BELIEVERS JOIN TOGETHER TO PRAISE GOD!
REVELATION 5:11—14 MAY 4, 2003
REVELATION 5:11-14
11Then 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. 12In 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!"
13Then 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, for ever and ever!"
14The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
When we think of John what do we remember about John in Revelation? From last week we heard how John was off by himself in exile on the island of Patmos. There he thought he would spend the rest of his life and he did. John thought he was going to spend his life alone. He would except for the fact that as we saw last week, the Lord spoke to him and gave him a vision and a purpose. That vision and purpose was to write seven letters to seven churches. He did. Now we come to the words of our text where John is given a vision into the throne room of God. Here he is reminded that even though he is physically off by himself in exile on the island of Patmos, he is not alone is he? He, along with all the other believers can join together to praise God. John was reminded of what the psalm writer said. "Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs"(PSALM 100:1,2). Even though John thought he had been alone, he realized that he could come before the throne of God wherever he was with joyful songs and praise the Lord.
You and I aren’t going to be sent off into exile. Instead, we enjoy the fellowship and company of one another as we gather together on the Lord’s Day and on special days to worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. And so it is today as our text points out, we are vividly reminded that believers join together to praise God. You and I, as believers, join together here in Norton, Kansas, to praise God. Believers throughout the United States join together to praise God. Believers throughout the world join together to praise God. We learn anew in the vision that John sees--
BELIEVERS JOIN TOGETHER TO PRAISE GOD
I. For the Lamb of God
II. For the saved of God
I. For the Lamb of God
What a joy it had to be for John to be given this insight into the throne of God. There are a lot of things that happened in between chapter one and chapter five. We’re going to explain them as God’s word explains them. 11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. What does this description sound like? It sounds like a big number, doesn’t it? It is! It’s a number that you can’t count. Some would like to say, ‘A thousand times a thousand equals so much, and ten-thousand times ten-thousand equals so many million.’ John just simply says angels upon angels upon angels were gathered around the throne of God. We have to picture what John is seeing. He is seeing the throne of God and around that throne of God are angels in an ever-increasing circle.
Now there is something in between the angels and the throne. We are told, they (the angels) encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. We did not talk about them. They are in the chapters before today’s text. If you look them up, you will find out that John had difficulty describing the living creatures. There were four of them. He said they were covered with eyes. They had wings. One looked like a lion, one like an ox, one like a man and one like an eagle. Later on, we find that they, too, represent angels—those four living creatures.
Then, John talks about the elders. So, around the throne we have the elders also encircling that throne where the Lamb of God is sitting. (We’re going to talk about that.) There are twenty-four thrones. We might think twelve thrones, but there are twenty-four…twenty-four because the Lord told His disciples, ‘You will sit on the thrones judging the nations’; twelve more for the patriarchs of the Old Testament—the heads of the families of the twelve tribes of Israel. In this way there are twenty-four thrones around that single throne. The New Testament Apostles united with the Old Testament Patriarchs.
Now, we begin to see what John sees…the throne; the living creatures, the elders and the angels are all in an enormous, ever-increasing circle. They are all singing praises to God. They’re singing praises to God because of the Lamb of God. 12In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain…” John earlier described the throne with a lamb that had been slain. Worthy is that Lamb! He tells them what the Lamb was worthy of…”to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" This Lamb of God—Christ—the Son of God who was slain for the sins of the world. John agreed. The elders, the living creatures, the angels all said, ‘And this Lamb of God is worthy to receive all these things that He gave up on earth.’ John lists those seven things: power and wealth, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and praise. John was joining together with the angels to praise God for the Lamb of God.
You and I, as we live our lives, also praise God for the Lamb of God because He takes away the sins of the world. It all began when Jesus was born. He walked on this earth. Some recognized Him and some didn’t. Those who did were always anxious to point out who He was. We think of John the Baptist who was able to baptize Jesus and to recognize Him as the Son of God. So it was that as Jesus walked around and the other disciples were around (those who did not yet fully understand) John pointed out who Jesus was. "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ’Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’"(JOHN 1:29). Make no mistake about it; this Jesus takes away the sin of the world. He takes away the sin of you and me. He covers it up with His righteous blood. He is the Lamb of God. Our living is also to point others to that Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
COLOSSIANS 1:20 tells us, "God was pleased through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." You and I, because scripture teaches it, believe in a blood theology—that it takes the blood of Christ to cover up our sins. To our ears, that doesn’t sound so strange or unheard of. We celebrate it in the Lord’s Supper today. The Lord says, ‘Take and eat my Body. Take and drink my Blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.’ There are some in this world who say, ‘This just does not make sense.’ There are some in this world who think, ‘To talk about blood and salvation and death is revolting.’ You and I join together today to praise God because by grace He has given understanding to our hearts by faith to see Christ is our Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (We will examine the deeper meaning for us about the Lamb of God next Sunday.)
Our lives have changed. We are included in that ever-increasing circle as we picture the throne again with twenty-four elders around, the angels and John. We praise God too. We say,
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ"(EPHESIANS 1:3). In our world we spend a lot of our time counting our earthly blessings and looking at them. Sometimes maybe we even complain about those earthly blessings we do not have. The Lord reminds us as we stop to think about it, that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing that you and I ever need. The Lord has provided us with the forgiveness of sins. As we’re told, where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation.
No wonder you and I join together to praise God for the Lamb of God. We praise God also as John found out
II. For the saved of God
We remember the point of John ready to spend the rest of his life in exile on Patmos, as a person alone. A government that didn’t want to hear him preaching to the crowds anymore had sent John there. They didn’t want to have this message of salvation proclaimed. What joy it was for John then, as God speaks to him. God gives John insight to see what heaven is like, to remind him that he is not alone but that he is always included with all the saints of God. Who did that include? We’ve already heard about the four living creatures, the elders, and the angels. We see that circle getting bigger and bigger. 13Then I heard creatures in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing. John’s ears were opened to hear all the believers everywhere…whether they were alive in heaven and around the throne of God or whether they were on the earth, on the sea, under the sea: they were everywhere and singing…singing what?
They were singing praise upon praise upon praise…"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" Again, as we look at those words—praise and honor and glory and power—they were all those things that Jesus had given up when He lived here on earth. Before He died on the cross it was hard to find anyone who would praise Him; even the government did not honor Him. In weakness Jesus died on the cross: for rather than power, He gave that up so that He might die. Glory and honor? They weren’t His while He was here on earth. Now they were to be His, not just for a little bit of time, but forever and ever. The conclusion? 14The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped. The four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ They said yes, so shall it be. John, in that moment, also joyously praised God for all the saints that were gathered around the throne of God. He praised God for all the saints that were praising this Lamb of God. He praised God for all the saints on the earth, in the earth, on the sea and under the sea who were praising God. John realized he was not alone.
What a sad thing to feel alone. We live in a world where more than thirty percent of the people feel alone. We live in a society that doesn’t interact well with people anymore. Even some of us have lost our people skills. We’re involved in our lives of doing whatever it might be. We’re taken away sometimes by technology. Sometimes we, too, may feel alone even in the midst of people. Today the Lord reminds us, ‘But we gather together.’ We join together to praise God because we are not alone. We praise Him for all the saints, wherever they might be because they too, share in the promise of glory. The Lord is never going to leave us or forsake us, he says, for a simple reason. ROMANS 8:17 tells us, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” God isn’t going to abandon us ever because He calls us His children. As His children, what does that mean? He tells us in Romans that we are going to share in His sufferings AND we are going to share in His glory also. The sufferings that you and I share in for the sake of Christ are very limited. They pale in comparison to the sufferings that the Lord endured for us. He endured it for us that you and I might share in His glory. That glory is not just for a little while, but it is eternal glory! That does not mean that we are always going to see that big picture like John did. It does not mean that we are always going to understand and feel, ‘Yes! We are safe and warm and held securely in the arms of Jesus.’
We may sometimes feel forsaken, neglected and forgotten because Satan is still alive and well in this world. As long as we’re on this side of heaven, we have our sinful flesh with us. Our sinful flesh is always trying to distract us from that which is good and pure and holy. Our sinful flesh, along with Satan and the world around us, stands in the way of our perfect understanding of God’s will for our life. Satan sorely afflicts us. He tempts us as Peter says, ‘Like a roaring lion.’ What else does it say? It says, "Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings"(1 PETER 5:9). How many of us haven’t felt sorry for ourselves at one time or another? We have a pain that doesn’t go away. We have a heartache that doesn’t disappear. Yet you and I know full well as we look at our lives that there are many people in this world who are far worse off than we are. You can think of many examples here.
We realize how much God has blessed us. We realize we join together to praise God for all the saints. There are saints in this world who are truly suffering for the sake of their faith. We are not alone. We are thankful for the Lamb of God. We’re thankful for all the saints, for all the believers who share in our sufferings and who also share in our joys. That is how we overcome. That is how we face the future. The Lord tells us in HEBREWS 3:1, "Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.” When we become wrapped up in ourselves and when we become so self-centered we can’t see the joy of living, the Lord says, ‘Look beyond that. Focus on Christ.’ Focus on the Lamb of God whom we confess. Focus on the high priest who gave himself up as the perfect sacrifice for all of our sins. We do that today again in the Lord’s Supper. We hear forgiveness in His word. We taste and feel and touch forgiveness in this sacrament to remind us this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
We join together as believers here today to praise God for the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, to praise God for those who are saved by God by grace. ISAIAH 25:1 tells us, "O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.” Isaiah wrote that when he was down in the dumps. He looked back on his life and said, ‘Lord you have always done marvelous things for me.’ Then Isaiah looked at his present life and said, ‘Lord, you are doing marvelous things for me today.’ Certainly with that, he was able to look ahead and say, ‘Lord, you are going to do marvelous things for me yet to come.’
That’s what John realized here. That’s what you and I realize. As we join together to praise God, we realize all the marvelous things he has done for us in the past. We realize the marvelous things God is doing in the present. Finally, we also put our hope and confidence in the many marvelous things that are yet to come by God’s infinite grace and love. As believers we gather together today to praise God. We praise God for the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We praise God for the saved of God with whom we are united. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
