What Worship is To Be

Transcript

GRM 963
6/18/2006
What Worship Is to Be
Revelation 4,5
Gil Rugh


I thought this would be a good time for us to talk about heaven and worship in heaven, so turn in your Bibles to Revelation 4. It’s hard to say that this chapter of the Bible is special or that chapter of the Bible is special because in its own way every section of the Word of God, every portion is rich and full. Because everything that the living God has said is special, wonderful, fills you with awe. But Revelation 4-5 are unique in that they carry us into the very throne room of heaven and give us the opportunity to observe a scene yet in the future of which you and I will be a part. And as we’ll see, the indication is we are present in what is described here. And this is a section of the Word that ought to thrill our hearts because God pulls back, if you will, the curtain, and enables us to look into the glories of heaven to see what the worship of heaven is like, and to see what some day we will personally experience.

We talk about worship, we’re talking about the living God and we’re just going to highlight some things out of Revelation 4-5. In our study of the book of Revelation we worked through the details in a series of messages on these chapters, so if you think we’ve left out some material or some things are not clear, you can get tapes on these portions of the Word that will work through the details and include many scriptures. I just want to highlight some of the truths here. One of the most remarkable things that stands out, and we’ll see this as we walk through, is the fact that when we are in the presence of God in heaven, we are going to see God the Father on His throne. We are going to see the Holy Spirit present near the throne, we are going to see God the Son. I remember the early years of my Christian life and studies of the Word, I was under the misimpression that when we get to heaven we won’t see God the Father, we won’t see God the Holy Spirit. The only person we will see is God the Son. But we find out both in the Old Testament and the New Testament that writers who were taken into the throne room of heaven were given the privilege of seeing God the Father on His throne, God the Son, as well as God the Holy Spirit.

Let me say something about the triune God. This is a matter that I believe, but I don’t fully comprehend. The living God eternally exists in three persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are not three Gods, there are three persons comprising the one true and living God. There is only one God, He exists eternally in three persons. Some of the examples we use are well a man could be a father, could be a husband and could be an employer. But that is not an example of the trinity, because that is one person manifesting himself in three different ways and with three different responsibilities. God is not one person manifesting Himself in three different ways. That’s modalistic monarchianism, that’s a heresy. There are three distinct persons, they comprise the one true, living God. I do not comprehend it nor grasp it all. I believe it because the Bible says it. It does not amaze me that there are things I cannot comprehend with my finite mind when I’m talking about an infinite God. So we ought not to be disturbed when we think well I can’t explain the trinity. Well who can? If we could explain everything about God, God would have become finite, because we could grasp it with our limited minds. We grasp what we can as He has revealed Himself, and we take that by faith, even though the fullness of that I cannot grasp. So we’re going to see God manifesting Himself as He eternally exists, as three distinct persons comprising the one true and living God.

And in this section we are reminded of what worship is to be. It saddens me to say I cannot remember, in all the material I receive as a pastor, being invited to conferences that will help the worship of your church, that will show you how to make your worship relevant, that will make your worship appealing to people, that will……….. (fill in the blank on worship). I don’t think I ever received a brochure that said we’re going to be focusing on what God has revealed about worship in Revelation 4-5. Where else should we go to find out about the worship of the living God other than to His Word and then what He has revealed concerning how He is worshipped in heaven itself. And so these chapters are precious chapters.

They follow in order. Revelation is in chronological sequence. Keep that in mind, it helps you walk through the book of Revelation. Revelation 1 revealed Jesus Christ in His glorified state, Lord of the church. Chapters 2-3 contain His messages to the churches, to seven churches, each addressed individually, representing the church in its entirety, each local church bringing something before us in the evaluation of the Lord of the church. When you get to the beginning of chapter 4 we move now to the next stage. After the church age and the time of the churches, you will have the rapture of the church, the church will be ushered into heaven and the glory of heaven, and then that will be followed by a 7-year period called the 70th week of Daniel. That’s the subject of Revelation 6-19, that 7-year period, after the conclusion of the church age and concluded by the return of Jesus Christ to earth. Revelation 19 is the return of Christ from heaven to earth. Revelation 20 tells us about the establishing of His kingdom, the 1000-year first phase of the eternal kingdom, the end of that 1000-year period, the final judgment on unbelievers. And then chapters 21-22 talk about the kingdom in eternity.

So we are at that period as we come to Revelation 4-5 where we have concluded the churches, and we are preparing for God’s judgment on the earth in preparation for the return of His Son to take possession of that which He has redeemed. John says after these things, and that’s part of the chronological development. He was called to heaven in the Spirit, a door standing open in heaven for one. And the first voice which I heard like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me said, come up here. I will show you what must take place after these things. So John is going to get unfolded for him what will take place after the time of the churches, period of time in which we live which will conclude with the rapture of the church. Immediately I was in the Spirit. So John now didn’t physically or bodily get carried to heaven. He did in his spirit get transported to heaven, and God showed him the scene in heaven after the rapture of the church.

And he beholds the throne standing in heaven. The book of Revelation is the throne book of the Bible. The word throne is used about 40 times in the book of Revelation. It’s only used 15 times in all the rest of the New Testament. So the book of Revelation is about God on His throne, His sovereignty, His sovereignty in judgment and His sovereignty in redemption. As we move through the chapters on judgment we climax with the redemption of creation.

In fact in chapter 12 the word throne is used about 12 times. That’s almost as much as in all the rest of the New Testament put together. About God’s throne, who He is, His sovereignty and particularly His sovereignty in judgment. Some people have a problem about the sovereignty of God. If you’re going to talk about God’s sovereignty they get uncomfortable, they get uneasy. You have to ask, can I really believe in the God of the Bible, can I really believe in what this God has revealed about Himself and not believe in His absolute total sovereign control over all. He is accountable to no one, He does not have to act according to how I think He should act. He seeks counsel from no one, He is absolutely, totally sovereign.

That’s the picture of the throne standing in heaven. It is established there, and one sitting on the throne. John sees the person sitting on the throne. Now when we get to chapter 5 we find out this is not Jesus Christ sitting on the throne, because in chapter 5 he’s going to come before the one on the throne to receive a scroll from His right hand. So John here is seeing God the Father sitting on His throne. Very similar picture to what Daniel the prophet saw in Daniel 7, where he saw the Ancient of Days with His white hair and one coming before the throne and receiving a kingdom that is eternal. Same picture that we will see in Revelation 4-5.

John doesn’t go into all the details. It’s an awesome scene. I can’t tell you……. God does not have human form, that is true, He is omnipresent. God the Father is just as much present here today as He is in heaven. He is omnipresent. He is not more in one place than in another. But God has chosen to manifest His presence in a unique way in heaven. That’s for the benefit of His creation, because all of creation is localized. By that I mean it is only in one place at one time. All the angels are only in one place at one time. The angels that are present in this room now are not also in heaven. They have come from heaven to here, but they are not both here and in heaven. God is both here and in heaven. You and I, even in eternity, will only be in one place at one time. We are created beings, we are not omnipresent, we will never be omnipresent. We will be without some of our physical restrictions in eternity, but we will always only be able to be in one place at one time. So God has chosen for the benefit of His creation and for the way that He interacts with His creation to manifest His presence clearly and visibly in one place. That’s what we call heaven. When heaven comes down to be joined with earth in eternity, He will still be manifesting His presence for the benefit of His creation in that one particular place, even though He will always be in every place because He is God. So John sees one sitting on the throne and that one is the Father. That will become clear as we walk through this.

He describes something of the splendor of His person. Like a jasper stone, a sardius in appearance. There is a rainbow like an emerald around the throne. And really the brilliance and splendor like the light reflecting off these splendid jewels. How do you describe it? There is nothing like it. He takes what we can identify and relate to in its splendor and magnificence. An emerald rainbow around the throne, the splendor of it all. That’s God sitting on His throne. As a person sitting there we see something of His right hand, so He’s not just some oozing presence. Daniel saw His hair, His hands. Now I don’t want to say…… God is a Spirit, I realize that, but I also realize that He is described in anthropomorphic terms. And to be seen He has to be seen in some form. He has chosen to manifest Himself in a form that we relate to. Just as the angels are spirit beings, but when they manifest their presence for a visibility of people, they have a defined characteristic. It is often as a human or sometimes as an animal, as we will see shortly.

Around the throne there were 24 thrones. Remarkable. Here are additional thrones, so you have God enthroned in heaven, now you have thrones gathered around His throne, there are 24 of them. Upon the 24 thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white garments with golden crowns upon their heads. The 24 elders, we don’t have time, this would be a study in itself. Again, you can get the tapes of a more detailed study if you want to examine this more fully. My understanding is that these represent the church. The 24 elders are representative of the church being in heaven, because when we left chapter 3, now after these things carries us to the time after the time of the churches, the church age, we have the church in heaven represented by the 24 elders. Why the 24 elders? Well we are the priests of God. Revelation opened up and it will be mentioned here at the end of chapter 5 that God has made us a kingdom and priests. Now in the Old Testament there were thousands of Levitical priests. They couldn’t all be serving at the same time. The Levitical priesthood was divided into 24 orders or courses, 24 divisions of priests. Each division had a representative, so that when the 24 representatives, one from each of the 24 orders of priests, met together they represented the whole priesthood. So here we have the church represented, those who have become priests of God, the 24 elders representing the presence of the church.

There are far more than the individuals described in chapter 4. When we get to chapter 5 we’re going to find out that there are ten thousands of ten thousands and thousands of thousands present in this throne room scene. But there are representatives, we’ll see the four living creatures here, representing the angelic realm, the 24 elders representing the redeemed of the church.

Why elders representing the church? I don’t have time to go through, I had 5 reasons that I gave when we studied this in detail and we went through scripture passages. But you just note they are in white garments. And in Revelation 3:5, he who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments. The white garments are described in Revelation as the righteousness of the saints. Look in Revelation 3:18, I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may clothe yourself. The white garments are the righteousnesses of the saints provided for us in Christ.

The crown that they are wearing, they’re wearing golden crowns. There are two basic types of crowns in Greek. You have the diadem, we’ve carried that over into English. That’s the crown of the ruler, the sovereign. You have the stephanos, that’s the crown of the victor. If you won an athletic event, a race, you received a stephanos, a victor’s crown. These are golden stephanos, these are the crowns of the victor. In Revelation 3:11, I am coming quickly, hold fast what you have so no one will take your crown. These are the crowns that have been promised to the believer. So some of these things are reasons why we understand these to represent the church. They are sitting enthroned and we are told that church saints will rule and reign with Christ, promises given in the letters to the church as well as other passages of scripture. The elders, the presbyteroid, also a title used of leaders in the church in the New Testament.

So here we have the church represented in the presence……… That’s why this is important to every one of us gathered here today, because John is getting a glimpse of what it will be like when we, at the end of the church age, are gathered in the presence of the Lord in the glories of heaven and join the heavenly host in the worship of the living God. I take it Old Testament saints are here, but they are not described because they have not yet received the completion of their redemption and their glorified body. That does not happen until Revelation 20. But they will be part of the great host, David, Abraham and those who are there, who have left their bodies and gone to glory. But the church will be there with the completion of its redemption, having received their glorified bodies.

All right that’s more than we should have taken time, but come to verse 5. From the throne come flashes of lightning, sounds and peals of thunder. You know people want to talk about worship, worshipping God. But they go to church and they don’t want to hear about hell, they don’t want to hear about judgment. They don’t want to worship the true and living God. You know we have to come to grips with, we come to worship God, not primarily to talk about us, but to talk about Him. From this throne come lightning and thunder. I thought we were in the age of grace. That sounds like the description of the coming of God on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19 with the giving of the Law. Thunder and lightning. But you understand He is a God of judgment. Revelation 6-19, which have yet to unfold, are about judgment. Then you get to the end of chapter 20 you come to the climax of all judgments with the casting into the eternal fires of hell all those who have never experienced redemption. Our God is an awesome God, a sovereign God, and He is a God of judgment. And this throne room scene is to prepare our hearts and minds for the unfolding of the judgments that are coming, that then will be climaxed by the completion of the plan of redemption.

There were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of God. This is a description that was already made in Revelation 1:4. The seven spirits of God represent the Holy Spirit. How do I know that? God told me in a dream last night. Well that would be striking, it just wouldn’t be true. But it is true this represents the Holy Spirit because we could go back to the book of Zechariah, we’re not going to do that for time, but in Zechariah 3:9, Zechariah 4:2,6,10. You know the menorah of Israel, that 7-branched candlestick. That 7-branched candlestick is representative of Israel. You go to the Knesset in Israel you have the menorah there, the large menorah. Well in Isaiah you have the 7-branched candlestick described. That was an oil lamp and then you have the wick and a little oil and you can light that and you have the seven lamps. Well in the book of Zechariah in those verses I just mentioned we are told that that represents the 7-fold spirit who is the Holy Spirit. Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord. And seven denotes Him in His completeness, His perfection. So here now John sees a representation, not only of God the Father, but of the Holy Spirit in a manifestation of His presence in a way that John is able to see. The fire, there are seven lamps of fire, these are burning lamps. They didn’t have lamps like we have, they had lamps that burned with fire. And that pictures God’s purity, God’s holiness, God’s judgment, which we are about to see poured out on the earth.

Before the throne there is a sea, like glass, like crystal. You know some of these things, they’re there. Why is it there? What does it mean? I don’t know, but it’s there. Perhaps this sea of crystal around the throne denotes God is separate from His creation. His throne set apart, all His creation gathered around Him but He is distinct and separate from all His creation.

There are the four living creatures, it gets more strange. Four living creatures—obviously four angelic beings, we know that from the Old Testament as well, we’ll see that in a moment. The first was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face like a man, the fourth like a flying eagle, representing God’s creation here. The four living creatures each having 6 wings, full of eyes around and within. Day and night they do not cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God. You know the book of Revelation is the most unoriginal book in all the New Testament. Some people find it the most difficult, but there’s a reason. It is the most unoriginal. There are no quotes from the Old Testament, direct quotes, in the book of Revelation, but there are over 400 references to the Old Testament. Like I just mentioned about Zecharaiah in connection with the 7-fold spirit. Now here we have these living creatures, each having 6 wings, and day and night they cry out, holy, holy, holy. Some of your minds have already gone to Isaiah 6, when Isaiah saw the Lord, lofty and exalted, sitting upon His throne. And the seraphim were crying out, holy, holy, holy. And those seraphim had 6 wings and so you have the same description here. I take it we’re talking about the same creatures, an order of angelic beings who serve in the direct presence of God and lead the worship of heaven. And that’s what these living creatures are doing, leading all creation and the host of heaven in the worship of the living God. They are the worship leaders of heaven, literally. They have 6 wings, with 2 they covered their face, with 2 they cover their feet, and with 2 they flew, as the book of Isaiah says, their humility, their readiness to do the will of God. And they are crying out, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty. They are declaring the sovereign attributes of God. One thing we are reminded of when you enter into the courts of heaven to observe worship is it’s all about God. We have so corrupted worship that we choose our church on whether we like it or note, whether it is interesting or not, whether it was fun, whether it met my needs, whether I enjoyed it. I get terribly concerned, I sometimes meet people who claim to be believers and I say where do you go to church? Oh I don’t go very often, maybe with some irregularity. You don’t want to join God’s people in worship, what makes you think you’re going to heaven? You wouldn’t like it. Not saying everything we do as a church or other churches do is perfect, but our worship should be conformed around the Word. It is the joining together of God’s people to worship Him according to His instruction. People are bored hearing about God, I don’t want to go and hear about God, I don’t want to go and hear about His judgment, I don’t want to go and hear about His holiness. I want to be told things that relate to my family, relate to my job, relate to my everyday life. Get over it, it’s not going to be like that in heaven. Worship of heaven is not with the living creatures saying, now Gil has some issues he would like to have addressed, so that’s what we’re going to do in our worship time today. Forget it, it’s not what the seraphim who lead the worship of heaven do.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders, representing the whole church, will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, will worship Him who lives forever and ever, will cast their crowns before the throne. Worthy are you, our Lord and our God to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things. Because of your will they existed and were created. We’ll all join together with one heart, one mind, one goal—to glorify the living God, to give Him praise. What makes us think the worship here among God’s people should be any different? That’s why we study His Word together, it’s all about Him, who He is, what He has said, what He has made known about Himself. We want to honor Him. ??????always study what He says about our family, what He says about our kids, what He says about our parents. It’s all about Him, it’s His Word that makes it rich and alive and eternal. We come together about Him. If my interests aren’t in Him, then I ought to be bored stiff to go to a worship service of God’s people, because it’s all about the God that I don’t care about. It’s all about the God that bores me, it’s all about the God that I really don’t want to know anymore about. We ought not to be surprised. We’re not catering to the whims of man, we’re bowing before the living God and how do the seraphim lead the worship of heaven. Holy, holy, holy emphasizes infinite holiness. As Isaiah 6:3 declared, He’s separate from all defilement, all sin. We talk about God, we have to talk about holiness. He is holy. Interesting the attributes that are selected in leading the worship of heaven. We could have declared His love but we declare His holiness right now, come to grips with His holiness. It’s a problem people don’t understand God’s holiness—all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, the wonder of His holiness. People think they’re all right, they’re okay. They have no concept of God’s holiness, a perfect holiness, an absolute holiness, perfect purity. That’s what’s being declared in the courts of heaven in the worship. We come before a God who is holy, holy, holy, and this is the God who is about to deal in burning judgment on an unholy world, who will consign unredeemed people to the fires of hell. How can that be? He is holy, holy, holy. He is the Lord God Almighty, He is absolute sovereignty. He was called Almighty, the Father, in Revelation 1:8. It’s a word that means Almighty, all powerful, omnipotent. This word as a title for God is used 8 other times in the book of Revelation, it’s used only 1 other time in all the New Testament—II Corinthians 6:18. He alone has the might, the power, the sovereignty over all creation. He alone can administer judgment. He alone gives account to no one, is answerable to no one. I come to open His Word to find out what He says, what He is like, what He has done. Not to exercise judgment on that, but to submit myself to Him. Lord, I don’t understand it, but you have said it and I believe it. I bow before you. With this finite mind I do not grasp why you did that, how you could do it that way, but you are God and I’m not. You are the Almighty, you are the sovereign one. People running around to find out who is doing what they like, teaching what they like. I have to teach what God said whether I like it or not. I have to teach what He has said whether it fits with the way I would have done it or not. I better adjust my thinking. God has not spoken so He could get my approval, He has spoken so that He might get my submission. So He is the Almighty.

And this is what the worship leaders of heaven are declaring—He is the Lord God, the Almighty. A declaration, everybody better get ready to fall down on their face. He is sovereign. He is not here to give explanation, He is here to get worship by His creation.

He is the One who was and who is and who is to come, this One who is being worshipped, the perfectly holy One, the sovereign Almighty. He is the eternal God. As the prophets said in the Old Testament, God spoke through the prophets, before Me there was no God, after Me there will be no God. I’m the only One. He’s the One who existed in the past, that exists in the present, and will exist in the future. He is the only God, the holy, holy Almighty eternal God. That’s what the worship of heaven declares. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, the eternal One. The One who was and who is and who is to come. Our attention is on Him. Do you think anybody is going to stand up there and say, excuse me, I’m not particularly interested in this. There will be nobody there like that because those who aren’t interested in this won’t be there. They will be excluded and closed out, as we’re told later in the book of Revelation. Sad, how people who think the worship of the living God, learning of Him is boring and uninteresting, think they could be going to heaven when that’s what heaven is all about. ???? all they can do it’s just not interesting to me. Well if God is not interesting to you, I’m not saying defend sermons that are boring. I realize I preach some of those, some of them bore me. But our God is an infinite God. What He has said, what He has revealed from the first verse of Revelation to the last word of the book of Revelation, my God has said nothing insignificant. How am I going to think I’m going to enjoy heaven when I find Him uninteresting here? May reveal where my heart really is, what I really am. The worship of heaven is to honor the living God.

And when the angelic leaders in heaven, the seraphim, this order of angelic beings declare this about the living God, then the 24 elders join with them in honoring the living God. They fall down from their thrones on their face to worship Him. It means to bow down, to prostrate yourself before Him. It’s the picture of humility. Most difficult thing in coming to true salvation is the humility, recognize my own unworthiness, that I am a sinner, I am guilty. My only hope is mercy. And here that humility continues. We’re in the presence of the living God. I’m not there to throw out my chest, let everybody know I’m here, I’m one of the redeemed, I’m somebody. On earth they didn’t think I was anyone, but let me tell you, I’m somebody. I’ll be on my face with the rest. They fall down, they worship Him, they cast their crowns before Him, golden crowns, stephanos crowns. And here, what’s the crown for? So I can wear it around and everybody will know. No, so I can honor Him and give glory to Him. The crown is for His glory, not mine. So we cast them before His throne. Some mindless people without say I don’t care if I get any crown, it’ll be enough to go to heaven. Won’t be enough. Must have a crown, you must honor Him. They cast their crowns.

And they join in saying, worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power. To receive glory and honor and power. It’s all about Him, all the glory, all the honor, all the power, it’s all yours. You are worthy. For you created all things. He’s worshipped here as the creator of all. Because of your will they existed and were created. There’s no debate. For a true believer in Jesus Christ, a true believer in the God who has revealed Himself, there is no debate about the matter of creation. It is as God said. Does that mean I understand everything about it, I can argue it all out? No, but it is as He said. And in heaven the only people there are those who acknowledge Him and worship Him as the creator of all things. And you’ll note, He created it according to His will. We sometimes are stuck with questions, and that’s not bad. I have a lot of things that aren’t answered. That cannot then turn into a challenge of God. I’ve made all things for Myself, even the wicked for the day of destruction. Why did God create people whom He knew would spend eternity in hell? Why did God……..? Why did God……..? I don’t know, I’m not His counselor. He never asked me and He never told me. The revealed things belong to us, the secret things belong to God, Deuteronomy tells us. If I have to have all the answers, then I’ll never get there. I have all the answers I need, I have all the explanation I need. And I accept that by faith, and I want you to know I’m continuing to live the life that began when I trusted in Christ by faith. Not because I have all the answers, but because I believe what God said is true. Everything He said is true, and my hope for eternity is based on the fact I believe what God said is true.

So they worship Him as the creator of all things. He created it, He’s worthy of worship, it belongs to Him. That doesn’t surprise me that “the scientific community,” the unbelieving world rejects the idea and wants to act like they have scientific proof that it couldn’t have been created by God. All they know is we’re here. We know how we got here. With that comes an understanding of why we’re here. And with that comes revelation from God on where we’re going from here. The answers are there. He is the creator of it all. People don’t want to acknowledge Him as creator, if you acknowledge Him as creator, you have to acknowledge Him as the God that must be worshipped. If you’re not willing to worship this God, you cannot acknowledge He is your creator.

So we come to chapter 5, I saw on the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book. So here you see that anthropomorphic description, but it says John saw it—a person sitting on the throne, has a right hand. In it there’s a book. It’s not a literal book, a scroll. What they did is they rolled a scroll up so far, they wrote on it that far, then they would put wax on the end and then they would seal it. So if you ever unrolled that you would break the seal. Then they wrote some more, rolled it up, put some wax on and sealed it. This is a 7-sealed scroll. The scroll, John could look at the ends of it and said there are 7 seals on that. Sealed with 7 seals, at the end of verse 1.

An angel cries out, who is worthy to open the book, to break its seals? No one in heaven, on earth or under the earth was able to open the book or look into it. John is overwhelmed with grief and he weeps greatly. One of the elders says to John, stop weeping, it’s okay. There is someone to open the seals. Stop weeping. The lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome to open the book and its 7 seals.

And I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders, a Lamb standing as if slain, having 7 horns and 7 eyes, which are the 7 spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And we can’t go into all of this, the scripture. Isn’t it remarkable, Jesus Christ is seen as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb that was slain. What a contrast—a Lion and a Lamb, both true of Him. As the Lamb, He’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the One destined to rule in fulfillment of all the prophecies. And He is the Lamb that was slain from before the foundation of the world to pay the penalty for our sins, the One crucified on the cross. Why can He take the book? Well you see this 7-sealed book is God’s plan for the unfolding and completion of His work of redemption for His creation. It will begin with the judgments of the 7 seals. Out of the 7th seal will come the 7 trumpets, out of the 7 trumpets will come the 7 bowls. And with that will come the completion of the establishing of the kingdom and so on. So here is the completing. Without Christ there could be no completion, because there would be no redemption. All creation would be condemned. Now there is judgment on unredeemed creation, but there is salvation on those who have entered into the redemption provided by the Lamb that was slain. He alone is the One. There is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There is no one else in heaven or on earth or under the earth, but Jesus Christ who is the Savior who can bring about redemption.

He came and took the book out of the right hand from Him who sat on the throne. And you can read Daniel 7, maybe this afternoon, you see this picture where He comes before the Ancient of Days on the throne, His Father. And here He receives the book. And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the throne. Here they go again, down on their faces. Each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints, because here is the final fulfillment of all the prayers of God’s people for final deliverance from the persecution of the wicked, for the final completion of redemption, for the final establishing of the rule of Christ over all.

Now I want you to note verse 8, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. In chapter 4 we saw them falling down before the Father, now we see them falling down before the Lamb, the Son. Later in the book of Revelation, John the Apostle who pens this book is going to make the mistake of falling down in worship before an angel and he’s immediately rebuked. The angel says, get up, I’m just a created being like you. You don’t worship created beings. A clear unfolding of the deity of Jesus Christ. All heaven not only worships God the Father, they worship God the Son.

They sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the book. Now they declared in worship in Revelation 4:11, worthy are you our Lord and God, declaring that God the Father is worthy. Now God the Son is declared worthy. Worthy are you to take the book, to break its seals. For you were slain and you purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, in His death He made provision for salvation for all people. And it’s possible for me to offer you the free gift of life in Christ because Jesus Christ shed His blood to pay the penalty for your sin. So if you will turn from your sin and place your faith in Him, God can justly forgive you on the basis of the provision, the payment of His Son. He purchased, one of the great words of the New Testament, to set free by the paying of a price, You were slain and purchased for God with your blood. Take the sacrificial death of the Lamb of God. Remember there is no one else in heaven, or on earth, under the earth able to do this. The only One who could do it has done it, and so He is to be worshipped.

You have made them, the redeemed, to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth. That’s our destiny. Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne. So we saw the four living creatures, we saw the 24 elders, and now there are many angels, many others. The number of them was myriads of myriads, ten thousands of ten thousands and thousands of thousands. You can’t count them. They’re all joined now. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. We studied this in more detail, we walked through each of these. We declare His greatness, the wonder of His person and His work. He is the One worthy to receive power, riches, wisdom, might, honor, glory, blessing. Every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And on the sea and all things in them I heard say, to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. I mean there is one unified worship going on here.

The four living creatures kept saying amen, the elders fell down and worshipped. You’ll note through all of this there have been different creatures mentioned, and they’re only mentioned in the context that their worship was directed toward the One on the throne and the Lamb. Because worship is all about God. And they are seen only in the context of offering to God the worship that is due Him. Our worship is all about God. How we pervert it when we try to make it entertaining. Well, we want to make it interesting and people aren’t interested in serious things, you know, so it’s better to tell stories. What are they going to do in heaven? What we’re told here is about the attributes of God, about the character of Christ, about the work of the Lamb in redemption. It’s all about Him. Well how do I know? Well, I just take the book and open it up and here’s what He wants me to know. And as I take this in, it is the work in my heart through the ministry of the Spirit that turns my attention even more to Him, gives me greater awe and wonder of Him to prepare me for the time when I will join with them in that heavenly throng and offer worship and praise to the living God with the millions and millions of heavenly hosts. And together we declare the wonder. Can you imagine? Here we are as a small group, sing His praises, hear His Word. There we’ll hear His Word and we’ll ?????? and the shouts and the sounds and the singing reverberate, not with hundreds or thousands, but with millions of voices joining in, all with one focal point. You know you have ten thousands of ten thousands and thousands of thousands, but it all centers on the throne and on the Lamb. That’s what it is all about.

Where are you? Not you’ve come to this church building today. Just go through motions that might be called worship. Jesus said we must worship God in spirit and truth. It must come from our hearts in the context of His truth. That’s what makes our worship genuine, real and acceptable. In heaven there won’t be anybody here whose heart is not taken up in this worship, whose mind is not filled with the thoughts of this God and the work of the Son. Being amazed that we’re here. Think about it—twenty-four elders representative of the church being there. Some day you will be in this place if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. We are preparing ourselves and being prepared by the mercy and grace of God for His awesome presence. allow the things of this life to become a distraction, the thinking of the world to turn us aside. We join together today to be about the living God. Our desire is that our hearts and focused on Him, that our minds might be filled with Him, that we might be in awe of Him and bow down in our spirits before Him and give Him the praise that is due Him alone. You can join that worship if you believe in the Lamb that was slain to purchase you for God. Believe in Him, be willing to be humbled before Him, realize I have no hope. All my pride, all my veneer, I’m a sinner, unworthy and undeserving. But I’m casting myself on the mercy of God, believing the Christ is the only Savior in heaven, on earth and under the earth, and I’m trusting Him and Him alone.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the worship of heaven. Thank you for this glimpse given to your servant, John, to show us what is before us, that someday we as the church of Jesus Christ will be assembled with the countless host of heaven to offer worship to you and to your Son, our Savior. Lord, may our worship while on this earth be a true preparation for the worship of heaven. May we examine our hearts to see if indeed we are filled with wonder and awe of who you are, of the work you have done, of who your Son is, the work He has done, that we’d really experience the power of your salvation and continue to walk in the wonder of who you are and what you have done. May your Spirit use your truth to that end in our lives today. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.