08-12-12 The Book With 7 Seals

Rev. 5:1-14 1 saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?" And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; and one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals."

And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth."

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped.

We return this morning

to our study of the Book of Revelation,

and with it we return also

to the Throne Room of God Himself.

We are in Revelation chapter 5.

Last week we saw John invited into that Throne Room,

and we heard him give us

a brief, vivid description of it.

I mentioned last week

that we might be able to best relate

to what's going on in the remainder of the book of Revelation

if we think of it in terms of a stage play that John was invited to,

a play being presented in the very presence of God Himself.

The one distinction we made

was recognizing that

John was not watching actors presenting what might take place,

but rather he was seeing real events

that, for us, locked into time,

are still in the future.

So, Revelation chapter 4 presented the setting,

and now in Revelation 5

the presentation begins.

What we are permitted to witness

in these 14 verses of Rev. 5

is the scene in the presence of God

that sets in motion

the final events in God's interaction

with the human race,

and with the physical universe He created for us.

The significance of this point in our history is tremendous

and the drama surrounding this event is intense.

It begins with God Himself

sitting on His throne

holding a book or scroll

sealed with seven seals.

And I need to prepare you for something

as the drama of this book unfolds

throughout the Book of Revelation.

We normally look at a book as being significant

on the basis of what is written inside it.

But it's not that way with this book.

We are told that the book does contain writing,

but we are never told what that writing says.

The significant thing in Revelation about this book

is not what's inside

but rather what must take place

in order to gain access to what is inside.

Because we are not told what's inside the book

you are welcome to let your imagination run wild concerning the possibilities.

I'll mention three suggestions that occurred to me.

Perhaps the simplest

and most logical explanation

is that it is the book of the final judgement

and wrath of God

poured out on that part of His creation

that rejected His offer of forgiveness

through Jesus Christ.

A second possibility is that

it may be the Lamb's Book of Life

containing the names of all the people of God throughout history.

This Lamb's book of life

was mentioned in Rev. 3:5,

and then makes other appearances

in Revelation 13 and later.

There is nothing in the text

that directly links these two books, but it is a possibility

especially since we are told in Rev.13:8 and 17:8

that all the names contained in it

were written there from the foundation of the world.

It could have been written, sealed with these seven seals,

and then not opened until this point

in God's plan for mankind.

A 3^rd possibility might be

that it contains a description

of the future that God has for His people

once this phase of His program is complete.

The breaking of the seven seals

completes this phase of human history

and give us access

to the endless future that follows.

The truth is

right now it doesn't matter

what's in the book.

If it did

we would have been told.

What does matter very much

is the series of events

triggered by the breaking

of each of those seven seals.

And before we return to the drama

I want to prepare you for one more thing concerning these seals

because it will be an extremely valuable tool

in relating to the rest of the book of Revelation.

These seven seals

actually provide us

with an outline for the rest of the book.

It's not complicated

and it can help you hang on to what's happening

and when it's taking place.

This is just for those of you

who like this type of thing...

So far in our study we have already seen

several groups of sevens.

In the first three chapters

we saw 7 churches to which Christ wrote.

We saw seven golden lampstands

and seven stars Christ held in His hand.

Now, here in Revelation 5

we find a book with seven seals.

The remainder of the Book of Revelation

is based around three groups of 7 items-

1. There are 7 seals to be broken on this book.

2. The breaking of the 7^th seal

then triggers 7 trumpet blasts.

3. The 7^th trumpet blast

then triggers the 7 bowls of the wrath of God

poured out on the earth.

Each seal,

each trumpet blast,

and each bowl brings about

a series of events on the earth that culminate

with the return of Christ to the earth in power and victory.

There are some other things

going on along the way,

but if you keep in mind 7 seals,

followed by 7 trumpets,

followed by 7 bowls of wrath

you'll have a pretty good mental

blueprint for the rest of the Book of Revelation.

And let me toss in just one more bit

of Revelation trivia for you here.

As far as I can tell

there are actually 17 groups of 7

in the book of Revelation.

There are: 7 years

7 churches

7 Spirits of God

7 Golden lampstands

7 stars

7 seals

7 horns

7 eyes

7 angels

7 trumpets

7 peals of thunder

7 heads

7 diadems

7 plagues

7 golden bowls of God's wrath

7 mountains

and 7 kings.

I don't know why that is.

If there is some deeper significance to it

I certainly don't know what it is.

I simply share it with you

because I thought it was interesting.

Now, back to the drama.

God Himself holds this book

sealed with 7 seals.

A being whom John describes as "a strong Angel"

then proclaims with a loud voice,

"Who is worthy to open the book and break the seals?"

The question, of course

is not just who is worthy

to break the seals,

but who is worthy

to release the final progressive

wrath and judgement of God on the world?

Who has earned that right?

Whose motives can be trusted

as being absolutely pure?

At first no one comes forward.

John obviously recognizes

that the opening of that book

is crucial to the future of God's people

and God's program for the world.

The fact that no one comes forward

creates a tremendous sadness

and sense of grief and emptiness within John.

I have to tell you

it helps me so much to see that response in John.

This is John

standing in the throne room of God,

surrounded by remarkable creatures

all praising and honoring God.

This is John

who knew Jesus according to the flesh,

the John who stood at the base of the cross during the crucifixion

and who beat Peter in a race to the open tomb following the resurrection.

But this is also John

still fighting his battles

with a mind and emotional system

that was trained in rebellion against God.

This is not John in His new body.

It is John in his old body

viewing the world he will one day enter for eternity.

And his first response

when faced with a problem for which he can see no solution,

even while standing in the presence of God,

is to struggle with feelings of helplessness and grief.

He didn't bounce over to the throne

and proclaim boldly,

"No problem! You'll take care of it, won't you God?"

What he did

was to weep greatly.

And there isn't a word of condemnation from God for John's response.

Instead He sends one of the Elders

to comfort Him,

and to provide the only thing that ever has the power

to once again restore a correct perspective on our world,

our circumstances,

and our future -

he points John to his Lord Jesus Christ.

Rev. 5:5 ...and one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals."

I take great comfort in knowing

that if John didn't instantly trust His Lord,

even while standing in the throne room of God,

then there is plenty of room in the family of God

for someone like me, too,

who doesn't always instantly turn in trust to Christ.

Sometimes trust takes a lot of reminding

and a lot of grieving

and a lot of remembering

and a lot of looking from a different perspective.

I think it’s important to note here, too,

that the One who was worthy to display the great wrath of God

is the One who had first displayed the great mercy,

and compassion,

and kindness,

and grace of God.

Rev. 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

Rev. 5:10 "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth."

It wasn’t just His perfect righteousness

that qualified Christ for this role.

It was that He had used that perfect righteousness

as payment for our sin.

And even as we see the wrath of God

being poured out on the world in the breaking of these seals

we continue to see His mercy being displayed.

With each progressive seal

there is an intensity of turmoil,

and tension,

and devastation on the earth.

But along with it

there is an intensity

of His call to repentance

and acceptance of His offer of forgiveness.

Remember our Tribulation Communication Tool Box from last week?

Remember 144,000 evangelists?

Remember the 2 prophets?

Remember Angels flying in mid-heaven

warning all the earth

of what is happening and why?

Rev. 14:6-17 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters."

The wrath of God

could have been poured out on the world in a day

on those who had turned their backs

on His offer of salvation through Christ.

But it is not.

It is poured out gradually,

bathed in His mercy

and His continued call to repentance.

Chapter 6 then begins the breaking of the seven seals

and we'll look at those next week.

But, knowing our strong tendencies towards doubt and fear,

and given the fact that we

are moving quickly into a study

of the final wrath of God poured out on the world,

let me close by reminding you

of just two statements from Paul

talking about the Christian's relationship to the wrath of God.

The first is from the list of 7 birthday presents

that God gives to every believer

the day they are reborn into the family of God.

That list is found

in the first half of the 5^th chapter

of the book of Romans.

The list begins by saying,

"Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,..."

But the 6^th gift in that list

is the one I especially want to mention.

In Romans 5:9 Paul says,

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

He just says right out.

Though our sins justify our receiving

the wrath of God,

rather than that wrath being poured out on us

it was poured out on Jesus Christ instead.

And then Paul says it again so beautifully in 1 Thess. 5:9.

For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ...

AMEN!!

And just so that you do not mistake what I'm saying,

let me say it as simply and clearly as I know how to say it,

no child of God will ever,

not now,

not in the time of Revelation,

not in the endless eternity to come

ever suffer in any way from the wrath of God.

It cannot happen

because if it did

it would be God publicly proclaiming

that the death of His Son was a failure,

an inadequate payment for our sins,

incapable of delivering us from His wrath.

And such a statement would be

the ultimate lie of all time.

There is therefore now no condemnation...no wrath for those who are in Christ Jesus. Rom 8:1