Worship God! Revelation 19-21

May the mumbling commence!

We stand at the cusp of a new year.  What will be new in our Christian walk as we seek to enter the New Year – 2012?  The end of the book of Revelation has much to say about ways to improve our Christian walk.  Over the past few days, I have been mumbling about one important improvement – rightful or righteous worship.  I would have you read one more instance (that is repeated in the last few chapters of Revelation so it is important).

Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’” And he added, “Those are the true words of God.”

At this I fell at his feet to worship him.  But he said to me, “Do not do it!  I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.  Worship God!  For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (19:9-10)

Here is a goal for the New Year: Worship God alone.  Even the angel that spoke with John the Seer would not accept worship.  Worship belongs to God alone.  If anyone tells you any differently, they seek to deceive you.  Let us seek the truth and faithfulness of Jesus in our lives.  It is this truth that is spoken about in these passages from chapter nineteen of Revelation below:

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.  With justice he judges and makes war.  His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.  He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.  He is dressed in a robe dripped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.  The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.  Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. (Verses 11-15)

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army.  But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf.  With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.  The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. (Verses 19-21)

The sharp sword represents the Word of God, the Truth.  The Truth reveals the deceptions of the devil for what they are – lies and delusions.  These lies reek like sulfur (the smell of rotten eggs)!  And the lies burn the deceived like an everlasting fire.  The Truth brings down the house of cards built on the lies and the deceived destroy one another.  

Please note this: no weapon of humanity is needed – only the weapon of the Lord – the Truth.  As Christians, our job is patient endurance in just and true worship of God.  We are but witnesses to God’s victory over Satan and sin and death.  

And, O the hope we have to look forward to in God’s city:

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.  The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.  The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.  On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.  The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.  Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city.  On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.  And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be any curse.  The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servant will serve him.  They will see him face to face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  (21:22-22:4)

Amen, come, Lord Jesus!  

Enough mumbling for now…  

Happy New Year and Peace Out