Sermon Tone Analysis

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[TITLE SLIDE]
Last week we opened with this idea that we are in the process of becoming who we already are in Christ.
The idea goes like this.
If you’re like me, there are things about this world that you like and things about this world that you absolutely hate.
There are things that disgust you.
There are patterns of behavior that you can’t stand to be around.
That’s because the world is fundamentally corrupt.
Society is fundamentally broken.
And people are fundamentally unfaithful.
So, for many people, the hope of heaven has less to do with being free from our own personal sins, and more to do with being free from the corruption of the world around us.
And I get that.
I, too, look forward to a time when the world will be perfected, where everything will be made right and good again.
Do you connect with that?
Do you want to be a part of a better world?
Is that the hope of heaven for you?
It’s my belief that worshiping Christ is the same thing as expressing a desire for a better world.
The entire point of Jesus dying to save us from our sins and His invitation to join Him in God’s Eternal Kingdom is so that the people of God would live forever with God in a perfect world, a better world.
So, if a Christian is a person who wants a better world, then a Christian is a person whose ultimate desire is to worship Christ?
Today I want to talk about worship.
I want to talk about worship now, in this life, but since we are in a series called, ‘Thinking Eternally’ I want to begin with…
Worshipping Christ in His Kingdom
The idea that eternity will be spent worshipping Jesus comes from a number of statements in the book of Revelation and a few in the Old Testament where all the nations of the earth are observed singing praise or crying out in praise forever and ever.
Here’s one of the key passages.
John writes,
…I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in [the] heaven, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
(, ESV)
(, ESV)
Notice the word multitude.
This word can just mean a lot of people—or a lot of something.
But, sometimes it is used to convey the idea of such great abundance that it is impossible to quantify.
That seems to be the sense here.
There are so many people that their voices together sound off like one huge voice.
I want to make a note about John’s use of heaven in this verse.
Most of the time, when the Bible says the word ‘heaven’ or ‘heavens’ it is referring to the sky or the universe.
But, here in the text, the original Greek actually reads, ‘a great multitude in the heaven,’ using the definite article ‘the.’
This means that there is a single, particular heaven in mind.
So, what John is referring to is the divine abode type of heaven, where Christ sits on His throne, and the heavenly beings worship and serve.
This is the heaven we mean when we say that someone has died and gone to heaven.
I want to make a note about John’s use of heaven in this verse.
Most of the time, when the Bible says the word ‘heaven’ or ‘heavens’ it is referring to the sky or the universe.
But, here in the text, the original Greek actually reads, ‘a great multitude in the heaven,’ using the definite article ‘the.’
This means that there is a single, particular heaven in mind.
So, what John is referring to is the divine abode type of heaven, where Christ sits on His throne, and the heavenly beings worship and serve.
This is the heaven we mean when we say that someone has died and gone to heaven.
[BLANK]
Because the word has two distinctly different usages in the Bible, I usually refer to this kind of heaven as God’s eternal Kingdom since that is also language the Bible uses.
But, here John chooses the word heaven to explain the place where this great multitude of people cry out to God, so many that they cannot be counted.
I won’t get too much into the imagery of their cry of praise, but it seems pretty obvious that they are praising God for doing away with the immorality of the world.
The multitudes praise God because He has finally put sin to death.
And they continue,
Once more they cried out,
“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”
(, ESV)
(, ESV)
Forever and ever, smoke comes up from the earth as sin and death are destroyed.
Sin will be no more.
People often ask me, ‘Anthony do you think we can sin in heaven?’
When they ask me that, they know my answer is ‘no,’ but they have a hard time connecting with that concept.
But, this is why.
Sin is alive and well right now.
But sin will be forever put to death.
There will be no more corruption and no more temptation to sin, so sin will be no more.
And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen [Truly].
Hallelujah [Praise Yahweh]!”
And from the throne came a voice saying,
“Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.
(, ESV)
(, ESV)
Again, we get this idea of the great multitude praising God for delivering them to His Eternal Kingdom.
This multitude is so great that it is like the roar of the oceans—many waters.
The roar of their voices boom like peals of thunder.
This is the moment that David spoke of when he sang,
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.
(, ESV)
So, here’s what I think happens.
We see passages that show the nations gathered and singing songs of praise to God.
And then we see passages like this one,
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, who was and is and is to come!” (, ESV)
And then we get the idea that since these divine creatures sing praise to God day and night, that we must do the same thing in heaven.
But, this passage is not about humans.
These divine beings are not properly ‘angels,’ but Isaiah (6.2) calls them the Seraphim.
They are beings that are created for the express purpose of praising God for his holiness.
That they have eyes all around is an ancient illustration that tells us these beings don’t sleep.
They are conscious and praising God all the time.
[BLANK]
These beings absolutely give us a beautiful picture of worship, because worship takes our minds off our problems and focuses them on God.
Worship causes us to consider and appreciate God’s reality and character.
Worship lifts our perspective from the earthly and mundane to the heavenly and glorious.
But, what the Seraphim do is not what all of the spiritual beings do.
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