Admonition Podcast

Good morning.

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Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to Revelation chapter 5.

Feels kind of like it's been two months since we were in this study, though it hasn't been
quite that long, but it's been close due to travel and then snow, ice, and all the other

things.

But it is good to see everyone here this morning.

Good to have our visitors with us.

We appreciate your presence.

We're going to begin ah with our class on the book of Revelation right after we open with
a word of prayer.

So if everyone will bow with me, we'll go to our Heavenly Father in prayer.

Our gracious Father in heaven, bow before your throne.

grateful for the day that you've blessed us with, for the life that you have granted to
us, for the opportunities that we have, the strength and the energy that we have to be

able to come out this morning and to assemble together with people who are faithful to
you, obedient to your will, willing to speak the truth and hold and stand fast and firm

with the doctrine that you have given to us in the New Testament.

We pray we might always

provoke one another to love and to good works.

We pray that we might be willing to allow your word to dwell in us richly, that we might
have all things to enjoy.

Lord, we pray that you be with those who are dealing with the loss of loved ones and those
who are mourning and grieving, those who are seeking to recover from illness or from

injury or from surgery.

Lord, we pray that you be with each and every one of these individuals.

We also pray for those who deal with chronic issues that

have no real significant hope uh of being cured or changing.

We pray that you give them strength each and every day that is a challenge in front of
them.

Lord, we know that the greatest thing that we struggle with in this world isn't illness,
it's not death, it's sin.

And Lord, we pray that you will forgive those who are willing to repent of the sins that
they have committed, those who are willing to be obedient to your word and do what you

would have them to do.

we thank you for your Son who came and died on the cross for our sins that we might have
the salvation that is found in His blood and the hope of the resurrection for those who

overcome this world.

We pray that you be with us as we go throughout this study.

May the things that we read in this book be those things which we can understand and apply
to our lives that we might be encouraged and convicted and brought forward to an

understanding of your Word and what you would

us to do with it.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.

just to review a little bit.

Book of Revelation.

Is it primarily a straightforward book written in normal, ordinary prose language, or is
it a highly figurative visual book written in visionary language?

All right, it's a visual book.

written in visionary language and we don't have to guess that because the text tells us
that.

because John introduces the text by writing that the things which were given in this book
were given and they were signified.

They were, as my teacher always used to it, they were signified.

And he would use the term signified instead of signified, number one, because that's just
the way it's spelled, but because when we drive down a road, we see a sign and it has no

words on it.

You know, down in the south, we've got this sign where there's a picture of a deer
leaping.

You know, we all know what it means.

Now, not everybody who's not from here knows what it means.

There was a comedian years ago who said he moved here from California and the first thing
he saw was a sign with a deer jumping onto the road.

He's like, why don't you build a wall?

Build a fence.

Keep them off the road.

But we see a picture on a sign and we know what it means.

But.

We don't know what it means because it says what it means.

We know what it means because we interpret the picture and understand the picture, okay?

Also experience, prior knowledge, all of those things come into play to understand the
picture, okay?

Now, it's a visionary book.

Does that mean that every statement, everywhere in the book is visionary language?

Not at all.

ah It means that we should.

we should default to visionary language unless the text clearly tells us in the context
that the statements that are being made and the area around that statement are intended to

be understood literally.

So when you're dealing with the text of scripture in general, this is how you do it.

You assume that the text is literal.

in the majority of the Bible unless the context tells you it's figurative.

Except for in visionary portions of the Bible, of which there are numerous ones, for
instance the latter part of Daniel, some of the passages in Ezekiel, some of the passages

in Isaiah, some of the passages that Jesus gives by way of parables or prophecies, and the
book of Revelation.

In those passages, you do the opposite.

You assume that it is figurative, visionary, unless the text tells you it's literal, okay?

You just flip-flop.

And we do this all the time in ordinary language.

When you open up a book of poetry, you quite often are going to start the poem assuming
that it's primarily a figurative language scenario because of the nature of poetry, all

right?

won't beat that horse too much to death.

When we get into chapter four, we've had the introduction to the book, Jesus has told John
what he's doing with the writing, Jesus begins to deliver the messages to the seven

churches of Asia Minor, and then we get into chapter four and John is invited into heaven.

He is invited into the vision and he is shown a door.

and he goes through the door and he enters into the throne room of God.

Now, he doesn't enter into heaven, the throne room of God, as experienced by a spiritual
being in eternity.

He enters into a vision that a fleshly person could understand, okay?

Because that's who it's written to.

John is going to be the one who tells us over in 1 John chapter 3 that when we get to
eternity we don't even know what we're going to be like.

We just know we're going to be like Christ, for we'll see him as he is.

So the same writer that writes Revelation is the same writer that, inspired by the Holy
Spirit, says, I don't know what heaven's going to be like.

That tells you that the vision is not to be interpreted as this is a description of the
experience of heaven.

It tells you that this is a vision that is to communicate something to people who are
alive and still in the flesh.

So he sees the throne.

He sees the one who is on the throne, though he doesn't describe him.

He sees the glory and the power emanating from the throne of God.

And then he sees before the throne the seven spirits of God.

He sees before the throne the sea of glass.

He sees before the throne

the 24 elders that are surrounding the throne on their thrones and they have on their
heads the crown of conquerors.

And all the time, as he also sees four beasts before the throne, all exhibiting the power
and the judgment of God and the all-seeing nature of God.

He sees that anytime the four beasts decry or cry out, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who
was and who is and who is to come, that those twenty-four elders cast their crowns down

before the throne of God and they praise God together with the beasts and they say to God
who is sitting on the throne, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and

power, for you created all things and by your will

They exist and were created.

I don't know that I mentioned this when we were in this text.

But if anyone were to throw out the book of Genesis and its creation record, you got to
throw out the book of Revelation.

And you also have to throw out the testimony of the elders who are described as sitting
around the very throne of God because they declare twice that God's the creator and that

He created everything that exists.

exactly as he said he did and because he is the creator he's worthy of worship.

So not only have you declared that God's wrong, that Moses was wrong, that John was wrong,
that the 24 elders around the throne were wrong, but you've also declared that God's not

worthy of worship.

Seems to be a problem.

If you want to deny what the Bible says about creation,

Chapter 5 opens, and we mentioned at the beginning of chapters 4 and 5 that this really
could be summed up in what Jesus says in John chapter 14 when he says to the disciples,

you believe in God, believe also in me.

That's really the testimony of Revelation 4 and 5.

God is on the throne.

He has not ceded his power to Rome.

He has not given his power over to those who are going to persecute the church.

And Jesus Christ

is worthy of the same glory, the same honor, and the same praise as the one who sits on
the throne.

Because he is not dead, he is not in the grave, he was slain, but he is alive forevermore.

So we begin in chapter 5 verse 1, we're just going to read through to get down to the text
where we were at, grab the context.

I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the
back, sealed with seven seals.

Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll
and to loose its seals.

And no one in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the scroll or
to look at it.

So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at
it.

But one of the elders said to me, Do not weep.

Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the
scroll and to loose its seven seals.

And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and
in the midst of the elders stood a lamb, as though it had been slain, having seven horns

and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth."

Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

So the picture, John has been looking at the throne, he's been seeing the vision, and this
helps you understand.

John sees things in a sequence in the vision.

Because John's going to see the entire throne in chapter four, he's gonna see all the
things that around the throne in chapter four, suddenly chapter five opens and they're

looking for somebody who can open the scroll.

but he didn't see the scroll in chapter four.

He sees the scroll in chapter five, something new has shown up.

Then, looking around and he witnesses in just the idea, in a moment, in a flash of eye,
they search heaven, they search earth, they search the realm of the dead, they search

everywhere for anyone worthy to open the seal.

There's nobody.

John begins to weep.

One of the elders comes to him and says, John, don't weep, we found him.

He looks back at the throne and now right there at the throne where he's already looked,
not only is there a scroll, but in the midst of the four living creatures there's a lamb.

And the lamb looks like he's been slain.

He looks like a dead lamb except he's standing up,

but he also looks like the lion of the tribe of Judah.

And yet, when he describes him as the one who takes the scroll, he doesn't say it.

He doesn't use a pronoun to describe an animal.

He says what?

He.

The lamb who was slain and is alive.

The lion of the tribe of Judah is a person.

And yet when John sees him, he sees him as a lamb who has a head with seven eyes and seven
horns.

Now, when they offered the sacrifice in the Old Testament of the atoning lamb on the Day
of Atonement...

Did it have any horns?

No, was the lamb of the first year.

But this lamb has some attack and defense ability.

And this lamb sees everything.

Now, by the way, have you noticed how many pictures you see of the Holy Spirit without any
description of the Holy Spirit?

You have the Spirit being represented as the seven candlesticks before the throne of God.

You have the Spirit represented

in multiple different occasions all throughout these chapters.

Now you have the spirit represented as directly attached to the work of the lamb because
he's the eyes and the horns of the lamb.

What's the point?

The function of the Spirit is to act on behalf of the Lamb.

The function of the Spirit is to act on behalf of the one who sits on the throne.

It doesn't mean that the Spirit is any less uh lesser of a being, any lesser in the nature
of its deity, but that it functions in the vision on behalf of the Lamb, on behalf of the

one who sits on the throne.

Now that's not news to us.

In John chapter 16, Jesus told his disciples that he was going away so that he could send
who?

The comforter.

And specifically tells them it's the Holy Spirit of God.

And he says, if I don't depart, he can't come.

He says, so I'm going away, but I'm not going to leave you alone.

The Spirit acts on behalf of the Lamb.

The Spirit acts on behalf of the one who sits on the throne.

Verse 7 says, then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the
throne.

Now when he had taken the scroll, remember the spiritual beings in the vision had searched
everywhere, everywhere in heaven, no one worthy to open the scroll.

Everywhere on earth, no one worthy to open the scroll.

not the greatest king, not the greatest prince, not the greatest orator, not the greatest
apostle, none of them were worthy to open the scroll.

They searched the grave.

No one from Adam and Eve forward who had ever lived and died was worthy to open the
scroll.

David wasn't worthy to open the scroll.

Abraham wasn't worthy to open the scroll.

Noah wasn't worthy to open the scroll.

Moses wasn't worthy to open the scroll.

Moses was a lawgiver and he wasn't worthy to open the scroll.

Not Isaiah, not Jeremiah, not Elijah, none of them.

lamb was.

So notice now when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the 24 elders
fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are

the prayers of the saints.

There's a long-standing discussion that I don't want to divert off into a rabbit hole, but
I think the book of Revelation settles the discussion.

Are we only authorized to worship God the Father?

Or are we authorized to worship, God the Father, and Christ the Son?

Are we also worthy to worship, God the Spirit?

The book of Revelation tells you the answer.

Because if the beings in heaven are authorized to worship the Lamb, and they do.

And if John is told specifically that he can worship the Lamb, but he must not worship an
angel, and he must not worship an elder, which in the vision twice he sees himself doing,

but he is worthy to be praised as the Lamb, then the discussion is settled.

The book of Revelation testifies that Jesus Christ stands equal with God the Father,
therefore he is worthy of praise.

And in Revelation 5, notice what's going to happen.

They sang a new song saying, are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals.

for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood." We know exactly who this
is.

It's the Redeemer.

It's the one who shed His blood.

It's the one who died for us.

It's Christ.

Notice they say, "'Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us
kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth.'" And then I look.

and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the
elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of

thousands.

If you're going to run the math on that, you take the ten thousand, you multiply it by ten
thousand more, then you multiply it by thousands of thousands.

How many you got?

An innumerable number.

That's the point.

You remember when God tells Abraham to go look at the stars of the heaven?

And he says that your descendants will be as the stars of heaven as is the sand of the
seashore.

He's not suggesting that Abraham take up a new hobby of counting the stars.

He's not suggesting that he take up a new hobby of counting the sand.

He's saying, just trust me, you won't be able to number them.

How many did he have at that moment?

Zero.

God says, I've got this.

To the Christians.

God says, you're not alone.

and the testimony comes from an innumerable number.

that the one who you serve is alive and reigning right now.

Okay?

Now notice what they say.

Those 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands say with a loud voice, worthy is the
lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength.

and honor and glory and blessing.

If the lamb who was slain is worthy of all of those things, how could you categorize in
one word all of those things if you couldn't categorize it by the word worship?

That's exactly what they're doing.

They are praising Him who is worthy of worship.

and every creature which is in heaven or on the earth or under the earth and such as are
in the sea and all that are in them I heard saying blessing and honor and glory and power

be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever.

Everything the Old Testament tells us declares the glory of God, Psalm 19.

And Revelation is far more specific when it says everything.

Every creature, everything that is created declares the glory of Christ.

And then the four living creatures said, Amen.

And the 24 elders fell down and, whoa, wait, what?

What's the text say?

worshipped him who lives forever and ever." Now which of the two does that apply to?

Both.

That's the point.

You worship one, you worship the other.

And by the way, lest we leave it out, when they worshiped the Lamb, what third person in
the Godhead was represented in the picture of the Lamb in both His eyes and His horns?

Spirit.

Jesus will say in Matthew chapter 28, all authority has been given unto me in heaven and
on earth.

Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit.

They have the same authority.

They have the same nature.

They are worthy of praise.

Now, here's what I don't think we should do, then I'm leave this topic alone.

I don't think we should spend a whole lot of time differentiating them in worship.

Why?

Because the text of scripture doesn't.

When creation opens, what do we read?

In the beginning,

Elohim, plural, created the heavens and the earth.

Now throughout the text of scripture we have told to us and differentiated to us,
especially in the New Testament, once Jesus comes on the scene, the part that the second

person in the God had played in contrast to the part that the Father played.

In Hebrews chapter 1 we read that God created all things through

Jesus Christ!

So God spoke, the Son created.

the Holy Spirit recorded.

But when we worship and we worship God, that's enough.

but we should understand that when we read in the beginning, God, we're reading about all
three.

Chapter 6 opens.

Chapter four, God is on the throne, God the Father.

He's on the throne.

He hasn't moved.

He's not going away.

His power is universal.

Christ is before the throne.

He's at the right hand of the Father, exactly where he was when Stephen was stoned.

Exactly where he said he was returning to.

Exactly where the book of Daniel said he was going back.

in Daniel chapter 17 verses 13 and 14.

He's right where he said he would be 600 years before he was born.

And now there's a revelation from the very hand of God the Father who sits on the throne.

The only problem is it's sealed.

You go back to the book of Daniel.

Daniel's given these visions.

Daniel doesn't understand.

And Daniel's told, seal up the visions.

The time's not yet.

John is told the time is at hand and now the vision, the seals, are about to be opened.

There's this revelation.

John wants to know what it says.

Jesus says, hold on a minute, I got you.

and he begins to open the seals.

Now, if you were to, I don't know I've got a picture this, if you were to break up the
book into an outline form, and I don't have a picture of the outline, but I'll get you one

probably by next week, you would see seven seals being opened.

Then you would see a series of judgments, of which there are seven.

Then you would see another series of judgments which are really the seven previous ones
except the seven previous ones were partials and now these are complete judgments.

And what you have is the events being transpired of the seal, first seal, second seal,
third seal, fourth seal, fifth seal, sixth seal, seventh seals open and everything else

that takes place in the book happens inside the seventh seal.

Then you have the partial judgments being transpiring, and when you have the pouring out
of the last partial judgment, you have the final judgments commence.

The book is given in an outline.

Preachers ought to love it.

The only problem is it's not given in a three-point outline.

It's given in a seven-point outline.

And the majority of the book is in the seventh point, because we're gonna deal with the
first six seals in this chapter.

Alright, chapter 6 is the first six seals being opened.

We begin with chapter 6 verse 1, now I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals and I
heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, come and see.

You're read that terminology again and again.

John is being shown these things.

So, if you were to think about it in a literal sense, what's on the scroll?

in a literal sense, what would we say would be on the scroll?

Words, handwriting.

Except the words are turned into visions because the moment the scroll is open, John is
told to look at what happens.

Kind of reminds me of uh what was the uh kids' show back when I was growing up with the
dog that would

you know, escorts you into a story book, right?

Or reading Rainbow.

You start, you begin it with somebody reading the book and then it goes into some animated
version of the book, right?

John is going to hear it, but he's going to see it.

Because it's a picture, all right?

So, he says, or one of the four living creatures says to him, come and see.

And I look.

and behold a white horse.

He who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and
to conquer." Have you ever heard of the four horsemen of the apocalypse?

What is the apocalypse first?

We covered this way back at beginning of the book.

It is the Greek word for the book Revelation.

So they're saying the four horsemen of the book of Revelation.

Except usually when you have pictured the four horsemen of the apocalypse, all four of
them are evil.

You should not take too many of the world's ideas about the book of Revelation and give
them any credit whatsoever.

because the first one of these horsemen is not evil.

16 times in the book of Revelation the color white is used.

15 times.

It's definitively used to describe holiness.

If we were to interpret the first horseman as being an enemy of God, we would be saying
that this is the one place in the entire book where white is used to describe something

and is not holy.

Now, is there anything in the text that tells us that white here does not represent
holiness like it does everywhere else?

No.

The only place you'll find that is in the figments of human's imaginations.

This is a holy person going out to conquer.

Furthermore, when you go over to Revelation chapter 19, you will find a picture of Christ
and He is riding a white horse.

And He is followed by many who are on horses.

But when the forces that oppose God go out to fight, they are described as going out to
fight Him who rides on the white horse.

Now, over in 19, he's pictured with a sword.

Here, he's pictured with a bow.

you might go, why above?

Well, I think Jim McGuigan's concept on this actually holds some water.

There were some enemies of Rome that by and large, Rome didn't fear very many nations.

Rome didn't lose to very many nations.

But there was one nation that they did.

One of the generals in the time of Julius Caesar went out and lost 20,000 soldiers in one
battle.

and this nation was represented and pictured throughout history as horse riders with bows.

John looks into the vision.

And we can have lots of discussion about what all of it means, but remember, we're
supposed to back up and look at the picture.

And the first thing that happens in the scroll.

is a picture of Christ going forth conquering.

Now let's see if we can find that in the New Testament.

When Jesus Christ ascended back to the Father, what did Jesus tell his apostles was going
to happen next?

He said they needed to wait somewhere.

Where did they need to wait?

Jerusalem, until what happened?

till they were in dude with power from on high.

Then he said they will become witnesses where.

He says, you will become witnesses of me in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and to
what?

The uttermost part of the earth.

For three and a half years, Jesus has been ministering and teaching and preaching inside
the nation of Israel.

Very little time spent going outside, very little time spent with the Gentiles, a little
bit of time spent with the Samaritans, but by and large, inside the nation of Israel.

when Jesus Christ sends to the Father, that's all about to change.

Now it's going to take persecution to move the Christians out of Jerusalem.

But once the persecution begins after Stephen is stoned, then what do you see?

The Christians go what?

Everywhere preaching the Word.

And even while the apostles remain in Jerusalem, Christians start going out.

And then Paul, Saul of Tarsus is converted, and so then Saul begins to go forth.

And what happens?

The Gospel that was once in this small little place starts growing, and growing, and
growing, and growing.

And did Satan

just stand back and say, well, it'll fizzle out.

Not at all.

Everywhere it grew, persecution came.

But everywhere the persecution came, it grew more.

Chapter 6 opens.

First seal opens.

And the Holy One who's sitting on the throne is conquering.

he's going out and he's winning okay

Back in Revelation chapter two and three.

John writes to those churches.

and he tells them you're about to go into persecution.

You are about to be put through the wringer.

But don't you worry, your master's already won.

As the seal begins to open, master's winning.

Then notice, he says, a crown was given to him.

Now again, we've already differentiated in the Greek, there's two different words for
crown.

One is a diadem, that's the crown of a king.

The other is a crown of a conqueror.

This is a conqueror's crown.

It's not saying that he's not the king.

It means he went out, he conquered, he was victorious.

And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, come and
see.

And another horse, fiery red, went out, and it was granted to one who sat on it to take
peace from the earth, that the people should kill one another, and there was given to him

great sword.

Here comes another horse, this one fiery red.

and war and destruction comes on the earth.

Does it tell you who it came from?

No.

It just tells you it comes.

Does it tell you that it's the Russian army invading?

No.

It tells you that war comes.

Okay?

when he opened the third seal.

I heard the third living creature say, and see.

So I looked and behold a black horse.

And he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

In this day and time, what were scales used for?

Trade, monetary transactions.

You had a pound of butter on one side and a pound of something else to measure it on the
other.

You had gold on one side and some measurement for the gold on the other.

This is economic disruption.

You've got war disruption.

You've got economic disruption.

But notice what else.

He heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for a
denarii and three quarts of barley for a denarius.

And do not harm the oil and the wine.

Prices going up.

affecting everybody.

But not everything is affected.

All right?

The picture here is there's economic disruption, but not extreme economic disruption.

This isn't people dying in the streets in famine, economic disruption.

This is disruption.

So when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying,
come and see.

So I looked and behold a pale horse.

The idea in the word in the original is a greenish, sick color, okay?

It's not like a pale horse like we think of today, like a pimento or something like that.

No, no, no, no, this is a sickly looking, like you look at this horse and you go, wow.

That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen.

everything about it looks disgusting.

That's the picture.

He says, uh I lost my spot, verse 7, when he opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of
the fourth living creature saying, and see.

So I looked and behold a pale horse and the name of him who sat on it was Death.

And Hades, that is the grave, followed with him.

and power was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with the sword with hunger,
with death, and by the beast of the earth.

So here's what you've got.

You've got a holy one going forth.

He's conquering.

But after he goes forth and begins to conquer, then you've got war and disruption coming.

Then you've got economic pressures coming.

Then you've got

Partial killing.

Why do I say partial killing?

What does the text say?

One fourth, okay?

The idea here is not an exact measurement of the people who died.

When you get in the book of Revelation, whole numbers mean something.

Partial numbers mean something.

They're a portion of the whole.

So you have death coming forth.

Now you've just had chapters two and three where Christ has told the Christians some of
you are going to die.

Some of you are going to be persecuted.

Some of you are going to be tortured.

Some of you are going to be thrown into prison.

What does some mean?

Not all.

So here's the picture.

Christ goes forth conquering, then wars come, then economic pressure comes, then
persecution comes.

We're gonna see when we open the fifth seal next week who's being persecuted and who's
dying.

Okay?

We'll leave it here.