The Lion Who Is A Lamb: An Exposition Of Revelation 5:1–7 -- By: David J. MacLeod
Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 164:655 (Jul 2007)
Article: The Lion Who Is A Lamb: An Exposition Of Revelation 5:1–7
Author: David J. MacLeod
BSac 164:655 (July-September 2007) p. 323
The Lion Who Is A Lamb: An Exposition Of Revelation 5:1–7
David J. MacLeod is Dean for Biblical Studies, Emmaus Bible College, Dubuque, Iowa, and Associate Editor of The Emmaus Journal.
This is article two in a three-part series “Worship in Heaven.”
The present age seems to be spinning a web of evil and misery from which one cannot break free. People feel caught up in a time of warfare, economic insecurity, rampant crime, and perverse moral values.1 Many feel a sense of hopelessness and helplessness, concluding that life is meaningless and history is aimless. Others flee to Eastern religions, which teach that life is illusion and history is circular. So modern men and women have the uncomfortable choice between no meaning and wrong meaning.
But there is another option: the biblical meaning of history.2 And according to Revelation 5:1–7 Christ is the meaning of history.3 “We do not need Christ to tell us that the world is full of troubles. But we do need His explanation of history if its troubles are not to be meaningless.”4 “Only in Christ crucified is to be found the answer to the riddle of life;. .. only in Judah’s Lion, David’s Root. .. who is also the Lamb of God.”5 Life is not aimless, and history is not without purpose. The Bible teaches that history had a
BSac 164:655 (July-September 2007) p. 324
beginning and will have an end. People have spun the great web of evil in life, and they cannot escape the consequences of their guilt. History is a struggle between good and evil, and this struggle will lead to the ultimate triumph of God and good.6
Beginning in Revelation 6 John prophesied the judgments that God will bring on the earth, the return of Christ, and the establishment of His one-thousand-year reign on the earth. But before recording those judgments John related to his readers his wonderful vision of heaven in chapters 4 and 5. The implication is that only from the perspective of heaven can anyone understand what will take place on the earth.
As Calvin wrote, divine revelation is like a pair of eyeglasses. Without the Word of God people have de...
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