Worship: It's Your Choice
At the recent Rugby World Cup, the adoration of fans for their teams and especially the individual high achievers was obvious. The worship of celebrity pervades all aspects of our lives. Movie and pop stars, sports personalities and society types receive the adulation of all parts of society. For some, this adoration amounts to a form of worship. For others, “self” is the object of their awe and total devotion. Lucifer was one of these. When, as chief of the angels in heaven, he decided to elevate himself to the position of God his creator and said, “I will be like the most high,” and became Satan, our world was in trouble.
And he is still creating controversy and discontent over the nature of true worship—and the object of it—in an endeavour to pull as much of humanity to their destruction with him.
The bigger picture of worship is ultimately about whether we worship God or the instigator of evil, Satan. That was the test Adam and Eve faced in the Garden of Eden. Unfortunately for us, as the conniving serpent, Satan managed to persuade Eve to self-indulgence and Adam fell in with her rather than lose the object of his devotion.
However, God’s mercy and patience for this evil impostor and his misbehaviour will one day end. The book of Revelation begins with the words, “The revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1). It’s written to reveal Jesus our Lord, His eventual triumphant over evil and His purpose for His followers. This book is full of pictures of heaven, with God as the centre of worship.
One such picture is viewed in Revelation 7:9, 10: “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”
The next verse tells about the angels and others who join in this worship to God. Statements follow describing those who are saved and worship God—people forever satisfied as they serve Him.
Interestingly, Revelation 14 also presents a scene where those who have been saved from sin and sorrows are living in heaven in God’s presence. They are identified as having God’s name on their foreheads, symbolic of the place where their decisions are made.
God, however, sends three urgent messages, carried by angels, to those living in the world. He wants them to make clear and good decisions as to whom they will worship. He understands the dilemma we face as Satan tries to persuade us to worship him or anything else but God.
the first angel
In Revelation 14:7, three strong commands are clear. For emphasis, the angel speaks with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory. Worship him. . . .” To “fear God” means to reverence Him and recognise His position, His character, and His purposes for you. To “give him glory” suggests that we appreciate His goodness and His mercy in the plan of salvation He has set up for us.
So we offer Him our highest praise and gratitude for what He has done. The third injunction—to “worship him”—seems a logical response to a wonderful God whose works should fill us with joy and amazement.
The verse identifies God as the Creator “who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” Such power and provision is not only beyond our finite capabilities but our imagination to fathom such processes. How can a genuine believer not worship such a God?
the second angel
Then comes the message of the second angel who recalls the ancient power called Babylon, which in the Bible is usually viewed as a counterfeit or alternative system of worship. This second angel announces, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries” (verse 8).
Babylon, in the first instance, stood for confusion (see the story of the Tower of Babel, Genesis 11:9). Under Nebuchadnezzar, sometime later, it came to represent a system of false worship, opposed to God and His faithful people. King Nebuchadnezzar proudly spoke of “the great Babylon I have built” and demanded everyone to bow down and worship an enormous golden image of himself.
However, while everyone bowed to his wishes, there were three God worshippers who refused to do so. For this they were thrown into a furnace. But God honoured His faithful followers. Not only did He save their lives, He sent his Son to be with them in the fire and they emerged unscathed.
The second angel reminds readers that Babylon with its false worship is already defeated, even though she duped nations, dulling their minds to the truth through the bad wine she gave them to drink. In other words, she caused people to be disloyal to God and follow her false notions of who is deserving of worship.
the third angel
Then a third angel comes with a message (Revelation 14:9, 10): “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath.”
Again the focus is about our choice of whom we will worship. It would appear that the “beast,” so-called, and “his image,” has set up another system of false worship, supplanting God.
This worship seems to be persuasive, as people will be changed by it. Their foreheads, indicating their minds and decision, are marked by it, and their hands being indicators of their actions, will show where their allegiance lies.
Jesus warned of such deceptions in Matthew 15:9 when He said, “They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”
consequences
The result of worshipping the beast and his image is strong retribution from God. A worshipper following the beast and his image will be “tormented with burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:10). This is the Lamb, the Saviour of the world, who died for their salvation and whom they have wilfully rejected.
Then follows some ominous words: “And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name” (Revelation 14:11).
These are dire consequences for turning aside from God and worshipping a false power, of letting ourselves be duped and confused by a counterfeit system.
contrast
Finally there comes a wonderful snapshot of those who have been true to God and have reverenced Him, given Him glory and their worship. Verse 12 says in a fitting tribute, “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”
Wonderful words identify those whose allegiance has always been to the Creator of heaven and earth. They love Him and delight to follow His instructions. God’s commendation in verse 12 is for those who find His commandments their delight. They love and honour God as instructed in the first four commandments, and their fellow humans as directed in the last six commandments.
God is supreme in their lives and they don’t worship any other. They do not take His name in vain, but speak it with reverence and respect. They like to spend time with God now and keep all His commandments, including the fourth, which tells us to, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8). They also treat others with respect as instructed in the rest of the commandments, because that is how God relates to them.
Those identified as the “saints” in Revelation 14:12 are patient in waiting for the time to come when they will be continually in God’s presence, and can bow down before His throne in heaven and worship Him with the angels and with those who have accepted His salvation on earth. In the meantime, they obey His commandments and remain faithful, knowing that one day their lives will be full of joy and without the tears that they presently experience. For them the choice is simple: the God of love with His promises of eternal peace wins.
your choice
It all comes down to choice: to whom will you give your devotion, the Creator Saviour God, or someone or something else? If you’re at all like me, you will know that self doesn’t satisfy one’s needs in the long term. And the Bible is plain in its warnings of the destruction of the forces who oppose God and those who worship them instead of God. We need something much bigger and better than that to worship, and I have found that all my needs are met in my loving God.
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