A Revelation Invitation

(The “Worthy Is the Lamb” series begins here.)

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:11-12 ESV)

There is an inspiring picture of Jesus in Revelation 19 which portrays him as unconquerable. He is presented as a rider on a white horse who judges and makes war and is followed by the armies of heaven. “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (19:15). In his great might, this Jesus effortlessly vanquishes his enemies. However, before Jesus came on the scene as a mighty conqueror, how did he appear?

In chapter 5 we are introduced to “a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (5:6). Jesus is portrayed as the sacrificial lamb, the Passover lamb, slain so that God’s people could be rescued. This is not the picture of might that we were promised. This is not the image of an indestructible champion. Lambs are helpless and weak. They cannot defend themselves from predators. Rather than coming to your rescue, they need protection. However, it was in weakness as a Lamb that he delivered God’s people from sin and death through his sacrificial death on the cross. Despite surrendering to death as he did, this Lamb, looking as though he had been slain, was standing! Death had not conquered him. Nor will death defeat his followers!

In chapter 12 we meet a woman who gives birth to a male child representing Jesus. Again he is portrayed as the most helpless of creatures, vulnerable and threatened by a hideous dragon. Rather than rescuing, he had to be rescued from the dragon. If Jesus is so weak, where is the might that we will need to endure the tribulations in our lives? As that scene plays out, heaven comes not only to Jesus’ aid. After ascending to heaven, Jesus sends rescue to the woman, the church, to preserve her through her trials. In a great display of irony, it is through weakness that Jesus displays his might.

Jesus will return as a conqueror. He will vanquish his enemies and destroy Satan. As creatures, humans are weak and in need of a mighty deliverer. Jesus chose to come to our rescue as a human, as a human child in fact. He understands our weaknesses and frailties having lived it. He never turned to the might available to him to preserve himself. Rather, he conquered sin and death in the weakness of the cross.

Now we join with the chorus of angels singing, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive might.”

(Part 5 of the “Worthy Is the Lamb” series is here.)