Revelation 4

One of the grave difficulties of the present life on earth is that no door to heaven is particularly apparent to our eyes. The eyes of faith know that our Messiah is the door to heaven. Our ears have heard this Word, and our hearts believe, and yet there is doubt, and there are troubles. Death is a vicious enemy. By that foe we lose sight of those we love for a season, and even our faith may seem to lose sight of Jesus. We would love to have a door open to heaven, but God has chosen to strengthen us by the Word, rather than by a vision.

John received the heavenly vision during his time of suffering for the Word on the island of Patmos. The old apostle did hear a voice calling Him up Jacob's ladder. It was a voice like a trumpet, promising to show him “what must take place after this.” “This” was not defined. Like Daniel of old, the timing of events was not given to him in the way that we might like. The true answer for the longings of our hearts are not in secret revelations of the pace of future agess, or even in messages from dear ones who have departed. True peace comes from a person, the One who sits on the throne who is so far beyond us, and yet is so committed in love toward us. There is radiant glory around His throne, and angels and glorified people are there from Israel and from the church. Most of all God is there, and He is worthy.

The angelic creatures are singing forever before that most exalted throne: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” God is set apart from creation as the fountainhead of all existence. The leaders of the people of God are eternally acknowledging that any crowns that they possess are entirely due to the matchless perfection and love of Jesus.

Heaven is full of the worship of Almighty God. But what is the content of the praise of men and angels in that place where worship is perfect? What is it that people are singing about there? The songs that John heard begin with this theme of the worthiness of God.

God is the source and definition of everything that is right and good. God is so worthy that when any part of the created order does not give Him praise, something is very obviously wrong. We don't always sense this in our cloudy way of thinking about such things here below. But whenever the fog of earth clears through the rays of heavenly glory, there cannot be the slightest doubt that the Lord is worthy.

This great being who created and sustains all things, this God who has worked our redemption at great cost to Himself, this Giver of every good gift is not only the One Uncaused Cause. He is our Lord and our God.

All of heaven is engaged in giving God all glory and honor, and He is happy to receive the full worship of His people. Whatever His beloved children are doing now in that better place, it is all worship. Whether they eat or drink or whatever they do, it is all to the glory of God.

Why can't we see the full rightness of that now? What has so darkened the hearts of mankind that some would hate Almighty God? How sad it is that the world would prefer to worship the creature rather than the Creator, and that even the redeemed would forget the Redeemer days without number.

We certainly are without excuse. From the earliest moments of human existence, what can be known about God was obvious from all that He created. His eternal power and divine nature are well known. Yet we suppress the knowledge of the truth in unrighteousness. Our impulse that we alone direct our lives without interference from the Creator and Sustainer of the universe is so overwhelming that we are prepared to pretend that God does not exist in order to protect our own pretense of sovereignty over our lives.

Then we face loss, sorrow, misery, death, and many other indications that our supposed control over our own lives is clearly not absolute. Coming to grips with the facts of normal disappointment in a world that God has subjected to futility can be a very important step in our realization of the obvious. We are not in charge after all. We are not the Lord. We are not God. We did not create all things. All things do not exist by our will or for our purposes.

Any worthiness we have is borrowed from the Supreme Being who is Himself perfectly worthy. If we are looking for a way to rediscover a sense of value, it will not come from the denial of God. A better way for us is to consider that we belong to the Lord. In particular, the Son of God has established our real worth by His willingness to suffer and die for us, so that we might live with and for Him forever in heaven.

Heaven's light can bring clarity to our distracted lives even at this very moment. It is so good to remember that the Lord is God and to consider His great worthiness. We look to the day when our every thought, word, and action, will be faultless worship directed perfectly toward our great God. May we stretch toward that hope in the perfections of Jesus Christ who has become for us a sure door into the glory of the life to come.