by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
When John saw the vision of Revelation, there seems to be a reflection that reminds us of Sinai.<\/p>\n
“And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God<\/em>” (Revelation 4:5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We recall thundering, lightning, and voices at Mount Sinai as the children of Israel witnessed in great fear for their lives (Exodus 19). They were entering the introduction to the One Who was about to make a covenant with them. Here in the New Testament, the Jewish people had just been cut off from the covenant via their unbelief and Jesus’ death on the cross bringing that covenant to an end (Ephesians 2:15), but the New Covenant began with a divine display of power on Pentecost (Acts 2) with fire, not on the mountain, but tongues of fire on the heads of the twelve apostles. The covenant of Sinai with the twelve tribes and the covenant through the twelve apostles on Pentecost give us a representation before the great throne. These lightning, thundering, and voices remind us that the awesome Creator and Judge is to be held in reverent fear. His covenant is no trifling matter. The seven Spirits of God still richly supplied the fire of the seven lamps. In other words, the seven lamps were the spirits of the seven churches supplied not by their own supply of oil and fire, but by the oil and fire that God supplies within them through His powerful testimony.<\/p>\n
It was a fearful thing to stand at Mount Sinai before the Holy God, to see and hear the display of earth-trembling and authoritative voices. God reminds John and us that His covenant is more to be fearfully respected than all the frightening schemes of men to harm His church. The children of Israel trembled at the threat of Pharoah and His army, but a little while later at Mt. Sinai, there was experienced a deeper fear of God. We need to fear and respect God far more than we fear government and other earthly powers that threaten us.<\/p>\n
The Jews had (temporarily) the shadowy type — the golden lampstand — which would soon go out forever in the events about to take place, but the real lampstand with the oil and fire supplied by the Spirit through the seven Spirits are “before the throne<\/em>” where the light cannot be trampled by man and taken away. The voices were heavenly and the seven lamps were safely burning before the throne. The unbelieving (in Jesus) Jews were soon to see their whole system demolished, but John is invited up to see what is far more dependable and glorious. The future will be very gloomy for the enemies of Christ and His church, but hopeful for the church. The lightening, thundering, and voices at Sinai ushered in a hopeful time for Israel in the flesh, but the lightening, thundering, and voices closed the door to the whole system of fleshly Israel and signal that the Lord is well able to keep the light burning in His antitype lamps of fire that stand before the throne.<\/p>\n
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need<\/em>” (Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Those members of the church who stay connected to the throne of grace find themselves glowing with spiritual fire because they have a heavenly vision of the bigger and better picture. The dark things of the earth do not put out their heavenly light. Come up here and see how things turn out for the faithful! The same awesome God on the throne that carried Israel out of Egyptian bondage and rescued them from the fear of Pharoah’s army, is the same awesome God that will supply all our needs through all of earth’s turmoil. Come up here and see!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton When John saw the vision of Revelation, there seems to be a reflection that reminds us of Sinai. “And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God” (Revelation 4:5). We recall thundering, lightning, and voices…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[90,102],"class_list":["post-66011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-god","tag-revelation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":48124,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-the-hebrew-writer-contrast-mount-sinai-with-mount-zion\/","url_meta":{"origin":66011,"position":0},"title":"Why does the Hebrew writer contrast Mount Sinai with Mount Zion?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeffrey, I hope you are doing well. I have a question regarding Hebrews 12:18-29. Why does the writer use the example of the events in Mount Sinai (verses 18-21) and contrasts them with Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem and everything else in verses 22-24? What is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1369,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/observing-the-sabbath\/","url_meta":{"origin":66011,"position":1},"title":"Observing the Sabbath (Article)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton The first mention of the Sabbath day appears in Exodus 16. It is true that God rested on the seventh day after creating the world in six days. However, in the nearly 3,000-year record which was given in Genesis, there is no mention of mankind observing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17253,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-you-please-tell-me-where-i-can-find-all-the-requirements-of-the-new-covenant\/","url_meta":{"origin":66011,"position":2},"title":"Would you please tell me where I can find all the requirements of the new covenant?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would you please tell me where I can find all the requirements of the new covenant? Answer: It might seem overly simple, but the New Covenant is the New Testament. It is by reading it that you learn what you need to do. \"How that by revelation He made\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65996,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/theres-a-rainbow\/","url_meta":{"origin":66011,"position":3},"title":"There’s a Rainbow","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald\" (Revelation 4:3). He who sat on the throne \"was like\" jasper and a sardius stone in appearance. How\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7844,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happened-to-the-ark-of-the-covenant\/","url_meta":{"origin":66011,"position":4},"title":"What happened to the Ark of the Covenant?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question concerns the Ark of the Covenant. I once read and now finally have found a Bible chapter that says that the Ark of the Covenant was seen in the temple of God, in Heaven. This verse is Revelation 11:19. Many, many people are still searching for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13485,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-wrote-the-second-set-of-tablets\/","url_meta":{"origin":66011,"position":5},"title":"Who wrote the second set of tablets?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Context:\u00a0 Exodus 31:18 and 32:16 make it clear that God wrote the first set of tablets of the covenant.\u00a0 Moses broke those tablets (Exodus 32:19). 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