Revelation 4 gave us in colorful imagery of apocalyptic literature a vision of the throne room of God.

What stands out in Revelation 4 is how God is transcendent. He is spectacular, He is to be worshiped because he is God, and he is Creator. One does not just stroll into his presence. The very highest orders of angels cover their faces with their wings. Between the throne and us is an array of barriers, spectacular thunderstorm, the entire created order in fallen disarray symbolized by this sea and so forth.

Yet the angels around the throne, the elders around the throne, all gather in great worship before God because, at the end of the day, He is God.

Revelation 5:1“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.’ Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

He came 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 the saints.

And they sang a new song … ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God 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.’

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 sang: ‘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, singing: ‘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.”

. There’s only one scene, but one panel follows another

First there is a scroll.

A good scroll would be 32 to 34 feet long. That was long enough, for example to give you the book of Luke.

Normally people only wrote on the inside of a scroll, but this text says this scroll is written on the inside and on the outside.

There were two conditions under which you would write on the outside. One was if you were so dirt poor, you couldn’t afford another scroll. God is not dirt poor, that’s not what’s going on. The other circumstance was when you had a lot to say and wanted it all in one document. You didn’t want it separated on the chance it could go in two different directions. Then you’d write on both sides of the scroll.

What’s in this scroll is all of God’s purposes for both redemption and judgment written in apocalyptic terms. Because it’s written on the inside and the outside, it’s the fullness of all of that vision.

The seals in the wax were like a signature. If it was sealed with seven seals, it meant that you were very important.

In certain kinds of legal enactments in the Roman world, including wills, for example, even if people knew what was in them, they were legally enacted by the slitting of the seals, then they’d go into legal effect.

In the symbolism of the day, all of his purposes for redemption and judgment for the entire universe, are sealed up, and the only way they are going to be brought to pass is if the seals are slit. That’s what causes the drama of this chapter. Somebody must come and slit the seals by God’s own sovereign permission and decree.

The challenge. Who is worthy?

‘Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?’

This angel has to be heard throughout the entire universe. His challenge is, “Who is worthy to take the scroll and slit the seals?”

The God who is presented in chapter 4 is so awesome, so terrifying, so powerful that no one just strolls into his presence. Nobody is saying, “Oh, I’ll go! Send me! I’m fine!” The highest orders of angels covered their faces with their wings.

So who has such perfection, such holiness as to be able to approach the throne of the God just described in chapter 4, and say, “I will bring your purposes to pass”?

You see, unless the seals are slit, God’s purposes for redemption and judgment will not be brought to pass. That’s the way the drama is set up.

There’s a pause and silence in heaven.

“No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.” No one in heaven. That is no angelic being. No one on the earth. That is no human being. No one under the earth, a biblical euphemism for the abodes of the dead.

Neither good nor evil had the ability to approach this God to take the scroll and slit the seals or even to look into it.

John is weeping.

“I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.” It’s pretty common in this kind of Jewish apocalyptic literature for the seer to weep when he couldn’t see more.

Why is John crying?

He understands the symbolism in the vision. He knows that unless someone is found who can approach this God and take the scroll and open the seals, then God’s purposes for judgment and blessing will not come to pass, in which case, the whole church is a sham. Justice will neither be done nor be seen to be done.

The renowned British atheist Bertrand Russell was asked on British radio (BBC) when he was 90 and not far from death himself if he had any hope for when he died. He said, “I have nothing to hang onto but grim, unyielding despair.”

That’s why John wept. John understood. You can surround yourself with toys and playthings for a while, but sooner or later, you will get arthritis. Sooner or later, you come down with cancer. Sooner or later, you lose your job. Sooner or later, one of your kids goes off the rails. Sooner or later, you lose your parents. Sooner or later, you’re at death’s door yourself.

The relief is announced.

Verse 5. “… one of the elders ‘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.’ This language is drawn right from the Old Testament. The Lion of the tribe of Judah means the King of Judah, the Davidic King from the tribe of Judah. He is the Root of David. That language comes right out of Isaiah 11 where the Messiah is presented as the Root and the Shoot of David.

He has come, and he has prevailed. The idea suggests an enormous struggle through which he has passed and from which he has emerged victorious.

You see, the tree was cut down. The Davidic line seemed to have come to an end. There was no longer a David on David’s throne. For all intents and purposes, it was game over. The tree was chopped down, but the promise was there would be a shoot out of the stump of Jesse.

There is one who is qualified to take the scroll from the right hand of him who sits on the throne and to break the seals and bring to pass all of God’s purposes for judgment and blessing. He is the Davidic king. He is the promised Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the Root and Shoot of David.”

The very last chapter of this book (chapter 22 of the Apocalypse) has the resurrected Jesus saying, “Behold, I am the root and the shoot of David.”

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain.

He is the conquering king, and he is the bleeding sacrifice. In the person of Christ, all the paradoxes are resolved, for we serve one who is the messianic King fulfilling all the promises, one with God from before the ancient days past, and yet who, nevertheless, is the slaughtered sin-bearing Lamb.

Look at what is said about him. “ looking as if it had been slaughtered” It is a brutal word. standing in the center of the throne. That is he doesn’t have to come from outside through all of these serried ranks of barriers. He is already there. It’s a way of affirming his deity. He comes from the throne toward the outside rather than coming from the outside toward the inside.

He is not a human being who has to be exalted enough to finally reach up and touch that scroll.

He is one with God in the throne itself, then comes out and becomes the human being who constitutes the Lion of David and suffers then as the Lamb who redeems a fallen race. Not only so, but we are told of him he stands in the center of the throne. He is “… encircled by the four living creatures and elders.” They’re offering their homage to him.

He had seven horns.

An apocalyptic horn is always a symbol for kingdom authority or kingdom or king dominion. Seven horns mean he has perfect kingly power. Seven eyes.

That is, he sees everything. He has all the attributes of divine omniscience.

So even though he is a slaughtered Lamb, he is truly God with all of God’s prerogatives, kingly authority, and omniscience. He sends out the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth. That is he mediates all of his reign and rule at this juncture by the Spirit of God.

“He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.” The rest of the book unfolds then by the slitting of the seals (chapter 6).

The prayers are pleasing.

Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

The imagery again is drawn from the Old Testament. Psalm 141, “Let my prayer be set before you as incense.”

You wanted incense around to sort of dispel some of the bad smell. Out of this then came the symbolism that was also found as part of the tabernacle and temple rites. Our prayers before God are wafted before him like incense.

Just as the incense made the whole thing so pleasant in the home (the whole atmosphere), so the people of God, when they’re offering prayers to God that are accepted before him and waft into his presence, it makes the entire relationship pleasant. That’s where the symbolism came from in the ancient world.

The Lion and the Lamb is going to slit the seals, and all of the prayers of God’s people are wafted before him once again with perfect assurance of their efficacy. Why? Because of the certainty we have that God’s purposes for judgment and blessing will be fulfilled.

There is Joy in the angelic beings.

When I say the word harp in English, I know what’s going through your head.

A harp in the ancient world was an instrument of joy.

This is a cause for great rejoicing, because all of God’s purposes for judgment and blessing are going to be brought to pass. This wipes away all the tears. This is a time for rejoicing.

There is a new Song.

If Christ had not died as the Davidic King and the atoning Lamb, then God’s purposes would have failed.

There would be no confidence of a new heaven and a new earth, a home of righteousness. No delight in the prospect of a resurrection body.

That’s what precipitates this new song. “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals What makes him worthy to bring about God’s purposes? “… because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God 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.”

It is a bloody atonement. “You were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God.” It’s a bloody atonement. The symbolism of blood in the Scripture is bound up with life violently and sacrificially ended “This is the perfection of praise.” “… receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

But it’s not enough for all of the angelic hosts of heaven to join in. There must be a response from everything in the entire universe because, you see, it is all God’s universe. He is the God of creation.

The whole universe joins out in singing. “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb …’

Here is the impetus for living with eternity’s values in view. Here is the impetus for holiness. Here is the impetus for repentance and faith, for we will all stand before this God on the last day.