QUESTION 5

Please explain the timing of Revelation 5:13 and how apparently those who have never owed any allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ are included in those who will praise Him in these terms, especially as the timing appears to be following the Rapture of the Church and immediately before the Tribulation Period begins on earth.

The verse in question reads: “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.”(Bold print has been added as elsewhere).

There is an important contrast between this verse and the song of the redeemed verse 9 of the same chapter: “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”.

At the outset, let me stress regarding Revelation 5:13, that:

  • It does not mean that everybody will eventually be saved.
  • It doesnot mean that ultimately all praise and worship will be from joyful hearts.
  • It does not mean that all praise and worship will be simultaneous.
  • It does mean that this praise and worship will be occasioned chiefly by the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We will return to each of these points in due course.

Some questions are asked by people who wish, as is their right, to challenge our Pre-Tribulational stand. But this request is from a fellow Pre-Tribulationalist, with whom I can empathise, because I was long puzzled by the same question.

Before we look at the verse referred to, let us consider the fact that, as Creator, God is not only entitled to the praise and worship of His creation, but requires it: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet” (Ps 8:4-6). Privilege and responsibility always go hand in hand, but so few want to know:“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men “, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Rom 1:18-21). Some have more light than others, and are thus more accountable, but all have sufficient.

After the awesome introductory first chapter, the book of Revelation concerns the present age (chapters 2 and 3) and what is still future (chapters 4 to 22): “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter” (Rev 1:19).“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter” (Rev 4:1).

Now I know that the questioner agrees with me that the context of the verse under consideration is part of a vision of what will take place in Heaven after the Rapture – in other words after the Church has been taken home to Heaven but before the Tribulation Period on earth starts. From Revelation 6:2to Christ’s Return in Power in Chapter 19, and indeed beyond, there is a general progression among events on earth controlled by decisions made in Heaven.But frequently the scene changes and we are shown progression within different scenarios up to the same point. However in Heaven one is out of the sphere of time, something which practically no mortal has ever experienced or can yet fully comprehend. Thus while John is about to see unsealed section by section the scroll which will set in motion the initial events of God’s great day of reckoning with a world long in rebellion, not all the praise and worship witnessed by John will be immediate. Indeed, some of those whom the Apostle John sees and hears joining in that praise will have yet to complete sinful lives and die.The 19th Century Brethren writer, TB Baines, wrote: “The worship of creation is, indeed, only anticipative, the prophet’s gaze being carried on, in this, as in other cases, beyond the immediate present, to contemplate the glorious results which were to flow out of the sad scenes of judgment now about to commence.” (The Revelation of Jesus Christ, GBV 1991 Reprint).

Let us look at the context of the recording of this worship from this unlikely infernal source. I condense the excellent summary of Chapter 5 in William R Newell’s 1947 Revelation commentary (Moody Press):-

  1. The seven sealed scroll, fully written.
  2. All creation’s utter inability even to look upon the scroll.
  3. John’s overwhelming sorrow at the apparent delay of God’s longed-for kingdom.
  4. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah declared to have overcome and to be ready to open the scroll.
  5. The appearance of this Lion in the throne of Godhead as the once slain Lamb.
  6. The thus worthy Lamb taking the scroll and the authority it bestows from His Father’s hand.
  7. The spontaneous worship from every part of creation because of what has happened.

Dr Joseph Seiss wrote: “Christ has just been acknowledged as the possessor of the ability and the right to enter, with His redeemed ones upon their inheritance. It is therefore the time for all the prayers of all the saints of all the ages to come into remembrance, that that which has ever been their chief burden may now be answered and fulfilled.” (The Apocalypse, vol 1, Charles C Cook, 1909).

Well known verses from Philippians tell of the same future praise from the same unlikely source: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9-11). Because no apparent time scale is given, some people feel more comfortable with these verses than those in Revelation 5.

The “Wherefore” at the beginning of these Philippian verses refers back to Christ’s setting aside of His glory to die the death of the Cross. In Revelation 4 the event which evokes praise and worship is the sight of the “Lamb as it had been slain”, resurrected, ascended,glorified, but still bearing the marks of the Cross,taking the seven sealed scroll which He alone, by virtue of what He accomplished, is qualified to open. Sadly there are Christians who incongruously give Revelationless credence than the Epistles, even though it is personally introduced by the risen Lord. The spontaneous praise of saints and angels will be with almost inexpressible joy, and of course that hardly surprises us. But here we have confirmation from both sources that even the most ungodly of the unsaved will one day praise and worship the Son of God to His Father’s glory in the terms expressed in Philippians and Revelation; and that does surprise us. I was about to write that they “will be compelled to praise and worship”, but somehow I don’t think it will be like that. I don’t think that they will be able to help it, when they perceive God’s holiness, His righteousness, and His immeasurably costly provision of the salvation of which they had not availed themselves.

Revelation 1:7 reads: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”How every eye will see Him is a question which I cannot fully answer, although I once wrote a long article on the subject. Evidently everybody of every age, whether dead or alive, will somehow witness it. The anguish of those who have rejected their God will be beyond present human power to describe. Those classed as “under the earth” need not be confined to lost humanity. If holy angels in Heaven are able to join in the acclamation, one must expect fallen angels to have no alternative one day but to praise the One against whom they long ago rebelled.

Some have claimed that the praise and worship from “under the earth” in Phil 2:10 and Rev 5:13indicates that the dead unsaved will eventually repent and be given a heavenly home. This is called Universalism, and has an obvious appeal to many. Quite apart from the fact that it is contrary to all other Scriptural teaching, it is an affront to God Himself, because the implication is that there would have been no need for Jesus Christ to have died. It denies the holiness of God and the awfulness of sin. Some have gone as far as to suggest that even the fallen angels will eventually be reinstated. Time and again in Revelation we see that these fallen spirits “who left their first estate”are to become even more bitterly entrenched in their hatred of God and all His works as this age draws to a close; there is no indication whatsoever of repentance. Walter Scott asks: “Do Philippians 2:10-11, Colossians 1:20, Acts 3:21 lend the slightest support to the notion that all things, persons and demons shall be redeemed, or restored to their pristine condition? We emphatically answer, “No!” Philippians 2:10-11 asserts the subjection of the universe to Christ; but subjection is not redemption.” (Exposition Of The Revelation Of Jesus Christ, 4th edn, Pickering and Inglis).