Worth our worship (Revelation 5)
by Jonathan Ogden
Worship is our response to the Lord. When we see Him and we begin to get a glimpse of who He is, our hearts respond in worship, in declarations of who He is and the way He has revealed himself to us. The passage we are considering this month is full of such declarations...
“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honour and glory and blessing!” And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honour and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.”
— Revelation 5:11-14
The first proclamation of verse 12: worthy. The angels, in their myriads and thousands, declare the worth of the Lord. He is worth everything. What may look like a waste to the rest of the world we know is worthwhile, because we know He is worthy. He is worthy of the time given, the lives laid down, the surrender, the journey. We can never praise Him enough. We can never fully express all that He deserves, because He is endlessly worthy. We can worship so many things in life that are not worth the praise. There are many in the Earth who will give their worship to trivial things that are not worthwhile. But when we come to Jesus, we give our worship to the one who truly is worthy. He is worth it all.
Everything that we could give Him, He is entirely deserving of. Were any other person in all of creation to be given all of these things, it would result in disaster. We see the ways people all around the world struggle with, and poorly handle wealth, power, might, wisdom. Even those with great knowledge can often fall into the traps of pride.
But there is one who is fully able to handle all of that. All the power over all of creation, the wealth of all the Earth, all the wisdom that can be given, endless might, the highest honour, all the glory and blessing that can be given. His name is Jesus. And where other men may swell in pride and arrogance to be given all of this, the only one deserving of it all, is the one who chose to come as a lamb, and to lay down His life for humanity. The one who is entitled and qualified to sit at the highest position over all of creation, surrendered to the point of death by the hands of the people He created. And yet this wasn’t a weakness but a point of glorious strength. We serve a humble king.
And so, let us give him the glory due His name. Let us give him all the praise. As we join with the response of all of creation.
The bible often speaks of the "new song" and we’re taking this season to meditate on a few key passages. By singing His word, we can grow together in our understanding of who God is, why worship and prayer are important to Him, and how He will use houses of prayer and praying churches across the earth to see the fullness of His plans come to fruition.