Refuge in the Risen Christ — Andrew Ussher

Well, a very happy Easter Sunday to everyone. Where I am, it's three o 'clock in the afternoon. I know that there's many in various places, some over in the UK, it's already nighttime. We appreciate all who have joined in.

Before we open our Bibles, maybe we could bow and speak to the Lord in prayer. Father, we come in the Lord Jesus' name to Thee in prayer. We thank Thee that Thy Word makes it so clear that there is a throne of grace to which we can come.

We can come without fear, we can come with boldness, knowing that there is grace to help in a time of need. And Father, we join our voices, electronically albeit, but we join our voices to express to Thee a great sense of our need at this time.

The entire globe, including us Thy people, have been forcibly reminded of our weakness and our vulnerability. And we pray that the response would be in us, Thy children, to turn us to Thee, our Heavenly Father, in dependence and trust.

And we would just pause to pray that the response from unbelievers might be to turn in repentance to a God that loves them and can save them from sin with all of its ravages. We pray for help today as we open Thy Word.

Thou knowest every heart represented in this call. There's not one person listening in, but that they're known by Thee and loved by Thee. And the details of the circumstances of their life just now, Thou art intimately acquainted with them and what they're going through and with their need.

Our simple prayer is that our eyes today would get off just ourselves and on to Thy Son, that our minds would turn away from our own circumstances alone, and that we would see the great sweeping truth of redemptive history, and that as we focus on this day so central to that purpose, the day when Thy Son rose from the dead, that our spirits would be stirred and our minds enlightened, and that the result would be greater conformity to Thy Son and a furthering of Thy purposes in our lives.

We know that Thy Spirit can do this work, and so that's what we would ask, that Thy Spirit would shine on the living Word of God and open it up to our understanding for the glory of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray.

Amen. Now, if you have a Bible, I'd ask you please to turn with me, first of all, to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15 is obviously the textbook chapter in the New Testament on the subject of the resurrection.

The Resurrection as the Foundation of Christian Faith

I really just want to pick two expressions out of this chapter, and this is where we will end up in about 45 minutes this afternoon. So we'll read from 1 Corinthians 15 and from verse 17. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 17, and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins, then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. And we'll just read the last verse of the chapter, down to verse 58.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Now I just want you to have in your mind two little five-word expressions from this chapter.

First in verse 17, in the King James Version it's five words, the ESV, it's not quite as crisp, I think it's about seven words. But the five words I want from verse 17 are, and if Christ be not raised.

Five words. If Christ be not raised. And then five words from verse 20 in answer to that, but now is Christ risen. What I'd like to just establish in our minds at the very beginning of my message today is that those are the only two options when it comes to Resurrection Sunday.

Christianity is based on fact. It's not a religion, it's not a philosophy, it's not a school of thought, it's not based on traditions or myths or legends. It's not something that has been concocted by men.

Christianity is a person, God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and at the core of Christian faith are factual events that actually occurred in the history of this planet. So as we consider Resurrection Sunday today, I'm going to ask you to turn to Luke 24.

We're going to primarily read in Luke chapter 24 and in John chapter 20. And I want to focus our thoughts just onto that particular day. And most will know that the Lord Jesus was 40 days before he ascended to heaven after the Resurrection, and all four Gospel accounts give us various facts about events during those 40 days.

I want to focus today just on day one, the first day of the week. And so we'll read in Luke chapter 24, but as we do it, I just want to reinforce in our minds there's only two options. This either happened or it didn't.

If Christ be not raised, then there are a number of profound implications that flow from that. But now is Christ risen? There are equally profound implications that flow from that, in fact, more profound.

So I would like you to look with me now at the historical record. What are the facts of what the Bible tells us about this particular Resurrection Sunday? So let's read first of all in Luke chapter 24, and we'll begin at verse 1.

Now, Luke chapter 24 and verse 1, in terms of the historicity of this, notice the specific time marker. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came into the sepulcher bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain others with them.

Down to verse 13. And behold, two of them went that same day. Notice that time marker again. Two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs.

And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

And he said unto them, what manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad? And the one of them whose name was Cleopas answered and said unto him, art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?

And he said unto them, what things? And they said unto him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty indeed in word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him.

But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain woman also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre.

And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre and found that even so as the woman had said, but him they saw not.

Then he said unto them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

And they drew nigh unto the village whither they went, and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.

And he went into Terry with them. And it came to pass as he sat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and break, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight.

And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

Now let me just pause for a minute. If we put together the accounts of Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20, it's likely that on the first day of the week, there were five interactions between the Lord Jesus and various individuals.

We're only going to really look at three today. But if you look at all five, we learned that he appeared to certain women as they returned from the tomb. We're not really going to touch on that. We've read just briefly here that he appeared to Peter or Simon.

We don't know much about that meeting. First Corinthians 15 also tells us that it happened. But the three that we're going to focus on are this encounter we just considered with the two on the road to Emmaus.

And now this one that we're about to look at where he appears in a room where the disciples are meeting. And then finally, or thirdly, we'll look at his encounter with Mary of Magdalene, the first chronologically in John chapter 20.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples in the Upper Room

So we're looking now at the second of the ones we want to consider of his encounters with specific believers on this resurrection Sunday. Verse 36. As they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

But they were terrified and affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And just go down to verse 44. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me.

Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

And ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. Over please to John 20. John 20 in verse 1, again the time marker, the first day of the week, cometh Mary Magdalene early while it was yet dark unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

And then just go down to verse 10. The disciples went away again unto their own home, but Mary stood without the sepulchre weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master. Verse 19,. Then the same day, the time marker again, then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Verse 24,. But Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord.

But he said unto them, Except I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. Now I really want to focus today the bulk of my comments on, as the title suggests, Refuge in the Risen Christ, the theme for these series of meetings on Sunday afternoons.

And I'd like to thank Caleb and Daniel for their efforts and for the privilege I have today of speaking to this large audience. I've appreciated the ministry of the other brethren that have gone before, and I am very grateful for this, albeit imperfect method, at least we are able to hear the Word of God and to derive some strength from the fellowship with one another.

So my primary purpose is to really speak about the impact that this message of the resurrection should have on us. But I would just like to start by asking you. I understand that all of those listening are likely struggling with unusual circumstances just now, and it could be, in fact, it likely is, that there are many, many hearts that are heavy, and you are hoping that something the Spirit of God might say through me to you today is going to reach you in your circumstances.

And please, I am taking nothing away from that, I'm in the same boat. But I would just appeal to you and to my own heart, just for a moment, set aside our interest. Set aside for a moment just what does this mean to me today, and just think with me for a moment of the significance of this day to our Lord Jesus Christ.

What did Resurrection Sunday mean to Him? You will remember that just three days earlier, He passed through darkness and suffering, the likes of which none of us will ever experience. He learned loneliness.

He experienced rejection. He knew what it was to have the very ones that He had come to save turn against Him. He knew isolation on the cross. He knew pain and suffering and reproach. Three days before this, He had died in shame, all alone, in order that the purposes of God would be fulfilled.

Christ’s Resurrection, the Father’s Vindication, and God’s Redemptive Purpose

But I want you to think of a couple of statements He made before He went to the cross. John chapter 10, we read the words of the Lord Jesus, No man takes my life from me, I lay it down of myself. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it again.

Speaking to His enemies in John 2 and verse 19, He said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Resurrection Sunday was an act of tremendous power and victory by the one who hung in shame and loneliness and died on the cross.

His suffering is past forever. The apparent weakness of Calvary has given way to the power of the garden tomb. And in the power of an indissoluble life, unseen by any earthly eye, before the sun dawned that Sunday morning, the Son of God reclaimed life, and He stepped out by His own authority.

Resurrection Sunday is absolutely crucial to the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. But think with me just for a moment of what Resurrection Sunday meant to His Father. This is not a technical message today, but if you search yourself in the New Testament, you'll find there's many verses that ascribe the act of the resurrection to His Father.

Romans chapter 6, verse 4,. Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, but like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Galatians 1, Paul an apostle not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father who raised Him from the dead. And there are others. The last recorded words of the Lord Jesus from the cross were, Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.

It's an amazing thing that the Father was silent at Golgotha. As men spat on His Son, they nailed Him to a tree, they mocked, they jeered, and they attacked the very relationship closest to Him. He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him now if He'll have Him.

For He said, I'm the Son of God. There's a Father that watched from heaven, and not one angel was summoned, not one angel was sent. The Father never intervened. But on resurrection Sunday, the Father acted.

The Father raised Him from the dead. And Hebrews 1 tells us the words of the Father to His resurrected Son, sit on my right hand until I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy feet. And I think it's good for us to remember that there's a Father in heaven who yearns for the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory, not just of God, but to the glory of God, the Father.

The resurrection day meant everything to a heavenly Father. But finally, just in a general sense, what did it mean to God? In terms of the great sweeping plan of redemption, all of God's revealed purpose from Genesis to Revelation, what significance did this particular Sunday and the events of Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, what significance did they have to God?

They could not be more central to divine purpose. I'll just touch on two verses. Relative to salvation, it speaks about the Lord Jesus Christ, how that He was delivered for our offenses, but He was raised again on account of our justification.

The resurrected Christ is the absolute irrefutable proof that we have of the power of salvation. It's also critical to God's future plans. You'll be familiar with Acts chapter 17, Paul's preaching on Mars Hill, and he says the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained, whereof He has given assurance unto all men in that He has raised him from the dead.

God will see to it that every purpose He ever had for man will not lie frustrated because of the introduction of sin. The first man was marked by disobedience and failed, but the second man, the last Adam, the Son of God, He rose from the grave triumphant, and God has raised Him from the dead in order that a king will reign in righteousness.

And there is one into whose hand all judgment has been committed, and God's purposes ultimately rest on the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week. So with that as a background, then what about us?

Do these sweeping truths have any practical implications for us today? Well, I would like to just draw to our attention four simple things from these encounters that we have on Resurrection Sunday, because I believe from the experience of these characters we can find tremendous relevance to what we are passing through today in 2020.

If you read about the characters, the two on the road to Emmaus, the disciples, ten of them in the upper room, Thomas wasn't with them, and of course Judas was dead, and Matthias had not been chosen. So we have two on the road to Emmaus, we have ten in the upper room, and then we have one dear woman, Mary, standing outside the sepulchre weeping.

And I believe that if we look at the circumstances and the hearts and the minds of those dear believers that first, first day of the week, we'll find remarkable parallels. They were disillusioned. We get that in the language of Luke chapter 24.

The two on the road said, we had thought that it would have been he who would have redeemed Israel, and whether it's the disciples in the room or the two on the road, they believed they were squarely in the will of God, and they were.

But things had not unfolded at all like they expected, and suddenly into their lives had crashed a reality that just seemed to contradict and shatter everything that they thought God was doing. I don't know what everybody's facing today, but I do know that there are a lot of believers, and that's exactly where you are.

The events in the last four, five, or six weeks have turned your life upside down. Dating couples, praying for a life partner, God brings you together, and suddenly this happens. Engaged couples with wedding plans, and all of your dreams and your hopes and your expenses wrapped up in a wedding day, the day there has already been or is about to be swept away, and you trace the hand of God, and you think, we think we're in his will, we believe he's been leading us, but now this.

How do you process it? University students looking at a summer when you're supposed to earn money to go back to school, there's no employment, business owners, perhaps gearing up for a successful year with budgets in place and plans being implemented, and suddenly an unforeseen silent enemy comes and the whole thing is turned on its ear.

There were people here this first Sunday, and their lives were in disarray. They were completely disillusioned. They were disappointed. They were discouraged. They were confused. They were frustrated.

They were fearful. And you could take any one of those adjectives, and in one way or another, I think they apply to most of us just now today. But I'd like to just look at these passages with you and some of the details in the text to point out four things that the Lord Jesus gave these early believers, and I think these resources, they hold true for us today.

Clarity from the Scriptures in Times of Disillusionment

First of all, just look with me at Luke 24, and I'd like to point out that I think the emphasis in Luke chapter 24 to these two on the road to Emmaus and to the disciples later that evening, the Lord focused their minds on the scriptures.

Verse 27, it says concerning the Lord that he expounded unto them out of all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Verse 32, as they recounted after he had left, and they started going over in their minds what it was that he had said and what happened.

They said, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened unto us the scriptures? Verse 45, with the disciples in the upper room, then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.

Now you say, well, that's really basic. Well, yes, it is really basic, but what those people needed in the middle of their disillusionment and disappointment, they needed clarity concerning the scriptures, and that's exactly what he provided to them.

He said, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them out of all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Now I'll make a comment. This is not a comment criticizing the generation younger than mine, rather it's a comment admiring the generation older than mine. We, and for that I'll include myself, 56 years old and those younger, we could take a tremendous lesson from a generation that's decades ahead of us, 10, 20, 30, some maybe 40 years ahead of us in their 90s.

There's a generation of believers that have blazed a trail just ahead of us, and they knew their Bibles, and they were saturated in the word of God, and I have been amazed in my short experience sitting with some of these dear believers who have been through all sorts of trials.

Some of them lived as children in a war that was completely torn, a world that was completely torn apart by war. Many of them have dealt with truly existential trial, not sure where their next meal will come from, not worried about possibly losing things because they had nothing, totally dependent on God.

And what has amazed me at times and encouraged me speaking to older believers is their refuge, their confidence, their stability, it's always found in the Scriptures. And I would just like to encourage us as I move past this, at this point in time, we do not need to feed our souls on a steady intravenous drip of sensational news.

We need quiet time. We need our Bibles. We don't just need to grab it off the shelf and desperately search for one verse that I might cling to for encouragement today, although God in his grace often does give us that.

But we need to actually study our Bibles. We need to learn our Bibles, because the Bible is the great resource that we have that provides a foundation that will never change. It still says what it's always said.

Popular opinion has never changed it. The tides of time cannot erode its truth. I love the little Sunday school hymn, I've been humming it this morning to myself. The Bible stands. It has stood through centuries.

It has stood through depression and world war. It has stood through previous pandemics. It'll stand forever, his word will never pass away. The Bible stands like a rock undaunted amid the raging storms of time.

Its pages burn with the truth eternal, and it glows with the light sublime. So I would encourage us today, we will find clarity, maybe not to the questions that we have, maybe not some assurance of how things will end up, but we will find clarity as to our God, and his character, and his purposes, and his eternal power, only from the scriptures of truth.

So I would say number one, the refuge we find in the risen Christ, as these first, first day of the week believers found, is to get clarity from the scriptures. But the second thing that I think we see in these passages, is if you look at Luke chapter 24 and John chapter 20, coming now to the second encounter I want to speak about, the disciples are in a room.

There's 10 of them. They're afraid. Now maybe I have too much imagination, but I would love to know the dynamics in that room. I don't really understand what it was like. They were afraid because of the Jews, the door was locked.

The Lord would at this point have already met with Peter. So Peter knew the Lord was alive, but I don't know if Peter was saying anything to the other disciples or not. Maybe Peter was too ashamed. Maybe Peter knew how blatantly and flagrantly he had failed in sin.

So Peter's biting his tongue and he's not saying much. About John the apostle, it says earlier in John chapter 20, that when John looked and he saw the grave closed, and he saw the napkin in a place by itself, it says John believed.

Likely the first one to believe the truth of the resurrection, although he hadn't seen the risen Christ. John was in that room. We don't read of anything that John said. Read of 10 men, they're afraid.

They're also disillusioned. And it would almost seem to me that their focus was on the future. They had thought of kingdom plans. Peter tells us they had left everything to follow Christ. Those 10 men had turned aside from their livelihoods, from everything that they had lived for.

And they had completely sold out to this one Jesus of Nazareth. They knew him to be the son of God. They had felt the kingdom was coming. They believed they would have a role in it. And now he's dead.

They'd seen it happen. Died in shame on a cross. And although at least Peter and John knew that he was alive from the appearance of the Lord to Peter, it would seem that their fear of the future had so gripped them that they had no idea what to do or where to turn when the Lord appears.

The reason I stress that is, notice what the Lord says to them. In John chapter 20, he says, as my father has sent me, even so send I you. And looking at 10 men that feared that maybe they had no future now, all of their plans and their hopes that they had laid out for the future to unfold as they anticipated, they were all in shambles.

The Lord says, no, no, no, no, the future is not in shambles. There is a mission, the likes of which this world has never seen. My father sent me into the world. The significance of that mission, the importance, the purpose, the meaningfulness, if that's a word in English, is unparalleled.

And yet it's amazing that he looks at those 10 men and he says, you take my mission on which my father sent me. That's the pattern now for you. Because as my father has sent me, even so send I you. And I would just like to encourage us all today.

The future might look uncertain. In fact, let me say that again. There's no might. The future does look uncertain. One of the reasons so many of us are so prone to try to look at the news and follow the streams is we're sort of grasping for some straw that'll tell us when this might end and how it'll unfold and what it'll look like.

And mixed in with all of that fear and uncertainty is a sense that we don't know what the future might hold. Could I just reassure our hearts with this? Every one of us has a future. Until the Lord returns or he calls us one by one home by way of death, every one of us has a future and God has a purpose for it.

The Spirit’s Power and Comfort for the Future

But the second great resource that I want to point out to you that's introduced here on this first day of the week, not just clarity from the scriptures, but you'll notice where we read both in Luke 24 and John chapter 20, that the Lord Jesus introduces the promise of the spirit of God.

Luke 24 verse 49, he says, behold, I send the promise of my father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. John 20 verse 22, he says, when he had said this, he breathed on them and saith to them, receive ye the Holy Ghost.

The second great resource that we have, speaking reverently, is not just the untouchable, irrefutable, absolutely reliable authority of the scriptures, but we have the comfort of the spirit of God. The Lord Jesus had introduced this subject to these same men just a few nights previously.

The night before going to the cross, he opened up the truth of the comforter, the spirit of God, and my dear brother, my dear sister today, resident in your bosom and mine, is a holy person of the Trinity.

The spirit of God has come to dwell within us, and there's not a circumstance in life that we will encounter, including the current ones, but that the spirit of God is able to empower us to see the will of God perfected in our lives.

And ultimately, that's far more important than my plans, my possessions, my reputation, my comfort, to see God's purpose ultimately fulfilled in my life. The absolute power and fuel necessary to see that brought about is the spirit of God.

Read Romans chapter 8. We have that introduced here on this Resurrection Sunday, clarity from the scriptures, comfort of the spirit. But then the third thing that I want to bring to our attention that's introduced to these first day of the week believers is notice that both in Luke 24 and in John 20, the Lord very clearly takes their minds back a few days to his sufferings.

Luke 24, verse 26, ought not Christ to have suffered these things? In the context there in Luke 24, the these things must be, the things described in verse 25 and 24 and 23, the things that had just happened at Jerusalem, the things that had thrown these dear believers into such a tailspin.

These things, ought not Christ to have suffered the awful atrocities of Calvary? Verse 39, Luke 24, he appears to the disciples and he says to them, behold, my hands and my feet. Verse 40, he shows them his hands and his feet.

Verse 20 of John 20, when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Now, I know that the immediate context there, it was an identifier. He was pointing out to them the mark of the nails in his hands and his feet and the mark of the spear wound in his side in order to identify who he truly was.

But I believe he was also reminding those first believers that Calvary, while it will never ever be repeated, it will never be forgotten. It will always be true. It will always be fresh. I'm thinking of the truth of 1 Corinthians 1.

The message of the cross to us who are saved, it's the power of God. Paul writes, God forbid, Galatians 6, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. John gets a vision of the risen Christ, the sea of glass and a throne in it and a throne center with a scroll in his hand.

And John weeps much because there's no one able to take the scroll and to loose the seals. And then he says, he hears, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to take the book and open the seals.