This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day four of our look together through Revelation chapter 5 and Daily
Drive Time Devotions. We're going to look at verses 8 to 10 today. Remember
we're in this incredible worship, awesome worship service with God that John got
to go and witness and then he reported to us and you and I get to experience.

What an amazing, awesome. What an experience to be there with him. And we've
walked through what he saw on the throne and around the throne.

We've walked through what he saw as one who was found worthy to open the scroll
of the one who held it in a hand on the throne. And now we're going to see in
these next few verses some of the worship that's happening about this throne.
Listen to what happens in verses 8 to 10.

And when he had taken it, that scroll, when he had taken it, the four living
creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and
they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the
saints. And they sang a new song, "You are worthy to take the scroll and open
its seals because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will
reign on the earth. " This is the truth of the book of Revelation. God's telling
us what's going to happen at the end of the story before the story even starts.

He wants us to know where this whole thing is headed. This is the worship of the
four and 24. They fell down before him, worshipping because he was the one who
was found to be worthy.

And notice it says, "Each one had a harp. " That's where that comes from. This
whole idea that we're all going to be up in heaven playing harps for all of
eternity, that's where that idea comes from.

Now the Bible talks about us doing a lot of other things in eternity and it
doesn't say in these verses that everyone had a harp, but if you've ever seen in
any picture or heard of any idea that that's what we'll be doing, these verses
are where that idea comes from. To me, the harp is not the most important thing.
The most important thing they were holding were golden bowls full of incense,
which were, the Bible tells us, the prayers of the saints, filled with the
prayers of the saints.

Now remember, saints, that's you. If you have this idea that a saint in the New
Testament is some perfect Christian, someone who's like gotten too old to sin,
or somebody who has lived such a perfect life that God will take him straight to
heaven, or who's gotten some election that has happened that has caused him to
become a saint because some board has met and said, "Okay, now they're a saint,"
you don't understand the word saint in the New Testament. Saint just means holy.

And every Christian in the New Testament is called a saint. When Paul writes to
any church, he says, "All of you are saints. " Not that we're perfect, but
because we've been made perfect, made holy in Jesus Christ.

So that's you. You're a saint. And this golden bowl is filled with our prayers.

Think of that. Just take a moment to think of your prayers lasting before the
throne of God in heaven into all eternity. That's an amazing thought to me.

All the things that I do every day, some of the things that I do think, I think
those things are going to last. I mean, that study that I taught, that
encouragement that I gave, that thing that I built, that advice that I gave to a
son or a daughter, that's going to last. But the thing that will last into all
of eternity that I may forget about is that prayer that I prayed.

Sometimes we pray a prayer and we forget it after a few moments, and it feels
like just a wisp. It feels like just a moment. Not true.

The truth is the prayers that you pray before God's presence, they're not only
going into his ear, they are lasting in his presence for all eternity. Think of
this. In that bowl are your prayers, the prayers that you prayed for the
salvation of somebody that you love.

Maybe that's a prayer that's already been answered. Maybe it hasn't been
answered yet. There it is, eternally praising God in heaven because you trusted
him for that.

The prayers that you prayed for your children, maybe some difficult prayers on
some tough circumstance that you've prayed for your kids with crying, with
weeping. Those prayers are there before God in heaven in all of eternity, the
prayers that you prayed for healing for somebody that you love. Maybe prayers
that were immediately answered or maybe prayers that were never answered as you
thought they should be.

Those prayers are lasting before God in heaven. He heard them. They're
continuing to praise him.

The prayers that you prayed for encouragement, the prayers that you prayed for
growth, the prayers that you prayed a praise for what God has done and of
thanksgiving, there they are before God in all of eternity, lasting before him.
Now, the Bible says they're golden bowls full of incense. That can be a little
confusing to us because we use incense as just a fragrance to make a room smell
better.

But for them, they understood that incense was burned as a sacrifice before God.
That completes the picture. Your prayers are a sacrifice before God that is a
sweet smelling aroma.

It's burned as an incense before him and it lasts into all of eternity. That's
how lasting your prayers really are. Now, I don't know about you.

I don't think about my prayers that way nearly often enough. I think about them
as too momentary. I don't see how eternal they really are.

I don't see how significant they really are. Your prayers are going up as a
sacrifice before God that will give praise to him for all of eternity. That's
part of the worship of the 424.

And as this golden bowl of incense is there and as their harps are being played,
they sing some songs. They sing a song and they say you are worthy because you
were slain and you purchased the people of God from every tribe. You made them
to be a kingdom and priest to serve our God and they will reign on the earth.

These are verses that say a lot about you. What do these verses say about you?
They say you were purchased.

If you trusted Jesus Christ with your heart and your life, you were able to
trust because he gave his life. He bought your salvation. He redeemed you from
sin by dying on the cross.

That was the price. That's the purchase price. It's his death on the cross.

If you haven't trusted him yet, trust him now. Say thank you Jesus Christ that
you love me enough to give your life for me. I trust you for forgiveness.

I trust you for life. I want to live the life that you've given me to live. I'm
tired of trying to buy it on my own.

Thank you for it. You've given what you bought for me. I trust you.

These verses say that you were purchased. They also say that you are part of a
kingdom. You will serve as kingdom forever before God.

You're part of God's kingdom. What's God's kingdom? God's kingdom is where God
rules.

God's kingdom is where God's will is done. We want God's will done on earth as
it is in heaven. In heaven, when we get to be there for eternity, his will will
be done instantly every moment.

On earth, we're praying that that will happen. There are people who are not of
God's kingdom on this earth. There are forces, Satan's forces, not of God's
kingdom on this earth that are working against God's will, but that's not you.

You're part of God's kingdom of light. If you feel like you're so stained by the
darkness that this could not happen to you, not true. Jesus Christ is the light
of the world.

He wants to bring that light into your life. You're part of God's kingdom. What
do these verses say about you?

They say you are a priest. We serve forever as a part of God's kingdom and as a
priest. What does it mean to be a priest?

It means to be a bridge builder. You're building a bridge between your heart and
God's heart, but also between other people's hearts and God's heart. You serve
before God.

The priests in New Testament times, the time of Jesus, all the way back into Old
Testament times, the priests were those who served before God in the temple.
They were there in God's presence. They did as God asked because they loved him.

Not every priest down through the ages did that out of that motivation, but that
was God's call on their lives, and in heaven that will be fulfilled. We will
serve before him because we love him. Notice it says we are a kingdom, we are a
priest, to serve him, to serve our God.

The reason that we're a kingdom, the reason that we're a priest is for the
purpose of serving. That's who you are in eternity. You get to be a servant for
all eternity together with him.

That is our privilege. That is our highest calling, and the Bible says, "And so
we will reign on the earth. " What does that mean?

We're going to see more about this as we walk through the book of Revelation,
but it means that just as Jesus reigns as the king, we reign with him. It's not
as if we get some kingdom of our own. No, we reign with him.

He is the king, and we serve him. As servants, we also reign with him. There is
the joy of service to such an extent that it's as if, not just as if, it is the
truth that we are reigning with him for all of eternity.

We're going to find out more about that as we go through the book of Revelation.
So who are you? What does these verses say about who you are?

You're purchased. You're part of a kingdom. You're a priest.

You're made to serve. You're going to reign on the earth. Let's praise God for
what he's done.

Thank you. Thank you, Father, for who you are and what you've done, and thank
you that the eternity that we look forward to, it is a greater place of hope and
experience and reigning and joy than we can even imagine. Thank you for what we
look forward to, and thank you also for now.

Thank you for this truth in these verses, that the prayers we pray go up as a
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving before you. A sweet smelling aroma to you
of joy, of praise, of trust. And we trust you right now.

Whatever we're facing in our day, whatever circumstances we bring it to you,
this relationship, this decision, this meeting that we have, this direction that
we're looking for, we bring it to you right now, Father, and we trust you with
it. Show us, guide us and then give us the faith to follow you. We pray in your
name, Jesus.

Amen. Well, join us tomorrow as we end this look at Revelation chapter 5, as if
it were possible, this throne room is going to get even bigger.