(9, 10) And they sung a new song, saying . . .--Better, And they sing a new song, saying. The use of the present ("sing") is another example of that intensity of interest of which the change of tense in the last verse afforded an instance. As he records his vision, he sees it anew; he describes the action as though it were even now taking place, and he still hears the notes of praise. He who knows what it is to have the strains of some rich melody haunt him for days will understand how the prophet would hear the glad chorus burst forth afresh in his ears when he recalled the vision. The new song; the chorus of the redeemed--
"Worthy art Thou to take the roll,
And to open the seals thereof;
For Thou wast slain,
And didst buy to God in Thy blood
Out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
And didst make them a kingdom and priests,
And they reign upon the earth."
The English version, "hast redeemed," and "hast made," weakens the reference to the completed character of Christ's redeeming work. It is the great victory in suffering and death which inspires the song, and makes them sing, "Thou art worthy;" and so they speak of that work of Christ as a work truly done: "Thou didst buy (omit "us") out of every tribe, &c., and didst make them," &c. The suffering Saviour has died, has broken the bond of the oppressor, has claimed, by right of purchase, mankind as His own; and the price was His blood. It is well to notice the harmony between this passage and the statements of other Apostles: "Ye are not your own;" "bought with a price." (See 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 2 Peter 2:1.) Observe, also, the four terms (tribe, tongue, people, nation), employed as if to give emphasis to the universality of redemption, for four is the number of extension in all directions. With this compare Romans 5:15-19; Colossians 3:11; Hebrews 2:9. We have a right to teach all to say, "He redeemed me and all mankind." It is instructive to dwell on the climax "they reign," in contrast with "Thou wast slain." It is like an anticipation of the now familiar words--
"Thine the sharp thorns, and mine the golden crown;
Mine the life won, and Thine the life laid down."
"Didst make them a kingdom and priests." (See Revelation 1:6.) This kingdom and reign is the outcome of Christ's work. "Every precept of Christianity is quickened by the power of the death and resurrection of Christ. It is by the presence of this power that they are Christians, and it is as Christians that they conquer the world" (Westcott). "They reign on the earth." Such is the best reading; the tense is present It is not, I think, to be explained away as a vivid realisation of the future; it is a simple statement, which is as true as that the followers of Christ are "a kingdom and priests." They reign with and in Christ, but they also reign on the earth. Christ gives them a kingship, even sovereignty over themselves--the first, best, and most philanthropic of all kingships. He gives them, too, a kingship on the earth among men, for they are exerting those influences, promoting those principles, and dispensing those laws of righteousness, holiness, and peace which in reality rule all the best developments of life and history. All who traverse these laws are intruders, transitory tyrants, exerting only a phantom power. They are not kings: they may govern, they do not reign. (Comp. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23; Ephesians 2:6.)
Verse 9. - And they sung a new song, saying. They sing; the worship is unceasing. The song is new because it is only now, subsequent to the accomplishment of Christ's work of redemption, that the song can be sung. It is not" Thou art worthy, for thou wilt redeem," but "thou didst redeem." Victorinus says, "It is the preaching of the Old Testament together with that of the New which enables the world to sing a new song." Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof. (For a consideration of the book, and the opening of it, see on ver. 1.) For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. The reason why Christ is worthy. And didst redeem unto God by thy blood out of every kindred, etc. Though the reading "us" is supported by various manuscripts, and similarly the first person is used in ver. 10. yet, on the whole, it seems better to omit it, the phrase being taken in a partitve sense - "Thou didst redeem unto God by thy blood some out of every kindred, etc., and hast made them, etc., and they shall reign." Again, "Thou didst purchase us at the price of thy blood" would, perhaps, give the sense more correctly; for such is the force of the words, "in thy blood" (ἐν τῷαἵματι). The words point to a particular act performed at a definite time, viz. the death of Christ, by which he repurchased men from sin and Satan for the service of God; the price of the purchase being the shedding of his own blood. The words show, too, that the fruits of the redemption are intended for the whole world; not limited to any chosen nation, though some are excluded by their own act. Out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. This fourfold classification continually recurs in the Revelation. It includes all the bases of classification of mankind, all the circumstances which separate men, the barriers which were overthrown by the redeeming work of Christ.
5:8-14 It is matter of joy to all the world, to see that God deals with men in grace and mercy through the Redeemer. He governs the world, not merely as a Creator, but as our Saviour. The harps were 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. Christ has redeemed his people from the bondage of sin, guilt, and Satan. He has not only purchased liberty for them, but the highest honour and preferment; he made them kings and priests; kings, to rule over their own spirits, and to overcome the world, and the evil one; and he makes them priests; giving them access to himself, and liberty to offer up spiritual sacrifices. What words can more fully declare that Christ is, and ought to be worshipped, equally with the Father, by all creatures, to all eternity! Happy those who shall adore and praise in heaven, and who shall for ever bless the Lamb, who delivered and set them apart for himself by his blood. How worthy art thou, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of our highest praises! All creatures should proclaim thy greatness, and adore thy majesty.
And they sung a new song,.... Upon a new occasion and subject, redemption by the blood of the Lamb, and his worthiness to open the sealed book; and in distinction from the old song of Moses and the children of Israel at the Red sea; and this was a most famous and excellent song, an unheard of one, and which none could learn, or sing, but the redeemed of the Lamb:
saying, thou art worthy to take the book, and open the seals thereof. The Arabic version reads, "thou, O Lamb"; the reasons why they ascribe such fitness, ability, and dignity to him, are as follow:
for thou wast slain: by men, and for the sins of men; whereby, as he became worthy in his priestly office to take away the sins of his people, and to have all the glory of their salvation, and, in his kingly office, to have all power and authority, and to be exalted above every name, so, in his prophetic office, to have perfect knowledge, as man and Mediator, of all the future events that were to befall his church and people, and to make them known, and fulfil them:
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; this shows, that as the four living creatures, and four and twenty elders, were not angels, so they were not representatives of the Jewish church; or the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament; not even the apostles of the New; for they were all Jews, and could not be said to be redeemed out of every tongue, nation, and people; and also that not the Jews only were redeemed by Christ, but the Gentiles also, and not all mankind, or every individual of human nature, but some out of all the nations of the earth; for God hath chosen some, both of Jews and Gentiles, and these Christ has redeemed and therefore the Gospel is sent unto all nations, that these among them may be called and saved. The redemption of them supposes them to have been in a state of slavery and bondage, as they are by nature, to sin, Satan, and the law; and signifies a deliverance from such a state, which Christ has obtained, not barely by power, but by price, as the word here used signifies, and may be rendered, "and hast bought us" and the price with which he has bought them in his own "blood", and which is of full and sufficient value, it being not only the blood of a man, of an innocent man, but of one that is God as well as man: and this price was paid "to God", and to his justice, against whom men have sinned, whose law they have broken, and whose justice they have injured and affronted, that he might reconcile them to God, bring them near to him, and that they might serve him in righteousness and true holiness.
"Worthy art Thou to take the roll,
And to open the seals thereof;
For Thou wast slain,
And didst buy to God in Thy blood
Out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
And didst make them a kingdom and priests,
And they reign upon the earth."
The English version, "hast redeemed," and "hast made," weakens the reference to the completed character of Christ's redeeming work. It is the great victory in suffering and death which inspires the song, and makes them sing, "Thou art worthy;" and so they speak of that work of Christ as a work truly done: "Thou didst buy (omit "us") out of every tribe, &c., and didst make them," &c. The suffering Saviour has died, has broken the bond of the oppressor, has claimed, by right of purchase, mankind as His own; and the price was His blood. It is well to notice the harmony between this passage and the statements of other Apostles: "Ye are not your own;" "bought with a price." (See 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 2 Peter 2:1.) Observe, also, the four terms (tribe, tongue, people, nation), employed as if to give emphasis to the universality of redemption, for four is the number of extension in all directions. With this compare Romans 5:15-19; Colossians 3:11; Hebrews 2:9. We have a right to teach all to say, "He redeemed me and all mankind." It is instructive to dwell on the climax "they reign," in contrast with "Thou wast slain." It is like an anticipation of the now familiar words--
"Thine the sharp thorns, and mine the golden crown;
Mine the life won, and Thine the life laid down."
"Didst make them a kingdom and priests." (See Revelation 1:6.) This kingdom and reign is the outcome of Christ's work. "Every precept of Christianity is quickened by the power of the death and resurrection of Christ. It is by the presence of this power that they are Christians, and it is as Christians that they conquer the world" (Westcott). "They reign on the earth." Such is the best reading; the tense is present It is not, I think, to be explained away as a vivid realisation of the future; it is a simple statement, which is as true as that the followers of Christ are "a kingdom and priests." They reign with and in Christ, but they also reign on the earth. Christ gives them a kingship, even sovereignty over themselves--the first, best, and most philanthropic of all kingships. He gives them, too, a kingship on the earth among men, for they are exerting those influences, promoting those principles, and dispensing those laws of righteousness, holiness, and peace which in reality rule all the best developments of life and history. All who traverse these laws are intruders, transitory tyrants, exerting only a phantom power. They are not kings: they may govern, they do not reign. (Comp. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23; Ephesians 2:6.)
saying, thou art worthy to take the book, and open the seals thereof. The Arabic version reads, "thou, O Lamb"; the reasons why they ascribe such fitness, ability, and dignity to him, are as follow:
for thou wast slain: by men, and for the sins of men; whereby, as he became worthy in his priestly office to take away the sins of his people, and to have all the glory of their salvation, and, in his kingly office, to have all power and authority, and to be exalted above every name, so, in his prophetic office, to have perfect knowledge, as man and Mediator, of all the future events that were to befall his church and people, and to make them known, and fulfil them:
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; this shows, that as the four living creatures, and four and twenty elders, were not angels, so they were not representatives of the Jewish church; or the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament; not even the apostles of the New; for they were all Jews, and could not be said to be redeemed out of every tongue, nation, and people; and also that not the Jews only were redeemed by Christ, but the Gentiles also, and not all mankind, or every individual of human nature, but some out of all the nations of the earth; for God hath chosen some, both of Jews and Gentiles, and these Christ has redeemed and therefore the Gospel is sent unto all nations, that these among them may be called and saved. The redemption of them supposes them to have been in a state of slavery and bondage, as they are by nature, to sin, Satan, and the law; and signifies a deliverance from such a state, which Christ has obtained, not barely by power, but by price, as the word here used signifies, and may be rendered, "and hast bought us" and the price with which he has bought them in his own "blood", and which is of full and sufficient value, it being not only the blood of a man, of an innocent man, but of one that is God as well as man: and this price was paid "to God", and to his justice, against whom men have sinned, whose law they have broken, and whose justice they have injured and affronted, that he might reconcile them to God, bring them near to him, and that they might serve him in righteousness and true holiness.