Historically, the full title of the final book of the Bible that we typically refer to as “Revelation” is, according to the first verse, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”. This title presents Jesus as the central figure of this book which is written to reveal God’s ultimate and final victory over His enemies and the enemies of His people – the Church. It reveals and emphasizes the role of Jesus as the Christ in that victory, and the culmination and consummation of His victory in the redemption of sinful men and women from God’s judgement on their sin so that their citizenship would be in Heaven and ultimately and forever with Him in a new heaven and new earth (Matthew 16:13-17) (Colossians 1:12-14) (Philippians 3:20) (Revelation 21:1-3).
Jesus has commissioned the Apostle John, who is imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos for his faithfulness to the Gospel, to write this letter to His Church, believers “out of every tribe and language and people group and nation”. It is written both to warn and encourage them/us in these “last days”, a reference to the time between Christ’s ascension and His second coming, of the perils and trials they will face both from enemies within and without and our need to persevere to the end in Him (Hebrews 1:1-2) (2 Timothy 3:1-9) (Hebrews 12:1-2) (Jude 24-25).
Jesus first reveals Himself to the Apostle John in Revelation 1:5 as the “faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth”. In Revelation 1:8, Jesus reveals Himself to John as the eternal God when He proclaims, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
In Revelation 1:13, John sees Jesus as “One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters”.
In Revelation 5:5, He is identified as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.”
In Revelation 12:5, He is identified as “the male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.”
In Revelation 19:1-6, He is praised by the great multitude revealed in Revelation 7:9 as “the Lord our God”, and the “Lord God Omnipotent” who reigns in power and glory over His church and His enemies, the former as His beloved, redeemed bride, the latter in divine judgement.
In Revelation 19:11, He is called “Faithful and True”, who judges and makes war on His enemies, and in verse 12 as one who had “a name written that no one knew except Himself”. In verse 13, we read,“ He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called “The Word of God”. Finally, in verse 16, He is revealed as one having “on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”
All of these revelatory titles/designations represent aspects of Jesus’ divine being, emphasizing His sovereign power and rule, and of His messianic work of redemption, all of which make Him worthy of being worshiped now and forever as the object of our deepest love and source of our eternal joy (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) (1 John 4:19).
However, the title/designation Jesus takes to Himself most prominently throughout the letter is that of “the Lamb”, wherein He is identified as such 27 times. As the Lamb, He is worshiped throughout the letter by both the Holy Angels and the redeemed from throughout human history as the one who possesses all of the virtues that make Him worthy to reign over a new heaven and new earth populated by a joy-filled humanity who have been redeemed by the wonderous love of God, a love displayed for all eternity in the shed blood of the Lamb (Romans 5:8-9)(Ephesians 1:7).
As the Lamb, He is identifying with the designation given Him by John the Baptist in John 1:29 and earlier by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53:7-12.
This designation first appears in Revelation 5:1-14, where Jesus’ worthiness to be worshiped eternally by all of creation is revealed and proclaimed. In Revelation 5:6, John sees Him in the midst of the throne room of Heaven as “a Lamb standing 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.” Commentators see this as depicting the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross (slain), His triumphant resurrection from the dead (standing alive), and a symbol of the one who has absolute power (seven horns), who allowed himself to be slain for sinful men and women He would redeem (John 10:11). I will look at this chapter in more detail in a subsequent post.
In Revelation 6:16-17, Jesus is identified as the Lamb, who with God the Father is pouring out wrath and judgement on this sinful world (Romans 1:18).
In Revelation 7:9-15, Jesus is the Lamb who, with the Father, are being worshiped with great praise and adoration by a great multitude of the redeemed from every nation, who have been cleansed from their sin by the blood of the Lamb – His sacrificial death on the cross, having been delivered from an idolatrous love for and alliance with this present evil world/age, now resting with Him in Heaven, awaiting entry with Him into the new heavens and new earth upon His second coming (1 Peter 1:18-19) (Galatians 1:4) (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
In Revelation 13:8, we have the revelation of what is referred to as the “book of the Life of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world”. This phrase reveals the eternality of God’s plan and that it would apply to a certain people recorded in this book, who were chosen from the foundation of the world, who would worship this Lamb as the object of their deepest loved and source of their greatest joy, pursuing holiness in the fear of the Lord (Ephesians 1:3-4) (2 Corinthians 7:1).
In Revelation 21:9, He is identified as “the bride, the wife of the Lamb”.
In Revelation 14:1-5, we again have the visionary scene of heavenly worship and adoration by the redeemed with the Lamb standing on Mt. Zion, which is a designation for the Heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22-24).
In Revelation 14:10-11, we see the horrific destiny of those who will be tormented by the wrath of the Lamb, forever.
In Revelation 15:1-4, we see the worship of the Lamb with a new song, sung by those who have participated in His victory over their enemies, just as the people of Israel did in the original song of Moses, declaring His worthiness to be worshiped in recognition of their miraculous deliverance from Egypt (Revelation 12:10-12) (Exodus 15:1-19).
In Revelation 17:14, we see these same participants, the chosen and faithful, with the Lamb in His conquering of His and their enemies.
In Revelation 19:6-10, we have what is referred to as the marriage supper of the lamb, the great victory celebration of the bridegroom and His bride, representing Jesus and His Church, wherein we subsequently see in Revelation 19:16 Jesus finally and forever coronated as the KING of KINGS, and LORD OF LORDS.
In many of these passages above we see the Lamb as being victorious over the enemies (both men and angels) of God and His people, who in pride have rejected His purpose for and rightful rule over their lives, pompously asserting themselves in the place of God, thus bringing themselves and this present sin-corrupted world under the judgement of God (Isaiah 14:13-14) (Genesis 3:1-6) (Ecclesiastes 7:29) (Proverbs 14:12) (Proverbs 16:18).
Thus, God uses the imagery of a slain lamb to represent the redeeming work of Christ, knowing that lambs are one of the most foolish, meek and helpless of all of His creatures, to prove once and for all eternity that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men”, and that if one is to be saved from the judgement of God, it must be by God’s free grace alone, through faith in the Lamb alone, for the glory of God alone, “lest anyone boast” (1 Corinthians 1:25) (Ephesians 2:8-9) (Ephesians 1:12). Amen!
Grace and Peace ×