The Lamb Is Worthy

Scripture Reading: Revelation 4:1-11, Revelation 5:1-14, Isaiah 6:1-6, Ezekiel 1:26-28

You don’t have to spend much time paying attention to the news before you start to be troubled. The media that makes us immediately aware of tragedy anywhere in the world might be new, but troubled times are not. Isaiah’s vision came to him “in the year that King Uzziah died” (Isaiah 6:1), when injustice and corruption seemed to reign in Judah. Ezekiel’s vision came to him while he was in Babylon, where a remnant of the people had been wrenched from their homes and carried into exile. When John received his vision, he was exiled on the bleached rocks of Patmos away from his beloved tribulation-suffering churches.

All three saw their visions in troubled times, but their visions allowed them to see what was really going on in the world. In Revelation 4:1–2, John encouraged his readers twice to see what he saw. Twice he told them to “look” or “behold”: “Look! an open door in heaven!” “Look! a throne, and someone seated on it!“ (The ESV reflects this more clearly, for reference.) Darrell Johnson writes in his book Discipleship on the Edge, “‘Look’ is the most frequent command in the entire book of Revelation. The second most frequent is ‘fear not.’ We obey the second by obeying the first. When we look we are no longer afraid.”

In heaven, John saw a throne. Seated on the throne was the true King, the Creator of the universe who rules rightly, judges justly, and who receives worship from all He has made. Four living creatures and twenty-four elders surrounded Him and sang praise to Him. In His hand was a scroll that no one could open.

This vision is glorious and puts all human rulers, those from John’s time to today, on notice. But there is a problem—how can any human being come into the heavenly throne room without being instantly judged and found wanting?

“Look!” one of the elders told John in Revelation 5:5. There was a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, who approached and took the scroll. This Lamb had conquered through sacrificial love, and this enabled Him to open the scroll that moves history.

How does this vision keep us from being afraid? It did not take John or his churches away from the earthly challenges they faced, and it isn’t going to remove all our challenges either. But what we see going on in the throne room of heaven affects everything going on in the universe, despite appearances to the contrary. It is closer and more relevant to us than any news that might trouble us, and what is going on there inevitably extends to the earthly realm.

We also see that it is safe for us to approach the throne of the universe because the Lamb is there. His worthiness extends to those He has purchased, making the throne of heaven the “throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). Whereas Isaiah cried, “Woe is me!,” we can cry, “Worthy is the Lamb!”

Written by Elliot Ritzema