Revelation 4-5: The Way of the Lamb | June 17, 2023

The worship service in Revelation 4-5 is magnificent and awesome as all of creation bows down to worship the Lamb who was slain. What an upside-down kingdom of God! He who liberates us from sin and death doesn’t do it through dominance and force but through sacrifice and love.

1 Corinthians 1:27-31 ESV

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

 What is the way of the Lamb?

 Isaiah 53:7 ESV

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.

John 1:29 ESV

²⁹ The next day he [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

 Mark 14:60-61a; 15:3-5 ESV

⁶⁰ And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” ⁶¹ But he remained silent and made no answer. 

³ And the chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴ And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” ⁵ But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

Acts 8:29-35 ESV

²⁹ And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” ³⁰ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
    and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he opens not his mouth.
³³ In his humiliation justice was denied him.
    Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴ And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

1 Corinthians 5:7 ESV

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

How do we walk in the way of the Lamb?

 “The way of the dragon is fixated on the spectacular, obsessed with recognition and validation, intoxicated by fame and power. The way of the lamb is committed to worship, pursues God in the ordinary, and is faithful to hiddenness. The dragon devours and dominates, while the lamb humbly and sacrificially serves.” —The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb by Jamin Goggin & Kyle Strobel