Who Is Worthy?

“And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.  And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?  Revelation 5:1-2

The Book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John as God gave the words to him to show believers what will take place in the future.  Revelation 1:3 tells us that those who read and truly hear the words of this book are blessed, and that the time “is at hand”.  Now we know that it has been nearly 2,000 years since John penned these words, but that doesn’t change the fact that these events about which he writes will come to pass, maybe sooner than we think.

In his vision, John saw God’s throne and saw God holding a book in His right hand.  Many believe that it was a scroll rather than a bound book of which we are familiar, and it was sealed with seven seals.  I would guess that if it was a scroll, then there were seven portions rolled up together with a seal at the beginning of each portion.  The first seal would be broken and the contents read, and then the second seal broken, and so forth.  John gazed at the scroll and knew that whatever it contained was highly important, but before what was inside could be known, someone had to break the first seal.  Since God Himself did not open it, there was another who would be chosen to break the first seal.  John heard an angel cry out loudly asking “who was worthy to open the book?”  No one spoke up.  John began to weep.  How could they find out the future if there was no one to reveal it?

One of the elders noticed John’s tears and told him not to weep, for there was Someone who was worthy, able, and ready to break the seals.  It was the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, none other than Jesus Christ Himself who was victorious over death and sin which gave Him and Him only the right to initiate the fulfillment of the prophecy for the future.  Looking back at Genesis 49:9-10, we find a prophecy of the Messiah who would be born in the line of Jacob’s son, Judah.  The tribe of Judah had a lion as the emblem of what we would call today a “coat of arms”.  A lion is the king of the jungle, a powerful and might ruler who fears no one.  A king also represents royalty, nobility and privilege.  Jesus was the only One qualified to die for man’s sins, and thus He is the only One fit to judge the world by the words of the book.

Jesus as the “Root of David” came through the line of David yet existed before David.  Isaiah 11: tells us that “…there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse (David’s earthly father), and a Branch shall grow out of his roots…”  God, in II Samuel 7:12-16, had promised King David that his throne shall be established forever.  In Matthew 22:42-45, Jesus asked the Pharisees whose Son is the Messiah.  They answered, “The son of David.”  Jesus then asked them if David called the Messiah, Lord, then how can the Messiah be his Son?  That completely stumped the religious leaders.  They remained silent, and didn’t ask Him any more questions after that.  Jesus was attempting to teach them that the Messiah would be God Himself.  If they would believe this, then they would have been able to answer Jesus’ question in this manner:  Christ, in His humanity, came through the lineage of David, as springing from the root, and in His divinity, was David’s Lord, the Creator, the Root from which David sprang.

While the scroll or book remains sealed for now, it will be opened when the proper time comes.  In the meantime, we need to always be living as those who are committed to Christ, serving Him and serving others, looking for the day when all of the troubles that beset us are finally past, and a new day dawns bringing eternal joy and peace.