How is that possible? What is it that qualifies Him? He is the Son of God. He is not created. He is the Creator. Moreover, in His conflict with Satan, the Lamb overcame, and, in the conflict, through the cross, He wrested—He took away—the keys of death and Hades from Satan. He is described in this way in Revelation 1, and verse 18 [“I am He Who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”]. After that, then, He sat down at the right hand of God , waiting till His enemies are made His footstool [Hebrews 1:3, 13: “…Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…But to which of the angels has He ever said: ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool’?” and Hebrews 10:12-13: “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.”]

Thinking about the crucifixion of Jesus and what it meant, one of things that we should keep in our meditation about the cross, about the crucifixion, is that it meant the death of sin. In His victory, He has secured redemption for the world. Therefore, He, and He alone, is worthy to open the scroll. He is worthy because He has prevailed. He has prevailed over sin; He has prevailed over the grave; He has prevailed over Satan himself.

Verse 6: “And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.”

“And I looked….” This indicates a new phase of the vision that John is having that began in Chapter 4, verse 1. There’s a new significance to what John sees. It seems as though what he had seen before, that was so very impressive to him—the sea of glass, the rainbow, the thunders and lightnings—are not seen, nor heard. John looks to see, perhaps, a lion, the symbol of majesty and power, but instead, what does he see? He sees a Lamb, which, though it had been slain, was now standing and alive. This introduces and demonstrates the sacrificial and redemptive aspect of the One Whom John saw. He’d overcome to open the scroll, not by the power of kingly might, not by the power of military might, but by sacrifice through love. By this, He had defeated His foes and He had overcome the world, John 16:33 [“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”]. By this, His subjects must now conquer.

John says he saw this Lamb Who was slain but was now standing “in the midst.” It points to the position there in the center, in the midst of what John had seen before. The Lamb is at the center of creation, He is at the center of redemption. He has “first place” among the living creatures, among the elders and in creation. God summed all things up in Him. That is, He brought all things under One Head in the Son. That’s what Paul says in Ephesians 1, verse 10 [Ephesians 1:7-10: [“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace ⁸which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, ⁹having made known to us the mystery of His Will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, ¹⁰that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.”]. And then, in Colossians, chapter 1, verses 15 through 18, Paul will, again, allude to that and he sums that up by saying “that in all things He might the preeminence.” [“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. ¹⁸And He is the head of the body, the church, Who is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”] Who has preeminence? Christ! Christ, “the Root of David,” “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” the Lamb Who was slain and is now alive.

There are three words, which occur in the New Testament, that are translated “lamb.” The word that is used here in this context presents Christ on the basis of His sacrifice, especially in His acquired majesty, His acquired dignity, His honor, His authority and His power. That’s according to An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by W. E. Vine. The Lamb is “in the midst” of all that John sees.

We see that the Lamb has “seven eyes,” and He has “seven horns.” What is the meaning? The word “horns” was used metaphorically by the Hebrews for “power.” This is used prophetically to describe the strength of Joseph’s sons among the tribes of Israel, Deuteronomy 33, verse 17[“His glory is like a firstborn bull, and his hornslike the horns of the wild ox; Together with them He shall push the peoples To the ends of the earth; They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, And they are the thousands of Manasseh.”], and that of Jehovah’s king, speaking of Saul, 1 Samuel 2, and verse 10 [“The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken in pieces; From heaven He will thunder against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. ‘He will give strength to His king, And exalt the horn of His anointed.’”]. Zedekiah, the false prophet, symbolized “power” by iron horns, which he used as if to push the enemy, 2 Chronicles 18, and verse 10 [“Now Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah had made horns of iron for himself; and he said, ‘Thus says the LORD: “With these you shall gore the Syrians until they are destroyed.”’”]. The Psalmist and the prophets used the term repeatedly to express the idea of “power.” So, the Lamb that John sees has seven horns.