Praise to the God of sovereignty Revelation 19v4-5.
"And the four and twenty elders, and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying "Amen: Alleluia". And a voice came out of the throne saying "Praise our God all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him both small and great".
The key to the understanding of this third song of praise, is the two-fold reference to the throne. We have already seen that before God unfolds the judgments on earth and the blessings in heaven we have brought before us in chapters 4&5 the repeated reference to the throne. No less than fourteen times in these chapters our eyes are turned to the throne, and here again in verses 4&5 our attention is drawn to the throne. The abiding principle of the throne is the sovereignty of God who controls all.
Two groups we have met before, the twenty four elders and the four living creatures shout praise to the God who sits on the throne. Then in verse 5 an unidentified voice from the throne calls for all to praise Him. The noise in heaven gets louder as different groups in the vast throng in heaven open their voices, as one, to praise the living God. It is not now so much about what he has done, it is more about the glory of His person. The worship is directed alone to God on the throne. The twin groups mentioned before are seen together in Revelation 5v6, 5v8,5v14, 14v3, 19v4. The significance of these two groups together is that they represent:
- The four living creatures..........the highest order of angels, the cherubim.
- The twenty four elders...........the highest order of human beings in heaven, the church.
There are other angels in heaven but these four represent the closest to God; the same with the elders. Together, angel voices of the highest order, with the nearest group of human beings to God, add their voices to the great multitude in heaven. They worship the sovereign God, who rules supremely, and perfectly over all, and without whom nothing could exist. From that throne He controls the universe and all in it, whether physical or moral or spiritual. He restrains and constrains as He will. He is sat on the throne, (could be render set, because it is a permanent state), and He will never relinquish sovereignty to anyone.
There is a beautiful and breathtaking statement at the end of verse 4. The twin groups utter the word "AMEN: ALLELUIA." Normally we would think of this in the reverse order; we would say "Praise the Lord" and then we would say "so let it be," (Alleluia; Amen) thinking of it as a future event. The beauty which is here is that these highest order of beings put it in the opposite order. In effect they are saying not "so let it be" but "it is so" followed by "praise the Lord." What was seen in the past as a distant hope is now a wondrous present reality as heaven rejoices for the greatness of all that God is.
Added to this is the voice from the throne. This unidentified voice occurs many times in the book of the Revelation and usually refers to one or other of the persons of the Godhead. Since it is God the Father who is being worshipped here, and we have heard from the highest order of angels and human beings in heaven, this voice must be either the Spirit of God or the Lamb of God. This voice comes directly from the throne, so Deity is speaking and the call is this "Praise ye our God all ye His servants, and all ye that fear Him both small and great." Every inhabitant of heaven at this time is called to worship God in an I mperative tone, because so great is the God of heaven that every voice must proclaim His greatness. Never has there been such a gathering of worship like this, and it will be repeated time and again throughout all the ages of eternity. PRAISE BE TO GOD!
Amazon bookshelf George Neilly
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