Revelation 5:13-14 - And then I heard
everyone in heaven and earth, and from the dead beneath the earth and in the
sea, exclaiming, “The blessing and the honor and the glory and the power belong
to the one sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever.” And
the four Living Beings kept saying, “Amen!” And the twenty-four Elders fell
down and worshiped him.
John writes about the first moments of his visit to
Heaven. The Christ…called both a lion
and a lamb…is center stage as every one of the four creatures….the 24 elders….all
the angels…as well as all the living and dead humans that exist bow down to
worship and praise him for being the only one worthy to break the seal on God’s
plan for the end of evil’s reign of control on the Earth.
How can you read these words and not get goosebumps trying
to imagine the pure joy of that moment? Every person of faith hopes in this
meeting of God face to face. We read
about the awe of the home we get to share with him…but forget that we won’t notice
much of it at first. We will be much too
busy falling at his feet to worship him and thank him for the sacrifice he made
to allow us to be there at all.
In the last days…it clearly says that EVERY knee will bow
and in that moment all of the living and dead will realize that God is the only
one worthy of such praise and honor. EVERYONE will believe…but the sad part in
this is that for some that moment will bring eternal death. It will be too late
for them to ask him to become their Lord and savior. The epiphany will bring the realization that
they were wrong all along.
John is not the first to give us this news. Romans 4:11 says…. “ It is written: "'As
surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue
will acknowledge God.'" That scripture is based on Isaiah 45:23… “By
myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not
be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.”
Perhaps John’s words were not written so much to allow us to
see a glimpse of our hope in the future…but to give us a reason to spread his
truth as much as we can to the lost. All those atheists…agnostics….crazy cults…every
non-believer still has a chance to accept Jesus as their Lord until that
moment.
Father…thank you for the reminder that my focus should be
completely on you and what you did to save and give me hope for my future. Forgive me for not seeing the urgency of
sharing your love and gift with those who do not believe. Show me how to use
every encounter with people in my path to stretch their understanding of who
you are and what you can do to heal … comfort…and save their soul. Amen.
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