This is a time of stress in our world is it not? We look around us and see what is happening in the world, and even in our own country. It drives us to our knees and requires us to go to the Lord for help. If I didn’t believe in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, then I would be among the most miserable of men, like the Apostle Paul says. (1 Corinthians 15:19).
To think that God will not one day set this all right, and that He will have Glory in the end. If like some Christians I thought that this was the kingdom of God, if I thought that this was all He was going to do on this earth, then I would be miserable too. But God has promised more than that. God has promised a Kingdom on this earth in which He will reign as King, and God will return one day to establish that Kingdom and put an end to the evil, I for one am looking foreword to that, this is called the ‘Blessed Hope’ and the Glorious appearing of our Saviour.
We do believe in the return of Jesus Christ to the earth, the whole earth is Gods it belongs to Him. He made it, He created it, and He has the Title and Deed to it. It’s just that for a while it is being ran by a usurper, by a poacher who is on this earth, called Satan. And those who do not know Christ as Saviour are doing his bidding, even though they do not realize it. He is running roughshod over this earth, and people, and nations. Over rulers, Families and individuals until Christ returns.
One day though, and one day very soon the whole earth will be deeded back to God.
The subject of Revelation chapter five is ‘Redemption’; the subject is that God is going to redeem all of us, and the earth back to Him.
In the Old Testament there are laws of redemption, which means there were ways to buy things back, to redeem means to buy something. So there were ways to buy back something that was yours but lost.
One law of redemption concerned the wife who had become a widow. I know it sounds strange to us but if a man were to die, then his brother had the right to marry her and raise children to his name. There was a question that came to Jesus about if a woman had seven husbands who’s wife would she be in the resurrection, and that was a typical question in the Old Testament days concerning this law. There was a Kinsman, you remember Boaz? Who found that he was a kinsman of Ruth, and he may do that if he wants, there was a nearer kinsman who also could have bought the land and the wife, but he took off his shoe and gave it to Boaz, in front of witnesses to give him the right. (Ruth 4:7)
There were laws of redemption of a slave, in those days if a man had no money and no way of supporting himself then he could indenture himself to a property owner for a period of six years and on the seventh year he must be set free. Of course he may decide that he does not want to be set free, and the master took him to a doorpost and put a notch in his ear, and he became a bond slave for the rest of his days. And of course if he chooses to leave his master before his six years were up, then he could be redeemed by or a kinsman who could buy his way out of this contract.
You know that if you are In Christ, then you and I are part of the Bride of Christ, and that He has redeemed us unto Himself by paying the price with His own blood and He did this at Calvary. You know that you were a slave to sin, until you believed and called on Jesus Christ, and at that time you were released from your sin by His blood, redeeming you from being the slave to sin. In the New Testament especially the book of Galatians is full of this wonderful doctrine that we were redeemed from those sins.
But there is a third law of redemption and that has to do with the land itself. In Leviticus 25 we find this law of redemption of the land. This is were someone who needed money may take the land of his inheritance from his ancestors that was deeded from the time of Joshua and sell it. If a man had to sell his land to pay his debts it was a very serious thing, so there was a way that this property would come back to the original owner through these laws of redemption. Lets examine this law in chapter 25:23-28
'The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.
'If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. (This is a Kinsman redeemer) Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee (every 50th year); and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.
So … you have three ways for the land to come back to you if you have sold it.
The first way is for a kinsman to pay the price or make a contract to pay the price in a future time and when that kinsman comes and pays the price he may give it back to you.
The Second way in verses 26 and 27 a man may have been able to get the money together himself. So he can make the contract to redeem the property at a future time before the year of Jubilee.
And thirdly if neither of those things can happen, God saw to it that it all went back to the original owner anyway.
So, the lands value was determined by how many years were left before the year of Jubilee, either the owner or the kinsman future contract pay off were figured by this means.
What I want to examine here is the first part of the law, which is the Kinsman Redeemer being willing to redeem the land. In Jeremiah 32 we have a great example of this, in verse six we find Jeremiah in prison, he’s been arrested for preaching that the Babylonians were going to come and carry off Israel into captivity, seems the king did not like Gods word. And the Lord came to Jeremiah and told him that he has a cousin who has sold some land and you need to redeem it because you are his near kinsman. Let’s begin reading in verse seven 'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle (his cousin) will come to you, saying, "Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it."' Then Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, 'Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, (Notice) and weighed out to him the money — seventeen shekels of silver. (Notice this is important) And I signed the deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales. So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open (there were two scrolls, one book or scroll was sealed and one was open); and I gave the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.
So two books were made, one was sealed up, and the kinsman would place his mark on that seal, and no one could open that book except the man who had paid the price for the redemption of that land. And there was a second book with all of the terms available for anyone to read who wanted to read it, and they both were placed in the temple. As I understand it later in Israel’s history, they began to just use one book. Also notice that the witnesses signed on the outside of the scroll, and that was a witness of who the redeemer was and who could open the seal.
Why did God do this, it says in verses 14 and 15, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days." For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land."' The land belongs to God; infact the whole earth belongs to God. And we are just reading an illustration where God is saying the land is mine, and that is why we understand that God deeds the whole of the land of Israel to that nation, and sealed and signed by Him, and so is the whole earth. We sing “This is my Fathers World” but so many refuse to believe so, the land deeded to the Children of Abraham for all time is still theirs, and no one has the right to try and take any of it away.
In the Book of Daniel, we read of great prophecies from his day to the end of the world. To the time when Jesus would return, repossess His land and setup His Kingdom. In chapter 12 verse 4 it says "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." Verse 8 and 9 says “Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, "My lord, what shall be the end of these things?"
And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.”
The Kinsmen Redeemer has not come yet, but when He comes who will pay the price for this land, He alone will be able to open the seals on this book and then you will be able to see ever thing from that day until the end. It is no accident that we read the book of Revelation and the book of Daniel together.
Now we come to Revelation Chapter 5 the first four verses, there are four things that we look at in these verses.
First there is a seven sealed book, these are the terms for God’s redemption for the earth, so notice again “And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.” God is sitting on His throne, and John witnesses that in the right hand of God is a book with seven seals. Just like a judge, in the Old Testament, sitting in the city gates would hold the book until the Kinsmen Redeemer would come and have a right to open the seals of the book. I think the picture is becoming clearer to you all of the time isn’t it? Notice it says that He held a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
Joseph A. Seiss who lived in the mid 1800’s said in the judicial laws of Moses in the manner of writing a contract, He who was to buy the ground wrote two instruments, one to be sealed with his own signet, the other to be showed unclosed to the witnesses, that they may subscribe and bear witness of that that which was written, thus the witness did subscribe on the back of the closed instrument. So, you see the witnesses read the terms in the open book and signed the back of the closed as a witness of what they contained.
We see this instrument held by the judge until the final day, is written within and on the backside the witnesses are there, and it is sealed with seven seals. Seven maybe because of perfection, or seven because this is the way the Lord does these things. It can only be opened by the Kinsman Redeemer, and I will remind you that before the foundation of the world the Lord Jesus Christ promised to buy this land back for God. And though they knew that this world would fall into the wrong hands, and Satan would be the god of this world and prince and power of the air, this was signed and witnessed before the foundation of the world, and Daniel was told you will have to wait until the end of days and then you will see how all of this will play out.
So … in verse 1 we are reminded of this huge scene, it didn’t have to do with the years that John lived on Patmos, it has to do with the history of this world. It has to do with every thing that is happening now, and God is moving everything to the end that He wants it to come to. I said before that Satan is a poacher; he is a usurper who has been on this land doing what ever he wants on this land, and even the land itself is hurting. Consider these words in Romans chapter 8 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”
You and I who live in this world and see the sin in the world, and we groan within ourselves because we possess the Holy Spirit of God, and yet we have that blesses hope and we know that when the redeemer comes it will go back to the right hands.
Secondly, we see a strong angel in verse 2 “Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?"” This term ‘strong angle’ is interesting because this particular word for strong only appears two other times in the bible. One is in chapter 10 verse 1, and the other is in chapter 18 verse 21. Every time I read this I think to myself, when I get to heaven I want to get to see this guy. in chapter 10, I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little book open in his hand (by the way, this could be John is seeing the sealed book and book left open, and the one left open is to be preached and proclaimed to everyone who will hear it). And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Wouldn’t you like to meet him someday? Well you will if you go to heaven.
In verse 2 here is an angel similar to that, a strong angel, maybe it is the same one, I don’t know. And he is proclaiming with a loud voice, the word for proclaiming is “Keerussoo”
The Keeruss is a herald, in Daniel chapter 3 we find a herald coming out from Nebuchadnezzar, and he yells with a loud voice ‘when you hear the music of the trumpet, and all of that, then you must bow down and worship this idol’. This mighty angel is a herald and he is proclaiming with a might voice ‘who in all of God’s creation, in all of time, past present future, who in all of heaven, above, below, who is able to open this book?’
Notice you have the word ‘worthy’ in verse two and ‘able’ in verse three, and again ‘worthy’ in verse four all come from the same Greek word ‘Dunamis’ we get the word Dynamite from this word. Who has the power to open this book? And what he means is who is the rightful owner of the earth who has the authority to peal back the seals on this book In Leviticus 25 verses 48 to 50 it spells out that there are three qualifications for a kinsman redeemer. He must be willing, in verse 48 it say he may, if he chooses or if he is willing. Verse 49 says he must be near of kin, a brother, and uncle, a cousin or any other near family may redeem him. And then lastly he must be able, so it must be someone who can do it; they are able to pay the price. So … a redeemer must have the money, be willing and be the next of kin to be able to do so.
With these thoughts in mind lets go back to the text in chapter 5 we are seeing a herald angle who is saying ‘who is able to open this book to the title deed of the whole earth’ can anyone open it? You and I are already reading ahead and we know what the next verses hold, but let me remind you that Jesus Christ being High Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made of hands, not by the blood of bulls and goats, but by His own blood. He entered into the Holy place having already obtained redemption for us. For you were redeemed not with silver and gold from the tradition of your fathers, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Being justified by His grace we have redemption in Christ Jesus.
In verse 9 we read And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood “
So we know who the redeemer is.
What are the qualifications then for God’s book? He must be sinless, and he must be human. Sinless because he must be able to pay the price for sin, and he must be human because he must be a Kinsman Redeemer. And so what did Jesus Christ do for us? He became the God-Man, He came from heaven to earth and took the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, being fashioned as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death on the cross. That is why God has highly exalted Him and has given Him a name above all names.
He is the God-Man, He is God and is sinless, is God in the flesh and is perfect. He meets every qualification to pay the price for sin. He had a divine birth. He is also man and therefore human and that makes him near kinsman to us. No angel can do this, no He must be of Adams seed, yes divine birth but also human, and therefore can with His precious human blood shed that for us.
Jesus can say, I own the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine, I own the universe I made it all, and this little corner of the universe called earth I would like to possess, and God said good, pay the price and seal the book and one day I will give it to you. And when the deed was done, Jesus is able to take it all. Won’t it be Glorious to be able to witness this take place?
The Third thought is the ‘empty universe’ verse 3 “And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.” There must have been a pause here … there must have been silence in heaven at this point. As the loud Angel said who is worthy? Who can do this, or is everything going to be lost? Is it going to be given over to its enemies? Maybe John looked at the strong angel, looked at Michael, looked at Gabriel, looked at the four Cherubim and the Seraphim around the throne and said any of you? And then thought to himself, no a man, a Kinsman Redeemer must do this. He looked at the earth, over it and under it, but no one was able. Maybe he looked at the Adam, Noah, Moses, David … is there anyone who can do this? Not Muhammad, Confucius, Buddha, Joseph Smith … no, no one under the earth. Would you put your faith in someone who cannot open the seals of this book? None had the qualification, or we would be in the kingdom now. They would have done it, but they are not able. No there is none righteous no not one, all have come short of the glory of God.(Romans 3:12)
John comes to this conclusion in verse 3 and that is why in verse 4 we see the weeping apostle. “So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it.” John was a preacher of the Gospel; He knew what was at stake. He had preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He had been with Jesus and knew that He alone had the word of life. And if He will not come and open the seals no one will.
If you understand the gravity of this moment then you will understand that if you go out into eternity with out the covering of the blood of Christ and stand before a Holy God, you will not stand a chance and will be lost for eternity. I don’t care what other religion you are; I don’t care how good a person you have been, or whatever human being or deity you have placed your confidence in, the only name give under heaven whereby we must be saved is Jesus Christ. There is redemption in no other. Only one, whose blood can take away your sin. It must come from a perfect and sinless redeemer, and only Jesus meets the stringent qualifications set by a Holy God.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and no man may come to the Father except by Him. And John weeps to think that we would have to face a Holy God alone.
We are slaves to sin, and only Jesus Christ can redeem us from the slave trade. The Kinsman Redeemer who can pay the price. He died on the cross, rose again and if you place your trust in Him you are no longer a child of the devil, but a child of God. You no longer have to answer for you sin in hell, but can live in heaven as He makes you his wife, we are the Bride of Christ, He is coming to Rapture us from this earth, we will go with Him and be redeemed, and at the Bema seat will receive rewards, robes, and crowns. And then one day He will redeem this whole earth. You and I will live and reign on this earth with Jesus for a thousand years, and then in the New Jerusalem for eternity because we can sing the song in verse 9
"You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth."
Are you ready?
If not then NOW is the day of Salvation.
Confess to God that you are a sinner… ask God to forgive you of all of your sin … Believe that God has raised Jesus from the Dead … ask Jesus into your heart, to be your King and Saviour.
You will be saved….
Together we will see these events that we have just been talking about. I hope to see you there.
posted by JohnHenry753
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