Beholding the Son

Transcript

GR 2004
05/21/2017
Beholding the Son
Revelation 5:1-7
Gil Rugh

Turn to Revelation 5 in your bibles. We’re talking about heaven in Revelation chapters four and five, and you and I as believers, someday, perhaps very soon, will be called to meet Christ in the air, and then He will take us into the presence of His Father in heaven. John is being given a glimpse of heaven in the revelation given to him in chapters four and five and it’s an awesome scene. We want to remind ourselves we’re talking about heaven, we’re talking about the worship of heaven but it is to prepare the way for what will be revealed in chapters 6 and following in the Book of Revelation.

We’ve looked through chapter four. Chapter 4 focuses on God on the throne in heaven. We talked last week about true worship and we’re just going to review a little bit of that as a reminder.

What is true worship? We come together, we say we came to worship God but much of worship becomes people coming, hoping to hear some kind of uplifting, personal exhortation, self-help kind of thing. Then there’s a place, where the Scripture does address certain things, we would say in a practical way but the foundation for everything is coming to worship God as who He is and we get a glimpse into what goes on in heaven in the worship of God.

So let me review with you what we covered in verses 8 to 11. First, worship is directed to God alone. He alone is the focus of worship. One of the things we want to do when we say I want to worship God, is to put ourselves out of the picture, stop thinking about me first. God I’ve come to focus attention on You. He is the focus of all the worship that’s going on in heaven where worship is at its purest, if you will, so that’s foundational.

The second thing we noted was worship involves praising God for who He is, His attributes as seen in verse 8. Heaven led in praising God for His holiness, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, is the Lord God . . .” reminding ourselves we are coming before a God who is holy, fully, completely, perfectly holy; He is to be worshiped as the Holy God. He is to be worshiped by a people who are holy for God says “YOU SHALL BE HOLY FOR I AM HOLY.” His holiness, His omnipotence. He is the Lord God, THE ALMIGHTY . . .” the all-powerful One. He is the God who is absolutely sovereign. He is enthroned; He is the God who is the Almighty.

Contrary to what sinful men think, Oh, you can be whatever you want to be. You can do whatever you want to do. You have limitless potential within you. The focus is on God. I can be whatever God intends me to be. I can do whatever God calls me to do and enables me to do. He is the omnipotent One. He is the eternal God. He’s the God who was, who is and who is to come. There is no other God. That’s our security; there’s stability there. He is the unchanging God. He’s the One who will control tomorrow as well as today as He did yesterday. We worship Him for who He is

Thirdly, in true worship we give glory, honor and thanks to God. Verse nine, “the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne . . .” and they are directing the attention of the others who are in heaven, give glory, honor and thanks to God. Again, you see here the attention is drawn and focused on God. He’s the One worthy, all glory goes to Him, all honor goes to Him and all thanks go to Him. That doesn’t mean we can’t express appreciation to one another, we appreciate the way God uses others in our lives and so on but ultimately in our lives, not only when we come together for worship here but when we, as God’s people, live lives of worship, we’re focused on God; You’re worthy of glory, honor, thanks. I don’t want to go through my days without being reminded of these truths as I’m privileged to worship You.

A fourth requirement is it requires complete humility before God. We saw that in verse 10, the result of the leading of these angelic beings in worship is the elders of heaven join together and what do they do; they fall down before Him; they worship Him by expressing their complete humility. You are God; we are given the honor of being in Your presence. There is a humility. You can’t come to worship God thinking about self.

You see the contrast with the world and the importance of--and we want to raise our kids—how important you are--focus the attention on who He is. That doesn’t mean we have to fall down physically every time we worship but that ought to be the attitude of our spirit. Jesus said God is “seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth.” We think we’re doing God a favor. Well I got up early, I didn’t really feel like it, I’d rather have stayed home and read the paper and had another cup of coffee and you know things are busy. It’s hard to squeeze it in. I hope they don’t take too much of my time and we expect God to be so pleased that we did Him a favor by squeezing Him in to our busy lives. That’s not worship, we come with the attitude of how honored I am to come into Your presence; the living God, that I should be able to bow to worship Him, literally, prostrate myself before Him, my thinking. He requires that we come with humility before Him.

Also true worship, a fifth observation gives glory to God. You note the elders have been rewarded. We noted they represent the Church in heaven. They’ve been given crowns; stephanos crowns, the victors’ crown. God, in His grace, has rewarded them for faithfulness but you know what? We give glory to God for the victories that have been won, for the rewards that have been received. It’s all for His honor, His glory. What do we have that we haven’t received? What have I accomplished that He has not, by His grace, enabled me. It’s all to give glory to Him. These crowns weren’t given to the elders so they could parade around heaven; show how exceptional they were in their lives. It’s so they can gather to give greater glory to the God who is to be honored in it all.

Lastly true worship honors God the Creator of all things. Verse 11, “Worthy art You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things because of Your will they came to be and were created.” The world wants to turn attention away from a creating God--shouldn’t bring that up when we’re teaching in our schools. It’s not an option but we as God’s people never lose our focus, He’s the God who created it all. It’s all for His glory. He is the One to be honored, to give glory, honor and power because You, God, created it all. By Your will you brought them into being; they exist. All creation is to give glory to God. He created it and He created it for His glory.

You know we have to be careful. As soon as we lose our perspective, we get turned inward and then we even get together as believers for what we call worship and we go away frustrated because our minds have been on a thousand things. We didn’t get what we expected. I don’t know, they were talking about what goes on in heaven and I don’t know, I’ve got to live today with all the troubles I’ve got. They want to talk about what heaven is like--but you know this is what puts everything going on here in perspective so we talk about God’s on the throne.

You know we just don’t come together to worship Him here. We’re to be worshiping Him every day in all we do, through the day giving Him praise, thanks, honor, and glory in every situation. When things are not going the way we would desire and we seem to be getting crushed under the burden say God, I’m glad You’re on the throne. I’m glad You’re omnipotent, I’m glad You’re sovereign and I don’t have to have control because You have control. That directs and controls us and all this is being revealed to prepare us for what is going to come beginning in chapter six, when the world is thrown into turmoil like it has never seen, when there is suffering and death like has never occurred. A reminder, the Creator is working His purposes, everything is under control and that’s why it will end in the way He has appointed and that is our hope because it will be in the glory of His presence for those that belong to Him.

We’re ready to move into chapter five. Chapter 4 has focused on God the Father on the throne. God the Spirit has been mentioned but just briefly as present there. He is represented at the end of verse five of chapter four; there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. We’re going to see the Holy Spirit represented again in connection with the revelation of chapter five, which focuses on God the Son because you note we didn’t talk about redemption, salvation in chapter four but it did focus on the God who sits enthroned. The God who is perfectly holy. The God who is the Creator so we flow right into chapter five and remember as John wrote this, it didn’t have chapter and verse divisions.

“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.” What chapter 5 is going to talk about is God the Son, the work that He accomplished in providing redemption to rescue lost humanity and all creation in its hopelessness as a result of sin so that there could be a glorious conclusion. There is a Redeemer, there is a Savior and He is God. God the Son, the One enthroned with the Father, the One who came to this earth. That is what will enable the finality of God’s purposes to be realized.

Chapter 5 really focuses on the One that John introduced during His earthly ministry in John’s gospel chapter one verse 29, John the Baptist speaking there recorded by John the Apostle, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” That’s what chapter five is about; He’ll be unveiled as the Lamb. He’ll be unveiled as the One who has provided redemption so all the judgments, the catastrophes and the eternal hell--there has been One who has provided a rescue and that won’t be the end. The end will be glory in the presence of God for those who have benefited and trusted in the Savior.

So the One sitting on the throne is God the Father. He has in His right hand a book, literally a scroll. What they would do is take animal skin or a piece of parchment and they would either sew it together or glue it together, and they could be long many feet long. Just like, we can make a notebook we keep adding pages. Books like we have that are leafed didn’t really come into use until the second century and maybe at the very end of the first century but John wouldn’t have been using that so he’s talking about a scroll here. A scroll that as we see the pictures is usually rolled from both ends to meet in the middle. Then they can be unrolled so in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne so you see where this is coming from. The One who is in the position of sovereignty, authority, control, from His right hand, which depicts authority, He has a scroll.

It’s a scroll that’s written on the inside and on the back and in the visions, we see here John is given a vision and you’ll see this as we move through. If we were going to try to make a video, to roll it all out and to picture it--because what is being pictured as John sees it and is directed to record it is what was to be conveyed to us. So you have the Father on the throne, in His right hand and here we see the Father as we’ve noted, depicted in human form. God is a spirit but He manifests His presence for His creation in a visible way. Here it’s God the Father sitting on a throne holding a scroll and John can see it’s full, it’s complete, its been written on both sides. There’s nothing else to be added, that’s important.

When you get to the end, come over to the Book of Revelation 22 verse 18. Jesus speaks and says, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life, from the holy city, which are written in the book.” You cannot add anything to this; you cannot take anything away, there can be no alterations. You see the sovereignty of God here because what we have in this scroll is going to be the completion of God’s plan for His creation. You see His sovereignty. It can be written down as done (completed) but it still hasn’t taken place. Everything from chapter six on is yet future for this earth and yet God says here’s the way it is, you better not change it, you better not ignore it, you better not add to it; you better pay attention to it. It’s a scroll written inside and on the back, it’s sealed with seven seals, seven being a number of completion.

What they’d do on a scroll like this and it might be sealed on the side so you could observe the seals but you know as you roll it you seal it; you could write more, you seal it. The picture will be as we move through every seal that is broken something comes out; a judgment so when you’re done with the seventh seal it will contain everything because out of the seventh seal will come a series of seven judgments. Out of the seven trumpet judgments will come seven bowl judgments so it’s like telescoping in a way. The seven seals contain it all then out of the seventh seal comes a series of seven then out of the seventh trumpet comes a series of seven that will encompass all of the Book of Revelation.

Come back to Ezekiel chapter two. We’ve been back to Ezekiel a lot and if you’re looking for something to read this week, read the Book of Ezekiel. You don’t have to understand it all but you’ll pick up things. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel those three large books. Just go to chapter two. I want you to see that Ezekiel has a similar experience to what we’re seeing in heaven. It’s not the same but you saw the context; we looked at Ezekiel chapter one. Ezekiel had a vision of God’s throne and the beings connected with the throne, the cherubim were there and other things going on we have looked at. Then you see the impact of this on Ezekiel. The same thing we see in heaven when people are in the presence of the throne of God. Chapter one verse 28 Ezekiel says in the last line of that verse “. . . when I saw it I fell on my face.” The presence of the Holy God, how unworthy am I!

Remember Isaiah in chapter six saw God on His throne and what he says is “Woe is me” . . . I’m a sinful being! The awesomeness of God we never want to lose that. Then Ezekiel is given instructions and interestingly, he’s not to make any alterations or changes here, either. He’s sent to tell a people at the end of verse four of chapter two, you say to them, “Thus says the Lord. As for them, whether they listen or not--for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them.” Then he tells them again in verse seven. “You shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.” They should listen. That doesn’t have anything to do with Ezekiel’s responsibility. You tell them what I said.

Paul picked that up when he told the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, “my hands are clean from the blood of all men for I have taught you the whole counsel of God.” I fulfilled my responsibility in that sense when I teach you what God says. You know we complicate things this is God’s word. Then you come down to the end of Ezekiel, chapter two and you read verse nine. “I looked, and behold a hand was extended to me; and lo a scroll was in it and when He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and on the back . . .” We have a similar kind of picture in the Book of Revelation and what’s in it; written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe. You know what the bulk of the scroll is that we’re seeing in Revelation chapter five, lamentations, mourning and woe. From chapters six to 19 that’s basically, what it is.

What Ezekiel is seeing is the judgment God is going to bring on Israel for their persistent unbelief but then it will culminate in the glories of the kingdom the Messiah will establish and Revelation following the same pattern.

Then in chapter, three, He’ll go on reminding Ezekiel, you don’t make any changes. Verse 11. “You speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not.” You know we go out and share God’s truth. You go and share the gospel with a friend, you tell others about Christ. They don’t listen and you say well I guess I might as well not do it. No! We do it because He told us to do it. It doesn’t matter whether you listen to me or not. I know some of you are thinking about other things; I can read minds. No, but I still have to do it. Lord, nobody wants to hear it. You know, what happens to the Church? We begin to tell them some things they want to hear so they’ll come. Well then how do I give an account to God?

The picture, so Ezekiel in the background, we’re going to see the same thing in Revelation chapter 10. John is going to be given a scroll and told to eat it and it’s sweet in the mouth and bitter in the stomach. When Ezekiel is being pictured, you take in the word of God and then you give it out. Here in chapter five of Revelation, come back there, the picture is a little different. This scroll is given, a reminder, it comes from God, it’s His authority, it’s His word but this is the finality. This is now putting together everything in proper order and sequence along with additional information. Ezekiel didn’t get it all put together. None of the Old Testament prophets did. Now God is finally revealing how it all will, we would say, play out in His settled plan so it has seven seals.

We’ll see those, the first one will be broken in chapter six verse one. The Lamb broke one of the seven seals. He opens the scroll to that point. When He breaks that seal He can open it up that far but He doesn’t read it but the point is what that scroll says is now carried out. We’ll see that when we get there. You’ll see God is sovereign in this. This scroll comes from the hand of the Father on the throne. The Son has the authority to open it up and to carry out to completion the plan of the eternal God that has been established and ultimately has comes from the authority of the Father.

So back in chapter 5 verse 2. You have sort of a fill in explanation here because the Father on the throne has this scroll in His right hand but now a strong angel steps up to make--and there’s order in the angels. We’ve talked about cherubim, we saw the seraphim in Isaiah 6, and there is order in the angelic realm. Passages like in Ezekiel talk about that, not just angels, in every area God has established order; even in the Trinity. There is one God eternally existing in three Persons but there is an order consistently represented, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and God the Father sends the Son but the Son never sends the Father. God the Father and God the Son send the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit never sends the Son or sends the Father.

We say, “well then they mustn’t be equal.” No! They are equal, all fully; God with all the attributes of God but there is order. When God created mankind, He created order; He created the man first then the woman. The bible explains clearly that He created the man to lead and be in authority and the woman to be a support and a companion to compliment and so on. At the unfolding of creation, He established order so Romans 13 can say; God has appointed everyone in positions of authority so when you rebel against that authority, you’re rebelling against the ordinance of God. In the Church He’s established elders. That doesn’t mean that they are different spiritually than someone else. We are all the redeemed.

There’s just order throughout so here we have a strong angel. It indicates something of the authority given to him. Remember when Michael in the Book of Jude was in conflict with Satan. He said he did not dare to bring a cursing accusation against the devil but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” because there still was a recognition of how God created Satan even though he had lost that position there’s still a recognition of it. We’ll talk more about that in Revelation 12 so this is a strong angel, who has authority, and he proclaims with a loud voice and this is a strong angel because when he proclaims everyone in heaven, everyone on earth and everyone under the earth can hear him. That is the point, a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” How do I know that his voice carried to all those three places? Verse three. “No one in heaven, on the earth, or under the earth was able to open the book, or look into it.”

You see the strong angel--what is being represented here and what is to be conveyed by what is being seen. This angel speaks with the authority of God and calls out through all creation wherever it is, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” Who is worthy and has the right to bring about the finality of God’s purposes and plans for His creation; bring it to His appointed end and the response is no one. No one in heaven, no one on earth, no one under the earth. You always wonder, what’s under the earth. Well maybe its demonic beings, maybe its hell, maybe it’s talking about the depths of the ocean as a passage in the Old Testament refers. The point is, there’s nowhere, anywhere in all creation where someone could step forward and say I have the right to take this now and bring it to its appointed climax or conclusion.

This made a great impact on John. He’s overwhelmed emotionally; he just begins to weep greatly, uncontrollably. This is a tragedy and you see here there is a certain recognition of how serious this is. Is there no way that God’s purposes can finally be brought to fruition so John at this stage is overwhelmed but here you have and I think it’s interesting, one of the elders said to me. It is interesting here, we have cherubim we have a strong angel but it’s one of the elders that speaks up. We noted the elders are representative of the Church as it’s been raptured before chapter four and brought into the presence of God, been judged at the Bema Seat and rewarded so they’re crowned. Now one of these elders, one of the redeemed said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome to open the book and its seven seals.” You don’t have to be crying. Stop, there is One!

The point of the question by the strong angel was to make clear there is no one else. It’s not like the strong angel wondered if anyone would come forward but is to make clear to all there is no other Redeemer. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, only one Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That’s what is being portrayed so one of the elders said stop weeping, behold the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome.

It’s interesting in the Greek text here, as John would have written it, you have the word, “behold,” stop weeping, behold, pay attention listen. The next word is the word, “has overcome” and that puts the emphasis on that, “Behold, He has overcome!” That’s why you don’t need to weep.

Who has overcome and then he goes on to explain. He has overcome, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David so He can open the book and its seven seals. Wait there is victory. There is One who has overcome. That’s a necessity, what’s essential to bring to completion God’s purposes for His creation. Remember the whole creation groans in anticipation of the unveiling of the sons of God as Romans 8 says. The curse of sin, the results of Adams sin and all the sin that’s followed has had its effect that permeates all of God’s creation and brought corruption but there is One who has overcome.

Behold, He has overcome the Lion that is in the tribe of Judah. That has an Old Testament background. It is a Messianic title, the Lion from the tribe of Judah. Come back to Genesis 49. Remember we keep reminding ourselves of the many hundreds of illusions to the Old Testament that John is picking up under the direction of the Spirit and now including to put things together.

Genesis 49, God gave a covenant to Abraham that was passed on to Abraham’s son Isaac. It was passed on from Isaac to Isaac’s son Jacob and then it was passed on from Jacob to his twelve sons and they formed the 12 tribes of Israel so the covenants that would be given to Abraham would find its realization through them, the descendants. What is happening in Genesis 49, Jacob is getting ready to die so he calls his twelve sons and he’s going to give them information from God regarding what God will do with each of them, as they will be together the recipients of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Note what is said to his son Judah, verse eight, “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you.” Here’s an indication the ruler is going to come from the tribe of Judah. That’s what it means. Your father’s sons, the other 11 sons their descendants will all bow down to the king, the ruler who will come from the line of Judah, the tribe of Judah. “Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up? So you talk about the lion from the tribe of Judah, clearly we’re going back to what God prophesized; that lion, the king of the beasts, the ruler with power and authority will come from Judah. That’s what He says in verse 10, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” So that’s the background for that statement. All the Jews recognized the Messianic import of that.

The ultimate Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah and then back in Revelation chapter five; He’s the Root of David. Well that’s another Messianic title. God made and established a covenant with David that it would be from his line that would come the ruler and ultimately that One who would be the Messiah so He’s the Root of David, the descendant of David. You want to go back to Isaiah. If you don’t I’ll read it to you, Isaiah 11 verse one. Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, a branch from his roots . . . Jesse’s the father of David so from that line . . . a branch from his roots and then that seven-fold Spirit that will dwell upon Him. Down in verse 10 of Isaiah 11. Then in that day, the nations will resort to the root of Jesse . . . and it’s in the day as the preceding verses say when the Messiah will rule.

What he is saying here in Revelation 5:5, “behold you don’t need to weep there’s an overcomer. It’s the prophesized Messiah of Israel; He has overcome.” He has overcome. Remember every promise to the seven churches, every letter concluded with a promise to the overcomer. Look at just chapter three verse 21. “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I overcame also and sat down with My Father on His throne.” You will share authority with Me because you overcame. How did they overcome? Well we’ve been to 1 John 5. Who is he who overcomes but he who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?

You place your faith in Him. He is the One who overcomes sin and Satan and death and this corrupted world system and when we place our faith in Him His victory is our victory. We are set free from sin, from the control of the devil, we’re overcomers and so He overcame. He is the overcomer. In John’s gospel chapter 16 verse 33. Jesus said, “. . . in the world you have tribulation, be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” He is the One who overcame. How? By His death on the cross, He paid in full the penalty for sin. Now through the redemption Christ provided He could provide cleansing and forgiveness for all who place their faith in Christ and ultimately lift the curse that came upon the inanimate creation so that someday the desert can blossom as the crocus or the rose as some translations have it. He overcame.

“There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” we cannot escape that. “I am the way the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me” Jesus said. Amazing how many people today want to talk about Jesus as an example or someone who we try to follow the pattern of His life. That’s not what He said; He came to pay the penalty for sin. That’s the point here. He has overcome, so He has authority. He is worthy. He is in the moral position to do this because He has done what is necessary to bring about what God has planned. No other way it could be done. Marvelous!

This is what is being conveyed to John so what we have in verse six, “And I saw between the throne” (with the four living creatures) and we had that picture the throne, the four living creatures, around the throne, sides, front back but here in the midst of that you have One revealed. “A Lamb standing . . .” now we’ll see. We would say maybe we’re mixing the metaphors, the symbolism, the pictures because He was called a Lion in verse five, now He’s called a Lamb in verse six. Those are two different kinds of animals, the lion the king of the beasts, the power and that little lamb meek and mild. “I am meek and lowly,” Jesus said of Himself during His earthly ministry in Matthew 11. “I am the One who can bring rest to your souls” because He is both. He is the Lion and you’ll see the fierceness of the wrath of God beginning in chapter six but there will be redemption because He is the Lamb so he sees Him as a Lamb standing, as if slain.

Now remember when Christ appeared to His disciples after His resurrection from the dead and there was the one we call doubting Thomas because he wasn’t there at the previous appearance of Christ. I won’t believe unless I can see the nail prints and the wound in the side and Jesus appears and shows him the marks of His having been slain. It is Me so here you pick up the picture of the lamb, the sacrificial animal going back to Exodus chapter 12 and the Passover lamb picked up in other passages. Now He is represented as having been slain and I take it even in His resurrected glorified body as He showed His disciples there are the marks of death because they are of eternal significance. There would be no redemption without that.

This Lamb stands and it’s mixed that’s why it would be hard to picture this because He’s represented as a lamb. I sometimes think you know now with our modern abilities with cinema and that we phase in and out of pictures and so you have someone looking like this and then it just fades and there He is. I don’t know how John saw this. He’s a Lamb and yet He’s standing and he looks at the marks of His death and yet He will be able to go up and receive out of the hand of the Father the scroll and begin to implement it but what is pictured is clear; He is the sacrificial One. He is the Lamb of God. Exodus 12 and then in Isaiah 53 that great chapter and verse seven. “He’s led as a lamb to the slaughter” picked up again in the New Testament passages like Romans 15 and we just go on that’s who He is.

He came to “give His life to pay the penalty for our sin” and now we mix it again. This Lamb has seven horns. Well I didn’t know lambs had horns but you see what is being symbolized is what is important here, not so, an artist could draw a picture of this. We can try and John did see it but having the seven horns represents something, seven is the number of perfection, completion. The horns, we don’t have time to go to the Old Testament, picture power and the horns are used in the Old Testament. Numbers 23:22, Deuteronomy 33:17 picture strength and power. Seven is the number of completion perfection.

He has absolute power so the picture here; He’s the Lion, He’s the Lamb, the Lamb that’s been slain, He’s standing, He has absolute power and authority because He is. These are characteristics so we come to Him as the One who loved us and died for us. We find Him with that meekness, receptiveness to receive us, to forgive us, to provide cleansing, to bestow righteousness. The God who is to us merciful and kind and loving and caring and yet He’s about to pour out on the world of unbelief wrath like has never been seen and that will culminate with people being cast into the fires of hell forever.

So while you don’t pick and choose--well what parts of God’s character whether you’re talking about God the Father or God the Son that I would choose to believe? You recognize who He is and that ought to impact us. I don’t want to experience the terrible wrath of the power of this awesome God. I want to experience the mercy and forgiveness that He has provided. That’s the picture.

He has seven horns. He also has seven eyes. It pictures his complete, thorough, absolute knowledge. He is omniscient but further than that the seven eyes are identified as the seven Spirits of God sent into all the earth. We saw the seven Spirits represented in chapter four at the end of verse five with lamps of fire burning before the throne so here in the context of the throne we’ve seen Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each manifested in a way that represents something about them. The seven Spirits of God, we have looked at that, we don’t have time to go back, that comes from Zechariah 3 and four and fits. What are we told in the Old Testament? “The eyes of the Lord roam to and fro on the face of the earth, beholding the evil and the good.”

We say well why does God have to have the Holy Spirit roam the earth, isn’t God the Father omniscient? Isn’t God the Son omniscient? I don’t have any insights into the inner working of God other than what’s been revealed. God has chosen. He is one God eternally existing in three Persons and those three Persons have distinct responsibilities that they carry out, yet they work in complete unity as one God. Why is the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit? Why is the Son of God the Son of God? Why is God the Father God the Father? Because He is. Don’t ask stupid questions! We don’t know, we get to a point like Paul when he raised the question in Romans nine to which there is no answer. He says, “who are you to be asking this question of God?” I don’t know, I’m not omnipotent. I do know this is what God is like and what He does because this is what He revealed. How did He get like that? He never got like that because He’s eternal. Well that causes me some problems. Well get over it.

He’s God, we’re not but it’s beautiful. I realize here in heaven--I know there’s one God, they work in eternal harmony but there is distinction, they are distinct Persons but each fully God so He has the seven Spirits of God sent into all the earth. What did Jesus say before His resurrection He would do following His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension? John 15. “I go to the Father, I’ll send the Spirit” so talking about their ministries; they are all omnipresent. It’s an attribute of God but in that same way they come to carry out and carry on unique ministries and it indicates here that Christ has full, complete knowledge and that’s in conjunction with the work of the Holy Spirit but He Himself has complete knowledge but somehow it works together. The point is the attributes of Christ here, the presence of the Spirit. This is the way it is. They’re sent out into all the earth.

God is about to bring wrath on the earth. It will be the work of the triune God. We’re going to have calamity on earth, we’re going to have men, women and children dying terrible deaths, excruciating suffering, then cursing God for the depths of the agony, gnawing on their tongues because they’re in such pain. Ever bite your tongue, you don’t say, “boy my foot hurts so much I think I’ll chew on my tongue.” That tells you something about the kind of pain. Remember this comes from the sovereign God, the three Persons of God working in harmony to bring about God’s purposes and it ends with such beauty, such glory. The amazing thing is this is a day, when God offers this salvation and yet men and women will persist to reject it and then blame God for their problems.

So with that description, verse seven. “He, referring to Christ, came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.” There is an awesomeness here that we’ll be looking at the next time. All heaven reverberates here because there is a recognition we’ve come to the final phase, the end of the last chapter now will begin to unfold, what has been anticipated and waited upon now is ready to happen. He has the authority so He receives it from the Father and now He will pass it on to the Son.

I take it the Son has been with the Father, we read in chapter three verse 21, He sat down with His Father on His throne and so He shares the throne. The focus on the throne has been on the Father but the Son is there in that center as well but now evidently there’s movement so He comes around. Now don’t say well how does a Lamb stand up with hoofs? There’s no attempt to fill in the details. What is being conveyed in the symbol, as each is represented, is the truth that we are to grasp about this so He takes it. Think about that. There will come a time when that’s going to happen in the courts of heaven. We will witness it because we will have been gathered into His presence and that will indicate it’s time for the wrath of God to be poured out on an unbelieving world and we’ll see that in subsequent chapters.

The only question is where are you? Have you placed your faith in Christ, the Lamb of God? He’s the only Mediator; He’s the only One who can bring forgiveness. It doesn’t happen in this church, it doesn’t happen in some kind of religious activity, it doesn’t happen by you doing your best, there’s only one Redeemer. Why fight that? Why resist it? He says, “Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Nope, I’ll do it my way. Well you understand there’s one way to heaven; every other way is a road to hell. One way to God’s grace, forgiveness, blessing and ultimate glory, everything else leads to eternal condemnation in hell.

Let’s pray together: Thank You Lord for Your grace in revealing Yourself and Lord even as we get these glimpses into heaven it is awesome. Lord our minds race to understand and yet Lord it’s clear. You sit enthroned, Your Son is the Redeemer and we are moving toward a time when He will take hold of what only He can do to bring the world to its ultimate conclusion and climax. Thank You Lord, it’s a time of salvation. Thank you that there is a Savior. Thank you Lord that You are a God of grace. May we remember these truths even as we go through every day. Struggles come, disappointments come, happiness and joyous times come and all of it Lord we want our focus to be on You. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.



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