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In this message we will continue to consider our experience and enjoyment of Christ as the Lion-Lamb.
Revelation 5:7 says, “He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sits upon the throne.” Christ took the scroll out of the right hand of God the Father who sits upon the throne. This scroll must be the new covenant, the grand title deed in the universe, enacted with the blood of the Lamb for God’s redemption of the church, Israel, the world, and the universe.
Revelation 5:9 says of Christ, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals.” In the whole universe no one is worthy to open the mystery of God’s economy but Christ, the overcoming Lion and the redeeming Lamb. As the overcoming Lion, He defeated Satan for God, and as the redeeming Lamb, He put sin away for us. He is the only One qualified to unveil and carry out the mystery of God’s economy.
Our Savior is the Lamb as well as the Lion. This One is worthy to open the scroll. Apart from Him, no one in the universe is worthy to open the secret, the mystery, of God’s economy. But the Lion-Lamb is worthy because He has accomplished redemption and has won the victory over Satan. As the One who has brought God’s authority to the earth, He is the victorious, overcoming Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Lamb who has accomplished a full redemption for God’s chosen people. Therefore, He is completely qualified and positioned to open the mystery of God’s economy. When Christians say that Christ is worthy, their thought is that He is worthy to receive worship, praise, and thanks from us, His little creatures. However, most Christians fail to realize that He is worthy to open the seals of the secret of God’s economy. This aspect of the Lord’s worthiness is universal and immeasurable. Of course, Christ is worthy of our praises; He is worthy even of our lives. Nevertheless, we must realize that, according to Revelation 5, Christ’s worthiness is a matter of His being qualified to open the secret of God’s economy. The universe is a mystery which the scientists cannot unravel. They simply do not know the meaning or the purpose of the universe because it is a secret kept from them. But Christ is worthy to open this secret, for He is worthy to open the seals of God’s economy.
A scroll is a roll of parchment paper or other material. Because a scroll is rolled up, it is difficult to determine just how long it is. The scroll in Revelation 5 is eternally long. Only Christ is worthy to open this eternally-long scroll. We should not think that we have seen everything contained in this scroll. We will need eternity to see all that is included in it. When we are in the New Jerusalem, we will still be reading the contents of the scroll. For eternity we will say, “Now I see something more.” The surprise of the opening of the scroll will last for eternity. When we are in eternity, we may say, “The Lord’s surprise is eternal. Although we are now in eternity, we still cannot see the end.”
Christ has received from God the authority to administrate the entire universe (vv. 1, 6-7). Christ is the real Administrator of the heavens and all the nations on earth. In Matthew 28:18 the Lord told the disciples that all authority had been given to Him in heaven and on earth. In Revelation 5 Christ as the Lamb of God was standing in the midst of the four living creatures and the elders. The One who was sitting on the throne was holding a scroll sealed with seven seals. God was sitting on the throne holding this scroll, the schedule of His administration in the entire universe. This scroll is like a timetable of what will take place from the ascension of Christ to the New Jerusalem. The seven seals with which the scroll is sealed are actually its contents. These seven seals are the seven secrets of the universe, which are the mystery of God’s economy. Christ as the Lion-Lamb is qualified to open the scroll, that is, to open the mystery of God’s economy and to carry it out. This indicates that Christ is the One who has received the authority to administrate the entire universe. We all must worship Christ as the Administrator, as the One in the heavens administering all things for the fulfillment of God’s economy.
In Revelation 5 Christ is presented as the redeeming Lamb who is the Victor, qualified to take the scroll, open it, and execute it. In the Epistles of Paul, the scroll is the new testament mainly for our enjoyment of the riches of Christ, which have been bequeathed to us. However, there is another aspect to the new testament: God deals with the universe according to His testament. How God deals with all peoples, including the Jews, the nations, and Christendom, will be according to His testament. In this testament there are not only bequests for the believers to enjoy but also the matters of God’s dealing with different peoples and even with the heavens and the earth. The Redeemer of the whole universe is qualified to take, open, and execute the new testament.
Eventually, all things in the universe will be headed up in Christ (Eph. 1:10). The Jews, the heathen nations, and Christendom will be dealt with, and God’s kingdom will be ushered in on the earth. When all things are headed up in Christ, there will be the fullness of the times, in which the heavens, the earth, and everything therein will be new. Today things on the earth are confused, dark, and under death, causing many to shed tears. A day will come, however, when the whole universe will be in order, and there will be no more division, confusion, darkness, death, or tears. There will be a new heaven and a new earth in which all things will be headed up in Christ. In eternity all things in the universe will be in order. Christ alone is worthy to administrate the new heaven, the new earth, and the New Jerusalem. This is because only Christ is the One who died to redeem the whole universe, who conquered Satan through His death, who consummated the covenant with His redeeming blood, and who bequeathed the new testament to us. Christ is worthy to take up the scroll of the new testament, open it up, and execute all that is written therein by carrying out every bequest in the new testament and bringing all things in the universe into order. This is Christ’s ultimate heavenly ministry to carry out all that God has designed in His economy.
Revelation 5:9-10 goes on to say of Christ, “You were slain and have purchased for God by Your blood men out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made them a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign on the earth.” Christ’s purchasing men out of these four sources indicates His purchasing them from the entire earth. The apostle John, who wrote Revelation, was Jewish, but He confirms that Christ died on the cross to redeem men not just from the Jews but from different tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations. God’s chosen people are not only from one race. All the different races and people with all different ranks have been put into the Spirit so that they all may be one Body (1 Cor. 12:13). Now in the Spirit as the source, element, essence, and sphere of love, we can love all the believers from different tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations, whom the Lord redeemed through His death (Col. 1:4, 8).
Christ made men out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation a kingdom and priests to God by perfecting them to be priestly kings — kings to reign on the earth and priests to serve God. The kingdom is for kingship, for the exercising of God’s authority, and the priests are for the priesthood, for the accomplishing of the divine ministry.
The priesthood is for the expression of God. The priests enjoy the Lord, and they become His expression, manifestation, habitation, and dwelling place. On the one hand, God fully gains His image and expression through the priesthood. The kingship, on the other hand, is for authority and dominion. The kings represent God to deal with His enemy.
The priesthood and kingship are related to the two items of the original intention of God. There are two main aspects in the creation of man: image and authority, or dominion (Gen. 1:26). Image refers to the expression of God, and dominion is for the representation of God to deal with His enemy. These two aspects were in God’s original intention. From the beginning God intended to have His expression and His representation. He created man with His image that man may be His expression, and He committed His authority to man that man may be His representative. From the beginning to the end of the Bible there are these two lines, the line of image and expression and the line of dominion and representation.
We all are born again as priests. Therefore, we need to learn how to enjoy our birthright. We must learn how to live as priests enjoying Christ, contacting Him, feeding on Him, living by Him, putting Him on as our clothing, and taking Him as our dwelling place. When we enjoy Christ in such a way, we will have the priestly function of always ministering Christ both to God and to man. Then our church life will be very healthy and normal, and spontaneously out of this situation the authority of God will be realized. It is by the priesthood that we have the kingship. In the proper church life, God is expressed and His authority is exercised. This is the priesthood plus the kingship.
We need to see that, in order to make us priests, the Lord Jesus purchased us for God by His blood. As those purchased for God by the blood of Christ, we are now priests of God. The redeemed ones are all priests of God. According to the New Testament, the goal of God’s salvation is to make all those who believe in Christ priests of God. Therefore, if a person is saved but fails to become a priest to serve God, he cannot fulfill God’s purpose or satisfy His desire.
A priest in the New Testament is a priest of the gospel (Rom. 15:16). The Old Testament priests were mainly confined to the house of Aaron, that is, to Aaron and his sons. But the New Testament priests are not confined to a family. Rather, the New Testament priesthood is borne by all the believers. First Peter 2 tells us that the believers “are a chosen race, a royal priesthood” (v. 9). Since the priests form a priesthood, it is no longer the responsibility of a few people. Rather, every believer is included in this responsibility. The number of the New Testament believers far exceeds the number of Israelites in the Old Testament. The number of the Old Testament priests was further restricted to males only. In the New Testament all saved persons, whether male or female, young or old, are priests. Because there are a great number of them, they become a priesthood.
What these priests do in their priesthood is to offer up sacrifices to God (v. 5). In the Old Testament there were mainly five kinds of offerings: the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering (Lev. 1:1 — 6:7). In the New Testament, according to Hebrews 13, the sacrifices offered by the New Testament believers include the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of good works, and the sacrifice of material giving. These sacrifices are well pleasing to God. To offer sacrifices to God in the New Testament sense is to offer up the Christ whom we enjoy in many aspects by bringing them to the meetings as offerings to God. In other words, the sacrifices, which are presented to God by the New Testament priests, are the Christ that is offered up, that is, the Christ experienced by us and offered up to God.
According to Revelation 5:12, Christ is the Lamb who is worthy to receive the power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing. When the Lord Jesus took the scroll and was about to open its seals, two hosts in the universe worshipped and praised Him. The first host is the angels represented by the twenty-four elders who take the lead to worship Him. The rest of the creation is represented by the four living creatures who also take the lead to worship (vv. 7-8). The praise from the twenty-four elders contains the seven items of power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing, while the praise from the four living creatures includes blessing, honor, glory, and might (vv. 12-13). This scene in the heavens reveals the One who is worthy to open the scroll and its seals, who is the overcoming Lion and the redeeming Lamb.
According to Revelation 5, Christ as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the conquering Lion, is not only worshipped in the heavens but also enthroned and crowned with authority (v. 12). This corresponds to Genesis 49:10 which says, “The scepter will not depart from Judah.” The scepter signifies royal authority. He is the King of kings! After His ascension, Christ is worshipped as the conquering Lion and has been enthroned with royal authority as the King of kings. This is the position He holds today.
