And I saw when the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come!"  And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and the one sitting on it had a bow.  A victory crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and in order that he might conquer.  Rev. 6:1, 2.
 
    It is clear that Revelation 6 builds on the throne scene of chapter 5.  The Lamb takes the book in chapter 5 and begins to break its seals in our passage above.  But a question arises: are the seals the content of the book itself?  Or do the contents get revealed only when the Lamb breaks all seven seals?  Answering this is crucial for anyone who wants to understand the passage.
 
    If the book is a scroll, shaped like a rolling pin, the seals would be placed outside the "book" and would have to be torn away before anyone could read the book.  If the book is a codex (like the book you are holding now), with sheets of paper bound together on one side, you could conceivably seal or tape up the book into seven sections that you could free one at a time.
 
    While the Romans invented the codex form around the time of the composition of Revelation, Jews still use the scroll form for their Bibles up to this day.  Christians, however, immediately switched to the new form.  Of the hundred or so earliest manuscripts of the New Testament (often existing today only as fragments), only four are in scroll form.  We can tell when a manuscript fragment came from a scroll by the slight curvature in the paper that results from being rolled up for a long time.
 
    Why did Christians switch to the codex form for the Bible?  Probably because of the four Gospels.  Christians wanted to be able to include all four of them in the same document.  A scroll that big would be too large to handle, but you could fit all four Gospels into a codex fairly easily.  So shortly after the time of Revelation Christians switched to the codex form.
 
    Now back to our original question.  Is the book unsealed a scroll or a codex?  Are the events of Revelation 6 a view of he content of the book, or are they the kinds of things that lead up to the opening of the book?  Fortunately, John does not leave us in any doubt.  In Revelation 6:14 he says, "The sky was split open like a scroll being rolled up."
 
    According to this verse the sky opens like a scroll when someone rolls it up.  The word for "scroll" in Revelation 6:14 is the same used for the sealed scroll of chapter 5.  The sealed scroll, therefore, is clearly not a codex.  With a scroll, you would have to break the seals completely before you could read anything inside.  Since the author relates the events in Revelation 6 to the breaking of the seals, they do not describe the content of the scroll itself, but are things that have to take place before the scroll can be opened.
 
Lord, it's great to understand the deep things of Your Word a little better.  Help me to trust You even when I don't understand.

    And I saw when the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come!"  Rev. 6:1.
 
    I have always considered it a good idea to have a little extra cash around in case of emergencies.  While it is dangerous to have a lot of cash, because that might end up rewarding thieves for no purpose, a couple hundred dollars is worth the risk and can come in handy on short notice.  I have kept the envelope in my desk, in the refrigerator, in a dresser drawer, and in a couple other places.  And no, I have no intention of telling you where it is right now!
 
    One day I came home from a fairly long trip, needing to replenish my wallet in order to pay off some expenses that had accumulated in my absence from home.  I went to the place where I kept the envelope and pulled it out.  Something was wrong.  It didn't have its usual bulky feel, with several ones and fives along with larger denominations.  when I opened the envelope, the shape and color of the contents startled me.
 
    You see, instead of good old "greenbacks," the envelope had several Post-It notes inside.  One said, "$20 for birthday present."  Another declared, "$15 to order pizza."  And a third stated, $3 to rent video."  You get the idea.  It reminded me of the scene in a funny movie in which a guy finds a briefcase full of cash and spends it on frivolity, accounting for every cent on little bits of paper.  When the owner of the briefcase returns and opens it, he finds a useless pile of notes instead of the cash.
 
    "What's this?" he asks.
 
    "Oh, those are IOUs," comes the reply.  "Don't worry, with me they're as good as cash!"
 
    Right!
 
    Needless to say I confronted my teens with the absence of "my" money.  Their response was interesting.  "Dad, it's not your money--it's our money.  We got things we needed."
 
    You see, my kids are OK with living on Dad's earning.  I was tempted to feel they had taken advantage of me, but when I stopped to think about it, I realized they were at least partly right--for the time being.
 
    My experience illustrates something similar going on in Revelation.  Because of the cross, the Lamb can open the scroll and provide everything necessary to redeem the universe.  Salvation costs me nothing, but it cost Him everything.  In a sense, "His money is our money."  It is good to be the child of the King.
 
Lord, help me to remember today that everything I have ever had was a gift from You, the fruit of Your sacrifice on the cross.  I choose to be generous with Your gifts today.

 And I saw when the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come!"  Rev. 6:1.
 
    The four horsemen herald the horrors of war, famine, and pestilence.  The language seems to go back to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 32, which list these three plagues among the consequences of breaking the Mosaic covenant.  In Revelation 6 they express the results of rejecting Jesus and the salvation He provides.
 
    In Western countries things such as famine and pestilence (contagious disease) may seem like distant realities.  They occur mainly in "benighted" corners of the world that make the news but rarely get visited.  If we are to truly grasp the dread that these images must have evoked when first written, we need to consider analogies that lie closer to home.
 
    Many people, even in Western countries, are only a paycheck or two away from missing house or rent payments.  With corporations downsizing and markets shifting, few jobs are secure, even in corporate America.  It takes only a small downturn in the economy to bring a hint of apocalyptic dread into the lives of many people.
 
    When I was 17 years old I started working for a temporary agency.  It sent me with a couple other men to unload 1,100 doors from a boxcar.  The workforce of the agency largely consisted of "drunks" and "college kids."  My boxcar companions were of the former variety.  One was 35 years old and the other 47.  Both began to get the "shakes" around 11:00 in the morning.  The older man would often sneak away from the work site to get a beer.
 
    Fascinated by the two of them, I did some investigating.  I discovered that the younger man was a nuclear physicist and the older one an engineer.  In fact, the latter had been a supervisor of the construction of Henderson Field on the island of Guadalcanal, one of he most famous Pacific battlefield sites of World War II.
 
    Both men had started life with high hopes and great achievements.  But then the riders of "war, famine, and pestilence" invaded their lives.  The gruesome plague of alcohol shattered their families and reduced the men to miserable hulks of humanity.  Eking out a bare subsistence in the midst of plenty totally consumed their lives.
 
    Tragedy is no stranger to even the wealthiest of societies.  We all need the Lamb to survive.
 
Lord, the seals and trumpets have baffled the best interpreters for 2,000 years.  I have often wondered why You included materials like this in Your Word.  As we begin examining these "plagues," give me a clearer picture of Your purpose for these images.  Use these plagues to enlighten my mind to the way You see our world.

And I heard every creature which is in heaven or on earth or under the earth or upon the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and strength for ever and ever."  And the four living creatures said, "Amen."  And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshipped.  Rev. 5:13, 14.
 
    The Lamb has now joined the Father on the throne, an action anticipated in Revelation 3:21.  This is the last of a series of five hymns in Revelation 4 and 5.
 
    1. In Revelation 4:8 the four living creatures sing a song based on the "Holy, holy, holy" of Isaiah 6.  They direct their hymn toward the "One sitting on the throne," presumably the Father.
 
    2. In Revelation 4:11 the 24 elders praise God on the basis of His acts in creation.
 
    3. In Revelation 5:9, 20, the four living creatures and the 24 elders together praise the Lamb because of His death on the cross.
 
    4. In Revelation 5:12 an innumerable host of angels join in the chorus of praise to the Lamb.
 
    5. Finally, in our text above, the One on the throne and the Lamb receive praise together as the entire universe offers one single harmony of praise.
 
    The last of the five hymns is the climax.  The first two hymns are sung to the One on the throne and focus on creation.  The next two hymns are sung to the Lamb and dwell on salvation.  The fifth of the five hymns praises both of Them together.  So we find a progression from the Father to Jesus and finally to both of Them together.
 
    We also notice an amazing crescendo in the size of the groups that sing these hymns.  The four living creatures present the first and the 24 elders the next.  In the third hymn the four living creatures and the 24 elders join together in singing.  In the fourth hymn a massive angel choir accompanies the four living creatures and the 24 elders.  And finally, every creature in the entire universe proclaims the fifth hymn.
 
    The whole sequence of Revelation 4 and 5 moves toward the great climax in which the Lamb joins the Father on the throne.  The major point of this passage is the exaltation of the Lamb to equal status with the Father.  It is a status He clearly had before the cross.  But after His death fresh praise declares the glory of Jesus Christ.  His mighty self-sacrifice on the cross raises the acclamation of heaven to new heights never before seen.  Never again will God be praised without mention of who the Lamb is, what He has done, and why He is accounted worthy.  The joy and integrity of the universe now centers in the worthiness of the Lamb.
 
Lord, I place Jesus on the throne of my life today.  It is my purpose to obey Him in everything, for He is worthy.

  "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing."  Rev. 5:12.
 
    That Jesus overcomes by dying certainly challenges our way of doing things.  We prefer to approach God from a position of strength.  And we seek to win on the basis of our talents, not God's grace.  Through the slain Lamb, however, we learn that true victory comes in sacrifice and weakness.  The sacrifice of Christ compels us to depend on God's vindication rather than on our own abilities or efforts.  Jesus sets the example of true victory, and heaven summons us to follow Him.
 
    Most writers jealously protect their schedules and their privacy.  But toward the end of his life Henri Nouwen broke down such barriers of professionalism.  Trained in Holland both as a psychologist and a theologian, he spent his early years achieving.  Nouwen taught at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard.  Averaging more than a book a year, he traveled widely to give lectures.  But in the process his own spiritual life began dying.
 
    Ten years before his death he made a radical break with the past and became priest in residence at a home for the seriously disabled in Toronto.  He lived in a simple room with a single bed, one bookshelf, and a few pieces of Shaker-style furniture.  With no fax machine, no computer, no PDA or Daytimer calendar, he found spiritual serenity amid the castoffs of society.
 
    Philip Yancey visited him one day and watched as Nouwen served Communion to Adam, a retarded 26-year-old man unable to talk, walk, or dress himself.  Adam gave no sign of comprehension, drooled throughout the ceremony, and grunted loudly a few times.  Nouwen confessed that it took him nearly two hours each day to bathe and dress Adam, brush his teeth, comb his hair, and guide his hand as he tried to eat breakfast.  For Nouwen, those hours of "holy inefficiency" became a chamber of prayer and meditation.
 
    Was this the best possible use of a great writer's time?  Couldn't someone else take over the manual chores?  Nouwen did not think of such acts as a sacrifice.  "I am not giving up anything," he insisted.  "It is I, not Adam, who gets the main benefit from our friendship."
 
    It had been difficult at first.  Physical touching, affection, and the messiness of caring for an uncoordinated person did not come easily.  But he had learned to love Adam--to truly love him.  In the process he had discovered what it must be like for God to love us--spiritually uncoordinated, retarded, able to respond only with what must seem to God as inarticulate grunts and groans.  In Adam's face he learned that one did not have to achieve to be loved by God, that one could rest in His love.  Nouwen followed the Lamb's path to victory.
 
Lord, I am humbled as I realize how much I have bought into the culture of achievement and success.  Help me to see others through the eyes of the slain Lamb.

                        And I saw and heard the sound of many angels around the throne, and of the four living creatures and of the elders, and their number 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.
 
    Jesus is truly worthy.  Not only was He the active agent in Creation (Rev. 4:11; John 1:3), but He powerfully intervened to redeem that creation at the cross, the event celebrated so loudly in this chapter of Revelation.  What is exciting about this is that the value that He has by right can also become ours by redemption (Rev. 5:9, 10).  We can join the angels in celebrating His worth when we see how it makes all the difference in our lives.
 
    A fundamental need of all human beings is to have a sense of great value.  But how much is a person worth?  It depends on the context.  If someone were to melt me down to the chemicals my body consists of, I'm told that I would be worth about $12 (make it $13, since I've gained a little weight in recent years).  But the employer of the average American values him or her at a much higher level than that, something like $50,000 a year.  But suppose you were a great basketball player such as Shaquille O'Neal.  Suddenly the value jumps to tens of millions of dollars a year.  And if you were the nerdy designer of the operating system on most of the world's computers, you would be valued at tens of billions of dollars (Bill Gates)!
 
    You see, we are always valued in terms of others.  But according to the Bible human value is infinitely higher than what we assign to each other.  Scripture tells us that Jesus is worth the whole universe (He made it), yet He knows all about us and loves us as we are.  His death on the cross established the value of the human individual.  When the Creator of he universe and everyone in it (including all the great athletes and movie stars that people often worship) decides to die for you and me, it places an infinite worth on our lives.  And since the resurrected Jesus will never die again, my value is secure in Him as long as I live.
 
    Let's put it another way.  A baseball in my hands is worth about $5.  But a baseball in Alex Rodriguez' hands is worth about $25 million.  A golf club in my hands is worth $50.  A gold club in Tiger Woods' hands is worth millions of dollars.  A stick in my hands will keep an angry dog from biting me, while the same stick in Moses' hands parted the Red Sea.  Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse.  Nails in Jesus' hands led to salvation for the world.  You could say it all depends on whose hands each of those objects is in.
 
Lord Jesus, You are the most genuinely valuable person in the universe.  Help me to seek my true value in Your hands and not in the fickle affirmations of others.

 And they sang a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals, because You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood people from every tribe and language and people and nation, and You have made them to our God a kingdom and priests, and they will reign on the earth.  Rev. 5:9, 10.
 
    According to today's text the focus of the gospel is incredibly international.  The death of the Lamb purchases people for God from every tribe, language, and nation.  Such openness goes far beyond anything the contemporaries of early Christianity would have known.  And its international welcome was so successful that no one today is surprised that the vast majority of Christians are Gentiles.
 
    Nevertheless, the gospel's complete lack of prejudice can still teach us a great deal even today.  The gospel embraced and still embraces people that we would not expect.  This goes against the grain of our natural suspicion toward anyone who isn't like us.  I remember meeting with a small body of Christians in a Muslim country.  I shared with them my passion for bringing the good news of Jesus to everyone, regardless of their race, background, or religion.  It stunned me to discover that they had no interest in Muslims.  No matter what I said, they felt no call from God to reach out in love to their neighbors.
 
    Although history gives Muslims plenty of reasons to hate Christians, I have found Muslims more open to relationship with Christians than vice versa.  The actions of a few terrorists should not prevent us from seeing the great value in which God holds human beings of every race, language, and culture.
 
    I have discovered that people of every nation and culture are open to the gospel if treated with respect and kindness.  God is calling a new generation of Christians to discard the prejudices of he past and reach out to others in the spirit of Jesus.  In our treatment of others we can offer a foretaste of the multicultural heavenly chorus of Revelation 5.
 
    Imagine a choir filled with the saints of all ages: ancient Israelites worshiping with tambourine and joyful dance, African saints swaying and chanting, European Reformers with their majestic hymns, faithful monks with their medieval solos, messianic Jews dancing around the Torah, and maybe even Muslim followers of Isa (Jesus in Arabic) bowing with forehead to the ground.  Do you think you could handle the complexity of that harmony?  I'm sure God will be able to teach us how to blend.  Why not begin practicing God's harmonies right where you live?
 
Lord, help me to see others through Your eyes.  Fill my heart with the joy You feel in the infinite variety of the people You created.

     And they sang a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals, because You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood people from every tribe and language and people and nation, and You have made them to our God a kingdom and priests, and they will reign on the earth."  Rev. 5:9, 10.
 
    The medical staff told the chaplain that he was in for a tough visit.  A young couple had had a stillborn baby.  The chaplain arrived on the third floor to see a crowd of people laughing in the hall.  The desk nurse told him the room number, and he made his way through the crowd and entered a room completely dark except for the dim crack of light coming from the bathroom.  In the bed he could see the mother.  She was young and pretty, with blond hair and tired-looking eyes.  "Hello," the chaplain said feebly.  Words never mean very much at a time like that.  "I'm the chaplain."
 
    Despair filled her eyes, and she was clearly in pain, yet sleepy, as if she had been sedated.  She was holding the lifeless child.  Before he could say anything she handed him the infant.  The little girl was wrapped in white blankets, her little face lifelike, her body limber.  Looking at her, one could imagine her as just asleep.  The father was slumped in a chair, staring out the window.  He was in shock, not even able to communicate, and barely acknowledged the chaplain's existence.  Sitting next to the mother was the grandmother, sobbing endlessly.
 
    The chaplain stood there, holding the stillborn little girl.  Help me, Lord; help me, he prayed silently, gently cradling the lost dreams of this young couple.  He suspected that their house had a fully decorated bedroom, waiting for an occupant that would never come.  How many times had her husband and she talked excitedly about their new child?  How many gifts, good wishes, plans, and dreams had they shared in anticipation?
 
    The chaplain couldn't hide his tears as he led them in the "Our Father."  Handing the baby back, he told them he'd be there if they needed him.
 
    In the hallway others were celebrating the arrival of their child.  He quietly asked them to please try to keep it down a little, out of respect.  They quickly did so, sensing the young mother's pain.
 
    Either of the parents of the stillborn child would have done anything to make their baby live.  They probably would have given their own lives if it meant saving their child.  That's what Jesus did when He decided to give up His life rather than see us die.  He had a choice between eternal life for Himself without us, or giving it up to save us.  Jesus couldn't live without us--you and me.  That's how much He loves us.
 
Lord, thank You for loving me so much that You died for me.  I want to feel the full impact of that sacrifice in my life today.

    And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each of them having a harp and golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints.  Rev. 5:8.
 
    The exciting message of this verse is that the worship of heaven includes the prayers of the saints.  The prayers of the saints arise from a world very different from the scene John witnesses in heaven.  In that world the saints seem to be defeated.  Evil appears to reign.  But the book of Revelation lifts the gaze of believers up to heavenly places.  There the decisive victory has been won, forever crippling evil.  Prayer is not just a nice thing to do--it is a link to the mighty, victorious power of heaven.
 
    Before we had children, my wife and I each bought a 10-speed bicycle to enjoy the landscapes of our mountain valley.  We rode quite often for a few years, but in the past couple of decades the pressures of family and career turned our attention in other directions, causing us to neglect those bikes.  They sit now under the elevated sunroom of our house, a place where they stay dry, but are a little too hard to get to.
 
    Some time ago I crawled under the sunroom and pulled out my red racer, thinking it was about time to take it for a spin.  I found that it had quite a bit of rust here and there and the tape had come off one of the handlebars.  After 25 years it didn't look very good, but it did seem to roll OK.  It still had that pleasant buzzing sound that high-quality bikes make when the wheels turn at a slow pace.  While the tires were a little flat and I didn't know where the air pump was, they still had enough air to work.
 
    Taking the bike out for a ride, I headed down the road.  Since it was really quite hard to keep it going, I wondered if my leg muscles were out of shape.  It just wasn't as much fun as I had remembered biking to be.  After a bit I brought the bike back, thinking it might as well go back into hiding for another 20 years.  But after some effort I located a pump, injected some new air into those old tires, and tried again.  What a surprise!  Everything went so much easier.  A little air made a very big difference.
 
    It has been said that "prayer is the breath of the soul."  Prayer is like the air I put into my bicycle tires.  When we try to solve our problems by ourselves, life is truly hard.  But prayer vaults our challenges into the throne room of heaven, where no problem is too big to solve, no battle is too hard to win.  Thanks to the victory of the Lamb, prayer is the key to victory on earth.  Don't leave home without it!
 
Lord, I don't ask for an easy life.  But I do ask that your mighty power will multiply my efforts to extend the victory of the Lamb to everyone I meet.

          And I saw, in the middle of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God that have already been sent into all the earth.  And He came and took it from the right side of the One sitting on the throne.  Rev. 5:6, 7.
 
    One of the highlights of a cold Michigan winter is the arrival of a case of sweet juicy navel oranges.  Several local schools bring in shipments as fund-raisers.  When I carry the box home, I can't resist sliding the cover off and gazing on the orange-colored beauties.  I take a sniff or two and sometimes even head straight for the kitchen to cut one up.  The feel of orange juice squirting inside my mouth is almost as good as the flavor (don't you want one right now?).
 
    But oranges have more than just the flavor and the texture.  If we are to believe double Nobel prize-winning chemist Linus Pauling, a megadosage of vitamin C abundant in oranges would help prevent colds.  While his theory has never gained wide acceptance, an integral part of North American culture is the belief that vitamin C can help fight colds.
 
    When winter comes to the Northern Hemisphere, our body systems are more vulnerable to colds.  At just the time when our systems need a boost, God has an abundance of vitamin C growing on citrus trees in the warmer climates.  It is so like God to anticipate the needs of His children and provide resources in advance to keep them healthy and strong.
 
    Today's chapter describes the greatest of the resources God has made available.  "While we were yet sinners" (Rom. 5:8), He has already provided a Lamb to remedy the crisis of sin in our lives.  But even before the Lamb was slain on the cross, He had become worthy.  The Lamb is one of the many symbols of the humanness of Jesus.
 
    Since divinity cannot die, humanness was a prerequisite for opening the scroll.  The Creator had to become a creature.  Because the Lamb was human, He could also die to redeem the human race.  But He needed a further qualification: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praised and honor and glory and power...!" (Rev. 5:13, NIV).
 
    Jesus is worthy not only because He is human and He died, but also because He is divine.  This combination of qualities makes Him unique in all of history.  As God did with oranges, He carefully arranged the remedy for our greatest need long before we needed it.  That's what makes the Lamb so special in the book of Revelation.
 
Lord, I am in awe as I realize all that Jesus went through in order to redeem me.  I will praise Him today with all of my heart.