The Resurrected Christ and the Mass in Revelation 5

“And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain… And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.” – Revelation 5:3-10

The scriptural witness of St. John the Divine’s Apocalypse is quite extradordinary and rich in symbolic value. Christ is the key that opens the scroll/scriptures. He is the one who has fulfilled the prophecies, an between God’s throne and the worshippers Jesus appears as a slaughtered Lamb. Each of the elders offer Jesus the prayers of the saints, while singing a song which declares that Christ’s blood has ransomed God’s church / the true Israel, and made them a kingdom of priests.

So the elders offered prayers and worship, and Christ offered the scroll, the Word of salvation that stopped the tears of St. John. And the worship was a commemoration of the bloody ransom of Christ on Golgotha, and it was celebrated by His people who are a kingdom of priests.
In the Eucharist Christ’s Word eaten in the form of His true body and blood which was the pleasing sacrifice to God the Father. The minister speaks the words of Christ, acting in the person of Christ (in persona Christi). The people receive the slain lamb and his blood which ransomed the people, and are called back to this salvific reality, having their sins forgiven because of the sacrifice, and are simultanaeously pulled into the Heavenly reality of the glorified and victorious Christ who has conquered. (I think… there’s so much symbolism here it’s hard to fully outline. The Divine Liturgy is a heavenly mystery).