Worthy Is the Lamb That Was Slain |
by David A. DePra |
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, |
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. (Rev. 5:12) |
| Revelation 5 opens with a question. John is having a vision of |
| the spiritual realm, and in that realm, he sees God the Father |
| sitting on His throne with a book, or scroll, in His right hand. A |
| strong angel then asks with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open |
| the book, and to loose the seals thereof"? (Rev. 5:2) |
| Initially, the answer wasn't encouraging: "No man in heaven, |
| nor in earth, nor under the earth, was able to open the book, |
| neither to look thereon." (Rev. 5:3) This saddened John. He |
| said, "I wept much because no man was found worthy to open |
| and to read the book, neither to look thereon." (Rev. 5:4) |
| Notice something here. God is pictured holding this book in |
| His right hand, sitting on His throne. This is important. It shows |
| God's possession of the book and all it contains. It also shows |
| Him as sovereign over that which is in the book. This book must |
| surely contain something of infinite value. God could hardly |
| possess anything of less worth in His right hand on His throne. |
| This is verified by the fact that no man was "worthy" to open, |
| read, indeed, even to look upon the contents of the book. In |
| other words, to open this book and read it, you had to be |
| qualified. You had to be "worthy." And no human being |
| anywhere was. Such was the value of what was in the book. |
| There is more. Note John's reaction to the fact that no one |
| could open the book. He wept. It was a tremendous grief to him |
| that the contents of the book would remain in God's hand, |
| inaccessible to man. |
| Make no mistake about it. This book was eternally important. |
| It contained things which God wanted to give man directly from |
| His right hand; directly from His throne. It was of such value that |
| no person in all creation was able to open it, or even so much as |
| look upon it. No person, that is, except the Lamb of God. |
| John got the terrific news. He was told, "Weep not. Behold, |
| the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to |
| open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." (Rev. 5:5) |
| And then John turned and saw He of whom the voice was |
| speaking: "(There) stood a Lamb as if it had been slain, having |
| seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God |
| sent forth into all the earth." (Rev. 5:6) |
| This Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, "came and took the book out |
| of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne." And when He |
| did, all of heaven and all of creation, broke into spontaneous |
| worship. Chapter 5 of Revelation ends in a rapture of worship. |
| Over the last several decades, as the return of Christ seems |
| near, we have heard many prophetic interpretations of this book |
| of Revelation, especially as it pertains this end time. Usually, |
| these interpretations include the great tribulation, the |
| Anti-Christ, the rapture, the millenium, and so on. Such |
| interpretations generally begin with Revelation 6. There we find |
| the opening of the seven seals. What results from the breaking |
| of these seals is usually made to correspond to world events |
| such as false prophets, war, famine, and disease, etc. These first |
| four seals are often referred to as "the four horsemen of the |
| apocalyse." |
| But wait. There is something amiss here. We easily discover |
| it if we first read chapter 5. If we do that, we will find that we must |
| adjust many of our prophetic assumptions and interpretations. |
| For chapter 5 completely redefines and recharacterizes, not only |
| chapter 6, but the rest of the book of Revelation. |
| One common assumption is to say that the first horseman is |
| the first seal, and the second horseman is the second seal, and |
| so on. But no. Notice closely Rev. 6:1-2. The horsmen are |
| NOT the seals. The horsemen are what come out of the book |
| once the seals are opened by Lamb of God. |
| This is vital to see. It sets the entire book of Revelation in |
| order. The horsemen come out of the book which no man was |
| worthy to open. They come out of the book which was held by |
| God Almighty Himself. They come out of a book which contains |
| unspeakable glory -- such that all of heaven lamented because |
| no man could open and gain access to it's contents. In other |
| words, these horsemen are part of what is contained in this |
| wonderful book. They are part of what the Lamb of God was |
| worthy to read, look upon, and to loose. |
| Do you realize what this means? It means that the horsemen, |
| and everything else which comes forth from the book, are good |
| things. They are things which were held in the hand of God |
| Himself, which only Jesus Christ could make available. |
| And the seals? Well, they are what KEEP BACK what is in the |
| book. They are what locks us out of gaining access to the things |
| of God. Not surprisingly, only Jesus can break those seals. And |
| as He does so, He is pictured as the Lamb which was slain. |
| Things are now becoming clear. The book which was in the |
| hand of God contains all that God has for us. Yet these things |
| are sealed. They are locked away; bound up. Only by His |
| victory as the Lamb of God through the Redemption was Jesus |
| able to "break" the seals. And the result is the release of all that |
| is in that book; everything which God held in His right hand. |
| We see this in verse 5:9: "Thou art worthy to take the book, |
| and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and has |
| redeemed us to God by Thy Blood out of every kindred, and |
| tongue, amd people, and nation." That's WHY He was worthy. |
| Because of His redeeming work. |
| What we see here is a picture. It is a picture of the Lamb of |
| God destroying, through His Redemption, all that kept us from |
| God. It is an allegory showing Jesus Christ breaking the power |
| of the Devil, the power of the flesh, and the curse of death. |
| Those are contained within the seven seals. And once Jesus |
| breaks them, all which these things held back come forth. |
| The Truth is, the remainder of the book of Revelation is simply |
| the seven seals being broken, and the blessings being released |
| from the book upon us. Therefore, once we discover this Truth |
| about what Jesus is doing, the rest of the book is defined. |
| The book of Revelation is foremost a picture of the redemptive |
| work of Jesus Christ. It shows the impact of Jesus finished work |
| upon man, in his journey back to God. Some of this impact is |
| pictured negatively, such as in the four horseman. That's |
| because there is a warfare, and a victory to be worked out in |
| practical living. And this isn't all that pleasant to the flesh. But |
| the end result is that the kingdoms of this earth -- of me -- |
| become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. And |
| thankfully, He shall reign forever and ever! Amen. |