“Worship God Day and Night”
Revelation 7:9-17
Do you know what the most prolific worship book
In the
whole Bible is?
On
a normal day you might guess the Psalter
Or
Acts or the Gospel of John
Each
of them have 11 to 13 worship references.
Since we are studying the Book of Revelation this
month
You
have probably guessed what the correct answer is.
The
Book of Revelation has 23 references to worship
There
are sixteen places where the multitude
Gather
to worship
and the worship
experience is included
in the Book of
Revelation:
Rev.
4:8 “Day and night without ceasing the sing “Holy,
Holy,
Holy, Lord God Almighty.”
Last
weeks lesson Rev. 5:13 “Every creature in heaven and o earth singing “To the
one seated on the Throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and
might forever and ever.”
Two of
the hymns we are singing today were inspired
By the Book of Revelation.
Turn
to the back of your hymnal, page 690
To
see how many hymns are inspired
By the Book of Revelation.
Handel’s
Hallelujah Chorus was inspired by
The Book of Revelation.
And
today’s lesson Rev. 7:9-17 is a worship experience:
A great multitude that no one
could count, from every nation, from every tribe and peoples and languages,
standing before the throne and the lamb. Robed in white, with Palm branches in their hands.
They cried with a loud voices, saying:
Salvation belongs to our God who is seated
on the throne and to the Lamb!”
“And all the angels stood around the
throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on
their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing: Amen! Blessing and
glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God
forever and ever! Amen”
Revelation is The
worship book of the Bible
And
that was crucial because it was written at a time
Where
the Christians were being forced to worship
Other idols or the emperors himself.
It was
important to have a book of worship songs
And
litanies that could be lifted up
to the early
Christians who we being
persecuted
for their faith.
I was
visiting at the hospital last week and
One of the people I visited mentioned
A piece of scripture that he
repeats
When he is
troubled,
And I
thought of my own mantra (Psalm 103)
“Bless
the Lord o my soul and
all that is within me
bless his holy name.
Bless
the Lord o my soul and
Forget
not all his benefits.”
And I think
of Benjamin Wier, fomrner
moderator of the Presbyterian Church (
Who was
captured for over a year in
And said that during that time
He repeated scripture as a
way
To worship God and
to
Keep hope.
Last week I gave thanks in the sermon and the prayer
For the
fact that we are free to worship God
Revealed in Jesus Christ in our nation and culture.
That
is true but I wonder if that means
That
we are free from the worship of idols
The word worship proskyneu literally means:
“to bow down”; “to worship”; “to kiss”; to serve”.
I
wonder if there are idols in our culture
And
it our lives that we are tempted to worship
To
serve or to honor that compete with
The throne or God and the lamb.
In the Book of Revelation Chapter Six it talks about
such idols when it talks about
The
four horsemen:
The
white horseman with the crown is
Political
power:
The
Red horseman which takes peace from the
world is military power;
The
black horseman with scales in his hands
Is
economic power;
And
the Pale Green horseman is the power of
Death in the world.
John recognized these powerful influences in the first
century
World
that compete for God’s adoration, worship & praise
and I would
suggest that these same powers
still compete for
our worship and praise and honor.
This Book of Revelation, this Book of
Worship
Is as relavent
for us today as it was
for the people
in the first century.
The challenge that the Book of
Revelation offers us
Is
to look at what we give honor to today.
To
evaluate who we offer our allegiance to
What
we truly trust for our salvation:
Is
it economic security, military might,
political power or
the fear of death.
And the challenge in this chapter is not
just for the
Christians
and Jews who were mentioned 144 elders.
In this chapter the challenge is
extended to:
A great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation,
And every tribe and peoples
and languages,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
robed in white,
with palm branches in their hands.”
In the Book of Revelation we have the
second coming of
The
Triumphal entry into
A
small band of followers from one tribe
We
have a whole multitude praising God and
The
Lamb and instead of entering into
The
old
Into
three by Jews, Christians
and Muslims,
The
Book fo Revelation will talk
about:
“A new Jerusalem coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband.”
But that is a topic for another sermon.
For
now we want to join our voices together and sing
With
the multitude “O for a thousand tongues
to sing”