Do You Find the Lamb Worthy of Worship?
Shared on May 19, 2024
Do you find the Lamb worthy of worship and praise? Join Pastor McCrary for this week’s lesson as we take a look at why it is important for us to find the Lamb worthy of our praise TODAY!
Introduction
In last week’s lesson, we saw the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews spoke about Christ being exalted above angels. Because He is exalted above all things, the writer was essentially encouraging his people to turn to Christ. Christ, is who one should follow and is worthy of praise.
Our lesson this week takes us to the Book of the Revelation of Christ. We are going to be taking a look at a picture of a future event in heaven. This event will be surrounding one person— the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God is a title given to Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. Do you know why He is called the Lamb of God?
The Lamb of God
The lamb is a very important figure in scripture. The first time we see some importance to a lamb is with Abraham and Isaac.
The story I am referencing is when God commanded Abraham to offer up his only son (Gen. 22:1-2). So, Abraham moved with faith and as he began to sacrifice his son, he was stopped by the Lord. God prevented such an offering and then provided Abraham a ram in the thicket (Gen. 22:11-13). You may say to yourself, ‘Pastor, that’s a ram, not a lamb.’ Well, a ram is an adult male lamb.
On another occasion, on their last night in Egypt, lambs were used as the Passover offering. The children of Israel were commanded to take the blood of their assigned lamb and spread it across their doorposts (Ex. 12:1-7). What was the significance of the lamb’s blood? The blood of the lamb was a sign to God of one who belonged to Him. So, death passed over the home of one who’s door was covered by the blood while taking the first born of those who’s door post weren’t covered.
In Isaiah 53, the prophet prophesied about the suffering of God’s servant. The prophet prophesied the servant would be led as a lamb to the slaughter (Is. 53:7). The lamb would be chastised for our peace (Is. 53:5). This prophecy was fulfilled when Christ gave His life for the world. Christ was God’s lamb in the thicket for us. The shed blood of Christ covers those who believe and we will escape the death of eternal condemnation.
Christ Takes His Place
The disciple John, if you don’t know, is one that penned Revelation. John was visited by Christ while he was exiled on the island called Patmos (Rev. 1:9). When John saw Christ, he tells that he fell at His feet dead (Rev. 1:17). The vision of heaven and the throne room of heaven begins in Revelation 4 and runs throughout the rest of the book.
Our lesson opens with John in the throne room. He tells us that while he was in the throne room, he saw a Lamb moving in the midst moving to the throne (Rev. 5:6). The Lamb, John wrote, appeared to have been slain. This is certainly an image of Christ that brings to mind the image of the suffering servant from Isaiah 53.
John then gives us an out of this world description of the ‘appearance’ of the Lamb. John tells us that the Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes. The horns speak of power and seven represents completeness. Eyes are seeing, and so the seven eyes speak to seeing in full. As we know, God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent— Christ was moving in the fullness of the Spirit.
As He moved through the room towards the throne, the Lamb took the scroll from Him who sat on the throne (Rev. 5:7). We are seeing Christ move to take a position and act as Judge. As I mentioned weeks ago, Christ, today, is our Advocate, Mediator, and Intercessor. However, there will be a day when Christ takes the scroll to begin to act as Judge.
Who was it that was sitting on the throne? The Father. So, in this scene, we see the Triumvirate present— God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Heaven Praises the Lamb
After He takes the scroll, John writes that the four living creatures and twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. They fall before Christ playing instruments and singing a new song (Rev. 5:8-9). Now, some of us may be wondering who these elders are and what are the four living creatures?
Twenty-four elders and the four living creatures
In Revelation 4:4, we are told that each of these elders have their own thrones. They are dressed wearing white robes and they wear crowns of gold. Other than this description and seeing the elders fall before Christ, we aren’t given an identity.
The four living creatures are also spoken of in Revelation 4:6-11. The imagery of these creatures are, again, out of this world. John wrote that one looked like a lion and another like a calf. He said that one also looked like had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. All four are “full of eyes in front and back” and have six wings!
The four living creatures do not rest! All they do is sing praises to the Lord and cast their crowns before the Lord. If you are familiar with Isaiah 6:1-2, the description John shares with us sounds just like the seraphim Isaiah saw in his vision. Isaiah’s vision was also in the throne room and he also saw six winged creatures. Seraphim are a set of angels whose sole purpose is to worship the Lord.
We will see that they sing to Christ, “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals.” Christ is the only one that can open this scroll! Why is Christ the only one that can open the scroll? Because He is worthy!
They sang, “For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” Now, this is a very interesting lyric in this song. This song, we should note, is a song of redemption. What’s very interesting about this is the fact that the seraphim are singing this song!
Now, we may not know the exact identity of who the twenty-four elders are but this is a lyric that may make you wonder. It’s possible that the twenty-four elders is the raptured church. Scripture tells us that we will one day be dressed wearing a white garment and wear the crown of life (Is. 61:10-11; 1 Cor. 9:25; Eph. 5:27; Jas. 1:12). It makes a lot of sense for those of the church age to sing about being redeemed by the blood of Jesus!
All of heaven sings praises
After the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders had sung their part, John saw the angel join in to sing the chorus (Rev. 5:11). John couldn’t even number how many there were singing! Any time I read scenes like this in scripture my soul erupts with great joy! As you have heard me say before, we are already in heaven- it has been seen! All we have to do is continue to be faithful and we will fulfill this picture.
The chorus, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing (Rev. 5:12)!” I cannot express to you how this makes my soul feel to see this picture. Yet, there will be a day where we will both rejoice and sing out loud the indescribable feelings we have in this moment!
John said that all of heaven continued to sing, “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever (Rev. 5:13)!” Then John saw the four living creatures say amen as the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Christ (Rev. 5:14). Again, I say, what a remarkable scene!
Recognize Christ’s Worth Today
As good as it is to see this picture of future worship in heaven, I can’t but think about today’s worship. As a pastor, I often become very critical of myself and my leading of the church. In a day where people much rather worship from home whenever they want, that can be difficult on pastors. Why is that?
There is this misconception that people my age have began to buy into since the days of COVID. What is the misconception? I don’t have to go to church- I can have church anywhere. There was a time when going to church meant everything to our grandparents and great grandparents. The importance and meaning of going to church is starting to be lost. And, as you have heard me touch on recently, with that loss has been the loss of godly living.
So, there are days where it can be difficult for your pastor to preach to a group that maybe lacks energy or joy. Honestly, I am always thinking about how I can better engage with my congregation so that they can have the same joy I have in praising the Lord. I am also often thinking of way to reach out to those who have either stopped going to church or just don’t go at all.
You see, we live in a day where darkness is spreading all over the world, as I preach in my last series of sermons. There was a time where we came together to worship and praise the Lord and the community was strong. The strength came from the Lord and His strength brought joy. I feel we lack such joy today because we have stopped finding God to be worthy of our praise.
So, if there is something we should take away from our lesson this week is that Christ is worthy of our praise. He has done everything for us to where we can have eternal joy. Recognize the goodness of Christ and rejoice today. Yes, we will rejoice tomorrow but it is certainly good to praise and worship the Lord today.