Sermon Tone Analysis

! *True Worship*

 

Preached at Skillman Bible Church

April 24th, 2005

 

Sermon Text: Revelation 15:1-4

Sermon Manuscript by Rick George

 

 

Let me ask you a question:  What is true worship?

This subject has been at the heart of some of the most horrific battles and fights among Christians throughout the centuries.

In contemporary times there has been a label placed on this ongoing debate about the nature of true worship… the worship wars.

And the term “wars” is not to far off from what the debate really entails.

It’s importance can be seen in the over 12 million websites and 2,000+ books written on Christian worship.

People just cannot agree on how we are suppose to worship, in what style are we suppose to worship or what the product of worship should be.

I have personally seen churches split over this issue and have heard of pastors quitting and even emotional outrage amongst brethren over what true worship is.

Why?  What is it about worship that has created such “adversity” amongst Christians?

No matter how you look at it, we must, in Christian unity, come together and understand what true worship is as we see it in the Scriptures and we get a little glimpse of this true worship in the 15th chapter of Revelation.

If you have your Bible, let’s turn there together.

Before we continue, I need to give a short disclaimer if you will.

As many of you know, the study of worship is a passion of mine and I enjoy any opportunity to talk with you about it.

We will be looking at Revelation 15, but my intentions are to use this as an example of true worship and as a springboard into helping us define what true worship is.

Therefore, for the first few minutes we will look at the meaning and context of this text and how it fits into this great series on Revelation that Terry is taking us through and then I hope to give a few suggestions, based on the overall context of scripture and what we know from history, on how to come to a middle ground on this worship style debate.

Revelation 15.

I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.

2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name.

They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb:

 

“Great and marvelous are your deeds,

Lord God Almighty.

Just and true are your ways,

King of the ages.

4 Who will not fear you, O Lord,

and bring glory to your name?

For you alone are holy.

All nations will come

and worship before you,

for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

We have now come to the climax of the cliffhanger part of the story.

Since chapter 12 John has kept us on our toes.

It reminds me of a Stephen King novel that I read when I was a kid.

I knew something was about to happen, but I didn’t know what |  I started to read faster and faster |  The scary music, in my mind, becoming more intense, until finally…  there came a break in the story; only to intrigue my curiosity as to why it happened as it did, so I would keep reading only to find that I would get caught up in the same cycle again and again.

This is what is happening here.

The last timestamp that we received was at the end of chapter 11.  Do you remember?

John witnessed the sounding of the seventh trumpet and we heard the lyrics of the Hallelujah chorus ring out: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”

Then there came a pause in the timeline of events that happen on earth and during the next few chapters, from chapter 12 up until this point, we don’t see what the seventh trumpet judgment brought about.

John has been describing for us glorious events in heaven that transcend time and space.

And now we come to chapter 15 and finally, what we have all been anticipating, biting our nails, clenching our jaw and the whole bit.

In a stage play, this would be the final ACT.

The final movement of a symphony.

John shares with us what the seventh trumpet signifies: and it signifies God’s final wrath on the earth.

Let’s look at the first verse again:

“I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign:”  - This is the third time John has used the word sign to describe events that are occurring in heaven.

The first two signs, one depicting the woman with Child and the other depicting the dragon, were in chapter 12.

This language basically serves as a signpost directing our attention towards God’s final judgment.

It is moving us along on this path of God’s impending wrath.

What is this third sign?

It is the “seven angels with the seven last plagues – last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.”

This is it!

This is what we have been waiting for.

This is what the seventh trumpet has signaled.

At last, God’s wrath will be taken out upon a sinful earth and He will be glorified.

This is the “great and marvelous sign”.

This is when God will display His righteous judgments and thus show forth the glory of His Name!

 

Can you imagine what the feeling must have been like for those who were witnessing these things in heaven?

Can you imagine intensity of it all?

God was about to make good on His ages old promise of clearing the world of its sin, of giving justice to the enemy who has attempted to turn all of creation away from God.

This is it!

Are you excited?

I am!

 

Let’s read on.

Verse 2: “And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire,”… hmm.

Sound familiar?

This is the same image that John gave us in chapter 4 with his original description of heaven.

This time though there is something that looks like fire mixed in with the sea.

Remember that this is metaphoric in nature.

John is describing to us something that has never been described or seen before.

There have been many interpretations of the fire and quite frankly they all are similar and don’t really matter a whole lot to the overall interpretation of the book, but I believe that this fire signifies God’s impending judgment and wrath.

The glass sea symbolizes the dividing factor between earth and heaven.

It most likely represents the holiness and majesty of God that separate Him from His creation and this fire in the sea is God’s wrath gearing up to do justice on the earth.

Following the description of this sea we see another image: “and, standing beside the sea, those who have been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name.”

Hmm… who can these people be?

Well, we know by now that it is not the church for the church has been raptured before the beast took control of the earth.

The church was represented earlier by the 24 elders encircling the throne room of God and these elders are not mentioned here.

Well, what about the 144,000 Jews for Jesus?

Could it be this group?

Remember back two weeks ago?

Pastor Terry took us through the beginning of chapter 14 and we saw the 144,000, the faithful remnant, gathered on Mount Zion singing a new song.

We know it’s not them, for they have been protected from the beast and could not be in heaven because they will be on the earth throughout the seven bowl judgments.

To solve this puzzle, let’s look back in chapter 7.  Keep your finger in chapter 15 and turn to chapter 7, verse 9:

 

9 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.

10 And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,

who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb.”



THEN SKIP DOWN TO VERSE 13:

 

13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

14 I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 Therefore,

“they are before the throne of God

and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.

16 Never again will they hunger;