Biblical Worship by Rev. Paul Howden
June 3, 2007
Trinity Sunday
Revelation 4:1-11;5:8-10

One reason mountain climbers attempt to scale mountains is for the view at the top. On a clear day it can be spectacular. John didn’t hit the summit of any peak but he did go up to Heaven in the Spirit. How did He do it? “I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And a voice said, “Come up here … Immediately, I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.” The view John took in was also spectacular. Let’s read Rev. 4:1-6 for a fuller description of what John saw up there.

"After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind."

There is simply not enough time to comment on all the details. So we’ll pass over items like the rainbow, the white robes, the crowns of gold, the lightning and thunder, and the seven lamps of fire. How about the One on the throne? Who is He? He is obviously Jesus. When did He sit on His throne? He sat down as the King of kings after He ascended into Heaven. Consequently, this passage refers to what is currently happening in heaven, what has been taking place since the ascension. Some people think this text refers to the ultimate future, but that is wrong. If you want a description of Heaven and earth after the Final Judgment, read Revelation 21-22. Those last chapters of the Bible deal with the post Second Coming world. Chapters four and five however speak to the present situation. Moreover, the phrase, “Come up here!” has nothing to do with the Rapture. “Come up here” is spoken to John alone while he is worshipping on Lord’s Day, which is Sunday (Rev. 1:10). In response to the command, “Come up here,” John ascends to Heaven, and gazes upon the ongoing action in the vault of Heaven. He sees animal creatures and elders, angels and archangels, and across a glassy sea, he espies the Lamb upon His throne. We know it is Jesus, the Lamb of God who sits on the throne because Revelation 5:6 and 8 make that clear. Let’s read Revelation 4:7-11; 5:6-10.

"And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

"And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."

The living beings call out to the One on the throne: “Holy, holy, holy.” In response the Twenty-Four elders fall down before the [King of kings] who sits on the throne. Then both groups sing a new song, and they bow down, and they cry out: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your own blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation; And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

These texts have significance for biblical worship. What the creatures and elders, angels and archangels do in Heaven serves as a model for what we are to do on earth. This passage shows us how we are to worship in Church. The best worship on earth imitates what goes on in heaven. On this Trinity Sunday we want to examine Biblical worship; both the Triune God we worship, and the way it should be done.  

We begin with the inescapability of worship. Some people find it hard to worship God, yet worship has been built into us. We are hard-wired for it. That is the way God created us. As cars need gasoline to run, and fish need water to swim – even so, we need worship to live as humans. We must worship; we will worship, for it is inescapable.

What about people who don’t worship God? They find a substitute. Instead of the true God, they worship any sort of thing. And so, in place of the Trinity they erect an idol. What are these idols they erect? Some people are narcissists and worship themselves. Others worship football, they worship nature, they worship the state, they worship science; they worship sex, drugs, money, or work. In Romans 1:23, St. Paul tells us that unbelievers even resort to worshipping birds, cats, lizards and bugs. Man will worship something. He can’t escape it, for he is hard-wired to worship. It is only a question of whom or what he will worship. Will it be the Triune Creator of the universe? Or will it be a false god?

Is there a downside to worshipping things other than God Almighty? Yes there is. Besides the judgment that falls at the Final Judgment, no false god can supply the deepest delights of true worship. The unbeliever may aim his adoration in a variety of directions, but the greatest joy comes to those who worship the Lord. With God the object of our worship, life becomes what the Creator meant it to be. One theologian described worship as “the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life.” One lady told me, “I feel cleansed after worship.” That is a good way to put it. We come to worship with a lot of baggage – sin and stress, doubts and fears, distractions and weariness. Often it is hard to concentrate. But if we can come together as the people of God, and join the heavenly hosts in giving glory to God Almighty, then our lives are cleansed by Gods mercy. We are brought into closer union with Christ. Our minds are gradually reformatted, and we find our purpose for life. We begin to inherit the joy for which we were created.

Before the throne of God is a glassy sea. There is something peaceful and powerful about that. The four creatures are a lion, a calf, a man, and an eagle. They represent creation. Biblical worship recognizes that God is the Creator, and his creation is good. Heaven and earth are full of God’s glory, and in worship we put that truth into words. It is good for you and me to proclaim: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory; Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High. Amen.” Again, Heaven and earth are full of God’s glory, and we need to say that in worship.

In Rev. 4:11, the twenty-four elders cast their crowns before the Lamb and cry out, “You are worthy, O Lord to receive glory and honor and power.” That gets to the heart of worship: we acknowledge that God is worthy of our praise. Worship and worth come from the same root. Therefore, worship means to acknowledge God’s worthiness.  

The “Holy, Holy, Holy is called the Trisagion. Three holies are ascribed to God because He is Three in One. The Church has long interpreted this Trisagion as a reference to the Trinity. Each Person of the Trinity receives the designation “Holy.” The word Trinity is not found in the Bible, but it does bring into focus what the Scriptures have to say about the Godhead. There are tons of Scripture verses that prove the Trinity.

The Bible teaches us that God is a Person, and so we can pray to God. The Bible also teaches us that God is three Persons, and so we can pray to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. God’s Oneness is not the same as His Threeness, but God is every bit as much One as he is Three, and every bit as much Three as He is One. Consistent Christians, therefore, are not Tri-theists. We do not believe in three Gods. Nor are Christians pure Mono-theists; rather, we are Trinitarian. This biblical concept the Church has carefully and accurately summarized in the Creeds. The Holy Spirit has guided the Church in her creedal formulations, and we express exactly what the Bible teaches about God when we recite the Creeds.

We should comment on the mood and atmosphere of Revelation 4 & 5. Reading these chapters you sense the dreadful majesty of God. Why is the Triune God dreadfully mysterious? Because He is Divine and we are human, and there is a yawing chasm that separates God and man. Christians of past ages were much more familiar with this aspect of God than we are today. When they contemplated the glory of the ascended Christ, they often sang of Him as “Rex tremendai majestatis,” “King of dreadful majesty.”

The book of Hebrews teaches the Mysterium tremendum idea. The same Holy Spirit-inspired writer who comforts us with the truth in Hebrews 4:16 that we can “come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace,” this same author who said we can come boldly before God’s throne also warned that proper worship has an element of reverence and fear. He says, “since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may [worship] God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. Why? For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29).

“Our God is a consuming fire.” In Chile, I once pitched my tent at the base of an active volcano. Smoke was billowing out of the crater. Sleep escaped me that night. It was frightening to think that molten lava might spew down over me at any moment. Yet I found that volcano fascinating. A TV documentary came out a while back about some guys who travel around the world exploring live volcanoes. Not only do they climb to the summits of these volcanic mountains, they then descend into the craters to get as close as possible to the orange, bubbling magma. Such threatening heat holds a strange attraction. God is like that; powerful, dangerous, captivating.

The Prophet Hosea makes the Lord a Lion. God roars, “For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them… (Hosea 5:14). C. S. Lewis used the Lion metaphor in his Narnia series. Aslan is the God-lion. In The Horse and the Boy, Lewis tells the tale of a horse, Bree, and the boy who rides him, Shasta. In their adventures they are joined by another horse, Hwin, and a young girl, Aravis. Horses can talk in this story. At one point the horse named Bree scoffs at the girl, Aravis’ suggestion that Aslan, the great deliverer of Narnia, might be a real lion. Christopher Hitchens is an atheist who recently wrote a book called, God is Not Great. Bree has the same attitude as Hitchens who snears at the existence of God. As Bree speaks, he fails to notice that Hwin and Aravis are staring wide-eyed behind him at something on top of the wall. [And I quote:]

“[While] Bree spoke they saw an enormous lion leap up from the outside and balance itself on the top of the great wall; only it was a brighter yellow, and it was bigger and more beautiful and more alarming than any lion they had ever seen. And at once it jumped down inside the wall and began approaching Bree from behind. It made no noise at all. And Hwin and Aravis couldn’t make any noise themselves, no more than if they were frozen.
'No doubt,' continued Bree, 'when they speak of him as a Lion they only mean he’s as strong as a lion or as fierce as a lion. Or something of that kind. Even a little girl like you, Aravis, must see it would be quite absurd to suppose he is a real lion. Indeed it would be disrespectful. If he was a lion he’d have to be a Beast just like the rest of us. Why!' and here Bree began to laugh: 'If he was a lion he’d have four paws, and a tail, and Whiskers! … Aie, ooh, hoo-hoo! Help!' For just as he said the word Whiskers one of Aslan’s had actually tickled his ear. Bree shot away like an arrow to the other side of the enclosure and there turned; the wall was too high for him to jump and he could escape no farther. Aravis and Hwin both started back…
'Now Bree,' [Aslan] said, “You poor, proud, frightened Horse, draw near. Nearer still, my son. Do not dare not to dare. Touch me. Smell me. Here are my paws, here is my tail, these are my whiskers. I am a true Beast.'"

Bree is like the skeptics of today. They foolishly suppose the Lord Jesus is a fantasy. Lewis makes another point. The love and grace of the Lord Jesus harmonize with the awe and dread that belong to Him. He is almighty like a lion. We are sinful, self-absorbed little warthogs. He is the King of the world. We come into His presence with fear and wonder like a baby warthog comes before a full-maned lion. Because God is dreadfully awesome, a consuming fire, a lion, and we are puny, the atmosphere of worship has a reverent tone. We find this tone in Revelation 4 & 5. Why do we have reverence and formality in our worship? That is the mood of Revelation 4 & 5 when the hosts of heaven worship God. We want to capture that same feeling.  

Furthermore, you become what you worship. If we worship Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords, and King of kings, then gradually we take on His image. That is what biblical worship is supposed to do, help us grow in our image of God. You become what you worship, and so as we worship Sunday after Sunday, the Holy Spirit helps us became like Jesus, reflecting His character.

On this Trinity Sunday rededicate yourself to the biblical worship of our Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the majestic Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of the world. Come up to the heavenly throne-room of King Jesus and have a meal with Him now. He invites you to His table, and into His presence. But approach Him with joy and solemnity, with love and fear.

Let us pray.