Worthy is the Lamb. This is the
continuation of the second vision of the book of Revelation, where
we're given a glorious view of the Last Age, the last days,
the New Covenant days. That is the days between the
first coming of Christ, His performing His work of redemption, His death,
His burial, His resurrection, his ascension under the Father.
That's the marking, the beginning of this last stage. It was inaugurated
at Pentecost. And from that time all the way
to the time of his second coming and the final end of all things,
in this second vision, we're being given a view of that age
from the viewpoint of the throne of God, the throne from heaven.
And this is the, as we've talked about the tapestry, this is the
tapestry where we see the pattern, we see the order of it. God does
things after the counsel of his own will. And in chapter five,
what we do is the focus is upon the worthy. Verse one, he says,
I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book
written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. throne,
the glory of his attributes, the glorious throne of God, and
in his hand is a book. And this book, we've talked about
this book, this book being in God's right hand is significant
because that means, you know, the right hand is the right hand
of judgment, it's the right hand of power. And again, so this
book represents the and plan of God throughout this last stage. It's the whole purpose of God.
It's written within and on the backside. There's no blank pages. It's showing that this book is
full and complete. Now we know God's purpose. God's
purpose is to glorify himself in the salvation of his people
by his grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's God's ultimate
purpose. It's not just to save people.
It's not just to populate heaven. It's just not to get people to
come to church. His purpose is to glorify himself
in salvation. He must be both a just God and
a savior. And so here's this book that
represents the sovereign purpose, will of God. And again, there's
no blank pages written on In other words, God's not leaving
anything to chance. You know, I told a lady up in
Atlanta, I was doing an interview on the book, What is Salvation?
And we were talking about this very thing, you know. And she
was asking me about translations of the Bible, the different translations. And you have to be careful, you
know, to really understand what is a good translation and what
is not. You have to do a lot of work
with what they do. And I told her, I said, well,
we have to be careful there. And I said, for example, I said,
there's one modern translation that is real popular, where the
translation, he translated, he wanted to put it in the popular,
to understand, you know, you've seen things, you know, good news
for modern man, all that, those kinds of things. And anytime
that the Bible uses the word blessed, blessed man, Lucky. It's all through the translation. The lady up there, I said, well,
one of the reasons, there's a lot of reasons I don't like that,
but we were limited to time, but I said, that's one of the
reasons I don't believe in luck. I don't believe in chance. God
is sovereign and he's purposed all things according to the counsel
of his divine will and he's working all things. And that's what this
book represents. There's no luck here. There's
no chance here. Again, there's no blank pages.
God hasn't left anything for us to fill in here. And so that's
what this represents. It's a complete, nothing can
be added to it, nothing can be You know, the scripture talks
about itself, the Bible itself, in the last book of Revelation
22, when it talks about anybody who takes away from this book.
Well, see, that's what this purpose, this book here, the book of God's
perfect decrees, God's perfect will, God's perfect plan. Redemptive
history is going to continue throughout the last age You understand
the New Covenant is not the beginning of redemptive history. I'll give
you another little thing I heard on the internet. Somebody put
a little blurb on the internet that was, you click on it and
it shows you a little movie or a little advertisement and it
was some kids, it was produced by called Christian Broadcasting
Network. And it was some kids talking
about why we should support Israel. And one of them said, well, one
of the reasons we should support Israel is because God's redemptive
plan began with a promise to one man, Abraham. So I couldn't
resist. I put a little comment down there.
And I put it this way. I said, well, not to split hairs,
but God's redemptive plan did not begin with his promise to
Abraham. God's redemptive plan began in
the everlasting covenant of grace before the world began. It was
confirmed in Abraham, but it began, has no beginning and no
end. That's what this book is about.
Here's the book of God, of how redemptive history by the Lord
Jesus Christ continue throughout the last day and come to its
final culmination. in the second coming of Christ.
And so that's what he's talking about. And it's sealed with seven
seals. Number seven, that represents
the idea of completion, perfection. So in other words, whatever this
book is, nothing can be added to it, nothing can be taken away. And then look at verse two. He
says, and I saw a strong angel This is a powerful messenger
of God. Whether it's an angelic being
or one of God's preachers or whatever, or one of God's preachers,
it doesn't matter. It's a strong angel. I believe
here's talking about an angel, an angelic being. And he was
proclaiming with a loud voice. In other words, this is not hidden.
This is not in the ear. While I'm gonna talk in the message
today, I'm gonna begin a series on the kingdom of heaven and
I'm gonna talk about the mysteries of the kingdom and those mysteries
are things that are kept secret until God reveals them. But what
this is showing here in this book, here is a revelation from
this book. Now you understand, John sat
down Most to write this out as it was revealed to him and inspired
of the Holy Spirit He didn't start off with the title of this
book is going to be revelation That's that's part of the translation,
but that's not a bad title. That's what this is things here
are going to be revealed so this angel is proclaiming with a loud
voice and here's the question of questions and This question
I want you to see this look he says who is worthy to open the
book and to loose the seals thereof Now that's the issue. Someone
has to be found who is worthy to open this book or that book
is going to remain sealed. It'll remain secret unless somebody
who's worthy. And you know that, that, it reaches
back to the, to, to, to the main issues of salvation, to the main
issues of the gospel. Think about this. How can God
forgive sin? You say, we're sinners, sin deserves
death, God is just. Question of question, how can
he forgive sin? How can he be just and justify
the ungodly? Questions like that. Man doesn't
have the answer to that. That's why it's a mystery. It's
an order for us to find out that that has to be revealed. All
right? And that has been revealed in
the gospel message. Right after the fall of man,
God revealed it. that the only way that God can
be just and justifiers through the Lord Jesus Christ based on
his righteousness alone and that nothing added nothing taken away
revelation revealed here that that's going to be uncovered
of the plan of the ages the redemptive plan somebody's got to be found
who's worthy to do that and look at verse three he says and no
man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to
open the book, neither to look thereon." Bogged down, sometimes, in details
that cannot be really answered, and cause you to miss the point
of what he's saying. This is one of those verses.
Who's he talking about? No man in heaven. No man in earth. No man under the earth. Who's
he talking about, those under the earth? Exactly who he's talking
about. He's talking about no man. That's
who he's talking about. The point that he's making is
not that we can locate these people. He's just simply saying that
among men and women born of Adam, no man in heaven. make a point,
well is he talking about dead and gone to heaven? Well if that's
your point, okay. But here's what he's saying,
nobody that's even up in heaven is worthy. No man living on earth,
no man under the earth. Some people believe that's talking
about people in hell, well we know they're not worthy, or people
in the grave. That, you're missing the point. Nobody's worthy to
open this book. That's the point. There's not
one individual ever born among men who's worthy to open this
book. We're sinners. And that's what
this is. This is a statement of the sinfulness
and the depravity of women born of Adam. And that's what it means. All have sinned. That's just
another way of saying that. There's none righteous, no, not
one. There's none good, no, not one.
There's none that seeketh after God. That's the point. And so when you see that, don't,
don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't,
don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't,
don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't,
don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't,
don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't,
don't, don't, don't, don't, Any time a phrase like that is
used, he says, the best of men, the worst of
men. No. They weren't. Look. In our. Oh, no. And look at. He says. That much. because no man was found and
to read the to look again down here about and you know what
john didn't you know already that nobody was worthy you know
for was an apostle john was a sinner say back the book of john you
can read his letters is a vision And what John is over this is
his sorrow over the sinfulness and the depravity of all of us
by nature. That's a point of sorrow. It's
not a point of joy, obviously. What is it? We realize that,
listen, what it is is John is realizing that man without Christ
is so pitiful and under condemnation. It causes him to say, was found
worthy to open and read this book, neither to look, and he
wept much. And so here he comes to verse,
he says, one of the elders say, weep not. Here is a proclamation
that will bring joy. The realization of the sinfulness
of ourselves, of all men and women without exception by nature,
is certainly not a point of joy. But here comes the point of joy,
so don't weep. Behold, look. He says, and what
are you going to behold? Now listen to what he says. The
Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Risen One hath prevailed to open
the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. So here's a message
of good news. This is the gospel here. Good
tidings of great joy. Remember what the angel told
the shepherds. I bring you good tidings of great
joy. That's what he's talking about. And where's this joy to be found?
Well, look. Look. And then he identifies
the one person who's worthy to open the book. And how does he
identify him? He goes to the pastor. And he
talks about it. And what he's doing, he's changing
the focus now. In this redemptive history, and it's because we're on this
plane, and we walk in this world, we read the news, we see all the bad. We see all
the bad stuff, and it brings us sorrow, doesn't it? I mean,
we think about our country. and what shape it's getting in
from what we knew it as a child or as children. And it makes
us sorrow. And I think this is a message
for us as we go throughout this new covenant age in our lifetime.
Weep not. God's in control. We've already
seen that. He's on the throne back here
in chapter four. God's on the throne. Everything's
going as planned. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
That's difficult for us to grasp, isn't it? Difficult for us to
understand. I mean, if we just look at it
from the point of view, it looks like chaos. It looks like we're
headed toward anarchy, but we're not. God's in control. God's
on the throne. He hasn't stepped off the throne
once. And that's what the White House does. It doesn't matter
what the Supreme Court does. It doesn't matter what Congress
does. As far as the control of this, it matters to us. I'm not
saying it doesn't matter. Just think about that as being
nothing. No, it matters. But as far as control of these
issues, we do not. It's all going according to his
plan. And how can you say that? How
can you find that from our viewpoint as we look at this? us to turn our eyes towards this
lion of the tribe of Judah. You know, this is talking about
the kingdom. We're going to be touching on
that quite a bit. We're going to be looking at
the parables of the kingdom. The kingdom is established, the
scripture tells us, upon judgment and justice through Jesus Christ,
the Lord our righteousness. And so we have to have this attitude.
We're not fatalists. We don't stay aloof from the
affairs of this world because we have to get involved. We have
families. We have responsibilities. But
we have to understand that no matter what happens, nothing's
going to separate us from the love of God in Christ. We're
righteous in him, we cannot be condemned. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? And so when we see this thing
unfolding, we can, we pray about it, we could even want things
to change, but we're not supposed to take our eyes and our focus
off of this one here, the line of the tribe of Judah. And so
the basis of this whole book, this seven seal book, the basis
of it has to do with the covenant of grace made between the Father
and the Son for the foundation of the world. And it leads to
this ultimate proclamation. I've got it in your lesson in
Romans 11, 36. And it says, for of him and through him and to
him are all things. to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Not just some things, but all things. And how can that be?
Even the bad thing? Well, God's going to overrule
it. God's in control. Now, Lion of the tribe of Judah, that describes the mediatorial
offices of Christ as the only one worthy to open this book.
He's the one who has prevailed to loose the seven seals. That's
his work as the lion, the lion who cannot be defeated. He's the king, the tribe of Judah. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah until Shiloh come. So in other words, is he able?
Is he qualified? Is he willing? And the answer
is yes. He's called the lion of the tribe
of Judah because It describes him, this person, as God in his
ability to do what was required. In other words, you see, to save
us from our sins, there are three things that are required, you
might say. Number one, whoever it is, has to be one who's appointed
by God. See, not just anybody can do
this. has to be appointed by God. Well,
here's the line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David.
What did God say? He appointed His Son to be our
Savior before the foundation of the world in the everlasting
covenant of grace. He chose a people and gave them
to Christ and He identified the line of Judah, the root of David. This is the King of Kings. He
is appointed. Secondly, is He able? He has
to be able, not only appointed, but he's got to be able. If you
asked me to do a certain task that I was unable to do, what
good would I do you? If you had a vote and you had
a vote on this person to do this, but he doesn't have the ability
to do the task, what have you done? Think about politics. There's a lot of people voted
in who don't have the ability to do what's required. But in
this case, in the salvation of sinners, what was required? Righteousness
has to be established. That's what it takes. In order
to get into heaven, we've got to have a righteousness. So whoever
is appointed by God to do this, he's got to have the ability
to do it. Well, he's the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He's the
Root of David. And how did he prevail to open
the book? Well, as our surety and substitute,
he took our sins upon himself as they were imputed to him,
and he suffered unto death. He suffered, bled, and died,
and established righteousness by his obedience unto death,
which is imputed to us. That's how he prevailed. He didn't
prevail just simply by walking around on earth healing people. And that was a great thing. But
let me tell you something. He could have come here and walked
around on this earth and healed everybody without exception of
cancer and leprosy and whatever. He would not have prevailed to
open this book. He could have come down here
and walked on this earth and just did nothing and had done
nothing but teach the precepts But he still would not have prevailed
to open this book. He could have come down here
and performed miracles, walked on water, raised the dead. But
he still would not have prevailed to open this book. The only way
he could prevail to open this book was to go to the cross and
die for his people and establish the only righteousness that answers
the demands of God's law and justice. That's how he prevailed. Now, how do I know that? Well,
let's just jump down and get to this next week. He's talking
about the redeemed here, Revelation 5.9. They sung a new song. Thou
art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof. And
you see the colon there. Now that was provided by the
translators, but it's still a good place to put that because he
means I'm going to explain to you what I mean by you have prevailed. uh... not worthy to open the
book and uh... for that was slain and has redeemed us to god by
by blood out of every kindred and tongue and people in nation
that's how he prevailed so he's appointed by god he's the line
of the tribe of judah that's who god appointed confirms his
appointment the king of kings the lord of lords He's able,
he's the lion, he's the powerful one. The third thing that's required,
he has to be appointed, he has to be able, and the third thing
is he's got to be willing to do it. He's got to be willing
to do it. Now, it says he hath prevailed
to open the book in verse 5 and to loose the seal. Now next week
we'll get into more about how willing he is, but The willingness
comes through more on his identification as the lamb. You remember Isaiah
said that when he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, he opened
not his mouth. What does that show? Well, it
shows the willingness of Jesus Christ to do what God required
him to do in order to save his people. And it was his love for
the Father and his that caused him to do it. Hebrews 12 talks
about how it was the joy that was set before him, that he endured
the shame of the cross. Why would anybody go through
that? What joy is he talking about? He's talking about the
fact that the father would be glorified and his children, his
people, his sheep would be saved. That's the joy that brought him
together. In John chapter 13, I believe
it's verse 1 He loved his own And the word in there, you know
what that is That's the same word that he used on the cross
when he said it is finished It's the same word Paul used in Romans
10 for when he said Christ is the end of the law For righteousness
to everyone that believe in other words what he's saying here Christ
loved his own Now who are his own? All that the Father gave
him, his sheep. He loved his own to the point
that he finished the work that was given him to do. So he was
willing. When you look at that, it just
reminds you that there are so many identifications of the Savior
in the Bible, and it shows for how he accomplished what he set
out to do. The root of David, for example.
That speaks not only of his humanity, his perfect sinless humanity,
he's God in human flesh, God with us, but it does speak of
his humanity because he was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh, but what it really, I think, in its essence gets
back to is that royal covenant that you can read about back
in in your lesson, so you can go back there yourself. But what
happens in that royal covenant that God gave to David is that
the Messiah was revealed there, specifically through David's
line. You see that progressive revelation
of the covenant of grace. That was confirmed in Abraham.
See, it didn't begin with Abraham, but it was confirmed that it
would come through Abraham. And then it would come through
Isaac. And now it's narrowed down, it
would come through the tribe of Judah, and then it's narrowed
down through David. So there's the identification
of the Messiah. So here he is to redeem us, this
lion, who we're going to look next week more, who is the lamb?
He's the same person. He's the one appointed. He's
the one who's able. He's the one who's willing to
redeem us from our sin. All right.