Revelation Chapter 5

Today Dr. J discusses Revelation Chapter 5

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome to Dr. J and the Bible. Hope everyone is having a great weekend and getting out there in this nice weather because it's going to get hot eventually the next couple weeks. Um, it's 63 here in Lynchburg, Virginia. A little overcast, but God is good. And I'm expecting next couple of weeks gonna get a little hotter, I think. So today we're looking at Revelation chapter 5. A quick shout out to uh San Diego, California. Hey, San Diego, and uh hope all, I'm sure the weather is very nice there. But we're looking at Revelation chapter five. Uh Revelation 5 continues the vision of heaven introduced in chapter 4. While chapter 4 emphasizes God's throne and sovereignty, chapter 5 introduces the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only one worthy to execute God's plan of judgment and redemption. So as we started, we talked through the church, the churches, the seven churches, and how they represented the uh literal historic churches with perennial perspective, uh had a literal meaning at that time, applicable to us individually, as well as for generations uh within the church age. And so when we get to chapter four, we see uh the Lord, God, call come up here to John, and from all indications, with all this conglomeration of scripture, this is the rapture of the church. And the elders are chapter four and chapter five. That is the church. That is us. That's a prophecy of us being with the Lord uh right before uh the seven-year tribulational period. Uh the church age will come to an end, and the focus will be on the nation of Israel and the Jews and uh the whole center. That's why I believe we're in the end times. We're not just in the end times, we're in the last minutes of the end times, because we're seeing uh the nation of Israel, a nation again, uh all the Jews around the world are still coming back to the land as prophesied in scripture, according to Ezekiel and other passages in the Old Testament. And we're also seeing the uh anti-Semitism, people hating the Jews, uh, and they don't even know why they hate them. Uh, we're also seeing the AI, the uh as it's increasing and becoming more and more advanced, uh, really setting up the system for Antichrist. And we're living in an antichrist spirit, spiritual uh spirit right now. The only thing holding back this world from uh being under the wrath of God and destroying itself, I believe, is the church. And so this chapter, chapter five, is crucial because it shows us Christ as the center to God's plan for the tribulation and the church. Let's take a look at verses one through four. And I says, I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll. So the scroll represents God's sovereign plan for the end times, including the judgment and the tribulation. It's actually uh pointing to the wrath of God. You know, without the wrath of God, really, there would not be the love of God. It just shows the seriousness. And not only that, the wrath of God also shows us, and there's going to be many people, millions of people for that matter, that get saved during the tribulation. And so the seven seals symbolize God's perfect completeness in his plan, his divine perfection in scripture. Seven always represents God's perfection. And it demonstrates that only Christ can execute God's redemptive and judicial purposes. It emphasizes a unique role for Christ as mediator. And so we're looking in here and we see this scroll. The one who sits on it with his right hand, right hand always represents power and sovereignty. Uh who sat on the throne, a scroll with a scroll. And the one that sits on there is the Lord Himself, um and or God Almighty. And so imagine a legal document containing the ultimate plan for history. Think about that for a second. With seals that only the authorized executor, which is the Lord Jesus, can open or enact. In verses 5 through 7, John writes, Do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll. Lion of Judah represents Christ's kingly authority and victory over sin and death, represents Christ Himself. And he's also the root of David, and it highlights his messianic lineage, fulfilling the Old Testament prophecy for his kingship. And he's also a lamb. It portrays Jesus' sacrificial death, emphasizing the redemption comes to the cross. And so as you see this, it's almost like this angel, remember, God's on the throne, and John's looking down, and do not weep. Uh this there's an angel looking for someone worthy to open this scroll. And it's like he's going around the whole universe looking for for someone, whether it's an angel or a person all around the world, creatures, and there's he just weeps because no one's worthy. But then he sees a lamb, a lamb that was slain, and standing for that matter, which really represents uh this was not just a lamb, it was a baby lamb. This is a baby that was slain but lives, and this symbolizes the death of Jesus and the redemption of the cross and the resurrection because he lives. And so the lamb takes that scroll from the Father's right hand and showing he is worthy to execute the plan. Picture a courtroom for a second. A judge, got the judge, God, holds the sealed judgment scroll, but the advocate, Christ, alone has authority to carry it out because of his victory and his sacrificial credentials. You know, it's interesting as we see this. Um we see that God Christ took the title deed of the earth. We know that God, the earth is God's and everything thereof, but when Satan tempted Eve, Adam and Eve, and they fell, we also know that there was a delegated, a permitted authority for Satan to have for a short time over the earth. And so Christ takes the title deed, and it's he is the one worthy. That's why all hell is going to break loose in the seven-year period. And then in 8 through 10, it talks about four living creatures and 24 elders that fall before the Lamb holding golden uh bowls of incense, symbolizing the prayers of the saints. You know, we see that they sing a song praising the Lamb, redeem people from every tongue, every nation, making them kings and priests for God. And so number one is the 24 elders, that's the church. That's us before the Lamb. We are giving prayers. It's not that we're not like Roman Catholics that are saying that, you know, that there's uh we're praying through dead people. That's called necromancy. It's forbidden according to scripture. But the saints are giving a prayer through the ages, and I believe the prayer is thy kingdom come, thy will be done. They're praying for the millennial kingdom, the thousand-year reign, which will happen after the seven-year period. And they're singing this song, and this is why it's not just angels, it's talking about redeemed people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Angels don't get redemption, they're not saved. They often look and wonder, they're amazed about the grace of God. Making us weak, folks, we are gonna be kings and priests during the millennial kingdom. Yeah. We're not just gonna be uh diddling our thumbs and fingers, we're gonna be serving him. And then we see verses 11 through 14, millions, millions, myriads of angels join the worship, proclaiming the land's worthiness. Every creature in heaven and on earth, under the earth, see worships God and the Lamb. And the worship includes blessing and honor, glory and power to God forever. Amen. And it just demonstrates God's universal sovereignty and the centrality of Christ in redemption and judgment. Um imagine a cosmic worship service with angels, with elders, the church, right, saints of God, and all creation singing in perfect unity, celebrating the Lord Jesus, King Jesus victory and authority over history. So as we see this, we will really we see the mighty of God and we see what we'll be doing either before the rapture, we go to be with the Lord through death, or through the rapture for the beginning and to the end. We'll be serving and praising God forever, and we will come back and reign with him for the thousand-year period in our eternal state. What do we get for this? Number one, Christ was worthy, Christ's worthiness. Only Jesus, the Lamb, is worthy to open the scroll and to execute God's plan. Secondly, redemption through the Lamb. The Lamb's sacrifice redeems people from every tribe, nation, language. And this emphasizes God's plan for salvation and the church. Heavenly worship. It continues the praise in heaven, highlights the centrality of Christ and God's plan and God's sovereignty and the church. The chapter, this chapter shows that our tribulation, all tribulation events, are under divine control, executed by the Lamb in accordance with God's will. So next week we will be looking into the first seven seals and how they apply and application and their background. And we will also look to the focus on how God's focus will be on Israel, because God is not finished with the nation of Israel and the people of Israel, the Jews. And so how the tribulation period will give opportunity and uh fulfillment for the nation of Israel by the end of things, that a remnant, not all, but the remnant will accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. I hope everyone's doing well. I know that revelation's deep, but even if you get a small segment of bits and pieces of the study, you will see that the pieces of the puzzle come together and you will be blessed as a result. Hope you have a good rest of the weekend. God bless. Take care of the city.