Tuesday: Worship in Heaven
Image © Bill Osborne from GoodSalt.com
What do these two chapters teach us about the heavenly dwelling place of God? In what way is the plan of salvation revealed in these texts, as well?
The vision of the heavenly throne room is a vision of the heavenly sanctuary. This is made evident from the language referring to the Hebrew religious system. For instance, the words for door and trumpet in Revelation 4:1 appear often in the Septuagint (an ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) in reference to the sanctuary. The three precious stones in Revelation 4:3 are part of the High Priest’s breastplate. The seven lampstands are reminiscent of the lampstands in Solomon’s temple. The twenty-four elders remind us of the twenty-four divisions of service for the temple priests throughout the year, and their prayer offering in the golden bowls of “incense” (Ps. 141:2). All of these verses point back to the Old Testament worship service, which centered around the earthly sanctuary.
Finally, the slain Lamb of Revelation 5 points, of course, to Christ’s sacrificial death. Christ, the Lamb, is the only mediator of divine salvation and is accounted worthy because of His triumph (Rev. 5:5), His sacrifice (Rev. 5:9, 12), and His divinity (Rev. 5:13).
“Christ took upon Himself humanity, and laid down His life a sacrifice, that man, by becoming a partaker of the divine nature, might have eternal life.”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 3, p. 141.
What we see in these two chapters, centering around God’s throne, is a depiction of God’s work for the salvation of humanity. We can see, too, that this work has unfolded before the other intelligent beings in heaven, a key theme in The Great Controversy motif.
Think about what it means that Christ, as God Himself, took on our humanity and died as our Substitute; that is, whatever wrongs you have done and for which you yourself should be punished, fell on Him instead. Why should this truth motivate everything that you do?
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what touches my heart is that the creator of the universe had to come down and dye for the sin of the world , that kind of love that was demonstrated by Christ can no be understood by Human beings , thats why He is worthy of our praise and worship. He made it possible for us to be reconciled to God, and gave us back eternal life.
God gave his most precious gift to humanity in Christ his son, and Christ gave his most precious gift to us giving his life as sacrifice. The sinful human race has been redeemed and we are healed from the deadly disease of sin. Death has not the dominion over us any more, because Jesus that gave all for us why not live our lives for God's glory?
God loves us so much in spite of our sins that He sent His son in human form to bear all our sins and die for us so that we can have the gift of salvation and the hope of eternal life.We cannot begin to comprehend this love.God is an awesome God and is worthy of all our praise.
We owe a great debt of gratitude to Jesus for coming and dying on the cross. He did not have to do, He could have had us wiped out and start again but He chose not to. He laid down His life for me and I should be willing to be a living sacrifice for Him!
The reasons given for observing the sabbath in Exo 20.11 are different from the ones given in Deut 5.15.In exo the sabbath should be observed because in six days God Created the Heavens and the earth.In Deut the children of Israel are to observe the sabbath because God brought them out of Egypt.Creation and redeption are the two reasons why God alone should be worshiped.The same reasons are brought out in Rev 4.11 and 5.13 respectively.AS A People we have got all the reasons of fearing and respecting our God during this hour of judgement.
Can someone explain to me who are the twenty-four elders?
Hi Nicola,
Remember that there was a resurrection at the same time of Jesus' resurrection? (Matthew 27:52-53) They even entered the city of Jerusalem and "appeared to many." (That must have created a bit of a stir!)
And then there are Enoch, Moses and Elijah also in heaven. So we have a group of representatives of the human race who are even now in heaven, worshiping God.
Since, in the Bible, elders are generally responsible for the spiritual guidance of a group of people - as they are in our church today - I believe these elders are human representatives of Christ's people on earth -- from those who have been resurrected or gone straight to heaven without seeing death (as Enoch and Elijah).
HI inge.
though i had that thought initially, it's surprising that i was tempted to ask the question just to confirm incase my idea would be either pro or anti our doctrine.
This has been the belief on the state of the dead.
Now that you've cleared the air, thanks and i can go on preaching the "gospel".
On Tuesday's lessions at the bottom the question asked , why should this truth motivate every thing that you do? We should be motivated by every thing we do, because we serve a awsome, and wonderful GOD, amen. There is no one before, or none to come that would lay down his life for us as he (GOD) did, so that we could have a chance of life everlasting. We should continue to give ourselves to God daily with praise and thanksgiving, All praise and Glory goes to him, Let us always look to Calvary and the cross and remember why he died for us. May God continue to bless each and every one of
us. As we look forward to his soon comming.
How am I worshiping God:
Am I consistent? Am I reverent? Am I expressing gratitude to him for his indispensable work of redemption? Am I seeking opportunities with others to glorify God? Am I serving God as the one supreme being who has ultimate authority over the universe? What is the effect of my worship? What do others say about my worship to God?
It gives me great pleasure when i read of how the 24 elders and other heavenly hosts bow down to praise and worship God. They accord Him a befitting respect. We should emulate them and praise God in the same manner because He is worthy it.