Revelation 5:1-14 "The Throne Room Vision" Part 2

Lesson Handout

Introduction

This is the second part of the throne-room vision that John was raptured up in beginning with 4:1. The first part was praise to God as Creator, and now the second part is praise to the Lamb as Redeemer.

Verse-By-Verse Notes

Verse 1

• Though there are a variety of views on the nature of the “scroll,” it seems best to understand it the way the rest of Revelation does, that is, the “scroll of destiny.”
• Robert Mounce: “[The scroll] contains the full account of what God in his sovereign will has determined as the destiny of the world. . . . When the time has fully come, the seals will be removed and history will move swiftly to its consummation.”

Verses 2-3

• The angel’s question was posed to the entire universe, and no one was found worthy to open the scroll.

Verse 4

• Christ alone can open the scroll because He alone is worthy to approach the Father and take the scroll from His hand.
• God has sovereignly delegated His plan and purpose for all things to His Son (Matthew 11:27; 28:18; Daniel 7:13-14)
• Jim Hamilton: “If the scroll isn’t opened, the Bible’s promises don’t come true. Hope is defeated.”

Verse 5

• John’s language here is explicitly Messianic: “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (see Genesis 49:9-10); “Shoot from the stump of Jesse” (see Isaiah 11:1)
• The one who opens the scroll is the Messianic Conqueror promised all throughout the Old Testament.

Verse 6

• A shocking and unexpected turn of events: the conquering lion is actually a slaughtered lamb.
• The seven horns represent the fullness and perfection of his power (horns in Jewish symbolism represented power – Deut. 33:17), and the seven eyes represent the perfection of his wisdom and insight.

Verse 7

• With His perfect worthiness and delegated authority, the Lamb takes the scroll from God on the throne.
• Jim Hamilton: “Crucified, dead, buried, raised, now . . . Jesus takes the scroll that describes the events of the end, whereby all the wrongs will be set right, all injustices accounted for, all crimes avenged. He takes it form the right hand of the Father, and the Father doesn’t resist him, the four living creatures don’t object, and the twenty-four elders do not stand in his way. This symbolic action shows that Jesus has taken control of history.”

Verse 8

• The prayers of the saints shouldn’t be understood as prayers for a good doctor’s report or for financial provision – the kind of daily needs we typically pray for, but the longing for redemption and ultimate vindication. See Psalm 141:2; Luke 1:10

Verses 9-10

• This new song represents the Lamb’s redemptive work of the New Covenant. The old has passed, the new has come.
• The third of the angelic hymns in the throne room vision: the first concerns the holiness and eternality of God, the second concerns the sovereignty of God in creation, and here the third concerns the glory of the slain Lamb in redeeming a people for God.
• In the New Covenant, there one people of God: those from “every tribe, tongue, people, and nation” who have been purchased by the Lamb.
• The promise to reign is eschatological: this new redeemed people will share in Christ’s future reign.

Verses 11-12

• All the angelic host of heaven sings the fourth throne room hymn: praising the Lamb for his redemptive work.

Verse 13

• The fifth throne room hymn: all creation (in heaven and earth) ascribes glory to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
• There are some major theological implications here: that all creation ascribes equal glory to both God (the Father) and the Lamb (the Son), points to the deity (divinity or, “God-ness”) of Christ as one who shares not just the glory of the Father (and Spirit), but also the essential nature of the Father (and the Spirit).

Verse 14

• The four living creatures (the guardians of the throne, see chapter 4’s handout) could only say “Amen” (“so be it”) and the twenty-four elders could only fall and worship.

BIG TAKEAWAY: ROBERT MOUNCE: “CHAPTER FIVE HAS REVEALED A CENTRAL TRUTH THAT GOVERNS THE ENTIRE BOOK OF REVELATION. BY HIS SACRIFICIAL DEATH THE LAMB HAS TAKEN CONTROL OF THE COURSE OF HISTORY AND GUARANTEED ITS FUTURE. A VIVID PORTRAYAL OF THE ONE WHO HAS WON THE CRUCIAL BATTLE AGAINST SIN SUPPLIES THE CONFIDENCE THAT IN THE TROUBLED TIMES TO COME THERE REMAINS A HOPE THAT IS STEADFAST AND SURE.”