Unexpected Joy

Advent 2020  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  22:08
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The Best Joys are Unexpected

Perhaps the greatest joy is the unexpected joy. Consider our celebration of someone’s birthday or Christmas; as we labor to pick out just the right present for those we love, do we not consider not only what they would like, but also what would be totally unexpected?
Consider also the delighted laugh of a small child has in playing peek-a-boo; they will play the game over and over again, never seeming to tire of it.
Finally, consider some of the best books you have read or movies you have seen. Do they not have surprising twists and turns in their plot?
We love surprises and God does too!
Our two passages contain the unexpected. In the first, Revelation 5, John has a vision. In the vision, he is told of a conquering Lion, but what he sees is a slain Lamb; but not any slain lamb, but rather a Lamb who conquers by being slain! Then we come to our second passage, Revelation 7. In this vision, John hears of a symbolic representation of the conquering Army of God; numbered as the conquering armies of Joshua were once numbered. However, as the vision continues and he actually sees this army, what he sees is totally unexpected—it is made up not only of ethnic Israelites, but Gentiles from every nation and tribe who have been grafted into the true Israel. Moreover, this army conquers, not by the might of arms and politics, but by being slain as the Lamb was!
Let us look at each of these visions more closely, so that we might discover the joy of the unexpected! The first...

The Unexpected Joy of a Slain Lamb

Revelation 5 begins with a vision of a scroll with seven seals, the only problem is a search of both heaven and earth can find no one worthy to open this scroll. John begins to weep. He weeps because no one can be found to open the scroll. Then, one of the elders tells him to weep no more, because One has been found who is worth to open the scroll, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then we read:
Revelation 5:6–7 ESV
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.
What a surprise, the Conquering Lion is a Slain Lamb!
How can this be? Why is there so much joy in Heaven over the revelation of this Lamb?
Well, let us listen to what the Host of Heaven sing:
Revelation 5:9–10 ESV
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
The Lamb conquered because by His blood He ransomed for God a people and by His blood He secures for this people all the promises given to Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets!
Abraham was promised that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him and now they are!
Moses and the prophets were promised that Israel would become the Kingdom of God on earth and would serve as priests in this Kingdom and now the true Israel was!
David was promised that his heirs would have an everlasting Kingdom and rule over the whole earth and now through Christ they did!
Do you see the surprise? It is still a surprise. It takes a divine vision to see it. Even today, no one would guess these things are true. The church seems weak and insignificant. The forces of evil seem to have the upper hand; but God is playing peek-a-boo with us. When He lifts the veil, we suddenly see reality as it really is—the Lamb has conquered and His church has as well!
Which brings us to the second unexpected joy:

The Unexpected Joy of Slain Saints

In between Revelation 5 and Revelation 7, is Revelation 6, which contains another vision. Revelation 6 is a vision of the first six seals being opened. As each seal is opened, the wrath of the Lamb against sin and sinners is unleashed. Each judgement is worse than the one preceding, until finally, when the sixth seal is broken, heaven and earth are destroyed! Chapter 6 ends with these words:
Revelation 6:15–17 ESV
Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
“Who can stand?”
Every sensible person who reads the book of Revelation asks this question. The answer to that question is given to us in chapter 7.
As chapter seven begins, four angels are standing at the four corners of the earth, ready to unleash the destructive forces that were just described in chapter six, but they are told to wait until a fifth angel seals “the servants of our God on their foreheads.” What is this seal? The original readers would have known exactly what this vision was trying to communicate; a seal was a mark of ownership placed upon a servant.
In the Old Testament, the High Priest had a seal placed on his forehead that read, “Holy to the Lord” (Exodus 28:36). Moreover, the High Priest wore a breastplate with the twelve precious stone on it, and upon each of these stones were written the name of one of the tribes of Israel (Exodus 28:15-30). These signets were meant to represent that the High Priest and all of Israel belong to the Lord.
In addition to this, a seal was used to show that an individual had God’s divine protection from judgement. Think of the blood that acted as a protective seal placed on the door posts of the children of Israel during the Passover. In the book of Ezekiel 9, we find God commanding an angel, in the same way He does in Revelation 7, to place a seal on the foreheads of true Israelites so they will be protected from the judgement about to befall unbelieving Israel. The Apostle Paul identifies this seal, He is the Holy Spirit:
Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
So how will God’s people be able to stand in the midst of the Great Tribulation? They will stand by the power of God the Holy Spirit!
People have often asked me, “Pastor, I don’t know if I could stand being tortured or killed for Christ.” I want to tell you this morning, but the authority of the Word of God, that if the Holy Spirit has sealed you, you indeed will stand!
This is our joy! This is our assurance! We did not see it coming, but God loves surprises!
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