Revelation 4-5 Garden to Garden City
Garden to Garden City • Sermon • Submitted
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1 After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
2 Immediately I was in the Spirit, and there was a throne in heaven and someone was seated on it.
3 The one seated there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian stone. A rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald surrounded the throne.
4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white clothes, with golden crowns on their heads.
5 Flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder came from the throne. Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
6 Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne. Four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back were around the throne on each side.
7 The first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like an ox; the third living creature had a face like a man; and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.
8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come.
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one seated on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before the one seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne and say,
11 Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.
1 Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals.
2 I also saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look in it.
4 I wept and wept because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or even to look in it.
5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Look, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw one like a slaughtered lamb standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth.
7 He went and took the scroll out of the right hand of the one seated on the throne.
So we are swiftly approaching the end of our Garden to Garden City series.
And this is a good place for us to quickly sum up the main story of the Bible before we get to the end.
So in the beginning God created the world and ordered it and it was all very good. But very soon human decided that tehy didn’t want to follow God’s way, and so sin entered teh world.
And sin broke everything - it broke the order that was there in creation. It plunged the world into spiritual darkness and it broke our relationship with God.
But God promises immediately to one day fix the problem.
And the rest of scripture is about this promised oslution.
As we travel through the big picture story, we learn more and more about the solution.
God reveals it will come through Abraham’s offspring, Then we learn it will be through Israel.
And as Israel as a people grow they become the bearers of the promise.
But Israel as a people end up failing again and again.
And so other solutions are brought to the fore:
Is it mighty leaders like Moses? No he fails
Is it the judges who rule Israel - no, they fail
Ok what about kings? - No they fail too.
What about the prophets? - No no one listens to them.
But they do tell us that one day one would come who would be better than the priests, better than the prophets anad better than the kings.
And ultimately Jesus bursts onto the scene, and he is the saviour we have been waiting for since Genesis 3.
But he wins not by conquering as a warrior. He wins by dying on the cross, by takaing our sins on his shoulders and solving that sin problem we have been carrying since the beginning of hte world.
And the message about him quickly spreads throuhgout the world as the Holy Spirit comes to empower the church.
And so now we are busy looking at what will happen.
How does teh story end?
And as we will see - the story ends with God’s being with his people, but now without the chasm of seperation that sin cause.
But before we can see that picture, and we will go there after Christmas, we have to think about who this God actually is. I mean we can become so used to our salvation, that we forget who God is, how awesome and how worthy he is of our praise.
So today we will be focussing on those two things. God the supreme ruler and Jesus the One worthy of our praise.
Worship God as the supreme ruler.
Worship God as the supreme ruler.
When we read Revelation,
you have to come away with a sense of awe over who God is!
You see Chapter 4 and 5 make a kind of twofold case
for why we should worship God.
Chapter 4 tells us that we should worship God
as the creator of all that is.
Chapter 5 chiefly tells us that we should worship Jesus
as the redeemer of his people
as the saviour.
And if we learn nothing else from today’s reading
If we take nothing else away from today’s message
We should learn at least this:
God is worthy to be worshipped
because he created the world he rules over the world
and he has saved and is saving the world.
So what we see about God in these two chapters?
Here we have John being carried off into heaven.
When we read this, it is as if a doorway into the spiritual realm has been opened.
It is not so much that Heaven and earth are separated in a kind
Of physical chasm that is put between them.
No what happens here is that John is invited to step through the veil
so to speak
and enter into heaven’s throne room.
John sees he sees God in his council chamber.
The heavenly throne room.
He is on his throne
and there are these 24 sub-thrones sitting underneath his throne.
These 24 throne is almost certainly represent the 12 heads of the tribes of Israel,
the old testament people of God
and the 12 new apostles,
representing the new testament people of God.
Now notice, these people of God are ruling with him.
They are co-heirs with Christ.
Notice who these people are the embodiment of a perfected people.
Their robes are white
which show us that these elders have been washed clean
they are pure
they have his crowns on their heads
which show that they are part of the royal priesthood t
hat God has redeemed his people into.
Notice this God has given them a crown to rule with them,
he has given them their crowning glory.
This crowns represent their authority over things.
But you realise friends that we believers in the 21st-century
are included in that group of people.
This throne room seen is not strictly speaking somewhere far in the future.
It is from here that the book of Revelations prophecy actually launches in
so after this we will see what is truly going to come to pass in the future.
From here we will see how God will come in judge the earth
that is the seven seals that are broken
the seven trumpets of judgement that come
and that all flows from here
that is in the future.
But this vision here
what John sees here,
is a picture of the reality in heaven right now.
The redeemed God saved people,
Are really heaven with him and the rule with him.
When we die,
if Jesus has not yet returned,
we will go to be with God.
And notice what else is in this throne room:
We see these 4 creatures
there is an ox
a human
an eagle
and a lion.
They remind us of this for creatures and the great vision of Ezekiel one
This is in a sense the fulfilment
of God saving his people.
The vision Ezekiel chapter what is meant to encourage the exiles living in Babylon
in Israel’s history
that God is with them
, that God is for them,
and that God is redeeming his people.
And we as the reader
are meant to understand
that what we see here
is that God is with his people
in the new Testament church
, and he is with us even today.
We are meant to be reminded
that God is for his people i
n the new Testament church,
and he is for us today.
He is the supreme ruler over all of creation.
We know that, because these four creatures
Are a kind of the symbol of all of the created animals.
The first, the lion,
is the King of the Jungle.
The mighty animal that can destroy with a smack of his paw.
The second creature is an ox.
This represents the King of the domesticated farming animals.
The ox is an animal which provides food
he provides labour
he helps farm.
He feeds the people.
The third creature is a creature like the human being.
This is the man
which God had created to rule over all the other animals.
The pinnacle of God’s creation.
In the last creature all was the eagle.
Many people even today consider the eagle
to be the King of the flying creatures.
The most majestic of the birds.
When Bette Midler sings the “wind beneath my wings”,
she says that she can fly higher than the eagle.
Notice we never write songs about flying high higher than the vulture,
or the cockatoo,
or indeed the ostrich.
The eagle is the King of the birds.
Now with all of the symbolism explained,
What we are supposed to see
is that God has created all of these things
and because of this, he is worthy to be praised.
Notice how the four representatives of all that God had created
the lion
the ox
the human
the eagle,
they stand before God all day and all night without rest
and they praise him
holy holy holy
is the Lord God Almighty
he who was and who is and who is to come.
That is what creation is meant to do!
We were made to worship God!
And when things are put back in order,
when we are restored,
that is what we do,
that is what all creation does.
We sing to God of his holiness.
How do we know?
Do we know that God expects this kind of reaction from us?
Because what the elders do in this scene in heaven,
They represent for us what we should do when we see into heaven.
What are the elders sitting on their sub- thrones do?
“Whenever the creatures give glory and honour and thanks to God
who was sitting on the throne
the 24 elders fall down in front of the one who sitting on the throne
and they worshipped the one
who lives forever and ever.”
They throw down their crowns in front of the throne saying
Lord our God
you deserve glory and honour and power
because you have created all things
because of your will they existed and were created.”
Friends this is what we live for.
This is what we were made for.
When you feel like your life is meaningless,
It is because oyu haven’t been doing this kind of stuff.
You haven’t been living according to your purpose.
You haven’t given God the glory you were created to do.
Did you you know friends
That the word for glory in the Greek it’s doxa,
in the Hebrew it’s KABOD.
Both of these terms mean heaviness.
substantialness.
There is a weight to God,
he matters.
These ideas of glory are intimately tied with gravity and weight.
When you do not glorify God
you are saying he does not matter
His opinion holds no weight over your life
he is not heavy,
or substantial in your eyes.
But we were created to make God’s name weighty,
to make his name mean something,
to show the world that God matters.
That is what it means to glorify God.
So how do we make this happen?
how do we give glory to God?
How do we show the world that he matters?
That he has weight,
and that he should be taken seriously?
We do what the elders on the thrones do.
God gives them these crowns of glory
he says welcome into heaven
here are your thrones
here is your crowns
as co-heirs with Jesus.
And what do they do?
They throw their crowns in front of his feet
saying over Lord you deserve to receive glory and honour and powe
r because you created all things,
because you all will make them exist,
because you created everything.
When we think of a crown of glory what do we think of?
It’s our achievements isn’t it?
What is our crowing glory - it is that thing you did that made you stand out,
that accomplishment you accomplished
that job you can be proud of, where you applied yourself and you succeeded.
But do you see what happens, in God’s presence to our crowns?
To our achievements
to our gifts and accomplishments?
To our glory?
What happens with them?
We throw them down before God.
Because when we see God face to face
we want to give him everything we have.
Friends
when we take off the Crown,
we give up our right to claim responsibility for the good things we have.
That is what it means to cast our crowns before the throne.
That is what it means to give God the glory that he deserves.
How well do you do at casting your crown before the throne?
How well do you worship God by giving him the glory?
How well do you do at taking off the crown?
This is really hard to do.
On this side of heaven
this is really hard to do
because we want to sit not just on the sub throne,
but on the actual throne of God.
We want to have authority over our own lives.
We want to be able to say I did that
I am great at that
because I work hard.
We want to be able to say this is my crown
and I’m hanging onto it.
This has been our problem since the very beginning.
You see what happened when Adam and Eve ate the fruit
What is it they said?
We want to be like God.
We want to sit on that throne.
We want the glory for ourselves,
We want the crown.
because it makes us feel better
about the fact that we have taken God of the throne.
How well you do at casting your crown before the throne?
So how do we fix that?
How do we fix this pride problem we have
in that we want to keep the glory for ourselves?
Well chapter 5 gives us the answer.
We worship Jesus is the supreme redeemer.
Worship Jesus as the supreme redeemer.
Worship Jesus as the supreme redeemer.
1 Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals.
2 I also saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look in it.
4 I wept and wept because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or even to look in it.
5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Look, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw one like a slaughtered lamb standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth.
7 He went and took the scroll out of the right hand of the one seated on the throne.
What happens next in this heavenly scene,
is perhaps one of the biggest dramatic moments in all of Scripture.
And certainly in the book of Revelation.
What is it that John sees?
He sees that at the right hand of God there was this scroll.
In the scroll is God’s secret plan
for how to fix the world.
It is God’s plan for history.
See God had committed himself to fixing the world right back in Genesis chapter 3
. In Genesis chapter 1 and two God creates the world and it puts mankind in charge of t
and says you rule over this that I have created.
But then of course the fall of sin happens
And God says well I will redeem it.
I will fix the problem.
But the problem we are presented with right the very beginning of the Bible
Is that God has created the world to be ruled by human beings.
To be stewarded by human beings.
And if he then says that human beings have stuffed up
so I will just put someone else in charge
and fix it in some other way
, then he would violate the terms of his own creation.
The world as he had created it to be would cease to exist.
And so God promises that he would fix the world through the hands of a human.
But here is the problem:
Every human being is sinful,
everyone is broken,
everyone is part of the problem.
When this strong angel says in a loud voice
who is worthy to open the scroll,
this is the question is asking.
God here has a perfect holy plan
for how he will fix the world,
but who is worthy of opening the scroll?
Who you are without sin,
who have you have the right to see God’s perfect plan,
because all of humanity ,
is the cause of the problem
everyone has have contributed to the problem.
I am not worthy to open the scroll,
because I was there in the crowd yelling Crucify Jesus.
You are not worthy to open the scroll,
Because we were there in the garden of eden, defying God.
We all have this sin problem!
So how then?
How can this world be fixed?
Who can open the scroll?
So John,
because he understood that the gigantic proportions of this tragedy,
because he understood just how sad and tragic it was
that the world would not be fixed
unless someone could open the scroll
he bursts into tears.
This is the great tragedy
The world needs fixing.
The world needs fixing
and there is no one to do it.
And everyone who has ever stepped forward in the grand story the Bible tells
everyone who has ever stepped forward made the problem worse.
Adam and Eve weren’t worthy - they brought sin into the world.
Moses wasn’t worthy - he disobeyed God in the dessert and took the glory for himself
The Judges werent’ worthy - each one worse than the one before
Even King David, a man after God’s own heart wasn’t worthy. Because he ran off with a bathing rooftop girl.
The scroll here is God’s final solution to dealing with sin forever.
And no one can open it, because no one is worthy.
What a tragedy.
John knows that without opening this scroll,
the end of suffering will never come.
And it moves him to tears.
But then,
one of the elders speaks up
, and he says don’t cry John
look there is one who is worth it.
The lion
from the tribe of Judah,
the root of Jesse,
he has won the victory.
He can open the scroll and its seven seals.
Here is one less walk through life
, and has not succumbed to sin.
He has not contributed to the problem of creation.
Has not caused further death to enter into this world.
Here He is.
No one who read this in the new Testament times
would have missed what John was saying here.
This lion of Judah, this root of David
, these are terms exclusively used for God’s messiah.
This is God’s great Messiah,.
the one who has been promised
the one who had been prophesied about
is finally here
here is the lion of Judah.
This Messiah was supposed to come and fight
a great battle for God’s people,
to set them free.
And so John turns and expects to see the lion of Judah.
The great Warrior who would defeat evil
. And finally set people free.
And so he turns to see the lion.
And what does he see?
He sees the lamb.
The slaughtered lamb.
Not a magnificent,
powerful beast,
but a weak little lamb.
This slaughtered Lamb,
is worthy to open the scroll.
And these two animals seem radically different don’t they,
a lion is a fighter,
a lion is a strong beast
he uses his might, and power and majesty to defeat his enemies.
His roar is enough to instill fear and trembling
to those who hear it.
he stands with his majestic mane
blowing in the wind like
some commercial for shampoo.
And the lamb.
The little lamb.
The animal who is easily consumed by any number of predators.
We eat the lamb and the lion eats us.
And yet John here is asked by God to keep these two images in mind that once.
For you see the great irony of the story of God
, the great plot twist at the end of the book,
is that the lion
is the lamb.
The great victory he wins,
Is a political victory,
it is not a power victory,
is not a military victory.
its not a lion-ish victory.
No, in God’s divine glory and wisdom
the victory that is won,
is the victory of death.
Is the victory of surrender.
It is the victory where
the one who had all the power,
and all the might
, willingly dies on a cross
like a lamb being led to the slaughter.
And when Jesus died
everyone thought
that that was it.
When Jesus died
Everyone thought
and evil had won.
But it was precisely in losing his life
that Jesus paid the price of death
so that we would not pay.
It was precisely in losing the battle
from everyone else’s perspective
, that Jesus was one the war.
And that my friends is why
we cast our crowns
in front of the throne.
You see unless we understand the lion and the lamb is one
unless we understand what Jesus has done
we are going to want to keep our crowns on our heads
because we want to fight the battle ourselves.
But Jesus is the one who is worthy to open the scroll.
And our response must be the same as that
of God’s holy people in this story.
When Jesus opens the scroll
and unfolds the way that God is going to fix the creation,
unfolds the plan to fix the world
When he does this,
everyone around him.
Everyone who loves him
sings his glory and his praise.
11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands.
12 They said with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!
13 I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say, Blessing and honor and glory and power be to the one seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!
14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Friends
When we see the lamb,
We cannot help but fall down and worship.
Amen.
Let’s worshp.