Transcript
And now we're in the book of Revelation. This sermon today is a part of that series, and we're now in the fifth chapter. So if you want to open up to the 5th chapter of this amazing book, the last book of the Bible. John, who is in prison at Patmos, is the bishop of Ephesus, the church at Ephesus, and he writes letters to that church and churches that surround it to comfort them and encourage them because they're
living in a very harsh time. Probably these letters are written in the 60s, before the fall of Jerusalem, because in 64 there was a fire in Rome called the Great Fire of Rome. Nero himself, who was the emperor at that time, probably, according to Tacitus, the Roman historian believes that Nero really started the fire because he had dreams of being an architect and redesigning the city, and there was a slum area that he wanted to burn
down, but the fire spread throughout the whole city, and then he blamed the Christians. He called them arsonists and blamed them for the fire, which was not true. Tacitus, who doesn't particularly like the Christians, still, he and his annals said that was not true. It was Nero who probably did it. But the Christians were being persecuted irrationally in Rome and even other cities. And so these folks that are believers living in what would be the Roman
province of Asia, Turkey today, around Ephesus, they're worried. What's going to happen to us, and how do we live our lives in such a situation as that? And the Book of Revelation addresses it. One of the reasons there are so many terrifying parts of imagery in the book is because John is given by the Holy Spirit, this book, to comfort them, and these terrifying parts help to get ready for the great revolutions that occur in the
Book of Revelation. Last week we looked at Chapter 4. John has a vision, and in the vision he, in Chapter 4, sees the Lord high and lifted up. It almost sounds like the theophany that Isaiah had in Isaiah 6, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and it's almost identical to that. And he sees the Lord, and he sees the cherubim, well, actually these creatures that surround him,
the 24 elders that surround him, and praise him, and then a song is sung. And last week we looked at that great song that's sung in the 4th chapter of Revelation. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is, and is to come. And then the second half of that song. You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will, your decision,
they existed and were created. That's the chorale, Chapter 4. I made the observation last week that a lot of the imagery in the book of Revelation you cannot really interpret. You have to stand back in wonder, and that will be definitely true next week when we look at the symphonic part of the book. There are parts you just have to stand back. But the chorales, the songs that are sung throughout the book of Revelation, are crystal
clear. And that's where the main teaching of this book is, are in the songs. This song that we just heard is perfectly clear. That God is Holy, and that He was, and is, and will be, that He's the Lord of time, and that He made everything by His will. That is affirmed in the song. The world was not created by an inferior deity. It was not created as an accident or a bad joke, as you see in
some of Greek mythology. No! by God's decision. And that's the first song. And then something else happens. Chapter 5. And then I saw at the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne, a scroll written on the inside and on the back. And it was sealed with seven seals. What is a scroll? Well, here's one place where we probably can make a wise guess. Because from Chapter 6 on, this scroll will be opened.
And so it's pretty clear. This scroll refers to history. It refers to life. It refers to our life. The story of our life. It's written on the back and throughout. It's written on all sides. But it's sealed with seven seals. In Roman tradition, when the emperor would send a document, an order or a document to another country or any other place, he would take his ring and with clay he would make an imprint on the clay
and a seal would be formed. Sometimes wax, usually clay. And we found some of those seals. Archaeologists have found them. Where the emperor's insignet, only the emperor's sign would be there. And that meant that that document belonged to the emperor. No one dare open it. Or the ambassador from the emperor might have the right to open it because he's the legate of the emperor. He can open it, but no one else can open it. And then
sometimes the emperor would put two seals or three seals to show how important the document was. And sometimes an ambassador carrying the document would add his seal, too, to show this document should not be opened except by someone who has the right to open it. And that's the imagery that's used here. I saw a scroll. It had seven seals on it. That means it's a very important scroll. It's a story of our lives, probably. It's there.
And I saw it. And I saw all these seven seals. And then I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy? This word axios means who has the right. Who has the right to open the scroll and to 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. And John, when he hears this, because here's the story
of life and he wants to know what does it mean. And he hears that no one in heaven, earth or under the earth can open the scroll. And so John says, I began to weep bitterly because no one was found able, worthy to open the scroll. By the way, I have to tell you about first century cosmology. In the first century writers, they accepted the kind of cosmology of that time, that the heavens, they thought of
as up. And sometimes the firmament, the heavens. And as Karl Barth says, that was the creation inconceivable to us. The creation, the part of the created order beyond our understanding, beyond our experience. It has to do with our future hopes too sometimes and future dreams. But it's the heavenly part of creation is the heavenly, the part unknown to us, the part we don't understand. And then the earth would be the creation conceivable to us. That's the
way Karl Barth puts it, conceivable to us. That would include the earth. That would include the solar system. That would include all the way out to throughout the, all of space because we can understand that. That's a part of the earthly creation because we understand it. We can measure it. We know the distances. We know how it was started. We know the chemical composition of all these stars. That's the earth. That's the part of the created
order that we understand and can study. We have a dominion over it too. And then the creation beneath the earth in the cosmology of the first century, that would be the realm of death. Sometimes called Hades, the realm of death and of the devils and of the demons, the devil. The realm, the dangerous realm underneath. Now notice what happens. Who can open the scroll? That's a question. And then a mighty angel says, No one is able
to open the scroll, these scrolls, break these seals in heaven, earth, or under the earth. That sounds like very bad news. That's why John weeps bitterly when he hears this. You mean no one in heaven can give the answer to the meaning of life? That sounds very bad, but you know there's some good news in that too. That means that if someone says to you, come to my house next week I have a seance that I
plan because one of my relatives died, bless him, and that relative is on the other side now and will give us advice on the stock market. And just pay $25 to come to my seance and we will arrange for that transmission. Don't do it. Your dead relative, even if they're in heaven, they don't know. They can't open the scroll. They don't know what the future is. What about an angel? The angels don't know. I have a
special angel I'm especially fond of. Don't worry, they still don't know. Nothing in the heavenly realm, maybe that's why he started to weep. Nothing in the heavenly realm can tell you the future. They don't know. That's good news, folks. What about earth? What about powerful leaders that put on seminars and stuff like that for $300 in a hotel? Will they know? They don't know. Don't waste your money. There's no leader around that can open the scroll
and tell you the story of your life and interpret past, present, and future. They can't do it. So don't waste any money on that. See, that's good news. And the best, the devils, the demons, they make all kinds of promises they know the future. Remember Dr. Faust, who was actually tricked by thinking the devil could tell his future and spent a lot of money and it didn't work. The devil can tempt you, but the devil doesn't
know. The devil doesn't have the power to kill you either. The devil doesn't have that power. The devil cannot tell the future. They don't know. And so he's weeping. Then who can make sense out of history? And you know, think of history as a noun and a verb to history. The noun is existence itself. Who can open the scroll? The story of existence itself, and that's the noun, but also the verb, living. Who can make sense
out of the verb side, the living? The chronology and the timing and all of this that happens dynamically. Who can make sense out of my life? And John hears this word, no one, in heaven or earth or under the earth. And he's weeping, but there's a surprise for him. One of the elders says to him, don't weep. Don't weep, John. Because look, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, by the way that's
a messianic reference to the Messiah, he has conquered and he can open the scroll, break the seals. And then I saw, then he turns. Now lion, I have to tell you that the lion is the most commonly named animal in all of the Bible. But did you know that in almost every single instance where lion is mentioned, it's mentioned as a sign of terror and something to be terribly frightened of. There's one little reference in Genesis
of the whelp of the lion, which is a hint of Messiah. And then in one of the intertestamental books, this actual phrase appears in 2nd Ezra. The Messiah is called the lion of the tribe of Judah. But that's not even in the Old Testament sacred scriptures. That's in the intertestamental book 2nd Ezra. So lion is terrifying. And he turns, probably prepared now to really be frightened, to see this lion of the tribe of Judah that will
open the scroll. And then he has a really big surprise. So I turned and I looked between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders and there was a lamb standing as though he were slain. By the way, there are two words for sheep in the New Testament. One is the word omnos and all the references to sheep in the New Testament are the word omnos, means sheep, except for two places. When our
Lord meets Peter at the Lake of Galilee and Peter says, yes, I love you Lord, our Lord says, then Peter, feed my little sheep. And he uses the word arnion, which means little sheep. And so there our Lord uses the word arnion with Peter. Not omnos, sheep, but little sheep, lamb. And here is the other place where it's used. What a surprise. It's not even, it's not a lion. It's not even a ram. It's not even
a great sheep. It's a little lamb. The humility of Jesus Christ, the humiliation of our Lord. He died on the cross as a Lamb. And that, notice the Lamb is slain and there he is. And then that Lamb takes the scroll. And the four living creatures and the 24 elders, they fall before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense. And now one piece of imagery interpreted to us, which are the prayers
of the saints. The prayers of the saints are somehow there in this mysterious moment. That would be all the people that have been the believers. Their prayers are there and then they sing a new song. By the way, it's called a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals. For you were slain by your blood and you ransomed for God. That means you bought out of captivity. It's one of the great
words for our Lord as the Redeemer. You're ransomed for God, saints from every tribe, every language. Notice this is not just the Jews now. That hope for the Jews is now the hope for all the world. From every tribe, from every language, from every people and every nation. And you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God. And they will reign on earth. And then I looked and I heard the voice of
many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders. And they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. There's one religious group that tried to figure out a count here and came up with 144,000. And that's a sort of sad thing. That's a luxurious interpretation because then they said, oh, that means that only our movement are the only people that are going to be saved. And then their own movement became more than
144,000. And then they were sorry that they had said that. But it isn't 144,000. It's myriads of myriads. It means uncountable number, thousands and thousands singing with a full voice. And now they sing this great song. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the
sea and all that is with them sing to the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And then the four living creatures all said, Amen! By the way, that's a Hebrew word, Rock! Faithful. Was there anything mysterious in that chorale? It's perfectly clear. Perfectly clear. We have two songs here. The whole book of Revelations built on these two songs. You've now seen the whole
book. This is a book that is about God who created and who redeemed and redeems. And now from chapter 6 to 22, we're going to see symphonic variations on this. But this is the theme, the Lamb. By the way, on Palm Sunday, this great choir augmented with some festival singers will sing the Easter portion of George Frideric Handel's Messiah. You know, George Frideric Handel's Messiah is a huge major work. And usually most people just hear the
Christmas portion. And we did ourselves this last December. It was absolutely marvelous. And the Christmas portion ends with the Hallelujah chorus. But did you know that's not the last song of the Messiah? After the Easter portion of Messiah, the final song of Messiah is this song. Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and blessing and honor. And then after they sing that, which is absolutely the most marvelous chorale you ever heard, they sing
for six minutes, Amen. Wait till you hear George Frideric Handel's Amen. Six minutes of Amen. And that's the end of Messiah. Don't miss it. Put that in your calendar. If you live in other countries, come and plan to come back here. You don't know all the people that listen to me. I find out they listen all over the place. Come back here to the National Presbyterian Church on Palm Sunday evening and hear the Easter portion of
George Frideric Handel's Messiah. And that's the song they sing. Worthy is the lamb who was slain. Folks, we've just learned two things that are terribly important. First, in chapter 4 and chapter 5, we learned of the goodness of creation, that the whole created order is not a mistake, it's God's decision. That's good news. You have worth because God made you. And secondly, the crisis of our brokenness has not destroyed God's decision because God has not only
created us and loves us in creation, He loves us in redemption. He redeems us. He ransomed us because of our brokenness. We need to be ransomed because we end up in captivity. And He ransomed us from every nation, every tribe, every group of people all over the world and made us His sons and daughters, His kingdom. And He did that. Therefore, now we know our belovedness for two reasons. Because He created us and He redeemed us.
And those two great things are going to hold the whole book of Revelation. So why are you afraid of Nero? Or why are you afraid of Adolf Hitler? Or why are you afraid of anyone on heaven, earth or the devil? You don't need to be because you're in God's hands and He's faithful. Let me tell you a story. One of my favorite stories is not original with me, but I heard it from E. Stanley Jones, a
great evangelist in the last century. And E. Stanley Jones tells the story of a little boy who made a sailboat. You may have heard this. I love this story. I suppose it's true. A little boy made a sailboat in New York City. And he made it himself. And then he took it to Central Park. And in Central Park there's a beautiful lake there, you know. And he went to Central Park and a lot of kids have
done this, I'm sure. And he put his sailboat in Central Park. And it was better at catching the wind than it was at steering because his boat just went right out to this middle of Central Park lake and he couldn't get it back. And the wind just took it. It's a wonderful sailboat. He watched it. He's just a little guy. What are you going to do? And it's kind of sad. But the next day or a
couple of days later he was walking on West 57th Street and he saw in the window a pawn shop. And in the pawn shop was his sailboat. It was right there. It had obviously gone to the other side of the lake. Somebody found it and sold it. Wow. He saw it. He went in and he said to the pawn shop guy, I want that boat in the window. And the guy said, well, this is what it
costs. And so he said, don't sell it. Save it because I want to buy it. And so he went home and he got his money from his allowance and all the earnings he's made. He comes back to the pawn shop and he goes into the pawn shop and buys the boat from the owner. And according to E. Stanley Jones, as the boy left the pawn shop, he said this. He said, little boat, you are mine for
two reasons now. I made you and I bought you. That's chapter 4, chapter 5 of Revelation. Heavenly Father, thank you for that. Thank you that you made us and you redeemed us. Brothers and sisters, if you are wondering how much you're worth, you need to hear that song. You need to hear both songs. You need to hear what the same book of Revelation says. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice
and opens the door, I'll come in and sup with him and he with me. You, wherever you are in your journey right now, you could invite this lamb, this lion who is the lamb, Jesus Christ into your life and then you will discover and you will know that you were made by his love and you were redeemed, forgiven by his love. Thank you, Lord, for that. And may we experience that in the journey of our lives.
You are the lamb. Amen.