The Lamb Worthy to Open the Scroll: Part 6 of 7 (series: Lessons on Revelation)

by John Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)

I don’t believe that I could remind you too often that He purchased redemption for you through His precious blood, we have been made kings and priests (1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 20:5, 6), “AND WE SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH. Let me urge you to keep in mind this fact: You are somebody if you are born again. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, you are a royal priesthood, you are a king, and you need not bow before any two-legged human being and confess your sins to him. There is one Mediator between God and men—the Man Christ Jesus—and you may rest assured that He will mediate between you and God the Father.

Let me put it this way: the best is just ahead. Believers, we have much to look forward to, and not anything to worry about if we believe (Romans 8:28, 31). All things work together for good to them that love the Lord, to them who are the called according to His purpose. If God be for us, who can be against us? Therefore, we know we are on the winning side, and all the glories of Heaven are just ahead. It cannot be long, it must be soon!

11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

John’s vision widens so that he sees and hears the adoration of the innumerable voices of the angels of heaven, who speak as if they were one voice. They stand in a great outer circle around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and they begin their song. We have repeatedly seen how John takes his language from the Old Testament and here there is in his memory David’s great thanksgiving to God: “David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying: “Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all” (1 Chronicles 29:10-12).

You will note that the angels are not singing. We hear a lot about angels singing, but the Bible does not tell us that they sing. I know of only one place in Scripture where angels are said to sing; it was at the time of creation—“while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy” (Job 38:7). The morning stars here are angels, but their song was silenced when sin entered and spoiled the beauty of the original creation. From that time we never again hear of angels singing. Angels speak, as did a host of them at Christ’s birth, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). Now in Heaven John saw and heard them praising the Lamb but not with singing.

These numbers are not meant to be the equation for a specific quantity, but are instead a description of the vastness of those in the vision. The phrase “THOUSANDS OF THOUSANDS” is more literally “myriad upon myriad.” The word “myriad” was used by the Greeks to describe something too great to count. Today, we might think of “billions upon billions.” This is the entire Angelic host. Daniel saw a similar vision: “Millions of angels ministered to him and a hundred million stood to attend Him” (Daniel 7:10).

12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

The song of the living creatures and of the elders told of the work of Christ in His death; now the angels speak of His worthiness and of the possessions of Christ in His Glory. Seven great possessions belong to the Risen Lord. The first four descriptive words are qualities of Jesus: “POWER, RICHES (wealth), WISDOM, AND might (STRENGTH).” The last three describe the response to Jesus: “HONOR, GLORY, AND PRAISE (BLESSING).”

To Him belongs the “POWER.” Paul called Jesus, “Christ the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). He demonstrated his power in creation (Colossians 1:16); in maintaining an orderly universe (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3); over demons (Mark 5:1-20); over disease (Mark 5:25-29); and over death (Mark 5:35-43). He is not one who can plan but never achieve; to him belongs the power. In Heaven all men and angels yield to His authority. We can say triumphantly of him: “He is able.”

To Him belongs the “RICHES.” The Bible says, “He was rich” (2 Corinthians). “Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Paul speaks of “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). There is no promise that Jesus Christ has made that He does not possess the resources to carry out. There is no claim on Him which He cannot satisfy.

To Him belongs the “WISDOM.” Paul calls Jesus Christ “the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). He has the wisdom to know the secrets of God and the solution to all the problems of life. We Christians know that Christ is made unto us wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30). Hardly a day goes by without our having to turn to Him for wisdom, and we know that He always gives it to us liberally (James 1:5). In Heaven, all wisdom is attributed to Him.

To him belongs the “STRENGTH.” Satan is strong but Christ is able to bind Him (Matthew 12:29) and He will bind him (Revelation 20:2). Christ is the strong one who can disarm the powers of evil and overthrow Satan (Luke 11:22. In Heaven all men and angels acknowledge Him as the source of their strength.). There is no situation with which He cannot cope.

To him belongs the “HONOR.” Christ is honored in Heaven but dishonored on earth. In Heaven he is praised, while on earth He is blasphemed. He is crowned with honor (Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:7, 9) and clothed with honor (Psalm 104:1). The day is coming when every knee shall bow to Him and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord (Philippians 2:11). A strange thing is that even those who are not Christian often honor Christ by admitting that in His teaching alone lies the hope of this distracted world.

To Him belongs the “GLORY.” As John has put it: “We beheld his glory, from Glory as of the only Father full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Glory is that which by right belongs to God alone. To say that Jesus Christ possesses the Glory is to say that He is divine.

To Him belongs the “BLESSING.” To bless means to make happy. The Psalmist called upon the whole man to make Him happy when he said, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, blessed His holy name and bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not His benefits” (Psalm 103:1-2). There is the inevitable climax of it all. All these things Jesus Christ possesses, He uses in the service of the men for whom he lived and died; He does not keep them for himself. And why shouldn’t He, inasmuch as He created all things?

Therefore, their rises to Him from all the redeemed thanksgiving for all that He has done. And that thanksgiving is the one gift that we who have nothing can give to Him who possesses all.

13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

Now the chorus of praise goes so far that it cannot go farther, for it reaches throughout the whole of the universe and the whole of creation. Every creature joins with the innumerable amount of worshippers in the singing. There is one vast song of praise to the Lamb. We may denote one very significant thing. In this chorus of praise God and the Lamb are joined together. Nothing could better show the height of John’s conception of Jesus Christ. In the praise of creation, he sat him by the side of God.

In the song itself, there are two things to know.

The creatures which are in heaven add their praise. Who are they? More than one answer has been given and each is lovely in its own way. It has been suggested that the reference is to the birds of the air; the very singing of the birds is a song of praise. It has been suggested that the reference is to the sun, the moon and the stars; the heavenly bodies are praising God by their shining. It has been suggested that the praise gathers up every possible being in heaven—the living creatures, the elders, the myriads of angels and every other heavenly being.

The creatures which are beneath the earth add their praise. That can only mean the dead who are in Hades, and here is something totally new. In the Old Testament, the idea is that the dead are completely separated from God and man and live a shadowy existence. “In death there is no remembrance of thee; in Sheol who can’t give thee praise?” (Psalm 6:5). “Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? What profit is there in my death if I go down to the pit?” (Psalm 30:9). “Dost thou work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise thee? Is thy steadfast love declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in a abaddon? Are thy wonders known in the darkness or thy saving help in this land of forgetfulness?” (Psalm 88:10-12). “For Sheol cannot thank thee, death cannot praise thee; those that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy faithfulness” (Isaiah 38:18).

The day is coming when “EVERY CREATURE WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, AND ON THE EARTH, AND UNDER THE EARTH, AND SUCH AS ARE IN THE SEA, AND ALL THAT ARE IN THEM, HEARD I SAYING, BLESSING, AND HONOUR, AND GLORY, AND POWER, BE UNTO HIM THAT SITTETH UPON THE THRONE, AND UNTO THE LAMB FOR EVER AND EVER.