A BOOK THAT ONLY ONE CAN OPEN

by Tammy Phillips
September 30, 2021

“And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.” (Revelation 5:3 NKJV)

Of course my inquisitive self wants to know what is in the book that “no one” could or can open.  More importantly,  I want to know the One who can open it.  

I have not always loved to write, but I have always loved to read.  I like books.  I love my Bible because it helps me to get to know the Worthy One.  I like photo albums, picture books, scrapbooks, cookbooks, journals, inspirational reads, devotional, self-help, and history books.  I even like empty books where wisdom, thoughts and personal histories can be recorded.  You can literally find books tucked away in many corners of our home because we have run out of shelf space. 

Books impart knowledge and provide escape. Books are meant to be opened and read. In ancient times a book was a scroll. The rolls of the scroll would be on the left and the right sides.  To open the scroll, it would be unrolled. In Revelation 5 Johns sees that there is one seven-sealed-book written in heaven that “no one in heaven nor on earth or under the earth was able to open,” and it made John sad.  He wrote:

“So, I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it.” (Revelation 5:4 NKJV)

No one was found worthy to open, read or to look at it.  This disheartens me.  What is in the book?  I do not know; nobody does accept God. The thought of what might be in the book just sent shivers over my body and made me very sad.  You and I are counted in that “no one” statement.  No one except Jesus was (and is) worthy to open it.

BUT GOD…He had a plan. 

There was One who was worthy. 
There was One who was resolute.
There was One who prevailed.
There was One who had overcome.
There was One who had conquered.
There was One who had won.
There was One who was victorious.

One of the twenty-four elders told John not to weep, there was One worthy (Rev.5:5).  His name was:

The Lion of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:9-10)
The Root of David (Isaiah 11:10)
Jesus Christ, our Lord

John was looking for a lion in the middle of the throne, but saw, standing, “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.”(Rev.5:6)    The One and Only, worthy, prevailing, resolute Jesus came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.” (Revelation 5: 7 NKJV)

Jesus has been sitting on the throne up to this point.  When Jesus stands, we best pay attention. He stands as “a Lamb as though it had been slain.”

“This is very remarkable; so important is the sacrificial offering of Christ in the sight of God that he is still represented as being in the very act of pouring out his blood for the offences of man.” -Clarke

What Jesus did by stepping out of heaven, shedding his blood, and dying on the cross as a sacrifice for us is still very fresh in the thoughts of God.  His blood is still overcoming today.  He alone is worthy.

I enCOURAGE you to open the one book that was written specifically for us.  It is alive.  In so many different ways the Word of God continues to reveal who Jesus was, is and will always be, chapter after chapter.  Open your Bible and read about the One, the only One, who is worthy to unseal the one book that has not been opened.  He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.  He is the Root od David.  He is Jesus.  Glory to the Lamb that was slain for you and me.