I’ve taken the title of the sermon from Jonathan Edwards, who in 1738, he wrote, There’s an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Jesus Christ. It’s quite a mouthful. In Jesus, there is a coming together, a conjunction of excellent qualities we admire that are different and wonderful. An admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies. We look to the reading of God’s word if you join with me in prayer. Our gracious God, we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from your mouth. So we ask that you would make us hungry this day for your heavenly food, that it would nourish us in the ways of eternal life. And this we pray and ask you, Jesus Christ, the bread of heaven. Amen. Continuing in verse one, Then I saw in the right-hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed the 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 he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And between the throne and the 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. He went and took the scroll from the right-hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures, the 24 elders, fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incents, 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’ve ran some people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priest 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 and 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, to the lamb be blessing, honor, glory, and might forever and ever. ‘ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen, ‘ and the elders fell down and worshiped. The word of the Lord. A gentle giant, a shrewd innocent, a merciful judge. We use phrases like that to describe people who have diverse excellencies, people who share different, yet not exclusive great qualities. Finding a man of great strength and great tenderness is the desire of many women. We admire Christians who have their feet on the ground and yet who can lead us to heaven. Diverse qualities is a wonderful compliment to receive from others. It’s no surprise that Jonathan Edwards used this expression to describe Jesus.
When we consider who Jesus is, we marvel at his transcendence as the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, the eternal word. We are amazed as we look upon him in his humble and low form in the manger. One writer reminds us this Jesus who baffled the scribes with profound wisdom, yet was simple enough that small children would run up to and sit on his lap. This Jesus who had the authority to pronounce judgment on the cities of Bethseda and Corazan, yet in his great mercy, he forgave the adulterous. His awesome Majesty is sweetened by his meekness. Jesus was worthy of all good, yet he suffered with patience, much evil. We see in Colossians 1, we’ve used it often as a confession of who Jesus is. There, Paul writes, Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the creator of all all things visible and invisible, whether thrones, powers, rulers, authority, all things were created by him and for him. He’s before all things, and in him all things hold together. And this one comes to us in weakness. And this is exactly the savior that we need, one who can conquer sin and death, who can subdue our flesh, rule our proud hearts, and who can speak peace to our troubled souls, whose compassion binds our wounds.
We need the sweetness of his grace and his kindness to bring us comfort to our disquieted minds, and we need his power and dominion to defend and to protect us. Because Jesus alone is our complete champion, we must submit our lives to him. John has been given a vision of the throne room, and we see the Holiness and the Majesty of God on display. And now Jesus enters in center stage with a costume change, as it were. Remember, these symbolic visions are meant to communicate truths to us. They’re not actual pictures of heaven. That’s why throughout the Bible, what you see is differing visions changing according according to the message that God is communicating to his people. Our invisible God who dwells in an unapproachable light condescends to communicate to us who are body and soul. And so this symbolic vision of Jesus as a slain lamb It tells us this is taking place. And we see here the Lamb like lion and the Lion like lamb. In verse one, in the hand of the Lord is a scroll. God’s redemptive purposes and plans for the world is sealed inside. We’re reminded of the Prophet Daniel who was commanded to seal up the scroll until the time of the end.
Here in Revelation 5, there’s a foreboding sense that the purposes of God’s Kingdom will not take place until this scroll is opened. In high drama, a mighty angel steps forward and proclaims this challenge. Who is worthy? Who is worthy to open the scroll of redemption and judgment? John begins to weep because no one is found worthy in the whole creation. There’s no one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth who is able to open the scroll and to look into it. The promises of God stand sealed up. No angel in heaven, no man on earth, no creature in the seas or in Hades is worthy. And John is given to despair, a despair we understand. But he’s pulled back by the news of verse 5. A worthy and victorious champion has been found. The fierce lion from the tribe of Judah steps forward to take the scroll. The root of David has prevailed. But what we see in the next verse is the lion is a lamb, an animal that’s harmless and lowly, an animal that must be protected, is shorn naked for its wool. It’s killed for food or for sacrifice. Immediately, it’s, how can this be?
All the heroes of history, mythical or real, with great acts of valor. From Hercules to Superman, they prove themselves worthy by great feats of human prowess. Here, the lion of Judah triumphs by becoming a lamb. Of course, we see this in the Gospels, too. In the triumphal entry of Jesus coming lowly in on a donkey, the crowds are praising him as he enters the triumphant king. In his fierceness, he comes and he overturns the table of the money changer. He cleanses the temple. But by the end of the week, he allows himself to be quietly taken away as a sacrificial lamb. The heights and the joy of Palm Sunday are quickly tempered with the realities of Good Friday, where he’s literally a lamb led to the slaughter. But more than this, we also see a lion-like lamb. In verse 6, the lamb is standing as if slain with seven horns and seven eyes. And notice, he’s standing. He’s not a carcass on the ground as we would expect from one being slain. And where is he standing? He’s standing at the very center of the throne room. And this lamb has seven horns. In the Bible, a horn is a symbol of strength and power, the power of an ox or a bull.
And seven tells us of the perfection and the completeness of his strength. The lamb who died now stands alive in sevenfold strength. The great conquer who was mortially wounded to defeat his enemy, yet even has overcome death. The Lamb has seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God. It’s an image taken from the prophet Zechariah. The image, it highlights divine sovereignty and omniscience, the eyes of the Lord going over all the Earth. And the Lamb releases God’s spirit upon the Earth in power and authority. Again, these are symbolic visions. We’re to understand the message these symbols convey If we try to understand them in the literal sense, they’re actually somewhat grotesque to think about what a seven-horn, seven-eye slaughtered lamb walking would look like. It’s unusual, to be sure. But we are to take the import of the symbols to speak to us of what that conveys. In chapter 6, men are trembling and they’re saying something that seems outrageous. They’re hiding from the The Rath of the Lamb. Then in chapter 17 says, They will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome because he is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.
This odd juxtaposition, a lion who’s a lamb and a lamb who is a lion. Power and tenderness, judgment and mercy, an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies. It’s no wonder that so many people throughout the centuries have admired and looked up to Jesus. What a great a wonderful example of how we’re to live, an excellent teacher of ethics and morals. It’s not strange that among people who do not follow Jesus as their Lord and their God, almost no one wants to say a bad thing against him. There seems to be something about him for everyone. So we pick and choose the excellencies we like best, the ones that show Jesus is on our side. The problem, though, is that the real Jesus will not be domesticated, revised, or to fit our religious or political platforms or our lifestyles. You cannot pick and choose his excellencies for him. Jesus will not be domesticated. The lion like lamb and the lamb like lion is the king of Kings, the Lord of lords. Jesus has a glory, a spiritual beauty that can be seen as self-evidently true. It’s like when you see the sun and you know that it’s light and not dark, or you taste honey and you know that it’s sweet and not sour.
But this is exactly what we need, Christ in his fullness, not diluted down if it’s some pathetic version of our own sinful imagination. Remember, John initially weft with despair, and we understand this because we need a complete champion. A man can be kneeling in a beautiful cathedral. His sense is overwhelmed by the sights and the sounds. His spirit, lifted up to the heavens in a moment of rapture, praying to God, longing to be filled with the power of his spirit, dedicating his life to God’s service. At that very moment, a beautiful woman can walk by, sit down in front of him, and he can burn with lust and desire. At that moment, catch himself, How can I in this place? Lord, have mercy on me. He hates himself. He despises his own weakness. A young lady at a mission conference. Sure, she is called into missions, dedicating herself to the Lord. She really wants to serve God with her whole life, even in far away places. After such a wonderful event, she comes home, sees her little sister wearing her shirt and some of her makeup in a violent burst of rage, screams at her and reduces her sister to tears and sobs, and then catches what she’s done and sees her own twisted, angry image.
She can hate herself. She can despise her own weakness. We need Jesus. We need him in his strength to conquer. We need Jesus in his mercy to forgive. In the children’s catechism, the simple question, why do you need Jesus as king? Because I am weak and helpless. John was in despair for no one was worthy to take the scroll of life from the hand of the Father. We see Christ coming forward, taking the scroll, and the elders falling down, worthy is the Lamb. We long for a champion, an invincible leader, because we, too, have a conjunction of differing qualities, because we are made in his image, but ours are marred by sin, sin and death. We are pitiful, but filled with mighty passions. John Piper, he wrote, We are weak, and yet we have great aspirations. We are transient. Our life is but a vapor, yet we have eternity written in our hearts. Indeed, we want to leave behind something, some monument that we were here after we’re gone so that we won’t be forgotten. Somebody says, Look, I was here. I lived. I was great. Please, please don’t forget me. And when we see the Lamb rising, With a scroll in his hand, we rejoice.
We beam with joy of the worthiness of our redeemer. Throughout all of our brokenness, we yearn for Christ to come and to lead us to the Father, the Lion of Judah, the sacrificial Lamb. He has a glory that we cannot fathom, yet it draws us, it pulls us near to him. His great gentleness and humility, it calls to us in our weakness and our weariness, and we love him for it. The radius and brilliance of his humility merges then with his omniscience and omnipotence, a lion in Majesty, a lamb in meekness. And yet there’s a warning here because Jesus is both the light of the world and a consuming fire. He is aligned to those who oppose him and a lamb to those who would fall before him. Why? Why would anyone not want to receive this grace, to be shielded by his hand? For many, they only like The Jesus who’s the nice, kind one who forgave, but who didn’t then say, go and sin no more. They don’t like the one who spoke of coming rath and judgment because to do so would be to claim ownership of the wounds of Christ to their own sin.
A man who in lust and pride destroys his marriage, brings his family into complete ruin, sitting in the ashes of his charred life, holding on to a handful of ashes, refusing to let go. Why? Because they’re my ashes. I have a right to hold them. Look what other people have done to me. Where was your lion when I needed him most? And so it goes. He cannot let go of the ashes, for to do so would be to own them. So he sits. The smoke of his own sin, stinging his eyes, his mouth parched with that bitter soot on his tongue, refusing to see the glory of Christ, refusing to be plunged into the cleansing rivers of new life, the living water that can wash him clean. But know this, Christ’s glory will not be diminished by his unbelief. The magnificent glory of Christ, the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, the eternal word made flesh, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, will one day be revealed in his fullness. And yet even now, his glory is filling the earth. He will not be denied his rightful place in the hearts and lives of men and women.
We see how all this comes together in verse 9, they sang a new song, a new song for a new creation, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll to open its seals? For you were slain, and by your blood, you ran some people for God. From every tribe, language, people, and nation, you have made them a kingdom and priest of our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Speaking of the wonder that Jesus has done for his people. Now his presence through his church, through his body. Then there’s this thunderous prayer of praise in the heavenly chorus, myriad singing of the sevenfold praise of Jesus. Worth as the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth, wisdom and might, honor and and blessing. More than any other place in the New Testament, we see the Deity of Christ so clearly shown here. Solid echoes of David’s great praise of God in 1 Chronicles 29, where David is praising the Almighty in the same language. Here that language is being shared between the one on the throne and the Lamb. Jesus is God. The light of his glory continues to spread across the globe through his people.
The diverse excellencies of our Lord causes the world to bow the knee before him. He calls us to follow, to point the world to our savior, the lion-like lamb. True joy and gladness are found only in him. As we give up any right of our own glory, as we release the tight grass we have on our own life, relinquishing control to the one who alone has absolute authority, Something surprising happens. There’s a great joy and fulfillment even in the midst of sorrow and pain. When Christ is glorified in our lives, when we honor the Lamb who is slain, we participate in that glory and we’re transformed by it. Because in Jesus, we have someone who not only feels our pain, but he can do something about it. He comes to us in the fullness of his excellencies to give himself to us so that we would glorify and enjoy him forever. That is the Jesus whom we worship. That is the Jesus who has conquered. It assures our future that regardless of what’s taking place now in trials and tribulation, our future is guaranteed. Revelations is a continual picture of we win. We win in the end, we win big because Christ has prevailed.
From the very beginning, this is what was written and decreed. None of this is taking God by surprise. But we then can enter into the life that he has given to us in the full assurance that he has written these pages in our book. The scroll of our life has been pinned by the Almighty one. And not a dot, not a jot is going to fall amiss because he is the one who has written it, and he is the one who He’s fulfilling all things according to his purpose in the person and work of Jesus. We now are a kingdom and priest to God as we go into the world to proclaim the great victory of the Lamb, to point people to the wonderful excellencies of Jesus. This is the very thing that he has called his people to do. We become the fulfillment of the very vision here in the throne room. Even as we wait that day when he will make all things new to where we can come with all of God’s people and say to him who sits on the throne, to the land, be blessing, honor, glory, and might forever.
Amen and Amen. Pray with me. Father, as we come before you, we just say thank you. Thank you that you have conquered us. You have subdued us through your son. And Father, we thank you for the sweetness of his meekness and his mercy, his His tenderness, Lord, which binds our wounds. His authority, which rules our hearts. Father, thank you. And Lord, I would pray that you would continue to subdue us, to crush our sin. Father, to rule our hearts, to end our rebellion. And Father, we would ask then as well that you would strengthen us. We are weak and pitiful. We are weary. And we ask, Lord God, that we would be strengthened in our innermost being through your spirit, by the power of Christ working in us, all to his praise and to his glory. We bless you this day, Father, Son, and spirit, one God forever. Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.