Worthy Of Our Worship

WORTHY OF OUR WORSHIP

(Revelation 4-5)

 

 

Isaiah 29:13 “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.”

 

Luke 6:46 For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks

 

 

1.  The worship of God is LOVE EXPRESSED.

 

Psalm 35:9-10 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord and delight in his salvation. With every bone in my body I will praise him:

Hebrews 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.

 

2.  The worship of God is the ACTIVITY OF HEAVEN

 

 

3.  Jesus is our KING and worship is our RESPONSE.

 

·      Chapters 4 & 5 - angelic beings worshipping around the throne

·      Chapter 6 - wicked people acknowledging Jesus is the King of kings

·      Chapter 7 - the Redeemed, of all the ages, from every tribe, nation and tongue, a crowd John says no one could number gathered around the throne, worshipping

·      Chapter 11 - A worship interlude even in the outpouring of God’s wrath

 

Revelation 11:15-16 (ESV) Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,

 

·      Chapter 12 - a call to worship

·      Chapter 14 - the 144,000 are given a song to worship the Lord with…a song that nobody else knows

·      Chapter 15, you have people singing and worshipping the song of Moses

·      The Third Angel worships as he pours out bowls of JUDGEMENT

·      Chapter 18 - a call to worship God over the display of his righteous glory and wrath, as he judges Babylon the great

·      Chapter 20 - a call to worship over the imprisonment of Satan and the resurrection of the Dead

·      Chapter 21- there’s worship as the new heaven and the new earth are presented

·      Chapter 22 - When Jesus says, “BEHOLD, I am coming soon, John falls down in worship”

 

 

Revelation 4:3a (NLT) The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones—like jasper and carnelian.

 

Revelation 4:5a (NLT) From the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder.

 

Revelation 4:6a (NLT) In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal.

 

Revelation 4:3b (NIV) A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.

Revelation 4:7-8 (NLT) The first of these living beings was like a lion; the second was like an ox; the third had a human face; and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. 8 Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out.

 

Day after day and night after night they keep on saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty—the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”

 

Revelation 4:9-10 (NLT) Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), 10 the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say,

 

 

Revelation 5:1-4 (NIV) Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.

 

 

“These represent the tears of all God’s people throughout all the centuries.  Those tears of the apostle John are the tears of Adam and Eve driven out of the Garden of Eden. 

 

They are the tears of God’s elect through the centuries as they cry to heaven.    They are the sobs and the tears that have been wrung from the heart and soul of God’s people as they stand beside their open graves, as they experience the trials and sufferings of this life, heartaches and disappointments indescribable. 

 

Such is the curse that sin has laid on God’s beautiful creation.  John wept audibly for the failure to find a Redeemer because it meant that death and sin and hell would reign forever and ever.” 

 

-      W. A. Criswell

 

 

 

4.  Worship WELCOMES King Jesus

 

 

Revelation 5:8-13 (NIV) And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.

 

9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

11 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. 12 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!”

13 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!”