Only One Worthy - Revelation 5:1-7

[0:00] Good evening, everybody. You can turn to Revelation chapter 5. As we continue to go through the book of Revelation.

[0:12] Tonight we are going to look at only one worthy. Only one who is worthy. Let's just read through the first seven verses of chapter 5.

[0:25] And then kind of dive in. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne. A book written within. And on the backside. Sealed with seven seals.

[0:37] And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice. Worthy. Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven nor on earth. Neither under the earth was able to open the book.

[0:50] 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 said unto me.

[1:00] Weep not. Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah. The root of David. Has prevailed to open the book. And to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne.

[1:12] And of the midst of. I'm sorry. In the midst of the throne. And of 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.

[1:26] And he came. And took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. So I titled it Only One Worthy. The other option was the lion, the lamb, and the seven seals.

[1:38] But I was kind of afraid to get the idea of what the seal. The wrong idea of what the seals were. You know. More like a circus. The lion, the lamb, and the seven seals. So we'll stick with the only one worthy. So remember last time.

[1:52] We looked at as we ended chapter four. Our purpose. You know. As we saw all of creation. Essentially. The part of creation. We usually don't get to see. The invisible part. The spiritual part.

[2:02] The eternal part. In heaven. Worshipping the Lord. And we saw there. As John is there in the spirit. We said it's not a vision. It's not a dream. He's there. Not there physically.

[2:13] But he's there in reality. He's transported there. He's in the spirit. Witnessing these things. As he saw the elders there. The 24 elders. Representing the church. We saw the worshipers of the Father.

[2:24] That those who worship the Father. They recognize the time to worship. How to worship. Who to worship. And that their purpose is to worship. And that's how they relate to the Father. As we know Jesus said the Father seeks those.

[2:36] That would worship him in spirit and truth. And we asked the question as we ended that. That look into worship. And we're going to actually next time go even deeper into worship. When we got into chapter five.

[2:49] As we just read in the text here. Well what is the book? What are the seals? What are the requirements to open the book? And who is able and unable to do so? And that's what we're going to kind of look at tonight.

[3:02] In Acts chapter seven. If you remember when we went through the book of Acts. Stephen had just given his witness before the Sanhedrin. And they were none too pleased with that.

[3:14] And they're all upset. And it says they run upon him. In Acts chapter seven verse 55. It says Stephen being full of the Holy Spirit. Looked up steadfastly into heaven. And saw the glory of God.

[3:24] And Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And said behold. I see the heavens opened. And the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Looking from earth's perspective.

[3:35] Into heaven. Into the eternity. Into the heavenlies. Seeing Jesus. And as we dive in tonight into chapter five. We're going to get to see Jesus. From heaven's perspective. Right? Earth's perspective is a little different than heaven's perspective.

[3:46] As we're going to see tonight. But Stephen's heart's desire. As he's about to be stoned. I mean. Would you trade that? You know? Well. I could have the rest of my life. Happy and content here.

[3:58] Or in a moment of time. I could look up. And see the heavens open. And see Jesus. And then be put to death. Which would you choose? I mean. In the moment. I'm choosing. Looking into heaven.

[4:08] And then kill me. Man. I'm going to see Jesus. Then I'm going to go and be with Jesus. Right? Thankfully. That's not usually in our hands. Someone doesn't come to us. And say. Hey. You want this? Or do you want this? Usually we don't get that option.

[4:23] So as we pick up in verse one. John says. At this point now. Remember. All of life has been. Or not all of life. All of the eternity. All of heaven as he's there.

[4:33] Has been throne centered. Throne focused. And now he says. I see something different. In verse one. I saw in the right hand of him. That sat on the throne. So he's still centric to the throne.

[4:44] A book. Written within. On the back side. Sealed. With seven seals. Written within. And on the back side. So it wasn't a book. It's just. In translation here. It's a book. What would be considered a book at the time.

[4:56] Which would be a scroll. And it's sealed with seven seals. I really like this picture. I think it. It kind of. Gives a very good representation. Of what that could have looked like. And so there's seven seals.

[5:11] And the. And the scrolls. Written within. And without. Which is kind of different. Why would you write on the outside? Some think the scroll. You might have heard that it was said.

[5:21] Well this is. This is the title deed to the earth. People. You may have heard that. Taught before. And. And John weeps. He's going to weep. Because no man can come. And redeem. The earth back. That doesn't really make a lot of sense.

[5:33] It sounds nice. Because in Psalm 24. Verse 1. It very clearly says. The earth is the. Lord's. Period. The governments of the earth. Belong to Satan. Luke 4. Verse 5 through 8.

[5:44] But the earth belongs to the Lord. And. If God had lost the title deed. When did that happen? When did God lose control of this earth? In fact. God still holds that scroll.

[5:55] Doesn't he? Nobody can come and take it from him. Satan didn't take it from him. It wasn't Adams to take. God alone is holding this. Scroll. At this point in time. The best solution.

[6:06] Seems to be that the scroll. Is God's will. His final will. And settlement. His final testament. Essentially. The final affairs of the universe. And that's how the Romans would do it. When they had a will. The will was written.

[6:17] That it had seals around it. And you had to meet the qualification. Of that seal. So what is written on the outside. Would be the qualification. You have to meet. To bust that seal. So in my will.

[6:28] If I left it. To my children. You can't come along. And just pop open that seal. Unless you meet those requirements. Somebody had to meet the requirements. To open the seal. We see that the throne.

[6:41] At the throne. As we saw. Representing. Glory. Power. There's focus there. There's authority. There's will and determination. And God is holding that all in his hand.

[6:52] That scroll. It's being held securely. No one's taking this from God's hand. It's being held legally. God is legally entitled to hold that. And it is legally sealed. And God's legal system.

[7:03] There's no loopholes. And there's only one who met the requirements. Of the seals. And who could lose them. The idea here I think is that.

[7:15] God has a book essentially. A scroll. In which the history of the universe is already written. He knows. This is his plan. He's written the history of the world in advance. And he holds that history in his hand.

[7:27] It's not a question of like. Well what's coming next? He knows. And he initiates the consummation of all history. It's his to initiate. And only God can hold this scroll. Some characteristics we see about the scroll.

[7:40] The scroll is full. It's complete. It's not an incomplete document. It's not waiting to be filled out. It's not waiting for the church to go and act in some way. It's not waiting for some future event that hasn't happened.

[7:52] That God doesn't know about. He's got it all written out. It's held securely. God's not in question about. Who's the one who is controlling all this? And at this point. The emphasis is on the seals.

[8:04] Not the content. Eventually it will be on the content. When we get into chapter 6. Right now the emphasis is on the seals. Who is worthy? Who can meet these requirements? To pop the seals. We're going to see it's inaccessible by man.

[8:16] As we just read here. That John weeps. Because no man is found worthy. But it is accessible by a lamb. A lamb is able to open it. We're going to see that at a very specific time it changes hands.

[8:29] Right? It goes from God's hand into another's. And I saw a strong angel in verse 2. There's some words here we're going to define. The word strong means mighty, terrible.

[8:40] The idea is like violent. Like this is aggressive. A strong angel. Proclaiming with a loud voice. Proclaiming would be to make a proclamation publicly. This is a very strong public voice.

[8:52] Loud means spacious and abundant. There's no, this isn't a whisper. This isn't done in a corner. Who is worthy? Who has the weight? Who has the value to open this?

[9:03] So this wasn't something that God made a secret. You know, heaven makes no secret of this. Who is worthy? Anyone out there. This is a loud proclamation. Can any come and open this scroll?

[9:16] Who is worthy? It makes me think of the sword and the stone, right? The King Arthur, the Arthurian legend. That the sword Excalibur was stuck in the stone. And only the rightful king could pull it out.

[9:27] And Arthur comes along and he's looking for a sword for his, this is all legend, but anyway. He comes along and looks for a sword for his brother who's fighting in a tournament. And he finds that there and pulls it out.

[9:37] And he takes it to him. He's like, dude, where'd you get this sword? And he's like, well, I got it from the stone. And so he takes him back and his stepfather, his adopted father, and he puts it back in and shows him.

[9:48] And nobody believes him. And so they bring all the people and nobody believes him. And so they wait until it's like a feast. And then all of the people are there. And he puts it in and pulls it out again. And they're like, okay, we recognize this person as the king.

[9:59] That's all a legend. This is not. This is truth. And heaven is making no secret of this. It's not being done in a corner or quietly that, well, we'll just go and take the scroll. No one will know. To loose the seals, one must be qualified.

[10:17] You have to be qualified. There's a qualification process. You have to be tested and tried. Can't just show up and say, yeah, I'll do it. I'm going to give it a go. Hand me the scroll.

[10:27] Let's see if I can figure this out. You have to abide by these terms. They're God's terms. He's the one who writes it. We have to abide by them. There's no man worthy.

[10:37] We have another writing of God, the terms that we must abide by. But we must be qualified to come to the word. And I don't mean like, well, you've gone through seminary.

[10:48] And I mean qualified to have spiritual ears and an understanding heart. Tested and tried as our faith is tested and tried. As we come to the word and say, yes, God's word is tested and tried.

[11:00] I'm going to abide by these terms. So what are the requirements? No man's worthy to open the scroll. But what are the requirements here? As John hears the angel proclaim this.

[11:13] Known who is worthy. What are the requirements of worth, of the weightiness, of the one who has the valid legal standing to do this? We're not going to see that tonight.

[11:25] Exactly. But if you look down in verse 9, it says, Verse 12.

[11:47] Worthy is the one who was slain.

[11:59] The word slain means to kill or slaughter violently. You see that word when John describes in 1 John chapter 3, he's describing Cain killing his brother. He says, You know, King James, it sounds very, you know, kind of poetic.

[12:15] He does slew his brother. But it is a violent slaughtering. I mean, this is, this Cain just killed Abel this way. And why did he slay him?

[12:26] Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. So we see that the only one who is worthy is one who had been slain. But he's not dead.

[12:37] Right? This lamb we're going to see, he's not dead. But he was slain. And he conquered slaying. One who overcame the slaying. And lived again. Only that one would meet the requirements of opening the scroll.

[12:51] Remember, we had read that Jesus said, I am he, the Alpha and Omega. He which is and which was and is to come. I think that in context of this. That he was one who was alive, is alive, and shall be alive.

[13:05] Right? He was alive. Jesus was alive and then he died. But then he is alive. And he shall be alive for all of eternity. This is the requirements.

[13:17] Only the one who was alive, is alive, and shall be alive. Only the one who had been first slain and then overcame that slaying. And no man, verse 3, in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look therein.

[13:35] No man could do that. There's three places here that we see that man can be. What are those three places? Heaven, earth, and essentially death. That's what he's saying, under the earth.

[13:46] There's only three places that any man can be. You can either be in heaven, in eternity with God. You can be on earth, or you can be what the Bible calls death, which is separated from God.

[13:58] Now, technically, in this place of earth, we are either moving towards one or the other. Right? We are either abiding in death or abiding in life. But the under the earth specifically means that we've gone from this realm out into eternity, into a place of either separation from God or being joined with him.

[14:17] No man was worthy to open the book or look therein. You know, God's revelation, it's not our domain. It's not for us to declare, well, this is what God reveals. And this is what, you know, we can't be like, well, thus saith the Lord, he spoke to me.

[14:31] And that's not our domain. But it is our privilege. It's our privilege to receive God's revelation. And then to pass that on, as John faithfully does. As he said in Revelation 1.1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants.

[14:50] It wasn't just for himself, but it's for the purpose of showing it unto us. Things which must shortly come to pass. It's our privilege to know God's revelation. As we go through this book, it's our privilege to understand this book.

[15:03] And not just be like, who are those weird creatures with all the eyes and the wings? I don't know. No, we have right in the beginning, the very first verse, that God gave this as a specific command.

[15:13] The Father said to the Son, hey, reveal these. Reveal this to my people. Reveal this to the brethren. So there's no soul sleep. There's no reincarnation.

[15:25] There's no becoming one with the universe. According to scripture, you've got three places you can be. You're either in heaven, on earth, or under the earth. There's only three places that a man can be.

[15:35] Hebrews 9.27 says, and it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. Second Corinthians 5.8 says that we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to beware.

[15:52] Some kind of like in-between state. How to be present with the Lord. But our spirits are in the presence of the Lord. No mere man will bring about God's will any sooner than God intends.

[16:05] This is God's will. It's in God's hand. There's no man who could do that. No great men of history. No great men living present. No matter what their last name may be.

[16:17] No man can bring about God's will. There will be a day when one man will rule this world. One man will have control of the whole system of this earth.

[16:28] And not even that man will be able to bring about or stop God's will. As the Antichrist, the man of sin, steps in and says, yeah, I've got a plan in which we can defy God. No, he doesn't.

[16:39] There's no man. No man is able to do what God can do unless that man is God. Right? But John says he wept because no man, no mere man.

[16:51] Well, unless that man was God. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 says, Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ, throughout all ages, world without end.

[17:10] There's only one man who meets that qualification. Only one man who is world without end throughout all the ages. And that is the man who is the God, Jesus. There's a quote in here by C.S. Lewis I liked.

[17:24] He says, We as men share in God's dying. Right? He went to the cross. We go with him. In symbolism, down into death, through baptism. But we cannot share God's dying unless he dies.

[17:35] And God cannot die because he's God. Except he first become a man. That's how God pays our debt and suffers for us. What he himself need not suffer at all.

[17:46] God can't die unless he becomes a man. And man cannot live in the presence of God, fallen man, unless he becomes one with God.

[17:56] Right? We don't become God. I'm Mormons. But we are one with God because of Christ. God's will can be known. It can be received. And it can be followed by man.

[18:09] But it can never be revealed by man. As in direct revelation. We cannot determine for God what God's going to do. As God reveals it to us. We have the privilege of receiving it.

[18:19] We can know it. We can follow it. It's an amazing privilege. Paul would write in Ephesians chapter 3. If you backed up right before verse 20.

[18:31] He has this prayer. He says, I pray that God would grant you according to the riches of his glory. To be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.

[18:42] That you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints. What is the breadth and length and depth and height. And to know the revelation of God.

[18:53] To know all of God's knowledge. To know and to know the love of Christ. Understand that. Which passes knowledge. That you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

[19:04] There's a revelation that God has for man. That man would never have guessed or found out on his own. Fallen man would not think, God loves me. No, they don't think that. What does man think? What does fallen man out there think?

[19:16] God's going to get me. I'm in trouble. God's mad at me. I'm going to try and be really, really, really good. You know? Woo! I had a close call there on the highway. Okay, God.

[19:27] I'll be really good for a week. Woo! Thank you. Right? Oh, my team won. Praise God. No. Man, they're not looking for the love of God.

[19:37] That is something that has to be revealed by God. Then what do we get the privilege of doing? Where I can know that. I can receive that. I can follow that. And then I have the privilege of, in a sense, revealing that to others.

[19:49] Saying, do you know the love of God? God's revealed it to me so I can reveal it to you. God's will is for man to know God? So that God, so God became man.

[20:01] That man might reach God. God's will for man to know God. First was that God became man so that man could reach God. Otherwise, we have no possibility to do that, as C.S. Lewis said.

[20:12] Okay. In Matthew 16, verse 15, we read, Jesus says, and he said unto them, But Peter, who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Well, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.

[20:27] And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonah, bar Jonah. For flesh and blood is not revealed unto you, but my Father, which is in heaven. Peter, you didn't get this just by observation.

[20:39] You didn't understand that because you hung around me for a long time and kind of like slept with your Bible under your pillow, came to church a lot, and then just kind of like felt the presence of God. Oh, Jesus is God. No. I had to be revealed.

[20:50] I'd be revealed by the Father, which is in heaven. But how did he reveal that? He revealed it through the word made flesh, right? As Peter heard Jesus, believed Jesus, saw Jesus, witnessed Jesus, was in his presence.

[21:03] It's the same for us. We receive revelation as the Holy Spirit illuminates God's word to us. And John now reacts to this. The fact that there's no man. John is here in this boat with man.

[21:14] He's like, I'm one of those men. I was with the other 11. Oh, we don't really want to think about Judas. The other 10 who walked faithfully with the Lord. Many of them have been martyred by now.

[21:26] None of them are worthy, Lord. Not even Abraham. Nobody's worthy. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither even to look therein.

[21:40] The word found there means to examine or search. That no man was examined worthy. We've searched and searched and we examined everybody we could and man, none of them even got close.

[21:52] None of them were worthy. Remember back when we were reading about the seven churches, that word came up a few times. Revelation 3 verse 4. Jesus says, that was a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments.

[22:07] And they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy. They're worthy to be with Jesus because of the faith they put in him. Are they worthy to open the scroll, though? No, not that worth.

[22:18] Their worth is based on another, not themselves. Revelation 4, 7 said, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For thou hast created all things. And for thy pleasure, they are and were created.

[22:31] See, our worth is based on another's value, not our own, but on the creator's. God places a very high priority on what he values.

[22:42] What does he value? He values his word. He values his word very highly. Right here we have a scroll, which is written within and written without. What is it written with?

[22:53] It's written with God's will, with God's word. And he values that very highly. He says, you are not worthy to take that. God places a high priority on reading his will, on reading what his word is, what his will is.

[23:08] Do we? John was broken over this broken world, which understanding what the father, what God is holding, realizing that the end can't come.

[23:22] John is broken because a broken world was not going to end. He sees this as a world without end. He is a part of the church, unfortunately, the greater church that is very much in love with this world.

[23:33] They want this world to continue. And we'll just make it better. And we'll do better things. And it'll be okay. There's people who don't want the Lord to return. Because, like, well, I want to have kids and grandkids and all that.

[23:45] I did too. And I've done that. Well, the kids part. Still waiting on the other part. But all those things that God puts in your heart. I remember the Lord began to, like, put on my heart, like, hey, step out and plant a church.

[24:00] And I just wasn't seeing it happen and the timing. And we went to the Deep South Pastors Conference. I was praying with one of the pastors. And he goes to me. He's like, look at it, Jared. You're not going to die before God fulfills his will and his plan for you.

[24:14] You may get raptured. Praise God if we do. Nobody's going to complain and be like, man, I didn't get to live all. No, God's will will be perfectly fulfilled. He goes, but whatever God's put on your heart and he's called you to, you're not going to die first.

[24:26] I was like, that makes sense. God's not going to be like, hey, I want to do this in your life. And then he's like, whoa, sorry. God places a very high priority on his will.

[24:37] He determines it. But John here is broken over the fact that it appears that there is no end to this broken world. The will of God, the will, the seven seals would signify the end of this fallen world.

[24:55] It would signify the end of the presence of sin. We want God to wrap this up. We want this to end. It would signify the end of the reign of man and the rule of Satan. All of those things coming to an end as that scroll is opened.

[25:08] It will also signify the will of God signifies what? The beginning of a righteous reign. The beginning of an eternal kingdom, a risen Lord and a holy people.

[25:22] We want that scroll to be opened. We don't want this to continue as it is. And neither does God. That is his plan. You understand that? This isn't just like, he's like, hey, this is just what we're going to do now.

[25:34] This is his plan of the ages that it is time to open the scroll, loose the seals, and start the end so that we can start the beginning. It's a weighty thing to be counted worthy.

[25:48] Sorry, I don't know if you don't finish writing that. It's a weighty thing to be counted worthy. To open, to read, and to look into God's will. And we don't get that privilege ourselves of the one, the scroll that's in the hand of the one who sits on the throne.

[26:01] But we have been given something we can open, read, and look into. It is a very weighty thing. And we must be counted worthy. Again, not like, I'm not good enough to read. Not at all.

[26:12] But I come based on another's worth. I come to the word and I can say, this applies to me in 100% with authority. I can look at this word and apply it to my life. Say, this is God's will for me. That I speak not because I've taken it to myself, but because another has taken that in hand.

[26:27] All things that the Father has are mine, says Jesus. Therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, he will reveal it. He will show it unto you. And one of the elders said unto me, do not weep.

[26:42] So one of those that are there in glory, one of the redeemed, raptured, resurrected saints, says to John, weep not, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.

[27:00] The redeemed, raptured, resurrected saint, he knows what can only be known by those in the presence of God. John doesn't know that, but he does because he's in the presence of God.

[27:11] Because of the promise we have in 1 Corinthians 13, 12. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know, even as I also am known.

[27:23] And as our representative, one of the 24 elders, the redeemed, raptured, resurrected saint says, oh, I know, I know what's going to happen. Don't weep. Don't weep.

[27:36] The lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. You know, we know that every eye will see him. We're told that. In Revelation 1, 7, it says, behold, he comes with clouds and every eye shall see him.

[27:48] And they also which pierced him and all kindred of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. Every eye will see him, but every eye will not necessarily see him for what he truly is.

[28:01] Only the raptured, the redeemed, raptured, resurrected saints get to see him for what he truly is. Every eye will see him, but not every eye will see him for what he is.

[28:16] The beginning of God's will is the beginning of the end of sorrows. As this elder says to him, weep not. And what promise do we have in Revelation 21, verse 4?

[28:27] That God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying. Neither shall be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.

[28:39] The beginning of God's will, the one that's held in the hand of the one who sits on the throne, the beginning of this will of the seven seals, the beginning of it is the beginning of the end of all sorrow, as we will read through the rest of Revelation.

[28:55] And then we have this picture here, the lion of the tribe of Judah, a Jewish savior with Jewish heritage and Jewish symbolism. You see this change. All of a sudden, this is no longer to the seven churches.

[29:06] This is no longer him who walks among the seven lampstands and has the seven stars in his hands. This is now a very Jewish flavor. Heaven's perspective of the things which shall be hereafter.

[29:17] Remember, right? That which you have seen, that which is, and that which shall be hereafter, the things to come. Heaven's perspective of the things that are hereafter. It uses a very Jewish language and imagery.

[29:30] As we've now all of a sudden, we have the lion of the tribe of Judah. The lion of the tribe of Judah. There's a few scriptures that really speak to that. Genesis 49 in verse 9, as Jacob is prophesying over his sons, he gives to Judah.

[29:46] And one of the things he says is, Judah is a lion's whelp. The lion of the tribe of Judah. From the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down. He couched as a lion, as an old lion.

[29:56] Who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come. And unto him shall be the gathering of the people be.

[30:08] Isaiah 31.4. For thus has the Lord spoken unto me, like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey. When a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor base himself for the noise of them.

[30:22] So shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion and for the hill thereof, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Isaiah 11.10. Then they shall walk after the Lord.

[30:34] He shall roar like a lion. When he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west. Heaven's perspective. Seeing the lion of the tribe of Judah.

[30:45] The one who meets all the requirements to open the scroll is unquestioningly chief among all God's creation. Right? The lion. The lord of the jungle. The chief. The one who's royal.

[30:57] And here we see this picture of Jesus essentially being chief. That representation of all God's creation. The root of David. Isaiah 11.10.

[31:10] Beginning in verse 1 and 2. I didn't put that there. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. And a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. And then verse 10.

[31:21] And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek. And his rest shall be glorious. Revelation 22.16.

[31:32] As we get to the end of the book of Revelation. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David. And the bright and morning star.

[31:46] Bunch of scripture. But it's good to know. To have the commentary. So then when you go back and read through it. You're like, oh, I know where that is. This talks about that here. This tells me who this is here. We want the Bible to teach us what the Bible has to say.

[31:58] The one who meets all of the requirements to open the scroll. Has established himself with roots that go deep into man's history. He's a root and offspring of David. His roots go deep into the history of man.

[32:09] And here he says that he has prevailed. He has prevailed to open the scroll. That word means to conquer. That he has conquered. He has overcome.

[32:20] Romans 8.37 tells us. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors. Through him that loved us. He's the conqueror.

[32:31] He's the one that does the conquering. That's the one who overcomes with an overwhelming force to gain the victory. We don't do that. We just enjoy the victory that he's won on our behalf.

[32:41] But he has overcome. He has prevailed to conquer. What did he prevail against to be able to take that scroll? What did this lamb, this lion that we haven't got to the lamb yet.

[32:53] This lion of the tribe of Judah. The root and offspring of David. Well, Jesus had to prevail against sin. Jesus had to prevail against Satan. Jesus prevailed against sorrow.

[33:06] Against sickness. And against the greatest adversary, I suppose. To stand against his will. Myself.

[33:17] All of creation. Worshiping him and bowing to him. And yet, how many times. Look at the value that's placed on. The amount of effort, shall we say. Going into the ability to open that scroll.

[33:29] To see his will. And I can open this book. And know his will for my life every day. And I reject it. And I rebel against it. How many times? But praise God, he prevailed against this too.

[33:43] The lion of the tribe of Judah. He has devoured the devourer. 1 Peter 5, 8. Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion.

[33:55] Walks about seeking whom he may devour. How does Satan devour? What is it that he uses to devour? His death. And our lion of the tribe of Judah, he devoured that.

[34:08] He swallowed that up. Isaiah 25, verse 8. He will swallow up death and victory. And the Lord God will wipe away all tears from all our faces. And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from all the earth.

[34:22] For the Lord has spoken it. It shall be said in that day, lo, this is our God. We have waited for him. And he will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him.

[34:32] We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Jesus prevailed. The lion of the tribe of Judah devoured the devourer. He swallowed up death. The New Testament parallel to that is 1 Corinthians 15, 54.

[34:45] So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass that saying that is written in Isaiah 25, 8 through 9. Death is swallowed up in victory.

[35:01] The lion of the tribe of Judah, he has prevailed to open the book. The root of David, the lion of the tribe of Judah, he loosed the seven seals thereof.

[35:15] This word loosed means exactly what you think it means. To let go, to undo, to release. In John 8, 31, Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue my word, then are you my disciples indeed.

[35:29] You shall know the truth, and the truth shall loose you free. Truth shall make you free. Truth shall release you. How many seals are loosed? All of the seals.

[35:40] Not one part of God's will will be left unloosed. He didn't do just six of them, and then he's like, Oh, well, it's the last one I don't meet the requirements for. Philippians 2, 13 says it is God which works in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

[35:57] He wills and to do. He's the whole picture. No part of God's will will be left unloosed. For you and I, there is nothing that can prevent the operating of God's will in our lives.

[36:09] Nothing. Nothing can prevent that. He has met all the requirements. The only thing that prevents that in our life is our choice to either refuse or to participate in his will.

[36:21] If you choose to participate in God's will, there's nothing that can stop God's will in your life. Nothing at all. The things he's willed for you, the things that are written down in his book for you, they will come to pass because it's on account of another that we are worthy.

[36:36] But we have to choose to participate in that. And our level of participation is all based on how much we accept his will. None of us will stand there in that day and say, man, God, you didn't give me everything I need.

[36:51] No, but we will stand there and go, I didn't take advantage of everything you gave me. And we will see those that did. Man, I wish. You know, I think those of us that were at the Marriage Refresh, when Nick talked about that picture of seeing our spouse in glory and seeing them in their sanctified state and being like, I'm a part of that.

[37:11] I was a part of that. Or I gave up on that. Or I didn't put much time into that. The same with our kids. The same with our friends, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Same with our siblings. We have an opportunity to be a part of something.

[37:25] You know, that's why it breaks my heart when people don't want to be in fellowship. It's not like we got all these chairs. We need to bulk up the numbers some. Not at all. But I know in my life that growth and blessing and stability and encouragement have come because of you guys from being here and being in fellowship.

[37:44] And the people that just kind of come in and out on Sunday morning. Praise God. I want everybody who comes to that door to be blessed, fed, and loved. But you know what? Man, there's a big part of our development and our growth and our maturity in Christ that's meant to be here.

[37:56] That happens here. There's so much of who I am built into me because of you. Conversations with you guys. Seeing the way you live your life and make decisions. Hearing how you process scripture.

[38:08] Wow. I would never have thought of it that way. Maybe I should talk to them. No. It's a good thing. There's nothing that can prevent the operating of God's will in our life except our choice to either refuse or participate in it.

[38:22] And I beheld and low in the midst of the throne of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders. And here's this word again. We saw this in chapter four. John is beholding this here.

[38:42] He's seeing it with his own eyes. This is not a dream or a vision. John is seeing this with greater eyes than we have as he sees in the spirit here. Job would write in Job 19. For I know that my Redeemer lives and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.

[38:57] And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold and not another, though my reins be consumed within me.

[39:10] These eyes will behold that lamb. We will each see him. But I like how Jesus is in the middle of everything, isn't he? He's in the midst of the throne of the four beasts. In the midst of the elders.

[39:21] He's just in the middle of everything. Colossians chapter one, verse 15 through 17 says that he is the image of the invisible God. He's the firstborn of every creature.

[39:32] For by him are all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, the visible and the invisible, the seraphim and the cherubim. Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

[39:44] All things were created by him and for him. He is before all things. And by him all things consist. Jesus is in the middle of everything. There's nothing he's not a part of. And while we in all creation relate to the throne, we're all looking at the throne while focused at the throne.

[40:01] Jesus, the lamb, relates to us. We relate to the throne and he turns and he relates to us. For all of eternity, this lamb will bear the marks of standing in our stead before the throne.

[40:15] He stood in our stead. He took those marks. He has the scars. So that we could stand there with him. He related to us so that we could relate to the throne.

[40:25] As he would say to Thomas, Jesus said, this isn't just some vision.

[40:40] This is the reality. That I have stood in your stead so that you can stand before the throne. Then we see here seven. Seven horns, seven eyes, and seven spirits.

[40:52] We already saw in Revelation 4 how, again, we saw the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which were the seven spirits of God. That's directly, we're not going to read it, from Zechariah 4.10, if you want to write that down, which talks about the eyes, the seven eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro throughout the whole earth.

[41:11] So seven horns, seven eyes, and seven spirits. Seven is a number of completion. Represents complete power, complete understanding, and complete authority. The Lamb has.

[41:22] Complete power, complete understanding, and complete authority. For in him, Colossians 2.9, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Full power, full understanding, and full authority.

[41:38] We see he's sent forth for a purpose. That this Lamb, in the midst of the land, one who has been slain, having seven eyes, seven horns, seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.

[41:52] They're sent forth for a purpose. Jesus says in John 16.8, And when he has come, speaking of the Holy Spirit, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

[42:02] The seven horns, the seven eyes, and the seven spirits of God, representing that full, complete picture of the Holy Spirit. Sent forth with a purpose.

[42:16] And he came in verse 7. This will be our last verse for tonight. And he took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And here he is, our heart's desire, the one we long to see, the one who stands in our stead, the only one who can complete the will of God, so that we can exit this fallen world of sin and enter a world of eternal righteousness.

[42:36] He takes the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne. The Lamb approached the throne. The Lamb was in the midst of the throne. And the Lamb received from the throne.

[42:48] As Jesus, on our behalf, he approaches the throne. He's in the midst of the throne. And then he receives from the throne. What did he take? And he took what was rightfully his. It was his right.

[43:00] He took what was his. He came boldly before the throne, just as we, in Christ, are able to come boldly before the throne. Jesus approached and interacted in a boldness and an authority because he met those qualifications.

[43:14] And he came at the appropriate time to take what only he could appropriate to himself. He's the only one who can take this. But he came at the appropriate time. John 14, 3, he tells of another appropriate time when he says, If I go and prepare a place for you, speaking to his disciples during the Last Supper, I will come again and receive you unto myself at the appropriate time.

[43:38] That where I am, there you may be also. What is Jesus coming for? As we close this for tonight, as we leave off at verse 7, we'll look at the result of that next time. And as they all begin to worship and they sing a new song, and we're going to take a little bit of time and look at worship.

[43:55] But what did Jesus take to himself here? He took what was rightfully his. And in John 14, he's saying, Hey, soon I'm going to come and I'm going to take what's rightfully mine. I'm going to take to myself, I'm going to appropriate to myself, according to the will of God, what is rightfully mine.

[44:09] 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19 through 20, tells us we are rightfully his, that we're that thing he's going to come and take. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own.

[44:29] For you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Why? Because this is the will of God.

[44:40] That is God's will. We do not need to wait until someone opens God's will for us. We can open it ourselves at any time.

[44:52] Right? We can open this and we can know God's will. I don't have to wait for someone to meet the qualifications. If only I could know God's will. If only I could know what's going to happen in the end. If only I could know what's going to happen with this heart of mine and this longing that I have for something beyond this world.

[45:06] Someone's opened this for me because of his authority. And now we have that same authority and privilege to open it for someone else. I mean, Jesus didn't physically like say, hey, read this book.

[45:19] But someone representing Jesus did. Somebody in my life representing Jesus was that same authority because of the worthiness of another. Was able to say, hey, the opening of God's word gives light.

[45:31] It gives understanding to the simple. I don't need to wait. I can open this at any time to know God's will. And as we go through Revelation, God wants us to know his will.

[45:43] He wants us to know this whole thing is going to have an ending. I will come again and receive to myself what is rightfully mine, just as the lamb will rightfully take from that throne. You know, as we close, it's such a privilege that this mysterious creature, this lamb, as if it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which is the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth that goes and approaches the throne that comes with lightnings and thunder out of.

[46:17] And then all the creatures bow down before he goes and he takes that scroll. Now, that lamb turns to you and I and says, brother, oh, come to meet my father.

[46:30] You mean that scary guy who sits on the throne? No, come meet my father. Yeah, he's got a scroll in his hand, but you know what else he's got in his hand? I mean, he's got you and he's got me in his hand.

[46:41] Oh,