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

REVELATION 5:8-9a
8 Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 They sang a new song, saying, ...

The Throne Guardians and the Elders Pay Homage to the Lamb: At the very moment when the Lamb received the sevenfold sealed scroll, a sudden movement went through heaven. A wave of joy and jubilation swelled up and spread out ever further. The depression yielded to a spontaneous worship of the Lamb. John saw and heard with bated breath at first how the throne guardians paid homage and the twenty-four elders sang praises, and then how the host of angels rejoiced and finally how all creatures shouted out of joy.

The throne guardians as representatives of all creatures, of the quadrupeds, of the birds and of men bowed down before the Lamb and worshiped the victor of Golgotha. They admired the purpose of the Father who authorized his Son. They recognized that a new aeon had just begun.

Islam, too, sees itself as a religion of worship. The worship of Muslims culminates, however, in a mocking remark of Muhammad, "If the All-Merciful had a son, then I would be the first to worship him" (Sura Az-Zukhruf 43:81). The worship of Allah in Islam excludes the worship of a son.

The twenty-four elders, who constitute the second circle of worshippers, fell down before the Lamb and testified therewith his divinity and his authority to receive worship (Luke 17:15-19).

Each of the elders had a harp and was skilled in playing on it. They constituted an excellent choir of worshippers. Already Nebuchadnezzar had harps played when the golden idol with twenty meters of height was inaugurated, and he commanded that everybody had to worship this image (Daniel 3:5). When the Roman Caesar was enthroned and homage was paid, then harps were played, too, and in Babylon of the Last Days such harpists will provide for an exhilarating atmosphere. The sound of the softly vibrating harp strings of the twenty-four elders, however, was meant for the worship of the little Lamb that had been slain and is now alive again. Him they praised and loved. Him they wanted to serve.

In their hands they held golden incense vessels as they were made according to the instructions for the table of shewbread in the tabernacle (Exodus 37:16.29). They did not only want to exalt the Lamb by music of the spheres but also honor and delight him by the noblest odours.

John interprets the ascending incense fragrance as the prayers of the saints of all aeons. The saints do not only represent the twenty-four elders, but all those who had themselves sanctified by the blood of the Lamb. The Lamb has perfected for all times through his single offering those who are sanctified (Hebrews 10:14). Each one in whom the Holy Spirit made his home because of the atoning death of the Son of God is a saint. He was cleansed in a twofold manner, that is, not only by the blood of Jesus Christ which justifies to perfect righteousness, but also by the power of the Holy Spirit who quickens to a life of sanctification.

The prayers of the saints denote the prayers of the followers of Jesus who are still alive as well as of those who have been translated into eternity. Thus the church down on earth in Minor Asia which was suffering from an increasing pressure and persecution participated in the homage of the Lamb in spite of its bodily absence.

The prayers of the saints which seem to be powerless turn in the hands of the elders into prayers of authority, victory and praise. The prayers of those worshipping Christ and living in the misery of their existence help to enforce the dominion of the Lamb. Humble and faithful prayer means to reign together with the Lamb in his gentle way of doing it. The elders sang a new song. Three times the book of Revelation reads of the new song (Revelation 5:9; 14:3; 15:3+4). Each of these songs aims at the victories of God and his Lamb. Already Moses composed a new song after walking through the Red Sea (Exodus 15:1-19). And the Holy Spirit praised the mighty works of God on Pentecost (Acts 2:11).

These songs affected by the spirit are not only testimonies of subjective feelings of those who worship but also emphasize objective victories of God during the time of reconstitution of his fallen creation. Our God is working wonders. The greatest of his wonders is the victory of the Lamb on the cross which proved to be a victory by his resurrection from death. Therewith the salvation has been accomplished and the world reconciled to God. The power of God could now become effective in new-born Christians. A new aeon had begun. Like a broad river eternity burst into our time.

Psalm 118 includes one of the prayers of Jesus Christ which he had prayed with his disciples on the Passover, one day before his crucifixion. With these words he anticipated by faith his enthronement after his death and resurrection. He himself intoned the theme of all new songs:

The voice of rejoicing
is in the tabernacle of the righteous:
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly!
The right hand of the Lord is exalted;
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly!
(Psalm 118,15-16).

Whoever wants to worship the Lamb of God may learn by heart this psalm or the victorious hymn, composed by Philipp Friedrich Hiller who lost his voice totally due to a progressive throat-disease (in German: Jesus Christus herrscht als König):

Let us proclaim together the victory of the Lamb all over the world! Let us herald his name in central Asia and India, in China and Indonesia, in Iran and Saudi Arabia, in Israel and all the Arabic countries, in East and West Africa and in our own country. Jesus is alive, and Jesus prevails! Who will still be sad at heart and be in the damps pessimistically? Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. The name of the Father and of the Son will be hallowed in us and through us in the power of the Holy Spirit. His kingdom will come, his will will be done. We became worthy so as to co-serve in this movement of the kingdom of God.

PRAYER: Memorize the hymn of the dumb hymner, whose testimony is being uttered even today.

QUESTION:

50. How did the elders in heaven worship the Lamb of God?