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Well, I'd like to add my own words of welcome to those you've already heard, and it's good to be in New England this chilly November morning. Last Sunday, Dallas and I were in Denton, Texas, and it was 85.
Later in the week, it plummeted into the 60s. But at least here, it feels like November is supposed to feel. You may know that those of you who have been in Texas, Texas has basically four seasons November, December, January, and summer.
So here we are. The author and historian, William Manchester, wrote two volumes of what was to be a three-volume series. He never got to volume number three, but on the life of Winston Churchill. And the preface to volume two is what I'm going to read, an excerpt from this morning.
I will tell you also, by way of full confession and full disclosure, that I unashamedly plagiarized the title of this morning's sermon from him. So The Last Lion. But this comes from the preface to volume two.
The French had collapsed. I have trouble reading this, by the way, so bear with me, please. The French had collapsed. The Dutch had been overwhelmed. The Belgians had surrendered. The British army, trapped, fought free and fell back towards the Channel ports, converging on a fishing town whose name was Dunkirk.
Behind them lay the sea. It was England's greatest crisis since the Norman conquest, vaster than those precipitated by Philip II's Spanish Armada, Louis XIV's triumphant armies, or Napoleon's invasion barges massed at Bologna.
This time, Britain stood alone. If the Germans crossed the Channel and established uncontested beachheads, all would be lost, for it is a peculiarity of England's island that its southern weld is indefensible against disciplined troops.
In AD 61, Queen Boudicca of the Encini rallied the tribes of East Anglia and routed the Romans at Colchester, St. Albans, and London, cutting the Ninth Legion to pieces and killing 70 ,000. But because the nature of the southern terrain was unsuitable for the construction of strong points, new legions under Paulinus arriving from Gaul crushed the revolt, leaving the grief-stricken queen to die by her own hand.
Now the 220 ,000 Tommies at Dunkirk, Britain's only hope, seemed doomed. On the Flanders beaches, they stood around in angular existential attitudes like dim purgatorial souls awaiting disposition. There appeared to be no way to bring more than a handful of them home.
The Royal Navy's vessels were inadequate. King George V has been told that they would be lucky to save 17 ,000. The House of Commons has been warned to prepare for hard and heavy tidings. Then from the streams and estuaries of Kent and Dover, a strange fleet appeared.
Trawlers and tugs, scowls and fishing sloops, lifeboats and pleasure craft, smacks and coasters, the island ferry Gracie Fields, Tom Sopwith's America's Cup Challenger Endeavor, even the London Fire Brigade's fire float, Massey Shaw, all of them manned by civilian volunteers.
English fathers sailing to rescue England's exhausted, bleeding sons. Now what happened over the next few days was nothing short of a miracle. Those civilian volunteers pulled 338 ,682 British and French soldiers off the beaches of Dunkirk, snatching them out from under the very noses of the German assault troops.
Men who up to that time were facing almost certain capture and imprisonment. Their situation appeared hopeless, but things are often not what they seem. They couldn't help themselves, but there were others who could, and they were coming to the rescue.
And truly, in the present days of warfare, economic insecurity, crime and perverse values, it's easy to descend into a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. Right now, there's a hot war underway that seems to go on forever to impatient Americans raised in the television age in which all problems are resolved in the space of a one-hour show with time out for commercials.
We forget the long years and the fearsome human cost of the American Civil War or World War II. And in a time of unprecedented economic growth, we worry about our economic security when every drop in the stock market is presented as another 1929 crash or overinflated house prices decline a few percentage points or gas prices edge up to $3 .50 a gallon.
Suddenly, disasters of biblical proportions are looming on the horizon if we're to believe the press. And it does frequently seem that society has taken leave of its collective senses when we start proposing seriously things like civil unions in place of marriage between a man and woman or school boards seriously propose giving birth control information to 11-year-old girls, but don't tell their parents.
We see chaos all around us, and we're faced with two options. First, we can conclude that Solomon was right when he wrote Ecclesiastes, that life is a vapor, that life is meaningless, that history is aimless.
We can adopt the New Age Eastern idea and conclude that life really is an illusion, just like the children's song says. Or we can see history as circular, constantly doubling back on itself. Or we can take the biblical view that history is headed somewhere, that all human history has been aimed at one of two events, the first and second advents of Jesus Christ.
The world is full of trouble, that's true, but those troubles are not meaningless, nor are events spinning out of control. Life is not meaningless. History is not without purpose. History had a beginning and will have an end.
And both are outlined in scripture. The answer to the riddle of life is found in Christ crucified. History presents a struggle between good and evil that leads inevitably to the ultimate triumph of God and righteousness.
And only from heaven's perspective can one begin to understand what's going on and what's going to happen on the earth in the last days. It's noteworthy that in the story of Job, the only person that knew what was going on was God.
Job didn't know. Certainly his three friends didn't know. Not even Satan knew. Only God knew. And things were not what they seemed. But God has given us a glimpse of coming events in the pages of his word.
The revealed word of God accurately portrays where everything is going. And the scripture alone provides the corrective lenses that are necessary if we are to see coming events correctly. Otherwise, everything is a blur.
The function of the book of Revelation, as the name implies, is to reveal. In its pages, we are shown God the Father and God the Son presented in glory and majesty, worthy of all honor, worthy of all glory.
And in chapter 4, we have had a vision of the throne room of God and its effects upon John. And in the parallel passage of Daniel, God the Father is presented as the Ancient of Days, worthy because he is creator of all things.
And in chapter 5, we see the Father holding a sealed scroll in his right hand. And a call goes out for the one who is worthy to come and take the scroll and open it. So turn with me this morning to Revelation chapter 5, if you will.
We're going to take a look at that. Revelation chapter 5, and John presents the heavenly scene for us in verse 1. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
Now, what might this scroll be? Well, at least eight interpretations have been offered, but conservative commentators generally agree that this is a testament. It is a testamentary document or a will, if you will.
It is the title deed to the earth. It sets forth an inheritance that is to be received. And the principal clue to what this document really is are the seven seals. I turned up some interesting things in my reading and research this past week about the scrolls of the ancient world.
And one thing is that the scrolls were identified, the number of seals that went down the side, identified what this document was. So that, for example, if you had a scroll with five seals on it, you knew that this was a financial document of some sort.
It contained a bill of lading or a promissory note or something of that sort. And if it had seven seals, that was a testament, a will or a testament-type document. And it was all rolled up. You've all seen pictures of what a scroll looks like.
And down one edge, the seals were put, one after the other. And you had to break all of the seals before you could unroll the document and read it. And so here is a seven-sealed document. And it's in the right hand of God.
And the imagery here is interesting because lower-class Romans, it turns out, could not have formal wills. Instead, what they did was they brought five witnesses and a family friend and appeared before a Roman official.
The family friend was called the familia emptor or the buyer for the family. And they appeared before a Roman official who had a set of scales. And in the presence of all of the witnesses, the familia emptor placed a certain sum of money on the scales.
And he purchased the family estate. He purchased the family estate. He actually took title to the estate. And the plan was that at the time that the father died, the pater familius died, this buyer for the family would settle all the debts of the estate and divide the estate up among the heirs.
However, it was interesting because the only guarantee that the heirs had that they would receive their inheritance was the personal integrity of the buyer for the family because he actually owned the estate.
He actually took title to it. And so it was his personal integrity that they relied on. And in the same way, we rely upon the personal integrity of Jesus Christ. We have been promised an inheritance. We have been promised that we will rule with him.
And what guarantee do we have of that? The guarantee is Jesus Christ himself. The guarantee is Jesus Christ himself. And all the details of this transaction were all recorded on the scroll that was sealed with seven seals down the side.
And so John sees God the Father seated on his throne holding a seven-sealed scroll in his hand. And he goes on in verse 2,. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?
And no man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the scroll, neither to look on it. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the scroll, neither to look on it.
It's verses 2 to 4. And so we can paraphrase the famous line from Apollo 13, Heaven, we have a problem. We have a problem. The call has gone out for someone who is worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals.
Someone who is morally fit, who is entitled by right to take this scroll and to open it. And no one accepts the challenge. No one steps forward. No angel, no seraphim, no cherubim, no human being, no demonic being, no one comes forward.
And John begins to weep. Now here's a core truth. Apart from the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, history is an enigma. And if we abandon the view that history has a divinely ordained goal, we become prophets of doom.
We descend into despair. We adopt the viewpoint of Ecclesiastes, that everything is a vapor, that nothing has meaning. And so John begins to weep uncontrollably. The wording here, he's not just shedding a tear or two, he's weeping.
Unconsolably, he's weeping. Because it appears that the hope of God's intervening in human affairs has been postponed. If the scroll is not opened, there's no protection for God's children. There's no triumph for believers.
There's going to be no new heaven, no new earth. In short, there's going to be no inheritance unless one can be found to take this scroll and open it. But fortunately, it doesn't stop there. It goes on with verse 5.
And one of the elders saith unto me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. Now John is addressed here by one of the 24 elders.
This scene that was set in chapter 4, the principal characters that are in the throne room of God, there is, of course, God the Father. And there are what John calls seven living creatures. We don't know much about them beyond that, but they signify the living creation that God has created.
And there are angels there. And there's John, of course. And he's describing this scene for us. But also, there are 24 elders there. And they are indicative of the church of God because the term elder applies to the church, the body of Christ.
And so one of these individuals comes and says, the worthy one has been found. Don't weep. Don't weep. One worthy has been found. And so John ties together in these verses. He ties the Jewish hope of Messiah directly to the gospel of Jesus Christ because how does he refer to this individual?
He is, first of all, the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the root of David. He is the one entitled by right to take the scroll from the one who is seated on the throne, that is, God the Father, and to break its seals.
He is worthy. He is the one who has overcome. He is the one who has conquered death and hell. Jesus himself is heir to the kingdom. He has paid the price for it in his own blood. He has died in the place of sinners.
He has paid their debt. He is the guarantor of their inheritance. He is the guarantor of the fact that they will rule with him. Revelation 20, verse 6, says, Blessed and holy is he that hath the part in the first resurrection.
On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. Now here's this one that comes, and John describes him several ways. First of all, he is the lion of the tribe of Judah.
And this reference has got tremendous meaning for any Jewish reader that reads this. Because all the way back in Genesis, chapter 49, Jacob has referred to Judah as a lion's whelp or the child of a lion.
And he's predicted that the scepter shall not depart from Judah. In other words, Judah was to be the tribe of kings. The interesting thing about that is that Jacob was speaking several hundred years before there were any kings of Israel.
At the time Jacob said that, it was basically a large clan that you're talking about. You know, his sons, their wives, their children, you know, a few hundred people at most. And yet, Jacob is referring to what we today call imperial, an imperial kingship.
And so he says the scepter is going to come from Judah. Judah is going to be the tribe of kings. And sure enough, Judah is the tribe of kings. That's David's tribe. But now the ultimate lion of the tribe of Judah, the last lion of the tribe of Judah is on the scene.
And the first time he came, the Jews didn't recognize him. But this time they will when he appears. He is also the root of David. Jesus is from the kingly line. And as Isaiah prophesied, Isaiah says this, and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, and the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
And again, and in that day there shall be a root of Jesse who shall stand for an ensign of the peoples. To him shall the nation seek, and his rest shall be glorious. That's Isaiah chapter 11. Jesus has won the cosmic victory.
It is his right to open the scroll, and he comes to take it. He comes to seize it. John goes on, and I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb, as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.
And he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. Now consider, John sees a lamb as if it had been slain, but this lamb is alive. This is none other than the lamb of God that has been sacrificed and has risen from the dead, our living redeemer.
He is standing. He is the center of attention. But where has he been up to this point? Where has he been up to this point? Well, Acts chapter 2, verse 33. Therefore, being by the right hand of God, exalted and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy One, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.
Or Hebrews, who, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he has by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
Or a little earlier in Revelation, to him that overcometh, I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I am sat down with my Father in his throne. Up to now, he's been seated at the right hand of the Father.
He's seated there making intercession for us. He makes intercession for us. He has done what no earthly priest has ever done. He sat down. What did he say on the cross? It is finished. Not it's almost done, or not I've done my part.
It's finished. I'm done. And so he sits down by the right hand of the Father. You know, there were no chairs in the Jewish tabernacle or in the Jewish temple. Why? Because the priest never sat down. Because they were never done.
Every day, new day, more sacrifices. Sun goes down, sun comes up, more sacrifices. Sun goes down, sun comes up, more sacrifices. Constantly, over and over and over again. Jesus has made one sacrifice for sins and has sat down because he's finished.
We don't re-crucify him every time we come together for a service. He was dead. He has been raised from the dead. He is our living Lord. And up to now, he has been seated at the right hand of the Father.
But now he gets up and he comes around and stands in the center of the action so that he can take this scroll from the Father. And so John goes on describing the scene. He describes this lamb as having seven horns, which are symbolic of perfect and complete power.
This is a warrior lamb. And that's rather unusual. Because we think about lambs, we don't generally think of warriors in the same thought. Lambs are not considered very warlike. Lions are, but not lambs.
But this is a warrior lamb. This lamb is also a lion. And he's about to go forth and make war on his enemies. When he starts breaking those seals, judgment is going to start being poured out upon the earth.
He came the first time it was as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Now he's about to go forth as a lion, conquering and to conquer in what will truly be the war to end all wars. John also describes the lamb as having seven eyes, which are further identified as the seven spirits of God.
Because the Holy Spirit is completely at the disposal of the lamb during his coming reign. The lamb does not reign by blind force, but by the fullness of knowledge and the fullness of power. Jesus Christ is qualified to rule.
Jesus Christ is qualified to rule. And so what does this mean to us? What does this mean to us? Well, first of all, don't concentrate on the world. Don't be content with the world. This world is not permanent.
It's going to pass away. It's going to pass away. This is the disposable earth. Consider the passion that made John weep when he supposed that no one could be found to take the scroll. How many believers today anticipate the return of Jesus Christ with as much eagerness?
How many believers today would view the rapture as an unwelcome interruption to their very carefully laid plans? You know, you can't come now. I've got my 401k. I'm about to have it mature and so forth and so on.
You know, don't be content with this world. We're just passing through here. You know, this is not our home. We don't live here. We're just here for a while. And the second thing, keep focused on Jesus Christ because he is central to all of human history.
He's central to the Bible. He's central to John's description of events in heaven as well as on earth. He's central to the book of Revelation, what he is going to do and how he is going to be revealed in the coming days.
And keep in mind also that man's central problem is ever and always sin because John sees Jesus as the sacrificial lamb of God. His death was not an accident. His death was the intentional fulfillment of divine purpose.
His sacrifice is redemptive in nature and broad in benefit. The Bible says it purchased salvation for some from every tribe and tongue and nation. It's Revelation 5, 9, 7, 9, 11, 9, 13, 7, and 14, 6. You will find references to that.
The sacrifice was necessary because man is a sinner completely without hope and with no possibility of extricating himself from his predicament. We are like the soldiers on the beaches at Dunkirk. We're doomed unless someone from outside sails to our rescue.
We cannot help ourselves. Someone is going to have to come from outside and rescue us. Otherwise, we're forever lost. Jesus was identified by John the Baptist as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
He alone is the hope of sinners. And so if you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ for your eternal salvation, I urge you to repent and believe, which is what the Bible demands of you. Place your faith in the one who died in the sinner's place so that they might receive the righteousness of God in him.
And so the lamb has seized the scroll and prepares to take possession of what is rightfully his. He is about to begin breaking the seals. And with each one, there's going to be judgment poured out upon the earth.
That's all detailed in coming chapters. But before that happens, there is an outpouring of unbridled praise in heaven. Now, who's in this scene? Well, first, you have the four living creatures, which are representatives of living creation.
And you have the 24 elders, which are representative of the church. And you have angels, and everyone falls on their faces before the lamb to worship and to praise him. There is an acclamation of the worthiness of the lamb by the living creatures and by the elders in verses 9 and 10, and followed by the whole angelic host in verses 11 and 12.
Everybody joins in. And finally, the entire created universe in verse 13 joins in. And notice what they say. The lamb is worthy because of who he is and what he has done. The lamb is worthy because of his death.
The lamb is worthy because he has passed the test, and only the lamb was morally fit to take the test and to take the scroll. Only the lamb is both David's God and David's son. Only the lamb is fully God and fully man, whose sacrifice has perfect efficacy.
Only the lamb can be the substitute for sinners. The lamb is worthy of worship. He's worthy of worship. And so three things abound to his people from the sacrifice that the lamb has made. First of all, his people are a kingdom.
They have royal status. Did you all know you were royalty? Well, you are. You are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. That's Romans 8, 17, James 2, 5. You have royal status as sons of the king and daughters of the king.
Secondly, his people are priests. We are privileged to serve him. We are privileged to worship him. We are privileged to come into his presence. In the Jewish economy, only the priest could enter the temple.
There were various courts that surrounded the temple. If you study the temple, there was one courtyard where the men could go and another courtyard where the women could go, but they couldn't go into the court of the men.
And then there was another courtyard outside of that where Gentiles could come, but they couldn't go into either the court of the women or the court of the men. And none of those folks could go into the temple itself.
Only the priest could go into there. And only the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant stood, and he could only go in once a year. And when he went in, you know, he had the cord tied to his ankle so that if all of a sudden he dropped dead, they could pull him out without having to go in.
You know, we can approach God. We're priests. You can approach God on your own. You can say, Father, to God, because he says, come into my presence. You are my children. Come into my presence. And the third thing, we have dominion over the earth.
We will be restored to the position that Adam should have occupied, the position that Adam lost when he fell. We are going to reign with Jesus Christ during the millennial kingdom. And then notice also they ascribe seven great prerogatives to the Lamb in this great hymn of praise that's going on in heaven.
First of all, power. He is omnipotent. He has all power. Why is that important? He has all power. That means he can carry out his program. He can actually carry it out. How often do we make plans that somehow get diverted because for whatever reason, we don't have the power to carry it out?
But he has all power. He has all riches. He has the resources necessary to carry out his plan. He's not going to be limited. He can do whatever his plan requires. He has wisdom. He knows all the secrets of the Godhead.
He has the solution to all problems. He has might. He is truly the last lion. He is going to defeat and disarm all the powers of evil. He is going to defeat Satan. And the further pages of Revelation are detailed the last battles that are going to be fought.
And you can read that, and you can see who's going to win. And I'll give you a hint. It's us. John describes the vision of the conquering Christ riding a white horse, coming down with all of his heavenly armies laid out behind him.
And one of the interesting things about that is that in that description, there's only one person who's got a weapon, and that's Jesus. He slays with the word of his mouth. We're just riding along. We're the cheering section.
You know, that's my kind of leader. I'll follow that guy into battle anytime. But he's going to conquer. He's going to conquer all who would dare oppose him. He has honor. Every knee is going to bow to him.
Every knee is going to bow. I assure you, if you hear under the sound of my voice, someday you're going to bow. The issue is, will you bow voluntarily or are you going to be forced to your knees? That's your choice.
Will you bow voluntarily or will you be forced to your knees? But count on it. You're going to bow at some point. The last time the world saw the lamb, he was humiliated and he was hanging on a cross.
The next time they see him, he's going to be on a white horse, king of kings and lord of lords. And they will recognize him, we are told, in the pages of Revelation. They're going to realize who this was and who this is.
He has glory. He comes in millennial, royal, millennial splendor. And he has blessing. He will be praised and worshiped by all created things. Every creature in the universe is going to acclaim the worth of the lamb.
He will have universal, absolute praise from saint and sinner alike. All of these things. And so what are the final implications? Well, first of all, if you haven't caught on already, heaven thinks highly of Jesus.
Okay? Heaven thinks highly of Jesus because of his sacrifice, he is worthy to take the scroll of inheritance and to break its seals and to rule over the earth. And his death is the basis for our redemption.
Secondly, true worship is theologically informed worship. It's not based on warm, fuzzy feelings. It's based on the presence of God. The worship and praise in heaven is based on revealed truth. And the more you learn, the more we study, the more we put Bible doctrine into our hearts and apply it into our lives, the better equipped we are to worship God.
The better equipped we are to worship God. All too often, I'm afraid, we equate some kind of emotional reaction to worship. We'll say, well, I just didn't worship today. What we're really saying is I didn't have some kind of emotional reaction I was looking for.
And yet, worship is not about emotional reactions. Worship is about truth. Worship is about truth, theologically informed truth. And finally, heavenly-minded Christians are therefore worshiping Christians.
And we are to worship him in spirit and in truth. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, truly, Lord, we would join with the crowd and the throng that we have seen in chapter 5 in heaven and fall down and worship the Lamb and acknowledge, Lord, that he is our Savior.
He is the basis on which we can come into your presence. He is the basis on which we have the right to offer our prayers. He is the basis on which we come to you. And so, Lord, we would worship in spirit and in truth.
We would concentrate upon you. We would remain focused upon Jesus Christ. The Lion and the Lamb. Father, help us to maintain this attitude of worship daily and to constantly be looking for the return of Jesus Christ.
And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.