I believe we all were impressed from the previous chapters that in the Christian life and in the church life we need a clear sky with a throne in it. We all need such a life, a life with a clear sky which has the throne of the Lord in it. To have a clear sky indicates that we have no clouds between us and the Lord. It means that our conscience is void of offense—we have nothing between us and God and nothing between us and others. To have the throne means that we are under the ruling of the heavens. We are not free to go where we choose or to speak what we please. We are under His ruling.
In this chapter, we will consider the One Who is sitting on the throne (1:26-27). As we have seen before, He looks like a man, but He is the Lord. On the throne He looks like a man. This is absolutely different from the human and religious concept. Most of the time our concept is that the One on the throne is the almighty God. Have you ever considered that the Lord on the throne is not only the almighty God, but also a man? The One who sits on the throne is a man! Yet, the following verse says that this is the appearance of the glory of the Lord (1:28). He looks like a man on the throne. Most Christians do understand that when the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was a man. They realize that from the time He was in the manger in Bethlehem to the time He was on the cross at Golgotha, He was a man. He was fully a man. But, they may never have considered that the Lord Who is on the throne today is still a man. He is a man. Although He is the Lord, the almighty God, on the throne He looks like a man.
I must repeat that God's intention is to have a man. God desires to have a man. Even He Himself became a man, and today on the throne He is still a man. People want to be like God, but God wants to be a man. Some Christians are always dreaming of being like God, but God desires to be like man. God's intention is to work Himself into us, making us like Him, and even the more, making Himself like us. He became a man, and He is still a man on the throne. We must be impressed that He is a man! In the book of Ezekiel, the term "son of man" is used over ninety times, indicating how much God desires to have a man.
We must also see that God's intention is to work upon man in order that man can be on the throne. We would perhaps be satisfied to go to heaven, but God will not be satisfied for us merely to go to heaven. God will not be satisfied until we are on the throne. Have you ever been told that God's intention is to bring you to the throne? Some Christians might say that as long as they could stand inside the door of heaven they would be satisfied. This might satisfy them, but it will not satisfy God. Until He brings us to the throne, He will not be satisfied. God's intention is that all of us would be on the throne. In Revelation 3:21, the Lord Jesus promised the overcomers that they would sit upon His throne even as He overcame and was sitting on the throne of His Father. The Lord Jesus was saying that He became a man, and as a man He went to the throne. God's intention is to take us to the throne. God's kingdom can never come in full until we are on the throne, and God's enemy will never be subdued until we are on the throne. God's goal is not merely to deliver us out of hell, but to bring us to the throne.
This is wonderful. But, we must look at our present condition. We are sloppy and loose. It seems that in this country to be modern is to be sloppy. Young people buy a good pair of pants and then cut them off to increase their looseness and sloppiness. This kind of looseness comes from Hades. I am very happy to see that many so-called hippies have been saved. But, I feel very sorry for the hippy Christians. They have no human sensation of how to behave themselves. Even when they sit, they sit in a sloppy way. It seems the more they are relaxed and sloppy, the better. Yes, the Lord is going to take you to the throne. But are you ready to be on the throne? When you arrive at the throne, will you sit there in your sloppy way? I am not for the forms in formal Christianity, but neither am I for today's looseness and sloppiness. If you mean business as a Christian and a disciple of the Lord Jesus, you can never be loose and sloppy. I do believe that when the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was never loose and sloppy. He never behaved Himself in a loose way. Some of the young people have no conscience and no sensation of how to have a proper human life. They are like birds in the sky with no sensation of how to be a proper human being. How can they be on the throne?