Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, we challenge you to think through the issue of who is worthy to break the seven-sealed scroll in the book of Revelation in chapter five. The seven-sealed scroll, which we have seen already, is the will and testament of the Father to a son, a son who is worthy then to open those seals.

Well, before we see who it is that is worthy to take that scroll and to break its seven seals, let me remind you of a Bible study that we are having, and we're making progress every week. We have a book or a Bible study, a book study, a book study of the book of Revelation that we're sponsoring, but we're holding it off-site. That is not on our church property or any other church's property, but rather at a Starbucks on 17th Street, and we're calling it Revealing Revelation, a community study of the apocalypse. Indeed, the apocalypse, which is also the book of Revelation, meaning, indeed, apocalypsis, that is, revelation.

And we have been several weeks now. I'm losing track of how many weeks we've been studying the book of Revelation, but it's been so fun. It's been everything that I had hoped it would be. We have not only people from our church, but from churches across the city and across the region, for that matter. And then we have some individuals who aren't particularly associated with any church, and they're starting to come, too.

So it's been so great. We have advanced our understanding of the book of Revelation. We've had time then to share with each other and share our perspectives on the book of Revelation, and then also give our input. That is, when I say our, I mean myself, Pastor David Bass at New Geneva, and then also my co-teacher, Pastor Mike Gillia, of Share the Sun Ministries. We have been team teaching the book of Revelation.

We share a perspective, a broad and general perspective on the book of Revelation. And so it's been just a delight to team teach with my brother and co-laborer, Pastor Mike Gillia of Share the Sun Ministries. And we invite you to join us on Thursday evenings at seven o'clock at Starbucks on 17th Street. And there you're going to find a community of folks who will welcome you, and you'll feel as if you can be a full participant in sharing your views and your perspectives, and then we will as well. So that is all in order, and hopefully you'll be able to join us here in weeks to come.

Thursday evening, seven o'clock at Starbucks, a community study of the apocalypse. Well, let us look then to our text today. What a delightful text it is, too. We're going to look at Revelation chapter five, verses six to ten, and see who is worthy to open the seven sealed scroll of the book of Revelation. But before we do that, let's go ahead and read the text.

And I'm going to, for context, I'm going to provide you with a reading from Revelation chapter five, verses one to ten. We'll be concentrating on verses six to ten. But for context, let's give it a go at Revelation five, one to ten. Here we go. 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. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 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. 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 24 elders fell down before the lion.

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 its 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 king, to be kings and priests, to serve our God.

And they will reign on the earth, unquote. Revelation chapter 5 verses 1 to 10. Well, last week we looked at the lion of the tribe of Judah, right? Today we're going to see about the lamb of God. Mixed metaphors.

One of my favorite forms of humor is the mixed metaphor in English. That is when someone consciously or unconsciously combines several cliches or metaphors to cause bewilderment, maybe even laughter. Yogi Barra is one of my favorite examples of a man who could mix metaphors like nobody else. He would say about his management style, for example, he was a baseball manager for the New York Yankees. And about his style, he would say, I'm shooting from the seat of my pants.

I'm not sure I want to be in the way of that. He also said, it's time to step up to the plate and cut the mustard. That's a mixed metaphor, right? And he also said this, you can put the cart before the horse, but you can't. Make him drink.

Oh, my goodness. Now that's a mixed metaphor, if anything is, right? And then he said this, I wouldn't want to be in anywhere near this man's bedroom. He said he had a lot of black sheep in his closet about a certain person that he didn't entirely agree with. And then he also said about Casey Stengel, his former manager.

He said, if he were alive today, he'd be turning over in his grave. And then when he just offered a comment that was kind of embarrassing, he said it was one that was off the cuff of my head rather than the top of my head. These are mixed metaphors. And my English composition teacher in high school used to mark us down when we used mixed metaphors, but not so the Holy Spirit, not the Holy Spirit in the Bible. As my Greek exegesis teacher used to say, he used to say, the Bible is not afraid to use mixed metaphors when describing our Lord.

And that's so true. In fact, the case can be made that it is impossible to adequately form an idea of the multifaceted nature of the persons of the Godhead without doing precisely this. That is, mixed metaphors to try and capture the immense and majestic work and nature of Christ and his accomplishments. And we're going to try and do that a bit today in looking at a mixed metaphor between the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Lamb of God. Let's look first at verse 6, for example.

And I'd like to make this point with you, summarizing verse 6, this point, Agnus Dei, that is Latin for the Lamb of God. It is constantly, don't we? Some of you are familiar with this term, the Agnus Dei, Latin for God. And the point I want to make from verse 6 is, our Lord Jesus Christ stands immediately as the Lamb of God in the Spirit between the Father, all of creation. Oh yes, majestic picture we have of the Lord Jesus Christ here in chapter 5, verse 6.

Now, we saw last week one of the determinative factors for revelation, which will carry through for the rest of the apocalypse too. That is, the seven-sealed scroll in the right hand of the Father is a will and testament by which he who can open it inherits all of creation as his possession. Oh, we saw last week from the great German scholar Zahn, this observation. And I quote him now, so important. He said, the word biblion, that's the Greek word here.

You can hear the word Bible deriving from it. The word biblion itself permits of many interpretations. And that could be, for example, it could be a book of destiny and providence, which many maintain that it is, or maybe a deed of land to a scroll, a biblion. He goes on to say, then, 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, unquote. That is a will. We also saw then that in great despair, the apostle John weeps uncontrollably when he realizes no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, unquote. Right? We saw that last week.

And we were meant then to resonate with the apostle and not to hastily fleeing to the next verses. Many of you who have read Revelation time and again, you know that there is one worthy to open the scroll. But indeed, in these verses, we are meant then to resonate with the apostle John in weeping. Because just think about if no one had been found to open that scroll, it would still be sealed. And we would still be in our sins.

And we would not be inheriting all of creation as coheirs with Christ. All of these things, right? We were meant to contemplate the full implications of an eternally sealed will and testament. Oh, but alas, the text goes on to tell us that one of the creatures from the Council of 24 Elders steps up to John to reassure him. That indeed, he says, 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.

Remember that from verse 5? And read detailed, too. I urge you to consult the message from last week so that you can see precisely how we detailed the history of this beautiful metaphor for the Messiah, Lord Jesus Christ, all through biblical history, the lion of the tribe of Judah. And here is where we mix our metaphors, though, here at this juncture. For when John looks for where the conquering lion of Judah may be found, what does he find, right?

He turns to see. He turns to look to see and cast his eyes on this lion of the tribe of Judah. What does he find? Does he find maybe a navy seal from the tribe of John Wayne? No.

Maybe he sees a noble knight from the round table of King Arthur. No, no, no. None of those things, does he? What he does see then is a lamb standing as though it had been slain. Oh, my.

Not only is a lamb standing as though it had been slain, a mixed metaphor with the lion of the tribe of Judah, but it is also counterintuitive, isn't it? Lambs are conquered generally. Meek and mild, aren't they? They are not conquerors. They are victims.

They're not victors. Oh, my, my. To the worldling, this kind of metaphor is foolishness. And as the apostle Paul puts it to the Corinthians in his first letter to the Corinthians, he says, has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, excuse me.

It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified a stumbling black to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For first Corinthians chapter one. That applies here in the metaphor before us of the lamb, the Agnus Dei, the lamb of God. Because in the wisdom of God, he prepared his people with over two millennia, 2,000 years of sacrifice with the Agnus Dei, the lamb of God. And it was central to the deliverance of his people. That is the Passover lamb, right?

And so consequently, in this two millennia of history of sacrifice, by the time we arrive at the foot of the throne of the Father here, we find a perfectly sound metaphor for our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has indeed conquered death and sin. This is how he has conquered. He has conquered death and sin by his own blood. That which majorly stands in the way of eternal life with the Father between us and him, our sin. Christ took it away.

This was his conquering. So as absurd and foolish as it may be for those outside of Christ, we who have been delivered, we who have been saved, we who have had Christ's blood stand between us and our sin and the Father, we mix these metaphors with perfect consistency and beauty and worship too. Aren't you prompted to worship the Lord Jesus Christ for what he has done in bringing us to the Father? So when we look at the Agnus Dei, when we look at the Lamb of God, do not neglect these several features. First of all, the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God, is positioned between the throne and the four living creatures and the elders.

He's there as intercessor between all of creation, between the Father and all of creation. If you wish access to the Father, if you wish to come to the Father, you must first come to his intercessor. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the word estikos in the Greek, in the Septuagint, it is also translated as standing. The word estikos is a technical liturgical term too, in the order of service in the temple.

And this word estikos, when a priest would stand, it would signal the priestly function of the one so standing to perform his priestly labors of intercession. And that's exactly what we have here. The high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, exercising his priestly function of intercession between the people and the Father, and between the people and the Lord in the Holy of Holies, right? That's how it worked in the temple. And of course, we have seen already that the earthly temple is but a figure, a shadow of the heavenly temple, the early church as well.

The early church, that is in the first, second, third centuries and so, the early church also quickly incorporated this feature into its liturgy. It saw Revelation as a handbook for worship too, which we should also see the book of Revelation as. It is meant to be seen so. This is one of the revolutionary things in my current reading of the book of Revelation is that I too am beginning to see it as a handbook for worship. If it's good enough for the eternal worship of heaven, it ought to be for the worship of the church as best we can reprise it.

Oh, yes. Therefore, in every early liturgy, whether it was East or West, Greek or Latin or Russian, there is a portion of the liturgy that was called the Agnus Dei, that is the Lamb of God, an entire portion of worship dedicated and given over to this scene in heaven, the Agnus Dei. And consequently, too, as you look over the centuries and centuries, you think you've got good music now. My, my, my, look at the two centuries of music we have. Some of the most beautiful music of the entire church is dedicated to this portion of the liturgy, to the Agnus Dei, to the Lamb of God.

I urge you to seek the catalog of the music of the church and go back centuries and centuries and see how the beautiful music of the West has been developed and, in large part, because of this portion of the worship service, the Agnus Dei. And we cheat ourselves by dismissing it as just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. And, oh, we're so eager to move on then to the real stuff, the 7-Eleven choruses that we sing in worship or the 15-minute mixed sermons. No, there is real and genuine worship incorporated here in the music of the church. Note also, then, the Trinitarian nature of our metaphor as well.

The Trinitarian nature of our metaphor. We have the Father seated upon the throne. And then we have the Son as intercessor. Do we not? The Son, then, as intercessor between his creation and the Father.

And now we have, then, the seven, or we have the Spirit pictured as the seven horns, right, on the Lamb and the seven eyes, which represents omniscience and omnipresence that John interprets for us. He says, which are the seven spirits of God. Now, we should be resonating with that because we've seen it earlier in chapter 1. The seven spirits of God, indeed, are a beautiful picture and image of the Holy Spirit sent out into all the earth, right? That's that sense of omniscience and omnipresence.

All the earth is, indeed, overseen by the seven spirits of God, the Holy Spirit. That is, it's a perfect text. If you're going to preach on Trinity Sunday, if you're a pastor or a preacher, right? Well, this is not a static picture, however, because we have in verse 7 another very profound picture. We have, indeed, verse 7.

Let me summarize that verse for you. Agnus Dei. Our Lord Jesus Christ receives directly, as the Lamb of God, the will and testament of the Father to all of creation. Oh, that will is for all of creation. In verse 7, he receives it, right?

We see that in verse 7. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. Oh, this is a liturgical action, too. That is something that was done in the Old Testament and something that is done in New Testament churches that practice a righteous and holy liturgy. The apocalypse initiates the narrative action for the rest of the book, right here, with this liturgical action, the handing over of the scroll from the Father to the Son.

This Lion, this Lamb of God, Lion of the tribe of Judah, who is simultaneously the Lamb of God, both offices, both attributes, this Lion and Lamb is worthy to do so because he is the only being in all the universe. Think of it. The only being in all the universe who has conquered that which stands as a separating blight on all of creation. That is the sin and death inaugurated by this covenant head and steward of all that God has made, that is man.

By becoming this Lion, this Lamb, has become both God and man and therefore being by nature one who could satisfy both the demands of being the existential bridge to the Father and his creature man and then by being the new Adam as well, who was perfect, perfectly holy, and yet powerful to save as well. Oh my. Yes, he is worthy indeed to receive the will and testament of the Father to all of creation. By being slain, that is by being crucified, Christ died the death of the testator. You remember what is required for the inauguration of a will and testament?

Do you not? From Hebrews chapter 9. Therefore, he is the mediator, that is Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. Ah, the inheritance, right? All of creation.

Since a death has occurred, Hebrews says, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, and here we have a will, do we not? In the will and testament of the Father, the seven-sealed scroll. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

Oh, yes, a will takes effect only at death. And here, this will takes effect because of the death of Christ. The New Testament has no problem mixing metaphors again. Jesus dies the death of the testator. That is, the one who made the will and testament, because Jesus, as fully God, also made the will and testament, but is also the inheritor of that at the same time, in the same way that he is lion and lamb simultaneously.

Many teachers who reject the seven-sealed scroll as a will and testament do so because of the so-called logical inconsistency of the son dying the death of the testator, but that's not required. Indeed, the Bible mixes metaphors beautifully. He is both the testator and the one who dies, too. So, as we reprise the Agnus Dei in our worship services, we acknowledge and we teach the power, sovereignty, and worthiness of our Lord Jesus Christ. He, indeed, is worthy to receive that scroll.

He's, indeed, worthy to receive the will and testament from the Father because he is not only the one who is the testator and died the death of the testator, but he is also the one who inherits and receives the will and testament. That is, all of creation. And we, as co-heirs with him, are also co-inheritors of this creation. And we are co-conquerors, too, as we'll see in days to come and weeks to come. But for now, we have this beautiful image of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God, and it should prompt you to worship.

Go to church this Sunday and worship this Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has, indeed, been found worthy to open the seven-sealed scroll of the Father. What a beautiful picture. What a beautiful text we've had today. Well, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Idaho Falls, Idaho. And I just encourage you not only to attend our worship service, but also perhaps our Bible study on Thursday evenings, 7 o'clock.

We're meeting at Starbucks on 17th Street. And we're having a good time. We buy some coffee and some treats and sit down and pour over the text, and we're able to relax and kick back and talk about it and get your input. So join us on Thursday evenings in Idaho Falls, 7 o'clock, at Starbucks on 17th Street for our community Bible study of the Book of Revelation. How fun it's been.

I'm co-teaching the course with Pastor Mike Gillia of Share the Sun Ministries. It's been fun co-teaching that with him. But I also invite you then to join us for our worship services at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. I'm preaching through the book of Revelation, too.

My life has been almost all things Revelation here, combined with this radio program, the Bible study, my preaching. My head is just bursting with insights and things from the book of Revelation. So I would just urge you to join us for holy worship at New Geneva on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more information at area code 208-523-0196. And maybe get some feedback.

Give me some feedback on what you think here. But more information maybe to tell us you're going to be there at the book study, too, by calling area code 208-523-0196.