THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO HIS SERVANT JOHN
The Unveiling of the Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven
Lesson 8
The Ethical Stipulations of the Seven Seals (Chapters 4-6) Continued
Chapter 5
The Liturgy of the Redeemer—The Scroll, the Lamb, and the New Song
[The Things Which are Still to Come]
Almighty God,
In Your love for humankind, You sent Your only-begotten Son, the Divine Lamb of God, to redeem us and to lead us from this earthly life of sin to eternal life in Heaven. He died once and for all time on the altar of the Cross in AD 30, and He continues to stand before Your Throne, offering that same sacrifice for the sins of every generation until He comes again in glory as humanity's Divine Judge. Give us the obedience of faith to persevere against the secular world that works to pull us away from Your eternal embrace so that we might receive the inheritance Jesus planned for us in Your heavenly Kingdom. We pray in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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God said to Ezekiel: "Son of man, I am sending you to the
Israelites, to the rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their
ancestors have been in revolt against me up to the present day. Because they
are stubborn and obstinate children, I am sending you to them, to say, Lord
Yahweh says this.' Whether they listen or not, this tribe of rebels will know
there is a prophet among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them
or of what they say, though you find yourself surrounded with brambles and
sitting on scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or alarmed by their
looks, for they are a tribe of rebels. You are to deliver my words to them
whether they listen or not, for they are a tribe of rebels. But you, son of
man, are to listen to what I say to you; do not be a rebel like that rebellious
tribe. Open your mouth and eat what I am about to give you.' When I looked,
there was a hand stretching out to me, holding a scroll. He unrolled it in
front of me; it was written on, front and back; on it was written Lamentations,
dirges, and cries of grief."
Ezekiel 2:3-10
(God's command to the prophet Ezekiel in 593 BC; 7 years as the ancients counted before the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple by the Babylonians)
In Lesson 7, Chapter 4 began the Ethical Stipulations section of the Book of Revelation's Covenant Treaty Lawsuit during St. John's vision of heavenly liturgy. That the lawsuit against an apostate Israel for rejecting the Messiah should begin during liturgical worship is fitting since, central to our relationship with God the Divine King, is the Sanctuary where God's subjects come to give Him worship before His Throne of salvation and judgment (Mt 25:31-46; 1 Cor 11:23-32). It is why the primary focus of the stipulations section in the renewed Covenant Treaty of Sinai for the new generation of Israel was the consecration of the people of God in Deuteronomy and the imperative command that established one central Sanctuary for worship (Dt 12:5; c.f., Dt 5:1-16:16).
In Revelation Chapters 5-7, within the context of covenant liturgy, apostate Israel will be judged guilty of violations of the Sinai Covenant's Ethical Stipulations, and the Covenant Lawsuit document, like the original stone tablets of the Sinai Covenant written on both the back and the front (Ex 32:15-16; Rev 5:1), are opened to condemn those who rejected God the Son. The original covenant treaty at Sinai, later renewed for the next generation before the conquest of Canaan, decreed a program of conquest against the nations of Canaan for their pagan worship that was a rejection of Yahweh and crimes against humanity (promised to Abraham in Gen 15:16-21). The holy war against the Canaanites (Dt 7:1-6) was first pronounced in a judicial proceeding in the heavenly Sanctuary, like all God's judgments (c.f., Job 1:6-12). Now, the same divine judicial review will find those of the Sinai Covenant who rejected their Messiah guilty of the same crimes as the Canaanites and worthy of the same punishment (c.f., Lev 18:24-28; Dt 8:18-20).
The Scroll and the Lamb
Moses turned and came down the mountain with the two
tablets of the Testimony in his hands, tablets inscribed on both sides,
inscribed on the front and on the back. The tablets were the work of God and
the writing on them was God's writing, engraved on the tablets.
Exodus 32:15-16
When I looked, there was a hand stretching out to me,
holding a scroll. He unrolled it in front of me; it was written on front and
back, on it was written lamentations, dirges, and cries of grief.
Ezekiel 2:9-10
Revelation 5:1-8 ~ The
Scroll and the Standing Lamb (Arnion Hestekos)
1 I saw that in the right hand of the One sitting on the
throne there was a scroll that was written on back and front and was sealed with
seven seals. 2 Then I saw a powerful angel who called with a loud
voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" 3 But
there was no one, in heaven or on the earth or under the earth, who was able to
open the scroll and read it. 4 I wept bitterly because nobody could be found to open
the scroll and read it, 5 but one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep, Look,
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumph, and so he will
open the scroll and its seven seals." 6 Then I saw, in the middle
of the throne with it four living creatures and the circle of the elders, a
Lamb standing [Arnion hestekos] that
seemed to have been sacrificed; it had seven horns, and it had seven eyes,
which are the seven Spirits that God has sent out over the whole world. 7 The Lamb
came forward to take the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the
throne, 8 and when he took it, the four living creatures
prostrated themselves before him and with them the twenty-four elders; each one
of them was holding a harp and had a golden bowl full of incense which are the
prayers of the saints. [...] = Greek, Interlinear
Bible Greek-English, vol. IV, page 665.
1 I saw that in the right hand of the One sitting on the
throne there was a scroll [biblion] that was written on back and front and was
sealed with seven seals."
John was focused on the twenty-four
elders as they prostrated themselves before the throne of God and responded to
the hymn of the Four Living Creatures with antiphonal (responsive) praise themselves.
Now he directs his attention to the One who sits on the throne, and John sees
that He holds in his right hand (the hand of authority) a scroll. The word in
Greek is biblion, the diminutive of biblos. It may have been either
a rolled scroll (made of papyrus or leather and written only on one side) or a
codex (the precursor to the modern bound book that was folded pages of
parchment with writing on both sides) and denotes a book, document, letter,
record, or statute.
In Tobit 7:14, biblion refers to the record of a marriage and in the Greek translation of Deuteronomy 24:1, 3; Isaiah 50:1; Jeremiah 3:8 and in the New Testament in Matthew 19:7; and Mark 10:4, with a qualitative genitive (description), for a bill of divorce which is the result of a covenant lawsuit. Some scholars think the use of the word biblion ("little book") suggests it was a codex. The word biblion occurs frequently in Revelation in several different ways, see for example: Rev 1:11; 5:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9; 21:17; 22:7, 9, 18; 22:10, 18 twice; 22:19. Also see the biblos that is the Book of Life (Rev 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12; 22:19), the ta biblia (plural) that are the books of judgment (Rev 20:12), the biblaridion that John swallows (Rev 10:8-10), and note that the Book of Revelation itself is called a biblion (Rev 22:7, 9, 10, 18, 19). The word biblion appears in the Greek Old Testament in Deuteronomy 24:1 and 27:18 for a "bill of divorce, and Jesus uses the same word for a bill of divorce in Matthew 19:7 and Mark 10:4.
Question: What two statements does John make about the
condition of the biblion?
Answer: It has seven seals with writing on the back and front of the document.
The codex (book form) was new in the 1st century AD. In fact, it would be the Church that would popularize the codex over the scroll. The sealing of biblion with seven seals may suggest it was a scroll and not a codex, although it would be extremely unusual not to mention impracticable for a rolled scroll to have writing on both sides. Seals were used as a stamping device in place of signatures to make a document valid, with the impression of the owner's personal seal made on some soft material like wax or clay and then attached to the document with a cord (c.f., 1 Kng 21:8; Is 8:16; 29:11; Jer 32:10; Sir 32:5-6).
The members of the Church's seven faith communities in Asia Minor to whom Jesus sent letters in Chapters 2-3 would have been very familiar with a document sealed with seven seals. It was the practice in the ancient world of the first century AD to prepare one's last will and testament in the presence of seven witnesses who would each affix their seal to the document. The usual practice for pagans was to place the testament in the hands of the priests or priestesses of pagan temples (when Julius Caesar made his testament, he gave it to the Vestal Virgins to keep in their temple in Rome). When a testator died, the document was brought out and, when possible, unsealed in the presence of the seven witnesses who originally sealed it, where it was read aloud and executed by the deposition of the contents named in the testament to the testator's heirs. The scroll with the seven seals that God holds is both a covenant lawsuit against an apostate people and the symbol of the promise of the Kingdom Jesus promised to establish (Mt 3:2; Mk 1:14-15). The biblion was documented and sealed, but it had not yet been carried out.
The scroll/book had writing
on the back and the front.
Question: Can you think of any occasions in the Old Testament
when a scroll/book or other object had writing on both the back and the front?
Read Exodus 32:15-16 and Ezekiel 2:3-10.
Answer:
God gave the scroll to Ezekiel in 593 BC, seven years before His judgment fell on Judah and Jerusalem with the destruction of the Temple (as the ancients counted without a zero place-value) by the Babylonians who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 587 BC. It was a scroll written on the front and back (Ez 2:10). If John's vision is in AD 64, it is seven years, as the ancients counted, before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and, according to Flavius Josephus, sent almost a million of the surviving Jews into exiled slavery throughout the Roman world (Josephus Jewish Wars, 6.9.3[420].
The key to understanding the scroll John sees in God's right hand is in these two Old Testament passages: the Ezekiel passage recalling God's Covenant Lawsuit against an unrepentant Israel and the Exodus passage when God first established His covenant with Israel. But what about the importance of the two tablets of the Ten Commandments inscribed on both sides? Could it be that they were duplicate copies? We have already mentioned that the covenant treaty format of ancient Near Eastern nations is evident in the establishment of the Sinai Covenant. When a victorious king formed a treaty/covenant with a vassal (and all those under the vassal's authority), two copies of the covenant were drawn up (as in modern contracts). Each party placed his copy of the treaty in the house of his god, as a legal document testifying to the agreements and stipulations. In the case of Israel, of course, Yahweh was both the great king and God, so God commanded that both copies of the Covenant with Israel were placed in the Tabernacle; that is why it was called the Ark of the Covenant! See Exodus 25:16, 21; 40:20; Deuteronomy 10:2; Hebrews 9:4.
The purpose of Israel's copy of the Covenant was as a documentary witness (Dt 31:26). The written tables served to remind Israel of the stipulations of the covenant, her covenant oath to Yahweh, and her obligations, which if executed faithfully, would result in blessings (Lev 26:1-3-13; Dt 28:1-14) but if violated would bring covenant curses (Lev 26:14-46; Dt 28:15-69). God commanded that the covenant stipulations were to be publicly proclaimed to every generation to teach the fear (spiritually healthy respect) of the Lord to all Israel, especially to the children (Dt 31:13; Ps 78:5ff).
Question: What purpose did God's copy of the covenant serve? Read
Genesis 9:13-16.
Answer: Yahweh's duplicate tablet served the same
purpose as that of the rainbow in His covenant with Noah in Genesis 9:13-16.
The tablet was the visible sign to link the oath God took to remember His people and faithfully keep the blessings He promised them for their obedience and the discipline He promised if they were unfaithful to bring them to repentance. All God's judgments are meant to be redemptive, to restore His people, of their own free will, to renewed fellowship with their God.
In understanding the immense significance of this passage, it is essential to remember that from the beginning of this prophecy, much of the specific information in Revelation has indicated that the idea of the covenant is central to its message. Jesus declared this prophecy as part of what He sent to read in the liturgy of the seven churches, and He has organized this book in terms of the established covenant structure. The arrangement of the entire book is in the five-part covenant treaty format, and each of the seven letters to the churches was also in the same format. And now we come to this vision of a testament/treaty document, written on both sides in the hand of the One who sits on the Throne!
The scroll is the will and testament of the resurrected and ascended Jesus Christ. It is the covenant document of the New and eternal Covenant (Jer 31:31-34; 26:28; Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25; Heb 13:20) and we, as His heirs, receive His inheritance (Rom 8:17; Gal 3:29; Tit 3:7; Heb 1:14; 6:17-20; Jam 2:5). But the fulfillment of the New Covenant requires the passing away of the Old Covenant; after all, there can only be One Church (Heb 8:6-7, 13; 9:15; 10:8-10). The Ten Commandments established the Old Covenant Church that consisted of only one nation, Israel, and Ezekiel's scroll announced a judgment on Old Covenant Israel. Jesus' testament, sealed with seven seals, is both a judgment on Old Covenant Israel and the establishment of the New Covenant Israel, the Holy Catholic (universal) Church. With the opening of each of the seals are opened, we will see the curse-judgments of the Covenant lawsuit against Israel unfold.1
2 Then I saw a powerful angel who called with a loud
voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" 3 But there
was no one, in heaven or on the earth or under the earth, who was able to open
the scroll and read it.
The angel's announcement is
in three parts: no one, in heaven or on
the earth or under the earth, who was able to open the scroll and read it.
The Greek word translated "powerful angel," aggelon ischuron, may mean a mighty or powerful spiritual messenger, but it might also
refer to the angel Gabriel whose name in Hebrew means "God is my strength."2
4 I wept bitterly because nobody could be found to open
the scroll and read it
In grief, John began to cry
because no one in all creation was able, or as the angel explains, worthy, to
open the scroll of the New Covenant offered by the One sitting on the Throne. Without
someone worthy to act on behalf of both God and man, the New Covenant cannot be
ratified. Moses was the covenant mediator on behalf of both Israel and God in
the ratification of the covenant of the Old Covenant Church. The New Covenant also
needs a worthy mediator.
5 but one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Look,
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and so He
will open the scroll and its seven seals."
One of the elders stepped
forward to comfort John and to tell him to stop crying because, "the Lion of
the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and so He will open the
scroll and its seven seals." It is significant that this message of comfort
comes from an elder and not from the angel (heavenly messenger). It is the
Church's mission to preach the Gospel ("good news"), and it appears that the
elder is so excited that he blurts out the climax before he even explains who
has conquered.
Question: In what two ways does the elder describe the One who has conquered?
Answer: He describes "the One" as the "Lion of the tribe
of Judah" and "the Root of David."
The lion is the most
frequently mentioned animal in Sacred Scripture. He is the symbol of power and
kingship.
Question: What Old Testament passages recall the title "Lion
of Judah?" See Gen 49:9-10;
1 Chr 2:2-13;
1 Sam 16:1, 13;
2 Sam 4; 5:3-5. How is the title in the elder's statement fulfilled
Answer: The Elder's statement is the fulfillment of
Jacob/Israel's death-bed prophecy for his fourth son, Judah, that kingship would
become established in the tribe of Judah. It was the shepherd boy who became
king, David, God's beloved (in Hebrew David's name means "beloved"), who became
the king of Israel and the "Lion of Judah."
It was to David that God revealed both the plan of the Temple (1Chr 28:11-19) and the plan of the everlasting covenant by which the Messianic Priest/King from his line would bring the blessing of Abraham to all nations (2 Sam 7:18-29, 23:22-5; 1Chr 17:16-27; Ps 16; 110; Acts 2:25-36). David was the conquering "Lion of Judah" of the Old Covenant, but David's greater Son came and conquered sin and death to establish everlasting dominion and the New Covenant in His blood sacrifice on the altar of the Cross. The ritual of blood sacrifice is necessary to create a covenant (i.e., Gen 15; Ex 24:3-8).
The elder also describes Christ as the Root of David. What a strange statement! If Jesus is a descendant of David through Mary Mt 1:1; (Lk 1:32), why wouldn't David be called the root or beginning/origin of Jesus? Isaiah 11:1 prophesizes the Messiah will be a shoot from the stem of Jesse (David's father), and both Jeremiah and Zechariah refer to the Messiah's descent from Jesse and David by calling Him the "Branch" (Jer 23:5; Zec 3:8).
Question: What is the significance of Jesus as "the Root
of David?" Read Colossians 1:15-17 to help you with your answer; also see
Jesus' teaching on the interpretation of Psalms 110:1 in Matthew 22:41-46.
Answer: The root of David's existence is the Son of
David (Jesus of Nazareth) because Jesus existed before David. God the
Son is united with the Godhead from eternity. It was through Him that all
creation was made: In Him everything in heaven and on earth was created,
things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominations, principalities or
powers; all were created through Him and for Him. He is before all else
that is. In Him everything continues in being (Col 1:16-17 NAB).
God desired to glorify Himself in Jesus Christ and to offer salvation to all humanity; therefore, He created Jesse and David, and all the other ancestors of Jesus' human nature to bring the Second Person of the Trinity, the Divine, and Eternal Son, into the world. In this statement, the Elder is presenting Jesus Christ in the most radical way possible as the center of all history, the divine Root as well as the "Branch" (Is 11:1; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zec 3:8; 6:12), the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. It is as the conquering Lion and the determining Root that He has conquered to have the authority to open the scroll with seven seals!
6 Then I saw, in the middle of the throne with its four
living creatures and the circle of elders, a Lamb standing [Arnion Hestekos]
that seemed to have been sacrificed; it had seven horns, and it had seven eyes,
which are the seven Spirits that God has sent out over the whole world
Notice the repeated pattern
from Chapter 1, where first John "hears," and then he "sees."
Question: John
"heard" the angel call out in a loud voice, and then, what does he "see?"
Answer: He sees the Lamb/Christ.
What John sees isn't a meek and humble lamb; this Lamb is the mighty King of Kings, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This passage is not a reference to Jesus in His human nature, but Christ as He works out our salvation. The Book of Revelation describes Jesus as:
Question: What is curious about the way John describes the
Lamb? Hint: think about how a sacrificed animal would be situated.
Answer: John describes the lamb as standing, but a
sacrificed animal would be lying down, dead, and unable to stand.
So why is this Lamb standing The central work of history is the finished, sacrificial work of Christ who died once and for all time for our sins. CCC#1137 (quoting St. John Chrysostom's Liturgy on Revelation 5:5) "Christ crucified and risen, the one high priest of the true sanctuary, the same one who offers and is offered, who gives and is given." And Hebrews 7:27 ~ He has no need to offer sacrifices every day, as the high priests do, first for their own sins and only then for those of the people; this He did once and for all by offering himself. Although He suffered and died once and for all time, the sacrifice is ongoing. Christ continually offers Himself before the throne of God in sacrifice (as the "Lamb Standing") until such a time when sin no longer exists. His sacrifice is ongoing because sin and salvation are ongoing. Also see CCC #1330, 613-14, 1364-68, 2009, 2100.
John presents the doctrine of the sacrifice of Christ in Revelation in a uniquely Jewish way. He uses two Greek words for the English translation "Lamb Standing" in Revelation 5:6 = Arnion Hestekos. The Greek word hestekos means "standing" as in upright, but in Hebrew, tamid has a double meaning: standing as in an upright position and continual or perpetual. John uses the Greek word arnion for lamb, an unusual choice. The usual form of the word used for lamb in the first century was amnos. Except for John 21:15, St. John uses amnos for lamb in his Gospel, as he did in 1:29 when John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God, saying, "Look, there is the lamb (amnos) of God that takes away the sin of the world." Arnion is the archaic, diminutive form of the word lamb. St. John will use arnion 30 times: once in the Gospel of John 21:15 where arnion refers to the faithful, New Covenant people of God when the Resurrection Jesus commands St. Peter to "Feed my lambs [arnion]," and an astonishing twenty-nine times in the Book of Revelation where arnion identifies Jesus in His glorified state as "the Lamb."
When John the Baptist identified Jesus as "the Lamb (amnos) of God who takes away the sins of the world," the Jewish crowd would have been shocked. The mention of a lamb who takes away sins would immediately make them think of the twice-daily Temple sacrifice of the two lambs prescribed for the liturgy of worship for the Sinai Covenant. This sacrifice was called the Tamid (or tamiyd, pronounced tah-meed) sacrifice, and the male lambs sacrificed were called the lambs of the olat ha-Tamid (the standing burnt offering). It was the single sacrifice of two lambs in a daily liturgy offered with unleavened bread and red wine. It was a ritual that began at dawn and had to be completed by sunset, but the bodies lambs burned perpetually on the altar of Yahweh throughout the day and night for the atonement and sanctification of the covenant people, and the Tamid took precedence over all other sacrifices, even the Sabbath sacrifices, and the Passover sacrifices.
The word tamid in Hebrew means "standing as in continuous or perpetually. Now it is true that the Greek word hestekos only means "standing" in the usual sense and not as perpetual or continual, but it is not always possible to translate into another language a concept peculiar to a particular culture. The same problem existed in the attempt to convey the meaning of the Hebrew word "messiah" into the Greek. In Hebrew Messiah means the anointed one of God' or God's anointed,' an entirely foreign concept to the Greeks. The best the New Testament inspired writers could do was to use the Greek word christos, which means "smeared." That word hardly conveys the Hebrew concept of the Messiah as a title for Jesus, but generations of Christians came to understand that Christos, Christ in English, really meant Jesus, the Anointed of God! I think in using the archaic form of the word lamb and the Greek word for standing that John is once again using poor Greek to make good theology and to connect the ongoing sacrifice of Christ with the sacrifice of the Tamid Lamb which was a foreshadow and promise of Christ's redemptive work in a single sacrifice of He who was fully man and fully God. This Old Covenant sacrifice was known as the "perpetual (tamid) sacrifice" of the lambs of God. It was the most important sacrifice of the Sinai Covenant, and the only communal sacrifice commanded for the Covenant people before the sin of the Golden Calf (Ex 29:38-42; Num 28:4-8), and no other sacrifice, including the Sabbath and the Passover sacrifices, was to take precedence over the offering of the Tamid (Num 28:10, 15, 23, 24, 31; 29:6, 11, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, and 38).
The connection between the unusual and archaic form of the Greek word arnion for "lamb" in John 21:15, used for believers in Jesus Christ, and its use twenty-nine times in the Book of Revelation for Jesus Himself may be that in St. John's interpretation of Jesus' resurrected and glorified state that He is no longer the amnos (the typical word for lamb in the Gospel of John except for 21:15) but is now the glorified Arnion (Lamb) of God who is One with the arnion of His Church (Jn 21:15; 1 Cor 12:20-27). But there may also be a more profound connection to the Greek words in Revelation 5:6, which identify Jesus as the Arnion Hestekos, the "Lamb Standing" as though it had been sacrificed since this "Lamb Standing" takes center stage in the divine Heavenly Liturgy. The key to this profound mystery is the lamb who took center stage in the Old Covenant Temple liturgy, the "standing lamb" of the Tamid.
Bible scholar Philip Carrington suggests that St. John is writing in Greek but is thinking in Hebrew, using hestekos as, he writes, "a rough Greek translation of the Hebrew word tamid that means "standing" as in continual/perpetual, and refers to the daily whole burnt offering in the Temple."Carrington suggests since there was no Greek word to adequately convey the meaning of this unique sacrifice that Arnion Hestekos (the "Lamb Standing" in Rev 5:6) became the technical term of the Jewish Temple hierarchy for the Tamid lamb of the daily sacrifice. Likely, this was also the Greek term used in the catechesis of Greek-speaking Gentiles who sought instruction in understanding the obligations of the Sinai Covenant.
According to rabbinic teaching, the Tamid was destined to end with the coming of the Messiah at which time the only sacrifice to continue in the Messianic era would be the Todah, the peace offering of "thanksgiving," the "Eucharistia" (Levine, JPS Torah Commentary: Leviticus, page 43; Joseph Ratzinger, Feast of Faith, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1986, page 58). This prediction is literally fulfilled in the "Thanksgiving" sacrifice of the Eucharist. In the heavenly liturgy, Jesus stands before the throne of God in the Heavenly Sanctuary and continues to offer Himself as the true Tamid, the "Lamb Standing" in His one perfect sacrifice that conquers but time and space and is continually made present on New Covenant altars in the sacrifice of the Mass.
Like all previous Old Covenant high priests, in His role as the divine High Priest Jesus has a sacrifice that He must offer: He has taken his seat at the right of the throne of divine Majesty in the heavens, and he is the minister of the sanctuary and of the true tent which the Lord, and not any man, set up. Every high priest is constituted to offer gifts and sacrifices, and so this one too must have something to offer (Heb 8:1-3; emphasis added). The sacrifice that Jesus offers is the sacrifice of Himself. Jesus Christ is the true Tamid of the heavenly Sanctuary, which the earthly Tamid and the earthly Temple only prefigured (Col 2:16-17).
Read about God's requirements for this continual "standing" sacrifice in Exodus 29:38-42 (also in Numbers 28:3-8, and Leviticus 6:2-6).
Yahweh told Moses: "This is what you must offer on the altar: 2 yearling male lambs each day in perpetuity (Hebrew = tamid or tamiyd). The first lamb you must offer at dawn, and the second at twilight (between the twilights), and with the first lamb, one-tenth of a measure of fine flour mixed with one-quarter of a hin of pounded olive oil and, for a libation, one-quarter of a hin of wine. The second lamb you will offer at twilight (between the twilights), and do it with a similar cereal offering and libation as at dawn, as a pleasing smell, and an offering burnt for Yahweh, a perpetual burnt offering for all your generations to come" (Ex 29:38-42). The Israelites understood that this sacrifice had to last as long as the Sinai Covenant endured. A key to understanding the times of the sacrifice is the proper translation of the Hebrew words bayin ha ereb. Bayin = between, ha = the, ereb = twilight. Between the twilights of a day (the twilight of dawn and the twilight of sunset) is noon.
According to the Jewish priest turned historian Flavius Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, 14.65) and the Jewish theologian Philo of Alexandria (Special Laws I #169), as well as information in the Talmud and supporting information in Acts of Apostles (i.e., 2:15; 3:1; 10:3, 9, 30; etc.) the hours of prayers in the Temple corresponded to the daily Tamid sacrifice for the people. The entire twelve-hour day revolved around this sacrifice (Jn 11:9), and is the time frame of those sacrifices, according to the Mishnah: Tamid and the former Jewish priest Flavius Josephus, who served in the Tamid liturgy before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in AD 70. The entire day revolved around the ritual of the Tamid sacrifice, and Jesus refers to these times in His parable of the hired workers in Matthew 20:1-6. See handouts 2 and 3.
The schedule for the Tamid sacrifices of the morning and afternoon liturgy:
The Jewish day began at dawn, but the Romans marked the beginning of the next day at midnight. Sunrise was generally at the 6th-hour Roman time or what we call 6 AM. Most modern-day countries keep Roman time as did the majority of the Roman world in the first century AD. In the Bible, the times are usually Hebrew time, but in several places the times are Roman time as in St. John's Gospel written for a Roman congregation in Ephesus. In Acts 23:23, the Roman commander orders that Paul be smuggled out of Jerusalem at the ninth hour in the evening (9 PM); the ninth hour Jewish time is 3 in the afternoon, and Paul's leaving could hardly be secretive at that busy hour. If John is using Roman time in John 19:14, there is no discrepancy between his Gospel and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke as to the time of Jesus' trial with Pilate and the hour of crucifixion recorded in St. Mark's Gospel as the third hour, or 9 AM our time and Roman time (Mk 15:25). See the study on the Gospel of St. John.
Question: How does the Tamid sacrifice foreshadow the redemptive
work of Christ in His passion and crucifixion? Hint: Please read these passages,
record the times, and compare them to the hours of the Tamid liturgical worship
service: (1) Matthew 27:1;
Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66-23:1 (2) Mark 15:25
(3) Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44
(4) Matthew 27:45-450; Mark 15:34-39; Luke 23:44-46. See the chart of the Tamid sacrifice in the handouts.
Answer: the Tamid anticipated the sacrifice of Christ for the
sins of the world. From the time His passion begins to the giving up of His
Spirit, the times correspond to the hours of the Tamid sacrifices.
Question: Why were there two lambs required for the Tamid
sacrifice?
Answer: The two lambs symbolized the dual nature of Christ.
He was fully human and divine.
The Tamid sacrifice was an imperfect sacrifice because no animal could be perfect enough to take away sin. Christ, however, was the ultimate Tamid Lamb of Sacrifice who takes away the sins of the world:
As mentioned, the required hours of prayer also corresponded to the Tamid sacrifice. The two times of daily prayer in the first century AD took place during the two liturgical worship services of the Tamid: the third hour/9 AM (when the Temple gates were opened for the morning sacrifice as the first Tamid lamb, and the ninth hour/3 PM (the hour of the second sacrifice). Although, morning prayer was acceptable any time between 9 AM and noon (see Acts 10:9). A very religious person, however, would observe five times of prayer (privately or at the Temple) in association with the ritual of the Tamid sacrifice: dawn, 9 AM, noon, 3 PM, and the end of the day before sundown. The Book of Acts records these hours of prayer; for example, it is the third hour Jewish time (9 AM) when Peter encountered the large crowd of people (on their way to Temple prayers) at Pentecost (Acts 2:15), Peter was praying at noon when God gave him the vision of the sheet and the unclean beasts (Acts 10:9), and in Acts 3:1, Peter and John were going up to the Temple for prayer at the ninth (3 PM) hour, the hour of the evening/afternoon sacrifice (the Jewish "evening" was our afternoon since the day ended at sundown). They were going not take part in the sacrifice and prayer service but to share the gospel of the risen Christ. It wasn't until after the Temple was destroyed in 7AD that three hours of prayer time became the Jewish tradition (The Jewish Book of Why, vol. I, page 148). It has long been a tradition in the Catholic Church to pray the Angelus three times a daily: 6 AM, Noon, and 6 PM. Do you observe regular hours of pray in your daily encounter with Christ? For more about Jesus Christ, the perfection of the Tamid sacrifice, see the book: "Jesus and the Mystery of the Tamid Sacrifice."
6b it had seven horns, and it had seven eyes, which are
the seven Spirits that God has sent out over the whole world
Christ the Lamb has seven horns: This is symbolic imagery. Seven
is the symbol of spiritual perfection, but the horns are also symbolic. In
Sacred Scripture, the horn is a symbol of strength and power; for example:
Therefore, the seven horns symbolize the Messiah's power. But there may also be a symbolic connection to the Messiah's role as divine judge and the seven ram's horns used to announce the judgment of God on the enemies of His Covenant people at Jericho, and the victory and salvation that would come to them as they prepared for their first battle to take possession of the kingdom that God had promised them (see Josh 6:2-5). St. Paul writes that a horn will announce Jesus' Second Advent (2 Thess 4:16).
Now Jesus, the Lamb of God to whom all other Old Testament sacrifices pointed, provides for the New Covenant Israel the strength and victory to wage their war to claim dominion over the whole earth by establishing the Universal (catholic) Kingdom of Christ the King (see Jesus' command to His disciples in Mat 28:18-20).
John saw that the Lamb had seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits that God has sent out over the whole world.
In addition to the seven horns, the Lamb has seven eyes: He is all-seeing, and nothing in creation escapes His gaze. All-seeing eyes in Scripture are symbols of knowledge. There is the symbolic image of the fullness and perfection of the Messiah's power (seven horns) and His knowledge (seven eyes). The seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth: God the Holy Spirit in His fullness of knowledge (symbolized by the eyes). But this passage may also refer to the first mention of God the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture: In the beginning God created heaven and earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters (Gen 1:1-2). The "divine wind" in Hebrew is the ruah = God the Holy Spirit who is sent out over all the earth during the creation event. As creation continues, God the Holy Spirit enacted seven acts of "seeing" in the seven-fold Spirit's eyes.
Question: Read Genesis 1:1-31. As God completed each day of
creation, Scripture repeats what words seven times in what verses?
Answer: "God saw that it was good" (1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31).
God was not only creating; He was also judging the earth until the final judgment at the beginning of the seventh day. In the same way, the Lamb is the center of history, the conquering Lamb who opens the New Covenant and who serves both as Covenant creator and judge as He takes the book/scroll out of the right hand of God the Father. It is the new creation event/beginning of God's Covenant people!
7 The Lamb came forward to take the scroll [biblion] from
the right hand of the One sitting on the throne, 8 and when
He took it, the four living creatures prostrated themselves before Him and with
them the twenty-four elders: each one of them was holding a harp and had a
golden bowl full of incense which are the prayers of the Saints. They sang a
new song:
In the sacred assembly of
saints and angels, the Four Living Creatures kneel (or prostrate) in adoration
before the Lamb as they worship Him, and each of the elders carried a harp and
a golden bowl full of incense.
Question: What are the golden bowls of incense?
Answer: Prayers of the Saints.
Psalms 141:2 ~ May my prayer be like incense in your presence, my uplifted hands like the evening sacrifice (the Jewish "evening" was our afternoon). In the liturgy of the Tamid sacrifice, the offering of the sacred incense burned on the golden Altar of Incense that stood before the veil of the Holy of Holies, embraced the sacrifice of the morning and afternoon Tamid lambs. In the morning liturgy, the presiding priest placed the Tamid lamb on the sacrificial altar immediately after the burning of the incense in the Holy Place of the Sanctuary, and in the afternoon liturgy the incense burning ritual took place after the priest placed the Tamid lamb on the altar (Mishnah:Tamid, 4:1-6:3). Read a description of the Tamid liturgy in the Advent of the Messiah study, lesson 1.
The uplifted hands refer to
the way the congregation offered their prayers, as the smoke from the sacrificed
Tamid lamb rose above the altar. The evening/afternoon sacrifice took place at
the ninth hour/3 PM and was a regular time of prayer. Prayer, in the Old Covenant,
was always associated with the Tamid worship services (also see Luke 1:10).
Symbolically the rising smoke of the sacrifice in the Temple was the refined
quintessence of the offering rising to heaven. That is why every sacrifice on
the sacred altar was salted to produce thick clouds of smoke rising above the
altar (Lev 2:13; Num 18:19; Ez 43:23-24) and why the mixture of incense burned on
the golden incense altar in front of the Holy of Holies contained a substance
that produced a dense white cloud.
Question: Can you think of a tradition in the Catholic Church
that corresponds to this symbolic practice?
Answer: Lighting prayer candles, altar candles, and the
incense burned at a high Mass.
The New Song
Sing a new song to Yahweh,
for He has performed wonders, His saving power is in His right hand and His
holy arm. Yahweh has made known His saving power, revealed His saving justice
for the nations to see, mindful of His faithful love and His constancy to the
House of Israel.
Psalms 98:1-3
Sing a new song to
Yahweh! Let His praise be sung from remotest parts of the earth ... Yahweh
advances like a hero, like a warrior He rouses His fire. He shouts, He raises
the war cry, He shows His might against His foes.
Isaiah 42:10-13
Revelation 5:9-14 ~ The
New Hymn of the Twenty-four Elders and the Responsorial Anthem of the Angels
and Saints
9 They sang a new hymn: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals,
because you were sacrificed, and with your blood you bought people for God of every
race, language, people and nation 10
and made them a line of kings and
priests for God, to rule the world." 11 In my vision,
I heard the sound of an immense number of angels gathering round the throne and
the living creatures and the elders; there were ten thousand times ten thousand
of them and thousands upon thousands, 12 loudly changing: "Worthy
is the Lamb that was sacrificed to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor,
glory, and blessing." 13 Then I
heard all the living things in creation: everything that lives in heaven, and
on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, crying: "To the One seated on
the throne and to the Lamb, be all praise, honor, glory, and power, forever and
ever. 14 And the four living creatures said, "Amen"; and the elders
prostrated themselves to worship.
The heavenly assembly sings a "new hymn" in three parts as the Lamb takes the scroll. A New Covenant deserves a New Hymn! The "new song" is always mentioned in association with God's redemptive and creative acts in history. In the Old Testament references, the "new song" celebrates the creation of the Sinai Covenant and announces the promise that the Messiah will bring salvation to the nations (see Psalms 98:1-3 and Isaiah 42:10-13).
9 They sang a new hymn: "You are worthy to take the
scroll and to break its seals, because you were sacrificed, and with your blood
you bought people for God of every race, language, people and nation 10 and made
them a line of kings and priests for God, to rule the world."
Question: Considering the symbolic significance of this number
in the Book of Revelation, can you guess how many times the Old Testament mentions
the new hymn (or new song)?
Answer: Good guess! Seven times in
Psalms 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1;
Isaiah 42:10.
Question: What does the "New Song" that the Saints and angels
sing in St. John's vision proclaim? Remember that this is now the eighth time
in Scripture that calls forth a "new song." What does the number 8 symbolize? Please
refer to the document: The Significance of Numbers in Scripture.
Answer: the number 8 is the number that symbolizes salvation, regeneration, and re-birth.
The first part is by the Living Creatures and the elders (5:9-10), which echoes Exodus 19:6 when Yahweh declared to Moses concerning Israel: For me you shall be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. The word translated "bought" in verse 9 refers to redemption (as Paul uses the same word in 1 Cor 6:20). Jesus bought/purchased our redemption from sin with His blood, which suggests the salvation of the Gentile nations, and also the Jews who were dispursed into the Gentile world, who were from "every race, language, people and nation," the four parts representing every corner of the earth.
11 In my vision, I heard the sound of an immense number of
angels gathering round the throne and the living creatures and the elders;
there were ten thousand times ten thousand of them and thousands upon
thousands, 12 loudly changing: "Worthy is the Lamb that was sacrificed
to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing."
A myriad of angels sings the second
part (verse 12), enumerating seven desirable attributes, signifying the
completeness of the praise and veneration of the Lamb.
13 Then I heard all the living things in creation: everything
that lives in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea,
crying: "To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb, be all praise, honor,
glory, and power, forever and ever. 14
And the four living creatures
said, "Amen"; and the elders prostrated themselves to worship.
In the third part (verses
13-14), all creation joins the great celestial chorus. This doxology has four locations:
heaven, earth, under the earth, and sea, indicating the entire cosmos including
Heaven, Sheol/Hades (Purgatory not the Hell of the damned where there is no praise
of God), earth, and the sea; or the four points of the compass.
Elements of the New Song:
There are two significant observations:
But why would the Four Living Creatures count themselves as among the redeemed? Angels don't need redemption; they are already within the Divine Presence, but man does need redemption. Does this mean, along with the shift into the 3rd person, that this new song is responsorial? Could it be that the Four Living Creatures begin the song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals, and then the elders sing, "because you were sacrificed, and with your blood you bought people for God of every race, language, people and nation," and then the Four Living Creatures respond,and made them a line of kings and priests for God, to rule the world."
Earlier in Chapter 4, the Four Living Creatures and the elders were singing responsorial praise. Then too, it is reasonable that men, and not angels, would become inheritors of a kingdom and thus become priestly people. It also makes sense, if this is an antiphon, that there would be a shift to the 3rd person if the Four Living Creatures complete the hymn singing about redeemed humankind. The "New Song" also shows us the direction of history. Christ's passion and resurrection were not merely a "saving from" but a "saving for." Christ the Lamb has made us kings and priests for our God, setting the destiny of the New Covenant Church. God's original plan for Adam was lost, but now Jesus Christ, the Second Adam (1 Cor 15:45), has redeemed us and restored to us our royal priesthood. We are to increase and rule, and through the Gospel to bring the plan of God for humanity's salvation to completion throughout the earth.
11 In my vision, I heard the sound of an immense number
of angels gathered round the throne and the living creatures and the elders;
there were ten thousand times ten thousand of them and thousands upon
thousands, 12 loudly chanting: "Worthy is the Lamb that was sacrificed
to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and blessing."
In response to the praise of the Four Living Creatures
and the twenty-four elders, the host of heaven joins in the new song of praise.
The myriads upon myriads (literal translation) chanting in praise of the Lamb
is a symbolic number for a countless number of angels.
Question: What do the angels proclaim that the
Lamb is worthy to inherit? Count the enumerated items; what does this number
represent symbolically?
Answer: There are seven items: power, riches,
wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing.
This number indicates the fullness of the Lamb's spiritual perfection: the perfection of the Lambs seven horns (power) and seven eyes (knowledge). In other words, Christ the Lamb is worthy to inherit all things in heaven and on earth, as we hear in the continuation of the song in the next verse.
13 Then I heard all the living things in creation, everything
that lives in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, crying:
To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb, be all praise, honor, glory,
and power, forever and ever." 14 And the four living creatures said, "Amen"; and the
elders prostrated themselves to worship.
The host of heaven joins in
the song of praise to the Lamb with all creation singing in response!
Question: List the created things that join in the song as well
as the enumerated items of praise.
Answer: Every created thing: (1) in heaven and (2) on the
earth and (3) under the earth (Purgatory) and (4) in the sea join in the song
of praise. The totality of all of creation becomes part of the cosmic chorus.
They are singing to God the Father and God the Son: (1) praise, and (2) honor,
and (3) glory, and (4) power, for eternity.
Four is the number of the earth and creation. These verses are the climax to this section of the heavenly liturgy. The antiphonal new song reveals to us the goal of history as the universal recognition of the Lamb's kingship and the eternal glory of God through Jesus Christ, the Lamb Standing, the Arnion Hesketos of God (Rev 5:6). The new and final age of salvation history has come; it is the fulfillment of the New Covenant Kingdom, and the Lamb has conquered.
And for this God raised Him high and gave Him the name
which is above all other names; so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and
under the earth, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every
tongue should acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11
Next week's lesson: The Four Horseman gallop onto the stage of Salvation History!
Endnotes:
1. Israeli archaeologist Yigael
Yadin found a scroll in the Judaean desert with seven seals, each attached to the
document by a cord with the name of a witness. All the seals were on the
outside. The scroll was a deed dating from toward the end of the 1st-century
AD at about the time John wrote the Book of Revelation (J. Massyngberde Ford, Revelation,
Anchor Bible, Doubleday Press, page 92).
2. The only angels mentioned by name in Scripture are Gabriel (Dan 8:16; 9:21; Lk 1:19, 26), Michael (Dan 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 9; Rev 12:7), and Raphael (20 times in the Book of Tobit).
Catechism references for
this lesson (* indicates Scripture
quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Rev 5:6 (CCC 1137);
5:9-14 (CCC 2642*);
5:9-10 (CCC 1546*);
5:13 (CCC449, 2855*)
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2000, revised 2019 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.