Created for a Purpose—Revelation 4-5
Notes
Transcript
From time to time, I work on vehicles. I used to do that more than I do now. Now, I don’t really have the time. But, from time to time, I still do. I’ve got some tools that were made to do only one or two things. You don’t use them until you need them. But, when you need them, you are glad that you have them.
I find joy in using tools for the purposes that they were made. I use them, and I feel an awe of how easy that job was with just the right tool.
Every tool was made for a purpose. And it is good when that tool is used for that purpose.
Everyone of us was made for a purpose. And it is good when we live that purpose. Unfortunately, the majority of the world has not lived their purpose. Those that don’t experience an emptiness, a longing that they try to fill with so many other things. But those things don’t cut it.
After John is given the litters to the seven churches, he is taken to heaven, the throne room of God, in a vision and sees the future. A description of what the throne room of God looks like and a description of what will happen at the beginning of the end.
Let’s read it together.
After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
“ ‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.”
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”
The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Jesus, the lamb who was slain, is worthy of all praise. We are going explore why this is the case. We will look at his divinity, his death, and his dominion. And then we are going to dive back into the initial question. Are we living what we were created for: to worship our God as revealed in Jesus Christ.
Will you pray with me?
1. Because of His Divinity
1. Because of His Divinity
Jesus is worthy of all praise because of his divinity.
John is transported into the throne room of God and sees things that he cannot grasp in his finite, depraved humanity. He describes it as best as he can.
The appearance, the colors, so symbolic of how God worked through Creation to choosing the 12 tribes of Israel to his redemption work through Jesus on the cross. We have these 24 elders before the throne, great men of God have disagreed about these, because we are not in heaven yet, we don’t know. But, I think they represent God’s people the Jews and God’s people the Church. 12 tribes of Israel and 12 apostles. And we’ve got living creature that seem to represent God’s character through his creation, each living creature having a face that represents one of the created orders, wild animals, domestic animals, mankind, and flying creatures. We don’t know.
All we know is that in the throne room of God, the fullness of Creation is falling down in worship to God. Nothing is left out. No group is able to say: I was not created by God and I don’t want to worship him. The entirety is there in awe of their creator.
“ ‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.”
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
That’s chapter 4.
It is appropriate for everything to worship God, the creator. Because that’s what creation is designed to do.
Then, we reach chapter five, and everything seems to be turned on its head.
We are introduced to the lion of judah, which is a lamb, more on that later. God is holding a scroll, written on both sides and sealed with seven seals.
Remember the scroll of Daniel that described the end of time and Daniel was told to seal it?
But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end.
The time has come to open it. But no one was found worthy, living or dead, human or angel or animal. No one was worthy, except the lion of Judah, the lamb.
And all of creation erupts as he grabs hold of that scroll.
But more on that later.
Let’s read the description of this lamb:
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.
Seven horns, seven eyes, seven spirits. Seven is the number of perfection. It is used for God himself. You remember the supposed mark of the beast: 666. It is the number of man, lower than perfection.
The seven horns and the seven eyes are the seven spirits of God, as Gabe talked about at the beginning of the month. It refers to the holy spirit. This lamb, symbolizing Jesus, is God, because he is perfect and sends out the Holy Spirit upon the world.
Standing there in his divinity, the elders and the living creatures turn from worshiping God on the throne and bow before Jesus offering the prayers of God’s people. They would only do that if Jesus was God.
Jesus is worthy of all praise, because he of his divinity.
2. Because of His Death
2. Because of His Death
Jesus is worthy of all praise because of his death.
At the beginning of the description of this lamb, we read:
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.
This Lamb had been killed.
We read the song that the elders and the living creatures began to sing when the lamb took the scroll:
And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
And then all the angels in Heaven joined in:
In a loud voice they were saying:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
Jesus is worthy of all praise because of his death.
At the beginning of time, after Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and go their own way: God promised that one was going to come who would reverse the curse. He would go through physical harm to destroy our enemy and return everything back to what it was created to be.
We read prophecy after prophecy, including Psalm 22, which starts:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
And ends:
They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
God became man, Jesus left the amazing throne room that we read about here, and came to earth, lived among us, experienced our pains, hurts, sorrows, temptations, brokenness, and never sinned.
Then, he died on the cross for our sin.
The lion of the tribe of Judah: The one prophesied to sit on the throne of David and rule the world for eternity, first came to die. To win a people for himself, to bridge the gap between his wayward creation and himself. To bring us back from death into abundant life.
No greater love has any man but this, that he would lay down his life for his friends. And Jesus did it for his enemies.
His death pays the penalty for our sin so that we might be brought back into a relationship with God.
And he doesn’t force us to do anything to accept this gift. He doesn’t require a payment. He doesn’t require a sacrifice, a ritual, or a work. He just calls to turn to him and believe in him. Call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved.
He reaches out his hand to everyone, because everyone was created by him and for him, and says: will you turn to me?
When we truly understand this gift, we will praise his name.
Jesus is worthy of all praise because of his death.
3. Because of His Dominion
3. Because of His Dominion
Jesus is worthy of all praise because of his dominion.
The four living creatures and the 24 elders, as they fall down on their face, singing the new song, finish by saying:
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
He has created a kingdom which will cover the earth, a kingdom of those who have placed their faith in him. As their king, he will receive all praise, from his subjects, those who have placed their faith in him, and from those who he will judge in eternal fire.
As Paul writes:
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Because he is king, because his dominion will have no end, he is worthy of all praise.
In fact, we see a picture of this in Revelation 5. At the very end of this chapter, we have all the creatures in heaven and earth and in the sea, including all who have died, and they are all proclaiming to Jesus:
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”
The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Jesus is worthy of all praise, because of his divinity, his death, and his dominion.
4. The Question:
4. The Question:
The question for all of us: If Jesus is worthy of praise, do we give it? Are we in awe of him?
This question is immediately applicable for all Christians. One day every knee will bow before him and give him the praise that is due him. Unfortunately, on that day, the praise will be given in response to his judgment as each nonbeliever is cast away from Christ’s presence into Hell.
So, do you want to praise him then on the way to eternal judgment, or will you humble yourself and give him praise now and be saved from that judgment.
The choice is yours. Will you make it?
Those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, that fear of judgement is not ours. However, we live our lives and forget about him, and steal his glory each day.
He gives us blessings, and we don’t thank him.
He surrounds us with good things, and we disregard him.
We have the opportunity to spend time with him and worship him, but we choose to do other things instead.
We boil decisions and priorities down to business logic or emotional desires, instead of asking how we can worship Jesus Christ through these decisions or actions.
We could talk about so many other applications. But, we will just leave it at the question: If Jesus is worthy of praise, do we give it? Are we in awe of him?
