Holy, Holy, Holy

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

HOLY, HOLY, HOLY

Rev 4:6-8

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

NIV

John continues with the scene he is seeing of God sitting upon his throne in heaven. Again he has not given a description of the actual appearance of God, but in some sense he is describing God. These four living creatures, with each of their distinct appearances give us indications of God. We should recognize first that God is all seeing, nothing escapes his vision. We might think we can hide certain aspects of our life from other people and that may well be true, but we cannot hide anything from God. People see us on the outside, but God sees our heart. We can live inside our well-constructed facades showing people only that which we desire them to see, even if there is some rotten timbers within. But God knows every hair on our head, and peers deep within our being. We would serve both God and ourselves well if we admitted who we really are, at least to him. Sometimes, some of us having such fine facades might start to actually believe our own outer image, but the truth is we need to know who we are inside, with all our faults and failures, and be honest with him who have eyes everywhere. He also looks into the past, the present and the future, he sees all, and he sees everything about who we were, who we are, and who we will be. As to those four living things one being like a lion, one as like a man, one as like an ox and the other as like an eagle, many scholars have debated their meaning with no real consensus. But what we can learn and know about God is that he is everything. If we were to chance the idea that the lion is the king of the jungle, the ox is strong, and stable, the man is the only of living creatures that has intelligence and the eagle is the greatest, most powerful highest soaring bird, we could see these as who God is. How this serves to teach us a lesson is once again clear. There is none like God. Perhaps we have become too familiar with him, calling him daddy in a sense rather than almighty Father God. Have we become too comfortable in our position in Christ? Although it is true because we are in Christ, we have nothing to fear from God, have we taken that to the extreme? Should we not see God as for who he is rather then what we have made him into? Even though it bears some truth in the scripture that Jesus called his disciples friends instead of servants because he made known to them everything he learned from the father, we would be served well not to think of ourselves as being friendly with God, being too casual with him. He is God, the Almighty God, great and lifted up, able to strike at any moment destruction upon the whole earth and the whole of the universe. Yes, he loves us. Yes, he sent his Son to die for us, to redeem us, to justify us before him. But let us not forget who he is and as we worship him, we would do well to worship him in spirit and in truth. That is to say we cannot worship him in the flesh, although we do present our bodies as a living sacrifice. We must know the truth about God, and worship him, bowing down on our faces, prostrate before him, humbling ourselves in every sense, knowing we are nothing without him. Knowing Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.