Worthy to Be Worshiped

MEMORY SELECTION: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou past created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” —Revelation 4:11

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Revelation 5:11-14; 7:9-14

OUR memory selection is referring to Jehovah. The thought seems to be that the heavenly hosts recognize in God the ultimate perfection in justice, love, wisdom, and power and that these are manifested in his creation and in his beneficent plans and purposes. Because of all these things, Jehovah is worthy to be worshiped and adored.

In the first few verses of the 5th chapter of Revelation we are introduced to Jesus, who is also worthy to be worshiped because he was found worthy. He overcame the world. In verses 9 and 10 we read, “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; because Thou vast killed, and did redeem to God, with Thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation; and didst make them to our God a Royalty and Priesthood, and they shall reign on the earth.”—Diaglott

Jesus came to earth at his first advent to take Adam’s place in death, thus providing the means to redeem Adam and, of course, all who were condemned in him—the entire human race. Jesus said, “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for [the] many.” (Matt. 20:28) The Apostle Paul writes of “the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (I Tim. 2:5,6) We, of course, know that the merit of this sacrifice was not immediately applied on behalf of Adam and the world; nor is it even now, for none of the promised benefits are being enjoyed by them.

We find one of the great mysteries of God that has been hidden from the world in past ages but was made manifest by Jesus was that the merit of his sacrifice was to be used first to justify a people for God’s name, who would be gathered out from the world, from every people and tongue, during the long period of the Gospel Age. These were to be prepared, through trials and testings, to have a heavenly reward and be associated with Christ during his reign in the kingdom. The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 3:3-6, tells “how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel.” After the great work of gathering this people out from the world, the merit of Christ’s sacrifice, or the ransom price, will be available to be applied on behalf of Adam and the human race. The Apostle John expresses the matter thus: “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”—I John 2:2

The “book” that is referred to in the first verses of Revelation, the 5th chapter, is the divine plan of the ages, especially as it relates to the redemption and eventual recovery of the human race from sin and adamic condemnation. Jesus is the center of that plan, because he alone in all of creation was found worthy “to open the book and loose the seven seals thereof.” (vs. 5) In the 6th through the 8th chapters, Jesus proceeds to loose the seven seals as he was commissioned to do. Each seal apparently represents a stage in the completion of the divine plan of the ages.

Surely this wonderful Being, who was foreknown by God from the beginning (Gen. 49:9,10) and who was willing to suffer and die that we might have life, is worthy of our worship and praise! And in due time the human race will join the heavenly hosts, saying, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.”—Rev. 5:12,13

| Home Page | Table of Contents |