Sermon: The Blood of the Lamb

Read from Revelation chapter five, and I'm going to back up to verse seven and through verse 14 this afternoon. "And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,

'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransom people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.' Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,

saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!' And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, saying: 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.' And the four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshiped."

We pray for us. Our Father, we are thankful for the gift of your word as we've heard it read here this afternoon. We pray that even now that you would not only allow us to hear its reading, but to resonate with its reading and to have a true sense of understanding it as we part this place, that we might even more revel in the death of our great Savior and your Son. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

If you think about this scene in Heaven, in Heaven at the center of all things is a throne.

And on that throne is not maybe what you would expect, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. It's rather one that is like a lamb, as though slain.

And all of Heaven cries out, "Worthy. Worthy are you, O Lamb."

It's quite a chorus. It's a refrain that echoes in Heaven, words that are proclaimed to Jesus over and over, "Worthy. Worthy is the Lamb."

Why lamb? Why not a lion? Why a lamb?

He's identified as the Lamb in the Book of Revelation 28 times. 28 times. So if we could say it this way, it's the dominant picture of our Savior throughout the Book of Revelation and in Heaven itself. Of course, the imagery of a lamb, it has a long history in the history of God's people, in redemptive history, in the scriptures, the Passover lamb that was sacrificed so the people of God were spared wrath. The lamb that Isaiah prophesied that would

silently suffer in the place of ruined sinners that you heard this afternoon, Isaiah 53. John the Baptist's statement when he sees Christ, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." The lamb, it's a sacrifice. It's a substitute. It suffers. It has a long history. When you look at the song that's sung to him in verse nine, "Worthy are you," they sing to the Lamb. Why? They say, "Because you were slain,

and by your blood you ransom people for God." One would expect a song of derision for one that's slain,

but that's not what they offer.

This lamb is enthroned, and he's beheld as worthy, and all of Heaven directs its praise to him. "By your blood, you ransom people for God." And I want to think about the Lamb's blood this afternoon in just these few minutes. First, you'll note that it's his blood. "By your blood," they sing. Some have pointed to the life of Christ and Christ's active obedience, what we call his active obedience, that he was faithful to God, to the law, all the days of his

life, and they will say, "Well, that is the center of our Savior." And it's very true. It's true that we need the active obedience of ChristMeychen, that famous theologian, he will say on his deathbed, "I'm so thankful for the act of obedience of Christ." And that's true. We're lost apart from his obedient life. But his obedience cannot be separated from his sacrifice. Paul, in fact, goes to that point in Philippians 2.

He says he was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. He obediently subjected himself to the will of the Father willingly, to the point of death, substituting himself for sinners, offering up himself. He's not only our priest, a faithful and merciful high priest, he's the sacrifice himself.

"By your blood," they sing.

Second, note his blood was shed with effect. It ransomed people. By your blood, you ransom people. Jesus will say it himself in Mark 10:45. He will say, "I came not to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many."

And in the background, you're meant to hear what you already heard here this afternoon. He's alluding to an Old Testament scripture, Isaiah 53, "To give my life as a ransom for many." Listen to Isaiah 53 again, just part of it. "Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief." Now listen to these words: "By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors." His blood was shed with effect. He came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, for transgressors.

The death of Jesus is not simply a courageous act.

It's not meant to just be an example, a model of self-sacrifice.

It was a ransom paid,

a price paid for sinners, for transgressors, in order that they might be set free.

Set free from what? What are you ransomed from? From sin, from death, from judgment, from damnation, from the wrath of God, from hell. Christ on the cross was necessary, and it's necessary because your need was so great, sinner, transgressor.

By his death, we are not improved, but purchased. Purchased.

In fact, the New Testament repeatedly tells us the price, and it's his blood. Peter says in 1 Peter 1, "Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." Paul will remind the elders of Ephesus as he meets them on the beach on his way to his death in Jerusalem.

He will say to them in Acts 20, "Take care for the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood." Your sin required payment,

and it was a great cost.

The payment necessary was not effort. It was not reform. It was not education. It was blood.

If you go on in Revelation 7, we're told this: "They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." The price paid was blood to the effect that we would be ransomed.

Why blood?Because we're told in Deuteronomy 12:23, "The blood is the life." In Leviticus 17, we're told, "The life of a creature is in the blood." Blood poured out of the body symbolizes death. Our sin required death.

We're cleansed. If we could say it this way, by the death of Christ, his blood, our death becomes his death so that his life becomes our life.

Peter says it this way in 1 Peter 3, "Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God." Which leads to our final point, his bloodshed was shed with purpose. "By your blood, you ransom people," that's the effect, and here's the purpose, "for God," they sing. The telos or the end, the goal for which his blood was shed and for which you are ransomed is for God. That's what they sing.

When something's purchased, ransomed, paid for, it now belongs to the purchaser. And the price paid was steep. It was not with perishable things. Not with gold, not with silver. The debt was so great. So therefore the cost was so great, beyond, frankly, our comprehension. You and I will spend eternity seeking greater understandings of this.

The very blood of the Son of God become flesh was necessary.

The lamb was slain, the blood was shed, the ransom was paid. And the response by all the host of heaven is, "He is worthy."

And how could it be otherwise?

Saints in Revelation 5 are singing, the living creatures are singing, the elders are singing, and John says there are myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands with a loud voice, and they are saying over and over, "Worthy is the lamb who was slain. Worthy," they say, "to receive power, and wealth, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing. Worthy. Worthy to receive all things that have worth."

And so you just stop here for a moment and you have to think,

do you understand your worth?

He shed his blood for you. What worth does a sinner have?

Infinite worth to this God. So much so he sheds blood, his own blood in the person of his Son, for such sinners. That much worth.

But it also wasn't simply for you. As they sing, it's for God. He receives the praise. "Worthy," they say, "to receive power, and wealth, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing. Worthy. Worthy to receive all things that have worth," and you have worth.

And he is deserving of your praise. You realize when you come to know Christ that he didn't just come to save you from something, but for someone.

He saved you for God. "You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God," they sing. The saints in glory live ever for him who purchased them, and the saints on Earth live ever for him who purchased them. Why? Because he's worthy.

You don't live for your sin any longer, but for him who purchased you from it. You no longer live for self because you are no longer your own. Not only your eternity, but your present belongs to him. When you are covered over by the blood of the lamb who died for you, you live for him.

You've been purchased at great cost. You want your thoughts to be his thoughts.

You want your loves to be what he loves. You want to hate what he hates. You want your entire life to be, as it were, a living sacrifice unto him, as Paul says. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, to do to his glory because he is worthy.So when you lie down

in your bed at night, you say, "Oh, Lord, I pray that my life was lived for you today." When you rise in the morning, the first thought that you try to get through that stubborn head of yours is, "Oh, I am the Lord's today. Lord, how would you use me today?"

He's worthy of all that has worth.

All to Him.

When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride. Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

The blood of the lamb has been shed for sinners, and He is worthy of your all. Let's pray.

Our Father, we exalt you this afternoon for so great a gift in your Son. And Lord Jesus, we exalt you this afternoon, you, the Lamb who was slain for sinners, who even now sits enthroned above in triumph. And we join our voices with the angels and the archangels and the saints triumphant and the 24 elders before your throne, and we say, "Worthy are you, our Lamb, to receive all glory and honor and praise." And we pray that you would have it from us this day, from every

soul in this room. And we pray all this in your strong name, by the Spirit which you sent into this world to apply this blessed salvation to sinners such as us. In Christ's name, amen.