Now Revelation chapter 5 beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads "And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals." Now, chapter five picks up exactly where we left off in chapter 4, if you remember, John had been caught up into heaven, and he was shown the throne and the sea of glass. He was shown the beasts and the elders, and all these different things. Well in chapter 5 verse 1, now we're told that there is a book in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, and that the book is sealed with seven seals. Now before I get into the material in chapter 5, I want to just quickly go to chapter 6, and show you a little bit about what these seals are, and what this book is, that is sealed with seven seals. Now the way this book works, is that as a seal is broken, a little bit more of the story becomes visible. Now if you could think of it as a scroll. You know if you were to roll up a scroll like this, okay? And, let's say you were to put a seal right here to where you could roll it, to this point and no further, okay? And then roll it up a little further, put another seal. Roll it up a little further, put another
seal. Roll it up a little further, put another seal. And when it was all totally rolled up, you would put one last seal on the whole thing. So, when you broke this seal, that would be like opening seal number one, and then when you looked at it, you would be able to read only to the point where the next seal is holding it shut. Now the Bible says here "a book". I'm not sure if this is actually a book as we would think of a book, or if it's a scroll. Let's say it's a book like we would think of, then maybe different portions of it are sealed in different ways, and as those seals are broken, more of the story becomes exposed. So when the first seal is open, we get the first part of the story that's contained in the book. When the second seal is open, we get the second part of the story, and so on and so forth. And the story unfolds as these different seals are broken. Now I am going to preach on these in great detail in chapter 6, but just to give you a quick overview, look at chapter 6 verse 1, the Bible reads "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he
that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." So when the first seal is opened, we see this man riding on a white horse with a crown and a bow in his hand, he's going out to conquer. And just for sake of time, I'll just quickly tell you the other seals. When the second seal is opened, the world is filled with warfare. Another horsemen goes out and takes peace from the earth, and causes the people on the earth to kill one another. When the third seal is opened, we see great famine on the land. And then when the fourth seal is opened, we see death, pestilence over the fourth part of the earth. When the fifth seal if opened we see martyrs being killed for the cause of Christ. And then of course when the sixth seal is opened, the sun and moon are darkened, and the great day of the Lord's wrath is come. And then when the seventh seal is opened, we're introduced to the seven trumpets. Now, the difference between the seventh seals and the other groups of seven that are coming later in the book of Revelation- because remember we have the "seven trumpets" and the "seven vials"? The difference with the
seven seals is that God is NOT pouring out His wrath with these seals being opened. For example, when the trumpets are being sounded, an angel sounds a trumpet, and then God pours out some judgement, or pours out some wrath upon this earth. Or when we get to the seven vials, as the angels pour out their vials upon the earth, you know, God pours His wrath in some way. Let me prove to you that the events of the seals are not God's wrath. Look if you would at the fifth seal for example. Look at chapter 6 verse 9. "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held". Now, obviously God's wrath is not upon His own people, right? And when we look at the events of the fifth seal, it is that people are being killed for the cause of Christ. But look further, it says they "were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they
should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." So here we see that when these martyrs arrive in heaven, these people who have been killed for the cause of Christ with the opening of the fifth seal, they are asking "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou NOT judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" That shows that up to this point with the first four seals being opened, God is not avenging the blood of the prophets. God is not judging those that dwell on the earth. Now, He is going to, because when they ask, "how much longer until you judge the earth? How much longer until you avenge our blood?" Notice that God doesn't say "what do you mean? I've already been doing it! Didn't you see the famines? Didn't you see the death?" Because a lot of people will look at the fourth seal- where it talks about killing in the fourth part of the earth with sword, hunger, death and the beasts of the earth- and they say "see, that's God already pouring out His wrath! See, in the fourth seal God's already begun to pour out His wrath?" No, that's not true at all, because even with
the fifth seal, the slain martyrs are pleading with God saying "how much longer do we have to wait BEFORE you will avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" Okay, that shows that He is not already doing it, okay? That shows that the first five seals have nothing to do with God's wrath. And the answer they are given is not "well that's what I've already been doing", the answer that they're given is to "rest yet for a little season", until [your] fellowservants also and [your] brethren, that should be killed as [you] were, should be fulfilled." He is saying, "wait just for a little season." And then what happens next? The sixth seal is opened, sun and moon are darkened, and then that's when they say the great day of His wrath is come. So, see? It was a very short season that they had to wait. Because in the fifth seal, they're told "just wait a little longer", then at the sixth seal, "here it is, the great day of His wrath is come". So God does not begin to pour out His wrath UNTIL the events of the sixth seal. So what is this book then? This book is basically just telling the story of events, and things which must shortly come to pass on the earth. It's not God doing the killing. It's just God who
has the book written, giving the story of the things which must come to pass. And that's what we see there. So let's go back to chapter 5, with that in mind, understanding what this seven sealed book is. It's a book that contains a story and as each seal is broken, we get more of the story of the events which must come to pass leading up to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So in chapter 5 verse 1, the Bible reads "And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon." Now the thing I want to point out about verse 3, is that according to chapter 3, there are men located in those 3 places. There are men that are located in heaven. There are men that are located on the earth, and there are men that are located under the earth. Now, we know that there are men in heaven. There are a lot of people that teach a false doctrine, that when believers die, they do NOT go to
heaven. They teach maybe "soul sleep" for example. But here God makes it clear that men are in heaven. Of course the apostle Paul said "I have reminded you of it often, he said "for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." He said "I have a desire to be with Christ, which is far better". He said " to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord". So we know there are men in heaven. Every man who has ever died and was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, is already in heaven right now, before the rapture, before the resurrection. I mean, TODAY, if I died, my soul would go to heaven, my body would be on this earth, but my soul would go to heaven. Okay, but then He says there are men on the earth. Well that's pretty easy to understand. But then he also says that there are men UNDER the earth. Well, who are the men under the earth. Clearly it is those UNSAVED who have died and gone to hell. They are under the earth, they are in the depths of the earth. And so we see that no man was found worthy. And he said whether they be in heaven, on the earth, under the earth... NO MAN was found worthy to open the book, neither to look thereon, verse 4. "And I wept much"- he
is saying he cried, and tears streamed down his face, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. He knows this is an important book. It's a book that's held in the hand of God, he wants to know what's inside, he wants to know the contents, he weeps that no man is able to open and to read the book, neither look thereon. Boy, we're privileged that we just open it up and read it. But he wanted to see what was inside. It says in verse 5, "one of the elders", this is one of the 24 elders, "saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." So obviously we know that the lamb of God is Jesus Christ. John the baptist, when he looked upon Jesus Christ on this earth said "behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world". And obviously the lamb was slain, because Jesus died on the cross for our
sins, was buried and then three days later rose again. Now go back if you would to Genesis 49 in your Bible. Genesis 49.
It's interesting because here Jesus Christ is called "the LION of the tribe of Judah". And what's interesting about that is, is that that term is only found in two places in the Bible. "The lion of the tribe of Judah" is found in Revelation 5, and it's found in Genesis 49. And whenever we see something that's only mentioned in two places, it always makes sense to look at both places, and to compare scripture with scripture and understand it. So go back to Genesis 49, where the concept of the lion of the tribe of Judah comes from. Now first of all, at the beginning of Genesis 49, the Bible says in verse 1 "And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days." Now jump down to verse 8, where we get to the blessing upon Judah, because he blesses each of the twelve tribes. Look at verse 8. "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee." So what we see prophesied here about Judah is
actually referring to Jesus Christ who is the Son of Judah, who is of the tribe of Judah. And it says of him, that his hand will be in the necks of his enemies, and that his father's children shall bow down before him. Now this is an appropriate time in Revelation 5 for this scripture to be brought up, because Jesus Christ is about to defeat all of his enemies, and he is about to rule and reign on this earth, for a thousand years after having destroyed and demolished all the wicked kings and kingdoms of this earth, and taken the kingdom for himself. And the seven sealed book, has the events that lead up to that. And so he says that his hand will be in the necks of his enemies, and it says " thy father's children shall bow down before thee." We're about to see Jesus Christ receive a lot of worship a little bit later in the chapter, where a lot of people are bowing down before him. And of course eventually EVERY knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Look at verse 9. "Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion"- "couched" would be our modern word "crouched (down)".
He says "he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." So we're seeing some symbolism here of the Lord Jesus Christ ruling and reigning, a scepter is what a king has when he is reigning, he is the lawgiver. And then it says "unto him shall the GATHERING of the people be." Of course, that's a very significant event, with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when Jesus Christ returns as the lion of the tribe of Judah, the Bible says "I beseech ye therefore by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our GATHERING together unto him", "unto him shall the GATHERING of the people be". Then it says this in verse number 11. "Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:" Of course this is referring to in Revelation 19 when Jesus Christ returns on a white horse, and the Bible says he was "clothed in a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God." Verse 12. " His eyes shall be red with
wine, and his teeth white with milk." Remember that when John looked at Jesus Christ, his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his face and his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow. So go back if you would to Revelation chapter 5. So it's pretty interesting when you look back at the only place that Jesus is referred to as "the lion of the tribe of Judah". In both places, they have a lot of parallels there, it's pretty interesting to look at that. So, back in Revelation chapter 5, the Bible said in verse 5, "one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah"- a reference back to Genesis 49- "the Root of David"- you say, "what does that mean, the Root of David?" Well, in Revelation 22, Jesus said "I am the root, and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star." Now, think about this. What is a root? Is that the product of the plant, or is that where the plant comes from? Or the source? If you think about it, the root is what's making the plant grow. It's what's taking in all the nutrients. And really the root comes first, before we see a giant plant, we see a root. If I said "what is the root of our problems here?" What am I asking? "What's the
source?" Right? If I say "what is the root cause?" I'm saying "what is the source?" So basically Jesus is saying I am the ROOT, and the OFFSPRING of David. Because Jesus Christ is the creator of the whole world. And this ties in with the part where Jesus Christ asked the scribes, he asked "what think ye of Christ? Whose Son is he?" Do you remember that? And they say "he's the son of David", and he says "okay, well then why does David call him Lord, if he be his son?" And remember they couldn't answer him. They couldn't understand how David would call Christ "Lord", why would he call his son Lord? The answer is that Jesus Christ is the root and the offspring of David, because Jesus is the creator, he is above David, he created David, he came before David. Jesus Christ existed in eternity past. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And so Jesus Christ is the root of David, but he is also humanly speaking physically the offspring of David. So here it says he is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld,
and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof" and on and on. So we see here that as soon as Jesus, as soon as the lamb takes the book out of the hand of Him that sitteth upon the throne, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders, they fall down before him and begin to worship him and praise him, and talk about his
worthiness. Now, this is another proof that the Lord Jesus Christ is God, that we believe in the deity of Christ. And, the Bible is real clear that we should only worship God. I mean the Bible says "thou shalt worship the Lord they God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Flip over to Matthew 28 quickly.
Matthew chapter 28. But while you are turning to Matthew 28, I am going to read for you from Philippians chapter 2 where the Bible reads in verse 9, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." And the Bible tells us there is ONE LORD, one faith, one baptism, over and over in the Old Testament, God is called "the LORD". And when his name "Jehovah" is used in the Old Testament, that's translated into the New Testament, as "the Lord". You know, if you go to the Greek New Testament, there is no word "Jehovah", okay? It just says "the Lord". "Kurios" is the word, but it's always "the Lord, the Lord". So, Jesus Christ IS THE LORD. Jesus Christ is worthy to be praised, and worshiped. And whenever you find people worshiping Jesus Christ in the four gospels, you'll never find them rebuked for doing so. Whenever people worship the apostles, they are always rebuked and told not to do it. But when Jesus Christ is
worshiped, he always receives that worship. And remember, the Bible says "thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and HIM ONLY shalt thou serve." Yet Jesus Christ receives worship. Look at chapter 28 of Matthew for a great example. The Bible says in verse number 9 "And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me." Jump down to verse 17. It says that "And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." So He says, they worshipped him, but some doubted. You see, he wanted to be worshipped, he always received worship. And the Bible says that someday, EVERY knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God that Father. So, we see the four beasts and the 24 elders are worshipping Jesus Christ as soon as he takes the book out of the Lord's hand. God the Father that is. Look at verse 8. "And when he had
taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints." Go to Psalm 56. Psalm 56. It's interesting that these golden vials are full of odours which are the prayers of saints. Of course later on in Revelation chapter 8, the incense is going to be burnt before God, and He is going to offer the incense as an offering unto God, the angel. And he is also going to offer up the prayers of the saints. But look if you would at Psalm 56 verse 8. The Bible reads, "Thou tellest my wanderings". Now, "tellest" in the Bible, often means "to count". For example, when you go to the bank, what's the person that helps you at the bank called? The bank... Teller, right? Because they're counting out the money to you,and so the Bible says "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my"- basically it means "you are keeping track of my wanderings" He is not losing track, the very hairs of our head are numbered... "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?" So this talks about the fact that God is storing up the tears of His people
in a bottle. And they are also kept in a book of remembrance. Now, not only that, but it's associated with prayer, because look at verse 9. "When I cry unto thee"- that's prayer, you know, calling out to God, calling out unto the LORD. "When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me." He is saying "I am praying and crying out to God that He will help me defeat my enemies, that He will help me in the face of my enemies." And he is saying "God hears me, and he sees my tears, and he puts them in a bottle, and he records them in a book". Verse 10. "In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me." Back to Revelation 5. Why is he not afraid? Because he knows that his prayers are being heard by God, and that his tears are being captured and stored by God, and stored in a book. So this should show us how important it is to God that we pray unto him. You know, we might take it lightly, and maybe we will skip a lot of prayer time, and maybe
we just don't really see the point in praying and we just think, "well, God is just going to do whatever He is going to do
anyway, let's just read the Bible and live for God and do what we are supposed to do." But you know, prayer is important because first of all, the Bible says "you have not, because you ask not." And so there are a lot of things that we could have in our life, a lot of blessings that we could have, if we would just pray and ask God. But not only that, but our prayers are an offering unto God that is a sweet savour in His nostrils according to Revelation chapter 8. And here in Revelation chapter 5, it talks about the fact that the four and twenty elders and the four beasts have golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of saints. God finds our prayers so important that He keeps them. He stores them. You know, we have a drawer at our house, it's a big giant drawer. And it contains all kinds of drawings, and notes and poems that our children have drawn and written. And you know kids do a lot of drawing, they write a lot of notes, and sometimes I look at that drawer and I'm thinking to myself "Goodnight! Do we really need to keep ALL of this?" And I mean my wife doesn't want to get rid of any of it. And we are just constantly just- more drawings- and we are just
jamming them into this drawer. Why? Because when you love your children, and they write you a note, or they write you a letter, you want to keep that, it means something to you, it's really important to you, right? Now there's a lot of mail that comes that gets torn up and thrown in the trash, doesn't it? I might get emails or letters or cards that aren't really that important to me, I might read them, look at them and throw them away. But if I got a really special card, or a card from someone special... Let's say I exchanged a very poignant or intimate letter with my wife. That's something that I would want to keep, that's something that would mean a lot to me. Or if my children wrote me a letter, if my children wrote me a note, I love them, I want to keep that. And I'm going to cherish it. That's how God is with His children, that shows that He loves us. You say "ahh, there's so many of us!" But God is so much greater than we are that he has more capacity for love. We might think "well how can he love millions of us and care about each one of us, and listen to all of our prayers and actually take it seriously?". But God has so much intelligence and so much power, and so much of a
mind, that He can actually think about us all the time, have the hairs of our head numbered, love us each individually as his children. You know sometimes people look at a large family, for example, because we have seven children, and counting... But we have seven children. You know people might look at a large family and say "how can you love each of your children when you have so many of them? You should only have one child, or two children so that you can give them maximum love." But that's not true at all! Because the more children you have, the more you love each of them. And it's the same way with God. God's love is not diminished for His children because He has more of them, "because He has so many children, He loves them less", that's ridiculous. And God cares about us, He wants to hear from us. And we might think "oh, why am I even praying, what's the point? But God is listening to every word you say. Not only is He listening, He is recording it! He's keeping it, He is storing it, it means something to Him! Even if you are just asking for something, you know what? He still stores that, and it means something to Him, and He appreciates the fact that you
are going to Him, and that you are showing your faith in Him, by speaking to Him, even though He cannot be seen or heard. It shows that you believe that He is there, and that you believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. So it's really interesting how God stores up our tears, He stores up our prayers... He keeps them in a book, like a scrapbook. Like I would maybe keep memorabilia from my wife, or from my children, or from other people that I love. But look at verse 9. We're going to see the new song that they sing. Once Jesus takes the book, they sung a new song, because remember they've been praising God in other ways in chapter 4. Remember over and over again the four beasts are saying "holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come"? And then every time they give honour and glory and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, then the four and twenty elders fall down, throw their crowns before His feet and praise Him?Well now, that scene that keeps playing out over and over again, has now changed, now they are singing a new song. And here is the new song that they sing. It says in verse 9. "And they sung a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." So it's a song about how worthy Jesus Christ is, and how HE is the one who is able to open the book, and how HE has redeemed us to God by HIS blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and has made us unto our God kings and priests. Now, this is an OFTEN misunderstood passage here. A lot of confusion has come from these verses, verses 9 and 10. But it isn't God's fault. It's a misunderstanding on the part of the reader. Whenever we read something in the Bible and we're confused, WE have the misunderstanding. And here's what
confuses people. Who is singing the song according to Revelation 5? The four beasts and the four and twenty elders, okay? Well, how can these twenty eight individuals sing that they were redeemed to God by His blood out of every kindred, and tongue and people and nation? And let me ask you this, are there more than 28 tongues? Absolutely. There
are hundreds and hundreds. Really THOUSANDS of languages, I mean, if you count every obscure language. But we know of hundreds of major languages. You know even "Rosetta Stone" is going to carry more than 28 languages for you to learn, right? And He says here, that they are redeemed out of every tongue, every kindred, every nation. How many nations are there? Even just right now on the earth? Just present day there are over a hundred and fifty nations. And so, people have been confused by this and not quite understood it. Now, here is the part that REALLY should show you what I am trying to illustrate... And I'm going to show in a minute, but... The four beasts! Were the four beasts redeemed by the blood of the lamb? I mean, stop and think about that. Were the four beasts redeemed by the blood of the lamb, and will the four beasts reign on the earth? Absolutely not, because the four beasts are NOT human, okay? Therefore they were NOT saved by the blood of Christ. So that's why people get confused by this. Now, what some people will say, is they will say "well, this proves that the 24 elders really represent every believer, everybody who has ever lived." No, that
does not prove that. Maybe if the four beasts weren't singing, you could maybe try to make a case for that, but still, I'm not buying that at all. Because why would 24 elders, which are all men, which are all prophets, they're all Pastors or Bishops, which I talked about last week, but, why would they represent every believer, when believers are made up of man, woman, boy, girl, preacher, the laymen in the pew that's never going to get up and preach. Why would that... That doesn't make any sense! And dead sure the four beasts. Somebody said, "the four beasts... that's believers!" No, the four beasts are the seraphims, they're not human! And we talked about that last week. But the answer is really simple, and a lot of times when you look at something and you are confused... And people have really strained themselves on these two verses. And did you know that the modern Bible versions, you know the versions other than the King James? They just change this. You know, because whenever they don't understand something, they just change it. And that's why you should stay away from these modern Bible versions, because they make so many changes, just because the
people who are working on them have so little understanding, that whenever they come across something that THEY think is a contradiction, they're like "oh man, we've gotta fix this, we've gotta fix this contradiction." No, why don't we just trust that God's word is perfect, and just leave it how it is? It's REALLY simple to explain why the four beasts and the four and twenty elders are singing this song about being redeemed to God by his blood out of every kindred tongue, people and nation, why the seraphims are talking about being redeemed by the blood whatsoever. Go back to Psalms. Because remember, they're singing a song, okay? They are singing a song. Well, the book of Psalms is what? A songbook, isn't it? It's a book of songs. Go to chapter 126. 126. And while you're turning to Psalm 126, I'm in Psalm 22, and I'm going to show you that a lot of the Psalms are written from the perspectives of individual people, but yet we as God's people are commanded to sing the Psalms, aren't we? The Bible says that we should be speaking to ourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And we know that the children of Israel in the Old Testament, they sang the
Psalms, didn't they? And we in the New Testament are commanded to sing the Psalms. Look at Psalm 22 there, where the Bible reads in verse 1. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Now is this a song that is appropriate for us to sing as God's people? Well here's the thing. We're commanded to sing the Psalms. I believe we should be singing every Psalm. I think every Psalm would be appropriate. If I were to say, in Faithful Word Baptist Church, "turn to Psalm 22", and let's say we had a musical tune put to this... And I said "we're going to sing Psalm 22 right now." And we all sang it as a congregation, obviously that would be appropriate, because God has commanded us to sing the Psalms. But wait a minute. Has God really forsaken us though? No, because Jesus Christ promised us, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee". Who is this Psalm about? This Psalm is about Jesus, isn't it? Jesus is the one saying "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?", because this is quoted in the New Testament. And then again, there's more. If you go down, it says in verse 5, "They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm,
and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head,
saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him." That's what they said about Jesus when he was on the cross, remember? It says in verse number 13, "They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels." Look at the end of verse 16. "they pierced
my hands and my feet." See how clearly this is about the crucifixion of Christ? Now look, God has commanded us to sing this song. And look, he put this chapter in the Bible, Psalm 22, to be a song sung by His people. That is the purpose of Psalm 22. It was a song that was to be sung by the people of God. Now when they're singing that though, are they really singing that about themselves? No, they're singing about the Lord Jesus Christ, and his situation. Go to Psalm 126, I'll show you another example. Psalm 126 says "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that
dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them." Now let me ask you this. Were we ever in captivity as the children of Israel, and then we came out of captivity, and then all the heathen were... did that happen to us, personally in this church? Were we all excited when God turned... We weren't even BORN when God turned the captivity of Zion! We weren't laughing and singing and happy and having all the heathen look at us. We weren't even there! But yet this song was written for US to SING! And for the children of Israel in the Old Testament that came hundreds of years later to sing. So what I am saying is, when you are singing songs, a lot of times the songs that you sing are not necessarily from the perspective of the singer. I mean that's very obvious. If we were to pull out the hymnal right now, we'd find a tonne of songs, okay... How about "Hold the Fort"? [Singing] "Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus signals still", so we are not the ones saying "Hold the fort". Basically the song is relating our life to a battle where Jesus is telling us to hold the fort and we're saying
"yes, we're going to hold the fort". Okay, I'm just saying that a lot of the songs in the hymnal- and forget the hymnal- the PSALMS in the psalm book here, the we are TOLD to sing, do not necessarily apply to us personally, but we are to sing them because they are true biblical truths about Jesus, about the children of Israel in the Old Testament, or about whoever. With that in mind, and you know, I just showed you two examples. We could go through the whole book of Psalms, and we could find HUNDREDS of examples of statements that are made that do not apply to us, although we are commanded to sing those songs. So basically, what you need to understand back in Revelation chapter 5, is that just because the four and twenty elders and the four beasts are singing a song, does not mean that they are singing it about themselves. It's a song that is being taught unto us as the reader of Revelation. You see what we should do in 2013 is take these words, this song, and we could put this to music, and we could sing it. Let's look at the song again, verse 9. "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain,
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." Let me ask you something. Have we been made kings and priests? Have we been redeemed to God by His blood? Yes. Out of every nation and kindred? Well obviously I'm only of one nation, one kindred, one tongue... But really, that applies to me. And if all of us on the earth... Look, this song was intended to be sung by more than 28 people is what I am trying to tell you. This song was intended to be an eternal song, just like the songs in the book of Psalms, that could be sung now, I mean we could sing this now. Have you got a good tune for it? Let's do it, let's sing it right now! I haven't thought of a tune for it yet, but we could sing it right now. We will be singing this in heaven! We will probably be singing this hundreds of years from now. We'll probably be singing this during the millenium! It's a great song. So don't get hung up on "the fact that because the four beasts are singing the song, it must apply to them." And "the 24 elders are singing the song, it must apply to them". No. It's a song
that's been taught unto us, by the four beasts, and by the four and twenty elders. And just a brief look at the book of Psalms makes that obvious, that the singer is not always singing from his own perspective, he is often singing from the perspective of someone else, and so I hope that helps you understand that. And I want to point out one more thing about verse number 10. It says " And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." Go to 1st Peter chapter 2. I want to talk about the fact that God has made us kings and priests. Now this is a very important song. You know what? We honestly need to start singing this song, because the doctrine in this song is very important. And I'm going to expound to you some doctrine from this song that will help us to understand end-times Bible prophecy. That's why it's in the Book of Revelation for us, right, to help us to show unto His servants those things which must shortly come to pass. You see one of the biggest misunderstandings about Bible prophecy, is when people think that the physical nation of Israel is the Holy Nation. Isn't that the biggest misunderstanding? I mean whenever people
misunderstand Matthew 24, whenever they misunderstand Mark 13, Luke 21, the book of Revelation, the book of Daniel... It's always because they look at the physical country over in the middle east called "the nation of Israel" that was founded in 1948 by the United Nations, the satanic world government... They look at that nation and they say
"that's the Holy Nation!" And then they look at the "Jews", quote unquote, the unbelieving Jews over there, and they say "that's God's chosen people". And that is the BIGGEST thing that causes people to misunderstand Bible prophecy. And this song will fix it. Because this song talks about people that are of ALL kindreds, and all nations, and He says that God has made them kings and priests. Well, let's tie that in with 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 5. It says "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Watch this. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood" Watch this- "an holy nation". He is saying "YOU are a holy nation", YOU are "a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of
darkness into his marvellous light". So let me ask you this. Isn't it true that the royal priesthood and the holy nation are the same group of people? Yeah, because he says "you're a royal priesthood, you're a chosen- or elect- generation" He says "you're a holy nation a peculiar people". And who are these people? They're people who've been called out of darkness into His marvelous light. So let me ask you this. Is this holy nation being referred to right here, the nation of Israel which is 99% unbelieving? They're still in darkness, wouldn't you agree that the "Jews" over in Israel that are not believing on the Lord Jesus Christ are in darkness, even until now? Of course they are. So that's not them, because these are people that have been called out of the darkness into His marvelous light. And you say "well, I still think it's the Jews, I think it's just the believing Jews, it's just the remnant of believing Jews". Okay, well look at the next verse. "Which in time past were not a people". Well you know what? The Jews have been a people for a very long time. And if you read Hosea, it's clear that we are not talking about the Jews. If you read Romans chapter 11 He talks about the fact that even
though the Gentiles in TIME PAST were not the people of God, now they are the people of God. So whoever this group is, they are a group that was not a people in times past, but are now the people of God, "which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." So basically if we study the context of 1st Peter chapter 2, and who the book of 1st Peter is being written to, what 1st Peter chapter 2 is about- verse 2 for example talks about how it's written unto new born babes, that they would desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby, and so on and so forth. You will see that basically He is just talking to believers here. Those who have come out of the darkness into the marvelous light. They weren't a people in time past, whereas the nation of Israel or the "Jewish people", forget "the nation of Israel", "the Jewish people" were a people in time past for a very long time. He said "you've become a people, through the blood of Christ, and you've been called out of the darkness into His marvelous light. Now here is why this is so important... Because you say "okay Pastor Anderson, I get that. We as those that are saved are God's people." And I
think most people would agree that if you are saved, you are God's people, you are the people of God, you're a priest. Baptists even claim that one of their key doctrines of being a baptist if the "priesthood of the believer". You know, and I believe that. We as believers are a royal priesthood, we are a chosen generation, we are... But then it's like they forget about the "holy nation" part. But then you say "well, oh, okay Pastor Anderson, yes believers are a holy nation, yes believers of all nations and kindreds are a holy nation. But, the children of Israel, they're ALSO a holy nation. Even the unbelievers, they're STILL God's people, they're still God's chosen people." Okay, let's prove that false. Go to Exodus 19. Exodus chapter 19. Because people who have this idea stuck in their head, they're NEVER going to understand Bible prophecy, they're NEVER going to understand the New Testament properly, they're never going to understand the book of Revelation. Because this doctrine is so false, it will mess up the rest of their doctrine. This little leaven of believing that the "Jews" the unbelieving "Jews", or the physical nation of Israel, founded in 1948, believing that that nation is a
holy nation, or that they are God's chosen people, or that God is blessing them, and that "you know, if the United States doesn't support them, God is going to curse us, and if the United States supports them, we're going to be blessed!" If you have that mentality and that doctrine, that is 100% contrary to the teaching of the New Testament, you know you are always going to have to go to the Old Testament to pull out a scripture and take it out of context, the conditional promises that were made to Israel, but if that's your doctrine, you are going to be confused on Bible prophecy until you get that figured out. Because it's just a LIE, and it will taint everything else that you look at. Let me prove that false. You see, 1st Peter 2 is quoting from the Old Testament. Look at Exodus 19:5. "Now therefore, IF"! Underline that word in your Bible. IF!!! That is a BIG IF. "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests"- does this sound like 1st Peter 2?- "an holy nation." He said "These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the
children of Israel." That tells me, that if the children of Israel DO NOT OBEY VOICE, they will NOT be a kingdom of priests,
they will NOT be a holy nation, and they will NOT be a peculiar treasure unto Him. They just won't. And He says that if the children of Israel will NOT keep His covenant, they will NOT be a kingdom of priests, and they will NOT be a holy nation. Look at Deuteronomy 7:6. I mean do you see that "IF" there? It's like people just read over that "if", and just say "hey, I don't care what they do! I don't care if they don't believe in Jesus Christ, and they follow the antichrist religion of Judaism, and they call a man Rabbi when Jesus told them not to call anybody Rabbi in Matthew 23! And I don't care if they reject the Lord Jesus Christ!" And the Bible says if you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father! And they say "I still, in spite of all that, I STILL think that they are God's chosen people. I STILL think that that's a holy nation. I STILL think they are under the blessing of God." You are just ignoring the "if" there. Because he said "IF" you keep my covenant and IF you obey my voice. Question. If somebody doesn't even believe on Jesus Christ, are they obeying His
voice and keeping His covenant? Absolutely not. And look, the Bible says in Hebrews, he said "they", referring to the Old Testament nation of Israel, "continued not in my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord." So if God said "they did not continue in my covenant, they did not fulfill the "IF", therefore I regarded them not." Why do we regard them? If God does not regard them as a holy nation, if God does not regard them as His chosen people, why do we as Christians in 2013, still regard them as God's chosen people? We need to rightly divide the word of truth, and to realise, we're in the New Testament, not the Old Testament. And the Old Testament, the old covenant was BROKEN by the children of Israel, and He regarded them not. And He said "the kingdom of God shall be taken FROM YOU and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." You say "which nation is it? Is it the US? Is it Great Britain?" No, it's a nation that's made up of all kindreds and tongues and people, which in time past were not a people, but have now become the people of God through the blood of Christ, of all nationalities and kindreds. Look at Deuteronomy 7:6, it says "For thou
art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." So at the time that Deuteronomy 7:6 was written, were the children of Israel a holy people unto the Lord? Yes. Were they a special people? Yes. Were they chosen above all the people on the earth? Yes. Go to Deuteronomy 14, verse 2. Deuteronomy 14:2, same thing. "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people"- sound familiar to 1st Peter 2? "unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." But wait a minute. "IF ye will obey my voice", He said in Exodus 19. You've always got to go to the first time something is mentioned. See in Deuteronomy He is just reiterating what He said in Exodus 19. In Exodus 19:5, He said "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." So then in Deuteronomy, they're
doing what they're supposed to do at that time! So He says "you're a holy nation, you're a peculiar people, you're the chosen." Okay, but what about now? But you see, people will quote these verses from Deuteronomy all day long. They'll go to Deuteronomy 7:6, they'll go to Deuteronomy 14:2, to try to prove the point, but they don't want to touch Exodus 19:5 and 6 with a ten foot pole, because it shows that the children of Israel have broken his covenant in pretty much every possible way, by rejecting His own Son. By crucifying him. The Bible says that the Jews both killed the Lord Jesus, and the prophets, and have persecuted us. So I just wanted to lay that down. Go back to Revelation 5, we'll finish up here quickly. And we see very clearly that this song is driving in the point that the kingdom and the priesthood is not upon the physical nation of Israel, the physical seed of Abraham, not at all. Study 1st Peter 2. Cross reference it with Exodus 19:5 and 6. And then when you go back to this song, it makes it very clear that when we talk about God's kingdom and the people and the priesthood, the kingdom and the priesthood is of every kindred, at the end of verse 9
there "and tongue, and people, and nation". Isn't that a powerful truth? And that honestly... I don't even know where this lie came from, because it's just not biblical. You'll not find anything in the New Testament that's going to lead you to believe that the children of Israel are still the holy nation, and the peculiar people. No, that's us as believers! You know, I grew up always feeling like a second class citizen. Like, "man, I wish I were a Jew." Seriously! I thought that when I was a kid. I was like "man, it stinks that I'm a gentile, because I just... I want to be number one, man! I want to be His main people! I want to be the special people. I don't want to be just like, you know, the red-headed step-child of God's family." And so when I learnt this truth, it was exciting. Just to feel like "man, I don't have to come behind in anything! I can be everything God wants me to be, and I can be, basically just right there with the key nation, right there with the chosen people." But let's finish up here quickly. It says in verse 11 of chapter 5. "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands". Now, ten thousand times ten thousand is a hundred million. And thousands of thousands is millions. So what we are talking about here is an excess of a hundred and two million. You will find the exact same thing back in Daniel chapter 7. You don't have to turn there but in Daniel chapter 7 it talks about God's throne being surrounded by thousands of thousands of angels, and thousands of thousands. So we've got a hundred and two million angels. And what's interesting about that is that if you think about the part of the scripture where the Lord teaches that a third part of the angels followed Satan, they followed Lucifer in rebellion. Well, if God's throne is surrounded by a hundred and two million plus angels that are praising Him and serving Him... And if a third of the angels had gone and followed Satan... That tells me that we are talking about at least 51 million angels that have followed Satan. Isn't that something to think about? So if you think about it, there are a lot of devils in the Bible, remember people are possessed with devils a lot in the four gospels? We see a lot of demonic things and devilish things in our
world today. Just so you know, there aren't just a handful of devils. I mean if the third part of the angels followed Satan, that tells me that if these are the good angels that are here... And look, I'm not saying there are 102 million. I'm saying there are a MINIMUM of 102 million. That would mean that there are a MINIMUM of 51 million fallen angels or devils that could go out throughout the world telling lies, leading people into sin, leading people to be self destructive. You see people today cutting themselves just like people that were possessed with devils in the four gospels cut themselves. In my high school, there were girls that would cut themselves. And I believe that that is a sign of being possessed with devils. And you say "well goodnight, that many people all cutting themselves, and all possessed with devils?" Look, there's enough devils to go around. I think there's even enough devils to stop by every Mormon missionary and give people a lying, burning in their bosom or whatever it is that many of them experience. The devil has a lot of activity in
this world, because he has LITERALLY MILLIONS and millions of workers. He has MILLIONS of workers. And look. 51 million is a minimum, okay? It could be much more than that, but that's a minimum, that's a pretty big number for the devil to have his angels and his workers to carry forth his will in this world. So look what it says. "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands". And you say, wait a minute, maybe that includes the fallen angels also? Okay, well there's still 34 million of them, if you took a third of it, right? He says this. "Saying with a loud voice", this is what the angels are saying with a loud voice. "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." And watch this, this is an interesting verse in verse 13. "And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever." So John in verse 11 says "I BEHELD, and I heard". So "I beheld" means "I saw". He is saying "I saw and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand"... They're saying these words of praise. But then also, every creature which is in heaven, on the earth and under the earth, he is saying "just HEARD I saying". So he is heaven, he sees this great multitude of millions of angels singing and praising God, saying "worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power". But then he hears an echo of that. He hears the statement being made by every creature in heaven, on earth, in hell, under the sea. I mean what does that sound like? Basically this is just an amazing verse in verse 13, just showing God being praised by every single living thing that exists, whether in heaven, on earth, under the earth, in the sea. And again, this ties in with Philippians 2, where he says "every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." I believe that this would include every atheist. This is every satanist. This is every Muslim. This is every person who does not believe in Jesus Christ. Every knee shall bow some day, and every tongue shall confess. And I think John is basically getting a preview of that when he just hears this voice of every creature saying these words of praise unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it says "the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever." So it's a powerful chapter. An interesting chapter. Really just glorifying Jesus Christ. And really just the main thing that we gather from this chapter is just Jesus Christ's greatness and glory and worthiness. We cannot elevate the lamb too highly. We can't say "well, we don't want to give him too much glory, let's give it to the Father." No. The Son of God, the lamb, Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh- we believe that the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, these three are one, the Father, the Son and the
Holy Ghost, these three are one- three in one. Often called "the trinity", we believe that. But we see here that Jesus
Christ is worthy to receive all praise. All glory, from EVERY CREATURE, EVERYWHERE. And he is worthy to be worshipped, even though the Bible says "thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve", because Jesus is LORD, to the glory of God the Father. He is worthy of all worship and praise as well. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father we thank you so much for your Word, and thank you for this chapter. Please help us to use the truths that we have gleaned from this chapter to help us to understand other parts of Revelation. Help us to understand that the peculiar people, the holy nation, the royal priesthood is made up of every kindred, every tongue, every nation. It is not the unbelieving fraud that is called the nation of Israel today that was set up by the satanic world government, the United Nations, but Father we know that it's your people that have been cleansed and washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. Help us to realise the privilege it is be your people, and to be your children that you love and care for, and care about every prayer that we utter, and please just help us to continue our study in the book of Revelation and honour and glorify you, and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
