A Word in Season: Worthy is the Lamb (Revelation 5:12)

The Lamb Slain and Worthy in Heaven

The apostle John was given the privilege of a glimpse into the throne room of heaven, and he saw there a lamb as if he had been slain. And that lamb was the agent of God Almighty. He was worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for he had been slain and had redeemed his people to God.

And as John looked, he heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was 10 ,000 times 10 ,000, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, As the lamb who had been slain, the one who had died to bring a people to himself, the one who had accomplished the purposes of God in the earth, this representation of the Lord Jesus Christ to our wondering and adoring eyes, here is the lamb slain who is worthy.

Christ Worthy of Faith, Love, Worship, and Obedience

The hosts of heaven praise him, and it is our privilege, too, to enter into that praise. So the question is, do we believe that he is worthy? He is the one who is worthy of all adoration. He is worthy for us to believe him, to trust him as the only savior of sinners.

After all, he was slain and has redeemed us out of every tribe and tongue and nation, and made us kings and priests to our God. No one else is able to pay that price. No one else has laid down his life in such a costly sacrifice, and provided all that we could not provide.

As such, he is also worthy to be loved, to be adored and delighted in, for all the affection and esteem of our hearts to be poured out toward him. He is the chief among ten thousand. He is altogether lovely.

He's worthy to be trusted, worthy for us to believe all that he has said, and that he will indeed take care of us, worthy to trust as the great shepherd of his sheep. He's worthy to be obeyed. Every word of his, every word that proceeds from his mouth is pure and perfect.

Every command of his that we embrace is a further testimony to our love. He will never lead us where we should not go. He will never direct us in a path that we ought not to take. In fact, he's worthy also to be followed, for he is the one who we go after.

He is the master. We are the disciples. We simply follow in his footsteps. If they hated him, they'll hate us also. And we esteem it a privilege to be what he was in the eyes of the world. He's worthy to be esteemed by us, to be considered above every other name, to be considered above every other teacher, worthy to be put in the first place before every other pleasure, worthy to be esteemed above every possible enticement.

Declaring the Worthiness of Jesus Christ

We ought to value and delight in him above all. And he's worthy to be declared. We ought to speak of him easily and readily. The delight of our hearts ought to be to make known the Lord Jesus Christ in all his saving glory, all his personal majesty.

We can do these things day by day. We ought to do them every hour that we live. This ought to be what captures our souls. And we ought to be then clinging to him. And it begins with us recognizing that he indeed is the Lamb who was slain.

The Lamb of God Who Takes Away the Sin of the World

We need to understand that this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We will never find worthiness in the Lord Jesus Christ until we acknowledge our own unworthiness. Our sense of his goodness and greatness and glory is in some ways a reflection of our understanding of our own need of him.

If we think that we are something in ourselves, then Christ will not be all in all to us as he ought to be. And so let us consider that here is the one who is indeed worthy. Worthy to carry out all the saving purposes of God to glorify his Father in the earth and in heaven.

Worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing from us and from every creature.