Giving Honour

"8And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!"

9And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four 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, saying,
11 "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."

Revelation 4

"What does it mean to give glory, honour and thanks to God? How does each of these expressions differ from the others?"

The question seemed simple enough... yet, it had me stumped.

'Giving thanks to God' was quite clear. We give Him thanks for who He is, for what He has done... especially for His redeeming work on the cross.

'Giving Him the glory' was fairly straightforward too. We glorify God because He is worthy of worship. His whole essence, His magnificence, His very character deserves, in fact it demands our worship and adoration. And speaking of God's attributes in song and in testimony to others is how we can give Him the glory.

But honour.... At the surface, giving God the honour seemed like simply giving Him the respect, merit and reverence He deserves. After all, God is the well.... God. There's no other proper description. However, it seemed... tame in comparison with the previous two. I mean, we call the judge in a court of law, "your honour". We're told in the Bible to honour our Father and Mother (Matt 15:4; Matt 19:19). So what's so special??

"...the twenty-four 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.." (italics added)

The 24 elders (represented the complete representation of the glorified Church) cast their crowns before the throne. These crowns that God had rewarded them with. These crowns that God had promised would be theirs if they remained faithful to the end (Rev 2:10; 2 Tim 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Pet 5:4). The very same crowns that were to be the symbol of the honour bestowed upon them by the Almighty. The honour that they had persevered and strived for.

Yet, they cast these crowns before the throne and worshiped. My eyes were finally opened. For all the honour that was to be conferred, they took no pride in it. For to them, the ultimate prize, the ultimate goal.... was GOD HIMSELF. Whatever reward or symbol of honour that God had given was to be accepted with the utmost gratitude, but that was eclipsed by the very ability to worship God at His throne, for all eternity.

And tying it back to a lesson that God has been teaching me lately... that is an expression of being poor in spirit. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt 5:3)

So I pray that my relationship with Christ will continue to be that close, that intimate; and when my work on earth is done... all I would yearn for, is to bow down before that Higher throne and hearing that simple statement come from my Lord's lips, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matt 25:14-30).

We Fall Down
Chris Tomlin

We fall down, we lay our crowns
at the feet of Jesus
The greatness of mercy and love
at the feet of Jesus

Chorus:
And we cry, "Holy, Holy, Holy"
We cry, "Holy, Holy, Holy"
We cry, "Holy, Holy Holy, is the Lamb"