First there was the loud voice of the ‘great multitude that no one could count’.1 Then there was a voice coming from the throne.2 Now there is the voice again of that great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters, like peals of thunder, saying, Hallelujah! ‘As it were’ it says it seemed like, it sounded like. John always searches to familiar things on earth when the tries to describe ‘what he saw and heard’ in the Heavenly dimensions and realms.
The great multitude was in Heaven (and on earth) in verse 1. In verse 5 the voice emanates from the throne, upon which God and the Lamb are seated. The voice appears not to come from God, however, otherwise He Himself would be calling for people to worship Him, nor from Jesus, who never speaks like this in Scripture. The voice may well come from one of the ‘four living beings’, one of the ‘cherubim’, who are close to the throne3 They are always involved in the execution of God’s reign and rule in Heaven and on earth.4 Read Hezekiah’s prayer in Isaiah 37:16-20. These are ‘created beings’ who call for praise. That praise in verse 5 comes from Psalm 22, the psalm about suffering par excellence. Many of Jesus’ words on the cross and events associated with the cross are to be found in that Psalm 22. Read the verses 6-21. But it is also a psalm with praise, such as in the verses 22-31: “You who fear the Lord, praise Him!” This is a song from the depths, just as Israel has always learned to sing songs from the depths of her deep troubles, pains, hostility and persecutions. The descendants of Jacob, the descendants of Israel, can say: “For He has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; He has not hidden His face from him but has listened to his cry for help.”5 All the families of the nations will bow down before Him6 for the Kingdom belongs to the Lord.7
This brings us to the theme the third voice brings to the fore. We already heard this voice.8 Ezekiel compares the sound of the ‘cherubim’ with their ‘wheels’ and their ‘wings’ to the sound of rushing water, to the voice of the Lord, he says.9 The voice of the glorified Christ, who appears to John on Patmos, sounds like the voice of rushing waters,10 and the voice from Heaven heard by the ‘hundred and forty-four thousand’ who are with the Lamb on Mount Zion11 sounds like the voice of rushing waters and like the voice of heavy thunder. It is said of the nations in the end-time that they will be in ‘anguish/dismay and perplexity’ at the roaring and tossing of the sea.12 The acceptance of the Kingship by the Lord, the Almighty, signals judgment for the ‘nations on earth’ who are afraid of His roaring voice in the heavy ‘plagues’ of judgment, of trials and tribulations. But this signals praise for His people: the servants and ‘the great and the small’ in verse 5. “The servants who serve Him, who fear Him” is a phrase breathing an Old Testament origin.13 Everyone praises Him – faithful Israel, the Church of Christ both in Heaven and in the enclaves on earth under God’s protection. And later also the rest of the nations that are allowed to enter into the ‘Kingdom of our Lord and His anointed One’, after the judgement of Matthew 25:31-46. Wherever they are to be found, in Heaven or on earth, people of God: praise Him for He has accepted the Kingship! What is now about to take place is the ‘Marriage feast of the Lamb’. For our Lord God Almighty reigns… For the wedding of the Lamb has come… (Revelation 19:6-7). The marriage feast of the Lamb is the Kingdom of Peace and Righteousness on earth.The Kingship was already proclaimed under the seventh ‘trumpet’,14 and that resulted in the dragon’s wrath, his eviction from Heaven and ‘great tribulation’ on earth. That Kingship was already established in the great wrath upon and the downfall of Babylon. However, that Kingship will now be established and confirmed by the ‘Coming of the King’ Himself, the Anointed One, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will now be fully revealed openly and publicly.15 Before that happens however, The Bridegroom will join with His bride – the wedding feast of the King and His Queen.
• The Greek text once again makes use of the prophetic past tense: The King reigns! He has accepted the Kingship, whereas Christ still has to come, Satan still has to be chained, and Christ’s Messianic kingship still has to be established. Babylon has fallen then, however.
• The removal of forms of resistance by people and the ‘powers of darkness’ must take place first. Hebrews 2:8b “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him.” But one-day we will!
• 1 Corinthians 15:25-28 “For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under His feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that He is excepted who put all things in subjection under Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all.”
• ‘Points of view’ are useful to bring some order into the flood of information. ‘Points of view’ can also be dangerous, however, and they can lead to a form of proud, logical cleverness and fierce resistance towards other viewpoints!
• Logical truth has its limitations. It has its truth in the field of mathematics, for instance. But logical truth is not necessarily revealed truth. What is actually important for all of us is to learn, in faith, to echo, to repeat after Scripture and to check our opinions with the Bible for only the Bible is absolutely true!
• Revealed truth, such as what God gives in His Word, is of course not necessarily illogical per se. And logical truth can be true, of course. However, drawing conclusions with the help of logic has its limitations.
• Red lamps should flash in your brains, when you hear someone say: thus… therefore…because what follows is a logical conclusion that might be true but that also could be not true. It can be logically true, but nevertheless not true, not containing absolute revealed truth. If that logical conclusion cannot be found in Scripture, it might not be true! What Scripture states is true. We need to be careful with logical conclusions!
Bible References:
1.Revelation 19:1 2.Revelation 19:5 3.Revelation 4:6–9, 5:6–14, 6:1, 3, 5 and 7; Ezekiel 1 4.E.g. Genesis 3:24 5.Psalm 22:24 6.Psalm 22:27 7.Psalm 22:28 8.Revelation 1:15, 6:1, 8:5, 11:19, 14:2 9.Ezekiel 1:24, 43:2 10.Revelation 1:15 11.Revelation 14:2 12.Luke 21:25 13.Psalm 135:1; Revelation 11:15 14.Revelation 11:15 15.Revelation 19:11–16
