Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with the moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today I want to challenge you to think through the issue of who is worthy to open the seven-sealed scroll of Revelation chapter 5, which is the will and testament of the Father to the Son. Only if he is worthy, though, however, and we're going to see indeed in chapter 5, that there is one worthy, despite John's tears and trauma, there is one worthy in heaven to open the seven-sealed scroll.

What a beautiful text, and it will indeed determine much of what we have to see in the rest of the book of Revelation 2. So before we get to that, though, properly, I just want to, once again, unfold for you what we have going on Thursday evenings, and that is a community Bible study on the book of Revelation. And it's turning out to be everything that I'd hoped it would be. We're meeting in a public place, a neutral territory, if you will, not on our church property, not in our church sanctuary, but at Starbucks on 17th Street in Idaho Falls. And that's been a delightful venue.

The people there are sweet and gracious to us, and they turn down the music, and they have good coffee brewing and some good snacks. So I just really commend to you Starbucks on 17th Street. Great place. They've been very gracious to us. And we have all anywhere from 9 to 15 people on any given Thursday evening from all over the city.

And we just invite you to come and join us, too, if you'd like. It's been a great time just to kick back and to look at the book of Revelation and go through it from an alternative perspective of the majority view of the book of Revelation, where we have the Revelation red heifer rapture rants that usually you hear. Well, we're going through this in a way that the church has traditionally gone through it, going back many, many centuries. And the traditions and the understanding of the book of Revelation, which has broad application in the lives of every Christian, we're being introduced to that in our study.

I'm teaching, and a fellow brother and friend of mine, Pastor Mike Gilliam of Share the Sun Ministries, is also teaching. We're team teaching the book of Revelation. We share the desire to bring the historical view of the book of Revelation to Idaho Falls in a way that it hasn't been brought before, I think. And we're doing it in a community way, in an open way, where we've had lots of good discussion, great questions. And it's been just a great time of fellowship over a nice, strong cup of coffee, which I'll never turn down.

And we do this on Thursday nights at 7 o'clock at Starbucks on 17th Street. And we invite you to come and join us, check us out, and see how we're doing, see what we're doing. And we just would love to have you participate with us and bring your perspective on the book of Revelation, your questions, your passions, whatever it might be. 7 o'clock on Thursday evenings, Starbucks on 17th Street in Idaho Falls. Well, what then can we say about who is worthy to open the seven-sealed scroll of Revelation chapter 5?

Let's go ahead and answer that question. And let's begin by reading the text, first of all. The text we're dealing with is Revelation chapter 5, verses 1 through 5, if you want to follow along with us. And we begin Revelation 5, 1 through 5. 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 strong 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.

Revelation chapter 5, verses 1 through 5. The last week we saw the nature of that seven sealed scroll. And indeed we saw that the inhabitants of the ancient world, the readers of the apocalypse, the first readers in that first century would have immediately understood what that seven sealed scroll was. And indeed it was the will and testament of a father to his sons. And we see this, the scholar Zahn, and he's one of my favorites on the book of Revelation.

And he says this, and I quote him, the word biblion, that's the Greek word employed here by John, the word biblion itself permits of many interpretations, but for the readers of that time, it was designated by the seven seals on its back beyond possibility of mistake. The most simple member of the Asiatic churches knew that a biblion made fast with seven seals was a testament that is a will. Unquote. That would have been its most self-evident nature. We saw this last time we were together.

The ancient Roman will and testament, for example, was given on a scroll where the greater the inheritance, the more was written, sometimes fully on both front and back. And that's indeed what we have here. And we'll see as we go through Revelation, what Christ inherits is all of creation. And then a will and testament, an ancient will and testament in the Roman world was sealed by seven witnesses who affixed their personal seals to the scroll so that it would not be tampered with until the death of the testator.

And upon the death of the testator then, usually the father of a great estate, well then, the eldest son would open the scroll and read and execute the will and testament. And he would do it ideally in the presence of the seven witnesses who sealed the scroll originally. Well, we still have formal ceremonies, don't we? We saw that. We still have formal ceremonies in much the same fashion today.

So we know something of what this is like. But behold, the scene before us, right? And before it can be opened, though, a one worthy to open that scroll had to be found. The one to whom it was written and who was worthy to do so. And we saw last week that temporarily, at least, no one was found worthy in heaven or on earth or under the earth, that is in all of creation.

That's what that indicates. Heaven or earth or under the earth, that is in the abyss or the underworld, no one was able to open the scroll or to look into us. And this causes the apostle John then to break down and weep because he understood the implications of this. That is, we're certainly lost. The promises to us from the beginning of the world to now would be null and void.

If indeed no one was worthy, that scroll would be sealed uptight even now. All the promises of our Lord's ministry, while John walked with him on the earth, would have come up short in the final analysis. Oh, dear listener, what reaction would this prompt in any of us, right? If indeed John breaks down and is willing to weep and to wail, right? Weep no more.

However, an angel says, weep no more. And this is deliberate drama that we have before us. John has broken down and wept uncontrollably when he sees that no one worthy is found to break the seals of the scroll because he too, the apostle John, as well as us, all of us are invested in the contents of that scroll. That is all the promise of the covenants, the inheritance of the nations, all of these things, salvation and redemption even. How would you respond, right?

Well, all of us would weep and we're meant then to identify with the apostle John. We're meant to identify with his circumstances and to see in stark contrast to what we know we have in Christ, to see in stark contrast what would be the alternative if indeed no one was found worthy to open that scroll. So this is the deliberate drama that we left off with then last week. So let's look then at this final verse five today and to see the opening of one who is found worthy. And verse five, of course, of chapter five of Revelation says, 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. Oh, we've read this text many, many times. Perhaps I know I have. So I knew that even while John was weeping, of course, there would be one found worthy, but we didn't move on too quickly from it. We are deliberately left hanging and we are deliberately meant to feel poignantly what the alternative to finding one worthy of the scroll, opening the scroll would be.

So then once more, we see in this mighty angel who has the scroll, now we're segwaying to one of the elders, the 24 elders that we have seen before surrounding the throne. And indeed, one of those elders, those elders we saw as well, are angelic beings, creations, sons of God, as it were, beings that had been created directly from the hand of God. That's really what sons of God in this context means. It doesn't mean that they are equal to Christ or that they are very God of very God as Christ is, but the idea that the sons of God in the Bible, when they refer to created beings, are beings that are created directly from the hand of God.

And they are not created immediately like they are with human beings. We give birth to our progeny. We give birth to our kind, but not so with the kind in heaven. The 24 elders were all created directly from the hand of God. And so they are also known as sons of God, or even God, small g, g-o-d-s, small g. And we see this reflected, oh, Psalm 82, for example.

If you go to Psalm 82, you'll see this referred to as well. So we have these creatures then, one of these creatures, one of the 24 elders then begins to approach John. One of the elders said to me, weep no more, all right? And this is quite a contrast, the cast of creatures to whom we've been introduced steps forward. And like a good elder, he counsels John to weep no more.

One commentator puts it this way, a man named David Chilton. He says, thus the church preaches the gospel to St. John. Kind of an ironic situation here. And as he focuses John's attention, first of all, he says, behold, right? We see this throughout Revelation.

And when we see that word behold, we are meant to focus our attention for a moment on whatever scene, whatever detail the speaker is pointing out to us. And the object of that attention is our Lord. That is one of whose attributes is brought forward. And it's done so with two significant titles. And we'll take a look at the second title next week.

But for this week, let's look at that first attribute that's brought out by his name because it is pertinent to the subject at hand. That is the opening of the scroll, the seven-sealed scroll, the will and testament of God the Father to his Son. And that title is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Oh, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. What a rich interpretive history this title has for us all through Scripture and reaches its culmination now here in the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible.

But what an apt place then to put a period and exclamation mark, if you will, at the end of the use of this title, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This is the promise of one who would arise from the Tribe of Judah, that is, one of Jacob's sons, going all the way back to the blessing pronounced upon him. Remember in that grand scene of Jacob's demise, of Jacob's final breath, and when he pronounces blessings upon his sons. And he says to Judah, Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He stooped down. He crouched as a lion and as a lioness. Who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Unquote from Genesis 49, 9 through 10.

Indeed, what a grand prophetic pronouncement this is for this tribe, for this son of Jacob, indeed. And we see this throughout Scripture, too. Psalm 2, we see that he will indeed break as a powder's vessel. He will break and shatter the nations, and the nations will be his inheritance. Psalm 2 promises this, and it goes all the way back to this blessing from the son, this son of Jacob, right?

Judah. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him. And that tribute is going to be all of creation, dear listener. And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Indeed, the promise all through Scripture is this.

The son of Jacob, the lion of the tribe of Judah, will indeed be king. And we see then, one of his descendants, the conquering king David, would arise from where? From which tribe? From Judah, of course. And David would become the type of the one who would come, that is, the antitype, Jesus of Nazareth.

We see the pattern of Jesus even in the life of David, who was a man after God's own heart, right? And that promise was reinforced in the covenant that God made with David, indeed, the promise was made. Remember that the prophet Nathan came to David with the promise, with a covenant that David, one from his seed would indeed come, whose scepter would never depart, hearkening back to the scepter that would not depart from Judah, right?

Well, the promise was made to David, that one would come from his seed, from whom the scepter would never depart, that his kingdom would be perpetual, it would be eternal, that one would come who would occupy the throne forever. And behold, he is here. Ah, we see this in the book of Revelation. Behold, he is here, and he is ready to take his inheritance. He is ready to take the tribute from the nations.

He is also called, then, the root of David, parenthetically. Right after being called the lion of the tribe of Judah, he is also called the root of David. And here we have our roots in this text that go back once more to the promise of David. And the promise was, then, in Isaiah chapter 11, verse 1, there shall come forth a shoot, right? There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse.

Jesse was, of course, the father of David. And so we have here, then, a root in Jesse, i.e., his son, David, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, as Isaiah 11 says. And Isaiah 11, read that chapter at your leisure, and you will see that that promise is, indeed, that the kingdom would be his, and that all of creation, then, would be laid hold of by David, the son, then, of Jesse. And, of course, his greater son, then, would come, Christ. Christ is the very type.

Christ is the source from which all antitypes take their shape, dear listener. Christ is, then, the ultimate son. He is the ultimate one, the seed of the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the source from which all antitypes, and David is but an antitype. Jesse is but an antitype from which all, and Judah, for that matter, Jacob's son, is an antitype.

They all take their shape from Christ. So, Christ, then, is the root of David. It is a deliberate pun on the source of providential power, God sovereign over time. God, indeed, is sovereign over time, brings all these things to bear, brings all these things to pass. Well, as David was known, then, as a mighty warrior and a man after God's own heart, so this descendant of David is also a mighty warrior.

That we can say, as well, that the son of David, the greater son of David, will be a mighty warrior, too. Oh, how can you say that, though, Pastor? Christ never took up arms. He never brandished a sword. How could he, then, be a mighty warrior?

Is he a mighty warrior who has maybe meekly gleaned a few modest crumbs from around the edges of creation? No, no, no, no, no, no, we must say. Oh, of course not. Has he taken control of the heavenly realms, but then left the rest of creation and its creatures to go to hell in a handbasket, preferably speaking? Is that what has happened?

Oh, no. The elder says then to him, Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered. Once again, that word in the Greek has its root, Nike, right? Nike Corporation just borrowed that term from the Greek, Nike. It means victor, at least in their parlance, but it also means conqueror.

That's another synonym for this word. And we have seen this all through the book of Revelation. Sometimes we just kind of skip over that's trying to look for the rapture, the seven-year tribulation, the 666, the beast, and all of those good, all that good stuff, right? No. Let's continue to hold out this motif, to follow this motif as it occurs all through the book of Revelation.

Indeed, that the lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered, and we are fellow heirs with him. We are also conquerors with him. Remember that we cited Paul on numerous occasions calls us co-heirs with Christ. We are fellow heirs with him. He is the son who has inherited the kingdom, and we're going to see this as we break the seven seals, too, that Christ is writing forth to take hold of his inheritance that he has gotten from the Father, even as Joshua did in Canaan, right?

We are seeing, once again, that Jesus is the new Joshua. His very name is Yeshua. That is Joshua. Joshua under Moses, the lieutenant of Moses, was named Yeshua as well. So it's no coincidence that Jesus is named after the great conqueror of Canaan, because even as Joshua took the Pentateuch, the scroll of inheritance, if you will, of Israel, and took that Pentateuch, those five books of the Bible, and rode into Canaan with Israel, and took the land, subdued the inhabitants, and took it for himself and for his people.

So we're going to see Jesus ride forth to take this will and testament that is bequeathed to him by the Father, because he is worthy to break its seals. And we will see this same lion of the tribe of Judah, even as Joshua was a lion, and from the tribe of Judah. So we are going to see him ride forth, Jesus, Yeshua, ride forth to subdue all of creation, to subdue his inheritance. And we, his people, the church, like Israel, accompanied Joshua in Canaan.

So we are accompanying Christ in creation, as it takes the centuries, the millennia, if you will, to subdue and take that creation for him and for ourselves, since we indeed are kings and priests to his God, right? We must always keep this in mind, that we are kings and priests, and not just for some future literal 1,000-year period, and we just have to struggle along and mope and hide in a corner and wait for the rapture. Maybe we can save a few souls here and there, but it's only during that 1,000-year period, literal, that we'll be kings and priests. No, we are kings and priests now, dear listener.

And the inheritance is ours, and we are co-heirs with Christ, and thus we are co-conquerors with him as well. The lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered. That is, he has won the crucial and initial battle at the cross. He has conquered the evil one, and he has laid claim then to his inheritance because of that conquering. But he has conquered how?

Has he conquered then with sword and with gun and with electoral processes? No, he has not, has he? The world concurs with Chairman Mao, who said famously that political power comes out of the barrel of a gun, but we say spiritual power comes out of the blood of the cross, does it not? And that, then, is our victory. The initial conquering has already been accomplished, and we're going to see this next week as we unfold precisely who it is and how he has conquered the lion of the tribe of Judah.

We're going to see him in another aspect then next week. If you want to read ahead, begin at verse 6 of chapter 5, and you will see that second aspect before us of who this Christ is, and we'll see in more detail precisely how the lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered, won't we? Well, I invite you to join us then for that, but I also invite you to join us then for our Bible study in the book of Revelation, where we can talk about these things in greater detail, and we can get your feedback, your comments, your input, too. It's been so fun.

We've been meeting on Thursday nights at Starbucks on 17th Street, and we've been beginning, we've just finished chapter 1 of the book of Revelation, so we're still in the beginning stages. Come and join us, and you can get it on the ground floor of our Bible study, a community Bible study on the apocalypse. We're calling it Revealing Revelation, a community Bible study on the apocalypse. And we meet at 7 o'clock at Starbucks on 17th Street in Idaho Falls. We conclude promptly at 8.15.

We've got a family there with kids, and they want to get their kids home and into bed. And we have singles, we have couples, we have families. It's been really fun to be able to unpack the book of Revelation just bit by bit and get people's feedback. It's been so fun to get feedback from people, different perspectives, and we're sharing our perspective, too. It's being team-taught with me, Pastor Dave Bass from New Geneva, and then also Pastor Mike Gilea of Share the Sun Ministries.

And we both have had just a ball being able to do this, so we invite you to join us. And then we also invite you to join us at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church, where I'm preaching through the book of Revelation, too. We're getting revelation from all kinds of aspects, aren't we? And I just invite you to join us for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Join us as I'm preaching through the book of Revelation.

And for just blessed holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. You can call us for more information, maybe to put your reservation in to join us on Thursday evening. Call us at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196.