10-01-26 Study of Revelation Chapter 5:1-4 A Vision of the Lamb Part 1

➡ This Bible study focuses on the book of Revelation, emphasizing the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and unity among believers. It discusses the concept of good and evil systems in the world, referencing historical figures who sought to rule the world and the future appearance of the Antichrist. The study encourages self-assessment and understanding of one’s spiritual journey. It concludes with the anticipation of God handing over the universe to Christ, as described in Revelation chapter five.
➡ The text discusses the unique role of Jesus Christ in the world, stating that no other figure, whether good or evil, human or supernatural, is capable of ruling the world. It explains that Jesus Christ, as both God and man, is the only one who can reconcile heaven and earth, a process that involves judgment and accountability. The text also suggests that Jesus Christ is the only one who can take back the universe from the curse of sin, and that this process will lead to a final redemption. The text emphasizes the importance of understanding and anticipating this redemption.
➡ The text discusses a vision of God’s judgement and the unfolding of the future, symbolized by a sealed scroll. This scroll, written on both sides and sealed seven times, is seen as a contract or deed of trust given by God to Jesus Christ. The seals represent different stages or elements of the contract, and breaking each seal reveals a new part of God’s plan. The text suggests that this vision is a metaphor for how God is preparing to reclaim his universe.
➡ The text discusses the historical use of contracts, particularly in Hebrew traditions, where important documents were written, sealed, and witnessed by multiple people. It also delves into the story of Jeremiah from the Bible, who bought land from his cousin Hanamel before the fall of Jerusalem, despite knowing it would be worthless during the Babylonian captivity. This purchase was guided by God’s word, signifying a future return to the land. The document was sealed and stored in an earthen jar for preservation, a practice common in those times.
➡ The text discusses a symbolic scroll that represents the title deed to the Earth, which is currently under the control of evil forces. This scroll, held by God, outlines how He will reclaim the Earth through judgments and wrath. The scroll is also seen in visions by prophets Ezekiel and Daniel, who are told to seal it until the end of time. The only one who can open and enact what’s written in it is Jesus Christ, who will reclaim the Earth from evil.
➡ The text discusses a prophecy from the Bible, where God tells Daniel to seal a book until the end of time, when knowledge will increase. This refers to people searching for understanding and truth during difficult times, particularly the end times. The text suggests that during these times, many will turn to the Bible for answers and find salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The prophecy also mentions a period of great tribulation, where Israel will face suffering and persecution, leading to a significant increase in the search for truth and understanding.
➡ This text discusses a prophecy about a time of great tribulation, where disasters and judgments will occur. It mentions a series of events, including the breaking of seven seals, the blowing of seven trumpets, and the pouring out of seven bowls of wrath. The text also talks about the Antichrist and the persecution of the holy people. However, it ends on a hopeful note, stating that after this period of devastation, salvation will be open to Israel.
➡ John, in a vision, is deeply saddened because no one is found worthy to open a book that holds the future of the universe. His tears represent the sorrow of all God’s people throughout history. However, his weeping is seen as inappropriate because he is unaware of what is about to happen – Jesus Christ is about to act. This sets the stage for a vision of the Lamb, which will be discussed in the next session.
➡ The text emphasizes the importance of maintaining inner peace and spiritual strength in the face of life’s challenges, drawing inspiration from religious figures like Paul. It encourages us to remember that we are spiritual beings having a physical experience, and our emotions are controlled from within. The text also highlights the value of understanding and learning from history, and ends with a prayer of gratitude and a request for continued strength and wisdom.

Well, welcome back. This is our Thursday night Bible study and we are in the book of Revelation. And I am so excited about getting this study done. It’s just, it’s just jam packed with historical information and prophecy and current state of this world and all kinds of stuff. And we’re going to, we’re entering in a, another little miniseries. We’re going to spend probably maybe three or four weeks on just this little subject matter as John starts revealing to us as how he sees Jesus. Okay? Now we’ve talked about all kinds of stuff. We’ve talked. And if you now add Acts and Ephesians and all this stuff together, as you should be doing by connecting, you know, the dots, is associated with you, you now know that you need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

And that personal relationship, as is described in at to you in Ephesians chapter 4, 5 and 6, predicated on the plan of creation that God set in Ephesians 1, 2 and 3. Then you come along after this personal relationship and Jesus Christ says, now I’m going to unveil to you the church, this mystery thing called the church, which is your second componentry of your relation, relationship, experience with Jesus Christ. We, we all become one in his body. And scientifically that’s been proven that, that, that exists because the laws of the universe says when you become one with your species.

We’re a species, we’re not monkeys, okay? That which happens to monkeys don’t happen to us. But when you become one with your species, whatever happens to you happens to everybody inside of your species. And that’s been proven scientifically. So whatever happens to us as a follower of Jesus Christ happens to all of us, which is what scripture says, all right? That’s the reason why we need to hold each other accountable to Christ. All right? Because if we want success in our life, if we want the ability to have the furtherance of our Christian walk, we need to be one with each other because as one happens, so does the other.

So if we’re, if we’re messed up in a group of Christian individuals that claim to be Christians, they’re not living the Christian life. You are placing yourself in a sinner’s paradise, okay? So you need to take hold of yourself and understand where you are on this, this ladder, if you will, of self assessment. It’s a continual means of operational your life. You need to continue to review where you are. That’s important now. So we’re going to look at this passage. We’re in chapter five. We’re going to look at these passages as the vision of the lamp.

Now, we’ve looked at it, like I said, Ephesians as an individual, acts as the church. We’ve come back to Revelation. Christ has given you seven letters of history of the church. History. Those seven letters of church history is your life today. Okay? So. So you need to understand that if you’re going to understand what has been set forth in front of you, you now know who you are, but you don’t know who Christ is. And we’re going to begin to look at Christ in a different way starting tonight in a series of weeks to see exactly who this individual and physical body is.

Okay? Because that is what you need to relate to. Because when we get out of chapter five, okay, we will be into the beginning of the great tribulation. And you have to have a different mindset going into that. So as you walk through this, these studies over the next several weeks, and as you have understood you Ephesians, and as you are understanding the church in Acts, and now you understand the historical process of life, you need to now go into this understanding what side of the aisle you’re on. Okay? So. So my way of introduction, let me just say that many have desired to rule the world.

Now, remember, we’re dealing with two systems. That’s all we have, is two systems. We have an evil system and a good system. And which side of the aisle do you operate on? That’s really the condition. All right, so many people have desired to rule the world. Many have desired to be the ultimate monarch. Certainly there was Lucifer, right? That was the first one. Son of the morning, the most anointed cherub ever designed, who is now known as Satan, the Adversary Diabolus, the Devil. He desired to rule the world and the universe, and he knew that he couldn’t take charge of that.

But he had to get behind the one that had ultimate control and convince that one to do his bidding. Deep State. It’s exactly what’s going on in the world. Okay? So from a human viewpoint, let’s just go through scripture a moment. There was Nebuchadnezzar. There was Darius. There was Alexander the Great. This is all history lessons, okay? There was Genghis Khan. There was Napoleon. There was Hitler and Lenin and Stalin and the rest of the lesser lights of human history who sought to conquer the world. Remember, they set in motion at the beginning of creation this concept of one world government.

We’re told that in Revelation, okay, this one world government is not new. That was their plan in the beginning of time. So you got these two systems that are going down memory lane here. And you’ve got the system of Lucifer, the matrix, as we call it, and you’ve got the system of righteousness that’s on the other side. And every time you have a movement, one or the other, you have duality that occurs. If evil moves down one side of the road one bit, they got something going over here on the good side. If, if good over here moves down a road, you got something over here on the evil side that’s combating that.

You’re fighting a war of duality, and that’s your mind, and that’s where you’re at. You’re at the center of that. You can’t get out of it. You need to manage it. All right? And that is what’s called your spiritual war. Okay? So. And someday in the, I would say, near future, there’s going to be this Antichrist that comes on, on the stage. And this Antichrist it is, is known for the most powerful human who would ever represent Satan in the world. Oh, and we’ve already been told where it’s going to come from. It’s coming from the Turkish region.

Why? Because that’s the seed of Satan. We’re already told that by Bible, through revelation, you already. You already know where it’s coming from. So if you’re not watching that part of the world as to the events that is occurring, you’re not going to know some of the revelation that God, that Christ speaks about, of understanding the signs of the time. All right, this guy is going to come out of Turkey, And someday there will be this Antichrist guy. All right, so who’s going to subdue all of the aspiring rulers of the west and the east and the north and the south and set out to conquer the world and rest it as it were, the hands of God? He is going to claim to be God incarnate.

Well, that takes trumps off the. Off the chessboard. Right? You get that? All right, so what. What you see now in history is you. You see, you see how God is using people to. To maneuver the universe into the position of certainty. Certainty. God is certain. You’re going to know who God is. You’re going to know who Lucifer is. You’re going to know who you are. You’re going to know what this world is about. You’re going to know what your role is in this universe. You’re going to get to such a degree of understanding of you, it’s going to blow your mind.

That’s called the revelation of God. So all of these men and many, many others have desired to rule the world, to conquer it in some way. That the universe to control the earth, New world Order, World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum, United Nation. Think, guys, you’re not dumb, think. And all of them have, have in the past and will in the future fail. Because God is only saying, when my time comes, when my time comes to unleash the world to this chaos, you’re going to know about it. How are you going to know about it? Well, he tells you that the Antichrist has got to be identified to you, number one.

Number two, he says the temple’s got to be put in place and a temple then has to have sacrifices. So the Jewish goes Jewish, comes out of the shadows into the limelight and begins to what sacrificing in the temple? Does any of that take a place yet? No. Only one individual has this right and only one individual has this power to take back the universe from sin and the curse and Satan’s usurping attempt at rebellion. What you’re. What we’re leading up to is God handing over to Christ the deed of this universe. The scroll of the seven seals that one who has the right and power is described in chapter five.

And that’s what we’re looking at. Okay, we’re going to spend a bit of time here. He is the central person in this incredible vision and no one else is worth it. Now, if you. If we turn the tables a bit, even to talk about the righteous man that we might assume would be capable of ruling the world, none of them is in fact qualified. Not Adam, not Abraham, not Isaac, not Jacob, not Joseph, not Enoch, not Elijah, Moses, David, Solomon, Peter, James, John, nor Paul. None of them are at the level to be qualified to be lived in this space.

There’s only one, number one. There’s no evil man, there’s no good man. There’s no evil committee, no good committee, no human, no demon, no angel is capable of ruling the world. It is only one entity, and that is Jesus Christ. He’s both God and man. He now brings the two back together. Think about this. Remember when the creation heaven and earth were together and they only became separate when basically rebellion took place and sin entered into the world? Who is set in motion to bring those two back together? It says to be reconciled to God, right? What does reconcile mean? It means the earth and heaven come together again just like it was in creation.

That’s the reason why Revelation is the mirror image of Genesis, because it’s Only at that time that God gives Jesus Christ that seven seal scroll that he can take back and connect earth to heaven again. And in that process is the battles. That’s what’s going on. It requires judgment to be reconciled. Right? You don’t have that. You can’t be reconciled without some type of judgment. Somebody needs to be held accountable for what they’ve done. Well, that’s what this is. God gives Jesus Christ the seven sealed scroll. Jesus Christ begins to unroll the scroll and judgment takes place over and over and again.

And as that judgment takes place, earth becomes closer to heaven. Closer to heaven. Closer to heaven. Closer to heaven. Okay, that’s what’s going on. So, so none of these people, what as, as great as they might be, have either the authority, nor the power, nor the power or the right to take back control. There’s only one. It’s the one that paid the price for it. There’s only one who is rightly incapable and has the capacity to conquer the world. And we meet him in this chapter. Only one who would take the universe back from the curse.

Remember oh, when we talked about creation. Now let’s look at this. God cursed Adam and Eve and the serpent and before the flood, right? You got that when the flood came. And you’re going to see that in the, in the sub stack as we’re moving through the process of proving to you creation is creation. That’s where we’re at right now. You’re going to see in all of this that the only one that can do this is Jesus Christ. There’s only one who will take the universe back from the curse. Because the curse at the time of the flood was forgiven from Adam.

He didn’t need to curse the world anymore. What you’re going to learn is the, is the, the atmosphere, the, the conditions of biology of this world changed with the water flowing into this environment. And you’re going to see that. I’m gonna, we’re going to prove that to you. Okay, so when you leave this substack of creation truth, you’re not going to know that creation happened. You’re going to know why the flood happened, what happened after the flood, how now you’re setting in a different environment. And then as we move through that, when we, when we finally get to the end of Genesis, which are three phases, we’re going to find that revelation as we’re studying it proves all of that history.

That’s the code book, guys. So this chapter introduces us to that in the entity, that individual, that specific one. And in fact, this chapter really begins where chapter four ended. The scene is still the sky. We’re not looking anywhere else. We’re looking up. All right, back in chapter four, verse one, there was a door, remember, standing open in heaven and. And the angels saying, john, get up here. You know, you gotta move. Get up here. It’s time. And John was taking up there in a vision, and he’s still there as he writes in chapter five. The scene then is the what, the throne room of God.

Okay, that’s exactly where we’re at. If we’re looking at the cherubim, the 24 elders are there, 24 thrones are there. That we’re looking at the crystal platform where we’re. That we’re looking at the diamonds and the ruby glory of God still shines through the emerald rainbow. We’re. We’re still in here. And there’s lightning and there’s thunder, all that are still there. The Holy Spirit is in his sevenfold shining glory. And all of the hosts of heaven are worshiping whom this one individual, Jesus Christ. It is the same scene exactly in chapter four. All the glorious action and all the glorious praise as almighty God stirs from the posture of.

Of patience to ready himself to end man’s day in Satan’s day in an ultimate holocaust of ignited judgment. It really set by the tribulation is about to break loose. We’re at the precipice. This thing is fixed to blow up. And you have to make the decision before you get there because you need to figure out where your destiny is of home. See, that’s the process here. We’re at this same scene, we’re at this same event, and I’m trying to place you there. And you go up, go outside and look at the North Star and you’re seeing the throne room of God.

Just understand what. Where John’s at. The scene of initial and unfolding action in chapter four that will yield the judgment that starts in chapter six is still going on in chapter five as John explains who this guy is to us. Now, you thought you knew him from the Gospels. Wait, you have no clue. The Gospels is this meek, humble man who walked the earth, who had a few temper tantrums along the way. He turned the tables, you know, did all kinds of things, but he didn’t. He’s not that guy anymore. This guy’s a fury. This guy in your dreams is your ultimal nightmare.

That’s what’s fixing to happen. So as we see this and as it begins to unfold all of the host of heaven are worshiping him. It is the same scene exactly as we ended chapter four. Oh, the glorious action. And all the glorious praised as almighty God stirs from the posture, Patience is ready himself to end man’s debt. That’s where he’s at. He says, I am here to come to get this to an end. This is my time. And it really set the, the set by the tribulation is about to break loose. Okay. So just get ready.

All right. We’re going to stay here a bit. But that’s what, that’s what we’re. We’re talking about the crescendo effect. You’re seeing this build up in heaven of what Christ is fixing to do. Oh, think about the courtroom, okay? What? Christ is not only the judge, he’s the juror and he’s your defendant. Right, Defense attorney. Think about the courtroom. This is his build up. He’s setting the stage. I’m addressing the, you know, know the, the jury at my opening statement. I’m setting the. I’m setting the process down. Oh, I’m going to start calling witnesses and we’re going to lay this all out.

And the crescend. He’s crescendoing this whole thing. That’s exactly what’s going on here in chapter five. And we’re in the center of that scene. Why? Because again, he’s talking about you. We’re at the center of this scene. The scene of initial and unfolding action in chapter four that’s going to yield the judgment starts in chapter six and is still going in, in chapter five. Now God begins to move and he’s about to unleash his wrath, about to ignite the tribulation, which sets us sort of like the pilot light to set on fire. The configuration of the end.

Oh, water heater. It’s boiling. It’s coming to a crescendo. That’s exactly what’s going on here. The time when the Lord takes back the universe in paradise is regained. Your final redemption is here. And the center of this aspect of the scene in heaven in chapter five is one who leads the redemption, that guy that could provide it. This is the moment that we’ve all been waiting for our entire life, our entire Christian life, our entire Christian experience. This is the moment in time that you want to see. Why? Because if you are truly saved, you’re already in heaven.

See, you’re out of the way and it’s up to you to determine if you’re going to be there or not this is the moment that in my belief, I think every Christian anticipates, but they’re going to anticipate it in a very different way after the next three weeks. Because now you’re going to know why you need to anticipate it, because you need to determine your self assessment where you’re at. This is the moment when the redemption, final redemption, as Paul calls out in Ephesians 1:14 of God’s own possession taken place. This is the moment that all creation, according to Romans 8, has been groaning for.

This is the moment of the glorious manifestation of the children of God, the rapture of the children of God and the protection of the nation of God. Okay, this is it. So in actuality, we go back to the courtroom. You can already says, oh my gosh, by the time you get through chapter five, he’s already laid out his. His opening ornaments. He’s already called all of the witnesses. He’s and made his arguments to the court, and the court has ruled in his favor. And wait, just wait. And so we, as we come back to the throne in verse one, we’re going to pick it up right where we left it off last time.

We see John in his vision. And God, who has been seated up to this point, tells us back in chapter four, he was sitting on the throne. Now we know he’s not setting. The throat setting on the throne is a symbolizing of his. His presence. He is on the throne. Matter of fact, I doubt very seriously he’s setting. I think he’s jumping up and down, maybe doing, you know, jumping jacks or something. This thing’s fixing to really kick off and I’m. He’s ready to go. He’s waited all of this time, he’s ready to go. And that’s really as it says about him in terms of his person now he begins to move.

You see what I’m saying? He begins to move. He says, I’m now in control and I can move. And I’m going to take this back. This is how I’m going to do it. And in chapter five, we read this. And I saw in the right hand of him who set on the throne a book. Oh, back then it’s literally a scroll because they didn’t have books then. Okay? And heaven, I’m quite sure it’s going to be a book. Why? Because technology’s changed. He’s migrated through technology, all this other stuff, just like we all have. But at that time, when John saw him, there was no books.

It was all a scroll. But he calls it a buck written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. Now, we know from our study, last time, we know from Roman history that a scroll is sealed seven times. If it is a will or it’s sealed based upon the number of transactions that a will would be done. Okay? So if you got. If you got two transactions in a. In. In a will in Roman Empire, you have two seals. You have seven seals in this sc. Because seven is the seal of completeness. You’re done.

So God, who up to this point is just sitting there and setting in the midst of all the light and the glory and the flashing and the thunder and the praise and the admiration and the singing and blah, blah, blah, and he begins to stir. All right, guys, now think about this. You’re sitting in your living room. You know you’ve got your child, and you know you’re painting the picture to your child to tell the truth. And as your child goes down the road of trying to get himself out of it, you begin to stir because you know the truth, right? What do you think this is? God is stirring for the freaking universe.

He’s moving. He’s not sitting still. He’s said, I’ve had enough. Okay, so the first thing God does is reach out his hand. Now, that’s an anthrop. Prophetic. Prophetic expression. It’s a description of what he’s doing. Obviously, God is visibly seen in some kind of human form by John in this vision. And on his up turn, palm sits scrolled. And John says this, I saw it. That little phrase, I saw it is repeated a number of times in verse 2. Verse 2 begins, and I saw. Verse 6 begins, I saw. Verse 11 begins, I saw. He’s trying to tell you what he sees in this book in the hand of God.

That’s what he’s trying to tell you here. All right? And John is still in this amazing vision, and he’s reporting exactly what he sees using the expressions that they could use then to understand what they’re trying to tell you. Okay, they didn’t have books then. It was a scroll. All right, so it was a roll document, a sort. And he is an eyewitness to the future unfolding of God’s judgment as he sets out to take back his universe. John is describing you, the courtroom experience. This is. This is God roaming around the courtroom, and he says, I saw.

Now this is. This. This word saw is E PI in the Greek, and it means upon the right hand of him who sat on the throne, Almighty God with The outstretched hand. And what did he see? A scroll. Another word is devlon. Poor scroll. Okay. What he saw is a round document enclosed with two ends. So nothing could get into the document. And was sealed. It was a complete document. In ancient times, which they didn’t have books or codexes as they became known. When the pages were cut as if were and bound together in what we know as a book.

Prior to the invention of the codex, the book, they had a scroll. And it was usually rolled up from both ends into the middle, sealed together, ends tied so it couldn’t be opened at all. And it was written on the scroll and that was the document. In fact, if you look at scripture, it tells us that something was written on the inside and on the back of the scroll. The scroll would have been made possibly out of price in ancient times. Or parchment, paper, some form of paper product, possibly could even been animal skin, some kinds of atoms, because all of.

They used all of these during that historical time to write on. So we just have to understand it’s. It was some. Some process that was written on that could actually be stored and kept. And so the scroll had some very curious characteristics, as scripture tells us. Well, number one, it was written on the inside and on the back. It was sealed with seven seals. The only thing initially that culturally looks familiar to us, that at first sight, be that the Romans sealed a will seven times. What I was gonna say, process of a will, whatever number of processes you have are going to be sealed on each process.

So when somebody wrote their will, they sealed it seven times. What that meant was as the scroll was rolled up, they would seal the edge of it. Excuse me. So that it would be sealed repeatedly until it was finally closed. You couldn’t open it unless you periodically broke the seal. And a little further broke a seal and a little further broke another seal. And the seal will be on the edge. And that prevented people from looking at it without the authorization. That was the whole condition of this. Okay, so now think about this. John saw a seal.

We’re told it was sealed seven times. If it was sealed seven times, it was unbroken. There’s no one that has seen this sealed document in history except the one who wrote it. And it was written by God the Father, giving Jesus Christ his son the deed of trust to this universe. Never open to his son, never open to anyone else. But this is not really simple, simply a will and testament. There’s something more here than just that, more than words. These two features give us some clues as to the nature of the scroll. And its contents.

The fact is this was typical of a contract in the ancient world. Very typical deed of trust contract. Now Dr. Thomas, Dr. Robert to Thomas wrote in his commentary on Revelation this, he’s talking about this contract and he says this kind of contract was known all over the Middle east in ancient times and was used by the Romans from the time of Nero. The full contract would be written on the inner pages and then sealed with seven seals. Not just a will, but various kinds of contracts. The content of the contract would be described briefly on the outside of the seal.

You would know what level you’re fixing to go into. It would be a description. Think about it as tabs. You get a contract in a three ring binder and you got tabs. And you go from the, the opening section of the, of the contract to its salient points of what you’re going to contract for into tabs, tab 1, tab 2, T3 as to the elements of the contract. That’s what this was. It was telling you what you’re going into next. So in other words, it’s very important. Once it was sealed multiple times and couldn’t be open by any unauthorized person to write on the outside of the scroll something that would describe what’s in it.

You need to know where you’re at. And so there would be the inside with all of the fullness of what needed to be in the contract. And on the outside would be the summary of what was on the inside without the details your tap. And Dr. Thomas goes on to say all kinds of transactions were consummated this way, including marriage contracts, rental and lease agreements. Oh, where did you think contracts started? Do you think contracts started in current day legal system? Come on guys, they go all the way back to the garden. Release of slaves, contract bills and even bonds.

Now support comes also from Hebrew practices traditions. The Hebrew document most closely resembling the scroll was a title date. Now we’re getting somewhere. Now we’re seeing the switch over here was a title date which was folded in sign requiring at least three witnesses. A portion of the text would be written and then sealed with a different witness signing at each ceiling. And a larger number of witnesses meant that more importance was assigned to the document. All of that just to say it was a common way to deal with contracts. That’s all I’m trying to tell you.

But I want you to see scripture for what it means. This was, this is and will ever be the most important document in history. So we can safely say that this scroll is some kind of contractor deep it’s some kind of statement about ownership. The details are on the inside. Unknown to us. The summary of what is on the inside is on the outside. It would be sealed to make it authentic with wax or clay or some other soft material and sealed by God himself. A good illustration of this, you might go back to Jeremiah 32.

Now we, because we need to understand this in order to really grasp the image part of the imagery of Revelation 5, we’re going to talk about Jeremiah 32. And Jeremiah now lived kind of, kind of in mind a little bit of, of history as we’ve talked about Old Testament history. Jeremiah lived in a day just prior to the fall of Jerusalem. Remember that was when he, he was there. He was trying to tell the people we’re fixing to get captive. That’s where Daniel came on the scene and so forth. So it’s the history of all of that stuff.

And just prior to the fall of Jerusalem, which resulted in Babylon captivity when they were taken away, the main date being about 586 BC. Now Jeremiah lived just prior to that and prior to when Nebuchadnezzar began to conquer and destroy the nations of Israel and take captive the people of Judah. That sets the stage of former talking about. And Jeremiah the prophet had been telling the people that they would be judged by God. And he told them that because of their continuing sin, what the prior prophets had said, like Isaiah, Ezekiel, blah blah, blah, was in fact going to come to pass.

And it was going to come to pass very rapidly and God was actually going to send a conqueror and they were going to be destroyed and devastated, dispossessed of their land and hauled off into captivity which would last for 70 years. Okay, here’s the story of Daniel, the 70 years of captivity of. Oh, it’s the 70 weeks too, get it? 78, 69’s already take place. 70th fixing to happen. Now Jeremiah had preached this and everybody knew he had preached it. And Jeremiah had a cousin, a man named there in verse seven of the chapter 32 by the name of Hannamel.

Now Hannibal, his cousin had a piece of ground and he was pretty shrewd business plan. And he knew that once the conquering army came and took them out of the land, his land would be worthless. So being a shrewd guy, he wanted to sell it. I’ll think about what goes on today. Okay guys, you know what’s, you know, bad stuff’s coming. You want to get rid of everything you can get rid of to know because you want the highest value of whatever it is this is going on back then, all right, so he wanted to sell it and get all the money while the land still had value.

And so he had made his this transaction rapidly because of the impeding disaster. It would then be under the control of the enemies Babylon. And it wouldn’t do him any good at all. But he could get the money. Actually, the truth is, in Jeremiah 32, the siege is already in the land. Already by this time, a field of Jeremiah’s hometown of Anathoth was occupied by the Babylonian army, and they were already moving towards Jerusalem. Now, his cousin Panamel was desperate. Strangely, he went to Jeremiah to try to find a buyer. In verse 8 it says, Then Jeremiah, my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, buy my fill.

Good deal, buy my fill. This is at Anathos, which is the land of Benjamin, for you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself. Now that should sound absolutely ridiculous to us. Here you’re at fix to get conquered, you’re fixing to get captive, and somebody wants to come to you and buy the land when you know it’s going to be worthless because for 70 years you’re not going to be able to do anything about it, or it’s stupid. Why, that is absolutely absurd. But Jeremiah is going to be dead before the captivity is over.

So is his cousin Hannibal. What in the world does Jeremiah care about? After all, we’re being hauled away into captivity. This is the end. Why would we do such a foolish thing? Well, we learn of the good reason at the end of verse 8 of chapter 32. Jeremiah’s talking. He says, then I knew this was the word of the Lord telling me to buy this land. Just as it said in the beginning of verse eight that Hannah mail came to him according to the word of the Lord. Jeremiah said, I knew indeed it was the word of the Lord.

And I bought the field, which was at Athemas at from Hannibal, my uncle’s son. And I weighed out the silver. Oh, that’s going to be conditional. Rob Cunningham and I and Scotty and just put together the next series. Going to blow your mind. Okay. We’re actually going to be teaching money, which is going to be a. It’ll blow your mind. 17 shekels of silver was what he did. And he signed and sealed the deed and called it, called in witnesses, and they weighed out the silver and everything was done properly. And in verse 10, he signed and what sealed the deed.

The deed within had been carrying all the data about the land. Just like when you buy a piece of property today, it’s in a contract form. It would mark out the boundaries of the land. Talk something about the topography of the land. It would give clear title to Jeremiah and his progeny or those who came after him. So in verse 11 of chapter 32, it says, I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. What would you. What you have here is very similar to the doubling writing in the sealed document in Revelation 5.

Same concept. Here’s the second document, the one that is sealed. The document is kept in the file, never to be open, and it is written on the outside as to the summary of what it is. But see, there’s a second document, a copy which can be looked at, which is the facsimile of the real one. And what Jeremiah said was, I gave the deeds of purchase to Baruch the son of Nerith, the son of Messiah, and in the side of Hannibal, my uncle’s son, and in the side of witnesses who signed the deed of purchase before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard.

This is like having a notary today. That’s what they did there, okay? Witnesses or notaries, notary public’s not new. Guys, you’re hearing what I’m saying. It’s all a process of history. Everybody saw it, everybody signed on to it. It was legitimate and it was legal. Now, Jeremiah says, I commended Baruch in the present saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, take these deeds and this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time. This is going to be a long delay before somebody gets back to take possession of 70 years.

Got a story? For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land. So the promise of God that there would be a return, that’s the reason why Jeremiah bought the land. And so what does that mean? Could be a restoration. Thank guys, think. There would be a time coming back into the land. There’s a time coming, going back to heaven, Right? And in fact, in Jeremiah 29:10 says that the land would be more valuable then than it was at this time. Such deeds typically were written and sealed and then put into some kind of an earthen jar.

And he’d been buried in the ground. Well, you saw the scrolls in. In the caves, right? All over the place. As archaeology has shown us, the land belonged then to Jeremiah, but he wasn’t going to possess it. He was going to be driven out, he was going to be rejected. Think about the captivity. He was going to die. But someday his heirs would come back in the return and they would have the authority to break the seals and take the land. So that little scroll was the title deed to an inheritance of the land. Now let’s go back to Revelation.

We now see the historical process of the scroll and how it worked. Now let’s go back to Revelation. Now, you understand what you have here then, or you should Similar here we have a title date. It is a title D to Earth, not just to a piece of land, but the entire land mass. Earth. The earth and the universe came under captivity in the Fall, Lucifer, the separation of land and heaven. But the document that displays who really owns it, God has had all the time in his possession. He authored it, he has rightful claim to it.

And the little scroll, as it were, on the upturned hand of the Almighty God seated on the throne, is the official document that grants the created universe to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. To be what reclaimed from Satan and his usurping demons and men who have occupied it during God’s absence, as it were. Now, remember as we talked last time, I told you that there was an oratorio that runs through chapters four and five. It’s the Oratorio of redemption, your final redemption. And in chapter four, it is the Oratorio of redemption of creation. And in chapter five, it is the oratorio of the redemption of men through final glorious salvation.

This is it. Don’t miss this. This is it. But it does involve the whole of the universe, as well as the redemption of God’s own purchase possession in Christ. You get your part as the Church, but so does the nation of Israel in this whole thing. Now, the contents of the scroll sort of differ from usual details that spell out ownership. And this is a very important note to make. Usually in a contract, it’s spelled out ownership. When you opened it up, if it were the little title D to the universe, it would say, and the universe is so long and so high and so wide and so deep.

And God is the rightful owner. And here is the identification of who he is. He’s the God Almighty one, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That’s our contracts today. And it might give all of his names and his titles might even gone to his natures, whatever. And a little bit of his background history and a little bit about what he did so he would be easily identifiable and maybe even his signature. In other words, we’re putting out that this is permanent data to the description of the owner and permanent data to the description of what it is that he owns.

But since that would be an utter impossibility to write down, how can you write down an infinite possession? I made it, it’s mine, I’ve held on to it, I’m reclaiming it, it’s mine. Doesn’t matter what you think. How can you write that down? How can you describe the parameter of an infinite ownership? And how can you describe or identify the heritage of an eternal God? And so rather than rolling it open and saying, oh, this is the nature of what he owns, this is who he is, when you open this one, you don’t have the kind of information, but rather you have how he will take back what is his.

Foreign not why it is his, but how he will possess it. And so the unrolling of the scroll then describes how the Lord will take back his rightful possession. The scroll then contains not descriptions of the earth and the universe. You’re not at 0.3511635 west or you know all this you’re talking about. The whole friggin Earth. Scroll then contains not descriptions of the earth and the universe, nor descriptions of God himself, but detailed descriptions of his judgments, his attacks, his wrath, of his vengeance, of his repossession of what is rightfully his. Oh, it’s telling the enemy what you’re fixing to do.

It’s my game plan. Guys, listen to me. And as I unfold this, this is exactly what’s going to happen to you. You want to know what you need to do? Well I’m telling you what you need to do. The scroll contains in fact, the full account of how the Lord Jesus Christ, the rightful heir of God, will take back what is his by acting severe wrath. Oh, those of you who still think that you know what we’re living in this what, unconscious love scenario of life, you just better bury your head in the sand because that is absolutely false.

He’s not coming to take back this world. And oh, you know what? Oh let’s just, let’s just hug and release. It’s not going to happen. It is a scroll, Dan of doom. It’s a scroll of war. Here in the hand of the almighty sovereign God, holy and all glorious God is the plan to judge the wicked universe and bring the whole thing into the control of the one who has the rightful heir, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is it. This little scroll will carry it. In the hideous destiny of the unsaved world and the fallen angels, the purging power of God’s wrath is described.

The effects of the sin and its disastrous impact on this universe and how they will be ended and reversed. This is his battle plan. You say, I don’t care if you know it, you’re still going to get destroyed. And so we can say the consequences of this. Can be described in terms. In those terms, but only in the terms of the actual action by which it is taken back. So what we have here then, is the official document that determines the climax of human history as God takes back his universe. Now, two other Old Testament texts bear on this.

I first mentioned them to you some time ago. Look at Ezekiel, chapter two. Remember, in chapter one of Ezekiel, there is likewise a vision of heaven. And interesting enough, in chapter two, a very, very similar statement is made to what we read in Revelation 5. The vision of chapter one parallels the vision of chapter four. And the seal scroll in chapter five parallels the seal scroll of Ezekiel 2. Now, down In Ezekiel 2, verse 9, Ezekiel says, I looked and behold, a hand was extended to me and to a scroll was in it. Corey spreads it out before me.

It was written on the front and on the back. And written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe. This. This scroll. This same scroll. When Ezekiel goes to heaven, way back then, in his vision, he sees the hand of God with the same scroll. And it’s sealed, but he can see a little of what is written on the outside of it. And it is lamentations, mourning and woe. It doesn’t spell it out in detail. It’s only a summary. But it is a sad and frightening summary, as Ezekiel saw. Well, you get another Look, Daniel, chapter 12, at this in the last chapter of Daniel’s prophecy, and we find a very interesting statement there in Daniel 12, 4, he says, but as for you, Daniel, this is God talking to Daniel.

Conceal these words and seal up the scroll until the end of time. Many will go back and forth and knowledge will increase. What is this all? What does this mean? What God was telling Daniel to do is set up the scroll. Now, you got to listen to this carefully, okay? This is history at large. This is history Bible talk. This is truth. Throughout Daniel’s prophecy, he has been receiving revelations and visions about the future. Particularly from chapter 10 on, he has been receiving prophecies of the future judgment at the end of the age. We’re going to study that.

Remember I said we’re going to study chapter nine. I don’t know whether I’m going to go further in chapter nine or go back and to pick up chapter seven. All of it’s important. And this is also the future judgment of the end of human history. Now he has even gotten information about the Antichrist and how his career is going to go and what his battle plan and operation will be like. And now the vision is done. The vision of the future time of tribulation, the career of the Antichrist and his operation is now been given to Daniel.

And so the Lord says to Daniel, roll up the scroll, roll it up and seal it until the end of time. In other words, do not talk about it. This is really an instruction from God through a glorious angel who is telling Daniel to set that material aside until the future time when it is to be opened. Revelation 5. That’s the time it’s going to be open. And there’s only one person who can open it, and only one who has the right and one who has the power to enact what is written in it. Now if you notice also in verse four, a very interesting statement as well, that concludes the verse Daniel says seal it.

No God says to Daniel, seal up the book or the scroll until the end of time. Many will go back and forth and knowledge will increase. Have you ever really thought about that? Knowledge will increase. That’s a most interesting statement at a historical time. Every Old Testament use of this verb, from going back and forth, every time it is used in the Old Testament in the form that it is here used, it refers to the movement of a person in search of something. That’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about you. Someone searching most frequently searching for information, for understanding, for truth.

You can find the same usages in 2nd Chronicles 16, 9 Jeremiah 5, 1 Jeremiah 49, 3Amos 8, 12, Zechariah 4, 10 and almost a lot of other places. And the picture here is this. At the time of the end, people are going to be running around trying to find the answers for what is happening. They’re going to want to know what this guy’s career is called the Antichrist. And all of the beginnings and folding of the divine judgments which they have probably no clueless what’s going on. They’re going to be desiring to know and to understand and comprehend and grasp all of this.

And so they’ll be moving around trying to get answers. And as it says so wonderfully at the end of verse four, and knowledge will increase. And I believe what The Spirit of God is saying here through this Gloria angel to Daniel is that they’re going to find some answers. And how do we know that? Because Scripture tells us we’re going to get the answers. Some people are going to find the answers. And I believe there are going to be people in the end times, when the judgment begins and the scrolls begin to be unfolded at the end of the age, that are going to panic.

They’re going to want to know the truth and they’re going to run to find it. And some of them are going to end up like Daniel and some are going to end up in Revelation. And ultimately they’re going to end up with the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And that is why In Revelation, chapter 7, verses 1 to 9, it says there will be an innumerable number of Gentiles converted from every tongue and tribe and people and nation. Nation, along with 144,000 Jews who are God’s evangelists. There’s going to be a coming to the knowledge of Jesus Christ identified in Revelation, chapter seven.

So what does that tell us during that time of tribulation? There is going to be a great salvation movement of God worldwide as people run to and fro in the midst of unfolding judgment to find answers of truth. Now, I believe that this is going to be the greatest harvest of souls that has ever been for the kingdom at any period of time in history. Millions may turn to the Scripture for answers to what is happening in the world. And the knowledge will increase. They will get answers. So we might ask, when will this book be unsealed? When will it be opened? When will the knowledge come? Well, if you go back to verse five and Daniel 12, Daniel says, then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others were standing, one on the bank of the river and the other on the bank of the river.

And one said to the man dressed in linen, who is above the waters of the river, how long will it be until the end of these wonders? Now Daniel sees one angel on one side of the river and another angel on the other side of the river. And over the top of the river is this man dressed in linen. Two angels asked the question. The question Daniel. Daniel wanted to ask, how long will it be until the end of these wonders? When does it happen? When is the scroll opened up and completed? And the man dressed in linen appears, the man that’s over the river.

And you might say, who is the man dressed in linen? Well, you go back to chapter 10 of Daniel and verse 5, it says, I lifted my Eyes up and looked. And behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen. Good. Now we’re going to get to to an answer. Whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold, of up uphaze. His body was like burl, a kind of yellow stone. His face was appearance of lightning. His eyes were the flaming torches. His arms and feet were gleamed of polished bronze. And he. And the sound of his words was like sound of turmoil.

Let’s talk about Jesus Christ. Now, does that sound any way familiar to you? Does that sound anything like Revelation? Revelations, chapter one. Well, it. It does indeed. It sure does. I think there’s this little question, but that this one in fine linen is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ in a pre incarnated appearance. And in fact Daniel had the same reaction that John had in chapter one of Revelation. It says in verse seven, Daniel saying this Now I, Daniel, saw, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me didn’t see the vision. Nevertheless, a great dread fell on them.

Remember, we’re talking energy. If your energy goes down is what happens. We’re one in Christ. Think, think about what he’s saying here. It fell on them and they ran away to hide themselves. Daniel was scared, they were scared, they ran. Daniel had to stay put. In other words, they didn’t see the vision, but the whole thing scared them, even though they couldn’t see it. Now we don’t know what they were reacting to, but there was some phenomenon. Probably means there couldn’t clearly discern what was going on. And so he says, I was left alone and saw this great vision.

Yet no strength was left in me. For my natural color turned to deathly paler, which he turned death white. And I retained no strength. But I heard the sound of his words. And as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I. I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground, prone position. Now, frankly, you don’t do that purposely. If you ever try to go to sleep with your face down the ground breathing dirt, how’s that feel? He was knocked into a coma by the frightening experience of seeing the exalted second member of the Trinity.

Now here’s the image of the One who is holy. That’s what linen symbolizes. One who is sovereign. That’s what the gold belt symbolizes. One who is transparent, flashing jewel. The burl speaks of his glory. And then he was all powerful. The lightning indicates that one who is omnipotent. His feet were burnished bronze. He. He’s omnipotent in his judgment, who is omniscient, his eyes are like flaming torches, and who was authoritative, his voice like rushing water. It couldn’t be anybody else but the Lord. So you’re not surprised when you go back now to chapter 12 and verse 8 of Daniel where he says this.

As for me, he’s talking about himself. I heard but couldn’t understand. So I said, my Lord, what will the outcome of these events be? It could be that he knew it was the Lord. So the figure in linen, the man dressed in linen above the waters of the river, is none other than the pre incarnate Christ. And how fitting it is, because the scroll is now sealed. How long is it going to be sealed? If anybody knows, it would be this guy in white linen, don’t you think? Well, in verse seven, Daniel says, I heard the man dressed in linen who was above the waters of the river.

And he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever, that is God, that it would be for a time, times and half time. Okay, a time is one times or two and a half time is half. Okay, so that is one, two, one half. It’s going to come in a three and a half year period. We call that period the Great Tribulation. It’s going to come after the shattering of the power of the holy people. Now what does that mean? The breaking of Israel. It’s going to come after Israel is broken, through suffering and persecution and devastation.

Who is it that brings that upon them? The Antichrist. Now we have a tribulation of seven years that we’re being that we’re going to face for the first half of the tribulation. The Antichrist makes a pact with Israel in the middle of the seven years. According to Matthew 24 and according to Daniel and his prophecy also, and according to the book of Revelation, there’s going to be a tremendous movement against Israel. It’s called the abomination of desolate desolations by Daniel and by our lord. In Matthew 24, they are going to make the Antichrist image inside the holy of the Holies in the temple.

That’s the abomination of desolation. During the middle of the week, the Antichrist has had a peace pact with Israel. He violates it, he starts to persecute them. And that’s what begins the three, the second three and a half years, the time, times and a half time. And that’s when the full contents of that scroll are unleashed. Over the first three and a half years. The scroll is, is being an undone. Remember, you have the four horsemen that starts, and then you have the Antichrist that comes, and then you have this, this abomination of desolation. And then you have the rest of the scrolls unsealed, where judgment is just going to be a disaster.

Seven seals are going to be broken, seven trumpets will blow, seven bowls of wrath will be poured out in furious judgment. But it is after the breaking of the shattering of the power of the holy people that that happens. The devastation becomes their point of salvation because though, because they lose their self confidence and they lose their self sufficiency, they are being persecuted, they are being devastated. Now I think it ties back to Zechariah, chapter 12 and chapter 13, which Zechariah says they will look on him who they pierced. They’ll mourn for him as an only son and a fountain for cleansing.

And salvation will be open to Israel. After Israel is devastated, after Israel is converted into brokenness, then the full events will be completed. It says in verse seven, they start out at the beginning of the seven years, moving slowly, and then they escalate in their speed until the very end is a rapid fire pouring out of bowls, one after another after another. Well, that information was only made by Daniel. You want some more? So in verse 8 he says, as for me, I heard but couldn’t understand. So I said, what’s going to be the outcome of all this? How does it end? And the man dressed in linen said to Daniel, go your way, Daniel.

I can’t tell you. These words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, purified and refined. They’re going to be salvation. The wicked are going to act wickedly and they’re not going to understand anything. Clouds their mind, doesn’t allow them to understand. But those who have the insight will understand. And from the time of the regular sacrifice being abolished, the abomination of desolation being set up, there will be 2090 days. 12. 1290 days. That’s three and a half years, guys. And he adds another 45 days in the next verse until the final setting up of the kingdom.

All right, so that gives you another aspect of all of this. You know that you have all of this process leading up to the great Tribulation, you know, you’re going to have the Antichrist identified, you know, and either up to or right at the first, the, the. The tabernacle will be. The temple will be established and there will be Jewish leaders take over and sacrifices will be made. You know, that there’s, there’s war at that time there, the famine of that time. The Antichrist comes and puts everything together, makes a pact with Israel, then he destroys the pack.

And now you see this. You go through the seven years of tribulation and Daniel provides you another 45 days to do what? Cleanup. Cleanup. After all the devastation, after the battle of Armageddon and the blood rolling to the top of what, the horse’s neck. That’s how high the blood river is going to be. It’s got to get cleaned up. And Daniel tells you that cleanup process is 45 days. 12, 90 days is three and a half years. And he says, I can’t tell you anymore. I can only tell you that the furry fury of it is going to unfold in three and a half years.

I can’t tell you how it’s going to end. It’s all sealed up. Well, let’s go back to Revelation. God holds in his hands now this book. It’s about to be opened. It’s about to be opened. And what Ezekiel couldn’t know, what Daniel couldn’t know, what we’re going to know, John is giving to be the first person to see it and to hear it. And here, here it comes. He’s telling you what’s in this book. This little book has to do with the redemption of God’s created universe and everything that is in it. It’s a scroll of doom, but it’s also a scroll of redemption.

It’s the book of the final acts of God. It’s the book concerning the liberation of the universe. It’s the book of the judgment of God on the alien and the usurper who have tried to destroy what belongs to God. It is the book that tells us how the usurper and the cooperating men and demons will be judged and destroyed. It is the book about casting out of Satan, about the destruction of the dragon, about the ending of death and sin. It’s the book about the redemption of the whole purchase possession of God. And. And it’s all going to unfold before us, starting from here.

See, the rifle air is going to come and the scroll is going to be open. Now remember, the inside of the scroll contains how it’s going to become God’s, not why it belongs to him. That is obvious. Because he is the Creator and the redeemer of it. He created it. It belongs to him. He redeemed it and doubly belongs to him. That is the moment that must have been in the mind of the writer. As he wrote in Luke 21:28, Straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. We stand in, when we’re in this chapter, on the brink of this incredible movement of God.

To understand the chapter, we have to divide it in three parts so you can get it. The search for the worthy one, the selection of the worthy one, and the song of the worthy one. And we’re just going to probably be able to touch on the first one tonight. We’re going to begin to look. The search for the worthy one. In verse two, John says, when I, as I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to break his seals. A strong angel with a loud voice. The word proclaiming has inherent in its speaking loudly.

And when you add loud to loud, you get very loud. Okay, this strong angel is shouting. You gotta. You gotta ask why? Because he wants his voice to penetrate every corner of the universe. He wants everybody to hear what’s going on. This is not a secret meeting in a secret boardroom that the doors are shut. This is the size of a television screen that stretches from one end of the heavens to the other and is open and heard for all to see. He wants his voice to penetrate every corner of the universe. And he’s asking who is worthy to come? Who has the innate inherent worthiness of character, which is the virtue? Who is qualified to break the seals? Who is the right for heir? To whom belongs the inheritance? But see, there’s a lot more than that as you come to know this.

Jesus Christ. The end of verse three says, he’s not only has to be worthy, he has to be able. Who is able? Not able. Back in Genesis, who is able? Who can throw out Satan? That’s what it’s asking. Who has the ability to do that? Who can wipe out demon power? Who can destroy sinners? Who can obliterate sin? Who can reverse the curse, the curse on the animals, the curse on plants, the curse even on the human body and mind. Who can do it? Who has the power and who has the privilege? Now, this angel, this very, very strong angel doesn’t tell us who he is, but I believe he gives us a very big hit in this.

The name Gabriel means strength of God. Daniel 8, 16, you might compare to this. Maybe it’s Gabriel. And the cry echoes through the whole universe, but no man moves, no man stirs, no angel stirs, no demons move, because none of them have the right to the throne. Who is worthy? Who has the character to do this? Who has the heritage? Who is the divine progeny? Who has the right to possess it? Who has the ability? Who has the power? Who has the might to overthrow the intruders? Now, Michael was there. He doesn’t even speak. Cairo was there.

And unless he asked the question, he doesn’t speak either. Myriads and myriads, thousands upon thousands and tens of thousands upon tens of thousands. And angels are there and none of them speak. Millions of Old Testament saints are there. Let’s, let’s go back. Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Elijah, Elisha, Moses, David, Job, Ezekiel, Daniel. None of them speak. Millions of New Testament saints are there. The apostles are there, the great disciples, missionaries of all old history of the church are there. The great saints, the godly are there. Then none of them speaks. Nobody says a word. It is silent.

And in verse three it tells us one and no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth, no angel, no demon, no man was able to open the book or to look into it. Nobody. Everywhere in the universe, everywhere. Heaven, earth, under the earth. That’s simply a way of saying everywhere and every being in every location. A search throughout the universe, physically a search universe, spiritually a search from hell to heaven and all points in between. And no one is worthy. No one is able to open it and look into it. So what does that mean? Examine its contents and execute them.

No one has the right and no one has the power. And I have to chuckle about John’s reaction here. It’s really amazing. He says in verse four, I began to weep greatly because no one was feeling worthy to open the book or look into it. There aren’t supposed to be any tears in heaven. Ah, right. No tears in heaven, John. Whip. It’s kind of a shame that John introduced them, but it’s unrestrained in his emotions and he really just was a visitor there. When it said that John began to weep greatly, he uses the same verb that’s used in Luke 19:41 of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem.

Unrestrained emotion. This is the only time there are tears in heaven, except for those shed by God himself, as they are described in Jeremiah chapter 13. And they were shed, as it were, by God through the eyes of Jeremiah. Now John, a visitor in this vision, seeing heaven throne, but perhaps unseen by heaven’s throne, his heart. His heart is so deeply grieved that he begins to sob and he sobs. Because no one was found worthy to open the book. No one was able to execute what was in it. And to John, that’s very sad. John hadn’t seen the end.

He was just seeing everything leading up to this. He says, oh, you know, just think about. You come to a point in this vision that you don’t know where it’s going to go. And there’s nobody that could open this to take you forward. What are you doing? WA Crystal writes this. These represents the tears of all of God’s people through all of the centuries. Those tears of the apostle John are the tears of Adam and Eve driven out of the Garden of Eden as they bowed over their first grave, as they watered the dust of the ground, and with their tears over the silent skill, steel form of their son Abel.

Those are the tears of the children of Israel in bondage as they cried unto the Lord into their affliction and slavery. They’re the tears of God’s elect through the centuries as they cried unto heaven. They’re the sobs and the tears that have been long from heart, from the heart and soul of God’s people as they looked on their silent dead, as they stand beside their open graves, as the experience and the trials and sufferings of life, heartaches and disappointments, indescribable. He goes on and says, such is the curse that sin is laid on God’s beautiful creation.

And this is the damnation of his hand, of him who holds it. That usurper, Lucifer, that interloper, that intruder, that alien, that stranger, that dragon, that serpent, that Satan devil. John wept audibly for the failure to find a redeemer, because it meant that this earth and its curse is consigned forever to death. It meant that the death and sin and the damnation of hell should reign forever and ever, and the sovereignty of God’s earth should remain forever in the hands of Satan. So John wept, but his weeping was not fitting as far as he could see.

Remember, there wasn’t anybody. He didn’t see the next phase of this. He only saw to that point. He was in despair. But he shouldn’t have wept. He shouldn’t have wept because of what was about to happen. Now, as I thought about John’s tears being inappropriate, I was reminded of Luke 7. There are other people who wept because of the sorrow of the world, and they wept inappropriately. There was in chapter 7, verse 11, a city called Nain. And the disciples of Jesus were going along with him, accompanied by a large multitude. Now, as he approached the gate of the city, behold a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.

And a sizable crowd from the city was with her. And when The Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her, and he said to her, do not weep. Stop sobbing. It’s inappropriate. Why was it inappropriate? It was inappropriate because of what Jesus was about to do as he came up and touched the coffin and the bearers came to a halt. And he said, young man, I say to you, arise. And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And most likely you probably says, thanks a lot for coming to my funeral, folks. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

It was an inappropriate time to weep. Why? Because Jesus was going to act and John didn’t know what was coming next. Go to chapter 8 of Luke, verse 52. Backing up from there, verse 49 a bit. He was speaking. Someone came from the house of the synagogue officials, saying, your daughter has died. Your daughter’s dead. Don’t trouble this teacher anymore. When Jesus heard this, he answered him, do not be afraid any longer. Only believe and she’ll be made well. And when he had come to the house, he didn’t allow anyone to enter with him except Peter and James and John and the girl’s father and mother.

They were all weeping and lamentating for her. But he said, stop weeping. It’s inappropriate. She hasn’t died. She’s only asleep. And it’s not permanent. Now, she was dead in the physical sense, but that’s all you think about. See, that’s it. But it was not permanent, so it couldn’t really be called death. She’s just asleep. They began laughing at him, knowing that she had died. He, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, child, arise. Now, in those two illustrations, You have said this. Jesus saying, your tears are inappropriate because of what I am about to do.

And so were John’s because of what Jesus Christ was about to do. Now, what he’s about to do. We’re going to cover next week that lays the foundation. Of a vision of the Lamb. Questions? Points. I have a question, Jim. Sure. Jim, you know, is. I’ve been doing some studying on Revelation a little bit, and some of my notes I’m going over about Revelation 5. Is it. There’s a connection with the Book of Ruth, correct? Yeah, it’s called Kinsman Redeemer. That’s exactly where I was going to go. Yeah, so you pretty much answered that part. Basically, the.

The scroll. The book is the mortgage of planet Earth that he’s got to get back from Satan. Yeah, it’s the title deed of planet Earth. He. He doesn’t buy it back. He’s already bought it. He bought it with his blood, he’s going to cross. Yes. He’s going to take it. Okay. And that basically transition transitions into tribute, into the tribulation at that kind of timing. Right? That’s right. That’s right. Okay, thank you. And one other point to that, this kinsman, redeemer thing, the reason why can Christ can redeem the earth is because Adam was the incarnate of Christ to begin with.

Yes. He was his brother. Anything else? Sure. We were. We were talking Tuesday about a bunch of stuff, and before the call ended, I was trying to say something, but I didn’t get it in. We were talking about certain. A whole bunch of different things at the end of the call there. And I was going to say we have not. Because we ask. Not a lot of times. We always fall short of thinking about things. But, you know, he clearly says in Scripture that we have to ask. Be specific. Basically, he tells you three processes. Knock, and the door shall be open.

Ask, it shall be given. You know, seeking, you shall find. He’s telling him, yeah, you got to do it. Yeah. It has to glorify him, though. Also in the process, though, everything, everything about life is glorification of him. If you’re not doing that, then you’re disobedient. It’s not going to work anyway. I was also reading in Matthew 23:9 where he’s talking about, do not call anyone on earth. Your father, for one, is your father. You know, God, and he’s the one who sits in heaven. And also about the Word leader. For Christ is our true leader.

Nobody else is. Yes. Remember, you’re given, you marry. Think about the marriage. Okay, let’s go. This, you married to Christ, you married the church, you’re the bride of him. He gives you a physical life experience with a lot of benefits. One’s called a companion in marriage. That’s patterned after his marriage to the Church. And in that he grants you the ability of reproducing children that he says are mine. They’re not yours. That’s right. We don’t own them. Okay. You only get them for a rental period, about 18 years. Or stewards of them. They’re stewards of them.

So who’s truly the Father? He’s in heaven. That’s right. It’s absolutely right. Yeah. Don, I was just thinking. Today I read the scripture, John 16:33. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace in the world, ye shall have tribulation. And then the important part, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. This to me is the same kind of truth telling about having an inappropriate response to tribulation. He’s tried to warn us. It’s. It’s going to be pretty awful a lot of the time on this, in this world.

But the appropriate response is to think of him and think of how he’s overcome and have that different response. To me, that just seems like we would be a lighthouse to the world world. Because things are so crazy right now. Yeah. So if we can stay in that, that place, it makes a difference. And that’s the reason why Paul’s history lessons and acts are so important to us. Because he experienced everything in life that you are experiencing and he is the example. And everything that we’ve been studying about Paul, his trials, his is being jailed, everything.

Not one time did he do anything that wasn’t glorifying God all through the process. Not one time. And we get caught up in the world, the physicalness of this world, and we get shattered and we forget that we’re spiritual beings living a physical life experience. And really your emotions are controlled from within, not from without. And if you control your spiritual being like you should, you would have peace in knowing they’re in the body of Christ regardless of what this physical world is doing. Doesn’t matter. Good point, guys. Anything else? Gosh, I’m loving teaching, really. This is.

I love in this guys. And I didn’t even think I would ever do this again, to be honest with you. And now I’m getting. I’m so excited as I regroup my notes from all, all kinds of ancient history time and it’s amazing. It’s amazing. It’s just amazing. All right, guys, Anything else? All right, let’s pray. Father, thank you for this evening. Thank you for again coming together as a family, being able to acknowledge one and another as children of you. Father, thank you for opening our hearts and our minds to your scripture tonight and unveiling additional truth about not only history, but about life, life’s principles and that which we will know future so that we can actually be prepared in whatever decisions we need to make along the way in.

In our constant fever walk with you. We just want to thank you and give you all the glory for that. Thank you for providing the mind that we can think, wisdom that we can understand, revelation that we can actually appreciate what it’s telling us and overall the truth of you. May we ever continue to con. Continue to focus on understanding who you are in order for understanding who we are. Give us the strength, the knowledge and the wisdom to walk through life joyously and peacefully, even in times of tribulation. Thank you for what’s ahead. Thank you what’s already being done.

Thank you for what’s to come. And thank you, God, for giving us the blessings that you’re going to bestow on us now. We ask all these things in your son’s name.
[tr:tra].