1. "Today we're used to being amused and entertained and pitched and marketed and enthralled and excited, but we are not used to being awed. In fact, have you noticed that our culture encourages us to never be obviously impressed? It is as if we are satanically being trained out of any ability to appropriately respond to this God."

2. "You realize, don't you, that how you think of God in no way determines what He's like. He is what He is. Regardless of whether we are all wrong or some other religion is all wrong or everyone is all wrong, He is what He is and the way you consider Him and think of Him does not change His being at all."

3. "However glorious the office of chancellor of the public school system, or Mayor of DC, or Legislative Director, or Chief of Staff, or Senior Partner, or Owner, or Senator, or Governor, or President of the United States, it is nothing compared to the glory of this God. It is nothing."

4. "If you think you're not depraved, if you think you're not sinful, imagine that you're in heaven and God is somehow off His throne and you know without any retribution ever, you could seize that throne. Is there nothing in you that would tell you to take it?"

5. "Sin isn't most fundamentally what we do, but it's our failure to give glory to God. The worst thing you did this last week was to fail to give the glory to God that you should have done. You didn't devote yourself to God as you should have. That is the core nature of sin."

6. "This scroll that John first notices here is in some ways the centerpiece of the whole book of Revelation. This is no fortune cookie. It's an executive order."

7. "Save your fear for the day they come for you. When you need what the Puritans called dying grace, you'll be given dying grace, but not until then. Today you're given grace to face the trials that God sets before you in your life today. You don't need to borrow trouble from the future."

8. "I think the way most of us think of our own lives is in terms of our earthly career. But a heavenly view would not be that being a Christian is an important part of our story as a lawyer, but rather that your being a lawyer is a part of the larger story of your life as a Christian. That's the everlasting point."

9. "The story of salvation isn't so much about us as it is about God. The cross is where all the claims to our own glory stop and where God's glory shines."

10. "The future is not meaningless, anonymous, foreboding, as empty as an as yet unoccupied casket. No, the future is full and it is bright and it is for us—those purchased from every tribe and language and people and nation."

Observation Questions

1. In Revelation 4:2-3, how is the One sitting on the throne described, and what surrounds the throne?

2. According to Revelation 4:8, what do the four living creatures never stop saying, and what three attributes of God do they proclaim?

3. In Revelation 4:11, what reason do the twenty-four elders give for why God is worthy to receive glory, honor, and power?

4. According to Revelation 5:3-4, what caused John to weep, and what was the problem with the scroll?

5. In Revelation 5:9-10, what specific actions did the Lamb accomplish that made Him worthy to take the scroll and open its seals?

6. How does Revelation 5:13 describe the scope of those who join in praising God and the Lamb, and what do they ascribe to Him?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is the throne such a central image in Revelation 4, and what does it communicate about God's nature and authority in contrast to earthly rulers like the Roman Emperor?

2. The sermon explains that John "hears" of a Lion (5:5) but "sees" a Lamb (5:6). What is the significance of this contrast, and how does it reveal the nature of Christ's victory?

3. In Revelation 4:11, creation is cited as the basis for God's worthiness to receive glory. How does this connect to the sermon's claim that God created all things to bring Himself glory, and why is this appropriate rather than arrogant?

4. The scroll in Revelation 5 is described as containing God's plans for history. Why is it significant that only the slain Lamb is worthy to open it, and what does this teach about the relationship between redemption and God's sovereign purposes?

5. How does the expanding circle of praise in Revelation 5:8-14—from the living creatures and elders, to the angels, to every creature—demonstrate the ultimate fulfillment of God's purpose for creation?

Application Questions

1. The sermon challenges us to consider what "conjures up in our minds" when we hear the word God. What aspects of God's glory revealed in Revelation 4-5 are you most tempted to minimize or forget in your daily life, and how might you cultivate a greater sense of awe toward Him this week?

2. The elders cast their crowns before God's throne, symbolizing the surrender of all personal glory to Him. What "crowns"—achievements, recognition, or sources of pride—do you find difficult to lay before God, and what would it look like to consciously give Him glory for these things?

3. The sermon states that sin is fundamentally "our failure to give glory to God" by worshiping ourselves instead. In what specific area of your life—work, relationships, ambitions, or daily habits—are you most prone to seek your own glory rather than God's, and what concrete step can you take to redirect that this week?

4. John wept because it seemed God's purposes might not go forward, yet the Lamb's triumph brought hope. When circumstances in your life tempt you to despair about God's plans, how can the truth that God rules history for His own glory change the way you respond to uncertainty or suffering?

5. The sermon emphasizes that what Christians share in common is Christ's love, not family status or earthly achievements. How might this truth reshape the way you relate to others in your church community who are in different life circumstances than you, and what is one way you can express this shared identity this week?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Isaiah 6:1-8 — This passage parallels John's vision with Isaiah's encounter with God's throne, the seraphim's cry of "Holy, holy, holy," and the overwhelming sense of God's glory.

2. Ezekiel 1:4-28 — Ezekiel's vision of the living creatures and the throne of God provides Old Testament background for the imagery John sees in Revelation 4.

3. Philippians 2:5-11 — This passage shows Christ's humiliation and exaltation, explaining how the slain Lamb is worthy of the worship that every knee will bow to give.

4. Colossians 1:15-20 — Paul declares that all things were created by Christ and for Him, reinforcing the sermon's emphasis that creation exists for God's glory.

5. Romans 8:28-39 — This passage assures believers that God works all things for the good of those who love Him, supporting the sermon's teaching on God's sovereign rule over history for His people's benefit.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Question of Life's Purpose According to Various Worldviews

II. God Himself Is Glorious (Revelation 4:1-3)

III. God Has Created All He Has to Bring Him Glory (Revelation 4:4-11)

IV. God Rules History for His Own Glory (Revelation 5:1-4)

V. God Has Redeemed a People for His Own Glory (Revelation 5:5-14)

VI. The Future Is Bright for Those Purchased by the Lamb

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Detailed Sermon Outline

Some of you in businesses have seen those large posters that have a word in all caps, like courage, and then some catchy little motto underneath that encourages the workers to press forward in some great virtue. I remember seeing a poster which had mistakes in large letters and then the motto under it in smaller print, It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning for others.

Well, the purpose of life is something you kind of expect to hear about when you're in church, isn't it? But it's not only something religious people think about. If you live, you think about why. Sigmund Freud had many occasions to be asked about the purpose of life and he responded again and again, the purpose of life is to work and to love.

Malcolm Cowley, author and editor in the 20th century, in his autobiography, Exiles Return, Described the purpose of life as understood by the Bohemian Movement that he was part of, and summarized it in the following eight ideas: Salvation by the child. Each of us is born with special potentialities that are slowly crushed by society. The idea of self-expression. The purpose of life is to express the full individuality of one's inner being. The idea of paganism.

The body is a temple, so there is nothing unclean about nudity in sex. The idea of living for the moment. The idea of liberty. Every law and convention should be shattered. The idea of female equality.

The idea of psychological adjustment. People are unhappy because they are repressed. Or maladjusted. The idea of changing place. Truth could be found if one got on the road and moved to someplace new or vital.

More simply, Clarence Darrow said that the purpose of man is like the purpose of the pollywog, to wiggle along as far as he can without dying.

A more official statement is made in the Humanist Manifesto, We can discover no divine purpose or providence for the human species. While there is much that we do not know, humans are responsible for what we are or will become. No deity will save us. We must save ourselves. If any of you saw Nightline this week, you may have seen Deepak Chopra representing that same opinion to the American public, as a friend did speaking with me recently on a walk.

Does all this sound about right for us today when it comes to this idea of the purpose of life? I think if anything, such high thoughts may be a little too idealistic for most people today. I think for many people, even such a de-godded sense of purpose is too much. We've become more mundane. So lacking substantive reasons for living, our lives devolve into being about achieving comfort and avoiding pain.

Or surfing the internet. Or looking for some new entertainment. Or shopping.

Why do you think you're alive?

Is there any reason beyond the physical union of your parents that you are sitting there drawing breath today?

Well, in order to help you consider why you're alive, we turn to one of the most majestic passages in the Bible as we continue our study through the last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation. This morning we're in chapters 4 and 5, chapters 4 and 5. You'll find them beginning on page 1218 in the Bibles provided in the balconies in the West Hall. And on page 1289 in the Bibles provided here in the main hall floor.

In these chapters, Revelation 4 and 5, John is invited up into heaven to see God's throne room and to learn His plans.

After this I looked. And there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

And the one who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian, a rainbow resembling an emerald encircled the throne.

Surrounding the throne were 24 other thrones, and seated on them were 24 elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.

Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass clear as crystal.

In the center around the throne were four living creatures and they were covered with eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion. The second was like an ox. The third had a face like a man. The fourth was like a flying eagle.

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stopped saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say, you, are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being.

Then I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.

And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?

But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.

I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, Do not weep! See the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. Then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.

He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And when He had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: you: are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

You have made them to There will be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders in a loud voice they saying, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them singing to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever.

The four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped.

I am sorely tempted to say, Amen, sing a final hymn and go home.

Friends, in this passage we learn what the Bible says about God and about you and about the purpose of your life. I pray for God's blessings on us all as we consider His Word together.

The first thing we see here is that, number one, God Himself is glorious.

God Himself is glorious. Look again at chapter 4, verse 1. After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it.

And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, a rainbow resembling an emerald encircled the throne. So friends, here we have the risen Christ. You see, He says, the voice I first heard speaking to me like a trumpet. That's from back in chapter 1. The risen Christ inviting John up to heaven in order to show him something of God and His will.

You'll notice there in verses 2 and 3 how spare this description is. In verse 2, John reports seeing a throne.

Which is a very appropriate place for a vision of heaven to begin. Now this is a good place for me to remind you about the nature of visions. We've said this before and we'll have occasion to say this again. Let's take the throne as an example. What does it mean that there is a throne for God?

Does that mean that the physical forces of gravity working on God make Him tired and He wants to be to rest in an upright position and so there's a seat for him.

No. That's not how you read a vision. You couldn't draw the scene here that's depicted. You're not supposed to be able to. It's a dynamic symphony of images that communicates more to us than simply a linear propositional description would do.

The throne communicates the majesty of God, the grandeur of God, His power, His priority, the complete sovereign rule and reign of God. And that's what such a throne, especially as we see here the focus of other thrones, that's what it conveys. It conveys that God is the King of kings. God is the truly imperial power.

Anyway, the description of God Himself, you'll note, is slight. He clearly had a splendid light-giving appearance, but other than that, little said. We get more information about His splendor really from the things around Him, the rainbow that encircled the throne, the other details that we'll consider in a moment. You'll note when you're studying the Bible that it's always reticent when it comes to a description of God Himself. It is always reticent when it comes to a description of God Himself.

After all, we are under the curse. We have been removed from the sight of God, but by His grace through His Word we can still hear His voice. And though the appearance of God is not described except vaguely by this reference to a couple of luminous jewels here in verse 3, the glory is clear. From the throne to heaven itself, to the rainbow surrounding the hosts that are mentioned encircling His throne throughout the rest of our passage. These verses couldn't be clearer in pointing out that God Himself is glorious.

And He is concerned that we recognize this. What did he say through the ancient prophet Isaiah? For my own sake, for my own sake I do this, how can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another. In one sense you could say the fact that God is Himself glorious is the most basic fact in all of the Scriptures.

The fact that God is Himself glorious. Glorious. What is the glory of God? Well, our good friend Al Mohler has defined it this way. The glory of God is the intrinsic reality and the outward manifestation of God's power and character.

The glory of God is the intrinsic reality and the outward manifestation of God's power and character. And character. God is glorious. The only question is, do we see that glory? Are we reflecting that glory?

This God brings all things into being by His Word and sustains them. God we see here is omnipotent. His power is such that He needs no plan Bs. Where we are sinful, in our character, He is holy. His glory is shown in both His character of holy love and in His commitment and ability to accomplish all of His plans.

My friend, if you're here today and you're not a Christian, how do you think about God?

When you hear the word God, what's conjured up in your own mind?

I have to tell you, it's my experience in speaking with non-Christians over the years about God that I note a lot of confidence and a lot of casualness.

But all that is known and unknown about God as He has revealed and not revealed Himself in His Word leads us to trust only His revelation of Himself, not our assumptions. And to be anything but casual as we consider God and what He's like. You realize, don't you, that how you think of God in no way determines what He's like. He is what He is. Regardless of whether we are all wrong or some other religion is all wrong or everyone is all wrong, He is What He is and the way you consider Him and think of Him does not change His being at all.

My friend, it is then in your deepest interest to come to know and understand the truth about what this God is like and to make sure you particularly understand what is His disposition toward you.

The Bible tells us that this God is holy.

He is completely good and right and pure.

Now why would God give John such a vision of Himself and His glory?

Well friends, because John needed to know that neither the Roman Emperor nor his armies were truly ultimate. And so Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, gives this revelation to John. And John is shown that this One is more glorious than any regional governor who could sentence him to Patmos or even execute fellow Christians. And more glorious than any ruler, even the Roman Emperor himself. Brothers and sisters, we live in a town which works on being respecters of persons, fearers of men, cultivators of the good opinions of others.

It is good for people like us to be reminded that however glorious the office of chancellor of the public school system, or Mayor of DC, or Legislative Director, or Chief of Staff, or Senior Partner, or Owner, or Senator, or Governor, or President of the United States, it is nothing compared to the glory of this God. It is nothing. We fall into dreams during our weeks. Where we imagine other creatures are so glorious. You remember the statement I've shared with you a number of times as John Wesley was reflecting on being at the state address of the monarch opening Parliament and he recalled that he said, I was in the robe chamber adjoining to the House of Lords when the King put on his robes.

His brow was much furrowed with age. And quite clouded with care. And is this all the world can give even to a king? All the grandeur it can afford? A blanket of ermine around his shoulders so heavy and cumbersome he can scarce move under it?

A huge heap of borrowed hair with a few plates of gold and glittering stones upon his head?

Alas, what a bauble is human greatness, and even this will not endure.

Friends, most of you can't even name all the great and glorious presidents of the United States, and even this will not endure. In this chattering age, What gives us that sense of awe to the point of making us silent?

What takes our breath away these days and leaves us speechless? That's how John felt, and that should be the response we too cultivate to God. Today we're used to being amused and entertained and pitched and marketed and enthralled and excited, but we are not used to being AWE.

In fact, have you noticed that our culture encourages us to never be obviously impressed? It is as if we are satanically being trained out of any ability to appropriately respond to this God. Brothers and sisters, part of our witness in this world should be the evident reverence that we exhibit toward God in our private lives and in our public services. A radical centeredness on Him should mark these gatherings together for us as a congregation. And Christian, when was the last time you took time to have large thoughts of God?

It's difficult to schedule them in in three-minute blocks.

To get caught up in meditating on Him and considering Him and not how He could help you or someone you love.

How could your own thoughts be less dominated by the mundane and more dominated by this God? This is one of the reasons we come together here as a congregation every resurrection morning. As the week starts anew, as we are reminded at the beginning of this first day of the week of the Lord Jesus' resurrection from the dead, we congregate together to reflect God's glory and to encourage each other in exactly this. Even this morning as we've sung together, now as we're gathered around His Word, we are taking part in a preview of what will gloriously one day be the case in heaven before the throne of God Himself. God Himself is glorious.

We also see in this chapter that number two, number two, God has created all He has to bring Him glory. Number two, God has created all He has, meaning all He has created, all He has to bring Him glory. Look again in chapter 4:4.

Surrounding the throne were 24 other thrones and seated on them were 24 elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.

Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass clear as crystal. In the center around the throne were four living creatures and they were covered with eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had the face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stopped saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever. The twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say, you, are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power for your created all things and by youy will they were created and have their being.

Friends, again, we have this most amazing description. But remember how it is that we're to read this. You see here he talks about the elders having these crowns, right? And then falling down whenever there's praise offered. But of course it says also very clearly that this praise never stops.

That's right there in verse 8. So how are we supposed to understand this? I mean is this a repeated, constant image of sort of athletically fit elders doing eternal push-ups?

Down, out with the crown, back up, down, out, never stop saying, how are we to understand this? You laugh, but when you read commentaries on Revelation and people brag about taking the Bible literally, I think they mean, oh, you mean not the way God inspired it. Friends, I take the Bible literally in the sense that God inspired it in its plain meaning to its first audience. And the first audience would have had no question about whether or not these elders were doing pushups. They would have understood that these people being represented so mightily as being kings themselves were giving all their glory constantly to this king.

You see the meaning. You see the point. You see the kind of questions you don't need to bother asking and instead what the purpose of the image is that's very clear. This God Is that great that kings fall down on their faces in front of Him and throw their crowns at His feet?

Friends, just another side note. God made us with eyes and the visual has great impact on us. And it is so powerful that even in painting these images, though we're not having a vision, I'm just reading you words and speaking to you with words and you're just hearing But so powerfully, visually are we made, are we wired, that this impact of a vision even being described is far more powerful than just normal words. Because even in our imaginations, it's engaging the power of sight. Can you imagine what it will be like when we ourselves, once again, really are admitted into His presence and see God visibly?

If just not even having a vision, but describing the writing down of a vision has this kind of impact on our souls. Verses 5 flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder remind us of Mount Sinai. It's like the crackling power of God is straining to break forth and deliver His people and to reveal their oppressors as His opponents and judge them.

These elders you see here are either a high rank of angels or they're representing Christians. These living creatures are very much like the creatures that we've seen described elsewhere. The cherubim in Seraphim in Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1.

I have a visual commentary in the book of Revelation with all the woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer from the 1500s. And he gets credit for trying to have every detail, but he completely misses what the visions are about. But I think those kind of images do stick in my mind. And I was helped by one commentator this week who was talking about these living creatures by presenting them as constantly praising God and moving, crawling around the throne forever, speaking of this greatness and power and majesty of this God. This God is awesome.

Why do they say that God is deserving of glory, honor, and praise? Well, look at the song.

He says there in the last verse of the chapter, you, created all things and by youy will they were created and have their being. So why did God create these elders and these living creatures who day and night, as we see here in verse 9, never stop saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Either they are eternally frustrating their Creator's purpose or God made them to do this very thing. God made them to glorify Him with their entire existence. And it's not just these creatures.

If you look again at the hymn-like saying there in verse 11, you'll notice the elders say, you, are worthy our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for your created all things. And by your will they were created and have their being. So if all things were created and have their being only because of God's will, and if this is the basis of the heavenly creatures praising God, then that means at least a purpose, a purpose of God's creating all that he has created is his own glory. And friends, what greater or more ultimate purpose could there be than us spending, expending our lives, bringing Him glory and honor.

All of this, of course, was vitally important to John. Again, remember the context and to the Christians he was writing to. You see these words in verse 11, you, are worthy, Axios. They were words which greeted the Emperor in triumphal procession. And the Emperor Domitian encouraged specifically the use of the phrase, our Lord and God, about himself.

In their worship of Him as a God. So in this time when the whole Roman world was giving homage to a mere human emperor, John's vision reminded these early believers that the God they worshiped wasn't just the Lord of their individual hearts. And while the Roman emperor ruled everything else, know that all creation pays homage to its true Sovereign, the Lord God Almighty who, unlike the emperor Domitian, was eternally and is entirely and everywhere and is to come forever will be just when circumstances perhaps had beaten them down to practical hopelessness. John was given this vision of God's greatness which would certainly breathe life into many a withering believer. As Christians, we understand that all of creation is by design rightly and necessarily centered around God.

Now, friend, do you think that's appropriate?

One image that I've tried to use to explain this before is how silly it would be for Mercury or even Saturn or certainly, typically, the earth to try to be the center of our solar system. It is right for the sun to be in the middle. The planets are rightly related to the sun. As they orbit around the sun. The sun has the gravity and the weight and the substance to be in the middle.

That's what God is like in our lives. You know, some of you spend a lot of time at your job looking carefully at various aspects of the world, whether it's laws or anthropology or computers or the human body or art or education or management or churches or your family or word documents or languages or complicated procurement procedures or politics or books or space or the stars and whatever it is, friend, whatever it is that has your attention through the day, Do you find your mental eye not going back to the creature and then ultimately to the Creator that made all? How could that be? How could you stare at all these evidences of the Creator and yet not have your eye drawn upward to Him? I'll tell you how that could be.

Because of your sin. This is what the Bible talks about. That the only reason you don't do this according to the Bible is because sin has darkened your mind. The Bible teaches that all of us were made to know God, to experience His glory, to contribute to His glory, but that we have by our sin separated ourselves from God and become, as it were, opponents of His glory, primarily by trying to grab it for ourselves. And if you think that's not a description of you, I share with you this one image Jonathan Edwards once used in a sermon.

If you think you're not depraved, if you think you're not sinful, imagine that you're in heaven and God is somehow off His throne and you know without any retribution ever, you could seize that throne. Is there nothing in you that would tell you to take it?

I fear if your heart is at all like mine, there is. That's what the Bible calls sin. It's our worshiping and obeying ourselves rather than this one who made us for His purposes. We are not to give ourselves over to that sin. God demands comprehensive allegiance from us.

Kids, that's what it means then when you obey your parents to know that obeying your parents you're pleasing God. And that that is ultimately why you should obey your parents. Because we're told in Scripture that that pleases God. Why? That's why you should submit to your husbands.

Ultimately because you desire to submit to God and please Him in this, bring Him glory in this. Paul said in Romans 14 that this is true with everything we do in our lives. He said, if we live, we live to the Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

So our various jobs have been given to us to bring God glory. Even the distinct genders have been given to us in the kind of creativity of God to bring Him glory.

Brothers and sisters, do you praise God? I'm pretty sure you thank Him, which is a good thing to do. But do you ever follow your thanks back to that aspect of His character that would cause Him to do the thing for which you're thanking Him in the first place and shear We merely praise Him for Himself and not for His gifts to you. We try to model that in the prayers of praise here in our services on Sunday mornings as we try to praise God as He's revealed Himself. This whole creation is here to bring glory to our Creator.

That's one reason we as a congregation would not encourage a world denying asceticism. That aspect of the whole monastic movement for the last 2,000 years has been a horrible God's purpose denying mistake. We're not called to take all the good creation of God and reject it. That brings him no glory. I'm not saying you never fast.

I'm not saying you don't discipline yourself. But I'm saying God has made all that he has for his glory as we use it. God was good to give us this world and our challenge after the fall is to use it correctly. The answer is not to reject it.

Does it surprise you that God's ultimate purpose is to glorify Himself?

Friends, if God is God, could it be otherwise? What else should be His purpose? From everything we know and understand of God, God should want this. And knowing this, we can be certain of His attaining His ultimate purpose, even if we can't know His immediate purpose for every particular situation we find ourselves in. Creation, Calvin said, is the theater of God's glory.

We were created to live for God in every circumstance we face, every day of our lives. Our fallen natural inclination to rob God of His glory was the sin of our first parents, and it's been our ruling impulse ever since. That's why Paul says in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Sin isn't Most fundamentally, you can say what we do, but it's our failure to give glory to God. Friend, the worst thing you did this last week was to fail to give the glory to God that you should have done.

You didn't devote yourself to God as you should have. That is the core nature of sin. God has created all that He has created in order to bring Him glory.

Moving on to chapter 5, we find that number 3, number 3, God rules history for His own glory. God rules history for His own glory.

Look again at chapter 5, verse 1. Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll? But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.

This scroll that John first notices here in verse 1 is in some ways the centerpiece of the whole book of Revelation. Of course, God is the centerpiece. But in terms of action and of what this book is especially about, and its significance is shown by the fact that we see it here in verse 1, that it's sealed with seven seals, held in God's right hand, that is in His power and authority particularly. That image of a scroll and of a scroll sealed and with seven seals would have been well understood in the first century. In such scrolls, inside would be the content and often on the backside, which was usually much more difficult to write on, there might be a summary of the contents of the scroll.

The number of seals show that it was a very important document. You could just have one seal on the outside or you could have a few seals. Seven seals is the most that we know of and seven seals show that it was something of the highest order of importance. So Roman wills were always sealed with seven seals. Those could be all seven on the outside or more normally, if it's a long document, what it would have been, as the scroll would have been written and you would have rolled it up to a certain pet place, there would have been a seal attached to it.

And then you would have rolled it and written a bit further and attach another seal until finally there would be seven seals on it. So if you would read it, you must break the first seal, read some of the way until you hit another seal, then break that seal and on and on. And what is this particular scroll here? Well, as I said, it's being held, you'll note, in God's right hand. And judging from the rest of the book, this scroll is to be understood as containing all of human history to come, the fullness of God's plans for judgment and redemption.

So the present and the future, you'll note, Is firmly in God's hand. It's in His control. The question that you see in verse 2 then basically means, who is the one through whom all of God's purposes can come to fruition? Who can bring all of this to pass? And the tension point in the story here, it looked to John in verse 3, as if no one could be found.

So remarkable, so extraordinary are these plans that the vision is emphasizing the unique What role of this one who could finally do it? John was reminding his readers here that the final word would not be had by some stylus pushing official in Ephesus who could have John shipped off to prison, nor by some earthly decrees which would compel Christians to undergo punishment and suffering. Unless they would agree to worship the Roman Emperor. No, the final word would be issued not from the Emperor in Rome, however his might might appear now, but from the throne in heaven. And we will see next week as we continue in our study of John's vision, there will be judgment on all who oppose this sovereign God.

But John didn't know if there would be such a one, and so we read here in chapter 5 verse 4 that John wept and wept. John wept not just because he really was curious about the future and wanted to see it, but he couldn't. But because it seemed as if God's plan for history, and especially for His church, could not go forward. Remember, contained in this scroll are not mere prognostications, but edicts. Not passive foretellings, but God's imperial decree.

This is no fortune cookie. It's an executive order. And yet John wondered, would God's will be thwarted, never completed? Would history go on randomly, rudderless?

I know for some of you, the Holocaust makes you think that you would never and could never believe in a God like the one presented here.

Or if it's not the Holocaust, it's cancer or war or pain or some tragedy in your life. The writer William Vollman put it like this: How can it be that the first woman I ever loved is now dead of breast cancer, leaving three small children to grieve without comprehending? How can it be that my own dear child, whose birth I witnessed, was born so that she will someday die? For what purpose do we walk this earth? Nobody can tell me truly.

I cannot tell myself.

I know this is a tender point, friends, but if I don't bring it up here, I won't bring it up any place. Christianity is a strange religion. Look at how every religion in the world deals with pain and tragedy. And note that alone in them all, at the very foundation and core of Christianity, is God's amazing use, even of sin and evil. I don't have time to go into this today.

I go to this only because I know how painful this whole topic can be for some people. But I would point you to Acts, chapter 4. In Acts, chapter 4, at one point, when the Christians are being persecuted and Peter is just released from prison, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all of the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. And it's most remarkable how they decide to address the God who had just allowed them to be in prison.

Sovereign Lord, they said, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father, David. And they quote a Psalm. Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his anointed one.

Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

Friends, we understand that Christianity is a frankly realistic and startlingly hopeful religion. And we would love to talk to you about that more.

Christians with a God who is so sovereign, why would you be anxious?

Peter didn't come back after that imprisonment and whine, why did you let me go through this? Why did I just have to suffer cold for 12 days? Peter came back and praised God. Trust God with the twists and turns of your life, your family, your career. Don't say you trust Him when you'll only trust Him with the straight and easy times.

What does that mean? You trust Him exactly with the twists and turns you don't understand. God's purpose in history is to glorify Himself and He will do it. What is it that God promises in His Word? We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also along with Him graciously give us all things? Friends, even persecution is something that we need not fear. Not because it would never happen, but because God is ruling over history to glorify Himself by our good, strangely enough, as we are conformed more and more to the image of His Son.

But you might say, I'm scared, friend. Save your fear for the day they come for you.

When you need what the Puritans called dying grace, You'll be given dying grace, but not until then. No, today, do you know what grace you're given? Today you're given grace to face the trials that God sets before you in your life today. You don't need to borrow trouble from the future. There's plenty today, Jesus said.

That's the size trust God has given you for today. Don't try to run to other things. Look at today. Trust God for this. God will give you what you need when you need it.

Remember what we studied Wednesday nights last year in 1 Corinthians 3 when Paul wrote, We speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

God has your appropriate glory in mind. Far more than you do. And He has destined it. Friends, however He may decide to use us, we can be most certain that God rules history for His own glory. Does that thought bring you any comfort?

Any joy?

A fourth statement we can say about God and His glory here. God has redeemed a people for His own glory. God has redeemed a people for His own glory.

Just when John is about to despair, we read in chapter 5, verse 5, Then one of the elders said to me, Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll of its seven seals. Then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, all power, all knowledge, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, you, are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth.

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. Then I heard every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them singing to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever. The four living creatures said, Amen.

And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Friends, there in verse 5, John hears of the lion of the tribe of Judah.

He's able to open the seal, to break it and see the scroll. A lion in the Bible's usage is usually powerful, a destruction wielding, fear causing. But a few places a lion is an image for God. A name is three. A lion is an image for God.

In Genesis 49, Judah is described as being like a lion cub. So in the lion here we clearly see power wedded to goodness. But after John hears of this strong lion who can open the scroll who's triumphed in verse 6, then he turns and he sees not a lion, but he sees a lamb. We read, looking as if it had been slain. In this book again and again John hears and then he turns and he sees.

And what he sees interprets, clarifies what he heard.

And here he looks for a lion and he sees a lamb. One thinks of the Passover lamb. This lamb had been slain. One thinks of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53, oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.

And as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. We remember John the Baptist had called Jesus the Lamb of God. This Lamb who was slain but is now living is clearly Christ who had described Himself back in chapter 1 to John as the Living One, I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. And look where He's standing. He's standing before the throne encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.

Verse 7, He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. So the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down, prostrated before the Lamb. So these angelic beings who we will find throughout this book are so careful not to accept worship. When John is tempted to worship them, they are so splendid that he tries to, they reject it because worship goes only to God. Look what these scrupulously careful worshipers do.

They worship the Lamb. They understand that Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, is God incarnate. This Lamb was standing there before the throne. That's a little better than the NIV is in the center of the throne. I think if you leave it in the center there, it's going to confuse you.

Just take a pin, cross through that right before. It's a much better translation of that. Other translations do that. The climax of the action in these two chapters is right there in verse 7. You see that the climax of the action in all these verses, this majestic scene, are these four words in verse 7.

He took the scroll. He took the scroll. He took the scroll. History, God's plans, His purposes will be fulfilled because He took the scroll. This is the action that gets ready the whole rest of the vision.

Gets it going. This vision, not of how God can win or might win, but this vision of how God will win. Christ will fulfill the purposes of God because He alone could redeem. You see in verse 8 there another good example of the kind of way we read a vision. You have these elders falling down, but they've got the bowls and they've got harps.

How does all of that go together? Friends, it's not supposed to go together in the sense we do a play of it up here, all right? They have harps because they're singing God's praises. They fall down in worship. They hold these bowls of incense representing the prayers of Christians.

What a beautiful image for prayer, isn't it? Isn't that a motivation to pray? Anyway, from verses 9 to 14, then we have praise to the Lamb and to the One who sits on the throne. In chapter 4, God was glorified for His creation. Now here in chapter 5, the Lamb is glorified by and for His redemption.

The praise of the four living creatures and elders there in verses 9 and 10 centers around the Lamb who is worthy in the sense that He had died to purchase men and thereby create this future that would be. The Lamb is our Redeemer. The Lamb is the Redeemer of all Christians from every nation. But if you're here and you're not a Christian, you should understand this.

I've described you in what you could take as very insulting terms as sinful, morally wretched before God. So then in Christianity, how do things turn out okay? Why do you sing happy songs when you get together? Because Jesus God himself, the Son of God, became incarnate, took on flesh, and he lived like we were supposed to live. He lived his life in entire submission to his heavenly Father.

And then, when he had done nothing wrong, he, by dying, took upon himself the penalty for the sins of all of us that would ever repent of our sins and trust in him. And God raised him from the dead for our justification to vindicate all of his claims. And to show that God has now made us right with God if we will turn from serving our sins and trust in Him alone for all those ways in which we still sin. Trust Him as our Savior, as our substitute. This is the way that God has decided to display His justice and His mercy to the whole of creation.

How is it Paul put it to the Ephesians in Ephesians 3, His intent was that now through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Jesus Christ our Lord. And this praise that begins there, you see in verses 9 and 10 by this core group around the throne, it expands outward in verses 11 and 12 to involve 10,000 times 10,000 angels. Basically just meant an incalculable number. And as this praise goes out in still wider concentric circles, it seems to engulf all of creation as we see in verse 13 John saying, Then I heard every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them singing to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever. These verses present a kind of gigantic, intensifying echo throughout creation.

The song begins with the four living creatures and the 24 elders, and then it's taken up by all the angelic hosts, and then finally by all creation in verse 13. Praise starts around the throne and sort of rolls out as it grows to fill the entire universe. And we join in that chorus of praise as we sing songs of praise to Christ and live lives of service to Him. Remember what Paul had written, At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What David had prayed back in Psalm 145, Let every creature praise His holy name forever and ever.

Is here finally answered. And who is in the middle of this worldwide chorus of praise?

Not the Roman emperor who ruled on a metal throne and who would himself actually be dead in a year.

The Lamb and him who sits on the throne.

And in the last verse of chapter 5, we see the elders falling down and worshiping this one. And the four living creatures saying, Amen. This is true. It's valid. It's binding.

Friends, I rarely get to preach on Amen or Amen. So just a couple of little notes. First of all, is Amen or Amen correct? We have no idea. We don't know.

We think maybe with the Hebrew it's Amen, so it's what none of us say. So you can say it however. The point is, It's your verbal attestation to agree with something that's said. I would encourage you, when you're praying by yourself, it doesn't matter if you ever say Amen when you end a prayer. You don't need to.

It's not in the Bible. You can just stop however you want to. Thank you, Lord. And then just go on with your day. But let me encourage you, when you're praying with other people, and especially when you're in this assembly, where we could hear it.

When somebody finishes a prayer that you're listening to, out loud say either Amen or Amen if we have a purist. But I mean, you know, out loud state that customary form of uniform agreement so you will publicly own that prayer. So you will make it your own. I would love to hear a nice chorus of Amen every time a prayer is finished here as the whole congregation owns what's been said. Anyway, God's goal in everything is to be glorifying Himself and to invite us into that.

That's why God saves sinners like us, to glorify Himself. The story of salvation isn't so much about us as it is about God. The cross is where all the claims to our own glory stop and where God's glory shines. Brothers and sisters, the whole purpose of redemption is our eternal purpose to glorify God. As He displays His justice and His mercy uniquely.

So we should be hungry to give this glory to God. To grow in grace means to grow in hunger to see God glorified. That's the purpose of our lives. That's why we're created. I remember one of the odder exercises I've ever done.

In one seminary class I had to write my own obituary.

It's an interesting thing to do, to sit and try to summarize a life in a few words. I think the way most of us think of our own lives is in terms of our earthly career.

So if you look even at this sermon, you'll notice when I've quoted somebody, I've summed up their life as an author or an editor. I've told you what they did. I've done it right here in front of you. That is how we tend to think of people, by their job.

But friends, I think a heavenly view would not be that being a Christian is an important part of our story as a lawyer, but rather that your being a lawyer is a part of the larger story of your life as a Christian.

That's the everlasting point.

Christian, if you're here this morning and you're single, I hope you'll notice what all this praise is given for. I know that there are many brothers and sisters who struggle with bitterness because they're single. Well, you'll notice this praise here. Is given to God in chapter 4 for creation, not procreation. It's given here in chapter 5 for redemption, not marriage.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm thankful for my wife and my family. But I think God would fill up my life with plenty of reasons to praise Him for all eternity if He had never given me my beloved family. Even as Paul had plenty of reasons to praise God. Consider what it means to be included in God's plan of salvation.

Consider the extent to which he's gone in order to redeem you. That's why as many announcements as we may make about engagements and weddings and births and we're happy to rejoice with each other in this. The center of our community here is not family. It is none of those things. It is the joy and praise we all share in giving to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb to whom be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever.

It is being included in His bride, the church, and ultimately in the marriage supper of the Lamb where no Christian will be left out. What we share in common is Christ's love for us. Our joy is that He has included us in His church.

I love what Jonathan Edwards said about pulling these themes together of creation and redemption, that the purpose of creation was redemption. The creation of the world seems to have been especially for this end, that the eternal Son of God might obtain a spouse towards whom he might fully exercise the infinite benevolence of his nature.

And to whom he might, as it were, open and pour forth all that immense fountain of condescension, love and grace that was in his heart, and that in this way God might be glorified.

God has redeemed a people for his own glory.

We should conclude.

God is on the throne. There is a purpose to life. Ultimate justice will certainly be brought about, but it will be brought about by God, this God, the God who is on the throne, and the God who has revealed Himself as the Lamb.

John has many other things to tell us about what will finally come about. But He wants us to be clear right at the beginning. At the beginning, at the center of it all, is a throne, the throne of God. His people are not held in the hand of Caesar, but rather, as we saw in chapter 1, in the hand of the One who bought them with His blood. And if you are one of His people this morning, trusting in the Lamb who was slain, you can know that this God is for us.

And so the future is not meaningless, anonymous, foreboding, as empty as an as yet unoccupied casket. No, the future is full and it is bright and it is for us. Those purchased from every tribe and language and people and nation.

Let's pray together.

Oh God, we thank you for this vision of yourself. We praise you as a God who reveals himself. We thank you for the love that you've given us as Christ. We pray that you would accept our singing, our speech this day, our thoughts and our actions this day and this week. All as tributes of worship to youo and everything we do.

And we offer them in the name of the Lamb who was slain for us, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.