The Paradox of Power: The Lamb on the Throne Text: Revelation 5:6-7
Introduction: The Crisis of Authority
We come now to the very center of all things, the control room of the cosmos. In the previous chapter, John was shown the ultimate reality: God the Father on His throne, sovereign, majestic, and receiving the unceasing worship He is due. But a crisis was introduced. A scroll was in the right hand of the Father, a scroll representing the title deed to history, the unfolding of God's decretive will. And a mighty angel cried out, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?" The answer was a deafening silence. No one in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth was found worthy. All creation held its breath. John, representing the church in her distress, wept loudly. This is the central problem of all existence: God has a plan, but who has the authority, the right, and the power to execute it?
This is not an abstract theological puzzle. This is the question that every tinpot dictator, every godless philosopher, every rebellious teenager, and every anxious Christian is asking, whether they know it or not. Who is in charge here? Who gets to write the script? Our secular age has its own pathetic answers. They propose that chance is worthy. Or that the autonomous will of man is worthy. Or that the impersonal state is worthy. But all these candidates are found wanting. They are not worthy. They are part of the problem. The silence of heaven in response to the angel's cry is the definitive verdict on all humanistic and pagan pretensions to the throne. They are unworthy. They are bankrupt. And the result of their attempts to seize the scroll is always the same: tears, chaos, and despair. John's weeping is the only sane response to a world where Christ is not king.
But an elder comforts him. "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." John is told to look for a Lion, a symbol of royal power, of raw, conquering strength. But when he looks, he sees something utterly paradoxical, something that turns the world's definition of power on its head. He sees a Lamb.
In these two verses, we are shown the one who is worthy. We are shown the qualifications for cosmic authority. And we are shown the inauguration of a kingdom that is, at this very moment, advancing to fill the whole earth. This is not a vision of what will happen "some day" after the church has been raptured out of a world given over to failure. This is the central reality of history, the reason the gospel is not losing.
The Text
Then I saw in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sits on the throne.
(Revelation 5:6-7 LSB)
The Conquering Victim (v. 6)
We begin with the stunning vision of verse 6:
"Then I saw in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth." (Revelation 5:6)
John is told to look for a Lion, but he sees a Lamb. The first lesson of heavenly authority is that God's power is not like man's power. The world thinks in terms of lions, of brute force, of coercion and domination. Heaven's power is revealed in a Lamb. And not just any lamb, but a Lamb "standing, as if slain."
The posture is crucial. He is standing. He is not a crumpled victim on the ground. He is alive, resurrected, and active. But He bears the marks of His slaughter. The Greek is "arnion...hos esphagmenon." It means a lamb that looks as though its throat has been slit in sacrifice. This is not a pretty picture. It is the brutal reality of the cross, forever memorialized in the center of heaven. His death is not an unfortunate episode in the past that He has now recovered from. His sacrificial death is the very basis of His authority to rule. He is worthy not in spite of His slaughter, but because of it. This is the great paradox of the gospel. Victory comes through sacrifice. Exaltation comes through humiliation. Life comes through death.
This image is a direct assault on every false religion and every secular power structure. They all seek a crown without a cross. They all want glory without suffering. But God has established the pattern of the universe in His Son: the way up is down. The one who would rule must first serve and give His life as a ransom for many. The world despises this. They see the cross as foolishness and weakness. But to us who are being saved, it is the very power and wisdom of God.
But do not mistake the marks of slaughter for weakness. This Lamb is terrifyingly powerful. He has "seven horns and seven eyes." In Scripture, horns are a consistent symbol of power and authority. A horn is what an animal pushes its enemies around with. Seven is the number of divine perfection and completeness. So, seven horns signifies perfect power, absolute omnipotence. This is the Lion John was told about. The power of the Lion is exercised through the character of the Lamb. He has all authority in heaven and on earth.
He also has "seven eyes." Eyes, naturally, symbolize knowledge, perception, and wisdom. Seven eyes, therefore, represent perfect knowledge, absolute omniscience. He sees everything. Nothing is hidden from His gaze. The text immediately interprets this for us: "which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth." This is staggering. The seven eyes of the Lamb are the Holy Spirit in His perfect, sevenfold ministry (Isaiah 11:2), sent out into all the earth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. The Lamb, from the throne, directs the entire mission of the church on earth by His Spirit. This is not a picture of a distant, waiting Christ. This is the commander in chief, omnipotent and omniscient, actively governing all the affairs of men through His Spirit, who is sent out into all the earth. This is the foundation of our optimistic, postmillennial confidence. The Lamb is on the throne, and His Spirit is on the loose in the world.
The Inauguration of the King (v. 7)
The scene then moves from the description of the Lamb to His decisive action in verse 7.
"And He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sits on the throne." (Revelation 5:7)
This is the central act of all history. This is the coronation of the King. The Lamb, qualified by His sacrificial death and resurrection, steps forward. He is the God-man, our representative. He approaches the throne of ultimate sovereignty and takes the scroll, the title deed of the world, the script of history. And the Father does not resist. He willingly hands it over. This is the fulfillment of Daniel's vision: "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him" (Daniel 7:13-14).
This is the Ascension. This is what happened when Jesus Christ, having completed His work on the cross, ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on High. He was formally invested with all authority. He took the scroll. He is now the one who directs history. The rest of the book of Revelation, and the rest of human history, is simply the breaking of the seals and the unfolding of the contents of that scroll.
What does this mean for us? It means everything. It means that history is not a random, meaningless series of events. It is a story with an author, and that author is the Lamb who was slain. It means that the one who governs the rise and fall of nations, the one who directs the course of your life, is the same one who has the nail prints in His hands. His rule is not the rule of a distant, impersonal force, but the tender and powerful administration of our kinsman-redeemer.
This act demolishes all forms of deism, which posits a God who wound up the clock and then walked away. No, God the Father governs the world through His Son, the Lamb. This also demolishes the pessimistic eschatology that sees history as spiraling out of control until Jesus comes back to rescue a defeated church from the mess. That is a flat denial of what John sees here. The Lamb took the scroll. He is in charge. The seals are being opened according to His timetable. The gospel is advancing. His kingdom is growing like a mustard seed. The seven Spirits of God are out in all the earth, and they are not failing.
The Government on His Shoulders
The implications of this scene must rearrange all our thinking about the world. We are not living in a world governed by news headlines, by presidents, or by economic forces. We are living in a world governed from this very throne room, by a Lamb who looks like He was slain.
This means that the central qualification for true authority is sacrificial love. The world thinks authority is the right to be served. Jesus teaches, and demonstrates, that authority is the power to serve and to give. Any authority we have as parents, as pastors, as magistrates, as employers must be patterned after this. We are to lead by laying our lives down, not by lording it over others.
This means that Christ's power is absolute. Seven horns. There is no molecule in the universe that is in rebellion against His sovereign decree. This includes every virus, every tyrant, and every demonic power. They are all on a leash, and the Lamb holds the leash. This is why we can have peace in the midst of turmoil. Our King is not flustered. He is not surprised. He is working all things according to the counsel of His will, the will written on that scroll.
And this means that Christ's knowledge is perfect. Seven eyes. He sees every act of persecution against His church. He hears every prayer of the saints. He knows every scheme of the enemy. The seven Spirits of God are sent out into all the earth. There is no corner of the globe, no hidden corner of the human heart, that is outside His administrative gaze. This is the engine of the Great Commission. We go into all the world because the Spirit of the enthroned Lamb has already gone before us and is at work everywhere.
When the Lamb took the scroll, history was set on its final, victorious course. The immediate result was an explosion of worship that filled the cosmos, which we will see in the following verses. The right response to seeing the Lamb in charge is to join that song. To live lives of grateful, obedient worship. To stop weeping, as John was told to do, and to start working, knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain, because the Lamb has conquered, and He has taken the scroll.