Rev No.9 More about Heaven

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever. And this morning we've come to give praise to the person to whom all praise should be directed, our Lord Jesus Christ, who represents God the Father and is made known to us through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

We welcome you into the tab today and pray that you might know the blessing of God upon your life. And chapter five. And I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with the seven seals.

And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll. But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.

Then one of the elders said to me, do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and the seven seals.

And I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne and circled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven birds of God sent out onto all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the hand of him who sat on the throne.

And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song.

You are worthy to take the scroll and open the seals because you were slain. And with your blood, you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God.

And they will reign on the earth. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and 10,000 times 10,000. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.

In a loud voice they sang, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive the power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them singing to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever. The four living creatures said amen.

The elders fell down and worshipped. This is the word of God. Now let's keep our Bibles open at that particular passage of scripture.

Father, we're grateful to you for your holy and inspired word. And we ask right now that as we look into it, that you will give us eye salve, that you will open the eyes of our hearts, enabling us to discover or to find once again truth that is so precious that it changes a man's whole outlook upon this life and fixes his gaze upon what is to come. Hear us as we thank you again for your holy word.

Amen. That in one sense, if you have discovered the full truth of what is written in that first verse of the fourth chapter of this book, in one sense there is no need for you to go any further with scripture. I mean by that, that precede within that first verse is a succinct statement of what the Christian faith is all about.

After this I looked and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And that I argue is the whole message of the Christian gospel, the opening of heaven. Our Lord Jesus has the keys of hell and of heaven.

They dangle from his girdle strings. That's what we're told in the opening chapter of this mighty book, the revelation. Our Lord Jesus is the one who claimed to be the way, the truth of the life.

There is no entry into the Father's presence apart from him. And the uniqueness of the Christian gospel is this. It says that heaven is open.

It is not open by man's effort. We cannot lean the weight of our shoulders against the door. It is impossible for us ourselves to penetrate the holiest place of all.

But out from heaven has come God's representative to humankind, none other than our Lord Jesus. And he is the door that opens an entry into heaven itself. I saw heaven open.

And I ask you once more, as I did last week, to what extent do you ever think about heaven? Have you got to the forefront of your mind? Your eternal destination? Does it become the controlling fact behind the way that you make decisions, use your time, set your goals? This side of eternity. Apply a little logic. Eternity by definition goes on forever and forever.

The longest person as far as life is concerned here on this earth would hardly expect more than one hundred years. The majority, well, three score years and ten. In other words, just an infinitesimal, just a small particle of existence occurs this side of heaven.

And if the glory and the benefit of heaven is to some degree controlled by the way that we behave now, is it not rational, is it not reasonable to condition life here and now always with a view to heaven? So the absurdity of the notion that a person can be so heavenly minded, he is of no earthly value whatsoever. The men and women of scripture were heavenly minded people. The greatest men and women of history were heavenly minded people.

And because of their concept of heaven and what lay beyond, and their concern to glorify God on this earth, they lived their lives for his praise. And they changed society. So I say to you, do you ever think about heaven? The years roll by, and some of you are at a position where most of the sun has gone through the glass.

The spring and the summer of your life is through. You're in the autumn, and the leaves seem to be dropping. You wonder what the winter will bring.

Do you ever in your car, or perhaps if you can comfortably walk, go down to the seashore late afternoon and watch the sun go down, and see in something of its glow, something of its color, the beckoning hand of God as he tells you that there is a beyond? Do you get reason and logic and a hope for continuing? Because you realize that frail though you may be, having run the most of your earthly course, the best is yet to begin. I speak feelingly, and perhaps some younger people will feel it utterly inappropriate as far as they are concerned, but one day they will be in the same position as some of our senior people. Some of us will not even live to experience old age in any case.

So I ask the whole of my congregation, from the younger people to the older people, have you got your mind fixed on heaven? Do you realize that your sojourn on this earth is a very small allocation in terms of the whole? I was reading the Times newspaper on Friday. One of the great English writers is a man called Kingsley Amis. He's just written what is probably his final work, and the evaluation of the book, the man who does the review, heads off his article, What's Amiss with Amis, as he puns on this brilliant writer's name.

He goes on to tell us that Amis cannot handle advancing years very well. Old age does not sit well on Sir Kingsley. He is not happy.

He went to see a psychiatrist recently who asked him whether his sleeplessness caused him to worry. It causes me no worry at all, he answered, just boredom touched with gloom. How sad.

The autumn leaves have fallen, the winter has come, and one of the great literary writers of our time talks about his final days, boredom touched with gloom. I saw heaven open, says a man older than Kingsley, and there's no despair that rocks him. There is just a vision of what is beyond.

He's packed, stamped, and ready to go. You'll never really understand a book of Revelation unless you come to term with the fact, as I tried to explain last week, it uses symbols. You can't talk about that which is greater than words can describe without resorting to metaphor.

Margaret Thatcher, in a different context, apparently sent either a telegram or phoned a message through to George Bush fairly recently, bearing in mind the pressures that were upon Bush as the Middle East situation developed. And her advice was this, George, don't wobble. There is a sense that when you speak about heaven, words wobble because it's not possible to describe that which is indescribable.

And within the metaphor, the symbol that John uses, he makes a great play on numbers. Now you can take numerology to an absurd extent as some people have worked out the numerical value of Greek and Hebrew letters and made most fanciful and ingenious predictions from Scripture. But Scripture does tell you and gives you an answer to the question that you might pose.

What mean these numbers? The number seven, for example, in Revelation, as indeed throughout the Scripture, speaks of God, of perfection. Six days he made heaven on earth and on the seventh day he rested. The seven always speaks of God, his authority, of his perfection.

The number four, well, we came across it last time, didn't we? When looking, for instance, in verse eight of the previous chapter, the four living creatures. And you remember how I went on to interpret who these four living creatures were. Four is the number of the earth.

That doesn't really need Scripture to elucidate. You speak of the four corners of the world, of the four points of the compass, of the four winds. And here in the fourth chapter, when speaking of heaven and the glory of heaven and the praise that resounds around the throne of the one who occupies the central position, we're told of one who is like a lion, the king of the wild animals.

We're told of one who is like an ox, the king of the domesticated realm of beasts. We're told of one who is as an eagle, the king of the birds. We're told of one who has the face like a man, man the king of creation.

And here in the fourth and going on to the fifth chapter, John has the idea of the whole universe bringing praise to the one who sits on the throne. Again, do you need my comments on Scripture to work this out for you? Jesus is Lord. Creation's voice declares it.

For by his power, each tree and flower was formed and made. Jesus is Lord. The universe declares it.

Sun, moon, and stars in heaven cry, Jesus is Lord. There was a time before you were when the universe left God's hand as impeccable as God himself. No wrath, no maw, no spot, no blemish.

Paradise. But paradise was marred when the king of God's creation, man, sinned. And the fact of that marring has permeated the whole of our world.

Therefore, God's glory, if not eclipsed, has been put in a back alley, so to speak, on this earth. But the day is coming when he who sits on the throne shall have all the praise and all the glory that rightfully belongs to him from man, from the beasts, from the inanimate world. Paradise shall be regained.

Heaven shall touch earth and brought in shall be that eternal age that by definition goes on forever and forever. After this, I looked and saw before me was a door standing open in heaven. So John continues in the fifth chapter to describe what is almost impossible to convey in words.

And he brings you face to face conveniently as far as we're concerned for our discourse this morning with three separate things. He will tell you about the scroll that was sealed from the first through to the fifth verses of this fifth chapter. And then he will tell you about the lamb that was slain, the sixth through to the eighth verse.

And then the song that was sung, the eighth through to the fourteenth verse. And then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. You can imagine this parchment with its writing and with its seven seals indicating, the number seven you remember, that it is locked up by the authority of God.

Now what does that scroll contain? Well the closed scroll indicates the plan of God unrevealed and unexecuted. And if that scroll remains sealed then God's plan will never be carried out. To open that seal means not merely to reveal but to carry through God's plan.

So you hear a voice of a mighty angel, verse two, shouting loudly, who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll? Here is the plan of God for the redemption of mankind. Here is that which has been written before the beginning of time for God anticipates the fall of man. Here is the master scheme of redemption which if applied will bring in God's purpose for the universe and for man in particular.

If that scroll remains locked up then there will be no new heaven. There will be no new earth. In a word there'll only be doom and gloom.

The sheer boredom of life on this earth and no hope in the beyond. Who is worthy to break open the seals, to break the seals and open the scroll? And the challenge goes to those who are in the heavens, verse three, and on the earth and under the earth. But there is no contender.

What is required has nothing to do with physical strength. It has everything to do with moral competence. And there is no cherubim or seraphim.

There is not one of the angelic beings nor one of the inhabitants of earth or under the earth who has an unsullied righteousness for that is the requirement. To be able to take those seals and break them. To unfold the plan and put into practice that which God has drawn up before the world was.

And thus you discover John weeping. As you and I ought to weep when confronted with the sinfulness and the rebellion of men. How often are you moved to tears by the state of the world? How often is there emotion in your heart as you see the shipwreck that people make of their lives? John wept.

But on this occasion the tears are as unnecessary as those that bejewel the eyes of Mary as she goes into the garden that early resurrection morning. For what John horrifically anticipates does not come to pass. The seal is not left unbroken.

The scroll is not left unfurled. Verse five then one of the elders said to me do not weep. 24 elders you remember were around the throne as described in the fourth chapter.

24 is obviously the multiplication of 12 by 2. There were 12 patriarchs in the old testament, 12 sons of Jacob, 12 apostles of the lamb in the new testament. You read of them in revelation 21 as having their names engraven in the new Jerusalem. There is only one church.

It's not composed of Jew in a special and exclusive sense or of gentile in a special and exclusive sense. The church of God is all the blood-bought redeemed people of humanity since the beginning of time represented in the old testament by the 12 patriarchs represented in the new testament by the 12 apostles. And it's one from the redeemed community in this fantastic phenomenal vision that speaks to the tearful John and says do not weep.

See the lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. I made reference to the 12 patriarchs, the 12 sons of Jacob.

When Jacob was on his deathbed in front of him was the beloved Joseph and the other 11 brothers. Jacob knows that his death is just a matter of moments away. His sons line up in front of him and he gives them the patriarchal blessing.

And when Judah stands in front of him you'll find this in the final chapters of the book of Genesis. You can check them later on during the day. Judah has this particular accolade passed on him by Jacob.

He is likened to the cub of a lion. There will be something lion-like about Judah. And from the loins of Judah will come one who Jacob refers to as Shiloh.

It's a messianic term. It refers to the coming of the Son of God and the whole line of our Lord Jesus can be traced back to Judah. And the fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy is seen in the lion-like qualities of our Lord Jesus who is the lion of the tribe of Judah.

He is the root of David. A root comes before fruition, foliage, and fruitage. And although Jesus is also a branch from David, he's also the root of David.

Because when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, he already had existence in the eternal realm eons before men and women were created. That's why our Lord on one occasion when assailed by his adversaries said, do you not know before Abraham was I am? I am the root of David. I am the offspring of David.

I am the one who bears the divine name. And you read here as John's tears are staunched, do not weep. See the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed.

The highest place that heaven affords is his by sovereign right. This is not just the Son of Man on the cross that is being referred to. It is the glorified Son of God in the heavenlies.

And we are given this magnificent vision of the moment before time ever was when God conceived of this plan for the redemption of the world. And he hands the scroll and says, can anyone take this scroll sealed by my authority, unfurl it, and bring my plan into being? The scroll that was sealed is followed by the lamb that was slain. I saw a lamb, verse six, but John, before man you were telling us you saw a lion.

What do you mean? Is it a lion or a lamb? And John will tell you it's both. Is he man or is he God? And those with sensitivity in mind will tell you he is both. What manner of man is this? Man truly he sleeps.

Man only that cannot be, for the winds and the waves are in his control. Then I saw a lamb. The lion stands for his majesty and his power.

The lamb for his vulnerability and his perfection. I saw a lamb, the condition he was in and the position that he occupied. I saw a lamb as it had been slain.

I saw a lamb standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures. A lamb that was slain? Where in scripture do you find clues that will help you to understand the significance of a lamb? You go back to the book of Exodus. Here are the children of Israel.

They're in great trouble. The Egyptians have them in a vice-like grip. It looks as though the policy of genocide will work out its course and soon there will be no child of Abraham, no one to continue the line of God and to bring about the fulfillment of the divine decree.

But then they're told to take a lamb to slay the lamb and to daub the red blood on the lintels of the doorposts. And the angel of death passes over and bypasses Goshen and goes throughout the whole of the cities of the Egyptians. And the Israelites are spared.

When I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the centuries go by and central stage is a man called Isaiah, a man of kingly disposition. And he also has a vision, a most remarkable one, locked up in the fifties in the book of Isaiah in the fiftieth chapter and onwards.

The vision of the servant, the Ebed Yahweh, the servant of the Lord. And Isaiah in that remarkable chapter that speaks of the suffering of the Messiah who is to be, talks of one who is led as a lamb to the slaughter and will not open his mouth. And on the banks of the Jordan one day, there comes a most dignified man amongst the congregation that listens to the words of the Baptist.

And John realizes that he's in the presence, not only of a relative, but of someone who is utterly extraordinary. And he points him out and he says, behold, the lamb, the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. And later on when the apostle Paul is dashing off a letter to the Corinthians, he refers back to the Passover and also to John's identification of Jesus.

And he speaks of the Lord as our Passover lamb slain for us. And here is the aged apostle Peter again dashing off one of his tracks, one of his letters. And he speaks in the opening verse and around the twelfth chapter of the twelfth verse of the first chapter of the opening chapter.

He speaks of a lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. A lamb, the significance of whose life and death is such that it brings about the redemption of mankind. Then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne.

The condition he was in, the position that he occupied. He has seven horns. The horns speak of strength, seven deity.

He has seven eyes. The eyes speak of intuition, of omniscience, of all knowledge, the seven of divinity. He has all power.

He has all insight. There are seven spirits, seven speaking again of perfection. The Holy Spirit is described in Acts and Romans as the spirit of the Lord Jesus.

When he returns to glory, he pours out his spirit and he goes throughout the whole realm of planet earth. The seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Now it's this one so remarkably described who moves towards the throne and he takes the scroll.

From the right hand of him who sits there, the greatest of all the cosmic moments, he moves towards the throne and he takes the scroll and the cherubim and the seraphim. They hold their breath for they know what this will mean. The one who takes the scroll has volunteered to incarnate himself in the form of a helpless lamb, the form of a helpless babe.

He'll be cradled in his mother's arms, clutched to his mother's breast, he'll be hounded from pillar to post, and on gaining years of maturity his adversaries will call him a drunkard and a wine-bibber and worse will be to follow as they will take him to the political leaders and to the religious leaders. Callous fingers of Roman soldiers will grip whips and they'll flay the skin from off his back. And oh the picture is so terrible.

One day he'll be pinned to a Roman cross, a blood-stained and bedraggled figure. And he's the one who responds to the plea. Who shall I send? Who will go? Who can take the scroll and break the latches and bring into being my plan for the world, for the universe? And Jesus, the Son of God, God himself takes the scroll and does for the sons of Adam what no one else could ever do.

I saw heaven opened, the scroll that was sealed, the lamb that was slain. And what is happening is recognized by these four living creatures, the representatives of the world in all the aspects of creation and the 24 elders symbolizing the church of the redeemed of all time. They appreciate what is happening as the lamb that was slain takes the parchment and puts into practice the plans of God.

And as a result, John goes on with a vision and describes the song that was sung. Halfway through verse 8, each one had a harp, the harp being the instrument God ordained for bringing in praise amongst others in Old Testament times. They were holding golden bowls full of incense.

Check through the book of Exodus and you will discover that twice in the tabernacle and in the temple, incense was burned in the morning and in the evening, first in a bowl and poured out over the altar. And the psalmist will tell you that the incense is as the prayers of the people of God throughout the whole time that they on earth and throughout the whole of eternity worship Him. And so you have kicking into life, so to speak, these representatives of the universe, of the redeemed community, singing a new song to the Lord.

And the one who occupies the throne, the one who has unfurled the parchment, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God. The greatest verse, I put it to you, brothers and sisters, in the whole of the Bible, with his blood he purchased men for God. A plague on liberal theologians who cannot see that the crosswork of our Lord Jesus is the most glorious thing that ever happened in time and in eternity.

It will forever be the stimulus behind all the praise and all the anthem for what he has done throughout the whole of the eternities to come. We will sing the praise of the Lamb who went towards the throne and took the parchment and broke the seals and in his own body brought into being the perfections of God's great plan schemed up eons ago. Forgive the passion, but if I preached as I really felt, my body couldn't contain the emotions, let alone my vocabulary supply the words.

From every ethnic group, every tribe, language, and people, and nation, you have made them to be a kingdom and priest to serve our God and they will reign on the earth. Can you take more? Then, then I looked and John tells us how with the Lamb already being hymned as worthy to unseal the scroll, how he's now acclaimed by the choir of angels as worthy to receive all the majestic attributes that belong to God alone. Numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand says John as he tries to count the choir.

They encircle the throne and in a loud voice they sing worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise and blessing. The theology of the Watchtower collapses. Only God has these attributes.

Only God can be given this accolade and still he's not through. Then, then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them singing to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise, honor, glory, power forever and ever. And the four living creatures, the king of the jungle, the king of domesticated beasts, the king of the birds of the air and the king of creation, man himself cry amen.

And the elders, the redeemed community, the ones who always ought to be at the front place conducting and leading worship, they fall down and they worship this great God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You see my point? We who live just in time and have no concept of eternity, at the end there is boredom and gloom. But there's not a tinge of boredom.

There's not a tinge of gloom in this aged apostle John. Why not? Well, he's seen heaven open and when you've got an open heaven, you've got an acceptable life on this earth. But the controlling factor in the way that you live your life on this earth must be heaven, the glories of heaven.

My friends, sometimes I feel I preach as a fool. I try my best with inadequate language to convey to you what grips my heart. John does an infinitely better job, but he's still in difficulties.

He has to resort to symbol and to metaphor. But if this book says one thing, it says this, the future is glorious. The future belongs to God and he has every son and daughter of Adam in his arms, the 70-year-old, the 17-year-old.

And though on earth, because we're blood-bought, we're also heavenly people. We go through this sin-stained planet as pilgrims passing through. But one day, oh blessed day, the lamb that was slain shall set up his visible government and the kingdoms of this earth shall become the kingdoms of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever.

How about that? Let's stand. Oh glory and praise