Honor, Glory, and Praise to the Lamb - Rev. 5:11-14

11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 singing with full voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing,

“To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might

forever and ever!”

14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Bad news for people who like bad news

What we have here is some bad news for people who like bad news.

This text doesn’t behave like we think it should behave. Where is the rejoicing at the downfall of our enemies? Where is the righteous bloodshed of people who are not like us? Where is the saintly parade of martyrs that show us God is on our side, in life and in death?

Unfortunately, we don’t find those images, those vindications, in this text.

Instead, we find an assembly. Not just a homogenous, ethnocentric or even human-centric assembly. But an assembly of ALL creation. All. All. All Creation.

As we go on, this morning, consider how you react to this text. If you find yourself hopeful, notice it. If you find yourself uncomfortable, notice it. Notice what the Spirit of God stirs in you as we explore this text that we rarely attend to.

But who is there?

Let’s talk about who is at this assembly, this party, according to the text.

First, we have the angels surrounding the throne. Remember, angels are God’s messengers and throughout the book of Revelation, we hear of angels flying around, inviting the seals of God’s message to be broken open. They gather at the throne with messages for the one who sits on it. We might consider these are reports back at what they have gone out to say and do.

And then there are the living creatures. In verse 11, we here they are “the living creatures.” Which living creatures, you might ask? Just Christian living creatures? Or just human living creatures? Just those of us high enough up the evolutionary ladder to be sentient and able to sing out in unison? Well, vs. 13 clarifies it — it’s not just the living creatures of the assembly we’re talking about, not just the elect and chosen crew who sing the song, but it is actually every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea…all of them singing.

Let’s pause for a moment to dive in to that part a little deeper. Every creature in heaven: Ok, birds, angels, pteryodactls? The saints who have gone on into glory, who have received their reward, who await the final return of Christ? Sounds like it.

Ok, what about every creature on earth: We’re talking everything up and down the ladder of kingdom, phylum, class, and order. It’s like the multitude of animals coming two-by-two onto the ark in the book of Genesis: but in this case, they’re bringing their whole families along. Animals, reptiles, insects. Algae? Single celled organisms? Probably, why not? Why wouldn’t even the smallest living cell vibrate and dance at the assembly of the Lamb?

And not to mention the people: all the people. All the people are praising the Lamb on the throne here. Again, this is bad news for people who like bad news: But think about your enemies, the people who annoy you, think for a moment of what it would be like for them to sing praises to Jesus, the Lamb. Do you even imagine it’s possible? And we’re not just talking about the people who look like us, we’re talking people of all colors and races and genders and sexual identities, with all manner of abilities and gifts, all singing to the Lamb.

Now, let’s talk about under the earth, because this one is a little mind-boggling. First, let’s get practical: what lives under the earth? Well, for one, worms. Maggots, bugs. Creepy crawly things. Yup, they’re turning up the dirt and singing their praises.

Now, let’s get metaphysical: Everything under the earth…well, for the Hellenistic Greek mind, whom is the audience of this writing, under the earth is where Hades is. Hell. So, we’re talking demons, monsters, and even the dead. And, it sounds like, it’s not just the good dead. It’s every creature under the ground.

I say this is a little mind-boggling, because we have it so engrained in us this notion that only the good people praise God in the end. But the text is telling us every creature under the earth is also saying: “to the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might.”

I’m going to skirt around a big theological topic here because it would take a lot more time to discuss. Does everyone ultimately return to God? Are all people saved? There’s a lot of nuance to how and why we answer or don’t answer that question. We have a lot of historic understandings here that we need to wrestle with, as well as our own hopes and fears. If you want to talk through some of these concepts, I welcome it, but I don’t want to muddy things up too much for us right now, rather, I want us to see the beauty of this text for what it is: All creation, even under the earth, is praising the Lamb. This doesn’t account for the ultimate battle or the role of the Antichrist or Satan or evil itself. But what it does say is that perhaps even those who would be so unlikely to praise the Lamb, they end up doing it — how could you not join in the chorus alongside all of creation? It’s too good to not!

Oh, and don’t forget the sea, all the creatures of the sea. The sea is often an image for the roiling chaos of the cosmos. So, sure, fish are jumping, dolphins are talking, whales are calling — but also, out of the chaos of creation, out of the churning, warlike, storm, we hear a call of praise to the lamb.

Do you think your life is chaotic? I do sometimes. What if there is a moment where, like a tuning fork struck, the chaos began to resonate and sing with a new song, a song of hope?

Woooo, this is powerful stuff!

Let’s go back to check our list of who is there: finally, we have the elders. Back up in chapter 5 vs. 8, we here that there are 24 elders around the throne.

Biblical scholars look to the number 24 as 2 sets of 12. So, elders…who would those two sets of 12 be? Well…they could be the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 disciples. These people who had been appointed leaders of the church and God’s people. For the sake of our imagination, let’s remember who all these people are (by the way, they’re all men in this list, but there is also a strong case to be made for them being beyond gender, beyond definition, rather serving as archetypes for people groups): We’ve got Reuben and Simeon and Levi and Judah and Dan and Naphtali and Gad and Asher and Issacher and Zebulun and Manasseh/Ephraim (the tribe of Joseph) and Benjamin. These represent the people groups of Israel. So, we have the people of Israel, the chosen line of God’s way from the first testament. AND then…we have 12 disciples: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon, and Matthias (who replaced Judas). These disciples are representative of the nations of the world, the Gentiles. Because their ministry was to go out and spread the news to the world — these Jewish men who welcomed all nations into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Are you imagining this? Are you having fun yet? Does it make you feel uncomfortable, hopeful, confused, alive? Pause a moment and notice how you’re sitting with this text’s description.

Here is what the assembly sings, with full voice:

The New Revised Standard Version The Scroll and the Lamb

Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

They are giving honor to the Lamb. All kinds of honor, all kinds of praise, all in full throated melody and song.

And later they continue,

The New Revised Standard Version The Scroll and the Lamb

To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might

forever and ever!”

All singing praises to the lamb. How powerful is that image?

Ok, remember, this is prophetic literature, so hold the image in your mind, but also consider what it is implying, what truth it is telling. We talk about prophetic literature as revelatory, revealing, unveiling a truth, a meaning, in words that are fantastic and awakened. Prophesy tells of what will be, but also it tells of what is and what is hoped for. And in this case, the prophet, John the Revelator, has a vision of all creation gathering in praise. What it might mean is that humanity and all creation have finally found a place of harmony, unity. Think of how last week, the opening lines of the Revelation made it clear that Christ is over all things, over and above all empires, all powers that would seek to garner our devotion and allegiance. So, this assembly, is at once prophetic truth-telling, but also another reminder at who is not receiving praise: there are no powerful people here. There are no more sacrificial systems or war machines that require our offerings. Just creation and the Lamb.

Oh wait, that’s right, there are more beings here to consider:

Before we get to the lamb, let’s talk about the four creatures. Again, with prophetic literature, there are layers upon layers of meaning that can be ascribed to the symbolic figures presented here. But one of the most beautiful and compelling takes on who the four beasts are, at least for me, is that they are somehow related to the ideas of the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west) or the four elements (earth, wind, fire, and water). These creatures are described elsewhere in Revelation as being beasts that combine both human and creaturely features in their appearance. They are composites. And so we consider the four corners of the earth, the four elemental powers of creation — these are at the center and these are the ones who preside, with the Lamb, over the assembly.

Which brings us to our last being: the Lamb.

I suppose you have a sense for who the Lamb is, even without us having unpacked the first 4 chapters of Revelation together. The Lamb represents the Christ, the Holy one of God, the One who takes away the sins of the world.

Some scholars argue that John’s revelation actually lacks a fully formed theology of the Trinity. There is God, the Creator and then there is a sense that Jesus the Christ, is perhaps more human than divine in John’s understanding, a human coming back to bring the ultimate salvation, the human who died like a sacrificial lamb. Now, we know that church doctrines went on to develop a much more robust sense of who Christ is, beyond just this sacrificial lamb, and as a part of God in three persons, the trinity. But for now, we focus on the image of the Lamb, the ultimate sacrifice that undoes all sacrifices. The ultimate gift that makes all life a gift. The one who, again last week, we hear is the firstborn from the dead — the start of a new humanity. The restored ones, to whom you and I all belong and participate with.

The four creatures say, Amen.

The elders fall down and worship.

This is the assembly of creation, praising God, saying honor, glory, power, blessing — be yours oh Lord.

Not necessarily what you expect from the Revelation. It’s not heavy guilt trip of the Left Behind series here, is it? There’s too much good news here — how can we even get away with imagining it to be true?

Alright, we’ve navigated through another section of John’s fever dream revelation, with all it’s fantasticality and imagination.

What does this mean for us?

Well, this image may feel like it’s far, far off, disconnected with our lives. It’s a prophesy about an assembly at the throne of God. A little lofty, right? Are we in the middle of a sci-fi movie?

So we have to bring this back down to here, now.

A few simple things to glean from this. Yes, I said simple, because actually, for us, what is being show here can actually be pretty straightforward, at least as we await the culmination of God’s kingdom.

How about this: look around you, think of your community, what imagination do you have for what it would be like for all to gather and sing of God’s goodness? Wow, isn’t that a sweet image?

Think about what we will do in a moment, as we gather for communion. All are invited to turn their face to Christ and come to this table to receive his grace, his feast, his body and blood, bread and juice. All y’all. No exceptions, no restrictions, just simple faith, coming forward to participate. How’s that for beautiful?

Or think about the church, in all its myriad of myriad of forms. The Church is the body of Christ, the many members that bear witness to God’s goodness. In a moment, I, a Pacific Northwest, Cascadian born white man will serve communion alongside a Ethiopian born, United States immigrant, black man. That’s the inclusivity of the kingdom there: we are very different and we belong together at the assembly.

Finally, again, look around you and consider this: is anyone here not invited to the assembly? Is there anyone you wish weren’t here? Well…again, here’s some bad news for you: Christ has called all of us here to worship today. All of us are invited to lift our voices today. We we need to wrestle with our judgements, get over our resistance, open up to our profound opportunity to welcome and receive and experience grace together.

How’s that for some simple ways this fits with us? See, this prophetic text is all sorts of weird, but it is also a letter of Hope from the end of the world. It is about what God does — restoring, resurrecting, renewing creation.