A Comfort in Heaven

*The sermon manuscript below was generated from the recording by AI…

I wonder if Probably most of you have, but maybe some of you haven’t heard of the book The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia. There’s 4 Pevensie children, and they go and stay with a family member because of the war. And one of them, Lucy, the youngest finds a wardrobe. And as she walks into a wardrobe, she opens the door and she starts walking deeper and deeper to play hide and seek. And as she goes deeper and deeper she kind of just disappears into this alternate universe, which is called Narnia. And all of a sudden she’s walking on snow, and in this alternate universe there are fauns, and there are lions that speak, and there are dwarves and giants, and it’s a mystical fantasy world.

And C.S. Lewis, when he’s writing in the book, uh, he, he’s trying to enable you to do something when you read it, and he actually tells you outside of the book in another one of his works, where he explains that the purpose of reading The Chronicles of Narnia is not for you to sit there and try and mathematically work out what everything is- But the idea is you come into this alternate world and then you return to your own and understand reality better. And so, you go into the world and you read the story of a lion who would lay down his life to save human, and you come out of alternate world and you reflect on Christ, and you understand Christ better.

You know, in- entering into this vision is a little bit like entering into a fantasy book written by a Christian. I- it’s an alternate type of world where things aren’t quite the same as what we’re used to. Everything’s a little bit different and there’s pictures that aren’t obviously clear to us what they’re talking about, and yet all of them are communicating truth to us so that we might understand God and live for him in this world.

And so, when we get to chapter four and five, we get this one big, grand, heavenly vision given to us. It’s like stage one in the vision journey, and this stage one is communicating certain truths to us. And so last week in chapter 4, we thought about this song that’s been going on since the beginning of creation, didn’t we? That God had created the universe from the beginning to establish praise and glory for his name, and everything that lives has breath to praise the Lord. And all of it’s been given a song to sing, from the smallest microorganism to the largest mountain. All of it exists for the praise of the Lord.

And as we sit there and appreciate that, the, the vision then moves on to part 2. If you could think about it like a, like a stage production, the curtain goes down and then the curtain lifts up again, and now there’s a different emphasis. The vision shifts a little bit and the focus changes. Before, you were sort of given a, a big picture where you’re standing back and you’re seeing the throne in the center, this theocentric vision, and you’re seeing these cascading circles outwards of different parts. And now all of a sudden, the magnifying glass, the zoom on the camera focuses right in and John sees something.

And the first thing he sees is a heavenly scroll. It’s like the, the camera zooms in on a little detail. And, you know, often the little details in pictures are really significant. You know, I, I was not one for art history. Uh, talk to my wife. She’s the art history buff. I’m not. But I do remember in art class that we had to do in third form, our teacher explaining to us that in very grand pieces of art, you have to study the fine details to understand what the artist is trying to communicate. And it’s striking if you’ve ever watched or listened to an art expert explaining, like, a really famous picture. You look and you see, like, a person or a battle, and you’re like, “Wow, that’s a cool battle.” And they’re like, “Did you see this little stroke of a paintbrush here that’s communicating this?” And you’re like, “Wow, I had no idea. I just saw paint. This is incredible.” Well, at least if you’re reasonably ignorant about art like I am.

And, and these fine details communicate deep truth, and the same thing is going on in this book here, this fine detail of just a scroll. There’s just a scroll in his hand. It’s something you might be tempted to pass over if you look into heaven and see the glory of God. But John sees a scroll in the hand of God, in the right hand of God, and, and you’ve gotta ask yourself the obvious question. Well, what’s the scroll? There’s about 8 different options given by commentators. You know, is it the Old Testament and, and what we’re seeing here is the Old Testament being fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it the Book of Life? You know, we read in Revelation and other places about the Book of Life sitting on the lap of God with the names of the saints in it. Is it a book of judgment like you read about in the Old Testament?

I think the best way of understanding this is what’s explained in Ezekiel 2. In Ezekiel 2, a very similar phraseology is taken up in, in chapter 2, verse 9-10, where Ezekiel sees a scroll, he sees a book in the hand of God, a, a scroll or a book that’s written front and back. And in Ezekiel, the scroll is a scroll of the future purposes of God for Israel, which in his timeframe is woe and judgment. And what John is doing is he’s picking that up to highlight that what is sitting in the right hand of God is the very purposes, the covenantal purposes of God from the foundation of the world, the set, defined, decretal will of God, that there are purposes laying before God that are fixed in his hand, that are sure because he has decreed them, and they’re resting upon his righthand.

A- a- but you’ll notice, the, the scroll has 7 seals on it, right? We’re told that the scroll is sealed with 7 seals. so then you’ve gotta ask yourself the obvious question, “Well, what are the seals?” And, of course, there’s lots of different ideas about what the seals are. It’s interesting if you consider the Old Testament and the way they deal with sealing something up. Now, the scroll is the purposes of God, and it’s sealed. Now, in the Old Testament, almost exclusively, when the will of God or the Word of God is sealed, it’s a declaration of judgment upon a people, because the people have rejected the Word. And so God seals it up so that they can’t have it. This is true in the Book of Isaiah in chapter 29. It’s, it’s true also in Daniel when he gets given a vision, and then the angel says to Daniel, “Now seal it and put it away because this is for a long time from now. No one gets to understand until the day has come.” And he was talking about the coming of Christ. He says, “Seal it up.” Why? “Because the present generation has rejected me.” It’s a sign of withholding.

And so you begin to see that the scroll in the hand of God is, is a picture of something glorious, yet something withheld, something glorious that cannot be obtained because it’s locked away, in a sense. God has sealed it away so that no one can benefit from it.

But then you’ll also notice that it’s a 2sided scroll. It’s got writing on the front and back. Now, this could just mean simply that it’s a really big scroll. It’s got lots of stuff on it. It could also mean, and I’m inclined to take this view, it could also mean that it’s because the scroll has 2 messages, one of comfort for God’s people and one of judgment for the world, and that as this scroll is taken up and read, it’s going to bring 2 effects. It’s going to bring either a hardening or a softening, a comforting or a terrorizing, a killing or a bestowing life. And that’s always the way of God, isn’t it? The very message of the Gospel brought you life, and yet your neighbor hates it. The very message of the Gospel that fills your heart with comfort and joy and assurance in the face of death enrages your family members.

You see, because God’s Word and God’s purposes are always a dividing line in this world, and they separate the sheep from the goats, don’t they? Th- there’s, there’s no middle area. There’s no gray area. There is a hard line, which is the Word of God, and you’re either with Christ or you’re against Christ.

But what’s really quite stunning about this picture of the scroll is, is, is the Greek word used to say “in.” You’ll see it says, “In the right hand of God.” He doesn’t use, John doesn’t use the stereotypical word for saying that it’s in his hand like a clenched fist. It, it’s the word that is more like communicating “on.” You could translate this as being on the hand of God. And so it’s almost like the picture is that God’s hand is open. You might say, “Well, that’s a pretty small thing. What, what, what’s that got to do with anything?” Well, what’s being communicated here is that God’s hand is open, and he is offering forth his purposes because God is desirous of his purposes to be fulfilled.

You know, this is vision language, of course, right? But in the vision language, what is being communicated about God is that God delights to work out his purposes in this world, and he is offering it freely forward. He’s not holding it away. He’s not sticking it in his pocket, but he’s holding it forth so that it might be known.

I think this teaches us something important about God, which is that the Lord God sovereignly has a purpose in this world. Nothing is accidental. Nothing is arbitrary. everything from the beginning of the foundation of the world till now, and till the return of Christ and into eternity, is all according to the perfect sovereign decree of God, and nothing falls outside of that. And that’s an incredible comfort when you’re a church being persecuted, right? When you’re being martyred for your faith, you’re tempted to think that God’s lost control. And the early churches being reminded that God is still on the throne, and is still the author and perfecter of the church and salvation, and He is still in control of history, and He’s still governing its affairs, and He is ensuring that not one thing falls out of step with His purposes.

And that’s a great comfort for you and I. If, if we’re not in the perfected church, we’re not in the struggling church, we’re here, and yet we face difficulties, don’t we? We get sick, we get cancer, we die. People will hurt us. We get abused. And yet, God’s in control. Not one thing that has happened to you in your life has happened outside of God and His control and His will. All of it is in His hands, which means all of it is intentional. All of it is purposed, because there is no accidents with God. From the darkest of day to the brightest sun and everything in between, all of it is part of God’s purposes for you, which is a great comfort for us, but it’s also a terrible terror for unbelievers.

Because unbelievers might attempt to comfort themselves and to think to themselves, “Well, we can get away with it, because we’re mightier than God, because we’re stronger than God, because we can, we can thwart God’s plans.” And what we’re seeing here is that unbelievers under the judgment of God are under the plan of God, too. And they have no hope save in the sovereign mercy of God alone.

And so, we see this again, this dual picture, right? The message of God’s eternal decree is a message of comfort for believers, but a terror for unbelievers.

And so, we see this heavenly scroll sitting in the right hand of God. But the next thing John sees, or rather hears, is a heavenly question. There’s a question that comes forth in heaven. We remember, don’t we? That the You get the picture that the scroll’s being held forth. It’s being held forth for someone to take. And so, a mighty angel appears, and he asks a question. He asks, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”

You know, it’s always lovely when someone else asks the obvious question. If you had this wonderful experience where you’re in a class, or you’re in s- you know, in school or in a workplace or something, and you’ve got a, a really dumb question that you don’t wanna ask, but then someone else asks it for you. And you’re like, “Yes, great! I get my answer without looking like I asked the question.” Well, here we get a question which is probably on the minds of everybody. While we see the scroll, we see God upon the throne, we see Him offering it forth, but who’s gonna pick it up?

A- and as, as the call goes forth, you, you could imagine, right? Who is worthy to take the scroll? And, and who were c- who was closest? Do you remember last time? The, the 4 beasts, the 4 creatures, right? A- and the 4 creatures look at one another and they say, “Not me. I ain’t going up to the throll and take- throne and taking the scroll. I’m not worthy.” And then the 24 elders look at one another and they say, “Nope, not me.” And the angels behind them, “Nope.” And all of creation, “Nope.” And there’s not one person that is willing to, to go forth. In fact, we actually get the picture of, like, a silence settling in heaven, which is really striking, because up till now it’s been really noisy.

You know? When, when the visions all started, it began with, what? Like, a trumpet blast as, as John gets woken up to the voice of Jesus Christ. Then he’s writing letters. Then immediately another trumpet blast. Then, all of a sudden, there’s songs erupting, and there’s this eternal chorus of “Holy, holy, holy,” and the elders casting down their thrones and crying out, “Worthy are you, O Lord our God.” And this song is erupting in every direction, until all of a sudden, this mighty angel cries out, “Well, who’s worthy to take the scroll?” Crickets. Silence descends upon the throne room of God, with the exception of one noise. Do you hear it? Weeping.

It’s the only noise in heaven at this moment, which should strike you all the more when you think about the fact that heaven is the place where every tear is wiped away, a place where weeping is no more and death is no more. Heaven is a place where there is no sadness or sorrow, right? And yet here, in the very throne room of God, a man falls down and weeps loudly.

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the story, the, the sound of loud weeping, wailing. N- not, not the fake type that happens at fake funerals. I mean legitimate weeping and wailing over death, over loss. You would have seen this in our house when a 5monthold baby got taken to another family. I could, I could It, it’s left an impressionable mark on me. We- we went down, we put the baby in the car for the social worker to take away, we walked back upstairs. We stood in Papakura House just next to our kitchen bench, and we stood there for half a second, and there was just this, this dread-filled silence in the room. And then all of a sudden, I just started weeping. And then Josella started weeping, and then the children started weeping, and, and we just fell to pieces because our baby had been taken away. Guttural pain, vocal expression, is what we’re seeing in John right now.

A- and, and you might think to yourself, “Why? Why is he weeping when he’s standing there with God in front of him? What has he got to weep about?” Well, what John is weeping about is that there’s no one that can open the scroll. There’s no one that can take the scroll of God’s redemptive purposes, of his covenantal decree, which means salvation can’t be accomplished, which means there’s no eternal life, which means all that is left is judgment. Horror. There’s no hope, is the picture for John. He’s got nothing to hope in. All of the beautiful purposes that he’d thought about and read about in the Old Testament had all of a sudden been snuffed out, because the redemptive purposes of God can’t be opened. The scroll can’t be read. The seals can’t be broken. It can’t be enacted.

That’s something worth weeping about. It’s like when Jesus comes to Jerusalem. Remember, it says he wept over Jerusalem. He said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, oh, how I’ve longed to gather you under my wings like chicks, but you weren’t willing. I longed for you to be saved. I longed to revive you. I longed to restore you, but you don’t want me to.” And you see this guttural pain of Jesus over Jerusalem.

Or, or it’s captured really beautifully in the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus is dead, and they walk down the road, and a man walks alongside them, and he says to them, effectively, “Why are, why are you so downcast, my friends?” And they say, “Have you not, have you not heard what’s happened recently? We had this guy called Jesus, and we thought he was the Messiah. We thought he was gonna save us. We thought he was gonna reestablish the purposes of God for us as a people. And, and our leaders, the Pharisees, they killed him, they handed him over to the Romans, and now he’s dead. And now we’ve got nothing. Why? Because we gave everything up to follow him, and now we’re without hope.” And they’re despairing in their hearts.

It’s the picture of John in despair and hopelessness. And I think there’s an important lesson in this for us, and that’s firstly that there is no one “under heaven or under earth, or in the earth, or upon the earth, who has the honor, the power, the holiness, the worthiness to fulfill the purposes of God.” There is no creature under heaven or earth. Not the most richest, nor the most powerful, nor the most beautiful, nor the godliest saint, nor the most perfected angel in heaven, no one has the right or the authority to approach the throne of God and take the scroll.

And this ought to disparage all human effort to reach God, shouldn’t it? What hope do you have of attaining perfection? Uh, all of your striving is losing. You have no hope in and of yourself to obtain the purposes of God for your life, to obtain salvation for yourself. It can’t be done because no human can do it. That’s what we’re seeing here, right? No creature can obtain the purposes of God, and that includes you, which means there is no hope for you outside of God.

Which means, the best response for you and I, in this moment of the text, is to join John on the floor in weeping. And if it doesn’t upset you, if it doesn’t sadden you, if it doesn’t concern you, check your soul. Check your heart. Maybe you’re not saved. Maybe you’re trusting in yourself and there’s a voice within you that says, “Uh, actually, I’m a pretty good guy. And God’s a pretty nice guy, too. And so, we should just be fine.” And what you’re being shown is a picture of utter terror, utter despair, utter discomfort. It rebukes us for all of our petty attempts at earning our own self-righteousness. It rebukes us for trying to save ourselves.

Oh, how often we do it, don’t we? We subtly begin to think that, “If I do just enough good stuff, God’s gonna love me more.” We subtly begin to think that the Father’s love for us is based upon our righteousness, our efforts, our works, and not upon the free mercy and grace of Christ alone. Come to Christ alone because there’s hope in no other name. This is why the apostles say, “Under heaven and earth, there is no other name by which men may be saved.”

And so, if you’re an unbeliever here today, don’t bother looking into Buddhism, don’t bother looking into Islam, don’t bother looking into New Age mysticism or Eastern Orthodox or Catholicism. There is only one place you can go, and it’s not Protestantism. It’s Jesus Christ!

And we see that in our next point, for as the weeping of John continues, we all of a sudden see and feel a heavenly comfort from the hand of the heavenly comforter. As John sits and weeps in verse 4, all of a sudden in verse 5, one of the elders, one of those 24 elders that seat- seated upon the throne, you’re gonna Now, they’re meant to be doing what? They’re eternally praising God. One of them leaves the throne that they’re on and comes to wherever John is. He comes to him, and you can imagine him placing his hand upon John as John’s face down on the ground, placing his hand upon John and saying to him, “Weep no more. Weep no more.”

And it’s a really lovely picture, that it’s an elder. You know, it, it could have been one of the angels, it could have been one of the cherubim, it could have been some other mystical heavenly creature, but it’s one of the angels, uh, one of the elders that comes to him. And the reason this is a wonderful encouragement to us is that it is those that have been forgiven much that love much. It is those that have been comforted that are able to comfort others, right? You see, the elder is the representative of the church of the redeemed, right? And so here is a redeemed soul coming to another sinner and putting his hand upon him and saying, “Be of good courage. Weep no more.”

And as John dries his eyes, uh, you can imagine him saying, “Why? Why should I weep? Why should I not weep?” And he says, “Behold, look, see, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its 7 seals.” The elder says to him, “Look! The Lion” And he quotes from Genesis 49, the blessing of Jacob upon his children, and he says, “From Judah shall arise a lion, one with a scepter that will rule over the people of God.” And the elder says, “Here, here he is. Here is the Lion.”

Why the picture of a lion? Well, isn’t A lion is someone that is strong. A lion is someone that can pillage. And, and this Lion has conquered. He has gone into enemy territory and he has pillaged the enemy, and he has purchased a people for his own, and he has taken them home again. He is a conquering king. It’s the picture of strength and vigor. But he’s also the Root of David. He is not the fruit of David, which is interesting, because you would think he’s the offspring of David. But no, no, he’s the Root of David. It’s a reference to Isaiah 11, the Root of David. Why? Because in him, he is the source of every king. And in him is everything required to bring about the victory of God and the purposes of God.

And this Lion, this Root, this one that is the Old Testament fulfillment of all things, he has conquered. And you have to ask yourself the question, how has he conquered? Did he conquer with a sword? Did he conquer with weaponry, with bow and arrow? No. With sling? No. What did he conquer with? He conquered through his flesh, didn’t he? He came and he conquered through his own death. “Five bleeding wounds he bears,” as the hymn says. That’s the mark of his conquering kingship. The Lion devoured by being devoured. The Root of Jesse, the Root of David, conquered by being snuffed out. And yet he has conquered. And as Paul says to the church in Colossae, he has conquered and he has put to open shame every principality.

This is the conquering King. And because he has conquered through his death and through his resurrection, he is worthy to take the scroll and open its seals. Jesus is worthy because he has accomplished the will of God in his life. Because he came to be a sacrifice for many, didn’t he? And he came and he laid down his life. And having laid down his life, what did he do? Remember those words in John 10? “I will lay down my life and then I will take it up again.” And he takes his life back up and he walks out of the tomb, and we sing, “Up from the grave he arose and out he comes.” And then where did he go? Well, he ascends to heaven.

That’s what we’re seeing here, brothers and sisters. The elder says, “Don’t weep. Here comes Jesus, back from his mission trip. He’s on his way back. He’s finished the work that his Father’s given him, and he’s conquered and he’s overthrown and he’s entering back into heaven in glory and power. He’s being crowned with many diadems, and he’s seating himself down upon the throne again.” It’s the picture of our ascended Lord. It’s the picture of our King.

But up to this point, John hasn’t seen him yet. John’s just heard the news, right? says, “Look over there! It’s a lion. It’s a root!” And then David John turns around, and as John turns around, have a look what happens, verse 6. John turns around and, “Between the throne and the 4 living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lion.” No. “A root!” No. “A Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with 7 horns and 7 eyes, which are the spirits of God sent into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.”

Why a lamb? You know, this isn’t the first time John has talked about a lamb, is it? In the Gospel of John, when John first meets Jesus, John is a disciple of John the Baptist, John and John. And, and John the Baptist sees Jesus walking towards him in the wilderness. Do you remember what he cries out? “Behold the Lamb of God.” And that’s the introduction to Jesus for John the apostle. And now he sees the Lamb of God again, but this Lamb of God is not in a sense, not pure and spotless. And by that, what I mean is he looks slain. Th- the word for slain means butchered, slaughtered, destroyed. Because it is through the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ that our victory is made secure, that the redemptive plans of God are accomplished. Everything centers upon the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s the ultimate fulfillment of everything. It is the centerpiece of history. Without the death and resurrection of Christ, everything falls apart and there is no hope. Without the death and resurrection of Christ, weep and weep, because there is nothing else to do. Life is pointless.

But with the death and resurrection of Christ, the purposes of God are fulfilled, grace is manifested, salvation is established, the scroll is taken, the seals can be opened, and the Lamb may sit upon the throne. Because He’s worthy. He’s able, because He has done that which His God said to Him to do.

But do you notice where He’s standing? When John first looks, where is he standing? He’s standing in between the throne and the creatures. It’s, it’s not just saying he’s nearest to the throne, because that would communicate that he’s, like, the most important created being. No, no. He’s standing in the position of a mediator. Between God and every creature, between God and creation stands the Lamb. Why? Because Jesus Christ the Lamb is the only mediator for man. He stands between God in order for God to be gracious to us because He sees us through the mediator and in order that we might approach God because we come through the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is why Jesus can say, “I am the door.” You see, it is through Christ Himself in His redemptive work that we may approach the throne of grace in our hour of need. Why can you pray? Because there’s a mediator standing here. Why are there prayers mentioned in a couple of verses? Because there is a great high priest standing before God. This is your hope, brothers and sisters. The reason John can be comforted is not because some elder speaks to him, but because Christ stands before the Father, in whom the redemptive purposes of God are fulfilled.

And as he takes the scroll, ultimately what we see is that nothing can thwart God’s purposes for being worked out in the Lord Jesus Christ, for you and for I, and for everyone that would call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for those outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, those purposes will be worked out, but they will be worked out in judgment, in terror, in horror, because He has been made worthy.

You see, the God Man, He who conquered, sits upon the throne. It’s a striking picture, isn’t it? God of eternity shares His throne with a man, and in Him, united in Him, we share in God. This is why the incarnation matters, because it is in His humanity that the redemptive purposes of God are worked out.

And I think there’s some wonderful uses that come from this. Firstly, this is a wonderful eternal comfort for us, found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you afraid to die? He lives, so you need not fear death. Are you afraid of the judgment of God and the wrath of God? Well, here stands one slain by the wrath of God, so that you might not need bear it. Do you want to live forever? Well, here stands one who lives forever, who ever lead- lives to plead for you. Are you cast down with fear and worry? Well, here stands one before the Father of Lights who only ever gives good gifts. It’s the eternal comfort found in our eternal Lord.

I think there’s another very practical little thing here as it relates to the elder, and that is that we have a responsibility to bing- to be the bearer of comfort to others. You know, the elder could have just left John there until eventually he realized what was going on. You know, when the singing starts later on down the passage, John wakes up and goes, “Oh, I missed something.” But the elder sees a despairing fellow saint, and what does he do? He takes the good news to him, doesn’t he? And I think it’s a wonderful picture for you and I of what we can be for other people. We can take the message of comfort, the message of the Gospel, and bring it to those around us, to bring it to despairing saints and to bring it to the unconverted and show them that there is hope and there is comfort in another world in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think it’s also a wonderful invitation, isn’t it? It’s a wonderful invitation to come to the Lord Jesus Christ again, and again, and again, to get up every day and come back to our mediator and say, “My hope is found no other ground but Jesus Christ, because everything else is sinking sand. I’ve got no other hope.”

You know, C.S. Lewis, he, he wrote Narnia because he wanted children to, to understand the things of the Lord better. He hoped that children would read his book and that parents would read it to them, and that those children would come to know Christ. And, and ultimately that’s what’s going on here, right? John is, is seeing the glory of Christ enthroned on high, the purposes of God being fulfilled, the redemptive purposes of God being achieved. And that’s being communicated to you and I today so that we might know Christ, so that we might have eternal life, and so that we might have comfort as we live in this world.

You know, it’s a, it’s a picture of hope, isn’t it? A picture of comfort, a picture of life. Isn’t it an amazing thing to be a Christian? Isn’t it a glorious privilege to be a believer?

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