In the right hand of Him who sits on the Throne is a book or scroll with seven seals upon it. This very same book is spoken of in Ezekiel 2: 9-10. The book is the Bible, it is the Lamb’s Book of Life, and it is the abstract title deed that gave Adam dominion over the earth, but which was lost when he fell. When Adam fell, then Satan moved in and squatted upon Adam’s inheritance.
No one was found worthy to take the book. It would require a man (Revelation 5: 3) who was a near kinsman of Adam in a body of flesh to shed his blood, and by virtue of that, take the book and open it. Adam could not take the book and open it because he fell. The angels could not take the book and open it because they are not kinsmen and their bodies have no blood.
John broke down and cried because there was no worthy man found in the entire universe to take the book and open it. The intensity of John’s grief was very real, for he knew that if the abstract title deed was not opened and its content declared, then all of creation was lost, and man was lost. As he wept, one of the twenty-four elders approached him with comforting words, telling him that a worthy man had been found (Revelation 5: 5).
But who was this elder that spoke to John? It was none other than John himself! We recall in Chapter 4 that the twenty-four elders consisted of the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles, and John was one of the apostles, so John heard from his heavenly representation; in other words, John heard from his theophany! The subject of the theophany is a very deep one and can be understood by reading: From thought to flesh, bypassing the Word.
The man found worthy to take the book was called the Lion of the tribe of Judah. But when John turned to see this man, he beheld a bloody Lamb (Revelation 5: 6) in the midst of the Throne who took the book out of the right hand of God who sat on the Throne. This portion of scripture is very rich, for it reveals to us that when Adam fell, the title deed he once had returned back to God who is the original Owner of it.
The bloodied Lamb is also the Lion of Judah. This speaks of Jesus Christ whose natural lineage through Joseph descended from Judah. Judah’s father Jacob had prophesied that the kingship would belong to Judah (Genesis 49: 10), and when Judah became a tribe, it camped under the banner of the Lion (Numbers 2: 2). The Lion speaks of Christ’s future office as King in the Millennium, but before He assumes that position, He firstly came to the earth as the sacrificial Lamb to die on the cross of Calvary for the sin of man.
Jesus prevailed over His own will in Gethsemane (Matthew 26: 39,42) and prevailed over sin and death on the cross of Calvary. But before Jesus gave His life as a ransom for man on the earth, He was firstly slain in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. This is the scene that John saw, that of the bloodied Lamb who was first slain way back in Eternity.
Notice where the Lamb comes from. He is coming from the midst of the Throne (Revelation 5: 6). This shows that it was God Himself who changed form and created a body of flesh and blood for Himself inside the womb of Mary to pay redemption’s price. The Lamb is not separate from God, but is in actuality the very God of Heaven coming down to the earth to do for us what no other could do.
Jesus’ shedding of His own sinless blood is what qualified Him to take the book and open it. By opening the Book, He was able to reveal and claim the names on the Book which He had died for. During the seven church ages, Jesus was the Mediator between God and Man who “winked” at the ignorance of man because the full Word had not as yet been restored. The mediatorial work of the Lamb during the church ages was Christ’s interceding for the names in the Book; but at the end time, when all the names in the Book have been (and are being) manifested on the earth, then He comes and opens the Book to reveal what He did and how He did it. This great revelation would come through the prophet-messenger William Branham, who was “a” son of man revealing “the” Son of Man. Christ was veiled in the prophet, and through the prophet’s message, the entire contents of the Book were made known to the Bride.
The Lamb stepping out from the Father’s Throne to tear the seven seals off the Book and open It, shows that His purchasing work at Calvary, and His mediatorial work during the church ages are over, and now He has come at the end time to do the claiming work. The emphasis of His ministry was no longer intercession but that of making redemption claims for the ones He had died for. By His claiming of the Book, Jesus was claiming His Bride, the elected ones whose names are represented in the Book.
Christ’s taking of the Book caused all of Heaven to rejoice and a new song to be sung (Revelation 5: 9). The song was not about Christ’s purchasing work, nor was it about His mediatorial work. The song was about Jesus’ claiming work! Every revival and every move of God produces songs about the current work of God (Exodus 15: 1 – 21; Judges 5); … they are songs that live!
Even John lost himself in a moment of spontaneous praise and worship for what Jesus had done. He and the elders, the living creatures and the angels, all began to rejoice and sing about the Redeemer and His sublime work of redemption. John was a son of God shouting for joy! This scene is precisely what God asked of Job… “Where were you when the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38: 4,7). The great rejoicing following the Lamb’s taking of the Book is what the sons of God were rejoicing about before the foundation of the world, for as we have learned, the Lamb was firstly slain in the mind of God (as shown in Revelation 5) before He was slain on the earth.
And who were these angels that rejoiced, these ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands? (Revelation 5: 12). Why, they are none other than the millions of theophanies of Gods sons and daughters who would live out their fleshly existence on the earth during the seven church ages. Here they are all gathered around the Throne in the mind of God before the foundation of the world, singing about what Jesus had already done for them, and of how they shall one day rule and reign with Him over the whole earth (Revelation 5: 10), for they will be restored back to what Adam originally fell from in the beginning.
Proceed to Revelation Chapter 6