Two Ways to Bow

The book of Revelation is both a book filled with images of worship and a book about practical discipleship. It answers two primary questions: To whom does my allegiance belong? And how do I follow Jesus in the world that I live in?

Before I show you what Revelation teaches us about worship and discipleship, let me remind you of how this book is structured. As you can see in the diagram, Revelation presents seven distinct yet interconnected perspectives, much like the four Gospels present Jesus from four complementary perspectives. Throughout these visions, the book moves toward a new Eden, infinitely better than the first—where redemption reaches its climax in the new heaven and new earth.

At the beginning of this series, I put a little Slinky on each chair. As you noticed, I did so again. A Slinky advances by looping back over itself. In many ways, Revelation is structured that way. John repeatedly returns to the same redemptive realities—sometimes from the perspective of the earth, sometimes from heaven, sometimes through judgment, and sometimes through worship.

That is what I mean when I talk about the recapitulatory nature of Revelation. Rather than presenting a single, forward-moving sequence of events, Revelation shows us the same story from different vantage points, each one reinforcing the same central truth: God reigns, the Lamb has conquered, and His people are secure.

Revelation isn’t a puzzle book, but a picture book. Its purpose is to steady our faith, strengthen our hearts, and draw us into worship of the Lamb.

The Judgments Cycles 

During the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, He was asked by His disciples, “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3). Jesus answered by first warning them that before He comes back, there would be false christs claiming to be Him, wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, kingdoms rising against kingdoms, famines, and earthquakes in various places. Jesus said that these things would be “the beginning of birth pains” leading to the end of the age (Matt. 24:1-8).

After describing the abomination of desolation, which I believe was fulfilled during the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple by Roman forces under Titus in AD 70, Jesus spoke of the Day of His coming, which is also the Day of the Lord (see Matt. 24:15–28). He had already foretold the temple’s destruction, declaring that not one stone would be left upon another (Matt. 24:2). Jesus then said: 

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matt. 24:29-31)

What Jesus describes in Matthew 24 follows the same basic pattern that Revelation shows us through the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. The three judgment cycles are not three unrelated timelines; they revisit the same period from different perspectives, with each cycle intensifying until we arrive at what Scripture calls “the Day of the Lord.” 

Consider how each judgment cycle brings us to the same end. At the sixth seal, the great day of God’s and the Lamb’s wrath has come (Rev. 6:17). At the seventh trumpet, heaven announces that God’s wrath has come and that the time has arrived to judge the dead and reward His servants (Rev. 11:18). At the seventh bowl, a voice from the throne declares, “It is done!” (Rev. 16:17). Each cycle brings us to the final judgment, showing that John is returning to the same end from different vantage points.

At key points throughout these judgment cycles, John describes storm imagery associated with God’s presence and judgment. Just as birth pains grow stronger as the birth draws near, this imagery intensifies as Revelation unfolds. You can see this intensification in the way John describes the storm coming from the throne:

Notice how these cycles show things going from bad to worse. At the sixth seal, the kings of the earth and everyone else seek to hide from Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb instead of seeking salvation from the Lamb (Rev. 6:15–17). At the sixth trumpet, instead of repenting of the works of their hands, the wicked persist in their worship of demons and idols (Rev. 9:20–21). During the bowls, they refuse to repent and give God glory, and after the seventh bowl is poured out, they respond to His judgment by cursing Him (Rev. 16:9, 11, 21). As these visions unfold, we see not only the intensifying judgments of God, but also the depth of mankind’s determination to resist Him.

Think about the response of those who reject the Lamb and the debth of their rebellion. Instead of clinging to Christ, they cling to their idols. Instead of fleeing their sin, they persist in their sins. While recognizing God’s authority over the judgments, they curse Him instead of worshiping Him in repentance and praise. 

But notice what John sees next. Revelation 6 ends with the question, “Who can stand?” In Revelation 7, John sees a great multitude from every nation standing before the throne and before the Lamb (Rev. 7:9). Those able to stand are those whose robes have been made white in the blood of the Lamb (7:14). They stand because the Lamb has redeemed them, and they praise God and the Lamb for a salvation only God could provide through His Son (7:10). The wicked in chapter 6 seek to hide from the Lamb, but the redeemed stand before Him because they have found refuge in Him. The Lamb they worship is their Shepherd, who leads them to springs of living water, while God wipes away every tear from their eyes (7:17). This brings us to the contrast Revelation repeatedly places before us: there are only two types of worshipers in the world—those who worship the Lamb and those who worship the beast.

Which leads me to one of the truths that the book of Revelation shows us, and that it is a book about worship.  

Two Types of Worshipers 

In the book of Revelation, we see only two types of worshipers. There is no third category for those who are not sure, no separate category for the nice neighbor, and no neutral category for the seeker. Some worship the Lamb, and others worship the beast. Those who worship the Lamb praise God because His ways are just and true (Rev. 15:3–4). Those who worship the beast curse God because of their suffering and refuse to repent of their sin (Rev. 16:9–11, 21). The redeemed acknowledge that God is righteous in His judgment. The wicked respond to His judgment by continuing in the very rebellion for which they are being judged.

We see this throughout the book of Revelation, but let me give you a quick summary of the contrast between the two. Those who worship the Lamb do so because He gave His life to redeem them from their sins (Rev. 5:9–10). Those who praise the beast marvel at its apparent recovery from a fatal wound and declare, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” (Rev. 13:3–4).

Those who worship the Lamb praise God for what He has done, knowing that His ways are just and true (Rev. 15:3–4). Those who worship the beast are deceived by the signs the false prophet performs on its behalf (Rev. 13:13–14). Those who worship the Lamb cling to Him even when their faithfulness brings suffering and death (Rev. 12:11; 14:12). Worship of the beast, however, is reinforced by the threat of economic loss and death. Those who refuse its mark are excluded from buying and selling, and those who refuse to worship its image face execution (Rev. 13:15–17).

Those who worship the Lamb pursue holiness through obedience, truthfulness, and purity (Rev. 14:4–5, 12). Those who worship the beast resist God’s authority over their lives, refusing to repent even under His judgment (Rev. 16:9–11). Those who worship the Lamb follow Him wherever He goes (Rev. 14:4). Those who follow the beast marvel at its power and live under a system that enforces its worship (Rev. 13:3, 15). We are told that those who worship the Lamb bear His name and His Father’s name on their foreheads (Rev. 14:1). Those who worship the beast receive its mark on their foreheads or their right hands (Rev. 13:16–18).

Understanding the mark of the beast merely as something physically branded or inserted on the forehead or hand misses the point that the book of Revelation makes about worship. To understand the significance of this mark, we need to go back to passages like the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4–9:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

God commanded Israel to love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength. His words were to be in their minds, upon their hearts, and seen in their actions. They were to teach them to their children and make speaking of God’s words part of the culture of their lives. Binding His words to their hands, wearing them as frontlets between their eyes, and writing them on their doorposts and gates expressed how thoroughly His words were to shape their lives. This is the biblical picture of worship. Listen, to worship God is to have His words govern your thinking, direct your actions, and order the life of your home. Worship is so much more than just showing up. It is the expression of a life that has not only encountered the living God but has been made alive by Him.

So, when Revelation describes the redeemed as having the seal of God on their foreheads and the wicked as having the mark of the beast on their foreheads or their right hands, I understand these marks to identify whom they belong to and what has captivated their hearts, minds, and lives. Their allegiance is revealed by whose words shape their thinking and whose authority directs their actions. So let me ask you, “Whose words shape your thinking?”  and “Whose authority directs your actions?” Revelation presents us with two kinds of worshipers: those who belong to the Lamb and those whose allegiance belongs to the beast.

In Revelation—and throughout the Bible—worship is not limited to music, although it includes music. It is not limited to preaching, although the faithful preaching and receiving of God’s Word are acts of worship. It is not limited to the physical gathering of God’s people in one place, although it certainly includes that. The worship of the redeemed, the angels, and the heavenly creatures is a response to the God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb. They are not spectators observing an event. They are worshipers responding to the living God because they have encountered Him. And when you encounter this God, when you are redeemed by the Lamb and indwelt by His Holy Spirit, it is impossible to remain unchanged.

Meadowbrooke, we do not come together to observe a worship service! We come together because we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and we long to encounter the God who made us alive together with His Son (Eph. 2:4–5).