Our Lord Jesus is the ‘worthy’ One. He is fitted for the honour; He is deserving, the title corresponds to Him. This crown fits my Saviour comfortably. He alone is worthy.
In the preceding chapter 4 , the Lord is declared to be worthy of glory, honour and power’ for His marvellous creation. ‘ You have created all things, and for Your glory and pleasure they were created.’( v14 ) In the next chapter His perfect wothiness is due to His redemption, This is amazing; for the twin truths of Creation and redemption are viciously attacked by the liberal ‘theologians’ ( so called ); and in most Universities and secondary schools the truth of ‘Intelligent Design creation ‘ has been pounded mercifully under the blind devotion to humanistic evolution. .
God’s Word answers the thinking of our day. Satan also has not changed his cruel assault upon God and God’s image and likeness, man. These truths in the revelation are constant, for the fallen creation with man’s rebellion in the garden warranted a Redeemer, whose virtue is shown in this fifth chapter of the revelation.
Heaven faced a crisis! ‘John saw in the right hand of Him, who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and loose the seals?’
There was no apparent solution, for ‘ No one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.’ Heaven seemed paralysed, for no person ( it seemed ) met God’s requirements, to open this valuable document.
John wept at the impasse. ( v4 ) ‘ for ‘I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open or read the scroll, or to look at it. ‘ Unchecked tears flowed from this 90 year-old prisoner on Patmos, only to be quelled in the later promise, ‘that in heaven there would be no more tears.’ , for ‘God will wipe away all tears from their eyes.’ ( 21:4 )
One of the elders around the throne of heaven found a solution, ‘ Do not weep.’ One of the royal line of Judah was qualified , for he said, ‘ Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.’ (v5) Jesus Christ, was of the line of Judah, from which His earthly virgin mother had descended. Mary had ‘blue blood’. The Son of God had the ‘blood of God’ ( acts )The lion is the king of the animal world, expressing that our Lord Jesus had lion-like, conquered satan in His calvary death – and His glorious resurrection.
Christ was King, just one of His attributes as Messiah, meaning Prophet, Priest and King. There was a way through, which Scripture supports: The Lord said ‘ I also overcame and am set down with My father on His throne,’ ( Rev 3:21) ; and in Isaiah 53:12 we read, ‘I divide Him a portion with the great.’ His full title is ‘King of Kings.’
John had a greater surprise as he looked into heaven. ‘ ‘Behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures ( the cherubims ), And in the midst of the elders ( 12 each from Old and New Testaments ) stood a Lamb as t had been slain.’ ( v5 ) No lion roamed unchallenged, but a Lamb ( a little lamb as some commentators have it ) which had been slain. God teaches powerful truth , the reverse of physical wisdom, for we naturally chose the powerful, the obvious conqueror. God chose His holy Son as the Lamb slain on calvary’s cross to substitute for us in our sin and degradation.
Did John see again the wounds which our Lord Jesus suffered on the cross, for John had witnessed His sufferings, as our Lord had commended Mary to him for care and provision of a home for her. ‘ As it had been slain’ suggests that John saw the nail prints in His hands and feet, His forehead punctured, His back torn with the scourge, His side incised with the Roman spear plus the scars of His ‘bearing our sins in His body on the tree’, and being made sin for us’ as the marks of the Lamb slain. Remember Jesus Christ is the MAN in the glory, Who once ‘was wounded for our transgressions and was bruised for our iniquities’, Who was hung on a savage cross.
Sixty years after John had gazed at the suffering Saviour, He saw the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I will ask him when I meet him in heaven what he thought in that unforgettable scene.
The Lamb had other features, for ‘He had seven horns, seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.; seven is the number of perfection in God’s creation. Seven days in each week, which some nations have varied but have failed to improve. God gave seven colours in the rainbow or spectrum, which combine, producing perfect white light. Seven notes in music merge into the next octave.
The horns reveal His power, for He said, ‘All power is given to me in heaven and earth.’ His seven-fold eyes, which are the ‘spirits of God’ is clearly shown in Isaiah 11:2, ‘The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of wisdom and understanding,, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the the fear of the Lord.’ Mark them in your Bible, the seven of them. He is omnivident, all-seeing. What a glimpse of the lamb!
Excited eyes focussed on the Lamb, ‘Who came and took the scroll out of the hand of Him ,Who sat on the throne.’ ( v7) Recall how young David, armed with his staff, a sling and five smooth stones courageously confronted the monster Goliath, and destroyed him. Recall our Lord’s first preaching in synagogue at Nazareth, when they rose up to throw our Lord over the precipice, how He walked through them.. The same Lord, as the Lamb slain, has seized the initiative at the throne of heaven. Praise be to our God for such a mighty Deliverer.
This study will be continued in the following.