Chapter 5 The Lamb of God becomes the Lion of Judah

(Rev 5:1 KJV) And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.

We saw in Chapter four that John was standing in the throne room of God, and John sees him who sits on the throne. God the Father is "him that sat on the throne." We know this because Jesus has repeated often that He would sit down with His Father in His throne and the believers will sit down with Jesus in His throne. In the right hand of God, we see a book, (at that time a book was a scroll, not like we know books to be today) this is a very important book because God has written it. There was writing inside of this scroll and it was sealed with seven seals (we are going to see that the number seven several more times, number seven stands for the completeness of something). The event to take place here is the finishing and complete judgment of God on this earth. The seven-seals are like you have seen in the movies of kings and royals of old. Hot wax would be dripped on paper and then impress the insignia on it. Those that saw the seal would recognize the king’s seal would know that the dispatch had came from the official. So here we have a book sealed with seven seals. At different points we will see each opened. When the first seal is opened, the Tribulation period will have its official start. By the time that all seven seals are opened the world will be judged. God has given us our chances, even though there is still time to get saved after the Rapture, judgment will fall and nothing will stop it.

We see the Seals now, soon we will hear the Seven Trumpets, and will watch the Seven Vials. It is important to understand the meaning of these three items. Firstly a seal is a thing that restrains something, it holds back the thing that it is sealing shut. When you see a thing restrained by God, He is restraining it from being loosened, opened, tampered with or getting ahead of its time. God in his sovereign power restrains it. Secondly trumpets represent foreknowledge. God is telling you with the announcement of a trumpet that something is coming. God already knows it is coming, so he is announcing it to you. At this point in the text the Tribulation period is maneuvering into position and the Antichrist and his group is getting ready. They are trying to get a one world government, a one world money and economy. We are on the verge of a lot of changes in this world. God is on the throne and things will not happen according to the worlds time line, God will not allow certain things to happen until he is ready. God is the one that restrains the Antichrist. He cannot come until God allows. When Christ breaks the first seal then the Antichrist can come. The Antichrist’s pale horse will be followed in close succession by three others. They are going to initiate and cause a global nuclear war, weapons are going to be fired (We will see these events start to unfold in Chapter 6). The trumpets will announce these events before their happening. Thirdly we have the vials, and the vials are different from seals and trumpets. With the seals God is pulling His hand back and letting man do whatever he will. With trumpets God is just telling what they are going to do ahead of time in a step by step fashion. But with the vials it is the wrath of God poured out without mixture. God is directly judging the world with His own finger with each vial. We are now in the seal phase. Jesus is about to break the first seal allowing what has been restrained to be loosed in a measure

Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.
Click here to visit her "Revelation Illustrated" site.

(Rev 5:2 KJV) And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

John now hears the voice of a strong Angel and that angel says "Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?" A search is made, what are they looking for in a man to find him worthy? Well we have to examine the character of God and the Bible tells us time and time again that He is a Holy God. In order to walk up, take the book, and open this book the man must be equal to the Holy God. The second thing that we see is that when the first seal is opened it will be like casting the first stone at the sinful world, so I would assume that you would have to be a man without sin. To pick this book up is to cast the first stone at the earth. So the verse (John 8:7 KJV) "......So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" might now translate into he that is without sin, let him break the first seal. Thirdly since the opening of this book starts a process to reclaim this earth for righteousness sake, it needs to be a man who has a legal right to take control of the earth.

Now would be a good time to talk about some of the myths concerning angels as we are going to see several angels from here to the end of the study guide. There are many myths about angels. One myth is that when we die we become angels, angels are created beings created by God, they are His messengers and warriors. There are many pictures of women angels (I even use some pictures in the guide because they are good pictures to get my point across) but any time an angel is referred to anywhere in the Bible the angel is of male gender, either the angel is called by a male name or is referred to as he, or him. There is a good reason for this, God created man and saw that he was lonely and he created mans counter part. Angels are not born but humans are, there was no woman created until God set His plan for humans into action. There are many angel books on the market giving hundreds of names for these wondrous creatures, few are mentioned by actual name in the Bible which is the only real authority, these angel books are mostly garbage and mythology and some are likely demonologies, be careful that the angel that you are worshiping is not a demon.

(Rev 5:3 KJV) And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

The scripture tells us that they looked through all of heaven to find a man worthy. I was disappointed while studying the text, I thought surely my name would have been there, but not my name, not your name, not any of those characters on TV was mentioned. They exhausted heaven and began their search on earth. You ask why would they look on earth, there couldn't possibly be a man on earth that would be worthy, all of the children of God have been Raptured and only the wicked are left, right? Wrong, there are 144,000 Jewish evangelists that have never been defiled that are serving God, but not even they are found worthy. They don't fit the scenario because none of them are equal to God. Then after the search on earth was exhausted, they looked under the earth. Well, we know that under the earth has to mean Australia, because Jehovah's Witnesses tell us that there is no such thing as Hell. Sorry they are wrong, there is a Hell. If you have ever wondered where Hell is it is under the earth. Did you know that Jesus actually speaks more of Hell than He does about Heaven? He knows that there are more souls in danger of facing Hell than are of making it to heaven. Some people want to think of these places as in other dimensions or worlds, but the scripture tells us Hell is under the earth, and that new Jerusalem (the Heavenly City) is headed to earth, it is not in another dimension, it is physically in space and as we will see later in the text, the city will set some day upon the Earth. Why would they look in Hell? Because all of humanity must be exhausted, every person born that ever lived all the way from Adam to newest born baby must have a chance to be examined, so that man has no excuse. Not a single person was found in Heaven, Earth, or Hell, did you notice that they didn't check Mars, Jupiter or any other planet or galaxy? Evidently the whole human experience is contained right here on earth. Sorry you Alien Lovers, you are worshiping nothing but Satan's demons, they are sent to deceive you from the truth of God. Obviously there are many people around the throne that see the Book, so the statement that none are worthy to look upon it means that none are worthy to read the words printed in the book.

(Rev 5:4 KJV) And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

So John starts to weep, I would imagine from feeling such great pressure as he watches this whole event unfold. I would imagine anybody else witnessing this that doesn't already have knowledge of the book of Revelation will be weeping also. Not one found.

(Rev 5:5 KJV) And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

An Elder now steps out and tells him not to weep, it is all just part of the plan, we have found the man, he is Jesus Christ the Lion of the Tribe of Juda, the Root of David and He is worthy to open the book and to open the seals. John looked and what did he see?

Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.
Click here to visit her "Revelation Illustrated" site.

(Rev 5:6 KJV) And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

  Jesus created it all, after his resurrection Jesus declared that he had all power in Heaven and in earth. He was going to enter the human experience and become one of the human family. It is the only way He could redeem us. He had to becoming one of us. When He did, He became subject to the Father’s will, he became lower than the angels in His actual physical being, even though He remained God. The Holy Ghost will move on an egg in Mary’s womb and it will suddenly come alive and Jesus Christ the Son of God will put on that body and assume the fleshly body in Mary’s womb. He will not be conceived and born like you and me with both a human Mother and Father. It will be the Holy Ghost causing life in an egg that will form the body that the Son of God will assume. Therefore, is not born but begotten. Jesus had a human birth but He existed before the human birth, He was and remains God. The Bible says (John 1:10 KJV) "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not." He comes as a full fledged 100% human being, at the same time He is 100% God, He is the only one like Him, a dual nature woven together in such a way that to undo one would destroy the other. He remains to this day God and man together at one time. He is the bridge between the human creation and the divine God that sits upon the throne, He is the intercessor. On this earth He came as a man. He never did a miracle until He was Baptized in the River Jordan. If you read some of the so-called lost books of Jesus there will be tails where he has made a trip to South America and another where he took some clay and made a bird and it flew away because He as the son of God and had the such power in His hands. This is just a lot of fiction and lies. He never did a thing before his baptism, except to live right, and obey God, until He came out of that River Jordan and the Holy Ghost came down upon Him in the form a dove baptizing Him in the Holy Ghost. Every miracle Jesus ever did, was to be under the aid and anointing of the Holy Ghost. Jesus gave us this example of the Holy Ghost for two reasons. First, He did as he did as a normal human. Secondly, He did it as an example so that others who become Christians that would know how to live and serve God. There is nothing that God expects us to do totally in our humanity, He expects us to allow the Holy Ghost to anoint us and to use us.


(Rev 5:7 KJV) And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

Jesus went to the Father's side and took the book out of the Father's hand. Why is Jesus worthy to do this? Because He is equal to God. He is without sin allowing Him full access to God who is Holy. He is a man without sin allowing him to cast the first rock, and since he is a Lamb that has been slain, He is the redeemer kinsmen that has paid the price for redemption of this earth and He has legal right to take possession and do whatever He has to do even if it means to take it by force and He will do it. He owns it, it's His, He has redeemed it, He has undone what Adam did, Satan has no claim on this earth, he is illegal, he is immoral and Jesus is going to take care of him and that pipsqueak the Antichrist. 

(Rev 5:8 KJV) And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

I want you to notice this verse because it is very important to you, the moment Jesus takes the book the twenty-four elders bow down to worship God they have the vials which are full of odors, we are told that the odors are the prayers of the saints. By odors the scripture is talking about a sweet-smelling fragrance coming out of this golden vial. Gold represents the glory of God with nothing attached to it. Since these are the prayers of the saints, this is further proof that we have been Raptured and we are in heaven, the Tribulation period has not started yet. The reason it is proof that the Rapture has taken place is because you do not offer God an unfinished work, you do not offer Him a half sacrifice, you do not offer Him something that is half sinful, the only thing that goes before God is that which is pure. Our works, no matter how hard we try can never be pure. Our motives no matter how hard we try are quiet often not pure. When we go before the judgment seat, the fire just burns up all of the impurities, and leaves only the gold and silver. The prayers represent the totality of the true Christian church and its witness of God. There is not one hypocrite’s life in the vials. The work and prayer life of the heaven bound Christians must be complete in order to be there. This lets me know that I am in heaven, because if I am still on earth I haven't stopped praying yet. If I am still praying then whole prayer life can't be offered. I'm still praying, I'm still preaching, I'm still working, but if I have gone in the Rapture, and have been to the judgment seat of Christ, the sum total of everything that I have ever done for God is either in one of those golden vials or burned up in the ash heap. I pray that it is in the vial. 

(Rev 5:9 KJV) And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

(Rev 5:10 KJV) And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

This scripture is even further proof that we have been Raptured because at the judgment seat of Christ we are told what our responsibility will be in the millennial kingdom that transfers to the eternal kingdom. The Redeemed can literally say you have made us to be kings. The judgment seat of Christ is where the believer will find out what they will rule over, After passing before the Judgment Seat of Christ, Jesus is going to say to some are going to rule over five cities, you will rule over ten cities, and so when they are singing this song they already know that they are going to rule, so they have to have been to the judgment seat already and that would have required them to have been taken to heaven courtesy of the Rapture. 

(Rev 5:11 KJV) And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

Then John hears the voice of an innumerable number multiplied by an innumerable measure of angels, beasts and elders. This number is so large that it has to be the Raptured saints, we are in heaven and the Tribulation period has not started yet. I can't figure out these people that say we are going through the Tribulation where are they getting their information from? They must have a death wish. They don't get their doctrine from the Bible.

(Rev 5:12 KJV) Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

Now the whole multitude of Heaven is saying with a loud voice, Worthy is Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. Who is the Lamb that they are glorifying? Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God.

(Rev 5:13 KJV) And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

John hears the thunderous praise where he is standing and can only attribute such a loud thundering coming from every existing creature. I don't believe anyone in Hell is praising God, and since the Rapture has taken place there isn't that many Christians on the earth to praise, only the sudden converts that realize that they missed the Rapture.

(Rev 5:14 KJV) And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

The four beasts finished the prayer with an Amen, and the twenty-four elders worshipped God again.

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