Yeah, we do. Why stop? That's the only part of it here, right? There you go. Is that Isaiah 53? That's something. It's something you don't know. It's in the Bible. It's in the Bible somewhere. We don't sing that here. I don't remember ever singing it. You're the one that reads it, man. That's you. Speaking of leading, Pete, would you read Isaiah 53? I think there's 13 wonderful verses there, and then 12, and then open us up in prayer. Well, read it and find out. Isaiah 53. Who has believed what he has heard from us, and whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground. Yet no former majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we were healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, and we have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, that he opened not his mouth, like a lamb that is led into the water, and like a sheep that is put to the shearer to sop. So he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. were his generation, who considered that he was cut off of the land and the living, stricken for the transgressions of my people. And they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man and his death. Although he had done no violence, then there was no deceit in his name. It was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for God, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. You open something for her? It's all right. Thank you. That's what I'm here for. Laura, we do thank you so much that we can know you, that we've come before you this morning, before the iniquities, us all, so that we may know you, the creator of the universe, and pray as we I consider these things this morning, the one about how he was led to the slaughter as a sheep that would prick our hearts and remind us of the reality of the gospel, not just to salvation from hell and damnation, but to life and life everlasting. I pray that all that is said this morning will be an encouragement to one another. May our words be filled with grace, moving towards one another, and may you be glorified in all that occurs. Amen. Alright, chapter 3 of Jesus the Evangelist. I think everybody here has seen the book already, but chapter 3 is going to take us back, of Jesus the Evangelist, is going to take us back to chapter 1 of the Gospel of John. So let's go ahead and swing there and read it. Last week we considered verses 19 to 28. Today is about verses 29 to 34. But I'd like to go ahead and read all the way through 19 to 28. So you've got the prologue at the beginning, and then the scene opens with John the Baptist. And verse 19, the delegation comes from the Pharisees to ask him questions. And then at verse 29, which is what we're going to start considering today, we kind of turn the corner. It's a new day, the next day. And there's something different going on that day, and we're going to get into that. But for now, let's read. together, John 1, verses 19 through 34. This is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they said to him, what then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you a prophet? He answered, no. So they said to him, who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? He said, I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, then why are you baptizing if you are neither Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? John answered them, I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know. Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptized. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness. I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and I have borne witness that this is the Son of God." Well, that's where the heart of Richards is in chapter 3. And in his book, he broke this down basically into two parts. Verse 29. Behold the Lamb of God, and then kind of the rest of it, which centers on the chief difference between John the Baptist and Christ in terms of this conversation. So from what little we read, what is the big difference between Jesus and John the Baptist that John the Baptist was trying to communicate to the Jews he was talking to? Think verb. Yeah, go ahead, sorry. That is absolutely part of it. But think a verb, think action. Twice, John says that, referring to himself, says, I baptize with water. And then there's that but word. But what did Jesus do? Yeah, so going back to Richard's, uh, is that his name? Phillips. Yeah, Richard Phillips. I love those names, they can be first names, but anyway. Um, yeah, so he breaks the chapter down into the first parts about the, uh, behold the Lamb of God, and the second part is about the Spirit, uh, and the difference between John the Baptist and Jesus. My ambition was to dive into all that today in the next 30 minutes, but that's not going to happen. So we're probably just going to hang out on the lam. And we'll see where it takes us. Pun not intended. But a quick disclaimer. So this week, I had the honor of taking the pastor out for some breakfast and some coffee. And I recommend it if you haven't done it. But I bring that up, and the fact that I emailed Rich and my dad, and I got some good responses from them, and that, man, I listened to some Sinclair Ferguson, I even went to some old dead people like Calvin and Edwards, and then some people are still around, Piper Sproul MacArthur, and the list goes on, and my point is this, this morning, and when we talk, and you hear me say things, I'm merely regurgitating. I don't think I have an original idea in my body. OK, who can tell me what the challenge is for us here in JAMA that I've issued week after week? To read it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, read the whole chapter. The whole book. Three chapters a day. Three chapters a day, 21 chapters in a week. And some folks let me know that they've done it. And some have gotten close, 18 chapters. Some have made it 12. I did three chapters on Wednesday, and that's awesome. And I bring that up not as a bottom line, as an encouragement. to do it. And I thought, based on that this morning, we might start... If we've been reading through this, and we've all been here together on Sunday morning, and if you've been dwelling on the Gospel of John, is there anything that you read that you thought, man, I saw something new here that I haven't seen before in the Gospel of John? Hey, good to have you. Just in time. The floor is open. Any thoughts on reading from John? Okay, well, I'll start it out then. If you remember, a couple weeks back, I stood up here and confidently said, Jesus said three things on the cross. He did. He also said four other things. And so, when I was reading through John, in 19, when Jesus is on the cross, One of the things he said that I think somebody might have been you that mentioned it as one of the seven, he says, I thirst. And in reading through John, a couple times. This time, I thought of chapter four, which is Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well. And really, we don't have time to get into those two words. I thirst. So I'll keep it brief. But it also says that he said that to fulfill scripture. And that's Psalm 69. If you go to Psalm 69, it is littered with things that apostles and Jesus say again later on. And it's pretty awesome. But, back to meditating and dwelling on John as a whole. Jesus at the well says to the Samaritan woman, give me a drink, he's been walking all day, give me a drink. And that starts the conversation. And what he ends up telling her is what? What does he call himself? Remember we talked way early on in the introduction that in the book of John there's gonna be a whole bunch of these Jesus I am statements? What does he tell her? Chapter four. He's the living water. Yeah, I'm the living water. And he follows it up with, if you drink of me, you will never thirst. How in the world can the person who is the source of living water, that if you drink, you will never thirst again, hang on a tree and say, I thirst. It's a different thirst. He's hanging on a cross, he's actually thirsty. And if you go back to Psalm 69, there's this verse after verse after verse of sounding a lot like Isaiah 53, I will crush him. And it put me on my knees, we'll just say that. Alright, so anybody else before we press ahead? Stuff from John you've noticed or thought about? I am the father of one. I am the father of one. I am the father of one. He says it constantly. And it's like, I mean, I don't mean to sound bad, but like, they're taking Jesus, you know? You're saying it again, but the disciples just don't get it, that he is the father. You know what I mean? I do, and there is... I feel like he says it over and over. There is the epic struggle in John. I think it shows up in other places, too. And in John, and it has different, you know, rings, too. Yeah, the disciples, you know, there's this Anybody else? I just think, you know, that when you read through John, it's so unlike the other Gospels in that right at the end of chapter 20 he talks about, you know, there's everything in this book that you can say you believe. So every story or thing we're confronted with in John is deliberately there to make a point. Not that the other Gospels aren't, but you can be forgiven for reading them. It's like there's a biography and there's a good story and there's lots of things to come out of it, but John seems to be very deliberate in particular on what he includes when he tells the story of Jesus. Absolutely. He's very methodical. Phillips brings out a lot. We'll cover some of this today. But, you know, in the gospel of John, there's specifically seven signs drawn out. There's a lot of things like that that are that are John saying, I am a witness so that you may believe. And that's, I think, in Chapter 20, his mission statement, if you will. What else? We've got a lot of scripture to read this morning, so we're not going to hand it out because we'll just pick a chapter and then go around the room and read it till we're through, etc. But let me start by asking you guys, what is progressive revelation? Anybody ever heard of that? What is that? What is progressive revelation all about? It sounds like something that's been drilled in pieces over a period of time. And if it's in pieces, think of a jigsaw puzzle. You've got the corner here, and then here's a little whatever that is. But it's this color, so it's going to go over here. Or as you go through it, does it get clearer? Do you see what I'm saying? So it's not maybe necessarily that it's additive, like letters in the alphabet. but it gets bigger and at the same time simpler and clearer as you go through. I don't know, does that make sense? Yeah, kind of like a camera focusing. And it's sort of like, what sort of thing are you explaining that being becoming a Christian? So you see the complete, like it's revealed in one hit, right? But then the deepness and the richness is over time as you experience and do life and experience and do different things and you confront all these different aspects of it. So you see the picture of what salvation is and what the revelation is and you get it, but the deepness and the richness of it is only brought out through different experiences as you progress through whatever it is you're progressing through. It's amazing. It's absolutely astounding. Truth can be so simple. This dude in camel hair standing up and screaming, behold the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. I mean, that's the story of the Bible. We're done. But at the same time, like Nick said, that is so deep and rich once you start really getting into it. So, let's do that. The Lamb. Why does he call Jesus the Lamb? Big picture. Like you're talking to somebody this tall. Who's young. That was my point. You're not the Wizard of Oz, okay? Why does he point to him and call him the Lamb of God? Seriously, act like you're talking to a neighbor. It's very symbolic of what's to come. I mean, what do you do with the land? Do you sacrifice the land? And there's several references to the shepherding of sheep and flocks and all that, so you can tie all that together with a child. I like it. So you said sacrifice. If we say sacrifice or offering, what's the first example you can think of in the Bible, speaking of progressive revelation of an offering or sacrifice? Okay, there's a lot of, Calvin for instance, and you're speaking specifically of Adam and Eve fashion for themselves fig leaves to cover their nakedness and then the next thing you know God covers them in animal skin. Yeah. I bring this up just because it's a good reminder to me to be careful. Calvin didn't like that idea. He thought people were reading too much into it. And as my father once said, it's okay to disagree with Calvin. Pregnant pause, and he says, but you better have a good reason to. And I think there's something to it. Okay, but now there's plenty of other people who love that idea too, like Jonathan Edwards, and I like it. Okay, so boy, now that's really clear, isn't it? I mean, do you think Adam and Eve, in terms of God saying, that's not going to cut it, here's some animal skin, I mean, we don't know that the Bible doesn't record the conversation, so we're probably not supposed to look at it too deeply. But in terms of clarity and depth, is there much there? No. Okay, so what's next? Where's the next place? Ooh, we're fast forwarding. Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel, yeah! Tell us, what happened with Cain and Abel? One brother, he sacrificed or offered fruits and vegetables. Other brother, he just was like, he was a fruit basket. Extra stuff, you know, worthless stuff. One brother got mad, and the other took none of that. In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock, and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering. This is a complete aside, I'm sorry for distracting you, but fact portions. I mean, you could take that and just look for that throughout the Bible and you'd come up with some amazing things, I guarantee you. But having said that, you know, we don't know what God or what Adam and Eve told Cain and Abel or where they learned about what's a good offering and what's not. We just know in reading the whole Bible that Cain's offering was not acceptable and Abel's was, but you see a sacrifice, right? You see an offering. Okay, where's next? Let's go to Genesis 8. Noah, right, the floods recede and he gets out of the ark and he builds an altar and he worships God and it says he sacrifices an offering. The next one. Somebody said Isaac? Let's read that. Let's go to Genesis 22 again. You don't have bookmarks made by your kids. You either need kids or you need them to make bookmarks for you. We'll read a couple verses at a time. We're only going to go to 14 here, I think. Genesis 22, 1 through 14. After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here am I. He said, take your son, your only son Isaac whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went, both of them, together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, My father, and he said, Here am I, my son. He said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the land for our offering? Abraham said, I will provide for myself the land for our offering, my son. So they went, both of them, together. place in which God had told him. Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order, and found Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here am I. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ramp, caught in that thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, on the mount that the Lord shall be provided. Alright, so, Adam and Eve sin, they're ashamed, they hide from God, they cover themselves with plants, God provides animal skins for them, Cain and Abel offer sacrifices, or give offerings to God in what is supposed to be worship, only Abel's are acceptable, and it's an animal sacrifice. Noah gets out of the ark and worships, since he's been saved, and he offers an animal sacrifice, and then you end up with Abraham. I mean, you're talking Noah in chapter 8, and then chapter 12, through 22, that's all Abraham and him, to some extent, not believing God's promise. And then you end up with culmination, Genesis 22. Who wrote Genesis 22? God. Good point. Which hand, whose hand did God use? Moses. Moses, okay. How long from Abraham to Moses? About 600 years-ish, whatever. A couple centuries, lots of centuries. All right, so now we're here in the mountain with Abraham and Isaac. We know where we're going, till behold, the Lamb takes away the sin of the world. This is rich in shadows and Christ-types, this story. So somebody pick something out. What did you see in this story that made you think of Jesus on the cross? Yeah, my only son, my beloved son. Okay, what else? Okay. Yeah, parallels for sure. Let's think about it from Abraham's perspective. Where did he come from? Abraham says, God will provide for himself the land for a burnt offering, my son. It just kind of, I don't know, that kind of made me think that God's going to provide the land. Go back one more, one more. One more verse. What does his son say? Oh, and Isaac said to his father Abraham, my father, and he said, here am I, my son. He said, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the land for a burnt offering? Where is the land for a burnt offering? Man, there's a million ways we could go. What I was starting with, Steve, was Abraham and thinking about the people around him. He's been called out by God. God came to him in Ur and said, go, and he went. But all these people around him, I mean, they sacrificed stuff, right? That aren't doing it to honor God. People were throwing their babies in the fire. So what was going through Abraham's heart and head, maybe? I think it's a good question to ask. Because the pastor said it was. No, I'm kidding. It is. It's a very good question to ask. I mean, think about that. We have in the very beginning of the chapter, it starts out with Moses, 500 years or however long. I mean, he lived 600 years later. When he actually wrote it down, I don't do that much research. I don't even know the people who do the research now. But he then, all these hundreds and hundreds of years later, writes down, God tested Abraham. And then you see at the very end of the chapter, more kind of commentary on what Abraham was doing and why. But what about Abraham? God didn't, at least not recorded in here, God didn't go up to Abraham and say, I'm gonna test you. Go get your, no, what does he say? Abraham, and he just launches into it, take your only son, whom you love, Go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on the mountains of which I shall tell you." What do you think was going on in Abraham's heart? I didn't think she'd slept that night. Well, we know that he is, in the New Testament, held up for faith, right? And that his heart was right with God. He was considered like Noah and Enoch and David. He was considered righteous, not because he didn't sin, but righteous in terms of a relationship, walking with God. So, you know, I don't want to get into too much speculation and conjecture. Maybe he's thinking, hey, God made a promise to me that through this, my son, You know, a lot of things were going to happen, right? This son, Isaac, in fact, I even tried to substitute Ishmael and God said, no, hunt him out, it's Isaac. And now he's telling me, so, I don't know. Was he thinking maybe God would bring him back to life? I don't know. But I think he went into it basically trusting God, and that's what the commentary later in Genesis 22 says. But there's something that's unique about this account in 22 that I want to transition to next. We talked about all these offerings beforehand, but in terms of progressive revelation, in terms of what the Bible teaches us, there's a new concept here. Before, they were offerings. Before, from what we see, it was, you know, Noah, in an act of worship, kills an animal. But specifically here, we get the idea of substitution. Because God says, kill Isaac. And then he stops him. And Isaac, what was his question again? Where is the lamb? Where is the lamb, right? And what's Abraham's answer? And what happens? Okay, God provides the lamb with a giant asterisk, no? Because now what's gonna happen is they're gonna go down from the mountain presumably and they're gonna go live their lives and Isaac's gonna have a couple sons and then Jacob's gonna have 12 sons and then here we are 600 years later and there's this giant nation of Israel slaves to Pharaoh, right? Let's go to Exodus 12. And once again, we'll do just verses 1 through 14. Steve, if you want to start us out, and then we'll just read the whole thing, read a couple, it doesn't matter. Just make it through 1 through 14. Sorry, quick context. He's already done the plagues, at least the first nine. He's already gone to Pharaoh and said, look, bub, let us go. Your life's going to be misery. And then this is what the Lord is going to say to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt. Keep in mind the chaos. They've just gone through all these plagues. I mean, can you imagine? It's snowing outside. It's beautiful here. What would it be like if there was all these crazy plagues? And all of a sudden, God comes and he says this. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, every man shall take a lamb according to their father's house, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons. According to what each can eat, you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male, a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the 14th day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire. With unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roast it, its head with its legs and its inner parts. You shall let none of it remain until the morning. Anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it. and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste, until the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And on all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord. Throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Here's the people of Israel, and they're like, you know, Moses is here, and he's doing all these great things, and God's involved, because a couple days ago, it was pitch black, except for where my tent was. It was really bright. And then in the middle of all that chaos, he says, forever, you will do this forever. I don't know, that's interesting. But. So detailed. Yeah. Like, I don't understand why you have to cast some of this stuff aside. You've got to burn stuff, you don't eat it all, and you've got to eat it fast. You don't have your staff in your hand. What do you think would happen? You don't understand those things? You've got to put those on. Come on. There's a lot there. There's a lot there. But in the next seven, eight minutes here. So Moses is talking to Pharaoh, no? I'm sorry, to Moses and Aaron to God, or listening to God. Did Moses know about what happened to Abraham in Genesis chapter 22? Yeah. I mean, I don't really understand how inspiration works completely. I don't know if, you know, there's like a little voice in his ear and he's just, hmm. You know, I think part of it, or a lot of it, is that he kind of knew that story. How would he know that story? 600 years. 600 years ago. How long have they been slaves in Egypt? Like 400 plus? How did he know? Yeah, an oral tradition. A lot of the Pentateuch, it turns out, is a, I can't even remember the name of the word. Like you might genre in terms of literature, but it's escaping me now. It's the kind of literature that it's written so that it's easy to remember and say over and over again kind of a thing. So it's oral tradition. So this story has been told over and over and over again for all these hundreds of years. And then you've got all these people who've been hearing this story who are experiencing the exodus here in chapter 12, where they're gonna sacrifice the lamb. Now back to Isaac's question, where's the sacrifice? And his dad says, God will provide. And so there's the ram, an adult sheep. And then you get this first look at lambs being sacrificed to save Israel as a nation, right? And then you're going to go to Sinai, and they're going to get the law, which is codified specifically on this day to kill this many animals for these reasons. What we do know is that every day a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the afternoon in the nation of Israel was sacrificed for the nation. That was part of that law at Sinai. Moses was 1,500 years-ish before Christ. That's 1,500 years of lambs. So what I'm thinking is Isaac's question wasn't answered on that mountain. Where's the substitute? Where's the offering? Clearly that name didn't cut it. If you think of the millions of pounds of dead sheep flesh that occurred throughout all those years. Other thoughts on Exodus 12? Okay, let's go to the end of the Bible then to Revelation. Well, before we do, let's pause Revelation 5. Let's pause back at John. Do you see, can you feel the weightiness of all that imagery now? When he points and says, Behold the Lamb of God. And boy, you would sure hope that if you were a Pharisee and you'd been studying all this stuff, you knew what Isaiah said. Remember reading in Isaiah? and you knew what Moses said back in Genesis 22 and what he wrote in Exodus 12. And there's a beautiful progression there. Let's take a look at that progression before we look at Revelation. This is from Mr. Phillips there. So the first lamb that we talked about there on Mount Moriah, the substitute. Who is he a substitute for? Who was the ram a substitute for? Isaac. And if you remember what we read in Exodus 12, the lamb, one lamb was sacrificed for what? For the family. So the firstborn wasn't going to be. killed, yes, as a substitute for the firstborn, but the lamb covered the family, a lamb for the family. And then you go to those two lambs I mentioned, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and they codified law for the nation. Now you've got a lamb for the whole nation. And then you go to John the Baptist standing there and saying, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of Pharisees. No, what did he say? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Can you imagine being that Jewish Pharisee or dude sent from the Pharisees who've been taught their law, who thought this Messiah was coming literally in silver armor to slay the Romans and build this big giant Davidic theocracy again? for the Jews. And here comes John and says he's going to die to take away the sins for the world. So you see that progression through the whole Bible from a substitute of a ram for a boy, a lamb for a family, lambs for the nation, Jesus for the world. With that in mind, let's go to Revelation 5. Nick, you want to start for us? Let me give a little bit of background first. So, Revelation. Whose Revelation is it? Revelation of Jesus. And what's the context? So we're gonna hear John, the same John that wrote the Gospel of John, talking. John's exiled to Patmos. Deep breath from Pete. It's a vision. It's a vision, he's exiled to Patmos. He's exiled to Pat, thank you, Billy. He's been roiled, he's been in a world of pain, but he's still alive, and he's exiled, seeing his vision. Awesome, so we're gonna get a peek into his vision, and this specifically, in these chapters, four, five, four is a vision of a throne in heaven, and it kind of continues, so let's pick up in chapter five, and I can't remember how far we're going to go. Let's go through verse 10. Yeah, please. Thanks. 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 strong 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 can 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 twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll, and to open its seals. For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God, and every tribe and language, and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Can you imagine? He's seeing this vision and then all of a sudden, I mean, there's just this tension because nobody can open the book. It's got God-saving purpose in it and nobody can open it and he's just weeping. Then this elder turns to him and almost brings him into the vision, if you will, or steps into it, and then you get this vision of the of the Lamb who was slain. And you think about this in John saying, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. These Pharisees are looking for, like I said, this next Moses who's going to come and conquer Egypt, or the Romans, you know what I'm saying? But what was the problem that John was trying to tell them? It's your sin. You need to believe Jesus and let Him deal with your sin. And when you do, you end up over in chapter 7 of Revelation. On your knees, Lord, forgive me for my sin. I believe. Help me in my unbelief. And then what does God tell us? Chapter 7, verses 15 to 17. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. These are God's people. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence, and they shall hunger no more, and neither thirst any more. The sun shall not strike them, nor the scorching heat, for the lamb is in the midst of the throne, will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away a tear from their eyes. So you have the The Lamb of God who went to the cross, who said, I thirst so that we could be shepherded forever. Who else? Ran us out of time. More. Outstanding. Other thoughts? Thinking of John the Baptist's words there in verse 29 in the Progressive Revelation. Sacrifices. Nick, will you close us in prayer? Sure. Thanks. Dear Father, thank you that we can gather around your word. Thank you that you reveal yourself to us through the word and its clarity to us. We just pray that you help us to meditate on the things we've discussed today about the sacrifice and the lamb, and particularly what that means when we read it in the latter half of the Bible. Thank you, Lord, for all the good things you give to us. Thank you for snow and for weather. and family and we just pray today that we would really hear your gospel message clearly today amen amen holy spirit next week that'll be easy that's one of those pharisees like it must have been so hard for them to like it kind of just clips i mean think of how long often it takes for us