WORSHIPING GOD AND THE LAMB.-- Revelation 5:1-14. GOLDEN TEXT. --_ Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever._ -- Revelation 5:13. TIME AND PLACE. --Patmos, on the Lord's day, as in the preceding lesson. HELPFUL READING... [ Continue Reading ]
In chap. IV. John has described his vision of the throne of God as seen through the open door of heaven. The object of that scene was not primarily to reveal the glory of him who sat upon the throne, or to describe the living creatures and four and twenty elders, but to record the vision of the seal... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO IS WORTHY TO OPEN THE BOOK, AND TO LOOSE THE SEALS THEREOF? No man nor angel was found able to open the book. No man nor angel can read the future, and hence could not open the seals of the book that contained the future history of the world.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND. WEPT MUCH. When John learned that there was no created being who could unfold what the book contained he wept. He was an exile, filled with anxiety for the fate of the persecuted church, and he felt an intense desire to learn its fortunes in the years to come. He loved it better than his life,... [ Continue Reading ]
"And," continues John, "I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and read the book, neither to look thereon." The exiled apostle is filled with anxiety to penetrate the secrets of futurity, and to know the fortunes of that Church which he loved better than he loved his own life. He was t... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE OF THE ELDERS SAID TO ME. The twenty-four elders are first mentioned in chapter 4:4. They are mentioned in various places in Revelation.. have given at length in _The Vision of the Ages_ reasons for deciding that they were not human beings, but heavenly intelligences. To that work. must refer t... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHELD... THE FOUR BEASTS, ETC. In chapter 4:4-10, John has described the twenty-four elders and the four beasts that surrounded the throne.. have not space to enter into the discussions of what either of these two classes of intelligences signify.. must refer the reader again to _The Vision of the... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE HAD TAKEN THE BOOK. The action of this chapter is wonderfully dramatic. Now the Lamb takes the sealed book and as soon as this is done the "Four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the pra... [ Continue Reading ]
The evidence for the current view rests solely upon the formerly accepted text of the Doxology (song), in which the living beings and the elders are represented as uniting, (Chapter 5:10, 11.) Criticism has shown that, in this instance, the text of the Recepta is corrupt; it has established the fact... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SUNG. NEW SONG. It is new because it celebrates. new triumph of Christ who had been deemed worthy to hold and to open the book; that is, to control and to reveal the future, as the book is the book of the future. The song declares why he was adjudged worthy of this divine honor. It was bec... [ Continue Reading ]
WE SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH. According to the view just presented, this should read, "They shall reign upon the earth,". prediction that the control of the earth should finally pass into the hands of the saints. Christ also said of the meek: "They shall inherit the earth.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND. BEHELD, AND. HEARD THE VOICE OF MANY ANGELS. Besides those already described, there was. countless multitude of angels. After the first strophe of the new song was sung the vast company all unite in. chorus of praise, still celebrating the death of the Lamb as the great ground on which his wor... [ Continue Reading ]
AND EVERY CREATURE WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, ETC. Then followed. second chorus. First, the Four Living Creatures and the Twenty-four Elders sung. Then these and all the angelic hosts joined in the first chorus. Next, all the creation join in. song of praise "to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and the L... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FOUR BEASTS SAID, AMEN. This scene, all. wonderful preface, to the opening of the seals by the Lamb, closes with the Amen of the four living creatures and the worship of the elders. PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE. 1. It is Christ, not as. Lion, but as. _Slain Lamb,_ who is able to open the book... [ Continue Reading ]