Love Song For The Redeemer Series

5. And one from among the Elders said to me “Don’t Cry. Look, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome to open the book and loose its seven seals.

And I saw in the middle of the throne, and the four Lives and in the middle of the Elders, a Lamb standing as it had been killed, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent into all the earth.

And He came and took out of the hand of the one sitting on the throne

And when He received the book, the four Lives and the twenty-four Elders fell down before the face of the Lamb, each having a Kithara (Harp) and gold bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

And singing a new song saying

“Holy is the One who has received the Book and is worthy to open its seals, that was slain and purchased to God through his blood out of all nations and languages and people and ethnicities,

and has made them to God a Kingdom of priests and they shall rule (do their king thing) on the earth. Revelation 5:5-10

v 5 see Rev. 22:16. in Genesis 49:9 we see Judah, the tribe from which Jesus was born, is the Lion of the tribes. Jesus is the prophesied Root of Jesse, spoken of in 2 Samuel 7:4-17.

v 6 This Lion who now appears as the Lamb is the center of everything in heaven (Genesis 22:8; John 1:29, 36; Rev. 7:17; 14:10, 15:3, 19:9, 21:22, 23; 22:1, 3). When Jesus entered heaven He apparently took the wounds of the price of redemption into glory. After the resurrection, his disciples didn’t even recognize Him, possibly because of these scars (Luke 24:13-32; John 20:11-16, 25-29; 21:11-14. Horns are a symbol of power and kingship (Psalm 75:10; Daniel 7:7-8, 20-24; 8:3-7, 20). Seven is the number, again, of perfection, or completion. For the Seven spirits see 1:4.

v 7 This scene is similar to several in the OT & NT. Deuteronomy 33:2; Ps. 144:11; Lam. 2:3; Matt. 25:34.

v 8 Yes, it looks like we’ll have harps with which to worship the Lord in heaven (2 Sam 6:5; 1 Chron. 15:16, 28, 25:1-6; 2 Chron 5:12; Neh 12:27; Rev 14:12, 15:2). Incense appears many times in Scripture, usually associated with prayer (Exodus 30:1-10; Lev 16:12; 2 Chron 26:16-18; Luke 1:5-23; Rev. 8:3-6; Psalm 141:2; Matt 6:10-11.

v 9 Why does the earth need to be redeemed? The earth belongs to God (Exo. 9:29; Deut. 10:14; Ps. 24:1) and was given to man to care for and rule over (Gen. 1:27-29; Psalm 8, etc.). But. . . Luke 4:5-8 shows us that to Satan now belong all the glory and power of all the kingdoms of the world. Apparently as sin entered the world, Satan took control (history, and many current events, seem to demonstrate the truth of this). Satan, also known as Lucifer, and by many other titles, was cast down from heaven because of his rebellion, but has set up his own kingdom among men on earth (Ezekiel 28:11-19; Is. 14:4-23). We are in dire need of a Jubilee from the tyrant’s ownership of the earth. We need a redeemer to return the earth to its rightful owner (Job 19:25-27; Ruth, Lev. 25:9-13), and to again rule over every nation (Dan 3:29; Acts 2:1-11; 10:24-35; Rev 14:6).

This concept of redemption is tied up in the jubilee law. God established that the land would continue as an inheritance to the family to which it was given (Josh 12-23). The rule was that if land was sold in difficult financial times it was to be returned to the original owner in the year of Jubilee. The Jubilee year came every 50 years. So if you bought land in Israel, it was really a lease, with a maximum of 49-year duration, with no option to buy. The closer the jubilee, the less the land cost. If a property was to be handed to another family member, or if it was “sold” (leased) to pay a debt, a redemption price was to be paid by the “kinsman redeemer” (Ruth 3). Jesus is that Kinsman Redeemer. He paid the price for this earth about two thousand years ago.

Why is blood the price? The debt that put the whole earth in hawk is sin (Rom. 5:12-19; 6:16). The covering, or atonement, or price for sin is death (Gen. 3:21-24; Rom. 6:23).

Love Song for the Redeemer

Have you ever sung a love song?

Okay, everyone has sung a love song, even if you’re simply singing along with a song playing on some broadcast or podcast or telecast or live performance. I mean have you every REALLY sung a love song? Have you sung a song to you beloved because you were so in love that the only way you could express yourself was to sing? There are some emotions that are simply expressed and communicated most effectively through song. The same parts of the brain are stimulated by the sound of a sigh, or a baby’s cry, or a well-trained voice with a spinning vibrato. The limbic system, and all the systems connected to it, is stimulated, bypassing some of the more critical and analytical portions of our reasoning, but also invigorating them. We feel through music, and that stimulates our thinking. It seems in heaven we will still have this instinct. We will have some emotions too deep to simply state with words. We’ll have to break into song.