Who is Worthy?

Have you got the scrolls?
One of my favourite Morecambe and Wise jokes occurred in one of Ernie’s dreadful plays that had a Roman theme.  When Ernie asks his sidekick, “Have you got the scrolls?” Eric Morecambe replies, “No, I always walk like this.” If only the scroll that appears in Revelation 5 were that amusing. Unfortunately it is anything but funny, for it concerns the final judgement of the world.

The Scroll with Seven Seals
There are two points of interest about this scroll. The word for the number seven forms the root of the Hebrew word for swearing an oath so it implies it implies trustworthiness! Also, the Greek word for Scroll is ‘Biblion’ which means book or writing or bill, and it carries with it the sense of authority.

Although we will have to wait until chapter 6 for the opening of the seals to begin, there are some clues here that we might pick up that indicate what this scroll is all about. It comes from the person on the throne so it is therefore, holy. It may be a will, or a set of executive instructions from God, perhaps containing something of God’s plan of judgement for his creation and his gracious plan of salvation. We should also note that it is written on both sides and this indicates that it is a complete message. That the message is written, as opposed to just spoken, indicates that it is final and unchangeable and the bill has passed into law, as it were. In the end, we’ll just have to wait until it is opened to know for sure.

What is certain is that the opening of this scroll sets in motion the scenes and events that we are shown in the rest of the book, leading eventually to the new heaven and new earth. It shows how God will wrap up the matter of sin for once and for all. Whilst the journey may be pretty awful, its goal is paradise, utopia, heaven.

Mission Incredible 1 and 2
I think it would be fair to say that the Jews expected the Messiah to be a Saviour for his people, to bring judgement on their enemies and to establish an eternal worldly kingdom, and do it all at the same time. Indeed many Jews refuse to accept Jesus as Messiah because some Old Testament prophecies have not yet been met in him. However, we know that the Messiah will have two comings as we call them. Let's think about this…

At the first coming Jesus beat Satan and the power of sin over the human race by offering himself as the perfect sacrifice 'once for all' as the writer to the Hebrews puts it.However, that does not mean that there is no more sin, and that Satan is destroyed because people still sin and Satan is still at work. So there is something yet to be accomplished - the final destruction of Satan and sin leading to the ultimate fulfilment of the eternal kingdom as represented by the New Jerusalem.

To put it another way, we might say that there are two missions .One, where Jesus offers salvation, has been completed. But now there is another, where final judgement is dispensed, and that is still to come. The 'mission statement' is contained in the scroll with its seven seals.

Who is Worthy?
After the prayers of worship (literally homage) that John describes at the end of chapter 4 the first words that John hears are those of the angel in v2. Whatever else this scroll represents there is an issue that is of immediate importance: Worthiness. A worthy person is needed now to undertake the 'second mission' and to deal with the matter of final judgement.

Reminding ourselves where John is and what he has seen, the qualities that might make this person worthy are perfection, obedience, capability, authority, holiness and purity. The person who puts into effect God's will must match God's exacting standards.

John wept
Chapter 4 has looked at the created order from the perspective of the perfect, awesome governing throne of God. We’ve been shown the glory and holiness of heaven. By contrast, that cannot but remind us of the continuing rottenness of the world, and in particular the sinfulness of its people. Even at this stage, why should God not destroy this fallen, rebellious creation? It’s as brutal as that, isn’t it? John is ashamed of the world's sinfulness. The angel's question reminds us that the created order is spoiled. We ask, "Is this creation beyond redemption?"
In one respect John is contemplating the world without a saviour. He knows about Jesus, trusts him and loves him and yet still he weeps. The renowned Christian teacher John Lennox says it’s rather like people who always weep at a particular part of a book of film although they already know the ending – it’s just so affecting! "Has my Lord died for nothing? Will Satan triumph after all?" This is the kind of uncertaintly that John suffers now.

An Announcement is Made
Let’s stop for a moment and go back to a Sabbath day some years before when a young man stood up to read the lesson in front of the elders at synagogue in a town called Nazareth.

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."   (Luke 4:16-21)

Here we see Jesus telling the world that God has appointed him as Saviour and he uses Old Testament scripture to support his claim. In verse 7 of our current passage in Revelation Jesus is taking another scroll and thereby proclaiming that God has appointed him as worthy to be Judge, and again we have documentary support from the Old Testament in verse 5.

The Strength of Weakness
Let's unwrap the three images that are used to describe Jesus here. First the Lion of Judah aludes to Jacob's blessings on his sons in Genesis 49:8-10 and is bound up with 'the seed line' of Scripture. By 'the seed line' I mean the long looked for son or 'offspring' who would be the 'serpent crusher' of Genesis 3:15. Adam and Eve had rather vainly expected Cain to be this man, but they should have looked forward to Jesus as Jacob does.

Secondly, the Root of David refers to the kingship and royal lineage of Jesus. Finally, the we have this image of the lamb. In John 1:29, John the Baptist calls Jesus, "the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world." He is alluding both to the passover lamb that must be without defect, and also to the scapegoat driven out into the wilderness bearing the nation's sins.

John is told here by one of the twenty four elders about the lion, but when he looks to the throne again, there in the centre of all the magnificence of this scene, he sees instead a lamb. He sees the Saviour that he loves. The symbol of the lion is apt for the one who can open the scroll since lions speak to us of majesty and power and authority: they do not submit. A lamb is a symbol of weakness and submission so here is an image of the two aspects of Jesus: the deliverer of justice and the giver of mercy. Perhaps it is not pushing things too far to say it is also a picture of Jesus as the reconciler, both fully God and fully man.

When John looks closer at the lamb, he finds it is not so weak after all. It has seven horns and seven eyes. Horns are a sign of power and authority and the number seven is the number of fullness. The eyes are a sign of intelligence and knowledge.

The Answer to the Question
In v9 the angel's question is finally answered. Jesus is worthy to break open the seals on the scroll.

Like chapter 4 this one too ends in the singing of songs of praise, and notice that we have a part in it by means of our prayers in verse 8. We need to remember that we are already citizens of heaven, and we are people who acknowledge Jesus as worthy. All the citizens of heaven praise God. The reason for the homage and celebration of heaven is found in verse 9, 'because you were slain... and bought people for God'

A Big Crescendo
Verses 11-14 form the basis for Handel's closing choruses in The Messiah that despite their grandeur are but a pale shadow of the reality. And now, as John looks, the focus widens out to show countless numbers of people joining in the praise and confessing Jesus as Lord.

"....He humbeld himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:8-11)