Revelation 5:11-14

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, 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!”

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!”

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

Context

Revelation 5:11-14 is part of a section of Revelation (chapter 4 and 5) that depicts heaven and is sandwiched between the letters to the seven churches (chapters 2 and 3) and the unsealing of the scroll (chapters 6-8). The sequence of scenes is typical of Revelation, which switches from earthly scenes to heavenly scenes and back several times. It thus contrasts what is happening on earth with what is happening in heaven. On earth, there is conflict between the people of God and the oppressive agents of Satan. In heaven, there is universal praise of God—a reality that will characterize earth at the end.

In Revelation, heaven is portrayed as a combination of royal throne-room and temple and in chapter 4 we are introduced to the one seated on the throne. We are introduced as well to the 24 elders and the 4 living beasts, who offer praise to God.

In chapter 5, John sees a scroll, sealed with 7 seals. John is initially distressed because no one is found worthy to open the scroll, but then someone woththy is found: tbe lion of Judah is worthy, because he has conquered. Paradoxically, when John looks, he sees, not a lion, but a slaughtered lamb receiving the scroll. In response, the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures burst forth in a hymn that celebrates the slaughtered lamb. 5:11-14 comes immediately after this hymn. With the lion/lamb having received the scroll, the stage is set for the revelation contained in the scroll to be disclosed in chapters 6 through 8.

Intertextual considerations

Rev. 4-5 echo Daniel 7, where the Ancient of Days sits on a throne, surrounded by vast numbers of attendants. The vision continues with the introduction of “one like a human being,” who receives from the Ancient of Days a kingdom and everlasting dominion. Rev. 4-5 are thus a Christological interpretation of Dan. 7.

These chapters also resonate with other depictions of heaven in the Bible. For example, the 4 living creatures sing the same hyms that the seraphim of Isaiah 6 sing. The description of the one seated on the throne reminds the reader of the vision of God in the early chapters of Ezekiel. Revelation, in other words, is deeply immersed in the previous biblical tradition—every chapter contains echoes from the Old Testament.

Chapter 5 and Revelation’s anti-imperial message

Scholars who study Revelation are agreed that, for the first readers, the take-away message boiled down to keeping themselves separated from the Roman Empire and its culture. Many of the major symbols of Revelation—The beast from the sea (13:1), the beast from the land (13:11), and Babylon the Great (c. 17)—depict Rome in its various aspects: political, religious, economic. Readers were being warned that behind the Empire stood Satan—that the Roman Empire was merely the latest in a series of world empires manipulated by Satan and engaged in the persecution of God’s people.

How does this message bear on Rev 5? One of the central question of Revelation is, Whom should we worship? The beast from the land “makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast” (13:12) and causes an image of the first beast to be fashioned (13:14). An angel from heaven promises that those who worship the first beast will “drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and they will be tormented with fire and sulfur” (14:10). Revelation is, we see, much concerned about the object of worship.

Revelation 5 shows us the lamb as an object of worship in heaven. This is an indirect way of telling the reader that the lamb alone is worthy of worship on earth.

Revelation’s first readers faced questions about the extent to which participation in Greco-Roman society was permissible for a Christian. Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 counsel disciples to show honor to governmental officials. But where did honor end and worship begin? In First Corinthians, Paul had declared that there were circumstances where eating food previously used in pagan sacrifice was acceptable for Christians (c. 10). What were the limits to such eating? What about Christians owning slaves? Or Greco-Roman norms regarding the role and status of women? Each of these and many other issues had to be addressed as the Christian movement sought to be faithful to God while not appearing so socially radical that it would draw unwanted attention.

In this debate (it’s safe to assume that Christians did debate these issues), Revelation stood for absolute resistance to the Roman Empire and to Greco-Roman culture, hence its portrayal of the lamb and the one on the throne as the sole objects of worship.

Liturgical aspect and Christology

One of the aspects of Revelation that is often overlooked is its many hymns. In the rush to decode Revelation’s symbolism and calculate the date of Christ’s return, interpreters frequenty ignore the fact that Revelation has more hymns that any other biblical book besides Psalms. 5:11-14 are, in fact, mainly songs of praise to the lamb.

As noted above, these hymns they call the reader to worship God and the lamb. They identify the proper object of worship. But they also have a didactic purpose—they teach. In particular, they focus on Jesus’ identity as the slaughtered lamb. This affirmation connects Jesus to the Passover lamb and to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, who is “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.”

This image, however, discloses a major interpretive issue. In itself, the image of the slaughtered lamb suggests weakness, that Christ is a victim, in the original sense of the word—something offered up in sacrifice (Latin, victima). But Revelation also depicts Christ as the conquering Word of God who kills the enemies of God in a great slaughter (c. 19). Recent commentators have pointed out a paradox in Revelation: Jesus, who suffered violence at the hands of the Roman Empire, uses violence against that same empire. Does Revelation actually provide us with an alternative to the logic of Rome’s violent empire? Or is Revelation instead caught up in the same cycle of violence that the image of the slaughtered lamb seems to contradict? Is God violent? Is love compatible with the exercise of power? Does justice require violence? Given the fact that throughout history Christians have had a very uneven record as peace-makers, these questions have become matters of interpretive importance in applying Revelation to out situation today.

The hymns of chapter 5 are notable also for associating Jesus closely with the one seated on the throne. Compare 4:11

You are worthy, our Lord and God,    to receive glory and honor and power,for you created all things,    and by your will they existed and were created.

With 5:12 and 13:

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

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

be blessing and honor and glory and might

forever and ever!”

In Revelation, angels, elders, and creatures offer the same words of praise and blessing to the lamb that they offer to God. Although the New Testament does not expressly contain the doctrine of the Trinity, passages like these hymns give us important milestones on the church’s journey toward that doctrine.

A final note on 5:13: “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…” It was not true in the first century and it is not true today that every creature is singing praises. So, when John sees a vision of all creation praising God and the lamb, the vision relates, not to John’s day or to any day in ordinary history, but to the eschatological future. The importance of this observation is that it cautions us against thinking that Revelation’s visions indicate any particular sequence in history. It is, in other words, a great mistake to assume that the chapters of Revelation map onto history, with the events of chapter 7 (for example) occurring historically before the events of chapter 8. Apart from the scheme “present age to be followed by the kingdom of God,” no sequence of historical events can be reliably distilled from Revelation.