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   How delightful to contemplate the honors which encircle the Lamb in the midst of his Father's throne! After being here so long marred with grief and shame, how sweet to know that he has found a throne! After wandering an exile from heaven for more than thirty years for our revolt, and to seek through this wilderness that which was lost, we joy that he has found a home. After being so long unknown and neglected, we rejoice that he has found those who can honor his worth. After all the mockery of the judgment hall and the pretorium, we exult to hear the shout of all heaven in his praise. After the crown of thorns, we are enraptured to see him wear the diadem of the universe. After being cast out upon the wide world, not having where to lay his head, we triumph that a palace has received him. After depending for bread on the charity of his female followers, we are transported to see him the heir of all things and able in his turn to impart to others. After being so long a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,—after all the agonies of the garden and the cross,—we sing and shout for joy that he has found repose,—that he has found infinite and eternal delight in the glory of his Father and the salvation of his Church. Let him have his happiness and his honors. Amidst all the sufferings of life, it shall be our solace that the man of sorrows is happy,—that the despised Nazarene is honored at last. Of all the luxuries that ever feasted the soul, the sweetest is to see the Lamb that was slain in the midst of his Father's throne.

Excerpt from Sermon XXXII., "The Lamb in the Midst of His Father's Throne," found in Sermons by the Late Rev. Edward D. Griffin, D.D. to Which is Prefixed a Memoir of His Life by William B Sprague, D.D., Minister of the Second Presbyterian Congregation in Albany. Volume II. (New York: John S. Taylor, Brick Church Chapel, 1839), 477-478. Reprinted by Banner of Truth Trust (Edinburgh: 1987).  (HT for the text: http://books.google.com/books?id=pS0NAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false.)

Revelation 6:12  When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13  and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14  The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15  Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16  calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17  for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

John 3:36  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Romans 3:21  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22  the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25  whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Right now God is commanding you to repent and believe, so you might be saved from His just wrath by grace through faith in the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. One day the Lord Jesus Christ will return to judge the living and the dead, and if you have not believed in Him, you will not be hidden from His wrath –– His wrath will remain on you –– and you will not be able to stand before Him, and you will be cast off into eternal punishment and everlasting fire.

Acts 17:29  Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30  The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31  because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

32  Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33  So Paul went out from their midst. 34  But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.