Text: Revelation 5:1-14

My purpose for this message: To introduce the lamb of God as also the Lion.

Delivered: July 25, 2010

Worthy is the Lion

PRAY. FIND Revelation 5.

Jack’s happy childhood in Ireland came to a brutal halt at age 10 when his mother died. In a month his father had packed him off to a boarding school in England. They were dark days for Jack: stern rules, enforced by a sadistic headmaster.

He studied at Oxford, then joined the army in WW I. Back from the war, he returned to Oxford and eventually joined their faculty.

Despite a Christian home, Jack was an atheist by 15. But through his friendship with writer J.R.R. Tolkien, Jack—C.S. Lewis, came to Christ at 32. And the year after I was born, Lewis completed the last of a series of 7 bestsellers that would come to be known as the Chronicles of Narnia. Written as fantasy, they are full of magic, talking animals, and the war between good and evil. And contain the story of God’s redemption. Jesus is played by Aslan, a massive lion who talks. If you haven’t met him already, later this morning, you will.

Remember, the book of Revelation is not just a book about future events, it’s about Jesus. We’ve already met him as agent of John’s vision, but in today’s text, he is not just the narrator; He’s the agent of God’s judgment.

This chapter is where Lewis got his image of a lion, for Christ. READ.

Since John was to serve as a herald, a messenger, by vision God took this last living apostle into His throneroom of God to show John his future plans. All the players are in place, and dramatic events are about to unfold. Like in chapter 4, we again see 24 elders, 4 living creatures and God’s throne. But someone new appears.

In chapter 4, John told us almost nothing about the one on the throne except that he looked a like a couple of gemstones. No form, no shape. But now the Most High has a hand; a hand holding a sealed scroll with writing front and back. This ancient writing pad records events about to happen; essentially, the book of Revelation.

Like all letters, it was sealed; not with adhesive that you lick, but with seven pieces of string or cord, covered with seven seals of hot wax. With his signet ring a sender put his imprint on the seal to make sure it wouldn’t be tampered with.

“Who is worthy to open the scroll?” an angel asked and royal messengers scattered to the four corners of the universe. They came up empty on planet earth, under it, in fact, they couldn’t even find somebody in heaven. No man, woman or child God would approve of.

Ashamed that no one in the human race—his race, measured up to God’s standards John began to weep. Who qualifies to open a document containing the earth’s pending judgments? Who so passes God’s scrutiny that they are qualified to break the seal on God’s wrath? An elder spoke up.

“Don’t weep; the Lion of Judah, the Root of David has won.” As a reader, the next thing I expect to see and hear is a roaring lion; expect to be confronted with the king of jungle, a 500 lb. killing machine which can go 50 mph and whose roar can be heard 5 miles away…

Instead, there’s a lamb. A lamb grows two horns but this one has 7; extra horns mean extra power. A lamb has two eyes but this one has 7 (seven-fold Spirit); extra eyes mean extra ability to see. No ordinary lamb, it looks like he’s had a mortal wound, like he was deliberately killed. But now he’s standing, alive.

John seems confused as he tries to place the lamb. My NIV has him standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the elders and living creatures. But the Greek text says, he was “in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders…” And I’m like, “Where is that? It’s almost as if He can’t be limited to a space.

And you’re wondering as you look over John’s shoulder: What is this lamb? Who is he? The elder said he’s a lion. Which is he?

Video.

Who is this lamb? He’s the lion descended from the tribe of Judah. READ Genesis 49:9-10). When 8 individuals collapse in worship they give away his identity since only God’s to be worshiped (Revelation 19:10). But this is also the lamb, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). This is none other than Jesus, the once dead—but now living Messiah.

READ Isaiah 53:b.

The lion, the lamb, has triumphed, although not by the way most wars are won. As the white witch sneered at Peter , “Do you really think that mere force will deny me my right, little king?” Wars are won when armies attack, pilots drop bombs, and soldiers kill, violently overwhelming the enemy. But the cosmic war was won by apparent defeat. Jesus let others violently take his life. Heaven thinks that’s cause for worship.

Holding their harps, and bowls containing your prayers, the elders and living creatures sang a new song of worship to the lamb. REREAD v.9.

The gallery of people who do—and who will—live in heaven and praise Jesus Christ, speak every language, boast every color, represent every ethnicity. I read that and think, Jesus’ followers should be the least bigoted people on earth. It is a sorry shame that at times and in places the church of Jesus Christ has set up the gates of bigotry rather than torn them down. Make no mistake, heaven is the most diverse and integrated place in the universe (if you’ve got prejudice problems here, you won’t like it there). Purchased all these people by His blood.

Suddenly, million of angels appear and join in praising the lamb. REREAD v.12.

Concl:

In Narnia, Aslan breaks the stone altar and rises from the dead. He explains how to Susan and Lucy: If the witch knew the true meaning of sacrifice, she might have interpreted the deep magic differently. That when a willing victim who has committed no treachery, is killed in a traitor’s stead, the stone table will crack, and even death itself will turn backwards.

Committed no treachery, no sin. By this qualification, Jesus became our substitute, turning not only his death backwards, but the deaths of all those come to Him.

But make no mistake, He is a lion as well as a lamb. Some take His passivity at the cross for tameness. They do not realize that one day He will be the One who executes God’s final wrath upon rebels. As we’re going to see in September, the day will come when people will plead with rocks to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the lamb (Revelation 6:16). He has become the administrator of God’s justice and judgment upon the whole world.