Where Heaven Meets Earth: Revelation 4:1-11 - Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
When I was in seminary, I visited a very large Lutheran congregation in downtown Baltimore. The pipe organ was so enormous, it could’ve easily filled half our sanctuary.
At the front of the sanctuary on the right-hand side were a set of double doors, which led to the restrooms and the social room where a Spanish-language worship service was being held.
Every time someone went through these doors, the sound of lively music broke the silence of the traditional worship service.
The more these doors opened, the more curious I became about that other service. If it wouldn’t have been an insult to the friends who’d invited me, I would have left the traditional service and joined the Spanish service, even though I don’t speak a word of Spanish. There was something so captivating about that music, and the sound of those voices worshiping God. I got the sense that they were more excited about worshiping Jesus then us white people were.
I imagine John of Revelation felt the same way in his vision of the heavenly throne room.
The door is wide open, and he hears a voice speaking to him like a trumpet, saying, “Come up here, and see what will happen next!” Upon entering, his eyes are immediately drawn to a throne. The one seated upon it glistened like precious stones, and a rainbow encircles the throne. Around the throne are twenty-four elders dressed in white robes. Four living creatures stand at the throne’s four sides.
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Photo by Louis Maniquet on Unsplash |
Each of these creatures represents a dominion of the earth: The lion has dominion over the jungle; the ox, the barnyard; the eagle, the sky; and the human, the earth and all its creatures. Why there are no sea creatures, I cannot say. Each one has six wings, and their bodies are covered with eyes. The reason why they have so many eyes is so that they can see the throne of God on behalf of all living creatures throughout all time.
Day and night without ceasing they sing,
“Holy, holy, holy,
the Lord God the Almighty,
who was and is and is to come.”
Two things stand out to me in this vision.
The first is that the doors to God’s throne room stand open. There’s no gatekeeper, no bouncer, no usher, not even a greeter. Think about what that means: God doesn’t lock his doors!
The second thing is how irresistible the worship is for John. He is grabbed by it. It pulls him in. The worship is so irresistible that animals want to participate in it.
This is what will happen when all the trials and tribulations of this age come to an end: Every person, every animal, every fish, and every star and galaxy will worship.
Therefore, when we worship, we are anticipating the future. Worship is the gift of heaven on earth. The closest you will get to heaven is when you’re here with the people of God, hearing God’s Word, singing God’s praises, eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ.
It’s no accident that our first hymn was the very chorus John hears being sung in heaven. In fact, all our hymns for today come straight from the pages of Revelation. We are singing the songs of heaven. Our music is the sound of heaven. But so are the voices of people who love you in Christ. We see heaven in the sunshine illuminating our beautiful stained-glass windows. But we also see it in the faces of our children. At the table, we get a foretaste of the feast to come, when we and all the saints will eat the bread of life and and drink the cup of salvation with Jesus.
But like all of God’s gifts, we are stewards of our worship. What we make of worship is up to us.
The devil has become quite effective in convincing believers that church isn’t necessary. Let’s be frank: it’s hard to devote time to heaven when there’s so much to do on earth. Many believers are of the mindset that going to worship is way of depriving yourself of rest, rather than a way of receiving it. I’ve heard it said that it only takes three weeks to get out of the habit of coming to church. Just as the presence of every person enriches our worship, the absence of every person diminishes It.
We must also be careful not to allow worship to deteriorate into dull ritual. But worship is not entertainment, either.
The word liturgy means “work of the people.” Worship is where you are made ready to do God’s work in the world. You bring your hopes and dreams, your toils and cares to lift in prayer before him. You come hungry and thirsty and leave satisfied. You come afflicted and find comfort. And when you depart, you go having been filled with heavenly grace to worship God In daily life. The world is God’s sanctuary; not just this building.
If our worship fails to be so moving and inspirational that we aren’t eager to invite others to come and be part of it, we need to ask some hard questions of ourselves. What we make of worship is up to us. God’s doors are always open, but it takes your voice to Invite people In.
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