Totally unprepared for this kind of worship

Revelation 4

Have you ever witnessed something too wonderful, too beautiful, to find the words to express the fullness of what you had seen?  Have you taken pictures while on vacation to come home and show them to friends and proclaim, that does not do justice to what we saw?  I believe that is what John is experiencing as he tells us what he has heard and seen in this fourth chapter of the Revelation.

“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.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.”  John gives us an eyewitness of what he saw, not only the throne and the one seated on the throne, but also what was going on around the throne of our Lord.

John said the one sitting on the throne had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and when I looked up jasper, the definition is chalcedony, a microcrystalline type of quartz occurring in several different forms, including onyx, agate, and jasper.  The meaning of the word carnelian is, a semiprecious stone consisting of an orange or orange-red variety of chalcedony. And as I’m reading this, it reminded me of the photo of the iceberg I took in Alaska; it had colors that I had not seen and the picture did not come close to what my eyes had observed, I believe that’s what is taking place in chapter four.

But that is not what grabs me in chapter four, what troubles me is what is happening in and around the throne of our Lord.  Around His throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, and they are clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.  John goes on to give this account, “And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind.”  John goes on to describe in great detail the four living creatures, but this jumped off the page at me, “and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”  Do you recall chapter 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” 

Why does it trouble me to read this part of chapter four, because they are worshiping our Lord, day and night and they never cease to give praise to Jesus, and yet we the redeemed, the ones who were restored to favor with God by the shed blood of His only Son, do less, much less than these four living creatures.  John tells us the elders 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.” 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice