I want to preach to you today on a subject that I feel no one is really adequate to preach upon, and do a proper job of preaching and doing justice to the subject --- but with God's help I want to preach to you today on the subject of "The Lamb of God."

Let's read first --- as we begin to think about this, I've divided it into six divisions. I'll give them to you quickly and then we'll start reading. this is a teaching lesson today, a teaching sermon about the Lamb of God, which I've divided into six areas to look at quickly.

First, the Lamb provided.

Second, the Lamb described.

Third, the Lamb revealed.

Fourth, the Lamb slain.

Fifth, the Lamb glorified.

And sixth, the Lamb reigning. You could preach on this for two weeks easily, two or three hours every day. But we want to just do a quick look at it and give you a few Scripture references on each division today.

Now, thinking first about the Lamb provided, remember the general subject is the Lamb of God. You may remember what John the Baptist said, and we'll be reading this a little bit later, where he said, very plainly, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." And that's what we want to think about today, the Lamb of God. And firstly now, we are thinking about the Lamb provided.

Let us read first over in Genesis chapter 22. I was told recently by a fellow that my ministry was based entirely on teaching. I think the fellow that told me that meant it as an insult, as something not too nice! But actually, I considered it a compliment! Because any ministry that's not based on teaching/preaching is not going to stand the test of time. And that's what I want to do today --- just teach about the Lamb of God. Beginning in Genesis 22:8, let's read a few verses there. "And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." Let us just stop with that for a minute. "And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together."

First, let's think about this background for a minute. You may remember, if you've read very much over in Genesis, how Abraham had waited many, many years for his son Isaac to be born. He had longed for a true son, the son of promise. He prayed, no doubt, thousands of nights and days, and then weeks and months, that the son of promise would be born. And yet, here he waited all these many years. Finally, his son was born. And he grew up and became a young man. And then one day, God said to him, "Abraham, I want you to take Isaac and go to the Mount of God." There are at least two mountains in the Bible that are called the Mount of God, Mount Moriah and Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai.

This time when God said the Mount of God, He was talking, of course, about Mount Moriah, which is also the place where Jesus was later offered, and sacrificed Himself on the cross. But God said to Abraham: "Now, Abraham," God said, "I want you to take your son Isaac and go to Mount Moriah. And I want you to sacrifice him to Me. Make him a burnt offering to me." Now, here's Abraham, he has waited all these years. Many, many years even waiting long after the promise was given, before the child had been born. And now the child has finally grown up into a young man, and God says to him, "Take your son, your only son Isaac," there in verse 2 of chapter 22, He says, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." And Abraham set out at once to do it.

When he got there, just think how his heart must have broken when his young son, his only real son of his beloved wife, said to Abraham, his father, "My father, behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Here we are, we've come out here to the mountain that God told you to come to to make a burnt offering, and we've come with the wood and the fire and everything ready to make the offering, but where's the lamb?" And that is when Abraham said, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering." So they went on to Mount Moriah together.

You may remember the rest of the story, how Abraham bound his son, his only son, and put him on the altar after he arranged the altar and the wood and everything. He built the altar and the wood and put his son Isaac on it and drew back the knife to slay his son, his only real son, the son of promise. But the angel of the Lord stopped him just in time and said, "Don't hurt the lad, don't lay your hand on him, because now we see that you do truly fear God and that you have not withheld your only son from God." After God said to him these things, He told him or caused him to turn his eyes around, and he looked and behind him there was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. And then Abraham took the ram, and offered him for a burnt offering in the place of his son Isaac.

And this is a beautiful picture of the Lamb provided. Where did the Lamb come from? Who provided the Lamb? God provided the Lamb, didn't He?

If we turn over to Job chapter 33, get a verse or two there in Job chapter 33, verse 24. It says this, especially the last part of the verse here is appropriate, but we'll read Job 33, verse 24: "Then he is gracious unto him, and saith," talking about God showing to man his uprightness, "Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom." Yes, "I have found a ransom." Now, the Lamb provided, that was the ransom, wasn't it? "I have found a ram."

Going on over to Romans chapter 3, we get a little bit more about this Lamb provided. Romans 3:21, we see here a sort of general summary of the whole idea of the Lamb provided by God, or the means of salvation provided by God, the only means of ransom for man. "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference; For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Now what are we talking about --- The Lamb provided, aren't we? "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth," here's the Lamb provided, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

The point of this thing here is (to emphasize the way we want to use it this morning) that God Himself provided the Lamb, but there's another thing that we just must mention in passing also. You notice these words where it says, "that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Now God Himself, has a law that the wages of sin is death, that's law number one as far as God is concerned. And this law, God Himself will not break! God will not fail to fulfill or enforce this law in any way! t's His own law but He will not fail to enforce it. The wages of sin must be paid to the letter. The wages of sin is death, therefore, this provision of the Lamb that we're talking about this morning, the providing of the Lamb or the Lamb of God which God Himself provided, was a means of fulfilling this law and yet, providing a means of salvation for man.

Thus God could be just, that is, fulfill His own law. That is what being truly just means --- to live up to the law of God. And yet, at the same time, He could be the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. That's the only way it could be done. A debt had to be paid for sin, and the Lamb was provided by God, the Lamb of God, in order that this debt of death might be paid and yet, God could remain just and at the same time still be a justifier of those sinners who believe in Jesus.

If we look over at I John chapter 4, we find another good verse in connection with this Lamb provided. First John 4:10 says this: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." He sent His own Son, His only Son, He provided the Lamb, the Lamb of God to be the one to pay, the only one who could pay, because everyone else had sin of their own for which they would have to die. But He had no sin of His own, therefore in the plan and purpose of God, He could pay for the sin of others in His death. The sinless birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus was of infinite worth, therefore He could die for the sins of the whole world and it would be counted for justification to all who would ever believe!

This is something many people fail to think about today, They think they have something to do with their own salvation. And anything you believe you have to do with your own salvation except just to submit yourself fully to Him, to cast yourself fully on Him and depend on His grace entirely and wholly without anything else for salvation, prevents you from being saved rather than saving you --- because then you're depending on that rather than faith in God, and trusting in Him for salvation.

Revelation 13:8 is a verse that I often quote to you. Just look there, especially the last part of the verse --- remember we're still thinking about the Lamb provided. We come across people from time to time who always want to bring up blasphemous questions when we're visiting and witnessing. Sometimes, perhaps, they don't even mean it to be blasphemous, but a lot of the questions they ask us on visitation are blasphemous anyway. One of the questions that we always run into like that is, "Well, now what about this? If God knew, if God is God, then He must have known that when He created man, man would sin; therefore, why would He create man? It was unfair for Him to create man, when He knew that man would sin and be lost." Well, of course, you can always stop those people by just saying, "Well, would you prefer to be here or not to be here?" Of course, that makes them stop and think. "Would you prefer that God had never created man, therefore you would not exist and never would have existed? Or would you prefer that God had created man and that men could have a choice to either accept or reject salvation in Christ, the Lamb provided?"

Of course, that takes care of that question for them right away. But here is the answer also from the Scripture. They say, "How could God do this, knowing that men would sin, go ahead and create him anyway, (knowing that man would sin) and that many would go to hell?" Revelation 13:8 gives us the answer from the Bible, where it says, or speaks of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the last part of the verse there, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." That is, God did not make man without previously having already planned a means of salvation for man. God planned it. God had it worked out ahead of time. A plan of salvation by providing, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," as it says in Revelation 13:8.

Going on quickly now, let us think for a few minutes about the Lamb described. In Exodus chapter 12, you may remember that nearly all of these ceremonials and rules of various kinds that were given to the people of God in the Old Testament were given as a means of showing their faith in the coming Messiah, the coming Savior; just as we show our faith in the coming Savior by committing ourselves fully to Him and our lives to Him. They showed their faith or made what we would call a public profession of faith in Him, by these ceremonials which they followed. And these ceremonials were worked out by God in such a way that each of them makes a picture of something to do with salvation in Christ, or salvation in the Lamb provided by God. So, this description over here in Exodus 12, verses 5, 6 and 7 of the lamb which was to be sacrificed, is also a picture of the Lamb of God, who was to be sacrificed yet in the future.

Beginning there in verse 5, this, of course, is talking about the Passover lamb, but Christ Himself, you remember, the Scripture says that He is our Passover --- Jesus Christ. So, it fits with this passage here where it says: "Your lamb shall be without blemish," that is, a perfect lamb --- "A male of the first year." It had to be of a certain age. "Ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month." The purpose of that was to be sure that it was not one that was sick or something wrong with it and not noticeable at a glance, but if you kept it up for fourteen days, then you'd know that it was a perfect healthy animal. "And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of the houses, wherein they shall eat it." Now, this is a picture of Christ, our Passover, this lamb that they're talking about in this first Passover which was celebrated just before they left Egypt.

Now, if you turn over to I Peter chapter 1, we find another reference in connection with this. Beginning with verse 18. Notice, the Lamb was provided by God, and the Lamb provided was Jesus Himself. Now, we're describing the Lamb and we read the reference from the Old Testament there in Exodus 12, showing how the lamb of the Passover in the Old Testament was specifically had to be a certain type—a perfect lamb. And now here in I Peter chapter 1, beginning with verse 18, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." Now, there when he says, "was foreordained before the foundation of the world," he's talking about the fact that the plan of salvation was made, God knowing that man would sin, the plan of salvation was made, even before the world was made.

That is what he's talking about there. But the main emphasis we want to give here is this description of the Lamb. A Lamb without blemish and without spot, Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God. No fault, even Pilate said, "I find no fault in this man." And the Roman soldier who stood at the foot of the cross --- the centurion at the death of Jesus --- he said, "Truly this was the Son of God," and he was no doubt one of those who crucified Him. And when he saw the crucifixion of Christ --- we have a lot of marvelous traditional stories about the Centurion! Of course, we don't know if any of them are true or not, about what happened to that centurion. But the tradition is that he went out and became a great evangelist. And that eventually, he died in the arenas at Rome, where they would put the Christians in and turn the wild animals in on them. There are all kinds of wonderful stories about this centurion who confessed at the foot of the cross. But even he could see that Jesus was the Lamb of God.

Let's read in Philippians 2, verses 6, 7 and 8. Remember we're describing the Lamb, "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:" Christ was equal with God before He made Himself, as it says in verse 7, "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant," and became a man, in other words. "And was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." This is the description of the Lamb. He became obedient. "He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." He Himself laid down His life as He said. It wasn't taken from Him; He laid it down because of His love for man. It was the only way that God could be just and be the justifier of them that come to Him by faith in Christ. The sin debt had to be paid, otherwise God would be unjust because God has an unbreakable law, the wages of sin is death. And that law will be fulfilled, that price will be collected! It has been collected! For all who will believe in Christ, it's been collected from the death of Christ by God the Father!

Now going a step further, we've mentioned the Lamb provided, the Lamb described, and, of course, one could go on for weeks describing the Lamb, the marvelous Son of God, the Matchless One. He went about here on Earth doing nothing but good. Despised by men, but loved by a few, and followed by a few. And it is still that same way today!

Now thirdly, the Lamb revealed. The Lamb revealed! Now we get to this passage that we mentioned a moment ago from John the Baptist, when he said these words about the Lamb of God. Reading there in John chapter 1, beginning with verse 29: "The next day John," now, this by the way, was in, Bethabara or beyond Jordan as it calls it, where John was baptizing, and it says then in verse 29, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me."

John was no dummy. He knew what was going on! Here he was, grew up out there during his later years, it's just before this time, he'd been out there in the wilderness doing nothing but eating locusts and wild honey and preaching repentance and baptizing those who did repent. That is what he had been doing. We don't know exactly how long he'd been doing it. He might have been doing it for months, or even for two or three years!

But he'd been out there in the wilderness, in the wild country, living on locusts and wild honey, preaching the gospel of repentance. And then those who did repent, he baptized them. He was, of course, preparing the material for Christ to establish His church. The forerunner for Jesus Christ. And he says, "This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is preferred before me: for he was before me." Here's this wild man out there dressed in camel's hair, in the wilderness, but he knew some sound theology, didn't he? He knew that Jesus was with God before the world was. He knew about the Lamb provided. He knew how to describe the Lamb too, didn't he? All this came from this wild man out there in the wilderness, John the Baptist.

Going on a little further, "I knew him not." He says, "I didn't personally know Him. I'd never seen Him before." This was apparently the first time John had seen Him in the flesh. But he knew Him in his heart already! He said, "I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. Again the next day after, John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!"

So with John, very likely the first time that he saw Jesus in the flesh was when he baptized Him. But here, John repeatedly uses this phrase, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." And then again in verse 36, "Behold the Lamb of God!" The Lamb revealed. Here the Lamb of God is clearly and plainly spoken of by a special witness sent by God, John the Baptist. You know, John the Baptist is quite a character. He's the only one of whom the Bible says that he was filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb. The only one of whom the Bible says that.

The Lamb revealed, and you could go on over to Matthew chapter 11, one of my passages that I often quote to you, revealing the Lamb. Here in this passage, in a sense He's revealing Himself, isn't He? As one meek and lowly in heart, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Going on a step further now, let's think for a minute about the Lamb slain! But we need to go back to Exodus again, chapter 12. There where we read before. Remember, we talked a moment ago about the first Passover lamb. We spoke of the fact that Jesus is our Passover, as the Scripture clearly states. Now reading from Exodus chapter 12, beginning with verse 6. I read verse 5, 6, and 7 a moment ago, now I want to read verses 6 and 7 again, from chapter 12 of Exodus. "And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of the houses, wherein they shall eat it." Now, this is describing the actual killing or the sacrificing of the Passover lamb.

If you look in Isaiah 53 with me, you'll see this Lamb of God, and the description of His being offered or slain, as our Passover. In chapter 53, beginning with verse 6. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." Jesus didn't have to die on the cross. He could have let us all go to hell. All He would have had to do was say, "Ten thousand angels," and they would have been there, as the song says --- "To destroy the world and set Him free!" That's all it would have taken. But He didn't do that, did He? As the song further says, "But He died alone for you and me." He gave Himself as the Lamb slain, just as described in Isaiah 53:6-7.

It is amazing that we have so many self-righteous people in the world today. Let's turn over to Romans chapter 10 for a minute. Remember, we are thinking about the Lamb slain. When I think about the Lamb slain, as the only means of appeasing the wrath of a righteous God because of man's sin, then I also think almost immediately of the self-righteous people that we have all around us today. So many who think that they are going to save themselves or that, "I'm okay Jack." You know, that attitude. "I'm okay." And they have no conception at all, no understanding at all of sin or of judgment or the means of taking away sin! The only means, of course, is by the Lamb slain, paying for the sin of man.

But if we look here in Romans chapter 10:2-3, though this was written back in New Testament times, not long after the crucifixion of Christ, yet it gives a perfect description of so many people today. "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God," (we've got people all around us who think that they're Christians). We've got people all around us who have a form of zeal for God, don't we? "Oh, yes, I'm a Christian." "I was baptized when I was a baby." "I've been in that church since I was a child." All kinds of answers like that, which have nothing to do with really being a Christian --- Nothing at all! it's self-righteousness! Like Paul said, "I bear them record," talking about these self-righteous Israelites, "I bear them record that they have a zeal of God," but what about the zeal? "Not according to knowledge." The zeal is not enough. Unless the zeal is based on knowledge and the knowledge is based on the truth, then there's nothing there! It's just nothing --- just words, just zeal, self-righteousness! "For they, being ignorant," listen to this now, this describes people today, these religious people that are unsaved, "For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness," that's what people are doing today, isn't it? "Going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."

But the only thing that saves men is to submit themselves to the righteousness of God. Nothing else will do the job. They're trying to establish their own righteousness, but they're incapable of establishing their own righteousness. It's impossible that they should do so. There is no way they can do so. But rather, they must submit themselves to the righteousness of God. And what is the righteousness of God? Jesus Himself is the righteousness of God --- The Lamb --- the Lamb slain!

Those two words, "not submitted," that's the key to the passage! The only way to be saved, as you hear me say almost every Sunday is this --- submit. Submit. Just realize that you, yourself, no matter what you do, how you go about it, or anything else, are totally incapable of saving yourself. You are incapable of even "helping" God save yourself. There's nothing you can do. How could you, when everything you do, the Scripture says, everything we do, everything that man does, even the best things that man does are like filthy rags in the sight of God; so how could anything that we do help to save us? There's just not any way, is there? None except the Lamb slain!

And Paul here makes it a point to show that the reason these self-righteous people are not saved is because they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. That is, they haven't just said, "Here I am, Lord. I know I'm sinful. I know I'm lost. I know I can't help myself. But will You just take me and make me one of Your own?" They haven't submitted themselves to the Lord that way. "Oh, but I've been a Christian since I was a child." That's just what we used to call, many years ago in Texas, baloney! And you don't know the word here much, but the word you usually use for that is "rubbish" here, in place of the word "baloney." Rubbish. That's rubbish, isn't it?

Let us now go a step further. We've thought a minute about the Lamb provided and the Lamb described, the Lamb revealed and the Lamb slain. Let's go on a step further to the Lamb glorified! Let's read first over in Revelation chapter 5, beginning with verse 6, "And I beheld," now here he's talking about the glorification or the glory of Christ, "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain," the Lamb of God. This is The Lamb Glorified! "Stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came," that is this Lamb glorified, and this Lamb as it had been slain as he called it, "And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne."

This, you may remember is the seven sealed book, no one was able or capable to read the book or to even open it. But here comes the Lamb slain, the glorified Lamb and He's able and capable and worthy to do so. "He came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne." Out of the hand of God Himself, in other words. "And when he had taken the book, the four beasts," or preachers, "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." Now listen to this, the glorification of the Lamb, or the Lamb glorified, "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."

This, you may remember, is the vision that John saw of coming events. "And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." In other words, millions and millions there involved, "Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory and blessing." And listen to this last verse now that we're going to read in this passage, "And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."

The Lamb glorified, that time is coming, and I don't think it will be very long, but whatever length of time it is, we know it's coming --- The Lamb glorified!

Let's look just a little further over in Revelation 7:17. Just a couple of chapters further over. This is, of course, obviously after the Lamb has already received this glory that's been spoken of earlier in the fifth chapter. Now, here in the seventh chapter, the seventeenth verse, read with me: "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

There is coming a day when we won't be weeping in sorrow anymore because God will wipe away all the tears from our eyes. And that day, this Lamb glorified will lead us, as it says, He'll feed us and shall lead us unto living fountains of waters: and God Himself will wipe all tears from our eyes.

Just before we go on to the last thought, the Lamb reigning, but let's look at one more reference on this Lamb glorified. Philippians chapter 2, this one is part of our theme chorus that we sing so often here, beginning with verse 9. We're speaking, remember, of the Lamb glorified, and there's coming a day when the Lamb is going to be glorified or honored or confessed to by all men. In Philippians 2:9: "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him," talking about Jesus, "and given him a name which is above every name." Now listen, "That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

The unsaved may say, "Well, I'll never bow down to Him." You just think you won't. You will bow down to Him in fear and trembling, but it will be too late then, if you're not saved before you die. It won't do you any good then, but you'll still do it because the Scripture says, "every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess," and this will happen at the Great White Throne Judgment for all the unsaved that have never confessed Him, never bowed to Him, never bowed their head or bowed their knee to Him. But they will then --- but it will be too late to do them any good. It will just be another means of the Lamb being glorified in that day, even in the unsaved who appear at the White Throne Judgment, even they will bow and every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God gets glory through Christ. And do you know how Christ gets glory? Christ receives His glory through the Church --- through the faithful in the Church. That's the way Christ receives His glory at this present moment. The Scripture plainly teaches that. "To Him be glory in the Church, by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, a world without end." Just as a loving husband and wife, the husband is glorified or honored by his wife. In the same manner, Christ is honored by His bride, the Church, or glorified through His bride, the Church.

Now going on quickly to the last thought, the Lamb reigning. There are so many good references on this, I hardly knew where to begin, but let's look in Revelations chapter 22 for a starting point, and we'll give you two or three more before we close out this message today. Revelations 22:1 --- (The Lamb reigning) --- This is referring to what we might say is a part of the reign of Christ, here in the perfect days that are to come, when we read here in chapter 22, verse 1: "And he shewed me," this, remember, is still part of the vision of John, the beloved, of things that are yet to come, "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him." It is speaking about the reign of the Lamb, a perfect reign. There will be no more curse on the earth, all the curse will be removed. The earth will be purified, and no more curse.

If you look at Revelation, speaking about the saved, faithful ones of the Lord, it speaks here in Revelation 20:6 and says this: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection," that is, those saved are the ones who do have part in the first resurrection, "on such the second death hath no power, but," now listen to this, "they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." We are going to reign with Him. Not only is the Lamb going to reign, but the faithful of the Church will reign with Him as well.

If we look at Revelation 21:3, we find some more about this. "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, not crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new. And said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." In that day of the Lamb reigning, there'll be no more of this business of little babies butchered by terrorists. No more of this business of little babies bitten by snakes. No more of anything to do with the curse or sin. The curse will all be gone!

Look at verse 22 in chapter 21 of Revelation. It says: "And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." Then he goes ahead and describes the city. The great city, the capital city of the reign, having no need of the sun nor of the moon because the glory of God lightens it and the Lamb is the light thereof. "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there." They won't ever shut the gates of the city because there won't be anything to fear then. That's what it's talking about --- No need to shut the gates of the city!

And there won't be any night time, it'll always be light time. Because Jesus will be the light. "And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise," listen to this now, those that are going to enter to enter into this kingdom in which the Lamb will be reigning, "there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." That's the ones who are going to be in this kingdom when the Lamb is reigning.

Go quickly now to Isaiah 11, where we get a description of this. You may say, "Well, maybe some of these references are talking about the Millennium and some of them are talking about the perfect age." Well, it doesn't really matter to us, does it? If you're saved, it's all the same; because you're going to be at and in both of them. The Millennium followed by the perfect age, so it really doesn't matter which one --- I'm not even trying to separate the ones today in this Lamb reigning, because the Lamb's going to reign in both cases --- in the Millennial Age of a thousand years and then in the perfect age which will never end, which will follow!

But here in Isaiah 11, beginning with verse 1, we have a description of this reign of the Lamb. "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his—his roots." Jesus, through His mother is from the descent of Jesse. And a branch, of course, you know Jesus referred to Himself on repeated occasions as the Branch. "And a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord," talking about Jesus, of course. (The Lamb reigns!) "And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor," There won't be any more of this business of arranging the system of the world to where the poor get poorer and the rich get richer or where the rich ride on the backs of the poor --- won't be any more of that. He won't even judge by words at all, it says. Not judging by what the eye sees, because He can see the heart, can't He? He'll judge in righteousness. "But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breadth of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins."

Now listen to this description here, this is our beloved passage which tells about how it's going to be in the Millennium. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid," I remember in Rhodesia, one year we had twenty-nine calves killed by leopards. Twenty-nine little calves killed by leopards. There won't be any of that in the Millennial kingdom. "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."

You've seen no doubt, the picture of a little child walking along with his hands resting on the head of the lion, walking along as playmates together in the Millennium. And it'll really be that way! It'll really be that way! "And the little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." The lion won't go out and kill sheep. When I spoke a couple of weeks ago, I used the true story from Rhodesia that one night when we were there, one lion killed 120 sheep. That won't happen anymore in the Millennium. "And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den." Even the snakes will be harmless, and the poisonous snakes won't bother the little children. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

Oh, a marvelous time is coming, it's coming, and I believe it won't be long! And there won't be any more of this world system that sometimes robs the poor and boosts the rich. There won't be any more of this world system that stands on the neck of the meek and rides roughshod over the rights of men. There won't be any more of that, but there'll be a righteous King who will judge. "In righteousness He shall rule, in that day!"

Are you ready for that kingdom? If you're not, then you better get ready. And the only way you can get ready? You say, "Well, you just said we can't save ourselves." No, we can't. The only way to be saved is when God speaks to your heart. If you will just submit right then and there, then you can and will be saved.

And if you're truly seeking the Lord, He will speak to your heart! Whether He's spoken to it today or not, I don't know. But He will speak to it if you're seeking. If you will just keep seeking the Lord, hear the gospel preached, every possible opportunity, and you will get saved. That's what's going to happen. Whether you understand it now or not, you will, because the Word is what leads men to Christ. You don't have to understand it, just hear it, and believe it. And the Lord will save you --- "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God," that's what the Scripture says. So, you just keep hearing and you'll find faith if you keep listening, in God's own time!