10.13.2009

Worship & Judgment in the book of the Revelation

As a Christian book, the Apocalypse is characterized by song and worship. While portraying judgment upon sin, a note of joy and praise is heard repeatedly. Some twenty songs of praise and worship are recorded in it. Saints and angels, as well as all nature, are pictured as sharing in the worship of God and the Lamb. The worship is joyous and wholehearted. A number of the songs record the reactions of the witnesses to the just judgments of God being poured out upon an evil world.
It insists that the only proper object of man's worship is God (19:10; 22:9). Both men and angels joyfully unite in their worship of the Lamb of God (5:8-14). The book also shows and denounces wrong worship. It castigates all idolatry and shows that the worship of any man or of Satan will be judged. Worship of the beast and his image is a special object of warning.

D. Edmond Hiebert, An Introduction to the New Testament: Three Volume Collection. Volume 3. (Waynesboro, Georgia: Gabriel Publishing, 2003)

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