LEARNING DAILY

 

Revelation 5:4-5, And I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it.  But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep.  Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

 

Revelation 4 emphasized God as the Creator, as “Almighty, who was and is and is to come”.  Revelation 5 has its emphasis on Christ as the Redeemer. 

 

John “saw a scroll in the righthand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.” (verse 1).  This scroll is very important because it contains the revelation of what God has determined to do in the future to the world and those who remained behind, those who did not go to heaven in the rapture.  The scroll is an account of how the world will be judged and describes the final triumph of God and His people (His Church) over all evil.  We will talk about the scroll’s content in the days ahead. 

 

An angel asks the question, “Who is worthy to open the scroll?”  The angel does not ask who is strong enough, but who is worthy.   John weeps because he knows there is no one that is worthy to open the scroll and bring judgment on an evil and unrighteous world.  “John weeps because he knows that if an worthy person is not found to open the scroll, God’s purpose of judgment and blessing for the world will remain unfulfilled.” (from the notes in Life in the Spirit Study Bible).  There is absolutely no created being worthy to open this scroll and this causes John to weep.

 

Yet, there is One who is worthy to open the scroll.  John is told “the Lion of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”  Pictured as a lion, the Lord Jesus Christ will rule as king over all of the earth.  The root of David is another title for Him as the Messianic King.  The titles are important as they describe the Lord Jesus as the conquering Messiah and eternal king according to the promises made to David in Isaiah 11:10, “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious.”

 

I wonder what John thought when he turned.  Did he expect to see a Lion? Perhaps, but instead he saw a “Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.”  The conquering Messiah does not do so through military power or physical strength; He does so by dying as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  He does so through His sacrifice on a cross.  The wrath of God will come to those who have rejected His offer of salvation.  The seven horns represent the power and strength of a ruler and the seven spirits represent the Holy Spirit before the throne.  (Just a side note.  Isaiah 11:2 gives a list of seven spirits of the Lord – the Spirit of the Lord, the

Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of Might or Power, the Spirit of Knowledge and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord)

 

I wonder just how close we are to the time the rapture of the church takes place and to the time this scene John witnessed in heaven takes place.  I believe the key for every Christian is to be found waiting and alert for the trumpet to sound to meet Jesus in the air.  I believe it is very near!

 

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