Latest / Voddie Baucham Sermons / Voddie Baucham - Interpreting Revelation Revelation 5_1-5

Transcript

Voddie Baucham - Interpreting Revelation Revelation 5_1-5 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning. It is a delight to be here. It
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: was delightful. I sat back there in the back. I
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: didn't stand, I didn't sing. I just sat back there
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: in the back and listened. The conference was wonderful for
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: those of you who were at the conference, and if
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: you were at the conference, you'll understand what I'm about
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: to say. Sometimes, depending on the room, it's really difficult
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: to hear the sing at a conference. So it was
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: really difficult to hear the Saint sing at the conference
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: this weekend. But today in this room, it was just
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: it was just delightful. It was glorious. So I just
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: am not ashamed to say I sat back there and
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: did not sing. I was just blessed by just hearing
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you cry out to our God and sing praise us
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: to his name. And that fitting in light of what
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: text I've been assigned today. If you have your books,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: if you have a Bible's with you, open to the
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: last book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation. Now
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: as we're here in the Book of Revelation today, and
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I understand this is not what you guys have been
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: going through. So by way of introduction, I'll give you
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: a few things that you need to be able to
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: hang on to as we go through this book. The
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: first of them is a technical theological issue. This is
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: a high level technical theological issue. And as a professor,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: it is incumbent upon me to give you at least
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: one high level technical theological issue. And I hope you'll
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: bear with me as I do that. The high level
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: technical theological issue is this. The name of this book
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: has no S in it. That's right, amen, somebody. It
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: is not Revelations. It is D Revelation. And if you
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: have a problem with putting an S on an on
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the end of it, just put D at the front.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Usually that'll fix it. Right. It's hard to say the revelations, right,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: it's just D revelation. Just one Okay, no S on
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the end of it. That's your high level technical theological
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: lesson for the day, amen. And I will say this
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: funny thing one time. I'm teaching on this book, and
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I give that little piece and then I turned and
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: I said, okay, now, Revelations chapter five, No, but not today.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Survey was done sometime back on things that people wanted
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: their pastors to preach on. Same survey looked at pastors
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and things that they didn't like to preach on, or
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: that they did like to preach on. And it was
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: interesting in that when it came to church members, the
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: one thing that they most wanted to hear sermons on
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: was the Book of Revelation, and when it came to preachers,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the one thing that they least wanted to preach on
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: was the Book of Revelation. It can be very difficult
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: for a number of reasons. One reason it can be
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: difficult is because we're unfamiliar with the Old Testament, and
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: that makes it difficult to comprehend and understand the Book
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: of Revelation because there are four hundred and four verses
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: in the Book of Revelation. In those four hundred and
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: four verses, there are two hundred quotations or illusions to
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the Old Testament. Two hundred. In fact, the Book of
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Revelation quotes, cites, or alludes to the Old Testament more
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: than any other New Testament book. Not only that, but
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: there are thirty nine Old Testament books. Thirty six of
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: them are quoted or alluded to in the Book of Revelation.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: So why does that make it difficult because we don't
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: know our Old Testament? If you can't say a man
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: you ought to say, ouch. We don't know our Old Testament.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: We're not familiar with the Old Testament. We don't like
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the Old Testament. I mean every year, you know, people will,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: you know, New Year's resolution, Right, I'm gonna read through
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: the Bible this year. And we get there and we
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: get started, and we're in Genesis and you know, it's narrative,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: and we're like, oh, this is this is cool, you know,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: and you you you miss a few days here and there,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: but then you then you you get the Exodus and
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: it's like, okay, you know, I can, I can do this.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: We got you know, the baby in the basket, and
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: we got the burning bush and we got yeah, I can,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: I can, I can read that. And then we get
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: to Leviticus. Next thing, you know, it's June. Amen, and
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: let's say we just plow through, right, and we just
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: grit our teeth and we say, no, this year, I'm
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: gonna do it. You make it through Leviticus and you
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: are blessed and rewarded with numbers, and so we just don't.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: We just don't do it. That's problem number one. Problem
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: number two is that we're unfamiliar with apocalyptic literature. This
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: is a particular type of literature. And if you're not
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: familiar with apocalyptic literature, you read the Book of Revelation
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: and you get lost and probably get scared. True confession.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I didn't grow up going to church. I didn't grow
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: up around Christians or Christianity. I was raised by a
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: single teenage Buddhist mother. Never heard the Gospel till I
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: got to university. So I came to faith, and I
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: figured I needed to read the Bible, and for whatever reason,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I thought it would be good to see how everything
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: ends up. The first book I ever read was the
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Book of Revelation. I don't recommend it. It was confusing,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: it was disconcerting, it was but no, don't do that.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: We have to understand what apocalyptic literature is. To the
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: original hearers, these things would have made a lot more
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: sense because they understood apocalyptic literature. They understood that genre
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: of It's kind of like for us, if I stand
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: up before you and I say, once upon a time,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: what am I about to tell you a fairy tale? Right?
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: And we know that just by the opening, Well, because
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: you know that I'm now about to tell you a
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: fairy tale, you don't get offended or confused when a
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: little girl gets small and starts talking to weird creatures
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: and all that, You're like, no, it's a fairy tale, right,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: you know, when when mice you know, start talking to
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Cinderella and doing chores with her and stuff like that,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: it's a fairy tale. We know the genre, and because
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: we know the genre, we know how to interpret it
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and we know what to think about it. Right amen,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Same thing when it comes to apocalyptic literature. So if
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: you understand apocalyptic literature, you know that it's not a
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: puzzle book but a picture book. And a lot of
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: people use a Revelation like it's a puzzle book and
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: they're reading Revelation and they're trying to figure out, Okay,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: where is this? Nowhere? Is this talking about Russia? Is
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: just talking about Iran? Is this talking about It's not
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: a puzzle book, it's a picture book. It's a picture book,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: and it is a book that is more practically applicable
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: than any other New Testament book. Sounds crazy, right, like
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: how could the stuff that you just said be true?
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: And then you say that this is more practical and
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: more applicable than any other New Testament book. Here's how
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: the Book of Revelation was actually written to encourage saints
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: in the post Apostolic age. That's us, that's us, And
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: it's written to remind us that Christ will prevail, that
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: judgment will come, and then everything that is wrong will
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: be set right. That's the book. We understand that changes everything. Also,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: in absolute literature, we understand that colors mean things, right,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: we get that. We also understand that numbers mean things.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: If we don't understand that, we can make tremendous mistakes.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: For example, look with me in chapter one, me in
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: chapter one, and look at look at chapter one, verse twelve,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Chapter one, verse twelve. I wrote my dissertation on the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam is a black
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: nationalist Islamic cult in the US. The most prominent member,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the most well known member of the Nation of Islam
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: historically is Malcolm X. Right. The Nation of Islam the
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: fastest growing religion among black men in America at one point,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: fastest growing religion in prisons and places like that at
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: one point. And here's one of the things that they
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: would often use in order to get into black men's heads,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: particularly right, and they would say something like you know,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: you've got always to this white Jesus, right, and the
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: white people used that to docilize the slaves. And in fact,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Jesus was not white at all. I can prove to
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: you that not only was Jesus not white, Jesus was
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: a black man. And they taken the Revelation chapter one.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: They started verse twelve, and they said, then I turned
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: to see the voice that was speaking to me, And
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: midst of the lamp stands one like the son of Man,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: around his chest. The hairs of his head were white,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: like white wool. Well, people, you don't have hair like wool. Now,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: white people, white people don't have hair like wool. Black
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: people have hair like wool. White people don't have hair
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: like woolf like snow. His eyes were like a flame
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze refined in
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: a furnace. What white man do you know whose feet
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: looked like burnished bronze refined in a furnace. Now, doesn't
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: take a genius to figure out that what's happening here
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: is symbolism. But if you don't understand apostolic literature and
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: somebody brings you to this book, you may actually believe,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: like a lot of people do, that the Bible teaches
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: that Jesus was a black man because his hair was
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: like wool and his skin was like burnished bronze. Well,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: the fact of the matter is, that's not what's being
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: alluded to there. If you understand your Old Testament and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: you understand apocalyptic literature, you understand this is a picture
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: of the ancient of days. And his hair like wool
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: is referring to the fact that it's white, this white hair,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: which denotes not just age, but it denotes wisdom. These
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: feet like burnished bronze. That's a picture of judgment. Just
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: like the verse that they skip over. Did you see
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: what I skipped over? Did you see what I didn't
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: try to literalize His eyes were like? What his eyes
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: were like? What fire? Since a black man with bloodshot eyes? Right? Nope,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: fire and apostolic literature, what is that? That's judgment. That's judgment.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: This is a picture of the judgment of the Ancient
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: of days. By the way, who says a picture of
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: if you're paying attention. This is a picture of Christ.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Here's what's ironic. People use this to say, no, Jesus
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: is not white like those pictures of ge Jesus. By
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the way, please get rid of the pictures of Jesus white
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: or otherwise, Jesus not white like those pictures of Jesus,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: he's black, when in fact what's being said here is
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Jesus is the ancient of days. In other words, he's God.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: That's the great irony. He's God. Well, a couple of
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: things keep in mind, and again, I promise we're going
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: to get to our text, but I just I can't
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: help I get the can't helmets. When it comes to
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: the revelation, you need to understand that the colors mean things,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: but also numbers. Numbers are incredibly important in Revelation. Several
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: numbers that are important. The number three. The number three
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: is the number for God right, the Triune God, Father, Son,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: and Holy Spirit, and not just the number three, but
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: often lists of three a reference to God. The number four,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: The number four is a very important number in revelation.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: The number four is the number four, the Earth, the
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: four corners of the Earth, the four angels, the four winds,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: it's interesting that the Christians have never taught or believed
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: that the earth was flat. Amen, somebody, we just haven't
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: right that the idea of the four corners of the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Earth is not something that teaches that the world is flat.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: That number four is a reference to the earth. By
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: the way, when we see this great multitude that is
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: going to be saved, oftentimes it's referred to as men
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: from every tribe, nation, tongue, people four, number five things,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: nember three things, always four things. Why it's a people
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: from the entirety of the earth. Four is the number
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: of the earth. Six that's the number of the beasts
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: and the false prophet. Right, it's number of the beast
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: and the false prophet. Three number of God. Six, number
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: of the beast and the false prophet. Seven it's the
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: number of completion. Okay, it's number completion. Ten, a number
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: of perfection. And then you have twelve. Twelve is a
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: number of the people of God. By the way, the
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: multiples of these numbers are also important. In our text.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: We're going to see the number twenty four before the throne, right,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: twenty four elders before the throne. Well, twelve is the
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: people of God. You have twenty four elders before the throne,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: twelve representing the people of God in the Old Testament
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: twelve tribes, and twelve representing the people of God in
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the New Testament twelve disciples. Okay, then you'll have multiples
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: of these numbers, like twelve times twelve was what one
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: hundred and forty four times ten times ten times ten,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: one hundred and forty four thousand, Revelation chapter seven. Not
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: a literal number, as our Jehovah's witness friends would have
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: us believe, not at all. It's a symbolic number, especially
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: when later on we hear that it's a multitude that
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: is so great that no man can count it. Well,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: how can you have a specific number one hundred and
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: forty four thousand representing a group that later on is
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: so big that no one can count. That only works
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: if the specific number is symbolic, in that it's twelve
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: times twelve times ten times ten times ten. Right. So,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: with these tools and this in mind, let's look at
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Revelation chapter five. The introduction to our relation is chapters
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: one through three. We have those letters to the seven churches,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: these churches that exist on a circuit postal route and
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Asia minor. Then in chapters four and five we go
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: into the Throne Room. And when we're in the throne room,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: a number of things begin to happen. Let's look chapter five,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: beginning of verse one, we're gonna read through verse ten.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Then I saw in the right hand of him who
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: was seated on the throne a scroll. Now this is
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: God seated on his throne in heaven. This is the
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: throne room in heaven. And remember these things are symbolic. Amen,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: John is being shown these things that must come, that
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: will come. Then I saw on the right hand of
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: within and on the back, sealed with seven seals, seven seals.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: And no one in heaven, or on earth or under
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: the earth was able to open the scroll or to
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: look into it. And I began to weep loudly because
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: no one was found worthy to open the scroll or
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: to look into it. And one of the elders said
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: to me, weep no more. Behold the lion of the
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered, so
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: that he can open the scroll and its seven seals,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: between the throne and the four living creatures, and among
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: the elders again four, the four living creatures. Four What
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: do they represent? They represent all the creatures of the earth.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: And among the elders I saw a lamb standing as
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: though it had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: which are the seven spirits of God sent out into
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the earth. And he went and took the scroll from
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: And when he had taken the scroll, the four living
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the lamb,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: each holding a harp and golden bulls for vincense, which
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: new song, saying, worthy are you to take the scroll
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: and to open its seals? For you were slain, and
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: by your blood you ransomed people for God from every
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: tribe and language and people and nation, and you have
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: made them a kingdom of priests to our God God,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and they shall reign on earth. We just have to
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: look at eleven and twelve. I'm sorry, we just have
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: to it's not part of my text today. We have
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: to Then I looked, and I heard around the throne
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: is slaying to receive. Let's count power and wealth and
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing, seven
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: complete praise. To see what happens when you understand the genre,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: I could just okay, all right, So let's look at
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: our text here, and there's one thing that comes forward
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: from this, and that is that Christ is worthy, Amen,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Worthy is the Lamb. Here we are in the throne
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: room of God, and all of a sudden, all of
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the attention in the throne room of God goes to
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: this lamb who was slain. This sevenfold worship goes to
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: this lamb who was slain. Why well, let's back up
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: and see if we can use these clues and these
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: lessons to understand why the Lamb is being seen as worthy.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: The first thing we have to understand this is the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: nature of the scroll, and those first two verses I
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: saw on the right hand of him who was seated
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: sealed with seven seals. So this is an official document.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: This is a legal document in the hand of the king.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: And it doesn't just have a seal on it. It has
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: seven seals on it. It's written on the inside and
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: on the outside. So we know that this is an
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: official document. It's a legal document. It's a document in
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: the hand of the king, and it is sealed with
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: seven seals, this number of completion. And I saw a
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: to open the scroll and to break its seals? Not
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: just anybody can break a seal on an official legal document. Amen.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: If the king puts his seal, right, this wax seal
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: on a document and seals it and sends it out,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: and you take this document and open it. If you
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: are not the recipient, you die. Amen. So the question
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: is who is worthy to open the scroll and break
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: its seals? No one in heaven or on earth or
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: under the earth was able to open the scroll or
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: to look into it. Nobody could do it. And I
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: began to weep loudly because no one will sound worthy
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: to open the scroll or to look into it. Why
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: is John weeping? What is this scroll? And why would
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: John weep because the scroll could not be opened? Why
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: would John weep because there was no one who was
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: worthy to open that scroll? Is it the Lamb's Book
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: of Life. Lamb's Book of Life is mentioned in Revelation
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: three thirteen, seven, and twenty one. This is not the
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Lambspop of Life. This is another book Revelation twenty and twelve,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: or the Lambsbop of Life is another book. Revelation Chapter twenty,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: verse twelve. I saw the dead, great and small, standing
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: before the throne, and a book was opened. Then another
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the dead were judged by what was written in the books,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: according to what they had done. So no, it's not that.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: It's not that. So if it's not that, then what
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: is it. We have a couple of clues. Remember I
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: told you that there are more Old Testament citations and
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: illusions than any other book. So if we want to
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: understand what John is saying here, we need to understand
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: the Old Testament reference Daniel, chapter seven, verses nine and ten.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Listen to this as. And remember, the people who were
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: reading the Book of Revelation know their Old Testament. Amen,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: they also know apocalyptic literature, so they would especially be
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: ready to make the connection that we are about to make. Daniel,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Chapter seven, verses nine and ten. As I looked, thrones
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. Again.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Remember what I said earlier. That was obviously a picture
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of the Ancient of days, the Ancient of Days being
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: equated with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Ancient of Days
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: is God, Christ is God. His clothing was white as snow,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: was fiery flame. It's, by the way, you see again,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: that's almost exactly what we read in Revelation one. Its
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: came out from before him. A thousand thousand served him,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. The
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: court sat in judgment, and the books were open. There's
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: our first clue. Ezekiel always also makes a reference that
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: we should pay attention to Ezekiel Chapter two, verses eight
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: through ten. But you, son man, hear what I say
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: to you, Be not rebellious like the rebellious house. Over
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: your mouth, and eat what I give you. And when
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: I looked, behold a hand was stretched out to me,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: and behold a scroll of a book. Book was in it.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: And he spread it before me, and it had writings
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: on the front and on the back, and they were
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: written on its words lamentation and mourning and woe. How
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: about Isaiah or Isaiah if you prefer Chapter twenty nine,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: verses eleven and twelve. And the vision of all this
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: has become to you like the words of a book
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: that is sealed. When men give it to one who
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: can read, saying read this, he says I cannot, for
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: it is sealed. And when they give the book to
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: one who cannot read, saying read, he says I cannot read.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: So all of those references to this scroll or book
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: that is sealed. But what's in the book lamentation and
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: woe and judgment. Later on we are going to see
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: that when the seals begin to be broken, the judgment
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: of God is poured out. That answers our next question.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: And that next question is why would John weep? Why weep?
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Here is the scroll the scroll that is written on
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: the inside and on the outside. Here's this book and
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: it has these seven seals. The only why why do
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: you cry because it can't be open? Do you cry
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: because you think it may be an entertaining book? And
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: now you're not going to get to hear the entertaining book. No,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: you don't do that. Why is John weeping? John is
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: weeping because he understands what this book is. And anyone
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: who's reading this, who understands those illusions that we just made,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: understands that this scroll with its seven seals, contain the
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: complete and perfect judgment of God against sin. And here
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: we are in the throne room, and the judge is
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: sitting on his throne, and everybody throughout the history of
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: the world has been waiting for this moment when God
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: is going to judge the unrighteous. He's going to judge rightly,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: He's going to judge completely, He's going to judge perfectly.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: John stands there waiting for that moment when the judgment
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: of God is going to be revealed, when everything that
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: is wrong is going to be made right. And an
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: angel said, who can open it? And nobody? Can you
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: know what this means? This is not going to be justice.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: That's why he weeps. What is wrong is not going
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: to be made right. That's why he weeps, because if
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: there's no one who's worthy to break the seals and
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: open the scrolls, then the justice of God never comes.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Hendrix writes, this means for him that history will not
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: be governed in the interest of the church, and that
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: there will be no protection for God's children in the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: hours of bitter trial, no judgment upon the persecuting world,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: no ultimate triumph for believers, no new heaven, new earth,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: no future inheritance. That's why he weeps, because if no
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: one can open the scroll, redoomed. But there is one
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: back in our text, look at beginning at verse five,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: and one of the elders said to me, weep no more.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: And it's seven seals. In other words, here's the scroll.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: The ancient of days is seated on his throne. The
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: judgment of God and the inheritance of the saints. Here
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: in the scroll, with these seven seals on it. The
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: angel cries out and asks who can open it, and
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: there's no one found who can open it. John weeps
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: and the Angel says, boy, stop crying, because the lion
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: of the tribe of Judah and the root of David
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: has conquered. And because he is conquered, he is worthy
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: to open the scroll. Christ is worthy because of who
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: he is. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: What does that even mean? Well again, Old Testament illusion
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Genesis forty nine, eight through twelve. This is the blessing
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: that the brothers are receiving from their father. This is
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: the blessing that is given to Judah. And if you
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: understand Judah's story, you understand that Judah is a horrible
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: young man, a horrible brother, I mean absolutely ruined. What
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: they do to Joseph is unconscionable, and Judah's leading the way.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: Not only that, then he goes off and he's immoral,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: and it just means it's terrible. It's awful. But all
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, when they find their brother Joseph and
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Joseph tests them, sending them back so that they can
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: bring their brother Benjamin. By the way, Joseph and Benjamin
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: are the last two sons. They're born of the same mother,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: and they're despised by their brothers because their mother was favored.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: I think it was a terrible father. He was a
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: terrible father. He had a favorite son, He had multiple
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: wives and a favorite wife, and his favorite sons were
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: his favorite sons because of his favorite wife. Joseph thinks
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: that maybe maybe they killed Benjamin, like they tried to
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: kill him. Benjamin didn't come with them, so they say, okay, fine,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: you want to survive this famine, go bring that other brother.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: And they bring the other brother, and then Joseph says
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: that he's going to keep Benjamin, the son whom his
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: father loves. And watch what happens. Judah stands up and
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: offers himself as a substitute to rescue the son that
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: his father loves. Does that sound familiar? And that's when Judah,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: who's not the oldest, becomes the son of pre eminence.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: So in Genesis forty nine eight through twelve, here's the
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: blessing that's given to Judah. Judah, your brothers shall praise you.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Your father's sons shall bow before you. Judah is a
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: lion's cub from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: He stooped down. He crouched as a lion, and as
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: a lioness who dares rouse him. The scepter shall not
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: feet until tribute comes to him, and to him shall
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: be the obedience of the people's binding his foal to
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: the vine and his donkey's coat to the choice vine.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: He has washed his garments in wine and his vesture
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: in blood and blood of grapes. His eyes are darker
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: than the vine, and his teeth whiter than milk. That's
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: the prophecy made over Judah. Judah has a great son
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: by the name of David. By the way David distinguishes himself,
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: when there is a man in a valley challenging the
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: people of God, a man by the name of Goliath,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: and in a moment that is very similar to his
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: forefather Judah, whose line he's from, David, as a representative
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: of the people of God, goes down into the valley
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: and defeats the foe of the people of God, thereby
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: winning victory for all of God's people, as he was
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: their substitute. Jesus is the even greater son of Judah.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: So when the text says the lion of the tribe
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: of Judah and the root of David has conquered, what
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: the text is referring to is the fact that Jesus
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: is the promised Seed and that the promised Seed has conquered.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: Because in Genesis chapter three, when the curse comes to Eve,
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: what is it? Or when the curse comes to the serpent,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: what is it? I will put enmity between you and
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: the woman, and between your seed and her seed. You
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: bruises heel, but he will bruise your head. The seed
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: of the woman is going to come. She's going to
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: come through a particular line, and He's going to come
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: through that particular line in order to crush the head
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: of the serpent, to conquer sin and death and hell.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: And that's exactly what Christ does. The lion of the
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: tribe of Judah and the root of David has conquered,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: and because of that he's worthy. But not only that.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: Look at the next part of the verse, verse six,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: between the throne and the four living creatures, and among
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: had been slain. What an incredible picture. I saw a
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: lamb standing, not just a lamb standing, but a lamb
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: standing as though he had had been slain, with seven horns.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: By the way, these horns, that's authority, complete authority, seven eyes, omniscience.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: So the seven spirits of God sent out into all
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: the earth. And he went and took the scroll from
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: And when he had taken the scroll, the four living
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the lamb,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense,
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: which are the prayers of the saints. The lamb is worthy?
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Why is Christ worthy? First of all, he's worthy because
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: of who he is. Amen. He's worthy because he is
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: indeed the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: indeed the root of David. He is indeed the ancient
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: of days. He's worthy because he is the god Man.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: But not only is he worthy because of that, but
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: he's also worthy because he's the lamb who was slain.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Christ is worthy because in his active obedience he kept
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: the whole law on our behalf. Christ is worthy because,
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: in his passive obedience he died the death that we
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: deserved but could not die on our own. Christ is
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: worthy because he redeems us through this double imputation. His
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: righteousness imputed to us, our sinfulness imputed to him, so
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: that on the cross, in him the Father can become
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: both just and the justifier of the one who places
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: faith in Jesus. Christ is worthy because of who he
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: is and because of what He's done, So professor, legendary
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: professor at the seminary I went to by the name
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: of bruce Leafblad, and doctor Leif Blad was legendary for
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: a number of things, but one of the things that
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: everybody had to learn was doctor Leifblad's definition of true worship.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: And it went like this, True worship happens when we set
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: our mind's attention and heart's affection on the Lord, praising
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: him for who he is and for what he's done.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: I love that our mind's attention and our heart's affection
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: set on God, our mind's attention and our heart's affection
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: set on Christ, praising him for who he is and
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: what he's done. And that's what's happening here. And they
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: sang a new song. Watch what happens. They sang a
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: new song, saying, worthy are you to take the scroll
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: and to open its seals? For you were slain, and
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: by your blood you ransomed people for God, from every
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: tribe and language, in people and nation, from the whole earth.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: And you have made them a kingdom of priests to
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Christ
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: is worthy because of who he is and what He's done.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: But here's the beauty of this passage. Not only is
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: Christ worthy, but Christ makes us worthy. He makes his
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: people worthy to be a kingdom of priests, to offer
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: acceptable sacrifices, and he makes his people worthy to reign
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: on the earth. Now there are people who old different
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: escatological positions. But the different es scatological positions or that
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: your eschatology is your view about the end times. The
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: different eschatological positions differ on the wind, but not the
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: what amen. They may differ on when this reigning takes place,
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: whether this reiginning is taking place now, whether this rainning
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: is taking place in the future, they will differ on that.
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: But what they don't differ on is that we shall
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: reign and why because of how glorious we are. No
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: because we're found in him, and no other reason than that,
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, folks, Christ
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: is worthy. He's worthy because of who he is. He's
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: worthy because he's God. He's worthy because he's the promised Messiah.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: He's worthy because he's the lion of the tribe of
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Judah and the root of David. He's worthy. And then
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: he's worthy also because of what he's done. He's worthy
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: because he purchased a people for God with his own blood.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: Christ died for sin, once for all the just, for
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: the unjust, in order that he might bring us to God.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: He's worthy. He's worthy because of that. And as if
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: that's not enough, he makes us worthy. It's an amazing thing.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: We owe God worship. But you know what, we are
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: not worthy to give God the worship that we owe him.
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: We are sinful creatures. Our hands are filthy. Our hands
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: are filthy and covered with blood. We have nothing to
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: offer to God. And so here's our dilemma. The God
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: of the universe is worthy of worship. And the God
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: of the universe has worshiped me. And we come before
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: the God of the universe, and we say, here, we
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: will offer you our worship, and he looks at us
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: and he says, no, you're not worthy to come into
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: my presence. That's the dilemma. I owe God worship, but
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not worthy to give God worship, or at least
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: I wasn't. And then the lion of the tribe of Judah,
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: the root of David, the Lamb of God, was slain,
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: my sins, washed and cleansed. And he not only made
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: me whole, he made me righteous, and he made me
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: worthy so that I may be ushered into the presence
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: of God Almighty and sing a song that not even
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: the angels can sing, because you see, angels have not
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: been redeemed. We have washed in His blood, made whole,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: made righteous, made worthy to offer God the glory and
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: the honor and the praise that has due his name.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: Let me close with this. I read it before, I
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: need to read it again now in light of all
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: of this. Then I looked, and I heard around the
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: ellusion to Daniel, saying with a loud voice, worthy is
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: the lamb who was slain to receive power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory,
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: blessing sevenfold, praise, complete praise, all the praise, all glory,
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: all honor, all praise belonged to our God and to
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: his Son, our Lord, Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Bye
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: with me, Father, we bowble for you in humble aiteration,
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: thanking you in praising you for your goodness that you
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: have poured upon us, showered upon us through the person
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: and work of Christ, the lion of the tribe of Judah,
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: the root of David, the Lamb of God who takes
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: away the sins of the world, the Lamb who was
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: slain in order to redeem a people, to bring glory
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: and honor to you, of people to be worthy to
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: bring you the praise that is due to your name. Father,
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: I pray for those under the side of my voice
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: who have not come to know You in the part
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: of their sins, that the scales would be removed from
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: their eyes, and that they would flee from sin and
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: flee to Christ, who is worthy, and that in doing
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: so they may find forgiveness and salvation. I pray for
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: those under the sound of my voice who who are
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: in Christ, but who needed to be reminded today of
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: the person and work of Christ and its implications in
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: their life. I pray that today He would liberate us
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: to walk in that which is true of us, and
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: that in doing so, from our lips and with our lives,
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: we would give you that complete praise that is due
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: to you. We pray these things, and ask these things,
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: Believe these things, hope these things in the name of
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: our Lord, Save your Master and soon coming King Jesus,
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: who is the Christ, and all God's people said Amen.