Revelation 21 • Heaven Previewed
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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)
I'll ask if you're at home or with us here today that you look in your Bibles at Revelation chapter 5 as we come to the last series of messages in our Through the Bible in a Year entire series. So three messages from the book of Revelation as we consider the love of God for those who put their faith in Him and are saved eternally from their sin.
Revelation 5 will focus on verses 6 to 14, but I want to prepare you for what's there and ask you to keep your Bibles open as we go as we consider the larger context of Revelation 5. Maybe we can begin to see it in terms of the circumstances of our nation right now.
Think of this, the image was shocking.
The image was of a fire so large on the night of protest this last week in Washington, D.C. that the fire was shown going halfway up the 550-foot-tall Washington monument.
Shocking.
Perhaps more shocking still because of concern that there might be danger to our nation's leaders, the word began to circulate in social media that the police had shut down cell phone networks in the capital so that their actions of overcoming protesters could not be recorded and later challenged.
And maybe more shocking still, not one word of that police action on social media, not one pixel of the image of the Washington monument backed by fire was true.
It was all fake.
It was all intentional disinformation intended to hurt and upset people more than our nation was already upset and coming apart.
The false accounts apparently were spread by netbots, the robocalls of the internet, whereby our computers and our phones are turned into disinformation machines churning out millions of messages of what is false and wrong. Now why would anybody do that? Who launched the netbots to create such accusatory images of protesters and such accusatory rumors about police?
Those reliable experts who studied it said the overall goal of the disinformation was to instill panic and fear in order to shake our unity and our security.
And those who did it had the same electronic fingerprints of the Russian hackers who sought to do the same during the 2016 presidential election.
The goal was actually to create disunity, to create harm to the nation by turning people against one another. It was a false image and a false rumor whose intention was to divide. You must know that the amazing images of Revelation 5 have exactly the opposite intent.
Even as we studied the book of Hebrews last week and we recognized the writer of Hebrews was saying that what would give us unity and security in times of trial was the recognition that we were being called to an unshakeable kingdom despite how this world shakes, that what the writer of Revelation is now doing is beginning to detail that kingdom. So if we will have concerns about brothers and sisters, if we will have security concerns for ourselves, what the writer of Revelation is doing is making sure we know about God's provision for eternity so that we are secure and able to unite with those who will be part of us in that eternal kingdom. You must know there is someone who does not want that message to be heard. From the beginning we studied that what God was doing is He was unfolding a plan of grace that went through the entire Bible is that it began with God also declaring that He would have to send a son who would crush the head of Satan so that evil would ultimately overcome.
That has been the purpose from the beginning for God to ultimately reveal His plan to unite all peoples in the love of Jesus Christ and there is someone who does not want that message known.
And so He will resist with everything in the world and everything in our hearts as a consequence.
What God does to the writer of Revelation is give us such detail of what He will do for His people that we are not only secure but united for whatever comes.
Our unity is being secured by the image of a lamb and the lyrics of a song and the image of a great throng. A lamb, a song, and a throng.
The lamb is described in verse 6, "Between the throne," that is the throne of God that is ruling over this eternal kingdom, "between the throne and the four living creatures," those representatives of the heavenly host and among the elders, the representatives of the church on earth.
"Between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb," says John, "standing as though it had been slain."
It is not a lamb that we expect to see. In some measure not even a lamb that we want to see. What we are expecting to see is a consequence of the question in verse 2 of Revelation 5. A strong angel asks, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seal?" There's been an unfolding plan of God since the dawn of creation. And now at the end of time a strong angel asks, "Who is willing to break the seal to unfold the final plan of God? Who is worthy to do that?" The answer is in verse 5, "Weep no more, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals."
The one who is going to open the scroll is a lion. That's the one who should conquer. That's the one who should rule. He's been predicted for so long. All the way back when we began studying a year ago, in Genesis 49, God had promised through Jacob that there would be an eternal kingdom. It would be established through the line of Judah.
Jacob blessed his son, saying, "The scepter of God's rule shall never depart from the line of Judah." Why Judah?
Judah had done despicable things, but he had done one very special thing.
Remember that time at which Judah and his brothers had gone to Pharaoh to try to get food from famine?
And Pharaoh, they did not recognize, had as his prince of Egypt, the very brother they had sold into slavery, Joseph.
And Joseph, to hold his brothers accountable at one point, said to them, "As you go back to your father, Jacob, I want you to bring me your youngest brother, my father's favorite son and leave him as a ransom year."
Judah was the one brother, though he was oldest and strongest, who said, "Take me instead
of my weak and young and smaller brother."
The line of Judah, the roar of the lion of Judah was ultimately the sign of one who would in strength sacrifice himself for one who was weak.
So here we are told who is worthy to open the scroll of the purpose of God.
It is one who is so strong that he is willing to become weak. How weak?
He became a lamb.
The lion has become the lamb. And we are told what that means. Verse 6, "Yes, between the throne and the four living creatures, and among the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain."
It's been killed, and yet it's still standing. And beyond its standing, we begin to see some of its features.
Though it had been slain, it has seven horns. It has seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. This lamb that has been slain is yet standing. And as it stands, it has seven eyes, seven that number of perfection that can only be divided by itself. It has the perception of all things. It has seven horns, this lamb. In the ancient world, the horns of an animal demonstrated its strength, usually only two horns. This animal has seven horns, as is to say it has not just perfect perception, but perfect power over all things.
And beyond that, we read that it has seven spirits of God that are sent out into all the earth, that this lamb has as part of its very being, perception of all things, power over all things, and presence by the Spirit of God in all things. Who must this be? Who has great power and yet comes with compassion? Who used his power and sacrifice for others? Who became a lamb who was slain and yet still stands with perfect perception, perfect power, and ultimately perfect presence? You know what's being described. This is the Lord Jesus.
He is being revealed in His heavenly glory, but we understand who He is from His earthly ministry. This is what He accomplished for us. He who was the Lion of Judah, who had such great power, was willing to give of Himself, His very life, for compassionate care of His people. I know that because not just the image of the lamb, but the words of the song that accompany.
They are in verse 8, "The singers of the song first are described when He," that is the lamb, that is the Lion of Judah, "had taken the scroll, the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp."
The creatures are the representation of the hosts of heaven in their different ranks.
Then there are the twenty-four elders representing the leadership of the church of Jesus Christ on earth. And here are the heavenly hosts and the earthly leaders gathered together to do God's purposes, playing harps. Someday our elders are going to have to take harp lessons. Well, not...at least the idea is the heavenly music is on display, and not just the heavenly music. Remember we are told that the elders, as they fall down, each holding a harp, the end of verse 8, also had golden bowls full of incense. In the Old Testament temple, the incense was the representation of the prayers of God's people going up to God. And it's that here too. There were golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints.
Heaven and earth join to do the will of God by the songs of the angels and the musical
prayers of the church of God. What are we to understand? But what we have learned so much earlier from the Apostle Paul, that by the prayers of God's people, the will of God moves forward in the world, that heaven and earth are joined in the purposes of God by the prayers of God's people.
That's not just blowing smoke.
It is intended to be the power of the gospel in our lives.
Even as I was preparing comments on this verse, I listened this week to a trusted pastoral friend who spent much of his adult ministry in Memphis, Tennessee, trying to heal racial wounds in one of the worst cities in America for being a person of color.
And when my friend spoke, he said this, "It rang so true according to the heavenly song.
We Christians have the only answer to this crisis.
If there is one thing that I have learned early on in my relationships across ethnic barriers and discussing issues of racial injustice, it is these issues are a Gordian knot that nothing can cut except for the gospel.
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only answer to reconcile people who have been so deeply wounded over hundreds of years with those who have had advantages over the same amount of time.
We Christians have the most powerful weapons for overcoming the animosities and the hatred. We have the only weapons that will work in this spiritual warfare.
And the sad tragedy is that so often we resort to manipulation or political means or military force instead of these divinely empowered means of the grace that is available to us. Am I saying just pray and do nothing else? I am not saying that. I am reminding us that prayer is not just seeking the greater work of God. Prayer is the greater work of God, not just because it changes the world. It changes us as we are praying. And if we are really praying in concert with God's heart in a chapter where He is telling us that He will unite people from every language, race, tribe, nation, what happens in us? We begin genuinely to lament injustice.
We carefully listen to those who have experienced it for centuries with lack of access to resources or education or opportunity.
We repent of our complicity either by silence or a willingness to look the other way.
We must shun threats or actions of physical violence toward those who offer no such threat, whether expressed by presidents or protesters. Such actions do not serve Christ.
It may take real spiritual discipline not to yield to our fears or to react in kind to evil, but what keeps us true to Christ is knowing that He is working beyond our animosities and beyond our weaknesses. How do I know? Not just because of the description of those who sing, but because of the very lyrics of the song that is sung by the host of heaven in honor of the Lamb who is the Lion of Judah. What do they declare about what the Lamb has done? Verse 9, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain, and you were slain, and with your blood you ransomed people for God."
The Lamb, the Son of God, whose death was a consequence of my sin against Him and against heaven, that same one was using His blood as the purchase price to ransom my soul to
from hell itself that I might never suffer the consequences of my own sin against Him.
He ransomed me by His shed blood. The blood of the Lamb that was slain was the purchase price of those enslaved by their own sin as much as the Israelites were ransomed from Pharaoh when they could not provide for themselves. When there was the might of one that could have overcome them, there was a greater might in the plan of God. It was that same plan that God revealed so long ago when He spoke to Abraham. And Abraham thought, "I have to sacrifice my first born's blood to appease this God, to be blessed by God." And when he was ready to slay his own son, to shed the blood of his son for the sake of his blessing, God said, "Hold your hand, Abraham.
Do not strike the boy.
I will provide the sacrifice."
And here we are all these years later, ultimately displayed when heaven itself is revealed that heaven itself is revealed that God is Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide by His own blood the ransom for just people, people like us in all our weakness and confusion, our mistakes, our difficulties. It's those people. It's not just the rulers. It's not just the significant. It's not just by the world viewed important. It's just ordinary people that have been ransomed by the blood of the Lamb.
We almost want to argue with God that we're not worthy of that, not the blood of the Prince
of heaven, the Lamb of God who is the Lion of Judah.
We almost want to say, "God, this can't be right." I think of words echoing from John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress. He wrote our objection, "But God, how could this be true?
I am a great sinner, say you, but I have shed my blood for you," says Jesus. "But I am an old sinner, say you.
But I have shed my blood for you," says Jesus.
"But I am a hard-hearted sinner, say you.
But I have shed my blood for you," says Jesus. "But I am an addicted sinner, say you.
But I have shed my blood for you," says Jesus.
"But I have served Satan all of my days, say you.
But I have shed my blood for you," says Jesus.
"But I have failed my family in too many ways, say you.
But I have shed my blood for you," says Jesus. "God, I have nothing to bounce my account, say I.
But I have shed my blood for you," says the Lamb, who is the Lion of Judah.
He has made a way for us. He provides for us. Though undeserving, though deserving of wrath, not deserving of pardon, because He is the Lamb who was slain. What do I understand about this Lamb? Just continuing in verses 9 and 10 that should be obvious to us. He is the one who not only has saved people, He's the one whose mercy is so wide that He is saving people from every tribe and language and people and nation. And in the heavenly reality we see that it has happened, this very thing that God planned has in fact happened.
It's the very reality that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of.
One day the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
One day little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as brothers and sisters in an oasis of freedom and justice where every hill will be made low and the crooked place is made straight and the glory of God will be revealed and the flesh, all flesh, shall see it together. This is not a dream.
This is the heavenly reality that is open to God's people. And it's not just there so that we will say, "Isn't that great pie in the sky by and by?" We are to recognize this great rejoicing is intended to be part of a song leading to a throng that will be gathered together with Christ to rejoice in His work. Is there room for you?
Verse 11, "I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels numbering myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands."
And it's not just that it's a big room to take in all that praise.
When we question, "But am I worthy to be in that room?"
There is a rumble from heaven.
As the angels sing with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." No, I'm not worthy. No, you're not worthy. It's the Lamb who is worthy. And it's His blood for us that makes us worthy. So when heaven and earth join together to see the provision of God for brothers and sisters from every tribe and language and people and nation, what happens? Verse 13, "There is a roar, the new roar of the lion of Judah. I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying, to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever." And the 14th verse ends with the final amen of God's people joining with the heavenly host as we say, "Truly, truly it is so. God has made a way by the blood of the Lamb who is the Lion of Judah to provide for people like us from every tribe and language and people and nation."
Why do we sing that amen?
Because from the beginning, God's witness of the heavenly realities was to change us on earth. When we know where we're going, when we know who will be our eternal brothers and sisters, it changes our obligations now. Yes, we endure our trials because we know that we have an eternal security. Our afflictions are not worth comparing with the glory that shall be revealed in us.
But we also withstand the evils of the age because we align with the Savior against Satan to triumph over them.
We combat the prejudices and the injustices of humanity because we are brothers and sisters with every believer of every background and are destined for eternity with them in the kingdom of God. Our obligation begins now. We are brothers and sisters now.
And so we listen and we learn and we pray for God to help us.
My privilege this day has been to invite, and Carl, I'd like you to come now. Carl Canada helped me this day.
In the difficulties in our nation, there is no question. We don't need you just here from one race of godly men. We need to hear from God's provision and godliness across every boundary of humanity. And Carl Cannon, I delight to have you here. This is Carl Cannon, former law enforcement and corrections officer, educator, and then in addition, wonderful, wonderful Peoria Parks Department founder of the elite youth outreach. Carl, so many people, young people, take hope in a troubled land, a troubled society because of what you've provided. Now, you know I have these comments prepared. I'm going to say it. You don't want me to, but I'm going to say it. You were raised in this city.
You know us inside out. You've been a corrections officer. You've been an amazing community advocate for young people who might have given up on us a long time ago. If you had not given them some sense of hope.
Every time you worship with us, I rejoice because I recognize that you and yours could look at people like me and say you're in difference and distance is why so many people who align with you have suffered so much.
And yet you come and worship my God and He's your God.
We rejoice to be brothers with Jesus Christ. And so I wrote you what I wanted to ask you. I mean, we're speaking to a country, to a city, in a time of pain.
As I read your biography this week, I was moved by how your experience as a prison guard at Leavenworth changed you from dealing with dangerous men by cursing them to no matter what they had done showing respect to them. I mean, what changed in you? What happened that you felt that was so necessary?
Let me share.
I was born and raised in the church.
So early in life I knew right from wrong, as do a lot of Christian brothers and sisters. But my path to getting that bio went through the military into a prison where I started to line up with man and not with my Christian knowledge and faith.
Trying to please man, I was excelling in the profession. So much so that within six months after arriving at that prison, I was put in charge of the special housing unit, which is death row and everything that comes with it. I'm in charge and my ego was there.
Then one morning, my road to Damascus started.
One morning about 4.30 a.m., we were bringing the child carts in, and I found this man who had hung himself. I'd seen stuff before, but this, I believe, was God's way of convicting me because we had to deal with that, and I got mad.
I didn't get mad at the inmates.
I got mad at me.
I left the prison that day and I said, "I want to go back." My captain called me. I said, "I don't care what you do. I'm not going back." He got me when he said, "Carl, I'm not worried about you. You're going to be fine. You're strong. But what about the men who look up to you?"
He got me with that. So I went back, but I went back understanding what I was raised on, mutual respect.
So my road to Damascus started there, and it was confirmed in Peking, Illinois, of all places. In the middle of a prison yard, surrounded by 1,500 convicts, the Holy Spirit pierced me, and all of a sudden, I didn't want to be the best at keeping people in. I wanted to be like you, one of the best at keeping them out.
So that has been my purpose in life, to teach young people that there is another way. And you are one, I mean, Carl, you are one of the great beacons of hope in this community, and you have poured yourself into young person after young person. I mean, I look at hope in their eyes. I look at respect in their eyes. And it's not just respect for other people, it's respect for themselves again, because you have ministered in such a way in the name of Jesus Christ, in a way of people from all different walks of life, all different points of despair, and you give people hope again. Now, you're a man of faith, and you're dealing with lots of young people who must really struggle with what's going on in our country right now. I mean, they are facing injustice and prejudice that clearly has limited their opportunity in the past, and surely they fear it's going to limit their opportunity in their future. What do you say to young people to give them hope as a man of faith? How do you help them? Well, you identified the factors, and I speak about the factors, poverty, geography, dysfunction. I share with young people, all of those are bad, but as bad as those are, try having to call someone like me, CO, and still have those. As bad as those are, it can get worse, but it can also get better. And that's when I refer back to my Bible, Ephesians 4, 15, I'll paraphrase, "Speaking the truth in love." I don't tell young people what they want to hear. I tell them what they need to hear. Now, sometimes I'm unpopular. Well, I sound like a parent, and I'll attach that unpopularity to a word called discipline, and I'll attach that word to a word called love. I love you enough to tell you the truth.
As bad as you have it, we can move off of this. I tell a young person, "I don't care if you're getting an F. I don't care. So long as your effort is in A."
So the hardest part about success is simply getting started, getting movement in the other direction. So if we tell them you have to go from an F to an A, they won't try. But if you say move off that square, they will.
Carl, when you talk about being in charge of something, and a man took his life on your watch. On my watch. Now you knew or learned that with whatever was going on inside of you, the Lord Jesus was still holding you.
What difference did that make for your heart? Well, when I went home that morning and I took a good hard look at me, I was not walking like Jesus. I was not talking like Jesus. I was trying to please man.
And when I started walking and talking like Jesus, the world opened up.
No one would have told you that I'd be standing here with you.
Those many years ago when I thought I was successful.
Well, today's an indicator that I'm successful. You're successful in the lives of other people. I mean, so many of them have hope in a different direction, a different path, because you've given them hope again. So Carl, I mean, you and I talked earlier in the week, but I'll, you know, I think it's not enough for a white person to speak to a whole community. It's not enough for a black person to speak to a whole community. There are people hurting from so many angles. There are people who are feeling injustice. There are people who feel weakness. I can't do anything.
And I don't know anybody I would rather have with me right here, right now, to talk to a city. And let's be straight. I talked earlier, the city I grew up in, Memphis, one of the worst cities in America to be an African-American. Now, I'm an adult, and what am I told? I live in Peoria, which those who look at our demographics and look at the inequities say this is one of the worst cities in the country now to be a person of color. And yet you are ministering to young people and trying to give them hope even in Peoria, Illinois.
I mean, Carl, what moments will you and I have in the future to have this kind of talk with other people? What do you need to say to a church leader? What do you need to say to young people? What do you need to say to a community that is coming from a heart of faith but still deals with realities?
It's simple for me.
See something, say something, and do something. I'm going to share a story. About 10 years ago, my daughter, my youngest daughter and I were shopping at Cub Folks.
We're about to check out, and there's a signage in front of the registers. It read, and it was handwritten, "Link customers use Lane."
I think it was 12. So my daughter and I are unloading, are taking the groceries and putting them on the belt, and there's this elderly white lady who's in front of us who's writing out her check.
Well, the cashier stops, and I hear a voice, "Sir, link customers, sir." And I looked up, "Me?" He said, "Sir, link customers, you need to..."
And I said, I was thinking, "How do I handle this?
Do I respond like the old correction officer, or do I respond like Jesus?"
So I said, "Young man, you assume..." One, he had three issues. One, you assume I can't read.
Two, you assume I'm a Lane customer.
And three, you assume you're going to get to serve me. Now as I was saying these things, the lady in front, she was snickering. I said, "Son, you need to go get your boss."
During this process, this lady, she stayed there.
The manager came, apologized, had to be a role model. What would Jesus do?
As we got this resolved, that lady walked me out.
So see something, say something, do something. She didn't have to say anything, but she made sure that justice was served. So I say to Christians, first start in the mirror.
You have access to grace, so don't worry about yesterday.
But what will you see in the mirror? What will allow you to empathize with things you don't understand? And can you say something, maybe in your home only, because you hear something that's out of context, fix it, then maybe you'll do it in your neighborhood and then we'll get this community, the country and the world. But do something. If nothing else, be a witness.
Witness and let's correct it. See say do, but the first see was, "Look in here." But then you recognize, "Don't worry about the past. Grace takes care of that.
Just move forward, say what needs to be said. Do what God gives you to do." You have done that, my brother. I have such respect for you. Thank you for being with us here today. Would you do something with me? People will pray with us.
I'm going to ask that we just say the Lord's Prayer, and I'm going to bow my head, and I'm going to ask people at home to say it with us as our music team comes forward. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. This we ask in Jesus' name for his is the kingdom and it will come and we'll be a part of that together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you, my brother.