Roche Coleman Ministries: The Infusion Broadcast

Dr. Roche Coleman: Jesus Christ is that lamb sufficiently filling it. And when Jesus Christ came as a lamb, his office was very different from the office when he is going to come as the lion of the tribe of Judah. And it's a distinction we must make certain that we understand: that our Lord came the first time as the lamb.

Why did he come as the lamb? Because he came to offer salvation to us. He came to offer eternal life to us. He came with a body that had been prepared that it might be beaten and bruised. He came, as Mark 10:45 tells us, as a sacrificial offering, not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. But I want to let you know that he's going to come back one day, and he won't be a lamb. He's going to come back as a lion of the tribe of Judah.

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Infusion Broadcast with the Roche Coleman Ministries. Dr. Coleman's current teaching is on the topic of Heaven, based on the book of Revelation. It's a difficult book to grasp in some ways, and he breaks it down for us, bringing clarity as well as challenging us to understand God's plan for humanity. Before we get to the lesson, he'd like to share a word with you.

Dr. Roche Coleman: Hi, this is Pastor Roche Coleman. Friends, I want to take this opportunity to wish you God's peace and joy through this Christmas season. I want to sincerely thank you for standing with us through your prayers and financial support for our ministry this year.

As you know, our mission here at the Roche Coleman Ministries is to provide biblical teaching with practical application. We aim to provide you with a strong foundation for your faith and strengthen you for your journey through life. Our passion is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ so that many will realize the depths of God's love and experience his saving grace.

I am coming to you today with a very special request. In order to close our books in the black by the year-end, we are needing to raise $300,000 to cover our operational and airtime costs. May I kindly request you to prayerfully consider making a one-time year-end donation to help us achieve our goal?

I really need your support at this time. To make a contribution, please log on to rochecolemanministries.org, or you can mail a check to Roche Coleman Ministries, 594 Sawdust Road, Suite 185, The Woodlands, Texas 77380. All gifts are tax-deductible. Thank you for your generous support. God bless you.

Guest (Male): Thank you very much for your support. Let's go to our series on Heaven now, taken from Revelation chapter five. I want to encourage you to please read the book of Revelation along with us. Here's Dr. Coleman with today's message: The Majesty and Holiness of God.

Dr. Roche Coleman: We are in Revelation chapter five. It's a text that is going to give us a glimpse of the paramounts of Heaven, and I want you to see it. Revelation five, beginning at verse one: "I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?'"

And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals."

Father, we love you. We thank you for today. Lord, we ask that you guide us and sustain us as only you can. Lord, we want to hear from you. Lord God, for what you do, we will be sure to praise you and give you the glory. Arise up, oh Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before your presence. We love you. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

In chapter four, John finds himself translated into the spirit as he has a view firsthand of what is transpiring in the royal court of God the Father himself. He's the one who's sitting on the throne, and John sees this. As he sees this, John is deeply moved. When we get to Revelation chapter five, the scene shifts as if the revelation is progressively being revealed to John in a different scene. The focus in four was on the Father, the one sitting on a throne, the Great I Am. Now it shifts to the Son, who is there with the Father in the throne room of heaven.

As we look at point one, one of the things that stands out in this text is the insufficiency of humanity and created things. John lets us know that the one who's on the throne, he says, "I notice in his right hand, the hand of power and authority, that there is a book in his hand." He says, "I see God the Father holding this book." He said that as he is looking at the book, it is a unique book, sometimes also translated in some texts as a scroll. He says there's writing on the front and there's writing on the back. The pages are filled with a message that comes from God.

But he says there's something also I see in Revelation chapter five, verse one. Not only did I see a book in the right hand of God the Father, this book has seven seals. He says this book has been closed and its contents are confined. He said, "I see this here in the hand of God the Father." It is interesting when we see these seven seals. That is something that is an anomaly for us. We don't normally see book seals, but in his day, it was known by the Romans to put a seal on documents in order for security.

Those documents were only to be read by the person to whom they were delivered. That person was the only one entitled to break the seal. The seals were done in a hot wax with someone's signature emblem on it, and only the owner could break it. They had the authority and the right to break the seal on that document. As a matter of fact, Augustus as well as Vespasian, both emperors, left documents that had seven seals that identified who should follow them, who should receive their assets.

The same imagery is seen here in Revelation chapter five about a book being sealed, but it's not in the hand of a Roman emperor who is temporal. It's in the hand of the eternal God the Father sitting on the throne. John says, "I saw this book." Not only does he see this book, John is there and he says there's a seal. John says the next scene I see is this strong angel who is standing there with a powerful voice, a magnetism that comes forth.

He asks a question to the entirety of the created order. He asks the question, it appears, even to those who are in the royal court of God. He says, "I see him saying it with a loud voice. 'Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?'" He said, "Who out there can do it? Is there anybody capable?" It's like he makes the call and he's waiting for a response to see who's going to step up and say, "Hey, I got this." John is looking, and as he's observing what is transpiring there in the holy courtroom of God, nobody steps forth.

John says no one. Look at the comprehensive nature of the clarion call from the strong angel in verse three. He said no one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth was able to open the book or to look in it. He said, "I found nobody worthy. I found nobody." John is broken. But I want to tell you this, and this is what I love about God: God always comes and comforts us in our time of need. Is anybody delighted about that today?

John is here mourning and he's worried about what's happening because he feels we need to understand what is in the book for our eschatological comprehension. What is the Lord doing in the future context? John says there is nobody there. As he's weeping and as he's worried about it, an elder stepped forward, verse five. He says, "Stop weeping, John. Stop, man, don't weep." He said, "I want to let you know that there is a champion."

There is one capable, one competent. There is one who can interpret the contents of the book, but he's worthy to take the book. I hope you're glad about that today because we have one who's worthy to take the book. Why is he worthy to take the book? Because he's the same one we're going to see who has taken upon himself the sins of humanity. He is the same one who was willing to offer himself as a sacrificial sacrifice for all of humanity, for the sins of the world. Therefore, he is worthy. It's glorious that we have one worthy.

I like how the angel says this. He tells him to stop. Those are words of comfort for John. The whole of Scripture has been provided for comfort for us as we live in this fallen, wicked, sinful world. Like John, it may not be because we're looking and need an interpretation, but there are seasons where we find ourselves in life where we find ourselves mourning. That is a fact of this fallen, sinful world. But find comfort in the assurance that comes from God's word and his revelation.

Then he begins to describe the one who's going to provide this comfort that's needed. I love this. He says, "The lion that is from the tribe of Judah." I like that because what John does is he uses a metaphor that is so appropriate for describing our Lord. Just like the lion, that animal who has been classified as the king of the jungle, the lion in his beauty and all of his splendor with that mane flowing, and his fierceness, his willingness to run after prey no matter how large, his willingness to face that opposition, it describes the tenacity and the nature of our God.

He says he is the lion from the tribe of Judah. John picks this imagery up, this metaphor you find back in Genesis chapter 49. When Jacob found himself in his senior years, remember Jacob went down to Egypt to be with his son Joseph, who had been sold into slavery. Jacob, now a senior man, is preparing to transition and go to be with his fathers. Jacob is there, probably in Goshen at this time, and he calls his son.

He says, "I want to bless you boys before I die. I want to pronounce a blessing over you." What he does is he pulls them to him, especially Judah, and he pronounces this over him in Genesis 49:9-10. He says, "Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, as a lion who dares rouse him up." Here it is, verse 10. Watch this. He says, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes."

What is he saying? The scepter was what the ruler always had. The scepter in his hand symbolized his authority and his power. The ruler, as long as he had the scepter, he could point it and use it to designate what he wanted to do. Jacob is saying here over his son Judah as he's blessing him, "It is you, son, through whose lineage the Redeemer will come." He said the scepter of authority will remain with you and nobody will take it out of your hand.

He said the power to rule, the right to rule shall reside in the lion of the tribe of Judah. That is what John is picking up on here in Revelation. But he didn't stop there. He shifts and he also calls him, not only the lion of the tribe of Judah, he says he is the root of David. I like that. Let me see if I can unpack it real quick. If you recall, the kingship began with Saul. Saul became the first king of the nation of Israel about 1010 BC. After Saul, David ascended to the throne. Saul did not represent the kingship like he should, but David did. David was the king par excellence. Everybody that followed him was measured according to the standard of King David.

But what happens is we see at the Babylonian exile in 605 BC, there is no king after that sitting on the throne, especially in 586 when the Babylonians decimated Jerusalem. What is left there? Only a root. The tree has been cut down. This is what Luke calls the times of the Gentiles. There's no longer a king on the throne, and as a result of that, there is nobody of the descendancy of David on the throne. To this day, Israel does not have a king.

But in Revelation chapter five, the strong angel is announcing and he's letting them know, "I want to let you know something." He said the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of Jesse, the one who is a sprig springing up out of a root out of dry ground. He said, "I'm bringing forth my son who is going to be the quintessential, who's going to be the eternal king, the Great I Am," and his name is Jesus Christ.

The angel is comforting John, who's mourning, because he's letting him know. He said, "It appears that there's no hope." He said, "But there's one who can take the book. There's one who can read the book. There's one who can break the seals because he is the true descendant of David, the root of Jesse." I love this. Why is this so important? Because the same one who's giving comfort to John is giving comfort to us when we find ourselves in this state.

Jesus Christ, he says, has overcome. Look in verse five of Revelation chapter five. He's overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals. The same message that has been coming to the church comes to us. We must be overcomers, *nike*, victor, the winner. The same term is translated overcomers. As believers, you and I must understand that we must overcome sin. We must overcome the wickedness, the unrighteousness, the ungodliness of this world. And how do we overcome? By placing our faith in the lion of the tribe of Judah, the descendant who is the root of Jesse, the root of David.

Revelation five lets us know that Jesus can do it. The reason why he wants us to know this is because he wants us to understand that when we find ourselves in those moments, we can trust him. Verses six through eight is going to talk about the sufficiency of the lamb. This is Jesus Christ. I love this. The strong angel sees Jesus as the lion, but when we get down here in verse six, note that John is going to see him as a lamb.

You say, "How can one see him as a lion but the other see him as a lamb?" It's perspective. It's the different eyes that one views. When we get to verse six, John says, "And I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and with the elders, I see a lamb standing." I like this, y'all stay with me. He says, "I see the lamb, but it's not a lamb who is lying down." He says, although this is a lamb that has been slain as he's going to call him in this text, he said, "I see the lamb standing as if slain."

The imagery here of the lamb who has been slain but is standing is the imagery of resurrection. We celebrate resurrection because the lamb that was slain was not a lamb that stayed slain. This is a lamb that's standing. He is a resurrected lamb, the Son of God. He's alluding to the resurrection that Jesus Christ endures, although he dies for the sins of the world.

Then he gives two key features about this lamb. He says he has seven horns, symbolic of the power of the lamb, but he also has seven eyes. Seven is the number for completion. Seven means that this is complete. The work of Jesus Christ was complete at Calvary. That's why when he died on that cross, he said, "*Tetelestai*, it is finished. It is done."

The seven eyes here are symbolic of his ability to see his transcendence, his illumination. Jesus has been illuminated with the power to see at a different perspective, and that's why the spirits of God represents the seven horns and the seven eyes. It is all sufficiently found in our Savior, Jesus Christ. He said, "sent out into all the earth." This is why our Lord is the sufficient Savior. Saints, it's imperative that when you think about him, you've got to always see him as a sufficient Savior, the lion and the lamb.

It's tragic that when Jesus came as the lamb, everyone did not see him for who he was. The Bible is very clear that when he came as the lamb, Isaiah 53:7 says he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before shearers, so he did not open his mouth. In John chapter one, verse 29, it says the next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and he said, "Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

I also like what Paul says in First Corinthians chapter five, verse seven. He says, "Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened, for Christ our paschal, Passover, also has been sacrificed." Jesus Christ is that lamb sufficiently filling it. And when Jesus Christ came as a lamb, his office was very different from the office when he is going to come as the lion of the tribe of Judah.

Guest (Male): Be sure to join us as Dr. Coleman continues this message on our next broadcast. Thank you, Dr. Coleman. What a glorious future awaits those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ. We're all sinners, and God's plan for all of humanity is that we be restored into fellowship with him. By his grace, he made a way for us through the birth, sacrifice, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I hope you won't delay surrendering your life to him.

If you have questions about this matter, please write to us at info@rochecolemanministries.org or call us at 346-386-4621. Friends, this is a very important topic on Heaven and the plans that God has for all humanity. God reveals what will happen to those who follow him and those who rebel against him. We hope you'll let your family and friends know to join us each weekday through the entirety of this series.

Our impact thought for today is: Rejoice with songs that glorify the Lamb who purchased the saints with his blood. And Jesus went through the ordeal of crucifixion for your sake and mine so we can be united with him forever. On behalf of Dr. Roche Coleman and our team here, we wish you a very happy New Year.