When we concluded Thursday's study, John told us that the One seated on the throne held a scroll with seven seals in His right hand. Only One will be able to open the scroll.
"And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?' But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside." (Revelation 5:2-4) John is heartbroken. He desperately wants to know what's inside the scroll. If I had been in John's shoes I would have wept too. What a sad development this must have been.
The search for someone worthy to open the scroll is, I think, done only for John's benefit and for our benefit. Everyone in heaven knows there is someone worthy to open the scroll. They know His identity. But the search is made so we will understand that the only one who can open it is the One for whom it was always intended: God the Son, the heir of all things, the One by whom and for whom all things were created. "Then one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." (Revelation 5:5)
I can't help picturing this elder (one of the twenty-four elders who represent the redeemed) leaning forward and putting a soothing hand on John's shoulder when he speaks these comforting words. Who better to know the worthiness of the Redeemer than one of the redeemed? It's fitting that it's not the strong angel who comforts John, but a fellow member of the Lord's church. This elder uses the Greek word "enikesen" which was translated into English as "triumphed" but actually means "to conquer". The elder literally says, "The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered." He has conquered the world as He promised in John 16:33. He has conquered death and now holds the keys to death and the realm of the dead in His hand as He told us in Revelation 1:18. Is there anyone else of whom these things can be said?
Why does the elder call the Lord Jesus Christ the Lion of the tribe of Judah? This is where we must be familiar with the Old Testament. When the patriarch Jacob blessed his twelve sons, he was led by the Holy Spirit to prophesy about the future of each of their tribes. The Lord revealed to Jacob that the tribe of Judah would be the royal line of Israel, and this was long before Israel was a nation and long before Israel had a throne or a king to sit upon it. Jacob said of the tribe of Judah, "You are a lion's cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness---who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until He to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be His." (Genesis 49:9-10) Jacob's son Judah was not the lion of the tribe; he was a lion's cub. But from his descendants would come a long line of kings (other lion cubs), and eventually the King would come to whom the throne rightfully and eternally belongs. This King will rule, not only over Israel, but over all the nations of the world. The Lord wants us to know here in Revelation that He is fulfilling a promise made in Genesis. We are in the last book of the Bible, but the promises made in the first book of the Bible still stand. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the One to whom the scepter and the ruler's staff belong, is soon to take His place on the throne of David and be king over all the earth.
Why does the elder refer to the Lord as the Root of David? Again, we need to know the Old Testament. The Lord gave a message to the prophet Isaiah to relate to the kingdom of Judah. In Isaiah's day, the kingdom was already split, with the ten northern tribes being known as Israel and with the two southern tribes (the large tribe of Judah and the quite small tribe of Benjamin) being known as Judah. The Lord had allowed the northern kingdom of Israel to be conquered by Assyria because the northern kingdom repeatedly refused His pleas to turn away from idolatry. Isaiah's mission was to warn the kingdom of Judah that they were going to be conquered by Babylon if they didn't turn back to the Lord. As we know, the majority of the people didn't heed the warning of Isaiah, of Jeremiah, or of any other prophet the Lord sent to them during those years. They were conquered by Babylon and carried off into captivity. Since the days when Israel and Judah were conquered, there has not been a king over any of the twelve tribes.
The Lord knew that, even after being restored to the land, the people would wonder whether the kingdom would ever regain its former glory. He knew they would wonder if a king of the royal line of Judah would ever rule again. So He made them the promise that, although it appears as if the royal line has been cut all the way to the ground, it is not dead. A fresh new shoot will sprout from the root. The entire eleventh chapter of Isaiah speaks of the kingdom of Christ on earth and how glorious it will be, so if you have time you should read it, but the passage the elder in our study today is referencing is this one: "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit...In that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to Him, and His resting place will be glorious." (Isaiah 11:1,10) Jesse was the father of King David, and Christ is that Root which sprang up from the line of David, from the royal line of Judah.
"Lion of the tribe of Judah" and "Root of David" are Messianic titles, and the only One who can claim these titles is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only One worthy to open the seven seals. As we studied yesterday, in the Roman Empire a will had to be sealed with seven seals. The Lord Jesus Christ is the heir of all things and the only One with the right to open and execute this will. He will begin to open these seals in Chapter 6, and as soon as He does the Antichrist will appear and the Great Tribulation will begin on the earth, but before He opens the seals we are going to conclude Chapter 5 tomorrow with the image of Christ not as the Lion of the tribe of Judah but as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of all who trust in Him. He will be a conquering king in the book of Revelation, but to John and to the redeemed who are standing around the throne, He is the Lamb who gave Himself to save mankind from sin and death.
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