WHAT THE CROSS MEANS TO HEAVEN: CELEBRATION ---

Revelation 5:8-9; 7:13-14; 12:10-11; 17:14

“And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation,” Revelation 5:8-9.

“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” Revelation 7:13-14.

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death,” Revelation 12:10-11.

“These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful,” Revelation 17:14.

In all of the Old Testament there are only two (2) references to Christ as “the Lamb.” They are found in Isaiah 53:7 and Jeremiah 11:19. Excluding the book of Revelation, in all of the rest of the New Testament there are only three passages and four verses referring to Christ as “the Lamb,” John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32; 1 Peter 1:19.

While Jesus is called by a variety of names in the book of Revelation like

Alpha and Omega, 1:8, the Son of God, 2:18, the Amen, 3:14, Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Root of David, 5:5, Lord God Almighty, King of saints, 15:3, The Word of God, 19:13, Faithful and True, 19:11, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, 19:16, The Root and Offspring of David and the Bright and Morning Star, 22:16.

But the predominate title of Jesus in the final book of the Bible is “the Lamb,” using that title 29 times.

Let’s set our attention on Revelation 5 and think about, “What the Cross Means to Heaven.” Revelation 5 is about what the Apostle John saw what will one day we going on in heaven. John was shown “a door...opened in heaven” and he was invited to “Come up hither” with the promised he would be shown “things which must be hereafter.” I can’t see that word without thinking about the fellow who got concerned about the soul one of his old friends. The younger man said to his older friend, “Do you ever think about the hereafter.” Surprisingly the old man said, “I think about the hereafter every day.” “How’s that?” the younger ask. Every day I find myself in the living room or the front yard or the garage and I ask myself, “What are you here after?”

Revelation 5 is about the hereafter. This chapter doesn’t answer every question we may have, but it tells us everything we need to know about the hereafter. >1. Heaven’s Crucified Lamb, Revelation 5:6.

Since the final book of the Bible begins, “The revelation of Jesus Christ,” Revelation 1:1, we are to conclude that this “Lamb” is the Lord Jesus Christ. When our Lord came to earth at His first coming, the Bible says, “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not,” John 1:10-11. Our Savior was veiled by His human flesh, Hebrews 10:20. To the majority of His day, they did not know who He was and why He had come to earth. We know who He is: He is the Son of God, Matthew 16:16. And we know why He came to earth: as “the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world,” John 1:29.

Spotless. Christ was “a lamb without blemish and without spot,” 1 Peter 1:19. Of this the Bible is crystal clear. “He did no sin,” 1 Peter 2:2. “He knew no sin,” 2 Corinthians 5:21. “In Him was no sin,” 1 John 3:5. “Without sin,” Hebrews 4:15. Pilate added, “I find no fault in Him,” John 19:6.. Judas regretfully confessed, “I have betrayed innocent blood,” Matthew 27:4 One of the thieves on the cross added, “This man hath done nothing amiss,” Luke 23:41.

Slain, Revelation 5:6, 12. The word “slain,” according to Warren Wierbse means “violently slain.” It meant to “slaughter as a sacrifice.” That points by to the death of our Savior on the cross

Scarred. Did you know that when Christ appears in heaven He will bear the marks of our redemption on His body? And the only man-made things in heaven will be the scars in the hands and feet and side of Christ. They will always be on Him, an eternal reminder to us of the price He paid in our behalf.

Standing. “A Lamb stood,” 5:6. Amazingly, this slain Lamb is now standing and alive in the sight of all heaven. The full gospel includes “the death, burial and resurrection” of Jesus Christ.

2. Heaven’s Converting Lamb, Revelation 5:8-9.

Heaven’s saints are represented as “four and twenty elders” who are finally together before God’s throne in heaven. What day that will be!

There is a rule in Bible interpretation says “if the plain sense makes sense seek no other sense.” Well, the plain sense for the 24 elders is that they represent all of God’s saved people from the Old and New Testament periods.

· There were how many sons of Jacob who made up the tribes of Israel? Twelve.

· There were how many apostles chosen by Jesus as the “first set in the church”? Twelve.

So, twelve plus twelve equals what? Twenty-four.

Revelation 5:9 records the testimony of God’s saints who declare it was heaven’s sacrifice that made them heaven’s saints. “”For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.” The idea of that word “redeemed” is to purchase a slave.

· Galatians 3:13 “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every on that hangeth on a tree.”

· Romans 3:24 “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

· 1 Peter 1:18-20 “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by the tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without sport: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

The old puritan, non-conformist, Richard Baxter (1660), said in his classic, The Saints Everlasting Rest,

“With what astonishing apprehensions will redeemed saints everlastingly behold their blessed Redeemer! The purchaser, and the price, together with the possession!” p. 53.

Purchaser is Jesus Christ. Price is His precious blood. Possession is God’s redeemed people! That’s what Ephesians 1:14 says we are. We are God’s “purchased possession.”

Listen again to Richard Baxter.

“It is a most singular honour of the saint’s rest, to be called the purchased possession, Ephesians 1:14. That is, the fruit of the blood of the Son of God; yea, the chief fruit, the end and perfection of all the fruits and efficacy of that blood. Greater love than this there is not, to lay down the life of the lover.

And to have this our Redeemer ever before our eyes, and the liveliest sense and freshest remembrance of that dying, bleeding love still upon our souls: How it will fill our souls with perpetual joy, to think that in the streams of this blood we have swam through the violence of this world, the snares of Satan, the seducements of the flesh, the curse of the law, the wrath of an offended God, the accusations of a guilty conscience, and the vexing doubts and fears of an unbelieving heart, and are arrived safe at the presence of God!” p. 52, abridged edition by Benjamin Fawcett (1822).

And finish Revelation 5:9. “Redeemed...out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”

“Christianity began in the East. Over the centuries there was a major shift to the West. But increasingly now, Christianity is not a Western religion. This is not a surprise to Christ...Jesus Christ is not a tribal deity. He does not belong to one culture or one ethnic group. He is ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,’ (1 John 1:9),” John Piper, Fifty Reason Why Jesus Came to Die, p. 109.

How saved are the redeemed of the Lamb? When God’s saints are gathered in heaven, we are told to observe the number. There were not 21 or 23, but 24 elders assembled before God’s through. Remember, twelve would represent Old Testament saints and twelve would represent New Testament saints.

So permanent are God’s people in heaven that the names of the twelve tribes of Israel from the Old Testament are inscribed on the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem, Revelation 21:12, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles are written on the walls twelve foundations of the city, Revelation 21:14

Richard Baxter said, “The Christian has safely landed in paradise and been conveyed honorably to his rest.”

3. Heaven’s Celebrated Lamb, Revelation 5:8-9.

All attention will forever, I said forever, on Jesus in heaven. He is the very center of attraction in heaven and for eternity. And to Him will be lift our voices to His everlasting praise. We will sing because He has put a “new song” is our hearts and on our lips.

We will celebrate Jesus, the Lamb, with Singing. Singing has been a part of the celebration of believers for thousands of years.

- Angels sang praises to God at Jesus’ birth, Luke 2:13-14.

- Jesus sang a hymn in the church at the Lord’s Supper, Matthew 26:30; Hebrews 2:12.

- Paul and Silas sang praises to God in a jail house, Acts 16:25.

- The 12 apostles were 3 Southern Gospel quartets who toured Galilee. Okay, I made that up.

Look here in Revelation 5 that tells us about the singing of the saints in heaven. What will the redeemed sing?

· We will sing a Great song… “Worthy is the Lamb…”

· We will sing a Gospel song… “Slain.”

· We will sing a Global song… “Every kindred, tribe, people, nation.”

· We will sing a Glorious song… concluding with a sevenfold praise, “power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing” is due to Him.

We will celebrate Jesus, the Lamb, with Shouting. We will have something to shout about when we get to heaven. Amen? My dad use to tell of the night he and his brother, Quinton, were saved in the little country Salesville Baptist Church and his mother, my granny, shouted. I can’t imagine it—but my granny lost it that night and let out a big “Hallelujah!” Folks, I think that is what’s missing in our worship to day. It is not the “shout” that is missing—it’s the “joy” that causes the shout! Joy is the gasoline that ignites the fires of shouting. For those of you who insist on a quieter form of worship, I need to remind you that when Jesus returns at the rapture it will be a “shout” that calls His people to Him, not a whisper.

“Hallelujah” is a word we need to add to our vocabulary. It is the same in every language. It is the Hebrew “Hallal” meaning “to boast, to brag, to make a show” and “Jah,” a shortened name for God.

A very dignified woman was convicted in a service that she needed to be more vocal in her worship of God. She said, “I just feel like shouting.” A friend said to her, “Well, go ahead.” She squared her shoulders and lifted her head and said softly, “Whoopee!”

We will celebrate Jesus, the Lamb, with a Supper, Revelation 19:7-9; 21:9.

In Western wedding the bride is the main focus of attention. Men, you know we live in a woman’s world.

· At a wedding people say, “Isn’t the bridge beautiful.”

· At the birth of her child they say, “How is the baby and the mother?”

· When her husband dies they ask, “How much did he leave her?”

At was altogether different in the Eastern wedding where the focus is on the groom. And that is the way it will be in heaven. The Bride will turn all of the attention to the Groom. “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready,” Revelation 19:7.

Let’s get some ideas about how wedding sent back in Bible days.

First, it was the custom of ancient marriages for the groom to purchase his bride. The Groom is God’s Lamb who gave His very blood for us.

Second, this wedding will take place after the judgment seat of Christ and after the destruction of the counterfeit wife, the great whore in Revelation 17-18. “And after these things,” Revelation 19:1. It will likely take place during the thousand-year reign of Christ on this earth. When rich men married in ancient days, their wedding celebrations might last up to seven days or until the money ran out. When God the Father hosts the marriage of His Son to His Son’s bride, the church, that marriage celebration will go on for 1,000 years. “Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end,” Ephesians 3:21.

Third, the guest at the marriage of the Lamb will be made up of three groups: (1) Old Testament saints, (2) people who were never a part of a New Testament church and (3) those saved out of the Tribulation.

Silence. Look at Revelation 5:8 and 14. “The four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb...And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.” I cannot help but believe that there will be times in eternity when we are so struck, so stunned that we will be in absolute silence and that silence will be appropriate!

- “The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent before Him.” Habakkuk 2:20

- Ecclesiasts 3:7 says, “There is a time to keep silent, and a time to speak.”

- Some have suggested that Revelation 8:1 is a proof-text that neither Baptist or women will not be in heaven because it says, “There was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.”

He who is “alive for ever more,” Revelation 1:18, will have our everlasting praise!

Alexander Maclaren said, “The joys of heaven are not the joys of passive contemplation, of dreamy remembrance, or perfect repose; but they are described thus, ‘They rest not day or night.’ His servants serve Him and see His face.”

“The crowning worthiness heaven puts upon Christ is due to Calvary. All the splendid attributes, all the incomparable glories, concentrate in the wounds. The place of a Lamb is upon an altar, but because of a perfect atonement perfectly accepted, the Lamb is now upon the Throne. The wounds abide. It is, as it were, a fresh death, for the atonement can never lose its freshness. God never forgets it, the angels never forget it, the redeemed never forget it. Eternal wounds are the pledge of an eternal pardon. The man who knows the incarnate God slain for human sin, stands at the innermost core of truth, and knows heaven’s final secret…. Christ was slain prospectively from the foundation of the world. He was slain typically in a thousand sacrifices under the Law, He was slain judicially by the pre-determined counsel of God, He was slain actually by Jews and Gentile, He is slain retrospectively by every trampler on the Blood.’ Thou did’st purchase unto God with thy blood, men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.’ The Blood alone purchases the sinner to God. The Father comes into his inheritance of human souls only by the blood of His Son.” D. M. Panton, The Lion Lamb, quoted by F. J. Huegel, The Cross Through the Scriptures , p. 187.

Let the celebration of the Lamb begin in your heart today!

Singing… “How Great Thou Art”