Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed to open the scroll and its seven seals." Then I saw a Lamb who appeared to have been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the scroll from the right hand of the One seated on the throne. When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: "Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth."
And you are to tell him that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: 'Here is a man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build the temple of the LORD. Yes, He will build the temple of the LORD; He will be clothed in splendor and will sit on His throne and rule. And He will be a priest on His throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two.'
Significance
Zechariah 6:12-13 anchors the OT's most concentrated priest-king vision: the Branch who "will sit on His throne and rule" and yet "be a priest on His throne." Revelation 5 stages this fusion in apocalyptic vision. The figure at the center of the throne is at once the royal "Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David" who "has triumphed" (5:5 — the Davidic-Branch as conquering King) and the "Lamb who appeared to have been slain" (5:6 — the priestly, self-offered sacrifice), "standing in the center of the throne." Royal triumph and priestly slaughter inhere in one enthroned person — exactly the dual-office Zechariah prophesied, now rendered as Lion-and-Lamb. The Lamb's redeeming blood then makes the redeemed "a kingdom and priests to serve our God" (5:10), extending the priest-king pattern of the Branch to His people. The connection is an echo of the Branch / priest-king motif rather than a citation (Revelation quotes Gen 49:9, Isa 11, Dan 7, and Zech 12:10 here, drawing the same trajectory Zech 6:13 belongs to). Method: Promise-Fulfillment along the Davidic-Branch and priest-king Longitudinal Theme. The telos: the priest-on-the-throne is not merely a theological category resolved but a person to be worshiped — heaven's "new song" responds to the Lion-Lamb's dual office with adoration, so that seeing Christ unite royal power and priestly sacrifice issues not in moral resolve but in the everlasting savoring of the One who was slain and reigns.
Found via
G.K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (NIGTC); A New Testament Biblical Theology
