Lessons from the Lamb

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I turn with me, please, to the book of Revelation, chapter 5, a fairly familiar text,
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I think, for most of us, but in the brief time we have this evening, some thoughts on the
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Lamb of God, as seen here in the book of Revelation, and a few thoughts on the exalted nature of our
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Savior, especially as He has been resurrected and exalted as the right hand of God.
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Revelation chapter 5, I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
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I saw a strong angel proclaim with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals? And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it.
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And I began to weep greatly, because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me,
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Stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.
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Now, please note, the first reference here is to the lion that is from the tribe of Judah.
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And, of course, we know the reason for that terminology, going back to the Old Testament prophecies and so on and so forth.
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I saw between the throne of the four living creatures and the elders a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
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And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty -four elders fell down before the lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
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Now, remember, of course, the background to this was chapter four, which we didn't have time to go through this evening.
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Chapter four, a tremendous display of the worship that takes place in heaven and the worship and veneration and honoring of God.
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The twenty -four elders are introduced there. The glassy sea, etc., etc.,
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is pictured for us there. And so the four living creatures, twenty -four elders, are not introduced to us here.
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They were introduced to us in the previous chapter, but now they fall down before the lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
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Keep that in mind. They sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
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You have made them to be a kingdom and 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 living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,
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Worthy is the land 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 on the earth and on the earth and on the sea and all things in them.
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I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever.
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And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped.
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Now, just a few things when we think of what this says to a persecuted church, it wasn't that long ago, it probably seems like just yesterday to Pastor Fry that we preached through the book of Revelation that must have been must have seemed like a complete vacation for the pastor to prepare those sermons on such a simple book to be able to explain.
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And I know I stopped by once and he was doing a sermon prep and there was just there's one book on late
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Great Planned Earth. There was it was. Oh, I'll never live that one down.
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But anyways, obviously, we hopefully remember some of the things that we learned at that particular point in time.
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And we know that historically these words are written at a time when the persecution of the church is on the upswing.
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There are some tremendous persecutions taking place and especially in localized areas. But within within, well, with by about 260
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AD to 300, so a couple of centuries down the road, it's going to be it's going to be empire wide.
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I mean, this is the church is entering into a period of time where you're literally talking centuries on end of persecution, horrible persecution.
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And so when you keep that in mind, it is it is amazing the exalted language that is used so much so that I would think the world would look at and go, you folks really aren't functioning on a realistic level here, are you?
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Because what do we have here? We have this this picture of what's going on in heaven and you have this lamb.
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And very clearly, he's the lion of the tribe of Judah. We know who this is and he's standing as if slain.
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And the picture that is given of him with the seven horns and seven eyes, seven spirits of God sent on all the earth, there aren't seven spirits in the sense of seven different holy spirits.
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What is the number about the completeness of the lamb's knowledge and rulership?
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And his worthiness, he comes and takes the book out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne, and there is there is no sense in which the lamb is, is he deserves to be there.
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There is there is nothing said that the lamb, you know, bows down and the lamb does obeisance.
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No, the lamb comes up and takes the book out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. No, no one in all of creation had been found to even worthy to take the book or look into it.
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And the lamb comes forward and he does this. And and when he takes the book, the four living creatures of the 24 elders fell down before the lamb on the preceding chapter.
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They're falling down before the throne. They're falling down before God. These are exalted creatures.
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They they worship in absolute purity and perfect knowledge. There's no ignorance in them.
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There's no sin in them. So they can't be going. They can't be doing what John's going to do later on. Remember what happens later on.
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Book of Revelation, John bows down before the angel to worship him, which showed him all these things.
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Don't do that. Worship God. Well, these four living creatures, 24 elders, they fall down before the lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
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So these are these are mighty creatures and they're extremely important in the prayers of the saints.
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What does that tell us? Well, it tells us that God does know what's going on on Earth. We're going to see a little bit later on that the souls, the martyrs and the altar, there is perfect knowledge in heaven of what's going on on Earth, even in the midst of all the persecution, even in the midst of what looks like from the world's perspective, the imminent doom of this this this infant movement of the
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Christian church. No, God is well aware of everything that's going on and they sing a new song.
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Now, we're not actually focused upon the song, though we could trust me, there's three or four sermons worth in this particular verse.
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It's one I'm sure most of you are very familiar with. Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
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There are few texts that are more clear in their explicit understanding of the nature of the atoning work of Christ than this one.
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And it's in a song, in an apocalyptic vision given to given to John.
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And yet the clarity of it is simply due to its simplicity. It doesn't say worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals for you were slain and made salvation possible.
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His worthiness is directly related to the accomplishment. Of what he and the father and the spirit had determined to do in the atoning work itself, and that is to purchase for God with your blood.
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Not with your blood plus something else, but with your blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, there is the whole concept of what whole world means laid out with with great clarity.
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As a song, what an amazing thing. And so you have made them to be a kingdom and priest to our
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God, and they will reign upon the earth, you the lamb. This is why he is worthy to take the book he has accomplished its salvation accomplished.
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And this is where the worthiness comes from. It's not it's not a possible salvation made possible.
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It is a task that has been accomplished. And the result is the worship of the lamb from every created thing.
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You have the voice of many angels, living creatures, the elders, number the myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands.
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What a sound this must have been. Saying with a loud voice worthy is the land that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing, which is the same terminology used in the preceding chapter in regards to the worship of God upon his throne.
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And then verse 13 and every created thing, which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them.
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Now, why why the why not just simply say every created thing?
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Well, you want to you want to close any doors. To any way around this, so you're going to you're going to say every created thing, and now let me make sure you've got my point.
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It's every great thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and the sea and all things in them, whatever categories you want to apply to creation.
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Every created thing I heard saying that you might go, well, how can that be so much of the creation is still in rebellion and so on and so forth?
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Well, we know in the great hymn in Philippians chapter two, someday every knee will bow, every tongue will confess.
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And so I think it's in that concept of the idea that there will there will someday be an absolute and complete acknowledgment of these things to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.
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Now, why am I bringing all this up? Well, some of you know that next, yeah, next
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Friday, a week from Friday, I get to start padding my frequent flyer account yet again, and I'm going to be heading over to Kiev and to Berlin.
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In Kiev, I'm going to be teaching on the Trinity and in Kiev and in Berlin, it's going to be on justification.
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So just a hint as to where we might be on Sunday in the sermons might have something to do with Trinitarian issues and justification issues.
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It's just a just a possibility when you're already your mind's already on that, it's best to not to try to well, when your mind's as shallow as mine, it's best not to try to stretch it over too much, too much territory or holes might develop.
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So as I was actually reading through a systematic theology on the issue of the
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Trinity and the deity of Christ, I was struck once again by how deep the testimony to the deity of Christ is and how how rich it is and how often we we just don't appreciate it.
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Sometimes you take it for granted. We just take it as well. It's you know, everybody believes that. But it's not true. Not everybody does.
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And here in this presentation of the lamb, I think we have some just truly amazing statements being made.
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You'll notice in chapter four, you have the worship of God and it's in the context of blessing and honor and glory and dominion.
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Then in chapter five, you had these being addressed to the lamb. And now at the end, you have every created thing saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb.
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Now, it's, I think, fairly clear that the lamb cannot be one of the created things.
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That's the whole reason for the the emphasis upon every created thing was in heaven, earth, under the earth, to see all things
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I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb. And I think it takes us back to the book of John.
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We see so many times that perfect balance. It's just so beautiful to me to see the balance.
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You see, John chapter five, for example, he's calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.
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And what is what happens in the verses that follow after that? Jesus never denies that, but he makes sure that no one thinks he's some renegade deity off doing his own thing.
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There is perfect harmony between the father and the son. John chapter 17. We just went through it, that perfect harmony between the father and the son.
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John chapter 10, I and the father are one in what? In accomplishing the salvation of God's people. You have this this perfect harmony.
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There's this always this balance. And so here in the visions that John is being given, he's seen the worship of the one is upon the throne.
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And now the lamb, the lamb's not a competitor. The lamb's not having to draw away worship from the father for himself as if he's a competing deity.
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Instead, every created thing. So you have the division here. You have every created thing is saying to him who sits upon the throne and to the lamb.
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Uncreated being worshipped by the created. And there you have the balance put together.
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You had the father being worshipped. You had the lamb being worshipped. Now together, they're put together in the worship of every created thing.
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And so the lamb. This this meek creature standing as a flame.
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Blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. Power to this lamb.
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And the four living creatures kept saying amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped.
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People always say, oh, well, you know, that's prostitute. Oh, that's a different Greek term. It can sometimes be used of people, et cetera, et cetera.
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Whether it means true worship depends on the context. And I can't think of any context.
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That is more clearly that of the absolute highest form of worship than right here.
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I cannot think of how there could be any context. That would bring out true worship than all of creation in front of the throne of God.
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And that worship is given to he who is upon the throne and to the lamb.
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Now, that obviously tells us we have ontologically. The lamb is separated from the created order as uncreated.
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Colossians chapter one. In the realm of worship, he is the object of worship.
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The prayers of the saints are presented before him, who is the one that we pray to. Is that not a fulfillment of John 14, 14 after my ascension call upon me.
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Prayer is being addressed to Jesus, et cetera, et cetera. We have all these different lines that only make sense, not in the rationalistic view of Jesus, so popular today, but in the biblical view of Jesus that we find everywhere else.
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All these threads tied together. But what happens? We only have a few minutes left.
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I want to bring up one other one other element of this. The lamb breaks the seals.
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And so the seals begin opening and the horses and and so on and so forth. And the wars and everything that comes and the different horsemen of the apocalypse and all the rest, that kind of stuff.
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And there's tremendous famine and pestilence and killing by the sword.
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And you see in chapter six, when the lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls. Those have been slain because the word of God, because the testimony which they had maintained.
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And they cried out while voicing how long the Lord, holy and true. Will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood of those who dwell on the earth?
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And just in passing the centrality of that text to a persecuted church, the assurance that it gives to a persecuted church that what they're going through is not ignored by heaven.
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It may seem like the heavens are closed up, but instead their prayers are are part of the very altar.
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They're in the very center of the attention of heaven itself. And they will not be they will not be forgotten.
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But here's here's what I want to to point out to you.
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Look at verses 15 and 16 of chapter six. Then the kings of the earth and the great men, the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks, the mountains, and they said the mountains and to the rocks fall on us and hide us in the presence of him.
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Who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand to hear the language.
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Do you see the the echo of what we just saw in heaven? You have the worship of he who sits upon the throne and the lamb honor and glory and dominion.
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And now you have the unrepentant on earth and they're hiding among the rocks and the mountains.
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And these sore trials are coming upon them. And what an insight that they turn to what?
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The rocks and mountains and they said the mountains and the rocks didn't say to God, they don't turn to God.
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The heart of stone will always be the heart of stone.
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How foolish we are when we ever think that we can talk a heart of stone.
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Into pretending to be a heart of flesh and acting like a heart of flesh. They said the mountains and the rocks fall on us, hide us from whom?
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The very ones being worshipped in heaven. The very ones that the people are approaching the throne and they're worshipping him who sits on the throne and the lamb here hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne.
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And then a phrase that a lot of people today do not like at all. And from the wrath of the lamb.
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The wrath of the lamb, if that doesn't catch your attention, you aren't listening.
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I mean, that's sort of like, that's almost as bad as saying, beware of the wrath. Ooh, it might crawl up my leg.
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Well, it gets big enough. That could be bad. But, uh, oh, it's supposed to strike you as like the what?
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And when it strikes you as being just it's a discordant note.
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The wrath of the lion, that would be easy. The wrath of the lambs.
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It's supposed to make you think it's supposed to make you think. And when I think about it, I notice for the great day of their wrath has come.
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What what is the prophetic testimony about the day of wrath?
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It's the wrath of Yahweh, right? Wrath of the Lord, the great day of the
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Lord. And yet in John's mind, him who sits on the throne, the lamb, that is the
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Lord. That is Yahweh. He can put them together, always distinguishable from one another.
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And yet together as the object of worship and here as the, as the ones who express the holy wrath of God.
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And so when we think of that phrase, the wrath of the lamb, if your theology of Jesus isn't big enough to fit that in there, you need a bigger
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Jesus. If your Jesus is the the long haired white guy with the little lamb in his arms, you know, who sometimes stands outside of doors that have no knobs knocking weekly.
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That's not this. Whoever painted those pretty pictures wasn't thinking of this.
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You're supposed to be thinking about the wrath of the way what strikes you about that is that he is the lamb standing as his slain by his own self giving.
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He has provided the way to appease the wrath of God. And so if you reject his way, how could anyone be more fitting to be the very object of the wrath of God than the one who spurns the very means by which
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God has demonstrated his love and his grace? The wrath of the lamb.
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Not a popular picture today. Not a popular picture. But it's a biblical picture.
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And it's one I think we need to recognize. And once again, even though we're talking here about soteriology and salvation and things like that, do you see how much of this is directly relevant to maintaining the highest view of who
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Christ is? So much evidence of the deity of Christ just in these pictures.
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These pictures would make no sense if we did not already have as the background the understanding of the
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New Testament as to who Jesus is. And who Jesus really is. And here, 2 ,000 years later, these words still ring true for us and hopefully by looking at them we'll be reminded these truths and reminded the fact that the one we worship, the one that we serve, is indeed the very creator of all things in heaven and earth and is worthy of the worship of all things in heaven and earth.