THE LAMB SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION
Rev. 13:8
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. I heard a funny story about the dangers of falling asleep in church. One man said,
2. “I fell asleep in church. Then I heard someone say, ‘Stand Up!’ So I stood up and people began to clap. Then the Pastor said, ‘Who else will give $2,000 to the church?’”
B. TEXT & TITLE
1. Tradition says the Apostle John was arrested by Caesar and sentenced to be boiled in oil. Just as he was about to be pushed in, a bolt of lightning struck the cauldron and knocked it over. Thinking the gods saved him, Emperor Domitian feared killing John, so he exiled him to the rocky island of Patmos
2. As John sat alone on the island, he was suddenly filled with the Spirit and began to see a vision of the resurrected Christ. Jesus said, “Do not be afraid: I am the first and the last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades” Rev. 1:17-18.
3. Then John was caught up into Heaven and saw visions of the future and the past. One statement is my theme this morning, from Rev. 13:8; “...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
4. We’re going to look at Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary and find it didn’t just happen 2,000 years ago, but before time began.
5. The title of this message is “The Lamb Slain From the Foundation.”
I. THINGS THAT ARE TO HAPPEN IN THE MOST DISTANT FUTURE ARE TO GOD AS FACTS ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED
A. BEFORE TIME BEGAN
1. How amazing that the Savior is spoken of, even in eternity past, as "the Lamb." This is appropriate, since a lamb as the symbol of innocence, gentleness, and submission; qualities which the blessed Redeemer is most characterized by.
2. “...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Rev. 13:8. Kittel’s TDNT Greek reference set says the phrase “katabole kosmos” “expresses the divine action as pre-temporal,” or pre-time. So, in the mind of God, Christ was slain before time began!
3. WE think of the crucifixion of Christ as occurring about 2,000 years ago, but Rev. 13:8 declares it occurred while Christ lived alone in the solitudes of eternity, before anything physical existed.
4. GOD’S PURPOSES ARE UNFRUSTRATABLE. Christ's death was by God's "determinate counsel," and after millions of ages it was accomplished. What God has purposed WILL come to pass.
B. SELF-SACRIFICING LOVE IS AN ETERNAL THING
1. Christ’s death predates the universe. Self-sacrificing love is a rare thing to us, but it’s fundamental to the nature of God.
2. Every life that breathes, every plant that blooms, every star that shines, is a gift of love. Everything created works, lives, and dies for the good of others. All things live in interdependence.
3. This eternal principle of self-sacrificing love must be in us before we can be saved. Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” Matt. 16:24. John said, “Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love” 1 John 4:8.
C. THIS PLANET WAS CREATED TO BE THE THEATRE OF GOD'S REDEMPTIVE LOVE TO MAN. THAT REDEMPTION IS NO AFTER-THOUGHT
1. God never conceived our redemption as a reaction to the fall; instead, God’s redemptive action anticipated the sad mistake that would later come. God foresaw our fall from eternity and ordained the remedy from eternity.
2. God could NOT create a sentient being with a free will which would not eventually choose to sin; yet God saw that it was better to create, than to not create.
3. Don’t think there was no cost to God. God’s own Son had to die a cruel death to pay for the penalty for our sin.
4. Even the angels couldn’t learn the character of God without a demonstration of His character. Paul said, “[God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” Eph. 3:10 – meaning that the angels finally learned of God’s self-sacrifice, love, and mercy when He redeemed His human church!
II. THE BLOOD OF JESUS IS SPEAKING
A. THE TEMPLE & ATONEMENT IN HEAVEN
1. The Bible makes clear that the earthly temple is a copy of the Temple in Heaven (Heb. 9:24). The earthly tabernacle/temple Moses was to make, he was repeatedly told, “see to it that you make [it] according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain” Ex. 25:40; 26:30; 27:8; Heb. 8:5). Moses saw something in Heaven he was to make an earthly copy of.
2. In the Heavenly Temple there’s a “Holy of Holies” and in that Holy of Holies, there’s an Ark of the Covenant with its Mercy Seat. Rev. 11:19 says, “Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple.”
3. And on that Mercy Seat, Christ’s blood has been sprinkled seven times. (Heb. 9:12, 25; 10:19; 13:11). The heavenly reality of the day of Atonement, in which the blood of the sin offering was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, was enacted in Heaven after His crucifixion & resurrection. Christ, as High Priest of the new covenant, put His blood there Himself.
B. THE BLOOD OF JESUS IS STILL SPEAKING
1. Of all substances, blood is the most mysterious and the most sacred. Scripture teaches us, “The life is in the blood” (Lev. 17:11). There is a mysterious link between matter and spirit. God attached an awful sacredness to the shedding of blood & blood was never to be eaten by the Jews.
2. Blood was accepted by God as the symbol of the atonement. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin,” Heb. 9:22.
3. God said to Cain, “The voice of thy brother’s blood cries to me from the ground” Gen. 4:10. Undoubtedly, like the martyrs of Rev. 6:10, Abel’s blood cried for revenge. But not so Christ’s blood!
4. Hebrews 12:24 says “...to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that SPEAKS a better word than the blood of Abel.” Notice that the writer says it in the present-tense; the blood of Jesus, though shed 2,000 years ago, IS STILL SPEAKING TODAY!
5. Jesus’ blood is speaking A BETTER WORD – not crying for revenge, but crying for MERCY! I believe the blood of Jesus will continue crying for mercy until the time of redemption is over.
III. IDENTIFYING THE SAVIOR IN HEAVEN
A. RESURRECTED & GLORIFIED JESUS: HIS WOUNDS ARE STILL THERE!
1. In Rev. 4-5, the Apostle John was caught up to Heaven. He stood there with 200 million angels and saints. God the Father held the book of destiny in his hand, and a mighty angel cried, “Who is worthy to take the book and open its seals?” No one in Heaven or earth was found worthy. All of Heaven wept. But John was told, “Look! The Lion of Judah has prevailed & is worthy!” And John said, “And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain...[and] He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne” Rev. 5:6-7.
2. Even in His resurrected body & exalted above the angels, Jesus still retained His nature as God’s sacrifice – still showing the wounds by which He was slain. As the Redeemer, He forever retains the marks of His love for us.
3. WHY DOES HE STILL HAVE THE SCARS? If we had unsightly scars on our bodies and we had the power to make them vanish, wouldn’t we? Yes! Then why doesn’t Jesus? For several reasons; a. They’re marks which help us to identify Him, b. They are marks which, for all time, will remind us of His great love for us on the cross, and c. The scars represent the wounds that will forever be in his heart and soul. What a great thing He did for us!
B. ILLUS: THE EVIDENCE OF HIS CLAIM
1. A European was traveling through the jungles of Southeast Asia. As he walked through a large village, he saw a thatched hut was on fire. The natives were standing around watching.
2. He asked, “Is anyone inside?” “Yes, a woman and her two kids.” He dashed into the inferno and was able to bring out the two unconscious children, but the mother had perished. But his hands were badly burned, so he had to stay there in the village until they were healed.
3. A meeting was held by the chief to decide who should get the children. One neighbor said they claimed them as friends of the family. A wealthy couple said they claimed them since they could provide for them. Lastly, the European said he wanted to claim them. The chief said, “What evidence do you have to claim these children?”
4. The Young man simply held up his hands; “These wounds are my claim! I risked my life to save them from death. My scars are my claim!” That’s what Jesus says to us!
5. The blind Christian hymn-writer, Fanny Crosby, penned in one of her most heart-felt melodies, “I shall know Him, I shall know Him, And redeemed by His side I shall stand, I shall know Him, I shall know Him, By the print of the nails in His hand.”
6. It is as the Lamb, not the Lion, that Jesus conquered. Calvary was the real victory.” After His resurrection, when Jesus appeared to His disciples, He still had His nail-scars and His side still had the wound of the spear. Why? So we could identify our Savior!
7. When Jesus comes in His Second Coming, Rev. 19:13 says that He will be wearing “a vesture dipped in blood.” It is on His robe BEFORE the battle of Armageddon begins, while He is still IN HEAVEN, just as heaven opens. This can be none other than His own blood – the emblem of His suffering. Zechariah records that when the Jews see Him coming, “They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son” Zech. 12:10. So even at the ending of time, the atonement of Christ is visible on Christ as the sign of His love!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUS.: DOG LEADS HUSBAND TO SALVATION
1. There was a woman who faithfully attended church every service with her dog besides her. She had a husband who loved her, but wouldn’t go with her to church.
2. The woman suddenly died and her husband was heartbroken. He descended into depression. The dog sat with him day after day in mourning.
3. On Sunday at 8:30 a.m., the dog suddenly got up and scratched at the door. When let out, it started toward the church. The man threw on his coat and followed the dog.
4. It entered the church and went to sit beside the front row, where his wife had sat. The man followed and sat where she’d sat. During the altar call the dog went and kneeled at the altar, as if in prayer.
5. The man realized that was what his wife had done, so he too went forward to pray. After a month of following the dog to church, the man gave his heart to Jesus – being led to Christ by a dog!
B. THE CALL
1. But you say “I have too much sin.” The Bible says, “Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound!” “Though your sins be as scarlet I will make them as wool; though they be red like crimson, they shall be whiter than snow.” And, “The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
2. Come, poor sinner, cast your sins on Jesus. Simply trust His blood and He will save you. PRAYER
3. LORD’S SUPPER
