When did Christ take this scroll and open it? In a sense he did it before the foundation of the world, for he is ‘the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ (Revelation 13:8). But in the vision he is presented as coming to take the scroll out of the right hand of the Father, once his historic work of redemption is complete, and for this reason he comes as a Lamb slain. This is the trigger for the praise that follows. The twenty-four elders, on seeing Christ coming as a Lamb slain and taking the scroll understand what this means and what he has accomplished. In doing so he has fulfilled all Old Testament Scripture and become the Saviour of the world. He has opened the doors of hell and death and let the prisoners go free. He has single-handedly and personally implemented the plan of redemption.