Human beings are designed for worship. We worship God and we oftentimes worship the things that God created. We cannot stop worshipping. Built into our DNA is a need to give praise to something or someone - specifically God. In our fallen state, the direction of our worship has a lot more competition than it had when God created Adam and Eve. In the beginning, we saw a creation that unabashedly proclaimed the glory of God. We saw people who were very good. We saw an unabated relationship between God and humanity.
Though that relationship and the direction of our affection have been broken, we still live with the hope and the expectation that they will one day be transformed. We live in the tension of our affections being pulled in every direction. We live in a state of continual redirecting. We want to be focused on God at all times, but it has become more difficult to do because of sin. But that doesn't mean it is impossible to worship God well and rightly.
By setting our mind on the age to come (an eternity in the presence of God), we are able to redirect our affections while living in the tension of our current circumstances. Focusing on eternity equips us to worship in the present. This was something practiced by Jonathan Edwards. He was so focused on the glory of heaven that his mind was continually drawn to praise of God rather than focusing on the things of the world. Now, this takes time and intentionality, and practice, but it is beautiful when you can direct your affections to the One deserving of your affection.
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Worshiping the Lord God Almighty is the thing that we will do for eternity. We don't know what exactly this will look like, but we can be sure it will be focused on Jesus and be ever expanding. Godly worship is a response to the person, character, nature, and action of the Lord God Almighty. Godly worship is us joining in the eternally resounding song of praise. There is a song that will be sung for all of time: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
In Revelation, we get a glimpse of what heavenly worship is like right now. From the beginning of their creation and throughout eternity praise will never cease. And when the living creatures praised, which was never ceasing, the elders fell down to worship saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
What is so amazing is that these creatures and elders do not experience the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and yet have all the reason to praise God for all of eternity. The simple fact that God is the creator of all things and called all things into existence is enough reason to praise Him forever. 1 Peter says that angels “long to look” upon the good news of the Gospel. How much more reason do we have to praise? We praise God as creator, sustainer, and redeemer of all things. All of heaven sings of the worthiness of the Lamb to receive honor and power and wealth and wisdom and glory and might forever. We have experienced the glory and power and wealth and wisdom and might of the Lamb who has redeemed us from our sin and shame. We shall all the more sing at the top of our lungs of the worthiness of the Lamb.
All who are worshipping God in heaven fall down and worship Him. Can you imagine the amount of awe and adoration that one must experience in the presence of our God? Your body goes limp and all that you can do is cry out in worship.
Read through Revelation 4-5 slowly. Let yourself wonder. Let yourself imagine yourself in that throne room. Let yourself worship.
Allow yourself to get excited for the moment you get to join the song, face to face with Jesus, for all eternity.
Scripture
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Ezekiel 1:25-28
“And then, as they stood with folded wings, there was a voice from above the dome over their heads. Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne, sky-blue like a sapphire, with a humanlike figure towering above the throne. From what I could see, from the waist up he looked like burnished bronze and from the waist down like a blazing fire. Brightness everywhere! The way a rainbow springs out of the sky on a rainy day—that’s what it was like. It turned out to be the Glory of God! When I saw all this, I fell to my knees, my face to the ground. Then I heard a voice.”
Revelation 4:2-8
“…a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices… Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal…And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures…And they do not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come
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