Now Revelation chapter 5 beginning at verse 6 hear the word of God and I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a lamb standing as It's slain Having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth and He came and took the book out of that right hand of him who sat on the throne When he had taken the book the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb Each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints and They sang a new song saying worthy are you To take the book and to break its deals For you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth then I looked and I Heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was Myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and Every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb the blessing and honor and glory and Dominion forever and ever and The four living creatures kept saying amen and the elders fell down and Worship amen Let's pray Heavenly father, we thank you again for this time this evening as we consider the book of revelation Lord I pray that you would help me and give me The ability Lord to speak with clarity and to apply the word in a way that is Beneficial to your people and ultimately Lord glorifying to you help your people Lord to listen and Help us Lord God to consider these things well in Christ name I pray amen So what? Whenever you hear that question, it's generally an impolite way to respond to communication so what But if you think about that question seriously so what? The essence of that question They've asked well is really trying to get at What really matters So what really matters The content of Revelation chapter 5 is what really matters This is what really matters and as we have seen John is taken up Into heaven and he sees the throne room of God and he sees these Angelic beings that sort of live around the throne of God and then he's Sort of brought closer to the throne and he sees something in the hand of The father he sees a scroll Written front and back sealed seven times and an angel appears a strong angel and he poses a Universal challenge a challenge to the entire universe. Who is worthy and no created thing is able to respond To the challenge of the angel Now this causes John to weep and then one of the elders that's there sort of shakes John Stop weeping the hold the lion of the tribe of Judah The root of Jesse more of David the root of David has conquered and John looks and sees last week we saw that in This event that John sees sort of this vision that John receives in heaven that we saw that this event occurred at the ascension of Jesus Christ At the request of Pastor Mike it was Polemical, but that's what we saw all right This is an event that occurred at the ascension of of Christ to heaven And then and now when John turns to see He doesn't see a lion standing there He sees a lamb yet consider What the elder says to him the elder says to John the lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered He's a conqueror and The one whom John looks at is a conqueror But he doesn't see a lion. He sees a lamb That's what he sees he sees the land As if it had been slaughtered it's standing there as if it had been slaughtered the description here that we we get of The lion of the tribe of Judah, it's not that it's changed. It's not that we have a different Character now it's still the lion of the tribe of Judah yet. He is a lion lamb He is a mighty conquering warrior yet The way of victory is through death This is how the Messiah Conquers it's through his dying The lamb that imagery of course it draws us back to the Old Testament right and we think pass over The lamb is slain Blood is placed on the doorpost and the destroying angel comes and wherever that blood is Those inside the home are spared the day of atonement may come to mind where the sins of God's people are Expeated Isaiah 53 also comes to mind and The lamb That is silent before as a lamb that is silent before its cheerers The servant of God as a lamb he has led to the slaughter All of this Old Testament imagery. I think John wants us To bring all of these themes together and even those themes that are in his Gospel the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world That's what we are supposed to see here And it's not Just that the lamb has died. No the lamb has been slaughtered It has suffered a violent death But the lamb is not laying in heaven He's standing this slaughtered lamb is not dead By his death he has conquered and he is standing in heaven which means That he died But he was raised the sacrifice he offered was accepted by the father This is really the language of He's a conqueror. This is the a vision or imagery of Conquest He is a lion lamb. He's victorious yet the paradox is that he is victorious Because he dies this is the battle that he fights the way the lamb wages war Or his greatest instrument of war was the cross Where he died for God's people and all though Resurrection is implied because he's standing really the focus The focus of the chapter is on his death. So quickly if you look at verse nine Look at verse nine. Why is the lamb worthy? Because you were slain because you were slain that's what the focus is the focus of the chapter is his death Resurrection is implicit, but the focus is His death he died Look again at verse 12 Worthy is the lamb that was slain That was slain The lion of the tribe of Judah the lion of God He has conquered But he has conquered by dying as a ransom for the people of God and the brothers and sisters Because the lamb died we can stand in the very presence of God knowing With confidence That all of our sins have been paid for the description really here is intending to draw us in To the plans and purposes of God in the ministry of the Messiah and it's exalting really One particular point look at Isaiah 53. This is this is the point that it's really exalting In Isaiah 53 Beginning at verse 11 Listen to the words here as a result of the anguish of his soul He will see it and be satisfied By his knowledge the righteous one my servant will justify the many as He will bear their iniquities Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great He is the lion He is the Messiah and the King. He is the great one and He will divide the booty with the strong Right the spoils of his victory the Messiah will enjoy he currently is enjoying the spoil of his victory Because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors Yet he himself bore the sin of many and Interceded for the transgressors substitutionary atonement He was slain for God's people and this is how he conquered And he was raised and he ascended into heaven and by virtue of his person and work. He is Worthy He is worthy back to revelation. He's worthy to do what to do what no Created thing could do Verse 7 he came and took the book out of the right hand of him who sat on The throne by virtue of his person and by virtue of his work. He is able to take the scroll From the hand of him who sits on the throne if you are not a Christian and you're sitting here Today look no further with John look to the lion lamb He is the only one who can save you from your sins Now he's described a particular way, right? So so you have this general this this Description that has to do with his person and his work with what he with what with what he has done yet he has seven horns and He has the seven spirits as it says in the text it says Which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth So Generally seven in the Bible is a number of fullness or completion, right? So the earth is created in six days, but there's a seventh day, right? And that's a day of rest, but what it marks is that creation was complete. It was done Nothing else was needed. Therefore God could enter into rest He can look upon the things he made It is the number of fullness and horns generally denote Authority power strength kings kingdoms. So for example We'll look at one text look at Daniel Chapter seven And references here is a reference here to horns and an interpretation of what? The horns on the beast are the Daniel seven verse 24 as for the ten horns Out of this kingdom ten kings shall shall or will arise the Ten horns are representative of ten kings look at Psalm 18 Psalm 18 in Psalm 18 We have a reference here to horn in Psalm 18 verse 6 Verse 2 verse 2 or Psalm 18 verse 2 I'll read from verse 1. I love you. Oh Lord my strength The Lord is my rock and My fortress and my deliverer My God my rock in Whom I take refuge my shield and the horn of my salvation in other words my stronghold So so horns are they It's an imagery used to communicate strength power authority kinship and this lamb has the fullness of power and authority omnipotence is What is being communicated here the lamb is? Omnipotent he is all powerful And wouldn't it be that way when the challenge is placed before the entire universe who is worthy who will be able to take The scroll and to open its seals no one but one the lamb who is Omnipotent And he has the seven Spirits of God. This is a little harder. I think the idea still at seven is fullness In Zechariah chapter four in Zechariah chapter four and we looked at this text One evening briefly, but if you take a look at Zechariah chapter four you have the imagery there that's given to Zaruba Bell of a menorah and this Seven Well, let's read it and get it right in verse two of Zechariah chapter four And he said to me what do you see and I said I see and behold a lamp stand all of gold with its bowls on The top of it and it's seven lamps on it with seven sprouts belonging to each of the lamps Which are on the top of it so he sees this lamp stand a menorah and it has seven lamps and Seven sprouts on top of it and then he's asked by the angel Do you know what this is and he says no, I have no idea what this is Listen to the angels reply in verse five So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me do you not know what these are and I said no My lord then he said to me. This is the word of the Lord to Zaruba Bell saying So so what is this image? Well the image is contains in it a Word that's being communicated to Zaruba Bell So what is it? What is it that the image is communicating to Zaruba Bell? Not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts The image is communicating to Zaruba Bell That God is going to accomplish his purposes by the power or by means of his spirit That's what the image is meant to communicate now Look a little further in the chapter if you look down at Verse 10 verse 10 For who has despised the day of small things and what wasn't it a day of small things in the day of Zaruba Bell? It was a day of small things if you studied the book of Ezra with us, you know, it was a day of small things But these seven Now if you look back right the closest reference right is this lampstand these seven Which is it's communicated to Zaruba Bell very clearly that the the seven Refers to the the spirit the spirit of God But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zaruba Bell These are the seven are the eyes of the Lord which range to and fro throughout the earth For the seven the seven are the eyes of the Lord that go throughout all the earth The seven are the spirit of God So if we go back to Revelation Listen to the way. It's communicated here. He has All authority Omnipotent power and He also has Seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out Into all the earth what's communicated there not only Omnipotent power But omniscience What does a king need a king needs to be powerful enough to exercise his will and know what's happening Everywhere in his kingdom the Messiah has been exalted and enthroned as king of the universe He needs he has what he needs to run his kingdom Now that's not the only place because I think it's communicating something very specific the fact That the Messiah this is who we're looking at That has attained this spirit is very very important Really what this is The imagery of the horns and the imagery of the eyes is It's indicating again. It's relating the lamb imagery to the lion imagery And it's showing that all of this is messianic I Might sound repetitive here, but I'm just just briefly I thought about this Remember we covered this in our Sunday school class and I've referenced it in the sermon some But remember the difficulty that the disciples had Was the fact that the Messiah dies They lose hope because of that they think well God's not accomplishing his plans and purposes They don't bring together. They don't understand They don't know to bring together these truth these two truths that the lion must be a lamb. They can't bring it together But in the person in work of Jesus Christ as what he does he brings these two things together The lion must be a lamb Yeah, what the imagery here is communicating is that the Messiah has accomplished God's Purposes has accomplished God's purposes the Davidic king if you remember is The man of the spirit We'll take a look at a text in Isaiah I think yes a little later. We'll see this in Isaiah, but I want to show it to you first in the book of Acts Look in the book of Acts and Listen to Peter's sermon Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost and you have to sort of hold What the context in mind and and sort of? Consider how Peter is addressing the context specifically It's not that Peter just sees a group of people and he's like man This would be a great time for a sermon and just starts preaching something. That's not related to what's happening Right, so something's going on The spirit has fallen and Now Peter's Peter addresses the situation the verse 17 in chapter 2 So verse go to verse 15 for these men are not drunk as you suppose for it is Only the third hour of the day, but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel Okay, so he's he's giving an answer to what's going on here people are joking. They're probably drunk. He's no This this is this is a fulfillment of one of the promises that God gave particularly the outpouring of the spirit That's what's happening here The spirit is being poured out Okay, so he makes that point and then he explains you'll too if you Want a fuller explanation find the Sunday school class. We don't have time to work through all of Joel, but now look at verse 32 Because what he does is he relates what he what he does right after he gives us that text from Joel he begins to cite Texts that are related to the Messiah and strings a bunch of them together David texts that are Making reference to the Davidic Covenant he strings a bunch of them together again in a Sunday school class I think for two or three weeks we work through this chapter. Maybe two weeks Look at verse 32 Verse 32 this is Jesus God raised up again To which we are all witnesses Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God and Having received from the father The promise of the holy spirit. What does he do? He pours out this spirit, right? He has the fullness of the spirit the seven eyes of God Therefore what does he do from heaven? He pours out the spirit and if you think here you're thinking with me Have the events in Revelation chapter 5 already occurred Once he's preaching this text. Yes, the Sun is already ascended. He's been enthroned We'll take a look at one more text in Isaiah 42 a little in a few minutes We're already almost that time, but I think I started like so So This is this is all messianic imagery the lion the lamb the horns The eyes it's all messianic imagery what it's communicating is that God the Messiah Has come and he has conquered he has conquered by his death therefore He is able to execute the judgments and the blessings That are in the scroll And that's what he begins to do in chapter 6. He has already began to pour out his blessings So if you think of Ephesians chapter 4, what does he do? He ascends into heaven and what does he do? He gives gifts to men And he does that by means of his spirit. He gives apostles profits teachers pass, right? This is what it means for him to be the man of the spirit. He creates a people a dwelling place for God so Well, why does this matter because the statement in Matthew chapter 28 verse in 18 is dependent upon this That's basically what he says there. He says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto me therefore And somebody could say well, you know You're not all that powerful. No, I am omnipotent Well, but you don't know everything that's going on everywhere. No, I am omniscient and I'm saying go and from heaven I Will control Circumstances and events and bend the will of history to do my will And then I will empower you in the midst of that to do my will The Messiah has conquered That's what's happened here. That's What really matters? He has conquered so Then he exercises his messianic right verse seven. He takes the scroll He takes the scroll from the father's hand and then what listen to this So what happens then? the Messiah has Accomplished his mission So so then what happens? after heaven sees That he has accomplished his mission when he had taken the book the four living creatures and The 24 elders fell down before the lamb and consider these are beings That sort of when John is in the midst of them. He's like trying to pray to one Right. They look so Glorious and they're holy and pure these are these are the beings that are they're right around the throne of God and What they do is they prostrate themselves before the lamb. I Think it's the 24 elders were holding The harps and the golden bowls and it's it's almost, you know Sort of comical right because they're no we're not told that they have these harps and these bowls Earlier, but here once the the the Messiah takes authority. It's like they pull them out You know, well, it's party time in heaven. That's what's being communicated here worship Worship in heaven because of what the Messiah has accomplished Something that's really important and we didn't have time really when we looked at the 24 elders because I Sort of preach chapter 4 in one sermon Which wasn't good. Maybe I could go back and repreach it, but There the the the 24 elders are exercising really a priestly function What's interesting is that in first in first chronicles in first chronicles chapter 23 David is making preparations for the temple to be built right so he's making all these preparations And now the tent of God isn't going to be moved around anymore. So he's like well, we're gonna do it all these priests You know, we're Not a welfare state, you know, we're not just going to pay people to hang out So he makes them or gives them instruments of worship and then there are there's this class of Levitical priests that specifically use harps in Their temple worship so now in the temple of heaven when the Messiah Accomplishes God's purposes. What happens priestly worship Priestly worship and then something that's interesting is they have these bowls So they're playing music and They have the bulls and we're we're told what the bowls are the bowls are the prayers of the saints and So we think generally our prayers that ascend to God But these are specific prayers. It's not like general prayers. Look at chapter 15. I think chapter 15 chapter 15 and verse 7 then one of the four living creatures Gave to the seven angels yet to the to the seven angels seven golden bowls And what do the bowls have inside? The wrath of God These prayers of the saints and and if we had time you could trace this throughout the book of Revelation are imprecatory prayers by the saints against the wicked and That's what they're holding and Those prayers are going to be fulfilled. Why because the Messiah Their mediator the enthroned king of heaven is going to exercise his will and What he wills he wills In part through his people and what do we do we we raise up our voices and we cry out how long oh Lord and He's saying It's coming. I Will exercise my sovereign prerogative and will answer your prayers to pour out my wrath Upon this rebellious world So the there's there's now this priestly worship that begins in heaven and They sing a new song If you for the background of that in first Chronicles 23 if you read first Chronicles 23 and a few chapters before and after it's that entire section where David is preparing the temple for worship The first part Chronicles 23 and now they sing a new song and there are several several places in scripture where a new song comes up For the sake of time in Psalm 23 the new song is sung because of creation so there's a new song song because of creation in Exodus chapter 15. There's a song sung there a new song sung there because of redemption So creation Causes worship we say you see that in Revelation chapter 4. That's very clear they praise the one sitting on the throne because he is the creator of all things and redemption is a cause of worship and singing and We should think that way Right when we look out at the expanse right there just a beautiful sunset a tree Grasshoppers oceans, whatever it is That should cause us to worship We should be drawn to worship but more than that Redemption should be the cause of worship the people of God ought to be a worshipful people because of redemption yet in Psalm 96 And I think this is important in Psalm 96 a New song is also sung there, but why is the song sung there? Sing to the Lord a New song sing to the Lord all the earth sing to the Lord bless his name Proclaim good tidings of his salvation from day to day so oh salvation That's why we sing but it's joined to something now Look at verse 13 Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice Let the sea roar and all it contains Let the field exult and all that is in it Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord now in revelation that happens In Revelation chapter 5 everything begins to worship When the Messiah is he's invested with the authority he rightfully deserves Because of his person and work all of creation worships not just heaven But all things it's sort of that that text in Revelation gives an answer to this like when When the Messiah was exalted why? Let them sing verse 13 before the Lord why for he is coming For he is coming to judge the earth He will judge the world in righteousness and the people in faithfulness Revelation chapter 6 shows us the exercise of his judgment when those seals begin to break What the Messiah is doing and he is beginning to dispense his wrath upon the world So the new song is sung for all of these reasons Now Isaiah 42 Good Isaiah 42 So creation redemption judgment In Isaiah 42 We have this text Behold my servant Whom verse 1 behold my servant Whom I uphold my chosen one and whom I sold the lights I have put my spirit upon him Right Jesus the Messiah the servant of God is the man of the spirit That's what this text is also communicate even more right he has the spirit the fullness of the spirit is his He will bring forth justice to the nations. This is what he is going to do He will not cry out or raise his voice nor make his voice heard in the streets a bruised reed He will not break. He will not extinguish. He will faithfully bring forth justice He will not be disheartened or crushed until he has established Justice in the earth and the coastlands will wait Expected expectantly for his law Thus says God the Lord who created the heavens and stretch them out who spread out the earth And it's offspring who gives the breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you And I will point you as a covenant to the people as a light to the nations to open Blind eyes to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, right? The Messiah's rule reigns his power his ministry his person and work are described here therefore verse 10 Sing to the Lord a new song and sing his praise from all the ends of the earth The ministry of the Messiah in its fulfillment is cause for worship. Why? because the purposes of God in creation and in redemption are going to be exercised particularly by him They found their high point in his ministry There's so much more you can say there, but these are the reasons why new song is sung because of creation Because of redemption because of judgment because of the Messiah and all of those really in Revelations chapter 4 and 5 they come together. That's where they conflu us. That's like the high point, you know You got five huge rivers, and they decide to meet at one place, and it's just And everything worships the Messiah now Revelation chapter 5 Revelation chapter 5 Worthy verse 6 and they sang a new song saying worthy are you Worthy are you to take the book and break its seals for you were slain He was he was slaughtered and by his death he purchased for God with his blood That draws out the implications of the slaughter, right He bled and died men from men from Not every man from every tribe But some men from men from Every tribe and tongue and people and nation The elect he dies for them. He sheds his blood for them, and he ransoms them He redeems them he purchases them for himself through his death Not only does he bring this This universal as it were this mixed multitude to himself Not only does he purchase them by his blood, but he does something for them You have made them to be a kingdom and Priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth He has already done that he has he has already made us a kingdom and priests to our God Remember when we were studying first Peter in Sunday school that's first Peter chapter 2 it's clear That's what he's done for us Then that's the that's the four living creatures and the elders now You have John look again, and here's the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders It's like the living creatures and the elders are not going to be left out of worship, right? So as other people join worship, it's not like they say oh, let's take a break No, because at the end of the chapter The elders fell down and worship and the four living creatures keep saying amen They don't stop it's incessant now because he is in the center of heaven It's like when you drop a you're on a still lake you drop a little pebble in there. What happens? Right and and worship for the Messiah really that it's it's its center point is heaven and it's Why do you say it's centrifugal right coming out from the center? It's worship comes from it comes out of heaven And it radiates throughout the entire universe on earth when we gather together as God's people We constitute a temple the spirit dwells here with us individually and then Corporately in a very special way the word of God is preached. We sing songs we worship. This is true worship In a sense we're taken up and We join heaven and worship and We get a taste right, but it's not the thing when we get there and We enter into that worship that is what our souls were made for And then when body and soul are joined and it's on the new heavens in the new earth, that's the end For which man was created? So then All all myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands, you know if you've ever been in a conference I think the biggest conference we went to to go at least I went to with a bunch of guys together was the Was that t4g? Right, and they've all the dudes just playing a piano. They don't have a bunch of music and people are singing And it is absolutely amazing and it's mostly guys So it's really deep and strong, right and none of I don't think angels are feminine So you have this strong voice? You know, and there's this other realm and they were singing and It's a bit billions million just an innumerable number of these Angelic beings praising the Messiah For what he's accomplished And then I'm verse 13 if you look it says an every created thing which is in heaven. That's where I drew to Reference this when we looked at Psalm 96 an Every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them I heard saying And this is all worship at this point The three points of worship that we've seen has been specifically I mean before this, excuse me at the two points of worship that was always specifically They made reference to the work of the lamb, but now here when all create every created thing joins in Now it's to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb. This is This is like uber super-duper high Christology, right because Jesus is his worship is commensurate with the fathers It doesn't get any higher than that This is the greatest expression of worship for the Messiah because it's joined to The worship of the one who is seated on the throne equally every creature is Worshiping both of them at the same time saying the same thing to both of them And listen to what they say they say power riches Wisdom might in verse 12 And they end with honor glory blessing here. They start with Blessing honor glory. They finish with dominion dominion So if you wanted to unpack what does dominion mean so the idea is this You have You have let's say you have a top row. You have four rows one two Three four right and we're gonna put words Like I guess scrabble or so. I don't know. I've never played scrabble power riches Wisdom might top row in the second row honor Glory blessing right next row Blessing honor glory you see two and three are the same Right two and three are exactly the same now for dominion What is dominion? power riches wisdom might the worship that the lamb receives by himself is Identical because of what he has accomplished because of his person and work is Identical to the worship that is given to him and to the one seated seated on the throne together and if we wanted to examine more Old Testament texts when The son of man ascends into heaven on Clouds of glory and he's given a kingdom What's the key word that's given to him there? dominion He is given dominion and that happens at His happened at his ascension so what So what? And so what? right What is it that really matters to us today? This truth this is the truth through we should through which we should see everything difficulties in guaranteeing or in your marriage or With your job or with your money or with your health or with the church all of Everything everything must be seen through what really matters and what really matters is That the promises God made to his people He has fulfilled by raising his son from the dead and Throwning him as king of heaven and earth and he is currently seated Omnipotent and omniscient The only one who is worthy to rule and reign over all of history and all of creation is sitting there Bending history to do his will and He has made us Kings and priests to serve him. That's really what matters Let's pray Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for this text and we ask that you would help us to live in light of it In Christ's name I pray amen