Revelation 5

V1. In this new chapter your eye is focused on “a book” which is “in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne”. In the previous verses you’ve seen that all power is in the hands of the Lord Jesus. In the scene you see now, the way in which the Lord Jesus will take control is presented. He already has the power since His work on the cross (Mt 28:18), but here we have the moment that He openly accepts His power. Therefore it is an impressive moment.

The book is a scroll. Normally in a scroll there is writing only “inside”, but this one there is also writing “on the back”, or on the outside. It is fully written, with no room to add anything. Nor is there anything to add, for the book contains the property rights of Christ (cf. Jer 32:6-16; Lev 25:23-25). From this book it appears that He is authorized to execute judgments needed to purify the earth and then to fulfill the counsels of God with regard to creation.

The judgments are described in Revelation 6-19. In the chapters that follow the consummation of all God’s plans follows with blessing for both the old and the new creation. That all this has been documented in a book means that it is immutably fixed and verifiably executed as described. The book contains the history of the future. Only God is able to write history beforehand.

The book is “sealed up with seven seals”. This means, in order to open the book, the seals must first be broken. So the first acts of judgment are seen when in Revelation 6the seals are broken one by one.

V2. But first the question arises who is worthy to open the book and break its seals. This question comes from the mouth of “a strong angel” and it sounds through the universe, through heaven and over the earth. The question is who the owner is of the inheritance described in it, which is creation. Also, the question is who has the right to redeem the inheritance. That question must be answered, because the inheritance has fallen into the hands of an unlawful owner, the devil, caused by the guilt of man.

A strong angel is asking the question, but he himself is not the answer to the question, however powerful he may be. It must be someone who is worthy to do it and who is able to do it, who has the power. The right on the inheritance is therefore about the personal dignity of the heir and about the personal strength to execute the content of it. He Who meets both conditions, dignity and strength, is the Son of Man (Jn 5:27).

V3. The voice of the angel is heard everywhere, but no answer comes from anywhere:
1. not from “heaven”, the dwelling place of the chosen angels,
2. not from “the earth”, the dwelling place of men and
3. not from “under the earth”, the residence of other intelligent creatures.

The universe, in all its components (cf. Phil 2:10), does not contain one single creature that can deal with the book. No one is able to do that, no one has the suitable ability (Psa 49:7).

V4. When John sees that there is no response to the question of the angel, he bursts into tears and weeps intensely. He weeps, not because he had been looking forward to the judgments, but which now do not pass, as once Jonah was displeased with that (Jona 4:1). No, he weeps, because he cannot bear the thought that evil will reign forever and will not be punished.

Countless people have sought to open the book and bring about the time of blessing. That is still the effort of man. But man himself is part of evil and therefore completely unfit and also incapable to deal with evil in a way that is pleasing to God. Is there really no one who is able to do it? Yes, there is a Man Who meets all God’s holy requirements regarding evil.

V5. John is weeping greatly, but not for long. An elder – a glorified believer who has insight in the ways and the counsels of God – says to him not to weep. For there is Someone Who is able to open the book and its seven seals. It is “the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah” about Whom Jacob has prophesied (Gen 49:9-11). As the Lion He is the Ruler. He is also “the Root of David”. He belongs to the royal descendants, He is the true Son of David and has the legal right to reign. He is none other than the Lord Jesus.

He gained His dignity and right by His victory on the cross. There He regained the ownership of creation. There He crushed the head of satan, who by wiles and craftiness has illegally taken possession of creation. He has paid the full ransom and repurchased the whole creation for God. He has the right to open the seals, which is the right of redeeming the earth, in order to purify it from all injustice. He has overcome on the cross and will give shape to that victory in all that He does.

Now read Revelation 5:1-5 again.

Reflection: Have you ever felt that evil is in control and that it seems as if it will never change? When is that? How do you do then?

V6. John has heard that the Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed and is entitled to creation. You can imagine that he is now expecting to see the impressive stature of the king of beasts. But what does he see? A Lamb, or, as it originally says, a little Lamb, a word that appears almost thirty times in this book. The diminutive makes the nullity feel all the stronger. A lamb is completely defenseless, it doesn’t reflect any power; on the contrary, there is hardly anything weaker than that. And that picture of weakness is even more amplified when you see the Lamb there “standing, as if slain”.

Here you see in which way the Lord Jesus has overcome, namely by being slain. The Lamb stands there as an animal of which the throat has just been cut through. That is, the remembrance of Golgotha is preserved in heaven. But the Lord Jesus is not on the cross nor in the grave anymore; He is “between the throne” or “in the midst of the throne” (Darby Translation) of God, that is, in glory. The work is accomplished! At the same time you read that the Lamb is ‘standing’. That indicates that He is ready to come into action. The time of sitting is over (Rev 3:21; Psa 110:1).

The Lamb stands in the “midst”. He is the center “of the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders”. Everything that has to do with government and insight, has its center in Him. He rules and acts. He does that as Lamb, but not as a defenseless Lamb. He has “seven horns”. ‘Horns’ symbolize strength (1Sam 2:10; Lk 1:69), here especially royal strength. ‘Seven’ horns means perfect and absolute strength.

However, the Lord is not only omnipotent, but He is also omniscient. He has perfect insight into all things that happen on earth. That’s what the “seven eyes” indicates as a representation of “the seven Spirits of God”. Here the number ‘seven’ symbolizes again the perfection of the Spirit through Whom He works (Isa 11:2). These seven Spirits are “sent out into all the earth”. That symbolizes that He is omnipresent. He takes perfect notice of everything that happens. Nothing escapes His all-seeing eyes (2Chr 16:9; Zec 3:9; 4:10).

V7. Then the Lamb walks to the throne. It must have been an awesome moment for John and all who at that moment are in heaven. What is happening now in heaven is a unique event. Everyone must be breathlessly watching this scene. The Lamb comes and takes the book out of the right hand of Him Who sits on the throne. Now He has the book in His hands. Without saying a word to each other, the Lamb, once slain, is given the full entitlement by the One Who sits on the throne, the triune God, to take back the stolen property.

The action is as calm as it is grant and lofty, full of majesty. The description is without any human addition in language or action, that would only impair this unparalleled moment. You should just take a moment to allow what is happening here to sink in.

V8. The time of waiting is over, the time of acting has come. The tension has been broken. After the Lamb took the book, heaven comes into action to worship the Lamb. Heaven is aware of the enormous importance of taking the book. It means that the judgment on the world is near and the age to come is about to start.

Both the representatives of God’s kingdom – the four living creatures – and the representatives of all believers who are in heaven, express their admiration for the Lamb. He is worthy and He has all power to do whatever is needed to perfectly carry out God’s plan to the end. They all have “a harp” for expressing their admiration. The harp is an instrument of praise and worship and is sometime mentioned in reference to the millennial kingdom of peace (Psa 33:2; 150:3).

Beside a harp they also all have “golden bowls full of incense”. The meaning of the incense is written right behind it: it represents “the prayers of the saints” (cf. Psa 141:2). Beside worshipers there are also intercessors on behalf of the believers who are on earth at that time. Those who are in heaven are aware of their relation to those who are in need on earth. Possibly these bowls also contain the prayers of all saints that were prayed through the ages. In those days many were not saved and died as martyrs; but now those prayers will be answered. No prayer that has ever been sincerely prayed to God by a believer will remain unanswered.

V9. These worshipers and intercessors themselves are not in need and are free from sufferings. For them, the time to sing has come. “They sang a new song.” It is a song that the earth has not known yet, neither Moses (cf. Rev 15:3), nor David, though he also speaks of a ‘new song’ (Psa 33:3; 96:1). Only those who were bought by the blood of the Lamb are able to sing it.

When the redeemed people were on earth, they sang songs of deliverance, songs that were looking forward to the time of victory and the kingdom of glory. Those were songs of hope. But when the book is taken and opened, the songs will change into songs of victory and celebration of the peace that dawns. Above all, they will sing to Him Who has worked all things.

In this new song they answer the question that was asked in verse 2 by the strong angel. They sing to the Lamb: “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals.” He is the content of the song and not the believer or what he has received. They also sing why He is worthy of it: the great work of redemption and atonement which He has accomplished in the offering of Himself. He was slain. In that way His blood was shed as the purchase price. In that way He has purchased, and He did it “for God”.

The purchased ones come from all parts of the world population. It is not only the church (Mt 13:44), but they are all believers from all ages. He is the true Redeemer of the Old Testament, the true Boaz. He not only bought the believers. He has acquired the believers as a special property (1Cor 6:20). But He bought the whole earth including the unbelievers (2Pet 2:1; cf. Jn 17:2; Mt 13:38,44).

V10. The elders praise God not for what they themselves are, but for what He has made of the believers, the redeemed on earth. Therefore they speak about “them” in their song. It indeed refers to themselves, but they do not want to put themselves forward as the subject of the new song. It is all about the Lord Jesus to them. All light must fall on Him.

He made them to be “a kingdom and priests”. What an awesome transformation for men who once were in bondage of sin and worshipers of satan. They are now ‘kings’ of a kingdom where the Lord Jesus has all authority. They are allowed to serve Him there. As subjects of that kingdom they now find themselves already under His blessed reign, a reign that will soon be established on earth.

They are also as priests of God in His presence to worship Him. In that way man has come at the highest level of God’s purpose with him (Mt 4:10).

As an added favor, they are also allowed to “reign upon the earth” together with the Lord Jesus. They are given a position of government on the earth where they were once persecuted and despised. Now they are given a position of dominion to spread blessing there (1Cor 6:2-3).

V11. John sees and hears others joining in the praise. It is the voice of an enormous number of angels. The numbers that are mentioned indicate that it is about innumerable millions of angels. They form a circle around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, in the midst of which the Lamb is standing (verse 6). The angels have no personal part in the redemption. Therefore they are standing at a greater distance of the Lamb. But they certainly have great admiration for Him Who has accomplished the work of redemption.

V12. The angels also worship Him as the Lamb That was slain. They see the effect of it and know that the cause of it lies in Him and His work. Everything they mention has always been used through the ages by man to magnify himself. Now the time has come that all these things will be used by the true Man to magnify God. He is the Owner of it all, but it will become visible by His acts. And everything that becomes visible of Him prompts everyone who sees it to exclamations of admiration.

1. It begins with “power”. The power man has used to corrupt his way on earth, is used by Him in judgment and then in blessing.
2. All “riches” of the universe is His and will no more be misused, but will expose Him in His multifaceted brilliance.
3. He is the “wisdom” and will make that visible in all His ways and works.
4. He has the “might” that enables Him to carry out what He has decided to do.
5. He is worthy of all “honor” and that will openly be given to Him.
6. Everything that becomes visible of Him, is pure “glory”, splendor and magnificence.
7. “Blessing” is ascribed to Him, Who was once so reviled.

V13. The circle of worshipers expands even further. The whole creation, everything that has been created, rejoices in God and the Lamb. Then the curse is taken away from creation. This praise will never come to an end.

V14. The executors of God’s judgment agree with the praise. All that remains for the elders is to fall down without words and worship.

Now read Revelation 5:6-14 again.

Reflection: Tell the Lamb what is in your heart for Him.