Worthy is the Lamb (Easter 2026)

Introduction

Opening Illustration - Is it Worth It?: I remember a time in my life when I was about 19 or 20 years old. I had recently become a Christian, but admittedly at that time I was a baby Christian, and I had a foot in two different worlds. On the one hand I was increasingly witnessing examples of what it would look like to truly live for Christ. On the other hand I had a world full of folks who were living for everything but Christ. And I remember the question that I would often wrestle with in my mind as the Lord worked on me was “Is it worth it?” Is it worth it to go all in on Jesus? Because I wasn’t really confident on that answer, I lived in a no-man’s land for quite a while. And really the question was more specific that that. What I was really asking was not “Is it worth it to go all on Jesus?” But rather “Is He worth it?”

Personal: Our lives will reflect what we believe to be most worthy. Many will give lip service to Jesus now and again, but their life and their thoughts and their affections and their schedules, reveal what they truly believe to be of the most worth. I’d like to ask you as a bit of a personal reflection to begin our time together today, “Is Jesus worth it?” I have come to the overwhelming and all satisfying conclusion, that he is worthy of everything in my life. But you must make that decision for yourself.

Context: Our text today is Revelation 5. Admittedly its a bit of a strange text for Easter Sunday. But on the other hand it is perfect. As a Church we are studying this book verse by verse, and last week we wrapped up chapter 4. And in chapter 4, the Apostle John was caught up into heaven, where he beheld the throne of God. And around the throne were four angelic creatures, and an additional 24 angels, called Elders, all worshiping God on His throne. And what we saw last week was the mystery and the majesty of heaven, as John fought for human language to describe what he witnessed. And today’s text is like a great spotlight. You might imagine that chapter 4 was like the opening scene of a play where the characters are moving around the scene is being established, but you don’t quite know where to look yet, and then chapter 5, the spotlight turns on, and focuses your attention on the center of heaven, on Christ, the lamb who was slain and rose again to conquer the grave.

Main Idea: The main idea of today’s text is very simple. One little phrase that I want you to take home and have resounding in your ears this week. Worthy is the lamb! Worthy is the lamb! In order to see that in this text, I want to look three dynamics of worthiness.

Meaning & Application

THE CRISIS OF WORTHINESS

First, the crisis of worthiness.

Revelation 5:1–4 “Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.”

Scroll: As John stands before the throne, he suddenly sees a scroll in the hand of God that is sealed with seven seals. What is in this scroll? This scroll describes God’s decrees. John was invited up in chapter 4 to see the events that must take place in his future. And here, those events are written in this scroll.

Within & Without: We’re told that the scroll is written “within and on the back.” This signifies to us something very important. There is nothing more to add to God’s decree. Human history will play out, and our lives will play out, as God has decreed. There are no blank spaces. There is only completeness. That scroll contains the secret will of God. To open it, is to oversee the execution of it.

Good News: This must have been good news for John to see, because remember this early church was suffering greatly. They were being persecuted for their faith. John had been exiled. And there on that scroll is God’s answer to their suffering? Is God’s answer to make sense of all the pain.

No One Worthy: He hears a mighty angel cry out,

Revelation 5:2 “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”

And then something peculiar happens. For a moment, nobody is found who is worthy. None of God’s mighty angels, no human, none of the Apostles, or prophets of old. Nobody is worthy. And John begins to weep violently at this reality. The word used there has a strong emphasis on the sounds one makes when they weep violently, it is a moaning and a great sadness.

John’s Crisis: John is at a crisis point. He’s no longer a spectator watching the events unfold before him, he is a participant, experiencing the longing of the human soul in full measure.

What if there is no one who is worthy to open the scroll?

What if there is nobody who is able to make sense of the pain we experience in this life?

What if there is nobody who can fully and finally execute real justice in this world?

What if there is no one able to take my sin before a holy God and make full atonement for it?

What if at the end of the day, even heaven is unable set things right?

This is the crisis that John was facing. And God, in his mercy, allowed John to feel the weight of a world where the answer to that question was that “nobody was worthy.” John wept!

Our Crisis: John’s crisis is our crisis. We can distract ourselves from the reality of this crisis, but if we are going to be serious people, then at some point we must face the brutal facts of life. It has been said before that there can be no worship without weeping. And that is a very important thing to understand. In many pulpits across our city today there is a false vision of Christianity preached that includes a Jesus that was never crucified, and a faith that requires no repentance and remorse, in other words, no weeping. The Bible knows nothing of this kind of Christianity.

Galatians 6:14 “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…

Weep First: Easter is a joyful day. It is a day of celebration. But it is only a day of celebration for those who have tasted the bitterness of weeping, for those who have felt their need of a savior. Friends, what do you weep over? What does your soul feel as its greatest need?

Do you weep about your own need of forgiveness of sin?

Do you weep for a perishing world?

Do you weep for a culture that celebrates the normalization of sin as progress?

Do you weep for those you love who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ?

This is the human predicament. It is the crisis of worthiness. Is anyone worthy to open the scroll?

And the Christian cries, “Worthy is the lamb!”

THE PARADOX OF EASTER (THE LION WHO IS A LAMB)

Second, in this text, I want us to see the paradox of worthiness. The book of Revelation is a book of symbols. It tells reality through a different lens. And this scene in Revelation 5, as we peer into the throne room of God, is telling the story of Easter, in a marvelous way.

Revelation 5:5–13 “And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!””

Paradox: What is the paradox that is so blatantly in this passage? The paradox is that John, after weeping that no one was found worthy to open the scroll, is told by a mighty angel that one has been found who is worthy.

John hears Lion (5). He turns and sees a lamb (6).

John hears strength, and power, authority. He turns and sees meekness and sacrifice.

John hears conquering king. He turns and sees suffering servant.

This is the paradox of Easter. The one who is worthy to open the scroll, the one who is able to heal all that is wrong, “the conquerer” (verse 5) is not the one we expected. Revelation 5 is not fantasy. It is heaven’s explanation of Easter.

Lamb: When John turns and sees a lamb. This is common language used in the NT of Jesus. But where does it come from? When John the Baptist first saw Jesus Christ at his baptism, John said,

John 1:29 “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

This concept is lost on modern readers, but to the people of Jesus’ day, this language was common. Lambs were sacrificed regularly on the altar in the temple in Jerusalem in accordance with God’s law. The idea of animal sacrifice, as horrible as this might sound, was central to the faith of God’s people. God’s people have always been deeply aware of the great gap that exists between us in our sinfulness, and God in all of his holiness. And for God’s people to be in an active relationship with God, to be in covenant love with God, God required sacrifice. Why? Well because the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But God in his mercy, allows a lamb to be sacrificed in the sinner’s place. A death occurs, only its not the death of the one who deserved it, it’s the death of a subsitute.

Dead & Alive: Read carefully in verse 6.

Revelation 5:6 “… I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain…”

The image that John seems to be communicating is of a lamb that is covered in wounds and blood, as if it should be dead from sacrifice, and yet he is standing! He was slain, but now he is alive. We read something similar in the hymn of verses 9 and 10.

Revelation 5:9 “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,”

The Easter Story: This hymn speaks of the lamb’s being “slain” or “sacrificed”, but there he is standing in the midst of the throne. John is telling the Easter story in heavenly symbolic language.

God Incarnate: You see, this lamb is no ordinary lamb. In verse 6 when it speaks the lamb having seven horns and seven eyes. The number seven symbolizes perfection. Horns are a symbol of strength and eyes are a symbol of all seeing wisdom. Jesus Christ was God the Son incarnate. All that is God, his infinity, his simplicity, his authority, his omnniscence, his goodness, his majesty, his love, incarnate. In theological language, we call this the Hypostatic Union, that in Christ the fullness of divinity was united to the fulness of humanity (yet without sin).

Christ’s Life: Christ’s life and teaching, as they are recorded in the four gospel accounts are what you would expect were God to incarnate himself among men. His love was undeniable. His ethic was perfect. His righteousness was unwavering. His zeal was staggering. His life was the perfect human life, no sin, life abounding.

Death: But the purpose of his coming was more than just his life. That hymn in verse 9 says that “by your blood your ransomed people for God from every tribe and language.” Jesus Christ came as a sacrificial lamb, in fact the final and ultimate sacrificial lamb. His death on the cross was no accident, it was planned by God before the foundation of the Earth, that in the proper time, God the Son, would redeem his people from their fallen condition, by becoming their subsitutionary sacrifice, their lamb. The cross was an altar, where Christ our sacrificial lamb was slain.

A Miracle - He Stood: Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb, and for three days his disciples wept over the death of their friend, and the man they believed to be their Savior. But on Easter morning, when his disciples woke up early to embalm his body at the tomb, a miracle happened. The lamb that had been slain and placed in a tomb, stood. Just as John in Revelation 5 sees the slain lamb standing, so did Christ rise from the dead. His disciples saw him and were mystified. The women who had gone to the tomb embraced him, and wept new tears of joy refusing to let him go.

Conquered: But even upon seeing him, they did not fully understand the signficance of the resurrection. But the angels did. This is why in verse 5 we read,

Revelation 5:5 “And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.””

What has Christ conquered.

Sin: First, Christ has conquered sin. On the cross, your sin, and my sin, that which separates eternally from God was placed on his shoulders. And in his death, he buried it. And in his resurrection he triumphed over it, declaring his authority to vanquish it in your life. Those who receive Christ by faith, are saved from Hell, and much more saved from the hold sin has on their life. They are a new creation, that over the course of their life grows in holiness.

Satan: Second, Christ conquered Satan, that ancient foe who once bound us in darkness, made us unable to see God with clarity, and worship him in truth. Christ has conquered him through his death and resurrection, so that in Christ you are no longer bound by Satan’s temptations, but you are freed by the conquering one to live for God.

False Religion: Third, He’s conquered our false religion that tries to please God with our works, that tries to earn our way into heaven, by pretending that our sin is not as deep as it is. On the cross he exposes the full weight of sin, and at the resurrection he utterly defeats and offers us a way to God not based on human merit, but built on grace upon grace, a free gift that nobody could earn.

Death: Fourth, Christ has conquered death. Death was the proper consequence given to this world for sin. It wasn’t designed by God originally to be this way. Sickness, decay, death are realities in a fallen world. But in Christ, they do not have the final word. All who are in Christ will resurrect to new life, everlasting life, because Christ has conquered death.

Wrap Up: See the paradox of Easter. The lion of tribe of Judah, the conquering one who has secured our salvation, is the lamb who was slain.

Worthy is the lamb!

THE RESPONSE TO WORTHINESS

As I close, I want to look at verse 14 together and consider the response to worthiness.  

Different People: I suppose in a room like this there are at least three different kinds of folks.

Believers: Some folks are deeply walking with Christ, and the response I am going to lay out in a moment is more of an affirmation for you, like a renewing pledge “Yes I believe this to be true.”

Wafflers: Some folks are similar to how I described myself at the start of this sermon today, you’ve got one foot in and one foot out, and the truth is that while you call yourself a Christian, your life and your heart reveal that you’re still not sure if Christ is as worthy as other pursuits. You’re in no man’s land. The response I give today, is like a pledge of your soul before a holy God. I’m done living in no man’s land. You alone are worthy!

Rejectors: Still some folks in here entered this room this morning, knowingly or unknowingly, as enemies of God because you have rejected Jesus. You’ve never received him faith. To you, I plead with you, the response I lay before you, make it your own, take this step of faith for the first time.

The Response: What is the response?

Revelation 5:14 “And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

There are three responses given in that short verse.

Amen: First, the four living creatures say “Amen.” That word “Amen” means “It is true.” The very first response must be that in your heart of hearts you declare this to be true. That Christ is your sacrificial lamb, who has died on the cross as a substitute for you, in order that you can be forgiven of all your sins, and be loved eternally by God. If you do not say “Amen” to these truths, then you can have no part of his kingdom. There is no middle ground. We are either enemies, or we are sons. And “Amen” makes all the difference.

Fall Down: Second, they fall down. Falling down is a symbol of submission. It is a personal declaration, that the Christ has authority over your life. It is a posture of heart and life, where you say, “No longer will I live according to my own strategy and my own devices, I will live for Christ.”

Worship: Lastly, they worshiped. What is worship? Worship is to have your affections postured and driven towards Christ. It is not worship to simply call oneself a Christian, and have very little of your attention, or your heart’s desire, or your affections, or your vision of life, to be given to Christ. Worship is not just living for God, but it is delighting in God.

Closing

Today we join with the twenty four elders (v8) who worshipped God and sang their hymn. Today we join with teh many angels, numering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands (v11). Today we join with every creature in heaven and on eath and under the eart and in the sea (v 13) and we proclaim “Worthy is the lamb! Worthy is the lamb! Worthy is the lamb!