Revelation 5 (Con't)

Revelation 5 and the Worthy Lamb

Andy, you'll open us up with a word of prayer?

Sure.

Now, Father, again, we're so thankful that we have the ability to come, to hear your word, hear your truth, and not only that, but to be able to put it into practice by your grace in our lives. So, dear brother Mike, thank you for your faithfulness to your word, and Lord, just open our ears and our eyes and our hearts and our lives in Christ's name.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Revelation chapter 5, beginning in verse 1. And I saw on the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book or a scroll written inside with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?

And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, Stop weeping.

Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the scroll and its seven seals. And I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

And he came and he took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each one holding a harp and a golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

And they sang a new song saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll to break its seals for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe, tongue, people and nation. And you have made them to be a kingdom of priests to our God and they will reign upon.

The earth.

And I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and a number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands upon thousands saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them.

And I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the land, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen. And the elders fell down and worship.

The Root of David and the Lion of Judah

So when we left off last week, if I remember correctly, it was about at the end of verse five where we had talked about the line that was of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. Not only is the root Jesus the root, he was the shoot.

If you remember, it said it was a prophecy that the shoot of David would come or the shoot of Jesse would come and that shoot. And Isaiah was talking about the offspring of the branch that would come, which would be the messianic figure, which would ultimately be the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we talked about the line of the tribe of Judah and that lion was pointed back to Genesis chapter 49, beginning around verse eight, the prophetic statement from Jacob right before he pulled his legs up and he died.

I don't know if y 'all remember reading that at the end. It's just a weird, like, all right, I'm going to say these last words. He said what he said. He kind of pulled his feet up into his couch or his bed and just out, gone.

Well, he promised that the scepter would never leave the house of Judah until Shiloh. And that Shiloh meant until the one whom the scepter belonged. And who does the scepter belong to? It belongs to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, who would be exalted and enthroned after his death, burial and resurrection.

Then it said that he was the one worthy to open the seven seals of that scroll. And then that brings us to verse six and it says, and I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders, a lamb standing.

This is a huge shift in the scene room in heaven. One, we know that that lamb is not a real lamb. We know this is an individual. And this would be the first time in heaven that we see an actual human being.

You understand that? This is a human being. This is the God-man, truly God, truly man, fully God, fully man in his glorified state. He is standing before the throne. I don't want you to think like there's this lamb standing up on its back hind legs, hopping across sort of like a minotaur or something.

That's not the idea. It says here that in between the throne, so you have the throne. This is what my mind thinks. All right, you got the throne here.

All right.

And you've got, these are the 24 elders. And I didn't count to see if those were 24. I just put a bunch of dots there. But then you got the four living creatures or beings and it says between them and then here's the lamb.

It comes and he's standing before the throne. This is the imagery I have in my mind. This is the scene in heaven absolutely magnificent. You've got the lamb just kind of walks up onto the scene and he comes between the ones that are worshiping, the ones seated on the throne, and he's standing in between or in front of the throne and the elders and the four living creatures.

And he's standing as if slain. Now, the word that's used for lamb in John's writings, and I'm going to use the capital alpha for a specific reason. Both of those are the Greek word for lamb. This is the word that's actually used when Keith preached just a couple of weeks ago, behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

This is the one that's used. The one that's used all through Revelation is Arneum. This is Amnos and this is Arneum. I'm going to make a reason why, a conclusion why I believe this is what he has used.

That is correct, right? Did I spell it right? Greek scholar?

Okay.

Just make sure.

Did I get a C, a D minus for my... All right. There's a reason why I believe that he uses these. One, when John sees, John the Baptist. When he sees Jesus coming, he says, he makes that declaration, behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

At this point, this lamb has not been slain.

We would agree?

When he sees him walk... Yes, sir?

Just a caveat to that. You mean on earth hasn't been slain since the four foundations of the world?

But we don't qualify texts in their narrative based on an eternal decree. I agree with you. It was crucified before the foundation of the world in the mind of God, but not in history. So as history unfolds, in the mind of God, was Jesus going to be the incarnate son of God?

Certainly, yes. But it didn't take place in time. So in the decree of God, no doubt. The lamb was crucified before the foundation of the world in the mind of God, but it hadn't taken place in history as redemptive history unfolds.

Now, this is what John uses in his gospel. Every time it's used in the book of Revelation, it's Arnean, and it's always connected with having been slain. I just right off rip. If you see there's a standing lamb having been slain, what is the immediate reaction?

If this lamb is standing and it had been slain, what has happened to this lamb? Dude, it's been resurrected. It's standing there, meaning this is the resurrected, slain lamb. Meaning this lamb, son of God, standing there would be wearing the scars to show that this was him.

Look, there's going to be one God-man in heaven. He's the only one that's going to have scars. And what are those scars? It'll be the five marks of his suffering in which he purchased, as it'll say here shortly, every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

We'll be able to walk up to the son of God and look at his wrist, that's where I believe they were at, hang on, what are you going to say, and you will see the marks of his suffering. You will be able to say, can you lift your robe up?

And you will see where they put that spear into his side, and you will see on his feet those marks of his suffering. Now, why a lamb? What was the significance of the lamb? Why not a goat? Why not anything else?

Because what was the significance of a lamb in the Old Testament? What's the first, can somebody say that?

Innocence.

Certainly innocence, pure, undefiled. But what was the first use of the lamb to protect the people of God? It was Passover. That's right, Passover. Exodus 12, I think it's one through, well, actually it would be the whole thing because it gives them how to do it, when to kill it, and all that.

They were supposed to go out there. They were just to get them a lamb. It was supposed to be one year old. And I think in one translation it says, and a goat if a lamb was not available. It does. A goat, and I'm going to make a conclusion with that because I think that also can be helpful when we understand the Day of Atonement and what did they use for the Day of Atonement.

They actually used a goat. So they were to take the lamb. They were to bring it into the house for four days. Why bring it into the house for four days? For them to get acquainted with this lamb, and then they were going to take that very lamb that the kids would play with, that they would love on and hug on, and then they would take that lamb out there, and they would slit its throat.

They would bleed it out, and then they would roast that. What were they to do with the blood that would be drained in that basin? What were they supposed to do? Put it over the lintel and the door post so that when the death angel was to come by, he would pass over seeing that blood, and he would then pass over that house and go to the next and go to the next and go to the next.

And what happened to those that didn't have the blood over the lintels? Firstborn, not just to the babies. I mean, ain't that wild? It was firstborn of everything. Cattle, anything in the field, firstborn.

Wiped out. So the lamb, having been slain, was to the covering of the wrath of God coming over the land of Egypt. Then we also know that there was a substitute back in Genesis 22 that was put there as well.

That could ram, goat, that depends on how you understand that translation. Some people think it was a ram. Some people believe it was a goat. I even know some men, no, commentators think that it might have been a ram, as in a sheep ram that was hung in a thicket.

He raises up his hand. He's about to plunge his knife into the heart of Isaac, and he hears, Abraham, Abraham, stop what you're doing. Okay? He provided a substitute for Isaac. And if a man can't preach Christ from Genesis 22, he's got no business standing in a pulpit.

No business. My only son. And he was willing to sacrifice his son. God put something in its place. He provided a sacrifice. He then sacrificed that. So, that slain lamb in the Passover pointed to something greater.

And it pointed to something greater because there would be a Passover lamb that would come that would bear the full weight of God's wrath. That actually would then redeem his people. It even says that when they put the blood over the lintel and over the doorpost, that that was the blood, that was blood of redemption.

God was redeeming his people out of the land of Egypt and providing for them an escape from God's wrath. Look, if there was any... And we have no indication that this happened. If there was an Israelite that did not put the blood over the doorpost or over the lintel, you can take it to the bank.

The firstborn was dead. God says... Where was his distinction made? Where was his distinction made between his people and Egypt? It was the blood. It was the blood. That was the distinction was made. In this case, we have Christ being the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.

Now, in time, he was crucified, lived a perfect life, died that substitutionary atoning death, and his blood provided an escape from the wrath of God. Provided an escape from the wrath of God for those that place faith in the blood of Christ.

So here it is. This lamb standing before the throne as if slain has provided a way for the purchasing of every nation, tribe, and tongue. Now, it says here that this lamb was standing as if slain and it had seven horns and seven eyes.

Seven horns.

Why seven horns? I don't know about y 'all, but if I seen a little lamb with seven horns, I'd be kind of weird looking. What was the significance of seven? Seven is completeness. Completeness. Totality.

Completion.

Fullness. And what does horns represent? Even in the Old Testament when David says God has exalted his horn, did it mean that he had this horn sticking out?

Power.

Power, yeah. Even when we look at the prophetic part of Daniel, when he talked about he saw this goat with four horns, what was it talking about? It was the four powers that would come up out of that goat, meaning it was the separation of Alexander the Great's empire.

You had four generals that would come up. Well, those horns represent power, so when this lamb has seven horns, it is full, complete power. Absolute sovereignty. And then it says has seven eyes, and once again, we come to that statement that's only used a handful of times in the book of Revelation, and it doesn't get any clearer when it's used, but these are the seven spirits of God.

Does God have seven spirits? Don't throw the pen at me. Is there seven spirits of God? No, there's one spirit of God, but it had a seven. Remember earlier in the book, 27 weeks ago or whatever it is now, we had the seven-fold ministry of God, the seven-fold ministry of the spirit of God.

See that back in Isaiah where it pointed to that, meaning that these seven eyes that were going out into all the world were the seven spirits, meaning that not only is this lamb that has been slain, has been now resurrected, has complete power, and he's got complete knowledge.

Where is the eyes of God that they cannot see? Is there anywhere? Even the psalmist says if I was to go to the heavens, you would be there. If I was to go to Sheol, you would be there. There is no place you can escape the eyes of God.

That's it. He can see it all. And don't think that as he sees it, he's writing it down in a book because he's going to forget. The books is just a reminder that he has in his memory bank everything that we've ever done, and we're going to give an account whether good or bad on that day.

Now those things as a believer that we'll take an account for on that day, if they're wrong, they'll be covered under the blood of Christ. But those things that will be done that are perfect in motive, provided by the power of the spirit, those things we will get reward for on that day.

And there's a statement in that passage, talking about the judgment of the believer, and it says you will suffer loss. I've often wondered, man, what is that loss? Is it going to be how many times we have done something, thinking we've done it in pure motive, and on that day it's going to be brought to light.

You know what? You might have done it for yourself. You might have done it for yourself. I don't know if I said this a few weeks ago or not, but I was talking to somebody, sharing the gospel with a guy, and he says, you know, I like to do good things,.

And I feed the homeless.

And I said, okay, why do you do that? What's the purpose? And he said, man, it makes me feel good. So it's about you. Your motive just went down. It wasn't about loving your neighbor. It was about it makes me feel good when I do that.

And he said, well, I guess that is why I do it. So you're not doing it actually out of your love for your neighbor. You're doing it because it makes you feel good. That motive would burn up on the day of judgment.

And it says that God has sent them out into all the earth. As Mike just said, the eyes of the Lord go to and fro. There's nowhere the eyes of God cannot see. And it says here in verse 7,. And he, meaning the lamb, came and took the scroll out of the hand who sat upon the throne.

Here it is. This lamb marches into the scene. The first time that the throne room of God has a human being in it, he goes up and he reaches up and he takes that scroll from God. Man, just look at the Trinitarian aspect of this.

We've got the lamb, which is Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. We've got God sitting on the throne. And we've got the seven spirits of God, meaning the Holy Spirit, around the throne. This is a Trinitarian act going on.

And he took in his right hand. Why the right hand? Sorry, Andy.

Bird.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's because the right hand always showed prominence in Middle Eastern culture.

Don't forget Ehud.

He did. And all the left-handed guys that slung the... Remember, it was the left-handed guys that were bad to the bones with the slings in the time of Joshua and in the time of the judges. Yep, it was the left-handed guys.

I'll just let you know if you're into fighting. Left-handers have a better way of knocking people out because you see it coming from another way. And then it said that he came and he took that scroll out of the right hand and he sat on the throne.

And when he had taken that scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. All right. So now we saw earlier in this chapter and in chapter 4 that these 24 elders and these four living creatures, they would fall down and they worshiped the one who was seated upon the throne, which we all know that was God himself.

God the Father, if we want to just make it simple. It was God the Father. Now this lamb comes into the scene. And what do these living creatures and these 24 elders do? They do the same thing. So what is the connection?

If something's being worshiped in heaven, that means this person has to be God. And they fall down and they fall down before the lamb. And it says here that each one was holding a harp and a golden bowls of incense.

Does anybody remember from the Old Testament what the harp was?

No?

The harp was actually used by the Levites as an act of worship. Who led the worship in the Old Testament? Does anybody remember? It was the Levites. Remember, not all Levites were priests, but all priests were Levites.

Remember, because you had the Kohathites, the Gerites, the Merites. All of them had certain things that they did. They were all the descendants of Amram. I was over in that room over there. I drew a big old chart showing how everyone that they did, the Kohathites, did this.

And the one from Aaron did this. And these guys did that. Only the ones that were a descendant of Aaron were actual priests that took place in the going into the tabernacle, actual into the Holy of Holies, into the taking part in the Day of Atonement.

But you had the other ones, what were part of the Kohathites, where they would go in and they would trim the lamps. They would keep the bowls full with oil. And actually, if you remember, that's what Samuel did.

That's what Samuel was. Samuel was a Levite, but Samuel was not of the descendant of Aaron. Therefore, he could not go into the Holy of Holies. So the harp was an emblem or a device used for leading worship.

There was two major things that the Levites did apart from the priesthood part. They taught them the law. It was their responsibility for the Levites to teach the people of God the law. And it was also their responsibility to lead the people into worship.

I see right here two things that show these 24 elders representing the church is because they're holding the harp, which would have been those who would have been able, part of the Levites, leading the people into worship.

And then the others were the bowls of incense. And who carried the incense into the Holy of Holies? Only the high priest. So here it is. We see right here the priesthood, in effect, around the throne.

So I would take this, once again, as the 24 elders representing the church as the priesthood of the believer. And then it says here, which are the prayers of the saints. Well, where are the prayers of the saints?

Anybody have any idea? I believe that is part.

Yep.

As we go on through, we're going to see that we're going to have these prayers of the saints. And part of it will be these disembodied souls. And they'll be praying here shortly as we get into the book.

And I think it's the fifth seal. As they're praying, how long before you avenge our blood? And that could even be taken all the way back to Genesis chapter 4. And what did the ground cry out for vengeance of in Genesis chapter 4?

The first martyr. That would have been Abel. Cain killed his brother Abel. One, because he was jealous. God accepted his sacrifice. Therefore, him actually becoming the first martyr. And we know that because Jesus even said, You're going to fill up the blood of all the martyrs from righteous Abel to the son of Zechariah.

Yeah, to Zechariah the son of Berechiah. And he's going to pour it out on their head. All of those martyrs before. And who was responsible for killing all the martyrs at this point in history? The Jews.

Yeah, the Jews. The Jews. And even Jesus calls them out when he says, You go and you say, We're not like our fathers. We didn't kill the prophets. But basically, remember what they were doing? They were polishing up the tombs of the prophets that had been slain.

And Jesus says, Ah, so you do admit that you are the sons of those evil men. You're just like them. Because you're going to do that to me. And as they were around the throne, worshiping the Lamb, the prayers of the saints, which is this golden bowl.

And the bowl of incense is one that would be held into the Holy of Holies. And they sang this new song. Worthy are you to take the scroll and to break its seals. For you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

When it talks about Jesus Christ coming into the world to shed his blood, it was for a specific purpose. It wasn't to atone for the sins of every person that would ever believe. Jesus' substitutionary atonement was not for everyone without exception.

It was for everyone without distinction. Meaning, it is no longer for just the Jew. It's no longer going to be just for the Greeks. It's going to be for every type of people group. Under the Day of Atonement, I think it's in Leviticus 16, when they would go into the Holy of Holies, they would go in and the high priest would offer up the blood.

He would sacrifice one for himself, a ram. Then he would put his head. They would throw lots for the two goats. One would be the scapegoat. It would be led off into the wilderness with a scarlet rope around its neck, and it would be led off to never come back.

And if you understand the significance of when doing that, that is the taking away, which is the expiation, the removal of our sin away, is goats are smart. They've got an IQ of about 60. That's smarter than some people I know.

Okay?

Goats will find their way back home. Imagine leading this goat into the wilderness, and he lets it go, that goat never to return. It didn't come back to the place where it was taken care of. It led off under the providence of God.

That goat just went off into the wilderness, never to return, as a picture of our sins being removed by God, never to be remembered again. Now, not that God forgets, never to be held against us again.

God does not forget, but we will never have our sins held over our head as some retributive justice needed, because Christ had paid that. Well, that other goat would have his hands, the high priest, once again, put his hands on it, the sins of the people, slit its throat, go in there.

He would flick it on the horns of the altar, and in doing so, that goat then would atone for the sins of the nation of Israel only. Now remember, only. When they would go in on the Day of Atonement, it wasn't for the Amorite, the Canaanite, it wasn't for the Perizzite, and any of the other Ites, or the Hittites, or any of that.

It was for one people group, and honestly, it was for one specific type of sin. Sins committed in ignorance. So they would go in there, he would do his little ritual, however you want to say that. That sounds weird, but it was a ritualistic act.

Did what he did. It was for the people of Israel for one type of sin. Hebrews tells us, sins committed in ignorance, meaning sins that you did, you didn't know. There was concessions made under the Mosaic legislation for if you committed a sin, there was a way of taking a sacrifice to the priest in order to do that.

If you committed whatever sin, turtle, dove, bull, whatever, you would take that to the priest. Day of Atonement, one specific type of sin. Things you did not know. Christ comes, he pays for all the sins of every person that would ever believe.

There is no more sins committed in ignorance, and that you have to go to this priest and do this. He comes in and makes a substitutionary penal atonement that covers all sin. Why? That's because he says he has offered up himself once for sin.

Meaning, does not have to happen again. Ever again. And in doing so, offering himself up, being slain, being the Arneon, offering himself up, he purchased for God with his blood men from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

So there was two aspects that Jesus' blood was doing when he was sacrificed on the cross that day. He was propitiating the sins, meaning, propitiation means to turn away. It means to turn God's wrath away.

That's what propitiation means. So Jesus propitiated, turned the wrath of God away by atoning for the sins of his people, and then he expiated, took away those sins never to be remembered anymore. Those come together.

Propitiation and expiation can't be separated because they serve a purpose together. But then in doing so, Jesus' blood purchased a people for God from every nation, tribe, and tongue. Meaning, hey look, he redeemed them.

When the blood of the lamb was over the lentil and the doorpost in Egypt, actually in Goshen, that was the redemptive act of the blood of God. He said it was that blood that redeemed them. That bought them from Egypt and led them out.

Now, that led them out of bondage. Why do you think when it says that Jesus was making his way into Jerusalem and that he was about... I can't remember what passage.

It's in John.

It says, and he was speaking of his exodus that would take place. His exodus. Look, there's two major events in the Bible. It's the exodus and the exile. The exodus that Christ was going to be providing was no longer about the children of Israel being led out of bondage in Egypt.

It was going to be about his exodus of providing atonement by the shedding of his own blood that would exodus, it would redeem God's people from the slave market of sin. That's what it would provide. And it wasn't paid to the devil.

We got this briefly last week. When we think about the atoning work of Christ, there was one person that needed to have sin paid to him. And it was God. All you have to do is read Isaiah 53. That is also where the lamb that was slain is pointed to.

It would be as a lamb led to the slaughter. The word slaughter actually means butchered. That word slain we have here, that means butchered. It doesn't mean just simply, you see these animals going down a conveyor belt and they've got this thing that cuts their throat and bleeds them out in a slaughterhouse.

No, no, no. This is an animal that was butchered. And the purchasing for God was Jesus appeasing the wrath of God, buying a people group that would do what the Old Testament Jewish people did not do, which was what?

Be a kingdom of priests. Do you remember what he told them when he says, hey, I'm going to lead you out of the land of Egypt? And what did he tell them their purpose was for? To make them a kingdom of priests.

To make them a kingdom of priests. And then when they failed to be a kingdom of priests, and if you remember what happened, how they all failed to be a kingdom of priests was because when Moses went up to get the law, Joshua and Moses hear, hey, it sounds like there's war going on down there.

He says, you've got to get down there, Moses. That's what God said, you've got to get down there. And as they're coming down, they go, wait a minute, that's not the sound of war. That's the sound of partying.

And as they got down there, they saw that they were, I think the King James says they were making sport. Don't think they were playing badminton, okay? It wasn't table tennis. They weren't playing freeze tag.

No, no, no. They were having an orgy down there before this golden calf that they said was the picture of Yahweh. And because of that, Moses then, I think, remember he was angry, he slammed the tablets down.

What a symbolic act of the breaking of the covenant. Here it is, he had the covenant in his hand. He slams it down in anger. Basically, you've broken the covenant. God says, you take them, you take that golden calf, you grind it up like powder.

And what happens? He said, you drink it. You drink it. That's what you want? You grind it up and you make them drink it. He made them drink it. And then Moses says, those who are on my side come over here.

And Levi stepped forward. They went through every house. And remember how many people they killed that night? 3 ,000 heads of household. Because they refused to repent. And then God says, alright. They don't want to be a kingdom of priests.

Come on up here. He goes back up on the mountain. He gets the law again. And he then makes a priesthood out of the Levites. But God's intent, let's just end the narrative. God's intent was to make all of the people priests.

But they failed. Because they wanted to be idolaters. Under the new covenant, we all are priests. That's part of the reformation. We don't have to go to a man with a backwards collar. We don't have to go to a guy in a funny black robe.

We can go directly to God because of Christ's mediatorial work and ask forgiveness for our sins because why? He has atoned for them. And it says this, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of all our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And then he goes on to say, my little children, you have an advocate with the Father. An advocate. What's an advocate? Somebody that stands in your place.

A lawyer.

Look, if you're in trouble and you need to stand before a judge, you're usually not, it's not in your best interest to do it on your own. You and I can't stand before God. But we have that advocate.

Who can do that for us.

So it purchased for God a people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. And that penalty was paid to God, for God, unto God, for God's glory. And He has made them to be a kingdom of priests to our God.