"Who Is Worthy to Open the Scroll?" - The Worthy One

 Yes, there is someone able to open the scroll John relates: "But one of the elders says to me: "Stope weeping.  Look!   The Lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, has conquered so as to open the scroll and its seven seals." (Revelation 5:5)   So John, dry those tears!  The  John class and their loyal companions today had also endured decades of severe trials while waiting patiently for enlightenment.  What a comforting reward we now have in understanding the vision, and what a privilege to share in its fulfillment by proclaiming its message to others! 

Ah,  "the Lion that is  of the tribe of Judah"!  John is familiar with the prophecy that Jacob, ancestor of the Jewish race, pronounced  concerning his fourth son, Judah:  "a lion cub Judah is.  From they prey, my son, you will certainly go up.  He bowed down, he stretched himself out like a lion and, like a lion, who dares rouse him?  The  scepter will turn aside from Judah, neither the commander's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to him the obedience of the peoples will belong." (Genesis 49:9, 10)   The royal line of God's people stemmed from Judah, starting with David, all the kings who ruled in Jerusalem until the Babylonians destroyed that city were Judah's descendants.  But not one of them was the Shiloh prophesied by Jacob.  Shiloh means "He Whose [Right] It is."  Prophetically, this name pointed to Jesus, the one to whom the Davidic Kingdom now permanently belongs. - EZEKIEL 21:25-27; LUKE 1:32. 33; REVELATION 19:16.

John quickly recognizes the reference to "the root of David."  The promised Messiah is prophetically called both "a twig out of the stump of Jesse [father  of King David] . . . .a sprout" and "the root of Jesse that will be standing up as a signal for the peoples."  (Isaiah 11:1, 10) Jesus was a twig of Jesse, having born  into the royal line of David, son of Jesse.  Further,, as a root of Jesse, he was the One that caused the Davidic dynasty to sprout again, giving it life and sustenance forever. - 2 SAMUEL 7:16,  

Jesus preeminently is the one who, as a perfect human, served Jehovah in integrity and under excruciating  trials.  He supplied the complete answer  to Satan's challenge."  (Proverbs 27:11)   Thus, he could say as he did on the night before his sacrificial death. "I have conquered the world."  (John 16:33)   For this reason, Jehovah entrusted Jesus with "all authority . . . in heaven and on the earth."  He alone of all the servants of God is qualified to received  the scroll, with a  view to making known its momentous message. - MATTHEW 2 8:18. 

It is appropriate, indeed, that Jesus should open the scroll. Since 1914 he has been enthroned as King of God's Messianic  Kingdom, and that scroll  reveals so much concerning the Kingdom and what it will accomplish.  Jesus faithfully bore witness to Kingdom truth while he was here on earth. (John 18:36, 37)   He taught his followers  to pray for the coming of  the Kingdom.  (Matthew 6:9, 10)   He initiated  the preaching of the good news of the Kingdom at the beginning of the Christian era and prophesied the culmination of that preaching work during the time of the end.  (Matthew 4:23; Mark 13:10)  It is likewise appropriate that one of the 24 elders should reveal to John that Jesus is the one to open the seals.  Why?  Because  these elders sit on thrones and wear crowns, being John's heirs with Christ in his Kingdom.  - ROMANS 8:17; REVELATION 4:4. 

Next time: "Who Is Worth to Open the Scrolls?" - 'The Lamb That Was Slaughtered'

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