Revere him

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

REVERE HIM

Rev 19:4-5

4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: "Amen, Hallelujah!" 5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying: "Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!"

NIV

Once again we see these twenty-four elders who represent the full true church. The twelve of the tribes of Israel and the twelve of the Apostles, all the old and New Testament wrapped up together, Jews and gentiles, all true believers. There words indicate a finale of all God has done. “Amen, Hallelujah!” The full extent of his wrath has been completed upon the world of unbelievers. They have been plunged into total darkness without any light at all as they rejected the true Light of the world. Complete and utter chaos has ensued and mankind is left with nothing but themselves as they have been their own god. His judgment is completed, he is ready to hand down his sentence for their crimes. This voice which comes from the throne or as the Greek words say, a voice out of the throne, cannot be the voice of God, or John would have said, God spoke these words. It is unlikely it was Jesus as he too is God and the words proclaiming that all should Praise our God. But another look here might reveal something unseen. In the Greek the word translated our, is also used as we, it is a plural genitive case which comes after the noun. Thus it could be said a voice came from the throne saying: “Praise we, God, all you his servants” or “Praise God, us, all you his servants. So in that case it could be the united voice of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit speaking to all the saints of God, bot Jew and Gentile alike. All of us who fear him need to praise him. Even if this is not the actual voice of the God, it is a voice which comes from the throne, which embodies all that represents his authority. Maybe it is the throne itself which speaks, but highly unlikely, yet with God all things are possible. But the point remains the same no matter who it is who is speaking. We who fear the Lord should be about praising him at all times. It is also a truth that we should fear him.

Ps 111:10

10 The fear of the LORD  is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

NIV

Prov 1:7

7 The fear of the LORD  is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

NIV

Prov 9:10

10 "The fear of the LORD  is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

NIV

These are but a few of the references to fearing the Lord, but this Hebrew word does not mean to be afraid in fear, but to reverence him. This carries the same application as the one and only place in the New Testament which tells us the new church grew in numbers as they were living in reverence of the Lord.  This is the same word here to be in awe of or revere the Lord. This is the case as we have also been told there is no fear in love and if God is love, if he loves us, which he does, and we love him, which we do, then there is no fear, no being afraid, in fright, scared, but rather there is a whole lot of reverence, at least there should be. This would imply we should not become too familiar or casual with God, as in seeing him as daddy. His is Father. There should be a total and complete sense of respect and awe at the mention of his name. In that sense there is a certain amount of alarm or fright because he is God, the creator of all things. He has the ability to strike us down in an instant, should he decide, which it is unlikely yet he has both the ability and the authority to do so. This is why we praise his name, because his judgments are true and just. But at the same time, not being afraid of him, but understanding we need to revere him, respect him, and stand in awe of him. This would mean we should not take advantage of his grace and mercy. We have been told that we should not continue to sin in order that his grace may abound even more. In doing so we may have become too casual in our relationship with him. He is the one sitting upon the throne, and we are told we need to praise him out of our reverence for him.