![]() ![]() Instead of coming with an attitude or expectation about worship, we must come with the attitude of praise, like the elders and creatures, and with no expectation of receiving anything from God at this time. Then what are you going to do? This probably happens more times than any of us would like to admit to. The prayers, the music, the message may not work for you. Are you going to go home saddened that you didn’t feel God’s presence this morning? Numerous factors contribute to whether or not you will feel God’s Spirit this morning. Many of you would say that you expect to meet the Lord at Sunday worship time. The hymns they sang are given to us and indicates that they never asked for anything. When God appeared on the throne, we are told that they fell to the ground in worship. Worrying about getting to the restaurant for lunch before the other churches let outĭo you come to worship with an expectation? The elders and the creatures worshiped God without any expectations. Whether or not the roast in the oven will be cooked properly when they get homeģ. Others come to worship thinking about everything else but worship like:ġ. a habit that has been going on since childhood to ease one’s conscience that they are doing the right thingģ. People come to worship with many hidden agendas that aren’t a part of glorifying God. What is your attitude when you come to a time of worship? What is your attitude today? Why are you here? Are you here to worship God with all your soul or do you think about something else? There is one more thing that we can learn from this description of the worship of the elders and the creatures. We have Bible Study and Sunday School, which are times for us to glorify God by learning more about God’s word and how God wants us to live our lives. How do we worship God today? Don’t we use music, prayer, sacraments, and bodily movements to praise God? We also have other activities in the Church that worship God. What does their worship consist of? There is praising and thanking and glorifying God through bodily movement and hymns. The 24 elders would immediately fall down and worship God whenever God appeared on the throne, as did the four creatures. ![]() The focus of this chapter is the worship that is occurring in the throne room of heaven. ![]() The types of faces match in both visions. In John’s vision, each has a different face. In Ezekiel’s vision, each creature has four faces. The four creatures described here are a bit different then what Ezekiel described. The trumpet is introduced in this chapter and will be used again to signify some significant event or pronouncement. It was believed that God resided in the Temple, so it is normal to see parts of the Temple in John’s vision of heaven. The Temple at Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. The sea of glass that is described alludes to the sea that existed in Solomon’s Temple in 1 Kings 7:23. Greek literature of that time attributed well to white and bad to black. The color white is used again, indicating purity. Well, no one is certain what the 24 lesser thrones signify. Emperor Domitian had 24 lictors, assistants surrounding his throne. Twenty-four may refer to the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles, or the 24 books of the Hebrew Canon, or the 24 orders of the priesthood. The number 24 has given scholars some heartache over the years in trying to decipher what John meant. There is someone called an elder for each lesser throne who sits on that throne except when they are worshiping God. Twenty-four thrones encircle the throne of God. In verse two, John tells us that he is “in the Spirit.” This means that he has a prophet vision and that we remember that when we examine what follows. This description of heaven comes to us from Ezekiel chapter one. Nevertheless, before we look at the symbolism, I must tell you that we have seen this vision of heaven before. Actually, what he describes in this chapter is the throne room of heaven. She had to wait for someone to ask her, which is a strange way to live.As we continue with our study of the book of Revelation, we come to John’s description of Heaven. ![]() It suddenly occurred to me that she was the only person in the room who couldn't plan what she was going to do. I was struck a few years ago when a friend of ours - an actress - was having dinner here with us and a couple of other writers. The only difference being that a writer can do it all alone. I didn't realize then that it's the same impulse. I wrote stories from the time I was a little girl, but I didn't want to be a writer. ![]()
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