Revelation, chapter five. I taught
our lesson this morning, the purpose of God in the hand of
Christ. Let's begin reading here, verse
one of Revelation, chapter five. And I saw on the right hand of
him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside,
sealed with seven seals. Now, you remember this vision
that John has in Revelation is the vision of man's history on
earth from the perspective of heaven. And if we're going to
understand anything at all about the events of this life, the
events of man's history on earth, we're going to have to understand
this throne that's so prominent in chapters four and five of
Revelation. We're going to have to understand that throne because
every event in human history has been directed from that throne.
Now the throne's there and John says somebody's sitting on that
throne. Now whoever it is that's sitting on that throne, that's
the one who's in control of everything. He's in control of every event
that's ever happened in creation. He's in control of everything,
you and me included. He's in control. It's not you
and me that's sitting on that throne. It's not some mere man
who's sitting upon that throne. It's God the Father who sits
on that throne. And God's the one who's in control
of everything, of every situation, of every person, of every event,
everything that happens. happens by the will of God who
sits upon the throne. If it happens, God willed it. You don't have to wonder why
this happened. It happened because God willed it. If he doesn't
will it, it won't happen. And if he wills it, it'll happen
just exactly the way he willed. That's the only way we can understand
the events of this world. God's in control of them. He's
the one who ordained them to happen just the way that they
happen. Now that includes everything that happens to me, everything
about me. My life, He's ordained it. The time of my death, He's
ordained it. All the trials and heartaches
that I have on this earth, they happen because He willed them
to happen. Everything I call a joy or a blessing, I have because
He willed it to happen. Whether I'm saved or whether
I'm damned, it's because He willed it to happen. It's entirely up
to the will of God who sits upon the throne. John said he saw
him sit on the throne. He who sat upon the throne had
a book in his hand. Now, what's this book? In the
book of Revelation, we read about three different books. First,
there's the book of life. That's the book that immediately
comes to everyone's mind. It's the book of life where the
names of God's elect are written. Secondly, there's the book of
works. There's a book, John said, that contains the works, every
work of everyone who's ever lived. And when those books are open,
we'll be judged out of those books. We'll be judged by our
works. And then third, there's this book. This is the book of
God's decrees that he wrote down, that he decreed before time began.
And what can we learn about God's eternal decrees from this vision
of John? Well, first, there is that book
of God's eternal decrees, and that book is in God's hand. Now,
we have to remember, this is written for the believer's comfort
and assurance. Nothing's out of control. This
thing is in the hand of God. When we see some events that
just seem random and crazy and seems like there's no good can
ever come out of them, you just remember everything's well in
hand. Book of God's will, His purpose, His decree is well in
hand because it's in His hand. Second thing we learn is this,
God's decrees are complete. John says this book, and really
what it was, was a scroll. It was complete, it was filled
with writing. There's no blank spaces on it.
It was written within and without. It was written on both sides
of the paper, so when it was rolled up, you could see writing
within and without. This page just has writing on
one side, but the scroll John saw had writing on two sides,
so when it's rolled up, there's writing everywhere. Everywhere
you see, it was completely filled up with writing. This book contains
the whole counsel of God. Nothing can be added to it, and
nothing can be taken from it. This book was complete before
time began. Before God created the world,
he determined what he would do. He determined everything that
would ever happen in his creation. He determined what he'd do. And
then he created the world to accomplish just exactly what
he willed to happen. And there've been no changes
to that purpose. There've been no changes to that will. God
didn't create the world and then spend all the rest of man's history
here on earth reacting to what men are doing. No, God's carrying
out His eternal will that He purposed before He ever created
anything. And God has a purpose. God has a purpose in everything
He does. There's one purpose behind it.
Everything God does. It's the glory of His Son through
the salvation of His people. Now, this is written for our
comfort. This is written for the comfort of a believer. God
has a purpose. He has a people that he has willed
to save through the life and through the death of his son.
That he can't fail to do it. It's God's purpose. It's in his
hand. He's going to accomplish it. God's going to save a sinful
people who can't do anything to save themselves because his
purpose is in his hand. It's not left up to them. It's
left up to him. It's in his hand. And that's
so wonderful and gracious and kind. This is good news. This
is sure salvation for sinners. And John has some understanding
that's what that book's about. And he wants to know more about
it. If that's what that book's about, I want to know more about
it too, don't you? But here's the third thing John saw. He
saw that book, this glorious book that contains all the will
and purpose of God, was sealed with seven seals. Seven is the
number of completeness, the number of perfection. This book was
completely sealed so that it could not be opened. And I tell
you what that represents. Man can't read or understand
God's purpose and will. We can't understand it. Anything
that's written in this book is beyond our ability to comprehend.
The only way these things can be understood is by revelation. Look back at first Corinthians
chapter two. We can't understand the will
and purpose of God by our knowledge or by our intellect, by human
reasoning. The only way we can understand
these things is that God revealed them to us. 1 Corinthians 2 verse
9. But as it is written, I have
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
These things that God prepared, that he wrote in this book before
time began, they just haven't entered into the heart of man.
The things which God has prepared for them that love him. But God
hath revealed them unto us by a spirit. For the spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. So this book being sealed
with seven seals tells us the only way that these things can
be, that we can understand them is that God revealed them to
us. And John desperately wanted to know what's in this book.
What is God's will of salvation and redemption? But it's sealed. No man can open it. And he wanted
to know what it said. So verse two. And I saw a strong
angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the
book and to lose 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. Now this strong angel cried with
a loud voice so that all of creation could hear it. Who's worthy to
open this book? Is there any? If anybody's worthy
to open this book so that God's purpose and God's will can be
revealed, then you come open it. But there was silence. No one stepped up because no
one was worthy to take that book and to open it and to read it.
No one. No one who is already in heaven.
All those elders that represent all of God's people. He's redeemed
them. They're in heaven with him. They
can't open the book. God's preachers, the apostles,
even the angels that are there who have never fallen. None of
them had the power or the ability. None of them were worthy to open
the book. No one had the wisdom to be able
to read it. No one on earth. No redeemed person on earth.
Not the God's pastors, not these giants in the faith that we know.
None of them are worthy. No one in hell. Satan and his
demons with all their power. No man in hell could come back
and then explain and understand these things. No one's worthy
to open his book. John says no one's worthy to
even look upon it. No one's worthy No one's able
to understand what's written in that book, and no one's worthy
to even take a guess about what's in that book. Because if we guess
about it, we're going to be wrong. No one's worthy. So verse 4,
John said, And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open
and to read the book, neither to look thereon. John wept much
because no one could open the book and read and understand
and explain God's eternal will and salvation. Nobody could explain. But more than that, John went
much because no one could open the book and carry out God's
will of salvation. Open in the book is more than
just reading it and understanding it. Open this opening this book
as it represents carrying out God's will, all of God's will
that's written in this book. John went much because if no
one was worthy to open the book, and no one was worthy, no one
was able to carry out all of God's will concerning the salvation
of His people, then nobody's going to be saved. If nobody
can carry out God's will in this book, there's no hope of salvation
for me. That's good reason to weep much,
isn't there? You know, there are times when parents, we tell
our kids, they're whining and crying around, we tell them,
be quiet, I'll give you something to cry about. Nobody has to tell John
that here. He's got something to cry about.
If nobody can open this book and carry out God's will of redemption,
I'll be damned. Now, I'll tell you what this
is teaching us. You know, I hear preachers say
this, false preachers say this all the time. Oh, God has a plan
for your life. You know, if you'll just do this
and do this and you can have God's plan for your life. Just
having a plan of salvation is not good enough. Having a plan
of salvation is not good enough because we're not worthy to carry
it out. We're not worthy to open the book. Somebody's got to carry
that plan out. Somebody's got to carry this
purpose of redemption out. That's why we teach election
alone is not salvation. Now certainly salvation must
begin there. It's got to begin with God electing a people to
himself. God's got to choose a people to save because we'll
never choose him. But election alone is not salvation. Somebody's
got to come and carry out God's purpose of salvation. And if
this book stays sealed, God's purpose won't be carried out.
And John wept much. But all's not lost. Look here
at verse five. And one of the elders saith unto
me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book
and to loose the seven seals thereof. Now this is the good
news of the gospel. If salvation is left up to you
and me, we ought to weep much. We're not worthy to carry out
God's purpose. We're not worthy to even look
upon it. But one of these elders, you
remember the elders represent believers, believers of every
generation. One of the believers who's around
the throne came and told John, now don't weep. Don't wait. Now,
you got to remember, John's not in heaven. You know, you we understand
we read this. There are no tears in heaven.
John's not in heaven. He's on the earth looking through
this door that's open. And this elder, one of the believers
tells him, don't wait. There's good news. There's good
news for sinners in Christ. And this is something you don't
have to be a preacher to testify to this. Every believer can testify
to this. God has a purpose. and it's not
going to stay sealed forever. Christ came to open it. Christ
is the one who's opened the book and he has carried out God's
purpose of redemption. It's already done. Look at Hebrews
chapter 10. The good news of the gospel is
not due. The good news of the gospel is
done. This thing's done. Not only has Christ opened the
book, he's already carried it out. Hebrews 10 verse 4. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he sayeth, Sacrifice an offering
thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book It's
written to me. This is the volume of the of
the Old Testament. But this is also the volume of
this book written with the end without this, this scroll and
the volume of the book. It's written to me to do thy
will, O God, above what he said, sacrifice and offering and burn
offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldest not. Neither has
pleasure there in which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo,
I come to do thy will, O God. He take it away the first that
he may establish the second. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God from henceforth expecting to his enemies be made his footstool.
For by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. Now, that's it. That is Christ
coming in the God Almighty, coming in the body of a man to accomplish
God's purpose of redemption that's written in this book. And it's
done by one offering. He hath already perfected them
that are sanctified. He came and he carried out God's
purpose of redemption. So don't weep. Don't weep. Look
to Christ. Christ is the one who opens this
book. He's the one who opened it and
carried it out, and He's the one who reveals it to men. Look
back at Matthew chapter 11. Christ came, He carried out this
God's purpose of redemption, but He didn't leave it up to
us to guess what it means. No, then He reveals everything
that's in this book. All of God's will of redemption.
Matthew 11 verse 25. At that time Jesus answered and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my father. And no man knoweth the son, but
the father. Neither knoweth any man the father
save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. That's
why Christ came. He came and he carried out God's
purpose of redemption. And then he reveals it to his
people. John sees Christ come. He sees him in the midst of the
throne. And there are several descriptions of the Savior that
is going to bring comfort and assurance to the hearts of God's
people. The first is this. John sees the elder tell her
this. Yeah, the elder tells him not
to weep. And he looks and he sees Christ. And here's how John
describes it. He saw Christ as the lion of
the tribe of Judah. Now he's described as a lion
for his courage and his strength to both meet and defeat every
enemy. Christ is described as the lion
because he's king of kings. Just like the lion is the king
of the jungle, Christ is king of kings. Now look back at Genesis
49. This is no accident. It's no
accident that John sees Christ as the lion of the tribe of Judah
because Christ was the Savior purposed in eternity to open
this book and carry out God's purpose of redemption. Genesis
49, verse 8, here's when Jacob called his sons together and
he's blessing his sons. In verse 8, he says, Judah, thou
art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hands shall be on
the neck of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. Judah is a lion's wealth. From
the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he crouched
as a lion, as an old lion. And who shall rouse him up? The
scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between
his feet until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. See, none of this was an accident,
was it? This is prophesied all throughout the Old Testament.
The Lord Jesus came and he fulfilled every prophecy concerning the
Messiah in the Old Testament. because he's the one appointed
to carry out God's will. He's God's lion who's coming
as the king of kings. But then, John said, he saw Christ
as the root of David. This lion is David's son, yet
he's David's Lord. Now you go explain that. When
our Lord said to the Pharisee, you explain that. How can the
Messiah be both David's son and David's Lord? They didn't dare
ask him any more questions about that. The only way you can understand
that is by revelation, by revelation. Only a man can redeem a man.
Only a man can be a representative or a substitute for another man.
Only a man can pay another man's debt. So God became a man so
he could come and redeem sinful men. If you look back in Jeremiah
23, this was purposed in God's book too. that Christ come as a man. He
descended from the root of David so that he could redeem sinful
men. Jeremiah 23 verse 5. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and
a king shall reign and prosper, and he shall execute judgment
and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely And this is his name, whereby
he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. Jehovah said,
Kenu. See, this is the successful Savior
who came as a man, as the root of David. He came to redeem his
people from their sins and they all shall be saved. They all
shall dwell safely. In third, John saw Christ as
the successful Savior because he's prevailed. You know, we
talk about salvation. We need to remember this. The
salvation of God's elect is no easy thing. This is no easy work. In order to save his people from
their sins, the Lord Jesus Christ had to go to war. He had to go
to war. He worked hard as a man to establish
a perfect righteousness. So he could be Jehovah's Witness.
So he could be the Lord our righteousness. He never took one second off
from working to work out just perfect obedience. And when it
came time to put the sin of His people away, this was a hard
work. To become the sacrifice for sin
is no small thing. At Calvary, Christ was oppressed
and afflicted, not just by men, but by His Father. He made a
soul an offering for sin. He didn't just give His body
to be sacrificed, He gave His soul. He was bruised and put
to grief by his father. And that was not for naught.
He didn't suffer and die in vain. He didn't fail in his death.
Christ succeeded. He emerged from Calvary as the
great victor. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. Christ, the captain of our salvation,
has prevailed over every enemy. Who can resist him? Who can stand
against him? By his sacrifice, he defeated
every enemy. He made an end of sin. By his sacrifice, by his death,
he crushed Satan's power, put him out of business. By his death,
he made death die. He made an end of death for his
people. He brought in everlasting life, life that can never be
lost. He prevailed over every enemy. I like the way Henry put
this. He said where we failed, he prevailed. He prevailed over every enemy. That's our comfort. This is written
for the believer's comfort. Our comfort is this. None of
salvation, none of eternal life depends on us. It all depends
on him and he's already prevailed. Then John describes the Christ
that he saw as the Lamb of God. Christ is described as the lamb
to show his meekness, to show his humility, but especially
to show him, to reveal him as the sacrifice for sin. When I
read this this week, I wondered, you know, when John saw him there
and he saw a lamb as it had been slain, I wondered, did he think
back to that time? He was one of the disciples of
John the Baptist. He heard John the Baptist stop
everybody in their tracks. and say, behold, here's the lamb. Here's the lamb of God sent to
take away the sin of the world. I wonder if John remembered back
to that. Here's the lamb. He says in verse six, and I beheld
and lo in the midst of the throne, in the midst of the four beasts,
in the midst of the elders stood a lamb. A lamb as it had been
slain. John didn't just see a lamb.
He didn't just see this cute little lamb. He saw a lamb as
it had been slain. That word slain is slaughtered.
or maimed. John didn't see Christ with fresh
wounds, with blood still pouring out from them and him still in
pain, suffering from these wounds. No, his time of suffering is
over. But what John saw is evidence that Christ had been slain as
a sacrifice for sin. He saw evidence. He'd been crucified
for the sin of his people. He was crucified bearing the
curse of sin. just like the disciples. When
they saw our Lord raised in glorified flesh, they still saw scars on
him, didn't they? They saw the scars in his hands,
in his feet, on his side. And those are the scars that
John saw in glory. Those scars in glory will be
the only evidence that there was ever sin in anyone there.
Because Christ was our sacrifice. This lamb as it had been slain,
represents the eternal saving power of the sacrifice of Christ. The songwriter said, Dear dying
lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power. To all
the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. And in
glory we'll still be beholding those scars. Now this lamb, John
says, in the midst of the throne, this lamb as it had been slain,
this lamb bearing the scars, bearing the evidence, he was
sacrificed for the sin of his people. He already suffered.
He already died for the sin of his people. He's in the midst
of the throne. John doesn't even describe him
as next to the throne. He's in the midst of the throne
with the father. He sits on the throne with the
father because he's one with the father. He's so close to
his father. He's one with the father. Then
the father always sees his son bearing those scars that always
he sees those scars. Those scars. are all it takes
to make intercession for the sin of His people. Christ, when
He makes intercession for His people, doesn't even have to
say anything. Those scars are self-evident.
Christ died for the sin of His people. Then the Father will
always forgive them because of those scars. He sees that those
sins have already been paid for. They've already suffered and
died in the person of our substitute. And when we see those scars in
heaven, we will always be reminded how Christ died for our sin.
I love the song Desi used to sing, I'll be looking for scars
up in heaven. Scars that turn judgment to mercy
for a hell deserving sinner like me. Those scars are gonna remind
us Christ already suffered hell for me. The only reason anyone
will be there are those scars. The sacrifice that produced those
scars That'll be good reason to praise Him eternally, won't
it? Praise Him for His sacrifice. And then John saw this lamb having
seven horns. Now, I told you this, you know,
last week. This is not literally a lamb
with seven horns. That'd be some sort of deformed
lamb. This is representative language. It represents Christ
having all power. That's what horns represent in
Scripture, power. It's like those big horned rams.
I watched a special on those the other week. Those rams just
running butt and heads with each other, you know. That's their
power. And the bigger their horns, you know, the more prestige and
stuff they have among the other rams. These horns represent Christ's
power. And there's seven of them giving
us the picture of completion, perfection. Christ, this humble
lamb, has all power. Perfect, complete power. So his
sacrifice does indeed put away sin. Whoever it is he died for,
their sins put away because of the power of his sacrifice. This
is written for our comfort now. If Christ died for you, your
sin's gone. There's power in his blood. However
great your sin is, and it's greater than what we think it is, but
however great it is, the blood of Christ has prevailed to put
it away. And He's going to use that same
all complete power to bring His people to glory. He's not going
to fail and lose one. One's not going to slip through
His fingers. He's got all power to bring all of His people to
glory. Our Lord Himself said He'd been given power over all
flesh. For what purpose? To give eternal
life to as many as the Father gave Him. He's got all power
that He can't fail to give them life. and bring them to be with
Him in glory. And then John said, he saw this
lamb as it had been slain, having seven eyes. Now again, he doesn't
have seven eyes. This is representative language
showing us Christ's omnipresence. He's everywhere at once. These
seven spirits of God that are sent forth into all the world,
that represents God's Holy Spirit. Our Savior sees everything because
He's everywhere at all one time. Not one of his sheep will ever
be lost to him. Not one. Nothing's ever gonna
sneak up on him and cause him to lose one of his sheep. He
sees them, he knows where they're at, he's with them, and he's
got the power to bring them to glory. And then look at verse
seven. And he came and he took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. Now
you notice he just came and took the book. He didn't ask if he
could have the book, He just took it. He took it because he
earned the right to have the book. His father always purposed
that it all be in his hand. He's going to be the one to carry
it out. He knew that. It's only right he have it. This
book is all about him. It's all about what he's going
to do for his people. So he just went and took the
book. It's just right that he have it. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the mediator of everything in this book. And it wasn't a
struggle for him to take it. He just took it because he's
the mediator of the book. And now Christ, our sovereign
Savior, sits upon the throne of glory holding this book. Now he's got it in his right
hand, showing us that he rules and reigns over everything to
ensure the salvation of his people. This thing's not in doubt. He's
completed it. He's carried it out. The completion. of all of God's purpose concerning
the salvation of His people is in the hands of Christ. I told
Jan I was going over my notes this morning. I could not get
this stupid song out of my head. He's got the whole world in His
hand. And now I've probably done it to you. You had this run through
your head. I couldn't get it out of my head
until Mike started playing other music. But that's what this is saying.
It's all in His hand. The Father put it all there.
Whatever His will is for this creation, this world, It's going
to happen because it's in the hand of Christ. He has it all. And that is good news for the
sinner. Nothing about the salvation of
our souls is dependent upon us. It's not in our hands to decide
what we're going to do with it. It's in his hand and he's going
to complete it all. That makes salvation both certain
and safe because it's in his hand. It's in his hand. We're
in the hand of the king. We are in the hand of King Christ
to do with us as He will. Now, I'll tell you what we ought
to do if we're wise. We fall down and worship Him like that
leper that came and worshipped Him. Say, Lord, if You will,
You can make me clean. You can make me whole. You can
heal me if You will. Then let's beg Him to do for
us what God requires. He's going one way or the other. then let's beg him, let's ask
him, do for me everything God requires and make me whole in
you. All right, I hope the Lord bless
that to you.