We Now Join. . .

In the book of Revelation we are given view to some amazing things. Revelation is a book mostly glossed over in popular culture (with some exceptions in the realm of fiction, i.e. the Left Behind series) for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which being it's propensity to eschew needlepoint-worthy verses. But there is something in Revelation that has captured my mind and my heart and revealed itself to me in a profound and life-changing way.

I guess that's not so surprising. Revelation is just that, a revealing. An unveiling, if you will, of what is behind the scenes in a place that transcends our daily lives, the Earth, the solar system and indeed the Universe itself. But more on that in a moment. . . In the second definition of revelation, Dictionary.com states, "something revealed or disclosed, especially a striking disclosure, as of something not before realized." I can't think of anything to encapsulate my experience more than this. The curtain has been pulled back and I've been shown a bit of what is behind it. It is something I have never before realized, and it gives me great joy!

When dealing with many mind-bending issues inherent in scripture, it may be helpful to think about it in terms that are oftentimes hard to wrap our human minds around. God made the Heavens and the Earth in 6 days and then rested? Really? Well, there's always the 2 Peter 3:8 excuse: "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." But we are still left with 6 thousand years and not the eons that science tells us belong to Earth's history. Peter, I would propound, was not talking literally. In that time it was common to use a large number like 1,000 to be symbolic of eons or more. We talk about a "million different reasons" for something in current parlance, but don't really mean there are exactly a million reasons, but that there are a LOT. Peter is writing in that vein. I would take it a step further toward what I alluded to earlier. (The ins and outs of Creationism may hang in the balance, but that is something to be discussed at another time. It was just an example, relax. . .)

So we have established that God plays with Time a bit, but how? If we believe that God created everything (and you are free to disagree if you wish, but if so you most likely should stop reading now, as this won't make much sense to you) then God also created Time. I use Time with caps because I am talking about it as an overall concept and not simply the division of Earth's rotations and orbits around other bodies that help us regulate our days. Time, as a concept reduced to first principles, is basically duration. Past, present and future exist as duration separating individual events. We exist within these parameters and are a slave to the ravages of not enough hours in a day, age, and life expectancy. God does not. And He can do with it what pleases Him or remain outside of it as in much of what is seen in Revelation.

God, my friends, is completely outside of time. As hard as it is to wrap our minds around it, God, the creator of all things--including Time--is not subject to the Time constraints that plague the universe. He is above it, beyond it and rules over it because He is the creator of it. Now that we have that down, where do we go from here? I thought you'd never ask.

Revelation 4 gives us a backstage pass to the greatest show not on Earth! It transcends anything anyone can ever see, as we are yet living. I don't wish to die anytime soon, but if I reach my expiration date and find myself in the room I'm about to talk about, I won't bat an eye. This is the Throne Room in Heaven. You've got rainbows like emeralds, creatures that would blow your mind, elders with crowns of gold, a sea of glass, thunder and lightning, lamps blazing and someone *special* on the Throne. God. Awesome, if that word ever meant anything.

And this is only the description John was able to write down from his limited mindset as a human being trying to describe something most likely confusing and most assuredly beyond our capacity to fully understand. Who knows what it is really like? He described it as best as he could, but I personally think this description, though replete with detail, will pale in comparison to what is reality. But well-described or not, this is what is so revealing about Revelation! John was given the chance to see what is eternal and by definition, I would argue, also outside of Time. And by writing this to the seven churches and trickle down theology, we also have the pleasure of seeing behind that curtain. Praise God for that!

And now we're getting closer to the best part. Revelation 4:6-11 says this:
"In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come.'
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 'You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, 
for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.'"

I don't know about you, but this sounds to me like a cosmic worship service (or perhaps extra-cosmic is the better term since we are dealing with a scenario outside of our universe). And it never stops! "Day and night they never stop saying. . ." It's an eternal session of praise to God. This is my personal revelation to which I have been referring. The worship service never stops.

Now, I have been told that when two or more gather in His name, He is there (Matt. 18:20). So anytime we gather and worship with others, He is there with us. The God of the universe is in our presence and we are in His! Wow. How amazing is it that the one who created everything we know is willing to spend some time with us? How can it get any better? I can think of nothing. So let's extrapolate. . .

If God is outside of time, and there is an extra-cosmic worship service being attended at all times (outside of Time and perpetually) with all manner of creatures and men, and God has promised to be with us when two or more gather in his name, and we are standing in church singing our heads off to him. . . Yeah. The proverbial stars are aligned. When we worship God, he is there with us in the most real sense of the word. He meets us where we are and yet He is still on that throne being worshiped by these others.

For me this means only one thing. I worship the living God. The One. The Only. And when the music starts playing and the lyrics come up on the screen and I begin to sing, I say to myself while fighting back the tears of joy and thanksgiving which seek to invade my eyes, "we now join this worship service already in progress!"