(This is Mako pinch-hitting for Mike while he is away this week.)
Who is worthy of opening up the scroll and breaking its seals?
Not me.
In this passage, I’m reminded of who we are as humans. No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll. Not only that, but no one could even take a look into it. We can’t be sneaking a peak.
Romans 3:10-11 looks back at the Psalms which state, “No one is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” (ESV)
There it is again… The words, “no one.” Surely with words like this to describe humans, we are not worthy.
By this time John was crying, but I’m assuming you haven’t gotten to that stage because you know more of the story.
There is someone who can open the scroll. Just like He is the only one who could have taken away our sins, He is the only one who can open the scroll.
Let’s remember that it is Jesus who is worthy and He is the only one who is worthy. Remember Jesus’ words in John 14:6. No one can come to the Father except through him.
In our efforts to try to understand Revelation and the meaning behind all the symbolism, let us not forget the centrality of Jesus. Remember the opening words of the book. It is not the Revelation of John, it is “The revelation of Jesus Christ…”
Who is Jesus? Here the elder refers to Jesus using two Messianic titles from the Old Testament. The first is the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah.” A reference for this is in Genesis 49:9-10, which calls Judah a lion’s cub and links this image to royalty. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah,” verse 10 says. Jesus is the conquering, ruling lion. His reign is eternal.
The second image given is that of the “root of David.” This also draws on the idea of Jesus as a ruler, a descendant of the royal King David. It comes from Isaiah 11:1, which talks of the Messiah as a shoot coming from the stump of Jesse.
Both these images show a conquering king and that is the reason given for why Jesus is the only one who can open the seals. Verse 5 says he “has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
So today, remember the conquering King, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the root of David, who is worthy to open the scrolls, and worthy to die in our place on the cross.
He alone is worthy: The King of Kings.