12  A Vision of the Lamb  (Revelation 5:1–14)

I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; and one of the elders said to me, “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.” And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) 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. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped. (5:1–14)

Throughout history there have been many pretenders to earth’s throne who have sought to conquer and rule the world. The first and most powerful and notorious usurper was Satan. After his rebellion against God was crushed, he and his angelic followers were thrown out of heaven (Luke 10:18; Rev. 12:3–4), and he became the “god of this world”(2 Cor. 4:4). He inspired a host of humans to try their hand at conquest, men such as Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Alexander the Great, the emperors of Rome, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler. In the future will come the most powerful Satan-possessed human conqueror of all, the final Antichrist.

All of those men, and a host of lesser lights, have one thing in common: they failed. Only one individual has the right, the power, and the authority to rule the earth: the Lord Jesus Christ. He will one day take back what is rightfully His from Satan the usurper, and all the rebels, demonic and human. No one else is worthy or capable of ruling the world–no evil man, no good man, no demon, and no holy angel. Revelation 5 introduces Jesus Christ, earth’s rightful ruler, who is pictured about to return to redeem the world from sin, Satan, death, and the curse. He is the central theme of John’s second vision of heaven.

The events of chapter 5 occur right after those of chapter . The scene, as in chapter 4, is the throne of God in heaven. Present are the cherubim, the twenty-four elders (representing the raptured, glorified church), and the Holy Spirit in His sevenfold glory (4:5). The events described in these two chapters anticipate the holocaust of divine judgment about to be poured out on the sinful, rebellious, cursed earth (chaps. 6–19). Awestruck by the indescribable majesty of God’s throne, and the flashes of lightning and peals of thunder that proceed from it, the cherubim and elders begin a series of hymns of praise to God. Those hymns celebrate God as creator and redeemer, and rejoice that He is about to take back what is rightfully His. This is the moment that all Christians (Eph. 1:14) and the entire creation (Rom. 8:19–22) long for.

As that moment approaches, God begins to stir. The phrase I saw, or “I looked,” introduces the various scenes described in this chapter (cf. vv. 2, 6, 11) and stresses John’s status as an eyewitness. In his vision, John saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. God stretched out His hand, as it were, and in it He held a book. Biblion (book) does not refer to a book in the modern sense, but to a scroll (cf. 6:14). A scroll was a long piece of papyrus or animal skin, rolled from both ends into the middle. Such scrolls were commonly used before the invention of the codex, or modern-style book, consisting of square pages bound together.

While Roman wills were sealed up with seven seals, this scroll is not a will but a deed or contract. Dr. Robert L. Thomas explains:

Jeremiah 32 provides a good illustration of the use of such a document. In the waning days of the southern kingdom, shortly before the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah’s cousin Hanamel approached him. Hanamel was desperate to sell a field he owned in Jeremiah’s hometown of Anathoth, not far from Jerusalem. Hanamel knew that once the Babylonian army conquered (actually, the Babylonians may have already occupied the land in question; cf. Jer. 32:2, 24–25), he would lose his plot of ground. Jeremiah, in obedience to God’s command (Jer. 32:6–7), purchased the field in spite of its potential loss as a sign that the Babylonian captivity would not be permanent (Jer. 32:15). Jeremiah 32:9–15 records the details of his purchase:

The scroll John saw in God’s hand is the title deed to the earth, which He will give to Christ. Unlike other such deeds, however, it does not record the descriptive detail of what Christ will inherit, but rather how He will regain His rightful inheritance. He will do so by means of the divine judgments about to be poured out on the earth (6:1ff.). While the scroll is a scroll of doom and judgment, it is also a scroll of redemption. It tells how Christ will redeem the world from the usurper, Satan, and those men and demons who have collaborated with him. Ezekiel describes this same scroll in his vision of heaven: “Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it. When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe” (Ezek. 2:9–10).

The chapter divides naturally into three sections: the search for the worthy one, the selection of the worthy one, and the song of the worthy one.

THE SEARCH FOR THE WORTHY ONE

And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; (5:2–4)

The strong angel (cf. 10:1; 18:21) is not named. Some identify him as Gabriel, others as Michael, but since the text does not name him, he must remain anonymous. He spoke with a loud voice so that his proclamation would penetrate to every corner of the universe. The angel sought someone both worthy and able to open the book and to break its seals. Who, he asked, has the innate, virtuous worthiness of character and the divine right that would qualify him to break the seals? And who has the power to defeat Satan and his demon hosts, to wipe out sin and its effects, and to reverse the curse on all of creation?

But as the echoes of his cry recede there is only silence. The powerful archangels Michael and Gabriel do not answer. Uncounted thousands of other angels remain silent. All the righteous dead of all the ages, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Peter and the rest of the apostles, Paul, and all the others from the church age, say nothing. No one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. A search of the entire universe, from hell to heaven and all points in between, turns up no one worthy to open the scroll.

Overwhelmed with grief and dismay at this turn of events, John began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it. Weep is from klaiō, the same word used to describe Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), and Peter’s bitter weeping after betraying the Lord (Luke 22:62). It is thus a word that expresses strong, unrestrained emotion. This is the only time in Scripture that tears are seen in heaven (cf. 7:17; 21:4). W. A. Criswell explains why John wept:

John’s weeping, though sincere, was premature. He need not have wept, for God was about to take action. Similarly, Jesus told the widow at Nain (Luke 7:13) and those weeping over the death of the synagogue ruler’s daughter (Luke 8:52) that their tears were inappropriate because of what He was about to do. John wept because he wanted to see the world rid of evil, sin, and death. He wanted to see Satan vanquished and God’s kingdom established on earth. He wanted to see Israel saved and Christ exalted. John knew that the Messiah had been executed, Jerusalem destroyed, and the Jewish people massacred and scattered. He was well aware that the church faced intense persecution and was infected with sin (chaps. 2–3). Everything seemed, from his perspective, to be going badly. Would no one step forward to change this? Was no one going to unroll the scroll and redeem God’s creation? But John need not have wept, because the search for the one worthy to open the scroll was about to end.

THE SELECTION OF THE WORTHY ONE

and one of the elders said to me, “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.” And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) 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. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. (5:5–7)

Because his tears were inappropriate, one of the elders told John to stop weeping. Then he drew John’s attention to a new Person emerging on the scene, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David. No human and no angel can redeem the universe, but there is One who can. This Person, of course, is the glorified, exalted Lord Jesus Christ, described here by two of His messianic titles. The title the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah derives from Jacob’s blessing on the tribe of Judah given in Genesis 49:8–10:

Out of the lionlike tribe of Judah would come a strong, fierce, and deadly ruler–the Messiah, Jesus Christ (Heb. 7:14). The Jews of Jesus’ day expected the Messiah to be powerful and to liberate them from the heavy hand of their oppressors, at that time the Roman rulers. It was partly because Jesus failed to live up to those expectations that they rejected and killed Him. He had no political aspirations (cf. John 6:15; 18:36), nor did He use His miraculous powers against the Roman oppressors. Instead, He offered a spiritual kingdom.

Tragically, the Jews completely misjudged their Messiah. He is a lion, and will tear up and destroy their enemies. But He will do so according to His timetable, not theirs. His lionlike judgment of His enemies awaits the yet-future day that He has chosen–the day that begins to unfold in Revelation chapter 5.

Jesus is also seen here as the Root or descendant of David (cf. 22:16; Jer. 23:5–6; 33:15–17). That messianic title derives from Isaiah 11:1, 10: “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit…. Then it will come about in that day that the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, who will stand as a signal for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious.” As the genealogies of Matthew 1 and Luke 3 reveal, Jesus was a descendant of David both on His father’s and on His mother’s side. In Romans 1:3 the apostle Paul said that Jesus was “born of a descendant of David according to the flesh.” The term “Son of David” is a messianic title used frequently in the Gospels (e. g., Matt. 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30–31; 21:9, 15; 22:42; Mark 12:35).

Jesus is the One worthy to take the scroll because of who He is, the rightful King from David’s loins; what He is, the Lion from Judah’s tribe with the power to destroy His enemies; and also because of what He has done–He has overcome. At the cross He defeated sin (Rom. 8:3), death (Heb. 2:14–15), and all the forces of hell (Col. 2:15; 1 Pet. 3:19). Believers are overcomers through His overcoming (Col. 2:13–14; 1 John 5:5).

As he looked at the incredible scene before him, the glowing, blazing reflection of God’s glory emanating from the throne, the bright green rainbow surrounding it, the brilliant pavement on which it sat, the flashes of lightning and peals of thunder foreshadowing fearsome divine judgment, the worshiping four living creatures and twenty-four elders, John’s attention was irresistibly drawn to what he saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders. Instead of the anticipated mighty Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the all-conquering Davidic King, John saw a Lamb. The Lord Jesus could not be the Lion of judgment, or the King of glory, unless He was first “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”(John 1:29).

Arnion (Lamb), the diminutive form of arnos, refers to a little lamb, or a pet lamb. The imagery derives from the Passover, when Jewish families were required to keep the sacrificial lamb as a household pet for four days before sacrificing it (Ex. 12:3–6). While every lamb sacrificed under the Old Covenant pointed toward Christ, He is only referred to as a lamb once in the Old Testament (Isa. 53:7). In the New Testament outside of Revelation, He is only called a lamb four times (John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32; 1 Pet. 1:19). But in Revelation He appears as the Lamb thirty-one times.

Several features indicate that this was no ordinary lamb. First, He was standing, alive, on His feet, yet looking as if He had been slain. The scars from the deadly wound this Lamb received were clearly visible; yet He was alive. Though demons and wicked men conspired against Him and killed Him, He rose from the dead, thus defeating and triumphing over His enemies.

At first glance it seems a disastrous mismatch to pit a lamb against a dragon (12:9) and the hordes of hellish locusts (9:3), frogs (16:13), and human soldiers (19:19) who follow the dragon. But this Lamb is more than just a willing sacrificial offering for sin; He is also a Lion and the “King of kings, and Lord of lords”(19:16). He has already defeated Satan (1 John 3:8; cf. John 12:31; 16:11; Rom. 16:20; Heb. 2:14) and his forces (Col. 2:15; 1 Pet. 3:22) at the cross and is about to consummate that victory.

Another feature about this Lamb that John noted was that it had seven horns. In imagery drawn from the animal world, horns in Scripture symbolize strength and power (e. g., 1 Sam. 2:1, 10; 2 Sam. 22:3; Pss. 18:2; 75:10; 89:17, 24; Jer. 48:25; Mic. 4:13). Seven, the number of perfection, symbolizes the Lamb’s complete, absolute power. The Lamb in John’s vision also had seven eyes, again denoting perfect omniscience and complete understanding and knowledge. Those eyes, John noted, represented the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. As noted in the discussions of 1:4 and 4:5 earlier in this volume, the phrase seven Spirits of God describes the Holy Spirit in all His fullness. Here, as in 4:5, the Holy Spirit’s fullness is seen in relation to judgment, as He goes out into all the earth searching for guilty, unrepentant sinners to be judged (cf. John 16:8).

Verse 7 records the final, monumental act in the heavenly scene. Everything John has been describing since this vision began in 4:1 had been building toward this moment. This views the great, culminating act of history, the act that will signal the end of man’s day. The ultimate goal of redemption is about to be seen; paradise will be regained, Eden restored. Before John’s wondering eyes the Lamb came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

This is the same scene described by Daniel in Daniel 7:13–14, although Daniel does not mention the scroll:

The worthy One has arrived to take back what is rightfully His.

THE SONG OF THE WORTHY ONE

When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped. (5:8–14)

The appearance of the Lamb as He moves to take the scroll causes praise to break out from everywhere in the universe. The praise accelerates in an ascending crescendo of worship as the oratorio of redemption reaches its climax. To the two majestic doxologies of chapter 4 are added three more in chapter 5. The spontaneous outburst of worship results from the realization that the long-anticipated defeat of sin, death, and Satan is about to be accomplished and the Lord Jesus Christ will return to earth in triumph and establish His glorious millennial kingdom. The curse will be reversed, the believing remnant of Israel will be saved, and the church will be honored, exalted, and granted the privilege of reigning with Christ. All of the pent-up anticipation of millennia finally bursts out at the prospect of what is about to take place.

As they began their song of praise and worship, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. That they offer the same worship to Christ that they did to the Father in 4:10 offers convincing proof of Christ’s deity, since only God is to be worshiped (cf. 19:10; Matt. 4:10).

After Jesus accomplished redemption by bearing sin on the cross, God raised Him from the dead and exalted Him to His right hand. Jesus received back the glory He had had in the Father’s presence before the world began (John 17:5). To the Ephesians Paul wrote of Christ, “[God] raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church”(Eph. 1:20–22).

But though exalted to the Father’s right hand, Jesus Christ is not yet fully reigning. Psalm 2:6–12 speaks of the future day when Christ rules on the earth:

Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse once observed that there are four things out of place in the universe: the church, which should be in heaven; Israel, which should be living in peace occupying all the land promised to her; Satan, who belongs in the lake of fire; and Christ, who should be seated on His throne reigning. All four of those anomalies will be set right when Christ takes the scroll from His Father’s hand.

But before He begins to unroll it in chapter 6 comes the song of praise in chapter 5. As they prostrated themselves before the Lamb in worship, John noticed that each one of the twenty-four elders was holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (The grammatical structure of the Greek text seems to indicate that it was only the elders, not the living creatures, who held those two items.) Harps were frequently associated in the Old Testament with worship (e. g., 2 Sam. 6:5; 1 Chron. 15:16, 20, 28; 16:5; 2 Chron. 5:12; 29:25; Pss. 33:2; 71:22; 92:1–4; 144:9; 150:3; cf. Rev. 14:2; 15:2), but they were also closely linked to prophecy. In 1 Samuel 10:5 Samuel said to Saul, “Afterward you will come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre before them, and they will be prophesying.” Similarly, when about to prophesy, Elisha said, “‘Now bring me a harpist.’ While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha.” (2 Kings 3:15 NIV). First Chronicles 25:1 records that “David and the commanders of the army set apart for the service some of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with lyres, harps and cymbals” (cf. vv. 3, 6). The harps held by the elders probably symbolize all of prophecy, which culminates in the momentous events about to take place.

In addition to the harps, the elders were also holding golden bowls full of incense. These wide-mouthed bowls were used in the tabernacle and the temple (1 Kings 7:40, 45, 50; 2 Kings 12:13–14; 1 Chron. 28:17; 2 Chron. 4:22; Jer. 52:19; Zech. 14:20), where they were connected with the altar. They symbolized the priestly work of intercession for the people. Scripture elsewhere associates the burning of incense with the prayers of the saints in Psalm 141:2; Luke 1:9–10; and Revelation 8:3–4 (cf. 6:9–10). The incense in these bowls represents the prayers of believers through the ages that God’s prophesied and promised redemption of the earth might come. Taken together, the harps and the bowls indicate that all that the prophets ever prophesied and all that God’s children ever prayed for is finally to be fulfilled.

As the elders brought before God the desires and prayers of the saints, they sang a new song. Since (with the possible exception of Job 38:7) the Bible nowhere records angels singing, it is best to see only the elders as singing here. (Adopting the variant reading found in many manuscripts “You … have redeemed us to God,” as the New King James Version does, further reinforces that point, since the four living creatures are holy angels who have no need to be redeemed.) That is consistent with the rest of Scripture, which pictures the redeemed singing praise to God (cf. Judg. 5:3; 2 Chron. 5:13; Neh. 12:46; Pss. 7:17; 9:2; 61:8; 104:33; 146:2; Acts 16:25; Eph. 5:19) and angels speaking it (cf. Luke 2:13–14). Throughout Scripture the new song is a song of redemption (Pss. 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isa. 42:10; Rev. 14:3).

The song opens with a reaffirmation that Christ is worthy … to take the book and to break its seals. He is worthy because He is the Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the King of kings and Lord of lords. To break the book’s seals means to enact the judgments written in it. Then, further reinforcing Christ’s worthiness, the song continues, for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. That phrase elaborates on the statement of verse 6 that the Lamb had been slain, explaining the significance of His death. It was Christ’s substitutionary, sacrificial death that purchased for God … men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Purchased is from agorazō, a rich New Testament word for redemption that pictures slaves purchased in the marketplace and then set free. At the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ paid the purchase price (His own blood; 1 Pet. 1:18–19) to redeem men from every tribe (descent) and tongue (language) and people (race) and nation (culture) from the slave market of sin (cf. 1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23; Gal. 3:13). Those four terms appear together also in Revelation 7:9; 11:9; 13:7; and 14:6 and encompass all of humanity.

It must have been a thrilling, exhilarating realization for John that the redeemed would one day include people from all over the world. In a day when the church was small, isolated, struggling, and sinful, John must have been concerned about its future–especially because five of the seven churches addressed in chapters 2–3 had such serious and potentially fatal problems. The knowledge that persecution and sin would not extinguish the spreading flame of Christianity must have brought joy and hope to the apostle’s heart.

The song moves on to express the results of redemption: You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth. The use of them instead of “us” indicates the vastness and comprehensiveness of redemption. The twenty-four elders move beyond themselves to sweep up all the saints of all the ages into their paean of praise and adoration. The redeemed are a part of God’s kingdom (cf. 1:6), a community of believers under God’s sovereign rule. They are also priests to our God (cf. 20:6), signifying their complete access to God’s presence for worship and service. The present priesthood of believers (1 Pet. 2:5, 9) foreshadows that future day when we will have total access to and perfect communion with God. During the millennial kingdom, believers will reign upon the earth with Christ (20:6; 2 Tim. 2:12).

In verse 11 John says for the fourth time in the chapter that he saw something. As he looked, he heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands (cf. Dan. 7:10). To the voices of the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders are now added those of innumerable angels. Myriad means “ten thousand,” apparently the highest number for which the Greeks had a word. The phrase myriads and myriads describes an uncountable host. Hebrews 12: 1 also says that the number of holy angels cannot be counted. They number at least twice as many as the fallen angels (demons) according to Revelation 12:3–4.

The vast host began saying with a loud voice (cf. Neh. 9:4; Pss. 33:3, “shout”; 98:4, “shout”) the familiar doxology, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Once again, the emphasis is on Christ’s death providing a perfect redemption, because of which He must be given worship, praise, and adoration. He is worthy to receive recognition because of His power and omnipotence. He is worthy to receive recognition because of the spiritual and material riches that He possesses–He owns everything (Ps. 50:10–12). He is worthy to receive recognition because of His wisdom and omniscience. For all those things and all His other absolute perfections, Jesus Christ is worthy of all honor and glory and blessing.

As the great hymn of praise reaches a crescendo, every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them joins in. This all-inclusive statement is reminiscent of Psalm 69:34: “Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them,” and the concluding verse of the Psalms, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” (Ps. 150:6). This mighty chorus cries out, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” Endless blessing, endless honor, endless praise, endless glory, and endless worship belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The creation is unable to contain its joy over its imminent redemption (cf. Rom. 8:19–22).

Lost in wonder, love, and praise, the four living creatures could only keep saying, “Amen.” That solemn affirmation means “let it be,” “make it happen” (cf. 1:6–7). And the elders fell down once again and worshiped.

Soon, this mighty host would march out of heaven to execute judgment, gather the elect, and return with Christ when He sets up His earthly kingdom. The stage is set.