“They 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.”
– Revelation 5:9
This picture in Revelation 5:9 just takes Revelation 4 to a whole nother level because Jesus is pictured here around the throne and he’s ushering in the fulfillment of all God’s purposes for creation. Jesus is pictured as a lion-like lamb who goes to the throne, takes the scroll that contains God’s unfolding plan of redemption, begins to open it up.
Christ has purchased people from every tribe with His blood, and therefore we sing a new song.
Revelation 5:9 Reminds Us of Jesus’ Goodness
This is what ushers in the rest of the book of Revelation after this and it talks about a new song. There is a new song in heaven. Jesus is worthy to take the scroll. Jesus has died on a cross for our sins. He was slain and with his blood he’s ransomed people for God. That means to purchase people for God. We are bought with his blood.
So, this picture of my sin, your sin that separates us from God. We are in a sense the Bible teaches, captive to sin, dead in our sin, under the control of sin and evil, the devil. But Jesus has paid the price to free us from our sin, to free us from the penalty of our sin, eternal death. He’s purchased us for God. He’s made salvation possible that we might enjoy God, that we might be restored to God for all of eternity.
This is why we join in singing, “Worthy are you to take this scroll. Because you were slain, you purchased people for God”. Then it says, “From every tribe and language and people and nation”. Jesus came to die on the cross, not just for you or for me. And He came to die on the cross for people from every tribe and language and people and nation. For the nations to know, not just one type of people but for all peoples in the world. All ethnic groups in the world, every tribe, every language, every people, every nation, he died for all of them. That they all might know his grace, his redemption, his ransom.
Revelation 5:9 Inspires Us to Share the Gospel
And so we look in the world today and we realize that there are still people groups, there are still tribes. I was near one in Brazil. The tribes have not heard the gospel. They have not been contacted by the outside world. Jesus died to ransom people for God from that tribe. I think about the Ahar in India, Northern India. So this is a people about one and a half million and there may be absolutely no followers of Christ among them. Very unreached if not totally unreached yet by the gospel. We know, Revelation chapter five verse nine, Jesus has died to purchase, to ransom people from the Ahar in India, from uncontacted people in the Amazon of Brazil.
Revelation 5:9 Is A Beautiful Picture
So we pray, God thank you. Jesus, thank you for saving us from our sins. We say with the angels here. Worthy are you to take the scroll, open its seals. We praise you. Your blood has ransomed us. You’ve purchased us. Thank you for paying the price for my sin, for our sin. Thank you for your blood that covers over our sin, that reconciles us to God, that gives us a hope when we read the book of Revelation, of eternal life.
All glory be to your name, Jesus, the lion-like lamb who has saved us from our sins. May every tribe and nation know this salvation. We pray for the Ahar in India. God, please cause the Ahar to know your love in Christ. God, we pray for uncontacted people in the Amazon. Let them know of your glory. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel to 6,000 plus unreached people groups right now.
God, we pray that you would do that. You would use our lives to bring that about. Use our resources, our giving to bring that about. Use our going, our sending from our churches.
God, Give Us Courage to Share the Good News
First, God, we pray that you would help us. Secondly, help us not to sit back and while we ignore people who have not heard the good news. God, may that not be the commentary of our lives and our churches. Lastly, God, we pray in light of the glory of Christ in Revelation chapter five verse nine, use us to make this gospel, your glory, known to the ends of the earth. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
