Voice – Revelation 5:14

Revelation 5:14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

With all the attention on school board meetings that have been in the news lately, I remembered what these meetings were about. They allowed the public, those with children in the school, to voice their opinions to the decision makers. There are rules about how to get the list to speak, and about how long you get to speak, but this was an important part of the feedback system for school boards.

But in a few places, these meetings have been derailed, both by the school boards for changing the focus of education without letting parents know it, and by parents in their anger against these changes. Civil discourse is now a forgotten commodity, eroded over the years by those in power and those that provide news coverage of those leaders. Emotion rules the day!

Our text gives us a glimpse of what was happening in heaven at a particular moment in time. There is a celebration going on in the throne room. A scroll, an ancient book format, is presented by the occupant of the throne. It is an interesting scroll with wax seals on both the inside and the outside. In order to read the scroll, these seals would have to be broken successively. No way to jump to the end of the book to find out the end of the story.

Only one being is able to open this scroll, Jesus. And when He does, all the creatures of heaven start singing and praising God. Innumerable angels declare the worthiness of Jesus, the Lamb. All the creatures that exist join into this celebration, no matter whether they are in heaven or on earth. They all join in and declare praise to the LORD.

By the time the four living creatures we learned about earlier in this book get a chance to join into the celebration, they have nothing to add to what has already been said. What could be said has already been said. So what do they say?

They say “Amen.” We might say it like this: Right on! That’s right! Ditto! Couldn’t have said it better myself. That’s true. #TheTruth.

But what do we do and say when what has already been said and done is enough? How do we add our voice and our actions to the right actions and words of others? How do we join in their celebration without refocusing the moment?

This is very hard for many modern people, the selfie generations. Too many want to be at the forefront. And too many of the others are willing to let them, even if it means that the manner and outcome of the events is not what they would want.

Those of us in the background need to find our voice and express it. Even if it is an “Amen!” But we also need to express our “No way!” Dissent is not a dirty word.

These living creatures added their weight to the celebration by saying “Amen!” to the words of others. They had words of their own, but chose to simply add their weight to what others had expressed. We can sign petitions, or attend rallies, but if we don’t get involved, we yield to the vocal and emotionally driven few.