Christmas Carols: Week 5 “The New Song” Revelation 5:1-10

INTRO> Well you are probably thinking, what are we doing in the book of revelation? Its Christmas. We have been looking at the songs that where sung around the birth of Christ. *ILL> In 1985 a movie was released that grossed over 350 million dollars, directed by Steven Spielberg and starting a new young lead actor, Micheal J. Fox, Back to the Future (PIC)! Did you know that the original title of the movie was suppose to be “Space man From Pluto?” The man that wrote the movie is Bob Gale (PIC), Bob was at home visiting his parents, in St.Louis MO, found an old photo album and saw that his Dad was class president. He realized he didn’t like his class president and thought it he could go back in time, he would no his dad better in the present. Since, “Back to the Future”

CONTEXT> What does that have to do with today? Well we have looked at songs that were sung when Jesus came the first time, but did you know that he is coming back again? And did you know that there is a song that is going to be sung, a “new song”.

Big Idea> When Jesus Christ returns we will rejoice with a new song.

CONTEXT> We need to know where we are in the Bible, the Apostle John is on the island of Patmos, he has received a vision of Jesus Christ, and Jesus shows him aspects of the future of his return, John takes 2 chapters, 4-5, to set up the rest of the book to give us hope to what the futures holds.

1. We will sing that Jesus is worthy. v9

• • • “Worthy are you to take the scroll….” Everyone in heaven is saying that only Jesus is worthy to take this scroll. Why? John tells us in the text about the description of Jesus.

1. Jesus is the Lion of Judah.v5 – This goes back to Genesis 22, a prophecy, that God would send a victor! This shows Jesus’ power. Don’t get it twisted, Jesus came as a baby, once, when he comes back he is the Lion. Read Revelation 19:11-16
2. Jesus is the Root of David-v5 This shows the kingship of Jesus Christ, that he is the king above all kings!
3. Jesus is the Lamb of God.v6 – Again this is an OT reference, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

APP> There is a ton of application we can make from this but lets just make 2. APP> Jesus cannot be controlled. *ILL> Kids and Santa. APP> Jesus controls the future. There is a lot of talk about this scroll, accent times it was a “will” You may not know what the future holds but you know who holds the future.

2) We will sing that Jesus is victorious. v9b

• • • “ you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people..” That word “ransomed” is the greek word agorazō and it’s a marketplace term meaning to purchase.

APP> do you notice the strange change in the text? John hears that it’s a lion and turns to see a lamb.. a little anti climatic isn’t it? A lamb really?

APP> Salvation doesn’t come through power, it comes through surrender. That’s what Christmas is all about! ““Only Jesus says, “I have come for the weak. I have come for those who admit they are weak. I will save them not by what they do but through what I do.” ― Timothy J. Keller, Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ

APP> Jesus victory gives us true hope. Think about it, if you reject this message that death has been defeated what hope do you have? *ILL> This is a picture of The British atheist, Bertrand Russell, wrote a famous book called Why I Am Not A Christian. He did an interview with the BBC toward the end of his life, with death so close, he was asked what he looked forward to. He replied, “I have nothing to hang onto but grim, unyielding despair.”

3) We will sing because we are in his presence.v10

• • • “you have made them a kingdom of priests to our God.” We should read this and gasp! In the OT the priest in the temple where the ONLY people who could be in the holiest part of the temple.

APP> Here they are singing that God has made all of his people holy. This is something known as “the priest hood of all believers.”

1. God has chosen you.
2. God delights in you.
3. You have a purpose.

“We are not only king and freest of all men, but also priests for ever, a dignity far higher than kingship, because by that priesthood we are worthy to appear before God, to pray for others, and to teach one another mutually the things which are of God. For these are the duties of priests, and they cannot possibly be permitted to any unbeliever. Christ obtained for us this favor, if we believe in Him: that just as we are his brethren and co-heirs and fellow-kings with Him, so we should be also fellow priests with him, and venture with confidence, through the Spirit, to come into the presence of God, and cry “Abba, Father!” and to pray for one another, and to do all things which we see don’t and figured in the visible and corporeal office of the priesthood.” – Martin Luther

Big Idea> When Jesus Christ returns we will rejoice with a new song.

Close> In 2010 one of the largest earth quakes devastated Hatti, claiming over 100,00 lives. NPR reported that each night under the star light skys because there was no electricity all you could hear where songs, praise songs. Author Andy Crouth put it this way, “And they sang. When you don’t have technology, you still have song. When you’ve lost everything, in fact, you still have song. All over the hills of Haiti those first terrible nights, under the starlit sky, the voices of the people of Haiti rose up in grief and lament, in prayer and hope. They had something we have almost lost—and they still have it, as anyone who has visited a Haitian church or family knows. We can have it in our homes, and in our churches too, if we choose not to let anything else do the singing for us.”