The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The Mighty Angels of Revelation 22 and the Object of Worship

MP3: The Mighty Angels of Revelation 22
Hosts: Nathan Jones & Vic Batista

The Angel Not to Be Worshiped

Nathan Jones: We can see in Revelation 22:8-9 that the Apostle John was so overwhelmed by what he saw in God’s throne-room that he fell down and started worshiping at the feet of the angel who was giving him the tour.

“Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.”

It’s easy to imagine that the angel immediately cast a stricken look on his face. He kind of backs up, knowing that the desire to be worshiped was Satan’s downfall. He quickly replies, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

A very important lesson to be learned here as we’ve been going through this study of the mighty angels of Revelation is that angels are not beings who are meant to be worshiped There are people out there who have taken their interest in angels to the extreme and have begun to worship them. Of course, idolatry is the worship of demons, which also means the worshiping of angels. There are people who believe in worshiping good angels, known as the heavenly angels, but these good angels themselves don’t desire to be worshiped They know that worship is for God and God alone.

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Vic Batista: I grew up Catholic, and we worshiped everything, even Mary and the angels. My family would light candles for the dead. When I finally came to Revelation 22:8-9, it made me realize we are not to be worshiping the Creation, but the Creator. There are many people today who are as confused as I was. Somehow they think that angels can do a better job than Jesus in taking care of us. This passage was an epiphany in my spiritual walk, and so I really love this passage.

This Bowl Judgment Angel says, “Hey, John, don’t do that! As a matter of fact, we angels are serving besides you guys.”

Nathan Jones: Yes, worshiping our fellow servants is rather like going to the White House for a tour. While the tour guide is giving you the tour of the West Wing, you see the President, but all of a sudden you start shaking the tour guide’s hand and thanking her for all she did for our country. She’d say, “Hey, I’m just the tour guide. There’s the President over there. You should be shaking his hand.”

But, that’s the mistake John makes. We know that John knew Who was to be worshiped and who wasn’t, but John is just so overwhelmed that his first impulse is to fall down and start worshiping Thankfully, the angel quickly responds with, “No, no, no, not me!” If he were to have accepted John’s worship, the angel would then have qualified as a demon.

We need to be very careful when living our lives that we don’t fall into the same trap. Obviously, John was doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. He wasn’t worshiping in order to disobey God, but he was just so overwhelmed that he wanted to show worship and thanksgiving. We need to make sure that in our own acts of worship that we don’t accidentally show thanksgiving and honor to anything idolatrous, even to something as good as the angels. All of creation is to worship God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit alone.

Vic Batista: The angel’s message is perfect when evangelizing other religions that are into worshiping angels and other idols. The Bible says we need to worship God only. Jesus Christ is the one who died for our sins, not angels. The only One who can redeem mankind is Jesus Christ.

Revelation 22:9 also reminds Christians that we are called to serve one another. We are not to compete with each other for God’s favor. We are not to put men on a pedestal, which is another act of false worship that happens often times when we take our eyes off of the Lord and place our devotion on unworthy beings.

Worshiping anything other than God reminds me of what we read in Revelation 13 concerning how the False Prophet is going to set up an image of the Antichrist and demand that the whole world worship his image. The worship of the people in truth is the worship of Satan who has possessed the Antichrist.

The image of the Antichrist will be a repeat of the story of King Nebuchadnezzar from the book of Daniel. He made a giant statue and demanded his people worship his image. Likewise, the Antichrist will have a statue made and it will somehow appear to be alive. Maybe it could be holographic, or robotic, or a recording on TV. Regardless, the world worships the evil creature. Many of the Tribulation’s inhabitants will end up taking his loyalty mark on the right hand or on their forehead, and they are the ones who will be consigned to the flames of Hell forever.

What a contrast to Revelation 22 as those who stand before God and love Him will have His name sealed on their foreheads. We don’t know what that name will be. It won’t be “God” or “Jesus.” The seal will be in whatever the eternal language is, and we know that Jesus will have taken a new name in the Eternal State. We will not be calling Him “Jesus.” Whatever that name will be, it is marked on our forehead, meaning that we are sealed by God. We are bought by the price of His own Son’s shed blood.

In the eighty-second segment of our series “The Mighty Angels of Revelation,” Jesus will unseal the mysteries of prophecy!

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

2 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • I am still quite new at studying scripture, and you make it so very fascinating to me the way you express your teachings! I can’t wait to learn more and I have watched and or listened to everything from your site, what a blessing it’s been to me as we get ever closer to Jesus’s return. I don’t feel so alone in my end time beliefs now, as my own home church ostracised me for not giving up talking about end time prophecy. Out of a couple hundred people, not one will communicate with me in any way due to my steadfastness. Thank you for all you do, I am at peace and live with love and joy and excitement because of it. God bless you!!!!!

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