Christmas Presence - "Worship in His Presence" - (Advent week 4 of 4)

CHRISTMAS PRESENCE – "Worship in His Presence"
Pastor Nathan Deisem - Fathom Church Revelation 4:1-11

Worship in Revelation 4
“1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD,

• Revelation 1:4–5, “John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, & who is to come, & from the seven spirits before his throne, & from Jesus Christ…”
Revelation 3:1, “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God . . .”
Revelation 4:5, “From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.”

Revelation 5:6, “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.”

o Debate: Angels? Or Holy Spirit?
The “seven spirits” cannot be seven angelic beings such as seraphim or cherubim because of the context of Revelation 1:4. John says that “grace and peace” are coming to the churches from three sources: “him who is, and who was, and who is to come” (verse 4), “the seven spirits before the throne” (verse 4), and “Jesus Christ” (verse 5). This is a depiction of THE TRINITY: grace and peace are given by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the three co-equal Persons of the Godhead.

In Revelation 3:1 Jesus “holds” the seven spirits of God. In John 15:16, Jesus “sends” the Holy Spirit from the Father. Both passages suggest the superordinate role of the Son and the subordinate role of the Spirit.

In Revelation 4:5 the seven spirits of God are symbolized as seven burning lamps that are before God’s throne. This picture agrees with Zechariah’s vision in which he sees the Holy Spirit symbolized as “a solid gold lampstand . . . with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it” (Zechariah 4:2).

Once we identify the “seven spirits” as the Holy Spirit, the question remains, why are there “seven” of Him? The Bible, and especially the book of Revelation, uses the number seven to refer to perfection and completion. John’s vision includes a picture of the perfect and complete Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 11:2 also references the Holy Spirit using a seven-fold description:
1) The Spirit of the LORD
2) The Spirit of wisdom
3) The Spirit of understanding
4) The Spirit of counsel
5) The Spirit of power
6) The Spirit of knowledge
7) The Spirit of the fear of the Lord

6 and before the throne there was as it were a SEA OF GLASS, like crystal (Ex.24:10; Ezek 1:22). And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight (Ezek. 1). 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night THEY NEVER CEASE TO SAY,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, [Rev 19:10 & 22:9]
Who was and is and is to come!”

9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders FALL DOWN BEFORE HIM who is seated on the throne and WORSHIP HIM who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
TO RECEIVE GLORY AND HONOR AND POWER,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”

LIVING WORSHIP
We are committed to praising the name of Jesus daily by recognizing who He is, who we are, and reacting accordingly in all areas of our lives. We treasure our times of corporate praise and worship and we state emphatically that worship does not end there. All of life is meant to be worship.

#NathanDeisem #FathomChurch #ChristmasPresence

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