Chris Tomlin’s song ‘Made To Worship’ says,

‘You and I were made to worship, you and I are called to love.
You and I are forgiven and free.
When you and I embrace surrender, you and I choose to believe,
Then you and I will see who we were meant to be.’ (‘Made To Worship’, Chris Tomlin)

Worship – ascribing to God the worth to which He is due – is the focus of Revelation 5. We see people worshipping God, praising Christ because He is worthy to take the scroll and open its seals ‘because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.’ (Rev 5:9) We see innumerable angels declaring, ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!’ (Rev 5:11) We see all of creation proclaiming, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!’ (Rev 5:13) There may be much even in this chapter we do not understand (especially the significance of the scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals, for example), but there can be little doubt as to the centrality of worship in these scenes.

Many have commented that these words paint a picture of concentric circles, all radiating out from Christ on the throne. Michael Wilcock says that from every point on every circle ‘a radius of praise is drawn inwards to the centre; and at the centre, by His Father’s throne, is Christ.’ (Michael Wilcock, ‘The Message of Revelation’, P 69) If we can grasp that Christ is at the centre of our universe and that He alone is worthy of all praise, we will find our lives anchored in truth and our attitudes transformed.

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. The Bible is full of metaphors. It tells us that the Lord is a rock (Ps 18:2, 31), which clearly is not literally true (especially since making idols from rocks is strongly denounced!) Jesus used metaphors all the time, saying He was both a shepherd (John 10:11) and the gate for the sheep (John 10:7), the true vine (John 15:1) and the bread of life (John 6:35). In each metaphor, we see a new aspect of God; metaphors link our experience in the natural world with eternal, spiritual truths.

In Revelation 5, we see metaphors used to describe Jesus. He is described as ‘the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David’ (Rev 5:5), with clear allusions to Genesis 49:9-10, where it is predicted that the future ruler of the earth shall come from the tribe of Judah, the lion tribe, and Isaiah 11:1, 10, where the Messiah is portrayed as being from Jesse and David’s lineage. He is also described as ‘a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the centre of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.’ (Rev 5:6) The two metaphors of lion and lamb are combined to help us see something of the whole nature of Jesus.

The lion – the majestic animal known as the king of the jungle – reminds us of the majesty and authority of Christ. The lamb – the animal offered in sacrifices in the Old Testament – reminds us of the humility and humiliation of Christ and how our salvation was purchased through His sacrificial death. Both aspects of Christ are true. As lion He is sovereign; as lion He is Judge. The lion speaks of the government of God. The lamb character refers to His first coming, for the lamb speaks of His meekness. As lamb He is Saviour; as lamb He is judged. Both these aspects of Christ’s character are woven together in this chapter, and we see how the Lamb is represented as one sovereign in His own authority, omnipotent in power, and worthy as the Redeemer who died. There’s no wonder He is the centre of worship!

I’m a firm believer in the power of song. Somehow, when we sing, our spirits are lifted and we are encouraged. When we sing truth, we are set free.

People believe you have to be happy to sing. In truth, singing brings happiness. It leads to joy. We don’t always sing because we are happy; we sing our way out of trouble, as Martin Smith profoundly puts it in his song, ‘Trouble.’ We sing praise to God because He is always worthy of our praise, no matter how we feel. He is always worth it!

Eugene Peterson reminds us that the scriptural command to lift up your hands to the Lord is a simple motor action that has nothing to do with feelings and everything to do with will, with choice. So it is with singing. Some people only sing, only lift their hands, when they are in a crowd or when they ‘feel like it.’ Martin Smith’s song reminds us if we sing, we will eventually find freedom: ‘I‘m gonna sing till I am free.’ We don’t just sing when we see God work. We sing in faith that He will work: ‘Our God will find us here in the rubble/ O Rock of ages, You will save us once again.’

Last night in our prayer meeting, we were reminded of the song ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’ (from the musical ‘Sound of Music‘). It is our prayer that the Dearne Valley will resound with songs of praise to God. We have a glorious heritage of choirs locally: Thurnscoe Harmonic Male Voice Choir and now the exciting work of Barnsley Youth Choir, including BYC East Children’s Choir which meets weekly in Goldthorpe, training our 7-12 year olds to sing. But more than these wonderful choirs, our prayer is for God’s people to sing their way out of trouble because ‘salvation is our song.‘ How can we keep from singing when our God is so good?