Devotional 27 February 2025

Revelation 7:11–12 (ESV) “And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.’”

When we read through the Bible it is tempting to simply skip through the passages we believe are repetitive. Here we have such a case. But look at the list! In Revelation 5:11–12, the heavenly host proclaims that the Lamb is worthy to receive wealth among the other attributes of His majesty. Yet in Revelation 7:11–12, that wealth is replaced with thanksgiving. What has changed? The answer lies just a few verses earlier: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev. 7:10).

In Revelation 5, Christ is being declared worthy to receive all things, including the wealth of His kingdom. By Revelation 7, that wealth has been poured out in full, and the multitude, standing in white robes before the throne, now responds—not with hosannas pleading for salvation, but with thanksgiving because salvation has been accomplished. What they once longed for, they now possess.

This wealth, the riches of God’s grace, is what Paul describes in Ephesians 2:7–8. The glory of salvation is not merely deliverance but the overwhelming abundance of God’s mercy, kindness, and love. This is the wealth that now inspires endless thanksgiving.

Paul speaks again of this wealth in Romans 9:22–24, where he reveals that God has patiently endured vessels of wrath (Rev. 6:12-17)“in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.” The redeemed stand before the throne because they have received this wealth—not through their own merit, but because God, in His great mercy, has lavished upon them the riches of His grace. His wrath and grace forever intermingled in his cross.

Heaven’s worship shifts from longing to fulfillment, from expectation to gratitude. We, too, live in the tension between these realities. We cry out for deliverance, but we also stand firm in the assurance that God has already provided everything in Christ. Let our worship be filled with thanksgiving, for the wealth of His grace is already ours.