*5:1 Again, how did John know that the scroll was written on both sides if it was closed? And where were the seals, all on the outside? It appears that the scroll also was not solid, or else John had laser vision.
†5:6 The Lamb is a Lion; the Lion is a Lamb. I would say that the Lamb characterizes Christ in His first advent to this earth, while the Lion characterizes His second advent.
‡5:6 In about ¾ of the Greek manuscripts, including the best group, the gender of this relative pronoun agrees with “horns” (neuter) and not “eyes” (masculine). Perhaps the spirits were represented by both the horns and the eyes, possibly referring to power and knowledge.
§5:8 They all fell down, but I gather that it was the elders who had harps and bowls and sang the new song (the four are saying “Holy, holy” all the time).
*5:9 Every Greek manuscript except one, of inferior quality, reads “us”. Many modern versions follow that lone manuscript and omit the pronoun, but that leaves the transitive verb “redeem” without a direct object, so they usually supply “men” or some such thing. But the true reading is obviously “us”, so the 24 elders are among the redeemed, and they are already in heaven wearing crowns.
†5:10 A very few late Greek manuscripts read ‘us’, as in KJV, but almost all the manuscripts read “them”. The 24 elders exclude themselves when it comes to reigning on the earth—evidently they will not be involved in the administration of the Messianic Millennial Kingdom.
‡5:11 10,000 x 10,000 = 100,000,000, so the good angels are over 100 million. If we understand correctly from Revelation 12:4 that a third of the original angels followed Lucifer in his rebellion, that means that there are some 50 million demons out there. Good grief!
§5:12 A list of seven; what else could we add?
*5:13 “Every creature” presumably must include more than men and angels; I take it that all mammals, at least (they have soul), including those in the sea (dolphins, whales), and quite possibly birds (eagles) will participate.
†5:14 The living beings and the elders were prostrating themselves and getting up repeatedly.