Introduction

“The Lamb”

Imagine the countless people and entities praising Christ as Lord, billions upon billions singing His praise as a unified, mighty chorus! The entirety of all things in heaven and earth in the millions times billions will eventually worship the Lamb as Sovereign Lord over all. There is no pride, person, or thing that can stand in His way! Jesus takes charge; He becomes the Lion and the Lamb to do what no one else was willing or able to do, pay our debt of sin and reconcile us to God in harmony and in relationship. Where sin had separated us, His sacrifice paid the debt that could not be paid or fulfilled by anything or anyone else. So, Jesus takes the scroll from God the Father, and in front of all the elders and witnesses, angels and such could do nothing but fall face down, prostrate to worship Him for who He is and what He is doing. This is a reflection of what we must do to worship Christ for who He is and what He has done for us; we must do it purely and purposefully, and not wait until it is too late and we are left to worship Him out of compulsion. For when that happens, it will be too late for our redemption! He is calling out to us to receive His grace and to recognize His sacrifice, for He is, indeed, worthy to pay our debt. The call here is to disallow our pride to blind us of His worthiness.

This passage gives us the essential Christian message of God’s redemption, as our sinful nature is exchanged for eternal life in Him. It is about how our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll. As we acknowledge what He has done, what are we doing with His eminence and significance in our daily life? Are we bowing down, living a life worthy of what He modeled for us? His plan and promise has been accomplished; are we accomplishing in our lives what we need to in order to line up to worship Him? He accomplished God’s purpose for us when we did not deserve it. Will we lead a life of glorifying Him, which He does deserve?

Some misguided Christians have mistaken this passage as a strategy to pray to the saints and then have the saints pray to God on our behalf. This is not biblical. We go directly to God. There is no “middleman” when we are in Christ. Our prayers are to the Father, through the Son, and through the leading of the Spirit (Matt 28:18; John 1:1-3; 14:6; 16:23-27; Philip. 2:5-6; 1 Tim. 2:5).