Revelation
Class #18
Previously, we looked at Chapter 4. Remember that we need to look at the
book of Revelation as a worship service, and particularly in chapter 4 we get a
glimpse of worship in heaven itself. John says: Revelation
4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door open in heaven, He sees
a vision of the awesomeness of God enthroned and all of the saints, elders, and
living creatures all around him saying " We talked about
the fact that there are only two places in the Bible where something is repeated
three times like that: “Holy, holy, holy.” The other place where it's
repeated three times is in Isaiah 6 when Isaiah is called up into the heavenly
counsel and he sees the same vision that John sees, God enthroned and smoke
filling the temple, an awesome noise of God shaking the very timbers of the
temple, with the four living creatures surrounding the throne, saying, “Holy,
holy, holy,". Remember in
the ancient Hebrew language, they didn't have words for “good,”
“better,” and “best.” If they wanted to say something was better, they
would say it was “good, good.” If they wanted to say something was best,
they would say it was “good, good, good.” They would repeat it three times.
There's a place in the Old Testament where it talks about sticky mud. It was
really sticky, so it was “sticky, sticky” mud in the Hebrew idiom. So what
we see here is that the focus on the superlative holiness of God. In His
presence all else pales into insignificance. He is the only one worthy and
deserving of our worship.
Revelation 5:1 And I saw in the
right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back,
sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud
voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?" (v3)
And no one in heaven, or in the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the
book, or to look into it. (v4) And I began to weep greatly, because no one was
found worthy to open the book, or to look into it. (v5) And one of the elders
said to me, "Stop weeping; behold
the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as
to open the book and its seven seals." (v6) And I saw between the throne
(with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain,
having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out
into all the earth. And He came and He took it out of the right hand of Him who
sat on the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and
the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp and
golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sang a new song saying "Worthy are You to take the book,
and to break its seals; for You were slain, and did purchase for God with Your
blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And You have made
them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.
(v11) And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and
the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was myriads of
myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and
honor and glory and blessing." (v13) Every created thing which is in heaven
and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them I
heard saying "To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing
and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures
kept saying "Amen!" And the elders fell down and worshiped.
We come then to the beginning of the part of the book of Revelation in
which the popular concept is that it is a prophecy of the future. There's a
scroll sealed up with seven seals, and in the next few chapters, the seals are
broken and things begin to happen. John narrates: 5:1
And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside
and on the back,… Most people immediately think that this is a book about
prophecy, that God is revealing to John what is going to happen sometime in the
future.
But there is another interpretation that not many people know about,
because very few people today know much about the Old Testament. John says “I
saw a book written inside and on the back” or “on the front and back.”
That brings to our minds writing on
both sides of a piece of paper. The problem is they didn't do that in scrolls.
If you look at any scroll (even today), you'll see it is written on one side and
then rolled up. There is nothing on the outside. So if it were sealed, you
wouldn't be able to read what was on it. Now that has bothered a lot of
commentators, especially those who think this is a book of prophecy. But, if we
simply go to the Old Testament, we immediately find something there that is written on the front and the back.
Remember that we discussed how the book of Revelation is written in the
form of a Suzerain Treaty. This is where the Suzerain or Great King conquers a
vassal king. Then the Suzerain writes up a treaty and holds a covenant
ratification ceremony where they both “cut the covenant.” We see this in
Exodus with the Ten Commandments, which are in the form of a Suzerain Treaty,
where God declares “I am the Lord
your God.” That was the way these treaties started, with a declaration of
sovereignty, “I am your Great King.” Then there is a Historical Prologue,
“this is what I have done to establish this relationship.” God says “I
brought you out of Egypt. I purchased you for my own.” Then there are Ethical
Stipulations. These are the things you must do in the treaty as the vassal king.
If you don't do them, there are the Sanctions. “This is what will happen to
you if you don't obey me.” Then finally there are Succession Arrangements,
which discusses continuity if either of the kings is no longer around. The book
of Deuteronomy is also written as a Suzerain Treaty. We can go back and show how
the whole book is written that way. So also is the book of Revelation.
Now, the fascinating thing about a Suzerain Treaty is that they always
made two copies of the treaty. One for the Suzerain and one for the vassal king.
They would then deposit them at the feet of their gods. Now you may remember
that when God wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets of stone, did He just
write on the front? No! The text says God wrote on the front and back (Exodus
32:15). Instead of two tablets with so many commandments on one and so many
commandments on the other, very likely what God did was write two copies of the
treaty. One was deposited at the foot of God (in the Ark of the Covenant above
which God Himself dwelt in all His glory on the Mercy Seat between the wings of
the cherubim). Guess where the Israelites put their copy? In the same place!
They put both tablets in the same Ark of the Covenant, because their Gods were
the same. Israel's God was Yahweh God, and Yahweh God put His own copy at His
feet as well.
One of my seminary professors, Meredith Kline, did a marvelous work where
he wrote about this. It is called
So when we see here in Revelation a book written inside and on the back,
this is a classic reference to a covenant document. We're seeing a Suzerain
Treaty. But it's sealed up. Why is it shown to be sealed up? Because it's like a
time capsule that is sealed up until it's time to be opened. Again, where have
we seen (in the Old Testament) a reference to sealing up? At the end of the book
of Daniel in chapter 12 we read: Daniel
12:4 “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until
the time of the end…” What end? The end of the Old Covenant era about
which Daniel was prophesying.
Similarly in Ezekiel 2:9-10 "Then I
looked, behold, a hand was extended to me: and lo, a scroll was in it. When He
spread it out before me, it was written on the front and the back:" Sounds
just like Revelation, doesn't it! and
written on it were words of lamentations, mourning, and woe. What
did this covenant document contain? Sanctions! Words of judgment against Israel!
God is simply carrying out the law agreed to by both parties in the covenant.
Because of Israel’s disobedience, He is saying, “I am going to do exactly
what I said I would do.” These kinds of sanctions are beautifully laid out and
contrasted in Deuteronomy 28: Sanctions of blessing for covenant obedience in
the first half of the chapter; sanctions of curses for covenant disobedience in
the second half of the chapter.
This is also what we see in Revelation 5 – a scroll written on the
front and the back. And written on it, as we shall see in later chapters, are
lamentations, mourning, and woe – God's righteous judgment against Israel for
covenant disobedience. Now look at Isaiah
29:11 And the entire vision shall be to you like the words of a sealed book,
which when they give it to the one who is literate saying, "Please read
this," he will say "I cannot, for it is sealed." Then the book
will be given to one who is illiterate, saying, "Please read this."
And he will say, "I cannot read." Then the Lord said, "Because
this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but
they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of
tradition learned by rote; therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously
with this people.
He then goes on and talks about – guess what? – judgment against the
Israelites. Particularly, He speaks of judgment against the leadership of
Israel. Remember that the leaders were responsible for what the people were
doing, and vice versa, because the people didn't correct the leaders. What we
see here in Revelation 5 is God's judgment document against Israel. You see it's
not a book of prophecy in the sense of God is going to reveal what's going to
happen. Yes, that's true in a sense, but as Chilton points out in his book, all
prophecy is ethical. When most people think of prophecy, they think of things to
come.
But that's not all; it's not just the foretelling, but also the
forthtelling of God's word. I am a prophet. We heard a prophecy this morning
during the sermon, a forthtelling of the word of God. That's what we see over
and over again in prophecies in the Bible. You don't see God simply telling the
events that are about to happen merely to reveal the future. In fact you never
see that in the Bible. God only reveals the events of the future in order to
warn people: “if you don't shape up, this is what I'm going to do.” All
prophecy in the Bible is ethical. And that is exactly what's happening here in
Revelation 5.
(v4) And I began to weep greatly,
because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look into it. Why
would John be so upset and weeping? If you knew that God's judgment was coming,
and you knew that there was a way to prevent God's judgment from coming upon
your people, wouldn't you want to find out how you could prevent that? What you
see here is John's concern over his people, the nation of Israel. He immediately
understands that this is a covenant document, that it's a Suzerain Treaty. He
knows it contains the sanctions of God against Israel and so he breaks out into
tears because nobody is worthy of opening it to find out what can be done.
(v5) And one of the elders said to
me, "Stop weeping: behold, the
Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, …The Lion of
Judah is the son, or Root of David. He is the Messiah, the coming son of David
that was foretold over and over again in the Old Testament. He is the sprig that
sprang up from Jesse. He is the Root of David. He is the coming Messiah. That's
why the Jews were so disappointed by Jesus – He was not the kind of Messiah
they were expecting. They were expecting a Lion, a great warrior, to come riding
in on his white charger with sword flashing and wipe out the Romans and
everybody else, and, most importantly, to restore them to their former glory.
But Jesus wasn't like that, was He? As a matter of fact, John says (v6) And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and
the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain,… When you hear the word lamb,
most people think of a weak, little, helpless, harmless creature that you cuddle
in your arms. Is that the way you think of Jesus? Most people do. They think of
him as “gentle Jesus, meek and mild.”
But that's not what John is describing here. He says “a Lamb standing, as if slain,” Now that's kind of confusing, isn't
it? How can a lamb stand if it's slain? Once again the problem is our
unfamiliarity with the Old Testament. When we see the words “the standing
lamb,” we don't automatically make the same connection that an Israelite might
make. The daily sacrifice of the lamb that was required every day, was called a
Tamid, or the “standing sacrifice.” Chilton points out that in the book of
Revelation, Jesus is called the lamb 29 times. It's a Greek word,
Why the difference? As Chilton points out, very likely what's going on here is
the Greek translation of the “standing sacrifice” is the word Arnion plus
the Greek word for standing.
So what John is describing here is not some mild meek little lamb that
has been slain and yet he is standing up, some miraculous kind of thing. Rather
he's talking about the standing sacrifice in the temple. And Who is the standing
sacrifice in the temple? Of course, it is Jesus the Messiah, “the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 2:29) That's what's going on here:
the Lion of Judah, is the Messiah, is the Lamb of God who is represented by the
“standing sacrifice” of a lamb each day in the Temple. And that's what
John's people would understand. They wouldn't visualize a lamb with its throat
cut standing up there, smiling away. No. They would immediately connect John's
words to the sacrifice. As a matter of fact, John goes on to say a
lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the
seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
:
Ever tried to draw something
like that? Can you paint a picture of a lamb slain, but standing, and who has
seven horns and seven eyes? And how do you even draw the seven Spirits of God?
What we're dealing with here is biblical symbolism. Everywhere in the Bible the
word “horn” represents power. And seven in Scripture represents
completeness. So what is being symbolized is complete power. How would we say
that in our modern language? Maybe omnipotence, all powerful.
What about the seven eyes? Wouldn't that make a really weird lamb? How
about omniscience: complete, perfect vision! Do you understand what this means?
The Lamb is omnipotent and omniscient, all-powerful and allknowing. What about
the seven spirits? Omnipresence! They go out into all the world. In short, what
are we seeing here? We're seeing God! We are seeing The Lamb of God who is God;
The Lion of Judah; The omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God of the universe.
(v7) …And He came and He took it
out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. What is happening here?
How can you have God sitting on the throne and yet God standing out there, with
one giving the other something from His right hand. How is this possible? How
can one be two and yet remain one? Yes, it's difficult to comprehend, but we see
the same kind of vision in Daniel 7, where the Divine Messiah comes before the
Ancient of Days and receives from Him all power and authority and a Kingdom.
It's really not so hard to understand when you remember that God is
triune, one God in three persons. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit are the same, yet distinct. They do different things and have different
responsibilities. We see the same thing in verse 6. The focus here is upon the
work of the Lion of Judah, the standing sacrifice, the Lamb of God. (v6)
And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four
elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp and golden bowls full
of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. You see this over and over
again, this smoke that comes up before God. This incense, this aroma in the
nostrils of God, is the prayers of God's people. How much do you pray each day?
If the prayers of the saints are the smoke of the incense, the aroma that was
pleasing to God, how much do you think you're pleasing God with your prayers?
There have been studies done where they've asked pastors, “How much time do
you spend each day praying?” The average is 5 minutes a day. Do you think
that's very pleasing to God? I don't think so.
v.9: And they sang a new song, saying "Worthy are You to take the
book, and to break its seals; for You were slain… John goes on to talk about the
Lamb who was slain and purchased for God and says “Worthy are you!” There
are churches in the PCA that are called "New Song Church." There are
lots of places in the Old Testament where they “sang a new song.” When God
parts the Red Sea for the Israelites and brings them across on dry land, what do
they do? In Exodus 15: they sing a new song! What you see in the Old Testament
in God's redemptive history, in virtually every juncture where there was a major
thing that happened, the people sing a new song, praising God. “Worthy are
you! For…[and then the reason is cited]” And that's what's going on here,
too. The saints, elders, and all living creatures are bursting forth in a new
song, praising Jesus for his marvelous work of redemption.
…for You were slain and did purchase for God with Your blood men from
every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And You made them to be a kingdom
… This is a problem for people who believe that Revelation is futuristic.
It says You were slain,
past tense, and
purchased, past tense, and You made
them to be a kingdom. All the verbs are past tense. Are you still waiting on
the Kingdom of God? This verse is one of many that teaches that it's already
here. It's past tense. It's something that God has already done at the first
Advent. …You made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will
reign upon the earth. How many of you are reigning upon the earth? Every
Christian should raise their hand! But what is the typical attitude in the
Church in America today? “Oh, woe is me! Satan's gonna get me. We'd better
close up the doors and pray that Satan doesn't knock down the doors of the
church.” That's the way most churches are today. But Scripture teaches
differently. It teaches that we are a kingdom! We are priests! We are reigning
right now upon the earth! One of my favorite things is to remind people that
God's first commandment to man in Genesis 1 is two-fold. First, be fruitful and
multiply, and second, take dominion over the whole earth! Are we taking dominion
in the Church today? Are we going out and telling people about Jesus?
:
And I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and
the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of
myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and
honor and glory and blessing." Again, this is a clear reference to Daniel chapter
7, where the kingdom is given to the Son of Man. Daniel
7:13 I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was
presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, that
all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His
dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is
one that will not be destroyed. According to Daniel chapter 2, the Kingdom
of God came into existence during Roman times, during the first Advent of
Christ, to include the birth, life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of
Jesus. His Kingdom is not something that is still in the future, 2000 years
after the fact. The Scripture very clearly teaches that Jesus ascended to the
right hand of the Father and formally received the Kingdom and is reigning right
now until everything is put under His feet. John was reminding the first century
Christians who were about to undergo severe persecution (and us years later),
“We are reigning with Him.”
(v13) And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and
under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To
Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and
dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying
"Amen." Remember the word Amen literally means “so be it,”
“verily,” “in truth.” In the King James Version, whenever you see Jesus
saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto you…” the actual words are “Amen,
amen.” He's saying “Truly, truly,…” So the four living creatures are
testifying to the truthfulness of what every creature is saying about Jesus.
(v14) And the elders fell down and worshiped. Again, we see this
primary focus on worship in Revelation.
Revelation is not simply a book about something that might come to pass someday. We don't need to search the newspapers and TV trying to figure out how all these things mesh with today's current events. It's already all here for us in the Bible. Instead of the newspapers, we need to dig into the Old Testament and study and learn so that we will have the same keys to unlock its meaning that the first century Jewish Christians had. Then we'll discover as they did, that the Revelation is a letter of comfort and exhortation. Its message is “Yes, you're going to face tribulation, you're going to face trials, you're going to face terrible persecution. But remember God's in charge. Remember what Jesus has accomplished; He's already won! Have faith in Him and go out and take dominion! Be bold! Be strong! Always be looking for opportunities to share Christ and extend His Kingdom here on earth.”
