Revelation 5:1-14

The book of Revelation chapter 5. 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. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who was worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. And no man in heaven, nor in earth, nor under the earth, was able to over. the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, have prevailed to open the book, and the loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and low, in the midst of the throne, and all the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came, took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four, beast and the four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb having every one of them harps and gold vials full of odors which are the prayers of the saints and they sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou hast thou was slain and has redeemed us to god by thy blood out of every kindredred and tongue and and people and nation. And it’s made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on or over the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beast and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice worthy as the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing, and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, such as are in the sea, and all that are there in them, heard I saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that siteth upon the throne. and under the land forever and ever. And the four beast said, amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever. Amen. God blessed us. His secret and holy word this morning. The church, as we said, was on the verge of a verge of a time of massive person. unlike anything that has been seen before. In fact, it’s already begun. And John has been exiled to the Isle of Patmos off the coast of Turkey. So a dark pitcher lay before him. Frightening prospects for the people of God. So in order to encourage the people of God, we find that John is given a vision from God’s point of view, for he is taken up to heaven in this vision, and he’s seeing things from the heavenly perspective. Now, last week we talked about chapter four, and we saw that God was certainly in charge, and the church here is assured that the righteous will be rewarded, and the wicked will be punished. And now we see the worship of Christ as the Redeemer in Chapter 5. Some of have said, we have the Song of Creation in Chapter 4, and we have the Song of Recreation in Chapter 5 with Christ and the regeneration of a people. So we want to look at Chapter 5 this morning. Now the first thing we see here in the first four verses is that the one who sits on the throne, God Almighty, holds in his hand a seven sealed book, or we might better say scroll, in his hand. What does this seven sealed book? This is an important point. We want to take some time and make sure that we have a proper identification of the seven-sealed book or scroll. Because your interpretation should be controlled by several things. The first thing it should be controlled by is this. The book must apply to first century events happening to John’s generation, because we saw in Chapter 1, the time is at hand. these things must shortly come to pass. The second thing, I suggest, as far as controlling our interpretation, is this, that Scripture should be used to interpret Scripture. Is there another place in Scripture where we’re told about a sealed book that’s written within and without? That might give us some clue as to how, to interpret this passage of Scripture. And the answer to that is yes. This is where, again, you have to know your Old Testament prophets because this passage seems to be drawing upon the book of Ezekiel. And I want you to turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 2. I’ll say this, that if you take the time, and we don’t have time to do that this morning, but you want to take the time. It’s interesting to read Ezekiel chapter 1, where the prophet gets a vision from heavenly view. And then he’s given this book in chapter 2. And so if you read chapter 1 of Ezekiel, find some very similar statements to what we find in chapter 4 of the book of Revelation. Because he’s seeing things from the throne room of God. in Ezekiel and also John does so in chapter four of Revelation. But I want to focus here on chapter two and verses 3 through 11, and then I’ll go in chapter 2 versus 3 through 11, and then I’m going to go into chapter 3 and read through verse 9. See if this sounds familiar. And he said unto me, son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation, which hath rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even unto this very day. Now let’s drop down to chapter, or down the verse 9. And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto me, and lo, a roll of a book of a book was therein. And he spread it before me and it was written within and without. And there was written within lamentations and mourning and woe. In chapter 3. Moreover, he said unto me, son of man, eat that thou findest. Eat this roll. Go and speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, son of man, cause thy belly to eat, fill thy boughs with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And he said unto me, son of man, go and get thee under the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. Thou, for thou are, not sent to a people of a strange speech, of a hard language, but to the house of Israel. Not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely had I sent thee to them, they would have hearken unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for they have not hearken unto me. For all the house of Israel are imprudent and hard-hearted, behold, I have made thy face strong. against their faces, in thy forehead, strong against their foreheads, as an adamant, harder than flint, have I made thy forehead? Fear than not, neither be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And God blessed to us his word here. Now you’ll notice that this prophet is given a book. This book is also written. within and without. This book is something he’s told to eat. Later chapter 10 of the book of Revelation, John is told to eat the book that the mighty angel holds in his hand, and it’s opened. Because by that time, all seven seals had been broken, and the book had been open. So he’s told to eat the book, too. So both of them eat the book. Both of it found the book sweet as honey in their mouth, although John will find his belly made bitter by the book. If you look at chapter 10 of the book of Revelation, you’ll see that. But what I want you to notice here is that in this book, verse 10 is the key, there are lamentations, mourning, and woe. And who is this book written about? Isn’t it written? to the nation of Israel. He said, if I sent you to a foreign power that didn’t have the same language and maybe a more difficult understanding of language, they would have listened. But I’ve sent you to the nation to Israel, and they will not listen. And so this book, which is full of lamentations and mourning and woe, is against the nation of Israel, isn’t it? Now I told you all that to lead you to where we are here in Chapter 5. Because I believe John is intentionally pointing you to Ezekiel’s prophecy because the message is identical in both books. The sealed book. is against the nation of Israel. It’s specifically a divine judgment executed toward an apostate nation who will not listen to the Lord God. Thus, when we read about these judgments being poured out and the sealed judgments open in Chapter 6, coming upon the earth, we should understand it as the land. because it is against the nation of Israel. The third thing is, I would mention as far as the interpretation of the seven-sealed book, is the seven-fold nature of the judgments of this book. We have the seven seals. We get the last seal, it opens up into the seven trumpets. Get the last trumpet, it opens up into the seven bowls, and so forth. So all of these. are 7-7-7 each time. What was the covenantal curse that God pronounced against Israel if they did not obey him? I’ll read from Leviticus 2618. And if you will not yet for all this, meaning the various chastisements I’ve sat, hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more. for your sins. So from these three indicators, I suggest to you, that we see this is a fulfillment of what we’ve been talking about from chapter 1 and verse 7, the theme of the book, and what was the theme of the book, that these events are associated with the judgment against Israel. It’s not. viewed as the backdrop of the judgment against national Israel, which we said was the key to understanding of the book of Revelation, and so we see it confirms what we said about chapter 1 and verse 7. The problem that we have is who is worthy to open the book? No man anywhere is able to open the book. Whether he looks in heaven or he looks on the earth or he looks under the earth, I take that is the place of departed spirits. No matter where he looks, there’s nobody. who can open the book. And so John weeps. The seven sealed book. Any questions about that before I move on? Okay. In verses 5 and 6 now, we see the appearance of the lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ appears here in verses 5 and 6. And one of the elders said unto me, weep not, behold, the lion of the lion of Jesus Christ appears here in verses 5 and 6. the tribe of Judah, the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne of the four beasts, in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. Now, at this point, the central figure of really the whole chapter and we could say the whole book of revelation is the triumphant Christ. He claims the right to execute the judgment against Israel. He has the right to take the book and open the seals. So he approaches the throne. He takes the book from the Lord God, and he’s prepared. to open it. He’s called in verse 5, the lion of the tribe of Judah. This is probably a reference to what we find in Genesis chapter 49, verses 9 and 10, where Judah is a lion’s whelp. He crouched as a lion as an old lion. Who shall rouse him? The sceptor 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. The word Shiloh is the rest or the peace, the one who brings rest, the one who brings peace. It is a reference to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is then the line of the tribe of Judah that was talked about by Jacob in his dying declaration. This person. portrays Jesus Christ then as a king, as an heir to the throne of David as we find him referred to here. It speaks of strength. It speaks of bravery. Now, John looks to see the lion, but what he actually sees in verse 6 is lamb as it had been slain. Christ appears. even though he’s the lion, he’s the king, he appears as one freshly slain. I take it that we have the idea here of the ascension of the resurrected Christ to the Father’s right hand being portrayed to us in this vision. If you’ll hold your place here and look with me at Daniel, chapter 7, verses 13 and 14. This is the reference that I think we, we, would make to this particular passage. Daniel 7, verses 13 and 14. And I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the son of man, again, this is Jesus Christ, came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. Now notice he’s not coming down to earth here. He’s going up to heaven. This is his ascension. This is his ascension. This is his being raised from the dad, his ascension to heaven, and his sitting at the right hand of the Heavenly Father. Verse 14, and there was given him dominion and glory in a kingdom, and all people, nations, and languages should serve him. Similar to what we read in Revelation 5, right? And his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away in his kingdom, that which shall not pass away. be destroyed. So the emphasis here then is on Christ as the Lamb of God, as the sacrifice for his people, as the Redeemer. This also provides a reason for the severe judgment against Israel. Every eye that sees him is going to mourn and wail because him, even they which have what, pierced him. Chapter 1, verse 7, we said was the theme of the book. Those who have pierced him are going to pay a price. He has seven horns, which horns speak of strength. This is perfect strength. He’s almighty, of course. He has the seven eyes, the seven-fold fullness of this spirit by which Christ exercised perfect vigilance on behalf of his people. You read Isaiah chapter 11 verse 2 talks about the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of might, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of the fear of the Lord, the spirit of Jehovah. These are the seven spirits that are mentioned that rested upon the Messiah of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he is gifted in all these ways. So we have the appearance of the Lamb here. any questions about this aspect of the section of scripture here in verses 5 and 6? Yes. I thought it was interesting. Does he? I didn’t actually read that. I sort of, I just took that from my own understanding. When I read it, it just seemed like that was what they were saying. Yeah. And I’m glad to hear that someone else is in agreement with that. I think that. That’s the point. I think we’re still dealing with that narrow period here, the 40-year period, basically, from the time Christ is crucified until the judgment falls, 70 AD. And on the 30s to the 70s, that’s what we’re dealing with, that short period of time. And so we see him coming and being enthroned in a sense. We’ll see him on the throne by the Lord, all God Almighty, Almighty, the Father. So we have this idea. So the appearance of the Lamb. In verses 7 to 14, we have the worship of the Lamb. Let’s look at that. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beast and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers. of the saints. And they sung a new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and has made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the land that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing, and every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth in which such as are in the sea and all that are in them, all that are in them, heard I saying blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and under the lamb forever and ever and the four beasts said amen and the four and twenty and four and twenty elders fell down and worship before him that liveth forever and ever only christ can open the book and meet out the judgment upon apostate israel as the persecutor of the church this action caused great joy in heaven there is rejoicing in heaven there is rejoicing in heaven heaven. They’re going to be rejoicing when the beast is also judged in chapter 19. When the beast is judged, heaven rejoices. In chapter 19, we see them rejoicing. Well, the lamb is worshipped here by the four living creatures, which we said were seraphim, and the 24 elders. Don’t notice, when our previous study, we said the 24 elders are representatives of the whole church, both of the Old and New Testament. And you’ll notice verse 9 proves this to be the case. when he talks about who they are that they are the ones who have been redeemed out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and so forth. And so we are speaking about the saints. The 24 elders sing a song of redemption with harps and also they have the golden bowls of incense which represent the prayers of the saints. The song is new, not in the sense of time, but as to kind. It was a unique song, nothing like it. Man redeemed by God manifested in the flesh. The redemptive work we see was for God. He’s redeemed us to God. It’s for God’s for God’s benefit and his honor that we’ve been redeemed. It is through Christ’s blood. By thy blood we’ve been redeemed. This is a sacrificial death of Christ on the cross, of course. and it’s international because it includes people from all different nations and tongues and so forth. Notice the elevated status we have. He’s made us kings and priests and we shall reign on. I prefer the word over there. I think it would be better to say over the earth. As priests, we can draw near to God and we serve God. And as kings, we shall reign with Christ. as the promises in scripture. We saw that earlier. One of the promises to the church, one of the seven churches, was that you would get to sit on the throne and reign with Christ. Well, here it is. A multitude of angels join in the singing and the praise for the worthiness of the land. It’s a thrilling scene, isn’t it, of adoration and worship of the Lord Jesus Christ? it’s breathtaking in a way and its portrayal of what’s going on in heaven. So here is the throne room. So we have the worship of God as creator and now we have the worship of Christ as the Redeemer. We looked at the preface of the book. We looked at Christ in the seven churches. We looked at the throne room. We’ve now looked at the second part. We’ve now looked at the part of the throne room here is first God is praised as the creator and then he’s praised as the Redeemer and the Lord Jesus Christ. Any questions before I go to a few practical thoughts on this? Okay. Let me say this. It’s interesting we find Christ portrayed both as a lion and as a land. As a lion, Christ as king is prepared to tear into his enemy. He is prepared to destroy them. Who can stand in opposition to him? He’s strong. He’s powerful. As a lamb, Christ is portrayed as the Savior, as the one who laid down his life to save his people from their sins. He’s the only way of salvation. And we see his humility and his love and this. So he’s both the lion and the Lamb. Reformation Bible, a heritage Bible, says this. I think this is interesting. Without Christ, we have cause for nothing but weeping, as John’s weeping. But with Christ, we have reason for nothing but worship. So the first part, John’s weeping, but then someone prevails to open the book and he’s worthy of all worship. If the holy angels proclaim for us, how worthy Christ is of worship, as we see in chapter 5 verses 11 and 12, then how much more should sinful human beings who have been saved by Christ deem him worthy of worship? Notice that Christ’s sacrificial death has redeemed us to God. This is not a hypothetical redemption. It’s not just, he made it possible that we could be redeemed. He redeemed. He redeemed. He redeemed. He redeemed. us. He obtained eternal redemption for us. To redeem is the buy back, to purchase from slavery to sin and to say, Christ’s sacrifice always redeems the sinner who trusts in him. Let me say this. If Christ died for you, your salvation is guaranteed. I like Romans 832. if you can’t get limited to tellman out of this verse, you might as well pack up your bags and go home. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? If Christ has died and purchased it for you, you’re going to get it. There’s no question about it. And therefore, this is our gamut. as the people of God. Any thoughts? Perhaps you have other practical thoughts that have come to mind while we went over this that you would like to interject here or add.