Revelation 05: Jesus is Worthy

Have you ever wondered who could possibly fix our broken world? Revelation 5 delivers a powerful answer that might surprise you.

Pastor Brandon takes us deep into the throne room of heaven where we witness a dramatic moment - God holds out a sealed scroll representing the deed to creation, but no one in all existence is worthy to open it. John weeps bitterly at this cosmic dilemma until an elder points to "the Lion of Judah" who has triumphed. Yet when John looks, he sees not a mighty lion but a lamb bearing the marks of slaughter, somehow alive and standing.

This paradoxical image of Jesus as both the powerful Lion and the sacrificial Lamb stands at the heart of Revelation's message. Through vivid metaphorical language, we discover that Christ's worthiness comes not from brute strength but from his sacrificial death that ransomed people "from every tribe and language and people and nation." What follows is perhaps Scripture's most magnificent worship scene - concentric circles of praise erupting from the elders, to millions of angels, to every creature in existence.

The application cuts straight to our hearts: we worship Jesus not for what he might do for us tomorrow, but for what he's already accomplished. In a world where human systems and relationships inevitably disappoint, Revelation 5 invites us to "lower our expectations of people and raise our expectations of God." This isn't cynicism - it's spiritual wisdom that liberates us to place our ultimate hope in the only One who has proven himself completely trustworthy.

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Chapters

• 0:48 Welcome to Bible Breakdown
• 1:34 Jesus Wins: Understanding Revelation's Purpose
• 3:56 The Scroll With Seven Seals
• 6:05 The Lion and The Slain Lamb
• 8:00 Worthy of All Worship
• 10:23 Hope in Jesus, Not Human Systems
• 11:35 Closing Prayer and Farewell

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, revelation chapter 5, and today's title is Jesus is Worthy, jesus is worthy, and I've got to admit, I struggle not to see Jesus as a cute little sheep today, and I don't know what he is. He's a lion of the tribe of Judah, but he's kind of described as a cute little sheep today. So we'll get into that in just a moment. So please get your Bibles out, get ready for Revelation chapter five. While you're doing that, make sure you take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. You're doing a great job. Ever been a book of the Bible that you want to get some extra info on is a book of Revelation, so make sure you do that. Okay, all right.

Speaker 1: 1:10

Well, as we've been talking about the overall idea of the book of Revelation, is Jesus. I mean, that's one of the first things that says in Revelation one. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, and so the goal of the book of Revelation is to brag on Jesus and to talk about his goodness, about how he has a system of justice. He's going to fix it all in the end. Jesus wins If you get nothing else right. Somebody ever asks you what's the book of Revelation all about? And you say Jesus wins. And honestly, my hope for all of us is that by the time we are finished reading through the book of Revelation together, if you are one of those people that have stayed away from it because you didn't understand it it kind of scared you a little bit my hope is you won't do that ever again because, once again, this is one of the only books of the Bible that actually comes with a blessing for those who read it. And so I want to encourage you to not be afraid of the book of Revelation because, primarily, it is not about bold judgments and, um, you know, white horses and and four living creatures all those things are there but it's primarily using those as vehicles to talk about Jesus.

Speaker 1: 2:12

And so, if you remember, what we've been saying is, this was originally written to seven churches in the Asia Minor area who were experiencing great persecution from Rome, from Jerusalem, from other areas I mean, they're just experiencing persecution all over the place. And John, who is over these seven churches, received a revelation from Jesus while he's in prison. And then he writes and he says guys, I got to tell you, jesus wins, he wins, and so don't give up, even when you're in persecution. So the book of Revelation is encouragement for the persecuted, encouragement for the persecuted, encouragement for those who feel like their world has gone crazy, and we see that in chapter 3. He's encouraging them hey, guys, don't give up, jesus has got a plan. And then, in chapter 4, we talked about yesterday we got to see an example of the very throne room of God, and it reminds us that he was talking to people who were dealing with emperor worship all over the place. And so he describes in very metaphorical, beautiful language what the throne room looks like, and he says, hey, jesus has no rivals, and on his throne room, everybody bows and worships him. And so now we're going to see as he continues to move from there. He's going to move continually into more of this metaphorical language to describe what he's going to do. And as we do this, I need to talk about one thing that we don't do anymore, but they used to do back then, and that is this Whenever you wanted to go and you wanted to redeem land like, let's say, you went and you bought some land and you wanted to go take possession of it they would have a scroll and it was a legal document.

Speaker 1: 3:54

There would be like a, like a Royal decree, like a, like something that was sealed and was considered a legal document, and they would seal it with seven seals. That was just a way of saying it was completely sealed, completely authentic, completely legal, and the only person that could open that seal was a member of royalty or from someone who was worthy, because they were royal or they're the ones who bought the land, and when they opened those seven seals, that meant the land now belonged to them. Until then it didn't belong to them. And so John is going to use this legal situation. That would happen all the time when people, when land would pass from one to another and it's something that the early church would have completely understood, because it was it was very much like if you wanted to buy land, you'd have to go to the courthouse, get the paperwork, sign with an attorney. You know like 3 million documents. Everybody, everybody's ever bought a house. You're like, yeah, I remember that process. So that's exactly what this is. So he's going to use that because he's going to say there was a scroll that had seven seals. Well, they knew that meant that someone's trying to redeem some land and then we're going to watch what happens. You ready, here we go. Chapter five, verse one, says this Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne.

Speaker 1: 5:00

There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll and it was sealed with seven seals. Now, many times a land document, a land deed, would have writing on the inside and the outside Verse two. Then I saw a strong angel who shouted with a loud voice who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and open it? But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it. I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. But one of the 24 elders said to me stop weeping.

Speaker 1: 5:37

Look, the Lion of Judah, the heir to David's throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals, and so you're expecting to see Jesus in all of his majesty. You know this seals, and so you're expecting to see Jesus and all of his majesty. You know this lion and look what happens. And he says then I looked and I saw a lamb. I saw a cute lamb. No, he says, I saw a lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered. So he wasn't a cute lamb, he's a dead lamb. He looked as if he'd been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings, among the 24 elders. So once again we see another metaphor. It's talking about Jesus and he's saying he is the lamb that was slain. He's alive forevermore, all right. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent remember which represent the sevenfold spirit of God that was sent out to every part of the earth. He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne, and then he took the scroll and the living beings and the 24 elders fell down.

Speaker 1: 6:38

These folks be falling all the time. I can go ahead and tell you all throughout the book of Revelation these jokers cannot stay in their seat. They fall all the time. Here they fall again. Each one of them had a harp God love them and they held a bowl filled with incense, which are the prayers of the people. And so what happened is they'd just be throwing incense in there. They'd just be throwing incense, falling on the floor, and then they sing this new song here. It is Not new anymore. Now we know it. You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals and open it, for you were slaughtered and your blood has ransomed people for God, every tribe and language and people and nation. You have caused them to become the kingdom of priests for our God and they will reign on the earth.

Speaker 1: 7:21

Then I looked and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and the living beings and the elders, and they sang in a mighty chorus of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and the living beings and the elders, and they sang in a mighty chorus. Worthy is the lamb, who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and they sang blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the lamb, forever and ever. And the four living beings said amen, and the 24 elders? They didn't fell down again. The 24 elders fell down and they worshiped the lamb. Wow.

Speaker 1: 8:00

So what they're talking about is a moment of transition, because up until that point, if you notice, they were chapter 4, they were worshiping and all this, but then, out of nowhere, god held out the scroll. In other words, he said here is the deed to the earth. Because, remember, when Adam and Eve died or, excuse me, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they gave that right over to the enemy. They brought sin into the world. Jesus came and he restored all those things. And so what John is saying is remember, there was a time when no one could take back what the enemy had stolen. But that day is gone. Because Jesus who? He said that one of the elders was like look, the Lion of Judah. And he said when I looked and there was a sweet little lamb. Only that lamb had been slaughtered, but there he was standing. So, in other words, it's a metaphor saying Jesus is both the Lion and the Lamb. He is powerful and he is humble and he is the one who can redeem us all.

Speaker 1: 9:02

And when they saw that Jesus indeed was worthy. What he had done on the cross was enough that these poor elders, man, they must have some slippery seats, because they do keep falling over and over again. And you're going to see this every chance they get holy and they fall down again and they just constantly falling. And so, listen, if you don't like worship, you're not going to like heaven, because every chance they get they are having like a praise break, right, and they're just worshiping the Lord and they just keep honoring God and worshiping him, because the king has come and because the king is redeeming his kingdom and he is about to take back what is rightfully his.

Speaker 1: 9:37

And so what is maybe the application point for us today? And that is this that we can worship Jesus because he's worthy, that we don't worship Jesus because of what he does for us. We worship Jesus because of what he's already done for us and no matter what's going on in our life, we can put our hope in him and we don't have to put our hope in the systems of this world. Can I tell you something that you already know is true Everybody in your life, it doesn't matter how much they love you, they're human and that means they're not going to try. They're going to do everything they can, but at some point they may let you down. At some point, human people are going to be human. It doesn't matter how much you love or hate your government At some point, because it's made of humans. It doesn't matter how much you love or hate your government At some point, because it's made of humans, it's going to let you down. So don't put your ultimate hope in other things that can let you down. In other words, sometimes we need to lower expectations of people and raise our expectations of God, because there's only been one person worthy to redeem us all, and his name is Jesus, and the best thing about that is he loves you.

Speaker 1: 10:45

Let's pray together right now, god. Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you are worthy of it all. Nothing is beyond you, nothing is past you and Lord, just like the 24 elders be falling down all the time worshiping you, we should be doing the same. You are worthy of it all. You are the lion and the lamb and you are worthy of it all. You are the lion and the lamb and you, god, are worthy of redeeming us all. I'm thankful for you today. In Jesus name, we pray, amen, amen. God's word says in Revelation 1, verse 7 says look, he comes with the clouds of heaven and everyone will see him. My hope is that you realize that God is for you. He is coming for you and he is with you and all things. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Revelation, chapter 6.