Revelation records a lot about singing, and shows us a lot to help us learn to worship!
Obviously a book that is above all the ‘revelation of Jesus Christ’ will give us clues as to how we respond to that revelation. (‘I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship,’ we read in the last chapter. (NIV as usual.) He had understood.) Why not go through the many outbursts of praise in the book and use them as fuel for your own worship?
For example, we can reflect on each of the three terms in 1:5, and then turn them into praise: Thank You, Lord Christ, that You are the faithful witness … the firstborn from the dead… the ruler of the kings of the earth! John too responds in deliberate worship in 1:5-6 – and as he does so, he is suddenly swept up into joy in 1:7; sometimes that happens to us too!
But now in chapters 4 and 5, we find a really helpful threefold base for adoration of our Triune God. Firstly, for who He is – His eternal nature, and grandeur, and holiness (4:8)! Then second, for what He does – His glory as our sovereign Creator, Sustainer and Planner (4:10-11; where also we see how the only reasonable response from the ‘elders’ to the wonderful way God has honoured them is to ‘cast their crowns’, their most prized possessions, in deliberate adoration, declaring that `You are worthy to receive glory!’). And then thirdly, for what He has done – Christ’s glory, the Redeeming Lamb (so humble!), yet the victorious builder (out of very unpromising materials!) of the global and world-renewing Church (5:9-10); `worthy, because`(5:9) he has been to the last, ultimate depth of the pit of suffering; humble, yet able to `take` the scroll (next post about that!) `from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne` (5:7); stupendously triumphant above all through sacrifice, because He was slain (5:5-6,9) – which also shows how utterly worthy He is to receive all power, and all true wealth (whatever that means in heaven!), and all wisdom, and all praise (5:12)! Three key revelations of our Triune God, then, and three very practical foundations for our praise; Lord, please help me begin to learn to worship You for all that You do and are!
And then look at this symphony of praise in chapter 5. It’s verbal, content-full. First, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders sing their ‘new song’ to the Lamb (v9). (Is it a `new song` because, until it happened, the revelation of the Son lovingly sacrificing Himself on the cross was inconceivable even to angels? Cf 1 Peter 1:12, Eph 3:10?) And our prayers are at the centre of this, v8! `Be encouraged`, Stanley Munday has written: `The stumbling prayer of the humblest believer reaches heaven in a golden bowl!` But then comes a second movement (v11): millions upon millions of angels join the chorus of praise in a ‘loud voice’. And then in a third movement, John hears ‘every creature in heaven and on earth’ join in (v13), `an adoring universe pouring out its worship` (Tatford)! And all this leads finally to the climactic moment (v14) when the living creatures say, ‘Amen’ (`It is so right that this is so!` – joyously affirming the glory, the wonderfully-revealed worthiness of Christ for the very highest place of honour!); and the elders fall down and worship…
Wow. Hallelujah! And one day we shall see all this with our own eyes!
(This post is an edited version of part of A Guide to the End of the World, available on Kindle or in book form from https://instantapostle.com/books/a-guide-to-the-end-of-the-world/ . )
