Sunday School Notes; Revelation 5:11-14

¹¹ And I saw and I heard the sound of many angels encircling the throne and the living creatures and of the elders, and their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands ¹² saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” ¹³ And every creature which is in heaven and upon the earth and under the earth and in the sea and all things in them I heard saying, “To the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb [be] blessing and honor and glory and power [or might] for ever and ever.” ¹⁴ And the four living creatures said, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

After the elders sing their new song declaring the mighty work of God in the conquest of the Lamb who was slain to purchase his people, the worship rises to a whole new level. Suddenly, John sees and hears an incredibly large number of angels circling the throne singing the praises of the One on the throne and the Lamb. The first thing to notice is that despite the huge quantity of angels, he hears only one single voice or sound. This is not a cacophony of babble, with each angel singing his own song, resulting in an indecipherable noise. Rather, they sing as one, a single voice with a single message that John is quite capable of understanding. (This is, perhaps, contrasted in Daniel 7:11 by the many voices of “the beast”?)

Second, we talked about the number of angels. The Greek speaks of “myriads of myriads” (muriades muriadôn). The term “myriad” can refer to a group of ten thousand, or to countless thousands. It might seem a bit redundant, therefore, to say “myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands” but the point is not to present a specific number. John is trying to give us a picture of a vast quantity of angels filling the throne room, encircling the throne, all singing God’s praises. Where did all these angels come from all of a sudden? It doesn’t matter! This is a vision, so we don’t have to wonder where they were hidden away. What matters is that they are there joining the song of the creatures and the elders. Indeed, this picture of myriads of angels praising the Lamb is another echo from Daniel 7, this time from Daniel 7:10. Once more we are reminded that what Daniel saw in part, John now sees more fully.

In verse 12, the angels sing “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain…” I translated the Greek “slaughtered” above to draw the connection again with the Passover Lamb, and the sacrificial offering that saved God’s people from death. The Greek verb can have either meaning, “slain” or “slaughtered.” The Lamb is worthy “to receive power and riches…”–the verb “receive” is translated “take” in verse 9, speaking of the Lamb taking the scroll. Again, the Greek verb can have either meaning, and context determines which is most appropriate. In verse 9, the Lamb taking the scroll demonstrated his worthiness to open it. Here, the Lamb doesn’t take power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing; these are things he receives because he is worthy of them, so “receive” is the better translation.

We noted a couple of points about the things the Lamb receives. First, there is a parallel list in 1 Chronicles 29:11-12. The context is the anointing of David’s son, Solomon, to succeed him. It talks about the Temple that Solomon will build, so there is a worship context to this. David prays, and in his prayer he ascribes to God greatness, power, glory, victory, majesty, riches, and honor. It’s interesting that these same attributes are given by the angels to the Lamb–another clear presentation of the deity of Christ. Someone in the group also pointed out that there are seven attributes mentioned. We’ve talked about how the number seven signifies completion, fullness, or perfection, so this could be saying that the Lamb has these attributes completely, or fully.

Then, in verse 13, all creation joins in the singing. John doesn’t say that he saw them, which makes sense since creatures in heaven (or “in the sky”), on earth, under the earth, and in the sea are joining the song, but he certainly heard them. We are reminded of the fact that all creation will one day acknowledge the Lordship of Christ and bow the knee to him (Philippians 2:10-11). One might wonder how it is that the Lamb is receiving praise from creation at this point, since he hasn’t yet opened the scroll. In other words, the judgments and promises haven’t yet been initiated, so how is it that creation is now praising Christ–isn’t that supposed to happen at the end?

We need to bear in mind that this is a vision, so there may or may not be a strict chronology. I think what we’re seeing here is a reminder of who Christ is prior to opening the scrolls. What we’re going to see over the coming chapters of Revelation is not pretty, and it involves suffering and calamity, not only for the world, but particularly for the church. Before we get into that, it’s important that we understand and remember who Christ is, since he is the one who sits in judgment and initiates all these things. In a way, the Prologue to John’s Gospel (1:1-18) parallels this. In that Prologue, John tells us that the Word was there in the beginning, and he was with God and he was God, and that Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He goes on to speak of the fact that he, John, beheld his glory, and how the Word came to his own but his own didn’t receive him. But those who did receive him were given authority to be children of God, born of the Spirit. These are all things that the reader will eventually see in the Gospel, but John wants his readers to understand this about Jesus ahead of time to help them make sense of what they will read, and to keep them focused on what’s really important. Revelation 5 shows us who the Lamb is in his entirety, conflating the past, present, and future into one scene so we get a full-orbed picture of the risen Christ in all his glory. This will help us navigate through the things we are about to read.

Someone pointed out that the creatures’ song mentions four things (“blessing and honor and glory and power [or might]”). Again, this may be significant. The number four is another oft-repeated number, and could signify the worldly domain (four winds, four ends of the earth, four creatures representing the created order). Perhaps this is underscoring the fact that all creation–including all animals, and even the enemies of God–recognize who the Lamb is and acknowledge his authority.

The living creatures then say “Amen”–a term that simply affirms what has been said. But the elders go one step further: they fall down and worship the Lamb. This is yet another example of the qualitative difference between the created order and God’s people. Creation understands who Christ is, and bows to his Lordship and authority. But God’s people have a relationship with the Lamb, by and through which they worship him. Also notice that the Lamb doesn’t refuse their worship.

Next time, we will start chapter six: the opening of the scroll and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!