Study of Revelation and End Times wk 17
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Worthy is the Lamb - wk 17
Worthy is the Lamb - wk 17
Last week we looked at chapter 4 of Revelation and the Throne Room of Heaven, and how John was taken up to heaven and what all he experienced there.
We talked about the three different heavens, as our atmosphere, outer space, and then the third heaven being God’s dwelling place.
Then we seen the storm that John seen from heaven being the Great Tribulation, and then that heaven was full of worship and why we should be walking with God.
Tonight we are looking at Chapter 5 of Revelation and the title is Worthy is the Lamb.
Years ago Reader’s Digest reported that in order for a person to have a meaningful life, they needed three things. First, they need someone to love. Second, they need something to do. Third, they need something to hope for.
I think Reader’s Digest is right, and the answer to all three of these things is Jesus.
He is the one we love, the One we serve, and the One in whom we hope.
Jesus Christ is the only One worthy of our love, our life, and our hope.
The fifth chapter of Revelation talks about this One - Jesus Christ.
And it brings home the face that each of u will never have satisfaction and fulfillment or understand why God created us until we come to worship the One who is worthy.
Let’s look at three things that this chapter says about our glorious Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
I. Jesus is Exclusively Worthy
I. Jesus is Exclusively Worthy
John wrote the following about his vision of heaven:
1 I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?”
3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it.
4 Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;
5 and one of the elders said to me, “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.”
We will see that this scroll is the title deed to the earth.
The one who can break the seals and open the book is the one to whom it rightfully belongs.
John wants the seals of this book broken, but an angel challenges him in verse 2.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?”
The angel did not ask, who is willing?
Instead, the angel asked who is worthy?
Indeed, plenty were willing!
3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it.
No one who has died or is living can open the book.
5 and one of the elders said to me, “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.”
Who is the Root of David?
He is worthy and has brought back what was legally lost in creation. Let me explain.
When God created the world, He turned it over to Adam and Eve and gave them dominion.
Satan crawled his slimy, con-artist frame onto the pages of history and deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden.
In turn Adam fell as well.
At that moment Adam and Eve turned over to Satan the dominion that God had given to them.
To put it in simple terms, Adam and Eve sold the farm.
Satan went away with the title deed to all of creation.
19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
When Satan overcame Adam and Eve, they became slaves of Satan, and all those who came after Adam became slaves of Satan.
Satan owns the slaves, and he owns all the slaves.
Every man, woman, and child is born into slavery, and we are bankrupt.
We cannot redeem ourselves.
We cannot buy back what Adam lost because we do not have what it takes.
Did God recognize Satan’s overthrown authority?
Yes, He did.
As a matter of a fact, we see that in one of the temptations that Satan offers Jesus in the wilderness which was that he would give the kingdoms of this world back to Jesus.
6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
7 “Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”
Basically, Satan was saying, Adam gave me the power and glory of this world.
Now I can give it to You if You will simply bow down and worship me.
Did Jesus says, it is not yours to give Satan?
No, Jesus knew Adam had legally lost his dominion to the god of this age.
4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Let me try to illustrate this for you: there was this teenager whose father gave him a brand-new car.
This teenager takes the car and gives it to someone else.
Now how would you feel if you were his father?
The father legally put the title in the sons name, giving him legal ownership of the car, the son takes and gives the car to this other person, and legally transfers the title over, making it legally the other persons car now.
In the same way God gave Adam dominion over the earth.
Then Adam gave it to Satan.
It was legally lost; and now it has to be legally regained.
How could this be done?
In the Old Testament if a person became financially burdened and had to sell their property, God created away that person’s family could help get the property back.
25 ‘If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold.
That’s that reason Jesus came to earth.
He came as the second Adam to put back what was right.
He was not the son of Adam; He is the Son of God.
If He had been the son of Adam, He would have been a slave, and all that belonged to Adam would belong to Him.
But Jesus was born of a virgin so He would be sinless - the only one worthy to redeem man and open the scroll.
The Holy Spirit of God regenerated the Holy life of Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary.
Jesus was the Son of Man and Son of God.
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
Jesus had to be the perfect, sinless sacrifice.
Only the sinless blood of Jesus Christ could pay the debt.
Jesus is our only hope.
Our Kinsman-Redeemer Jesus is the only One worthy to break the seal and buy back what Adam lost.
Our inheritance was lost by man; it had to be redeemed by a Man - but not just any man.
Only Jesus could pay the price.
Only Jesus Christ is exclusively worthy.
II. Jesus is Exceedingly Worthy
II. Jesus is Exceedingly Worthy
Jesus is exceedingly worthy for three reasons: He is worthy because of creation, because of Calvary, and because of Conquest.
A. He is Worthy because of Creation:
A. He is Worthy because of Creation:
10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
People talk about creating life in the laboratory, but no one can create life in this way.
Men can only take what God has created and synthesize that lifelike substance in the laboratory.
A scientist said to God, You are not the only creator, he said, I can make a man also.
God said, Let’s see you do it.
The man walked over to some dirt.
But God stopped him and said, get your own dirt.
There is only One who can create.
His name is Jesus,
He is worthy.
He is worthy because of creation.
B. He is Worthy because of Calvary:
B. He is Worthy because of Calvary:
6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
The Greek word for Lamb used elsewhere in the New Testament is amnos.
But here in the Book of Revelation, the word for lamb is arnion.
This latter word means little pet lamb.
It is used in the plural form in the Bible where Jesus said to Peter, Feed My lambs, (John 21:15).
What a surprise!
John was expecting to see a lion because the elders had said in Revelation 5:5
5 and one of the elders said to me, “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.”
And instead he saw a lamb, and not just any lamb.
He saw the most helpless creature - an arnion - a little pet lamb.
No animal could have symbolized anything weaker than a little lamb.
Where else have we read about a sacrificial lamb?
Perhaps we recall the Passover, where God instructed the Jews to sacrifice a lamb - but not just any lamb out of the flock.
They were to select a perfect lamb, a firstling from their flock without spot or blemish.
After they selected this lamb, they were to keep it for four days from the 10th of the month to the 14th, can you imagine how the children would get attached, and would feel about this lamb after four days of taking care of this lamb?
This lamb is different from most helpless lambs written about in God’s Word.
First, although it had the marks of death upon His body, this lamb was now standing.
How does a lamb that had died now stand up?
Because this lamb was not any lamb; this lamb was the resurrected Lamb of God.
He is the reigning Lamb.
He is the Lamb as described by John the Baptist.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
This Lamb is also significant because the perfect number seven is mentioned three times.
First, He has seven horns, which speaks of the omnipotence of the Lamb, that is He is all-powerful.
Second, the Lamb has seven eyes, which speaks of the omniscience of the Lamb, that is He is all seeing, He can see everything.
Third, notice that there are seven spirits of God sent into all the earth.
6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
Seven Spirits speaks of omnipresent, that is He is everywhere, there is nowhere that He is not.
The Lamb of God is the Lord Jesus - the redeeming Lamb, the resurrected Lamb, and the reigning Lamb who comes against them all.
C. He is Worthy because of Conquest:
C. He is Worthy because of Conquest:
5 and one of the elders said to me, “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.”
The overcome here is from the Greek word nike, can also be prevailed or conquered and speaks of victory.
Jesus is the One who has won the victory.
If you were to ask the Lord Jesus how He was able to open the Book, He would answer, I am worthy, first of all because of creation, I made everything.
Second, I am worthy because of Calvary, I have redeemed mankind.
Third, I am worthy because of conquest, I have overcome, I have won the victory.
III. Jesus is Eternally Worthy
III. Jesus is Eternally Worthy
There has never been a time when Jesus was not worthy.
There will never be a time when He is not worthy.
Jesus is eternally worthy forever and ever.
This is the eternal song of the ages.
8 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.
9 And 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.
10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,
12 saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
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, I heard saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.
In this passage praise is symbolized by harps, and prayer is symbolized by bowls of incense.
In the Old Testament we read that many of the psalms were sung with harp music.
5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
With the lyre and the sound of melody.
The lyre being a harp.
As for the bowls of incense, when the high priests went into the temple, he would take a bowl of incense so the aroma would perfume the air.
15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
Maybe you think that since you do not see your prayers answered, perhaps they have been forgotten.
Or since you do not see God working perhaps God is not working.
Let me ask you a question: have you ever prayed the prayer found in Matthew 6:10
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Now I want to ask another question: Has God’s kingdom come?
Not yet.
Is His will being done on earth as it is in heaven?
Not yet.
Did you offer a prayer, therefore, that was not answered?
Every prayer is heard.
And one of these days, you will see the answer to that prayer because His kingdom will come, and the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord.
And we will shout about it!
12 saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
Think of reach of that song.
It will echo and thunder from the highest heaven to the lowest hell.
9 And 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.
Katherine Hankey said this: “I love to tell the story, for those who know it best. Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. And when, in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song, ‘Twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.”
Do you know what we will be singing in heaven?
We will sing about the Lamb.
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, I heard saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.
From every possible sphere, they will give the Lord Jesus Christ glory.
Everybody will confess it.
23 “I have sworn by Myself,
The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness
And will not turn back,
That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.
Jesus Christ is exclusively worthy.
There is none other.
He is exceedingly worthy because of Calvary, because of creation, because of conquest.
He is eternally worthy forever and ever and ever.
Is how you are living worthy for Jesus dying for?
That is a question we should ask ourselves!!!