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He Is Worthy
Reflections on
Revelation 5 and Daniel 7
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God the Father, the ruler of Heaven, sits on the throne
with a sealed scroll in His right hand. What’s sealed — with seven seals,is the
Father’s will, His plan for the distribution and management of His estate. The
entitlement of the estate is the earth, which includes its people.
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God had intended for the world to be ruled by humans. But who will come forward to open the document and receive the inheritance? Because of human sin, mankind and the earth have been corrupted. No man is worthy to take the role God intended for Adam and his descendants. Adam proved unworthy, as did Abraham, David, and every other person in history.
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The Father, who sits on Heaven’s throne, will never die. Instead, the heir, the beloved firstborn son, has died. Every finite being, angelic and human, stands in amazement at this man and what He has done.
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He was slain that He might “purchase men for God” — and not just a small representation of fallen humanity, but “from every tribe and language and people and nation.” The vanquishing of sin means the beginning of Christ’s eternally uncontested rule, when He will delegate earthly rule to His co-heirs.
BY
RANDY ALCORN
I was recently listening to Chris Tomlin’s
version of “Is He Worthy?” (written
by Andrew Peterson), and that prompted me to share some thoughts related to two
favorite passages of mine, Revelation 5 and Daniel 7.
But before I do so, please take a few
minutes to watch this video of a precious little girl singing “Is He Worthy?” with her mom, and her
dad playing the piano:
In this video I share more thoughts about
the biblical grounds for the song:
If you’d like to read more, here are some related thoughts about Revelation 5 from my book Heaven:
Revelation 5:1-10 depicts a powerful scene
in the present Heaven. God the Father, the ruler of Heaven, sits on the throne
with a sealed scroll in His right hand.
What’s sealed — with seven seals, to avoid
any possibility that the document has been tampered with — is the Father’s
will, His plan for the distribution and management of His estate.
In this case, the entitlement of the estate
is the earth, which includes its people.
God had intended for the world to be ruled
by humans. But who will come forward to open the document and receive the inheritance?
John writes, “I wept and wept because no one was found
who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside” (Revelation 5:4).
Because of human sin, mankind and the earth
have been corrupted. No man is worthy to take the role God intended for Adam
and his descendants.
Adam proved unworthy, as did Abraham,
David, and every other person in history.
But right when it
appears that God’s design for mankind and the earth will forever be thwarted,
the text continues in high drama: “Then
one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its
seven seals.’
“Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain,
standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures
and the elders. . . .
“He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him
who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and
the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. . . .
“And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the
scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you
purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation’ ” (Revelation 5:5-9).
Every finite being, angelic and human,
stands in amazement at this man and what He has done.
The Father, who sits on Heaven’s throne,
will never die. Instead, the heir, the beloved firstborn son, has died.
He was slain that
He might “purchase men for God” — and
not just a small representation of fallen humanity, but “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).
The passage
culminates with a statement about Christ’s followers: “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and
they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10).
Psalm 2 speaks of Christ ruling “with an iron scepter” and dashing the
nations to pieces “like pottery” (verse 9), a reference to
the Messiah’s return, judgment, and perhaps his millennial reign.
But once we enter the new heavens and New
Earth, there’s no iron rule or dashing to pieces, for there’s no more
rebellion, sin, or death.
The vanquishing of sin doesn’t mean the end
of Christ’s rule. It means the end of His contested rule and the beginning of
His eternally uncontested rule, when He will delegate earthly rule to His
co-heirs.
“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his
greatness is unsearchable. … They shall speak of the might of your awesome
deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of
your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.” (Psalm 145:3, 6-7)
In chapter 22 of my book Heaven, “How will we rule God’s Kingdom?” I deal
extensively with Daniel 7 as one of the richest Old Testament texts revealing
the reality of the New Earth.
Daniel 7 is a fascinating portion of God’s
Word and I think you’ll enjoy learning more about it.
Browse more resources on the topic of Heaven, and see Randy’s related books, including 50 Days of Heaven and We Shall See God.
Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) is the author of
fifty-some books and the founder
and director of Eternal Perspective
Ministries.
https://www.epm.org/blog/2020/May/8/he-is-worthy-reflections
You might also like:
Agnus Dei
(Worthy
is the Lamb)
CLICK
HERE . . . to view complete playlist . . .
https://puricarechronicles.blogspot.com/2020/02/agnus-dei-worthy-is-lamb-michael-w.html
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