Jesus Christ, the Lamb on the Throne<\/p>\n
Probably the most well-known of the paintings of Gaugin, the French impressionist painter, is hanging in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. On the upper left corner of the canvas he wrote in French: \u201cWhere do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?\u201d The Bible answers each of these questions and leaves us in no doubt about our origin or our end.
\nDespite the clarity with which the Bible speaks, vast numbers of men and women have been deceived by the Evil One about both their beginning and their ending. Inevitably, they become confused about both their past and their future. In the great cities of the world as well as in the vast hinterlands that stretch far away from the major centers of world population, men and women search for meaning.
\nThis issue is, of course, a matter of interest to the academic community\u2014sociologists, psychologists, and others. But it is more frequently, and often with greater poignancy, tackled in the arts.
\nSome years ago the one-woman play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, written by Jane Wagner, was running on Broadway. It starred Lily Tomlin.
\nLily reflects on her life. At one point she stops and says, \u201cI worry where tonight fits in the Cosmic Scheme of things.\u201d And then she adds, \u201cI worry there is no Cosmic Scheme to things.\u201d1<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Peanuts-cartoon funny. But it has a sharp edge.
\nEinstein, in his Credo, wrote:<\/p>\n
Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntarily and uninvited for a short stay without knowing the whys or the wherefores.2<\/p>\n
Who would have thought that Einstein would have language in common with the popular British singer Petula Clark\u2014and vice versa? She sang in the sixties:<\/p>\n
You wander around on your own little cloud,
\nand you don\u2019t see the why or the wherefore.<\/p>\n
Her advice?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t sleep in the subway, darlin\u2019
\nDon\u2019t stand in the pouring rain.3<\/p>\n
Is that all that can be said?
\nIt is against this background that the gospel brings a message of glorious hope. Part of that message is found in Revelation, the final book of the Bible. It constantly affirms this central biblical truth: the history of our world is ultimately defined by salvation history. Indeed, history itself cannot be properly read and understood without biblical lenses.
\nIn Revelation we find John, its author, on the small island of Patmos, just off the coast of modern-day Turkey. He has been banished there because of his faithfulness to the gospel. He describes himself to those to whom he writes as \u201cyour brother and partner in the tribulation.\u201d4 His first readers are believing people, who, like ourselves, are trying to make sense of their lives. In particular, in their case in the first century, they are trying to reconcile their own very testing circumstances with the message of Christ\u2019s victory over sin, Satan, and death.
\nThese Christians had heard the gospel preached to them. They would have listened to sermons like the one Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, he had given a panoramic view of history. He had made it clear to his hearers that the Jesus about whom he was speaking was the one who had been crucified, had died, and was buried. But God had raised him from the dead. He had appeared to his disciples. Now he was ascended to God\u2019s right hand. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the visible evidence of his invisible enthronement. All this was simply in accordance with the Scriptures.
\nThese first-century believers understood that their ascended Lord and King was now the one who was fully in control of all circumstances. He, as we saw earlier, is the one in whom \u201call things hold together.\u201d5 They were anticipating an ultimate, defining moment in which the fullness of all that God had planned would finally be completed, and the lordship of Christ would be established throughout the whole earth once and for all.
\nThese Christians would have been able to affirm all the articles of the Apostles\u2019 Creed.6 They believed them. But the real difficulty was that much they affirmed did not seem to be happening\u2014particularly the gospel promises of the triumph of God and of the victory of his kingdom.
\nJohn\u2019s fellow apostle Simon Peter had already written that \u201cscoffers\u201d would come during the \u201clast days\u201d\u2014an expression that refers to the era between the first coming of Jesus in his incarnation and his final return in power and glory. During this period Christians should anticipate that these scoffers\u2014people who follow their own devices and desires\u2014will say: \u201cWhere is the promise of his coming? You\u2019re saying Jesus Christ is a triumphant King, and a returning Lord. Well, where is he? Everything seems to be the same this year as it was last year and the year before.\u201d7
\nIn one sense, of course, the scoffers had a point. What the Christians had anticipated had not fully come. They were the church, the bride of Christ, the followers of Jesus. But they were insignificant in their society. They were a small group\u2014one or two additions now and then but nothing of great significance. Meanwhile when they looked at the world around them, they saw the empires of man seemingly growing in influence. In particular they were growing in their ability to aggravate these followers of Jesus. Soon, in powerful and manipulative ways, they would be viciously persecuting them. Emperor worship was flourishing, and those who refused to affirm that Caesar was lord and who thus refused to deny their Lord Jesus would be liable to the death penalty.
\nIt is not hard to imagine that in the average Christian family, perhaps sitting at the family meal, the dinner conversation would turn to these threats. A son or daughter might say:<\/p>\n
Well, what is this Christian life after all? How does this work? Is this just a private thing, Dad? Can we take this out into the community? Does it have an impact in the Roman Empire? What do we do with this? Where is Jesus? I thought you said Jesus was coming back. Will he be coming back soon?\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Christians confessed Jesus as Lord, it must have seemed to many of them that Caesar was still lord. To how many of them did the Evil One come\u2014as a liar and the father of lies8\u2014and insinuate into their minds, \u201cYou know what? You have probably simply bought into the great delusion. You get on fine as long as you\u2019re in your group, singing your songs. But when you get off on your own and think about it . . . well, not a lot has changed, has it?\u201d
\nSays Leon Morris:<\/p>\n
To a church perplexed by such problems Revelation was written. It was sent to a little, persecuted, frustrated church, one which did not know what to make of the situation in which it found itself.9<\/p>\n
That is a hugely important perspective to have on the book of Revelation. It is not a kind of theological Rubik\u2019s Cube. It was not written as an intellectual puzzle for a group of people who enjoyed solving mathematical problems. Not for a moment. Its first readers were in too much of a life-and-death situation to enjoy that kind of relaxation.
\nBut, you say, \u201cWell, that\u2019s all well and good, but we\u2019re a long way removed from that, aren\u2019t we? We are not threatened by emperor worship in America!\u201d
\nBut our lives are set against the backdrop of a world in turmoil: economic gloom, human deprivation, a world at war on multiple fronts, rampant immorality. We waken in the morning to a steady dose of news that could drive us to despair. And it never stops. Yes, the decisions that are made by politicians in Washington, in Beijing, in London, in Kabul, in Cairo, in Jerusalem, and in Delhi have far-reaching effects on lives. But we also know that we are caught up in global realities too enormous for us to understand and predict, far less control. And we realize that those who say they know don\u2019t understand how little they know. For all the security systems we have, personally and nationally, insecurity abounds in our modern society.
\nFew twentieth-century songwriters can match the ability of Paul Simon to convey this sense of futility and angst with such clarity and pathos. In our world reality is broken.
\nSo how does Jesus transform this understanding of reality?
\nEnter the Book of Revelation
\nSometimes we find ourselves asking, is there any way in which we can go behind the scenes of all of this? Is there anyone who can give us an inkling of where we\u2019re going and what we\u2019re doing?
\nWell, is there?
\nHere we have it! This is exactly what happened to John one Lord\u2019s Day on the island of Patmos.
\nHe was taken behind the scenes of time and history. \u201cI was in the Spirit,\u201d he says, \u201cand I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.\u201d10 One commentator cleverly notes that John is not taken to some never-never land, but instead he is taken into the ever-ever land of God\u2019s eternal values and judgment.
\nSoon, in chapter 4, he is standing before a higher throne than any known in this world. It is occupied\u2014by God!
\nThere is a scroll in the palm of God\u2019s right hand. It has writing on both sides, but it is sealed with seven seals. A summons is issued throughout the cosmos to find someone who can break the seals and open the scroll.
\nBut almost immediately everything John hoped to see comes to a grinding halt.
\nHe has been assured that he would be given an insight into the unfolding purposes of God. The curtain will be pulled back to enable him to see into the mysteries of God so that he can write to encourage the beleaguered saints of his day\u2014to reassure them with the message of the victory of God. But let John tell the story in his own words:<\/p>\n
And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, \u201cWho is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?\u201d And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.11<\/p>\n
What is he to do now?
\n\u201cNo one was found.\u201d
\nJohn meant \u201cno one on Patmos,\u201d didn\u2019t he?
\nNo.
\nWell, perhaps \u201chere on earth?\u201d
\nNo.
\n\u201cNo one on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it.\u201d
\nWell, then, one of the mighty angels, or archangels, or cherubim, or seraphim could surely open the book?
\nNo.
\n\u201cNo one in heaven . . . was able to open the scroll or to look into it.\u201d This is not a matter of brute strength; it is a matter of being \u201cworthy\u201d to do it.
\nSo John tells us, \u201cI wept and I wept because of this.\u201d But then,<\/p>\n
one of the elders said to me, \u201cWeep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.\u201d12<\/p>\n
\u201cWeep no longer, John!\u201d says one of the twenty-four elders around the throne. \u201cThere is a mighty Lion able to do this.\u201d
\nThere is no doubt about the identity of this lion. He is \u201cthe Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.\u201d It is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament Scriptures,13 the conquering king, the Son whom God has appointed to reign on Zion\u2019s holy hill. The nations will be given to him as an inheritance.14 His enemies will become a stool for his feet.15 Neither death nor hell, neither Satan nor sin will prevent his triumph. In him the purposes of God will be finally and triumphantly fulfilled.
\nGod has provided in Jesus the solution to John\u2019s tears. \u201cWeep no more\u201d! But then John turns to look\u2014<\/p>\n
and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.16<\/p>\n
John expects to see the Lion of the tribe of Judah. That was indeed the great messianic expectation. But John\u2019s theological vision is better here than it had been when, perhaps in his teenage years, Jesus had called him to follow him. Now he sees what John the Baptist had first seen: the Lion of the tribe of Judah conquered by becoming \u201cthe Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.\u201d17
\nThis is the only way anyone ever sees the Lion King\u2014we come to know and trust him only as he comes to us in the form of a slain lamb. It is only in Christ crucified that we find the answer to all the alienation and the dislocation to which sin has led. That is why what follows is the only possible appropriate response:<\/p>\n
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,<\/p>\n
Worthy are you to take the scroll
\nand to open its seals,
\nfor you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
\nfrom every tribe and language and people and nation,
\nand you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
\nand they shall reign on the earth.18<\/p>\n
We do not need Christ to tell us that our world is full of trouble. But we do need his triumph over the sources of our troubles if they are not to perplex and overwhelm us. This is why the book of Revelation is such good news. From this point onward it strikes this wonderful, triumphant, encouraging note: the Lamb King has triumphed. He is able to unlock the seals and unfold the mystery.
\nTwo Titles
\nThe Triumphant One has two great titles.
\nOne\u2014the Lion\u2014goes back to Jacob\u2019s dying prophecy about an individual who would come through the line of his son Judah\u2014a lion-like figure who would reign, and whose reign would be marked by a divinely given abundance.19
\nThis is the only occasion in the book of Revelation when the Lion is mentioned. (The Lamb is mentioned twenty-nine times.) But although it does not recur, clearly \u201cLion\u201d is what Jesus is throughout the book. It abounds with illustrations of his power, victory, and authority.
\nThe Lion is also \u201cthe root of David.\u201d That description goes back to the promise given to David that from his seed the Messiah King would come. But that promise requires further interpretation, which it is given in Isaiah and Jeremiah.20 Christ is both the Lord of, and the branch from, David! The Messiah comes after David, but he was in fact David\u2019s Lord and was therefore before him. This was the testimony of Psalm 110:1\u20132, the passage that Jesus reminded the Pharisees had tied them in knots trying to interpret:21<\/p>\n
The LORD says to my Lord:
\n\u201cSit at my right hand,
\nuntil I make your enemies your footstool.\u201d<\/p>\n
The LORD sends forth from Zion
\nyour mighty scepter.
\nRule in the midst of your enemies!<\/p>\n
How could David\u2019s son be his Lord? Only if the \u201cson\u201d is the Lord Jesus\u2014the one who is both of the seed of David and at the same time the eternal Son of God.
\nBut John looks and sees a lamb. His vision is filled with a tapestry-like presentation of the humility of Christ. Here is the one who was obedient to his Father, even to the point of submitting to death on a cross.22
\nThe book of Revelation is like a paint-by-numbers set. A painting of a quality far beyond that of the ordinary child\u2019s ability emerges as the young artist fills in the numbered outline with the corresponding numbered colors from the paint palette provided.
\nSimilarly in Revelation, John \u201cpaints\u201d above his ability as the Spirit helps him. In the case of this book, however, the \u201cpaint palette\u201d is full of Old Testament texts. John\u2019s mind is a palette saturated in Scripture. As he paints these scenes for oppressed Christians, his description is composed of Bible verses, allusions, prophecies, and so forth. The entire atmosphere of this tapestry has the aroma of the Old Testament being fulfilled in Christ.
\nWe cannot be absolutely certain how well John\u2019s first readers knew the Old Testament. But some of them must have been quite familiar with much of its teaching.23 So, when this picture of the Lamb was placed front and center, their minds would quickly have gone to the events of the Passover, recorded in Exodus 12. They knew that God\u2019s exodus deliverance came through the sacrificed Passover Lamb.24 They must also have thought of Isaiah 53 with its description of the Suffering Servant who was \u201clike a lamb that is led to the slaughter.\u201d25 This is the Lamb whom John sees\u2014the \u201cLamb, standing as though it had been slain.\u201d
\nBut he is no longer slain. He is standing! He is alive with resurrection life and power.
\nBut notice something else. It is still obvious that he once had been slain; his wounds are still visible. The wounds remind us of the costly death by which our redemption has been achieved; the fact that this slain Lamb stands reminds us of the triumph of his resurrection.
\nWhen you see this in your mind\u2019s eye, don\u2019t you want to sing with the host of heaven? Or at least sing with the church on earth in the presence of Christ about<\/p>\n
Those wounds, yet [still] visible above,
\nIn beauty glorified:<\/p>\n
Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne.
\nHark! How the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own.
\nAwake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee,
\nAnd hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity.<\/p>\n
Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed over the grave,
\nAnd rose victorious in the strife for those He came to save.
\nHis glories now we sing, who died, and rose on high,
\nWho died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die.<\/p>\n
Crown Him the Lord of peace, whose power a scepter sways
\nFrom pole to pole, that wars may cease, and all be prayer and praise.
\nHis reign shall know no end, and round His pierc\u00e8d feet
\nFair flowers of paradise extend their fragrance ever sweet.<\/p>\n
Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side,
\nThose wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified.
\nNo angel in the sky can fully bear that sight,
\nBut downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright.<\/p>\n
Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time,
\nCreator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.
\nAll hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou hast died for me;
\nThy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity.26<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s still more in this tapestry of Jesus. The Lamb, you notice, has \u201cseven horns and . . . seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.\u201d27
\nThese words, read in a group study, can be just like red meat to a lion! Many a home Bible study is derailed when you come to a little sentence like this\u2014\u201cseven horns and seven eyes,\u201d and so on. And before you know it, Mrs. Jenkins immediately wants to tell everyone all about the seven horns\u2014and suddenly the big picture of who Jesus is disappears in a discussion of Russia, or China, or the European Economic Community. This is the point at which the firm and wise leader asks Mrs. Jenkins to go make the tea and coffee! She should never have bought that big book that gave so much detailed explanation of how contemporary world history is minutely described in Revelation but said so little about the sheer glory of the Lord Jesus! It can be all very fascinating and wonderful, like sudoku, or math. But it can take you deep into the night.
\nNo, God is much simpler than all that. The horns speak of power and majesty; the eyes remind us that Christ has sent his Holy Spirit into the world, with all of his omniscience, perfect understanding, and wonderful discernment. And the fact that there are seven horns, eyes, and spirits simply expresses numerically the idea of fullness and perfection.
\nIt would be a great pity to have been shown this vivid picture of the Father seated on the throne, the Son in all his redeeming grace and glory, and the Holy Spirit in all the fullness of his saving ministry but see only horns, eyes, and numbers! That would be to obscure what is plain and clear and to marginalize what is central.
\nActually, there is a litmus test for interpretation written into the text here. It is this: what effect does this vision have on me? Perplexity? Debate? Calculation? All wrong responses. For the response of heaven is this:<\/p>\n
The four creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,<\/p>\n
\u201cWorthy are you to take the scroll
\nand to open its seals,
\nfor you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
\n from every tribe and language and people and
\n nation.\u201d28<\/p>\n
This is the song of redemption. John is identifying its cost: the price was the blood of the Lamb being shed. On Calvary Christ once and for all purchased our redemption. That is why later, in Revelation 7, another picture will emerge in the vision. One of the elders asks John a question (was it the same elder he heard earlier?29):<\/p>\n
Do you see this innumerable multitude of people standing before the Lamb, all clothed in white? Do you know who they are and why their robes are so white?<\/p>\n
John said what you and I would say, didn\u2019t he?<\/p>\n
Sir, you know. You tell me, please.<\/p>\n
The elder countered:<\/p>\n
You know who they are, John. They\u2019re believers who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.<\/p>\n
Who are these people? They are believers cleansed from their sins by the shed blood of the Lamb and now clothed in his perfect righteousness.
\nPerhaps if we read the book of Revelation more with our eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus, we would be more enthusiastic about some of the older hymns. Here is another we sing all too rarely:<\/p>\n
With harps and with viols, there stands a great throng
\nIn the presence of Jesus, and sing this new song:
\nUnto Him Who hath loved us and washed us from sin,
\nUnto Him be the glory forever, Amen.<\/p>\n
All these once were sinners, defiled in His sight,
\nNow arrayed in pure garments in praise they unite:
\nUnto Him Who hath loved us and washed us from sin,
\nUnto Him be the glory forever, Amen.30<\/p>\n
The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is enthroned at the very center of this picture. He is the epicenter of the unerring plan of God\u2019s redemptive strategy.
\nAs people are drawn around this scene, they recognize first that here we have our Redeemer, the one who has saved by substitution. This is the gospel. It is also the message of Revelation 4 and 5.<\/p>\n
O perfect redemption the purchase of blood,
\nTo every believer the promise of God.
\nThe vilest offender who truly believes
\nThat moment from Jesus a pardon receives.31
\nA Thief at Heaven\u2019s Door
\nThink of the two thieves crucified on either side of Jesus.
\nThey both seemed at first to have vented their pain and anger on him.32 But then one of them becomes silent. Soon he speaks: \u201cDon\u2019t keep saying these things! We are here because we deserve to be on a cross. But this man has done nothing wrong.\u201d And then, turning to Jesus in penitential recognition, he says with such humility, \u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your [OT \u201cyou\u201d] kingdom.\u201d33
\nWitnessed by the angels in glory, at a cost beyond his or our ability to fathom, that thief reached the portals of heaven.
\nHe had never had a church membership interview. There was no time. But can you\u2014using your imagination\u2014hear an interviewing angel asking him the vital questions?<\/p>\n
Angel: Have you been justified by faith?
\n Thief: Well, I am not sure what that means. I don\u2019t think I
\nhave ever heard that expression before.
\nAngel: Well, I\u2019ll have to go get one of my supervisors, because
\nthere may be a problem here.<\/p>\n
More questions. But then the issue is resolved when the thief speaks again:<\/p>\n
Thief:All I know is that I was on the cross at Jesus\u2019 side. I was guilty, I was
\nin agony, I was dying, and I was angry. And of all things, I heard people talking about him\u2014saying he had claimed to be the Messiah. Well then, I thought, get us out of this mess! But I watched him and listened to him. Then I heard some of them spit out the word \u201cSavior,\u201d and it dawned on me: this man had done nothing wrong. He was dying because of other people\u2019s sins.
\n It just hit me, I don\u2019t quite know how: he is the Messiah, but he\u2019s dying because of other people\u2019s sins. And his name is Jesus\u2014and I knew that meant \u201cSavior.\u201d So I turned to him, knowing there was nothing I could do to pay back the debt of my sins, and I asked him, \u201cJesus, will you bring me into your kingdom? Would you be my Savior; would you be my sin bearer? Would you be the Lamb of God who takes away my sin?\u201d
\n And Jesus said to me, \u201cToday you will be with me in Paradise.\u201d34 The only reason I am here is that Jesus was on the middle cross. I know he died for sinners. And he promised me I could come into his kingdom.<\/p>\n
What are you going to say on that day? The thief gave the only answer that opens heaven to us: \u201cJesus died for me.\u201d As a result, he was there\u2014somewhere in the multitude in John\u2019s vision who heard the words:<\/p>\n
You were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God.35<\/p>\n
Notice the implication of these words: \u201cYou ransomed people for God. Ransomed means \u201cpurchased, bought into new ownership.\u201d
\nIs this an aspect of the gospel we have grasped clearly, first in our thinking and then in our living? We have been purchased. \u201cYou are not your own,\u201d writes Paul, \u201cfor you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.\u201d36
\nWell, do you?
\nA Vast Multitude
\nThe heavenly song in Revelation 5 also underlines the scope of Christ\u2019s work of redemption. The cost of it is the blood of the Lamb; the scope of it is awe-inspiring. He has purchased men from God \u201cfrom every tribe and language and people and nation.\u201d37 This is the immense, expansive movement of God\u2019s saving work throughout the world. There are no geographical or ethnic limits.
\nRemember the moment Peter finally recognized this, when Jesus sent his Spirit to the Gentiles in the house of the Roman general Cornelius?38 The full meaning of the Great Commission and the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost\u2014and all the implications of his own sermon on that day\u2014came home to him at last. Abraham was promised that in his seed the nations would be blessed; the messianic King would receive the nations for his inheritance; the Suffering Servant would sprinkle many nations.39 \u201cNow I get it,\u201d Peter said. \u201cI know now that God does not have favorites. There is no favored-nation status.\u201d
\nThe message of the gospel now goes into the whole world. Our friends\u2014from our churches and many others too\u2014are there, painstakingly working on the translation of the Scriptures among the Indians of Guatemala and in the Andes, in Mexico, and among primitive tribes in villages of the world that are on no map, with names we cannot spell, speaking languages we do not recognize, and using words we cannot pronounce.
\nWhy? Because from all eternity God planned to bring to faith in Christ, and ultimately to glory, a vast multitude whom no man can number. And he has specified the way and the means by which he will accomplish it.
\nPaul understood that, when he said, \u201cHow are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?\u201d40
\nChrist sends us out into the neighborhoods, the workplaces, the institutions of our society, into the coffee shops, and into daily interaction with the warp and woof of life with a story to tell the nations.
\nChristians have a story unlike any other story.
\nIslam has only scales, the good outweighing the bad. Hinduism at best hopes for multiple reincarnations. Zen Buddhism has no real god at all. But we have this amazing story of Christ for which so many believers have been willing to be marginalized, persecuted, and even killed.
\n\u201cYes,\u201d says John, \u201cthere will be suffering and persecution. But there is something you should know, my dear Christian friends. I have gone through a doorway that opened into heaven. I have had a look behind the curtain. Here is what I have to tell you: there is before the throne of God an innumerable company of men and women and boys and girls who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!\u201d
\n\u201cOh,\u201d we say, \u201cbut we thought it said in Revelation 7 that there were only 144,000!\u201d41
\nDon\u2019t you see that all of these numbers are symbolic? Are you looking at pictures and symbols as if they were the things themselves? No, there are 144,000 because that is the square of twelve (it isn\u2019t accidental there were twelve tribes) multiplied by the cube of ten. It is a kind of \u201cperfect number\u201d of enormous proportions. Not a single one will be missing! It isn\u2019t 143,999! For Jesus has told his Father: \u201cFather, I have kept them all. I have done what you asked me to do. And not one of them is missing.\u201d42
\nThen as John looks he sees \u201ca great multitude that no one could number.\u201d43 They are like the sand of the seashore, the stars in the night sky, an innumerable company from every tribe and people and nation and language.
\nWhat a glorious, exhilarating reminder to us of the expansive and universal appeal of the gospel and the extent of the work of redemption accomplished by the Lamb upon the throne!
\nSheer Privilege
\nIn addition to the immense price and vast scope of our redemption, there is one further implication: the sheer privilege we have in experiencing that redemption. John hears a choir composed of the four living creatures plus the twenty-four elders now singing the closing words of their anthem of praise for the redeemed:<\/p>\n
You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
\nand they will reign on the earth.44<\/p>\n
Then it seems the entire angelic population of heaven joins in, \u201cmyriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,\u201d45 now with another song of praise to the Lamb. And they are joined by the cosmic choir, \u201cevery creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them,\u201d46 singing, in effect:<\/p>\n
To God be the glory, great things he has done;
\nSo loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
\nWho yielded his life an atonement for sin,
\nAnd opened the life gate that all may go in.
\nO perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
\nTo every believer the promise of God;
\nThe vilest offender who truly believes,
\nThat moment from Jesus a pardon receives.47<\/p>\n
What a glorious reality this is\u2014heavenly worship! There is plenty to do. It will be wonderful. If we move on to Revelation 7, which in many ways parallels the praise of Revelation 5, what do we find? This great multitude is singing God\u2019s praises and serving God\u2019s purposes.48 The saints in glory are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. They are under the spreading protection of his wonderful care: \u201cHe who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.\u201d49
\nWhat is the result of all this? \u201cThey shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore.\u201d50 They are perfectly satisfied with God\u2019s provision. And then John adds a beautiful little footnote with a little bit of poetic license in it: the Lamb who was slain for them has now become the Shepherd who leads them:<\/p>\n
The Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
\nand he will guide them to springs of living water.
\nand God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.51<\/p>\n
Here it is, then\u2014God\u2019s final answer to all our alienation and dislocation. Here is the answer to the angst of our generation and of every generation.
\nWho else can wipe away every tear from our eyes? Who else can enter into the depths of our circumstances and deal with them? Who else can supply living water so that we will never thirst again? Only Jesus. Only the one who is the Lamb of God.
\nIf, at one sitting, you read Revelation 5 through 7, you will notice that this tapestry, which has the Lord Jesus at its center, surrounds him with an ever-expanding circle of praise:
\n\u2022 The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders worship him. (5:9)
\n\u2022 Myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands of angels worship him. (5:11)
\nBut there is more to come. Much more:
\n\u2022 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying: \u201cTo him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!\u201d (5:13)
\nOne of our favorite fellow countrymen is the great seventeenth-century theologian, preacher, and writer Samuel Rutherford. Here is what he has to say about this:<\/p>\n
The Lord stands in no need of a testimony of such a worm as I. Although should the whole world be silent, the very stones would cry out. Yet, is it more than debt that I should confess Christ before both men and angels.
\nIt would afford me unspeakable satisfaction were the throne of the Lord Jesus exalted above the clouds, the heaven of heavens, and on both sides of the sun. That I by his grace might put my seal, poor as it is, to the song of those, who with a loud voice sang, \u201cThou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof.\u201d For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.
\nBlest were I could I but lay my ear of faith and listen to the psalms sung by the many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders, and the ten thousand times ten thousands, and thousands of thousands who, with a loud voice, sang, \u201cWorthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches and strength and honor and glory and blessing,\u201d and if I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea as John heard them saying, \u201cBlessing and honor and glory and power be ascribed to him who sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.\u201d52<\/p>\n
Here is this elderly man with a pen and a sheet of paper, and he writes down his soul on it. What a testimony to the glory of Christ!
\nTwo hundred years later, Anne Ross Cundell Cousin was so deeply moved by Samuel Rutherford\u2019s Letters that she wove many of his statements into a single nineteen-verse hymn, \u201cThe Sands of Time Are Sinking.\u201d If it is sung at all now, it is the five- or six-verse version that is used. The hymn has a particularly memorable stanza that begins,<\/p>\n
The Bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
Every minister who has conducted weddings knows that this is true\u2014no matter how much the bride\u2019s father spent on his beloved daughter\u2019s wedding gown; no matter how much she had it adjusted on the evening before the wedding; no matter how many attendants had it perfectly arranged two minutes before she came down the aisle. We are yet to see a bride preoccupied with her gown as she walks down the aisle to stand beside the man she loves. No, she has eyes for one man only.<\/p>\n
The Bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom\u2019s face;
\nI will not gaze at glory but on my King of grace.
\nNot at the crown he giveth but on his pierced hand;
\nThe Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel\u2019s land.<\/p>\n
One day the shadows will flee away. The days of preparation will all come to an end. The final day will dawn. Already we acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. But then we will know him as we have never done before\u2014in face-to-face fellowship. Then we will be made like him, for we shall see him as he is.53
\nWe shall then see Jesus as the Seed of the Woman who crushed the Serpent\u2019s head, as the Prophet of God whose word directs our lives, as the Great High Priest who intercedes for us, and as the King who subdues all our enemies and reigns over us forever. We will recognize him as the Son of Man seated beside the Ancient of Days, and as the Suffering Servant who is now exalted as the Lamb on the throne.
\nOn that day we will see with unclouded vision why his Father has given him the<\/p>\n
Name above All Names.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jesus Christ, the Lamb on the Throne Probably the most well-known of the paintings of Gaugin, the French impressionist painter, is hanging in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. On the upper left corner of the canvas he wrote in French: \u201cWhere do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?\u201d The Bible answers … <\/p>\n