The Throne Room of Heaven

by Mike Ratliff

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
(Revelation 4:11 ESV)

The natural mindset is that we thank God and praise him when he has greatly blessed us or delivered us or comforted us in some way, but a study of the Psalms or Romans 8, for example, shows us that Christians worship their God from grateful hearts even in the midst of fiery trials. While the world sees that as a paradox, we who are in Christ know from what we have been saved. Sadly, in our time, there are so many who call themselves Christians who are ignorant of the propitiatory sacrifice deliberately made by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in order that all who would believe and obey the gospel would be justified by grace alone through faith alone as God’s gift alone. God has imputed the righteousness of his Son to all those he has justified just as he imputed their unrighteousness to his account as he hung on that cross paying the penalty for their sins. This knowledge and the power given to believers as they abide in their Lord enables them to have this paradoxical world-view that the “world” cannot understand nor will it ever understand this side of Judgment Day. 

Occasionally God has to remind me of fragility of this life. We often think this life is “it” and, especially when younger, believe we will live forever. This was shot down for me in late 1970’s when I developed a seizure disorder and this caused my medical discharge from the U.S. Navy. A few years after that I decided to overcome it by becoming the healthiest, most fit person I could be. I became a long distance runner. I also played tennis and racquetball. I was pretty close to being in the physical shape I was in prior to going into Boot Camp in 1973. However, injuries would come at the most inopportune times. I would be almost ready to run in a big race and then I would get a knee injury or foot injury. Something always kept me from reaching that level of “physical perfection” I sought for. I finally gave it up so I could get my Degree after I married. The Degree enabled me to get a better job and so support my family, but the physical fitness went away.

I had comebacks over the years, but something always happened to remind me of the fragility of these bodies. When I was about 46 or so I was drafted by our company to run in the Corporate Challenge in two races, the 1 Mile and the 5K in OKC. I had about a year to prepare and I did so. I did pretty well for my age group, but as soon as those races were over, I started having knee and foot problems again.

In 2009 my seizure disorder returned, which had been dormant since 1976. It has radically changed my life and here I am almost at 61 with other aches and pains and wonder what’s next.

I have a nephew named Travis, my sister’s son, who is about 33 or 34. He had a brain tumor about 4 years ago. They discovered this after he began to have seizures. The surgeons removed the tumor and put him on radiation and he got a clean bill of health in June of this year. However, just a few weeks ago he began to have headaches and seizure-like symptoms again. On his Facebook page today he told us that his surgeon has determined that he has a new tumor in one of his frontal lobes and it is very aggressive. It’s in an area that they can get to easily, but they will probably have to remove that part of the brain where the tumor is to get it out. The reason he is having the seizure issues is that the tumor is wrapped around a major blood vessel that supplies blood to the brain so they have to get it out. This is heartbreaking. He is married with two little kids. He was recovering so well and now here we go again. Why Lord, why?

As one who is firmly convinced in the sovereignty of God and that his ways are always right and good, I have to look at these things in our lives through that lens. Therefore, I am going to close this post by asking all who read it to pray for my nephew Travis and his family, but also that God will be glorified in and through all of this because he is indeed worthy.

         After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

         And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

         “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
                  who was and is and is to come!”

         And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

         “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
                  to receive glory and honor and power,
         for you created all things,
                  and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4 ESV) 

The chorus of four living creatures swells as the twenty-four elders fall down and cast their crowns before the throne, offering worship and expressing submission to God’s authority. The elders extol God as worthy of threefold tribute (glory, honor, power) because he exerts his sovereign will in creating and sustaining all things. God receives “power,” not in the sense that an omnipotent being can become stronger, but in the sense that the strength of his creatures is used to honor him.

Soli Deo Gloria!