“Worship God Alone!”
Text: Revelation 22:6-13
11-22-2025
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Since this is the Last Sunday of the church year, it seemed fitting to turn our attention to the Book of Revelation. Without a doubt, this book of the Bible is probably the most misunderstood. In it are St. John’s visions of heaven’s glory and the horrors of this world’s end. But did you ever wonder what John himself felt about the message he was given to convey in this admittedly strange book? Well, today we’re going to try and gain some insight into John’s heart, and more importantly, his faith in the things he wrote about. So, I need you to imagine that St. John is here today speaking to you about the true message of this Book of Revelation:
Dear fellow saints who worship the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. First, I want to assure you that I am not a madman! Trust me, I know that’s what some people have said about me over the years. They thought that I was crazy for writing the Book of The Apocalypse the way I did. Sorry, you call it the Book of Revelation, don’t you? But really, we’re saying the same thing. “Apocalypse” comes from a Greek root-word that simply means “revelation.” And that’s the reason behind writing this book. Christ revealed some very important things to me in a vision and told me to share them. Look, I did not make all this up! I just wrote down what I saw. I’ll admit, some of it sounds very weird. So weird that some have said that my mind snapped and that these were just the delusions of an addle-minded old man, living in some confused, fantasy world.
Well, I know why they thought that. You see, I was indeed very old when I saw this vision from God. I had outlived all of the other disciples. Peter had been crucified upside down. Others were tortured and fed to the lions. Our brother Paul had been executed. But by the grace of God, I lived to a ripe old age. I was in my 90’s when I was exiled to the Island of Patmos where I saw this vision. You see, I never slacked off from spreading the good news about our Savior, Jesus. After His Ascension into heaven, and after the day of Pentecost, all of us disciples kept very busy spreading the Gospel. I eventually ended up in the area of Ephesus, still teaching and preaching the good news. The Roman government had tolerated us Christians over the years, even though they gave us trouble off and on. But then the emperor demanded something really horrible. He decreed that everyone must address him as “Lord God.” Can you believe that?!? A mere human, demanding to be worshiped in place of the true God? I just couldn’t do it. Most of my brothers and sisters of the faith refused also. You may recall that we were commanded by the Jewish leaders to not talk about Jesus anymore. Peter spoke for all of us disciples when he said, “We must obey God rather than men.” But this new demand by the emperor was much worse.
Anyone who refused this royal command to worship the emperor was persecuted. Some were tortured and some died. The Romans punished me for preaching about the true God by sending me to Patmos. It was a small, desolate island with very rugged terrain. I guess they thought that at my age I wouldn’t be able to handle it. They figured I would either suffer a slow and agonizing death or at least go insane there. But praise God, neither of those things happened. Instead, I survived, sustained by the gracious hand of our God. After many years I was allowed to come home to my family and friends.
When I did return, many people had read the Book of Revelation since it I had originally sent it out as a letter. And many of them were encouraged by it. That’s because the main messages were this: Don’t give up or despair during persecution and never compromise your faith! That’s what we were being asked to do. No, I take that back. We weren’t being asked. We were being told to commit idolatry or face punishment. But God had told us in the First Commandment that we were to have no other gods and we were to worship Him and Him alone.
I remember one time when Paul and Barnabas were on a mission trip they stopped in Lystra. They healed a man there. When the people of the town heard about it, they went nuts. They thought that one of the mythological gods had come down to earth. So, they began worshiping Paul and Barnabas. Paul couldn’t believe what was happening. He yelled for them to stop and said, “Why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you.” No true believer would ever allow anyone to bow down to them. And those apostles certainly would never bow down to worship anyone but the true God.
Even on that lonely island of Patmos, I still kept worshiping God on Sunday. Although I was physically separated from my fellow believers, I knew I could join them in spirit as we worshiped the Lord at the same time. That’s when the vision came to me. As the angel was showing me all these indescribable things, I fell down on my knees to worship. In shocked horror, the angel said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!” Now, you’re probably wondering how I could make such a terrible mistake, bowing down at the feet of an angel rather than God. Well, I’m not making excuses, but when I heard the angel repeating the words of Jesus, I couldn’t help myself. Everything in this vision was so glorious that it was my natural response. However, I thank God that His angel corrected me and stopped me from going any further.
But you know, what scares me is that not all angels would do that. In fact, Satan himself would like nothing better than for you to bow down and worship him. That’s what he tried to get Jesus to do in the wilderness. He told Christ that he would give Him all the power and authority in the earth IF Jesus would only bow down and worship him. Jesus responded: “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” Satan couldn’t get Jesus to do it. But he regularly tries and succeeds with you and me by using this same deception. Think about all the things that occupy your time. In my day, people thought that if they could accumulate enough knowledge, then they’d be spiritually free of the troubles of this life. They were bowing down and worshiping human wisdom rather than God. In a very similar way, this has happened with your modern age. Some of you people are consumed with all the information that the Internet can provide. And what about when your body becomes the most important thing in your life? Dieting and exercise are great, but not when it is done to glorify and worship your bodies. You may not literally fall down on your knees to worship your TV, your vehicles, the food in your refrigerator, or other stuff in your life, but in your hearts you have. Sadly, these things won’t say to you, “Don’t do it! Worship God instead.” But I must warn you, that God will not stand for any of it. He will not simply turn a blind eye as we worship false gods in our lives. Did you hear those words of Christ from my vision? He said, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done.”
Does it scare you that Jesus Christ is coming soon? Well, it doesn’t have to. Yes, if you don’t believe in Jesus as your Savior from sin, then all the horrors of that final Judgment Day will be waiting for you. Those images that I saw of dragons and other hideous beasts were only symbolic of all the evil demons and powers that fought against our Lord, which will all be thrown into eternal torment along with all the unbelievers. The real thing, though, will be far worse than anything I could have described.
But friends, if you are a believer then you have nothing to fear. The beauty of heaven, which I saw in my vision from God, is also just symbolic. It’s simply a tiny glimpse of the indescribable joy that awaits everyone who has placed their trust in the Lamb of God. The fact that Jesus is coming soon is not something for us Christians to dread. Rather, we look forward with great anticipation to His return because we know that God promises eternal life for all who trust in His Son.
As misunderstood as those words of the Book of Revelation can be, I’m still glad that God gave them to me to write down. And even though people may call me crazy for the vision that Jesus had me write about, I don’t care. Because since God gave me this glimpse of heaven, I couldn’t wait to get there to enjoy it. My joy will be made complete, though, if everyone who reads my Book of Revelation will get the intended message, and that simply is: “Don’t give up or despair during difficult times and never compromise your faith! And most important of all, Worship God Alone!” Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!