9And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”
Revelation 5:9-10
I imagine some of you will challenge my claim in the title to this being the opening hymn in heaven. You will point me to Chapter 4 and the two songs with lyrics that are included in the chapter before this one. I expect that challenge since a number of you have picked up on things already to challenge me on. I don’t mind being challenged. Feel free to make your comments, especially on the issues which I know commentators have not commented on before me. What I say must be able to be substantiated. Some of you are no doubt wondering about my comments in the last Gem related to the 24 Elders and the 4 Living Beings representing the saints, the people of God. I have already had emails querying that. No problem, I realise that is a new perspective on the 4 Living Beings specifically, but I believe I am on solid ground when suggesting it. I will add some more proof for the thought/theory in this gem.
Another minor adjustment I have made in this Gem is to remove the numbers from your readers’ questions. As one person pointed out to me, “Re-numbering the questions after you deal with them is confusing. It would be better if they had no numbers, just the questions.” Your wish is my command. Here then are the remaining questions without numbers.
- Why is it always put as every tribe, language, people and nation?
- Does the order matter?
- What’s with the harps and bowls? I just don’t get it.
- Why is it called a new song when we have been singing those songs for a while now?
- Why does the Lamb receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and praise?
- Is there any significance to the order of these seven attributes?
- How can Jesus have more of any of these seven attributes when he already has all of them?
I feel this hymn (song) is highly significant; so too is the bracket of worship it inspires. Notice the way things happen after the Lamb steps forward and takes the scroll. In Chapter 4 from verse 9 we read the following:
Whenever the living beings give glory and honour and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say, “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.”
Revelation 4:9-11
This appears to be worship which sparks more worship. ‘Whenever the living beings give glory and honour . . . the twenty-four elders fall down and worship.’ One action inspires the next response. You can imagine a Mexican wave rolling around the stadium. Yes these are the words of songs we sing now, as Brian has asked with his question. We have taken those words from Scripture and turned them into songs. But notice in Chapter 4, they are not recorded in the text as songs.
Day after day and night after night they [the 4 Living Beings] keep on saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty—the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”
Revelation 4:8
And they [the 24 Elders] lay their crowns before the throne and say, “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honour and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.”
Revelation 4:10-11
Notice the text of what John wrote, records saying / say not singing / sang. We have turned them into songs which we now sing, but they were words of worship and praise spoken at the time of the action in Chapter 4. Hence my claim that the purple song above is the Opening Hymn in Heaven. Even more so when the Lamb steps forward and takes the scroll, that act unleashes exuberant worship which rolls on and on. I rest my case at this point, but there is more.
Now let’s look at this first Heavenly Hymn. Do you notice the difference between this and the utterances of worship recorded in Chapter 4? A glance at what I have quoted above from chapter 4 will demonstrate the focus of worship before this was on God’s existence and His creative acts. Do you see that the tone in chapter 5 has switched to the Lamb’s redemptive act on our behalf? Now look a little further in the text. Who is it who is singing the praise and worship of the Lamb, the One who has ransomed the people of God? It is not the angels, they haven’t been redeemed! Who is singing the First Heavenly Hymn? None other than the Four Living Beings and the Twenty-Four Elders. The angels don’t join them until the second song! Who are singing the Song of the Redeemed? Once again to make my point: The 4 Living Beings and the 24 Elders. Why? Because they represent the Redeemed! I have spent the time looking through over 50 reputable commentaries to check out what the experts think the Four Living Beings represent. I found nothing but confusion. The prime point of confusion was centred on what the Ox represented. Many experts said this is imagery that is too difficult to unravel, including the man I admire the most, Gordon Fee who writes:
Here all attempts to draw these images literally, rather than allowing them to spark the imagination, come crashing down, since they are thoroughly – and intentionally – an odd mixture of being. [Revelation, NCCS Series Page 72]
Gordon D Fee
I have told you Gem readers twice before, I think it is not only logical, but powerfully compelling to think of them as follows:
- Lion – who runs (the race) and doesn’t grow weary.
- Ox – who yields to the yoke and pulls his weight.
- Eagle – which rises on the thermals and looks into the sun, to the Son.
- Man / person – who has the intelligence to accept the Son’s offer of God’s righteousness.
What a perfect set of analogous examples.
Now look at the verse linked to the Four Living Beings and the Twenty Four Elders:
Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.
Revelation 5:8
Each one of the 4 Living Beings and 24 Elders held a harp and golden bowls of incense. Why? Harps are one of the first instruments invented (Gen 4:21). Harp music is associated with worship and soothes tormented spirits, you can find many verses which attest to that. But a Psalm also tells us:
I listen carefully to many proverbs and solve riddles with inspiration from a harp.
Psalm 49:4
What’s with the harps and bowls? I just don’t get it.
John’s written record in Revelation tells us the golden bowls are filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. These 28 people are representative of God’s saints, believers, the people of God and they each hold two emblems which are highly symbolic to God. The symbols of worship and prayers. Is it too much to think that the very ones who are holding the harps and the bowls of incense symbolising worship and prayer are the representatives of the people of God – the Redeemed? I think not. I think that is exactly who they represent. Little wonder that the 4 Living Beings and the 24 Elders are the ones chosen to sing the Song of the Redeemed before the Lamb.
Now allow me to point out something else from the heavenly song and answer one more of our remaining questions. Look at what these 28 representatives of the Redeemed are singing.
- 9“You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it.
- For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
- 10And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”
No wonder these 28 reps rejoice:
- They rejoice because the one who is worthy is able to break the seven seals and read the contents.
- They rejoice because the Lamb has redeemed mankind and paid the price of their sin. They know it; they feel it.
- Why are they redeemed? To make them a kingdom of priests and to reign on earth.
Time for our next remaining questions from Tim:
- Why is it always put as every tribe, language, people and nation?
- Does the order matter?
Isn’t it interesting that this list occurs 7 times throughout Revelation?
| Rev 5:9 | Rev 7:9 | Rev 10:11 | Rev 11:9 | Rev 13:7 | Rev 14:6 | Rev 17:15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tribe | Nation | Peoples | Peoples | Tribe | Nation | Peoples |
| Language | Tribes | Nations | Tribes | People | Tribe | Multitudes |
| People | Peoples | Languages | Languages | Language | Language | Nations |
| Nation | Languages | Kingdoms | Nations | Nation | People | Languages |
You can probably answer your own questions now Tim. Does this list of four elements really matter? You bet; they matter to God. God is all about reaching the whole world. His intent was always for every single soul to come to know Him intimately as their Creator and their Redeemer. That was, is and always will be His goal.
God is not the God of the Jews only, He is also the God of the nations.
Romans 3:39
Look at the match to the same thoughts in this verse and take note.
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9
Surely that gives you more motivation to sing the Song of the Redeemed. God is not parochial, He cares for the whole world. He is looking for a kingdom of priests to serve our God and reign on the earth. Do you see now why the Jasper and the Carnelian stones were important and mentioned in Revelation 4:3? Jasper is the first stone of the set of twelve stones on the high priest’s ephod while the Carnelian is the last one featured. Could it be John saw the full set and the first and the last were picked to highlight the destiny the redeemed have before them in the New Jerusalem, the City of God.
I should tell you something to shock you. Many think we are destined to live in Heaven. Up there in the sky somewhere. But that is not what the Bible teaches. Rather we are destined for the Life of the Age to Come or Eternal Life. The Greek term is zoe, eternal life. God is a restorer. He is into restoring things. There will be a renewed earth on which we will live the Life of the Age to Come. The Life of the Age to Come is LIFE as God originally meant life to be in all its fullness. LIFE as it was meant to be lived in Eden before sin entered the world. Eternal life will be lived in a restored earth not somewhere up there in the stratosphere beyond the clouds. No dear ones, heaven is not about sitting around on clouds playing harps and praying. How boring would that be! Oh please, no, not that. We are destined for so much more than that. God is restoring the image of Himself in us so that we will be equipped to rule and reign here on earth. You were meant to be a priest of God here on earth. The Song the Redeemed they are singing with the words recorded in Revelation 5:9-10 is the description of your inheritance. Far more practical and purposeful than playing harps and praying. Why will you need to pray when you will be able to talk to God as He is right there among you? He is now; He lives within you. You can learn to hear His voice now.
If you are going to make it to Eternal Life you need to persevere now in the midst of suffering here on earth. You need to hold on tight to the Lamb of God and go through the hard times. The message to the churches of Revelation is the same message we need to hear. It is a surprise when we realise we need to listen to the same message given consistently to the saints of the First Century churches in the Roman Province of Asia. That is why this same message was preached to the ‘Magnificent Seven’. We are no different and we NEED the same message. That is why the ones who represent the Redeemed, the followers of Christ who will make it through, are those who hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches and persevere to the end! Oh there is more to come but I will leave you with one more verse before the quotes at the end of the Gem.
You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.
Matthew 7:13-14
Don’t worry, heaven is not stereo-typed by us sitting around on clouds, playing harps and praying! Aren’t you relieved?
Ian
Doubt wonders, “Have I done enough to go to heaven?” Grace answers, “No, you haven’t. But Jesus has on your behalf.”
Max Lucado
No one is fit to comprehend heavenly things until they have surrendered themselves to suffer adversity for Christ.
Thomas á Kempis
Until We Reject Worldly Behaviour, The Promises Of Heaven Are Just Beyond Our Reach.
Robb Thompson