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AN INTERACTIVE SUMMARY OF THE THRONE
The following paragraphs are presented as a summary of The Throne. The review questions are designed to facilitate a clear comprehension of the thesis statements contained in that document. Click on the answer of your choice to determine the level of progress you are making in understanding the major points presented in this summary. For your convenience a link to the entire document is provided at the end of this lesson.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21)
A throne is the place of authority, and of power depending on the size of its armed forces. Supreme decisions proceed from the throne, sometimes referred to as the "Crown."
Barring political pressures, the will of the person occupying the throne is performed throughout the kingdom that the throne governs.
One of the primary issues of the Kingdom of God is that of the throne. Whose will is going to be done in the earth—God’s or Satan’s? The struggle is between spiritual titans. Our personal will is of little significance except as we choose to serve either God or Satan.
We are required to settle this issue in our own personality. We choose to obey God’s will or Satan’s will.
Most Americans probably would reject both God’s will and Satan’s will, preferring to follow their own will. But this is impossible. As God stated in the beginning, human beings are dust. Today we have vastly inflated notions concerning our own significance and abilities, The truth is as God has said: We are dust.
We speak of our having a "free will." This is foolishness. No matter how much money we possess, how excellent our health and strength, no matter where we live or what possessions we own, there are but a few decisions we can make at any given time. This is because of the social and environmental constraints on us.
God has placed us on the earth to test our character. He permits only a few choices at any time, and the purpose of these is to determine whether we are worthy to inherit the coming Kingdom of God.
Sometimes we decide to cast off His restraints. God’s response is to laugh at the ridiculous spectacle of the "ants" on the ground lifting up themselves to perform some great feat. Then we are stricken with cancer, a heart attack, a stroke, or one of our children develops leukemia or is abducted, and we realize how precarious our existence actually is.
The fool has declared there is no God. Satan invites us to be as he is, our own god. Satan does this so he can govern us, knowing our ultimate frailty. Thus we flop helplessly through our vain existence.
The wise individual will recognize the vanity and frailty of human existence. We are a proud show today and return to dust tomorrow. The wise individual will seek his Creator in the hope of obtaining a dependable foundation in the midst of the shifting sands—Someone who is faithful and true and can be counted on not to change. He makes seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness the first priority of his life.
He pursues the Kingdom of God, which is the will of God. He sets aside his own will, dies to his own will so to speak, that he might come under the supervision of Another who is wiser and stronger than he. In this way he finds peace in a chaotic world.
Review Question#1. Please click on the answer you think is correct.
Identify one of the primary issues of the Kingdom of God:
a. saving a lost and dying world.
b. whose will is going to be done in the earth—God’s or Satan’s?
And he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; (Isaiah 11:3)
Not judging by what we see with our eyes or deciding by what we hear with our ears. is an extremely important characteristic of anyone who is called to sit with Jesus Christ on His Throne. This means we are judging and deciding on the basis of what we are hearing and seeing with the Lord. We always are performing God’s will because His will is our chief delight.
I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. (Psalms 40:8)
In order for the Throne of the Lord Jesus Christ to be established in us we must choose to step down from the throne that is in us. We must choose to deny our self-will, our self-centeredness, our self-love. God sends suffering and imprisonment upon us to help us abandon our self-will. There cannot be two kings of our personality.
The issue facing God’s people today is whether they will take their gifts and ministries and go forth to "save a lost and dying world," or whether they will take up their cross of self-denial and look to Jesus for every decision.
But notice that the Lord said "I will give the right to sit with me on My Throne." This means after the Lord is certain His will has been created us, that we are delighting to do His will and are not judging by what we see with our eyes or deciding by what we hear with our ears, but are looking to God for every decision great and small, then the Lord permits us to sit with Him on the Throne of our own personality.
We understand therefore that there are numerous kings, numerous thrones, numerous crowns, but all of these are but reflections of the one King, the one Throne, the one Crown. This is the Kingdom of God which soon is to come to the earth.
After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." (Revelation 4:1)
What takes place after Christ and we have been established upon the Throne of our own personality? A door stands open in Heaven. The Lord told us if we would abide in Him and He in us we would bear much fruit, and we could ask whatever we wished and it would be given to us.
So it is that if we will permit Jesus Christ to dine with us and we with Him there will be a door open for us in Heaven and we will be able to "see" what will take place in the future. It is the Lord’s will that all of His believers have the spirit of prophecy, for this is the testimony of the Lord Jesus.
Review Question #2. Please click on the answer you think is correct.
Why would God send suffering and imprisonment upon us?
a. God does not allow His children to suffer because we are the "King’s Kids."
b. to help us abandon our self will. There cannot be two kings of our personality.
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD— And he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; (Isaiah 11:1-3)
The spirit of wisdom.
The spirit of understanding.
The spirit of counsel.
The spirit of power.
The spirit of knowledge.
The spirit of the fear of the Lord.
The spirit of delight in the fear of the Lord.
Perhaps these are not the seven spirits of God, but this is my present understanding.
Whoever would rule with God must have wisdom. He or she must hear from God so as to know what to do in a given situation.
Whoever would rule with God must have understanding. How often religious people lack understanding. The Pharisees who criticized the Lord for healing on the Sabbath lacked understanding of God’s intention in instituting the Sabbath. Modern-day preachers who claim infants will be hurled into the Lake of Fire because they have not believed and been baptized, or that people who never have heard the Gospel will be assigned to the Lake of Fire because they did not "accept Christ," lack understanding of the Gospel message.
They may have knowledge of the Bible but they do not understand God’s intentions.
Whoever would rule with God must be able to counsel people who have a problem finding God.
Whoever would rule with God must have power. During the thousand-year Kingdom Age the saints will enforce obedience to Christ with the rod of iron.
Whoever would rule with God must know what has been true in the past, what is true in the present, and what will be true in the future.
Whoever would rule with God must fear God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, as we know. In our day in America, because of the ignorance and vanity of the populace, the fear of God has become a mark of shame. It is as though only a fool would fear God. The truth is, an individual who does not have a wholesome fear of God is the fool.
Contemporary pride prefers reverence to fear. This bias appears in some modern translations. It now is acceptable to reverence God but not fear Him. However, reverence and fear are not at all synonymous. People are not moved by reverence, ordinarily, but most people will act when they are frightened.
If a person is standing on the tracks when a train approaches he will jump off the tracks as soon as he can. He is not moved by reverence but by reasonable fear.
So it is with God. When we have a realization of the awful power of God we have a reasonable, wholesome fear of God. Those who do not are either ignorant or foolish, or both.
Those who would rule with God must delight in the fear of God. God loves those who delight in practicing righteousness. God loves a cheerful giver.
Too often in religion we find people who will refrain from sinning but they would much prefer to be drinking, gambling, and fulfilling their lusts without restraint. God, being a king, will put up with their grumbling, their misery in having to practice righteousness, for just so long. Then He will send on them a strong delusion until they are wallowing in the lusts of the flesh while believing they have God’s approval.
The spirit of delight in the fear of the Lord is, I believe, an important member of the seven spirits of God.
It is easy to see that God’s kings, those who sit with Christ in His Throne, must have these seven spirits if they are to govern the nations successfully throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
Review Question #3. Please click on the answer you think is correct.
Is there a practical difference between reverence and fear?
b. no, the difference is minimal and only a matter of semantics.
... In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." (Revelation 4:6-8)
These are the four Cherubim of Glory that express the Nature of God. The number four is symbolic of communication. Since we cannot readily view the One seated on the throne, God has provided the Cherubim of Glory so we can understand more clearly the personality of the Lord.
The fact that the cherubim are covered with eyes tells us that God sees everything of the past, the present, the future. God has perfect knowledge of all things, all events, and all relationships. God always sees everything taking place in our life.
Sometimes it is taught that God does not see the behavior of those who have received Christ. God always sees our deeds, but He forgives our sins and rebellions provided we are obeying the Spirit of God in the slow, thorough work of sanctification.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13)
Whoever would sit on the Throne must be a lion. He must be a conqueror, having overcome through Christ every device that has come against him or her.
Whoever would sit on the Throne must be an ox. He must be willing to carry heavy burdens of work and responsibility over a long period of time.
Whoever would sit on the Throne must be a man. He must be characterized by the fruit of the Spirit, by the moral Nature of Christ.
Whoever would sit on the Throne must be a flying eagle. No matter how great the pressures on him become he must continually soar in the heavens as he waits for the Presence, will, way, wisdom, and strength of God.
Review Question #4. Please click on the answer you think is correct.
Does God see the behavior of those who have received Christ?
b. yes, but only our good deeds since the blood of Jesus prevents Him from seeing our misbehavior.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)
If we would understand the Kingdom of God we must move past the concept that we are saved to go to Heaven to live in a mansion. It is true rather that we were purchased that we might serve God as His kings and priests, that we might sit on the thrones that govern mankind on the earth.
It appears to me that the primary purpose of the Church Age has been to call out the future kings and priests of the Kingdom of God. At the same time there has gone out the invitation to everyone on earth to believe and be baptized in order to be saved when the Lord returns to set up His Kingdom.
One can see in the New Testament the elementary steps necessary to obtain deliverance from wrath. But then we read of the extraordinary demands on the royal priesthood, such as offering our body as a living sacrifice.
It always is appropriate to shine the Gospel light in the darkness of this world that whosoever will might come to Christ and be saved.
But if the Kingdom of God is to come to the earth, God’s rulers must be conformed to the image of Christ. Change into the image of Christ entails a discipleship that includes the need for the patient endurance of tribulation and afflictions.
Every saint can tell of the years of patient endurance as the Spirit of God has searched out every idol, every rebellious spirit, every nuance of thought, word, and deed. As Paul said, we must count all as garbage that we may gain Christ; that we may attain to the early resurrection which is out from among the dead.
Every member of the priesthood is blessed and holy. Over such the second death retains no authority whatever. This is because through Christ they have obtained deliverance from the behaviors over which the Lake of Fire always holds authority.
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)
The idea that we as the Lord’s saints have been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ in order that we might govern the nations of the earth needs to be restored to the churches. Otherwise we are perpetuating the myth that God has saved us so we can spend eternity in Heaven, living comfortably in a mansion, doing nothing of significance.
God desires that the nations worship Him and learn of His righteous works. God’s desire can be met only as a royal priesthood is prepared, a priesthood that continually—every moment of every day—is worshiping and serving the slain Lamb.
God has opened a door in Heaven that we might gain entrance to that holiest of all places where He is worshiped by His elders and the four Cherubim of Glory. Let us hasten through that door and remain there for the remainder of eternity.
Review Question#5. Please click on the answer you think is correct.
Why have the Lord’s saints been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ?
a. to spend eternity in Heaven, living comfortably in a mansion, doing nothing of significance.
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Source Document:
Copyright © 2002 Trumpet Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
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