Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. [1]
Trying to make literal sense out of apocalyptic imagery is difficult at best. Imagine trying to render a painting based on Revelation 5. You read about a lion that appears to be a 7-horned, 7-eyed lamb. The lamb is alive but clearly has been slaughtered. The slain-but-alive lamb takes a scroll from the right hand of God who cannot be seen (except for the right hand). The lamb breaks open seven seals on the scroll. There are 24 singers in white robes with crowns on their heads who all fall down while holding bowls of incense AND playing harps at the same time with (presumably) only two hands each. As John Calvin would say to the one attempting a literal paining of this scene, “Good luck with all that!”
For three chapters, Revelation is a fairly straight-forward letter encouraging and exhorting seven congregations in Roman Asia at the close of the 1st century A.D. during a time of government oppression. Beginning with chapter 4, however, things start to get complicated and bible teachers differ dramatically on the meaning of the text. My father told the story of an Episcopal priest who told him not to bother reading Revelation because “John was senile when he wrote that.” Apocalyptic literature is full of strange sights, sounds, and colors intended to have meaning beyond the comprehension of mere human perception in our upside-down world. That’s why attempts at literal drawings of scenes from chapters 4 through 22 always fall short.
UNWORTHY CHILDREN OF ADAM
The truth is that Revelation is a letter, or book if you like, about a lion (dressed as a lamb), a dragon, and an open door.[2] We passed through the open door in chapter 4. Today we meet the lion. Later, we meet the dragon in chapter 12 and learn he is a picture of “that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world….”[3] When we pass through the open door and spend some time with John’s visions, we learn (spoiler alert!) Jesus the Lion of Judah wins; he defeats the dragon. In fact, chapter 5 shows us the dragon is already defeated so that chapters 6 through 22 are a description of a mopping-up operation in a war that ended over 2,000 years ago.
John’s eyes move from the worship of the one seated on his heavenly throne to an object the Seated One is holding in his right hand. “For a Jew, mentioning the name of God was forbidden, especially in connection with God’s dwelling place, his throne…. So John writes about the one sitting on the heavenly throne and his right hand, which symbolizes divine power and authority.”[4] The vision of a divine revelation of judgment sealed in a scroll comes from Daniel 12 and Isaiah 29. The mighty angel as God’s spokesman comes from Daniel 4:13-14.
What’s interesting is there is no place in Revelation where any of the writing on the scroll is directly quoted. And yet, we sense that the whole book of Revelation and God’s plan for the ages depend on what is written in the scroll and on its seals being broken open. Not only is the scroll an allusion to Daniel and Isaiah, it is described as a Roman last will and testament that is sealed by each of the required seven witnesses’ personal seals, has writing on the outside summarizing its contents, can only be opened by on the death of the testator, and must be opened by a trustworthy executor to put the inheritance into effect.[5]
“The scroll with its seals is evidence of what God planned for the salvation of his people. This plan is a foreordained mystery, according to Paul, and is revealed in the fullness of time (Eph. 1:9–11; 3:9–11). Peter also speaks of this mystery of salvation through Christ and adds that angels long to look into it (1 Pet. 1:10–12). God’s plan of salvation is the coming of his kingdom to contest Satan’s rule and to proclaim God as “the Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come” to establish his kingdom.”[6] It is God’s plan to rejoin heaven and earth.
So, the scroll suggests both judgment on unbelievers and inheritance for the saints of God, God’s covenantal plan for the universe and for his people struggling in a hostile environment that is nothing like the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve were to plant the human race in innocence and live face-to-face with God in an eternal earthly garden-temple. How will God restore his promises of land, seed, and blessing if the scroll cannot be opened? No mighty angel is worthy to open it. No person on earth is worthy to open it. None of the 24 elders, even dressed in Christ’s imputed righteousness and declared to be overcomers by their victory crowns, is worthy to reveal God plan for the restoration of all things.
John sees the effect of the curse of sin upon all creation in the fact that no creature is worthy to open the scroll. He contemplates a universe without Messiah, a creation without a mediator between God and man, an oppressed church without an inheritance, a covenant of salvation unfulfilled. John is experiencing Adam’s hopelessness at the moment he ate the forbidden fruit and his eyes were opened to all his rebellion had destroyed. Unworthiness means no hope for righteousness or the restoration of heaven to earth. “…I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.”[7]
John weeps. His weeping underlines one of the chief differences between apostolic biblical Christianity and modern Western Christianity. He weeps because he knows there will be no salvation and no vindication unless someone can fulfill God’s promises. John is experiencing what Isaiah sang:
“But we are all like an unclean thing, /And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags….”[8]
Not even the “the spirits of the righteous made perfect,”[9] as St Author calls them in Hebrews 12:23, are worthy to execute God’s great plan of judgment and restoration. No one can restore heaven to earth since Adam tore them apart at the dawn of time if there is no Promised Seed.
THE LION
But John has missed something in this heavenly scene: 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” [10] This is what elders are supposed to do. They are supposed to point us to the fulfillment of our greatest need, the Lion. When Jacob/Israel blessed his sons, he singled out Judah as the line from whom the Promised Seed would come. “Judah is a lion’s cub…. 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah …and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” [11] The elder calls Jesus “the root of David,” which goes back to the prophets’ saying that the Messiah will come up from the stump of Jesse and this root or branch of David will rule the peoples (Isa. 11:1, 10; Jer. 23:5; 33:15; Zech. 3:8).
So, John begins to look for a lion. He looks among the 24 elders. He looks among the angelic host. He is expecting to see something or someone powerful and majestic. Instead, he sees a slaughtered lamb alive and standing. And John is reminded that in God’s upside-down economy the lamb is the lion. The sufferer is the victorious overcomer. The worthiness required to fulfill God’s covenant promises is found in the willing sacrifice of the slaughtered lamb in place of Adam and his God-hating children. This scene recalls Isaac and Abraham ascending the mountain upon which Israel’s temple would one day stand, the same mount upon which Christ would be crucified. Isaac asked his father, “where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”[12] And Abraham answered with prophetic vision, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”[13]
Indeed, that day came when the last great Old Testament prophet stood among God’s people crying out for them to repent. John the Baptizer saw on earth what John the Revelator sees in eternity, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world![14] Notice the Lamb is standing in the midst of the throne and the elders. His place indicates he is mediating between the Ancient of Days and the redeemed.
And the bloody Lamb comes and takes the scroll. He has seven horns symbolizing the fullness of his power (cf. Deut. 33:17; 1 Kgs. 22:11; Ps. 89:17; Dan. 7:7–8:24) as the Lion of Judah and the root of David.[15] He is all-powerful because he not only stands but lives as a slaughtered Lamb (the verb suggests a past action with an abiding condition). He is all-knowing through the seven-fold work of the Holy Spirit he sent out into all the earth.[16] It is through the Spirit that the prayers for vindication (6:9-11) offered by the persecuted saints on earth rise like incense to heaven’s throne room.
The great Triune God of Heaven and Earth exists outside of time. He IS eternity. So, this vision John sees is an unfolding of redemption reaching back into eternity past and forward into eternity future with things that have taken place since Adam fell (5:1-4), since the young boy John first met Jesus in Galilee, since the Lion-Lamb was slaughtered on Calvary (5:5), rose again and ascended into heaven (5:6-12). And the scene also pictures the future worship of the lamb by all creation at the consummation of history and into eternity future (5:13). This is the eternal Kingdom breaking into earthly time and space as the covenant of redemption is unrolled in heaven.
Because the eternal is breaking into the temporal, something new happens. The Old Testament prophecies of the conquering Messiah’s final victory and rule are only achieved by his suffering and death on a cross. That’s why there is both a powerful conquering Lion and a slaughtered-but-living Lamb in the same person. So too, his people are slaughtered (6:9; 18:24; Ps. 44:22). Paul wrote,
36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are super-conquerors through him who loved us.[17]
This theology of cross before glory is new because it is only fully realized in the temporal earthly work of Jesus. The leaders of Israel scoffed at the Lamb. Rome scoffed at the Lamb. Satan scoffed at the Lamb. But the Lamb reveals himself to be the Lion. So, this revelation demands a new song.
The elders burst into song:
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.” [18]
Slaughter of the King is the very thing that makes his priestly kingdom. Death brings life. Loss brings victory. Suffering brings glory that reigns on the earth. Notice: the suffering IS the reigning. That is reflected in the immediate link between the prayers of the saints (8b) with this new song. So, God’s people sing on earth in the midst of slaughter and suffering because they already reign with the Lamb in heaven.
In the OT a “new song” is always an expression of praise for God’s victory over the enemy, sometimes including thanksgiving for God’s work of creation (4:11). In this case, the 24 elders’ “new song” celebrates the defeat of the powers of evil and sin and the beginning of the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). Jewish writings related the “new songs” of the OT with the coming of the Messianic age. [19] John’s vision is the culmination of the Messianic age as a new Kingdom breaking into the time and space of the sin-cursed world.
To the suffering saints on earth, particularly those in Roman Asia starved out of the marketplace and burned at the sake in the theaters who certainly don’t FEEL like they are reigning or overcoming, there is the picture of an innumerable army of angels singing with the redeemed elders:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”[20]
The Lion-Lamb has been called the Root of David, but this song comes straight out of David’s prayer to YHWY in 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 when the Israelites gave offerings to build the temple. It associates the Lion-Lamb not only with YHWH and King David, it makes him the new and true temple as the eternal meeting place between God and man – the One who stands between the throne and the redeemed elders, God dwelling among his people in the person of Christ.
When we see all that Messiah has done for us we want to say to him, “Lord, if I have any wealth; if I have any wisdom and strength; if I have any honor or any glory may it all be yours!” Every now and then I hear wishes our church would have money for some project not being funded. Beloved, if Jesus is truly worthy, what’s stopping you? Is the Lord more worthy than you? If so, what is stopping you? The Lamb has given EVERYTHING for you without reserve. Is anything too great for you to give to him? Is he worthy only of good wishes that others might make something you want to see happen?
John’s camera lens pulls back for one final shot in this chapter. Any doubt of Christ’s worthiness disappears entirely in this final scene and song. All creation must and shall bow to the Lion-Lamb. Even the rebellious and unruly sea of unbelieving humanity (Phil. 2:10-11; Col. 1:20) must and shall bow and sing praises to the eternally-worthy Lion-Lamb and sing:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” [21]
In God’s upside-down Kingdom, what looks to the spiritually-dead world like defeat is victory already won. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords wore a crown of thorns and looked for all the world to be a lamb led to slaughter. But his “defeat” WAS his victory. His suffering WAS his glory. His weakness WAS his might. How do Jesus’ followers on earth conquer? They are overcomers through illness, through poverty, through brokenness, grief, persecution, and humility. They keep on worshipping God in Christ Jesus regardless of circumstances because their Kingdom has already been established and breaking into this dying world.
The only way such upside-down truth will sink in for you is if you pass through the open door of heaven and see Messiah as he truly is: the slaughtered-but-living Lion-Lamb full of all blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. There you find the grace to press on with the work of reigning as a kingdom of priests on earth through worship, witness, and prayer.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 5:1–14.
[2] Sinclair Ferguson, Apocalypse Now: The Lion, The Dragon, and The Open Door (Rev. 5), https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=fpc-082607am
[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 12:9.
[4] Kistemaker and Hendriksen, 200.
[5] Beale, 344.
[6] Kistemaker and Hendriksen, 202.
[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 5:4.
[8] The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Is 64:6.
[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 12:23.
[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 5:5.
[11] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 49:9–10.
[12] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 22:7.
[13] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 22:8.
[14] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 1:29.
[15] Beale, 351.
[16] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 5:6.
[17] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 8:36–37.
[18] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 5:9–10.
[19] Beale, 358.
[20] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 5:12.
[21] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 5:13.
