The throne in heaven.
You may remember where we ended last week. John was there before the throne in Revelation 4. A door which opens up into heaven is standing open before the apostle John. In Revelation 4:1-2 (NIV) John writes, "... the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.' At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it." John soon discovers the centrality of Christ’s throne. The centrality was not just in heaven, but was in all of creation and in all of history and in all of humanity!
John found himself standing before the throne. He saw that Jesus Christ was reigning on the throne. A rainbow encircled the throne. Flashes of lightning, sounds of rumbling and peals of thunder came out from the throne. Seven lamps blazed before the throne. And a sea of glass was before the throne. The four living creatures were in the center, surrounding the throne. And the twenty-four elders were falling down in worship before the throne. They were laying down their crowns saying in Revelation 4:11 (NIV), "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
The unopened scroll.
But in Revelation 5 the camera momentarily shifts away from the throne in heaven and zooms into the right hand of him who sat on the throne! In John’s own words in Revelation 5:1 (NIV), "Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals." When Revelation was written, legal documents were often sealed with seven seals in the presence of seven witnesses. Each seal was unique and contained a unique marking from each witness. In the event of a person’s death, these seals would be broken and the scroll would be read out loud.
Perhaps you have been present after the passing of a loved one when her will was read. The reading of the will puts the will or wishes of the deceased into effect. The reading of the will allows the beneficiaries to receive their inheritance.
The scroll has seven unbroken seals.
So what does John see in the right hand of God Almighty? He sees a scroll covered in writing on both sides with seven unbroken seals. Can you imagine his excitement? That unopened scroll reveals God’s will! But there was a problem. The whole future of heaven and earth was being held in the right hand of God, yet no one was authorized or credentialed to break the seven seals, to read God’s will, and to put God’s will into effect.
Moreover, whose death would it require for the scroll in God’s right hand to be opened? Surely not the death of God himself? But if not God, then who? In Revelation 5:2-4 (NIV) John says, "And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?' But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside." Imagine John's disappointment.
But in Revelation 5:5 (NIV) John says, "Then one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.' " Suddenly, the camera pans to reveal the powerful lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, this one who is able to open the scroll and its seven seals!
Worshiping the slain lamb.
But it isn’t a powerful lion that John sees next. It's an innocent lamb! And the lamb looks as if it had been slain. Who or what is this lamb? Revelation 5:6-14 (NIV) tells us, "Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: 'You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.' "
"Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: 'Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!' Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!' The four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshiped."
Jesus Christ himself is the lamb.
What John realizes is that Jesus Christ himself is the lamb. And he realizes that Christ’s death on the cross was somehow necessary, not only for God’s will to be read aloud, but for the seven seals to be broken and for God’s will to be put into effect. Isaiah 53:1-7 (NIV) reveals the identity of the lamb, this worthy one. "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth."
In the Old Testament, the sacrifice of a lamb, a sacrifice of pure innocence, was what was required as a penalty for sin. Here in Revelation it's the death of Christ the lamb that advances God’s will.
The seven seals- awaiting the Christ's conquest.
Again, the camera pans away from the lamb back to the scroll. One by one, in Revelation 6 the seals are broken. Each seal unveils devastating consequences to humanity. Revelation 6:1-2 (NIV) tells us, "I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, 'Come!' I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest."
The first seal- reveals Christ's conquest.
The image of an archer on a white horse would have struck terror into the heart of anyone living in the Roman empire. The only mounted archers of antiquity were the Parthians, whose tactics and skills had made them Rome’s most feared enemies. The Parthians rode sacred white horses and had defeated entire Roman armies in recent wars. People dreaded the thought of the Parthians invading. The first seal, upon being broken, reveals Christ riding in conquest, coming in judgment, and slaying the enemies of God.
The second seal- reveals the nations' bloodshed.
Revelation 6:3-4 (NIV) continues, "When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, 'Come!' Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword." Red was the color most associated with war and bloodshed. Upon Christ’s conquest, nations would break out in war against one another and against themselves.
The third seal- reveals plague and famine on the earth.
Revelation 6:5-6 (NIV) says, "When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, 'Come!' I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, 'A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!' "
The black horse was a symbol of death. And the pair of scales in his hand was a symbol of famine. A famine was coming that would be so severe that the average price of wheat would skyrocket, leaving the average person unable to provide food for himself, let alone for his family.
The fourth seal- reveals the angel of death.
In Revelation 6:7-8 (NIV) the angel of death is unleashed. "When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, 'Come!' I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth."
The fifth seal- reveals the souls of the martyrs.
In Revelation 6:9-11 (NIV), we're given a glimpse of those who had been persecuted by the Roman government for their faith in Christ. Notice that they're told to wait longer. Despite their suffering, God’s purpose and plan was not being thwarted. "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, 'How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?' Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed."
The sixth scroll- reveals the end of the age.
With the sixth scroll comes the advent of the end of age. Revelation 6:12-17 (NIV) says, "I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?' "
The seventh seal-reveals cosmic chaos.
The seventh and final scroll is not unveiled until Revelation 8:1-5 (NIV). "When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake."
So what is the point of all this cosmic chaos? First, an unopened scroll for which no one in heaven or on earth was worthy to open. Then the appearance of the Lamb who was slain. By virtue of his innocent death the Lamb is worthy to break open the seals and put God’s will into effect. And then utter chaos as each seal is broken. The white horse, the red horse, the black horse, the pale horse, the blood of the martyrs who’d been slain, then the great day of God’s wrath visiting the earth, and then complete and utter silence in heaven.
The great multitude- washed by the blood of the lamb.
If you are following along in your scriptures, you’ll notice that there is an entire chapter inserted between the breaking of the sixth and the seventh seal. It's Revelation 7. As the world reels from the wrath of God, there inRevelation 7John sees a great multitude in heaven who’d been washed by the blood of the Lamb. Unlike the enemies of God, this great multitude is secure in heaven.
Revelation 7:9-17 (NIV) tells us, "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.' All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: 'Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!' "
"Then one of the elders asked me, 'These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?' I answered, 'Sir, you know.' And he said, 'These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, 'they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.' "
A special guest.
This past week we searched the countryside far and wide to track down a special guest. And to be honest, I don’t quite know what we're getting in to here, so be patient! I’d like to invite all the children to come forward to meet him. (Note to reader- a live baby lamb was brought to the podium.)
Of all the things in the universe, God has chosen to reveal himself to us as a lamb. Lambs are a symbol of innocence. They’re a bit jumpy and a bit loud, but they are innocent, defenseless creatures. It took the death of such innocence to wash away our sins.
In John 1:29 (NIV) Jesus is described as, "... the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV) says, "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."
Colossians 1:19-23 (NIV) says, "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel."
This bread signifies your broken body, the death of innocence. This juice signifies your blood, a blood shed to wash away our sins and make us clean. Through faith in Christ, we have eternal hope. Let's take communion together.