And He came and took the scroll from the right hand of the One seated on the throne.Then he came, and he took it out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.And he came, and he taketh it out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne.
3 sermons cite this verse
Our first question, of course, is what's inside this mysterious scroll? John's original audience in the first century would have recognized a scroll described like this as a kind of legal document. When a scroll was written on both sides, rolled up and sealed with seals, that meant it was something like a last will and testament. This is the title deed to the earth. The earth as God intended it to be, a world of beauty, creation without all of the natural disasters, a world without tornadoes and tsunamis and tarantulas and floods, and most of all, without cats, okay, amen? A world of justice, a world where the strong cannot exploit the weak, a world where rights are protected, where there's no abuse or war or racism or prejudice, a world of family and relational harmony, a world without divorce or arguments or estranged children or alienated friendships, a world without addiction, a world without the bondage of sin, a world without death or disease or destruction. In short, y'all, the world we've always wanted and craved, the world God has wanted to give us. …
revelation is an amazing exceedingly strange book in the year 1522 martin luther one of our spiritual forefathers he opened a commentary on this book of revelation by saying that within it christ was neither taught nor known for the young reformer this text was something of a fever dream, but it wasn't a coherent picture of the gospel. And yet what is interesting about the young Martin Luther is that just years later, that 1522 commentary was written, is that Luther's life would turn upside down, that he would grow into more and more of an outcast in the eyes of the world. The Roman Catholic Church, they would excommunicate him. They would deem him a heretic. There would be peasant revolts that threatened his physical safety. He developed chronic illnesses. And eventually his own movement, that Protestant movement, would turn against him, thinking that he was really not revolutionary enough. Indeed, if you don't die the hero, it is easier to live as the villain. And the rebel, this rebel Martin Luther, would experience a rebellion of his own kind. And so only eight years later, after that first commentary was written, Luther would open up the pages of the book of Revelation a second time. And this time, his whole life had changed, even though not much time had passed. And in this book, a now political and theological exile, he found a new source of hope. He would write these words. He would say our holiness, our purpose, our fulfillment in this text is rooted in heaven, not before the eyes of the world. …
And even though it comes at the early part of the book of Revelation, it is worship in anticipation of the end of the book of Revelation, and that is of Christ taking back the creation, taking back the universe, establishing Himself as King of kings and Lord of lords. There's a lot to happen before that happens, and we'll go through that in the middle of the chapters of this wonderful prophecy. But all of heaven in chapters 4 and 5 is anticipating what is about to unfold, and that is final judgment and the establishment of the Lord Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords. So this is heaven worshiping for the end is in sight and all that redemptive history is anticipated and headed for is about to unfold. It is pure worship. And speaking of that, just as a general observation, worship sometimes seems to people a little bit like a one-sided conversation or like a monologue. Some people think of a church service as worship, which means we all speak to the Lord, and then comes the teaching of the Scripture, and He speaks to us. But you have to understand that worship is not a one-sided conversation. …