Miss Nan

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Last Last week we learned about 3 of the 5 crowns or special rewards that Jesus will hand out at the Judgment Seat of Christ:
Crown of Life
Crown Incorruptible
Crown of Rejoicing

The last 2 are:
*Crown of Righteousness - for those who love Jesus’ appearing (2 Tim. 4:8) If a believer looks for and loves the doctrine of the return of Christ, it will affect his whole life. He will want to live a righteous life.
*Crown of Glory - for the God-called obedient pastor (1 Peter 5:4) We can also share in our pastor’s crown (Matt. 10:41). The believer who supports his pastor will share in his reward. The pastor is a man set aside by God and has a unique relationship to Jesus that we cannot fully understand. He gets his instructions for the church from the Lord.

These 5 special crowns will be handed out to a few at the Judgment Seat of Christ, but everyone who walks through the door to heaven will be wearing a crown (Rev. 4:4)

A review of the events beginning at the Rapture:
*Rapture of the Church
*Every believer receives a glorified body
*Service Records are reviewed at Judgment Seat of Christ
*Wood deeds are burned up
*Gold deeds are rewarded
*We are dressed in white linen gowns
*Crowns are on our heads

We are now ready to enter heaven. What will it be like? John got a glimpse and described One sitting on the throne and the beautiful colors he saw (Rev. 4:2-6).
The One sitting on the throne is God (Psalm 1:4, Psalm 47:8, Ezekiel 1:26) and Jesus will be at the right hand of the throne (Heb. 1:3).

John did not see God, but did see the glorified Christ and described Him (Rev. 1:13-15). The Jesus we will see when we enter heaven has white hair, glowing white face, penetrating eyes and shining feet, dressed in a long white linen robe with gold bands around His chest and thigh.

What will we do in heaven? We will be spending a lot of time worshiping and praising. It’s the only thing that we do on earth that we will also do in heaven - we need to practice now!

Around the throne will be 24 elders on seats or thrones (Rev. 4:4)
The reason for 24 could be because David divided the priesthood into 24 groups and each group had a representative (1 Chron. 24).

The 24 elders will be representatives of only the Church-Age believers (not Old Testament Saints) because:
*Old Testament saints will not be raised and given their glorified bodies until the end of the seven years. They will still be resting in Jesus at this point (Daniel 12:1-2).
*The Jews are earth people and will not have anything to do in heaven at this point. Their tour of duty begins at the millennium when the seven year Tribulation on earth ends.
*This time in heaven will be a special time for our Lord and His church. The elders are wearing crowns and we have already learned that the Church-Age believers will all have crowns.

Also, four beasts will be present (Rev. 4:6):
*They are God’s created beings who administer God’s government
*They praise God (Rev. 4:8)

We will enter into a great praise service. Our representatives will rise from their thrones and we will all fall down and lay our crowns at Jesus’ feet. (Rev. 4:10)

Another praise service next week!