Worship the Lamb

1. Who Is Worthy?

Vv. 1-5 — 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. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 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.”

We are still in the throne room of God. On the throne sits the all-powerful Creator, the sovereign Lord and Ruler of his creation. But there is work to be done to rescue and restore his creation. God created humans in his image to run his world, and live in an intimate fellowship with, and glorify Him. But they failed and let God down. Because of human disobedience and sin, Satan and his evil forces took a hold of the world. There is work to be done to overthrow Satan and the forces that are destroying God’s creation. So God called Israel to be his true and faithful people to put his rescue plan into operation. But Israel too has failed and let God down. What will He do now? How will God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven?

In his right hand, his hand of power and authority, God holds a scroll. It contains His plan to judge and save the world. It is his rescue plan to overthrow the world-destroying forces, defeat evil once and for all, save his people, and restore his creation. The rest of Revelation tells us how God brings about the fulfillment of his plan written in the scroll. It is written on both sides pointing to the full, comprehensive, and perfect nature of God’s salvation plan. It is sealed with seven seals telling us that its contents are true and valid. The scroll declares God’s will.

But who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll? Who is worthy and able to execute God’s will? The entire universe hangs in the balance as the search continues for someone capable of unfolding the final stages of God’s plan for human history. And not a single creature has either the authority or ability to break the seals and look in the scroll. All created beings lack the power. No one is worthy. We nor the world can save ourselves. We are part of the problem. We cannot save ourselves from the slavery of sin and the curse of death. There is only One who saves, redeems, judges, and will bring in the end and the new creation.

But who? The universe appears to lack a champion and so John weeps. This is no mere shedding of tears or softly crying. This is weeping and wailing that expresses deep-seated grief and mourning for what is lost. The mere thought that God’s plan to bring about his final kingdom might go unrealized drives John to despair. Can nothing be done?

But already the plan to wipe away all tears from all eyes has begun. “Don’t weep. Look,” says one of the elders. Here is the one who can do it.” The Lion of the tribe of Judah. This refers back to Jacob’s blessing over his son, identifying the tribe of Judah as the royal line. It signifies Jesus’s power and strength as a mighty warrior and ruler (Gen 49:9-10). He is the Messiah, the Root of David (Is 11:1,10). This echoes the promise that the ideal ruler would come from the root of Jesse. He is worthy to open the scroll. He is worthy and able to fulfill God’s plan because he has triumphed.

2. The Lion is the Lamb!

Vv. 6-10 — Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

Now we come to one of the most decisive moments in the Bible. This is the heart of the gospel and of Revelation. This is the great paradox of the gospel message and the Christian faith. John hears the Lion but he sees the Lamb, and not any lamb, the slaughtered Lamb. The two seem radically different. The lion is the symbol of ultimate power and supreme royalty, while the lamb symbolizes both gentle vulnerability and sacrifice through the ultimate weakness of death. This is one of the most beautiful mixed metaphors in the Bible. The Lion is the Lamb! The slaughtered Lamb!

Lamb combines the images of the Passover lamb (Ex 11-12) and the Suffering Servant lamb of Is. 52:13-53:12. Jesus has conquered not by physical power and force like a lion. As the royal Messiah, Jesus wages a war against evil but the major weapon that defeats God’s enemies is the cross. The victory won by the lion is accomplished through the sacrifice of the lamb, by enduring hostility, suffering, and dying.

What has been accomplished by the Lamb’s sacrifice is not merely the wiping away of sin for a few people here and there. This victory was won over all the forces of corruption and death, over everything that would destroy God’s creation. This is the central message of Revelation. The crucial event of all time is the sacrifice on the cross. That was the decisive victory which has ensured the final triumph of God’s mission and his people over all the forces opposed to them. The great victory over Satan has already occurred. The final battle in the end is the culmination, the completion, and fulfillment of this victory that was already won on the cross. All of history depends on the cross, the central event in God’s plan of salvation.

That Jesus overcomes through dying challenges our ways of doing things. We like to gain political or social power and dictate God’s terms from the top down. Some think God’s will is to be done in a lion-like fashion, through brute force and violence, to make the world come into line with God’s will. By contrast, Jesus shows us that true victory comes in sacrifice and weakness. Jesus’ army of followers must imitate his example. God will deal with and judge the unbelieving, unrepentant world. Our calling is to proclaim the gospel, to show them God’s love and so call them to faith in Jesus.

Jesus the Lion-Lamb is worthy because of his victorious death and resurrection. He is risen, alive, exalted, and standing at the center of the throne where he rules with God and from where he executes God’s plan. The Lamb has seven horns indicating his divine authority, power, and strength. His seven eyes are the seven spirits of God, the Holy Spirit. The Father and Jesus sent the Holy Spirit into the world to carry out God’s mission and to empower the church for God’s mission.

With his blood, the Lamb bought, and redeemed, a multicultural people for God. The promise of Ex. 19:5–6 that Israel would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation is now fulfilled in the church. God’s people, drawn from all nations, now constitute a kingdom and priests (see Rev. 1:5–6; 20:6; cf. 1 Pet. 2:9). We are liberated from slavery to sin and Satan, free to enter into God’s kingdom and his new creation. Plagues will fall on this disobedient world as we see in Rev. 6-16, but just as the blood of the Passover lamb saved Israel (Ex 12:23), so Jesus’ blood will protect his people during God’s judgments on humanity (Rev 7:3). Jesus’ victory is the new exodus (Rev 15:3), and Jesus himself is the new Lamb (1 Cor 5:7).

We are the multicultural body of Christ. This should caution us against any form of ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is when we consider our own ethnicity, culture, race, or nationality as superior to others. We look at and judge others through the glasses of our own identity and we don’t acknowledge, respect, or honor theirs. We look down on them, reject them, oppress them, or take life away from them because of their race, color, tribe, culture, faith, or nationality. God loves and cares for all peoples. He demands that we love fellow believers and unbelievers across racial and cultural lines, love them enough to hear their perspectives, and listen to their stories, especially on issues that prevent life and dignity as God intended for them. We are all kingdom citizens. We must transcend all these barriers to show the world God’s kingdom and give them a foretaste of heaven.

The Lamb did not just rest rescue. He turned us from hopeless rebels into useful servants, from sin-slaves into a kingdom and priests. From nothing into royalty. We are now kingdom citizens. This is our story. The Lamb has set us free to stop being spectators and to start being actors and heroes in God’s story. We serve God in worship and in enduring faithful witness. The death of the Lamb shows us the depth of his love for us. It gives us assurance and a model for how we should practice Christian love. What is our response to the Lamb?

3. Worship the Lamb

We must worship the Lamb. The four living beings and the 24 elders fall down before and worship the Lamb. This is a joyful celebration with musical instruments. They sing a new song that celebrates the new, mighty, marvelous things God is doing in Christ. Just as God the Father is worthy because He created all things, so now the Lamb is praised as worthy because he was slain and redeemed God’s people. The new song also celebrates the new status of God’s people.

They hold golden bowls full of incense, the prayers of the believers, God’s people. These prayers are not only worship but also the prayers bought before God by the persecuted and suffering church praying for justice and vindication. Our prayers because of our present suffering are heard in heaven by God. Our worship is pleasing to God and He receives our prayers as incense, an aroma that is pleasing to Him.

Vv. 11-14 — Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Now a multitude of angels, uncountable, join the worship around the throne. Their song proclaims what the Lamb is worthy to receive. The Lamb demonstrates his power and strength by conquering evil through his sacrificial death. His wealth points to Him as the giver of life. Christ is the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24,30; Col 2:3) . It speaks of his willingness to execute God’s salvation plan through the cross and resurrection. The worshippers respond by giving the Lamb honor and glory and praise. The worship normally reserved for God is now offered to Christ the Lamb.

And now, all of creation worship God and the Lamb together. This affirms the full divinity of Jesus and his oneness with God. The Lion-Lamb shares the throne of the one God. He has won the victory. He is fulfilling God’s plans to save his world and restore his sovereign rule. He brings about God’s kingdom on earth as in heaven. In response, the four living creatures affirm the worship with “Amen.” This is God’s will for the world. And the elders fall down in worship yet again.

This vision should inspire us to worship Jesus Christ the Lamb as God. Worship enables us to keep our focus on God and what He is doing in Christ. Worship transforms us into living sacrifices for God and keeps us from conforming to the world. Worship empowers us to persevere in faithful witness.

This vision of worship also cautions us against becoming too casual or flippant in our relationship with Jesus. Sadly, there are many Christians who think of Jesus purely in terms of their own comfort and hope. They fail completely to see the sheer scope of his majesty, the sweep of his glory. Many are content to have Jesus around for particular ‘spiritual’ purposes, but continue to assign riches, power, strength, wisdom, glory, honor, and praise to earthly forces, rulers, and even themselves. Yes, He considers us his friends (John 15:13–15), but he cannot be reduced to our private god tasked with meeting our every demand. Jesus does not exist to serve us. We exist to serve and glorify Him. On the cross, He bought us with his blood. He saved us, not simply to go to heaven someday but to pray, worship, and serve God as priests; to serve and rule the world as kingdom citizens. He is the resurrected and exalted Lion-Lamb who is enthroned with God and worthy of universal worship. We worship the Lamb as the Lord God Almighty, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Come, Lord Jesus!