The anticipation consumed me. Every day, maybe several times a day, I checked the status of my order. Finally, the big day arrived. Hurriedly, I dropped everything, grabbed the brown package resting on my doorstep, and tore it open. There it was—the next book I planned to read.
OK, maybe we don’t get quite that excited about books, but if you’ve ever ordered one that you really wanted to read, you know that the wait can be difficult. Thank God for e-books—His gift to the more impatient among us.
In Revelation 5, John becomes fixated on a book. Actually, it was not a book, but a scroll. He hadn’t noticed it before, but there it was, clenched within the fist of the One sitting on Heaven’s throne.
This was no ordinary document. John eyed the words that filled both the front and back of the scroll. He just had to know what it said. Unfortunately, it was sealed seven times, forbidding any unauthorized person from reading its contents.
John could no longer contain his emotions as he began to weep. He seemed to know what we find out later—that the opening of the scroll would unleash the judgments of God on the sin of mankind. Only then could the process of restoration of creation begin. However, no one was worthy of opening the scroll. Would the universe be doomed to continue forever in the present state of degradation? Would there be no chance to avenge the persecuted saints like John himself?
But wait! Hold everything! One of the elders commanded John to stop weeping, because “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” could open the scroll.
John turned, expecting to see a lion, but instead his eyes fell on a lamb—one that had been slain. John knew the identity of this lamb—it was his old friend, Jesus, the Lamb of God.
The Lamb took the scroll from the One on the throne. Instantly, all eyes turned to the Him. The four creatures before the throne who offered continuous praise to God shifted their attention to Jesus. The twenty-four elders followed suit. Then a vast number of angels, estimated in the hundreds of thousands, joined in: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!”
All the worship once directed toward the One on the throne was now focused on Jesus. Why? Because He is worthy. God the Father shares His glory with His Son, His sacrificial Lamb. He is worshipped, and He will be worshipped. Now and forever.
Everyone will worship Jesus. So you better start now.
