Revelation 5 Devotional

The Lion Who Is a Lamb

“And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”Revelation 5:9 (BSB)

John weeps because no one anywhere is worthy to break the seals of the scroll in God's right hand (5:3-4). Then an elder tells him to stop weeping: the Lion of the tribe of Judah has triumphed and can open it (5:5). John looks, and he sees not a lion but a Lamb, standing, yet bearing the marks of having been slain (5:6).

That is how Revelation defines victory. The Lion conquers as the Lamb. His worthiness to open the scroll rests on his death. He was slain, and by his blood he bought people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation (5:9). Then the song spreads outward, from the elders to countless angels to every creature in all creation, honoring the one on the throne and the Lamb together (5:11-13). What the scroll unleashes will be hard to read, but it is in the hands of the one who was slain. Whatever unfolds in the world and in your life unfolds under the hand of the Lamb who loved you enough to die.

To think about: What would it mean for you to trust that the one directing the future is the Lamb who died for you?