They Cast Their Crowns

From Isaiah 45:
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not
return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in  the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are
incensed against him shall be ashamed.

From Genesis 37:
And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated
him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his
brethren: and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream
which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose,  and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him,
What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

Psalm 2:
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set
themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed,
saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in
the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in
his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten  thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.  Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Revelation 4:
After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one  sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round
about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and  they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth  for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and
were created.

   Abram refused to take so much as a shoestring from the king of Sodom, by way of reward. After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou  hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came  unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou  be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he
counted it to him for righteousness.

After these things, the “birth right” was passed from father to son, by default, falling to the first born. The one precious seed who was to come, of course, was Christ. It is Christ who was to be, and is, the heir of all the promises of God. Esau, who was Isaac’s first born, and so, heir of the birthright and the blessing, despised and gave them up, to satisfy a momentary craving. Jacob, who obtained the birth right from Esau, by conspiracy and deceit, lost both, when the heir and seed Himself, appeared and was manifest in the flesh.

Esau refused to wait for it, Jacob handled it, and rejected it:

From John’s first epistle:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

From John’s gospel:
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

From Joseph’s sheaf and star, rejected of his brethren, to the Hebrews (the people) and the gentiles raging together in vanity before the  throne, and the Son on it, to the apostle John, declaring that all flesh, like that vain person Esau, has rejected the promise, to the throne of Revelation 4, The vision is clear. The world, though made by Him, did not know Him. The Hebrews (the people), though promised Him, ( I am thy  exceeding great reward), refused to receive Him, upon handling and examining Him. The promise nevertheless being sure, a people, as the stars of heaven, were born to the seed of Abraham. But not of  Abraham’s flesh, not to any blood line, nor of the will of any man. The heavenly nation of joint heirs, are the people born of God. For only they receive Him. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

In Revelation 4, you see Joseph’s dreams fulfilled, you see the oath of God of Isaiah 45 fulfilled, you see Psalm 2 revealed and fulfilled, you see the riddle of John’s gospel fulfilled. A people, neither Jew nor  gentile, yet co heirs of the power to become sons of God, and so, reveal how God Himself could be Abraham’s  reward.

The 24 seats of elders, round about the Christ, are the patriarchal tribes of Jacob, and the dukes of Edom (Esau) in abject prostration at the throne of the everlasting Father, the Son who overcame, and all who similarly over come, and are sat down together with the heir and firstborn. To that which they rejected, both in Esau, and later in Jacob, will they bow the knee and wag the tongue. Their sheaf, their word, their “crown” fell well short of the mark.

Find yourself standing upright in Joseph’s superior word and sheaf, find yourself seated together with the Son in Psalm 2, find yourself sitting upon the throne of Revelation 4, or forever resign yourself to what might have been. How do you “find” yourself in these? Faith. A flower without pollen, has no future. Recieve, in faith, power to become. Jesus said “I come quickly, and my reward is with me…”. When you received Him, you received your reward, according to all the promise of God to faithful Abram, “I am Thy exceeding great reward”, both now, and to come. For in the ages to come, your reward will be what you did with the reward you received when you believed on Christ, a measure containing the fullness.  Jesus did not say sit about idle, and wait for your reward. He said store up for yourself , YOU store up for yourself, treasure in heaven.

A crown that can be cast, is not a crown to be desired. It is an admission of error. If you believe the kingdom of God is administered through a system of elders, you are living in a myth. All the authority of the kingdom is on that one throne, and invested in them who by reason of over coming, beginning with the first born, sit with Him in it.