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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
And when He had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four 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 God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood you purchased for God persons 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 ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive 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, saying:
“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,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Revelation 5:6-14
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Jesus emerged on the ministry scene, He went to a fervent believer born to announce His arrival, a man known as John the Baptist. Here’s what He proclaimed the moment He set eyes on the Messiah he had longed to see:
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
Ironically, this declaration is found in the Gospel of John, no relation to John the Baptist except for the fact that they both loved and were devoted to Jesus. Fast forward and we find this same Gospel writer John sharing his experience in the throne room of God after being invited in by Jesus Himself.
Once inside, John does the best he can to describe what he witnessed and the majesty therein. You’ll remember how there wasn’t just magnificent beauty there but also an incredible atmosphere of worship and both are found in chapter 4 of the Book of Revelation.
As we turned the page to chapter 5, we find the throne room worship briefly interrupted by a quandary as a holy scroll that had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals was in the right hand of God as He sat on His throne. The issue at hand was that there was no one who could break the seals and open the scroll, no one in Heaven, no one on earth. The scriptures tell us that this caused great sorrow for John who broke down and wept.
Then, in the midst of his mournful feelings, one of the twenty-four elders came to him and let him know that there was One and only One who had the power and authority to break the seals and open the scroll. That One was Jesus who the elder called “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David”. The lion comparison speaks to the power and dominion that Jesus holds over all creation but as we see in today’s passage from the remaining verses in this chapter, Jesus is labeled with a completely opposite identity from the mighty lion. Look again at those verses here:
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
And when He had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four 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 God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood you purchased for God persons 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 ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive 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, saying:
“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,” and the elders fell down and worshiped. Vv.6-14
A lamb couldn’t be more different than the lion. Where the lion has no rivals in the animal kingdom, reigning with supremacy, the lamb is meek and mild and vulnerable. No one would feel threatened by a lamb if they came up on one but a lion...that’s a different story, right?
It’s important to note that when John looked at Jesus, he saw a Lamb who looked as if it had been slain, a Lamb that had been sacrificed so to take away the sins of the world. This Lamb was “standing at the center of the throne room and was encircled by the four living creatures who we were introduced to in chapter 4. We read where Jesus, the slain Lamb, had seven horns which represented His perfect power. He also had seven eyes which were the seven spirits of God that were upon Jesus. As a review, the seven spirits upon Jesus were as follows:
1. The Spirit of the Lord.
2. The Spirit of wisdom.
3. The Spirit of understanding.
4. The Spirit of counsel.
5. The Spirit of might.
6. The Spirit of knowledge.
7. The fear of the Lord which Jesus would delight in.
With the description complete, the Word tells us that Jesus went to His Father God and took the scroll from His right hand, an action that reactivated the worship scene in the throne room with a series of praises unto the Lamb Jesus.
First, “the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down” before Jesus, each with “a harp” and a golden bowl of incense, collectively representing “the prayers of God’s people”. This assembly started to sing “a new song” that went like this:
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood you purchased for God persons 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.”
Oh how I wish I could have been a part of this heavenly choir but I know that my time is coming when I too will be able to live within an eternity of worship and praise unto Jesus the Lamb and the God who sent Him to be the Savior of the world, to be “slain” and to purchase “for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation” through His shed blood. This selfless, saving sacrifice permitted His Father to make all Christ believers “a kingdom”, “priests to serve” Him as they “reign on the earth”. As Jesus’ disciples, we are a part of this kingdom of God here on earth as we work for Him until that day He calls us to abide with Him forever. Let’s rejoice and be glad in that truth.
Now, this would have been enough in its own right bit as we see, the worship was just getting started. For we read where John “looked and heard the voice of many angels”, a multitude that is beyond our comprehension. For we read where John numbered them as “thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand”. It had to be an unbelievable scene as “they encircled the throne”, joining “the living creatures and the elders”, joining together to proclaim “in a loud voice”:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
Here we find all praise and honor and glory going to Jesus, the slain, worthy Lamb and Savior of the world.
Friends, this is a foretaste of what’s to come one day when we too will get a firsthand experience in the presence of God and Jesus, His Son, but the good news is that we don’t have to wait until we get there to participate in the matter of adoration and exaltation unto the slain Lamb who died to take away our sins. For we can echo the words that were spoken next by “every creature in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea”:
“To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!”
Let us do this today and every day we are blessed with until we join Jesus in Heaven ourselves.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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