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.
Worship Begins When the Lamb Takes the Book
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.
Who the Twenty-Four Elders Are
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.
Harps and Bowls: Praise and Service
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.
Whose Prayers Are These?
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.
What the Priests May Not Add
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.
Nothing Prayed Is Ever Lost
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.
Summary
- 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.