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John’s Vision From Patmos
John’s Vision From Patmos
On any given Sunday about 2 in 10 Americans attend a church or synagogue service. Some researchers suggest that around 4 in 10 will attend a service on Easter.
All over the country - all over the world people are gathered for worship on this Easter Sunday.
Many of us are in comfortable chairs, surrounded by audio-visual technology unknown even 20 years ago. Many across the country and world are worshiping along with professional level musicians. Some large churches feature ambitious productions focusing on the Resurrection of Jesus.
Take your Bibles, turn to Revelation 5 and let’s peek in on a worship service involving one person.
On an island of men and women forcibly detained by the Roman Empire, we find John. John was one of Jesus’ earliest followers. John is the only male follower who was at the cross as Jesus died, along with a number of women followers.
After Jesus’ death John joins a few of the other male disciples, hiding somewhere in or near Jerusalem.
Decades have passed since those days. John has travelled throughout the region. He has been exiled to Patmos, about 30 miles off the coast of Greece.
By his own account,
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet
After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
Then I saw in the right hand of the One seated on the throne a scroll with writing on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
John, unimaginably terrified sees in the right hand of God - the One seated on the throne - a scroll - a document - sealed with seven seals.
An angel asks:
I also saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
John weeps as he observes that no one is capable of opening this document.
This scroll contains God’s plan for the future. John wants to see this document - which we now know as Revelation 6 - 22.
As John weeps one of the elders who eternally surround the throne of God, speaks:
One Who CAN Unseal the Scroll
One Who CAN Unseal the Scroll
Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop crying. Look! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has been victorious so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals.”
As John’s eyes clear after weeping, he is able to see something indescribable:
Then I saw One like a slaughtered lamb standing between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth.
...a lamb, having been slain…seven horns, seven eyes - this is one unusual creature.
The rest of this section of John’s vision contains a song sung by three different choirs/groups of voices. Each song calls attention to the LAMB.
There are three important titles ascribed to this One, standing in the midst of the throne, standing in the midst of the elders.
a). the Lion of the Tribe of Judah
As Jacob, the grandson of Abraham lay near death in Egypt, he called his sons to him for a final blessing.
To Judah, he promised this:
Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. Judah is a young lion — my son, you return from the kill. He crouches; he lies down like a lion or a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until He whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him.
The One standing in the midst of all created things is a descendant of Judah.
b). The root of David
This title is drawn from the OT prophet Isaiah as he looks forward to the fulfillment of God’s promise to David:
Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
c). One like a slaughtered lamb...
Passover, one of the key events defining the nature of God’s people involved each family slaughtering a lamb and using its blood to cover their doorpost. As God swept through Egypt killing all the firstborn, He passed over every home where the blood of a lamb had been spread.
As the One named the Lion of Judah, the root of David, and the slaughtered Lamb took the scroll from God’s right hand John heard three distinct songs, each one highlighting truth about the Resurrected Lord.
Revelation 5:9-10
Revelation 5:9-10
And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed people for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.
Jesus is Able
Jesus is Able
No other creature - no one in heaven, or on earth or under the earth was able.
The Lion of Judah, the root of David, the one like a slaughtered Lamb - He is able!
The seven horns John saw represent an unconquerable strength. His seven eyes remind us nothing is hidden from His sight. The seven eyes also represent the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit.
No creature can do what Jesus does.
He does this - not by virtue of His power, but by virtue of His weakness -
And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed people for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Yes, Jesus is resurrected from the dead. The power of His life, however, comes from His self-conscious choice to die in the place of sinners.
His might is evidenced by His words on the cross:
When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” Then bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
The VALUE of Our Savior
The VALUE of Our Savior
They said with a loud voice: The Lamb who was slaughtered is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!
This next part of the song, sung and /or spoken by an innumerable number of angels celebrates the value, or worth of the Lamb who was slain.
Isaiah, who lived some 700 years before Jesus’ birth, predicted that the coming Messiah
Isaiah 53:2 (HCSB)
He grew up before Him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him.
Yet, John hears a resounding chorus of angelic voices praising Jesus, ascribing to Him unmeasurable wealth, unfathomable power, unbeatable wisdom and knowledge.
There is none other with whom He compares.
Earlier in Rev 1, John describes Jesus as nearly luminescent:
and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe and with a gold sash wrapped around His chest. His head and hair were white like wool—white as snow —and His eyes like a fiery flame. His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of cascading waters.
The Triune God encompasses all creation
The Triune God encompasses all creation
The last section of this song is sung by every creature…, and punctuated with repeated cries of Amen! Amen!
This section is addressed to the one seated on the throne, the Lamb, and the Holy Spirit, who is symbolized by the seven eyes of the Lamb.
No creature, even those rebellious angels, even those who have chosen an eternity apart from God will join in this chorus:
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow — of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth —
and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross — whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Let me draw us out of John’s experience - one with so many symbols, so many allusions to OT writings, so many word-pictures it’s difficult to comprehend.
Though every Sunday is a reminder of the resurrection, one Sunday each year Easter is celebrated and acknowledged.
Many families have family traditions about what kind of meal they will share and who will host the meal.
Some have traditions of wearing brand new clothing for Easter.
Others will celebrate by hiding and then finding candy (in particular, jelly beans) and then eating far too much!
Before you lose your self in family celebrations, let me ask you to consider - one again - with me the Risen Savior.
Then I saw One like a slaughtered lamb standing between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth.
He is able, by virtue of His death and resurrection to open for us the future as God intends us to experience it.
He is of more value and significance than any one can acknowledge.
He deserves to be worshiped - by all creation.
John was exiled, in prison, yet Jesus is able to set him free - even while under the authority of Roman rule.
We may not be under foreign domination today, but apart from Jesus there is no way to discover freedom from the shame and guilt of sin. Only by receiving Jesus as Savior and Lord can we be set free. It doesn’t matter how deep and wide your guilt, how pervasive your shame - Jesus is able.
Of all the resources at our disposal, the most valuable of all: Jesus!
Will you join with us in acknowledging and worshiping God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit?