The book in the right hand of Him who sits on the throne is the book of judgment. Note the long-suffering of God. The book is written within and on the backside, that is, the writing fills one side of the scroll and has overflowed to the back. Yet the overflow is arrested. Seven seals bind up the book. It awaits the time when One competent to open it does so. And if God thus perfectly sealed the book, who is to open it when the time of opening comes?
None can do that but One, even our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is sufficient for this.
As John wept because none was found worthy to open the book, one of the elders informed him that the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, had prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. There is no mistaking who this is. He is described as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Offspring of David, the One who as Man descended from David. But He is also described as the Root of David, the One who was before David, and from whom David sprang; in short, the One who was from all eternity.
As Man, Jesus sprang from David; as Jehovah, the covenant-keeping God, David sprang from Him, owed his existence and all he was to Him.
John turned, and what did he see? The majesty of the lion? Not in that character did he see Him. He turned and beheld a Lamb as it had been slain.
Is it not a little remarkable that the title “Lamb,” directly applied to the Lord, should only be found in John's writings? Twice it is found in John's Gospel, “Behold the Lamb [amnos, Gr.] of God” (John 1:29,36). Twenty-seven times in the Revelation the Greek word arnion, a little lamb, is used. If one had been asked at random where the title “Lamb” would most frequently occur, one would never have selected the book of judgment; yet so it is.
It seems a solemn thing that the One, despised by the world, rejected and crucified by the Jews, should be thus presented. It is as much as to say that He is the One whom God has selected to be the Executor of His judgment, and that on the ground of His work on the cross.
This Lamb has seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. The horns speak of fullness of power over the earth, the seven eyes complete discernment, and as they are said to be the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth, the thought is added of full and universal government; that is to say, that no part of the earth is beyond the penetrating power of Him who stands beside the throne.
Next the Lamb takes the book out of the hand of Him who sits on the throne.
We append a weighty opinion as to this: “We do not find the Father here; it is Jehovah. And indeed, should we ask in whom He is personally displayed, it would be as always in the Son: but it is in itself simply the Jehovah of the Old Testament here.”—J. N. Darby, Synopsis of the Books of the Bible. New edition, revised. Vol. 5, p. 522.
The same difficulty is present in Daniel 7:9-14, where the Ancient of Days sits upon the throne and the Son of Man receives dominion at His hands. The solution of the difficulty lies again in viewing Christ in different aspects.
“The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father” (John 5:22-23).
We think this Scripture is conclusive.)
This is the signal for an outburst of worship on the part of the four and twenty elders. Redemption being introduced, they “sing,” not merely “say” as in Revelation 4. They ascribe His worthiness to redemption. That which men describe as His weakness, His death on the cross, is in truth the ground of His worthiness. It is the general praise of redemption without ascribing it to any particular class. The correct translation in verse 9 should be, “hast redeemed to God by Thy blood,” not “hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood.”