The Lamb is brought forward as the one who is uniquely worthy to open the scroll (Rev. 5:5-6). The key qualities of the Lamb in the chapter are two-fold. The Lamb is slain, which is a pointer to His human nature. On the other hand, the Lamb is worshiped along with the one sitting on the throne (Rev. 5:13). This points to His divinity. The Lamb is represented as both human and divine, a God-man who is unique in all of history. Of all created beings (see John 1:3, 14, where it is not Jesus the person who is created, but His human nature), only the human Jesus could fully reveal the character of God and atone for human sin, because he was fully equal with God. So embedded in this symbolic vision is a profound Christology, a doctrine of Jesus Christ, who is both fully human and fully divine.

It is unlikely that the earliest Christians had the kind of sophisticated and complicated view of Jesus that the church fathers developed in the fourth and fifth centuries. But one can see the essential elements of that sophisticated view in Revelation five. Jesus is one person with two natures, one fully divine and the other fully human. It is not clear from Revelation five alone whether Jesus’ divinity was inherent to His person or whether it was somehow bestowed upon him at His enthronement. That Jesus’ divine nature was there from eternity and that His person was distinct from the Father is outlined in the opening chapter of John (John 1:1-5, 18).

The earliest Christians were Jews, strict monotheists. How did they come to accommodate a second “person” (the Greek word persona did not originally carry all the weight that the church fathers put on it) into their view of God? It is clear that they did not think in terms of two gods, that would have been a total abandonment of Judaism, something they were clearly not willing to do (Acts 15). But as they became convinced of the two natures of Jesus, they included Him in their understanding of the one God of Judaism.

This is clear the attributes applied to Jesus in the New Testament. The one God of Judaism was distinguished from everything else in the universe by four characteristics. He was the sole Creator, the unique Ruler of the universe, He had a unique name and was the only One worthy of worship. In the New Testament, all four of these characteristics are applied to Jesus. Two of these are clearly described in Revelation five. The Lamb is acclaimed as in the midst of the throne, sharing in the rulership of the universe, and is clearly considered worthy of worship (Rev 5:12-13), something that is appropriate only with God (Rev 19:10). Jesus is seen as distinct from the angels and worthy of the attributes Jews attributed only to God (Rev 19:10; 22:9).