12/27

Revelation 5:4-6

⁴I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. ⁵Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." ⁶Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

John is caught up into heaven to witness an event that takes place in the timelessness of eternity. I can't tell you if it happened at the ascension or will happen at the end of this age or even if it is related to time as we know it. The important thing is that God has a scroll that unleashes the events that preclude the Day of the Lord. Someone had to be worthy to approach God and receive the scroll and open the seals. No man has ever been holy enough to approach God, apart from Jesus.

Why would John weep? Without the Day of the Lord, this world would go on in its fallen state with suffering and death. Only when a perfect Savior and conqueror of sin and death approached the throne could the events begin to unfold.

He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, and the Lamb of God. He looked as if he had been slain, or, as one translator put it, "with the marks that caused His death." When we meet Jesus in the clouds we will see the same marks. They are there eternally as receipt of our redemption.

We are grateful for our salvation that was purchased by the death process that inflicted those scars, but we should also consider in gratitude the fact that His victory will one day set this earth free from the curse it is under. Suffering will cease. Death will be no more. It is no wonder that heaven is filled with praise to God and the Lamb.

Consider the marks that caused His death and all that they should mean to you.