Little children often ask funny questions about Heaven, such as, “when we get to Heaven, won’t we get bored of singing to God all the time?” There are even some parents that find this question hard to answer! Praising God isn’t something we should be bored with. Interestingly, the longest book in the Bible is Psalms, and in the New Testament, ‘praising’ God is mentioned often, at least 46 times!
Praising God is a major theme in the Revelation. Considering it was written while undergoing fierce persecution, that speaks volumes! When Christians sing, it is sometimes joyful, other times mournful, but no matter what the emotion, it is never boring. While early Christians were suffering persecution, the Revelation showed them that praising God was mostly because of God’s power & control, they found so comforting.
Why so much praise from the visions in the Revelation? Let us take a look at the words used in Revelation. They describe the content and purpose of praise to God, even while suffering for doing what is right.
Rev. 1:6, “GLORY & DOMINION”, 4:11, “GLORY, HONOR & POWER”, 5:12-13, “POWER, RICHES, WISDOM, MIGHT, HONOR, GLORY, BLESSING & DOMINION”, 7:12, “BLESSING, GLORY, WISDOM, THANKSGIVING, HONOR, GLORY & DOMINION”, 19:1, “SALVATION, GLORY & POWER”.
Notice how often Dominion, Power & Might are repeated, and in every verse, the word Glory appears! God knows that when John and the persecuted Christians read the Revelation, they probably would not feel like praising Him while suffering so much, and that His love wasn’t very obvious when martyrdom threatened them. So He showed them His glory and power. This is the main purpose of praising God, to be empowered from God, not our own feelings.
Epaggelia 