Read
“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”
(Revelation 1: 3)
Think
It’s a chapter full of extraordinary language – images of splendour, wealth and beauty, mixed with such strangeness and power in the presence of God.
One thing that stands out to me is the unending worship that’s going on. These four living creatures – bizarre and perhaps frightening as they might seem – never stop praising God day and night. The 24 elders too go on praising without end.
No one is standing over them keeping score – none of them are trying to earn anything, and none of them gets bored even if they’re saying the same things over and over again. It’s like how sometimes you’ll see a sunrise or hear a piece of music that’s so stunning your heart can’t help but overflow – it’s a joy to you, a glad hearted delight to have experienced something sublime.
These representatives are in the very presence of God – the very place all Jesus’ followers are headed – and being face to face with him is an experience something like that. The difference is that we all know we get bored of looking at the sky eventually – or the music loses its power over us. Here the delight never begins to lose its shine – the joy and wonder and majesty of the great king only grows hotter the longer they spend near him. Their faces never stop glowing, the smile never wears off – and as we’ll see in the next chapter, this isn’t even the finished picture.
It gets better yet.
Pray
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighy,
who was, and is, and is to come.
You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honour and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.
Amen
