Topical Sermon on Various Scriptures
by Maylan Schurch
8/9/2025
©2025 by Maylan Schurch
(To watch this entire worship service, click the link just below:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBwmysHHjjE
Please open your Bibles to Revelation 13.
This Sabbath I’m temporarily stepping away from my usual preaching plan. Normally, I preach on one of the passages found in our chronological Bible reading plan, which your bulletin suggests that you follow.
(And by the way, this sermon didn’t easily fit into one which uses crisp, parallel sermon points. But I think there is still lots to take notes on, if you like taking notes.)
The reason I didn’t follow the usual chronological plan this week is because of something really interesting that happened to Shelley and me this past Sunday.
Let me set the stage a bit. Near the cul-de-sac where we live is a large community park. A long sidewalk curves around the edge of that park. Along the sidewalk, on the grass side, is a line of large rocks, some of them three or 4 feet long. They were likely put there so that nobody could drive a car over into the park and race around chewing up the grass with their tires.
This past Sunday morning Shelley and I had come out of our cul-de-sac and were walking along the sidewalk by that park, passing those rocks as we strolled. Up ahead we saw a neighbor walking toward us. He’s never seemed the type who likes to hobnob with people on his walk. In fact, I’ve never had a long conversation with him beyond basically a “Good morning.” This morning, as usual, he was wearing white earbuds, probably listening to something on his phone.
So we passed each other, and I cheerfully greeted him by his name. He gave us a genial “Hi,” and kept on going. Shelley and I assumed he was on the last part of his walk, and was heading home.
But suddenly, I heard his voice behind me. I didn’t catch what he was saying, so we both turned back toward him. He had spoken to us, and he was pointing to one of those large rocks.
Here’s a photo of that rock.
Shelley and I looked at the rock, and as we did, our neighbor said, “Doesn’t this sort of look like a lamb?”
Shelley said that she could spot a resemblance, but I kept quiet, because I didn’t. I couldn’t see the lamb. I thought to myself, “What am I missing? Our neighbor seems to be a practical, no-nonsense person who doesn’t see mystical visions. But he can see a lamb, and I can’t.”
He pointed to that raised portion of the rock to the left. He said, “Isn’t that kind of like the head? And one of his legs is down here.” Again, I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t see what he was seeing.
He mused thoughtfully, “I wonder if they carve these rocks at all.” Then he raised his hand in farewell and told us to have a good day, and we went our opposite directions.
Well, I’m going to keep you in suspense about that rock. Later on, just before I get to the end of the sermon, we’ll come back to it, and I’ll show you a couple of more photos of it.
That event has sort of haunted me this week. My neighbor has never seemed to me someone who might study rocks and see images in them. Even more surprisingly, he hasn’t seemed the kind of person who would get the attention of relative strangers and ask them if they saw the same thing.
But I thought to myself, “You know, this is basically what more people need these days. They need to see the Lamb, the Lamb with the capital L.”
So today, before I eventually make my way back to that rock, I’m going to give us a little interview tour in the Bible, and talk to some folks who actually did see the capital-L Lamb.
Our first interview happens here in Revelation 13. This is the book also known as the “Revelation of Jesus Christ,” but the man who wrote it down was one of Jesus’ closest friends, the disciple John.
Revelation 13 begins by talking about a power which is totally opposite in every way from the Lamb of God. It’s a great, sinister beast, and a lot of people are worshiping it. And as we read on through the first part of the chapter, we see that a horrifying majority of the planet’s inhabitants have turned their worship over to this monster.
But some haven’t. But start with verse eight.
Revelation 13:8 [NKJV]: All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
So John, beloved disciple and writer of the book of Revelation, can you see the Lamb? And if so, what do you see?
If John could actually speak personally to us, right here this morning, he might say, “Of course I can see the Lamb. And what I see is a Lamb who was doomed to death before the world was even founded, slain from the foundation of the world. And I also see that this Lamb has a book with names written in it. And those whose names are written in that book have life.”
Right here in my pocket I have what I consider an important little book. Of course, it’s not nearly as important as the book verse 8 talks about. But when Shelley I come back home after being out for a while, we will check our landline voicemail, and if there’s a message, I will automatically grab this notebook from my pocket. And if the person wants me to call them back, I will write their number in this notebook. And because I write it down, and because I have this notebook with me all the time, I am able to call that person whenever I want to.
Have you ever wondered why the Lord used the metaphor of a book to write down names in? Couldn’t He have just promised to keep them in His mind? Well, the Bible talks about several kinds of books – the book of life, and the book where sins are recorded and then blotted out if the sinner seeks forgiveness.
I think one reason this verse talks about a book is that once something is written down in the book, it stays there until someone erases it or blots it out. It’s a bit of evidence, maybe even reassurance. Maybe it’s like getting your name on a wait list at a restaurant.
So what do I do, now that I’ve seen the Lamb through the eyes of the disciple John, and I’ve seen that He owns a very important book?
Well, I need to say, “Jesus, Lamb of God, I want to follow you faithfully.” If you look down in the first verse of the next chapter, Revelation 14, you see that the Lamb is standing in the company of 144,000 people. This is most likely a symbolic number which stands for people who have given their hearts to Jesus, and who want to follow Him wherever He goes.
Now we’re going to go backwards in the Bible and have a brief interview with another man named John. This man was called John the Baptist. Turn back to the first chapter of John (who is the same author as the one who wrote Revelation.) Let’s turn to the gospel of John, chapter 1.
The year is about 27 A.D. John the Baptist – who is actually Jesus’ cousin – has been preaching about repentance and baptism, and has been preparing the way for Jesus’ arrival.
Naturally the religious leaders are curious about who this person is, so they send some priests and Levites to check him out.
John 1:22 – 27: Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”
And the very next day, the one John has been talking about shows up:
Verse 29: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
So, here’s our next interview. John the Baptist, can you see the Lamb? “I certainly can,” he replies.
And when you look at the Lamb, what do you see?
He says, “I see the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. And the baptismal services I am holding in the Jordan River symbolize how the Lamb can wash away our sins.”
Many years ago when Shelley and I pastored the Shoreline Adventist church in North Seattle, we got acquainted with a woman named Betty. Betty stayed in an assisted living facility up in Everett, but she was able to faithfully attend Shoreline, because she was given many a ride by kindly church members.
As I remember, Betty attended an evangelistic series we held, and she fell happily in love with Jesus. Then she began to ask if she could be baptized.
This was definitely going to be a challenge. For one thing, the Shoreline church – which used to be a Free Methodist Church – had no baptistery at that point.
The other challenge was that Betty was severely disabled. Her mind was sharp, and she devoured all the exciting news she could about Jesus, but she could not walk. She had to be wheeled around in a wheelchair.
I remember mentioning to Betty that she could join the church on profession of faith, since being baptized in water was going to be a challenge. But Betty begged to be baptized the way Jesus had been baptized.
So, we made an arrangement with the Everett Adventist church to have the baptism in their sanctuary. They did have a built-in baptistery, but when I saw it, I was horrified. It was doable for a person who wasn’t disabled, but to get up into that baptistery, you had to climb a long, narrow, winding flight of stairs. And when you got to the top of those stairs, you had to balance there before stepping down into the pool.
But Betty insisted on being baptized. So, we invited our Shoreline members to come up to the Everett church – I think it was a Sabbath afternoon. We had some ladies take Betty and get her into her baptismal robe, and a couple of strong deacons carried her up those steep steps, and another deacon and I stood down in the baptismal pool waiting for her, and here came Betty.
We gently lifted her down into the water, and I said, “I now baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
And we baptized Betty. And she was overjoyed. I have never ever met someone who had all the reasons in the world to skip the step of baptism, but who firmly insisted on following Jesus all the way.
So here stands John, his camel’s hair coat probably still wet from Jordan River water, gazing at the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
So what do I do now? Well, I also need to “behold the Lamb,” as John commanded his hearers to. I need to follow where Jesus leads. I need to give my sins to Him because if I confess my sins, He is faithful and just to forgive me my sins, and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.
“Beholding” Him is looking at who He really is – a God who became human to come close and invite us to let Him rescue us from our sins and ourselves.
Now let’s go back to a chapter we looked at last week, Isaiah 53. The prophet Isaiah was someone who also was able to see the Lamb, and he wrote so eloquently about Him. We won’t spend a lot of time here because we covered it very thoroughly a week ago, but I do want to get Isaiah’s answer to our question.
Isaiah 53:6 – 7: All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
There was one thing I found really interesting when I re-read these verses for this sermon. It had never struck me to connect the idea that “we” are described as sheep, and Jesus is described as a lamb. Jesus came to be one of us – truly human as well as truly divine – so that He could rescue us right where we were.
So, Isaiah – can you see the Lamb? “Yes,” Isaiah might answer if he could speak to us today.
And Isaiah, what do you see?
“I see that we ourselves are sheep – wandering sheep. Jesus, the Lamb, was able to take away the sins of the world because He went humbly and submissively to the death that paid for our sins.”
So what should I do this morning, now that I’ve been reminded of this? I need to remember that, like a sheep, I can easily wander away. But I need to remember to hurry back to the care of the Good Shepherd.
I mentioned to you that we would come back and take another look at that rock where our neighbor so clearly saw a lamb last Sunday.
While Shelley and I were on that walk, I was thinking about how it could be that our neighbor could see a lamb so clearly when I definitely could not.
And then I thought to myself, “You know, what I really need to do, on the way back home from our walk, is to walk toward that rock from the direction he was walking toward it when he saw it.”
And sure enough, that’s what it took. Here’s what my neighbor saw:
Now it’s easier for me to see a lamb. It’s like the lamb is lying on the rock, facing away from me, and there’s even a hint of a tail on the end toward us.
And here’s another photo from the same direction. And the tail is even clearer.
You see, our neighbor was in the best position possible to see the figure of that lamb. The light was right, and the angle was right. And maybe that’s something else we should pray about. Maybe our Shoreline member Betty, with all her disabilities, was in an excellent position to view the beauties of the Savior she had come to love.
Maybe we should pray, “Lord, draw me to You. I know that You’re standing outside the door of my heart. Please give me the strength to turn the handle, open that door, and completely welcome You in. Position me to see You. Thank You for becoming the Lamb of God.”