And when it took the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, having each a harp and golden bowls full of incenses, which are the prayers of the saints.
The Lamb takes the scroll, and heaven falls on its face. What follows is not silence but harps and golden bowls — and the verse tells us what fills the bowls.
He has not opened one seal yet. No judgment has fallen. Heaven bows first, and the order matters.
There is both worthiness and competency in Him to unfold the counsels of God. "Behold, I have come to do Your will," whatever it might be. The Lamb in the glory is the centre of worship. Notice, they worship before the seals are opened.
In the previous chapter the worship was for creation. Here the ground has shifted.
Now redemption was in question, and so the Lamb is the Object of worship. All gladly honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Indeed the Father refuses honour supposedly offered to Himself if the Son is not honoured.
What the elders hold in their hands tells us who they are.
The elders in heaven have harps and golden bowls full of odours, "which are the prayers of saints," This shows that they act as priests (Rev. 5:8)... They are doubtless the redeemed, including both Old and New Testament saints.
The number twenty-four reaches back into Israel's worship.
David first brought in the harp, setting apart the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for songs in the house of the Lord. These singers, like the priests, were divided into twenty-four groups. So the reference is clear, with that measure of difference which marks this book. Priestly and choral service are blended here in perfection.
Commentators differ on whether both companies hold the harps and bowls, or only the elders.
The two objects are not decoration. Each stands for a part of priestly work.
Priestly praise (the harp) and service (the bowls) are here united... "Golden bowls" mark their value and prove the high and holy service for which they are used. "Full of incenses." It is not one perfume, but many. The fragrance is full and varied. The "incenses are the prayers of the saints." Prayer on earth is incense in Heaven. We sometimes think our prayers are worthless. Ah! it is not so. God in His own matchless way and rich grace values our cries and pleadings, and they rise to Him as incense.
The elders are already in heaven, already singing praise. So whose prayers fill their bowls?
But who are those "saints" that pray? The elders, or the church, were in heaven, and in full choir of praise. Whose prayers then are these? They come from saints who will suffer when the church is above... They are in the place of adoration and praise, whereas prayer implies need. If they have to do with prayers, they are the prayers of others, not their own.
Another writer stops short of naming them, and still reaches the same conclusion.
Scripture does not tell us how the prayers of the saints are presented through them, or who these saints are. But this much is certain: the glorified saints do not need to pray. So we may well conclude that these odours are the prayers of the saints on earth.
There is a limit to this priestly work. Set it beside a later scene in chapter 8.
Notice here, that when the saints (Rev. 5:8) act as priests, they add no incense at all — it is privilege enough to have such a place, but they can add nothing. The odours are the saints' own prayers on earth. Here (Rev. 8:3) the Angel-High Priest adds much incense to give effect to the cry of the saints.
The bowls are full. That fullness says something about every prayer that ever seemed to go nowhere.
There are things His people suffer from that He never forgets. All their prayers are treasured up before God — their tears are put in His bottle and treasured up. What! the sorrow I have forgotten, has God written that down?... Not only does God remember my prayer; He puts it away on His own throne. It is like the pot of manna He wanted laid up, kept as a trophy of the way He carried His people through the wilderness... Is that said of the prayers of saints? Yes, not one of them lost.
The storing has an end in view.
Many of these saints left the world as martyrs. They praised a God who did not step in to rescue them from their enemies. Their prayers, at times, seemed unanswered and even unheard. At last their praise will be justified and their prayers answered.
- The Lamb first. Heaven worships the moment He takes the book, before one seal is opened. He is honoured for what He is worth.
- Priests, not angels. The twenty-four elders answer to Israel's twenty-four groups of priests. Their harps and bowls mark them out as the redeemed at priestly work.
- Two hands, two acts. The harp is praise; the golden bowl is service. The bowl's contents are named for us: incense that is the prayers of the saints.
- Prayers not their own. Prayer implies need. Saints already in heaven have none left, so the incense rises from saints still on earth.
- Nothing wasted. God stores every cry before His throne and answers every prayer at last. The saints add nothing of their own — the place itself is privilege enough.
And they sing a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open its seals; because thou hast been slain, and hast redeemed to God, by thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
Heaven's throne room holds a sealed scroll that no one can open, and a Lamb who steps forward and takes it. The song that follows tells us why He alone has the right, and it raises a question commentators still weigh: who are the redeemed it sings about?
An old law in Israel stands behind this scene.
In Israel there was a rule for buying back the inheritance, and also the heir or the person (Leviticus 25). If either an Israelite or his possession had been sold, it was his relative's duty and right to ransom him and it. Now Jesus has proved Himself our kinsman in both ways. The Son of God became the Son of Man, and so showed His kinsman nature. He died to purchase us and our inheritance by blood, and so showed His kinsman love... His blood as the Lamb slain gave Him the title to it. His strength as the Lion of the tribe of Judah must now give Him possession of it.
Why could heaven not sing this song before? Sin changed what praise must rest on.
Now that sin has come into the world, the creative glory of God is not enough, nor even the way He governs the world. Suppose He is to be glorified in some way other than pure judgment of His enemies. Suppose merciful goodness is to be shown in a world like this. Suppose a new song is to be sung in heaven. Then there must be redemption — and not by power only, but by suffering and blood.
Older translations read because where the ESV has for. Either way, the song traces His worthiness to one event.
As the Lion of the tribe of Judah He acts in power, but as the Lamb He was slain. Here the carrying out of God's plans of grace and glory goes back to the cross as its basis. "Because You have been SLAIN." Without the cross, Christ would have entered spheres of glory alone. Without it there could be no redemption for sinners. The cross is the grandest counsel of eternity and the grandest fact of time.
Does this mean the whole human race will be saved? One writer answers with careful distinctions.
There is no redemption of the race, but of persons out of it... Purchase is universal, and means a change of ownership. Redemption is special, and refers to a change of state. "Redeemed to God" — then we are His... Israel's redemption in the past was carried out by power; the redemption of sinners out of the race is by blood.
What divides people here divides them no longer there.
They may speak many languages on earth, but they will sing the one new song in heaven. They may belong to many nations, but they have only one Lord.
Redeemed people have always sung. So what makes this song new?
The praying time is over, the singing time has come... Until now the ransomed of the Lord had been on the way to glory, singing songs of redemption. But those songs looked forward to victory and the reign of glory. They were songs of hope. With the taking of the book their hopes will all be fulfilled, and the songs of hope will be changed to songs of victory... All heaven is occupied with the Lamb — "YOU are worthy," "YOU were slain," "YOU ransomed," and "YOU have made."
Some translations read "redeemed us"; others leave the pronoun out. Commentators differ on what that means. One holds the singers are still the redeemed, kept out of view:
The word "us" should probably be left out. Still, if so, the ones meant are the redeemed, represented by the twenty-four elders. They stay in the background, because they celebrate the worthiness of the Lamb rather than their own blessings in redemption.
Another argues the singers are praising God for a different company altogether:
The elders are so completely at rest about themselves that they can be taken up with others... They are speaking about the saints whose prayers they were offering... They show that in taking the heavenly saints above, He had not finished with His rich mercy. Even while He was judging, He would have a purchased people, who were to share the glory of the kingdom as a royal priesthood.
One difference between angels and the redeemed shows up here.
The angels, as has often been noted, say their praises; they do not sing them. It is only those who are redeemed, as Scripture everywhere shows, who can put their praise into song.
- Slain. The song gives one reason for the Lamb's worthiness, and it is not His power but His death.
- Worthy. His blood gave Him the title to the inheritance; His strength as the Lion will give Him possession of it.
- Bought. Purchase changes who owns you; redemption changes your state. God takes persons out of the race, not the race as a whole.
- Sung. Creation's glory drew worship; only redemption drew a song. Angels say their praise; the redeemed sing it.
- New. Songs of hope become songs of victory the moment the Lamb takes the scroll. Every line points to Him: You are worthy, You were slain, You ransomed, You have made.
and made them to our God kings and priests; and they shall reign over the earth.
The song around the throne moves from the Lamb's blood to what that blood bought. Two questions sit in this verse — who is the song about, and where will the reign happen?
The elders sing about a company on earth, not about themselves. Their own service explains why.
The elders do not sing of their own redemption, but that of a people on earth. Their priestly service was on behalf of others, so here their song is of the redeemed then on earth. They sing and celebrate the blessing of others, not their own. How unselfish! How free from jealousy!
Older Bibles read "us" and "we" here, so commentators differ over the right reading. One writer settles for "them" on the evidence of the copies, yet still ties the song to the redeemed themselves.
Though most manuscripts do read "us", a few copies leave it out — and the next verse supports those few. There the reading is certainly, "And have made them to our God, kings and priests, and they shall reign over the earth." … Who should care so much that men were redeemed to God by His blood, were made kings and priests, or should reign over the earth, as the redeemed themselves?
"Kings and priests" is not one honour said twice. The two words face opposite ways.
In kings, you have the expression of power from God downward; in the priests the privilege of approach to God upwards. As priests we approach God; as kings, we reign over the inheritance.
The words "a kingdom and priests" reach back to an offer God once made to Israel. That offer carried a condition.
Israel was promised, on condition of obedience, "you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Ex. 19:6). They failed to obey. Levi's special priesthood came in as the result of that failure. And since the priests belonged to this failed people, not even they could pass inside the veil. Grace has now given us as Christians that access to God which was denied to them.
Several writers argue for "over the earth" instead of "on the earth". Their case rests on how the Greek preposition works with words of ruling.
As far as the usage shows, with words of authority or rule the Greek word epi marks the sphere ruled over, and en marks the place where the ruler lived. … In the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, for example, en usually marks where the king lived, and epi the sphere he ruled. So the true rendering is "over," not "on." … The thousand-year reign is heavenly, but it is over the earth. Israel and the nations do not reign there; they are the ones reigned over.
This is more than a fine point of grammar. A heavenly reign still has a real centre of government on earth beneath it.
Jerusalem will become the capital seat of government on earth in the coming age of blessing (Jer. 3:17). The Jewish people, then all saved, will take the headship of the nations. But the heavenly saints shall reign "over" the earth, not on it. … They are not subjects of the kingdom; they are kings.
The tense matters. Even in heaven, in front of the Lamb, the singers put the reign in the future.
Their language is, "We shall reign," and not "we reign." They are waiting, just as the Lord Jesus Himself is waiting. They wait for one thing to happen: that His enemies be made the footstool for His feet.
And the ones who reign are people, not ideas. Some have tried to reduce the coming kingdom to the triumph of good principles.
It is written "they shall reign" (Rev. 5:10; 20:6); and I cannot confuse principles with persons. If we suffer, we shall reign. We are not principles. When we suffer, is it so that principles may reign? It would be a strange reward for me when I suffer to say that it is so that my principles may reign a thousand years.
The elders' song is not reserved for heaven.
Their new song (5:9) speaks of Christ's person ("you are worthy") and of Christ's work ("you were slain"). It also speaks of what His work has done for God ("you redeemed to God") and for us ("made us … kings and priests; and they shall reign over the earth"). Each of these four themes of the new song is already part of Christian worship today. In this sense the new song has already begun.
- Blood — the song's whole basis is the Lamb slain; every title in this verse is bought, not earned.
- Made — God offered Israel this place on condition of obedience, and Israel lost it. Grace now gives it: a kingdom and priests to God.
- Two directions — kingship is power flowing down from God; priesthood is access going up to God. One gift, both directions.
- Over — the reign is heavenly in place, earthly in sphere. The redeemed are not subjects of the kingdom; they are kings with Christ.
- Shall — the verb is future even in heaven. Real people, not principles, wait with Christ Himself for the day His enemies are put under His feet.
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.