The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

Following this, the Apostle beheld, seemingly for the first time, another symbolic actor in
the vision:
"And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four living ones, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes
which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth."--Verse 6.
St. John immediately recognized in this One, the Lamb of God that was to take away the
sin of the world. The vision was designed to show Christ receiving some of the rewards of
His great sacrifice. The Apostle watched what was next to occur, and beheld the Lamb
approach the Eternal One and receive the book out of His right hand. That the reception of
the book by the Lamb marked in symbol an event of vast magnitude and became the
means of solving some great problem is clearly taught by the fact that immediately, not
only the actors about the throne joined in what would seem to be a hallelujah chorus of
praise, thanksgiving, and worship, but the Revelator heard additionally voices of a mighty
throng which reverberated throughout heaven and earth, proclaiming blessing and honor
and glory unto Him that sat upon the throne and unto the Lamb.
Concerning the significance of this majestic scene--the Lamb's receiving the sealed book,
and the breaking of the seals, the observations of Mr. Russell are indeed luminous:
"The Heavenly Father, the Ancient of Days, is shown seated on the heavenly throne, and in
His hand a scroll written inside and outside, sealed with seven seals. That scroll,
representing the Divine Plan, known only to the Father, Jehovah Himself, was kept in His
own power--in His own hand--until someone should be proved worthy to know it, and
became its executor as Jehovah's honored agent and representative. The symbolic picture
proceeds to show that up to the time our Lord Jesus suffered for us at Calvary, 'the just for
the unjust, that He might bring us to God,' no one had ever been found (proved) worthy to
take up the Divine Plan and even understand it. But when our Lord Jesus had proved His
loyalty to the Heavenly Father by His obedience, not only in humbling Himself to take
man's estate for the suffering of death, but also in His obedience 'even unto death,' and still
further, 'even unto the [ignominious] death of the cross,' then and thereby He did prove
Himself worthy of every confidence and trust."
The fact that our Lord did not receive the scroll before His death, and did not understand
what was on the inside, would not conflict with the thought of His wonderful knowledge
of Divine Truths during His earthly ministry. That He did have special knowledge was
particularly indicated by the statement that at His baptism the heavens were opened unto
Him. This which He saw during His ministry would seem to correspond to what was
written on the outside of the scroll referring to certain general information and knowledge.
But the minutia and detail of the Divine Plan with respect to many of the things future
were not revealed to Him until He received the scroll and opened the seals after His
resurrection. The same writer continues:
"Our Lord Jesus received the anointing of the Holy Spirit when He came up out of the
water at His baptism. Then the heavens were opened unto Him. The higher things which