Revelation

Revelation 4: God reigns and deserves all worship

Begin in prayer

Before looking with John toward the throne in heaven, ask God to teach your family reverence for His holiness. He created all things by His will and deserves all worship. Ask Him to show you Christ as you listen.

Yours, Yahweh, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty! For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, Yahweh, and you are exalted as head above all.

1 Chronicles 29:11

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us Your holy throne, and help us to see Jesus. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

After receiving the messages to the churches, John is shown an open door into heaven and a throne with One seated on it. A rainbow surrounds the throne, with twenty-four crowned elders seated around it. Lightning and thunder proceed from the throne, before which burn seven lamps of fire and lies what looks like a crystal sea. Four living creatures praise the Lord God Almighty day and night as holy. Their praise draws the elders down in worship, laying their crowns before Him because all things exist by His will.

As you read Revelation 4, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God reigns in holiness and deserves all worship because He created all things by His will.

Before the coming visions of judgment, John sees the throne from which God already rules. The scene answers the pressure of emperor worship faced by the churches in Asia. Heaven gives its praise to the Creator, whose authority every earthly ruler must answer to. The creatures' threefold praise of God's holiness echoes Isaiah's vision and declares that He is set apart from creatures and sin. The elders' crowns become gifts laid before the throne, showing that even their honor depends on Him. His worth rests on creating all things because He desired them to exist. Genesis 1 tells how He made all things by His word in six days. Creation therefore owes Him its worship, and every proud claim to independence fails before this throne.

How does Revelation 4 show us that God reigns in holiness and deserves all worship because He created all things by His will?

God rules from heaven's throne before any judgment unfolds.

The first sight beyond heaven's open door is a throne with One seated on it (verses 1 and 2). The rainbow, elders, lamps and thunder gather around that throne (verses 3 to 6). Everything John will see takes place beneath God's rule.

The living creatures worship God as holy and almighty.

The four creatures never rest from praising God's holiness (verses 7 and 8). Their threefold “Holy, holy, holy” echoes Isaiah's vision of the Lord (Isaiah 6 verse 3). God is set apart from His creatures and from every sin.

The elders lay their crowns before the God who lives forever.

The twenty-four elders fall down when the creatures give glory, honor and thanks to God (verses 9 and 10). Their crowns go before the throne because the honor they possess belongs to Him. Worship gives God what He deserves instead of keeping His gifts as a reason for pride.

God deserves all worship because everything exists by His will.

The elders give their reason for worship, “you created all things” (verse 11). Nothing in creation gave itself existence or made God create it. His free desire gave all things their being. John 1 verse 3 teaches that creation came through the Son, so the Creator's glory belongs to Christ.

Memorise

you created all things, and because of your desire they existed, and were created!

Revelation 4:11

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, how can I stand before the holy God without Jesus?

John saw a throne, and he heard living creatures cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty.” Lightning and thunder came out of the throne. A sinner has good reason to be afraid before the One who sits there, for He is holy, and we are not.

Yet there is a way to come before a holy God. Jesus Christ, the Son, came from heaven and lived without sin. On the cross He carried the sin of His people and answered to God for it. That sacrifice is complete, and His people owe nothing more. Then He rose from the grave and went back to heaven.

So come to Him. Turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus. Anyone who trusts in Him is forgiven, and that one may stand before the holy God without fear. The One who made all things is worthy of all your worship.

Parent's note

Tell your children that the One on the throne is holy, and that sinners need Jesus to stand before Him. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart. Parents, John saw a vision, so you do not need to explain every creature.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that He sits on the throne and made all things, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!”

Revelation 4:8

Lord God, thank You that You sit on the throne and that You made all things. Thank You that You are holy. Please lead each of us to turn from sin and trust Your Son, and help us to honor You in all we do this week. Amen.