Imagine the scene in heaven, sometime prior to God creating the cosmos, where Lucifer, one of the most beautiful and brightest of angels turned bitter. He resented the fact that God Almighty received all the glory, honor, and praise. "Why can't I be like that? Why should He be the only One? It's not fair. I think I should be at the same level of authority. He's not really good. He only seems good because He has all of the power," likely were some of Lucifer's thoughts. Have you noticed these same rebellious attitudes in our culture? We have children that know better than their parents and want to be on their level. We have employees that struggle to know their place in the hierarchical structure. These are some original, Satanic influences in the world today. Lucifer further successfully convinced a third of all the multitude of angels to join his rebellion. How can angels fall like that? It doesn't seem plausible that a creature could sin in heaven. Evidently, even the angels had a choice in who they would worship and follow. This fits the consistency of God's character though. He doesn't force Himself upon anyone. He's the ultimate gentleman- and this actually makes sense, considering it is better to be loved by someone willingly rather than robotically. The issue with the angels is they knew better. They weren't like us humans, having to serve the Lord in faith, without seeing Him. They were already a part of heaven and serving God, so to rise up in rebellion was unforgivable. They sealed their fate with a once-and-for-all decision to follow Lucifer. The gauntlet was thrown down. God's goodness, trustworthiness, and rightful position were being challenged so He designed a brilliant plan to let Truth be proven. He would create galaxies and solar systems. He would populate planet Earth with humans. He would install in their hearts a yearning for Truth, in His own image, and a life purpose that could only be wholly satisfied by a permanent relationship with Himself, but they would be required to make the choice, by themselves. They would have free will to decide who they would follow.
Two ancient Hebrew customs come into play here. It was well known that if you could no longer make payments on your property, you would forfeit the estate to the government. You, yourself, may also become enslaved, as well. The government would take the title deed to your estate, and write the necessary requirements to redeem the property on the outside of the scroll. The governor would seal the rolled document with his seven royal seals. No one was authorized to open this legally binding document, but provision was made for an heir to be allowed to make the required payments and redeem the property anytime. Since God didn't intend for His people to be permanently enslaved and indebted, He directed the Year of Jubilee to happen every fifty years, where the government would give them back their estates, if no heir had redeemed them yet.
When Adam and Eve were created, God gave them dominion over the Earth. He gave them the title deed. Satan tempted them to sin and rebel against God, basically convincing them of his claim that God simply didn't want anyone to be like Him, or have His power. They bit, literally, and introduced sin into the world. At that point, mankind became slaves to sin and essentially handed over the title deed to Satan. They were now in bondage and in debt to the devil. The world became a fallen place, riddled with darkness and problems. This is why we have tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, cancer, injuries, divorces, crime, and the like. God's sovereign plan included providing the Way to redeem our ownership back to Himself. He would purchase us with His own blood by Jesus dying in our place to pay the penalty for our sin. Welcome to Revelation 5.
The title deed to creation is in God's right hand. He's still the One in charge and on the throne. John wept bitterly when no one was found worthy to open the scroll. They were tears of hopelessness, fearing the human race to be doomed to sin and death for eternity. One of the elders gives some of the best advice we can give anyone going through hard times, "Behold the Lion!". He is right there in your midst. Be careful you don't miss Him by focusing too much on just surviving through your trials. John hadn't seem Him in this scene until the elder pointed Him out. But when John looked, he saw a little lamb, one who had been slain. The lamb had seven horns and eyes, symbols of complete power and knowledge. So, if Jesus is the ultimate source of all power, energy, and life, plus the ultimate source of all knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, then why do we go to other sources? What sources do we go to? How much time do we burn up, delving into this or that?
Omnipotent and omniscient Jesus takes the title deed to creation from God Almighty's right hand. Thank You, God, for providing Jesus as our only Hope and Salvation. He is our Redeemer! When He took that scroll, all of Heaven broke forth into praise and worship. It got loud, up in there! How many angels are there? Thousands upon thousands, multiplied by ten thousands! That must have been quite a concert.
How are you doing with worship? I pray we are worshippers of Jesus, even while still here on Earth. Let's not slide into heaven, to only begin worshipping at that point. So, how does worship look? Do you have an image of someone standing up, with their hands uplifted to heaven, head back, singing out loud? There may be a time for that, but let's not get hung up on this image. In 5:14, the elders fell down and worshipped. We've already seen John fall down. The elders are laying their crowns at His feet and bowing down to worship in humility. Worship doesn't have to look a certain way. It could be in quiet contemplation, spending time in His Word, praying, singing in the shower or car, or many others. Referring to what the Bible says in Romans 12:1-2, we are to offer our bodies to the Lord, as living sacrifices, for this is our spiritual act of worship. We mentioned last week, that if Jesus is indeed living inside us, let's act that way. Let's live like we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We should be seeing fruits of His Spirit slowly start to bud in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22). Our listening to Him, our wanting to be with Him, our agreeing with Him, and our devotion to Him are all acts of worship.
Why do you want to go to heaven? Take your time to answer this one. I believe many of us initially wanted to go to heaven to avoid going to hell. I hope our motives will begin to change as we continue following the Lord, as His disciples. I pray our desire to be with Him will grow, as we read about Him in His Word. He reveals Himself in His Word. Revelation inspires worship, especially when we discover the truth about grace, and how we are not receiving what we really deserve. Our praise should come from a heart of thankfulness for what He's done for us and how much He loves us. Our faith should rise in belief for what He is doing for us. Our words, thoughts, and actions should be covered in His righteousness, even now, as we participate in cooperation with His sanctification and wait for our hope of heaven to become reality.
Do you really love Jesus? I hope we can all come to the point of proving the answer is affirmative. Don't move away from this too quickly. Give this regular contemplation. If you really do love Jesus, then...what? May we remember that we can only love Him because He's proven that He loved us first.
Life is about the glory and goodness of God being challenged by Satan. We were born into a war. We play a significant role in proving Him to be True. What if we lived with this in mind? What if it was more than just getting through these trials and difficulties? What if we silenced the accusations of the devil by believing and trusting that God is good? I pray I won't be found crying, or wallowing in self-pity, as I go through hardships. I don't want to become embittered and resentful because of circumstances. My life is in His hands. I want to be found faithful and full of faith, believing that God is good. I want my worship to be real and my life to be a song of praise for Him. He deserves all of my glory and honor. Everything good that comes from me and through me is due to Him. I want to walk in thankfulness with a devotion to Christ that's solid, like a Rock.
"Lifesong" by Casting Crowns.
Empty hands held high
Such small sacrifice
If not joined with my life
I sing in vain tonight
May the words I say
And the things I do
Make my lifesong sing
Bring a smile to You
Let my lifesong sing to You
Let my lifesong sing to You
I want to sign Your name to the end of this day
Knowing that my heart was true
Let my lifesong sing to You
Lord I give my life
A living sacrifice
To reach a world in need
To be Your hands and feet
So may the words I say
And the things I do
Make my lifesong sing
Bring a smile to You
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Let my lifesong sing to You
