Revelation 4 and 5 used to be a great puzzle to me. As far as I can recall, I never heard any message on them, and it was quite a long time before I came to have some understanding of what they meant. These two chapters present a scene in the opened heavens. There is a throne where God is sitting, surrounded by twenty-four other thrones. There are twenty-four angels as elders in the universe and four living creatures. No doubt there are also myriads of angels present, as well as all the other created beings. This picture declares that God on the throne is the center of the universe.
Then John saw a scroll in the hand of the One sitting on the throne. When the question was raised as to who could open the scroll, John wept that no one was qualified to do so. “Do not weep,” one of the elders told him, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome to open the scroll and its seven seals” (Rev. 5:5). When John looked, what he saw was a Lamb with seven eyes. This Lion-Lamb was standing, not sitting, and His seven eyes were flashing. From this picture it is clear that His work is not finished. What was finished in John 19 was the work of redemption. But His standing position and His seven flashing eyes both indicate He is taking action.
“And He came and took” the scroll “out of the right hand of Him Who sits upon the throne” (Rev. 5:7). This is the beginning of Christ’s ministry in the heavens. Without these two chapters we would not know what happened when Christ ascended to the heavens. From Revelation 4 and 5 we learn that when Christ ascended, He went directly to the throne at the center of the universe. Before the throne, before the twenty-four elders, and surrounded by all the created beings, He received a commission to carry out God’s economy, symbolized by that scroll.
We enjoy singing the hymn which is based on Revelation 5:12-13:
Blessing and honor and glory be Thine,
And glory be Thine, And glory be Thine.
Blessing and honor and glory be Thine,
Both now and evermore.
Hymns, #241
The blessing, honor, and glory are for the Lamb, not on the cross but standing before the throne at the center of the universe, receiving a universal commission! We must not be so shallow as to confine our praises to Christ for redemption only. Our vision must be uplifted to see this Lamb accomplishing a work of eternally vast dimensions.
Consider this photograph that John has taken for us. The redeeming Lamb is now standing at the center of the universe, before God’s throne. This tells us that the Redeemer is now in God’s administration. He is the Administrator of the universe, executing God’s economy. He is not sitting or sleeping there. He is standing, His seven eyes flashing, watching, searching, and even burning. The whole universe is watching this scene. The four living creatures, the twenty-four elders, myriads of angels, and all other creatures are wide awake, alert, observing. These are the circumstances in which they proclaim, “To Him Who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb, be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever” (Rev. 5:13).
How do we know that this scene took place at the time when Christ ascended? We conclude this from 5:6, where the Lamb is described as “having been slain.” The Greek here implies that He had just recently been slain. Right after His sacrificial death, He received the universal and eternal commission from God’s hand.
In His earthly ministry Christ accomplished redemption. Now in His heavenly ministry He is raising up God’s building. Redemption is for God’s building. The center of this building is the church. Its ultimate consummation is the New Jerusalem. Today the church is a house (1 Tim. 3:15), but that house will consummate in a city. When this happens, God’s building is completed. The work of redemption was finished in John 19. A few chapters later, in Acts 2, the building work began. This is the work that continues today.
These two aspects of the work of Christ are not generally known among Christians today. They are familiar with the work of redemption, but if you tell them that Christ is still working in the heavens to accomplish God’s building, they may wonder at the strange doctrines you hold! How marvelous it is to be in the light and to see this heavenly view which is hidden from the eyes of most Christians! There is a Lion-Lamb standing in the center of the universe with seven flashing, burning eyes! He saves you from your silence, your coldness, and your laziness!