Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. And I am joined by my lovely wife and co-hosts.
Hello, this is Danita Thomas. And we are honored, as always, to come to you today as we are on the heels in our nation, on the heels of the elections. And there are people out there, some are happy and jubilant, and there are some that are down and out. But we want to talk today about Revelation Chapter 5, and we want to look at a message titled Worthy is the Lamb. And as I think about the election, when people go out and cast their vote, the vote is being cast based on who a person feels is worthy of a particular position.
And we don't typically use that kind of terminology, but that basically is what it boils down to. But for those who are, again, down and out, if you're just depressed or upset, disappointed, we want to talk about the fact that the day is coming in which the one who is worthy, truly worthy, to rule and reign Jesus Christ is coming. So we're going to talk about Worthy is the Lamb. So, Danita, for anyone who may be new to the faith and is not quite familiar with the terminology, share with them who the Lamb is. The Lamb is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And when I think about the Lamb, there's one of my favorite verses, John 1, verse 29. It says, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Amen. And so the Lamb is coming to rule and reign and worthy is the Lamb. So we're looking at Revelation, chapter five, verses one through seven today. So, Danita, if you could begin by reading verse one. 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. So as we look at this verse, verse one, it begins with the word and so that lets us know that it joins with the preceding chapter.
And that's both in subject matter and chronologically. If you remember, when we looked at Revelation chapter four, we found that the apostle John was looking at the throne of God. Not only was he looking at it, he was actually there seeing the throne of God and all of his majesty, the worship that was going on, the the emerald rainbow around the throne. And so now as we come to chapter five, he is focusing his attention to the seven seal scroll in the hand of God. And I want to share some characteristics of this scroll. Number one, it was in the right hand of God.
That is very important. It was not in the left hand. It was in the right hand of God. Number two, it had writing on both sides. And then thirdly, it was sealed with seven seals. And we're going to talk more about the characteristics of a seal scroll and what it was like when we get to the the seven seals coming up in later chapters.
But those are some characteristics to keep in mind as we look here. And this scroll contains the key to the entire book of Revelation. Yeah, I like the whole thing with the right hand because it just talks about God's power and authority and how the number seven comes up a lot, which talks about which represents God's fullness, his perfect plan and everything. And then with the the seven seals, you know that for a scroll to have seven seals, that must reflect how sacred it is and how it is never infringed or adulterated or broken into. And it's something of a special type of a scroll also because of its writing on both sides.
Now, the fact that the scroll is in the right hand of God, we know that the Bible says Jesus sits at the right hand of God. Now, politically, we hear about the left and the right. So does that mean that the Republicans, the conservatives, you know, that's the right. That's how we refer to it as the right. So is that, you know, I guess it's just a coincidence. But but we do look at that as their significance. The fact that the scroll is in the right hand of God.
Jesus Christ currently sits at the right hand of God. So that is a very, very important detail. Yes.
All right. So let's look at verse two. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice. Who is worthy to open the scroll and to lucid seals? So it's very evident that this scroll pertains to the human race as angels were not allowed to open it. This angel is looking for a human being so we can conclude that this scroll relates to mankind and their relationship to the earth. And I point out to that this has to be a mighty angel, one who is powerful enough to even challenge the whole creation by asking who is worthy to remove the seal. So he must have great authority.
Absolutely. OK, now let's move on to verse three. And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. So no redeemed person in heaven, on earth or under the earth. And when the Bible says under the earth, that's referring to Hades or what some people refer to as hell was found worthy to open or even look at the scroll. And this verse debunks the soul sleep theory because there are people out there that have this theory of soul sleep and they will say no one is in heaven. But here we see this angel is looking around in heaven for someone to open the scroll.
But it says there was no one found in heaven, on earth or under the earth. And as I talked about in the opening, when we look at things politically, we know we were in this political season. The election is over. But there is still some controversy out there concerning the presidential election as to whether there is fraud and there are challenges that are being taken place. And people are saying, well, who was more worthy? Donald Trump, who was more worthy? Joe Biden. And you have people on both sides. But I just want to share with people today that here as we look, neither of them are worthy to open this scroll.
Donald Trump, Joe Biden. And I'm not trying to pick on them because you and I, we're not worthy to open it either. No human being is worthy to open this scroll.
Yes. This proclamation went out to all of creation, the entire universe, and no one was worthy. And then the NIV translation, it says no one was able to look inside it. And so we remember the seven seals that were unable to be broken into. It was the ultimate security for a scroll. It was holy and hallowed. So no one in all of creation was able to even look at it or look inside of it. Yeah, that's a good point, as you said, because it says here no one was found worthy to open it or to even look at it.
So that's that's very strong language. All right, so let's move on to verse four. So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it. So what's interesting, the fact that John weeps, it shows the importance of this scroll. Now, remember, John, right now, as he's speaking of these events, he's in heaven.
He spirit feel he's lifted into heaven. But yet he cries. He weeps and he's crying not because of the fact that he cannot satisfy his curiosity. You know, some people out there, if there's some information that they want to know and they can't know it, they get all upset and been out of shape. You know, people that love gossip and they know that, you know, something and you won't tell them and they'll keep pestering you. Why can't you tell me? I wonder who it is.
What happened? Well, no, this is not what's going on here. He's having these tears because of the fact that he knows there's a deeper meaning. And this seven seal scroll is the title deed to the earth. And this title deed was given to Adam by God in the beginning, but Adam lost it through sin to Satan. So John is weeping because he knows that if no one is found worthy to open this seal, then the deed, the title deed to the earth is going to remain with Satan unless the seal is open.
Yes. And it's interesting, too, that as this proclamation has gone out to every to all of creation, that shows this is he's it's almost like he's lost a little hope there for a minute. Like, you know, with the with the weeping and everything, but to know that he's sitting there and no one is worthy, no one.
And so that that probably has some some sadness. And he's he's in heaven as he's seen all these this authority and all of these beings and everything. But yet no one is almost like probably a hopeless feeling that he has.
Yeah. And, you know, I want to sort of talk about something here for a moment, because again, John, he spirit feel he's in heaven. But yet he's shedding tears. And, you know, you hear people say, well, heaven is nothing but joy. And I do believe that I'm not at all trying to say that there is anything that is negative in heaven. But we see the fact here that he does have some tears in heaven.
And we know that when we come to the end of Revelation, Jesus says, I will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And I do believe that there may very well be. And now this is I'm sort of speculating for a moment. So don't don't take this as the gospel truth.
I'm just speculating here for a moment. But when we stand before Jesus Christ, the Bible says that even as believers, our works are going to be judged. And it's going to be judged to find out if they are anything of value or of substance, what Jesus Christ gives us on this earth. And there are some that the Bible says your works are going to be burned in the fire, meaning no good. And there's going to come a time in which we will be able to see the rewards that we could have gotten had we been obedient to God in the way that he called us to be. But because of the fact that we are not, then there are some rewards that we will not receive. But now we're still going to be happy. But I do think there may be a moment of some tears to say I could have had that. But but I'm not receiving it.
But I look at it to say it's sort of like when we take tests in school. A hundred one hundred is perfect. Everybody wants that. A ninety five is great. That's an A. But one hundred is even better. So there may be a moment where we will see, well, I could have gotten one hundred, but instead I get a ninety five.
So there may be a moment. But Jesus says I will wipe away every tear from their eyes, but it just doesn't pertain to what's going to happen in heaven. It's also the tears that we're shedding here on earth. But I just want to point out the fact that it's interesting that John here, even though he's in heaven, he still has tears.
That is interesting. All right. So verse five. 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 seven seals.
All right. So as we come to verse five, we see the characteristics of the Lord we see in this verse. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah.
The lion is the king of the beast. And Judah is the ruling tribe of Israel. So this is an indication that Christ has come as king over human affairs. And then we also see in this verse that it says he is of the root of David.
So the birth of Jesus was in the family of King David. And this reminds us as we we look at this verse, the importance of the nation of Israel, because a lot of churches today, especially here in our Western culture, you know, we're quite self-centered. We think about things revolving around the United States of America as if God or Jesus, God the Father, God the Son is sitting in heaven with a United States of America flag draped around his shoulders.
We tend to look at it as we are the center of everything. But the Bible makes it very clear that, no, God's special nation is the nation of Israel. But the beautiful thing about it is we as Gentiles, those of us who are not of the Jewish nation, by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Bible says we are grafted in to the nation of Israel.
And our ministry, our parent ministry, blessings to Israel ministries, we stress the importance of Genesis chapter 12, verse three, where God said, I will bless those that bless thee and curse those who curse thee. He was referring to Abraham. This is when he was talking to Abraham.
He gave him the promise. And this refers not only to Abraham, but to all of his descendants. So I just want to just highlight the fact that a lot of churches today in our nation, we do not put emphasis on the significance of the nation of Israel, but we see it emphasized here in Revelation chapter five, verse five. And even in Isaiah, the root of the root of David was prophesied. So Isaiah prophesied about Jesus in Isaiah 11, verse one. He says there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out from out of his roots. And so Isaiah was talking about that great king who would come from that line of David and rule.
And even in Romans 15, verse 12, the root of David is interpreted and it says, and again, Isaiah says, there shall be a root of Jesse. And he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope. And so Jesus, the Messiah, the root of David is the one who reigns over all, even us, even the Gentiles. And he is the one who is worthy to open these seals. And so once again, he is our hope.
And it talks about that in Romans 15, verse 12. He is our hope. So John can stop weeping because there is hope.
Yeah, Jesus Christ steps forward. He says, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has prevailed to open and to loose the seven seals. So don't go away. We're going to take a short break. But when we come back, we're going to talk about why it is that Jesus prevail.
How did he prevail and why he is worthy to open the scroll? Don't go away. You are tuned in to the God First program. You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit Godfirst.org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage and the significance of Lesson Israel.
Just to name a few. You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our Web store. So please visit us at Godfirst.org. Now, let's return to the conclusion of today's message. Welcome back to the God First program. My name is Brian Thomas, and today we are looking at Worthy is the Lamb. If you want to listen to this message or any previous messages, please visit us at God first dot org. That's God, the number one S.T. dot org. You can also write us at God First Bible Fellowship. P.O.
Box 266 Knightdale, North Carolina, two seven five four five. All right, Danita. So we are now coming to verse six. And we have found that John, as he is weeping, because of the fact that this angel looks around and he finds no one is worthy to open this seven seal scroll or even to look at it. But then he says, John, do not weep.
The lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. So let's look at verse six to see what happens next. OK. And it reads, 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. So John here sees a lamb that appears as if it has already been sacrificed. The interesting thing is this lamb has seven horns, seven eyes and seven spirits. Now, we we don't typically think of Jesus Christ in this way that he has seven horns, seven eyes and seven spirits. Any thoughts on that?
Well, when of course there's a number seven again, perfection. And also, I think about how when someone like if you think of an animal that has horns, they're the ones that battle hard, right? Like I'm a Tar Heel, got Ramses. You know, I think about the Rams on the hillside and they're battling and they bump heads really hard. So I thought about that as someone who battles. So the horns to me show him as someone who battles.
He's a conqueror. And I think it also shows his strength. And I think when you put that with seven horns, he's in full strength. And that's how I see him when you when you look at the seven horns and the the seven, seven eyes is fullness. Can see everything.
He's aware of everything. And so I think about that and I know that those are the things that come to my mind when I think about those. And so as a proud Tar Heel graduate, you're saying that the Tar Heels are righteous and powerful because they have the horns and therefore they have power over the blue devils. Yes. Which are evil, right? Yes.
OK, I'm not going to argue with you on that. So what we find is that the lamb, it looks as though it had been slain. This is the sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ is what earns this title deed to the earth.
We talked about that earlier now. So let's talk a minute about title deeds, because here we are homeowners. We have a home, but unfortunately we don't own it outright. We still owe a mortgage. The owner right now is the mortgage holder.
Or if you really want to get technical, the investor. But once we are fully paid the house off, which which hopefully will be in a few years, we will receive what is called a title deed, which means we own it outright. And that is signifying the fact that over these years we're paying the mortgage. Right. I mean, so.
So that lets everyone know legally we have been verified that we are paying the price for this house and therefore we legally own it. Well, Jesus Christ paid the price for sin on the cross. His sacrifice, his death, his burial, his resurrection paid the price for all sin. So therefore he has earned the right to receive the title deed to the earth because by Adam came sin, but by Jesus Christ came redemption. And so John sees Christ as the sacrificial lamb, as all of us who are saved do. But the unsaved, on the other hand, notice that the Bible says that he is the lion of the tribe of Judah. When he returns, those who have rejected him are going to see him as a roaring lion who's coming back to judge.
But we as believers in Christ, we see him as a sacrificial lamb. Now, as we have just talked about in the opening, we are on the heels of a of an election season. And we saw that as Joe Biden was the declared the winner by the media that we saw celebratory dancing in the streets.
There were people out there dancing. We saw those who embrace a lot of immoral things out celebrating. That was even a sign. And I'm going to say something here, but I want to give a forewarning for anyone that has children nearby. You may not want them to hear this.
I'm going to give the censored version, but still, you don't want children to hear what I'm about to say. But there was a group of Black Lives Matter that was holding up a sign that says, F your Jesus. And they're out there celebrating and dancing in the streets. Now, this is not a message to be political. But I do want to to ask the question for those who are Christians who feel like that is the right direction for our country to go. You have to ask yourself the question, why as a Christian would I be cheering and celebrating something that people who are holding up a sign that uses a derogatory term towards our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? There should be something that goes off in your mind that says, OK, something is not right about this spiritually. I should not be happy about something that people who feel that way about Jesus Christ. But let's go back to the text. The seven horns again, like you said, it conveys Jesus Christ is powerful.
Yes, he is not weak. We know from scripture that the horns signify power. Zechariah Chapter one, verse 18, Daniel Chapter seven. And that is second coming. Christ will manifest all of his power. And I love the fact that you said in his having seven eyes, he sees all things.
And it's amazing today. We as human beings, you know, we're sinners, we're fallen. But how many people think that they can see in and get away with it?
How many of us sin? And we think that, well, nobody's around. You know, we put more more importance on whether a human being is around to see it or not. But the Bible makes it clear that God sees all things in Jesus Christ is God the son. He sees it all.
You're not getting away with any sin. Jesus Christ is right there witnessing what you're doing. And we know here that the seven spirits of God that are sent out into all the earth, this speaks of the judgment of our Lord. This speaks of the sevenfold ministry of the one Holy Spirit. And we know we've seen throughout this this message of the day, the number seven, seven is the number of completeness.
Therefore, he is the perfect judge. And it's interesting that the world looks at the number seven is a lucky number, the lucky number seven. But they're not even realizing that they're acknowledging God in doing that because the Bible makes it very clear. The number seven is the number of completeness is the number of perfection.
It is the number of God. Right. And I like to where it says as though it had been slain. And it said so is showing him as the lamb. Yes. But then it also says that he's standing there.
Right. The previous it says as though he stood as a lamb, as though it had been slain. He is standing. He is victorious. He looks like he's been slain, but yet he is victorious. And so he is the victorious lamb showing he has been in battle. He has gone to the cross for us.
Yet he stands at the father's right hand. And then I also like how it says that the seven spirits of God sent. I look at the word sent and the seven spirits were sent out for the seven spirits, the fullness, completion and perfection. The spirits of God was sent out into all the earth. And so the word sent shows us how the Holy Spirit and all of its fullness of God was sent out into the world.
All the world for people to be able to receive the Holy Spirit, to be able to receive the gospel throughout the entire world. Excellent point. All right. So let's come to the final verse, verse seven, the verse of completion, the verse of perfection. Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.
All right. So he is none other than Jesus Christ. The one who is him on the throne is God the father.
So, again, I just want to stress, as I said earlier, do not get discouraged over the outcome of an election. Jesus Christ is coming back to rule and reign. Proverbs 21, verse one says the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord.
Like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes. So whether Donald Trump is in the White House, whether Joe Biden is in the White House, God has the power to turn the heart in any direction he wants. And that is why we as believers must never stop praying no matter what the outcome is. And that is why we must not get discouraged because God is in control of everything. And the beautiful thing about it is the day is coming in which we don't have to worry about who is going to be elected to be president, because Jesus, when he returns, he is going to appoint people in authority. And that's going to be me, you and all who put that trust in him. Yes, he is the mighty conqueror.
He stands there. And though he's been battling for us, the Holy Spirit has been sent. And we have received those who are in Christ have received that Holy Spirit. And so our responsibility, while we are yet waiting for him to return for his bride, is to remain faithful, to tap into the fullness of God, the Holy Spirit, and be able to live in a victorious manner. We should live in a with an eternal mindset, knowing that we are victorious also because we were chosen to belong to Christ Jesus. And so we are one with him.
This this big horn, the one with the seven horns, the seven eyes and the seven spirits of God. Amen. So Jesus is coming to rule and reign again. People don't get discouraged about elections. And I'm not just talking about the presidential election.
We've had election for governors, for mayors, lieutenant governors all the way down. Jesus is in control. Everything is working in according to his plan. And so we stand up, we fight for righteousness.
But trust and know that no matter what, no matter what the outcome, Jesus Christ, the one who is worthy to open the scroll, he is coming back to rule and reign. And I love the fact that you said that we are eternal beings because I see so many people today. They seem to be holding on so tight to this life.
Yes. And they're not thinking about what is to come. But the Bible tells us that compared to eternity, when we step into eternity, when we look back on this life is going to seem like a blink of an eye in comparison. We have so much to look forward to because of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Well, that is going to bring us to the close today. We thank you for joining us. Please come back and join us again next week as we continue to encourage you to put God first into until then. Remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Bless God's great nation of Israel. And to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.
Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher, Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God First reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our Web site, God First dot org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God. You
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