The Lamb's Sacrifice: Transforming Violence into Redemption

I will adore you listening. Amen.

All right, good. Mike is connected. Look, a lamb! Yes, not me. I am not a lamb. I don't even know how to take that.

Okay, anyway, Lacey and I were in Charleston for a troll last night on Friday, and let me tell you, it was amazing. It was great! The teaching that Mandy Kelsh, John Johnson, and Rich did was just incredible. It's on their YouTube channel, so you can go back and re-watch it if you want.

But I am super excited about all of the things that they talked about—about truth, beauty, and goodness, about the Nazareth, and how God has written His message in the stars. It is super cool! I was asking John about it on Saturday morning, and let me tell you, it's just incredible.

Anyway, go check it out.

Um, but I am so excited to be together this morning. You know, we are continuing our series on Revelation today, which is why we had "Revelation Song." We're not going to play that every Sunday, but I thought that was very fitting.

So, we're going to continue by looking at Revelation 5 today. Last week, we talked about Revelation 4, and we talked about the throne and everything that was in front of, behind, beside, underneath, and over top—all of those things.

And those things aren't just cool images, right? The fact that there's a rainbow behind God's throne isn't just a cool picture. It's not like He was like, "Ah, that'd be fun, right? Let me throw that in there." They're meant to radically change our vision of our world and how we live our lives.

You know, the only thing that is more impressive than the image of the throne is the image that we're going to look at today—the image of the Lamb on the throne.

So, if you have a Bible, we'll be over in Revelation 5 today. But before we begin, let's go to God in prayer.

Dear Father God, Dad, I am so grateful. God, I am so grateful for the Book of Revelation. God, the way that you have unveiled the hidden realities of this world. God, that you tell us well in advance what is the most true thing about the world.

God, I am so grateful that you sit on the throne. God, that you are the one who sits and judges the world. And I pray that as we study out Revelation 5, God, I pray that you unveil our eyes, God, that scales drop from our eyes, that we can see what you are saying to us.

And I pray that we can change the way that we view the world around us. God, I love you so much. I pray all these things according to your will. Amen.

So, starting in verse one of Revelation 5, it says, "Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?' But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside."

You know, as we talked about last week, the vision in Revelation 4 and 5 is about putting on a new set of glasses. It's ones that show us the reality behind what we see.

You know, it's a little bit like 3D glasses, which is why there are 3D glasses. So, we have a couple of fun images to look at. Yeah, you can put them on.

So, the best way that I've found to look at these is to look at the background, and then it will slowly proceed. You know, you'll figure it out. Anyway, yeah, but for people with fat heads like me, they do not fit.

So, pretty cool, right? I don't know if you guys can actually see that. Oh, you might be able to see it on the TV screen better. Right? Not wearing the glasses, I can tell that's a tiger, but it's a lot scarier when you're wearing the 3D glasses.

Right? This one's kind of funky. This one was the hardest one for me to see. And so, these images are cool, right? Those images are cool when you're just looking at them, but when you put on 3D glasses, it gives you a different perspective, right?

And that's what Revelation 4 and 5 is doing. It's saying, "Here's a 2D image; I can give depth to that." Right? What you see in the world around you is not all that is there.

So, as John puts on these glasses, the first thing he sees is the throne, and then his eyes fall upon a scroll in the hand of God. And it says that it has seven seals on it. The number seven represents completeness, and the seals are about ownership.

So, it's not that it's sealed and it's like it's a secret, right? It's not about hiding the contents; it's about who has the authority to open it from the author. And so, seven seals tell us that it is God's complete message—His complete understanding of His complete telling of reality.

Right? Revelation is giving us a vision; it's giving us a new understanding of the world around us. So, we have to see this: that God has a scroll in His hand, one that tells us the true view of history. Right? That's all history is—it's just a story, right? It has the word "story" in it. Kind of crazy.

But the scroll that God holds in His hand tells us why evil men and women come to power. It tells us why we have to suffer. It tells us stories of faith that have been forgotten.

Have you ever wondered, like, had something that happened to you, and you're like, "Why? Why did that happen?" This scroll tells us. This scroll is the most entertaining and compelling telling of history we have ever read, and no one can open it.

No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth can be found to break open the seals. You know, I imagine John sitting there and watching this unfold. I imagine him watching a long line of people come up. You know, people see the scroll, and they're like, "Oh, I know somebody who could open it."

Right? I imagine he sees his brother James come up and get turned away. Then he sees Peter and Paul try, right? With excitement, he sees Elijah and then Elisha come up and say, "I think I can open the scroll." And then he even sees Moses come up, right? Everybody's like, "Oh, that's Moses! He's gonna do it! He's gonna open the scroll!"

Right? With each person, hope. With each rejection, despair. And I imagine there's a slow chant in the back: "Abraham! Abraham! Abraham!" Right? Heaven's going crazy, like, "Abraham! Yes! Finally, someone who's gonna open the scroll!"

No one. Imagine the disappointment. Imagine how many people he watched go up and try and take that scroll from God.

Right? Continuing in Revelation 5, starting in verse 5: "Then one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.' Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

You know, this disappointment—the elder says, "Look, the Lion of Judah!" Right? The root of David. Both of those are images that the Jews pulled out of Scripture to point towards the Messiah.

So, after this long procession of people come up and try to take the scroll, the elder says, "Look! Finally, somebody who can open the scroll!"

So, John looks back to see the Messiah, to see the conquering King—the one who will restore and redeem Israel—and instead, he sees a Lamb. Like, what a fake-out, right? It's like me saying I own a Ferrari, and then you get to my house and you see this. That's not a Ferrari!

So, is this elder lying to John? What's going on? No, right? It's imagery.

So, John looks and sees a Lamb, and he doesn't see an adult lamb. The word used here is for a little lamb—like a little baby lamb. Think about that, right? The Lion of Judah—you see a baby lamb.

The Lion of Judah comes as a little lamb—a little lamb that was slain, a little lamb that was butchered and is bleeding out, sitting on the throne. Right? It's graphic. Yeah, it's kind of traumatic, right? You look and you think that you're going to see a lion, and you see a dying lamb.

And the Lamb is on the throne. That Lamb is at the heart of God and who He is. You know, this Lamb has seven horns and seven eyes. Again, seven is the number of completeness, and so seven horns and seven eyes represent both complete strength and complete wisdom.

So, this Lamb is not slain because He was not strong enough or He's not wise enough, right? Sometimes, like if you have a dog, sometimes your dog does some dumb stuff, right? And you're like, "Ah, stupid dog!" That's not what's happening here, right?

The Lamb chose to be slain. He was wise enough to understand that the only way to defeat a malicious and violent worldview is by submitting to a malicious and violent worldview.

The little Lamb who is slain—this little Lamb is worthy to take the scroll. That's what John sees. Imagine that! Again, you have people like Abraham and Moses, people like Peter and Paul, right? These people have done incredible things for God's Kingdom, and it's the little Lamb who's able to open the scroll.

He is worthy to break the seals and tell the story of God. And this is the gospel, right? Jesus comes and dies for our sins. He is the Lamb that was slain—the Lion that is a Lamb who is slain is worthy to open the scroll.

And so we close out with the last section of Scripture here in Revelation 5, starting in verse 9. It says, "Then they sang a new song: 'You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.'

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice, they sang, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!'

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them singing, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!' The four living creatures said, 'Amen!' and the elders fell down and worshiped."

You know, this image that John sees—the question we have to ask ourselves is, what do we do with it? Right? It's like, "Okay, cool! It's cool that you know all the imagery and what he sees, but how does that actually affect us?"

Right? What are we meant to do? And so, how is it meant to shape our worldview? We decide to take on His worldview, right? We choose to bear the suffering of the world in us.

You know, the reality is there is a cycle of violence that pervades the world, right? A chain reaction of harmful behavior that impacts us. I'm very well acquainted with this. It happens every time I'm on the road—every single time, right?

Somebody cuts you off, and my first instinct is to slam on the horn. Right? Somebody's going slow—I'm inconvenienced. Like, all of these things, right? And these things—like one little thing, like somebody being slow in front of me—throws off my whole day.

Right? There's this chain reaction of somebody does something, right? You're like going to Starbucks in the morning, and somebody cuts you in line, and you're like, "Are you kidding? What are you doing?" A person's rude to you, and you're like, "What did I do to you?"

Right? There's this chain reaction of people hurting people, hurting people. Right? And Jesus shows us how to end the cycle by choosing to suffer innocently.

So, how do you respond when you are faced with reckless hate? I'm getting a lot of mileage out of that quote from The Lord of the Rings. I think I've referenced it like three times in the last six months.

But do your responses imitate the world or imitate the Lamb? Right? That is the reality of what we're faced with, right? The image of the Lamb is meant to transform our responses to the world. This is the call of the gospel, and it is not an easy message to live out practically.

You know, every fiber of our being wants to seize power. Even when I'm on the road, and I'm like, "Don't honk the horn! Don't honk the horn!" Every time I get a chance to speed past somebody, I still do. Like, right? I'm like, "Yeah! You're gonna know you're slowing me down!"

Right? Every fiber of our being wants to be the arbiter of justice.

I want to close out by sharing this quote. This is from Fox's Book of Martyrs, and I think this perfectly shows what we're talking about. If I can find it... there it is.

So, it says, "The gates in the wall of the arena were thrown open." This is a story of the Coliseum. And so, in Rome, they would have had this huge Coliseum where they would have gladiator fights.

And so, oftentimes, they would take people that they conquered, and they would throw them into the gladiator arena. And it was like this—it was basically like the sporting event of Rome, but it was people killing each other.

And so, it says, "The gates in the wall of the arena were thrown open, and a number of tall, well-formed men in the prime of youth and strength came forward. Some carried swords; others, three-pronged spears and nets. They marched once around the walls, and stopping before the emperor, held up their weapons at arm's length with one voice shouted out their greeting: 'Ave, Caesar! Morituri te salutant!'—Hail, Caesar! Those about to die salute you."

What happened every single time that they had a gladiator fight? That was the opening scene. The combatants now began. The gladiators with nets tried to entangle those with swords.