Worship resounds through the Spiritual realm like music does in the physical realm .. and God is always turning the volume up! The Millennial reign of martyred Christians prove that the “intermediate state” is not a diminishment of Worship or of Spiritual Warfare, but an elevation of both!
Remember in the end, the big picture that the puzzle is building is really reflected perfectly in the 2 pillars. As convoluted as the rest of the life of Solomon will be, and as even more convoluted as the history recorded in the books of kings these 2 will stand throughout! God is establishing … and God is our Strength!
Stretch out your hands toward Christ and grasp hold of Him with all you are! When you pray prepare to be stretched in your communion with God!
God is like no other. That makes knowing Him a challenge and it means that He must come to us if we are to have any fruition of Him as our blessedness and reward! Not only has He come to us, but the whole history of man is the story of God coming to us in the most intimate way and for the most intimate union. No wonder then that the best metaphor He uses to portray that union is that of marriage and a wedding feast. But the marriage metaphor fails to excite us as it should if we are unsure of WHO our Bridegroom is. Ignorant of what makes Him altogether lovely.
righteousness or righteous acts? – there is a controversy about which is it? – the answer = both! just like Philippians 2:12-13 – the bride makes herself ready because it was granted to her to clothe herself! – God’s grace always comes first and works in… but we always work OUT that grace that NEW LIFE. Living things LIVE! No wonder v.7 emphasize rejoicing and exulting … with giving God the GLORY!
What a horrible thing to come into the presence of God and NOT worship. To miss the glory and the power of worship. Revelation is easily the most worshipful book of the whole Bible. So many Worship services and calls to worship. IF you are going to learn to worship from any place in Scripture it should be Revelation. I think we have already seen great heavenly worship scenes that have instructed us and empowered us here at Omega to better, fuller and truer worship… but we can still learn more. Indeed, I believe the greatest mistake that the contemporary evangelical world is making … is not being serious about the WORSHIP of GOD!
Rejoicing songs of praise not being vendetas but rejoicing in God and His justice, but what is the central focus of Revelation is that All Christians will rejoice at the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ – a joy such as none of us I’m sure has ever known in this world – even though that coming must mean the end of the unbelieving world and the judgment and punishment of its people. “Maranatha, O Lord Come quickly,” is always the sweetest part of our song!
The very nature of the union with the Harlot and Beast has led to the shock of Satan’s divided house … and has brings home to us all the Gospel of Christ’s Household united in bonds of selfless, sacrificial love.
Without the word of God we will Marvel at the power and seduction of evil … even as Christians! – This is because the unusual way that God has ordained life to be lived this side of the resurrection. This middle paragraph in Rev 17 is giving us the wisdom needed to flip the picture right side up, and see that – as threatening and intimidating and overwhelming as the Woman and the Beast look, one little Word will fell them!
By God’s exposure of the Great City, the Mother prostitute of Babylon – he not only vindicates His judgment but anticipates the Chaste virgin Bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem – the city of our God – and exposes Her implicitly as a faithful and truly beautiful Bride. Not for what she is naturally, but for what Christ has made her – by being the Lamb slain for her… by drinking the cup of God’s fury for her. This act of self-sacrifice taking her from her own prostitution and establishing her in purity.
