In Revelation 4 and 5 we are given the exact goings on of the throne room. This is the seat of glory. This is where all the action is in heaven. Our God and His Son sit on some thrones and this is what they do for what appears to be forever. This scene is only interrupted when Jesus comes back to earth, tosses Satan into a pit, kills His enemies, and recreates our bodies along with the heavens and the earth. So it's pretty safe to say that this whole throne room is pretty important as it seems this scene has been playing out since Jesus jumped on the cloud and disappeared into the sky while the crowd watched in what had to be the craziest thing they had ever seen, and I think we can agree they had seen quite a lot. So i'm pretty sure we are to take something significant from the throne room activity since it is the exclusive current activity of our Lord. We are told in Romans 8:34 "Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us." So the picture: Jesus dies, is raised up, walks the earth for a bit, gets on a cloud, arrives in heaven, sits down in His chair and begins to talk to the Father on our behalf and He does this day and night, 24/7. He is our model right? This is not about day and night prayer but this is about what happens while Jesus talks to God for eternity.
It seems like there is this large circle gathered about the throne. Front row seems to be these living creatures that God made to have eyes so they can see Him from every angle. Also, in the front seem to be some elders who cry "worthy" over and over. And then there seems to be a sea behind them. And then there are thousands and thousands of angels singing to Him at all times. This is the picture of Heaven and then in one moment it will stop and Jesus will stand up, grab some scrolls, and head back to earth with some serious changes to be made. But in this forever snap shot He sits there and just tells the Father about us over and over. But here is what I want to know? Why do the elders fall down?
This is not out of fear. That is a ridiculous assumption. If they were deeply afraid in the presence they could just get up and leave or they could just stay down. This is an eternal process. This moment is wash - rinse - repeat. This moment happens over and over again. They stand up, the angels sing, the creatures cry holy, the elders cry worthy and down they go. This is the promise of God. This is the revelation of who He is. He shows His glory and they are filled with such joy, such fullness that they fall down and cry worthy. Their worship, their praise is not a one way activity. In fact they worship from the overflow of the Father. They worship from the outpouring of Him. Their praise and their worship come from Him not from within them. So why is it that we seem to be missing this. Why is it that we stand before the Father and praise Him as if we are giving Him "all our worship?" It's shocking when you weigh it out. We are giving Him what He has put in us. We should experience great joy. This is how He has always worked. His majesty, His very cool creation, His outpouring of Joy is all for us. He does not need the show, we do. He designed it this way. He gives us joy so that we experience His presence. So while it may be true that we worship and praise Him it is also more true that this whole activity plays out as His gift to us not our gift to Him. This is the heart of worship; this is the truth of who He is. He is worthy and He is holy and we need to remember that our worship comes from Him.It is time that we waited for Him to fill us with His joy and then we will see what really happens. This is the truth. He is a God that comes first in all things. He does not pour out from the overflow of our praise. He fills us up with the joy of His spirit and we in turn sing a new song. Worship is not supposed to be a challenge. It is a fountain of joy. It is what happens after we have been sitting in His presence not before. We should give it a try sometime.
