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.” Revelation 5:1
The Apostle John was selected by Jesus to envision and write the things which would eventually come to pass in the end times. After Jesus instructed him to write letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor, a door into heaven was opened unto him, and a voice which sounded like a trumpet called him to come forth to see things which must come to pass. What he saw was a throne upon which sat God whose appearance was like a jasper and a sardine stone, or, as some believe, a diamond and a ruby. Around the throne was a rainbow which shone like an emerald. Catching John’s eye was a book held in the right hand of God. Many scholars believe it was a scroll rather than a bound book. It was sealed with seven seals, and the writing was on the front and on the back of the scroll. There were seven different portions of the scroll, each sealed until the proper time to reveal them.
As John gazed at this scroll, he knew that the information contained therein was highly important because it was sealed. It remained in God’s right hand. John then heard a loud voice and saw a mighty angel who bellowed out across all creation, “Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?” (Revelation 5:2). None of the old saints or kings of God’s people like Abraham, Moses, or David could qualify. Neither could any of the apostles like Peter or Paul. None of the angels, even Gabriel or Michael, were worthy of such an important task. As the angel’s voice echoed throughout God’s realm, no one answered the call. No one alive or no one that had already entered into the eternal state after death was able to open the book nor even look upon it.
As complete silence followed the angel’s call, John became extremely saddened and disheartened. For something of such great importance and far-reaching consequences, how could the scroll’s contents ever be revealed? John began to weep many tears. He had believed that Jesus would one day set things right, but how could that process begin unless someone initiated it by opening the scroll, allowing the future to take place? One of the elders noticed John’s tears as they soaked his face filled with sorrow. He spoke to John, telling him not to weep because there was Someone who was completely qualified, able, and ready to break the seals and open the scroll. It was the Lion of the tribe of Judah, 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. In 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 mighty ruler who fears no one. 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 scroll.
Jesus as the “Root of David” came though the line of David yet existed before David. Isaiah 11:1 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…” In Matthew 22:42-45, after the Pharisees correctly identified the Messiah as being the Son of David, although they didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus, quoting from Psalm 110:1 in which David called the Messiah “Lord”, and then asked the Pharisees how the Messiah could both be David’s Lord and David’s Son. They could not answer. 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 thusly: 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. John was greatly relieved when Jesus, as a Lamb that had been slain, stood in the midst of the throne, the four beasts, and the elders, and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne.
John had been so disturbed and saddened thinking that there was no one worthy to open the scroll, and thus he wept tears of grief. Fast forward today. How many are there who are weeping and grieving for the state of our sin-filled world? How many folks are looking forward to the time when Jesus returns, banishes evil, and rules in righteousness? Not many I would guess. Rather than weeping, like John, who feared that the promise of Jesus to return and set things right would not take place, many people probably don’t want the scroll to be opened. There are likely many others who aren’t even aware that there is a scroll that reveals the time of accountability for the citizens of earth. It surely wouldn’t hurt if folks paid more attention to how they are living their lives in anticipation of Christ’s return than sports, politics, or the latest person or event trending on line. Whether we weep and mourn over our sinful condition or weep because we will be held accountable for our sinful condition, we will weep. Those who never understand the depth of their sin against God will weep tears of regret and shame, while those who weep tears of repentance will be rewarded with peace and joy forever.