“Everything is meaningless, completely meaningless!” What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.

Now doesn’t that take the spark out of you this morning? Some of you may be asking, what happened to the hymns of Revelation, preacher? This is some Old Testament poetry, and you would be right. But what about what the words of the teacher? Are there people who feel this way, that all of life is meaningless? You better believe it. There are people who believe there is no meaning to life. We are born, we live, we might get married and possibly divorced, and then we die — nothing more, nothing less. That attitude brings about despair. When we despair we weep. Why do we weep — because we have no hope.

This is what brings us to Revelation chapter 5. In Jesus’ Revelation to the apostle John, we find that John is lacking hope. It’s what the early first century Christians were lacking. Who was going to rescue them from the terrible persecution of the Roman empire? Are we all going to die? What will happen then? John gives us some insight.

Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside, and it was sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel who shouted with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and open it?” But no one in heaven or earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it. Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it.

This is the same John who recorded the events we read last week. We, I believe, even tasted a little bit of what heaven’s worship would be like last week. Immediately, we had to leave the sanctuary and go back to our regular lives. Just after John experiences this wonderful worship of the one who sits on the throne, he is presented with the dilemma of heaven. It really is interesting that Solomon wrote those words we read at the beginning – Everything is meaningless. John is facing the same dilemma. He is spinning wildly trying to taking in all the visuals, all the sounds, all the smells of heaven and all of a sudden it all appears meaningless, because no one can help them continue in their worship. Without knowing the rest of the story, everything is meaningless. Solomon didn’t have the rest of the story. What is the rest of the story and why is it so important?

Let’s continue in verse 5

But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.

Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth. He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.

What is the rest of the story? What is the thing that changes the course of human history? What brings meaning out of meaninglessness? It is the Lamb. John uses quite a bit of imagery here. Throughout this series, I have asked you to imagine. The book of Revelation requires some imagination. The images that are shared with us are not like images that we are used to. First, John tells us that the one who is worthy is a Lion – the Lion of Judah, the heir to David’s throne. We look at that now and immediately thing of Jesus. John in his wild state of spinning around takes another look, looking for the Lion, when all of a sudden, he catches a look at a Lamb. Not just any old Lamb, but a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered. If we look at John’s gospel, chapter one, verse 29, what do we see? “The next day, John (the Baptist) coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” The Messiah’s coming into the world, literally changed world history. Instead of meaningless life, life can have meaning. It can give us a new song. What is that new song? Verse 9

And they sang a new song with these words:

And the four living beings said “Amen!” and the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb.

Wow! What a sight. What a difference in the story from the beginning to the end. At the beginning, John was filled with desperation. He was weeping. He had no hope. What was the difference? It was the Lamb — the Lamb that was slain. The Lamb is Jesus – Jesus is the one who sits on the throne. All of human history has been changed by Jesus – the one who was slain – the one who’s blood was shed to ransom us from death – through His life, death, and most importantly His resurrection, human history has been changed. The Old Testament is all about God’s plan for His people Israel. Here we see the plan for the whole human race. The Lamb was slain to purchase salvation for every tribe, every language, every people, and every nation. Those who have been purchased through the blood are now priests in God’s Kingdom. We are responsible for continuing and building the Kingdom. We looked at this a couple of weeks ago. Each person who is part of body of Christ is a priest. Each one of us who are part of the body of Christ, represent Him. We are a go-between between those who are not part of the Kingdom yet and Christ. Each person in the body of Christ needs to be on the playing field. That is how we truly worship Christ. “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Martin Luther called it the priesthood of all believers. Every believer on the playing field to get the work of the Kingdom done.

It is the song of the Lamb that all of creation sings. It is the song of the Lamb that the twenty-four elders sing. It is the song of the Lamb that the thousand and millions of angels sing. When we realize that Christ is what makes the difference. It is the cross. It is the resurrection.
The songs of the Lamb are those that sing and tell of the wonderful redemptive work of Christ. We have some wonderful songs in our hymnal that tell of the redemptive work of Christ – When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, At Calvary, At the Cross and many others. There are some wonderful new songs that tell of the redemptive work of Christ. I want to continue to teach you those – In Christ Alone, The Power of the Cross, How Deep the Father’s Love for Us, Before the Throne of God Above. I like the fact that the scriptures tell us they sang a new song. We need to continually be proclaiming the redemptive work of Christ in songs, both old and new. It is Christ – the Lamb who was slain — that makes all the difference – it should make a difference in our worship. It is what makes what was meaningless, meaningful. We are going to finish singing the song of the Lamb. Again if you know it, I encourage you to sing along and reflect on the work of the Lamb. If you don’t know it, listen to the words, reflect on the work of the Lamb – the one who makes all the difference and sing a new song to Him who sits on the throne.