Contents 
Front Matter The Story of a Beautiful Garden The First Baby in the World and His Brother The Great Ship That Saved Eight People The Tower That Was Never Finished The Story of a Long Journey How Abram's Choice Brought Blessing The Angel by the Well The Rain of Fire That Fell on a City The Boy Who Became an Archer How an Angel's Voice Saved a Boy's Life The Story of a Journey after a Wife How Jacob Stole His Brother's Blessing Jacob's Wonderful Dream A Midnight Wrestling Match The Rich Man's Son Who Was Sold as a Slave From the Prison to the Palace How Joseph's Dream Came True A Lost Brother Found From the Land of Famine to the Land of Plenty The Beautiful Baby Who Was Found in a River The Voice from the Burning Bush The River That Ran Blood The Night When a Nation Was Born How the Sea Became Dry Land and the Sky Rained Bre The Mountain That Smoked and Words That Were Spoke How Aaron Made a Golden Calf and What Became of It The Tent Where God Lived Among His People How They Worshipped God in the Tabernacle What Strong Drink Brought to Aaron's Sons The Scapegoat in the Wilderness The Cluster of Grapes from the Land of Canaan How the Long Journey of the Israelites Came to an What a Wise Man Learned from an Ass How Moses Looked upon the Promised Land The Story of Job The Story of a Scarlet Cord How the River Jordan Became Dry The Story of a Wedge of Gold How Joshua Conquered the Land of Canaan The Old Man Who Fought Against the Giants The Avenger of Blook and the Cities of Refuge The Story of an Altar Beside the River The Presnt That Ehud Brought to King Eglon How a Woman Won a Great Victory Gideon and His Brave Three Hundred Jephthah's Rash Promise and What Came from It The Strong Man: How He Lived and How He Died The Idol Temple at Dan and Its Priest How Ruth Gleaned in the Field of Boaz The Little Boy with a Linen Coat How the Idol Fell Down Before the Ark The Last of the Judges The Tall Man Who Was Chosen King How Saul Saved the Eyes of the Men of Jabesh The Brave Young Prince Saul's Great Sin and His Great Loss The Shepherd Boy of Bethlehem The Shepherd Boy's Fight with the Giant The Little Boy Looking for the Arrows Where David Found the Giant's Sword How David Spared Saul's Life The Last Days of King Saul The Shepherd Boy Becomes a King The Sound in the Treetops The Cripple at the King's Table The Prophet's Story of the Little Lamb David's Handsome Son and How He Stole the Kingdom Absalom in the Wood; David on the Throne The Angel with the Drawn Sword on Mount Moriah Solomon on This Father's Throne The Wise Young King The House of God on Mount Moriah The Last Days of Solomon's Reign The Breaking Up of a Great Kingdom The King Who Led Israel to Sin The Prophet Who Raised a Boy to Life The Prayer That Was Answered in Fire The Voice That Spoke to Elijah in the Mount The Wounded Prophet and His Story What Ahab Paid for His Vineyard The Arrow That Killed a King Elijah's Chariot of Fire A Spring Sweetened by Salt The Pot of Oil and the Pot of Poison The Little Boy at Shunem How a Little Girl Helped to Cure a Leper The Chariots of Fire around Elisha What the Lepers Found in the Camp Jehu, the Furious Driver of His Chariot Elisha and the Bow; Jonah and Nineveh How the Ten Tribes Were Lost The First Four Kings of Judah The Little Boy Who Was Crowned King Three Kings and a Great Prophet The Good King Hezekiah The Lost Book Found in the Temple The Last Four Kings of Judah and the Weeping Proph What Ezekiel Saw in the Valley The Jewish Captives in the Court of the King The Golden Image and the Fiery Furnace The Tree That Was Cut Down and Grew Again The Writing upon the Wall Daniel in the Den of Lions The Story of a Joyous Journey The New Temple on Mount Moriah The Beautiful Queen of Persia The Scribe Who Wrote the Old Testament The Nobleman Who Built the Wall of Jerusalem Ezra's Great Bible Class in Jerusalem The Angel by the Altar The Manger of Bethlehem The Star and the Wise Men The Boy in his Father's House The Prophet in the Wilderness Jesus in the Desert, and beside the River The Water Jars at the Wedding Feast The Stranger at the Well The Story of a Boy in Capernaum and a Riot A Net Full of Fishes The Leper and the Man Let Down through the Roof The Cripple at the Pool and the Withered Hand The Twelve Disciples and the Sermon on the Mount The Captain's Servant, the Widow's Son, and a Sinn Some Stories Jesus Told by the Sea "Peace, Be Still" The Little Girl Who Was Raised to Life A Dancing Girl and What Was Given Her The Feast beside the Sea and What Followed It The Answer to a Mother's Prayer The Glory of Jesus on the Mountain The Little Child in the Arms of Jesus At the Feast of Tabernacles The Man with Clay on His Face The Good Shepherd and the Good Samaritan Lazarus Raised to Life Some Parables in Perea The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man Jesus at Jericho Palm Sunday The Last Vistis of Jesus to the Temple The Parables on the Mount of Olives The Last Supper The Olive Orchard and the High Priests Hall The Crown of Thorns The Darkest Day of All the World The Brightest Day of All the World The Stranger on the Shore The Church of the First Days The Man at the Beautiful Gate The Right Way to Give, and the Wrong Way Stephen with the Shining Face The Man Reading in the Chariot The Voice That Spoke to Saul What Peter Saw by the Sea How the Iron Gate Was Opened The Earliest Missionaries The Song in the Prison Paul's Speech on the Hill Paul at Corinth Paul at Ephesus Paul's Last Journey to Jerusalem The Speech on the Stairs Two Years in Prison The Story That Paul Told to the King Paul in the Storm How Paul Came to Rome and How He Lived There The Throne of God The City of God

Story of the Bible Told for Young and Old - Jesse Hurlbut




The Throne of God


You remember the apostle John, "the disciple whom Jesus loved." When John was an old man, he was made a prisoner by a cruel emperor of Rome, and was kept in a little island called "the isle of Patmos," which is in the Ægean Sea, not far from Ephesus. While John was shut up on this island the Lord Jesus Christ came to him, and showed him some things which were to come to pass.

John on the Isle of Patmos

JOHN ON THE ISLE OF PATMOS


It was on the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, when suddenly John heard behind him a loud voice, as loud as the sound of a trumpet. He turned to see from whom the voice came; and then he saw seven golden candlesticks standing, and among them One whom John knew at once as his Lord Jesus Christ. Yet Christ, as he saw him, was far more glorious than he had been while living as a man on the earth. He was dressed in a long white garment, with a girdle of gold over his breast; his hair wand his face were so shining that they seemed as white as snow; his eyes flashed like fire; his fet were like polished brass, glowing as a furnace; and his voice sounded like the rushing of a mighty torrent of waters. In his right hand were held seven stars; and a glory came from him brighter than the sun.

When John saw his Lord in all this splendor, he fell at his feet in great terror. Then he felt the right hand of Christ laid upon him; and he heard his voice, saying:

"Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the Living One. I was dead, and now I am alive for evermore. Write the things which you have seen, and other things which I will show you, and send them to the seven churches in Asia. The seven stars which you see in my hand are the ministers of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks standing around me are the seven churches."

Then the Lord gave to John the words of a letter which he commanded John to write to the seven churches in that part of Asia, of which churches that at Ephesus was the first. To each church was to be sent a different letter, the word of the Lord Jesus to that church, praising it for some things, and rebuking it for others. When these words had been given to the churches, John saw a door opened in heaven; and he heard a voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying to him, "Come up to this place, and I will show thee things that shall come to pass."

Then at once John was taken up to heaven, and he saw the throne of God, and One sitting upon it whom he could scarcely see for the dazzling glory around him. And over the throne was a rainbow of many colors. Around the throne were twenty-four old men, the elders of the church, dressed in white, with crowns of gold on their heads. Out of the throne came lightning, and thunder, and the sound of voices. Before the throne was a sea of glass like crystal, and beside the throne were four strange living creatures, each having six wings. And these living ones were saying "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, which was and which is, and which is to come."

And then the elders would fall down and worship him who sits on the throne, and lay their crowns at his feet, and say, "Thou art worthy, O God, our Lord, to have the honor, and the glory, and the power; for thou didst create and make all things."

Then John saw in the right hand of the One sitting on the throne a book, in the form of a roll, written on both sides, and sealed with seven seals. And a mighty angel called out with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals?"

And no one in all the heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book or to loosen its seals. Then John began to weep, because there was found no one worthy to open the book or even to look upon it. But one of the twenty-four elders spoke to John, saying, "Weep not; see, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, he who came from David, has won the right to open the book and its seven seals."

Then before the throne, and among the elders and the four living creatures, John saw standing the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, with the wounds of the cross upon him, in hands, and feet, and side. He came and took the book from the right hand of the One who was sitting on the throne. And as he took the book the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders, all fell down before the throne. Each held a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, such as was used in the Temple, as a sign of the prayers of God's people. And hey all sang a new song, with the words:

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to have the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing."