- The one sitting on the throne is clearly a reference to God Himself. Revelation 4:11 says of Him, “for Thou hast created all things.”
Chapter 5 then opens with God holding a book which was sealed with seven seals. This is followed by an angel loudly proclaiming, “who is worthy to open the book and loose the seals.” No man was found worthy. But verse 5 says the Lion of the tribe of Judah was worthy. He is described as a lamb, “as it had been slain.” This clearly refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God.
Chapter 5 then sets the stage for opening the seven seals that are sealing the book. Chapters 6-8 describe the opening of one seal after another. The meaning of this has been interpreted in various ways. The most reasonable application is that the book contains God’s plan for the coming age, beginning after Jesus’ resurrection. This tells us that Jesus has been given the privilege of orchestrating certain events down through the Gospel Age.
In addition to seven seals, Revelation 2-3 also enumerates seven churches. This describes seven time periods, or stages, down through the Gospel Age. Each seal was opened during the corresponding stage of the church.
Rather that picturing Jesus’ past experience while a man, opening the seven seals is a progressive picture of Jesus’ involvement in church history, beginning after his resurrection to the present day.