This morning it will be necessary to revisit some things we know about the Book of Revelation if we are to understand Chapter 5’s fourteen verses. So, let’s recap:
John of Patmos is the author, and the Book is 
likely written in the early 90’s CE. John is not the author of the Gospel of John or the Johannine letters found in the New Testament. This John has been speaking as a faithful witness and the price he has paid is exile.
He is concerned that if the seven churches in his geographic area become very faithful witnesses to the power and love of the Lordship of God and God’s Son Jesus Christ, there will be continuing pushback from the Roman Empire that will be violent and cruel. Nevertheless – the prophetic nature of what this John writes is to hold these churches to account for either being or not being a faithful witness and encouraging them to do so no matter the price to pay. He wants them to be prepared.
After writing the letters to the seven churches (chapters two and three), John is taken on a spiritual journey (he says it feels like he is in a trance) up to heaven. He enters into the throne room – now last week we saw how his visions and the imagery depicted declared that God is the Lord who is worthy of our worship and praise. This is the God we should be testifying about not Caesar and the Roman deities that the Roman empire demands we worship.
Now we come to chapter five, and we are going to take this in pieces – you have a picture in your bulletin. Hear these first few verses: Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one seated on the throne. It had writing on the front and the back, and it was sealed with seven seals. I saw a powerful angel, who proclaimed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or look inside it. So I began to weep and weep, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look inside it. Then one of the elders said to me, “Don’t weep. Look! The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has emerged victorious so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
What is this scroll and why is it so tightly sealed? Why does one have to be worthy to open it?
The scroll contains God’s vision for humanity – will God destroy or restore humanity? Remember this is written and being heard in first and second century Christian circles. The Roman empire has not yet turned Christianity into the state religion, so Christianity is often persona non grata. It is thought of in many circles as blasphemous and dangerous.
The early Christians also expected Jesus back at any moment – they were still waiting for the Second Coming, and for Jesus to make things right. I think John really felt the need to know what God had in store for humanity – would God defeat the Roman empire, would false or lazy witness be erased, would God restore humanity to that covenantal relationship?
Put yourself into John’s shoes – maybe you’ve seen earlier Gospels or a Paul-written letter and maybe it is the oral tradition you’ve been given. Maybe your Jewish background has given you a good grounding in the Hebrew scriptures. Maybe you have an inkling of some kind of vision, but maybe you don’t.
At any rate, John desperately wants this scroll open and so he weeps that no one is worthy to open it and show the vision. Until one of the elders reminds him – oh there is one who is worthy. This one is a powerful lion descended from David who has conquered the ones who tried to destroy him. This one has emerged victorious from death. Now who might that elder have been talking about? A Messiah perhaps, the Son of God perhaps also known as Jesus Christ?
Let’s read on: Then, in between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb, standing as if it had been slain. It had seven horns and seven eyes, which are God’s seven spirits, sent out into the whole earth. He came forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one seated on the throne.
Does John see a powerful lion? No, instead he sees a powerful sacrificial Lamb which has seven horns indicating power, and seven eyes indicating that he can see far beyond what any of us can see. This Lamb has complete power and a close relationship with God. This Lamb moves easily in the throne room and is able to take that scroll from the right hand of God, a privileged position, and open it.
Reverend Dr. Brian Blount writes this: “The Lamb already is the faithful and true witness who selflessly sacrifices concern for his own well-being in order to carryout his testimony to God’s and his own lordship in a hostile Greco-Roman, Palestinian world.”[1] This is the Lamb who was slaughtered because of his witness to the one true God, but emerges victorious through the Resurrection. This Lamb is not afraid to witness and to speak truth to the power of the empire and it gets him killed, but shadow and death do not have the last word, light and resurrection do.
Let’s read on: When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each held a harp and gold bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. They took up a new song, saying,
“You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slain, and by your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will rule on earth.” Why is this Lamb worthy?
This is the Lamb who suffered and was executed because of his faithful witness – that makes him worthy.
This is the Lamb whose shed blood has enabled all to be included in the covenantal relationship with God. Because of this Lamb, all can claim to be beloved children of God. This is the Lamb that releases us from the bondage of death and destruction opening us up to the hope of a different way of living and being in the world. This is the Lamb worthy of opening up the scroll.
Let’s hear the rest of the chapter: Then I looked, and I heard the sound of many angels surrounding the throne, the living creatures, and the elders. They numbered in the millions—thousands upon thousands. They said in a loud voice, “Worthy is the slaughtered Lamb to receive power, wealth, wisdom, and might, and honor, glory, and blessing.” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea—I heard everything everywhere say, “Blessing, honor, glory, and power belong to the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb forever and always.” Then the four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshipped.
This is the Lamb, the Messiah, Jesus Christ – Son of God, who is worthy of our worship and praise just as God is worthy of our worship. This is the Lamb who is powerful – just look at the depiction, and powerful because this Lamb witnesses to and embodies the love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, peace and justice that flows from God. This is the Lamb who we are to imitate and again we won’t be perfect in that imitation, but we can try. The world needs us to try.
Perhaps Martin Luther King, Jr. summed it up best when he spoke to the witness we who claim the Lamb, Jesus Christ, Son of God as our Savior, should have. He wrote this in a speech entitled: “Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence”, delivered on April 4, 1967: “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”
Are we ready to witness to that kind of power that speaks to the demands of justice and corrects everything that stands against love. Because that is the power of the Lamb, the Son of God, the faithful witness to love and justice. Not a meek or mild lamb, but a powerful one who is worthy of our worship and praise and imitation. Are we ready? May it be so. Amen.
[1] Blount, B. K. (2009). Revelation : a commentary. Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, page 109.