II. It is clear, therefore, that the account given in heaven of the work of redemption is exactly the same as that which is taught us throughout the word of God. Let us pass on to consider what is the heavenly estimate of the sacred work, or in other words, What do they think of it there? What value do they set on it? First. What do the elders and the living ones think of it? The chapter contains the description of a remarkable scene in connexion with a certain book, which was seen in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne. A strong angel proclaims with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?’ But ‘no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof.’ There was something so sacred about it, that no man was found worthy even to look on it, and the result was that St. John wept much. Some people seem to care very little whether the book of God is closed or not; but he shed many tears when the sacred book seemed closed to his view. But one of those elders who sat around the throne said, ‘Weep not: behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.’ So he beheld. He looked for the Lion, but when he looked there stood a Lamb, a Lamb as it had been slain, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer; and He came, and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne. It was this that called forth this hymn of praise from the living ones, and that led them to sing a new song, saying, ‘Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.’ Now observe that hymn, and note carefully what it was that in their sight constituted the worthiness of the Lamb. It was not His Divine Sonship; not His pre-existence as God; not His eternal and unspotted perfection; not His present exaltation to the right hand of the Father’s throne: but it was the fact that, in order to redeem, He had been slain. It was the great act of redemption that gave Him a worthiness far beyond that of any other either in heaven or earth. He was honoured with an honour far above anything ever known, even in heaven, and the reason was that as a Redeemer He had died. If you ask, then, What is heaven’s estimate of _redemption_? the answer is, That it is thought there to be so gracious, so wonderful, so divine, that it brings more honour to the Lord Jesus than all the other glories of His most glorious eternity.