Worthy is the Lamb

 “11 Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. 12 And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered—to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”

-Revelation 5:11-13

Worthy is the Lamb is a unique reference used here in Revelation 5 to describe Jesus Christ. Jesus is, often, referred to in song, sermon and scripture as the Lamb of God. This stems back to the when Israel was in bondage and the last plague that God released on Egypt to free them was the death of all the first born. However, God told Moses to instruct the children of Israel to take a lamb and slaughter it. They were to apply the blood of that lamb to the doorposts of their home and this would cause the death angel to pass-over them. This was the genesis of the Passover celebration. In the New Testament, John the Baptist made an interesting declaration:

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!-John 1:29

John didn’t declare Jesus to be a conquering king or a great prophet. He declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Passover lamb was a foreshadow of Jesus and His sacrificial death on the cross to save us from the penalty of our sins. Just as the Passover lamb’s blood applied to the doorposts of their homes caused the death angel to pass over each household, Christ’s applied blood causes God’s judgment to pass over sinners and gives life to believers:

“He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify[a] for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”-Hebrews 9:12-14 

God was very specific with Israel about the lamb that they were to choose for the Passover. “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.”-Exodus 12:5

The apostle Peter links the lamb without defect from Exodus 12:5 with Christ, whom he calls a “lamb without blemish or defect”:

“But with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”-1 Peter 1:19. 

Jesus qualified to be called one without blemish because He had no sin, nor did He ever sin:

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”-Hebrews 4:15

Jesus was chosen by God to be our substitutionary sacrifice and was slain for our salvation and was even crucified during the time that the Passover was observed:

“And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?””-Mark 14:12

The Passover was a foreshadow of a greater reality that is found in Christ. His sacrifice negated the necessity of any further sacrifices as it was sufficient. He was the perfect Lamb. This makes Him worthy, but what did such a sacrifice make Him worthy of or worthy for?

If I were to ask you what is Jesus worthy of? I am sure we would all begin with many of the same answers. He is worthy of praise, honor, glory and power (Psalm 145:3, Revelation 4:11) However, Jesus’ death on the cross made Him uniquely qualified and worthy of something else.

As we approach Easter and consider everything Jesus' death accomplished: healing, deliverance, and salvation; one thing we rarely think about is how His sacrificial death qualified Him to be the only one worthy to open the seals of judgment:

“And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”- Revelation 5:9 

It was His sacrificial death that qualified Him for this task. Until the moment He breathed His last breath on the cross there was no one found worthy to execute God's divine plan for justice. Because of His willingness to die for the sins of the world, He was found worthy to judge it. 

Scott Burr