Revelation 5:1-15 Part 7
1) And I did see a scroll on the right of the One sitting on the throne
2) having been written front and back having been sealed with seven seals.
3) And I did see a mighty messenger announcing in a great sound, “who worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?”
4) And no one in the heaven or upon the earth or under the earth was enabled to open the scroll or to see it.
5) And I was weeping greatly because no one worthy had been found to open the scroll or to see it.
6) And one of the elders says to me, “don’t be weeping! Lo! The Lion from the Judah tribe, the David Root, did overcome to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
7) And in midst of the throne and of the four creatures and in midst of the elders I did see a lamb standing as slain, having seven horns and seven eyes which are the Spirits of God sending forth into all the earth.
8) And He did come and He takes from the right of the One sitting upon the throne.
9) And when He did take the scroll, the four creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each having a lyre and golden bowls filling with incense which are the prayers of the holy ones,
10) and singing new songs, saying “worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, for You were slain, and You did buy for God in Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
11) And You did make them a kingdom, and priests for our God, and they will reign upon the earth.
12) And I did see and hear a sound of many angels and the creatures and the elders around the throne, and was the number of them myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands
13) saying in a great sound, “worthy is the Lamb, the One slain, to receive the power and abundance and wisdom and might and honor and glory and praise.
14) And every creature which is in the heaven, upon the earth and under the earth, and upon the sea, and all things in them I heard saying, “the praise and the honor and the glory and the might into the ages of the ages to the One sitting upon the throne and to the Lamb”.
15) And the four creatures kept on saying “Amen”! And the elders fell down and paid homage.
In the prophecy of Zechariah, as the “Stone” laid in Zion by the very hand of God had “seven eyes”, so the Lamb of God, slain and standing in midst of the throne in John’s Revelation has seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God “sending forth” into all the earth, securing the domain of the King.
Here in John’s record we see the Son in His economic filiation – that is, His work as God’s eternally begotten – His work of atonement for the sin of the world, and in His work as King of the fifth and eternal Kingdom, and in His work of executing the terms of the old covenant. And He has seven eyes which are the Spirits of God “sending forth” into all the earth… proceeding from Father and Son!
The seven horns of the Lamb being the prophetic fullness of the prophets of old, the One “able” to loose the seals of the scroll, for He is the King of the fifth great kingdom. And His seven horns attests to His complete sovereignty over all His domain… a Kingdom which is unfailing and eternal.
And the seven eyes of the Lamb being the prophetic fullness of the prophets of old, the One “able” to loose the seals of the scroll, for Holy Spirit “sending forth” into all the earth is the “earnest” of complete victory over all His domain. Holy Spirit, Himself God, “proceeds” into all of the domain, pointing all to the Christ, and doing the work of bringing all things under the dominion of the King of Kings.
The One Who overcame the world; the One Who takes away the sin of the world, has been given all authority in the heavens and upon the earth. By His faithfulness to the will of His Father, the victorious Prophet, Priest and King has “saved” the entire creation.
Therefore He is the only One Who is “worthy” to take the scroll and open it and to loose its seals.
Therefore what John sees and records for us is the tightly compressed core, or marrow, of the Gospel of God concerning His Son. We see, first, the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ as the sacrificial Lamb of God for the sin of the world. Second, we see the victorious resurrection, ascension and crowning of the One Who has the horns of dominion. And lastly, in the seven eyes of the Lamb, we see the sending forth of Holy Spirit to do the work of subduing that dominion and pointing all of the domain to the One Who has saved it.
And now we are about to see Him take His Own Word and open its seals, which have been reserved until the last day. And John is about to observe that which is necessary to be done in quickness, for the time is near.
And, having seen it, John is to write it all and send it to all the Churches in order that they might anticipate these things and have confidence in the One about to do them; and that they might remain faithful and steadfast through it all – not acceding to the judaists in their midst, and not participating in the ritual idolatries and lusty lifestyle of the Romanists.
Verse eight:
“And He did come and He takes from the right of the One sitting upon the throne.”
John’s language is very specific here; and we need to remember that the record of the appearance of the Lamb has Him standing “in midst” of the throne. Also remember that the prophetic views that we’ve had from Daniel and from Ezekiel are of One Who has the appearance of the likeness of a man above and upon the throne.
So, in reading verse eight we have to take John’s language into close consideration; and we also have to remember our Biblical understanding of Triune God; and then there is remembering that, at the point of John’s sight of these things, our Lord had already ascended to the glory cloud/throne room and had already been crowned King of Kings having all authority in the heavens and upon the earth! And He is now the one Person of Triune God Who is now human! And the One Who is upon the throne in the heavens is, Himself, God; and He is One!
I know that’s a lot to grasp and hold together; but we just have to do the best we can!
But John says “…He did come….” That action of the Lamb is in the Greek aorist tense, indicating that the action was complete in the past. John did not put both of these actions in the Greek perfect tense like one would expect, for it would then read “and He comes and takes….” What John does say is “And He did come and He takes….” In other words, John uses two different tenses for two separate actions in the same sentence, indicating that the Lamb’s “coming” had been a completed action in the past; and now a positive, perfected action is taken with regard to the scroll which is “at the right of the One sitting…..” And all of this takes place “in midst” of the throne, for that’s where the Lamb is, according to John.
So, let me put this in God’s perspective for you, while not allowing our own time/space/dimensions-perspective to cloud what John records!
All three of the Persons of our One Triune God are here in the midst of the throne. Father, Son and Spirit are Himself God! What John sees is One in the likeness of a man. For God the Son is now God-man… humanity having arisen out of death and entered once, through the veil, the Royal High Priest, to occupy the throne of His Kingdom.
The Lamb slain, having made atonement for the sin of the world, is also seen in midst of the throne, having made atonement, and having come into the heaven (He did come….). His overcoming the world is shown to John in the prophetic “seven horns” of absolute dominion, and in His “seven eyes” in the sending forth of God the Spirit into all the earth.
The victorious Lamb of God, having come into the heaven having completed His work of atonement, takes the scroll from the right of the One sitting, Who is God-man – Father, Son and Spirit – Himself God.
So, what John is shown here, and what He records for the Churches, is the yet-unfinished work of our Lord Jesus Christ The Lamb of God. He has faithfully completed His work of atonement. He has entered the glory cloud and received the prophetic horns of absolute dominion of the fifth and eternal Kingdom; He has the prophetic seven eyes – sending forth of Holy Spirit into all the earth to effectuate the entire domain.
But at the time of John’s viewing of all of these things, our Lord has not yet loosed the seals of His Word and carried out the terms of the covenant (that’s yet to come… quickly)! That’s also His work. That’s His work that He told John was necessary to be done in quickness, for the time is near.
The terms of the covenant were explicitly laid out for Israel; and the prophets, through Israel’s history, prosecuted, or litigated, those terms. Israel never did obey God and keep His covenant; and she never did anticipate the Lamb of God Who was so precisely and unequivocally prophesied in the law of the sacrifices… and also in the clear words of the prophets.
Now, as John looks on, the work of Jesus Christ is to carry out the sentence upon the nation that has repeatedly and continually broken all the terms of that covenant. That’s His next work. Everything that He’s done up until the point when John sees Him has been faithfully accomplished, making Him “worthy” to take the scroll and to loose its seals. And now He is ready to do just that! The seals being the administration and implementation of the covenant sanctions against the adulterous nation that was so blessed with God’s covenantal love and faithfulness.
And the scroll which He now takes from the right of the One sitting contains the seals which, when loosed, constitute the sentence to be executed.
And because the Lamb of God Who made atonement for the sins of the world, and Who has the prophetic horns of absolute dominion, and Who has the prophetic eyes of Holy Spirit proceeding into all the earth, and Who therefore is worthy to take the scroll and to loose its seals, and Who does indeed take it from the right of the One sitting on the throne, (because of these things) the creatures around the throne begin worshipping Him.
And when He did take the scroll, the four creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each having a lyre and golden bowls filling with incense which are the prayers of the holy ones,
“and singing new songs, saying ‘worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, for You were slain, and You did buy for God in Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
And You did make them a kingdom, and priests for our God, and they will reign upon the earth.’”
Here in verses eight through ten the creatures in and around the throne burst into praise, prostrating themselves in adoration, and preparing to sing the “new songs” to Him.
The lyre is a harp-like instrument of many strings used for accompaniment to the new songs about to be sung. And I think it’s safe to say, in the lengthy exegetical process that we’ve undertaken so far, that the stringed instruments and the wind instruments that man uses to produce music are in some ways in the “likeness” of that which we find in the heaven. And the bowls of incense are the prayers of God’s people who are His elect in every nation.
As far as these bowls of incense are concerned, there are two “odors” in the Scripture which are pleasing to God the Father. One of which is the work of the Son in His being the sacrifice/exchange for the sin of the world. The odor of the whole-burnt offering of God the Son ascends to the nostrils of the Father, and He is pleased. And His wrath and anger are satisfied.
The other odor with which the Father is pleased has to do with the altar of incense in the tabernacle’s holy place… for it is the prayers of those for whom the whole-burnt offering is made. Those prayers of the “holy ones” ascend to the nostrils of the Father because of the work of the Son and God the Spirit, Who proceeds – or sends forth - from Father and Son.
King David clearly refers to the altar of incense in Psalm 142, when he says:
1) Yahveh, I have called upon thee; make haste unto me: Give ear unto my voice, when I call unto thee.
2) Let my prayer be set forth as incense before thee; the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
So the bowls of incense that are possessed by the creatures in the heaven, here in our text, are the reality from which the bowls of incense in the tabernacle were made, and that connects them to the work of Holy Spirit in drawing the Lord’s people to God in prayer.
And if I may, before we proceed to the “new song” of the creatures in the heaven, let me just say that if there should be no other reason for you to be predisposed to being alone, often, in prayer, then the reason ought to be that it is pleasing to God.
On the other hand, if being pleasing to God is of little concern to you, then it ought to be of great concern to you that it is of little concern! And the reason that it should be of great concern is that Holy Spirit proceeds – or sends forth – from Father and Son doing the work of submitting you and conforming you to that which IS pleasing to God. Now, there is much other work of God the Spirit in bringing the dominion of Christ into all the earth. But surely drawing us to God in prayer in the Name of Jesus is one of them.
Now, not only are the creatures in the heaven prostrating themselves before the Lamb, but John says they are singing “a new song”.
Please note that I have translated this in a different way than that which reads in the other translations. I am not completely certain of my translation, but the weight of it all I think is on my side. The common translations read “a new song”. Well, there’s no article there in the Greek text, so “a” new song isn’t indicated. And when you add the fact that there are clearly four distinct works, not “separate things”, but clearly distinct works being sung that the Lamb of God has, Himself, accomplished, then I think that’s fairly weighty evidence for the translation that’s in your text.
As you yourselves might infer from reading the text, there’s not any big theological issue involved here with either translation, since it matters little whether there is one new song (with four distinct parts) or four new songs; it’s just that when the text reads differently from all other texts, then you ought to know about it. In a minute or two we’ll spend the remainder of our time on the new song (or the four new songs) being sung by the creatures in and around the throne.
But first, I have just a few comments about how this is interpreted by modern day evangelicals (the “new songs”). And I introduce these comments to you with this: Pastor Rick Warren, who is the pastor of Saddleback Church in California, said in a recent article posted on a dot-com that: “There’s no such thing as Christian music. There are just Christian lyrics”, implying that any and all music is acceptable for worship as long as the lyrics were “Christian” – whatever that means.
And, further, many neo-pentecostals would even modify that statement (as bad as it is) by purposely eliminating from worship the great hymns and psalms of the Reformation! They’re too “solemn”, they say. So, the statement by Rick Warren, that all music is acceptable in worship, is reduced by anything that sounds “old” to neo-pentecostalism. Anything that’s loud and upbeat is peculiarly applicable to “the new songs” here in the Revelation. Anything else is the “old songs” (the solemn ones), and they’re no longer “appropriate” to Christian worship! How’s that for an interpretation of John’s record here in verse ten?
And as far as Rick Warren is concerned, regardless of the suitability of any “Christian lyrics”, if AC/DC or the Stones played at his Church on Sunday morning, due to the sheer decibel level what difference would the lyrics make?
But that, of course, isn’t the point. During my thirty some-odd years of preaching there have always been a number of “non-negotiables” (quite a few of them, as a matter of fact!). One of those is, “God is Who He says He is, and we are who He says we are; and we have to fit in to His Revelation, since all things are viewed from His perspective”. Another is, “it doesn’t matter what it is, everything is Theological”. And another… “any issue – every issue – has a Christian ethic”.
And a fourth non-negotiable (or maybe a sub-set of that last one) is that God defines what He Himself has made. There is no true and viable definition of anything – other than one that’s compatible with His definition; and that includes His definition of aesthetics – i.e. what is beautiful. So, beauty – as in music – is not in the eye or ear of the beholder… that is, unless the Beholder is God!
In other words, there is an ethic of aesthetics. Point three was, “every issue has a Christian ethic! And aesthetics is one of those issues. And since God is the author and creator of beauty, He gets to define it. So, it is God’s definition and use of beauty; and the creature isn’t at liberty to re-define it, or to use it in ways that are incompatible with God’s perception of it!
Therefore the “old song” versus “new song” argument of neo-pentecostals, or the “old fashioned sound” versus the “cool and up-to-date sound” argument, or the “any music as long as the lyrics are Christian” argument, are thoroughly out-classed by God’s perception of His Own creation.
Just remember that it is Holy Spirit’s work, as He “sends forth” into all the earth from Father and Son, to conform us in such a way that we think God’s thoughts after Him. And since God has made all things – including beauty – He gets to define them. And any controversy about the nature of beauty that confines itself to a “matter of taste or preference” leaves God’s thought completely out of the equation.
But let’s move on now to the new song, or the four “new songs”, being sung in praise and honor of One Who is “able” to take the scroll and to loose its seals. And first we need to see that the new song, and the reason for the new song, is prophesied exactly seven times in the older Scripture. We’ll just look at one of them for now. And it is from Psalm 98:
1) O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
2) The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.
3) He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
As you can hear, all of this is in the perfected Hebrew tense, as having already occurred. And it is a song of the victory of His strong right arm, Who is, of course, His Son. And as a result of that victory, all the ends of the earth have seen His salvation.
And let’s make mention of the fact that the “new song” to Yahveh is most certainly not absent from the older Scripture, being required of the saints of old by no less than six Psalms, and also by Isaiah in chapter forty-two. And all of them having to do with the victory of Yahveh over all His enemies.
This is something that neo-pentecostals never take into account due to their dispensational dismissal of the older Scripture. The seven occasions in those Scriptures are a non-issue for them, leading them to mis-interpret the two occasions in John’s Revelation – once here in our text, and once in chapter fourteen. These are the only two in the New Testament. And I think it’s easy to see that all nine of the events of a new song in Scripture (or songs), have to do with our Lord Jesus Christ and His further work of victory, as He looses the seals of His Word.
And that’s the subject of the first “song” here in our text, isn’t it? “Worthy are You to take the scroll, and to open its seals.” All of the creatures in and around the throne are singing praise and honor unto the worthy Lamb of God. And the subject is the scroll, which is the legal, covenantal document, revealed in part to the prophet Daniel, sealed by God Himself until the end, and having to do with the execution of the covenantal sanctions by the King of the fifth great Kingdom!
The One about Whom, and to Whom, they’re singing is the Lamb of God slain – and standing in midst of the throne with the seven horns of absolute dominion, He being the only One in the heavens and on the earth “able” to take this covenantal document and to loose its seals.
“You were slain, and You did buy for God in Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” That’s the second new song (or the second stanza of the new song).
As the first song was that of the One worthy to loose the seals of the covenantal document and execute the sanctions therein, this second song is one of redemption. The Lamb Who was prophesied in the law of the sacrifices was slain. And His shed blood bought for God out of every nation on earth.
Listen to the first two verses of Psalm 67:
1) God be merciful unto us, and bless us, And cause his face to shine upon us;
2) That thy way may be known upon earth, Thy salvation among all nations.
And Isaiah 66:18:
“…the time cometh, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and shall see my glory.”
And from the prophecy of Haggai, chapter two:
6) For thus saith Yahveh of hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
7) and I will shake all nations; and the precious things of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith Yahveh of hosts.
The new song sung is to the praise and honor of the One Who did shed His blood and did buy, for God, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation! It is the atonement, wrought by the Lamb of God in fullness of the prophetic Word; the work of God the Son Who did shed His blood in exchange for the elect out of every nation on earth. So the second song is the song of redemption.
The third song is this: “You did make them a kingdom, and priests for our God.” This is the song of the Royal Priesthood. The Lamb of God (the God-man), by rising up out of death and ascending through the veil to the judgment seat, has secured the elect for whom He has made atonement. By entering one time into the Holy of Holies, He is the Royal High Priest; and all for whom He shed His blood are now priests in His new holy temple… all prophesied in the law of the tabernacle.
And having received His crown as King of Kings, all those in the nations for whom He shed His blood are members of the King’s court (as promised to Abraham, and as promised to king David). This is all His work; this is what He has done! This is the song of the nation of priests and kings, all of whom will sit with Him on His throne, as He promised.
And that promise is the fourth stanza of the new song: “And they will reign upon the earth.” “They”, meaning the ones in all the nations, peoples, tribes and tongues for whom He shed His blood. “Will reign” is future tense, which is different from the completed work of the Lamb in the first three stanzas.
This fourth, you see, is the song of dominion…. The High Priest of the Church, and the King Whose Kingdom is high over every other kingdom, has a domain to be filled with vice-regents; and He has a Church which is to be filled with vice-priests. And all the earth is to be filled with the knowledge of God as every part of His domain is subdued. For the eyes of the Lamb of God are “sending forth” into every part of that domain.
These are the reasons the Lamb of God is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals. And this is the reason for the prophesied “new song”. The song has to do with the work of the Son – God’s Lamb. And the song is new because of its content – not because of its sound! The work of the Lamb is accomplished – as prophesied. That’s why the content is new; not because it sounds different!
The new content (the accomplished work of God the Son) shows the direction of all of history, doesn’t it? The redeemed of the Lord from every nation, tongue and tribe, already a nation of kingly priests, are moving, by Holy Spirit, toward the complete dominion of God’s creation. In Adam, it was lost. But in Christ Jesus, the second Adam, we are redeemed and restored to royal priesthood, in order that we might reign upon the earth!
We are promised ever-increasing victories in the definitive victory of Christ over all His domain (for He has overcome the world). And as we bring the Gospel and the Law of the King to fruition in all the earth, Holy Spirit will bring increasing rule and dominion to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
And we shall reign with Him forever and ever.