Revelation 5:1-5

The Scroll in the Hand of God

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on May 27, 2018 at Beacon Church

These first few verses of Revelation 5 set the stage for the entire rest of the book. Notice that verse 1 and verse 2 are introduced with the phrase, "I saw"-- that phrase is going to become really familiar in the rest of the book. It reminds readers that this is a vision, a book of symbols John was shown (c.f. 1:1). In chapter 4, as we saw in the last two sermons, the vision of God's throne, John saw, through symbols, a timeless picture of God's glory being made known through the religious symbols from the Old Testament Tabernacle and Temple, the right ways to come to Him, the preaching that makes God known as His Word goes forth to all the Earth, to the ends of the world; that Word of grace, about a Holy God who gives mercy to those who come to Him through appealing to the blood of His Son, Jesus, who has made His people a Kingdom and Priests to His Father, to glorify God forever. All of that is what John saw in one look as the Holy Spirit filled him with understanding of what He saw laid out before the throne of God above. And we need to hold on to the sight of the throne that John saw, in order to get why what he sees in Revelation 5 is the most important sight in the whole Book of Revelation.

John saw a sealed scroll

That's the thing that John saw, but notice where he saw it: in the hand of Him who sits on the throne--and notice something: surely the hand of God is infinitely more impressive than a scroll? But John did not see, or he was not shown, the hand; he was made to see a scroll, and the significance of the scroll is drawn from the One who held it in His right hand. The God Almighty who is Holy Holy Holy in His timeless perfection and power, who is worthy to receive all glory and honour and power, who created all things and upholds all things through the power of His divine will; this God whose omnipotent will can not be thwarted, but whose gracious purpose is the reason why you and I breathe, why the atoms of our physical bodies continue to exist, and why the events of our very lives continue to unfold in our individual stories, this God held a scroll in His strong right hand.

"Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.  (Rev. 4:11-5:1 ESV)

With that intro, this scroll apparently represents the sovereign will of God for the future. John saw it was full of writing inside and outside, on the front and back of the rolled-up scroll. And he noticed it was sealed with seven seals.

Two passages from the Old Testament make it clear that this scroll symbolizes the plans God has decreed for the future. First, in Isaiah 29:11, the Lord says that the vision He gave to Isaiah about the future of Jerusalem was "like the words of a scroll that is sealed". Second, in Ezekiel 2:9f, God gives Ezekiel a scroll to eat--a scroll full of writing "on the front and on the back"--"words of lamentation and woe". God told that prophet to eat the scroll and then go speak to the people of Israel,

10 Moreover, he said to me, "Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.  11 And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' whether they hear or refuse to hear." (Ezek. 3:10-11 ESV)

Scrolls didn't usually have writing on both sides, because as you unrolled and read the scroll, you rolled up it up as you read along. Like in Ezekiel, this scroll being full of writing suggests its message is extensive, and that its detail is comprehensive. Sometimes ancient scrolls were sealed at places on the inside so that you could only read so far before another seal had to be broken (a seal probably of hot wax like in old-fashioned letters).[i] And that's exactly what happens as each of these seals is broken, another portion of the prophecy of Revelation is made known. But that's for the next chapter.

In the meantime, the scroll John saw is sealed with seven seals. If you compare the major prophecies of the Book of Daniel with the prophecy of John in the Book of Revelation, you will see that the Holy Spirit intends these two books to be read together. The main themes of Daniel--the future of God's people, their suffering at the hands of the Antichrist, and their salvation through the covenant of Christ, through which they will inherit resurrection life, glory, and the Kingdom of God--these are also the main themes of Revelation. Whereas when Daniel asked what would be the "outcome" of all those prophecies, he was told "the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end" (Dan 12:9). In Revelation the seals are opened and the scroll is unrolled and made known. So what we have here is the decrees of God for the future, the expansion in prophecy of "the whole course of history" begun in the book of Daniel, until the plans of God are completed, and the purpose of Creation itself is finished. That's why 5:1 and the scroll comes right after 4:11.

"Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.  (Rev. 4:11-5:1 ESV)

God's will, His purpose for Creation is revealed in its conclusion, in the book of Revelation, as the scroll in His hand is unrolled and its words revealed. 

John saw a mighty angel

For every time you've ever wondered what your life is for; for every person who has ever longed for answers to the really big questions; for every seeker who has ever cried out to God in frustration, "Why O Lord?", "How long O Lord?", "What are you doing O Lord?"--like Daniel who asked, "O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?" (Dan 12:8)--what John saw next could hardly be any more pregnant with expectation--with the hopes and fears of all the years in history: “And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" (Rev. 5:2 ESV). In Mat 10:10 when Jesus said, “the laborer deserves his food”, the word “deserves” is the same word as “worthy”. Who on Earth deserves this from God’s hand? Who deserves to be the beneficiary of God’s sovereign will? Who deserves this reward of being the instrument to reveal God’s plans, much less to execute those plans for the future? Don’t forget we’ve seen this before in a sense, if you’ve read the book of Genesis, maybe you remember that when God created man and woman, the Scripture says,

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."  27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Gen. 1:26-28 ESV)

By sinning Adam became unworthy of that rule, unable to discern the mind and purposes of God. His fellowship with God was broken, and therefore so was ours as the children born into Adam’s rebellion. Who on Earth is worthy? Nobody. “And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it,” (Rev. 5:3 ESV). This is the first of 3 major announcements in the book of Revelation (c.f. 10:1; 18:1) heralded by a “mighty angel”. The total lack of anyone worthy to become God’s servant to make known and accomplish God’s plans, complete failure of humanity, is one of the most dramatic, most tragic, and most central facts to the whole rest of this book.

One day some scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus and criticized his disciples for breaking man-made traditions. And Jesus turned around and exposed their own hypocrisy in how they used man-made traditions to make excuses for disobeying God's commands. Then he quoted Isaiah 29:13 and said, "this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me". That verse in Isaiah in its context is an explanation for why nobody could read or open the "scroll" of Isaiah's prophecy.

10 For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).  11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."  12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," (Isa. 29:10-12 ESV)

Literacy was not the problem: love was the problem. Because nobody loved God more than everything, nobody loved God’s plans more than their own. Yes, “all things work together for good for those that love the Lord”, but next words of the promise clarify, “for those who are called according to God’s purpose” (Rom 8:28). In answer to the mighty angel’s challenge, nobody steps forward because we are all off serving our own agendas, still believing Satan’s promise to Eve that our lives are about us: our plans matter more than God’s. There was no one worthy or able to redeem the good future Adam lost.

John wept loudly

“And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it,” (Rev. 5:4 ESV). He wept because, in effect, what he saw meant that Satan had won in the Garden of Eden. The serpent struck the heal of humankind, and we died, with no happy ending. John did not just feel tears well up in his eyes: he was overcome with sorrow and cried his heart out. It’s an odd thing the way Christian funerals are not like other funerals in most parts of the world. Growing up in a largely Christian extended family, I had never heard loud crying at funerals before I attended a Catholic funeral. But then when I was a missionary in another country, I heard for the first time, loud wailing at the devastation of the loss of a loved one. This is how John weeps in verse 4. He wept for what the world lost: everything.

He was interrupted by “one of the elders” (v5a). And that’s significant. I explained before on 4:4, that the 24 elders are a symbol drawn from the 24 divisions of the tribe of Levi, the whole priesthood of Israel—organized by King David under their 24 elders in 1 Chronicles 24. That’s what the symbol is. And just as the 24 Levitical elders represented the whole priesthood of Israel, this symbol stands for the whole priesthood that belongs to Jesus Christ: the priesthood of all believers (“he has made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father”, says Rev 1:6), that is, the entire, true Church of Jesus Christ. So the words of hope John hears next, the encouragement that there is Good News, that all hope is not lost, that God promises “plans for good and not for evil, to give [His people] hope and a future” (Jer 29:11), this blessed news comes to John from the Church. The entire promise of redemption, of hope, was a message, writes Matthew Henry, that “God had revealed… to His church.”[ii] The Good News of the whole Bible (for that is what John is about to be told about and shown in the signs of this vision), the Gospel is entrusted to the Church and only to the Church. John is an apostle, but even apostles, and so of course elders and pastors also, never get beyond the need to learn the Gospel from the Church.

“And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals,’" (Rev. 5:5 ESV). And what does the elder of the Church say to the Apostle of Christ? “Weep no more, Look!” In Greek both these phrases are in the grammar of commands.[iii] The Gospel is not suggestions for why we shouldn’t despair; the Gospel is the command of God to repent and believe in Christ. It is the power of God for salvation to those who believe, the obedience it produces is what the Apostle Paul called, “the obedience of faith.”

25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages  26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith--  27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.  (Rom. 16:25-27 ESV)

The Gospel shared by the Church elder to John, in verse 5, is none other than in the midst of humanity’s total moral and spiritual failure; in the loss of all reason for hope, in the abandonment of any illusion of future blessing, in the eternal death and destruction achieved by Adam’s race, God alone saves. There is no work we are able to do; the only salvation is by God’s grace. Therefore the elder of the Church tells John to turn his eyes and look: not to a thing, not to a set of instructions or guidelines, not to rules or ceremonies, but to a person: “..Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals," (Rev. 5:5 ESV). Two Old Testament Hebrew titles for the Messiah remind John of the only hope for the future. One title comes from the book of Genesis, and the other from the prophet Isaiah. “The Lion of the tribe of Judah” is a reference to Jacob’s ancient blessing for his son, Judah: that Judah would become like a lion, and that from Judah’s family tree a ruler would one day come, and the nations of Earth would bow to Him:

9 Judah is a lion's cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?  10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.  (Gen. 49:9-10 ESV)

This promise given to the father of the tribe of the Jews is a promise pointing to the humanity of the Messiah, who would come from the tribe of Judah.[iv] The second title, “the root of David”, is a reference borrowed from Isaiah 11:1-10, a prophecy that predicts that the royal dynasty of King David, the son of “Jesse” (named in verse 1), though it seemed to be cut off like a stump of a tree, will be revived by God, and that this future King, filled with the Spirit of God, delighting in the fear of God, perfect in righteousness and truth, would finally bring everlasting rule and peace to the whole Earth: through Him God’s good plans for the future will be accomplished:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.  2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.  3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,  4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.  5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.  6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.  7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.  9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.  10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples-- of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. (Isa. 11:1-10 ESV)

In the world cursed through Adam’s defeat, this King, the Christ of God, has conquered. Where Adam fell and died, and in him all died, Christ has been raised in glory.

Oh my friends, has God given light to your souls to perceive, to look at Christ, and to see what Jesus Christ has done? Do you see the future God has decreed through Jesus? Do you know that like Adam our father, every single plan we have to do good only ends in failure and death, in hard hearts far from God, and nothing but hypocrisy and clichés on our lips? But do behold that in Jesus Christ, the sovereign will of Him who sits on the throne promises life from the dead, the redemption of the world? Jesus the man, Christ the Son of God and heir of David, He is worthy to take the scroll, to break its seals, and to save what Adam lost. Weep no more; look! The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, and believe!