Revelation 4 Part 1 – Are You Ready

Continuing the verse-by-verse journey through Revelation, Pastor Wes Denham opens chapter 4, where the apostle John — exiled on Patmos — hears a voice like a trumpet calling, “Come up here.” Pastor Wes identifies this single phrase, “after these things,” as one of the most pivotal transitions in all of Scripture. It marks the shift from the church age described in chapters 2–3 into the prophetic events still to come, and signals what he believes is the moment Christ gathers His church to Himself before the tribulation begins.

To unpack the imagery, Pastor Wes walks through two cultural lenses every first-century Jew would have recognized. He explains Rosh Hashanah — the Feast of Trumpets — with its shofar blast, opened temple door, and in-gathering of the righteous. He then traces the Galilean wedding tradition: a covenant presented by the groom’s father, gifts exchanged, a shared cup, the groom departing to prepare a place in his father’s house, and groomsmen later “flying” the bride to her new home — every detail mirrored in John 14 and 1 Thessalonians 4.

Drawing on 2 Peter 3, Pastor Wes turns the prophecy into a personal challenge. He notes the rising scoffing of Christ in American culture — the casual blasphemy, the celebration of what was once condemned — and reminds the congregation that Peter answered such mockery with a question about character: what manner of persons ought we to be? He asks listeners what they would change if they knew Jesus were returning in eight months, urging immediate confession, repentance, and a life set apart while the church still waits at the door.