Revelation 19:10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”
Have you ever been overwhelmed by something that has happened in your life, so overwhelmed that you just had to sit down and pause?I know I have. It is an unsettling feeling, if you ask me.
I remember a moment when we lived in San Antonio, TX. I was on my motorcycle driving I410/I35 around the city. I was taking a left exit onto I35 to travel to my downtown destination. I was in the righthand most lane of that multilane left ext. Suddenly a car came from my right out of the “stay straight” I410 lanes. He was in my lane and had no clue I was there.
For fifteen or twenty seconds it felt as though our vehicles were about to meld, and my body would become eraser dust on the interstate. My motorcycle was not powerful enough to pull away from the car. My handle bar was right at the driver’s window. So for these few long seconds, my life was in the driver’s hands. Any sudden move would send me hurtling to pain and hospitalization.
Well, I made it out of the turn. And then I pulled off the next exit and turned off the bike. I couldn’t move. I could barely breathe. As far as I know, that was my closest brush with death.
Maybe you have had this type of “I’m going to die” kind of moment. Pause for a moment and remember it. Now you are in the right frame of mind to really read our text.
The author of our text has just witnessed both the complete judgment of evil in this world and the response of Heaven to that house cleaning. I imagine seeing both of these extremes and having difficulty taking it all into my mind and heart. I would be overwhelmed with the suffering and overjoyed with the Hallelujahs!
His response would be our response. He falls down in the presence of the messenger of these revelations. You have just witnessed the most otherworldly images and this messenger has been your guide. Falling down seems appropriate.
This angel identifies himself by equating himself with us a fellow servants of Jesus. They may have the job of heavenly and future events guide, but they are just servant like us. You can choose to see this as a lowering of the angel’s status or the raising of our status. I choose the raising!
Have you noticed the number of times that he heavenly beings have worshipped the LORD in this book? That seems to be what heavenly beings do a lot. They are agents of His actions and worshipers.
This sounds so much like what we are supposed to be in this world. We are to be His hands and feet extended, doing His will in this world. And we are to acknowledge Him through our directional worship. We are to worship Him, and no other.
This angel has fallen in line with prophets of all ages, telling what will happen in the future and proclaiming the Truth of God. And the author falls in line with the almost worship of an angel. Heavenly beings are something that we humans don’t understand. They are close to what we imagine God to be like that we end up mistaking them for God. But the LORD is so much greater than these angels, that when we are on the verge of worship, the angels themselves correct us and point is in the right direction.
The Arnold Journey 