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If you were to visit Werden, Germany, you would see a church with a carved lamb at the top of the church building when you first enter it. If you ask people about that carved lamb, you'd hear about a worker who was up on a scaffold and was working on the front of the church, had an accident, fell to the ground, surely going to die or get badly injured on the stone ground.
But there was a little lamb close by, nibbling on some tufts of grass, and he landed on the lamb. The lamb was crushed to death, and he lived. And in gratitude, he carved a lamb on the side of the church to celebrate his deliverance, which ultimately pointed to the delivering lamb, who was crushed, the substitutionary lamb.
He should have died, but the lamb died instead. In his place, condemned he stood. Today, let's open our Bibles to the book of Revelation to see the lamb exalted to the throne of God, to sing, to rejoice, to study once again the worthy lamb.
So often people are ignorant in the world of the true nature of Christ, and sometimes Christians even, if they're not careful, can be ignorant of the true nature of the exalted King, the sacrificial Savior, Jesus Christ.
For instance, I could ask you the question, where is Jesus right now? Now maybe if you're younger in the faith or you're a young kid, you might say, He's in my heart. Where is Jesus? Is He in your heart, or is He in heaven?
The whole theme of this book and this chapter today is going to be mentally replacing Jesus, who's not in your heart, He's in heaven. Oh, I know the Spirit of God dwells in you, and it's Christ's Spirit, but we have Jesus so close to us, it's almost kind of like the language of Jesus is my BFF, Jesus is my buddy, God is my co-pilot.
This chapter, Revelation chapter 5, takes Jesus from our left ventricle and moves Him to the right hand of the throne of God. I would normally not talk like that, but this is kind of a no-compromise message.
Replacing Jesus in my heart theology with Jesus highly exalted in heaven. That's where He is. And we're going to look today at Revelation chapter 5, what some people call the Holy of Holies in the New Testament.
They say Isaiah 53 might be the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament, but Revelation chapter 5 is the Holy of Holies in the New. I'm super glad I get to preach this, because after Pat's message, I thought, what can I say?
What more can I say now? Thankfully, Revelation chapter 5 is in the Bible, because it's one of those passages where you say, certainly, with the writer, I want to honor the Lord, I want to give Him thanks, I want to praise Him.
Today we're going to look at Christology of heaven. Heaven's Christology. But let's start in chapter 1, because I want you to make sure you understand where John is coming from. Revelation chapter 1, it says in verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The whole book is about that. Revealing, uncovering Jesus, which God gave Him to show His servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace and peace, grace to you and peace from Him who is, who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth.
To Him who loves us, present tense, and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and made us a kingdom, priest to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And then a sneak peek of the whole book, like any good drama, here's the sneak peek.
Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so, Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, and the kingdom, and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches. That's exactly what happens. In chapter 1, we get a good initiatory view of Christ.
Chapter 2 and 3, as you know, are the letters to the seven churches. And then we come to chapter 4 and 5. Chapter 4 and 5 basically do this. It gives you a view of heaven before you see what's happening on earth.
I can put it this way, since this is kind of a Saturday conference. All heaven is going to break loose in Revelation 4 and 5, before all hell breaks loose in chapters 6 through 18. John wants you to see, the Spirit of God wants you to see, that if you don't get a good glimpse of Jesus in 4 and 5, you're going to say to yourself, it's so bad during the tribulation.
Is God really just? Is He fair? Is He righteous? Chapter 4 and 5 tell us that Jesus is God, and with the Father, He is just and righteous, even though there's going to be a worldwide cataclysm. So let's go to Revelation chapter 5.
And since Pat started this, I have to keep up with the Abendrothian tradition, and we're going to have seven points today, because it's the perfect number. It's the Abendroth number. Seven questions that will help you move Jesus from your left ventricle to the right hand of God in heaven.
How's that? The Christology of heaven. Seven questions from Revelation chapter 5, that will remind you how great Jesus is. Number one, were not the right man on our side, would our striving be losing?
Were not the right man on our side, would our striving be losing? Martin Luther sang the song, Did we in our own strength confide? Our striving would be losing. Were not the right man on our side? The man of God's own choosing.
Just ask who that may be. Christ Jesus, it is He. Let's look at verses 1 through 5. We're going to find out that without Jesus, everybody's doomed to hell and will only suffer. The world is going to be chaos, and sin's going to win without Jesus.
Unless the right man's on our side, we're dust. Verse 1, Revelation 5. My new favorite chapter in the Bible. Then I saw in the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within, and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? No one in heaven, or on earth, or under earth was able to open the scroll, or to look into it.
I began to weep loudly, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll, or to look into it. And I'll save verse 5 for just a minute. Look back at verse 1. The right hand of Him who's seated by the Father.
The right hand of Him where there's authority, sovereignty, strength, right, majesty. And it's like the camera zooms in, and you see what's in His hand. There's a scroll written. What kind of scroll is this?
It's a scroll that says the future, the judgments, what's going to happen soon, is all bound up in this book. The decree of the end of the world. What's going to happen in the future? The camera's just fixed on this scroll, so everyone sees it.
Now, in the old days you would have a scroll, and they would be for deeds, or wills, or contracts. God is holding the future in His hand. And do you notice it's a complete scroll? There's no room for anything extra.
Do you see the text in verse 1? Written on the back and within. It's like in the front and the back, there's no space for later additions. No flow charts, no plan B's, no, well, you know what, we need some space in the margin in case something doesn't work out.
The history of the world is in this scroll. And once it's activated, the end of the world's going to happen. Detailed plans of the future. Written on the front and written on the back. And it's sealed.
Do you see the text? With seven seals. All Roman law seals were sealed like this. The strong angel proclaims with a loud voice. It's probably not Gabriel, but it's a strong angel with a loud voice. Who's worthy to open the book and to break its seals?
Who could accomplish the end of the world in the middle of a sinful environment? There's no one worthy. All the echoes of the worthy cries just recede into silence. Michael's not worthy. Gabriel's not worthy.
Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Ezekiel, Paul. Their lips are all sealed. Calvin, Edwards, Spurgeon, Luther. Who's going to open that scroll? Who has perfect judgment? Who is perfectly faithful? Who is the perfect man?
Heaven's silent. Who has the right to possess the earth? We're not the right man on our side. Verse 3, And no one in heaven or on earth or under earth, no place, no where, no how, was able to open the scroll.
You can't even peek into it. It's an imperfect tense. Creation and everyone in creation is totally unable. Here's total inability. Adam was on earth. He sinned. We and Adam sinned. His sin credited to our account.
Forfeited the promise. Is the Pope worthy to open the scroll? Is President Obama worthy to open the scroll? Is the Dalai Lama worthy to open the scroll? Is Bono worthy to open the scroll? I've got to wake you guys up.
Kurt Schilling's worthy to open the scroll. Because of the fall, none prevails. It's just silence. Napoleon, Nebuchadnezzar. And if no one's able to open the scroll, if the judgments for sin, if the condemnation for sinners will never take place, sin will never be dealt with.
Sin will never end. Satan will never be dealt with. What's the response if sin will never be dealt with? There's only one response. Verse 4, And I began, John said,. The word there, weep, means loudly, so when he adds loudly, it's just emphasis.
And it's imperfect too. I was weeping. I just kept on weeping. I'm inconsolable. Because no one's found worthy to open the scroll, or even to look into it. God's checkmated, I guess. I thought He was going to come back and make all wrongs right, but nobody can open it.
Angels can't even open it. Loud crying. As one man said, Without Jesus, there's only weeping. Satan wins. Sin's never stamped out. Criswell said, John's tears represent the tears of all God's people. Those tears of John's are the tears of Adam and Eve driven out of the garden as they bowed over the first grave.
Those are the tears of the children of Israel in bondage as they cried unto God in their slavery. They are the sobs and tears that have been wrung from the heart and soul of God's people as they looked on their silent dead, as they stand beside their open graves, and as they experience trials and suffering in this life.
The curse of sin has laid upon God's beautiful creation, and this is the damnation of the hand of Him who holds it, the interloper, the intruder, the Satan devil. Will somebody please do something? Can somebody help us?
Verse 5,. And one of the elders said to me, Weep no more. Weep no more because Jesus is in your heart. Weep no more. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered. He's the victor so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.
There's Christ the Creator, the ferocious Lion. He can do it. Genesis 49, The Lion of the offspring of Judah. Jesus is the rightful King. He's born of the Davidic line. He's the Root of David. Don't you love Isaiah chapter 9?
But you forget some of the great stuff afterwards. You like it when it says His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. But don't stop there. Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end.
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment. David, the righteous branch, the Lord our righteousness, He can open it. He's overcome sin, death, hell, Satan.
He has prevailed. He can open the scroll. The right man, friends, is on our side. Question 2. If Christ is the center of heaven, what does that say about Christ's place in your life and in your church?
If Christ is the center of heaven, what does that say about Christ's place in your job, at your home, in your hobbies, and in the local church? What do I mean by that? Let's find out. Verse 6. The main character of the Bible we've heard in the last session is the main character here in heaven as well.
Verse 6. And between the throne, King James says, in the midst of, and the four living creatures, and among the elders, King James, in the midst of, what's in the middle of all this stuff going on? In the middle of the elders, among the elders, I saw, wait a second, it just was a lion a second ago, and I've got to kind of rub my eyes.
I'm not sure if I see this right. I thought it was a lion, but my eyesight's not too good. It's not a lion now. I see something else. A lamb standing as though it had been slain. Right in the middle of heaven.
The center of heaven. I want to see my mom when I get to heaven, but she's not the center of heaven. He looks for the lion but sees a lamb. The central theme of Scripture now is the lamb. For the United States, we love eagles.
Russia, they love the bear. Britain, they love the tiger. The Bible portrays Jesus as the lamb. We're going to talk about that more in a minute. But ask yourself the question, the church's central priority should be moralistic teaching.
The church's central priority should be political activism. I don't know what it's been lately. Maybe it's me. I don't know. I hope I become a better preacher, but people like to give me comments after I preach, and most of them are, I love you, but they end up saying, well, that was a good sermon, or thank you, or thanks for being faithful.
As I told some of our congregants, I came back from California and preached a sermon, and I thought it was actually a pretty good sermon, by the way. It was a good text, I know that. And then somebody pointed to me, and they said, you know, Ecclesiastes 3 that you preached, Chuck Swindoll does a better job at it than you do.
I concede the floor to Chuck Swindoll. I preached a sermon the next week, and I said something about Republicans and Democrats, and I was kind of derogatory in my comments about Republicans, because you can be an abortion doctor, or you can be a pro-life protester, and if you're not born again, you're going to go straight to hell.
And Republicanism doesn't save. And this person was bothered that I was against the Republican Party here, in all places, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The center of the Gospel ministry is the Gospel.
It's the Lamb. I don't care about politics. I don't care about sports. I don't care about these other issues. The central focus of the church is the Lamb. How about you Sunday school teachers? How about you Awana teachers?
How about you Bible teachers? The Lamb is in the center. He's in the center of heaven. The dominant role in my life, in my family, needs to be the Lamb. Gospel-centered ministry. I wonder even if you give your testimony.
Does your testimony echo the Christology of heaven? Jesus is at the center. All to Jesus. Let's keep asking questions. Question number three. Trying to move Jesus to where He really is. Question three.
What would John say today about people denying substitutionary atonement? What would John say today about people denying substitutionary atonement? Look at verse six. I'm still stunned as I've studied it this week.
By the way, it's not fair that Pat, he gets to preach some messages at Omaha Bible Church, and then when you travel and speak, then you've already preached the sermon. I've been here 16 years. I've never preached Revelation chapter 5.
I'm supposed to be able to take the week off this week and just entertain Pat. And I've had to study too to get ready for Revelation chapter 5. How does that work out? It's not fair. But this made it worth it.
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been butchered. It's been slaughtered. He first thinks about the lion, and then it's a lamb, but now it's a lion-like lamb.
It's standing. Now the word for lamb there is not the general word for lamb. It's a diminutive. It's a little lamb, maybe the household pet lamb. But this is technical language, lamb for the crucified Messiah, sacrificial lamb.
And it's interesting, there's no article. There's no the in front of it. So your attention is drawn to the character, the quality, the characteristics of the lamb. It's a sacrificial lamb. And you should probably be thinking about Passover now.
Keep that little lamb till the 14th day of the month when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. How do you kill a lamb? Well, you take that lamb and you've got to hold it down.
And then when you slit that lamb's throat, the blood comes out and so does the life. This is the language of substitutionary atonement. This is Isaiah 53 language, the lamb that's been slain or slaughtered.
I have a friend, he's a butcher, and he said to me, you know what, when you go to stores like Shaw's or what are the other stores around here, Price Chopper, Hannaford. By the way, Pat, we pronounce it Hannaford, just so you know.
It's all I could do not to say the alpha and the omega. That's all I could do not to say that. He said they get the meat pretty much cut up already. They don't just have a cow hanging by its feet and then you do all the work.
But my friend the butcher is old school in California and he just gets a cow and it's hung up, it's gutted, that's it, and he does everything else. And he butchers that just perfectly. The language here is butcher language.
Violently slaughtered, put to death. But look at this, it's standing. What do you mean it's standing? You kill a lamb, it just sinks down to the ground. I've been to the vet before and had to put a dog down.
And they put that little wrap around the dog's paw, the cord, and then they inject the poison in and they say, say goodbye to your dog. And then I say goodbye crying. They take the little thing off the dog's paw and then the poison just goes up and the dog just goes down limps, limply rather.
This is a butchered lamb, a slaughtered lamb. But what does the text say? He's standing. Resurrected. No wonder back in chapter 1 he's called the living one. I died and behold I am alive. He's not dead.
He stands erect. Even though the only man-made thing that's in heaven still shows. His throat isn't slit, but he has marks in his arms, his wrists, his legs, and his side. The word for slain is sfato.
It means to cut the throat for a sacrifice. The supreme self-sacrifice and condescending love of Jesus. As though it had been slain. The lion, the lamb, victory through sacrifice for all eternity. You're going to be able to see Jesus high and lifted up with the evidence of the slaughter.
No wonder the text says in Isaiah, like a sheep he was led to the what? Slaughter. The slaughtered savior. Friends, people hate substitutionary atonement because they don't want any kind of penalty. But heaven's Christology shows substitutionary atonement.
Union Theological Seminary, 2010 Sprunt Lectures, Presbyterian Church, USA. Margaret Miles in her talk called God's Love Mother's Milk. She said that the cross is an inappropriate symbol of God's love because it presents a violent act as salvific.
But Jesus is in heaven, the lamb standing though he's been slaughtered. She's in a long line of blasphemers. She's not the first feminist granted permission to speak there. Rosemary Radford Ruther went to the podium and she said the resurrection of Jesus is a myth created by males to assuage their own fear of death.
She pointed people to the great womb within which all things, gods and humans, sky and earth, humans and non-humans are generated. You can call the substitutionary atonement the violent death of Jesus in our place.
You can call it boorish, uncouth. You can say, I don't like that. It's unrefined, it's loudish. But when you get to heaven, heaven's Christology says Jesus is the lamb standing, he's been slaughtered.
Revival of Sam Jones said in the 1800s, God never did throw a javelin into the heart of his son. Well, that might be the uptown New York way of presenting God. But heaven's Christology is different. There's a Reimagining God conference that's...
Interesting title, by the way. Is that the conferences you like to go to? Reimagining God. Feminists said... I mean, males say these kind of things too, but this particular lady was a feminist as well.
We don't need guys hanging on crosses with blood dripping and all that weird stuff. We need nurturers. We don't need a bloody sacrifice. You want to know why Joe Osteen is so popular? That's the exact reason.
How about this? You know the song, In Christ Alone, the Townsend Getty song? Who likes In Christ Alone the song? It's a great song, but it didn't make it in the Presbyterian USA. Hymnal Now did it. Because the authors of the song originally wrote, on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.
The song committee wanted to change it to, the love of God was magnified. And Townsend and Getty said no. Reverend Chris Joiner of First Presbyterian Church in Franklin agreed with that move of the Presbyterian committee.
Quote, USA Today. That lyric comes close to saying that God killed Jesus. I don't do Scooby Doo. USA Today, Chris Joiner went on to say, the cross is not an instrument of God's wrath. Heaven's Christology differs.
Of course, Jesus' death on the cross was the ultimate illustration of love, wasn't it? Of course, His death was victory over all the cosmic forces. Of course, Christ's death showed that the law of God had to be upheld.
But if you take substitutionary atonement out of the Bible, you don't know what heaven looks like at all. Heaven's Christology shows the substitutionary lamb. Question 4. Question 4. Do you ever pray, Thy kingdom come?
Do you ever pray, Thy kingdom come? Verse 7. Jesus is going to carry out all God's final purposes. And He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him. Everything's activated now. Here comes action.
Starts everything. When I was younger, I sold all kinds of medical products. And one was kind of like an ice pack. But you could keep it in your car for a couple of years. And it had a little nodule on the inside.
It had kind of liquid. You could squeeze it around gently. But when you really squeezed the middle, there was something on the inside that broke. And it was the chemical activator to make everything become cold so you could use the ice pack.
This is the little activator right here. He took the scroll out of the hand of Him who was seated on the throne, the Father. And this is the pivotal moment in future history. Everything's going to happen quickly now.
Rapid succession. Jump down to verse 10. Thou hast made them, the New American Standard says, to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth. Everything's going to happen now.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done. What's the next phrase? On earth as it is in heaven. It's all going to happen now. Ever prayed thy kingdom come? Here comes the kingdom in its fullest measure. Now, I don't know if you like S. Lewis Johnson or not, but S. Lewis Johnson went to the Bunyan Lectures, Bruce.
And almost everybody there is Amillennial and S. Lewis is Premillennial. And he was talking about this very verse. So then he used a Lutheran commentator as ammo against the Amillennial folks, and they were all just wonderful friends and laughing and had good fellowship because it's not a point to disfellowship over.
But listen to what the Lutheran Zeis, or technically Zeis, says. Shall the saints in glory shout, We shall reign on earth and be accounted heretics for believing that they knew what they were saying? At the Bunyan Conference, everybody laughed.
Of course, this is more New England. Shall they from thrones in heaven point to earth as the future theater of their administrations and give adoring thanks and praises to the Lamb for it? And we, Premillennials, be stigmatized as fanatics and Judaizers for undertaking to pronounce the blessed fact in mortal hearing?
Oh, I wonder how the dear God above us can endure the unbelief before I say anything else. Question number five. If you disagreed with the last one, you'll like this one. Question five. How do you decide whether to fall down in worship or stand up?
What's my worship posture, Pastor? Let's find out. What's the posture for worship? Verse eight. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders, slain in the Spirit, actually, fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Flip over, if you would, to Revelation 22. You've got to get this. All falling down worshiping Jesus. I thought you're not supposed to fall down so much in heaven. Revelation chapter 22, verses 8 and 9.
Revelation 22, 8 and 9. I, John, am the one who heard these things and saw these things. And when I heard them and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me to them. By the way, if you ever saw an angel, you'd be tempted to do the very same thing, to fall down in worship, a supernatural being.
But it's not right. He said to me, you must not do that. I'm a fellow servant with you and your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. Don't fall down at my feet.
I'm an angel. Now go back to Revelation chapter 5. But the angels, what do they do? Angels say to John, get up, don't worship me. And the angels and the 24 elders, they're all on their faces before the Lamb.
Revelation 5, 8. They're on their faces. Don't worship men. Don't worship angels. Worship the Lamb. If you're only supposed to worship God and they're worshiping the Lamb, it doesn't take much for me to figure out Jesus Christ is God.
Just drove by the church the other day. Unitarian church. I just want to give you a heads up. No Unitarians in heaven. Because they all say Jesus is God. He's the Lamb. He's fully God. This may be a little uncouth, but I'll say it because it's not Sunday morning.
It's a Saturday conference. There are no Unitarians in heaven. And thankfully, there are no bladders in heaven either. Because it's such a tremendous thing to see the Lamb and to fall on your faces. On earth, when Joshua, the high priest, saw God for all he was, his garments were soiled.
He soiled himself. Because he's so majestic. He's so great. Falling down before the Lord. Worthy is the Lamb with overwhelming praise. Next question. Question number, what number am I on? Number six. Do you believe Jesus ransomed a particular group?
Question six. Do you believe Jesus ransomed a particular group? Well, let's find out what do I mean by that. Verse nine. What time were we done? 1115? Okay, we got time. Do you believe Jesus ransomed a particular group?
Verse nine. They sang a new song. God does something great. You've got to come up with another song. Saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain and by your blood, your vicious death, you ransomed a people, a ransomed people for God.
From or out of every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God. And they shall reign on the earth. Now, go back to that little section there. It says, from every tribe.
This great Lamb has the right to open the scroll because he ransomed people. He bought them. He purchased them in the marketplace of sin. With his own life, he gave a ransom for many. And now he redeems from.
It's not universal. He didn't redeem everybody from every tribe and every language. He redeemed from them. There was a large group, and he redeemed some out of the group, but not all. Pat throws out a conference-worthy big word, and so I think I have to follow as well.
You know what's so fun? This part's not fun, but the next part is. I'm nine years older than Pat. And you know what I love? I love to learn from my brother. So many things he could teach me, so many things he's better at than I am, and I just think, you know what?
In this particular case, too, that's the right thing to do is tell the congregation, you need to get your money's worth by a big couple words, and so I'm going to follow your lead, blazing the trail. This is a partitive genitive.
God bless you. Partitive genitive. It's not universal. It's not Jesus redeemed every person from every tribe but from a group. Now, last night I mentioned John Owen's conundrum. Here's the conundrum. The Father imposed His wrath due unto and the Son underwent punishment for either the sins of all the sins of all men to all the sins of some men or some of the sins of all men, which is right.
We'll look back at the text again. Some of the sins of all men. Then people would have to go to hell for that. All of the sins of all men. That's not what the text says. Everybody would be in heaven. But all of the sins of some men.
Particular redemption. The theology in heaven, Christology, is praising God for particular redemption. Question seven and the last one. Do you sing heaven's song? Do you sing heaven's song? Verse 11. Oh, this is so good.
It's just a cascade now. It's like the Niagara Falls of the whole thing. Then I looked and heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands and thousands saying with a loud voice, Worthy is My free will to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.
Glory be to My island of righteousness, My will. It doesn't say that at all, does it? Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. It doesn't say as Spurgeon says, We are worthy to be our own redeemers. Glory, honor, praise and power be unto ourselves forever and ever.
Amen. Spurgeon said they do not talk about their own free will and their own might, but they ascribe their salvation from beginning to end to God. The Lamb hath made us what we are. Ask them where their glories came and they will tell you they were bequeathed to us by the dying Lamb in only the way Spurgeon could describe it.
Some persons on earth do not know where to put the crown, but those in heaven do. They place the crown on the right head and ever they sing, He hath made us what we are. Heaven's Christology does not attribute your salvation to your own self.
How about this, let's push it a little bit farther. Saying, verse 12 with a loud voice, Worthy is my faith. Does your faith really save you? Theological shorthand maybe, but Jesus is the Savior and He gets all the worship in heaven.
You see those words myriads there in verse 11? It just means 10 ,000. 10 ,000 times 10 ,000. And we have some college students that are in our church and so of course, what's 10 ,000 times 10 ,000? Who can tell me off the top of their head?
100 million. Millions upon millions upon millions, countless thousands in this doxology. Now I don't know about you, but when I'm around people who love to sing to the glory of God, it's motivating for me, it's moving.
You go to the Shepherd's Conference, 3 ,500 guys all together singing. I'll tell you what the response is when you go to the Shepherd's Conference singing. Here's what you see. You see lots of guys crying because ministry is difficult.
You see other guys just excited and praising the Lord. You see a bunch of other people. They do this very thing. How many people here have been to the Shepherd's Conference? How many of you have held up your phone?
Well, only Steve admits it. You've got to hear this. All these guys singing. You go to the Gospel Coalition. You go to, what's the other one? Together for the Gospel. Steve even made it on the CD. All the men singing.
Myriads upon myriads. If you think that was wonderful being at the Gospel Coalition singing or the Shepherd's Conference or T4G, worthy are you, our Lord and God. What are you going to be saying? You're going to be saying things like, Jesus, you kept the faith.
You ran the course. You did everything the Father had you do. You've done it all. It is finished. And look at just throwing all these words together. Power to accomplish His purposes. Riches that He has by redemption.
Wisdom. He's smart enough to make the world end just the right way. Might and strength and honor. You've got to have all these to effect the end of the world. And they just all keep praising Him and praising Him.
And verse 13, it just keeps going. Could it get any louder? And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under earth and in the sea and all that is in them. Isn't that from a hymn we sing? And all that is in me, praise His holy name.
Now, I have to tell you that I think in my own mind that I'm fairly sophisticated. And I want not to be a lunatic. But I don't know if I've ever really sung as loud as I could have without feeling any kind of self-consciousness.
My kids always joke, you know, Dad, we're glad you sit in the front row because then nobody can hear you sing. And I try to sing. I try to sing with enthusiasm and verve. Like I'm singing to the Lord.
Sinclair Ferguson, sing like you're holding the hymnal with Jesus. If you sang holding the hymnal with Jesus, what would you say? Well, you know, that voice that you gave me, Jesus, isn't really too good, so I don't want to do too much.
And after all, I'm a guy here. I'm a New Englander, and I don't really sing. But just flash for a second. You watch crazy people in sports events. What do they do? Especially after a few beers, they're just going crazy.
It's just apocalyptic worship. And that's exactly why you're born. And here all the restraints are off. And all that is in them to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Be blessing, honor, glory, might.
We just have to keep stacking these words up forever. That would take care of it right there. And ever. One of the four living creatures said, somebody's got to say something. Amen. And all the elders fell down and worshiped.
The one who is highly exalted and has been given the name above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord. Amen. Amen. This is no ordinary lamb.
He's the lion-like lamb. Anselm was interrogating a patient who was dying and he was going to give counsel to this dying man. He's almost dead and Anselm said this, Do you confess that your life has been so evil that you deserve eternal punishment?
I confess. Do you repent of this? I repent. Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for you? I believe it. Are you thankful to Him? I am. Do you believe that you cannot be saved except through that death?
I do believe this. Then Anselm said, Do this while the soul remains in you. Place your whole trust in His death alone and have no trust in any other thing. Commit yourself wholly to His death. Cover yourself wholly with it alone.
Wrap yourself wholly in this death and if the Lord God should wish to judge you, you say, Lord, I interpose the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and your judgment. In no other way do I argue with you.
I plead the death of the Lord Jesus between you and my sins. If He should say to you, You deserve condemnation. Say, Lord, I place the death of our Lord Jesus between you and my demerits and offer His merit in the place of the merit of which I owe and do not have.
If He should say to you, He's angry with you, say, Lord, place the death of our Lord Jesus between me and your anger. Good words on the deathbed. Good words to die by. Good words to live by. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything else is extra. You're generous. We ask for wisdom. You grant it. You give us good things on this earth. You give us good spiritual things, but they all flow from the life and death of our resurrected Savior.
Father, I pray for these dear people. I pray that they'd be enthusiastic, not by their own strength, but your spirit would work in them, that they might praise you with their whole heart, that they might be loud worshipers, bold worshipers, consistent worshipers, and then it all comes back to, Jesus was that.
He was the wonderful worshiper of you. We're thankful that you see us through His greatness and His worship even. But one day we'll stand before you, and we get to say, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, the slaughtered Lamb who stands.
In heaven forever and ever. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.