History’s greatest real estate deal

Modern history is filled with real estate opportunities. Walt Disney, for instance, purchased property 25 miles from civilization, where cows mooed and wandered among a few little shacks in a field. Eventually, that property became Anaheim and Disneyland. Or we may think of Manhattan, a little island in New York that Peter Minouette, the general director of the Dutch Colony of New Netherlands, purchased from Native Americans for goods valued at $24. Or we may think of the Louisiana Purchase, in which Thomas Jefferson bought 800,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million from Napoleon Bonaparte. That purchase, which took place in 1803, changed the course of America’s future. 

But hands down, the greatest real estate deal in history is recorded in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 5, where the real estate at stake is the entire earth. 

In Old Testament days, something called the redemption clause allowed a former owner to buy back his land; the land could never be sold permanently. So, if someone had lost a piece of land but later could fulfill the requirements to buy it back, he had the authority to take the scroll, break its seals, and read the words inside. It then became his property. If he could not fulfill the conditions, a close relative could “redeem” the property instead. The Bible calls him the go’el, the “kinsmen redeemer.” Every kinsman redeemer had to meet three qualifications. First, he had to be related to the original owner; second, he had to be able to fulfill the requirements for purchasing the property; and third, he had to be willing to buy back the property. 

We know the scroll in Revelation 5 is highly significant because, first, we see it in God’s right hand, which, in the Bible, is the hand of authority. Second, it appears to involve the fate of the whole earth (vv. 3-4); that is why observers weep and wail when no one is found worthy to open the scroll. When finally, someone comes forward who is worthy to take and break the seals, exuberant worship breaks out (v. 8). It seems, then, that this scroll is nothing less than the title deed to the earth — the earth that God created, the earth that God sustains and maintains. But it is also the earth that God must reclaim by redemption, and so the Lamb steps forward to fulfill those obligations. The idea here is, “I can redeem or reclaim this land that was lost.” 

Someone might object, “But if God is the Creator and the maintainer of the earth, then why does He need to reclaim what’s already His? After all, doesn’t the Bible say, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof’?” (Psalm 24:1 KJV). But remember that God gave Adam dominion over the earth. When Adam fell into sin, the earth came under a divine curse (Romans 8:20-22), and it will remain under that curse until the time arrives for God to remove it. 

In the Garden, Adam gave dominion over the earth to Satan; that makes the devil a usurper. The earth isn’t his. But while Satan does not “own” this earth, the New Testament does give him the title “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Note that when the devil tempted Jesus, he showed the Lord all the kingdoms of the earth in a moment of time and said, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if you will worship before me, all will be Yours” (Luke 4:6-7). Satan apparently knew that Jesus had come to shed His blood to buy people back to God, and he tried to convince the Lord that He didn’t have to go to the cross. Of course, Jesus spurned that temptation. He did go to the cross and He did shed His blood for our redemption. 

Finally, the exciting moment arrives when Jesus takes the title deed from His Father. Rejoicing instantly overtakes weeping, for the kinsman-redeemer, the go’el, will reclaim the lost property forfeited in the Garden and will redeem the cursed earth with His own blood. And so, He will fulfill the redemption clause, for He meets all the criteria. 

As a human, Jesus is related to us by blood. He stepped out of eternity and into time to be placed inside the womb of a peasant girl from Nazareth, who would give birth to Him in Bethlehem. Second, He paid our debt with His own blood. And third, He willingly paid that debt; He laid down His life for us by His own choosing (see John 10:18). Can you, therefore, grasp why every creature erupts in jubilant praise and worship as the Lamb takes the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sits on the throne? The first time Jesus came, He did so as a Lamb. But the second time He will come as a Lion — as One in charge, in authority. What a day that will be!