For Ever and Ever

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

FOR EVER AND EVER

Rev 5:13-14

13 Then 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!"

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

NIV

If all the heavens weren’t enough giving all praise and glory and honor to He who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, Jesus, here John sees all creation giving praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever. What is meant by every living creature on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them? It would seem natural to think every living creature, which is all that was created by Jesus, the whole of mankind as well as the whole of the animal kingdom, everything that has breath will be giving praise to God and the Lamb. It does seem rather odd, at least in the natural for animals to give praise to God, but then maybe the animals will be in heaven as well as us humans. Maybe they will be with us in the new city of Jerusalem. But what is even stranger is that all mankind is represented here as giving praise to God and to Jesus. With so many people in this world who are against Jesus being the only path to God, and actually with so many really opposed to God, himself, it is difficult to image they will all be giving him praise. Some scholars are of the opinion it is not necessary to press the language literally, which is they believe it to be more metaphoric in nature, simply meaning the whole of all the universe is praising God. The Greek word for creature does mean all that was created, the product of creation, which is in fact everything, even the plants and for that matter the planets. This is how great God is. This is how great Jesus, the Lamb is. The whole of everything that he created will somehow be voicing praise and honor and glory and power to God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. One thought which occurs is that if Jesus, the lamb, was not truly God then giving him praise would be a form of idolatry. But the fact remain although we call the three by different names, the three are one. Why anyone would not want to accept God, the Father, the Son and the Spirit is beyond imagination, as someday even those who will be cast into the lake of burning sulfur, will before that happens be giving all praise and honor and glory and power to God. Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This is what the prophet Isaiah said which was also quoted by Paul in his letter to the Romans. So in fact everything that has the breathe of life, including all those who have opposed God will give him praise. This should give us pause, if we are not truly giving him all praise and honor and glory and power in our lives right now. If we are not completely focused on living for God being divided in our being, having focus on both God and ourselves, we should re-examine our priorities, we should re-evaluate how we are living and for who we are living. Do we give God all the praise for everything in our lives? Or do we consider that much of what we have is because of our efforts and therefor give ourselves some praise? Do we give God all the honor, holding him above all else, having no form of desire for anything other than him? Do we give God all the glory in everything in our lives? This would include even some of the difficult times. Our lives are for his glory. Whatever we experience, we should be giving God the glory in it. Do we give God all the power in our lives or do we want some of that power for ourselves? Do we what to make some of our own choices in life, where we live, where we work, what we want to have, or do we give him all that power, allowing him to make all our life choices for us? Do we do all this sometimes, but not all the time? The fact is all praise, all honor, all glory, and all power belong to him forever and ever, Amen.