At the recent Super Bowl, the adoration of fans for their teams and, especially, the individual high achievers was obvious. The worship of celebrity personalities pervades all aspects of our lives. Movie stars, pop stars, and sports personalities receive adulation from all parts of society. For some, this adoration amounts to a form of worship. For others, self is the object of their awe and total devotion.
Lucifer was one of these. As chief of the angels in heaven, he decided to elevate himself to the position of God, his Creator. He said, “I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:14, KJV). And right then, our world was in trouble. Lucifer—now Satan—is still creating controversy and discontent over the nature of true worship in an endeavor to pull as much of humanity as possible to their destruction with him.
The bigger picture of worship is ultimately about whether we worship God or the instigator of evil, Satan. That was the test Adam and Eve faced in the Garden of Eden. Unfortunately, Satan managed to persuade Eve to acts of self-indulgence, and Adam fell in with her rather than lose the object of his devotion.
In the thousands of years since Eden, God has allowed Satan to influence world affairs according to his wishes, and the pain and suffering he has caused are a matter of both history and current events. However, God’s mercy and patience for Satan and his misbehavior will end one day. The biblical book of Revelation was written to reveal Jesus’ eventual triumph over evil, and among the striking word pictures, we find there are several instances of God as the center of worship.
An excellent example is Revelation 7:9, 10. John said,
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
The next several verses show the angels and others joining in this worship of God.
A later chapter shows three angels on a mission from God to proclaim urgent messages to earth’s inhabitants. God wants people to make good decisions about whom they will worship. He understands the dilemma we face as Satan tries to persuade us to worship him or anything else but God.
the first angel
In Revelation 14:7, three strong commands are clear. The angel proclaims with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory. . . . Worship him.” To “fear God” means to reverence Him and recognize His position, His character, and His purposes for you. To “give him glory” suggests that we appreciate His goodness and His mercy in the plan of salvation He has set up for us. So we offer Him our highest praise and gratitude for what He has done. The third injunction, to “worship him,” seems a logical response to a wonderful God whose works should fill us with joy and amazement.
This verse also identifies God as the Creator “ ‘who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.’ ” Such power is beyond our finite capability to understand; our imagination can hardly grasp it. Thus, how can a genuine believer not worship such a God?
the second angel
The message of the second angel recalls the power of an ancient empire called Babylon. In the New Testament, Babylon is transformed into a symbol that represents a counterfeit or alternative system of worship. This second angel announces, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries” (verse 8).
Babylon once stood for confusion (see the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1–9). However, under King Nebuchadnezzar, it came to represent a system of false worship that opposed both God and His faithful people. Nebuchadnezzar demanded that everyone bow down and worship an enormous golden image of himself, and later he spoke o “the great Babylon I have built” (Daniel 4:30).
However, three men who worshiped the God of heaven refused to bow to the king’s image and were thrown into a superheated furnace. But God honored His faithful followers. He sent His Son to be with them in the fire, and they emerged unscathed. The second angel reminds readers that Babylon with its false worship is already defeated, even though she has duped nations, dulling their minds to the truth through the bad wine she gave them to drink. In other words, she caused people to be disloyal to God and follow her false notions of who is deserving of worship.
the third angel
The third angel proclaimed in a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, they, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath” (Revelation 14:9, 10).
Again, the focus is about whom we will worship. The “beast” and “his image” have set up a system of false worship that replaces God. This worship is effective, for people are changed by it. Their foreheads, indicating their minds and decisions, are marked by it, and their hands, being indicators of their actions, will show where their allegiance lies.
Jesus warned of such deceptions in Matthew 15:9 when He said, “They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”
consequences
The result of worshiping the beast and his image is a strong punishment from God. A worshiper following the beast and his image “ ‘will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb’ ” (Revelation 14:10). This is the Lamb, the Savior of the world, who died for their salvation and whom they have willfully rejected.
Then some ominous words follow, “And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name” (verse 11).*
These are the dire consequences that await those who turn aside from God and let themselves be duped by a counterfeit system and worship a false power!
contrast
However, what follows next is a wonderful snapshot of those who have been true to God and worshiped Him. Verse 12 says, “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”
These wonderful words identify those whose allegiance has always been to the Creator of heaven and earth. They love Him and delight to follow His instructions. God’s commendation in verse 12 is for those who find their delight in His commandments. God is supreme in their lives; they don’t worship any other deity.
Those identified as the “people of God” in verse 12 are patient in waiting for the time to come when they will be continually in God’s presence, where they can bow before His throne in heaven and worship Him with the angels.
It all comes down to a choice: to whom will you give your devotion, the Creator God or someone or something else? I have found that self doesn’t satisfy my needs in the long run. The Bible plainly warns that the forces who oppose the true God and worship other gods will be destroyed. We all need something much bigger and better than ourselves to worship. I have found that all my needs are met in my loving God, and I choose to worship Him.
* This is symbolic language, like much of the rest of Revelation. We need not fear that the wicked will literally burn in hell throughout eternity.
