Revelation 4:9-11 - Praise To The Throne

“Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: "You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created." A good question to think about is why do you want to go to heaven? Many of us want to go to heaven so we don’t have to go to hell. And honestly, there would be nothing wrong with that. But maybe a better motive would be to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. If you find worship boring down here and you are not interested in worshiping the Lord Jesus and expressing your heart's desire to Him, why in the world do you want to go to heaven? We are going to spend a lot of time up there worshiping Him. Heaven primarily will be a place of worship! We have already seen the four living creatures continuously worshipping day and night saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”  Now we are told that whenever the living creatures glorified God, the elders would fall before the throne and praise Him. The Book of Revelation is filled with hymns of praise. Over and over again we will see worship happening in the book of Revelation. Look up the following passages: (Rev. 4:8, 11; 5:9-13; 7:12-17; 11:15-18; 12:10-12; 15:3-4; 16:5-7; 18:2-8; 19:2-6). The emphasis on praise is significant when you remember that John wrote this book to encourage people who were going through suffering and persecution! The theme of this hymn in Revelation 4 is God the Creator, while in Revelation 5 the elders praise God the Redeemer. The praise in Revelation 4 is given to the Father on the throne, while in Revelation 5 it is directed to the Son (the Lamb) before the throne. The closing hymn (Rev. 5:13) is expressed to both, which is another proof of the deity of Jesus Christ. If the twenty-four elders typify the people of God in heaven, then we must ask, "Why should God's people praise God the Creator?" If the heavens are declaring the glory of God, why shouldn't God's heavenly people join the chorus? Creation bears constant witness to the power, wisdom, and glory of God. “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1) Whenever we speak for the first time to an unreached people group in India we always begin by talking about the God who created the heavens and the earth and the God that made us! Acknowledging the Creator is the first step toward trusting the Redeemer. As Paul shared the gospel in Acts 14:8-18 at Lystra on his first missionary journey and later in Athens in Acts 17:22-34, he first proclaim God as creator of all things. When Paul wrote to the Colossian church he reminded them that: "All things were created by Him [Christ] and for Him ... and by Him all things consist [hold together]" (Colossians 1:16-17). Romans 1:18-25 clearly tells us that God has revealed Himself through His creation but sinful man worships and serves the creature rather than the Creator, and this is idolatry. Furthermore, sinful man has polluted and destroyed God's wonderful creation; and he is going to pay for it. Revelation 11:18 tells us one day God will destroy those who destroy the earth. Creation is for God's praise and pleasure, and man has no right to usurp that which rightfully belongs to God. Man plunged creation into sin, so that God's good creation (Genesis 1:31) is today a groaning creation (Romans 8:22); but because of Christ's work on the cross, it will one day be delivered and become a glorious creation (Romans 8:18-24).