Zac Poonen emphasizes the importance of obedience over mere understanding in the prophetic book of Revelation, particularly in chapters 4 and 5. He highlights that the primary focus should be on obeying God's word rather than getting lost in the symbols and interpretations of prophecy. Poonen illustrates how John’s vision of God's throne and the worship of the Lamb reveals God's sovereignty and holiness, urging believers to maintain a heavenly perspective amidst earthly challenges. He also explains the significance of Jesus as our kinsman redeemer, who overcame sin and is worthy to open the scroll of redemption. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a life of worship and obedience, recognizing the authority of Christ and the power of prayer in fulfilling God's purposes.

Revelation chapter 4. In our last three studies, we looked at Revelation chapters 1, 2, and 3, and today we want to begin with chapter 4, verse 1. I want to draw your attention to a verse that we considered in our first study, and that is chapter 1, verse 3. Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near. We know that the book of Revelation is mostly prophecy, and it's called prophecy in this verse, but generally speaking among Christians, you find that they are interested in understanding prophecy, and to know the meanings of various symbols, and to understand it like in a chart fashion, one following the other, much more than what is written in verse 3, where it says the important thing is not understanding the prophecy, but obeying the things that are written in it. So prophecy also, according to Revelation 1, 3, is meant for obedience. And when we begin with chapter 4, we begin what we can say is the prophetic part of the book, and it's very important for us to bear in mind right at the outset that our aim is not understanding primarily, but obedience, because there are many symbols and signs used in the book of Revelation, concerning which it's very difficult, or almost impossible, to be dogmatic, and to say this means this with absolute certainty. And I think God has left it like that, so that he can separate between those who are preoccupied with explaining the symbols, and those who are seeking to find, well, whether I can explain it or not, what do I have to obey? And we want to be in the second category of people, who even if we cannot dogmatically explain some of the symbols and signs, we want to obey everything that is found in the book of Revelation for us to obey. And when you come to the last chapter of the book of Revelation, Revelation 22 and verse 7, here we read something exactly similar again. Behold, I am coming quickly, and the book of Revelation speaks about the coming of Jesus Christ and things related to that coming. So, blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book. Now, we are all familiar with what are known as the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are the gentle, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the three peacemakers, blessed are those who mourn and hunger and thirst after righteousness, and so on. Well, here are some more Beatitudes, and in the book of Revelation altogether there are seven, but here are two of them. One is what we saw in Revelation 1.3, blessed is the one who reads this prophecy and obeys it, and that's repeated again in Revelation 22.7, blessed is the one who keeps or obeys the words of the prophecy of this book. Now, notice this. Right at the beginning of Revelation, you have this blessing promised upon those who obey what's written in this book. When you come to the last chapter of Revelation, again that blessing is repeated, blessed are those who obey the words of the prophecy of this book. We can say these are like two big brackets, and within these two brackets we have the whole book of Revelation, obedience and obedience. And in no place in the book of Revelation do we find a blessing promised on those who can understand and interpret all the symbols and draw a prophetic chart to show when this happens and when that happens and when the other thing happens. So, we need to keep that in mind, so that we approach the book of Revelation not from that human standpoint that we find many teachers are occupied with, and the reason they're occupied with that is because that's more interesting and tickles the ears of many people who are not interested in obedience. But we want to seek for obedience, and to seek for that which will purify our first love and devotion to Jesus Christ. So, let's keep that in mind and turn to chapter 4. Now, I want to mention also that as we begin chapter 4, the chapter 4 on to the end of the book is written for those who have already listened and hearkened to the call of the Spirit that we heard in chapters 2 and 3. What was the call of the Spirit that we heard in chapters 2 and 3? We can say in one word, overcome. He who overcomes. Seven times we read that in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. So, if that call of the Holy Spirit to the believer has really gripped our hearts, Lord, I want to be one of the overcomers, then we can move on into chapter 4 with understanding. We can say that it's primarily written for those who are overcomers. You remember in our first study, we saw Revelation 1 verse 1 which says that this is something which Jesus Christ, which God gave to Jesus Christ to show to his bondservants. In other words, it's not something that God wants to conceal. Did you notice that in the first verse of Revelation? God gave this to Jesus Christ not to conceal it, but to show it to his bondservants. So, we must come with faith. Lord, I want to be an overcomer. I want to be a bondservant and I don't believe that you're going to conceal the message of this book from me. According to your faith, be it unto you. If we come with faith, Lord, if this is meant to be shown to your bondservants, I want to see it. I want to understand. I don't want to come with unbelief saying this is all full of ununderstandable symbols. Right. Now, we can also turn to chapter 4 verse 1 and look at this verse. It says here, after these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. Now, in Revelation 3 verse 20, we saw the necessity of a door being opened on earth. That is Jesus standing at the door and knocking. And if I open that door of Revelation 3 20 and yield my will to Jesus, then Revelation 4 1 follows from that. Jesus opens the door for me in heaven. And I can't experience that opening of the door in heaven if I haven't opened my door to Jesus, not just in the sense of having accepted him as my savior, but of having yielded my will to him as Lord. And what happens? It says here that when this door opened in heaven, the first voice which I had heard, that is the voice of Jesus, came like the sound of a trumpet speaking with John and said, come up here. John at that moment was standing on the isle of Patmos on the earth. And this voice said, come up here into heaven and I will show you what must take place after these things, what is going to take place in the future. And we can say that that is a picture of God lifting us up in the spirit. It says in verse two, immediately I was in the spirit and it is a picture of God lifting up our spirits so that we look at the things of earth from a heavenly standpoint. It's very important as we approach the time of the end and as we look at the things that are going to come, going to take place upon the earth, that we don't stand upon earth in this sense, that we don't look at things from an earthly standpoint. Jesus said in Luke chapter 21, he said, when these things begin to come to pass, lift up your head for your redemption draws very near. And that part of the meaning of that is, I must let my mind look at the things that are happening on the earth, not from the standpoint of men, otherwise it will fill me with fear, but from the standpoint of God who is in control of everything. And so the experience that John had, we need to have in our spirit too. I don't mean a trance or anything like that. I just mean simply that my mind, that our minds are renewed to look at everything from God's viewpoint. And that's, I believe, one of the most important things, brothers and sisters, that you and I need for the coming days. To be transported up, to look at things from God's viewpoint, all the things that are happening in the earth. Then I will be free from fear and I shall be free from sin. And when he was transported up in the spirit, the first thing that he sees is not the antichrist. The first thing that he sees is not the things that are going to come upon the earth. Very important and very interesting. The first thing that he sees is what? God's throne. A throne standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne. And that teaches us that the most important thing that we are to see when we are transported in our spirit to look at things from a heavenly standpoint, the first thing we see is God Almighty ruling and in control of everything. And if you are a child of God, in the evil days that are to come in the future, the most important thing that you will need to know is that there is a throne in heaven and that your father, my father, our father is sitting on that throne and he is in control of everything. That's the first vision that we need to see. If we don't see that, we're going to get into a lot of problems when we begin to look at a lot of things that are going to take place on the earth. And we see here, sitting on the throne was one who was, verse 3, like a jasper stone. Now, a jasper stone, we read in later on in Revelation 21, is something crystal clear. So we see that the first thing emphasized about the one who sits on the throne is his purity and like a sardius in appearance. A sardius is flaming red and that speaks about judgment on sin. Now, he was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance. So the emphasis in both of them is on God's absolute purity, his total holiness, and on God as truth and light in which there is, in whom there is no darkness at all. But that's not all. There is a second aspect to it. And that is, in the latter part of verse 3, we read, there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance. Now, we know from Genesis chapter 9 that the rainbow was given by God immediately after the flood when Noah came out of the ark. God set the rainbow for the first time in the sky and he said, this rainbow is a sign of my covenant with the people of the earth that I will never again destroy the earth with a flood. We can say that the rainbow is a symbol of God's grace. So what do we see on the throne? We can say truth and grace. Just like we read in John 1 14 that when Jesus Christ was on the earth, the word was made flesh and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. It's the same thing that John sees when he gets up to heaven. And when we get to heaven and see God in his glory, we'll find that he's full of grace and truth too. And that is what is symbolized in verse 3. And then we find in verse 4, I just want to say this in passing that throughout the book of revelation, you will see these two aspects of God alternately, grace and truth, grace and his holiness, grace and judgment, grace and judgment coming again and again and again and again. Alternately, we get a vision of God's grace and a vision of judgment and a vision of grace and a vision of judgment because that is how God is. Behold the goodness of God and his severeness. We are told in Romans chapter 11, God is kind and he's severe and we'll find his kindness and his severity and his kindness and his severity alternately throughout the book of revelation. And then in verse 4, we read about thrones, 24 thrones around the throne of God. And upon these thrones, I saw 24 elders sitting clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their head. Now the Bible says that among the angels, among the beings that have been created by God as spirits, there are powers and principality. We read in Colossians chapter 1, verse 16, that there are thrones and dominions and rulers and authorities in heaven and on earth that have been created by God, Colossians 1, 16. So these 24 people sitting on the thrones symbolize those who have authority among the spirit beings around the throne of God. And as we look at them, as they appear later in the book of revelation, we will see that one of their primary tasks is to lead people in worshiping God. And that is the 24 elders sitting clothed in white garments which speak of their purity and golden crowns which speak of their authority. And verse 5, from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, all meant to symbolize God's majesty and glory and his total control over everything that's going to come. And not only that, in the middle of verse 5, it says there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. And we are told, we don't need to interpret that, we're told the meaning of that is the seven spirits of God. That is another way of saying the seven-fold spirit of God. We know that there is only one holy spirit of God, and in many places he is referred to as the seven-fold spirit of God. We considered that last time in Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 2 and 3, where there are seven titles given to the Holy Spirit. And in the New Testament too, we find seven different titles given to the Holy Spirit. But the thing which I want you to notice here is that these seven spirits of God, seven-fold Holy Spirit, is represented by seven lamps of fire. Again, the fire speaks of purity. You remember that verse in Hebrews 12, verse 29, which says, our God is a consuming fire. Now, many people like to think of God as a God of love, but he is also a consuming fire. Many homes you go to, you'll find the verse, God is love. Very difficult to find a home where you'll find the verse, God is a consuming fire. What is that teaching? That teaches us that basically we don't like to think of God as a consuming fire. And that's why we suffer spiritual loss, because whether we like to think of him or not, he still is a consuming fire. And it's good for us to keep that in before us. God is a consuming fire. He's not only love, he is a consuming fire, and the Holy Spirit is symbolized by that fire. And it's very important to bear that in mind, particularly when we think of the moving of the Holy Spirit, and people speak about being filled with the Spirit and of being led by the Spirit, and of having experiences in the Holy Spirit. And if only we could see that the Holy Spirit is like a fire, I'd say whatever experience you have of the Holy Spirit, if it doesn't bring something of the fire of God's purity into your life, I would say it's a counterfeit. It's a counterfeit. It's a spurious experience. The Spirit of God may bring us many things, but if he himself is a lamp burning with fire, sevenfold purification, he's bound to bring some purification into our life when he fills us. So let's bear that in mind, that not only is his name Holy Spirit, he is a loving spirit, he is a gentle spirit, but he is called the Holy Spirit, emphasizing what he primarily gives, and he is symbolized by seven burning lamps of fire. And verse six, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass like crystal, again speaking of transparent clarity and purity, and in the center and around the throne four living creatures. Now it's very unfortunate that in the King James Version it's translated as beasts, not beasts, it's four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. And the first creature was like a lion, the king of beasts. The second creature was like a cow, the king of cattle. And the third creature had a face like that of a man, the highest of God's created beings. And the fourth creature was like a flying eagle, the king of birds. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within, and day and night they do not cease to say, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come. Now these four living beings are what the Bible calls the cherubim, or cherub. Cherubim is just the plural for cherub. In the Hebrew, instead of saying cherubs, they say cherubim. Now if you turn to Ezekiel chapter one, we find something similar there. It's good for us to turn there for a moment. Ezekiel chapter one, where Ezekiel had a vision of this throne. And he says, verse four of Ezekiel, in the Old Testament, Ezekiel chapter one, verse four, And I looked, and behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, and a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually, and a bright light round it. Very interesting, whenever people had a vision of God in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, there was a tremendous picture of fire always, of purity. And in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire, and within it were figures resembling four living beings. You see the similarity now. This was their appearance. They had a human form. Each of them had four faces and four wings, and their legs were straight. Their feet were like a calf. They gleamed like burnished bronze, and under their wings on their four sides were human hands, and their wings touched one another. Verse 10, As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man. All four had the face of a lion on the right, the face of a bull on the left, and the face of an eagle. All four had. Such were their faces. Now, there are slight differences in what we read here, and what we read in Revelation, but basically they are the same. And it says here in verse 13, In the midst of the living beings, there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. And the living beings, verse 14, ran to and fro like bolts of lightning. Then it says in verse 15, Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings, each of the four of them. And we read here, verse 19, Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. Now these wheels are a picture of circumstances that are taking place on the earth. And we read here that the spirit, verse 20, Whenever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels who closed behind them, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. That's just a symbolic way of saying that God is in control of the wheels of our circumstances, which seem to go round and round and round in different directions. But God is in control of the direction in which our circumstances are going. Now, when you turn to chapter 10 and verse 20, Ezekiel chapter 10 and verse 20, he says, These are the living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Kibar, so I knew that they were cherubim. There we have the answer. They were the cherubim. Each one had four faces and each one had four wings. And beneath their wings was the form of two hands, which was probably somewhat in the shape of two other wings. And that's why John says he saw six wings. But the thing I want you to notice here is that these cherubim are connected with the glory of God. I don't have time to go into that in the book of Ezekiel, but what we see in Ezekiel is basically the glory of God departing from God's people Israel because they went into sin. And we read in verse 4 of Ezekiel 10, The glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud. And the glory of God, we read later on, moved out and departed. Verse 18, The glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. And the last part of verse 19, The glory of God hovered over them. So we can say the cherubim are the guardians, the cherubim, sorry, are the guardians of God's glory. And when you turn to Genesis chapter 3, right in the beginning when Adam and Eve were turned out of the garden of Eden, we read in Genesis 3 verse 24, that God drove the man out. And at the east of the garden of Eden, he stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword, which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. The cherubim are the guardians of God's glory. When Adam and Eve sinned, he over the cherubim with the flaming sword to prevent sinners from coming and taking part of the tree of life. We know that that sword finally fell on Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, so that now the way to the tree of life is open, that we can come. But the cherubim are the guardians of God's glory. That's why we sing in one of our songs here, that the true servants of God stand like cherubim with their swords of flame in the church to guard God's glory and holiness. So we turn back to Revelation 4, and we see that there are these angelic principalities sitting on 24 thrones, and there are these cherubim, the guardians of God's glory. And what do they say? The last part of verse 8, day and night they keep on saying, holy, holy, holy. Notice the emphasis on the holiness of God. There is a rainbow, true, God is gracious, but the preeminent emphasis is on God's holiness. It says there that day and night they never stop saying holy, holy, holy. This is the God we worship, and that's why it's an absolute disgrace when a person calls himself a Christian, and he does not seek to live in the light of this God who is holy, and who calls us to be holy. I want to show you one more verse in the Old Testament, that's Isaiah chapter 6, where Isaiah had a vision of the throne of God. Isaiah chapter 6, and verse 1, it says, in the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne. And verse 2, seraphim stood above him, each having six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, with two he flew, and one called out to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Again we see the same thing, holiness, holiness, holiness is the emphasis right through out heaven, the cherubim and the seraphim. They cover their faces, it's very interesting to see that, that out of six wings they use only two to fly, and with four they cover their faces, because God is so holy that he cannot be looked at. Remember, those seraphs who have never sinned have to cover their faces when they come into the presence of a holy God. How much more, you and I. Let's turn back to Revelation 4, and verse 9, and when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy art thou. So there we see the twenty-four elders in their ministry of leading the worship of this holy almighty God. They fall down before him who sits on the throne. When the living beings are saying, holy, holy, holy, these twenty-four elders fall down and worship. Now that's something they're doing all the time, because the living beings are saying, holy, holy, holy, all the time. And what is the song that they sing? First of all we read, fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever, and they cast their crowns before the throne. That is one way of saying, Lord, you alone are worthy to have all authority and power. If we have a crown on our head, it's something that you have given to us. And there's a lesson that we can learn from those twenty-four elders, that even when God does give us some position or authority, it's not something for us to go around arrogantly showing off to others. What a blessed lesson we can learn from the atmosphere of heaven, that if God gives us a crown, you know what it's meant for? Not for putting on our head, but that we can have something to cast down at his feet. Let's never forget that. And that's what man seldom realizes. God gives him something, he thinks it is for him to go around displaying to others, exalting himself above others, that's the spirit of hell. In heaven, if they have a crown, they throw it down at the feet of God, and they say, thou alone art worthy, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou didst create all things. We know that. But they also add, it is because of thy will that they exist, and for thy pleasure that they were created. They were created for your pleasure and to do your will. And that's very important also for us to remember. God has created us so that we might do his will and bring pleasure to him. Now let's move on to chapter five. And I 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. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals. Now again we need to turn to the Old Testament to understand what this book symbolizes. This book symbolizes the price to be paid for the redemption of this earth. And I want to turn you to the book of Leviticus in chapter 25. Leviticus chapter 25, the third book of the Bible, verse 23. Where the Lord says, this is a law that he gave to the children of Israel. The land moreover shall not be sold permanently, for the land is mine. In verse 24. Thus for every piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land. Leviticus 25, now verse 25. If a fellow countryman, listen to this, this is where it applies to us. If a fellow countryman of yours, or a brother of yours, becomes so poor that he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest relative is to come and buy back what his relative has sold. There was a law in Israel that if a man became so poor that he had to sell his property, his nearest relative had to come and buy it back for him. That was called redeeming the land. How does this apply to us? God gave Adam the whole earth. You read that in Genesis 128. Rule over the whole earth, he says. Subdue it, have dominion. But in the garden of Eden, through disobedience, remember this verse, Leviticus 25, 25. Adam through disobedience sinned and became poor and handed over the title deed for the earth to Satan. That's what happened in the garden of Eden. When he sinned, that dominion which God had given Adam, he gave it over to Satan automatically. And that's why when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, we read in Luke chapter 4, Satan said to Jesus, and we know that Satan wouldn't try to bluff the Lord Jesus. Satan said to Jesus, Luke chapter 4, verse 5, he led Jesus up to the mountain and showed him the whole world, all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And he told Jesus, Luke 4, 6, I will give you all this. Because notice the middle of verse 6, it has been handed over to me. Who handed it over to him? Adam. God gave it to Adam, Adam gave it to the devil. Just like God gives something to man today and he hands it over to the devil. God gives money to a man and man gives it to the devil in all types of evil practices. God gives a person a good appearance and he sells it to the devil. Something like that. There are many things like this. Whatever God gives, they go and give it to the devil. Well, that's what Adam did. The devil said, it's been handed over to me and now I give it to whomever I wish. Now this earth had to be redeemed. But what did we read in Leviticus 25? Only a close relative, a near kinsman could come and redeem. And that's why it was important and essential that Jesus had to come in our flesh in order to be our redeemer and in order to redeem the earth back to God. That's what we read in Leviticus. Now in Jeremiah, in chapter 32, we don't want to go into that in detail, but if you have the time, you can read there from verses 6 to 44. We find something similar happened there where Jeremiah, his cousin, came to him and told him, please buy for me the field. Jeremiah 32, verse 7, the Lord said, Hannamel, the son of Shalom, your uncle is going to come to you saying, buy for yourself my field, which is at Anathot, for you have the right of redemption to buy it. And you know what Jeremiah did? Because he was the nearest relative, kinsman, who was to redeem. Verse 9, he bought the fields, he paid the money. Verse 10, I signed and I sealed the purchase deed. And in those days, the purchase deed was in a scroll. It was rolled up and it was sealed. It was signed and sealed. And that's what we read in Revelation chapter 5, of the purchase deed, which has been signed and sealed. And the angel asking, who is worthy to accomplish this redemption? I want to give you one more picture from the Old Testament, and that's in the book of Ruth. Ruth, that comes after the book of Judges, Joshua, Judges, and then Ruth. Ruth chapter 4, Ruth was not a Jew. Ruth was a Gentile, a non-Jew, who married a Jew. But her husband died, and she came back with her mother-in-law Naomi to the land of Israel. And when they came to the land of Israel, they were very poor, and someone had to redeem the land that belonged to Ruth, and the one who was going to redeem it was a near relative called Boaz. And so Ruth went up to Boaz and said, can you redeem this for me? Now there was another Old Testament law, which is found in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 25, verses 8 to 10, we don't want to turn to it now, which said that if a man dies, leaving a wife, his brother must marry that woman. So here was a situation where Boaz, who was a rich man, had to purchase this land and also marry Ruth. But when Ruth came to Boaz, Boaz said, I'm sorry, there's someone who is a still closer relative to you than me. So we'll have to ask him first. And if he's not willing to purchase the land and marry you, then I will purchase the land and marry you. So we read that Boaz called the other relative, and verse 3 of Ruth 4, he said to the closest relative, Naomi has come back and there's a piece of land which belongs to our brother Elimelech, now I thought I should inform you, buy it before these who are sitting here. And verse 5, on the day that you buy this field, you must also acquire Ruth, the widow of the deceased, to be your wife. Verse 6, the closest relative said, I cannot redeem it. And then we read that Boaz did it. Now this is a very beautiful picture in the Old Testament, where Ruth is a picture of you and me, you and I, the church, and we have to be redeemed, we are poor. And this close relative, not Boaz, the other one, is the law, and the law cannot redeem us. But then Boaz, who is a picture of Christ, comes and says, I will redeem the land, and I will marry you. That's the picture in the Old Testament, and that's why we read in Romans 7 verse 4, therefore my brethren, you're dead to the law, so that you can be married to Christ. Now that's just a little background, so that we can understand Revelation chapter 5, and verse 1 a little more clearly now. So we see in the Old Testament, there was this person whom we can call the kinsman redeemer. He was a relative who was to redeem and marry the person. And there we read in Revelation 5, there was this scroll, seals, the price of redemption, the title deed to the land, and a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, saying, who is worthy? Is there anyone who can do it? Who can pay the price? Who's got enough money? In human terms, that's it. Who can pay the price for the redemption? And we read in verse 3, no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book. No one is worthy. No one is capable of doing it. The law of God also could not do it. And John, John was a Jew, you know, before he became a Christian. He knew all about this. He knew what it meant. He knew about the law in Leviticus. He knew the story of Ruth and Jeremiah and all that. And he knew what to symbolize. And when he saw that there was no one to redeem the earth, it says here, he wept. Said, oh Lord, isn't there anyone? He wept greatly. Verse 4, because no one was found worthy to open the book. There was no one who was going to come to the help of this poor relative who had lost all his land. No one to marry this poor unfortunate girl. That's you and I. And then one of the elders, one of those angelic authorities said, stop weeping. Here's the good news. This is a real gospel. Stop weeping. The lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome. So as to open the book and its seven seals. In many places in the Bible, in the New Testament, we read that Jesus came from the seed of David. The importance of that phrase is that Jesus came with the flesh, which was just like David's flesh. He came of the physical seed of David, as far as his human body was concerned. Now this is a very important truth. In fact, you find it even in the last page of the Bible, if you turn to Revelation 22. It's not just a pet hobby horse that some people ride. It's something very important. Revelation 22, we read there in verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the seed of David. He came in our flesh. One of the last things that you read in the last page of the Bible. That's how he became our kinsman. That's how he became a close relative of ours. This is the gospel. Stop weeping. Somebody has come in your flesh. That's the message in Revelation 5. Somebody has become your kinsman. Now, if Jesus Christ had come in some other flesh, he could not have been our relative. He could not have redeemed us. He could not have redeemed the earth. And that's why Paul says, the gospel that I preach is a gospel that concerns Jesus Christ of the seed of David. You can read that in Romans 1 verses 1 to 4, and you can also read that in 2 Timothy chapter 2. The gospel that I preach is a gospel of one who has come as our relative so that he can redeem this property that we lost to the devil. Stop weeping. The root of David has come so as to open. He has overcome. He came in our flesh and he overcame. God condemns sin in his flesh. He overcame. That's why he's worthy. And this is the gospel in Revelation 5.5, that one has come who has, through overcoming, become worthy to take this book. And we read here, when John looks to see this lion, I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders, a lamb. Now the word lamb is the most frequently used title of Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation. You remember John the Baptist pointing to Jesus and saying, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. A lamb standing as if slain. That is Jesus Christ with the nail prints in his hands and feet and the spear wound in his side. A lamb as it had been slain. There he is, standing there as the one mediator between God and man, between the throne and us. Hallelujah. Having seven horns and seven eyes. Now notice, Jesus is called a lion, verse five, and a lamb. Towards the devil in his earthly life, he was always like a lamb. Towards sin, he was like a lamb, fighting it, tearing it, resisting sin, Satan, everything. Towards people, Jesus was always like a lamb. They could beat him. They could insult him. They could ill treat him. You see this devil picture as a lion towards Satan and as a lamb towards people. Now what do we see in the world? We see exactly the opposite. Most people are like a lamb towards the devil. They are scared like a lamb towards sin, yielding to sin. And they are usually like a lion towards each other, tearing each other apart, backbiting, gossiping and fighting. It's the exact opposite of Jesus Christ. That's why we call it the spirit of the anti-Christ. You know, the reverse of Christ. Now we are called not to have that spirit of the anti-Christ, which is like a lamb towards sin and Satan and like a lion towards people. We must have the spirit of Christ, which is like a lion towards Satan, fearless and towards sin and like a lamb towards people who want to ill treat us and abuse us. That's just impossible. Having seven horns and the seven horns symbolize all power. Seven is a perfect number and the horns of the bull speak of strength and power. Perfect power. All authority in heaven and earth is given to me. And seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God. Notice here another symbol for the Holy Spirit. We saw the symbol of the seven lamps of fire. Now here is seven eyes. Seven again is a perfect number and it speaks of perfect knowledge and the Holy Spirit, which has been sent out into all the earth. Now, do you know why the Holy Spirit has been sent out into all the earth as the seven eyes? The answer to that is given in 2nd Chronicles, in the Old Testament, 2nd Chronicles, chapter 16 and verse 9. Listen to this beautiful verse. The eyes of the Lord, the seven eyes, which are the sevenfold Holy Spirit, move to and fro throughout the whole earth. You know what for? To strongly support those whose hearts are perfect towards Him. Those whose hearts are completely His. This is why the Holy Spirit has been sent out into all the earth. Very beautiful to see the connection between Revelation 5, 6 and 2nd Chronicles, 16, verse 9. Throughout the whole earth. This is the thing that encourages me. It's very important as we look into the future that we see in the book of Revelation that we get this heavenly viewpoint that is pictured in Revelation 4 and 5 of the Holy Spirit that's gone out across the face of the earth to strongly support me if my heart is completely His. Let me get a vision of this and then I won't be scared even if the devil himself is on this earth trying to oppose me. Why won't I be scared? Because I've seen this vision of the Holy Spirit that's gone across the face of the earth to strongly support every brother, every sister whose heart is completely God. If your heart is completely God's, that promise is for you. And we read in Revelation 5, verse 7 that this Lamb of God came and look at the authority there. Imagine walking up to the presence of God and taking the book from His hand. Which man can do that? Jesus, our Lord and our Savior. He came and He just walks up to the Father and He took it out of the right hand. Beautiful picture of Jesus and the Father. You see there is a teaching that's going around the world these days. It's in India too. It's in Bangalore as well. That there is no, there are no three persons in the Trinity. It's called the Jesus only doctrine. They go around baptizing people, saying this Trinity is all rubbish and they say that's a heathen teaching. There's only one person, Father, Son and Holy Spirit called Jesus. You may not have heard of it but I just want to say that's one of the great deceptions of the devil. To eliminate the distinction between the Father and the Son so that I'm left without any mediator. It's just God. Now I just mentioned that in passing. Here is the Father sitting on the throne. Here is Jesus coming and taking that book from the right, that scroll rather. They never had books like we have now those days. It was scrolls and they took it out of the hand proving that He had the right to take it. The one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Verse 8, when He had taken the book or the scroll, again these four cherubim and the 24 angelic authorities, again they fall down now before the Lamb. The last time they fell down before the Father. We saw that in Revelation 4.10. Now they fall down before the Lamb and what do we see? They have each one a heart and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints. Now that's something we can bear in mind there. Each one had a golden bowl. These angelic authorities are presenting to God, what are they presenting to God? The prayers of the saints. Can you imagine inside this bowl the prayers that saints have prayed for 2,000 years? Do you know that when you pray it goes into that bowl and one day that bowl is going to be filled and it's going to be poured out. The sum total of all the prayers that the saints of God have prayed for 2,000 years, particularly this prayer, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. What's the next request? Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Redeem the earth, Lord. Redeem the earth, Lord. Let your kingdom come to this earth, Lord. There are people who have prayed it. Of course, many people are too lazy to pray that, but there are people through 2,000 years who burdened to see the kingdom of God come to India, the kingdom of God come to the face of the earth. Lord, send your kingdom of righteousness on this earth. Jesus taught us to pray that. How many of us do it? We say, well, nothing happens immediately. But even if nothing happens immediately, our prayer has gone into the bowl. It's like a bowl filling up. You take a bowl and you start pouring the water in. It doesn't overflow immediately, but a day will come when the bowl is full. And every time you and I pray, we are adding to that bowl. That's why it's important to pray, brothers and sisters. Pray. Pray for the coming of God's kingdom. That's more important than the healing of my backache and the promotion of my son and this, that and the other. Those are all good, but primarily the kingdom of God. Lord, let your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. And the bowl is getting filled up. 1,950 years and more. It's almost full, brothers and sisters. It's just a little more and the, those angelic authorities will just pour it down before the Lord. And God's final program for winding up the affairs of this earth will begin. It's very important for us to see that God is acting in response to the prayers of the saints. It doesn't happen immediately, but like the bowl, it gets filled up and then it's all poured out. Every single prayer I prayed and you prayed will one day be poured out before God, if we sought the glory of God in our prayer. And when they poured out, what do they sing? Thou art worthy to take the book. It says they sang a new song and that word new means fresh. And I like to look at it like this, that every time when they say thou art worthy, it's fresh. What about us when we worship Jesus? I praise God that since I've known the baptism in the Holy Spirit and understood the new and living way that goes through the flesh and the word new and new and living way also means fresh, that it has made my worship and praise fresh. I can hardly think of a time of praise when it has been boring for me for quite some time now. And that's what the Holy Spirit comes to do. I may sing the same song again, but it's fresh. It's a new song. Thou art worthy Lord, thou art worthy because you came in our flesh. You are the one who is worthy to take this book because you became my kinsman, my relative, my redeemer, and you are worthy to break its seal. You are slain and you have purchased for God with your own blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Hallelujah. And I'm one of them and thou hast made them. These are the angelic authorities. They are not redeemed themselves. They're talking about others who've been redeemed, made them. Not as it is in the King James Version where it says thou hast made us. As we see here, thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God. Jesus has made every one of us kings and priests. We rule in our spirit now. One day we will rule in our bodies as well. And thou hast made them to be kings and priests and they will reign upon this earth now in our spirit and one day in our body. And 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 10,000 times 10,000. That by the way is 100 million and many more million. Do you know how many angels there are in heaven? 100 million plus many millions. So there are enough angels for God to allot one for every child of God. More than one. We read in Hebrews 1 14 that the angels are ministering spirits sent forth to do service to those who inherit salvation. I believe that God's allotted an angel for me. According to your faith be it unto you. It's in the word of God. It says even from childhood Jesus said there are angels behold the face of their father these little children and that angel doesn't leave us when we grow up. These are the hundred millions and millions of angels and they all say with a loud voice worthy is the lamb. All men should honor the son exactly like they honor the father. There's no doubt here that Jesus Christ is God to be worshiped just like the father is to be worshiped. Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And notice this. This is something that's going to happen in the future. Every creative thing in heaven on the earth under the earth on the sea all things in them I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever and the four living creatures kept saying amen. They didn't say it once. They said amen amen amen amen amen. All the people who get offended when people say amen and hallelujah are not there in any case. They're in some other place. Here are the people who don't get offended when somebody says amen amen hallelujah. That's how they worship in heaven and the elders fell down in worship. We read that God has exalted Jesus because he humbled himself given him a name which is above every name we read in Philippians 2 verses 8 to 11 so that one day at the name of Jesus every knee things in heaven things on earth things under the earth will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Jehovah to the glory of God the father that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's why we have that verse in the front of our doors the most important confession that we we can have in a heathen country. Jesus Christ is Lord and one day the whole universe is going to do it. What a wonderful thing brothers and sisters that our eyes have been open to see the lordship of Jesus Christ now to see the worthiness of him who came in our flesh came as a lamb towards men and as a lion towards Satan overcame and has paid the price that we can be redeemed and this earth can be redeemed back to God.