I remember sitting in church one Sunday, trying to wrestle with my understanding of who God is after having seen the painted Sunday School classroom walls with the Creator walking through the Garden of Eden. I could not grasp the imagery. It seemed too concrete, too human for me at my young age. As was my custom, when our senior minister began the sermon, I pulled out the Bible from the pew rack in front of me and flipped to the page I had marked the previous Sunday with a giving envelope. In the Bible passage I read that particular morning, something forever changed me.
In his vision, the Apostle John sees a scroll in the hand of the Almighty. It is a scroll that has been sealed in such a way that no one is able to open it. All were looking for the one who was worthy to break the seals on this scroll. Upon realizing that no one was worthy, the Apostle sees a Lamb who had been slain. He sees that lamb, slain yet still alive, approach and take up the scroll. In that image, I began to understand God, not through the rough paintings covering Sunday School classroom walls or even through the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I began to understand Christ as the One who was willing to die for me and who is the only One worthy to take up the scroll that would finally bring about the full redemption of all creation.
The aspect of this image from Revelation that has stuck me most clearly comes in those final two verses. Christ’s sacrifice was not purely for me. Instead, that great act of love is the one that has purchased people from everywhere and throughout time so that we all might one day gather in the presence of God, our one true King.