Rev. 4:1, 5:1, 6
This Rev. 4:1 is
thought by many to be a record of what the saints will see when we are caught
up to meet the Lord in the air. There
was a voice as of a trumpet "speaking." The Rapture will be at the sound of the trump
of God. In the Jewish worship it was
customary that there be 21 soundings of the trumpet every day. There were 3 at the opening of doors, 9 at
the morning sacrifice, and 9 at the evening sacrifice. One of those trumpets was called the Great
Door of the Temple. No sacrifice could be offered until it
sounded. When this trumpet sounded and
the door was opened it revealed the sovereignty of God. He knew what was ahead, because He planned
it. John saw a throne, and One sat upon
it. In the verses following (2-11) that
One is described, and finally a conclusion is made. In verse 8 we read, "...Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." In verse 9 He is referred to as, "...him
that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever." In verse 10 He is worshiped, saying,
"Thou are worthy O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy
pleasure they are and were created."
These verses show us the sovereignty of God. He created all things, and without him was
not anything made that was made.
In verse
3 we are told that the throne which John saw was one that was surrounded by a
rainbow. For centuries now the rainbow
has been a sign of judgment. In Gen.
9:8-17 we have the experience of Noah when
the world had become so corrupt that God must judge it. He instructed Noah to build an ark. God told him He would bring a flood, and He
did. All flesh that was not in that ark
was drowned in that flood. Noah, his 3
sons, and their wives were the only humans saved in that ark. After the flood was over, God put a rainbow
in the sky which was God's token to Noah that God would never again destroy the
whole world with water. So the rainbow
represents the mercy of God after His action of judgment.
In
Chapter 5 verse 1 we see a
book in the hand of that sovereign God on the throne. I would call it the Prophecy of Things to
Come. It is seen in its unveiling
through the following chapters of Revelation.
This book was sealed with seven seals, and the angel proclaimed the
question, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals. It was proclaimed that no one on earth was
found worthy to open that book. In Rev. 5:5 an elder
cried out that One had been found worthy to open the book. That One was identified as the Lion of the
Tribe of Judah.
Then
there is a Lamb. In verse 6 we are told
that standing in the midst of the elders was the Lamb as it had been
slain. Verse 7 tells us that He came and
took the book. There were two: the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Lamb
that had been slain. Verse 6 tells of
the seven Spirits of God as the horns on the Lamb. Here we have a three-fold picture of
God. The He of verse 7 refers to the Son
of God Who is seen as the Lion and the Lamb.
In reality Jesus came to earth the first time as the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. The
fact that He is seen as having been slain refers to His atoning death on the
cross. He is the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He will come
back to earth a second time, and when He does, He will come as the Lion of the
Tribe of Judah. So this book is
foretelling what will happen between His first coming and His second coming to
earth. The whole book of Revelation
speaks then of the unveiling of Jesus Christ first as the Lamb and second as
the Lion. When He came the first time,
He came meek and lowly and was crucified.
When He comes the second time, He
will come in victory and power to reign on David's throne. He will be the prevailing Lamb. He will, with the sword going out of His
mouth, defeat the kings of the earth and reign on the throne of His Father,
David.
No comments:
Post a Comment