Who Is Worthy?

I. Introduction: This is an amazing chapter!
A. Revelation 5:1–14 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” 6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
B. — Rev.3 ended with Jesus’ letter to the Laodiceans and His plea “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me.” It might make us wonder what happens when that door is opened. Well, chapter 4 begins with the opening of the door, and now Rev.5 continues the story. There’s a lot that is strange in these chapters, but one thing which is clear as day: this is an earth-shakingly big deal, this is not a light, momentary incident. It means to arrest our attention and grip our imagination.
C. There are two halves of our passage this morning:
1. The dramatic search for someone to open the scroll
2. The spectacular worship which ensues after Someone is found to open the scroll
II. The dramatic search for someone to open the scroll (We can’t cover everything; more in notes.)
A. As the curtains open for the second half of this vision, the camera zooms in on God who sits on His throne, and, in particular, what is in God’s hand.
1. It is a scroll, a book. But it isn’t just any scroll. It had two noticeable attributes:
a. It was written on the outside and the inside, meaning it is very full and has lots to say.
b. And it was sealed shut with seven seals, meaning that it is shut tight and there is no access to it. preventing it from being opened. Seven seals = completely sealed
B. Then there appears upon the scene a mighty angel with a big question: Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? But no one steps forward at first. No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.
1. And John began to weep loudly because there was no one to open the scroll or to look into it.
C. And then in silence punctuated only with the sound of weeping, suddenly one of the elders says to John, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
1. And John looks up to behold this Lion but beholds a Lamb instead.
2. The lion was a lamb! Somehow you could tell this lamb had been killed and yet was alive again.
3. You know the significance of a lamb in the Bible, right, especially a slain lamb?
a. Lamb makes us think of sacrifices, whereby a person’s sin would be transferred to the animal and then the animal would be slaughtered and burned on an altar, symbolically being punished for the sin of the person. It is seen vividly in the Passover, when the blood of the slain lamb was painted onto the door of each Israelite household, so that the angel of death would pass over that house.
4. But the lamb we’re introduced to here is not a tame lamb (or lion). He has seven horns! Horns represent power, and seven horns represent ultimate power.
5. — And it has seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
a. — This seems to signify the Holy Spirit poured out upon all flesh, and that through the Spirit the Lamb keeps an eye on all His churches and people throughout the world.
6. — Lion of Judah
a. — When Jacob was blessing his children at the very end of his life, when he came to Judah, in telling him that the kings of Israel would come out of his family, he said in Genesis 49:9 “Judah is a lion’s cub...He crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?”
b. — Jesus, of course, was from the tribe of Judah, and from the kingly line of David, so He is here called the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
7. — The Root of David
a. — Jesus was a descendant of King David and the fulfillment of many divine promises about the messianic son of David. But here Jesus is not referred to as the son or shoot of David, but as the root of David.
b. — This reminds us of the time when Jesus challenged the Pharisees with the question of how the son of David could also be David’s Lord? Matt.22:41-46 (It also reminds us the time when Jesus made basically the same point regarding Abraham in John 8:48-59.)
c. — The point here is basically the same. Isaiah said that Jesus would be a shoot which would grow out of the stump of Jesse, but he also referred to Him as the root of Jesse (Is.11:1, 10).
d. — Jesus came from Jesse, and from David. But David also came from Jesus.
e. — In His humanity, Jesus was the son of David; in His divinity, Jesus was the Father/Creator of David. So, amazingly, Jesus was both the root of David and the shoot of David.
D. Well, it’s obvious that the Lamb who finally comes forward to open the scroll is Jesus.
1. Remember that John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” John 1:29 (Cf. 1Pet 1:19, 1Corinthians 5:7)
2. From this point on, Lamb is the predominant title for Jesus in Revelation (27 occurrences).
3. — Several times “lamb” is even inserting into a citation of the OT in place of the name of the messiah in that prophecy (e.g. “Lamb” replaces the “son of man” of Daniel 7 in Rev.5:6-13, and “Lamb” replaces “the servant of Yahweh” of Is.49:10 in Rev.7:16-17; it is also equated with the “Lord of lords and King of kings” of Dan.4:37 [LXX] in Rev.17:14).
E. But what is the scroll and why was it sealed up? What is the point of the big dramatic question about who can open the scroll? And what is the dramatic silence when no one steps forward who is able to open it? And why was He introduced as a lion but then appeared as a lamb?
1. Well, in order to understand this sealed up scroll, we have to go back to Daniel 12:4, 9 “Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end...for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.” (Cf. Isaiah 29:11)
(1) This implies the unsealing of the book at some point in the future.
2. Well, the meaning and fulfillment of OT messianic prophecies were largely sealed up until “the time of the end.”
a. Even the prophets themselves didn’t understand how their own prophecies were to be fulfilled! (1Pet.1:10-12) Even the angels were struggling to figure it out (1Pet.1:12).
b. Until the right time came for the mystery to be unveiled.
3. This aspect of John’s vision seems closely related the NT theme of mystery.
a. Rom.16:25-27 refers to “the mystery kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed.”
b. Colossians 1:25-28 “I became a minister...to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.” (Cf. 1Cor.4:1 Eph.6:18-19.)
c. Ephesians 3:4-5 “You can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” (Cf. Colossians 2:1-2.)
d. The mystery is God’s plan of redemption, it is Christ, the gospel, the whole package with all the elements of the gospel, including the inclusion of all peoples and the filling of the HS.
4. But the scroll doesn’t just have information in it, it has redemption in it. And opening the scroll means redeeming the world according to all the promises of the OT.
F. OK. So, what is the dramatic delay between the angel’s question and the introduction of the Lion of Judah? It is the period of time between the messianic promises and the coming of Christ.
1. During this time, God’s people languished for the promised salvation to be revealed.
a. O come O come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear!
2. And over time, from the garden of Eden to the prophet Malachi, God kept depositing more and more amazing promises into the treasure chest of messianic anticipation till it was bursting at the seams and raised the question, “How could any person possibly fulfill all this grand expectation?”
3. And the time stretched on and on. They kept thinking the fulfillment was just around the corner. But it kept not happening. The world was languishing without salvation: in hopelessness, darkness, despair, helplessness.
4. The people of Israel kept waiting and waiting, enduring unspeakable suffering & yet, no messiah.
5. This is the reason for John’s tears when no one stepped forward to open the scroll.
6. And then, when the fullness of time had finally come, God sent forth his Son Jesus. – Gal.4:4
7. And all the promises of God found their Yes in Him. That is why through Him we utter our Amen to God (2Corinthians 1:20) along with the rest of the cosmos (Rev.5:8-14).
8. If you’re in Christ, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.., 16 Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 For truly, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Matthew 13:11-17
9. — Do you remember the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, who had put his chariot in cruise control and was riding along reading Isaiah 53 – until Philip explained to him that it was all about Jesus?
10. — Do you remember the two disciples who were walking on the road to Emmaus on the first Easter Sunday and met Jesus but didn’t know it was Him. They were ringing their hands because of the troubling things which had happened that morning. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” till their hearts burned with realization (Luke 24:13-35).
11. Jesus was the great secret weapon God was preparing to redeem the world. That’s why the scroll was in the hand of God. It was His scroll, His book, His plan of redemption to bestow on His Son, as when the Ancient of Days handed over authority to the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14). God wasn’t going to entrust this responsibility to just anyone. He was only going to give it to His chosen One. No one else could do it. No one else could redeem the world!
G. But why was Jesus introduced as a lion and yet appeared as a lamb? Why was He not just introduced as a lamb?
1. Well, in OT prophecy, the messiah was definitely portrayed as both a lion-type ruling/conquering figure and a lamb-type figure (especially in Isaiah 53).
2. But messianic expectation reached a feverish pitch in the 1st century because of Daniel’s prophecy of a stone which would smash the kingdoms of the world and bring them to an end (Dan.2:44-45).
3. So, many were expecting a conquering lion messiah! But when Jesus came, a Lamb showed up!
4. Even John the Baptist had trouble with the Lamb part, so much so that he sent word to Jesus asking if He really was the One! (Luke 7:18-23)
5. And Peter did too. So much so that Jesus said, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matt.16:21-23)
6. Little did they know that the way He came to conquer was by dying.
7. This is why Jesus is introduced as a lion but appears as a lamb.
8. Though He definitely showed some characteristics of a lion – the lamb had seven horns, after all – his lion-ness was largely reserved for His second appearing at the end of history.
9. His central work in His first coming was as a lamb, an atoning sacrifice on the cross.
10. He conquered – but through suffering; He triumphed – through the cross.
11. He was a lion who conquered by becoming a lamb.
H. And in this Christ didn’t just accomplish something, He modeled something for His people.
1. In v.5 when it says He conquered, it’s the Greek word used in the seven letters to talk about the person who overcomes (Rev.2-3). We are walking in His footsteps.
2. There was a great contrast between who Jesus was and how He acted in this world. He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself and became a servant -Phil.2.
3. And now He calls us to be lions who conquer by being lambs, to be kings who conquer by becoming servants. When believers are despised and rejected, they are kings, not nobodies.
4. So, when Jesus calls us to suffer on His cross, we must not get offended like John the Baptist did or like Peter did. Later, Peter said, “Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may rejoice when his glory is revealed.” 1Peter 4:12-13
5. This is how we overcome; this is how we conquer!
III. This climactic scene elicits what is probably the Mt. Everest of worship in the Bible.
A. You thought the worship in chapter four was over-the-top! You ain’t seen nothin yet!
1. In Rev.4:8-11, the worship is two-fold:
a. We see the four living creatures saying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty!”
b. And then we see the 24 elders falling down and casting their crowns before Him saying,“Worthy are you, for by your will all things exist and were created.”
2. But here in 5:8-14, the worship swells to a whole different level. It is actually seven-fold:
a. First, the four living creatures fall down before the Lamb.
b. Then the 24 elders also fall down before Him, and sing a new song (never sung before), saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
c. As they do this, the 24 elders are each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which represent the prayers of the saints. (Did you realize that you & I are a part of this amazing scene? This is not only beautiful, but tells us something important about our prayers. Our prayers play an important cosmic role in the world, though the world scoffs at them. Even we take them lightly, but in the presence of God and His heavenly council they are not ignored or forgotten.)
d. Then comes a vast multitude of angels saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive [seven things:] power & wealth & wisdom & might & honor & glory & blessing!”
e. Then they are joined by every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
f. Then the four living creatures say, “Amen!”
g. And finally the elders fall down and worship – apparently for the second time.
3. Wow! So, now, added to the 4 living creatures and the 24 elders is
a. the prayers of the saints,
b. the praises of the vast multitude of angels, and then
c. by every bird, every land animal, every animal which borrow underground, and by every creature which lives in the water – quite a cast of characters!
B. Some of you watched the World Cup this summer. The Super Bowl is coming up next week.
1. These probably represent the closest thing on earth to the worship here in Rev.5: the enthusiasm the drama, the devotion, the exhilaration of victory. It’s a lot more passion than in church worship services, to be sure. But it doesn’t even begin to compare with the scene here in Rev.5.
2. For some, it’s hard to believe that what happens in churches on Sunday morning has any connection to this fantastic scene of corporate adulation.
3. It sure doesn’t look like fifty people singing Holy, Holy, Holy are the ones who are participating in this spectacular scene of ecstatic exaltation.
4. Now I’m not saying church worship shouldn’t be more passionate, more wholehearted, more exuberant. It certainly should be! But even so, that doesn’t mean it’s not real, that doesn’t mean it’s not connected to the scene in heaven.
5. In one sense, Rev.4-5 are not only an inspiration for Christian worship, but they are the foundation of Christian worship. True Christian worship is participating in what is happening here in the heavenly throne room of God.
6. What makes the worship of Rev.4-5 so big is that God and the Lamb are right there present.
7. If God and the Lamb are not present when we worship, what are we doing? And if He is present, how can we act the same as regular times in our lives?
8. This doesn’t mean we can’t laugh in worship. It doesn’t mean we can’t stop to figure out a glitch in the technology. It just means that in everything we do, we do it in the awareness that this is not just us. God is here.
9. Non-believers don’t see it. To them, a church service is the epitome of boredom, a pathetic religious charade.
10. Now, there are church services which truly are pathetic religious charades. And we ought to despise them, because Jesus despises them (Isaiah 1:11-15; Amos 5:21-23).
11. But when people gather in the name of Jesus because they love Him and are grateful to Him and feel needy for His help and encouragement, worship is nothing less than an encounter with the living God: Father, Son and HS.
12. All my church experience as a child was boring and meaningless to me – until I met the living Christ. And not only did it change my church experience, but worship of God became the very center of my life. Everything else in my life flowed out of our knowledge/experience of God.
13. And so, not only is this scene in Rev.4-5 centered on God and the Lamb, but this forms the center of life for all believers.
IV. One final thought
A. Who finally made the big announcement? “Weep no more; the Lion of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” One of the 24 elders.
B. It is no mistake that one of the elders announced it. Remember that the 24 elders seem to have been the 12 sons of Israel plus the 12 apostles.
C. I assume that the one who introduced Jesus was one of the apostles, for their job was to tell the world that the messiah had come.
D. Jesus communicated Himself to His disciples, and called THEM to proclaim Him it to the world.
E. Now it is left to us – His people and His church – to proclaim Him to the world, to say, “Weep no more! The Lion of Judah and the Root of David has conquered sin and death!”

V. Now this isn’t the end of the story. It’s more like its beginning. It will take three more chapters and five more weeks to unpack the opening of these seven seals. We’ll start to talk that about next week.