Worship the Lamb Who was Slain
Text: Revelation 5:1-14
Introduction:
Theme: Worship the Lamb Who was Slain
Verses 1-4
Context:
This is a heavenly vision that was given to the apostle John in the last days of his life while he served out his banishment upon the island of Patmos.
In it, John saw a vision of the future. Something still yet future for us today. He saw a vision of the end of days, when the kingdoms of men are in their final hours and God is about to conquer the kingdoms of men and establish His kingdom upon the earth.
Revelation describes a time of great tribulation upon the earth: a time when many frightening judgements and disasters are poured out upon the earth.
And so you are probably wondering, “Pastor, why are you preaching from the book of Revelation on Easter Sunday, isn’t Easter Sunday about the resurrection and Jesus saving us from sin?”
I’m not going to answer that question. Where is the fun in that? You’ll see soon enough.
Here we are, transported with John into a vision of the future. The final days have arrived and the end is about to begin.
John sees before him the very throne of God the Father. God is seated on it and in His mighty and holy hand rests a scroll. The scroll is sealed seven times, a number often indicating completion and perfection in Scripture. It also tells us that what is inside the scroll is very important and not to be opened by any unauthorized persons.
All the creatures of heaven have gathered before the throne to see what will occur in these final hours. And a mighty angel announces “who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
A search is conducted. All people and creatures present in heaven are examined and deemed unworthy, unfit, to open this divine scroll. The creatures living upon the earth are examined. They, also, are unfit to open the scroll. The search is so desperate to find somebody, anybody, who might be able to open the scroll that it moves even to those who have died. Those resting in the grave under the earth. Nobody can open it.
John despairs. He weeps loudly. There is no hope. The scroll will not be opened. Mankind is doomed to its travails and sorrows. The beginning of the end, God bringing justice to the earth and establishing at long last peace, rest, and heavenly perfection – all of the heavenly hopes we have in the perfect and righteous and whole and happy and loving heavenly future that God has promised us look like they are beginning to crumble to pieces. – It has been thwarted by the complete unworthiness of any creature to open a simple scroll.
Link: But then one of the elders – a faithful and honored follower of God, gives John hope. The elder is a believer and is saved like John is, but he has been worshipping God in heaven a long time now and he knows some things. Hope is not gone, weep no more,
“Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” *Read 5-7*
Verses 5-7
This Lamb is Jesus Christ. And He is being seen here as a slain lamb because of what happened on Good Friday. Though He died long ago, He still bears the scars today and the importance of that event has not diminished. Here in the future, Jesus still bears the scars of His sacrifice. The death occurred long ago, but Jesus still chooses to identify as the Lamb slain.
The horns and eyes represent His perfection of power and divine omnipresence and omniscience. He is the Lamb who was slain, but by no means is He a wuss. He has all power and sees and is present throughout the earth.
In the midst of John’s tears, he now sees that Jesus has done what no one else could do. No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was worthy to open the seals. But Jesus Christ, the one we worship and the reason we gather together today this Easter morning, He has done it.
You think Easter is a big deal? We don’t know the half of it. All of this we are reading about will happen because Jesus rose from the dead. To answer the question earlier, “why Revelation on Easter?” Because this is how heaven celebrates. This is how significant the resurrection really is.
Jesus has conquered. His worthiness has been amply proven by all the powerful and beautiful deeds we have been reading about in the Gospels, by the perfection of His life, but most of all because He has conquered sin, He has conquered hell, and He has conquered death. And though He is the Lamb slain – here He stands in heaven, triumphant over everything that stood in the way of God establishing perfection upon the earth. Jesus has risen from the dead. The victory has been had. Conquest has occurred. All that remains is to institute the fruits of His labor.
Link: Heaven holds its breath as Jesus goes forward, reaches into the hand of the God over all of the universe, and takes from it the scroll. And when He does so, the universe begins to worship Him.
Verses 8-10
The spontaneous worship has a ripple effect. First it starts with those closest to God and it works its way out from there to all of heaven and then all of the earth.
The 24 elders and the 4 living creatures – the ones worshipping God non-stop, have now turned their attention to God the Son. With instruments of pure gold they present to Him a new song of worship composed especially for Jesus and they sing of His worthiness because of the Gospel.
Around 2000 years ago, Jesus shed His blood on the cross and opened the path to heaven for all those trusting in Him. He ransomed them, bought them up for God, people from every tribe, language, people, and nation. He chose to suffer and die for the sins of all on a cross, and by so doing saved people and brought them to God.
And all of those people from all times and countries and colors and languages, He has made all of these people into one kingdom of priests. People from America, China, Rome, Indonesia, France, even North Korea purchased with the precious blood of Christ, made into holy people, and formed into a new heavenly kingdom. Soon, that kingdom of priests shall reign with Jesus upon the earth.
Link: Worship that starts with 28 quickly explodes to ten thousands upon ten thousands.
Verses 11-12
A myriad is 10,000. Ten thousands upon ten thousands, and thousands upon thousands to boot. Ten thousand by ten thousand is 100 million alone, so we’re probably looking at a billion + here. Rather than sing, they shout about the worthiness of Jesus. John was probably glad at that point it was just a vision, or else he probably would have gone deaf!
They, too, worship Jesus because of the Gospel.
Link: The worship rippling out from the center consumes the universe: billions, trillions even are now involved.
Verses 13-14
All of this occurs because of what Jesus did for us on the cross and because, though He was slain, yet He lives and has conquered.
Share Gospel:
Sin:
“No one on earth was found worthy who could open the scroll” – “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Nobody was worthy to enter in to God’s presence, let alone to be so bold as to take the scroll from His hand.
We’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Creator:
The fact we have all sinned is gravely serious because there is a Creator who is also the judge of all the earth.
As our creator, He has certain expectations for His creatures. He also has the power and authority to do something about it when we don’t live up to His expectations.
In this day when everybody can do whatever they want and the only sin is telling someone that they can’t or shouldn’t do something, the fact that God is judge over all the earth is a put off to many.
But keep in mind that His standards are good and beautiful standards. His standards are against lying, violence, anger. God wants the establishment of love, peace, perfection.
In Revelation, God finally sets about to establish that upon the earth. And the reason we get to enjoy God’s peace, love, and perfection is because of Jesus.
Son and Cross:
Jesus made possible our salvation and our reigning together with Him in God’s kingdom upon the earth. He did this by living perfectly and never sinning. Everything Jesus has ever thought or done has been completely pure and good. And then, when the fullness of time came, Jesus laid down His life and became the Lamb slain.
The Bible says “God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
All people trusting in, or putting their faith in, Jesus are bought by His blood for God and are made into a kingdom of priests to God. They are born again, saved from the coming judgement spoken about in Revelation, made into new and holy people who now have a special relationship with God and a wonderful hope.
Jesus accomplished all of this with His death on the cross.
Resurrection and Conquest:
But Jesus didn’t stay dead. That is what we celebrate today and rejoice in. If Jesus had stayed dead, there would be no conquest or victory or hope. He would not be in heaven in this scene to take the scroll. This scene would never occur. The extension of the scroll and the search to find someone worthy to take it would be met with a deafening and hopeless silence.
But Jesus did resurrect from the grave on the third day. By doing so, He triumphed over sin, Satan, death, the grave, and proved all of His claims to be true. “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
He then ascended into heaven where He stands before the Father praying for us and watching over us.
Application One:
Worship the Lamb Who was Slain
Application Two:
Place Your Faith in the Lamb Who was Slain