Day 243, Revelation 5 
As I mentioned yesterday, it is generally better to simply be awed
by the glorious scenes which John describes in the book of Revelation rather
than attempt to comprehend everything that he mentions in those scenes. In
today's reading, John witnessed what all believers can look forward to
participating in one day---worship in heaven. There, Jesus is the central
focus, and He is worshipped for who He is and what He did. I think our
worship today should follow that same pattern. There is no "fluff" in
the songs that are sung in heaven!
Clearly, some of what John describes in this chapter should not be
taken literally, but symbolically. We are told that the smoke that arises from
the incense bowls of the twenty-four elders and four living creatures
represents “the prayers of the saints” (5:8). The Lamb who is worthy to
open the seven-sealed book is obviously symbolic of Jesus (5:6). The
seven eyes on that symbolic Lamb represent “the seven Spirits of God, sent
out into all the earth” (5:6), whatever that might mean!
These three symbols in chapter five make me wonder what else might
be symbolic there that is not explained to us as such. For lack of knowing any
better, I tend to take everything else in this chapter as being
literal, including the seven-sealed scroll. That sacred book apparently
contained God’s predestined plans concerning the events of
the tribulation, events of which we'll be reading as the unsealing of that
scroll is described in the next few chapters.
Why these future events were written in a sealed scroll, and why
only someone as worthy as Christ is qualified to break the seals, is a mystery.
Perhaps the scroll itself is also simply symbolic. If nothing else, we are
impressed with the fact that there is no one like Jesus anywhere in the
universe, and the future destiny of the world is in His hands.
Although there is certainly a chronological element to this book, it
is not always consistent, which adds to its mystery. For example, this
worshipful chapter culminates with every created thing, not only in
heaven and hell, but also on earth, worshipping Jesus (5:11-13). It
doesn't seem likely that such a scene will occur anytime prior to or during the
coming tribulation, or before Christ's second coming. It is almost as if the
scene of pre-tribulational heavenly worship that John was witnessing
suddenly leaps forward in time to after the tribulation. This being so, it is
always good to be cautious before assigning slots on a timeline to any event of
which we read in this book.
You may recall that God promised Abraham that through His seed
“all the families of the earth [would] be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). According to
Paul, that seed of Abraham who brought blessing to all the earth's families was
Christ (Gal. 3:16), the one who told us to makes disciples of all the nations,
or more literally, all the ethnic families of the world (Matt. 28:19) and the
one who died for the sins of everyone in the world (1 John 2:2). We learn
today that God's ancient promise to Abraham will be fulfilled, because
"men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation" will be among
those who will reign upon the earth, purchased by Christ's blood (5:9-10). Yet
those who study such things tell us that there are still thousands of ethnic
groups in the world today who have no disciples of Christ among them. So it
seems that there is still work to be done. And there is still a harvest waiting
for those who will set their eyes on the fields.
I was once inspired to write a song after reading this particular
chapter. It is titled, Worthy is the Lamb, and if you have a few
extra minutes, you can listen to it here: www.shepherdserve.org/songs/mp3/worthy_isthe_lamb.mp3.
Please excuse the poor lead vocal and pray that the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
will record it one day!
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