Revelation 5: the Lion of the tribe of Juda

The scroll no one can open

Revelation 4 and 5 describe a vision of God's throne. In the right hand of the one on the throne is a book, a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. A strong angel asks who is worthy to open it, and no one in heaven, on earth or under the earth can. John says: “I wept much” (5:4). The scroll holds the unfolding of history, and if no one can open it, history has no one to bring it to its end.

What does Revelation 5:5 mean?

“And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed.” Juda is the King James spelling of Judah in the New Testament.

Both titles come from the Old Testament. In Genesis 49:9, the dying Jacob blesses his son: “Judah is a lion's whelp”, and says the scepter will not depart from him. Isaiah 11 speaks of a shoot from the stump of Jesse, David's father, a coming king from David's line. The elder is announcing that the promised Messiah has won.

A lamb as it had been slain

Then comes the turn. John looks and sees “a Lamb as it had been slain” (5:6) standing in the middle of the throne. The Lion has conquered by being the Lamb, by dying and rising. The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders sing a new song: “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain” (5:9), and then myriads of angels: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain” (5:12), the text Handel used for the final chorus of Messiah.

The image of a lion resting beside a lamb is not a direct quotation. Isaiah 11:6 and 65:25 speak of the wolf and the lamb. But the painting captures what Revelation 5 says: power and gentleness are one person.

Where these prints are hung

The Lion of Judah speaks to anyone who needs courage, and it is often chosen for a man's study, a boy's room or a church youth space. The lion with the lamb suits a nursery or a baptism, and the two can be hung as a pair.