Sermon Tone Analysis

One of the most breathtaking passages on the second coming is Revelation chapter 5.

The scene in chapter 5 is the same as chapter 4. The scene is heaven, in the center is the throne of God.

Lightning and thunder and glorious worship from the hosts of heaven.

Chapter 4 and chapter 5 anticipate the tribulation.

Chapters 6 to 19 is the record of the exploding judgment of God in the world.

And it comes through seven seals that are unrolled, seven trumpets that are blown, and seven bowls that are poured out on the earth.

At the same time judgment is being poured out, salvation is taking place to a degree never before known I the history of redemption.

So many are saved from every tongue and tribe and people and nation they can’t even be numbered.

The nation Israel is saved, and 144,000 of them are sealed as ministers and missionaries and witnesses.

Angels are preaching the gospel as they’re flying across heaven.

Two witnesses are raised from the dead to preach the gospel so that the city of Jerusalem repents.

It’s an incredible time described in chapters 6 to 19.

It is ultimately going to be the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Many people have attempted to define and decode these visions.

There is an erroneous belief that buried in these visions are coded messages that require a special medium to decode.

In order to fully understand this, you don’t need some super-spiritual guide.

All you need is the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and some understanding of history.

The first spiritual truth we must understand is that history is a as much a record of the spiritual conflicts transpiring through the ages as much as events of man.

Once you begin to understand and perceive the world through spiritual eyes, things become more clear.

History begins to make more sense and you begin to see both God’s eternal plan that started with His confrontation with man in the Garden, but also Satan’s plan and patterns to deceive and defeat God’s people.

History is wrought with many have desired to rule the world and be the ultimate monarch.

Certainly there was Lucifer, son of the morning, the anointed cherub who is now known as Satan, is the prince of this prideful desire he puts in the hearts and minds of men.

He desires to rule the world and the universe.

Humanly speaking, there were men that are recorded in the Bible and the annals of history that burned with this continual desire to overtake everything they possibly could.

Nebuchadnezzar was the Babylonian ruler who reigned over much of the civilized world in 604-562 BCE.

Nebuchadnezzar is notorious for decimating the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel, exiling the vast majority of its denizens to Babylon, and destroying the first Holy Temple.

There was Darius, commonly known as Darius the Great, a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire.

Xerxes, the eldest son of Darius and Atossa, succeeded to the throne as Xerxes I.

With Xerxes' accession, the empire was again ruled by a member of the house of Cyrus.

There was Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Napoleon.

There was Hitler who envisioned an eternal reign of the Third Reich.

Under Hitler, 12 million people were killed, including 6 million Jews.

There was Marx, Lenin, and Stalin where untold millions of people were oppressed and killed throughout the world.

And someday there will be Antichrist who will be the most powerful human, who will subdue all rulers and nations of the world under the influence of Satan.

All of these rulers follow the same demonic pattern with a will to control and dominate world-wide power, dethrone God, and destroy God’s people.

Today, more than ever in the history of the world, do we see world events, including the world’s response to COVID-19, geo-political alignments, cultural events, and demonic forces at work to bring in the powers and events that will be seen during the Great Tribulation.

The Bible is clear about these things and these events and he has not hidden these things from the world, but revealed it through this book, including Revelation.

Sadly, there are pastors and churches that refuse to come near this or any prophetic writings in the Bible.

The reason is many churches are afraid of offending culture with the truth of God’s Word.

We have too many woke pastors today that are afraid or unwilling to preach the truth.

When they do that, they are not being “loving” as they claim, but are following along the plan of Satan.

They are afraid of the spiritual implications of preaching through the Book of Revelation.

The gospel has feet and calls us to stand in protest to the deceptions of the world’s systems.

The way we do that is by preaching the truth in love.

God gave the Church this Word.

The Bible told us in advance that the things that are happening today would be on the world stage.

He entrusted it to us that it would not be hidden under a basket but be show brightly to the entire world.

When pastors and teachers attempt to decorate worldly systems and teachings with a little bit of Jesus in order to be more appealing to our culture we are undermining the authority of God’s Word.

I come across so many people today who say to me, “Pastor, we are hungry for the truth.

We are hungry to hear sound, biblical teaching again.

Our pastor and our church are compromising.”

With that we looked at Chapter 4 the last few weeks.

chapter 4, verse 1, there was a door standing open in heaven and John was taken up there and he’s still there as he writes in chapter 5.

I want you to remember that the vision John saw was the Throne Room of Heaven with the Almighty on the Throne.

That has never changed nor will it ever change.

And it is critical for us to understand Who it is on that throne.

His nature, his character, his holiness, his power, his judgement.

There is no one who is able to stand before God and live.

We are unclean and unholy without God’s intervention we have no hope.

Additionally, there is worship in heaven.

There is continual, ongoing worship from everyone around that throne.

The four living creatures, the 24 elders, and everyone in heaven is directing their eternal worship in Heaven toward Him.

We will be joining them eternally.

That is what we found in Chapter 4 and that continues now into Chapter 5:

The Lamb and the Scroll

God begins to move.

He is about to unleash His wrath, about to ignite the tribulation and the time when the Lord takes back the universe, and paradise is regained.

At the center of all of this the One who leads the redemption of the world.

He is the One who is the rightful heir to the throne of Heaven and Earth.

The One who is and will be seated on the Throne that Satan has deceived the world belongs to a man in tribute to the counterfeit rule of Satan.

This is the moment that we’ve been waiting for.

This is the moment that every Christian should anticipate.

This is the moment when the redemption, according to Ephesians will take place:

“who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 1:14

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”

Romans 8:22

And what does John see in verse 1? Revelation 5:1 “1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.”

In ancient times they didn’t have books or codex, they had scrolls, that were usually rolled up from both ends into the middle.

The scroll would have been made possibly out of papyrus or parchment, some form of paper product.

“It was written inside and on the back, and it was sealed up with seven seals.” (Verse 1).

First the fact that there was writing on both sides is unusual.

This means that whatever information was on this scroll, there was a lot of it – almost more than the scroll can contain.

When a roll was finished, it was fastened with strings and the strings were sealed with wax at the knots.

This scroll was sealed with seven seals; there were seven strings around the scroll, each string sealed with wax.

There are a number of ideas about what could be written on this scroll.

First, some believe it could be the last will and testament of Jesus. 1 Peter 1:4 describes“an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,” Others suggest it is the Book of Life.

The problem with this theory is that when Jesus opens the scroll, it reveals Christ’s wrath on the earth instead of his blessings on the redeemed.

Another idea is that this is the Old Testament.

Nothing in the Scriptures suggest this, however.

Fourth this could be God’s will for history and the proclaimation of his judgements.

I want to suggest this is the best fitting idea with a bit more explanation.

This scroll described in Revelation 5 was typical of a contract in the ancient world.

This kind of contract was known all over the Middle East in ancient times and was used by the Romans from the time of Nero on.

The full contract would be written on the inner pages and then sealed with seven seals; not just a will, but various kinds of contracts.

Then the content of the contract would be described briefly on the outside.”

(Dr.

Robert Thomas) All kinds of transactions were consummated this way, including marriage contracts, rental and lease agreements, release of slaves, contract, bills, and even bonds.”

In Hebrew culture, the document most closely resembling this scroll was a title deed, which was folded and signed, requiring at least three witnesses.

A portion of text would be written and then sealed with a different witness signing at each sealing.