Revelation 5:5 Commentary and Bible Study

‘One of the elders’ – how interesting; not an angel. One of the four and twenty elders, the symbols of truly saved people from Old the New Testament steps forward. One of those who have the greatest possible interest in the answer, in the success of this search, steps forward to inform John and relieve him of his grief. The redeemed church in heaven understands the plan of God. It also understands John’s grief. Without the Saviour, the whole human race would perish, John himself would be condemned and the glory of God in the gospel would never be seen. ‘Weep not: behold the Lion of the tribe of Juda’ – that is Christ, the Messiah, the mighty one who came out of Judah, who suffered and died for sinners. Referring to Isaiah 11:10, the elder continues, ‘The root of David hath prevailed’ – perfect tense: he has done it. He has done all that is necessary. He can open the seven seals of this book of the plan and purposes of God for the church, because he has done what is necessary. He has lived a perfect life; he has suffered and died for sinners; he has risen from the dead. He can loose the seven seals. How has the Lord Jesus opened the seals? By being the one who fulfils all prophecy. He has opened the seals by implementing personally the plan of God. ‘ll the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us’ (2 Corinthians 1:20). This search and the one sufficient person who is found, intensifies our sense of the uniqueness of Christ. He entered into the world to do a work which no other being in existence could do. No angel could redeem human beings. No fallen human being could atone for his own sin. No mere human being, even one without sin, could achieve it. It must be the Son of God, the Son of man, the God man. He alone possesses the attributes that qualify him for this greatest of all tasks.