Does everybody have the little handout or do you need another one? Do you need one? Michaela, would you maybe pass those back, one to the girls and one to the boys? Do you need one? Here you go. Yeah, I've got it. Josh, do you have one? Yeah, here's one here. All right, so let's just read chapter 5. It's only 14 verses, and then we'll start digging back in and kind of pick up some of where we left off. Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? 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. And one of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he may open the scroll and its seven seals. 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. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 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, worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals. For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels. numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. 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, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped. What are your thoughts just hearing that, just listening to what's going on there in chapter 5? Well, it makes me think of just how holy everything is. Everything has its certain place. Yeah, everything has its place and how holy God is, how righteous God is, both the Father and the Son. Seeing the reality of the one who you know chapter 4 was the the vision starts With John getting the vision of the throne room What was do you remember? What was the description that John gives of of? What he's seeing you know as as the father on the throne Did he see a man a person on the throne? Do you remember what all he saw? they saw brilliant brilliant light and You know, that was in many colors. There were, you know, the colors of jasper and sapphire and carnelian. There was this multitude of colors that John describes being like a rainbow, like a bow around, which was very interesting. What else do you recall? Lightning, thunder, you know, very reminiscent of, you know, the Old Testament. When the people remember, when the people are wandering in the desert and Moses goes up on Mount Sinai to receive the tablets, the people are looking up and they see this cloud descend, smoke, thunder, lightning, flashing, and they were terrified. They were like, I'm not going up there. So they asked Moses, will you go up and intercede for us because we can't. I'm not going up there. So, you know very from a human perspective Just to be in the presence of God of holiness It brings fear it brings terror because you you realize that you're in the presence of one who is completely unlike you and the fact that he is righteous and because it's not you know, we I think in modern day we have to be a We have to be cautious because we should rightly so have a fear of God. But it's not a fear because he's out to get everybody. It's a fear because he is holy. And because he is holy, he will pour out judgment and wrath upon sin, upon the things that are not holy. But for those who are holy, He will be just and loving and kind and merciful and gracious. And so that's where we have this balance of, you know, in days of old, and I say days of old, but if you rewind the clock, even from now, say 40, 50 years ago, people would refer to someone as being, well, that's a God-fearing man, that's a God-fearing woman, for kids. Have y'all ever heard somebody say, well, that's a God-fearing man, that's a God-fearing woman? That phrase, that terminology is not really used in modern language. But if you just rewind the clock a generation, if you go back to say, you know, Gammy's generation, that would have been a very common thing for, you know, Gammy or someone, your grandfather, great grandfather, they would have all Notice someone who was a churchgoer or one who feared the Lord they would say that you know, that's a God-fearing man It's a God-fearing woman and that was a thing That that was that was honorable, you know for someone to say that about you was a very honorable thing And it wasn't because you were terrified of getting struck by lightning because God was displeased with you It was because you recognized the holiness of God and the righteousness of God and therefore you feared him in an appropriate way Because you recognized because you recognized how holy and how righteous that he was and And when we get to heaven, we're worshiping, talking to everybody we know, and we're going to be doing this, and I'm like, you're going to be down on your face, worshiping God, you know. But I even hear it says how, I mean, you took the scroll, and when you had taken it, everybody fell down before the Lamb. I mean, that's what you're doing, worshiping. Well, and I think, yeah, we're going to get into that. So I'm going to, today, part of chapter five will be in the Sunday school setting. then the rest of chapter 5 will be in the sermon setting. So, for those that are not here, you know, they'll have to either listen to the recordings or they're going to be completely lost the rest of their life on Revelation chapter 5 because they're going to miss it. But, no, but that's exactly right to your point. You know, not only is it the Lamb who's worthy to take the scroll, nobody else is. And, you know, and John laments this. He looks around. And and and think about this like look at it. Look at the the image that you have the the drawing the picture Who is who all is? Represented in this in this vision that he says keep in mind that this image With the circles and the throne this represents chapter 4 and chapter 5. This is the this one, you know this this one vision so in chapter 4 and chapter 5 It's all kind of portrayed in this image. Who all is represented here? Do you all have the image? Joshua, why are you staring at me? You got a question? So if I said look at the image and you're looking at me, that makes me think you must have a serious question. So according to this, and if you look at chapter 4 and chapter 5, which we've read and been through, who all is represented in this vision that John's having? Everyone. Everyone. Yeah. Josh is exactly right. You know, look at, you know, so number one, who's on the throne? The Father. See the, in the image, you see the F in the center? We have the Father. And the Father is the center. God is the center of all of this. That's the focus. And notice everything is pointing inwards towards Him. So think about Colossians. when we read about creation and the created order and why God created things, that all things were created by Christ, through Christ, not just by Him and through Him, but for Him. And so all things point back to God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And so we see the Father being the central point here. So God the Father is represented here. Keep in mind, You know, how is it that John is seeing this? He's having a vision. But remember, he's caught up in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has brought him here, is giving him the understanding and the sight and the visibility to see this. So we have the Father represented. We have the Spirit represented. Who else is there? Christ is there in what form in this particular vision? The Lamb, right? So Christ is there, so the entire concept of the Divine Trinity, the Godhead, is present. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Who else is there? What about circle number four? Before living creatures, you know the cherubim we've seen that, you know, those four living creatures we saw in Ezekiel's vision We saw in Isaiah's vision and you remember what are these four living creatures? What are they constantly saying? That's where we get to him. Holy. Holy. Holy that is It comes right out of these passages, and we're echoing what these mighty, powerful creatures, these cherubim, say. So not only are these powerful angels, created beings that surround the throne, four of them are there. Who else is there? The elders. How many elders are there? Twenty-four. So twelve and twelve. So we've got that representation of Joshua, How many sons did Jacob have? Twelve. And they represented what? The twelve tribes of Israel. The twelve tribes of Israel. Right. He just had to do a paper on this at school. So the twelve tribes of Israel. So we had those twelve tribes of Israel, twelve sons of Jacob, the patriarchs from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob coming down to the sons. And so we had that representation of the Old Covenant, of the Old Testament being there. And then we have another twelve. you know, the 12 apostles, right, for the New Testament. So we have both Old and New Testament together, the 24 elders being fully represented here. Who else besides, so we have the Godhead, we have these, you know, crazy supernatural creatures with six wings and covered in eyes and they're there, but they're created beings by God. We have the 24 elders, who else? the many angels and in verse 11. So we have the many angels and we just read that text chapter 5 verse 11. Hannah, what does chapter 5, how many angels does chapter 5 verse 11 tell us that there are? Thousands of thousands, myriads of myriads, thousands upon thousands. So how many is that? A lot. A lot, right. It's a lot. Where else do you, when you think of angels appearing in the Bible, what are some instances that you think of? What are some other times that angels have appeared that you recall from Bible stories? The tomb, right? So the tomb, you know, Mary and others come and there's an angel there that said, why do you seek the living and what's the dead? He's not here. He is risen. We see angels there. Where else? The incarnation, we see there. So think about this. When those are approaching the tomb at the resurrection, what was their mindset when they saw this angel? Do you remember? They were terrified. They were terrified. You know what? You recall when the Roman soldiers, they were basically frozen with fear. I mean, they were completely and utterly petrified to the point where they were paralyzed. That's an angel that was there, right? One angel. Some texts say two. So, okay, at most, two angels that struck enough fear to completely paralyze a human being, right? I mean, just completely and utterly terrified, right, of what they were seeing. And then at the incarnation, right, what is the incarnation? It's not an instant breakfast, right? What is the incarnation? The birth of Christ. So at Jesus' birth, Josh made mention There was an angel there, right? Was there just one angel there? No. How many angels were there? Thousands upon thousands. What were they doing? They were singing. Remember? The shepherds were out in the field, and all of a sudden, in the heavens, there were myriads of angels. Thousands upon thousands. Ten thousands upon ten thousands. And they were singing, glory to God in the highest. They were praising because Christ was born. What happened with those shepherds, do you think? They were terrified. Oh my goodness. I want you to think about this because Jenny made a good point looking at that text and making the comment of people saying, When I get to heaven, this is what I'm going to do. This is how it's going to be. Some people will make reference how they have buddy angels. But every reference that we have in Scripture, when someone encounters an angel, it's a pretty unsettling experience. Now, I want you to think about that. God made manifest a genuine revelation to you, allowed an angel to appear physically before you. You know, these creatures, for example, a cherubim with six wings, you know, or a mighty angel like, you know, take, you know, Michael, you know, for example, an archangel. A powerful angel that does battle on behalf of God. What is another famous angel? Actually, we only have a couple named in scripture. We have Michael, Gabriel, right? So we have Gabriel, the archangel, that is making announcements and proclamations on behalf of God. Imagine one of these being made manifest to you. And imagine sitting in your, Hallie, what would you think if you're sitting in your house You know, you're two hours deep in a CSI marathon or something, and then all of a sudden, out of the ceiling, appears a bright, shimmering light with a being, an angel standing before you. How would that make you feel? Probably be terrified, right? It's not like, hey, what's up, homie? No. You would probably be paralyzed with fear, like, what in the world is happening? What is going on? And this is kind of what we see with what's going on here. But here, in Revelation, John doesn't just see one. He sees myriads upon myriads. He sees thousands upon thousands, ten thousands upon ten thousands. He sees thousands and thousands of angels. And what are these angels, what are they doing? What does it say in verse 11, in verse 12? Praise in Christ. Yep, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. They're giving praise, honor, and glory to Christ, and we'll get more into that in the sermon today. But, so we have We have the Godhead represented. We have these four living creatures, these very unique creatures that are created beings of God. Then we have this, the 24 elders, and we have these extended view of the angels, not just the four around the throne, but the thousands upon thousands, the 10,000 upon 10,000. But who else is represented here? All the other creatures in the universe. All the other creatures in the universe. Specifically, if you look at verse 13, He says, and I heard every creature in heaven. Not just every creature in heaven, but every creature where else? On the earth and under the earth. Where else? In the sea. You got like starfish and stuff like carrying on. I mean like, you know, guppies. I mean like things in the sea. Things that are in the sea, like, you know, the great white shark praising God, right? I mean, like, everything that is everything. So not just things, you know, in heaven or on the earth or under the earth, and in the sea, and all that's in them, everything, across all creation, across the universe, saying to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor. So you see this equivalency made between the father, the one on the throne, and the lamb, the one who was slain, being brought together. And so we have this full representation of who's there, of what's going on. And so as John's looking around and he sees really a representation of everything, of all created order, he's looking around It's interesting though, because you and I just went through the full text, and we see that the lamb, you know, is there. But John doesn't initially see the lamb, does he? Look at the early verses of chapter 5. In verse 3, or verse 2, we have a question. All right, Joshua, what's the question that's asked in Revelation 5, chapter 2? Yeah, Revelation chapter 5 verse 2 What's the question that's asked? Who is worthy Josh we see that read read verse 2 I And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? So, there's two, there's basically two questions that get asked as one question. What are the two questions? Who's worthy to open the scroll? Who's worthy to open the scroll? And who's worthy to break its seals? Alright, now this is, this is interesting. So, we have a scroll. Now, what is a scroll? A what? The old version of a book. The old version of a book. That's a pretty good explanation. The old version of a book. We know in days past before we could drastically mine pine tree farms and create wood pulp and go to the print mill and make reams of 500 sheet line graph notebook paper, days of old they had scrolls. And these scrolls, you know, were typically early days made out of animal skins. So almost like think of a hide or like a piece of leather, so to speak. And then eventually you got to, you know, once you get into the New Testament era is where you get, does anybody know what those early forms of paper were called? Papyrus, right? So the papyrus was where we kind of first get to, you know, actual paper. that eventually would become what you and I know today. So we go from animal skins to paper to now modern day, really nice paper. But those early forms of paper, even some of the animal skins could be written upon and then they would be rolled up and then put into a jar, clay pot or something to preserve them, to keep the moisture, to keep the elements of the weather. Have you ever heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls? Where did they find the Dead Sea Scrolls? near the Dead Sea, right? Yeah, there you go. So, there's the Dead Sea. Does everybody know the Dead Sea is actually the lowest point on Earth above ground-wise? So, it's the lowest elevation on Earth. When you go down, you know, into the Dead Sea region, it's the lowest elevation point on the Earth. I mean, it's like, you know, it's a big bowl. that you're kind of way down in and then, you know, that's where you have the Dead Sea. Why is it called the Dead Sea? Because it's dead. Nothing living. Right, yeah. There's nothing that lives there because the salt content, the mineral content is so high You're not going to go out there and sling a hook and catch a largemouth. It's not going to happen because it's too salty. In fact, if you ever get the opportunity to go, one of the craziest things is you can't sink in the Dead Sea. Even if you can't swim, you will float in the Dead Sea. Go look at pictures or look at videos. Just go search the web for floating in the Dead Sea. You'll find it. You literally go out there and you can sit down in the water and then just kind of lay back and you're like a bobber. It just instantly pushes you to the top because the mineral content is so high in the Dead Sea, it displaces your body weight and it literally pushes you up. So, it's hard to sink in the Dead Sea because of that mineral content. It's a very interesting place, but nonetheless, the Dead Sea Scrolls, you know, were found in this cave just right up in the cliff. So, it's down in this hole, but all around there are these mountains, these big, you know, desert, sandy, rocky hills, and as you kind of look through there, you actually will begin to see some of this stuff where it just becomes quite obvious. I am, I got my laptop, I actually may have, I may have, I may have a picture of this. I do. I just won't be able to find it without being online, doing a really good search. Anyway. But you can look up and see the cave. You can literally look up from there and see these holes in the side of the mountain where these caves were. And that's what a fan of Dead Sea Scrolls But they put those Dead Sea Scrolls in those particular caves because of how dry the climate was. I mean, think about it. Do you really think you could roll up a piece of paper in Alabama and put it in a clay pot and 3,000 years later it would be there? No. Why is that? The humidity. The moisture. But that's what they would do. to try to preserve, you know, these documents, these papers is on scroll, roll them up, and, you know, put them in these jars. And that's kind of where we get to the, you know, the preservation of these scrolls. And scrolls, like if you imagine a scroll, Michaela, if you think about a scroll, let's see, you got this? You got it now? All right, roll that up like a scroll for me. What do you think a scroll would look like? Would you fold a scroll? What would you do with it? Roll it like that. All right, so hold that up so everybody can see. So we got this rolled up scroll. Now, Makayla, if you were going to write on that scroll, what would you do? Unroll it. Where would you write? on the paper and then what side of the paper? Let's see. Let's just pretend like you wrote that and now you're going to roll the scroll up. Which way would you roll it? On the inside. So the writing would be on the inside. When we look at the text here and we talk about this scroll, Actually, go back to chapter 4. No, sorry. It's chapter 5, verse 1. What does it say about this? This scroll in chapter 5 verse 1 Joshua. What does it say is the scroll just written on the front? Joshua you alive Come here you need to sit by me I guess Everybody else, what verse did I say? Verse 1. So everybody heard verse 1 except for you. So what does verse 1 say about the scroll? Chapter 5. For real? Yeah. Chapter 5, buddy. Yeah. seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals." So where was it written on? On the back. Where else? Within. Within. So front and back, right? Alright, sit right here. Well, you'll know that we're in chapter 5. That way you can hear me clearly when I say verse 1. That way you don't have to worry about Maybe I'm miscommunicating something. I'm just trying to help you out. Maybe it's my fault. So chapter 5 verse 1, the scroll is written where, Michaela? The front and the back. Now that would say, how many of you actually think of a scroll being written on the back? So like when you roll it up, you're normally rolling it up to protect what's on the inside. But in this case, the front and the back, like there's nowhere else to write on this scroll. It's just completely full. when you look at it from an overall perspective. So that's something interesting to think about. It depends on the scenario. I'm glad you brought that up. So it depends on the scenario. When you look and say, okay, what would be the Who's the common government during John's day? Rome. And Rome basically, in practice, ruled the known world. They were in charge. Everybody in the known world at the time had succumbed to Roman authority for the most part and was under Rome's authority. So when you look at That's part of when we talk about context, you have to look at things in the context of the day. Like Sonny said, well, back in that day, you know, you have to kind of understand what is it that they would have understood. Now, John sees this famous scroll, right, and it's written on the inside, on the outside, and it's rolled up. And not only is it rolled up, but what's on it? Seven seals. Seven seals. Not just one seal. How many seals does it take to seal a scroll? One. If you've got a big scroll, it takes seven. Maybe that's what it was. Maybe this is just a big god with a big scroll and it took seven seals. I don't think that's the case. It's a good theory though. So he sees this scroll written on front, written on back, sealed with seven seals. Where is this scroll at? It's in the right hand of the Father. How do you know it's in the right hand of the Father? Does it say it's in the right hand of the Father? What did you say? So that's how you know it's the father. It's the one who's in the right hand of him who's seated on the throne. Now we've gone through in chapter 4 who's seated on the throne, right? So that's how we know it's the father, right? Because it's the one who's seated on the throne, which is the central point of all of this. So note that, you know, here he says, I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within. Now a couple points to notice. Notice that he, He makes he just makes reference to the one seated on the throne He doesn't say I saw in the right hand of the father or I saw in the right hand of God or I saw in the right hand of Yahweh or Jehovah, but why why do you think John? Wouldn't just say I saw in the hand of Jehovah. I saw in the hand of Yahweh Why would he not do that? why speak in the terms that he's speaking and say I saw the one seated there and this was in his right hand and Is John a Jew or a Gentile? John was a Jew, right? Were Jews allowed to speak the name of God? They could, but Adonai, you know, there, you know, there was multiple references, but no one would ever say Yahweh. Like even today, like if you were to read a writing from a devout Jew, it would look something like this. They wouldn't write God or Lord, you know, Yahweh, Jehovah. They literally put dashes. because they don't speak the name of God. They may give a descriptor, the Holy One, the Great One, the Almighty. They'll give a descriptor, but they won't speak His name. Why do you, and even, you know how to, how do you spell the name of God? Y-H-W-H is Tetragrammaton. That's where we get the term Yahweh. But this is, and Hebrew is meant to represent, it's unspeakable. It's not pronounceable, right? It's not a thing that can be, you know, pronounced or understood. So where do the Jews get that concept from, and why wouldn't they, you know, speak the name? Exodus chapter 20, this isn't the giving of the commandments. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that it is in the earth beneath or that it is in the water beneath and then in verse 7 you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. That's it. Exodus 20 verse 7 is why Jews won't they just won't say the name. Because, you know, from their perspective, there's no reason to speak his name. Because he's the Almighty. And for me to say his name in any context, other than to describe him as the Great One, the Almighty One, is to take his name in vain. It's to lessen his name. And so they just simply won't speak it. This is where it comes from. And I think John, being a devout Jew, understanding the Jewish perspective, is why when he's given this vision and he's writing these things down, he doesn't say, I saw God the Father. Number one, you know you can't, God's spirit. So there's not necessarily a person to be seen from a physical context. But he also knows that he's seeing God. And so you see the brilliance and the radiance, the emanation that he describes there. So this scroll is written within and on the back. Specifically if it's written on the front and the back it's full, right? There's no room to add anything This is very similar to what the prophet Ezekiel says in his vision in Ezekiel chapter 2 Verses 9 and 10 he says and when I looked behold a hand was stretched out to me and behold a scroll of a book was in it and he spread it before me spread this scroll before me and it had writing on the front and on the back and And they were written on it, words of lamentation, mourning, and woe. So there's words of lamentation, of lamenting, mourning, and woe. So there are things written in this scroll that are not great, right? That there could be judgment, wrath, destruction. Very similar, somebody turn over to Daniel chapter 12. Jefferson at a Daniel 12 And let me know when you get there so Daniel chapter 12 we see another instance of You know God telling a prophet about things that are to come particularly in the end times and in the end days But this scroll written front and back is sealed with seven seals now Let's go back to you know Sonny's comment about well. I You would have to use what you had because it was expensive and not everybody had a lot. But if you're talking about the context of Roman government, Roman authority and official documents, how many of you have signed an official document of some sort? Like kids, for example, your report card. That's an official document, right? Is your report card, is it printed on the front and back or is it just the front? Just the front. Official documents typically are going to be one page only. If it's not necessarily a big deal, you can print front and back. But like, Hallie, when you have to do papers, do you print your papers front and back? No, because that's considered to be a formal writing or a formal document that you're submitting. So that's why it's informal to do front and back. just trying to save paper and it's notes taken or whatever, then you use the front and back. But on official documents, those are one-pagers, right? And even with scrolls, keeping the context of Rome and government documents, it would only be something written on the inside. They'd roll that up, seal it, and put it away. So to have this scroll say that it's written front and back, it's very unique in the sense that it's You know, it's not just, hey, here's this. This is obviously official. It's coming from God, but it's so full that it takes the front and back. And even then it's, you know, it's probably still not enough, right? If we read what is in the end of John's gospel, you know, we read that, you know, if John was to record all of the, all of the wondrous works that the Lord had done, The libraries in all of the earth couldn't contain it. There were so many different things. Judson, did you get Daniel? Chapter 12, read verse 4-ish. Shut up the word and seal the book until the time of the end. So we see there, Daniel is being given things that are not allowed to be revealed, right? Shut up the book roll it up put the seal on it put it away now not literally this is you know in Daniel see this is figuratively, you know, so there are things that Daniel is telling the people that they're listening to but he's like seal it up put it away that and and he goes on if you go read Daniel chapter 12 and You'll see he goes on to say there those of the wicked who have no wisdom those who in the in the last days When that when that word is opened when that seal is broken There will be those who understand who have wisdom, but it'll come from God So we kind of see this contrast, you know, really Daniel chapter 12 Ezekiel chapter 2 Really foreshadowing what we're seeing in Revelation chapter 5 with this scroll, you know, it's all kind of coming together now and Do you think Daniel and Ezekiel had a very clear understanding that, you know, who Jesus Christ was and who he was going to be? Is anywhere in the Old Testament the name Jesus mentioned? No. What they knew is that God promised to do something. Did they know what his name was going to be? Did they know he was going to be a carpenter, born to Mary? No. Did they know that he was going to be, you know, they knew that God was going to send an anointed. That's where we get the word Christ from. Everybody does know Judson, Joshua, Hannah, Halle, Michaela. Y'all do know that Christ is not Jesus' last name? Y'all know that, right? Jesus Christ, the word Christ, Means anointed That's what it means. So it's Jesus Y'all heard Messiah, right? Messiah also means the anointed one. So it's it's really Jesus Messiah Jesus the Christ Jesus the anointed one That's where we Jesus is the Son of God. He's the anointed. He's God's anointed. He's God's chosen. He's God's elect, right? That's where we get the term from that's what it means Not his last name Despite what some people might think So we have Christ, the anointed. We have these Old Testament prophets that are talking about this day to come where there's a scroll, there's a book, it's written, it's sealed up. And now we have in Revelation where the scroll is going to be opened. Right, so understand that we have the Old Testament saying there were things written that were sealed up until the end and now here we are at the end because you and I are privileged enough to be on the back end of this and John's giving us some insight into, hey, you know those scrolls y'all read about that were sealed up that you didn't know what was going to happen and you were waiting to see what was going to happen? I'm about to tell you that the Lamb's coming in and cracking open the seals and you're going to see it played out. That make sense? That's that's where this is going. That's what we're seeing here So it's sealed not just one seal and we're out of time, but how many seals? And then let me give you a little bit of insight into these seals this great scroll scroll full of the Word of God sealed It can't be accessed. Remember John is he's tearful. He's upset and Because he's looked around, and all of these people that are in heaven, all of these creatures that are in heaven, not a single one of them can open the scroll. But then, one of the elders speaks up. And what does the elder tell John? He tells him specifically, look at verse Yes, verse 5. What does that elder tell John specifically? Don't weep no more, don't cry no more, don't worry about it no more, because as Sister Nadine said, there's the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the firstborn of all creation. There's one who's worthy to open the scroll. And then as John looks over, what does he see? He sees the lamb. This is interesting because what does the lamb look like to him? A lamb that's slain. Now how many of you have ever seen a slain animal? What's it doing? It's laying there. But what's this lamb doing? It's standing. This lamb is not discarded carcass laying over on the side. This lamb that was slain is standing, has overcome death, has overcome the sacrifice, and this lamb is standing, right? So it's an interesting point when you talk about these scrolls and what's going on here, what John is seeing. He's very sorrowful. He's lamenting, but now he's encouraged. He's exhorted because the elders Not the four living creatures, not the tens of thousands of angels. An elder looks at it and says, hey, there's one worthy. And it's an elder that represents the church is the one that basically says, hey, John, be encouraged. Look over here. Now, you would think John walked with Jesus, right? He knows the gospel, right? He's an apostle, right? So John would have a clear understanding, but as he's seeing this vision, think of it in essence as John has been privileged enough to be placed into a situation by God, given a vision to see the state of the world apart from the divine intervention of the Lamb. John's never had that, but he understands the fallen nature of man. He understands the depravity of man. He understands the condemnation and the wrath of God that is upon man apart from Jesus Christ. But what he doesn't know is the astronomical global concept of this, to the point now where he's undone. He's woeful. He's seriously undone. But the church, the elders that represent the church tell him, hey, Don't lament. Don't worry about it. There's the lamb. And then John's like, Jesus. And all of this stuff starts to kind of come together. It's not that John doesn't know. Remember, this vision is being given to John to give to the churches, the seven churches of Asia, that are in dire persecution. So for those of us in modern day that are under persecution, or for the churches in that day that were under persecution, and you're going, God has left me. God has abandoned me. I have no hope. I'm struggling in life. I'm struggling with a situation. I'm struggling with a life circumstance. I'm not hearing from God. I'm not hearing from anybody. This is for us. This is for the church to say, look, regardless of what you're going through, look to the lamb and remember the lamb, that he's worthy. He's worthy to open this scroll that nobody else could open, to proclaim the things of God that nobody else could do. And this scroll in particular, I think this is important because John is in prison on Patmos when he writes this. Who is he in prison by? Rome. Who is the major government at the time? Rome. Who is producing all the official documents? Rome. So this all has to be under the context of understanding Roman documentation and in modern When we talk about, you know, scrolls and writing on both sides, there's actually a term for that. It's called an epistograph. Like, if you have a scroll that's written on front and back. But those are typically, like I said, not official documents. They're maybe someone's, you know, in-home writings or something like that for note taking. These documents would be of private use, but you also had documents for public use. The most common use for private documents, if you think of, Official private documentation? Think of like a wheel. What is a wheel? Joshua, do you know what a wheel is? Like a car wheel? No, not a car wheel. W-I-L-L. You don't know what the wheel of a person is? Yeah, that one. What is it? The wheel of a person? Yeah. To determine to do something. Well, that is the will of a person, but I'm talking about as it pertains to a document. If I have a will, I have a document called a will. What is that? Judson? It is an agreement to an extent. It's final wishes. It's, you know, when I die, what's in my will is my final decree. You know, I want Joshua. To get my Bible so that he can seriously understand Revelation chapter 5 verse 1 and know that it's there, right? So, you know, I want you know, you want your children to get certain things, you know, you want you know certain You know, maybe certain debts that you have are going to be paid in a certain way or whatever the scenario is But that's that's so and now from a will that document How do you how do you get wheels created in our modern day? I? You go to lawyer because it's a legally binding document and when you go to the lawyer And you create that legally binding document One of the things that happens is it gets notarized or it gets a stamp or a seal Yeah, saying that this is a valid legal document. What's the same, you know here so if you think of Old Testament or old culture, go back to early Roman days, if you had private documents, so ones that would be in the family, they would write those out. They would put the family seal. Most every family had a seal so that you knew, oh, that's from the Shrigley family. It's got their mark. It's got their seal on it. Or that's from the Simmons family or the Etheridge family or the Hoagland family. Everybody had a unique seal. Then you had public documents. So if you had two documents, and one of them had the Shrigley seal, and one of them had the seal of the President of the United States, which one's private? The Shrigley document. Which one's public? The government document. It's the same thing that they had even in the Roman day, but when you kind of boil this down, in either case in Roman times, documents being sealed were done so, get this, any time in Roman culture, when a document was sealed, It had seven witnesses. So you didn't just go like write out your will or your private document and put your own little seal on there and say, okay, what if somebody stole your seal? So you would have seven witnesses that would come in to watch. And those seven witnesses would say, I watched Anthony write this out. I was there when Anthony put the Shrigley seal on there. And so that would certify that document. Just like for the government documents. Even in the government documents, to make it official, they couldn't put the Roman seal on there, the Roman stamp, without seven witnesses, you know, saying yes. But now here we have a document with seven seals. So, you know, the symbolism there being we've got the official, you know, the word of God, front and back. Beginning to end alpha to omega right from the beginning of the alphabet to the end of everything is there But it's also John, you know kind of being under the authority of Rome, giving this to the seven churches of Asia that are under Roman authority, says, I have the word of God, it's sealed, and it's sealed in a way that you can relate to, that you can understand, with seven witnesses, with seven seals, with, you know, this aspect of saying, this is the true testimony, this is the real testimony, it's validated, right? So that's kind of the context that we're seeing here. Also in verse 5, yes. and get what the seals are, but verse 2, he's worried to open the scroll and he's worried to break the seal. So different kind of seal? Not necessarily a different kind of seal. The seal would be the same, but that's, that's actually where we're going. So look, uh, and we are like way at a time, but since like, you're the only ones here, um, we'll just keep going. Um, Because it's a good question. Because if Anthony writes out his will, private document, right? And then he has the lawyer or the witnesses and puts the Shriekley seal on there, right? And this document now, when you seal it, it's closed, right? It's binding, that's it. So when does that document get opened? When he dies. When he dies. Can Judson at any time go get Anthony's document and open it up and make changes? Why? It's not yours. That's exactly right. Because who seals on it? Anthony's. It's his word and it's what he said. Now, if Anthony is still alive and wants to make changes, can he? So Anthony can open it, right? Why can Anthony open it? Because it's his, right? So to answer your question of what about this opening of the seals, one, the Lamb is worthy to do two things. Read the document because it's his. It's God, right? And the Lamb is the Son. And so the son can come and approach the throne and he can read the document. But not only can he read the document, it's only he that's worthy to break the seals to open it. Why? Because it's his. You see how that comes together? It makes sense? Perfect. So we see all of this coming together where, you know, John's undone. There's a word from God that no one can declare. There's a word from God that's sealed. Look back at chapter 4, verse 5. Somebody read chapter 4, verse 5. Seven torches of fire, seven spirits of God, which If you go back, we understood it was the representation of the Holy Spirit, right? So we have this seven, you know, spirit. We got the Holy Spirit. Seven. What does seven represent in the Bible? Perfection. Completeness, right? Completeness or perfection. So when we see these seven seals, we're seeing it's the Word of God, Not just the word of God in and of itself would mean perfection. But now we have the seven seals. It's sealed completely. It's sealed to perfection. So there's no flaw in the seal. There's no way for someone to manipulate or crack it open. But who can? John's looking around going, we would love to have that word. We'd love to know what God has to say. And he's looking around. He recognizes there's condemnation upon the world. God's people are in tribulation. They're in turmoil. And then he looks over, sees this lamb, and then the elder, the representative of the church says, hey, John, don't fret. There is one worthy. There's one worthy to do two things. There's one worthy to read the scroll. There's also one worthy to break the seals. Why? Because it's his. So the scroll is completely full from front to back. There's no room for addition. It's been sealed seven times, indicating its validity and truthfulness. It's in the right hand of the owner, who is God Himself, demonstrating His authority and power. And in the case of a private document, in the context of a will, once the will is sealed or signed in our day, only the owner can make modification. Only the owner can do this. And typically, there's nothing done with it until the person dies. It's binding. This scroll in the right hand of God the Father is therefore representative of His divine decree in its fullness. The scroll is full front to back and since it's his word and it's his seal That presents us that presents humanity with a challenge because you know number one. Where is the scroll? It's in the right hand of the father who can approach the what human can approach the father and not be consumed No one no one can approach the throne. No one can take the scroll. No one can unseal the scroll No one can read the scroll And so John's undone, right? He's upset about this. But then, you know, what happens? He looks over and he sees one who is capable, right? So the angel makes the proclamation that there is one. Then we go back, right? So there is one worthy to open the scroll. When you look at, you know, who is worthy, He's the Lion of the tribe of Judah, right? That takes us back to an Old Testament understanding of who Jesus is. Look at Genesis chapter 49. Someone want to turn to Genesis 49? And Joshua, if you would go to Hebrews 7. 49 verses 9 through 10. So this is in the context of Jacob performing a blessing over his son Judah. and the promise to him. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who dares rouse him? This is symbolic of the Messiah that would be to come. Who could overcome him? Verse 10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. The Messiah, the kingship, is going to come out of Judah. Who would eventually be the king that comes out of Judah? Christ. Yes, in fulfillment. But who would be that first iteration, that Old Testament reference of a big king that takes over? David, right? King David. Hebrews 7.14, Joshua. For it is evidence that our Lord was descended from Judah. And in connection with the tribe, Moses said nothing about this. So again, it's evident that our Lord descended from Judah. So there we have the lineage of the tribe of Judah. We also have Jesus is the root of David. There's multiple references here. Isaiah 11, verse 1. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse a branch from his roots shall bear fruit So we have this reference here, you know to Going back to it from Jesse which from Jesse you would get to David and then from the root of David You know that would come forth Isaiah 11 10 And that day the root of Jesse right going again to the lineage of David Jeremiah 23 5 behold the days are coming to close the Lord when I will raise up for David a righteous branch So out of David, you know, it's going to come this righteous branch Matthew chapter 1 in its entirety The lineage of Jesus Christ, right? So we have you know from birth who was born to you know I mean neck and it traces that back Basically Matthew chapter 1 saying that Jesus is a rightful heir to the throne of David, right? So we have that reference there as well. So Jesus is conquered right and he's done all of these things. So this is where You know John says whoa The elders say don't whoa, right? There's one worthy And then John sees all of this going on and then that's where we now kind of begin to culminate around. Worthy is the lamb indeed. And that's where we're going to take the sermon this morning. All right. So let's pray and we'll move and transition. Father, we thank you for your blessings. Thank you for your word. Father, be glorified this day in Jesus name. Amen.