Rev. 5:7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
We know from other verses, that God the Father honored Christ at the culmination of His obedience and work in the incarnation, by bestowing upon Him the earthly dominion that the First Adam had lost in capitulating to the Dragon in the Garden. As the Last Adam, He had resisted all the temptations, guarded the Bride and the Garden - in faithfulness, instead of sinning as Adam had done.
Ps 2:7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give nations as Your inheritance,
And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.
9 ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron,
You shall shatter them like earthenware.’”
Ps 110:1 The Lord says to my Lord:
“Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
Daniel 2 and 7 also picture this grant as person-to-person within the Trinity:
13 Dan. 7:13 “I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
14 “And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.
Matt:28:18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
John 3:35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.
How to interpret the "book" in Rev. 5? The best I can put together is that it compares to the "title deed" of the Earth, evidenced by the "right" of the King to bring the sentence of His law to bear on that which is His own. He is authorized to bless, honor, curse, condemn, physically kill or resurrect -- all flesh.
Why do they cry in heaven? Because no one is coming forth to judge. It would be so grievous if the wrongs and human injustices against God and Man were not requited: the offenders punished and the victims restituted and comforted. Who is qualified to be that Judge? Who has the right, who has the power? Who is that glorious king who can accomplish this? Who is this King of Glory?
The Father hands to Jesus, in His resurrected humanity after the Ascension, the title deed of the Earth, with the privilege to totally control it, and to execute upon it, and upon all the Flesh (human souls) contained therein -- alive or dead -- the will of His Father. It belongs to Him by gift or by Grant.
2: Creation
Rev 4:11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
John 1:3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
This is the obvious bedrock of all of God's right in creation. Since He created it from nothing by His word, He has the right to do with it as He will. Rev. 4 specifically assigns to the Trinity, all glory, honor, and power, all loyalty and homage of intelligent beings, because they exist by the Will of the triune God. John, Paul, and other NT authors ascribe the immediate office of Creation to God the Son.
When it comes to crime and punishment, the Creator of human life, liberty, and property rights has the "right" to decide when these derivative rights should be taken away by other men - in response to certain behaviors. If men take the life of other men unjustly, God has the right to outsource His prerogative to take the life of the murderer, and He has the right to require men to punish crime as He dictates. "Require" means His right to "kill" the whole disobedient culture, or generation of men, who refuse His directive in this.
Our own right of "workman worthy of his wage" comes from being made in God's image and sharing in this attribute of creative ability. We might more accurately call it "manufacture" instead of raw creation-out-of-nothing, since we are always starting with material that God already made.
3: Trade
Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Jesus Worked during the incarnation. He worked righteousness, He worked resistance to temptation. He accomplished all that the Father had given Him to do. He was rewarded / Paid for His work. For the reward set before Him, He despised the shame (cost/labor). He thought it a good trade. More descriptions of the work He did/price He paid in Isaiah:
Is 53:10 But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
"allot(ing) Him a portion with the great" is what we saw in #1 above (gift), where the Father gives Him sovereignty, not just because the Father Owned it by creation (and wanted to give it) but because Jesus earned it.
This corresponds to men trading (#2) their labor directly -- or as the stored-up fruit of their labor in money or commodities -- or what they have received as gifts (#1), or spoils of war (#4).
4: Spoils of War
Rev. 5:5 and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”
The other way a man might come in to ownership of property is through just war. If there is a fight or contest, where there is a fair and just controversy, and victory for the one in the right, there may be a transfer of property from the evil to the good. This is not the centerpiece of how Christ comes into ownership of the world and all flesh (the focus is more on the Trinitarian action and His laying down His life out of love for His Bride and obedience to His Father), but it is one of the implications of His royal victory. It is only alluded to here in verse 5. We could say He overcame many things, but victory over the Serpent is certainly included. Other verses that shed light on this:
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
Matt. 12:28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (Luke 10:18)
Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. (Joh 12:31)
Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. (1Co 3:21-23 ESV)
Neither Civil Law, nor Church can coerce families out of the Stewardship the Lord Jesus Christ has assigned to them. It is an inalienable (non-transferable) right, as the Declaration of Independence says. But neither may the Family not willingly support righteous government and faithful, Biblical orthopraxy in the Church. If Family will not support good Church and State, God will afflict them with bad Church and State -- as the present situation highlights.
What to do?
Read, learn, and follow the path of discipleship yourself. Gravitate to- and support the best Bible teachers with your time, attention, and increase (tithe). Praise, support, and advise the volunteer who "makes himself a prey" by speaking truth in the marketplace and in the courts, the one who stands up for the rights of the "workman worthy of his wage".
Disciple others in all that the Lord Jesus has said to do. Refuse dishonest gain, including all methods whereby one man steals from another through human legality. It is a shame to speak of what the unjust do in secret. Let us not participate with them, but even expose them (Eph 5.)
For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure [homosexuality, abortion from adultery & fornication/lack of dowry], or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
(Eph 5:5-11 ESV)
