Revelation 5:7 - Exposition

And he came and took the book; or, and he came and he hath taken it. "Hath taken" is perfect ( εἴληφε ), while "came" is the aorist ( ἦλθε ). If the differ-once is intentionally significant, it renders the description somewhat more vivid. (For the consideration of the question how the Lamb could do this, see on Revelation 5:6 .) Wordsworth contrasts the spontaneous act of the Lamb in taking the book of his own accord as his right, with the call to St. John to take the little book ( Revelation 10:8 ). Out of the right hand. The position of power and honour. He to whom all power was given in heaven and in earth ( Matthew 28:1-20 .) is the only One who can penetrate the mysteries and dispense the power of God's right hand. Of him that sat upon the throne; of him that sitteth. That is, the Triune God (see on Revelation 4:2 ). The Son in his human capacity, as indicated by his sacrificial form of the Lamb, can take and reveal the mysteries of the eternal Godhead in which he, as God, has part.