1. "You can't see what's really up there because of what we've built down here."
2. "The whole Book of Revelation is like an earthquake that knocks the power out so that you can see what's really going on up there, not in the sky, but in heaven. And by seeing what's really going on in heaven, we also learn what's really going on on Earth."
3. "God doesn't just differ from creatures. He differs from creatures differently from how we all differ from each other. He is differently different. He's transcendent, sublime, exalted, holy."
4. "Whatever you are most afraid of, bring it into God's presence and it melts into stillness."
5. "Do you ever get bored during corporate worship? If you do, maybe let it be a warning to you about the state of your heart. It's never a good thing to get bored with God."
6. "Brothers and sisters, every faithful local church is a dark sky association. When we gather each Sunday for corporate worship, we're helping each other shut off the light pollution from worldly desires and empty hopes. By praying and praising God and hearing his word, we're fixing our gaze again on heaven. We help each other train the telescope of our heart on the one who is delightfully different and worthy of worship."
7. "John hears about a lion. John sees a lamb. Jesus did conquer, but he did it by dying as a lamb that was slain. He triumphed by being defeated; he conquered by being killed."
8. "In a nutshell, Jesus wins. He won on the cross; he will win in the end, and all who trust in him will win with him."
9. "The way—and the only way—this can all become good news for you is if you turn from sin and trust in Christ. Quit pushing God off the throne and bow before his throne; submit to Jesus. Come to him, begging him to save you, claiming before God only that Jesus has paid the price for your sin."
10. "The throne of God is the center of reality. Is it the center of your heart? Will you look up to heaven and orient your whole life by what you see there? Or will you cast your gaze downward and light the path of your life only by human artificial lights?"

Observation Questions

1. Revelation 4:1–2 — What does John first see and hear (the open door, the trumpet-like voice, the throne), and what does this immediately communicate about who is in charge?
2. Revelation 4:3–6a — Which images surround the throne (precious stones, rainbow, torches, sea of glass), and what details stand out about their appearance?
3. Revelation 4:6b–8 — Who are the four living creatures, what are they like, and what do they continuously proclaim about God?
4. Revelation 4:9–11 — What actions do the twenty-four elders take, and what specific reason do they give for God’s worthiness?
5. Revelation 5:1–7 — What is the scroll, who can open it, why does John weep, and whom does he finally see taking it?
6. Revelation 5:8–14 — What do the living creatures, elders, angels, and finally every creature sing or say about the Lamb, and how does this praise expand outward?

Interpretation Questions

1. Based on Revelation 4:1–6a, how do the throne, precious stones, and crystal sea together reveal God’s holiness, beauty, and control over chaos?
2. In Revelation 4:6b–11, why does creation’s praise (living creatures) lead to the elders’ surrender (casting crowns), and what does this teach about true worship and God as Creator?
3. From Revelation 5:1–4, why is John’s weeping an appropriate response to a world without someone worthy to open the scroll, and what does this teach us about biblical lament?
4. How does the Lion/Lamb paradox in Revelation 5:5–7 explain the way Jesus “conquered,” and why is His taking the scroll central to understanding history?
5. In Revelation 5:8–14, what does the new song reveal about the scope and effect of Christ’s redemption, and how does the worship of the Lamb affirm His divinity?

Application Questions

1. Worship and wonder: When do you most find yourself “bored” in worship, and what one practical step this week (arriving early to pray, meditating on Rev 4:8, singing with focus) could help you re-center on the throne?
2. Cutting light pollution: What specific “artificial lights” (news doomscrolling, productivity as identity, social media approval, consumerism) most obscure your view of God, and how will you dim or replace one of them this week?
3. Lament with hope: Name one injustice, grief, or confusion that makes you “weep.” How will you bring it before God’s throne in prayer (Rev 5:4, 8), and what promise (e.g., the still sea; the Lamb’s victory) will you cling to?
4. Casting crowns: Where are you tempted to protect your status or control (at work, home, ministry)? Describe one concrete act of surrender to God’s rule you can take in that situation.
5. Mission and prayer: Who is one person from a different background (tribe/language/people/nation) you can serve or pray for this week, remembering that your prayers rise like incense before the throne?

Additional Bible Reading

• Ezekiel 1:4–28 — Ezekiel’s vision of God’s glory and the living creatures deepens the imagery behind Revelation’s throne room and living beings.
• Isaiah 6:1–8 — Isaiah’s temple vision (“Holy, holy, holy”) parallels heaven’s worship and shapes our response to God’s holiness and our sin.
• Daniel 7:9–14 — The Son of Man receiving authority from the Ancient of Days illuminates the Lamb taking the scroll and reigning.
• Philippians 2:5–11 — Christ’s humiliation and exaltation anticipate the cosmic confession that “Jesus Christ is Lord,” echoing Revelation 5:13.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Seeing What's Really There

II. You Need to See One Who Is Delightfully Different (Revelation 4:1-6a)

III. You Need to See One Who Is Worthy of Worship (Revelation 4:6-11)

IV. You Need to See One Who Is Supreme Over the Whole Story (Revelation 5:1-7)

V. You Need to See One Who Is the Savior of Sinners (Revelation 5:8-14)

VI. The Center of Reality and the Center of Your Heart

Detailed Sermon Outline

    - Is God real? Is he in charge? Is he worth worshipping and obeying?
    - How will the universe's story end?
    - How can what's wrong with the world be made right?
    - How can all that's wrong with you be made right?

    - To the ancient Hebrews, the sea represented chaos, opposition, and destruction.
    - Here, the sea is perfectly still, showing that God has complete mastery over all forces of evil.
    - In God's presence, everything is subdued, and perfect security is found before His throne.

    - When a new song grabs hold of you, every aspect of it rewards your attention, and its beauty keeps you coming back for more.
    - In the same way, when you get a glimpse of the one true God, His delightful difference will burrow into your heart and keep you coming back to Him in prayer and worship.

    - This confession of praise contains three triads declaring God is holy, He is the Lord God Almighty (Yahweh), and He is eternal and coming to judge.

    - When questioned, she replies, "Christians know the end of the story."
    - Knowing the end of the story is the biggest way we can persevere through life's painful plot twists with faith and joy.

    - Heavenly beings currently acknowledge Christ's supremacy.
    - One day, every creature will acknowledge it, as Paul says in Philippians 2:10-11.

At 4:31 a.m. on January 17, 1994, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. The severe shaking woke up many people in the middle of the night. They stepped outside to discover that power had gone out all across the city, so people who are checking on their homes or on their neighbors start to look up into the night sky. Many of them dialed 911. They were terrified by what they saw in the sky, namely, a giant silvery cloud that had suddenly appeared over the shaken city.

Was this some kind of ghostly cosmic effect of the earthquake? What was this massive shape over the city that they'd never before seen in their lives?

Not to worry, they were assured by the 911 respondents, it's just the Milky Way, that galaxy that humans once knew so well. The galaxy humans knew so well until electric lighting over all of our cities and towns has blocked it from view in all the places where most of us live. Humanly created lights have obscured heaven's lights. You can't see what's really up there because of what we've built down here.

This morning we continue our series in the book of Revelation with chapters four and five. The passage starts on page 1030 of the pew Bibles. Go ahead and turn there or turn in whatever Bible you have. The whole book of Revelation is like an earthquake that knocks the power out so that you can see what's really going on up there. Not in the sky but in heaven.

And by seeing what's really going on in heaven, we also learn what's really going on on earth. This vision of heaven makes far more of a difference to your life than the Milky Way ever could. What Revelation reveals is ultimate reality. Revelation reveals the destination of all things and the purpose of all things. So often our sight of reality is clouded by human creations, humanly devised values, things we've come up with that we devote ourselves to or even worship.

So many human values and aspirations are like the light pollution from electric street lights at night. They keep you from seeing something of a far greater grandeur. And whether you see that reality, whether you live in light of it, has eternal consequences. Is God real? Is He in charge?

Is He worth worshiping and obeying? How will this whole universe's story end? How will, how can, what's wrong with the world be made right? How can all that's wrong with you be made right?

This morning's passage, Revelation 4 and 5, reveals the answers to all these questions and more. So far in Revelation, to recap our last couple sermons, John has received a vision of the risen Lord Jesus, who's reigning in glory, and John has recorded messages from Jesus himself to send to seven churches throughout the Roman province of Asia Minor, modern Turkey. Now, in chapters four and five, the revealing for which the book is named begins in earnest.

Our passage reports a vision. These two chapters tell us what John saw when, guided by the Holy Spirit, he was given a glimpse of heaven. Who's there? Who's at the center? What are they saying?

What are they doing?

John's glimpse of heaven shows you what you need to see in order to see this world as it really is. And in order to see your life as it really is. Please follow along as I read the whole passage, Revelation 4 and 5.

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice, which I had 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 behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were 24 thrones, and seated on the thrones were 24 elders, clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God.

And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day day and night they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever.

They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, Weep no more.

Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain. With seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who is seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped.

What John sees in this passage is what we all most need to see. Reality as it really is in heaven right now and as it will one day be in all the earth. What do you most need to see? You need to see God as he really is, as the one who is. More specifically, our passage's answer to this question, what do you most need to see?

Can be split up into four parts. You need to see one who is, Point one, delightfully different. Delightfully different.

We see this in chapter 4, verse 1 through the first part of verse 6. Look again at verse 1. After this, I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, 'Come up here. And I will show you what must take place after this. The voice speaking is Jesus himself, linking back to chapter 1, verse 10, the same voice.

And this vision of heaven is the first in a series of visions that will last for basically the rest of the whole book. So when Jesus says he's going to show John what must take place after this, he's not setting the vision of chapters four and five exclusively in the future. Instead, he's giving an overall description of some of the main contents that are to come in these visions, which will point forward into the future. Verse 2, At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. This throne symbolizes God's supreme authority over all things.

God isn't named here and his appearance is not directly described. Instead, John focuses his attention and all of our attention entirely on the throne. So the opening of this vision answers the question, who's in charge? The answer is ultimately God alone. God alone is sovereign and supreme.

In the modern West, the thing people most like to do with thrones is knock people off of them. We have a deeply rooted, culture-wide suspicion of absolute authority. And that can be a healthy suspicion. As long as the one who's exercising the absolute authority is a fallen human being like us.

But God shares none of our imperfections. God shares none of our defects. God shares none of our limitations. God's absolute authority is absolutely good. God's absolute reign is absolutely right.

That's the point of John's laser focus throughout this chapter on God's throne. Look at verses 3 to 6. And he who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and carnelian and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were 24 thrones and seated on the thrones were 24 elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder.

And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal. John compares the appearance of God's glory to that of precious stones. Precious stones sparkle and gleam because they focus and concentrate light. They make some of the glory of light uniquely visible and tangible. That's what this whole vision is doing with God's own intrinsic glory and beauty.

It's using these images to make it visible and tangible. To us. The rainbow around the throne is a further manifestation of this glory and it's a reminder of God's promise to Noah, to preserve and protect the created order. The 24 elders here are most likely angels who represent God's redeemed people. They sit on thrones, they're clothed in white, they're wearing crowns.

Those are all things that Christ promises that his people will inherit at the end after we've faithfully persevered. So, what these angels heaven have now, God's faithful people will have then. The lightning and rumbling and thunder that come from the throne reveal God's holiness. Those are all threatening natural phenomena showing a power greater than yours, showing that you can't come too close, showing that you better know what you're doing when you come up before that throne. It demonstrates his righteousness, his radiant, untouchable purity.

These echo God's revelation at Mount Sinai back in Exodus, reminding us that God alone is the law giver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. The seven torches before the throne are said to be explicitly the seven spirits of God. This same phrase showed up back in chapter one, we should understand it the same way, namely that it refers to the Holy Spirit. The book of Revelation is filled with symbolic numbers and one of the most important ones is seven. So we shouldn't understand this literally to be seven spirits in the plural, but seven standing for perfection, completeness, wholeness.

It refers to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit here, pictured as burning torches, is the light of God himself. He's ready to illumine any mind. He's ready to reveal the secrets of any heart. The last feature of the throne scene is in verse six, look again.

And before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass like crystal. We've already sung of this in the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy. What is this sea and why is it before God's throne? To the ancient Hebrews, the sea represented opposition, destruction, chaos. In order to get out of Egypt into freedom, they had to pass through the threat of the Red Sea.

Isaiah 51:9 portrays God's work of parting the Red Sea as the destruction of an ancient dragon or serpent, as if somehow that spiritual opposition was dwelling there in bodily form in the Red Sea. Later in Revelation in chapter 13, a beast is going to rise out of the sea to oppose God and oppress God's people. So the sea throughout Revelation symbolizes the forces that reject God and persecute God's people.

Here in the heavenly throne room, there is a sea, but it's perfectly still, perfectly calm. So still it looks like glass or crystal, not a puff of wind on it. What is that telling us? It's telling us that God has complete mastery over all the forces of evil. It's telling us that where God is, there's no threat of harm or opposition.

Whatever you are most afraid of, bring it into God's presence and it melts into stillness.

In God's presence, everything is completely subdued and under control. If you want perfect security, come and bow before God's throne.

The overall point of these six verses is to give us a glimpse of a God who is delightfully different from us. He's so different from us that we can't even possibly comprehend how different he is. One politician is more powerful than another. This one has more seniority. That one runs this committee.

This one is impervious to being primaried. But only God has absolute power, absolute authority. God has all power, infinite power, incomparable power. There are 448 permanent seats on the floor of the House of Representatives. There is only one throne in heaven.

God doesn't just differ from creatures, he differs from creatures differently from how we all differ from each other.

Some creatures are big, some are small, some are young, some are old, some are complex, some are simple. We're all finite, we're all made, we come into existence and go out of existence. God differs from us differently. He is differently different. He's transcendent, sublime, exalted, holy.

God isn't just different from us, he's delightfully different. God is himself the infinite source of all beauty, all delight, all that is desirable. That's the point of these images of precious stones and a rainbow. It's meant to give just the faintest impression of how infinitely delightful and beautiful God is in himself. A lot of people who are not Christians and who don't belong or subscribe to any institutional religion still believe in God.

Maybe that describes you. If that is you, I would ask, how do you know what God is like? How do you know who God is? Where does your understanding of God come from? How can you sort out right ideas about God from wrong ideas about God?

It's always tempting for us to project both our fallenness and our finitude onto God. As if God's just a slightly bigger, better version of us. But the God who is revealed here in these pages and revealed to the apostle John is not at all like us. He is gloriously unlike us in both his being and his character. And so we should delight in him and desire fellowship with him.

This little glimpse of who he is should draw out our hearts in yearning. To be with him and be in communion with him. Once in a while, a new song comes out that just grabs hold of me. Some algorithm might feed it to me, I might learn about it from a music review website, I put it on, within the first couple of seconds, I'm hooked. I just leave it on repeat for a half hour.

I start texting it out to friends like Matt Merker who shares my musical tastes. Matt, you gotta hear this one, it's gonna break your heart.

What's going on when a song grabs hold of me like that? In the best music, every single feature both works in itself and enriches every other aspect of the music. So whatever you focus on rewards your attention. The opening guitar riff, the entrance of the drum beat, a little vocal inflection here, the way the melody bends up and down there.

It's all right in its own way and it all makes you want to keep listening. The song's beauty burrows into my heart and mind and keeps me coming back for more.

Brothers and sisters, when you get a glimpse of the one true God, his delightful difference will burrow into your heart and mind and keep you coming back. Keep you praying, keep you listening, keep you hearing his word, keep you coming to corporate worship, keep you falling on your knees in prayer. What do you most need to see? You need to see one who's delightfully different. And because he's delightfully different, he is also point two, worthy of worship, worthy of worship.

In verses 6 to 11 of chapter four, we see how the creatures in heaven all continually worship the one who sits on the throne. We'll see in these verses that the heavenly elders and living creatures worship God, and so should we, for his divine holiness and his power of preserving all of creation. God alone simply is. God alone is the cause of all that exists. And so, God alone is worthy of worship.

That's the key phrase, kind of from here on out. Worthy. Listen for it, it's really the melodic line of the passage. Look first at verses 6 and 7: and around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle.

Like an eagle in flight. These living creatures are very similar to the ones that Ezekiel saw who kind of made up God's throne in Ezekiel 1 that Mark read to us. And these living creatures represent the whole created order. The mightiest wild animal, the strongest domesticated animal, the only rational animal, and the most majestic flying animal. They're said to be around the throne, but like in Ezekiel, we're probably meant to infer that they actually somehow surround the throne being part of it, like being on every side of it.

Similar again to Ezekiel's vision and to how in the old covenant, God was said to be enthroned upon the cherubim. There's angels over the mercy seat as if they're actually building his throne. The point is that God rightly rules over these creatures who willingly delight in his supremacy and thereby fulfill the purpose of creation. They give voice to creation's praise. This is the right response of all creatures to God.

But they not only delight in God's supremacy, they also declare it. Verse 8, the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. These living creatures are also like the seraphim that Isaiah saw in God's heavenly temple, which Tracy read to us earlier in Isaiah 6. Not only do they each have six wings, but they all cry out the same name of God, Holy, holy, holy. In this confession of praise are three triads, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, was and is and is to come.

Three threes. The first set of three declares that God is holy. He's utterly different from us. He's radiantly pure. He's completely devoted to his own goodness and glory.

As one scholar put it, Holiness is glory concealed. Glory is holiness revealed. The second set of three gives an interpretation of God's revealed name. Lord God Almighty, he's the one true God who has revealed himself to his people as Yahweh, that's what the word Lord is standing for and reminding us of, and he is supreme over all powers. He's all Mighty.

The third triad declares that God is eternal and unchangeable, who was and is, and it declares that he's coming back to judge, is to come. Unlike creatures whose lives have a start date and an end date, God simply is. In verse eight, John bends the rules of Greek grammar when he says, who was. That kind of comes across smoothly in English, but he's breaking some Greek grammar rules to do that. He puts an article next to a past tense verb to indicate that God always was because he always is.

There was never a time when God didn't exist and then came into being. He infinitely, perfectly possesses fullness of life in himself. That's why he is worthy of worship. In response to God's holiness, we should be convicted of our sins. And confess our sins, as Welton led us in doing earlier, recognize how far short of God's character you fall and freely confess those things to him.

We should also respond to God's holiness with devotion and dedication. The Lord declares to his people, you, shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. We should delight in God's holiness and imitate God's holiness. Now, John's vision is beginning to move outward in concentric circles. The throne itself is at the center and the four living creatures are sort of coming out from the throne, maybe being part of it.

And then we hear this declaration of praise from them but John moves one further circle out next. Look at verses 9 to 11.

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who lives forever and ever, fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 'Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.' In response to the living creatures' worship, now the elders worship. Their casting down their crowns shows submission and devotion. The crown is a symbol of authority and it's as if the only purpose for which they've received that authority in the first place is to set it down at God's feet in glad surrender. Here the elders worship God and give us the reason why.

Worthy are you for you created all things. God is the absolute unaided source of of all that is. He did not rearrange pre-existing raw materials. God's work of creation is more like if Mozart invented sound in order to then write some music. God didn't just paint a painting.

He invented color and paper and brushes and eyes that could see it.

The doctrine of creation is crucial for rightly understanding who God is and rightly responding to him. So many intellectual struggles that people have with Christianity, whether they've been believers for a long time or maybe just exploring the faith, so many of those intellectual struggles can be resolved by rightly understanding God's work of creation. Here's three examples. First, what about all the miracles in the Old Testament? Making an ax head float, miraculous provision of food, all kinds of stuff in there.

Did those what actually happened?

Well, God created all things and as we see in verse 11, he keeps all things in existence. Everything continues to exist because of his will and by his power. So it's no trouble for him to temporarily change the way some tiny little piece of creation works. Second, what about Jesus' resurrection? Is that just a myth or delusion or wishful thinking?

The God who is himself life and who's the giver of all life is able to effortlessly give back life that was taken and even give a whole new kind of glorified life. Third, how can the Bible be both God's words and human words? Isn't that a contradiction? Doesn't it have to be one or the other? Not at all.

We are only able to speak at all because God enables us to speak. As Paul says in Acts 17, In him we live and move and have our being. God gives the breath. God enables the muscles to move. God gives us minds to understand, to talk to each other or hands to write with.

It is certainly a special work for him to enable human authors to speak his very words. But it's a special version of a work he is always already doing.

What makes worship delightful is God himself. He is infinitely delightful as we see in the first half of the chapter and infinitely worthy of worship as we see in the second half of the chapter. We worship God because of who he is in himself, what he alone can do, what he alone has done, and what he alone will do. God is himself infinite good and absolute good and he deserves our unlimited absolute devotion. That's another implication here because God alone is the creator, God alone is worthy of worship.

Because God alone is the creator, God alone demands and deserves our absolute obedience. Do you ever get bored during corporate worship?

If you do, maybe let it be a warning to you about the state of your heart. It's never a good thing to get bored with God.

Most of the state of Arizona is mountain-studded desert. It only has two big urban sprawls, Phoenix and Tucson. And as a result, Arizona has come to host over 30 observatories.

Where telescopes trained on the heavens take advantage of all that dark night sky to see what's up there. Some of the scientists from those observatories have banded together to form the International Dark Sky Association. They work to raise awareness about light pollution. They promote outdoor lighting that's shielded and aimed down so it minimally impacts the night sky. Those astronomers want to see what's really up there.

And they want other people to see it too.

Brothers and sisters, every faithful local church is a dark sky association. When we gather each Sunday for corporate worship, we're helping each other shut off the light pollution from worldly desires, from false worldly promises, from empty hopes that the world is selling us on.

We're shutting off streetlights of worldly distortions of who God is and who we should be. By praying and praising God and hearing his word, we're fixing our gaze again on heaven. We help each other to train the telescope of our heart on the one who is delightfully different and who is worthy of worship. We want to see who's really up there and we want others to see him too.

What we've seen so far in this vision is something of a heavenly worship service. This is the worship service always going on in heaven that ours is a participation in and that ours is an anticipation of.

So we've seen a heavenly worship service. We're about to see a heavenly drama. That brings us to chapter 5.3, supreme over the whole story. In order to see this universe rightly and to see yourself rightly, you need to see the one who is supreme over the whole story. We see this drama begin to play out in chapter 5, verses 1 to 7.

So point 3, chapter 5, Verses 1 to 7.

Look again at verses 1 and 2.

Then I saw on the right hand of him who is seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?' the scroll in God's right hand represents his purposes for all of history, culminating in salvation and judgment on the last day. You can picture a scroll rolled stood on its side with the seals kind of going at each layer, each ring, so that when you take off one seal, a little bit opens up and you can see some of what's written inside. The question then in verse two amounts to this: who can execute God's purposes for all of history? Who has the authority to take God's plans from God's hand and carry out God's purposes for God's creation.

Can you? Can an angel? Can the most powerful or exalted human being? Who is worthy of such a task?

Verses three and four, and no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly. Because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. John's weeping here is serious. It's grave. It's weighty.

It's not like if you went and bought a table from Ikea and then brought it home and then discovered that the instructions are missing and oh well I guess I can't make the table and those plans won't come to pass.

Why is John weeping?

John is weeping because it looks like creation is stalled in futility, in pain, in injustice. John weeps to voice the lament of all creation, which is stalled in sin and suffering. If no one is found who can take the scroll, Does that mean the world is going to be stuck like this forever?

John weeps to voice creation's weeping before God's throne. John's tears represent all the tears that God will one day wipe away.

And John's about to see how.

But before we move on to the solution, it's worth lingering a moment over the problem. A legitimate response to creation's brokenness is lament. There are many hardships in this world where the appropriate response, and maybe the only response you can manage, is to weep. Lament tells the truth about what's wrong with this world. But who can set this world right?

Look at verse 5. And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals. ' Here, Jesus is described with two Messianic titles from promises in the Old Testament. The Lion of Judah is from Genesis 49 and the Root of David is from Isaiah 11.

Both refer to Jesus' kingly lineage and role. That he's a lion teaches us to look for someone powerful, authoritative, kingly, triumphant. Not only that, but he has conquered. He's won a victory. He's like a king who's established his kingdom by winning a decisive battle.

Because of this victory, he is worthy to take the scroll and to execute God's purposes for all of history. That's everything that John hears.

Now for what he sees.

Verses 6 and 7, and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. John hears about a lion, John sees a lamb. Of course, the lion and the lamb are one and the same person, the Lord Jesus Christ, but the transition from hearing to sight is telling. What John hears is set up in categories of Old Testament expectation.

What he sees shows us how Jesus fulfilled that Old Testament expectation. Jesus did conquer, he did win a victory, he did triumph over all the spiritual forces of evil, but he did it by dying as a lamb that was slain. He won this victory on the cross. He triumphed by being defeated. He conquered by being killed.

That unexpected upside down victory is the pattern for the Christian life here in Nauvoo. We don't conquer opposition with power, but truth. Even martyrdom isn't defeat but victory because faithful Witness in death is a victory for the truth.

When verse six tells us that John saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain, I think the basic point is that Jesus, even in his exalted, glorified state, bears the marks of his crucifixion. His seven horns that John sees are a symbol of divine power. His seven eyes are a symbol of divine knowledge and they're identified again as God's sevenfold spirit.

This teaches us in a visual way that the Holy Spirit is not only the Spirit of God but the Spirit of Christ. And in verse 7, John sees this Lamb take the scroll. This is again a figurative reference to Christ's exaltation to heaven. It's like the vision that Daniel sees of the Son of Man approaching the ancient of days and receiving authority. Jesus here is taking his seat at God's right hand on heaven's throne.

After conquering our sin by his death, Christ claimed his rightful place his rightful place as the ruler of all creation. The message for us is this, the scroll of history rests secure in the hand that was pierced for your transgressions. That is our confidence as we look through whatever uncertainties we can't see to the certainty of God's final triumph that will include all of us who trust in Christ. So in one sense, just setting the two chapters side by side here, Revelation 4 shows us what's always the case in heaven. Revelation 5 tells us what became the case when the resurrected Christ arrived in heaven.

Which means that back in verse 5, one little phrase gives us a key to the whole passage. Looking at verse 5, the lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. Because Jesus triumphed over death by death, he can unroll the rest of history. He won on the cross. And so we know that he is going to win in the end.

That's what the rest of the history is going to be in a nutshell. Jesus wins. He won on the cross, he will win in the end, and all who trust in him will win with him. In order to see this world as it really is, you need to see the one who is supreme over the whole story. To know where this whole universe is headed, look to the slain lamb who triumphed at the cross.

The only way to know the deepest truth about what is going on in this busted up world is to know the one who conquered by his death. It's only by knowing the end of the story. You can see the end of the story already at the cross.

Kristen and I like to watch detective mystery shows together. Whenever we start a new one, she looks up the end of the whole season. Before we start the first episode. Somehow that seems to help her relax and enjoy the ride. This is reasoning that is hidden from me.

Whenever she looks at the end of the show, I say, what are you doing? That ruins the plot. Stop it. And then it's like, well, you have the secret knowledge. Don't tell me anything.

I don't want to see the look on your face when there's some plot twist. No spoilers.

But whenever I question Kristen's obscure plot-ruining habit, she says to me, Christians know the end of the story.

Hard to argue with that.

You will encounter in your life If you haven't already, painful plot twists and mysteries that are far harder to endure than anything any TV show plot can throw at you. The biggest way that you will persevere through those things in faith and in joy and in resilient obedience is by knowing the end of the story. And constantly reminding yourself and others of it. Fix your eyes on the only one who's supreme over the whole story. But how can the story be good news for you?

Point four, Savior of Sinners. To know reality as it truly is, you need to fix your eyes on one, on the only one who is the Savior of sinners.

We see Jesus's saving work celebrated in verses 8 to 14 of chapter 5. Look first at verses 8 to 10.

And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth. Probably in the Bible you're looking at, if you look back over chapter four, there's those two sections that are set in poetry like this one is.

But what you might not have noticed is that this is the first time people sing. The other poetry is what the heavenly creatures and elders say. Only now do the creatures in heaven start to sing. And they sing a new song because of the Lamb's new work of redemption. They're celebrating how the Lamb has ransomed restored, and reinstated people from every nation.

As we've seen all throughout chapter four, God is our creator. He's made us to rule the earth under his good rule, to delightfully submit to him like the heavenly creatures do. But we've all rejected him. We've all in our hearts tried to push God off his own throne by going our own way. By valuing what we want regardless of what he wants, by living for the fulfillment of our own sinful and selfish desires, by refusing to give God thanks and acknowledge him as supreme, by living our lives as if we're the most worthy of devotion, of obedience, of honor.

We've all lived in the opposite way. We've all lived as if there is no light up there, there is no there is no person up there, there is nothing really going on up there in heaven.

The penalty for that is eternal judgment. The punishment that we deserve is to be eternally cast out from God's presence and to suffer his judgment for our sins forever. And because God is holy, we would deserve that. And because he is loving, he sent Jesus into the world to do exactly what verse 9 says. To be slain by his blood to ransom people for God.

That means to purchase, to buy back, to purchase us out of slavery by paying the cost of his life in place of our lives. That's what his death on the cross accomplished. And so all those who trust in Jesus have been effectively purchased, become God's possession. There's nothing uncertain about it. There's nothing in question about it.

Jesus has effectively bought for God. Persons from every tribe, every corner of the globe, every language group. What he's done is redeemed them, reconciled them to God and restored them to the authority, the dominion, the glory that should be our due and that one day, look at the very end of verse 10, we'll be fully consummated in our reign on the earth. He did this by his death and resurrection. The way and the only way this can all become good news for you is if you turn from sin and trust in Christ.

If you quit pushing God off the throne and bow before his throne. If you submit to Jesus. If you come to him begging him to save you, not trying to have any worth of your own, any deserving, any merit, but claiming before God only that Jesus has paid the price. For your sin. That's how this story becomes good news for you.

That's how this drama gets resolved for you. Turn from sin and trust in Jesus today. Look at verses 11 to 14.

Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who is slain.

To receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them, saying, to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Some of you may just assume this because it's so obvious in the passage. Some of you may not have noticed, but all these creatures worship Jesus. They give to him the honor and glory, the praise that only God deserves. They worship him in the same terms in which they worship God in chapter four. Worthy are you and the honor and glory and blessing.

That all belongs equally to Jesus. Not only that, but in verse 13, the final confession brings together the one who sits on the throne and the Lamb as equally worthy objects of praise, as a single object of praise. This is not the praise of two gods, but the praise of one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The worship of Jesus is evidence of his divinity. For even further confirmation, you can go to the end of Revelation where twice John is told not to worship an angel.

And the response is worship God.

Here again, we see the circles of praise expand outward. It started with the elders around the throne, then it continues with a huge number of angels all around the throne spread way further out, and then every creature in every realm of creation joins in the praise. It's as if Jesus's saving work of purchasing people for God is a pebble dropped into the still surface of the universe and the reverberations of praise will continue to expand outward until all of creation is included. This vision here collapses the present and the future into one scene. At present, heavenly beings do acknowledge Christ's supremacy.

But we don't yet hear this acknowledgement from every creature in all of creation. So I think John's vision is like a symbolic version of what Paul says in Philippians 2:10 and 11, that one day at the end of history, at the name of Jesus, every knee will 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. This does not mean that every person will be saved, but it does mean that every person will acknowledge Christ's supremacy. The Savior of sinners will one day be supreme over everyone, everywhere. On that day, no artificial light of human opposition will block the radiance of Jesus's glory.

So this whole passage poses a challenge to each of us. And it's a challenge, especially in the architecture of heaven. That's where it's embedded. This challenge is also an invitation. We've seen again and again that in John's vision of heaven, the throne is at the center.

The one who is seated on the throne is the center of worship, of praise, of adoration, of devotion. And so is the Lamb who comes to the center to receive worship and praise and devotion and adoration. That throne in heaven is the bullseye and from it, praise radiates outward to encompass the whole creation. The throne of God is the center of reality. Is it the center of your heart?

Will you look up to heaven and orient your whole life by what you see there? Or will you cast your gaze downward and light the path of your life only by human artificial lights? God has given you everything.

Will you give him all praise? Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, you, are worthy. Worthy of all worship because youe alone are the God who is and youd alone are the Creator and Ruler of all things. Lord Jesus, you, are worthy. Worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Because you were slain.

Heavenly Father, we pray that we would worship you from the heart in what we sing and say and do. Pray that you would strengthen and sustain our faith. Pray that you would bring people to saving faith. Pray that you would enable us to fix our gaze on heaven. In Jesus' name, Amen.