Nuggets
- An angel choir joined in the worship service with a song of their own.
- The choir expanded in the third hymn to be sung by all creation.
The elders and the living creatures started the worship service. But they weren’t the only ones in attendance.
John recorded a song sung by the angels. Then, he told us about the song sung by creation.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the Worshiping the Lamb Who Was Slain series
The Song of the Angels
“Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’” (Rev. 5: 11-12 ESV)
An angel choir joined in the worship service with a song of their own.
I cannot wait to get to Heaven and hear all the multitude of angels singing praises to the Lamb. There are thousands of thousands of them.
What does it sound like? I think we can hook this with Revelation 19: 6. “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, ‘“Hallelujah! …’” (Rev. 19: 6 ESV).
The angels formed another circle around the Lamb, elders, and living creatures. It is like they are standing guard.
We shouldn’t think that makes them second-class citizens. Johnston contended that they are standing equally around the throne as the elders and living creatures are.
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There is just more of them, necessitating a position a little further back. The position does not carry any semblance of rank.
Sometimes, I think we consider the angels are the worker bees. They probably do work.
But they take time to praise the Lamb.
Worthy Is the Lamb
The angels know that the Lamb is worthy.
Isn’t that amazing if we think about it? The angels – most of them – have always been faithful to God. The ones who weren’t have been banished from Heaven.
Jesus didn’t redeem the angels. They didn’t need redemption. They never sinned.
In a way, we can say that it isn’t personal for them – not like it is for us. We need redemption – they don’t.
They praise anyway! “… ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’” (Rev. 5: 12 ESV).
The angels know the magnitude of the Lamb’s sacrifice. They understand the importance of why it needed to be done.
Look at what Balmer said. He wrote, “I might remark that, allowing He has conferred on angels higher capacities and higher joys, our happiness has been procured by Him at a price far more costly.”
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We know what the psalmist said. “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet” (Ps. 8: 3-6 ESV).
We are below the angels, but God paid a higher price for us.
But we can’t forget that the angels are adding their voices to the elders, who had been redeemed. “… ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation’” (Rev. 5: 9 ESV).
Heaven is all about unity. Everyone who acknowledges God as Sovereign Lord and Jesus as Savior and Redeemer can worship the Lamb.
The angels ask that the Lamb receive a bunch of things. Kennedy talked about why the angels included things that ran the gamut. He wrote, “This seems to include everything that mind can conceive of supreme ownership and control. They lay the universe down at His feet.”
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Yes, that is right. We are to give everything to God. We aren’t supposed to keep anything under our own control.
We are to give everything to the Lamb.
We have confidence to do that because the Lamb is in control of everything. He is in control because of Who He is.
But that sounds like it is what we give to Jesus. What does Jesus get?
Power
We know that Jesus has already been given authority. “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’” (Mt. 28: 18 ESV).
This also falls in line with what Daniel said. “And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7: 14 ESV).
Wealth
We know that Jesus gave up everything to come to earth to be our Savior. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (II Cor. 8: 9 ESV).
Jesus received it back when He returned victorious. Maybe this is the angels asking that He get it back.
Wisdom
Jesus is wisdom.
“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (I Cor. 1: 27-31 ESV).
Did Jesus lay down some of His wisdom to come to earth? Maybe. Again, this may be restoring Him to His full wisdom.
Might
Jesus suffered for us. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (I Pet. 3: 18 ESV).
We know Jesus did not lose any of His righteousness. However, it may have taken something out of Him to see all of the sin up close and personal.
Honor
Jesus accomplished a great feat when He completed the Plan of Salvation. He was the only One Who could do it. He was the only perfect Lamb.
That means Jesus deserves all the honor that can be bestowed on Him. Part of the honor is taking His place at the right hand of God.
Glory
Sometimes, we think that glory and honor are synonyms. They really aren’t. Glory is the outward show of the essence of God — His majesty, splendor, and beauty — representing the attributes of God resulting from the authority and holiness of God.
The writer of Hebrews talked about this.
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs” (Heb. 1: 1-4 ESV).
Blessing
I think this is a segue into the song of creation. Jesus is blessed by everyone bowing down to Him.
The Song of Creation
“And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped” (Rev. 5: 13-14 ESV)
The choir expanded in the third hymn to be sung by all creation.
This is why I have trouble seeing Revelation in a chronological way. It isn’t just all creatures in Heaven and earth joining in the song.
It is the dead ones, too. “And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them …” (Rev. 5: 13 ESV).
That would make this occurring after the Day of the Lord. All of creation is not going to bow to Him until then.
- “So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2: 10-11 ESV).
- “For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God’” (Rom. 14: 11 ESV).
- “By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance’” (Isa. 45: 23 ESV).
We were created to worship God. That is what we are going to do throughout eternity. We will be singing the songs of Heaven, not necessarily the songs of earth.
More importantly, we will be seeing the Lamb in the midst.
The four living creatures – who may or may not be the Cherubim – close the hymn with a hearty Amen. Just think of the vocal symphony that will be!
Making the Connections #1
Well, maybe I had better take back what I said about this occurring after the Day of the Lord. (This is a learning process for me, too.)
Look in Hebrews. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb. 12: 22-24 ESV).
Whoever the writer was, and whoever his audience was, he was using the present perfect tense. He was hooking what was happening then to what had happened in the past.
The Wilderness Wanderers got to Mt. Sinai. God told them to get ready to worship.
- Consecrate themselves that day and the next (Ex. 19: 10).
- Wash their garments (Ex. 19: 10).
- Be ready for the third day (Ex. 19: 11).
- Set limits for the people all around (Ex. 19: 12).
- Do not engage in sexual activities (Ex. 19: 15).
Then comes the important verse. “The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain …” (Ex. 19: 20 ESV).
The writer of Hebrews said that we should expect that same presence in our corporate worship service.
When you go to worship, do you just step foot in the church at [insert your town and state], or do you go to New Jerusalem, Heaven?
Well, I’ve always heard, “Father, be present on this place.” God, come down to us.
God does.
But is that keeping it just earthly worship? We are told to worship God in spirit and in truth (Jn. 4: 24).
Doesn’t that mean we should go to Him and join in the heavenly song? We’ve said before that eternity has already started.
Making the Connections #2
We gain holiness and righteousness through praising the Lamb.
Look what Kennedy said. He wrote,
“The song of creation and the song of providence will both embrace these attributes [holiness and righteousness] in tones of varied praise. But the song of redemption will speak of them with a fulness and emphasis all its own. Both Sinai and Calvary will be summoned to bear witness that God is a holy and righteous God.”
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That is our goal – to be like a holy and righteous God. Praising the Lamb for Who He is shows us how we are to be.
Lay down our lives? Maybe.
Be obedient? Definitely!
Making the Connections #3
“Oh, I don’t like the music. I wish we would just get to the sermon.”
“I can’t stand the sermon. I wish we could just sing the whole time.”
“I’m not into Bible reading. The Pastor should just talk about how to apply things to my life.”
And these people think they would enjoy Heaven?
We are not told in Revelation that there will be any sermons preached. We are told that there will be music – singing and instrumental. The themes in the Bible come straight from Heaven.
Will God pick up our worship service and drop it into Heaven? No.
God will drop us into the worship service that is already being held in Heaven.
Remember, this life is a training ground. If we can’t learn to love it here, we won’t get there.
Making the Connections #4
What is so important for us hear the songs of the elders along with the living creatures, the angels, and creation?
One of the whole purposes of God giving the message of Jesus to John was to warn the Church. Tribulation was and is coming.
The Church was and is going to suffer.
I know. We hate to hear that. We want smooth sailing. We definitely don’t want the pain and fear associated with suffering.
But suffering plays an important part in our sanctification. It is only through suffering that we truly know who we are and what we truly believe. It shows us what needs to be changed to be more like God.
How Do We Apply This?
- Sing about redemption to remind us we need redemption.
- Realize our worth – we are suitable of being redeemed.
- Obey God and the Lamb so we can truly worship Them.
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Father God. Jesus deserves all the praise and worship that we can give Him. Help us to worship Him correctly. Remind us that we are joining in the worship service already going on in Heaven. We can’t wait until the day we can participate in it by being there. Amen.
What do you think?
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