Worthy
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
I wanted to write a little series on this very brief passage from the book of Revelation. Why this passage and not some other one? During our Good Friday service we read this passage, following along with the ‘heavenly characters’ (the living creatures and then the 24 elders) who worship God constantly and forever.
Jesus’ death reminds us of the character of God that we find in this brief passage (you can find it in Revelation 4). I won’t pretend, nor try, to use these posts to interpret all the details in this passage. That is something that you can no doubt find A LOT about elsewhere.
What I do want to talk about are some of the adjectives used to describe God:
‘Worthy’ ‘glory’ ‘honor’ and ‘power’ are words that at the very least we hear frequently. Certain people are ‘worthy’ of an award. Some people aren’t worthy (shameless Wayne’s World plug). Some receive ‘all the glory’. Some are ‘honored’ for their years of service. We know there are examples of people who use their power ‘for good’ and others who let power ‘corrupt’ them. So there will be four posts coming up, in between these four will be seperate posts that tell you more about what is happening in France and Descartes.
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Worthy.
In the passage the elders tell God He is worthy to receive the glory, honor and power and tells us why.
Because God created all things, by his will all things were created and have their being.
Many people are worthy to receive lots of accolades like God is but not at all for the same reasons. There is no other character or person in the Bible, no matter how amazing they are who can claim this kind of role. There is only one creator. There is only one who not just created but also with a purpose. Only one who holds all things together.
It’s the triune God.
There is something about this that causes a lot of problems for us when don’t place God in the center of our lives. For Christians, this can actually be a side-effect of a lazy or tired relationship with God. We stop reading our Bible. We stop praying. We stop talking to other people about God. Maybe work gets to be too much. Our family situation starts to crumble.
Ultimately, God takes the backseat. We move on from seeing God the creator who wills all things into being and hold things together into a distant 49% powerful 51% absent god-like person from the Bible or a Kirk Cameron film.
For those who are not yet Christians we live in a doubt or denial that there could be a God. Sometimes we are just skeptical while other times we have a hard time dealing with pain in our lives.
To the Christian. God is always at the center. He wills things into being and hold things together. Adjust your schedule to put Him there. Challenge yourself to spend time with Him and for Him. Find a group of people (a church or a small group) who bring us closer to Him.
To the not-yet Christian or person who believes there is something. Keep asking why. Don’t get bogged down in work. Challenge what you believe. Listen to podcasts or read. Find people who believe. Discuss. Drink coffee. Journal. Whatever. Keep the questions going. We don’t arrive anywhere ‘by chance’ but with the help of others we can see who this God really is: worthy of honor and our praise because he made everything, wills all things into creation and holds all things in place.