This book deals with judgement, yet God begins it with grace.
Wicked men get what they richly deserved, the floodtides of
God’s wrath, dammed back since Calvary burst all their banks and
pour forth in all their fury. Yet, God begins Revelations by
telling men they can have what they do not deserve: “Grace.”
This book deals with bloodshed and war. It rings out with din
and noise of strife. It tells of carnage and conflict,
earthquake and famine, pestilence and woe. It tells of purges
and prosecutions. This book tells of the crash of empire, of
anarchy oppression, terror and despair. This book tells of war
in heaven and war on earth. It tells of an incarnate beast,
driven and indwelt by the devil, wreaking fearful vengeance on
the saints of the Most High. Thunders roll, stars fall from
heaven, plagues issue up from abyss, demons take control of
human affairs, yet God begins this book with a single word –
peace.
The apostles were no strangers to the hatred of this world.
John, writing the apocalypse, was a prisoner on a small, rocky,
inhospitable island, about fifteen miles from Ephesus, having
been banished there by Domitian. Rome lay to the West; Babylon,
Jerusalem, and the Euphrates to the East. Patmos itself lay in
the arm of the Great Sea, the Mediterranean, which figures so
largely in the apocalypse. He is a prisoner on Patmos because of
his witness to the Word of God and for his testimony for the
Lord Jesus.
The Lamb
Revelation 5:5-7
God never leaves Himself without a man, and in this hour of
solemn crisis, He has one ready. There stood the aged apostle,
amid scenes of grandeur that defy description, weeping with salt
tears running down his weather-beaten face; weeping in shame for
all the sons of Adam’s ruined race, not one of whom was worthy
to take up the challenge from the throne.
Think of it! Not a single man of all the billions who have lived
on earth, not one fit to rule and reign! Revelation 5:1-2: “And
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is
worthy to open the book, and to lose the seals thereof? And no
man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able
to open the book, neither to look thereon.” Verse 4: “And I wept
much, because no man was found worthy to open and read the
book.” As John stood there choked with sobs, one of the elders
stepped down from his throne, walked over to where the weeping
seer stood, and gently wiped away all tears from his eyes. “Weep
not,” “Behold!” (verse
5, 6) And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and
the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb.
How could he ever have missed Him? There he was, in the midst
all the time.
John had been so taken up with the sights and sounds of glory,
so occupied with the throne, the emerald rainbow, the
thunderings and lightning’s, the sea of glass, the elders, the
cherubim, that he completely missed the Lamb! Yet the Lamb was
in the midst of it all!
How often we do the same. We come and go to meetings, we listen
to the most stirring messages, read the most profound passages
from God’s word, sing the most sublime hymns, hearken to the
noblest of prayers, and yet miss the Lord in the midst. (Matthew
18:20) John says that there in the midst stood a Lamb as it had
been slain, a Lamb! The lion was none other than the Lamb! As
Lamb, He came to save; as Lamb, He comes back to subdue. This is
no ordinary lamb, for this Lamb has seven horns of omnipotence,
and seven eyes of omniscience. This Lamb is “Christ, the power
of God, and the wisdom of God” (I
Corinthians 1:24). “And He came and took the book out of the
right hand of God that sat upon the throne.
(Revelation 5:7)
Suppose the question had been asked Him, “What is the basis of
your claim to the title deed of earth? His reply could have been
threefold. He could have said, “That world is mine by right of
Creation, for I made it; it is mine by right of Calvary, for I
redeemed it and bought it with my blood; it is mine by right of
Conquest for, man only knows power. And when He had taken the
book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down
before the Lamb…Thou art worthy to take the book, and open the
seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us.”
These mighty creatures take the feeble prayers of God’s people
on earth and pour them out as a sweet fragrance before God.
These elders and beasts, “Thou art worthy for thou hast created…
for thou wast slain. They worship Him as the Lamb that was
slain. It is Calvary that fills their vision and prompts their
worship. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!” That is the theme
of worship in heaven, and that is the theme of worship among the
redeemed on earth.
The creatures at the throne worship Him. They praise God for
putting the scroll of authority, of dominion, and of power into
the hands of a man. And what a man He is! The countless angel
throng worships Him. John says, and I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and
the elders and the number of them was thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousand; saying with a loud voice,
worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
The triumphant anthems swell and roll, and thunder out to the
farthest reaches of space. They awaken the echoes of the
everlasting hills. They reverberate and throb until all Heaven
is filled with praise. “Worthy is the Lamb! Power! Riches!
Wisdom! Strength! Honor! Glory! Blessing! Worthy is the Lamb!”
So then, at the focal center of the universe He is praised. But
that is not all. He is worshiped also at the furthest
circumference of the universe. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in
the sea, and all that are in them, heard I say, blessing and
honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts
said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and
worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. From every possible
sphere and from every single tongue there rings out an
acknowledgment at last Jesus Christ is Lord. There will not be a
single dissenting voice. The fallen angels, the angels
imprisoned in the abyss, the angels bound near the Euphrates,
demon hordes, Satan himself, wicked, Christ rejecting sinners of
earth, one and all acknowledge Him as Lord. Deep in every heart
will be the absolute conviction that the choice of Jesus is wise
and just and blessed and honorable and glorious and
irresistible. God alone hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a
name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow.
Pastor, Rev. Dr. Cullian W. Hill
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