Revelation 5 vs 2-7
Revelation Chapter 5 Verse 2
In other words, “Who is able to pay the debt?” Notice this strong
angel doesn’t ask, “Who is willing?” Alexander the Great was willing.
Hitler was willing. Bin Laden was willing. Stalin was willing.
Mohammad was willing…many are willing.
There have been scores of folks who have said, “I want the power.
Give me the control. I will rule the world.” But the angel doesn’t ask
who has the self-willed impulsive desire…the angel asks, “Who is
worthy?” Or “who is able?”
You might want to fix your husband. You might want to fix your
kids…fix your parents…fix your job…fix your addiction…fix your
laziness…fix your attitude even…but are you able…? Some folks
want to make themselves right before God. But are you able? In
truth…no you’re not. Only the Lord can do that work in your life and
in mine! I have no possible way to deal with my own sin. Only a
Savior can deal with my sin.
And the nutso thing is, well, nutso in a great way, is that there is one
that came and took all of this upon Himself. It cost Him to be slain…
And yet because you are that important to Him, He did it…
Revelation Chapter 5 Verse 3
Notice no one in heaven. No angels can help you…no patron
saints…no false gods…no demons…really even no man can help…as
John says here that no one…no one in heaven, on earth or under the
earth was able to take it…all eyes hit the floor…that’s what John is
saying here about no one even being able to give a hint of
worthiness…They can’t even look at it!
And just a note here because this is a much longer conversation, the
Bible is fairly explicit that the heavens and the heaven of heavens is
above, and that hell is below. (This is why we say, “Hi,” as in,
“Heaven is high,” and “Hello,” as in, “Hell is below.”) The center of
the earth is estimated to be 10,300 degrees…, similar to the
temperature found on the surface of the sun, with pressure equivalent
to roughly 3.6 million times the atmospheric pressure at sea level…
Now, completely off limits to the living… The center of the earth is
4,000 miles straight down! The deepest drill in history, the Kola
Superdeep Borehole, only reached 7.6 miles before it failed… Some
wild ponderances there…
Revelation Chapter 5 Verse 4
And as this happens…we see something that’s probably never before
occurred in heaven…tears… This is spiritual weeping… Another
interesting ponderance…
The word here for “wept much” in the Greek literally means to
convulse with grief. Perhaps John knows…he knows what this scroll
is…what this means…that if no one is able to come forth, he is
lost…he realizes the earth will remain in Satan’s grip…
Revelation Chapter 5 Verse 5
I love how he is comforted by one of the elders. Being right,
right/wrong, good/bad…sin bad, God good…that comes easy…
Grace, patience, understanding, love, peace, kindness, longsuffering,
goodness, faithfulness, self-control…that comes as you grow up. The
elder is the comforter, not the corrector, and not the “dug in until
they repent,” ruler.
Who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah? Jesus…but how do we know
that? Several ways but this one is most intriguing. Genesis Chapter 49.
Jacob calls his sons and he blesses them and when he gets to Judah, he
says something quite peculiar…very different than what he says to all
of the others…he tells him in verses 8-10, “Judah, you are whom your
brothers will praise. You are a lion’s whelp, your line is as a lion and
the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet, until the Messiah comes.”
Now in the year 12 AD, the Romans issued a decree which stripped
the Jews of their right to capital punishment. The rabbi’s response
was to proclaim that “God had failed” (relevant to Genesis 49:8-10)
because they looked at capital punishment as the cornerstone of them
being an autocratic people. In this action they recognized that as a
people they had lost their national, cultural and authoritative
scepter…and yet the Messiah had not come. What year was this
though? 12 AD. They should have looked in the temple!
Malachi 3:1 says, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare
the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come
to His temple!” There in Jerusalem, the 12-year-old Jesus was
confounding the scribes and the thinkers as He taught, telling His
parents, “I must be about My Father’s business…”
The Lion of the tribe of Judah was there…right there in their midst
just as Jacob had prophesied as he blessed Judah all the way back in
Genesis 49…but instead of saying, “God must be here” they assumed
God a failure… Don’t get all judgy…all too often we too fall into that
same fallacy!
And the angel also says here the Root of David. Now, you might say
well Jesus was a descendant of David and you would be correct but
the angel calls Jesus here…the root. How? Jesus preceded David by
all eternity and therefore He is of the lineage of the house of David but
He is also the Root of David…
And so just as in Chapter 1, John turns to look again…maybe
expecting a roaring strong beastly lion…but look at what he sees…
Revelation Chapter 5 Verse 6
John just heard the elder say…behold the lion has overcome and he
looks and lo…a lamb…and in the Greek that word translated here as
“lamb” is in the diminutive form of the root word which means more
accurately this is “little lamb” or “precious lamb” gentle, lowly…and
what’s more, John notices that it is slain…
How telling this is! How profoundly true this point yet how
frequently, almost constantly denied by folks…the power in the
middle of the throne of God…the force amongst the living creatures of
heaven…the strength within the elders of the Most-High…described
as a lion…fierce and commanding; supreme to all others, the king of
authority, in control and all mighty…is entirely hidden in the lamb
slain. IT IS HUMILITY! The secret to all life, to all godliness, to all
love, joy, peace… Power, strength, forcefulness, efficacy… ALL OF
IT!
AND, love never fails. Everything else falls short. What does love
look like? Laying down your life for them. Love looks like the
littleness of the Lamb slain proclaimed in heaven as the prevailing
LION! Does He rule you or do you rule you? Anyone other than Jesus
Christ, can I just tell you this, is not worthy of you.
None have perfect power and perfect insight…complete and perfect
eternal authority and wisdom…except Jesus! John says here that He
had seven horns…horns always signify power and authority in the
Bible and here Jesus has seven…the number of perfection and
completion…
So, Jesus alone has perfect and complete power and authority. And
John says here that He had seven eyes which speak of perfect and
complete insight…flawless and unfailing wisdom!! Which are the
seven spirits of God which we have looked at now three times in the
Book of Revelation but now we are told that that they are sent out into
all the earth! This must really tackle the enemy’s glee! HA!
Why? The earth is under his sway. Confusion, deceit, darkness, self-
seeking… All the things that destroy a life. And yet God has deployed
nanobots! Nukes! Cyber viruses! Terrorist cells into the enemies
territory and that is to be us! How? Easy! Take for yourself what God
has provided! What are the seven spirits? Isaiah 11 says, the spirit of
the Lord Himself! The spirit of wisdom. The spirit of understanding.
The spirit of counsel, the spirit of might, the spirit of knowledge and
the spirit of the fear/respect of the Lord God!
Revelation Chapter 5 Verse 7
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the Lamb slain is
able to pay the price for the bankruptcy of mankind. He alone can
save! So, He takes the title deed, along with all of the debts and
defaults… The deed doesn’t come without the debts, without the
defaults, just like you and just like me and yet He still wants you. In
His hand, the deed is fulfilled. The debt is paid… The seals of ultimate
freedom, restart, restoration, renewal, the seals that bond you and I
into enslavement to someone or something else He alone can break!