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2. The Worship of God by the 24 Elders (Revelation 11:16-18)
Prophets and Kings, Small and Great: The 24 elders of God do not speak about the type of wage which God promises to man, but about who can expect this wage. First mentioned here are the prophets, the servants of the Lord, who obediently pass along to others the will of God, on occasion even unwillingly (Isaiah 6:9-13; Jeremiah 1:6; 9:1-5; 15:10; 20:7-10, 14-18; Ezekiel 2:1-10; 3:17-21, 25-27; Amos 3:8). According to the Bible, who is a prophet? A prophet receives, through a word or in a vision, a direct revelation from God. The message of God's holiness and glory becomes the measure for his life and words. A prophet can, therefore, recognize the heart of man (Jeremiah 17:9) and no longer speaks with humanistic superficiality. He calls sin “sin”, and testifies to the wrath of God against all unrighteousness. Because he does not succumb to earthly illusions, God can reveal to him future events. Many prophets died a violent death for the sake of their faithfulness (Matthew 14:1-11; Hebrews 11:36-40).
Mohammed was not a prophet, but at most a seeker of truth. He never saw or heard God. He supposed that it was the angel, Gabriel, (Djibril) who inspired him. Therefore Muhammad knew not his own heart nor the hearts of his followers. He called sin “righteousness” and sanctioned injustice. He received no visions concerning the future, and reported only what he had heard from Christians and others regarding the end of the world. Mohammed was no prophet of the living God, but became a victim of a heretical spirit. Through him one fifth of mankind became bound in spiritual darkness. Jesus warns us to the extreme about false prophets (Matthew 24:11; John 5:43; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:18-23; 4:1-5).
Apart from the prophets, the 24 worshiping elders also mention the saints as being recipients of the wages of God. To the saints belong the prophets of the Old Covenant (Daniel 9:27) and the sanctified ones out of the New Covenant, who have placed themselves totally at God's disposal. They are His possession, and stand continually in His service. They have died to themselves and to their honor, and resist the ungodly voices in and around them. They are “holy to the Lord”, and not holy in “themselves”. They receive the privilege to be counted as sinless out of grace alone, because day and night they live by the cleansing power of the blood of Christ (1 John 2:1-2; Hebrews 9:14; 10:14). They are sanctified through the Holy Spirit, who propels them to do His holy works (Romans 8:14). Because they live before God in His penetrating light (1 John 1:5-10) the saints know and recognize that, in accordance with their nature, they are great sinners. The love of Jesus, however, encompasses them, and preserves them in faith, love and hope (Romans 8:1-39).
Furthermore, the worshiping elders name the God-fearing Greeks as being recipients of the divine reward, who, as seekers of truth, had joined the Jewish assemblies in the city states surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. There are many worshipers in various religions, and though they do not know God, nevertheless fear and honor Him and seek His will. The gospel is foreign to them, because we have not taken it to them! The Roman centurion, Cornelius, and Lydia, a seller of purple, feared God and sought for His salvation with their whole heart (Acts 10:1-48; 16:11-15). In eternity we will be surprised how many Jews and Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and people from other countries with godless world views will have been brought near, those who for His sake took upon themselves mockery, persecution and death. The longing of the solitary person for the knowledge of God should spur us on to further mission, and compel us daily to ask for the leading of the Spirit, that we might find all those who seek God and His peace. The Lord Christ has yet a great number of people in our depraved world which, with increasing speed, is blindly rushing toward its end!
Finally, the elders, in their worship of God, speak of the small and the great, who together will receive the reward of God. In the Orient when speaking of “small” one thinks not only of children, but of civil servants, slaves, women and foreigners. By “great” one means honorable elders, employers, men and those responsible in society. “Small” and “great”, uneducated and learned, poor and rich, slave and free, new believers in Christ and mature, all will in the same fashion by grace be taken into the circle of those to be rewarded. The cry of faith of a poor, plagued widow in Christ is often more effective than the prayers of honorable dignitaries. God has promised to first reward the small, before the great, because in the world the great have already received their honor!
The Criminal Court: The judgment of God brings not only rewards and honors, but also terrible ruin, destruction and agonizing torment. The elders worshiped God, and knew that He was going to bring destruction to those who destroy the earth. In all, little is said about the negative side of this judgment, yet these words bear great significance.
Who are those who destroy the world? Above all, this statement is intended for those who worship idols and false gods, along with the results that this brings. Intended, also, are those who idolize mankind and those who have their faith in science and money. Whoever pushes the triune God out of the center of his life, his family, his people and his culture resembles someone who pulls the plug of his lamp from the electrical socket at night. Everyone is left groping in the sudden darkness. All seducers who, in place of the living God, put other gods, spirits or financial backers onto the hearts of men, are enemies, drawing people into darkness. Every multi-cultural deception is more poisonous that cyanide, since it removes the crucified Son of God from the center of thought and, in the end, leads masses to their spiritual death. Satan, the deceiver, wanted to stop Jesus from going the way of the cross. In the wilderness he tried to tempt Him by getting Him to help Himself, or by enticing Him to make Himself great. The answer Jesus gave was clear and unambiguous: “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” (Deuteronomy 6:13; Matthew 4:10) When Satan later used Peter to try and keep Jesus from the cross His answer was the same: “Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:23) Whoever strives to put forth any religious mixture, in which the cross is no longer the basis and the center, he is a spoiler and a destroyer. Syncretistic and humanistic teachings destroy the spirit of repentance and the love to Christ. The consequence is sheer godlessness. Whoever rejects the deity of Christ is an antichrist (1 John 2:22-23; 4:1,5).
If people turn away from the center of redemption, they often open themselves up to a craving for economic and political power, along with a striving after security. Both mankind and the earth's natural resources get recklessly exploited. The pollution of the environment takes on tremendous proportions. A godless world destroys itself (Romans 1:18-32). The continuously swelling overpopulation of the earth increases the misery of the masses. The end of earth's time draws inevitably nearer.
Every form of godlessness destroys morals. Wherever the prince of all virtues, the fear of God, is missing, all aspects of life will become disgustingly corrupt. There is none who does good, no, not one (Psalm 14:1-3). They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable (Romans 3:12).
The enemy of God wanted to corrupt the Son of God and make Him into a corrupter (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus, however, withstood the temptation, reversed the roles, and through the Holy Spirit drove out the demons, who cried out in dread: “Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:23-25; Luke 4:34).
Paul wrote: If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are (1 Corinthians 3:17). Therefore, the person among the Old Testament people of God who practiced witchcraft, necromancy or introduced heresy had to be stoned (Exodus 22:17-18; Leviticus 19:26; 20; Deuteronomy 27:21). We shouldn’t superficially dismiss any type of sin of seduction. To God they are an abomination and lead us to ruin.
The deceiver led Eve, the mother of all mankind, astray. He deceived her and caused her trust in the love of God to be destroyed (2 Corinthians 11:3). He misleads, also, all of her descendants (Revelation 12:9). He must be destroyed, because he is the source of all lies, murder, hate and hypocrisy (John 8:41-45). Jesus called the deceiver the evil one (Matthew 6:13), who wants to bind all men to himself and make them completely evil. He caused the One who is the truth to be slandered as a demagogue in order to destroy Him (Matthew 27:63; John 7:12, 47; 11:49-51; 18:14).
Jesus, as King and judge, will say to all people who have hardened themselves to His love and opened themselves to the merciless lying spirit of Satan: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10,15). “And these will go away into everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46).
PRAYER: Christ, Last Judge, Holy Lamb of God, we worship You because You took away the sin of the world. The majority of mankind listened to the voice of Satan, and You will judge the Evil One, himself, with those who connected themselves to him and condemn them to everlasting fire. Lord, educate us in Your wisdom that we may not fall into hell.
QUESTION:
- What is the meaning of the verse, "to destroy those who destroy the earth"?