Praise the Lamb - Look to the Star

“Praise the Lamb!” is the vision that the Apostle John preserves for us in Revelation chapter 5. At first glance sitting around singing praises to God might not sound all that great, but for the ancient church, and really anytime that Christians have been persecuted, Revelation is extreme comfort. The vision fast forwards the world to the end of time when the world is over and we see the outcome of the ages. God wins. “Praise the Lamb!” is the happy cry because there is no more strife.

These verses don’t just give us a look at the end, there is comfort and encouragement right now for our lives. John records that the song in heaven is, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!” First off, this is pure gospel good news. Jesus died for you. John the Baptist cries out, “Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

The world is full of consequences. No clearer was this seen than yesterday at the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby. Church Hill Downs was packed with 150,000 people. As the horses came around the final quarter mile, the lead horse, Maximum Security, spooked a little and got in the way of at least two other horses. Just for shifting a couple steps in very muddy conditions, the horse was disqualified by the three-person panel appointed by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Barbara Borden went before the press and shared the news. They reviewed the video footage and interviewed the jockeys, and made their decision in just over twenty minutes. The has never happened in the history of the race.

I think we know how Maximum Security felt. God wouldn’t have to look long at the past week of video footage of my life, not to mention the past 42 years, to find something that would disqualify me from the glory Jesus prepared for me. I am not worthy. My God says in Romans that no one is.

That isn’t the end – me being disqualified. The end is that the Lamb was slain for me. He is slain no longer. Jesus lives! The end is the vision of heaven – with me in the winners circle, draped in a cape of roses. Well maybe that’s a horse’s dream. Mine is recorded in Revelation 5. Praise the Lamb!