Lesson Nine • Worship
Devotion 5: “Throne Room”
Pastor Ferdinand Sanders
Every summer, we take about 250 high school and middle school students up to New Life Camp for a week of spiritual growth, games, swimming, bonfires, and, of course, camp food. This past year, our overall camp theme was “Thrones.” Throughout the week of chapels and small group devotional time, we challenged students to take a look at who or what they are placing on the throne of their lives. As a group, we walked through the Gospel message that God alone is on the throne, but left His seat on the throne to come to Earth to take our sin to the cross, and because of Calvary, we are invited to become heirs of the Kingdom of God. In addition to a week’s worth of chapels, we also spent time looking at different attributes of God that all tell why God is worthy to be on the throne during our morning Bible studies. Throughout the week, I began to get really convicted by this concept of “thrones,” but not in the way that I anticipated. I kept on coming back to this thought, “Who are we to somehow validate God’s worthiness of being on the throne?” It is not that we were somehow teaching or presenting the idea that we have some form of authority on why God is worthy to be on the throne; but the deeper we went on this topic, I found myself getting more and more overwhelmed by the glory, majesty, and holiness of God.
We see similar responses throughout the Bible whenever people find themselves in the presence of God. We see a lot of this within the visions of John in the book of Revelation. In Revelation chapters 4 and 5, John paints a beautifully intricate depiction of the throne in Heaven, “At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal” (Revelation 4:2-6). What possibly could our response be to the glory of God other than praise? Revelation chapters 4 and 5 are filled with really the only appropriate responses that we can, should, and will probably have to the only One who is worthy to be seated on the throne. Though we have no authority whatsoever to grant that God is worthy to be praised or worthy to be seated on the throne, the only response that we will have in His presence is to praise and to declare Him as worthy!
- “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8)
- “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)
- “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13)
I strongly encourage you to read Revelation chapters 4-5 and to listen to the song “Throne Room” by Kari Jobe. Though we cannot imagine what it will be like to be in the presence of God, I love how this song takes what we know from Scripture and attempts to capture the feeling and emotion of what we can only speculate.
“Throne Room” by Kari Jobe
You rendered heaven
The veil was torn in two
You gave us Your Spirit
Now we are close, closer than we think
Creation is groaning
Longing for the unseen
Here in this moment
Eternity’s close, closer than we think
What are they singing? What is it like?
You are surrounded with thunder and light
Everything in us, the longing, the ache
To join with the heavens, the anthem of praise
Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy
The train of His robe
Filling the temple
The elders and angels
All bowing down, casting their crowns
The Lamb who was slain
You are the risen King
Jesus our Savior
Alpha Omega, end and beginning
Lion of Judah the One on the throne
The only One worthy to open the scrolls
You split the heavens and come for Your Bride
Fulfill all Your promise, with fire in Your eyes
Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy
Blessing and honor and glory and power
Belong to You alone
Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy
He’s the Lamb