The Revelation
Have you ever been in a situation where a close door kept you from gaining entrance to where you needed to be? Maybe you locked your keys in the car…while it was still running. Yes, it can happen. Maybe a lock became so corroded over the years of misuse that it became too rusty to open. Maybe you just forgot the code to a combination lock and couldn’t get in. Frustrating, isn’t it?
In this day and time, I forget passwords that secure files on my computer that are not used often. I try everything to get in…but there is only one way in…knowing the code. Who holds the password to the knowledge of God? The One and Only, Jesus Christ. He is our Mediator between us and God, Himself. Believing, trusting, keeping in step with the One and Only is our password to hearing God’s voice with understanding so that we can begin to know God and worship Him alone.
Jesus is revealed to John as the One and Only who will open the Book of God that is held in God’s right hand. Jesus will open the seals, one at a time, for we probably cannot handle all the information at once. Jesus, through the guidance of His Holy Spirit living in us, does that still today. He gives us a little at at time. We trust. He mediates…as our Advocate. Praise God for the One who saves us and stands with us. Mm. Think about it…
Now, let us listen to the revelation as Peterson paraphrases in ways we might get a grasp of the revelation of Truth in the Person of Jesus Christ. Let’s think less of ourselves, as we read this succeeding passages. Read with knowing that this is about our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ and worship Him. Don’t get bogged down in the prose of John’s poetic writing, but lift up the Name of our Savior.
Revelation 5, The Message
The Lion Is a Lamb
5 1-2 I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One Seated on the Throne. It was written on both sides, fastened with seven seals. I also saw a powerful Angel, calling out in a voice like thunder, “Is there anyone who can open the scroll, who can break its seals?”
3 There was no one—no one in Heaven, no one on earth, no one from the underworld—able to break open the scroll and read it.
4-5 I wept and wept and wept that no one was found able to open the scroll, able to read it. One of the Elders said, “Don’t weep. Look—the Lion from Tribe Judah, the Root of David’s Tree, has conquered. He can open the scroll, can rip through the seven seals.”
6-10 So I looked, and there, surrounded by Throne, Animals, and Elders, was a Lamb, slaughtered but standing tall. Seven horns he had, and seven eyes, the Seven Spirits of God sent into all the earth. He came to the One Seated on the Throne and took the scroll from his right hand. The moment he took the scroll, the Four Animals and Twenty-four Elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb. Each had a harp and each had a bowl, a gold bowl filled with incense, the prayers of God’s holy people. And they sang a new song:
Worthy! Take the scroll, open its seals.
Slain! Paying in blood, you bought men and women,
Bought them back from all over the earth,
Bought them back for God.
Then you made them a Kingdom, Priests for our God,
Priest-kings to rule over the earth.
11-14 I looked again. I heard a company of Angels around the Throne, the Animals, and the Elders—ten thousand times ten thousand their number, thousand after thousand after thousand in full song:
The slain Lamb is worthy!
Take the power, the wealth, the wisdom, the strength!
Take the honor, the glory, the blessing!
Then I heard every creature in Heaven and earth, in underworld and sea, join in, all voices in all places, singing:
To the One on the Throne! To the Lamb!
The blessing, the honor, the glory, the strength,
For age after age after age.
The Four Animals called out, “Oh, Yes!” The Elders fell to their knees and worshiped.
What do we learn?
–John weeps, but then Jesus comes in power as the One and Only who can open the scroll.
–Jesus is STILL the One and Only who can open our hearts and come and live in us…if we allow Him.
–Jesus is to be praised and worshiped as the Only One worthy to be praised.
–God’s book, scroll, will be opened to all, one part at a time…
Dear Heavenly Father, We are diving into your revelation to John with the mindset of worship and praise to You, the One and Only. We thank you for the last book in our Bibles that brings all things, full circle, back to the Truth of our Savior and Lord. You loved us first. We love you back with all that is in us. Thank you. “The blessings, the honor, the glory, the strength, for age after age after age.” All to You! May Your glory and power be seen in and through us today. In Jesus Name, Amen
