This is an article in the series on the vision of the book with the seven seals (Rev 4:1-8:1).
Purpose
This article discusses the significance of Christ’s death as explained by Revelation’s vision of the sealed book. Jesus receives a book that is sealed up with seven seals (Rev 5:7, 1). Before His death, nobody was able to open the book (Rev 5:3) but, after He appeared as a slain lamb, Jesus Christ was declared “worthy” to break the seals (Rev 5:5, 9). So, the purpose of this article is to explain why He was not “worthy” to break the seals before His death and how did His death make Him “worthy?“
The church has been debating this question – why Jesus had to die – for the last 2000 years. (See – Theories of the Atonement) In my view, the vision of the sealed book provides the answer but, to my knowledge, my website is the only one that uses this vision to explain the atonement.
Summary
Previous Conclusions
Previous articles have concluded as follows:
1) Christ received the sealed book after He ascended to heaven; about 2000 years ago.
2) The sealed book is the book of life, containing God’s judgments, indicating who will inherit eternal life (Rev 20:15; 21:27).
3) The seals of the book symbolize Satan’s accusations against God’s elect (as identified in the book). Effectively, Satan accuses God of unfair and arbitrary judgment.
4) To break the seals of the book means to provide evidence to refute Satan’s objections.
5) Jesus’ death did not open the book immediately. He BEGAN to break the seals after His ascension.
6) Christ will return as soon as all seven seals are broken, meaning, as soon as God’s judgments have been shown to be perfect.
Christ’s Saving Death
In Revelation 5, Jesus is worthy to break the seals BOTH because He “overcame” and because He died (Rev 5:5, 9-10). To “overcome” means TO REMAIN FAITHFUL to God despite temptations (e.g., Rev 2:7, 11, 17; 3:21). So, what made Him worthy – the fact that He died or the fact that He overcame?
To ask the same question in more general terms: What does it mean when the Bible says that we are saved by Christ’s death or by His blood? What about His death is able to save people?
Firstly, we are not saved by His literal blood, but by His death. His blood is simply a symbol of His violent death.
Secondly, we are not saved merely because Jesus died but because He died without sin. That is what Revelation means when it says that He “has overcome” (Rev 5:5; 3:21). If He sinned anywhere during His life, His death would NOT have had any saving power.
Thirdly, His death does not refer merely to the moment of death or to the fact that He died, but to His FINAL HOURS. Those hours were Satan’s final and best opportunity to tempt Jesus to sin.
Jesus could have spoken a word and His tormenters would have died but He allowed Himself to be led like a lamb to the slaughter because He knew that that was God’s will.
What Satan attempted to achieve is that the Son of God would disobey God and glorify Himself before the people by using His powers to save Himself from his agony (cf. Luke 22:42; Matt 27:40; 4:3, 6).
But Jesus overcame. He remained “faithful until death” (Rev 2:10). His death, understood as his final hours, was His highest and final test but also His greatest victory.
Fourthly, His final hours reflect how He overcame THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE. If He disobeyed God AT ANY TIME during His life, His mission would have failed.
Lastly, the significance of the MOMENT of His death was that it was THE END of the test He had to endure. Until He died, the heavenly beings watched the battle between Christ and Satan with bated breath. Since He died without ever disobeying God, the moment of His death was the moment of His final victory.
In conclusion, when the Bible refers to His blood or His death, it really refers to the fact that He remained “faithful until death.” That is what gave His death the power to save.
How did His death make Him Worthy?
Why was the Son of God not “worthy” to break the seals before His death (cf. Rev 5:3, 5)? And how did His death make Him “worthy” to open the book (Rev 5:9)?
Firstly, we should agree that the Son of God was not somehow improved by becoming a human being or by overcoming Satan’s temptations.
Neither did Christ’s death make God more willing or able to forgive, as church tradition claims. The opposite is true: God, the Father, is the driving force behind redemption (e.g., John 3:16; Col 1: 12-14, 1:19-20; 1 Tim 1:1; 2:3-5).
In summary, this article argues as follows:
Satan is the accuser of God’s people (Rev 12:10). He shows that they are sinners. Effectively, Satan accuses God of unfair and arbitrary judgment. It seems as if Satan argues that if he (Satan) is condemned, then God’s people must also be condemned, and vice versa.
Since the Son is the One who breaks the seals of the book (e.g., Rev 6:1), meaning to refute Satan’s accusations, He ALWAYS was Satan’s opponent.
Since Satan’s nature is that of an accuser (cf. Gen 3:3-5; Rev 12:10), we can assume that he also accused the Son. In other words, the Son was un-”worthy” before His victory in the sense that Satan brought accusations against Him.
Since the heavenly beings declared Jesus to be “worthy” BECAUSE HE OVERCAME BY REMAINING FAITHFUL TO DEATH, we may assume that Satan claimed that, given the right circumstances, the Son would also sin, and that, for that reason, He is unworthy for the task of defending God’s grace to sinners.
To be trusted to defend God’s judgments, the Son had to refute Satan’s charges against Himself. For that reason, by becoming a human being, He subjected Himself to a test.
Although tempted in every conceivable way (Heb 4:15), Jesus remained “faithful until death” (Rev 2:10). His death made Him worthy in the sense that His death (understood as His final hours) reflected how He overcame His entire life, refuted Satan’s allegations against Him, and DEMONSTRATED Him as worthy.
So, what changed at the moment of death is that that was the end of the test. He passed the test, demonstrating something about Him that was ALWAYS true.
Now, the universe is fully convinced that Jesus is “the faithful and true Witness” (Rev 3:14), meaning that they trust Him to reveal the truth about God’s judgments.
God wants us to understand. The Son’s life on earth was a test, but it was not for God’s benefit. God knew that His unique Son would remain faithful under all temptations. The test was a demonstration for the benefit of the created beings. (E.g., Rom 3:25-26; Col 2:15). (See – The Cross disarmed the rulers and authorities.)
However, even after the Cross, the book remains sealed. This is explained as follows: Satan brought accusations against both the Son of God and the people of God. Christ’s victory over sin refuted Satan’s accusations against the Son of God. However, while Jesus never sinned, God’s people are all sinners. Christ’s victory, therefore, did not refute Satan’s objections against God’s people – symbolized as the seals with which the book is sealed. The purpose of the article – Why did Christ not yet return? – is to explain this.
– End of Summary –
Previous Conclusions
One previous article has concluded that Christ received the sealed book after He ascended to heaven; about 2000 years ago.
A sealed book symbolizes things that are not understood. Another previous article has concluded as follows:
1) This sealed book is the book of life, containing God’s judgments, indicating who will inherit eternal life (Rev 20:15; 21:27).
2) The seals of the book symbolize Satan’s accusations against God’s elect (as identified in the book).
3) The book is sealed in the sense that nobody is able to fully refute Satan’s accusations.
4) To break the seals of the book means to remove the things that prevent understanding. Since the seals symbolize Satan’s objections to God’s judgments, to break the seals means to provide evidence to refute Satan’s objections.
Jesus received the book after His ascension but His death did not open the book immediately. He begins to break the seals of the book in Revelation 6. That chapter ends with “the great day of their wrath” (Rev 6:17), which is the Day of Judgment. (See – Sixth Seal.) Further conclusions, therefore, are:
5) All seven seals will only be broken when He returns. Even today, all the seals have not yet been broken, meaning that Satan’s objections to God’s judgments and his claims of unfair judgments have not yet been fully refuted.
6) Christ will return as soon as God’s judgments have been shown to be perfect.
Christ’s Saving Death
What made Him worthy?
According to Revelation 5:5, Christ is able to break the seals and open the book because He “has OVERCOME.” But a few verses later, it is stated that He is worthy to break the seals because He was “SLAIN” and purchased people with His “BLOOD” (Rev 5:9-10).
In these verses, we find three related concepts:
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- He overcame,
- His was slain (His death), and
- His blood.
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To “overcome” means to remain faithful to God “until death” despite temptations (e.g., Rev 2:7, 10-11, 17; 3:21). So, what made Him worthy; the fact that He died or the fact that He overcame?
Asking the same question in more general terms: What does it mean when the Bible says that we are saved by Christ’s death or by His blood? What about His death is able to save people?
Not His literal blood
Firstly, we must agree that we are not saved by His literal blood, but by His death. There is no magical power in His literal blood. His blood is simply a symbol of His death.
Because He died without sin.
Secondly, we are not saved merely because Jesus died but because He died without sin. That is what Revelation means when it says that He “has overcome” (Rev 5:5; 3:21). Jesus never submitted to Satan’s temptations to disobey God. If He sinned anywhere during His life, His death would NOT have had any saving power.
God allowed Satan to continually tempt Jesus; to do everything possible to cause Jesus’ mission to this world to fail. Satan followed Him everywhere and every day and used every possible opportunity to tempt Jesus to sin.
Satan obtained permission from God to test Job, but Job remained faithful (Job 1:11-12, 22). Then Satan asked for a second time that Job be tested but with an even more severe test, which God allowed, but God did not give Satan the authority to kill Job (Job 2:4-5). Based on this example, we can assume that God permitted Satan to tempt Jesus with every test which Satan’s brilliant but evil mind could devise. But Jesus never sinned and it is for that reason that we are saved by His death.
His Final Hours
Thirdly, His death does not simply refer to the moment of death or to the fact that He died. Rather, His death refers to His FINAL HOURS. Satan’s final and best opportunity to tempt Jesus to sin was during the 24 hours before Jesus’ death:
Already in Gethsemane, Jesus prayed bitterly and asked His Father not to subject Him to the cruel torment and horrible death He knew was coming (Matt 26:39, 42), but the Father explained to Him why it was necessary (Luke 22:43). The Son had to be tested to the fullest.
Jesus could simply have gone away. Or He could have spoken a word and His tormenters would have died. He had enormous powers. He could calm the winds and the waves (Matt 8:26), command “twelve legions of angels” (Matt 26:53), and raise people from death (e.g., John 11:43-44). However, when sinful men nailed Him to the cross, He did not use His powers to save Himself from this most severe torment. He allowed Himself to be led like a lamb to the slaughter because He knew that that was God’s will.
During His last few hours, Satan slowly strangled life out of Him, tormented Him with the most severe physical and emotional pain torment so that He even became disorientated and cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me” (Matt 27:46)?
What Satan attempted to achieve is that the Son of God would disobey God and glorify Himself before the people by using His powers to save Himself from his agony and to come down from the cross (cf. Luke 22:42). For that reason, Satan tempted Jesus with the thought, “If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Matt 27:40; cf. Matt 4:3, 6).
But Jesus overcame. He remained faithful to God. He “has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). His death, therefore, UNDERSTOOD AS HIS FINAL HOURS, was His highest and final test but also His greatest victory.
His Entire Life
However, fourthly, His final hours reflect how He overcame THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE.
As stated, His entire life was a test. The tempter was always looking for ways to get Jesus to sin. For example, He was “led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matt 4:1). If He disobeyed God AT ANY TIME during His life, His mission would have failed.
The Moment of His Death
Lastly, the significance of the MOMENT of His death was that it was THE END of the test He had to endure. He entered Satan’s kingdom as a human being, emptying Himself of the form and equality with God (Phil 2:6-7), allowing Satan to tempt Him “in all things as we are” (Heb 4:15).
Until He died, the heavenly beings watched the battle between Christ and Satan with bated breath. But when He died, that test came to an end. And, knowing that He died without ever disobeying God, the heavens erupted in jubilation, as recorded in Revelation 5.
Conclusion
In conclusion, when the Bible refers to His blood or His death, it really refers to the fact that He remained “faithful until death.” That is what gave His death the power to save. His “blood” describes HOW He overcame.
How His death made him Worthy
Before His death (Rev 5:5), nobody – not even the Son – was able to break the seals (Rev 5:3) but, because of His death, Jesus Christ is declared “worthy” to open the book (Rev 5:9). Therefore, since the seals symbolize Satan’s objections to God’s judgments, not even the Son, before His death, was “worthy” to refute Satan’s claims of unfair judgment.
So, we ask:
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- Why was the Son of God not “worthy” to break the seals before His death?
- And how did His death make Him “worthy?” What changed as a result of Christ’s life and death?
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Since, as argued above, his “blood” and His death symbolize how He OVERCAME Satan’s ultimate temptations during His final hours, the question may be phrased as follows:
How did OVERCOMING make Him “worthy” to break the seals?
He was not improved.
To become a human being, He emptied Himself of equality with God (Phil 2:5-7). It is impossible to understand but He remained the same ‘person’ as before. And He was NOT somehow improved by becoming a human being or by overcoming.
God did not change.
Many people claim that God changed, namely that, because of Christ’s death, God became willing or able to forgive. Some even say that Jesus died to pacify God’s wrath. That is a horrible distortion of the truth. The opposite is true: God, the Father, is the driving force behind redemption. For example:
He so loved the world that HE GAVE His Only Son (John 3:16).
“It was the Father’s good pleasure …
through Him (Christ) to reconcile all things to Himself,
having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col 1:19-20).
God is our Savior (1 Tim 1:1; 2:3-5). Jesus is also our Savior because God so loved the world that He GAVE His Only Son to be our Savior (John 3:16; cf. Col 1:12-14).
Christ’s death, therefore, did not make God more willing to forgive.
Some readers might be disturbed by the strict distinction I make between God and Christ. However, in doing that, I am simply echoing the Book of Revelation (e.g., Rev 1:1-2, 6; 5:9; 7:10). For further discussion, see – Does the book of Revelation present Jesus as God Almighty?
What problem did Jesus solve?
Different theories of the atonement propose different ‘problems’ that were solved by Christ’s death. In one theory, for example, the problem is that God was angry. In another, Satan, due to our sin, has a legal right to this world. (See, theories of the atonement.) So, according to the vision of the sealed book, what ‘problem’ did Jesus solve?
Since the Son is the One who breaks the seals of the book (e.g., Rev 6:1), meaning to refute Satan’s accusations and thereby providing evidence of the perfection of God’s judgments, we may assume that that was also His role BEFORE He became a human being. In other words, before His incarnation, the Son of God was Satan’s opponent.
Satan is the accuser of God’s people (Rev 12:10), showing that they are sinners; effectively, accusing God of unfair judgment. It seems as if Satan argues that if he (Satan) is condemned, then God’s people must also be condemned, and vice versa.
Since his nature is that of an accuser (cf. Gen 3:3-5), we may assume that Satan also accused the Son of God personally. In other words, the Son was un”worthy” before His victory in the sense that Satan brought accusations against Him. But what could he accuse the Son of?
Since, after His victory on earth, the heavenly beings declared the Son to be “worthy” to break the seals (Rev 5:5, 9), it seems as if Satan accused the Son of not being “worthy” for that specific task, namely, to provide evidence of the perfection of God’s judgments.
But what reason did Satan offer for his claim that Jesus is not “worthy” for that task? The only way in which the Son could refute those allegations was to submit Himself to a test. Since Jesus is declared to be “worthy” because He overcame by remaining faithful to death, even after Satan tempted Him in every conceivable way, we may assume that Satan claimed that, given the right circumstances, the Son would also sin, and, for that reason, He is unworthy for the task of defending God’s grace to sinners. (Sin is understood here as doing something contrary to God’s will.)
In conclusion:
The Son was not “worthy” before He died in the sense that Satan claimed that the Son would sin if appropriately tempted.
His death made Him worthy in the sense that through His death, understood as His final hours, which also reflected His entire life, He overcame, thereby refuting Satan’s allegations against Him.
Is God fair?
But why? Why would the Son of God be un”worthy” to defend God’s elective grace for sinners if He would also sin when appropriately tempted? I, certainly, do not know.
Since the heavenly beings declared Jesus to be “worthy” after His victory, one possibility is that Satan found fault with God’s Son PERSONALLY.
Another possibility is that Satan found fault with God’s Law, saying that NOBODY is able to comply with God’s norms under all circumstances. Therefore, perhaps Satan claimed that God is unjust when He forgives some sinners but condemns others. To speculate further on this option:
Since Satan was (is?) exalted above all other created things in power and beauty, perhaps he argued that it was his supreme powers that caused him to sin. (Power corrupts?) Perhaps he argued that self-glorification, which was his sin (Ezek 28:14, 17) is the NATURAL RESULT of being exalted above others.
If that was his argument, then Satan argued that it is not his fault that he used his powers to glorify himself; it is simply how creation functions. And if it is anybody’s fault, then it is God’s fault because He made all things as they are and He gave Satan his brilliance.
Furthermore, since the unique Son of God IS EXALTED above all created things, perhaps Satan also argued that it is inevitable that the Son, given the right circumstances, would do the same as he (Satan) did, namely, to use His power to glorify Himself.
Then, to address this accusation, Jesus submitted Himself to a test. He became a vulnerable human being and subjected Himself to Satan’s every temptation and persecution. But He showed that it is possible to remain true to God under the most adverse circumstances. In other words, there is no fault in God’s expectations and norms.
I need to repeat that I regard this section as speculation. The real explanation must be much more complex. We cannot hope to understand debates that have raged in heaven for thousands of years between intelligences much greater than ours. At least, this section shows that logical explanations are possible, in contrast to some other theories of the atonement.
Satan had some success.
Since the Son became a human being, there must have been a need to prove His “worthy”-ness, implying that Satan, with the enormous talents God gave him, had some success in creating a level of doubt in the minds of the heavenly beings concerning the Son; just like Satan was able to create doubt in the minds of the created universe about the perfection of God’s judgments.
Satan’s Purpose
But why would Satan use this argument? Why would Satan claim that the Son would sin if appropriately tempted?
Satan is perhaps the most talented and the most beautiful of all of God’s creatures and, in time past, he was without sin (Ezek 28:12, 14-15). But he sinned (Ezek 28:16-17) and God condemned him:
“You will cease to be forever” (Ezek 28:19).
It seems logical that Satan’s purpose is to defend himself against God’s condemnation.
The Son subjected Himself to a test.
To be trusted to defend God’s judgments and God’s mercy to His people, the Son had to refute Satan’s charges against Himself. For that reason, while this war of accusations was still raging in heaven, the only begotten Son of God subjected Himself to a test by becoming a human being. “He existed in the form of God” but came “in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:5-7).
As discussed above, His entire life was a test. Satan tempted Jesus in every conceivable way but He overcame throughout His life. He remained “faithful until death” (Rev 2:10; cf. Heb 4:15), meaning that He never used His powers contrary to God’s will. Christ’s willingness to be tested and His faithfulness to God under the most excruciating torment refuted Satan’s accusations against Christ and demonstrated something about Him that was ALWAYS true but that was disputed by Satan. This confirmed Him to be “worthy” to reveal the contents of the book. Now, the universe is fully convinced that Jesus is “the faithful and true Witness” (Rev 3:14), meaning that they trust Him to reveal the truth about God’s judgments.
God wants us to understand.
The Son’s life on earth was a test, but it was not for God’s benefit. God knew that His unique Son would remain faithful under all temptations. The test was a demonstration for the benefit of the created beings. For example:
It was not God who declared the Son “worthy” but the beings in heaven (Rev 5:8-9), implying that His worthiness was something that the universe observed.
The New Testament also elsewhere describes Christ’s death as a demonstration. For example, God displayed Jesus publicly “to demonstrate His righteousness” (Rom 3:25-26). And, God “triumphed over” “the rulers and authorities” by making “a public display of” them THROUGH CHRIST (Col 2:15). (See – The Cross disarmed the rulers and authorities.)
After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road the Emmaus and “explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27) but He did not reveal Himself to them until AFTER He has completed His explanation. This illustrates how God works. He does not want His created beings to merely accept His personal say-so. God wants His created beings to evaluate the evidence and be convinced that His judgments of the people they love are perfect.
But the book remains sealed.
However, even after the Cross, the book remains sealed. This is explained as follows: Satan brought accusations against both the Son of God and the people of God. Christ’s victory over sin refuted Satan’s accusations against the Son of God. However, while Jesus never sinned, God’s people are all sinners. Christ’s victory, therefore, did not refute Satan’s objections against God’s people – symbolized as the seals with which the book is sealed. The purpose of the article – Why did Christ not yet return? – is to explain this.
Incarnation
This argument is based on a controversial assumption, namely that, when the Son became a human being, His entire eternal character was contained in that human being. Therefore, when the man Jesus was tested, it was the character of the eternal Son of God that was tested. These concepts are also beyond human understanding but assumed to be true.
Overview
Before Christ
The sealed book in Revelation 5 and the “war in heaven” in Revelation 12 point to the same crisis, namely a dispute between the angels of heaven over whether God’s judgments are perfect. This dispute was caused by Satan, accusing God of unfair and arbitrary judgment.
The sealed book symbolizes God’s judgments – also known as “the book of life.” The seven seals are Satan’s accusations against God’s elect. To break the seals means to refute Satan’s objections to God’s judgments. That the book is sealed up signifies that God’s created intelligent beings were unable to fully refute Satan’s allegations of arbitrary judgment.
The Son of God defended God’s judgments but, before His death, the Son of God was not “worthy” in the sense that Satan was able to create doubt in the minds of the created universe of the truthfulness of the Son’s defense of God’s people and judgments.
John’s weeping symbolizes the distress caused by the dispute over God’s judgments for, as long as Satan’s accusations remain unrefuted, evil must continue and God’s people cannot be resurrected.
Christ’s Victory
Christ’s blood symbolizes His death. His death does not only refer to the moment when He breathed His last but to His final hours when tempter inflicted the most severe torment and temptation possible on Him.
The hours of His death were His highest and final test but also His greatest victory, for He overcame by remaining “faithful until death” (Rev 2:10). In this way, He refuted Satan’s accusations against Him and became “worthy” to break the seals.
The main change, that was brought about by the Christ-event, is how the universe views Christ and Satan. The characters of both have been demonstrated. The Son of God is now accepted as trust-“worthy” but Satan was demonstrated to be a liar.
After Christ
Christ’s victory did not immediately open the book. The book remains sealed because He, by overcoming, did not refute Satan’s objections against God’s elect. In other words, He has not yet shown that God judges perfectly.
Christ will refute Satan’s accusation during the time between His death and His return. Another article shows that, during the end-time crisis, the lives (deeds) of people will prove that God’s judgments are perfect.
Since His concern is the happiness of His creatures, God delays Christ’s return and the implementation of His judgments until all understand that His judgments are perfect.
Revelation 12:7-10 describes the victory that Michael and his angels gained over Satan and his angels in the war in heaven. But then Revelation 12:11 continues: