WORTHY IS THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN
“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” — Rev. 5:9-10
Our selected text for last week celebrates the glory of God the Father as creator and ruler of all. This verse, for this week, celebrates the glory of the Son of God as Redeemer. “Thou art worthy” is the identical cry to both, and surely hints at the co-equality of the Father and the Son. The Son shares the glory of the Father as creator, because of His cooperation in creation: “All things were made by Him: and without Him was not anything made that was made [Jn. 1:3].” The Father shares the glory of the Son in redemption, because “The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world [I Jn. 4:14].”
John, author of the gospel, the epistle and this book of the Revelation, transported in spirit to heaven to behold these things, “wept much” (tears in heaven!) “because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon (v.3).” Finally, the Lion-Lamb, the God-man emerges as the only One qualified to open the book and initiate the advancement of the final stages of God’s redemptive enterprise. How well spoke the Savior when He said, “without Me ye can do nothing [Jn. 15:5].” (Pastors and churches, take note!) He has no peers.
What qualifies Him is His work as redeemer, and though there is so much else here worthy of consideration, we must focus on this, without which man would have no future and no hope and scorning of which leaves men no alternative but to experience the wrath of God and eternal punishment. Let us consider then:
The price of redemption. “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us by Thy blood…” We are so familiar with it that I fear its magnitude eludes us. The only One in the entire universe below or heaven above who is identified as “worthy,” other than God the Father, “humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” by an incredible process and at an incomprehensible price, to effect our salvation. Nothing more fully measures the devastation of sin; sin we so often take so lightly, and the world has nearly purged from its vocabulary. And nothing more fully measures the love of God that we also incline to take for granted, who have been “washed from our sins in His own blood [Rev. 1:5].”
Then there is the power of redemption: “Thou…hast redeemed us to God.” We who were once “dead in trespasses and sins,” and “having no hope, and without God in the world” are “made near by the blood of Christ.” Sin left us on the precipice of the lowest hell; He has lifted us to the highest heights to stand before and enjoy the fellowship of our glorious Creator, unafraid and unashamed. And this with not a finger raised on our part to merit it! “Jesus paid it all!”
Again, there is reference to the province of redemption: “Out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation.” No prejudice on His part excludes anyone from all the benefits of this glorious deliverance. Those who are excluded are those who exclude themselves by spurning God’s love and grace, discrediting His word, preferring “the pleasures of sin for a moment” to the glory that follows the reproach of Christ.
Finally there is a hint of the prospect of redemption for those who become followers of the Lamb. By His grace alone we are now “kings and priests” in our relation to God, combining in one the two greatest offices which were forever separate in the old economy. As kings we will be involved in His administrative work, and as priests take the lead in His worship in the ages to come. What Adam lost has been restored, and we shall reign with Him on a redeemed earth through the millennium to come, in a world free from sin, sickness, suffering, sorrow—and death.
With all this, the representatives in glory, the twenty four elders and the four mystical beasts in an ecstasy of praise “sung a new song,” a song never heard and never equalled here on earth; a song of praise to “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!!” It should set our hearts singing His praises now!
For His glory and our good,
"Pastor" Frasier
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