Scripture reading: Revelation 5: 11-14
In this passage of the scriptures all the creatures were shouting together without rehearsal. Revelation 5:12-13, “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.”
John is saying that “every creature…in heaven…on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea” heard not just him, John, saying, “Blessing and honour” and glorifying God, but a whole company of saints in his position who he refers to as “I.” When they went to arrest Jesus in the garden and they asked if He was Jesus, He replied, “I am,” and they all fell backwards. I believe John and all God’s people shouted with the voice of God so that even hell heard them.
When we really praise God from our hearts, many things happen. Your heart opens to God and when the praise reaches to a certain height, it opens the hearts of the other people of God.
Ezekiel 28:13b and 14, “The workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.”
God said in these verses that He made music in this angel whose name was Heylel. God made his pipes in him. We are talking about something probably much higher than what we understand to be music. There are sounds that can be made which are too high for our ears. For instance, the dog can hear a whistle that we cannot hear. In spiritual realms, sounds are much greater and more powerful than the things we hear in this realm. This cherub that covered heaven had the power to lift the whole of heaven into praise.
When he began to praise, heaven began to praise with him. When your praise gets to a high place in God, the angels of heaven are commanded by your praise to come and praise with you. In our congregations, when our praise leaves that earthly realm and begins to rise into the heavenlies, God pays attention and the angels of heaven praise with us. We actually command them to praise with us by our power. Here in Ezekiel, God speaks of an angel He had set over heaven to bring music and deliverance and praises in heaven.
John is telling us that when he (John) began to praise, his soul was lifted up to a height where every creature heard the praise, even the fish of the sea and those in heaven and those in hell. Heaven hears and rejoices! Hell hears and trembles because they know what will happen – their time is very short.
Revelation 5:14, “And the four beasts said (in response to John’s praise) Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.”
(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 96-97)
Thought for today: Let our praise leave this earthly realm and rise into the heavenlies that even the angels are commanded to praise with us.
Sonlight Devotional 