And I saw, and I heard [the] voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and their number was ten thousands of ten thousands and thousands of thousands;
John has just watched the Lamb take the sealed book, and heard the redeemed sing a new song about it. Now the view widens. A second voice joins in — a host so large that John can only count it in thousands upon thousands.
Angels appear here for the first time in this heavenly scene. One writer asks why the previous chapter says nothing about them.
How is it that no angels appear in Revelation 4? And why do we have them in Revelation 5? God's ways that Scripture speaks of always have the wisest reason behind them, and the Spirit encourages us to ask humbly and with trust. Here is what it seems to point to. The Lamb takes the book into His hands and prepares to open the seals, and this marks a change of administration. Up to that point in time angels have carried out God's power for Him. When judgment was in view, or any other unusual act of His, angels were the instruments.
The numbers here are not a count. One writer notes what this crowd knows, as well as how large it is.
Here we have an indefinite, uncountable number of angelic beings who seem well acquainted with the history of the sorrows of the Saviour.
The order of the words in the verse matters.
Notice that these myriads of worshipping angels form, if we may put it that way, the outer circle of the heavenly hosts. They are around the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders. By His indescribable grace, God brings the redeemed, who are in Christ, into a nearer place than created beings that have never fallen from their perfect state as creatures! This is a well-known truth, but how little we grasp it in power.
Another writer adds what else marks the difference.
There the angels are "around the throne and the living creatures and the elders." That is, they form an outer circle, and so stand further from the throne. They do not sit on thrones or wear crowns on their heads, as kings and priests to God. God keeps those honours for the redeemed alone, since He has not put the world to come under angels.
The elders sing. The angels answer, but they do not sing. Commentators treat that difference as more than a matter of style.
In the response of the angelic hosts to the song of the redeemed they say, whereas the elders sing. This is more than a difference in words. Angels know the Lamb, but they cannot say "He was slain for us." We know Him in a deeper, fuller, more personal way than angels do. He died for us, not for them. So the difference: we sing, they say. Angels are never said to sing. Notice, too, that the elders in their song speak straight to the Lamb, while the angels, in keeping with their place and service, use a more distant form of address. The elders sing to Him; the angels speak about Him.
Another writer traces the difference to the angels' untroubled history.
Their peaceful lives never change, and sin has never touched them, so they have no varied tones for melody. The harps we will have above are tuned down here, where the Davids, marked out by their sufferings, are the sweet singers of Israel. This is the wonderful and eternal fruit of earth's sorrow, though by God's grace alone: the redeemed among men will be the choir of heaven!
Being outside the inner circle is not the same as being far off.
Redemption has therefore added to the angels' praise. It is not to the Creator only. And in this new praise, a new element of blessing, a new grasp of God, has entered their hearts. They are nearer, though in this outside circle, than they have ever been before. In truth, though in some sense outside, our earthly idea of distance fails to carry the thought. There may be larger and smaller measures of understanding, but real distance between the creature and the Creator is the one impossibility in heaven.
- Change — when the Lamb takes the book, the administration changes hands; until then angels carried out God's power.
- Circle — the angels stand around the throne, and around the living creatures and elders. That places them in the outer ring.
- Nearness — grace has set redeemed sinners closer to the throne than beings who never fell.
- Song — the elders sing to the Lamb; the angels only speak about Him, because they cannot say "He was slain for us."
- Gain — redemption enlarges even angelic praise. They praise Him for redemption, not creation only, and stand nearer than ever before.
saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that has been slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
The scene is heaven's throne room, and the Lamb who was slain has just opened the book of God's purposes. Countless angels now name Him worthy of seven things — and the reason for all seven is His death.
Heaven does not praise a vague greatness. It praises a title — and that one word shapes the whole book:
This title is dear to our hearts. It is almost entirely connected with the book of Revelation. It is surely meant to show the special character in which the One who bears it is presented there. Noticing this may give a useful key to that wonderful book. It may be "called the book of the rights of the Lamb." Certainly, all the details and principles of its prophetic part are tied to this title. … He alone is declared worthy to receive the whole tribute of the universe and to become the centre of its universal praise.
The list is not random. Its length is the point:
Notice also that they proclaim the Lamb worthy to receive seven things. That is, He is worthy to receive all things. It is the ascription to Him of all possible exaltation, dominion, and blessing.
Each item in the list has a history in human hands, and each one changes hands here:
Man has perverted power to his own ends. It will come into Christ's hands to carry out God's will. Man has abused riches to advance unholy plans and selfish desires. They come to Christ, for the service of God. All the millionaires' millions, all the wealth of mines, all the resources of the earth will come to Christ. He will manage them according to God's will. Wisdom will be at His disposal… Strength — long used to crush the weak — will be His. Honour has long gone from man to his fellow man; God will give it to Christ. Glory has only been stained by corruption and lust in the fallen creature; it will find its right centre in the Person of the Lamb once slain. Blessing was lost only when entrusted to sinful Adam or any of his race; it will be put into the hands of the Second Man, the last Adam, where it will never, never fail.
The One heaven crowns is the One earth condemned, and that contrast runs through the whole list:
Men have paid homage to one another, and dishonoured the Lamb. They have enthroned man, and crucified the Lamb. The day is coming when all will see that the Lamb alone is worthy to receive all power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory, and blessing. He alone is worthy to receive them all, for He alone will use them for the glory of God.
The angels praise beside the elders, who stand for the redeemed. The two groups do not praise on the same ground:
But there is a great difference between this worship of the angels and that of the elders. The angels look at His "obedience unto death." They acknowledge that it is as the slain Lamb that He is entitled to receive glory and blessing. But they say nothing about redemption. For the angels, the central object in the cross is the perfect obedience shown there. For the elders, it is the redeeming work accomplished there.
Writers also note the difference in how the praise is offered: the angels say their praise, while only the redeemed can sing it (Edward Dennett).
For now, believers hold His worth quietly, against opposition on every side. That will change:
How the heart's joy grows at the thought of that day! Then the worthiness of the Lamb will no longer be a secret carried weakly in the heart of the saint, contradicted and denied on every side. Evil will be removed by the hand of Power. Every eye will gaze upon His beauty, every heart will acknowledge His claims, and every voice will echo back His worthy praise!
- Slain. Heaven gives one reason for His worthiness: His death. He is the Lamb who was slain, and that title governs the whole book.
- Sevenfold. Seven items means all items. Every possible exaltation, dominion and blessing goes to one Person.
- Reversed. Man has abused power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing. Each one passes to the Lamb, who will use them for God.
- Sung. The redeemed sing of redemption. The angels speak of His obedience unto death. One chorus, two grounds.
- Soon. Faith confesses His worth now, against contradiction. Then every eye and every voice will confess it in the open.