7/2/2025

Now I know Revelation is not everyone’s cup of tea. 

But the problem is, if we don’t talk about it, someone else will. And with the situation in the Middle East, there are a lot of people talking! On social media, too many folks claim to be experts, but actually they know little to nothing about what God is saying to the church through the book of Revelation. 

So what is God saying to us? Why is this challenging and difficult book included in the Bible? 

For the same reason every other book is included in the Bible! Paul’s words in II Timothy 3:16, though written about the Old Testament, are true for Revelation: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”

How is this true of Revelation? 

One of the purposes of Revelation is to form us into faithful followers of Jesus, and one of the major ways it happens is through worship. Revelation opens with a vision of Christ in ch. 1, then moves to the messages to the 7 churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) in chs 2-3, but then, before we get into the “good stuff” that starts in ch. 6  – the visions of judgment and tales of the dragon and the beasts – we suddenly find ourselves in the throne room of God, in ch’s 4-5. 

And what’s happening in the throne room of God? Worship! 

And not only that, but once we get into the actual judgments (6-19), we’ll see over and over, the narratives interrupted by worship. For instance, Revelation 7:12, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Or, 11:17, “We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, who are and who were, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.” Or, 19:8, “Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns.” Revelation is about worship and disciples who refuse to follow the Dragon worship the Lamb.

I don’t think many people think of  Revelation and worship in the same breath. Too often Revelation is read out of fear for the future and the point of Revelation gets lost. Revelation is a book about being faithful disciples,  teaching us how to live at all times, but especially during those times when it seems as if the Dragon and the Beasts (who we’ll read about next week) are making headway in our world. 

God isn’t calling us to fear but to faithfulness. 

With so much emphasis on the future, many miss what God is saying to his churches today. They miss the discipleship that Revelation forms in us that begins on our knees before the One of the throne and the Lamb. Most of the books I’ve read about Revelation through the years ignore discipleship, ignore the centrality of worship and ignore the call to a way of life that says “I’m following the Lamb!” 

Worship is important because it forms us into the image of God. From time to time, we’ll talk about the essentials of the Christian life – these are habits which form our character.  If we practice the right habits, like worship, study, serving, giving, and witness, they will form us into the right person, and the right person will do the right things. “These habits,” writes Dallas Willard, “make us available to the Spirit and to God’s grace because it is the Spirit, not the habits, that ultimately form us.”

One of my favorite writers on the subject of worship, James K.A. Smith, writes: “In short, the way to the heart is through the body and the way into the body is through story. And this is how worship works. Christian formation is a conversion of the imagination effected by the Spirit, who recruits our most fundamental desires by  . . .  inviting us . . . into a story that seeps into our bones and becomes the orienting background of our being in the world.”

This is the heart of how John is discipling the 7 churches. He narrates the stories of persecution and faithfulness, encourages the church to worship God in the context of the story of persecution and faithfulness, and then that embodied worship works into our hearts and forms us into the people who walk in the way of the Lamb.  

What happens when we live our lives in worship? Worship changes us. It changes our outlook on life. It changes the way we relate to others, both Christian and non-Christian. It changes our priorities. It changes the way we spend our resources. Worship is a whole body, whole voice, whole life – a whole life surrendered to the way of the Lamb. In ch. 4, we are taken into the throneroom, where we experience the Worship of God on the throne and the Lamb. When we look at the scene in the throne room of heaven, we realize that worship is the center of everything. And this scene remains the foundation for everything that follows in the rest of this book. All that is to come flows from the fact that the whole creation is called to worship the one true God as its Creator.  

Worship leads to a life of allegiance in the way of the Lamb. Worship is a whole body, whole mind, whole voice, whole life  lived in gratitude to God for Redemption – a whole life surrendered to the Lamb. Reducing worship to one hour on a Sunday violates the heart of worship, because worship is Sunday through Saturday, our entire life, 24/7.  

As you read Revelation, don’t just look for the future! Think about what God is saying to the churches NOW. Think about how Revelation calls us to be faithful followers of the Lamb!

Blessings,
Pastor Terry