Source: http://bibletools.info/Rev_5.13
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 16:21:52+00:00

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Every creature - All parts of the creation, animate and inanimate, are represented here, by that figure of speech called prosopopaeia or personification, as giving praise to the Lord Jesus, because by him all things were created. We find the whole creation gives precisely the same praise, and in the same terms, to Jesus Christ, who is undoubtedly meant here by the Lamb just slain as they give to God who sits upon the throne. Now if Jesus Christ were not properly God this would be idolatry, as it would be giving to the creature what belongs to the Creator.
And every creature which is in heaven - The meaning of this verse is, that all created things seemed to unite in rendering honor to Him who sat on the throne, and to the Lamb. in the previous verse a certain number - a vast host - of angels are designated as rendering praise as they stood round the area occupied by the throne, the elders, and the living creatures; here it is added that all who were in heaven united in this ascription of praise.
And on the earth - All the universe was heard by John ascribing praise to God. A voice was heard from the heavens, from all parts of the earth, from under the earth, and from the depths of the sea, as if the entire universe joined in the adoration. It is not necessary to press the language literally, and still less, is it necessary to understand by it, as Prof. Stuart does, that the angels who presided over the earth, over the under-world, and over the sea, are intended. It is evidently popular language; and the sense is, that John heard a universal ascription of praise. All worlds seemed to join in it; all the dwellers on the earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, partook of the spirit of heaven in rendering honor to the Redeemer.
Under the earth - Supposed to be inhabited by the shades of the dead. See the Job 10:21-22 notes; Isaiah 14:9 note.
And such as are in the sea - All that dwell in the ocean. In Psalm 148:7-10, “dragons, and all deeps; beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl,” are called on to praise the Lord; and there is no more incongruity or impropriety in one description than in the other. In the Psalm, the universe is called on to render praise; in the passage before us it is described as actually doing it. The hills, the streams, the floods; the fowls of the air, the dwellers in the deep, and the beasts that roam over the earth; the songsters in the grove, and the insects that play in the sunbeam, in fact, declare the glory of their Creator; and it requires no very strong effort of the fancy to imagine the universe as sending up a constant voice of thanksgiving.
- There is a slight change here from Revelation 5:12, but it is the same thing substantially. It is an ascription of all glory to God and to the Lamb.
13. Every creature. That is, every created being. The chorus swells, and in response to the cries of praise from the hosts of heaven, all creation joins in adoration of the Father and the Son. Christ is victor, and the character of God is vindicated before the whole universe (see on v. 11).
To what point in the great controversy do the symbolic scenes portrayed in chs. 4 and 5 refer? According to DA 834 the song was sung by the angels when Christ was installed at the right hand of God after ascension. Also, according to AA 601, 602; GC 671, this song will be sung by the saints at the establishment of the new earth and by the redeemed and angels in eternity (8T 44; cf. PP 541; GC 545, 678). This varied setting suggests that the vision of chs. 4 and 5 is not to be thought of as representing any one specific occurrence in heaven, but as a timeless, highly symbolic portrayal of the victory of Christ and the resulting vindication of God. When so understood, this vision may be seen as representing the attitude of heaven toward the Son and His work since the cross, an attitude that rises to a crescendo as the great controversy comes to its victorious climax. For the nature of symbolic visions see on Eze. 1:10.
In heaven, and on the earth. From the standpoint of ancient cosmology, heaven, earth, under the earth, and sea constitute the entire universe. All creation will finally recognize the righteousness of God (see GC 670, 671).
Blessing. The four ascriptions of v. 13 are parallel to four in the sevenfold doxology of v. 12.
Power. Gr. kratos, “power [to rule],” “dominion,” parallel to “strength” in v. 12 but differing from it in that kratos represents divine power in action. It is such power that earthly creatures witness (see on v. 12).
Him that sitteth. See on ch. 4:2.
The Lamb. See on v. 6. The fact that the Lamb is adored here on the same basis as the Father implies their equality (see Phil. 2:9-11).

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