5:2-4 WHO IS WORTHY?
“Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof?’ And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look thereon. And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and to read the book, or to look thereon” (Revelation 5:2-4).
The Book of Life contains the names of “[God's] people” who “shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book” (Daniel 12:1). There is only one “strong angel” who would want to challenge the right to open the book that makes possible the deliverance of God’s people—“the angel of the bottomless pit,”[1] Satan. “The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19), trapped in “the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26). As the “accuser of our brethren” (Revelation 12:10) he reminds the universe that “all have sinned” and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23, 6:23). Nor is there anyone “in heaven or on the earth or under the earth” who is able to provide a ransom: “No man can redeem the life of another, or give to God a ransom for him—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—that he should live on forever” (Psalm 49:7-9 NIV). It is no wonder that John “wept much”—he felt like Jeremiah who said, “My eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive” (Jeremiah 13:17).[2]
Unless the accusations about the sins of those written in Book of Life could be met, no one could be saved. God is not judging in order to keep people out of heaven. With his accurate acccusations Satan claims that every single person who has ever lived (with the exception of Jesus Christ) has joined him in his sin and rebellion and thus belongs on his side. The devil even contended over Moses, one of the holiest persons who ever lived, a man with whom “the Lord spoke…face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Jude 9, Exodus 33:11). The evidence that meets these accusations is found in the Book of Life,[3] but it was sealed up and no one could open it. But that which no one could do, God Himself did, establishing the right to save sinners through the sacrifice of His own life as Jesus, the Lamb of God.
Continue to next section: 5:5-7 THE LION, THE ROOT AND THE LAMB
[1] Revelation 9: 1,11
[2] Some commentators have seen the scroll with its seven seals as an unfolding of the history of the world in the Christian era, or as a revelation of what the future holds. But it is unlikely that John would “weep much” because a history book could not be opened. History is in the Book of Life, because the historical context of each person is included.
[3] Revelation 20:12-15, 21: 27