What is it that makes someone worthy in your opinion?
This past Tuesday we were able to cast a vote in the presidential primary… deciding who we think is worthy of that office… who we think has the right character to sit in such a position of power… who we think is wise enough to do what is right on our behalf… who we think deserves our trust… who we deem worthy to honor and follow as our leader…
Ok… well… maybe I’m overstating it a little… I mean, most of us would agree that no matter who you vote for as president you are not choosing someone who is entirely worthy of the office. Even if you agree with most of their policies and politics they will still do some things that you wish they wouldn’t or take stands on issues that you disagree with. Choosing a president can often end up feeling like picking between the lesser of two evils… in fact… if someone told you that they had a candidate who was completely deserving of not only your vote, but your respect, and honor, and trust, and praise… well… you’d probably tell them to keep dreaming!
I wonder if our attitude about our earthly leaders ever spills over into how we think about Jesus’ leadership. Many of us have heard pastors or teachers telling us about Jesus since we were little… and what do they say? You can trust him! You can know he is the one in whom you can and should put your confidence. The one you should honor. The one who is worthy of power and glory and praise. The one who is worthy of our worship…
But do we ever catch ourselves thinking – even if we don’t say it – “c’mon pastor, keep dreaming!” “Jesus is a pretty good leader… but you don’t know my life as well as you might think… You can stand up there on Sunday and tell me that Jesus is doing everything right and taking care of everything I need… but you’re not with me the rest of the week… you don’t see the tension in my home… you don’t see the secret shame I carry… you don’t know about the loneliness I feel… you don’t see all the doctor’s visits pastor… the pain I deal with at home… the stress I deal with at school… the people I deal with at work… you just don’t understand…”
And sometimes we wonder then… “Does Jesus even understand? Does Jesus know what I’m really going through? And if he does then why doesn’t he fix it? Is it that he doesn’t have the power? Or is it that he simply doesn’t care?”
Before we know it we can find ourselves questioning whether Jesus really is worthy of our worship… worthy of our trust… we wonder if he really has the wisdom and power and glory that the Bible says he does… because we aren’t seeing a difference in our lives.
Do you see how easy it is… how quickly we can start to question God’s future promises because of what we see in our present reality? Well… God sees it too. He knows how hard it is for us to live in a world corrupted by sin… in bodies plagued by a sinful nature… in bodies that grow weary and sick and die because of sin… he knows the challenges we face every day from our enemy the devil… he knows the challenges we face from the world around us… and he knows the struggle in our hearts.
And that’s why he gives us today not only a glimpse of the future… but a promise about the one who knows our future and holds it in his hands.
The section of God’s Word we’re looking at is from the very last book of the Bible – Revelation. The message of the book of Revelation is essentially: Jesus is coming back… things are going to get worse here on earth until then… but don’t be afraid because Jesus has won the victory. This was a message that the original audience for this book needed to hear. Because like us, many of them thought, “Hey… if I’m a Christian… my expectation is that life will get better…” But Revelation reminds us that things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better.
A depressing message? I suppose some people might see it that way… But think of Revelation as a loving parent talking to their kids about life. If your mom or dad love you do you think they’ll tell you that life is easy and everything they want will come their way and everyone will like them and they’ll find happiness at every turn in this life…? No! Of course not! Loving parents are honest about things with their kids… they don’t hide reality from them… in fact just the opposite… they’ll do everything they can to prepare them for the harsh realities of life in this world.
Well God is doing the same thing in the book of Revelation… and really much of the Bible. He is honest with us. This is a sin-filled world… that means until he comes again it will not always be a pleasant place to live… people will not always appreciate your or like you because you are a Christian… things in your life might get pretty bad at times… and you’ll never find perfect happiness in this world…
But that is not the only message we hear from God… we also hear the promise from our God that he has already done something about our big problem of sin and hell… that he will use the painful experiences of this life to bring eternal blessing for us… after all… this life is not what we put our hope in as Christians… no – it is the hope of eternal life in the glory of heaven. The Apostle Paul wrote about this in Romans 5 saying:
Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us (Romans 5:1-5).
And this hope of the glory of God… the glory of heaven… well… that’s the focus in the section of Revelation we’re looking at today. It’s a glimpse of the glory that awaits which can encourage us while we live on this side of heaven.
John’s record of this vision begins earlier in Revelation. He is shown a vision of heaven in which he sees God’s throne surrounded by his believing people and the angels… and we are told John saw a scroll which contained the record of the future in it. John tells us that: no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it (Revelation 5:3).
And John reacted to this with weeping we’re told. He was upset… here was a record of what the future held… it was right there in front of him… and no one could tell him what was in it. The church on earth was suffering. John himself was suffering. And as we often wish… he just wanted to know that all this suffering was going to turn out all right in the end… Sure God knows the future… but he wanted to know it too.
Then we’re told someone stepped forward to take that scroll and open it. This someone was called: the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David… and a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain (Revelation 5:5-6). Well… we know who this is. Jesus was born from the tribe of Judah, from the line of David… he was the Lion who had powerfully conquered and torn to pieces his enemies… but you know how that power was displayed… it was displayed in humility… as he went to the altar of the cross and offered his life up as the ultimate sacrifice. As John the Baptist had said of him: Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29).
During the season of Easter here at church you maybe notice we move this large candle next to the pulpit and light it for every service. This candle, called the paschal candle, is symbolic of the life of Christ. We light it during the season of Easter when we celebrate the risen Savior. We light it at baptisms when the life of Christ is given to a new believer. We light it also at many funerals – a reminder that the light of life we have in Christ is not destroyed when our bodies fall asleep. On this candle though if you look closely you will see an image of a Lamb resting on a book with seven seals. This is what John saw in his vision.
And when that Lamb stepped forward… well that’s when the sound of John’s weeping was silenced by the deafening song that the saints and angels began to sing. And what did they sing about? Well they sang to the Lamb and proclaimed him worthy… worthy to open the seals of the scroll… that is, he was worthy to know the future… to hold it in his hands and guard it for his people.
And he was worthy to do this not only because of who he is… but because of what he had done. Jesus, the Lamb of God, sat on God’s throne because he is God… but he also sat there because he had submitted to the Father’s will and won our salvation. Paul once described this difficult concept – of Jesus’ deity and humanity… his humiliation and exultation… he described it in Philippians chapter 2 where he wrote:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11).
And that is essentially what we hear repeated in our sermon text. Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! (Revelation 5:12).
Jesus obeyed his Father and was slain on a cross for you… And so God gave him what was his from eternity – the full use of his divine wisdom and power and glory. Jesus earned it… he deserves it… and he is worthy of our worship because of it.
So please… don’t give in to the doubts Satan plants in your heart… the temptation to doubt Jesus’ worth… to doubt his power or wisdom or love for you… Jesus is worthy of your worship… not just here in church but as you worship him with your daily lives… as you worship him in the midst of your daily problems and deepest pains.
Why? Because he’s forgiven your secret shame… he uses your pain and sicknesses to draw you closer to him… he promises that no matter how hard the journey through this life… no matter how sad and difficult… he has already blazed a trail ahead of you… through pain and sadness and death and hell… a trail that he walks still today as he goes with you… giving you what you need so you can be with him forever. And finally, he tells you that nothing in this life is worth comparing with the glory that’s coming… and that nothing in this life can separate you from his love for you. And you can trust him my friends… because he backed up those promises and every promise he’s ever made with his sacrifice on the cross and his exit from the grave.
We may not know the future… but by God’s grace we know the one who holds the future in his nail scarred hands. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain… now and forever. Amen.