Just quit and go home.
No, it’s just like everything I’ve wanted to share this morning has already been shared and prayed, and that’s such an encouragement.
Turn to Revelation 4. What we read in Revelation 4 and 5—going through this Scripture—I want to read Revelation 4:1-2, and then we’ll pray.
This section of Scripture has been called by some probably the greatest portion of Scripture about worship and praise to our God. How can one speak on that?
Let’s read the first two verses of Revelation 4.
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven,
and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here,
and I will show you what must take place after these things.”Immediately I was in the Spirit;
and behold, a throne was standing in heaven,
and One sitting on the throne.
A door standing open in heaven, and a voice says, “Come up here.” I hope this morning that, by the Spirit of God, we would see the door opened in heaven and the Spirit of God saying, “Come up here.”
What a different perspective it would be if we listened to the Holy Spirit day by day and heard this call, “Come up here,” and viewed things the way He sees them—viewed things the way they really are.
When we come up there, we immediately see One who is sitting on the throne. So let’s pray.
Lord, I pray that today, by Your Spirit, through Your Word, we would be able to come up here and see the One on the throne. Lord, we’ve already worshiped You and praised Your name, and so once again I do ask that we would hear Your call and come up and see.
Lord, we are dependent upon Your Spirit to show us these great and wonderful things, things that are too wonderful for us almost to be able to say. And yet, Lord, this is our heritage, and we bless You for it. Amen.
You know, up there is where we belong, isn’t it? We’ve been seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We’ve been raised up and seated; we reign with Him. In Philippians, it says our citizenship is in heaven. That’s where we belong.
I mean, isn’t that amazing? We don’t belong here; we belong there. And as I have been meditating in Revelation 4 and 5, and a little bit of Revelation 6, I have just been amazed at what’s up there—amazed at the five songs of worship.
And I just want to go over that. Our real theme is Revelation 5:5, considering the Lion of Judah. But first, we must go through and set the scene that is in heaven.
First of all, I’d like for you to listen to the way this throne room is described. Listen to the words, the sound. It’s very visual. Just picture it. Allow the Holy Spirit to allow you to picture what’s there, because one man said Revelation is really a picture book, not a puzzle book. So the more you try to puzzle out things, you kind of miss the picture of what the Lord is trying to show of Himself. So we want to see the picture today.
We’ll start again in Revelation 4:1.
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven.
The first voice which I heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here,
and I will show you what must take place after these things.”Immediately I was in the Spirit;
and behold, a throne was standing in heaven,
and One sitting on the throne.
And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance;
and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.Around the throne were twenty-four thrones;
and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments,
and golden crowns on their heads.
And out of the throne came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.
And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;
and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal.And in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.
The first creature was like a lion,
and the second creature like a calf,
and the third creature had a face like that of a man,
and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.
Before we get to the first song, I want you, as we go through the songs, to see the ever-broadening scope of the ones who worship, the ones who give praise. Then just observe each song. That’s really not our theme, but we want to look at each song and kind of encapsulate each one with maybe a phrase. Then we’ll go to our main point in Revelation 5:5.
And the four living creatures, each one having six wings, are full of eyes around and within;
and day and night they do not cease to say,“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty,
Who was and Who is and Who is to come.”
Four living creatures, those closest to the throne, it seems, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty.” The Lord God Almighty is ever holy.
The first song, the first words of the first song, are “Holy, holy, holy.” And this throne room where we are is full of holiness. Holiness seems to pervade the whole place. Remember that: God is holy. And the first song of praise says He is eternally holy.
And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,
the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever,
and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power;
for You created all things,
and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
Here we see the Lord is worthy of worship because He is the Creator. And the twenty-four elders now are worshiping God, and they’re saying, “You are worthy because You are our Creator.” All things—everything created—You created. They exist because of You, our Lord. And that’s the worship of the twenty-four elders.
Now turn to Revelation 5:9. Well, we’ll read Revelation 5:8 first.
And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb,
each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sang a new song, saying,“Worthy are You to take the book, and to break its seals;
for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God;
and they will reign upon the earth.”
So now we see the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders, and the twenty-four elders are holding bowls full of the incense of the prayers of the saints. The scope of praise and worship gets even greater.
And I want to come back to the prayers of the saints, but, you know, it all of a sudden changes. The last three songs are talking about the Lamb now. And it’s no wonder, because the Lamb, the Lion of Judah, has just received the book, and now the praise centers on the Lamb.
And it says He purchased us with His blood from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, and He made us a kingdom of priests, where He can tabernacle with us and we can dwell with Him. What an amazing, amazing thing.
Next, consider Revelation 5:11.
And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures;
and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,
saying with a loud voice,“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
Now we have the voice of many angels—thousands upon thousands, perhaps myriads of myriads. It means a whole bunch. It could be millions. All of them now joining in the chorus, the song of praise to the Lamb.
See how much bigger it’s getting, bigger and bigger. And now we have the very last one, Revelation 5:13.
And every created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
Now we have everything that is created—everything that is on the earth, everything—now joining in to worship.
This is heaven’s view of the Lord. They burst out in worship and praise, and the declaration of heaven is: the Lamb is worthy to be praised.
You notice how loud it is there? Peals of thunder, angels, millions of angels singing with a loud voice. Now we have a few of us. Can you imagine the sounds, the sights of the throne room, how great and majestic it is? And they’re all worshiping the Lamb.
And this is the picture I get now: there’s a little bit of smoke right before the Lord, just rising up. It’s not a sound, you know. It’s that incense. It’s the prayers of the saints rising up quietly before the Lord, and He smells the incense.
And it seems to me as if it’s the one sense—you know, touch, smell, taste, whatever—it’s the one sense that nothing else is there like it. It’s the incense of the saints, the prayers of the saints rising before the Lord.
And I was just blown away by this thought as I meditated on it. Here we are, a few sinners saved by grace, worshiping and praising our God and giving prayers. And those prayers are collected, and the four living creatures place this right before—right at the feet of the Lamb in this verse. And that incense rises up to the Lord.
You know, right in the center of all this noise and all this worship by all of creation, your praise and prayer and mine rise up to the Lord. You see, in the Lord’s Prayer, in Matthew 6, praise is a part of worship. Praise is a part of prayer as well as petition.
So the praise and the worship of the saints rise up to the Lord. How important is worship and praise in the very center of the universe, the throne room of God? The praise that we uttered this morning, the praise that we utter as we walk through our life day by day, the prayers and petitions that we offer to our Lord Wednesday night when we pray, when we pray by ourselves—that rises up to the Lord as a smell, as an incense before the Lord. What an amazing thing.
But now we get to our text.
And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice,“Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?”
And no one in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book or to look into it.
Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it.
And one of the elders said to me,“Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome, so as to open the book and its seven seals.”
This is the center of what all this praise is about: the Lamb of God. And we see the One sitting on the throne has a book in His hand. One of the elders tells John, “Stop weeping. Behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah.” He’s worthy.
Now, this Lion is the Lamb of God. The Lion is the Lamb; the Lamb is the Lion. But here he says, “The Lion of Judah.” He’s worthy to open the book.
What is the Lion of Judah? What is the picture of the Lion of Judah that comes to your mind and heart? Who is this Lion of Judah? What is He like? We know it’s our Lord, but Lion of Judah.
Turn to Genesis 49. We’re going to look into the Old Testament and see what the Lion of Judah is like. It’s not very pleasant.
Genesis 49. We’ll read Genesis 49:8-9. This is a prophecy by Jacob.
Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He crouches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?
The last part of this prophecy about Judah talks about his eyes being dull from wine and his teeth white from milk, his robes in the blood of grapes—talking about great judgment.
Judah is a lion’s whelp, and the phrase I want you to catch is, “And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?” Who dares rouse a lion up?
How many of you—I know you’ve seen National Geographic or whatever—and you see the lion just lying there, you know, nice and comfy. Then something runs by that it wants, and then it comes up. All of a sudden, from the sleepy eyes, you see that—the camera zooms in on the eyes of the lion who is roused up and ready to attack. Can’t you picture that in your mind?
No man would dare rouse up a lion. You’d be foolish to do that.
Turn to Numbers 24. Remember, this is all about our Lord. Numbers 24. We’ll read Numbers 24:8-9. This is another prophecy.
This reiterates what we’ve already read, but it’s good.
God brings him out of Egypt;
He is for him like the horns of the wild ox.
He will devour the nations who are his adversaries,
And will crush their bones in pieces,
And shatter them with his arrows.
He crouches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a lion, who dares rouse him?
Blessed is everyone who blesses you,
And cursed is everyone who curses you.
Turn to Isaiah 31:4—excuse me.
For thus says the Lord to me,
“As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey,
Against which a band of shepherds is called out,
He will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise,
So the Lord of hosts will come down to wage war.”
As a lion that growls over his prey.
Turn to Hosea 5:14. We’re letting the Old Testament prophets fashion our view of who this Lion of Judah is.
Hosea 5:14. This is the Lord again saying:
For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away;
I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.
We see that the Lion here—even with God’s own people—the Lord says, “If I’m roused up and I have to come in judgment, I will be like a lion, and I will tear to pieces, and I will carry away those pieces,” just like a lion over a carcass tears the beast up and then carries it away.
And you see through Hosea the Lord’s warning to His people. The Lord loves you, but He is the Lion of Judah.
Hosea 11:10.
They will walk after the Lord,
He will roar like a lion;
Indeed He will roar,
And His sons will come trembling from the west.
This is the roar of the lion. His roar, the roar of the Lion of Judah, is a terrible roar. And the people of God are called back by that roar, and they come trembling.
So this Lion of Judah is not a weak, timid lion. This Lion of Judah is strong. This Lion of Judah can tear to pieces. This Lion of Judah’s roar is a terrific roar. Keep that picture in mind.
Turn to Amos 3. I have all these places marked, so I can go to it quicker than you can.
Amos 3. We’ll start in Amos 3:2.
“You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth;
Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment?”No.
“Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey?
Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something?”No.
“Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no bait in it?
Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all?”No.
“If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people tremble?”
Tremble? Yes.
“If calamity occurs in a city, has not the Lord done it?”
Absolutely.
“Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets.
A lion has roared! Who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?”
All of these pictures, when you put them together, show that the Lion of Judah should be feared. He brings judgment upon His people and upon the world. He tears to pieces. So great is the Lion of Judah’s wrath.
Turn back to Revelation. You might say, “Surely this is not the One we worshiped this morning.” I mean, but it is.
All the songs that we went over are talking about the Lion, the Lamb, the Lion of Judah, because He’s the One that took the book. And all the praise, the wonderful praise—the three songs that had to do with the Lamb—that’s after the Lion of Judah took the book.
So great is the rage, the wrath, of the Lion of Judah. It can be seen in Revelation 6:16-17. It’s the sixth seal.
And they said to the mountains and to the rocks,
“Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb;
for the great day of Their wrath has come,
and who is able to stand?”
Brothers and sisters, when I felt the Lord really wanted me to share this, I’m thinking, “Oh, man.”
But, you know, it just shows you how wonderful it is to be the redeemed. You have the Lion, the Lamb—or the Lion. You have bought with His blood, or terrified by His wrath.
I was walking this morning down by the river just to release some energy, and I saw the river this morning. It was beautiful and calm. Just some time ago, I couldn’t even drive by there because the river was raging, full of trash and big, huge trees. Man, you wouldn’t want to go near it. Same river.
And the Lord, I believe, said to me, “This is the way I am. I’m a calm, beautiful river. I’m the Lamb, but I am also the Lion, full of rage and wrath, and I will judge the world.”
It brings Titus 3:4 into such vivid sight.
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
He saved us.
You know, until we peek through the curtain and see the wrath of the Lion of Judah, we can’t get a full appreciation for the Lamb and what He’s done for us. Until we see the judgment of the Lord upon the sin of the world, we don’t fully appreciate His mercy and His grace upon us.
Brothers and sisters, this is what has really come home to me through this: oh, how wonderful it is to be called blessed by the Lord. What a wonderful thing it is to be His people, for Him to dwell with us.
And Peter talks about this. Peter says the Lord is very patient because it is not His will that any should perish. He wants everyone to come to repentance.
Brothers and sisters, as the world, to me, seems to be rushing headlong into destruction, there are so many things in our very country that deserve the wrath of the Lion. It seems like to me you can almost feel the Lion being roused up.
And I want to say, we, as the people of God, because our prayers rise up right before the Lord, are uniquely qualified as His redeemed to say, “Lord, please hold back. Please hold back. Don’t be roused up yet. There are many that need to come to You. Lord, have mercy. Don’t be that Lion yet.”
Now, that would be an audacious prayer. How can the saints of God ever pray that?
But I immediately went to the fifth seal, and it’s the martyrs, and they’re saying, “Lord, go get them. Come quickly. Avenge us.” And the Lord says, “Not yet, not yet. There are more martyrs to come.”
But just the fact that we, as God’s people, can pray to our Lord God, who sits on the throne, whom all creation worships, and we say, “Hold back a little bit,” or, “Would You please speed it up?”—it almost shows you the audaciousness of God’s children, but I think He delights in it.
He wants us to pray. He wants the Holy Spirit to move over this earth once again and to bring many souls, many sons, into glory.
So, brothers and sisters, we need to be encouraged this morning. All justice belongs to the Lord. The Lion of the tribe of Judah will one day bring everything back under the dominion of the Lamb. And at the end, He gains everything for His glory.
But I think we need to consider the holiness, the dominion of our God, and know that we serve a God whom you do not want to rise up as a lion. We want to see Him as the Lamb.
Lord, I do pray that Your Spirit would really cause us to marvel more and more as we see who You really are. Lord, the world does not want to see You this way. Sin is not sin; there is no holiness, there is no law, there is no judgment. But Lord, we know that’s not true.
And Lord, we do ask that You would, by Your Spirit, once again bring a great revival in our country. Lord, that You would be restrained yet a little while longer from judging us who deserve judgment. Lord, I pray that You would fill us with prayers for this world in the coming days.
In Your name I pray, Jesus. Amen.