Ready to worship

Intro:

Be ready. Churches told to “correct and endure” and to “overcome.” As the vision John has proceeds, we are going to get into some heavy stuff. But there is this heavenly scene to let us know… it’s going to be okay. You win. I’m telling you in advance.

Good morning. Glad to see everyone.

We are going to start with an activity. It’s kinda an “adult” activity, sorry kids. You ready? Say: I’m ready.

Okay… I want you to think about your monthly budget. Maybe you don’t have one - that’s okay. You probably still have an idea of how much money you need to make it each month.

I know there are different income levels in the room. Maybe some of us have a lot of disposable income. Maybe some of us have a lot of savings - God bless you. Good job. For the sake of the activity, let’s just say you don’t have any extra savings to use. And no disposable income. All you have left is what you need to get by this month: bills, food, and gas (paycheck to paycheck).

Got the number? Okay…now let’s just say for whatever reason, that income shrunk 50%, but your expenses stayed the same. Who’s blood pressure just went up?

How many would volunteer for this to happen for one month? Okay… what if God told you, “If you voluntarily give up 50% of your income for one month, and endure it, afterwards, you will never have to worry about money again. You’ll have everything you’ll ever need. How many would volunteer knowing that extra information?

Okay

How many would volunteer to give up 50% for one month, knowing that extra information?

That extra information, that divine parenthesis, makes a big difference, right? It gives us a different perspective. It makes us look at enduring through a tough time differently.

Exegesis:

Setting the stage (What’s happening)...

As move into chapters 4 & 5, God inserts a parenthesis. In the reminder of Revelation, we are going to talk about some intense stuff. It’s literally about how the world is going to end. And a lot of it isn’t fun - it’s crazy!

But before we get to that, God says, “Hold up… I want you to tell you something first.” He gives us a parenthesis - extra information that gives us a better perspective. That first curved bracket of God’s parenthesis starts in verse 1...

Revelation 4:1 ESV

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

The language indicates John’s first vision (chapters 1-3) is over. A second vision has begun.

A New Vision:

In this vision, John is brought to heaven to see what’s going on up there and he’s going to see some wild stuff.

But before we get into the vision, I’m going to talk about something that may be a little confusing. I’m going to turn on the firehose for a moment. I apologize if it’s too much to take in at once. I’ll try to be as clear as possible. I think you guys can handle it. If you have questions after, come grab me after service and I’ll try to answer any questions.

I’m going to turn on the firehose for a moment. I apologize if it’s too much to take in at once. I’ll try to be as clear as possible. I think you guys can handle it.

Some believe chapter 4 is really important. Based on one possible view of Revelation, some think this chapter introduces a new era in human history. This is what I was taught. I believe it’s a solid view. However, I’m not willing to say this is the RIGHT or the only view. But let me summarize this view for you...

Let’s start at . Verse 19 says:

Revelation 1:19 ESV

Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

Rev

I was taught this verse is the table of contents for the book of Revelation, revealing the 3 main sections: 1) Things you have seen; 2) Those that are; 3) And, those that are to take place “after this” (Say: After this!) - remember that.

Section 1: “The things you have seen” would refer to chapter 1 when John saw a vision of the glorified Jesus.

Section 2: “Those that are” are chapters 2 & 3, when John writes to the 7 present-day churches.

And Section 3: “those that are to take place after this” refers to chapters 4-22, which describes future end-times events.

And this view would connect the third section of the table of contents to...

Revelation 4:1 ESV

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

Notice the phrase “after this.” The time of the church as we know it has ended, and it’s time for the end to begin. Also, those who hold this view would also see this parenthesis as an indication that the “rapture” has happened - possibly symbolically represent by the “open door in heaven” and the call to “come up here.”Now, “rapture,” maybe that’s a familiar term for you, maybe not. Basically, it describes a future event where Jesus takes His church out of the earth before all the end-times chaos begins.

The reason Jesus raptures His church is connected to seeing the judgments described in the book of Revelation as part of God’s wrath. Yes, God has wrath. He does and will judge sin in His holy wrath. And no, that doesn’t contradict His love. But because the tribulation is part of God’s wrath, we look to this verse...

1 Thessalonians 5:9 NKJV

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

As the church, we don’t have to worry about God’s wrath. We are saved in Jesus! Therefore, some believe chapter 4 symbolically describes the rapture and signals the beginning of the Great Tribulation - a new and terrible era on earth.

[Ready slide?]

Again, this is the view I was taught. I would probably agree the most with this view. If you don’t, that’s okay. Regardless, what is clearly found here in & 5 is a divine parenthesis, where the apostle John gets a vision of heaven.

And in this vision, he sees two MAJOR people...

God the Father on the throne:

The first MAJOR person he sees is God the Father, sitting on His heavenly throne. In verse 2 & 3, John attempts to describe what he sees the best way he can. He references precious jewels and colorful rainbows, even later on he brings in OT language to describe God (thunder and lightning), but there’s really no way to describe Someone so beautiful. Our human words fall short. Nevertheless, we get the point.

My son Nole is special needs. Sometimes he doesn’t have the vocabulary to describe something he finds beautiful. So, he uses the words he has. He says, “Daddy, it’s beautiful. Do you like it?” And when he says that, I get what he’s saying. I think the same is true here. We read simple, short, and insufficient words, but we get the point. God is indescribably beautiful.

John goes onto describe two other things:

First, he mentions twenty-four other thrones with elders on them. We’re not sure who they are. The number 24 is symbolic for “full representation.” Maybe they represent the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles, which would encompass all those who had an opportunity to respond by faith. Whoever they are, we can’t help but think of the promises made chapters 2 & 3. In all of Jesus’ letters to the 7 churches, there was a promise that those who overcame would be rewarded in heaven. And here in heaven, we see elders clothed in white and wearing golden crowns. And the Greek word used for crowns is for a “victors crown.” The crown you got for winning. We are given proof that Jesus’ promises are true. If we overcome by faith, God will reward us. Our faith and endurance will not be forgotten.

The second thing John sees are these crazy beasts. Not sure what these beasts are, but they fantastic (see what I did?). Their description is similar to heavenly beasts described in other OT visions. Some say they symbolically represent the attributes of God or all of creation. Whatever they are, they are magnificent and full of wisdom. They see clearly (they got eyes all over, which is gross, but that’s not the point). And what they see most clearly is God. But check this out… what’s their response? Worship.

You know what happens in God’s presence. Worship. Inspirational worship. Not monotone (not eeyore worship - holy.holy.holy). Passionate worship! Passion that stirs you to join in.

You know how passion changes things? Causes you to engage with what’s in front of you.

It’s like watching inspirational videos on FB or YouTube… that make you cry:

Like the soldier boxing his son (Niagara Falls).

Or, the video where Kerri Strug wins the team gold while snapping her ankle in 1996 Olympics. You watch that and you want to flex your bicep. You’re filled with pride (good pride).

Their passion makes you cry. It makes you well up with courage. You have to respond! These heavenly creatures are worshiping with PASSION - and when they say “holy holy holy,” it stirs others to do the same.

You know what else the worship includes? It includes focusing on God alone. Getting rid of distractions. And heaven gives us a good example… Look at verses 9-11.

Revelation 4:9–11 ESV

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

They’re like, “Yo, I don’t even care about this stuff.” I guarantee, when we see God face to face for the first time… everything we thought we cared about is going seem like garbage. The money, the car, the career, the fame, the comfort… it’s going to mean nothing. We are going to give it up in a heart beat.

It says they throw their crowns before the throne. Again, the “crowns” are victor’s crowns. If you will, they “earned” these. The “elders” overcame and God rewarded them with these crowns. Some may have died for them. But when their hearts focused on God, they were like, “We don’t care about these. We just want You!”

One day, we will do the same. We will see God face to face. He will be so beautiful, so overwhelming, so satisfying, that we will want nothing else.

Here’s the thing. We don’t have to wait until heaven. We can do that now. This is God’s church, right? We believe the presence of God is here, right? Then, we can worship with passion. We can get rid of the distractions now. We can join the eternal song of heaven here. Every Sunday, we have an opportunity to focus on God, be in HIs presence, get rid of the junk, and sing passionately “Holy, holy, holy!”

Our passion can stir others to worship too. 1Cor?

The Scroll and the Lamb:

v1 - Language introduces a “new vision.” “After this” - Can be future (based on premil/pretrib), or it can be the next part of the vision. However, it feels like there does seems to be a good sense that this is talking about the future - the end times, especially if you take the “meta tauta” position. Either way, we gotta be ready for both.

v2 - Throne is a focus. More importantly, the “one” seated on the throne.

v3 - Crazy beautiful description.

v4 - Just spoke about the church. It all happened just like God said it would. The church, God’s people, are seated on thrones because they overcame. It’s all true. It’s all real.

v5 - One thing is clear: This is God’s throne (language based on OT visions).

John’s vision continues in chapter 5. It starts off...

Revelation 5:1–4 ESV

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.

Rev. 5:

Within the parenthesis, there’s a mini-worship parenthesis. But now, back to the regularly scheduled program. John was called up to heaven because Jesus wanted to show him something. And it’s contained in a scroll sealed with seven seals. Scrolls were used back in the day to communicate messages. If they were important, they were sealed with official seals (usually wax impressed with a symbol to show it was legit). This scroll contained God’s will for how the story of the world as we know it, would end.

But John couldn’t just walk up and look at it. It was sealed. At that time, a sealed messages indicated confidential information. Sometimes, the amount of seals indicated the level of importance. One seal - not important (just closed). Seven seals - seven being the number of completion - extremely important. Only someone with immense authority could open this scroll. The implication is only one with divine authority can open it. That’s why the angel cries out, “Is there anyone here who can open this?”

Remember, they are in heaven. Angels are there. The fantastic beasts of heaven are there. The saints are there. But none of them are worthy. And so John starts crying. The sense is, he’s deeply impacted by the scroll not being opened. He doesn’t get to hear the message. Maybe he’s worried the will of God is hindered. But look at verse 5...

Revelation 5:5 ESV

And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

One of the elders walks up to him and says, “John, why you crying?” And then he points to the second MAJOR person John sees in this heavenly parenthesis: Jesus. And Jesus can open the scroll!

I find this scene so interesting because it’s almost like it’s a formality. We read John is crying. He’s worried about it. But no one in heaven is. They all know Jesus is worthy to open it. But they got to go through the motions for John’s sake. So the elder can tell John, “Look! Look at Jesus! He’s worthy. He can open it. He can do all things.”

There’s a lesson here church. John is getting a glimpse into heaven, but he’s still on earth. He still struggles with same things we do: Doubt, worry, an incomplete picture of what God’s doing. But heaven sees God’s reality. Paul said it this way:

1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

No one in heaven doubts God. They aren’t worried. Actually, I skipped this verse earlier, but in chapter 4 it says...

Revelation 4:6 ESV

and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind:

As John describes the throne of God, he says it was like a a sea of glass, like crystal. The sense is it is this clear, calm, beautiful sea. Here’s what’s interesting. In ancient literature, the sea described chaos. It’s unpredictable. It’s destructive. It’s chaotic. It’s kinda like life here on earth. Especially what it’ll be like during the future tribulation. But you know what it’s ALWAYS like before the throne of God? It’s always perfectly peaceful. Why? Because God is in complete control.

That’s why no one in heaven is worried when the angel asks, “Who can open the scroll?” Because their eyes are fixed on Jesus. As the prophet Isaiah says...

Isaiah 26:3 ESV

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Isaiah 26:2 ESV

Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

The lesson for both John and us is this: God’s not worried, so we don’t need to be worried. God’s in control. Whatever we are going through this morning, it might seem chaotic, but before the throne of God, it is perfectly calm. All we need to do is look at Jesus.

Moving on, guess what happens next? Just like with God the Father, when all of heaven focuses on Jesus, worship breaks out again! Jesus is not only worthy to open the scroll, but He is worthy of worship. He is worthy because He is God - He is the lion of Judah. And, He is worthy because He is the Savior - the Lamb sacrificed on the cross for the sins of the world. And so, they look at Him and worship.

v6-8 -

But look real quick at verse 8...

You know what the worship includes? It includes focusing on God alone. Getting rid of distractions. And these heavenly people gives us a good example… v10 - Yo, I don’t even care about this stuff. I guarantee, when we see God for the first time… everything we thought we cared about is going to be like garbage (Paul had an idea of this). The money, the car, the career, the fame, the comfort… it’s going to mean nothing. We are going to give it up in a heart beat.

Revelation 5:8 ESV

And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

They are throwing their crowns. They earned those. The word crowns is similar to the ones given to the victors inthe games (think chapter 2&3). Some of them maybe died for them. It’s like when we finally work hard and achieve something. We dont want to lose that reward because its a reflection of our hard work. We earned it. It means something. But when it comes to God… we are going to chuck it like it means nothing.

When I read this, my attention goes immediately to “harp.” And honestly, my reaction is, “eww.” I’m a music snob. I’m not claiming to have the best taste in music. I’m just saying, I know what I like. And I very rarely venture outside of that “taste.” I can tell you now, my taste in music does NOT include “harps.” That sounds boring to me.

Here’s the thing. We dont have to wait until heaven to know God in this way. We can know Him like that now. We can start getting rid of the distractions and junk now. We can exchange them for the presence of God now. When we sing “holy holy holy” we are joining the eternal song of heaven. We are actively choosing to leave behind the things of this world to focus on the One who is worthy. (Great I am or Revelation Song).

We gonna have an honest church moment here. No matter your particular taste in music, it’s likely you’ve read or heard some description of heavenly worship and thought two things:

v11 - God, you did all this!

Chapter 5 -

Fat chubby baby angels with harps singing.

v1 - The scroll is to “show you what must happen.”

v2-3 - Formality in heaven. Everyone (except John) knows who is worthy. Main point: There is NO ONE like JESUS.

v5 - Sad because no one able. But no one in heaven is worried. They are focused on God. They say “look!”Don’t we get like that. We get sad over real things. We get worried over legit things. We fear over scary things. But sometimes we got to remember, God is with us. We have to fix our eyes on heaven. We need to “look!” Look at the lamb - Jesus - who has already won the victory (conquered - aorist… pointing to the cross, ; :8).

Worship that goes on all day - like they got stuck in the endless loop of “I can sing of your love forever.” [Same thing over and over].

There are going to be some things that will happen after this service that are going to make us respond in a non-heavenly way. We need to remember to “look at the Lamb.” It’ll change our perspective.

And when you put those two things together, like me, you’ve concluded, “Boring!!!!”

v6- Jesus is with everyone. I like that. Two things: 1) Encouraged because Jesus is with us and wants to be among us (not outside like last week). 2) We should also gather around the Lamb. It should be like bugs toward the light. We are just drawn to it. He’s in our midst because He wants to be, but also because we circled around Him. We need to position our life around Jesus.

Jesus already secured the will of God.

v8 - Everyone already knows Jesus is worthy. I wonder if our response to Jesus would be the same if He walked into the room.

But let me clarify something upfront. This is not boring music. It’s that music when it hits you - it HITS you!

I love gospel music. I can sit and listen to the chord progression. It hits me! And it’ll sound like I’m eating good food. Actually, our waiter at BJs was making the same sounds when we ordered our food. It made me feel like I was making good decisions. I make the same noises when I listen to good gospel music. Because it hits me in my soul. I think its gonna be like that. It’s gonna be GOOD!

Actually, our waiter at BJs was making the same sounds when we ordered our food. It made me feel like I was making good decisions. I make the same noises when I listen to good gospel music. Because it hits me in my soul. I think its gonna be like that.

And the Jesus-focused worship we read about in chapter 5 is worship we are going to WANT to be a part of! And we won’t want it to stop. No one is going to be thinking about, “When is this over? I’m hungry -Where are we going to lunch after this? I wonder what the score of the football game is?”

No, we are going to focused on God the Father and worshiping. We are going to focused on Jesus and declaring “You are worthy!” And we won’t want it to stop - ever!

We should be overwhelmed when we see Jesus and God the Father. When we think about who they are and what they’ve done. (The More I Seek You lyrics?) We should look at Jesus - thinking about the cross - and be ridiculously in awe. For He is worthy. And that our loving Father planned all of this. And that He gives us a promise that it’s going to be okay. The seas are calm in heaven. Some things have to happen here, but both the Father and Jesus are on the throne. The Spirit is before them, and moving throughout the world applying the work the Father willed and that Jesus secured. They are seated because the work is secure. We can trust Him. All we need to do is focus on him and worship.

Response:

As we close, I want us to consider this divine parenthesis. It’s kinda like God is giving John (and us) hope before He describes the great tribulation that is about to happen. It’s the intro we started with: Temporary difficult, but in the end, everything is going to be made right. Like He’s telling us, “It might seem chaotic and hard right now, but I have not loss control. Everything is unfolding exactly as I planned it. And I just want you to know up front, I win. Therefore, don’t worry. Focus on Me.”

And when we get that, we can focus on doing the thing we were created to do: Worship God.

I’m going to call the worship team forward and we are going to sing another song. We are going to worship. But I’m also going to leave you with two questions. Write these down and reflect on them this week.

What’s one way you can begin developing your passion for worshiping God? Maybe it involves throwing away something we really like or something we’ve been working all our lives for, so we can have more of God. Isn’t He worth it? Write that one thing down and put it somewhere where you can be reminded of it every day this week.

What’s something we’re worried about but we might not have a heavenly perspective on? Is there something we can stop being worried about and fix our eyes on Jesus? Think of one thing, then remember God is giving us a parenthesis today (Guess what? I’m in control and we win - moment). Throw your worries at God’s feet, focus on Him, and worship in supernatural peace.

Let’s pray.