Revelation 4-5 Bible study on the Glory of God

Opening Question: What does glory mean?

Glory is a measure of the greatness of someone or something. When we give glory to someone (like God), we are ascribing greatness to them.

What I want us to look at tonight is how God's glory, or his greatness, is different to any other kind of glory or greatness. This will involve us thinking about God's transcendence - that is, his nature is to be above and beyond things in creation. My hope is that in this study we will see a little bit of what it means for God's greatness to be transcendent.

Reading: Revelation 4:2-5

1. Is greatness something we can see? How do we show that something is great or glorious?
   Basically, we make it look expensive. We cover it in special things. We treat it specially.
2. What is depicted in this reading?
   God's throne room. Note lots of special stuff - thrones, elder kings, lightning and thunder.
3. How is God depicted in this reading?
   This is important: God is not depicted as being covered in precious stones. God IS the precious stones. What does that tell us? It tells us that God does not just have stuff that represents his greatness. God himself IS greatness.

What's the difference?

God does not 'have' greatness. God 'is' greatness. We can compare how much everyone looks like me, and you can make a rating system of how much people look like me. But you can't rate me on that scale - I don't look like me. In fact, I can't do anything to look less like myself, because I AM me.

What does it mean that God IS greatness? It means that God is not simply the top on a list of great and powerful people. It doesn't mean that God is first and Elon Musk is second, and there's just a big gap between them. God IS greatness and power - all other greatness and power has its source in God. Without God, there is no other greatness and power.

Reading: Revelation 4:6-11

4. What do the weird creatures symbolise? Why are they covered in eyes?
   All living things; especially powerful things.
5. What do the creatures say? What is the pattern in what they say? What does the pattern mean?
   Threefold, showing the completeness of God's being: Holiness; Mightiness; Existence. All contributing to his being Greatness.
6. What do the elders do when the creatures say their thing? What do they say? What does it mean?
   Lay down their crowns - their glory, their power, their might: all of it comes from God. God is worthy, because all other things come from him.

Let's reflect on that for a moment - all other things. No atom without God. No energy without God. No concepts or ideas without God. No feelings or emotions without God. Even nothing does not exist without God. How does that correspond with your idea of God's glory?

But that's just the beginning of God's glory.

Reading: Revelation 5:1-4

7. What's going on in this passage? Why is John crying that no-one can be found to open it?
   Go back to Revelation 4:1 - this tells us what the scroll is: God's plan for the end of the world, basically.
8. Who can open the scroll? Why doesn't God just open it?
   No-one! Not even anyone in heaven, which means not even God, who is greatness itself, can open this scroll and roll out God's plan.
9. What does that mean?
   Something is missing, preventing God's plan from going ahead.

Reading: Revelation 5:5-7

10. Who is able to take the scroll and open its seals?
    Jesus!
11. How is he depicted in this passage? What do these things mean?
    Lion of Judah, Root of David - the Messianic king.
    Lamb that had been slain - Jesus, the passover lamb, but now victorious.
    Centre of the throne - is God.
    Horns - symbol of power. 7 horns - symbol of God's power.
12. So, what was missing that enables God's plan to be rolled out?
    Jesus!
13. What does this tell us about God's plan? What is the thing key to God's great plan that will be revealed in the scroll?
    Salvation.

Reading: Revelation 5:8-10

13. Why do the elders and the creatures say that Jesus is worthy?
    Because he died and purchased people for God, who will be for him a kingdom of priests.
14. We've already seen that God's glory includes his power, his holiness, his existence. What else does it include? If God's plan can't go forward without Christ's sacrifice, how important is our salvation to God's greatness?
    Salvation. The rest is kind of a rhetorical question.
15. How do we participate in God's glory?
    By serving God as his kingdom of priests.

Let's reflect on this now for a moment. The saving act that brings an end to sin and death for us, that opens up a way for humanity to relate to God as Father, and to Jesus as Brother, and to the Holy Spirit as friend, is as central to the very essence of God as his being the creator of all things. Salvation is as much a part

of God's Glory as these other things Our salvation, our relationship with God, is not an afterthought. It's not even just a piece of the puzzle. It is key to

God's character and his plans. It is as much his greatness as anything else. He has made a relationship with us as fundamental as existence itself. What an amazing reality. What an amazing, wonderful God.

Reading: Revelation 5:11-14

16. There's a lot of praising going on in these verses. Who is being praised? How would you compare it to the praise given to God in Rev 4:8-11?
    If anything, it's even bigger and grander, and contains even more praise and comes from more angles, even from every creature. It leads to praise and worship of both God and Christ.
17. What does this mean?
    That if anything, the glory of salvation is even greater than the rest, or at least all the more pleasing to God.

Let's reflect one last time. I want to bring this home to us. Revelation 4-5 is showing us the reality of God's glory - that his greatness is as fundamental to who he is as existence is, and that it is transcendent - over and above - and kind of greatness on earth. And it includes salvation as a fundamental element.

Now how does that shape how we think about God and his greatness?

The pile of stones fallacy of God's glory. God's glory is not like a pile of stones that we can add to by being good, or that we take away from by being sinful.

The story analogy of God's glory. God's glory is more like sharing a story: when you tell someone a story you don't lose it, but they do gain it. God is the source of glory, and God is glorified by creating us and saving us, and by us sharing the story of our creation and salvation. Rev 5:13 - all will glorify God eventually: God's glory is not under threat.

How do we think about our salvation and our relationship with God? It is fundamental to who God is - it is as fundamental as existence itself. Do we think of it as that important? Or is our relationship with God only really important on Sundays? What do the elders wear on their heads? A crown. What does a crown represent? Power and authority. What do they do with their power and authority? They set it at God's feet. You have been given power and authority from the source of Power and Authority. What will you do with it?