Worthy to receive
Saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:12
We started the beginning of Revelation chapter five last week that introduced a scroll with seven seals that no one in heaven or earth was able to open until the Lamb of God came on the scene. The apostle John was so eager to hear the message in the scroll that he wept because no one was able to open it and reveal the message.
The second part of this chapter is once again a celebration and worship service starting with the four creatures and elders immediately in front of the throne. This time the passage says that these that are before the throne have a harp and golden bowls full of incense that contain the prayers of the saints. Because these prayers are right at the feet of the eternal One, I believe the answer to these prayers will be revealed as the scroll is opened.
The part of the passage that I want to focus on today is the new song that the congregation at the throne of God sang at that time. This song’s lyrics look similar to the words spoken at the throne in chapter 4, but now those words have been turned into a melody.
As I read the words of the song, I imagine the beauty of what this song most sounded like to John. It is his first exposure to heavenly music, but he recognizes it right away and knows that it is something new. The words are what I find really interesting. “You are worthy to take the scroll,” We know Jesus is the only One worthy and the song tells us it is because He was killed and redeemed us back to God by His blood and He did it for all people in the earth. Then the announcement that we will reign on earth with Him comes. Glory to God. But the next part is what jumped out to me as I read it again today. It says: “Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain . . . to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and blessing.” There is no question that He is worthy to receive these attributes, but the passage ends with again the assembly singing: “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne and the Lamb forever.
We often sing these same words in worship services in the world today, but I have never wondered where the power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and blessing that He is worthy to receive comes from. I just thought it came from Him, and it does. However, when we are singing or saying, “You are worthy oh Lord to receive our honor, our glory, our power and our blessings.” We are offering to Him all the honor, glory, power and blessing that He has placed within us. We cannot offer Him anything that we do not have and all that we do have came from Him.
So clearly, I want to say, when we worship God, we are giving Him our blessings, honor, glory and power to the degree of our heart that we are worshiping Him with. I know this sounds a little confusing, so I want to unpack it briefly to try to get this picture into your mind and heart.
I am going to bring this down to earth so we can begin to see what this will look like even in this heavenly gathering. When I worship God today while I am alive in this world. I lift my heart and life to Him and hopefully when I do that, I am giving Him everything that is within me to honor Him, to bring glory to Him with all the strength that I have and with all the power and authority that He has given me. I have to admit that there are times in a worship services that I have just gone through the motions and not taken to heart exactly what that worship time was for. Now I am seeing that when I give God all that is in me, all the blessings that have been poured out on my life, all the honor, respect, reverence and awe of His goodness that He has shown me, all the glory and power/authority that He has put in my life, I am giving Him the open door to come into my life and be Lord of it. He has created me with the boundary of choice. I must choose to call on Him and I must choose to surrender all to Him to invite Him into my circumstances whatever they may be. I give Him back all and He pours out all on my life as I do. This can happen as I am going through a struggle or even when things are calm in life. When I am in trouble, instead of going to Him with the problem, rehearsing to Him what is the matter and how it is crushing me and I do not know what to do, I go to Him blessing Him, with honor of Who He is and what the difference I know He can make in the situation. I give Him all the strength and power in me to follow any direction He puts in my heart to lead me away from trouble.
When things are going well and it looks like bright skies on the horizon, I again give Him entrance to my life by giving Him blessings, honor, glory and power. He enters my life through my worship that He is worthy to receive so that He can pour out more blessings into my life. I don’t just go to Him when I am in trouble. More importantly is when I go to Him when I am not in trouble. That is the time that He will lead me forward in life instead of picking me up after I have fallen down.
Each time, no matter if I am in trouble or not, giving Him all that is within me is the way to hear His voice on the inside of my heart and it’s the way to know His direction. Continual worship allows me to keep moving forward in the path of righteousness without falling into the traps that the enemy has set up for me.
Today, I want to encourage you to give Him all your worship! Praise Him with everything that is inside of you. You don’t have to wait until the weekend service or a special event and you don’t have to wait until you are going through tough times. You can stop right where you are any time of any day. Sing to Him a new song and pour out all the blessings, honor, glory, strength and power that is in your life to open the way for Him to pour out His wisdom, direction and lead you to the blessings that He has prepared for you before you were even born.
Today’s scripture reading: Revelation 5:8-14
8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”
11 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,
12 saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
13 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 honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
14 Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.
The Daily Dose 