Introduction
If you’ve been reading along with us through the New Testament this year you know we’re well-into The Revelation to John.

John is imprisoned on a Roman prison-island on account of his believing Christ to be King, even over the Roman emperor, Caesar, and for preaching and teaching and sharing that faith publicly. Revelation says that John received this revelation on “the Lord’s Day” (so it is either Saturday night or Sunday morning – because John was a Jew and Jews marked days with the evening coming first, then the daytime. And the Lord’s Day was Saturday night or Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead).
Revelation tells us that John is worshiping: He’s “in the Spirit”, we read. So, John is experiencing a time of deep communion and fellowship with God – (right there while he’s on that prison-island, a deep time of fellowship with God) – and John is given a vision: A series of visions, really. (Revelation is a series of visions told one after the other.) And John writes these visions down.

In these visions, the glorified Jesus reveals Himself to John. Jesus speaks in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and reveals to John that He is always with His Church, walking among us. Jesus reveals to John that He is both the “One like a Son of Man” from the Prophet Daniel’s vision – the Eternal King, and that He is also “the Ancient of Days” from that same vision – One with God the Father All-mighty!
The Lord Jesus reveals to John that He has His hand of authority and blessing upon all those who proclaim His message through preaching, teaching, and prophesying. And the Lord shows John that the Word of God is always on His lips and coming forth from His mouth. Jesus reveals to John that He brought about the Beginning and that He, likewise, will consummate the End. And that His dying and having come back from being dead proves that He alone of all people can grant life to the dead and grant new life to those who are living, but since they are living their lives apart from God, might as well be dead!
The Lord Jesus dictates letters to seven churches, churches that were going through different degrees of persecution in what was then known as the Roman Province of Asia, what we now call Turkey. But there were many more churches in that region than just those seven, so we know that those churches must have been representative to the Lord: Him writing to them on behalf of all the other churches across the Empire, and now history, who were in the same situations like them. (And so churches can say, “We’re going through an Ephesian-time right now,” or, “we’re going through a Laodicean-season right now.” And you can read those letters from chapter 2 and chapter 3 to see what it means to be going through “an Ephesian-time” or “a Laodicean-season”.) (Someone recently likened our church to the Philadelphian church, which is quite a compliment in many ways. I hope that was spiritually-discerned and true. ?)
And then the Lord calls John, in the Spirit, in this vision He’s having, up into the heavenlies. And that brings us to our reading for this morning…

The Revelation 4:1-11 [NLTse]
Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in Heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” 2 And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in Heaven and Someone sitting on it. 3 The One sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones—like jasper and carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled His throne like a rainbow. 4 Twenty-four thrones surrounded Him, and twenty-four elders sat on them. They were all clothed in white and had gold crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder. And in front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. This is the sevenfold Spirit of God. 6 In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal.
In the center and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back. 7 The first of these living beings was like a lion; the second was like an ox; the third had a human face; and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. 8 Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty—the One Who always was, Who is, and Who is still to come.”
9 Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the One sitting on the throne (the One Who lives forever and ever), 10 the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the One sitting on the throne (the One who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say,
11 “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For You created all things, and they exist because You created what You pleased.”

Sermon
There’s lots that can be said about the heavenly Tabernacle, which is what John’s been called up into here, but I’d like us to focus today on the 24 elders, and how they lay their crowns before God’s throne and sing Him songs and worship Him…
These 24 elders, who represent the 24 divisions of priests who took turns leading worship at the Temple in Jerusalem, also represent all of those who’ve lived by faith in Christ: Those from among the Twelve Tribes of Israel who lived and ministered and preached in expectation of Jesus’ coming, alongside Jesus’ Own Twelve Apostles and all who’ve lived, ministered, and preached the faith since.

And these 24 elders – representative of all the saints who’ve gone before us into Heaven – are dressed in white (representative of Jesus’ righteousness that covers their sins) and they wear golden crowns that, as we’ve read, they lay before the throne of God when they worship Him.
There are two types of “crowns” in Revelation: There are “crowns” that represent victory called stephanos (like the victor’s crowns given to athletes in ancient times) and there are “crowns” that represent rulership called diademos (where we get the word “diadem” and they are like the crowns kings and queens wear).
The elders wear stephanos, crowns of victory.

Overcoming, achieving victory, is a big thing across Revelation. It’s a big thing everywhere. Nobody wants to be a loser. Everybody wants to win! (Have you ever played “King of the Mountain”? “King of the Mountain” is a game played on a huge pile of dirt, usually on a construction site. And everybody runs up the dirt pile to get to the top, but only one person gets to be “king”, so to do so you have to throw everybody else off! And the whole game is everybody trying to get to the top and, once there, to stay on the top.) So, if you’ve ever played “King of the Mountain” you know that there can only be one person at the top. And with the Olympics so recently behind us, we know that only one person gets the gold.
And here we have 24 elders all wearing “victors crowns”, because “victory” to God is very different than “victory” here in the world.

“Victory” in God’s eyes is achieved when a person works hard for the sake of the gospel – at school, at work, among your family or your community, here at church. “Victory” in God’s eyes is you and I patiently enduring opposition to our faith in Christ: People making fun of us, saying and doing hurtful things to us because we’re Christians. That’s “victory” in God’s eyes. When we don’t tolerate evil going on around us, if we can help it, that’s “victory” to God.
“Victory” in God’s eyes is our striving to keep our love for Him fresh and new; striving to do what we do on account of loving Jesus, that’s what “victory” looks like in God’s eyes.

“Victory” in God’s eyes is being loyal to Jesus, no matter what; obeying Him, no matter what; no matter what our family members or friends say or do, no matter what our schools or workplaces say or do, no matter what our government says or does.

And “victory” in God’s eyes doesn’t mean always getting it right! We can have “victory in Jesus” even while we’re messing up! Because “victory” to God is repenting, too. It’s admitting that we’re sinners, it’s acknowledging our sins, it’s asking forgiveness for those sins, being sorry, and then trying again to get it right next time. That’s “victory” in God’s eyes!
“Victory” in God’s eyes is not looking to our own purity or depending on our own righteousness or thinking we can understand it all just by working, studying, or trying harder. No, “victory” to the Lord is getting our purity from Jesus: No matter how broken or how dirty, Jesus can make us pure, if we come to Him. “Victory” in the Lord is knowing that our sin became Jesus’ sin on the cross, and that now Jesus’ righteousness has become our righteousness, if we believe. And “victory” in God’s eyes is our depending on the Holy Spirit to give us understanding about the things of God: Yes, doing our part to read and study and learn from those who know more than we do, but all the time knowing that only the Holy Spirit can light up our minds and make it all “click”!

And our reward, our “crown of victory” is sitting with Jesus on His throne, eating fruit from the Tree of Life, being absolutely forgiven and given a brand, new start, living knowing we are righteous in Jesus Christ, our name written with permanent-marker in the Book of Life, God protecting us from the times of testing and troubles coming upon the world, living as citizens of Heaven with God’s name and Jesus’ new name engraved upon us…
[Pastor Lifting up the bread…]
Feasting on bread from Heaven.
[Embracing the whole Table…]
Sharing a meal with Jesus as friends.

Worship Team: Would you come forward?
“Victory” in the world only goes to those who are the strongest, the fastest, the smartest, the richest, have the most influential family members or friends, the hardest workers, and the like… But in Christ everyone who’s faithful wins. Everyone who overcomes gets the “victor’s crown”! But Jesus gets the glory, and we lay it before Him as we worship Him: