Glory to the Lamb

Well, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 4, the very end of our Bibles. Let me just say what an honor it is to be with you, to be with Keith and Lisa and the family. And I've known them for quite a while now. And Keith was even under me as he did his dissertation and so on. just to renew acquaintances and so on, to see Mark, Colin's family, and to Ben and others who have come through Southern. I mean, I've now been there almost a generation, right? And you feel older as time goes on. But pray for us, right? Keith did pray for us. Every generation must pick up the gospel, right? It's not passed on by osmosis. Every family knows this, right? Every church knows this, right? People easily drift, right? And what we desperately need is the work of the Spirit in our midst. We need leadership that loves God, fears Him, loves the Gospel, and truly regenerate people, right? I mean, that's what we need in our local churches, that we need in our seminaries, and we live in We live in challenging days, right? So we need each other's prayers. We need local churches. It's very exciting to be here as a local church that is trying to be faithful. That's where the heart of ministry is at, right? So as we work in the seminary, we're preparing people for local churches that reach the world. So glad to see faithfulness here. It's not always the case, but we're glad to see it here. So it's really a delight to be with you. Now we're going to look at Revelation four and five. Now that's a big section of scripture. We won't be able to deal with it in detail, but the reason we're looking at it as a whole is because it's one vision, right? So as you read scripture, it's important to keep the sections together to get a sense of it, right? If we fragment narratives, and in this case here, it's a kind of drama that unfolds. If you fragment them, you sort of miss the point. sort of pick a verse and sort of say, well, how does it fit in terms of the whole? And so Revelation 4 and 5 is a crucial vision in the entire book, and in some sense, it's a kind of culminating vision of all of the Bible. Because if you rightly understand the Old Testament and the promises of God and how they unfold through the covenants, everything of God's promises center in God, keeping his promises through his son, right, through the Redeemer. And of course, that's what we'll see here is the Lord, the Lamb, really the father-son relationship, in some sense, the whole work of the triune God in bringing about our redemption, right? So this is one glorious vision of this book, but really, culminating all of scripture, right, and bringing it all together. And so this weekend, those who were here in our time, we were looking at how the Bible fits and the Old and New Testament fits. Well, this is a kind of pulling your whole Bible together to see the glory of the Lord and the Lamb, and obviously the particular focus on the glory of Christ and the glory of the Lamb. And our goal and purpose is to renew our trust and confidence in God himself. I'm going to read Revelation 4, and then we'll just stop there, and then we'll pick up 5, but we need to have something of it flowing before we then begin to look at it specifically. So hear the word of the Lord as I read Revelation 4, and then we'll come back to it, and then 5. in a few moments, but here, God's word. After this, I looked. This is John. And there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. And once I was in the spirit, There before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian. A rainbow resembling an emerald encircled the throne and then surrounding the throne were 24 other thrones. And seated on them were 24 elders. They were dressed in white and they had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne, there was what looked like a sea, clear as crystal. In the center around the throne were Four living creatures. And they were covered with eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion. The second was like an ox. The third had the face like a man. The fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and covered with eyes around and under his wings. Day and night. They never stop saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come. Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits in the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne. And they worship him with love, worship him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say, you are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being. Well, the chapter will continue, right? but we will pray and ask the Lord to teach us from his word. Let's pray. Our great God and Father, we come before you as needy people this day. We thank you for the gathered church. We thank you that you are in our midst, as you have promised. And what we need is your spirit to take your word and to remind us again to show us again, to help us cast our gaze on you, the only true God who sits on the throne, and the Lamb of God who alone is Redeemer, Savior, and Lord. We desperately need to see you again afresh, see you anew, so that even this week, we might live lives for your name, for your honor. that we would anticipate the future even of the coming of the Lord and now even in our present lives live those who are confident in a very challenging age to live according to your promises, according to your word, putting you first and seeking to be salt and light in this very unsalty world. So help us to this end we pray and we ask this In Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. Now, I don't know if you know, I mean, some of you will probably know this name, and then of course, when you go back to the past, it always dates you, right? So, do you know the name J.B. Phillips? J.B. Phillips is a man of, well, he was actually born in 1906, so it goes back a while. Died in 1982. But Phillips was famous for a number of things. He was famous for a Bible translation, the Phillips. Translation of the Bible, a paraphrase, sort of like the Living Bible and so on. And he was also famous for a book that he wrote in 1952. So I know that's a little while ago. But he wrote a book to challenge the church. And the book was called, Your God is Too Small. Your God is Too Small. I wonder, in 1952, whether J.I. Packer you know, 20 years later or so, 1973, wrote Knowing God in some sense to, you know, to build on what Phillips did. I don't know if that's the case, but anyway, Phillips' book, Your God is Too Small, in the 50s, was writing to the church because he was concerned that the church was just basically going through the status quo. He looked around at the church in England, and he looked around at the church in the Western world, and he was deeply concerned that there was little passion for God, there was little knowledge of his word, there was compromise on every hand, that there was really zeal for, there wasn't really much zeal for evangelism in these areas, and so he began to say, right, and he began to write this book, the problem that we face is not resolved by bigger programs and more entertainment and whatever. What we need is to know God. We need to have a big view of God. We need to be renewed in our vision of God. We need to be reminded of who God is. Now that point never must be forgotten, right? That point is absolutely central, right? So you can almost say it's almost a kind of cliche, But it's very, very true, right? In terms of Christian theology and the Christian worldview, everything starts with God. You say, well, that sounds really obvious. Never forget it. God is the one who is worthy of our worship and praise and honor and glory. And apart from rightly knowing him, according to scripture, not according to your imagination, We have all kinds of views of God out there, but rightly knowing God according to his word is the pressing issue for the church today. We live in challenging days, right? And so 1952, Phillips was addressing his church, but do you think things have changed since 1952? No, I dare say it's worse. I was talking to Keith this morning just a little bit, I said, have you looked at The State of Theology poll that Ligonier and Lifeway have done, you know, since 2014 every two years. It's very interesting. It gives insights into a poll of around 3,000 people in the nation and then there's also a poll that they take in the United Kingdom so you can compare questions about theology in the larger population and then in the church, right? So you can click on that poll and you can separate from these 3,000 people those who identify as evangelicals in belief and in attendance. So you've got pretty close to those who are in our churches, right? And as you look at this It's very, very interesting. And the conclusion I draw from this poll is that we are in serious trouble. We don't know our Bibles. We don't know theology. So an example of this would be 99% of evangelicals who have belief and go to evangelical churches, 99% believe in the Trinity. And you say, that's pretty high, but 1% still not good. If you don't believe in the Trinity, you don't have the God of the Bible, right? And then you turn around and say, what do you agree about this statement? Jesus is the first and greatest created being. The answer you're supposed to have to that is no. Jesus is the eternal son of God, right? Yes, he took on a humanity, but he's the eternal son, the second person of the Godhead. So if you believe in the Trinity, right, he's God the son. But when you have that question posed before people, evangelicals who go to our churches and who believe as evangelicals, 14%, no, it's even higher, 53%, 53% say Jesus is the first and greatest created being. 14% deny his deity. He is a great teacher, but he's not God, right? So this is just simply to say we're facing some challenges here, right? And it's no wonder the church is aimless, drifting, right? The church is all over the place. That doesn't mean every local church. Obviously local churches can be very sound and solid, but generally speaking, I think what Phillips observed in his day is also true of our own. The solution to our lethargy, our lack of evangelism, our lack of prayer, our lack of zeal, our lack of knowledge of scripture, our lack of love for God and so on, is ultimately we need to renew our vision of God. That is our greatest need today. So how do we do that? Well, we return to Scripture. And we return to the whole counsel of God, but of course, we have to turn to specific portions of Scripture, and that's what we want to do in Revelation 4 and 5. There's really no greater place. I mean, you've got all the Scripture, but this one vision here, this culminating vision, will help us greatly. Focus on the Lord and the Lamb, the glory of Christ, the glory of the triune God, And as we look at this, my prayer is that you will not leave here without saying, God is great. God is worthy. God is holy. The Lamb of God is the only hope. So that I must believe. I must trust. I must have confidence in Him. I must live my life for Him. I must see His glory and fame be brought to this city this state, this country, and the world. That is what we want to look at today. Now, as we look at Revelation 4 and 5, Revelation 4, there's a lot going on in Revelation 4, but it really presents to us really the vision of the Lord on his throne. That's the main focus here. And it really sets the setting So there's a lot of things we'll see, there's actually four truths that we'll see from Revelation 4 about God. But it sets the setting to a drama, and that's what takes place in chapter 5. So there's going to be a vision of God that's presented to John that is so crucial to get in our minds so that we can then understand something of Revelation 5 and the drama that unfolds. And then in chapter five, we are presented with the Lord and ultimately now the Lamb of God, right? So you have both Lord and Lamb, Father and Son, right? As it works from Old Testament to New. The context of Revelation four and five, Sort of setting it in the book is obviously one to three. John is an exile. He's on the Isle of Patmos. He's the last of the apostles. Now, there's a whole discussion as to when the book of Revelation is written. There's all kinds of debates and it shows up in millennial debates. Is it written before 70 AD or after? I think it's written later. So I think it's one of the later books of the New Testament. John is the last of the apostles. And this vision comes to him primarily, right, as encouragement for the church. It sets God above all things. The Lamb of God is the Lord over Caesar and over the ruling peoples and so on, right? God is Lord. He is King. So no matter what happens in the political sphere that the church is facing, and of course in Revelation 1, the exalted Christ appears to John. And you see the incredible vision of the Lord Jesus, the ascended, risen Lord who rules over all things. And then these letters are given to the churches to encourage them to remain faithful, to warn them, to encourage them. So you have both commendation and warnings to remain firm, to remain true to the gospel, to remain faithful in their lives, to endure persecution. And this kind of encouragement then comes to the church in all ages. We live in the same era of redemptive history as John did, right? We live post cross and resurrection and Pentecost. We live in these last days that now have gone on for 2,000 years. But we need the same encouragement, the same warnings, the same truth to be emphasized to us that the Lord is on his throne. The Lamb of God is King of Kings. He's won the victory and he's coming again, right? And of course, the book of Revelation then flows out of Revelation 4 and 5. We'll see in chapter 5 that seals will be opened. And really, that then lays out the rest of the book. So this is crucial, crucial vision that presents God on his throne and the Lamb of God. Now, how we'll break this down, so if you're taking notes or something like that in your bulletin, we'll break this down because it's sort of one drama, one sort of vision. We'll put it in terms of plot movements. So it's moving to a kind of unfolding drama before our eyes. We're gonna treat chapter four as the setting, the context by which the drama then unfolds. So chapter four will be the first plot movement, the Lord Almighty on his throne. And then the second plot movement is chapter five, verse one. There's no chapter verse breaks, you know, in the originals here, so they would just flow right through. So verse 1 of chapter 5 gives you now a scroll, and that's going to set up a drama that unfolds. And then the third plot movement will give you, in verse 2 and 3, particularly verse 2, a challenge. We're going to see a challenge ushered to the entire world, the universe. And then we see the fourth plot movement, beginning really in verse five, the presentation of the Lamb. The Lamb is the one who meets the challenge, right? So chapter four will set the setting, a vision of God that has to be firmly ensconced before our eyes before we move to the scroll, and then move to the challenge, and then move to the Lamb who meets that challenge, right? Now, as we turn to chapter four, which we have read Already, we're going to look at this as an incredible vision of God. It's very parallel to Old Testament visions, Isaiah 6 and other places. But the significance of it, as I said, is it's setting the backdrop to the drama in chapter five. John, right, we read in verse one, is now called up into heaven, right? And so this kind of literature, the book of Revelation, is apocalyptic literature, right? It can do a lot of things that you don't normally do narratives and letters and so on. It can have symbols and it's visionary and so on. So as we read in verse one, after this I looked, and that's after everything that's transpired in chapters one through three, there before me was a door standing open in heaven and the voice I had first heard speaking to me, that goes back to chapter one like a trumpet, said, come up here and I will show you what must take place after this. So this coming up is in some sense, John now enters into the throne room of God. Now, is he doing it physically, right? Is he actually being transported? Probably not, it's probably visionary, right? Either way, I mean, Paul is transported and so on, but here is the means by which in verse one, John now sees God on the throne, sort of like Isaiah six, right? Isaiah goes into the temple and he sees the Lord high and lifted up. Now the question then becomes, as he now in visionary form is seeing God on his throne, what does he see? It's always important to ask that when you see the visions of scripture, right? What actually is described here, right? God is described, but how is he described? And there's four kinds of description. I mean, we could develop it more, but I think there's four truths that come through here. The first thing that John sees, he comes up into heaven, he sees as we see in verse two, and once I was in the spirit, there before me was a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it. So he sees a throne, he sees someone sitting on it, now what is the description? Well, in verse three, we have a description that I'm going to say, right, he sees God in some sense who's beyond description. We'll see how that is the case, but he really, as he looks at the throne, look at what he says in verse three. He's in the spirit, he sees him on sitting on it, and the one who sat there had the appearance, now he describes him in terms of precious stones. Jasper, Carnelian, and then he moves to sort of a rainbow encircling the throne, an emerald encircled the throne, and then he'll move to the elders and four living creatures and so on. But just in verse three, right, he looks up, and what does he see? He doesn't say, I see one who sits there who's so tall and so big, and you could draw a nice picture of this, right, and you could actually carve you know, cut a tree down and carve up an idol of this. The point is, and you see this all the way through the Bible, right? Think of Isaiah 6, right? Isaiah goes into the temple, he sees the smoke, and he sees the throne room, and what does he see? Of God he sees the hem of his garment. What's that saying to you? He's flat down on the ground, he's looking up, and all he sees is the hem of the garment, right? All of this, whether it's Isaiah 6 or Ezekiel 1, 2 and 3 or Revelation 4, all of this, especially in apocalyptic literature, is imagery to say that the God he sees can't be seen. The God he sees is beyond description. The God he sees is not in the category of anything created. That's the point, right? And that's, of course, runs through all of scripture. God alone is creator. God alone is Lord. God alone is spirit and invisible. And you don't see God. He's not just like a human. This is against all the idolatry of people that make God after the human image and so on. No, this God is beyond description. So as he comes up and sees these stones, you can imagine that it's almost like light is flashing. And especially when you combine this with lightning storms and so on, I mean, this would be just an awesome presentation of God, and the first thing he is seeing will push him back, right? Look at that. Stones, brilliance. He is the God beyond description who is unlike anyone else. And then you turn in further description to precious stones, which I'm saying is sort of beyond description, to what then surrounds the throne. So in some sense, you've moved from the God on the throne to what's around it. And what's around it, the purpose of this, is to enhance the God who's on the throne. So you have in verse four, and verse six through eight, you have description of thrones upon thrones. So in verse four, surrounding the throne were 24 other thrones. So you've got the throne, and then now you've got 24 other thrones. And on those thrones were seated 24 elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads, and so they are sort of unique beings themselves. And then halfway through verse six, around those 24 other thrones, you even have sort of concentric circles. I mean, in the middle of those thrones, you have four other beings. So in the center, you have four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back. The first living creature, like a lion, like an ox, like a man, Like a flying eagle, they have four, they have six wings covered with eyes all around and under, and then of course you have the praise of heaven, right? What's the point of this description? Well, when you think of thrones upon thrones, when you think of the throne of God surrounded by these beings, and I take these beings to be, and again, everything in the book of Revelation is disputed, so you have to realize that, I take these beings to be angels. So 24 elders are probably angels. The four living creatures from the Old Testament look a lot like the Seraphim and Cherubim. So they look like high ranks of angels. So in scripture, you have angels of different rank. You have higher angels, lower angels. Paul will speak about principalities and powers in terms of levels of angels and then demons and so on. So around the God's throne, you have ranks of angels. Why is that significant? They who surround the throne enhance the throne. When you think of angels in scripture, they're not image bearers, yet they're powerful creatures, aren't they? They're creatures who, literally, an angel is the one who is a messenger, who does God's bidding, right? God sends them out into the world and they exercise power and judgment, right? Think of Daniel, angels close the mouths of lions. Or think of in Hezekiah's time in Isaiah where the angel of death comes through and Sennacherib's army is brought to death. Angels are powerful. They're in some sense creatures of authority, aren't they? They do God's bidding. They exercise his will and so on, right? And so the point is is that the God on the throne is surrounded by creatures of power. creatures of authority, creatures of dignity. And the point of that is to say, if the throne of God is surrounded by such creatures, what must God then be like? You can have a kind of human illustration of this right now. This is a very, very poor human illustration, right? So I originally come from Canada. Canada is part of the British, Commonwealth. It used to have its great heyday, but no longer. We still have a figurehead queen, right? She's still hanging on to her reign and everything else, but at the height of the royal family and the height of their rule and reign, if you go back into history and think of kings and queens and so on, right? The common person, so if you go to Buckingham Palace, even today, right, I dare say if you show up in London, You go to Buckingham Palace, you're not going to be able to just sort of walk up to the front door, ring the doorbell, or knock on the door, and say, can I have tea with the Queen? No. She's a person of authority. She has rank. To get to the Queen, you've got to be somebody important. To get to the Queen, you're going to have to go through levels of servants and then sort of a pecking order. to have tea with the queen. Well, at the human level, right, we can see that people who have authority, right, have servants around them who have authority. We have something like that in Washington, D.C. and so on, right? Here's, I think, what's going on with the throne of God, right? The God in the throne has all authority. The God in the throne is not just merely the God beyond description, but he's the God who's the God of the universe. He's the God who, when he commands, his angels do his bidding. He's the God who is surrounded by creatures who have authority, but they, and you can see the worship of them as they bow down and lay their crowns before him. They are giving deference to him. All of that leads you to say, what must God then be like? When we are confronted by angels, we're scared. When we're confronted by God, we should be terrified. And that's the point that John is seeing, wow, this God on the throne is beyond description. He is the God who's surrounded by creatures of authority and power. What must he be like? He's above any earthly power. He's above any Caesar. He's above any Lord and so on, right? Now this is even further enhanced by a third kind of observation here. He's not only the God beyond description, he's the God of power and authority, absolute authority. But He's the God who is holy. And that comes through very, very clearly, obviously, in verse 8, where the creatures of heaven, day and night, even though they are unique in themselves, what do they do? They lay prostrate. They lay prostrate and say, holy, holy, holy. Now there's other features in the text that also emphasize this holiness. So it's not just in word, but the very description of the text gives you God as holy and unapproachably holy. So where do you see this? Well, you see this in verse five. Not only do you have these elders and thrones, but notice what's also surrounding the throne in verse five. You have a lightning storm. Right, so you have peals of thunder from the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Now in the ancient world, right, when you want to describe something that was frightening and awesome, you just spoke of it as a thunderstorm. Now if you've ever been in great thunderstorms, right, they don't always happen everywhere in the country. When I grew up in Canada, we had great thunderstorms, right, and you see the lightning just flash across the sky, and then of course you count, or you hear the sound, and then you see the lightning, you try to tie the two together to say, how close is this lightning strike? And then you have boom, bang, right? It just shakes you, right? Well, the point here is God's throne is surrounded by massive lightning and thunderstorm, right? What's the point of this imagery? He's a bit frightful. You're not gonna get to him easy. And then you add these other obstacles that are there as well. You have before the throne are seven lamps blazing. Now, regardless of what all the details mean, I mean, the imagery here is that there is a distancing effect between John coming up into heaven. So John is looking at the throne, but as he looks at the throne, the impression that you're getting is that God is far off. If this were the throne of God in terms of the podium, you don't get the idea that John's coming up into heaven and comes over to God and says, let me shake your hand. He is so far removed that he realizes that in order for me to get to the throne, I'm gonna have to go through a lot of obstacles. I'm gonna have to not only go through those four living creatures, those 24 elders, but I'm gonna have to go through a thunder and lightning storm? No way. I'm gonna have to go through seven lamps of blazing? I'm gonna have to go through a sea? Sometimes our translations have sea of glass, that's not the best, it's just sea imagery. Sea imagery in scripture is almost a kind of chaotic sense. God is ruler of the sea, and sea is that which is of turbulence, and all of this is imagery that is conveying God is removed. God is not close to John. John is seeing this at a distance, and what does distance convey? Ultimately, it conveys some sense of holiness. When we speak of God's holiness, right, this really gets us to the heart of what God is. Now, all of God's perfections, all of God's attributes are who he is. But there's something about holiness that is a kind of almost summary of all that God is. That's why you have three times holy, Holy, holy, right? This isn't just, you know, repetition for repetition's sake, right? This is the way that you describe from the Hebrew to the Greek, the superlative. We have no other description of God like this. We don't have, and God is a God of love and grace, but we never have anywhere that says love, love, love. But we do repeatedly have in scripture thrice holy, superlative. God in his very being is holy. Holy. Now holiness in his very being doesn't just mean, and it carries this idea too, it doesn't just mean separate. It doesn't mean just that he's distant, that's true. But holiness actually at its very core means God is sheer God. God is unlike anything else. And of course, that's what the rest of the description is getting at. He's beyond description. He is authority. But he's sheer God to be holy means that God is ultimately devoted to himself. God's name is holy. God's glory is holy. God is the highest being in the universe who receives all praise, all honor, all glory. And that's what these created beings are doing. They're bowing down before him. Now, when we think of holiness, we often convey it in terms of moral purity, and that is true too. But first, it's God is sheer God. Part of that is when you think of who God is, right? We think of him as independent, right? He doesn't need anything. Self-sufficient. The theological term for this is divine auseity. God has life from himself. You don't have that. You can't even take a breath without God sustaining you, right? But God has life from himself. God is the source and standard of everything, knowledge, He's the standard of rightness. Everything that conforms to his will and character is what is good. Everything that doesn't conform is unholy and is sin. And this is how God is presented as the Lord of the universe, holy, authoritative, right? Now, this is very, very important to get the drama that's gonna unfold, right? John can't get to God at all, right? There's no hope for John to get into the presence of God. But in Revelation 5, we'll just see in a moment, there's one who is holy. There's one who is worthy. There's one who comes right from the throat and is able to ultimately reconcile us to God, right? God is holy and that comes through very, very clearly. Now, if we don't understand this, and we don't appreciate God is sheer God and God is holy and God who is incomparable and God who is the standard of the universe in terms of truth and morality and so on, you'll never appreciate the gospel, will you? Christianity is a sinner's religion. What does that mean? You have to first see your lostness before you see the need for a redeemer. You have to first see that before this God, as Isaiah said in Isaiah 6, woe is me. Now that's who God is, but of course in our sin, we make God down to our level. We try to say, well, you know, my sin isn't as bad as you think. Even among some of those polls that we mentioned before, one of the questions is, well, people sin a little bit, but people are basically good, right? And about 20% of evangelicals say, yeah, that's the case, or 30%. Look, to understand the gospel, we have to first see God is God. You are not. You are fallen. There's no hope. for you to stand right before this God. You can't get into his presence apart from a Redeemer. And that is just bedrock. Of course, that's what the drama will move to. But then as he moves from holiness, verse 9 to 11, we see sovereignty. Sovereignty, and of course, the song of heaven first is the song of creation. The way the Bible describes God and all of his sovereignty is he's the creator. Now, he's always existed before creation, but God is creator and everything else is creation. And so we have these creatures in verse nine, whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him. who lives forever and ever. So these creatures of rank fall down. They worship. They fear him. They say, you are great. We are just creatures. They lay their crowns before the throne and say, and this expression is so important in chapter five, you, you alone are worthy. That worthy. Picks up everything. You are the God who created us. You are the God who is holy. You are the God who's full of worth. You are the God who you made us to know you, not the other way around. This universe is your universe, not ours. You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power. Why? Because you made us. You own us. We are your creatures. Whatever you say, we are to do. You are the creator and by your will they have their being. I mean, this is the great doctrine of God in creation, right? Establishes his worth, establishes who he is, right? This is the vision of God that is clearly placed before John. That has to be there so that we understand the drama. Now, as we move to chapter five, we still have to first ask, is this your God? How big is God, right? Is your God too small, right? We can make him very small, but this here is already saying, we must think of God in terms of scripture. We must think of God in terms of our own human constructions, in terms of our own imagination. We don't want your imagination, we want the God of the Bible. But this now moves to the drama, the second plot movement in verse one, then, flowing from this, seeing this God, who John is certainly far back, and seeing this glorious presentation, then I saw in the right hand of him, now if you're left-handed here, I apologize, but right hand is just another way of saying authority, right? My wife's left-handed, my son's left-handed, so nothing against left-handed people, but it's just a way of speaking here, right? So I saw in the right hand of him, who sat on the throne a scroll, It's interesting to see the description of the scroll, right? It has writing on both sides and it's sealed with seven seals. That's significant. We have to pause just simply to say, what is this scroll? Now, first it's in the right hand of him, right? Just think of that. Whose right hand is this? This is the God of authority. This is the God of holiness. This is the God who is the ruler of the universe. This is the God that you don't just waltz into his presence and say, hey, let me grab that scroll. No, no, no. It's there. You're not going to grab it easily. You're not even going to come close, right? And then it says here that has writing on both sides. Well, in this time period, right, they wrote on papyri, scrolls that then formed, and you never wrote on the backside of a scroll. Right, because they had strips on it, right, so it wouldn't work. So the only reason you would write on both sides of a scroll was either, right, you ran out of space and you were too cheap to buy another scroll. That's not the case here. Or this scroll is so important that you don't take the risk of putting it on a different scroll, the finishing of the material, because you could lose it. So it's all got to be kept together, right? So of course, it speaks of the significance of the scroll. Now, from the rest of the book, we know what the scroll is. We can basically say this scroll is God's plan for the universe. What does that plan include? Well, it includes salvation. Eventually, the book of Revelation will get to a new heavens and earth, right? So this includes the whole plan of redemption. This includes the dealing with our sin, justification, adoption, a new heavens, a new earth, the coming of a Redeemer, all of God's promises that come from the Old Testament and so on. It also includes within it judgment. We don't like judgment, but judgment in scripture ultimately is good because sin must be dealt with. So this scroll includes God is going to make things right. God is going to defeat sin and death. He is going to bring the judgment of human sin, and he is going to bring salvation for his people. That's what's bound up with this scroll. You couldn't get anything more important, right? And then it's sealed with seven seals, which means seven, it's completely sealed. You're not going to open it. That's the point. It's totally sealed up and of course the imagery here is just sort of like what we have with the will. Unless somebody dies and then the will then takes place, unless these seals are opened, none of God's purposes are going to happen. That's why eventually right down here you have the golden bowls of incense. the people of God laying out before God, they're saying, how long, O Lord, how long, O Lord? In some sense, in many ways, right? Bound up with this scroll is all of God's plan and all of God's promises. If this scroll is not opened, there is no salvation. God's promises are for naught, right? If this scroll is not open, there is no defeat of death. There is no resurrection. There is no God's enemies destroyed. Everything depends on the opening of this scroll. So the third plot movement now comes with a challenge. And what is the challenge? And this is an unbelievable challenge, right? Verse two, I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice. Now, why is it a mighty angel in a loud voice? Because there's no amphitheater. There's no PA system, right? I mean, this is just another way of saying this voice is so loud, everyone in the universe is going to hear it. So the challenge is not, you know, is escaped by some place that never heard the challenge. The idea is this voice goes out everywhere, right? And the mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, what does he now ask? Who is worthy? Worthy picks up from verse 11 of chapter four. God alone you are worthy. Now the challenge is who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll? The other way of saying this is who is holy enough? Who has authority enough? who is like God, who could go into the very presence of this God, who is surrounded by thrones and surrounded by storms, and go right into that presence, take out of that right hand, that hand of authority, that scroll, and bring about judgment, salvation, resurrection, new heavens and new earth. I mean, if we're really following scripture, right? Only God can do these things. Who is worthy to bring about God's sovereign purposes? If there's no one worthy, everything is lost. Now, don't run too fast, right? Verse four gives you first the answer, or at least how John is seeing this. We eventually get to Jesus. But the challenge of who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll, verse three must sit for us, right? You need to almost pretend like you're seeing this for the first time. Verse three, no one. No one in heaven or earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even peep inside it. Now that's quite a statement. You have to let it sink in. Obviously we're gonna get to Christ. But the first thing you have to realize, and this is the story of the Bible, isn't it? God is on his throne, God has made his promises, God is savior, God is judge, but who is gonna execute that plan? And the first answer that comes back here is there's nobody in the entire universe that can do it. And that is to say it. Now, what's surrounding the throne? Well, the four living creatures. Why don't they just come up and pluck it out? No angel can save you. Read Hebrews 1 and 2. No 24 elder can save you. No great figure from the Old Testament shows up. Where's Moses? Well, Moses never got in the promised land. Where's David? Well, all those figures of the Old Testament pointed to someone, but they can't save you. And no one, right, angel, human, anyone, and of course John's response is he is absolutely distraught. Verse four, I wept and wept, right? That emphasis there is, you know, if you have a child that maybe hurts themselves and they're just uncontrollably weeping, you've probably experienced that. I have five kids and all you can do is just hug them and hold them and hope they stop shaking, right? I mean, that's the imagery here. John is beside himself. Why? Because he realizes that if this scroll is not opened, All of God's promises are nothing. There is no life to come. There is no salvation and rightness with God. There is no judgment upon sin. Everything hangs upon this, and he's saying, oh Lord, who is going to bring about your purposes? And he is full of weeping. This isn't the existentialist weeping that says, oh, the universe is nothingness. No, this is the idea that, God, you made promises. Where are they? Are you gonna keep your word? Are you gonna be true, right? And then, of course, we come to the good news is John is just sitting there weeping, and uncontrollably so. Then one of the elders says in verse five, and this is the fourth plot, and you see the lamb, right? Then one of the elders said, don't weep, don't weep. John, there's no one worthy except one. And thank God there's one. No, he says, do not weep. See, and then look at the description, right? This is how it pulls together your whole Bible, right? See the lion of the tribe of Judah. The root of David has triumphed. Oh, John, now he knows the Old Testament, right? This brings back to him the entire promise plan of God. The coming of Messiah, the coming of the seed of the woman, the coming of the Abrahamic son, the coming of the one who comes from Judah, and David, all the areas of God's promises unfolded through those covenants. It's the lion, the triumph, the victor that he is now hearing about. Oh yes, your son. your anointed one he is worthy and he then looks right so the elder says he's able to open the scroll and at seven seals and then he looks and only revelation can do this he's looking to see a lamb or a lion and then he sees a lamb now you're not to think half lion half lamb It's just imagery, right? The lion is the lamb. The lamb is the lion, right? This picks up kingly themes of lion, and obviously priestly themes of lamb. The very Davidic king is the suffering servant. He is the lamb of God. He is the great high priest. And of course, the focus on the lamb, then I saw verse six, a lamb looking as if it's slain, standing in the center. That's really significant, even in verse six, right? This lamb, lion, this Messiah, this Lord Jesus doesn't come as an outsider. He's not transversing all of those, he comes right from the throne. This is another way of saying the Lord and the lamb are God equal with one another. He is the divine son who yes, took on our humanity. He became the lion of the tribe of Judah and the lamb of God, yet he is the eternal son of the father. the divine son who from the throne takes on our humanity and accomplishes our redemption. And how does he accomplish our redemption? He takes that scroll and he just enacts it. Of course, the whole plan of the gospels and the whole plan of salvation is tied to his life and death and resurrection. That's how all this enactment took place. And he will consummate it in the end. But he is now the one that John now sees. And of course, the emphasis on the lamb is very, very important. It's not enough to have just merely a king. We need a king, but we need a savior. This is where the lamb comes in, right? What's our greatest need? Think of it in terms of Revelation 4. Our greatest need is to be made right with the God of holiness. Our greatest need is to, think of the covenant. I am your God, you are my people, to dwell before God. We can't dwell before God. You can't come into God's presence. That's what's being emphasized in Revelation 4. What we need is atonement. We need a redeemer. We need our sin paid for. We need to be reconciled and justified and redeemed before God. And of course, that's the emphasis here on the emphasis on the Lamb. He comes from the center. He is the one who has a description already that is magnificent. Seven horns and seven eyes. He came and he takes the scroll, verse seven, out of the right hand of him. So he is worthy enough. He has holiness enough. He takes the scroll, and when he does so, which is the enactment of God's plan, what do all the living creatures do? They fall before him. And they say, worthy is the lamb, right? The bowls of the incense of the saints as they lay them before God. And they say, you are worthy, in verse nine, to take the scroll and to open its seals, why? because you died. The gospel is about a crucified king, and he must be crucified. He must suffer, right? The world doesn't understand this, right? They love triumphant kings, but they don't see their need for a redeemer. And here's the one who's worthy because he's slain, because with his blood he buys us, he purchases us. He does so to fulfill the Abrahamic promise, right? It's from every tribe and language of people and nation. And he makes us a kingdom of priests. And of course, but the kingdom of priests imagery here is that we will dwell before God. In Revelation 4, John's far from God. But what the lamb does is he makes us priests who dwell before God. And of course, how does the book of Revelation end? We dwell in the presence of the lamb. There's no temple there. There's a new heaven, there's a new earth, right? The dwelling before, all of that comes by the Lamb. And we will then reign with Him on the earth, right? We will be restored to the very purpose of why we were made in the first place. And then the worship of heaven. Angels upon angels, right? You think of Hamel's Messiah here at this point where he lays this out. Angels upon angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, verse 11. 10,000 times, this is just another way of saying the whole universe. They encircled the throne, the living creatures, and a loud voice they said, worthy is the lamb. God, you alone are worthy as creator. The lamb alone is worthy to open the scroll. Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. And then every creature, another way of saying the whole universe, under the earth, over the earth, on the sea, all that's in them, to him who sits on the throne, right? That's Revelation 4, right? The God who's there, but the God who's there can't be thought of apart from ultimately the Lamb, right? Father, Son, indeed Spirit. The one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever for living creatures, amen. And the elders fell down in worship. Now that's the vision of heaven, right? That's what John sees, right? He's on earth, he sees heaven. And on earth, oh, you got rulers, you got Caesar, you got petty tyrants, right? But above heaven is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The God who rules over all things, that's governing history, that has brought about salvation and judgment, and will consummate all those things in the end, who will be all in all. And how would this, not only lays out sort of the book of Revelation, but how would this encourage the church? They would say, we can keep on. We can look to Him. We could die for our faith and confidence in the Lord Jesus, and so what? We'll be with Him. He will restore all things. I mean, this is how the church lived, not in fear, not under tyranny, but in freedom to glorify God, to look to Him, to renew their confidence in Him. And of course, what's crucial in this is the centrality of the Lord, but the centrality of Christ, right? I dare say, as we need to renew our vision of God, bound up with that is renewing our love. and our vision of the Lord Jesus, right? We can't just give lip service to this Jesus, right? People all around you will talk about God in some fashion. Why don't you bring Jesus into the situation? They go, oh, I don't know. We have to present to them the Jesus who is God the Son, who is worthy, who alone can save, right? In a world that says, oh, there's all kinds of ways to God, no, no, no, no, no. There's only one way, right? God is who He is. The only Redeemer of God's people is the Son of God, right? There's no other way that we can be brought right with God. If you think that's the case, then you don't know God, and you don't know your sin. This one is the only Savior, and that's, of course, what's emphasized over and over again. He alone can open the scroll. He alone is worthy. That means, then, for us, at first, right, He must be my Lord and Savior. He must be first in my life. And secondly, right, then you live your life for Him in fear of Him, a proper sense of fear, of worship and devotion to Him. You don't fear man. You fear God. And you live then in confidence, obeying Him, serving Him, knowing Him that the victory is won and it's just a matter of time before there's a new heavens. and a new earth, and it's all to his praise, his glory. And then we will be, even now and in the future, singing with all the angels of heaven, worthy is the Lamb, to him who is on the throne, be praise and honor and glory forever. Well, is this true of you, right? It's gotta be true of me, right? In my life, right, I need to know God. I need to be renewed in who He is, to be reminded from Scripture. Our vision can get very, very blurry. And when it gets blurry, what happens? You drift. And when you drift, you buy into everything imaginable. And it then gets quite distorted in terms of the gospel. But if you have God before your eyes, the Savior before your eyes, you know the Holy God is, you're justified by the Redeemer alone, things become clear, right? And you don't drift by God's grace, you keep looking to him day by day by day. No matter what this world brings, we are on the winning side, right? He is the Lord and we can trust him and we look to eternity, right? What a glorious message, what a glorious God. He is worthy of our praise and honor and worship. May that be true of each one of us now, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this vision, this culminating vision, this glorious vision of you as our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, indeed even you as the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Oh, we need you. We need to know you. We need to not make you small. make you for who you truly are great and glorious, holy, sovereign, and gracious. Oh, may we be renewed even this day, even this week, to be your people living in the world called to know you and glorify you now and forevermore. And we ask this for our good, yes, but for the glory of the Lamb of God who is worthy. In Jesus' name we ask these things, amen.