Worthy Is the Lamb
“…the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: ‘You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.’” Rev 4:10-11:
“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” Rev 5:11-12:
It is one thing to recognize the authority of the Almighty God and proclaim God is worthy for He is the Creator of all, as in Revelation 4:10-11; but it is quite another to see the worthiness of the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing, as in Revelation 5:11-12:
Worthy is the Lamb. The central question of both a person’s life and the entire universe is this: who is worthy? The arch angel Lucifer, who became Satan and enemy of God, first said to himself that he himself was worthy, and even went on to convince one third of the angels that he was right. He then came to the earth to convince the human race that he was right. In order to do this, Satan did not appear to Adam and his descendants with power to directly convince that he was worthy. Instead, he stealthily made up a lie to convince Adam that Adam himself was worthy. The lie started with Eve, befalling on Adam, and consequently all his descendants which include everyone of us.
The lie of Satan wasn’t mere theoretical persuasion. It came with a death sting which is sin to poison the heart of the human race. As a result, man became the subject of Satan, bound by sin, and by the time he comes to realization that he was deceived, it would already be too late. Man will find that as a result of Satan’s lie, he ends up being worth nothing and worthy of nothing – unworthy in the eyes of a righteous God, but also unworthy in the eyes of the Liar, whose only goal is to steal the glory of God and make himself worthy.
If the issue faced by God were only to prove Satan’s lie and to prove that only God the Creator Himself was worthy, God could have dealt with Satan directly, and the question of worthiness in Revelation 4:10-11 would be once for all settled, quite simply. But if God did just that, there would be no place for man, and there would be no complete satisfaction to the heart of God.
For this reason, the central glorious truth God wants to reveal to man, to the angels, and to the universe is the question of worthiness in Revelation 5:11-12:
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.
Worthy is the Lamb, not only because he was the Creator of the universe, not only because everything was created in him and by him, but because he was slain for the sake of the redemption of the world and especially the redemption of man.
One day all things will be brought under the feet of the Lamb, and the entire redeemed universe will proclaim that the Lamb is worthy. The human race will be a central part of that proclamation, because from the bottom of the heart of each one who has received salvation, he says: “Worthy is the Lamb, because he died for me and purchased me back.”
Satan will be put in shame because the same proclamation that proclaims the Lamb is worthy of all He received also proclaims that Satan was not worthy of anything he desired.
If you have not received Jesus as your personal savior, you need to ask yourself this question: do you want to be among the redeemed on that final day to make the same proclamation “worthy is the Lamb!” joyfully and willingly, or do you want to be left out to be with God’s enemy, forever knowing just one thing: you were deceived by Satan to believe your self were worthy, you in fact became a part of the plot to make Satan worthy, but all was proven to be a lie and you ended up worthy nothing along with Satan?
If you have received Jesus as your personal savior, rejoice, for on that final day, not only will you joyfully proclaim your Savior is worthy, but also gladly know that you belong to him because he loved you and gave himself for you to redeem you.
One who is to proclaim “worthy is the Lamb” on that final day does not learn that truth at the last moment. He learns the truth in his life on earth following the Lamb. He learns that his Lord loves him no matter what. In glad tidings, he praises the Lord knowing that the Lord is worthy; but in suffering too, he fellowships with the Lord knowing that the Lord is worthy, and all his suffering is worth it for the sake of the Lamb. That is, on earth, his life and living, not merely words, constitute a glorious statement “worthy is the Lamb” which will be carried into eternity.
O Lord, forgive me for my disobedience, grumblings and complaints in the past year, for I know that every act of disobedience is a rebellious statement which contradicts to the fact that “the Lamb is worthy,” and every grumbling and dissatisfaction is a showing of disrespect to the fact that “the Lamb is worthy.” Lord, I am sorry as I know all that mount to a statement that your enemy loves to hear. O Lord, open my eyes that I may see in every moment of my life that you are worthy, so my every day can become a contribution to the heavenly proclamation on that final day: Worthy Is the Lamb!
