I invite your attention to the
last book in the Bible. The title of this book is The
Revelation of Jesus Christ. Tonight, God willing, we're going
to be looking at chapters 4 and 5. Two chapters. And we're going to look at the
subject of the worthiness of Christ the Lamb. If you look in chapter 1, hold
your place in chapter 4, and look in chapter 1, you will observe
that the title of the book begins in verse 1. This book is titled
The Revelation or The Unveiling. This book is all about Jesus
Christ being unveiled and revealed. God gave this revelation to Jesus
Christ to show to his servants that would be you and me if you
know him as your Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ according to verse
1 gave this revelation to his angel His angel gave it to John. John bore witness to it in verse
2. Then in verse 3 we read, blessed
is he who reads. Notice, he who reads and those
who hear the words of this prophecy. So this revelation of Jesus Christ
has come from God the Father to Jesus Christ who gave it to
his angel. His angel gave it to John and
tonight John gives it to me for I am the one who's reading it
and I'm reading it to you. You're the ones who are hearing
it and I hope that he who reads and we who hear are all blessed. I think you will be if you'll do this. Lord, reveal
Christ to me, because that's what this book is all about.
Reveal Christ to me. In verses four through the end
of chapter one, you can read of Christ walking in the midst
of his churches, seven of them that he records here in the Revelation. These churches were in Asia Minor,
in what we today call Turkey, the country of Turkey, But the
number seven is also a number of completion and perfection.
And that number includes the entire church of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, and all churches in his church, including
tonight, this one here in Kingsport, Tennessee. May God be pleased to reveal
Christ here in Kingsport tonight. Those seven churches receive
epistles from Christ. Each of them receives a letter
in chapters two and three. Now we come to chapter four,
where we begin our exposition tonight, and John writes, after
these things, and that would be particularly the seven letters
to the seven churches in Asia Minor. He had received the vision
concerning that, the letters had been written, and sometime
after that, we're not told how long, but sometime after that,
after these things, I looked and behold, a door standing open
in heaven. And the first voice which I heard
was like a trumpet. Now you're going to come across
trumpets repeatedly in this book of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Particularly when you come across
seven trumpets later in the book. Seven trumpets are announcements. When God has an announcement
to make, he quite often introduces it with a trumpet. Trumpets gain
attention and this one should. I heard a voice like a trumpet
speaking with me saying, come up here. And I will show you
things which must take place after this. And immediately,
I was in the Spirit. If you would, you may capitalize
the S in that word Spirit. I was in the Holy Spirit. It
is as though John is here about to have an out-of-body experience. He's in the Spirit. He is taken
up in the glory. He is not the first one to see
what he is about to see, and I speak of those who own earth.
Jacob was blessed to see a ladder from the earth up to heaven,
and he said, I am here looking at the very gate of heaven, Jacob
the patriarch. Three prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel
and Daniel, All three were blessed to see God's throne in heaven
by means of some vision evidently in the spirit as John here is. Paul the apostle speaks of some
man whom he knew that he could not complete or he could not
fully explain how it was, but this one was taken into the third
heaven. And here John is to become the
fifth man who on earth is blessed to see and to behold things in
heaven. I was in the Spirit, and I saw
a throne. If you will note, as we will
read in the next few verses, observe that word throne repeatedly
is mentioned. The throne, the throne, and one
who sat on the throne. There's a reason for this throne
being mentioned so often. It is to let us know that Somebody's
in control and he's on that throne. So when you read of that throne
in the remainder of this chapter and into the fifth chapter, remember
this. The emphasis is here on the sovereignty
of God, He who sits on the throne. And if you will consider what
is about to be written concerning the saints on earth, it is good
to know there is a throne somewhere and somebody sits on it and he
has all authority, I'm so glad. I'm so glad. I realize many people
hate that doctrine. Professing Christians hate that
doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of God. I rejoice in it. If it were not for this, let
me give up like everybody else has around me and say, woe is
all of us. No, it's not true. There is a
throne in heaven, and there is one sitting on the throne. And
he who sat there, in verse 3, was like a jasper. That stone
probably is like a diamond. The jasper may be a diamond,
clear as crystal, meaning that there is a crystalness to God
and his words and his decree. And then a Sardius stone. The
Sardius stone was red in color. This probably denotes the judgments
of God. And then we find that there was
a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald. What is a rainbow? A rainbow
is the sign of God's covenant that he made with Noah. Lot of
people having rainbows today. I see them on the backs of cars,
and I know why they have them, but I'm so glad that they do.
I know they don't have them for the reason that I think of, but
every time I see one of their rainbows, I remember God still
has a covenant, and these people are reminding me of it. Every
time I see a rainbow in the sky, I've got to say, hey, honey,
look, rainbow. It's a marvelous thing. A rainbow is. Think about
it. What is that rainbow? Every time you see it, remember
this. God said, I still have kept my word, have I not? I have
not destroyed this earth with a flood. Well, there's a rainbow
at God's throne reminding us His covenant still stands. This
rainbow is like an emerald in appearance. It is green in color. Around the throne were 24 thrones. And on the thrones, I saw 24
elders sitting clothed in white robes, and they had crowns of
gold on their heads. Now, let me say this about what
we are about to describe. John here sees a scene in heaven. He does not see a scene of heaven. By that I mean, should you go
to heaven tonight, what John is about to describe is not necessarily
what you're going to see. Elements of what John sees and
describes will be seen in heaven, but there are things in these
two chapters that John sees in this vision that will not be
seen in heaven. when you get there. Rather, what
John here describes is a scene of the universe as seen from
heaven's perspective and particularly from the perspective of this
one who sits on the throne. Later on, you're going to find
that there are people here whom John sees who are on earth and
even under the earth. You need not expect to see them
when you get to heaven. But they're in this vision. Remember,
this is a scene that John sees of the universe from heaven's
perspective on a certain occasion. And that occasion is, I'll tell
you now, it is the coronation of King Jesus. You'll read it
in chapter 5. We're going to get there in a
moment. In the center of the universe
is a throne. On that throne sits God all by
himself. Around God's throne are 24 thrones,
probably in a circle. On these 24 thrones are 24 elders. These elders are representative
of the Church of Jesus Christ from both the Old Testament and
the New Testament days. This is the whole congregation
of the people of God from the dawn of creation until the last
one who shall be called unto Christ. And there they sit. Notice,
they have crowns on their heads for they now rule and reign with
Christ. They're clothed in robes, white
robes. They've been washed in the blood
of Jesus Christ. And these are ruling and reigning
with Christ, we shall find later, for 1,000 years. There they are. God's throne in the center of
the universe. Around his throne, his entire
church, sitting on these 24 thrones, represented by the 24 elders. And from the throne, verse five,
Proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. It's a glorious thing
if you could see it from God's throne. Thunder is heard, lightning
is heard. It shows our God is awesome.
He is so awesome. And there were seven lamps of
fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of
God. The seven spirits of God is the
Holy Spirit. Seven is a number of completion
and perfection. And the Holy Spirit of God is
right there before God's throne. Represented by these seven spirits
of God burning there before God's throne. And before the throne
there was a sea of glass like crystal. perhaps symbolizing
the blood of Christ. And in the midst of the throne
and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes
in front and in back. And these four living creatures
are evidently cherubs or seraphs, a very high order of angels. They are around God's throne
as attendants and as his messengers. They're not there as bodyguards.
God doesn't need them. But they are there as attendants
to do God's will. They have eyes in front and in
back. They see everything that is going
on. Four of them are there, one on
all four sides of God's throne. The first living creature was
like a lion, representing strength. The second living creature was
like a calf, representing service. The third living creature had
a face like a man, signifying intelligence. And the fourth
living creature was like a flying eagle, signifying fleetingness
and speed. These are God's servants around
his throne, doing his will. and the four living creatures,
each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within, and
they do not rest day or night, saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Almighty, who was and is and is to come, denoting God's
eternity and his immutability. Whenever the living creatures
give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne,
who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders, the congregation
of the aggregate church, the twenty-four elders fall down
before Him who sits on the throne, and they worship Him who lives
forever and ever, and they cast their crowns before the throne
saying, You are worthy, O Lord. to receive glory and honor and
power. Notice that the living creatures
in verse 9 said he should receive glory and honor and thanks. Here
the church says he receives glory and honor and power. He lives forever and ever receiving
glory and honor and power. Why? For you created all things. And by your will they exist and
were created. In heaven, in heaven, God is praised like he should be praised on
earth. God the Father is praised for
his work of creation. And all His creations should
be praising Him. They do in heaven. They do in
heaven. We should here on earth. All
right. Note the scene. God's throne,
middle of the universe. Four living creatures, God's
attendants around His throne, ready to do His will. 24 elders, the entire church of
God, a sea of glass probably representing the blood of Christ
and the Holy Spirit is there as well. Chapter 5, and I saw in the right
hand of him who sat on the throne, the hand of authority, the right
hand, I saw a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed
with seven seals. Now this scroll, the scroll,
they wrote things on scrolls in ancient times. Parchment might
have been the skin of an animal. And they cut it out and write
across it. The scroll containing the epistle
to the Romans is said to have measured perhaps 11 and a half
feet and had rolled it out. The epistle to Philemon, probably
a little less than a foot. But that's how they wrote. They
did not have leafs and pages, you know, like a codex we have
nowadays. That came in the second century,
but in that day had a scroll. All right. I can tell you right
now what this scroll is. This scroll is God's decree for
what's about to happen in this day and age in which we live. Notice that it is written both
on the inside and on the outside because normally you did not
write on the outside of the scroll, you wrote only on the inside.
But this scroll has or this decree has so much in it that the inside
could not contain it all. So God writes his decree on the
inside of that scroll. There's still more to write.
He writes on the outside. This scroll contains God's decree
for things that will happen in our very day and beginning in
John's day when he wrote this perhaps about the year 96 AD.
John says, I saw that scroll in the hand of God the Father
sitting there on the throne, seven seals. Then I saw a strong
angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open
the scroll and loose its seals? Notice he did not ask who is
able, rather who is worthy. Opening this scroll does not
require ability. It requires worthiness. Worthiness. Now who's able to
open it? And no one in heaven or on the
earth or under the earth. Observe carefully. Observe carefully
who is there in addition to God, the Father, the Church, the Holy
Spirit, the four living creatures. Well, here we read that no one
in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open
the scroll or to even look at it on the inside. Nobody could
see what was in this decree. God has a decree and no one can
tell us what it is. No one in heaven. On earth, under
the earth, no one can tell us what's in this decree. John says,
I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read
the scroll or to look at it. No one could. There's Samson, strongest man
who lived. Samson, would you open it? No,
physical strength will not do it. Joshua, you've got this military
genius. Can you open it? No, no. Takes more than military genius. Oh, Moses, you're the legal expert
in God's word. Can you open it? Takes more than
legal expertise. David. You're a man after God's
own heart. Would you open a scroll? Takes
more than a man after God's heart. Solomon, in all your regal glory,
no king like you. Would you open it? Cannot. I'm not worthy. And all these
together, they're not worthy to open a scroll. There's no
one worthy. And John begins to weep. Oh!
God has a decree And we cannot know what it is because there
is not a mortal anywhere who's worthy to open it. But one of
the elders said to me, do not weep. Behold, the line of the
tribe of Judah, the root of David has prevailed to open the scroll
and to loose its seven seals. Now watch carefully. Now watch
carefully. Someone is needed to open the scroll. Here is one
who already has opened the scroll and yet it still remains shut. Now how can that be? Alright? How can that be? Who is this
Lion of the tribe of Judah? Who is this Root of David? I can tell you this. He came
from David, and David came from him. Judah was the royal tribe, and
this is the line of the royal tribe. This is the real king,
the real king. He already has prevailed to open
the scroll. Wait a minute, it's still shut.
How did he prevail? I'll tell you how he prevailed.
on Calvary, on the cross of Calvary. He prevailed. He made himself
worthy to open this scroll. And I looked I'm looking, John
says, I'm looking for the lion of the tribe of Judah. He will
open the scroll. I looked and behold in the midst
of the throne and of the four living creatures, I looked for
the lion of the tribe of Judah, but I did not see him. Where
is he? And the lamb said, or the angel
said, there he is. Where's the lion of the tribe
of Judah? There he is. And I looked and
he's pointing to who? A lamb. A lamb. The Lion of Judah is a lamb. A lamb as though it had been
slain. The word actually means slaughtered. Meaning that he
still bears the marks of what he went through when
he prevailed. He still has the marks of the nails in his hands
and in his feet and in his side. He had seven, or having seven
horns, all authority. Seven eyes, which are the seven
spirits of God sent out into the earth. That's the Holy Spirit
again in the seven spirits. Then he came and took the scroll
out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. How did
he do that? No one else could. 24 thrones,
nobody can go up to that throne of God and take the scroll. Even the Holy Spirit does not
attempt to do so. No one on earth, under the earth,
dares even attempt. In the first place, you've got
to get by the four living creatures. But here comes one, and he steps
up to the throne. God's throne is on that pedestal
in the universe, in the center of the universe. He walks up
to God's throne, and the four living creatures get out of the
way, and they step aside. And here he steps up to the throne.
How did he do that? In his ascension into glory. having prevailed on Calvary,
having died, having succeeded in his death on Calvary, having
been risen from his tomb, having walked on earth and manifested
himself by infallible proofs for 40 days on this earth. He then ascended into heaven,
was received by the cloud as he ascended into heaven, ascended
into heaven. When he reached heaven, he walked
through the church up to God's throne, walked up to the throne
and said, give me the scroll. And God said, here it is, take
it. That worthy lamb took the scroll
out of God's hand. Finally, A worthy one has been found.
Finally, there is someone in heaven who's worthy to take that
scroll. Wipe your tears, John. Wipe your
tears. Verse 8, now when he had taken
the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before
the Lamb, each having a heart These are instruments of praise.
And they're all having harps in their hands. They're praising
Him with their songs. And golden bowls full of incense,
which are the prayers of the saints. Throughout the book of
Revelation, the prayers of God's people are compared to incense. Incense rises up to heaven and
God sniffs it, and it pleases Him. It pleases Him. Incense was used in the tabernacle
and in the temple, particularly on the Day of Atonement, to hide
God's presence. And here in heaven, in that tabernacle
not made with hands, incense represents the prayers of God's
people. And he hears them. He sniffs
their prayers and they are precious to him. And they sing, they play
with their harps and praise him and offer their prayers to him
who sits on the throne. And they sang a new song. Notice,
new song. A new song implies an old song. What was the old song? The old
song, probably, was the one that was sung in Chapter 4, where
they sang praise to God for His work of creation. Here they sing
a new song, and this new song is not so much to God the Father
as it is to the conquering Lamb, the Lamb that prevails. And they
sang, you are worthy to take the scroll. How do you know?
Because you just did it. You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals. Why are you worthy? For you were
slain or slaughtered. And you have redeemed us to God
by your blood. Now, observe that phrase. This
means that this hymn is being sung by the 24 elders. the 24 elders who are the aggregate
of the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from both
Old Testament days and New Testament days. 24 elders probably representing
the redeemed of the 12 tribes of Israel and the followers of
the 12 apostles of the Lamb. They're seated in heaven's glory.
You have redeemed us. Notice, they do not say, you
tried to redeem us. That's what free willers sing
on earth today. The Lord's trying to redeem my
people. They don't, they do not sing that in heaven. No, no,
no. You did it! Jesus Christ does not try to
do anything. He does. He does. You redeemed us to God. How'd
you do it? By your blood. Therefore, they
sing of effectual redemption, a real redemption. You did it. You redeemed us. They also sing
of a particular redemption of a
particular people. You redeemed us out of. Some
say, well, he's trying to redeem every tribe and tongue and people
and nation. No, he's not. He has redeemed
the people out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Whatever division you want to put among men, our Lord has called
them out from that group. These who sing that song, some
of them speak Hebrew and some speak Greek. Some are slaves
and some are free men. At least they were on this earth.
They will be there from all the seven continents and from the
islands of the seven seas. He has redeemed the people out
of every tribe and language and tongue. Matters not. Out of. He's got some there. He redeemed them out. Some over
here. Redeemed them out. successfully,
and you have made us kings and priests to our God. You have
made us to be both kings and priests. This is interesting. In Old Testament days, one could be a king, but if he
were a king, he could not be a priest. Two different tribes. One could be a priest, but if
he were a priest, he could not be the king. Two different tribes. Not until Jesus Christ came was
there a priest on his throne. Zechariah tells us Jesus Christ
is our priest king. What does he do with his people,
his redeemed ones? He said, you are a kingdom of
priests and a priesthood of kings. He has made us kings and priests. We do not have a confessional
booth in this building in which a priest will hear your confession.
You don't need it. You're your own priest. Christ
is your high priest. You go to him. We're making our
intercessions tonight with our prayers and making our offerings
in the hymns we sing. We rule and reign with him, even
on this earth. we rule with Christ through our
prayers. He hears our prayers. As priests,
we offer our prayers. He hears them, answers our prayers,
and shows that we are kings ruling on this earth. We shall reign on the earth.
Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels. Now notice,
that was the 24 elders. That song you just read was sung
by the 24 elders. the aggregate church, the congregation
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now another group is
gonna begin singing. I looked and I heard the voice
of many angels. This is the first time we've
heard of this group. They evidently are in a circle
around the church. God's throne, four living creatures,
24 elders representing the church and beyond them myriads and thousands
and thousands of angels, all God's angels. They're all there. I looked and I heard the voice
of many angels around the throne, around the living creatures and
around the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000
and thousands and thousands and more thousands and thousands.
He could not count them. God has servants so many, so
many. And they had something to say.
Here's even a newer song. This is what is sung by the angels. Worthy is the lamb who was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessing. Folks, I'm not really sure what
those seven things mean. And you read the commentaries
and they're not in agreement. So let's just conclude that Christ is worthy of all
praise and he gets it. One way or the other, he gets
it. Even the angelic hosts around
his throne. And every creature, now watch
carefully, watch carefully what you're about to read. And every
creature which is in heaven, you just read about them, the
four living creatures, The 24 elders around the throne, God's
holy angels around the church, that's the ones in heaven. Then
there are some on earth. They're not in the church. The
church is represented by those on the thrones. And some are
under the earth. Now, who is under the earth? Well, John sees them in this
vision. John sees them, and such as are
in the sea. If you'll notice, the sea in
the book of Revelation denotes this wicked world, particularly
when John concludes the book and says, and I saw no more sea. It was gone. John sees it here. And I heard them saying, notice,
I take it that this includes Even the devil and his demons
and all his followers and they're saying blessing and honor and
glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the
Lamb forever and ever. Now preacher, really, some might
say, are you saying that even the devil is going to praise
Christ? Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
God said so. God said, every knee shall bow,
and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Jehovah,
to the glory of God the Father. And here they do. Worthy is the
lamb who was slain. Then the four living creatures
said, amen. And the 24 elders fell down and
worshiped him who lives forever and ever and ever and forever. Yeah, I think he's worthy. He's
worthy of praise. We're going to praise Him there.
Oh, that we would to do it here. Their hymns in heaven are full of Him. They're full of Him in His work as redemption and
as the Redeemer of His people. Their hymns are full of Him.
They give Him power and glory and blessing and honor and riches
and wisdom. They try to give to Him everything
that He is due. He is so worthy. Oh, God forbid
we should sing of anything else, particularly in our worship services. Sing of our Redeemer. Sing of a successful Redeemer. He did
it. Sing of a Redeemer who has a
people from all peoples on this earth. They bow down and worship
Him. Notice, they bow down and worship
Him. The psalmist says, come, let
us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord,
our maker. And I pray that if you have never
worshiped him before, if you have never seen his worthiness
revealed to you, I pray that God would reveal it to you now. I pray that if Jesus Christ has
ever been revealed to you in the past, that God might reveal
Him to you again now. I want to see Him. Oh, that God
would reveal Christ to me. I want to see Him. I want to
see that Lion of Judah, that slaughtered
lamb, my Redeemer. And I want to join that host
in singing praise to him. And I hope you do too.