Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Jesus As The Slain Lamb | New Testament | Revelation 5

Episode Date: October 27, 2023

Why is Jesus shown as a lamb in Revelation? What does that say about him as king? What kind of king do you want to follow? In today's episode, Patrick discusses Jesus's role as a lamb in Revelation 5. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Revelation 5

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. Let's play a little game. I'm going to play an audio clip, and I want you to guess what kind of animal you're hearing. Are you ready? Here we go. Okay, what do you think it is?

A bird probably. But you'd be wrong. That is, believe it or not, a cheetah. And that's the normal sound a cheetah makes. Can you imagine walking through a Saharan grassland? in hearing that, a bird chirping just behind you? And so you turn around to see the bird and you discover to your horror that it's not a bird, it's not unthreatening, it's not a befeathered creature. Instead, it's a wildcat made almost entirely out of bone and muscle, and it could shred you

to pieces with its claws and teeth and the snap of a finger. The Book of Revelation plays on a similar theme. John hears one thing, only to see something he didn't expect. Perhaps the most important example of this comes from Revelation 5. John has entered into the throne room of heaven, and he sees the whole of creation bowing down to the Creator God. And now in Revelation 5, we finally encountered the one who is seated on the throne. But before John can fully see him, he hears about who he is. Revelation 5.5, then one of the elders said to me, don't weep. See, the lion of the tribe of Judah. The root of King David has triumphed. he is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.

And so John hears this elder standing before the throne of God announcing a lion, a king, a triumphant conquer. But then he looks to see that king, that victor, that lion, the one that he's heard about. And this is what he sees. Verse six, then I saw a lamb, looking as though it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. On the throne is not a lion, but a sacrificial lamb that's already been sacrificed. Pure white wool, stained red, an open wound, an animal that threatens literally no one,

an animal that no team or platoon would ever choose as its mascot because it's not a predator, it's not a victor. It's a lamb. The juxtaposition is more startling than a chirping cheetah. And John forces us to sit in the irony by describing how this lamb is worthy to open a scroll with seven seals that unveil God's redemptive plan and justice. And then all of creation begins to worship this lamb as their king, as the king of the universe. In verse nine, we read this. And they sang a new song saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals because you were slain. And with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priest to

serve our God and they will reign on the earth. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands and 10,000 times 10,000, they encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders in a loud voice they were saying, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever so what do we make of all this what does this teach us about our king and the way of his kingdom that the predatory lion is in fact a slain lamb It tells us that Jesus is the only king who conquers his enemies by dying for them.

He is the only ruler who achieves victory through defeat. He is the only kingdom builder who paves his streets with his own sacrifice, not the slaughter of others. And this self-sacrificial, self-giving, self-crucifying love is precisely the thing that makes him worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. It's the very thing that makes him worthy to open up the scrolls. of history and rule over all creation. We all intuitively mistrust human kings, rulers and powers. I mean, even when we shouldn't, we suspect that they may misuse their power if we don't keep tabs on them. We suspect that they may seek power by dominating others. But how can we be suspicious of this king, who won the throne of creation by losing his life on a cross? Remember, the goal of revelation

is to unveil reality, and in Revelation 5, John disrupts our everyday reality by turning it upside down. We want strong men who take the world by force, but John says here that true power is taking the world by sacrifice. We want leaders who resist our enemies forcefully and neutralize their influence, but John gives us a king who forgives his enemies and laid down his influence. even in America where we pass on presidential power without acts of violence we are still drawn to lions to champions to those who will take charge by force or will or words or charisma and to all of these Jesus says you have it upside down the arc of history does not bend towards those who take and claim and conquer but towards those who forgive and sacrifice and lay down their lives if you worship such a king what sort of a person should you be yourself will your life be what john heard at first, the life of a lion, a king, a queen, a taker, a self-expresser, a demander? Or will your life be modeled after the one that John sees? Will you be a lamb, a servant, a self-sacrificer?

Before you answer, contemplate the wound that John saw on the slain lamb's side, and remember this, he was wounded for your transgressions. He could have lorded it over you, he could have executed you in perfect justice. but he loved you instead and he was slaying for you do you see the glory and the beauty in his act of self-sacrifice or do you think it's foolish those who have been saved know the beauty of self-sacrifice because they were saved by it and that's the reason why we seek to emulate it in our own lives when jesus calls a man he bids him come and die because the road to death is the road to glory the road to death is the road to victory the road The road to death is the road to life.