Revelation: A Call to Worship

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”

The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped. Revelation 5:11-14.

I am a singer. You won’t find my face on an album cover, or my voice on your iPod, but I am a singer. A worshipper. I have been a leader or member of a worship team in churches, special events, and para church ministries. It’s not as easy as it may look: worship, like every other calling in the life of a Christian, demands preparation, prayer, and practice.

But nothing gives me greater joy than to participate in praising God, and to help lead God’s people in worshipping. Perhaps that is why the verses above from Revelation 5, have special significance for me. There will be a time when I and every believer will experience the scene described of the ongoing worship in heaven, by angels, elders and the living creatures.

Verse 12 contains one of the most powerful proclamations ever made, and is found in some of my favorite worship songs, like the “Revelation Song” we sang this past Sunday at Brighton Presbyterian Church. It is a little taste of heaven.

True worship draws us into God's presence in a particular way that cannot be created by man. And when it happens, we should be humbled and God exalted. Isaiah discovered this when God allowed him to see what centuries later the Apostle John would see and then write about in the Book of Revelation: 

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 6:1-5.

Let's just cut to the chase of the matter....by Tony C

Happy Monday! I hope you had a blessed day in worship yesterday, but more importantly, I hope your worship was a blessing to our Father. This week your Kingdom Bloggers are going to write about a passage from the Book of Revelation and what impact that passage has had on each of us.

I have to be honest here. Of the books in the New Testament, Revelation is the one probably most unfamiliar to me. Sure, I've read through and from it a number of times, but the allegorical nature of John's writing really wreaks havoc on my right-brain dominant struggles of analogy.

That's not to mean I'm not versed in many of the passages though.

 

“You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.”

 

This one from 4:11 has come to be a 'go-to' verse in much of my teaching. John really puts things in perspective for that proverbial question that has plagued man since...well...throughout human history-

 

 Why do I exist?

 

 

The answer is quite simple for Christians. We exist because God wanted us to exist. Period. Not only did He create us from sheer will, but He also created a vastly complex dominion for us to dwell. Granted, we mucked that up, yet He decided to let His creation move on to yet another dominion. One that was much less glorious and far less personal than He desired, but a place nonetheless to receive the mercy of another chance.

 

I often wonder how the nonbeliever reconciles the fact of his/her existence. Such people are always to point out the naivety of blind faith and the empowerment found in enlightenment or knowledge. Really? Just exactly how cerebral are you to believe all that we see and know was the happening of random chance over billions of years?  

 

Let me joyfully stick with my belief that I exist because God wanted me to exist. After all...He created biology too.

Divine Revelation...Outside of the BOX

Remember as a child getting a book and thinking it was a really dumb gift. Only until you realized it was a “pop up” book?! As a little girl I would think those were the greatest gifts to receive. You would open the cover AND THERE IT WAS the whole story in 3D….The town, the street signs, the whole story larger than life! The greatest one I had ever received came in a fancy box that clasped together with a long ribbon that could be tied into a fancy bow….Oh yeah, this book even had the little tabs that you pulled and it would open cardboard windows and doors and pots that were without flowers suddenly had them…Cool, cool, cool!!!...A whole different world in a box……..

As an adult I still walk directly toward the “pop up’ book section in the book store they have made great gifts for both of my daughters, and now my grand daughter…I even bought my 11 year old son one this Christmas that contained pirate ships…Imagination in a box…..

Is that what ministry has come too?? Is that what we have done with God??...Believers, have we turned our relationship with Jesus into a “pop up” book in a fancy box. Leaders are we planting churches and establishing ministries on a system of programs that have been already established…Church in a box ….There was a negative about those pop up books, it took away any opportunity for creative imagination….Do you think that keeping God in a box or automatically choosing programs to build “better” ministries takes away the opportunity for Divine revelation??....Don’t hear what I’m not saying ...There are some great books and very anointed studies out there…However, the best book is The Bible and anointed teachings are on its pages.. Pop up programs, commercial Christianity, God in a box……There isn’t a box big enough to fit our God!!! There isn’t a program out there that will work without the anointing of the Holy Spirit…

Living in the South now for 4 years (native Yankee)..One thing there is not a shortage of is churches…There is at least 2 within ½ a mile radius of each other. All different denominations, some structures are free standing, some are store fronts, one is a refurbished bank (drive thru window still intact)…At Christmas they all have Christmas cantatas/pageants, there is a church barbecue almost every weekend in the spring /summer months, spaghetti dinners, etc.. etc…How much spaghetti can a non believer eat??...Do you get the “pop up” picture??...

Divine revelation people….Our times have changed and are continuing to change….Let God out of the box… We need holy spirit conviction, NOT man’s condemnation, we need His guidance, we need His wisdom…The programs aren’t working, they have lost their effectiveness….Jesus set before us a life giving message, that never loses its effectiveness…The same scripture read by different people, or even at different stages in life can open up lessons, programs and revelation that is divinely inspired….A divinely inspired “pop up” that changes from reader to reader. Now that’s cool!!!..