Revelation 4:9-10 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
The scene of praise and worship around God’s throne continues. Worship lies at the heart of God creation. We may tend to think of worship in terms of Sunday morning meetings in a building. This event may contain worship but is just a minor slice of the worship around the throne of God. I wonder if our worship has become too much entertainment about us and not submissive faith about God. The music is orchestrated, often loud, the songs sung by only those “performing” and not understood by the vast majority of the crowd, full of emotions, and very light theology which is even sometimes all about self (“I” type songs). No matter what style or format of worship, it will contain human elements. I have been to more liturgical services which were dry, unemotional, cognitive, a bit mysterious (especially to an outsider). The worship around God’s throne is spontaneous, seen with the word “whenever.” It is corporate, the beings do it together. I wonder if our worship has been too influenced by the entertainment industry.
These verses introduce the reason for worship: God is eternal and worthy of our praise. The way the elders worshipped shows humility: they lay their well-earned crowns before God. These crowns may have been given to them for their suffering and faithfulness. The best they had becomes God’s. Do we lay the best we have before God, all our hard-work, our suffering, our victories?
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