Central Christian Church Lampasas

Depression, anxiety, and a decrease in self-esteem are just some of the documented problems that can result when we take the focus off our own lives and instead focus all our energy on the life of a celebrity. So many people in our world today worship famous people, when we should be worship God alone.

When we see Christ, He will be all that matters to us.

The Book of Revelation has over 200 references back to the Old Testament. Most of what is found in the first twenty chapters of the Book of Revelation is found elsewhere in the Old Testament. This is one reason, why it is important to interpret Scripture with Scripture. Looking at the connections between the Old Testament and Revelation make it easier for us to understand the last book of the Bible.

This is the only biblical book that comes with a blessing for the one who listens to it being read and explained and then responds in obedience. Revelation is the New Testament book in which worship is most prominent. Several years ago, I heard that the book of Revelation contained more worship than any other book in the Bible. The concept intrigued me. Instead of only studying Revelation in view of the end times, I determined to read the book with the idea of worship forefront in my mind.

When we worship, our attention is turned away from ourselves, or our problems, and is focused on God. I need to spend less time worrying, analyzing or planning. More time should be spent thinking on good things. What better way to do that, than to fix my thoughts on the attributes of our holy, awesome God?

Revelation 19:1-6 comes after judgments from God and before the return of Christ to the earth to wage war against His enemies. It opens with the praise of God for condemning the “great prostitute,” Babylon, which was seen in Revelation 18. Babylon historically is thought to be the empire of Rome. In the future Babylon is believed to be the world system in rebellion against God.

Worship provides the main conflict of the book of Revelation, the contrast between those who worship God and those who worship the beast. God will not tolerate false worship, so the story revolves around the theme and is punctuated often by scenes of true worship. “Every stage of God’s victory — through chapters 7-19 — is accompanied by worship in heaven.”

There are “several threats to authentic worship” found in Revelation: emperor worship (ch. 13), the synagogue of Satan (Rev. 2.9, 3.9), Satan’s throne (Rev. 2.13), idolatry (Rev. 9.20), the eating of food sacrificed to idols (Rev. 2.14), attempts to worship angels (Rev. 19.10, 22.8-9), and a false prophetess (Jezebel, Rev. 2.20) in or at least influencing the churches. The church must keep its worship pure.

Worship is pictured in political and imperial terms. The most frequently used word for worship in Revelation is “bow down” – an act of submission to God’s kingly sovereignty. Crowns are cast before God’s throne, just as senate members and delegates from other communities in the empire would do before Caesar to acknowledge his authority over them. Even the act of singing around the throne is a political parody: the emperors kept courtiers close at hand, who were “notorious for keeping up a perpetual chorus of praise, lauding him day and night….” There are also references to God as ‘Almighty’ and calls to render power and authority to him. The emperor and his court was a pale shadow of the grandeur of the throne room of God.

The acclamation that God is “worthy” originally meant “of equal weight”, but came to mean “‘worthy,’ ‘deserving,’ ‘fit,’ ‘estimable,’ and ‘appropriate.'” Worship is given to both God the Father and Jesus Christ. This would have been scandalous to first century Jewish people, good monotheists that they were. But the first Christians, also strict monotheists, found room within their monotheism for the worship of Jesus.

Reasons that God is worshiped in Revelation: God is worthy, he is eternal, he is sovereign, he is holy, he is the Creator, he is the Redeemer, he is Judge, his plan is coming to pass. These themes tie into the circumstances and purposes of the book.

Clinical researchers have linked prayer to several health benefits, and prayer is one of the avenues for our adoration and worship of God.

If you are a religious or a spiritual person and pray every day, there is now proof that you might be doing your brain and body a huge favor. Per a new study spiritual or religious practice may fight off depression – particularly in people who are predisposed to the disease – by thickening the brain cortex.

Five scientifically-supported benefits of prayer:

1. Prayer improves self-control. Studies have demonstrated that self-control is like a muscle. That is, it gets fatigued. You can only do so many push-ups before your muscles give out. Similarly, activities that require self-control are fatiguing, making it more difficult to make good choices the more you must use your "self-control muscle." Think about it. You are more likely to lose your cool or engage in mindless eating when you are mentally exhausted. Recent research indicates that prayer can help you get more out of your "self-control muscle."

2. Prayer makes you nicer. Researchers found that having people pray for those in need reduced the amount of aggression they expressed following an anger-inducing experience. In other words, prayer helps you not lose your cool.

3. Prayer makes you more forgiving. Researchers found that having people pray for a romantic partner or friend made them more willing to forgive those individuals.

4. Prayer increases trust. Recent studies found that having people pray together with a close friend increased feelings of unity and trust. This finding is interesting because it suggests that praying with others can be an experience that brings people closer together. Social prayer may help build close relationships, and it is one benefit of attending church.

5. Prayer offsets the negative health effects of stress. Researchers found that people who prayed for others were less vulnerable to the negative physical health effects associated with financial stress. Also, it was the focus on others that seemed to be contributing to the stress-buffering effects of prayer.

Regularly taking our thoughts from ourselves and onto God and others benefits us. Isn’t it interesting that science supports the Biblical call to love God and love others? I often hear people talk about how faith and science oppose one another. There is scientific evidence that faith has real world benefits. Focusing on Christ and on his people, strengthens us in our daily lives. Researchers also found a wide array of health benefits for those who regularly attend church.

Whenever I read over the words of praise written in Revelation, something happens in my heart. Meditating on God’s power and might strengthens me. Thinking on His holiness and His worthiness creates thankfulness and humility in my heart. Hearing that He is Faithful and True, renews my spirit, helping me not to be afraid.

Let me encourage you to read the book of Revelation in a new light. And as you do, make worship a part of your daily routine.

Hallelujah is mentioned four times in today’s passage. Whenever a word is mentioned repeatedly in a passage, the Biblical writer is emphasizing that term.

Hallelujah-- Of Hebrew origin (imperative of halal and Yahh); praise ye Jah!, an adoring exclamation -- alleluiah. An imperative is a command. We are ordered to praise Yahweh or Jehovah.

Worship: proskynéō (from 4314 /prós, "towards" and kyneo, "to kiss")– properly, to kiss the ground when prostrating before a superior; to worship, ready "to fall down/prostrate oneself to adore on one's knees" (DNTT); to "do obeisance" (BAGD).

The basic meaning of 4352 (proskynéō), in the opinion of most scholars, is to kiss. . . . On Egyptian reliefs worshipers are represented with outstretched hand throwing a kiss to (pros-) the deity" (DNTT, 2, 875,876).

4352 (proskyneō) has been (metaphorically) described as "the kissing-ground" between believers (the Bride) and Christ (the heavenly Bridegroom). While this is true, 4352 (proskynéō) suggests the willingness to make all necessary physical gestures of obeisance.]

1062 gámos – properly, a wedding celebration; (figuratively) the Marriage Supper of the Lamb which begins with Christ glorifying all the saints (OT, NT) at His return. This eschatological celebration is described in Matthew 22:2-10 and Revelation 19:7-9.

What is worship? Worship is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that most ancient Mystery, that Majesty which philosophers call the First Cause, but which we call Our Father Which Are in Heaven.

"The supreme reason for human existence is to worship God for his love, greatness and saving deeds." -- A.W. Tozer

For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose -- and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin. -- William Temple

The glory of Jesus is so great, so shining, that it is hard to even look upon Him. Jesus has the same glory as in His transfiguration, when His face shone like the sun.

The Christian doctrine of glorification is stunning, to say the least. Not only we will see Jesus in all his new-creation glory, but we will share with him in it. Saying that only God is ‘worthy’ of worship is a declaration that the emperor and pagan idols were not worthy.

Saying God is eternal and sovereign is a comfort to persecuted Christians, who, looking at their immediate situation, may have been tempted to lose sight of the long-term plans of God, who is sovereignly bringing those plans to pass.

Saying that God is holy would call up memories of many OT verses about his holiness and his intolerance of idolatry and immorality with which first century Christians were tempted.

Saying that God is the Creator emphasizes the obedience God is due by every creature, including those who opposed the churches. It also reminds us that humanity is only a small part of a much larger picture. In Revelation, we see the forces of creation reacting to sin and rescuing God’s people, and the redemption of the earth itself. The Creator will indeed restore the creation that “the dragon, that serpent of old” corrupted by leading humankind astray.

Saying that the Lamb who was slain is Redeemer would call to mind the exodus, where Israel was redeemed the day after the Passover lamb was slain. Powerful and idolatrous Egypt, also with a king who claimed to be God, was defeated, and God’s people were called out of her. John and his readers faced a very similar situation.

Saying he is Judge comforts persecuted Christians tempted to cave in to the status quo: if they remain faithful, God will reward them and judge those who tempt and persecute them.

There are numerous worship elements found in Revelation: amens, antiphonal singing, doxologies, gifts (crowns placed before the throne), hymns, incense, maranathas, palm branches, prayers, prostration, robes, sacred meals, shouts of celebration, silence, thanksgiving, trumpet-blowing, victory songs.

There is a sense of lingering mystery and distance involved in worship. We do not see a description of God himself, only of what is going on around his throne. This counteracts both the tendency to be too intellectual and the tendency to be overly familiar with God.

Revelation also connects worship with the themes of fear (Rev. 11.18, 14.7, 15.4) and service (Rev. 7.15, 22.3).

Until chapter 19, all the worship and singing in Revelation occurs in heaven, not on earth. There is no worship on earth, and the only singing found on earth are the laments for Babylon in chapters 17-18. But when the final victory is won, there is praise in both heaven and earth, which eventually become one. The goal of worship in Revelation is “on earth as it is in heaven.”