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Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with the

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moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And

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today I want to challenge you to think through the issue of who is worthy to open the seven-sealed

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scroll of Revelation chapter 5, which is the will and testament of the Father to the Son.

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Only if he is worthy, though, however, and we're going to see indeed in chapter 5,

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that there is one worthy, despite John's tears and trauma, there is one worthy in heaven to open the

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seven-sealed scroll. What a beautiful text, and it will indeed determine much of what we have to see

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in the rest of the book of Revelation 2. So before we get to that, though, properly, I just want to,

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once again, unfold for you what we have going on Thursday evenings, and that is a community Bible

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study on the book of Revelation. And it's turning out to be everything that I'd hoped it would be.

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We're meeting in a public place, a neutral territory, if you will, not on our church property,

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not in our church sanctuary, but at Starbucks on 17th Street in Idaho Falls. And that's been a

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delightful venue. The people there are sweet and gracious to us, and they turn down the music, and

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they have good coffee brewing and some good snacks. So I just really commend to you Starbucks on 17th

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Street. Great place. They've been very gracious to us. And we have all anywhere from 9 to 15 people

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on any given Thursday evening from all over the city. And we just invite you to come and join us,

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too, if you'd like. It's been a great time just to kick back and to look at the book of Revelation

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and go through it from an alternative perspective of the majority view of the book of Revelation,

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where we have the Revelation red heifer rapture rants that usually you hear. Well, we're going

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through this in a way that the church has traditionally gone through it, going back many,

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many centuries. And the traditions and the understanding of the book of Revelation, which

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has broad application in the lives of every Christian, we're being introduced to that in

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our study. I'm teaching, and a fellow brother and friend of mine, Pastor Mike Gilliam of Share

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the Sun Ministries, is also teaching. We're team teaching the book of Revelation. We share

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the desire to bring the historical view of the book of Revelation to Idaho Falls in a way that it

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hasn't been brought before, I think. And we're doing it in a community way, in an open way, where

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we've had lots of good discussion, great questions. And it's been just a great time of fellowship over

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a nice, strong cup of coffee, which I'll never turn down. And we do this on Thursday nights at

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7 o'clock at Starbucks on 17th Street. And we invite you to come and join us, check us out,

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and see how we're doing, see what we're doing. And we just would love to have you participate with us

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and bring your perspective on the book of Revelation, your questions, your passions, whatever it might be.

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7 o'clock on Thursday evenings, Starbucks on 17th Street in Idaho Falls. Well, what then can we say

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about who is worthy to open the seven-sealed scroll of Revelation chapter 5? Let's go ahead and answer

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that question. And let's begin by reading the text, first of all. The text we're dealing with is

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Revelation chapter 5, verses 1 through 5, if you want to follow along with us. And we begin Revelation 5,

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1 through 5. Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within

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and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice,

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Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the

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earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was

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found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, weep no more.

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Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he can open the

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scroll and its seven seals. Revelation chapter 5, verses 1 through 5. The last week we saw the nature

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of that seven sealed scroll. And indeed we saw that the inhabitants of the ancient world,

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the readers of the apocalypse, the first readers in that first century would have immediately

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understood what that seven sealed scroll was. And indeed it was the will and testament of a father

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to his sons. And we see this, the scholar Zahn, and he's one of my favorites on the book of Revelation.

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And he says this, and I quote him, the word biblion, that's the Greek word employed here by John,

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the word biblion itself permits of many interpretations, but for the readers of that

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time, it was designated by the seven seals on its back beyond possibility of mistake.

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The most simple member of the Asiatic churches knew that a biblion made fast with seven seals

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was a testament that is a will. Unquote. That would have been its most self-evident nature. We saw this

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last time we were together. The ancient Roman will and testament, for example, was given on a scroll

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where the greater the inheritance, the more was written, sometimes fully on both front and back.

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And that's indeed what we have here. And we'll see as we go through Revelation, what Christ inherits

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is all of creation. And then a will and testament, an ancient will and testament in the Roman world

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was sealed by seven witnesses who affixed their personal seals to the scroll so that it would not

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be tampered with until the death of the testator. And upon the death of the testator then, usually the

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father of a great estate, well then, the eldest son would open the scroll and read and execute the

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will and testament. And he would do it ideally in the presence of the seven witnesses who sealed the

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scroll originally. Well, we still have formal ceremonies, don't we? We saw that. We still have

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formal ceremonies in much the same fashion today. So we know something of what this is like. But behold,

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the scene before us, right? And before it can be opened, though, a one worthy to open that scroll

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had to be found. The one to whom it was written and who was worthy to do so. And we saw last week that

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temporarily, at least, no one was found worthy in heaven or on earth or under the earth, that is in

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all of creation. That's what that indicates. Heaven or earth or under the earth, that is in the abyss or

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the underworld, no one was able to open the scroll or to look into us. And this causes the apostle John

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then to break down and weep because he understood the implications of this. That is, we're certainly

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lost. The promises to us from the beginning of the world to now would be null and void. If indeed no one

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was worthy, that scroll would be sealed uptight even now. All the promises of our Lord's ministry,

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while John walked with him on the earth, would have come up short in the final analysis.

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Oh, dear listener, what reaction would this prompt in any of us, right? If indeed John breaks down

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and is willing to weep and to wail, right? Weep no more. However, an angel says, weep no more.

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And this is deliberate drama that we have before us. John has broken down and wept uncontrollably when

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he sees that no one worthy is found to break the seals of the scroll because he too, the apostle

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John, as well as us, all of us are invested in the contents of that scroll. That is all the promise

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of the covenants, the inheritance of the nations, all of these things, salvation and redemption even.

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How would you respond, right? Well, all of us would weep and we're meant then to identify with the apostle

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John. We're meant to identify with his circumstances and to see in stark contrast to what we know we have

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in Christ, to see in stark contrast what would be the alternative if indeed no one was found worthy

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to open that scroll. So this is the deliberate drama that we left off with then last week.

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So let's look then at this final verse five today and to see the opening of one who is found worthy.

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And verse five, of course, of chapter five of Revelation says, and one of the elders said to me,

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weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he

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can open the scroll and its seven seals. Oh, we've read this text many, many times. Perhaps I know I have.

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So I knew that even while John was weeping, of course, there would be one found worthy, but

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we didn't move on too quickly from it. We are deliberately left hanging and we are deliberately

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meant to feel poignantly what the alternative to finding one worthy of the scroll, opening the scroll

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would be. So then once more, we see in this mighty angel who has the scroll, now we're segwaying to

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one of the elders, the 24 elders that we have seen before surrounding the throne. And indeed, one of

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those elders, those elders we saw as well, are angelic beings, creations, sons of God, as it were,

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beings that had been created directly from the hand of God. That's really what sons of God in this

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context means. It doesn't mean that they are equal to Christ or that they are very God of very God as

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Christ is, but the idea that the sons of God in the Bible, when they refer to created beings, are beings

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that are created directly from the hand of God. And they are not created immediately like they are with

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human beings. We give birth to our progeny. We give birth to our kind, but not so with the kind in

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heaven. The 24 elders were all created directly from the hand of God. And so they are also known as

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sons of God, or even God, small g, g-o-d-s, small g. And we see this reflected, oh, Psalm 82, for example.

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If you go to Psalm 82, you'll see this referred to as well. So we have these creatures then,

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one of these creatures, one of the 24 elders then begins to approach John. One of the elders said to

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me, weep no more, all right? And this is quite a contrast, the cast of creatures to whom we've been

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introduced steps forward. And like a good elder, he counsels John to weep no more. One commentator

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puts it this way, a man named David Chilton. He says, thus the church preaches the gospel to St.

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John. Kind of an ironic situation here. And as he focuses John's attention, first of all, he says,

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behold, right? We see this throughout Revelation. And when we see that word behold, we are meant to

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focus our attention for a moment on whatever scene, whatever detail the speaker is pointing

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out to us. And the object of that attention is our Lord. That is one of whose attributes is brought

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forward. And it's done so with two significant titles. And we'll take a look at the second title

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next week. But for this week, let's look at that first attribute that's brought out by his name

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because it is pertinent to the subject at hand. That is the opening of the scroll, the seven-sealed

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scroll, the will and testament of God the Father to his Son. And that title is the Lion of the Tribe

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of Judah. Oh, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. What a rich interpretive history this title has for us

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all through Scripture and reaches its culmination now here in the book of Revelation, the last book

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of the Bible. But what an apt place then to put a period and exclamation mark, if you will,

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at the end of the use of this title, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This is the promise of one

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who would arise from the Tribe of Judah, that is, one of Jacob's sons, going all the way back to the

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blessing pronounced upon him. Remember in that grand scene of Jacob's demise, of Jacob's final breath,

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and when he pronounces blessings upon his sons. And he says to Judah, Judah is a lion's cub.

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From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down. He crouched as a lion and as a lioness.

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Who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his

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feet, until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Unquote from Genesis

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49, 9 through 10. Indeed, what a grand prophetic pronouncement this is for this tribe, for this son

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of Jacob, indeed. And we see this throughout Scripture, too. Psalm 2, we see that he will

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indeed break as a powder's vessel. He will break and shatter the nations, and the nations will be his

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inheritance. Psalm 2 promises this, and it goes all the way back to this blessing from the son,

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this son of Jacob, right? Judah. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from

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between his feet, until tribute comes to him. And that tribute is going to be all of creation,

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dear listener. And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Indeed, the promise all through

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Scripture is this. The son of Jacob, the lion of the tribe of Judah, will indeed be king.

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And we see then, one of his descendants, the conquering king David, would arise from where?

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From which tribe? From Judah, of course. And David would become the type of the one who would

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come, that is, the antitype, Jesus of Nazareth. We see the pattern of Jesus even in the life of David,

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who was a man after God's own heart, right? And that promise was reinforced in the covenant that God

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made with David, indeed, the promise was made. Remember that the prophet Nathan came to David

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with the promise, with a covenant that David, one from his seed would indeed come, whose scepter would

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never depart, hearkening back to the scepter that would not depart from Judah, right? Well, the promise

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was made to David, that one would come from his seed, from whom the scepter would never depart,

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that his kingdom would be perpetual, it would be eternal, that one would come who would occupy the

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throne forever. And behold, he is here. Ah, we see this in the book of Revelation. Behold, he is here,

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and he is ready to take his inheritance. He is ready to take the tribute from the nations.

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He is also called, then, the root of David, parenthetically. Right after being called the

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lion of the tribe of Judah, he is also called the root of David. And here we have our roots in this

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text that go back once more to the promise of David. And the promise was, then, in Isaiah chapter 11,

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verse 1, there shall come forth a shoot, right? There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse.

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Jesse was, of course, the father of David. And so we have here, then, a root in Jesse, i.e.,

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his son, David, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, as Isaiah 11 says. And Isaiah 11,

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read that chapter at your leisure, and you will see that that promise is, indeed, that the kingdom would

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be his, and that all of creation, then, would be laid hold of by David, the son, then, of Jesse.

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And, of course, his greater son, then, would come, Christ. Christ is the very type. Christ is the

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source from which all antitypes take their shape, dear listener. Christ is, then, the ultimate son.

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He is the ultimate one, the seed of the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the source from which all

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antitypes, and David is but an antitype. Jesse is but an antitype from which all, and Judah, for that

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matter, Jacob's son, is an antitype. They all take their shape from Christ. So, Christ, then, is the root

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of David. It is a deliberate pun on the source of providential power, God sovereign over time.

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God, indeed, is sovereign over time, brings all these things to bear, brings all these things to

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pass. Well, as David was known, then, as a mighty warrior and a man after God's own heart, so this

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descendant of David is also a mighty warrior. That we can say, as well, that the son of David,

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the greater son of David, will be a mighty warrior, too. Oh, how can you say that, though,

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Pastor? Christ never took up arms. He never brandished a sword. How could he, then, be a mighty

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warrior? Is he a mighty warrior who has maybe meekly gleaned a few modest crumbs from around the

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edges of creation? No, no, no, no, no, no, we must say. Oh, of course not. Has he taken control of

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the heavenly realms, but then left the rest of creation and its creatures to go to hell in a

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handbasket, preferably speaking? Is that what has happened? Oh, no. The elder says then to him,

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Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered. Once again, that word in

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the Greek has its root, Nike, right? Nike Corporation just borrowed that term from the Greek, Nike. It

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means victor, at least in their parlance, but it also means conqueror. That's another synonym for this

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word. And we have seen this all through the book of Revelation. Sometimes we just kind of skip over

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that's trying to look for the rapture, the seven-year tribulation, the 666, the beast, and all of those

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good, all that good stuff, right? No. Let's continue to hold out this motif, to follow this motif as it

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occurs all through the book of Revelation. Indeed, that the lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered,

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and we are fellow heirs with him. We are also conquerors with him. Remember that we cited Paul

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on numerous occasions calls us co-heirs with Christ. We are fellow heirs with him. He is the son who has

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inherited the kingdom, and we're going to see this as we break the seven seals, too, that Christ is

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writing forth to take hold of his inheritance that he has gotten from the Father, even as Joshua did

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in Canaan, right? We are seeing, once again, that Jesus is the new Joshua. His very name is Yeshua.

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That is Joshua. Joshua under Moses, the lieutenant of Moses, was named Yeshua as well. So it's no

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coincidence that Jesus is named after the great conqueror of Canaan, because even as Joshua took the

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Pentateuch, the scroll of inheritance, if you will, of Israel, and took that Pentateuch, those five books

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of the Bible, and rode into Canaan with Israel, and took the land, subdued the inhabitants, and took it

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for himself and for his people. So we're going to see Jesus ride forth to take this will and testament

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that is bequeathed to him by the Father, because he is worthy to break its seals. And we will see

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this same lion of the tribe of Judah, even as Joshua was a lion, and from the tribe of Judah. So we are

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going to see him ride forth, Jesus, Yeshua, ride forth to subdue all of creation, to subdue his

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inheritance. And we, his people, the church, like Israel, accompanied Joshua in Canaan. So we are

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accompanying Christ in creation, as it takes the centuries, the millennia, if you will, to subdue

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and take that creation for him and for ourselves, since we indeed are kings and priests to his God,

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right? We must always keep this in mind, that we are kings and priests, and not just for some future

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literal 1,000-year period, and we just have to struggle along and mope and hide in a corner and

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wait for the rapture. Maybe we can save a few souls here and there, but it's only during that 1,000-year

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period, literal, that we'll be kings and priests. No, we are kings and priests now, dear listener.

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And the inheritance is ours, and we are co-heirs with Christ, and thus we are co-conquerors with

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him as well. The lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered. That is, he has won the crucial and

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initial battle at the cross. He has conquered the evil one, and he has laid claim then to his

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inheritance because of that conquering. But he has conquered how? Has he conquered then with sword

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and with gun and with electoral processes? No, he has not, has he? The world concurs with Chairman Mao,

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who said famously that political power comes out of the barrel of a gun, but we say spiritual power

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comes out of the blood of the cross, does it not? And that, then, is our victory. The initial conquering

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has already been accomplished, and we're going to see this next week as we unfold precisely who it is

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and how he has conquered the lion of the tribe of Judah. We're going to see him in another aspect

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then next week. If you want to read ahead, begin at verse 6 of chapter 5, and you will see that second

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aspect before us of who this Christ is, and we'll see in more detail precisely how the lion of the tribe

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of Judah has conquered, won't we? Well, I invite you to join us then for that, but I also invite you

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to join us then for our Bible study in the book of Revelation, where we can talk about these things

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in greater detail, and we can get your feedback, your comments, your input, too. It's been so fun.

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We've been meeting on Thursday nights at Starbucks on 17th Street, and we've been beginning,

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we've just finished chapter 1 of the book of Revelation, so we're still in the beginning

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stages. Come and join us, and you can get it on the ground floor of our Bible study,

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a community Bible study on the apocalypse. We're calling it Revealing Revelation,

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a community Bible study on the apocalypse. And we meet at 7 o'clock at Starbucks on 17th Street

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in Idaho Falls. We conclude promptly at 8.15. We've got a family there with kids, and they want

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to get their kids home and into bed. And we have singles, we have couples, we have families. It's been

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really fun to be able to unpack the book of Revelation just bit by bit and get people's feedback.

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It's been so fun to get feedback from people, different perspectives, and we're sharing our

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perspective, too. It's being team-taught with me, Pastor Dave Bass from New Geneva, and then also

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Pastor Mike Gilea of Share the Sun Ministries. And we both have had just a ball being able to do this,

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so we invite you to join us. And then we also invite you to join us at New Geneva Orthodox

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Presbyterian Church, where I'm preaching through the book of Revelation, too. We're getting revelation

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from all kinds of aspects, aren't we? And I just invite you to join us for holy worship on Sunday

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at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Join us as I'm preaching through the book

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of Revelation. And for just blessed holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner

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of 4th and Boulevard. You can call us for more information, maybe to put your reservation in to

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join us on Thursday evening. Call us at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196.