We're in the heart of the season celebrating Christ's birth, a birth that was predicted, a birth for a purpose, a birth for a propitiation. Jesus, the Son of God, came to bring atonement and the fulfillment of the redemptive plan set before time ever began. He came to make right what our sin had destroyed, making right that only He is worthy of accomplishing. And so as we celebrate our Savior being born, how He emptied Himself, as Philippians says, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, we must recognize the absolute brokenness of the world into which He was born. A world that remains broken, unable to fix itself, no matter how hard it tries. A world in need of redemption, a world under the rule of sin and wickedness. But this rule of sin and wickedness will not be forever. This world, seemingly unrestrained in its wickedness, will know the righteous judgment and rule of the only Almighty Holy Lord and Savior. The arrogance of self-worship will be removed, the reality of his unique worthiness evident to all. But how are we to connect to his worth today? What can we take from the scene in heaven, witnessed and recorded under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the Apostle John? What Kelvin began and read, chapter 4, and as we work into chapter 5, how do we engage with what's seen there, what is given to us, because John is describing in detail the amazing power, right, holiness, and unparalleled worth witnessed in this scene in heaven. But how are we going to connect to His worth? that we tend to casualize, to diminish and render as less influential in our lives? How can we take His true worth and have it change the fabric of our lives and habits of our very existence? And I want us to connect to that this morning. We'll be partaking of communion through the service. The whole point of this message is He is worthy. It's a simple point. The driving emphasis of Revelation 4 and 5 is that He is worthy. By definition, you are not then. We are supposed to have His worth alter our life. So as we engage with what is to come in this scene from heaven, as John tells us, He was moved in the Spirit to see this. We are supposed to have this alter our life. And so I do want us, as we walk through this passage, to break the chains of a casual society. To remember that when we read, holy, holy, holy, it's repeated three times so we understand the weight that's there. When these angels, these cherubim cry and these 24 elders fall down and worship and the myriads worship and they say worthy, they're not just saying that for fun. but instead it defines our existence, and that's what we're supposed to be engaging with. So how do we take what we see here, and how do we then change our lives to align with the reality of who He is? And to do that, to begin with, we actually, from the perspective of God, need to see His majesty. That was chapter four. As a species, as humans, we are enamored with ourselves. We've found a way to make ourselves the center of this world with everything revolving around us. If you actually think a little bit about how you view God, you think God revolves around your universe and not the other way around. We've found a way to think highly of our achievements and the advances we are making. Everything in the news today and all the advances we see in society only inflates ourselves and our minds. We are becoming mini gods in our thinking. We feel God-like in our ability and our control, but there is only one who rightly reigns, only one who is purely holy, only one who deserves all praise and honor. There is only one true God, and He is the supreme authority. So as we walk into heaven with John, into the third heaven, as we walk with him into the presence of God, we find the awesome, almighty God. Because as MacArthur notes, John's vision of God's throne is not one of peace and comfort. Its flashing, glorious, splendorous magnificence reveals the terrors of God's judgment. Truly, our God is a consuming fire. And so, as John is authoritatively called into heaven, when it says, I had a voice like the sound of a trumpet, it's not saying that, oh, there's a trumpet sound or talking through it. It's a call to arms, so to speak. It's an authoritative call. The call to come to heaven was not, hey, do you mind popping over for a bit and see if you can talk? No, it was, come here now. And he encounters God the Father on his throne. Again, authority and right is emphasized where God is described. And he was sitting with like, verse 3 says. And one of the words was jasper stone. This is a diamond shining forth brilliantly and showing the multifaceted light of God's glory. I heard one preacher describe salvation as a diamond, understanding the complexity of it. It's simple in the sense of how we look at it from our end, but it is magnificent and multifaceted as we engage with what God has accomplished. And as we see God the Father in heaven, we see a jasper stone, we see a diamond brilliantly shining out. A sardius, which is a ruby, a fiery, blood-red ruby signifying the depth of God's glory. If you have looked at a ruby, you see the depth of a real emerald, right? Fakes have this shallow look to them. This is deep, bright. It shows His glory. It also shows the reality of God's blazing wrath, which is about to be poured out on the sinful, rebellious world. The rest of Revelation 6-19, we see His wrath poured out. all surrounded, it says, by a rainbow, with emerald being the dominant color or the material notice. To notice the diamond, the ruby, the emerald, the sense of brilliance and beauty and depth. The emerald highlights, in another way, God's glory. The rainbow is a symbol of God's faithfulness, mercy, and grace. It goes all the way back to when God gave us the rainbow. It was His promises. God's wrath is balanced in His faithfulness. His judgments and His promises, God's attributes, always balanced in perfect harmony. And then, as we're walking through this, we're introduced to 24 elders on seats, or on some translations it's gonna say thrones, 24 signifying a number of completion. These elders represented the raptured, glorified, coronated church. So as you see them, they represent you. They are acting as we would then act. And then the description continues, we encounter flashes of lightning, peals of thunder, manifesting God's presence in judgment. His divine wrath is to be poured out. We also see seven lamps, or better translated would be torches, which is the Holy Spirit standing ready for the unfolding of judgment. MacArthur notes here as well, the comforter, that's how we see the Holy Spirit, of those who love Christ will be the consumer of those who reject Him. All of this sitting in a sea of glass, the base of the throne, brilliantly shining like a crystal. If you want some of these same descriptions, go to Ezekiel in the Old Testament. You're going to see some of these same characters, these angels described, these creatures. You're going to see some of the similar description unfold. Why all these descriptions? And I hope you can almost close your eyes. Don't, because I don't want you to fall asleep yet. But you can close your eyes and you can see the brilliance that's there. These diamonds are shining out, the deep red of the ruby, the emerald that's light, this sea of glass, but there is no sea in heaven, but it's just, that's how he sees it. That's the expanse of this. And then like a crystal sparkling. Heaven is not some misty shadow with indistinct cloudy vistas. It is not a precious moment bubble with people sitting on clouds playing harps. That's the wrong image we have. It is bright and brilliant, reflecting the majestic glory of God. Now, why, you may ask, are we looking at this during the Christmas season? This is most definitely not the cuddly baby in what I like to think we call a lavender-scented stable, right? That's how we view this. Every time we walk and see the baby, it's going to smell like lavender, it's going to be so wonderful. Freshly laundered linens, as he never cries, and all these sheep and stuff are around them, perfectly white. If you've ever been around sheep, they're never perfectly white, unless they've just been washed and sheared. But we have this image for Christmas that involves this cuddly thing But when we think of God, it should be done in the fullest expression of who God is and what He's done. God is not to be coddled. He is not to be controlled or commanded by humanity. When we look at the Savior of the world, as we reflect on His birth, we must see who He is to fully comprehend what He's done, resulting in complete worship. Because as we continue with John on his journey in heaven, we find that God is worshiped. We find four cherubim, that's who they are, these magnificent creatures, that constantly cry out. And it's 24-7, they're saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. And it encompasses all of time. And if we go back to our series on Genesis, you recognize He created time. He was before time began. He's not constrained to time. That's what this is highlighting for us again. We find those 24 elders, upon hearing the cherubim giving, it says, glory, honor, and thanks, falling down in worship, casting their crowns before Him. So representing the church, as they see God's glory and holiness, they're not preoccupied with their own excellence, their own holiness, their own reward. They're not thinking, I got this crown, I earned it, I'm going to keep it, it's mine, why don't you see my crown? He's bright, but look at me, I got something to show for my life. I've done something. What we see depicted is us, what we should be represented, on our knees before Him, casting, not because we spurn what it is, but because in light of who He is, we give everything to Him. We're not consumed with self. Their complete energy and perspective is on the one and holy. He says here, worthy are you, our Lord and our God. to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and because of your will, they existed and were created. We know God created. We forget that we're sustained by him, that the only reason we're around and that this world functions and we think we control it. We think that we have a say in it. We think that we can manipulate it. But the only reason we're here is because He created all things, and because of His will they existed and were created. Here's the Creator of all, the One who solely has the right to redeem and judge His creation. Here is the Almighty Father on the cusp of judging Satan, demons, and sinners, and taking back His creation. Because that's what we're looking at. The whole tribulation period, as we walk through Revelation, you're not seeing God just being mean and throwing things out there, and seeing what He can do to people. This is a battle that is unfolding, and it's taking back the world. It's imperative that we see His majesty to comprehend His worth, to know that He is holy, holy, holy. That means He is not buddy, buddy, buddy. He's the almighty creator, Lord and only God. He's not your sidekick. He's not someone to do your bidding and accommodate your complaints. We have turned God into, I always say, the genie of the Bible, rub the lamp, he gives me what I want. He's also the person that we can go whine to about life and what's going on and how we want everything to be perfect for us. If it's not 71 degrees, I hate 71, for me it's more 68 degrees, then life is terrible. Like, we want to go to Him and complain. We sing hymns, sadly, well we don't, but some people do, that talk and I think demean Him, that bring Him down, that talk about Him like He's a friend that sticks closer to a brother. He's God. He is not your buddy. He is holy, holy, holy. It is eminently important for us to grasp who God is, because we have pulled God down. We have tried to make God like us. We were created in His image, and then we want to create a God that looks like us now, instead of understanding that we worship the infinite God. I put here, but are you seeing God? And if you are, is it from His perspective, from His majesty, or is it sadly just from yours? Now the topic of worth continues as we transition in chapter 5. This is some magnificent words and unfolding. And now we encounter, interestingly enough, a scroll in the hand of God the Father. A scroll that no one, it says, in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open. It is not something that anyone could touch. And we find that John responds. So he's in the spirit, he's seeing this unfold, and he responds and he weeps uncontrollably. That's what the words mean in Greek. This is a almost, it's not just slight tears coming down. This is an emotional weeping because there is no way someone could open it. It says he's crying greatly. And actually one of the elders says, cut it out. It says, because the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the scroll when it's seven seals. So the elder states, be quiet and see his answer. An answer that is centered in the Son of God. The lion and the lamb, the fulfillment of prophecy, the solution to our damning sin. Stop crying, one of the elders says, as you see that Jesus is now described. And one of the elders said to me, stop crying. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the scroll and its seven seals. Then I saw in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures, and don't miss this, we don't serve three gods. So you're going to see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit interwoven. And so now we have God the Father on the throne with the Holy Spirit there, and then we're going to see God the Son coming from the throne there in the midst of the throne, and the four living creatures in the midst of the elders, a lamb standing, which is not typical for a lamb, so to speak, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. We're introduced now to the Lion of Judah, the one predicted to rule and reign. And we knew the solution would come from Judah, that Judah was the lion tribe. You go all the way back to Genesis when Jacob is blessing his children, that's going to come out and be talked about. We see the root of David. This is a messianic title coming from Isaiah 11, 1, showing that the Messiah would be a descendant of David. If you go to the genealogies of Matthew 1 and Luke 3, it's made abundantly clear that he is connected to the root of David. And they say the king has overcome. He's defeated sin by his work on the cross. It was a sacrifice of himself as the fulfillment of the Passover sacrifice. Because with all these descriptions, lion, root, what do we see pictured? A lamb. Standing, it says, as if slain. And what he's saying is here's an alive being bearing the scars of the crucifixion upon him, but very much victorious over death and over sin. Here is the lamb with seven horns. What do they depict? And seven, 24 and seven, there's these numbers of completion in the Hebrew language and in our faith. And seven's a critical one. Seven depicts his strength and power. This is no sniveling, weak savior. We see him as humble and meek to the gospels, and we have a wrong view of humility and a wrong view of meekness. So we see him as weak. That's why people don't want to engage with a holy God. They have a hard time seeing Christ standing, because what's going to unfold from Him, and with the Holy Spirit as well, is judgment as well. It's going to unfold. He's going to open this scroll. This scroll, if you go to chapter 6, is judgment. This is no coddling move at all. And then the seven eyes, and it says, describes again the Holy Spirit, perfectly tying in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We saw the Holy Spirit depicted as torches. Now we see it depicted as seven eyes. And that Spirit goes forth in judgment, just as before is described with the Father. And it is the Messiah who comes and takes the scroll because He is worthy to open it. And what is the response? Because John is bawling his eyes out and basically is told, cut it out. Stop. Because there's an answer. And then when Christ takes that scroll, which no one was allowed to touch, no one could open, the cherubim couldn't do it, no one on earth, none of the elders, no one had the right or the worthiness to open that scroll. What's the response when Christ takes it? Well, Jesus is worshipped. This whole remaining point is verses 8-14. I'm going to read it and just listen as he goes through that. and a harp was used for worship. So it's signifying now praise and worship to him. And then it said, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. So if you're wondering what those are and what they represent, he tells you clearly. And they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain and purchased for God with your blood, people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And you 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." Just so you get this idea, uncountable. and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice. So we have the representation of 24 elders representing the church. We have the four cherubim coming forward. We see this expression of worthy, worthy, worthy, constantly reminding. We're walking through the gospel. Why is he worthy? Because he was the lamb that was slain. He purchased with his blood people. And then we see those people. now instead of 24 elders just representing the church now we see myriads upon myriads now we see the church in worship and they're saying we're saying worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength 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 the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever." In other words, everyone understands that only God is worthy. that only God is King of Kings, that only God is Lord of Lords, that there is no one else. And you just pause and you think about the arrogance of our world. We are consumed with who we are and our image, and I'm going to say self-worship. Is this permeating only the lost in the world? No, it does not. It permeates the church worldwide. Because we're humans and we slip into the same prideful sin of wanting us on the throne. We say, ah, maybe not completely on the throne. In some form or fashion, we do this. This passage in Revelation is confronting us with the reality that only He reigns. There is no human ruler, there is no one else. And this is not done from a dictator type of... See, we look at rulers around the world and we see the sin that permeates them, that corrupts them, that has tainted them. This is perfect rule. This is what we were created for. And then it says, and the four living creatures kept saying, amen, let it be. Let this be. They're affirming what's going to take place. And the elders fell down and worshiped. The church's response is worship. God alone is worshiped. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And I hope that in that picture that's painted, you can see how these all interrelate. We don't serve three gods, we serve one God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three in one. Our theology is repainted here by John. He alone is worthy, Bill. Not you. Not your pursuits or career. which we oftentimes put before him. Let me remind you, the elders representing the church had one job, fall down and worship. So when you look at his worth, and I go back to the beginning, and how we casualize his worth, you do that by putting yourself before his worship. You have one job to do. Fall down and worship him. He alone is worthy, not you, not your pursuits or career, not your family, not your opinion, not this world, not this world's value, not this world's perspective, whatever it may be. And it changes constantly. He alone is worthy. But kind of as a closing question, as we look here and then move into partaking of the Lord's Supper, but are you living, responding, deciding with that reality as your framework? And I hope you'll take that thought beyond this morning, because it's not a simple thing to answer. Is his unique worth in front of every decision that you make? how you live your life, how do you organize your day, how you decide with what you're doing with your life. Is he truly the worthy one?