Revelation 5:8

And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

As Morris said, "Worship is reserved only for God (Revelation 22:9); that the Lamb is worshipped is evidence of his full divinity."[33] This verse has a very important bearing upon the mediatorial office of Christ, as revealed in the New Testament. Bruce was of the opinion that "the elders perform priestly functions in heaven";[34] but such a view must be rejected. That view became popular early in post-apostolic times; and from it, in time, developed the conception of the Virgin Mary as a heavenly mediator; but nothing like this is known to the New Testament. Barclay traced this superstition back to the Testament of Dan (6:2), which reads, "Draw near unto God and to the angel that intercedeth for you, for he is a mediator between God and man."[35] However, as Barclay proceeded to point out:

That is exactly the feeling that Jesus Christ came to take away, for He came to tell us that God is closer to us than breathing, nearer than hands and feet. He came to be the living way by which for every man, however humble, the door to God is open.[36]

That such is indeed true is not possible of any contradiction, because, as Paul expressed it:

There is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all; the testimony to be borne in its own times (1 Timothy 2:5,6).

Thus, we must not look for any priestly service, nor any mediatorial function whatever, being performed by those four and twenty elders in heaven. As a matter of fact, they were not offering any prayers at all in the vision. As Barnes pointed out, "It is not said that they offered prayers, but incense representing the prayers of the saints."[37] The incense they offered in this vision stands for the prayers of actual living saints on earth at the time, which is further proof that these twenty-four elders are to be understood as representing the universal church on earth. What the elders were doing in heaven only portrays symbolically the true significance of the prayers of Christians on earth.

Having each one a harp ... This also is grossly misunderstood as some kind of support for the proponents of instrumental music in the worship of Christ; but the harp here is purely symbolical, not of mechanical instruments of music, but of singing, an action in which the heavenly host immediately engaged. As Hinds expressed it, "From any viewpoint, the pas sage absolutely excludes the mechanical instrument."[38]

The triumphal enthronement of the Son of God in this chapter no sooner takes place, Christ having accepted the office of King of the Universe, "than there is a great burst of triumph and exuberant joy in three doxologies."[39] See next verses.

[33] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 98.

[34] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 643.

[35] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 220.

[36] Ibid.

[37] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1961), p. 127.

[38] John T. Hinds, op. cit., p. 80.

[39] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 111.