodicean church age. No more answered His pleas, so He opened the door of Heaven and called His own home.
The trumpet of God was sounded just like it was foretold it would be at the time of the rapture (I Thessalonians 4:16).
A voice was heard calling John to Heaven as it was prophesied (I Thes. 4:16). The church would be summoned up: “… Come up hither….”
After being called up, Revelation 4:2 says John was in the “spirit.” That pictures perfectly the raptured believer going up to Heaven in the spirit, as no sinful flesh can go there.
God says that those that have been saved will not experience His wrath, and the Great Tribulation is His anger being poured out on humanity. The saved will be raptured to Heaven before God’s great judgment begins.
“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,” I Thes. 5:9
It was prophesied that the Lord would come again when the Earth became like the days of Noah (Mat. 24:37-38. Luke 17:26). Those days are indeed here.

After the Lord judged the world of Noah’s time, He sent a reminder of what He had done: the rainbow. In Rev. 4:3, there was a rainbow around God’s throne. The judgment of Noah’s day preserved only God’s own who were inside the ark. The upcoming rapture will also have His own safely kept in Heaven while God’s judgment takes place on Earth.
The church is no longer mentioned in what occurs on the Earth from this time on because the church is no longer here!

Since we are in the last church age, the rapture mentioned in Revelation 4:1 is the next event in God’s plan. It could be today or tomorrow. The big question is, are you sure you will be included in the Rapture? If not, now may be your last opportunity to trust Christ as Saviour and be saved!

Today’s Thought:
“When Jesus comes for His own in the air, will you meet Him?”

Words to Understand:
Sardine: a precious stone. A sardine stone was used in Aaron’s breastplate.

Today’s Reading:
Revelation 4
1 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.
2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3 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.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
8 ¶ And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.