We Will Sing Bloody Songs Forever
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:06.000 | Every year I anticipate John Piper's message at the Passion Conference in early January.
00:00:12.000 | And this year in Atlanta he preached on Revelation chapter 13 in a message titled "The Beast,
00:00:16.280 | the Book, and the Beauty of the Lamb."
00:00:18.280 | It is worth listening to the entire message.
00:00:20.840 | But here's a clip from Revelation 13, 8 where Pastor John explains that the slaying of the
00:00:25.680 | Lamb of God was planned before the universe existed.
00:00:31.360 | Mind-boggling.
00:00:32.360 | Here's John Piper to explain.
00:00:35.840 | In verse 8 we have now arrived at our first point on the journey and our roadmap, namely
00:00:45.320 | in eternity past, and we see it in the phrase "before the foundation of the world."
00:00:51.440 | Are you with me?
00:00:52.680 | We are now before the foundation of the world.
00:00:56.960 | So let's read it again.
00:00:58.080 | What happened there?
00:00:59.840 | All who dwell on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before
00:01:08.240 | the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
00:01:18.860 | There is a book before the foundation of the world, and the book has a name.
00:01:25.680 | And the name of the book is the book of the life of the Lamb who was slain.
00:01:33.040 | Which means that in the mind of the author of this book, the Lamb is slain.
00:01:44.000 | It is as good as done, and the author of this book is God.
00:01:51.060 | The slaying of the Lamb of God was the plan of God before the universe.
00:01:57.260 | You with me?
00:01:58.260 | Is that in the verse?
00:02:01.380 | The slaying of the Lamb of God was the plan before the universe existed.
00:02:07.500 | The slaying of the Lamb of God was the plan before history existed.
00:02:12.760 | The slaying of the Lamb of God was the plan before sin existed.
00:02:22.480 | If Satan, together with Adam and Eve, thought when he brought sin into the world that he
00:02:32.700 | was wrecking God's plan, he's a fool.
00:02:39.240 | He didn't wreck it, he set it up.
00:02:45.200 | Because it was the plan that there be a slain Lamb before the foundation of the world.
00:02:57.520 | Now we're going to go back to verse 8, there's lots more there, but we're taking our first
00:03:02.960 | tour first, and now we're going to go to the end of history, into eternity future.
00:03:11.480 | We're going to go to chapter 5, verses 9 and 10, and see what they're singing about there.
00:03:20.440 | It's all over now, history's over.
00:03:24.080 | This little footnote called passion is over.
00:03:28.800 | And now we're going to listen to the song of heaven.
00:03:34.440 | And they sang a new song, "Worthy are you to take the scroll."
00:03:38.440 | Now why?
00:03:39.440 | Why would they say he's worthy?
00:03:41.360 | "Worthy are you to take the scroll, because you were slain."
00:03:49.600 | That's why we're going to sing.
00:03:51.760 | That's what we're going to say about the worth of the Lamb forever.
00:03:56.640 | You were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and tongue
00:04:02.280 | and people and nation, and have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they
00:04:08.400 | will reign on the earth.
00:04:10.560 | That's what we're going to sing.
00:04:11.560 | We're going to sing bloody songs forever.
00:04:16.520 | Because the center of everything, it is the central song of the universe, is the slain
00:04:23.320 | Lamb.
00:04:24.320 | It is the plan from eternity.
00:04:26.080 | It is the song for eternity.
00:04:29.280 | Yes, it is.
00:04:32.280 | Chapter 5, verse 12, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth
00:04:38.400 | and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing because he was slain."
00:04:44.240 | Or chapter 17, verse 10, "Great multitudes without number saying, 'Salvation belongs
00:04:50.460 | to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.'"
00:04:55.840 | So the slain Lamb is the song of the universe forever.
00:05:03.280 | That's what Revelation shows us in all of his strangeness.
00:05:08.320 | So in eternity past, the plan.
00:05:11.480 | A Lamb will be slain.
00:05:13.000 | In eternity future, a song.
00:05:15.320 | He was slain and he is infinitely worthy because of it.
00:05:19.640 | Amen.
00:05:20.640 | I love that clip.
00:05:21.640 | And you'll want to listen to the full message for yourself.
00:05:24.080 | It's titled, "The Beast, the Book, and the Beauty of the Lamb" on Revelation chapter
00:05:28.080 | 13, verses 1 to 10, preached on January 3rd at Passion 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia.
00:05:34.680 | The message, audio, and video can be found online at DesiringGod.org, of course.
00:05:39.160 | Well, when it comes to giving 10% of my income to a church, my tithe, can I split the money
00:05:45.640 | and give, say, 5% to my church and 5% to a non-profit Christian ministry?
00:05:51.160 | That is the question on the table tomorrow for Pastor John.
00:05:54.480 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.
00:05:55.480 | I'll see you then.
00:05:56.120 | [END]
00:05:58.120 | "The Beast, the Book, and the Beauty of the Lamb"
00:06:03.120 | [BLANK_AUDIO]