Lion of the Tribe of Juda

I've certainly been blessed thus far today. Appreciate the word from Brother Tim and Brother Al, and all with the same ultimate theme as the song we sang there. You know, we don't have any other, there's no other suitable song for a man to sing than giving glory to God. and recognizing that we are indeed centers saved by grace.

No other fashion in which we can stand before God. And of course as we've been looking here in the revelation, the revelation which God gave to him. the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him. And, you know, we can see that really on every page in this book as the Lord gives us ability to understand it.

And, you know, on that note, there are many things that we'll never understand. And that's not, that doesn't mean something's wrong with us. You know, if we have unclear views about how God says that He is in the Son, that the Son is in Him, that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God, and yet Jesus Christ is the right hand of God.

You don't have to have a clear understanding of how all that can be because you can't understand it. I mean, this is the place where men need to come to the place. You can study the Bible all your life and never understand it. You know, men say, well, I don't read it because I don't understand it. Well, I don't understand it either a lot of times.

But the Lord is able to give you what you need out of it. He's able to take his word and bless it to your understanding. And you don't have to have my understanding. And I might not have your understanding. But know this, that if we have any understanding at all, it had to come from Him. Because we can't, you can't get what this Bible means by simply studying it. Now does that mean we shouldn't study it? Of course not.

You know, because if you love it, you want to study it. You want to know. See, I want to know. I want to know the truth. I don't ever want to speak forth anything that's not the truth. I do from time to time and I have from time to time. But it's not been because I set out to do it. It's just been because of the weakness of the flesh. But the Lord can give us understanding.

A man told me one time, he said, the Lord never draws a straight line with a crooked stick. And I told him he was crazy. Because that be true, he'd have never put the gospel into the hands of men, because every man that's ever stood before men to declare the word of God is a crooked stick. And the Lord does use crooked sticks to draw a straight line, because the straight line is Christ.

You know, and if we're with Paul and we say, we determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified, then that's the straightest line that can be drawn. The Lord said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. That is the straight line. One street in glory. And it goes, it leads to the throne. And the one seated on the throne is one God.

And we read about him right here. And you know, the Lord has hid these things from the wise and the prudent. And sometimes, and revealed among the babes, sometimes babes get to thinking that they're smarter than they are. And they turn into the wise and the prudent. And the Lord hides these things from them, but the Lord gives men what he wants them to know. And he'll teach you. He'll teach you exactly what he wants you to know. And you don't have to know what I know, because I don't know much. I mean, you wouldn't know much if you knew what I knew. And so, you know, it's not about what you know, it's about who you know.

I mean, that's what we want to do. We want to know Christ. We want to know Him as He is, not how somebody told us He was. See, I don't believe what I believe because somebody told me that. I believe because the Lord has taught me that. And I believe he'll teach his people who he is. Now, he might not again. You might never be able to tell somebody what the Lord has shown you. Being able to tell somebody what the Lord's shown you is a gift. It's a thing that it's something that's beneficial, but it's not a thing that's necessary.

I mean, think about a man who is deaf and dumb. Think about somebody like Helen Keller or Fannie Crosby. I mean, you know, of course, she could speak, but she was blind. She couldn't see. But yet the Lord is able to give His children exactly what they need. and cause them to see.

In fact, in some ways you could say Fannie Crosby saw more than a lot of other people do. And I'm not touting Fannie Crosby as being the epitome of hymn writers or whatever. I don't like some of the stuff that she wrote. But there's some of it that I certainly do.

And the Lord gave her understanding and the Lord gave her the ability to share what she understood. And a lot of it is greatly beneficial to the people of God. And so, you know, we come to this book and we don't claim to be experts on it or really know much about it at all. But we want to look at it because we want to see the Lord. I mean, we want to see the Lord, and he sets it forth here right in front of us.

Now, before I read this, chapter five, I want to read over here in Psalm, because this kind of goes along with what Brother Tim was speaking to us about, and it is definitely descriptive of the one who's seated here on this throne and the one who takes the book from him that's seated on the throne. Psalm 45 says, my heart is indicting a good matter. I speak of the things which I have made touching the king My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

Thou art fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore God hath blessed thee forever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously. because of truth and meekness and righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under thee. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness.

Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made thee glad. King's daughters were among thy honorable women, upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of fair. Hearken, O daughter, and consider and incline thine ear.

Forget also thine own people in thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him. Of course, it goes on to talk about the king's daughter. Who is the king's daughter? It's the church, the people of God. And just as the father delights in his son, so the son delights in his bride. What a glorious thing.

And who is the son? We've already talked about it earlier. Who is the son? He's the one that said to Philip, Philip, ever been so long time with you and you hadn't known who I am? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Jesus Christ is the revelation of God to men. Man will never know God apart from Jesus Christ because He is God and He has shown Himself to us. And so we read here in Revelation 5, and 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.

Now I don't think anybody has any doubt as to who this is sitting on the throne. Nobody has any doubt whatsoever about this. He that sat on the throne was holding a book. And what is this book? It's a book that nobody could open. It's a sealed book. Closed up.

Couldn't be seen. Nobody could read it. First place, nobody could get it out of the hand of the one who held it on the throne. They couldn't have got it to read. If they had some way to read it, they couldn't have got it. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven nor on earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon." Couldn't even look at it. No man. John looked. He said, man, what's happening here? I see this book. I see this one seated on the throne. He has in his hands a book. How can men ever know what's in it? Now what is that book? I believe that book is the purpose of God. Jesus Christ alone could manifest the purpose of God. Because what is the purpose of God? Why did God create the world?

Now, you know, when I was growing up, I was taught all kinds of different things that, you know, most of it I wish I could forget. But I was taught, well, you know, the Lord, he was lonesome. And so he decided one day, he said, you know what, I think I'll create me some men, and that way I'll have somebody to talk to. Now how foolish is that?

God's not lonesome. He's God. He's absolute. He doesn't need anything. He's not in need. God never lacks. He never wants. He's the one that supplies our wants. He doesn't need, there's not a thing in the world that you have that he needs. Not a thing in the world that he has that you can supply. Nothing that you have.

And so John says, how can we ever know the purpose of God? The purpose of God is In the creation of the world, I started off and I got off on something else there. The creation of God, the purpose of the creation of God is to manifest his glory and his grace in Jesus Christ. That's his purpose. Why do we preach the gospel? To manifest the glory of God in his grace through Jesus Christ. That's why we preach. We're not out here trying to get folks to do something. We're telling men who he is.

I mean, you go and you read Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. He never asked anybody to do anything. They asked him. What did Peter do? He stood up and he told them who Jesus Christ was. He told them what God's purpose was. He said he would call as many as were ordained unto eternal life because they belonged to him. He'd call them.

He was the one who was crucified. He's risen again. He's seated at the right hand of the Father. See, that's the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's a manifestation of His grace. That's the gospel to tell men that Jesus Christ died for sinners.

That's all we're doing. And we do it, not to try to get people to do something, but we do it because we want to exalt the name of Christ. We want Him to be high and lifted up, and all the ways and means of men be forgotten. And we desire for men to hear that. See, the Lord said, go into all the world. And that's what we're sent to do, and that's what we want to do. We want to magnify his name.

And so it is. This is what this book is. It's a sealed book in the hand of God. It can't be opened by men, can't be opened by angels, can't be opened by anybody. And John said, oh, what are we gonna do now? I see this one high and lifted up. He's on the throne. He has the book. The purpose of God is there, but it's a hidden purpose.

We can't know it. And no man in heaven nor on earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy. I couldn't see anybody. To open and read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, weep not. Oh, what a glorious thing. Because he was crying, he says, oh, what are we gonna do? And one of the elders saith unto me, weep not.

Behold, the line of the tribe of Judah the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. He's able to open that book. And I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne. Now where is this one? This is important. Where is this man, this lion of the tribe of Judah, where is he when he comes to take the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne? Where is he? Exactly right. I beheld him low in the midst of the throne. He was in the throne. The same one holding the book is the same one that opened the book.

What a glorious thing. Because you see, except God had shown it to us, we couldn't have known it. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain. Now we know who the lamb is, do we not? He's in the midst of the throne. When he looked there and he saw, what did he see? He saw one who could open the book. And it was the lamb, slain as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. Now, do I understand that?

I don't. I believe that the horns, when you read about horns in scripture, if you read about them in Daniel, Ezekiel, and other places, it has to do with kingdoms, has to do with authority. The horn is a symbol of authority. So that when it's speaking about here, the seven horns just means that he has all power. He has all authority. That's what he said, he said, all authority is given unto me.

What a glorious thing. seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth to all the earth. I don't know of any place else in all the scripture that it speaks about the seven spirits of God, but it does at least twice, I think it's three times, it mentions it here in the book of Revelation. Now does that mean that there are seven Holy Spirits? No. It's simply speaking about the completeness of God's purpose to reveal his truth unto men, and that's the means whereby he's done it. And so there's not seven individual spirits anymore than there's three individual gods. There's one God. There's one spirit. There's one Christ. And he's one. What glorious thing.

Now, do I expect that you can go out tomorrow and tell somebody about that in a clear way that they'll just say, man, I never thought about that. No. Because you see, people can't get this. I mean, And it never baffles me how that such things as this can become such divisive matters among men, where man once says, well, buddy, if you don't see this like I've explained it, you are a heretic. And you're telling something that's not true.

Well, all I did was read what the Bible said. I didn't tell you what that was. I said what it said. You know, and so we know these things. I can't write a book on what men call the Trinity. I can't do it because I don't think it's something men have any business. I mean, we can discuss these things and how we think it is, but at the end of the day, we all have to say, you know, that's kind of what we think, but we don't really know that.

But we know that there's one God. We know that there's one Christ. We know that this Christ is God and that He sent His Spirit into the earth. His Spirit can't be something else, can it? But Him. Now, how all that fits together and how you understand it, I can't do anything about that. We can look at this and we can rejoice and know that this same one that created the heavens and the earth has been mindful of such centers as we are when he could have destroyed us. I mean he could have created, what could anybody say if God had created the world and just destroyed it? And everybody in it, what could anybody say? Not one thing in the world.

But in his mercy, in his kindness, he has revealed to us his purpose to redeem sinners of the worst sort. Now, could he have prevented men from being sinners? Of course he could. Could he have created Adam and he never sinned? Of course he could. But that wasn't his purpose. See, he wasn't surprised by anything happening anymore than he's surprised by anything that's happening now. or that he needs help from men to either prevent or cause to happen.

And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne. He did, the Lord Jesus Christ, because he was the only one that could. He's the only one that would. And when he had taken the book, The four beasts and the four and 20 elders fell down before the lamb.

What else could they do? The four beasts, that's those heavenly creatures that surround the throne. Now, can I explain to you how they are? Do I know what the face of the bear and the face of the lion and all of that means? No, I don't have any idea. I just know that's what John saw. And I know it was a glorious thing. Wonderful.

The four and 20 elders, as I have said, I believe what these represent, just like the four beasts represent the heavenly creation, I believe the four and 20 elders represent the people of God who are gathered around the throne of God, those who have an interest in what this son, this lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, what he has done, the fact that he's opened this book. And the four beasts and the four and 20 elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book, to open the seals thereof. For thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue and people and nation and has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth.

Now that's an amazing thing. He alone's worthy to open the seals, and he says, thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. The Lord has a people in every nation on earth. I don't know who they are. Neither do you. And he knows every one of them, knows right where they are. And he called them according to his purpose. And all of us together worship him. We don't speak the same language. We don't have the same customs. We don't have the same understanding. Some of us were pretty ignorant, but yet the Lord's able to teach men.

You know, when after the, well, in the whole part of this nation, as the nation came, and do you think that some of these people that were brought over here from Africa as slaves, Do you think they had any way to understand all of the nuances of what predestination is, election and all of that? I mean all these different doctrines and things that men fight for and carry on about. Do you think they had any way to understand any of that?

And yet God, who's rich in mercy, He brought some of them to this nation where they might hear the sound of the gospel. And by the work of the Spirit of God in them, he calls them to hear and believe. What a glorious thing. I mean, ignorant and unlearned men can believe the gospel because it's not communicated Through the brain. Now the brain's involved, but that's not how God communicates with men. He communicates with men in the heart. Because he shows men what they are. And he shows them who Christ is.

I can remember watching the book, and I've mentioned this before. And it's just really a passing part of this movie. It's not the main theme of the movie, but it's just kind of like a vignette in the movie. And this slave that's brought over on this ship, the movie is Amistad.

A missionary had given this slave a Bible, and this guy couldn't read, he couldn't do anything. He didn't have any knowledge of even what this book was. But he understood that he wanted this book because he was a king, actually, in the land that he came from, and he wanted, he saw that important people carried books. because like when they went into court and stuff like that, they had books, so he wanted a book and he got one of these Bibles from the missionary. And the Bible, he couldn't read the Bible, but he looked at the Bible, and in the Bible was some pictures. And he figured out by looking at those pictures that this man, that there was a man. who was persecuted, who went about doing good, was persecuted, and ultimately killed on the cross. And whenever he got to where his question to, he wanted to know. He wanted somebody to tell him, and he finally, they finally got somebody that could speak that language. and he wanted to know who that man was. Now, how did that happen?

Except the mercy of God. Except the spirit of God. Taking something as simple as that, I mean, you can say, well, we don't need the pictures. Well, we don't need the pictures, but this is a picture, is it not? I mean, what John saw was a picture, is it not?

I mean, that's how God, he shows it, and how he does it, I don't know how he calls men. I know that he enlightens men through the gospel. I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through the word, creating faith. in them. I don't know how it happens, but I know that it does. And I know that the powers of him, of the one that sat on the throne, the one that had the book, the one that wrote the book, and the one that opened the book, it's all the same. And his mercy is revealed to us in the gospel.

And what a glorious thing. What a privilege we have, dear brethren, to live in such an age as we do. when these things have been set before us in such a clear fashion. Because, you know, I was reading this week about those that died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and they confessed that they were strangers, pilgrims in the earth. That's all the Old Testament saints, they were looking, they were wondering, what's this gonna be? But they were just as much the people of God as those of us who've been called in the light of the gospel. Because it's the spirit of God that teaches men the truth of God. May he ever do so with us and give us eyes to behold him.

Lion of the Tribe of Juda

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Lion of the Tribe of Juda

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