Revelation 5
v.2
And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”
The best solution is to see the scroll as “God’s will, his final settlement of the affairs of the universe.” (Barclay) This is based on the idea that customarily, under Roman law, wills were sealed with seven seals, each from a witness to the validity of the will.
v.3
But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.
Who is worthy to look into the depths of God? Who is worthy to partake in God’s nature itself? Who is worthy to look at Him? Jesus, the sacrificied Lamb, is His begotten Son. He is worthy, and He has made way for us.
v.4
I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.
The weeping of the apostle may be regarded as an instance of the deep grief which people often experience when all efforts to penetrate the future fail, and they feel that after all they are left completely in the dark. Often is the soul overpowered with grief, and often are the eyes filled with sadness at the reflection that there is an absolute limit to the human powers; that all that man can arrive at by his own efforts is uncertain conjecture, and that there is no way possible by which he can make nature speak out and disclose what is to come. Nowhere does man find himself more fettered and limited in his powers than here; nowhere does he feel that there is such an intense disproportion between his desires and his attainments. In nothing do we feel that we are more absolutely in need of divine help than in our attempts to unveil the future; and were it not for revelation man might weep in despair.
v.5
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.”
RESEARCH: I wonder why Jesus is referred to as the “Lion of Judah” yet symbolized as the Lamb worthy to open to the scroll?
v.6
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.
The idea is that the sacrifice of Jesus is still fresh and current before God the Father. There is nothing stale or outworn in the work of Jesus on the cross. Thousands of years later, it is still fresh as the day He died on the cross.
“As if now in the act of being offered. This is very remarkable; so important is the sacrificial offering of Christ in the sight of God that he is still represented as being in the very act of pouring out his blood for the offences of man. This gives great advantage to faith; when any soul comes to the throne of grace, he finds a sacrifice there provided for him to offer to God. Thus all succeeding generations find they have the continual sacrifice ready, and the newly-shed blood to offer.” (Clarke)
Oh God, would the blood you shed on the cross never be dried up with our lack of remembrance of the Gospel! The Lamb’s blood is ever fresh before your throne. A crime scene with dried blood spells out a defeated scene. The victim is forever dead and long forgotten. But the blood of a fresh wound in a soldier spells victory in his overcoming of the enemy. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is victorious! He worthy to open the scroll.
Whereas a lion was the ultimate symbol of power in ancient views of the animal kingdom (cf. also, e.g., Is 35:9; 65:25), a lamb was considered powerless (cf. Is 40:11); a slaughtered lamb was a dramatic contrast with a reigning lion (cf. Is 53:7). Lambs were associated with a variety of sacrifices, but in Revelation this figure may evoke especially the Passover lamb, who delivers God’s people from the plagues of the following chapters (cf. Ex 12:12-13).
v.8
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.
In this we see how precious the prayers of the saints are to God. He regards them as a sweet smelling incense, as if set in precious golden bowls.
iv. The connection between prayer and incense is shown in Psalm 141:2: Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Incense has a pleasing aroma, it ascends to heaven, and it needs fire before it is of any use.
v.9
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.”
v.10
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
Similar to 1 Peter 2:9.
We will reign on the earth in the next age. PD has talked about having universities in the age to come and such.