Jesus
is
Worthy of All Praise
The apostle John will surely be recognized as one of the
greatest apostles in eternity.
His most fruitful years were spent as the overseer of the
church at Ephesus. While there, he wrote his gospel and three epistles
(letters). As an old
man he was exiled to the isle of Patmos “...for
the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” (Revelation
1:9b).
While on Patmos Jesus appeared to
John in vision and revealed to him the prophecy we know as the
book of Revelation. Jesus
assigned three divisions to the revelation He gave:
1.
“. . .the things
which you have seen. . .” (chapter
1)
2.
“. . .the things
which are. . .” (the Church age, Chapters 2, 3.
3.
“. . .the things
which will take place after these things.” (Chapters 4-20).
See
Revelation 1:19.
John Was
Caught Up In Spirit To Heaven
At the beginning of Revelation 4 we find John caught up in
the spirit to heaven. To
John alone Jesus gave the privilege of observing in spirit the
events that will follow the church age.
The Holy Spirit enabled him to record what he saw so that
through his eyes we might view the events that will come to pass
after we who make up the church of Jesus are caught up to be with
Him in heaven.
From A Rocky
Cave to God’s Throne Room
God On His
Throne
As a banished exile on Patmos
John’s quarters were a cave dug in volcanic rock.
In an instant of time he finds himself in the throne room
of God. His first
impression is that of the heavenly Father on His throne.
He describes the Father on His throne as emanating a
brilliant, clear light with fiery red light glowing at the center.
The clear light represents God’s pure holiness and the
red light His justice burning in wrath.
In the background there is an emerald green rainbow
representing God’s mercy. Those
who carefully read on in the book of Revelation find that there
will be seven years following the church age which can be labeled
“The Wrath of God” (See Revelation 6:16, 17).
The wrath of God will fall with increasing intensity on
those who persist in their rebellion against His authority.
At the same time His mercy is abundantly available to those
who yield to His authority and receive His Son, Jesus Christ, as
their Savior.
Around
God’s Throne
Letting his gaze drift outward
from the throne of God, the Father
John sees twenty-four elders sitting on thrones in a circle
around the Father’s. They
are clothed in white garments and have golden crowns on their
heads. Our best guess
is that twelve of them represent the twelve tribes of Israel and
the other twelve represent the twelve apostles who are the
original source of all who come into the church.
John also sees four living creatures with six wings.
One like a lion, one like a calf, one like a man and one
like an eagle. Ezekiel
had a similar vision (Ezekiel 1:5-10).
So did Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-7).
They guard the approach to God’s throne; proclaim God’s
holiness and lead others in worship.
They proclaim night and day, “Holy,
Holy, Holy is the LORD God, the Almighty, Who was and Who is and
Who is to come.” Revelation 4:8b. In response the twenty-four elders fall down before the
Father and worship Him. They
cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy
are You, our Lord and our God, to receive honor and power;
for You created all things, and because of Your will they
existed, and were created.”
Revelation 4:11
We learn from this that God, the Father is worthy of
all praise.
The Book In
The Right Hand Of The Father
John’s attention (and ours) is next riveted on a book
lying in the right hand of God, the Father.
We need to understand that in John’s day books were in
the form of scrolls…up to 30 feet long.
The scroll that John saw in the Father’s hand had seven
seals located throughout the book.
As each seal is broken, more of the scroll can be opened up
and more of its contents read.
A Mysterious
Yet Supremely Important Book
With loud voice a mighty angel
puts the question to the dwellers of Heaven, “Who
is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?”
John’s eyes fasten on the living creatures and the
twenty-four elders. They bow their heads in silence.
His eyes sweep the assembled throng and pause when he sees
cherubim, seraphim and arch angels.
They too, stand mute because they know they are not worthy. And John records, “no
one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open
the scroll or to look at it.” Revelation 5:3. And so John wept greatly.
What Is The Book?
Beyond question, this is a
mysterious book that purposely leaves many things in the shadows
of obscurity. Yet,
there are two major revelations that give us the key to
understanding what this book is about:
1.
As each seal is broken a great event unfolds that brings
the kingdoms of the world one step closer to being reclaimed for
God and redeemed mankind’s champion, Jesus Christ.
2.
When the seventh seal is broken it initiates seven trumpets
to be sounded by seven angels.
When the seventh trumpet sounds we read of loud voices in
heaven saying, “The
kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His
Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.”
We also read that the twenty-four elders fall on their
faces and worship God saying, “We
give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty. . .because You have
taken Your great power and reigned.” Revelation
11:15-17.
For
want of better terms let us describe this book as “The Required
Process For God To Reclaim His Ruler-ship Over The World.”
We
are aware that God bestowed upon the first man the authority to
rule over God’s creation. “Be fruitful and multiply: fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion
over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over
every living thing. . .”.
Genesis 1:28. We
also are aware that Lucifer, the highest and most powerful being
God created, rebelled against God.
With great subtlety he tempted Eve to disobey God.
When she did Adam joined her in disobedience.
As a result man’s authority to rule over God’s creation
was lost. Lucifer seized the scepter of universal rule that fell from
Adam’s hand. We
have a clear example of how he has used this authority in 2nd
Corinthians 4: “But
even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are
perishing, whose minds the god of this world has blinded,
who do not believe, lest the light
of the gospel of the glory of Christ…” Verses
3, 4. Lucifer has
effectively become the god of this world and he primarily uses his
power to keep unsaved men and women from coming to an
understanding of salvation. More and more of the world's
people have been kept in darkness to the true God.
This
is the reason why it is so important that the ruler-ship of the
world must be taken away from Lucifer and restored to God.
That book in God’s hands contains the steps necessary to
bring this to pass. And
John continues to weep because no man is worthy to open the book
and break its seals.
The
Lion of the Tribe of Judah Has Prevailed
As John weeps one of the elders
informs him, “Do not weep,
Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has
prevailed. . .to open the scroll and and to loose its seven
seals.” Revelation 5:5. John
lifts his gaze towards God’s throne expecting to see a lion.
Instead, he sees a Lamb as if it had been slain standing
before God’s throne. The
Lamb steps forward and takes the book from the hand of God.
When He does the four living creatures and the twenty-four
elders fall down before the Lamb and begin to sing a new song:
“Worthy
are You to take the scroll and to open its seals; for You were
slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every
tribe and tongue and people and nation.
You have made us kings and priests to our God;
and we shall reign on the earth.”
Revelation 5:9, 10.
Heaven and
Earth Rejoices
The living creatures and elders
are joined by Cherubim, Seraphim, Arch angels and myriad’s of
angels beyond number saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing.”
Revelation 5:12.
At this point John is overwhelmed as every created being in
heaven, on the earth and on the seas join the climactic chorus,
“Blessing and honor and
glory and power be to Him who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever.”
Revelation 5:13b.
Jesus Is
Worthy
Because He
Was Slain For Our Sins
He "Who
being in the form of God (and) did
not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of
no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in
the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man
He humbled Himself and became obedient to the
point of death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:6-8.
(See also 1st Peter 1:18, 19.)
Every animal sacrifice by God’s redeemed people in the
Old Testament was a picture of one of the benefits received by the
sacrifice of “the Lamb of God”.
The spirit of prophecy in the Old Testament prophets
reaches its zenith in Isaiah 53.
God allowed Isaiah to see the Lamb of God hanging on the
cross and here is how he described it:
“Surely He has borne our
grief’s and carried our sorrows: Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. But He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities; The
chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned, every one to his own
way; And the LORD has
laid on Him the iniquity of us all." .
Verses 4-6.
The apostle Paul summed up New Testament teaching on the
sacrifice of Christ when he wrote, “He
(God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.´ 2nd Corinthians
5:21.
Because He
Purchased People for God From Every Ethnic Group
Our daily news is filled with
reports of people hating and killing other people because they
have a different bone structure or because they have more or less
skin coloring or they speak a different language. Not so Jesus Christ. He
loved the whole world and He received the punishment for the sins
of all mankind and He turns no one away who comes to Him in
sincerity and receives Him by faith as their Savior.
All those who join in this chorus of praise to Jesus are
brothers and sisters in Christ.
Because He
Has Exalted Us To Be Kings and Priests
Regardless of our social status
redeemed people know that morally and spiritually our
classification was somewhere between being “down and outers and
up and outers” before we got saved.
But now we know we are royalty in waiting and can intercede
as priests before God on behalf of the needs of other people.
When Jesus takes His throne our positions will be exalted
to an even higher level.
Let
The Praise Begin
The eternity of every child of God began when they received
Jesus as their Savior. We
do not have to wait for a change in location to begin our praise.
Let us be full of praise to Jesus…for defeating every
temptation of Satan so He could be a sinless sacrifice…for being
the Lamb for sinner’s slain on the cross…for defeating Satan,
death, the grave, and hell itself…for rising again with all
authority in heaven and earth…for saving to the uttermost all
those who come to God by Him…for giving us power to rise in
victory over our sins and habits…for cleansing us from the
defilement of sin when we do fail…for comforting us in our grief
and sorrows…for giving us courage in times of terror… for
allowing us an audience with the heavenly Father to share all our
concerns and burdens…for the blessed hope that He is coming
again and these bodies will become immortal and
incorruptible…for the realization that eternity holds for us
wonderful things beyond our wildest dreams.
As
a sacrificial Lamb Jesus made all this possible.
He is worthy of all our praise.
Copyright © 2002 Thomas E Berry
All Scriptures quoted from NKJV unless otherwise noted
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