It has now been over a year since our Prime Minister encouraged the

citizens of India to go out into their balconies to applaud the work being

done by the frontline workers. I don't think any of us thought, at that

time, that a year later we would be in the same situation - a situation that

threatens to get worse by the day. We still do not have much clarity

about the uncertain future of our world. And even the arrival of vaccines

has met with mixed reviews.

Page 1 of 24
While our politicians, health care professionals and pharmaceutical

companies attempt to persuade us that these vaccines are safe and that

they would protect us, all of us are not convinced. I’ll be honest - I’m

not convinced. Don’t get me wrong. I am convinced that a good and

effective vaccination program is crucial in principle. But when faced

with the propaganda of the unprincipled, I begin to doubt the narrative

that is being fed to us.

Page 2 of 24
You see, my reservations are based on the simple matter that I do not

think that our politicians are qualified to make such crucial decisions

about our future when they have neither the knowledge nor the long

term investment in our well-being. And the pharmaceutical companies

cannot be trusted when they are the ones who stand to gain by increased

sales of their products. I am not an anti-vaxxer, mind you. I just have a

deep skepticism about these two groups.

Page 3 of 24
What would qualify a person, in my view, to be trusted with my future?

Three things - an endless supply of resources, a genuine concern for my

well-being, and a long-term vision. Think about it. If you are going to

live for another thirty or forty or fifty years, would you trust your future

to someone who can only think of the next elections? No. You need

someone with a vision that lasts at least the thirty or forty or fifty years

that you will live and beyond that if you have children or grandchildren.

Page 4 of 24
And would you trust your future to someone who is either ignorant of

your existence or unconcerned about your well-being? No. You would

want the person making decisions to know you, to know what's best for

you, and to be willing to act to enhance your well-being. And would

you trust your future to someone who, because resources are limited,

would decide not to act because there are other urgent needs? No. You

want someone who does not have such limitations.

Page 5 of 24
Our passage clearly teaches us that Jesus can be trusted on all three

counts. Our passage has four declarations. The first three deal directly

with the aspects we have just considered. The first declaration is from

the mouth of the elders, those who represent the people of God. The

elders sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and

to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed

people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

Page 6 of 24
The first declaration recognizes that Jesus is deeply concerned about our

well-being - so deeply concerned that, because we were enslaved, he

died to redeem us. There is no greater love than that a person should lay

down his or her life for his or her friends. The first declaration elevates

this aspect of Jesus’ nature - he deeply loves us and, driven by that love,

he gave himself for us. He is worthy because he did not choose to

preserve his life at our expense but redeemed us at his expense.

Page 7 of 24
In response to this declaration by the elders, the angels surrounding

God’s throne proclaim, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive

power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and

blessing!” In the scene, God asks if there is anyone worthy to break the

seals of the scroll that contains God’s plans for creation in order to

execute them. Initially, no one worthy is found. But then one of the

elders tells John that the Lion of the tribe of Judah was worthy.

Page 8 of 24
When John turns to see this worthy Lion, he sees the Lamb who was

slain, to whom had been given the resources of power and wealth and

wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Seven aspects

covering all sorts of resources were at the Lamb’s disposal as he

executed God’s plans for creation. Anything that would ever be needed

to implement God’s all-encompassing plans were at the Lamb’s beck

and call. His is a budget that just could never have a deficit.

Page 9 of 24
What this means is that if there is a need for any resource to implement

God’s plan, Jesus does not have to check if he has jurisdiction for all

power or authority is his in heaven and on earth. There is no place that

can legitimately claim to be outside his authority. And he does not have

to check if there is a place in the budget to bankroll the initiative for all

wealth is his. And he does not need to second guess himself to see if his

plans are wise because he possesses all wisdom.

Page 10 of 24
And he does not have to check if he is able to withstand the forces

against him for all might or strength is his. Any resource that might be

needed is his in infinite abundance and so he is uniquely qualified to be

worthy on the ground of possessing sufficient - far more than sufficient

- resources. In one of his parables, Jesus tells about a person who started

building a tower only to run out of funds later. We don’t have to worry

about this with Jesus because he will never run out of resources.

Page 11 of 24
The second declaration, uttered by the angels, pronounces that Jesus is

worthy because he possesses all the resources needed to execute God’s

plans for creation. The list used by the angels has seven items. In the

context of Revelation, this means that every imaginable resource is

included in the list. Nothing that could ever be needed is excluded from

the domain of Jesus’ worthiness. And so we have heard from the elders

and from the angels, both groups declaring that Jesus is worthy.

Page 12 of 24
In response to this twofold declaration, the rest of animate creation, not

willing to be left out, declares, “To him who sits on the throne and to the

Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” It is

one thing for Jesus to be so deeply concerned about us that he died for

us. It is another thing for him to possess all the resources in the

universe. But both of these would be of no use if his love and dominion

were a time bound matter.

Page 13 of 24
And so the rest of animate creation proclaims that Jesus possesses all of

this forever and ever. There is no time in the future when his dominion

will cease. There is no point at which we could ever look back and

speak of an occasion when Jesus lost the dominion he now has. This

love and his dominion are everlasting and so we need never fear that

there will ever come a time when his love will not be active in our lives,

whether it be to save us, transform us, or commission us.

Page 14 of 24
Jesus’ dominion lasts forever because he is no longer subject to death.

Ironically, by killing him, the fallen powers provided the necessary and

sufficient conditions for Jesus to be not subject to death right now. Let

me explain. Jesus lived a sinless life. Hence, death should have had no

claim on him. So, if he had died a normal death, living a long life and

dying of old age, he would have qualified for resurrection when God

consummated his plans for creation.

Page 15 of 24
But that would have been in the future - probably in the distant future.

But because the fallen powers enticed the Jewish and Roman authorities

to sentence Jesus to death, his death carried with it the taint of injustice

to which God had to respond. And he responded by raising Jesus on the

first Easter, ensuring that Jesus was immediately given the authority due

to him. This is why Jesus, the Lamb who was slain, has his authority

and dominion right now.

Page 16 of 24
That’s why in 1 Corinthians, Paul says that none of the rulers of this age

understood what was happening in Jesus’ crucifixion because, if they

had understood, they would not have crucified him. The rulers here are

the spiritual powers that have rebelled against God. The human players,

like Pilate and Caiaphas, were mere pawns in the game the powers were

playing. There was no way Pilate or Caiaphas could have known what

was happening in the spiritual realm.

Page 17 of 24
But the fallen powers knew that Jesus was innocent and that putting him

to death would have been a grave injustice. They also knew that God

had declared to his people through the prophet Daniel that the

resurrection would be at the end of the age, when God would

consummate his plans for creation. Now consider a situation such as

they might have predicted. Jesus died on the cross but God waited till

the end of the age to raise him up. What would this say about God?

Page 18 of 24
We need to remind ourselves that Jesus was the only human who had

never sinned. He was the only one who had obeyed God every step of

the way. We ourselves feel a sense of deep injustice when someone is

punished for a crime they did not commit, or when someone is blamed

for something they did not do. But everyone we encounter has sinned in

some way or the other. We certainly do not deserve the injustice of

being punished for things we did not do.

Page 19 of 24
But it is only the grace of God that keeps us from facing right now the

just desserts of most of our sins. But the grace of God is meaningless if

God is not just. Only a just person can be gracious because an unjust

person would punish the innocent and reward the guilty. When the

fallen powers crucified Jesus, something completely unique happened,

something that has not happened before and has not happened since. For

the first and last time a totally sinless person had been killed.

Page 20 of 24
And not just that, he had been killed as though he had been a criminal of

the worst kind. Now it is one thing for God to not punish those who

deserve punishment. It is quite another thing for God to permit the

unjust punishment of the only person who did not deserve any

punishment. If God had waited till the end of the age to raise Jesus, this

would have indicated that he is a God who is willing to allow even the

gravest injustice remain unanswered.

Page 21 of 24
In that case, he is a God, not of justice, but of injustice and we would be

out of our minds to trust him. This is the gambit that the fallen powers

played. They hoped that God would feel obligated to follow the timeline

he had announced earlier. But that would show that God was unjust and

not to be trusted. However, God did what they thought he never would -

he changed the timeline! In order to demonstrate that he is just and can

be trusted, he raised Jesus and proclaimed his sentence as unjust.

Page 22 of 24
By raising Jesus days after he had been unjustly killed, God declared to

the world that he was a God of justice, a God who could be trusted to

right the wrongs of the world. So because God had to demonstrate he

was trustworthy he raised Jesus just days after he had been unjustly

killed. And now the fallen powers were faced with a situation they had

not foreseen. God had given Jesus all authority. This Jesus who had

demonstrated his love for humans by dying had universal dominion.

Page 23 of 24
But because God had raised Jesus, he was no longer subject to death.

And so his love and dominion are everlasting. He is worthy on all three

counts - he truly cares for us; he has no dearth of resources; and his

dominion will never end. And so let us now join with the four living

creatures and say, “Amen”, and join the elders by falling down to

worship the Lamb who was slain and declare to all the world, “Worthy

is the Lamb.”

Page 24 of 24