And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
6. and lo ] Should be omitted: the construction is, “And I saw in the midst of a Lamb standing.”
in the midst of the throne ] See on Rev 4:6. In this passage, the sense might be merely “in the centre of the (semicircular?) space surrounded by ,” but Rev 7:17 disproves this. If it be not rash to attempt to work out the details of the picture, I would conjecture that the four living creatures were under the four corners of the Throne, with their heads and wings projecting beyond it: and the Lamb stood in the midst of the front of it, appearing as proceeding from between the feet of Him Who sat thereon.
stood ] Expressed by a participle, and with the true reading (see above) should be so translated, “I saw a Lamb standing.”
Lamb ] See Isa 53:7; Joh 1:29; Joh 1:36. Too much importance has been given to the fact that St John uses a different Greek word here from that in his Gospel, and in the LXX. of Isaiah. It is doubtful whether the LXX. is used in the O. T. references in this Book; and the form here used is a diminutive and a neuter. It is awkward to use a neuter noun of a Person, but in this Book St John boldly uses masculines in reference to the Lamb (as in his Gospel he once or twice does in reference to the Spirit): while in the Gospel he is less regardless of grammatical rules, and therefore prefers the masc. form.
as it had been slain ] The true construction calls attention to the paradox, a Lamb appearing with its throat cut, yet not lying dead or dying, but standing. It serves to typify “Him that liveth and was dead, and is alive for evermore” (Rev 1:18). The risen Christ bore, and doubtless bears, the wounds of His Passion unaltered unhealed, though apparently not bleeding, Joh 20:25; Joh 20:27.
seven horns and seven eyes ] The Spirit is to Him both strength and wisdom. The horn is throughout the Bible the symbol of conquering might and glory: see e.g. 1Ki 22:11; Zec 1:18 sqq., while 1Sa 2:1, &c. shew that divine glory as well as earthly may be so expressed. For the seven eyes, see Zec 3:9; Zec 4:10. It is hardly fanciful to observe on the combination of horns and eyes, that a bull shuts his eyes when he charges. Sagacity in discerning truth in all its aspects, and power and promptitude in resolve and execution, are excellences scarcely ever combined in the great men of the world, the one usually varies inversely as the other; but “Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God” (1Co 1:24) unites both.
seven spirits ] Rev 1:4, Rev 4:5.
sent forth, &c.] Taken, of course, from Zec 4:10 already referred to. The seven lamps of Rev 4:5 represent the Spirit as eternally proceeding from and belonging to the Father: these represent Him as sent by the Son and belonging to the Son.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne – We are not to suppose that he was in the center of the throne itself, but he was a conspicuous object when the throne and the elders and the living beings were seen. He was so placed as to seem to be in the midst of the group made up of the throne, the living beings, and the elders.
And of the four beasts – See the notes at Rev 4:6.
Stood a Lamb – An appellation often given to the Messiah, for two reasons:
(1)Because the lamb was an emblem of innocence and,
(2)Because a lamb was offered commonly in sacrifice. Compare the notes on Joh 1:29.
As it had been slain – That is, in some way having the appearance of having been slain; having some marks or indications about it that it had been slain. What those were the writer does not specify. If it were covered with blood, or there were marks of mortal wounds, it would be all that the representation demands. The great work which the Redeemer performed – that of making an atonement for sin – was thus represented to John in such a way that he at once recognized him, and saw the reason why the office of breaking the seals was entrusted to him. It should be remarked that this representation is merely symbolic, and we are not to suppose that the Redeemer really assumed this form, or that he appears in this form in heaven. We should no more suppose that the Redeemer appear: literally as a lamb in heaven with numerous eyes and horns, than that there is a literal throne and a sea of glass there; that there are seats there, and elders, and crowns of gold.
Having seven horns – Emblems of authority and power – for the horn is a symbol of power and dominion. Compare Deu 33:17; 1Ki 22:11; Jer 48:25; Zec 1:18; Dan 7:24. The propriety of this symbol is laid in the fact that the strength of an animal is in the horn, and that it is by this that he obtains a victory over other animals. The number seven here seems to be designed, as in other places, to denote completeness. See the notes on Rev 1:4. The meaning is, that he had so large a number as to denote complete dominion.
And seven eyes – Symbols of intelligence. The number seven here also denotes completeness; and the idea is, that he is able to survey all things. John does not say anything as to the relative arrangement of the horns and eyes on the Lamb, and it is vain to attempt to conjecture how it was. The whole representation is symbolical, and we may understand the meaning of the symbol without being able to form an exact conception of the figure as it appeared to him.
Which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth – See the notes on Rev 1:4. That is, which represent the seven Spirits of God; or the manifold operations of the one Divine Spirit. As the eye is the symbol of intelligence – outward objects being made visible to us by that – so it may well represent an all-pervading spirit that surveys and sees all things. The eye, in this view, among the Egyptians was an emblem of the Deity. By the seven Spirits here the same thing is doubtless intended as in Rev 1:4; and if, as there supposed, the reference is to the Holy Spirit considered with respect to his manifold operations, the meaning here is, that the operations of that Spirit are to be regarded as connected with the work of the Redeemer. Thus, all the operations of the Spirit are connected with, and are a part of, the work of redemption. The expression sent forth into all the earth, refers to the fact that that Spirit prevades all things The Spirit of God is often represented as sent or poured out; and the meaning here is, that his operations are as if he was sent out to survey all things and to operate everywhere. Compare 1Co 12:6-11.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 5:6-7
A Lamb as it had been slain.
The Lamb and the book
I. God has a plan for the construction of His Church.
1. The plan is on a large scale. It fills a book. Redemption is Gods greatest effort.
2. God is resolved to work out the plan. Right hand–symbol of executive energy.
3. The plan is an infinitely difficult one. Sealed with seven seals. How to reconcile man to God, the great mystery of the universe.
4. The plan is essential to the happiness of humanity. John wept when no one could open the book.
II. Christ is the administrator of Gods plan for the construction of His Church.
1. He is qualified by appointment. My servant.
2. He is qualified by character. Lamb.
3. He is qualified by suffering. Slain.
4. He is qualified by perfection of ability. Seven horns, etc. Perfection of knowledge and power.
III. The administration by Christ of Gods plan for the construction of His church is productive of universal joy.
1. The joy of the Church (verses 8-10).
2. The joy of the angels (verses 11, 12).
3. The joy of the creation (verse 13).
4. The joy of God. This is My beloved Son, etc. (B. D. Johns.)
The Lamb in the midst of the throne
I. The blessed object which John beheld is heaven.
1. The title given Him is most endearing.
(1) A favourite one with the inspired writers (Isa 53:7; Joh 1:29; 1Pe 1:19, etc.). St. John uses the expression nearly thirty times, and always in most important connections.
(2) An appropriate and expressive title.
2. The position He occupies is pre-eminently striking.
(1) Conspicuous.
(2) Dignified. And if such be His position in heaven, should He be placed in the background upon earth?
3. The attributes symbolically ascribed to Him are highly imposing. These are power and wisdom.
II. The special act which He is represented as performing.
III. The feelings of joy and adoration with which the circumstance referred to was regarded.
1. By the redeemed.
2. By the angelic hosts.
3. By the whole intelligent creation. (Expository Outlines.)
The Lamb in the midst of the throne
I. The lamb in the midst of the throne. The designation of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, appealed to one class of associations in the apostles mind; the appearance of a lamb as it had been slain, to another. The design was to combine the two, as better calculated than each one singly to convey the full impression of the person who had prevailed to open the sealed book. A lamb was selected by God from the period of the Fail as best calculated, by its natural meekness and innocence, to typify the real propitiation for sin which tie had provided from the foundation of the world. As such He was foretold by Isaiah, He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. As such He is pointed out by John the Baptist, Behold, the Lamb of God! and as such He is described by Peter, Ye were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. The Book of Revelation records the triumphs of the Lamb. The Old Testament had given the history of the preparation for His coming; the New had tracked His sorrowful course on the earth; all that was now needed was to trace the effects of the death of Christ upon future ages of the world, and throw out some intimations of its blissful and inter-ruinable reward. A Lamb as it had been slain, in the midst of the throne, suggests that certain indications remain in the glorified person of the Redeemer in the midst of its purity and splendour, of its oblation on the Cross. Were the sufferings of Christ the foundation of the glory that should follow? Is His exaltation in proportion to His humiliation? Then must the glory of His person be in proportion to its shame, and the radiance of His scars pre-eminently bright. This becomes the everlasting memorial to the redeemed of their title to those realms, and of the ever-living intercession within the veil. Justice requires the detention of this memento of their chartered bliss.
II. The acceptance of the challenge by the Lamb to open the sealed book. AS the rising sun chases from a whole hemisphere the gloom and silence of night, burnishes the billows, gems the crystal caves, tinges the forests, gilds the waving corn, enamels the flowers, fringes the clouds, empurples the sky, fills cities with life, homes with mirth, and groves with songs; so the appearance of the Lamb on the throne turns the stillness of creation into life, the gloom into day, the silence into songs. The joy that spread through the whole creation when the Lamb took the sealed book intimates that all creation was interested in its contents. The book in the hand of Christ insured its fulfilment. (G. Rogers.)
Christ in heaven
1. There is a wide difference between the present and former condition of the Saviour.
2. The exaltation of Christ has made no change upon the spirit and disposition by which He is actuated.
3. Jesus Christ is invested with a threefold office. He is here symbolised by a Lamb, which naturally reminds us of His sacrificial work and of His priestly character; but, as this Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, He must be a king and a prophet as well as a priest.
4. Jesus Christ is a Divine person.
5. Saints are under peculiar obligations to praise and honour God.
6. See the true and direct way for relief to the burdened mind. Is the soul afflicted with a deep sense of guilt? Look to the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (R. Culbertson.)
The appearance of the Mediator in heaven
I. That the mediator appears as the centre of heavenly society.
1. The position is indicative of the pre-eminence of Christ. While on earth He was despised and rejected of men; in heaven He is the centre of enjoyment and worship.
2. This position is indicative of the attraction of Christ. We are assured that Christ is not merely the centre of the society of heaven because of His royal dignity, but also because of the beauty of His character, the glory of His redemptive work, the wealth of His mercy, the depth of His condescension, and the wondrous achievements of His grace in bringing so many to the promised kingdom.
3. This position is indicative of the supreme life and activity of Christ. The Redeemer stood in the midst of the throne and of the company of heaven; thus indicating His rising up from the grave, His entrance upon a life which should never again yield to death, and His readiness for the redemptive work of the future.
II. That the mediator appears with the tokens of redemptive suffering. A Lamb as it had been slain (verse 6).
1. This figure indicates the gentle spirit of Christ. He deals tenderly with wounded spirits, now that He is in heaven, even as He did when on earth.
2. This figure indicates the painful sufferings of Christ. Here then is great encouragement for all penitent sinners, in that humanity is represented in heaven, and in that Christ can never forget the humiliation He endured to bring them to God.
III. That the mediator appears as executing the most important work.
1. He accomplished a work vastly important to mankind. Surely nothing could be of greater importance than that man should have light cast upon destiny.
2. lie accomplished a work which none other being could achieve. All created intelligences had been challenged to open the book which they saw in the Divide hand, but were not equal to the task. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Christ the expounder of the mystery
I. Christ, as the expounder of the mystery of the Divine government, occupies a central position, and assumes the most extraordinary aspects.
1. The position He occupies. He is in the midst of the throne; He is in the very centre of the intelligent creation. He attracts all–lie enlightens all–lie governs all–He blesses all with new life and beauty.
2. The aspect He assumes. In His person are combined the marks of suffering humanity and the attributes of perfect Divinity.
II. Christ, as the expounder of the mystery of the Divine government, awakens, in all classes of holy mind, ineffable delight.
1. Here is humility: they fell down before the Lamb. The profoundest reverence mingled with their joy.
2. Here is harmony: here are harps–emblems of music.
3. Here is acceptableness: golden vials full of odours. Its breathing ecstacies ascend as fragrant incense to God.
4. Here is prayerfulness: the prayers of saints. Death terminates the saints need of prayer for certain objects, such as forgiveness, deliverance from error, and victory over foes, but not the spirit of prayer–the spirit of felt dependence upon God.
III. Christ, as the expounder of the mystery of the Divine government, is deemed worthy of the office, because of his redemptive achievement.
1. He has redeemed. The redemption of man consists in a deliverance from the power and penalty of sin.
2. He has redeemed by sacrifice. What was the sacrifice? A few self-denying efforts?–a world? No; His life. By Thy blood; by the sacrifice of Thy life–Thyself.
3. He has redeemed, by sacrifice, all classes. Out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. The atonement is designed to redeem the world, and some of all its multitudinous sections have been thus redeemed, and millions more are to follow yet.
4. He has redeemed all classes, by sacrifice, to the highest honours. They are priests, in relation to their Maker, offering up the sacrifice of a devout and grateful soul; they are kings, in relation to their race, wielding a governing influence over their thoughts and hearts. A true Christian is a moral sovereign. (Homilist.)
The Lamb in glory
I. Jesus in heaven appears in His sacrificial character; and I would have you note that this character is enhanced by other conspicuous points. Its glory is not diminished, but enhanced, by all the rest of our Lords character: the attributes, achievements, and offices of our Lord all concentrate their glory in His sacrificial character, and all unite in making it a theme for loving wonder.
1. We read that He is the Lion of the tribe of Juda; by which is signified the dignity of His office, as King, and the majesty of His person, as Lord. The lion is at home in fight, and the Lord is a man of war. Like a lion, He is courageous. Though He be like a lamb for tenderness, yet not in timidity.
2. Further, it is clear that He is a champion: The Lion of the tribe of Juda hath prevailed. What was asked for was worthiness, not only in the sense of holiness, but in the sense of valour. One is reminded of a legend of the Crusades. A goodly castle and estate awaited the coming of the lawful heir: he, and he only, could sound the horn which hung at the castle gate; but he who could make it yield a blast would be one who had slain a heap of Paynim in the fight, and had come home victorious from many a bloody fray. So here, no man in earth or heaven had valour and renown enough to be worthy to take the mystic roll out of the hand of the Eternal. Our champion was worthy.
3. In this wonderful vision we see Jesus as the familiar of God. To Him there is no danger in a close approach to the infinite glory, for that glory is His own.
4. We observe, in addition to all this, that He is the prophet of God. He who unveils the eternal will of the Highest is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
5. Our Lord always was, and is now, acknowledged to be Lord and God. Yet, in the glory of His Deity, He disdains not to appear as the Lamb that has been slain. This still is His chosen character. Write, then, the passion of your Lord upon the tablets of your hearts, and let none erase the treasured memory. Think of Him mainly and chiefly as the sacrifice for sin.
II. In the second place, note that, in this character, Jesus is the centre of all. In the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain. The Lamb is the centre of the wonderful circle which makes up the fellowship of heaven.
1. From Him, as a standpoint, all things are seen in their places. Looking up at the planets from this earth, which is one of them, it is difficult to comprehend their motions–progressive, retrograde, or standing still; but the angel in the sun sees all the planets marching in due course, and circling about the centre of their system. Standing where you please upon this earth, and within human range of opinion, you cannot see all things aright, nor understand them till you come to Jesus, and then you see all things from the centre. The man who knows the incarnate God, slain for human sins, stands in the centre of truth.
2. The Lambs being in the midst signifies, also, that in Him they all meet in one. Christ is the summing up of all existence. Seek you Godhead? There it is. Seek you manhood? There it is. Wish you the spiritual? There it is in His human soul. Desire you the material? There it is in His human body. Our Lord hath, as it were, gathered up the ends of all things, and hath bound them into one.
3. Being in the centre, to Him they all look. As the Fathers eyes are always on Jesus, so are the eyes of the living creatures and the four-and-twenty elders which represent the Church in its Divine life and the Church in its human life. All who have been washed in His blood perpetually contemplate His beauties.
4. All seem to rally round Him as a guard around a king. All things ordained of the Father work towards Christ, as their centre; and so stand all the redeemed, and all the angels waiting about the Lord, as swelling His glory and manifesting His praise.
III. Thirdly, our Lord is seen in heaven as the Lamb slain, and in this character He exhibits peculiar marks. None of those marks derogate from His glory as the sacrifice for sin; but they tend to instruct us therein.
1. Note well the words: Stood a Lamb as it had been slain. Stood, here is the posture of life; as it had been slain, here is the memorial of death. Our view of Jesus should be two-fold; we should see His death and His life: we shall never receive a whole Christ in any other way.
2. Note, next, another singular combination in the Lamb. He is called a little lamb; for the diminutive is used in the Greek; but yet how great He is! In Jesus, as a Lamb, we see great tenderness and exceeding familiarity with His people. He is not the object of dread. A lamb is the most approachable of beings. Yet there is about the little Lamb an exceeding majesty. The elders no sooner saw Him than they fell down before Him.
3. He hath seven horns and seven eyes. His power is equal to His vigilance; and these are equal to all the emergencies brought about by the opening of the seven seals of the Book of Providence.
IV. Jesus appears eternally as a Lamb, and in this character He is universally adored.
1. Before He opened one of the seals this worship commenced. We trust Him where we cannot trace Him. Before He begins His work as the revealing Mediator, the Church adores Him for His work as a sacrifice. Jesus our Lord is worshipped not so much for what benefits He will confer as for Himself.
2. That adoration begins with the Church of God. The Church of God, in all its phases, adores the Lamb. If you view the Church of God as a Divine creation, the embodiment of the Spirit of God, then the living creatures fall down before the Lamb. No God-begotten life is too high to refuse obeisance to the Lamb of God.
3. The Lamb is not only worshipped by the Church, He is worshipped by angels. What a wonderful gathering together of certain legions of the Lords hosts we have before us in this chapter I
4. Nay, it is not merely the Church and angelhood; but all creation, east, west, north, south, highest, lowest, all adore Him. All life, all space, all time, immensity, eternity; all these become one mouth for song, and all the song is, Worthy is the Lamb.
5. Now, then, if this be so, shall we ever allow anybody in our presence to lower the dignity of Christ, our sacrifice? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Lamb in the midst of the throne
I. The scene in heaven.
1. A redemption scene. There is not one person or one object in the heavenly mansions but stands closely connected with the wonders of redeeming love.
2. A rejoicing, blissful scene. Let us mark here not merely the fact that it is a scene of triumphant song, but especially the object that causes the gladness, and the difference in the mode of expressing it. We have here four different songs. First, the song of the living creatures; secondly, the song of the elders; thirdly, the song of the angels; fourthly, the song of all creation. But the one grand question is, who is the object of praise? Clearly, in all cases, the Lamb on the throne; all eyes are turned to Him; all hearts fixed on Him. He is the life, the soul, the all in all of these songs. Heaven is full of triumph. The universe is glad in its exalted and crowned Saviour.
3. A communion scene. Observe how clearly this is set forth in the terms of the text. The Lamb is in the midst of the throne; but the elders, the living creatures, the angels, are all holding fellowship with the Lamb, and with one another. He is the object of all their love, the centre of all attraction, the source of all their light, and life and joy. The Eternal Three are holding their blessed communion of love, into the depths of which no creature may penetrate. But the four living creatures, the elders, the angels, are holding intercourse with that Lamb, and with one another. All are linked to the throne by love. Now remember that Gods family are partly on earth, and partly in heaven; some at home with their Father, others still pilgrims and sojourners in a foreign land. But Jehovah has no greater love for the saints now in glory than for you. Jesus is not more certainly in the midst of the Church in triumph than in the midst of her in tribulation. There is not a more certain fellowship with Him around the throne than in this vale of tears. There is positively no other opening up of the wells of salvation to the glorified saints than to us. The grand thing is, the Lamb is the same, the life and love are the same. Yes, and all the more you can feel your own poverty, necessity and sinfulness, the more will you exalt the Lamb as your all; and then the sense of your necessity, and the sight of His riches and glory endearing Him to your soul, will bring Him near to your heart.
II. The connection between these things and certain other things here specified of the Lamb on the throne, as the foundation of them.
1. The most prominent is the death of the Lamb. He appears a Lamb as it had been slain. It is in His death that all the virtue is found which produces the results to which we have directed your minds. The death of that Lamb is death to all our fears; for we see how He that spared not His own Son will with Him also freely give us all things. That death of the Lamb is also the death of a guilty conscience; for while reposing on this Lamb of God, the effect of His righteousness is quietness and assurance for ever. His death is even the death of death itself; for as we fix our faith on the throne, we hear Him say, I am He that liveth, etc.
2. The attitude of the Lamb. He stands in the midst of the throne. This is manifestly His attitude as the intercessor of His people. He has entered in once for all into the holiest of all, there to appear in the presence of God for us. A soldier of old, who was accused of being a traitor to his country, came into the presence of his sovereign, showed the scars on his breast, the memorials of his courage while fighting in the thickest of the battle, and was there received with applause in the face of all his accusers.
3. The freshness of the Lamb slain is a wonderful sight. The Lamb appears standing, bleeding still, as if the sword of justice had been just then drawn from the wounds it inflicted, and the blood were still streaming from the victim. It is not like the blood of bulls and of goats, that could grow cold, and hard, and unfit for sacrifice; but through eternal ages the Father sees that blood, and saints behold it, in all the power of a recent death. By faith the sinner ever sees it too, and has no fear it shall ever lose its efficacy with God.
III. The connection of both these former heads of discourse with the special work of communion to-day.
1. Now you see prominently here that we are alike showing forth the cross and crown-rights of our glorious Immanuel. I have little fear that you forget His death on a day like this; but I am certain that we do often overlook His exaltation. And now we put ourselves afresh under His sway, and vow submission to His law as a rule of life and holiness.
2. There is an inseparable connection between this and all the consolations of the believer. The Lamb has not only the seven crowns or seven horns, but He has also the seven eyes, or seven spirits of God. Christ has all authority and power in heaven and on earth, and He has all the spiritual graces to bestow. The power would be useless without the spiritual influences to shed forth, and these again would be in vain without the rightful authority to bestow them. But Christ has both.
3. Another thing is the hope of the Church in the second coming of the Lord. (John Walker.)
The slain Lamb, beheld in heaven by the redeemed
I. There will be a glorious manifestation of the Lord Jesus in the heavenly world.
1. The manifestation of the Saviours person.
(1) In His exalted human nature.
(2) In connection with His divinity.
2. The manifestation of the Saviours offices. We speak here of a manifestation to the minds of the redeemed.
(1) In this manner, for instance, they will be led to know and meditate upon His priesthood; a capacity in which He gave Himself as a sacrifice for us. And the redeemed, gazing upon Him thus, will dwell with enlarged comprehension upon the wonders of His dying love, in its source, in its process, and in its results.
(2) In this manner, again, they will also know and meditate upon His royalty; a capacity in which He undertook the government of all beings and of all worlds, that their redemption and the purposes of the Godhead might be completed and performed.
3. In the heavenly world the manifestation of the Saviours person and offices will be unchanging and eternal. Yes, there will be no shrouding of Him, there will be no withdrawal of Him, there will be no separation from Him. He is the Root of the tree; and that Root will never dry or fail to circulate its fertilising influences. He is the Shechinah of the temple; and that Shechinah will never be obscured or extinguished, He is the Sun of the firmament: and that Sun will never be clouded, or decline, or set, or cease from pouring out the beams of its high, eternal noon.
II. The glorious manifestation of the Lord Jesus in the heavenly world will produce animating and delightful influences on all to whom it is revealed.
1. From the manifestation of the Lord Jesus there will be secured purity. The character of the Lord Jesus Himself is that of unsullied purity; and it is impossible but that there should be an assimilating influence exercised upon all those who are brought spiritually to commune with Him. Surely these who have been redeemed by His precious blood from our apostate race, will find, in their contemplation of Him, reasons for incessant and invariable conformity to His likeness. Besides this, we must remember the nature of those employments, in which He will engage them while they shall dwell before Him. And so it is, according to the conclusion of inspiration, that we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is; and we shall be like Him for ever, because we shall see Him for ever.
2. This manifestation will also be found to secure pleasure.
3. The manifestation of the Saviours presence in the heavenly world also, we find, secures praise.
(1) It is the praise of worship.
(2) It is the praise of gratitude. (J. Parsons.)
The Lamb in the midst of the throne
I. The vision is set before us to remind us of the method of atonement; it is by the blood of Jesus, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Amid all the error abounding in this world there are few so infatuated as to maintain that they have not committed sin. Hew is this sin to be forgiven? By our repentance and reformation, may possibly be the reply. But till there is a work of grace upon the heart there can be no genuine repentance, no godly reformation. There may be feelings of remorse and regret; but these are not penitence. But granting, for the sake of argument, that man could of himself wring out a true repentance, still it can be shown that there is nothing in that repentance to make atonement for past sin. In no case can it make any amends to the insulted justice of God. Perhaps you now say that you trust in the mercy of God. You trust, you say, in the mercy of God; but how is this mercy to be exercised? Mercy is not the sole perfection of God. Holiness and justice–these are as essential to His nature as benevolence. How, then, can God be just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly? Human reason can give no intelligent, no satisfactory answer to this question. The mind feels that it has nothing to rest on; no truth on which the understanding can settle and the heart repose, till such time as it sees a Lamb as it had been slain, in the very midst of the throne of God.
II. The vision is set before us to remind us of the character of Jesus, of His meekness and gentleness, so fitted to win the human heart. The question under the last head was, How is God to be reconciled to man? The Question under this head is, How is man to be reconciled to God? How is his confidence to be won and his heart engaged?
1. I remark that in order to the gaining of the feelings of the heart it is needful that the conscience be pacified. A troubled conscience always leads the mind to avoid, as if instinctively, the remembrance of the party offended. There cannot be true and filial love in a mind in which conscience has not been appeased, nor can there be any of those allied graces, such as faith and confidence, hope and joy, which ought to fill and animate the soul. Not only so, but in order to gain the heart there must be a free, a full, and an instant forgiveness. It must be free; for it cannot be purchased or earned by us. It mast be full; for if anything were left unforgiven the conscience would still reproach. Observe how all this is secured in the very view here presented to our fatten. The Lamb, the image of gentleness, in the midst of the throne, shows that God is pacified, and the blood that flows from it proves that this has been done in strict accordance with justice. The conscience, the law in the heart, is satisfied, for God Himself, the law-giver, is satisfied. The believer, as he looks to the object set up, can say, It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth?
2. But secondly, in order to gain the heart there must be a lovely object presented to it. Such an object is presented in Jesus, a Lamb as it had been slain. The character of our Lord, set forth as an object on which the faith and affection of mankind may rest, has in itself everything that is grand and attractive. Just as fleece is a beauty in shape and colour that pleases the eye, and a sweetness of sound that delights the ear, so there is a moral loveliness that should draw towards it the affections of the soul. But here, in the character of God set forth in the face of His Son, we have all kinds of beauty meeting and harmoniously blending. In the Mediator the Divine and human natures are united in such a manner that the one does not destroy or overpower the other, but each retains its own properties, while the whole is a unity. The brightness of the Fathers glory, without being shorn of a single ray, is seen in Christ under a milder lustre. Coldness and indifference are dispelled when we think that in drawing near to Jesus it is man coming to man. Unbelief vanishes when we realise that we have a brothers heart beating for us on the throne of glory. While our hearts are naturally drawn by sentiments and sympathies towards every brother man, there are certain men of classes of men towards whom we are attracted with greater force; as, for instance, towards all whose sensibilities are quick and whose feelings are tender. And if the persons have themselves been in trouble, if their heart has been melted and softened by fiery trial, our hearts go towards them in yet fuller assurance. Disposed at all times to love such, we are especially drawn towards them when we ourselves are in trouble. It is by this attracting power that believers are drawn so closely to their Saviour. The brotherliness of His human nature, as well as the holy love of His Divine nature, are brought out before us in almost every incident of His life. The forsaken lift up their head and are comforted in communion with Him who was Himself forsaken. Every one acquainted with mans nature knows that if his heart is gained it must be gained by love. It must be by presenting a loving object. Such is the loving object set before us–a Lamb as it had been slain.
III. The vision is set before us to remind us that Jesus is the grand source of joy to the saints in heaven. As it was the view of Christ crucified that first gained the heart of the sinner, so it is a view of the same object seen in the visions of faith that continues to keep and fix his regards. The faith that saves does not consist of a single glance; looking unto Jesus is the habitual attitude of the believers soul. Led to love the Lamb of God when on earth, trained by the Spirit of God and by all the dispensations of God to love Him more and more, he finds when he has crossed the dark valley of the shadow of death that the first object that meets his eye, and the most conspicuous, is a Lamb as it had been slain. But we cannot utter that which is unutterable, or describe that which is indescribable; and so we cannot picture or so much as conceive of that joy unspeakable and full of glory which the believer feels on his first entering into the presence of his Saviour, and which he is to enjoy for ever. True, there will be enjoyments not flowing so directly, though still proceeding indirectly from Him. There will be joys springing from the holy affections of confidence and love, which Christ by His Spirit plants in the breasts of His people. These graces, flowing, overflowing, and ever increasing, will be a source of great and ever-deepening happiness throughout eternity. Again, there will be joys springing from the glorious society of heaven, from the company of saints and angels. The question has often been asked, Where is heaven? We may not be able to answer it geographically, but we can answer it truly. It is where Jesus is. Where I am, there ye shall be also.
1. A man must be born again before he can enter the kingdom of God.
2. Oh, that I had but lived in the days when Jesus sojourned on the earth! is the wish that will sometimes rise up in our breasts. Oh, that I had but seen His sacred person i Oh, that I had but heard His gracious words! These wishes, if proceeding from a sincere and sanctified heart, may yet be gratified, lie who was dead is alive, and behold He liveth for evermore. As He was on earth, so is He now in heaven. (J. McCosh.)
The Zion–the lamb
He looked for a lion; he saw a lamb; the Greek says little lamb–lamb, emblem of meekness; little lamb, emblem of apparent meekness; slain, emblem of sacrifice. And yet this lamb had seven horns and Seven eyes; the horns, emblem of power; seven horns, emblem of perfect power; eyes, emblem of wisdom; seven eyes, emblem of perfect wisdom. We continually make this mistake; we think that it is might that rules; we look for a lion. We think that the power in government is to be found in congresses, presidents, kings, armies, and have not yet learned that the power is in homes and wives and mothers. The disciples, when Christ came, were looking for a lion. They believed that the Messiah would appear suddenly, and the hosts of heaven would gather about Him and the hosts of paganism would gather against Him, and in one terrible last battle He would conquer and ride victorious over a bloody field. But when the angel told the watching shepherds the Messiah was come, the angel also said to them, This is the sign of His Messiahship–that He is but a babe, and a babe cradled in s manger. Because Thou hast died, and hast purchased us unto God, Thou art worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and glory and honour and blessings. Power belongs to love. The most potent of all earths potencies love. Only love has any right to power. It is not the lion, it is the lamb that conquers. The eagle is dead, the lamb lives on for ever. To the lamb belongs the worlds wealth. It is not the greedy, ravening lions that acquire wealth, it is the lamb. Only the lamb is worthy to receive riches. They do not belong to shrewd selfishness, but to large-minded love. No man has a right to wealth save he who holds it as a trust and administers it in love. It is only love that is worthy to be rich; nay, it is only love that really has riches; for we have not what we hold in our hand, but what ministers to life. It is love serving and sacrificing itself for others that alone is worthy to be rich, that alone is truly rich. It is love only that is wisdom. The cynic and the misanthrope pride themselves on their knowledge of human nature. They know just as much of it as a man might know of the cold earth who did not know there were any seeds beneath the surface. It is love only that is wise; for love sees the possibility in human nature which eyes blinded by cynicism fail to see. It is love which sees a future statesman in a rail-splitter. It is love which sees the emancipator of Europe in the monk. Love looks beneath the surface and sees the Divine in humanity. Wisdom belongs to love. It was the Lamb that saw in the publican Matthew the great biographer: the Lamb that saw in the recreant and unstable Simon the great Apostle Peter. And to the Lamb ,t belong the glory, and the honour, and the blessing–not to power, not to wisdom, save as power and wisdom are used by love to make itself impart more. There are ranks and hierarchies of glory. Conscience is a great glory–conscience that sees righteousness and understands it; and faith is a great glory–faith that rejoices in the invisible and the eternal; and hope is a great glory–hope that beckons on the man to a larger and nobler and yet larger and nobler achievement. But best and highest of all is love. And so to love will come the song of universal blessing. To the lamb, and the little lamb as it had been slain. We worship Thee, O God, not for Thy power, though that power we might fear; nor for Thy wisdom, though that wisdom we must admire; we worship Thee for Thy love. (Lyman Abbott, D. D.)
The lamb on the throne
The first impression of these words must have been one of the most startling originality. To that old world the idea of a lamb on a throne was a contradiction in terms. I do not mean that the ancient earth was a stranger to gentleness. To combine in one nature the elements of the lion and of the lamb would be as natural for Livy as it was for the writer of the Apocalypse. But the old Pagan world, like the pre-Christian Jewish world, could never say of this element of gentleness, Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory; the kingdom, the power, and the glory were not for it. The part of mans nature reserved for them was the self-asserting part. No nation that I know had a lamb as a symbol of its greatness. The Roman would have understood an eagle on the throne, for his ideal was the soaring of ambition. The Jew would have understood a lion on the throne, for his Messiah was a physical conqueror. But the lamb was ever victim, the symbol of the vanquished, the sign of the dependent soul. Its place was not the throne, but the altar; it could never be the emblem of dominion. It suggests to us that even in our days we have a strong view of Christs exaltation. What is our view of Christs exaltation? It is that He has vanquished His Cross, ceased to be a servant, and become once more a king. St. John says it is the Cross itself which has been exalted, it is the Servant Himself who has been ennobled. No one will deny that at the present hour Christ occupies a different position in the world from that which He held in the first century of our era. He has passed from the foot to the head of the social ladder; He has become the name that is above every name. This will be admitted by all classes–believing and unbelieving. What is the cause of this transformation? It is that Christianity exerts more physical power over the world in our days than it did in the days of St. John? Assuredly not. In point of fact it does not exert more physical power. There are laws in every Christian land as to the regulation of Christian worship, but no individual man is compelled to worship. Why then is it that, in some sense, men of every creed and of no creed bow down before the name of Jesus? It is because the thing which the old world disparaged is the thing which the new world prizes. We are living after the resurrection; but let us never forget that it is the resurrection of the Crucified. The Christ who has risen from the grave is not Christ who has triumphed over suffering; it is a Christ in whom suffering has triumphed. And let us begin by asking what was that kingdom which the seer of Patmos had in his mind when he claimed for Christ the throne of universal dominion. If the empire to be conquered be a physical one, it is not a lamb that will do it. No man who looked for a physical conquest could for a moment have conceived the simile of a world held in restraint by the power of a sacrificial life. But suppose now we test the logic of St. Johns words by another empire. For there is another empire–a kingdom more unruly than the physical, more hard to subdue and more difficult to keep; it is the dominion of the human heart. The kingdom to be conquered, then, is the heart; we may consider this as settled. The next question is, How is the conquest to be made? Now, at the time when St. John wrote there had already been three attempts to deal with the problem of the heart. They may be described under the names Stoicism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Stoicism proposed to quell the passions of the heart by plucking out the heart altogether; it sought to get rid of temptation by getting rid of feeling. Buddhism proposed to quell the passions of the heart by teaching that the heart itself was a delusion, that every pursuit of human desire ended in the discovery that the object was a shadow. Judaism proposed to quell the passions of the heart by the restraining hand of fear; it proclaimed the presence of a lawgiver; it set up an embankment against the flood;. it kept the tree of life by the cherubim and the flaming sword. Now, to these three methods there is one thing in common–they all achieve their end by contracting the object of their search. Their aim is to conquer a certain tract of country; they do conquer it, but they reduce it to the ashes in the process. Can any of these systems be said to possess the throne of the heart? It is a conquest without a kingdom, a victory without a prize, a triumph that has been only purchased by the mutilation of what was made to be beautiful. Now, this is not the conquest which any man desires. Even in the physical sphere, what a potentate seeks is an extended, not a contracted possession. In the sphere of the heart it is the same. The reason why we object to lawless passion in the soul is that it contracts the soul. We do not want to cure either by plucking, withering, or stunting the flower; we wish to expand it. We wish to cure lawless passion on the homoeopathic principle–by creating passion on the other side. It is more life and fuller that we want. You want a counter-passion, an opposing attraction, a positive stimulus pushing the other way. The desire of the flesh can only be met by the desire of the spirit–the thing called love. Now, remember that to St. John light is ever the analogue of love. He applies the two names as synonymous descriptions of God. And why? Because to his mind there was an identity between the process of the redemption of the flower by light and the redemption of the heart by love. The light conquers the flower. It conquers, not by contracting, but by expanding the flower. But there is one other thing which must be added to this; it conquers by dying for the flower; ere it can bring out the bloom it must itself be slain. For, what is the process by which the flower is kindled? It is an act of death on the part of the kindling substance. So far from waiting till it grows, it must itself be the principle of its growth. It must go down to it in the dark and in the cold, must take part in its darkness and its coldness. If it reaps the glory of its resurrection, it is because it shares the ignominy of its grave. It sits upon the throne by reason of its sacrifice. Such is the thought which St. John sees in light and transfers to love. He sees Christ sitting on the throne of human hearts–King, by the most infallible mode of conquest, and by a conquest that enhances the value of the possession. (George Matheson, D. D.)
The atonement
The mere crucifixion of any slave has in it that which would excite compassion; but this event has no parallel in the history of the world; never was a death like the death of Jesus.
1. As we look at this Lamb of God, let us mark the direful malignity of sin.
2. But we see in the Lamb slain, not only the work of sin, but the work of love. Review the whole history of this Lamb of God, and as we feel that He crowned all this love by dying in our stead, that we might have life, let us ask ourselves what return of love ought we to make to Him who loved us even unto death (Rom 12:1). (Bp. Stevens.)
Having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits.—
Union with Christ by the Spirit
The mystical scene before us is the appearance of the Lord, once crucified, once sacrificed, and now the Conqueror, in the heavenly sanctuary; at, and then upon, the heavenly throne. It is the ascension, it is the triumph of the Lord ascended, shown to us in sign and symbol, from the point of view of heaven. It is a new fact, a new phenomenon, in the holy region. The Lord of propitiation, of redemption, is seen here as the immediate fountain-head for earth, the sacred point of radiation downward, of the sevenfold Spirit. To the Spirit, I venture to believe, refer not only the seven mystical eyes but the seven horns, the symbol of perfect spiritual power. I wish to speak of our union by the Holy Spirit with our exalted Lord; of the life of the true members in their Head through the Divine Lifegiver, that Head being the Lamb that was slain. Now, the union of Christ with His people and of them with Him is a truth which may be described, in the light of the New Testament, as not only a great truth of spiritual life, but the truth of truths. It is related to all other kindred doctrines as that which combines, harmonises, and explains them. It appears as the end where they appear as means. Hither they gather and converge. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. That word, the Spirit of Christ, reminds us of Him who is the earthward eyes, who is, as it were, the effluent presence for His Church below, of the exalted Lamb. The Paraclete comes, and behold He mediates and makes for the Christians soul and self a presence of the Lord which somehow is better, far better, for the Christian in this his pilgrimage and tabernacle than even the joy and glory, if it were granted, of His Saviours corporeal proximity. It is in the Spirit that the saint, that is to say the genuine Christian here below, has access in Christ unto the Father. It is those who are led by the Spirit who are in truth and deed, not in a certain sense, but in reality and nature, the sons of God in His Son. It is by the Spirit that they mortify, they continuously do to death, the deeds of the body, in the power and name of Christ. It is by the Spirit that they walk in Christ. It is because of the Spirit dwelling in them, a truth full of deep significance as to the nature of the body of the resurrection, that their mortal body shall be quickened in the day when their Lord from heaven shall change it into likeness to His own. Of that harvest the indwelling Spirit is the first-fruits. Of that inheritance He is the earnest. So the sevenfold One is sent forth into all the earth, as the eyes, as the presence, of the exalted Lamb of the blessed Sacrifice. It is by Him, and by Him alone, that that presence is in the Church and is in the Christian. Sent forth into all the earth: from the presence of the blessed, from the heaven of heavens, into all the earth; from the heart of God to the heart of man; from amidst the song of the heavenly elders to you and to me, to the concrete circumstances of our life to-day, to the stones and dust and thorns and pollutions in our path, to the snares and the illusions, to the crowds and to the solitude, of earth. Yes, He is sent forth into the present, the visible, the temporal. He is intended, He intends Himself, to be no dreamy abstraction above our heads and hearts, but to be the inmost Friend, the living strength, the infinitely ready and versatile resource and expedient, of the hour of your temptation and of mine. Over the real deeds of our body, He is able to give victory. Our tremendously real infirmities, He is here and now able to subvent, to help, to transfigure into strength, as to us who look for Him He makes perfect in our weakness the strength of the Lamb who has overcome. He is able so to undertake our feeble, our erring steps, that we shall walk by the Spirit, and, in a blessed reality of deliverance, not fulfil the lusts of the flesh, yea, in all the range of the meaning of that phrase. He is able, and indeed He is willing, here and now, to take and shew to us the things of that Christ of whom He is the eyes and presence here below. He is able to make all the flying days and hours of inestimable and never-returning time sacred to us, and yet to take out of them all anxiety; to fill the heart with the things eternal and yet to open to it as no other touch can do all that is truly rich and beautiful in the things of this life. He is able, in a word, having united us to Christ, to make that union a living, bright reality, a possession that we use as well as have, in the whole of life. All these things worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. And, meanwhile, He worketh thus as the eyes, as the presence, of the Lamb. All is drawn from, all is related to, Christ, still Christ, Christ glorified, Christ crucified. Ah, be that in its turn recorded and remembered. Of whom is this Holy One the presence? Whose life, and love, and peace, and power does He convey and mediate to the heart and life He has Himself regenerated, breathing where He listeth, but so breathing that thou hearest the sound of the heavenly wind in the being that He vivifies? It is not a merely abstract Christ, if I may use the phrase. It is not merely archetypal goodness, righteousness, truth and beauty, It is the Lamb that was slain. It is the propitiation. It is the sinners Prince of peace. (H. C. G. Moule, M. A.)
The seven eyes of the slain Lamb
The eye seems a singular symbol for the Spirit, but it may be used as suggesting the swiftest and subtlest way in which the influences of a human spirit pass out into the external universe. The teaching of this emblem, then, is: He, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received the promise of the Father, sheds forth this. The whole fulness of spiritual Divine power is in the hand of Christ to impart to the world.
I. The slain Lamb is the Lord and Giver of the spirit. He hath the seven spirits of God. Whatsoever there is, in Deity, of spirit and power; whatsoever of swift flashing energy; whatsoever of gentleness and grace; whatsoever of holiness and splendour; all inheres in the Man Christ Jesus; unto whom even in His earthly lowliness and humiliation, the Spirit was not given by measure, but unto whom in the loftiness of His heavenly life that Spirit is given in yet more wondrous fashion than in His humiliation. But it is not as the recipient, but as the bestower of the Spirit, that He comes before us in the great words of my text. All that He has of God He has that He may give. Whatsoever is His is ours; we share in His fulness and we possess His grace.
II. Look at the representation here given of the infinite variety of gifts which Christ bestows, The number seven, of course, at once suggests the idea of perfection and completeness. So that the thought emerges of the endless, boundless manifoldness and wonderful diversity of the operations of this great life-spirit that streams from Jesus Christ. Think of the number of designations by which that Spirit is described in the New Testament. In regard to all that belongs to intellectual life, He is the Spirit of wisdom and of illumination in the knowledge of Christ, He is the Spirit of truth. In regard to all that belongs to the spiritual life, He is the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of liberty; the Spirit of self-control, or, as rendered in our Bible, of a sound mind; the Spirit of love. In regard to all that belongs to the practical life, He is the Spirit of counsel and of might; the Spirit of power. In regard to all that belongs to the religious life, He is the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba! Father! the Spirit of grace and of supplication; the Spirit of life. So, over the whole round of mans capacity and nature, all his intellectual, moral, practical and religious being, there are gifts which fit each side and each part of it. Whatsoever a man needs, that he will find in the infinite variety of the spiritual help and strength which the Lamb slain is ready to give. It is like the old fable of the manna, which the Rabbis tell us tasted upon each lip precisely what each man chose. So this nourishment from above becomes to every man what each man requires. Water will take the shape of any vessel into which you choose to pour it; the Spirit of God assumes the form that is imposed upon it by our weaknesses and needs.
III. The unbroken continuity of the gifts which the slain Lamb has to give. The word sent might be rendered being sent, expressive of a continual impartation. Ah! Gods Spirit is not given once in a way and then stops. It is given, not by fits and starts. There are variations in our receptiveness; there are no variations in its steady efflux. Does the sun shine at different rates? Are its beams cut off sometimes, or poured out with less energy, or is it only the position of the earth that makes the difference between the summer and the winter, the day and the night, whilst the great central orb is raying out at the same rate all through the murky darkness, all through the frosty days? And so the gifts of Jesus Christ pour out from Him at a uniform continuous rate, with no breaks in the golden beams, with no pauses in the continual flow.
IV. The universal diffusion of these gifts. Seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. The words are a quotation from a remarkable prophecy in the book of Zechariah, which speaks about the seven eyes of God, running to and fro over all the earth. There are no limitations of these gifts to any one race or nation as there were in the old times, nor any limitations either to a democracy. On My servants and on My handmaidens will I pour out of My Spirit. In olden days the mountain tops were touched with the rays, and all the lowly valleys lay deep in the shadow and the darkness. Now the risen sunshine pours down into the deepest clefts, and no heart so poor, no illiterate so ignorant but that it may receive the full sunshine of that Spirit. Every Christian man and woman is inspired, not to be a teacher of infallible truth, but inspired in the true and deep sense that in them dwells the Spirit of Jesus Christ. All of us, weak, sinful, as we are, ignorant and bewildered often, may possess that Divine life to live in our hearts. Only remember it is the slain Lamb that gives the Spirit. And unless we are looking to that Lamb, slain as our hope and confidence, we shall not receive it. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The sevenfold offices of the Holy Spirit
The seven operations of the Holy Ghost are–
1. First as the Convincer of sin. There is a certain consciousness of sin which may be without the Holy Ghost. There is scarcely any man who is not aware that he has done many wrong things. But there are two things in that mans sense of sin which prevent its being real repentance. He does not view his sins as grieving God, still less as having crucified Christ.
2. Then the Holy Ghost will show that man the real and only ground of all pardon. He will show him that Christ has been to this world to this very end, to bear our sins.
3. Then comes the great, blessed office of the Holy Ghost, to be our Comforter. First He makes us so to accept Gods mercy that we rest in our forgiveness. And when the Holy Ghost has given us this first and chief comfort, then He will continue to be our Comforter every day in all our other sorrows. Other comforters generally try to remove our sorrow by making us forget it, or by putting something in its place. The Holy Ghost does not do that. He finds the elements of His comfort in the sorrow. He turns it into joy.
4. Then the Holy Ghost is the Great Teacher. He teaches as none else can ever teach. And for this reason He has the mind of God. And when He comes into our mind, He makes that mind to conform to the mind of God.
5. And He sanctifies. That is His great aim–to imbue us with Himself, to make us like God. In the Divine alchemy every metal turns to gold. A higher motive; a whole heart; a humble spirit; an untiring love; an inward communion of all thoughts–that changes, that purifies, that elevates. The old nature becomes gradually the new man, and God Himself sees us in Him; sees His own image, and He is satisfied.
6. From that time we carry within us wherever we go an inward light, a spring of joy, a voice which says so gently and yet so distinctly, This is the way, walk ye in it; when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
7. And, finally, in all these wonderful and living ways, the Holy Ghost puts a seal upon us. He impresses us in our inner and outer life, with that image of the superscription of God–that badge of our high calling. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Stood a Lamb] Christ, so called because he was a sacrificial offering; signifies a little or delicate lamb.
As it had been slain] As if now in the act of being offered. This is very remarkable; so important is the sacrificial offering of Christ in the sight of God that he is still represented as being in the very act of pouring out his blood for the offences of man. This gives great advantage to faith: when any soul comes to the throne of grace, he finds a sacrifice there provided for him to offer to God. Thus all succeeding generations find they have the continual sacrifice ready, and the newly-shed blood to offer.
Seven horns] As horn is the emblem of power, and seven the number of perfection, the seven horns may denote the all-prevailing and infinite might of Jesus Christ. He can support all his friends; he can destroy all his enemies; and he can save to the uttermost all that come unto God through him.
Seven eyes] To denote his infinite knowledge and wisdom: but as these seven eyes are said to be the seven Spirits of God, they seem to denote rather his providence, in which he often employs the ministry of angels; therefore, these are said to be sent forth into all the earth. See Clarke on Re 1:4.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And I beheld; hearing the mention of a Lion of the tribe of Judah, he looks about wistly to see if he could see any justifying that representation.
And, lo, in the midst the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb: instead of a Lion he seeth a Lamb; Christ Jesus, called a Lamb by this apostle, Joh 1:29,36, and very often in this book; a Lamb, for whiteness and innocency, 1Pe 1:19, for meekness and patience, Act 8:32, but here with reference to the paschal lamb.
As it had been slain; for he appears wounded and pierced, as if he had been slain; and to show that he was equal with the Father, he appears in the midst of the throne; and in the midst of the elders, and of the four living creatures, to show his presence with his church and ministers, Mat 28:20, and his walking (as was said, Rev 2:1) in the midst of is churches, which were the golden candlesticks there mentioned.
Having seven horns; he appeareth now with seven horns, which are members in which the beasts strength, power, and beauty is much seen, to denote his glory and beauty, and the power he had now received to offend and conquer all his enemies.
And seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God; and with seven eyes, which were the seven Spirits of God, mentioned Rev 1:4; 4:5; endued with the Spirit of God, (which is also called his Spirit), not given to him by measure.
Sent forth into all the earth; which spiritual gifts and perfections he exerciseth over all the earth, both with relation to his church, and to his churchs enemies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. I beheld, and, loOneoldest manuscript, A, omits “and, lo.” Another, B, CYPRIAN,c., support, “and, lo,” but omit, “and I beheld.”
in the midst of thethronethat is, not on the throne (compare Re5:7), but in the midst of the company (Re4:4) which was “round about the throne.”
LambGreek,“arnion” always found in Revelation exclusively,except in Joh 21:15 alone: itexpresses endearment, namely, the endearing relation in whichChrist now stands to us, as the consequence of His previous relationas the sacrificial Lamb. So also our relation to Him: He theprecious Lamb, we His dear lambs, one with Him. BENGELthinks there is in Greek, “arnion,” the ideaof taking the lead of the flock. Another object of the formGreek, “arnion,” the Lamb, is to put Him inthe more marked contrast to Greek, “therion,“the Beast. Elsewhere Greek, “amnos,” isfound, applying to Him as the paschal, sacrificial Lamb (Isa53:7, Septuagint; Joh 1:29;Joh 1:36; Act 8:32;1Pe 1:19).
as it had been slainbearingmarks of His past death wounds. He was standing, though bearing themarks of one slain. In the midst of heavenly glory Christ crucifiedis still the prominent object.
seven hornsthat is,perfect might, “seven” symbolizing perfection;“horns,” might, in contrast to the horns ofthe Antichristian world powers, Rev 17:3;Dan 7:7; Dan 7:20;Dan 8:3.
seven eyes . . . the sevenSpirits . . . sent forthSo one oldest manuscript, A. But Breads, “being sent forth.” As the seven lampsbefore the throne represent the Spirit of God immanent in theGodhead, so the seven eyes of the Lamb represent the samesevenfold Spirit profluent from the incarnate Redeemer in Hisworld-wide energy. The Greek for “sent forth,”apostellomena, or else apestalmenoi, is akin to theterm “apostle,” reminding us of the Spirit-impelled laborsof Christ’s apostles and minister throughout the world: if thepresent tense be read, as seems best, the idea will be that of thoselabors continually going on unto the end. “Eyes”symbolize His all-watchful and wise providence for His Church, andagainst her foes.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts,…. These words, “in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts”, are left out in the Syriac version:
and in the midst of the elders stood a Lamb; John, upon the intimation given him by the elder, lift up his eyes, and with great earnestness looked about, and saw the person he pointed at, though not in the form of a lion, but in the appearance of a lamb, to which Christ, both in the Old and New Testament, is often compared; and that very aptly, for his innocence and purity of nature; for his harmless and inoffensive conversation; and for his meek and humble deportment throughout the whole of his life; and for his patience at the time of his sufferings and death; and for his usefulness both for food and clothing to his people; and chiefly for his sacrifice for them, typified both by the passover lamb, and by the lambs of the daily sacrifice: hence it follows,
as it had been slain; or “as having been slain”; Christ had been really slain by the wicked hands of the Jews, and not in appearance only; the as, here, is not a note of mere similitude and likeness, but of reality and truth; see Joh 1:14; but he was now risen from the dead, and therefore is said to have been slain some time before, though now alive; and he appeared to have the marks of his sufferings and death upon him, as he had after his resurrection the print of the nails and spear, in his hands, feet, and side; and he was as a lamb that had been newly or lately slain: and it may denote the continued efficacy of his blood, to cleanse from all sin, and of his sacrifice to take it away; he was as a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, with respect to the continual virtue of his blood and sacrifice; and he will be, on the same account, the Lamb as it had been slain, unto the end of the world. The position and situation of this Lamb were, he “stood in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders”; he “stood”, being risen from the dead, and ascended up into heaven, but was not as yet set down upon the throne with his Father, but was very near it; he stood before it, ready to be placed upon it, and receive his power and his kingdom; he stood between the throne, and between the living creatures, and the elders, being the Mediator between God, and his church, and people; he, appeared before the throne for them, as their advocate, and stood ready to give them all the assistance, and to do them all the good he could: and this his situation may also denote, that he is continually in view, is always in the sight of God, as the Lamb that had been slain; his blood is carried within the vail, is sprinkled upon the mercy seat, and is always in sight, and calls for peace and pardon; and God the Father always looks upon it, and to his righteousness, sacrifice, and satisfaction, on account of his people: moreover, his being in the midst of the four living creatures, and elders, may signify his presence in his churches, and with his ministers, which he has promised them to the end of the world. This Lamb is further represented,
as having seven horns; it is very unusual for a lamb to have horns, and especially seven: these horns are expressive of the power of Christ, of his dominion and government, even of his kingly power and authority; so kings are signified by horns in Da 8:20; and Christ himself is called the horn of David, and the horn of salvation, Ps 132:17; and signify, that upon his resurrection from the dead, and ascension to heaven, he was made and declared Lord and Christ; and the number “seven” expresses the fulness and perfection of his power and authority, having, as Mediator, all power in heaves and in earth given him; and what is above all power, might, dominion, and every name in this world, and that to come; and may have some relation to the seven states of his churches in so many periods of time; and show not only that he has power sufficient to protect and defend his people in all times, and to push at and destroy his and their enemies, but to open the then sealed book, and unloose the seals: and as another qualification for this work, it follows,
and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth; which some understand of angels, and of a sufficient number of them, which belong to Christ, and are at his command, and who are ready to do his will, and to be sent forth by him, into the several parts of the earth, to execute his pleasure: but these rather design the Spirit of God and his gifts, which Christ received without measure, both in his human nature, at his incarnation, and after his resurrection from the dead, and ascension; which he bestowed on his apostles and ministering servants, whom he sent forth into all the world, to preach his Gospel with them; and which he has, more or less, ever since continued to do. The Ethiopic version reads in the singular number, “and this is the Spirit of God which is sent into all the earth”; [See comments on Re 1:4]; these “seven eyes” may design the perfect knowledge of Christ, his foresight of future events, and his all wise providence, which is always and everywhere concerned to fulfil and accomplish them; so that he is every way qualified to take the book of future events, as to the church and world, and reveal it, open and explain it, and fulfil the things contained in it; see Zec 3:9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Sealed Book. | A. D. 95. |
6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. 7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. 8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. 11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; 12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. 13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.
Here, I. The apostle beholds this book taken into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, in order to its being unsealed and opened by him. Here Christ is described, 1. By his place and station: In the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and of the elders. He was on the same throne with the Father; he was nearer to him than either the elders or ministers of the churches. Christ, as man and Mediator, is subordinate to God the Father, but is nearer to him than all the creatures; for in him all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily. The ministers stand between God and the people. Christ stands as the Mediator between God and both ministers and people. 2. The form in which he appeared. Before he is called a lion; here he appears as a lamb slain. He is a lion to conquer Satan, a lamb to satisfy the justice of God. He appears with the marks of his sufferings upon him, to show that he interceded in heaven in the virtue of his satisfaction. He appears as a lamb, having seven horns and seven eyes, perfect power to execute all the will of God and perfect wisdom to understand it all and to do it in the most effectual manner; for he hath the seven Spirits of God, he has received the Holy Spirit without measure, in all perfection of light, and life, and power, by which he is able to teach and rule all parts of the earth. 3. He is described by his act and deed: He came, and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne (v. 7), not by violence, nor by fraud, but he prevailed to do it (as v. 5), he prevailed by his merit and worthiness, he did it by authority and by the Father’s appointment. God very willingly and justly put the book of his eternal counsels into the hand of Christ, and Christ as readily and gladly took it into his hand; for he delights to reveal and to do the will of his Father.
II. The apostle observes the universal joy and thanksgiving that filled heaven and earth upon this transaction. No sooner had Christ received this book out of the Father’s hand than he received the applauses and adorations of angels and men, yea, of every creature. And, indeed, it is just matter of joy to all the world to see that God does not deal with men in a way of absolute power and strict justice, but in a way of grace and mercy through the Redeemer. He governs the world, not merely as a Creator and Lawgiver, but as our God and Saviour. All the world has reason to rejoice in this. The song of praise that was offered up to the Lamb on this occasion consists of three parts, one part sung by the church, another by the church and the angels, the third by every creature.
1. The church begins the doxology, as being more immediately concerned in it (v. 8), the four living creatures, and the four-and-twenty elders, the Christian people, under their minister, lead up the chorus. Here observe, (1.) The object of their worship–the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ; it is the declared will of God that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father; for he has the same nature. (2.) Their posture: They fell down before him, gave him not an inferior sort of worship, but the most profound adoration. (3.) The instruments used in their adorations–harps and vials; the harps were the instruments of praise, the vials were full of odours or incense, which signify the prayers of the saints: prayer and praise should always go together. (4.) The matter of their song: it was suited to the new state of the church, the gospel-state introduced by the Son of God. In this new song, [1.] They acknowledge the infinite fitness and worthiness of the Lord Jesus for this great work of opening and executing the counsel and purposes of God (v. 9): Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, every way sufficient for the work and deserving the honour. [2.] They mention the grounds and reasons of this worthiness; and though they do not exclude the dignity of his person as God, without which he had not been sufficient for it, yet they chiefly insist upon the merit of his sufferings, which he had endured for them; these more sensibly struck their souls with thankfulness and joy. Here, First, They mention his suffering: “Thou wast slain, slain as a sacrifice, thy blood was shed.” Secondly, The fruits of his sufferings. 1. Redemption to God; Christ has redeemed his people from the bondage of sin, guilt, and Satan, redeemed them to God, set them at liberty to serve him and to enjoy him. 2. High exaltation: Thou hast made us to our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth, v. 10. Every ransomed slave is not immediately preferred to honour; he thinks it a great favour to be restored to liberty. But when the elect of God were made slaves by sin and Satan, in every nation of the world, Christ not only purchased their liberty for them, but the highest honour and preferment, made them kings and priests–kings, to rule over their own spirits, and to overcome the world, and the evil one; and he has made them priests, given them access to himself, and liberty to offer up spiritual sacrifices, and they shall reign on the earth; they shall with him judge the world at the great day.
2. The doxology, thus begun by the church, is carried on by the angels; they take the second part, in conjunction with the church, v. 11. They are said to be innumerable, and to be the attendants on the throne of God and guardians to the church; though they did not need a Saviour themselves, yet they rejoice in the redemption and salvation of sinners, and they agree with the church in acknowledging the infinite merits of the Lord Jesus as dying for sinners, that he is worthy to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. (1.) He is worthy of that office and that authority which require the greatest power and wisdom, the greatest fund, all excellency, to discharge them aright; and, (2.) He is worthy of all honour, and glory, and blessing, because he is sufficient for the office and faithful in it.
3. This doxology, thus begun by the church, and carried on by the angels, is resounded and echoed by the whole creation, v. 13. Heaven and earth ring with the high praises of the Redeemer. The whole creation fares the better for Christ. By him all things consist; and all the creatures, had they sense and language, would adore that great Redeemer who delivers the creature from that bondage under which it groans, through the corruption of men, and the just curse denounced by the great God upon the fall; that part which (by a prosopopoeia) is made for the whole creation is a song of blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, (1.) To him that sits on the throne, to God as God, or to God the Father, as the first person in the Trinity and the first in the economy of our salvation; and, (2.) To the Lamb, as the second person in the Godhead and the Mediator of the new covenant. Not that the worship paid to the Lamb is of another nature, an inferior worship, for the very same honour and glory are in the same words ascribed to the Lamb and to him that sits on the throne, their essence being the same; but, their parts in the work of our salvation being distinct they are distinctly adored. We worship and glorify one and the same God for our creation and for our redemption.
We see how the church that began the heavenly anthem, finding heaven and earth join in the concert, closes all with their Amen, and end as they began, with a low prostration before the eternal and everlasting God. Thus we have seen this sealed book passing with great solemnity from the hand of the Creator into the hand of the Redeemer.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
And I saw ( ). Stirred by the words of the elder in verse 5 (, behold). “I beheld.”
In the midst ( ). See 4:6 for this idiom. It is not quite clear where the Lamb was standing in the vision, whether close to the throne or in the space between the throne and the elders (perhaps implied by “came” in verse 7, but nearness to the throne is implied by Rev 14:1; Acts 7:56; Heb 10:11).
A Lamb (). Elsewhere in the N.T. is used of Christ (John 1:29; John 1:36; Acts 8:32; 1Pet 1:19 like Isa 53:7), but in the Apocalypse occurs for the Crucified Christ 29 times in twelve chapters.
Standing (). Second perfect active (intransitive of ) neuter accusative singular (grammatical gender like ), though some MSS. read (natural gender masculine and nominative in spite of construction according to sense).
As though it had been slain ( ). Perfect passive predicate participle of , old word, in N.T. only in Rev 5:6; Rev 5:9; Rev 5:12; Rev 6:4; Rev 6:9; Rev 13:3; Rev 18:24; 1John 3:12. H (as if) is used because the Lamb is now alive, but (in appearance) with the marks of the sacrifice. The Christ as the Lamb is both sacrifice and Priest (Heb 9:12; Heb 10:11).
Having (). Construction according to sense again with masculine nominative participle instead of (masculine accusative singular) or (neuter accusative singular). Seven horns () is a common symbol in the O.T. for strength and kingly power (1Sam 2:10; 1Kgs 22:11; Ps 112:9; Dan 7:7; Dan 7:20) and often in Rev. (Rev 12:3; Rev 13:1; Rev 17:3; Rev 17:12). Fulness of power (the All-powerful one) is symbolized by seven.
Seven eyes ( ). Like Zech 3:9; Zech 4:10 and denotes here, as there, omniscience. Here they are identified with the seven Spirits of Christ, while in 1:4 the seven Spirits are clearly the Holy Spirit of God (3:1), and blaze like torches (4:5), like the eyes of Christ (1:14). The Holy Spirit is both Spirit of God and of Christ (Ro 8:9).
Sent forth (). Perfect passive predicate participle of , masculine plural (agreeing with and in gender), but some MSS. have agreeing with the nearer .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
And lo! Omit.
In the midst of. Not on the throne, but perhaps in the space in the center of which is the throne, and which is surrounded by the twenty – four elders. A Lamb [] . The diminutive, very frequent in Revelation, and once in the Gospel of John (xxi. 15). Nowhere else in the New Testament. Compare Isa 53:7; Joh 1:29, 36. Christ had just been spoken of as a lion. He now appears as a lamb. Some interpreters emphasize the idea of gentleness, others that of sacrifice.
Slain [] . The verb indicates violence, butchery. See on 1Jo 3:12. It is also the sacrificial word. Exo 12:6.
Stood [] . Rev., more correctly, standing. Though slaughtered the lamb stands. Christ, though slain, is risen and living.
Seven horns and seven eyes. See remarks on the Apocalyptic imagery, chapter Rev 1:16. The horn is the emblem of might. See 1Sa 2:10; 1Ki 22:11; Psa 112:9; Dan 7:7, 20 sqq.; Luk 1:69. Compare Mt 28:18. The eyes represent the discerning Spirit of God in its operation upon all created things.
Sent forth [] . See on Mr 3:14.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne,” (kai eidon en meso tou thronou) “And I perceived in the midst of the throne area,” where the twenty-four (24) elders and thrones encircled the central throne, Rev 4:4.
2) “And of the four beasts,” (kai ton tessaron zoon) “And in the midst of the four living creatures,” who also were round the throne, Rev 4:6.
3) “And in the midst of the elders stood a Lamb,” (kai en meso ton presbuteron arnion hestekos) “And in the midst of the (twenty-four) elders a Lamb standing; as if ready for service, even as he had walked about in the midst of the seven churches of Asia, Rev 1:13.
4) “As it had been slain,” (hos esphagmenon) “Just as (if) having been slain,” as the one taking or bearing away the sin of the world, Joh 1:29; 1Pe 1:18-21.
5) “Having seven horns and seven eyes,” (echon kerata hepta kai ophthalmous hepta) “Having seven horns and seven eyes,” signifying the all-seeing eye of God scanning all things, prepared for the care and defense of his own, Zec 3:9; Zec 4:10; Pro 5:21; Heb 4:13.
6) “Which are the seven Spirits of God. (hoi eisin ta hepta pneumata tou theou) “Which are (exist as) the seven Spirits of God; Rev 1:4; Rev 3:11; Inseparably associated with the Lamb that was slain is the Holy Spirit in his unction and ministry of the testimony of the Lamb in his church, work; Joh 16:7-11; Heb 3:7-8; Rev 22:17.
7) “Sent forth into all the earth,” (apestalomenoi es pasan ten gen) “Having been sent forth (or commissioned with administrative power) into all the earth; as God Sent (commissioned) his Son to redeem man, so did he send his Spirit to direct his church and His people, till he be taken away as he was sent on Pentecost; Act 2:1-4; 2Th 2:7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(6) And I beheld, and lo . . .Better, And I saw (omit and lo) in the midst of the throne and of the four living beings, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb (or, a little Lamb), standing as if having been slain. The position of the Lamb is described from the seers point of view: the Lamb is not on the throne, but in the middle front of it, and so apparently between the living creatures, and in the midst of the circle formed by the twenty-four elders. The passage is most striking. The Evangelist is told of the Lion which will open the seals: he looks, and lo, it is a Lamb! yes, a little Lambfor the word is diminutive. There is deep significance in this. When we read of the Lion, we think of power and majesty, and we are right; all power in heaven and earth is Christs, but it is power manifested in seeming weakness. The waters of Shiloah are mightier than the Euphrates (Isa. 8:6-8); righteousness and purity, meekness and gentleness, are greater than carnal weapons (comp. 2Co. 6:6-7; Eph. 6:11, el al.); the Lamb mightier than the roaring lion which goeth about seeking whom he may devour (1Pe. 5:8). But it is a Lamb as if it had been slain. The wound-marks are there, but
it is not dead; it is standing, for it represents Him who though He died is alive for evermore; but the signs of suffering and death are visible, for it is not the Lamb, but the suffering Lamb, which is exalted; it is not the Christ, but the Christ crucified, which is the power of God; the Christ lifted up from the earth draws all men unto Him (Joh. 12:32; 1Co. 1:23-24); the corn of wheat which dies brings forth fruit (Joh. 12:24). As such He is the worship of the Church and the world which He has redeemed. (See Rev. 5:8-9; comp. Rev. 7:14.) The reference to earlier Scriptures (Exo. 12:46; Isa. 53:7; Joh. 1:29; Joh. 1:36; 1Co. 5:7-8) is not to be overlooked. From the tokens of suffering the seer passes to the tokens of strength and wisdom which he saw in the Lamb. He describes it as having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth (or, which are being sent forth) into all the earth. The horn is the strength of the animal which carries it. It is so used in the blessing of Joseph: His horns are like the horns of a wild bull (unicorns in Authorised version); with them shall he push the people together, &c. (Deu. 33:17; comp. Psa. 89:24; Psa. 148:14). The seven horns denote completeness or fulness of strength. The seven eyes, like the seven lamps (Rev. 4:5), represent the Holy Spirit in Hs manifold girts of grace; but as they are described as eyes of the Lamb, they betoken His omniscience who is in heaven and yet, by His Spirit, everywhere (Mat. 28:20); whose eye is on all events, great and small; whose eyes behold the children of men. Note, also, that the seven spirits are ascribed to the Son as well as to the Father. (Comp. Joh. 14:26; Joh. 15:26.) The seven spirits are said to be sent; the word is from the same root as the word apostle. There is an apostolate of the Spirit as well as an apostolate of the Church; and, if we adopt the version here which gives the present participle, this spiritual apostolate is being continually exerted; the seven spirits are in process of being sent out by Him who says to this one Go, and he goeth; to the twelve, Go ye into all the world, .and sends His Spirit to confer on His people grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Beheld, and lo For the first time the Lamb dawns on the seer’s sight in the midst of the celestial group. He is at once Lion and Lamb. The repetition of the phrase in the midst, is a Hebraism, which obscures the sense of the English, in which it should be used but once. The Lamb stood centrally in the group of cherubim and elders, either between the sea and the lamps or outside the lamps. Hengstenberg emphasizes too strongly the fact that the Greek word for lamb is ‘ , arnion, a diminutive, little lamb, a lambkin. But it does not appear that St. John’s grammatical diminutives ending in on, denote a diminutive object. Thus the diminutive , biblion, does not signify a little roll, but has a diminutive , biblaridion, (Rev 10:2,) which does. The diminutive , therion, signifies a great beast. And this uniform use of this sort of diminutive seems, also, to invalidate Wordsworth’s ingenious idea, that St. John uses the forms ‘ and to mark an antithesis. This word for lamb is used by John in the Apocalypse twenty-seven times, and in his Gospel (Rev 21:15) once, and occurs nowhere else in the New Testament.
As it had been slain By being the slain Lamb he had become the conquering Lion. St. John recognised the slain Lamb by his wounded side and hands, just as Thomas did after the resurrection.
Seven horns An undoubted antithesis to the seven horns of the dragon and of the beast, but without any reference here to the seven hills of Rome. As horns are, in biblical language, a symbol of power, they tell us that this slain Lamb is a mighty Being. The number marks divine perfection of power, as those of the dragon mark diabolic supremacy of power. The seven spirits of God, represented by the seven eyes, denote the all-pervasive, all-searching Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, dwelling in, and proceeding from, the Son. Their sevenfoldness are their perfect manifestation in manifold modes, and arise from their unity in him; just as the four winds are one atmosphere, one universal air.
Sent forth The spiritual Apostle (apostle signifies sent) sent forth, not only with every true apostle, but to many a clime and many a soul no apostle ever reached. The imagery is borrowed from Zec 4:10.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And I saw in the midst of the throne, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God who are sent out into all the earth.’
What a paradox. The great overcoming Lion turns out to be a slain Lamb. The victor turns out to be a bleeding victim. But the lesson is that it was only through His becoming a victim that He has become the victor. Only His death has made possible the fulfilment of the purposes of God.
Yet He is not only the slain Lamb, He is also the Lord of Creation. Under His personal control are seven great powers (horns), seven all-seeing powers (eyes). These are the seven chief angels who control all earthly activity. The horn in prophecy is ever the symbol of power, it is the means by which a beast exerts its authority and accomplishes his will. It regularly represents kings (e.g. Dan 8:3; Dan 8:5; Dan 8:20-21). Here it represents those who are greater than kings.
Reference to Jesus as the Lamb of God is only found in John’s writings (Joh 1:29; Joh 1:36; and constantly in Revelation, but compare Act 8:32; 1Co 5:7; 1Pe 1:19 and Hebrews). In John He is the Passover lamb, slain as a sacrifice for sin (it was solemnly offered in the Temple showing it was seen as a sacrifice) and as a guarantee of safety from the wrath of God and of deliverance through His power (Exo 12:1-36). But it is clear that He is also the suffering Servant who has sacrificed Himself for the sins of others, the lamb led to the slaughter of Isa 53:7, Who has taken away the sin of the world (Joh 1:29). It is through His sacrifice on the cross that the purposes of God can unfold.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rev 5:6. Stood a Lamb, as it had been slain, As having been slain, or who had been slain for sacrifice, and wore the recent marks of slaughter. Our Saviour is declared by the Baptist to be the Lamb of God, because to be sacrificed to him as a Lamb, to take away the sins of the world. Christ is represented by the two different symbols of a Lion and a Lamb, to express his victory over sin and death, and his sacrifice of himself to obtain that victory:”A Lion,” says a commentator, “because he arose victorious from the dead; a Lamb, because he offered himself holy, harmless, and without spot for us.” Horns, in the symbolical language, signify regal power; and, when they are numbered, so many monarchies; that is, power extending over so many monarchies. As the seven lamp sconces in the first vision, signified seven churches, and the seven stars seven bishops, or deputy governors therein; and as these are said to be under the care of the Son of man walking among them, and he is said to have these seven stars in his hand, to denote his power over them (all which shewed the dominion of Christ in his church); to these seven horns shew his power without, against his enemies; that he shall obtain dominion, and is going to take possession of a kingdom in this period; which extends itself universally over seven monarchies, and is equal in number to the seven heads of the dragon, his enemy, whom he is to fight and overcome; and he will then settle his church in the same dominions. Christ is therefore here exhibited according to the state of things present; for, after his conquest of the beast, he appears not with horns defined by any number, but as having many crowns, ch. Rev 19:12. The next symbol of the seven eyes, &c. is taken from Zec 3:9 and shews that Christ, as mediatorial King, is invested with divine power and the providence of the world, and that he has the ministers thereof necessary to that purpose. See Isa 11:2.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 5:6 .
. Incorrectly, Ebrard: “The Lamb appears in the midst of the throne , so as at the same time to sit in the centre of the four living beings, and in the centre of the twenty-four elders sitting around without, forming a more remote concentric circle,” a truly monstrous idea, the Lamb sitting [1892] in the midst of the throne. The double designates, in the Heb. way, [1893] the two limits between which the Lamb stands, [1894] viz., in the space whose centre, the throne, is beside the four beings, and which is bounded externally by the circle [1895] of the elders. Yet we must not necessarily understand that the Lamb stood on the crystal sea, [1896] as De Wette does, who, in accordance with his explanation of Rev 4:6 , finds a parallel in Heb 9:24 . Of the sea of glass, and the position of the Lamb with regard to it, there is nothing at all to be said here; as for the rest, we may point to Rev 7:17 , Rev 22:1 , as against De Wette.
. The diminutive form, which is in general peculiar to the Apoc., [1897] serves here to strengthen the contrast between the announced “Lion,” and the form of “a little lamb” which is now presented. Entirely remote is the reference to the brief life of the Lord in comparison with the extreme age of the elders. [1898] Incorrect also is the remark that , from the masc. , is used with respect to the flock that is to follow; [1899] for the diminutive, which is not at all from , is entirely without this exclusive designation of sex, [1900] and the context itself ( .) bars the reference to the leading of a flock.
Great as in other respects is the contrast between the “Lion” and “the little Lamb,” yet there is also a deep harmony of the two views; for as the struggles of the Lion presupposed in Rev 5:5 , i.e., his patient suffering and death, concur with the slaying of the Lamb, so also the victory of the Lion gained in conflict, which becomes manifest in the resurrection, is appropriated by the little Lamb, since it “ stands as one slain.” The clearly declares that it is living, [1901] while it at the same time ( ) appears as one that had (previously) been led to the shambles and slain. The word , properly “to open the throat with a knife, so that the blood flows out,” designates pre-eminently the slaying in making a sacrifice, [1902] but also any other slaying, [1903] and any form of putting to death. [1904] By the is not “especially emphasized as significantly presented,” [1905] as though equivalent to in passages like Rev 17:12 ; Mat 7:29 ; Joh 1:14 ; Rom 15:15 , where the reality of a relation in its normative or fundamental significance is marked, for in this way, in the present passage, the absurd and actually false idea would result, that the Lamb stood as one slain, i.e., at that time dead; but the [1906] serves rather to reconcile the opposition between the and , as the Lamb standing (and therefore living) is represented as “one slain,” i.e., as such an one whose still-visible scars show that it has once been slain. [1907] John, therefore, applies to the Lamb the very same that the Lord, in Rev 1:18 , says of himself. There is in this view no violation whatever of the laws of the plastic art. [1908]
The Lamb had a twofold emblem: , the symbol of perfect power, [1909] and , which is expressly interpreted . The reference of the spirits of God, symbolized by the seven eyes, [1910] to the omniscience of the Lord, [1911] is too limited. The correct interpretation is determined by the context itself ( ). The (seven) spirits of God are also, here, [1912] the potencies which in their independent reality are present with God, and by means of which he works on and in the world. That Christ has [1913] these spirits (this Spirit) of God, is symbolized here by the seven eyes of the Lamb, just as before the throne of God (the Father) the same Spirit appears as seven lamps. [1914] This, moreover, in no way compels the conception, that the vision has changed after the manner of a dream, and now where the seven eyes of the Lamb are represented, the seven lamps have vanished, [1915] as indeed the belonging of the Spirit to the Enthroned One, as also to the Lamb, is intended to be symbolically represented.
Erroneous is the explanation of Beda: “The septiform spirit in Christ is because of the eminence of its power compared to horns, and because of the illumination of grace to eyes.” [1916] But if even grammatically it is not impossible for the , which introduces the explanatory sentence, to refer to and , the annexed interpretation, ., . . ., applies only to the , and not at the same time to the . It would, of course, be in itself inconceivable, [1917] if one and the same thing were represented by two symbols, perhaps in two different connections: but here are two symbols, which throughout do not designate the same thing; for while by the “horns,” a symbol known already from the O. T., and therefore applied by John without any particular hint, the attribute of power is symbolized, the eyes, according to the express interpretation of the text, designate in no way an attribute of the Lamb, but the Spirit really present with God and the Lamb together (the Father and the Son), and belonging in like manner to them both, who is here indeed to be regarded according to the standard of the symbol ( .) pre-eminently as the One seeing through all things. [1918] Because Christ has the Spirit, he knows every thing, even things upon earth, whither the Spirit is sent, the doings of his enemies, the state of his own people, etc.
[1892] ; which Alcas., just as correctly, translates by “lying.”
[1893] Cf. Lev 27:12 ; Lev 27:14 : . LXX.:
.
[1894] Ew., De Wette, Hengstenb.
[1895] Cf. Rev 4:4 .
[1896] Rev 4:6 .
[1897] Rev 5:8 ; Rev 5:12-13 , Rev 6:1 ; Rev 6:16 , Rev 7:9 ; Rev 7:14 , Rev 12:11 , Rev 13:8 , Rev 17:14 . Cf., on the other hand, Joh 1:29 ; Joh 1:36 ; 1Pe 1:19 ; Act 8:32 : . The expression , Joh 21:5 , whereby Christ designates his believers cf. Meyer on the passage does not belong here, because used here in an especial way, upon the basis of Isa 53:7 , to designate Christ himself. Against Hengstenb.
[1898] Against Bengel and Hengstenb.
[1899] Beng.
[1900] Cf. Psa 114:4 ; Psa 114:6 ; Jer 11:19 ; Joh 21:15 .
[1901] Grot., etc.
[1902] Cf. Exo 12:6 .
[1903] Isa 53:7 .
[1904] Rev 13:3 ; Rev 13:8 ; 1Jn 3:12 ; cf. my commentary on the latter passage.
[1905] Ebrard.
[1906] N. de Lyra refers the “ tanquam occisum” to the daily bloodless sacrifice in the mass.
[1907] Cf. Rev 13:3 . Andr., C. a Lap., Grot., Vitr., Beng., Herd., Ew., De Wette, Stern, Hengstenb.
[1908] De Wette.
[1909] Cf. Rev 17:3 sqq.; Psa 112:9 ; Psa 148:14 ; 1Sa 2:10 ; Dan 7:20 sqq., Rev 8:3 sqq.
[1910] Cf. Rev 1:4 , Rev 3:1 , Rev 4:5 .
[1911] Cf., especially, Vitr., who refers the power to the opening, and the knowledge to the reading and understanding, of the book.
[1912] Cf. Rev 1:4 , Rev 4:5 .
[1913] Rev 3:1 .
[1914] Rev 4:5 .
[1915] Ebrard.
[1916] So also Beng., De Wette, etc.; only that these expositors, with less error, regarded the eyes as a symbol of knowledge.
[1917] Against Ebrard.
[1918] Cf. 1Co 2:10 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2507
THE BOOK WITH SEVEN SEALS OPENED BY JESUS CHRIST
Rev 5:6-10. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he come and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
THE doctrine of the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ is that which sheds the brightest lustre over our most holy religion. It is his Deity which alone gives virtue to his sacrifice, and renders it a sufficient propitiation for the sins of the whole world. There are indeed many, who, whilst they profess a regard for Christianity, would rob it of its chief stay and support; and, to effect their object, will mutilate the very Scriptures themselves, and cut out of the sacred volume what they find themselves unable to controvert or distort. But, methinks, if we were to grant for a moment that the saints on earth may have erred in giving to Jesus the same glory as they give unto the Father, (though their obligation to do so is, in my apprehension, as clear as the sun at noon-day,) have they also erred in heaven? Are the glorified saints around the throne of God under a mistake? It is undeniable that they are worshipping the Lord Jesus precisely as they worship the Father. Consult the chapter which precedes my text. There we are informed, that the four beasts (the four living creatures) rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever; and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created [Note: Rev 4:8-11.]. No one, I suppose, will doubt, but that in that passage worship is given to Jehovah the Creator of all things, and as the one supreme God. Now compare the words of our text, and there you will find the same persons (the four beasts and four and twenty elders) with the very same posture (that of utter prostration) in precisely similar language adoring the Lord Jesus Christ as their Redeemer; and all the angels in heaven confirming this act of theirs in terms the most exalted that could possibly be used, and uniting both the Father and the Son in one song of praise, saying, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing: therefore, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
In opening to you this song of the redeemed, I shall bring before you,
I.
The occasion of it
This is particularly adverted to in our text
[There was in the hand of Him who sat upon the throne a book written both within and without, and sealed with seven seals. To conceive of this book aright, we must bear in mind, that it was a volume, rolled up, and consisting of seven parts, each rolled within another, and having a distinct seal affixed to it, so that the contents of one only could be known at a time, the opening of the first making a way for the second, and the second for the third, and so on in succession throughout the whole [Note: ver. 1. with Rev 6:1-12; Rev 8:1.]. But to open the book, and loose the seals thereof, was beyond the power of any created being: there was not one found worthy of this honour in heaven, or in earth, or under the earth [Note: ver. 2, 3.]. On this account, the Apostle tells us, he wept much. He had no doubt but the contents of that book were of infinite importance to the Church and to the world, because it contained a record of Gods secret purposes respecting both the one and the other to the end of time; and it was not from the disappointment of an idle curiosity that he wept, but from an apprehension that God would be less glorified by the concealment of his purposes than by a revelation of them to his Church.
To his great joy, however, One was found, who was worthy to open this book, even the Lord Jesus Christ, who was here characterized as The Lion of the tribe of Judah, and as the Boot of David. Under the former character, the Messiah had been revealed to Jacob [Note: Gen 49:9-10.]; and under the latter, to David, as Davids Lord [Note: See Isa 11:10 and Psa 110:1.]. But it was under a new character that he prevailed to open the book, even as a Lamb that had been slain, even as that Lamb of God, that having offered himself a sacrifice for the sins of men, yet bears upon his person the marks of all the cruelties and indignities that he suffered upon the cross. Yet, though bearing these marks of his humiliation, he is represented as having seven horns, and seven eyes, even all perfection of power and of wisdom also, of which there is none in the whole universe, that does not emanate from him: for from him proceeds the Holy Spirit, in all his diversified influences and operations, to the utmost ends of the earth [Note: The text.].
This glorious Person went to him that sat upon the throne; and took the book out of his hand, in order to loose the seals thereof, and to open its contents: and immediately the living creatures and the elders burst forth into the song of praise. What occasion this circumstance afforded them for their song, will be more profitably noticed under a distinct head, after we have considered, as we now proceed to do,]
II.
The song itself
Of the living creatures and the elders, we are told, that every one of them had harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. There is here, beyond a doubt, a reference to the temple service. In the temple-worship harps were used in blessing and praising God [Note: 2Sa 6:5. Psa 137:2.]: and, when the priests went into the sanctuary to burn incense, all the people continued praying without [Note: Luk 1:9-10.]. Thus these worshippers, being all, as we shall see presently, made priests unto God, they had in their hands censers full of incense, through the odours of which the prayers of the saints ascended up with acceptance before God. Not that the glorified spirits are mediators between God and us: no, there is but one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus; but, as the efficacy of his intercession was typified by the incense offered by the priests, so was it further intimated in this vision, where all were executing, as it were, the priestly office, which in this very song they claimed as pertaining to them.
In the song which they sang, and which was a new song, they celebrated the praises of that adorable Lamb, and gave him thanks for,
1.
The work of redemption as wrought out by him
[Here all, without exception, to whatever nation, or kindred, or tongue, or people they belonged, traced their reconciliation with God to one common source, the atoning blood of Christ. Not one of them all presumed to claim a share in that glorious work, or to ascribe any part of it to his own strength or goodness: there was but one song amongst them all; all acknowledged equally, that they had once been slaves of sin and Satan; all confessed their obligations to Christ, for interposing for them; all referred to his blood as the price paid for their redemption; and all with one consent joined in saying, Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.
Greatly were it to be wished that all self-justifying Pharisees would learn of them; and that those who look for acceptance, either in whole or in part, through any works of their own, would fix in their minds what song they will sing, if ever they shall be admitted to the realms of bliss. That they will not be able to join with those who are already before the throne, is evident; for not any share of the glory do they arrogate to themselves; they ascribe it all to Him who bought them with his blood: and be it known to you, that not one soul shall ever be joined to that blessed assembly, who is not like-minded with them, and has not learned already to give the entire and undivided honour of his salvation to the Lamb that was slain.]
2.
The benefits of redemption as experienced by themselves
[Wonderful was the honour to which they were exalted, all being kings and priests unto God; kings to exercise dominion over all the enemies of their salvation: and priests, to offer spiritual sacrifices before him for ever and ever.
To a yet further extension of their privileges also they express themselves as looking forward, when they add, And we shall reign on the earth. Some have thought, that, in the Millennium, the saints will come down from heaven, and reign on earth a thousand years. But I rather understand the expressions which refer to that period, as importing, not that the departed saints will actually rise from the dead, and reign on earth, but that, so universal will be the reign of piety at that period, that it will appear as if all the departed saints had risen to dwell on earth. This is certain, that the day is coming, when the saints shall take the kingdom, and piety shall reign as triumphantly on the face of the globe, as hitherto impiety has reigned: and, in the prospect of this, the saints in glory may well rejoice, and consider themselves as participating in the blest event!
And all these benefits, both to themselves and to the world at large, they trace to the death of Christ as the one procuring cause: Thou wast slain, and hast brought us thereby into this happy state. To the same blessed source also must we trace all our privileges, and all our hopes: tasting redeeming love in all, and giving the glory of them all to the Lamb that was slain.]
But, as it does not at first sight appear how this song could arise from the occasion that called it forth, I shall proceed to mark,
III.
The connexion between the two
Recall to mind what the occasion was. The book which was sealed with seven seals contained all the purposes of God towards his Church and people for ever and ever. And none but the Redeemer himself was found worthy to open it. But, when he took it into his hand with a view to open it, then all the redeemed burst forth into this song of praise; expressly founding their acknowledgments on this as their proper ground. Now this they might well do; because,
1.
The events themselves recorded in that book, all arise out of his work of redemption
[Had not the Lord Jesus Christ given himself a sacrifice for the sins of men, there would have been no difference between our fallen race and the fallen angels: all having alike transgressed, they would all have paid the penalty of transgression, and been consigned over, the one as well as the other, to irremediable and everlasting misery. But the Lord Jesus Christ having purchased to himself a peculiar people, the purposes of God respecting them are infinitely diversified, every one of them being destined to experience trials and deliverances peculiar to himself, in order to fit him for that precise measure of glory ordained for him from all eternity. Who then should open this book but He from whom it has derived its existence, and to whom all the blessings contained in it must be traced as their proper source?]
2.
They will all issue in the felicity of his redeemed
[Much indeed is spoken in that book respecting the persecutions of the saints, all of whom are said to come out of great tribulation: and can it be said that such dispensations minister to their happiness? I answer, yes; even in this present life, the trials to which they are subjected by their enemies, work for their good, inasmuch as they tend to the perfecting of their graces, and lead to a more abundant supply of heavenly consolations. And, in the world to come, the weight of glory assigned to each, is proportioned to what every individual sustained for his Lord, and to the fidelity with which he executed his Lords commands. The book, like the cloud at the Red Sea, was dark on the one side, even darkness itself; whilst on the other side it was luminous as the noon-day sun: and in both respects it subserved the interests of Israel: so, whether the dispensations contained in that book be dark or light, they shall all tend to the security of the saints, and the completion of the deliverance ordained for them.]
3.
They will all reflect glory on him as the Redeemer
[We may easily conceive of this as far as the mercies are concerned: but is it true also of the judgments? Can we imagine, that the calamities inflicted on his enemies on earth, and the infinitely heavier judgments executed on them in hell, shall bring glory to the Redeemer? Look into the book of the Revelations, and you will find, that the condemnation of the wicked, no less than the salvation of the righteous, is an occasion of triumph to the hosts of heaven, and calls forth the devoutest acknowledgments and hallelujahs to Almighty God [Note: Rev 19:1-4. Recite the whole of this.]
Here then the acknowledged right of the Lamb to open the book, and the acclamations of his redeemed on seeing him undertake to open it, stand in the closest connexion with each other, and form one great subject, worthy of our devoutest attention.]
This book of the Churchs destinies, though opened as to the seals, is yet but very indistinctly seen by any: nor will it be fully known, till the events contained in it are fulfilled.
But,
1.
Are there not some amongst us to whom the whole of revelation is yet a sealed book?
[It is to be feared that, notwithstanding all our advantages for knowing the great truths of revelation, they are yet but very imperfectly understood by the generality. Take the work of redemption, and interrogate the great mass of Christians respecting it, and you will find, that the grossest errors obtain in relation to it. The freeness, the fulness, the excellency of the Gospel salvation are but very imperfectly seen, and very unworthily appreciated. Dear brethren, if John wept much, because he could not gain an insight into the book of Gods decrees, what reason have many of you to weep, yea, to weep even floods of tears, on account of your ignorance of the Gospel of Christ, of that which he that runs may read, and of that on which your everlasting salvation depends. O, look to the Lamb of God to open it to you; and cease not to weep and pray, till he has revealed to you the glorious mysteries contained in it ]
2.
Are there not, however, others to whom its blessed truths have been made known?
[Yes, surely, there are not a few, the eyes of whose understanding have been opened, and who have been enabled to behold the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Who then amongst you are of that happy number, who can say, Whereas I was once blind, I now see? To you I say, Imitate the hosts above: give glory to your Lord and Saviour: shout forth his praises: sing without ceasing to Him who has redeemed you to God by his blood, and made you kings and priests unto God and the Father. To you also I say, Look to it that you reign on the earth. You are no longer the servants either of men or devils: being bought with a price, you are His who bought you, and must do his will, and seek his glory, even his only. None are you to fear, but Him: none to love, in comparison of him: none to serve, but in subordination to him. You are to be training now for heaven, and learning the song of the redeemed whilst yet on earth; that when the harps shall be put into your hands in the realms above, you may not strike the chords as novices, but as those who are well instructed in the heavenly science, and fully prepared to bear your part amongst the celestial choir.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(6) And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (7) And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
Everything here mentioned is blessed. Christ in the midst of the throne. This is gloriously descriptive of his power and God-HEAD. The centre of the throne can only be suited for Him, in whom all fulness dwells. He could not have been seen in the midst of the throne, had he not possessed it. And he could not have possessed it, had he not been in his divine nature and essence, One with the Father over all, God blessed forever I So, that here is a most decided evidence of the Godhead of Christ. John saw him as a Lamb, in the midst of the throne.
Secondly. He saw him stand as a Lamb that had been slain; that is, I apprehend, bearing on his glorified body, the marks of our redemption. As if fresh blood appeared upon him. A sweet assurance this, of the perpetual and everlasting efficacy of his sacrifice. He stood as if he had been slain, Reader! never lose sight
of this. The merits of Christ’s blood are as powerful, and will remain so forever, as in the moment of his death. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, Heb 10:14 .
Thirdly. By the midst of the throne must be understood, that all power is his, and that he is there to administer all government. For whether we consider this throne as a throne of grace, or a throne of justice, or a throne of glory, Jesus in the midst of it, implies that his is the office of administration to all. Oh! what a thought for all his redeemed ones to keep in view and cherish, and especially when they are told, that Jesus is there for them, and that they are commanded at all times, and upon all occasions, to come boldly to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need, Heb 4:16 .
Fourthly. Christ is further described in this scripture, as having seven horns and seven eyes, meaning, as seven is a perfect number, that Jesus hath a perfection of power, and a perfection of knowledge; with the one to hear up and strengthen all his redeemed against their enemies, and to destroy them; and with the other, having all knowledge, to have a clear apprehension of all their wants, and to provide for them. Reader! shall not you and I find comfort from this precious view, of the Lamb of God which John saw in vision? There can be no question of the efficacy of his blood, for he appeared and stood a Lamb, as it had been slain. There can be no question of his carrying on his High Priestly office for his Church; for he stood as advocates stand to plead, There can be no question of his success, in pleading his own merits and blood, for the marks of that blood were still upon him; and he Was in the midst of the throne, to show his triumphs and his own personal glory. There can be no doubt, but that he will bring all his redeemed up to himself in heaven, for he was seen in the midst, of the Abram, as if to say, he had taken possession of it in their name. Precious Lord Jesus! give me with the eye of faith, unceasingly to behold thee, in this most blessed view, and let my soul be warmed continually, with the conscious assurance, that I have redemption in thy blood. Then shall I centre all my confidence in the Lord, who is in the centre of the throne for his people.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Ver. 6. In the midst of the throne ] As a fit mediator between God and men, even the man Christ Jesus, who gave a ransom, 1Ti 2:5-6 .
A Lamb as it had been slain ] This form of speech is put (saith an interpreter) to show the continual recent virtue of Christ’s death eternally effectual before God, as whereby once for all he hath purchased eternal redemption. Some think that he still retains in heaven the prints and scars of those wounds that he received on earth in his hands, feet, and side. His glorified body (saith one) is that golden censer, which through the wounds that are in it, as through chinks or holes, fumeth forth always a pleasant and sweet savour in the nostrils of his Father. It is also the note of a learned interpreter here, that the benefit of knowing the prophecies concerning the Church, Christ, before he was slain, had it not so as he had after his death. It was the purchase of the blood of Christ to have those things opened.
Having seven horns ] Plenty of power. Antichrist hath but two horns, Rev 13:11 .
And seven eyes ] No want of wisdom, no need of a visible head to the Church or any other vicar general to Christ, than the Holy Ghost, called here “the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6 .] The vision of the Lamb . And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living-beings, and in the midst of the elders (the words seem to indicate the middle point before the throne; whether on the glassy sea (De W.) or not, does not appear; but certainly not on the throne, from what follows in the next verse. is repeated, as in Lev 27:12 ; Lev 27:14 ) a lamb (the use of , the diminutive , as applied to our Lord, is peculiar to the Apocalypse. It is difficult to say what precise idea is meant to be conveyed by this form. Elsewhere, it is , Joh 1:29 ; Joh 1:36 ; 1Pe 1:19 ; Act 8:32 ; and as is found in Isa 53:7 , from which the figure here is taken, the alteration of the word appears to be purposely made. Possibly, as De W., it may be to put forward more prominently the idea of meekness and innocence) standing (i. e. in its natural living position: the word is probably chosen on account of what immediately follows. Though , it was not lying, but standing), as if slain (i. e. retaining the appearance of death-wounds on its body: looking as if it had been slain: cf. ch. Rev 1:18 . So the majority of Commentators: cf. especially Vitringa; “vivens equidem, verumtamen insignitum nota majoris alicujus in jugulo vulneris, et conspersum sanguine.” Ebrard is quite wrong in supposing that the has any emphasis on it: it merely serves to solve the apparent paradox lying in the juxtaposition of and ), having (the gender again is that not of the thing expressed, but of the thing signified. See above, ch. Rev 4:1 ) seven horns (the horn is the well-known emblem of might: cf. 1Sa 2:10 ; 1Ki 22:11 ; Psa 112:9 ; Psa 148:14 ; Dan 7:7 ; Dan 7:20 ff., Dan 8:3 ff.; ch. Rev 17:3 ff. The perfect number seven represents that “all power is given unto Him in heaven and earth,” Mat 28:18 ) and seven eyes, which (eyes) are the seven spirits of God, sent forth (as they have been) into the whole earth (i. e. which eyes represent the watchful active operation of God’s Spirit poured forth through the Death and by the victory of the Lamb, upon all flesh and all creation. The weight of the whole sentence lies on the predicative anarthrous participle . As the seven burning lamps before the throne represented the Spirit of God immanent in the Godhead, so the seven eyes of the Lamb represent the same Spirit in his sevenfold perfection, profluent, so to speak, from the incarnate Redeemer: busied in His world-wide energy: the very word reminding us of the apostolic work and church.
Observe, does not as Bed [96] (“Spiritus in Christo septiformis propter eminentiam potestatis cornibus, propter illuminationem grati comparatur oculis”), Bengel, De W., al., refer to both and : this would be of course grammatically possible, but it seems otherwise decided here both by the context, and by Zec 4:10 ; [add A; pref. [97] ], (E. V. which run to and fro; Heb. , from , remigare, cursitare) ).
[96] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
[97] The CODEX SINAITICUS. Procured by Tischendorf, in 1859, from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The Codex Frederico-Augustanus (now at Leipsic), obtained in 1844 from the same monastery, is a portion of the same copy of the Greek Bible, the 148 leaves of which, containing the entire New Testament, the Ep. of Barnabas, parts of Hermas, and 199 more leaves of the Septuagint, have now been edited by the discoverer. A magnificent edition prepared at the expense of the Emperor of Russia appeared in January, 1863, and a smaller edition containing the N.T. &c., has been published by Dr. Tischendorf. The MS. has four columns on a page, and has been altered by several different correctors, one or more of whom Tischendorf considers to have lived in the sixth century. The work of the original scribe has been examined, not only by Tischendorf, but by Tregelles and other competent judges, and is by them assigned to the fourth century . The internal character of the text agrees with the external, as the student may judge for himself from the readings given in the digest. The principal correctors as distinguished by Tischendorf are: A, of the same age with the MS. itself, probably the corrector who revised the book, before it left the hands of the scribe, denoted therefore by us -corr 1 ; B (cited as 2 ), who in the first page of Matt. began inserting breathings, accents, &c., but did not carry out his design, and touched only a few later passages; C a (cited as 3a ) has corrected very largely throughout the book. Wherever in our digest a reading is cited as found in 1 , it is to be understood, if no further statement is given, that C a altered it to that which is found in our text; C b (cited as 3b ) lived about the same time as C a , i.e. some centuries later than the original scribe. These are all that we need notice here 6 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 5:6 . Christ, crucified and risen, is in the centre. To him all things bow and sing. It is prosaic to attempt any local definition, as though the author had some architectural plan in his mind ( . = “half-way up the throne,” or by repetition = “between,” cf. Gen 1:7 ), or to wonder how so prominent a figure had hitherto escaped his notice. Plainly the did not originally belong to the mise-en-scne of iv., though the symbol may have none the less had an astral origin (= Ram, in Persian zodiac). The prophet brilliantly suggests, what was a commonplace of early Christianity, that the royal authority of Jesus was due to his suffering for men, but the framework of the sketch is drawn from messianic dogmas which tended to make Christ here a figure rather than a personality. (like , diminutive only in form) is not aries (so variously Havet and Selwyn, 204 208), nor substituted (Vischer, Rauch) for the “lion” of the original Jewish source, but probably applied ( cf. Hort on 1Pe 1:19 ) to Jesus from the messianic interpretation of Isa 16:1 or Isa 53:7 , though the allusions elsewhere to the Exodus (Exo 15:2 f.) and the Johannine predilection for the paschal Lamb suggest that the latter was also in the prophet’s mind. The collocation of lion and lamb is not harder than that of lion and root (Rev 5:5 ), and such an editor as Vischer and others postulate would not have left “lion” in Rev 5:5 unchanged. Christ is erect and living ( cf. Rev 14:1 and Abbott’s Joh. Vocabulary , 1725), (as could be seen from the wound on the throat), yet endowed with complete power ( , Oriental symbol of force, cf. reff. and the rams’ horns of the Egyptian sun-god) and knowledge. For and , cf. Abbott, 210 f. In Enoch lxxxix. 44 f. (Gk.) David is prior to his coronation and Solomon “a little sheep” ( i.e. , a lamb). . . ., the function ascribed by Plutarch ( de defectu orac. 13) to daemons as the spies and scouts of God on earth. The nave symbolism is borrowed from the organisation of an ancient realm, whose ruler had to secure constant and accurate information regarding the various provinces under his control. News (as the Tel-el-Amarna correspondence vividly shows) was essential to an Oriental monarch. The representation of Osiris in Egyptian mythology consisted of an eye and a sceptre ( cf. Rev 2:27 ), denoting foresight and force (Plut. de Iside , 51), while the “eyes” and “ears” of a Parthian monarch were officials or officers who kept him informed of all that transpired throughout the country. Elsewhere the seven spirits are identified with seven torches, but John is more concerned to express from time to time his religious ideas than to preserve any homogeneity of symbolism (seven eyes similarly varied in Zech. cf. reff.). The inconsistency cannot, in a writing of this nature, be taken as evidence of interpolation or of divergent sources, though it may be an editorial gloss. An analogous idea underlies Plutarch’s explanation of the “travelling” power of Isis ( Iside , 60), for which he adduces the old Greek etymology (= knowledge and movement, from “to run”); and this etymology in turn ( cf. Otto on Theoph. ad Autolyc . i. 4) reaches back to a star cultus. N.B. In the Apoc. , which is opposed to and is always (except Rev 13:11 f.) used of Jesus, denotes not only the atoning sacrificial aspect of Christ (Rev 5:6 ; Rev 5:9 f., Rev 5:12 , Rev 12:11 ) but his triumphant power (horned) over outsiders (Rev 17:14 ) and his own people (Rev 7:16 f.). Neither the diminutive ( cf. below, on Rev 12:17 ) nor the associations of innocence and gentleness are to be pressed ( cf. Spitta, Streitfragen der Gesch. Jesu , 1907, 173 f.). The term becomes almost semi-technical in the Apocalypse. As a pre-Christian symbol, it is quite obscure. The text and origin of the striking passage in Test. Ios. xix. do not permit much more than the inference that the leader there (a ) becomes an , who, supported by Judah the lion, . The virginbirth is probably a Christian interpolation. No sure root for the symbolism has yet been found in astro-theology (Jeremiah 15 f.). For attempts to trace back the idea to Babylonian soil, cf. Hommel in Exp. Times , 14:106 f., Havet, 324 f., and Zimmern in Schrader , 597 f. One Babylonian text does mention the blood of the lamb as a sacrificial substitute for man, which is all the more significant as the texts of the cultus are almost wholly destitute of any allusion to the significance of the blood in sacrifice. But no influence of this on pre-Christian messianism, or of contemporary cults on this element of Christian symbolism, can be made out from the extant evidence. In any case, it would merely supply the form for expressing a reality of the Christian experience.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Revelation
THE SEVEN EYES OF THE SLAIN LAMB
Rev 5:6
John received a double commission, to write the things which are and the things which shall be. The things which are signify, I suppose, the unseen realities which flashed upon the inward eye of the solitary seer for a moment in symbol when the door was opened in Heaven. All that is here is seeming and illusion; the only substantial existences lie within the veil. And of all those ‘things which are,’ in timeless, eternal being, this vision of the throned ‘Lamb, as it had been slain’ is the centre.
Between the Great White Throne and the outer ring of worshippers, representing in the ‘living creatures’ the crown and glory of creatural life, and in the elders, the crown and glory of redeemed humanity, stands the Lamb slain, which is the symbolical way of declaring that for ever and ever, through Christ and for the sake of His sacrifice, there pass to the universe all Divine gifts, and there rise from the universe all thankfulness and praise. His manhood is perpetual, the influence of His sacrifice in the Divine administration and government never ceases.
The attributes with which this verse clothes that slain Lamb are incongruous; but, perhaps, by reason of their very incongruity all the more striking and significant. The ‘seven horns’ are the familiar emblem of perfect power; the ‘seven eyes’ are interpreted by the seer himself to express the fullness of the Divine Spirit.
The eye seems a singular symbol for the Spirit, but it may be used as suggesting the swiftest and subtlest way in which the influences of a human spirit pass out into the external universe. At all events, whatever may have been the reason for the selection of the emblem, the interpretation of it lies here, in the words of our text itself. The teaching of this emblem, then, is: ‘He, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received the promise of the Father, sheds forth this.’ The whole fullness of spiritual Divine power is in the hand of Christ to impart to the world.
I. The ‘slain Lamb’ is the Lord and Giver of the Spirit.
He ‘hath the seven Spirits of God’ in the simplest sense of all, that the manhood of our Brother who died on the Cross for us, lifted up to the right hand of God, is there invested and glorified with every fullness of the Divine Spirit, and with all the mysteries of the life of God. Whatsoever there is, in Deity, of spirit and power; whatsoever of swift flashing energy; whatsoever of gentleness and grace; whatsoever of holiness and splendor; all inheres in the Man Christ Jesus; unto whom even in His earthly lowliness and humiliation the Spirit was not given by measure, but unto whom in the loftiness of His heavenly life that Spirit is given in yet more wondrous fashion than in His humiliation. For I suppose that the exaltation with which Christ is exalted is not only a change of position, but in some sense His manhood is progressive; and now in the Heavens is yet fuller of the indwelling Spirit than it was here upon earth.
But it is not as the recipient, but as the bestower of the Spirit, that He comes before us in the great words of my text. All that He has of God, He has that He may give. Whatsoever is His is ours; we share in His fullness and we possess His grace. He gives His own life, and that is the very central idea of Christianity.
There are very many imperfect views of Christ’s work afloat in the world. The lowest of them, the most imperfect, so imperfect and fragmentary as scarcely to be worth calling Christianity at all, is the view which recognizes Him as being merely Example, Guide, Teacher. High above that there comes the view which is common amongst orthodox people of the more superficial type – the view which is, I am afraid, still too common amongst us – which regards the whole work of Jesus Christ as terminated upon the Cross. It thinks of Him as being something infinitely more than Teacher and Guide and Example, but it stops at the thought of His great reconciling death as being the completion of His work, and hears Him say from the Cross, ‘It is finished,’ with a faith which, however genuine, cannot but be considered as imperfect unless it is completed with the remembrance that it was but one volume of His work that was finished when He died upon the Cross. His death was really a transition to a form of work which if not loftier was at all events other than the work which was completed upon Calvary. His earthly life finished His perfect obedience as Pattern and as Son; His death on the Cross finished His mighty work of self-surrender and sacrifice, which is propitiation and atonement for the sins of the whole world. His life on earth and His death on the Cross taken together finished His great work of revealing the Father in so far as that revelation depended upon outward, objective facts. But His life on earth and His death on the Cross did not even begin the work, but only laid the foundation for it, of communicating to men the life which was in Himself. He lived that He might complete obedience and manifest the Father. He died that He might ‘put away sin’ and reveal the Father still more fully. And now, exalted at the right hand of God, He works on through the ages in that which is the fruit of His Cross and the crown of His sacrifice, the communication to men, moment by moment, of His own perfect life, that they too may live for ever and be like Him.
He died that we might not die; He lives that the life which we live in the flesh may be His life and not ours. We may not draw comparisons between the greatness of the various departments of our Master’s work, but we can say that His earthly life and His death of shame are the foundation of the work which He does to-day. And so, dear brethren, whilst nineteen centuries ago His triumphant words, ‘It is finished,’ rang out the knell of sin’s dominion, and the first hope for the world’s emancipation, another voice, far ahead still in the centuries, waits to be spoken; and not until the world has been filled with the glory of His Cross and the power of His life shall it be proclaimed: ‘It is done !’
The interspace between these two is filled with the activity of that slain Lamb who, by His death, has become the Lord of the Spirit; and through His blood is able to communicate to all men the life of His own soul. The Lord of the Spirit is the Lamb that was slain.
II. Then let me ask you to look, secondly, at the representation here given of the infinite variety of gifts which Christ bestows.
Throughout this Book of the Revelation we find this remarkable expression, in which the Spirit of God is not spoken of as in His personal unity, but as in sevenfold variety. So at the beginning of the letter we find the salutation, ‘Grace and peace from Him which is and was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His Throne.’ And again we read, in one of the letters to the churches: ‘These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars’; the correspondence being marked between the number of each. And again we read in the earlier part of this same vision, in the preceding chapter, that before the throne there were seven torches flaming, ‘which are the seven Spirits of God.’ And so, again, in my text, we read, ‘seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.’
Now it is obvious that there is not any question here of the personality and unity of the Divine Spirit, which is sufficiently recognized in other parts of the Apocalypse, such as ‘the Spirit and the Bride say: “Come!”‘ and the like; but that the thing before the Evangelist’s mind is the variety of the operations and activities of that one Spirit.
And the number ‘seven,’ of course, at once suggests the idea of perfection and completeness.
So that the thought emerges of the endless, boundless, manifoldness, and wonderful diversity of the operations of this great life-spirit that streams from Jesus Christ.
Think of the number of designations by which that Spirit is described in the New Testament. In regard to all that belongs to intellectual life, He is ‘the Spirit of wisdom’ and of ‘illumination in the knowledge of Christ,’ He is ‘the Spirit of Truth.’ In regard to all that belongs to the spiritual life. He is ‘the Spirit of holiness,’ the ‘Spirit of liberty’; the Spirit of self-control, or as rendered in our Bible, ‘of a sound mind’; the ‘Spirit of love.’ In regard to all that belongs to the practical life, He is ‘the Spirit of counsel and of might,’ the ‘Spirit of power.’ In regard to all that belongs to the religious life, He is ‘the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba! Father!’; the ‘Spirit of grace and of supplication,’ the ‘Spirit of life.’ So over the whole round of man’s capacity and nature, all his intellectual, moral, practical, and religious being, there are gifts which fit each side and each part of it.
Think of the variety of the symbols under which He is presented: ‘the oil,’ with its soft, gentle flow; ‘the fire,’ with its swift transmuting, purifying energy; the water, refreshing, fertilizing, cleansing; the breath, quickening, vitalizing, purifying the blood; the wind, gentle as the sigh of an infant, loud and mighty as a hurricane, sometimes scarcely lifting the leaves upon the tender spring herbage, sometimes laying the city low in a low place. It is various in manifestation, graduating through all degrees, applying to every side of human nature, capable of all functions that our weakness requires, helping our infirmities, making intercession for us and in us, with unutterable groanings, sealing and confirming our possession of His grace; searching the deep things of God and revealing them to us; guiding into all truth, freeing us from the law of sin and death. There are diversities of operation, but the same Spirit. It is protean, and takes every shape that our necessities require.
Think of all men’s diverse weaknesses, miseries, sins, cravings – every one of them an open door through which God’s grace may come; every one of them a form provided into which the rich molten ore of this golden Spirit may flow. Whatsoever a man needs, that he will find in the infinite variety of the spiritual help and strength which the Lamb slain is ready to give. It is like the old fable of the manna, which the Rabbis tell us tasted upon each lip precisely what each man chose. So this nourishment from above becomes to every man what each man requires. “Water will take the shape of any vessel into which you choose to pour it; the Spirit of God assumes the form that is imposed upon it by our weaknesses and needs. And if you want to know the exhaustless variety of the seven Spirits which the Lamb gives, find out the multiplicity and measure, the manifoldness and the depth, of man’s necessities, of weakness, of sorrow, and sin, and you will know how much the Spirit of God is able to bestow and still remain full and unexhausted.
III. Still further, my text suggests the unbroken continuity of the gifts which the slain Lamb has to give.
The language of the original, for any of you that can consult it, will show you that the word ‘sent’ might be rendered ‘being sent,’ expressive of a continual impartation.
Ah! God’s Spirit is not given once in a way and then stops. It is given, not by fits and starts. People talk about ‘revivals,’ as if there were times when the Spirit of God came down more abundantly than at other times upon the world, or upon churches, or upon individuals. It is not so. There are variations in our receptiveness; there are no variations in its steady efflux. Does the sun shine at different rates, are its beams cut off sometimes, or poured out with less energy, or is it only the position of the earth that makes the difference between the summer and the winter, the days and the nights, whilst the great central orb is raying out at the same rate all through the murky darkness, all through the frosty days? And so the gifts of Jesus Christ pour out from Him at a uniform continuous rate, with no breaks in the golden beams, with no pauses in the continual flow. Pentecost is far back, but the fire that was kindled then has not died down into grey ashes. It is long since that stream began to flow, but it is not yet shrunken in its banks. For ever and for ever, with unbroken continuity, whether men receive or whether they forbear. He shines on, communicating Himself and pouring out the Spirit of grace, ay! even into a non-receiving world! How much sunshine seems to be lost, how much of that Spirit’s influence seems lost, and yet it pours on for ever.
Men talk about Christianity as being effete. People to-day look back upon the earlier ages, and say: ‘Where is the Lord God of Elijah?’ The earlier ages had nothing that you and I have not, and Christianity will not die out, and God’s Church will not die out, until the sun that endureth for ever is shorn of its beams and forgets to shine. The seven Spirits are streaming out as they were at the beginning, and as – blessed be God! – they shall do to the end.
IV. And, lastly, my text suggests a universal diffusion of these gifts. ‘Seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.’ The words are a quotation from a remarkable prophecy in the book of Zechariah, which speaks about the ‘seven eyes of God,’ running – ‘To and fro over all the earth.’
There are no limitations of these gifts to any one race or nation as there were in the old times, nor any limitations either to a democracy. ‘On My servants and on My handmaidens will I pour out of My Spirit.’ In olden days the mountain-tops were touched with the rays, and all the lowly valleys lay deep in the shadow and the darkness. Now the risen sunshine pours down into the deepest clefts, and no heart so poor, so illiterate, so ignorant but that it may receive the full sunshine of that Spirit.
Of course, in the very widest of all senses the words are true of the universal diffusion of spiritual gifts from Christ; for all the light with which men see is His light; and all the eyes with which they have ever looked at truth, or beauty, or goodness, come from Him who is ‘the Master-light of all our seeing.’ And poet, and painter, and thinker, and teacher, and philanthropist, and every man that has helped his fellows or has had any glimpse of any angle or bit of the Divine perfection, has seen because the eye of the class or order. Christianity as the true Lord has been in some measure granted to him, and ‘the inspiration of the Almighty has given him understanding.’
But the universal diffusion of spiritual gifts of this sort is not what is meant in my text. It means the gifts of a higher religious character. And I need not remind you of how over broad lands that were heathen when John in his rocky Patmos got this vision, there has now dawned the glory of Christ and the knowledge of His name. Think of all the treasures of the literature of the Christian Church in Latin and African and Teutonic lands that have come since the day when this chapter was written. Think of what Britain was then and of what it is to-day. Remember the heroisms, holinesses, illuminations that have shone over these then barbarous lands since that time; and understand how it has all come because from the Lamb by the Throne there has been sent out over all the earth the Spirit that is wisdom and holiness and life.
And think how steadily down through layers of society that were regarded as outcast and contemptible in the time of the founding of the Church, there has trickled and filtered the knowledge of Himself and of His grace; and how amongst the poor and the humble and the outcast, amongst the profligate and the sinful, there have sprung up flowers of holiness and beauty all undreamed of before; and we shall understand how all classes in all lands may receive a portion of the sevenfold Spirit.
Every Christian man and woman is inspired, not to be a teacher of infallible truth, but inspired in the true and deep sense that in them dwells the Spirit of Jesus Christ. ‘If any man have not the Spirit he is none of His.’ All of us, weak, sinful as we are, ignorant and bewildered often, may possess that Divine life to live in our hearts.
Only, dear brethren, remember it is the slain Lamb that gives the Spirit. And unless we are looking to that Lamb slain as our hope and confidence, we shall not receive it. A maimed Christianity that has a Christ, but no slain Lamb, has little of His Spirit; but if you trust to His Sacrifice, and rest your whole hopes on His Cross, then there will come into your hearts His own mighty grace, and ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus will make you free from the law of sin and death.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 5:6-10
6And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
Rev 5:6 “a Lamb standing” This concept of a sacrificial Lamb (i.e., baby lamb, arnion) depicts the vicarious atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Lamb is mentioned throughout the book of the Revelation (cf. Rev 5:6; Rev 5:8; Rev 5:12-13; Rev 6:1; Rev 6:16; Rev 7:9-10; Rev 7:14; Rev 7:17; Rev 12:11; Rev 13:8; Rev 14:1; Rev 14:4(twice),10; Rev 15:3; Rev 17:14; Rev 19:7; Rev 19:9; Rev 21:9; Rev 21:14; Rev 21:22-23; Rev 21:27; Rev 22:1; Rev 22:3). The sacrificial metaphor is from
1. the Passover Lamb (Exodus 12)
2. one of the lambs that was sacrificed daily in the morning and evening (the continual, cf. Exo 29:38-46; Num 28:3; Num 28:6; Num 28:10; Num 28:23; Num 28:31; Num 29:11; Num 29:16; Num 29:19; Num 29:22; Num 29:25; Num 29:28; Num 29:31; Num 29:34; Num 29:38)
3. the slain lamb of Isa 53:7 or Joh 1:7; Joh 1:29
This metaphor is used of Jesus in two distinct senses: (a) as an innocent sacrificial victim and (b) as the overcoming victor (also found in Jewish apocalyptic literature, cf. I Enoch 90:9; Testament of Joseph Rev 19:8-9). In the NT only John the Baptist in Joh 1:29; Joh 1:36 and John in Rev 5:6; Rev 5:8; Rev 5:12-13; 61:1, refer to Jesus as “Lamb” (Paul asserts this, but without the term in 1Co 5:7).
“as if slain” He was dead but now alive. The Messiah’s resurrection is parodied by the sea beast (cf. Rev 13:3).
“having seven horns and seven eyes” The first term refers to power or omnipotence (cf. Exo 27:2; Exo 29:12; Deu 33:17; 2Ch 18:10; Psa 112:9; Psa 132:17; Jer 48:25; Eze 29:21; Zec 1:18-21). The second term refers to God’s omniscience (cf. Rev 4:6; Rev 4:8; Eze 1:18; Eze 10:12; Zec 3:9; Zec 4:10). This symbolism is similar to Dan 7:13-14.
“which are the seven Spirits of God” See Special Topic at Rev 1:4 and note at Rev 4:5.
Rev 5:8 “When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb” This shows the worship of the Lamb as well as the worship of God (cf. Rev 5:13), which is a central theme in Revelation.
“and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” Angels were the regular bearers of prayers to God in inter-biblical Jewish literature (cf. Tobit 12:15; III Baruch 11). The idea of incense representing prayers is used several times in Scripture (cf. Rev 8:3-4; Psa 141:2; Luk 1:10).
“saints” Although the word “church” does not appear after chapter 3, the concept of “saints” does continue throughout the book and must refer to the people of God. The concept of believers as “saints” is common in Revelation (cf. Rev 8:3-4; Rev 11:18; Rev 13:7; Rev 13:10; Rev 14:12; Rev 16:6; Rev 17:6; Rev 18:20; Rev 18:24; Rev 19:8; Rev 20:9).
SPECIAL TOPIC: SAINTS
Rev 5:9-10 There is a significant Greek manuscript variant related to the pronoun “us.” The NKJV has the pronoun “us” in Rev 5:9, “have redeemed us to God,” and in Rev 5:10, “and have made us kings and priests to our God.” Most modern translations (NASB, NRSV, TEV, NJB) omit “us” in both verses. If “us” is present in both verses then Jesus’ sacrificial death includes the twenty-four elders who seem to be angelic creatures. Nowhere in the Bible is Jesus’ death related to angelic redemption. Also, the presence of “them” (autous) in Rev 5:10 grammatically excludes the possibility of “us” being original. The United Bible Society’s fourth edition rates the two plural pronoun’s omission as “certain.”
Rev 5:9 “And they sang a new song” In the OT there are many allusions to the new song (cf. Psa 33:3; Psa 40:3; Psa 98:1; Psa 144:9; Psa 149:1 and Isa 42:10). At every major event in the OT, the people of God were encouraged to sing a new song praising God’s activity. This is the ultimate song about God’s revealing Himself in the Messiah and the Messiah’s work of redemption on behalf of all believers (cf. Rev 5:9; Rev 5:12-13; Rev 14:3).
The emphasis on “new” things is characteristic of the new age in Isaiah 42-66.
1. “new things,” Isa 42:9
2. “new song,” Isa 42:10
3. “do something new,” Isa 43:19
4. “new things,” Isa 48:6
5. “new name,” Isa 62:6
6. “new heavens and new earth,” Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22.
In Revelation there are also many “new things.”
1. “new Jerusalem,” Rev 3:12; Rev 21:2
2. “new name,” Rev 2:17; Rev 3:12
3. “new song,” Rev 5:9-10; Rev 5:12-13; Rev 14:3
4. “new heaven and new earth,” Rev 21:1
“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals” This new song (Rev 5:9-10) is a fivefold description of the worthiness of the Lamb.
1. substitutionary death (cf. Rev 5:6; Rev 5:9; Rev 5:12; Rev 13:8; 1Pe 1:18-19)
2. redemptive price paid (cf. Rev 5:9; Rev 14:3-4; Mar 10:45; 1Co 6:19-20; 1Co 7:23; 1Ti 2:6)
3. purchased men from every nation (cf. Rev 5:9; Rev 7:9; Rev 14:6)
4. made the believers a kingdom of priests (cf. Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10)
5. they will reign with Him (cf. Rev 3:21; Rev 5:10; Rev 20:4)
“from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” This is a recurrent metaphor of universality (cf. Rev 7:9; Rev 11:9; Rev 13:7; Rev 14:6). It may be an allusion to Dan 3:4; Dan 3:7.
“and purchases for God with Your blood” This is surely a reference to the vicarious atonement of the Lamb of God. This concept of Jesus as the sacrifice for sin is central in Revelation (cf. Rev 1:5; Rev 5:9; Rev 5:12; Rev 7:14; Rev 12:11; Rev 13:8; Rev 14:4; Rev 15:3; Rev 19:7; Rev 21:9; Rev 21:23; Rev 22:3) and also in all the NT (cf. Mat 20:28; Mat 26:28; Mar 10:45; Rom 3:24-25; 1Co 6:20; 1Co 7:23; 2Co 5:21; Gal 3:13; Gal 4:5; Eph 1:7; Php 2:8; 1Ti 2:6; Tit 2:14; Heb 9:28; and 1Pe 1:18-20).
SPECIAL TOPIC: RANSOM/REDEEM
Rev 5:10 “have made them to be a kingdom and priests” This is an allusion to Exo 19:6 and Isa 61:6. This terminology is now used for the Church, the new Great Commission people of God (cf. Rev 1:6; Rev 20:6; 1Pe 2:5; 1Pe 2:9). See note at Rev 1:6.
“they will reign upon the earth” Some translators see this in a future sense and some see it as a present reality. There is a Greek manuscript variant between the future tense in MSS , P and the present tense in MS A (Alexandrinus). If it is in a present sense it is similar to Rom 5:17 and Eph 2:6. If future it possibly deals with the reigning of the people of God with Christ (cf. Mat 19:28; Luk 22:30; 1Co 4:8; 2Ti 2:12; Rev 3:21; Rev 5:10). Even this future reign is seen in two ways.
1. in Rev 20:4; Rev 20:6 it seems to refer to a millennial reign
2. in Rev 22:5 it seems to refer to an eternal reign (cf. Psa 145:13; Isa 9:7; Dan 2:44; Dan 7:14; Dan 7:18; Dan 7:27)
3. possibly the millennium is a symbol of eternity
The UBS4 gives the future tense an “A” rating (certain).
SPECIAL TOPIC: REIGNING IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
beheld. Same word as “saw”, verses: Rev 1:2.
and lo. Omit.
beasts. The zoa of Rev 4:6.
stood . . . Lamb = a Lamb standing.
Lamb = little Lamb. Greek. arnion. See Joh 21:15 and App-197.
it had = having.
horns. A symbol indicating His power. Compare 2Sa 22:3; &c.
Spirits. See Rev 1:4.
God. App-98.
sent forth. App-174.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6.] The vision of the Lamb. And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living-beings, and in the midst of the elders (the words seem to indicate the middle point before the throne; whether on the glassy sea (De W.) or not, does not appear; but certainly not on the throne, from what follows in the next verse. is repeated, as in Lev 27:12; Lev 27:14) a lamb (the use of , the diminutive, as applied to our Lord, is peculiar to the Apocalypse. It is difficult to say what precise idea is meant to be conveyed by this form. Elsewhere, it is , Joh 1:29; Joh 1:36; 1Pe 1:19; Act 8:32; and as is found in Isa 53:7, from which the figure here is taken, the alteration of the word appears to be purposely made. Possibly, as De W., it may be to put forward more prominently the idea of meekness and innocence) standing (i. e. in its natural living position: the word is probably chosen on account of what immediately follows. Though , it was not lying, but standing), as if slain (i. e. retaining the appearance of death-wounds on its body: looking as if it had been slain: cf. ch. Rev 1:18. So the majority of Commentators: cf. especially Vitringa;-vivens equidem, verumtamen insignitum nota majoris alicujus in jugulo vulneris, et conspersum sanguine. Ebrard is quite wrong in supposing that the has any emphasis on it: it merely serves to solve the apparent paradox lying in the juxtaposition of and ), having (the gender again is that not of the thing expressed, but of the thing signified. See above, ch. Rev 4:1) seven horns (the horn is the well-known emblem of might: cf. 1Sa 2:10; 1Ki 22:11; Psa 112:9; Psa 148:14; Dan 7:7; Dan 7:20 ff., Dan 8:3 ff.; ch. Rev 17:3 ff. The perfect number seven represents that all power is given unto Him in heaven and earth, Mat 28:18) and seven eyes, which (eyes) are the seven spirits of God, sent forth (as they have been) into the whole earth (i. e. which eyes represent the watchful active operation of Gods Spirit poured forth through the Death and by the victory of the Lamb, upon all flesh and all creation. The weight of the whole sentence lies on the predicative anarthrous participle . As the seven burning lamps before the throne represented the Spirit of God immanent in the Godhead, so the seven eyes of the Lamb represent the same Spirit in his sevenfold perfection, profluent, so to speak, from the incarnate Redeemer: busied in His world-wide energy: the very word reminding us of the apostolic work and church.
Observe, does not as Bed[96] (Spiritus in Christo septiformis propter eminentiam potestatis cornibus, propter illuminationem grati comparatur oculis), Bengel, De W., al., refer to both and : this would be of course grammatically possible, but it seems otherwise decided here both by the context, and by Zec 4:10; [add A; pref. [97]], (E. V. which run to and fro; Heb. , from , remigare, cursitare) ).
[96] Bede, the Venerable, 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. E, mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
[97] The CODEX SINAITICUS. Procured by Tischendorf, in 1859, from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The Codex Frederico-Augustanus (now at Leipsic), obtained in 1844 from the same monastery, is a portion of the same copy of the Greek Bible, the 148 leaves of which, containing the entire New Testament, the Ep. of Barnabas, parts of Hermas, and 199 more leaves of the Septuagint, have now been edited by the discoverer. A magnificent edition prepared at the expense of the Emperor of Russia appeared in January, 1863, and a smaller edition containing the N.T. &c., has been published by Dr. Tischendorf. The MS. has four columns on a page, and has been altered by several different correctors, one or more of whom Tischendorf considers to have lived in the sixth century. The work of the original scribe has been examined, not only by Tischendorf, but by Tregelles and other competent judges, and is by them assigned to the fourth century. The internal character of the text agrees with the external, as the student may judge for himself from the readings given in the digest. The principal correctors as distinguished by Tischendorf are:-A, of the same age with the MS. itself, probably the corrector who revised the book, before it left the hands of the scribe, denoted therefore by us -corr1; B (cited as 2), who in the first page of Matt. began inserting breathings, accents, &c., but did not carry out his design, and touched only a few later passages; Ca (cited as 3a) has corrected very largely throughout the book. Wherever in our digest a reading is cited as found in 1, it is to be understood, if no further statement is given, that Ca altered it to that which is found in our text; Cb (cited as 3b) lived about the same time as Ca, i.e. some centuries later than the original scribe. These are all that we need notice here6.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rev 5:6. ) is used absolutely, Joh 1:29; 1Pe 1:19 : now, is used, with reference to the flock about to follow Him. , , and differ in age. Orig. t. 2, f. 140, on Joh 1:29. , a young lamb; as far, however, as it combines the idea of the male sex, it properly looks to the taking the lead of the flock.[66]
[66] is used in the Gospel of John, which describes the life and death of Jesus, as the paschal, sacrificial Lamb. In Joh 21:15 alone, is used: so in Rev. also, . , being a diminutive, expresses endearment; viz. the endearing relation in which Jesus, now glorified, stands to us, as the consequence of His previous relation, as the sacrificed on earth: so also our relation to Him: He the precious Lamb, we one with Him and His dear lambs; Isa 40:11.-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
beasts
living creatures. (See Scofield “Eze 1:5”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
in the midst of the throne: Rev 4:4-6
a Lamb: An emblematical representation of our Saviour’s high priesthood. Rev 5:9, Rev 5:12, Rev 6:16, Rev 7:9-17, Rev 12:11, Rev 13:8, Rev 17:14, Rev 21:23, Rev 22:1, Rev 22:3, Isa 53:7, Isa 53:8, Joh 1:29, Joh 1:36, Act 8:32, 1Pe 1:19, 1Pe 1:20
seven horns: As a horn is the emblem of power, and seven the number of perfection, the seven horns may denote the almighty power of Jesus Christ. 1Sa 2:10, Dan 7:14, Mic 4:13, Hab 3:4, Luk 1:69, Phi 2:9-11
seven eyes: His infinite knowledge and wisdom; and especially “the treasures of wisdom” laid up in him, to be communicated to the Church by “the seven spirits of God”, i.e., the Holy Spirit. 2Ch 16:9, Zec 3:9, Zec 4:10
the seven spirits: Rev 4:5
Reciprocal: Gen 22:8 – General Exo 12:3 – take to Lev 4:32 – a lamb Num 7:39 – General Jos 6:4 – seven times Job 28:24 – General Isa 52:13 – he shall Mar 14:22 – this Luk 9:31 – spake Luk 20:36 – they are 1Co 5:7 – Christ Heb 1:14 – sent Rev 1:4 – from the Rev 3:1 – he that Rev 3:21 – and am Rev 4:2 – and one Rev 4:6 – the midst Rev 5:13 – and unto Rev 7:17 – in the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
WORSHIP
In the midst of the throne stood a Lamb as it had been slain.
Rev 5:6
Contemplate the Redeemers triumph over death and hell.
Behold the Victor receiving homage.
I. Object of worship.The Lamb.
(a) With seven horns, i.e. complete power.
(b) With seven eyes, i.e. complete sight.
(c) With seven spirits, i.e. complete wisdom.
II. Posture in worship.Fell down (Rev 5:8). Profound adoration, for He is worthy. Position of humility.
III. Manner of worshippraise and prayer. The worshippers used the harps which sounded forth the sweetest notes of praisethis too in harmony. Also golden vials which are the prayers (Rev 5:8). Notice the odours; prayer is that which is full of sweetness and is pleasing unto the Lord.
Rev. Donald McDonald.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Rev 5:6. In the midst, etc. Thayer gives us the rendering as follows: “And I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and the elders.” He then offers his explanation as follows: “In the vacant space between the throne and the living creatures (on one side) and elders (on the other side), accordingly nearest the throne.” As it had been slain. A lamb may be slain and then come back to life still bearing the marks of its death wounds. Thus Jesus was permitted to retain the wound marks until He had completed the great work with His apostles. (See Joh 20:20.) Horns in symbolic language means authority, and seven of them means complete authority. (See Mat 28:18.) Seven eyes signifies a perfect vision which would be necessary in order to see into the future. Seven Spirits is explained at Rev 1:4.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 6.
The Lamb in the midst of the throne–Rev 5:6-10.
1. “In the midst of the throne and of the four beasts (beings), and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain; having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth”–Rev 5:6.
The Lamb in the midst of the throne was Christ, here represented as a lamb instead of a lion because of his having been sacrificially slain; but the slain Lamb was now risen and is seen as the conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah to deliver his people from their foes and oppressors.
2. “Having seven horns and seven eyes-which are the seven spirits of God sent forth”–Rev 5:6.
The seven horns and eyes are the symbols of perfection in all of his divine attributes, and the seven spirits of God, which were sent forth were symbolic of the perfection of the truth in the testimony of his witnesses. (Heb 1:7; Heb 1:14).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 5:6. The words are fulfilled; yet how differently from what might have been expected! The Seer had been told of a lion, and he beholds a lamb; and Rev 5:9 makes it evident that the lamb is thought of not merely in its gentleness and patience, but as an animal used for sacrifice. From the same verse also it would seem that it is the Paschal lamb that is present to the view of the apocalyptic writer. The particular word used in the original for lamb is found in the New Testament, with the exception of the Apocalypse, only in Joh 21:15; and an argument has been often drawn, from the employment of a different word in Joh 1:29; Joh 1:36, against the identification of the apocalyptic figure with the figure of the Gospel. It is enough to reply that in Joh 1:29; Joh 1:36, the Evangelist is simply recording words of the Baptist. That he himself preferred the other term arises probably from the fact that he had often heard it, and not at Joh 21:15 alone, from the lips of the Master whom he loved. It is used by him twenty-nine times in this book.
The question of the position of the Lamb is both interesting and difficult. It is generally supposed to have stood between the throne, of which the four living creatures may almost be said to form a part, and the twenty-four Elders; thus representing a Mediator between God and man. Some place it in the very centre of the throne. The former idea is the more probable, and it finds a certain amount of confirmation in the word came of Rev 5:7. We have thus the throne with the four living creatures above (see on chap. Rev 4:6), then the Lamb, then the twenty-four Elders. The position now assigned to the Lamb is made the more probable by the fact that it was a Lamb standing. On a throne one sits.
The standing of the Lamb is deeply important. First of all we may observe that it is as slaughtered (not slain, but slaughtered) for sacrifice, the word being sacrificial (Exo 12:6), that the Lamb appears. Jesus suffering even unto death is before us. But though thus slaughtered the Lamb stands, stands as a living, not lies as a dead, animal. Jesus risen and glorified is presented to our view. In short, we have here the great lesson alike of the Apocalypse and of the Fourth Gospel, that we are redeemed not merely by a Saviour who died, but by one who also rose to everlasting and glorious life. Through all eternity, too, the Risen Lord bears the marks of His earthly sufferings. While His people live for ever in His life, they never cease to feel that they were redeemed in His blood.The Lamb has still further seven horns. In Scripture the horn is always the emblem of strength and force (Deu 33:17; 1Sa 2:10; Psa 112:9; Psa 148:14; Luk 1:69; Rev 17:3); the number seven denotes, as usual, completeness.
It has also seven eyes, which are explained to be the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. They are thus substantially the same as the seven torches of chap. Rev 4:5, and we need say no more of them at present than that they are distinctly connected with the Son as well as with the Father. The word sent belongs to the eyes alone, and not also to the horns.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. That St. John had a vision of Christ in the former verse, under the representation of a lion: here he is represented under the form and figure of a lamb, as wounded, bloody, sacrificed, and slain: as bearing upon him the signs and scars, the marks and tokens of his by-past death: his appearing as a lamb slain, denoted his death; his stand, denoted his resurrection. There stood a lamb, as it had been slain, it is added–having seven horns, the strength of a beast lying in its horns; this expression of seven horns denotes that omnipotent power which Christ has in himself, and that fulness of power which he does exert and put forth on all occasions in defence of his church.
It follows, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God; these represent the Holy Spirit of God in its manifold graces given by Christ unto the church, as his agent and advocate upon earth; so that here in the text and context are all the three Persons in the Holy Trinity, whose divinity we believe, and in whom we trust; God the Father upon the throne, with a book in his hand: Christ the Lamb in the midst of the throne, opening the book: and the Seven Spirits, or Holy Ghost, distinct from the two former.
Observe, 2. The office, which Christ, as Mediator God-man, performs; he goes to the throne, and takes the book out of the Father’s hand, that is, he received power from God to open the book of mysteries, and to execute them: Christ sat upon the throne as God, but went to the throne for the book, as God-man; this power was due unto him as the reward of his sufferings.
Observe, 3. The joyful acclamations accompanied with the profoundest adorations which were deservedly given by the holy inhabitants of heaven to Jesus Christ, as the only person worthy to take the book and open the seals: They fell down before the Lamb, saying, Thou art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us.
Note here, Divine worship given to Christ the Lamb, which proves his deity; they sing an hymn of divine praise to the blessed Redeemer, with harps, and golden vials in their hands,–a new song: that is, a most excellent song, setting forth the benefits, and extolling the praises of the Lord the Redeemer.
Observe, 4. The church’s celebration of those benefits and blessings, which by the death of Christ she had received, namely,
1. They were redeemed unto God out of every kindred and tongue, people and nation; which shows the universal extent of the gospel church scattered over the face of the whole earth in and among all the nations of the world.
2. They were by him made kings and priests unto God, to reign on earth; that is, spiritual kings and priests unto God, to reign over sin, Satan, and the world, trampling their spiritual enemies under their feet, not expecting an earthly dominion.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
When John turned to see this great lion, he saw a Lamb which appeared to have been newly slain. Only by becoming as submissive as a lamb and dying could Jesus conquer death and become the king. ( Joh 1:29 ; Isa 53:4-12 ; Php 2:8-11 ; 1Pe 1:18-19 ) The Hebrews saw a horn as a symbol of power and seven of them represent perfect power. The seven eyes stand for the Holy Spirit which was sent forth, and sent other forth, into all the earth to testify of Jesus. ( Joh 16:13 ; Joh 15:26 ; Heb 2:1-4 )
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 5:6-7. And I beheld, and lo, &c. Upon this I observed, in my vision, a new representation; in, or on, the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures Within the circle which they made round him; and in the midst of the elders Making a larger circle round him and them; stood a Lamb , a lamb standing. He no more falls on his face; the days of his weakness and mourning are ended! He is now in a posture of readiness to execute all his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King; as it had been slain For sacrifice; bearing the recent marks of slaughter, in the wounds and blood on its throat and breast. And because he was slain, he was now worthy to open the book, (Rev 5:9,) to the joy of his own people and the terror of his enemies. Nor was this lamb only represented as a sacrifice; but having seven horns and seven eyes Emblematical of perfect power and perfect knowledge, whereby he is able to accomplish what is contained in the book; namely, by his almighty and all-wise Spirit, even to reveal future events respecting the world and the church, and to accomplish all Gods designs of providence and grace. To these seven horns and seven eyes answer the seven seals and the seven-fold song of praise, Rev 5:12. In Zechariah, likewise, (Zec 3:9; Zec 4:10,) mention is made of the seven eyes of the Lord, which go forth over all the earth. Which (both the horns and the eyes) are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth They represent that divine wisdom and energy which operate everywhere; or that effectual working of the Spirit of God, which goes through the whole creation: and that in the natural as well as spiritual world. For could mere matter act or think? Could it gravitate or attract? Just as much as it could think or speak. And he came Here we have an instance of the accomplishment of the words recorded Psa 2:8, Ask of me and I will give thee, &c: and took the book, &c. It is one state of exaltation that reaches from our Lords ascension to his coming in glory, yet this state admits of various degrees. At his ascension, angels, and principalities, and powers, were subjected to him. Ten days after he received from the Father, and sent, the Holy Ghost. And now he took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne Who gave it to him as a signal of his delivering to him all power in heaven and earth. He received it in token of his being both able and willing to fulfil all that was written therein.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 6
Seven horns, and seven eyes; the symbols of intelligence and power.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, {7} in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
(7) The sum of this revelation: Christ the mediator takes and opens the book Rev 5:6-7 . Therefore this revelation describes the person of Christ. The person is described this way: Christ the mediator between God, angels and men, as the eternal word of God, and our redeemer: as the Lamb of God, standing as slain and making intercession for us by the power and merit of his everlasting sacrifice, is armed with the Spirit of God, that is, with the power and wisdom of God effectually to the government of this whole world.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The worship of the Lamb 5:6-14
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
As with our dreams, John’s vision contained some unusual features. John saw the Messiah as a Lamb. The diminutive form of amnos ("lamb," namely, arnion) enhances the contrast with the lion. The lion is a picture of strength and majesty, but this lamb was meek and gentle. Christ combines both sets of characteristics. The Lamb is a symbol of Jesus Christ at His first advent, meek and submissive to a sacrificial death as our substitute (Isa 53:7; Joh 1:36; Joh 21:15). John is the only New Testament writer who described Jesus as the Lamb, though Peter came close in 1Pe 1:19. The Lion is a symbol of Him at His second advent, powerful and aggressively judging the world in righteousness (Psalms 2).
John saw the Lamb now in the center of all the angelic creatures gathered around the throne as the central character and most important personage in the entire heavenly scene (cf. Rev 3:21; Rev 4:6; Rev 7:17). The Lamb was standing, ready to complete His work, bearing the marks of His death. His self-sacrifice led to His supreme power.
"In one brilliant stroke John portrays the central theme of NT revelation-victory through sacrifice." [Note: Mounce, p. 144.]
The Lamb had seven horns representing the fullness of His power. The horn is a common Old Testament symbol for power or strength, and it came to represent kingly authority (Num 23:22; Deu 33:17; 1Sa 2:1; 2Sa 22:3; 1Ki 22:11; Psa 75:4; Psa 132:17; Dan 7:20-21; Dan 8:5). Thus the Lamb is the all powerful warrior and king. The Lamb also had seven eyes representing the fullness of His divine wisdom and discernment (Zec 4:10). His eyes are the seven Spirits of God (the seven principal angels of God?). That is, they communicate to Christ all that transpires. The Lamb is omniscient as well as omnipotent.
An alternative interpretation, which I favor, is that the clause "which are the seven Spirits" refers to both the seven horns and the seven eyes. In this case John may have meant that the Lamb had the seven spirits, who are powerful and perceptive, at His disposal.