A New Song

“When He took the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed people for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands. They said with a loud voice: The Lamb who was slaughtered is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing! I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say: Blessing and honor and glory and dominion to the One seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever! The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.” (Revelation‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬-‭14‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

Two weeks ago, we took a look at the first half of this chapter. I shared with you how Jesus is giving John insight into the reality of life before God and the Lamb and how we can be equipped to be victorious in our faith. Our view and understanding of life and the struggles we face is completely dependent on our view and understanding of God and His Son. If we view this current, mortal life as the totality of our existence we will likely live it in such a way as to bring ourselves the greatest amount of physical gratification, satisfaction and pleasure. However, if we recognize that the brief 80 or so years we spend here is just the antechamber to eternal life we will do what is necessary to be ready for life with Him.

In this week’s passage, our focus moves from the sealed scroll and what it holds to the Lamb who is worthy to take it, break the seals and open it and read (or speak into existence) its contents. This section is all about the Lamb who is worthy to fulfill God’s planned purpose for His creation. As mentioned before, John wept and wept when there was no living creature on earth or in heaven who was worthy to open the scroll in God’s hand. But there was One who was worthy and He was not among the created beings – the Lion of Judah, the Root of David, the victorious, slaughtered Lamb was the only One found worthy to fulfill God’s will and deliver God’s promise of redemption!

When the Lamb took the scroll, pay attention to the response: immediately the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell before Him. Each of them had a harp and golden bowl filled with incense, praise and prayer, and they sang a new kind of song. For us, it doesn’t sound like a new song but that’s because we have the privilege of being a part of that song. “You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed people for God by Your blood from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.” 

The use of “tribe, language, people, and nation” is a four-fold direct reference intended to include every human in God’s redemptive plan. This is just like the way that referencing the four corners of the earth or the four directions (north,south, east and west) is intended to include all of the created world. While everyone is included in God’s plan, not all believe and trust in the redemptive work of Jesus and, thus, not all experience His redeeming grace and forgiveness. His redemption is available to all but not all submit to His Lordship and realize the new life He provides: “I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

Let’s start by considering their praise. The harp that each of them held was an instrument of praise. We tend to reserve singing for those who are gifted with a beautiful voice and the talent to carry it out. But that’s not what scripture asks of us. Praise was never intended to be limited to the gifted or the talented, it’s to be the result of a heart overflowing with adoration and love for God: “Let the peoples praise You, God; let all the peoples praise You.” (Psalms‬ ‭67‬:‭3‬ ‭HCSB‬‬) “Praise our God, you peoples; let the sound of His praise be heard.” (Psalms‬ ‭66‬:‭8‬ ‭HCSB‬‬) “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”(Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

God created us in such a way that hearing music and singing songs (rhythm and rhyme) enhances our ability to learn and remember. All of creation has the inherent purpose of praising God. Consider this Psalm: “Hallelujah! Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His powerful acts; praise Him for His abundant greatness. Praise Him with trumpet blast; praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with flute and strings. Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with clashing cymbals. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. Hallelujah!” (Psalms‬ ‭150‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

If you’re able to breathe, then let every breath be filled with praise to the ONE who is worthy of all praise.

Now, let’s talk about prayer. Each of the 24 elders carries a “gold bowl filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” Prayer is often the most misunderstood and neglected disciplines of the Christian life. Many Christians seem to relegate prayer to nothing more than just a meal time blessing. While asking a blessing before a meal is a great start, it is far from being the fulfillment of the scriptural call to us being a people of prayer and the church a house of prayer. Like the Temple of Jesus’ day, our lives are filled with the noise and distractions of “buying and selling” instead of the solemnity and solace of prayer. As Paul says, “Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

In his book, The Practice of the Presence of God, a 15th century monk named Brother Lawrence writes about the struggle to “pray without ceasing” due to all of the daily tasks he’s been assigned to carry out. But he begins to realize that he can still fulfill that command by using “breath prayers” and by giving God glory and praise through every task. Breath prayers are short prayers that can be prayed in a single breath. An example is given by Jesus, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Lk. 18:13) These kinds of short, direct prayers can be incorporated into our daily lives. Brother Lawrence suggests that as they become ingrained in us and habits of our daily living, they move from our heads and into our hearts. To pray without ceasing doesn’t mean we must stop, kneel and pray out loud each time. It means that praying ought to be so ingrained in us that we do so without even consciously thinking about it.

But perhaps the biggest issue with our prayer life is our misunderstanding of what prayer should be. I think we tend to treat prayer a bit like a child who climbs up on Santa’s lap and delivers his/her wish list for Christmas. We approach prayer like God is just our “genie” and we have a long list of wishes that ought to be met. That’s a very selfish and lopsided view of prayer. Prayer should be more like: ACTS or Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. 

We should start out with adoration and praise like Jesus’ model prayer, “Father in heaven, may You and Your name be honored as holy. May your kingdom desires reign over my life and may I be fully obedient in the same way the angels in heaven obey You.” Of course, as you adore and praise Him and seek His will, then you’re reminded of how often you fail in your obedience and that prompts your confessional prayer. Your honest confession reminds you of His boundless mercy and grace and that pulls you right along into thanking Him for His mercy, grace and redemption. And your thanksgiving reminds you of your family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors who are living outside of His grace and so you pray or supplicate for them. 

Are we willing to change our prayer habits so that our prayers can become a continuous plume of incense going up before God’s throne? Our prayers should be more about Him, His desires for us and His will lived out in us, His forgiveness and redemption over us, and the need for His rule and reign in the lives of others. “May my prayer be set before You as incense, the raising of my hands as the evening offering.” (Psalms‬ ‭141‬:‭2‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

Now, the elders sing a new kind of song to the slaughtered Lamb: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because…” The emphasis here is not that this is simply a new song but that it is a new kind of song, completely different from any other song ever sung. It is different because it is a song about the fulfillment of God’s divine purpose and plan of man’s redemption. All of the Old Testament speaks of the hope of God’s promise being fulfilled, but it remained a longing, a looking forward to the day it would be fulfilled. His people lived in anticipation of Sabbath becoming a reality, in the hope that Shalom might finally be realized. Shabbat, Shalom – rest and peace. This new song is the realization of those promises coming to fruition! Listen to it:

“And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed people for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (Revelation‬ ‭5‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭HCSB‬‬)

I posed a question two weeks ago related to the contents of the scroll. Scholars disagree as to what the scroll contains. Sometimes I think the scholars “know” so much they’ve lost sight of the One who truly knows. The slaughtered Lamb is being praised by the creatures and the elders because He is worthy to open the scroll. I think they tell us in this new song, the kind of song that’s never been sung before, not only why He’s worthy but also what He’s done and that, I believe, is what the scroll contains – the redemptive history and fulfillment of God’s purpose and plan. Hear the words of the song: “You redeemed people for God by Your blood from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.” 

The Sabbath has been realized, we’ve stopped striving to earn God’s favor because the Son has redeemed us. We now rest in His redemptive work, not striving with God through our own good works.  Shalom has been achieved, we now know the peace of God through the redemptive work of His Son. We now walk in the promised peace of fellowship with the Son and the Father. Those of us who walk by faith in obedience to Jesus, the Son of God, are from all tribes, languages, peoples and nations. We are now a kingdom of believers who walk by faith in obedience to His commands. We live as priests who represent Him and share His love, His word and His commands with those who don’t know Him even as we call them to faith in Him.

And that is the last part of John’s vision of the Lamb: “I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands. They wait with a loud voice: The Lamb who was slaughtered is worthy to received power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing! I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say: Blessing, and honor, and glory and dominion to the One seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

But I need you to notice something that is easily overlooked. Notice the difference between what the countless thousands in heaven say in contrast to every living creature on and under the earth. In the initial list, we find seven things attributed to the Lamb: power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and blessing. In the second list, we find only four: blessing, honor, glory, and dominion. In the first list, there are four elements that are directly ascribed to the Lamb – power, riches, wisdom and strength – and three that are given by the countless multitude in heaven – honor, glory, and blessing. Those three things given by the countless multitude are given in response to their worship of the Lamb. The four things offered up by every living creature on and under the earth are devoid of the attributes that simply are attributed to the Lamb and the only thing offered up are those things demanded because of His dominion.

In other words, the first group offers up a testament to the Lamb’s character and they praise to Him out of a willing act of worship but the second offers up only that which is forced from them by the Son’s undeniable position of dominion over them. The first comes from those gathered around the throne – the redeemed – and the second comes from everyone else – the unredeemed. This is the equivalent of Paul’s admonition, “so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow — of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth — and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭HCSB‬‬) Believers offer this up willingly and out of love and worship of the Son while unbelievers will be forced to admit this but will do so only out of deference to His power and authority.

Finally, in response to this the four creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped. Let me simply ask you, will you fall down and worship the slaughtered Lamb who is worthy or will you be forced to kneel and acknowledge His dominion? I’m not going to lie to you, this is likely the toughest decision you’ll ever make. It means that you must be willing to see yourself the way God sees you, a sinner in need of His mercy. Redemption and restoration are available to all, but many refuse God’s gift. Why? Because they are unwilling to relinquish authority over their own lives to the One who created them, who loves them, and who longs to be loved by them. They think they’re able to manage their lives without God, thank you very much.

Before you decide, Jesus would encourage you to “count the cost” of your choice. To those willing to follow Him, He tells them what to expect – “if the world hated Me, it will hate you.” But I’ve come to realize that life isn’t just about these brief years we have on this planet, it’s about the promise of eternal life with the Father. But eternal life isn’t just about quantity, it’s also about quality. God promises us life like it’s meant to be, filled with the best of everything God has created – Shabbat and Shalom – the WHOLE package.

My plan is to be a part of that group who sings that new song – a new kind of song, never sung before – to the Lamb who is worthy. I hope you’ll join us…