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Revelation 5:11-14

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4 May, 2025Ian van Schalkwyk (Lay reader)

What is the biggest group that you've ever sung with? For those less musically inclined I would anticipate your answer is something like your church congregation. For the more musically involved, maybe it's on the order of hundreds of people. It could even be that you've attended a large concert and sung with thousands of people. But what if I told you that our Revelations reading for this week and the liturgy of our Divine service says that, actually, we regularly lift our voices in worship with not just those around us, but with thousands upon thousands and myriads upon myriads of angels?

 

Revelation 5:11-14

11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!’ 13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!’ 14 The four living creatures said, ‘Amen’, and the elders fell down and worshipped.

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