The person of Jesus frames the book of Revelation. In a previous post I argued that the major theme of Revelation is worship, so it is no surprise that the object of this worship is often Jesus as the Messiah, the Lamb of God.
The book begins with John’s vision describing Christ in terms of a Theophany (1:12-18). Chapter 19 Christ returns to this world as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (19:16). The most common description of Jesus in the book of Revelation is as a “Lamb,” appearing some 28 times in the book (Rev 5:6, 12-13). This is a natural extension of the theology of the Gospel of John, which clearly describes Jesus Christ as the perfect Sacrificial Lamb to save the world from its sins (John 1:29, 36).
Obviously the image of a Lamb was intended to evoke a sacrificed animal. When no one is found worthy to open the scroll in Revelation 5, John weeps bitterly. And angel tells him that the “Lion of Judah” has triumphed and his worthy to open the scroll. But when John looks to see the Lion of Judah, he sees the “Lamb that was slain.” This lamb is on the throne of God ready to receive the scroll.
The description of the Lamb is somewhat unexpected – seven horns and seven eyes. There is no “lamb” imagery associated with the Messiah in Judaism, but it is an important them for the gospel of John. The seven eyes may allude to the number of times Christ says that he “sees” in the letters to the seven churches (Rev 2:2, 9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8, 15). That the Lamb was slain may allude to imagery of the messiah as a lamb “lead to the slaughter” in Isa 53:7.
While this Lamb brings salvation to the world, he is also the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. He returns as a judge over the nations that oppose God (Rev 5:5, 19:15). This is intentionally ironic since a lamb is not a good symbol for judgment. But the Christ is both a sacrifice and a judge. Taking the Johannine literature as a while, Jesus as the Lamb of God is the subject of the gospel of John, while the image of Jesus as a conquering king is the subject of Revelation. Both roles are important in John’s theology of Jesus as Messiah, Son of God.
In the book of Revelation, Jesus is equal to God and equally worthy of the praise of all creation. John intentionally equates the “one who sits on the throne” and the Lamb by using the same words applied to God in 4:11 to the Lamb in 5:12-13. In 7:10-12, the worshipers declare that salvation belongs to “Our God, who sits on the throne” and to the Lamb. Both God and the Lamb are “worthy of praise.
Bibliography. David Aune has an excursus on Christ as Lamb of God (Revelation 1:367ff ). See also C. K. Barrett, “The Lamb of God” NTS 1 (1954-55) 210-18; N. Hillyer, “‘The Lamb’ in the Apocalypse.” EvQ 39 (1967) 228-36.
Nice statement Phil! Christ the Lion and the Lamb, it seems theology today has lost Christ the ‘Lion of Judah’. Perhaps in fact it has been lost as far back as Augustine, and even our Reformers?
It is interesting that to see how John brings Christ into the book of Revelation. His constant use of metaphor brings out some interesting aspect of Jesus as Christ. If I am not mistaken ( which I probably am) Jesus is never referred to by name. John is obviously trying to communicate the importance of Christ as sacrifice and Christ as judge through the use of these metaphors. Christ the lamb brings redemption as shown in John’s gospel (1:29). But Christ the lion is a conqueror (Revelation 5:5). As pointed out, John turns to see the Lion in Revelation 5 and then sees a Lamb instead, the Lamb who was slain. This shows that both sacrifice and conqueror are both found in Christ.
Amen cwitt, nice!
I love the imagery here. I picture the sacrificial lamb an the “lion of Judah” being one and the same. John uses the lamb as describing Jesus. He is comparing Jesus to a sacrificial lamb. Jesus is the sacrifice. However, Jesus is also the “lion of Judah”. He will come and destroy all evil and judge the nations that oppose God. The lamb who was slain will return as a judge and a lion. I love how John brings out both the lamb and the lion imagery for Christ. John seeks to show that Jesus is the salvation for the world. He also seeks to show that Jesus is worthy of all of our praises. He is the mighty lion and the mighty king. It’s great to think of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb. I love thinking off Him in this way. I love picturing Him as my savior; the one who paid all of my debts, who sacrificed himself that I may live. It is also important, however, to not forget that Jesus is the Lion, the Judge and the King of kings.
These passages direct readers to the centrality of Christ. Jesus Christ should be the focus of every believer. They should lean and trust on Him. Christ is the victor. He will and has defeated Satan, sin, and death. He was crucified on the cross for our sins; hence, the imagery of Jesus as a slain lamb. We have hope and assurance of our eternity in heaven because of Christ. He is worthy of all our praise and thankfulness.
My kids are reading a book about Revelation right now and the first thing it stated was that if Jesus isn’t the central theme of your study of the book, you are wasting a lot of time! It’s easy to get lost in that book but you are correct, if Jesus remains at the center of it, there is so much to get out of it!
Good strategy, and I agree Jesus is the central theme. Harder to do with Obadiah or Nahum, though!
Any reference to the Lamb of God should be attributed to John the Baptist
If you say, “could be” then I can agree. John the Baptist is not the only one who can use Lamb of God language. Have you read the introduction to J. Massyngberde Ford’s commentary on Revelation? She argues the core of Revelation is the preaching of John the Baptist.
I have read Ford’s commentary. I also read your post to see if you mentioned John the Baptist. You didn’t.
I have always been apprehensive when approaching the book of Revelation. I am unsure if I just did not want to study it because I knew it would be confusing or if maybe I was just fearful of what would actually take place in the future. Revelation seemed to just be a judgmental book. A book where people would reap what they sowed. When I finally had the opportunity to take a class on Revelation I found that Jesus was truly the center of the book. Jesus is the Shepherd Messiah. Revelation contains a lot of persecution and one could wonder how a loving God could let His people go through something like that. Revelation, centered on Jesus, shows Jesus as shepherding and protecting. Through all of the suffering that people go through, Jesus is there because he cares for His people. This is shown throughout the book of Revelation.
-McKenzie McCord-
This is a very interesting post of how Jesus is portrayed through the book of Revelation. Revelation 5 provides a fantastic detail of Jesus in the book, I find it really cool that the lamb is portrayed as a lion, because the two types of animals are totally different from each other. The lion is a big strong animal, and the lamb is a small little weak animal, but when Jesus died as the lamb he became the lion through his death. It is amazing that we are able to worship Jesus just as how we worship God, because in Revelation they are seen as equal, and both are equal of praise.
The imagery in here blows my mind. I always found it creepy that a sheep had seven eyes in this text. It makes sense that it is representing Jesus seeing. I also, love the reference to God being portrayed as a lion and lamb. God is a gentle father, but a protector as well. He is going to be defend us and love us fiercely. I love how the imagery can really expand on that.
Through out scripture, Jesus is described in many ways such as, the son of man, the son of God, the king of kings, the Lord of Lord, messiah, and many other ways but in revelation as stated in the above blog post Jesus is described as the sacrificial lamb and the Lion of Judah. This is so significant and important to know in order to understand the return of Christ. Why then we ask is Jesus described as the Lamb of God, well of course as explained above because he is the perfect sacrifice to cover all the sins of the world. since he is the perfect sacrifice this means that he is the one who can open the scroll. He is also described as the lion of the tribe of Judah because he is also able to overcome the grave and he is the judge of the world. Jesus being described in this way points to many of if not all of his attributes. It points to his righteousness, justice and grace overall.
The theme seen in the description of Jesus throughout Revelation is similar to its description of God. He is the one that receives all honor, glory, and praise. When John fins out that no one is worthy to break the seals and begins to weep (3:2-4), it is only when he finds out that the Lamb is worthy that he and the other characters in the vision begin to give praise to the Lamb. This is similar to how God is worshipped because He is the only thing in the universe that is worthy of worship. By making Jesus equivalent to God in these passages through the worship the receive and the power displayed, our understanding of the trinity and Jesus’ divinity is supported. This confirms our belief that Jesus is not only the Son of God, but one with God as well, making them equally powerful and worthy of praise. The imagery of the Lamb also supports the idea of Jesus as the sacrificial offering for our sins, a concept that would have been clear and carried some importance for the people of Israel. Not only is He the sacrificial Lamb, but He is also the Lion of Judah. He poured out his own blood for our sins, but through this he defeated death and conquered evil, making his strength and power align with the image of the Lion.
I thought it was good to see the book of Revelation as a frame of Jesus. It speaks about him being both the sacrificial and judge. The book of Revelation paints us a good picture of Jesus being the King and the Lord of all. I think Revelation is just a mild fraction of describing Jesus and his position as a conquered king. As a believer, we should see and accept Christ as both a lamb and lion of Judah. For this reason, is the fact that we should not take God’s grace granted and to have the reverence of God in our hearts. We should not come with a lukewarm approach to him, because if we were given an opportunity to meet with a royalty on earth, for example, Queen Elizabeth of England, do we enter her court with common manners (as in lacking recognition and respect) or do we come with the approach of honor and sincere? The point here is, to recognized Jesus positions not just the Lamb or the lion, but as in high honor and respect that we take the consideration of straighten our perceptions of who Jesus is and how the Bible speaks volume of him.
In Revelation, the image of Jesus is evoked as both a lamb and a lion. The symbol of the lamb symbolizes, as aforementioned, that Christ was the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the entire world. Christ is simultaneously described as the “lion of Judah” in reference that while he is a loving and caring God, he is also a warrior God, as well as a righteous and just judge, who will reckon judgment on those who did evil and chose to not believe in Him. Until that time, Jesus, who is in the midst of the throne of God, will guide those who do in fact choose to love and believe in Him, essentially acting as a shepherd does to a flock of sheep, watching over, protecting, and interceding for them. The somewhat unusual references to the Lamb of God as having “seven horns and seven eyes” (Revelation 5:6). This has different meanings. Seven is a number which is seen as symbolizing completeness. Horns in the ancient world, as well as the act that the lamb has seven of them, symbolize that God possesses great power (ESV, p. 2470, footnote 5:6-7), and the seven eyes references His all-knowing wisdom/knowledge (ESV, p. 2470, footnote 5:6-7). God will destroy and devour evil doers who reject and blasphemy Him with their words and lives. God will also however, show grace, love, gentleness and mercy to those who humble themselves and accept His free of salvation.
I honestly believe that it is very interesting to see how Jesus Christ is described. He is described as a Lamb. Not any Lamb, He is described as the perfect sacrificial Lamb to save the world from its sins. (John 1:29, 36). This verse alone shows how important Jesus Christ is. It is important for everybody to know that Christ’s sacrifice was and still is life-changing. I honestly believe that the book of Revelation focuses on Jesus Christ and this is very important because He is the one who brought salvation to the world. There is no one else like Him. As Christians, we often speak about the importance of Jesus Christ, however, it is important not to just talk about it, but to understand what it means to us. It is important to know that there is no one else who would have sacrificed for us if it wasn’t for Him. Jesus Christ is unique and He loves us. Sometimes I asked myself; What if He would have not died for us? What would the world look like today? When I ask myself these questions, I quickly realize that He died for our sins because He really loves us. It is crazy to know that even though we are sinners, He still died for our sins. With this in mind, we should honor Him and recognize His love towards us.
I have always viewed the book of Revelation as using a lot of imagery. I believe that John is writing this book or letter to help the suffering Christians during this time. Just like them, John was also suffering for being a faithful servant to God. The imagery used in Revelation is most in correlation with Jesus. The hardships in which the people are facing are consuming them. They needed to identify the imagery provided in Revelation so that they were able become less defeated by what was going on around them. For example, in Revelation 19:11 it states, I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.” Jesus would return. John encourages his readers to b hopeful and mindful that the second coming will happen, and that Jesus will punish the evil in the world. I think that Jesus was the common theme throughout this book because He is truly what the people needed to be reminded of. They needed to understand that this time of suffering was temporary, and that God’s promise of eternal goodness still existed. Jesus is made equal to God, like you pointed out. I think this is so that the people of the time understand that Jesus will be their savior again one day and rescue them from the evil in which they are enduring.
Jesus is in the beginning and in the end. He was there when the universe was created and he is there when the end times come. The book of Revelation talks about Jesus throughout the book. Jesus is the Lamb of God and the lamb comes into revelation a few times, including Revelation 5:6. The Lamb comes to save the people because in the imagery, the lamb is the Messiah and the Messiah is Jesus and he will be coming back. In the beginning of Revelation, there was a scroll that no one was worthy of opening, but God had a plan to place someone who is worthy to open the scroll. This reminds me about a song called Is he worthy by Chris Tomlin. Yes he is! Jesus is worthy of all our praise because he is the son of God and is God. They are one together. He is worthy of everything because he has freed us from the bondage of sin and is coming back to bring us to his home in heaven. Jesus is also the judge as well. He will judge the people of the nation as well as bring salvation to the people. Jesus is everywhere in the Bible from the beginning to end and he is always there. He is worthy of it all because he is the Lamb of God who was slain and is worthy to open the scroll that no one else could.
Just like you said in your other post, “Revelation as Worship,” it is fitting that if worship is the theme of Revelation then we need someone to be worshipped within the text. This is where Jesus, the son of God, comes in. He is depicted as the lamb throughout this chapter and is used in imagery to show He was the sacrificial lamb that took our burdens and our sins on the cross. The theme of Jesus seen in the book of Revelation also plays into our beliefs of the trinity. God and Jesus are one in the same person so both are worthy to be praised. Jesus is the lamb of God and the lion of Judah. He is humble and strong, He is quiet and loud. We can see both characteristics of this through who Jesus is. He took on our sins and died on the cross for us and was laid in the tomb as the sacrificial lamb, but three days later rose and declared He is lord like the roaring lion. Jesus is both the sacrificial lamb and the judge who will judge us at the end of time. Not only is Jesus equal to God in the book of Revelation, but He is equal to God for all time. The trinity tells us that all—Holy Spirit, Son of God, and God the Father are equal parts that all deserve our worship and praise.
It is an incredible description of Jesus when it is said that he looked and saw a lamb standing as if it were slain. It is so cool how John makes it a point to mention that the lamb was not laying on the ground, but he was standing! This in of itself is an awesome picture as Christ as a lamb that has been clearly slaughtered, a lamb that bears the marks of a sacrificed lamb yet is standing and walking! It is so cool how when John turned to look, expecting to see a mighty lion, saw the slaughtered lamb. It is through Jesus’s work as the Lamb that he is called worthy to open the scroll. The piece that makes himself worthy is because he was the perfect Lamb who was killed for the sins of many, it is not the Lion aspect of Jesus that makes him worthy. He is allowed to act as the Lion of Judah because he was first the sacrificial lamb!
The book of Revelation talks about so much and cover so many different topics that it is hard to decide which one is the main topic. But the truth is, it is just as much about end times and the coming days as it is about God and Jesus deserving worship for their power, majesty, righteousness, and sovereignty. You wouldn’t automatically think about this book of the Bible being about worship but all throughout the book there are scenes of singing, praying, and sacrificing. These scenes occur because Jesus is the lamb who gave himself on the cross to save us from our sins. They also praise Him because he is the lamb of Judah who will come and save them from their earthly state by opening up the scroll. There are so many reasons why Jesus would be worship and in this book, it gives some specific reasons why. We often think of God being more powerful and worthy of our worship because he created the world and those who live on it, but if we truly believe in the trinity then all three pieces should be considered equal and worthy of our upmost praise and honor.
What does Revelation say about Jesus Christ? This might not be a surprise, but Jesus is found throughout the entire Bible, so why would Revelation be any different? When I was in High school, my dad was my Sunday school teacher and he went through a study of finding Jesus in the Old Testament. It was really interesting to see the parallels that can be drawn from the Old Testament books and how the showed up again in the New Testament.
Revelation is clear in its passages that talk about Jesus as the lion and lamb. The lord of lords and king of kings. I found it really interesting that the seven eyes might allude to the seven times Jesus says he sees. Not only that, but Jesus fulfills multiple roles. He is the ultimate sacrifice and ultimately, the only one who can judge everyone fairly.
I agree that worship, especially in regards to Jesus Christ, is the essential theme in the book of Revelation. I also think though, that there are two other important themes of the book. The first theme that I also find prevalent is the theme of divinity. I think that there is good evidence that John wrote about the divine nature of Jesus Christ. Revelation 22:13 says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” This passage gives a great example of the divine nature of Christ. I believe that this passage is also special because it is one the rare examples of Jesus being called God. This examples, with many others from various sections of the book, is why I think that Christ’s divinity is one of the major themes. I also believe that another theme of the book of Revelation is the theme of Jesus’ second coming. Chapter 22 gives us some great examples of this. “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” (Rev 22:12) This is basically a warning that Jesus will return. So along with worship, I believe that Christs’ divinity and the final warning of his return, are major themes of the book of Revelation.
Jesus in revelation.
This was a great Blog post, i specifically enjoyed seeing all the places where Jesus may have come up in the book. This also puts into perspective that the whole book is about Jesus and was given to John by Jesus. This also raises another question in me. How could all of Judaism miss this about their messiah. No I am not totally sure on this, but I know that Judaism follows the torah, which is the first five books of the bible. Now did they ever read the rest of the old testament? Do they hold that text and God inspired? If they only read the Torah, I really can’t blame them, but people throughout our time had prophesied of the messiah coming, and Jesus was able to fulfill so many of those prophecies. Eh even claimed to be the messiah, then rose from the dead. Yet people still doubt him, it just blows my mind. But what are jews to do now? They are waiting for their messiah. Well, revelation explains all of that, and it was even inspired by Jesus.
I know that I am ignorant to Judaism as a whole, but that’s why I have these questions. I will have to go and do my own research.
Revelation is written from the view of Jesus as human and the Mosiah. One of the main themes that we see in the book of Revelation is worship. Revelation uses the Metaphor of a lamb which we see being a sacrifice and a judge of our faith. This metaphor seems like it leads towards Jesus Christ because as we know, Jesus is a sacrifice as he sacrificed his life to save us from our sins. After his human life we see him as a judge who judges us to see if we have awarded ourselves the eternal life with Christ. The purpose of this metaphor is to tell us that Jesus is the lamb of God just like we are the lambs of Jesus. As Christians there is one things that all of us have to do and that is living our lives in the image of God just like the Lamb is used as Jesus’ life as human and living as the Mesiah of God
When reading this article, I like how Dr. Long identified that although the main theme of Revelation is arguably worship, that worshipped is directed towards Jesus, the Lamb of God. Also, Dr. Long notes the Jesus is most often referred to in this book of the Bible as a lamb, which is about 28 times. This is a very John-esque description of Jesus, such as in John 1:29 when John the Baptist proclaims that Jesus is, “…the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Later in the article, he mentions how Jesus is both the sacrificial lamb and the judge. Lastly, I found it interesting the connection he makes between the Lamb of God as a means of salvation in the book of John, while in Revelation, Jesus is the ultimate judge and king.
In Reading Revelation in Context (2019), the author Ben C. Blackwell makes some contrasts between the view of Jesus in both 1 Enoch and Revelation. I found the comparison on pages 42-43 to be interesting. While Enoch is seen as the Son of Man in some sense and receives a blessing from God, Jesus is God in the flesh and holds all power. He is more worthy than Enoch because He was the slain Lamb of God. When reading the book of Revelation, we must see Christ as He is— the sacrificial Lamb who was raised to life and has all power and authority.
Jesus as the lamb is a beautiful picture, one that we often see all over the Bible. It is often the picture we paint often of Christ because of His work on the cross. How he took on sin to save us (Gal. 1:4). One thing that is not always mentioned and pointed out is his title as the Lion of Judah. This is an important title given to Christ because it is something we can hold our hope in. Revelation says that he will judge the those who are against God (Rev. 5:5). Believers today can often be downcast about the injustice of the world and all that it must bring. We desire justice and want things to be made right, but we are powerless. Much like those in the book of Daniel, faced with being put in a nation outside of themselves, exiles. They had to put their trust in what God had planned for them, they had to trust in his sovereignty. Daniel prayed for the time of the exile to be through, to bring Gods people back to their land (Dan. 9). God had other plans in mind for his people plans far greater than what Daniel could have imagined. Visions were given to Daniel of what was to come. In those visions, eternal victory for Gods people emerges. Promises to the people of everlasting life (Dan. 12:2). Revelation adds to this promise but with new perspective in knowing of Jesus. How good is it to know that we have Jesus who will judge the evil we face.
The knowledge that nothing evil will happen to us as Christians since we have fought the good fight and will see God’s face and live with him forever is comforting and offers us hope in the book of Revelation. John brings up the lamb and the lions of Judah. He describes the lamb that was slain and compares it to Jesus, who was slaughtered for the sins of humanity. Jesus offered himself, sacrificed himself, for us as the lion, and He will come back and judge the world. In the time of Jesus, the priest will use a lamb, kill it, and spill its blood to pay for the sins of the people, but now it is unnecessary because Jesus took over Himself the sins of men and He died, resurrected, to pay for our sins. God sacrificed Himself for us to give us salvation. The lamb represents Jesus. The true worshippers will worship God in spirit and in truth. In the book of Revelation, it provides numerous examples that demonstrate Christ’s divinity. Jesus proclaims, “I am the Alfa and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (22:13). God defeated the devil when He died on the cross and resurrected on the third day. We as Christians, have the hope that when Jesus comes, He will take us with him forever. The book of Revelation shows that if people don’t repent, they will be facing judgement from God; it also demonstrates persecution, but we as Christians should not fear because God will give us strength and will us. Also, when we do good or bad to others, we will expect the same treatment in return. According to Blackwell (2019), “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” is identified by John as the reason for the “tribulation” that he himself was suffering along with his brothers and sisters to whom he writes (1:9).” (Blackwell et al., 2019). When we follow Christ’s steps, we will encounter opposition from others. We suffered for the cause of Jesus. God cares for His people; many are the afflictions of the just, but of all, God will deliver us. This is what the book of Revelation is all about, because all who are in Christ will receive eternal life and the crown of life because Jesus was the lamb of God who took the sins of the world. We are more than conquerors because of the blood that was shed by the lamb Jesus Christ, who gave himself for the sins of the world, so we could enjoy life abundantly.
Jesus, in Revelation, is one of the most intriguing aspects of the whole book. Throughout the gospels we get a good picture of who Jesus is and then Revelation comes along. Revelation expands on a lot of the imagery that John uses in his gospel but also adds new dimensions to Jesus as well. Jesus’ role as a judge is highlighted in Revelation. His role as judge is presented in the gospels and other parts of the Bible, but in Revelation it is brought to its totality. There is a common misconception that separates how God is presented in the Old Testament and the New Testament. People falsely believe that in Old Testament God is the wrathful judge, while God in the New Testament is the loving one. This is simply incorrect and Revelation is a good refutation of that idea. Jesus holds many different titles and roles within Revelation. This quote reminds us of that “In Revelation Jesus is called Christ (“Messiah”), the Lion of Judah, and the Root of David” (Reynolds, 2019, p. 41). One role that Jesus also has in Revelation, that is often overlooked, is that of a warrior. In the first chapter of Revelation we see Jesus with a sword coming out of his mouth which invokes images of a warrior (Rev. 1:16). When Jesus comes back on the white horse, this also invokes these images (Rev. 19:11). All these different roles and titles of Jesus within Revelation are very interesting because there is history and meaning behind all of them. This aspect of Revelation is one I would like to take a deeper dive into in the future.
When people normally think about Jesus they most of the time just think about him dying for our sins then three days later rising again to go up to heaven. When looking into the book of Revelation and what is being pointed out in this blog post is when you dive deeper you being that Jesus has much more to him then just the traditional stories. You always here Jesus referred to as the “lamb of God” but for a lot of people I would think that they have never heard him called the Lion of Judah. In your last paragraph of the post you say how Jesus is equal to God and that he is equally worthy of the praise. Yes people do praise Jesus but at the same time they see him still as the son of God and not an equal and I think that when you being to look into revelations you will being to see Jesus more as the Lion of Judah then the Lamb of God.
First and foremost, the book Revelation talks about Jesus multiple times and the person of Jesus frames the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 19 talks about Jesus Christ returning for the second time to the world as the king of kings and lord of lord, which is simply defined as He is the high priest. (19-16). It’s interesting that P.long mentions “Jesus in the book of Revelation is as a “Lamb,” appearing some 28 times in the book (Rev 5:6, 12-13), This is a natural extension of the theology of the Gospel of John, which clearly describes Jesus Christ as the perfect Sacrificial Lamb to save the world from its sins (John 1:29, 36).” It is described that Jesus is a perfect Sacrificial because his blood is better than any other blood throughout history. Jobes mentioned that “ Christians have no longer offer animals in a temple for our sins even though God commanded it, that command was in effect until the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world once and for all, was offered on the cross.” (Jobes, 2011, pg. 73). It is known that the book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament it says that Jesus is the exalted son of God, who is a lamb who was slain for humanity’s sins, and the ruler of all nations and kings. Revelation also displays Jesus as the ultimate judge who will come back to the earth and establish the new God’s kingdom. It’s also interesting that in Revelation (1:8) Jesus declares himself as “I am the Alpha and the Omega”, which means Jesus is the beginning and the end.
The book of revelations to me is the hardest book in the bible to understand. What I do find interesting is how the book is about John’s vision and the ways in which he talks about Jesus within the book. He describes Jesus as the lamb of God and the lion of Judah, this is interesting because being referred to as the lamb means that he was a sacrifice and how Jews would use lambs as sacrifices for their sins. He was also referred to as the lion of Judah which had the complete opposite meaning because lions were seen as a symbol of strength and righteousness. In the bible it talks about how one day lambs and lions will lay down together meaning that there will be no enemies and Jesus being referred to as both the lion and lamb shows that Jesus was both the strength and the sacrifice. I think this is a really amazing thing and really shows why Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sins because he was free of that sin and through his death on the cross we were able to be free from our sin. one verse I like that talks about this is from Isiah 11:6 which says “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.” I like this verse because it gives a visual of peace because these animals that in our sinful world are enemies but here they are together peacefully.
John had a vision about the future and the return of Jesus Christ. When Jesus comes back, he will come riding on a white horse, which means honor, and power. In order to start war, Jesus appears as a judge and this time, Jesus judges those who reject Him, while the world that rejected Him before rejects Him once more. The Son of God will lead God’s people from heaven against earth, while it is not hard to imagine that angels will also join Jesus and His people.
John shows that Jesus carries a sword from His mouth, and with an iron rod, Jesus comes to rule and reign over the nations. He is the King of Kings, coming to overthrow all the kings that are in power now. Jesus is the king over the kings, and before the end of the Book of Revelation, Jesus will rule over all kings on earth. Jesus deserves to be worshipped and praised. To make it possible for us to truly be pure in His eyes, Jesus washed and cleaned us from the deepest mark of sin when He died on the cross for us. John also said that if we confess our sins, Jesus will forgive us and cleanse us of all impurities. John went from praising Jesus to explaining his second coming, and he wants us to be witnesses to Jesus’ return. Jesus showed that we need to keep an eye out and await his return. It is something to observe and keep in mind. It won’t be a secret when Jesus returns; everyone will know of it. When Jesus first came on earth, he was not very well-known, but everybody will see Jesus when he returns, and everyone will know it.