REVELATION 8

As the sixth seal began to answer the prayers of the martyrs under the altar, which we learned about in the fifth seal, the seventh seal tells us that all the saints are praying for God to judge earth's inhabitants, or at least that he will make his will evident even to the disobedient. The reason for the half hour of silence is unclear, though some commentators believe it is a sign that heaven's inhabitants are listening to the prayers of the saints, or it may just be to indicate that God himself is about to break his silence and intervene in the affairs of men.

In any case, an angel mingles incense with the prayers of the saints in a golden censer on a golden altar before casting the contents of the censer with fire from the altar onto the earth. There's no explanation why anything should be added to the prayers of the saints, but here's my theory. The incense which is added to the prayers of the saints may be symbolic of the intercession of Jesus for his people. The scriptures, particularly in Hebrews, make it clear that in spite of his divinity and his place in heaven at God's right hand, Jesus still prays, perhaps more than any of us.

The thunder, lightning and earthquake which immediately precede the blowing of the first trumpet are reminiscent of passages in Exodus 19:16 and 20:18 when God came down to Mount Sinai and gave the ten commandments. Since Paul says in Romans 3:20 that no human being will be saved by works of the law, one might say that God is judging the faithless by laying down the law to the children of wrath.

The seventh seal introduces the seven trumpets, and the rest of this chapter includes the first four. These may be entirely supernatural events, unlike anything mankind has ever seen, or they may be things we would understand in modern times, and John may have been somewhat limited by his first century language and experience. Could hail and fire mingled with blood indicate a nuclear exchange, for instance, or a great mountain burning with fire, or even a great star falling from heaven? I believe these are literal descriptions of what John saw, but I don't know how modern men would interpret the same events.

But there are a few interesting points to make about the trumpets. In the Old Testament, trumpets were often sounded before battles or before coronation of a king, and both of these could apply here. Also, there is a great deal of similarity between all seven trumpets and the seven bowl judgments, which we will discuss later, as follows:

Trumpet 1: Hail fire mixed with blood hurled to earth, third of the earth, trees and green grass burned up.

Bowl 1: Ugly and painful sores on those who had the mark of the beast and worship his image.

Trumpet 2: Third of sea turned to blood, third of living creatures in sea died, third of ships destroyed.

Bowl 2: Sea turned to blood, everything in the sea died.

Trumpet 3: Third of waters turned bitter, many people died.

Bowl 3: Rivers and springs become blood.

Trumpet 4: A third of the day and night is without light.

Bowl 4: Sun scorches people with fire.

Trumpet 5: Locusts out of the Abyss torture mankind for five months.

Bowl 5: Kingdom of the beast plunged into darkness, men gnawed their tongues in agony.

Trumpet 6: Third of mankind killed by fire, smoke and sulphur i.e. war.

Bowl 6: Three evil spirits (frogs) gather kings of the earth for battle on the great day of God Almighty.

Trumpet 7: End of the age, time of the judgement, lightening, thunder, earthquake, hailstorm.

Bowl 7: The end of the age, flashes of lightening, thunder, a great earthquake and plague of hail.

The trumpet judgments are more limited in scope than the bowl judgments, and because of their similarity, it is unclear exactly how sequential they are. Is it possible for instance, that the effects of the second and third trumpets are at first limited to a portion of the earth, then expand to the rest of the earth when mankind fails to repent? It seems more likely to me that the first six trumpet judgments occur as warnings before any of the bowl judgments, but I can't say so with certainty. In any case, some of the events described later, such as the testimony of the two prophets, occur over a broader range of time than a purely chronological approach to the book would imply.

It is somewhat amazing that an eagle flying in heaven at the end of chapter 8 is warning that the fifth, sixth and seventh trumpets are worse than the first four. After all, from a human perspective, what could be worse than having the vegetation on a third of the earth destroyed, a third of the fish in the sea die and a third of the ships destroyed, many men die because fresh water is undrinkable and bitter, and the sun, moon and stars darkened? Indeed, these plagues are so terrifying that many Christians have claimed for centuries that they are only symbolic. My response is simply that if these things are only symbolic, Revelation has very little purpose, and there would be no need for the warning at the end of the book not to add anything to this prophecy or to take anything away from it.

With or without Christ, men are always very religious. Even men who claim no interest in religion cling to doctrines they don't want challenged. When I was in college, attending a state university, it seemed that the university had replaced the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit with their own trinity of Darwin, Freud and Marx. In virtually every college course, these three "deities" were mentioned frequently.

Therefore, though it would be obvious for the judgments in Revelation to affect man's environment in any case, there may also be some specific reasons for the nature of these judgments. For example, we began to see a resurgence of astrology in the 1960s, particularly Babylonian astrology. The twelve signs of the zodiac are divided into earth signs, air signs, fire signs and water signs. At the beginning of chapter 7, we saw that angels were holding back the four winds to prevent them from blowing before the servants of God were sealed. The first six trumpets all have something to do with fire, the first destroys a third of the earth, and the second and third affect the sea and rivers. Since Babylon is mentioned later in the book, this may be due in part to the rise in astrology, or in pagan religious systems generally.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NKJV) Paul writes:

16 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ
will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall
always be with the Lord."

In 1 Corinthians 15:50-53 (NKJV) Paul writes:

50 "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery:
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the
dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

Paul links trumpets in both of these passages to the resurrection of the dead, but his letters were written at least 30 years before John saw the vision on Patmos. As I read this chapter, I wonder how much of John's vision was revealed to Paul during his earthly ministry. Paul usually speaks of eschatological events in passing, but he clearly knew a great deal about this subject. Paul may have had visions similar to this one, and he probably only shared a portion of his insights with us.

REVELATION 7

Because of the way in which the chapters of Revelation have been divided, some see chapter 7 as an interlude between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals. However, since the book was not originally written in chapters, it is probably more correct to view chapter 7 as a continuation of the sixth seal and to see the multitude in Revelation 7:9-14 as the answer to the prayer of the martyrs when the fifth seal was opened. Once the multitude comes out of the great tribulation, the seventh seal will be opened, which will bring about half an hour of silence in heaven, followed by the trumpet judgments. The sealing of the 144,000 in chapter 7 is for the purpose of protecting them from the trumpet judgments. One question about this chapter, which I have been unable to resolve, is which of the trumpet judgments are the 144,000 protected from. By the time the fifth trumpet is blown, which brings locusts which attack everyone on earth who does not have God's seal, it is clear that there is a distinction between God's people who are still on earth and the unrepentant. It would seem to be in God's character to protect his people from all of the trumpet judgments, since they are the final warnings to mankind about their need to repent. But if one assumes that Christians are dispersed among the world's population, as they are today, it's hard to see how they would not be affected by the first four trumpets, which appear to be global judgments. For instance, if the fresh water supply on earth is damaged when the third trumpet is blown, causing many to die, how would God's people who also drink water not be affected by it? I mention this here, not to question God about how he handles his business, but just to acknowledge that I don't presently have all of the answers to my own questions about Revelation. It is clear throughout the rest of this book that the suffering of the saints is brought about by men inspired by the devil, and the suffering of the unsaved is brought about by God in response to their violent and abusive persecution of the saints.

There is some controversy among commentators as to whether the 144,000 is a literal or a symbolic number, and also whether these are Jewish converts to Christ in the last days, or whether they represent the entire church, including Gentiles. My approach to Revelation has always been that everything is literal, except where a literal interpretation is clearly not intended, as when Jerusalem is referred to as Sodom and Egypt in Revelation 11:8. Clearly there is some symbolic language in Revelation, but my belief is that no one should assume a symbolic meaning, except in cases where a symbolic meaning is obvious. In any case, the precise number of those sealed is fairly irrelevant, and it's not the basic point of the chapter, as we'll discuss later.

The second point is a bit more significant. In the Amplified Bible, Galatians 6:15-16 says:

15 "For neither is circumcision [now] of any importance, nor uncircumcision, but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in
Christ Jesus, the Messiah].

16 Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule [who discipline themselves and regulate their lives by this principle], even upon the [true] Israel
of God!"

Those who believe that those sealed here represent the entire church quote the scripture above which says that the church (those who have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior by faith) is the true Israel. That is true, and many New Testament passages, particularly in Romans and in Hebrews, make it clear that God's people have always been people of faith, not observers of the law or physical descendants of Jacob. Jesus also confirms this in Matthew 8:11-12 (NKJV), which says:

11 "And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

I concede that point. However, because twelve tribes are specifically mentioned here, and there is no scripture which assigns Gentiles who become Christians to any of the tribes of Israel, I believe the correct interpretation of this passage has to do with a Jewish remnant, rather than the entire household of faith. Some believe that the 144,000 people John hears about at the beginning of the chapter are identical to the multitude John sees later. But in order to believe that, one has to ignore the different descriptions of the two groups, the former as Jewish, and the latter as being from all tribes and tongues and people and nations. This point is significant to the extent that if one believes those sealed in chapter 7 are Jewish Christians, as I am inclined to believe, it gives some support to a pre-tribulation rapture position. If those who are sealed here include a vast multitude of both Jewish and Gentile Christians, it makes sense to believe that there is not a rapture until after the great tribulation. In either case, though this multitude is before the throne, not under the altar as the fifth seal martyrs are, it may be that they appear before the throne at this point in the vision, before the trumpet judgments, because they too have been killed for their testimony of faith in Jesus. Revelation 17:6 speaks alegorically of a woman who is drunk with the blood of saints and martyrs. No matter which interpretation is correct about who is sealed at the beginning of chapter 7, this is also not the main point of the chapter.

Judah is listed first among the twelve tribes, because Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. I'm not sure what reason there might be for the ordering of the rest of the list, but it is obvious that the tribe of Dan is left out, probably because the descendants of Dan became idolators (see Judges 18, particularly Judges 18:14-31). It is also odd that Joseph and Manasseh (a half-tribe of Joseph) are listed, but Ephraim is not. I don't know why Ephraim is omitted, but since it is the other half of Joseph, its inclusion here would be unnecessary in any case.

Some believe the antichrist will arise from the tribe of Dan. But it seems more interesting to me that there is a parallel between the original twelve tribes of Israel (where Dan is missing and replaced by Manasseh) and the original twelve apostles (where Judas is missing and replaced by Matthias).

It is also interesting to me that Revelation 7:3 says angels will seal God's servants on their foreheads. This is comparable to a passage in Ezekiel 9:4-6 where God's servants in Jerusalem are sealed, and whoever is not sealed is killed. It also reminds me of the passover in Egypt and that Jesus is our passover lamb. Additionally, 2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13 and Ephesians 4:30 all speak of Christians as being sealed by the Holy Spirit. In addition to possessing the Spirit, this is a physical seal on the forehead, which presumably can be seen or perhaps detected by the same instruments which would check for the mark of the beast when someone attempts to buy or sell anything. As Esther was God's alternative to Haman, this seal is God's alternative to the mark of the beast.

After dealing with the controversies, we now get to what's really significant about this chapter. John sees a multitude of saints beyond any number he can guess from every tribe and tongue and people and nation joining the angels and the four living creatures in worship. Their sevenfold praise to God in Revelation 7:12 is similar to the sevenfold worship of Christ in Revelation 5:12. Anyone who believes in the racial or ethnic superiority of one group of people over another, or anyone who believes God favors one group of people over another has no answer to this passage. Indeed, one can gather from this passage that Jews have been God's chosen people, only to the extent that he loved them enough to begin revealing himself to mankind through them. Of course, that gives them great significance in the revelation of salvation to mankind and in human history, but it does not mean God created Arabs or anyone else accidentally.

The palm branches they hold are reminiscent of the Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, except that in this case they are preparing for the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9), not for the last supper before the crucifixion. Also, the rhetorical question and response in Revelation 7:13 is similar in form to the question and response in Ezekiel 37:3.

The really wonderful thing about this chapter though is that this multitude comes out of the great tribulation, as Revelation 7:14 says, which means that right until the hope for eternal salvation is finally closed to the unrepentant, God continues to reach out to them, snatching as many of them as possible from the potential for eternal punishment in hell. As the Amplified Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9:

9 "The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people's conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering
(extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance."

As Psalm 145:8-9 (AMP) also says:

8 "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in mercy and loving-kindness.

9 The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works [the entirety of things created]."

The promises in Revelation 7:16-17 are similar to those in Revelation 21:4 (AMP), which says:

4 "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain
any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away."

As we go on to the trumpet and bowl judgments, it is worth remembering the significance of this chapter and God's willingness and desire to reach the lost to the end. I believe this is the reason Jesus told the parable of the laborers, in which those who began working during the eleventh hour received a full day's wages (Matthew 20:1-16).

REVELATION 6

Up to this point, we have covered the seven letters to the churches and the worship in heaven of both the Father and the Son. Now we turn our attention to the seven seals and the beginning of God's judgment of mankind.

At the end of chapter 5, we saw that every creature will ultimately acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ. In most of the following chapters we will be speaking of men who have not accepted Christ as Savior and Lord and do not worship him. I mention that in order to point out that Revelation is not completely chronological, though there is obviously a loose chronology to it, e.g., the first seal comes before the seventh seal, etc. It is likely that the circumstances described in chapter 13, for instance, will actually happen concurrently with all or most of the seven seals, trumpets and bowls, though chapter 13 appears between the trumpet and bowl judgments. To further illustrate the point, if an American travels to Europe on vacation and brings back pictures for friends to see, he may not show all of them sequentially, but he may show all of the pictures of France sequentially.

Many people avoid the book of Revelation, not only due to interpretational difficulties, but also because of the horrific nature of the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments. But I believe these are actually God's judgments on behalf of the church, and I trust God that if we really understood the cruelty directed toward the saints in the last days by the unrighteous, we would see these judgments as entirely appropriate, perhaps even wonderful.

There are some questions I cannot answer about this chapter with absolute certainty. For instance, are the seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls in Revelation confined to a seven-year period of time (Daniel's seventieth week), or is it possible that the seven seals, for instance, are more generally descriptive of the church age? I'm inclined to believe in the former position, particularly because of Revelation 7:14, but it may be that this prophecy has both a general and a specific fulfillment.

There are different interpretations regarding exactly who the rider on the first horse associated with the first seal is. When I first read Revelation, I assumed the rider on the white horse in Revelation 6:2 is Jesus, and many Christians interpret this passage as indicating that the gospel goes out into all the world prior to the later seals. But I now believe that would be out of context with the rest of the chapter, and the rider on the white horse is actually the antichrist, or symbolic of a series of antichrists (how about that for an interpretational difference). It seems more likely to me that all four horsemen are destructive. (They are probably not four relatively innocent men who once played football at a small Catholic school in Indiana.)

I believe the best way to understand the seven seals in Revelation is to view them as an expanded explanation of Matthew 24. For instance, Matthew 24:5 (NKJV) says:

"For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive
many." These false Christs would correspond to the first rider on the first horse associated with the first seal.

Similarly, Matthew 24:6 (NKJV) says:

"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." This would correspond to the second seal and the second horse and rider who is allowed to take peace from the earth.

Matthew 24:7 (NKJV) says:

" for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places." Pestilences here probably refers to epidemics and disease, and famine and pestilences correspond to the third horsemen, the one associated with famine and economic depression. There has been an increasing amount of discussion in the world press in recent years about the danger of epidemics and our vulnerability to diseases we once thought had vanished from the earth forever. Perhaps that's a sign of things to come. It is also interesting to note the reference to wild beasts killing humans after the fourth seal is opened. This probably would not happen unless the famine is so severe that animals are also quite desperate for food.

Most commentaries see the pale fourth horse as a summation of the first three, but it may also be a double portion of the same plagues, as in Revelation 18:6, or a sign that God will surely bring these things to pass, as he brought Pharaoh's dream which he dreamed twice to pass in Genesis 41:1-7, interpreted in Genesis 41:26-32.

The fifth seal is opened in Revelation 6:9-11 and it describes martyred saints asking for justice to be done on earth because their blood was shed. This petition to God may really be on behalf of Christians on earth who are continuing to be martyred and persecuted, but it is interesting because it breaks the normal New Testament pattern set by Jesus and Stephen of saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34, Acts 7:60) This may be because the depravity of man is by this time on public display as it has never been on earth before. I believe Matthew 24:8-14 also provides some additional insight into the fifth seal.

The sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-14) describes a great earthquake and cosmic disturbances which affect the sun, moon, stars and sky, as well as mountains and islands. This is also described in Matthew 24:29. The reaction of men in Revelation 6:15-17 seems almost silly, because we know nothing can be hidden from God by caves, rocks and mountains, but it does give us a clue about how terrifying the judgments of God have become by this point.

The seven seals raise one of the questions which troubles theologians and sometimes divides Christians. When God sent plagues to the Egyptians in Exodus, the Hebrews of that time were separated from the Egyptians geographically, and consequently were not affected by the plagues. God provided the blood of the passover so they would not lose their firstborn when the Egyptians did. God was concerned enough about the city of Sodom that he told Abraham he would spare the whole place if he found ten righteous people in the city. It is one thing to assume that God would allow the beast to make war on the saints and conquer them (revelation 13:7), but why would the God of the Old and New Testaments allow his people to endure sufferings which appear to be global in nature?

Furthermore, since Daniel's seventy weeks of years was clearly suspended after the sixty-ninth week when Christ was crucified and one week is left, why would that calendar be restarted, except for the exodus of the church and a return of God's focus to the people of Israel? There is no mention of the church in Revelation after the first three chapters, and there is additional circumstancial evidence for their absence from the earth during this time. When we get to Revelation 14, we will find Jesus on Mount Zion with the 144,000 witnesses from the twelve tribes of Israel, who will be introduced in chapter 7. There is no mention of people from all tribes, tongues, people and nations being with him at that time. What we will find in chapter 14 is the King of the Jews among Jewish people.

Also, the locusts described in chapter 9 after the fifth trumpet is blown are told to attack all of mankind except those who have the seal of God on their foreheads, and there is no mention of anyone on earth being sealed except for the 144,000 Jews in chapter 7.

On the other hand, the pre-tribulation rapture position has its own inherent difficulties. It is clear that there are saints on earth during the time of the tribulation, particularly clear in Revelation 7:9-14, which describes a multitude of saints coming out of the great tribulation. Pre-trib Christians argue quite correctly that these are probably converts during the tribulation period as a result of the efforts of the 144,000 sealed witnesses who are introduced in chapter 7, but the argument that God would be likely to spare the church from going through the tribulation period is nevertheless weakened by the fact that some of God's people are going through it, and perhaps also by the command of Jesus to the seven churches to be faithful to the end, particularly to the church at Smyrna, whose members are instructed to be faithful until death.

There is a more compelling problem with the pre-tribulation rapture. In Matthew 13:24-30 and Matthew 13:37-43, Jesus gives us and explains a parable in which he says the angels will be sent to gather the weeds and burn them with fire, before the wheat is gathered into his barn. Matthew 13:30 indicates the sequence of events, and the passage in Matthew 24:37-44 seems to indicate that the judgment of the wicked comes before the reward of the saints, because it compares the sequence of events to Noah's generation. The one who is taken appears to be taken for punishment, not eternity with Christ. If God's people are the ones who are left in Matthew 24, a pre-tribulation rapture where they are taken seems rather odd.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 clearly teaches that there will be a rapture of the saints, so the only question is when it takes place. It is possible, perhaps even likely, that the confusion here stems from trying to compare two completely different events. There are also different views regarding when the events of Ezekiel 38 and 39 will occur, but I won't deal with that here. If push comes to shove, I slightly favor a pre-tribulation rapture, but there is good reason to be patient with other viewpoints. We should remember that those who tried to interpret the Old Testament prophecies about Christ were confused about whether he would come as a king or as a suffering servant, and there were scriptures which seemed to support both positions. In this case also, God hasn't made a mistake or contradicted himself, but his plans are larger than our understanding. It is better to love the Lord and not have all of this figured out, than to have it all figured out and not love the Lord. But I like to try to understand things, and we're supposed to study the scriptures to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15).

I believe God's judgments generally are reflective of what we call poetic justice. Therefore, my interpretation of this chapter is that the first seal indicates that false Christs will be sent to the world which rejects Christ. Peace will be taken from the earth after the second seal is opened because the world refuses to be at peace with the church. The famine which comes after the third seal is probably linked to the fact that in chapter 13 no one is allowed to buy or sell without the mark of the beast. The pale horse which brings death is God's response to the shedding of the blood of the saints.

With this in mind, Christians should be joyous about the contents of this book, realizing that until the very end God continues to provide opportunities for repentance and faith in Christ.

REVELATION 5

As this chapter begins, John sees a scroll in the hand of God and hears an angel asking who is worthy to break the seven seals, to open the scroll and to read its contents. We are never told exactly what is written on the scroll, or what its purpose is. But we are told that John wept bitterly when no one was found at first in heaven, on earth or under the earth who was worthy to break the seven seals and open the scroll. So it seems apparent that it is necessary for someone to open the scroll in order for God's redemptive plan for mankind to be fulfilled and completed. We also will learn in subsequent chapters that the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments are executed by God upon the unrepentant among men, and that those judgments are on behalf of the saints who are being persecuted and martyred for their faith.

John is then told by an angel that Christ has triumphed over sin, and he is worthy to open the scroll. The language about Jesus here is clearly symbolic, not literal. The angel calls him the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Root of David. When John sees Jesus standing between the throne of God and the four living creatures, he refers to him as a Lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. Referring to Jesus as the Lamb reminds us that John the Baptist said, "This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29, John 1:36)." It reminds us that Jesus is the Lamb Abraham promised Isaac God would provide (Genesis 22:27-28, Isaiah 53:7). It is also interesting that John refers to Jesus as a Lamb who appeared to have been slain, which probably means that even in his glorified and resurrected body, Jesus carries the nail prints of the cross, and a scar where his side was pierced, as a reminder to us of his sacrifice on Calvary for our sins (John 19:34-37, Luke 24:39-40, John 20:24-29). Refering to Jesus as the Lamb of God, rather than as the Sheep of God, probably is also an indication of his innocence with regard to sin and of the short time he was on earth. The seven horns and seven eyes refer to Christ's complete power and complete knowledge, and they also indicate he is filled with, and in union with the Holy Spirit.

After Jesus takes the scroll from the hand of God, we are told that the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders have harps for worship and bowls of incense which symbolize the prayers of the saints, on whose behalf the seven seal judgments will be executed.

The rest of the chapter describes a progressively greater scene of worship of the Lamb, similar to the worship of God the Father in the previous chapter. The living creatures and elders proclaim that Jesus is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals, because he has redeemed members of every tribe and tongue and people and nation with his own blood. The redeemed shall reign with Christ on earth as a royal priesthood.

The next scene is the worship of the Lamb by so many angels that John can't really even give us a close approximation of how many. The angels proclaim that Jesus is worthy of power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and blessing.

Finally, there is one last scene of worship which includes all of the rest of creation, presumably both redeemed and unredeemed men, angels and demons proclaiming that Christ is worthy of blessing, glory, honor and power. This is clearly one of the most powerful moments in Revelation, because it clearly indicates that everything which can breathe and speak will ultimately acknowledge the deity of Christ.