REVELATION 5 JESUS IS WORTHY2010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 5 Jesus Is Worthy

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2010. Last Sunday we were in Revelation chapter 4 and we were looking at the heavenly scene as John was caught up into heaven and he's describing to us in chapter 4 the best he can. It's very difficult because it's

beyond what our vocabulary can handle, but he's describing to us the throne room of God and what a beautiful scene it was, the brilliant lights and colors and there was the throne and around the throne was the four living creatures, these angelic beings that continue to worship God day and night and night and day. And then we also saw the 24 elders that were around the throne, this impressive scene as

as John is caught up there into the throne room. And now as we continue on here into chapter 5, we're continuing that vision. He's still there in the throne room.

He's still there in the presence of God, and God is still revealing to him things as he is preparing and about to bring the great tribulation upon the earth. But before that takes place, before that happens, John continues this revelation in chapter 5, looking at the Lamb of God.

And here as we study these things, we're really talking about how Jesus is worthy. That's the theme of this chapter. Over and over we see the worthiness of Jesus Christ, that he is worthy of everything. And we'll see that reflected in the passage this morning.

And so with that in mind, there's three points I'd like to share with you about how Jesus is worthy. The first point on the worthiness of Jesus is that Jesus is worthy to open the scroll.

What is the scroll? Well, John refers to it in verse 1 here of chapter 5. He says, 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.

And so as John is there in heaven, he's there before the throne room of God, he's describing the brilliant scene, and now his attention gets focused on the right hand of the one who's on the throne. The heavenly father there who's seated on the throne has in his right hand this scroll.

And it captivates John. He begins now to talk about this scroll that is in the right hand of the Father. And it's a significant scroll. It's something important about it. In fact, not only is John captivated by this, but the attention of those who are in heaven is really focused on this scroll at this time as well. And so this scroll we find is very important. It's something significant about it. And

And so it raises the question, what is this scroll? What is written on it, on the front and the back as John describes it? What is it about this scroll that makes it so important and significant?

Well, as you consider that thought, there's really three main perspectives about what this scroll might be. Since it doesn't declare for us exactly what it is, we're left to some ideas and perspectives and speculation about what this scroll might be.

There's lots of opinions and ideas, but I've kind of boiled it down to three basic ideas that you could consider. The first perspective is that this scroll contains a description of what is to come.

It might be as God was revealing the things that are to come to Daniel back in the book of Daniel in chapter 8. You remember God told Daniel to seal up the vision. And so this scroll that's sealed up with seven seals is...

It's possible that it's the scroll that Daniel was told to seal up, that it contains that vision that God was giving to him, and it contains the record or the account of the things that are about to take place. And that is a possibility. It's something that we could consider.

One difficulty with that though is that after chapter 5 the scroll is really not mentioned and so it's not mentioned as they're reading through the scroll as the things are taking place.

Now the second perspective on what this scroll might be is some suggest that it is a will or a last testament. The reason for this idea is that Roman law or Roman wills, the last testament of significant Roman officials and Caesars, these wills, these documents were sealed with seven seals and

And so because John points out here that this scroll is sealed with seven seals, some take that to mean that it's also, it's a living testament or last testament of somebody, a will. But there's a problem with that as well that I consider, and that is, well, who died?

And if you say, well, Jesus, but then he's resurrected and he's there in heaven. And so if you die and then resurrect, I'm not sure that you read the will. I mean, maybe there's some technical things I don't know about, but it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense for that to be his own will.

The third and final perspective that I'll share with you, which is the one that I believe that it is, and that is that this scroll is the title deed to the earth. The title deed to the earth, it's the rightful ownership or the proof of rightful ownership of the earth. And that's what we're seeing here is a transfer of ownership back to its rightful owner, Jesus Christ. The

And the reason why I believe that this scroll is the title deed of the earth is based on four different things. Number one, it's based on the worthiness that's required to open the scroll. Number two, it's based on Satan being the ruler of this world. Number three, it's based on the laws of redemption that God included for his people. And then number four, it's based upon John's response.

It's based upon John's response. And so we'll get into those things in just a few moments. But a title deed, as we're referring to the scroll as a title deed, is just a document that shows ownership as well as the rights or the obligations, mortgages on a property. And so that's what this is referring to. It's the rightful ownership of God of this property or of his creation.

Now, John describes this scroll as being sealed with seven seals. And I included a picture here for us so that we could get a little visual of what that might look like. It's a scroll with seven strings or ribbons and then sealed with wax on each of those so that you have to open each of them in order to open the scroll and to read it. Now, that's not the actual scroll that John saw, but

It's just a picture, you know, but the actual one that's at my house. So I'll bring that later for you to see. I'm just kidding. No, but it'd be something like that. He sees a scroll and it's got these seals around it so that they must be opened in order to be read. And it's something that they would do in order to ensure that it wasn't just opened by anybody, but it would only be opened by the rightful owner, the one who is worthy to open those seals, the one who had the legal right to

to the property that it was relating to. And so this scroll that he sees is sealed with seven seals. In verse 2, John goes on to say, Then I saw a strong angel proclaim with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?

And so as he sees this seal, his attention is drawn to it. But not only his attention, now there's this proclamation, this loud proclamation by a strong angel. We don't know which angel or what kind of angel is a strong angel, but there's this particular angel that makes this loud proclamation. What does he proclaim? Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?

These seals around the scroll would make it so that only the rightful person, only the rightful owner would have the ability or the rights legally to open the seals. And so the angel is proclaiming who is worthy to loose its seals.

Now, as we consider this scroll as the title deed of the earth, there's, again, four reasons why I believe that. Four things that this is based upon, and they're on the screen there for you. We'll go through them one by one. It's a little bit of a detour from the worthiness of Jesus, but it ties into, and it's significantly important to the worthiness of Jesus that we are considering today.

And so the first thing, as far as this being the title deed of the earth, is that it's, well, there's a great amount of worthiness that's required in order to open the scroll.

Here when this angel makes this call, this loud proclamation, it's a call to anyone who is worthy to step forward. If anyone is worthy, basically he's saying, step forward now and open the seals of the scroll. Take the scroll if you are worthy.

But the result in verse 3 tells us, it says that there's no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. And so it's a call to whoever might be worthy, but no one was able.

Not one of the cherubs. Now, we talked about those living creatures. They're the highest order of angels. They're right there in the midst of the throne of God. They didn't step forward and say, we're worthy. We can open the scroll. Not...

Michael the archangel, the defender of the nation of Israel, he didn't come forward and say, hey, I can open this scroll. No angel stepped forward. No human being stepped forward. No part of creation stepped forward. As the angel makes this call, there was no one that was found. And of course, human beings, you and I, none of us could have stepped forward because Paul tells us in

Romans chapter 3 verse 10, that there is none righteous, no, not even one. And so none of us are worthy to receive the scroll, to take the scroll, to open the scroll. No angel is worthy, so who is worthy?

This scroll is significant. And if it's the title deed of the earth, only the rightful owner who's paid the full price can open the scroll. And so this helps us to understand that the scroll is a title deed of the earth or of all creation rather.

Well, the second reason why I believe it's the title deed is that Satan is currently the ruler of this world. And that may seem like an odd point, but it fits in as we go forward in the things I'll be sharing.

You know, back in the beginning, Genesis chapter 1 verse 1, it tells us that God created the heavens and the earth. He is the creator. And as creator, he had initial ownership rights. Just like if you are to create something, you own that thing that you create. It belongs to you.

Unless, of course, you did it with company resources on company time. Then it belongs to the company that you're working for. But you get the idea that your creation belongs to you. And that is true of all creation, that it belongs to God because He created it.

But there's something that happened. There's something that took place because Jesus refers to Satan as the ruler of this world. Several different times throughout the Gospels, he refers to Satan as the ruler of this world. Paul also refers to Satan as the god of this age and the prince of the power of the air. And so there's been a shift. There's a new ruler here.

as far as earth and creation is concerned because, well, Satan is described as the ruler of this world. Not only that, but if you remember the temptation of Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 where Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness and there in the wilderness Satan comes to tempt him and there's recorded for us three specific temptations that Satan brings to Jesus.

That third temptation is found in Matthew 4, verses 8-10. And it tells us that the devil took Jesus to an exceedingly high mountain and showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And at that time, the devil says to Jesus, All of these I will give to you if you will only bow down and worship me. And Jesus responds to the devil there in Matthew 4, verse 10 saying,

with scripture where god said you shall worship the lord your god and him only shall you serve jesus doesn't look at the devil at that point and say those aren't yours to give

If you were to kind of put it, you know, in an example for today, if I was to drive you up Mount Big Bear or whatever that's called, you know, drive you up to the top of Big Bear and take you to the edge of a cliff and show you all that you could see, all San Bernardino or however far you could see and say, hey, if you will just bow down and worship me, I'll give you all this. Now, who in their right mind would say, oh, okay, you know,

No, you'd say, that doesn't belong to you. You don't have the right to give anything away. That's not yours to give. What's the point? But Jesus didn't argue that. He says, oh, that doesn't belong to you. No, what does he say? He says, no, you have to worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

He didn't dispute the devil's claim to be ruler of those things, to have those to give away. And so we understand the scripture teaches that Satan is the ruler of this world. So what happened? Because originally God is the creator. He's the owner by order that he is the creator. He owns all things. But now Satan occupies

and is the ruler of this world, how did that happen? What took place? Well, that leads us to the third reason why I believe this scroll is the title deed of the earth. And that third reason is that God built into his law the laws of redemption for property.

Laws of redemption. Now, I know I'm making a lot of different references to other passages. I do encourage you, take some time, write those things down. Later on, consider these things. There's a lot more depth here than I'm getting into. You can spend some time on your own. But back in Genesis chapter 1, verse 28, as God is creating Adam and Eve, He says, let's make man and let's give him dominion of the earth.

And so God is creator. He had rightful ownership of everything at that time. But he actually gives his creation to man to have dominion. The ownership or the rightful rulership at that time transfers now. Man has dominion over the earth as God gives this to Adam in Genesis 1.28.

But of course, you know there's a problem because Adam disobeyed God. And when he disobeyed God, spiritually, he died. Spiritually, he became bankrupt as a result of his sin or disobedience to God. But there's two things that are going on there because not only did Adam disobey God, he also at the same time was obeying the devil.

He was obeying and submitting himself to what the devil suggested and the devil's plans as he turned away from what God said and God's plans. And so he's turning away from God, but he's also turning to and he's following the path of the devil. Now that's a big problem because in Romans chapter 6, verse 16, Paul tells us, do you not know?

that to whom you present yourselves as slaves to obey, you are that one slave whom you obey. Paul tells us, whoever you present yourself to in order to obey, you are that person's servant or slave.

And so as Adam is turning away from God, disobeying God and obeying the enemy, he is presenting himself to the enemy and he becomes, well, he becomes sinful and a slave of sin. That's why you and I as human beings are slaves of sin. Because we have presented ourselves and our forerunner, Adam, presented himself as a slave of sin. And so we have that same condition today.

That we are in bondage to sin and that's why we need a savior. And so at that time as Adam disobeys God, obeys Satan, now he is a slave. And the ownership transfers. He was to have dominion over the earth. It was rightfully his, given to him by God. But now he's bankrupt.

And he loses those things that God has given to him. He forfeits the earth at that time to the enemy, to Satan. You know, it's an interesting point here. I don't think he fully realized, just like you and I don't fully realize, how far reaching and deep impacting sin is.

Sin is devastating. His sin didn't just affect him and his wife and, you know, their eternal state, but it affected all of us and our eternal state and all of humanity. And not only all of humanity, but all of creation is subject to the curse of sin. That's why God says, look, don't mess around with sin. It's not a little thing to be played around with. The impact, the consequences are far greater than you actually think.

And so Adam at that time forfeits the earth. Now that's significant because in Leviticus chapter 25 verses 23 through 34, God builds into his law the laws of redemption. The laws of redemption, I'll summarize briefly, basically say that with every land transaction, there's a clause that that purchase can be redeemed.

So if you sell a piece of property under God's law in the land of Israel, it wasn't a permanent transaction, but after a certain amount of time, that property would go back to its original owners. God says, look, I'm giving this to my people. I'm giving it to specific families within my people. It will be theirs for forever.

And so in essence, they weren't doing a permanent transaction like we might consider today, but they're kind of like leasing the land for a certain amount of time and then it would go back to the original owners. But there is also the opportunity that if you lost a piece of land because you became bankrupt, because you owed a debt that you couldn't pay, something like that happened, then in that case,

loss of the land in that transaction where your debtor takes the land that belonged to you because you couldn't pay them back, built into that was the right of redemption. That you could come back and say, all right, I've made up the money, now I have it, and I can purchase back the land that belongs to me.

And if you could not purchase back the land that belonged to you, then a near relative, a close relative could step in and purchase it for you on your behalf. And so you had the opportunity to get it back, to have it restored to you. It was built into the transactions by God's law.

Now, there was also another part of the law of redemption that was significant because if there was a home within a city wall, when you sell that home, it was different than selling land outside of the city walls.

And when you sell a home within the city wall, you have one year to be able to redeem it back. And if you don't redeem it within that one year, then it's permanently the new owners. You can't redeem it after that. They can perhaps sell it back to you if they desire, but you don't have the right of redemption where they have to release it to you. And so understanding these laws of redemption...

Understanding that God built this into the property transactions, understand that it was more than just the property in the land of Israel that God was concerned with. He's foreshadowing what we're looking at and what's taking place here in Revelation.

where the earth and creation has been submitted to sin and subject to the curse of sin as a result of Adam's fall. And now what's going to take place is Jesus is redeeming the earth and purchasing back what was originally his, which he created, but was given to man and man forfeited it to Satan.

And so this idea of a kinsman redeemer is the person who could come in and redeem the property on behalf of the one who is bankrupt and couldn't afford it.

Now we see this taking place a couple times in scripture. One is in Ruth chapter 4 where Boaz redeems the property of Naomi and Ruth that Naomi's husband, he lost, he sold because he didn't have nothing and he moved out of state and he died while they were out in Moab and then

She comes back. Naomi comes back with Ruth. I'm butchering the story. Read the book of Ruth. And they come back. And then Boaz wants to marry Ruth. And so he redeems the property. He buys back. He's the kinsman redeemer. And this law of redemption is enacted as he gets the property and then marries Ruth to carry on the name of Elimelech, which was Naomi's husband. Now,

When Ruth tells Boaz that she's interested and says, hey, why don't we get married? He says, well, you know, there's another relative that's closer. And there was a closer relative who had the first right to be able to redeem the property. And so he went to that guy and they negotiated and the guy said, oh, I can't marry. You know, I'm already married and my wife won't like it if some other woman comes in the picture. So why don't you marry her, Boaz, and you can redeem the property. And that's what happened. He

fulfilled this law of redemption and he purchased back the property that was lost to that family. Another example of this is in Jeremiah chapter 32. In Jeremiah chapter 32, God tells Jeremiah to buy a field and

And he tells him to buy a field from his cousin. And actually, later on, his cousin comes to him and says, Hey, this field that's coming due, it needs to be redeemed. The right of redemption is yours. I can't do it. Can you buy it? And so Jeremiah purchases the field and enacts this law of redemption. And he purchases back and he receives the field that was rightly due for his family.

And so in the same way, that idea of a kinsman redeemer is now fulfilled for us and all of creation by Jesus Christ in that Jesus has paid the price for redemption. Now, what we see currently is although he's paid the price, it was accomplished on the cross, he's paid the price for redemption, but we do not yet see all things redeemed.

He's not yet claimed his right of redemption. He's not yet taken ownership back. He's paid the price, but here in chapter 5, what we see is at that time, he is taking ownership. He is receiving what is his. It's like what the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 2, verse 8, where the author says, we know that all things have been put under subjection to Jesus.

But we do not yet see all things put under him. It has happened. Legally, he owns it all. He's paid the price. But we don't yet see that fulfilled yet. He hasn't claimed his right yet. And that's what we see happening in chapter 5. Well, the fourth reason why I believe this scroll is the title deed is John's response there in verse 4. He says, "...so I wept much, because no one was found."

I wept much because no one was worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it. And his response to this situation, again, remember the scene, the angel says, who's worthy? Nobody steps forward. And in John's mind, what John is understanding is that Satan is the ruler of this world. If no one is worthy to open the scroll, then that means the earth will continue to

under his dominion, under the dominion of the enemy. If there's no kinsman redeemer who can redeem creation, redeem humanity, then they will continue in subjection to Satan. And so it makes sense that he would weep much with that understanding because they're looking for the kinsman redeemer to step forward and if none steps forward, then, well, all is lost. All is lost.

But of course we know that all is not lost. Verse 5 tells us, 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. And so what we have here is John's weeping. He's thinking, Oh no, there's no kinsman redeemer. There's no one to purchase us back. There's no one who can pay the price.

But the elder, one of the elders step up to John and say, no, no, no, no, calm down, relax. The world's not over yet. Don't weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has prevailed to open the scroll. He's talking about Jesus and he says, Jesus is able to open the scroll. Jesus is our kinsman redeemer.

Jesus is qualified. He is worthy to open the scroll. And the elder gives him three reasons why Jesus is able. He says he's of the tribe of Judah. He's a descendant of David. And he has been victorious in that he has conquered sin and death. He says he's the lion of the tribe of Judah.

Now ever since the beginning of creation, ever since man's fall in the garden in Genesis chapter 3, God has been promising a Redeemer. He's been promising a Savior. He's been promising a ruler, one who will purchase back, redeem that which was lost. Humanity, creation, when Adam fell. He's been promising that from the very beginning. Not just to take care of sin, but to rule and to reign.

Now God picked Abraham and he said that he would bless Abraham and his descendants and Abraham's descendants became the Jewish people, the Israelites. And so we know that the Messiah, the Savior that God has been promising would be from the nation of Israel.

But then God also narrowed it down. In Genesis chapter 49, as Jacob, also named Israel, is blessing his children, he makes a prophecy in verse 9 and 10 of Genesis 49, where he says in verse 10 that the scepter shall not depart from Judah, which was one of his sons, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh, that is the Messiah, comes and

and to him shall be the obedience of the people. There that prophecy in Genesis 49, Israel, Jacob is prophesying that the Redeemer that God has been promising will come from the line of Judah, will be a descendant of Judah or of the tribe of Judah. And so God narrowed it down from all people to Abraham and his descendants, and then from Abraham and his descendants to the descendants of Judah. And then he narrows it down again to

saying that not only will it be from the tribe of Judah, but he'll be a descendant of David. And that's where he makes reference here to the root of David. And you can look at that in Isaiah chapter 11, verses 1 through 10.

Where God narrows it down further and says that David, one of his descendants, will be that redeemer or the ruler that God has been promising. And so the elder comes to John and says, Hey, don't weep because he is worthy. Look, he has prevailed. He's of the right lineage. He's the one that God has been promising and he has overcome. He's prevailed. He's been victorious. He's been victorious.

And he is able to open the scroll, to loose its seals, and to read it. Jesus has prevailed by living a sinless life. He was perfect. He overcame sin, not just by living a sinless life, but then he went to the cross and received on our behalf the punishment that was due to us. He lived a sinless life. We are sinful, and we deserve judgment.

We deserve the penalty for our sin. Jesus was sinless, deserved no penalty, no judgment, but he took the judgment that was ours. He took our place and received the penalty that was due to us. And in doing so, he conquered sin and death. He paid the price of redemption.

I kind of think about it this way, and maybe it would help you relate to that as well, that Jesus paid the price and the earth is his, but currently it's being occupied unlawfully by Satan. And so the tribulation period that we're about to head into in the book of Revelation is the eviction process. As Jesus is dealing with sin and dealing with Satan, getting him out of

so that he can set up his kingdom and rule and reign for a thousand years. That's what's taking place here. And so the scroll being the title deed of the earth, proving the rightful ownership as Jesus comes, our kinsman redeemer, and claims back all humanity and all of creation because he paid the price. He's our kinsman redeemer. And that's why he's worthy to open the scroll.

That's why he's worthy to open it because he's the one who paid the price. He's the rightful owner. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Well, the second point as we consider the worthiness of Jesus is that he is worthy not just to open the scroll, but he is worthy to take the scroll. Look at verse 6.

It says,

So the elder tells John, hey, don't weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, he has prevailed. And John says, really? Where's he at? And he looks. He says, behold, there in the midst of the throne, right there in the presence of God, he says, there's the lamb, as though it had been slain. The lamb is a reference to Jesus Christ. And that should come as no surprise to us,

Jesus is referred to as a lamb from the very beginning of his ministry back in John chapter 1 verse 29 where John the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Paul refers to Jesus as our sacrificial lamb, our Passover lamb, in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7. Isaiah, even prophesying of the coming Messiah, refers to that Messiah, Jesus, as a lamb in Isaiah 53, where he says he was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Jesus is referred to as a lamb. The lamb of God has prevailed, but he prevailed not like we might think with military might. He prevailed as a lamb, as a sacrifice, paying the full payment that was due for the sin that we've committed.

So he refers to the lamb. The lamb actually is a reference that's used of Jesus many times in the book of Revelation. 28 times John will refer to Jesus as the lamb as we read through this book. It's the picture of Jesus, the reminder that he is our redeemer, that he saved us by what he accomplished for us on the cross with his sacrificial death. And so he sees this lamb as though it had been slain.

Now it's interesting that he says he sees the lamb as though it had been slain. It brings up some questions and some speculation about what will Jesus look like when we see him, when we enter into eternity. And will we see the marks of

of his beating and crucifixion? Will we see him as though he had been slain? There's some different ideas and I'm not going to get into it, but it is possible and we can see that here that he still will bear the marks of the price of redemption that he paid. Now, also it's possible that he will bear the marks of redemption until the scroll is opened, until he's claimed what is rightfully his. Actually, I was reading

listening to Pastor Chuck share about this portion of scripture and that's what he suggested that if you look at Revelation chapter 19 the description of Jesus is way different than a lamb that was slain and so perhaps once the scroll you know is opened once he has claimed what is rightfully his there's a transformation and we see him differently I kind of think that we're just focusing right now as John is describing this on the

part of Jesus that relates to what's happening. Jesus is more than just looking like a lamb as though it had been slain. Regardless, he sees this lamb as though it had been slain and it has seven horns and seven eyes which he says are the seven spirits of God.

Now, the number seven, we understand throughout the book of Revelation, it's used a lot, and it usually refers to, or it's believed to mean, the idea of completion or perfection. And so as he talks about seven horns, it's not so much that there's seven horns, but it's the idea of, well, a horn represents authority, right?

And so seven horns would represent, would speak of then, complete authority. That what he sees is this lamb who has all authority. And that is definitely true of Jesus Christ. You remember in Matthew chapter 28 verse 18, Jesus tells his disciples, all authority in heaven and in earth has been given to me. And then he tells us to go and to make disciples. But

But he has all authority. And so he sees these seven horns and these seven eyes. Again, the idea of completion would speak to us of God's, actually of Jesus' omniscience. That he sees everything, he knows everything, nothing escapes his attention. And he says that these seven eyes are the seven spirits of God.

We've talked a lot about the seven spirits of God here in the book of Revelation. It's not a reference to seven different Holy Spirits, but the complete and whole working of the Holy Spirit, the perfect Spirit of God. Verse 7 says,

Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. So John sees this lamb right there in the midst of the throne. He's got all authority. He knows everything that he was slain for our behalf. And this lamb, Jesus Christ, goes to the throne. He takes the scroll out of the right hand of the father, of the one who's on the throne. Now, this demonstrates for us

Another aspect of Jesus' worthiness. He is worthy to take the scroll. In Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16, the author of Hebrews encourages us to enter into the throne room, to enter into the presence of God. And he tells us to do so boldly. But what he tells us to do in Hebrews 4 verse 16 is to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The author of Hebrews encourages us to come boldly to God for help, to find mercy and grace when we need it. Jesus goes boldly to the throne of God, not to find mercy and grace, not for some type of help, but to receive what is rightfully His. He is worthy. He's nothing like you and I. We come boldly to God, and we have the ability to because of what Jesus did for us. We can come boldly to receive help from God.

receive mercy and grace. But Jesus goes to the throne of God to receive his inheritance. Another really awesome portion of scripture. I encourage you to check it out. Psalm chapter 2. In Psalm chapter 2, it describes for us what we're looking at here in chapter 5 of Revelation. The psalmist says, hey, why do the nations, you know, rage and try to plot and thwart the plan of God? You know God will be victorious, but

Why do the nations try to thwart that plan and escape the plan of God? In Psalm chapter 2, it records for us the Father speaking to the Son and saying, Ask of me, Jesus, ask of me, says the Father, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. Jesus is here receiving the scroll. It's his inheritance. It's what is rightfully his. He is worthy to take the scroll.

We see here that Jesus is more than a man. He's God. He's equal with God. He's able to be on the same plane, the same level as God. He doesn't come to God for help. He comes to God to receive His inheritance and what is rightfully His. He's worthy to take the scroll.

Well, the third point about the worthiness of Jesus that we see here in chapter 5 is that He is worthy of all worship. Jesus is worthy of all worship. The rest of the chapter is all about worship. As we saw in chapter 4, the second half of the chapter is all about heaven worshiping. Again, we see heaven breaks out in worship as this event unfolds before John's eyes. Look at verse 8.

He says, now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And so Jesus goes and takes the scroll. Now John zooms out a little bit. He's seeing the whole picture again and he sees the four living creatures and

which we talked about last week in chapter 4. You can also refer back to Ezekiel chapter 1, Ezekiel chapter 10, where those same angelic beings are described. And then he sees the 24 elders, also we talked about last week in chapter 4, representing the church, either 24 representatives of the church, or probably more likely, the church as a whole being represented by 24 elders, that the church is there in the presence of God.

And there, the 24 elders, the four living creatures, John says they fall down before the Lamb. They fall down before the Lamb. As he takes the scroll, everyone falls down. They're in the presence of God. This is a significant event. It's not just the handing off of any old scroll. This is Jesus receiving his inheritance, claiming his right, defeating the enemy.

and redeeming mankind and all of creation. And so the angels that are there around the midst of the throne, the church that is there surrounding the throne, falls down. This word, fall down,

It's not a word that means, you know, kind of like gently, kind of easily got to their knees, you know, kind of slowly crept down or, you know, bowed down a little bit. The word fall down, it means to collapse. Like if you were to think of a building that just collapsed, it's just a sudden force. Boom! That's what happened. Jesus takes the scroll and boom! All heaven hits the deck in reverence, in awe, in worship because Jesus is worthy. He is receiving His inheritance. He is redeeming creation.

He has prevailed. He has overcome. He is victorious. The Lamb has conquered. Why do they fall down? Because He's worthy. And as they fall down, He describes the 24 elders having harps. That's where we get the idea of having harps in heaven. And then the 24 elders also have these golden bowls full of incense.

which points our mind back to there in the throne room of God and here they are with this incense presenting it to God back to the tabernacle back to the temple where there is the altar of incense that would be burning as a sweet aroma before the presence of the Lord the Holy of Holies right there in the same way here's the church the 24 elders presenting these golden bowls full of incense and he describes and he says it's not just incense these are the prayers of the saints right

And so what's happening here is that God is about to answer the prayers of the saints. You remember Jesus taught us in Matthew chapter 6, after this manner pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That prayer right there that Jesus taught us to pray, that's going to be answered right now. And so for the past 2,000 years and even before that, there was the promises of the coming kingdom, but

humanity, those who believed in God, God's followers have been praying, God, your kingdom come. Your will be done here on earth even as it's done in heaven. That prayer has not yet been fully answered. But at this time, those prayers will be brought before the Lord. And those prayers are going to be answered. His kingdom is coming. And his will is going to be done as Jesus receives his inheritance and claims his right to all of creation.

Going on in verse 9 and 10, we see here the elders now worshipping the Lamb. It says in verse 9, And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open 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 forever.

Here, the elders, as they've collapsed before the Lamb who's taken the scroll, they sing a new song. There's new lyrics. They've been worshiping already. We saw that in chapter 4, but now there's new lyrics to their worship. As they declare, as they proclaim, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. Why is He worthy?

Because they say, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood. Again, the worthiness of Jesus Christ goes back to and it's based upon what he accomplished for you and for me at the cross 2,000 years ago. He was slain. He was innocent. He was sinless. But he was sacrificed for our sake. And that makes him eternally worthy and worthy of everything. Definitely worthy of everything.

Our worship. But even more than that, worthy of our hearts, our lives, ourselves, everything that we are, everything that we have. He is worthy. And that's what the elders proclaim. That's the church. That's us. We declare, you are worthy because you redeemed us. You were slain. By your own blood, you purchased us. He was not slain for any sin on His part. He was slain for our sin. And that's how He redeemed us.

That's why salvation is only found in Jesus Christ, because he is the only one who is sinless that could be slain on our behalf. You see, in heaven, you and I are going to be worshiping Jesus for redeeming us. Sometimes I think we kind of take that for granted. We forget how important that is and how significant that is. I think it's good for us to be here this morning to be reminded of how important his redemption is to us.

It's because of what He did upon the cross that we have life and that we have the hope of heaven and that we have the promise of eternity. Everything that God has in store for us is based upon that completed work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. Everything that God has in store for all of creation and for all of eternity is based upon that one event of Jesus dying upon the cross for our sin. He is worthy.

Because he paid the price. Here we see also the church, the 24 elders, saying you've redeemed us out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And here's where we understand that these 24 elders represent the church. Because it's a song only the church can sing. We've been redeemed by his blood out of every people, out of every nation, out of every language. That's a description of the church.

And they declare, we shall reign on the earth. It's amazing. Jesus not only redeemed us from sin, but then he includes us in his kingdom. We will rule and reign with him. He includes us in his plans for the rest of eternity. Not only did he redeem us, but now he's made us part of his kingdom and his plan. So it's no wonder us, the 24 elders, the church, will proclaim to him at that time, you are worthy.

Well, it's not just the church who's there. Verse 11 and 12, now he widens the scope. He zooms out a little bit farther and now he sees a multitude of angels worshiping the Lamb. Verse 11 says, 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 ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands.

saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who is slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Here now as he sees this multitude of angels, they begin to worship the Lamb. Why? Because he's worthy.

Because he's worthy of their worship. Now, it's not just a couple angels. He says it's 10,000 times 10,000. If you do the math, that's 100 million. But on top of that, he says thousands and thousands or thousands of thousands. Now, even beyond that, the word actually used to translate 10,000 means myriads or it's an innumerable amount. So you take an innumerable amount and then you multiply that by an innumerable amount and

What do you come up with? It's a lot. There's a lot of angels. And at this time, they all break out in worship. And they declare, you are worthy. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Even the angels recognize and declare that He is worthy because of what He did upon the cross. And notice what He's worthy to receive. Power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, blessing, glory.

And that's just the short list. He's worthy of everything. The angels are declaring He's worthy of everything, of every being who has ever existed. Jesus is worthy.

John zooms out still yet farther in verse 13 and we see all of creation. He says, And every creature which is in heaven and on 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. Every creature worships the Lamb. Why? Because he is worthy. He is worthy to receive blessing and honor and glory and power and

Notice they say, to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. We see the triune nature of God here. The throne room of God, the Holy Spirit, the Lamb in the midst of the throne. And then here they're declaring and worshiping the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Worshiping God the Father, worshiping God the Son.

Now, if Jesus Christ is not God, this is idolatry. It's wrong and sinful. But Jesus Christ is God. He's part of the triune nature of God. And so all of creation is worshipping Jesus as well as the Heavenly Father. Why? Because He is worthy. Verse 14, Again,

The 24 elders fall down. Apparently we try to stand up. And what happens? We collapse yet again and worship God. This is what heaven's going to be like. We're going to be worshiping Jesus because He's worthy. Heaven is going to be full of worship because He is worthy.

Now don't get the picture, don't get the idea, you know, you're going to be like forced, you know, like your dad used to grab you by the back of the neck, you know, sit here and worship, you know, sit still, say this word, sing this song. Not like that. It's not going to be something grudgingly, oh man, I already sing it a hundred million thousand times.

No, no, listen. He is so worthy and so amazing and so awesome that we will be compelled that we won't be able to contain ourselves but we will collapse before Him and worship because of awe, the amazement is so great because He is so worthy. He's so good. He's so loving. He's so kind. He's so amazing that we won't be able to help ourselves. We will collapse

We'll be compelled. We'll desire. It'll be bursting forth from us because that's how worthy Jesus is. As we consider that, that Jesus is worthy, not just in the heavenly scene. This gives us some insight into the worthiness of Jesus so that you and I can remember today to live our lives for Him.

He's worthy of our devotion. He's worthy of our obedience. He's worthy of our attention. He's worthy of our adoration. He is worthy of everything we are. He's worthy of us devoting our whole lives and every moment to Him. He's worthy because He's the Lamb that was slain. John's going to come back up and lead us in some worship. We'll practice for the rest of eternity because that's what we're going to be doing. I want to encourage you to really worship the Lord.

Don't hold back because Jesus is worthy. You know, several times we see here in this passage that Jesus is represented as a lamb that had been slain. And for those of you, for those of us who have received Jesus as that lamb who has been slain, received the forgiveness that God offers to us through Jesus Christ, it's time for us to worship.

But maybe you're here today and you're listening to this and you've not received the forgiveness that's offered to us by Jesus Christ. Maybe you've not received the benefit of this lamb that was slain. You've never been forgiven. You've never been born again. Listen, Jesus is worthy of all your worship because he, even though you didn't ask for it, you didn't want it, even though we were enemies with God, he died upon the cross for us.

He paid the price so that we can spend eternity with Him. Jesus, although He is God, He became man in order to die for us. The Bible says that whoever believes in Him might have everlasting life. By putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, by believing in Him, turning from our sin to walk with Him, we can have everlasting life. And as we see this heavenly scene of worshiping Jesus, it's incredible, right?

And if we're worshiping Him now, if we've received Him now, we will worship Him not only right now, but we will worship Him for the rest of eternity. But understand, if you reject Him now, if you refuse to follow Jesus Christ, instead of worshiping for the rest of eternity, you will be regretting for the rest of eternity your decision not to worship Him. But we have the opportunity right now to determine our eternal state.

And it's based upon the Lamb who is slain. Have you received the forgiveness that God offers to you? Are you living for Him? We're going to worship the Lord together and I encourage you to do so because Jesus is worthy. But after the service, after the worship, if you need to get right with God, if you want to be forgiven of your sin, if you want to make that decision to follow Jesus Christ, there's going to be some of us up here in the front. We'd love to help you make that decision and help you make things right with God to enter in boldly to His throne.

and receive the grace and mercy that you need. Let's worship the Lord together.