Who is Worthy?

Throughout history, there have been many conquerors and empires that have sought to rule the world. We can think of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, Alexander the Great and Greece, the Roman Empire, and Genghis Khan. In more recent history, we’ve seen men like Napoleon, Lenin, and Hitler. In the future, the Antichrist will take the stage as a powerful conqueror seeing to create a one world government. All of these people (and many others) have one thing in common: They failed. So who is worthy to have the right to rule over all the earth? That’s what this chapter reveals to us.

[Read Revelation 5]

One day, Jesus Christ will take what is rightfully His, and that is the central theme of John’s vision in this chapter.

I. The Sealed Scroll (5:1-4)

--The right hand is the place of power and authority. The fact that there was writing on both sides of the scroll is a callback to Ezekiel 2, where the scroll the prophet received also had writing on both sides. It wasn’t common practice to write on both sides of a scroll. The reason there is writing on both sides of the scroll is because God had much to say, and because He has said all there is to say. No one needs to add to God’s Word. It is sufficient as it is.

--These were not seven writings each separated by a seal, but these seven seals were on one scroll. All seven seals had to be opened before the scroll could be read, which is what chapter 6 primarily deals with.

--What is written on this scroll? There has been a lot of speculation by scholars and commentators, but we have to be careful about trying to speak definitively in areas where the Bible doesn’t speak definitively. There are some who have tried to argue that this is the title deed to the earth, which sounds like it fits thematically because the coming tribulation ends with Christ ruling on the earth. They say that God gave the “deed” to mankind back in Genesis 1, when He gave man dominion over the earth, but then man lost it to Satan in the Garden of Eden. Their basis for this claim is that the devil is called the prince of this world or the god of this world on a few occasions in the New Testament.

--Those who ascribe to this theory reference an event in Jeremiah 32:6-15 [Read verses]. In this passage, Jeremiah’s cousin Hanameel is desperate to sell a field he owned in Jeremiah’s hometown of Anathoth, a small town only a few miles outside of Jerusalem. Hanameel knew that once the Babylonians conquered Judah, he would lose this plot of ground, so he’s aiming to make a last-minute profit off of its sale. God told Jeremiah to go ahead and buy the field as a sign that the Babylonian captivity would not be permanent, but it would once again be owned and inhabited by the Jews. After signing the deed, there was a copy made that was sealed as evidence that the field now belonged to Jeremiah.

--Those who don’t hold to the idea that this scroll is a title deed of the earth say that the Bible still declares multiple times that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. Plus, the Father holds the title deed in His hand. It hasn’t been lost to anyone.

--There are some who claim that this scroll is God’s final will and testament for the present universe since the book of Revelation ends with the new heavens and the new earth. This is based on a Roman custom that wills were sealed seven times, each from a witness to the validity of the will. The basic idea is that God has a scroll in which the history of the universe has already been written in advance, and He holds it in His hand until history’s climax.

--Regardless of what is written on this scroll, it is important to remember that the emphasis here is not on the content of the scroll, but on the seven seals and the One who is worthy to open them. John makes it clear that literally no one in worthy other than Jesus Christ. It says that they searched everywhere to find someone worthy but came up empty until Jesus showed up.

--When they can’t find anyone worthy to open the scroll, John begins to weep. This is the only time we see tears in the book of Revelation except when it says that God will wipe away all tears from our eyes. This was something worth weeping over because without Christ, all hope is lost. Without Christ, sin’s curse will destroy us. Without Christ, only an eternity in hell awaits us. Thankfully, this isn’t the end of the story.

II. The Sufficient Savior (5:5-7)

--The basis for Jesus Christ being considered worthy to open the seven seals is His death on the cross followed by His resurrection, as well as the salvation it purchased for us. One of the elders calls Him the Lion of the tribe of Judah, which echoes back to the Messianic prophecy that Jacob gave to his son back in Genesis 49:8-10, which says, “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” He also calls Him the Root of David, which references Isaiah 11:10, another Messianic prophecy. “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”

--The elder calls Jesus a Lion, but John sees a Lamb. Even in the midst of all the splendor and wonder described in chapters 4 and 5, John’s eyes can’t help but be drawn to Christ. He is the centerpiece of heaven. Jesus is only referred to as a Lamb once in the Old Testament (in Isaiah 53:7) and four times elsewhere in the New Testament, but He is called the Lamb 31 times in Revelation. The lion is a symbol of strength and majesty as the king of beasts. The lamb is gentle and a symbol of sacrifice, especially since Christ still bears the marks of His sacrifice. The Greek word John uses here even specifies this is a little lamb. Few things are more fearsome than a lion, while few things could be less intimidating than a little lamb. It is fitting that Jesus is simultaneously a symbol of both power and gentleness, both majesty and sacrificial love.

-- John describes Him as a Lamb as it had been slain, meaning that Jesus still bears the wounds from the cross in His body, although they no longer harm Him. The idea is that the sacrifice of Christ is still fresh and viable in the eyes of the Father. There is nothing stagnant or outdated about His work on the cross. As the song says, His blood will never lose its power.

--Even though Jesus is seen as a Lamb, He is not meant to be viewed as an object of pity. He is alive even after His sacrifice. He has seven horns, representing His omnipotence (seven being the number of completion and horns being a symbol of strength in the Bible) and seven eyes, representing His omniscience. The seven Spirits going throughout the whole earth represent His omnipresence.

--Jesus being able to take the scroll from the Father’s hand indicates a transfer of authority and an acknowledgement that He is indeed worthy to open the scroll and release the contents within. The vision that began in chapter 4 has been building up to this moment. This is what all of history has been building up to: The moment when Jesus Christ comes forward to claim what is rightfully His. The final step in God’s unfolding plan of redemption is about to be put into action as He judges the world in righteousness and then restores the paradise that Adam and Eve lost.

III. The Singing Saints (5:8-14)

--At the end of Revelation 4, God is praised as Creator. Here at the end of Revelation 5, Christ is praised as Redeemer. All the groups in heaven—the beasts, the elders, the angels, and all of creation itself—can’t help but break out in song in anticipation at the prospect of what Jesus is about to do. He is about to accomplish the long-awaited defeat of sin, death, and the devil.

--The fact that the elders and beasts offer the same worship to Christ that they did to the Father in the previous chapter is strong proof of Christ’s deity because only God is to be worshipped. Charles Spurgeon said, “Depend upon it, my hearer, you never will go to heaven unless you are prepared to worship Jesus Christ as God. They are all doing it there: you will have to come to it, and if you entertain the notion that he is a mere man, or that he is anything less than God, I am afraid you will have to begin at the beginning and learn what true religion means. You have a poor foundation to rest upon. I could not trust my soul with a mere man, or believe in an atonement made by a mere man: I must see God himself putting his hand to so gigantic a work.”

--The prayers of the saints are explicitly symbolized here as being golden vials that are full of fragrance. This speaks of the exceptional value of our prayers in the eyes of God and how pleasing it is to Him when we pray. This verse makes it clear that the Lord loves to hear His people pray. It is also worth noting that the elders present the prayers of the saints. They do not function as mediators or intercessors like the Roman Catholic church teaches. As we know from I Timothy 2:5, there is only one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

--Worship in heaven is accompanied by music here. This verse is what started that stereotype that everyone in heaven plays harps.

--The song says that God has redeemed people from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. God wants all people everywhere to be saved. It doesn’t matter who they are, where they’re from, or what they’re background is. The song is enhanced by the diversity of those gathered in heaven singing, much like an orchestra is enhanced by the variety of instruments in it. Imagine the great encouragement this must have been for the apostle John to see during a time when the church was going through a period of intense persecution and threatening to be stamped out by the Emperor Domitian.

--We are kings because we have been born again into the royal family of God, and this is why we will reign with Christ. We are priests because we need no other intercessor or mediator but Christ.

--The elders sing a song of redemption, but the angels do not. They are not the subjects of redemption. They are merely careful observers of God’s work of saving mankind. The angels praise Him for all the things Christ received in return for His death on the cross, not the things they received.

--This scene looks ahead to the fulfillment of Philippians 2:9-11, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

--After all of this, the lingering question hanging in the air is: Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? Will you one day be a part of this wonderful scene in heaven? If you’re not, God wants you to be there, and He has made a way for you to be there through the blood of His Son.