Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels and living creatures and elders encircling the throne, and their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Walk the Square · a single-voice walk of this pair around the Clowney square13:35
Significance
The heavenly throne-room hymn rises from "myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands" of angels — the very court of Daniel 7:10 ("thousands upon thousands attended Him... myriads upon myriads") — proclaiming the slain Lamb "worthy... to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing," until "every creature in heaven and on earth" ascribes to the Lamb the same "power and honor and glory" given to God on the throne (Rev 5:11-14). This universal, worship-bearing acclamation fulfills Daniel 7:14, where the Son of Man receives "dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him." The Aramaic verb for that service, pəlaḥ, is the cultic verb of worship owed to God alone (Dan 3:28; 6:16) — and here the worship of every creature is rendered jointly "to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb." The connection is promise-fulfillment: the universal worship promised the Son of Man is realized as the slain-and-standing Lamb receives the adoration of all creation. The telos is the worthiness of the Lamb — the Son of Man receives universal worship not by raw power but because He was slain and by His blood purchased a people (5:9); His dominion is cruciform, so that to behold Him enthroned is to find the glory of God in the face of the Lamb, the most worthy and desirable object of unending praise.
Found via
Beale, The Book of Revelation (NIGTC, 1999); Beale & Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Baker, 2007)
