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Revelation 5 "The Lion and the Lamb"
And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?" And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals." And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. (Revelation 5:1-7)
We have learned back in our study of the book of Romans that God has a master plan for His creation. God does not just let things happen by chance but in His great wisdom He charted it all out from the very beginning. Therefore God has known us personally not just from our mother’s wombs but from before the foundation of the world. He has had a plan to cleanse us from our sins and bring us to heaven through the work of His Son Jesus from the very beginning. And He has also had a plan to create a new heaven and new earth and bring judgment on the old from the very beginning. It has all been part of God's plan.
We also learned at the beginning of our study of Revelation that this book is meant to unveil God's plan to His servants. For those who know Jesus and love Him, this book will make sense, but for those who don’t know Jesus it will sound like foolish nonsense. The reason why God has done this is because there is an enemy. We will learn more about the enemy and His defeat as we go through the book. But in this chapter we find out that God has sealed His plan for the great tribulation and judgment of the world so that the enemy could not find it out. Lately, there has been incredible interest in Japan about the prophecies of Nostradamus. Of course Nostradamus, draws most of his ideas out of the book of Revelation. He prophecies an Antichrist, a time of great tribulation and world war, but he also includes his own mix of astrology and the occult. The prophecy that has gotten people so excited was that in July, 1999 the Antichrist would descend to earth to start the beginning of WWIII. Well, today is August 1st, 1999. It seems that Nostradamus did not really understand what he was reading. In fact out of 104 verifiable predictions that Nostradamus made, in which he actually named a place or a person or a time, he has been wrong on 103 of the 104. Even though the books say that he that he has predicted everything from Hitler and Napolean to the space shuttle disaster, the words that he uses are so vague that they can be interpreted many different ways. The biblical test for prophecy is 100% accuracy. God's word is never wrong. Nostradamus is not even 1% accurate and yet people are listening to him instead of the Bible!
The scroll that John saw was sealed with seven seals. Seven, in the Bible, is a symbol for perfection so it means that it was perfectly sealed and closed. There was no way for anyone to open it. In fact as they called out for someone to come and open it they could find no one who was worthy. A few years ago the Japanese Oum cult tried to start the Apocalypse all by themselves. They amassed a huge amount of weapons and poison gas with the goal of setting off World War III. However there is only one who is worthy to start the end times. It will not be a cult like Oum, nor will it be the powerful world ruler who will be known as the Antichrist, it won’t even be Satan. This chapter of Revelation tells us that God, Himself holds the scroll and there is only one who is worthy to open it.
People are scared of the things described in the book of Revelation, but know this. It is all in God’s control. Nothing will happen that is not allowed, in fact planned and commanded by God Himself. It will not be senseless slaughter like that which Oum had initiated, but the carefully measured justice of God. We can tell how carefully measured that justice is by who He chose as worthy to open the scroll.
One of the elders tells John, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals." Who is this Lion? In the Old Testament when Jacob blessed his sons, who would become the 12 tribes of Israel, he called Judah a lion. And like a majestic lion, Judah became the tribe of kings. King David came from the tribe of Judah. Likewise the Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would also come from the tribe of Judah. Jesus Christ was a descendant of David, the "Root" of David and fulfilled this prophecy. The Lion is a fitting symbol of power and majesty, conquest and strength. And all of these adjectives fitly describe our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the King of Kings, seated upon the throne at the right hand of the Father. He has been victorious over sin and death. He is Lord of All. If anyone is worthy to start the final battle between God and Satan, it is King Jesus, the Lion of Judah.
But when John turns around to look. He is surprised to see not a lion, but a lamb. There in the midst of the throne, and the four living creatures and the elders stood a Lamb as though it had been slain. This Lamb is also Jesus. The Lamb of God that took away the sins of the world. In the Old Testament when a person sinned, they would bring a lamb to the temple and sacrifice it in their own place. The priest would lay his hand on the man’s head and on the head of the lamb and the man would know that the punishment that he deserved to receive was being taken by the helpless innocent lamb. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He became that lamb for us. He took all the punishment that we deserve on Himself. In fact He took the punishment for the sins of the entire world on Himself. This is what makes Jesus worthy to start the end of the world. He is the only one who has loved the world so much to sacrifice Himself for us. He is the one who has poured out His mercy upon us and given us every opportunity to escape judgment. Do you see how God's justice and mercy are always mixed together? The Lamb of God has seven horns. This is a symbol of perfect power. Jesus has perfect power to save you from sin and death. Whatever it might be that has you in bondage, Jesus has power to break you free of it. He also has seven eyes, which we are told are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Jesus died for the sins of the world and therefore His salvation is good for anyone from any country or language in the earth. There is no one whom God has not first given a chance to be saved. There is no one who has not chosen to go through the judgement for themselves. No one is too sinful, no one is too distant to be saved by Jesus Christ. God’s mercy is perfect.
Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth." Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!" And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!" Then the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever. (Revelation 5:8-14)
When we read what comes next, after Jesus opens the seals, the terrible destruction that comes upon the earth, you would think that heaven would be full of weeping. You would think that it would be a heavy, depressing day in heaven. But instead the whole place bursts forth with praise to Jesus Christ. It starts with the four living creatures and the elders who praise Jesus because He has redeemed them out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Then they are joined by all of the angels and then finally every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea. Nothing is left out, birds in the air, beasts on the land, bugs crawling underground, fish in the sea, they will all praise Jesus Christ. The reason why is because in His mercy Jesus will have saved all those who could be saved, and then from here on out in His justice, all those who deserve punishment will be punished. Everything that Jesus does is righteous! But most of all they will praise Him because they know what will come next. They are looking forward to the new heaven and the new earth. Romans 8 tells us in fact that the whole creation is looking forward to it. Not only will we be saved, but our planet will no longer be in bondage to the sinfulness of man. The birds and beasts and bugs and fish will cry out for joy because they know that when it is all done they will be able to enjoy nature as God always meant it to be, not as man has corrupted and polluted it.
The end of the world will not be started by men, nor predicted
by anyone but those written in God’s Word. God has it safely sealed
up in heaven until Jesus has shown His mercy to every single person
on the planet who can be saved. Only when the Lamb of God has finished
His work and the whole church can be caught up to heaven will He come
forward to open the scroll. And when He does, there will be great rejoicing
through heaven because God’s justice will be done and the new
heaven and earth is on its way.
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