My dear friends, this morning we continue and
complete our trio of studies in the Bible
Doctrine of the Lamb.
And it is my longing prayer, as I
now address you again, that all others, with
spontaneous eagerness and with easy concentration, shall focus
the gaze of our grateful heart upon our
lovely, lovely, lovely Saviour.
I will confess again, I have real trepidation
in my mind, as I broach this subject
again to you.
Who am I that I should speak of
such as Him?
Anything that I can try to say about
Him this morning will be almost like lifting
up a flickering paper to help the sun
to shine, or like trying to decorate an
alpha star with pencils.
It's almost as presumptuous as trying to paint
the petals of the polyanthus with a schoolboy's
paintbrush, or to improve on the glory of
a full-blown summer rose.
For He is the incomparable, the fairest among
ten thousand, the altogether loveliest, the sun and
the substance of all exquisite perfection.
Oh, what a dear, wonderful Jesus we have,
haven't we?
Well now, yesterday morning we were, and again
this morning we are, contemplating just one aspect
in the Bible doctrine of the Lamb, namely,
the centrality of the Lamb.
And as I prefatorily pointed out yesterday morning,
there are three classic passages where the centrality
of the Lamb is exhibited.
1 Isaiah 53, 2 Revelation chapter 5, and
3 Revelation, the last three chapters of the
Apocalypse, chapters 21 and 22.
I won't cover any of the territory which
we traversed yesterday morning.
I will simply remind you that in the
first of those three passages, Isaiah 53, we
have the Lamb amid the throes of His
agony.
Then in Revelation 5, we have the Lamb
amid the throne of His glory.
Finally, in Revelation 21 and 22, the Lamb
amid the throng of His people.
The first of those passages looks to a
humiliation now past, the second to an exaltation
now present, and the third to a consummation
yet future.
We went through Isaiah 53 somewhat yesterday, and
now, let me confess it gladly, with a
very eager heart in my own bosom, I
ask you to turn with me to Revelation
chapter 5.
Do you have your New Testament with you?
The book of Revelation, chapter 5.
And while you are turning to it, let
me be reminding you that the setting of
this chapter is one of surpassing magnificence.
In all holy writ, there is nothing to
eclipse the grandeur and the majesty of the
scene which is here unveiled to us.
The vision is of the rainbow-circled, glory
-flashing throne of the Deity in the heaven
of heaven, with the heavenly worshippers prostrating themselves
around the throne in profound adoration and exulting
praise.
The vision quickly moves on to the climactic
act in which the slain but now risen
Lamb is constituted joint occupant with the Eternal
Father in the seat of supreme authority.
Thereupon, the vision reaches its spectacular and moving
finale with the one hundred million and millions
more of the angel host and all other
beings throughout the whole universe unitedly uttering themselves
in a thunder of adoring praise to the
Lamb, Lion, King amid the throne.
Well now, let's look inside the chapter a
little, beginning at verse one and reading first
to verse five.
And I saw in the right hand of
him that sat on the throne a scroll
written inside and on the outside sealed with
seven seals.
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with
a loud voice who is worthy to open
the book and to loose the seals thereof.
And no one in heaven or on the
earth or under the earth was able to
open the book or to loop thereon.
And I wept much because no one was
found worthy to open the book or to
loop thereon but one of the elders saith
unto me, Weep not, behold, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah, the Root of David,
hath overcome to open the book and the
seven seals thereof.
End of quote.
Now that seven sealed book or scroll obviously
is not the book of the past for
that is already unrolled and opened.
Nor is it the record of the unfolding
present for the hand of time itself is
unrolling that.
It is the book of the yet to
be revealing the finalities of human history, the
winding up of present mysteries, the future climaxes
of the divine purpose and the ultimate issues
of human destiny.
We know that such is the meaning of
the seven sealed book because of what we
see and hear and learn as the Lamb
afterwards successively opens the seven seals.
It is not surprising of course that John
wept much because no one was found equal
to breaking the seven seals.
For is there anything of more concern to
us human beings than to learn how the
mysterious conflict of good and ill, good and
evil, of light and darkness, how the struggle
is going at last to issue after the
age long war.
And is there anything of more concern to
us to know what our destiny is going
to be in that endless futurity on the
other side of the grave.
We recall the consternation of Egypt's magicians when
none of them could unseal the meaning of
Pharaoh's dream and how Joseph overcame to unloose
the meaning of it for doing which he
was exalted by Pharaoh to be over all
the land of Egypt.
We remember too the furious threat of the
enraged Nebuchadnezzar to destroy all the wise men
of Babylon because they could not interpret his
forgotten dream and how Daniel unlocked the mystery
and the meaning of it for which he
was exalted to be ruler over all the
province of Babylon.
There was the same kind of scene when
the awesome handwriting appeared on the palace wall
at Belshazzar's feast and only Daniel could unseal
its fateful message.
On a measurelessly grander scale such is the
vision in Revelation 5.
Those seven seals symbolize not only the sacred
inviolability of the scroll but also the seven
fold completeness of the revelation contained in it.
And there is but one hand in the
universe can unfasten those seals for there is
only one who is worthy.
But why must he be worthy and in
what sense must he be worthy?
Is there not one among all those myriads
of the sinless unfallen angels who is worthy
to open that book?
Is not the glorious archangel Michael worthy to
open the book?
Cannot the illustrious Gabriel man of God's right
hand cannot Gabriel open that book?
Can none of the 24 elders can none
of the flashing seraphim who are nearest to
the throne of God of all created beings
can none of all that mighty host in
heaven be worthy to open the seven seal
scroll?
No, not one of them.
There's only one who is worthy and I'll
tell you why he alone is the worthy
one.
First, he is the only being in the
universe who has vanquished Satan.
The only one who in the days of
his true manhood here on earth met and
defeated our arch foe Lucifer who later became
Satan.
But Jesus conquered Satan not by the inherent
might of his divine omnipotence but by the
moral power of his sinless manhood he smashed
the power of the devil.
He is the solitary vanquisher of Satan and
he is the solitary redeemer of men and
he is the one and only incarnation of
God in human flesh.
He is the worthy one.
And why must he be worthy?
It is because the unsealing of that book
carries with it the administrative authority to dispense
its contents.
Just as in a much lesser sense the
unsealing of the royal dreams lifted Joseph and
Daniel to the highest administrative authority so here
in Revelation 5 in other words the one
who can unloose those seals belongs in that
rainbow circled throne as the executive of the
Godhead.
That is why coinciding with our Lord's taking
of the book John suddenly sees, I quote
the Lamb in the midst of the throne.
Now the first big wonder which we should
clearly appreciate here is that this chapter describes
not something which is yet to happen but
something which has occurred already.
Admittedly there are prospects in it which will
reach their final fulfillment in the yet future
but the main event that is the enthronement
of the Lamb has happened already.
Our Lord is even now while we are
gathered here in Philae pause and think of
it our Lord is even now in that
throne of thrones and of course we know
this from the verb in verse 5 the
Lion of the tribe of Judah hath overcome
to open the book but in the Greek
the verb tense is the heiress which is
more exactly rendered as overcame.
It links back at once to chapter 3
verse 21 where our risen Lord says to
him that overcometh I will grant to sit
with me in my throne that is his
throne as distinct from the fathers it is
his coming messianic throne to him that overcometh
I will grant to sit with me in
my throne even as I also overcame the
past tense referring to his life down here
on earth even as I also overcame and
sat myself down with my father in his
throne so he is there already our ascended
Lord was telling us this when he wrote
those seven letters to the seven churches in
Asia I overcame and I sat myself down
with my father in his throne so the
Lamb is already there as the supreme administrator
in the midst of the throne that has
already taken place and oh fellow believers what
a comfort it is in these days of
wide spreading moral breakdown and defiant lawlessness and
social violence and unblushing sexualism and internationally organized
anti-godism and the overhanging threat of nuclear
war what a comfort to know that despite
all appearances to the contrary the sovereign control
of history and destiny is still in the
hands that bear the nail print and what
a comfort to know that these divinely permitted
latter day excesses are the very things which
as foretold will precipitate his return very soon
now in flaming power to trample out all
such evil and to bring in his glorious
global Christocracy but now glance at a few
of the arresting incidentals in this fifth chapter
glance again at verse 5 the elder says
to John weep not the lion of the
tribe of Judah the root of David overcame
to open the book John therefore looks to
see the lion but instead to his utter
surprise he sees a little lamb for the
Greek word is not the usual word for
a lamb the Greek word means the youngest
of the flock and John instead of seeing
the lion for which he looked saw a
little lamb right in the midst of all
that glory a little lamb with all the
marks of having just been killed and yet
standing there alive just killed but there alive
as the center along with God himself of
all that celestial splendor so the lamb is
the lion here is the supreme vindication of
the truth that right is might that humility
is majesty that the final inheritance is with
the meek that light has the final victory
over darkness and that virtue shall at last
trample evil underfoot the lamb who once was
slain is the lion who now must reign
the victim is the victor the crucified is
the crown the servant and savior of all
is now the sovereign and ruler of all
as lamb he is redeemer as lion he
is king he is the lamb lion God
man redeemer king but now see in verses
5 and 6 the 7 great facts about
the lamb and like all other symbolic 7's
in scripture the 7 here is comprised of
4 and 3 let me just look off
from my notes for a minute to make
a little incidental comment wherever you find the
number 7 used symbolically in the bible it
is never the addition of 6 and 1
or 5 and 2 but always of 3
and 4 the reason for that being that
4 is the number of man as a
creature just as 6 is the number of
man as a sinner and the man of
sin who is to appear at the end
of this age will be emphatically 6 6
6 and 3 of course is the symbolic
number for the tri-unity of the Godhead
err I'm almost tempted to digress a little
but I must overcome the temptation because the
clock goes tick tick tick and I don't
want to have to hurry at the end
but let me quickly remind you as human
beings we are surrounded everywhere by the conditioning
number 4 it's the number of the material
creation there are just the four points of
the compass north, south, east, west there are
just the four parts of the day the
morning, the afternoon and the evening and the
darkness which we call night and there are
just the four parts of the year the
spring, the summer, the autumn, the winter and
there are just the four members of the
human family father, mother, son, daughter you may
ring the changes on the latter two as
often as you will but it always has
to be one or the other and I
suppose even in these days of science it
is still true in a popular way that
the whole material creation consists of earth, air,
fire, water I won't dilate longer upon the
matter but 4 is the conditioning number the
characteristic and symbolic number of the physical creation
and of man as a physical being now
3 as I remarked is the number of
the deity and therefore the special symbolical number
of our Lord Jesus Christ Son of God
and God the Son and Son of Man
his number is 7 he is the perfect
union of God and Man a secondary meaning
of the number 7 is that of divine
human completeness or perfection well now I mustn't
speak more about numbers mind you the numeral
system observed in the Bible is just as
engrossing as it is edifying but no more
of that just here notice now the 7
things predicated of our Lord 4 things referring
to his manhood and 3 attributes appertaining to
his Godhead here are the 4 concerning his
human nature 1 the Lion of Judah that
is the promised deliverer of his people 2
the Root of David that is the promised
shepherd king 3 the Lamb slain that is
the promised sin bearer and redeemer and 4
the worthy one that is the promised glory
of Israel in whom is fulfilled all that
seers ever saw and prophets ever promised and
psalmists ever sung and now see the 3
infinite attributes predicated of him the Lamb has
7 horns the horn is the symbol of
strength and 7 the number of completeness or
perfection 7 horns is the symbol of omnipotence
and 7 eyes the eye is the organ
of vision 7 eyes represent all vision that
is omniscience God can do all that is
doable and God knows all that is knowable
omnipotence and omniscience 7 eyes which are the
7 spirits of God sent forth into all
the earth that is simultaneous presence everywhere and
all the time that is the other divine
attribute of omnipresence now 7 horns, 7 eyes,
7 spirits into all the earth omnipotence, omniscience,
omnipresence friends, those are the exclusive attributes of
God the Lamb besides being promised deliverer governor,
redeemer and glory of Israel is none other
and none less than God incarnate he to
whom these divine attributes are ascribed must not
only be exalted he must be worshipped therefore
we are immediately told that the 4 living
ones and the 4 and 20 elders now
fell down before the Lamb having every one
of them harps and golden vials full of
odors which are the prayers of saints the
harps represent worship in the form of praise
and the incense vials represent worship in the
form of prayer in other words the same
kind of praise and prayer which are offered
to God the everlasting father are now offered
to the Lamb that is to the risen
and exalted Lord Jesus as God the Son
incarnated in humanhood friends, there is no unitarianism
in heaven our Lord Jesus is no mere
ideal man with a God given laurel on
his brow neither is he some exalted demiurge
or demigod of the Jehovah's Witnesses brand in
that pure worship of yonder where the Lamb
is in the midst of the throne he
is worshipped not only as the Son of
God but as God the Son and if
they worship him as God up there I'm
going to worship him as God down here
say Amen or out you go see
now the tremendous climax of the whole scene
the countless myriads of the angel hosts unite
in the following sublime outburst of heaven-fold
the number of perfection again the angels break
out into this sublime heaven-fold praise of
the Lamb worthy is the Lamb that was
slain to receive 1.
the power 2.
the riches 3.
the wisdom 4.
the might 5.
the honor 6.
the glory and 7.
the blessing then augmenting and consummating the praise
of the angelic hosts the whole vast universe
joins in the super glorious anthem of acclamation
described in the closing verses of the chapter
and because it's the totality of the material
creation now you have the number 4 again
it says and every creature which is in
heaven and on earth and under the earth
and over the sea and all that are
in them I heard saying 1.
blessing and 2.
honor and 3.
glory and 4.
dominion unto him that sitteth on the throne
and unto the Lamb unto the ages of
the ages oh excuse me friends hallelujah hmm
I could shake you how plain is the
meaning of all this God has put the
Lamb in the place of absolute supremacy and
centrality let us keep him where God has
put him he is central in prophecy and
central in history central in the worship of
heaven central in the adoration of saints and
angels central in the government and ultimate homage
of the whole universe central in his atonement
as the one true savior of men central
in his exaltation as the one true king
of all creation hmm and
now time is running away quickly so briefly
finally look at the third of these passages
where the centrality of the Lamb is outstandingly
exhibited that is Revelation chapters 21 and 22
these last two chapters of the apocalypse are
the matchlessly sublime consummation of divine revelation as
given to us in the holy scriptures see
again the opening words of chapter 21 and
I saw a new heaven and a new
earth for the first heaven and the first
earth are passed away the sea is no
more and I saw the holy city the
new Jerusalem coming down coming down out of
heaven out of heaven from God made ready
as a bride adorned for her husband what
a picture it must have been so the
passage which ensues is not a description of
heaven as most people seem to think but
of a city which comes down out of
heaven and must therefore not be equated with
heaven it comes down out of heaven and
is set up here on this planet in
verse 24 we are told that quote the
nations shall walk by the light of it
and the kings of the earth shall bring
their glory into it and verse 26 adds
that the glory and honor of the nation
shall be brought to it and chapter 22
verse 2 tells us that the tree of
life now made accessible again shall yield its
fruit monthly for the healing that is for
the continually renewed health of mark the wording
of the nation so this is something that
is going to consummate human history on this
planet see the glory of that apocalyptic city
in chapter 21 I pick out verses 10
and 11 and 18 and 19 and 21
and he carried me away in the spirit
to a great and high mountain and showed
me the holy city the new Jerusalem coming
down out of heaven from God having the
glory of God her light was like unto
a stone most precious as it were a
jasper stone clear as crystal dot dot dot
dot and the building of the wall thereof
was jasper and the city was pure gold
like unto pure glass and the twelve gates
were twelve pearls et cetera it is a
fascinating and wonderful description but listen to me
friends we miss the sublimest meaning of it
all unless we see that it is the
Lamb who is the center of it all
in that description of the queen's city of
God's coming new order did you happen to
have noticed it there are just seven mentions
of the Lamb had you noticed that in
case you hadn't let me point out the
seven are you ready one in chapter 21
verse 9 come hither I will show thee
the bride the wife of the Lamb so
first the Lamb is the bridegroom two in
chapter 21 verse 14 the city had twelve
foundations and in them the names of the
twelve apostles of the Lamb so second the
Lamb is the foundation three I saw no
temple that was an amazing feature of it
to John you can't find any city of
antiquity without its temple and the glory of
the nation Israel was its wonderful temple John
looked for the temple but it wasn't there
he says I saw no temple the Lord
God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple
so thirdly the Lamb is the object of
worship and the living temple four in chapter
21 verse 23 the glory of God did
lighten it and the Lamb is the luminary
so fourthly the Lamb is the radiance of
that celestial city five in chapter 21 verse
27 only they enter who are written in
the book of life of the Lamb so
fifthly the Lamb is the portal to that
city six in chapter 22 verse 1 a
pure river of water of life clear as
crystal proceeding from the throne of God and
of the Lamb so sixthly the Lamb is
the very life of that city and seven
chapter 22 verse 3 the throne of God
and of the Lamb shall be in it
so seventhly the Lamb is the king of
that city O brothers and sisters in our
holy calling think of it again this sevenfold
relationship of the Lamb to that ineffable city
and society of the new world which is
yet to be one the Lamb is the
bridegroom two the Lamb is the foundation three
the Lamb is the temple and four the
Lamb is the radiance and five the Lamb
is the portal and six the Lamb is
the life and seven the Lamb is the
king in a word he's the center of
everything how sublimely wonderful is this sevenfold relationship
between the heavenly bridegroom and that queen city
of the new earth and how rapturously it
lights up the indissoluble bond that binds the
people of Christ to their adorable Lord and
Savior the Lamb is the bridegroom and his
people are the bride so it is a
loving union the Lamb is the foundation and
his people are the building so it is
a lasting union the Lamb is both the
temple and the object of his people's worship
so it is an adoring union the Lamb
is the luminary or irradiating glory light so
it is a transfiguring union the Lamb is
the portal and nothing that defileth can ever
gain access so it is a holy union
the Lamb is the life and we share
his life forever so it is a life
union his life is in all his people
and the Lamb is king and his people
reign with him forever so it is a
royal union thus the Lamb is the ever
living ever loving everlasting center and supreme glory
of that coming celestial city O friends what
a Savior he is the light of the
city is the face of Jesus the music
of the city is the name of Jesus
the harmony of the city is the praise
of Jesus the theme of the city is
the love of Jesus the joy of the
city is the presence of Jesus the employment
of the city is the service of Jesus
the strength of the city is the omnipotence
of Jesus and the magnetic center and superlative
glory of the city is Jesus himself and
the duration of the city is the eternity
of Jesus ooooh was I
shouting a bit then Jerusalem the
golden then with faithless treasures blessed ooooh heavenly
Zion glorious thy raptured saints possessed I know
not ooooh I know not what joys await
me there what radiancy of glory what bliss
beyond compare as we think of what awaits
us there perhaps we can sympathetically enter into
the wistful sentiment of that dear old Puritan
who said my friend when I get yonder
I'll spend the first thousand years gazing at
Jesus then maybe I'll have a look round
the bride eyes not her raiment but her
beloved face I will not gaze on glory
but on thy king of grace not on
the crown he giveth but on his pierced
hand the lamb is all the glory in
Emmanuel's land isn't that how you feel say
yes it'll do you good yes the lamb
is all the glory in that fair realm
where with sin and the curse utterly gone
forever Christ and his owner one forever more
and how wonderfully it climaxes the bible doctrine
of the centrality of the lamb we have
seen the centrality of the lamb as set
forth in Isaiah 53 and in Revelation 5
and in Revelation 21 and 22 the lamb
amid the thrones of his agony the lamb
amid the throne of his glory the lamb
amid the throng of the glorified we have
seen him bearing our sin on earth wearing
the crown in heaven sharing his glory with
us forever behold then the triune centrality of
the lamb the cross the crown the city
crucifixion coronation consummation he is central not only
in prophecy and history as we have said
not only in the adoration of the heavenly
host and in the government of the universe
but throughout futurity even to the ages of
the ages the one true savior of men
the king of kings and lord of lords
the consummator of the ages and the everlasting
glory of his people how can we keep
it back glory to the lamb let changing
theological fashions come and go let twentieth century
cynicisms be what they may let men deride
let demons fume let oppositions multiply the only
message which saves men is the gospel of
the lamb more than ever the lamb must
be the center of our preaching and planning
and serving of our faith and hope and
love more concentrated than ever let us proclaim
him let us be proud of him let
us uplift him let us glory in him
let us love him and let us live
for him and if necessary let us die
for him and let us beware of becoming
so professionally theological we ministers or so religiously
busy or so pragmatically anti-sentimental that we
do not thrill at the prospect of seeing
him the king in his beauty and the
land of far distances I finish
let me quote as I close not merely
one glimpse but forever at home with him
ever to be with him in that glory
celestial where shimmers the crystal sea yet there
even there in such glory will anything ever
efface that rapturous moment of moments my first
first sight of his amen