Revelation 5:14

And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped.

Amen ... "This word confirms the preceding doxology, and is one of three ways in which the word 'Amen' is used in Revelation."[49] These are: a final "Amen" is used with no change of speaker (Revelation 1:6,7); the "Amen" as a name of God (Revelation 3:14); and the detached "Amen," as here. It is also used as both the beginning and the ending of a passage (Revelation 7:12).

Moffatt's comment on this chapter is:

By prefacing the struggle on earth (Revelation 6:1 f) with a vision of the brilliant authority and awe of heaven, the prophet suggests that all the movements of men on earth, as well as the physical catastrophes which overtake them, are first foreshadowed in heaven and consequently have a providential meaning.[50]

The apostle Paul fully agreed with the things the apostle John indicated here; namely, that:

God made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation (Acts 17:26).

From the beginning to the end, all things are foreknown and foredetermined by the Father; and yet, mystery of mysteries, this does not conflict with the principle of the freedom of the human will.

Before concluding the exciting and most profitable study of this magnificent chapter, it is not amiss to note that:

In the antiphonal singing, in the Amen, and in the silent worship at the end, we not improbably have some reflection of the usages in the public worship of the Church at that time.[51]

MERCY ON THE THRONE

We cannot leave this great chapter without stressing the fact of the Son of God's enthronement with the Father and the implications of it regarding the mercy it symbolizes. Weak and sinful mortals may contemplate the eternal righteousness and justice of the Almighty God and find but little comfort in the thought until the vast significance of what is revealed in this chapter is realized. Jesus Christ who walked on earth, hungered, grew weary, suffered, struggled with earth's problems, and at last died on the cross, that One, like ourselves, with the scarred hands and the pierced side, HE is on the Throne! He stands there, represented in this vision not in resplendent robes of glory but as a sacrifice for our sins. Mercy and forgiveness are in the control center of the universe. The God-man is reigning, but still a man, still loving those for whom he died. This incredible truth overshadows everything else in the Bible, being the unique fact that endows human life with cosmic meaning, sheds the light of hope in darkness, dispels the terror of the tomb, and supplies the only strength men have in their struggles with temptation.

The Old Testament exhibited the Mercy Seat above the covenant and the Law, but the New Testament reveals Mercy on the Throne. The Old Testament worshipper remembered his sins, but the New Testament worshipper remembers Him whose blood cleanses us from all sin. The law of sin and death has been replaced by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

For the suffering and persecuted church of John's day, nothing could have provided for them anything more necessary and helpful than this precious vision of the Lamb on the Throne.

[47] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 557.

[48] Foy E. Wallace, Jr., op. cit., p. 140.

[49] Ralph Earle, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 539.

[50] James Moffatt, Expositor's Greek New Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 388.

[51] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 514.