Morning church.
Morning.
How are we?
This is weird, huh?
Is it as weird for you as it is for me?
Some of you are like, did I miss worship?
Like, what is happening right now?
But we'll get there together.
We'll get through this together.
It's gonna be good.
Welcome to those of you online.
A couple of people there that I noticed, Tracy in Ohio,
welcome to you, Isaac in Wyoming.
Welcome to you, the rest of the online fam
that you are there.
Richard and Cassandra in California, welcome to you.
Baghdad, welcome Randy.
I saw you're in there in the chat.
Welcome to you.
And also, Paulden, we love it.
Paulden was saying they've just got new people showing up
and it's kinda this thing of, hey, you're in Paulden,
I'm in Paulden, let's hang out and talk about Jesus.
And so it's happening.
Can we just say welcome to them this morning?
Yeah!
And so welcome to you.
In the room, glad that you are here.
Glad that you, here's the thing, right?
So if you're new, you picked probably one
of the hardest weekends to be in church.
And I don't mean to discourage you.
I just mean like, man, what we are about to go through
and what we're about to talk about, it's a lot.
It's a lot.
But here's the thing.
It'll change your life if you let it.
And so we're just honored that you're here.
If you're going, man, I'm trying to figure this thing out.
I just hope it encourages you.
I hope that along the way you get to feel loved
by what we call the family.
Those of you that you got your seat and you got your spot,
like you like your area that you sit every week,
don't think I don't know this.
I know this.
And just, hopefully you're warm cause it's cold.
We're all in this together, right?
And so just welcome, welcome if you're here
and trying to figure that out.
We love you already and just know that as family,
we hope this becomes home for you.
So with that, let's talk about football.
Why not, right?
Tom, I'm not talking about the 49ers.
Nobody likes them.
So just gonna throw that out there right now.
No, don't encourage him.
That's not a good thing.
We're trying to take that out.
So, but here's the thing, right?
So big game today, big game.
Not talking about the Cardinals.
We're talking about the Steelers.
I'm playing the Ravens, you guys.
Playing the Ravens.
And if I know anything about the people of God,
it's time to pray.
It's time to pray.
We got Russ Wilson, QB3, right?
Anchoring us.
Just in case you don't like football
and you don't hear anything else, just hear this.
The quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers
is a believer in Christ.
Strong believer in Christ, which means,
yeah, yeah, you celebrate that.
Which means that he's family,
which means that you should root for the Steelers today
and pray for them.
That's all I'm saying.
But here's the thing, Cards are doing pretty well.
Right?
Any Cards fans?
Any Cards fans before they were winning?
Okay.
Just trying to figure it out up here.
But here's the thing, Steelers and Cards,
we're like one bad hit on our quarterback
from it being a losing season.
So there you go, right?
Like we both need our QB.
So I'll pray for yours, you pray for mine,
and we'll meet in the Super Bowl.
And Steelers will win again.
It'll be fine.
Some of you are like, why are we talking about football?
I don't know.
Why are we talking about football?
Hey, let's talk about Hallmark then,
if you don't want to talk about football.
Right?
Any Hallmark fans?
The guys are all like, what?
Don't lie, you watch it too.
You watch it too.
Here's the thing.
It's weird, right?
This time of year, Hallmark, I don't know if you have this,
but I have this like thing I have to figure out.
How am I going to get the Hallmark channel?
Because none of my subscriptions have it,
but my wife and my daughters, they want it.
So how do we figure this out?
And so every year, but here's the thing.
There's a lot of Hallmark movies.
You notice that?
You ever notice how there's a theme?
My wife's convinced this year there's a theme of lying, right?
She's like watching each movie,
and she's going, the theme this year is lying.
And what she means by that is somebody's holding a lie
that at some point it's going to come out
and it creates good drama, right?
So hence you have Hallmark.
So maybe.
If Hallmark's not your thing, then I don't know.
Anybody just love the holidays this time of year is your jam.
Like you are, the weather turns, gets a little cold.
I mean, that, come on, that feels good, right?
But then you're like in full holiday mode of,
okay, who's coming Thanksgiving?
Where are we going?
Who are we going to be with?
Let's not go to those people.
You know what I mean?
Like you're trying to navigate that whole thing or
maybe it's Christmas and it's gifts.
And you're like in full, you're that gift person.
You're in full gift mode.
I got to figure out what to get the perfect gift
for that person.
And you enjoy the hunt, right?
And so you've been hunting, so to speak, for a while.
Or maybe men in the room like elk hunting's coming, right?
Is it coming or is it gone?
Well, it shows you how much I care about it.
So there you go.
There you go.
I was trying to relate to you for a second and lost you.
So there you go.
But no, seriously, like if that's it,
none of that's your stuff,
then maybe it's just seasonal drinks, right?
And I don't mean those kinds of seasonal drinks,
just so we're clear.
Maybe it's your gingerbread latte and you're like,
ah, yes, this time of year is the best because I get this.
But I heard a true story this week that there was a guy
that they were talking about speaking of relationships
and just how that plays into our life, right?
And they'd gone on a first date and she was mad at him
like, cause he hadn't called her back.
And he's like, I'm just saving you pain.
And she's like, what do you mean?
And he's like, well, the pain of it's football season
and I'm semi-pro fantasy football player.
I'm in six leagues and it takes all my time.
I got no time to date.
So I'm just saving you the pain of having to watch me
like do my research and watch football all the time.
So I can't date you till February.
Where she looks at him, she goes, you're not an athlete.
Right?
Like this is not an athletic sport.
It's all made up.
And he's like, how dare you?
And like, okay, this is real.
But here's the thing, right?
So all of that, I don't know kind of where you're at
or how that hits you or what you resonate, what you don't.
But I do know this, being human,
it's really easy to be distracted.
Right?
Like it's really easy to football season here
and everything else goes away.
Right?
Like, and I'm zeroed in on football.
Or it's the holidays and the holidays take over
for the next months.
Right?
Or it's the idea of, I just love things about this season
or it's this relationship or it's just really,
really easy to get distracted.
It's really, really easy to go through weeks and months
and you turn around and you're like, man,
where did the time go?
And here's what I know about being distracted.
It's really easy when I get distracted
to shift my values and give something worth
that it doesn't deserve.
And when it takes worth, then it actually distracts me
and becomes a bigger thing in my life.
And my attention and my effort and my resources
and my time go to that thing.
And what that is actually called from the Bible is worship.
And it can be really easy for my worship to be distracted.
And we've been in a collection of talks
and we're kind of moving through just the whole scripture,
if you like, but we're now in Revelation.
And last week, Revelation, the letters to the church, right?
If you were here, you heard us talk about it,
but the big idea of the letters to the church is this,
that Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, right?
Who has conquered death, conquered the grave,
is telling the church, don't get distracted.
He's telling the church, don't lose your purpose.
What is your purpose?
To tell everybody else about the resurrected Jesus.
Don't lose your purpose.
And then we hit chapter four, right?
And in chapter four, there's this subtle shift.
But what I want you to see is the connection.
So chapter one, Revelation chapter one,
we read this last week, but the way the letter is set up
is the Apostle John, so in verse 10,
on the Lord's day, the Apostle John, I was in the Spirit,
and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
which said, write on a scroll what you see
and send it to the seven churches.
And so what we're given is this loud voice tells him
specifically, write this on a scroll.
And then you're gonna send this to the churches.
So who is this letter for?
Who is this revelation of Jesus Christ for?
It's for us.
And so what's in here really matters to us.
What's in here should really, in fact,
it's one of the only books that I know of in the entire Bible
that says if you read it, you will be blessed.
Now, you might be going, John, I've read Revelation.
I got about halfway through, and I'm like,
I have no clue what it's talking about.
Welcome to the club, right?
But what we're told is that by God himself that,
hey, if you will read this, you will be blessed.
Now, in that context, the church,
the church has a specific context that the time it exists in.
And it was this, the church was growing,
but the church was also being persecuted.
It was also having challenges of all kinds of false teaching.
It was uncertain.
You didn't know if you were gonna get reported,
if you were gonna get killed, if you were gonna be oppressed.
You didn't know if your business was going under.
And so to say yes to Jesus was really to step into
really uncertain times, and this uncertainty
created like the shifting sand in your life, if you like.
You just weren't sure of things.
Well, what we get in chapter four is a gift to the church
that you can go, I can anchor my life on this
because this is true right now.
So in chapter four, verse one, it says, after this,
so after the letters, I looked and there before me was a door
standing open in heaven.
And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet,
so there's that connection to what we just read,
said, come up here and I will show you
what must take place after this.
So the first glimpse we get is that John looks up into heaven
and what he sees is an open door, right?
That the posture of the door is not closed, it's open.
And so what's the significance to us?
That the door to heaven is what?
It's open, right?
So many times we talk about like Christianity
from the perspective of it's exclusive, right?
Like the only way, but you just need to understand
the door to heaven that John saw, the door into the very
throne room of God is open today.
Why? Because Jesus died for all.
And what's the mission of the church that we just talked about
last week is that we're supposed to tell everybody what?
About this Jesus, why?
So that they can go through that door
into the very throne room of God.
And so there's this deep connection then that he says,
okay, come up here.
So Jesus now telling him, come up here.
Verse two says, at once I was in the Spirit
and there before me was a throne.
Okay, the word throne appears 17 times in 25 verses.
Okay, if there's anything I know about God is repetition
is really, really important to God.
So if God in 25 verses goes, hey, throne, throne, throne, throne,
then we should go, hey, this is really important.
And so what he tells us is, at once I was in the Spirit,
before me there was a throne in heaven
with someone sitting on it.
And the one who sat there had the appearance of Jasper
and Ruby, a rainbow that shone like an emerald
encircled the throne.
That word, if you've got a physical Bible,
you're a highlighter, even on your phone,
whatever that looks like for you, you're taking notes.
The word encircled, the word surrounding,
and the word centered are extremely important
in understanding what's happening.
So what it's saying is in heaven,
he goes into the throne room of God
and what he sees is a throne.
Okay, so why is a throne important?
Because it speaks of it as someone's, right?
It speaks of a kingdom.
It speaks of a king.
And what we get is that when he goes through,
there was someone sitting on the throne.
Now, if you're a conquering king, what are you out doing?
You're out fighting battles, and what's the throne doing?
It's empty.
But the picture we're given of heaven today,
the picture we're given of the residence of God today
is that there is a throne, and he is on that throne,
and he is seated, and he is resting.
Why? Because he has already conquered.
Like that throne is not up for grabs.
That throne is already occupied by God Almighty,
who is the one who lives forever and ever and ever and ever.
So what we're told right out the gate
is there's a throne and God's on it,
which automatically goes, we're not.
Right, and automatically, and so John,
what you're gonna get as we go through this is,
as John's trying to capture this, remember, he's seeing it,
and he's going, man, it was kinda like,
or he goes, he's trying to make connections for us
so that we can visually put stuff to it.
So he goes, it had the appearance of,
and so in this moment, what he says is he goes,
the one seated on the throne
had the appearance of Jasper and Ruby, right?
And so these gemstones, these colors,
and he goes, the brightness coming from the throne
that exuded from it was like Jasper and Ruby.
Why Jasper and Ruby?
Here's why understanding the entire narrative
is so important, because you go all the way back.
You remember when we talked about the nation of Israel
all those weeks ago, right?
Like I think it was like 20 weeks ago, something like that,
and we talked about killing all those animals.
Maybe you remember that, right?
And there was a priest.
Well, the priest had a breastplate,
and on the breastplate of the priest
were certain gems that were embedded in it.
And those gems, one of those gems that started it was Jasper,
and one of those gems that ended it was Ruby.
And so what do you get inside of the significance
of who sits on the throne where he sees Jasper and Ruby?
He's got the beginning, right?
Because one started it and one ended it.
So the one who sits on the throne is the beginning and the end.
He is completeness.
He is whole.
There is nothing to be added or taken away, right?
And so that's the image that's given.
Above that, encircling that throne, and there's that key word,
because when you encircle something,
you make much of what's in the circle.
And what's encircling the throne is a rainbow.
Why is a rainbow significant?
In the Scriptures all the way through,
a rainbow speaks of judgment and mercy.
What is being declared of the one who is on the throne
and encircling him is he is the one with the right to judgment,
but he is also full of mercy, right?
This God who dwells on this throne and owns it,
and then it carries on, it says, surrounding the throne.
So there's that word again.
Surrounding the throne were 24 other thrones,
and seated on them were 24 elders.
They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.
So the image is you've got a throne,
and now surrounding that throne,
so surrounding God's throne, this is important,
surrounding God's throne is 24 other thrones.
Now I'll tell you, I have studied and I have read more
about who these 24 elders are
than probably anything else we'll talk about today.
And I'm gonna tell you, it gets crazy out there.
I read one thing, there were nine different things this could be,
and I'm like, okay, some of those are just,
I don't know where you got that.
That doesn't even make sense.
But what makes sense to me is to keep the Bible simple
and put it in the narrative that it belongs.
And so in the Old Testament, you had 12 tribes of Israel
that represented God's people.
And in the New Testament, you have the 12 apostles,
which represent God's people.
If you take 12 and 12 and you put them together,
what do you get?
24, good job, you guys are good at math.
I wouldn't have got that, well done.
But no, you get 24.
So what you have is a representation of God's people.
But notice where God's people are.
There are thrones surrounding what?
The throne of God.
The 24 people that make up God's people, which is us,
the representation of us in the throne room of God is what?
That we are around the throne of God.
Why?
Because God is a big deal, we're not.
Right?
This whole setting, the way it's set up,
is designed that we would see that God is at the center of it all.
That in heaven, what's represented,
and we don't know if this was the physical representation
of the leaders of the 12 tribes in this.
We don't know if it was actually them, it doesn't say.
We don't know if this is an angelic representation of them,
but what we do know is this symbolically in heaven,
surrounding the very throne of God,
what's symbolic is that God's people are surrounding
the throne of God.
From the throne came flashes of lightning
and rumblings and peals of thunder.
So God, there's this display,
there's this display of power and majesty in front of the throne.
There were seven lamps blazing.
These are the seven spirits of God
or the sevenfold spirits of God.
Now, important in scripture is what numbers, right?
And number seven is the number of completion.
This is believed to be these blazing lamps
are believed to be a representation of the Holy Spirit.
Here's what's stunning, right?
And just that amount of verses,
you have just seen the Trinity in heaven.
From Jesus saying, hey, come up here,
to God the Father seated on the throne in control, right?
And then in front of that, you have this representation
of these blazing lamps that is a picture of the Holy Spirit,
right, all the way through scripture.
You can connect the Holy Spirit to flame.
You can connect oil to the Holy Spirit.
You can connect these moments, and it goes to sevenfold,
the complete Spirit of God, which is the Holy Spirit.
And so now in this moment, what's around, what's there,
and what's encircled is God Himself in the full Trinity.
It said also in front of the throne, verse six,
also in front of the throne, there was what looked like,
there's that keyword like, right?
He's trying to describe it as sea of glass,
as clear as crystal.
Some other translations say ice,
because if you think about it, you go,
well, why was the floor like glass?
Like, why does it look like clear crystal?
Well, think about it for a second.
Everything that we've seen so far about who God is,
about what this throne room is, is it's all giving off light.
What does glass do?
It reflects back what?
It makes more of, it intensifies, right?
What? Light.
And so what happens is in this moment is now being intensified
as the very glory of God.
Everything that represents God is now being from the lamps
to the Jasper and Ruby to the emerald rainbow, right?
Like all of it is now reflecting and making more of who,
who God is.
Why? Because it's about God's glory
and it's about what he, who he is.
And so you get this picture of this throne room
that everything is pointing to them.
Next words in verse six say this,
in the center, there's that word again,
in the center, around the throne were four living creatures.
They were covered with eyes in front and in back.
The first living creature was like a lion.
The second was like an ox.
There's that word again, like, right?
Third had a face like a man.
The fourth was like a flying eagle.
Each of the four living creatures had six wings
and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings.
Day and night, they never stopped saying,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
who was and is and is to come.
So now you got these creatures that you're like,
what did that look like?
What was important is what we're given.
And what we're given is the symbolic,
he goes, this one looked like a lion.
This one looked like an ox.
This one looks like a man, the face of a man.
This one looks like a flying eagle.
Remember the posture of them is there's a throne.
And if you take a throne with four corners
surrounding the throne are these living creatures, right?
And the living creatures just by the description
represents a makeup of all of the created order.
So what you have is you have animals represented.
You have humanity represented.
You have animals that fly represented.
Like all of it is this representation
of the created order.
What are we being told about heaven right now?
That everything was created and is represented
from the people of God to now the face of humanity
to these animals, to the created order.
And what is it all doing?
It's all pointing to who God is.
It's all centered and surrounded
and they're going, holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty.
Why are they declaring holy, holy, holy?
Because everything was created by God and for God.
You remember all the way back to week one,
which was like 39 weeks ago?
And then some.
In week one, we started out with Colossians
that everything was made by Jesus and for Jesus.
You get to this image of heaven all the way at the end.
And what are we being told?
The created order is there.
God's people are there.
Creation itself represented in the rainbow.
And what is it all doing?
It's circling the throne and it's saying
everything was made by him and for him,
and therefore he deserves the worship.
That's the picture of heaven right now.
And they declare holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.
And then what happens?
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor
and thanks to him who sits on the throne.
So whenever the created order does what it was supposed to,
gives him glory and honor.
Verse 10, the 24 elders fall down before him
who sits on the throne and worship him
who lives forever and ever.
They laid their crowns before him and say,
you are worthy our Lord and God to receive glory
and honor and power for you created.
There it is, for you created all things.
And by your will, they were created and have their being.
They were created by you and for you.
But you notice what the people of God do?
They're in this representation of heaven.
These creatures go holy, holy, holy.
And what's the response of God's people?
That they come off of their throne and they fall down.
And what do they take?
Their crown, which is their only value.
And what do they do with their crown?
It's not worth anything compared to you.
And it says day and night, day and night, what's happening?
The creatures are going holy, holy, holy.
And what is the representation of God's people doing?
They are falling down and they are worshiping
every time this holy, holy, holy is happening.
And what's happening? Their crowns, their things of value are laid.
Why? Because what they're saying is you alone are worthy.
That word worthy connects then to the next,
start of the next chapter.
And it says this, then I saw in the right hand of him.
So in the right hand of him who sits on the throne,
a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.
Why is this so important?
This scroll holds what is to come.
It holds all of the judgments of God.
It holds all the future of this earth.
It holds all the future of humanity.
And in this scroll, it says that the writing is on both sides.
You know what happens when you take a scroll and you write on both sides?
It fills up.
It fills up. What it's telling us is this is the completed future.
And the one who holds it, God Almighty, is the one who wrote it.
And the one who wrote it is the one who sealed it.
And there is not room for anything else to be added to it.
It tells me that God has written a future
and he is the only one with the right to write that future.
Here's what's amazing.
I don't know where you grew up, if you're familiar with church or not,
but there are so many people that at this point have fallen out as family members.
Because some say this has not happened yet.
And some say, no, no, no, it's already in motion.
Those seals are already open.
But that's not the point.
You know what the point is?
The point is that we recognize that God is the only one that can write the future,
and that's the person we should be trusting.
Not somebody who's got some slick interpretation.
Not somebody...
You guys, I did all this study in my younger years
where you had to timeline this all out with the book of Daniel.
Can I tell you how when I look back, I'm like, man, we were wrong about a lot of stuff.
I think it's fascinating that people try to take this book and they try and interpret it,
and they're so dogmatic on...
Can we just be clear?
Nobody knows.
Can we just own that?
The only person that knows is the one who is seated on the throne that wrote it.
And we as a church, we need to rally around that.
We as the larger community go, that's what matters.
What I'm being shown is the future is written, and I can trust it.
Why?
Because where is it coming from?
The very hand of God, the Father.
And what do they declare next?
And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming...
I just want to know what the mighty angel looked like, to be honest with you.
Proclaiming in a loud voice, who is worthy?
Okay, it doesn't say who is talented.
It doesn't say who is gifted.
It doesn't say who is good enough.
It says who is worthy to break the seals and open this scroll.
But no one in heaven or on earth...
So 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.
No one was found who was worthy.
It doesn't say there's not talented people.
It doesn't say there's not gifted people.
It doesn't say there's not good people.
It doesn't say any of that.
It says there's no one who is what?
Who is worthy to open the scroll or look inside the scroll.
Look inside them.
One of the elders said to me, do not weep.
See the lion of the tribe of Judah, which is a name for Jesus from earlier in the narrative.
Right?
The lion of the tribe of Jesus.
Jesus himself, the root of David, another reference to Jesus, has triumphed.
What has he done?
He's triumphed.
He hasn't come up short.
He isn't lacking, but he has triumphed.
He is able to open the scroll and the seven seals.
Then John says, then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center.
There's that word center again, whereas Jesus, he is at the center of the throne
encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.
The lamb has seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
At this point, you're like, can we go back to Jesus who we talked about before?
The image we're given of Jesus is Jesus who is this lamb who looked like it had been slain.
There's visible marks of what's happened in the crucifixion.
That in the resurrected body of Jesus, there are still the scars he carries of being slain for you today.
That for all of eternity, think about this, for all of eternity, God himself put himself in human form.
Why? For you.
And within that human form, the scars that it cost for him to be slain so that you could triumph,
those scars are still present in heaven.
Because they speak to victory.
They speak to triumph.
And it says of this lamb, says of this lamb who was slain, that he's encircled by who?
The four living creatures, the whole created order.
He's encircled by the elders.
And then it says he has these seven horns.
And you're going, okay, this is where it gets weird.
Well, again, if you understand the narrative and go back, whenever you see horn in the scripture, right?
Like the, all the way through the imagery of the horn is that it's a picture of strength.
Couple it with the number seven, the number completion.
It's complete strength.
Who is complete strength described to? Jesus.
When it comes to that seven eyes, the seven eyes have to do with wisdom.
Eyes have to do with wisdom in the Bible.
Couple it with the number seven.
What do you get? Complete wisdom.
We already talked about the sevenfold spirit, which is the Holy Spirit.
So what happens?
The very strength and wisdom of Jesus goes where?
By the Spirit to all parts of the earth.
And in verse seven, it says that he went, Jesus went 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 the 24 elders fell down before the lamb.
Each one, each one held a harp.
There's some form of melodic worship in heaven right now.
Each of these elders have a harp.
And then it says they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God's people.
In heaven right now with this throne that's surrounded by the other thrones, it has the rainbow above it, that has the four creatures, that has the Holy Spirit present.
It says that the elders have these golden bowls.
And you know what's inside of them?
Your prayer that you thought never made it past the ceiling.
The prayer that you thought God didn't hear.
They're in the very presence of God in a bowl that God's people hold.
And it's the fragrance of the throne room of God are your prayers and my prayers and God's people's prayers.
I always love it when I meet somebody and they're like, they're aging in life and they're like, I'm just not useful anymore.
All I can do is pray. Are you kidding me?
What is represented in the very throne room of God are your prayers.
We need to pray more, not less, because it's the fragrance of the throne room of God.
And you thought you were just praying about football.
And they sang a new song.
Those of you that love the old songs, I don't know how you feel, there's new songs in heaven.
You, Jesus, are worthy.
There's that word again. You are worthy to take the scroll to opens its seals.
Why? Because you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth.
Oh, you, Jesus, God himself, who put on human form.
And in human form, when I will do for you what you cannot do for yourself. Why? Because I love you.
And so I will let my created order, humans, take me and put me on a cross.
And I will let God the Father take all of the sin of all of humanity for all of time.
Now you think of it when you hear sin, sometimes we just kind of play it up.
Sometimes we downplay it.
But think of the most evil thing you can think of.
Then maybe you've done it. Maybe somebody else you heard about it. Maybe.
And then think of your own sin.
Every single human being for all of history, God took the sin of every human being and put it on the person of Jesus.
And he was put on a cross where he bled out. He was slain.
Why? So that he could conquer sin for you.
It says that by his blood he purchased.
What did he purchase? He purchased you for who? For God the Father.
You have been purchased by God. Why? For God.
That they thought they killed him. They declared him dead. They put him in a tomb.
They're like, we have won.
And the image we're given of Jesus earlier in Revelation is that he holds in his hand the keys of death and of Hades.
Of death and of hell. What does he do? He holds them where? In his hands.
You know how he got them? When they thought he was dead, he was actually robbing the grave.
And he's stealing the keys. Who holds the keys to death?
The triumphant Jesus who has purchased you for God for all of eternity.
And when he rose again in a resurrected body and now is in the very throne room of God,
what is happening? It says that he purchased you. Why? So that you could be made into a kingdom.
And what are we to do as a kingdom? We are to serve. Serve who? Serve God.
How? By reigning with him on the earth.
And so what happens? They sing this song, right? Like it's in song form.
And in verse 11, it says, and I looked and I heard the voice of many angels
numbering thousands upon thousands and 10,000 times 10,000. I don't know.
We'll just go with 100 million. Maths not my gig.
100 million ain't pictured. 100 million angels.
Heaven right now, a throne, four creatures that represent the entire created order.
24 thrones that represent God's people. And above that and circling the throne,
a hundred million angels. And what are these angels doing?
In a loud voice, they were saying, worthy is the lamb who was slain.
Worthy is the lamb who was slain. Worthy is the lamb who was slain.
What? To receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.
The sevenfold worship of God. The complete worship of God.
What are they saying? Worthy. Worthy is the lamb who was slain.
Worthy is the lamb who was slain.
Then I heard every creature, every creature in heaven and on earth,
every creature in heaven and on earth, every creature in heaven and on earth
and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne
and to the lamb, praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever.
Look what happens. The four living creatures, all of the created order, they agree and say, Amen.
And the elders fell down. What did the elders do?
The elders, the representation of the church when you see the throne room for what it is,
when you see God for who he is, what is the response of God's people?
They fall down and they what? They worship.
They fall down and they worship. What is the appropriate response to going,
man, I see the lamb who is worthy, who was slain.
The rejoicing of there's no one else that could take that scroll
other than the very person of Jesus Christ who is at the center of the throne room.
And what's the response of God's people?
I'm going to fall down and I'm going to worship.
And you know what's amazing? The angels, 100 million angels
encircling the throne singing what? Worthy is the lamb who was slain.
I don't know about you, but football all of a sudden just went down here.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I still want to win, but it's way down here.
Why? Because I got a glimpse of the throne room of God Almighty.
A glimpse of the resurrected Jesus.
And so here's what we're going to do.
We're going to join the chorus of heaven.
And what are we going to do with that?
Worthy is the lamb who was slain.
And what are we reminding ourselves as we sing worthy is the lamb who was slain.
That this is amazing grace.
Would you stand and worship?