The Apocalypse: The Only One Worthy — Q&A

Why does the Lamb have seven horns and sevens eyes? What is the significance of that? And what does the throne room mean practically? How can the throne room of God be appropriated to one's life personally?

In this episode of The Cutting Room Floor, we unpack the powerful imagery of Revelation 5:1-14 and explore how the reality of God’s throne isn’t just symbolic—it’s deeply personal. If you’ve ever wondered how heaven’s perspective can shape your daily walk, this conversation will offer insight.

Transcript

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From the cutting room floor, where at least this part, this preacher, is uh able to pick up some of the scraps that were left on the floor and never made it to the sermon on Sunday, as is often the case. And uh I'm gonna do that today with just a couple of additional reflections on Revelation 5. We're still in the throne room section, Revelation 4 and 5. And um, I didn't say anything about this. I could have added parenthetical as I was reading through it, but um uh I didn't. Uh so let me just make a couple of comments on verse six talks about the lamb had seven horns and seven eyes. Seven horns and seven eyes. What do we make? What do we make of that? Uh well, as I've mentioned, the number seven uh indicates completeness, nothing is missing. There's sort of a perfection uh to whatever the thing is. Uh, seven's not always um used in a positive sense, and we'll see that with the uh seals, trumpets, and bowls. There's some negative stuff there, but it is whole, it's complete, there's nothing missing. And so we have this mention of seven horns that the lamb has. Uh, horns throughout the Bible um indicate power and strength, uh, kind of a royal authority. Um, animals gore enemies with horns. The imagery can carry with it some Davidic connotations. Uh so in the context of Revelation 5, though the lamb was slain, he now reigns with complete, undiminished power as the risen king. The vulnerability of the lamb and the authority of the king are held together in sort of this single image. And then you've got this mention of seven eyes uh representing what? Perfect, complete knowledge. Uh background to this is Zechariah 4.10, 2 Chronicles 16, 9, where the Lord's eyes roam the entire earth, meaning he observes and knows everything happening among humanity. Proverbs 15:3 kind of reinforces this idea. God's eyes are everywhere, seeing both wicked and righteous. And then you'll notice in Revelation 5 that the eyes are further identified as the seven spirits of God. I've talked about this before. I really do believe this is a reference to the Holy Spirit in his fullness. The Spirit, in other words, is the means by which Christ watches over the world. Um, Richard Baucom puts it this way: He says, The seven spirits are the presence and power of God on earth, bringing about God's kingdom by implementing the Lamb's victory throughout the world. And uh this connects to the consistent Johannine theme, theme of John, that the spirit is sent into the world precisely because of Christ's death and exaltation. Um and so what John communicates um in the apocalypse here, the Gospel of John states plainly, the Spirit is the fruit of the Son's glorification. Uh so I love the way that you know when you when you take this together, you got the seven horns and seven eyes, it paints a portrait of a lamb who is simultaneously sovereign and omniscient, uh, one who reigns with complete power, sees with complete knowledge, and fills the world with his spirit. Uh so there's some details there that uh that I didn't unpack in in yesterday's message. Um one thing I want to add to this, you know, with Revelation 4 and 5 really does go together. It's the throne room. And uh as I mentioned in chapter 4 a few weeks ago, I don't know, 30 some odd instances of the word throne uh occurs in Revelation, and like 17 of them are packed into these two chapters. So everything in four and five is oriented to the throne. And I think that's got application. That's that's not just uh a theoretical statement. That's not just an observation made of a strange vision some guy had. There's an application to this, and that is what throne is your life oriented towards? Uh your life is referenced to a throne, it's oriented towards a throne. What throne is it? Whatever it is, it's worship. This is where I think a lot of Christians misunderstand worship. Most Christians think worship is something we sing about or bow down to, but it's more fundamental than that. In fact, worship is worship is actually insidious. Uh, in other words, you're unaware of most of your worship. If we go back to the throne room of Revelation 4 and 5, uh you notice the concentric circles with the four creatures, the 24 elders. They face the throne. Their posture is towards the throne. We face the object of our worship. We set our eyes on it, we set our attention on it, our senses are devoted to it, our lives are oriented toward the object of our adoration. We can get very practical with this. Take the football fan. You know, all week he studies the object of his adoration. He reads about it, he studies statistics, he watches shows about it, he talks about it. Then on Sunday, he spends a great deal of time and effort to actually get into the presence of the object of his adoration. When the object of his adoration is presented to his senses, his whole posture changes. That's worship. Or take the political activist. All week she studies the object of her adoration. She reads incessantly about it, she studies it, she watches shows about it, she talks about it. Uh when others don't share her passion for it, she's disappointed and maybe even critical of them. When the object of her adoration is presented to her senses, her whole posture changes. She she praises them, her face is aglow. Um, what is that? What is that? That's worship. That's worship. The worshiper, and we're all worshipers, is oriented towards a throne. Who or what is seated there? It's a pity when sports or politics, sex, money, power, control sit on the throne of our lives. So, what does it mean to worship God? Well, it means to let the worth of God, the value of God, sink in so much that you respond with a wholehearted reorientation of your life. Seeing what he's really worth and giving him what he's really worth, that's worship. So, do you do that? Are you doing that? When your life has been radically reoriented towards God, he becomes the most important priority in the way you handle your money, for example. He becomes the most important priority in the way you conduct your career, in the way in which you carry out your relationships, in the way in which you use your tongue, in the way in which you form your opinions. And so when you stop to think about it, the solution to so many of our problems personally, in our families, in our communities, the solution is a worship issue. Who or what sits on the throne of your life? What is your life oriented towards and around? Revelation 4 and 5 really does challenge us to think deeply about that. And it challenges us to make a change if we sense that someone or something other than God is seated on his throne. I hope this has been helpful to you. Uh thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next time.