The Book
God, the governor of all things, holds in His hand a
sealed book. Holding the book in His right hand declares the
readiness and determination of God to execute all the
contents of the book. The book God holds in His right hand
contains writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.
This clearly demonstrates the importance of its contents.
While we are not told exactly what the book contains, from
the context of Revelation this book contains prophecies of
all the judgments necessary to bring rebellious man to his
knees and defeat Satan’s kingdom.
John sees a strong angel, only twice more is reference made
to a strong angel (Revelation 10:1 and 18:21). The angel
proclaims, not merely says. He speaks with a loud voice,
undoubtedly to emphasize the importance of this question and
in order to penetrate the entire universe with the question
posed, “Who is worthy to open the book and break its seals,
no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth”
(Revelation 5:2-3). There was no one qualified in any place
in the universe to open it, or even look into it.
John tells us he began to “weep greatly because no one was
found worthy to open the book or to look into it”
(Revelation 4). John’s weeping stresses the effect on John,
a godly man longing for the righteousness of God to be
manifest in the world and rid the world of the source of
evil, wickedness, and ungodliness and the product of evil,
wickedness, and ungodliness, man’s stubborn rebellion and
the evil, tyranny, and injustices throughout the world.
John’s Weeping also demonstrates the inability of anyone in
heaven and in the universe to solve man’s dilemma. When the
dominion was lost, man began to experience tears, pain and
sorrow because of his rebellion and the onslaught of Satan’s
murderous ways and dominion.
Humanity has sought answers to its problems by searching in
all the wrong places. We have put our trust in human
governments, in wealth, in pleasure, in human philosophies,
but the tears of man’s sorrow continue to flow like a river
the world over. The daily headlines and the news on TV are a
constant reminder of this. The world, from the tower of
Babel, we have searched among the governments, the religions
of the world, and the wisdom of man for the solution to the
evil, wickedness, and ungodliness in the world instead of to
the Lamb who is also the Lion, the Sovereign Savior. None of
man’s solutions can even begin to provide for the enormous
problems facing us.
One of the elders said to John, “Stop weeping; behold the
Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has
overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals”
(Revelation 5:5).
Here we have an allusion to Genesis 49:9-10 where it is
predicted that the future Ruler of Israel and of the earth
would come out of the tribe of Judah, the royal tribe. This
is, a reference to the Lord Jesus who was of the line of
David, a legal descendent (Matthew 1:1-17) but also a
physical descendent of David (Luke 3:23-38). Lion speaks of
the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ He is sovereign and
Judge.
He is “the Root of David” is a reference to Isaiah 11:1
where it is prophesied that from Jesse, David’s father, the
future Ruler of the earth, the Messiah, would rise up like a
shoot or stem from the root of a cut down tree. The Davidic
line would be cut down so that no man would sit on the
throne of David (Jeremiah 22:24-30), but from David’s line
or roots would come the Messiah.
He “has overcome so as to open the book and its seven
seals.” “Overcome” is a translation of a Greek word that
means “to win a victory, come off victorious, to conquer, be
victorious over one’s enemies.” Our lord Jesus Christ faced
many battles and He came forth victorious. This should
remind us of His victorious shout just before He bowed His
head and voluntarily died for the sin of the world. He cried
out, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
“So as to open” refers to the intended results of the life
and ministry of the Lord Jesus in the plan of God. The
results of Christ’s redemptive victory are the capacity and
authority to break the seals and to pour out the judgments.
"To open the book” refers to Christ’s authority and right to
reveal the prophecies of this book, first to John and then
to the church.
“To open the seals” refers to His authority to break the
seals and unleash their judgments.
In chapter one of The Revelation of Jesus Christ, John saw
one like the son of man “in the middle of seven gold
lampstands” (Revelation 1:13). In verse 6 John tells us he
saw “between the throne…and the elders a Lamb standing as if
slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the
seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth”
(Revelation 5:6).
“A Lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven
eyes,” each part of this symbolism describes certain aspects
of Christ’s person and work.
“A Lamb,” refers to God’s sacrificial Lamb. The term lion is
used of Christ only once in Revelation, yet the term “Lamb”
occurs in Revelation 28 times. The point is simply that His
kingly crown, rule, and power lie in His Person and
redemptive work as the Lamb of God who died in our place. He
could not take His place as Ruler until He had become the
Kinsman Redeemer by the sacrifice of Himself as God’s Lamb.
The figure of the Lamb perfectly expresses the submission of
Christ as silent before His shearers and as He was led to
the cross to bear our sin. This is clearly a prominent
emphasis in this chapter and declared to be one of the
reasons for His worthiness to open the book and its seals.
“Standing” He had been slain, but now He is seen, not dead,
but very much alive, indeed standing, firmly positioned,
immovable and ready to judge. The position of standing
points to Him as the resurrected and victorious Savior. The
marks are nevertheless there, the marks of death on His
resurrected body, undoubtedly everlasting symbols of His
sacrifice for us (John 20:24-29).
The seven horns, the horn is the symbol of power and of
government, and seven, the number of perfection, shows us
that our Lord Jesus Christ’s power and government are
perfect. He will be victorious over all His enemies and rule
in perfect righteousness and justice as prophesied in Isaiah
11.
The seven eyes emphasize the totality and perfection of His
knowledge and insight. In Him are hidden all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).
“Which are the seven Spirits of God,” though Christ Himself
is omniscient, He also is the One who sends forth the Holy
Spirit into the earth, who likewise knows all and sees all.
None of His actions and decisions in His righteous judgments
against the sin of humanity will be made on partial
knowledge.
John tells us the Lamb took the book from “the right hand of
Him who sat on the throne” (Revelation 5:7). What a
beautiful scene. The only one worthy to open the book and
break the seals takes the book out of the hand of the One on
the throne. With the taking of the book, we see what our
Lord Jesus Christ is doing. He is not sitting in heaven at
God’s right hand, making intercession. His taking the book
from the right hand of the One on the throne reveals His
determination to establish the visible kingdom on earth when
the time is right in the future.
In the act of receiving the book from God the Father, it is
made evident that judgment and power over the earth are
committed to our Lord Jesus Christ.
In response to the taking of the book from the right hand of
the One on the throne, “the four living creatures and the
twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb…And they sang a
new song” (Revelation 5:8-9). The living creatures and the
elders fall down before the Lamb in profound prostration of
worship and recognition of the Lamb’s finished work of
redemption and His worthiness to now accomplish what He is
about to do and sang a new song.
The instruments used in the worship and praise of the Lamb
were harps. They were used in the expression the adoration
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Since this scene is prophetic of the future, the “golden
bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints”
would certainly include the prayers of church age saints who
will be in heaven with the elders who are seen around the
throne.
What does this teach us concerning prayer? The bowls are
golden stresses the value of prayer and full stress the
extent and abundance of their prayer and worship. Our praise
and worship will not be halfhearted or part time when we
gather around the throne of God and it should not be now.
The incense stresses the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Biblical praying and praise to God through the Lord Jesus
Christ fills the area with a sweet atmosphere and aroma that
calls attention to God’s glory and to Christ’s person.
The goal of the song is to acclaim the worthiness of the
Lamb to unleash the judgments of the seals.
There are five reasons given in this new song that declare
the Lamb as worthy. They fall into three time slots, all
based on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. He “was slain”
is a reference to the cross and the substitutionary death of
Christ for the sin of the world. This looks at the past
historic event, the demonstration of God’s love for the
world.
The words, “and with your blood you purchased men for God,”
point us to the efficacy of Christ’s death and describes
both its past and present. “Purchased” is used of the
redemptive work of Christ that sets us free from sin and
death and accomplished fact. There is a present effect in
that every time a person believes in Christ; His redemptive
death becomes the means of the believer’s salvation.
“You have made them to be a kingdom,” points to a present
effect of the cross, the establishment of a kingdom.
Whenever a person trusts in Christ, they are delivered from
the kingdom of darkness and made a part of a kingdom of
light in accord with God’s will for man (Colossians 1:13).
“And priests to God,” points to our present representative
character. By Christ’s work, we have access to God and can
serve and represent Him to men here on earth during the
church age. “And they will reign,” points to a future effect
of the cross.
The sayings of the angels reveal their appreciation for the
Lamb, for what He has done, and is now about to do. The
angels who were present at Satan’s revolt and again at the
fall of man are overjoyed and excited at the prospects of
these judgments, now that one with whom they have done
battle over the centuries is about to be removed, thus, a
seven-fold exaltation. Christ is “worthy to receive power.”
Power is mentioned first perhaps because the immediate
situation calls for the need of great power to accomplish
His purposes in the earth. He alone, as the perfect God-man
Savior is worthy of such power for He alone will and can use
it with perfect justice and equity (Isaiah 11). “Wealth”
refers to the wealth of the universe. All this is His by
creation and now by redemption and reclamation. “Wisdom”
refers to the Lord’s omniscience and its wise use in
carrying out the purposes of God in the world. “Strength”
refers to working might or power in action and stresses His
omnipotence to carry out God’s will. “Honor” refers to the
esteem, the value, and respect that is due to our Lord Jesus
Christ because of Who He is, and what He has and will
accomplish to the glory of God and the benefit of the world.
“Glory” refers to the tribute and public display of
adoration that our Lord Jesus Christ should receive.”
Praise” refers to the praise that should be given to the
Lord because of His wonderful acts of redemption and
reclamation.
In chapter four, the praise was to the Father. Here it is to
the Son and the Father.
The emphasis of these verses is clearly the recognizing of
the worthiness of the Lamb to take the book, open its seals,
and pour out its judgments. No one is preoccupied with
themselves or with people. All attention is on the Lamb. No
one is protecting their frail egos, vying for attention, or
worried about his position or praise, as we see in Luke 22
with the disciples. No one is seeking to promote his hidden
agendas, for none now exists.
Obviously, God wants our worship just like this today. This
passage serves as a beautiful example of what our worship
and service for the Lord should always be like.
The good news is the solution to man’s dilemma has been
found in the Lion who was also a Lamb. It is a time of
rejoicing.
All is now ready for the events of chapters 6-19, the
outpouring of God’s divine wrath upon the earth and
rebellious man.
