In Revelation 5, John recounts the vision of the great scroll with seven seals that no-one is authorized to open. This scroll containing the sovereign victory plan of God has no eligible or worthy recipient to open or implement its content. John was distraught that there was no-one eligible to break the seals of this scroll until an elder from this great throne room scene identified the only possible candidate.

Revelation 5:1-5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals."

In Revelation 5:5 we hear a description that makes sense. A great Lion, and the prophesied descendant of the great king, David, is able to open this scroll. This is exactly who we expect to see opening such a scroll in this vision. We understand something about the intimidating roar of the king of the jungle. We have seen enough movies to see the great and powerful good king riding into battle to save his people. But…this is not where this description ends. After hearing this description from the elder, John looks and does not see a lion or a great and powerful king – at least not in the normal sense of such a description. Revelation 5:6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

If we imagined this scene in our mind and didn’t know any better, we might be tempted to lose confidence in the future. We were told of a great lion and king and yet we see a Lamb. Just picture a lamb in your mind for a moment. It’s not ferocious. It’s not what we would call powerful. In fact, most of us would think of this creature as defenseless and helpless. Not only that, but this Lamb is standing as though it had been slain. For a Christian, this picture becomes one of greater certainty than this world could possibly imagine.

This Lamb, described with seven horns and eyes, is the Second in the Trinity who has all power and knowledge and Who’s Spirit is present everywhere. A Lamb is the true and conquering Lion King because of his sacrificial work of atonement and his complete defeat of death and sin having risen from the dead. To die in the appeasement of human sin and to rise from that death is to show the greatest display of limitless Divine power.

John’s confidence is not in knowing exactly what is in the scroll, but in knowing who has authority and power to open it and carry it out. That authority, while described in terms of a powerful Lion and a descendant King, is seen in a Lamb who has brought the complete assurance of a victory already won. John’s confidence in the future was sealed in Christ’s cross of the past. For John, this was an event he had already witnessed with his own eyes.

When we seek to give people comfort in their distress and we point to Christ’s authority over the future, this confidence is more than a platitude. It is a confidence that has already been determined in the death and resurrection of the Lamb. If the person you are comforting is to take any comfort at all from hearing that Christ is a reigning King, it must first come because they have faith in a slain Lamb who has risen with absolute authority over the future. Without the victory of the past, there is no certainty about the end.