Lord, we come to You this morning, and this is the prayer: Lord, give us vision of the Lamb upon the throne as we look into Revelation 5.
Lord Jesus, I think it is the issue of the age. If we do not see the Lamb upon the throne, we have missed all that life is about, and we will miss so much of what You have prepared.
Lord, we come to You this morning. I pray that You will open our eyes and give us vision of this Lamb upon the throne. Now, Lord, words cannot really give us that vision. It takes the opening of the eyes through the grace and mercy of our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, to open our eyes to really see.
Lord, words are very inadequate here. Even this morning, as I share, I feel like words will be so inadequate. But Lord, we ask for Your blessing. We ask for Your anointing upon both the speaking and the hearing this morning. Lord, put salve upon our eyes and open our ears, Lord. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, we have been sharing recently out of the book of Revelation. In the beginning of this book, the Lord reveals Himself in a new way to John as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We remember that we shared on that a number of times: the glory of the risen King, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then we find this One that John tries to reveal to us, this glorious King, standing in the midst of the churches. His passion is His church, His future bride. This is His passion.
As He looks and reveals to John what is to come, we see the many flaws in the bride, the future bride—many flaws. The critical one being first love, which we have talked about. And yet, with this picture, particularly when you look at the church in Laodicea, His very words were, “You know, you are just lukewarm.” And that is not sufficient for a bride.
Now, most of you ladies remember, when you were becoming a bride, how exciting that day was and how much you prepared for it. I know us brothers look at a wedding a little differently. We just think, “You are beautiful, and that is what is needed. That is all that is needed. We just need to say, ‘I do.’”
But sisters, they really get into the wedding. They really look forward to it. And the Lord is saying, “You know, I do not want a bride that is just lukewarm: ‘Oh yeah, I am getting married maybe today or tomorrow.’” No, He is looking for a bride with a passion and a heart for Him.
So John looks and receives the weakness, and he sees the reality of how things are and the difficulties there. Then the Lord really graces him. He says, “Come through this open door. Come up here, John. I want to give you a new perspective on this.”
If all you see is the current condition, which you do need to see, then you will be greatly discouraged. “Come up here, John. You need to see from My vantage point.” And that is what the book of Revelation is: the throne showing us what the future is and how God will consummate His will—that Christ will have His bride, that Israel will be restored as the key nation on this earth, and that the Lord Jesus Christ will inherit the nations as His inheritance.
So He gives John a new perspective, a perspective from the throne. He sees this One upon the throne, full of brilliance. Remember the colors there, the red; and we remember the rainbow, that covenant-keeping God whom we have upon the throne, who will keep His covenant with you. If you are His, you are assured that His covenant will keep you.
Then he sees in the hand of this One upon the throne that book, a precious little book. It is a scroll with seven seals on it.
We find that it is really the deed to the earth, sealed by God with seven seals. Often we feel like the adversary is in control. He is called the prince of this world. But brothers and sisters, God has that deed book in His hand, and ultimately He is in control.
But to bring about the consummation of the ages requires that the deed be opened and read, and the seals need to be broken in order. Yet only a qualified one is allowed to open this book and read it—even to look upon it. It requires One who is qualified.
Last time, I spent a good bit of time on this matter of the search for one who was qualified to open the seals. One of the elders said, “Who is worthy to open the seal?” They searched the ones that were living, the ones that were dead, and they searched; but no one was found.
We remember that John was brokenhearted. He was crying. He wept when no one was found. What of God’s heart? What of all that God had been preparing from eternity past? Was it going to end here?
You have to get a sense of the desperation in John’s heart to understand how precious God’s eternal plan was to John, how precious God’s concern was to John. He was so concerned that, when none was found, it actually broke his heart.
Concern—that was on my heart, brothers and sisters: that we see something of the concern in John’s heart and realize that God is calling us to be concerned. Concerned about Him, concerned about His purpose, concerned about the consummation of the age, and the Lord having His will be done on earth as it has been determined in heaven.
You know, I thought about how we can really understand this word concern. I think we are concerned about our children, aren’t we? That concern never leaves us. From the time we find out that there is one in the womb, we never lose that concern as parents.
I know for me, that is true. We see them maybe going down a path that we know is not good. We try to warn them, but we know that ultimately they have to make their own decisions. We pray to the Lord that maybe they have learned enough dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ that they will see, and that they will turn from the ways they have taken back to the living God.
We are concerned about our grandchildren, for the older ones. That is a joyous period, by the way, if you do not have grandchildren yet. It is a joyous, tremendous time. You see all the little ones, and you are able just to love them, play with them, and take care of them.
But you are concerned all the time about them. They get an earache, and you are saying, “Oh my goodness, what happened? Do they have meningitis? What is going on?” Of course, their parents now are like we used to be. They have been through it so much that it is just, “Oh yeah, they have got an earache.” But us as grandparents, we see it a little differently because we know too much, maybe. But anyway, concern—we are concerned.
You know, I remember when I was working for Lockheed Aircraft in Atlanta, Georgia. I was on the flight test team testing the structural airplane. They made six prototypes, one of which was called the structural. That is the one that we put to the test to see what it could take—what the structure could take, how far we could bend it and twist it without it breaking apart. That was what our job was, and I was on that team of six men.
I remember one day we were flying. Actually, there were a lot of fairly dangerous situations we got into, but I remember this one day we went up. When you are doing this every day, you are not really that concerned. “Hey, we are going up. We are having another day.”
One of the most dangerous things was that we were flying without a pressurized cabin, like you have in a commercial airplane. We had to be on oxygen masks all the time. When you are up at thirty to forty thousand feet, if something goes wrong with your oxygen mask, you only have about twenty seconds to correct it. After that, you get so disoriented that you do not know what to do, and you will die very quickly.
I remember when I was being trained, they took me down to a chamber in Florida. They put me in a chamber and somehow took the oxygen out to simulate the oxygen level at forty thousand feet. They got us up there and said, “Okay, why do you not take your notepad and start writing?” I forget what they wanted us to write, but we had to write it.
It was not very long, probably within ten seconds, that the man said, “Mr. Amon, put your mask back on.” I heard him clear as a bell, but I did not move. I was just there. “Mr. Amon, put your mask on.” Finally, a guy put it on for me. That is just how quick it is.
We had a lot of reason to be concerned, but after you do it every day, you kind of lose that concern. But I will never forget this day. We went up, had done all the tests that we wanted to do for that day, and were on the way back down.
As we were coming in for the landing, the little lights started beeping: beep, beep, beep, beep. It was the nose gear, and the nose gear would not come down. That concerned me a little bit.
Finally, the pilot said, “Okay, we need you to start foaming the runway.” That really concerned me. I got concerned. I said, “Man, Lord, I know what happens when planes land on runways without wheels. It is not too exciting.” So I prayed.
The flight engineer was desperately trying to get it down. Well, praise the Lord, we made a couple more rounds, and they said, “Okay, we are going to go ahead and land.” They started coming in, and all of a sudden that nose gear went and locked in place. Hallelujah! I was pretty excited at that point.
The point being, I was concerned. I was concerned about me, of course, and those other five men on the plane. I was not too concerned about the thirty-million-dollar plane—just us.
John was concerned. John was greatly concerned.
You know, I thought of our Lord Jesus Christ this morning. Our Lord Jesus went to the cross out of concern—not for Himself, but for the Father and for you and me. That is the kind of concern we are looking for.
The sisters were sharing last Sunday. One of the things that happens when the sisters get together on Tuesday is that they share, most of the time, about the previous message, and they pray for the assembly. It is a very important time, I think.
One of the sisters shared something that was brought back to my attention. It was very good on this matter of concern, and it is actually the definition in Webster’s dictionary. It is really good. Listen to this:
Concern: a marked interest or regard, usually arising from a personal relationship.
A marked interest, usually arising from a personal relationship. That is why John was concerned. He had a relationship with the Lord. He had a relationship with God, and he was concerned. He had a marked interest. Well, that is where we left it last Sunday.
Now, let us read Revelation 5.
And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne a book written within, and on the backside 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 man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne.
And when He had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
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 ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
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.
And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever.
Well, John had been weeping. He was concerned, and it broke his heart that none was found. But then one of the elders said, “John, we found One. We found One. We found One qualified to open the seals. It is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.”
You know, brothers and sisters, John’s heart must have leapt right out of his chest. How marvelous! One was found. God’s purpose would not fail. God’s purpose would be fulfilled. The seals would be opened. God’s will would be done. He was excited. John was excited. They had found One worthy.
John must have said, “He is a lion. He is a lion-conqueror. He is a warrior. He is from the tribe of Judah, my kinsman, and of the lineage of David, the king. He is a king-warrior.” Praise the Lord! They found this One—a king, a warrior—who is able to overcome and to open those seals.
John turned and looked to see this mighty warrior, this king-warrior. What did he see? A Lamb, standing as it had been slain. They tell me that in the Greek it says, “newly slain”—a Lamb newly slain.
Brothers and sisters, he had turned to see this mighty warrior-king, and he sees the Lamb. He notices something. It does not say this right here, but I cannot help but think he noticed that there were scars on the forehead, wounds in the hands and feet, and a wound in the side of this One whom he saw.
I am sure that he recognized the wounds. I wonder if he remembered that day after the Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, when he and the disciples were in that room and the Lord Jesus appeared to them. In order to convince them who He was, He showed them the wounds in His hands and His feet.
John remembered. John remembered. Who is this warrior-King? Who is this Lamb? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. His heart leapt again. It is Christ. It is the ascended Lord Jesus Christ whom I am viewing. Praise the Lord! The Lion of the tribe of Judah—it is my Lord Jesus Christ, the One who was dead and is alive forevermore.
I wonder if John also remembered, as he looked at this One, the day in which he stood with about five hundred others upon the Mount of Olives. He saw this One who had been wounded standing on the Mount of Olives, and He began to rise.
Before He rose back to the clouds and disappeared, He had told them, “Now I want you to go back to Jerusalem and wait faithfully for power to come from on high, for the Holy Spirit to be poured out.”
John was among the one hundred and twenty that day in that upper room. You know, the Lord had spoken to five hundred. It is a conference. Let me take a little side path there. At the conference, we are going to be talking about a link.
This one hundred and twenty became the link between the way things were, with mostly a Jewish background, and what would become Christianity, what would become the church and the bride. These one hundred and twenty became the link because they faithfully prayed for ten days. They were the intercessors, and they prayed faithfully for ten days. On the tenth day, it was the day of Pentecost.
An anointed King, our Lord Jesus Christ, had returned to the throne. He was anointed King and High Priest. That anointing on the day of Pentecost came down.
In the psalm, it speaks of the anointing upon the high priest. It ran from his head down to the skirts of his garment. Something tremendous happened, brothers and sisters. Those one hundred and twenty, and all who have become Christians ever since, have become a part of the organic, living body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
On the cross, He had given up His earthly body. Now He had a body on this earth to be His witness, and it was the church. They were no longer just individual Christians. They were joined and bound together by the life of Christ, by His blood, and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
They were so united and joined together, brothers and sisters, that they are no different than our physical bodies today. It is organic. It is living. That is why you cannot really organize it. That is why you cannot just say it is this way or that way. It is a living being: the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I wonder if John remembered that day when he saw the Lord rising back up. You know, Peter gave an explanation at Pentecost. It was actually the first message given after the Lord Jesus Christ had risen, the first message to the church. At the end of that message, Peter explained what had happened this way: Acts 2:33.
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Brothers and sisters, they had seen Him disappear into the cloud. Pentecost was proof that He had made it back to the throne and that He had been anointed King and High Priest over the house of God. This is the Lamb that John saw.
Oh, I think that these tears of sorrow had now turned to joy—tears of sorrow to joy.
I remember well, and this happened a number of times over the years, one of our sisters going into the hospital. They did not think she would make it. That was the call I got: “We do not think she will make it.”
Oh, what sorrow, what concern, what prayer. I remember not only my heart but the rest of the saints here. Then we got the word: “She is going to make it.” What joy! Oh, what joy filled our hearts.
That has actually happened numerous times in the assembly. But here, these tears of sorrow that our brother had had turned to joy. There He is: the Lamb, the worthy One, the King from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.
He is the King. He is the warrior. He is the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world. They are all one in Christ: the warrior-King, the conqueror over death, the Lamb who took the sins of the world. They are all one. That is who he saw.
Brothers and sisters, may the Lord give us vision of the Lamb upon the throne. He is the Lion. He is the conqueror.
How was our Lord Jesus Christ able to conquer? How was it that He overcame as He lived His life on this earth and went to the cross of Calvary?
I think some might think, “Well, He was the Son of God, so He had the power to do all these miracles, and He was able to resist the death of the cross because He, after all, is God.” But brothers and sisters, that is not truth. That is false.
He did not come merely as the Son of God. He was the Son of God. He is the Son of God. He never was anything other than the Son of God. Yet He became man as well. He was deity and humanity joined in one. He came, brothers and sisters, as a man.
Philippians 2:8-9 will, I think, give you a better import of what our Lord Jesus is.
And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name.
Speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, it says He was found in fashion as a man. You notice it does not say, “as the Son of God.” He came in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.
Brothers and sisters, He did not come as a king ruling with authority, giving commands and orders. He was obedient—obedient to the Father, even unto the death of the cross. Wherefore, God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name which is above every name. That is why He was exalted.
He humbled Himself. He did not take His position as God as something to grasp or hold onto. He, in a sense, put it aside while He was on the earth. He came as a man, in full dependence on God and the Holy Spirit. That is what we are asked to do today, brothers and sisters.
He came obedient to death. He took your sins and my sins to the cross with Him. That is the only reason you will never pay the price for them: because He took them.
He did not just take them and put them in a box. It says He took them upon Himself. They became upon His very being. It says that He even became sin. I do not understand that, but that is what the Word of God says. He took it to that extent.
Then God could no longer stand it, and He crushed the sin that was on Calvary’s cross. He had to crush His own Son there on Calvary’s cross. His judgment was really ours. He took your place. You need to know that. He took your place. He died that we might live.
But, brothers and sisters, even greater than that, when He died, that was not the end. If it had been, He would have died there, gone into the grave, and stayed there. All of His sacrifice would have been for naught.
But it says He went into the grave, went into hell, took the keys of hell, and overcame death and hell. God raised Him from the dead. He raised Him from the dead. He conquered death, hell, and Satan.
Then God exalted Him to the throne as King. He is the risen One.
You know, all of Christianity—or most of it—celebrates this day as the day of resurrection. But I want to say something in the Lord’s heart. This is not really the day. My brother said it this morning: every Sunday when we come together, He says, “Remember My death until I come.” That was the word and command He gave to us.
“Remember My death till I come.” In remembering His death, and then the words, “until I come,” it is obvious there was a resurrection. So we celebrate His death, burial, and resurrection every Sunday to His glory.
I remember how much emphasis, for some reason, my father placed on sunrise service. My father was not one whom I would say was close to the Lord at all, and I have to say I am not sure that he knew the Lord. But I think maybe, anyway, that was one thing every year: he always went to sunrise service. That was the thing for him, and I think in his heart he felt like that was one thing he could do.
Well, we know that is not the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. What the Lord is after is that you know Him as resurrection in your life. That is what He is after.
Do you know the resurrection life? When you are down, when you are out, when you are overcome, can you look to the Lord Jesus and say, “Lord, I need that resurrection life. You are my resurrection in my life. Lord, I declare that You are my resurrection in this situation”? Then death flies away.
Well, the Lamb nature—it was the nature of a Lamb, not the nature of what we would normally understand as a conquering king. It was the nature of a Lamb that got Him to the throne, brothers and sisters. It enabled Him to rise back to the throne, King of kings and Lord of lords.
As young Christians, I remember at least thinking, “Boy, if only the Lord would give me that Pentecostal power. If only I had the power and the might. Man, people—I could speak, and they would come to the Lord.” You have all these thoughts, and your thought is on power and authority.
But who is really able to speak for the Lord? Who is able to serve the Lord in any way? It is not the mighty, brothers and sisters. It is not the one with charismatic speaking. It is not the elegant one. It is not the strong-willed, intellectual, or powerful one.
The ones who are able to serve the Lord, to minister to other brothers and sisters, are the ones with the character and nature of the Lamb. That is the one. And how do we get that character and nature?
The Lord said, “If you are going to be My disciple, if you are going to have My character and nature, it is going to be necessary that you take up the cross daily and follow Me.” It is the cross, brothers and sisters, that humbles us in our lives.
It is the cross that creates that lamb-like nature, that obedient nature, that submissive nature, that nature that is humble. It is the work of the cross.
Often, when you talk about the work of the cross, people do not understand what that means. I will make it very simple:
Not my will, but Thine, be done, Lord.
That is the cross. Often things come into our life, and we struggle with them. We know what the Lord is saying, and we are saying, “But Lord, I do not want to have to give that up,” or, “I do not want to give this one up,” or, “Lord, I do not know if I can do that.”
The Lord says, “Not thy will, but Mine.” That is when the cross occurs. So He says, “Take up your cross daily and follow Me.”
Brothers and sisters, as we read the Scriptures, it becomes very clear why Christ was worthy to open the seal. Revelation 5:9-10.
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Why was He worthy? Because He was slain, and He redeemed us to God by His blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. He made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.
Brothers and sisters, only our Lord Jesus Christ was qualified to be the Lamb in the first place—to be the Lamb sacrifice for your sins and mine. Why? Because He came and humbled Himself as a man. He lived as a man. He depended fully on the Holy Spirit and God to live, and He lived a sinless life, qualifying Him to be the Lamb.
He willingly gave that life up on Calvary’s cross for you and me. He was qualified to be the Lamb. Brothers and sisters, because He submitted to that, because He obeyed God fully and did go to the cross, He was then qualified to open the seals. He is the only One qualified to open the seals.
That is why there was such a diligent search made, brothers and sisters. I think God wanted to emphasize the glory of His Son. He was a glorious One, not just because He is the Son of God, but because as a man He overcame. As a man He took the sins of the world and obliterated them.
He was worthy, qualified—the only One qualified to open the seals and read the book.
You read the opening of the seals in the book of Revelation. A lot of things happen. A lot of horrible things seem to happen in this book. You would think that Satan was actually ruling and reigning, but that is not true. The Lamb is on the throne.
Brothers and sisters, my exhortation today is this: if we are going to be ready for the Lord’s return, if we are going to truly be ready for Him, if we want to reign with Him as kings and priests—He said He has made us kings and priests—if we want to reign and rule with Him as kings and priests, we are going to need that lamb-like nature.
Now, I am not talking about timidity. Often we say, “Well, lambs are so gentle and timid,” and that is not what I am talking about.
The character and nature of the Lamb is one who is selfless, submissive, obedient, willing to lay down his life for others—a living sacrifice, living not for yourself but for God; a life that can face death in all forms and overcome.
If you are willing, you can have the Lamb nature too. But it will require the cross. It will require the cross. If you are willing and obey, then you will become kings and priests with God.
In Revelation 5:13, it says:
And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
They could not hold back. They could not hold back. The Lamb is on the throne, brothers and sisters. The seals are being opened. The Lord Jesus will have His inheritance. He will have His bride. But we have a part in it. We need that Lamb nature. May the Lord have mercy.
Lord, we just come to You today. Lord, give us a glimpse of this Lamb upon the throne.
Oh, Lord Jesus, how we think of might and power—which You have—but Lord, You are the Lamb. You are God’s Lamb, and it is the Lamb that is on the throne. It is the Lamb that is opening those seals. It is the Lamb that is in charge of our lives.
It is the Lamb that is going to come back in glory and put His feet on the Mount of Olives, Lord. Lord, we worship You. We ask that You really do open our eyes in these days to get a new vision of our Lord Jesus, the Lamb upon the throne. Amen.