I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!" Revelation22:8-9
One can quite easily imagine the scene - John has already seen so much. All the visions he had seen and his experience of New Jerusalem where God is the light and the temple of the city totally overwhelms his senses and he falls down to worship the angelic messenger who has been his tour guide.
We can't blame him.
Sometimes the things of God can be so enormous and overwhelming and we are incredibly grateful when someone comes along and makes them more accessible to us. We read that the angel had a measuring rod and helped John grasp the dimensions of the city. In essence the angel made it more tangible and real to John. He clarified the indescribable and brought it down to some sort of scale that John could comprehend.
And so John fell down and worshipped. And we tend to want to worship those who help us get to know God better. But the angel would have none of it. He passed the acid test.
From the angel's perspective it took character not to grab at the tiny little bit of glory that this one puny little human being offered. It must have been tempting to enjoy basking in the reflected glory of God. But the angel resists the temptation and so must we. It is very tempting to consider ourselves as God's helpers, as God's indispensable partners. It is easy for us to enjoy the praise and compliments that others give us.
And there is a fine line here: There are compliments for work well done and appreciation for effort put in, but we must never allow ourselves to fall into Adam and Eve's trap: trying to be like God, even if it is just in someone else's eyes.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
