God does the vengeance
Never forget the words of the Bible which say, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” We may want to rush into vengeance. It is instinctual for many people. God says it is none of our business. “But when, Oh God?”
“2…and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” (Revelation 19:2–ESV)
The when is not for us to know. Look at this passage from Revelation 6.
“They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?'” (Revelation 6:10–NIV)
If you read the eleventh verse of that passage you will see that they were told to wait a little while longer. Never, ever, take vengeance into your own hands. Never presume, like the Count of Monte Cristo did in Dumas’ work, that you are the agent of God’s vengeance. You and I are to live for God now and leave vengeance to him.
If you have difficulty with that ask God for help and then remember Revelation 19:2. A time is coming when the scales will be brought into balance. For these who were martyred they were satisfied. The answer came.
Recall the lesson title: Ultimate worship gives ultimate advantage for the now.
Hopefully you can see that so many of our momentary quandaries are answered by this choir’s praise. They raised their voices to God saying that salvation was his and glory was his and power was his. These were not sung to get their pass into heaven. These people did not get their “Master’s badge” by singing a worship song. Club level access at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium did not come by singing to God.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. They were not singing for access. They were singing because of things God had done.
For those of us who have grown up in the 20th Century we will be able to recall the hymn: To God be the Glory.” This was one of Fanny Crosby’s songs and the third verse begins like this: Great things he hath taught us great things he hath done. See the title? See the words? Same story as this choir John the Apostle heard.
Now what about us? It is not nearly enough to say, “Aha! That song and that scripture fit together. Neat!” Also it is not nearly enough to say, “Okay, yeah I will worship.” That misses this whole point. The way worship works is to see God’s doings in your life, accept them, relish them and then praise, then worship.
Now for some practicality: Don’t figure worship is like the person next to you does it. You may not in the least be a hand raiser or a shouter or a wiggler or an eye closer. You might not even be a singer. Don’t fret that. Worship the way God wired you. Also…don’t fret the style of worship happening in church around you. Temptation will come to figure you are “doing it wrong” or “they are doing it wrong.” Worry about yourself only. Otherwise, tendency to judge will come rushing in. That is sin.
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