BIBLE LESSON

"Then one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.'"

— Revelation 5:5

As believers suffer persecution around the world and families are torn apart through martyrdom, they weep. When John went to heaven and saw what at first appeared to be no solution to the suffering of believers and the world’s problems, he wept. Then, one of the 24 elders who sat around the throne of God told John to see the solution to all the problems of believers and the world. He said the solution was the mighty Lion of the tribe of Judah, the real King over all the Earth, who the elder described as the One who raised up David as a great king. When John looked up from weeping, he saw Jesus as “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne” (Revelation 5:6). The death and resurrection of Jesus was the solution. He defeated the powers of darkness, though they still have some destructive power in the world today. Jesus fulfilled the words of the prophet Zechariah: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6). Represented by “seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God (the Holy Spirit),” the Spirit of Jesus Christ “has been sent out into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6). Jesus is with all of God’s people who weep, and He will comfort them, grant them life everlasting, and someday will return to make all things right in the world.