In the good old days the only thing I had to worry about losing, besides my mind, was my keys. To be honest with you, keys are enough of a challenge for me. I can recall, let’s just say, more than once, when my keys were mistakenly locked in our car or in the house. One time I locked myself out of my office and I had to get Sheila to come from work to let me back in. But now, I long for those days when keys were the only think that locked out you out of where you needed to go.
Now we all use computers and the internet and security are an issue so we have to deal with passwords. Now we are told that the best way to make sure that you don’t run into security problems is that you use a different password for each account. Of course most people don’t do that, in fact according to PCMagazine the ten most common passwords are:
1. password
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace1
8. password1
9. link182
10. (your first name)
The seventh in the list, “myspace1” lets you know that this list comes from 2007. I assume it’s probably been replaced by “facebook1”.
With passwords like these, no wonder so many people get hacked, but the problem with someone like me, who tried a bit harder to use a variety of passwords, is that a variety of passwords can get confusing and easy to forget. What this means is that you just get locked out of a lot of accounts until you go through the process of having them reset your password, which includes trying to read those stupid Captcha characters that they make you try and figure out before they will send you a new temporary password. I hate those things!
Of course such frustration is nothing in comparison to forgetting your computer password or having your computer password get corrupted. Things get much more difficult if you can’t even get into Windows. If you ever find yourself in that kind of a situation, it really is a crisis with no easy way out.
Please turn with me to Revelation 5:1-14
For the past couple of weeks we’ve talked about John’s second vision. In this second vision, we’ve been given a glimpse into the reality of God’s throne room. In chapter four we’ve seen how worshipping God brings order into our lives. When we give Him the proper attention and focus in worship, the chaos of our lives finds its proper context. Problems always get smaller when our focus on God gets larger. Hope leaks in. Heavenly light finds a crack in the busy, chaotic, darkness of our earthly reality and peace washes over us.
Today we move into chapter 5 and our glimpse of God’s heavenly control room shifts to a crisis. And this crisis is far worse than lost keys or lost passwords that only stop our intended progress for a time. This is a crisis dealing with God’s plan. God’s plan must move forward. The war room needs to implement the scenarios that will bring the desired outcome of victory to God’s people and an end to the cosmic war, but the plan is stalled and if the plan is stalled in Heaven, those who are on earth have no hope. Beginning with verse 1 we read:
“Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. [Let’s stop there for now]
Thus far John has been focused on the throne and the One who sits on the throne, but now his focus changes to a scroll God is holding in His right hand. The fact that the scroll is in God’s right hand suggests that this is a scroll that has something to do with God’s powerful activity—particularly in the context of deliverance and salvation.
In Exodus 15, for example, in the song of Moses, God’s right hand delivers the Israelites from Pharaoh and his armies, and executes justice by drowning the army in the Red Sea. So this scroll has something to do with both salvation and justice.
Next, the scroll is similar to the one that Ezekiel describes in his vision in Ezekiel 2:9-10. That scroll has words written on both sides as well, but it wasn’t sealed with seven seals like the scroll in Revelation. Now, in the Ezekiel passage, we are told that the scroll contained a message from God to His people that Ezekiel was enlisted to proclaim.
In a similar fashion, Exodus 32:15-16 describes the two stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were engraved as “inscribed on sides, front and back.” These tablets were, of course, “the very works and words of God, engraved on the tablets.”
Now what is interesting is that scrolls were usually one-sided. They had a good side in which the fibres were arranged in a horizontal fashion. This made it much easier to write on. The other side would have a grain that was vertical and much more difficult to write on.
Now in all three of these examples we have writing on both sides. What is the significance of having the writing on both sides? It is simply this: the scroll contains God’s plan and nothing needs to be added to God’s plan, so there is no room for any additions or changes. God’s plan is perfect and complete.
Now what is the significance of the seals? Well, interestingly enough, Roman law required last wills and testaments to be sealed with the seals of seven witnesses.
A seal is a blob of wax placed over the edge of the scroll and then stamped with a signet ring or some other mark of the witness. The scroll could not be opened without breaking the seal and the seal was only to be broken by the appropriate or designated person.
If John intends for his readers to think of the scroll with the seven seals as a will, then the scroll is the “Last Will and Testament of God.” Now what is a “Last Will and Testament”? It is a legal document that defines who it is that becomes your personal representative to carry out your wishes. It also defines who will inherit your property and how they will inherit it. And of course, it is to be opened only when it is time to have the contents of the will put into effect.
Now, in the book of Daniel, Daniel is commanded to: “. . . close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end.”(Daniel 12:4) Then a bit further down, when God has finished revealing all that would take place to finalize the will of God, Daniel is confused and he asks, "My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?" 9 He replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.” (Daniel 12:8-9)
In Daniel you have a scroll, recording the events of the last days, which was sealed. In Revelation 5 you have a scroll with seven seals that needs to be opened. The message is clear: the end times have come. God’s final will was about to be fulfilled. God’s plan was entering its final stage. All that has to happen is that someone has to open it.
Think about this image of a will: God has specific wishes that He desires to be finally and fully accomplished with His possession and what exactly is His possession? All that He has created! In fact, we have already been told what His possession is because in chapter 4 we have the four living beings that represent all of creation and we have the twenty-four elders that represent all of God’s people past, present and future, from both the Old and New Testament periods.
So here we have this moment in God’s throne room. The scroll is in God’s right hand. Now is the time for deliverance and judgment. Now is the time for God’s wishes, in both His creation and among His people, to be fulfilled. Before God’s will can be accomplished, His will must be opened and revealed.
But there is a problem. The call for one who is worthy to break the seals is proclaimed throughout all of creation, in heaven, on earth, and even under the earth, and no one is found worthy! —the Greek word translated as “worthy” speaks of worthiness in status and character. No one is worthy. No one has the status or character.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I kind of expected that no one would be worthy on earth to open the scroll. That is not a big shock for me—but no one is worthy in heaven! How can that be? No wonder John weeps! The Greek word translated “wept and wept” is a strong word. It is an inconsolable weeping that comes from the bottom of your soul and it spills out without any control.
Think about it: the One who sits on the throne is ready to reveal His complete and final will for all of God’s creation and all of God’s people, but no one is worthy to open that scroll. What does that mean? God’s will couldn’t be accomplished. No wonder John wept!
Maybe, just maybe, some of those feelings that sometimes slipped into John’s thoughts after a particular harsh day of abuse on Patmos, just before he fell asleep, were all true. No one is worthy, so it’s game over. John was on His own—abandoned, weak, vulnerable, unprotected—with a future that would never be realized.
Jesus’ last message to the church in Laodicea was that their faith was “useless”. Maybe, just maybe, John’s faith was useless and so was everyone else's, because no one was worthy to reveal God’s will.
It is so easy to jump over John’s weeping here. After all, we know that there is One who is worthy and we immediate say, “Hey John, hold on buddy, everything is going to be OK.” But, experience John utter despair for a moment—not because it is morbid, or dark, or uncomfortable. Do it because it is our reality as well. Without One who is worthy we are all doomed. Without One who is able to reveal God’s plan and then, as the executor of that plan, bring it into reality, we should all just weep. We should weep because we are lost and battered and without hope. There is nothing you can do to bring forth God’s desired plan—you are already damaged goods. You are part of the problem—not the solution, and that goes for me as well, and everyone else: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
But then we come to verse 5. If it wasn’t for verse 5 we wouldn’t have a reason to be alive. ‘Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."’
Notice who it is that comforts John with the news: it isn’t the angel; it’s one of the twenty-four elders. It is one of those who represent God’s people. It is one of those who have experienced first-hand the triumph of the lion of the tribe of Judah.
Now both the title “Lion of Judah” and the “Root of David” are well-known Messianic titles from the Old Testament that every Jew would have been well-familiar with. The “Lion of Judah” comes from Jacob’s blessing of his son Judah in Genesis 49:8-10.
Beginning in verse 8 we read: "Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you. 9 You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness--who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.
Jews understood Jacob’s words to be a prophecy concerning the Messiah. First, he would be a descendant of David, who himself was a descendant of Judah. Second, the Messiah would be a king because “the sceptre will not depart from Judah.” Finally, he would be a “lion,” a powerful warrior like his ancestor Judah.
Then we have the title “Root of David” No first century Jew would miss the reference, or fail to understand "the Root of David," a phrase which, as in 22:16, echoes the great messianic prophecy of Isaiah 11:1-10. As we read this, note that this passage contains seven characteristics of the Spirit. Beginning with verse 1 we read:
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD-- 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. (Isaiah 11:1-10)
Both titles give us a picture the Messiah as a mighty warrior—a soldier like David and a “king of beasts” like the lion. So when one of the twenty-four elders in Revelation 5 introduces Christ as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” and “the Root of David,” the next thing we expect to see is Christ appearing in the form of a conquering king. After all, the Messiah, it was thought, would fight the decisive battle against the last great enemy of God's people and so liberate them once and for all.
But then something unexpected happens. Notice that all that has happened thus far is that John has heard a description of the One who is worthy to open the scroll. John has been told, by the elder, that the One who is worthy is this powerful, military Messianic-King who has come to subdue the nations. That is the image that John has heard, but then he turns around and sees a lamb.
Continuing in verse 6 we read: Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
What John has heard is the announcement of the lion. What he then sees is the lamb. Not only is this a lamb, but it is a lamb that looks like it has been slain.
There are two different possibilities for this image of the "slain lamb." Some prefer to see it is a reference to the Old Testament Passover Lamb. The context clearly points to this possibility, after all, in Revelation 6-16, plagues are going to fall on the world, but just like the blood of the Passover Lamb saved Israel from the final plagues (Exodus 12:23) so will Jesus’ blood protect His people during God’s judgments on humanity (Rev 7:3).
More than that, it was the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb that brought forth the Exodus with the result being, as it is recorded in Exodus 19:6: “You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites." And in verse 9 and 10 of Revelation 5 we read: And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
So the connections between the slain lamb and the Passover Lamb are strong. Both provide protection from God’s judgement on the disobedient world and both result in transforming God’s people into a kingdom of priests.
At the same time others point to Isaiah 53:7: “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” The significance of the connection with Isaiah 53 is that it speaks clearly as to the purpose for His death: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6)
I think it is clear that both of these Old Testament images fit the image of the slain lamb. The slain lamb brings both salvation and victory and that is why you have this image that John hears is a lion and he sees is a lamb. These two images don’t seem to go together at first. The lion is the symbol both of ultimate power and of supreme royalty, while the lamb symbolizes both gentle vulnerability and, through its sacrifice, the ultimate weakness of death.
This is such an important thing for us to understand. By using this two-stage approach of hearing one thing and seeing another, John’s vision makes a powerful point: the victory won by the lion is accomplished through the sacrifice of the lamb. Or, to put it another way, what has been accomplished by the lamb’s sacrifice is a lion-like victory. The Messiah-King, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of Jesse, conquered all the forces of corruption and death that would seek to destroy God good and glorious creation. And how did this lion bring such a complete and utter victory? It is by being an obedient human being willing to be sacrificed in our place.
Think about it: why was no one found on earth or in heaven or even under the earth who was worthy to open the scroll that would reveal God’s complete and final will for His creation? It was because no one on earth was free of corruption and no one in Heaven was representative of the humanity. The only person worthy to open the scroll is the one who can carry out the plan that is written within it and that person must be a sinless human being, willing to be sacrificed, and thus carry out the divine will of the One who sits on the throne. The only one who is worthy is the One who is both divine and human, powerful and perfect—willing to gain victory through their sacrifice—being a lion through being a lamb that was slain.
Sometimes people paint Jesus as just a political leader that got in the way of Rome or in the way of the Jewish religious establishment. They don’t understand the irony of the title above the cross which read “King of the Jews.” Jesus was never more the conquering King than when He hung on the cross because that one act won the war. The lion won the war by becoming a lamb that was slain.
Notice verse 9: And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
Jesus was worthy to take the scroll, not because He is the Son of God, but rather, it was because he was slain. And why does the fact that He was slain that makes Him worthy?—Because through that sacrifice He has purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. In other words, it is through this sacrifice, God has accomplished the new exodus, out of the slavery and corruption of this world and into the new kingdom—the beginning of the new heaven and new earth. Jesus is worthy because it is only His sacrifice for our sins that is capable of carrying out the will of God in restoring what has been corrupted by evil and sin.
There is so much more in chapter 5 we could talk about, but we will have to save that for next week.
For now, what do I want you to consider as we close today?
First, lamb is John’s favourite description of Jesus in Revelation. He uses it twenty-seven times referring to Christ. Why is that? It would make sense in John’s Gospel, but does that make sense here in Revelation? In Revelation Jesus is shown to be the victorious-Warrior-King who brings God’s Will to its complete fulfilment. One day evil will be completely removed, there will be no more sin, or suffering or sorrow. There will be a new heaven and a new earth with God’s people living in perfect harmony and fellowship with God and each other and Christ, powerful and triumphant in His accomplishments, is the one who competes every bit of God’s will. So why use lamb to describe this Warrior-King, when Jesus’ cross is in the past?
Think about it, John begins his gospel by introducing Jesus as “the word” because John wants to clearly declare Jesus’ deity, without any confusion whatsoever, but after he does that in chapter 1, he no longer refers to Jesus as the Word. Why doesn’t John do the same thing in Revelation? Why doesn’t he establish the power of Jesus’ victory on the cross and then just move on to describing Jesus in more warrior-like, regal terms—particularly when that is the very role that Jesus is accomplishing in Revelation?
It’s because you cannot separate what happened on the cross from what will bring God’s will to its complete fulfilment. Remember the last days go from Christ’s first coming to His second coming, why?—because His first coming brings the victory that will be completed in His Second Coming. In other words, the Lion is the Lamb. God brings transformational victory through the Lamb who was slain.
What does this mean for you? It means that as a follower of Christ, you not only need to be in constant contact with the lamb who was slain for your sins. You have to also live a life that knows that victory comes through sacrifice and death. You don’t win anything by being a worldly, warrior king. Real kingdom victory only comes through death and sacrifice. We have to die to self and we have to learn to sacrifice for others in order to gain any real and lasting victory. So instead of pushing your weight around, pick up the cross and follow Christ.
More than that, notice what God’s plan involves. In verse 10 it involves us becoming a kingdom of priest to serve God. Jesus didn’t just redeem us so that we can sit around waiting for His return. We are not redeemed to become irrelevant. We are redeemed to become God’s agents in this world. Finally, instead of being part of the problem, we are part of the solution, that is, if we live our lives with Kingdom eyes!
