Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
What does your worship look like? It's a question that I think today's Verse of the Day will help us understand, maybe challenge a little bit, but hopefully inspire.
It's Revelation chapter 4, verse 11. It says, "'You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For You created all things, and they exist because You created what You pleased.'"
Let’s spend some time digging into the context of what we're actually reading.
Context, Context, and Context
Here are the three C's of Scripture. Are you ready? Context, context, and context. It matters what you read around what you've just read. Let's talk about this. Revelation is a package of prophecy and poetry and imagery. All of it is woven together in only the way that God could weave it together. So many people spend so much time studying this book, and we have not begun to scratch the surface of understanding.
This is actually a glimpse into heaven. This one verse is a part of a chapter that describes the worship that's happening around the throne of God. There's a part of this where it actually talks about how there are rainbows surrounding God. There are stones that glow. There are angels. There are beasts. This is wild. There are creatures in heaven that we have never seen before that are described in some really weird ways. We can try to use our imagination, but we will never fully understand the complexity of these beings that surround the throne of God.
The Elders Fall Down
Then we see a group of people known as the elders. Again, we don't know who these people are or what they look like, but we see them acting in a way that challenges our approach to God. It actually says in chapter 4 that they fall down before Him. They're wearing crowns, not just these little wreaths that you see on paintings, but crowns. Think of something regal, like a king would wear, something that signifies authority and position and power. It says they take off their crowns and they throw them before God. They fall on their faces.
Then they say this verse. I'm going to read it one more time, and I want you to hear it now in the context that it's being said. Also, keep this in mind—this is happening right now. Sometimes I think we can separate ourselves from Scripture and think, oh, that just was something they recorded a long time ago, or that's something that's coming. It's not happening yet. This is happening in heaven right now. The elders have just fallen on their faces, throwing their power, position, authority on the floor. This is what they say to the King of kings:
"You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because You created what You pleased."
I have to stop and actually sit in that for a minute.
Does My Worship Look Like Heaven's?
How often do we worship God like that? Jesus teaches us to pray and He says, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He makes a direct connection between the two, and it challenges me to ask the question: Does my worship on earth look like the worship happening in heaven? Am I laying my authority, my position on the floor? Rather, am I throwing it down at the feet of Jesus?
I would just encourage you to sit with that thought today. Let that be the challenge, the prompt for you to just sit with the Lord after you've finished watching this and thinking. Ask yourself, is my worship like that of heaven? In everything I say and do, is it to honor the Lord? If you were to take a moment by yourself in the Lord's presence and just sit with Him, what would it look like?
If Jesus Were to Walk In
I heard this one challenge, and this is where I'll leave you today. I had a worship leader challenge me: "If Jesus were to walk in the room right now, how would you respond?" I pose that to you. If Jesus were to walk into your room right now, wherever you're at—maybe you're on a bus. Maybe you're in your bedroom, maybe you're in a hospital room. If Jesus were to walk in, how would you respond?
