Chapter 5  The Book and The Lamb

V. 1 – “And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.”

-                  What is the meaning of SEVEN?  Perfection, completeness

-                  What is the sealed document?  What does the OT say about sealed documents?

Let's look to Scripture to see what it says about seals:

Then, just as the LORD had said he would, Hanamel came and visited me in the prison. He said, "Buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else, so buy it for yourself." Then I knew for sure that the message I had heard was from the LORD.⁹So I bought the field at Anathoth, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces of silver for it.¹⁰I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him.¹¹Then I took the sealed deed and an unsealed copy of the deed, which contained the terms and conditions of the purchase,¹²and I handed them to Baruch son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I did all this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed, and all the men of Judah who were there.¹³Then I said to Baruch as they all listened,¹⁴"The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take both this sealed deed and the unsealed copy, and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.  Jer 32: 8-14:

"Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal [them], and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the LORD." Jer 32:44

The scroll is sealed with 7 seals, written inside and outside.  This is the form of a Hebrew legal document, written on inside and outside, which makes it a legal document – with official wording on the inside, details on outside, a lot of writing and details.  The more seals, the more important it is – and 7 seals is symbolic pf perfection.

Therefore God is holding title to completeness and perfection of the entire earth – This is the deed to the Kingdom to come; as with any will, the execution of the will may require certain things to happen to make it legal and to complete it.  This scroll empowers [makes legal] Yeshua’s [Jesus] inheritance of the Kingdom of Earth and the entire Universe, of which Jesus has not yet taken possession, as his Father’s rightful heir.  God has been holding it in trust for Him, and the scroll contains the timing and details of when and how possession passes to the heir, the Lamb of God, and soon to be Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  The earth is currently held by the enemy, and its inhabitants are subject to death.  Only when the transfer to Yeshua is complete will death be overcome with victory.

The Strong Angel

V.2-3  “And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?’ And no one in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look into it."

Who is the strong angel?  And why is he asking this question?

General opinion is that this is Gabriel.  Gabriel is the Angel of Judgment, and a mighty angel.  This same angel will give the book to John in Chapter 10 to eat.

In a legal proceeding, proclamation must be made publicly for any public action to take place – i.e., the banns of marriage; foreclosure announcements; this allows any who would dispute the claim to do so.  No one answers the call or claims to be able to open the sealed document.

V 4.  ^"Then I wept because no one could be found who was worthy to open the scroll and read it."

When no one steps forward, John weeps, so great is his disappointment that no one is found worthy.  It is not clear whether he knows the content of the scroll, but his action implies that he knows that without being able to open the scroll, the earth cannot be redeemed yet.  The opening of the seals is similar to the reading of a will, which makes it executable.

V.5. “and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.” 

Pay attention when the Angels or Elders speak.  They will point out to John the things he needs to see, especially when he misses the important things.  Here, one of the Elders informs John that the Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to open the book and loose the seven seals, and points Him out to John.

Who is the Lion from the tribe of Judah?  The symbol of a Lion refers to a King.  This is Yeshua, at His Second Coming, when He comes as Lord of the Kingdom, King of kings, and Lord of Lords, Ruler of the Earth.

Significance of Judah?  Judah, son of Jacob, received the promise that Messiah would come from his tribe [see below, Gen 49]. Judah means praise, and the tribe of Judah always goes into battle first.  So praise goes before everything.  Note that Yeshua is identified here as the ROOT of David, not the offspring, again emphasizing his Godhood and his worthiness, since He is the Source [root] of the greatest of Israel’s kings.

"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him [shall] the gathering of the people [be]."  Gen 49:10

"Thus says the LORD: The heavens are my throne, the earth is my footstool." Isa 66:1

Justice and judgment are the foundation of your throne; love and loyalty march before you.  Ps 8:14 

V.6 “And I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders, a lamb standing , as if slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.”

Lion and Lamb

Yeshua, [Jesus] though he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, appears as the Lamb with seven horns and seven eyes; horns denote power, and eyes denote wisdom. knowledge, and omniscience.  Note the transformation from his appearance to John in Chapter 1 - the Warrior Lord, the Messiah King, to his appearance before his Father in heaven – the Lamb;  it is by the Lamb’s work that he has earned the right to be the heir, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, to possess the Kingdom created by and for Him from the beginning;  He opens the seals, again signifying that He was made worthy by his act of Redemption, by which he inherited His rights to the Kingdom.  He has not yet taken possession, so is pictured here as the Lamb, not the Lion.  He has the title, Lion of Judah, but has not yet performed that duty, or taken on that role in the earth.  The scroll provides the details of the transformation to this phase of Jesus’ role in earth's history.  It is part of the will and is executed following the seal covering the authority being opened.

V.7  “ . . . and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.”

Yeshua comes and takes the scroll from his Father.  In this case, death was required, but not the death of the father – the death of the Son.  But the death of the Son was completed thousands of years ago – why has God waited?  Because the rightful heirs to the promises refused to accept the death of the Son and gave up their inheritance, handing it over to the enemy.  God finally acts with sovereignty to wake them up.

V.8-10   “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 with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; and they sang a new song, saying,    “Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals,

for thou were slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and has made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth.” ^

Question of the Day

There is a recorded history of the destruction and desolation wrought by God’s enemy in his attempt to unseat the legal heir to the Kingdom of Earth.  Who can undo it, and return God’s perfect creation to perfection again?  How can what is done be undone?  Who can make it right again?  This is what all of heaven is singing about.  Note that all of heaven is singing and the songs in Revelation portend a great event about to happen. Songs are what the angels say.

Worthiness – when Jesus takes the scroll, all worship and sing a new song, representing the coming of the new age of the Kingdom.  The song is the song of redemption and worthiness to open the scroll.  Then Jesus is given seven praises:  power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing, by the elders and all the angels; then the universe joins in for the crescendo and gives him a fourfold praise song for blessing, honor, glory and power.  Since the universe is not yet freed, the very fact that all living things praise Him in unison is prophetic.  The rest of this book is about how God will change things in the world to make it right again.

Where is Yeshua standing?

Between the Throne and the elders, he has seven horns [horns on the altar of incense] seven eyes, [eyes represent the Holy Spirit – the menorah] – so in the earthly representation he is standing outside the veil, and by the table of showbread – because He is the bread of life.

Again our God of Patterns has drawn us a picture of heaven and the Son’s place in it.

This is the moment for which all of creation has been waiting since that day in Eden when Adam and Eve handed over the deed of the Kingdom of Earth to the enemy.  This is the final fulfillment of the promises of God to mankind and to all of creation.  The deed provides the authority to Yeshua to proceed to take back the Kingdom.           Praise God!

Daniel chapter 7 points out that Yeshua will take it back from the enemy so that He may give it back to his Father, from Whom it was stolen.

V.12-14  "Then I looked again, and I heard the singing of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus:  "The Lamb is worthy--the Lamb who was killed.  He is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing."  And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They also sang:  "Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever." And the four living beings said, 'Amen!' And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped God and the Lamb."

All of heaven and all of creation are singing a song – something really BIG must be about to happen!  Note that he is pronounced worthy to receive seven things – seven representing the Perfection of God.