In the book of Revelation the main subject concerns the ending of the conflict
between good and evil, between God and Satan, these exalted names, ‘Alpha
and Omega’, ‘Beginning and End’, ‘First and
Last’, as applied to the Lord Jesus, remind us that our future
is secure in His hands because He will bring history, as we know it, to a
perfect conclusion that will reveal
the many faceted wisdom of God.
If
the names, Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last,
direct us to the higher counsels of the Godhead as they relate to eternity, so
there are names that direct us to the work of Christ upon earth.
First, in Rev.5.5 “But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”
He is the
Lion
of Judah.
This
title goes back to Jacob’s final blessing of his sons before his death. In that
blessing he called Judah “a lion’s
whelp” (Gen. 49:9). If Judah himself is a lion’s whelp, it
is fitting to call the greatest member of the tribe of Judah ‘The Lion of Judah’.
In
the books written between the Testaments this became a messianic title. The strength of the lion and his undoubted
place as king of beasts made him a fitting emblem of the all-powerful Messiah
who not only is ‘The Lion of the tribe of Judah’ but also ‘King of Kings’.
In the Rev.5:5 verse Jesus, the Lion of Judah, is further identified as being
connected with the family of David, that is, He is “the root of David”.
The Root of David. This
title goes back to Isaiah’s double prophecy that there will not only be a shoot
from the stump of Jesse but also a root of Jesse which shall be the banner to
which the Gentiles will rally (Isaiah
11:1, 10).
The
unimpressive green “shoot” that will sprout from the stump of Jesse is a person
from the Davidic royal line. This living twig/branch/shoot will bear fruit.
Thus it was a symbol of hope declaring that one day a Messiah of the Davidic line would be revealed. Jesus
Christ was that Son of David, the promised Messiah.
Bur Jesus was not only “a shoot from the stump of Jesse” (Is
11:1) but also the “root of Jesse” (Is
11:10; Rom 15:12; see Rev 5:5; 22:16, “root of David”). This means that while
Jesus was the son of David, He was also David’s “Lord.” This is the point Jesus
made in his debate with the religious leaders of his day in Matthew 22:42–45
when He asked them: ‘What do you think about the Messiah?
Whose son is he?’ They replied, ‘He is the son of David.’ Jesus
responded, “How then does David in
the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: ‘The Lord
said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool?”
The Lamb of Revelation: “And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and
of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as
though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the
seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ”
(Rev.5:6)
Jesus
as the Lamb is one of the dominant themes of Revelation. In its pages it is the
title used of Jesus some twenty-nine times.
The
word John uses for Lamb is not used of Jesus Christ anywhere else in the New
Testament. It is true that John the Baptist pointed to him as the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29, 36); and Peter speaks of the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter
1:19), but in these cases the word is ‘amnos’, whereas the word that the
Revelation uses is ‘arnion’. The
Baptist’s word emphasises the Lamb as a sacrificial offering, whereas John’s
word ‘arnion’ emphasises the victory the Lamb accomplished.
The
Lamb of Revelation overcame death (5:5–6) and is omnipotent and
omniscient. He takes over the government of the world by opening the book of destiny in the heavenly
council (4:2ff.; 5:7ff.), receiving
divine adoration (5:8ff. etc.), establishing the rule of peace (7:9) on the
heavenly mountain (14:1), overcoming demonic powers (17:14), exercising
judgment (6:16f.; 14:10) and making distinction on the basis of the book of
life (13:8; 21:27). As Victor He is the Lord of lords and King of kings (17:14;
19:16).
By
using ‘arnion’ and using it so often, John wishes us to see that this is a new
concept which he is bringing to men. But even so, the Lamb still bears the
marks of having been slain. There we have the picture of the sacrifice of
Christ, still visible in the heavenly places, for eternally He will be the one
who loved us and gave Himself for us.
The Lamb of Revelation has Seven Horns. This Lamb, with the marks of sacrifice still on
it, is the Lamb with the seven horns. In the Old Testament the horn stands for
two things.
First
it stands for POWER. In
the blessing of Moses “the horns of Joseph are like the horns of a wild ox and
with them he will push the people together to the ends of the earth” (Deut.
33:17). Zedekiah, the prophet, made iron horns as a sign of promised triumph
over the Syrians (1 Kings 22:11).
The
Lamb has seven horns; the number seven stands for perfection; therefore the
seven horns stand for perfect power, omnipotence.
Secondly
the horn stands for HONOUR. It
is the confidence of the Psalmist that in the favour of God our horn shall be
exalted (Ps.89:17). The connection with honour is evident in Ps. 112:9 “His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be
exalted with honour.” Then again: “And He has exalted the horn of His people”
(Ps. 148:14).
So the power of
the Lamb is perfect, beyond withstanding.
And the honour
of the Lamb is above all other honours.
He
will have a Name above every name. All that is in heaven and all in earth will
sing His praises.
The Lamb of Revelation has Seven Eyes: The
Lamb has seven eyes, and the eyes are the Spirits which are despatched into all
the earth. The picture comes from Zechariah. There the prophet sees the seven
lamps which are “the eyes of the Lord,
which range through the whole earth” (Zech. 4:10).
It
stands for the omniscience of God. It says that there is no place on earth
which is not under the eye of God. But omniscient also means He is all wise.
There is nothing that is beyond His comprehension. There is nothing He has
over-looked.
Because He is omniscient He will
be working to a higher design and purpose. Because He is omnipotent and has all
power ‘in heaven and in earth’, He will accomplish what He has purposed to do. These high
attributes belong to the Lamb in the midst of the throne.
So
you can see why John when writing the book of Revelation uses a different noun
for ‘Lamb’ to the one that was used by John the Baptist.
The
Lamb of eternity, while bearing the marks of Calvary, is no longer at the mercy
of the enemies of God for the Lamb is also the Lion.
The Lamb is also King
The
T’nach refers to God as King whose
throne is eternal:
“The Lord (YHWH) reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The
Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is
established, so that it cannot be moved. Your throne is established from of
old; You are from everlasting. ” (Psalm
93:1–2) This theme is picked up by Paul: “that
you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s
appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He
who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has
seen or can see, to whom be honour and everlasting power. Amen.”
(1
Tim. 6:14–16)
Note:
this last reference includes the indicator of the ‘seven horns’ truth – ‘to whom be honour
and everlasting power’. John,
like Paul, takes up the theme that God is the King of Kings, but applies it to
Jesus, the Lamb who has seven horns.
“These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will
overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings ”.
(Rev.
17:14) “And He has on His robe and on His
thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. ”
(Rev. 19:16)
Presidents,
dictators, and kings rule over their nations. Jesus as king is greater than all
of these. To him all power and authority belong, and all knees shall bow. This
is the message of the book of Daniel. Daniel witnessed to Nebuchadnezzar,
Belshazzar, Darius and Cyrus that YHWH reigned and He lifts up whom He wills,
and He puts down whom He wills. This is the power now vested in the Son of God.
Let’s put
some of these all-powerful names together:
The
One who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords is the Lamb, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Alpha and
Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last; the One who was,
and is, and is to come, the Almighty.
Jesus is ‘The Word of God’
Then
there is another Name: ‘The Word of God’. “He
was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of
God.” (Rev. 19:13) Here we have the purely Jewish idea of
the Word of God. To a Jew a word was not merely a sound; it did things. We can
see that, for instance, in the old story in which Jacob filched Esau’s blessing
from Isaac (Genesis 27). The blessing, once given, could not be taken back. If
that is so of human words, how much truer it is of the divine word.
It
is by His word that God created the earth and the heavens and everything in them.
“And God said” is
the recurring phrase in the narrative of creation (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 14, 26).
When John called the warrior Christ 'The Word of God'. he meant that here in action is all the power of God's word; everything that God has said is embodied in Christ.
Summarising
What
we are saying is—a multiplicity of names is needed to identify all the glorious
aspects of the person and work of the Lord Jesusl For example, there are names
in the book of Revelation that identify the deity of Christ, such as Alpha and
Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last; but there are also
names that especially relate to His
earthly ministry e.g. the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, etc.
And when we reach the last chapter of the book of Revelation many of the names
that we have considered reappear.
He
is the Lamb that has a throne in the city of God. Moreover He will tie up all
loose ends under His ‘First and Last’ names: “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to
give to every one according to his
work.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the
Last.” (Rev. 22:12–13)
In
addition, when He refers to two of His earthly titles He adds one more
delightful name: “I, Jesus ... am the Root
and the Offspring of David, the
Bright and Morning Star” (Rev. 22:16). The
Bright and Morning Star title suggests a new beginning; a good beginning; a
blessed beginning. But alas, there is not another book after Revelation to fill
in the details of what follows.
But
we can end this study as the book of Revelation ends—with a prayer and a
benediction.
The
Prayer: “Even so, come, Lord
Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20)
The Benediction: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”
(Rev. 22:21)
