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Bro. Bill Nichols
Okay. Is that about the right amount of volume? And you were tapping on that one. Okay. So everything is working. Somebody, is this your coffee? I was going to say, I looked up and I saw one. I knew it wasn't mine.
Yeah, I saw that and I said, I'll bet that's whose it is. I'm sorry, my vertical? Vertigo. I don't know, I'm sitting down. When I go vertical, I'll know. Is that why it's called vertigo? Okay, I'll wait for them to get in.
We're not in any great hurry. This is a reasonably short chapter and I think I'll get through with it. I think there's only, there's 13 or 14 verses in the entire chapter, chapter 5. We finished, we finally finished 4.
We'll go quicker through 5, I think. The Carpiacs are still missing. Yeah, they may be resting in. We ready to go? Okay, I'll get started and we'll let people join in at the proper time. We're going to begin with chapter 5, verse 1.
And I saw the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside and sealed with seven seals. Let's take a moment for prayer. Most gracious heavenly father, thank you for this day.
Thank you for this place that you've given us to come together to worship you and to study your holy word. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your son and thank you for the holy spirit to guide us and teach us and show us the things that you want us to know.
We trust everything to you. In Jesus name we pray, amen. So, first thing I wanted to do is look at something that I didn't see the first time through and I may be wrong about it. So you guys straighten me up if I have seen something that is incorrect.
What did John see? Well, that's easy, he tells us. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. So he sees someone on the throne, he sees a book, he sees it written inside and outside.
So who sat on the throne and what did he look like? Well, that's pretty easy too. If you'll turn back one chapter to Revelation four, verse three, let's see what he looked like. And he that sat on the throne was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone.
Well, a jasper is kind of like a diamond. It may be like a colored diamond. A lot of people interpret that, translate that word to be a diamond. And a sardine stone is like a ruby, red, a garnet. And there was a rainbow round about the throne likened to an emerald.
So what we have is something that looks clear like a, clear like a, I was distracted by people coming through. I'm sorry, clear like a diamond, yes. Red like a ruby and surrounded by a green rainbow. That is weird is all I can say about that.
But that's what John saw, he said, that's what it looked like. A jasper stone, a sardine stone and a rainbow, a green rainbow around it. So my question is to you, who was it that John saw sitting on the throne?
Well, let's see what Revelation says. Look ahead in chapter five just a bit to Revelation chapter five, verse six. And I want to once again say, I may be wrong. I'm not wrong in what I'm reading. What I'm reading is right.
What I think I see might be wrong. And I beheld and low in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God.
Now, who is this lamb that he sees? Okay, that's what I thought. I said, that's gotta be the lamb as it had been slain. That's gotta be God the son. That's got to be Jesus Christ. So he sees the lamb standing there as it had been slain, having seven horns at the power, all powerful and seven eyes.
That's all seeing and seven spirits. That's the Holy Spirit with him of God sent forth into all the earth. And he, that's the lamb, came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne.
Now that's, there's a whoops there, isn't there? That would be the lamb is taking the book from the right hand of someone sitting on the throne. So John, that's what I presumed, that that would be God the father.
Now, the question remains, what exactly is it that John saw when he looked at this throne? We've got a description kind of of what John saw. John had a problem describing what he saw and he's gonna have a problem describing it all the way through the scripture, what he sees, because what he sees is not things that you normally see.
If we would expect to see in my mind's eye, the first time I did revelation, I saw a man sitting on that throne that was clear and red, shining like stone. I could see like a brilliant flashing man sitting there.
Now we've got another question hidden back in the weeds and what is that? No man at any time has seen God, right? Well, what about Moses? Did he see God? He saw the burning bush. He saw the mountain glowing.
He saw the backside of Jesus, whatever that means. Plus, if you've seen the son, you've seen the father, but is the father a man like Jesus? See, that's the thing. I think I saw when I looked at that throne, looking at his description of like a jasper stone and a ruby with a rainbow, a green rainbow around it, I kind of saw a man sitting there.
I saw a perfect man. I saw better than a perfect man. I saw, in my mind, I saw Jesus, but then I read again and I said, well, no, Jesus is the one that's taking, it's out in front of the throne, taking the book from the right hand of the one that's on the throne.
So that's gotta be something a little bit different stirred up here. The conclusion I came to, and again, I'm gonna say one more time, remember Acts 17 11. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, and they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
This is your job to figure that out, to determine if the conclusion I've come to is a reasonable conclusion. I'm thinking not a manlike entity, not a superman, not a super, superman, not a man even more superman than God, than Jesus rather, but maybe just a collage of colors, maybe just red lights and transparent brilliance, like a diamond, all kinds of light coming out of it, surrounded by an emerald.
Maybe what was seen there was just a collection of colors, and that would fit like what we have seen when we look at God and say someone has seen God. Can you think of any other times when somebody saw God or saw anything about God?
I'm sorry? Jacob, when he saw the angels descending from the ladder, but I think so too, but that wouldn't be God the Father. That would be Jesus. I'm looking at just God the Father. Well, that's one of the things that's said in the scripture, no man has seen God the Father and lived.
What about visions of God the Father? What about the Mount of Transfiguration? He spoke at the Mount of Transfiguration and said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Did they see anything?
Did they see light? I'm not 100 sure about whether they saw light or not. Anybody remember? They did see light. And at the baptism of Jesus, they didn't see a light, I don't think. They heard a voice.
And they saw a spirit like a dove descending. John saw the hand of whatever it was that was on there. He saw a hand. So John saw the hand, whatever that means, and Moses saw the backside, whatever that is.
Whatever it is, we haven't got a full picture of God the Father. And we won't ever, I don't think, get a full picture of God the Father. We'll get a good, clear picture of God the Son because God the Son came in a form that we could see.
Can we see all of God the Son? Can we see everything about God the Son? I wouldn't think. In spirit, flesh, or physically? Physically. You see, I don't even know that. I know that God the Son, at the point in time now, can appear, if he wishes.
And when he did, after the resurrection, he actually had the capability of walking through walls. But he looked different because they didn't recognize him. We saw, and we still see Jesus the way Jesus wants us to see him.
And that is really profound. Who sees Jesus like Jesus wants them to see him? Well, I'm gonna disagree with you. I'm gonna say everybody does, but he doesn't want everybody to see him like he wants everybody else to see him.
He wants us, John, to see him one way. And he wants the world to see him another way. And we see him exactly like he wants us to see him. And the other us see him exactly like he wants them to see him.
Sometimes they describe him as baby Jesus. And we're gonna get a, I can't remember whether it's this chapter or the next chapter, where we're gonna get a good glimpse of a real dichotomy of the way Jesus is viewed.
He's viewed in one phrase as the lamb, as it had been slain. And either the next verse before or the next verse after, he is described as the lion of Judah. And so when you've got a, the lion is the same as the lamb?
At some lamb, but that's for later. Yes, I'm sorry. Chapter one, verse one and verse six, read verse one and six. Okay, I just didn't have a clear idea of what, because I can't get back to the verses quickly.
Yeah, the one sitting on the throne is the same one as in verse one, I believe. Is that what you, is that what you, I don't think so. I think it was taken from, by the lamb, from whoever's sitting on the throne, from God the Father.
Yeah, and we got all of that. We got all of that in front of us. Time is only involved, time is only involved in it from the perspective of Jesus and John, not from the perspective of God, I don't think.
That's the Holy Spirit. It's the complete Holy Spirit. It's the seven attributes of the Holy Spirit. No, it's wisdom, power. It'll be listed. It'll be listed, I think, a little bit later. I don't remember them all.
Blessing is the last one. It is, and I think I've got it copied into this. I had it in my notes last Sunday. Well, I may not have it this Sunday. I am doing this Sunday, I'm doing next Sunday, and I'm doing last Sunday, and sometimes what's in my mind is a hodgepodge of it all.
Well, and I think that's the same entity that they saw leaving the temple, but what they saw was light. They didn't see a man leaving. All they saw was light, and I think that's the same glory that it wasn't a volcano that Moses saw on top of the mountain.
It was God, but it was light. It wasn't the burning bush. I don't know whether that was God or whether that was Jesus. I think it was God, but that's. Well, light without heat. Well, it was not consumed.
Okay, at least the bush wasn't consumed. That's right. Right, okay. Well, we know this about God the Father. We will not see him as he is. Now, we promised that we'll see Jesus as he is. We promised we'll see Jesus as he is.
Not now, but there will come a time when we'll see Jesus as he is, but we never promised that about God the Father, so I think there's always going to be a doubt about what it is that God looks like, and you know why?
He is not something to be looked like. If you want to really know what God looks like, he looks like everything that there is. Yes, sir? Yes. And if we actually do see him through the eyes of Jesus, then I guess we'll see all of him, won't we?
Because Jesus sees all of him, and if that's the case, I'm gonna change my position, see how flexible I am. I think at some point we'll see God exactly like he is because we'll see him as Jesus sees him.
Wow. But it's only gonna take me eternity to get there, which mathematically we won't ever get there, but you'll continue to look forward to it, and you'll continue to look forward to it, and what a blessing to have something to look forward to throughout eternity.
That really is a blessing. I mean, when you've been in eternity long enough that you've done everything to be done, it's something to look forward to. We know we still have something to look forward to.
Wow. Wow. Okay, I'm finished. No, I'm not, I don't say it that way. I want to go to the next part of that verse. Otherwise, we'll spend a week on, a month on this. The book. The book written within and on the backside and sealed with seven seals.
Now, this is not a book like all of you are holding in your hands if you're holding a book, the Bible. It's not a book that opens with pages and a spine in the back. This was a scroll. It was made of strips of papyrus.
Most scrolls, there are some later scrolls that were made of parchment, but these early scrolls were made of papyrus, and they were laid out in horizontal strips, and they were beaten flat and smooth so you could write on them.
Well, if you left it like that, they'd fall apart. So you took papyrus and made strips vertically on the backside, and that gave it its structure, made it structurally, gave it its structural integrity so that it would hold together.
The front, the inside was used for the writing. The backside, the strips are vertical, and therefore structural integrity not to write on. They're very much more difficult to write on the backside of a scroll than on the inside of the scroll.
So not many scrolls had writings on the front and the back. This was an unusual scroll in that it did. We know that two-sided, scrolls written on two sides were used in the Roman Empire for sealed legal documents.
We have copies of wheels of two emperors, Augustus and, I can't remember the other guy's name, but two, Vespucian, I think, they're wheels. We have copies of, and they were written on the backside, and they were sealed seven times.
Who is able to open the wheel? Well, you're ahead of the game, but if I left a wheel, my heirs would be able to open the wheel. Now, not somebody else. It was sealed for the heirs. So it had to be a descendant of somebody else.
It had to be a descendant of Adam that opened the wheel. So let's go. Oh, before we do that, I've burned too much time. We are gonna go there. Let me just say this. Not just one book mentioned in the scripture.
There's a bunch of them, and as I went through, I found all of these. The Book of Life, the Book of Remembrance, which translates really, when you read through it, as the Book of Life, if you want to check that one out, Malachi 3 .16, like John 3 .16, Malachi 3 .16, it talks about a Book of Remembrance.
Turns out that that book is the Book of Life. The Book of the Living, the Book of the Living, not the Book of Life, but the Book of the Living. That's people that are alive. I'm gonna read this one to you.
This is Psalm 69, 28, just really quick. Let them be blotted out from the Book of the Living. That means take them away from being alive. It means kill them. And not be written with the righteous. Now let's look at that all together.
Let them be blotted out of the Book of the Living and not be written with the righteous. So what would that say? Take them out of the living and don't write them in the Book of Life. So that verse deals with two books, the Book of those who are alive and the Book of those who are going to be alive eternally.
Then we have other books. We have the Book of the Covenant. We have the Book of the Generations in Genesis. We have the Book of the Law in Exodus. We have the Book of Curses in Numbers. All the things that'll happen to you if you don't obey the law.
We have the Book of the Wars of the Lord in Numbers. We have the Chronicles of Judah and the Chronicles of Israel, First and Second Chronicles. And we have the Book of the Purchase, Jeremiah. And I suspect there's other books.
There is a mention of books being opened in Daniel, in Daniel 7. It's not clear which one of the books is mentioned in Daniel. Probably one of the ones that I listed, but maybe not. It might be any or all of those books, but absolutely none of those books referred to above is the one in Revelation 5.
The book in Revelation 5 is an entirely different kind of a book. It's not the Book of Life. It's not the Book of the Living. It's not the Book of the Remembrance. It's not the Book of the Law. It's not the Book of the Purchases.
It's not the Book of the Wars. It's not the Chronicles of Judah. It's not the Chronicles of Israel. It is a new, entirely different book with an entirely different purpose. What its purpose could be is the title deed of the universe.
To whom does the universe belong? Now, let's just go back to Genesis. To whom did God give dominion to the world? Adam. He gave it to Adam. Well, in some sense, he gave it to Jesus, but he gave it to Adam.
Adam sinned and forfeited it to Satan. Who is in possession of, who is the little God of the universe right now? Satan. That will not be forever. Now, I was gonna go and do some stuff from Daniel, but I'm gonna wait, because I'll do that later anyhow, and I want to get through today, but I'm scrolling down to get to my next.
So, let's go back. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. It was a sealed book with conditions on the exterior, and it was sealed.
It would suggest it's a title deed. Roman law required that a will be sealed with seven seals. And I was right, it wasn't Augustus and Vespasian. This is probably the title deed to the universe, the universe that belongs to Christ, but has been usurped by Satan for the time.
For how much time? As much time as the Lord allowed him to have it. It was never his. Verse two, and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof.
Now, I jumped a little bit ahead of myself. Who is worthy? It has to be an heir of Adam. It had to be a human being. But the question is, it had to be. It had to be a man. But the question is, can a man solve his own problems?
Everyone wants utopia, but no one really knows how to achieve it. How do we end war? Have we learned how to do that? Crime, have we done that? We're getting smarter. War, evil, prejudice, injustice. In spite of all the technological progress we've made, the human race has never seen more suffering than it has now, has never been in greater peril than it is right now.
So now we're getting ready for everything to begin unfolding. The mystery of God is about to unfold. And the answers to how all of this could be done is about to be revealed. But it takes a special qualification to open the book and to have the answers.
So a search was made and no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. It required a man, a kinsman of Adam. Only appointed heir could open the book.
It had to be a kinsman redeemer. If you remember the story in Ruth, Boaz was Ruth's kinsman redeemer. Because he was a kinsman, he could redeem her and he did. The inventory was taken in heaven, in earth and under the earth, but no kinsman redeemer was found.
And John says in verse four, and I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. That's the answer to the question. So can man solve his own problems?
No, man cannot solve his own problems. But, or and, one of the elders said unto me, weep not, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals.
Now there's a description of the kinsman redeemer. What is he? He is a lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the root of David. Now that's interesting. It's kind of like it's backward, isn't it?
Or is it? Did David come from Jesus or did Jesus come from David? And the answer is yes. Both of those is true. Bodily, Jesus is a descendant of David, but David came into being because he was created and Adam was created by Jesus.
So Jesus is both the root and the descendant of David. He is the only one that can open the book. Okay, and that's fine. There is no one that can open the book other than Jesus. Yes. He was weeping because he knew that it was a book that would provide the answers to the questions that we posed earlier.
Can man create this perfect society? I think he was aware of what the book was, but I think he was sad because no one could open it. And one of the elders said unto me, he weep not, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.
So there is one who can open it. Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Now let's go on. Verse six, and I beheld, and low in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the world.
So there's the other description. That's an interesting dichotomy. I've already said that. The lion of Judah and a lamb as it has been slain, but no ordinary lamb. This lamb is all powerful. It had the seven horns.
That says all powerful. It's all seeing, it had seven eyes. It's all knowing. So it's quite a different lamb than you might imagine if you just looked and saw a lamb. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne.
So who came and who sat on the throne? Jesus came and God sat on the throne. Dr. Gary Barnhouse once observed there are four things out of place in the universe. And he was right on three of them. The church should be in heaven.
Israel should be living in peace, occupying all the land promised to her. Satan, who belongs in the lake of fire and Christ who should be seated on his throne reigning. All four of these anomalies, he said, will be set right when Christ takes the scroll from the father's hand.
I don't think that's quite right. I think that's when they'll begin to be set right because the setting right will go all the way through from the time he takes the scroll until the three and a half year period is over.
And when he takes, and we had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and 20 elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.
Now you notice, I just noticed that right then. Who did they fall down in front of? I kind of had in my mind, they fell down before the throne. But who did they fall down in front of? Before the lamb.
They recognized who it was that they were gonna be worshiping. Who are they worshiping? They're worshiping the lamb. These prayers represent all of the prayers that the redeemed have ever prayed concerning the ultimate and final redemption.
And they sang a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by the blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.
Who's saying that? Is that the four beasts or is that the elders? You see, I kind of think that's awkwardly written. I think that the angels and the elders fell down and the saints, the 24 elders, sang the new song because the beasts were the angels.
They were the angelic beings. They weren't redeemed. They didn't need redeemed. Angels have never been redeemed. They're either the ones that were not or they could still worship. They could still worship.
And that's what they do. They worship day and night. So they fell down before the lamb and they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.
Now that part has to be the elders. That has to be the saints. That can't be the angels. I think it does. And I think we dealt with that last week. And that's the one entity that I think we pretty much all agreed to reject was they couldn't be angels because they're redeemed.
Yeah. Oh, you're kidding. I do too. So there's a possibility that it may be mentioning those people who are named in the Old Testament, the books that are named after people. Okay, okay. That's new. Old Testament.
In fact, that was one of the perspectives that people had said, that it was Old Testament prophets. And that's why it was 24. Okay. Okay. That is great. And even though that was kind of mentioned in the commentaries that I looked at, nobody had actually explained where it was that they took that.
They just took it from the names of the books that bore the names of people in the Old Testament. That is, that's interesting. Okay. This new song, what was the new song? Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God.
By thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And I want you to look at one word. And I, in fact, two words, I bold faced it in my notes. Out of. See that? It does not say that all are redeemed, but that some are redeemed out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.
Exactly what Brother David has been saying for years and years. And I think Brother Otis had been saying before. And Brother Spurgeon had been saying even before that. In fact, all of those particular Baptists had been saying it.
Not all people, but all kinds of people are redeemed. And I've kind of tagged in. It's a little like the passage in John 3 .16. For God so loved the world and has made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on earth.
Now wait just a minute. What's happened to them? Have they been made? What have they been made? Kings and priests. They will rule and they will judge. That's what your destiny is, to rule and to judge.
It's already done. But when will you take that position? Brother Goldman always says that there's a difference between the ordination and the, I can't remember what else he says, the actual doing of it.
You will rule and reign in the millennial kingdom. And I beheld and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast and the elders. And the number of them was 10 ,000 times 10 ,000.
That's 100 million for you mathematicians. And thousands of thousands, but that doesn't mean 100 million. It means myriads of myriads. The number is to express an amount beyond computation. The Greek expression has been translated in other places innumerable in Luke and in Hebrews.
The same words there were not millions, 10 ,000 times 10 ,000, but innumerable. Verse 12, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain. Now here we go. To receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
These are seven qualities intrinsic to God and to the lamb, which demand us to praise him. 13, and every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne and unto the lamb forever and ever.
Now, who says that? Every creature, every man, good and evil recognizes at some point that God is God and Jesus is God and they demand blessing, honor, glory. And power, every man, in fact, every created thing will praise him.
Some with thanksgiving and some with regret, but all will praise him. Psalm 69, verse 34 says, let heaven and earth praise him. The sea and everything that moveth therein, everything will praise him. And verse 14, and the four beasts said, amen.
And the four and 20 elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. So what did the four beasts say? Amen, so be it, it is. It is what it is. Well, that's it. Any comments or questions or additions?
Because we've got a little bit of time left over. I could've, they are, and they will recognize all the time that they're alive, that it is Jesus and God that they should have, I was gonna say could have, but I'm gonna change that, should have seen, recognized, and worshiped while they were alive.
Well, they're not dead. They're not dead. Well, it is, it is no kind of life that anyone would want. What kind of life is that? What kind of life is it that you are eternally aware of your condition, and your condition is one of eternal pain and agony?
And you chose it. And you are always aware of what your choice was. On the other hand, there is life more abundant for the believers. And how long does it last? Forever and ever and ever. I did three for emphasis.
Forever. Anything else? Now, yeah. Now, next week, we're gonna begin opening this, oh, well, we're gonna begin watching, listening as John views the opening of the seven seals. And that will take several weeks before we get through with all of the seals that are opened.
And when the final seal is opened, and the final vial is poured out, the Lord returns and ends it all, carries us into a new millennium, and what is in front of us now? The millennial kingdom is almost perfect.
The millennial kingdom is the closest thing to perfection as has ever been, even closer to perfection than Eden. In Eden, Satan was wandering around. Everything else was perfect, but Satan was wandering around.
In the millennial kingdom, everything will be perfect. Satan will be bound in chains. The only evil thing which remains, the only non-perfect thing which will remain in the millennial kingdom is Satan bound in a chain, bound in chains, and his demons bound with him, men.
And they'll find enough evil within themselves. Not the environment is perfect, not the tempter, he's not there. Just within them, they'll find enough evil so that the majority will rebel. And that says a lot about the total depravity of man.
Okay, if nothing else, John, would you dismiss us with a prayer?