Being a Disciple (5): Worthy is the Lamb!
Following Christ as Lord means we must accept the truth we belong to Him we don’t own ourselves. Once we embrace His absolute authority, then surrendering (our independence) to Him follows naturally, and obedience flows naturally from this surrender. This is liberating, as we can let go of trying to control everything ourselves. The essence of sin is not just rejecting God's authority, but also His ownership, as Adam and Eve did to be their own god, operating in independence from God. They coveted their own power to be in control and own things for themselves apart from God, which cut them off from the God, who is life. They did not experience freedom, but became slaves of sin and satan. By physical birth, this sin-nature in the flesh was transmitted to all of us (John 3:6). That’s why our flesh wants independence (self-ownership) and resists God’s authority. We were lost, but Jesus came to win us back to God. He paid the ransom price (His Blood) to purchase us for God, and set us free. He did not purchase us, for us to be independent from God, but to come under His loving ownership. So, God has a 2-fold claim of ownership on us, He (1) created us and (2) redeemed us, so if we accept that purchase, we are freed from sin to be slaves of God.
God gave very Jew a piece of the Promised Land to possess, but if he got into debt (a picture of sin), (1) he could lose possession of his land, and (2) become a slave to pay his debts, until a kinsman-redeemer came, and pay the price to release him from slavery and purchase back the land, so he could enjoy it again, although the redeemer now owned it. The land is a picture of the earth and all the blessings, God gave to man to enjoy (Psalm 115:16). Although God owns the earth, (1) Adam surrendered man’s dominion over the world to satan, and we lost our possession of God’s blessing, and (2) became slaves to sin and satan. Jesus became a man to be our Kinsman Redeemer, and by His Blood, He purchased the earth and all who’ve lived on it. So He has the legal right to take possession of the earth from His enemies. He will start to enforce this right in the Tribulation judgments, that climax at the 2nd Coming, when He destroys all His enemies and establishes His Kingdom on earth.
Believers in Heaven understand the glory, honour and power they receive from God belongs to Him; and they belong to Him, for He created them – the 1st basis for God’s ownership of us (Revelation 4:11). This is the basis for their total surrender to God. The 2nd basis is redemption, the theme of Revelation 5, where Jesus is revealed as the Redeemer, who purchased us with His Blood, so we belong to God (v9-10). Thus, God is our Owner and Christ our Redeemer, who possesses us through giving His Spirit to indwell us (1Corinthians 6:19,20). Knowing they belong to Christ and thus every blessing they have received also belongs to Him, in v12 they surrender it all back to God: “Worthy is the LAMB, who was slain, to receive (1) POWER (to do works, this power is to be surrendered back to God, so we stay submitted under His control and filled with His power. Our submission to God’s power flows out of acknowledging God is the Owner and Source of all our power), and (2) RICHES (wealth - we are not owners, just stewards of God’s resources, to use them for His purposes and glory), and (3) WISDOM (including knowledge and understanding - submit and release your thoughts back to God, so He has control), and (4) STRENGTH (including health, in our whole being), and (5) HONOUR (value, importance, authority, status, exaltation), and (6) GLORY (God’s manifested anointing, love, radiance, beauty shining through us), and (7) BLESSING (happiness, emotional well-being).” v13: “BLESSING, HONOUR, GLORY, and (8) DOMINION (ruling power, ability to reign) be to HIM who sits on the Throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” When you surrender what you have received from God back to God, He can give you more to enjoy and possess. We are to surrender our works to God, so we do them under His authority, trusting in His power and for His glory, to fulfil His purposes. Then they are not our works, but His works through us, and He gets the glory. God’s River must flow through us, so we have to (1) receive it by faith, then (2) give it back to God in love. If own (covet) nothing, then He can bless you with all things to possess: “Blessed are the poor, for theirs (to possess) is the Kingdom of God (all His riches, which are under His rule)” (Luke 6:20). If we try to hold onto and control His blessing, as if it were ours, we shut ourselves off from it. Our surrender is the basis for our holiness and happiness, as it allows Him to take possession of us by His Spirit, who carries the blessing, so we then possess His blessedness. Then He manifests His blessings through us in our life, as we walk with God and obey Him.
