- Chapter 5: "Holy, Holy, Holy !"
WHAT A MOVING THOUGHT IT IS to learn that in the heavenly realm God receives unceasing worship from the living creatures surrounding His throne! “Day and night they never stop saying:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’
(Revelation 4:8) As John glimpsed the majesty and holiness of God in this heavenly scene, he was overwhelmed by what he saw and heard. It must have been like trying to pour an ocean into a teacup—and John staggered under the revelation! He had to try to describe the indescribable, and he lacked both language and reference points to do so. But he recognized the unceasing worship ascribed to God the Father around His heavenly throne.
Looking at what John wrote, I wonder how so many present-day Christians can consider an hour of worship Sunday morning as adequate adoration of the holy God who created them and then redeemed them back to Himself. I have been at funerals where the presiding minister preached the deceased right into heaven. Yet the earthly life of the departed plainly said that he or she would be bored to tears in a heavenly environment of continuous praise and adoration of God. This is personal opinion, but I do not think death is going to transform our attitudes and disposition. If in this life we are not really comfortable talking or singing about heaven, I doubt that death will transform us into enthusiasts. If the worship and adoration of God are tedious now, they will be tedious after the hour of death. I do not know that God is going to force any of us into His heaven. I doubt that He will say to any of us, “You were never interested in worshiping Me while you were on earth, but in heaven I am going to make that your greatest interest and your ceaseless occupation!”
Controversial? Perhaps. But I am trying to stir you up, to encourage you to delight in a life of praise and spiritual victory! God is pleased with His people when His praise is continually and joyfully on their lips. The heavenly scene John describes is the unceasing cry of the adoring living creatures, “Holy, holy, holy!” They rest not, day or night. My fear is that too many of God’s professing people down here are resting far too often between their efforts at praise.