Revelation 5:

Well, good morning, Saylorville! If you brought a copy of scripture with you this morning, you can find the book of Revelation in the fifth chapter. Revelation chapter five.

Did you appreciate those testimonies from Joey? Did you appreciate that? I love… Yeah, four people clapped. Those were good testimonies!

Whenever I hear young people give their testimonies, it reminds me of a story I heard of when D.L. Moody was younger and was on the streets preaching. He came back, and the pastor asked how many were saved that day, and Moody said, “Two and a half!” And the pastor said, “I get it. Two adults and a kid. Right?” And Moody said, “No, two kids and an adult. The adults have already wasted half their life. The kids’ve got their whole lives to live.”

So we are talking about this morning about the worship before the wrath.

In December of 1900 in the New Zealand Herald, there was a story about William Dyke that was written. William Dyke was an incredibly accomplished man, but he was blinded when he was 10 years old. And so though he was highly educated, ended up proposing to be married to the daughter of a high ranking British naval officer. But just before they married, he had a surgery on his eyes. They realized they could do a surgery so that he might be able to see again. And so he had that surgery and then insisted that the bandages not be taken off… until the wedding day! So imagine that when the surgeon himself removed those bandages for him to look at his bride-to-be for the very first time. You know what happened? I’ll let you know at the end of the message.

What? You don’t like suspense? Well, our world, your world that we’re swimming in right now, has become a place of constant suspense, and it will only continue to build up until the Lord Jesus returns. And when He comes, He’s not going to be taking sides. He’s going to be taking over! And before we get into, Lord willing, in 2025 the guts of the tribulation, which is to come in chapters 6 through 19, which is really the wrath of God poured out upon a Christ-rejecting world. There is a spectacular scene of worship in heaven! You saw the first half of it last week, the second half this morning.

And by the way, I really, really appreciated Pastor Curt’s message last week as I know you did. But I also really appreciate that he put up one and only one AI-generated picture of heaven. You will get no images from me! — And people, well-intentioned, have given me images, you know, those big lines of pictures, everything happening in this scene. And I get it! Some of you may be artists, no offense to you, but God gave you an imagination. Go ahead and use it. That’s the way we’re going to do it because you cannot… No artist can depict what you are about to hear and read and conceive in your mind’s eye. In chapter four, in heaven, it’s splendor. In chapter five, it’s suspense. In chapter four, God is in control, and I want to point something out. If you just glide your eyes over to the third verse in chapter 4 when it’s describing Father, God upon this resplendent throne and it says,

Revelation 4:3, “…he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a (what?) a rainbow…”

I don’t know about you, but when I see rainbows, the storm has already passed, right? Rainbows follow a storm. This rainbow over the throne of God occurs before the storm! And it’s God’s way of saying, “I am sovereign. I’m over all things, —And every storm in your life, I have preceded. My hand is upon it. I know what’s going on. I’m in control.” So… if chapter 4 is God in control, chapter 5 is God taking control.

So in this process, we’re going to see worry, that’s the suspense. We’re going to see weeping from John. We’ll see wonder, because it is wonderful and then worship, because if we don’t get to the worship, we haven’t really got to the passage itself.

So without further ado, the text itself. Let’s look at Revelation 5, the first… now let’s start with the first eight verses.

Revelation 5:1-8a

1 Then I saw in the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, (both sides) sealed with seven seals.

2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a (mega voice) loud voice, “Who is worthy (that’s the key phrase here, the worthiness of one who could bust open this seal) the scroll and break its seals?” (We just sang about this)

3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it,

4 and I began to weep loudly (the Greek is very explicit here) because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

5 And one of the elders said to me, (Stop crying!) “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.”

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God (speaking of His omniscience over all) sent out into all the earth.

7 And He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne.

8 And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb…”

…and we’ll just stop there. So this is this opening suspenseful scene in heaven. The first thing I want you to notice, we’re talking about the worship before the wrath. And the first thing we see is worry. This scroll is described “sealed” seven times, and no one, no one, is found worthy to open it up. So just think about this scroll. What a sacred thing this must be in the right hand of Father God.

I was thinking, just a week and a half after my first wife went to be of the Lord, my oldest daughter and I were at camp and we came back home to do some laundry and we found her journal. It even had a little lock on it. We busted it open, because even though this was sacred, we just had to know the contents of the last thing she ever said to God. It was a powerful moment… sacred… but we reverently opened it.

This scroll here is so sacred, it’s held in God’s right hand! And we see this replete in Scripture, the right hand of God, which speaks of power, it speaks of authority, it speaks of security. And the double-sided element to this document, this scroll, would have resembled a Roman will or title deed. That’s the way the Romans did it. This was written around 90 to 100 a.d. So that’s what should be in your mind. This is the title deed to the earth! God gave it to Abraham. Do you remember that? Or not Abraham, but to Adam. In Genesis one, He says… remember? He gave him… He said, ‘Have dominion over this. Everything on it, you have dominion.’ — And it was in Adam’s hand. He was the dominator. God had given it to him. Adam then consequently lost it to Satan who duped him and Eve to disobey God, eat of the fruit… You know the story, many of you. And so this gives control then, earthly speaking, over to Satan! By the way, if you don’t believe what I just said, then you explain to me, Satan called by Jesus Himself in John chapter 12, “the prince of this world,” you explained to me what Paul meant when he said in second Corinthians chapter 4, that Satan is the “god of this world.” Have you ever read that? You explain to me what John meant when he said at the end of first John, “The whole world lies under the sway of the evil one.“

So this is the title deed to the earth and there’s only one who can take it back. Who has the authority? Who has the power? Who has the worthiness? — And that’s the weighty word here, to open and reclaim it. And that’s the reason for the suspense, hence the suspense. No one. So we go from worry, — and after worry, we have weeping. Look at verse four. It’s only John crying. But check it out. Verse four.

Revelation 5:4, “..and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.“

So John, who has been caught up in a vision to heaven, has now caught up in his own emotions over the whole thing, because “no one has found!” That implies a search is taking place, does it not? A search is on!

Imagine today, right now, imagine today if this took place in heaven when all the angels, and archangel, and divine counsel of God, and every saint from time immortal gathered together, pictures of angels and saints, they’re all assembled here from Adam to David, and the Apostle Paul and Peter, and Augustine and Calvin, and Luther and Billy Graham himself! They’re all there… and none are worthy! And John is completely overwhelmed! It brings him to tears!

And by the way, I think this is all fixed, don’t you? God gathers all of heaven. Some of the greatest personages in the history of man, you read about them, you’ve studied them, they’ve done great exploits for God, and not a one of them is worthy! Not one! — not even your grandma! God bless her soul. Not one of them. I think it’s fixed.

This reminds me of, remember when Adam still had dominion over the earth in the first chapter and second chapter of Genesis. If you’ll recall in the second chapter, here’s Adam and God brings him all the animals, (Do you remember that?) — To name them? And there’s almost like a parenthetical, he’s there, he’s naming them, you know. And there’s almost this parenthetical line which says,

Genesis 2:20b, “…and none were found to complete him.”

You ever read that? Now what are we supposed to think here? ‘You know, God… hey, what do you think of this one? Will the giraffe work? No, too big a neck.’ What are we supposed to think here? Does God really think that some animal in the animal world was going to complete Adam? Go like this. No way! No. God was showing Adam that nothing would complete him, except that which would come from him, Eve.

And I think that’s what God will be doing here. He’s going to draw all of heaven itself together to show that no matter how esteemed these great saints, women and men alike from all ages as they come together with the angels, the archangel, the divine counsel of God, NONE are worthy. And that word, “worthy,” means “deserving.” No one deserves! And that’s what takes us from the worry and the weeping to the wonder.

So one of the elder steps up to the plate here and says, ‘Stop crying, John!’ — verse 5. ‘Weep no more! O Lion, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered!‘ That’s where we get our, that’s the Greek word, “Nikeo.” We get our word “Nike” from this word. You know. “Just do it!” Jesus did it! He’ll do it again! He’s the one who can open the scroll and break its seals. He’s a lion! And we all know what the lion symbolizes. It symbolizes power and courage. And he has conquered! We know He’s conquered by His death, His burial and His resurrection. Do you believe that? No, I really… Do you believe that?

Now, just the other day, I was in a coffee shop, because that’s where I hang out, and I befriended this man whose name is Tom. I actually talked to you about Tom not long ago. He’s really become a genuine friend of mine. He is an expert in Egyptian antiquities. He knows languages, Semitic languages. He’s brilliant! — And we talk… a lot! And so, we’ve been talking for nearly six months, Tom and I. And the last time we picked it up, we’re talking about the whole life from conception thing. He’s still hung up on that. We talked about that for a while. One thing lead to another, and I told him, and I said, “Tom, the house of God rests on three pillars. Any one of those pillars go down, the whole house comes down. They rest on three pillars: The incarnation, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” I said, “The incarnation and the resurrection, those are miracles.” I said, “Tom, do you believe in miracles?” He said to me, he goes, “No, why would I do that? They’re not scientifically possible.” I said, “Exactly! That’s what a miracle is, something that’s scientifically impossible, but it happens!” And I explained the incarnation to him from Luke 1, and I know we’re just about to enter into that time here with Christmas and all, and he said, “I don’t believe it.” Now, he’s not argumentative. We have a genuine friendship. In fact, the last word from Tom just the other day was, “We’ll talk next time.” And that’s where he left it. He does not believe. Do you believe?

So, John is told by one of the elders that Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And so notice he’s got to be looking for, a what? He’s looking for a lion! And he turns and sees, what? A lamb. And not just a lamb. The Greek word means, are you ready for this? — A little lamb. That’s what it means. You know, Jesus is called a Lamb a couple of times previous to the book of Revelation. Come to the book of Revelation… 28 times! 28 times! — And why is that? Well you know why that is, because it depicts sacrifice. It depicts death. It depicts something dying in one’s place. And He is seen as a Lamb. The Scripture says “who is killed,” verse 6, “who is slain.” The word means “to be slaughtered.” — And then if you look at the end of verse 6, this Lamb has a whole bunch of horns, and this is the reason why I’m not putting any pictures up there for you, because it just seems weird! It’s just unimaginable! But it’s not! It’s majestic! It will blow your mind! — and mine. And what does He do? What does this Lamb do? Look at it again. Verse 7. Check it out.

Revelation 5:7, “And He (the Lamb, Jesus) went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him (snatches it from the hand of Father God) who was seated on the throne.”

Look at that! There’s another powerful picture of this scene in Daniel, because Daniel is the companion book to Revelation. I just want to read this to you. You don’t have to go there. We’ll put it up there for you. In Daniel, chapter 7, look at this.

Daniel 7:9-10

9 “As I looked, (Daniel, this is his vision) thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took His seat; His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool; His throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire.

10 A stream of fire issued and came out from before Him; a thousand thousands served Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.”

This is a majestic scene! Skip down to verse 13,

Daniel 7:13-14

13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.”

(If you don’t recognize this scene, if you’ve read the Gospels, you know that in the Gospels, when Jesus had been put on trial, the the chief priest calls Him on the carpet and says, ‘Declare! Are you the blessed one?’ And Jesus says, ‘From here on in, you will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds.‘ He was claiming to be this! He was claiming to be the very one Daniel spoke of! And so it says, No. Remember, He’s taken the title deed… coming down to rescue. verse 14)

14 And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Hallelujah!

That’s what’s going on here! Go ahead and clap! That’s cool! This is wonder! This is wonder! And what a ripoff if we just ended it here, if our wonder doesn’t turn into worship! You see at the end of verse eight that these elders and living creatures it says they fell down. Do you see that? They fell down. It says it again later on. It says at the verse 14, they fell down. This is what they do.

[Revelation 5:14, “And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.“]

And at the end of verse 14, they fell down and (what?) they worshiped. That’s the word “proskuneo.” We get our word “to prostrate” yourself. This means to just exactly what you think it means. It means “to fall down.” It means “to bow.” In fact, it’s almost redundant. They fell down and worshiped. They fell down to fall down. They fell down and bowed down faces prostrate to God. Why do I emphasize this so much? — because these are the elders. The 24 elders representative of the church in heaven, and if you slide your eyes over to chapter 4 again and you look at the fourth verse, what were these elders doing? What were they doing? What were they sitting on?

[Revelation 4:4, “Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.”]

They were sitting on thrones. They had their own little thrones. They were on their thrones which means they had to get off of their throne to present themselves prostrate before His throne… which is exactly what some of you need to do this morning. You’ve been sitting on your petty little throne for way too long. You’ve taken charge of your life, you’re the control, you’re the captain… How’s that working for you? Not very good, I think. Some of us here and watching online, you need to do exactly what they did. Get off your petty throne and bow before His.

Last night, not last night, a couple of nights ago, I had the privilege of speaking to our young adults. It was a ton of fun and they assigned the subject for me, which was the contrast between loving self and loving God. And so as I spoke, God had really worked me over before I preached this message I’ll have you know. It’s a different story — But as I did, I saw this woman who I could tell her countenance, her face, you could tell God was working her over. And afterwards, she went to my wife, and she said to me, she said, “I’m crying. I don’t know why I’m crying. I don’t cry! I don’t cry.” And yet, there she was crying! And here’s what she said. I said, “What happened to you?” And she said, “In the middle of your message, God changed my heart.” And that’s what happens when you get off your petty throne and you bow before His throne, your heart gets changed.

So here they are, bowing before the throne of thrones. And where are they bowing? What do they do and where do they give it? Where do they offer it? They got a harp, they got golden bowls, I’m looking at the end of verse eight… “of incense”…

[Revelation 5:8, “And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”]

… “which are the” (you see that?) “the prayers of the saints.” What’s that all about? They’ve got these bowls full of the prayers of the saints. What are these? These are all of your unanswered prayers that you thought God had discarded, but He never does.

Just the other day I pulled off of my shelf in our closet, a bin. It’s my personal little bin with my own little trinkets, and it’s about this long. I got all kinds of stuff, you know, like awards and little medals and little write-ups and stuff from my youth on. You know, stuff, you know, your kids are going to want. It’ll be kind of cool to have dad stuff! I started going through it and I was like, “Oh my goodness! They’ll never want this!” I threw it this side. “Oh, jeep,” I said. Threw it this side. By the time I got done the pile was this big that I just chucked. I’ve been saving them for years! “What would they want this stuff for?” — I thought.

I think that’s the way some of us think our prayers we’ve been praying for years are to God. You think that they’re just so old and tattered, He doesn’t care about those prayers anymore. He just thrown them off to the side. That isn’t true! That is not true! These are these prayers held up by God. They will be answered in time. God never throws those things away, not the righteous prayers that you pray. Listen to what Piper said.

“The consummation of history will be owing to the supplication of the saints who cry to God day and night. (Watch this) Not one God exalting prayer has ever been in vain.” John Piper

Those are true words. So saints of God… Rejoice! Your cries have been heard! —though some have been stored up for a latter time. Join these heavenly personalities and worship!

And I want to do that by a simple reading of verses 9 and following. I think expositing this part by giving you, you know, meanings of words is almost insulting to the text itself. The text exalts itself. So here’s what it says in verse 9.

Revelation 5:9-13

9 “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain, and by Your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation…”

10 and You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,

12 saying with a loud (mega) voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” Amen! Amen!

I’m tired.

Four things I don’t want you to do. Four things you don’t want to do from what you just heard. How’s that for a negative ending? Four things you don’t want to do. (I’ve got to come up with a better outline!) Here they are.

Don’t miss Him, because He’s here. We started off this series like this. You remember this? — Jesus depicting Himself at the church of Ephesus. ‘I’m in your midst, I’m the One among you.’ Remember that? We don’t worship Jesus as if He were here. We worship Him (what?) because He’s here! He IS here! So don’t miss Him.

Don’t wonder about Him. You remember all the scene in heaven. ‘Oh my goodness! Who was going to be able to bust the seal?’ He’s able! He can do it! He’s the Creator! He’s the sustainer! He’s the champion of our faith! And He will reclaim this world for Himself one day. He’s able! Don’t wonder about Him.

Thirdly, don’t reject Him. He’s worthy! And that’s the operative word here, isn’t it? He’s worthy! Repeat it. He’s worthy! That means “to be deserving.” He’s got the weight. He can carry the day. He’s worthy, and some day in heaven, you’ll see him in His resplendence, His worthiness, gorgeous in His beauty! Your eyes will be opened!

When William Dyke stood at the altar with his wife, the actual surgeon opened or undid the bandage. And when he finally opened his eyes, the first words out of his mouth as he looked at his bride-to-be were, “You’re more beautiful than I ever imagined!”

One day, for those of you who know Jesus, and I know it’s not all of you, I don’t assume that… I’m assuming, I’m assuming many of you have yet to come… you’re still sitting on your petty throne. You’ve never been born again, and you need to be saved today. But for those of you who do, someday heaven… heaven, with the assembly of all the saints and angels and then there’s Jesus…. More beautiful than you ever imagined!

And finally, don’t forget Him. He’s coming again! Amen? Maranatha! Some day, He’ll come to reclaim this earth! Until then, He’s coming to redeem you. Some of you need to be redeemed. Some of you need to be redeemed. You need to be redeemed. You need to be redeemed. You need to be redeemed. Some of you need to be redeemed today… TODAY!

[Hebrews 3:15] “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…” as the writer of Hebrews said.

So anybody ready to get off their throne to worship before the greater throne?

[Acts 16:31]”Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved…”

Our Father in heaven, thank You for this glorious chapter in Your Word in the unveiling of Jesus. And we put it to rest, Lord, this apocalyptic book until next year, and we pray, Lord, that You would be glorified in that, as well.

But today, our Father, I pray for those in this room who are still proudly sitting on their petty throne, unwilling to get up and offer it all back to you, to bow in humility and believe in the Creator become Savior, the Lord Jesus. If that’s you dear friend, right now, if your heart has been touched, if you want to have a relationship with the living God, if you understand that you’re a sinner and separated from God without Him, if you believe that He died and rose again for you, would you just humble your heart right now, get off that throne and symbolically, say, “God, I am so lost without You. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for what You’ve done for me, and I trust You as my Savior.’ Would you do that?

And then those of you who know Jesus, you know, we can create our own little thrones, can’t we? Some of you need to get off that throne and renew your walk with Him. And some of you just need to be encouraged today that your prayers are not wasted. They might be a little tattered, and you’ve shed a lot of tears. I have, too. But God does not discard them, because He loves you! Remember that and be encouraged.

And we ask all these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Let’s stand.