Minister: Pst. Laide Olaniyan
(Rev. 14:1-3) Mount Zion was in the earth of that world in this verse, and it was a point where those who were redeemed were gathered. It was a mountain of redemption. It’s a spiritual symbolism of a people who are ascending out of the earth or being redeemed out of the earth.
(Rev.14:3) There is a company of people in heaven who are singing this song in this verse, and no man can sing it except those who have come to Mount Zion or journeyed to a peak in Zion; they must have journeyed out of the earth. Zion is not the zenith of the learning of the sons of the Kingdom. There is something those who have come to the peak of Zion should learn.
(Rev. 14:3b) You are permitted to worship only according to the redemptive work done inside of you. (Rev. 14:1) “Written” here indicates that work has been done in them; it’s not an outward work but an inward work. It has become a law that governs their lives. (Heb. 8:10) Heart and mind, according to God, are components of the inward man (the soul).
The perceptions of our soul have been drawn from our interactions with this world. Some of the things we call our preferences came from what was cultured through our environment. The real identity that we should have in God has not yet been truly revealed. Satan had a head start, training us through cultures, civilizations, and family arrangements. We don’t truly know who we are. We should not be quick to say this is who we are. Many of the things we like and positions we have taken in life were informed by vanity.
The soul is framed by knowledge and understanding. This is why the labour of ministers is to feed the soul with knowledge and understanding. Satan is also serving knowledge and understanding, and until another knowledge comes to invalidate the previous knowledge and understanding, it remains the law that runs you. How they frame laws into us is mostly through informal means like the family. God wants our lives, in all our endeavours, to express the knowledge and understanding of God (2 Cor. 2:15-16). He has both formal (the church) and informal (the family) means of framing his laws in us.
Until a man has the law of God written inside of him, He does not really know God. God is raising a people who are being raised with His law and life; they are not different from Him.
(Rev. 14:4) Virginity here is not because they didn’t marry but because, by the reason of growth, the hymen of their soul has been repaired. We must know that every one of us has been deflowered by the world. Women in this verse are symbolic of this world (Babylon).
(Rev. 14:6-7, Rom. 1:17-21) The gospel that was spoken to them upon the earth is to fear God. Both the righteousness and the wrath of God are revealed. It is good for us to understand why the wrath of God is revealed because of that which may be known of God. God has committed in all generations to show himself. We become what is shown to us. (1John 3:1-2) God reveals himself so that something can be shown to us (Gal. 1:15-16). We must be careful about the things that God shows to us. (Heb. 2:1-4) The joy should not just be that it is shown to us, but that we can keep it.
(Rom. 1:21-25) It is possible that after a person is enlightened, they can still be darkened in their understanding. The tutelage of God that brings the knowledge of God is to make us worship and serve the Creator more, not the works of his hands. To audit ourselves, check how much of your thoughts are spent on the Creator and/or on creation.
Worship is not until you bow down; it is in your devotion, in what you spend your time and thoughts on. The only way to use creation without corrupting yourself is to use it with the mind of God. If we don’t use this world with the light of God, we will end up serving it and thus corrupt ourselves (1 Cor. 7:31). (Rom. 1:25) These people worshipped the Creator, but they served the creature more than the Creator. Many give so much diligence and devotion to their business and other areas of their lives. In the preference of our soul, everything is worship; we must relate to all things with commandments, allowing the will of the Lord in all that we do. Worship is serving God in whatever you do.
A person can be more consumed with creation. Every other thing apart from God the Creator is a creature. We should have a thirst to worship God more; seeking the Creator, His life, His will, more than anything. What God called us unto is worship. Babylon also craves worship. (John 4:23) God has been seeking True worshippers. The hallmark of those in Zion is that they are worshippers. They were taught to glorify God, to fear God, and to ascend Zion. (Rev. 14:6-7) It’s the honor and service of the Creator being taught in this verse.
It’s a battle of worship. Every man is worshiping something, even the atheist who believes there is no God. A man can be worshiping what he doesn’t know (John 4:22).
We are never neutral in our souls, and our souls can not multitask. You either serve God or mammon (Matt. 6:24). This is why we are to serve God with all of our heart and mind. If God has not taken all, we have not given Him anything. The technology of Satan is to negotiate for a portion of our service/worship, knowing what God is looking for is all. Every minute we give allegiance to one, the other is ignored or despised. (Jam. 4:4) You can’t be friends with what God hates and say you are his friend. If we will be friends with God, our hearts must align. This company of people who ascended Zion: God had caused a separation in their hearts such that they hated Babylon and, as such, could escape the beast. The essence of Babylon is to espouse souls to the beast. This is why we can’t love the world and love or belong to God.
God is looking for worshippers. Even the angels who worship him have will just like men have will (Jude 1:6).
What is worship? Worship is God’s mercy; it is a technology in God for giving his life and for sustaining his creation for their renewal and upgrade according to their order. It is sustenance by giving light. Worship is not bowing down; it is to receive his life and his grace. What angels do is for their sustenance, and that’s why the other angels that departed have been going old ever since; they are waxing old. Their renewal was in worship, which they disengaged from. Worship is a vital essence for life.
Discerning worship helps us understand why some people are weak; because worship is not a lifestyle. Worship exists in many different orders, but he wants man to come to a place of worship in spirit and in truth. Worship did not begin with singing. The revelation, or the first use of the word worship, was in Genesis 22:5. The first man, Adam, and Eve also enjoyed renewal in communion day by day.
Sin taught Cain the way of departing from the Lord and from his presence. There were standards of the Lord that they had because they were in His presence. Cain and Abel were doing their business while still in His presence. Presence isn’t experienced only in being in church; that is not the design of heaven. The economy of our lives should be perpetuated in heaven.
The sons of Seth calling upon the name of the Lord means that they began to culture men in the way of the Lord again. Abraham also began to do something which Cain and Abel did: offering unto the Lord.
The beginning of his offering, though, was not called worship. Between Genesis 12 and 22, there had been many altars raised by Abraham because of his love for presence. You can’t have presence without a person. Presence is the influence of a person.
When God picked up Abraham, man had fallen. Man had gone from flesh and started touching grass around Abraham’s time. The revelation of the name they revealed to Abraham is similar to the one revealed to the Cherubs. (Psa. 103:19) Excellency in strength is all might. The name He revealed to the Fathers was God Almighty. (Exo. 6:3) The name he revealed to Moses was lesser. The name Jehovah is a name given to children. Jehovah is also LORD, JAH, or YAH. It’s a name given to sons to relate to God.
(Gen. 12:1,17:1) Abraham had been walking with God from age 75 to 99 before God said Walk before me, the Almighty. All the fathers met God Almighty, but that was not the name he gave the children. The fathers had journeyed to a place where they met a person of God who demands nothing less than perfection.
Worship is a response to presence. It is the honor and reverence for God. Worship is an external posture of an internal acknowledgement of the other being higher. It is a posture towards God and His presence. The internal manifestation of worship is obedience, alignment, submission, and subjection. Worship is willfully coming under. Worship looks like you forsaking your way for another as something that looks more lofty and noble to live by. As a people, if we do not know all of these expressions, we will not give God the glory due his name.
(Psa. 29:2) It is possible to worship God below what he is. We can give him glory less fitting of him.
(Mal. 1:6-8) There is a fear and honour that is due to God where we stand. It is evil when we straighten ourselves to be accepted by men but do not do the same with God. Until God shows us how we despise him, we can’t know. If God is Lord of all, he should be able to govern everything in your life. We can take choruses and sing, but they won’t resonate with our hearts if they are not the song of our person.
(Heb. 2:12) There are songs the Lamb upon Zion wants to teach the church. There is a song upon the mountain that we must be taught; it is a song upon the mountain. This song is first a conversation and a life. (Rev. 14:3-4) The secret of their song is in their conversation. (1 Pet. 2:13-21) Those who follow withersoever he goeth are those who follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2 are the pathways that Jesus went.
The reason why our worship is not powerful is that our lives are powerless; we are not walking in his steps. When you have hallowed his presence in your heart, there will be a power in the handling of what you do. The presence hallowed inward will come out as an outward manifestation. For many of us, self is at the heart of what we do. If we don’t attack this early, the generation after us will think that is the norm. If we are coming to see God, then let’s fear and reverence him.