God on His Throne

Good morning. I'm very glad to be with all of you. I'm gonna ask you to stand with me as I read from the Bible now, from Revelation chapter 5, beginning at verse 1. And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?

And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seals.

And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

Now, when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and opened its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth.

Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing, and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.

Then the four living creatures said, amen, and the 24 elders fell down and worshiped him who lives forever and ever. Let's pray. God, we thank you that you have spoken to us in what we have just read and are revealing yourself to us. We pray, Lord, that you would send forth grace that creates in us a desire to know you and your son, the Lord Jesus, that you would cause us to be captivated by your greatness, and that your greatness, Lord, would be seen through your church and through our lives, in Jesus' name, amen.

And you may be seated. So, listen, before we even just begin to consider the particulars of what we've just read, I wanted to, um, just call us to think about something, and it's something that I was thinking about for myself coming and, you know, knowing this was the passage, you know, that I felt led to hold before us. And that is to just stop for a moment and to consider what we just read.

And, you know, if I-I'll begin with myself to-to confess the presumption that I think often resu-that, you know, we have Bibles. We have them on our phones. They-they are often neglected. And that I, and I think we, lose sight of the fact at times that in the Bible, God is revealing things to us that could never be known unless he chose to reveal them to us. You and I just read about a scene in heaven, and I, I, I just think there are times we need to pause and go, my God just let me see a scene in heaven.

And you think of the degree to which you and I are captivated by, uh, movies and computer-generated Marvel movies and all the action, you know, we think this is great, we think this is... what is that? But it's just something that is generated, that it isn't reality, it isn't actual, or we could go to something actual in the world, we could go to the Grand Canyon, we can see some great beauty there, and that great beauty can tell us there is a creator, but that the Grand Canyon cannot tell me anything about the nature of the creator in other than that he's good and create.

It certainly can't reveal to me particulars about him and his will, and you and I have just read this passage in which we are we are brought into heaven itself. And so, you know, I'm just this morning, I think we just need to frequently ask of God that he would renew in us a desire to know him and the things that he wants us to know. Now, the particulars, we start to look at verse 1, and we're told of God as he is seated on his throne.

And it's interesting, what we're told is that he has a scroll, and we might think it says, and, um, God seated on his throne, and he had a scroll. And what mat-what would it matter which hand it was in? But what scripture says to us is, I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll. What God seems to want us to know before he even says he has a scroll is that the scroll is in his right hand.

And my question was, well, what does it matter? What does it matter if it's in his right hand or in his left hand? And scripture seems to hold before us this fact that the right hand is significant, that the right hand of God is, is where the power, as it were, resides. It is with his right hand that he affects all his purposes, and to a degree that no one can defeat them, no one can thwart them.

So listen, Exodus chapter 15, verse 6. Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power. Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces. Isaiah 62, the Lord has sworn by his right hand and his strong arm. And then Psalm 110, God says to his son, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. And so here's the scene.

God on his throne. And as he is seated there, he has in his right hand a scroll. And we're told of the scroll that it has, it is, has writing on it, and it's on both sides, as it were. The scroll, you know, well, what, what is the scroll? And while we're not told emphatically, you and I are left to understand that this scroll is the will of God.

It's his plan. It is his purpose. It is, we can assume, the whole course of history from eternity past into the everlasting future. The fact that it is written on both sides signifies it is the entire plan in its fullness from the beginning to the end. And then what else are we told about this scroll? We're told that it is sealed, and not with just a single seal.

It has seven seals on it, and you think of all the things we can do with seven, right? Scripturally, you could just go on and do two sermons about seven in scripture, but seven, what can we assume that signifies? Well, certainly it must signify the, the perfection of that plan and the completeness of that plan. But listen, if it's sealed 7 times, it also has to do with the degree to which no one can get to the contents of the scroll.

It has the great king's, not single seal, seven seals, which means there is no way anyone could ever know the contents of that scroll unless the king chooses to make the contents known. And dear folks, this is, is I'm coming back to where I started. God has no obligation to make anything known to you or me. By by right, he owes us nothing. He doesn't owe it to you and me to tell us anything about himself or his purposes or his plans.

And yet, what has he chosen in his mercy to do? To reveal much to you and me. Everything you and I need to know about him or his purposes, he has made known. And the issue isn't his willingness to make it known. The issue is the degree to which I want to know what he's made known. So, we are told, verse 2, that a strong angel proclaims with a loud voice.

This is of interest to me, a strong angel. Aren't they all strong? And it would appear that there is some kind of hierarchy. Some of the angels seem to be mighty to a superior degree. We're told of certain angels in scriptures. While we don't know that there's 10,000 times 10,000, we only know the name of a few, right? Michael, the archangel. He's an archangel, right? We know there's Gabriel, who whoever this angel is, we are told that he's strong.

He poses the question, what is the question? Who is worthy? The issue is not strength so much here, it's worthiness. Who's worthy to open the scroll and to break its seven seals? And then look at verse 3. No one. And you look at the breadth of this. No one in heaven. No one on earth. No one under the earth is able, listen, to open the scroll or to even look at it, is what we're told, right?

So listen, that means on earth, Mahatma Gandhi was not found worthy to open the scroll. Mother Teresa was not found worthy to open the scroll. Billy Graham was not worthy to open the scroll. Listen, let's let's come closer to to God. The Apostle Paul isn't worthy to open the scroll. Moses isn't worthy to open the scroll. David isn't worthy to open the scroll. Mary is not worthy to open the scroll.

And listen, let me just state, let me state the obvious. I am not worthy to open the scroll, nor are you. You just think of this scene for a second. Who would dare presume to walk up to the throne of God and extend their hand and say, let me open it? It's, it's an unfathomable thought, right? So we, okay, well, it's obvious no one on earth, but listen, no one in heaven is worthy.

Not even an angel is worthy to open this. And listen, Job chapter 15, we were Jo-in Job this morning in Sunday school. What is man that he should be pure? Or he who was born of a woman that he should be righteous? But listen, behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight. This is, this is, this is confounding, right?

That, that even these pure spirits in, in whom there is no sin, even, even as God sees them in the very heavens themselves, they aren't pure in his sight because he is holiness itself. And John's response to this reality that there is no one is what? He weeps, and we're told that he weeps much. And brothers and sisters, I just want to pause here for a second to pose this question to us.

What... What is it that causes you to weep much. I assume all of us weep over things, but listen, what is, what, why is John weeping? He is weeping because there is information in this scroll from the great God, and it would appear that we are never going to know what that information is because no one is worthy to open the scroll. Listen, it, it is because of the glory and the purposes of God he weeps.

And, and I'm coming to us this morning and asking us what, do we, are we moved to tears to any degree because of the things of God? And, and I want to encourage us not to mingle and confuse what we might often call our concern for God, which is often really just concern for ourselves. We can think of this and, you know, what's going on in our nation and all, and it's okay, but is...

I think often we're mad, not grieved. And John weeps because it would appear that this scroll is not going to be opened. Now we're told, verse 5, one of the elders says to John, don't weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. Wait, there is someone who is worthy to open the scroll.

Who is it? The elder def-tells us it is the lion of the tribe of Judah. Jacob spoke of him in Genesis 49 when he said, Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion who shall rouse him?

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the people. So, there is one who is worthy. It is the lion of the tribe of Judah, but then why is the lion of the tribe of Judah worthy? Well, we're told he's worthy. Why? What, what has he done? Okay, he, he has prevailed, right?

And now, um, I want to move things into really very much what was on my mind coming today, um, that I hope will be helpful to us as God's people in the midst of daily life and, and given exactly kind of time-wise where we are in September, and you don't need for me to tell you that it's election season, right? Um, of course, election season starts 18 months before elections now, right?

So it's almost all... But listen, your mailboxes tell you it's election season, right? Are you getting the, the 6 mailers a day from the candidates? Back in Toledo, every day I go to my mailbox, and there are 5 or 6 mailers from the candidates, and the, the, the YouTube, you know, they're, they're the, the commercials every day, election, election, right? And, um, listen, I think, I think if we're honest, largely the, the Christian church, and in an increasing way, has come to think that it is through the outcome of things like elections and court decisions that we win, as it were, or that God's purposes are being accomplished.

And it does seem that in an increasing way, Christians are angry people about what's going on in the world. And we might say, well, shouldn't shouldn't I shouldn't we be angry about certain things? Well, I suppose we should. The question is, is is anger what should define us as we're living in the world? Or fretting and worrying. What what happens if if this candidate loses? What, what happens if we lose control of the White House or of Congress or our majority on the Supreme?

We're, we're undone, as it were. We're, we're ruined. And here's, dear folks, what I want us to see as we ponder this scene in heaven. We are told that the lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy to open the scroll because he prevailed. So, that's what John hears, the lion, right? But when he turns to look, what is it that he sees? He does not see a lion, does he?

When he turns to look, he sees a lamb. And listen, a lamb as if it had been what? Slain. Listen, lions win, right? Lions are, in a sense, undefeated, not the football team, but the animals, right? Uh, lambs don't prevail. Lambs are, they're victims. Lambs lose, right? And this is instructive. What we're told is that Jesus ultimately doesn't prevail and is not found worthy to open the scroll because as a lion he prevailed, but as a lamb he prevailed, and listen, he prevailed by seemingly losing.

I saw a lamb as if he had been slain. Prevail by being slain? This is so counter to our thinking, right? Like, the boxer who's lying on the mat and the referee is counting 10 over him, you don't say he prevailed by being knocked out, do you? No? The, the Confederates at Gettysburg, at Pickett's Charge, do, do you say that the 6,000 slain Confederates prevailed, um, in their failure at Pickett's Charge?

This, this is so contrary to the way of the world, and listen, I fear increasingly the way you and I look at the world and think. What we're told is that Jesus prevailed by laying down his life and dying. Now, here's, here's the question for us. If, if that be so, then might it be that in the course of this world, and coming back now to this scroll and its contents, which is the will of God, which cannot be defeated or thwarted in any way, could it well be that what was true of God's Son will also then be true for God's church and his people?

Namely, that often God's will will go forward and he will prevail by what appears to be seeming losses. I think we are to assume this. And listen, to, to understand that in, in God's design, um, things like martyrdom are victory. Things like, who knows, losing employment, or you go to the book of Hebrews and people losing their property. That though those would seem to be victories by the evil one in the world, in in the sovereignty and wisdom of God, that those kind of things are actually winning.

And listen, if you, if you think about this looking back, you think of martyrs. Would any of us say they lost? Folks, if you need some inspiration sometime, go onto the internet and read about the martyrdom of Polycarp. Just, just read that account of that, that man's death for Christ, and, and then tell me he lost. He, he did not lose, and God's purposes were not defeated in his death.

And I'm holding before us this truth that in the wisdom and purposes of God, it, it is often what seems to be losing and defeat that God is bringing about his very will and prevailing. And if that be true, then it is likely the case that often what you and I think is winning is actually losing. And I want to just challenge us to, to stop for a moment and to think.

What, what do you, what do you and I think winning is as it comes to God's kingdom and and his work and his will and your work as a church? What what what is winning? Is it what would obvious, seemingly obviously appear to be winning, or do you understand that it may well be that God's way of bringing about his will through this church and through your life would be through things that on the surface look like losing.

You know what heartens me and concerns me this? I read the book of Acts, you get to chapter 17, and what we're told is that the people around Thessalonica, as Paul and his companions draw near, they say, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. Here's the accusation. They're turning the world upside down. And listen, as you and I are in this election season, and I don't know how, on a daily basis, how much, how much political television are you watching every day?

How much, uh, podcasts and what-however we can get to all of this stuff now. Hours, hours, probably many of you. Getting angry, fretting. We've got to win. And listen, do d-do I want righteous decrees and laws? Of course I do. But listen, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and listen, what was true of these men? Were any of those men on the Roman Senate?

Were any of those men on the Sanhedrin? Listen, those men, under the government in which they lived, the Rome, could not even cast a vote. And yet they are accused of turning the world upside down, which is great proof that God does not need the power or the kingdoms of this world to accomplish his will, and it seems to please him greatly to bring in his kingdom in contradiction to all of that, through nobodies, through uneducated men, through fishermen, through through a a former Pharisee who broke ranks and turned the world upside down so that when they go into Ephesus, the the entire city is bringing their scrolls and their dark magic books, and they're burning them and turning to God.

Listen, I do fear sometimes that we've become so focused on the power of this world because we do not have the real power. It i-it is the fact we don't have the power of God that has caused us to become desperate for the power of this world. So, I'm I'm wanting this to be application for us. We're we're in the midst of a world, there's so much that is opposed to God.

There is so much that is evil and wrong. And while gives us, God gives us the privilege to, to vote, we, we should vote in accord with God's will to the best that can happen in a fallen world. But listen, understand that God prevails in ways that do not look like winning to you and me. And as Jesus the Lamb comes up to God and takes this scroll out of his hand, what is more than implied here is that God is bringing about his will through his son.

He has given all things into the hand of his son, which means everything is to be about his son then. And the most important things that you and I can do then to be partakers of God's great will and its accomplishment is to know his son, to make his son known, to do his son's will, to trust his son and to know He's, He's the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of, of the world.

And, and if it's His will for you and I to seemingly lose, as it were, for a time, and listen, Revelation chapter 13 gives us much reason to think that's the case. We, we are told there that for a season it's going to be given to the beast to wage war against the saints and to prevail over them for a time. We we are, it appears, going to lose in human thinking and and vision.

But because God can never be defeated or his purpose is ever thwarted, it is not possible that he or you and I as his people could lose. Now, I I do want to, um, close with this, that scroll we read of, I've been speaking of it in, in big picture ways, right? So eternal things and the kingdom things, and obviously this would involve nation things, but listen, if this is the will of God in its entirety, then listen, the contents of that scroll include you.

Your lives, mine. God's purposes for you and me are in that scroll and are now in the hands of his son, and and whatever may be happening in your life right now, it the contents of that and purposes are in God's scroll, which means God has committed himself to those things for his glory, for your good. And listen, just be heartened today to know that as God is on his throne and has this scroll in his right hand, and as he hands it over to his son, you and I as his people are written in its contents, and he has purposed good for us and is bringing about that good.

Listen, even though it may not look that way in your life right now, be careful not to go off your own perceptions or sight about what God's will being done in your life is. It may well be his will doesn't look like winning to you or blessing to you right now or prosperity, whatever it is, but if we are his, he has purpose good for us and no.