Our passage begins as the chorus of praise to the Lamb continues to grow: many angels, the four living creatures, and the elders once again sing with a loud voice. There are so many that they number “myriads of myriads” (a myriad is ten thousand) and “thousands of thousands,” that is, a number so large no one could tally it.
And what they sing is, “Worthy is the Lamb.” Worthy (the Greek axios) was a well-known political term in the Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire. In the first centuries the crowds were trained to shout, “Worthy! Worthy! Worthy is the emperor!” when the Roman emperor appeared in public. Revelation constantly engages in a struggle with the powers of evil, symbolized and centered in the Roman Empire. It is the Lamb, Jesus, who is worthy, not the emperor, no matter how much power he claims.
What about this Lamb? Why is he worthy? “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered.” Lamb is the favorite title for Jesus in the book of Revelation, and the Lamb remains always the crucified one, even when he is also the resurrected one and the Lord of the world. There is no path to worthiness–just as there is no road to Easter–that does not pass through the cross.
Because of his worthiness John assigns seven attributes to the Lamb–not six, not eight, not one hundred, but seven! Seven, of course, is the number of completion and perfection. Often when this kind of list has an odd number of items, the one in the center is the most important. Attribute number four is “might.” That attribute might seem to be at odds with the image of the slaughtered Lamb, but it signals that this Lamb is able to carry out his task. He is powerful enough not only to open the seals of the scroll, but also to engage and defeat the powers of evil.
