Corona Chronicles - Crown of Gold

Welcome to the next episode of Corona Chronicles, a devotional look through the book of Revelation. We were seeing yesterday about this lion lamb that's opening the scroll, the plan of God. In fact, in some ways he is the plan of God. And I'm gonna read chapter 5 of revelation. I'm gonna read from verse 6.

Then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne encircled by the 4 living creatures and the elders. The lamb had 7 horns and 7 eyes, which are the 7 spirits of God sent out into all the earth He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the 4 living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. Each 1 had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of God's people. And they sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals.

Because you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God, persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign upon the earth. Yeah. I mean, it's just it's just a fuller and deeper description of this ruling king who we met last time, isn't it? You know, he's the line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David.

He is God's appointed king. He's also a lamb who has been slain So his victory comes through his suffering and his his weakness and yet we're not left in any doubt about how we should be responding to this lamb who is able to open the seals. You know, you've got these various pictures here of the 4 living creatures And in 1 of our previous episodes we have talked about how they really stand for the whole of creation, the 4 compass points, you know, north, south, east and west, everything that exists. Is falling in praise before the lamb. And then you've got the 24 elders, you know, the who stand for the 12 and 12.

The 12 apostles of the New Testament, the 12 tribes of the Old Testament, maybe particularly with their leaders in view and they are they are bowing down that they are worshiping the lamb because that is the only appropriate way to respond to him in his power and his glory. And that's just amazing. It's it's sort of strange because it's seismic, isn't it? It's like a nuclear bomb has gone off. And the nuclear bomb is a very odd thing.

It's the cross of Jesus. Mhmm. I mean, there is Jesus hanging on the cross going like a lamb to the slaughter And yet there's power in that -- Mhmm. -- that's exploded. Mhmm.

You know, so, you know, that that moment in history on girl Goffer when when God the son was crucified, has had this And it's it's I always like those things because you know you know when the explosion goes off and there's a sort of few seconds, isn't it? And then you see the waves coming out. And it's almost as if that has happened. This weak event is the most powerful in in the whole of the universe. Because the 4 living creatures, 4 corners of the earth, start praising.

All of the church, the 24 elders, start praising. And it sort of going out. And that is the plan of God. Yeah. It's it's amazing.

And it's all it's almost mean, it's a wrong phrase, but it's almost a throwaway line, isn't it the end of verse 8? You know, these golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of God's people. Yeah. Just to imagine the the very weak faltering prayers that we prize, a little church family. You know, they belong in this seismic scene.

Mhmm. They are filling the bowls and they are in a sense perfuming the throne room of God even now. He hears them and our requests come before his presence. And it's just amazing that because of Christ, we can we can be caught up in this scene even as it's happening now. Which, yeah, amazing.

And that isn't just an explosion and it's certainly not an explosion of death. It's an explosion of life. That's pushing into this into this planet and causing this new song to be sung. It's interesting because the new song is different to the old song. So if you go back to chapter 4, it's almost word for word the same.

Mhmm. You are worthy. But it's about the creator in chapter 4. You're worthy because you are the magnificent creator. Now you're worthy because you've actually died on a cross.

Yeah. And, you know, it's very clear there, isn't it? You are worthy to take the scroll and to open it seals because you were slain. With your blood and you you purchased for God people from every tribe and language and nation. It's it's just an amazing summary of Jesus' work, isn't it?

That this is the king who has come and has died and shed his blood, that we are his people, we are redeemed, we are safe, and that we we belong to God. And it reminds me of the the kind of Philippians 2 stuff as well, you know. God takes the nature of a servant, gives his life even on a cross, and therefore God exalted him to the highest place. So he is exalted into this highest place because of his suffering -- Yeah. -- on our behalf and he he truly is worthy.

And it goes out to every language and every nation. Mhmm. So there are people right around the world now -- Mhmm. -- where that this virus has hit but there are people all over the world who are praising the Lord Jesus Christ who has beaten everything you know, he is the king. And then that last verse, you have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will rain on the earth.

The whole thought that because of the plan of I mean, there's a plan of God is to bring people from all over all over the nations or nations and languages and tribes and so forth into his kingdom. So that we can serve God and we will reign. We reign over the earth. How? Oh, because we're part of the king who rules the world.

And we reign when we say no to sin and we reign when we spread the message of the lord Jesus Christ. It's an extraordinary thing. Mhmm. Well, we'll leave it there. Come back tomorrow.