Don't Leave Home Without It.
“And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.” – Revelation 5:8 NLT
To recap – Who are the 24 elders? The number mirrors the 24 divisions of priests who served in the sanctuary. This number also has a symbolic element. 12 being the number of Israel. In Rev 21 the New Jerusalen has 12 foundations with the names of the apostles written on them and 12 gates with the names of the 12 tribes on them. The title elder, is always used for human’s never angelic beings. The white robes they wear are the attire of God’s faithful people (Rev 3:4,5). They wear victory crowns Rev 4:4 (Grk stephanos). All this suggests resurrected humans from the earth. Perhaps they are those that Matthew says were resurrected at the time of Jesus death (see Matt 27:51-53).
The exciting message of this verse is that the worship of heaven includes the prayers of the saints. The prayers of the saints arise from a world that is very different from the scene John witnesses in heaven. In the world, the saints seem to be defeated. In the world evil seems to reign. But in the Book of Revelation the eyes of believers are raised up to heavenly places. There, the decisive victory has been won. There, evil has been crippled. Prayer is not just a nice thing to do; it is a link to the mighty, victorious power of heaven.
It has been said, “Prayer is the breath of the soul” When we try to solve our problems by ourselves, life is truly hard. But prayer vaults our challenges into the throne room of heaven, where no problem is too big to solve; no battle is too hard to win. Thanks to the victory of the Lamb, prayer is the key to victory on earth. Don’t leave home without it!
“And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.” – Revelation 5:9-10. NLT
According to this text the focus of the gospel is incredibly international. The death of the Lamb purchases people for God from every tribe, language and nation. This kind of openness goes far beyond anything the contemporaries of early Christianity would have known. And this international welcome was so successful that no one today is surprised that the vast majority of Christians are “Gentiles.”
Nevertheless, the gospel’s complete lack of prejudice can still teach us a great deal today. The gospel embraced and still embraces people that we would not expect. This goes against the grain of our natural suspicion toward anyone who isn’t like us.
The greatest of the resources God has provided is described in this chapter. “While we were yet sinners” (Rom 5:8), He has already provided a Lamb to remedy the crisis of sin in our lives. But even before the Lamb was slain at the cross, He became worthy. The Lamb is one of the many symbols of the humanness of Jesus.
Since divinity cannot die, humanness was a pre-requisite for opening the scroll. The Creator had to become a creature. Because the Lamb was human, He could also die to redeem the human race. But there is a further qualification that was needed: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power. . . !” – Revelation 5:13, NIV. Jesus is not only worthy because He is human and He died, He is also worthy because He is divine. This combination of qualities makes Him unique in all of history. He carefully arranged the remedy for our greatest need long before we needed it. That’s what makes the Lamb so special in the book of Revelation.
Think about what this teaches: the one who created not just us and our world, but the entire cosmos, also was the “lamb who was slain” (Rev 5:12 NKJV) for us. What hope does this teaching present amid a world full of pain and turmoil?
In our treatment of others, we can offer a foretaste of the multicultural heavenly chorus of Revelation 5.
Imagine a choir filled with the saints of all ages: ancient Israelites worshiping with tambourine and joyful dance, African saints swaying and chanting, European Reformers with their majestic hymns, faithful monks with their medieval solos,
Messianic Jews dancing around the Torah, Muslim followers bowing with forehead to the ground, maybe even a street Christian or two doing a gospel rap! Do you think you could handle the complexity of that harmony? I’m sure that God will be able to teach us how to blend. Why not begin practicing God’s harmonies right where you live?