Charles Pack

Understanding Revelation Rev 4:1-11 - 5:14
By Charles Pack

THE THINGS WHICH WILL BE HEREAFTER Revelation 4:1-11
Those who are living today who are born again plus others saved since the Day of Pentecost and indwelt by the Holy Spirit are the Bride of Christ. Although I am a Baptist minister, I do not believe in a "Baptist Bride." I do not believe any particular group is THE Bride of Christ.
I get letters from a man in Missouri. He is trying to tell me that his church is the Bride of Christ. He is hoping that some day I will realize that. Well, I would hate to think that only his little group is the Bride of Christ. I believe that everyone who is born again and indwelt by the Holy Spirit is in the Body and Bride of Jesus Christ.
They may be Baptists; they may be old-time Methodists; they may be old-time Presbyterians; they may be of the Episcopal church. Many Other churches have people who are really born again. We may not agree on doctrine; but if we are born again and have the Holy Spirit, then we know that we are the Bride of Christ and are going to be caught up when the Lord comes.
Revelation 4:1 says: "After this . . That is, after chapters 2 and 3, representing the church age, John says, "I looked and, behold, a door was opened in heaven." Now, this door is going to open in order for the church to go up into heaven. it is symbolized in this-verse.
In Psalms 75:6 we find, "Promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west, nor from the south"; so promotion must come from the north. Do you know what the scientists tell us? Up in the northern sidereal heavens there is a great empty space-out there in that vast area of space, there is an empty area where there is nothing. There are no stars, no planets - nothing out there. I read an article saying there are some very mysterious sounds emanating from this mysterious place. Someone said an hour-long television program was aired about this. They do not know what is happening in that area. it could be that the Lord is getting ready for the rapture of the church. I do not know; but I do know that is from where He will come, because the Bible indicates "promotion comes from the north." And I believe that is going to be the celestial highway through which we are going to be raptured. As one preacher has said, "When the Great Snatch occurs and we all go home, it will be through that royal highway." I believe that because of this passage in the book of Psalms and other Scriptures.
RAPTURE SYMBOLIZED
This door is opened: "And the first voice that I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet (or literally, a war trumpet)." In other words, the Age of Grace is over now; the church is being raptured; and Jesus has the war trumpet blown. He is going to cause judgment to come upon this old wicked earth where we have been living since becoming Christians.
Revelation 4:1 says: "Talking with me; which said, (He is talking to John now.) Come up here, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter." You will notice in the marginal notations it says: "Literally, after these things" - in other words, after the churches, after the church age is over. These things will be after the church age. in chapter 4, verse 1, 1 believe we have the symbol of the church being raptured. I know it is John being caught up; but I believe John is being caught up as a picture of the church being raptured. This is not John the Baptist; this is John the Apostle. He was in the church age; he is a member of the body of Christ. And here he is being caught up. I believe this stands for all of us being caught up.
In the first three chapters he was on the earth looking at things. Now he is caught up into heaven and he is going to look down upon the earth during the Tribulation Period and see what goes on. The Bible says that the voice said, "Come up here, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter."
The footnote in the Scofield Reference Bible says that the churches are not even mentioned any more until Revelation 22:16, which is indicative that the church will not go through the Tribulation Period. The church is not mentioned during the Tribulation chapters in Revelation. This is the last mention of the churches (Revelation 4:1) until the last few verses of the book.
We come to verse 2: "And immediately I was in the Spirit and, behold, a throne was set in heaven." This scene now is in heaven. "And one sat on the throne." As we study this we will notice that this is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That is where He is today. He is not a dead Savior. He is a living Savior and He is seated up there in heaven. Here John sees Him seated upon a throne.
Notice His appearance in verse 3: "And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper." Jasper glistens and has the appearance somewhat of a diamond. "And a sardius (or a sardine) stone." That is something like a ruby-it is a reddish-colored stone. Can you imagine the Lord Jesus with this beautiful radiation of red and glistening like a diamond? Oh, that is going to be an awesome scene when we see Him sitting there on the throne!
Then John says, "And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like an emerald." What does the rainbow speak of? in the book of Genesis when God destroyed the people by water, He set the rainbow in the sky and He said that this rainbow was a sign, a symbol, to mankind that He would never again destroy the earth by water. The rainbow, in a sense, was a symbol of God's mercy. Never again would He do what He did before.
We are still using the results of that world-wide flood today - the gasoline, the coal, all the energy we are getting out of the ground is the result of that catastrophe that God sent upon the earth. But God said never again would He do that! The rainbow is a symbol of God's mercy. Praise God! Even through this Tribulation Period-even though the wrath of God is going to be poured out-there will also be people saved during this time. So many people will be saved you would not be able to count them if you tried. It shows the mercy of God. I tell you, God is such a good God! Think about His mercy and His grace!
Here is this rainbow around the throne, in sight like an emerald-can you imagine the beauty-the glistening appearance of that throne there in heaven?
CHURCH ELDERS
"And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones and upon the seats (or thrones) I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold." Now, who are these four and twenty elders? There is one thing we know they are not: They cannot be angels because further on it says that they are saying, "God has redeemed us by His blood out of every kindred and tongue and tribe." No angel has been redeemed. Angels are created beings and they have not been saved like we have been saved. So we know these are not angelic beings - they are not ordinary angels; they are not cherubim; they are not seraphim. Well, who are they? I am sure you want to know who they are and I believe the best way to study Scripture is to compare other Scriptures with it.
Go to chapter 5, verse 8, and look at what these 24 are doing. I think this will help us to understand. Revelation 5:8 says, "And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of those harps, and golden bowls (or vials) full of incense, which are the prayers of saints." Now, here are these twenty-four elders falling down before the Lord Jesus Christ, represented by the Lamb, and they have these vials in their hands and in those are the prayers of saints. The prayers of saints are being offered up to the Lamb. But notice what comes next.
"And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for thou wast slain, and has redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." These twenty-four elders are the redeemed. isn't that simple? It says so right here. They are the ones who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb out of every language and every nation upon the face of the earth. They are representatives of all the people who have ever been saved out of every nation on the earth. They are telling the Lord Jesus that He is worthy to be worshipped. To take this scroll; to open its seals! Because He is the one who paid the penalty for their sins.
Look at what it says in Revelation 5:10: "And hast made us unto our God kings and priests (or a better rendering is 'a kingdom of priests')." We are going to be a complete kingdom of priestly people worshipping the Lord and offering up praise to God during this period of which He is speaking, and after the rapture of the church.
Notice the next statement: "We shall reign on the earth." These elders are going to reign on the earth. The Bible tells us in the Gospels that those saved during the church age are going to reign with Him. Some are going to reign over five cities; some will reign over ten cities. This is talking about the redeemed-the saints that have been saved because of the blood of the Lamb. And it says, "We shall reign on the earth." We have been praying in our churches over 1,900 years, "Thy kingdom come." Lots of people do not even know what they pray about. This is what it is about! We are going to reign on the earth! The kingdom of Jesus Christ is going to come here to this earth and we are going to reign upon this earth with Him for 1,000 years.
This is even before we get to the final heaven-the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, that city whose houses are made of gold; whose streets are of pure gold. We have a long wait before we get to that. We are going to reign here upon this earth. These people arc the redeemed.
CROWNS AS REWARDS
Let us return to the redeemed in 4:4: "And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones, and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold." That is another thine, that shows us these are the redeemed. The Bible tells us that the redeemed -particularly those in the church age-are going to wear at least five crowns.
There is a crown for people who love the Lord's appearing. If you really long for the Lord to come, whether you are a teenager, or senior citizen, it doesn't make any difference; if you have a real love in your heart - if you are really looking for the Lord to come - the Bible says there is a crown for those who love His appearing. Think of that! You will have a crown for all eternity if you want the Lord to come. I feel sure I will get that one. I may miss some of the others, but that is one I think I will get.
There is a crown for pastors called an elder's crown. I believe I will have that one. There is another one for soul winning. You see, these crowns are not hard to get. If you are just winning souls, you can have two crowns. How easy some of these are. There is a martyr's crown. Now, I may never get that one - some of you may never get that one.
There are five different crowns spoken of in the Bible. And here we read that these elders have on their heads crowns of gold. In that heavenly city - when we finally get there and walk around - on Monday you can wear one crown; on Tuesday you can wear another; on Wednesday, another. A lot of you are going to be running around bare headed. You will not have any crowns, because you have not done anything for the Lord.
If you ask a serviceman what his ribbons represent, he feels proud. He is proud of what he has done. When you get to heaven, you also are going to be thrilled and happy to wear this crown to show what you did for the Lord when you were down here. But how many are going to have a crown to wear? Some will not have anything. They will be bare headed - all through eternity.
"They had on their heads crowns of gold. (5) And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderclaps." This is interesting. This speaks of the wrath of God. The rainbow speaks of the mercy of God. And we know that in Romans 1:18 it says, "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all men who hold down the truth in ungodliness and unrighteousness." You see, God loves sinners but He hates sin. So the wrath of God is going to be poured out upon this Christ-rejecting world that has been spewed out into the Tribulation Period. This will include the professing church - the church that is not saved. The people who are just church members, but lost, will go into the Tribulation Period. Only the born-again, blood-bought, Spirit-indwelt Christians will go up in the Rapture. Then the wrath of God will be poured out. So this speaks of the wrath of God in verse 5.
"Out of the throne proceedeth lightnings and thunderclaps, and voices; and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God." We have learned before in Isaiah 11:2 that the Holy Spirit has seven characteristics about Him. We will not repeat. But that is what this symbolizes - the seven-faceted Spirit of God.
THE CHERUBIM
Verse 6 says, "And before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind." Now these living creatures are the seraphim or cherubim. These are special angelic beings that God created to have certain offices in relationship with the government of God. That is what these are. These are not just ordinary angels; these are special angelic beings.
Some Bible students think that these living creatures in Revelation are the same as U.F.O.'s - they believe that this is a description of some of these - not all of them. A lot of this may be fake. Some may be weather balloons and other things in the atmosphere. Some of the descriptions people have given of these flying saucers or U.F.O.'s are identical with the description given in the Bible, especially in the book of Revelation.
I received a letter asking what I think about the U.F.O.'s Well, I have never seen one. I do not know if they are seraphim or cherubim - I do not know. It seems rather strange to me that God would send a seraphim or a cherubim down and kill a cow or do some of the things they are doing. I do not know. I am not dogmatic one way or the other. A lot of research has been done, and many believe in U.F.O.'s.
In verses 6, 7, and 8, we know that these are angelic beings, created beings of God. Verse 7 says, "And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third living creature had A face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle." These are the same beings that are mentioned in Ezekiel 1.
Verse 8 says, "And the four living creatures had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within; and (notice this) they rest not day and night." Twenty-four hours a day! And what are they saying? "Holy, holy, holy." Why three times? Why not four times? Why not two times? I believe they are worshiping the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-three times. "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." The Father is the Lord God; the Son is the Lord God; and the Holy Spirit is the Lord God. So they say, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." In other words, God is from eternity past to eternity future. He is everlasting. He had no beginning; He has no end.
THE ETERNAL GOD
You say, I don't understand that. I don't understand it either because I have a finite mind. My mind is not infinite. I cannot understand even how far "up" is. One time Arthur Brisbane, the great columnist, wrote an article, "How far is up?" He only wrote about two-thirds of a column that day. He began to reason how far is up. "Well," he said, "Beyond the moon, beyond the sun . . . ", beyond this, beyond that -until finally he did not know what else to say. How far is up? I do not know, do you?
So, how long has God been in existence? From everlasting to everlasting. Explain it. I cannot explain it. I just believe it. Like, "How far is up?" It is forever! That is all I know. I am finite just like you are. God is an everlasting God. He is the God who was; He is the God who is; and He is the God to come.
Verse 9 says, "And when those living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him that is seated on the throne, (and worship Him) who liveth forever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that is seated on the throne, and worship Him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying . . . " Every time I read this verse I think of a dear person who told me they felt I was wrong and very selfish to teach people that they should work for rewards from the Lord. Did I not know the Bible - that it says that when we receive our crowns at the judgment seat of Christ, that all of the crowns will be laid down before the Lord and that we will not wear them throughout all eternity? Well, you know, I just do not believe that! I believe that we are going to keep them. Now, that would not be much-to work all your life to get a crown and then when you get there to just lay it down before the throne. I believe that this means only a temporary laying down of these crowns. For example, when a man walked down the street in olden days and a lady approached, he would tip his hat to her. I believe this is where we come before the Lord Jesus and realize that without Him we would not have anything. We would not even be saved. We may be thrilled to wear these crowns but we will lay them down when we come to worship Him - lay them at His feet. If you were a man, you would not go in before some dignified person with your hat, on. if you went in to see the President, would you go in and leave your hat on? Of course not. You would take your hat off. So I believe that is what this means-we are going to lay our crowns before the Lord and we will worship Him.
This is what we are going to say: "Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honor and power." Why? "For thou hast created all things." Back in the book of Genesis, chapter 1, it says, "God created the heaven and the earth." Do you realize that it was the Lord Jesus that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit designated to create all things? The Trinity agreed that it would be Jesus Christ. In John 1:1-3 it says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him (Jesus) was not anything made that was made." He was the agency for the Trinity who created all things. When you pray to Him, it is not to a little baby that was born in a manger over 1,900 years ago. We are worshiping god who created all things.
These people recognized that and so they say to the Lord, "Thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Why did He do it? For His pleasure! He created us for His own pleasure. To have fellowship with us! Remember Jesus says to one of the churches in the third chapter of Revelation, "I will sup with you and you with me." Fellowship! God wants to have fellowship with us-these human beings that He has created. What a thrill to think that the God of Eternity has created us in order to find pleasure in us! He created us for Himself and yet we turn our back from Him and go our own way. What a wonderful God we have! May God bless this which we have studied in Revelation 4, verses 1-11!
THE ONE WORTHY TO OPEN THE SEVEN-SEALED SCROLL Revelation 5:1-14
In Revelation 4:1 the church was caught up into heaven: "And, behold, a door was opened in heaven; and the first voice that I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up here, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter (or after the churches)." John is being caught up into heaven which symbolizes the rapture of the church. This is after chapters 2 and 3; the church age is over. Now he is caught up, symbolizing all of us being caught up at the end of the church age. At the sound of the trumpet - the last trumpet note - we will go up.
In chapter 4 we noticed around about the throne, where the Lord Jesus was sitting, were four and twenty seats or thrones and upon these seats there were four and twenty elders. Some also believe that twelve of these represent the Old Testament saints or represent all of those that are redeemed. And who is on the throne? Verses 2 and 3 tell us that it is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
THE INAUGURATION
Now we come to Revelation 5, verse 1; we come to this message which is on the investiture of the Son of God. Or, we might call it the Inauguration of Jesus Christ.
When we elect a president in the United States, we know in November who has won the election. At the beginning of the next year we have an inauguration ceremony. The President will stand before a large body of people; he will lay his hand upon a Bible; the Chief justice of the Supreme Court is there; the President takes the oath of office upon the Bible. Here we have the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not being inaugurated as President, but is being invested as the Son of God. With this investiture is the right to come down and take over this world that has been deeded to Him by God the Father from eternity past. That is chapter 5.
Verse 1 says, "And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals." According to Roman law, any will or deed had to have seven seals on it. This was the law under the occupation of Rome. Of course, seven in the Bible is the number of perfection - the number of completion. So here it speaks of finality - this is something that was final, definite - it was already prepared before the foundation of the world that Christ would be able to reign here on the earth. Now He is getting ready to take up His rightful place that God has prepared for Him.
THE WORTHY ONE
The right hand, of course, speaks of strength. The right hand of a person is thought of as the symbol of strength as compared to the left hand. in His right hand He had this scroll. it was written on the inside and also on the outside. in this scroll we have the seven seals; they are explained beginning with chapter 6, verse 1.
Notice verse 2: "And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll (or book), and to loose its seals?" They were looking for someone who had the authority, who was capable, and who had the right to open this book. They looked all around. They could not see anyone - there was no one there who was worthy to do this.
Already several people were in heaven. We have Abraham. But "the friend of God" is not worthy to do this. We have Moses, the "meekest man that ever lived;" but he is not worthy to do this. We have other Old Testament men like David, ' "the man that was after God's own heart." But he is not worthy to open this book! There is no one who is worthy to open this book as far as humans are concerned. The angel is crying out with a loud voice, "Who is worthy?" They are looking for someone. So they look around on the earth and they look around under the earth and they cannot find anyone.
Look at verse 3; this is an interesting verse. It says, "And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the scroll (or book), neither to look on it." This is an interesting verse as it speaks about men being in heaven, in the earth, and under the earth. That teaches me as we live here, there are people already in heaven. As we are here on the earth, also there are people under the earth. Not in the graves, but people who are alive! They were searching for someone. There are living people under the earth. Where are they under the earth? The Bible says that when a person dies without Christ, his soul goes into a temporary place we call Hell.
In the Bible that may also be termed the "Underworld." it is a place of temporary confinement until they come to the Great White Throne Judgment where they are judged for the deeds they have done in the body. Later they are condemned into "Gehenna" or the final Hell. So there are people under the earth today; there are people on the earth (we can see them); and there are also people in heaven-people who have lived here and were believers and have been caught up into the heavens, into the third heaven. They are up there today, waiting for the resurrection of the saved dead and for them to get their glorified bodies. We have people in three different places.
And as they looked around trying to find someone who was worthy to open this scroll, there was no man in heaven, on the earth, or under the each who was worthy to open this scroll. "Neither to look on it!
Note verse 4: "And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look on it." Why was John weeping about this? Because John realized that unless this book was opened and the Lord Jesus Christ took up His proper position upon the earth, that Satan was going to continue to rule and reign on this earth. Today Satan is the god of this age. He is the prince of the earth. People on earth today, as a whole, do not worship God. The Devil is really the one that they are following. They are a part of this world system that Satan is energizing. John wept because he saw in this vision that Satan would have the right to rule this world forever unless Jesus Christ took His proper place on the throne. This caused him to weep. Is that not enough to make you weep? If Jesus was not coming back? if there really is not going to be a change in the way things are happening on this earth? It is enough to make anyone weep. it is enough to make a non-Christian commit suicide. It really is' I understand why so many people are killing themselves today. They do not have The Blessed Hope. They do not realize there is a better day coming. They do not realize there is going to be a blessed tomorrow when Jesus comes and sets up His throne. Then we are going to rule and reign with Him. For these unsaved people, there is not much to which they can look forward. No wonder John wept when he thought there would be no one to open this book. He wept very much, the Bible says.
THE LION AND THE LAMB
Look at verse 5: "And one of the elders (one of the heavenly Sanhedrin - one of the twenty-four we were reading about in chapter 4) saith unto me; Weep not; behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the scroll (or the book), and to loose its seven seals." Who is this person? This "Lion of the tribe of Judah! " This is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. What is a lion? A lion is the king of the beaks. Jesus Christ is going to be King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. What a beautiful symbol of Jesus - a lion. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
In this chapter He is also mentioned as a lamb. Now, what is the significance of His being spoken of as a lamb? I believe the lamb speaks of His first coming because when John looked upon Him in John 1:29, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world." His first coming is symbolized by the lamb-a lamb being slain before the foundation of the world. His second coming is symbolized by a lion. Because when He comes the second time, He will not come meek, lowly and innocent like a lamb. He will come in power and strength, taking vengence on those that know not God. So we have both symbols here in this chapter. We have the lion and we have the lamb.
It is very interesting-the Lord Jesus is a Lion of the tribe of Judah. I want to teach you something. I was in a home and they were watching, Mr. Armstrong. That is like absorbing a little poison. You had better be careful-very careful. Why do I say that? Why? Because Herbert and Garner Armstrong have taught that the tribe of Judah and Benjamin headquartered in Jerusalem are not really true Jews.
They taught hat the true Jewish people - the real Israeli people were the ten tribes that lived up north. They supposedly migrated later to Assyria, then to Ireland, then to England. Later they came to the United States-that is, some of them came over here. So we Americans are the true Jews. We are the true Israeli people-living in England, Ireland, etc. if I believed that, from this verse, I would believe that even Jesus Christ was not a true Jew. He would not even be a true Israeli. He is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Judah and Benjamin were the two tribes that were headquartered in Jerusalem. Can you not see the fallacy of that sort of teaching? There are many verses that you can read that prove this.
You can be fed British-Israel teaching and get all mixed up. I hope God will speak to your heart about this. Jesus Christ is a true Jew. He is a true Hebrew. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Notice that it says also that He is the "Root of David." That is, He is the source of David. He is the One, we have learned, that created all things. He created human beings. He created all things on behalf of the Trinity - acting for the Trinity. So He is the source of the Root of David. And He "hath prevailed to open the scroll, and to loose its seven seals." He was the only one who was able to do this. "And I beheld and, to, 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." This speaks of the Lord Jesus and His being crucified. You notice, this Lamb has seven horns. Seven in the Bible speaks of perfection, or completeness. There are seven days in the week. That is a complete week. Seven is the number of completion or perfection. So the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely perfect. The horns also speak of the ability to fight. Jesus Christ is all powerful. The horn of an animal is that with which it fights. if you have ever been out in a pasture and had a bull after you, you know what I mean. The horn is that with which it fights.
SEVEN HORNS AND SEVEN EYES
The seven eyes, of course, speak of seeing and knowing what is going on. We think of the wise old owl and we picture him with great big eyes. He sees all that is going on. The Lord Jesus knows all; He sees all. These symbols picture the complete authority and power, the almightiness of the Lord Jesus; and His omniscience; His knowing everything and seeing everything.
John says that these are the seven spirits of God. Are the horns and eyes really the seven spirits of God? Here again, we have symbols. Remember in Revelation 1:3 it says these things are signified; they are symbolized. We have so many things in here that are symbolized. These things represent the seven-fold characteristics of the Spirit of God. We studied that in Isaiah 11:2, you will remember. Here are two other symbols pointing to that seven-fold character of the Holy Spirit. That would mean that the Holy Spirit is also almighty and He Himself is all-knowing. He sees everything that goes on. The Holy Spirit is the One with whom we have to do. I have never seen Jesus Christ; I have never seen God the Father; but I know the Holy Spirit. He lives in my body-in my heart. He is the One with whom I have to do as a human being now. He is all powerful; He is all wise; and He is all knowing. That is what we have here in symbol form in the seven horns and the seven eyes. They are the seven spirits of God.
You will notice the little verbs "are" and "is." These are used many places- for example, in the book of Genesis it says, "Judah is a lion's whelp." Now Judah was not a real lion; but he was a lion's whelp-in symbol form, you see. "Is" and "are" are used that way all through the Bible, as a connective verb before a symbol.
Now in verse 7: "And He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne." Here the Lamb comes, takes the scroll, and then what happens in verse 8?
"And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb." They fell down and worshiped Him-these twenty-four elders mentioned back in Chapter 4.
REDEEMED WORSHIP THE LAMB
Notice what they do. First, they have harps. Harps speak to us of music and that speaks to us of praise. They praised the Lord! Also they have golden bowls full of incense. What does the incense tell us? The next sentence tells us it is the "prayers of saints." So the incense speaks of prayer. These twenty-four fall down before the Lamb and they praise the Lamb and they pray to the Lamb. They worship Him and they pray to Him. We have worship and prayer.
Verse 9: "And they sang a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for thou was slain." Now, who could that be but the Lord Jesus Christ? "And hast redeemed us to God." Incidentally, the word "us" is not in many of the old manuscripts and the reason for that is: Notice here that we also have the living creatures praising the Lord. We know that the living creatures have not been redeemed. They are created beings: The angels, the seraphim, and the cherubim. They have not been redeemed. They do not know what it means to be saved. They are created beings. So it is believed by the manuscript authorities that the word "us" should not be in there. What it should say is, "And hast redeemed to God by thy blood." In other words, it is only the twenty-four elders that represent the church and possibly the Old Testament saints that have really been redeemed; not the living creatures that are in this same chapter. "Redeemed to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." When we stand up there before the Lord, we will see people from all over the world. There will be white people, black people, yellow people, red people, and all the shades in between. There will be all sorts of languages. There will be different nationalities. From all over the world, these people will come. The Lord Jesus has redeemed them by His blood.
Now notice what He has done for them in verse 10. "And hast made us unto our God a kingdom of priests." When we rule and reign here on the earth, we are going to be a complete kingdom of priests. Every man is going to be a priest; every woman will be a priest. There will be no distinction then between man and woman. There will be no need for the Women's Lib movement then. For everyone will be an individual in their own right and they will rule and reign with Jesus Christ. All, whether male or female, are going to be a kingdom of priests right here on the earth.
FUTURE FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
Someone wondered why we could not be together as a family in heaven. Why could I not have my children with me in heaven? Why can you not have your family in heaven? Have you ever really thought that through? For example, my father who was saved a few years before he died would like to have me and my sisters in his family. And his father, my grandfather on my father's side, was born again and he would like to have my dad and all his brothers in his family. So if you keep going back, all you would have is one big family.. That is why it will be impossible for us to live together as husband and wife and children. We will all be individuals. You ladies stop smiling now. it will be nice, will it not? You will not have your husband to tell you what to do any more.
Everyone will be an individual. You will be a priest and we will be a kingdom of priests. Will that not be wonderful? It really will! And some of you men are smiling because you arc "henpecked" and are glad your wives will not have anything more. We will all be individuals in glorified bodies!
REIGNING WITH CHRIST
Look at what is going to happen now in chapter 5, verse 10: "We shall reign on the earth." Now what does that mean? It means that during the Millennium - that 1,000 years - we will rule and reign on the earth. Israel is going to be the head nation and Jesus Christ will be Kin, of Kings and Lord of Lords and we will rule and reign with list for 1,000 years.
Someone says: "Where else in the Bible does it say we will rule on the earth?" oh, that is all through the Bible. Turn to Revelation 20:2 and following. In this chapter this number, a thousand years, is mentioned six times. Begin with verse 2: "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years." During this thousand years that we are going to be on the earth, the Devil is going to be bound. He will not be here to energize people, work behind the scenes, cause all the trouble that has been here on the earth. What is going to happen?
In verse 3 we read, "And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more." Do you know what is going on today? The Devil is deceiving the nations. The Devil is deceiving the Arabs to make them think that they are going to be victorious over the Jews. But they are not! They are just deceived, that is all. It is the Devil that is working behind these people, making these people think that they can do it. They think that by cutting off America's oil or some other nation's oil that they will be victorious over Israel. But they cannot be. The Devil just has them deceived, you see.
How long will Satan be bound? "Until the thousand years should be fulfilled." But, "after that, he is going to be loosed for a little season." That is stated farther on in the chapter.
But look at verse 4: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them." Who are "they"? Those that rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years. I expect to be there. I expect to be ruling and reigning with Christ. This is that to which I am looking forward! Not the paycheck each week! I am looking
forward to the day when I will rule and reign with our Savior. That is the main thing. You may be looking forward to Social Security when you reach 65. 1 am looking forward to the day when I will rule and reign with Christ for thousand years - just until I reach 70 or 80 and then die. I am looking forward to this 1,000 years!
TRIBULATION SAINTS
Revelation 20:4 Says: "I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; (and notice) and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." So the Tribulation saints are also going to reign with us. They will be there too.
Verse 5 says, "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." In other words, the unsaved dead are going to stay down in Hell, in that temporary place of confinement, for the thousand years that we are ruling and reigning here on the earth.
The people that arise to rule for the thousand years are in the first resurrection. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death (that is, to be cast into the lake of fire) hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. 9'
Beloved, that is what we are praying in the so-called Lord's Prayer. When we say, "Our Father, etc. Thy kingdom come . . . ", that is what we are praying about. People have been praying that for over 1,900 years. About 90 percent of the people do not even believe it. They do not believe that there is a kingdom coming. Yet it is going to happen, and we are going to rule and reign with Christ a thousand years. if I did not really believe this, I think I would be doing something else.
I would not be in the ministry. if all you get out of being in the ministry is the temporary benefit, it is really not worth it. That is what Paul said, "if you have hope in this life only in Christ, you are of all men most miserable." No wonder so many of you are so long-faced and sad-looking - like an old Missouri mule. Because you are not thinking of what we are going to have hereafter; you are thinking of all the temporary benefits you get out of being a Christian down here. Sometimes it does not seem to be of too much benefit. Sometimes being a Christian is just plain discouraging. But praise God - it is what is on the other side that counts!
Now, going back to our passage in Revelation 5:10: "We shall reign on the earth."
ANGELS EXALT THE LAMB
Verse 11 says, "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." A thousand million of them were there. Oh, that would be a great scene to see! And then on top of that were thousands and thousands - this myriad of angels and the elders and the living creatures around the throne.
And what were they saying? Verse 12: "Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." Notice in verse 13: "And every creature that is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." I want you to notice this: "Even the people under the earth" are recognizing that this is the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the fulfillment of that verse of Scripture in Philippians where it says that the day is going to come where every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. But it will be too late for those people under the earth. They will just recognize that. it will be too late for them to be saved; but they will recognize even before their final punishment that this One sitting on the throne is worthy to rule and reign. This is the One they have rejected.
It tells us in verse 13 - those on the earth, those in heaven, those under the earth will all recognize Him. Verse 14 says, "And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped Him that liveth forever and ever."