378. God’s Honor and Power

Rev. 4:9-11. We can say that the living creatures are that life which surges through all and through everything. The living creatures have received their life from Him who sits on the throne, and now they fall down before Him and give Him glory, honor, and thanks; for without Him there would be no life to give thanks for. When the twenty-four elders see the living creatures thanking Him who sits on the throne, they are reminded of where they themselves have come from and how great God has made them. Then they cast their crowns down 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.”

By this we see how the best of all creation, both the living creatures and the elders, when they come to stand before Him who sits on the most exalted throne, fall down in awe and admiration for their Creator’s glory and power. So they worship Him in spirit and truth and cast their crowns down before Him who gave them life and the ability to win their crowns. By this they declare that all that is created, over which they are placed as regents, is also, with them, indebted to cast themselves on their faces and submit their glory under Him who sits on the throne.

No created being falls down before Him and worships Him who sits on the throne by his or her own godly fear, initiative, and energy. The influence must come from Him who sits on the throne. He must instill in them the respect and love that is essential to love Him, fear Him, and fall down before Him, placing all of their worth before His feet. Therefore, it is written,

“And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Rev. 4:5.

When He who sits on the throne instills in all creation the respect, the reverence, and the spirit of fear, then He lets the thunder and lightning proceed all around Him. And all of creation trembles before His face. Then creation realizes that they are created beings, and that it is He who created them. He is able to initiate such a thunderstorm with lightning going in every direction so that it strikes the hidden thoughts and intents of the heart. As proof of His tremendous power, He has set an additional seven lamps of burning fire before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Who will not tremble before them?

Listen to who these seven Spirits of God are. They rested upon the Master, Jesus Christ. They are the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, and the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Isa. 11:2.

These lamps of fire search the heart and hidden places, past, present, and future. Now when these seven Spirits of God together with the roaring of thunder, the fire of lightning, and voices do their work in the twenty-four elders, then in reverence they are brought down, and they cast their crowns and all their nobility and glory before Him who sits on the throne.

This is written to us: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Tim. 3:16-17.

Remember this, you vain and futile human, when you in conceit believe you know something; you have, according to the above scripture, never known as you should have known. Therefore cast your imagined crown before Him, or He who sits on the throne with thunder, lightning, and the seven lamps of fire will work on you so powerfully that it falls off. But then, you have not obtained the worth that the twenty-four elders hold—those who during the course of their entire life lived in that Spirit which prompted them to cast down their crown before the feet of Him who sits on the throne.