Message
"So Shall it Be".
A Sermon On Revelation 5:1-14
Reflect on the fact that we have been talking about prayer, specifically the Lord’s Prayer.
Speak freely – in terms of the learning we have done.
But here is a question:-
Do you think God is listening to you when you pray?
It is a hard one because our experience of prayer sometimes makes us feel that God maybe is not listening.
We have prayed haven’t we … I’m not talking here about frivolous prayers … but prayers of significance and unselfishness.
We have come to the Lord in tears as we have sought His face on behalf of loved ones who have hardened themselves in the paths of sin.
We plead with the Lord about the healing of relationships and for understanding and love from our spouse, our parents, our children and others around us.
We have ongoing pain and debilitating aches which, if removed, would make us more effective workers in the kingdom of God.
We bring before the Lord the most basic of our needs and some sense to the confusion which is happening in our lives.
All these issues … and many more besides … we lay at the feet of God. And it just seems that the prayers are falling on deaf ears. The simple fact of our lives is that all the teaching in the world doesn’t help us one bit when our drive to pray evaporates because we don’t see the answers coming as we had hoped.
Isn’t it true that there are times when we can walk away from our prayers feeling more than a little disillusioned?
That is how we can feel.
And feelings are very powerful.
And if we don’t feel that God is listening then we start falling into the situation of feeling that maybe we shouldn’t bother praying at all.
We might not do it deliberately, but we just don’t give God our time or come to Him in prayer. And we make ourselves really busy with all sorts of excuses not to stop and get on our knees.
So, if you feel like that today, or maybe you have felt like that in the past, or when you feel like this in the future, or when you meet someone who feels like this and you want to walk the journey with them – then let me remind you of one little word.
AMEN
Amen?
How is that meant to help us?
Because it is quite reasonable to think that “Amen means – to come to an end”.
You can picture a family meal time. The table is loaded with wonderful food and your mouth is watering and your stomach is rumbling and you just want to eat. Why is it a special meal? Because the grand-parents have come to visit. Now before you eat you need to pray … and since grand-dad is here he gets the privilege.
So he begins to pray … and pray … and pray.
Mum is beginning to worry that the food is going to get cold.
The kids have started having sneak peeks at each other.
The smell of the food is lingering in the air.
And then the “Amen” comes. Finally the prayer is finished and we can eat.
Or let’s picture another situation – this time we are at a church service.
And the sermon has been going for quite some time.
And you have had a hot meal for lunch which has made you a little sleepy.
Now all of the words seem to roll into one.
And then the “Amen” comes. It’s the time to sit up and look lively because the sermon has come to an end.
We could be excused for thinking like that … but that does not give us an understanding of the word. To see what we are really talking about let’s have a look at some passages in Scripture.
Read Genesis 15:1-6
In this passage Abram comes to the Lord with a bit of a concern.
In the past God had promised that Abram would have a son … but that was many years ago and no son had arrived.
So, at the beginning of Genesis 15 Abram brings this issue before the Lord.
In response to that concern God took Abram outside and showed him the stars.
Once we were staying at Mutawintji National Park – out past Broken Hill almost on the boarder of NSW, QLD and SA. There are no lights there and the stars go forever.
That is what would have met Abram … stars as far and as the eye could see. Verse 6 then tells us that “Abram believed the Lord”.
Let me tell you what the words sound like in Hebrew.
we hee aa men ba adonai.
You heard it didn’t you … “amen” was in there.
Whenever you use the word “Amen” you are actually speaking Hebrew. Abram “believed” in the Lord … Abram “amened” in the Lord.
That is what “Amen” means.
Amen doesn’t mean “We have come to the end”
Rather Amen tells us “This is the beginning”.
It is the beginning of the belief that you take God at face value and accept His promises to you. We are convicted that God is going to do something.
Genesis 15:6 is the first time in the Scriptures that this word is used – again and again in Scripture you will find this little word.
Always it is in the context of affirming the power of God, and His might, and His wisdom, and His willingness to include us in His family.
Always it gives hope and encouragement as we see the works of God unfold.
And Revelation 5:1-14 is a perfect example of it. Let’s read it.
As we read though this chapter we know that some pretty significant issues are unfolding. It begins with a scroll that is unable to be unrolled because it is sealed with seven seals. There does not seem to be anyone who has the power to open the seals.
What is in the scroll? To find that answer to that question you need to look further on into chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9. Indeed the last of the seals is not opened until chapter 10. And it is in Revelation 10:7 that we are given a clue to the significance of the scroll.
But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.
By taking in the broader context we know that this scroll is a "mystery" book … The Mystery of God. It answers questions that men have been asking for generations which no one has been able to answer. It gives God’s final solution to the mess which we have created. It’s the perfect world for which we are all searching.
We all want the perfect world don’t we.
No housework.
No drug abuse.
No prejudice.
A relationship that works.
More time with our families.
A decent education for all.
Clean air and water.
A birth control pill for men.
A car really built for families.
Health (no AIDS).
Happiness (no war).
And the pursuit of a family-friendly workplace.
That would be a perfect world!
Everyone is looking for that and more – our desire is to see God bring change. And we know God is going to bring a change. But there is a mystery about it – the mystery revealed in the scroll.
The big problem is that there is no one who can open it. The answers are there but access to the answers are hindered.
Who is worthy to give the answers?
Who is worthy enough to come up with lasting solutions?
Who is moral enough?
That is the question hanging in the air – and there have been many volunteers through the centuries who have suggested some answers.
Nebuchadnezzar, in the Old Testament, claimed to be able to do so. He boasted of how cleverly he had built the great city of Babylon. But his empire soon fell apart.
Alexander the Great thought he had accomplished it, and at the age of 32 wept because he had no more worlds to conquer. But a few months later he drank himself to death and his empire too was gone.
Julius Caesar led the legions of Rome across the face of Europe trying to establish a world in which Roman peace would be prevalent. But it, too, fell ultimately to the assault of barbarians from the North.
Hitler thought he was establishing a thousand-year Reich that would rule the world. Yet all failed and failed dismally.
Think of any man, any woman, any institution, any invention. All of them combined are unable to solve the issues that divide mankind and keep us from loving one another. Who can do it? No one seems to be available so John wept and wept.
It is a picture of hopelessness … until the Lion of Judah enters the room. You can imagine John craning his neck to find this magnificent beast. Instead all he sees is a Lamb with the marks of death still upon Him. In these two symbols, the Lion of Judah and the Lamb that was slain, John sees the uniting of two themes that run throughout the Bible.
Lions are a symbol of majesty, power, rule and authority. Lambs are just cute.
Lions conquer; lambs submit!
Lions roar; lambs die!
There is introduced to us here the One who conquers by submitting. And submit He did.
He submitted to the cross – in obedience to His Father.
He submitted to death – as a payment for our sin.
He submitted to the humiliation and shame – the originator of creation placed in a tomb.
In every way He comes in submission – yet He wins. Nothing can hold Him, not even the chains of death. Which means He is worthy.
And there among the 24 elders, and the four living creatures, and the ten thousand times ten thousand angels a song breaks out.
A song that proclaims the power and majesty of the Lamb.
A song that acknowledges the work of Jesus which He has done for us on the cross.
A song which focuses on His worthiness to be praised by the most powerful of creatures we can ever imagine.
It is a song of conviction about the ability of Jesus to unfold the mystery even before the scroll has been opened. And then at the conclusion of it all comes that little powerful word, “Amen”.
Is that Amen the end??
No it is an Amen of beginning.
All that has been expressed about Jesus and His ability to save people will come to pass. While it might look like God is weak … just a Lamb … the fact is that God is using these means to bring about the salvation of the world as He takes it from the clutches of Satan. It didn’t look like it was going to happen … but it did happen.
When Jesus was on the cross they mocked Him and said, “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:40).
The irony was that He was able to come down from the cross, but chose not to.
While it looked like a moment of weakness … what God was doing at that moment was the most powerful act that He would ever perform.
Greater than the creation of the world, and greater than bringing the world to an end. In this humble act of God, the devil was shamed and robbed of his power. We will never know, this side of heaven, what terrible struggles took place in the spiritual world between Palm Sunday and Easter morning. But one thing we do know: the Lamb became a Lion.
It all happened in a way that people didn’t expect … but it all happened in the best way. And greatest beings in heaven itself say “Amen”. They affirm with conviction that this is the right way.
It is the same conviction with which we end our prayers. God may not answer in the way we expect – but He always answers in the way that is best for us. Because that is the sort of God He is. The One who gave His own Son to enable us to have hope.
With that being the case let us then come with our prayers and trust and believe that God is doing the best for us – even when we don’t see it happening. For God’s desire to answer our prayers is even greater than our desire to offer them in the first place.
Prayer
