Worship
The Commands of Victory • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Warren Brosi
November 10, 2024
Dominant Thought: Our worship directs our destiny.
Objectives:
I want my listeners to understand the two options for worship: the dragon or God.
I want my listeners to feel drawn to worship God in a deeper way.
I want my listeners to choose to bow to God Almighty.
Our worship directs our destiny. As we look at the commands of victory in Revelation, we hear John’s encounter with the angel of who showing him these visions. Two times John falls down at the angel’s feet to worship him, but listen the words of the angel in Revelation 19:10 “Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Again in Revelation 22:8–9 we read, “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.””
Almost half of all the New Testament occurrences of the word “worship”are found in Revelation (24 out of 60 occurences). To worship meant “to kiss” or “to kiss toward.” It later carries the idea of bow down or lay prostrate. In Revelation, John tries to worship the angel, but the angel commands him to worship God. Throughout the rest of Revelation, worship can be directed in two directions: 1) To God Almighty on the throne or 2) to the dragon, demons or the beast. Revelation pictures worship of God that is good and worship of evil which is bad. Again Revelation is not that difficult. To help us look at our two choices for worship, we’ll look at Revelation 13-15. We have a beautiful worship scene in Revelation 4 and 5, but we will save that lesson for another day.
First, let’s look at what worshiping the beast looks like. Read Revelation 13.1-4. We move from Revelation with the great sign in heaven with the red dragon seeking to devout the baby to be born. The woman and the child are saved and the dragon is frustrated. Revelation 12 closes with an enraged dragon seeking to make war against the offspring of the woman—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony of Jesus.
Next, the dragon is on the shore of the sea and a beast out of the sea with ten crowns, seven heads, and blasphemous names on each head. With that description we can see this is a powerful beast and a bad beast. The beast receives power and authority from the dragon. They are on the same team. Then, we read Revelation 13.4, “People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the breast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
In this first scene we see the dragon and the beast from the sea worshiped and people question if anyone can wage war against this power.
Then, in Revelation 13.11, we meet a second beast coming out of the earth. It looks like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon. It sounds like a warning from Jesus about false prophets. He said they will come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ferocious wolves (Matthew 7.15). This second beast exercised the same authority as the first beast. This second beast, “made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast” (Revelation 13.12). The second beast deceived the inhabitants of the earth, set up an image to honor the first beast, and could breathe on the image to make the image talk (Revelation 13.14-15). This second beast could kill those who refused to worship the image of the beast.
Then, this second beast forced all people to receive a mark on their right hands and their foreheads so they could not buy or sell without the mark (Revelation 13.16-17). The mark is the name of the beast and the number of its name. John tell us that this calls for wisdom and then gives people insight to the number of the beast which is the number of man which is 666 (Revelation 13.18).
That’s a lot to take in. What do we make of it. First, please remember this text was written for churches living in the first century. It was written to them for us. Second, we have some helpful Old Testament background on this hand and forehead imagery. Deuteronomy 6:6–8, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” The hand and the forehead images could be reminders of your actions and your thought.
Our worship will be displayed by our actions and our thoughts which will be as visible as if they were marked on our hands or our foreheads.
The number 666 is a Jewish system of assigning numbers to letters of the alphabet. The simplest meaning is the numbers for the letters that spell beast are 666. Six is one less than the completion of seven.
So, what does worshiping the beast or the dragon look like?
1—Worshiping the beast values power. “Who can wage war against the beast?” (Revelation 13.4).
2—Worshiping the beast centers on deception. “It had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon” (Revelation 13.11).
3—Worshiping the beast values images over reality. The beast set up an image to honor the first beast (Revelation 13.14).
Second, we have a choice to worship God, the creator of heaven and earth (Revelation 14.7). As we leave Revelation 13, and the mark of the beast on the hand and the forehead, we read about another group of people following the Lamb, Jesus. The have the name of his Father written on their foreheads (Revelation 14.1). This group of 144,000 which may symbolize the complete number of God’s people is singing a new song before the throne.
Then in Revelation 14.6, John saw another angel flying with the eternal gospel or eternal good news preaching. His sermon was to every nation, tribe, language, and people. The angels said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water” (Revelation 14.7).
Throughout Revelation we see the phrase of people from every nation, tribe, language, and people (see Revelation 7.9 for another description of the 144,000). In Revelation, we see people from every nation, tribe, language, and people around the throne of God worshiping Him. This is one reason we are celebrating our 200th birthday with a special collection for Pioneer Bible Translators to take the eternal gospel to the Bibleless people of the world. We will have our special offering on November 24th.
A friend of mine shared with me the story from the Paris 2024 Olympics where athletes from different nations were in the Olympic village, maybe a hotel lobby. They were gathered around a piano and singing praise to Jesus. That’s one picture of worship of God where the nations gather to celebrate His goodness. (Here’s the link if you want to watch the video clip: https://www.instagram.com/cindyofili/reel/C-NiTfQO6P9/).
John’s vision continues in Revelation 13.9, when he sees a third angel. This angels said in a loud voice,
If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their foreheads or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured out full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of it name (Revelation 13.9-11).
We hear the warning from the angels about the destiny of those who worship the beast. In the next chapter, we the destiny of those who are victorious over the beast and its image and the number of its name.
And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God
and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
A simple definition for worship was one I learned from J. K. Jones, “Worship is loving God back.” We love God back because He first loved us. We love God back in response to His creative life-giving breath to us. We love Him back because He sent His Son Jesus to rescue us from our sin.
Louis Giglio in a message on the Acts of the Apostles (lesson 2 in Right Now Media) shared, “Do you come to church to worship or do you come worshipping to church?”
In the summer of 1995, I had the opportunity to travel to Matamoras, Mexico with Way of the Cross Ministries for a short-term mission trip. We took a school bus to the city dump for a gospel service. We drove on the road through the dump that was filled with mountains of trash. It was like an ocean of trash as far as you could see. People were living in the city dump because they heard there were jobs in America and then were turned back at the border and were unable to find anywhere else to live. We parked the bus and people started coming to the bus. We had little candies that reminded you of pink circus peanuts—just pure sugar. Maybe they were left over Easter candies. I remember reaching my dirty hands into the bag of candy to give it to the children who had come. There were fires burning throughout the dump.
I had the opportunity to preach the good news of Jesus, the eternal and simple gospel. I think my sermon was on John 3.16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” During our church service there in the city dump, two high school girls sang a song. Some of you older folks will remember this song, “We are standing on holy ground.” The chorus continues, “And I know that there are angels all around. Let us praise Jesus now. We are standing in His presence on holy ground.” As those girls were singing, “We are standing on holy ground,” I looked down at the ground under my feet. It was trash. We were surrounded by trash and with those living in the city dump. And then it hit me, “Yes, Jesus, this is holy ground because you are here.”
We worship a God who is creator of heaven and earth.
We worship a God who is holy and just.
We worship a God who is victorious over evil.
Our worship directs our destiny.