Revelation 5:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"I saw," he says, "an angel proclaiming with a loud voice: Who is worthy to open the book and loose its seals?

And no one was found worthy, either in heaven or on earth or under the earth."

To open the covenant means to suffer for men and finally conquer death.

No one was found worthy to do this: neither among the angels in heaven, nor among men on earth, nor among the souls of the saints abiding in rest.

Only Christ, the Son of God, was worthy. Of Him he says: "I saw a Lamb as though slain, having seven horns" (Rev 5:6).

It had been foretold of Him that whatever law had been devised concerning Him through various gifts and sacrifices, He Himself had to fulfill it.

Because He Himself was the Testator and conquered death, He Himself was found appointed by God as the lawful heir.

Thus He was to possess also the substance of mortal being, that is, the human body.

This means that Jesus Christ is the Testator, or Mediator, of the New Testament. See Heb 8:6.

"No one was able to open the book." That is, neither the angels, nor men existing in the flesh, nor the saints released from it, attained full knowledge of the judgments of the Godhead. Only the Lamb of God attained it, who by His coming fulfilled the prophecies formerly spoken about Him.

By the book they understand God's omniscience and the abyss of God's judgments. Once the Lord rebuked a man for unreasonable words about His providence (see Job chs. 38-41), although "that man was blameless, upright, God-fearing, and turned away from evil" (Job 1:1). Therefore no created nature can even look into such a book.

Saint Andrew of Caesarea understands the sealed book as the mysterious decrees of the wise providence of God concerning the salvation of mankind. By the opening of the seals he understands the fulfillment of the divine decrees by the Only-begotten Son of God, the Savior of humanity, who gave Himself as a Lamb to be slain.