‘Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole? Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?’ – Andrew Peterson
‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered – To receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’ -Revelation 5:12
The island of Patmos. John is a prisoner of Rome, another victim of Imperial power. But hope abounds, for John has of late received glorious visions. Gazing across the cerulean sea, he beholds sights no eye has seen or tongue can adequately describe. One such sight is before him now.
The Father is on his throne. The view is dazzling. He is surrounded by angel armies, representatives of creation, and the people of God. In His hand is a scroll sealed seven times. When this scroll is opened, history as we know it will be come to an end. God will step onto the stage and set the world to rights. No more war. No more violence. No more disease. No more pain. The home of God will be with His people. Creation restored. All things made new. That scroll represents, in a word, hope: hope that all that is wrong will be vanquished and all that is right will conquer.
John knows this.
An angel cries across the landscape of heaven, ‘who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?’
John nearly bursts with anticipation. This is the moment. All things will be made new.
But then, nothing. For there is no one in heaven or on earth who is worthy to bring about the grand renewal of all things.
Now, if you know the rest of the story, forget that you know it for a moment. Imagine this were actually the case. That there was no one worthy to break the seal and open that scroll. How would you feel? Devastated doesn’t even come close. Imagine if, in the end, nothing is made new, and things go on as they do forever. Exploitation of the powerless at the hands of the powerful. The subjugation of peoples at the hands of empire. Disease. Death. Violence. Racism. Hate. War. Slavery. Sex Trafficking. Imagine if these things were to continue forever. If no one was able to put an end to them. If humanity’s hope for a better world turned out to be a farce. If the worst thing that ever happened to you continued to haunt you until the end of your days. If sorrow would forever have the last word. If wrong would never be put to right.
John ‘wept bitterly’ at such a thought (Rev. 5:4). As well he should, for his dreams of restoration, dreams that had been the driving force of his life and had empowered him to endure suffering for the sake of a better world to come were, in that moment, completely dashed. The love he built his hope upon would not win. The world would continue as it always had. Death would win. Violence would win. Cancer would win. Cruelty would win. Yes, John, weep bitter tears, for the world will remain bitter until it simply is no more.
Thankfully, this is not true.
I don’t know how long John wept, but while he wept, a visitor entered the heavenly court. With the meekness and appearance of a lamb, Jesus steps before the throne of His Father. One of the People of God shouts, ‘Stop weeping! Behold – the Lion of Judah. He has won! He is worthy to break the seal and open the scroll!’
Slowly, reverently, Jesus approaches the throne of the Ancient of Days and takes the scroll from his Father’s hand. In an instant, the angel armies, creation, and the People of God fall to their knees. Their joy is beyond description. For the day has come. All things will be made new. Love will win.
The People of God begin to sing:
‘You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they shall reign on earth.’
Then the angels add their voices:
‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered – to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’
And finally, all creation joins the chorus:
‘Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. Amen.’
Incredible. At the end of history, the one who will bring things to a close will be the one who was slaughtered like a lamb. Not the power brokers. Not the generals. Not the Presidents or Prime Ministers. Not the rich and powerful. But the King who served rather than be served. The Lover who loved in the face of hate. The Lion who lived like a lamb. The warrior who overcame the world, not with a sword, but with a cross.
The scene John describes in Revelation 5 has been on my mind a lot these days. Part of the reason is that I recently discovered Andrew Peterson’s song that describes it, ‘Is He Worthy?’ It’s been weeks since I first heard that song and I’m still waking up at night feeling the sheer joy of its words. The other part is that I’ve been thinking a lot about the Lordship of Jesus; what it means to say that Jesus is Lord. I live in a world where people have mixed allegiances. Even Christians, who should be single-minded in their devotion to Christ, often practice a syncretistic faith that seeks to honor Jesus alongside of other gods: nationalism, militarism, consumerism, and a thousand others. Those gods, or at least those who follow them, are constantly being held before me, even by professing Christians, as worthy of adulation and imitation. I am asked, in one way or another, to give them my praise and allegiance. But when I remember the scene in Revelation 5, I am reminded that Jesus alone is worthy of imitation, praise, and allegiance. He alone deserves blessing, and honor, and glory, and power.
The Lordship of Jesus reminds me that He is the only one I want to follow. He is the only one whose life I want to imitate. At the end of history, it will not be those who were powerful in this world who will claim the victory. No, every one of them will fall and cast their crowns at the feet of the One who is worthy.
If that is true, and it is, then every one of us who claims to follow Jesus needs to recognize that Jesus is Lord, not only on that day at the end of history, but in our lives right now. And that means that we need to truly follow him, we need to imitate him, we need to praise and give our allegiance to him. We need to strive with all our might to be like him.
As for me, I’ve decided that’s all I want to do. I want to be like Jesus (Lord knows that leaves me with vast room for improvement!). I don’t ever want to do anything that Jesus himself did not or would not do. I only want to do what Jesus did and would do. I only want to be like Jesus.
And if that means that I have to serve rather than be served, to love in the face of those who hate, to live like a lamb in a world of wolves, to fight with a cross instead of a sword, to deny myself as I take up my cross and follow the way of Calvary love, well, so be it. Because if that’s what Jesus asks of me, what else can I do, what else would I ever want to do, but follow my Lord?
For after all, He alone is worthy.
Under Christ’s Mercy,
Pastor Brent
Note: Artwork featured in this post by Karen Snyder, quote at top from the song, Is He Worthy? by Andrew Peterson