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Saturday, November 9, 2013

Pastoral Pings ~ Symbols of God that Cause Real Worship

          In the same way that we use symbols to replace statements (based on the principle that a picture is worth a thousand words), the book of Revelation gives us symbolic pictures to represent the thousands of words Scripture has already given us of God’s person, his purposes, his plans, and his promises.

          A Lamb looking as though it had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes, taking a seven-sealed scroll from the right hand of the one who sits on the throne,[1] is a symbol so full of meaning that it brings a man’s heart to feel like a little child who simply enjoys the wonder of something so beautifully overwhelming that it is beyond words.

          Long ago, my heart was gripped with this statement: “Out of wonder, worship is born”.[2]  This is what I am finding in my journey through the Revelation. Worship does not rise up from fanciful, uncertain, man-centered interpretations that cleverly pit themselves against other fanciful, uncertain, man-centered interpretations.

          Rather, worship rises up when our adult-minded self-dependence gives way to the meekness of the child-hearted. When the immensity of the heavenly revelations makes us feel so small, like a child entering the world of his dreams, then our hearts begin to feel that wonder that is the truest worship of God.    When we simply stop depending on our words, or our thoughts, or our ideas, we are able to feel the overwhelmingness of something beyond ourselves.

          As we feel ourselves surrounded with the gift of such grace, the awe and wonder, the precious feeling of fear and trembling wrapped in Love’s embrace, we discover that God has brought us to an emptiness that can receive his fullness. We feel the wonders of being unworthy and of great worth at the same time.

          Jesus told a Samaritan woman that God is seeking those who will worship in spirit and truth.”[3]John was “in the Spirit”[4] when he received the truth of the book of Revelation. We are invited to receive the truth from the Spirit, in the spirit of childlike faith and wonder.

          While there is great difficulty in trying to put into words the very thing that is beyond words, the place of words is to testify to the wonders of worship in the presence of God, something the book of Revelation is especially suited to stir up within our hearts. That is, if we can sit back as a child and simply enjoy the pictures.

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)



[1] Revelation 5
[2] G. Campbell Morgan
[3] John 4:24
[4] Revelation 1:10

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