In his book The Returning King, Vern Poythress offers a helpful approach to understanding Revelation. He writes:
God is at the center of Revelation. We must start with him and with the contrasts between him and his satanic opponents. If instead we try right away to puzzle out details, it is as if we tried to use a knife by grasping it by the blade instead of the handle. We are starting at the wrong end. Revelation is a picture book, not a puzzle book. Don’t try to puzzle it out. Don’t become preoccupied with isolated details. Rather, become engrossed in the overall story. Praise the Lord. Cheer for the saints. Detest the Beast. Long for the final victory.
I believe he’s right. When we read Revelation, the first step is not to interrogate every detail but to stand back and watch the scenes unfold. As Poythress says, “Revelation is a picture book, not a puzzle book.” Think of it like watching a film on a large screen. The first time you watch, you won’t notice every small detail, and you don’t need to. You take in the whole story as it moves before you. Just immerse yourself in the scene and watch it unfold.
The Scroll in God’s Hand
In Revelation 5, the apostle John has been taken into God’s throne room in heaven. In the previous chapter, we read,
After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. (Revelation 4:1–2)
From there, John sees the majesty of God and everyone in heaven worshiping him.
As we move into chapter 5, God is still seated on his throne, but now he is holding a scroll. This was likely a long papyrus scroll. In the first century, writing material was rare and valuable, so every inch was used front and back. That appears to be the case here, “a scroll written within and on the back” (Revelation 5:1).
These scrolls were rolled up for storage and often sealed with wax. Sometimes they were sealed multiple times. This scroll is “sealed with seven seals” (Revelation 5:1). There may have been one seal on the outside and additional seals as it was unrolled. To read the entire document, all seven seals had to be broken.
We’re not told directly what is inside, but the seals themselves tell us it is significant. In the ancient world, a king might seal official or private communication so that only someone with proper authority could open it.
So who is authorized to open this scroll? John writes,
And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. (Revelation 5:2–3)
Then he adds, “I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it” (Revelation 5:4).
A mighty angel is there. The four living creatures from chapter 4 are there. The twenty-four elders are there. Thousands upon thousands of angels fill the scene. Yet no one in the entire universe can break the seals. That reality devastates John. It reduces him to tears.
Naturally, we are left asking, “What is in that scroll?”
Why the Scroll Must Be Opened
John isn’t explicitly told what is in the scroll, but he clearly understands its importance. He knows it must be opened, and when he hears that no one can do so, he begins to sob. He is devastated. So what is in that scroll?
In short, the scroll represents God’s plan and purpose for all of human history. We learn this because, in the following chapters, the scroll is opened. As it unfolds, it reveals God’s comprehensive plan to judge evil, vindicate his people, and bring history to its appointed end.
We can understand John’s despair by considering what would not happen if the scroll remained sealed:
Revelation 6: the martyrs of the faith would never be avenged.
Revelation 8: the prayers of the saints would not be answered—namely, “your will be done; your kingdom come.”
Revelation 9: God’s eternal plan would not be accomplished.
Revelation 11: the kingdom of the world would not become the kingdom of our Lord.
Revelation 16-18: the wicked would not be judged.
Revelation 20-21: God would not reign in glory in the new heavens and the new earth.
In other words, all of God’s promises would fail, and we would be left without hope.
That is why John is devastated. He knows this scroll contains the unfolding of God’s promises throughout history and into eternity. He knows the promises of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the rest. If this scroll remains sealed, none of those promises can be fulfilled.
John is not overreacting. The angel asks, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” (Revelation 5:2). John waits, looking for someone to step forward, but no one does. He realizes “no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it” (Revelation 5:3). The moment feels utterly hopeless, so he begins to “weep loudly” (Revelation 5:4).
I see glimpses of this kind of despair at the funeral home from time to time. While many people assume there is a heaven, I sometimes meet families who do not believe in God, do not believe in heaven, and have no sense that their loved one is in a so-called better place. For them, death is final. There is nothing more for the one they love, and no hope for themselves. Their grief becomes a cry of hopeless despair, directed toward no one. It is heartbreaking to hear.
In a sense, that is where John is. He weeps because his hope has been crushed. If that scroll is not opened, human history ends in darkness.
The Worthy One Appears
Then we come to verse 5: “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’” (Revelation 5:5).
There is someone who can break the seals and open the scroll. There is someone worthy after all. Who is he?
In describing this Worthy One, the elder reaches back to the Old Testament, which is fitting because John’s despair hinges on whether those Old Testament promises will be fulfilled. The elder reminds him that those promises were all centered on a Person.
Consider Genesis 49. Jacob gathers his twelve sons and says, “I [will] tell you what shall happen to you in days to come” (Genesis 49:1). Concerning Judah, he says,
“Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons shall bow down before you.
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?
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.” (Genesis 49:8–10)
From Judah’s line would come one as fierce as a lion over his prey. No one would stand against him. The scepter of a king would never leave his hand. He would rule forever. One day, “every knee should bow … and every tongue confess that [this Man] is Lord” (Philippians 2:10-11). Truly, “to him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (Genesis 49:10).
So when John hears the title “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” his mind surely returns to that promise (Revelation 5:5).
Then he hears another title: “the Root of David” (Revelation 5:5). This comes directly from Isaiah 11: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse [David’s father], and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1).
Isaiah describes how “the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him” (Isaiah 11:2), much like when the Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism. Jesus was a descendant of both Judah and David. Isaiah then portrays both Jesus’ righteous judgment in his first coming and the fullness of his reign in the age to come.
He goes on to paint a picture of the new heaven and new earth brought about by the root of David:
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb…
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…
In that day the root of Jesse… shall stand as a signal for the peoples… and his resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:6–10)
This root of Jesse, the Son of David, is Jesus Christ. That is the one the elder is pointing to. Only someone who is all that the Old Testament promised and who can do all that the Old Testament promised is worthy to open the scroll.
John fears that these promises may never be fulfilled because no one can open the scroll, but the elder says, in essence, “Look again at those promises.” Judgment of the wicked, salvation of the righteous, obedience of the nations, an eternal kingdom of peace— All of it was always going to be fulfilled by someone, that is, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah [and] the Root of David” (Revelation 5:5).
And the elder declares, “He has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5).
The Lion Who Is a Lamb
At this moment, it is as though the four living creatures and the elders near God’s throne shift so John can finally see this Man, this Lion. Only he is not a lion at all: “And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6).
This is far more humble than we might expect. We were prepared for a giant of a man, a powerful figure like a roaring lion. Instead, John sees a meek lamb—and not simply a lamb, but one that has been slain. There is hardly a more humble image.
Yet this is precisely how the Lion conquered. He conquered by becoming a slain Lamb. Advancing the paradox, the slain Lamb is standing. He bears the marks of death, yet he lives. He has risen, and therefore he is victorious.
John should not be surprised. From the beginning, God has shown that victory over sin would come through bloodshed and humble sacrifice.
When Adam and Eve sinned, God covered their shame with garments of skin, requiring the death of an animal (Genesis 3:21). When Abraham was tested on Mount Moriah, God provided a ram as a substitute for Isaac (Genesis 22:13). At Passover, Israel was spared because a lamb’s blood marked their doors (Exodus 12:13).
Later, Isaiah prophesied of the Messiah as a humble servant “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7), pierced and crushed not for his sins but for the sins of his people: “The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he cried, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
The Lamb is worthy to open the scroll because he was slain. Verse 9 declares, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God” (Revelation 5:9).
His worthiness is grounded in his sacrifice. His authority to unfold history flows from his obedience unto death. He earned this right not through brute power but through humility.
Paul writes,
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus … he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him … that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord… (Philippians 2:5–11)
Humiliation leads to exaltation. The cross was not a defeat or a delay on the way to victory. The cross was the victory.
Victory Secured at the Cross
At the cross, Jesus disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame (Colossians 2:15). At the cross, the serpent’s head was crushed even as Jesus’ heel was bruised (Genesis 3:15). At the cross, sin was condemned in the flesh (Romans 8:3). At the cross, the debt that stood against us was canceled (Colossians 2:14).
At the cross, the curse of the law was borne and exhausted, for “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). At the cross, the righteous wrath of God against sin was poured out and satisfied, so that he might be “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). At the cross, reconciliation was accomplished as enemies were made friends, for “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10).
At the cross, the dividing wall of hostility was torn down, and peace was proclaimed, as he “has made us both one” and “reconciled us both to God in one body through the cross” (Ephesians 2:14-16). At the cross, forgiveness was secured once for all because “in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Ephesians 1:7). At the cross, the conscience was cleansed so that those who draw near may do so “with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:22).
At the cross, death itself was defanged, for Jesus destroyed “the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). At the cross, the fear of death that enslaved humanity was broken (Hebrews 2:15). At the cross, the new covenant was inaugurated in his blood, securing eternal redemption, not merely temporary relief (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:12).
At the cross, the way into the Holy Place was opened as the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). At the cross, sinners were justified and counted righteous apart from works, because “one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” (Romans 5:18). At the cross, the love of God was displayed beyond dispute: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
So it was at the cross that the victory of the Lion was secured through the sacrifice of the Lamb. This is how he conquered. This is why he is worthy to open the scroll.
The martyrs will be avenged because the Lamb has already borne the greater judgment in their place. The prayers of the saints will be answered because the Lamb stands as their intercessor, holding bowls filled with incense before the throne (Revelation 5:8; Romans 8:34). The kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord because the Lamb purchased people “from every tribe and language and people and nation” by his blood (Revelation 5:9). The wicked will be judged because the Lamb who was slain is also the one to whom all judgment has been given (John 5:22). And the new heavens and the new earth will come because the Lamb makes all things new (Revelation 21:5).
Everything hinges on the slain Lamb. Without him and his sacrifice, the scroll remains sealed. History has no meaning, death has the final word, evil goes unanswered, and hope collapses. But because the Lamb was slain, and because he stands, the scroll is opened, history moves forward, the promises are secured, and the end is sure.
Many of the Bible’s promises are not yet fully seen. We live between the first and second comings of Christ, so we continually look back to the cross to remember what the Lamb accomplished and look forward to what he will complete when he comes. As we remember and wait, we join the song of heaven: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13).
Amen.
