Now Everybody Sing! - Revelation 5:11-14
Revelation 5:11-14 · Kurt Katzorke · Apr 26, 2009
Revelation (2009), No. 17
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492613275248

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So this morning we are looking at Revelation chapter 5 verses 11 through 14. And one of the things that we want to do as we're in Revelation is just keep the big picture in mind. And so on your second page there, there's a handout or well, there's a A nice graphic there, and I think you guys already have this in your binder if you've been coming from the start. And in the one you have in your binder, it needs a color as well. This one wanted to be in color, but the printer didn't want it to be.

But basically what you've got there is the transition from earthly scenes to heavenly scenes. And right now, we've been in a heavenly scene from the beginning of Chapter 4, and we'll be in one until the beginning of Chapter 6. So we're kind of just finishing one up right now, actually. And it's interesting, a couple of things to note when you look at that graphic is the number of verses involved in the heavenly scene.

We're in the largest, the longest heavenly scene in the book of Revelation and they'll continue to get smaller. Now there's some places where they get small and then big again. the pattern in general is that the heavenly scene gets smaller, the time in the heavenly scene, and the focus becomes more on the earth as we move on.

And then just keeping that big picture in mind when we're looking at this, the book of Revelation was written just before the end of the first century, and now some 1900 years later, we're still at a time before the rapture of the church. So on your graphic on the back, When you look at that there, the rapture of the Church were worse 1,900 years since the Book of Revelation was written, and yet before the rapture of the Church. And that's where we currently stand in this, in what's going on in the Book of Revelation.

The rapture when Christ takes His Church-age saints home to be with Him has not taken place yet, but will take place at any time. It's imminent. So it's bound to happen. The Bible tells us so. The point we are reading about in Revelation chapter 5 is right on the verge of the beginning of the Tribulation period. And so when you flip over the back again there, so the rapture in our current stance right here in our bodies, the rapture of the Church hasn't happened yet, but in our big picture in the book of Revelation, it has. So the rapture of the church has already happened, and where we're at in the book, the seven-year tribulation period is about to start. Chapter 6 will kick that off.

So that's a little bit more on our big picture. And then the tribulation period, which lasts seven years, follows when we will be with Christ in the heavenlies. The end of that seven years will mark the second coming of Christ, and will usher in the millennium, the thousand year period of Christ's reign, when we will reign with Him. This graphic kind of helps put it in your head, what does this all look like? you know, what's going on as far as Rapture and Tribulation and Second Coming, Millennial Kingdom and things of that order. This chart gives you a good idea of when and where that's happening. And then I'll just read along here.

Next, as we move on into completing our study of Revelation chapters 4 and 5, we'll find that we're at the end of the longest of the heavenly scenes, which we already talked about. The heavenly scenes will take a different character from here on out. Once we see the Lamb open the seals in Revelation chapter 6, the tribulation will have begun. The perspective of these heavenly scenes then changes radically. For some time now, as we go into the book of Revelation through chapter 19, the heavenly scenes will be shorter, which we talked about as well.

The interaction with people and events on planet Earth will occupy more of the focus in the heavenly scene. So the heavenly scene that we've seen so far, and that we'll look at today, really is focusing on who Christ is. We've learned a lot of neat stuff about Christ, or maybe we're just reminded of something. just the character of Christ really comes forward in these chapters four and five of this heavenly scene that we're looking at. But as we move through the book, it's going to focus more on people and earth.

Even in view of that, we should do well to keep in mind that Christ is still in the heavenlies all through the tribulation. We are still with Christ during this time, so we're not on earth for the tribulation, the church saints, the believers. While it appears that we will still be aware of earthly things, we still appear to be focused first and foremost upon Christ, which is precisely where the Lord calls us to set our minds right now. The focal point is not just a place, certainly not Earth, but Heaven either.

The focal point for us, who have believed during this church age, is that and is and will remain with Christ where He is. So even though the focus of Revelation may tend to shift from looking at some attributes of Christ in the heavenly scene down to how He's dealing with Earth, the focus is still on Him. Alright, so what I'll do here is I'm going to read our verses this morning. So, Revelation chapter 5 verses 11 through 14.

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders. And the number of them was myriads and myriads, and thousands and thousands. saying with a voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And every created thing which is in heaven and on earth or under the earth and on the sea and all the things in him, I heard saying, to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen, and then the elders fell down and worshipped. So, these verses, a whole lot of worship and praise going to Christ.

We'll jump into them here. Then I looked and I heard a voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders. And the number of them was myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands. So if you flip to the third page there.

John tells us that he both saw and heard. So these are words that we see throughout Revelation. The types of phrases you'd expect from an eyewitness. I saw and I heard. So just further emphasizing that John was there. This is something that he saw and he heard and he was a part of. But then there's something that perhaps unexpected from the eyewitness.

John describes three categories of preachers and the number of them is great. Yet John writes that they say with one voice in singular form. So in In verse 12 there he says, saying with a loud voice. So there's myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands and they say it with a loud voice. The singular focus of what's going on here among all these creatures and they say it with a voice that really just brings out the unity of the message and expression that they have for the greatness of Christ.

And then when we look at this myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands, it says, he says here, as for the angels, they were initially described as being many in number. We know from earlier in the past that the living creatures were four in number. And we know from earlier pastures that there were 24 elders representing the saints raptured out of the church age and taken from earth prior to the tribulation.

But their total, John describes as myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands. Now, a myriad is a number that we don't often use. Myriads basically is a transliteration of a Greek word in the plural form. In the singular, it means 10,000. And it was the largest number in the Greek system of numbers. So it's like us saying, you know, like we say trillions or whatever. That would be our big word. For the Greeks, it was this myriad word, which meant 10,000. But he has it in the plural. So he's saying, trillions or whatever. It was frequently used to mean large or countless number. And since it was given in the plural, it means countless numbers of countless numbers is kind of how to view this myriads of myriads.

Countless numbers of countless numbers. So just more than you could even deal with multiplied by itself. Lots and lots. But John does not leave us there. He adds that the countless number of countless numbers, thousands of thousands, just in case we were just the least bit unclear about the first population of myriads and myriads. So John's emphasis is really that it's more than he can fathom or put a number on.

As human beings, we are impressed and perhaps overwhelmed by huge numbers. There can be numbers which are beyond our time and patience for counting and beyond our grasp, our ability to grasp, except perhaps conceptually. When we hear about the number of stars in the galaxy, or number of galaxies, or mental fuses sent to blow out, similar wonders exist at the opposite end, which such things, number of cells in the bodies, or number of atoms in the cupid foot of ocean water. But John is at the similar limits of human comprehension at giving a figure for numbers of beings he saw.

Basically, he just, he's using a phrase that he So, John is basically just blown away by the number of beings that are there worshipping God, worshipping Christ. But God is not blown away by this. He created all these beings by the word of His mouth.

When God created the countless stars in Genesis 1.16, He says He created the stars also. He just threw those in as a bonus. No big deal to Him. So while it may overwhelm us at the point here, and John was certainly overwhelmed, it's not overwhelming to God. Any questions on verse 11 or anything, comments? and we'll hop into 12.

And then 12 says, saying with a loud voice, there's that singular voice again, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. What John heard, he heard as a loud voice. That shouldn't surprise us given the huge number of beings that were speaking at one time with one singular voice.

We would be best off to adjust our thinking to what this scene describes because every Church Age believer who places faith in Christ for salvation will be there to join in this voice. So that one singular loud voice includes my voice, your voice, every believer that you've ever known or every believer that has ever been in the Church Age will be there saying this to God, to Christ. So, I mean, and that's pretty amazing when we look at this heavenly scene. This passage includes us. You can put yourself there. We'll be part of the one singular loud voice declaring the worth of the land and the throne room of the heavenlies. together with these countless creatures vast in number, are saying in one voice, the Lamb is worthy. The Greek word here perhaps places, or not perhaps, excuse me, the Greek word order here places emphasis on worthy. The Lamb, Jesus Christ our Lord, is worthy.

And kind of last week when we looked at the verses, His worthiness comes from who He is and what He has done. He is the Lamb who was slaughtered for our inequities, Revelation 5-9, which we looked at last week, already told us why the Lamb is worthy, and it's because He was slain. He took our sin on Him. He endured that for us, and that's where His worthiness comes from. Then let's be sure to take note of what the Lamb is worthy of, as it says, to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. So the Lamb is very worthy.

As you recall from last week when we said that seven was the number of totality and completeness, as revealed from the very first passages of Scripture to this very book, even apart from the specific things that are listed, He is worthy to receive. we find that he is worthy to receive a totality, simply everything he deserves at all. And that's part of the Jewish writing there, that seven being a number of totality. So then these words that are in here, I'm not going to try and pronounce the Greek because I just don't really want to sound dumb this morning, but It says, the first word there is power. Authority to rule over all things, due in part to his nature, character, and identity, and in part due to what he uniquely has done. So his very nature gives him power, but also because of what he has done, the power belongs to him.

And the next word there, riches. Wealth and abundance being the originator of all things. In other passages in the Bible, we look at God's wealth. And it's kind of like the same, that myriads and myriads idea. It's just more than you could ever count up or store. If you had a bank account, the computer would just have, you'd have to have a big hard drive to store all the zeros.

Wisdom. Imminently wise with the ability to choose the eternal best means to accomplish all things with an incomparable understanding. Might, ability to accomplish all his wise internal purposes consistent with his character. Honor, esteemed highly for who he is and what he has done. Glory, the highest attribute of honor because glory is who he is, his intrinsic radiance.

In other classes we've talked about the glory of God. And it's kind of a hard thing to mentally understand or fathom. And for a long time I had a hard time putting it in words. But basically, that glory, and frankly the glory that he says that we have in him, is just intrinsically who he is. It's the radiant essence of who God is. Which is pretty amazing. And then blessing, literally the word, it's a good word, giving back in message the blessings He has brought about on our behalf.

You guys are quiet this morning. Any thoughts on this? Alright, well we can hop on to verse 13. Or do you have something? Yeah. I heard D.L. Moody say, Grace is glory present and glory is grace future. Grace is glory present and glory is grace future. It's when you look That's just, I can't even really add comment to that. And then we'll move on to verse 13.

And every created thing which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and dominion forever and ever. When you read verse, the beginning there, every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under earth and on the sea and all things in them. So does that include, does that include like animals? Does that include people that aren't saved or even fallen angels? every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them. Kind of amazing to think about.

Kind of similar to the passage where it says every knee will bow. Right. So I don't remember exactly where that's at, but there is a statement that says all will bow and worship. Right. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess. Kind of crazy to think about. It's amazing to think that even beings that don't recognize Christ for who He is will still say to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. Basically, I mean, there comes a point of recognition where everybody realizes who Christ is, what he's done, and either that I'm glad I believed or it's too bad I didn't.

Being under the earth, that would be Al or Sheol, right? I would certainly read that to be in there, yeah. So that would be definitely unbelievers because when Christ came, he took the other side to heaven. Right. So that indicates, yeah, that the unbelievers would be worshiping. Yeah. Or maybe even if they're not worshiping, they're recognizing honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. Would they be in heaven by then?

He says that every created thing which is in heaven and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them. So it's like he's seeing everything. Heaven, earth, water. So you'd probably question, is this a sequential thing that at this point in time he's seeing all this or is this a Well, there definitely seems to be sequence in what we're reading here. And this is prior to the tribulation that John is seeing this. So let's read through this. He says, wow, there's a lot here. So let's take it in one piece at a time.

Up to now, the voices speaking the worth and wonders of the Lamb have been those placed in the heavenlies. But now we see a widening of the ones declaring His worth to the entire creation. The sequence of declarations that has taken place in the heavenly scene is following.

So in Revelation 4.8, four living creatures.

In 4.11, 24 elders.

In 5.9 and 10, four living creatures and 24 elders. 5.12, four living creatures, 24 elders, and all angels. And then here in 5.13, four living creatures, 24 elders, all the angels, and earthly created beings.

Based on the overall message of Revelation and of Scripture, the earthly created beings referred to in verse 13 do not seem to include those human beings remaining upon the earth who have denied their Savior. Maybe I'm reading it wrong. So based upon the overall message of Revelation and of Scripture, the earthly created beings referred to in verse 13 do not seem to include those human beings remaining upon the earth who have denied their Savior. So a little bit of confusion there, and I apologize. Now Paul the Apostle tells us in Romans 8, 18 through 23, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is revealed to be with us, or to be revealed to us, sorry.

For the anxious longing of creation awaits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery and corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the spirits, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting eagerly for the adoptions of sons, the redemption of the body. The redemption of the bodies has taken place at the point described in this passage, since we will be raptured, that is, taken up with the Lord.

John is including in Revelation 5.13 those creatures who will be relieved of their oppression under the endemic curse. The relief from the curse to which all creation has been subjected, or subject, will ultimately be made and the steps to bring about relief is about to be set in motion. Therefore, these created beings have a real cause for the expression of the glory of the Lord.

It makes one wonder to what degree unredeemed mankind still on earth will think of this moment, if they are aware of anything at all. What will they see when creation joins the throng that is worshiping the worthiness of the Lord? This passage does not address that, so we'll just have to wonder about it. But to clarify what we were talking about a moment ago, so it doesn't seem to include, based upon the totality of Scripture, human beings remaining upon the earth who have denied their Savior.

So my mistake there. But it does seem to include those creatures who will be relieved of their oppression under the Edemic Curse. And the Edemic Curse is basically just the Fall. So when Adam sinned, the whole world and all the creatures in it had a change in position with God. And what this seems to be revealing is that the rest of the earth will be relieved from that curse.

So under the earth, then, they may know because they have passed the point where they can make a choice because they've died. Well, and I mean, there's places in scripture that say that, you know, even demons know who God is. Even demons recognize God for God, it's just they reject Him. And since they no longer can make a choice because they've passed that point, and being in hell, they probably see things that you can't see on earth.

Right. And I think to kind of clarify, because we were talking a little bit about sequence, and this is prior to the Tribulation, So basically what we're seeing here is just prior to the tribulation, the created beings understanding that they're going to be relieved from the curse, and understanding that things will go back to the way that they were prior to the curse.

But I also, I mean, Scripture definitely points out that, you know, like we were talking about, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So, I mean, that definitely is there, but in our sequence of things, that doesn't seem to be where we're at just yet. Sorry for the confusion. Does anybody have any questions? Okay, so now we'll look at the second half of verse 13.

He says, to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. So the most notable thing here is the worship due to the one sitting on the throne, the Heavenly Father, is due the Lamb as well. So to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, This verse, among many others in Revelation, points so directly to the deity of the Lamb, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior.

We will see in chapters that lie ahead two places where unfallen angels tell John not to worship them. So John is so confused up in the heavenly scene that he starts worshiping angels and they say, no, no, no, don't do that. But the Lamb does not tell the created beings not to worship him in this passage or any other. Worship is appropriate because it is due him for who he is and what he has done. Three of four expressions of praise are identical between this verse and verse 12, where the phrase is given to the Lamb alone.

There are in fact a great many places in the book of Revelation where the Lord Jesus is proclaimed to be deity. In the writings of the Apostle John, we see Christ deity proclaimed again and again in many places. And actually, when we look at the Gospels, there are certain Gospels that basically the Gospels kind of each, the writers have a little bit of a focus on the person of Christ. I believe it's Matthew that really focuses on his humanity. John is definitely one that really brings out the deity of Christ. And for whatever reason, John was chosen to really write a gospel and books that focus on the deity of Christ.

And so one instance would be John 1030, where Christ says, I and the Father are one. The Jews were ready to pick up stones and kill him right after that because they understood that it was a claim to deity and basically blaspheming God. Well, that's how they viewed it.

And then multiple places in Revelation, the Father and the Lamb are the temple. The Father and the Lamb are the source of light. The Father and the Lamb on a single throne. The Father and the Lamb have the same name. So really here, like we were talking about, this heavenly scene really is telling us a lot about who Christ is. We've learned a lot about the power that He has. We've learned a lot about the glory and honor and things that are due Him. And this really points to His deity.

And that's really the focus that this verse places on Christ. is that God the Father and the Lamb are the same. And there are lots of places, it says here, but this is a small sampling of the references in Revelation attesting to the deity of Jesus Christ, and we will continue to touch upon these as we go along. But that's an important thing that has to be recognized about Christ, because if he's not deity, what he did doesn't really matter. But being God, he was the only one that was on his level to take sin away.

I heard Mike Doyle explain it like, say I come over to your house, or you come over to my house and my dog bites you on the leg. The dog might immediately recognize that he's done something wrong, but he's not in a position to fix the wrong. Whereas if I come over and maybe we say, let's get you to the doctor, let's get this taken care of, take care of the monetary things, and make sure everything's taken care of, the dog doesn't have the ability to do that.

You and I are on the same level. I can fix it. We're not on the same level as God. We can't fix the sin issue. So it took God himself to become a human. So his humanity is important because it took that to fix the problem as well. But his deity is important because he's the only one on the same level to fix the issue. So Christ's deity is a very important thing to recognize because without it, the sin issue can't be fixed. And that's why he's due blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever because of what he's done, like we've talked about this week and in previous weeks.

And then in verse 14, And the four-legged living creatures kept saying, Amen, and the elders fell down and worshipped. Okay, so this The longest of the descriptions of the heavenly scenes in Revelation ends in Revelation 5.14 with the four living creatures saying Amen. This is the Greek word Amen from the Hebrew word Amon. And that Hebrew word is from the root meaning to be firm, stable, sure, established and trustworthy.

Christ uses it a lot in the New Testaments, and you'll see it translated either like, truly, truly, or he'll say, truly, truly, I say unto you. He's saying, amen, amen, I say unto you. They'll translate it verily, verily as well. The word is amen, amen. And he's just saying that, you know, like, I'm telling you guys the truth. And he says it twice, but truly, truly, I'm telling you. And then he'll go into whatever he's saying.

But the word is sure, established, or trustworthy. What we're saying is established. It's trustworthy. It can be counted upon. And the word is used to acknowledge and emphasize what is valid, sure and true, or important and significant. So it emphasizes a truth statement, and it also emphasizes an important statement, something significant.

So the four living creatures were repeatedly attesting to the truth of all the words of praise that had been said. So we've just gone through a whole chapter, basically, of praise to God and to Christ. And it ends with, this is a true and valid statement that is important and significant.

And then we see the elders that fell down and worshipped. What John is describing here is us. So any one of those 24 elders like we talked about could be us. We will be continually falling down and worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ. and God the Father for that matter, without arm-twisting or coercion, we will all fall before the Lord Jesus Christ and worship Him again, again, and again, worshiping anew the glorified Lord of glory, the glorified Lamb, the one who is about to open the seven seals.

So I have managed to whip through that Pretty quick, we've got about 10 minutes of time here. Is there anything that you guys would like to discuss this morning? Any questions on what we went over? Any comments? Stan? It's interesting that you mentioned that word, where it says, Amen, and you said that it may have established because I just happened to notice that the other day when I was reading Romans, in Romans 11, Paul's talking about imparting a spiritual gift And then he says that you may be established.

And I thought, you know, that goes right along with that because so that you can become set firm or when I was reading this, the thought that came to my mind was like concrete. And that's kind of like the unsaved person there, following all kinds of doctrine and there's no stability or direction, like it says in James. But when you become concrete, you no longer need the forms, it becomes hardened, it serves its own purpose and it's established. And that's the direction we're supposed to go, right?

Well, and in the context of, you said it was in the context of receiving a spiritual gift? could impart a spiritual blessing or gift. In the context of spiritual gifts, establishing us, God has given us those things and they're given to each person as God, as the Spirit wills, as He sees fit in each of us. and we use it to glorify God. So I mean the establishment is fully based upon really God and who he is and what he has decided to impart to us and us abiding in the spirit so that the use of that gift is poured out to the body and everybody's That's part of walking in the light, right?

The more that you do that, the more that you become like Christ. Just like if you do the opposite, and you're walking in evil or wickedness or whatever, you become more that way. You become more established toward the other side. Yeah, and the key is abide. You know, he who abides in me, Christ says he who abides in me can bear fruit, and he who doesn't, can't. You know, will be cut off, basically. And so the key is abide. It's not for us to seek and, I've got to go do all this stuff. It's just abide. Abide in Christ, abide in the Spirit, and that life, that love, and other people's needs in the body are going to be met.

It's interesting, talking to my pastor, the guy that was the pastor of the church we went to in Nevada, he's an older man now, and he often talks about the process of the abiding happens more and more as he's gotten older and older. It's been something where when he was younger he struggled with it all the time, you know, and was seeking things to do. And the more he understood that it was just resting in God and resting in the Spirit, abiding in what God has given us, it's become something different where he just does it more. It's just his natural lifestyle now.

And I think that's what you're talking about. It works its way out. into, you know, it's not that you do the works to please, but you abide. And then out of the abiding, you do things as a service in reference to love of God and what he's done for you. So it's a fine line. Right. Well, and you brought up the book of James. And James is talking to a very Jewish crowd who is all about doing things. It was all about you continually doing things to be righteous.

And he basically tells them that that religion is worthless. He says that's a worthless, that the man who's, that that's their religion, is seeking constantly to do things, that's a worthless religion. The true, the way that God wants it to be done is resting and abiding. And then the Jewish mindset in James, there's also a Semitic totality concept where if it's true of you, do it. And so a lot of times his statements will come across kind of harsh. But yeah, the idea is these things are true of you, so abide in them and the natural the natural thing will be that the good works will flow out. That's a little bit of a rabbit trail, but that's all right. We had 10 minutes of rabbit trail time. We have five more. Can I ask you a question? Sure.

Okay, when you're talking about the curse over here in verse 18, obviously Paul talks about that too in Romans. the adoption as his sons, and it talks about the slavery to corruption that the world is currently in. And I assume that's because it's under the direction of Satan, right? So since he's going to be shipped off at the appropriate time, then the adoption of sons ruling and reigning in his place?

I'm asking because I don't know. Well, there's a couple of things there. He says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into freedom for the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but we also ourselves having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting eagerly for the adoptions of sons, the redemption of the body. The adoption of sons phrase is used a couple of places in the Bible. We currently have adoption of sons. When we went through the Who You Are in Christ class, that was one of the things you're adopted.

And the Greek adoption was a word where basically it was used initially because the emperor didn't have an heir. And he would go and adopt someone to be his heir. It was later used by merchants and wealthy people. If they didn't have an heir for their fortune, they would go adopt someone. It could be their slave. you know, some, some, their friends died and they had a kid, so they adopt, you know, whatever the case may be, they could adopt someone to be their heir.

And the adoption that that Greek person had, it freed them from any, if they had any legal trouble in the past, so if they were in trouble with the law at all, it freed them from that. So like if the emperor were to bring someone in and he had done something bad, he was freed from all criminal past, which we obviously can identify with because Christ has done that for us. It freed them from any monetary obligations that they had. So if they owed somebody money, it freed them from that.

And it was an adoption where, say I'm a wealthy merchant and I have two kids, both sons and they're both kind of corrupt guys and I don't really think very highly of them and I don't want my fortune to go to either of them. So I adopt someone. Whoever I adopt, that son, becomes the primary heir and I cannot remove him from that position. So it was a really interesting thing in the Greek culture that put that put the adopted son in a very special position.

And that's, in the other places where it's used in the Bible, that's the point that is being brought out, is that Christ has placed you in a very special position where you're freed from any transgression or anything that you owe. You're freed from that. And you're in a position that you can't be removed from. There's nothing that's going to remove you from it.

Here in this passage, the focus is on the redemption of the body. And basically what you have there, just like creation is longing to be redeemed to its initial state, we're longing for the redemption of our bodies. We're longing to not have a sin nature or a flesh anymore. And that's what happens when you're in heaven. When the rapture happens and we go up to be with Christ, we don't have the sin nature of the flesh, we don't have the desires of the flesh, we don't have the desires of the sin nature pulling us to do other things.

That's why when we talked about, you know, we're going to fall down and worship God forever and ever and ever over and over and over again without any coercion or arm twisting, you know, you're not going to think, well, you know, I'd rather go watch the football game. You know? You're not going to have those, you know, whatever it is that's pulling you to do something else. It's not going to be there.

But that goes along with Satan because Satan deals through our flesh and through our Adam nature. Well he certainly has the ability to tempt it. And Christ says when he's before Pilate that this is not my kingdom, I'm not of this realm. Satan definitely has control over the earth as well. What the earth is longing for is for that to go away.

If you think about where Adam and Eve were in the garden, they're the only two humans that have ever got to experience that. Everything was perfect. The world was totally different. There's places in scripture that indicate that animals were not eaten at that point in time, that they didn't eat each other either. So there was just a lack of, there was no death. Everything was perfect and there was no death. And sin created that curse of death separation, all kinds of different things that were created by the curse.

And we don't fully understand all of them, but it sure would have been a neat place to be. And that's what's coming out of this verse. That's what the longing is for, for that perfect situation that Adam and Eve had that got screwed up that we want back.

Okay, well why don't we go ahead and end. I just thank you guys for being patient with me this morning. Usually I don't work through like that, but we figured it out. Anyway, Heavenly Father, we just thank you for our time again this morning, for getting to learn more about you and being taught new things about who you are, being reminded of your deity, the importance of that. It's just really neat to see you and the Father on the same level. It's so good to understand that.

A lot of people will pawn you off as a wise man or a good teacher or a prophet or whatever the case may be, but the Bible tells us pretty clearly that you might have been those things, but you are a lot more too. You are God. The Jesus Christ that walked on this earth, that died on the cross and was raised again for us, is God. And any claim that you're something else just isn't accurate. That's why we, blessing and honor and glory and dominion are yours forever and ever. And we're just grateful that we can be in you, abide in your life, and bring you glory. In Jesus' name, amen.