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REVELATION - Behold, I am Coming Soon
Studies in the Book of Revelation
BOOK 2 - THE ENTHRONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST (REVELATION 4:1 - 6:17)
PART 2.2 JESUS CHRIST IS ENTHRONED BY GIVING HIM THE SEALED SCROLL (REVELATION 5:1-14)

3. All Creatures Worship the Lamb (Revelation 5:8-14)


If you read the sevenfold praise of the myriads of the angels, you may guess what kind of authority Jesus, the Lamb of God, received in order to judge the world and to save his church:

POWER: The first gift which Jesus received from his Father was power and strength. In the Hebraic name of God, "Elohim", "El“ means power and strength. Jesus confirmed this meaning of the name of God, when he confessed before his judges in the Sanhedrin, "Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matthew 26:64).

God himself with the fullness of His power is present in Jesus, as Paul wrote, "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). Jesus had confessed by faith before, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18). In his authority he could say to his messengers, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me" (Acts 1:8).

We should not forget in the weaknesses of our life that God means "power", that in His Son dwells all power and strength in heaven and on earth and that the Holy Spirit is the power of God. The holy trinity means threefold authority! Believers are able to receive power from this fullness.

RICHES: In the series of words with which the myriads of angels praise the Lamb, riches is the second one. However, they primarily have not in mind gold, silver or titanium, also not the limited richness on earth of coal, crude oil, water power, wind energy, solar energy nuclear energy, but the richness of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is the origin of all matter, the everlasting richness "in God" and the eternal value of a believer. Who loves mercy, is rich in God. Who comforts oppressed people, will receive joy in Christ and will be able to pass on this joy to other people. Peace with God is a priceless treasury in the heart of a man. The fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit for a follower of Christ, the richness of his grace (Ephesians 1:7; 2:7) and his glory (Romans 9:23; Ephesians 3:16; Philippians 4:19) are spiritual values which the worldly people do not know.

Christ warns us insistently not to trust in riches (Matthew 13:22; Mark 4:19; Luke 8:14) and in the unrighteous mammon (Luke 16, 9+11). No one can serve God and mammon at the same time (Matthew 6:24). Jesus wants to set us free from the deception of materialism and from our trust in our bank account and wants to advise us of his salvation, the true and everlasting richness. The church leader in Laodicea who dealt in fine gold, but was poor toward God, was required by the risen Lord to buy gold from him. The richness of Christ is of spiritual character. Regarding this, John said, "Of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace" (John 1:16).

WISDOM: The third feature because of which the myriads of angels praised in a dignified manner the enthroned Prince of Peace is his wisdom. A wise ruler had to have his eyes or his intelligence service everywhere. Therefore the Lamb has seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth (Revelation 5:6).

Jesus already knew, when he was living on earth, what was in man, and did not need any adviser (John 2:24-25). In his love he knew all men. He knew how to speak to noblemen and beggars, to blind people and such who could see, to soldiers and women, to children and old men.

Jesus prophesied that Jerusalem should be besieged and explained his disciples the development in the Last Days before his return step by step (Matthew 24 and 25). He revealed beforehand his judging words in the coming judgment and created in us at the same time the hope for a new world which will be filled with his glory. Jesus is omniscient and really wise. The Father entrusted him with the judgment and the defeat of the satanic powers.

Jesus is in on your present situation. You are precious in his sight. He cares for you and assures you that no one shall pluck you out of his hand (John 10:27-30).

STRENGTH: The myriads of angels song a fourth word of praise: Christ is worthy of all "strength". While the first word of praise was "might of power" and described the energy potential of the Almighty, the fourth word of praise indicates to the authority of the ruler in the decisive moment. Jesus commanded with authority the evil spirits to leave the obsessed. He silenced the storm by his word. He raised the dead by his command. With a triumphal call he will initiate his second coming and consume with his breath anti-Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:8). Not any power which is hostile to God can cope up with his strength which results from holiness and love.

HONOR: With their fifth word of praise the angels confessed that the Lamb is worthy of all honor. The Son of God had always honored and glorified his Father. He denied and humbled himself. He washed the feet of his disciples. He was despised and rejected by men, and on the cross he became a cursed man.

Therefore God has also highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth and of those under the earth,and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father. (Philipians 2:9-11)

The Father did not place his Son to his left, but to his right side, that is the seat of honor, so as to demonstrate that the Lamb of God had accomplished something that neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit could do: He had died as sacrificial lamb in order to reconcile the world to God. Since that time God puts all his enemies as footstool of his feet (Psalm 110:1). The progress of overcoming the anti-Christian powers will be in accordance with how the church of Jesus Christ, his spiritual body, lives according to faith, love and hope. Christ is Victor, Lord and Judge. Do we honor him by our witness in our neighbourhood? Let us glory Christ – and not seek self-realisation.

The praise of the angels never comes to an end. They sing and praise, as they have reason to do so. Our hymns which we sing in the church service are an echo of their powerful praise.

In the mosque there is no singing. At most, Muslims are chanting before a raid. They have little or no cause for singing, as they have to try to build up their salvation by themselves by praying, fasting and pilgrimage in the fear of God. They do not know that somebody loves them!

GLORY:* With their sixth word of praise the angels praised the glory of Jesus Christ. He had revealed his glory on the mountain of transfiguration to his disciples (Matthew 17:1-13), he had revealed himself in a bright shining light to Saul before Damascus (Acts 9:3-7) and had stood in his lofty majesty before John on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:12-20).

* According to English and Arabic Bible translations.

John had already recognized before that the incomparable glory of Jesus is in his holy love. Therefore the subject of his gospel was as follows:

We saw his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

In his utmost suffering the glory of him, who was crowned with thorns, could be seen. If "glory" means the fullness of the characteristic features of God, then the praise of the angels means that God bestowed the Lamb with his own glory so as to restore the most despised man to his original existence.

At the end of his life on earth Jesus asked his Father in his high-priestly prayer:

Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am that they may see my glory which you have given me; for you loved me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).

Jesus assured his disciples several times that he will return with great power and glory – in his own glory as well as in his Father's glory – so as to gather his chosen people from the four corners of the earth and to reward each one according to his deeds (Matthew 16:27; 24:30-31; 26:64; Mark 13:24-27; Luke 21:25-28).

PRAISE: The angels completed their oratorio with a seventh word of praise: Praise to the Lamb! Their mouths over-flew with worship. That was not a two-faced praise, not a cold pro-forma thanksgiving, but on the contrary, they were thrilled with all men because of the accomplished salvation and praised the Savior who accomplished it.

Whoever has heard the great choirs of the oratorios by Bach or Handel, may have received a sense of the shouting and cheering in heaven. Already at the birth of Jesus the heaven opened so that the praise of the heavenly host came down to earth. In an even greater extent the praise thundered when Jesus was enthroned and all his great deeds, his love and patience, his sacrifice and salvation was praised and sung of.

The son was sitting with his Father on the throne. He honored his Father on this day of rejoicing as the Father also honored his Son and gave him all praise. The unity of God and the Lamb was the real mystery of the praise of the angels.

Do you have a good heart for music? Could the Holy Spirit made your heart swing? Does the praise of the Lamb arise from your heart? Do you join with all your heart in the choir of the angels, then repeat and pray: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!

PRAYER: Wise Lamb of God, we worship You, and we sing in our hearts with the multitudes of angels that You alone are worthy to reign over the world in love and truth because You have the power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.

QUESTION:

  1. What are the seven characteristics emphasized by the angels? Which one is the most important?

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