Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb

We have come to the fifth chapter of the book of Revelation. In our journey through the Bible we are coming down the final stretch. We're almost home and we'll have completed our trip through the Bible once again.

Time to go back to Genesis and start over once more. We're in the fifth chapter and tonight we'll be studying chapter 5, a fascinating chapter indeed. But this morning I'd like to draw your attention to verse 9 of chapter 5 where we read concerning the church in heaven.

They sang a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the scroll and to open the seals thereof, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Redeemed us unto God by your blood. The word redeemed according to Webster's dictionary is to ransom or to free or to rescue by paying a price.

In a biblical sense this is exactly what Jesus did for us when he died for our sins. He freed us and he rescued us from the powers of darkness by paying the price that was demanded for the consequences of our sins. And since God in his justice declared the soul that sinneth shall surely die.

And in Romans declared that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So that it was necessary for Jesus to pay the price to redeem us from our sins. Taking on himself our guilt, our sins.

As Isaiah prophesied of him that he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our sins was upon him. And all of us like sheep had gone astray.

We turned every one of us to our own ways, but God laid on him the iniquities of us all. As Paul said in Ephesians 1 7, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. The whole idea of redemption through the blood of Jesus is embodied in this song that is sung there in heaven recorded in verse 9. As John is taken into heaven in chapter 4, he is awestruck by this scene of the throne of God and God sitting there upon the throne, surrounded by the 24 lesser thrones of the elders and being worshipped by the cherubim there at his throne.

And as he is there beholding in wonder the things that were transpiring, he heard a strong angel with a loud voice ask the question, who is worthy to take this scroll from the right hand of God and loose the seals thereof? And John said, no man in heaven, in earth, under the earth or in the sea was found worthy to take the scroll and to break the seals. John said, I began to sob compulsively because no man was found worthy to take the scroll to loose the seals. But one of the elders said to him, don't weep John, for behold the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to take the scroll and to loose the seals.

John said, I turned and I saw him look like a lamb that had been slaughtered. And he came forth and he took the scroll out of him who was sitting upon the throne. And as he did, the elders came forth with the incense and offered it before the throne of God.

The incense which he said are the prayers of the saints. Have you ever prayed, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven? We know that that prayer is not yet answered. We continue to pray and we wait for the day when our prayers shall be answered, when his kingdom has come and his will is done here on earth as it is in heaven.

And as that prayer is offered then to God, they begin to worship the lamb who has come to take the scroll and to loose the seals. And then our text, verse nine, as we cry out, thou art worthy, O Lord, to take the scroll and loose the seals. For you were slain and you have redeemed us by your blood out of every nation, tribe, tongue and people.

And you've made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign with you upon the earth. Going way back to the book of Genesis and this idea of redemption is the whole story of the Bible. The whole story is God's love, redeeming man from the power of sin in order that man might dwell in fellowship with God.

It's a love story. God's love for you and desire to live in fellowship with you that you might experience and know the blessings of living in fellowship with God. Back there in the garden of Eden, when they were living in this blissful state of communion and fellowship with God, only one requirement, don't eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden.

And yet, interestingly enough, that's the very tree that they were attracted to. And Satan suggested that God was trying to hold back from them that which was good. That God knew that if they would eat of the fruit of that tree, they would become as gods.

And thus, he encouraged them to disobey God and to eat the fruit. And when Eve did eat and gave to Adam and he did eat, they disobeyed God, but in essence, they also were obeying Satan. Now, when God created the earth, he gave it to man.

We read that in Genesis chapter one. But then man now has turned the dominion over the earth to Satan. Because the Bible said, whoever you yield yourself servants to become, his, to obey, his servants you become.

And obeying the suggestion of Satan, they became slaves to Satan and to sin. Satan now has dominion over the earth. Jesus twice called him the prince of this world.

Paul refers to him as the God of this world. And Jesus came for the purpose of redeeming the world back to God. Originally belonged to God, he created it, he gave it to man, he forfeited it into the hands of Satan.

And Satan up to the present time still is ruling over the world system in which we live. Jesus came to redeem it back to God. When Jesus came, we read that Satan tempted him.

He took him to a high mountain and he showed him all of the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And Satan said to Jesus, all of these I will give to you if you will just bow down and worship me. What Satan is saying, you don't have to go to the cross.

You don't have to suffer and to die to redeem the world. I'll give you a shortcut. Just bow down and worship me and I'll give it to you without the cross, without the suffering.

And Jesus answering said to him, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only. It's interesting that Jesus did not dispute the claim of Satan. Satan said, it is mine, I can give it to whomever I will.

Jesus didn't dispute that, recognized that the world presently is under his authority and control. The purpose of his coming was to redeem the world back to God. Now you remember when Jesus was with his disciples at Caesarea Philippi, he asked them, who do men say that I am? And they told him the who do you say that I am? And you remember Peter answered and said, you're the Messiah.

You're the son of the living God. And Jesus said, blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this unto you, but my father, which is in heaven. Having recognized that he was the Messiah, the son of God, Jesus then began to say to them, we're going to go down to Jerusalem.

I'm going to be betrayed. I'll be turned over to the Gentiles. They will crucify me.

But the third day, I will rise again. Peter began to rebuke him. He said, Lord, be that far from thee or perish the thought.

Spare yourself. And Jesus turned and said, get thee behind me, Satan. You offend me, because you can't discern between what comes from God and what comes from men.

Now you know that Peter and John were in competition with each other, even though they were disciples, they were imperfect, and they were always engaged in this competition. And I'm sure that when Jesus said, you're the Messiah, and Jesus said, blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you. I'm sure that Peter sort of looked over at John and said, I get spiritual revelations.

You hear that, you know. And then a moment later, when he said, Lord, spare yourself, Jesus said, get thee behind me, Satan. I'm sure that John, oh yeah, you know, spiritual revelations.

But the thought of Jesus dying was something that they just didn't consider. They thought he was going to set up the kingdom. A part of their controversy with each other was, who was going to be the greatest when he set up his kingdom.

The night before the cross, when Jesus was there in the Garden of Gethsemane, and we read that he was in great heaviness, his prayer to the Father, agonizing, saying, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, as he referred to the cross. Nevertheless, not what I will, but thy will be done. And as the second time he prayed, Father, if it is not possible that the cup could pass from me, except I drink it, your will be done.

He's talking about the cross. If there's any way by which man can be redeemed, other than the cross, the shed blood upon the cross, let's take the other plan. But nevertheless, not my will, thy will be done.

Here in the ninth chapter, as John sees Jesus like a lamb that has been slaughtered, as he comes and he takes the scroll from the right hand, singing that song, you are worthy to take this scroll, because you were slain, and you've redeemed us by your blood, out of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, and made us unto our God kings and priests. Thou art worthy. What constituted his worthiness? Because he was slain and redeemed us by his blood, the price he paid to redeem us from sin.

Let's look at this idea and subject of redemption throughout the scriptures. There was in the Old Testament what they called the law of redemption. God said that the land belonged to him.

It wasn't to be sold. They could lease the land. The lease at the most could be for 50 years.

Every 50 years was known as the year of Jubilee. All debts were forgiven. All properties reverted to the original owner.

All slaves were set free in that 50th year of Jubilee. So that if you had land that you wanted to sell, you were poor, you needed money. The price of the land would always be determined by the number of years till the year of Jubilee.

If there was just a couple of years to the year of Jubilee, it would be very reasonable. If there was say 49 years to the year of Jubilee, the price would be higher. But by the time the year of Jubilee came around and the land would revert back to you, you could be dead by then.

So there was the provision where if you sold your land or leased it, a next of kin could come and redeem that land so that it did remain within the family and became the family heritage. And so the law of redemption. The book of Ruth, we find that this is sort of enacted in the book.

The book of Ruth tells us about a man whose name was Elimelech. He had a wife by the name of Naomi. They had two sons, Malon and Chilion.

They owned a field in Bethlehem, but it was a time of drought, so they sold their field and they moved over to Moab and took up residence there. While in Moab, their two sons fell in love with girls and married them. And they died, however, without having any children.

Elimelech, the husband, also died. And Naomi, now because of the loss of her husband and two sons, decided that there was just too many painful memories in Moab. She was going to move back to Bethlehem.

So she called her daughters and said to them, you know, I'm going to go back to Bethlehem. Too much sorrow here for me. And you girls go back to your parents and I pray that God will bless you.

You'll find husbands and you'll live happy lives. Orpah, the one daughter-in-law, left Ruth, went back home. But Ruth, I mean daughter, Orpah, one of the wives, left Naomi and went back home.

And Ruth said, don't entreat me to leave you or forsake you or to return from following after you. Because wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live.

Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. And God forbid that anything but death should part us. And so Ruth came back to Bethlehem with Naomi.

Having sold their parcel of land, having spent their money in Moab, they were poor. And it was necessary for Ruth to somehow provide for Naomi. Now, under the Jewish law, there was a very interesting welfare law.

In Leviticus 19.9, it declared, when you reap or harvest your land, you shall not completely reap the corners of your field, and neither shall you gather the gleanings of the harvest. You shall not glean the vineyard, neither shall you gather every grape of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor.

And so, the law went on to say that as you were cutting the grain, if you didn't make a clean cut and it just sort of bent the stem and it fell over, you couldn't take a second cut. You had to just leave that lie for the poor people who would follow your harvesters and pick up the grain that had fallen to the ground. If you would drop the grain, you couldn't pick it up.

Again, left for the poor. When you gathered your fruit, that which was, you had one chance to pick the fruit. What was still green, not yet ripe, you had to leave on the tree or on the vine.

And again, the poor people could come in later and they could glean what was left there so that the poor were provided for in a very wonderful way because it wasn't just a dole, a handout, but they had to work for it and they could go out and glean the fields. So, Ruth went out to glean in the fields in order to get food for them. And as she was gleaning in the field, the owner of the field came out at noon to see how the work was going, to greet his servants, and he spotted Ruth.

And he said to his servants, who is that strange damsel gleaning there? And they said, well, that's Ruth, the Moabitess, the daughter-in-law of Naomi. He said, tell her to come over, I need to talk to her. So, they brought her to Boaz and he said to her, I've heard of your kindness to your mother-in-law Naomi, and I admire you for coming back and helping her.

And just stay in my fields and follow after my servants and glean in my fields. And so, she went back to her lunch and he called his servants in and he said, okay, fellas, don't touch her, leave her alone. And if she happens to roam over into the area that has not yet been arched, just let her go.

And every once in a while, when you see that she's behind you, drop a handful on purpose for her. So that when Ruth came home that evening to Naomi with this huge apron full of grain, Naomi said, where in the world did you glean today? And she said, well, I gleaned in the man whose name was Boaz. And Naomi said, oh, thank you, God, you're good to us.

She said, Boaz is a brother to my husband, and he evidently has taken an interest in you. So, make sure that you don't go to any other fields. Stay in his fields during the harvest, which she did and had a bumper crop because of his kindness towards her.

But come the end of harvest, they gathered into the grain together in the time of the threshing or the winnowing of the grain. And so, Naomi said to Ruth, now, Ruth, tonight you go down to the threshing floor and watch them. Stay hidden from them.

When it's dark and they lie down to sleep, note where Boaz is lying down. And then go up and take his blanket and cover yourself with it. And when he asks who's there and what are you doing, tell him that you want him to cover you with his blanket.

Now you need to know another Jewish law. Deuteronomy 25.5. If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies, and he has no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside of the family to a stranger, but her husband's brother shall go in unto her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. And it shall be that the firstborn which she bears shall succeed in the dead brother, so that his name is not put out in Israel.

If the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders and say, my husband's brother refuses to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. Then the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him.

And if he affirms and says he does not want to marry her, then the brother's wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders and loose his sandal from off his foot and spit in his face. And shall say, so shall it be done to that man that will not build up his brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of him who had his sandal loose.

Sort of a dirty name. He didn't fulfill his obligation. Now when Naomi is saying, go down and take his blanket and cover yourself, she is saying, you are going to ask him to take the duty of a brother.

You see, Elimelech was the brother of Boaz. Elimelech had died, his two sons had died. There was no one to carry on that family name.

And so she was in a sense proposing unto Boaz. When she went to the threshing floor, and of course, Boaz woke up and said, who's there? And she said, I'm Ruth. And what are you doing? She said, I want you to fulfill the obligation of a kinsman redeemer.

And he said, oh, I like that idea. But there's a problem. There's another brother, and he is closer kin to Boaz than I am.

He has the first right of redemption. So you go back to Naomi. And before it gets light, so that they don't know that a woman was here on the threshing floor.

And he said, I will see what I can do about it. So Ruth went back. And as she was knocking on the door, Naomi said, who is it? It was Ruth.

Oh, what did he say, honey? Oh, he told me that there was another brother closer of kin, and he had to take care of it with him before he could take the obligation. And Naomi said, don't worry, sweetheart. He's not going to rest till he takes care of everything.

True enough, first thing in the morning, Boaz is in the gate of the city where the judgments were made. The judges were gathered. And as Boaz was waiting for his brother to come, when he came, he said, come over, brother.

Need to talk to you a bit. He said, you remember Elimelech, our brother, he and Naomi, when they sold their field and moved to Moab? Well, the right of redemption is coming up, and you have first rights. His brother said, oh, great.

I'll go ahead and redeem that field. And Boaz said, one catch. Whoever redeems the field will have to take Ruth as his wife to raise up a seed to carry on Elimelech's name.

His brother said, oh, Boaz, my wife would never go for that. Why don't you redeem it? And Boaz says, all right. And so Boaz redeemed the field in order to get the bride.

You see, he was in love with Ruth. And in order to get her, he redeemed the field to get the bride. What an interesting picture.

It's all tied together. It's the love story. Because of the love for the bride, buying or redeeming the field, not because he needed or wanted another field.

He wanted the bride. Why was God willing to send his son to this earth to redeem it from Satan's control? Because God wanted another planet. Take a look at astronomy.

Billions of galaxies and billions of stars in each galaxy, and surely some of these stars have planets surrounding them so that there are so many planets in this universe, you could never count them. God wanted another planet? No. He wanted a bride.

And so he sent his son to redeem the world, to pay the price in order that he might redeem the world so that God could receive the bride. For God so loved the world, we are told, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. The love story, the story of redemption.

And in heaven, we'll see the whole thing sort of culminated as we are standing there looking at this glorious heavenly scene. We hear this angel say with a loud voice, who is worthy to take the title deed of the earth, the scroll, and loose the seals thereof? And as we see Jesus step forward, looking like a lamb that had been slaughtered, taking the scroll out of the right hand of the Father, ready now to loose the seals, singing, thou art worthy to take the scroll and to loose the seals. For you were slain, and you've redeemed us by your blood out of every nation and tribe and tongue and people, and you've made us unto our God a kingdom of priests, and we shall reign with you upon the earth.

This is the love story of the Bible. God's love for you and his willingness to send his son to redeem the world back to himself, that he might lavish his love upon you as his bride. Father, how thankful we are for this beautiful love story, the story of your love for lost man, your desire to redeem the world in order that you might take him out of it as your own.

And Lord, we just thank you that you did love us so much. Now Father, we pray that you'll help us to understand and to know the story of the Bible, this beautiful love story of the redeeming of that which was lost, the restoring. Lord, how great and how good you are.

Now Lord, help us to respond to that love. Help us, Lord, that we might receive your love this day, in Jesus' name, Amen. Shall we stand? The pastors are down here at the front to pray for you.

The redemption has been paid, but yet it's not really yours until you receive it. Man exercised his own will in going away from God. God has ordained that you've got to exercise your will in coming back to Him.

The door is open. The price has been paid. It's available for you.

And if you'll excuse me, you're a fool if you don't take it. The pastors are down here at the front, and if you would like to receive God's wonderful gift, God's love, and that hope of eternal life through Him, I would encourage you as we're dismissed, just come on forward and just ask one of these fellows down here to pray for you, that you might really experience the love of God, this rich, full love that He has for you. And you'll go away blessed like you've never been blessed before, knowing that now you are redeemed, as we sang, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed and forever I am.

May it be. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee, and be gracious unto thee.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.