Only Jesus is worthy to open the scroll.
Chapters four and five of Revelation present Jesus, who ascended to heaven and, as the High Priest on the morning of the day of his resurrection, entered the Most Holy and presented himself to the Father. Also, Jesus was identified as the only worthy One to take the scroll and break its seals. He was worthy because he defeated the Enemy of God and redeemed humankind for God. The scroll content concisely describes what transpired during the conflict between good and evil, leading to the birth of the Messiah. The fact that Jesus Christ was victorious over the Enemy of God raises the unstated but implied question. How did it come about that God has an Enemy? John, in Revelation, chapter twelve, answers the implied question. In chapters 6 through 11, John followed the usual Jewish style, first describing the Enemy’s efforts to disrupt God’s plan for humankind and, if possible, prevent the birth of the Messiah. Then, he describes the Enemy who exerted the efforts. Therefore, for clarity, this series of blogs will address God’s Enemy first, then return to chapters 6 through 11 to address the efforts by the Enemy aimed against God’s plans for humankind.
We should reemphasize that John did not describe the vision events in the sequence they transpired. John observed the entire vision at the same time. He, however, first described the events of concern to the first-century Christians. His goal was to assure the first-century believers that Jesus was real and where he said he would be. As a standard, John in Revelation first describes the result of an action or an event. Then, he describes the action or an event that produced the result. However, the events themselves do not assure us about Jesus. Instead, they testify to him, who is the source of our assurance, Jesus Christ. Who is the Enemy of God, and why did he rebel against God? “Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadem crowns. Now the dragon’s tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born.” Revelation 12:3 – 4, NET
The Bible usually associates the phrase “stars in heaven” with angels. Lucifer did win one-third of the angels over to him, and they followed him out of heaven. They are still with him and will be to the end. The seven heads of the red dragon are the seven human agencies, the kingdoms, which assisted Lucifer in his plans and efforts to frustrate God’s plan for humankind. Five of these kingdoms had fallen, and one was in force when John wrote the Book of Revelation. The seventh head, the seventh kingdom, was still in the future. It is a nonclassical form of kingdom and is solely human initiative. However, it works toward the same goal as the previous six kingdoms. Revelation 17:9 – 10. The six kingdoms will be described in this series of blogs. The seventh head, the seventh kingdom, is a unique kingdom never before attempted by humankind. It is now in the early stage of its formation and will be described later in this series of blogs. The six previous kingdoms addressed in Revelation were not religious; therefore, the seventh kingdom will not be religious either. However, the former six kingdoms tolerated all religions; therefore, the seventh kingdom will tolerate all religions.
Why did Lucifer rebel against God? Read the next blog.
