Episode Transcript
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Revelation, Chapter Four, at Verse
One. After this, I looked and
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behold a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had
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heard, speaking to me like a
trumpet, said come up here and I
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will show you what must take place
after this. At once I was in
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the spirit and behold, a throne
stood in heaven, with one seated on
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the throne, and he who sat
there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian.
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And around the throne was a rainbow
that had the appearance of an emerald.
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Around the throne were twenty four thrones, and seated on the thrones were
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twenty four elders clothed in white garments
with golden crowns on their heads. From
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the throne came flashes of lightning and
rumblings and peals of thunder, and before
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the throne were burning seven torches of
fire, which are the seven spirits of
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God. And before the throne there
was, as it were, a sea
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of glass like crystal. And around
the throne, on each side of the
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throne, are four living creatures full
of eyes. In front and behind the
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first living creature like a lion,
the second living creature like an ox,
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the third living creature with the face
of a man, and the fourth living
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creature like an eagle in flight.
And the four living creatures, each of
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them with six wings, are full
of eyes all the round and within and
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day and night. They never cease
to say, holy, Holy, Holy,
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is the Lord God Almighty, who
was and is and is to come.
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And whenever the living creatures give glory
and honor and thanks to him who
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is seated on the throne, who
lives forever and ever, the twenty four
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elders fall down before him who is
seated on the throne, and worship him,
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who lives forever and ever. They
cast their crowns before the throne,
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saying worthy are you, are Lord
in God, to receive glory and honor
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and power, for you created all
things and by your will they existed and
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were created. Then I saw,
on the right hand of him who was
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seated on the throne, of scroll
written within and on the back, sealed
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with seven seals, and I saw
a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice
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who is worthy to open the scroll
and break its seals. And no one
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in heaven or on Earth or under
the Earth was able to open the scroll
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or look into it and I began
to weep loudly because no one was found
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worthy to open the scroll or to
look into it. One of the elder
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said to me, weep no more, behold the line of the tribe of
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Judah, the root of David has
conquered so that he can open the scroll
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and it's seven seals. And between
the throne and the four living creatures and
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among the elders, I saw a
lamb standing as though it had been slain,
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with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of
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God, set out into all the
earth, and he went and took the
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scroll from the right hand of him
who was seated on the throne. And
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when he had taken the scroll,
the four living creatures and the twenty four
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elders fell down before the lamb,
each holding a harp and a golden and
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Golden Bowls full of incense, which
are the prayers of the saints, and
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they sang a new song, saying
worthy are you to take the scroll and
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to open its seals, for you
were slain and by your blood you ransomed
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people for God from every tribe and
language and people in nation, and you
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have made them a kingdom and priests
to our God and they shall reign on
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the Earth. Then I looked and
I heard, around the throne the living
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creach and the living creatures and the
elders, the voice of many angels numbered,
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numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of
thousands, saying with a loud voice
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worthy is the lamb who was slain
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and
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might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven
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and on Earth and under the Earth
and in the sea and all that is
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in them saying to him who sits
on the throne into the land be blessing
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and honor and glory and might forever
and ever. And the for living creatures
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said Amen, and the elders fell
down and worshiped. This is God's word
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for us this morning, so let's
pay heed to it. Please be seated
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as we begin. Let me just
go back and and say a few words
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about the book of revelation. I
think it would be helpful to put these
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two chapters and their proper context.
Keep your bibles open. If you turn
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back to chapter one, want you
to look very just quickly at verse one
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says. They're the revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God sent him to show
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to his servants the things that must
soon take place. He made it known
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by sending his angel to his servant
John. Now that's a very, very
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revealing verse. It's chalk full of
indicators which I think help us understand what
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this sometimes confusing book is all about. For example, we see here in
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this first verse that at this revelation
from God it's for the benefit of the
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church, that that's the reference here
at to servants. We see that it's
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a revelation of Jesus Christ. He's
a central figure of the book of revelation
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and it says there it's a revelation
given by God, not directly to us,
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to the church, but through a
vision given to the Apostle John.
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Now that's helpful information, I think, isn't it? Now that moves the
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curtain back just a little bit.
But there's there's even more here. John
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Mentions three things in these opening verses
that help clarify what sort of book he
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was writing. First, in this
opening verse he tells us is what he's
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writing is a revelation. Now,
revelation in Greek is the word apocalypse.
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It's very it's a very first word
of the book. In fact, there's
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no definite article in the text here. So the book Actually Begins Revelation of
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Jesus Christ, and by revelation is
meant that in this book God is disclosing
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to the church through John, to
us, something that we would not otherwise
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know or be able to discover.
But the word apocalypse also indicates a particular
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type of disclosure, a particular their
form of prophetic writing that we find with
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many of the Old Testament prophets,
such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel,
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Ezekiel Zachariah. Apocalyptic writing is marked
by reports of visions, of the report
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of the transporting of the seer or
the writer, to heaven in his visions,
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of the mediation of the revelation to
the Prophet by angelic beings and by
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highly symbolic presentations of the truth being
revealed. And what this apocalyptic form of
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writing was intended to provide was a
transcendent perspective on the world and upon human
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life in the world. Is See, the seer is is taken out of
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the world to learn the secrets of
God's purposes, as they're known in heaven
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and to see the world from the
heavenly perspective, as God sees the world.
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So that's the first thing I think, to be said about the book
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of revelation. It's an apocalypse,
it's a revelation, it's a disclosure of
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a particular type made in a particular
form. Second Revelation, John says here
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in Chapter One, verse three,
is a prophecy, and by prophecy is
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meant certainly the disclosure of the future. As verse one says, this vision
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is about the things that must soon
take place. But prophecy is much,
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much more than that. Prophecy is
not only the prediction of the future.
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It's also the authoritative proclamation or declaration
of the meaning of the present and of
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the obligations of God's people in the
present. In fact, the Prophets of
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the Old Testament were preachers even more
than they were seers or predictors of the
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future, and John stands as a
successor to the Old Testament prophets who were
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always, always addressing the immediate situation
of their contemporaries as well as speaking of
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things to come. They did both, and so does John. And then,
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Third John tells us that revelation is
a letter. You know, as
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we see in chapter one, verse
four, the formal beginning of the book
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is in the form of a circular
letter from John to the seven churches in
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the province of Asia. It's a
form very familiar to readers of the New
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Testament from the letters of the Apostle
Paul. They begin the same way.
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There's a greeting. We see that
here versus one through four. Then there's
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this long body of the letter,
Verse Five of Chapter One through chapter twenty
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two, Verse Twenty, and then
there's this closing or farewell one, Verse
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Twenty One of Chapter Twenty two.
Now that's significant. The fact that revelation
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is a letter indicates unmistakably that it
addresses the situation of John's immediate contemporaries,
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that it's a message for these seven
churches in Asian it's for them, it's
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to them. It's not a it's
not a codebook to be deciphered by some
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future generation of Christians. You know, a letter is meant to be read,
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it's meant to be understood. It
had, it has a message that
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John expected those who heard the letter
read to understand and to take to heart
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and to live accordingly. Now you
put all that together and what do you
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have? What we have in revelation
is a disclosure of an alternative reality and
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an exhortation to John's Christian friends to
live their lives in keeping with that reality.
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What revelation is designed to do is
to give them and to give us
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an alternative vision of the world in
which we live. To John's contemporaries and
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to us, the world appears to
be one thing. John tells us it
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is in fact something quite different from
what it appears to be. But here's
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the thing. Only faith can see
that alternative reality. See, the world
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looks very different from heaven. Things
take on a very different meaning when seen
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from a heavenly, a divine,
a transcendent, eternal perspective. And what
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John Exhorts us to do in this
wonderful book is, by faith, to
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have this eternal, transcendent perspective as
we live on our days here on earth.
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So, with that eternal perspective,
that rather long introduction in view,
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let's take a look at these two
chapters, chapters four and five. Now
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the book of revelation. After this
brief introductory chapter, it opens with specific
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letters of the risen Christ to seven
churches located in Asia Minor. We read
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these letters to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, pergamum, thyatira, Sardis,
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Philadelphia and Leah. To See it, those letters are in chapters two
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and three and they're very, very
revealing letters. I'm sure you've heard many
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sermons on that. They offer a
Penetra trading, I think sometimes uncomfortable,
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examination of life in these seven representative
congregations. See, these were local congregations
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struggling with some struggling with false teaching. For some, their first love for
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Christ had grown cold still. Others
were, we're, dealing with moral failure,
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some were dealing with worldliness, with
materialism, some are facing persecution,
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cute suffering. But in every single
situation, as we saw toward the end
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of every single one of those letters, they were called upon by Christ to
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do what, to conquer, to
overcome. Look at the end of Chapter
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Three, Verse Twenty One, and
you'll see precisely that the one who conquers,
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I will grant him to sit with
me on my throne, as I
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also conquered and set down with my
father on his throne. You see,
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that's Jesus called to us. Conquer, persevere, don't get sidetracked, press
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on, keep on keeping on,
don't be overcome. Cross the finish line,
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win the prize. And we hear
that instruction, we hear that exhortation
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from our Lord. We serve our
burdens, we survey our hurts. Our
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wounds are trials. We look at
the sin that still and dwells our hearts.
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We see the opposition of the world
to the Christian Gospel that we proclaim.
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We see a hostile and moral culture
around us. We see a fickle,
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rebellious heart within US and the command
to conquer and overcome. At least
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to me, it doesn't seem so
easy. And just as we're about to
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give up, just as we feel
our knees begin to buckle under the weight
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of Christ call, a door opens
in heaven and the voice says, come
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up here and I will show you
of what must take place after this revelation.
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Chapters four and five show us the
throne in heaven and the one seated
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upon it. See, in these
two chapters we step into the command and
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control center of the universe and we
see the Lord who reigns over all and
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now suddenly, the sin, the
sorrow, the hurt and the hostility that
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we endure that seemed a moment ago
so all encompassing, has been put into
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a larger context, and we learn
that the true measure of whether we will
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overcome is not the strength of our
own arm, it's not the wisdom of
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our own judgment, it's not the
conviction of our own belief after all,
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but the power of the infinite,
eternal, unchangeable, sovereign God. What
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we're being told here in the dramatic
imagery of apocalyptic literature is that there is
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a reality that one does not see
on earth, and in the center of
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that reality is the divine throne,
symbolizing the divine sovereignty, the divine rule,
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the divine judgment, the divine will. Now we noted, as I
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read that that this throne is it's
fully acknowledged in heaven, but it's not
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yet acknowledge fully on earth. Many
human beings are, in fact utterly,
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utterly unaware of its existence. But
what you see in Heaven, John Tells
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us here, is the true reality
that must eventually be acknowledged on earth as
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well. Heaven is the sphere of
ultimate reality. No matter the pretensions of
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earthly power us, the divine purpose
will prevail on earth. And what is
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happening on earth, especially that which
seems to be happening to the detriments of
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Christians and the Kingdom of God,
that too is the outworking of God's eternal
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and ultimate purpose for mankind, for
the world or his church. You See,
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what John's vision here means is that
when Christians find themselves in danger,
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they can be absolutely confident that their
plight is so far from being a defeat
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for God's plan, it is itself
the divine plan, the will of the
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throne of God. It's the considered
decision of the Heavenly Council. However little
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we can understand the purposes of God, however impossible it is for us to
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see how our troubles contribute to the
inexorable progress of the divine plan for the
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world and the Kingdom of God,
they're ones. The Majesty in Heaven is
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an absolute control over all that happens
in the world and, with the assistance
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of his holy angels, is working
his purposes out. You know, I
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spent twenty five years in the army, and you might want to think about
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it this way, you know,
in more movies and in document documentaries,
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you know, devoted to particularly the
things like the history of the Second World
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War, we often, we've often
seen these large rooms and their lined with
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maps, in the middle of which
is this giant table which usually itself is
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a map, and surrounding that table
are men and women in uniform. They're
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moving these little flags or miniature tanks
or planes or ships or other symbols that
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represent various military formations. It's called
a situation room, it's called a command
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and control center, and that's a
particular battle field that's represented on the great
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map in the middle of that room, and the progress of the battle is
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charted by the movement of these various
symbols and pieces on that map. And
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when a symbol of some kind is
moved from one place to another, it
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means either that a change has occurred
on the battlefield and the map is being
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adjusted to reflect the new reality,
or that an order has been given to
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a particular unit or formation to move
to the place indicated on the map.
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Well, it's is it's something like
that that John Shows us here in these
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two chapters. See. What John
was given to see was the control room,
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the operations center. He was shown
the situation room of Supreme Headquarters,
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and from that room the entire war
being waged on earth between the forces of
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light and those of darkness, between
the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of
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the devil, is not only being
charted, but it's being controlled, movement
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by movement, by movement by movement. What's decided in heaven will have an
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exact counterpart on earth, and events
will unfold in human history precisely as they
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have been ordered to unfold from the
Control Room in heaven. So let's go
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with John into this control room,
the situation room, the command and Control
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Center, and look at where he
points us, or rather where the angelic
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voice points John. In Chapter Four, John Sees and we see this revelation
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of the glory of God the Creator. And then in chapter five, which
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par ells chapter four, we see
a slightly different but it's an overlapping thing,
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this time the glory of Christ the
Redeemer. So let's look at Chapter
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Four. John begins his account of
this vision in verse two. At once
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I was in the spirit and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with
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one seated on the throne. Now
we could stop right there. We could
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meditate for the rest of our time
on that phrase and not exhaust its relevance,
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not exhaust its importance. There is
a throne in heaven and it's not
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empty, it's occupied. Now,
don't we need to hang onto that truth?
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And these crazy days of political turmoil, these days of moral decay in
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the culture, the chaos of Global
Ghad behold a throne and one seated on
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it. You see, whatever the
Pundan say and wish, and whatever our
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secret fears may insinuate, God has
not abdicated his throne. Behold a throne
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and one seated on it. That
throne is a symbol of absolute sovereignty.
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By the way, this throne is
mentioned seventeen times in these two chapters.
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Now consider that just for a second
now. The Christian churches of that time
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were small. They were threatened.
The power of Rome seemed invincible. They
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witness the Roman propaganda every day of
their lives, just as we witness the
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American propaganda at every turn, every
day, every moment. You See,
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what these congregations needed most to know, and what you and I need most
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to know, was that there was
a far greater throne than Rome the far
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greater throne than American and it was
occupied with our king. And I love
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John's description of the one who seated
on the throne. Don't you verse three?
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He had the appearance of Jasper and
Carnelian. I don't have a clue
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what Carnelian is, and there was
a rainbow. Some of you will have
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to tell me after the worship service. I think it has something to do
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with a brown stone, but I'm
not sure there was a rainbow around the
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throne like a diamond or an emerald. I think we need to be careful
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not to overread that, not to
find hidden meaning in each precious stone.
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John is simply trying to find some
way to put into words something of the
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radiance, the beauty, the majesty
and the glory shining directly from the one
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seated on the throne. And the
fact of the matter is that words failed
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John here. He didn't have the
vocabulary to tell us what he sees.
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All he can say is that the
one on the throne is like gemstones.
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He's like a diamond turning in the
sun, dazzling in his beauty. That's
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the best he can do, but
I think we get the idea and around
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the throne. Notice in verse,
for it says there are twenty four elders.
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Now there's been some debate as to
the identity of the twenty four elders.
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We don't have time to go into
it all, but in my view
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I think they represent the whole people
of God, one church across both the
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old and new testaments, the twelve
tribes of Israel, the twelve apostles of
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the Lord Jesus. And it's interesting. You know, like it Mount Sini,
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you know, is Israel gathered around
the mountain and Exitus nineteen says you're
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there appeals of thunder, there are
flashes of lightning that emanate from God's throne.
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But there's a difference here, if
you recall, whereas it Cyani,
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no one was permitted to draw near
the mountain, here the people of God
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are right up close, they're surrounding
the throne, and that's a beautiful thing.
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You know, if you're a child
of God, however we however uncertain
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and unworthy you may feel yourself to
be, this text sells us you have
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a ringside seat, right up close
to God. Notice also that before the
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throne there are seven burning torches of
fire. You know, their number seven
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is always it's significant in the New
Testament. That's particularly significant in the book
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of revelation. It represents fullness,
represents completeness. And here John tells us
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these torches are the seven spirits of
God. I think this is his way
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of speaking of the fullness of God's
spirit, speaking of the completeness of the
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Holy Spirit. You recall there there
are seven representative churches through which the book
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of revelation is written. So here's
the Holy Spirit perfectly sufficient for the needs
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of the whole church, the seventh
full spirit for the seven churches, so
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that in our God there is no
lack for his people. Then there's something
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before the throne. You see that
something, John says, is like a
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sea of glass, like crystal.
You know, the sea and Jewish thought
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was always emblematic of chaos, always
emblematic of evil. But here it's utterly
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calm, it's still, it's at
rest before the throne of God. Now
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there certainly remains evil in the world, to be sure, but this is
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a picture that God reigns in Sovereign
Majesty over it all. The Sea is
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calm at his feet. Chaos comes
to heal at his decree. Here is
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a safe harbor for US amidst the
apparent uncertainties of life. You know,
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the last couple of weeks there were
three deaths at Rencon Mountain Presbyterian Church,
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where I go. Two of them
were sudden, unexpected, and I recall
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distinctly one of the widow's commenty.
I feel like I've been hit with a
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ton of bricks. The Lord,
our God, reigns even over the raging
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waves of chaos that surge at times
surround us. The Lord is on his
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throne. Then there are these four
strange living creatures we see in verses six
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and seven. They're covered in eyes, is suggests to me eternal vigilance.
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One of them has the face of
a lion, the second of an ox,
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the third of a man and the
fourth of an eighth of an eagle.
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They have six wings, just like
the angelics tariff him that Isaiah saw,
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and Isaiah chapter six, by the
way, there is so much old
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testament in the book of revelation it's
amazing. It's on every single page,
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but it's very similar to what Isaiah
saw. And these they sang the praises
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of God before His throne. Now
the faces of these different creatures. They
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Mirror Ezekiel's description of the Angelic Cherubim
that he saw in his vision of the
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heavenly throne and its glory. So
I don't know, it appears that these
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four figures represent a more exalted order
of angels. Now think of the Line
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as the noblest of all creatures,
think of the ox as the strongest,
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man as the wisest and the Flying
Eagle as the swiftest of all creatures.
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Here man is among the creatures before
God, the creator of all things.
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So the image here's seems to be
that all the powers of nature are available
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for the use of God in ruling
his world. You know, these four
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creatures lead in the worship of God
that's being offered in heaven. So the
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picture here is that all of nature, all of creation, is bowing before
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him as well. Now it may
be difficult to decipher each of these images.
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People disagree as what they mean,
but I will tell you all of
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them taken together, the twenty four
elders, the seven spirits, the sea
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of glass, the four living creatures, all of them are intended to do
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one thing, and that is enhanced
the glory of the throne. Everything here
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concerns this throne and the one sitting
on it. Look at verse eleven.
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Worthy are you are Lord in God
to Receive Glory and honor and power,
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for you created all things and by
your will they existed and they were created.
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In other words, everything in the
world, absolutely everything, even evil
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spirits and evil men, are God's
creatures and they are subject to his sovereign
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rule. He's in control. That's
the bottom line. Here in this chapter,
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and then in chapter five, our
attention turns from creation to redemption,
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from the father to the son,
from the glory of God the Creator to
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the glory of God the Redeemer.
You know, it's interesting, I think
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here, to note that there's nothing
in chapter four that could not have been
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written by a Non Christian Jew.
But here in chapter five the vision becomes
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specifically, it becomes obviously and emphatically
Christian. The scene opens, this time
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with a crisis. It's there in
chapters in verses one through four. Look
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at it. John sees this scroll
in the hands of God. It's covered
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in writing and it's but it's seals
shut, and an angel ask for someone
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worthy to open the scroll and break
its seals and there is not one.
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There's no one, not in heaven
or earth or under the earth. No
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one can open the scroll. And
John Loses it. He starts to weep
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loudly. Why does he do that? Well, he knows the meaning of
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the scroll. It's the script for
the great drama of human history. It's
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God's Master Plan for the salvation of
sinners and the overthrow of evil. It's
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the scroll of the divine decree.
But you see, if the scripts ever
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read, the drama can't proceed.
If the master plan is not revealed,
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God's purposes surely have to fail.
Chaos Wins, evil wins, Satan wins,
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and so John is devastated because it
looks like there's going to be no
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plot line for history, it's going
to be no direction for our lives.
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And then one of the elders comes
to John and does what good elders should
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always do. He comforts John by
a pointing him to the line of the
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tribe of Judah, the root of
David, who has conquers, so that
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he can open the scroll. And
I think you recognize the imagery here.
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Judah's line comes from genesis forty nine, the root of David From Isaiah,
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Chapter One, Chapter Eleven, I'm
sorry, and both are commonly understood to
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be prophecies of the coming Messiah.
They emphasized his strength, his royal dignity.
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He will be great King David's greater
heir. And so John Turns with
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I think, understandable excitement to see
this triumphant missy, any conqueror. And
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look at what he sees. Look
at verse six. John sees that the
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lion is actually the lamb. You
see, that's what the Jews didn't grasp
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when Jesus was among them and one
of his own free will he went to
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the cross. They had a wrong
view of the Messiah. It was the
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Messiahs Primary Ministry and calling to offer
himself a sacrifice for the sins of his
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people. The lion is actually a
slain lamb. The Jews missed that.
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The term lamb always carries with it
the implied reference to a sacrificial death.
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So the lion, the king who
is going to open the seals, is
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the very one who gave his life
to redeem his people. Here's the point.
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There is no other way to accomplish
the divine purpose for the world,
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and through the death of Jesus on
the Cross. No other way. History
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is a complete enigma. In other
words, apart from the redemptive Plan of
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God in Jesus Christ, here one's
apart from that, history makes absolutely no
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sense. Well, this horn mentioned
here is a typical symbol of strength in
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the Bible. So the seven horns
would be the symbol for perfect power or
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omnipotence, seven eyes or as symbol
of perfect knowledge or omniscions. You remember
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Paul's identification of Jesus back in First
Corinthians, Chapter One, Verse Twenty Four.
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He said that Jesus was the power
of God and he also said that
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Jesus was the wisdom of God.
That's what John sees here in this slain
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lamb. You know, I said
previously that the seven spirits are John's way
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of speaking of the fullness of the
Holy Spirit, and the rest of the
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New Testament makes clear that it's that
the Lord Christ behest that the Holy Spirit
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works in the world. And do
you see where the lamb is standing?
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This, I think, is another
significant point here. This thing is full
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of points. My translation the ES
V says but between the throne and the
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four living creatures and among the elders. I think another, perhaps a better
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translation, is in the midst of
the throne. You know, that's where
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Jesus himself says he is at the
end of chapter three. Look at Verse
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Twenty One. Again, the one
who conquers, I will grant him to
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sit with me on my throne,
as I also conquered and sat down with
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my father on his throne. Where
on his throne, on the same throne,
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occupying the same space, we might
say, as the Creator God of
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chapter four is the lamb, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then, I
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think my favorite verse in this whole
chapters is verse seven. Look at verse
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seven, what a wonderful, wonderful
verse. Now, what's simpler or more
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beautiful way could be found of making
the point that history is under God's control
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and that the father has appointed his
son, Jesus Christ, to bring it
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to its proper conclusion? Then for
the lamb to receive this scroll from the
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hand of God, the father sitting
up on the heavenly for the hone.
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It's a it's a clear and beautiful
picture of direct authority over the world and
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its history being transferred from the father
to the son. And then what happens?
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When the heaven saw the scroll being
handed from the father to the son,
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it broke out with this great hymn
of praise and it started like a
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rock thrown into a calm pool.
There's this ripple effect. Actually it's more
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like a tsunami here, this erupting
of praise that sweeps outward from the center
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in concentric circles. Jesus takes the
Scroll and the twenty four elders and the
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00:38:32.619 --> 00:38:37.980
four living creatures. They fall down
in worship. They offer up incense,
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it says, a symbol of the
church's prayers, and they sang an amazing
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hymn of praise, a new song. We see it in verses nine and
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ten. There and then this tidal
wave pushes on, it expands to its
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widest possible reach. Every single creature
in heaven and on Earth and under the
402
00:38:57.880 --> 00:39:02.960
Earth and in the sea joined in
verse thirteen. To Him who sits on
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the throne and to the lamb be
blessing and honor and glory and might forever
404
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:14.150
and ever. And the living creatures
shout Amen, the elders fall down in
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00:39:14.269 --> 00:39:22.030
worship. What a scene, what
a destiny waits for the people of God
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and what has been the great theme
of their hymn? This time, in
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chapter five, it's not creation,
it was chapter four. What is it
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this time? Its redemption, isn't
it? Jesus has saved cinners from all
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over the world by his blood,
and so he is worthy to be adored.
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It's a great book. You know, I think revelation is from first
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to last, it's a calling.
It's a message addressed to God's people,
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to the church, to you and
me. It's a call to faith.
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It's a call to the full exercise
of that faith in the world in which
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we live and in the time in
which we live. You know, let
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me just ask a rhetorical question of
what's the great difficulty of being a Christian?
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Have you ever thought about that?
What is the thing that makes being
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a faithful Christian the most difficult?
You know, some of some people might
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say that that's the hard work of
obedience. You know, God requires of
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US obedience to many commandments that are
difficult to all. But it's hard to
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be pure, it's hard to be
loving, it's hard to be humble,
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it's very hard to put the interests
of others above our own. But as
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hard as obedience is. I don't
think it's the real difficulty of the Christian
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life. The difficulty of obedience,
I think, would disappear to a great
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degree it weren't for a still an
another, still greater difficulty, and that
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difficulty is that you and me,
Christians, have to live by faith.
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Think about that. What a huge
difference it makes to be able to see
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the things that were ordinarily required to
believe. You know, just look at
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John here in these two chapters.
He sees the Lord seated on the throne
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of Heaven in all of his glory
and majesty and sovereignty, and he's blown
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away. Same thing happened to Isaiah
Paul Daniel. Now we believe that the
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glory of God is overwhelming. We
believe that, but that's hardly the same
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thing as actually being overwhelmed by that
glory. You know, John, I
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suspect, never thought about the world
or his life in this world the same
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way again after having seen the Lord
with The Majesty of God upon Him,
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as seen in this vision of Jesus
in these two chapters. John was given
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by the Holy Spirit to see things, marvelous things that you and I must
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believe, and I suspect. Don't
know, but I suspect that if he
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had ever been tempted to exaggerate the
vaunted power and glory of Rome, He
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never made that same mistake again.
Every time he heard someone speak of Rome's
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sovereign power, I just imagine that
he would chuckle to himself remember what he
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saw and what happened to him when
he saw Jesus, the rulers of the
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king, the ruler of the Kings
of the Earth, exalted in Heaven,
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seated on the throne with his father, whenever he witness evil seeming to triumph
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in this world, whenever he saw
the church suffering for her faith, I
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think he would catch himself and he
would remember what he saw and what he
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recorded in these two chapters. But
of course you and I haven't had John's
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experience or Paul's. Remember he was
taken up in a vision to heaven and
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he was given to see things so
suppressingly surpassingly wonderful that he wasn't allowed to
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try to describe them to others.
We haven't had Isaiah's experience of seeing the
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Lord High and lifted up. We've
never heard the voice. It sounds like
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rushing waters we've not enjoyed those high
privileges like John and Paul and Isaiah.
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See what we can see, what
we have seen, is often quite different
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from that. We see the suffering
of the church. We see believers struggling
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to believe that the Gospel really works, that God's power can be experienced in
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our lives when we pray that his
promises are all yea and Amen. See
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we see a world that lives in
utter indifference to its maker, it's great
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men, often denying outright that the
world even has a maker. We see
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more unbelief and faith. We see
more wickedness and goodness. That's what we
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see every day of our lives.
Now we know that what John Describes to
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us in this book is true.
We know that. We know that Christ
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is among the lamp stands his church. We know that he's on the throne
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of Heaven. We know that this
is the actual reality of things. But
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I tell you, we have to
hold very tight to that reality because unable
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to see it, forced every day
to see a world that doesn't immediately appear
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appear to be as John Describes it
here, that reality is often almost near
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to slipping from our grasp. You
know the Great Church father, Tertullian,
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once said, among the reefs and
inlets of life, the soul is safe
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only of faith, her sales,
filled by the spirit of God navigated.
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It's the way, and that's true. But I say, it's no easy
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thing to keep faith hand upon the
wheel of our lives. And that's why
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these chapters, you see, why
the book of revelation is so important and
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timely and relevant for us who must
live by faith and not by sight.
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John has given us a record of
what he saw so that we, who
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cannot see, and be the more
sure of what is real. You know,
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there are a lot of good reasons
to be convinced of our Christian faith
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and the teachings of the Bible.
The longer I live, the longer I
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experience this world, the more I
study the Bible and compare its teachings to
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my observation of human life, the
more sure I become of the truth of
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all of it. But I do
accept that believing what I cannot see,
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I think, remains the hardest work
and all the world. And you see,
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it's this difficulty that explains the vision
that John was given and the report
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of which he had. He's recorded
for us in this wonderful book. You
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00:46:43.320 --> 00:46:49.909
know, it's to encourage us,
who must believe and who cannot see that
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at least a few good men were
given to see and then told a tell
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00:46:54.510 --> 00:47:00.389
us what they saw. So let
me return quickly, as I close here,
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to this original question. To those
of us who remain on this earth,
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how shall we conquer in the face
of all our trials and tribulations?
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Well, these two chapters give us
the answers. We conquer by filling our
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eyes, the eyes of faith,
with John's vision, with a sight of
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God who sits as sovereign Lord over
all things, all creation. We conquer
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by looking for the line of the
tribe of Judah, the root of David,
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the lamb, who was slain standing
in the midst of that throne.
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He's the one who opens the scroll
of God's decree. He's the one who
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shed his blood to give us a
place among the ransom church of God and
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saved us in no more. Here's
God the Creator, Here's God the Redeemer.
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This God has conquered so that,
by His grace, we too might
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conquer and sit with him on his
throne, even now and one day in
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00:48:00.980 --> 00:48:07.019
heaven, with him for all eternity. He has our back and every situation
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we experience here on Earth, and
that's why we should be singing a new
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00:48:12.539 --> 00:48:17.130
song this morning and every morning we
wake up and as we look ahead into
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00:48:17.170 --> 00:48:21.610
this new year and into the years
to come until Jesus takes us home,
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let's pray
