“. . . the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits
on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their
crowns before the throne and say;
‘You
are worthy, our Lord and God,
To receive glory
and honor and power,
For
you created all things,
And
by your will they were created and have their being.’”
Revelation 4:10-11 (NIV)
“. . . the
twenty-four elders . . .” These elders are the patriarchs of the church. Earlier
passages tell us they sit on thrones around God’s. They are arrayed in white
robes with golden crowns on their heads. (Rev 4:4)
“. . .fall down
before him who sits on the throne. . . These elders prostrate themselves
before God. This is an act of humility. When we kneel before God at an altar in
church or before a couch or chair in our homes we also humble ourselves in
preparation to worship. If we can’t physically kneel, we humble our hearts by
remembering Who He is and who we are.
“. . . and worship
him who lives for ever and ever.”
These elders pay homage to God for Who He is.
”. . .They lay their
crowns before the throne and say. . .” They do this as a form of adoration.
Don’t we honor God by laying our lives before Him? At one time in my spiritual
walk, I verbally gave God my plans each morning when I prayed.
“’You are worthy, our
Lord and God. . .’” Right after this
scene in Revelation, we see only Lamb of God is worthy to open the scroll. The
elders exclaim to the Father that He merits honor.
Everything
God makes merits honor. I have a difficult time when I hear abortion being
discussed. Those for it say life doesn’t begin until birth. I believe life
begins at conception. Life signifies sensitivity to injury. Certain injuries
affect an unborn child in the first four weeks after conception.
“. . . to receive glory and honor and power .
. .“ God’s worthiness means we are to respect Him, to treat Him with
reverence. Do we who live in the 21st Century, as a whole, give God the honor
He deserves?
“. . . for you
created all things . . .” God created the world and everything in it. In
our nation we have the mountains- the sea shores- the Aspen trees- the
beautiful sunrises and sunsets- the tulips- the violets- the birds, all created
by God.
” . . . and by your will they were created and have
their being.’” These elders give God the praise for His choosing to create
all that we hear, feel, touch and see. Shouldn't we, as His children do
likewise?
He gives us so much; we should honor Him in worship every
chance we get.
Graphic from: jesussayscome.wordpress.com
Sometimes it's good to look again at the ending. When the story we're living in the middle gets hard, confusing and long, reading that last chapter helps.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I think. :)
Thank you, Rhonda, for stopping in. We need to remember that God has the last say about all things.
Delete"We fall down, and lay our crowns, at the feet of Jesus..."
ReplyDeletesuch beautiful imagery...which will one day be our reality. Looking forward to that day. Thank you for this reminder.
Blessings to you today.
Pamela; You are welcome. Sometimes, we think no one notices what we do or who we are but God knows. In the past two weeks,I have received blessings from God that I hadn't expected. One was the gift of a hand knitted scarf. The other one was an invitation to a Mother-Daughter Brunch this Saturday. I don't usually go to these events because of a personal hurt I had several years ago. One of my closest friends called me this morning and asked me to go to the brunch as her guest. Her two daughters and her granddaughter and I will be together. I was almost in tears before we finished our conversation.
DeleteOh, I love this passage-it causes my heart to swell with love and pride that I belong to the King and the La
ReplyDeleteJeanette,once we become grounded in our faith this passage becomes one of our faves. I love the imagery that John displays for us.
Delete