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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Revelation 5:8 - 5:10
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The song of the elders:
v. 8. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.
v. 9. And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation;
v. 10. and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.
Jesus the Savior is here the sole center of interest; everything revolves about Him: And when He had taken the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, every one having a harp and golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints. The taking of the scroll by the Lamb was a signal for a general demonstration of adoration. The strange and wonderful living beings, the four cherubs which John had described chap. 4:7, united with the elders, as the representatives of the Church of Christ, in bringing homage to the Lamb. They fell down in an attitude of submission and worship; they presented their bowls of incense, the prayers of the saints on earth, of all faithful believers everywhere: they made ready their harps for a striking hymn of praise. The bowls of gold were truly types of the believing hearts in whom the daily burnt offering of the New Testament is burning without ceasing, a sweet savor unto the Lord. Note that no distinction is observed between the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant; for these two are in reality one, and it is the same spirit in which they together bring praise and honor to Christ.
Now their hymn is recorded: And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou to receive the scroll and to open its seals, because Thou wast slain and didst redeem us to God by Thy blood from every tribe and language and people and nation, and Thou hast made us to our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth. In the first part of the vision the hymn had been addressed to God the Creator, but here it is directed to the Lamb as Redeemer, for the cost and scope and result of His redemption. It is a new song, which will never grow old, which will never be omitted in the Church, neither here in time nor hereafter in eternity. Every new revelation of the glory of the Lamb renews the beauty of the first mercy, by which He became our Savior. All the elders join in this song, since it is the hymn of the whole Church. They praise the Lamb as worthy of the greatest honor in the kingdom of God, of being the intimate of the Father in the secrets of His eternal counsel, of knowing the things which are written in the scroll of God's decrees. This worthiness is enhanced by the fact that the Lamb was sacrificed for us, that His body, His blood became the true expiatory sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. To God we have been redeemed by the holy, innocent blood of His only-begotten Son. It is a salvation which was earned for all men: regardless of tribe and language and people and nation: to all men the free grace of God in Christ Jesus is offered. The believers, then, those that are enjoying the fruit, of this glorious redemption, are not only called into His fellowship, to receive from Him, of His fullness, daily, and grace for grace, but the Lord has even constituted them a kingdom, a royal priesthood, chap. 1:6; 1Pe_2:9, He has appointed them to rule with Him on earth. Although we are now despised and rejected of men, we are in reality partakers in Christ's rule of the world, and the time will come when this power will be revealed to the astonished unbelievers, to their eternal discomfiture.