[AI translation] The ascension of Jesus, or as I like to say: The invisibility of Jesus into that other-dimensional, invisible, divine world invisibly turns the attention of the congregations celebrating today - including ours - towards heaven. Yes, we are doing what the disciples did on that day, of whom we read in the account, "they fixed their eyes on heaven". Heaven! Mysterious world! Can the human gaze penetrate there? Perhaps a very little bit... This grandiose vision of the Apostle John, which I have just read from the Book of Revelation, is like a window opened through which, with the gaze of faith, we can peer into the invisible world of God and glimpse something of its glory beyond human words. That is why the apostle speaks of it only in symbols, that is, he does not describe what he sees, but rather only gives a sense of it. So let us listen to him!Behold, he sees an "open door" leading to heaven. Since the first man committed the first sin, heaven and earth have been separated, heaven has been closed and has moved away from man to an unreachable distance. The old idea was that the heavens were a wall of brass that shut out the glory and happiness of the heavenly world from the underdog. All efforts were in vain, the ore gate would not open... That is why the appearance of Jesus on earth is of such great significance, because His person, His divine-humanity, is the "opened gate". With His birth on earth and His return from earth to heaven, the gate was opened and remained open: heaven opened on earth! And the apostle now, in a spiritual rapture, enters it...
He sees heaven as an immense, impenetrable throne room, like the sanctuary of a vast temple. The first thing he sees in it is a throne, on it sits Someone, but the one sitting on it is invisible to John himself, he does not even dare to say his name, but he knows who it is: God himself, the Father Almighty, Who created heaven and earth. How different this vision is from any other human idea of God! Not a bearded old man, leaning on the clouds, but the ineffable, invisible, one and eternal Sovereign Himself, in His majestic and unchanging serenity! As I said: he does not even say his name, he only describes his effect, he has no features or form, only the colours of the phenomenon. In appearance, it resembles jasper and sardine stones, or in modern language, diamond crystal and ruby. It emits a stream of snow-white and purple light. The old world understood the word 'light' more than we do. For them, light was goodness, truth, power and sound. The "body" of divinity. So this diamond-like stream of snow-white and ruby-like crimson light was an expression of the holiness and truth of God. God himself is the unadulterated holiness and the judging truth. This holiness and truth reveals all sin, it burns! Just think of the horrifying fact that we stand before this God every time we pray! And it is before this God that we will stand at the last judgment. And it is this same shining light from God that the song says: "Thou art all-pervading, let thy life-giving blessed Spirit shine upon me. As the little flower unfolds itself, on it when Thy silent light falls..." Oh, how thrilling it is to bathe our souls in this light! "And around the royal throne was a rainbow". And it was an emerald, or green rainbow. It's like a shining partition that keeps us from getting too close to the throne, and encourages us to go before it, because the rainbow was a sign of God's covenant of grace in the Old Testament. So in this divine revelation we have everything that is capable of terrifying the sinner and comforting the believer!
Around the throne are 24 chairs, in which sit 24 elders dressed in white robes, that is, in the garb of a high priest, with golden crowns on their heads, in all probability personifications of the 24 hours of the day, who go before the face of God and bring and carry the time! The space between the elders and the one seated on the chair is filled with thunder and lightning, emanating from the royal throne, representing the awesome power of God. Thus the thunder and lightning of God's presence on Mount Sinai at the time of the giving of the law... This means that the presence of God is a mystery tremendum, a holy mystery that shakes the heart and soul, that cannot be intimately known, but only prostrated and praised! That is why the Book of Psalms, the most beautiful prayers of true believers, contain so many praises to God! Praising God is not a priestly multiplication of words, but a sense of the sublime fact that I stand in the presence of God. So the highest prayer, when the soul no longer asks anything, no longer complains, no longer begs - in exaltation the soul is the only resounding echo of the radiant glory of God!
The perspective of the throne is a sea of glass like crystal. Today we would say: molten brilliance... It surrounds, like an island, the palace of God. This image widens the whole spectacle immeasurably and makes it grandiose. A sea of glass: not, then, one that is constantly moving, undulating: it is motionless, still, still. So, again, all is glory, all is splendour, all is peace and tranquillity, all is power and grandeur! This is the sea of life flowing from God... I am reminded of a beautiful old hymn I learned as a Sunday school boy in Kecskemét: "Oh, how beautiful and glorious will be one day, when the heavenly home will welcome me, free from sin." The queen of Sheba, when she saw the dazzling splendour of King Solomon, "was breathless" (2 Chronicles 9:5-6). Is it not true that the real great life is still ahead of us!
Another picture: around the throne stand four so-called "animals with souls", some kind of living creature, mysterious throne-keepers. Their faces resemble the lion, the bull, the eagle and the angel. Here, this similarity may be an illustration of the forces of nature. It means, in the language of Revelation, that God is Lord over all. Lord over the four worlds, that is, over space. He is Lord over the four seasons, and therefore over time. Lord over power (the lion), over procreation (the bull), over imagination (the eagle) and over reason (the angel). The image is an illustration of the omnipotence of God, a symbol of the total, the cosmic whole. These are the same mysterious beings whom Ezekiel calls the cuckoos, the angels who are closest to God. All are at His service and through them God works in the world. They are those who bring the whole fullness of God's life into the universe, and who represent the whole fullness of the life of the universe before the throne of God. In modern language, this means that behind all that science calls natural law, force, life, there is in fact the mighty, purposeful work of God.
At the end of the chapter, the apostle describes an incredible tribute. He sees these four spirited beasts 'ceasing day and night to say this: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the God who was, and who is, and who is to come. And when the living creatures have given glory and honour and thanks to Him Who sits on the throne, to Him Who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him Who sits on the throne and worship Him Who lives for ever and ever, and set His crowns before the throne, saying, 'Worthy are You, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for You created all things and for Your will they are and were created." (Revelation 4:9-11) How wonderful: down on earth, in the noise and confusion of sin and finite life, men either forget the glory of God or even blaspheme it; up in heaven, infinite beings praise the Lord of heaven and earth with uninterrupted adoration! What a great privilege for the struggling church on earth to sing in this heavenly choir! Do we think of this when we sing or pray? Have we any idea of the company we are in?
Knowing God, praising God, worshipping God, is going out of fashion. It's not modern enough! Well then: let us not be ashamed of our God! Let us not be ashamed of our God in front of those who smile at him: they too have their gods, such as money, weapons, machines, power, love, wealth... Well, we have a god like that! So powerful and so glorious that we can only speak of Him in such images and symbols! Because all these things that are written here: only images! Who can describe in human language, in human terms, what heaven is like? Is it really as it is described here? No! When we get there ourselves, it will not be like this. But these images are not what is important! The throne, the sea of glass, the palace, the diamond, the soulful animal: these are all images from our human imagination. The reality of God's world is very different from the symbols we see of him. For it is precisely that the apostle expresses in human terms the inexpressible. So that there may even be contradictions between the individual images.
The meaning is: kneel before the Lord! Let us try to imagine something of how unimaginably great, mighty, glorious God is! From His hand comes all that is. All human glory and dominion is pitifully small compared to Him! Behold, they who see Him face to face and know Him: thus do they worship Him. Let us on earth join Him in this homage. Let us not be weary of praising His glory and giving thanks for Him!
Yes, it's good to stop and gaze up to heaven sometimes... But not to stand idly by and marvel at the grandeur of the hereafter. But in a way, and for the same reason that sailors once looked to the North Star: to gauge their course, their bearings in the endless sea. Yes, we look to the heavens too, but only to get our bearings on earth. To find our bearings on this earth, to determine and find the right direction for our service to this world and to mankind, and ultimately to reach our desired destination, let us look to heaven! Yes, it is into this heaven that our Lord Jesus has entered, invisibly entered as a way-opener! But his way led him there through self-denying service, suffering, death and resurrection for the sake of men. To follow him is the only way we can follow him. "What are you standing here looking up to heaven for?" is the angelic message that comes to us from time to time. The earthly ministry is waiting, the world is waiting, people are waiting, work is waiting, life is waiting, let us go on and ask together:
Our faithful shepherd, lead your orphan flock,
In this earthly maze, show us the way;
In thy holy footsteps we go to heaven,
O immortal Word, our guide, our Master.
(Canto 229, verse 1)
Date: 7 May 1970, Holy Thursday
Lesson
ApCsel 1,3-12