“God, I Can’t Hear You”

**INTRODUCTION

Welcome to "Key to the Kingdom." My name is Bret McCasland. I am quite sure you would agree with the following statement: There are lots of unanswered questions in life! And we know that, don't we? Things happen we cannot explain; both good and bad. And that's the way life is. We never know what will happen from one day to the next, and that is why we are called to live our life in faith. We trust the Lord to provide for us in just the right way and at just the right time. The answers to the questions of life may or may not come, but we continue to walk with the Lord, knowing He knows what is best. In our lesson today, on “Key to the Kingdom,” we will think about what the Apostle John was able to see when he looked into the throne room of God. It was an amazing experience, one he could hardly describe. In the Book of Revelation, he reveals the essence of what he saw. His words inspire us to keep living out our faith in the midst of life's unanswered questions and prayers. I hope you will join us for the next few minutes as we think about how we can keep moving ahead when we don't receive the answers to the questions we ask. I encourage you now to open up your Bible as we begin to study together.

**LESSON

There is a common thought among some people that goes something like this: When I get to heaven, I've got a number of questions I'm going to ask God. Perhaps we have heard that before. Maybe we have even made that statement, ourselves. And that seems to happen when we go through hard times. We say that when we experience the sudden loss of a loved one. We say that when one of our loved ones is diagnosed with a terminal illness, or when we perhaps experience the unfair way in which we were relieved from a job. You know, some become upset when things don't go the way we want them to go. And when we experience the pain and the loss of this world, we indeed want some answers to the questions that begin with the word ‘why’. And what we seem to forget is that God does not have to answer our ‘why’ questions. God never promises life will be fair or that it will turn out the way we want it to turn out. And yes, we may have lots of questions, but the Lord does not have to give us an answer. We find that in Scripture with the story of Job. He had all kinds of questions to ask the Lord in regards to the pain and the suffering in his life. And yet God turned the tables on Job and He asked him a number of questions to which Job had no answer. The Lord has His reasons as to why He answers some of our questions or why He does not. In fact, we may not even want to know the answer if it were to be given to us. That seems to be what is happening in Revelation chapter 4 and in chapter 5. While living on the island of Patmos, the Apostle John was allowed to see a vision into the Throne Room of God. And by the Spirit of God, John is given a firsthand witness to the worship and to the praise of God and His son, Jesus Christ. A great door in the sky is opened up and John hears the praise that is coming forth from those who are assembled in that room. We read this in Revelation 4, verse 9: <"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come."> Claps of thunder and flashes of lightning fill that room, and there is a continual worship of the Lord as the people cast their crowns before Him. Oh, it is an amazing scene, and it is too great for any of us to fully comprehend. But this is what happens next, as we read from Scripture; Revelation 5, beginning with verse 1: <Then I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne.> John is focused on a scroll that is in the right hand of the One who is sitting at the right hand of the throne of God, and there is no one to open that scroll. There's no one there to break the seals. And even the angel wonders who is worthy to do such a thing. And yet there is no one. And that is significant because the scroll seems to represent the prayers, the unanswered prayers of all of the saints, according to verse 9. To every question there is an answer, but no one is worthy to open the scroll to get it. The scroll represents the substance of history. Some might even suggest the scroll represents the entire plan and purpose of God. It is the mind of God. And yet, at the same time, we know that no one is able to fully understand the mind of God. And yet that scroll contains the unanswered prayers, the unanswered questions of life. It contains the answer to every heartache and to every death, to every accident, to every unanswered prayer. And we notice that John cannot handle that. And so he begins to weep over and over again. He weeps loudly because no one is found worthy to open the scroll. And he needs some answers, as does everybody else. Every question since the beginning of time remains unanswered, and the scroll remains unopened. But then the Lamb, as we read, begins to open the seals and to reveal the judgment upon the earth in chapter 6. And for one whole chapter, in chapter 6, yes 6, He opened six of the seven seals, and then in chapter 8, the Lamb opens the seventh seal, the final seal. And when He does, there is silence in heaven. Perhaps we have been there before. When tragic and unexpected things happen, we have no answer to give. When we are asked to explain why certain things happen as they do, words are hard to find. The divorces or the sicknesses, the abuse and the pain of living in this broken world, we've all been there before. Perhaps some of us are even there now. And the answers don't come. We can't hear from heaven and God is silent. None of us are strangers to the troubles of life. But we long for God to tell us something, don't we? We long for an answer. We wonder if we will ever hear from heaven. Some of us may not even know how to handle what's happening in our life right now. We've got some big issues we have to deal with on a regular basis. Maybe we are dealing with some significant health problems, or our elderly parents are trying to navigate the transitions of life. Maybe our children are not doing well in school. Maybe we have problems with our feet and it's difficult to walk. And maybe there's one of our loved ones who's dealing with an addiction problem, and he's headed down a slippery slope, and we don't know what to do to help him. And so what do we do? How do we keep moving ahead from one day to the next? Or, do we just quit? Do we just give up on God? Do we believe He does not care about what is going on in our life? In other words, how do we handle the silence of heaven? Well, as we read, one of the elders told John this, in chapter 5 verse 5: <“Do not weep! See, (or behold) the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”> You know, it's interesting, the elder, there in chapter 5 verse 5, tells him, stop crying; don't forget how powerful the Lord really is. And I wonder sometimes if we forget that. We forget how powerful our Lord really is in our life. He is more powerful than the heavenly host of angels. He is at the beginning when the Lord created the universe, and now Jesus even upholds it by His Word of power. Well, the elder tells him an answer has been found. There is One who is worthy. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the One who has conquered death. He is powerful. Yes, the Lord is more powerful than any force, whether seen or unseen. He is powerful enough to sustain us in our times of greatest need. He is powerful enough to answer our questions, whether we realize it or not. And the Lord is more than worthy to receive our praise. In this heavenly vision of the Throne Room of God, John is focused on the unanswered prayers of the saints, and one of the elders redirects his attention to Jesus. He redirects his attention to the Lion in the room, and it was the powerful Lord, himself. On that stormy night when the disciples were in the boat, Jesus came to them walking on the water. He called out for Peter to get out of the boat and walk toward Him, and Peter was excited to do that. He got out of the boat. He began to walk to the Lord, but then he took his eyes off of the Lord and he began to see the waves of water that were splashing into the boat and all around him, and the howling of the wind scared him. And he began to look down and see all of that, and as he did, he almost lost his life. Sometimes that's the way we are. We focus on all of the problems and all the winds and the storms that seem to be surrounding us, and we take our eyes off of Jesus. Oh, in the midst of the crises of life and during the deafening silence of heaven, surrounded by all of the unanswered questions of life, which haunt us, we can never take our eyes off of Jesus. In fact, if we are crisis-centered instead of Christ-centered, we will get lost in the storm. Well, going back to the text, here in Revelation chapter 5, John sees the Lion of the tribe of Judah, in verse 5, but then he sees a Lamb, in verse 6, and the Lamb is standing there as if it had been slain. No doubt a reference to Jesus, the One who was slain, the One who was killed on our behalf when He died upon the cross. And He is standing there, and John sees that. And so we notice that Jesus, it seems, goes from being a Lion to a Lamb. And so what's the difference? Why the two different descriptions? Well, in the Lion, John sees One who is powerful and full of loyalty. He is like that courageous king of the jungle, full of majestic splendor. He's the Lion. But then, as the Lamb, Jesus represents one who is submissive to the Ultimate Shepherd. He is meek, He is gentle. He is full of compassion for those who have surrendered their lives to Him in order to follow Him. So for John, Jesus was more than sufficient to open the scroll. He was more than enough for everyone to keep their eyes focused on Him. When we think about that throne room scene of heaven, and Jesus is there, and the Father and the great Throne, what do we envision? It’s interesting, in Scripture there's only three times in heaven where Jesus is described as himself, as the Lamb or whoever, and He is standing at the right hand instead of sitting at the right hand. I believe there is some significance in there. The first time we see it is in Acts chapter 7. A man named Stephen, who was a disciple and follower of Jesus Christ, stood before a great number of Jews, and he began to retell their stories of the past. And he talks about that and he ends the story with what Jesus had come to do, to offer His life as a sacrifice for all people. And he spoke those words with the face of an angel. After he finished, this crowd of angry Jews wanted to take his life. And as they were doing that, Stephen looked up into heaven and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand, as if to welcome him and to show a sign of approval and affirmation. A second time, when we read about Jesus standing, is in Revelation chapter 14, verse 1. There we find the 144,000 standing there at the entrance to heaven, representing those who have not turned their back upon the Lord, and Jesus standing up as if to welcome them. And then the final one is found here in Revelation chapter 5. And so, in honor of Stephen's defense and death, Jesus stands up. In honor of all of those who have not turned their back upon Him, Jesus stands up. And now, here in Revelation 5, Jesus stands up as He prepares to open the scroll. In other words, when something big is about to happen, Jesus stands up. And as He stands, we notice, all of heaven falls down and worships Him. All eyes are up on the Lamb who is before them. Their full attention is given to the One who has been seated at the right hand of the Father, but now He is standing. And as they do, they begin to sing a new song. Listen to the words of the song in chapter 5, beginning with verse 9: <“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood You purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”> You know, sometimes I wonder if that is the song we too will sing when we see the Lord and enter into that heavenly throne room. You know, as John shares his vision of this throne room in heaven, we see One who is worthy of our full attention. We see One who died upon the cross. We see the Lamb standing up on our behalf, as we run the race that is set before us. We see Jesus, in all of His splendor, in all of His glory, the One who gave His life for us; who, yet at the same time, is meek and gentle and who supplies what we need, and also at the same time, He is powerful enough to rule the world. Yes, in the Lion of the tribe of Judah we see One who sustains us in our times of trouble. We see the One who never leaves us in times of our deepest need. John also reminds us the powerful Lamb, or the powerful Lion and the gentle Lamb can answer all of the questions of life. He may or He may not, but He knows the answer. He knows what is best. And with that, we can know that all is well and He is in control, whether we ever hear from heaven or not. You know, our role is then, in light of that, is, to do as John was told to do: "Behold, the Lamb!" We are to see Jesus, and never take our eyes off of Him. We are to see and to know Jesus as the Lion of Judah and as the Lamb of God. And when we do, we know that all is sufficient. Even when we cannot hear from God, and even when all of heaven seems to be silent, Jesus is the One who still has the answers to the questions we long to ask. Jesus is with us in the storms of life, and when we have our eyes focused completely upon Him, we can stand steadfast. We're not going to be moved by the storms that come into our life from time to time. In John chapter 12, Jesus made His triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem. Many people were surrounding Him. The events of the next five days would soon unfold and He would be crucified upon the cross. As all of those things were taking place, there were a group of Gentile men who came to visit with Jesus. They had heard about the miracles He had done. They had perhaps heard about some of His teaching, yet they had not seen Jesus. And so they ask, in verse 21, one of His followers by the name of Philip, “We want to see Jesus.” Philip took them to Andrew, and together they took the men to see Jesus. We don't know what happened next, but they wanted to see for themselves the Lamb of God. They wanted to perhaps sit down and visit with Him and ask questions and know more about the ministry that He had. And sometimes that's the way it is with us. We want to see Jesus, and it's important that we do. We keep our eyes focused upon Him. And when life gets hard and to the point you want to give up, keep your eyes on Jesus. When the answers don't come, look to the author and to the finisher of your faith. When no counselor has the right words to say or the advice to give, then, pay closer attention to the One who died for you, lest you drift away from Him. Oh, there are lots of confusing things that go on in our world, and sometimes we receive an answer as to why and sometimes we don't. And that's just the way life is, isn't it? We've all been there before. And again, perhaps we are still there now. But when our prayers go unanswered, we keep our eyes on Jesus. When the fears of this life overwhelm us, we look to our Savior. When the uncertainties of this world confuse us, then we see the One who died for us. We may or we may not know the answers to the questions we ask here upon this earth. And we may or we may not know those answers, even when we stand before the great God of this universe. But in the midst of it all, we keep looking to Jesus Christ. We may hear from heaven. We may hear from the One who is seated at the right hand of the Father. And just perhaps there's coming a time when that Lamb will stand up on our behalf, as He encourages and inspires us to keep running our race so that someday we can be with Him for all eternity. And when that happens, the unanswered questions of life really begin to fade away. I hope that you will keep your eyes on Jesus Christ, today.

**VIDEO CLIP

Have you ever had someone ask you to repeat what you have just said, and you have to repeat it over and over again because it seems they have a loss of hearing? That happens sometimes, doesn't it? And on occasion, we may even need to go to somewhat of a hearing doctor, an audiologist, in an office like this, to have our ears checked, perhaps even to get some hearing aids. And that's a problem. We struggle with that, not being able to hear. And sometimes it seems that's the way it is when we offer our prayers to God. He doesn't seem to hear the prayers we offer and we cannot get a response from the Lord. We wonder if He needs some hearing aids. And yet, we know that God hears our prayers. We know that He answers them. They may not be answered the way we want them to be answered, but He hears and He answers. At times, however, we just can't hear from God. The silence of heaven is deafening. In the midst of not being able to hear from God, and to get the answers that we really want, we need to keep our eyes focused on Jesus. Even when the answers don't come, even when we don't know what's going to happen and why, or when; we keep looking to Jesus. We keep our eyes focused on the One who sits at the right hand of the Father. He sees and He knows, and He has all of the answers to the questions of life. And there may be a time when we get the answers that we long for, and there may be times when we don't; but whatever it is, we never take our eyes off of Jesus Christ. We focus on Him, and we can know that when we do, all is well.

**CONCLUSION

Thank you for joining us today on "Key to the Kingdom." In the midst of the uncertainties of life, there is nothing better we can do than to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. I trust that is what you are doing, even when the answers to your questions and prayers never come. This message is available on our website. If you would like to view or to hear it again, it can be found at keytothekingdom.com. Other messages are there as well, and there is never any cost to download any of them in several different formats. I hope you will find those that might be of interest to you. While you are on the website, please take a look at some of the other teaching materials and video messages which might encourage you in your walk with the Lord. There are other ways to stay connected to this media ministry; a free app is available to download onto your smart phone, weekly posts are made on Facebook® every Sunday night, and you can also find us on Roku® television. Once again, let me say thank you for joining us for today's broadcast, and I hope you will tune in again next time as we continue to study the Bible on "Key to the Kingdom."