I invite your attention to the
book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the last book in the
Bible. The Revelation of Jesus Christ,
and I want you to locate chapter 4. Revelation chapter 4, today we're
going to expound chapters 4 and 5. And the subject of our message
this morning is Christ the Lamb is worthy. Christ the Lamb is
worthy. Now, let me give you an introduction
to this book and bring you up to what we have here in chapter
4. The name of this last book in
the Bible is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It means an unveiling. It means that things about him
are about to be given from God to us so that we may behold Jesus
Christ. In that first chapter, Jesus
Christ is seen as walking in the midst of his churches. John
sees this by means of a vision of seven lampstands, and these
represent seven churches, and these seven churches represent
all churches of every age, and Jesus Christ is walking in the
midst of his churches. He's walking in here this morning.
Jesus Christ is walking in the midst of his churches and he
has the seven stars in his hands which are the pastors and this
is letting us know that this sweet consolation that our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ is in our midst and watching over us. Now in chapters 2 and 3, there
are letters or epistles to seven churches in Asia Minor. And these
represent the Lord's churches in every age. And now we come
to chapter four and our text or beginning of our text for
today on this subject of Christ the Lamb is Worthy. John writes,
after these things, that is, the things that were written
to the seven churches in Asia Minor, after these things I looked,
and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice
which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, come
up here, and I will show you things which must take place
after this. Immediately, I was in the Spirit. This is a state of ecstasy. It is, I suppose you might call
it an out-of-body experience, but he was in the Spirit. He
was in the Holy Spirit. And behold, a throne set in heaven,
and one sat on the throne. and he who sat there was like
a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance and there was a
rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald around
the throne were 24 thrones And on the thrones I saw twenty-four
elders sitting, clothed in white robes, and they had crowns of
gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded
lightnings, thunderings, and voices, and there were seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven
spirits of God. Before the throne there was a
sea of glass like crystal and in the midst of the throne and
around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front
and in back. The first living creature was
like a lion. denoting strength. The second
living creature like a calf, denoting service. The third living
creature had a face like a man, denoting intelligence. And the
fourth living creature was like a flying eagle, denoting swiftness. 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. Whenever the
four living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who
sits on the throne who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders
fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him
who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the
throne saying, you are worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory and
honor and power. For you created all things, and
by your will they exist and were created. In our Thursday night studies
of the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we not long
ago dealt with chapters four and five, and I told the class
then that I've been wanting to preach that for many years, and
told him that one of these days I'm going to preach that, and
when I do, I do not think I'll have to write it out. You know
that I usually prepare a synopsis and write out rather extensive
notes, but here is one passage, chapters 4 and 5, that more or
less just let them preach themselves. If you'll look in verse number
1 and 2, John says that he is on the isle of Patmos, and he
beholds a door is opened in heaven, and a voice says, Come up here,
and I will show you things which must take place. We are not told
who the speaker is, It perhaps and probably was Jesus Christ,
but we're not told. But anyway, it was Jesus who
was speaking to him all the way through this book thus far, and
so I am not surprised if this is Jesus here who was speaking
to John. He says, come up here! I've shown
you things on earth and I'm going to show you some things up here
now. Come on up here." And John says,
immediately I was in the Spirit. Now, John will now describe a
scene that he saw in heaven. Now let me make this point very
clear. John is not describing a scene
of heaven. He is not describing what you
should expect heaven to look like when you arrive there. John
rather is describing the universe as it is seen from heaven's perspective
and particularly from God's throne. Because you're going to find
later on that there are people in this vision that John saw
around God's throne who are not inhabitants of heaven. I'm going
to come back to that point in just a moment. But let me here
describe for you what John has seen. The first thing that strikes
his sight is a throne that is set up high in heaven. A throne,
and John saw one sitting on the throne, and he is like a jasper
and I would not get too involved in the identity of these stones. In fact, the names that are given
to them here may not even be the same stone that is given
that name today. Just bear in mind that this one
that is on the throne is glorious. He is resplendent in all his
glory. Now, around that throne there
are four living creatures. These are cherubs. and they are
around the throne, and in this vision they unceasingly say,
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty. They ever praise God around his
throne. Now, beyond the four living creatures,
John sees The seven spirits of God, that's the Holy Spirit.
He is represented there as well. Then, around these, John sees
24 thrones. And these are the thrones on
which are sitting the 24 elders representing the church of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, beyond these, and they are
not here described in chapter 4, but beyond these, there are
others. Remember, God's throne in the
center of the universe. The four living creatures, the
cherubs around His throne, worshiping Him and declaring His glory.
The church represented by the 24 elders around God's throne. And later you're going to find
that beyond them were myriads and thousands and thousands,
multiplied thousands of angels. And beyond them, every creature
that is in heaven, that is on earth, and even those under the
earth. Even those under the earth. They're
all represented here because this is a representation of every
creature around God's throne there for a particular event. And that event is described in
chapter 5. Verse 1. And I saw in the right hand of
him who sat on the throne, a scroll written inside and on the back,
sealed with seven seals. In those days when you had a
message to deliver, you wrote it out, perhaps on the skin of
an animal or a parchment if you could get it, and then you rolled
it up. And after you rolled it up, You
put a seal on it, you dropped wax on it so that where the edges
overlapped the rest of the scroll, it would be sealed. Now, this
scroll is written on the inside and out because the inside was
not sufficient to hold everything that was to be written. It is
written both on the inside and on the outside and sealed with
seven seals. It is perfectly and completely
sealed since seven is a number of perfection and completeness. I will let you know right now
that this scroll is God's eternal decree about things which must
take place, particularly after the exaltation of Jesus Christ. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose
its seals? And no one in heaven, or on the
earth, or under the earth. Who's under the earth? Satan
and his demons. Who's under the earth? Who's
in the earth? The inhabitants, none was able
to open the scroll or to look at it, that is to examine what
was inside. This scroll could not be opened,
neither by Samson in all his physical strength. Not by Solomon
in all his wisdom. Not by David in all his regal
glory. Not by Joshua in all his military
genius. Not in Moses in all his legal
expertise. There's no one who can open the
scroll. The 24 elders representing the
church, they realize none of us can. Can you open the scroll?
None of us can. There is a scroll in God's hand.
It is God's decree. It must be opened. But there
is no one in heaven who is worthy to open the scroll. No one on
earth who is worthy to open the scroll. No one under the earth
who is able to open the scroll. But one of the elders, John then
says, I wept much. I began weeping because no one
was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at
it. But one of the elders said to
me, one of the elders sitting on the thrones, do not weep. Behold, the line of the tribe
of Judah. Judah was the royal tribe, this
is the line of that tribe, the king of Judah, the root of David. The one whence David came, the
one who preceded David, gave us David. Well, he has prevailed
to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. Observe carefully
the Lion. The Lion of Judah has prevailed. He already has prevailed to open
the book and to declare its contents. to loose the seals and let us
know what is in it. And I looked, having been told
that the Lion of Judah would do this, I looked and behold
in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures
and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had
been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the
spirits The seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. John has been told that the Lion
of Judah has prevailed. And so John says, I'm going to
look for that Lion of Judah. And John is looking around. The
Lion of Judah. Where's the Lion of Judah? But what he sees is instead a
lamb as though it had been slain. This word slain actually means
slaughtered. John is looking for the Lion
of Judah, instead he saw the Lamb of Calvary. He saw the one
that was slain there on that cross, that one that was slaughtered
on that tree. Having seven horns and seven
eyes, with all authority, with wisdom and insight. And he came
and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on
the throne. John has looked for the lion. Instead he sees the lamb. But
the lamb is the lion. And this slaughtered lamb now
walks up the steps. And the cherubs, the four living
creatures, get out of the way and they let him have access.
No one else can have access. No one else needs to try that. But this one is going to come
to God's throne and the four living creatures get out of the
way and open the way for him to come up to God's throne. How
did he ascend God's throne? He did this in his resurrection
from the dead and in his ascension to glory, in his combat and victory
over Satan and his angels, Jesus Christ did that as Michael the
archangel, and made an open show of his enemies, and having done
that, having prevailed in all those things, he has now walked
up the steps to the very throne where God is, and God is seated
there on his throne, and he's got the scroll in his hand. Who
is worthy to open this scroll? Who is worthy? No one is. And then the Lamb comes and God
holds that scroll out to Jesus Christ, the slaughtered Lamb
of God. And He came and took the scroll
out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. When he had taken the scroll,
the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down
before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full
of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. These harps and
these bowls are in the hands and in the possession of these
Twenty-four elders on their thrones. Now, they come, and when the
Lamb has taken the scroll out of God's hand, here's what they
do. They fell down before Him, prostrate
on the ground. They fall down before Jesus Christ
the Lamb. Each had a harp which makes melodious
music. a stringed instrument. They have
golden bowls full of incense, and the incense represents the
prayers of God's people. And they are here, and they're
falling before their Lord and Savior, prostrate before Him,
and offering their prayers unto Him. These are the prayers of
the saints. And they sang a new song saying,
now observe carefully, they sang a new song. That means that if there was
a new song, there was an old song. What was the old song? Go back to chapter four. In chapter 4, they sang a new
song in verse number 11. You are worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by
your will they exist and were created. Here, God is praised
as the creator of all things. There is nothing in this song
said of the saving work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That would be sung in the new
song of chapter 5 in verse number 9. They sang a new song saying,
you, O slaughtered lamb, you are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals. Now, wait a minute. I thought
he already had opened it. The Lamb has prevailed to open
the book. He has prevailed. Is that not
what you told me? Yes, yes, that's true. But here,
the seals are yet to be opened. You are worthy to open its seals. This prevailing to open the seals
to prove worthiness to do so was done in God's eternal decree
before the foundation of the world. But Christ proved himself
worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals there on the
cross of Calvary. He conquered death, hell, and
the grave. He conquered Satan and his demons
as he ascended into glory and made an open show of all his
enemies. He prevailed on that cross over
our sins. He saved us, justified us, sanctified
us, reconciled us unto God. He did all of this. He proved
that He is worthy. You are worthy to open its seals,
for you were slaughtered. You have redeemed us to God by
your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. from peoples all across this
earth. You have made us kings and priests
to our God and we shall reign on the earth. You have made us
kings and priests. I want you to realize that every
one of us here today that is a believer in the Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ is a king and a priest. Every one of us is. This is not
something that belongs merely to certain people in the church.
It is not even something that belongs only to our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. He is a king and he is a priest. He has made us to be kings and
priests. Every one of us is a king and
priest and we shall reign on the earth How do we reign on
this earth? When we while we are here living
on this earth, how is it that we reign on this earth? We do it through the prayers
that we offer, these 24 elders with their thrones on their heads,
come with their golden bowls full of incense, which are the
prayers of the saints, With these prayers, we reign on this earth. We present our petitions to God. We speak to Him of the things
that are needful for us. And through our prayers, we reign
on this earth. And then I looked, and I heard
the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures
and the elders. Now, I spoke of these a moment
ago. Observe where they are. God's
throne is in the middle of the universe. The four living creatures
are on his throne on all four sides, north, east, west, and
south. Around these, down the steps,
There are the 24 thrones on which sit the 24 elders representing
the church of Christ from both the Old and the New Testaments.
Now, beyond these, there are angels, a multitude of angels,
myriads of them. They are countless to us in number,
though God knows the number. There they are around the church. John says, I looked and I heard
the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures
and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000
and thousands of thousands. Innumerable. No way they could
be counted. Saying with a loud voice, you
are worthy. Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and the glory and the blessing. Seven things are here set before
us. I suppose we could take each
of these one by one and define what it is. Let me just put them all together
in this way and tell you that you cannot praise Him enough.
Oh, He is worthy. He is worthy of our lives. He is worthy of our glory. He
is worthy of our devotion. He is worthy. He is worthy of
everything that we have. He is worthy of everything that
is in heaven, whatever it is. power and riches and wisdom and
strength and honor and glory and blessing, he's worthy to
receive it. Oh, how so very little we give
to him, he's worthy to receive it all. And every creature which
is in heaven, that would include the four living creatures, That
would include the 24 elders on their thrones. That would include
the countless angels around the elders. These are in heaven. And those on earth, people still
living on the earth, those under the earth, those that are in
a place that belongs to Satan and his demons, and such as are
in the sea, buried in them, and all that are in them, I heard
saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who
sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. Now you
may say, now preacher, I just do not believe that the devil's
gonna sing that song. Blessing and honor and glory
and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
forever and ever. Well, demons came very close
to doing so when Jesus was on this earth. Oh, Jesus, you Holy
One of God, we know who you are. We know who you are. Have you
come to torment us before the time? The scriptures declare that God
has highly exalted Jesus Christ and given to him the name that
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of those on earth and those under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess with an oath Jesus Christ is Jehovah. I have no problem visualizing
Satan, his demons, every occupant that is under the earth, those
on earth still living in rebellion. I have no difficulty in hearing
them hear, singing, Blessing and honor and glory and power
be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever,
because he is worthy and they know it. And every knee shall
bow and every tongue shall take an oath before God that Jesus
Christ is Jehovah and worthy of all this glory. Blessing and honor and glory
and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
forever and ever. He will never suffer a coup,
never a rebellion. He will never suffer anybody
taking his throne from him. He is worthy. He is worthy. Because when he walked upon this
earth, he fulfilled God's law in every jot and tittle. He is
worthy because he did all that God sent him to do. He is worthy
because in his death on Calvary, He redeemed and ransomed His
people. He saved them and justified them
and sanctified them, reconciled them to God all through the shedding
of His blood. He has prevailed. He has conquered. He conquered death, held in the
grave, and ascended into glory. And now He is worthy of all our
praise. Then the four living creatures
said, Amen. And the 24 elders fell down and
worshiped him, who lives forever and ever." He's worthy. He is worthy. People today, or many of them,
over the weekend, yesterday and Friday, met in houses of worship. Some were entertained and said,
you know what? The singers were worthy and the
comedians were worthy. Some are saying, well, our teacher
is worthy because he teaches us so many good things. Well,
in heaven there, the lamb receives all the glory. He is worthy. Oh, how how I wish that each
of us right now could learn something of what it is to show worthiness
to this lamb. You are worthy, oh Lord. Worthy
is the lamb. Notice the worthiness that is
said of him and we'll close with this just by these four verses. Verse nine, here's his worthiness.
You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you
were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of
every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You are worthy because
you have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign
on the earth. Verse 12. Worthy is the Lamb
who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessing. verse thirteen. Blessing and
honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne
and to the lamb forever and ever and the four living creatures
said, amen. And I would hope that every creature
that is here in this room today would say, amen. He's worthy. He's worthy. bowed our unworthy heads, and
extolled the worthiness of your son as we should, help us to
begin to do so this very day. He is worthy. Bless, we pray,
the preaching of your word, and we pray that you do this to the
glory of your son, in whose name we pray, because he is worthy. Amen.