Weep Not

Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. The words are said to a man in tears. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. A sealed document, a search made through heaven and earth and under the earth, and nobody worthy in any of it.

Both of the elder's titles are old, and each one drags a family behind it. The lion goes back to a dying man blessing his sons. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The next line of that blessing promises a sceptre that shall not depart from Judah. The root goes back to Isaiah and a cut stump: there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. Later in the same chapter, there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people.

Then John looks where he is told to look. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain. Told a lion, shown a lamb with the wound still on it. The song that starts a moment later says what hath prevailed meant: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.

The promise here is narrow and worth having exactly as it stands. The sealed book gets opened, by someone qualified to open it, and the qualification is a death that has already happened. That is all John is told, and it was enough to stop him crying.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 159 is Sanctified Once for All (Hebrews 10:10).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna, Year Two