In the last chapter we saw that above the heads of the living creatures there was a clear firmament, a clear sky, that was expanding and yet exceedingly stable. The sky above their heads was so clear that it was terrible to look upon. Now we must see another point. Above this clear sky was a throne. We need to consider the meaning of the throne and to apply it to our experiences.
Please remember that we Christians need to maintain a clear sky with the Lord, meaning that we need always to have a clear fellowship with the Lord. We should have nothing between us and the Lord. Our sky must be crystal clear. This means that our conscience is clear and void of any offense (Acts 24:16). If we would have a clear sky, a crystal heaven before the Lord, we must have a pure conscience, a conscience without any offense. Whenever we have a particular condemnation or offense on our conscience, immediately our sky becomes cloudy, darkened, and foggy. At such a time we must confess our failure and our sin to the Lord and apply His precious blood (1 John 1:7, 9). This will give us a cleansed, pure conscience, a conscience void of offense. We will then have a clear sky and clear fellowship with the Lord. There will be nothing between us and the Lord. Sometimes a very small matter, such as a poor attitude toward our wife or husband, can cause us to have a cloud in our sky. Perhaps she is wrong, but our attitude is also wrong. Our poor attitude brings a cloud and a shadow into our sky. Right away our joy is gone. We have no peace and no anointing to pray. It even seems as if there is some kind of disease within us. Our conscience begins to condemn and bother us. What is this? This is the loss of a clear Christian sky. This is the loss of a clear heaven. We no longer have a clear heaven because something is between us and the Lord. It may remain for several days until we are forced to go to the Lord and to ask His forgiveness for our bad attitude toward our wife. By the Lord's anointing, we have the sensation that we also need to go to our dear wife and confess and apologize. This is difficult, because it is hard for a man to lose his face before a woman. We have confessed to the Lord, but now the Lord says we must go to our wife and confess. Because we consider ourselves to be a man and we hate to lose our face to a female, we would insist on not going and confessing to her. This causes us to suffer. We do not have a broad, smiling face and we cannot talk about anything with joy. When people ask us, "What is wrong?" we say, "Nothing," but really that is not the truth. In fact, there really is something wrong; there is a problem between us and our Lord. It is not only something between us and our dear wife, it is also a cloud between us and our Lord. Eventually, because we have lost the Lord's presence, we are forced to go to our dear wife and confess to her and apologize and ask her forgiveness. Praise the Lord! Right away the weather changes. Immediately the cloud is gone and the clear sky returns. Something within is once again living and jumping and we can shout, "Hallelujah!" We have a clear sky once again. We have the firmament like the terrible crystal over the heads of all the living creatures. All the living creatures are under such a clear sky. This kind of experience must be our daily life and also must be our church life. Every local church must be like this.
Whenever we have such a clear sky in our Christian life and in our church life, we will also have the throne. Above such a clear sky is the throne (1:26). The throne is the center of this universe. The throne is where the Lord is. We may talk about having the Lord's presence, but we should never forget that with the Lord's presence, there is always His throne. Where the Lord is, there His throne is. Where His throne is, there He is. We can never have His presence apart from His throne. We know that the Lord's throne today is in the third heaven, but the Lord's throne is also within our spirit. As Christians in the local churches, we all have to be under a clear, crystal, extensive sky. We all need a clear sky. Above such a clear sky is the throne of the Lord. By having such a clear sky, we are spontaneously brought under the government of the throne. We are under the rule and reigning of the throne. We Christians should be always under this rule. Do we need policemen and law courts to rule over us? If so, this means we are not under the throne. Day and night we need to be under the throne of the Lord. Sometimes, we want to say a certain thing to others, but our sky is not clear and the throne is before us. From that throne comes forth some ruling. As we start to speak, even as the words come to the end of our tongue, the throne exercises the ruling and we are forced to swallow all the words. Sometimes we become angry with our wives and our temper rises, but the throne is before us. Right away our temper goes down. Our temper is changed into a "Hallelujah!" While we are being tempted to give our wives a long face, the throne comes in and we are forced to smile. Who rules over us? It is not even the teachings of the Bible that rule over us—it is the throne. In our Christian life and in our church life, if our sky is clear, the throne will be there. But if our sky is cloudy and full of darkness, we will not see the throne. When we do not see the throne, we will be able to be loose and to do many things according to our own taste and convenience. This means there is no clear sky and no throne. Because we are under darkness, we can be loose. We can speak what we want to speak; we can express what we want to express; we can go where we desire to go. But a person who is under the throne cannot behave in that way. A person under the throne has no choice. In one sense, because we are saved we are really liberated, but in another sense we are under the throne and have no liberty. Many times I wanted to go to the department store, but when I arrived at the entrance, I could not go in because of the throne. Sometimes I forced myself to go into a few of the stores. Nevertheless, I dared not look around because the throne was still ruling. Then I told the Lord, "Lord, let me go this one time." It seemed as if the Lord said, "Okay, you go ahead." But then for three weeks I could not pray properly. I lost my clear Christian sky. That was a real punishment from the Lord to me. I said, "Lord, You gave me permission." But the Lord said, "Yes, I gave you permission—to lose My presence. I will take away My presence from you for three weeks." Then I said, "Oh Lord, I just apply your blood." But the Lord replied, "Don't play with Me. My blood is not that cheap. Don't play with Me." Praise the Lord for the clear sky! Praise the Lord for the throne! Hallelujah! Above our heads is the firmament and above the firmament is the throne.