Holy! Worthy! Glory!
The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:8-11 (NKJV) emphasis mine
This passage from Revelation provides a glimpse into the worship that goes on in God’s heavenly throne room. Three words in particular stand out to me: holy, worthy and glory.
HOLY
God is holy, referring to His purity of character and separation from sin. He is sinless and pure. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah is shown the throne room, and the first thing he notes is that God is holy. When we come into God’s presence, we come into His holiness. God is absolutely holy; there is no uncleanness in Him. Everything about God is holy and pure. His holiness actually consumes sin. However, Jesus’ blood has made us holy and worthy to approach God’s holy presence (Hebrews 4:6).
WORTHY
As we enter the Lord’s presence, we begin to see His worth and value. Because we are worthy by the blood of Jesus, we can show God’s worth in our worship. He is worth more than anything or anyone- more than we can ever imagine. Therefore, we say, “Worthy are You, Lord!” In Revelation 5, they proclaim, “Worthy is the Lamb,” because of who Jesus is and what He did for us. He alone makes us worthy and gives us value.
GLORY
Because Jesus made us worthy, we give Him glory. Glory refers to God’s manifest presence. Jesus is God’s glory in the flesh- now glorified and called the Lord of Glory. God the Father is glorious and is worthy of glory. Christ is now glorified by the Holy Spirit. We give the Trinity glory with our lives and our worship.
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. II Corinthians 3:17-18 (NKJV)
The Holy Spirit makes us holy, a work in progress to demonstrate the worth of Christ. Then the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Glory, pours out God’s glory in us and on us whereby we see God’s glory show up in our lives (I Peter 4:14). We are changed from glory to glory. And we give God glory for all He has done, is doing and will do. And through all eternity, we will proclaim His holiness, worth and glory.
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” Revelation 5:11-13 (NKJV)
