The Book and the Lamb pt. 1

Transitional section…

Church, heaven is real.

We are looking at events that are real. They have not occured yet, but in the mind of God they are a done deal!

John goes to heaven, is called up by Jesus, and he begins to describe the sights and the sounds. The first thing he sees is the throne and God seated upon it. Won’t that be something to see? Aren’t you glad that one day you are going to see God on His throne? What an excellent reminder that God is in control!

We are not in chapter 5 and the excitement keeps coming as John begins to pay greater attention to the details of heaven. I want to point out next that John sees something mysterious…to us at least. In the hand of God he sees a book, will you read with me? Revelation 5:1

Revelation 5:1 KJV 1900

1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.

There is something special about this book. First of all it is not a book as we know books today. The word is “biblion” and it refers to a scroll. Typically a document would be written on parchment and would be rolled up tightly and be sealed with wax to keep it compact. In some cases, such as the Roman world, an official seal was used that signified the document was official and one found opening the seal with proper authority would be severely punished.

In this particular case the scroll had seven seals. That is significant for two reasons: First, seven is the number of the Lord, so this must refer to some special purpose of God. Second, Roman law mandated that all legal documents (such as a will) be sealed with seven seals, each of a different witness. The document then could only be opened by one given the proper authority.

This description of the book tells us that this is a divine, legal document. The fact that it is written within and without tells us that it contains great information. What then is this book? My friends, I am convinced that this book is the title-deed to the entire universe and the one who holds this book, holds the whole world!

Church I want you to know that no matter what you are dealing with right now, no matter what may come your way tomorrow, no matter how difficult your life may become, God is in control.

Does God occupy His proper place in your life?

There are some important lessons we can learn from this scene revolving around this book, notice first the book is in...

The Rightful Place v. 1

This book, the title deed to the universe is in the hand of God, but not just any hand, His right hand!

Symbolically speaking, the right hand is the hand of power, the hand of might, the strong hand. Nearly 85% of people are right-handed. Sorry lefties.

This book is in the mighty hand of God. He is in control. If you could take a trip to heaven today and walk into the throne room and be bold enough to grab this book, you couldn’t pull it from His hand. You could take both hands, put your food on the throne and push and pull with all your might, but you wouldn’t be able to budge it from His grip.

If we all went to heaven and all grabbed the book and all pulled with all our strength combined, we could not pull this book from His hand! It belongs to Him!

The devil may be the god of this world, but our God is the God of the universe! The devil may be working overtime right now, but God is in control. The economy may be slipping, but God is in control. The world may be falling apart, but God is in control.

Guess what, if you know Jesus as your Savior…you are in His hand too! John 10:27-29

John 10:27–29 KJV 1900

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

It is good to know that if you know Jesus then you are in your rightful place, in His hand.

Problem: As His children, often we are disobedient, and often God is not in His rightful place in our lives. We talk about the devil trying to take control away from God, but we do the same thing. We think we deserve total control over our lives. But remember, who holds the book? Maybe today you need a reminder on who is in control. Let’s look at...

The Rhetorical Question v. 2-4

A rhetorical question is one that is asked, not to gain information, but to reinforce information already known. In this case an angel of God asks a rhetorical question, “Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?”

Notice:

The Details of the question -

Who is worthy to open the book

Worthy = deserving

The angel knew the answer was no one, but he asked it anyway

To loose the seals - is to break them, to open up and reveal all its secrets

The Domain of the question -

He asked the question to everyone in heaven, earth, under the earth (hell)

No one was found worthy

This angel searched high and he searched low, literally. All of heaven, all of earth, event the depths of hell and no one was found worthy. Know what this tells us? You are not worthy.

There may be someone here today that thinks they are in control of their life, the master of their own destiny. In one sense you are. It’s up to you decide what you will do with the message presented today. Will you receive it or will you reject it, but it is not up to you to determine where you will spend eternity. You cannot come to God on your terms, you must come to Him on His terms.

“How can I do that? You’ve already said I am not worthy.” Yes, but thank God there is one that is! Look with me lastly at...

The Revealed Recipient v. 5-7

Just like that, when there was no hope left, Jesus stepped up!

John had been there before, seen all hope lost when Jesus had died, but then three days later, Jesus stepped out of the grave. I want to point out the significance of the titles given to Jesus in this section, notice first He is called...

The Lion of the Tribe of Judah -

Here is the Messiah the Nation of Israel longed for

Here is the conqueror, the One who will defeat all her enemies, free all her people, and bring peace to all His kingdom!

Friends when Jesus came the first time He was arrested, beaten, and crucified

When He comes the next time…He will be the mighty Lion of Judah and there will be no stopping Him!

The Root of David -

Isaiah 11:1 “1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots:”

Isaiah 11:10 “10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, Which shall stand for an ensign of the people; To it shall the Gentiles seek: And his rest shall be glorious.”

Jesus is seen here as not merely the Messiah they wanted, but as the king they desired!

How dreadful that they missed this in His first coming!

How great that John would see Him now as He fulfills His destiny!

Notice lastly, He is seen as...

The Lamb that was slain -

I am glad that Jesus was the Messiah, that He was and is the King

But I am thankful that before any of that, He was the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!

See, what made Jesus the worthy recipient was His willingness to lay aside His glory, to live among men as a man Himself. To live only to serve God and fulfill His will. To be the obedient servant. To preach the gospel to the masses. To lay down His life for you and me.

I’m grateful that God knew I could not save myself, so He gave His Son to die in my place.

Friends, one day soon Jesus is going to take that scroll from His Father’s hand and begin opening those seals, my question to you is this: When that day comes, will you be ready?

Conclusion:

We are coming back to this passage in a few weeks to look more closely at this seven-sealed book, but today I wanted to preach to remind you that God is in control.

Before we dismiss, I want to ask you, “Is God in control of your life?”

Maybe today you can say yes, but maybe you can’t. Maybe today you feel as if your life is upside down and inside out. My friend if that is you I want you to know that God is right here, right now, waiting to help put your life in order. Will you let Him?

With heads bowed and eyes closed today. No one looking around, friend, is your life in order? If not then it’s probably because you don’t have God in His proper place. The time has come for you to get out of God’s seat and let Him have control in your life.

Is there one here today that would say, “Pastor, that’s me. I’ve been trying to run my life, my way. Today, I am getting out of the driver seat and giving it back to God. If that’s you would you raise your hand?

Maybe today you don’t know for sure that you are saved. Don’t leave here without making sure. You say, “How can I know for sure I’m saved?” Simple - first you must understand you cannot save yourself and that you need a Savior…only God can do that. Next ask, “In what am I trusting to get me into heaven?” If your answer to that is anything other than simply Jesus Christ, then you are trusting in the wrong thing. You MUST believe He died for you, paid your sin debt, that He was buried and rose again so that you can be saved. Lastly, most importantly, you must call on Him to save you. Will you do that today?