He is Worthy
End of Days • Sermon • Submitted
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· 25 viewsBecause of Jesus obedience to the Father, He alone is worthy to bring history to its triumphant conclusion.
Notes
Transcript
A couple of the biggest frauds that have been foisted on the Christian church involve the book of Revelation.
The first fraud is that the book of Revelation is too difficult to understand with its beasts and dragons and stars falling from the sky.
And tied right into that is the idea that the book of Revelation was written for the future - it’s the book of prophecy that only deals with the end of time.
So hearing and accepting those two premises all of our lives, we’ve missed the jarring truth of the fifth gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the book of the Revelation.
You do realize we’ve read two resurrection stories this morning, right?
Logan read the first one from the first gospel, the gospel of Mark.
Mark 16:4-6
And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Some of you might be saying to yourselves, “Well, thank the Lord Logan read the Easter Story or we wouldn’t have heard it at all today!” and I’d say to you, “You’re wrong.”
Revelation 5 is another resurrection story.
Let me show you something.
Revelation 6:9-11
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
Who is speaking there?
It’s the “souls of those who had been slain for the word of God,” right?
They are asking a holy and true, Sovereign Lord, how long before we are resurrected?
How long before our bodies are glorified?
How long until we are vindicated and we get to walk in the presence of the Father every day?
And what was their answer?
“rest a little longer.”
Listen to me, if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead, he’d be one of the voices crying out, “How long?”
Jesus would be just another guy who gave his life because he believed.
But Jesus isn’t there, is he?
Jesus was raised from the dead and guess what?
You ain’t seen nothing yet.
The scene opens where last weeks scene left off.
God the Father is sitting on his throne.
His physical features are not described, instead we are given a picture of one who is surrounded by unapproachable light.
God is so holy and pure that his very body exudes light - he literally glows with the brilliance of the sun.
Surrounding the Holy God is 24 elders which we said represents in one sense the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles.
But in another sense they represent the church.
People from every “tribe and language and people and nation.”
You heard that today - verse 9.
There were several points we looked at last week but two in particular need repeating.
First, everyone in all of creation worships the Father.
Second, the Father is mighty over all things - all meaning all.
And finally, the application for us was, if we understand that God is Holy - that his and only his words are truth, if we understand that God is mighty over all - and all means all, and if we understand that God is eternal - that there is not a single nanosecond that he’s not in charge, we can endure everything life throws at us.
Because we know who is in charge.
Now, chapter 5 opens - God the Father is still seated on the throne.
In his right hand is a scroll - some people translate it book - it doesn’t matter, we’re going to stick with scroll.
The scroll is written on the outside and inside and it’s sealed with seven seals.
This is where I’d love to give a pop test because I believe you’d all get a one hundred.
If I asked, what does it mean that the scroll is sealed with seven seals, what would you say?
You’d say, “Pastor, seven seals means that it is perfectly sealed,” and I’d say, “You’re right.”
It is perfectly sealed.
No one can open it except the one who is supposed to open it.
Remember something we’ve heard before - What God opens no man can shut, what God shuts, no man can open.
See how much you know?
Now, what’s written in and on this scroll?
You remember that we’ve said that the Lord uses language that the people reading it would relate to.
That works right here.
A first century Roman Christian would immediately recognize that scroll as a legal contract.
We have some lawyers in our church.
Every lawyer I’ve ever dealt with has pretty much always put my documents in a envelope, often with their firm name on the outside and sometimes with the name of the document on the envelope.
The last will and testament of Stephen Randall Darnell.
You see the envelope, you know what’s in it.
They see the scroll - they know it’s a contract.
What’s in the contract?
Do you remember when we studied Joel and Daniel and I kept harping on Deuteronomy chapter 28?
Deuteronomy 28:1-2
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 28:15-16
“But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
Sounds like a contract to me, don’t it to you?
If you do this, then I will do that?
Now don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying that this scroll is a copy of Deuteronomy 28.
What we are saying is this, God made a contract with humanity.
“And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” (Jeremiah 32:38)
And God wrote what that meant and how it was going to happen, down on a scroll.
To put it in simple language for us, this legal document is God’s will for the earth - it’s his plan, listen, it is his plan to finish history, claim his people and bring about the new heaven and new earth.
It’s the game plan.
It’s the blue print.
And it’s sealed up so no one who isn’t supposed to can even peek inside it.
Revelation 5:2
And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
Here’s the scene - history is ready to move on.
Romans 8:22-23
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
All creation groans waiting.
Remember when I was younger, there was a river up north that was so polluted that it caught on fire.
The air in China is so foul, people wear masks to filter out the pollution.
Certain rivers and streams we’re told to eat only so many fish because of the pollutant levels.
The animal kingdom is viscous.
I watch hawks swoop down and grab unsuspecting chipmunks.
I love chipmunks.
Gazelles are eaten by lions.
Alligators and crocodiles eat everything.
It wasn’t that way in the beginning.
Isaiah 65:25
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
I bet that’s in the scroll.
That’s the way the world worked until Adam did the one thing God told him not to do.
Yes, it was eating the fruit from the tree - that was the actual act - but that wasn’t the meaning of the act.
Essentially what God told Adam was, don’t try to be God - you are not now nor will you ever be qualified.
But Adam and Eve had to give it a shot - and I sit in my office sometimes at home coaching the chipmunks not to stay in the open too long.
Do you feel the tension building?
“Who is worthy?”
Did you notice, there was no answer.
Now understand the venue here - this question was asked to the universe.
This angel wasn’t asking the 4 living creatures or the 24 elders that we’ve seen so far.
This angel “with a loud voice” is crying out over the entire creation - as far as can be seen and beyond.
“Who is worthy?”
And his question is met with silence.
John is standing there and he’s got to be saying to himself, “Come on now, someone has to be worthy?
“God has a plan, it is in his hand. If no one is worthy, we’re stuck in this mess forever.
“People are going to keep dying.
“The people of God will keep getting martyred.
“Sickness and disease, hate and murder - if no one is worthy - this is never going to stop.
“Babies will be born autistic, with downs, with all kinds of physical ailments.
“Children will continue to die with cancer.
“People will continue to perish because other people are evil.
“Surely someone has to be, anyone, come on - someone has to be worthy?”
“And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it.”
No one.
Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
See, here’s the deal - because this contract is between God and humanity, a human has to open the scroll.
But all have sinned.
Now listen to me - all of the unrest we are seeing in our nation, you want to know a secret?
It’s people screaming that they are worthy.
They know the plan, they know the way forward, they know how to make this world a better place.
BLM - we are worthy.
The LGBTQ+ movement - we are worthy.
The Democrats - we are worthy.
The Republicans - we are worthy.
Every single one of them has a plan - every last one them has apple juice dripping down their chins.
For all have sinned.
No one is worthy.
John is crushed.
If no one can open the seal - his exile on Patmos, why did he bother?
He will die there and his bones will turn to dust and blow away.
Life is what it is and it will never be any different.
We have no hope - all is lost. (Pause)
About 100 years before John saw his vision, something happened on earth.
The very one who created all that is, Philippians 2:6-8.
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Jesus walked the earth, and “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15b)
He was tempted by greed - Satan did that in the wilderness.
He was tempted by sex - women poured perfume on his hair, washed his feet with their hair.
He was tempted by intoxicants - he attended parties - weddings where they had hot and cold running wine.
He was tempted by power - Satan said if he would just bow down to him, he could rule the world.
He was tempted to not be what he was sent to be - Satan said, “You’re starving. Turn those rocks into bread.”
Jesus’ reply defined what it means to live up to the glory of God, Matthew 4:4.
But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
The one word that jumps out at us in Revelation 5:5 is this, “conquered.”
In all of those temptations and the millions of others we are faced with, every one of us has lost the battle.
Some of us more publically than others.
Some of us think we’ve sinned worse than others - although that’s not true.
Our Awana guys learned this week, James 2:10
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
A sin is a sin - and all have sinned.
Except Jesus - he conquered.
Why did this one word catch our eye?
To the church at Ephesus, Jesus said, “To the one who conquers...”
To the church at Smyrna, Jesus said, “The one who conquers...”
To the church at Pergamum, “To the one who conquers...”
Thyatira, “The one who conquers...”
Sardis, “The one who conquers...”
Philadelphia, “The one who conquers...”
Laodicea, “The one who conquers...”
7 times - does that number ring a bell - seven times the word conquers is used in Revelation.
It’s what we are called on to do.
We are called on to conquer and if we do...
Revelation 21:7
The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
It’s a term of the contract.
We are told that we must conquer.
But we can’t, can we?
If we could, all of the people who are screaming “I am worthy” wouldn’t be screaming - they would conquer and be worthy.
But no one can.
Let’s get back into the story - The elder tells John, “Stop crying, dude, there’s hope. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
John, there is one - we’re saved, buddy.
We’re going to make it.
Verse 6 is full of apocalyptic language - symbols that are meant to convey information and emotion.
Lamb standing, as though it had been slain.
Seven horns
Seven eyes.
Seven spirits.
In a nutshell, the crucified Jesus has been resurrected by the power of God and is God.
Seven horns is perfect power - omnipotence.
Seven eyes is perfect insight and wisdom - omniscience.
Seven spirits is perfect knowledge of everything, everywhere - omnipresence.
There is incredible tension in verse 7.
“Who is worthy?”
There is one who is worthy.
Everyone in all of creation held their breath - what is going to happen?
Revelation 5:7.
And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.
Now listen to me - beginning with verse 8 all the way through verse 13 - if we were standing there - we couldn’t hear ourselves speak.
The universe goes berserk.
There is an explosion of music and singing from the seat of the throne of God to the furthest reaches of the universe.
It is immeasurably loud and it is immeasurable happy.
When Jesus takes the scroll, the Father is handing Jesus full authority to make all things new.
The work that began at creation will now, not can now, but will now be completed.
Everything in all of creation is elated - I don’t think anything in all of history could compare to this moment of celebration.
Look in verse 9, the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures standing right beside the Father are singing.
Look at verse 11, “the voice of many angels,” myriad and myriads means millions and millions and thousands of thousands.
How big is a place holding millions of millions? - and they are all singing.
Look at verse 13 - this is my favorite - Revelation 5:13
And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
Every creature - every created being - every person, every dog, every cat, every bird, my chipmunk, every creature dead or alive, even the fish are all singing praises to Jesus.
There is nothing in all of creation that has ever taken a breath - including plants and trees - that will not praise Jesus.
Philippians 2:10-11.
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
To the glory of God the Father?
What did he do to bring glory to the Father?
Jesus conquered sin - he lived a sinless life.
Yet he was slain - this word means mercilessly slaughtered - He was crucified.
Stripped naked, his body was nailed to cross.
In humiliation and shame he hung in front of his own mother until his until blood loss and suffocation overwhelmed him.
And he died.
One of the songs we sang today talked of the dust from which we were created received his blood.
By his blood he ransomed.
That word throws people off - some have even said Jesus paid the price to Satan for our release.
Nothing was paid to Satan.
Satan is a pawn - he is a hateful instigator who hates God and hates his people.
He is nothing and can be nothing except what the Lord is allowing him to be for a season.
Jesus blood ransomed us from God.
God has a claim on us - our Awana kids know this.
God is perfectly just and being perfectly just demands perfect justice.
When our sins are forgiven, it’s not that the Father says, “Ok, we’re cool - we’ll pretend it never happened.”
No. No. No.
When we ask for forgiveness, the Father looks to see if the penalty has been paid.
Remember, we are created in the image of God.
There is an imprint of God’s justice written on our hearts.
It is galling to us to see the guilty go free.
It is galling to hear mayors instructing police to not enforce laws.
It is galling to hear of a proud navy submariner who took a picture of his work station on his submarine so his family could see what he did - and he went to jail for it, but politicians can do as they wish about most anything and there is never any justice.
It’s galling.
It’s galling to our children when they get in trouble for doing things their friends parents celebrate.
It’s galling because we are created in the image of God and the imprint of his morality still resides in our soul.
A just God demands justice.
The wages of sin is death.
There is no exception.
“and by your blood you ransomed people for God.”
By Jesus blood our sins are forgiven.
By Jesus sacrifice, by his death, your sins - if you have never trusted Jesus - your sins can be forgiven.
The payment is in place, but you have to receive it.
And that doesn’t mean that you just believe - it means that you are willing for your life to change - that you are willing to surrender you life to Jesus and do whatever he calls you to do from now on.
That’s conquering - and you can conquer if you trust Jesus.
Jesus made a people for God.
From every tribe, language, people and nation.
He made a people for God to love and who will love God.
He made a people for God to bless and who will enjoy those blessings.
He made a people for God who will live with God and will exercise the highest influence and control - they will reign with him - over all of creation with God.
They will be like children in love, running and laughing and enjoying each other and enjoying the creation they are playing in - from the breeze in the trees to the very grass under their feet.
Every moment of every day - forever.
They will exult in each other and the creation will praise the Father for his goodness.
The temptation at Easter is to come remember the resurrection, sing about an empty tomb, go home and eat and hunt eggs and have a happy day.
And there’s nothing wrong with that - just make sure you understand that that’s not the end of it.
Time did not get suspended at the cross and the tomb.
We did not enter some funky period of time where we are waiting once again for an ending to come.
There is no pause going on like there was when the angel asked “Who is Worthy?”
We know who is worthy and why.
He is about to open the scroll - he opened it at the resurrection.
The plan is being worked today.
We are in it - it is happening around us.
It’s a little bit frightening - the world is getting harder and harder to understand.
It is painfully obvious around the world that there is a force - we know it is Satan and his demons - who think this is the hour they’ve been waiting for.
All around the globe the people of God are being persecuted.
Some is mild, like what is happening here.
Some is extreme, with our brothers and sisters joining the voices of the martyrs.
Satan thinks now’s the time - he’s taking his best shot.
Let me summarize verse 14 for you.
“And the four living creatures said, “bring it.”
It is time.
Jesus conquered.
The Father raised Jesus.
We know now who is Worthy.
Bring it.
We’ll not be signing a hymn of response today - although if you know the song being sung, please sing along.
Just remember, while we are singing, everything from my little chipmunk to the angels in the farthest reaches of heaven - everything in all of creation is singing too.
“Is He Worthy? He is.”
Let us pray.