Easter Sunday, of course, is Resurrection Day, and the resurrection is the hinge on which Christianity turns. Paul the Apostle wrote in one of his letters,

“If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain and your faith is in vain. And we are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Jesus from the dead.”

1 Corinthians 15:14-15

And with these words, the Apostle Paul is spelling out the difference the resurrection makes. Christian faith stands or falls with the truth of the testimony that Christ is risen from the dead. Without the resurrection there is no good news, therefore there is no gospel. But if Christ truly has risen from the dead, then everything changes – for humanity, for the world, for the natural universe, for animate and inanimate life – everything changes.

And above all, it changes how we view Jesus, not just as a matter of history, so that we’re able to say that Jesus was, but it’s a matter of now able to say Jesus is our contemporary. We often on Easter Sunday address the theme of the resurrection from a purely historical point of view. For example, this morning at the sunrise service I talked about some of the kind of incidental elements in the account that were given by the eyewitnesses to the resurrection, little incidents that they remembered that seem inconsequential.

Mary, for example, coming and finding the tomb empty. The other women leaving her, and she’s wandering around in tears in the garden, and she sees a figure she supposes is the gardener. And she goes up and is quite accusatory in her tone to the gardener, and saying, “Where have you put him? Where have you taken Jesus? Do you know where he is?” Only to discover the gardener is Jesus. It must have been really embarrassing for Mary to remember, but there it is in the account. Or when eventually she runs and tells the disciples; Peter and John come to investigate, and they race there. John tells us, just coincidentally, that he won the race, he got there before Peter. And then when Peter got there, Peter didn’t even begin to stop, but the momentum sent him right through the door as he went hurtling into the grave.

Incidental, but it has that ring of authenticity to it. And then the one that tickles my fancy more than anything else is that when they will go into the tomb, and they’re looking, and they see the grave clothes undisturbed, but the body gone. But they notice that the headband wrapped around Jesus’ face, the headband has been taken off and has been carefully and neatly folded and put in on the side. And you think – Jesus was well brought up by his mother – neat and tidy even in resurrection.

These little things remind us, of course, that when we come to think of resurrection, we are very interested in the historical basis of it. We listen to the reports of these eyewitnesses. We hear them as they tell us the tomb was empty, that Jesus was seen by various numbers of people, twice the people that are sitting in this room today for example. Five hundred plus people. That he was touched, handled, hugged. That he was heard as he spoke to them. And that even on one occasion when they’re out on the sea fishing, and they see a figure by the shore. It’s Jesus standing, and he has a, he has a barbecue waiting for them, and the fish are on the grill. And he gives them their breakfast. All of these things are part of the testimony.

And the interesting thing is there’s not a religious thing in any of the testimony that we’re given for the reality of the resurrection. It’s all hands-on, real stuff. Not that religion isn’t real, but it’s certainly the story of the resurrection is presented as a matter of fact. But when we come to the Book of Revelation as we’ve been studying, we’re reminded, as we’re also reminded by the early Christians, that although he was alive, he had not returned to a normal human life. It was real – he had flesh and bone, he could eat, he could touch, they could see him, they could hear him – but he was not like Lazarus. They remembered Lazarus who’d come back to life, and they remembered a little girl who’d come back to life by Jesus’ touch. The little girl would grow up, she would grow old, and she would die. Lazarus would grow old, and he would die. But the resurrected Jesus did not have an ordinary life restored to him. Rather, he had entered into a different kind of life – a new life – the vast life of God himself. So that he still exists today, still as a man, but he exists as a man within the very life of God.

That’s what we find in chapter 1 of Revelation. John has a vision of Almighty God, and instead of not seeing anything, or instead of there being random elements of the natural world to describe the invisible God, God has the form of a human being. And the human being, of course, is Jesus. He identifies himself. He says these words, he says: “I am the first and the last.” So John is truly seeing the God of Israel, because the God of Israel is the One who says in Isaiah 44:

“Thus says the Lord, the king of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
‘I am the first, and I am the last.'”

Isaiah 44:6

And this title, along with other titles of God – the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the first and the last – are used of God to designate God in relation to time, and in relation to space, and in relation to history. Anything outside of God. That is the qualifier. He is the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is unique, and we are we are outside of that. We live in time and space and history. In chapter 1, Jesus calls himself, after saying those words, he calls himself “the living one.” That is, the one who is life in himself. He is the living one. God is the living God. And then he recounts his human story. He says, “I became dead.” Just as John says in John chapter 1 — in John’s gospel, chapter 1 – “The Word became flesh.” Jesus said, “I became flesh that I might become dead, and behold I am alive. Look, I’m alive forevermore – from the ages to the ages – I’m alive, and I now inhabit the very life of God, even in my human nature, because I’ve triumphed over death. I have the keys of Death and Hades. So John has a vision of God, and God looks like Jesus.

Fast forward then to Revelation chapter 5. This time, John has taken himself into the heavenly places. He’s taken right into the very presence of God. And he is then able to see what it’s like in the Holy of Holies, that is, the innermost sanctum in the universe where God is present in his power and in his glory. And in chapter 4, he describes the invisible God, the Holy Trinity. We hear the angels singing,

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.
The whole earth is full of your glory.”

Revelation 4:8

We hear them singing their praises to the Triune God. God in himself is invisible, immaterial, incorporeal. He has no body; he has no material parts; he’s an invisible God. But here in chapter, in chapter 5, he’s looking at the invisible God. And now as he comes to chapter 5, he sees something. He says this,

“I saw on the right hand of him who is seated on the throne a scroll
written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.”

Revelation 5:1

He sees the scroll. This book scroll so full was it that the writing, it overflowed, and it is sealed. And in this book, we are given to understand, as the Book of Revelation unfolds, and as this book will be opened and unsealed in succeeding chapters, that we are taken one step further along the road of understanding the world we live in today. Up to this point in the Book of Revelation, we’ve been led to believe that the ultimate goal of creation is to bring everything and have it reconciled to God in Christ. That ultimately there will be peace. At the end of the book, if you take a moment to look at the end of the book, all is well and all that can be is well. The nations are healed, all the divisions of the world are healed, all the hurts and indignities that have been suffered by peoples of every race have been resolved and healed. Healed totally. People have life, and they have eternal life. And all of God’s people are together in New Jerusalem. That’s the ultimate goal of the book.

But what about events between now and then? What about what’s going to happen in your lifetime, in my lifetime, and in the lifetime of our children and our grandchildren? Our great grandchildren, for as long as this time lasts until Jesus returns? What is life going to be like then?

This vision answers the question. For the Triune Holy God, enthroned in majesty, has a book in his hands. Greg Beale of Westminster Seminary puts it like this: “The book contains God’s plans for judgment and redemption.” In that book, there are the names of all of God’s elect. Every man, woman, boy, girl, from Adam’s day till Jesus’ return, find their name in that book. The events, the judgments, the calamities, the happenings within human history from Jesus’ resurrection till Jesus’ return are found in that book. This pandemic has been written into that book since before the foundation of the world. This meeting in this church building this morning has been set and sealed and is to be found in that book. The big question “How will God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven?” is answered by the contents of that book. It holds the destiny of time, of the world, of the material universe, and of you and of me. The flow of history with its malign characters, with its convulsive upheavals, with its disordered values, and its final end are all found within this book.

And I want you to notice: this book is held in God’s right hand. That is a statement, by the way, of God’s sovereignty. It’s also a statement of our security as God’s people, that our names and we are in his right hand. And he is the Sovereign. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but the Word of God will not pass away.” The book is held; the book is sealed. The seals protect the contents of God’s book, but they also indicate that there are events, there are things, there are circumstances that have not yet begun. That will only be begun when the book is unsealed.

And thirdly, the book is inaccessible to all but God himself. There are echoes here of Isaiah chapter 29, where we have a reference to a sealed book that contains divine revelation and is associated with judgment. It’s God’s book. Now listen to what John tells us:

“And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?’ And no one in heaven or earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and to look into it.”

Revelation 5:2-4

Now listen to this – no being in heaven, no angel, no archangel, no seraphim, no cherubim able to open that book. No creature on earth, that is, no creative thing animate or inanimate, animal or human able to take the book from God’s hands. Why? Because all are created. And he is the creator. And all are unworthy – no one is worthy to take this book. Just remind yourself for a second, whose hand holds the book. It’s the hand who’s been described in chapter 4 as “Holy, holy, holy God.” Holy to the third degree. Holy in his Triune life. The Father is holy, the Son is holy, the Spirit is holy. Back in Isaiah 29, the book cannot be opened even by God’s people. It cannot be unsealed even by God’s people. Why not? It tells us there:

“And the Lord said: ‘Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me.'”

Isaiah 29:13

What about the living creatures, the ones described in chapter 4? These angelic beings that look like a lion, and an ox, and an eagle, and a human, and represent all of God’s created beings. What about the ancient ones, that’s the elders? Sorry elders, the ancient ones. Those who are caught up in the heavenly liturgy of worship to the Triune God. Are they not worthy? Yet none of them speaks. They’re all silent. The question of this mighty angel imposes a gravity on the proceedings. There is no one worthy. No one, not an angel in heaven, nor a human on earth, or a devil in hell, or a saint in glory.

No one is able to open the book and to look into it, for to take the book, to open its seals and to unlock its message and to make it known, also involves the ability of executing and fulfilling all of the decrees in that book in space and time and history. When John weeps, he represents the readers, the church, and he represents all humanity which is impacted by God’s decrees. The angelic question “Who is worthy?” is the human question. John’s weeping reminds us of other such moments in the Scripture. For example, Rachel as she weeps for her lost children. Jesus as he weeps over Jerusalem and at Lazarus’ tomb.

Tears are our natural response to death. Tears are our natural way of protesting death and its pervasive presence. John weeps as we might weep when we think that events in our lives have gotten out of control, that the world is spinning out of control, that there is somehow no hope. And John’s tears and our tears are part of what it means to be part of this creation. This creation that groans, groans in pain until now. That book in that hand symbolizes God’s intention to execute justice on the earth, to set things to right that have gone wrong in human history, to defeat the demonic powers that are all around us, and to establish that new Jerusalem, that “city with foundations whose builder and maker is God.”

That book contains the plan of the mystery, hidden for ages in God who created all things. And the surprise is that God wills that a creature, that a creature should take the book, that a creature should open the book, and that a creature should execute the contents of the book as God. But no created being is found who is worthy to approach the Holy One and to open the book. If this book remains closed there will be no redemption, no relief from, for history’s victims. No salvation for the Jews, no hope for the Gentiles. No renewal of the cosmos, no reconciliation of all things. John’s tears could be our tears.

At this point in history, we live in a society where there is no grand meta narrative that holds all the fragmented pieces of our lives and our identities together. Is there to be no resolution of the issue of human death? Is there to be no Supreme Court to hear the cries of those who have been treated unjustly? Is there to be no verdict on behalf of God’s martyrs? John’s tears here echo the tears of the disciples after Jesus was crucified.

“We had hoped that he would deliver Israel.”

Luke 24:21

“We had hoped” – past tense. Heaven has an answer to our tears and fears.

“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.'”

Revelation 5:5

There’s a message: the Lion is victorious. You see, John’s tears reflect a profoundly Jewish hope of a Messiah who would right wrongs, execute justice for the oppressed, forgive sins, and overcome the slaughterhouse of human history. It’s this Messiah that is now introduced by the elders, appropriately, as the overcomer. And they tell John two things about him: the Messiah is the Lion of Judah.

Going all the way back to the patriarch Jacob on his deathbed as he blesses his sons, and in blessing Judah, one of his sons, he likens Judah to a lion – an image that connotes power and majesty and sovereignty. And Jacob makes the point that it will be Judah, that one tribe Judah, that will produce the ultimate, the final King, the Messiah.

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall the gathering of the nations be.”

Genesis 49:10

The Messiah is to be the Lion of Judah. And the Messiah is to be the Root of David. God has said to David, “You will have a seed.” Great David will have a greater son, and he will reign forevermore, have a kingdom that is everlasting, and he will bring in equity and justice and he will act justly, and he will rebuild the fallen tent of David. That was God’s promise, the promise of a Messiah.

What the message is to John is that the Messiah has conquered. The Messiah is able to take the scroll and to open the scroll. He is worthy.

“Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Who can stand in his holy place?
Only one who has clean hands and a pure heart.”

Psalm 24:3-4

So when that Psalm 24 goes on to say to the gates of new Jerusalem,

“Be lifted up, ye gates! Lift it up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory should come in.
Who is this King of glory?”

Psalm 24:7-8

It’s the Lion of Judah. It’s the Root of David. It’s the Lord God Almighty. He is the King of glory. As Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn in two. The curtain that kept the holy place, the holiest place of all, distant and unseen and unapproachable to everyone else was torn to indicate that this one on the cross had opened the gates into that holiest place of all by his blood.

The Lion has conquered. And the angel said, “Look, look the Lion has conquered. Look, behold the Lion.” John’s eyes go where the ears tell him. He looks. What does he see between the throne and the four living creatures, and among the elders representing the twelve tribes of Israel and the church then, and the twelve apostles of the Lamb and the church today?

“Among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.”

Revelation 5:6

He looks for a Lion, he sees a Lamb. He looks for strength, and he sees weakness. He looks for a victor, and he sees a victim. And this Lamb is not one simply bound for sacrifice; this Lamb already has its throat cut. This Lamb has already been slaughtered. It’s happened. It’s just happened, the language suggests. Just happened, he’s come fresh from the slaughterhouse. John has looked for life, and he sees the evidence of death. But he sees the Lamb that’s just been slain standing.

“Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? And stand in his holy place?”

He sees the Lamb standing, still bearing the marks of his recent torment. But now standing in the innermost sanctuary, in the Holy of Holies, in the ultimate sanctum. He is passed through death and stands alive in the presence of all of heaven. Straight from being victorious in his fight, he presses into the heavenly Holy of Holies to approach the throne, and to take the book and to execute its contents. This is “the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world.”  “This is the Passover lamb,” Paul says, “who has been sacrificed for us.” This is the one who “was led like a lamb to the slaughter,” says the prophet Isaiah. Hebrews talks about this:

“Through his own flesh he passed through the curtain and has opened
a new and living way into the holiest place.”

Hebrews 10:20

The Lion who conquers the powers and authorities is the Lamb that was slain to reconcile us to God. The one who died, rose again in the power of an endless life. This Jesus ransoms his people, bears their sins, offers his life, takes their place, wins their pardon, defeats the powers, harrows the contents of the grave, holds the keys of Death and Hades, rises from the dead, enters the Holiest of all, and takes from the right hand of God the scroll of destiny. The Lamb steps forward and approaches the Triune God as God the Son. And so what we learn is that it is the Lamb, the crucified, the resurrected, who has authority to rule the cosmos. He has that authority by virtue of his death and resurrection. That the same God who created and conserves our existence and the existence of the cosmos in the Lamb, in Christ, gives himself to his people in redemption and in consummation. He has the kingly power.

The seven horns. He has all the fullness of the Holy Spirit, his gifts and activities, his life and his love, in order to meet the needs of the world and the needs of his people. He has all of that authority and power, and it’s the Lamb who will open the seals. The unfolding of history is in his hands, the judgments we see, the penultimate judgments we observe, leading up to the final judgment that there will be are all in the hands of the one to whom all judgment is given – to the Lamb. And in the end, the Lamb wins, because God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the mighty. God uses the things that are nothing – that dead body hanging on a Roman gibbet, he raises that dead flesh to life, into the very life of God, that King Jesus might take into his hands your history and mine, the world’s history and ours, and that he might move it forward to its ultimate fruition when all is well and all manner of things are well forever.

Happy Easter. Happy, happy day.