Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain

Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain

Revelation 5:11-14

Who is this Jesus who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday morning? The answer to this question means everything. Some see the resurrection as being a spiritual event. For some, this is something short of a literal resurrection. These might say that Jesus lives in our hearts in the way we have fond memories of those who meant so much in our lives. As long as we can remember grandma, her memories live in us, therefore grandma is alive in us. As long as people read biographies, the person lives in our mind. In this view, death comes when the book is relegated to the ash bin of history. Other people might believe that the re is a literal spirit of Jesus. But the Scriptures confess that Jesus rose bodily from the dead. It was a spiritual body as Paul asserts in 1 Corinthians 15:36-49, but it is still a body. Jesus invited His apostles to touch His body. He was no ghost. He broke real bread and ate real fish with them. As the firstfruits from the dead who arose on the Jewish holiday of firstfruits, His resurrection becomes a prototype of our bodily resurrection. Without a bodily resurrection, Christianity is meaningless. If it is only an object of mental stimulation or emotional catharsis, it isn’t real. That kind of faith leads to death. when the theologians get bored, or when the emotionally involved find another love, Christ dies again, hoping to be raised in someone’s else’s heart.

“Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.” This is part of our confession that we make in communion. This hope is based upon the reality of these events. They produce a living faith within us. It makes us immovable and always abounding on the work of the Lord. Why? —because we know our faith in the Lord is not in vain.

Who is this Jesus who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday morning? Some of those who confess that Jesus rose bodily from the dead say that Jesus was only a glorified man or perhaps a lesser God. People like Arius or groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses hold to this. But is this all? What does Scripture say about the risen Lord? Just as the Scriptures teach the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead, they also teach the full divinity of Jesus, the Son of God. We confess one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who are equally God. Matthew 28:16-20 is perhaps the most explicit statement of this equality of the three persons. But the Book of Revelation is crystal clear is asserting the full divinity of Jesus Christ. He calls Himself the Alpha and the Omega. He calls himself the Almighty (pantokrator). Those who say that it is actually the Father speaking here should also note that this voice that John sees also says: “I am He that liveth, and was dead, And behold, I am alive for evermore. (Revelation 1:18). God the Father did not die, but the Son on the cross. Therefore the One who speaks, to whom the revelation was given and is also the revealed is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

But Revelation also show forth Jesus’ humanity. The initial vision of the glorified Jesus was so overwhelming, that John fell at His feet as dead. This feeling of being undone is common in the Scripture when man comes into the full presence of God such as in Isaiah 6. Then it says that Jesus touched Him to encourage the frightened apostle. Touch is a human element. Jesus was telling John that He was the same Jesus who walked the roads of Galilee with him. (Revelation 1:17)

In today’s text for the Third Sunday of Easter, we fast forward to Revelation 5:11-14 in which we see another picture of the risen and ascended Christ. When I read this text, I think of Handel’s Messiah. The final piece in the oratorio is “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.” Most people are more familiar with the famous “Hallelujah Chorus” which is also take from texts in Revelation. The Hallelujah Chorus is indeed majestic and worshipful. But is occurs in the middle of the oratorio. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain occurs as the final piece followed by a long series of amens. This is God’s final word for us.

What John sees here is a glimpse of God’s will being done in heaven. We don’t know whether John’s vision was a contemporary vision of heaven in his time or if John is seeing a vision at the end of time. Regardless, this is what heaven will be like as God does not change. We need to contrast this to the chaos John saw on earth in his time. The same is true for our time as well. We long for the day when we see God’s will being done openly on earth even as it is in heaven. The Book of Revelation tells us how we get there. This is not to say that God’s will is not currently being done on earth, but much of this seems hidden to us by the evil which surrounds us. By God giving John the glimpses of the heavenly throne, it serves as an encouragement to both him and us. God is in control.