There is a Higher Throne

There is a Higher Throne - Keith and Kristyn Getty, 2002

There is a higher throne than all this world has known,
where faithful ones from ev'ry tongue will one day come.
Before the Son we'll stand, made faultless through the Lamb;
believing hearts find promised grace: salvation comes.

Chorus:
Hear heaven's voices sing; their thund'rous anthem ring
through em'rald courts and sapphire skies; their praises rise.
All glory, wisdom, pow'r, strength, thanks and honour are
to God, our king, who reigns on high, forever more.

And there we'll find our home, our life before the throne;
we'll honour him in perfect song where we belong.
He'll wipe each tear-stained eye, as thirst and hunger die;
the Lamb becomes our Shepherd King: we'll reign with him.

The Questions of Pain, answered through Revelation 4:1-11
Where was God when we were so terribly wounded? (4:1-3)
God never leaves His throne - he is always ruling, never absent, never feeble. He is where he was when his Son died. Not getting off throne for Son's death, not getting off throne for our suffring - threrefore there is a reason for the suffering.

If God speaks to us in our pain, what is he saying? (4:4-6)
This is not the way it always was. This is not the way it is meant to be. Our hope is that it is all going to end - at the gathering of the redeemed.
"God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain, it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world" CS Lewis, "The Problem of Pain"

What can we do even while we and others suffer? (4:7-11)
We need to be reminded of, or tell it - that Our God Reigns. in our suffering, just out of suffering, just going into suffering, Our God Reigns.