Fireworks are displays of stupefying light and sound. Do you look forward to seeing them? But, a fireworks show comparable to the happenings of heaven does not exist. There has never been a laser light show equal to the light and energy emanating from the Throne of God. Men have tried with various words to describe the awesome center of the universe.  None of them satisfy. Until we see the Throne for ourselves, the best we have is the Bible’s description.

Ezekiel 1:26–28
26 And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. 27 Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.

ILLUSTRATION: Why Thomas Aquinas Stopped Writing

Thomas Aquinas, a medieval theologian, created one of the greatest intellectual achievements of Western civilization in his Summa Theologica. It’s a massive work: thirty-eight treatises, three thousand articles, ten thousand objections. Thomas tried to gather into one coherent whole all of truth. What a great undertaking: anthropology, science, ethics, psychology, political theory and theology, all under God. On December 6, 1273, Thomas abruptly stopped his work. While celebrating Mass in the chapel of St. Thomas, he caught a glimpse of eternity, and suddenly he knew that all his efforts to describe God fell so far short that he decided never to write again. When his secretary, Reginald, tried to encourage him to do more writing, he said, “Reginald, I can do no more. Such things have been revealed to me that all I have written seems as so much straw.” Firm in his resolve, he wrote not another word and died a year later ¹.

• When talking about the awesome-ness of God – human words will not do. The only thing that will do is God’s own Words; the Words that He uses to describe himself. That is the reason why, we are going to be reading a great deal of scripture. There is just not enough human words to describe it.

God’s Personal Persona Gives Us a Clue about the Throne

• God’s Persona is totally earthshaking!

Exodus 19:10-19 (NKJV)
10 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. 11 And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. 13 Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.”14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. 15 And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.” 16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.

• Sinai was a mountain 7000 feet tall! – that’s more than a mile high mountain!
• The mountain was completely engulfed in smoke – on fire – and shaking because God put His foot on it.
• This sight was so awesome that it even shook Moses.

Hebrews 12:18 – 21 (NKJV)
18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” 21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”

• This is the God that you pray to everyday!

God’s Fire Nature Also Describes the Throne

• God is a literal fireball

Ezekiel 1:26 – 28 (NCV)
26 Now above the dome there was something that looked like a throne. It looked like a sapphire gem. And on the throne was a shape like a human. 27 Then I noticed that from the waist up the shape looked like glowing metal with fire inside. From the waist down it looked like fire, and a bright light was all around. 28 The surrounding glow looked like the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day. It seemed to look like the glory of the LORD. So when I saw it, I bowed facedown on the ground and heard a voice speaking.

Revelation 1:10, 12 – 16 (NCV)
10 On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard a loud voice behind me that sounded like a trumpet. 12 I turned to see who was talking to me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands 13 and someone among the lampstands who was “like a Son of Man.” He was dressed in a long robe and had a gold band around his chest. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like flames of fire. 15 His feet were like bronze that glows hot in a furnace, and his voice was like the noise of flooding water. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword came out of his mouth. He looked like the sun shining at its brightest time.

• God is Light! (1 John 1:5)
• He is light because He is a flame of fire
• God is the same everywhere He is
• You are what you are everywhere you go.
• God’s persona is evident when He sits down on the Throne.
• God is a fire rumbling – fire shooting out God.
• The Throne has fire shooting out from it.
• The Throne of God is not the place for disrespect.
• The Throne is not the place for irreverence.
• The Throne is not the place for dishonesty, thievery and sin.

God’s Throne Reflects His Own Personna

• Your home reflects who you are.
• Conservative/ Flashy/ Sophisticated – it all shows in your dwelling, in your clothes, and in your tastes.
• Your character displays itself in the environment of your house.
• If you your mean, full of doubt, or loving, it will show up in the atmosphere of your home.
• Solomon’s Throne reflected who he was.

1 Kings 10:18 – 20 (NCV)
18 The king built a large throne of ivory and covered it with fine gold. 19 The throne had six steps on it, and its back was round at the top. There were armrests on both sides of the chair, and each armrest had a lion beside it. 20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any other kingdom.

• His throne was extraordinary. No kingdom had one like it.
• It doesn’t hold a candle to God’s Throne.
• God’s Throne reflects who God is.

Daniel 7:9 – 10 (NCV)
9 “As I looked, thrones were put in their places, and God, who has been alive forever, sat on his throne. His clothes were white like snow, and the hair on his head was white like wool. His throne was made from fire, and the wheels of his throne were blazing with fire.10 A river of fire was flowing from in front of him. Many thousands of angels were serving him, and millions of angels stood before him. Court was ready to begin, and the books were opened.

• No doubt about it, God is a fire
• No doubt about it, His Throne is awesome!

Psalm 97:1 – 5 (NCV)
1 The LORD is king. Let the earth rejoice; faraway lands should be glad. 2 Thick, dark clouds surround him. His kingdom is built on what is right and fair. 3 A fire goes before him and burns up his enemies all around. 4 His lightning lights up the world; when the people see it, they tremble. 5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

The Throne of God Is a Place of Reverence

• Don’t get on the wrong side of the flame
• Some ungodly men make the mistake of getting on the wrong side of the flame.
• All of men’s doings are before the Throne.
• He sees them all.
• Korah got on the wrong side of the flame.

Numbers 16:1–3, 28, 31–33 (NCV)
1 Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On turned against Moses… 2 These men gathered two hundred fifty other Israelite men, well-known leaders chosen by the community, and challenged Moses. 3 They came as a group to speak to Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far. All the people are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. So why do you put yourselves above all the people of the LORD?” 28 Then Moses said, “Now you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things; it was not my idea…31 When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men split open. 32 The earth opened and swallowed them and all their families. All Korah’s men and everything they owned went down. 33 They were buried alive, going to the place of the dead, and everything they owned went with them. Then the earth covered them. They died and were gone from the community.

• Kora wasn’t the only one who got on the wrong side of the flame. Remember, Ananias and Sapphira?
• They lied about giving in Acts 5 and paid the ultimate price.

Hebrews 12:22 – 29 (NCV)
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands of angels gathered together with joy. 23 You have come to the meeting of God’s firstborn children whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people who have been made perfect. 24 You have come to Jesus, the One who brought the new agreement from God to his people, and you have come to the sprinkled blood that has a better message than the blood of Abel. 25 So be careful and do not refuse to listen when God speaks. Others refused to listen to him when he warned them on earth, and they did not escape. So it will be worse for us if we refuse to listen to God who warns us from heaven. 26 When he spoke before, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once again I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once again” clearly show us that everything that was made—things that can be shaken—will be destroyed. Only the things that cannot be shaken will remain. 28 So let us be thankful, because we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We should worship God in a way that pleases him with respect and fear, 29 because our God is like a fire that burns things up.

• KJV has the translation of verse 29 as ‘a consuming fire.’
• God is a consuming fire. It is never wise to abuse grace.

The Ultimate Description of The Throne

Revelation 4:1 – 11 (NCV)
1 After the vision of these things I looked, and there before me was an open door in heaven. And the same voice that spoke to me before, that sounded like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit, and before me was a throne in heaven, and someone was sitting on it. 3 The One who sat on the throne looked like precious stones, like jasper and carnelian. All around the throne was a rainbow the color of an emerald. 4 Around the throne there were twenty-four other thrones with twenty-four elders sitting on them. They were dressed in white and had golden crowns on their heads. 5 Lightning flashes and noises and thundering came from the throne. Before the throne seven lamps were burning, which are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne there was something that looked like a sea of glass, clear like crystal. In the center and around the throne were four living creatures with eyes all over them, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion. The second was like a calf. The third had a face like a man. The fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of these four living creatures had six wings and was covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. He was, he is, and he is coming.” 9 These living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever. 10 Then the twenty-four elders bow down before the One who sits on the throne, and they worship him who lives forever and ever. They put their crowns down before the throne and say: 11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, because you made all things. Everything existed and was made, because you wanted it.”

• God spends an entire chapter describing the Throne and the goings on thereof.
• He must think this knowledge is important for your life.
• There is no one idle at the Throne.
• There is no foolishness and evil speaking at the Throne.
• There is worship
• There is adoration.
• There is reverence.

Call to Action:

“I was born to a woman I never knew and raised by another who took in orphans,” says author James Michener. “I do not know my background, my lineage, my biological or cultural heritage. But when I meet someone new, I treat them with respect. For after all, they could be my people.” Living in the shadow of God’s fire nature ought to spur you to live conscious and respectful of Him. When we approach His throne, we ought to do it with respect because, after all, we are His people.

Question: When you come before the Throne, what are you conscious of? Please share your comments, in the comments section below.