REVELATION AND WORSHIP

In recent months I have read the book of Revelation several times. I used to read the book like most folks do, in order to find out about the future. One of the first books I read as a new believer was The Late Great Planet Earth; by Hal Lindsey; Over the years most of what Hal teaches has morphed several times and the same concept has been expanded into twenty-some volumes in the Left Behind series. Historically these attempts to find answers to the nagging questions around when will Jesus come back and when will the rapture take place, have always ended up sadly lacking in reality. From Justin and Irenaeus on through the reformers and in recent days the advent of teaching on a pre-tribulation rapture, many have predicted dates and times and everyone has proved to be fallacious. But lately I have been trying to go beyond the speculative and to begin to see what I have decided is a more important narrative, that of worship and the emergence of a picture of the glorious Son of God coming as the judge of the whole earth.

Worship is found in twenty one different places in the Revelation. Five times we find the elders, angels and the living creatures worshiping Christ. We find the resurrected saints worshiping Christ. We find, four times the inhabitants of the earth worshiping demons, idols and the beast. We see the martyrdom of faithful who refuse to worship the beast. Later we see that wrath is poured out on those who worship the beast.

After that we find the song of Moses:

"Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!

Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!

Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?

For You alone are holy.

For all nations shall come and worship before You,

for Your judgments have been manifested." (15:3,4)

a song that is still being sung by those in heaven! Imagine that? I have often thought about Moses spending 40 years in the Sinai desert after God called him to be the leader of Israel and what happened to him during that time. I will have to take that up at a later date but to my knowledge no other human has ever composed a hymn that has been sung by the heavenly choir.

Worship is the divider, not just in the Revelation but in all history. Why, because God needs to be worshiped? Hardly, he has no needs, but we have the need. True worship draws us into the sublime realities of God and his Son Jesus Christ that are inexpressible in mere prosaic language. It allows us to enter into His presence in new and profound levels.

Some think that the temptation to worship the beast will only take place in the end of times but it is happening right now.

To be continued—