Greetings to you all,
I pray that your summer is going well. Today we will continue to look at the book of Revelation. My prayer is that you are looking at this book of Revelation as a blessing, not something to be scared of.
The testimony of Jesus, and what he must do to fulfill it, well, it makes for a great deal of fulfillment. In other words, Jesus is busy. The more I read the book of Revelation, the more I love Jesus. He is worthy of our praise.
I will continue to lean on DeHaan’s book, Revelation: 35 Simple Studies in the Major Themes in Revelation.
I will begin by following up on my statement that Jesus is worthy of our praise. He is. Jesus is also worthy of our worship. We were created to worship God. Adam sinned, and that sin changed everything. Since Adam, man has worshiped many different things, all of which are considered false idols.
A list of modern false idols: phones, TVs, stars and athletes, politicians, ideas, some even worshiped the Covid-19 vaccine. I could go on and on. Ideas are interesting, let me follow-up here. Many well-meaning Christians worship the earth. Now I am not here to state that we should not take care of the earth. We should but from a spiritual, godly stewardship perspective. You and I should be good stewards of the earth. Pick up, leave every place we visit better than when we came. I have no problem with this. But the idea that we, humanity, can save the earth, is just foolishness. This earth will be consumed. It says so in this book of Revelation. Revelation 21:1-3,
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”’
My prayer for all of us as believers is this: That at some point in our lives, we can stop making false idols out of everything we see, and choose to simply worship God and God alone. It would make our lives so much easier if we could stop making and worshiping false idols.
Adam, by his fall, forfeited his right to be a king over the earth and came under the curse. He lost his dominion over the earth and now as a result we must battle the forces of nature and fight weeds, thistles, insects, droughts, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes.
It is not up to us to save the earth or the world. This idea is folly taught at our great universities that now graduate students with degrees that make them unemployable.
God, in the book of Revelation, has provided us a plan whereby that which Adam lost may be redeemed. All this is contained in the little book in the right hand of Him that sits upon the throne, contained in chapter 5. This seven-sealed book contains the terms on which Adam’s lost estate may be redeemed by the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb with seven horns and seven eyes, and even the last Adam, who is none other than Jesus Christ himself.
Because of Adam’s fall, Satan is the god of this world. Satan holds claim by reason of Adam’s sin, but the earth is destined to belong to the saints. The Bible says so. Matthew 5:5,
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
This will happen. This verse will be fulfilled. The earth and all it contains are under the curse, and must be redeemed. The terms of this redemption are contained in the seven-sealed book in Revelation 5:1,
“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.”
The terms of this redemption are in this little book. There are three conditions that must be met for the earth to be redeemed. These can also be found in the book of Leviticus.
These are the very same conditions in which Boaz, as a close relative, redeems the property for Naomi and Ruth. Most of us recognize this as a beautiful love story. In the book of Leviticus, there are three conditions that must be met to redeem possession lost by a brother.
He must be a near relative of the one who had lost the inheritance.
He must be willing to act as the redeemer.
He must be able to pay the price of redemption.
Who is our redeemer? Who can redeem the earth? Back to the book of Revelation 5:1-4,
“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. Then I wept and wept (remember, this is John who is weeping) because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside."
Who is worthy? Who can meet these three requirements?
Remember, in the case of Naomi and Ruth there was a near kinsman whom Boaz challenged, but he was unable to function as a redeemer because he had an obligation of his own to fulfill.
This is a question for all of mankind, how can any of us redeem the earth? This is folly. There is no man or woman who can by any means redeem their own soul, much less the soul of someone else, much less redeem the earth that is controlled by Satan.
John is weeping because the situation seems hopeless. Who will be our redeemer? Revelation 5:5,
“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 and its seven seals.”
So, suddenly, one steps forward who is described as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Root of David. This is how Jesus meets the conditions as our kinsman redeemer.
Jesus is fit to be man’s redeemer. The first requirement is that Jesus (to be our redeemer) must be related to the debtor (that’s us). Jesus, upon his first advent, came from heaven’s glory and became one of us. Hebrews 2:16-17,
“For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason, he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”
The humanity of Christ is an absolute and indispensable necessity in the plan of salvation, essential for his deity. Christ became a man, one of us, a member of the human family, in order that he might be our kinsman redeemer.
The second requirement is that the redeemer is willing to act as a redeemer. The obligation cannot be forced upon him. Hebrews 12:2,
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God.”
Jesus was and is willing to be our redeemer.
The third requirement is that our redeemer must be able to pay the price of our redemption. Levitical law in the case of Boaz involved money, silver money, as the price of redemption. Silver in scripture speaks of blood, and it points forward to the truth of the redemption of sinners and the world through Jesus Christ. The currency necessary for our redemption is blood, perfect sinless blood. Nothing but the blood of Jesus! There was only one who could pay this price, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Revelation 5:6-10,
“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 twenty-four 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 the 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.”'
Jesus is worthy to be praised!
Do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God!
Blessings,
Thad Brown
Opportunity House
and Harmony UMC
Comments