Praising the Lamb
“I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’” (v. 13).
Paul tells us in Romans 8:19 that “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” Having been subject to the curse for our breaking the Lord’s covenant in Adam, the universe longs for the day when the effects of the curse will be removed from creation (vv. 20–21). On that day, everything will be set right, and the glory of the Lord will be on full display in all the universe (Hab. 2:14). This removal of the curse, of course, comes through the work of Christ in His ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, and return (Rom. 8:1–17, 22–25). This has been God’s plan from the beginning (Eph. 1:3–10), and it has been unfolding in time since the coming of Jesus two thousand years ago. All we are waiting for is the return of Jesus and the complex of events that attend it, all of which must proceed according to God’s eternal decree for the curse to be removed.
With that in mind, we can understand why John sees such intense worship of the Lamb of God in Revelation 5. As the One who has conquered, He is worthy to open the scroll (vv. 1–7), which will not only reveal the events associated with the consummation of the work of Christ but will also allow these events and consummation to occur. The end result of the scroll’s opening will be the new heaven and earth (ch. 21), so there is great joy in heaven when the Lamb is found worthy to break the seals on the scroll and fervent praise of His name for His worth in both His eternal deity and obedient humanity to enact God’s eternal plan of salvation (5:8–10).
Today’s passage continues John’s description of the worship of the Lamb in heaven. In 5:11–12, not only do the four living creatures and twenty-four elders worship Jesus but so also do “myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.” Since “myriad” means ten thousand, John sees an immense number of angels, likely millions. His intent is not to give us an exact quantity but to reveal that a vast multitude of angels worships the Lord in heaven, and therefore, the Lamb’s worth far exceeds the worth of all else. It cannot be quantified. In John’s day, Roman emperors claimed glory for themselves, but the true glory belongs to God and to His Spirit-anointed Lamb.
Yet, there is more. Every other creature in the universe also joins in the praise of Jesus (vv. 13–14). Even those who do not eagerly await the return of the Lord will end up bringing glory to our magnificent triune Creator.
Coram Deo
All creation will praise the Lord Jesus Christ, and in that praise they will ascribe to Him all worth and glory, as we see in Revelation 5. By our worship, we are beginning this glorification of Christ even now, and so it is important that our praise be focused on who He is and what He has done. In our private worship, we must ascribe glory and honor to Jesus, and we must support corporate worship that is centered on our triune God and His glory.