Intro: In the mid 1950’s, a Methodist minister in the UK, W E Sangster, noticed some symptoms in his throat and legs. He was found to have an incurable muscle disease that would eventually take away his voice, and his ability to swallow. So Sangster threw himself into his work, figuring he could still write and he would have even more time for prayer. Gradually, his legs became useless. He lost his voice completely, but he could shakily hold a pen. Just a few weeks before he died, in a letter to his daughter, he wrote about his experience. “It’s terrible,” he said, “to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice to shout, ’He is risen!’ - but it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to shout."
So where are you at on this today? We’re going to ask you to think it through.
Charles Colson, known as Pres. Richard Nixon’s Hatchet Man, was arrested and imprisoned in 1974 for his role in the Watergate scandal. Around that time in his life, he was challenged by the message of Jesus and became a committed follower, establishing the Prison Fellowship ministry. Listen to what he wrote about the idea of Jesus’ resurrection:
“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
Peter Kreeft raises the same issue: “Why would the apostles lie? Liars always lie for selfish reasons. If they lied, what was their motive, what did they get out of it? What they got out of it was misunderstanding, rejection, persecution, torture, and martyrdom. Hardly a list of perks!”
One of those apostles was John, an old man, exiled to an isolated, volcanic island, because of his Christian faith. While he’s there, the Lord gives him a vision of supernatural proportions. He obediently records it, and we know it today as Revelation, the last book of the Bible. He records messages for the churches of Asia Minor. He describes a scene of the very throne of God:
Revelation 5:1-4 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
And with great anticipation, John sees there a scroll in the right hand of God. It’s obviously very important, but no one is authorized to take it and open it. So John is in tears. Whatever important message is inside the scroll, whatever wisdom, or insight for life, will just stay unread, unknown.
I’m seeing an awful lot of people living right there. They know there’s something important to look at, but they’re not permitted to. There are some answers to the big questions out there, but you can’t be sure if they’re good answers. And there’s a lot of weeping - inward and outward - by people who are wishing that SOMEONE would help them hear that there’s a plan for their lives, that there’s more than just random luck or disaster involved here.
Here’s good news for you:
1. A Divine Plan is Unfolding Right Now, and Jesus the Lamb is the Main Agent
Who knew that a lamb would have such a central role in understanding the meaning of life? But it’s true! God has had a plan from the very beginning, so we get glimpses of it very early on in the Scriptures. And all along the way, there’s this important role for the Lamb.
Genesis 4, Abel brought the firstborn of his sheep to give as an offering to God.
Genesis 22, Abraham explained to his son that God would provide a lamb for their sacrifice, and He did.
Friday night, we looked together into Exodus and the way that God required Israel to sacrifice a Passover Lamb to save the lives of their 1st-born children.
From that time forward, God had Israel, a nomadic, sheep-herding nation, constantly offering lambs as sacrifices - every one of them a reminder that our relationship with God was damaged by our sinful choices. Little lambs, cute, cuddly, bouncy, innocent, killed by the thousands, for centuries. Each drop of their blood was a blunt illustration of how sin results in death, and how without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. For centuries, God patiently worked with the nation of Israel, because He was unfolding a plan.
400 years of no word from God passed by, until there was One was born Who fulfilled the prophecies. Like a lamb He was a helpless, dependent, and innocent baby. Like any other child, Jesus had to grow, and learn, and He took His unique place in God’s plan.
The day came when Jesus walked by John the Baptist. John said, “Look! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!” And with those words, God’s plan for all of time-space history was linked together with everything that had happened before. Just like all those lambs for centuries before had given their lives, Jesus would ultimately give His life on a cross as a sacrifice to deal with our sin.
1 Peter 2:24-25 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
From the beginning of the Bible to the end, God’s activity and interaction with us is centered around His great plan to bring us back into a right relationship with Him. When people ask me what I do for a living, I like to tell them the same thing that any follower of Jesus can say: “I am a part of a worldwide grassroots movement aimed at the restoration and reconciliation of a fallen creation with its Creator.”
Life isn’t random. You came here this morning, and maybe you’re usually not here. That’s OK. In fact, that’s better than OK. We’ve been praying and hoping that you’d come, and here you are! It’s not by accident. Maybe someone who cares about you invited you and you said, “Sure, why not?” Maybe you just decided it has been a long time, so you’d go to church on Easter Sunday. But it’s bigger than that. Today, a divine plan is unfolding - a plan that has been in the works for thousands of years, and it’s still playing out today. That’s not just some general, generic, feel-good thing to say.
God has a plan for you to have real life and to be truly free. We want you to know that Jesus, the Lamb, is the Main Agent of that plan.
Remember that scene in Revelation, full of symbols and figures? Remember where John is weeping because there’s no one around who’s worthy to take and open the scroll? Keep reading and we read this…
Revelation 5:5-8 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” 6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints,
That’s Jesus - the Living Lamb, Who looks like He had been slain. He looks that way, because He was! He takes that scroll, and one-by-one, He opens the seals of the scroll and God’s unfolding plan is revealed. Jesus, the Lamb, is the Main Agent of that plan. And while that plan concerns a lot of human history, there’s an even greater focus on what comes after.
I find that, in general, most people aren’t focused on forever. We’re mostly caught up in the here and now. I find myself there too. When I get a to-do list in front of me for the day, or the week, that tends to be where I focus.
But the Lord makes it clear that there’s something much more significant than the years we live out here. There’s this thing called eternity, and no, that’s not a description of how long it takes for the light to turn green, or how long it takes for summer to get here!
2. Eternity Comes After This Life, and Eternal Life Comes Only Through Jesus the Lamb
We’re all created in the image of God to live with Him forever. We’re ALL going to live forever. There’s just this question of where. Once again, knowing the Living Lamb is the key here:
Revelation 5:9-10 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
Why is Jesus worthy to take the scroll? Why is Jesus qualified to open its seals? The notable reason that Jesus is praised in Heaven is there in v9. “…you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God…”
There may be a lot about Jesus that you still need to learn or a lot you still don’t understand. That’s OK, but understand this as soon as you can: Jesus made Himself a sacrifice in your place so that you could live forever in Heaven. That’s what the cross is about - to offer you eternal life. Jesus was also very clear about how you receive that. It comes only through Him.
Near the end of Revelation we read this about Heaven,
Revelation 21:27
But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
The book, the one that contains the name of everyone who will be allowed to enter Heaven - that’s called The Lamb’s Book of Life. It’s another indicator that what Jesus said is true: “I am the Way, The Truth, and The Life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.”
You’ll want to be on good terms with Him when you stand on the threshold of eternity, and you will, one day.
The picture in Revelation points us to another important truth about Living Lamb:
3. There’s a Spiritual Conflict Raging, and Jesus the Lamb Has Won It
Did you pick up on the way that Jesus is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and then when John looks, what he sees is a Lamb? Granted, there’s a lot of symbolic language in the book of Revelation, but you sure don’t expect to hear about the hero, the King, the Lion of Judah, and then look and see a Lamb! When you read through the whole book, Jesus is never referred to as a Lion again, but He’s called “The Lamb” over 20X. In other words, it’s a title.
Ill - I had a friend in Indiana - Carlyle Holman. He and his brother Allen were elders in the church in St. Joe. No one called Carlyle by his name. Everyone called him “Crock.” Apparently, when Allen was little, he couldn’t quite pronounce “Carlyle,” so it came out “Crock,” and that’s how everyone knew him.
Now, I don’t think Carlyle was “a crock.” I don’t think he resembled a large aquatic reptile that attacks people in Australia. I don’t think that he was a slow cooker or a giant pickle container. As far as I knew, Crock didn’t even cook. Crock was just a nickname for him - kind of like a title.
When Jesus is called “The Lamb” in Revelation, it’s not because He’s wooly, cute, cuddly, clumsy, and helpless. Lamb is the title for the One Who was sacrificed and dies, and Who, in this case, rises from the dead in victory. You must understand this, or most every other reference to Jesus in Revelation doesn’t make much sense. He’s “the Lamb” because of what He did, not because He’s weak.
You’ve probably seen movies where armies get all ready for battle. They’re sharpening their weapons, and waiting for their allies to arrive, and then mustering their troops - you know, like Lord of the Rings. And then, after all the lead-in, it begins, and it rages on and on and on - you know, like Lord of the Rings!
We don’t have the time to read it all, but in ch19, the enemies of God are gathering themselves, all against the Lord. They all get together to go to war against the Lamb. It’s shaping up to be a big showdown. Then, in 2 verses, it’s over. That’s it. This conflict against the Lamb and His people is over. There’s no contest, no battle. The Lamb is victorious. Satan and his legions are thrown to Hell. Death is forever defeated. That’s how John describes the end of time in the book of Revelation.
The reason the message of Easter is so important is because Jesus the Lamb has conquered death! His resurrection from the grave clenched that title! Paul describes it by saying “death no longer has dominion over Him!” That fact convinced His followers, who were once scared and cowering, to become brave, outspoken witnesses who were willing to die for the truth.
I want you to hear it - maybe for the first time - or if not, I want you to hear it and consider it in light of Jesus being the Lamb.
Matthew 28:1-10 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Over the past 10 years, there have been a few books and attempts to help people believe in Heaven. They’re all built around the idea that if you can find someone who has been there and then come back, that will help other people feel sure that Heaven’s real.
Let me tell you how I know Heaven is real. I know Someone Who said He would die, Who died, Who was completely dead, and Who came back to life and deliberately showed Himself to over 500 different people. I know Someone Who has been there and back, and Who’s going to return yet another time. He’s Jesus, the Living Lamb.
In case you ever wonder, Heaven is real. I know that it’s real because the Lamb Who is its main feature has said it’s real.
Conclusion:
Sometimes we feel compelled to convince people about the fact of the resurrection of Jesus. Lately, I’ve seen that the evidences aren’t so much the issue to a lot of people. If you need evidence, just look at the way those who believed in Him were willing to die for that conviction. Those who were eyewitnesses were willing to die rather than keep quiet about a risen Savior. If that was all that mattered to you, you’d be convinced.
I’m more inclined to suggest the problem is a heart issue even more than a head issue. That is, if you’ve never been willing to consider the fact of Jesus’ resurrection and do something about it, could it be that you have an issue with following Someone Whose agenda was to die as a sacrificial Lamb? Could it be that you have a problem with Jesus being the Lamb in the first place?
I would. I’d have a real problem following a so-called deliverer Who came and just got Himself killed. I’d have a problem, obeying the orders of someone who couldn’t seem to find his own way. I’d have a hard time following someone into battle who seemed to have no plans or intentions of winning.
But if that Someone came with a wonderful plan to give us real life, and if He deliberately laid down His life, then took it up again, I could follow Someone like that!
If that Lamb not only became a curse in my place because of His great love, but then turned around and rose out of a tomb because of His great power, I could follow Someone like that!
If that Lamb promised to never leave me, and to one day come to make all things new and take me to live with Him forever, I could follow Someone like that, and I would, clear on into eternity!
Could you? That’s the important question to consider on this Resurrection Sunday.
Will you become one of His followers? Will you number yourself among those who are loyal to the Living Lamb?
C S Lewis wrote: “What are we to make of Christ?” There is no question of what we can make of Him, it is entirely a question of what He intends to make of us. You must accept or reject the story. (God in the Dock, ch19)
We are not asked to believe the doctrine of the Resurrection. We are asked to meet this person raised from the dead.
