Revelation 5:11-12 11Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, and their number myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
The second response to the worthy Lamb comes from a choir of angels. The heavenly praise chorus increases exponentially as the angels join with the creatures and elders. The myriads (Greek myriades) of angels serve to highlight the unimaginable numbers of angels praising the Lamb. There is not way in the Greek language to describe the number of angels around the throne praising the Lamb. This was a scene that must have overwhelmed John’s mind. The angels add further proof of the worthiness of the Lamb. The reader of Revelation is challenged to pause and imagine the scene. The detailed descriptions of Jesus continue to grow throughout this document, serving a subtle evangelistic purpose by drawing readers to Jesus.
What also caught John’s attention is what the angelic choir sang. The Lamb is worthy of this captivating praise because he was slain. He gave his life for the sins of the world. He loved so much that he laid down his life for us (1 John 3:16). In obedience, he trusted the Father with what is impossible in human thinking: resurrection. As the Lamb, Jesus bore the penalty of death for all humans for sin (Romans 6:23). He fulfilled the Old Testament sacrificial laws, which served as a symbol of the need for repentance and forgiveness.
This loving sacrifice of himself made Jesus worthy of power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing. As the Second Adam, he receives what the first Adam and all who have followed have wrongly desired. Sin distorts these qualities into selfish desires. We desire these qualities but do it out of the wrong motives. We end up hurting ourselves and others. Jesus is given these because of his loving sacrifice. With Jesus in us and with us, we do not seek these things for ourselves, but we seek to acknowledge these for him. He is the one worthy of these, not us.