Transcript of Day 360: Heavenly Worship (2024)

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmidt, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation. That's where we are. Discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 360. That sounds like a good number, very circular. We are reading from Revelation chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7. Okay, as well as the Book of Titus, a letter of Paul to Titus, chapters 1, 2, and 3. Might be a big day today. You probably already know that. It's also Proverbs 31:10-15. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the revised standard version, second Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in the reading plan for these last few days. You can visit ascensionpress. Com/bibleineer. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates. You know that.

It's Day 360. We're reading revelations 4, 5, 6, and 7, Titus 1, 2, and 3, Proverbs 31:10-15. The Revelation to John, Chapter 4: The heavenly worship. After this, I looked, and behold, in heaven, an open door. And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. ' 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 appeared like Jasper and Carnelian, and round the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald. Round the throne were 24 thrones, and seated on the thrones were 24 elders, clothed in white garments with golden crowns upon their heads. From the throne issued flashes of lightning, and voices and peels of thunder, and before the throne, burned seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne, there is, as it were, a sea of glass, like a crystal. And round 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 a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within. And day and night, they never cease to sing, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, singing, '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. Chapter 5, The Scroll and the Lamb. And I saw in the right-hand of him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals.

And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I wept much that no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. Then one of the elders said to me, Weep not, Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right-hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals? ' For you were slain, and by your blood, you ran some men for God from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

And have made them into a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth. Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voices of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. ' And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all therein saying, 'To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, 'Amen. ' And the elders fell down and worshiped. Chapter 6, The Seven Seals. Now, I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say, as with the voice of thunder, 'Come. ' And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. Seal. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, 'Come.

' And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that men should slay one another, and he was given a great sword. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, 'Come, ' and I saw, and behold, a black horse and its rider had a balance in his hand, and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, 'A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not harm oil and wine. ' When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, 'Come, ' and I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider's name was death, and Hades followed him, And they were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beings of the earth. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.

They cried out with a loud voice, 'Oh sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth? ' Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that has rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the Kings of the Earth, and the great men, and the generals, and the rich, and the strong, and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it.

Chapter 7, the 144,000 of Israel sealed. After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth, or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, 'Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, though we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads. ' And I heard the number of the sealed. A hundred and 44,000 sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel. Twelve,000 sealed out of the tribe of Judah. Twelve,000 of the tribe of Reuben. Twelve,000 of the tribe of Gad. Twelve,000 of the tribe of Asher, 12,000 of the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 of the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000 of the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 of the tribe of Levi, 12,000 of the tribe of Issachar, 12,000 of the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 of the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 sealed out of the tribe of Benjamin, the multitude from every nation.

After this, I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man can number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb, ' and all the angels stood the Throne, and round the Throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, 'Who are these, clothed in white robes? And from where have they come? ' I said to him, 'Sir, you know. ' And he said to me, 'These are they who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the Throne of God, and serve him day and night within his temple, and he who sits upon the Throne will shelter them with his presence.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat, for the Lamb in the midst of the Throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. The Letter of Paul to Titus. Chapter 1, Salutation. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God's elect with their knowledge of the truth which accords with Godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promises last ages ago, and at the proper time, manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by command of God our savior. To Titus, my true child in a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our savior. Titus in Crete. This is why I left you in Crete, that you might amend what was defective and appoint elders in every town as I directed you, if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife and his children are believers, and not open to the charge of debauchery and not being insubordinate.

For a bishop, as God's steward, must be blameless. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered, or a drunkard, or violent, or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled. He He must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine, and also to confute those who contradict it. For there are many insubordinate men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for base gain what they have no right to teach. One of themselves, a prophet of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beast, lazy glutons. This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, instead of giving heat to Jewish myths or to commands of men who reject the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Their very minds and consciences are corrupted. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good deed. Chapter 2, Teach sound doctrine.

But as for you, teach what befits sound doctrine. Bid the older men be temperate, serious, sensible, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Bid the older women, likewise, to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be sensible, chaste, domestic, kind, and submissive to their husbands, that the word of God may not be discredited. Likewise, urge the younger men to control themselves. Show yourself in all respects a model of good deeds, and in your teaching show integrity, gravity, and sound speech that cannot be censured, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of us. Bid slaves to be submissive to their masters, and to give satisfaction in every respect. They are not to talk back nor pilfer, but to show entire and true fidelity, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our savior. For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright and godly lives in this world, awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

Declare these things. Exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Chapter 3. Maintain good deeds. Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for any honest work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all men. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by men and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life. The saying is sure, I desire you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to apply themselves to good deeds. These are excellent and profitable to men. But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarals over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile.

As for a man who is factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more do with him, knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful, he is self-condemned. Final messages and benediction. When I send Artemis, Artichicus, to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas, the lawyer, and Apollus on their way. See that they lack nothing, and let our people learn to apply themselves to good deeds so as to help cases of urgent need and not to be unfruitful. All who are with me send greeting to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 31:10-15. Who can find a good wife? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax and works with willing hands. She is like the ships of the merchant, She brings her food from afar. She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and tasks for her maidens.

Father in heaven, give you praise and glory. We thank you so much for bringing us. Once again, to this day, today, 360, we ask that you please continue to walk with us, continue to journey us, journey with us. Above all, we ask you, Lord, to please continue to guide us, because without your guidance, without your word, without your direction, we are completely lost. Help us to be yours this day and every day. In Jesus' name we pray, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy spirit. Amen. Okay, so we have the letter of Paul to Titus, which is really brief, obviously. It's a brief letter, only three chapters. In it, I just want to highlight one piece, and that is that St. Paul As he's rambling to Titus, Titus is in Crete. One of the things that even Paul quotes, he says that one of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beings, lazy gluttons. And then Paul says, That testimony is true. I See, those Cretans, that a situation. But what Paul is pointing out is that a lot of these Cretans who have become Christians are not necessarily living converted lives.

He talks about, Okay, so have the older women live like this? Have the older men live like this? Have the younger women and younger men live like this? If you're a slave, live like this. The reason, essentially, is because Christianity has to become credible. Again, the gospel has to become credible. At this point, you realize that if Christians are living among the world and in the world and are living no differently than anyone else. If here's a Cretan Christian and they're just a Cretan and they're not living any differently from each other, then that's a problem. And so what Paul is saying is, he's basically saying, you're giving witness, you're bearing witness to Jesus, or you're bearing witness to the ineffectiveness of the gospel if you're no different than the people around you. And so I would say that probably the upshot of this particular letter of St. Paul to Titus is that, yeah, we give witness to the power of the gospel, or we give witness to the impotence of the gospel by our lives. If we live like everyone else, then the gospel is powerless. If we live differently, live lives that are changed, then we bear witness that the gospel has power, has power to change our lives, and has power to change the people's lives among whom we live.

But I know what you're waiting for. You're waiting for St. Paul, not St. Paul, St. John's revelation, the Apocalypse of John, because, oh, gosh, all the imagery. Now, hopefully, some of this imagery is going to be completely familiar to you. It's because here's what happens. Chapter 4 hits, and John says, After this, I looked. Remember, we ended yesterday with the messages to the churches. That's on earth. Chapter 4 opens up, After this, I looked, and behold, in heaven, an open door. The first voice heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. ' At once, I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven with one seated on the throne. This is so important. This is the next number of chapters is John in heaven. And John is relating to us what he saw in heaven. And this is bananas. It's incredible. He sees the one on the throne, and he sees, there's 24 thrones with 24 elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns upon their heads. Now, think about this in verse 5, From the throne issued flashes of lightning and voices and peels of thunder?

What does that sound like? That sounds like Mount Sinai to me. I don't know if it sounds like that to you, but it sounds like that to me. Also, these 24 elders, they're both kings and they're going to be priests. This is going to be absolutely critical to notice that they have crowns like kings, and they worship like priests. Bananas again. We have the four living creatures, like the lion, like an ox, the face of a man, and the flying eagle type living creature. We saw those things, those creatures before as well. What did they never cease to sing? Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. I don't know if you've ever been to a Catholic Mass, you know that that's what we sing. It's called the Sanctus. It's the Holy, Holy, Holy. One of the things that I just want to remind you, every one of us, every time you go to Mass, this is what's happening. You're being brought up like John into the heavenly Throne Room. You're being brought up like John into heavenly worship. That is the secret of the Book of Revelation, is that whenever we walk into Mass, we're there, we're in the place.

We are in the place that we just heard described in chapter 4 and 5 and following. This is incredible. What happens? Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their thrones before the Throne, the catheter crowns me for the Throne, singing, '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. ' This is just incredible. That's this worship. Now, chapter 5, there's a scroll. On the scroll, there has seven seals. And I heard someone describe this, and they pictured it like this. They said, Don't picture a scroll with seven seals in terms of seven seals along one edge. If you can picture that right now, here's a paper rolled up and here's one edge. But imagine it rolled tightly. With every roll, there's another scroll or another seal. If you were to say this, and this was described, and I thought, This is interesting.

The seventh seal would be that one in the center of the scroll, in the center of the being rolled up. That would be the last one to be broken. The first one would be on the outside, right? But if you crack that first one, you could read that first message. But maybe the next message wasn't for you. You cracked the next one, and the message is for someone else who could read your message and their message. But the third message isn't for you. So the third person cracked that seal, and now the third person could read the first and second person's message, no problem, but there's their third message. Does that make sense? So it's like this unrolling of a scroll. I thought that's helpful for me, visually, because what we see here is we see first the lament The lament is there's no one worthy to open the scroll and break open its seals. No one can do this. Who is going to do this? John himself begins to weep. One of the elders says, Weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals and his seal a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and seven eyes.

Numbers of the covenant, possibly? The seven horns and seven eyes symbolize Christ's full power and full knowledge. Seven horns? Horns are a symbol of power and eyes, a symbol of knowledge. So seven and seven, that number of covenant, full power, full knowledge, Jesus Christ himself, the one who is living forever. And what can happen? He can open the scroll. When he had taken the scroll in verse 8, chapter 5, When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song singing. Now, the prayers of the saints right there in chapter 5, it's one of the reasons why we believe that those holy ones on earth, the holy ones on earth Christians around the world, that the saints in heaven, those 24 elders, those saints in heaven, are lifting up the prayers of the saints on earth. We'd see that, prayers of the saints here, the golden bowls full of incense. They sing a new song singing, worthy are you to take the scroll and open it seals?

It goes on to say, you are slain by your blood, you ransom men for God from every tribe and nation and tongue and people, and have made of them a kingdom and priest to our God, and he shall reign on the earth. And then, bam, this is this massive praising God. Again, verse 14, end of chapter 5, And the four living creatures said, 'Amen, ' and the elders fell down and worshiped. This is the picture of heavenly worship, worshiping not only the one on the throne, but also the lamb who is slain and lives forever. Then in chapter 6, the lamb opens one of the seven Seals, and you have this succession of, I don't want to say woes come upon the earth, but definitely some hard times coming upon the earth. We have the first horse, the four horsemen. The first one is the white horse with the rider had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went out to conquer. Second one was another horse, bright red, and it took peace away from the earth. There was war upon the earth. The third was a black horse, and the rider had balance in his hands.

This is an interesting thing because it could be worth noting. I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, this is verse 6, saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not harm oil and wine. I read in a commentary that talked about, What is that? They highlighted the fact that the time for the oil harvest or the olive harvest was a different time of year than it was for wheat and barley. What this proclamation essentially could be saying is that this was a temporary affliction. This is not complete destruction for an entire year, but only for a season. And I think I was like, Oh, that's really important. That makes sense. Wheat is down or wheat is up and barley is up, but the oil hasn't been damaged because that wasn't around for that time. That makes any sense. Fourth seal, there's the pale horse. In fact, I think of translation I came across as sickly green color, not pale, but sickly green. And its rider's name was death, and Hades followed him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine, and with pestilence and wild beings in the earth.

The next number of, well, next two, really, seals that are opened bring Again, destruction, and they bring pestilence upon the earth. Now, chapter 7 is the seventh seal. And in this is very fascinating because we have 144,000. What is that? Well, 144,000 are 12 times 12 times 1,000. So 12 times 12,000 is 144,000. So that would essentially be the idea of, here are 12 tribes of Israel named here in chapter 7. You have 12,000 people from the 12 tribes of Israel, and they're They're being brought back, they're being reunited, they're being restored, essentially, in God's presence. That is really important to understand, why 144,000? Because 12 times 12,000. The numbers of tribes of Israel and 12,000, which is, again, that number 12 being a very powerful, complete number that here's God who wants to restore Israel. You could also say that here's God restoring the new Israel. This could be God restoring Christians, those who belong to him. Now, again, there are different scholars who say different things, but what is very clear, very clear, is that this is the restoration of the Kingdom of God in the Old Covenant. He even mentioned, he even names every one of the 12 tribes of Israel.

So this is very, very important that these are the Jewish people. Again, this is so important. Sometimes people can think that the New Testament can be anti-Semitic, but it's not when you realize that the people who wrote it were Jews. Not only that, but here in chapter 7, 144,000. This is the proclamation, the prophecy that says that, no, This is a restoration of the people of Israel. But then after that, this is incredible, in verse 9, I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne, before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb. And again, everyone's worshiping. And this is just incredible because not only are the Jewish people meant to be saved, meant to be restored, the Kingdom of Israel meant to be restored. But us, Gentiles, who belong to the Lord God, get to participate in heavenly worship. Last line. Verse 13. Then one of the elders addressed me saying, Who are these clothes in white robes?

And from where have they come? And I said to him, Bro, you You're the one who lives here. He says, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. These are the martyrs, and the martyrs have a special place. This is incredible, right? These are the martyrs And after this, I looked, as John says, and behold a great multitude which no man could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues. And these are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And they have a special place. And that's one of the things that's true, right? That some people have a special place in heaven. And that's okay because everyone's loved. But there are those who have given They get borne witness to the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord, with their very lives. Remember that even at one point, Peter says to Jesus, he says, Lord, we've given up everything to follow you.

What did we get? And Jesus says, Oh, you'll get blessings in this life and persec, and you'll get eternal life and this blessing in heaven. But we recognize that what we do on Earth makes a difference in how we live in heaven. The more righteous we live on Earth, the more we cooperate with God on Earth earth. The more we say yes to Jesus on earth, the more glory he gets in heaven. I just think that's the heart of everything. We're going to talk more about this in the chapters to come as John learns more and more about heavenly worship. But one of the things that it seems to be revealed, and again, it seems to be revealed, maybe it's just my interpretation, but how we live on Earth, those righteous deeds, they amplify, they glorify, they exalt the Father and the Son and the Holy spirit for eternity. It just seems like one of those situations where it's like, don't we want him to receive the maximum amount of glory through our lives on Earth and through our eternity in heaven? Not just about making it to heaven, but about living in such a way on Earth that He's glorified even more with every passing breath, with every passing moment in heaven.

I don't know. That's one of those things that just lights a fire beneath me, and I wanted to pass that on to you. Of course, everyone, everyone is loved by God. He will never stop loving you. He has never stopped. He will never stop loving you. The question is, will I let him love me? Will I say yes to him today? I'm praying that you do. I'm praying that I do. I'm praying that all of us can be in that number of people who are worshiping the Lord, not only in this world, in the mass, but also in eternity in heaven. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless..