Revelation 4:10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

  11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

 

Revelation 5:12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

  13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

 

(What is going on here?  Besides angels, and other celestial beings, it appears that we maybe are going to be these people saying all these things.

Ever wonder if you're in the Bible?  Can you see yourself right here in these verses in chapters 4 and 5.  Is that's me?)

 

(Why will be saying these things to the LORD?  worthy, glory, power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, blessing?

We will be worshipping Jesus by giving these words to him from our mouth.

Why these words?  These words are all about who Jesus has revealed himself to be.  These are Jesus' attributes.)

 

(We're really going to be praising, singing, and worshipping this way, a lot, and very loudly!

Why are we going to have to wait until we leave this place, before we really start doing what we were created to do?

Sadly, it looks like those worshipping then, will be doing so, that way, because they finally get to see Jesus for who he really is.

Why is that sad? Because we already have the full revelation of Jesus, right now, right here, in this book, the word of God.)

 

(If we would only let the Holy Ghost open our eyes, and our hearts, to this full revealing of Jesus   -   then what?

We would begin intense worshipping, now. It would radically change us, like those in chapters 4 & 5, the moment they see Jesus.)

 

(Jesus has always been revealing himself, by his word:)

 

Genesis 3:8a And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:

 

(They heard his voice while he was walking, even before he came and spoke to them, directly.

Were they hearing something similar to the Son speaking to the Father in John 17, at another garden?)

 

(He greatly revealed himself to Abraham, then to Isaac, then Jacob, and they responded by faith and worship:)

 

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

 

Genesis 17:1b  the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God;

 

Genesis 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

  14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

 

Genesis 26:24 And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.

  25a And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD,

 

Genesis 28:13b I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac:

  15a And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest,

  19a And he called the name of that place Bethel:

  22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

 

(He revealed himself to Moses, whom he would then use to lead Israel out of Egypt, with great signs and miracles:)

 

Exodus 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

  5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

  14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

  15b  this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

 

Exodus 6:2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:

  3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

 

(Moses desired to see his glory; but he revealed his excellent glory, by the very words he spoke, which reveal who he is and what he is like:)

 

Exodus 34:5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.

  6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

  7a Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty;

 

(Then he had Moses write everything down in the first five books, and all the revelation was there for anyone who would read it.

His glorious name then brings to remembrance all these written revelations, and he had Moses record that name 1,854 times:)

 

Exodus 20:24c  in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

 

(He then revealed himself to anyone who would search for him in his word:)

 

I Samuel 3:1a And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.

  7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.

  21 And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.

 

(He revealed himself to David by the same word of God, that anyone in Israel could have searched and found him.

All the wonderful things David then wrote about him, were revealed to David by that same word of God that all Israel had access to:)

 

 

Psalms 86:5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

  15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

 

Psalms 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

 

Psalms 145:8 The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

 

(When we read those same 5 books of Moses that David read, we can get bored reading about all details of the sacrifices, in Leviticus.

Or we get bored when the gifts of each tribe are repeated twelve times, we would have preferred an, "etc., etc.".

But, clearly, that is not the case for David, as he read those same things.

The LORD revealed himself to David, even in those very passages.

David was transformed by that revelation of the LORD.

And it may have been like, "There he is! He is right there in those words!

So when his men came to him, warning about Saul getting close, would David say, I need to finish writing and singing this psalm?

David even desired the LORD to reveal more and more about himself, and he knew this revelation is found only in the written word of God:)

 

Psalms 119:18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

 

(Then John the fisherman met Jesus, and began to see and hear just how wonderful this Jesus truly is:)

 

Mark 1:40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

  41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.

 

(John saw Jesus heal and deliver so many people, feed thousands, walk on water, and raise Lazarus back to life.

John even heard the marvelous things that the people who hated Jesus, said to try and mock him:)

 

Luke 15:2b This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

 

Luke 7:34b a friend of publicans and sinners!

 

(John knew that Jesus had to be the Messiah, and he even heard what the Father revealed about Jesus on the mount of transfiguration.

John heard Jesus' wonderful words in John 14-16, also his prayer to the Father in 17, and the false trial of Jesus before Caiaphas in 18.

John was at the cross, he heard the seven last sayings of Jesus, and witnessed the blood sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

John beheld the empty tomb, was an eyewitness of the resurrected Lord Jesus, spent 40 days with him, and saw him ascend to heaven.

John wrote about the disciple whom Jesus loved, who leaned upon his breast, like a younger brother would, on a loving older brother.)

 

(For 60 years, John preached the gospel, served Jesus, edified the churches, was painfully persecuted, and was finally exiled to Patmos.)

 

Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

  11a Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:

  12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

  13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

  14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

  15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

  16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

(After those 60 years, the disciple whom Jesus loved, who leaned on his breast, finally gets to see Jesus again.

You'd figure he would run up to him, throw his arms about him, and give him a great, big hug!  But what happened?)

 

Revelation 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

 

(Everyone, including John, would have thought that after all he witnessed, and after 60 years of service, that John really knew Jesus.

But Jesus suddenly revealed that he was far more than John had ever known or even imagined.

John instantly worshipped Jesus in awe, and in the beauty of holiness, in response to this magnificent revealing of who he is.)

 

(However, there was a lot more revealing of Jesus about to come, and it was not only for John.

John was to personally witness the Father's great revealing of his Son, Jesus, who he really is, and write it down for all ages:)

 

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

  2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

  5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

  6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

  7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

  17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

  18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

  19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

 

(After giving the letters to the 7 churches, he calls John by a trumpet voice, and takes him, faster than a rocket, straight up to heaven.

John witnesses the revealing of the Deity of Jesus in holiness, glory, power, and majesty.

Then he witnesses the revealing of how worthy Jesus is, as the humble, holy, faithful Lamb of God.

Everyone there is going wild with unbridled worship and praise, as a result of experiencing this revelation of Jesus!)

 

(This is not the revelation of the Father, nor the revelation of the Spirit, but it is the revelation that the Father gives of his Son, Jesus.

Then all the other chapters continue to reveal who Jesus truly is.

By reading and believing this revelation that the Father gave of his Son Jesus, Christians could endure the torments of persecution.

They're not superhumans, but everyday people, who were transformed and empowered by the very words of God.

Those martyrs had Jesus reveal himself to them, right from the scriptures.

And in particular, the book of Revelation is not a book of martyrs, but it has been a book for martyrs.)

(There is eternal wonder, glory, joy, and majesty of our Lord and Saviour, as well as all that intense super worship, right now in heaven.

All we need to realize that as we read the scriptures, that all this is as close to us, as being just on the other side of the page.

By faith from the word of God, and faith in the word of God, we too are transformed, and are somehow right there with them, in glory.)

 

(If we haven't yet experienced this, maybe we don't yet understand or believe all that the scriptures really are:)

 

Psalms 33:6a By the word of the LORD were the heavens made;

 

Hebrews 1:3c  and upholding all things by the word of his power,

 

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

 

Luke 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

 

(So, maybe we can ask Jesus, as this man did:)

 

Mark 9:24b  and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

 

(The entire word of God is all about the Word of God, himself:)

 

Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

 

(All the worship David offered, and all the wonderful things he wrote about the LORD, he got from the first 5 books of the Bible.

We have far more than he had, as we have the entire Bible, especially the gospels, epistles, and the transforming book of Revelation.

All we need to do, is like David did, to ask Jesus to show us himself in this magnificent book of his:)

 

Psalms 119:18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

 

(And after we ask Jesus to open our eyes, we need to also ask him to open our lips:)

 

Psalms 51:15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

 

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