You are listening to Radical with David Platt , a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor , author and teacher David Platt . I want to show you how what we're celebrating today , on Easter the death of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection from the grave has massive implications for every single one of our lives in this room
. And that leads me to the passage I want to show you in the Bible today . So it's actually in the last book of the Bible called Revelation . If you have a Bible , feel free to turn there to Revelation , chapter 5 . If you don't , no problem , the verses are going to be up here on the screen . This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible for many reasons , but let me set the screen . This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible for many reasons , but let me set the stage .
Speaker 1So this book of the Bible called Revelation is written by a follower of Jesus named John , who was one of the first people to go to Jesus's tomb 2,000 years ago and find that it was empty . And after that he spent his entire life telling people about who Jesus is and what Jesus had done , and it cost him . He actually wrote this book of the Bible from an island where he had been exiled as a prisoner because of his faith in Jesus . And this book is unique because it's filled with incredible imagery and symbols . The verses we're about to read contain a picture of heaven in the future that's filled with fascinating imagery that shows why the death and resurrection of Jesus is , in a sense , the most important event in all of history and why it has power to change your history forever , which I know is a bold statement . But just look at it with me . We're just going to go verse by verse and I'll explain the imagery along the way . So in this picture of heaven in the future , john writes . Then I saw in the right hand of him , who was seated on the throne , a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals .
Speaker 1Now I'm not going to be able to go into the detail of all the symbolism here for the sake of time , but the big picture . So when you see the one who's seated on the throne , that's a reference to God . And in this right hand there's a scroll with writing that's sealed with seven seals . And the way a scroll like this worked in the first century , when John was writing this , was you'd have a scroll . You'd break a seal and then read what's on the scroll to a particular point . Then you'd come to another seal , then you break that seal and then go until you get to another seal , and so on . And in this part of Revelation , when a seal is broken , what it symbolizes is the enactment in history of what's on the next part of the scroll . So if you read the next chapter , revelation , chapter six , you see that every time a seal is broken , whatever's on the scroll comes about in history . And this scroll , so big picture , contains God's purposes for the world , for a world that's caught in sin and evil and injustice and suffering and pain and war and death . This scroll
contains the end of all these things . That's what's written on the scroll , like the ultimate triumph of justice and peace to reign on the earth . So you just imagine being one of the original readers of Revelation hearing this in the first century , getting this picture .
Speaker 1So Christians in the first century were facing severe persecution and suffering . Some of them were being killed for their faith in Jesus , others imprisoned , exiled , like John is , and they were hoping like surely one day this suffering is going to stop and obviously we're not in those same shoes . Right now , by God's grace , we have freedom to gather like we're gathered right now , but we can still feel all of those questions in our lives in this world , right , our lives in this world , right . We look around us and we see evil and injustice and suffering and pain and war and death around the world in conflicts Just open up your news app In poverty , injustices like I learned even more about in some recent time I was in Southeast Asia , where children are being trafficked for unimaginable evil and not just around the world , but in our lives . Every one of us is familiar with hurt and brokenness and relationships and pain , and we all know what it's like to see somebody we love walking through sickness or suffering . And we all wonder in the middle of it all , will this ever end ? Don't we all long for a day when peace and justice and love and life reign and evil and sorrow and injustice and death are no more ? Would that not be awesome ? Of course we all long for that , which leads to what John writes next .
Speaker 1So in verse 2 , he says and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals ? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it . And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it . So follow the picture here the scroll containing the ultimate eradication of evil , the defeat of sin and death in the world , the final removal of all suffering and hurt and pain , coming of God's kingdom on the earth , where peace and justice will reign forever . It's all written on the scroll . So who is able to open it ? Who's able to break these seals and bring these things about ? And if you look at verse 3 , it says there was no one . It says it twice no one , no one who was worthy or able , is the language ? Nobody able to open the scroll and bring this about . And John is weeping loudly why ? Because he's getting a glimpse of the world and all of our lives in it . If this is all there is and just put yourself in his shoes Just imagine for a moment . This is all there is Evil , injustice , suffering , death , and that's it forever . This is what I always say to atheist friends of mine who believe there's no God and just this natural world . That's the end of the story .
Speaker 1I think of Richard Dawkins , a renowned evolutionary biologist , avowed atheist . He put it this way . He said in a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication , some people are gonna get hurt , some people are gonna get hurt , other people are gonna get lucky . And you won't find any rhyme or reason in it , nor any justice . The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom no design , no purpose , no evil and no other good , nothing but blind , pitiless indifference . Dna neither knows nor cares , dna just is and we dance to its music . Can you imagine saying that to victims of horrible injustice or evil , from child trafficking to the Holocaust ? You just weren't lucky . There's no justice in the end , no purpose in any of it . Evil is just people dancing to their DNA and you deal with it .
Speaker 1That's why John is weeping , because he's looking at a future where sin and evil and injustice and death are the end of the story and no one can change that . That's the language nobody . And think about why that is ? Because we are all sinners , every single one of us , even the best of us , the kindest of us , the
nicest of us . We've all succumbed to sin in our lives in various ways . It looks different in our thoughts , our desires , our words , our actions , but we have all , in one way or another , sinned against God and others . We've all turned aside from God to ourselves , including John , who's writing this , and he knows he can't bring an end to sin and suffering because he's a sinner himself , and the same is true for every one of us . But this is where I want you to see the first of four truths about Jesus in this passage . Number one Jesus is able to address the ultimate problem , which is the problem of sin and evil in the world . Let me give you maybe another illustration that'll help here .
Speaker 1Have you ever , either as a child or as an adult with children , been to one of those arcade places where you put money on a card and get to play all kinds of games , and every time you play a game you get a certain number of tickets , based on how you do so ? Chuck E Cheese is what immediately comes to our mind , and with nightmares some of us , that comes to our mind with a longing to stay as far away from this place as possible . Other children , though , love it , and nowadays most places have it all electronic , but there are still a few places and they all used to be this way where you would get physical tickets right . That looked something like this so you go around from game to game . I think about taking my eight-year-old son and three-year-old daughter not long ago to one of these places and we're playing games and just to yeah , put it out there . We're not really racking up the tickets as we go from game to game . And when you get to the skee-ball game , where you're supposed to roll the ball up the lane and into the hole , and your three-year-old daughter just promptly picks the ball up and chunks it straight at the hole , the likelihood of it going in the hole dramatically decreases . So we spend all this money on the card and it comes time to go over to what they call the redemption counter right , the place where you can trade in your tickets for a prize . And I'm over here counting the tickets to see how much we have to spend the few tickets we have .
Speaker 1And while I'm doing that , my three-year-old little girl , an eight-year-old , recently adopted son who all of this is new to him he's experiencing this for the first time . They're looking up at these prizes and way up at the top they see these massive stuffed animals and their eyes are lighting up and they say , daddy , we want that . And I'm like we don't have enough tickets for that Inside . I'm thinking we'd have to be here a year , I think , in order to get this stuffed animal . So soon their eyes start to come down to the remote control car and the eight-year-old says , all right , I'll get the car . I'm like , buddy , we don't have no tickets for that either . So then their eyes keep coming down .
Speaker 1My three-year-old's looking sees like a lava lamp , which I totally don't get . I just don't understand the whole and none of it . I don't understand it , but that's a whole other story . She's like , daddy , let's get that . And I say , baby , we can't get that either . And as their eyes keep coming down , so does their excitement , until they're like well , dad , what can we get ? And so I squat down there next to them , look through the little glass case . I'm like , well , here's an eraser which you have no use for whatsoever in your life at this point . But you get an eraser which you have no use for whatsoever in your life at this point . But you get an eraser . There's a piece of candy like a gummy bear . I think we have enough for a gummy bear . And they're like what ? Why only that ? Why can't we get what's up there ? And I'm like , and they're like what ? Why only that ? Why can't we get what's up there ? And I'm like we just don't have enough tickets . This is what we can get .
Speaker 1So that's maybe a way to picture what's happening in this text , but here the stakes are obviously much higher . Like top shelf prize is eternity with God who made us and loves us , forgiveness of all your sin , destruction of death , the end of evil and suffering no longer separated from God , and the angel here is looking for somebody who's able to usher all of that in . And you can just imagine the roll call of history like who has enough tickets ? And nobody . No one can step up , nobody in the Bible . Abraham , moses , david , isaiah , daniel , peter , john all of them look down because they don't have enough tickets . They sin just like everybody else , and not just in the Bible .
Speaker 1Look throughout history . Who in history is gonna walk up to the throne of the God of the universe , take the scroll from his hand and usher in the end of sin ? Buddha , muhammad , the latest New Age psychic , your favorite music star or sports player , the CEO of that company or the president of that country ? No , and , for that matter , you or me ? And what are we gonna offer ? Our Western achievements and affluence . God , here's my house , here's my car , here's my job , here's my accomplishments , here's my 401k . Are you impressed ? No , none of us and no one else .
Speaker 1That's the language here in Revelation 5 . Nobody has enough tickets because all of us , even the best of us , have sinned against God and others . And sin is the problem that none of us can solve by ourselves , no matter how much money or success or even good works we have . The halls of history are lined with men and women who have all sinned and at the end of it all , every single one of us finds ourselves standing at the redemption counter of the universe , with our highest hopes on the top shelf , and the only thing we can do is bow and say I don't have enough tickets . So , ladies and gentlemen , this is the ultimate problem , and if somebody isn't able to address this problem , then sin , sorrow and death are the end of all of our stories . But look at what happens next .
Speaker 1Somebody breaks the silence of the scene in Revelation 5 , verse 5 . See it with me ? One of the elders said to me weep no more . Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah , the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals . And then , verse six between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders , I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain .
Speaker 1Now again , just get the imagery here . We can't dive into it all but feel how shocking this is . So somebody shouts weep no more . Because there is a lion , imagery of a conqueror who can open the scroll and bring an end to sin and suffering and death . So John , starting to wipe away tears from his eyes , turns to look for this roaring lion . But what does he see ? Instead , he sees a lamb that looks like it's been slaughtered . So what is that imagery about ?
Speaker 1Even earlier we were singing praise to the lamb and some of you are like I don't get this . These people worship sheep . What is happening here ? And blood . Well , follow this . This is the second truth I want to show you about Jesus . He's able to address the ultimate problem because Jesus has paid
the ultimate price .
Speaker 1So this imagery of a lamb goes all the way back to near the beginning of the Bible , second book of the Bible called Exodus when God's people were slaves in Egypt and God poured out his just judgment on the sin of the Egyptians . But God's people were saved from that judgment through the sacrifice of a lamb . That was a substitute , so you may have heard before of the Passover . It gets that name because when God's people put the blood of a lamb over their doorpost , god's judgment due sin passed over them , and I don't have time to explain all of that story . But the overall point was that the payment or penalty of sin is death , and so the lamb was a substitute sacrifice . It died and its blood was shed instead of people dying as a substitute for them . And this is what the Bible teaches about Jesus .
Speaker 1In fact , john , who's writing this book in Revelation , also writes one of the four accounts we have of Jesus's life . Listen to how John introduces us to Jesus in John 1 29 . Behold the what Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world . So don't miss the connection here . Jesus is the lamb in Revelation 5 who was slain . And what the Bible is saying is not just about Israelites and Egyptians in history , but about you and me and every other person in the world , all of humanity , you and I in our sin . We all deserve the just judgment of a holy God . We all deserve death and we will all , at some point in our lives , die as a result of the reality of sin in our lives . And if we die in our sin , we will experience eternal judgment due our sin . But the good news of the Bible , the greatest news in all the world , is that Jesus came to be our substitute , to die for our sins . Now start to put these two truths together .
Speaker 1Jesus is able to address the ultimate problem because , unlike anyone else in all of history , jesus never sinned . John later writes in the Bible you know he appeared in order to take away sins and in him there is no sin . Jesus never sinned one time , which means Jesus did not deserve to die . But that's the whole reason he came . He came to die as a substitute for our sins , to pay the price death for your sins and my sins . 1 John 2 , 2, . He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins , and not only for our sins , but the sins of all the world . Anyone in the world who will trust in him . Jesus has paid the ultimate price . He died to pay the price for your sins .
Speaker 1Then listen to one other verse . In Jesus , we have redemption through his blood , the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace . Think about that . No matter who you are or what you've done , jesus has made a way for you to be forgiven before God for all of your sins , and that's possible not because you do enough good works , but because of God's grace . God loves you so much that he sent Jesus to shed his blood so that you could be forgiven for your sins , redeemed and restored to have relationship with him . Which then leads us back to Revelation , chapter five , verse six .
Speaker 1Did you notice ? Between the throne and the four living creatures , among the elders , I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain . So it's a lamb that looks like it's been slaughtered . But what's it doing ? It's standing . Slaughtered lambs don't stand . So how is that possible ? Well , here's how . Follow the imagery , because this lamb who died is not dead anymore . This is the third truth about Jesus . In this imagery , jesus has conquered the ultimate enemy death . It's what we celebrate , particularly today .
Speaker 1Not just that Jesus died on the cross for our sins . Yes , that , but if he was still dead , then death would still be the end of the story . But , ladies and gentlemen , death is not the end of the story . Jesus died on a cross , was laid in a tomb . A stone was rolled over that tomb until three days later when John and others went to that tomb and found that it was empty . And in the days to come , jesus who died , appeared to John and multitudes of other people before they watched him ascend to heaven . I'll never forget the first time I went to Israel , to the place where Jesus's tomb was , is , and we got there and the guy who kind of brought us all together , he said I do not know why you have traveled thousands of miles to be here . There's nothing to see . Why did you come To see nothing ? It's like ah , it's a great question , but that's the truth that we celebrate today .
Speaker 1The grave of Jesus is empty and so many people have sought to deny this . Islam teaches that Jesus didn't even die on a cross , much less rise from the grave . This , by the way , a theory invented by Muhammad six centuries after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection . Others have claimed Jesus' tomb wasn't actually empty . The disciples just went to the wrong tomb and ever since that day , people have been going to the wrong tomb . If only somebody would check next door . Others have said the disciples were just delusional , hallucinatory at best , when they claimed they'd seen Jesus alive after he died . But even the thought of resurrection from the dead was virtually inconceivable in both Jewish and Greco-Roman thought in the first century . Yet hundreds of people all of a sudden claimed to have seen Jesus , some of whom ate , drank and talked with him . Hallucinations don't normally eat and drink . In addition to all that , it wasn't in these disciples' best interest for them to proclaim that Jesus was alive , knowing that they would and some of them did lose their lives for it or were exiled for it .
Speaker 1Pascal said I believe the witnesses that get their throats cut for their testimony . When you look at the facts , the physical resurrection of Jesus is not only historically
verifiable but extremely personal , because Jesus did this for you , for you Right where you're sitting . He did this for you , for you , right where you're sitting . He did this for you so that you could be forgiven of your sin , so that you could be redeemed , restored to relationship with God forever . He did this for you . The Canadian scientist GB Hardy put it best . He said when I looked at religion , I said I have two questions . One has anybody ever conquered death ? And two if they have , did they make a way for me to conquer death ? I checked the tomb of Buddha and it was occupied . I checked the tomb of Confucius and it was occupied . And I checked the tomb of Muhammad and it was occupied . And I came to the tomb of Jesus and it was empty . And I said there is one who conquered death . And I asked the second question did he make a way for me to do it ? And I opened the Bible and discovered that he said because I live , you shall live also , which leads to the fourth and final truth about Jesus .
Speaker 1In this passage , jesus deserves the ultimate praise . You jump down to verse nine in this scene in Revelation 5 . It all comes together with them singing a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals ? For you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God , from every tribe and language , and people and nation , all of heaven , with people from see it , every tribe , every language , every people , every nation singing this song Worthy are you to take this scroll and open its seals to bring an end to sin and suffering and death ? Why ? Because you were slain Because you shed your blood on the cross to ransom people . That word ransom literally means to redeem or to purchase people to pay the price for sin , so that sin and death will not be the end of the story of everyone who trusts in Jesus .
Speaker 1Just imagine this scene Everybody standing totally silent because none of us is able to pay the price to usher in redemption .
Speaker 1We're standing there with John and everybody else in history looking with despair into an eternity , with no hope before a holy God . It's in the middle of that scene that something starts to rumble and the silence starts to break . As we're standing there with our measly tickets , jesus , the lion-like lamb , steps to the front and he says I have enough tickets , I have paid the price for all of you . Lay your tickets , lay your good works , all the stuff you're trying to do aside , trust in me , the blood I have shed in love for you . And when you do , you can know that sin and suffering and evil and death and the fallenness and emptiness of this world will not be the end of your story . Eternal life will be your story no more sin , no more sorrow , no more suffering and no more death , forever and ever
. Jesus has made this possible for you . We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of Radical with David Platt . For more resources from David Platt , we invite you to visit radicalnet .