Believers Join Together To Praise God Series

BELIEVERS JOIN TOGETHER TO PRAISE GOD!

REVELATION 5:11—14 MAY 4, 2003

REVELATION 5:11-14

11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"

14The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

When we think of John what do we remember about John in Revelation? From last week we heard how John was off by himself in exile on the island of Patmos. There he thought he would spend the rest of his life and he did. John thought he was going to spend his life alone. He would except for the fact that as we saw last week, the Lord spoke to him and gave him a vision and a purpose. That vision and purpose was to write seven letters to seven churches. He did. Now we come to the words of our text where John is given a vision into the throne room of God. Here he is reminded that even though he is physically off by himself in exile on the island of Patmos, he is not alone is he? He, along with all the other believers can join together to praise God. John was reminded of what the psalm writer said. "Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs"(PSALM 100:1,2). Even though John thought he had been alone, he realized that he could come before the throne of God wherever he was with joyful songs and praise the Lord.

You and I aren’t going to be sent off into exile. Instead, we enjoy the fellowship and company of one another as we gather together on the Lord’s Day and on special days to worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. And so it is today as our text points out, we are vividly reminded that believers join together to praise God. You and I, as believers, join together here in Norton, Kansas, to praise God. Believers throughout the United States join together to praise God. Believers throughout the world join together to praise God. We learn anew in the vision that John sees--

BELIEVERS JOIN TOGETHER TO PRAISE GOD

I. For the Lamb of God

II. For the saved of God

I. For the Lamb of God

What a joy it had to be for John to be given this insight into the throne of God. There are a lot of things that happened in between chapter one and chapter five. We’re going to explain them as God’s word explains them. 11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. What does this description sound like? It sounds like a big number, doesn’t it? It is! It’s a number that you can’t count. Some would like to say, ‘A thousand times a thousand equals so much, and ten-thousand times ten-thousand equals so many million.’ John just simply says angels upon angels upon angels were gathered around the throne of God. We have to picture what John is seeing. He is seeing the throne of God and around that throne of God are angels in an ever-increasing circle.

Now there is something in between the angels and the throne. We are told, they (the angels) encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. We did not talk about them. They are in the chapters before today’s text. If you look them up, you will find out that John had difficulty describing the living creatures. There were four of them. He said they were covered with eyes. They had wings. One looked like a lion, one like an ox, one like a man and one like an eagle. Later on, we find that they, too, represent angels—those four living creatures.

Then, John talks about the elders. So, around the throne we have the elders also encircling that throne where the Lamb of God is sitting. (We’re going to talk about that.) There are twenty-four thrones. We might think twelve thrones, but there are twenty-four…twenty-four because the Lord told His disciples, ‘You will sit on the thrones judging the nations’; twelve more for the patriarchs of the Old Testament—the heads of the families of the twelve tribes of Israel. In this way there are twenty-four thrones around that single throne. The New Testament Apostles united with the Old Testament Patriarchs.