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Sermons

February 1/2, 2014

God-Centered Worship

Jason Meyer | Revelation 4:1-11

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. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, 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!”

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They 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.”—Revelation 4


Introduction

Start It, Stoke It, and Spread It: Overview of the Next 10 Weeks

I have been reading a lot of books lately on church identity. There are some that say you have to choose a church brand. You have to specialize and focus on one thing. Some churches will be theological, some will be relational, some will be missional. What do I think about that? I refuse to choose! How could we? We have a mission statement that says we exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. “All things” does not sound very narrow, does it? We have a spreading vision for God’s supremacy, but how are we going to do that? Here is my answer. We make God supreme as a church when we reach high in up-reach, go deep in in-reach, and spread far in outreach. God starts the fire in up-reach, stokes the fire in in-reach, and spreads the fire in outreach. That is the catchphrase for the next 10 weeks as we reflect upon who we are as a church: Start it, stoke it, spread it.

In next week’s bulletin, we are going to have an insert that gives the schedule for these 10 sermons. The insert will share the 10 irreducible essentials and our 14 priorities we believe we received from the Lord. We have worked hard at hearing from him. We want you to be part of this process now. We are a big church, but we want a personal touch. We are going to be holding question and answer times on each campus three times to discuss our DNA. Or as Pastor Dan Holst said, “Q & A on our DNA.” Don’t worry I won’t make a rap for it. We will have three of them on each campus: one for up-reach, one for in-reach, and one for outreach. We want these to be genuine conversations. We want to hear from you too—not just have you listen to us. None of this will make any difference without congregational input, ownership, and excitement.

This morning we begin where everything begins: The Centrality of God. We are a God-centered people. We believe he is supreme over everything and in everything. We start with God. God’s supremacy is perhaps best seen in the symbol of a throne. The throne says, “God is in control.” What should you see when you step into this sanctuary? You should see that God is on the throne. He is in control. He is supreme over everything! That is just what John sees in Revelation 4.

The letters to the seven churches have pictured Jesus as knowing and being present with his church. There is much persecution and conflict. Satan has thrown some into prison and some will be killed. But now we are ready to leave the view from below and attain the view from above.

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.—Revelation 4:1

Verses 2–11 are what Bible students call a chiasm. Many other scholars have seen the same structure (Grant R. Osborne, Revelation, p. 230).

A 2b–3 Description of the One on the Throne
B 4; Description of the 24 Elders
C 5a–6a Description from and before the Throne
B´ 6b–7 Description of Four Living Creatures
A´ 8–11 Worship of the One on the Throne

The apostle John describes three main things that he sees and hears in this chapter: (1) the throne, (2) the creatures around the throne, and (3) their worship of the One on the throne. My prayer as we begin is that as you see and hear these things with John, you will join in worshiping the One on the throne.

God on the Throne (vv. 2–3; 5–6a)

It is striking that the first thing John sees is a “throne.” This is the same as the Isaiah 6 texts that it so closely resembles. The reader of Isaiah 6 is tempted to believe that the throne is empty because it is the year that King Uzziah died. The king has died. Is the throne vacant? But Isaiah saw the Lord high and exalted and seated upon the throne. John sees the same vision. Caesar is not on the throne. Satan is not on the throne. God and God alone. He is the King eternal. As Paul says, God is “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the only One who has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom none of mankind has seen or can see, to whom be honor and eternal might. Amen” (1 Timothy 6:16). Is that the God you worship? God has opponents, but he has no real rivals. He is the only Sovereign—the King that reigns over all so-called rulers.

That is such a significant reminder at the outset. We are sometimes tempted to read Revelation as if it describes something that will be true one day. Not so. It describes something that is true every day. Here is the exciting thing about these texts—they do not just say what will one day be true, but what is always true.

It is easy to read Revelation with a future orientation that says “Won’t that be great someday.” But that is all wrong. It is great now. It will only be greater then. If it is not great now, it may never be.

I do not know what you see in the view from below today. But wherever you are I urge you to look above past the curtain of confusion that shrouds our earthly view and see God seated on the throne. He reigns above the flux of chaos. His kingly control is not ever in question.

The One seated upon the throne is not really described much beyond his brightness. What you see is his blinding beauty. You just see the shining glory. The brilliant colors of the three stones probably represents the bright, blinding brilliance of God’s glory. It is similar to what Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:16 that God dwells in “unapproachable light.”

Now we need to look at what is coming from the throne and what is before the throne.

From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.—Revelation 4:5–6

These phenomena coming from the throne remind the reader of the rumblings that come with appearances of God in the OT when Yahweh comes down like at Mt. Sinai. These phenomena definitely convey a judgment theme as the awesome God who is worthy of worship prepares for judgment. One commentator noted that this phrase “lightnings and the roar of the storm and thunders” appear throughout Revelation (4:5; 8:5 [seventh seal], 11:19 [seventh trumpet], 16:18 [seventh bowl]. Those are all crucial seams of the book. You can’t miss the judgment theme in the thunder and lightning. You hear the rumbling and see the flashing warning that comes from the terrors of God’s holy wrath and just judgment. Revelation 4 prepares the reader of Revelation for the judgment that is about to come in the book. This “initial vision of his rule in heaven” leads to “the expectation of God’s coming to judge and rule the world” (Bauckham quoted by G.R. Osborne, Revelation, p. 231).

The seven-fold Spirit is a reference to the Holy Spirit, and the sea of glass probably represents the vast expanse, like the firmament. The Old Testament background is crucial here to catch what John sees. Osborne (Revelation, p. 231) comments on the expanse and the relationship of Ezekiel’s vision:

We must add Ezekiel 1:22, which builds on Genesis 1:7 in describing “an expanse, sparkling like ice, and awesome,” above the living creatures. The throne of God rested on this “expanse.” “Crystal-clear” glass resembles a sea and adds to the imagery. Note that John does not say this “sea” exists in heaven but that what is there “looks like” a sea of glass. The emphasis is on God’s awesome vastness, his transcendence and his holiness that separate him from his creation (like the firmament separated the waters). The scene is enhanced greatly by this spectacular image. In one sense it is like glass, reflecting the magnificence and kaleidoscopic colors of the throne room.

We now work in concentric circles. Point two looks at the heavenly creatures in the throne room. John sees and describes 24 thrones with 24 elders and four living creatures. That will lead to the third point, in which we see and hear the worship of the four living creatures followed by the worship of the 24 elders. Did you catch the chiastic order?

Description of 24 Elders (v. 4);
    Description of the 4 Living Creatures (vv. 6b–7)
    Worship of the 4 Living Creatures (vv. 8–9)
Worship of 24 Elders (vv. 10–11)

The Creatures Near the Throne (vv. 4, 6b–7)

Description of the 24 Elders (v. 4)

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.—Revelation 4:4

The 24 elders have been described as either human or angelic. I take the view, along with the majority of commentators, that they are angelic beings (Commentators Beale, Beckwith, Charles, Moffatt, Ladd, Beasley-Murray, Morris, Mounce, Johnson, Osborne, Roloff, Krodel, and Thomas). I will give several reasons for this view: (1) the Old Testament shows that God is surrounded by “the heavenly council” which consists of many angels (Psalm 89:7; Job 15:8), (2) the elders are always distinct from the saints in Revelation and are normally seen together with the four living creatures (5:14; 14:3; 19:4), (3) the NT talks about the throne angels (Colossians 1:16—whether thrones or rulers or dominions or authorities); (cf. Ephesians 3:10; 6:12), (4) the NT presents angels as dressed in white garments (Matthew 28:3; John 20:12; Acts 1:10), (5) it would make sense that humanity does not appear before the throne until after the sacrifice of Christ in chapter five.

Many have noted the symbolic and representative function these ruling angels hold. Some commentators believe that these angels are the representatives of the people of God (12 tribes, 12 apostles = all the people of God, Beale), while others say they are symbolic of the 24 priestly orders found in the Old Testament (Osborne, Aune). 

Description of the Four Living Creatures

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.—Revelation 4:6–7

Describing the four living creatures, John clearly echoes Old Testament imagery from Ezekiel and Isaiah. Ezekiel 1 describes four living creatures that involve images of a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man. These creatures are full of eyes like in Revelation (in Ezekiel each creature has four faces, in Revelation each has but one). Both contain winged creatures, though Ezekiel’s creatures possess four wings while John’s have six like Isaiah’s vision. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah sees a vision of the heavenly throne room and in the throne room he sees seraphim who each have six wings and cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy!”

Who are these living creatures? Why do they look like a lion, ox, man, and eagle? Remember that this is symbolism. In the church I pastored in Kentucky, I was the worship pastor, preaching pastor, and youth pastor. In my work with the Youth, one day a 13 year old came to me just brimming with excitement. I collected baseball cards as a kid, and he showed me his pack of Revelation cards. He showed me the picture of the four living creatures. He told me that he couldn’t wait to see the flying lion. How cool! I realized that I needed to teach on that little thing called GENRE. You don’t read all documents the same way. If I write to my wife, and tell her that I miss her so much that my heart is breaking, she is not going to call the emergency room and set up heart surgery. It is symbolic, emotive language. A medical briefing is going to read very differently.

The Bible has different types of writing. Apocalyptic writing used symbolism. What is the symbolism trying to convey? In the ancient world, people categorized creation according to four spheres: wild animals (lion), domesticated animals (bull), birds (eagle), and humanity (man). These creatures represent the strongest of each sphere. These beings represent the greatest of all created beings. However, we are not to get distracted by their strength so that we focus on them. Our focus should be the same as theirs! They are defined by what they are doing.

The Worship of God on the Throne (vv. 8–11)

Worship of the Four Living Creatures

 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, 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!”—Revelation 4:8

What They Are Doing

I love these four living creatures. What they are doing defines them. Think about it. They are the strongest creatures in the universe. No other created thing comes close to them. But even they are not self-focused. They are not spending their time looking down on anyone else. They spend all their time looking up at God. What stands out is not the distance between them and everything else in creation. What stands out is the gap between the creation and the Creator. They are not looking in the mirror like a vain bodybuilder that always tries to find an opportunity to flex and see how strong they are. Oh, I can see myself in the reflection of that car window as I walk by, stop and flex. They spend all their time amazed by how amazing God is!

What They Are Saying

Now we finally have a description of the One on the throne that goes beyond externals right to God’s inner essence. “Holiness” and the adjective “holy” occur more than 900 times in the Bible. Don’t worry. We are not going to look at all of them. We are interested in seeing what holiness means as applied to God. God as holy signifies his transcendence—his separateness. He is “wholly other,” in “a category all by himself.” That is why the throne is so helpful in defining God’s holiness. He sits on the throne of the universe. Even the greatest created beings don’t get close to him. God’s holiness can’t be boiled down to a bunch of rules—it is his rule over everything that is in view. Not rules as a list of dos and don’ts—his rule on an eternal throne!

He is transcendent over the creation and he remains utterly separate from uncleanness in the moral perfection of his character. God is holy in that he is utterly distinct from his creation and all impurity.

One theologian I read saw these two things skillfully balanced in Psalm 99. “Verses 1 through 3 portray God’s distance from the finite and earthbound, whereas verses 4 and 5 emphasize his separation from sin and evil” (Bruce DeMarest, “Holiness,” in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, p. 984).


Separate From Creation

The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble! 
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! 
The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. 
    Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!—Psalm 99:1–3

Separate From Sin and Evil

The King in his might loves justice. 
You have established equity; 
you have executed justice 
and righteousness in Jacob. 
Exalt the LORD our God; 
worship at his footstool! 
Holy is he!—Psalm 99:4–5

This three-fold praise “Holy, Holy, Holy” is a way of expressing the transcendence of God in a way that stresses the separation through repetition. He is in a class of his own, a class of his own, a class of his own. He is Wholly Other, Wholly Other, Wholly Other. He is proclaimed to be omnipotent: God Almighty. He is proclaimed to be eternal: The One who was and is and is to come.

If these greatest of all beings use all their eyes and spend all their time day and night worshiping God, then how great is our God! He is in a class all his own! He alone is Almighty. He alone is Eternal. He is in a class by himself as Holy.

Worship of the 24 Elders

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They 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.”—Revelation 4:9–11

The last verse in a vision is often the main point and that is the case here. Worship is happening. It is so helpful to note that worship is really the word “worth-ship.” Worship says, “You are Worthy.” Then it declares and celebrates all that God is worthy of: Glory, honor, power. Then it declares why he is worthy of it: Because He is the Creator of all things. All creation worships its Creator.

Key illustration: The Headwaters of Holiness
Last summer my family took a trip to visit the headwaters of the Mississippi. It was amazing to see a massive diagram that had all the waters running into the Mississippi stretching from the state of Minnesota to the state of Mississippi. I think of God’s holiness as the headwaters of all theology. God’s holiness is central because everything flows from it. Every attribute of God is holy. Holy sovereignty. Holy love. Holy power. Let us look at how the headwaters of holiness makes an impact on three things.

Application

1. God’s Holiness Is Central in Relation to God’s Glory

Here is the upshot of the relation between God’s glory and God as holy. There is a phrase in the Bible that brings it together: “the splendor of holiness.” The glory of God is the external expression of God’s internal essence. Holiness is his inner essence and glory is the outward expression of that essence.

In other words, God’s transcendent perfection has a bright, blazing glow. We could go many places, I will restrict myself to two: Psalm 29:2 and Psalm 96:6–10.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; 
worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.—Psalm 29:3

     Splendor and majesty are before him; 
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 
     Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, 
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength! 
         Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; 
bring an offering, and come into his courts! 
         Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; 
tremble before him, all the earth! 
    Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!—Psalm 96:6–10  (parallel in 1 Chronicles 16:27–30)

2. God’s Holiness Is Central in Relation to the Purity of Our Worship

Worship wars really happen because we argument about what pleases us in worship. What a dumb debate. We get off on the wrong foot from the start. God-centered worship is different than man-centered worship in that we don’t start by asking what pleases us, but what pleases God. He is the audience of One! We cannot forget God’s awesome transcendence and holiness in worship. The way we sing, the way we pray, the way we enter the sanctuary. O friends, let us keep the headwaters of our hearts pure. We don’t view holiness as a drab thing, but a trembling sense of anticipation. We need to taste God’s holiness with trembling joy in a first hand way.

C.S. Lewis said it right. “How little people know who think holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing, it is irresistible.” A first hander of God’s holiness will mean that the headwaters of your heart will love God’s holiness.

3. God’s Holiness Is Central in Relation to Our Sin

God’s holiness and awesome transcendence define our sin. He is perfect in purity and we are not. Think about the ways that we sin. You may say, “well, I am not like others. I don’t commit big sins like adultery or murder.” But do you see that ignoring an infinitely big God is an infinitely big sin? How many of us are constantly honoring God and giving thanks to Him? That is what Paul identifies as the sin of creation in Romans 1:21:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.

Paul says we even prefer created things above our Creator. We exchange them for God. What terrible trades!

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 

Everyone is worshiping. We assign worth to things all the time. Tim Keller said it well (Galatians for You, p. 127–128):

Non-religious people are worshiping something, too. All of us need a sense of worth or value. So everyone has a worshipful faith in something from which they must derive that value. But these things control us as we seek them, disappoint us if we find them, and devastate us if we lose them. 

In other words, we assign worth to things, but too often we give them worth above God. We need to supremely value the supremely valuable. We sin every time we do not do that. That is what it means to fall short of the glory of God. We put other things on the throne that have no business being there. They don’t belong there and they can’t stay there. It is no small sin to act self-centered. It is no small sin to make someone else or something else central in our lives. God alone is on the throne.

Conclusion

Transcendence and Immanence Come Together in Communion

One of the 10 biblical essentials is rightly administering the ordinances of communion and baptism. So let us reflect on what communion has to say to all that we have seen thus far. We have talked about God’s holiness. But is this holiness good news for the unholy? How could any sinner approach him if burning creatures without sin have to cover their eyes and their feet? Sinners cannot stand before God’s unmediated holiness. How could we ever draw near to God in his transcendent holiness? Unmediated holiness will destroy us, but God made a way to draw near to us without destroying us. He came near us through his Son—who is even called Immanuel, “God with us.” To help us understand his transcendence and nearness, let us look at how the Bible compares and contrasts two great mountains and mediators.

In Hebrews 12:18–21 was a mountain. It reminds us that we can’t draw near without a mediator. Yes, come, see, and hear the first mountain and the first mediator. The mountain had a blazing fire, thunder and lightning, and a voice that makes you tremble to your core. They all say, don’t touch. Even if a beast touches the mountain it must be stoned. Even Moses the first mediator said, “I tremble with fear.”

But Hebrews 12:22–24 says there is another mountain and another mediator: Mount Zion is the mountain above and Jesus is the mediator above. This new mediator is a mediator of a new covenant, not like the old covenant. Listen to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Abel’s blood cried out, “guilty, guilty, condemn.” Jesus’ blood speaks the better word of “not guilty, no condemnation.” This is a meal only for those that have heard Jesus say, “no condemnation.” His holiness is either a treasure or a terror, but it cannot be a trifle to us at the table.

Closing Song: "You Are God Alone"

 

Discussion Questions

  • How did you think about God’s holiness before this sermon? Has your thinking changed now? How would you explain it to a child?
  • How does the God-centered worship of Revelation 4 help us understand the difference between man-centered worship and God-centered worship?
  • How does Revelation 4 help us understand sin in deeper ways?