Worship at The Throne
There's A Man Going 'Round Taking Names • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsLooking at the imagery and symbolism of worship around the throne of the Almighty
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Good Morning Church!
Stand for the Reading of The word of God - Revelation 4:1-4
1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”
2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.
3 And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.
4 And around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.
So are you ready for the message God has for us today?
Cool let’s dig in!
That’s right today the sermon is first.
We are doing things different this morning.
We are in the book of Revelation, our series title There’s A Man Going ‘Round Taking Names
We are flipping things around this morning because of the subject of our passage in Revelation.
Revelation 4 and 5 contain symbolism and imagery that reveals to us worship at Throne of The Almighty.
In this passage before the imagery gets really difficult John is taken through an open door in heaven.
Some of the imagery here are things we are familiar with from other passages of the Bible.
N.T. Wright: “What we are witnessing in chapters 4 and 5 is not the final stage in God’s purpose. This is not a vision of the ultimate heaven seen as the final resting place of God’s people. Rather, the admission of John into heaven as it is at the moment.”
What John is shown here is not the worship in heaven after the end times, but what is currently taking place as heaven and earth worship around the throne of the God Almighty.
We also need to tie these things to the Seven churches. The intended audience of what is written.
Worship of God the Creator - Chapter 4
Worship of God the Creator - Chapter 4
What John gets to see as the central vision of chapters 4 and 5 is worship.
In this vision John sees the Lord on His throne surrounded by a heavenly host.
This is a vision that has been seen before
19 And Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left.
This chapter reveals what is often called a Theophany.
It simply means a visible manifestation to humankind of God.
In this vision God is revealing himself to the readers and hearers that he alone is God.
Gordon Fee: “John encounters the God of Israel, who is perceived afresh in the light of Christ and who implicitly displaces any so-called lord, god, or universal rule.”
This vision of God Almighty speaks right to the Cult worship of the Caesars as universal ruler and god.
No, in this vision the revelation is He is God almighty alone!
Revelation 4:5 - Read from Bible
The vision in chapter 4 also echoes familiar passages from the Old Testament of the presence of God: flashes of lightning, the loud sound of thunder
The giving of the law at Sinai in Exodus, the throne in 1 Kings and Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
John is seeing God Almighty, who alone is eternal and holy enthroned at the center of the universe.
Displaying that he alone is the center of everything.
The elders and 4 living creatures worship the one on throne with songs of praise!
Hear their words
8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”
The four living creature show bodily gestures of adoration, saying Holy, Holy, Holy, what is called a trisagion
Trisagion is a Greek word that means thrice Holy.
There seems to be something to this Holy, Holy, Holy!
Athanasius of Alexandria a church father who lived in the 4th century says of the trisagion, “For the triad, praised, reverenced and adorned, is one and indivisible and without degrees, It is unified without confusion. For the fact of those venerable living creatures offering their praise three times, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy proves that the three are perfect, they declare the one essence.”
What he is saying is they are declaring the three in one trinity and their perfect essence is three times holy!
Then we have the words of the 24 elders:
11 “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created.”
Tyconius another church father from the 4th century gives an alternative translation to the second half of this verse, “Because you have created all things, and they exist and are created on account of your will.” Tyconius
More important than the identity of the creatures and elders is their activity.
Ceaseless praise and worship, hymning the worthiness of God as the eternal one, the creator.
It doesn’t matter if we see it or not, it happens!
It doesn’t matter if we participate or value it, worship still goes on.
Only God is worthy to receive what others especially powerful political figures and those in authority may want or demand.
Only God is worthy of the worship that many give self!
Our devotion, our praise, our crowns, our lives belong to Lord God Almighty alone!
Worship of The Lamb
Worship of The Lamb
Here in this chapter is the Christophany
It simply means an appearance or non-physical manifestation of Christ. Specifically of visions of Christ after His ascension.
That is what chapter 5 is about a revelation of the resurrected Christ after His ascension into heaven!
In chapter 5 John is still in throne room and shares as he was told and what he sees.
Watch my video in Pastor’s Corner to learn about the book in God’s right hand!
What we are concerned about is who is the only one in all eternity, in all heaven, in all the earth, qualified to open the book!
Look at who John sees: Revelation 5:5-6
5 and one of the elders *said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”
6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
He looked to see a lion and instead sees a lamb that look slaughtered! This is the Lamb of God just as John the baptist introduced him!
How can we not remember the how John the Baptist introduced Jesus:
29 The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
When Jesus the slaughtered lamb who is the lion of Judah takes the book he is immediately worshiped.
8 And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
11 And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,
13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.
Like God almighty so too the Lamb worthy of our worship!
Worship of God Almighty and the Lamb
Worship of God Almighty and the Lamb
How many hymns have been inspired from the songs sung in heaven in Revelation 4 and 5!
These are some of the best interpretations of these chapters!
One of the most widely known hymns is Reginald Heber’s 1826 Hymn written for Trinity Sunday, Holy, Holy, Holy.
Read from “Sing To The Lord” verse 2 of Song, tell the story of how I got it and Pastor Al Jones tell of his connection to Amazing Grace. Then also note that it is the firs song in the hymnal.
Another famous hymn pulled from these chapters is Handel’s Messiah
John says what they sang is a new song, new because now the slaughtered lamb who is the lion of Judah is part of the song sung in heaven!
He did what no one else in haven and on earth could do, be the sacrifice for the atonement of God’s people!
9 And they *sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
10 “And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
These words call to mind Psalm 98:1-3
1 A Psalm. O Sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.
2 The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
They sing a new song because it is now addressed to the lamb, and sung in praise of Him!
Joining in on the worship are the myriads upon myriads of the heavenly host who start singing in worship!
How hard it was to count the shear number of the heavenly host!
Then to make sure we completely understand how impossible the number to count John then adds thousands of thousands!
Getting the picture!
Verse thirteen reveals that all of creation joins in the worship!
Revelation 5:13 - Read from Bible
You see we are not alone in worship of the Father and the Son!
How could we not join the heavenly host, and all of creation in saying Amen!
Amen to the eternal glory belonging to the Father God Almighty and to the Lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ!
There are a total of nine such hymns in the entire book of Revelation.
They are often called hymns, but what if we consider the songs spirituals instead?
Spirituals are songs sung during very hard times, times of persecution and oppression. Much like what sung during slavery, what are called black spirituals.
These songs in Revelation were written during a time of great tribulation and persecution of the church at the send of the first century.
John’s nine spirituals are sung response to the oppression and persecution of God’s people from the Roman Empire.
They provide words of comfort and hope to people of all generations who find themselves in the midst of trial an conflict with society because we remember God is on the throne and the Lamb is at His right hand!
These spirituals teach us we live our lives from victory not to victory which these spirituals remind us!
Conclusion
We learn in these chapters that worship is not passive!
Worship requires action!
We learn that worship is a whole body, whole voice, whole mind, and whole life lived in gratitude to God for redemption, and a whole life surrendered to the Lamb!
Worship of God is not Sunday at 10:15 AM, it is Sunday through Saturday, 24-7! Just as it is in heaven!
The heart of the music around the throne is spiritual victory!
The way of the Lamb begins in whole life worship and results in a witness to the Lamb!
Brethren, we ought to worship God Almighty and the Lamb on Earth as it is in Heaven!
Truly The Almighty and The Lamb are worthy of it all!