And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
(Revelation 4:6-8 ESV)
I have to make a confession. When I was relatively new to the faith this verse scared me. It scared me because I pictured heaven as nothing more than us sitting before the Lord and singing the same chorus of the same worship song over and over for all of 
eternity.
I had wondered about playing baseball. Walking on streets of gold. Asking questions of Moses. And what about hangin’ with my granny and my faithful dog Giblet. (And what about finally asking Giblet’s previous owner what in the world they were thinking with a name like Giblet).
But singing one chorus of one song for all of eternity like these twenty four elders? That seemed more boring than I could endure. Surely heaven will not be only this.
I was an idiot.
The twenty four elders aren’t singing “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” because they signed up for that assignment on the day when the roll was called up yonder. These twenty four elders are doing this because their vision of the Lord is so grand that it is the only fitting response. They are doing exactly what they want to do as they are overcome with joy.
It’s hard to fathom that something…Somebody…could be so magnificent and beautiful and breathtaking that all you would want to do for all of eternity is lie prostrate and never cease saying “Holy, holy, holy”. Yet, this is the God that we serve. Heaven is going to be so amazing because we will finally see the Lord for who he is and the only thing coming forth from our lips will be a rendition of the chorus of these twenty four elders.
Holy, Holy, Holy!
Good article. Mark Twain writes in his book, Innocents Abroad, of the great Cathedral of Milan:
ReplyDelete"What a wonder it is! So grand, so solemn, so vast! And yet so delicate, so airy, so graceful! A very world of solid weight and yet is seems in the soft moonlight only a fairy delusion of frost-work that might vanish with a breath! How sharply its pinnacled angles and its wilderness of spires were cut against the sky! And how richly their shadows fell upon its snowy roof! It was a vision! A miracle! An anthem song in stone, a poem wrought in marble!
Howsoever you look at the great Cathedral, it is noble, it is beautiful! Wherever you stand in Milan, or within seven miles of Milan, it is visible – and when it is visible no other object can chain your whole attention. Leave your eyes unfettered by your will but a single instant, and they will surely turn to seek it. It is the first thing you look for when you rise in the morning, and the last thing your lingering gaze rests upon at night. Surely, it must be the princeliest creation that ever brain of man conceived." (P. 146-147)
If such a man-made wonder can hold one’s attention and awe for so long as the cathedral did Twain's, how can the vision of the Creator Himself not capture our attention in just such a way, only for all eternity?! NO "boring heaven"!