Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

OK, we have a scroll — a Last Will and Testament that describes all that will happen as God once-and-for-all eradicates evil and gives His bride her inheritance. We, His bride, are sitting at the edge of our collective seat, waiting to know what’s in there. So are the hosts of Heaven (the four living creatures and the elders).

  But the scroll is sealed! Who is qualified to break the seven seals?

  When one of the elders told John that “the Lion” would open the scroll (v. 5), a strange thing happened. John looked and saw, not a powerful Lion, but a slain Lamb! And it is this Lamb who ultimately breaks the seals. Why was John told it would be a Lion and instead it’s a Lamb?

  Yeah, you are anticipating the answer, I’m sure. We know Jesus is described as both a Lion and a Lamb. But let’s not breeze past the richness of this. The Lion of Judah and the Slaughtered Lamb are one and the same.

  We spent some time a few lessons back understanding the Old Testament’s contrasting descriptions of the Messiah — a powerful conqueror who brings victory and salvation vs. a humble servant who was murdered. Then, and still today, that was a stumbling block to the Jews:

We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but … the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Cor 1:23-24)

  This is what Paul called the “mystery hidden for long ages past” (Romans 16:25-26 and many other places). That the triumphant king and the suffering servant were one and the same person was a mystery until Jesus’ resurrection. Now it made sense: The Slaughtered Lamb was resurrected as a Victorious Lion!

There’s even more irony in this text. The Lion is a Lamb, but this slaughtered Lamb was standing there in the center of the throne, encircled by life and about to perform!

  Everything in the Bible after Genesis 3 is aimed at remedying Genesis 3 (the ..fall..curses..death). Plenty needs done to transform sinful humans into savable creatures, but ultimately the problem of death must be remedied. Death is what Paul called “the last enemy to be destroyed” (1 Corinthians 15:26). Jesus defeated death by becoming humble enough to die and victorious enough to live again. He alone has experienced death and through His own will come out alive in the end. And His purpose now is to destroy death completely for all of us.

  You might ask “what about Elijah? Didn’t he avoid death and live forever?” Well, probably. The Bible is a little unclear on it, but let’s say he did. Fine. There are two important differences: (1) Elijah avoided death; Jesus submitted to it. (2) Elijah lives by God’s will; Jesus lives by His own will.

Side Note: It makes sense that if God’s greatest enemy is death, Satan’s greatest enemy is life. That’s why such topics as abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, and war are so important to Christians. Satan will always wield his power by some destruction of life. But don’t we see God destroying life many times in the Bible? Yes we do — the great flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, and many wars come to mind. But what also we see so frequently is God allowing Satan to use his own powers to defeat his own purposes. Look at the cross! Look at the terrible death and destruction we’ll soon be studying in Revelation! Life belongs to God and death to the devil.

  The Lamb is described as having seven horns (a common symbol of strength and authority — see Deuteronomy 33:17) and seven eyes (which were “the seven spirits of God” — compare also Rev. 3:1 and 4:5).

WHEW! Can you believe we’ve really only talked about verses 5 and 6 so far? I hope you’ll never again be tempted to gloss over something so simple yet so profound as a Lion becoming a living, slain Lamb.

In vv. 7-10, the Lamb took the scroll from the one seated on the throne. Immediately the four living creatures and the elders fell down in front of Him. They were each holding a harp as well as golden bowls, and they began singing a new song.

  This passage suggests that at this point, Christians are still on the earth. How?

• The golden bowls, v. 8 tells us, are full of the prayers of the saints.
• In their song, the Heavenly Hosts praise Jesus for purchasing people “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (vv. 9-10). Those are obviously the ones who are praying the prayers in the bowls.
• If we assume prayer is only necessary on this side of Heaven, the prayers are coming from the earth.

Note that I said this passage “suggests” the church is still here, not that it “proves” it. It’s just one more piece of the puzzle that helps build the picture. John refers to the prophets, saints, and apostles several times later on (11:18; 16:6; 18:24; 18:20). Jews had all of those except apostles. So is it the church they refer to? We’ll study this out at a later time in a more focused way.

  The song they sing is called “new” because its theme is new in Revelation — redemption through Christ. To this point the songs have been about adoring God as holy and praising Him as creator. This new song theme is one among many “new” things in Revelation: a new name given to Christians (2:17; 3:12), a new Jerusalem (3:12; 21:2), a new heaven and a new earth (21:1), and finally a new “everything” (21:5).

In v. 10 we’re told that Jesus made the saints to be both a kingdom and priests. These two concepts aren’t naturally related — one is governmental, the other sacred. But note that the verse says the saints are priests (now) and that they will reign (later). In making us priests, God gave us the freedom to enter the Most Holy Place to praise and worship Him. In making us a kingdom, He gave us the privilege to reign with Him (compare 1 Corinthians 4:8).

Finally, in vv. 11-14, “thousands upon thousands” of angels circled around the throne singing praise to “the slain Lamb.” After this, all of creation joined in (v. 13).

All creation worships God because He is restoring a broken world.