Revelation - Episode VII - The Final Destination

God wants purity in worship. It is not God’s desire so much as his righteous demand. In this final article of the series, we consider three ideas from Revelation about how purity in worship might look for us, and for our young people.

#1: Worship puts God at the centre

In 4:2, John is taken into heaven. This is the first thing he says: ‘There before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.’ Interestingly, John’s first impression of heaven is a throne. He does not describe walls or a temple or angels or noise or activity. He focuses on a throne. He wants to emphasise that the focus of heaven is the sovereignty of God, the authority of God. In our worship, the focus must always be on the throne of God and his sovereign power.

Surrounding the throne are 24 elders, representing believers, and the four living creatures, representing the whole of creation (4:4,6). Their worship is the heart of heavenly activity. The angels never cease praising God, crying out day and night, ‘Holy, holy, holy’ (4:8). As they do so, the 24 elders fall down in praise (4:10). Here we have, in symbolic language, the whole of heaven and earth joining in worship for God.

The ascription they offer God in verse ten is interesting: ‘Who was, and is, and is to come’. What is stressed here is that all of creation and all of time itself is defined by the nature of God. The past was God-filled: ‘Who was’. The present is God-filled: ‘Who is’. The future can only be understood in the context of the one ‘who is to come’. Our worship is therefore an expression of this truth, putting God at the centre of our lives and the centre of the whole created order for all time.

When the 24 elders worship him, they lay their crowns in submission and say: ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being’ (4:11). This ascription to the glory of God is seeped in Old Testament imagery – except for one phrase. ‘Our Lord and God’ is not a phrase used in the Old Testament but it is one the first hearers would have known because it is the title given to the Emperor Domitian. This is a clear, political statement about the authority of God over the rulers of the world. There is only one ‘Lord and God’: and it’s not Domitian! The insertion of this phrase in the heavenly worship is important because it suggests that worship must always retain a pragmatic element. In worship, we do not leave the world behind but we seek to take the world to God.

There is one more interesting thing in this act of heavenly worship. In the ascription, ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power’, the verb ‘receive’ is in the aorist tense, which suggests a single action. We often take this verse to mean that God receives, continuously, glory and honour and power through our worship. But it expressly doesn’t say that! Instead, it suggests that there will be a single act through which he will receive glory and honour and power. That single act clearly has something to do with creation because the rest of the verse says, ‘For you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’ The idea here is that when Christ returns, the whole of creation will be restored and renewed and, in that act of restoration and renewal, the name of God will be glorified and honoured.

Incredibly, the greatest act of worship is the renewal of creation through the Second Coming. Everything we offer to God in worship before then is just a foretaste of that awesome, cosmic moment! 

#2: Worship is a community act

In 19:1, the great multitude in heaven raises a loud cry: ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power to our God, for his judgements are true and just.’ Given the amount of times we use the word ‘hallelujah’ in our hymns and liturgies, you might be surprised to learn that Chapter 19 of Revelation is the only time the word is used in the English Bible. The word itself is a Semitic word; hallel meaning ‘Praise’ and jah meaning ‘God’. Praise God! There is no other usage of the word hallelujah in the New Testament and, when it is used in the Psalms, it is always translated, ‘Praise God’.

Chapter 19 gives us a picture of worship as a community act. We are part of the great multitude when we worship. But as our hallelujahs join those of all other believers, what is it that we are ‘hallelujah-ing’ about? The answer, of course, is in 19:1 – ‘His judgements are true and just.’

We are a community of worship because it is through God’s judgement that salvation comes to the world. That is a constant theme throughout Revelation. The redeemed host beside the Red Sea in 15:3 sang, ‘just and true are your ways’, the martyrs beneath the altar in 16:7 proclaimed, ‘Your judgements are true and just!’ And here, in Chapter 19, we have the ultimate proclamation of that fact as final judgement falls upon civilisation. There is nothing capricious about this judgement: it is just and it is true.

Then, in verse 19:3, this word is used again: ‘Once more they said, “Hallelujah! The smoke goes up from her forever and ever.”’ This time, the hallelujah cry indicates something different, that the destruction of anti- Christian civilisation has happened. John is announcing a new world order: the old has gone and the new is coming; so hallelujah – praise God.

So because the world order is being renewed, we are not surprised to see the whole of heaven fall to their knees in the worship of the all-powerful God: ‘And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who is seated on the throne’ (19:4). And what does this heavenly realm proclaim? ‘Amen’, meaning ‘so be it’ and ‘hallelujah’, meaning ‘praise God’.

Then, in verse six, the whole of the Church joins in the hallelujah chorus. It is such a unique, incredible sound that John cannot directly describe it: three times he uses the word ‘like’.

‘Then I heard what sounded like the noise of a great multitude’. ‘Like the sound of many waters’. ‘Like the sound of mighty thunderpeals’. How can anyone ever describe the eternal praise of the people of God? It is utterly indescribable in glory and power.

There, we join in with the word ‘hallelujah’. The first time, in verse 19:1, it indicated that God’s judgements were true and just. The second time, in verse 19:3, it indicated that the old had gone and the new was coming. The third time, in verse 19:4, it indicated the whole of the created order coming together in unity. And now, in 19:6, the Church joins in this great hallelujah chorus and what is the meaning of it this fourth time? ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty has entered into his reign.’ The first three uses of the word hallelujah are all brought together in this fourth, and final, triumphant cry. God has judged, the old has gone, the new is coming, in which the created order lives in unity and, as a result, the Lord God has entered into his reign.

That is the great proclamation of the Church, not just in the future but in the now too: that is the gospel, that is the good news that you and I are called to proclaim. As Jesus said, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand’. ‘The Lord God has entered into his reign.’

#3: Worship is intimate

Even though worship is a community act, it is also the perfect mix of personal reverence and intimacy. An example of this is in 1:17, where John writes, ‘When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid.”’

Given the magnitude of the vision he was receiving, it is not surprising that John should have been so overwhelmed that he fell down before God. That was a normal response (Joshua 5:14; Ezekiel 1:28; Daniel 10:7). But the fear of the Lord is matched with a deep sense of reassurance of God’s love and care and compassion. Christ placed his right hand on John and spoke to him.

There is something beautifully reassuring about human touch. The touch of the hand on the shoulder brought John comfort. It would have been a familiar touch for him because we see exactly the same thing happening at the Transfiguration in Matthew 17. The two stories mirror each other: ‘When the disciples [saw the transfiguration], they fell face down to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up”, he said. “Don’t be afraid”’.

We want to introduce our young people to a deep experience of worship. In so doing, they will experience both fear and intimacy.

It’s all about God

We started this short series by recognising the centrality of the glory of God in Revelation. We have come full circle, recognising that our worship is the acknowledgement of that. It’s all about God.

Whilst that is undoubtedly true, it is also important for young people to develop purity in worship because that is where they find their true identity. In 1 Peter 1:22, we read, ‘You have purified your souls for pure brotherly affection by obedience to the truth…’ The obedience that Peter refers to is our acceptance of the gospel. As a result we have been purified. He does not urge us to be purified but to live in the truth that we are already purified. Our worship of God springs out of that truth of who we are. Therefore, as young people worship God in purity, so they develop a deeper sense of their true identity; beautiful, pure children of God. That is not to say that everything they do will be perfect behaviour but that even when they fall short of God’s standards, they will still be pure – because God has declared them so. Worship is as much about discovering who we are as giving glory to God. As youth workers, we want our young people to be confident in who they are and what they are destined to be. That confidence finds a firm foundation in the life of worship.

In conclusion, we understand our responsibility to young people. We must avoid sensationalist readings of Revelation and avoid developing unbiblical doctrines. Instead, we must nurture them into a lifestyle of worship and discipleship, in which God is at the centre, spiritual warfare is recognised for what it is and our young people are bold enough to speak out against injustice in society. If we achieve this, we will have honoured the incredible teaching of John through his masterpiece, the book of Revelation.

Amen! Hallelujah!