Revelation 4:9. And when the living creatures shall give glory and honour and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne, to him that liveth for ever and ever. In these words we have a description of the Trisagion which has just been sung, and the description introduces the fact that the four-and-twenty elders are stirred by the lofty melody. It is remarkable that this should be the order of the song of praise. We might have expected that the twenty-four elders as representing the Church would be first, and that by them the representatives of creation would be stirred to a like enthusiasm. As it is, the order is reversed. The explanation is to be sought in the general character of this chapter, as compared with the one that follows it. The song raised is not so much one of praise for redemption, as of praise for that creation and providence of God which preceded and prepared the way for redemption. Redeemed creation therefore begins it; but it is immediately taken up by the Church.

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Old Testament