Revelation 5:7

And he came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. The book from the right hand of God, the dispensation itself of the Incarnation, is said to have been received by the Son of Man from …

And he came,.... He drew nigh to the throne of God, he engaged his heart to approach unto him, and came up even to his seat, which a mere creature, without a Mediator, cannot do: and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne; See Gill on Rev 5:1; it being given unto him, as in Rev 1:1; and a commission and authority to open it, and make it manifest to others, and to accomplish the several events, in the several periods of time, it points unto.

And he came and took the book out of the right hand ... - As if it pertained to him by virtue of rank or office. There is a difficulty here, arising from the incongruity of what is said of a lamb, which it is not easy to solve. The difficulty is in conceiving how a lamb could take the book from the hand of Him who held it.

This introductory vision thus presents before us, in summary, the consummation to which all the events in the seals, trumpets, and vials converge, namely, the setting up of Christ's kingdom visibly. Prophecy ever hurries to the grand crisis or end, and dwells on intermediate events only in their typical relation to, and representation of, the end.

THE Apostle John had long known the Lord Jesus as the Lamb. That was his first view of Him, when the Baptist, pointing to Jesus, said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world." He had been very familiar with this blessed Personage, having often laid his head upon His bosom, feeling that this tender goodness of the Savior proved Him to be in nature gentle as a lamb. He had beheld Him when He was brought "as a lamb to the slaughter," so that the idea was indelibly fixed upon his mind that Jesus, the Christ, was the Lamb of God. John knew that He was the appointed Sacrifice, set forth in the morning and evening lamb and in the Paschal Lamb, by whose blood Israel was redeemed from death. In his last days the beloved disciple was to see this same Christ, under the same figure of a lamb, as the great revealer of secrets, the expounder of the mind of God, the taker of the sealed book and the looser of the seals which bound up the mysterious purposes of God towards the children of men. I pray that we may have on this earth a clear and constant sight of the sin-bearing Lamb and then, in yonder world of glory, we shall behold Him in the midst of the Throne and the living creatures and the elders. The appearance of this Lamb at the particular moment described by John was exceedingly suitable. Our Lord usually appears when all other hope disappears. Concerning the winepress of wrath, it is He who says, "I have trod the winepress alone and of the people there was none with Me." In the instance before us, the strong angel had proclaimed with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof?" And there was no response from Heaven, or earth, or Hell. No man was able to open the book, neither to look therein.

THE Apostle John had long known the Lord Jesus as the Lamb. That was his first view of Him, when the Baptist, pointing to Jesus, said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world." He had been very familiar with this blessed Personage, having often laid his head upon His bosom, feeling that this tender goodness of the Savior proved Him to be in nature gentle as a lamb.

He came and took the book - This verse may be properly explained by John, Joh 1:18. No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath Declared him. With Jesus alone are all the counsels and mysteries of God.