Themes
Incarnation • Atonement • Obedience • Self-offering • Substitution • Cross as victory • Resurrection • Vindication • Union with God • New creation • New humanity • Sovereignty • Love • Divine suffering • Glory • Witness • Mission • Time and eternity
In the midst of the throne, the Lamb reigns—not in spite of His wounds, but because of them.
Scripture reading
John 1:14 Romans 8:3, 34 Hebrews 4:14–16, 8:1–2, 9:27–28. Revelation 5:6–12, 13:8
This call to worship1 centers us on Jesus—the Lamb who was slain and now stands. His wounded love became the true center of absolutely everything—certainly the center of our worship and the power for our witness.
Behold! The Lamb who was slain from the creation —slain from the creation!— of the world. God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And so the Word became flesh —became human flesh!— and made His dwelling among us. He appeared once for all to be a sin offering— to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And so, God condemned sin in the flesh— in the human person of Jesus Christ! And Christ was sacrificed to take away the sins of many. Christ Jesus is the one who died— more than that, who was raised! —who was raised!!— and who is now at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. We have a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne... and the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. And they sang a new song, singing: 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. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.
Prayer
Father in heaven, Your Lamb stepped into our existence, assumed our sinful condition, and victoriously healed it. Your Lamb slain, incomprehensibly so, from the foundation of the world. All of history revolves around this one axis. It reveals, Father, not something You had to decide to do, but who You forever have been and eternally will be. You are the God who loves. You are the God who gives. You are the God who suffers. Your Lamb is not passive; He is actively obedient. Your Lamb is not overpowered, but freely surrendering. Your Lamb is not merely dying for us, but dying as us; He drew us into the very act of His reconciling self-offering.. And then the resurrection— the unveiling of the victory accomplished on the cross, the Lamb victorious, the Lamb vindicated. The Lamb who was slain now stands— He lives! The Lamb’s victory is not over human enemies, but over sin, over death, over the powers that corrupt creation. The empty tomb is now the beginning of new creation. He is the beginning of a new humanity: humanity reconciled, humanity healed, humanity glorified in union with You. And now, Father, the Lamb victorious is the living center of our worship: In the midst of the throne, the Lamb reigns— not in spite of His wounds, but because of them. And we are now drawn into His life. We live to declare: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain...” In the name of Jesus Christ, the Lamb who has overcome, and in whose strength we go into the world as witnesses of the crucified and risen Lord, Amen
1
This call to worship was given to the small assembly of Christians that gathered at Pathway Church, Beaverdam, Michigan, on Sunday, April 20, 2025.