Scripture: Revelation 5:1-14
Date: January 9, 2011
Speaker: Sean Higgins
We are at the beginning of a new year and, even more extraordinary, we are at the beginning of a new work. As we look around we see many familiar and, to be sure, much of what we do will be similar; it is still church. Yet the reality of having gathered here this morning means that we are taking steps in a new direction.
In this church, among many of the families here, at some of your businesses, there may be many changes with more questions than answers, maybe more darkness than light. What do we do at those times? What do we need most? How do we look up when we’re down? Where do we find stability when faced with uncertainty? Can wobbly faith become strong? Can heavy hearts also be hopeful? Is it even possible for heavy hearts to help others be hopeful, too?
Christians have answers to these questions. We are Christians. We are those who believe God. We are made stable amid changes and made hopeful amid challenges when we keep our eyes on the worthy One. As John Piper once illustrated, all the planets of our life are held in orbit around Christ as the center.
I have a picture in my mind of the majesty of Christ like the sun at the center of the solar system of your life. The massive sun, 333,000 times the mass of the earth, holds all the planets in orbit, even little Pluto, 3.6 billion miles away.
So it is with the supremacy of Christ in your life. All the planets of your life—your sexuality and desires, your commitments and beliefs, your aspirations and dreams, your attitudes and convictions, your habits and disciplines, your solitude and relationships, your labor and leisure, your thinking and feeling—all the planets of your life are held in orbit by the greatness and gravity and blazing brightness of the supremacy of Jesus Christ at the center of your life. Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Part 2
It is easy to lose our focus and spin out of orbit. That is why Christians need worship. The things of earth grow strangely dim in the bright light of His glory and grace.
That brings us to Revelation 5. It seems impossible that a Christian could read this account and not be caught up in the drama and anticipation. The apostle John paints a picture of an expanding canvas and of a growing choir in a crescendo of praise to the worthy One. No one is distracted in this scene and, to the degree we see what John saw, our faith will be firmed and our hope lifted.
I am not pulling out that application like a tugging on a string that might unravel a hem. I believe John’s purpose is to firm up our faith and fill up our hope buckets. Certainly John wrote for the sake of revealing coming things (“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place” Revelation 1:1). The book is prophetic, it is eschatological, regarding things of the end times. But the book is also pastoral. It tends to the souls of weary saints, for the sake of strengthening weak, discouraged, persecuted believers so that they might endure in hope. As we enter the heavenly throne room with John (beginning in 4:1), our attention and affections are drawn to the worthy One.
There is significant movement from beginning to end of chapter 5, and movement within each paragraph. Each paragraph begins with “And I saw” (Καὶ εἶδον), verses 1, 6, and 11. [The ESV moves the verb to the middle of the sentence in verse 6 and translates “Then I looked” in verse 11, but each instance is the exact same in Greek, providing a pattern.]
Worship of him who was seated on the throne started in chapter 4. Now John sees in the right hand…a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals (v.1). Based on the opening of these seven seals in chapters 6 through 8, the seals and the scroll must be connected to the judgments. But what is written in this scroll? If the scroll simply contains revelation about the coming judgment, why isn’t the scroll read?
An even more important question, what makes this scroll so important that the one who opens it must be “worthy”? God has used a donkey to give revelation before. So again, what kind of scroll requires this level of qualified opener? And, why would John cry that there wasn’t found someone worthy to open it? And, why, when the Lamb takes the scroll, is the celebration about redemption and not revelation?
Wrestling with these questions leads me to think that the scroll was more than a description of what would happen and, instead, something like a title or a deed. Scrolls were sometimes used in this manner. For example, see Jeremiah 32:6-25. Jeremiah purchased a field with the Chaldeans about the invade, sealing the scroll until the day when rightful ownership could be taken. In a greater sense, Christ purchased the world but, for a time, sin and Satan have occupied and terrorized it. The world is currently under the control of a rebellious tyrant, and upon finding the rightful owner, at the right time the rebels would be disposed and the earth repossessed.
John saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” (v.2) The angel heralds the question, and ushers every reader of Revelation (through John) into what seems to be a future, royal, and momentous ceremony. The living creatures and elders had been worshipping “him who is seated on the throne” and saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God” (4:11). The search begins for another who shares divine worth and who can carry out God’s purposes.
But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it (v.3). In all the places where someone could be, no one with appropriate credentials was located. John doesn’t say who was in charge of the search committee or how the information was relayed, but the dramatic pause is part of the story. Enough time went by that he began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it (v.4). John was a seasoned ministry veteran. He was exiled on the island of Patmos for his commitment to Christ. What would make him cry? He wasn’t weeping because now no one would know, but rather that no one was going to overcome and make it right. John was drawn in and discouraged that the redeemer could not be found.
Don’t we have a similar sort of cry? Who is going to fix this? Who is going to make this stuff right? Who is worthy? Who can we look to?
I wonder if John was the only one not clued in to the ceremony; no one else was weeping. 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” (v.5). It doesn’t seem to me that this is a rebuke from the elder. It is a comfort, as if he said, “Now you know how important this is. Your weeping is right, but not necessary.”
The Lion of the tribe of Judah references Jacob’s death-bed blessing on Judah in Genesis 49:8-12. The lion will rule in sovereign majesty and the scepter will not depart from him. To this lion shall be the obedience of the peoples. The elder also refers to the worthy One as the Root of David, the king promised in Isaiah 11:1, a king with wisdom and righteousness.
There is a worthy One, and he has conquered, though how he’s conquered is yet to be explained.
Things keep coming into focus for John as he sees again; “And I saw” begins the paragraph.
Surprisingly, 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 (v.6). The elder told him about the Lion but he saw a Lamb (the diminutive form ἀρνίον rather than ἀμνός), perhaps like the pet lamb brought into ones house before Passover. Also, unexpectedly, the Lamb was standing, as though it had been slain. First, the slain usually are not standing. But more significant, the slain are not usually the conquerors. The marks of death on the Lamb are an odd sign of victory.
The Lamb had seven horns with seven eyes. These are symbolic references to power and knowledge respectively. Horns in the Bible regularly represent power (cf. Numbers 23:22; Deuteronomy 33:17), usually of a king, and seven horns express a fullness of power. The eyes, identified as the “seven spirits of God,” are first mentioned in Zechariah 3:9 and 4:10 and stand for total awareness. This is a slain but living Lamb with omnipotence and omniscience, worthy to execute God’s authority.
For what it’s worth, the four living creatures were introduced by John in chapter 4 and are actually introduced in Ezekiel 1:4-25. They are cherubim (Ezekiel 10:15) often thought to represent aspects of God’s creation. They are usually seen near the throne (as here), regularly busy in worship (as in Revelation 4:8), and are closely involved with judgments through the rest of Revelation.
The elders are somewhat more difficult to identify. John also introduced them in chapter 4. It seems that the 24 elders are representatives of redeemed saints, not angels, since the world “elders” is only used of men in Scripture, the “white garments” (4:4) they wear are characteristic of redeemed men (cf. 3:5, 18), and the “golden crowns” fit with crowns promised to believers (cf. 2:10; 3:11) (for more on these arguments see Allen, 167 and MacArthur, 148-149). They sit on thrones, so they must be kings, and their garments and activity are priestly. The king-priest idea fits with the ransomed who the Lamb made a “kingdom and priests to our God” (5:10; cf. 1:6-7). So, “In vision they are seen—not as a multitudinous host of millions of saved worshippers, but just twenty-four elders, symbolising the entire company” (Ironside, 82).
John now sees the Lamb amidst those nearest the throne, and the Lamb went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne (v.7). The ceremony continues. No questions, no hesitation, and no one stops the Lamb. 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 with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (v.8). There was one, obvious immediate response: Let angels (and the redeemed) prostrate fall. The grammar of the end of the verse points that the elders were the ones holding the harps and the bowls.
They broke out in song.
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,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God
and they shall reign on the earth.”
(verses 9-10)
The worthy One is recognized and an explanation is given for His worthiness and how it is that He conquered: He was slain. This king’s death won the victory. He conquered, not by spilling the blood of others, but by the shedding of His own blood on behalf of others. His sacrifice ransomed people for God. He paid the price so that men would be God’s. And He did so for a global group: for every tribe and language and people and nation. No matter one’s community or culture or way of communication, the ransom of the Lamb effectually redeems. He delivered them and He made them a kingdom and priests to our God. So the Lamb delivers and fits men to share in His reign.
By the way, this is us! We are here. In that, I think we are represented by the elders, our prayers are included in the ceremony, and we are the redeemed ones who will reign with the worthy One!
And He loves to hear the angels
as they sing, “Holy, holy is the Lamb”
Heaven’s choirs in harmony
lift up praises to the Great I Am
But He lifts His hands for silence
when the weakest saved by grace begins to sing And a million angels listen
as a newborn soul sings, “I’ve been redeemed!“
’Cause His favorite song of all
Is the song of the redeemed
When lost sinners now made clean
Lift their voices loud and strong
When those purchased by His blood
Lift to Him a song of love
There’s nothin’ more He’d rather hear
Nor so pleasin’ to His ear
As His favorite song of all
(Phillips, Craig and Dean, “Favorite Song of All”)
The scene continues to expand as John sees more of the picture; “And I saw” for the third time. He looked, and [he] heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands (v.11). The count of angelic beings is virtually innumerable. They weren’t singing, they were 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!” (v.12), perhaps as sort of a group chant. Angels are paying attention to this (cf. 1 Peter 1:12).
The first thing they notice is the Lamb’s worthiness and they acknowledge the value of His sacrifice even though they do not understand it like we do, those for whom He was slain and who are being made into a kingdom.
The angels say all the things one would say to a king at his coronation. These are royal, ruling attributes.
The scene expands again in verse 13 as John 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!” (v.13) There is no location, and no creature that does does not acknowledge the worthy One. The search was universal and so is the worship. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
There is also explicit connection between him who sits on the throne and the Lamb, both are recipients of the same blessing and honor and glory and might.
Do you suppose that, at this moment, anyone was distracted? Can you imagine any one had half a heart? Were the praisers sensing any panic? No way. Their eyes were fixed on the worthy One.
But, and this is big, things were not right, not yet. Think about the context. Most of the churches addressed in chapters 2-3 were struggling, some even sinful. Even with the scroll, it had not been opened yet, only taken by the Lamb. The judgments described in chapters 6-19 were necessary because of the still going rebellion against the Lamb. The tribulation, the death, the judgments about to be released are nothing like ever seen before.
Shouldn’t they have held off on the worship until everything was finished? Wasn’t there work to be done? Enemies to be defeated? Maybe they shouldn’t have let themselves get carried away. Why does God show this to John first, before all the rest of the Apocalypse?
Because worship is the context of our work. Why would we stop our work for an entire day each week? Things are not right yet. We’re not only waiting for the judgment, were still waiting for the bowls of saint-prayers to be filled so that when the Lamb finally takes the scroll He’ll be honored appropriately. Everything isn’t finished, but it is certain. The sacrifice of the Lamb is complete. He continues to apply the ransom work among every tribe, tongue, family, and nation. That means we have work to do as well, but we’ll only do it well with our eyes on the worthy One.
That message is essential for the first service of Trinity Evangel Church. We need worship. We need to weep like John in recognition of the need for One to make things right. We need to pray for God’s righteous judgment. We need to fall down. We need to sing. We need to say things together. We need to worship. And we do that first, even before everything is finished.
Our weekly gatherings are a small taste, but an oh so necessary, stabilizing and hope-filling commitment.
As in Revelation 5, God is moving us from sorrow to gladness, from despair to expectation, from death to life, from being not a people to being God’s people, from captives to freemen, from few to many, and from far to near, from weeping to worshiping.
So our worship, our eyes on the worthy One, makes us stable when things change and hopeful when we face challenges as His Lordship over all creation is established until all His enemies are made His footstool.
And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. (v.14)
Ecclesiastes tells us that the end of a thing is better than its beginning. That is easy for us to believe. But it does not follow that we should never begin anything, or that there is no joy in the process. Without starts and middles, how else would we ever get to the ends?
In praise of beginnings, consider why we give thanks at the start of a feast with family and friends. Why don’t we wait to give thanks until after the meal? What enables the joy at the beginning? There is only one answer: faith. It is right to set ourselves on the course of worship before the first course, recognizing that God’s promises enable excitement even while our bellies growl with hunger.
We will celebrate when our evangelism of the world is finished, we will rejoice when we are made complete in Christ, we will celebrate when the worthy One rules from His throne on earth. But, if we have faith, we don’t wait to give God thanks or worship Him until everything is finished. So let us go from this place amid our uncertainties and our difficulties, acknowledging that much work remains. But let us work with our eyes on the worthy One. May your worshipping faith be seen by your co-workers and neighbors this week because you are focused on the worthy One.
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Revelation 22:18-21)