{"id":18970,"date":"2018-12-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-09T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-022-the-right-response\/"},"modified":"2018-12-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-09T06:00:00","slug":"revelation-022-the-right-response","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-022-the-right-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 022 – The Right Response"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18970","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 022 - The Right Response","sermon_date":"20181209","sermon_month":"12","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":6276,"sermon_slides":6280,"sermon_mp3":6283,"sermon_id":"12918142842124","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"5:8-14","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Right Response 12-2-18\n\nRevelation 5:8-14\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 22\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 5, taking a look this morning at verses 8-14.\u00a0 The title of\u00a0 our message this morning is A Right Response.\u00a0 What really is worship?\u00a0 There\u2019s lots of debate on what worship is.\u00a0 The best definition I\u2019ve ever heard of worship was given to me by one of my professors in seminary, J. Dwight Pentecost; he was actually teaching through the Book of Revelation when he gave this definition.\u00a0\u00a0 Worship, he said is a response to truth.\u00a0 It\u2019s a response to truth.\n\nAnd what has been unfolded for us in Revelation 4 and 5 is truth.\u00a0 Is God qualified to bring His judgments to the earth which will begin in chapter 6, I almost said those are going to begin next week in chapter 6 but maybe I shouldn\u2019t say it that way, I don\u2019t know when they\u2019re going to begin.\u00a0 But hopefully we\u2019ll begin chapter 6 next week talking about these judgments.\u00a0 Does God really have a right to bring forth these judgments?\u00a0 And in fact He does because in chapter 4 He is worshipped as the Creator.\u00a0 In chapter 5 He is worshiped as the redeemer.\u00a0 In fact, John has been called up into heaven to get a glimpse of heaven itself and the Triune Godhead before judgment comes.\u00a0 And what an astonishing thing John has seen.\u00a0 He\u2019s seen a seven sealed scroll, chapter 5, verse 1, we talked about it last week, which is the title deed to the earth. [Revelation 5:1, \u201cI saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.\u201d]\n\nHe\u2019s seen the question asked and answered: Who is qualified to open the scroll.\u00a0 He\u2019s seen an inves-ti\u00adgation, verse 3, that other than Jesus Christ no one is qualified to open the scroll and consequently John sees that scroll shut and consequently the earth can be continuing on in its current state of bondage and he begins to cry, verse 4.\u00a0 But then he is comforted, verse 5, because there is someone who is qualified to open that scroll, Jesus Christ, verse 6.\u00a0 Jesus receives the scroll, verse 7.\u00a0 We know that a great victory is about to occur, the scroll will open, the judgments will come to the earth, Satan will be gradually evicted from the earth,\u00a0 the glorious kingdom of God will be established upon the earth but the process that starts the whole thing is the opening of this scroll.\u00a0 Once the scroll begins to be opened we know that the victory is just a matter of time; it\u2019s a done deal.\n\nSo what does heaven itself do when they see all of these things transpire?\u00a0 They have a reaction, they have s response, if you will, to the truth of what has just been seen.\u00a0 And when we look at their reaction, which we\u2019re going to look at here, verses 8-14, we really see what worship is all about.\u00a0 Worship is a response to truth.\u00a0 Truth has been unfolded; truth has been revealed and the only thing the human heart can do as it wells up with gratitude to God is express that praise to God in the form of worship.\u00a0 Worship is not so much about getting my personal preferences met; it\u2019s not so much about whether they\u2019re going to be singing my favorite song.\u00a0 It has to do with the mechanism by which we respond to God because the truth that He has revealed to us is so completely and totally overwhelming.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s happening here at the end of Revelation 5, verses 8-14.\u00a0 There are actually four cycles of worship that we\u2019re going to try to, God willing, work ourselves through this morning.\n\nBut notice if you will number one, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders begin to worship the Lord.\u00a0 We have the worshippers, verse 8, and then their actual worship, verses 9 and 10.\u00a0 Take a look, if you could, at Revelation 5 and notice if you will verse 8.\u00a0 Revelation 5:8, \u201cWhen He had taken the book,\u201d what book?\u00a0 The seven sealed scroll that will now be opened; the title deed to the earth. \u201cWhen He had taken the book the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.\u201d\n\nYou\u2019ll notice here the different players.\u00a0 Number one, the \u201cfour living creatures; we\u2019ve sort of identified those as kind of a special part of the angelic realm.\u00a0 Number two, the twenty-four elders, the previously raptured church, we\u2019re going to have a lot more to say about that in just a minute.\u00a0 And number three, the Lamb.\u00a0 The angelic realm, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders begin to explode into praise and worship to the Lamb, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 The worship you\u2019ll notice here is intelligent, it\u2019s not a matter of, as an eastern mysticism teaches, emptying your mind of things and then\u00a0 you praise God for the first thing that enters\u00a0 your mind.\u00a0 This is not some kind of mindless repetition, it is intelligent and its based upon what Jesus is about to do, has done, verse 9, and is about to do, verse 10.\n\nThe better you understand truth the better you understand the Bible, the better\u00a0 you understand doctrine the better our worship should become because worship is not so much about a feeling, although feelings often enter into it, it\u2019s about responding to the truth that has just been revealed and declared.\u00a0 And it\u2019s very interesting in verse 8 it talks about \u201ceach one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense,\u201d which represent or \u201cwhich are the prayers of the saints.\u201d What prayer exactly would it be referring to?\u00a0 I believe largely it\u2019s the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray in Matthew 6:10 where He said this, prayed this way: \u201cThy kingdom\u201d what? \u201ccome, on earth as it is in heaven.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, no doubt the disciples began to pray for that coming kingdom, that prayer has been uttered by countless\u2026 I don\u2019t know how many people over the last two thousand\u00a0 years.\n\nAnd what we\u2019re discovering here with the opening of the seven seal scroll is that prayer is about to be answered.\u00a0 The scroll is about to be opened, Satan is about to be evicted from the earth, and the glorious kingdom of God is going to come upon the earth.\u00a0 That\u2019s, I believe, largely the prayer that is pictured here as coming before the Lord in the form of these golden bowls of incense.\n\nOftentimes when we pray we wonder is God really listening?\u00a0 Does God really care what I petition to Him?\u00a0 And many times we\u2019re deceived into thinking that God doesn\u2019t listen or doesn\u2019t care because we don\u2019t see immediate results to our prayers.\u00a0 But the reality of the situation is payday someday.\u00a0 In other words one of these days all of these prayers that people have been uttering over and over again concerning the redemption of the planet earth, those prayers in fact will be answered.\u00a0 God wants us to pray.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is God is more concerned about our prayer life than most of us are most of the time.\u00a0 It\u2019s not some sort of empty ritual, it\u2019s not some sort of meaningless repetition or activity but these are bona fide petitions that God wants to regularly hear from His people.\n\nThe Book of Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 16 sums it\u00a0 up.\u00a0 It says, \u201cTherefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.\u201d\u00a0 Is anybody here in a place of need?\u00a0 Do they need help and do they need mercy?\u00a0 Many of us fit that standard quite regularly.\u00a0 What are we to do?\u00a0 We\u2019re to go into the throne of grace and we\u2019re to petition the Lord.\u00a0 And we\u2019re tempted to think well God really doesn\u2019t hear what I say, He doesn\u2019t really care what I think or say and\u00a0 yet here are these prayers are portrayed as golden bowls of incense coming before God\u2019s throne.\u00a0 That\u2019s how much God values our prayers.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting in verse 8 it talks about the prayers of the saints.\u00a0 What kind of prayer does God hear?\u00a0 Well, not only is it a prayer within His will but it\u2019s a prayer that comes from the saints.\u00a0 The saint is every Christian.\u00a0 As J. Vernon McGee said \u201cyou\u2019re either a saint or you\u2019re an ain\u2019t.\u201d\n\nThe moment a person trusts Christ they are positionally declared as saints of holiness before the Lord.\u00a0 The sin debt has been erased between them and God and now they have free access to God via prayer.\u00a0 If a person is not \u201cin Christ\u201d there is a great incumbrancer to their prayers, called the barrier of sin.\u00a0 But \u201cin Christ\u201d that barrier has been demolished and we are all saints of the living God who have this great privilege, if you will, this great honor of going into via prayer the throne room of the Creator of the universe and petitioning God.\n\nAnd if all of this is true then why are we so busy that we don\u2019t have time to pray?\u00a0 Don\u2019t we understand our position?\u00a0 Don\u2019t we understand our role?\u00a0 Don\u2019t we\u00a0 understand what we\u2019ve been given?\u00a0 Don\u2019t we understand how badly God wants to hear and to answer.\u00a0 And so you see worshippers there in verse 8 and then you see the worship itself.\n\nTake a look, if you could, at verses 9-10, the worshippers are the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures; we\u2019re going to focus here just for a moment on these twenty-four elders.\u00a0 You remember the twenty-four elders, don\u2019t you, Revelation 4:4.\u00a0 \u201cAround the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 4:4]\n\nAnd now we can augment that with what we\u2019re learning here in Revelation 5:9-10, and what are they praising God about?\u00a0 \u201cAnd they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men<\/em> from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. [10] You have made them to be<\/em> a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.\u201d\u00a0 They are praising God for what He has done in the past, verse 9, and what he is about to do in the future, verse 10.\u00a0 \u201cWorship\u201d you\u2019ll notice is guided by truth.\u00a0 This is what we would call intelligent worship.\n\nNow when we were in Revelation 4 I tried to make the case that those twenty-four elders represent the church of Jesus Christ, which has been raptured into heaven.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that this is not the first heavenly scene that we have in the Bible.\u00a0 There\u2019s another one in Isaiah 6, the prophet Ezekiel describes things taking place in heaven.\u00a0 And in all of those prior occurrences you never find these twenty-four elders.\u00a0 You find the four living creatures described many times, you find the myriad of angels described many times but not the twenty-four elders.\u00a0 Why are the twenty-four elders here all of a sudden?\u00a0 Because John is in the futuristic section of the book and the twenty-four elders are the priestly raptured church taken into heaven.\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s why they suddenly appear here where as before we didn\u2019t see them.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting that when you look at how these twenty-four elders are described they\u2019re described exactly the way Jesus described the churches in Revelation 2 and 3.\u00a0 First of all they\u2019re crowned, that\u2019s what Jesus said to the church in Revelation 2:10.\u00a0 They are resurrected, Revelation 4:4.\u00a0 How do you put a crown on someone\u2019s head if they don\u2019t have a head yet because they\u2019re still a disembodied spirit?\u00a0 I mean, when did these folks get bodies.\u00a0 They received their glorified body at the point of the rapture; they\u2019re clothed in white, that\u2019s how Jesus described the church, Revelation 3:5.\u00a0 [Revelation 3:5, \u201c'He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.\u201d]\n\nThey are redeemed, Revelation 5:8-10; more on that in a minute.\u00a0 They come out of a great global evangelistic campaign that covers the whole earth.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t that describe the age of the church?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Jesus tell the church to go and make disciples of Americans and not just Americans, every nation.\u00a0 [Revelation 5:8-10, \u201cWhen He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. [9] And they sang a new song, saying, \u201cWorthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men<\/em> from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.\u00a0 [10] \u201cYou have made them to be<\/em> a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.\u201d\n\nThey are enthroned, Revelation 4:4, they\u2019re sitting on twenty-four thrones, twenty-four elders enthroned, that\u2019s what Jesus said to the church at Philadelphia and Laodicea.\u00a0 [Revelation 4:4, \u201cAround the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.\u201d]\u00a0 They\u2019re called elders, isn\u2019t that interesting?\u00a0 How do we govern a church in the church age?\u00a0 Through a plurality of godly men called elders.\u00a0 We just spent the last couple of weeks in Sunday School class talking about that.\n\nThey are called \u201ca kingdom of priests,\u201d verse 10.\u00a0 [Revelation 5:10, \u201cand made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on earth.\u201d]\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that what Jesus said to the churches, that they are \u201ca kingdom of priests.\u00a0 Revelation 1:6.\u00a0 [Revelation 1:6, \u201cand He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father-- to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.\u201d]\u00a0 And there are twenty-four of them.\u00a0 In other words, these twenty-four represent something very significant about the church.\u00a0\u00a0 We track the number twenty-four through the Bible, I think a couple of Sundays ago.\u00a0 Twenty-four is in reference to the priesthood.\u00a0 This is a reminder of our role as high priests.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have a particular tribe the way Israel did that the priests came from, they were a descendant of Levi, being a descendant of Aaron.\n\nBut we believe in the priesthood of all believers, all of us are priests.\u00a0 You may not feel you\u2019re a priest, you may not think you\u2019re a priest, you may not even act like a priest but positionally when you trusted Christ you are part of this company called the priesthood of all believers which is why your prayers can be answered.\u00a0 They can be petitioned\u2026 why God looks upon prayer as golden bowls of incense coming before His throne.\n\nNow as you probably know there\u2019s a great debate on will the church be in the tribulation period?\u00a0 We believe that the correct view is the top one, for a lot of different reasons, not the least of which is the elders representing the church are in heaven before the judgments begin to be poured out beginning in the next chapter.\u00a0 If the church is in the tribulation period they would not be resurrected and rewarded in heaven, they would be on the earth experiencing these judgments.\u00a0 We believe the correct understanding of the end times is the church for many, many reasons, not the least of which is the position of these twenty-four elders.\u00a0 The church will be in heaven before the tribulation period even begins.\n\nAnd it\u2019s very interesting that when you look at Revelation 5:9-10, look at this very carefully.\u00a0 \u201c\u00a0 And they sang\u201d that\u2019s the twenty-four elders, \u201c a new song, saying, \u201cWorthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men<\/em> from every tribe and tongue and people and language.\u00a0 [10] \u201cYou have made them <\/u>to be<\/em> a kingdom and priests to our God; and they<\/u> will reign upon the earth.\u201d\n\nNow if you\u2019re an astute reader you might be saying to yourself, well if this is the church praising God for their own redemption, why in the world are they referring to themselves in the third person \u201cthem,\u201d \u201cthey, \u201cmen,\u201d why don\u2019t it say \u201cwe.\u201d\u00a0 Why doesn\u2019t it say \u201cus\u201d?\u00a0 And so people will say well, these twenty-four elders are not the church they\u2019re just angels singing about the redemption of the church.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s true then a key piece of the argument is deleted for the idea that the church will be in heaven before the tribulation period even starts.\u00a0 And so there becomes a theological battle as to who these twenty-four elders are.\u00a0 I believe the twenty-four elders is the church. Well if they\u2019re the church then why does it say \u201cthey\u201d and \u201cthem\u201d and \u201cmen\u201d?\u00a0 Why doesn\u2019t it say \u201cwe,\u201d \u201cus,\u201d and \u201cour\u201d.\u00a0 This looks more like people say angels singing about the redemption of the church than it does the church singing about its own redemption.\u00a0 And so we have a little problem here, don\u2019t we?\n\nWell let me see if I can answer this real quickly.\u00a0 Number one, it is completely possible in the Bible to speak of yourself in the third person.\u00a0 Do we have any examples of that?\u00a0\u00a0 Yes we do; we have the nation of Israel who passed through the Red Sea, Exodus 14; they got to the other side of the Red Sea, Exodus 15, God had closed the Red Sea upon the pursuing Egyptians, Exodus 14, and in Exodus 15 the nation of Israel starts to praise God for their own redemption, their own safe passage through the Red Sea and the destruction of their enemies as God closed the Red Sea upon the pursuing Egyptians.\u00a0 And the whole worship song is recorded in Exodus 15, verse 13 and verse 17.\u00a0 And notice what\u00a0 it says: [13] \u00a0\u201cIn Your lovingkindness\u201d these are the worshippers, \u201c You have led\u201d notice what it says, not \u201cus\u201d or \u201cwe, \u201cthe people whom You have redeemed; in Your strength, You have guided them <\/em>to Your holy habitation.\u201d\u00a0 [17] \u201cYou will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, the place, O LORD, which You have made for Your dwelling,\u00a0\u00a0 The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You have precedence for people praising God about their own redemption in the third person.\n\nBeyond that, many times Biblical writers will refer to themselves in the third person because they\u2019re modest.\u00a0 How does the Apostle John, in his book called The Gospel of John, portray himself?\u00a0 Not \u201cI or \u201cme\u201d but \u201cthe disciple whom Jesus loved.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s referring to himself, not in the first person but in the third person.\u00a0 Paul did this too with some frequency.\u00a0 For example, Paul was caught up to the third heaven, 2 Corinthians 12, and when he got back to the earth he didn\u2019t break into print and write a bestselling book of the subject.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t make a movie about it as many people do today, claiming they\u2019ve had some kind of elevator ride into heaven.\u00a0 Paul kept the whole matter to himself.\u00a0 He was sort of modest about it, humble about it.\u00a0 So in 1 Corinthians 12:2 he says, \u201cI know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago-- whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- such a man was caught up to the third heaven.\u201d\u00a0 As you continue on in that passage you\u2019ll see that Paul is talking about himself. Why is he talking about himself in the third person? Because he\u2019s modest about his experiences, as was John.\n\nAnd you would think that these twenty-four elders who are now in glorified bodies, you would think that they would have that same degree of modesty, not us priests, or we priests, which may sound a little pompous but they keep referring to themselves in the third person.\n\nIn other words, it\u2019s completely possible to handle this passage with the third person references by still seeing it as elders representing the church in heaven, praising the Lord over their own redemption.\u00a0 However, let me add another layer to this that you may have never thought about before.\u00a0 Have\u00a0 you seen this passage in what is called the King James Version.\u00a0 What does the King James say?\u00a0 I was just reading out of the New American Standard Bible, what does the King James say?\u00a0 It says, \u201cThey\u201d the elders, \u201csang a song,\u00a0 You are worthy to take the scroll, to open up its seals, for You were slain and have redeemed us.\u201d\u00a0 They\u2019re not using the third person here, they\u2019re using the first person, plural, \u201credeemed us to God by You blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nations, and have made us,\u201d not they or them, \u201ckings and priests to our God and we<\/u> shall reign upon the earth.\u201d\n\nNow hold the phone, the New American Standard records the same verse in the third person; the King James Version records the same verse in the first person.\u00a0 The third person would favor the angel view, many people argue that; the first person makes it no doubt who these elders are singing about, they\u2019re not singing about someone else\u2019s redemption, they\u2019re singing about their own redemption.\u00a0 So why in the world would the New American Standard Bible say one thing and the King James Bible say something completely different.\u00a0 And I\u2019m so glad you asked the question!\n\nThis gets into a subject that we would text criticism. We do not have the original manuscripts from the New Testament.\u00a0 The manuscripts that the biblical writers wrote don\u2019t exist anymore. And you say well, doesn\u2019t that throw everything open to speculation then?\u00a0 Not necessarily.\u00a0 There\u2019s great wisdom in God not allowing us to have the original manuscripts. What do people do when they think something is an original manuscript?\u00a0 They begin to worship it, don\u2019t they?\u00a0 Look at how people act when they think they\u2019ve found a splinter from the cross, how they flock to some remote area to pay homage to that thing.\u00a0 And God in His providence didn\u2019t allow us to have the original manuscripts to prevent that problem.\n\nThink about this also, if we had the original manuscripts and they get damaged or stolen or whatever then the whole cause of Christ suffers.\u00a0 What if somebody forges or damages or puts something into the original manuscripts that\u2019s not supposed to be there? So God, in His providence did not allow us to keep the original New Testament manuscripts.\n\nYou say well what do we have?\u00a0 We have copies of the original manuscripts.\u00a0 And you say to yourself you mean my whole Christianity is based on a copy of an original?\u00a0 Well don\u2019t throw things out too fast because we come\u00a0 out so far ahead compared to any other work of antiquity. The works of Caesar, how many copies do we have?\u00a0 Ten, and yet there\u2019s a thousand years between the earliest copy and when Caesar wrote.\u00a0 The works of Plato, how many copies do we have?\u00a0 Seven, and yet there\u2019s one thousand two hundred years between that earliest manuscript and when Plato wrote.\u00a0 The same kind of numbers you see with Thiazides, Tacitus, Suetonius, even to some extent Homer in The Iliad<\/em>, Homer writing The Iliad<\/em> only 643 copies and there\u2019s five hundred years between when Homer wrote and the earliest copy that we have.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t see anybody today crusading against Homer and The Iliad<\/em>.\u00a0 Do you?\u00a0 They\u2019re not crusading against Suetonius or Tacitus or Thiazides or Plato or Caesar, yet they all want to throw the Bible out on this basis.\n\nWhat do we have with the Bible? We have twenty-four thousand copies.\u00a0 Caesar ten, Plato seven, Thiazides eight, Tacitus twenty, Suetonius eight, Homer 643, we\u2019ve got twenty-four thousand.\u00a0\u00a0 You say well why do we have so many?\u00a0 We have so many because Christianity has always been looked at as a missionary evangelistic faith.\u00a0 That\u2019s how Christianity was practiced from its inception and so the goal was to take the truths of the Bible and get it to as many people as you possible can.\u00a0 Not to mention you could probably repeat the New Testament completely together simply through the sermons of the church fathers who in their sermons referred to over and over again to Biblical passages.\n\nWell what\u2019s the distance timewise between the earliest manuscript we have and when the events of the New Testament took place.\u00a0 Look how short of a distance it is; twenty-five to fifty years.\u00a0 What\u2019s the distance with Caesar?\u00a0 A thousand years.\u00a0 Plato? One thousand two hundred years, etc. etc. etc.\u00a0 Tacitus, a thousand years; Suetonius, eight hundred years.\u00a0 What do we have with the Bible?\u00a0 Twenty-five to fifty years.\u00a0 I\u2019ll take Christianity over any other work of antiquity anytime on this issue because the numbers are completely on our side, not only in terms of the volume of manuscripts but in terms of the very short distance between the earliest manuscript and when the original was written.\n\nThese manuscripts, twenty-four thousand of them agree with each other 99% of the time.\u00a0 It might even be higher than 99% but just for the sake of a round number, an individual number, they probably disagree with each other 1% of the time.\u00a0 And by the way, the disagreement that they have with each other never relates to some key cardinal Christian doctrine.\u00a0 So here we have a problem; we don\u2019t have the originals but we have copies of the originals most of which are completely in agreement with each other, but what to you do with the one percent of the time where there\u2019s disagreement?\u00a0 Which manuscript should I hold to?\u00a0 Shall I hold to manuscript A or manuscript B? That becomes the science of text criticism where you\u2019re navigating your way through this 1% where there\u2019s a deviation and\u00a0 you\u2019re trying to understand which reading is the authentic reading.\u00a0 This is what is called the science and art of text criticism; there are many people that devote their entire lives to this discipline.\n\nAnd what you have to understand is the New American Standard Bible, which is a very good translation and I typically will use it, follows one theory of text criticism; the King James Bible which is a very good Bible translation as well and I use that as well, follows a different theory of text criticism.\u00a0 The New American Standard Bible and other version basically says this: \u201cYou go with the earliest manuscripts when there\u2019s a conflict; earlier is better.\u00a0 The King James comes along and says no, we don\u2019t go with earlier is better, we go with the majority.\u00a0 If a particular reading can be found in the majority of manuscripts that\u2019s what you go with.\u00a0 So for example you\u2019re reading your Bible and you read about the woman caught in adultery in John 8, and if you\u2019re reading from the New American Standard Bible there\u2019s this troubling mark there, (have you seen that), it\u2019s got a bracket with a footnote and it says this: \u201cThis reading is not found in the better manuscripts,\u201d and you read that as a new believer and you say oh my goodness, is this whole thing just up in the air or what? What do you mean it\u2019s not found in the better manuscripts?\n\nWell the reason it says that is you\u2019re reading out of the New American Standard Bible and the New American Standard Bible, when there\u2019s a conflict in manuscripts is going with the earlier. You read that same story in the King James Version and that bracket is not there, those footnotes are not there.\u00a0 Well why doesn\u2019t the King James Version say this is not found in the better manuscripts?\u00a0 It says that because the King James is following a different theory of text criticism; they believe the story is authentic because it may not be in the earliest manuscripts but it\u2019s in the majority of manuscripts.\u00a0 See the debate?\n\nAnd this is why when you get to the subject of the twenty-four elders and the third person versus the first person you\u2019re going to reach different conclusion based upon which Bible translation you\u2019re using, because your different Bible translations are following different theories of text criticism.\n\nSo here\u2019s the deal.\u00a0 In an earlier manuscript called Alexandria\u2019s, the text here does not read \u201cus\u201d the way the King James does, it reads \u201cthey\u201d or \u201cthem.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 So people following that manuscript are basically going to say look, this is not the church singing of their own redemption, this is angels singing of the redemption of others that will be saved in the tribulation period.\u00a0 However, when you read this same passage in the New King James Version it doesn\u2019t say \u201cthey\u201d or \u201cthem\u201d it says \u201cus\u201d or \u201cwe\u201d which means that this crowd is singing about their own redemption, not someone else\u2019s redemption which furnishes further evidence that this is the previously raptured church.\n\nHere\u2019s the bottom line folks.\u00a0 The \u201cus\u201d or \u201cwe\u201d shows up in the vast majority of manuscripts.\u00a0 The \u201cthey\u201d or the \u201cthem\u201d shows up in one manuscript.\u00a0 The NASB likes that manuscript because it\u2019s earlier but the King James says not so fast, the pronoun switches to first person in the majority. And just to show you that I\u2019m not completely insane, making things up here, let me quote an ancient commentator, (ancient 1901, not that long ago).\n
    \n \t
  1. A. Seiss, who in his commentary on the Book of Revelation is dealing with this very subject, he says\u201d \u201cus.\u201d \u201cSome critics and expositors have rejected the \u00a0\u2018us\u201d for the reason that it is omitted in Codex Alexandrinus<\/em> and in the Ethioptic version; though the latter is not much more than a loose paraphrase, The Codex Siniaticus,<\/em> however, which was discovered in1860, and which is of equal antiquity and authority with the Codex <\/u>Alexandrinus<\/u><\/em> contains the \u201cwe\u201d or the \u201cus.\u201d\u00a0 The Codex<\/em> Basiliensis<\/em> in the Vatican contains it; the Latin Coptic or Memphitic, and Arminian, which are of great value contain it.\u201d\u00a0 J. A. Seiss goes on and he says, \u201cAs do all the other manuscripts and versions<\/u>.\u00a0 And to discredit it simply and only because it does not appear in that one single <\/em>Codex Alexandrinus<\/em> is most unreasonable and unjust to the weight of the authority for its retention.\u201d <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\u0397\u03b3\u1f78\u03c1\u03b1\u03c3\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f20\u03bc\u1fb6\u03c2. Some critics and expositors have rejected this \u1f20\u03bc\u1fb6\u03c2 (us), for the reason that it is omitted in the Codex Alexandrinus, and in the Ethiopic verso; though the latter is not much more than a loose paraphrase. The Codex Sinaiticus, however, which was discovered in 1860, and which is of equal antiquity and authority with the Codex Alexandrinus, contains it. The Codex Basilianus, in the Vatican, contains it. The Latin, Coptic or Memphitic, and Arminian, which are of great value, contain it.\u00a0 [Seiss, J. A. (1901). The Apocalypse: A Series of Special Lectures on the Revelation of Jesus Christ with Revised Text (Eighth Edition, Vol. 1). New York: Charles C. Cook.]\n\n[Revelation 5:9, \u201c<\/em>And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men<\/em> from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.\u201d]\n\nAnd then he quotes Dr. Tragillus, \u201con full examination was firmly convinced of its right place in the text before the Codex Sineaticus appeared and the presence of the \u201cus\u201d in that manuscript ought to settle the question of its genuiness forever.\u00a0 The evidence from the context also argues powerfully for a construction which necessarily embraces it whether expressed or not\u201d look at what J. A. Seiss says, \u201cwe regard it\u201d what\u2019s the \u201cit\u201d?\u00a0 The us, the we, which means the twenty-four elders are singing about their own redemption.\u00a0 \u201cWe regard it as indubitably genuine.\u201d\u00a0 [<\/em>Seiss, J. A. (1901). The Apocalypse: A Series of Special Lectures on the Revelation of Jesus Christ with Revised Text (Eighth Edition, Vol. 1). New York: Charles C. Cook.]\n\nProbably the first guy that started to show me this issue was Pastor David Hocking; I was just with him at the Pre-trib Study Group.\u00a0 He writes this, and he looked heavily into this matter.\u00a0 He says, \u201c<\/em>The Greek manuscripts (that we have today) of the passage in Revelation 5:9 are 24 in number,\u2019 twenty four manuscripts, \u201cand 23 of them read \u201cUS\u201d \u2012 only Codex Alexandrinus differs in this regard.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [<\/em>David Hocking, The Book of Revelation: Understanding the Future <\/em>(Tustin, CA: Hope For Today Publications, 2014), 271.]\n\nThe New American Standard Bible and other similar versions have its\u00a0 house on one\u00a0 manuscript.\u00a0 The King James Bible following the majority theory has built its house on twenty-three manu\u00adscripts.\u00a0 David Hocking\u2019s answer to this question\u2014so what?\u00a0 I mean, some of you,\u00a0 your eyes are probably glazing over at this point.\u00a0\u00a0 This is not why I come to church to learn this stuff, I mean, I need three points and a poem.\n\nYou may be asking what difference does it make? And why go to all the trouble that is listed above. There\u2019s a very long explanation which I just [can't understand word]\u00a0 to you in forty-five minutes, which is my introduction by the way.\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\nThe answer is quite important, the King James reading of the text clearly teaches the church age believer\u2019s represented by the twenty-four elders are in heaven and are seeing about their own redemption and since the twenty-four elders are in heaven during the tribulation period the correct view of Bible prophecy as to the rapture of the church age believer, Jew and Gentile, is that they are removed before the tribulation begins.\u00a0 Our response is simple, Praise the Lord!\n\nThe vast\u00a0 majority of manuscripts out there don\u2019t say \u201cthey\u201d or \u201cthem,\u201d they say \u201cus\u201d or \u201cwe.\u201d\u00a0 [can't understand word] manuscript says they or them.\u00a0\u00a0 And you average person reads that and they don\u2019t understand that.\u00a0 They believe it because it\u2019s in the NASB\u00a0 which is a very good translation in most other areas and I\u2019ll continue to use it.\u00a0 And they think that this issue is somehow close; it\u2019s not even close.\u00a0 This is a blowout.\u00a0\u00a0 What do you want to pick?\u00a0 One manuscript or the others, the twenty-three others.\n\nThe bottom line is these twenty-four elders are in heaven and they\u2019re praising God intelligently for what He has done, verse 9, and what He will do, verse 10, and what has He done?\u00a0 He has redeemed them, they are part of that great company called the church age and they are in heaven.\u00a0 If you want to go through the tribulation period you feel free to put your request in with God, as for me and my house we\u2019re not going through it.\u00a0 You say I don\u2019t know Pastor Andy, I don\u2019t believe all this rapture stuff.\u00a0 Well, I\u2019ll tell you what, we will explain it to you on the way up, how\u2019s that?\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\nSo they began to explode in praise for their redemption.\u00a0 Take a look if you could at Revelation 5:9, Now I\u2019m reading the NASB which I think is wrong here, \u201cAnd they sang a new song, saying, \u2018Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men\u201d I don\u2019t think that\u2019s right, \u201cfrom every tribe and tongue and people and language.\u00a0 [10] You have made them\u201d I don\u2019t think that\u2019s right either, \u201cto be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they\u201d I don\u2019t think that\u2019s right either, it should say \u201cwe will reign upon the earth.\"\n\nYou\u2019ll notice this expression \u201cworthy are\u00a0 you,\u201d that\u2019s worship.\u00a0 They are ascribing worth, which is what worship is, to Jesus Christ because of what He\u2019s done.\u00a0 They\u2019re not involved here in the worship wars and the generational preferences.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s even a subject in heaven.\u00a0 They just can\u2019t wait to get into the presence of God Almighty, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who is qualified to open the seven sealed scroll.\u00a0 They can\u2019t wait to praise Him not even so much based on what he\u2019s about to do but what He\u2019s already done.\u00a0 And they begin to praise the Lord.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice where this Scripture comes from\u2014from every tribe, people and nations.\u00a0\u00a0 [Revelation 7:9, \u201cAfter these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;\u201d]\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Jesus say at the beginning of the church age \u00a0go and preach the gospel, make disciples of all nations?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Matthew 28:19, \u201cGo therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,\u201d]\n\nThat has been fulfilled to a large extent.\u00a0 That has been accomplished.\u00a0 Every people group has been reached that is destined to be reached; in the age of the church no people group is omitted here.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice the global nature of what Jesus did.\u00a0 I have to talk about this just for a minute because there\u2019s a lot of people out there coming from Reformed theology trying to sell evangelical Christianity on the idea that Jesus didn\u2019t die for the whole world.\u00a0 It\u2019s called limited atonement.\u00a0 You say well isn\u2019t this a bunch of theological meandering, I mean, doesn\u2019t this relate to daily life?\u00a0 Let me show you how practical this is.\u00a0 It will affect how you share the gospel.\n
      \n \t
    1. Adams, who I happen to have a lot of respect for because he brought back biblical authority into biblical counselling; in his very important book called Competent To Counsel<\/em>, says this; he\u2019s a counsellor: \u201c[But counselors, as Christians, are obligated to present the claims of Christ. They must present the good news that Christ Jesus died on the cross in the place of His own, that He bore the guilt and suffered the penalty for their sins. He died that all whom the Father had given to Him might come unto Him and have life everlasting.] As a reformed Christian,\u201d what does that mean? A five point Calvinist, limited atonement. \u201cAs a reformed Christian the writer believes that counselors must not tell any unsaved counselee that Christ died for him,\u201d why not? \u201cFOR THEY CANNOT SAY THAT<\/u>. No man knows except Christ Himself who are His elect for whom He died.\u201d \u00a0[Jay Adams \u00a0Competent to Counsel<\/em>,\u00a0 70.]<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nThis doctrine of limited atonement is such a barrier on his thought process that it is hampering his ability to share the gospel.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is your Bible teaches\u2026 it even teaches it right here in Revelation 5:9, \u201cevery tribe,\u201d every language, every people.\u00a0 [Revelation 5:9, \u201cAnd they sang a new song, saying, \u2018Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.\u201d\u2019]\u00a0 Christ died for the whole world.\u00a0 The whole world, as I am speaking, is savable.\u00a0 Now they are not saved until they trust Christ as Savior but they are completely savable, not only on the basis of this passage but what about 1 John 2:2?\u00a0 \u201cHe Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but\u201d for the sins of who?\u00a0 The elect\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201calso for those of the whole world.\u201d\n\nIf nothing else build your house on John 3:16, \u201cFor God so loved the\u201d elect\u2026 \u201cthe world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 How many Puritans do you know?\u00a0 Ever thought about that?\u00a0 How come a family or a couple moves in down the street and we don\u2019t way what a nice Puritan couple?\u00a0 Who are the Puritans?\u00a0 They founded the\u00a0 United States.\u00a0 In fact, the Puritans built largely a lot of our famous Ivy League institutions, originally designed to train ministers. They built what Roger Winthrop called a shining city on a hill.\u00a0 And yet where did they go?\u00a0 What happened to them?\u00a0 They went out of existence.\u00a0 How did they go out of existence exactly?\u00a0 They got involved in doctrines like this, like what Jay Adams is promoting here, and they quit evangelizing.\n\nWe don\u2019t know if we should evangelize so and so because, you know, they may not be one of the elect.\u00a0 The Puritans quit evangelizing their own children so is it any surprise that those that founded the United States of America within two to three generations would cease to exist?\u00a0 It\u2019s no surprise to me at all, it relates to a distorted view of doctrine.\u00a0 We have to be balanced in our doctrine. We have to look very carefully at what the Bible is saying and what it\u2019s not saying.\n\nThe reality of the situation is every single person you encounter this week you can go up to them and aggressively and confidently and categorically tell them that Christ died for you because we don\u2019t believe in limited atonement, it\u2019s not biblical.\u00a0 We believe unlimited atonement.\u00a0 2 Peter 3:9 says, \u201cThe LORD is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for\u201d the elect, it doesn\u2019t say that, \u201call to come to repentance.\u201d\n\n1 Timothy 4:10, \u201c\u2026the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers\u201d it says.\u00a0 Is He the Savior of all believers?\u00a0 Yes He is, especially, but He\u2019s actually the Savior of all men.\u00a0 Everybody is savable!\u00a0 And may God help us to understand this and to not be sidetracked from the task of worldwide evangelism because some people got involved in a distorted version of the sovereignty of God.\u00a0 I can\u2019t explain the sovereignty of God but I\u2019ll tell you this much, God never told me to explain it to anybody or even to understand it.\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you what I do understand, the commands given to me.\u00a0 I understand those.\u00a0 And the commands given to you, and the commands given to the church, those are unambiguous, \u201cGo into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,\u201d all of creation, all the nations.\u00a0 And apparently the church will reap a harvest from all over the world because of this.\u00a0 That\u2019s why all of these people are in the presence of God singing about their own redemption and they are clearly people from every tribe, people and nation and tongue, a global praise to the Lord.\n\nSo they are praising God for what He has done and they\u2019re praising Him for something else, what He will do.\u00a0 Look at what it says there in Revelation 5:10, I\u2019m going to start halfway through because that\u2019s where I start verse 10, \u201cYou have made them\u201d now it ought to say us, shouldn\u2019t it, \u201cto be a kingdom of priests to our God and they will reign\u201d future tense, where are they going to reign?\u00a0 Up in heaven somewhere in the clouds?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026on the earth.\u201d\n\nWhen this seven sealed scroll begins to be opened the chain is now in effect, a chain reaction, sort of like dominos toppling one knocking over the other.\u00a0 The thing that gets the ball rolling is the opening of this scroll.\u00a0 And what is happening in the Book of Revelation is Satan is being evicted from planet earth.\u00a0 And how does the whole thing end?\u00a0 It ends in Revelation 20:1-10 with the glorious kingdom of God upon the earth with Satan bound in the abyss for a thousand years.\n\n[Revelation 20:1-10, \u201cThen I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. [2] And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; [3] and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it<\/em> and sealed it<\/em> over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.\u00a0 [4] Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw<\/em> the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. [5] The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. [6] Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.\u00a0 [7]\u00a0 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, [8] and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. [9] And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. [10] And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.\u201d]\n\nNow are you looking forward to that?\u00a0 I sure am.\u00a0 And these folks in heaven, these twenty-four elders, this previously raptured church is looking forward to it as well because they understand the significance of this scroll that someone is qualified to open, Jesus Christ, and they can\u2019t even control themselves anymore, they just like to praise the Lord.\n\nI mean, what in the world are we praising the Lord for anyway?\u00a0 People say \u201cpraise the Lord,\u201d what are you praising the Lord for?\u00a0 You praise Him for what He\u2019s done and you praise Him for what He\u2019s about to do.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you praise the Lord.\u00a0 You don\u2019t get wrapped up in \u201cwell, I don\u2019t like this person\u2019s singing or that person\u2019s singing or this person\u2019s style or that person\u2019s style.\u201d\u00a0 I know I am stepping on toes when I say that.\u00a0 That kind of stuff to me is so heart breaking because we\u2019ve switched the discussion to ourselves.\u00a0 It\u2019s not about us!!!\u00a0 It\u2019s about Him and what He did and what He\u2019s about to do.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you praise the Lord.\u00a0 I get the idea that songs ought to be doctrinally correct, I\u2019m completely on board with all of that but to me the worship words are heartbreaking because to me the focus is on ourselves and our preferences.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t we just forget about that for a while; why don\u2019t we just remember what it is and who it is and why it is we\u2019re supposed to be worshipping.\u00a0 Let\u2019s praise the Lord for what He\u2019s done and what He\u2019s about to do.\n\nSo you find the worshippers, the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures and the worship itself.\u00a0 [11] Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,\u201d these are the worshippers.\u00a0 Another group of people, we have angels and the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders; you\u2019ll notice here that the twenty-four elders are distinguished from the angels.\u00a0 See that, which means that the twenty-four elders are not angels.\u00a0 If you think that the twenty-four elders does not represent the church then you\u2019ve got to come up with some explanation as to who these are.\u00a0 A lot of people say they\u2019re angels, these twenty-four elders.\u00a0 But you\u2019ll see here that they\u2019re distinguished, these twenty-four elders, from the angels.\n\nSo the angels are singing alongside the church here in verse 11.\u00a0 And you say well how many angels are there?\u00a0 What does it say here, myriads; \u201cmyriads of myriads, then thousand times ten thousand.\u201d\u00a0 It says that also in Daniel 7:10.\u00a0 [Daniel 7:10, \u201cA river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened.\u201d]\n\nI find it very interesting that in the Bible angels are called stars.\u00a0 Job 38:7.\u00a0 [Job 38:7, \u201cWhen the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 Lucifer, of course, was a high ranking angel called a star, Isaiah 14:12, Revelation 12:4, 7 calls angels stars.\n\n \n\n[Isaiah 14:12, \u201csaying with a loud voice, \u2018Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.\u201d\u00a0 [13] And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, \u201cTo Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be<\/em> blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 [14] And the four living creatures kept saying, \u201cAmen.\u201d And the elders fell down and worshiped.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 12:4, \u201cAnd his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 12:7, \u201cAnd there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,\u201d]\n\nHow many stars are there?\u00a0 You know, humanity in its arrogance used to think\u00a0 you could count the stars and now with the discovery of inventions and things we have like the Hubble Telescope you start to figure out you can\u2019t count the stars.\u00a0 They are innumerable and we say I should have believed the Bible from page one because God, long before the invention and innovation of the Hubble Telescope said this to Abraham, Genesis 15:5, \u201cAnd He took him outside and said, \u2018Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.\u2019 And He said to him, \u2018So shall your descendants be.\u2019\u201d\n\nGod tells humanity at the beginning there\u2019s so many stars out there you couldn\u2019t count them if you wanted to.\u00a0 And now we have to have all this modern technology to figure out well, I guess God knew what he was talking about.\u00a0 Do you understand this about your Bible, that it makes statements that are scientifically accurate way ahead of its time?\u00a0 You\u2019re not going to find that in the Qur'an, you\u2019re going to find backward statements.\u00a0 Not the Bible!\u00a0 And it\u2019s very interesting to me that stars innumerable as they are, are called angels and that\u2019s what God says about the angels, \u201cmyriads upon myriads, ten thousand by ten thousand.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0There must be some fixed number that only God knows but it\u2019s so high that you can\u2019t even count them.\n\nAnd by the way, aren\u2019t\u00a0 you glad that two-thirds of those angels are on our side?\u00a0 I mean, look at the advantage you have there.\u00a0 One-third, as we\u2019ll see in Revelation 12, is with Satan; two thirds are with us.\u00a0 And why do these angels exist?\u00a0 They are \u201cministering spirits\u201d to give aid to those who will inherit salvation.\u00a0 Hebrews 1:14.\u00a0 [Hebrews 1:14, \u201cAre they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?\u201d]\n\nAnd we\u2019re looking at our little problems and panicking and God says don\u2019t worry about it, not only am I all powerful but two-thirds of this innumerable company of angels are on\u00a0 your side.\u00a0 So we have the worshippers here of the angels, the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders and what exactly are they worshipping God about?\u00a0 Their worship is described right there in verse 12, \u201cSaying with a loud voice,\u201d now hold it down, don\u2019t raise\u00a0 your voice, don\u2019t get upset, keep proper decorum.\u00a0 I think when God wants praise He wants it loud; that\u2019s what I think.\u00a0\u00a0 And verse 12 says, \u201cSaying with a loud voice, \u2018Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.\u201d\n\nThe second reference there to \u201cworthy\u201d which is what worship is, ascribing worth to somebody, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 You saw it in verse 9, now you see it again in verse 12 and\u00a0 you say well, I thought Jesus already had, verse 12, power, riches, wisdom, might, honor and glory and blessing.\u201d\u00a0 He does.\u00a0 \u00a0But what does Psalm 110:1 say? \u00a0\u201c\u2026 sit at My right hand until\u00a0 I make your enemies your footstool.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The power that\u2019s about to be exerted by Jesus Christ is not yet present the way God wants it on planet earth.\u00a0 That power will be demonstrated in full force with the manifestation of the kingdom of God where Jesus will rule with a rod of iron in righteousness.\u00a0 In terms of power and riches and blessing and all of these things that Jesus currently possesses \u201cyou ain\u2019t seen nothin\u2019 yet!\u201d\u00a0 Because He says \u201csit at My right hand\u00a0 until,<\/u> Psalm 110:1, \u201cuntil\u201d until what? \u201cuntil I make your enemies your footstool.\u201d\n\nWell when is that going to happen?\u00a0 The Book of Revelation is going to describe it, the process.\u00a0 And it begins with what?\u00a0 The opening of the seven sealed scroll.\u00a0 And then who else gets into the act?\u00a0 Verse 13, \u201cEvery created thing\u201d gets into the act. Take a look if\u00a0 you could at Revelation 5:13, \u201cAnd every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth\u201d and then it even says, \u201cand on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, [\u2018To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 Well wait a minute, wasn\u2019t it back in verse 3 that we couldn\u2019t find someone to open the scroll when Christ had not come forward yet?\u00a0 And wasn\u2019t that search made?\u00a0 Where?\u00a0 Verse 3, in heaven, on the earth, under the earth.\u00a0 [Revelation 5:3, \u201cAnd no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it.\u201d]\n\nNow that it looks like\u2026 doesn\u2019t look like, it\u2019s going to happen, the scroll is about to be opened; the very entities where we couldn\u2019t find someone qualified are not worshipping the Lord.\u00a0 The worship is coming from the very places where the search went out to find someone qualified.\u00a0 So you have a deliberate paralleling there between verse 3 and verse 13.\n\nWell what are they worshipping the Lord for exactly?\u00a0 What\u2019s the worship?\u00a0 Look at verse 13, the second part of the verse, \u201cTo Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll\u00a0 notice that Jesus in heaven is in a seated position.\u00a0 In fact, every single time with the exception of on that I can think of where Jesus is portrayed in heaven He is sitting, and thank God for that because in the tabernacle that Moses constructed under God\u2019s direction there was a piece of furniture missing called a chair.\u00a0 No chair!\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the tabernacle priests, their job was never completed because the sacrificial system itself kicked the can down the road for a year.\u00a0 And then that year would come and go,\u00a0 Yom Kippur would kick in and\u00a0 you\u2019d have to do the whole thing again because the animal sacrificial system never fixed the problem.\n\nAnd yet how different it is with Jesus Christ.\u00a0 His final words on the cross were \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s why in heaven He\u2019s typically portrayed, almost every time that I can think of, as in a seated position.\u00a0 The work is done!\u00a0 And so they\u2019re praising the Lord because His work is done. They\u2019re praising Him for what else?\u00a0 Because He will exist forever and ever and ever and ever.\u00a0 He is the only uncaused cause.\u00a0 He is the only one who\u2019s always been and will ever be.\u00a0 Certainly a pastor doesn\u2019t have that quality, certainly a Board doesn\u2019t have that quality, certainly a denominational head doesn\u2019t have that quality, but Jesus does.\u00a0 And so we ascribe worship to Him accordingly.\n\nAnd then one more round, verse 14, \u201cThe four living creatures and the twenty-four elders,\u201d look at what it says there in verse 14, \u201cAnd the four living creatures kept saying, \u2018Amen\u2019.\u00a0 And the twenty-four elders \u201cfell down and worshipped.\u201d\u00a0 You have worship coming from the four living creatures and you have worship coming from the twenty-four elders.\n\nWhy are these four living creatures worshipping the Lord?\u00a0 What are they saying? They\u2019re saying \u201cAmen.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that what my daughter said a little earlier. What does that even mean, Amen?\u00a0 And by the way, we didn\u2019t rehearse that, that was one of those spontaneous utterances.\u00a0 What does that mean, Amen?\u00a0 Why do we even say that?\u00a0 It means it\u2019s true.\u00a0 It means it\u2019s certain.\u00a0 It means it\u2019s going to happen.\u00a0 It means its accurate.\u00a0 Everything that seven sealed scroll represents in terms of the liberation of planet earth is going to happen because someone is worthy to open it.\u00a0 And what do these twenty-four elders say, \u201cAnd the twenty-four elders fell down and worshipped.\u201d I thought they were sitting, verse 4.\u00a0 They were, they were enthroned but in the presence of Jesus Christ they fell down, chapter 4, verse 10 and chapter 5, verse 14.\n\nI mean, even the enthroned church with all of its promises and privileges in the presence of Jesus Christ, who is the only one worthy of being worshipped, the only thing the church knows how to do is just fall down in the presence of the Lord.\u00a0 Wow!!! What a worship scene that is; it\u2019s a heavenly reaction is what it is, to the truth of the reality of the opening of the seven sealed scroll.\u00a0 And next week we\u2019re going to look at the seals as they begin to be opened. We\u2019re no longer in that heavenly scene but now the actual judgments are about to manifest on planet earth.\u00a0 You might want to take a look in your study time this week reading Revelation 6.\n\nAnd you may be saying to yourself, I don\u2019t what the judgments of God to fall on me.\u00a0 I can\u2019t say I blame you for that one, these judgments are pretty severe.\u00a0 The gospel or the good news in the whole thing is the judgment of God already fell on Jesus and if we find ourselves, by way of faith, under His protective covering to absorb the wrath of a holy God in our place, in this life we have\u00a0 ups and downs and tribulations but you are not a candidate for the wrath of God or the judgment of God.\u00a0 It\u2019s been paid for!\u00a0 Jesus is seated.\u00a0 And the only response that He asks from lost humanity is simply to receive it as a gift.\u00a0 It\u2019s Christmas time, lots of people giving and receiving gifts.\u00a0 Have you received the greatest gift that can be given to you\u2026 your salvation!\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t received that you become a candidate for the judgment of God; you\u2019ve never received the greatest gift available.\n\nWhich raises an interesting thought, how do you receive a gift from God?\u00a0 Well the Bible is very clear, it says this a hundred and sixty times to believe in what He has done.\u00a0 What is the work of God?\u00a0 This is the work of God Jesus said, to believe in the One He has sent.\u00a0 You say well, there\u2019s got to be more to it than that?\u00a0 No there\u2019s not because He did all the work. That\u2019s why He\u2019s seated.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing else for you to do other than to receive it as a gift.\u00a0 To believe means to trust or to rely upon.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something you have to walk an aisle to do, raise a hand to do, join a church to do, it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where the Spirit places you under conviction.\u00a0 Many of you probably are under conviction now, or people watching or listening via media, social media may be under conviction.\u00a0 And to respond to that convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit by the best you know how in the quietness of your own mind and thoughts and heart trust in Him or believe in what Jesus has done.\u00a0 I would advise you to do that right now even as I\u2019m speaking.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something that you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for this special chapter, this special task that we have as worshippers, what it means.\u00a0 I just pray for\u00a0 Your continued blessings upon this church as we move through the Book of Revelation together.\u00a0 Help us to learn what\u00a0 You would have us to learn. Be with the children\u2019s program tonight; help it to be a great testimony and glorification to You for what\u00a0 You\u00a0 have done and what You are about to do.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t