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Earlier, John had said that those “washed
from their sins by His blood” were made a kingdom, to be
priests unto God. That’s a reference back to the
first chapter, Revelation, chapter 1, verses 5-6
[“…To Him Who loved us and washed us from
our sins in His Own blood, and has made us kings
and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and
dominion forever and ever. Amen.”] He identified
them in Revelation 1, verse 9, as suffering saints
in the kingdom, he being a “companion in [their]
tribulation.” This is the kingdom that God
would establish in the days of the fourth world empire [the Roman
Empire] as spoken of by the prophet Daniel in Daniel 2, and
verse 44 [“And in the days of these kings the
God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed;
and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break
in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand
forever.”]. This was the kingdom given to Christ
when He ascended triumphantly to God. It is a kingdom in
which all the peoples of every nation, and every language should
serve Him. Again, Daniel’s prophecies find their
fulfillment in this kingdom of people redeemed by
Christ.
Notice that this prophecy, indeed, has already
been fulfilled. There are those who would say that prophecies
such as we are speaking of this evening, specifically these ones
concerning the kingdom, are yet to be fulfilled. But, in
fact, we know that the kingdom was established, and it, indeed, is
in existence even now. [See Acts 2.]
If the people are priests now, they are a
kingdom now. Peter is, of course, our most familiar reference
to being priests. He writes that those redeemed by the blood
of the Lamb are a holy priesthood, set apart unto
God, a royal priesthood, related to the King, and a
holy nation, a people for God’s Own
possession, 1 Peter 1:19, 1 Peter 2:5 and
1 Peter 2, and verse 9. [1 Peter
1:18-19: “…knowing that you were
not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver
or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot.”
1 Peter 2:5: “…you also, as
living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to
God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter
2:9 “But you are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation,
His Own special people, that you may proclaim the
praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light….”]
The mission of this new
priesthood, a redeemed people, is to offer
spiritual sacrifices, and to show forth the
excellencies of God, Who called them, Who established them, Who
made the kingdom, not just a possibility, but a
reality, AND has made provision whereby we might
be priests, we might be kings, we might be a holy
nation.
We notice in the last part of verse
10, “And they reign upon the
earth.” How is that so? Christ reigns now,
and the redeemed ones also reign in life with Him, those who have
been purchased with the blood of the Lamb. They are endued
[provided (with qualities)], or given, kingly power to rule with
Him upon the earth at this present time. These who are saved
by grace have been raised up to sit with Him in this spiritual
realm, as Paul says, Ephesians 2, verse 5 and
following [Ephesians 2:4-7:
“But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love
with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have
been saved), 6and raised us up together, and
made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, 7that in the ages to come He might show
the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in
Christ Jesus.”]. And through this abundance of
grace and the gift of righteousness, they reign in
life through Him, Romans 5:17 [“For if
by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much
more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness will reign in life through the One,
Jesus Christ.”].
A parallel can be seen from the days of
Israel. Israel was referred to as “a holy nation, a
priesthood.” They were also a “redeemed
people”. As God brought the Israelites out of Egyptian
bondage and brought them to Sinai, He told them, “You shall
be unto Me a kingdom, and priests, and a holy nation,”
Exodus 19, verses 5-6 [“Now therefore,
if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you
shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the
earth is Mine. 6And you shall be to Me a kingdom
of priests and a holy nation….”].
So, those redeemed in Christ are also made a kingdom, and priests,
a holy nation.
In summary, concerning the “new
song,” these ones purchased by Christ’s blood are
made a kingdom and priests, and they reign upon the earth,
exercising kingly power with Him. That is the essence, the
thrust, of what was being sung in the “new
song.”
The Lamb is Praised by Thousands Upon Thousands
of Angels (verses 11-12)
Verses 11-12: “Then I looked, and I heard the
voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and
the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12saying with a
loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain to
receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and
glory and blessing!’”
It seems that in addition to the four living
creatures and the twenty-four elders, there was also in that
heavenly scene a great throng, a great group of
angels—“many angels around the
throne,”—who attend Him Who rules over all.
How many were there? “…the number of them
was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of
thousands….” Can we pin that number
down? Well, we really can’t. That is, again, one
of those elusive numbers, but we do know the source from which it
comes. It actually comes from a Greek expression, which goes
like this: “Myriads of myriads, and thousands of
thousands.” In the original language, this expression
was not intended to specify an exact number, but, rather, to
indicate an indefinitely great number, standing
for a quantity that is unable to be counted. It’s a
quantity similar to that which was expressed by the Hebrew writer
when he spoke of “an innumerable” host,
Hebrews 12, and verse 22 [“But you have
come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of
angels….”].
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