Worship God!
“But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!” Revelation 22:9
This verse comes right near the end of the amazing book of Revelation, which starts like this, (1:1-3): “The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”
John doesn’t tell us how long it took him to receive the revelation, but what an incredible experience it must have been. He saw the throne room of Heaven and was given vivid illustrations of the judgment of God upon the earth and its inhabitants. He saw the glorious return of Christ and the defeat of Satan and the antichrist. The revelation ends with an angel showing John the eternal city of God. It’s awe inspiring, and John describes his response: “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.”
The angel sternly rebukes him: “Don’t do that!” noting that he, like John, is a created being and a fellow servant of God. You may be tempted to worship good things, but you are not to worship any thing, any man, not even an angel, no matter how good or powerful or gifted or blessed they are. Only to God are you to give your total devotion, “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12:1b)
Do you worship any thing or any one besides God?
Having begun as a guest speaker in 2005, Dan was appointed Interim Pastor in 2008 and has been serving Maple Root Baptist ever since. As a small group leader and Chaplin for the Connecticut Tigers, Dan has a heart for the lost and the God that saves them.