The Lion Is The Lamb - Revelation 5

Let’s talk about the weather, for a moment anyway.  There are so many sayings about the weather, especially as it relates the springtime months of the year.  One of the old favorites is, “March winds bring April showers.  April showers bring May flowers.”  As a kid a learned to add, “So what do May flowers bring?”  The first time I remember hearing that, I went deeply into thinking mode and said, “bees, pollen, allergies.”  But no, the answer to “what do May flowers bring” is…drum roll please…“Pilgrims.”  There’s another saying about March.  Anyone know what it is?  “If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.”  Now I have to tell you, I was reading an article from the Farmer’s Almanac this past week as I was preparing for this sermon, and they actually said that there is little conclusive evidence that this statement is always true.  And given that of late, the Almanac has a better record than many weather forecasters, I’ll just take their word for it…However, the saying, “…in like a lion…and out like a lamb…” provides a nice segue into our sermon focus for today.

Let’s review where we are in our journey through Revelation.  We began with the introduction which included the identity of the one who is providing these series of visions to John, and commands John to write them down, exactly as he experiences them.  Then we have the series of addresses to the seven churches (but remembering that seven is a significant number in Revelation, that it is an number of inclusion, we remember that it is a message to all the churches of Asia Minor…and with the words, “let anyone who has an ear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches,” we realize that the message was not just to a specific location, but if what was happening in that church is relevant to what is going in our church then we better take heed.  Last week we entered a new vision given to John and found ourselves in throne room of God.  We saw the a refraction of the one setting on the throne, with the light causing a rainbow effect, reminding us that God would not wipe all his people from the earth again.  We were reminded that the one who sits on the throne is the Creator, and is the One who was, is, and is to come, so that no matter what we encounter, none of it is greater than the One on the throne.  And finally, we are forced to acknowledge that if we have trouble being in worship for an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half, then we better rethink our desire to go to heaven, where we will be in worship twenty-four seven.

This morning we find ourselves still in the throne room, as we consider the second half of this vision of God’s throne room.  In this vision, John sees, “…in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back…”  Now this in and of itself is significant…for again, like we realized last week in the manifestations of God…there is a connection to the Hebrew Scriptures…for in Ezekiel there is also a scroll that is written on both the inside and the outside.  Ezekiel 2:9-10: “I looked, and a hand was stretched out to me, and a written scroll was in it.  He spread it before me; it had writing on the front and on the back and written on it were words of lamentation and mourning and woe.”  After we learn what is in this scroll, then we will realize just how important this connection is.  Some may ask, what’s the big deal, why is there this specific connection?  We write on the front and back of paper all the time…they were probably just conserving paper.  However, some folks today don’t like writing on both sides of the paper, not because they want to waste paper, but because they say it is hard to read when it is written on both sides…well, in Biblical days, it wasn’t that it was hard to read written on both sides, it was hard to write on both sides…if the scroll was made out of papyrus reeds, then the back side of the paper was rough and grainy and the grains ran at a 90 degree angle to the direction of the writing, making it even more difficult…if the scroll was made of animal skin, the one side was nice and smooth, the other side, which at some point had fur on it, was rough and difficult.  So writing on the back side was usually avoided…the only time that anyone wrote on both sides was when they had a lot to say and it was extremely important.

However, differing from Ezekiel, in which the scroll was rolled open for Ezekiel, this scroll is sealed, which connects us with the scrolls found in both Jeremiah and Isaiah.  It is not sealed with just one seal, but with, how many?  You got it, seven.  Meaning?  That it was completely sealed.

Then this mighty angel cried out, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”  The angel, as strong as it was, was unable to open it?  But did you notice something?  The angel did not ask who was strong enough to open the scroll and break the seals; the angel did not ask “who is wealthy enough to break the seals”; the angel did not ask, “who is popular enough to break the seals”…the angel asked, “who is worthy enough to break the seals.”  And as John began looking around, he realized that there was no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth who was able to open the scroll or look into it.”  John begins to weep, because with the way the scroll is written, he knows that it has to be something of extreme significance.  However, one of the elders told John not to cry, because there is one coming who will be able to open both the scroll and its seven seals.  Who is coming?  Who is worthy?  It is none other than the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David.  The title, “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah” and “the Root of David,” were a Messianic titles…they were titles given to one the one who was of the Davidic line who had come to save God’s people.  We have to remember that prior to the New Testament Scriptures, this expectation of the Messiah was one who would come in like a might warrior, full of all strength, and ready to bring down whatever evil empire was oppressing God’s people at the time…so that imagery is brought back to mind.

However, here is where the vision flips the rationale of the world and its expectations on its head.  For where John, his readers, including ourselves, now expect to see a mighty Lion, like Aslan out of the Chronicles of Narnia, but rather than a huge lion, there, standing “between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders [was] a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.”  Not a lion but a lamb…not just a lamb, but one with wounds, as if it had been slaughtered.  What about this grotesque imagery though?  A lamb with seven horns and seven eyes…that sounds like something out of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.  Yet remember, once again, the significance of the number 7…your bulletin insert also tells you that “horns” signify “rulers” which could also signify “power”; eyes usually in literature signify “insight.”    So here is this lamb that should be dead if it was slain, standing…and not only is it living, but it has complete power or complete rule and complete insight.

To understand what words of hope this would give the people under Roman rule, we think of the one who was dead, but is really alive…Christ…the one whom the powers of the world sought to kill…yet they could not.  He is the One with complete power…He is the One who rules all of creation…He is the One with complete insight.  This complete power, complete rule, is accomplished not through military might and all out force, but through sacrifice.  Christ, the Lamb, has turned the logic of the world on its head.  As Paul says to the church in Corinth, “For the message about the cross if foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”  The Roman emperor who proclaimed that he was divine himself, and that through the might of the Roman army was bringing ultimate rule and peace to the world.  Yet, it was due to the Roman military might that the Christians were being persecuted.  What does this passage say to us?  The emperor and his army are not worthy…they are not in control…here stands, at the throne of God, the One whom they slew, and He is not dead, He is alive.  The word of hope also comes that true worth, power, and insight are not found in military might, but in the Lamb of God…in the suffering servant who proclaimed God’s Kingdom and shared God’s grace, who was dead, but is still alive.

That speaks a word of hope to us today, no matter where we may find ourselves…that true worth, true value and true hope is not found in military or even civilian weapons, it is not in popularity or having a name that will go down in history, it is not found in the wealth stored up in our banks or even Fort Knox, it is found in Christ Jesus, so that no matter what happens, no matter what terrorists or some other nation may do, no matter what disasters may hit, no matter what slaps us in the face, none of those things have complete power or complete control of our lives…only the lamb that was slain, yet lives, has that power.

How do we make sure we are in line to stand with that Lamb?  We must overcome, just as He overcame.  Jesus, who stayed faithful to the God’s call upon His life, not matter what He faced, even up to His death on the cross, we must remain faithful…and part of that faithfulness is in worship.  Remember that all of creation and all of God’s people were around the throne giving God worship Day and Night without end…here we read “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne of the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads (10,0000) and thousands of thousands…multiples of ten…ten meaning inclusive…so all of God’s angels, and they are great in number…singing with full voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”  How many was that…power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, blessing…seven…how much worship does the Lamb deserve?  All worship…we must give all our worship to the Lamb?  It cannot be split between the Lamb and the Empire…it cannot be split between the Lamb and Government…it cannot be split between the Lamb and the nation…it cannot be split between the Lamb and our bank accounts…it cannot be split between the Lamb and a sports team…it cannot be split between the Lamb and our stomachs…it cannot be split between the Lamb and ourselves…All worship, all devotion, all of us, belongs to the Lamb.  We must join “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”  Amen!

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…Amen.