Series: Journey Through Revelation (Week 4 of 8)
Dr. Woodrow Kroll
July 27, 2010

Woodrow Kroll: What's the significance of the scroll, the search and the Lamb?

Tami Weissert: That's what we'll discover in today's study.

Woodrow Kroll: Join us as we continue our journey through Revelation. Hi, I'm Woodrow Kroll.

Tami Weissert: I'm Tami Weissert.

Woodrow Kroll: And this is Back to the Bible.

Tami Weissert: Yesterday's study from chapter 4 brought us to God's throne and that's where chapter 5 begins at the right hand of God on His throne.

Woodrow Kroll: Yes, and Tami, God is holding a scroll. We'll talk about the meaning of that scroll a little bit later. Now this scroll needs to be opened by someone worthy enough to handle such an important piece of information from God. And that's where the search comes in.

Tami Weissert: And the search is a very humbling yet very inspiring part of this passage. So let's get started with our study. Here's Dr. Kroll.

Woodrow Kroll: We are in Revelation 5:1. He says, "And I saw in the right hand of Him," this is John talking now. John is looking into heaven. God has cracked open heaven and is giving John some insight into what happens after John's lifetime, what happens after John is dead.

In fact, what happens in the future whenever it happens, that's the issue. We know what. We just don't know when it is going to take place. So, he says, "Look, I want you to see. I will reveal to you, and you write down the things that I show you.

And John is struggling here to get just the right language to describe the indescribable. And he looks into heaven and he says, "I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals" (Revelation 5:1).

OK, what throne are we talking about? Well, this is right on the heels of chapter 4 so we would have to assume we are talking about the throne of God because chapter 4 was all about God's throne.

Since it's the One sitting on the throne--and there is only one--we assume that verse 1 is talking about God. And in God's right hand is this scroll.

Now remember, God is Spirit, so when he talks about God's right hand, he is using language that you and I can identify with. Is it scientific to say God has a right hand? Well, probably not any more scientific than to say the sun rose this morning. We understand now the sun doesn't rise, but that's the language we use.

So he's using language you and I can identify with. He says in the right hand of God, there was this scroll, this rolled up piece of parchment. And the interesting thing about this scroll is that it was written on both sides.

Now, I say that's interesting because ordinarily you would only write on one side of a scroll. It's written on the front side of it. And it's written on the back side of it. And it's rolled up together so it's in a round roll, like you would expect a scroll to look. But the interesting thing is, it's sealed with seven seals.

Now, I don't think these seven seals are right in a row at the edge so that you break all seven seals, and then you can unroll the scroll. It looks like there's a seal, you break that seal, unroll it a little ways and then inside there's another seal. And before you can go on, you have to break the second seal. You roll it a little more, and then there's a third seal. So, these seals come in, kind of consecutive order, not all of them on the front strip of the scroll.

So, what we know here is that we have a scroll. God knows the contents of that scroll. Nobody else does. But God has promised John that He will reveal to him the future. And I think what's on the scroll is the program of God for the future. Basically, what you have recorded in Revelation 5 to the end of the Book of Revelation is what's written on the scroll.

And John is interested in seeing it, and so am I because I don't know anything about the future unless I get it from a good source. And this source comes from the hand of God. So, I think I have a good source here. Look what it says, verse 2: "Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?'"

See, God has the scroll; but the issue is who is worthy of opening that scroll to reveal to us what the future holds. And at this point, you can write in Nostradamus or Jeane Dixon or your local tabloid newspaper going out of the check-out counter at the supermarket, write in any name you want. The issue is not who knows what's going to happen in the future. The issue is who is worthy to know what's going to happen in the future.

That's why all the kooks and quacks that I see every now and then, who tell me what's going to happen next year, those people can't tell me what's going to happen in the future, not because they aren't able; it's because they aren't worthy.

So, the issue here is, is someone worthy to know what's going to happen in the future. So, they make this great search of heaven.

And notice it says in verse 3, "And no one in heaven or on earth," now that's biblical terminology for everywhere. You know, heaven and earth, that's it. You and I live on the earth. We identify with it. God lives in the great vastness of space, the universe, the third heaven. So, we have heaven, everything else and earth.

And a search was made of all heaven and all earth and, in fact, even under the earth, the nether world: Hades, the place of the dead. So, God's home, my home and the home of the dead, every place you could possibly go to find someone worthy was searched (at that place), to look for someone to open the scroll or even look at it because this scroll contains the important events of the future.

And God knows what's in it. But you have to find someone worthy to open that scroll or even to look at that scroll. And so this whole search is made. And, by the way, back in verse 3 there, where it says, "no one," the word that is used there is not the word used for man; he's not talking about no human being was found. It's talking about any order of being.

So, there was no angel found. There was no animal found. There was no spirit found. There was no man or woman found. There was no one being or entity throughout the entire search worthy to look in the scroll.

As a result of that, John was just devastated. I mean, look what he does here. It says verse 4, "So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or [even] to look at it."

Now, come on, John, buck up. So, you can't see in the scroll. What's the big deal here? Well, the big deal is--this is the future. And the whole reason John has, in his spirit at least, been caught up to heaven (chapter 4, verse 1) is so God could give him a look at the future. And now it looks like he has run into an insurmountable roadblock.

The only place you can identify the future is from this scroll, and there is nobody worthy to open the scroll or even look at it. And John says, "Oh man, here I am; I have this vision and I am going to get nowhere." So, he begins to weep. And he weeps out loud. And this is a tender passage. Look at verse 5: One of the elders [one of those twenty-four] said to me, [John,] "'Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.'

"And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth" (Revelation 5:5-6).

Tami Weissert: You're listening to a Journey Through Revelation with Bible teacher, Woodrow Kroll here on Back to the Bible.

Woodrow Kroll: Now, remember this is a book of symbolism; so we are talking here about a Lion who is a Lamb or a Lamb who is a Lion. And both of those designations relate to the Lord Jesus, don't they? So, suddenly one of the elders says, "John, don't worry. Look, you are concerned because the search didn't reveal anybody who could open the scroll, and there was no one worthy of doing it. But that doesn't mean God doesn't have somebody worthy."

But just because you and I don't understand, doesn't mean God doesn't understand. Just because we don't have a plan, doesn't mean God doesn't have a plan. Just because you ask me a question I can't answer, doesn't mean there isn't an answer. It just means I can't answer it.

And just because a search was made of all heaven and all earth and all the land under the earth, just because a search was made and not a person, not an animal, not a being, not a spirit, no one, nothing was found, doesn't mean there isn't someone.

It just means the search didn't turn up the right one. So, he is helping John work through this. And the issue here is, who is the right one?

And you see who the right One is. The right One is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Now, that's an expression that is reserved, of course, for the Lord Jesus. And it's the Root of David, that's another expression reserved for the Lord Jesus. He's the One who has prevailed to open the scroll, to loose its seven seals and to look on the inside.

And look at the description of Jesus in verse 6: it talks about all those eyes, seven eyes, seven horns, lots of things that [make] you say, "My goodness, this is really scary stuff." But again, remember this is designed not to show us what Jesus looks like physically in heaven, just as He doesn't look like a lion with four legs and a tail, or a lamb with a little bushy fur on Him. This is showing His character.

And what He is saying here is, this is a person who has seven horns. He has the perfect right (seven being the perfect number, remember), He has the perfect right to rule in heaven because of the seven horns.

He had seven eyes. The seven lamps before the throne represent the seven Spirits or seven-fold Spirit of God. These seven eyes of the Lamb I think represent the ability that Jesus has to see everything. He is the one who searches the hearts and knows everything there is to know about us.

So, what we have here is the only Person worthy to open the scroll and tell you for sure what's going to happen in the future.

Now, there's one last little issue we need to deal with here. Did you notice that this is a lamb, this Lion, this Root of David, is also a lamb? In fact, it says in verse 6 that He was as a lamb who had been slain. Now, that's a pretty clear identification of who this Lamb is. This is the Lord Jesus.

Interestingly enough, the Greek word for lamb here is the word arnion, a-r-n-i-o-n. It's found only in the Book of Revelation and in the Gospel of John (written by the same person, by the way). John 21:15 expresses the affection of Jesus as a precious lamb.

So, the intent here is not to show Jesus as a king, not to show Him as a ruler, not to show Him as a mighty leader like in Revelation 19 for example.

The intent here is to show the tender Jesus, the precious Jesus, the gentle Jesus, the Lamb who was slain, from before the foundation of the world.

And, notice, it tells us very clearly in verse 6 that this Lamb is represented as having seven horns, seven eyes, seven Spirits of God, "sent out into all the earth." By the way, the word for sent there is the word from which we get our word apostle. It's apostello, "sent out to all the earth."

So, the message of Jesus, the slain Lamb, in the program of God, has now been sent out into all the earth. And we are at a point in history future when the Gospel has been preached to the entire world; God's people have been taken out of this world and now God is about to open the door of judgment.

But, I just find it incredibly interesting and amazing that before you read anything about the judgment of God in these passages, you get to see, first of all, the sovereignty of God sitting on His throne; and you get to see the kindness of God revealing to us the gentle Lamb who died for us.

See, even in judgment, God has a softer side. And the softer side is the side of His mercy and the side of His grace. And you don't see that any better than you do with the Lamb sitting upon the throne.

Tami Weissert: This is Back to the Bible with Bible teacher, Woodrow Kroll. I'm Tami Weissert.

Wood, it's really great to see both sides of Jesus here--the mercy and the grace along with the power and the holiness and the judgment yet to come. It kind of reminds me of something we talked about yesterday when we saw God the Father in power on the throne with everything under control before all the judgments and destruction unfolds. So how do you see this picture of Jesus helping us prepare for all that's to come?

Woodrow Kroll: Tami, I think no one can appreciate the Book of Revelation with an inadequate view of Jesus Christ. We can't prepare even our minds for what is to come if our view of Jesus is a little too skimpy. Look, we often think of Jesus as the Gentle Shepherd and He is. We see Him calling the little children to come to Him, lifting them up on His knee--and He does.

But it's the Book of Revelation in which we see the Judge, Jesus the Judge, as the Conqueror, as the Man of War, as the One leading the forces of good against the forces of evil. That's not a picture we see of Him in the Gospels so to get a full orbed picture of Jesus, I think we need this Book too.

Tami Weissert: Sometimes we pick and choose our favorite picture of Jesus. Maybe we're more comfortable with Him as the Lamb or the Good Shepherd and we just don't want to think about Him as the Lion or the Judge. But what do we miss when we limit our view of Jesus like this?

Woodrow Kroll: We miss Jesus is what we miss. Look, suppose some outstanding athlete ends his career on the field and decides to go in to acting. He becomes a big star, but if you only know him as an athlete, you don't really know him. And if you only know him as a movie star, you probably don't know him at all. And that's the way it is with Jesus. If you only see Him as a shepherd, you don't know the real Jesus, you don't have a full picture of who Jesus is. You need to see Jesus in every photo taken of Him.

Tami Weissert: Well, I just want everyone to know that Dr. Kroll has a very helpful study guide available called Revelation: The Glorified Christ.

Now, there are several things you'll really appreciate about the study guide. First of all, it includes the full text of Revelation, so you have everything you need right in the book. And there are 14 studies and each one is full of background detail and helpful insights along with questions and suggestions to help you apply what you've learned.

Again, it's called Revelation: The Glorified Christ and it's available right now. We're also taking orders for our Journey Through Revelation CD series. So give us a call to ask about both of these products. Then place your order today. Here's our phone number. It's 1-800-759-2425. That's 1-800-759-2425.

Up next, Dr. Kroll talks about John's vision of heavenly worship. Here again is our study.

Woodrow Kroll: Now, we are studying in Revelation 5. We looked a bit at the throne of God and the Lamb who is there to open the seals, roll open the scroll and reveal what the future has to reveal. And notice it says in verse 8, "Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb."

I don't want to make more of this than ought to be made--except for the fact that it seems to me the church is making nothing of it today.

Isn't it interesting that the same twenty-four elders and beasts, living creatures, who, in chapter 4 were before the Father on the throne on their faces, are now before the Son on their faces. And the whole point here is this: they have recognized something I'm not sure man, as the creative creatures we are from God, has recognized. And that is, God is God and we are not.

Even as Christians sometimes we operate our lives as if we were God. And these individuals clearly know that God is to be praised. In this case, it's God the Son. So, the twenty-four elders fall down, the four living creatures fall down before the Lamb. Each of them has a harp. They have golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. This is interesting. They are bearing to God the prayers of the saints. That's why I think they are probably representatives of the redeemed community of all time.

Here is the song they sing. Catch this song:

"'You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us [put us on the sticky side of your mind.] to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us [something else to put on the sticky side of your mind] kings and priests to our [that's three.] God; and we shall reign on the earth.'"

Now, I made a point of us, us, our and we because, in the song, those are pronouns that relate to you and me. But the majority of the song is not about us. In fact, they are in the objective case mostly. It's not, "Lord, I do this for You, because it isn't about me."

Worship is not about what I want to give to God. Worship is about God. And in this case I think we would be well-advised to pattern our worship after a biblical pattern. And a biblical pattern comes out of the Bible. And here it is, this is the pattern of worship: "It's all about You; it's not about me. And I only tangentially mention me because You have made me a king. And I am grateful for that; but it's not about my kingship. It's about You."

And so this wonderful song is sung because these are people who understand that they don't belong in heaven. It's all about God's amazing grace. And what is so amazing about the Book of Revelation is this: It shows us the focal point of history is on the person of Jesus Christ--not on my praise to Jesus, not on my worship to Jesus--it's not on me at all.

And until we take the focal length of our life and turn the lens around so that we focus on Jesus rather than focus on our relationship to Jesus or our need for Jesus or our desire to praise Jesus, until we turn that around and do what the Bible does--and that is, just do it, I don't think we will understand nor will we very well worship and praise God.

Here are people on their faces before God singing a wonderful song, but it's all about Jesus. It's not about us. Jesus is the only One found worthy to open this scroll and to reveal its contents. So, why would I sing about anybody else? Why would I even bring me up in my song if I didn't have to when they've searched all heaven and all earth and all the underworld and they haven't found any one, any thing, any spirit, any entity worthy except One. And that's why you and I fall before Jesus. We don't just praise Him.

Tami Weissert: Let's talk a little praise and worship here on Back to the Bible. Hi, I'm Tami Weissert along with Bible teacher, Woodrow Kroll.

Wood, you touched on praise and worship--very common words today. But sometimes these words are used interchangeably but they are not really the same and there's confusion on this. So let's start with praise. What is it?

Woodrow Kroll: Praise is an act of extolling the character and the conduct of God. We praise Him for His outstanding works to the children of men. That's how the psalmist says it. We praise Him for the kind of character that drives Him to be merciful, good, kind--all the things we appreciate about God.

Tami Weissert: Is praise then like raising our hands upward to God?

Woodrow Kroll: It is. Praise is always up. Interestingly enough, worship is always down.

Tami Weissert: Don't jump ahead of me! That's my next question. Worship: what is it or, better yet, what isn't it?

Woodrow Kroll: Yes, worship is more of an attitude and a corresponding act to that attitude. Worship literally means to ascribe worth to something or someone. And when we worship God, we have adopted an attitude related to His infinite worth. But we do more than that. We adopt a position before God that expresses that attitude; that's the act of worship.

Somewhere along the line, we've got to get serious about following the patterns of worship found in the Bible and adopting those patterns. For now, we're settling for singing, clapping and dancing, but that wasn't worship in the Bible; that was more praise. We need to become more biblical in our understanding of worship if we really want to please God.

Tami Weissert: So if we see praise and worship taking place in Revelation, then these are the definitions that we should draw on.

Woodrow Kroll: Yes, I think so. Pay close attention to what you see the 24 elders doing, the living creatures doing. What are they doing when they praise God? And pay close attention to what they're doing when they worship God. And then as the Bible says, "Go thou and do likewise."

Drama: As I watched, I was struck. The skies split open and seemed to roll back. The universe crumbled around me, and out of space, out of time came a white horse.

Tami Weissert:  Hi, this is Tami. And you've just heard a segment from the Time is Near, Back to the Bible's Revelation drama. Images from Revelation will come to life as you listen to this exciting audio production. So call us to order, it's called the Time is Near Revelation Drama CD Now you can order it separately, or receive it free when you place your order for the Journey Through Revelation CD series.

So let me say that again. When you order the full 8-week, 40-part CD study series called Journey Through Revelation, you'll also receive as a free bonus, the Revelation Drama CD. So order them today by calling 1-800-759-2425. That phone number again is 1-800-759-2425.

If you want to know more about the scroll we saw in today's study, then tune in tomorrow when Christ begins to open the seals to that scroll.

Woodrow Kroll: Yes, we're going to see tomorrow the first six seals of seven that keep that scroll intact. Each seal is a judgment of God and each one becomes more severe than the one before it. And I think that this is where the Book of Revelation really picks up interest. So plan to join us tomorrow, won't you?

Thanks for being here today. God bless you. I'm Woodrow Kroll. Have a good and godly day.

Scripture used in today's program was based on the New King James Version of the Bible.